A seventeenth-century plan of the demolished medieval church of Santa Maria del Giglio in Venice specifies
with relative clarity the layout of the sixteenth century organ loft and, in particular, the location of the four
Sibyls by Giuseppe Porta called Salviati that decorated the supporting structure. Combining this information
with the one obtainable from written sources and the surviving paintings, the author proposes a graphic reconstruction
of the whole organ complex, that included – as we know – Jacopo Tintoretto’s doors representing
the Evangelists, and a Virgin and Child (attributed to his workshop) located on the ceiling of the balcony.
One gets the image of a quite impressive architecture, probably contemporary to the lavish sculptured decoration
in gilded wood that covered the entire medieval nave giving it a modern appearance.
