Venice, Doge's Palace Quadreria refurbishment begins. There will be many new features

In Venice , the restoration of the ancient Quadreria Rooms of the Doge’s Palace has begun, which are the subject of a fitting-out project carried out with the help of the Venice International Foundation, to house from February 2023, in addition to the Museum’s masterpieces, a nucleus of paintings granted on long-term deposit from a private collection. The extraordinary artistic wealth of the Doge’s Palace, known and admired all over the world, is particularly represented by the magnificence of exceptional decorations, paintings, stuccoes, sculptures, stones, welling beams, and wooden carvings, which, together with the monumental architecture of the Palace, constitute a unicum of the highest value for the history of the Serenissima, a world heritage site. However, less well known, even though included in the tour itinerary, is the ancient Quadreria of the Doge’s Palace, which was created to coincide with the history of the Republic, obviously linked to the collecting of the doges, who, due to their office, maintained close relations with the great artists and art merchants of Europe, thus coming to enrich the Palace’s considerable patrimony.

The museographic project of the new Quadreria, shared with architect Pier Luigi Pizzi, has identified a tour itinerary that does not conceal the architectural features of the rooms while bearing witness to the rich collecting history of the Palace. A valuable collection that boasts not only authoritative presences of Venetian artistic history from the 15th to the 18th century, but also remarkable testimonies of Flemish painting: reliable documents of the commercial and cultural relations that the Serenissima has woven over time with the Netherlands.

The list of authors of the works in the Doge’s Palace includes, among others, Venetians Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Vincenzo Catena, Giambattista Tiepolo, joined by Quentin Metsys and the followers of Hieronymus Bosch. Starting in 2020, this nucleus of works has been joined by ten paintings belonging to two Belgian collections under a long-term loan agreement, some of which are still linked to the aforementioned relationship between the Serenissima and Flanders, evidenced by the works of Maerten de Vos, or some of which are closely connected to the great Venetian painting of the sixteenth century whose authors distinguished themselves in the decoration of the Doge’s Palace: this is the case of Tintoretto, whose altarpiece with The Angel Announcing Martyrdom to St. Catherine of Alexandria, made for the lost church of San Geminiano in St. Mark’s Square, or Titian, author of that Double Portrait once in the Barbarigo collection, will be on display. The Doge’s Palace’s new Quadreria will also find a place for Artemisia Gentileschi’sMagdalene in Ecstasy, the “heroine” painter of seventeenth-century Italian art history, who lived in Venice for three years, unknown to most but beloved by poets and literati: an unusual presence but of great interest for her critical historiography.

“This important project, which will see the light of day in 2023,” comments Mariacristina Gribaudi, president of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, “is another part of that enhancement of the artistic and cultural heritage that is the main mission of our Foundation. The new Quadreria will offer visitors an unprecedented space that has been missing. A space that in some way will celebrate the history of Venetian collecting, especially that of the doges, with works by Giovanni Bellini, Titian and Tiepolo that originated for the Doge’s Palace and until now have never been exhibited in a single room. These will be joined by prestigious ones from an important foreign private collection and related to the history of Venice and its art collections.”

“Evolution and change,” stresses Luca Bombassei, President of Venice International Foundation, “are one of the peculiar characteristics of Venice, able to transform itself continuously while maintaining its identity. Our city’s museums, with their drive to educate, design, promote and preserve, allow an immersion in history: they are repositories of a glorious past, necessary to examine the present and imagine the future. They have faced and are facing numerous changes, but they have never abdicated their role: to transmit art and culture, and to tell stories. This is the spirit in which we at Venice Foundation are supporting the restoration of the New Picture Gallery at the Doge’s Palace.”

Venice, Doge's Palace Quadreria refurbishment begins. There will be many new features

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