The church of the Purification of Mary known as Santa Maria Formosa
is a religious building in the city of Venice, in the Castello district,
on the edge of the San Marco district. It overlooks the field of the
same name.
Campo Santa Maria Formosa is one of the largest in
Venice and is located on an island bordered by the canals of Santa Maria
Formosa, Pestrin, San Giovanni Laterano and Mondo Novo.
The
church is part of the Chorus Venezia association.
According to tradition, it was erected in 639 by San Magno di Oderzo,
to whom the Virgin with a vague shape had appeared, who indicated this
place for the construction of the church dedicated to her. Its
construction was financed by the Tribuno patrician family; took the name
of Purification of the Blessed Virgin. But even then it would have
received its current name, due to the vague shape of the Madonna that
appeared to the Saint; obviously all this is a combination of history
and legend, because the oldest written documentation dates back to 1060
only. The ancient church was renovated in 864 and, after a fire, in
1106.
Once a year the Doge went to pray in this church, on the
day of the Purification of Mary, to commemorate the liberation by the
members of the Scuola dei Casseleri of twelve girls kidnapped by the
Narentine pirates. From this event was also born the Festa delle Marie,
a popular festival still present in Venice.
As the building was
in a state of decline, the church was rebuilt in 1492 by Mauro Codussi,
already the author of other churches in Venice, in the style of the
early Renaissance, partially maintaining the ancient Greek cross layout.
Codussi died in 1504 without finishing his work. Later, in 1542, the
Cappello family financed the construction of both facades: the first,
the one overlooking the rio, is in a classic style; the second, on the
field, is Baroque (1604).
Following the damage caused by an
earthquake, probably that of Argenta in 1624, the merchant of
Piedmontese origin Turin Tonon financed a restoration of the church by
also having two large funeral monuments built to a design by Giovanni
Comin and executed by himself and by the future architect Dominic Rossi.
In addition to the reinforcement of the facades, the program envisaged
an arrangement of the drum of the dome and the decoration of the
ceilings of the transepts and the nave with four canvases made by
Gregorio Lazzarini, Antonio Zanchi, Marco Marangoni and Antonio
Molinari.
The church remained collegiate and matrix (at least
from the 13th century) until 1807 when, with the Napoleonic suppression,
it lost its titles but the suppressed parishes of San Lio and Santa
Marina were aggregated.
In the first half of the 19th century,
the parish priest Bartolomeo Cecchini decided to clear the main chapel
of the monuments of the Tonon family (today only the busts scattered on
the walls of the transepts remain) and to pierce the octagonal drum of
the dome with four other windows.
During the First World War, on
the night of August 9, 1916, the church was hit by an Austrian
bombardment. In the fire the presbytery, the right transept and the nave
were left uncovered, thus the organ and the canvases on the ceilings
were lost, except for that of Molinari. In the subsequent arbitrary
restoration, by the engineer Giovanni Scolari in 1926, the drum under
the dome was also eliminated.
Mauro Codussi built on the original Greek cross, the Latin plan with three naves, with a presbytery flanked by two minor chapels on each side, and large chapels on the sides of the minor naves made more airy by the large lateral mullioned windows with which they communicate with each other and with the transept. Inside, the Brunelleschi theme of the gray stone architectural elements that stand out against the white plaster was taken up again.
West facade (main)
The façade (from 1542) was commissioned by the
Cappello family to honor Admiral Vincenzo Cappello, who died in 1541. Of
a classical appearance, it is tripartite by bundles of mirrored
Corinthian semi-pillars placed in pairs on high bases and closed, above
the high entablature, from a large tympanum crowned by vase-shaped
acroteria. The Ionic columns of the portal support the admiral's funeral
monument, presented standing with the baton of command above an
elaborate urn, signed by the sculptor Domenico di Pietro Grazioli. Arms
and armor are presented on the two medallions in the center of the bases
and the Cappello coat of arms is exhibited in the center of the
tympanum.
North facade
The north-facing facade (from 1604) was
also commissioned by the Cappellos. It is divided into two levels, the
first is pentapartite by a minor order of Ionic pilasters which enclose
blind arches on the sides. The second level is connected to the first by
two Corinthian and mirrored pillars of the major order on which the
tympanum is set. Two trabeated wings followed by two convex curved wings
close the level. A statue of the Virgin and four of Virtues are crowned.
In the central partition there is a large portal which reiterates the
minor order on semi-columns, above the broken tympanum of the large one
and in front of the rose window the bust of a hat. Two other busts of
the family are placed above the mirrors of the trabeated wings.
Bell tower
The original Baroque-style bell tower (completed in 1688)
was begun and designed by the priest Francesco Zucconi in 1611 separated
from the church by the small buildings once belonging to the Scuola dei
Frutarioli and the Scuola dei Casselleri. Set on two bands of several
courses of ashlar, the first tapered and rustic the second smooth, it
continues with a decoration of plaster gaps up to the clock faces that
decorate the four sides under the belfry. The cell has balustraded
windows with keystone masks and is surmounted by arched tympanums.
Above, a first drum with a complex plan supports a balustrade that
surrounds another octagonal drum. The complex octagonal pinnacle is
topped by cherubs supporting the cross. A monstrous grotesque head was
placed on the keystone of the entrance door of the bell tower, which it
was believed could prevent the entrance of the devil to enjoy ringing
the bells. The ironic cut of the sculpture suggests a light-hearted
Venetian attitude towards this tradition in times of interdict, but
precisely for this reason the mask was highly censored by John Ruskin
and considered the prototype of all similar friezes (even previous
ones).
Right aisle
At the beginning of the nave we find a 16th century
baptistery above which has been placed the painting of the Circumcision
of Jesus by Bellini attributed to Vincenzo Catena.
In the first
chapel, the Triptych by Bartolomeo Vivarini (signed and dated 1473)
which represents the Virgin of Mercy in the centre, the meeting between
Gioacchino and Anna on the left and the Birth of the Virgin on the
right. Probably executed for the high altar of the old church it is now
remounted on a Baroque altar. On the right wall there is an Eternal
Father and angels by Lazzaro Bastiani and on the opposite one a small
bas-relief with the dead Christ.
In the second chapel, above a
Baroque altar with an elaborate marble frontal in relief, is the Madonna
in Pietà and St. Francis of Assisi by Jacopo Negretti known as Palma il
Giovane.
Right transept
On the right wall above the mullioned
window the Last Supper by Leandro Bassano (early 17th century).
On
the back wall around the door is the rich funeral monument of the
Hellemans family (after 1638): in the centre, supported by Ionic
columns, the urn of Guglielmo and above the lateral partitions the busts
of Guglielmo and his brother Antonio. The Hellemans were a wealthy
merchant family from Antwerp who settled in Venice.
Chapel of the
School of Bombers
A large Baroque altar, replacing the original,
contains the large polyptych by Palma il Vecchio, perhaps his most
famous work (early 16th century). The paintings present in the center
the figure of Santa Barbara, on the right below, Sant'Antonio Abate and,
above, San Vincenzo Ferreri, on the left below, San Sebastiano, and
above, San Giovanni Battista, in the cymatium is depicted a Compassion.
Giuseppe Torretti executed the marble frontal depicting the Martyrdom of
Santa Barbara (18th century).
Right apse chapel (Cappella Querini
or San Lorenzo Giustiniani)
The conspicuous structure of the apse
marked by Corinthian columns that alternate niches and windows contains
three statues by Girolamo Campagna: from the left, San Sebastiano, San
Francesco and San Lorenzo Giustiniani (late 16th century, early 17th
century) from the former frutarioli altars and from the nearby chapel.
In a showcase, inside the large arch that communicates with the
presbytery, numerous sacred furnishings are displayed, refined
goldsmith's works between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Presbytery
The ambos at the mouth of the presbytery are a modern reconstruction. On
the walls, facing each other, are two Renaissance funeral urns of the
Donàs. The main altar, with a triumphal arch and detached from the apse
wall, is the partial result of the twentieth-century restoration. The
tabernacle was replaced with the current marble one in the 18th century.
The two statues (17th century) on either side of the altar come from the
demolished church of Santa Marina. On the back wall the large altarpiece
Virgin and Saints Mark and the Great - Allegory of the Church by Giulia
Lama (1710). On the ceiling, the Presentation to the Doge of the brides
kidnapped by the pirates of Naples by Antonio Molinari (end of the 17th
century, traditionally attributed to Giovanni Segala).
Left apse
chapel (Chapel of the Casselleri school or of the Madonna del parto)
Having become the patronage of the Grimanis, it was rebuilt at the end
of the 16th century at the behest of Antonio Grimani, then Bishop of
Torcello. The coffered basin is decorated with mosaics based on a design
by Palma il Giovane: in the center the Marriage of Mary and Joseph and
around figures of Prophets and Sibyls. The back wall adorned with
Corinthian columns in multicolored marble has two statues on the sides
by an anonymous 17th-century artist: on the left St. Matthew the Apostle
and on the right St. James the Apostle. On the altar, the Madonna del
Parto, also an anonymous work from the 16th century.
Chapel of
the Blessed Sacrament (formerly the Vitturi Chapel or of the Holy
Trinity)
On the altar a rich marble ciborium. formerly in the church
of Sant'Agnese, with a statue of Christ the Redeemer by Giulio del Moro
(late 16th century) and adoring angels. On the walls numerous small
paintings: on the right The Trinity and Tobiolo and the angel by
anonymous from the 17th century, the Nativity of Mary by Antonio De
Ferrari known as Foler and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple by an
anonymous both from the 16th century; on the left Christ deposed and
mourned by Mary, the Magdalene and Saint John from the circle of Pietro
Negri (late 17th century), Mary Magdalene anoints Christ's feet in the
house of Simeon from the circle of Pietro Liberi (late 17th century),
Sant 'Antonio from the circle of Ermanno Stroiffi (17th century) as well
as the Virgin of Sorrows, San Girolamo and Santa Marina all works by
anonymous.
Left transept
On the back wall above the door and
three arches of the chapels three busts Bartolomeo Tononi (anonymous
from the 17th century), Antonio Tononi (by Giovanni Comin, Domenico
Rossi) and Turrino Tononi (by Comin alone), the only remnants of the two
great monuments in the main chapel.
On the left above the mullioned
window the Approval of the order of the Holy Trinity or of the Ransom of
the Slaves by Baldassarre D'Anna (early 17th century).
To the left of
the mullioned window is the tabernacle of the Virgin and Child (19th
century), a copy by Lattanzio Querena of the work by Sassoferrato
conserved in the oratory.
Left aisle
In the first chapel
towards the transept San Luigi Gonzaga, San Simeone shows Jesus,
Sant'Antonio da Padova, triptych by Antonio Ermolao Paoletti (around
1890).
In the second chapel, formerly of the Scuola dei Frutaroli, on
the altar the polyptych of the Sacred Heart of Mary and Saint Alfonso de
Liguori and Saint Luigi Gonzaga by Lattanzio Querena (about 1830) and on
the left side the capture of Christ in the garden and San Marcellino by
anonymous Venetians from the 16th century.
On the altar to the left
of the door is the Madonna della Consolazione or of Lepanto, a work of
the Venetian-Cretan school attributed to Nicolaus Safuris. During the
battle of Lepanto (1571) the icon was in the galley of Sebastiano
Venier, the heirs donated it to the church.
Counter facade
On
the counter-façade above a marble choir loft with polychrome clerks
supported by four Ionic columns is the organ which was destroyed by the
1916 bombing and rebuilt in the 20th century. On the left is the
tombstone of Vincenzo Cappello decorated with the lion of San Marco, the
family crest and a naval battle scene.
Oratory
On the first
floor above the sacristy, the oratory, which cannot be visited, contains
various works including the Madonnas with Child by Giandomenico Tiepolo,
Giambettino Cignaroli, Sassoferrato and the San Pietro Apostolo by Paolo
Pagani.