Restored from 2007 to 2009 with funding from the California Chapter of Save Venice Inc.

The organ shutters for San Marco are among Gentile Bellini’s most monumental and important paintings. The son of Jacopo Bellini and older brother of the famous Giovanni, Gentile was one of the most important artists of the Venetian Quattrocento. He trained in his father’s workshop, where he developed his skills in drawing and the use of perspective by studying his father’s sketchbooks, which are now conserved in the Louvre and the British Museum.

Around 1464 Gentile received the prestigious commission to paint the shutters for one of the organs in Basilica San Marco. The two large figures of Saints Mark and Theodore on the exterior side of the shutters, portrayed conventionally in a vaulted architectural space meant to be viewed from below, became prototypes for future Venetian organ doors. For the inner shutters depicting episodes of Saint Jerome Praying in the Desert and Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, Gentile confronted the theme of a figure inserted in a landscape drawn in perspective, creating intriguing works of great quality. The hard contours, carefully crafted details, and the monumental conception of the figures show the influence of Andrea Mantegna, Gentile’s brother-in-law.

Gentile Bellini’s color palette in the San Marco organ shutters is typical of the Bellini workshop, using mineral and organic pigments that were mixed with egg and/or animal glue as a binder. As often occurs in restoration, further analysis has led to a better understanding of the work and its creation. Cross-section analysis of pigment samples revealed indigo, ochre, natural earth colors and white lead, as well as pigments chosen for their brilliance: azurite, natural ultramarine, malachite, cochineal red lac, and cinnabar. Gilding was applied with gold leaf via two techniques: red bole, in which gold leaf is applied on top of a layer of reddish clay, and glue, in which animal glues are used to adhere the piece of gold to the painting.

The shutter paintings are now preserved in the church of San Teodoro, located behind the Basilica.

The paintings were restored by conservator Valentina Piovan, with the guidance of project director Annalisa Bristot of the Superintendency of Monuments 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.

Gentile Bellini (c. 1429–1507)
Organ Shutters depicting Saints Mark and Theodore (exterior); Saint Jerome in the Wilderness and Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata (interior)
1464, egg tempera and oil on canvas
210 x 430 cm each

Basilica di San Marco: Homepage

Bisson, Massimo. Meravigliose macchine di giubilo. L’architettura e l’arte degli organi a Venezia nel Rinascimento. Venice: Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 2012.