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| VENEZIA! TREASURES FROM VENETIAN PALACES | |
Venezia!
Treasures from Venetian Palaces
27 September 2002 - 12 January 2003
Treasures from Venetian Palaces
27 September 2002 - 12 January 2003
| The Venetians
have always known how to celebrate the nonpareil status of their city,
its unique situation in the middle of the lagoon, "between sky and
water", its long-standing independence and the distinctive political
structure of an "aristocratic republic". But it was above all art
that contributed (and still contributes) to the mythic aura of Serenissima
which has endured to the present day. Art was an important means of
personal self-portrayal, especially in a city whose political structures
had remained unchanged for centuries. But art not only enhanced the
personal standing of the patrons and collectors; it also increased
the fame of the city. |
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Click on any photograph for a full-size image |
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| In Venice itself, only an incomplete
and distorted impression can be obtained today of the diversity, quality
and originality of the Venetian collections. The great collections
of the 14th to the 19th century were broken up and scattered throughout
the world; what remained in Venice itself is spread over the city's
numerous museums and is displayed according to criteria that are in
marked contrast to those of (for example) a 17th century collector.
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Vittore Carpaccio
The Lion of San Marco |
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The Venezia exhibition
project attempts for the first time to present by way of reconstruction
the evolution of the art collections in Venice. Close cooperation
with the Musei Civici Veneziani and the loans from other museums in
Europe and America make possible not only the presentation of paintings
by such important artists as Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese
or Tiepolo; |
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| Giovanni
Antonio Canal, called Canaletto Rio dei Mendicanti |
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the special attraction of
the exhibition will be the opportunity to see and appreciate many
major Venetian works of art in their original "collection contexts":
A late 16th century collection included not only paintings by Venetian
or non-Venetian masters (like Dürer or Bosch), but also ancient and
contemporary sculpture, coins, magnificently illuminated books, valuable
navigation charts, and sometimes minerals and scientific instruments. |
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| Pietro Longhi Hunt in the Lagune |
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The exhibition will cover the period from the 14th to the 19th century
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Mariano
Fortuny Djellaba |
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| The exhibition
illustrates the fact that the collection-structure and presentation
of the works of art primarily reflect the taste of the times, as well
as political and social aspects: Many of the innovations of Venetian
art that can be admired in the exhibition owe their existence to the
rivalry of the collectors and to their need for artistic quality and
originality. Thus in presenting a history of collecting, the exhibition
displays and illuminates the art and municipal history of Venice from
a new and unusual perspective. |
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| Bernardo
Strozzi (1581-1644) Music (Portrait of Barbara Strozzi) |
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