The conservation and restoration of this painting has been generously sponsored by Arnold M. Bernstein.

The Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, one of Venice’s most ancient and prestigious lay confraternities, has gained renown for its architectural and artistic treasures dating back to the early Renaissance period. Among these treasures, the most prominent is the magnificent meeting house, distinguished by the iconic exterior marble screen designed by Pietro Lombardo between 1478 and 1481. Inside, the Scuola boasts a grandiose staircase crafted by Mauro Codussi in 1498, as well as several splendid meeting halls, including the Chapert Hall, the Sala dell’Albergo, and the Oratory of the Holy Cross, all completed around the 1540s. Starting in 1727 and continuing into the 1760s, architect Giorgio Massari undertook the renovation of the Scuola’s Chapter Hall. He heightened the walls, redesigned the sumptuous polychrome marble intarsia floor, and introduced twelve large oval windows to illuminate the room more effectively. During the same period, Giuseppe Angeli painted a spectacular ceiling canvas depicting Saint John Fighting the Antichrist, while Domenico Tintoretto, Jacopo Guarana, and other artists adorned the walls with scenes from the life of Saint John.

Jacopo Marieschi, a pupil of the Bellunese painter Gaspare Diziani, made significant artistic contributions at the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista in the early 1760s. His work there elevated his reputation to such an extent that he was repeatedly appointed as a professor and restorer at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Venice, ultimately becoming its President in 1776. For the ceiling of the Scuola’s Chapter Hall, Marieschi created three remarkable canvases dedicated to apocalyptic narratives. These included the striking Saint John’s Vision of the Throne and the Book of the Seven Seals. Positioned on either side of the high altar, flanking Giovanni Maria Morlaiter’s Carrara marble sculpture of Saint John the Evangelist, Marieschi also produced four canvases portraying miracles attributed to the patron saint of the Scuola. Among these works were Saint John the Evangelist’s Healing a Child, restored by Save Venice in 2022, and Saint John’s the Evangelist Turning Sticks and Stones into Gold and Gems.

Painted around 1760, this canvas is situated just above the door to the left of the high altar, encased within a carved marble frame. Marieschi skillfully crafted a composition marked by harmony and symmetrical balance. Positioned to the left, the Evangelist graciously gestures toward the central focal point of the painting: a heap of sizable stones cradled by a young man who kneels before the Saint. Just behind him stands an elder figure, distinguished by a crimson headpiece, cradling two tree branches in his arms. The subject matter of the painting has long been erroneously identified as Saint John and the Miracle of the Bread, despite the absence of any supporting hagiographic sources. Instead, drawing from Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend, the scene can be interpreted as the moment when “John changed branches from the forest tree into gold and the pebble of the beach into precious stones.”

Far from being an unusual narrative, this story was a standard feature in the post-Gospel accounts of Saint John’s life, often illuminated in various Gothic Apocalypse manuscripts. Notably, the Apocalypse glosée (f. 44r), attributed to the Sarum Master and created around 1240-1250, contains this narrative. Within this manuscript, the story unfolds through a sequential arrangement of two distinct scenes: the first depicts the Evangelist performing his miracle and cautioning those who had gathered sticks and stones, warning them that their pursuit of earthly wealth would come at the expense of heavenly riches. The second scene portrays the wealthy individuals repenting and beseeching John to revert the gold and gems back into sticks and stones. In contrast, Marieschi chose to merge these two scenes into a single image, although it remains uncertain whether he depicted the first or the final episode of the narrative. What is certain is that this story was selected to inspire the Scuola’s members, whose aim was not financial gain but rather the accumulation of spiritual merits, encompassing divine favor and, ultimately, the promise of eternal life.

Similar to the conservation treatment carried out on another painting by Marieschi at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, the restoration process involved removing a significant layer of accumulated dirt and grime from the painting’s surface. Additionally, the yellow, oxidized varnish that had obscured the vibrancy of the original colors and reduced the contrast between light and shadow was meticulously removed. Where paint had flaked, stabilization was performed, and any losses were filled using removable conservation paints. Finally, a protective varnish was delicately applied as the last step in the restoration process to safeguard the artwork.

Jacopo Marieschi (1711 – 1794)
Saint John the Evangelist Turning Sticks and Stones into Gold and Gems
1760, oil on canvas
204,5 x 143 cm

Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista

Pignatti, Terisio, ed. Le Scuole di Venezia. Milan: Electa 1981

Trastulli, Federico. Marieschi, Jacopo. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 70. Rome: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 2008, ad vocem. Link to the article

de Voragine, Jacobus. The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints. William G. Ryan, trans. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2 vols.