Veronese's Organ Shutters at San Sebastiano and Beyond: A Master and His Workshop

• In Event: Veronese Revealed: Save Venice Inc. at the Church of San Sebastiano II

Abstract

The sixteenth-century organ complex at San Sebastiano is renowned for its stylistic unity, a result of the role of Paolo Veronese as both author of the organ shutters and designer of the gilded wooden case that houses the instrument. This integration of real and fictive architecture forms a coherent unit which enhances the theatricality and illusionism of Paolo’s painted spaces. Over the course of the next thirty years, he applied the lessons learned at San Sebastiano in other commissions for organ shutters— and, possibly, additional cases— at many Venetian churches, often providing a design which was then carried out by members of his workshop, including his brother Benedetto, his son Carletto, and his nephew, Alvise dal Friso. This paper will explore the ways in which subsequent organ shutters produced by Paolo and his workshop build upon and engage with the methods that he devised at San Sebastiano.

Author

• Sophia D'Addio, Columbia University