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Originally created in the late 1540s for the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, these nineteen panel paintings feature the symbols of the four Evangelists flanked by pairs of reclining nudes and playful putti, together with seven panels of winged putto heads and eight mascheroni composed of four satyr heads and four female heads. The paintings were set within an elaborately carved and gilded wooden framework—likely designed by Titian himself—and surrounded a large canvas of Saint John the Evangelist at Patmos, today housed in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Together, they formed the ceiling decoration of the so-called Albergo Nuovo of the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista. Built next to the Sala della Croce between 1540 and the early 1550s, this hall served as the meeting room of the Scuola’s governing board, known as the Banca.

Following the Napoleonic suppression in 1806, the ceiling was dismantled, its wooden framework destroyed, the paintings confiscated and transferred to the Accademia in 1812. It was during this process that one of the panels, depicting putto heads, was lost. By 1843, with the central canvas already sold, the panel paintings were exhibited in the Sala delle Riduzioni Accademiche—today known as Sala III. During the 1935 Titian exhibition, the four larger panels were displayed and published in the catalogue, while the smaller ones were placed in storage. For the exhibition Titian: Prince of Painters, held at the National Gallery of Art in 1990–1991, the nineteen panel paintings and the large canvas were reunited for the first time in nearly two centuries. Since then, the panels have remained in storage at the Accademia Galleries.

Since almost all the paintings and the room survive, scholars have been able to create a reconstruction diagram of the original arrangement of both the painted panels and the canvas. The position of the various pictures has been approximated based on their numbers, sizes, and shapes, and connected to the longer, shorter, straight and oblique sides of the room. The proposed reconstruction suggests that Titian deliberately conceived a striking contrast between the painted panels and the central canvas. In the panels, the figures are presented frontally, emphasizing clarity and directness, whereas in the canvas the Evangelist is rendered with steep foreshortening, viewed from a dramatically low vantage point. This perspective appears calibrated to the experience of a spectator entering the hall through one of the two main entrances on the west wall, thereby heightening the immediacy and impact of the composition.

The painted ceiling was first recorded in 1581 by Francesco Sansovino, who described it as a work painted “by the always memorable Titian.” Today, scholars generally agree that Titian prepared the initial designs before departing for Rome in 1545–1546, leaving the actual execution of the ceiling decoration to his workshop. Infrared reflectography (IR), however, complicates the traditional hypothesis and opens intriguing new paths of inquiry. Reflectograms of the rectangular panels depicting the Evangelists reveal that, in their earliest state, the symbols were framed only by simple volutes, whereas the reclining nudes and putti—so essential to the compositions as we see them today—were added at a later stage to infuse the imagery with greater vitality. Careful visual analysis further indicates that these added figures display a markedly higher painterly quality than the central symbols, raising the strong possibility that they are by Titian himself.

All things considered, it seems plausible that Titian completed the ceiling decoration only after his trip to Rome, rather than before. This hypothesis is supported not only by the imagery but also by the iconographic structure of the painted ceiling, which closely recalls Michelangelo’s frescoes in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Titian’s Saint John the Evangelist at Patmos, for instance, appears directly indebted to Michelangelo’s Separation of Light from Darkness. More broadly, the fictive stone framework with nude figures at the corners framing the central scene suggests a profound engagement with Michelangelo’s compositional strategies. Additionally, several decorative features of the panels—such as the playful putti, grotesques, and mascheroni—draw upon motifs deeply rooted in the ornamental repertoire of contemporary Venetian architecture, most notably the celebrated façade of the Libreria Marciana. Yet Titian’s intervention transcends simple citation. Through the fluidity and vitality of his brushwork, he animates these motifs, transforming what in stone appears fixed and inert into forms that seem to breathe and move. In this way, Titian not only translates architectural ornament into pictorial language but also reimagines its expressive potential, bridging the divide between decoration and animation, between the static permanence of sculpture and the ephemeral vitality of painting.

The conservation treatment will begin by addressing the structural weaknesses of the wooden supports, ensuring the long-term stability of the panels. Once these elements have been secured, attention will shift to the painted surface. Here, conservators will carefully remove discolored and deteriorated varnish layers that obscure the original palette, consolidate areas of lifting and flaking paint to prevent further loss, and reintegrate lacunae with sensitive retouching. This sequence of interventions is designed not only to safeguard the material integrity of the work but also to recover its legibility, restoring the painting’s visual coherence while respecting its historical character.

Titian (c. 1488/90–1576) and Workshop
4 Panels with the Symbols of the Evangelists
c. late 1540s, oil on panel
c. 45 × 240 cm

Titian (c. 1488/90–1576) and Workshop
7 Panels with Winged Putto Heads
c. late 1540s, oil on panel
c. 39 × 56 cm

Titian (c. 1488/90–1576) and Workshop
8 Panels with Satyr and Female heads
c. late 1540s, oil on panel
c. 39 × 56 cm

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Homepage

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Link to the Works

Echols, Robert. Titian’s Venetian Soffitti: Sources and Transformations. In Manca, Joseph, ed. Titian 500. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1993, pp. 29-49

Gramigna Dian, Silvia. Simboli degli Evangelisti, teste di Cherubini, mascheroni di satiri, volti femminili. In Tiziano, exhibition catalogue. Venice: Marsilio, 1990, pp. 274-279

Joannides, Paul. Titian and Michelangelo / Michelangelo and Titian. In Meilman, Patricia, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Titian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023, pp. 121-145

Moschini Marconi, Sandra. Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, vol. 1, Opere d’arte del secolo XVI. Venice: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 1962, pp. 262-263

Nepi Scirè, Giovanna. Recenti restauri di opere di Tiziano a Venezia. In Tiziano, exhibition catalogue. Venice: Marsilio, 1990, pp. 109-131

Schulz, Jürgen. “Titian’s Ceiling in the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista.” In Art Bulletin, 48 (1966): 89-95

Schulz, Jürgen. Venetian Painted Ceilings of the Renaissance. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968, pp. 84-85