Save Venice is seeking a sponsor for the conservation of Jacopo Palma il Giovane’s Saint Thomas Aquinas Girded by Angels with Saint Jerome.

*Published sponsorship costs are subject to change due to conservation plan modifications and fluctuations in exchange rates.

Please contact araby@savevenice.org today for more information and the latest cost estimates.

Jacopo Palma il Giovane’s altarpiece was originally painted for the Church of Santa Lucia, a convent church suppressed by Napoleonic decree on July 28, 1806, and demolished in 1860 to make way for Venice’s railway station. Likely executed around 1610, the painting is first documented in 1648, when Carlo Ridolfi recorded seeing it in Santa Lucia, positioned opposite Palma’s Madonna del Parto (itself the subject of a Save Venice conservation project). The altarpiece continued to be mentioned in sources over the following centuries, attesting to its prominence within the church’s decorative program. Today, Saint Thomas Aquinas Girded by Angels with Saint Jerome is preserved in the Church of San Geremia, where it remains in the same chapel as the Madonna del Parto, thus maintaining a meaningful connection with its original setting and devotional context.

Palma’s altarpiece depicts a dramatic episode from the life of Saint Thomas Aquinas, first recorded by the Dominican friar Guglielmo da Tocco in 1237 and later retold in Pietro Aretino’s Vita di S. Tomaso, published in Venice in 1543. According to the legend, Thomas’ family, opposed to his religious vocation, attempted to lure him away from the Dominican order by secretly sending a prostitute into his room. Confronted with the temptation, the young friar is said to have driven her out with a burning ember, a gesture of both moral resolve and spiritual fervor. Afterward, Thomas turned to prayer, imploring God to preserve his chastity for the rest of his life. His plea was answered when two angels appeared, girding him with a cord as a sign and safeguard of his purity. From that moment, the cord—believed to restrain all motions of sensual desire (omnem libidinis motum)—became one of his principal attributes, alongside the radiant disc on his chest, the dove of the Holy Spirit, and the book that signifies his intellectual authority.

Palma’s rendition of the episode is both faithful to the written tradition and inventive in its ability to weave together multiple moments into a single, compelling altarpiece. He first presents Thomas kneeling barefoot, his gaze fixed on a crucifix on the wall, while two angels have descended from the heavenly realm to gird him with the cord of chastity. In the foreground, a number of symbolic objects are scattered across the scene. On the left, a book and a papal tiara rest on a table, while on the opposite side an ember lies on the floor beside another book bearing the Latin inscription: “Take away Thomas, and I will destroy the Church”. From the pages of this very volume, a serpent emerges. In the distance, visible through an opening in Thomas’ room, Saint Jerome appears in the wilderness, absorbed in study, with his faithful lion crouched at his side.

Palma’s visual source for the central scene was likely a series of etchings illustrating the Vita Divi Thomae Aquinatis, designed by Otto van Veen and published in 1610. In the first print, Thomas appears half-length at his desk, accompanied by the papal tiara and the same books later adopted by Palma; here, the serpent coils around a scroll bearing the identical inscription. By incorporating this imagery into his altarpiece, Palma powerfully emphasizes Thomas’s authority as a Doctor of the Church and presents him as a formidable defender of orthodoxy against heresy. This message is further reinforced by the inclusion of Saint Jerome in the background—another eminent scholar and translator of Scripture—whose presence aligns Thomas with the great intellectual authorities of the Church.

An additional print by van Veen provides the key to unlocking the full meaning of the scene. Like Palma’s altarpiece, it shows Thomas being girded by two angels, while an ember lies on the floor—an object that, as the print’s caption explains, he used to draw a cross on the wall (crucis figura in pariete dipingit). With this reference in mind, the foreground details in Palma’s composition take on a vivid narrative force: the ember evokes Thomas’s resolute rejection of temptation, while the cross on the wall gives visible form to his fervent prayer. The cord placed at his waist by the angels becomes the tangible sign of divine approval, transforming the episode into a compelling vision of spiritual triumph and grace. In this way, Palma elevates the episode beyond a moment of personal struggle, presenting Thomas as an enduring model for the faithful: a Doctor of the Church whose intellectual authority, moral integrity, and spiritual resilience embody the ideals of Christian wisdom and the steadfast defense of orthodoxy.

Last restored in 1862, the surface of Palma’s altarpiece is now markedly discolored by oxidized maintenance varnishes and adhesive coatings, as well as by substantial accumulations of surface dust and grime. The retouching from earlier interventions has also undergone chromatic alteration due to the degradation and oxidation of the original binding media. In addition, the painting presents two horizontal distortions in the upper section that appear to correspond to past tears and associated deformation of the canvas support, likely caused by inadequate or uneven tensioning on the stretcher.

Jacopo Palma il Giovane (1548/50 – 1628)
Saint Thomas Aquinas Girded by Angels with Saint Jerome
1610, oil on canvas
430 x 230 cm

Anedda, Antonella. “Il San Tommaso d’Aquino di Palma il Giovane.” Arte Veneta, 35, 1981, pp. 156-160

Mason, Stefania. Palma il Giovane. L’opera completa. Milan: Alfieri, 1984, pp. 120-121, no 373

Ridolfi, Carlo. Le Maraviglie dell’Arte. 2 vols. Venice: Giovanni Battista Sgava, 1648, vol. 1, p. 185

van Veen, Otto. Vita D. Thomae Aquinatis. Antwerp: Otto van Veen, 1610