A tribute to one of the greatest masterpieces of the Renaissance, Giovanni Bellini’s The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which, starting July 10, 2025, returns to the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice. The work will be housed within a structure designed to protect it and, at the same time, display and illuminate it, and will be accompanied by an original soundtrack and olfactory texture, in an immersive sensory journey.
How to deal with a masterpiece is thus meant to be a tribute not only to the work itself, but also to its ability to generate meaning, emotion and beauty every time it is revealed in a new context. A completely reinvented space: not a simple set design, but a true architecture that recalls the Venetian tradition of temporary structures, built over the centuries to celebrate solemn ceremonies and stimulate the collective imagination. A current reinterpretation of historical custom: this installation aims to subvert classical hierarchies and renew the way the public and the work interact, transforming the Bellini’s return to the museum into a total sensory immersion.
Signing the installation is Madrid-based architect Izaskun Chinchilla, known for her use of color, material research and attention to detail. Her often visionary projects come from a multidisciplinary perspective that interweaves architecture, design, craftsmanship and environmental sensitivity. In this installation, his style, recognizable by its soft lines, light materials and use of light, is fully expressed, creating an almost fairy-tale dimension. Each element is designed to interact with the work, taking visitors on a collective journey involving sight, hearing and smell.
The structure of the Cocoon, designed to accommodate the painting, explores the contrast between rigidity and softness. The birch wood framework supports an acoustic felt covering, made from recycled plastic bottles, which gently lays and warps, sinuously, over the main framework, achieving the fluidity of a semi-rigid material and allowing, through the control of the curves produced, light to filter inside. Velvet curtains allow the painting’s exposure to be modulated: either fully visible in the Green Drawing Room or in a more collected and intimate mode. This duality recalls the depictions of Venetian life in Gabriel Bella’s paintings, displayed in the next room, where ephemeral fabric architectures transformed permanent spaces with striking scenic effects.
The environment is also traversed by an original sound composition signed by Gavino Murgia, which guides the visitor. Archaic sounds evoke spiritual atmospheres and ancestral memories, inviting contemplative listening. Completing the sensory journey is Mystic Incense from The Merchant of Venice’s Murano Collection: an intense and refined fragrance with notes of incense inspired by the Muda of Egypt. The scent evokes the spices and essences that characterized 15th-century Venice, blending oriental accents with woody and gourmand nuances.
Complementing the project in the fall will be a Study Day entirely dedicated to The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The event will bring together international experts to explore the historical, cultural and artistic significance of the work. A moment of discussion and reflection designed to contribute to its enhancement and protection, restoring to it all the complexity and wealth of meanings that belong to it.
To support the initiative, a crowdfunding campaign has been launched, aimed particularly at the “Friends of the Querini,” with the goal of raising 3,000 euros. One can contribute with a minimum donation of 10 euros on the Rete del Dono platform. A gesture that on the one hand concretely supports the project and on the other strengthens the bond between the Foundation and its community, promoting active and shared cultural participation.
“Works have always traveled: inside crates, in trunks, rolled under the arm like baguettes. They have traveled for safekeeping, for safekeeping. Some have never returned. Many move for special occasions such as temporary exhibitions, creating a fertile double movement - it is not only people who go to meet art, but art itself that moves, that offers itself to new gazes. A continuous dialogue between space, time and vision, which renews and multiplies meanings,” stressed Cristiana Collu, Director of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia. “Giovanni Bellini’s Presentation of Jesus in the Temple returns home. And the wonder of its return is at the heart of this encounter, and we did not want to put it just in the frame but directly inside a fragrant casket, crossed by soft lights and new sounds: an ephemeral and colorful architecture, which renews its vocation to be home and at the same time threshold, journey and return, a shell, a nest, a cocoon to welcome the wonder of a rediscovered beauty.”
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| Bellini's Presentation in the Temple returns to the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in a new sensory display |
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