We took two different boats down the Giudecca Canal to the far end, in an effort to see 4 churches in the southern part of Dorsoduro. We hadn’t realised how long it would take us to get there (nearly 2 hours), so two of them were shut for lunch when we arrived but we were able to see them later.
We started with San Sebastiano, one we had tried to see before but it had shut early. It’s a 16th century church replacing earlier ones going back to 1396.
San Sebastiano is the church where you come to see paintings by Paolo Veronese. It was his parish church, and he began decorating it at the age of 30, working here from 1555 to 1560 and again from the 1570s to 1581. He died in 1588 and was apparently buried here, along with his brother Benedetto Caliari, also a painter, who helped to complete the work in the nave.
This is the nave. He painted the sacristy ceiling, the nave ceiling, the frieze, the east end of the choir, the high altar, the doors of the organ and the chancel. It’s hard to know what to photograph first!
There are 3 ceiling paintings which tell the story of Esther, the queen of Persia who is credited with bringing about the deliverance of the Jewish people. These are felt to be particularly fine, but I don’t seem to have made a very good job of photographing them - ceilings are quite difficult. I made a slightly better job of the sacristy ceiling, which shows the Coronation of the Virgin.
The surrounding 4 panels feature evangelists and there are putti in the circular panels in the corners. There are other paintings all round the sacristy walls, but not by Veronese.
The high altarpiece was commissioned from Veronese by the famous Cornaro family.
It depicts the Madonna in Glory with Musician Angels at the top, Saint Sebastian being martyred lower down, and there are apparently also other saints including John the Baptist, Peter and Frances. I’m not quite sure why there are so many of them all there at once, but presumably that was part of the commission.
There are supposed to be other art works in the church, including a Titian, but restoration work is continuing and most of the right hand side of the nave is screened off and covered in scaffolding.
After spending a lot of time there, we walked down the Zattere to the Gesuati (not to be confused with the Gesuiti in the Cannaregio). This one was built by the Dominicans in the 17th Century when they got possession of the site following the suppression of the Gesuati order in 1668, which explains the name.
It is the most conspicuous building along the Zattere.
The facade is quite heavy, and is said to be modelled on Il Redentore church opposite it across the Giudecca Canal. The interior is also modelled on Il Redentore so the nave has no aisles.
The ceiling features frescos by Tiepolo, depicting the life of St Dominic.
In one of the side chapels is a Virgin with Saints by Tiepolo which is also felt to be very fine.
The photo above isn’t mine, mine was too awful. The light was poor and reflections sometimes make photography impossible.
It was then time for a late lunch and we found a bar on the Zattere. After lunch, I went to use the ladies, a very tiny cubicle, and the lock failed so that I was locked in this very tiny space right at the back of the place far from the bar and the café tables with no phone signal. Being claustrophobic, I had a complete panic and screamed and yelled and hammered on the door until one of the waiters found a screwdriver and opened the lock from outside to let me out. My hand is now blue with bruises and I'm quite hoarse! I must remember to kick the door if this ever happens again. This is the second time I have been locked in a ladies loo (it happened at work about 9 or 10 years ago and I was trapped for much longer) and I fervently hope there won’t be a third time!
We next went to San Nicolò dei Mendicoli. There is supposed to have been a church on this site since the 7th century, destroyed and rebuilt several times, remodelled in 1553 and given a new facade in 1750.
The interior is 16th century gilded wood, but so dark it is very hard to photograph and I am amazed anything came out at all. It was so dark I didn’t even spot Paul getting his head into the photo - and my second effort is even less sharp.
Next, we went to Angelo Raffaele, traditionally supposed to be one of the oldest in Venice, allegedly founded in either the 4th or the 6th century. The existing church was built between 1676 and 1685.
The main attraction of this church is a series of panels that tell the tale of Tobias, the blind prophet cured by the archangel Raphael, after whom the church is named. You might be able to see him, or at least his wings, on the painting behind that construction with a crucifix on it behind the altar.
It was by this time after 4, and, though we had hoped to get to Il Redentore next, we had a bit of a wait for a boat across the Giudecca Canal, and only arrived about 4.25 when the church closes at 4.30. So we stayed on the boat and visited San Giorgio Maggiore instead. There’s been a church on this site since 790, and a later 10th century church was replaced after an earthquake and fire in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 15th century. The current church, designed by Palladio, began in 1556. It’s a church built for ceremony, so it’s monumental and imposing.
This isn’t my photo I’m afraid. I did take one from this position, but the church is housing some works from the Biennale and there is a tall multi coloured glass erection, filling the centre of the nave almost to the roof, so it’s impossible to photograph the interior without it.
There are some late works by Jacopo Tintoretto, The Fall of Manna in the Desert on one side of the altar, and The Last Supper on the other.
Both of these are hard to photograph because they are so massive, you can’t get near them and you have to view them either from the far right or the far left as you can’t get right under them. The Last Supper i have posted above is regarded as revolutionary because of its diagonal design.
There is also a campanile, but we were too tired by then to go up it, so we caught the two boats home. The rain, which had been coming and going all day, set in with a vengeance and the lagoon was very choppy with a marked swell, making for a rough trip. We had to make a very wet trip to the supermarket for supplies, so the flat is now draped with damp clothes and wet umbrellas and we are hoping our shoes will dry by tomorrow.
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