The Venetian Republic’s Inquisitori dello Stato were a much-feared tribunal, consisting of three members and instituted by the Council of Ten in 1539 to ensure social stability and guard the Venetian state and its secrets. The inquisitors did not hesitate to hire spies to trail suspects and employ torture to obtain confessions. The ceiling of the Room of the Inquisitors in Palazzo Ducale is decorated with paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto, which were completed by 1576.

The octagonal central ceiling canvas depicts The Return of the Prodigal Son, which recounts the moving story on the possibility of mercy, reconciliation, and redemption. This episode’s presence must have been intended to encourage criminals to repent and return to the good graces of the Venetian government. The scene is surrounded by four allegorical figures of the virtues Faith, Justice, Fortitude, and Morality, which were designed by Jacopo but largely executed by his workshop.

Save Venice funded the conservation of Tintoretto’s ceiling paintings in the Room of the Inquisitors in 2018 on the occasion of the Tintoretto 500 anniversary. The paintings were covered in thick layers of oxidized varnishes and heavy overpainting from previous conservation attempts. Conservator Gea Storace of the Corest firm gradually thinned and removed these non-original surface residues, revealing Tintoretto’s vibrant color palette and restoring greater legibility of the details.

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.

Jacopo Tintoretto (c. 1518/19–1594)
The Return of the Prodigal Son
Faith
Justice
Fortitude
Morality
c. 1575-76, oil on canvas
210 x 210 cm octagonal

Palazzo Ducale: Homepage

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