The Scuola Grande dei Carmini is a palace in Venice, located in the Dorsoduro district, in the Calle della Scuola which connects Campo Santa Margherita and Campo dei Carmini. It is the seat of the homonymous school of devotion and charity, more precisely Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di Santa Maria del Carmelo.
Founded in 1594 during the Venetian patriarchate of Lorenzo Priuli
and the doge of Pasquale Cicogna, and officially recognized under the
title of School of the Most Holy Dress of the Carmelite Madonna in 1597,
it was, only in 1767, the last school to have been recognized as "Great
by the Council of Ten.
The birth of the school is probably due to
the presence in those places, near the Carmelite convent, of a community
of women, already attested in the fourteenth century, called the Scuola
di Santa Maria del Monte Carmelo or Pinzochere dei Carmini. It was also
more popularly called Fraternita dell'abito as the activity of the group
was the confection of the scapulars. No more precise information is
known, except for the fact that they first met in the new church of
Santa Maria del Carmelo, at least from 1348, and from 1498 in a house
called the Hospice of the Madonna della Speranza. Furthermore, in the
early sixteenth century, they had papal authorization to use the altar
of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary (also known as that of S. Maria
Elisabetta), the third one in the right aisle of the same church, for
their own religious functions. Traces of it remain in the Mariegola of
the new School which, unlike the other older Venetian Schools,
explicitly admitted women among the members of the confraternity.
The purpose of the School was charitable works, such as assistance
to the poor and the sick or the "maritar donzele" with the due dowry, as
well as the purpose of solidarity among the members (something today
similar to insurance). The sustenance of the school was based on the
income from the growing real estate assets, on alms and testamentary
bequests, which must have been substantial if the moment of recognition
as Scuola Grande the confraternity could boast a heritage of 230,000
ducats. And on the other hand, around 1630, a dispute arose with the
friars of the convent which was resolved with the Avogadori de Comun
with the commitment of the Scuola to pay the convent 50 ducats annually
and to limit the number of seekers (those in charge of soliciting and
collect alms and bequests) three for Venice, one for the islands of the
lagoon and another for the church.
The confreres of the School
were all laymen, artisans and traders but also salaried workers and even
poor although to become confreres one had to pay a fee proportional to
one's availability, but in any case at one's discretion and with evident
effects in coming to be part of the circle of "majors ", and at least
one lira a year. However, the friars of the convent interfered
considerably in the activities of the school (starting with the choice
of the first Guardian Grande Bernardino Suardi) which, contrary to the
substantial consent expressed in the approval of the rule in 1597, in
1625 was decidedly censored by the Council of Ten reaffirming that
Venetian laws prevented the Clergy from participating in the decisions
of the Schools, especially as regards real estate acquisitions, and
going so far as to annul the election as Guardian Grande of Vincenzo
Suardi, a relative of the former.
The school was initially based
at the Altar of the Visitation (formerly of the Pinzocchere) in the
Carmini church which they immediately rebuilt, originally in wood, and
decorated with the altarpiece of the Virgin in Glory giving the Scapular
to San Simone Stock painted and donated by Veronesian Pace Pace, a
brother of the school and of which he was also Guardian Grande in 1618.
In 1599 they were able to rent a space in the adjacent Carmini
convent complex which in a short time proved insufficient for the needs
of the Scuola. In 1625, with the positive opinion of the Savi alle
Decime, to whom they undertook to pay the taxes, and the approval of the
Council of Ten, they were able to purchase the spaces to build their
headquarters by auction for 3500 ducats, part of the legacy of the
nobleman Guoro. These were small dilapidated buildings that affected an
"L"-shaped part of the current rectangular plan: the portion at the left
corner of the facade was occupied by the small building of the Pharmacy
with three arrows, with the shop on the ground floor and the of the
apothecary on the first floor.
In 1627, on a project by the
architect Francesco Caustello, construction began, slowed down slightly
by a judicial conflict over neighborhood issues with the N.H. Civran
heir of Guoro, dispute definitively resolved in 1636 with the purchase
of the nearby Civran properties for 8,000 ducats. Much more serious and
tragic was the suspension of work due to the plague of 1630, which could
only be resumed at the end of the year. The building, complete with the
chapel and the overlying chapter houses and archives, was inaugurated in
October 1638. The large canvas of the Assumption of the Virgin by
Alessandro Varotari had already been installed on the ceiling of the
Chapter Room, moved in the eighteenth century to the Sala dell'Albergo,
and the polychrome marble floors had been finished.
In 1668 the
opportunity arose to purchase the Farmacia alle tre Freccia, and in the
same year the conspicuous bequest of N.H. Barbaro Badoer who would have
allowed an easier continuation of the works. The works began the
following year, this time under the direction of Baldassare Longhena,
and ended in 1670. What the then seventy-year-old Longhena's
intervention consisted of is not very clear: whether it was limited to
connecting the existing with the new or if it has made substantial
design changes. The only certain conception is that of the monumental
staircase with its large portals towards the chapel and the chapter,
although the name of Antonio Gaspari, a pupil and collaborator of
Longhena, is mentioned for the execution.
At the end of the
seventeenth century the Scuola was completely usable but in addition to
the marble altars and the ceiling of the Sala Capitolare completed in
1674 with the stuccos, which were later demolished, it was rather poor
in furnishings and particularly in paintings which instead thickly
decorated the other Schools. The confreres, aware that the first mission
was charity, carried out their first jobs economically relying on
lesser-known painters and some still unknown: this is the case, for
example, of the two paintings by Amedeo Enz in the Sala Capitolare. At
the beginning of the eighteenth century they resolved to ask for
authorization from the Avogadori de Comun to be able to budget for the
creation of new paintings and decorations. The Avogadori, after an
inspection, agreed with the need and authorized the expenses. Thus began
a vast iconographic program which first saw the completion in 1703-4 of
the paintings on the walls of the Chapter and Albergo rooms, and then
with a relatively more rapid pace the realization of the altarpiece of
the stucco chapel of the staircase (1728- 1729), the paintings by Nicolò
and Giovanni Bambini on the walls of the chapel (1733-1739), the
remaking of the ceiling of the Sala Capitolare by Tiepolo (1640-1649),
finally with the entire cycle designed by Zompini for the Sala of the
Archive and for the ceiling of the Sala dell'Albergo (1748-1753).
Following the Napoleonic decrees, the school was suppressed for the
first time in 1806 but was immediately reconstituted with the
authorization of the Department of the Adriatic. In 1807 it was
definitively suppressed and its real estate passed to the state property
while the treasury took care of confiscating 14 cases of various
precious items destined to be melted down and transformed into currency.
However, in a letter from the Prefect of the Adriatic to the parish
priest, on the one hand the prohibition on incorporating oneself into
society was reaffirmed, but which "does not prevent particular devotees
depending on the parish priest from participating in pious practices and
religious functions by impulse of spontaneous zeal", the Scuola was
therefore able to survive, from a legal point of view, in an
illegitimate way. With the Austrian occupation, the meshes were less
tight and in 1840 the Patriarch Monico sent the Austrian government the
request of the brothers to form themselves an Archconfraternity. In
1853, after the approval of the Emperor, it was officially reconstituted
and placed under the control of the Church rather than the civil
government. During the subsequent Italian government, the
Archconfraternity continued to be recognized and classified as IPAB in
1921, to then follow all the republican legislative updates. In 1938,
Patriarch Piazza reconsecrated the building of the School, making it
officially used again for worship.
The School continues its
activity even today, being the site of cultural initiatives, as well as
an important museum site.
The facade of the Scuola Grande dei Carmini, in Baroque style, faces
south and overlooks the south-western edge of Campo Santa Margherita,
while the only other side not covered by other buildings faces west,
parallel to the left aisle of the church dei Carmini and visible from
Campo dei Carmini.
The whiteness of the two facades is due to
their surface in Istrian stone and contrasts with the black of the thick
wrought iron grates, which close off every window of the building.
The monumental main facade develops on two levels enclosed by conspicuous cornices and pentapartite by smooth paired Corinthian semi-columns set on high mirrored bases. The partition into five follows the objective of reconstructing a symmetrical unity to the facade and does not have an exact correspondence with the internal structure. The three openings on the two floors on the right correspond to the chapel and the chapter house already finished in 1638, the two on the left are due to an addition following the acquisition in 1667 of the Pharmacy building at the three arrows which occupied the whole corner left. The latter construction, unlike the previous portion, is internally divided into three floors and internally the large windows are partially blind. On the ground floor, raised by three steps, there are two arched portals with an angelic mask in key, surmounted by arched tympanums broken by an empty niche. The three arched windows are interposed between them, with key female masks, surmounted by a triangular tympanum. The upper floor takes up the same structure repeating the cadence of the openings, only those corresponding to the portals are larger and the arch fits into the broken arched tympanum on the architrave.
The lateral facade, slightly lower than the main one, develops on three levels, corresponding to the internal division. It is connected to the main facade by a simple smooth rib on the corner. On the ground floor, with a smooth ashlar facing, there are two arched portals with an angelic mask and surrounded by mirrored Ionic semi-pillars that support the tympanum, flanked by four small quadrangular windows cut directly into the ashlar and closed at the top by a flat band sloping towards the center of the hole. The first floor is instead characterized by a series of eight arched windows interrupted at the portals, by false niches with a shell-shaped basin and a female mask finally covered by an arched and broken tympanum on the architrave. On the second floor, in close correspondence to the one below, there is an uninterrupted series of ten arched windows interspersed with Corinthian semi-pillars.
Internally, the Scuola dei Carmini preserves works of art,
furnishings and decorations of inestimable artistic value in the rooms
of their original location. Typical works of the tradition of the
Venetian schools, mostly stripped at the time of the Napoleonic edicts.
Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmelo and Sacristy
To the right of
the ground floor, there is a large chapel, in Baroque style, with a
single nave and covered by a thick wooden beam, dedicated to Santa Maria
del Carmelo, protector of the confraternity.
Inside a short niche
opened by a conspicuous triumphal arch is the high altar, in the
superstructure closed by a curved and broken tympanum on the architrave
is the altarpiece of the Madonna del Carmelo by Sante Piatti (1728). On
the sides of the altar are the two large eighteenth-century busts in
carved and painted faux marble wood of San Simone Stock and the Virgin,
attributed to Giacomo Piazzetta. The rest of the room, where the marble
frames of the doors and windows leave space, is entirely decorated with
grisaille paintings by Niccolò Bambini, helped by his son Giovanni,
mainly dedicated to the Marian cult and executed between 1733 and 1739:
on the counter-façade the 'Annunciation divided into two compartments on
either side of the door above which is an Eternal Father; on the right
wall the Assumption of the Virgin and the Rest in Egypt; on the left
wall the Circumcision of Jesus followed by the three allegories of the
theological virtues, first Faith then, close above the portals of the
staircase, Hope and finally Charity; the other minimal spaces, such as
the narrow vertical bands between the windows and the altar or the
corners, are covered by cherubs and glories of angels and above each
window is a cherub.
From the end to the left of the chapel, a
service corridor leads to the sacristy, a small room covered by a finely
crafted barrel vault and embellished with original wooden furnishings.
On the left wall of the chapel stands the harmonic marble composition of the portals towards the grand staircase and the corridors leading to the doors towards the church and Campo dei Carmini. In the centre, inside a tripartite structure of four Corinthian pilasters and limited by the entablature, are the two large access openings to the monumental arched staircase with a key female mask. They are divided by a false niche also closed in the keystone by a female mask and surmounted by a rich garland. On the sides of the central structure are the two lower, entablatured openings towards the corridors, correlated by the correspondence of the entablature to the wings of the central arches. mezzanine on a single ramp. It was built by Antonio Gaspari certainly based on the conception of his master Baldassarre Longhena. The fine white and gilded stuccos (1728-29) that decorate the barrel vaults of the ramps and the mezzanine corridor with cherubs, female or monstrous masks, sirens, eagles and plant motifs, are the work of Alvise Bossi from Lugano, active in Venice in the first decades of the eighteenth century. In the last ramp the stuccos become more refined and rarefied and the three medallions are completed by the three theological Virtues, frescoed by Sante Piatti (1733).
Located on the second floor, it is the most representative room as it
is intended for plenary meetings, such as those for the election of
government bodies, but also for large ceremonies of city importance.
