San rocco venice tintoretto biography

Tintoretto contributions to the renaissance

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The church of San Rocco in Venice: between relics, art, history and legend

Sometimes it is overshadowed by the presence of the nearby superb Scuola di San Rocco, considered the temple of the art by Tintoretto. Sometimes people hastily pass in front of it, towards Rialto. Sometimes, one simply forgets the enormous importance that relics had in ancient times, and until at least the mid-nineteenth century. But none of these is a valid reason to miss a visit to the Church of San Rocco.Who was San Rocco, whose body is preserved in this church (fig. 1)? He was one of the most important late medieval saints, a thaumaturge (as he performed miracles) and apotropaic (because he was invoked to by devotees to avoid misfortunes, especially plague epidemics). Lived between around 1340 and 1380, his biography is woven with legend. He was born in Montpellier, France, and was destined by the family to become a doctor. At the age of twenty, he abandoned his wealthy life and went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he experienced the health scourge of the time: the plague. Devoting himself for a long time to the care and relief of the plague stricken, he contracted the disease himself. He retired in a wood near Piacenza, where according to legend every day a dog named Orestes fed him w

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San Rocco, Venice

Roman Catholic church in Venice, Italy

The Church of Saint Roch (Italian: Chiesa di San Rocco) is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Roch in Venice, northern Italy. It was built between 1489 and 1508 by Bartolomeo Bon the Younger, but was substantially altered in 1725. The façade dates from 1765 to 1771,^[1] and was designed by Bernardino Maccarucci. The church is one of the Plague-churches built in Venice.^[2]

St. Roch, whose relics rest in the church after their transfer from Voghera (trad. Montpellier), was declared a patron saint of the city in 1576. Every year, on his feast day (16 August), the Doge made a pilgrimage to the church.

Near the church is the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, noted for its numerous Tintoretto paintings. It was founded in the 15th century as a confraternity to assist the citizens in time of plague.

Description

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Exterior

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The facade is decorated within years years 1765–1769 in collaboration with major Venetian sculptors of its time. On the semicircular tympanum stands the statue of Saint Roch by Giuseppe Bernardi. On the sides are statues of Saint Gerolamo Emiliani and Blessed Pietro Acotanto. In the second register is a relief of Saint Roch healing the plague stricken by Gi

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“The Crucifixion” toddler Tintoretto make a fuss over the Scuola Grande di San Rocco