VENETI — Visitors to this city have plenty of opportunities to discover the tastes of visionary collectors with deep pockets like Peggy Guggenheim, whose Grand Canal palazzo is a treasure trove of 20th-century American and European art, or François Pinault, who rotates his contemporary art collection between two locations in Venice.
But that was the case even hundreds of years ago. Take the case of the Grimani family.
In the 16th century, their palazzo near the Church of Santa Maria Formosa, a short walk from St. Mark’s Square, became a must-see for Venice A-list visitors (including Henry III of France), thanks to its rare and prestigious antique sculptures collected by Giovanni Grimani (1506-1593), Patriarch of Aquileia, and before him his uncle Cardinal Domenico Grimani (1461-1523).
It is the good fortune of modern visitors that both Domenico and Giovanni did something practically unheard of at the time by donating a significant portion of their collection to the Republic of Venice on the condition that it be displayed in public in a suitable setting.
“It’s a great gesture,” said Stefania Mason, the author of several books on Venetian collectors. “It is the first case of a donation for public consumption. They wanted everyone to see it,” she said. “It was an exceptional gesture in every way.”
In 1590, the entrance hall of the Marciana library, opposite the Doge’s Palace, was destined to house the Grimani collection, and six years later the public museum was opened. Grimani’s donations eventually formed the core of the Archaeological Museum of Venice, which is now housed in an elegant 16th-century building on the south side of St. Mark’s Square.
The recent restoration of the ceiling of the entrance hall and the redesign of the layout of the museum provided an excuse to return some of those classical sculptures to the Palazzo Grimani after almost 430 years.
A first lot of sculptures were installed in 2019, in nooks and crannies and on pedestals in the so-called Tribuna, a room Giovanni built to display his collection. They were part of an exhibition titled ‘Domus Grimani’ curated by Toto Bergamo Rossi, director of the non-profit Venetian Heritage Foundation, and Daniele Ferrara, who oversees the Veneto Regional Directorate for Museums.
The palazzo had been open as a public museum since 2008, much restored but sparsely decorated. Despite Covid, once the images were put on display, the palazzo’s visitors multiplied many times over and the Tribuna became an Instagram darling.
(You can see before and after photos of the Tribuna here.)
Last year, another wing of the palazzo was refurbished and about 20 statues were installed in the “Chamber of the Doge”, originally an arty hall honoring the family patriarch Antonio Grimani (1434-1523), a spice merchant whose military and political acumen led until his selection as doge in 1521.
“I have to say that I did not expect such a wow effect,” said Mr Bergamo Rossi during a walk-through a few months ago.
In time, some works will return to the archaeological museum in exchange for other pieces from the Grimani collection, while copies will also be made of some works essential to both places. “With collections like these, we can reconstruct the history of the republic,” Ferrara said.
The Grimani family had an edge when it came to collecting. Domenico lived in Rome for many years and mediated between the Pope and the Venetian Republic. Many ancient sculptures have been found on the land the family bought on Quirinal Hill, which once housed an ancient Roman bath and garden. Domenico only had to dig.
The family’s economic ties in the Adriatic, on the other hand, gave them access to Greek originals. Later, Giovanni devoted his life to buying old works of art, filling the collection with purchases from traveling merchants and local antique dealers.
When Giovanni decided to renovate the palazzo in the second half of the 16th century, he called on a stable of Tuscan and Roman architects, decorators and painters, such as Giovanni da Udine, who worked with Raphael in the Vatican, and Federico Zuccari, who painted a monumental staircase. The palazzo is “truly an anomaly,” said Ms. Mason, the art expert.
Last year, the palazzo’s portego – a ceremonial hall on the piano nobile or ground floor – was given a new look when 12 large works by the German painter Georg Baselitz were installed in large stucco moldings originally used for portraits of the Grimani family. During a visit to the palazzo last fall, gallery owner Lorcan O’Neill noted that the Baselitz paintings, which will remain on long-term loan, “were so modern, but they seem like they’ve been here forever.”
Gagosian Galleries and Venetian Heritage are producing an exhibition of works by American artist Mary Weatherford, which will open at the museum on April 20 during the Art Biennale. The paintings, entitled ‘The Flaying of Marsyas’, are inspired by Titian’s painting of the same name.
The relationship between Venetian Heritage and state culture officials “has been very interesting” and fruitful, Mr Ferrara said.
In 2020, a private collector decided to sell a portrait of Giovanni Grimani, attributed to Domenico Tintoretto. The state had no “immediate resources” to buy it, Mr Ferrara said, so he turned to Venetian Heritage, which raised the money, bought the painting and donated it to Italy. Of course it ended up in Palazzo Grimani.
“It’s so nice to have it. After all, he is what the Venetians call the ‘paron de casa’ or the head of the household, Mr Bergamo Rossi said of the portrait. “And I think he’s very happy to be here.”