Exorcising the Borgia from Urbino: Timoteo Viti’s Arrivabene Chapel

Abstract

Bishop of Urbino Giovanni Pietro Arrivabene selected the foreign saints Thomas Becket and Martin of Tours as patrons for his burial chapel. Montefeltro court artist Timoteo Viti decorated the chapel with the saints’ images, including a fresco of Saint Martin exorcising a demon from a cow. This article argues that the chapel’s unusual, allegorical iconographic program condemns Cesare Borgia’s campaigns to dominate Central Italy. It also proposes that the kneeling figure in the altarpiece’s lower right register portrays the bishop’s heir. Finally, the accomplishment of the Arrivabene chapel demonstrates Timoteo Viti’s artistic independence from his famous colleague and collaborator, Raphael.

Civic Pride and Political Devotion: The Relics of Thomas Becket in Siena

“…68 For Ladislaus' political and military ambitions, see (Terzani 1960, p. 36). 69 (La France 2015). 70 Ibid., pp.…”