Another Venice to discover at the Domus Grimani
A Venice the discoveries are never finished. Anyone who has already visited the largest museums in the lagoon city should pay a visit to the church of Santa Maria Formosa not only because, like all churches in the city, it contains unexpected art treasures, but also because a few meters away there is a narrow and almost hidden calle that gives access to the large courtyard. This is the entrance to Palazzo Grimani, or rather the Domus Grimani as it is called for reasons that will be immediately evident.
The complex building dates back to the mid-16th century
Mid-16th century building
The building complex from the mid-16th century was the residence of Doge Antonio Grimani, but the main mark of its construction is due to his brother, Cardinal Giovanni. Having lived a little of the taste of the time, brought starting from the monumental Venice with a long portal and a little Roman decorated in Rome, attributed to Sammicheli with a long portal and a decorated with three Roman busts. The courtyard is also of central Italian tradition, as well as the staircase leading to the noble floor where several important artists of the sixteenth century worked.
The visit of the rooms immerses you in an atmosphere of precious marbles and scenographies that echo the power of the familyespecially in the Sala del Doge: recently opened to the public, it contains the rearrangement of one of the most spectacular and evocative rooms of the palace, with a Renaissance splendor that, without disfiguring, can be compared to Michelangelo’s New Sacristy of Florence, the unmatched paradigm of the Italian Renaissance.
From spice merchant to Doge
The Doge’s Room was created at the same time as the extension works of the palace commissioned by Giovanni Grimani, patriarch of Aquileia, and by his brother Vector and completed in 1568. This space wanted to celebrate the figure of Antonio Grimani, spice merchant and first doge of the family: ancient and precious marbles such as yellow alabaster, green serpentine and red porphyry create a spectacular setting in which to exhibit part of the classic sculptures from the family collection.
The visit of the rooms is immersed in an atmosphere of precious marbles and scenographies
Paintings and sculptures by Georg Baselitz
In the rooms of the Domus the Archinto exhibition presents recent paintings and international sculptures by the famous German artist Georg Baselitz set up on the noble floor. It includes 12 canvases made especially for this room, which are placed in the original eighteenth-century stucco frames where the portraits of the Grimani family stood out until the nineteenth century. These works by a living artist establish a continuous dialogue between classical and contemporary art which further enriches the cultural offer of the museum. By making these canvases specially which he granted them on long-term loan for Domus Grimani, Baselitz pays homage to Venice and its extraordinary artistic tradition. The title of the exhibition refers to the portrait of Cardinal Filippo Archinto that Titian painted in 1558, which is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Palazzo Grimani Museum
Rugagiuffa 4858 – 30122 Venice
Tel 041 2411507
polomusealeveneto.beniculturali.it