User:Clarracuente/Scuole Grandi of Venice

Introduction
The Scuole Grandi (literally "Great Schools", plural of: Scuola Grande) were confraternity or sodality institutions in Venice, Italy. They were founded as early as the 13th century as charitable and religious organizations for the laity. These institutions had a capital role in the history and development of music, as well as being some of the most active art commissioners in Renaissance Venice. Inside these Scuole were born at the beginning of 16th century the first groups of bowed instrument players named "Violoni".

Origins of the Scuole
Confraternities did not originate in Venice, these organizations created for religious devotion and charity have been recorded as far back as the Medieval times. The movement of confraternities was brought to Venice during the mid-thirteenth century when the practice of Self-flagellation was on the rise, done through penitential processions, during a time of political unrest, rises in the Bubonic plague, and fear of the overall state of being. Although this movement was widespread throughout Italy, Venice did not officially come into contact with the processions, but those were thought to have created a domino affect that cultivated the Scuole Grandi, the first being the Scuola di Santa Maria della Carità.

The 12th and 13th century is when confraternities began their popularity within Italy; these Venetian Confraternities were referred to as "scuole", a collaborative of people from various occupations with the same passion of devotion. '''These organizations served their members as a place mutual-aid and religious worship outside of the institution of the church. The first of the three Scuole Grandi (the Scuole dei battudi) came during that time of the flagellation movement in the 13th century, which were the Scuola di Santa Maria della Carità (1260),''' Scuola Grande di San Marco (1260), and Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (1261). Soon after the original three flagellant confraternities came the Scuola vecchia della Misericordia in 1308, and Scuola Grande di San Rocco in the late fifteenth century. 'Later came the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in the late 15th century, and the Scuola Grande di San Teodoro'' in the the 16th century. These Scuole started off as charitable organizations for laymen, but soon developed into wealthy social institutions that influenced much of the social history of''' Venice.

'The scope of the Scuole'' during the mid-late Renaissance period expanded beyond the confines of religion. As institutions they did not answer directly to the church, but to the state and they also had their own government within their organization. Due to their active involvement within the republic (like processions) they were able to create a civic identity built on their religious one, becoming some of the most important patrons of art and music in Venice.'''

List of Scuole Grandi[edit]
By 1552, there were six Scuole Grandi:


 * Scuola Grande della Carità (founded 1260) now part of the Gallerie dell'Accademia
 * Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (founded 1261)
 * Scuola vecchia della Misericordia (founded 1308)
 * Scuola Grande di San Marco (founded 1260)
 * Scuola Grande di San Rocco (founded late 15th century)
 * Scuola Grande di San Teodoro (founded 1530 or 1552)

The Scuola Grande dei Carmini was the last of its kind to be recognized as a Scuola Grande in 1767 by the Council of Ten.

Membership and Responsibilities
In comparison to the scuole piccole that had many different confraternities, the Scuole Grande only had five, and within those Scuole there were made up of close to 500-600 members. '''The guiding principles of these laymen were, "Devotion, Charity, and Patriotism". They were to be active in Religion, active in charity, and active in the republic through the arts.' Unlike the trade guilds or the numerous scuole piccole'', the Scuole Grandi included persons of many occupations, although citizenship was required. Unlike the rigidly aristocratic Venetian governmental Great Council of Venice, which for centuries only admitted a restricted number of noble families, membership in the Scuole Grandi was open to all citizens, and did not permit nobles to gain director roles. Citizens could include persons in the third generation of residency in the island republic, or persons who had paid taxes in Venice for fifteen years. The Scuole Grandi proved to be one of the few outlets for non-noble middle class Venetian citizens to be able to control powerful institutions. '''It was open for all people, but because of membership fees, that still made it difficult for the lower class to join. The practice of Devotional good works were originally done through self-flagellation, but soon evolved into more proactive work in the 15th century.''' Their activities grew to encompass the organization of processions, sponsoring festivities, distribution of money, food and clothing to poorer members, provision of dowries to daughters, burial of paupers, and the supervision of hospitals. Processions (grand spectacles in the piazza) were a large part of civic engagement of the Scuole, they were all required to participate in the procession. The Scuole made it possible for middle class citizens that were not from the Hereditary elite class the opportunity to retain office. During the Middle Age, each school had its own regulation, named capitulare or mariegola. The Mariegola were a book of set rules that each Scuole grande had, ranging from expectations of the institution, and expectations of the members behavior on a day to day basis. Their authonomy was lost during the Renaissance when the institutions were subjected to a specific Magistracy that ruled the office of the leaders and oversaw the drafting of Capitulars after a process of secularization, charities lost their Christian identity and were absorbed into the Venetian structure of the State, that encompassed an exhibiting unity-order among the social classes of the Republic, as it is depicted in the Procession in St. Mark's Square (Gentile Bellini, 1496). '''The schools independence became more monitored due to the influence and freedom they began to obtain from their resources. They were able to pay for and support their costs through the payments of their members.'''

