Paintings in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco: Paintings in the Sala Superiore (1576-81)

In 1574, seven years after the pictorial decoration of the Sala dell'Albergo was finished, the decision was taken to proceed the redecoration of the Sala Superiore, the Upper Hall. Tintoretto began to work on the ceiling canvases in 1575 and the first painting, The Brazen Serpent, was finished in August 1576. The decoration was completed in the summer of 1581.

The ceiling decoration consists of three large rectangular and ten oval paintings, all by Tintoretto, which are complemented by eight rhomboid canvases executed by Giuseppe Angeli in 1777-78 as substitution for Tintoretto's original tempera paintings. The ceiling paintings reflect a theme based on interaction between the Old and New Testaments and the charitable aims of the Brotherhood of San Rocco: "The salvation and healing of the suffering humanity through a miracle of the Old Testament which is a forerunner of the Redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross".

The ceiling paintings are the following:

Tintoretto painted ten large canvases for the long walls of the room (five on each), an altarpiece, The Apparition of St Roch, for the altar wall and two saints, St Roch and St Sebastian, for the wall opposite to the altar. The paintings on the walls depict various scenes from the New Testament. They are the following:

You can take a virtual tour of the rooms in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco starting from the homepage of the Scuola.