THE GRAND SCHOOL OF SAINT ROCCO
(SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCO)
The Grand School of Saint Rocco was a brotherhood of Venetian well-off persons, established in 1478. Initially this institution didn’t have a regular seat, moving from Saint Julian church to Saint Sylvester church till a place near the Friars church. The School rises near to Saint Rocco church, a very important saint for Venice, because it was the one to whom the city consecrated during the pestilence of Fifteenth Century. In 1517 the project was commissioned to Barolomeo Bon but was completed only in 1560 by Giangiacomo de’ Grigi.
The project was very similar to that of other Venetian schools and consists in two wide halls, one on the first floor and the other on the second. The first is named “Worldly Hall” and has three naves. The upper hall, accessible through a staircase, had a wooden altar and grants the access to the “Tintoretto’s Hotel Hall” (Sala dell’Albergo).
In 1564 Tintoretto was asked to decorate the school, so all paintings in this palace were made by the great artist and their apprentices. Among the masterpieces of the painter from the Veneto we have to remark “The Crucifixion” and “The Escape to Egypt”.
In 1807 many paintings were ravaged by Napoleon’s soldiers.