The church of the Madonna dell'Orto is a religious building located in Venice, in the Cannaregio district. The church is dedicated to San Cristoforo but is commonly known by the popular and accepted name of Madonna dell'Orto.
The church was built by the congregation of the Humiliati in the
mid-14th century, who arrived in Venice under the guidance of their
Superior General, brother Tiberio de' Tiberi from Parma, general of the
order and buried in the church itself. It was dedicated to God, the
Blessed Virgin and Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers and
ferrymen, a choice probably suggested by the location of the church near
the lagoon and the islands overlooking this part of the city and the
mainland.
The name with which the church became part of the
history of Venice and is known throughout the world was the one that was
given to it by the population after a statue of the Virgin, believed to
be miraculous, was placed there.
The statue was sculpted by
Giovanni De Santi, commissioned by the parish priest of Santa Maria
Formosa, who, not finding it to his liking, refused it when it was still
under construction. The sculptor temporarily placed the unfinished soft
stone statue in the garden of his own home. Shortly thereafter, the
sculptor's wife noticed that the statue gave off strange glows during
the night: the news soon spread throughout the city and the place became
a destination for pilgrimages. Following the occurrence of some miracles
and the consequent increase in popular veneration, the bishop of San
Pietro di Castello (which until 1807 was the city's cathedral seat)
induced De Santi to move the statue inside his home or a church to avoid
improper forms of worship. The artist therefore offered it to the friars
of San Cristoforo with three requests: to be able to be buried at his
own expense in front of the place where the statue would be placed, that
a suffrage mass be celebrated in perpetuity and that a large sum be paid
to him of money.
The friars accepted the first two requests but
not finding themselves in suitable economic conditions to purchase the
statue, the school of San Cristoforo intervened and bought it for the
sum of 150 ducats. On 18 June 1377 the statue was solemnly transported
to the church. The building rested on weak foundations and for this
reason an important renovation work was begun in 1399, also financed by
two hundred gold ducats allocated by the Maggior Consiglio on 11
November of the same year.
In 1414 the Council of Ten granted the
official use of the name "Madonna dell'Orto" to the church, as was
already consolidated at a popular level. In 1462 the Humiliati were
expelled by decree of the Council of Ten also approved by the Pope
because of "their depraved customs". The church was assigned to the
pious congregation of the Regular Canons of San Giorgio in Alga which
was suppressed in 1668.
The convent of the Madonna dell'Orto
passed in 1669 to the Congregation of Cistercian monks from the abbey of
San Tommaso dei Borgognoni. In 1787 the Cistercians also ceased their
activity in that place and the church became a public administration
headed by a rector and some priests. In 1810 it was declared an oratory
of San Marziale and in 1841 the Austrian government ordered a general
restoration at its own expense. The restoration of the facade took place
in 1845, the works for the rest of the building were started in 1855 but
not completed. The church was then handed over to the military who made
it a warehouse for straw and wine. In 1864 the restoration work was
resumed and completed in 1869.
With the patriarchal decree of 12
July 1875, the church was declared a parish in place of the church of
San Marziale which then became the rectory.
Since 1931 the parish
has been entrusted to the fathers of the Congregation of San Giuseppe
(Josephine fathers) of San Leonardo Murialdo.
The church is undoubtedly one of the emblematic places of Venetian
Gothic architecture. The facade and the cloister are from the four-year
period 1460-1464, with statues from the end of the fifteenth century.
The domed bell tower, completed in 1503, dates from the same period. The
interiors are embellished with some paintings by Jacopo Robusti known as
Tintoretto, now buried in the right aisle, and whose contract is still
preserved, dated 14 May 1565. Also the field in front the church has
some peculiarities: it is one of the few left in Venice with the
traditional terracotta brick flooring, positioned in a herringbone
pattern.
There is an entrance fee for non-residents.
