The Melio da Cortona Chapel conservation was generously funded by J. Mitchell Crosby & Randall E. Felkel in memory of Pati Crosby Croffead.

The construction of the Church of San Sebastiano began in 1506, and the main structure was nearly completed by 1548, when Bernardo Torlioni, a bishop from Verona, became prior of the church. According to documentation published by Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna, under Torlioni’s leadership, a fundraising campaign was launched to support the struggling Hieronymite order. This campaign also involved the construction of six side chapels, three on each side of San Sebastiano’s nave, with the support of wealthy nobles and other influential individuals. In exchange for their contributions, these benefactors were granted burial rights for their families in the respective chapels they sponsored. Additionally, donors were responsible for financing and commissioning the decoration of their chapels, a customary practice in Venetian churches.

On October 30, 1546, the second chapel on the right side of the church was allocated to Melio da Cortona, a renowned jurist, and member of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, to which he bequeathed an Annunciation by Titian that Save Venice restored between 2021-2023. The decoration of the chapel was entrusted to sculptor Tommaso Lombardo da Lugano, one of the most gifted assistants of Jacopo Sansovino, who trained him between 1536-46. In fact, Tommaso was so close to his master that Venetian painter Jacopo Palma Giovane drew a portrait of him alongside Sansovino and Alessandro Vittoria. Lombardo decorated the chapel’s walls with finely carved and gilded celebratory inscriptions, including one dating to 1547 that commemorates the donor’s ancestor, Melio da Cortona the elder, the commanding General of the Venetian infantry who heroically fought and died in battle during the War of Ferrara, in June 1482.

The altar of the chapel accommodates a marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John, bearing the artist’s signature “OPVS TOMAESI LOMBARDI F.” The sculpture is regarded as one of Lombardo’s most significant artistic achievements, with its distinctive virtuoso way of treating the clothes. Although it was carved after Lombardo had left Sansovino’s workshop, the sculpture appears to be clearly influenced by the master, notably his terracotta Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John, which once decorated the Loggetta beneath Saint Mark’s Campanile. In 1565, Florentine art critic Giorgio Vasari praised Tommaso’s sculpture, saying that the three carved figures “are all of such beautiful form, attitude, and manner, that they can stand among all the other beautiful modern statues that are in Venice.” Some scholars believe that Lombardo may have produced a terracotta replica of the high altar of the church of San Carpoforo in Bissone, on the shores of the Lake Lugano. According to others, Lombardo also carved the three bas-reliefs that decorate the Funerary Monument of Caterina, Marco, and Francesco Corner in the church of San Salvador, Venice, where Lombardo also made the sculpture of Saint Jerome for the Priuli Chapel (restored by Save Venice in 2009).

The first phase of conservation in 2018 addressed the issues of rising damp concentrated to the left wall of the chapel. Conservators from the Co.New Tech firm determined that the rising damp had also permeated the supporting brick wall between the Melio da Cortona Chapel and the neighboring Garzoni Chapel. Under the guidance of local Ministry of Culture officials, it was decided to dismantle a section of the interior brick wall, isolate it from future exposure to external dampness, and replace the crumbling brickwork. Once the brickwork was replaced, a traditional marmorino plaster was applied and integrated with the original surrounding wall inscription and details.

The second phase of conservation treatment included the expert cleaning and consolidation of the Istrian stone elements and gilding of the chapel, including the altar, wall inscriptions, and floor. Tommaso Lombardo’s sculpture also underwent a surface cleaning to remove any dirt and debris that had accumulated since it was last restored nearly 20 years ago.

The last phase of conservation treatment concentrated on the wall plaster. Upon close examination, conservators discovered that the original 16th-century marmorino plaster was still intact and in good condition but had been repainted with heavy matte paint in the early 20th century. This repainted layer was carefully thinned and removed, restoring the glossy and fine appearance of the original marble dust plaster.

Tommaso Lombardo, called Tommaso da Lugano (active c. 1536 – c. 1560)
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John
c. 1546 – 1559, marble

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Chiari Moretto Wiel, Maria Agnese. “Ser Tuçian de Cador depentor. Tiziano e la Scuola Grande di San Rocco.” Studi tizianeschi, 12 (2022): 33-49

Cicogna, Emmanuele Antonio. Delle inscrizioni veneziane, vol. IV. Venice: Giuseppe Picotti Stampatore, 1834

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Salomon, Xavier, Davide Gasparotto, Gabriele Matino, and Melissa Conn. The Church of San Sebastiano in Venice: A Guide, Venice: Marsilio, 2024

Zanuso, Susanna. Lombardo, Tommaso. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 65. Rome: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 2005, pp. 528-30. Link to the article