Paolo Veronese's decorative cycle continues on the murals on the walls of the nave of the church. In the spandrels on either side of the arch, opening onto the presbytery Veronese depicted the dialogue of the Annunciation, with the Archangel Gabriel on the left side and Mary to the right. Extending to either side of the arch and around the upper walls of the nave is a frescoed frieze punctuated by pairs of spiral columns. Such columns have been associated with the divinely planned temple of Solomon; as such they assumed symbolic value as architectural signs of Divine Wisdom. In San Sebastiano, these units, along with the prophets and sibyls they frame, mediate between the Old Testament theme of the ceiling and the Christian narratives represented below. In the ancient world sibyls are seers, pagan counterparts to Old Testament prophets.

Cruise the Rhine with Save Venice
August 25 through September 1, 2013

Destinations include Colmar, Strasbourg, Heidelberg, St. Goarshausen, Bernkastel, Trier, Cologne, and Dusseldorf.

In addition, there will be a pre-cruise excursion to Nürnberg, Bamberg, Würzburg, and Rothenburg (August 20–25) and a post-cruise excursion to Amsterdam, Haarlem, and the Hague (Sept 1–4).

If you are interested in this trip please contact us at 212-737-3141 or newyork@savevenice.org

High on the wall of the right-hand aisle of the Frari above the door leading to the cloister is a simple wooden casket. Behind it is a large painting depicting a pavilion-type canopy with curtains held back by two winged putti. Among the notable features of the painting are five coats of arms of the Della Torre family decorating the canopy and a skull dripping blood onto the casket. Darkened by age, the painting is now difficult to make out and goes largely unnoticed amongst the more prominent tombs that line the walls of the church at eye level.
For this long-forgotten monument commemorates a violent episode in the life of the most serene republic and offers a rare “window” into a time when the feudal ethos of the landed nobility of the Terraferma clashed with Venetian republican values. The episode involved two noble Friulian families: the Della Torre and the Savorgnani. In 1549, during Carnival, Conte Girolamo Della Torre was involved in an altercation in Padova with Giovanni and Tristano Savorgnan. Giovanni Savorgnan was badly injured. Della Torre was found guilty by the Council of Ten and sentenced to 10 years of exile in Crete. Although the sentence was surprisingly harsh, the Ten wished to make an example of Girolamo to discourage feuding by its unmanageable mainland nobility and refused to reduce it. On the eve of Girolamo’s departure to Crete, his brother Alvise, a prelate in the Friuli, and other relatives traveled to Venice to see him off. As their gondola was rowed past San Marcuola on the Grand Canal, they were ambushed by Tristan Savorgnan and a gang of rowdies. Alvise and his brother-in-law Giovanni Battista Colloredo, along with a canon from Cividale and two servants were murdered.
The two incidents of 1549 were the consequence of a long-running feud stemming from an equally bloody event in Udine in 1511, when partisans of the Savorgnan family had murdered the father of the Della Torre brothers. Nonetheless, the Venetian authorities were outraged by the multiple murders on the Grand Canal and banned Savorgnan and his henchman from Venetian territories for life and set a price on their heads. Alvise’s body was taken to the Frari for burial. The humble wooden casket, probably draped with a brocade cover, was installed high on the wall along with the painting. Most unusual, even unique, are the narrative scenes painted in grisaille on the bell-shaped cap of the canopy that depict Alvise’s assassination and the retrieval of his body from the Grand Canal. The ensemble was probably intended to be provisional until a permanent monument could be constructed, but it remains in place to this day. Its obscure placement has kept it safe from further damage, and cleaning might allow an attribution to be made and would reveal — indeed resurrect — a precious artifact of Venetian history.

Veronese: The Stories of Esther Revealed

April 21 – July 24, 2011 at Palazzo Grimani

The exhibition Veronese: The Stories of Esther Revealed offers the literal once-in-a-lifetime occasion to examine Veronese's ceiling canvases at the same distance the painter enjoyed as he created them. Following the 2008-2010 treatment sponsored by Save Venice Inc., the paintings appear far closer to the artist's intentions than they had for more than a century. These fully autograph paintings show Veronese at a new level of mastery and should be seen as a watershed in the development of the Venetian ceiling. This exhibition allows us to be present at Paolo's breakthrough. –Frederick Ilchman, Co-Project Director, Save Venice Inc.

For more information and visiting hours please visit: http://www.palazzogrimani.org

In 1821 the Accademia Galleries acquired this painting from a church in Fontanelle, a village near Oderzo in the Treviso area of the Veneto, in exchange for a sum of money and a painting by Francesco Montemezzano from the Accademia’s storage. Although it was originally attributed to Pordenone, upon its arrival in Venice art historians recognized it as a work by Palma il Vecchio, a Bergamo-born artist named Jacopo d’Antonio Negretti, who took the name of Palma in 1513. He eventually became known to art historians as “il Vecchio” to distinguish him from his great-nephew Palma “il Giovane” who was active as a painter a half-century later. The painting depicts Saint Peter enthroned surrounded by six saints, transforming a sacra conversazione in a kind of “All Saints” picture focusing on Peter’s leadership of the Church, as first bishop of Rome.

