Save Venice is seeking sponsors for the conservation of the Wall Paintings on the Second Floor of the Scuola Dalmata dei Santi Giorgio e Trifone | Partial Sponsorship Available.

*Published sponsorship costs are subject to change due to conservation plan modifications and fluctuations in exchange rates.

Please contact kim@savevenice.org today for more information and the latest cost estimates.

DONORS
Valentina Piovan in Memory of Valter Piovan through the Fondazione Save Venice – ETS
Associazione Culturale “Savio Benefator” In memoria dei fratelli Cesare e Bice Vivante through the Fondazione Save Venice – ETS
Patricia Nagy Olsen
Patricia Fortini Brown
In memory of Matsuo Tomita
In memory of Rosa & Antonio Bertoldi

Founded on May 19, 1451, the Scuola Dalmata dei Santi Giorgio e Trifone—better known as the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni—was established by the Dalmatian (or “Schiavoni”) community living in Venice. A century after its founding, the Scuola marked a major milestone with an ambitious transformation. In 1551, the Guardian Grande, Giovanni da Lissa, launched a sweeping renovation campaign that would reshape both the building and its identity. The project was entrusted to Giovanni de Zon, chief architect of the Venetian Arsenal, who reimagined the interior and gave the façade a richly decorative character inspired by Jacopo Sansovino (restored by Save Venice in 2001-2004 and 2024).

The momentum continued into the next decade. In November 1564, Guardian Grande Giovanni Tintore proposed enhancing the upper hall with a new ceiling and continuous wooden benches along its walls—an intervention that would shape the space’s ceremonial function. The completion of these renovations was later immortalized in stone. A relief set into the frieze on the left wall, dated March 15, 1586, commemorates the finished project under the guardianship of Vettor Tromba, leaving a lasting record of a century defined by renewal and artistic ambition.

Encircling the upper walls of the room is one of its most striking features: a cycle of 12 large canvases, created by a range of 17th-century artists, including Marco Vecellio, Andrea Vicentino, and Joseph Heintz the Younger. Painted between the early 1600s and the 1660s, these devotional paintings were not conceived as a single commission but gradually took shape over decades, as successive officers of the Scuola chose to leave their mark on the space.

Each painting brings together portraiture and storytelling. The sitters often appear alongside evocative views of their native cities—such as Zadar or the island of Rab—or scenes from the lives of their patron saints. In some cases, these personal and civic references are elevated further through the inclusion of key moments from the history of salvation, including the Annunciation and the Crucifixion. The result is a rich visual language in which identity, devotion, and memory are seamlessly intertwined.

Alongside this later cycle, two much earlier panel paintings on wood—both dated 1451—offer a glimpse into the Scuola’s origins. Attributed to a workshop assistant of the Murano artist Antonio Vivarini, these panels once adorned the altar of the Scuola in the Church of San Giovanni al Tempio. They were later relocated to the high altar of the Scuola’s ground floor, carrying with them the earliest visual expression of the confraternity’s faith.

All of the paintings are obscured by thick layers of aged, discolored varnish and adhesive residues from previous conservation treatments, along with accumulated dust, grime, and altered inpainting. These surface coatings have significantly dulled the original colors and details. Several of the canvases have also become weakened and brittle over time, requiring relining to restore structural stability and support. Others will need targeted consolidation where the fabric has begun to detach from its stretcher or show signs of tension failure. Additional conservation issues include damage from water infiltration, surface abrasions, areas of paint loss, and active flaking—all of which pose risks to the long-term preservation of the works.

Gaspar Rem (1542-1616) [attr.]
Saints Jerome, George, and Tryphon
1608, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Cretan Painter (17th century) [attr.]
Martyrdom of a Saint Tryphon and the Portrait of Guardian Grande Mondo di Battista
1609, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Antonio Vassilacchi, called Aliense (1556/57-1629) [attr.]
The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew and the Portrait of a Scuola Member
1607, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Marco Vecellio (1545-1611) [attr.]
Madonna and Child with Saints George and Tryphon
1607, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

School of Titian (17th century) [attr.]
Crucifixion, Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle,  the Portrait of a Scuola Member, and the City of Zadar
17th century, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Marco Vecellio (1545-1611) [attr.]
Madonna and Child with Saint Christopher, the City of Rab, and the Portrait of Guardian Grande Nicolò de Dominis de Arbe
1606, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

School of Jacopo Palma Giovane (17th century) [attr.]
Ex-Voto with Madonna and Child, Saint Sebastian, Saint Roch, the Portrait of Giorgio Pallavicino di Perasto, and the City of Perast
1631, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Unidentified Painter (17th century)
Madonna and Child with Saint Francis, Saint Dominic, and the Portrait of Two Scuola Members
17th century, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Joseph Heintz the Younger (1600-1678) [attr.]
Christ, God the Father, and Madonna in Heaven among Saints with the Portrait of a Scuola Member and Naval Battle
17th century, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Unidentified Painter (17th century)
Holy Trinity with Saints, the Portrait of Guardian Grande Francesco di Dionisi de’ Vecchi da Fiume and Three Scuola Members
1648, oil on canvas
100 x 252 cm

Unidentified Painter (17th century)
Annunciation and Portrait of Two Scuola Members
c. 1660s, oil on canvas
100 x 97 cm

Unidentified Painter (17th century)
Madonna of the Rosary with the Portrait of Guardian Grande Niccolò Barozzi da Lesina and a Scuola Member
1664, oil on canvas
100 x 97 cm

Circle of Antonio Vivarini (15th century) [attr.]
Saint Jerome
1451, tempera on panel
147 x 27 cm

Circle of Antonio Vivarini (15th century) [attr.]
Saint Tryphon
1451, tempera on panel
147 x 27 cm

Gear, Jennifer E. Visualizing the 1630-31 Plague Epidemic in Early Modern Venice and the Veneto. PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, 2018. Link

Perocco, Guido. Carpaccio nella Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni. Venice: Ferdinando Ongania Editore, 1964

Rizzi, Alberto. Scritti di arte sulla Dalmazia. Venice: Scuola dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone, 2016

Trška, Tanja. Venetian Painters and Dalmatian Patrons: Minor Masters in the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni between Collective and Individual. In Capriotti, Giuseppe, Francesca Coltrinari and Jasenka Gudelj (eds.), Visualizing Past in a Foreign Country: Schiavoni/Illyrian Confraternities and Colleges in Early Modern Italy in comparative perspective (IL CAPITALE CULTURALE Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage Supplementi 07 / 2018), pp. 45-55. Link to the article