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

  
Sarcophagus of Giovanni Priuli

Artist: Unknown
Location: Church of San Tomà, exterior
Medium: Soft limestone and Istrian stone
(150 x 210 x 50 cm.)
Treatment: Cleaning and restoration
Sponsor: Lee Weissman

The tomb of Giovanni Priuli is located on the outside of the Church of San Tomà, above the side door facing the Campiello dei Piovani. The church was originally built in the tenth century and then underwent many transformations, beginning in 1395. The façade was put up in 1652 on a plan by Baldassare Longhena and was rebuilt in 1742 when it was about to collapse. The Sarcophagus of Giovanni Priuli was transferred to the exterior of the church during the latter repairs to the façade.

On the exterior of the tomb, Priuli, a Venetian senator and military captain who died in 1375, is depicted in civilian clothes lying on a sarcophagus. A carved cushion supports his head, and his feet rest on a small dog, which symbolizes fidelity. Two carved braces, adorned with the Priuli family crest supported by lion heads, sustain the tomb. Priuli's epigraph plaque, with a Latin inscription, is displayed directly under the tomb between the ornate braces. The figure of Priuli is carved in soft limestone, while the rest of the tomb is Istrian stone.

Restoration will clean and consolidate the tomb, repairing cracks and replacing any damaged anchoring devices and supporting pins to restore structural stability. The nearly illegible Latin epigraph will be treated with chemical agents to remove the superficial blackening of the stone. A protective finish will be applied to the stonework to render it less permeable to rainwater and corroding elements.

Photo: Matteo De Fina