Moses Striking Water from the Rock

In 1577 Venice was emerging from a plague that had killed tens of thousands of its people over the previous two years, the painter Titian among them. This building belonged to the confraternity of Saint Roch, a brotherhood devoted to the saint Venetians prayed to against the plague. For its great upper hall Tintoretto covered the ceiling with Old Testament scenes of God rescuing his people from disaster. Here Moses strikes a bare rock in the desert and water bursts out to save the thirsting Israelites, while God leans down from the clouds above. Tintoretto worked on this hall for years, paid only his costs plus a modest salary. He painted much of it on canvas in his workshop, then fixed it overhead.