BENFATTO, LUIGI (ALVISE). – Painter, born in Verona around 1544, as can be deduced from the parish obituary, which states that he died at approximately 65 years of age, in Venice in 1609. Nephew and mediocre imitator of P. Veronese, he subsequently followed Palma il Giovane and Tintoretto, remaining superficial and crude. His principal works in Venice are the Battle of Constantine and Maxentius (in S. Apollinare), Christ before Pilate and the Communion of the Apostles (in S. Luca), The Centurion Begs Christ (1587, signed, in the church of the Archangel Raphael), and the frescoes in S. Niccolò de' Mendicanti.
BIBL.: Anon., s. V. in Thieme-Becker, III, pp. 324–25 (with bibliography); G. Fiocco, Paolo Veronese, Bologna 1928, p. 65; A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte, IX, iv, Milan 1929, pp. 1109–12. – For the dates of birth and death cf.: E. Cicogna, Delle iscrizioni veneziane, III, Venice 1880, pp. 275–76.