Vendramin
Encyclopedia
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, who were among the case nuove or "new houses" who joined the patrician class when the Libro d'Oro
Libro d'Oro
The Libro d'Oro , once the formal directory of nobles in the Republic of Venice, is now a respected, privately-published directory of the nobility of Italy ....
was opened after the battle of Chioggia
Battle of Chioggia
The naval Battle of Chioggia took place on June 21, 1380 in the lagoon off Chioggia, Italy, between the Venetian and the Genoese fleets, who had captured the little fishing port in August the preceding year. This occurred during the War of Chioggia....
(June 1380). Andrea Vendramin
Andrea Vendramin
Andrea Vendramin served as Doge of Venice, 1476-78, at the height of Venetian power, the only member of the Vendramin family to do so. His mother, Maria Michiel, and his wife Regina Gradenigo, both came from Dogal families...
served as the sole Vendramin Doge
Doge of Venice
The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...
from 1476–78, at the height of Venetian power, though in 1477 an Antonio Feleto was imprisoned, then banished, for remarking in public that the Council of the Forty-One must have been hard-pressed to elect a cheesemonger Doge. In his youth, Andrea and his brother Luca, in joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
s, used to ship from Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
enough goods to fill a galley or a galley and a half, Malipiero recorded in retrospect: even his factors grew rich managing his affairs. At this period, mentions of Vendramins in various fields of business occur; Luca Vendramin (d.1527) founded a successful bank on the still-wooden Rialto Bridge
Rialto Bridge
The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.- History :...
with three Capelli brothers in 1507,
but in his will of 1524 forbade his sons from continuing in banking. An early text on accounting mentions that the Vendramins' soap is so reliably good that you can buy it without inspecting it. Later they owned an important theatre.
In the early seventeenth century the Vendramin also provided the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
with an ambassador and Patriarch of Venice
Patriarch of Venice
The Patriarch of Venice is the ordinary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. The bishop is one of the few Patriarchs in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church...
, in Francesco Vendramin (1555-October 7, 1619), elected Patriarch in 1605, despite being a layman
Layman
A layperson or layman is a person who is not an expert in a given field of knowledge. The term originally meant a member of the laity, i.e. a non-clergymen, but over the centuries shifted in definition....
, and made a Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
in 1615. He introduced a requirement that priests hearing confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
s had to be over 35 years old, and take an examination in canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
, despite having himself evaded a Papal examination on the same subject for candidates to the Patriarchy. He bequeathed 600 ducats a year to the Jesuits, then banned from Venice, partly inspiring a law banning legacies to them.
Two main branches of the family descended from Doge Andrea, ancestor of the Patriarch, and his brother Luca, grandfather of the two brothers in the Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
Portrait of the Vendramin Family
Portrait of the Vendramin Family
The Portrait of the Vendramin Family is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Titian, executed around 1543-1547. It presently hangs in the National Gallery in London....
in the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
. The Vendramin were extinct in the main male line with Niccolò Vendramin, who died in 1840. Today they are remembered almost entirely for their impressive artistic legacy.
Miracle of the True Cross
The reliquaryReliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
of the True Cross
True Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
shown on the altar in the National Gallery Titian, which still exists, was connected with a miracle in 1370-82 depicted by Vittorio Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini was an Italian painter. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice.- Biography :...
and other artists. When accidentally dropped into a canal during a congested procession it did not sink but hovered over the water, evading others trying to help, until an earlier Andrea Vendramin (grandfather of the Doge) dived in and retrieved it. This Andrea had been presented with the relic in 1369, in his capacity as head of the confraternity
Confraternity
A confraternity is normally a Roman Catholic or Orthodox organization of lay people created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy...
Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
The Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista is a confraternity building located in the San Polo sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. Founded in the 13th century by a group of flagellants it was later to become one of the five Scuole Grande of Venice. These organisations provided a variety of...
of San Giovanni Evangelista; the scuola still own it. Both the large Bellini painting, The Miracle of the True Cross near San Lorenzo Bridge, of 1496-1500,http://artyzm.com/e_obraz.php?id=267, and the Carpaccio of 1494, are now in the Accademia
Accademia
The Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th century art in Venice, northern Italy. Situated on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro, it gives its name to one of the three bridges across the canal, the Ponte dell'Accademia, and to the boat landing station for the...
museum.
