Palazzo Te: presented the 2021 exhibition program all dedicated to Venus

The Fondazione Palazzo Te in Mantua had announced that it would dedicate the entire year 2021 to the myth of Venus. In fact, the new exhibition program of Palazzo Te was presented today, which will include three exhibitions from March 21 to December 12, 2021, to tell through important loans and art masterpieces the timeless myth of beauty, love and desire.

The project Divine Venus. Harmony on Earth, produced and organized by Fondazione Palazzo Te and Museo Civico di Palazzo Te, and promoted by the City of Mantua under the patronage of MiBACT and with the contribution of Fondazione Banca Agricola Mantovana, aims to explore the myth of Venus as a representation of the sense of rebirth from antiquity to modern times. It has a scientific committee composed of Stefano Baia Curioni, Francesca Cappelletti, Claudia Cieri Via and Stefano L’Occaso, and was conceived by Fondazione Palazzo Te to complete a reflection on the feminine that began in 2018 with the exhibition Tiziano/Gerhard Richter. Heaven on Earth and continued in 2019 with Giulio Romano: Art and Desire.

Divine Venus. Harmony on Earth kicks off with The Myth of Venus at Palazzo Te: from March 21 to December 12, 2021, the public will be able to discover the more than twenty-five representations of Venus, including stuccoes and frescoes, in the Palazzo. A journey through ancient myths and fables, also collected in a printed and multimedia guide, which will be enriched with the exhibition of the sculpture Veiled Venus from the collection of the Municipality of Mantua, which belonged to Giulio Romano and is preserved in the Galleria dei Mesi at Palazzo Ducale, and of the tapestry Venus in the Garden with Putti, made by Flemish weavers based on a design by Giulio Romano himself, recently returned to Mantua thanks to a complex purchase negotiation conducted by the Ducal Palace, the MiBACT Directorate General for Museums and with the support of Fondazione Palazzo Te. The Myth of Venus at Palazzo Te will also be an opportunity to organize an international conference on the subject of Venus in the spring.

The second stage will start on June 22 with the exhibition Titian. Venus Blindfolding Love, which will be on view until September 5, 2021. The rooms of the Mantuan palace will display Venus blindfolding Love, Titian ’s absolute masterpiece preserved at the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The canvas by the Cadore master presents Venus in the act of blindfolding little Eros resting on her lap, while another putto, probably Anteros, observes the scene with an absorbed air. A work that fits perfectly into the Divine Venus project and constitutes one of the pinnacles of the representation of divinity in the 16th century.
On the occasion of this exhibition, over the summer, the exedra of Palazzo Te will be redesigned to host performative and artistic moments, part of the public program dedicated to the theme of the Venus myth.

The last stage of the project will begin on September 12 with the exhibition Venus. Nature, Shadow and Beauty, curated by Claudia Cieri Via: until Dec. 12, 2021, the exhibition will investigate the origins of the myth and its creation, thanks to the sixteenth-century recovery of ancient legends and iconographies. The exhibition will devote part of the itinerary to the spread of the myth in European courts, the connection of the goddess with the waters, gardens and parks, and with the beauty of the women of the time. A section will also be devoted to the “dangers” of Venus and the connection of sorceresses and witches with the cult of the goddess. The exhibition design is by Lissoni Associati, while the graphic design is developed by Lissoni Graphx.

We thank Fondazione Banca Agricola Mantovana, iGuzzini and Friends of Palazzo Te and the Mantuan Museums.

Image: Giulio Romano and pupils, Venus driving a chariot shows Psyche to Cupid (1527; oil on plaster on wooden support; Mantua, Palazzo Te, Chamber of Cupid and Psyche) © Fondazione Palazzo Te Ph.Credit Gian Maria Pontiroli

Palazzo Te: presented the 2021 exhibition program all dedicated to Venus

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