Other Restorations
Church of San Samuele | Church of San Lio | Monumental Arch | Cornaro Chapel | Saint Mark Healing the Cobbler Anianus | Four Wooden Poles | Façade of Scuola Dalmata | Sarcophagus of Giovanni Priuli | Marco Polo Arch | Tombstones, New Jewish Cemetery, Lido |   Bernabò Chapel and Relief of the Coronation of the Virgin | Photographs of Venetian Architecture and Sculpture  |  19th-Century Glass-Plate Negatives of Venice from the Ferdinando Ongania Collection  |  St. Martin and the Beggar  | Madonna with Child and St. Peter |  Crucifix

 

  St. Martin & the Beggar

Before Restoration  After Restoration

Artist: Anonymous 15th - century Sculptor
Location: Church of San Martino, Exterior, Castello
Medium: Istrian stone
Treatment: Cleaning, consolidation and restoration
Sponsor Status: James R. Dougherty, Jr. Foundation

St. Martin and the Beggar is an Istrian stone sculpture, carved in high relief adorning the doorway of the parish priest's home. It is adjacent to the church of San Martino near Venice's Arsenale. The relief figures tell the story of the charity of St. Martin, who is immortalized in an act of Christian kindness. A 4th-century Roman soldier serving in Gaul, Martin cut his cape in half to share with a shivering beggar. Christ later revealed himself to Martin in a dream wearing the piece of cloak that he had given away.

Dated approximately to the 1460s, the relief depicts St. Martin, on horseback between two trees, in the act of dividing his coat to give to the poor man. Once possibly part of the previous Gothic church of San Martino, the sculpture was probably relocated during Jacopo Sansovino's renovation of that church in the 1540s. An inscription on the relief states that it was restored by the parish priest in 1606.

The Istrian stone of the relief had darkened and stained over time, and small decorative elements such as St. Martin's sword and foot, as well as a tree trunk, had broken off and been lost. Chemical analysis of the stonework revelaed no traces of gilding or polychromy and was followed by restoration procedures to remove discoloration. The Istrian stone was consolidated with resins to prevent further cracking and breakage. A protective finish was applied to render the relief less permeable to rainwater and corroding elements.