Restored in 2007 with Save Venice general funds.

In 1585 Jacopo Tintoretto offered to paint a series of narrative canvases and an altarpiece for the Scuola Grande di San Marco, one of Venice’s most powerful confraternities, in exchange for scuola membership for his son Domenico, his son-in-law, his grandson, and one other person. Jacopo had already completed four paintings depicting scenes from the life of Saint Mark for the scuola, including the Miracle of the Slave and two other paintings that are now in the Accademia Galleries (a third is in the Brera in Milan). It was probably Jacopo’s intention to promote the career of his son Domenico by having him take over the series of canvases. Father and son worked together on the Dream of Saint Mark, now in the Accademia, but the remaining four paintings in the cycle were solely Domenico’s work.

In Saint Mark Blessing the Origins of Venice, Saint Mark stands in a boat in the act of blessing the site where four centuries later, in the year 421, the descendants of the hut-dwellers depicted in the painting would found Venice, and where Mark envisions his body will come to rest. The words of  his vision would be adopted as the Venetian motto Pax Tibi Marce Evangelista Meus (Peace be with you, Mark, my Evangelist), frequently represented on the open book held by the winged lion, symbol of Saint Mark.

The work was restored by conservator Beatrice Girotto of the Akribeia restoration firm, with the guidance of project directors Luca Caburlotto and Rossella Cavigli 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.

Domenico Tintoretto (c. 1560-1635)
Saint Mark Blessing the Origins of Venice
1587-90, oil on canvas
319 x 392 cm

Scuola Grande di San Marco: Historical Introduction

Scuola Grande di San Marco: Images of the Rooms of the Scuola

Dalla Costa, Thomas, Robert Echols, and Frederick Ilchman, eds. Tintoretto in Venice: A Guide. Venice: Marsilio, 2018.

Echols, Robert and Frederick Ilchman. Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018.

Matino, Gabriele and Cynthia Klestinec, eds. Art, Faith and Medicine in Tintoretto’s Venice. Venice: Marsilio, 2018.