Conservation funded by the Boston Chapter of Save Venice, with support from Katherine and David McRae.

Painted for the high altar of Tintoretto’s parish church of San Marziale, and close to his home and studio, the picture shows Saint Martial, the bishop of Limoges in France, and the dedicatee of the church. According to the Golden Legend, a medieval compendium of the lives of the saints, Saint Martial was baptized by Saint Peter himself and was sent to Limoges to preach the Gospel, where he also served as the bishop: he wears a cope, the traditional bishop’s mantle, and he has handed his miter and crozier over to the tiny cherubs that flutter around him, barely emerging from the heavenly ether. At his feet are Saints Peter and Paul, the two principal missionaries of the Catholic Church. The heroic figures of Peter on the left and Paul on the right with their twisting poses and projecting legs resemble Michelangelo’s prophets on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which Tintoretto would have known from prints. An inscription on the back of the canvas reads “Christmas Eve, 1549”—the probable date of completion. The painting was later moved to a side altar on the right side of the nave, where it is displayed today.

Tintoretto created this monumental work soon after his artistic breakthrough, when he was establishing himself as the most exciting painter in Venice. The picture exemplifies the style of Tintoretto’s maturity, conveying the muscular figure types of Florentine and Roman painters with expressive brushwork growing out of the Venetian tradition.

The painting was featured prominently in the exhibitions Tintoretto 1519-1594 at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice and Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

This major painting from the start of Tintoretto’s prime had long been overlooked. During its last restoration, in 1959, a golden varnish was applied to mask issues of color unevenness and to convey an “old master” quality to the picture. In subsequent decades, this toned layer darkened further, concealing the details and colors underneath. Years of candle smoke and dust compounded the problem.

From 2017 to 2018, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Jacopo Tintoretto’s birth, Save Venice funded an extensive conservation of the painting that was completed by Giulio Bono with assistance from conservators Silvia Bonifacio and Anna Brunetto.

Giulio removed the discolored varnish layer and surface grime, revealing a painting in surprisingly good condition. Tintoretto’s brilliant illumination, dazzling colors, and varied flesh tones are now visible for the first time in centuries.

Technical analyses using advanced imaging methods also brought to light new information on Tintoretto’s preparatory process, revealing the use of squaring for compositional transfer of the two saints in the lower portion of the canvas, and also uncovered later pentimenti, or changes to the composition in the final moments of execution of the work. Scientific analysis also led to the discovery that the drapery of Paul, on the right, had dulled from changes in the pigment over time, and would have originally been a vibrant green, contrasting with the golden orange and rose garments of Peter.

Thanks to the restoration, Tintoretto’s virtuoso paint handling and skills at foreshortening are evident throughout the canvas. Notice how he defines forms with a few bold, undisguised strokes—for example, in the massive books, Peter’s white sash, the tie of the white shirt visible across his chest, and the giant keys that he holds. The thin strip of canvas along the bottom edge, presumably recycled from another painting, remains a mystery, but may have been added to adapt the size of the painting when it was moved from the high altar to a side altar in the church.

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.

Jacopo Tintoretto (c. 1518/19–1594)
Saint Martial in Glory with Saints Peter and Paul
1549, oil on canvas
376 x 181 cm

Dalla Costa, Thomas, Robert Echols, and Frederick Ilchman, eds. Tintoretto in Venice: A Guide. Venice: Marsilio, 2018.

Echols, Robert and Frederick Ilchman. Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018.