The Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista is a confraternity building located in the San Polo sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. Founded in the 13th century by a group of flagellants it was later to become one of the five Scuole Grandi of Venice. These organisations provided a variety of charitable functions in the city as well as becoming patrons of the arts. The Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista is notable for housing a relic of the true cross and for the series of paintings it commissioned from a number of famous Venetian artists depicting Miracles of the Holy Cross. No longer in the school, these came into public ownership during the Napoleonic era and are now housed in the Gallerie dell'Accademia. The scuola is open to visitors on a limited number of days, detailed on the official website. [1]
Founded in 1261, San Giovanni Evangelista is the second oldest scuola in Venice. [2] Though scuola developed a primary meaning of "school", in Venice these organisations retain their medieval Latin meaning of confraternities, social organisations founded on spiritual principles. [3] Their main buildings were typically used as meeting and assembly halls, and for the distribution of charity. The founders of San Giovanni were a confraternity of flagellants who took part in religious ceremonies, whipping their backs and spraying blood onto the pavements as they processed through the city. [4] This practice was outlawed in the city of Venice in the same year the scuola was founded. [2]
In 1369, Philippe de Mezières (also known as Filippo Maser), the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus, gave to the school a piece of the true cross which it still owns to this day. The presence of this relic brought about a transformation and helped the scuola become a rich and powerful organisation, bringing in wealthy and powerful members to the confraternity, with their donations and bequests. [5]
A reliquary was constructed to house the relic and this was soon after connected with a miracle that reportedly took place in Venice during the period 1370-82. According to contemporary accounts, when accidentally dropped into a canal during a congested procession the relic did not sink but hovered over the water, evading those trying to save it. This continued until Andrea Vendramin (grandfather of the only Vendramin doge, also named Andrea) dived in and retrieved it. [7] This was the same Andrea who, as head of the scuola, had been presented with the relic in 1369. [8] This miracle was later depicted by Vittorio Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini and other artists in a series of paintings commissioned for the scuola. Nearly 200 years later the reliquary was the focal point of the Vendramin family portrait by Titian, now in the National Gallery, London, showing the prestige the events had given to the family.
During the Renaissance period the scuola was made into a Scuola Grande under the control of Venice's Council of Ten.
In 1485 the architect Pietro Lombardo completed the school's most distinctive architectural feature, the outdoor atrium and gateway which separate the complex from the campo to which it adjoins. Shortly after, in 1498, the architect Mauro Codussi completed work on a double staircase linking the upper and lower halls. It is illuminated by a mullioned window on the landing between the two flights of stairs, an element common to much of Codussi's work. [9]
The final major architectural changes were made during the 18th century. [10] Following the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 the schools were suppressed by a Napoleonic edict. However, during the 19th century San Giovanni Evangelista was one of the ones re-constituted. [11]
The school is defined externally by the open air atrium or courtyard, separated from the city by a marble screen of (1478–81) by Pietro Lombardo. Though appearing harmonious the courtyard is the work of several different periods. The facade of the main scuola dates from the 1450s but incorporates two small reliefs from 1349. Lombardo's Renaissance screen comprises Corinthian pillars, a semi-circular pediment with St John's eagle and a frieze carved with foliage. This gateway was, until the school's dissolution, barred by double doors. [2] The main door to the scuola was added in 1512 and features a lintel with kneeling figures. [4] Opposite the buildings of the scuola stands the scuola's small church also dedicated to St. John the Evangelist.
The atrium building is two stories high while behind this is the much larger three-story building which contains the large halls.
The confraternity building has a number of rooms. On the ground floor there is a large hall, known as Sala delle Colonne ("Hall of Columns"). This was intended as a place where brothers and pilgrims could gather and is part of the original 14th-century building. Today it is often used for exhibitions. [4] There are two smaller rooms on the lower floor. These are the Sala Verde (the Green Room, a former warehouse and office) and the Sala Azzurra (the Blue Room, also used for administration). [10]
The upper floor is reached by Codussi's Scalone Monumentale (Great Staircase). Lit by round-headed windows it is domed and vaulted. The stairs lead to a large upper room, the Salone, which was redecorated by Giorgio Massari in 1727. Beyond the Salone is the Oratory of the Cross where a piece of true cross is housed within a Gothic reliquary. [12] Beyond the Oratory is the Sala Dell'Albergo which hosted the government meetings of the School. [10]
A number of Italian Renaissance artists, including Pietro Perugino, Vittore Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini, Giovanni Mansueti and Lazzaro Bastiani, were commissioned to paint a number of canvasses for the Oratory of the Cross. Each one showed episodes of the story of the Relic of the True Cross. Following the Napoleonic suppression these became government property and in 1820 were moved to the Gallerie dell'Accademia where they can be seen today. [13]
The canvas painted by Perugino has been lost, but the eight surviving paintings were created between 1496 and 1501 (except the one by Benedetto Rusconi), contain depictions of some of the most famous parts of Venice and a story: [14]
Though many paintings have been moved to other locations the school still houses some original artwork including Domenico Tintoretto's The Crucifixion, signed and dated 1626. The Salone contains visions of the Apocalypse by Tiepolo. [12]
Gentile Bellini was an Italian painter of the school of Venice. He came from Venice's leading family of painters, and at least in the early part of his career was more highly regarded than his younger brother Giovanni Bellini, the reverse of the case today. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice, and as well as his portraits he painted a number of very large subjects with multitudes of figures, especially for the Scuole Grandi of Venice, wealthy confraternities that were very important in Venetian patrician social life.