Monuments
Doge Andrea has what is generally agreed to be "the most lavish funerary monumentChurch monument
A church monument is an architectural or sculptural memorial to a dead person or persons, located within a Christian church. It can take various forms, from a simple wall tablet to a large and elaborate structure which may include an effigy of the deceased person and other figures of familial or...
of Renaissance Venice", in the basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the usual burial-place of Doges, by Tullio Lombardo. However the portrait in the Frick Collection
Frick Collection
The Frick Collection is an art museum located in Manhattan, New York City, United States.- History :It is housed in the former Henry Clay Frick House, which was designed by Thomas Hastings and constructed in 1913-1914. John Russell Pope altered and enlarged the building in the early 1930s to adapt...
by Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini was an Italian painter. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice.- Biography :...
, inscribed with his name, is now considered to be of his successor, Doge Giovanni Mocenigo
Giovanni Mocenigo
Giovanni Mocenigo , Pietro Mocenigo's brother, was doge of Venice from 1478 to 1485. He fought at sea against the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and on land against Ercole I d'Este, duke of Ferrara, from whom he recaptured Rovigo and the Polesine...
.
The Cardinal-Patriarch is commemorated in the Vendramin chapel of San Pietro di Castello, designed by Baldassare Longhena, with two marble high reliefs by Michele Ongharo, of Vendramin's consecration as cardinal by Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
and an allegory of Death.
Collectors
In the first half of the sixteenth century Gabriele Vendramin was a notable patron of artists and the owner of one of the most significant collections in Venice. Sebastiano SerlioSebastiano Serlio
Sebastiano Serlio was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau...
saluted him in print as an authority on ancient Roman buildings and the work of Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
. He was painted with his brother Andrea and Andrea's seven sons in Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
's Portrait of the Vendramin Family
Portrait of the Vendramin Family
The Portrait of the Vendramin Family is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Titian, executed around 1543-1547. It presently hangs in the National Gallery in London....
in the 1540s (illustration). Though he married Maria Grimani
Grimani
The Grimani family were a prominent Venetian patrician family, including three Doges of Venice. They were active in trade, politics and later the ownership of theatres and opera-houses...
in 1538, and had seven daughters, none of the women of the Vendramin house appeared in the group portrait.
The Vendramin collection was one of the marvels of Venice noted in print by Jacopo Sansovino
Jacopo Sansovino
Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino was an Italian sculptor and architect, known best for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino's Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity...
in his Descrizione di Venezia, 1581. Tantalising glimpses of Gabriele's collection as it was displayed in 1530 in the Camerino, or "little study", of Palazzo Vendramin in Santa Fosca feature in the writings of Marcantonio Michiel
Marcantonio Michiel
Marcantonio Michiel was a Venetian noble from a family prominent in the service of the State who was interested himself in matters of art...
, who left important descriptions of many of the patrician collections of Venice. He commissioned The Tempest
The Tempest (painting)
The Tempest is a famous Renaissance painting by Italian master Giorgione dated between 1506 and 1508. Originally commissioned by the Venetian noble Gabriele Vendramin, the painting is housed in the Gallerie dell'Accademia of Venice, Italy.-Overview:On the right a woman sits, suckling a baby. She...
from Giorgione
Giorgione
Giorgione was a Venetian painter of the High Renaissance in Venice, whose career was cut off by his death at a little over thirty. Giorgione is known for the elusive poetic quality of his work, though only about six surviving paintings are acknowledged for certain to be his work...
, and also had his portrait and The Education of Marcus Aurelius by the same artist, both now lost. Among several bound albums of drawings, he owned the large album by Jacopo Bellini
Jacopo Bellini
Jacopo Bellini was an Italian painter. Jacopo was one of the founders of the Renaissance style of painting in Venice and northern Italy. His sons Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and his son-in-law Andrea Mantegna, were also famous painters....
now in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
; there was also an important collection of prints
Old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition . A date of about 1830 is usually taken as marking the end of the period whose prints are covered by this term. The main techniques concerned are woodcut, engraving and etching, although there are...
