Santa Maria degli Angeli di Murano: storia, arte, architettura (1400-1537)

This thesis analyses the history, the architecture and the works of art of the monastic church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Murano, with the aim of identifying a crucial site of Venetian Renaissance. The first chapter lays the archival and historical foundations by examining the Santa Maria degli Angeli archive held at the State Archives of Venice. It contextualises this documentation through the historic sources, mainly Flaminio Corner (1749) and Vincenzo Zanetti (1863). The chapter traces the history of the monastery from its foundation in 1187 as an Augustinian convent to its significant institutional and economic growth in the 15th century. This period is marked by papal and ducal reforms and culminates with the annexation of the Cistercian abbey of Santa Maria di Lovadina in 1490. The development of the monastery is analysed through spiritual reforms, economic reorganisations and its links with important Venetian families. The second chapter focuses on the architectural history of the Renaissance church. It begins with an analysis of the topography of the site, on a narrow strip of land in the western part of Murano, and offers some information on the original medieval complex through cartographic and documentary evidence. The chapter then re-evaluates the architectural developments of the 15th century, highlighting the construction of the new monumental church between 1482 and 1495. It provides a reconstruction of the original spaces altered in the 19th century, including the eastern entrance and the nuns' “double” choir. The chapter concludes by placing the architectural typology of the church within the traditions of Venetian monastic architecture and identifying two distinct decorative phases during its construction. The third chapter explores the role of Doge Agostino Barbarigo as the main patron of the monastery. Through documents such as his will of 1501, the chapter outlines his personal involvement with the monastery institutional success. Doge Barbarigo sealed this bond with the bequest of the votive 'telero' painted by Giovanni Bellini for the Doge's Palace as the new high altarpiece. Such a consideration leads to a detailed examination of the domed chapel of the presbytery, as a modern architectural feature meant to host the painting and probably designed by Giovanni Buora following an invention by Pietro Lombardo. Two reliefs are linked to the latter's activity, confirming the involvement of his workshop in the artistic dynamics. The fourth chapter examines the monumental painted ceiling depicting the 'Coronation of the Virgin', surrounded by 'The Evangelists, the Doctors of the Church, the Apostles, Prophets and Patriarchs'. The work, created between 1490 and 1495 and still partially in situ, represents a significant innovation in Venetian painted wooden ceilings and was realised by Nicolò Rondinelli at the time of his emancipation from Bellini's workshop. The chapter also examines the careers of the other two painters involved in the project, Cristoforo Caselli from Parma and Giovanni Bonconsiglio from Vicenza, to whom two panels are here attributed. The fifth chapter deals with Giovanni Bellini's 'Assumption of the Virgin among eight saints', the first altarpiece commissioned for the church hall. It examines original collocation of the painting and discussess the hypothesis that it was commissioned by Andriana di Lorenzo Michiel, niece of Paolo II Barbo and sister of the cardinal and bishop of Verona, Giovanni. Historiographical and stylistic analyses place the painting between 1502 and 1504, as a cornerstone of Bellini's mature phase. The final chapter serves as an epilogue, briefly describing three other altarpieces completed before the renovation of the high altar around 1537: the 'Madonna and Child between saint Zacharias and saint Jerome' by Francesco di Simone da Santacroce from 1507, the 'Madonna and Child between saint Lawrence and saint Ursula' by Giampietro Silvio painted shortly after 1535, and the monumental 'Annunciation' by Pordenone from 1537, commissioned to replace an altarpiece by Titian sold to Empress Isabella.