Save Venice is seeking sponsors for the conservation of the Mezzanine Loggia and Ceiling Fresco of the Camerino ‘Chinoise’ in the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello in Palazzo Pisani | Partial Sponsorship Available.

*Published sponsorship costs are subject to change due to conservation plan modifications and fluctuations in exchange rates.

Please contact kim@savevenice.org today for more information and the latest cost estimates.

Donors

Partial funding has been received from Tia Chapman in memory of John Leopoldo Fiorilla di Santa Croce

Beginning in 2023, Save Venice launched a successful pilot conservation fieldwork program in collaboration with the IVBC Restoration School to restore 18th-century stucco and frescoes at Venice’s Music Conservatory in Palazzo Pisani. This first phase established a productive model of hands-on training within a living heritage site, combining professional conservation practice with advanced educational experience.

In 2024, Save Venice deepened its commitment by funding a full year of conservation in three rooms of the Conservatory’s Museum of Musical Instruments and the adjoining staircase on the mezzanine level of the southeast wing of Palazzo Pisani, where IVBC students and recent graduates treated stucco and marmorino surfaces under professional guidance.

The collaboration reached a new milestone in 2025 with conservation work in the prestigious Sala d’Oro and the adjacent Cappella del Rosario on the piano nobile. There, second-year students and recent graduates restored richly ornamented 18th-century stucco and fresco decoration, gaining invaluable experience while safeguarding some of Venice’s most beautiful historic interiors.

The partnership continues in 2026 with the conservation of the Mezzanine Loggia, with treatment slated to begin by the summer, and the frescoed ceiling of the Camerino “Chinoise” which will begin in early 2026.

This dynamic “school within a school” partnership between two of Venice’s prestigious cultural institutions not only preserves the city’s artistic heritage but also invests in its future by training young conservators, strengthening professional skills, and enriching Venice’s cultural, educational, and creative vitality.

Mezzanine

The first flight of stairs from the entrance atrium leads to the mezzanine—the mezà in Venetian. This level traditionally accommodated the administration of the household and spaces for conducting business, yet its small, intimate rooms were also favored by the Pisani family themselves, especially during the winter months.

Although designed primarily as a passageway, the porticoed corridor has a distinctly monumental character and functions as a transitional link between the imposing ground-floor atrium and the grand portego of the piano nobile above. The mezzanine is conceived as a loggia-like gallery, articulated by barrel vaults resting on stone pillars. Along its walls, four elegant doorways—two on each side—open onto a sequence of lateral rooms originally used for managing family affairs.

The portals are crafted from Istrian stone with inlays of polychrome marble. Above the entablature, a curving broken pediment frames a fully sculpted female bust set within the lunette. The door leaves are paneled with rectangular fields and veneered in finely figured walnut burl. The floor is paved with large square slabs of white and red Verona marble.

Camerino ‘Chinoise’

The painted ceiling, located in one of the lateral rooms off the hall on the second piano nobile (upper floor), belongs to one of the final phases in the modernization of the palace’s decorative program. The fresco can be attributed to Andrea Urbani, a versatile painter, decorator, and scenographer active across Venice, Udine, and Padua in the latter half of the 18th century. Trained in Udine, Urbani established his reputation in Venice as a sought-after set designer for the Teatro di San Samuele, where he created imaginative stage machinery, as well as designing ephemeral architectural structures for the grand public ceremonies of the Serenissima. In the 1760s, his career extended beyond Venice when he collaborated on the decoration of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Upon his return to Italy, Urbani became a key figure in renewing the interiors of several prestigious Venetian residences, including those of the Tron family at San Stae, the Foscarini at Sant’Angelo Raffaele, and the Vendramin at Santa Margherita.

Within this context of refined 18th-century interior decoration, the ceiling of the Camerino ‘Chinoise’ unfolds like a light-filled garden in the sky. At its center is an elegant oval pergola woven with interlacing reeds and climbing ivy, set against a luminous pale blue background. This floral composition is framed by a gently curving Rococo quadratura that imparts a sense of movement and airiness to the space. At the four corners, modeled medallions are animated by graceful figures inspired by fashionable 18th-century interpretations of the Chinese artistic tradition and culture, lending the composition a subtle note of exotic charm that complements its overall decorative harmony.

The stone elements of the mezzanine, including the pillars, show noticeable flaking with a visible loss of their original modeled form. Across the remaining surfaces, layers of dust and grime obscure the stone and diminish its visual quality. Careful conservation maintenance is planned for all the stone profiles and architectural elements. After cleaning, the polychrome stone inlays will receive protective treatments to revive and stabilize their original color contrasts. In the lower areas, where the stone shows flaking, crumbling, or salt crystallization, targeted desalination cycles will be carried out, followed by consolidation treatments to strengthen the material.

The legibility of the decorative scheme of the Camerino ‘Chinoise’ has been compromised by past alterations and earlier restoration campaigns. In the 1950s the room was subdivided, leaving visible losses on the ceiling that were later filled with plaster after the partitions were removed. At that time, the decoration was likely covered with a layer of whitewash and only revealed again when the building was converted into the Conservatory in the latter half of the twentieth century. The original decoration was executed in lime paint applied a secco on a very thin preparatory plaster layer. Residues of whitewash remain across the surface and will require careful removal. Previous attempts to eliminate the whitewash were overly aggressive, resulting in paint loss and widespread abrasions; later retouching appears to have been carried out in tempera. Cleaning will proceed through preliminary tests using lightly moistened sponges. The aim is to remove surface deposits and grey veils while preserving historic restoration layers as much as possible, maintaining overall legibility before final aesthetic retouching.

Favilla, Massimo and Ruggero Rugolo. A sumptuous palimpsest: the triumph of the decoration of Palazzo Pisani di Santo Stefano. In Benedetto Marcello Conservatory at Palazzo Pisani: 150th Anniversary (forthcoming)

Moretti, Lino. I Pisani di Santo Stefano e le opere d’arte del loro palazzo. In Verardo, Pietro (ed.). Il Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia. Venice: Stamperia di Venezia, 1977, pp. 135-181

Pavanello, Giuseppe. Gli affreschi del Settecento nei palazzi veneziani. 3 vols. Crocetta del Montello (TV): Antiga, vol. I, p. 414

Tiozzo, Clauco Benito. Andrea Urbani pittore: opera completa. Vicenza: Edizioni d’Arte, 1972, p. 1