Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
FRARI HOME • Restorations: Saint John the Baptist | Pesaro Altarpiece| D'Este Funeral Monument | Pietradura Tomb | Monument to Jacopo Pesaro | Madonna and Child with Doge Francesco Dandolo | F. Pianta Clock | Monument to Melchiore Trevisan | Altarpiece of the Purification of the Virgin with Saints
Altar of the Purification of the Virgin with Saints

Artist: Giuseppe Porta, called Salviati (c.1520-c.1575)
Location: Church of the Frari
Medium: Painting: Oil on canvas (4.43 x 2.47 m.) Altar: Istrian stone and marble
Treatment: Cleaning and restoration
Sponsor: Painting restored in 2005 with funding from the Boston Chapter. Marble frame and Valier altar restored in 2006.

Born in Tuscany, Giuseppe Porta began his studies with Francesco Salviati in Rome in 1535. The young artist accompanied his teacher to Venice in 1539, and eventually assumed his teacher's name. Porta spent the rest of his career in Venice, executing commissions for the Venetian government and for private families.

This large altarpiece, Porta's masterpiece, has been dated to around 1548. It still stands on the Valier family altar in the nave of the Church of the Frari. Nicolo Valier, who held a prestigious position as a St. Mark's Procurator for the Venetian Republic, commissioned this altar specifically to frame and showcase Salviati’s painting. An inscription at the top of the Istrian stone altar informs viewers of Nicolo Valier's illustrious governmental post.

In this painting, Porta combined a narrative scene in the center with a static grouping of saints below, probably both to fill the vertical field of the canvas and to incorporate the name saints of the Valier family. In the foreground are the looming figures of Saints Paul, Helena, Augustine, Nicholas, Bernardino, and Mark. In the background, the "Purification of the Virgin Mary" is carried out, while two sacrificial doves and the infant Christ in the arms of the High Priest Simeon are visible in the center of the canvas.

Although the paint surface seemed fairly intact, but years of pollution and a darkened varnish made it nearly impossible to appreciate this ambitious work. Cleaning and restoration returned the glowing color and subtle passages that mark this painting. The temporary removal from its frame allowed for treatment of the canvas against insects and a relining of the canvas. Restorers of the Valier family altar cleaned the stonework, consolidate cracks, and ensured the altar's structural stability.


Photo: Meri Gallo