Chiesa di Sant'Alvise - Venezia, Italy
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denben
N 45° 26.833 E 012° 19.744
33T E 291134 N 5036103
Sant'Alvise is a Roman catholic church in the sestiere of Cannaregio in Venice, Italy.
Waymark Code: WMWZR4
Location: Veneto, Italy
Date Posted: 11/05/2017
Views: 1
The convent and church of Sant’Alvise was built in 1388 at the behest of doge’s daughter Antonia Venier. The original wooden structures were rebuilt in 1430, due in no small part to the generosity of Pope Martin V, and these rebuildings were restored at the end of the 17th century.
The exterior of the church is in a plain and lofty flat gothic style. The 15th century statue of Saint Louis over the door is by the Florentine Agostino di Duccio.
The barco (nuns’ choir) at the back of the church dates from the 15th century, although the wrought-iron grill is an 18th century addition. The nuns entered this raised gallery from the convent next door and remained unseen behind the grill for the service. A similar grill low in the right-hand wall allowed them to come down and take the sacrament.
The decoration of the rest of the single-nave church dates from the 17th Century - most overwhelming, and a bit incongruous, are the vertiginous trompe l'oeil ceiling frescos by Antonio Torri and Pietro Ricchi. Ruskin hated these works, blaming Veronese for inspiring such later and lesser artists with his superior ceilings.
Art highlights: Worth the trek out here are the three Tiepolos depicting Christ’s passion. Two are early and less impressive (The Flagellation and The Crowning With Thorns) but the dramatic Ascent to Calvary looks like it might have been inspired by Tintoretto, who is not himself represented here, oddly, given his ubiquity in Venetian churches, especially in Cannaregio, his home district. The church acquired three important relics of Christ's suffering in 1456, the Chorus laminated guide sheet tells us, and thereby acquired a related reputation and devotees, hence the theme of these commissioned Tiepolos.
The eight small 15th century tempera panels showing scenes from the Old Testament on the back wall are of varying quality. These were called ‘baby Carpaccios’ by Ruskin, which has been interpreted as a contention that they were by Carpaccio when he was a boy, although he would've been 8! They were actually painted by the studio of Lazzaro Bastiani, with whom Carpaccio was a student, and taken from the organ case of the suppressed church of Santa Maria delle Vergini.
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