The Dalmatian School of Saints George and Trifone, also known as the School of San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, is a building in Venice located in the Castello district. The institution was founded in 1451 to assist Dalmatians residing in Venice or passing through the city. Unlike other Venetian schools of devotion and crafts, it has a national character and is one of only two schools - together with the Scuola Grande di San Rocco - to have maintained uninterrupted activity up to the present day. Its interior is adorned with a series of important works of art, including a famous pictorial cycle by Vittore Carpaccio.
Since the remotest times of the Serenissima, commercial relations
with Dalmatia, on the opposite shore of the Adriatic, had proved to be
very important for the development of Venice's growing influence in the
historical-political panorama of the time. These relations became even
closer after the passage of the whole of Dalmatia under Venetian rule at
the beginning of the 15th century. On March 24, 1451, two hundred
Dalmatians residing in Venice met in assembly in a hall of the Hospital
of Santa Caterina - owned by the Gerosolimitani - in the Castello
district, to proceed with the election of the heads of the direction of
the confraternity to be established among the Dalmatians, necessary
premise to be able to obtain authorization and civil recognition from
the Council of Ten.
The hall where the first assembly took place
was the seat for the first century of the existence of the brotherhood,
frequented by both resident and passing Dalmatians, mostly workers and
sailors. The patron saints of the Dalmatian community were St. George,
St. Tryphon and St. Jerome, to whom were added St. Matthew on 24 April
1502, when the brotherhood received a solemn ceremony of his relic
donated by Paolo Vallaresso, former Provveditore of the Republic in
Corone and Medon in Cyprus, overthrown by the Ottoman Turks.
It
was for this location that between 1502 and 1507 Vittore Carpaccio
painted a cycle of canvases with the Stories of the patron saints of the
brotherhood, still visible in the lower hall of the Scuola.
At
the beginning of the 16th century, the community erected the current
site at its own expense, making use of the project by Giovanni De Zan
for the Sansovino-style façade. In addition to the famous Carpacciano
pictorial cycle, over the centuries the rooms were enriched with various
other paintings, decorations and ornaments.
The School was one of
the rare religious institutions which, by way of derogation from the
Napoleonic suppression decree, managed to keep its artistic heritage
intact and on site.
Outside, on the facade above the entrance, is the relief of St.
George slaying the Dragon (1552) by Pietro da Salò and, above this,
another relief of the Virgin enthroned between Sts John the Baptist and
Catherine of Alexandria (mid-14th century) by Venetian sculptor.
Internal
The ground floor room, with a rectangular plan and not large
in size, was restructured towards the middle of the 16th century, when
the telèri of Vittore Carpaccio, previously present on the upper floor,
were placed. The room shows a particular ceiling with decorated beams
and has, along the four walls of the room, the remarkable paintings of
the Carpaccio cycle of paintings:
Stories of the saints Girolamo,
Giorgio, Trifone, 1502-1507, tempera on wood
Saint Augustine in his
study, 1502, 141x210 cm
Saint Jerome and the lion in the convent,
1502, 141x211 cm
Funeral of Saint Jerome, 1502, 141x211 cm
St.
George and the Dragon, 1502, 141x360cm
Triumph of Saint George, 1502,
141x360 cm
Baptism of the Selenites, 1507, 141x285 cm
St. Tryphon
taming the basilisk, 1507, 141x300 cm
The sources for these
Stories were the Golden Legend of Jacopo da Varagine, the Catalogus
sanctorum et gestorum eorum of Pietro de' Natali and the Jeronimo vita
et transitus, printed in Venice in 1485.
To these seven teleri
must be added the two evangelical stories that are not properly part of
the cycle:
Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, 1502, 141x107 cm
Calling of Saint Matthew, 1502, 141x115 cm
In these works Carpaccio
developed his language with greater confidence, which led him to paint
freer and more varied compositions, with a dense and calculatedly
harmonious use of color.
Above the altar is the altarpiece with
the Madonna enthroned with Child and angels, a work by some historians
attributed to Benedetto Carpaccio, while by others to his father
Vittore.
The room on the upper floor, known as the Albergo room
and also small in size, is characterized by a wooden ceiling with
painted decorations, the work of Bastian de Muran and by the placement
along the walls of various paintings from the Palm school. It has an
altar with the patron saints of the Scuola and on its sides two gilded
tables: San Girolamo and San Trifone (15th century).