Corresponding in position and size, if not for the greater depth of the
niche of the altar, to the underlying chapel, it is enriched in all its
parts by the most precious works. Among these, the ceiling with
paintings by Giambattista Tiepolo is particularly famous, framed by
precious stuccos with cherubs, plant motifs and mixtilinear moldings by
Abbondio Stazio.
On the back wall, inside a large and luminous
niche, also opened by a triumphal arch embellished with gilding and
stucco angels on the spandrels (by Abbondio Stazio), is the altar. A
precious architecture composed of two structures in purplish and white
marble surmounted by tympanums, one inside the other with a refined
perspective effect of depth, and in front of a false niche the large
statue of the Virgin with Child offering the scapular, work
seventeenth-century by Bernardo Falcone (1659). Also precious are the
stuccoes of the Holy Spirit in glory of cherubs and putti applied to the
rear lunette and the internal vault, also the work of Stazio.
On the ceiling, framed by the stuccos of Stazio, are the nine
canvases of the cycle by Giambattista Tiepolo. The assignment was given
to him in 1739 and should have been delivered by Christmas 1740 for the
central compartment and within another six months for the side
compartments but he postponed for the latter until 1744 while the
central panel was delivered in 1749. Initially Tiepolo he hesitated in
accepting the assignment which only envisaged the creation of new
side-paintings of the Assumption of the Virgin by Alessandro Varotari
already in situ. In the end it was decided to move the telero of the
Assumption to the hall of the Albergo and the stuccoes (made in 1664-74
by Domenico Bruni from Brescia to frame it), incompatible with the new
arrangement, were demolished. Tiepolo presented and discussed with the
brothers two proposals, one of only five canvases and the other of nine
corresponding to the existing one, except for some variations during
construction.
The large central rectangular canvas represents the
main devotional theme of the school: The Virgin in Glory delivers the
scapular to St. Simon Stock, or the story of the vision had by the then
Prior General of the Carmelites in 1251. The composition is
energetically enlivened by the diagonals of the composition and
enlivened by the contrasts of light and shadow. Vertically in the center
but shifted to the right, the convulsive group of angels, cherubs and
cherubs who support and accompany the Virgin and Child appears in the
break in the clouds, one of the lower angels offers the scapular. Simone
Stock is instead towards the bottom right, dressed in the white and
brown of the Carmelite estate, kneeling on the solid and earthy corner
of a temple, with his head lowered as a sign of respect and with his
hands open in an almost surprised attitude; another angel, backlit to
the left, offers him the cloak. Under all, at the base, the mysterious
scene of open tombs, bones and bodies, perhaps a reference to the
resurrection of bodies into eternal life.
The canvases in the
corners are dedicated to allegories of the virtues, both the theological
and the cardinal ones but also a choice of accessory virtues. The theme
refers to the fact that all the virtues are possessed by the Virgin but
also that men, and therefore the confreres of the School, can aspire to
attain them. This possibility is underlined by the representation of the
allegories, silhouetted against the open sky, but resting on earthly
architectural structures. According to tradition, but with brilliant
compositional imagination, they are always represented by female figures
with different attributes, sometimes semi-hidden, mainly young and with
lowered gaze. An ideal path can be created starting from the right
towards the counter-façade and continuing clockwise. In the first group
of the theological Virtues towers Faith which supports the large cross
and with the other hand raises the sacramental chalice, seated at her
feet is Charity who draws the children to herself, dressed in red and
with the flame of ardor shines above his head, Hope appears from behind
in the dim light and remains adamant still. The second group towards the
counter-façade on the left represents three accessory virtues: the
half-hidden Penance is older and carries a rough wooden cross while a
putto gives her a branch from above as a scourge; in the foreground is
Humility dressed in white with a tender lamb in her arms and her feet
resting on an inverted crown and a scepter; to the right of the back is
Chastity, semi-nude holding a large sieve. Towards the altar on the left
are two Cardinal Virtues as if in dialogue with each other: Justice
dressed in gold – but not crowned – holds her sword upright and her
scales are foreshortened; the Fortitude turns its head towards the
other, it is not fully armed - unlike in use - it only holds the helmet
in its arms and the spear is abandoned below, it rests its hand in a
dialogue attitude on the column at whose feet stands a lion – two other
of his classic attributes – while a putto with a laurel branch plays
with the beast. Finally towards the altar on the left are the other two
cardinal Virtues accompanied by another accessory: Prudence bears all
her attributes – the double face, the mirror and the snake – but she is
significantly shown in movement; lying on the ground is Purity, a young
girl dressed in white with a white dove in her hands; in the background
from behind is Temperance caught in the act of pouring from one jug to
another jug, in this case hidden.
