Conservation funded by the Arthur Loeb Foundation; the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation; Richard K. Riess, Anne Fitzpatrick Cucchiaro and Stephen Cucchiaro, through the Boston Chapter of Save Venice Inc., and Thomas Schumacher and Matthew White.

The ornate polychromed and gilded ceiling of the Sala dell’Albergo is perhaps the most important ceiling of its kind to survive from the early Renaissance period in Venice. The central roundel depicting Christ as the Light of the World is believed to have been reused from an earlier Gothic ceiling, thought to have been carved by the Cozzi workshop. This high relief is surrounded with roundels of the Four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These figures, executed between 1491 and 1494, are the finest examples of wooden sculpture in Venice from the late fifteenth century; they are attributed to Alvise di Matteo Bianco, who was a member of the confraternity of Santa Maria della Carità.

In 1497, the artist also created an elaborately inlaid wood intarsia door for the Sala dell’Albergo. Save Venice’s conservation campaign included the restoration of the carved ceiling, as well as the numerous decorative elements in wood— of particular importance is a small spiral wooden staircase that leads to an upper chamber above the boardroom that housed the Scuola’s archives.

The restoration of the painted wooden ceiling was led by Roberto Saccuman and his team and took place in the Sala dell’Albergo from 2010 to 2011. A special passageway was built in the room assuring that museum visitors could still pass through while work was underway on the ceiling above. The roundels of God the Father and Four Evangelists were removed from the ceiling for conservation and they were also featured in a special exhibition before being reinstalled in the ceiling in 2011.

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.

Alvise di Matteo Bianco [attributed]
Ceiling
1491-94, wood and plaster with polychromy and gilding
82.3 sq m