San Silvestro is a church building in the sestiere of San Polo of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, northern Italy. The church is located in the business district of Rialto. Originally, in the 12th century, it was under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Grado. After rebuilding, it was reconsecrated in 1422, and in 1485 it merged with the ''Oratory of Santa Maria dei Patriarchi e di Ognissanti''. After a partial collapse in 1820, the church was entirely rebuilt from 1837, being reconsecrated in 1850, to designs by Giovanni Meduna. The facade is modern, and was completed in 1909 by Giuseppe Sicher. The Baroque ceiling has paintings by

Ludovico Dorigny Ludovico Dorigny (1654 – 17 October 1742) was a French painter and engraver. Trained in his native country, he spent most of his life and career in Verona, Italy. Life and career Born Louis Dorigny into a family of Parisian artists, Dorign ...

. The altars were designed in the 19th century by Santi and decorated by the sculptor Giovanni Antonio Dorigo. The interior has four Renaissance panels, and a ''Baptism of Christ'' by Tintoretto. The ''Adoration of the Magi'' by

Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...

is a large oil painting on canvas painted for the church in 1573 which has been in the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

since the church sold it in 1855, presumably to finance the rebuilding. The painting was commissioned by the confraternity of

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

, the ''Scuola di San Giuseppe'', and placed beside their altar on the left hand wall of the nave. They were not one of the very wealthy Scuole Grandi of Venice, nor trade-based like others with altars in the church, but essentially devotional, and they included female members.Penny, 401 The church had a number of significant paintings, and the Veronese was next to the altar of St Joseph on the left side wall, which in the next century was given an

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

by Johann Carl Loth of the unusual subject of Joseph presenting the newborn Jesus to

God the Father God the Father is a title given to God in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first person of the Trinity, followed by the second person, God the Son Jesus Christ, and the third person, God t ...

, which remains in the church. The Veronese had some fame, being singled out for mention in early guide books such as Giovanni Stringa's 1604 revision of

Francesco Sansovino Francesco Tatti da Sansovino (1521–1586) was a versatile Italian scholar, humanist (one of the most important of his century) and man of letters, also known as a publisher. Biography Francesco Sansovino was born in Rome, the son of the sc ...

's ''Venetia''. In 1670 agents of the new Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had failed to persuade the convent of Saint Catherine to sell Veronese's ''

Mystical Marriage of St Catherine The mystical marriage of Saint Catherine (or "Mystic") covers two different subjects in Christian art arising from visions received by either Catherine of Alexandria or Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), in which these virgin saints went through a ...

'' of 1575 (now Gallerie dell'Accademia), turned to San Silvestro and attempted to bribe every member of the confraternity to sell the work, but failed after two years.Penny, xxi Chiesa di San Silvestro (Venezia) Campanile in campo.jpg, Campanile and church (West exposure).

Notes

References

* * Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540-1600'', 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd, {{DEFAULTSORT:Silvestro Roman Catholic churches in Venice Roman Catholic churches completed in 1422 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1909 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy