Altars and four wall-paintings, church of the Eremite
COMPLETED
About the project
The Church of the Eremite is a tiny 17th-century building that had suffered severely from damp. Venice in Peril met the cost of stabilising and consolidating the altars.
Then in 1997 the Fondation Jean-Barthélémy and other friends donated funds for the restoration of paintings in the church in memory of the painter Marie Thérèse Krafft, the church being near her home in Dorsoduro.
The restoration of four paintings on canvas by Francesco Pittoni (1645-1724), depicting the Miracles of St Augustine, was completed in 2002. Yellowed varnish and crude over-painting was removed; the paintings were relined, retouched, revarnished and re-mounted on new stretcher supports.
More recently further restoration has been carried out in the church by others.
Project location
Project funding to date
- Built in 1694 by Giovanni Battista Lambranzani, for Augustinian nuns, this church is part of a convent complex which is now occupied by the religious order the Istituto Canossiano. The nuns offer accommodation for guests and university students.
- Its plain facade, on the Fondamenta delle Eremite in Dorsoduro, hides a wonderful interior with two richly carved altars and a cycle of pictures celebrating St Augustine. Both paintings and altar carvings anticipate rococo style.
- The widow of Doge Giovanni Corner retired to the convent, dying here in 1729.
- To find out more contact the Istituto Canossiano
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