Lead support for the conservation treatment of the Lando Chapel generously provided by an Anonymous Donor in thanks to San Sebastiano. Additional support from Joseph O. Rubinelli, Jr. and Forrest Mars.

The 1990s conservation treatment of the majolica tiles was made possible with partial funding from Countess Angelica Alverà Bortolotto, Count Mario Alverà, and Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bareiss.

The Chapel of the Virgin Annunciate, also known as the Lando Chapel, is located in the church of San Sebastiano, to the left of the presbytery and just a few feet away from Paolo Veronese’s tomb. Marco Lando, the grandson of Girolamo Lando, the Patriarch of Constantinople, acquired the chapel on March 1st, 1531. The chapel was transferred as a dowry to Marco’s daughter, Bianca, when she married Daniele Vitturi in 1542 and remained on the property of the Vitturi family until the relatives of doge Carlo Ruzzini took it over. The chapel was once known for its colorful majolica tile floor dating to 1510 and installed on the chapel floor by the Lando family between 1531 and 1542.

The 384 extremely rare majolica tiles depict an array of inscriptions, emblems, grotesques, animals, and everyday objects, including musical instruments, combs, eyeglasses, books, wicker wine bottles, and bellows. One of the tiles, showing various musical instruments on an orange background, features a painted plaque with the date 1510, which allows to date the production (but not the installation) of the tiles. Scholars believe that the tiles were not made to decorate the floor of the Lando Chapel, though their original location or exact origin remains unsure. What is certain is that when the tiles were installed, the Lando family had the coat of arms painted on a tile that fitted into the center of the floor. This tile, which is four times larger than the others, shows a two-headed crowned eagle on a white shield, with a checked escutcheon on its chest and a globe under its claws; two nude male figures support the shield and hold long, flowing ribbons elaborately twisted. The style of these two figures appear rather close to the so-called “primo istoriato” style, thus dating the tile (and, arguably, its placement on the floor) to 1525-1530.

There is no evidence regarding the commission, nor is there any indication of the identity of the artists involved in the execution of the tiles. Nonetheless, scholars have noticed close similarities with the tile floor of the Vaselli Chapel in the church of San Petronio, Bologna, produced in 1487 by “Petrus Andrea De Favecia” and Donatus and Giovanni Betini “Bologniesus.” Similar are also the tiles now at the Museo di Casa Cavassa, as well as those made for the church of Santa Maria del Riposo in Fano, known as Santa Maria dei Piattelletti, currently housed in the Museo Civico Malatestiano. It is however generally agreed that the raw, clay tiles of the Lando Chapel were produced locally, by a Venetian workshop, and then decorated by some traveling artists probably trained in the Marche or Emilia Romagna, possibly from Fano or Faenza.

The tiles were removed from the Lando Chapel in 1993 for conservation studies and, after a brief exhibition at the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti at Ca’ d’Oro in 2002, were put into storage. In November 2019 the tiles were entrusted to the Mauve conservation lab for cataloging and new conservation studies to formulate restoration plans that will allow them to return to the church of San Sebastiano.

All 384 majolica tiles are currently undergoing scientific testing and analysis at the Mauve conservation lab in Venice. Conservators are working to formulate restoration plans in collaboration with officials from the local branch of the Ministry of Culture and the Catholic Diocese of Venice that will allow the tiles to safely return to the church of San Sebastiano.

Unidentified artists
Majolica Tile Floor
c. 1510, majolica (underglaze painted tin-glazed earthenware)
Virgin Annunciate (Lando) Chapel, Church of San Sebastiano
c. 300 x 335 cm

Saccardo, Francesca. Il pavimento della Cappella Lando. Storia, attribuzione, iconografia. In Perissa Torrini, Annalisa and Francesca Saccardo, eds. Maiolica a Venezia. Un pavimento rinascimentale nella chiesa di San Sebastiano. Venice: Marsilio, 2002, pp. 17-35

Saccardo, Francesca. Four tiles from the floor of the Cappella Lando, Church of San Sebastiano, Venice. In Carboni, Stefano, ed. Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007, p. 346, n. 181a-d

Saccardo, Francesca. “Il pavimento della Cappella Lando a San Sebastiano.” Progetto restauro, 17, 63 (2012): 11-29

Salomon, Xavier, Davide Gasparotto, Gabriele Matino, and Melissa Conn. The Church of San Sebastiano in Venice: A Guide, Venice: Marsilio, 2024