News & Stories

Save Venice’s next endeavor at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, the conservation of paintings from the True Cross Cycle, continues with great fervor with the treatment of Gentile Bellini’s iconic canvases of the Procession in Piazza San Marco and Miracle of the Relic of the True Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo. Save Venice Board Member and Professor Emerita of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University, Patricia Fortini Brown, has generously provided partial funding for the conservation of the Procession. Read more about the True Cross Cycle.

Moving and transporting Gentile Bellini’s monumental canvas of the Procession, which measures over 24 feet by 12 feet (745cm x 373cm) is no easy task. Thanks to the expertise of art handlers (15 in total) from the UniSVe firm, the painting was carefully deinstalled, removed from its stretcher, and placed on a large roller for transport by boat to the Misericordia Laboratory, where it will now undergo conservation treatment by the CBC firm. The team also moved the next work in the series to be restored, the Miracle of the Relic of the True Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo. Visit our INSTAGRAM profile for more photos.

The first painting in the cycle, Vittore Carpaccio’s Miracle of the Relic of the True Cross at the Rialto Bridge, was restored from 2020 to 2021 with generous sponsorship from Jon and Barbara Landau, and additional support from Randa and K.C. Weiner.