The basilica of Saints John and Paul (San Zanipoło in Venetian) is one of the most impressive medieval religious buildings in Venice, together with the basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. It rises in the field of the same name, in the Castello district. It is considered the pantheon of Venice thanks to the large number of Venetian doges and other important personalities who have been buried there since its foundation. In September 1922 Pope Pius XI elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica.
According to legend, the origins of the basilica are connected to a vision of Doge Jacopo Tiepolo, who donated the oratory of San Daniele to the Dominican friars in 1234, who had been present in the city for over ten years. The thirteenth-century church was immediately built, dedicated to the fourth-century Roman martyrs John and Paul. The increase in the activity of the Dominican friars soon imposed an expansion, which was directed by the two Dominican friars Benvenuto da Bologna and Nicolò da Imola; the construction site was closed in 1343, but the embellishment works still lasted almost a century: on 14 November 1430, the church was solemnly consecrated. In 1581, the monastery housed 35 religious and was one of the largest in the city. Since then it was continuously enriched with sepulchral monuments, paintings and sculptures by the greatest Venetian artists, until in 1807, in the middle of the Napoleonic age, the Dominicans were removed from their convent, transformed into a hospital, and the church was deprived of numerous works of art . In the night between 15 and 16 August 1867 a fire completely destroyed the annexed Scuola Grande del Rosario (now chapel), together with the paintings that were kept there. The restoration of this chapel was completed in 1959.
External
The church has a high salient façade, opened by a central
rose window and two lateral oculus. The lower part is characterized by
six large Gothic niches, which house some sepulchres, and by the large
portal, decorated with six Proconnesian marble columns transported here
in 1459. The authors of the work are Bartolomeo Bono up to the capitals,
the master Domenico Fiorentino for the frieze , and magister Luce for
the top part. The central body of the facade is crowned by three
particularly elaborate temple spiers: inside they house the effigies of
the three major Dominican saints while the statues of other dedicatees
are arranged at the four corners of the spires. In the center is Saint
Dominic with four saints of the order above him and the Eternal Father
on the top, on the left is Saint Peter the martyr with the evangelists
and the eagle of John, on the right is Saint Thomas Aquinas with four
doctors of the church and the Lion of St Mark.
On the side that
overlooks the campo are various buildings and chapels:
School of the
Name of Jesus, low rectangular building
chapel of the Name of Jesus,
in Gothic style, around which the original paving of the field has been
brought to light
semicircular apse of the chapel of the Madonna della
Pace
chapel of San Domenico
current building of the Dominican
convent (since 1810); it was originally the Scuola di Sant'Orsola, for
which Vittore Carpaccio painted the canvases with the Stories of Saint
Ursula (today kept in the Gallerie dell'Accademia).
On the back
you can admire the complex of apses, opened by very slender Gothic
windows, among the highest expressions of Venetian late Gothic. The
double cap dome (internal height: 41 m; external height 55.40 m) was
added at the end of the fifteenth century.
The plan is a Latin cross with a transept and three naves divided by huge cylindrical columns (except the fourth on the left and right, which are pillars formed by the union of three thinner cylindrical columns). The very high Gothic vaults are connected by wooden tie rods, which have the function of counteracting the thrusts generated by the cross vaults and arches. The dimensions are truly grandiose: 101.60 m long, 45.80 wide in the transept, 32.20 high. On the walls, entirely finished with a regalzier texture (fake brickwork), numerous monuments lean against the naves, and the chapels open to the right. Also on the transept there are two chapels on each side, which flank the presbytery. Until the 17th century, the main nave was divided transversely into two parts (as still happens today in the Basilica dei Frari) by the friars' choir, which was demolished to make room for the solemn celebrations that took place in this church, for example the funerals of the doges. The only remains of this monumental structure are the two altars (of Santa Caterina da Siena and San Giuseppe) which are located at the intersection between the nave and the transept, respectively on the right and on the left.
