A splendid Venetian palace is reborn to new life. Palazzo Vendramin Grimani in the eighteenth century was the home of Doge Pietro Grimani, a man of great culture who had transformed it into an important salon frequented by architects, poets, scientists and philosophers. On the other hand, before becoming doge Peter Grimani he had been ambassador of England, he had met Isaac Newton, had been an honorary member of the Royal Society and had deeply breathed and assimilated the enlightened atmosphere of those years. Giving life and soul back to the palace is the principle that inspired the Fondazione dell'Albero d'Oro, the protagonist of the latest refurbishment of this splendid sixteenth-century residence, overlooking the Grand Canal, to make it available to the city. But also to make it a place of research and study, in the footsteps of what had been the intentions of Doge Grimani. And in this wake, to re-establish the historical and artistic ties that have always connected Venice with the rest of the world.
Journey into the history of a building that was born as a warehouse with ancient Byzantine forms that we can still identify today in the famous perspective plan of Venice by Jacopo de Barbari. In the fifteenth century the palace belonged to the doge Andrea Vendramin who was the owner but did not live there. In the sixteenth century it assumes its current Renaissance appearance. With the facade of great formal balance, covered with white Istrian stone and enriched with details of precious colored marble. In those years the palace is still owned by the Vendramin.
Subsequently, in the absence of male heirs, Elisabetta great-grandson of Doge Andrea marries a Grimani from San Polo. Who, to distinguish himself from the other branches of the family, from the mid-seventeenth century it becomes Grimani dell'Albero d'Oro. By virtue of the purity of this family that had come to Venice in the thirteenth century. The eighteenth century is the century of the aforementioned doge Pietro Grimani. The nineteenth century the century that will mark the end of the Grimani branch of the Golden Tree with the marriage of the last heir Maria Carolina Grimani Giustinian to Andrea Marcello.
After two years of restoration, an exhibition itinerary that tells the palace and the history of its families
Palazzo Vendramin Grimani (which has nevertheless kept the name of the old owners) remains the property of the Marcello family until 1969. Then the Sorlini family of Brescia buys it and undertakes an important restoration. In 2018 the building passed to a finance company that entrusted it to the Golden Tree Foundation, faithful and evocative, in the name of those Grimani of the San Polo branch. A tribute to the prestigious Venetian family.
The Foundation, after two years of restoration, opens it to the public in these days. With an exhibition itinerary that tells the story of the palace and its characters. Much of the antique furnishings and precious collections that distinguished the Grimani family have been lost, but precisely in the spirit that was their own, the Fondazione dell'Albero d'Oro has set itself the goal of reviving in the rooms of the building the ancient collecting vocation of the great families who lived there.
From tapestries to period paintings to fans, in the sign of collecting that has distinguished the Grimani family
From Campo San Polo, in the heart of Venice, to discover this extraordinary Renaissance palace which can be reached along a narrow and somewhat winding street. Up to the entrance hall on the ground floor where the photos of the Venetian artist are exhibited Ugo Carmeni who, with his objective, reinterpreted some details of the sixteenth-century facade in macroscopic terms. Spectacular, on the first noble floor of the building, are the grandiose French tapestries made available to the Foundation by a private collector.
In Hall of the Doge there is a selection of paintings belonging to the Grimani Marcello collection. Paintings that, albeit temporarily, have returned home. There Sala dell'Aurora presents some paintings from a private Venetian collection. Extraordinary the show in the Hall of the Fans, embellished and literally upholstered with “infinite” European and Oriental fans. Fans of different sizes, eras and materials: ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, bone or precious woods that support painted lace and silks. For lovers of the genre, and not only, a real wonder. The fans also belong to a private Venetian collection. Paintings and sculptural groups enrich the Hall of Paintings.
The Golden Tree Foundation starts from contemporary art to build its own collection
The visit ends with a touch of contemporaneity: the great watercolors of the Breton artist Yvan Salomone. And a mosaic of photographs by Patrick Tourneboeuf that immortalizes the building's metamorphosis during and after its restoration. It is the first commission of the Foundation that will also build its own collection over time.
The proposed exhibition itinerary is unprecedented and eclectic. Discovering the history of the building, the families who lived there for six centuries and the recent restoration work. If the Grimani dell'Albero d'Oro were refined collectors and important clients of architectural, sculptural and pictorial works, the current Fondazione dell'Albero d'Oro, a non-profit cultural institution that brings together French and Venetian entrepreneurs and professionals, wants to remember them not only by their name but also with the intention of reassembling - in homage to the great collectors of the Grimani family - most of the dispersed collections. The palace will be open with free guided tours, by reservation, from 24 May to 6 June. From 7 June it will be open to the public, always by reservation, with guided tours from Thursday to Sunday.
(ph credit: Golden Tree Foundation)
