Restored in 1998 with Save Venice general funds.

The marble high altar of the church of San Salvador was designed and executed by the sculptor and architect Guglielmo dei Grigi, who was also known as Il Bergamasco because of his city of origin, located in the region of Lombardy.

The altar houses Titian’s Transfiguration of Christ, which functioned as the altarpiece on all but the highest of feast days. On Christmas, Easter, and the patronal feast of San Salvador (August 6), the painting was lowered into the base of the altar, revealing a chased silver reredos (altar screen) with gilding that constitutes a sixteenth-century response to the splendor of the earlier Pala d’Oro of the Basilica di San Marco.

This is not the only unusual element of the high altar, however: the sandstone sculpture of Christ that crowns the altar (possibly a later addition) has a wooden arm, which at one time could be raised and lowered at the elbow by a pulley system guided from behind the altar, producing a special effect during the celebration of the mass.

The altar was restored by conservator Ottorino Nonfarmale, 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.

Guglielmo dei Grigi, called Il Bergamasco (c. 1485–1550)
High Altar
c. 1534, marble