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Morgan Library & Museum opens Renaissance Venice. Drawings from the Morgan

The Morgan Library & Museum presents an exhibition of drawings and related material, featuring work by masters such as Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Carpaccio that brings to life the dynamic artistic and cultural milieu of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Venice. On view May 18 through September 23, 2012, the show also includes books and maps that reveal Venice’s role at the forefront of luxury book production and innovative printing.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)Studies for The Finding of Moses, 1575–85Pen and brown ink, brown wash Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909

In the early sixteenth century Venice established itself as a powerful maritime republic and center of international trade. The wealth created by this activity fueled the city’s ascent as a cultural capital, and artists were supported by government commissions, churches and lay religious communities, and, notably, by a powerful and enlightened aristocracy who sought to decorate their impressive private dwellings in Venice and on the mainland.

All the works in Renaissance Venice are drawn from the Morgan’s celebrated holdings, and the show will explore specific themes, such as portraiture and the landscape tradition in Venetian drawing, the depiction of religious and civic life, the role of the foreign artist, and innovations in printmaking, book publishing, and cartography. Letters by Titian and Veronese offer fascinating glimpses into artists’ relationships with patrons and the transactional nature of the art “business.”

The Morgan Library & Museum 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016-3405 212.685.0008 www.themorgan.org

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