Vittore Carpaccio (UK: /kɑːrˈpætʃ oʊ/, US: /-ˈpɑːtʃ-/, Italian: [vitˈtoːre karˈpattʃo]; was an Italian painter of the Venetian school who studied under Gentile Bellini. Carpaccio was largely influenced by the style of the early Italian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina, as well as Early Netherlandish painting. Although often compared to his mentor Gentile Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio's command of perspective, precise attention to architectural detail, themes of death, and use of bold color differentiated him from other Italian Renaissance artists. Many of his works display the religious themes and cross-cultural elements of art at the time; his portrayal of St. Augustine in His Study from 1502, reflects the popularity of collecting "exotic" and highly desired objects from different cultures.
The Gallerie dell'Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It was originally the gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, the art academy of Venice, from which it became independent in 1879, and for which the Ponte dell'Accademia and the Accademia boat landing station for the vaporetto water bus are named. The two institutions remained in the same building until 2004, when the art school moved to the Ospedale degli Incurabili.
Giovanni di Niccolò Mansueti was an Italian painter.
The Scuola Grande di San Marco is a building in Venice, Italy, designed by the well-known Venetian architects Pietro Lombardo, Mauro Codussi, and Bartolomeo Bon. It was originally the home to one of the Scuole Grandi of Venice, or six major confraternities, but is now the city's hospital. It faces the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, one of the largest squares in the city.
The decade of the 1490s in art involved some significant events.
The Vendramin Family Venerating a Relic of the True Cross is a large painting by the 16th century Venetian master Titian and his workshop, executed in the early 1540s, and now in the National Gallery in London.
Lazzaro Bastiani was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active mainly in Venice.
The Madonna dell'Orto is a church in Venice, Italy, in the sestiere of Cannaregio. This was the home parish of Tintoretto and holds a number of his works as well as his tomb.
San Giovanni Grisostomo is a small church in the sestiere or neighborhood of Cannaregio, Venice.
The House of Vendramin was a rich merchant family of Venice, Italy, who were among the case nuove or "new houses" who joined the patrician class when the Libro d'Oro was opened after the battle of Chioggia. Andrea Vendramin served as the sole Vendramin Doge from 1476–78, at the height of Venetian power, though in 1477 an Antonio Feleto was imprisoned, then banished, for remarking in public that the Council of the Forty-One must have been hard-pressed to elect a cheesemonger Doge. In his youth, Andrea and his brother Luca, in joint ventures, used to ship from Alexandria enough goods to fill a galley or a galley and a half, Malipiero recorded in retrospect: even his factors grew rich managing his affairs. At this period, mentions of Vendramins in various fields of business occur; Luca Vendramin (d.1527) founded a successful bank on the still-wooden Rialto Bridge with three Capelli brothers in 1507, but in his will of 1524 forbade his sons from continuing in banking. An early text on accounting mentions that the Vendramins' soap is so reliably good that you can buy it without inspecting it. Later they owned an important theatre.
The Church of St Job is a 15th-century Roman Catholic church located overlooking the campo of the same name, known as Sant'Agiopo in Venetian dialect, on the south bank of the Cannaregio canal near Ponte dei Tre Archi in the sestiere of Cannaregio of Venice, northern Italy,
The Miracle of the Slave is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo Tintoretto, and is now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. It was originally commissioned for the Scuola Grande di San Marco, a confraternity in the city.
The Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni in Venice, northern Italy, was one of the city's confraternities, a scuola piccola located in the sestiere (neighborhood) of Castello, Venice. Its building has been preserved.
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The Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of S. Lorenzo is a tempera-on-canvas painting by Italian Renaissance artist Gentile Bellini, dating from c. 1500. It is now housed in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, in Venice.
The Miracle of the Cross at the Ponte di Rialto, also known as The Healing of the Madman, is a painting by Italian Renaissance artist Vittore Carpaccio, dating from c. 1496. It is now housed at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.
St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria is an oil painting by the Italian Renaissance artists Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, dated to 1504–1507, and held in the Pinacoteca di Brera, in Milan.
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