Who Made the Treasury of Saint Mark's?

Who Made the Treasury of Saint Mark’s?

The Treasury of Saint Mark’s in Venice is a remarkable collection of Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian, Venetian, and Crusader goldsmiths’ work, accumulated by the Basilica of San Marco from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. The treasury is best known for the famous Pala d’Oro — the great golden altarpiece of St. Mark’s Basilica — but it also contains one of the most important collections of Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian, and early Venetian liturgical objects in the world. The objects were made in the workshops of Constantinople, Aachen, Reichenau, Essen, Limoges, Venice, and the Crusader states, and they document the technical, artistic, and diplomatic achievements of the early medieval Mediterranean and European metalworking traditions. For the broader context, see the Carolingian and Ottonian art and early medieval art and architecture, and for the related discussion of the Byzantine tradition, see early Christian and Byzantine art. The technique of cloisonné enamel used in many of the pieces is treated in the linked long-tail, and the broader context is found in the Byzantine Empire.

The Pala d’Oro

The Pala d’Oro (“Golden Cloth”) is a great golden altarpiece placed behind the high altar of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. The Pala d’Oro is a rectangular panel of gold, set with precious stones, enamels, and pearls, and decorated with figural scenes from the life of Christ, the Virgin, the saints, and the evangelists. The panel is approximately 1.4 m × 3.3 m, and it is the most famous single work of Byzantine and early medieval metalwork in the West.

The Pala d’Oro was begun in Constantinople in the tenth or early eleventh century, was enlarged in the late eleventh or early twelfth century, and was completed in Venice in the early fourteenth century. The original Byzantine core of the Pala d’Oro was probably commissioned by the Byzantine emperor Basil II or one of his successors as a gift to the doge of Venice, and it was brought to Venice after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, when the Venetians plundered Constantinople. The panel was enlarged in Venice with additional enamels and gold work in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the result is a unique monument of Byzantine, Venetian, and Western European metalwork.

The Pala d’Oro is the masterpiece of the cloisonné enamel tradition. The Byzantine sections show the standing figures of the Virgin, Christ, the saints, and the archangels, set against a brilliant blue or green enamel background, in the style of the post-iconoclast Byzantine workshops. The Venetian additions show the development of the Western cloisonné tradition and the integration of the Byzantine and Western styles. The iconography of the Pala d’Oro is closely related to the Byzantine imperial and liturgical tradition, and the program includes the figures of the emperors, the empresses, the archangels, the saints, and the evangelists.

The Other Treasures

The Treasury of Saint Mark’s contains many other objects besides the Pala d’Oro. The treasury includes the famous Crucifix of Constantinople (a tenth-century Byzantine processional cross), the Sarcophagus of Saint Mark (the great Byzantine reliquary said to contain the relics of St. Mark the Evangelist, brought from Alexandria in 828), the Sarcophagus of the Empress Irene (a fourth-century porphyry sarcophagus said to have contained the body of the Byzantine empress), the Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria (a thirteenth-century Italo-Byzantine panel painting), the Icon of St. Mark (a thirteenth-century Italo-Byzantine panel painting), and many other objects.

The treasury also contains Carolingian and Ottonian liturgical objects. The famous Crucifix of Lothair (a tenth-century Ottonian processional cross, sometimes called the Lothar Cross) and the Cup of the Ptolemies (a Hellenistic or Roman cup used as a liturgical object) are among the most famous surviving examples. The treasury also contains medieval Islamic objects, Crusader objects, Venetian goldsmiths’ work, and the famous Quadriga of St. Mark’s (the four bronze horses looted from the Hippodrome of Constantinople in 1204, originally Hellenistic or Roman bronzes).

The Workshops of Constantinople

The Byzantine sections of the Pala d’Oro were produced in the imperial and ecclesiastical workshops of Constantinople. The workshops of the Byzantine capital, the Ergasteria of the Great Palace, the Ergasteria of the Magnaura, the workshops of the patriarchate, and the workshops of the great monasteries were the major centers of Byzantine metalwork. The workshops were highly organized, with separate masters for the goldsmiths, the silversmiths, the enamelers, the gem-cutters, and the pearl-workers. The products of the workshops were used in the liturgy, given as diplomatic gifts, and displayed in the imperial and ecclesiastical treasuries.

The Byzantine metalworking tradition was based on the technical inheritance of the late Roman and Hellenistic worlds. The techniques of cloisonné enamel, champlevé enamel, niello, granulation, filigree, repoussé, casting, and gem-cutting were all practiced in the Byzantine workshops, and the products were exported throughout the medieval Mediterranean. The great Byzantine reliquaries, the imperial crowns, the liturgical vessels, the processional crosses, and the icons were the most prestigious objects of the early medieval world, and they were given as diplomatic gifts to the emperors, kings, and patriarchs of the Christian world.

The Veneto-Byzantine Tradition

The Veneto-Byzantine metalworking tradition developed in Venice and the Veneto region in the context of the close commercial and political ties between Venice and Constantinople. The Venetian metalworkers learned the Byzantine techniques, and the Veneto-Byzantine tradition produced objects that were at once Byzantine in technique and Western in iconography. The famous Pyx of the Holy Blood (a thirteenth-century Veneto-Byzantine reliquary), the Cross of the Doge (a fourteenth-century Venetian processional cross), and many other objects in the treasury of St. Mark’s document the development of the Veneto-Byzantine tradition.

The fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in 1204 had a major impact on the Veneto-Byzantine tradition. The Venetians acquired large quantities of Byzantine metalwork, the Venetian metalworkers absorbed the Byzantine techniques, and the result was a great expansion of the Veneto-Byzantine metalworking tradition. The treasury of St. Mark’s is the single most important repository of this tradition, and the objects in the treasury document the development of the Veneto-Byzantine metalworking style from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries.

The Survival of the Treasury

The Treasury of Saint Mark’s has survived to the present day as one of the most important collections of medieval metalwork in the world. The treasury was kept in the treasury chamber of St. Mark’s Basilica through the centuries, and it was only opened to the public in the late nineteenth century. The treasury contains objects of all the major medieval traditions — Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque, Gothic, Islamic, Crusader, and Venetian — and it is the most complete documentation of the medieval metalworking tradition in any single collection.

The treasury is now a major museum in Venice, and the Pala d’Oro is on permanent display behind the high altar of St. Mark’s Basilica. The treasury is one of the most important tourist attractions in Venice, and it is one of the most studied collections of medieval art in the world. The study of the treasury has been central to the development of the modern study of Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian, and medieval European metalwork, and the objects in the treasury have been the subject of major exhibitions in Venice, London, Paris, New York, and other major cities of the world.