The Marriage of the Virgin with the Brothers of the Scuola Grande della Carità

1538-43 (?)
Accademia Gallery, Venice

In some other versions the dove is seen resting on Joseph's flowering rod. Here it is placed above the ceremony, with rays of light showering from it, a motif borrowed from images of the Baptism of Christ.

As the name says, the scuola was dedicated to works of charity. This interest is signaled by the presence of the crippled beggar on the steps. In the lower right of the painting the traditional image of Charity is adapted to the portrait of the woman with two small children, one of whom is at her breast.

The Accademia's label dates the painting as 1538-43 and attributes it to "Giampietro Silvio (da Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis detto il Pordenone) e Domenico Tintoretto." Silvio lived from 1495 to 1552, but Domenico Tintoretto was not even born until 1560. And Cohen lists no "Marriage of the Virgin" among Pordenone's eighty-two accepted works (II, 509-723).

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.