838 massimo favilla, ruggero rugolo, and dulcia meijers
away from it, dared to try his luck in the contest for the ceiling of the
newly completed chapel dedicated to Saint Dominicus in the church of
Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Fig. 22.8).73 Fourteen years tiepolo’s senior, Piaz-
zetta designed for this occasion his one and only ceiling piece, on canvas,
that may even have been of inspiration to his younger rival. From steps,
friars in their black and white attire watch how their founder rises up
towards heaven accompanied by music-making angels. the black cloaks
of the Dominicans form rhythmic points of rest in the overall ensemble of
colors that fade into depth. Shades of apricot dominate the scene. in the
company of a large crowd, the chapel was inaugurated in 1726.
More representative of Piazzetta’s later style in religious art forms is
one of his masterpieces executed for the church of the Gesuati at the
Zattere,74 where another branch of the Dominicans had commissioned
Giorgio Massari to erect a completely new building which would mirror
the redentore of Palladio on the opposite side of the Giudecca Canal. the
interior offers in its decorative program an almost complete gallery of the
principal Dominican saints. Here, in this monument of Settecento art
where all three media are well represented and complementary to each
other, the painter in near-monochrome tones harked back to his earlier
more expressive style. His legacy culminated in the works of his prolific
school, to be seen in the church of the Pietà on the riva degli Schiavoni.75
this church of a hospital for orphans, famous in its time for its music
performances under the guidance of Vivaldi, constituted, like the Gesuati,
yet another celebration of 18th-century art designed in one go.76 One can
imagine how the music of Vivaldi and his contemporaries must have com-
plemented the interior, or vice versa.
However, artists who had ventured into new stylistic directions during
the first quarter of the century were ultimately less requested by aristocratic
73 the other rivals had been the young tiepolo and Mattia Bortoloni. adriano Mariuz,
L’opera completa del Piazzetta (Milan, 1982), pp. 84–85; Favilla, Pedrocco, and ruggolo,
Venezia barocca, pp. 200–03; See in general the monograph of Georgo Knox, Giambattista
Piazzetta 1682–1754 (Oxford, 1992).
74 altar-piece depicting St. Louis Bertrand with St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Hyacinth, 1735–
37. For the church of the Gesuati, see antonio niero and Filippo Pedrocco, Chiesa dei
Gesuati: arte e devozione (Venice, 1994); and antonio niero, Tre artisti per un tempio: Santa
Maria del Rosario—Gesuati, Venezia (Venice, 2006).
75 in general on Piazzetta’s school, see exh. cat. (Venice, 1983), Giambattista Piazzetta.
Il suo tempo, la sua scuola, ed. rodolfo Palluchini (Venice, 1983); and rafaello Padovan,
“Giambattista Piazzetta e la sua scuola,” in Egidio dall’Olio 1705–2005 (Vicenza, 2009),
pp. 33–86.
76 aikema and Meijers, Nel regno dei poveri, pp. 197–215.