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It was also a venue for these private gentleman's clubs to show off, and to that end many scuole commissioned artists to decorate their home bases.
When the Scuola di San Rocco held an artists' competition in 1564, Renaissance master Jacopo Robusti (1518–94)—better known as Tintoretto because because his father was a tintore, a fabric dyer—pulled a fast one on his rivals.
The judges were suitably impressed, and Tintoretto got the job (and, the following year, membership in the confraternity).
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt on the ground floor is superb, but his masterpiece hangs in that tiny Sala dell'Albergo, a huge Crocifissione (Crucifixion) that ranks among the greatest and most moving works in the history of Venetian art.
Tintoretto was a devout, unworldly man who traveled beyond Venice only once. His epic canvases are filled with phantasmagoric light and mystical spirituality.
In the center of the gilt ceiling of the Great Hall, also upstairs, is Il Serpente di Bronzo (The Bronze Snake).
Although dark by nature of the painter's brush, the works were restored in the 1970s. A useful guide to the paintings inside is posted on the wall just before the museum entrance.
There are a few Tiepolos among the paintings, as well as a solitary work by Titian. (Note that the works on and near the staircase are not by Tintoretto.)
Scuola Grande di San Rocco ★★
Campo San Rocco, San Polo
Vaporetto: San Tomà
tel. +39-041-523-4864
www.scuolagrandesanrocco.it
€10
Open daily 9:30am–5:30pm
Tours of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco
• Context: Power and Glory in Renaissance Art: Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese
• Venetian Renaissance after the Plague
Planning your day: I guess you could do this in 30 minutes, but I usually spend an hour or more, much of it just sitting along one wall of the Great Hall, staring at the beauty around me: carved stalls, ornate decorations, and all those glorious Tintoretto paintings.
The ticket office closes 30 minutes early. Venice itineraries
The Accademia di San Rocco (tel. +39-041-962-999, www.musicinvenice.com) sponsors highly recommended chamber orchestra concerts in these evocative environs.
Sights nearby
★ I Frari (church)
Giardini Papadopoli (park)
★ Ca' Rezzonico (palace/museum)
Ca' Pesaro (museums)
Where to eat nearby
Pizzeria Da Sandro [meal]
★ Pizzeria Ae Oche [light meal]
★★ Cantina Do Spade [light meal/snack]
Hotels nearby
» Hotels in S. Polo from Booking.com
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