Restoration completed in 2014 with Save Venice general funds.

The final painting in Domenico Tintoretto’s cycle for the Scuola Grande di San Marco is the Miracle of the Ring of Saint Mark. The work depicts an event associated with the third episode of the myth of Venice’s patron saint, known as the apparitio (appearance), when the saint’s misplaced relics miraculously reappeared in 1094.

Over a century prior to that, a fire had destroyed the first Venetian church dedicated to Saint Mark; in 1063 Doge Domenico Contarini demolished what remained of the sanctuary and constructed a larger basilica in its place. When the new church was completed in 1094, the saint’s body could not be located, and it was feared to have been consumed by fire. Yet during a gathering in the new church for prayer and lamentation, the relics of the saint emerged from a column in the church.

Upon this miraculous occasion, Saint Mark’s ring was given to nobleman Domenico Dolfin, who promised to allow all those who were devoted to Saint Mark to experience the ring’s healing powers. Several centuries later, in 1509, Dolfin’s descendants sold the ring to the Scuola Grande di San Marco. From this moment onwards, the confratelli (members) of the Scuola would participate in the religious festivities celebrating the apparitio at the Basilica di San Marco, and would bring the ring with them. It was unfortunately stolen in 1575, and the painting therefore commemorates the lost relic and the Scuola’s particular devotion to their patron saint. Witnessing the scene are Venetian senators and members of the Scuola — contemporaries of the artist — immortalized in portraits.

The painting was restored by conservator Beatrice Girotto of the Akribeia firm, with the guidance of project directors Chiara Maida and Valeria Poletto of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Domenico Tintoretto (c. 1560–1635)
Miracle of the Ring of Saint Mark
Late sixteenth century, oil on canvas
370 x 400 cm

Scuola Grande di San Marco: Historical Introduction

Scuola Grande di San Marco: Images of the Rooms of the Scuola

Dalla Costa, Thomas, Robert Echols, and Frederick Ilchman, eds. Tintoretto in Venice: A Guide. Venice: Marsilio, 2018.

Echols, Robert and Frederick Ilchman. Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018.

Matino, Gabriele and Cynthia Klestinec, eds. Art, Faith and Medicine in Tintoretto’s Venice. Venice: Marsilio, 2018.