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A discreet passion:

The Paolo Galli collection

From 10 October to 20 January 2025

Ca 'Rezzonico - Museum of the Venetian eighteenth century

Dorsoduro, 3136, Venice

Closed now: open at 10:00

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Ca’ Rezzonico celebrates the entry of the donation by Ambassador Paolo Galli into the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Foundation of Civic Museums of Venice with the exhibition dedicated to A discreet passion. The Paolo Galli collection: over 200 sheets by Italian masters from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth century, an invaluable heritage in terms of richness and variety, artists from five centuries from Italian schools. Alongside and together with the famous Venetian masters of the Eighteenth century, already widely represented in the collection of the Museum of Venetian Eighteenth century, Tiepolo father and son, Piazzetta, Guardi, Diziani, Fontebasso, there are and above all the Italian painters of the Bolognese, Roman and Florentine schools, Carracci, the Cavalier d'Arpino, the Figino, Vasari. Up to the anxieties of the short century, with Zoran Music, Giò Pomodoro, Cadorin, Cagli, Mafai, Severini, Sironi, Vedova, enriching the geography and artistic events of the prints, safeguarded by the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Foundation.Centuries of history and stories, a great diversity of techniques - pencils, chalks, inks of every shade, watercolors, of subjects in which the human figure predominates, anatomical studies or drapery studies, crowded compositions, portraits, caricatures, a colorful collection, dispelling the most traditional clichés about prints, a subtle charm that unites them: the discovery of the secret world hidden behind the creative moment of each artist. If the collection of drawings has always been synonymous with refinement, sensitivity, and passion, what is striking is also the dedication with which Ambassador Paolo Galli has brought together dozens and dozens of specimens; perhaps personally identifying the author according to his own taste and assembling a personal pantheon of artists, from the great names to the lesser-known authors, victims of what he himself defines as a benevolent virus that triggered the passion for drawing.Part of the attractive power of these works also lies in the challenge of identifying the author, under the knowledgeable gaze of connoisseurs, scholars, merchants, collectors. Each sheet is a challenge, a puzzle to solve and represents an invaluable heritage for museums, researchers, scholars. For this reason, the exhibition A discreet passion. The Paolo Galli collection is a highly important enhancement intervention, an indispensable part of the life and planning of museums, and offers us the opportunity to see these works for a limited time, a necessary condition for their preservation and enjoyment, even for future generations.For the quality of the specimens, the variety of techniques and types, the number of documented artists - from the rarest petits-maîtres to the most famous names - for the Museum of Venetian Eighteenth century, this is indeed the most important acquisition in the field of prints since the bequest of Nuccia and Riccardo Musatti in 1967.Some of the drawings have been exhibited in shows or have appeared in publications and volumes dedicated to prints, while others have remained for years in the realm of private enjoyment. All photographed for the occasion, they are now the subject of a catalog specifically dedicated to the collection.

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Salvatore Ferragamo 1898 - 1960

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	opens - closes	last entry
monday	10:00 - 18:00
tuesday	Closed now
wednesday	10:00 - 18:00
thursday	10:00 - 18:00
friday	10:00 - 18:00
saturday	10:00 - 18:00
sunday	10:00 - 18:00

A discreet passion:

The Paolo Galli collection

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