Conservation funded by an anonymous donor in Memory of Mary & Albert Thibault

The Saint Jerome Chapel is located to the right of the presbytery and is dedicated to the titular saint of the Hieronymite monks who founded the church of San Sebastiano in the late 15th century. The construction of a new, larger church began in 1506 and lasted until 1548. On 10 January 1531, the monks ceded the chapel space to Orsola Lando (widow of Francesco, the son of doge Pietro Lando), who spent 130 ducats for its construction. The chapel is embellished with two paintings by Andrea Michieli, called “il Vicentino”, and an altarpiece by Jacopo Palma Giovane.

Learn more about the paintings in the Saint Jerome Chapel

The chapel also features a remarkable marble altar front representing Saint Jerome in the Wilderness carved by Pietro Baratta, of whom Save Venice restored the Pietà at the Istituto Canal-Marovich. Originally from Carrara, in Tuscany, during his career Baratta worked in Venice, Rome, Dresden, and Saint Petersburg. The relief in San Sebastiano has recently been compared to a Bust of Saint Jerome attributed to Baratta and carved in white Carrara marble (Museo Diocesano, Padua). Even more striking is the resemblance with the Saint Jerome in the Wilderness that Baratta made for the church of Santa Giustina, Monselice (c. 1720), in which both the pose of the anchorite and the setting of the scene are almost identical.

During restoration, cracks in the stone altar and frame were repaired and consolidated and a thick layer of surface grime was cleaned from the surface of the Istrian stone and marble. Structural damage to the vault was repaired and the walls of the chapel were replastered. The chapel’s paintings were also restored, and this treatment included the removal of grime and oxidized varnishes and heavy overpainting from previous restoration attempts. Any small losses to the pictorial surface were integrated, and a final coat of protective varnish was applied.

Jacopo Palma il Giovane (c. 1549 – 1628)
Madonna and Child in Glory with Saint Jerome and Saint Carlo Borromeo Altarpiece
c. 1620, oil on canvas
235 x 95 cm

Andrea Michieli, called “il Vicentino” (c. 1539 – c. 1617)
Saint Jerome and the Lion
c. 1610s, oil on canvas
268 x 110 cm

Andrea Michieli, called “il Vicentino” (c. 1539 – c. 1617)
Saint Charles Borromeo Distributes Bread to the Poor
c. 1610s, oil on canvas
268 x 110 cm

Pietro Baratta (1668 – 1733)
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
c. 1710s, marble
175 x 95 cm

Honour, Hugh. Baratta, Pietro. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 5. Rome: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 1963, pp. 793-794. Link to the article

Guerriero, Simone. Sculture di Pietro Baratta al Museo Diocesano e nel duomo vecchio di Monselice. “Padova e il suo territorio,” 179, 2016, pp. 38-41. Link to the article

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