The Rood Screen at Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

1475
Marble
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari ("The Frari")

The inscription above reads MCCCC OPTIME IACOBO MAUROCENO PROCURANTE HIS SEDIBUS HAEC MARMORA SUNT ADIUNCTA LXXV, "These marbles were added to the seats in 1475, Giacomo Mauroceno most honorably procuring them." It is just possible that the "added marbles" are only the statues above the inscription, but since the marbles are said to be added to the "seats" – that is, the choir seats between this screen and the presbytery – it is more likely that Mauroceno's gift comprised the entire pair of marble screens with the statues above.

A Giacomo Mauroceno was Locumtenente Pretorie (governor or administrator) of Udine, a Venetian possession, in 1426.1 Either he or more likely a kinsman of the same name served on Venice's powerful Council of Ten in 1464.2

For detail photographs and commentaries, click on any of the following links:

• Upper register:
  • Abraham
  • King David
  • St. John the Baptist
• Lower Register:
  • Enoch
  • Jonah
  • Jacob
  • Elisha

• Upper register:
  • Daniel
  • Jeremiah
  • Zechariah
  • Two bishops writing at their desks
• Lower Register:
  • Moses
  • Elijah
  • Isaiah
  • A contemporary wearing a sash inscribed Solo Dei Honor ("Honor to the only God," I Timothy 1:17)

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.