Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Welcome to the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, known simply to the Venetians as 'the Frari.' As we stand before its imposing brick facade, you might find it plain compared to the marble-clad Basilica of San Marco.…

As you walk down the central nave, your progress is momentarily halted by the magnificent marble choir screen. This is one of the few remaining examples in Italy of an original medieval choir enclosure still in its original…

We now stand before the high altar, dominated by what many consider the greatest masterpiece of Venetian Renaissance art: Titian’s 'Assumption of the Virgin.' Painted between 1516 and 1518, this work is staggering in its size and…

Turning to the left aisle, we encounter a monument that is as striking as it is unusual in this Gothic setting: the tomb of the neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. Constructed in the late 1830s, this massive white marble…

Directly opposite Canova’s pyramid is the monumental tomb of the man who arguably defined the golden age of Venetian painting: Titian. Although Titian died in 1576 during a plague outbreak, this grand marble monument was not…

Continuing our scholarly walk, we must visit the Pesaro Chapel to see Giovanni Bellini's 'Madonna and Child with Saints,' painted in 1488. This is a 'triptych,' meaning it is composed of three separate panels. …

Before we conclude, we must visit the Chapel of the Florentines to see the only work by Donatello in Venice: the wooden statue of St. John the Baptist. …

As we emerge from the cool, hallowed halls of the Frari back into the sunlight of the San Polo district, I hope you feel the weight of the history we have just traversed. This church is a 'masterpiece of ambition,' a place where…