An unprecedented and extraordinary exhibition dedicated to Venetian painting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was inaugurated at the monumental Saloni Selva-Lazzari on the ground floor of the Accademia Galleries.
The new rooms show a precious selection of 63 works, in part never exhibited before, or never admired in their current form, the result of restoration work carried out for the occasion. Among the restored masterpieces, the “Scourge of the Serpents” by Tiepolo, a canvas more than 13 meters long coming from the Venetian church of Ss. Cosma e Damiano; the splendid “The Descent from the Cross” by the Neapolitan artist Luca Giordano, exhibited for the first time in the permanent collection; the lively scene of “Herminia and Vafrino find the Wounded Tancredi” by Gianantonio Guardi, the only canvas in a cycle of 13 inspired by Tasso’s “Jerusalem Delivered”, who returned to Italy after a complex collection process; Padovanino’s “Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins“, presented to the public for the first time ever and rearranged on the ceiling as it was originally; the “Judith and Holofernes” by the nonconformist Venetian painter Giulia Lama; the restored “The Fortune Teller” by Giambattista Piazzetta; the large fragment of Bernardo Strozzi’s “Parable of the Wedding Banquet“; and many other artists who will be a real surprise.
An absolute novelty is also the preparation of the eighteenth-century hall which, alongside unpublished masterpieces, will present a sort of ‘museum within a museum’, reserved for one of the art geniuses of all time, Giambattista Tiepolo.
The new itinerary presents particularly significant themes and protagonists of Venetian painting production, and completes the museum set-up embracing a time span from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.
Website: www.gallerieaccademia.it
Location: Accademia Galleries, Venice
Schedule: from August 31, 2021
