NEW YORK, NY.- After nearly eighteen years of meticulous conservation of practically every element of the 16th-century church of San Sebastiano, Save Venice, the American non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the art and architecture of Venice, is proud to announce the restoration project’s completion. Between 1555 and 1570, Renaissance Master Paolo Veronese painted decorations throughout the interior, including the ceiling, altarpieces and many other oil paintings on canvas, extensive frescoes, and the organ loft.
Save Venice’s involvement stretched from the first investigations in 2006 of potential damage in the wooden ceiling to the conservation of the chapels on either side of the presbytery in 2024. The architecture, sculpture, and paintings once again possess a clarity and beauty that the original artists, patrons, and worshippers would recognize. The total conservation campaign took some eighteen years, even longer than the approximately fifteen years Veronese needed to execute his pictures. Such an extensive restoration was required given the complexity of the individual treatments in varied media and the wish to keep as much of the church open to the public as possible while work was underway. San Sebastiano is, of course, a functioning church.
Save Venice financed the restoration with 3.8 million USD. Of that amount, nearly two million USD came from more than one hundred individual donors. The major benefactors were Richard K. and Nancy Riess and Beatrice de Santo Domingo, Alejandro Santo Domingo, and Andrés Santo Domingo, as well as an anonymous donor.
The project was undertaken in collaboration with the Venice branch of the Ministry of Culture (Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per il Comune di Venezia e Laguna) and the Catholic Diocese of Venice (Diocesi Patriarcato di Venezia). Nearly two dozen restoration firms carried out the conservation treatments including Arlango di Egidio Arlango; CBC Conservazione Beni Culturali; Co.New Tech di Fabrizio Benvenuti; Mauve; and UNISVE.
The Board of Directors of Save Venice hosted donors, public officials, and restorers at the church of San Sebastiano on Friday, May 31, 2024, to celebrate this achievement. The evening included greetings from Save Venice Chairman Frederick Ilchman, Catholic Diocese Cultural Delegate Father Gianmatteo Caputo, Anna Chiarelli, Architect from the Venice branch of the Ministry of Culture, Melissa Conn, Director of the Venice Office of Save Venice. Xavier F. Salomon, Save Venice board member and expert on the painter, delivered a lecture, “San Sebastiano. Paolo Veronese’s Church.” Guests also enjoyed a special performance by the Venice Music Project featuring soprano Liesl Odenweller and the Aurora Chorus. A video recording of the celebration will be shared later this summer.
“Save Venice is honored to have preserved the church of San Sebastiano, one of the jewels of Venice, for future generations,” said Frederick Ilchman, Chairman of Save Venice. “Many of Paolo Veronese’s greatest paintings remain in this church, and now they and the entire interior glow once again as they did more than four hundred years ago. The restoration of this entire building was possible thanks to the collaboration of hundreds of people. Together we have achieved great results, proving once again how important Venice is both to those who call this city home, and also to those who live across the ocean.”
“This project was ignited by the late David Rosand, an esteemed scholar on Paolo Veronese. His passion for the artist inspired the Board of Directors of Save Venice to undertake a restoration of this magnitude. With the encouragement of board leadership over nearly two decades, above all J. Robert Lovejoy and Matthew White, our organization boldly declared this was a project that Save Venice must take on. We were confident that the financial support would follow. This courage was not misplaced; year after year, new donations arrived as subsequent sections of the building were adopted. I would like to think that Paolo Veronese, who is in fact buried in this church, would be pleased to see that his art has been cared for with the same attention to detail as he took when it was first made.”
In 2024 Save Venice also financed the publication of “The Church of San Sebastiano. A Guide” with Marsilio Editori, featuring texts by Xavier Salomon, Davide Gasparotto, Gabriele Matino, and Melissa Conn, accompanied by the photography of Matteo De Fina. This guide offers readers the opportunity to explore the many areas of the church, from the façade to the atrium, the nave to the sacristy, from the presbytery to the Friar’s choir; it is a true visual pathway to discover this Venetian jewel.
