Restored in 2006 with Save Venice general funds.

This painting once hung in the Sala dell’Armamento in the Doge’s Palace in the form of a large lunette, but was removed during the Napoleonic suppressions and divided into three sections. In 1838 the flanking representations of Temperance and Justice were given to the Accademia, while the central portion depicting Saint Mark with two saints was taken to Vienna and only returned to Venice until 1919.

The enthroned Saint Mark represents the Venetian state, for he had been the patron saint of Venice since the ninth century. The unusual presence of Saints Andrew and Louis of Toulouse is instead explained by records indicating that they are namesakes of the officials in the Doge’s Palace the year the picture was painted.

The female figures representing the cardinal virtues of Justice and Temperance are personifications of the qualities that the Venetian Republic sought to embody: impartial benevolence and self-control. The three birds in the foreground — a parrot, a swallow, and a pheasant — are symbols often associated with worldly indulgence. A partridge, a symbol of Christ and of humanity’s journey toward God, stands alone in the grass beyond the saints. The varied landscape background represents the extent of the Venetian Republic, on sea and on land.

The painting was restored by conservator Sandra Pesso, with the guidance of project director Luca Caburlotto of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Giovanni Battista Cima, called Cima da Conegliano (c. 1459–c. 1517) and workshop
Saint Mark Enthroned with Saints Andrew and Louis of Toulouse, Justice and Temperance
1516, oil on canvas

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Homepage

Humfrey, Peter. Cima da Conegliano. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.