St Peter Enthroned with Saints

Completed in 1516 for a church altar, this enthroned Saint Peter surrounded by saints represents one of Cima's late monumental altarpieces. By this point, younger painters like Titian and Giorgione were transforming Venetian art, but Cima maintained a loyal clientele who valued his clarity and devotional sincerity. The painting is now in Milan's Pinacoteca di Brera. Cima da Conegliano's saint panels and altarpieces served the extensive network of churches and confraternities throughout the Veneto that required devotional images of quality and reliability. His figures of individual saints combine specific observation of physiognomy and attribute with the idealized composure appropriate to devotional subjects. Working between Conegliano and Venice across three decades, Cima became the most consistent and prolific supplier of quality devotional painting in northeastern Italy, his silvery palette and composed figure types recognizable across the region's churches as a guarantee of competent devotional art in the tradition descended from Giovanni Bellini.

The architectural throne and symmetrical arrangement of saints follow the established sacra conversazione format, with Cima's clear, even lighting and precise drapery folds lending the composition a quiet grandeur.