Ceiling frescoes

In 1737, Tiepolo signed an important contract with the Dominican Order in Venice, agreeing the decoration of the church of the Gesuati (or Jesuits), Santa Maria del Rosario, built in 1720 - the artist's first great ceiling decoration for a church interior in Venice. Beginning in 1738, Tiepolo created a total of 40 frescoes of varying dimensions within the very short period of twelve months. Three large frescoes cover the centre of the vault of the Jesuit church: the Glory of St Dominic, the Institution of the Rosary, and the Virgin Appearing to St Dominic. Medallions portraying the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary decorate the rest of the ceiling. The symbols of the four Evangelists are represented over the high altar, a medallion of King David Playing the Harp, surrounded by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, hangs over the choir's central bay, with a further medallion of the Holy Trinity placed on the choir wall.

The organization of the ceiling follows the Venetian tradition in ceiling painting, in the same manner as Veronese's famous decoration in the Sala del Collegio in the Doge's Palace in Venice. Tiepolo's decoration benefits from the brightness of the church interior, which is lit by six large windows, and his frescoes harmonize in an extraordinary fashion with the architecture of the vault. The light and clear style of the painting also contributes to the legibility of the frescoes, and translates the Dominican rhetoric into images anyone can understand.