News & Stories

Save Venice’s major campaign to restore Vittore Carpaccio’s narrative cycle in the Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni continues to advance with promising results. Conservation treatment of the first painting in the series, The Calling of Saint Matthew, was completed in June 2020 and visitors to the Scuola can once again admire Carpaccio’s vibrant colors and striking details that were revealed from beneath darkened varnishes and surface grime.

Conservator Valentina Piovan is now focusing her efforts on The Vision of Saint Augustine. Scientific analysis of the painting using infrared photography revealed the presence of Carpaccio’s preparatory drawings. Particularly fascinating is the underdrawing of the Maltese dog, which Carpaccio originally drew on the canvas in a reclining position before changing his mind and painting the animal in a seated position, making the little dog an active observer of the precise moment when Saint Jerome appears to Saint Augustine to announce his imminent death and departure to Heaven.

The charming Scuola Dalmata houses one of the best-preserved and authentic Renaissance interiors in Venice. Upon entering the confraternity house one is immediately immersed in the world of Carpaccio and his cycle of paintings that wrap around three walls of the room. The Scuola remains open and accessible during the entire campaign. While each painting undergoes conservation, a full-scale reproduction is put in place so that visitors can view the cycle without disruption. Click here for more information.