In the rich, sometimes overly so, offer of contemporary art that is all about Venice in the summer months, an exhibition such as the one currently open at Ca’ d’Oro is refreshingly contemplative. Da Donatello a Alessandro Vittoria 1450-1600. 150 anni di scultura nella Repubblica di Venezia is one of the few exhibitions that is all about sculpture. About sixty pieces compose an itinerary on plastic art in the Republic of Venice, from the early Renaissance to late Mannerism. Many come from the rich Franchetti Collections, others are on loan from public and private collections. Donatello, Antonio Rizzo, Pietro, Tullio and Antonio Lombardo, up to Jacopo Sansovino and Alessandro Vittoria. Art highlights the interpretative variability of sculpture, the richness of material, the expressive potential and the different aesthetical values within a historical and artistic context that all too often favours, as far as Venetian history is concerned, painting. A precise and well-curated staging will allow us to understand the stylistic and iconographic complexity of those revolutionary years. The belated abandonment of Gothic art in Venice and the beginning of a new season are embodied in a terracotta bust by Donatello (San Lorenzo). The famous San Sebastiano by Andrea Mantegna opposes a marble sculpture by the Lombardo bottega, making it clear how the two must have been at the root of the renovation of artistic language in the mid-1400s. The final stage of the exhibition is spectacular: busts by Alessandro Vittoria mix antiquarian fantasy and verisimilitude to make immortal memories of notable Venetians of his time.
Featured image: Ph. Matteo De Fina
