Scuola San Giorgio degli Schiavoni

Schiavoni was the Venetian word for the Dalmatians, and the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni was their confraternity headquarters – little bigger than Dr Who’s police box, but, thanks to Vittore Carpaccio, a Tardis ready to transport you to a world of storybook delight. The relief of St George and the dragon over the door offers a preview of coming delights.

Carpaccio’s cycle of nine works on the lives of the Dalmatian patron saints, painted between 1502 and 1508, was originally intended for the hall upstairs. Removed to the ground floor in 1551, it has had the rare fortune to stay there ever since, cosy, warm, glowing with colour, and filled with the exact, literal details that bring the story to life – the bits of undigested maidens by the dragon in the painting of St George, just to the left of the door, or the monster brought to heel in The Triumph of St George. Next is St George Baptises the Pagan King and Queen, followed by an altar of the Virgin and Child by Carpaccio’s son Benedetto.