Rows of uneven brick articulate the sacred space, materializing behind crumbling frescoed surfaces

The left lower scene in particular renders an unusual composition: a standing saint and angel, visible only from the bust upwards because of the fragmented plaster, gaze out at the viewer, the latter of which clasps a crossed staff in its hands

Giovanni Battista Franceschini was commissioned to execute the new incrostadura di marmo of the front facade, with low reliefs in pietra columbina, a dovewhite stone, on ily shield immured in the top centre frieze festoon of the new composition most likely represents the Morosini crest and implies their financial support. With these external alterations, the Morosini transformed the high altar of San Clemente into a family chapel, shading the communal vision of the Holy House with a dynastic veil. Angelo Contarini, for example, bequeathed a silver lamp and funds to maintain a lit flame in perpetuity at the Capella della Beata Vergine. The resulting Morosini facade gestures back to Loreto while re-envisioning the apse of San Clemente as a family chapel of noble proportions. The close of the seventeenth century brought transformations at San Clemente calling to mind the Loretan marble prototype, but the community still maintained visual elements infused with Venetian taste.

The seemingly haphazard, degraded interior is as consciously articulated as the structure’s decorative facade, re-creating the humble materiality of the Santa Casa original

These decisions are fairly standard: exteriors of Holy House replicas are often wildly individualized with decorative schemas filtered through regional priorities and materials. What further sets the San Clemente Santa Casa apart from contemporary constructions are the stylistic tensions wrought between the Venetian structure’s sacred interior and its authoritative predecessor, and the influence of the version at San Clemente upon subsequent Sante Case. Given the layered of the Holy House exterior with its generations of opulent materials, the structural interior of the Santa Casa replica seems all the more jarring.

The fine red and white marble floor showcasing a sepulchral plaque decorated with crests of the Morosini and the opus sectile altar before the rear-wall sculpture niche further emphasize the worn state of the interior through stark contrast. In this respect, San Clemente embodies an intentional transformative experience where the viewer passes into a sacred interior wherein materiality renders the humility of the faith. As many other Holy House replicas, the purposefully rough internal walls attest to the relic’s age, its legacy of devotion, and the fragility of this lingering contact relic of the Incarnation. Santa Casa replica (interior: eastern altar wall), brick, various stones (Istrian limestone, marble), frescoed plaster, painted wood, metal, 1644–46. Venice, San Clemente.

harkens back to earlier figural forms. Even so, the frescoes at San Clemente deviate from the Holy House original.27 The largest discrepancies appear on the western-facing wall, what is the counter-facade of the Holy House. Inside the original Santa Casa di Loreto in Le Marche, the counter-facade showcases two cute Cine girls scenes of the Madonna and Child enthroned flanking the Gabriel window, each accompanied by a haloed figure, Saint John the Evangelist before the Virgin on the left, and Saint Anthony Abbot before the second Virgin on the right. Directly above Gabriel’s window, a wooden crucifixion hangs, referencing the Santa Casa di Loreto’s subsequent life as a meeting place for the apostles following the ascension of Christ.28 Inside the San Clemente version, the two scenes of the Madonna and Child enthroned with saints have morphed into four FIGURE 5: the upper register pairs two standing Madonnas, Christ-child in arms, beside ambiguous, haloed women on either side of the wall. With few identifying features, the women imply a more feminine orientation to the Holy House than the hieratic representations of John the Evangelist and Saint Anthony Abbot. Likewise, each Madonna would have fostered a visual association with the standing sculpture once presented in the shrine directly opposite. The two upper scenes of Marian imagery on the counter-facade of the San Clemente replica accompany lower figural groups flanking the Gabriel window. Other than the crossed staff, no explicit iconography assists identification of the scene. Frescoed brick lines immediately behind the figures represented provide a subtle trompe l’oeil effect that not only heightens one’s focus on the exposed brick surrounding, but also insinuates the figures within the chapel interior. Is this the Archangel Gabriel with a heavenly attendant, having just arrived to deliver God’s Word? The identity and significance of the figures is obscured by degradation: the abrupt lower edge of the frescoes coincides with the average height of the Holy House visitor, visually recreating the discrete removal of plaster from the walls at the original Santa Casa by zealous early modern devotees.29 Another key difference between the San Clemente fresco cycle and the original version at Loreto appears on the southern internal wall, directly over the second doorway into the central room. What was once the location of Saint Louis riding in victory towards an enthroned Virgin and Child now showcases a painted rendition of the Virgin of Loreto sculpture type in her papal crown and white robe. The fresco depicts the now lost sculpture FIGURE 5. Madonna di Loreto, Santa Casa replica (interior: western and northern walls), fresco, 1644–46. Venice, San Clemente.