The entire counter-façade is occupied by monuments of the Mocenigo
family:
in the centre, above the portal, there is the monument to
doge Alvise I Mocenigo and his wife Loredana Marcello, begun in 1580 by
Girolamo Grapiglia and completed in 1646 by Francesco Contin
left,
funeral monument to doge Pietro Mocenigo, completed in 1481 by Pietro
and Tullio Lombardo. It is the first monument in which the Lombardos
deviate from tradition: the main innovation consists in the
tripartition, according to the model of the Roman triumphal arches.
Furthermore, the upright and proud position of the doge is innovative:
he is represented as having already risen, and therefore placed in line
with the statue of the risen Christ.
right, monument to doge Giovanni
Mocenigo, by Tullio Lombardo, completed in the first decade of the
sixteenth century. It is the Lombard sepulchral monument in which the
principles of Renaissance architecture are fully affirmed: the surfaces
are smooth and not invaded by decorations, the proportions are correct,
the capitals are a perfect copy of the composite capitals of the Arch of
Titus in Rome
on the floor, some large tombstones under which the
doges Alvise I, Alvise III Sebastiano, Alvise IV Giovanni Mocenigo are
buried.
Prospectus of Doge Renier Zen's urn, depicting the Redeemer supported
by two angels, in Byzantine style.
Renaissance altar with a Madonna
with Child and saints by a fifteenth-century artist, once attributed to
Giovanni Bellini. It was brought here in 1881 from the Gallerie
dell'Accademia after the original altarpiece, a masterpiece by Giovanni
Bellini, was destroyed in the fire in the Rosary chapel.
Monument to
Marcantonio Bragadin, Venetian hero flayed alive by the Turks after the
capture of Famagusta. What remained of his skin was brought here in
1596, and scientifically examined in 1961. The architecture is by
Scamozzi, the bust of a pupil of Vittoria, while the chiaroscuro, which
represents the Martyrdom of Bragadin is of uncertain attribution.
Altar dedicated to the Spanish Dominican San Vincenzo Ferrer. It is
adorned by the grandiose Polyptych of San Vincenzo Ferrer (1464-1470) by
Giovanni Bellini in nine compartments: in the central register are the
large figures of San Vincenzo, in the centre, of San Cristoforo on the
left and of San Sebastiano on the right. In the upper compartments the
dead Christ supported by angels is represented in the centre, and on the
sides the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin of the Annunciation, looking
upwards, where the lunette with the Eternal was originally located. In
the predella some miracles of Saint Vincent are depicted: on the left
the Saint saves a woman from a river and protects a woman and a child
from a collapse; in the centre, the Toledo Sermon, in which the saint
resurrects two dead men to bear witness to the truths he preaches; on
the right the Saint resurrects a child and frees some prisoners. Under
the polyptych are the remains of Blessed Tommaso Caffarini, confessor
and first biographer of Saint Catherine of Siena.
Monument of Senator
Louis Michel
Chapel of the Blessed Giacomo Salomoni, or of the
Name of Jesus, originally Gothic, brought to its current Baroque form in
1639.
It is adorned with a vault with paintings by Giovanni Battista
Lorenzetti and an altarpiece by Pietro Liberi depicting the Crucifixion
and the Magdalene.
On the altar is the body of the blessed Dominican
Giacomo Salomoni (Venice, 1231 - Forlì, 1314), invoked to protect
against tumors
On the side walls are two paintings by the Flemish
painter Pietro Mera: on the right the circumcision of Jesus and on the
left the Baptism of Christ.
On the floor in front of the chapel is
the niello sepulchral slab of the decemvir Alvise Diedo who saved the
Venetian fleet in Constantinople in 1453. Canova considered it "a true
jewel of art".
Valier Mausoleum, designed by Andrea Tirali.
Between four Corinthian columns there is a yellow marble drapery, on
which the statues of Doge Bertuccio stand out, flanked by those of Doge
Silvestro, on the left, and of Silvestro's wife, Dogaressa Elisabetta
Querini. The monument is completed by numerous statues and bas-reliefs
by the best Venetian sculptors of the time.
The bas-relief of the
base of the monument. The group on the right represents: Constance
(author unknown); Charity and Meekness by Pietro Baratta. The group on
the left represents: Peace by Antonio Tarsia, Value of the Unknown, and
Time by Giovanni Bonazza.
