Restored in 2001 with funding from Young Friends of Save Venice.

This wooden triumphal arch, or tribuna, that soars above the high altar of the church of San Francesco della Vigna dates to the sixteenth century; it was later modified by the architect Baldassare Longhena around 1649. The original altar complex consisted of eight slender Corinthian columns and a simple tympanum. The current tribuna features additional relief carvings of the Archangel Gabriel on the left, the Virgin Annunciate on the right, and God the Father at the center, together participating in a representation of the Annunciation. The painted wood is detailed in gold and simulates the luminous qualities of marble.

On either side of the high altar, statues of the two most important Franciscan saints, Francis and Anthony of Padua, top the doorways leading to the monks’ choir located behind the altar. Although they appear to be carved from marble, they too are polychromed wood sculptures.

The works were restored by conservator Stéphane Cren and Save Venice Restoration Fellow Jeffrey Wirsing, with the guidance of project director Sandro Sponza 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.

Unidentified sculptor and Baldassare Longhena (1598–1682)
Tribuna (High Altar Arch)
Sixteenth century with seventeenth-century modifications, wood

Unidentified sculptor
Saint Anthony of Padua
Saint Francis
Sixteenth century, wood