Artist: Venetian school, mid 16th century
Location: Correr Museum
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Treatment: Cleaning and restoration
Sponsor: Mara and Chuck Robinson

This portrait of an architect holding a compass is by an up-to-now unidentified painter who closely followed Titian’s example. Bearing the date 1555, it shows the pervasive influence of Titian after 1550 on a younger generation of Venetian painters. By this time, architects in the Veneto, for example Palladio, enjoyed sufficient celebrity to justify having their portrait painted.

The Correr Museum in Venice has been a repository of works of art for almost two centuries. Venetian nobleman Teodoro Correr donated his extensive collection, including this painting, to the city in 1830. In 1922, the collection moved to its present home in the Procuratie Nuove and the Napoleonic wing, along the south and west sides of Piazza San Marco respectively. Save Venice board member, art historian Prof. W. R. Rearick, selected several paintings from the museum’s storage that merit renewed study. The restoration of Portrait of an Architect has added a significant new work to the Venetian artistic patrimony.

Cleaning and restoration removed discolored varnish and grime. Color losses were integrated with watercolors.

Photo: Matteo De Fina