Feast of St. John the
Baptist.
THE CHURCH |
We have few information concerning the state of the Church during the first
period of the settling of the Knights of St. John.
During the apogee, we know that 5 altars in Istrian stone with marble columns were in the
Church. These altars had been decorated with pictures from Glovanni Bellini, Palma il
Giovane and other artists. One of the pulpits was decorated with an Antonio Aliense's
picture representing Santa Caterina, patron of the Knights of the Italian Lingua.
Many building works have been established during the centuries. In XIV century a very
heavy intervention gave the present look to the Church. The Priors Fra' Guglielmo Balbiano
and Fra' Stefano Lomellini wanted other building works in 1678/1681 and 1686 respectively.
In 1759 other important intervention has been disposed by the Receiver Fra' Francesco
Boccadiferro who became Prior, later. Two documents, dated 1766 and 1794 and kept in the
Grand Priory Archive, describe all the Grand Priory goods and illustrate the buildings
with very detailed drawings.
During the Napoleonic period paintings and altars were kept away and the Church of S.
Giovanni became a boat shed.
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After the Austrian restitution (1841) the inside
structure was completely renewed keeping the high altar, sculptured by Sansovino, from S.
Geminiano Church: the same look has been maintained till today. In 1957 the original
bricks floor was substituted by a white and red square marble floor with a big Maltese
cross at the foot of the apse steps.
A precious painting decorates an apse wall: it's a Giovanni Bellini's masterpiece
representing the baptism of Jesus.
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Giovanni
Bellini (1429-1516) |
It seems that the Knight of
St. John represented on this picture is the Prior Fra' Sebastiano Michiel, who was very
well known in Venice during that period.
He should be the same character painted on other pictures from important artist of the
same period: "St. Mattew vocation" painted by Vettore Carpaccio and
shown at St. Giorgio degli Schiavoni (which was the hospital of St. John during XIV and XV
centuries), "Procession in St. Mark Square" and "The miracle
of the Cross" painted by Gentile Bellini and shown at Gallerie dell'Accademia in
Venice.