The salient facade in brick tripartite by two thick pilasters, much
more protruding than the alteral doors, reflects in its lines the
partition of the interior.
It is one of the most beautiful and
interesting in Venice, above all for the expedient, then innovative and
in fact remained unique in the city, of the courses of niches with the
statues of the apostles framing the wings. It is assumed that this is an
ornamental improvement shortly after the construction of the church and
it is assumed that the statues are all the work of various Tuscan
sculptors already active in San Marco, indeed for the four along the
sloping left the name has been suggested by Nanni di Bartolo.
Also characteristic is the alternation of white stone and pink marble
present both on the frames of the large perforated windows in flowery
Gothic style open on the two wings (redone faithfully following the
models in the restorations of 1842-1843) and on the two rose windows
aligned vertically in the center both on the portal.
The large
rose window was designed by Bartolomeo Bon as was the portal, conceived
at the expense and care of the Scuola di San Cristoforo in 1460 but
finished posthumously in 1483. The portal, developed around a square
opening, presents us with a crescendo of refined mouldings: the internal
corner is bordered with a twisted motif while at the edge of the jamb
there is a herringbone motif enriched by repeated symbols of Saint
Christopher; the whole is enclosed in a first white and pink mixtilinear
frame with an indented border. The complex is defined on the sides by
two columns leaning against the wall with Corinthian capitals. The
capitals and corbels corresponding to the herringbone motif support a
molded frame/architrave with plant motifs. Above is a succession of
arches: a round arch, which takes up the two-tone and moldings of the
underlying piers, surrounds another with rodented pods which encloses a
porphyry lunette, the whole culminates in an inflected arch flamed by
vegetable curls.
The decoration is completed by the three statues
on the top: in the center, Saint Christopher emerging above the rose
window (by Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino) and on the sides, above the
polygonal piers with the insignia of Saint Christopher, the Madonna
announced (by the same with assistants) and the Archangel Gabriel (by
Antonio Rizzo).
It must be said that the symbols of Saint
Christopher mentioned, and repeatedly present, are a legacy of the
Humiliated: they are the initial Greek letter Χ of Χριστόφορος
(Christopher) and a palm tree (or palm leaves) which refer to the
passage of the psalms Iustus ut palma florebit (the righteous will
flourish like palm trees, Ps. 91, 13).
An attentive observer can
notice a further bas-relief at the top of the framing of the central
body surrounded by the trilobed hanging arches: it is a tondo with the
Madonna and Child supported by angels, presumably by Giovanni Bon and in
any case from the Bon environment.
Above the pilasters and on the
cusp of the facade there are five tall Gothic aediculae: which remained
empty until the nineteenth century, they were integrated with the
eighteenth-century statues representing Prudence, Charity, Faith, Hope,
and Temperance, taken from the demolished church of Santo Stefano in
Murano.
The interior has a basilica layout, with three naves, with
double-framed pointed arches, supported by massive columns in Greek
marble, some of which are monolithic. It has a rectangular plan, without
a transept, at the back the presbytery with a splendid polygonal apse.
The walls are entirely finished with a regalzier texture (faux
brickwork).
What makes this church famous throughout the world
are the ten canvases by Jacopo Tintoretto who lived and worked in the
nearby Campo dei Mori and whose remains now rest in the apse chapel in
the left aisle. In addition to these marvelous works, the church
preserves other masterpieces including a Crucifixion by Palma il
Giovane, coming from the demolished church of Santa Ternita, and San
Giovanni Battista among the saints Peter, Mark, Jerome and Paul, a
masterpiece by Cima da Conegliano executed between 1493 and 1495.
On the left side, unlike the right one limited by the presence of
the cloister, the only surviving element of the convent, four funerary
chapels of some important families have been opened. Starting from the
entrance, one comes first to the Valier chapel of refined Renaissance
architecture and in which Palladio stopped, admired, when he went to the
nearby school of the Merchants [whose reconstruction he collaborated in
1570. The chapel kept a small but fascinating Madonna and Child by
Giovanni Bellini dating back to 1480, stolen in 1993.