The four paintings placed along
the sides show less canonical themes but linked to topics dear to the
School and therefore to the miraculous properties of the scapular.
Approached to the short sides of the central canvas, the painting
towards the counter-façade represents a glory of angels carrying the
school's Mariegola book and parchment rolls with a hanging bubble, while
the one towards the altar shows other angels carrying a scapular and a
bunch of lilies. The dynamic scene on the canvas next to the long side
on the left of the larger canvas evokes one of the miracles performed by
virtue of the scapular: a young mason who is falling from a scaffolding
is saved by an angel holding the scapular in his hand: the scene is
marked from the lightness of the angel who supports, embracing him, the
young man opposed to the agitated and convulsive figure of the latter in
terror of falling. The last canvas placed on the right an angel makes
clear reference to the Sabatine Bull, issued in 1322 by Pope John XXII
and reaffirmed in 1532 by Pope Clement VII, which stated that the soul
of anyone who wore the Scapular would ascend from purgatory to heaven on
the Saturday following the death. Thus we have, in front of an angelic
group illuminated by a heavenly golden light, an angel with a fluttering
red robe shows that he hands the Scapular to two souls wrapped in the
penumbra of purgatory.
Also worthy of attention is the execution
of the stucco decoration of the ceiling, the work of Abbondio Stazio
with the collaboration in the gilding of Carpoforo Mazzetti, another
decorator from Ticino. The mixtilinear framing of the canvases repeated
in pink and green squares, but also the calm vegetable or shell
decorations or the classically feminine faces that act as a counterpoint
to the very lively, but not intrusive, cherubs, suggest a design
competition by Tiepolo.
The walls
To complete the decoration of the room, numerous canvases were placed on the walls above the wooden stalls as early as the end of the seventeenth century, when the ceiling by Padovanino was still present. Their dark colors, typical of Venetian painting of that period, contrast with the luminosity of Tiepolo's intervention. On the counter-facade are the oldest paintings, two canvases by Amedeo Enz[46] installed in 1679 and dedicated to two popes of notable importance for the Carmelite orders: Pope Paul V receives the Spanish ambassador and Pope John XXII receives from Maria the scapular. On the right wall, facing the entrance, is the series of three miracles attributed to the Madonna del Carmelo painted by Antonio Zanchi: the Miracle of the well, where a little girl is saved after spending eight days at the bottom of a well; the miraculous healing of the prince of Sulmona, who was wounded in the thigh by a spear during a tournament and miraculously healed; the miraculous healing of a poor sick person recalls the School's mission to the poor and sick. On the wall of the staircase are three paintings by Gregorio Lazzarini from 1704: the large canvas of the Adoration of the Magi and the two canvases of the Angels who call the shepherds, shaped around the complex marble frames of the portals.
The room, particularly illuminated by the uninterrupted series of
windows overlooking the Campo dei Carmini, is decorated with a refined
inlaid floor of polychrome marble with designs of stars with a relief
effect. The stalls and wardrobes with panels decorated with volutes,
floral motifs and masks are interspersed with twelve caryatids, almost
in the round, depicting saints and prophets by Giacomo Piazzetta - the
father of Giovanni Battista. For the pictorial decoration of this room,
a competition was announced by the Guardian Grande in 1744 and won after
two years by Gaetano Zompini. Zompini created only a part of the works,
while most were painted by Giustino Manescardi who disciplinedly
maintained the thematic homogeneity and the same chromaticism.
The walls
The upper part of the walls is decorated with a cycle of
biblical-themed canvases featuring women, with a clear Marian reference.
