San Giobbe

Church of Saint Job, Venice

Façade of the church

Basic information
Location Cannaregio, Venice, Italy
Affiliation Roman Catholic
Year consecrated 1493
Status Active
Architectural description
Architect(s) Antonio Gambello, Pietro Lombardo
Architectural type Church
Architectural style Renaissance
Groundbreaking 1450
Completed 1493
Specifications
Length 42 metres (138 ft)
Width 20 metres (66 ft)

The Church of St Job (Italian: Chiesa di San Giobbe) is a Roman Catholic church in Venice, northern Italy, dedicated to Saint Job. It is located in the Cannaregio, overlooking the campo of the same name, known as Sant'Agiopo in Venetian, on the left bank of the Cannaregio canal at Ponte dei Tre Archi. It is one of the five votive churches built in Venice after an onset of plague.[1]

Contents

History

In 1378 a hospice with a small oratory dedicated to San Giobbe or Saint Job attached was begun on this site by Giovanni Contarini, on land he owned near his house. It was completed by his daughter Lucia, with the help of the Minor Observant Friars. The oratory was replaced by the present church by Bernardino of Siena, with the financial backing of doge Cristoforo Moro in gratitude for Bernardino's prophesy that Moro would become doge - Cristoforo donated 10,000 ducats to the building works in 1471, three months before his death, and was buried in the church. Work began in 1450, paused until 1470, and was finally consecrated in 1493, as one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture in the city. It was begun by Antonio Gambello and (when work began again in 1470) completed by the sculptor and architect Pietro Lombardo, with the latter designing the present altar arch and main door as well as much of the interior decoration.

It contains the tomb of René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson, French ambassador to the Republic of Venice, by the French sculptors Claude Perreau and Thomas Blanchet. Its altarpieces house works by Vivarini, Pietro Lombardo, Luca Della Robbia, Basaiti and Bordone, as well as Girolamo Savoldo's Il Presepio (1540). The church also formerly held Giovanni Bellini's San Giobbe Altarpiece and Vittore Carpaccio's The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple: these works are now in the Accademia Gallery in the same city.

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