The Scuola dei Mercanti (1570) in Venice: A case study of societal and artistic loss occasioned by Napoleon’s decree of 1806

This presentation looks at the example of the Scuola dei Mercanti as one of the many institutions in Venice whose societal role was destroyed and patrimony confiscated after Napoleon’s decree of 1806, which suppressed the ‘scuole’ of the Venetian Republic.

One of the larger of the “scuole piccole”, also called confraternities, the Mercanti’s building, which had been renovated c. 1570-72 and decorated in the early 1570’s -1592, was stripped of its furnishing and paintings. I offer a partial reconstruction of the complex and discuss the functions of the three halls.

Palladio, Veronese, and Tintoretto were among the artists commissioned by the board of the Scuola.