Venice, remarkable acquisition for Palazzo Grimani: here is the portrait of the "paron de casa"

In Venice important acquisition for Palazzo Grimani, where a work attributed to Domenico Tintoretto (Domenico Robusti; Venice, 1560 - 1635), son of the better-known Jacopo, arrives: it is a portrait of Giovanni Grimani (Venice, 1506 - 1593), patriarch of Aquileia, among the most illustrious members of the Venetian patrician Grimani family, to whom we owe the current layout of the family palace in the vicinity of Santa Maria Formosa and the collection of statuary preserved in the Tribuna.

The portrait is dated to the early 17th century, and will be placed in the Sala a Fogliami. The operation is part of the Domus Grimani 1594 - 2019 exhibition project, the exhibition celebrating, after more than four centuries, the return of Giovanni Grimani’s collection of classical statuary to Palazzo Grimani. The acquisition was made possible thanks to thepurchase of the painting by the Venetian Heritage foundation, which also financed the restoration thanks to a donation from Emilio Ambasz: once the work was completed, the foundation donated the painting to the State Museum of Palazzo Grimani: an example of fruitful and virtuous collaboration between the public and private sectors.

“The arrival of this work of art at Palazzo Grimani,” the museum points out in a note, "fills an important iconographic void, lacking the portrait of the paron de casa to whom we owe the current appearance of the building, a precious rarity in the lagoon city because of its architectural conformation that recalls the Roman domus and the Renaissance models of the papal city. The palace, a cultural mèta frequented by scholars, men of letters, artists, sovereigns and prominent figures visiting Venice during the Renaissance, in fact owes its appearance precisely to the interventions carried out by Vittore Grimani and his brother Giovanni during the 16th century and can boast decorations in the Tuscan-Roman Mannerist style, with frescoes and stuccoes by Francesco Salviati, Federico Zuccari and Giovanni da Udine, a pupil of Raphael."

The exhibition Domus Grimani 1594-2019, curated by Daniele Ferrara, director of the Veneto Regional Museums Directorate and Palazzo Grimani, and Toto Bergamo Rossi, director of Venetian Heritage, reconstructs one of the most significant episodes of European museology (the Tribuna of Patriarch Giovanni Grimani, still intact in its architectural structure) accompanied by furnishings and works in the antebellum rooms, with the’intent of recreating the decoration of an aristocratic residence of the 16th century and thus restoring to visitors the atmosphere of a place that, thanks to this project, is once again the protagonist of the Venetian cultural offer through a layout inspired by the aesthetics of the “house-museum.” The exhibition can be visited until May 30, 2021.

Pictured: Domenico Tintoretto (attributed), Portrait of Giovanni Grimani, detail (early 17th century; oil on canvas, 116 x 101 cm; Venice, Museum of Palazzo Grimani)

Venice, remarkable acquisition for Palazzo Grimani: here is the portrait of the "paron de casa"

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