The National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon present the exhibition A Cabinet of Wonders. A celebration of art and nature. The George Loudon Collection, produced with the Venetian Heritage Foundation and George Loudon Collection. The exhibition will take place at the Palazzo Grimani Museum in Venice, from December 15, 2024, to May 11, 2025.

A Cabinet of Wonders is an exhibition project conceived as a tribute to collecting, within the Renaissance architectural space of Palazzo Grimani, capturing the legacy left by its owner, the patriarch Giovanni Grimani. Curated by art historian Thierry Morel, the exhibition consists of two sections: the first, specifically designed for the mythological dressing rooms, will evoke a cabinet of curiosities from the 16th-17th century presenting a series of exceptional art objects, as well as naturalia et mirabilia, from important national and international cultural institutions, including the MAK in Vienna and the Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco, as well as from the collection of the Palazzo Grimani Museum and patriarch Giovanni.

The second section, "The George Loudon Collection," in an unprecedented setting, exhibits a unique selection of pieces from George Loudon's collection, a connoisseur and collector of 19th-century natural science objects, presented for the first time as an artistic installation. George Loudon began collecting contemporary art. Later, his interest in science stimulated the search for beauty, wonder, and even magic in individual objects and illustrations linked to 19th-century scientific practice. As part of a collection and in the Venetian exhibition, the objects emerge from the shadows, abandoning their original function and revealing themselves instead as works of art.