Restored in 1997 with funding from Mr. and Mrs. J. Winston Fowlkes.

When Jacopo Sansovino was appointed chief architect of the Basilica di San Marco, he was charged with the refurbishment of the church and was asked to design a set of benches to accommodate Venetian officials during ceremonies. Sansovino would eventually reshape the appearance of the entire choir area, providing reliefs for the cantorias above these benches, a set of small prophets, and a large door decorated with reliefs leading to the sacristy, all of which were made in bronze.

The marquetry benches were executed by expert woodworkers Antonio de’ Grandi and Nicolò Zorzo, following Sansovino’s designs. In the intarsia panels of the two larger seat backs, foliate motifs containing grotesques and putti surround a central panel depicting a cardinal virtue. In one, Fortitude embraces a column; in the other, Faith holds the Eucharistic chalice. Additional benches were decorated with representations of Prudence, Temperance, Hope, and Charity, but unfortunately these have been lost. The inlay panels of the smaller surviving benches are decorated with putti, grotesques, and the winged lion of Saint Mark.

The works were restored by conservators Maximilian Leuthenmayr and Benito Ghezzo, with the guidance of project director Ettore Merkel 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.

Antonio de’ Grandi and Nicolò Zorzo, after a design by Jacopo Sansovino (1486–1570)
Four Marquetry Seat Backs
1535-1538, larch, fir, walnut, and boxwood

Faith
173 x 317 cm
Fortitude
173 x 336 cm
Lion of Saint Mark
88 x 360 cm
Putti and Grotesques
88 x 340 cm

Pinacoteca Manfrediniana–Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra (in Italian)

Boucher, Bruce. “Jacopo Sansovino and the Choir of St Mark’s.” The Burlington Magazine 118, no. 881 (1976): 552-50.