SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCO

Description

Essentials about the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in brief

The Scuola Grande di San Rocco is one of the most beautiful and artistically valuable buildings in Venice. It is the best preserved of the once six large scuole (schools), which were charitable brotherhoods or guilds. The rooms inside the Scuola Grande are among the most beautiful and important in Venice because of their decoration with a cycle of 56 paintings by the famous Venetian master Jacopo Tintoretto from the end of the 16th century. Tintoretto, by the way, was himself a member of the Scuola Grande die San Rocco.

The history of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco

From the 13th century onwards, Venice saw the emergence of charitable brotherhoods, the largest of which, the Scuole grandi, built palatial guild buildings for representation and as social institutions. The Scuola Grande di San Rocco was founded from two brotherhoods after the plague of 1477 and named after St. Roch of Montpellier, who devoted himself to caring for the sick and plague-stricken and was himself cured of the plague. The Brotherhood of St. Roch of Montpellier had its first seat first in the church of San Zulian, later in Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, and was officially recognized in 1478 for the practice of nursing the sick. In 1485, the relics of Saint Roch, who was buried in Montpellier, came into the possession of the Brotherhood from the south of France.

In the 15th century, because of the relics, the brotherhood became the wealthiest in Venice. After much toing and froing, the Scuola obtained from the Franciscans of the Frari Church a plot of land located behind their monastery and moved the brotherhood to its present location. In 1489, the Scuola first erected a small modest building. This old Scuola is hidden between the Scuola Grande, the church of San Rocco and the choir of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari on Campo di San Rocco, bordered by these buildings.

Thanks to the prosperity of the brotherhood, in 1517 the construction of the new brotherhood house was started under Bartolomeo Bon II, procurator of San Marco. From 1527 until his death, Antonio Abbondi took charge of the construction and built the staircase. In 1550, Gian Giacomo de’ Grigi was commissioned to elaborate the facade to compete with the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, which was under construction. The facades of both buildings were remodeled a second time between 1765 and 1771.

The architecture of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco

The facade is structured with strong columns, pilasters and cornices. In the lower part there are so-called “Codussi windows” and in the upper one a long row of twin windows with triangular pediments. Named after the architect Mauro Codussi, the windows show the typical Venetian combination between the traditional round arch form and the Renaissance ideal of rectangular window framing.

The Scuola Grande di San Rocco has two floors connected by a magnificent staircase with three-ramped stairs. The first of the two floors consists exclusively of the Sala Terrena. The second floor is divided into the large Sala Capitolare and the smaller Sala dell’Albergo.

The halls of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco

Sala Terrena

The large three-nave Sala Terrena on the first floor, divided by two rows of columns, is about 700 square meters and served both as an entrance hall and for liturgical purposes. On the walls hang ten huge paintings by Tintoretto, the subject of which is a scene from the New Testament.

Sala Superiore

The larger of the two halls on the upper floor, the Sala Capitolare (Plenary Hall) or Sala Superiore, is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful rooms in Venice. It is decorated with a multitude of beautiful wall and ceiling paintings by the famous Venetian master Jacopo Tintoretto.

Originally, the Sala Superiore was decorated with tapestries. However, in the middle of the 16th century, the Scuola Grande determined that the hall needed a different decoration. In 1575, the Scuola decided to commission the decoration of the ceiling. Tintoretto offered the Scuola Grande the San Rocco partly free of charge execution of the paintings or wanted to be reimbursed only the cost of materials for his work. In 1577, the painter even agreed to devote himself entirely to the decoration of the Scuola in return for the payment of an annuity for the rest of his life.

The Sala Superiore is furnished with a three-part altar, whose altarpiece is by Tintoretto. The altar space is delimited by a balustrade with bronze grilles from the middle of the 18th century. In front of the balustrade, on easels, are two early works by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Hagar in Solitude, Comforted by the Angel and Abraham and the Angels, and the painting Christ Carrying the Cross, attributed to either Titian or Giorgione. It is decorated with 24 reliefs depicting scenes from the life of Saint Roch of Montpellier.

The three main paintings, set into the hall’s carved and gilded coffered ceiling, recount events from the story of Moses: the Miracle of water in the desert, the Erection of the Brazen Serpent, and the Raining of the manna. The ten smaller accompanying paintings also depict events from the Old Testament, all of which can be read as Old Testament parallels to the life and death of Jesus.

The paintings on the walls depict events from the life of Jesus, including the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Baptism of Jesus, the Resurrection of Christ, and the Prayer on the Mount of Olives.

Sala dell’Albergo

The smaller room on the upper floor, the Sala dell’Albergo, like the Sala Superiore, is also covered by a magnificent gilded wooden coffered ceiling with paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto.