Venice's Doge's Palace hosts an exhibition on gold, an artistic dialogue between Crete and Venice

From April 30 to September 29, 2025, the Doge’s Palace in Venice, in the Doge’s Apartment, hosts the exhibition The Painted Gold. El Greco and Painting between Crete and Venice, curated by Chiara Squarcina, Katerina Dellaporta and Andrea Bellieni.

A precious golden thread binds centuries of history, art, diplomacy and devotion in the heart of the Mediterranean, along the route between Crete and Venice. Since the 13th century, Candia represented a strategic pearl of the Serenissima da Mar State. Gold, a key element of icons and a symbol of spiritual light, is the protagonist of this exhibition, which chronicles the long and intense artistic dialogue between two island worlds.

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, Candia became the main center for the Byzantine painting tradition, hosting more than a hundred madoneri workshops, specializing in the creation of sacred images intended for popular devotion. Meanwhile, Venice, the symbolic heir of Byzantium, saw more and more works and artists flow in from the Aegean island: icon painters in transit or settled permanently between Crete, the Ionian islands and the lagoon city. From this fusion arose an unprecedented pictorial language, capable of combining Byzantine solemnity-already deeply rooted in the Venetian tradition-with Western expressiveness and naturalism, at first late Gothic and later Renaissance. It was a fruitful link that was consolidated between the 15th and 16th centuries and continued, with ups and downs, until the threshold of the 19th century.

The exhibition unfolds in seven sections that trace this extraordinary artistic evolution. At the center of the narrative emerges the most fascinating and revolutionary figure of this meeting of cultures: Dominikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541-1614). Born in Crete, he trained in post-Byzantine art before moving to Venice around 1567.

Special attention is devoted to the study of theicon, analyzed in its material aspects and techniques of making. This section, produced in collaboration with the National Institute of Nuclear Physics - CHNet Cultural Heritage Network, offers an important scientific insight for visitors.

The exhibition is the result of an international collaboration between the MUVE Foundation, the Republic of Greece and prestigious museum institutions and public and private collections in Greece, Italy and Europe. A central role has been played by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Greece, with the fundamental contribution of the Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens-the main lender of the works on display-the National Gallery of Athens and the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice. Also important is the support of the City of Heraklion and the Archdiocese of Crete.

Venice's Doge's Palace hosts an exhibition on gold, an artistic dialogue between Crete and Venice

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