Project Director: Giulio Manieri Elia, Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice
Restorer: Sandra Pesso

The ceiling of San Sebastiano is articulated by an elaborately decorated wooden framework that defines three main areas along its central axis. In addition to the three central paintings on canvas dedicated to the story of Esther, there are eight flanking wooden panels (oblongs and rectangles) depicting balustrades with putti, grotesques, and garlands, four monochrome roundels of virtues, and eight Winged Victory panels in the spandrels surrounding the oval canvases based on the model of ancient Roman triumphal arches. This richly gilded ceiling framework also includes a variety of painted decorative figures and motifs. The entire ceiling is framed by an elaborate wooden cornice, carved and painted with designs that mimic details from classical architecture. Gilded roses and acanthus leaves, dentils, and strings of pearl and olive-shaped beads over the ledge of the ceiling. The ceiling itself stands as a major monument in the development of the Venetian soffitto, the kind of segmented painted ceiling that was to serve as an important model for artists well into the seventeenth century and beyond.

Project Director: Amalia Donatello Basso, Superintendency of Monuments of Venice
Restorer: Egidio Arlango and the Arlango firm

Few masterpieces of Venetian Renaissance painting have remained as shrouded in mystery as the monumental Supper at Emmaus, located in the chapel of the Santissimo, to the left of the high altar of San Salvador. In this depiction of the resurrected Christ dining with two of his apostles in a country inn at Emmaus, the supper is served on a rustic table within an elegant Venetian architectural setting. In addition to the two apostles, two  contemporary figures are present — one in typical Venetian banker’s black seated on the Savior’s left and another wearing a turban on his right. The  painting is first recorded in Francesco Sansovino’s 1581 guide to the to the city of Venice in which he lists it as a work by Giovanni Bellini. However,  its unusual character prompted even early scholars to doubt this attribution and, over the centuries, it has been attributed to a number of painters. More recently it has been thought to be a poor copy of a Bellini. During restoration, previous overpainting was removed, revealing an  extraordinarily high-quality painting with the date 1513, and experts now believe it is the work of Vittore Carpaccio that he painted for Girolamo  Priuli.

Project Director: Ettore Merkel, Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice
Restorer: Ottorino Nonfarmale
UNESCO Program-Association of International Private Committees for the Safeguarding of Venice

Paolo Veronese's decorative cycle continues on the murals on the walls of the nave of the church. In the spandrels on either side of the arch, opening onto the presbytery Veronese depicted the dialogue of the Annunciation, with the Archangel Gabriel on the left side and Mary to the right. Extending to either side of the arch and around the upper walls of the nave is a frescoed frieze punctuated by pairs of spiral columns. Such columns have been associated with the divinely planned temple of Solomon; as such they assumed symbolic value as architectural signs of Divine Wisdom. In San Sebastiano, these units, along with the prophets and sibyls they frame, mediate between the Old Testament theme of the ceiling and the Christian narratives represented below. In the ancient world sibyls are seers, pagan counterparts to Old Testament prophets.

Project Director: Amalia Donatello Basso, Superintendency of Monuments of Venice
Restorer: Egidio Arlango and the Arlango firm

Paolo Veronese's decorative cycle continues on the murals on the walls of the nave of the church. In the spandrels on either side of the arch, opening onto the presbytery Veronese depicted the dialogue of the Annunciation, with the Archangel Gabriel on the left side and Mary to the right. Extending to either side of the arch and around the upper walls of the nave is a frescoed frieze punctuated by pairs of spiral columns. Such columns have been associated with the divinely planned temple of Solomon; as such they assumed symbolic value as architectural signs of Divine Wisdom. In San Sebastiano, these units, along with the prophets and sibyls they frame, mediate between the Old Testament theme of the ceiling and the Christian narratives represented below. In the ancient world sibyls are seers, pagan counterparts to Old Testament prophets.

Project Director: Amalia Donatello Basso, Superintendency of Monuments of Venice
Restorer: Egidio Arlango and the Arlango firm

Paolo Veronese's decorative cycle continues on the murals on the walls of the nave of the church. In the spandrels on either side of the arch, opening onto the presbytery Veronese depicted the dialogue of the Annunciation, with the Archangel Gabriel on the left side and Mary to the right. Extending to either side of the arch and around the upper walls of the nave is a frescoed frieze punctuated by pairs of spiral columns. Such columns have been associated with the divinely planned temple of Solomon; as such they assumed symbolic value as architectural signs of Divine Wisdom. In San Sebastiano, these units, along with the prophets and sibyls they frame, mediate between the Old Testament theme of the ceiling and the Christian narratives represented below. In the ancient world sibyls are seers, pagan counterparts to Old Testament prophets.

Project Director: Amalia Donatello Basso, Superintendency of Monuments of Venice
Restorer: Egidio Arlango and the Arlango firm