News & Stories

Our commitment to Carpaccio continues with a new major campaign to fund the restoration of nine canvases illustrating Scenes from the Life of Christ and the Saints Jerome, Augustine, George, and Tryphon in the tucked-away treasure of the Scuola Dalmata.

Located off the beaten path in the sestiere of Castello, the charming Scuola Dalmata (Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni) houses one of the best preserved and authentic interiors in Venice. Upon entering the Renaissance confraternity house of the Dalmatians, one is immediately immersed in the world of Carpaccio and his cycle of paintings that wrap around three walls of the room. Painted for the Scuola between 1502 and 1508,  the subject matter is divided into four mini-cycles: two paintings from the life of Christ; three canvases relating to the life of Saint Jerome, a native son and special protector of Dalmatia, including a scene of Saint Augustine experiencing a vision following Jerome’s death; three depicting the exploits of Saint George as a dragon-slayer; and a single scene from the life of Saint Tryphon, the patron saint of the town of Cattaro (Kotor) on the Dalmatian coast.

Save Venice has pledged to fund the conservation of Carpaccio’s complete cycle of nine paintings and the Madonna and Child altarpiece attributed to his son, Benedetto. In addition to improving the conservation state of the canvases, we hope to bring renewed interest to this impressive, yet widely unknown, cycle of paintings and the Scuola Dalmata. Work will begin in late July 2019 and is expected to take up to two years.

We are looking for sponsors to support the campaign. Contact us today to learn more or donate.

The Scuola Dalmata was recognized in 1451 as a confraternity for residents in Venice from the Dalmatia region (now part of Croatia), where there were many important Venetian colonies, including the Adriatic seaports of Split and Dubrovnik. In the first years of the sixteenth century, the Scuola undertook an extensive remodeling and decorating campaign for their meeting house, and Vittore Carpaccio received the commission to paint a cycle of paintings narrating the stories of the confraternity’s patron saints Jerome, Augustine, George and Tryphon.

In 2018, Save Venice, in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., funded a campaign of non-invasive studies of the painting cycle that included UV and infrared photography to identify any problematic or damaged areas. Using these results, conservators have developed a plan for securing areas of flaking paint, methodically thinning and removing old varnishes and overpainting, and filling any areas of losses of the painted surface. The reverse sides of the canvases will be cleaned and re-tensioned, if necessary, for structural stability.