In the small extension that acts as an antechamber between the Albergo
and the Sala dell'Archivio is the only canvas by a different author and
with a different chiaroscuro effect, the remarkable painting Judith and
Holofernes by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. Particular is the
iconographic choice of the author, which can be found in this painting
similarly as in his others of the same theme at the Accademia di San
Luca, at Palazzo Corsini and another in a private collection, to avoid
the common bloody representations and present Judith meditatively
observing Holofernes fell asleep just before killing him. On the back
wall are Abigail placating King David by Giustino Menescardi and Rebecca
at the well by Gaetano Zompini. On the wall adjacent to the Sala
Capitolare, the Martyrdom of the Maccabees by Giustino Menescardi is
shaped around the portal, where the female presence is given by the
suffering figure of the mother forced to witness the execution of her
children. On the wall towards the Sala dell'Albergo is another work by
Gaetano Zompini, Esther faints in front of Assuero.
The ceiling
The iconographic project of the ceiling is also by the
Venetian painter Gaetano Zompini, but completely painted by Menescardi.
The conspicuous carved wooden lacunar partition that frames should have
been gilded but remained unfinished. In the center is the canvas of The
Virgin appears to the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel: here too the
Virgin hands the Scapular to Elijah, who tradition has it as the
inspirer of the Carmelite order; the third character is probably the
prophet Elisha. On the marginal compartments plus the one above the
antechamber, with various shapes, mixtilinear, oval or angular, there
are nine canvases representing the Sibyls holding up tables, books or
scrolls that identify them and report hints of their prophecies
announcing the Virgin and Christ.
From the Sala Capitolare, through the door on the left of the
staircase, one enters the Sala dell'Albergo. The Hall, unlike tradition,
was not used for hospitality of the poor and pilgrims but for chancery
meetings. Illuminated by the square cut-out of the large windows of the
south façade and this one too by the long lateral mullioned window, it
is decorated with a floor with inlaid polychrome marble similar to those
in the archive and surrounded by walnut stalls. The stalls are richly
carved with panels formed by semi-columns surmounted by a broken arched
tympanum flanked by vertical festoons supported by putto heads and
interspersed with the highest semi-columns which support the closing
cornice. The hall is also used as a small museum of the Scuola: the
ancient banner of the Scuola is displayed and the ancient silver
furnishings and other sacred vestments are displayed in four showcases.
The ceiling
The elaborate wooden frame of the ceiling, the work
of Francesco Lucchini (c. 1740), developed in lighter volumes tending
towards the rococo taste, has unfortunately remained incomplete of the
paintings and gilding. In the center was the Assumption of the Virgin
created between 1634 and 1636 by Alessandro Varotari known as
Padovanino, moved from the Sala Capitolare when Tiepolo was commissioned
to remake it. Approached in the center is the Virgin pushed by winged
cherubs towards the Father and the Son in the light of the sky; on all
sides she crowns a glory of musician angels and on the side opposite the
Madonna an old man with an olive branch represents the prophet Elijah,
considered the biblical progenitor of the Carmelites.
In the
minor compartments placed on the sidelines are the canvases by Giustino
Menescardi (1751-53) carried out on the same project by Zompini which
also included the Sala dell'Archivio. The decision to paint the four
Evangelists, in the mixtilinear compartments arranged in a cross on the
sides is rather canonical, the addition to the corners of as many
prophets in the ovals on the corners is peculiar: an option of Marian
worship specific to the School. David is to recall the genealogy of the
Virgin and the other three are to recall with their prophecies the
theological privileges of Mary: Isaiah in reference to virginal
motherhood, Jeremiah in reference to divine motherhood and Ezekiel in
reference to virginity after childbirth.
The walls
Above the
stalls, the room is entirely covered with paintings that partially
pre-existed the completion of the ceiling and has less intention of
iconographic homogeneity than the other rooms. On the wall between the
two windows of the south facade are three canvases by an anonymous
artist from the early eighteenth century; the Virgin of the scapulars,
the Allegory of Venice kneeling before the Virgin and the Presentation
of Jesus in the temple. On the wall around the portal towards the Sala
Capitolare the two episodes of the Dream of Joseph and the Rest in Egypt
painted by Antonio Balestra in 1703, remarkable for their compositional
ability and strong chromaticism certainly inspired by the Roman studies
with Carlo Maratta. On the wall adjacent to the Archive Room, the Virgin
delivers the scapular to Sant'Alberto degli Abati, by an anonymous
17th-century author, and the Adoration of the Shepherds (1697) by
Ambrogio Bon, composed between the luminosity of the divine figures and
the degrading from the chiaroscuro to the dim light of the bystanders.