The Rough Guide to Venice and the Veneto

The north transept and north aisle
Of the tomb of Jacopo Cavalli (d.1384), on the right of the final chapel in
the north transept, Ruskin scornfully remarked: “I find no especial reason
for the images of the Virtues, especially that of Charity, appearing at his
tomb, unless it be this: that at the siege of Feltre, in the war against Leopold
of Austria, he refused to assault the city because the senate would not grant
his soldiers the pillage of the town.” As if in response, the Virtues are no longer
in place; the frescoes around the tomb are by Titian’s nephew, Lorenzo
Vecellio. On the left is the tomb of Doge Giovanni Dolfin (d.1361), who
was besieged by the Hungarians in Trieste when elected in 1356, and had
to charge through enemy lines under cover of darkness in order to take up
the post.
The tombs of three members of the Venier family adorn the end wall of
the transept: the figure of Doge Sebastiano Venier, victor over the Turkish
fleet at the battle of Lépanto, is a twentieth-century creation; the monuments
to the left were carved in the early fifteenth century by the Dalle
Masegnes – the one above the door is the tomb of Doge Antonio Venier
(d.1400), with his wife and daughter, Agnese and Orsola, alongside. The
Cappella del Rosario, at the end of the north transept, was built in 1582
and dedicated to the victory at Lépanto, which happened on the feast day
of the Madonna of the Rosary, October 7, 1571. In 1867 a fire destroyed
its paintings by Tintoretto, Palma il Giovane and others, as well as Giovanni
Bellini’s Madonna and Titian’s Martyrdom of St Peter, San Zanipolo’s two
most celebrated paintings, which were in here for restoration; arson by anti-
Catholics was suspected, but nothing was ever proved. A lengthy twentiethcentury
restoration made use of surviving fragments and installed other
pieces such as Veronese’s ceiling panels of The Annunciation, The Assumption
and The Adoration of the Shepherds, and another Adoration by him, to the left
as you enter the chapel.
In the north aisle, Bartolomeo Vivarini’s Three Saints (1473), a portion of
a dismantled polyptych, is the first thing to grab your eye. Busts of Titian,
Palma il Vecchio and Palma il Giovane look down from over the sacristy door,
forming the monument which the last of the three designed for himself. The
chief draws in the sacristy are Alvise Vivarini’s luminescent Christ Carrying the
Cross (1474) and the wood panelling by Andre Brustolon, though there is some
historical interest in Andrea Vicentino’s painting of Doge Giacomo Tiepolo
donating the land for the site of the present church. Most of the other paintings
depict scenes from the life of St Dominic or major events in the history
of the Dominican order.
After the sacristy the rest of the aisle is stacked with monuments, the
first of which is that of Doge Pasquale Malipiero (d.1462) – created by
Pietro Lombardo, it’s one of the earliest in Renaissance style in Venice.
After the equestrian monument of the condottiere Pompeo Giustiniani (aka
Braccio di Ferro – Iron Arm) comes the tomb of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo
(d.1423) by Pietro di Nicolò Lamberti and Giovanni di Martino, followed by
another Pietro Lombardo monument, for Doge Nicolò Marcello (d.1474),
just before the altar with the copy of Titian’s Martyrdom of St Peter. Three
eminent Venetians of a more recent time – the Risorgimento heroes Attilio
and Emilio Bandiera and Domenico Moro – are commemorated alongside;
they’re also honoured by having a square named after them (see p.182). On
the last altar is a somewhat over-dramatic figure of St Jerome by Alessandro
Vittoria (1576).
central castello Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo
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