Followed by
the Vendramin chapel and the Morosini chapel, in Gothic style by the
architects Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon. The sequence ends with the
elegant Contarini chapel, where the funerary busts of six members of
this family are kept. The oldest, that of Cardinal Gasparo Contarini, is
the work of Danese Cattaneo, the other two, the grandsons of the first
Tommaso and Gasparo Contarini and of the typical old-fashioned
representation, are the work of Alessandro Vittoria. The busts are
placed on bases on which as many touchstones bear engraved epigraphs,
they are placed on an elegant yet simple architectural frame made up of
aedicules arranged three per wall, limited by slender Corinthian columns
and surmounted by tympanums.
On the right side of the church are
the side altars and an important funerary monument that Girolamo Cavazza
(1588–1681), a diplomat in the service of the Republic of Venice, had
built in 1657 after being admitted to the Patriciate. The architecture
of the monument is by Giuseppe Sardi while the statues are by various
authors, including Giusto Le Court and Francesco Cavrioli.
The
ceiling is in wooden coffers, the work of the 1931 restoration, but
inspired by that of the nearby cloister in the typical style of the
Gothic buildings of the time.
In the right aisle
Madonna and Child Sculpture attr. to Antonio
Rizzo (1430-1499)
Saint John the Baptist between Saints Peter, Mark,
Jerome and Paul, wooden altarpiece by Cima da Conegliano (1460-1518)
Saint Christopher martyr, copy of the original by Cima da Conegliano
(1460-1518) now located in the Gallerie dell'Accademia
Altar of the
Immaculate Conception built in 1593 to house the miraculous statue of
the Virgin now in the S. Mauro Chapel
Monument to Gerolamo Cavazza by
Giuseppe Sardi (1624-1699), 1657
Martyrdom of St Lawrence by Daniel
van den Dyck (1614-1663)
Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
(1551-1556), Tintoretto (1518-1594)
Saint Leonard Murialdo (200x120 cm), Ernani Costantini (1983)
Miraculous Madonna (Madonna dell'Orto), Giovanni De Santi, sec. XIV
Lamentation over the dead Christ, copy of the work by Gerolamo Savoldo
(1480-1548) located in Vienna Dim. 157x123
Madonna with Child and St.
Mauro abbot, Antonio Molinari (1655-1704)
Sepulchral tombstones on
the floor of the chapel, formerly placed on the floor of the church
Portraits of Venetian saints and blesseds, various authors, 1622
In the sacristy
Madonna and Child with Saints attributed to Giovanni
di Paris Bordon (1540-1613)
In the right apsidal chapel
Tomb
of Jacopo Tintoretto, sculptural bust by Napoleone Martinuzzi
(1892-1977)
Saints Augustine and Jerome, Girolamo Santacroce
(1503-1556)
In the chancel
The Last Judgment (1563, right
side), Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594), 580 x 1450 cm
The Adoration of
the Golden Calf (1563, left side), Jacopo Tintoretto, 580 x 1450 cm
The Vision of the Cross to Saint Peter, 1550-1553, left side of the
apse, Jacopo Tintoretto, 240 x 420 cm
above: The Four Cardinal
Virtues: Justice and Temperance, apse basin, Jacopo Tintoretto, 240 x
450 cm
The beheading of Saint Paul, 1550-1553, right side of the
apse, Jacopo Tintoretto, 240 x 430 cm
above: The Four Cardinal
Virtues: Prudence and Fortitude, apse basin, Jacopo Tintoretto, 240 x
450 cm
The Annunciation (1590), Jacopo Palma il Giovane (1595-1606),
from the Santa Maria Nuova di Vicenza
above: The Faith of Pietro
Ricchi
Left apsidal chapel
San Lorenzo Giustiniani and saints:
the altarpiece is a copy (1869) of a painting by Pordenone (1483-1539)
now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, dim. 220x420
In the left
aisle
St. George Slaying the Dragon by Matteo Ponzone (c. 1583-1663)
Flagellation of Christ, Matteo Ponzone
The Eternal Father in Glory,
Domenico Tintoretto, circa 1590
Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine
of Alexandria, school of Titian, 16th century
Contarini Chapel
The miracle of St. Agnes (1575), Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594), also
called dei Celestini due to the color of the angels' clothes, dim.
