The Trecento Silver Frontal of the Basilica of San Marco, Venice, in the 19th Century: Restorations, Restauration

This chapter focuses on issues of material fragmentation and symbolic reinvention. It examines the material history of the medieval metalwork frontal of the high altar of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice in the 19th century, when the artifact was subjected to a thorough campaign of restoration. This initiative took place at a significant historical conjuncture, as Venice shifted between different governing authorities: the Empire of Austria, a short-lived Venetian republican government (1848–1849), and eventually the Kingdom of Italy. This essay suggests that the restoration of the silver antependium may productively be examined against this changing institutional background, and in relation to the basilica’s role in defining Venice’s fluctuating identity as part of the multi-ethnic Austrian Empire; an independent city with time-honored republican traditions; and an example of the singular mix of municipalism and nationalism that constituted ‘Italian’ identity in the final decades of the Ottocento.