The paper examines the dispersal of the Grimani family’s painting collection from Santa Maria Formosa during the first half of the nineteenth century. Drawing on archival sources and historical accounts, it highlights the process of musealization of the palace between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the subsequent sale of artworks, emphasizing the roles of Virginia Chigi Albani and Michele Grimani. Particular attention is given to an octagonal painting now housed at Kingston Lacy in England, acquired by its owner in 1851. The study proposes the painting’s original placement in the Sala del Camino of Palazzo Grimani, offering insights into the decorative and cultural layout of the residence during the sixteenth century.
This paper addresses the issue of Venetian collecting in the nineteenth century, a field that has been little explored and long influenced by the historiographical paradigm of post-Serenissima decadence. By undertaking a critical re-reading of extant literature and sources, the essay identifies the principal interpretative distortions and persistent methodological gaps in studies in this field. The article then outlines several research lines aimed at problematically reconstructing the phenomenon of collecting, considering private and public forms, the processes of musealisation of artistic heritage, and the impact of the socio-economic and institutional transformations of the Habsburg era.
The paper examines the dispersal of the Grimani family’s painting collection from Santa Maria Formosa during the first half of the nineteenth century. Drawing on archival sources and historical accounts, it highlights the process of musealization of the palace between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the subsequent sale of artworks, emphasizing the roles of Virginia Chigi Albani and Michele Grimani. Particular attention is given to an octagonal painting now housed at Kingston Lacy in England, acquired by its owner in 1851. The study proposes the painting’s original placement in the Sala del Camino of Palazzo Grimani, offering insights into the decorative and cultural layout of the residence during the sixteenth century.
This paper addresses the issue of Venetian collecting in the nineteenth century, a field that has been little explored and long influenced by the historiographical paradigm of post-Serenissima decadence. By undertaking a critical re-reading of extant literature and sources, the essay identifies the principal interpretative distortions and persistent methodological gaps in studies in this field. The article then outlines several research lines aimed at problematically reconstructing the phenomenon of collecting, considering private and public forms, the processes of musealisation of artistic heritage, and the impact of the socio-economic and institutional transformations of the Habsburg era.
