With his Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther challenged the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on penance and papal authority.  In response, the Council of Trent reaffirmed traditional doctrine and decreed that through clarity, simplicity, and intelligibility, art should instruct and confirm the faithful in their beliefs and stimulate piety, devotion, and allegiance.

 

In The Art of Salvation, you'll enter a world of spiritual rebirth and seething political and social tensions where you'll glory in the great works of Venice's Reformation painters and follow the intense theological debates that determined their creation.  Throughout the visit, you'll also see Venice face the first signs of its economic decline and struggle to maintain its trading relations with the Protestant cities while simultaneously repressing internal dissent and seeking the support of the Papacy in its ongoing wars against the Ottoman Turks.

Our day will begin at the stately Church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine and the onset of the Protestant Reformation when the cries of “Solus Christus” and “Sola Scriptura” first echoed throughout Europe and shattered the Christian world.  We'll talk about the abuses and corruption in the Church that gave rise to these two fundamental Protestant beliefs and about the international tensions that favored the spread of the Reformation and made Venice the hope of the Italian evangelicals.  As we visit the gilded and marble-encrusted church, you'll also learn about Rome's own attempts to reform and discover how architecture could be manipulated to serve religious ends.  Our next destination is the meeting hall of the “Brotherhood of the Hanged” where pious laymen gathered to pray for executed criminals.  Here, Palma Giovane's Purgatory cycle looms fatefully overhead.  As we watch the repentant souls emerge from the purging flames and ascend to their final glory, we'll see how the last painter of Venice's Golden Age responded to the Protestant tenet of “Sola gratia” and reaffirmed instead the Church's traditional belief in merit obtained through acts of devotion.  At the Great School of Saint Roch, Tintoretto's art will then show you the full potential of religious imagery to transcend the spoken word and reach out to the faithful through the power of emotion.  As his canvases unfold around us and explain the mysteries of salvation, we'll talk about the charitable acts performed by the Confraternity of Saint Roch and follow the great Reformation debate surrounding “Sola fide”.  We'll also discover the importance of Venice's lay brotherhoods in controlling dissidents and hear instead how Venice came to deal secretly with the most radical of the Reformers.  We'll then reach the tiny Church of Saint Sebastian where the walls glow with the rich coloring of Veronese's paintings.  We'll hear of this devout artist's trial for heresy before Venice's Holy Inquisition and see how the resurgent social ambitions of artistic patrons came to be reconciled with the new spirituality of the Church.  Finally, we'll gaze upward to the radiant ceiling paintings that narrate the story of the Biblical Queen Esther to see how the Church defended the continued veneration of the Virgin Mother of God and responded to the Protestant cry of “Soli Deo gloria”.The Church of Saint Sebastian is included in Venicescapes' walking tour of Venice Italy "The Art of Salvation"


DURATION

  • Approximately 6 hours

MAJOR SIGHTS    

  • Church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine

  • School of the “Brotherhood of the Hanged” - works by
    Palma Giovane (private visit)

  • Great School of Saint Roch - works by Tintoretto

  • Church of Saint Sebastian - works by Veronese


ENGAGING TOPICS

  • Reformation art: fresh images for a timeless faith

  • Mannerism: the visualization of power
    and the individual

  • Baroque architecture: to the Church's everlasting glory

  • Musical reform: the emotion of song

  • The “Five Solas”: the essentials
    of the Protestant creed

  • The Papacy: Venice's cumbersome ally

  • Anti-trinitarians, Anabaptists, and Millenarians:
    the enemies within

  • Jesuits, Theatines, and Barnabites: spiritual renewal and the threat of dissent

  • The European apocalypse: from the Peasants' Revolt to the Thirty Years' War

REFERENCE MATERIAL    

 

Timeline for the guided walking tour of Venice focusing on Venetian religious art during the Catholic Reformation
material protected by copyright

Religious Art
of the Venetian Renaissance

a comprehensive timeline with the lives and principle religious works of the great Venetian masters and their Italian contemporaries along with the Venetian doges and wars, the popes, emperors, rulers of Milan, Florence, Mantua, and Ferrara, and the religious and humanistic milestones of the Renaissance

preview


AVAILABILITY

This guided tour is not available on Saturday and Sunday.


PRICE AND SPECIAL NOTE

The price indicated is intended to cover the costs of the Society's continued research initiatives and organization and is in compliance with the conditions concerning the activities of non-profit organizations as set forth in the Ministry of Finance Unified Code Article 111, paragraph 3 (Art. 111, T.U., comma 3)

  • Price: $290 (U.S. dollars) for two (2) persons. Each additional adult costs $60.00. Minors under the age of 18 cost $30.00 each.

    • Price includes one (1) copy of Venicescapes’ timeline “Religious Art of the Venetian Renaissance”. Additional copies are available at $20.00 per copy.

    • Incidental transportation costs and entrance fees are not included

    • Special note: The private visit to the School of the “Brotherhood of the Hanged” cannot be confirmed prior to arrival in Venice.


    SUGGESTED READING

    To help make this guided walking tour a culturally enriching and educational experience, these books are recommended.

     

     

    This itinerary is currently in preparation.