Skuola San Rocco or the Brotherhood of St Roch:
Skuola San Rocco is a church in Venice founded in 1549 by the Brotherhood of San Rocco and belongs to one of the 6 Venetian grand schools.
This brotherhood provided charity for the sick. The Scuola Grande di San Rocco, once a charitable institution for the sick, was founded in honour of St Roch, a saint whose power against disease made him popular in plague-ridden Venice.
The 16th-century building that houses the museum belonged to one of Venice’s most powerful religious brotherhoods, dedicated to fostering piety and mutual aid among the faithful.
The most interesting thing about the Scuola Grande di San Rocco is the cycle of 54 paintings by Tintoretto that make the most powerful impression. But also within the walls of the basilica you will find interesting carved wooden figures and a beautiful gilded ceiling.
The School of the Brotherhood of St Roch is the Sistine Chapel of the great 16th-century painter Jacopo Tintoretto. The master’s many canvases impress us with their pathos, multifigure compositions, size and variety of angles, the power of his talent and the unity of his idea. His canvases are dominated by the people, the crowd, collective action, the human figure becomes part of nature. You will also see works by Guidian and Tiepolo.
In the upper hall of the palace you can see works by the cabinetmaker Francesco Pianta, a virtuoso woodcarver, fantasist, intellectual and storyteller. Each figure made by his fine carving is a symbol, a characteristic of human vice or virtue. It is a veritable alphabet book for instructive and entertaining reading.
Open all days except Monday, 24 December, 1 January, 1 May
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