What is there
to see?

Venetian churches are famous for housing masterpieces by Titian, Tintoretto or Bellini — sometimes they have works of two of those masters. While Titian dominates Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Tintoretto San Giorgio Maggiore, here in San Zaccaria, the star is Giovanni Bellini.

His Sacra Conversazione (Holy Conversation, 1505) is considered one of the finest Renaissance paintings, created just two years after Leonardo’s Mona Lisa. Bellini is celebrated for his luminous colours, which are vividly on display here.

So what do we find in this painting?
The Figures (From left to right):
Saint Peter, in yellow and blue robes, holding his key and a book.
Saint Catherine, with her martyr’s palm and broken wheel.
The Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, central to the composition, accompanied by a musical angel.
Saint Lucy of Syracuse, holding a glass containing her eyes.
Saint Jerome, the Church Father, dressed in red and reading a book.

Bellini painted this work specifically for its location. The background columns are painted, but the foreground columns are real stone, framing the composition beautifully.

At the time, artists were deeply engaged with perspective. Horizontal and vertical elements, such as the niche, create a central perspective, with all lines converging behind Mary.

Other Highlights

San Zaccaria’s walls are richly decorated with paintings, so even Bellini’s masterpiece can seem almost modest by comparison — a testament to the church’s wealth and significance. The niches’ domes are also elaborately painted, and some illuminated “tombs” contain sculptures, such as a wooden figure of Christ showing his wounds.

Interestingly, the church on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore falls under the parish of San Zaccaria.

Architectural History
of the church

The church has survived through the centuries as a place of worship.

It was consecrated in 864 and underwent numerous changes over the following centuries. A new, larger church was built alongside the original structure, so that old and new merge seamlessly from the 15th century onwards. The decorative façade seen today also dates from this period.

The church has three aisles. Interestingly, the left aisle of the old church became the right aisle of the new construction, which creates a subtle difference in floor height visible to careful observers inside.