What is the purpose of Inside Venice? We would like to disclose that there is still a genuine Venice, a city, which does not shamelessly surrender itself to consumeristic tourism. We want to show that in the maze of the Venetian calli (narrow streets) there are still extremely beautiful places, which are able to tease your curiosity.
This is not the most famous, not even the richest among the Venetian schools (professional associations under the patronage of a saint where artists worked), if you think of The Scuola Grande dei Carmini with its works by Tiepolo or Scuola di San Rocco with its paintings by Tintoretto, but it is surely the most tenacious. In fact, how could it have survived the vagaries of history and modernization that tends to standardise everything?
We are talking about the Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio and Trifone (also known as San Giorgio degli Schiavoni), one of the still active religious communities in the city. The Scuola, founded by the Dalmatians, who lived in Venice or were just passing through, was one of the rarest religious institutions, which managed to keep its artistic heritage intact and in the same premises, notwithstanding the decree of Napoleonic suppressions.
If we talk about it here, it is not just because of its façade influenced by Sansovino’s architecture or of its abundance of paintings and furniture, which embellish the upper floor, where the religious meetings of the brothers still take place. It is because we would like you to pay attention to the first painting of the famous cycle of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio who was able to enfold the little church on the ground floor with his seven canvases. You will discover it on your right, as soon as your eyes get used to the dim light. The painting is lit by a warm and soft light, which must resemble the trembling light of the candles, which had been illuminating it for centuries. It is called “Sant’Agostino nello studio” (Visione di Sant’Agostino)-Saint Augustine in his study (Vision of Saint Augustine). Saint Augustine is portrayed in his study, while he is writing; he is interrupted by the voice of Saint Jerome who appears to him in a bright shape beyond the window next to his writing desk. The setting of the scene is the room of a cultured and refined humanist of the time, represented in all its details by Carpaccio’s characteristic preciseness.
Today we from Inside Venice would like to ask you the following question: whom does Saint Augustine resemble? We can give you a hint to help you: the solution is in an object that is hanging from a shelf: its name is “Regiomontanus astrolabe”.
Good luck.
SCUOLA DALMATA SAN GIORGIO DEGLI SCHIAVONI
Calle Furlani 3259, Castello – Venezia
phone: +39 041 5228828
Opening times:
from 01/11 to 31/3 Mon/Sat 10:00 / 12.30 and 15:00 / 18:00; Sunday 10:00 / 12.30, closed on Monday
from 01/04 to 31/10 Mon/Sat. 9.30 / 12.30 and 15.30 / 18.30; Sunday 9.30 / 12.30, closed on Monday
The ticket counter closes 20 minutes before the closing time; please phone in advance especially for group tours.
C.S.