. Contemporary observers were more impressed with Gabriele's classical statues and his collection of ancient coins than his paintings.
After Gabriele Vendramin's death in 1552, the collection passed to the three sons of his brother, Andrea, with the stipulation that it remain intact. The high-living heirs came to a law-suit over the collection, when agents of Albrecht V of Bavaria
Albert V, Duke of Bavaria
Albert V was Duke of Bavaria from 1550 until his death. He was born in Munich to William IV and Marie Jacobaea of Baden.-Early life:Albert was educated at Ingolstadt under good Catholic teachers...
, led by Jacopo Strada
Jacopo Strada
Jacopo Strada was an Italian polymath courtier of the 16th century, a painter, architect, goldsmith, inventor of machines, numismatist, linguist, collector and merchant of works of art...
, were negotiating over acquiring it in toto. the brothers mutually blocked the sale. With the death of the eldest, Luca, in December 1601, occasioning a second inventory, the collection began to be dispersed by the Vendramin heirs in the next generation.
The important paintings in the collection when it was in the hands of a younger Andrea Vendramin (c. 1565-1629) in 1627 were documented in an album of pen-and-ink drawings before they were purchased in Venice after his death by the Dutch merchant and connoisseur Jan Reynst
Jan Reynst
Jan Reynst was a Protestant Dutch merchant in Amsterdam and, with his elder brother Gerrit, an art collector. In 1625 he went to Venice...
and passed to the Reynst Collection
Reynst Collection
The Reynst Collection, probably the most extensive 17th century collection of art and artefacts, was owned by the Dutch merchants Gerrit Reynst and Jan Reynst. The collection was put on display in their house at the sign of Hope on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in the seventeenth century; at least one of his Italian paintings was among those presented to Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
in 1660, as part of the diplomatic gesture called the "Dutch Gift
Dutch Gift
The Dutch Gift of 1660 was a collection of 28 mostly Italian Renaissance paintings and 12 classical sculptures, along with a yacht, the Mary, and furniture, which was presented to King Charles II of England by the States-General of the Netherlands in 1660...
". Other works included the so-called Self-Portrait as David with the head of Goliath ascribed to Giorgione, now in Vienna, another lost painting attributed to Giorgione, the Allegory of Wealth, sold in the Netherlands to the Elector of Brandenburg (by Hendrick van Uylenburgh
Hendrick van Uylenburgh
Hendrick van Uylenburgh was an influential Dutch Golden Age art dealer who helped launch the careers of Rembrandt, Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol and other painters....
), and a Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
now in Washington.
The paintings filled only one of the volumes of Latin text. Andrea Vendramin's cabinet of curiosities
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
at San Gregorio was described in three further illustrated volumes, also at the British Library; signet rings, seals and scarabs and carved gems filled a second, while curiosities of natural history and gems and minerals filled two more.
Palazzi
What is now the most prominent "PalazzoPalazzo
Palazzo, an Italian word meaning a large building , may refer to:-Buildings:*Palazzo, an Italian type of building**Palazzo style architecture, imitative of Italian palazzi...
Vendramin" in Venice, the splendid Ca' Vendramin Calergi
Ca' Vendramin Calergi
Ca' Vendramin Calergi is a palace on the Grand Canal in the sestiere of Cannaregio in Venice, northern Italy. Other names by which it is known include: Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, Palazzo Loredan Vendramin Calergi, and Palazzo Loredan Griman Calergi Vendramin. The architecturally distinguished...
by Mauro Codussi
Mauro Codussi
Mauro Codussi was an Italian architect of the early-Renaissance, active mostly in Venice. The name can also be spelt Coducci. He was one of the first to bring the classical syle of the early renaissance to Venice to replace the prevalent Gothic style.Born near Bergamo about 1440, he is first...
on the Grand Canal, was in fact only inherited by the family in 1739, and is now the casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
as well as being famous as the place where Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
died in 1883. Some rooms are kept as a museum commemorating Wagner's stay. Another Palazzo Vendramin, on the island of Giudecca
Giudecca
Giudecca is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It is part of the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It is a locality of the comune of Venice.-Geography:...
just opposite the Doge's Palace, is now an annexe of the Hotel Cipriani; this is a later building replacing a Vendramin palace that can be seen in the bird's-eye View of Venice by Jacopo de' Barberi of 1500. The 16th century Ca' Vendramin di Santa Fosca in the Cannaregio
Cannaregio
Cannaregio is the northernmost of the six historic sestieri of Venice. It is the second largest sestiere by land area and the largest by population, with 13,169 people as of 2007....
quarter, now also a hotel, is where Gabriele Vendramin's collection was housed. Yet another is the 16th or possibly 17th century "Palazzo Vendramin dei Carmini",
in Dorsoduro
Dorsoduro
Dorsoduro is one of the six sestieri of Venice, northern Italy.Dorsoduro includes the highest land areas of the city and also Giudecca island and Isola Sacca Fisola...
, most of which is now occupied by part of the University of Venice
University of Venice
Ca' Foscari University is a university in Venice, northern Italy. It was founded in 1868 as the first Italian business college. The main building of the University, Ca’ Foscari Palace, is placed in a strategic position on the bend of the Grand Canal, in the heart of the city...
.
Theatre entrepreneurs
The Grimani
Grimani
The Grimani family were a prominent Venetian patrician family, including three Doges of Venice. They were active in trade, politics and later the ownership of theatres and opera-houses...
, with whom the Vendramin often inter-married, were dominant, owning what is now called the Teatro Malibran
Teatro Malibran
The Teatro Malibran, formerly known as the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, is an opera house in Venice known for its operatic importance in the 17th and 18th centuries...
, then called the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo
Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo
The Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, now known as the Teatro Malibran, is an opera house in Venice. Founded in 1678 by the Grimani family, it was founded primarily to provide entertainment for the aristocracy and to advance the social position of the Grimani family, and was not expected to be a...
, as well as the Teatro San Benedetto
Teatro San Benedetto
The Teatro San Benedetto was a theatre in Venice, particularly prominent in the operatic life of the city in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It saw the premieres of over 140 operas, including Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri, and was the theatre of choice for the presentation of opera seria until...
and other houses. The Venier family
House of Venier
The Venier were a prominent family in the Republic of Venice who entered the Venetian nobility in the 14th century. Their members include:*Pietro Venier who was the Governor of Cerigo...
owned La Fenice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
, still the main opera house. The Vendramin owned the important Teatro di San Luca or Teatro Vendramin or Teatro San Salvatore, founded in 1622, later renamed the Teatro Apollo, and since 1875 called the Teatro Goldoni
Teatro Goldoni
The Teatro Goldoni is one of the major theatres and opera houses of Venice. Today it is the home of the Teatro Stabile del Veneto...
, which still thrives as the city's main theatre for plays, now in a building of the 1720s. In the age of Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty...
, the greatest Venetian dramatist, only the San Luca and the Malibran still put on spoken drama, and his desertion of the Grimani for the Vendramins at San Luca in 1752 was a major event in the theatrical history of the period, ushering in perhaps his finest period, in which as well as his comedies, he played a significant role in the development of the opera buffa
Opera buffa
Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...
. The Vendramins, who had considerable direct involvement in the management of the theatre, had a sometimes uneasy relationship with him, arguing over money and the style of his plays, until he left for Paris in 1761, as a result of a dispute with his rival, Carlo Gozzi
Carlo Gozzi
Carlo, Count Gozzi was an Italian playwright.Born in Venice, he came from an old Venetian family from the Republic of Ragusa...
. However the Vendramin did not take their involvement as far as Vincenzo Grimani
Vincenzo Grimani
Vincenzo Grimani was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, and opera librettist.Grimani was born either in Venice or Mantua....
, who was a cardinal and opera librettist. The theatre remained important, and in 1826 was the first in Italy to be fitted with gas lighting
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
; it remained in the hands of the descendants of the Vendramin until 1957. The archives of the Teatro Vendramin, now held in the museum that was Goldoni's house, are increasingly being used by historians.