AUTHOR: Jacopo Negretti known as Palma il Giovane
CENTURY : 16th
CHURCH: Church of San Giacomo dall’Orio
DATE: 1575-81
LOCATION: old sacristy – altar (on map n°24)
TECHNIQUE: oil on canvas
The cycle of paintings in the old sacristy was created by Jacopo Palma il Giovane between 1575 and 1581, at the behest of the then parish priest Giovanni Maria Da Ponte.
The pictorial cycle underlines on the one hand the nature of sacrifice renewed on the altar table, on the other glorified as a central sacrament in the life of the Christian.
As per tradition, the Eucharistic theme is taken from some stories of the Old Testament, namely the Passage of the Red Sea, the Brazen Serpent, the Fall of the Manna and Elijah fed by the angel, placed along the walls of the room.
To these are added the Christ placed in the tomb and the Paschal Lamb above the door.
A small canvas with the Crucifixion is also kept here, which was originally located where the large wardrobe is located today. Moschini tells us that already in 1815 the work was under that of the Easter Lamb, a fact confirmed in 1911 by Costantini.
The fulcrum of the entire cycle is the painting placed in the center of the ceiling with the Blessed Sacrament and the Four Evangelists. The scene, characterized by a strong perspective foreshortening, is a clear condemnation of Protestant doctrines in the sign of a particular adherence to the Tridentine dictates. Christ is present only in the symbol of the bread exposed for the adoration of the faithful, a symbol of the affirmation of the real presence of Christ even outside the sacrifice of the table. The Four Evangelists are placed here as witnesses of the truth revealed to them.
