The Society for the History of Collecting
are delighted to invite you on
Tuesday, 9 April 2024, 6pm (BST); 7pm (CEST)
to a Zoom lecture delivered by
Elena Bertin on the topic of
The Contarini dagli Scrigni collection at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice: New light on the patronage of Giogria Contarini (1584-1661) and the nineteenth-century dispersal of the collection
Some Contarini dagli Scrigni paintings on display in “Room 3”, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
The “Contarini dagli Scrigni” collection was donated to the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice in 1838 by the last male heir of the family, Girolamo. Through the partially studied eighteenth and nineteenth-century inventories of the collection, it has been possible to delve into some episodes of the patronage of Giorgio Contarini dagli Scrigni (1584–1661), known for being a patron of painters and writers who he welcomed into the palace of San Trovaso on the Grand Canal. Giorgio's protection of artists with caravaggesque influences such as Carlo Saraceni and Domenico Fetti has long been known, as evidenced by some canvases now exhibited in the museum's "Room 3," dedicated to Venetian collecting of the seventeenth century. Thanks to the documents, it is now possible to demonstrate that Artemisia Gentileschi was also in contact with Giorgio Contarini, who probably commissioned her a painting that remained in the palace until the end of the eighteenth century.
The second part of the lecture focuses on the partial nineteenth-century dispersal of the collection, which likely occurred around the mid-century. By cross-referencing some sources, it was possible to trace some paintings from the Contarini dagli Scrigni Collection, now housed in some European museums.
SPEAKER'S BIOGRAPHY: Elena Bertin graduated in architecture from IUAV and then studied art history at the University of Udine, where she obtained a master's degree. In 2022, she also obtained a specialization diploma from the same university.
Thanks to a scholarship co-funded by the Fondazione 1563 and the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, she was able to deepen her research on the formation of the Contarini dagli Scrigni Collection, donated to the museum in 1838.
Her research interests focus on seventeenth-century Venetian figurative culture, with particular attention to the relationships between painting and literature, as well as on collecting and the art market in Venice between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.