It is accessed from the arch on the right which opens under the
Valier Mausoleum. Above the altar is a Byzantine icon brought to Venice
in 1349. The ceiling: stuccos are the work of Ottaviano Ridolfi, the
four medallions are painted by Palma il Giovane, and represent the
virtues of San Giacinto. On the sides are two large canvases: on the
left San Giacinto crossing the Dnepr river, by Leandro da Bassano, and
on the right Flagellation of the Aliense.
Chapel of San Domenico
Built by Andrea Tirali (1690). The ceiling contains the canvas the Glory
of San Domenico (finished in 1727), by Piazzetta, one of the best works
of the Venetian eighteenth century. At the corners of the main painting,
four chiaroscuro roundels with the cardinal virtues, also by Piazzetta.
On the walls are six bas-reliefs depicting episodes from the life of San
Domenico: five, in bronze, are the work of Giuseppe Maria Mazza; the
sixth, in wood, is by Giobatta della Meduna.
It is dominated on the back wall by the grandiose Gothic window, with
colored glass, made by Giovanni Antonio Licinio known as da Lodi, on
cartoons attributed to Bartolomeo Vivarini, Cima da Conegliano and
Girolamo Mocetto. Below it you can see two Renaissance altars: the one
on the right is decorated with the Alms of Saint Antonino, an altarpiece
executed around 1542 by Lorenzo Lotto, the one on the left with Christ
between Saints Peter and Andrew, the work of Rocco Marconi. Also in the
centre, under a canopy, is the doge's chair (moved towards the center of
the left aisle). Above the door stands the monument to Dionigi Naldi,
who died in the service of the Republic during the War of the League of
Cambrai, the work of Antonio Minello.
On the side wall are the
Coronation of the Virgin by Giambattista Cima da Conegliano and the
monument with an equestrian statue in gilded wood of Niccolò Orsini
(died 1510), count of Pitigliano, who fought for the Republic of Venice
against the armies of the League of Cambrai, work attributed to Antonio
Minello. The leader, among other things, should not have been buried
here, but in his tomb prepared in the church of Santa Maria delle
Grazie, in Ghedi, where Orsini held his fiefdom.
Chapel of the Crucifix
With the exception of the white marble
crucifix by Francesco Cavrioli, the whole black altar is the work of
Alessandro Vittoria, even if he signs only on the bronze statues of the
Sorrowful Virgin and of San Giovanni Evangelista.
On the right wall,
the refined late sixteenth-century structure of the monument to the
English ambassador, Baron Odoardo Windsor, who died in 1574, is also
attributed to Vittoria or his circle.
On the left, the
fourteenth-century sarcophagus which is presumed to house the remains of
Paolo Loredan, procurator of Candia. In the absence of an inscription,
the supposition is generally supported by the central relief of the urn
with the eponymous saint. It is also assumed that, comparing the
softness of the reliefs on the urn - the Saint Paul in fact and the
Annunciation at the corners - with the rough figure of the buried
subject, however meticulous in the description of the armor, the hanging
urn is the work of two different anonymous lapicids .
The marble altarpiece - from the Paduan school but still linked to
the Lombard style - is a good example of the taste of the early
sixteenth century. Only the central statue of the Magdalene, by
Guglielmo Bergamasco, is extraneous as it comes from the altar of Verde
della Scala ai Servi.
On the right, monument to Vettor Pisani, only
the statue is original: the complex that was in the demolished church of
Sant'Antonio di Castello was freely rebuilt only in 1921. Although it is
an anonymous work, the statue by Pisani remains interesting, one of the
first representations (we are at the end of the fourteenth century) of
the deceased hero standing, alive in the authority of his warlike
outfit.
On the left are the fourteenth-century hanging urn by Marco
Giustiniani della Bragora,
Below this towards the opening of the
chapel is the obelisk monument to the painter Melchiorre Lanza to which
the Melanconia statue of Melchior Barthel was added, probably intended
for another purpose (Barthel died two years before Lanza).
Opened by the very high Gothic windows, splendidly illuminated
especially in the morning hours, it is punctuated by the very slender
ribs that meet in the keystone with the coat of arms of the Scuola
Grande di San Marco, which used to meet here. Starting from the right
wall there are:
monument to Doge Michele Morosini. The recumbent
figure of the doge is the work of the workshop of Pierpaolo and
Jacobello dalle Masegne. A large arch encloses a mosaic from the early
15th century depicting the Crucifix surrounded by saints who present the
doge and the dogaressa kneeling.
monument to doge Leonardo Loredan,
dated 1572. The architecture is by Girolamo Grapiglia; the statue of the
doge by Girolamo Campagna; the allegorical statues of Venice (on the
left), of the League of Cambrai (on the right), of Abundance and of
Peace (in the intercolumns) and the bas-reliefs are works by Danese
Cattaneo.
in the center is the grandiose high altar, begun in 1619 by
Mattia Carneri and finished by Baldassarre Longhena, a large triumphal
arch adorned with statues by Clemente Moli and Francesco Cavrioli.
funerary monument of doge Andrea Vendramin, mainly considered the work
of Tullio Lombardo, transported here in 1817 from the destroyed church
of the Servi. In this tomb Tullio worked independently from his father
Pietro: the decorations became less exuberant, giving the architecture a
more classic character, also confirmed by the roundels above the arch on
the model of the Arch of Augustus in Rimini. The structure was subject
to some modifications compared to the original configuration at the
Servi and which is known to us thanks to an engraving by Cicognara. In
the lateral niches the statues of Adam and Eve have been eliminated,
exchanged with the two statues of warriors that were placed on the
external piers, replaced in turn by the figures of Saints Margaret and
Magdalene (the work of Lorenzo Bregno and coming from the main altar of
Santa Marina). Today the statue of Adam has reached the Metropolitan
Museum while that of Eve only exists in a copy from the end of the 1500s
in the Correr Museum. In the same reconstruction, the two statues of
shield-bearing pages that adorned the ends of the upper frame were also
eliminated, today they are kept mutilated in the Bode-Museum in Berlin.
On the wall to the right of the monument, some remains of frescoes from
an older burial can be seen doubtfully attributed to Altichiero.
monument to Doge Marco Corner (d. 1368), with statues of the Madonna and
Child, St. Peter, St. Paul and two Angels by Nino Pisano (signed)
Chapel of the Trinity
Altarpiece of the same name by Leandro da
Bassano
On the left, the Risen Christ with the apostles Jacopo,
Tommaso, Filippo and Matteo da Giuseppe Porta
On the right, San
Domenico receives the Rosary with Catherine of Siena from Lorenzo
Gramiccia, and the tomb of the procurator Pietro Corner, who died in
1407.
Cappella Cavalli, or of San Pio V.
The altarpiece with
the pope promoter of the Holy League probably by Bartolomeo Litterini.
To the right is the fourteenth-century monument to commander Jacopo
Cavalli surrounded by the fresco Battle of Chioggia by Lorenzino di
Tiziano.
On the left you can see the Dolfin monument, the tomb of
Senator Marino Cavalli and the large canvas by Giuseppe Heintz with the
miracle of the mule of St. Anthony of Padua.
The back wall is decorated by the large clock above the door of the
Rosary Chapel, a work from the late 15th-early 16th century.
Above
the door is the fifteenth-century monument to Doge Antonio Venier,
attributed to Pierpaolo and Jacobello dalle Masegne.
On the left,
monument to Venier's wife, the dogaressa Agnese da Mosto, to their
daughter-in-law Petronilla de Tocco and to their niece Orsola Venier, a
work attributed to Filippo di Domenico and Gherardo di Mainardo and
erected by Nicolò Venier, son of the dogal couple, husband of Petronilla
and Orsola's father.
To the right stands the bronze statue of the
general da mar and doge Sebastiano Venier, winner of Lepanto. The
monument is a modern work by Antonio Dal Zotto, inaugurated in 1907 on
the occasion of the translation of the doge's remains from the church of
Santa Maria degli Angeli in Murano.
On the left wall stands the
equestrian monument to Leonardo Prato da Lecce, a Knight Hospitaller who
died in the service of the Serenissima fighting the French during the
war of the League of Cambai in 1511, a work by Antonio Minello from
1512-14 or, according to others, by Lorenzo Bregno or workshop.
A chapel dedicated to San Domenico had stood here since the fourteenth century, then replaced in 1582 by the chapel of the Scuola del Rosario, dedicated to the Madonna del Rosario, on whose anniversary (October 7, 1571) the battle of Lepanto took place. It burned in 1867 together with the masterpieces it contained: the gilded wooden ceiling with canvases by Tintoretto and Palma il Giovane, 34 other canvases, and above all the Martyrdom of St. Peter by Titian and the Madonna and Saints by Giovanni Bellini which were deposited for restoration. Following a long and troubled restoration process, it was inaugurated in 1922. The chapel is made up of a rectangular nave and a square presbytery, both covered by a carved ceiling by Carlo Lorenzetti inaugurated in 1932. The ceiling of the nave contains three masterpieces by Veronese brought here from the church of Umiltà alle Zattere: the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Assumption and the Annunciation. On the back wall another Adoration of the Shepherds, also by Veronese. On the right wall Jesus died by Giovanni Battista Zelotti, Jesus meets Veronica by Carlo Caliari, the beautiful Saint Michael defeats Lucifer, by Bonifacio de' Pitati. On the left wall: Martyrdom of Santa Cristina by Sante Peranda, Washing of the feet and Eucharistic supper by Benedetto Caliari, San Domenico saves sailors by inviting them to pray the rosary by Padovanino. The two side walls are flanked by wooden dossals by Giacomo Piazzetta (1698). The ceiling of the presbytery is decorated with other works by Veronese: in the center the quadriloba canvas of the Adoration of the Magi (1582), in the corners the four Evangelists. The altar is surmounted by a small square temple by Girolamo Campagna, inside which is the twentieth-century statue of the Madonna del Rosario, sculpted by Giovanni Dureghello in 1914. Ten eighteenth-century bas-reliefs were reassembled all around the altar after the fire. The rest of the presbytery is decorated with statues and bas-reliefs.
Starting from the transept you can mainly admire:
A
sixteenth-century altar, formerly part of the choir, with a San Giuseppe
from the school of Guido Reni
The organ built by Beniamino Zanin in
1912, inside a monumental case. The phonic design of the instrument was
supervised by the masters D. Thermignon and O. Ravanello. The Zanin
organ includes most of the phonic material belonging to the previous
instrument by Gaetano Callido, work 267 of 1790. A very important
feature is that the Principale register, on the façade, has a pipe 16'
longer, corresponding to C -1. It is the only Callidian work to have
this feature. In fact, the Principale 12', corresponding to F-1, could
be found as a base in the largest eighteenth-century Venetian organs.
The instrument has a mechanical transmission.
Under the choir loft,
three panels (San Domenico, Sant'Agostino, San Lorenzo) from 1473 by
Bartolomeo Vivarini, the remains of a nine-part polyptych dedicated to
Sant'Agostino.
Portal of the sacristy surmounted by the funeral
monument that Palma il Giovane erected for himself, his uncle Palma il
Vecchio and the master Tiziano.
Monument to Doge Pasquale Malipiero,
by Pietro Lombardo, from the late sixties of the fifteenth century. It
still mixes Gothic elements with classical elements: the general
structure, with pillars with entablature and lunette, recalls the
fifteenth-century Florentine monuments (in Santa Croce) by Leonardo
Bruni by Bernardo Rossellino and the one to Carlo Marsuppini by
Desiderio da Settignano, while the canopy, the corbels and the
intrusiveness of the decorations are features that can be found in
Venice in fourteenth-century sepulchral monuments.
Monuments to the
doge Michele Steno and to Alvise Trevisan († 1528) scholar and
benefactor – he left his very rich library to the convent – within two
arches. The latter is a sixteenth-century work by Bartolomeo Bergamasco,
and was joined only later to the other tomb, which is instead medieval.
Above the two arches are placed two statues from the church of Santa
Giustina, San Pietro Martire and Tommaso d'Aquino probably respectively
by Antonio Lombardo and Pietro Paolo Stella.
Monument to Senator
Giambattista Bonzio († 1508), above the Sten and Trevisan monuments,
erected in 1525 by Pietro Paolo Stella.
Equestrian monument in gilded
wood to General Pompeo Giustiniani, known as "braccio", a
seventeenth-century work by Francesco Terillio da Feltre.
Monument to
Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, a work by Pietro di Niccolò Lamberti and Giovanni
di Martino da Fiesole from 1423, which combines still Gothic elements
with Renaissance elements, as well as denoting a certain influence of
Donatello's art (especially in the warrior in the left corner of the
sarcophagus, which derives from the San Giorgio).
Monument to Doge
Nicolò Marcello, by Pietro and Tullio Lombardo, built between 1481 and
1485. Even more than in the monument by Pietro Mocenigo, here the
derivation from the Roman triumphal arches is evident, with the free and
advanced columns, the entablature in projecting above the capitals, and
the rounds above the arch, as in the arch of Augustus of Rimini.
Renaissance altar with an eighteenth-century copy by Carlo Loth of the
Martyrdom of St. Peter of Verona, Titian's masterpiece burned in 1867.
Baroque equestrian monument to the Perugian general Orazio Baglioni (†
1617), by an unknown author from the 17th century.
Monument to the
patriotic brothers Bandiera and Domenico Moro, whose bodies were
transferred here in 1867 from the Cathedral of Cosenza, the city where
they had been shot together with six other comrades in 1844.
Altar of
Verde della Scala by Guglielmo dei Grigi, executed in 1524 for the
church of the Servi, with the Assumption and the San Girolamo (not
pertinent) of 1576 by Vittoria.
Monument of Jean-Gabriel du
Chasteler.
Monument of Girolamo da Canal.
It is completely adorned with paintings which constitute a real
exaltation of the Dominican Order, executed between the end of the 15th
century and the beginning of the 17th century. The most important are
the Christ carrying the cross by Alvise Vivarini, the vast canvas by
Leandro da Bassano, in front of the door, Honorius III approving the
rule of San Domenico, the Crucifix adored by Dominican saints, on the
altar, by Palma il Giovane, and St Dominic and St Francis, above the
door, by Angelo Lion.
Francesco Fontebasso : Allegory of Faith.
On both sides of this work there are two paintings by Pietro Mera
depicting San Giovanni and San Polo, to whom the basilica is dedicated.
Andrea Vicentino: The dream of the Doge Jacopo Tiepolo and the donation
of the land of the basilica (1606). Above: Gian Sisto di Laudis,
Dominicana Portraits (ca.1610)
The Resurrection by Palma il Giovane
(1620).
Ceiling : The Virgin sending to earth, the two founders
Domenico and Francesco da Marco Vecellio.
It was built together with the adjacent church and was already
finished in 1293. It was rebuilt by Baldassare Longhena between 1660 and
1675. Today it houses the civil hospital of Venice. It is organized
around two cloisters and a courtyard. To the east is the friars'
dormitory, crossed by a very long corridor onto which the cells open.
The Longhena staircase is characterized by magnificent marble inlays;
the library still has the beautiful wooden ceiling by Giacomo Piazzetta
(1682), with paintings by Federico Cervelli. Illustrious friars of this
convent were the historian and theologian Girolamo da Forlì, who
obtained his licentiate in theology in Venice in 1391, and Francesco
Colonna, author of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
First cloister
Doge Marino Zorzi was buried in the cloister, his dogaressa was buried
next to him in 1320. The exact spot where Marino and his wife Agneta (or
Agnese) were buried was lost, so the friars affixed a commemorative
plaque.
Current convent
Currently the Dominican convent is
housed in what was once the Scuola di Sant'Orsola. The Dominican
community in Venice has as its mission, in addition to the pastoral care
of the parish, the promotion of cultural meetings, the preaching of the
Christian message through art and catechesis.