VENICE.- Save Venice and the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore – ETS branch announced the completion of the restoration of Jacopo Tintoretto’s The Last Supper and The Israelites in the Desert. The conservation work, carried out from February 2025 through April 2026, was made possible with generous support from The Stracke Family. The two monumental canvases – each measuring 370 x 570 cm – have been reinstalled in the basilica’s presbytery.

The Benedictine community provided the use of the basilica's sacristy for the temporary restoration space, allowing visitors to observe the process through an educational “open worksite.” The project was overseen by officials from the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the Metropolitan City of Venice. Conservation work was conducted by the CBC Conservazione Beni Culturali firm under the direction of Caterina Barnaba. Matteo De Fina led the photographic documentation, Maco Film produced video documentation, S.T.Art-Test of S. Schiavone & C. sas. conducted non-invasive diagnostics, while UnisVe managed the movement and logistics.

This intervention marks an important milestone in the care of these masterpieces, whose last recorded restoration dates back to 1937. The treatment has revived the paintings’ clarity and depth, allowing Tintoretto’s nuanced tonal range and dynamic brushwork to re-emerge. The careful removal of yellowed varnish and discolored overpainting revealed details long hidden beneath later additions. As the work progressed, colors regained their vibrancy, tonal passages became legible again, and the compositions recovered a renewed sense of balance and cohesion.

“Tintoretto’s “Last Supper” and “The Israelites in the Desert,” painted for the presbytery of Palladio’s Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, offer a remarkable dialogue between painting and architecture and remain one of the great artistic achievements of the later 16th-century. The conservation treatment has not only restored clarity and depth to these monumental canvases, but also deepened our understanding of Tintoretto’s late style, his use of light, and the complexity of his narrative vision. We salute the exceptional results of the CBC Conservazione Beni Culturali team, whose work was funded by Save Venice with the generous contribution of the Stracke Family.” –Frederick Ilchman, Save Venice Chairman