While Venice deleted the Middle Age ius commune from its hierarchy of the sources of law, Grandi Scuole were divided into two opposite classes, and started to securitize their immobiliar investments under the central direction of private banks, even if within the bounds of their history redistribution rules. The Poverty Laws approved in 1528-29 entrusted from the State to the Grandi Scuole system all the charitable and social activities, like: handouts, drugs, burials of needy persons, hospices for widows and children, food and lodging for pilgrims, brotherhood for prisoners. The Serenissima kept for itself a residual role in social justice, uniquely related to those forms of poverty that may become a negative element for the new order of the aristocratic Republic.

Patronage of the Scuole
'''The Scuole played a very important role in the commissioning of music and art in Venice, which were important to their religious institutions. Aside from the government, these schools were thought to be "the most important patrons of art and architecture in the city". Narrative cycles were commissioned for the meeting houses of the Scuole, artists from Tintoretto, Gentille Bellini, and Carpaccio worked for the schools. These institutions were also important patrons of music, many of their processions involving music, as well as employing consistent singers and instrumentalists.'''

Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Within the Scuole of San Rocco artist Tintoretto was commissioned to create "some of the most ambitious paintings" for a collection of pieces that were completed in 1588 . His works covered the rooms of the Sala dell'Albergo (1564-67),  Sala Superiore (1576-81), and the Sala Inferiore (1583-87). Some of the themes in the panels encompassed the old and new testaments, showing dedication to Religion and the church, but also incorporating that sense of patriotism.  One of the earliest works completed for San Rocco was the Crucifixion (Tintoretto), this dramatized interpretation of Christ's Crucifixion encompasses a dynamic and a complex composition as a whole.

Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
Inside of the San Giovanni Evangelista laid a series of processional paintings, one of which done by Gentille Bellini depicting in the Procession of Saint Mark's square. The Procession in St. Mark's Square '''part of the cycle of the miracles of the holy cross. The depiction of one of the processions that were highly celebrated and the scuole participated in. The work is showing the unfolding scene of the Feast of the Holy Cross, the procession shows a father praying for his dying son to be saved. Within the same painting the son is saved, adding to the perpetuated miraculousness of God and the Republic in Venice. Bellini was able to capture the intentions of the scuole in his works that he was commissioned for.'''

Structure and Architecture
The Scuole Grandi were regulated by the Procurators of Venice, who set forth a complex balance of elected offices, mirroring the structures of the republic. Paying members could vote in the larger Capitolo, which in turn elected 16 members to a supervisory Banca: a chief officer, Vicario (first deputy), Guardian da Mattin (director of processions), a scribe and twelve officers known as the Degani (two for each sestiere). A second board, known as the Zonta was meant to examine the accounts of the Banca.

The meeting houses were made up three main rooms, typically the main building consisted of an androne, or meeting hall for the provision of charity; the upper floor contained the salone used for meeting of the Capitolo and a smaller room, the albergo, used for meetings of the Banca and Zonta. They often had an affiliated hospital and church. The Scuola often sheltered relics, commissioned famous works of art, or patronized musicians and composers. The meeting house of the Scuola Grande di San Marco had to be redone after a fire, but the facade is an example of the exemplary architecture that was present in Venice and the Scuole Grandi. The ornate facade blurs the line between actual architecture and illusionary innovation. The architecture of the Scuole Grandi exemplified their wealth and status within the Venetian republic.