Chiesa di Santo Stefano

The Servite church of Santo Stefano preserves an important collection of early Bellunese art. Built between 1468 and 1491, it contains Matteo Cesa's wooden altarpiece of 1485, paintings by Cesare Vecellio and Francesco Frigimelica, carvings by Andrea Brustolon and a sixteenth-century stone clock dial divided into twenty-four hours.

Why it matters

Santo Stefano was built for the Servites by master masons from Como. Its Cesa chapel preserves a wooden altarpiece that marks an important stage in the local school of painting. The church also received carvings rescued from demolished buildings, including Brustolon's lamp-bearing angels and crucifix, and the Gothic portal of the Battuti, transferred in 1893. Its artworks show the development of Bellunese painting and sculpture from the late Middle Ages through the Baroque period.

What to notice

The Cesa chapel, erected in 1485, contains Matteo Cesa's painted and gilded wooden altarpiece. Frescoes in the chapel were formerly attributed to Jacopo da Montagnana, though the municipal accounts now treat that attribution cautiously. The 1737 Chapel of the Addolorata contains a statue attributed to Giovan Battista Alchini, a pupil of Brustolon. Paintings by Cesare Vecellio, Nicolò de Stefani, Francesco Frigimelica and Antonio Lazzarini span the nave. Two lamp-bearing angels and a crucifix by Andrea Brustolon came from churches that no longer exist. The south portal, transferred from Santa Maria dei Battuti in 1893, is Gothic and bears statues of the city's patron saints. The bell tower retains a stone clock dial divided into twenty-four hours, following the sixteenth-century German manner.

Context and history

An older church stood on this site before the Servites built the present church from 1468 to 1491. A vernacular mortuary inscription dated 1349 survives in the left nave wall. The Cesa family's chapel and Matteo Cesa's altarpiece of 1485 established an important local artistic precedent. Over subsequent centuries the church accumulated paintings and carvings. After Napoleonic suppression, it received works from dissolved churches, including Brustolon's sculpture. The 1893 transfer of the Battuti portal added to its role as a repository of Bellunese art.