Façade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco
1488-1495
Architects: Pietro Lombardo 1488-90; Mauro Codussi 1490-95
Location: Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo
Media: Marble, porphry, Istrian Stone
Treatment: Consolidation and surface restoration
Sponsors: The Getty Grant Program, The Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust, Mrs. Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Tara and Arthur Diedrick and Bernadette J. Berger, Charles H. Stout Foundation, The Young Friends of Save Venice, New York and the Arthur Loeb Foundation
The Scuola Grande di San Marco was one of the six grand scuole or confraternities that had an important presence in Venetian religious and cultural life. Founded in 1260 for religious and humanitarian purposes, it was favored by the Signoria and included in its membership men of great renown and wealth.
When Napoleon disbanded the scuole in the early 19C, the building was transformed into Venice's principal hospital. In 1488, the confraternity commissioned Pietro Lombardo to design a façade to replace the previous Gothic building that had burned.
The façade is divided into two parts, each with its own entrance portal. Flanking the right portal, are two beautifully sculpted reliefs, attributed to Tullio Lombardo, of scenes from the life of St. Mark.
When the Scuola Grande di San Marco was half finished, perhaps due to pressure exerted by certain more influential brethren, the Scuola summoned Pietro Lombardo's principal competitor, architect Mauro Codussi, to complete the project. Codussi finished the upper zone of the fac¸ade around 1495. The Lombardo workshop, although no longer in charge of the project, continued to supply Codussi with sculptures and ornamental elements. The Scuola Grande di San Marco was suppressed by Napoleonic decree after the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. The Scuola, along with the adjacent Hospital of San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti and the Dominican convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, was transformed into a military hospital in 1808. By 1819 it had become the civic hospital of Venice, as it remains today.
From 2000 to 2004, Grazia Fumo of the Superintendency of Monuments and Fine Arts of Venice planned and directed Save Venice's restoration of the facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco. The first phase of work involved in-depth testing in order to understand the actual state of conservation of the facade, and the restoration problems to be confronted.
From 2002 to 2004, the Arte & Restauro restoration firm restored and conserved the facade, starting with the upper tier and working in stages down to ground level. The most interesting discovery that emerged during the restoration is that parts of the facade were once richly gilded. The visible traces of red pigment, once thought to be decorative paint on the facade, were instead identified as the tinted base preparation for the application of gold leaf. Because the Scuola Grande di San Marco was dedicated to the patron saint of Venice, this Scuola was particularly concerned with its public image and therefore willing to spend large sums of money on its appearance.
The restoration of the facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco is dedicated to the memory of our esteemed board member Roger Rearick.
Photo: Matteo De Fina
