Venice, Isola di S. Giorgio

The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, sits on the Isola (island) di S. Giorgio, across the lagoon from Piazza San Marco. In 1797, before Venice became part of Italy, Napoleon’s agents plundered the 22 by 32 foot Renaissance masterpiece, “The Marriage at Cana,” from this Abbey. It was moved to Paris, and in 1798 it was split in half and displayed in two pieces. Since the French feared Mussolini might want to reclaim the lost (stolen?) treasure (painted in 1563 by the Italian master Paolo Veronese), it was rolled up and hidden from the Italians during WW II.

Our video, taken at the Louvre in 1991, includes a view of portions of the painting, and much of the scaffolding that obscured the rest of it, while it was nearing the end of a three year restoration. A few months later during the re-hanging, the Louvre engineers miscalculated and the painting suffered a crash that sliced several one-meter long slashes in the canvas. The slashes were rather easily repaired, and the painting is now on display in the Louvre.