The visit is both a real and imaginary journey through art, but also through the social history of Venice. It depicts the domestic rituals of a patrician family home with its eighteenth-century and Neoclassical furnishings, tableware and paintings.
Along the museum route there are some almost imperceptible glimpses of the present: contemporary art works that dialogue with the antique collections offer the visitor new perspectives, revealing unexpected points of view.
The detailed information sheets guide you from room to room as you discover and learn about the sociohistorical aspects of the Querini’s life: politics and public roles, business affairs, relationships, the children’s education, entertainment – from theatre to fashion, from music to salons, dining and private moments.
Part of the story is dedicated to the ‘invisible inhabitants’ of the palace: those who almost always pass unobserved in history, but who illuminate the events.
What was for centuries the Querini Stampalia family residence is now a house museum. It is one of the most charming house museums in Europe, recreating the style and authentic atmospheres – both private and sumptuous – of a Venetian palace between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, whilst also depicting the everyday life of the palace. It contains art collections and furnishings belonging to one of the most illustrious and long-standing families in Venice: furniture, paintings, Murano glass chandeliers, globes, clocks, musical instruments, porcelain, sculptures, tapestries. Jacopo Guarana frescoed the ceilings in 1790 for the wedding of Alvise Querini and Maria Teresa Lippomano. It is considered one of the painter’s largest and most important cycles
The 'Presentation at the Temple' is one of Giovanni Bellini’s (Venice, ca. 1438/40 - 1516) masterpieces. Painted in about 1470, it represents a private form of devotion: these kinds of subjects are often found in family chapels, bedrooms and studies. The figures stand out against a dark background. The intensity of their gaze, Mary’s gesture of holding baby Jesus as if to protect him, the way he is swaddled as if he is already in the sepulchre, the parapet that alludes to a sarcophagus: all these elements foretell death and the Calvary. Its resounding modernity makes it a symbol of the Renaissance.
In painting, Pietro Longhi (Venice, ca. 1701 - 1785) is the interpreter par excellence of eighteenth-century Venetian society and customs, just as Goldoni is in terms of theatre. The Querini possesses one of the largest and most interesting collections of his works: no fewer than thirty perceptive and playful ‘snapshots’ that depict the domestic and socialite world of Venice. Longhi captures the atmospheres, customs and moods with a hint of irony. The documentary value of these illustrated chronicles is exceptional while the artistic quality in the detail is noteworthy: a noblewoman’s dress, the furnishings in a room, an atlas lying open on the floor.
This ‘immersive room’ transports you back to eighteenth-century Venice, the most intriguing of the major European cities of the age. Parades and processions, state ceremonies and sacred liturgies in places of power and faith, holidays and games all take place in a spectacular documentary about the institutions, rituals and customs of the Serenissima Republic. Gabriel Bella’s (Venice, 1730 - 1799) paintings portray an entire community and its popular events. For the backgrounds, Bella draws inspiration from the landscape artists, in particular Canaletto. However, the life spilling out of each painting is all his own.
"In 2004 Elisabetta Di Maggio used a scalpel to engrave the plaster of a corner of the first room of the house museum, bringing to light layers of previous paintwork: a meticulous, patient, daily work. The result is 'Senza titolo - Muro #5 [Untitled – Wall #5]', an elegant contemporary wall lacework. The artist was inspired by some fragments of fabric which had once adorned the palace rooms and that are now conserved in the Fondazione archives. Burgeoning memories trace connections between past and present, evoking a reflection on time, a theme dear to the artist and to ‘Conserving the Future’, the Fondazione’s contemporary art project. "
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Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm Closed Mondays
Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 7 pm Closed MondaysOpificioQuerini partners
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Venerdì 26 gennaio 2024 la Biblioteca resterà chiusa.
