The Pisani Chapel conservation was generously funded by Richard & Jill Almeida.

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.

Archival documentation confirms that the Pisani Chapel, alongside the Pellegrini Chapel, was constructed between 1552 and 1553. On June 18, 1553, stonemasons Antonio de Gazin, a former assistant of sculptor Alessandro Vittoria, and Hieronimo de Pozo were commissioned to build and decorate these two small chapels, which included crafting the steps (scalini), cornices (cornixe), friezes (frixi), architraves (argitravo), and vaults (volto). The document also specifies that the steps were to be made from red stone (piere rose) to match those they had previously made in the chapel of “clarissimo messer Marcantonio Grimani.” In contrast to the other side chapels in the church, the Pisani Chapel’s construction expenses were initially covered by the Hieronymite friars. Documents show that it was Torlioni who negotiated with the stonemasons, even though, at that time, he was no longer the prior of the San Sebastiano convent, having been reassigned as the rector of the Treviso province. Interestingly, Torlioni was able to persuade Grimani to reimburse the construction expenses for the two adjacent side chapels, amounting to a total of 112 lire and 3 soldi. It is unclear when the Pisani family was allocated the chapel. According to Cicogna, the coat of arms still displayed on the chapel belongs to the Pisani branch from San Benedetto (Beneto in Venetian); however, this remains a subject of debate.

The Pisani Chapel features an altarpiece depicting the Baptism of Christ. Before undergoing restoration, this artwork had been long associated with the Veronese workshop, or with Veronese’s nephew Benedetto, due to its poor state of preservation. However, following meticulous conservation by the CBC firm, experts in Veronese art now concur that the piece should indeed be dated around the 1560s and attributed to Paolo Veronese himself.

Before conservation, the chapel was concealed beneath a thick layer of dirt and surface grime. The intricate stuccowork in the chapel’s vault appeared dark and grimy, hidden under several layers of heavy overpaint from previous interventions, while the plasterwork on the walls had started to deteriorate due to rising dampness.

The conservation efforts by the Co.New Tech firm primarily centered on the stuccowork and fresco fragments in the vault and lunette. Thanks to their diligent work, the original color palette of the chapel’s decorative scheme was revealed, having been hidden beneath several layers of heavy overpainting. Fragments of the original 16th-century frescoes in the vault were also uncovered, as was the original fine marmorino wall plaster. While the figures in the frescoes did not withstand the test of time, the conservation treatment has successfully restored much of the original 16th-century character of the chapel’s decoration.

The canvas altarpiece was distorted by a thick layer of oxidized varnish and clumsy overpainting. The conservation by the CBC firm involved the removal of oxidized paints, altered restoration fillings from previous conservation campaigns, and older, more tenacious protective coatings.

Antonio de Gazin (active 16th century) and Hieronimo de Pozo (active 16th century)
Construction and decoration of the Pisani Chapel
1552 – 1553, marble and Istrian stone

Paolo Veronese (1528 – 1588) [attr.]
Baptism of Christ
c. 1560s, oil on canvas

Augusti Ruggeri, Adriana and Simona Savini Branca. Chiesa di San Sebastiano: arte e devozione. Venice: Marsilio, 1994

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

Dal Borgo, Michela. Grimani, Marco Antonio. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 59. Rome: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 2002, ad vocem. Link to the article

Gentili, Augusto and Michele Di Monte. Veronese nella chiesa di San Sebastiano. Venice: Marsilio, 2005

Ranieri, Paola. “La chiesa di San Sebastiano a Venezia: la rifondazione cinquecentesca e la cappella di Marcantonio Grimani.” Venezia Cinquecento, 12, 24 (2002): 5-140

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