Bonifazio de' Pitati was born in Verona but trained in Venice in the workshop of Palma Vecchio. His early compositions reveal the influence of his adopted city's High Renaissance masters, notably Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione and Titian. From Bellini, Bonifazio appropriated compositional symmetry and from Giorgione, a quiet, contemplative tone, both of which became trademarks of his mature style. Following Palma's death in 1528, his compositions became increasingly complex and dynamic, offsetting his master's harmonious idiom. Bonifazio's own Venetian workshop produced many gifted pupils who made their names in the following generation, including Jacopo Bassano.

We are grateful to Professor Peter Humfrey and Antonio Mazzotta for independently endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs.