The church of San Moisè is a religious building in the city of Venice, located in the San Marco district. Not far away stood the historic opera house of the same name, the San Moisè theatre.
According to ancient chronicles, the original building was erected in
the late eighth century by the Artigeri and Scoparii families and was
initially named after San Vittore. Sansovino reports the year 796,
without however relying on a reliable source. From the outset it seems
to have become a parish church, but explicit information on the parish
priests is only available from the 12th century
In 947 the church
was rebuilt by Moisè Valier and by his will it was consecrated to the
biblical character whose name it bore. The church was rebuilt again in
1105, after the famous fire that had devastated Venice, and finally in
1632.
In 1810, due to the Napoleonic edicts, the parish was
suppressed and was incorporated into San Marco. The parish of San Moisè
was reconstituted in 1967 when the basilica was reserved for the
patriarchal chapter. Its current territory includes the officiated
churches of Santa Maria del Giglio (rectorial), San Fantin (vicarial)
and Santa Croce degli Armeni, where the Armenian-Catholic rite takes
place.
The facade was built in 1668 thanks to the funding of the brothers
Vincenzo (30,000 ducats) and Girolamo Fini (60,000 ducats) who,
according to their wishes, were portrayed on two busts placed above the
side entrances. The project is by the Paduan Alessandro Tremignon,
brother of the then parish priest Andrea.
Harshly criticized by
Pietro Selvatico, who defined it as «the culmination of every
architectural madness, recklessness of a petty mind which lacks the
ingenuity of distribution and harmony in the parts», the work is in fact
made up of elements so different them, uncoordinated. On the other hand,
the whole is somewhat harmonized thanks to the use of two orders, which
have dampened its development towards the other, and the use of less
prominent backgrounds, including the smooth surface of the tympanum, in
the which only the coat of arms of the Fini family appears.
Also due to Tremignon are the altar of the Nativity of Mary
(commissioned from him by the Confraternity of the Blind in 1670) and
the high altar (built between 1685 and 1688). The latter is decorated
with sculptures by Enrico Merengo, while the pictorial background with
angels is by the Venetian painter Michelangelo Morlaiter; the bronze
frontal bears the Deposition conceived in 1633 by Niccolò Roccatagliata
and his son Sebastiano.
Among the other paintings it is possible
to admire Tintoretto's Washing of the Feet, a Last Supper attributed to
Palma il Giovane, and two important works by Girolamo Brusaferro: the
Submersion of the Pharaoh (1706) and the Elevation of the Cross (1727).
The central nave houses the tombstone of the Scottish financier John
Law, who founded the Western Company aimed at developing the Mississippi
valley and who retired to live in Venice in the last years of his life,
after suffering a series of financial setbacks.
Also in the
sacristy there are works by Michelangelo Morlaiter: San Matteo, San
Vincenzo Ferrari, San Carlo Borromeo.