200x400
Funerary monuments of the Contarini family.
In the
Morosini chapel
The Nativity and Saint Dominic by Domenico Tintoretto
Censer angels by Domenico Tintoretto
The crucifixion by Jacopo Palma
il Giovane, from the church of S. Ternita
Ancient wooden
confessionals
In the Vendramin chapel
The Archangel Raphael
and Tobias, Tiziano Vecellio, 1530. Formerly in the sacristy of San
Marziale
Opposite: San Vincenzo between Saints Dominic, Lorenzo
Giustiniani, Helena and Pope Eugene IV by Jacopo Palma il Vecchio
(1480-1528). Two of the figures (St. Helena and St. Dominic) were
included during the restoration carried out in 1867 by Placido Fabris
In the Valier chapel
Madonna and Child (1480) signed by Giovanni
Bellini (1425-1516). The panel was stolen by unknown persons on the
night of 1st March 1993. Dim. 50 x 75
Above the entrance there is a splendid organ by Pietro and Nipoti
Bazzani from 1878, opus 302, one of the largest in Venice: part of the
current instrument was originally designed for the Gran Teatro La
Fenice.
With mechanical transmission, it has 38 registers
distributed over two manuals and a pedal board. The pedalboard is
straight, while the first octave - of both the pedal and the manuals -
is extended chromatic.
The current neo-Gothic case, inspired by
the original one demolished in 1937, was created during the general
restoration of 1995 by the "Pasquale Ferrari" company of Venice.
A pre-existing organ, according to a testimony by Giovanni Battista
Morsolino, was estimated as «the best organ in Europe». It was later
ruined by the restoration work of Martino Datis.
Built between the 15th and 16th centuries, the tall brick bell tower
with a square plan rises approximately 56 meters on the left side of the
church; the sides marked by two pilasters lead to the belfry opened by
three-light windows. Four curvilinear tympanums divide the belfry from
the high cylindrical drum of the onion dome, with an oriental flavor. On
the sides there are the statues of the four evangelists, and on the top
of the dome there is the statue of the Redeemer. The statues are the
work of the school of Pietro Lombardo. The tower is visible from most of
the northern lagoon and is one of the first Venetian bell towers to be
seen when arriving in Venice from the trans-lagoon bridge.
The
work was completed in 1503 as evidenced by the date engraved in the
dome, a lead box, which was inside the dome, containing relics and an
inscription dated 1503.
In the perspective plan of Venice drawn
by Jacopo de' Barbari in 1500 the bell tower, in fact, is depicted up to
the belfry, missing the terminal part which had not been completed in
that year.
The ancient bells, of which the largest was from 1424,
were replaced by the parish priest Jacopo Jagher and the notary Carlo
Candiani, in 1883, as shown by the inscription engraved in the ring. It
is a concert of three bells made by the "Luigi Cavadini and son in
Verona" foundry in the key of C3 sharp.
In 1931 the chime was
added, still the work of the renowned Veronese foundry. All the bells
are placed in the typical ringing system in use in Venice, the "slancio"
system. Unfortunately the big one has been cracking for decades and the
ring (due to the too light blocks) only beats on one side.
The parish of the Madonna dell'Orto, established in 1875, has 1,766 inhabitants. Its territory also includes the churches of San Marziale (former parish church and now vicarial church), Santa Maria della Misericordia and Volto Santo (closed for worship).