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Venetian Art and its History

About this research theme

This research theme, established in 2012, aims to develop broad collaborative approaches to the study of the National Gallery’s collection of Venetian painting. With the addition of Titian’s Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto, jointly purchased with the National Galleries of Scotland, it is one of the greatest collections of Venetian paintings in the world.

The Centre for Venetian Art and its History has been established in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland. It will consolidate existing research on this theme, currently being undertaken within the National Gallery, and extend it by forging links with other researchers as well as acting as a hub to bring together work by other museums, galleries and universities in this area.

It is intended that the research in this area will also span the interests of the other research themes in the Gallery, including technical aspects of paintings from Venice and issues relating to the history of collecting Venetian painting and its reception, particularly in Britain.

Projects under this theme have included a special issue of the National Gallery Technical Bulletin.

Image above: Detail from Canaletto, Venice: The Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day, about 1740

Selected Venetian paintings from the collection

The Madonna of Humility with Saints Mark and John
The Madonna of Humility with Saints Mark and John
Lorenzo Veneziano
This panel is like a miniature altarpiece. The Virgin Mary and Christ Child occupy the central arch, with Saint Mark on the left and Saint John the Baptist on the right.There is a Latin inscription in gold next to the Virgin, which means: ‘Holy Mary of Humility’. This title was often given to ima...
Not on display
The Demidoff Altarpiece
The Demidoff Altarpiece
Carlo Crivelli
Crivelli painted two altarpieces for the small church of San Domenico, in the town of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Their history is complex and intertwined. A large, double-tiered polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) sat on the high altar, while a smaller altarpiece was in a side chape...
Not on display
The Dead Christ supported by Two Angels
The Dead Christ supported by Two Angels
Carlo Crivelli
This arched panel was originally the top of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted for the Franciscan church at Montefiore dell'Aso near Fermo in the Italian Marches.Two sad, child-like angels hold up Christ’s lifeless body, one nestling his head sorrowfully against Jesu...
Not on display
Diana and Actaeon
Diana and Actaeon
Titian
While hunting, Actaeon accidentally stumbles upon the secret bathing place of Diana, chaste goddess of the hunt, and sees her naked. His fate is foretold by the stag’s skull on the plinth and the skins of Diana’s former prey hanging above her head. The conclusion of the story is shown in another...
Room 29
Diana and Callisto
Diana and Callisto
Titian
The nymph Callisto was the favourite of Diana, virgin goddess of the hunt. Jupiter, king of the gods, noticed her beauty and disguised himself to seduce her. Titian has painted the moment Diana forces Callisto to strip and bathe after hunting and discovers her pregnancy. The drama is heightened b...
Room 29
The Death of Actaeon
The Death of Actaeon
Titian
The story of Actaeon is told in the Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid. In Titian’s earlier Diana and Actaeon, painted for King Philip II of Spain in 1556–9 and now jointly owned by the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland, Actaeon disturbs the goddess Diana and her nymphs at...
Room 29
The Family of Darius before Alexander
The Family of Darius before Alexander
Paolo Veronese
Alexander the Great, the Macedonian emperor, visits the distraught family of King Darius III of Persia, who he has defeated in battle. Darius’s mother Sisigambis mistakes Alexander’s friend Hephaestion, who wears plate armour and an orange cloak, for the victor. Alexander comforts Sisigambis, who...
Room 9
The Dream of Saint Helena
The Dream of Saint Helena
Paolo Veronese
Helen or Helena was mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine. She dreamed that an angel revealed to her the location of the cross on which Christ was crucified and urged her to travel to the Holy Land to find it. She dug up three crosses and, by testing their healing power, was able to...
Room 9
Venice: The Feast Day of Saint Roch
Venice: The Feast Day of Saint Roch
Canaletto
A crowd watches as state dignitaries and foreign ambassadors emerge from the church of San Rocco on the right of this painting. They have just attended a mass in honour of Saint Roch as part of the saint’s feast day, which was held in Venice every year on 16 August to celebrate his role in bringi...
Room 33
Venice: A Regatta on the Grand Canal
Venice: A Regatta on the Grand Canal
Canaletto
This exhilarating scene shows the annual regatta (boat race) along Venice’s Grand Canal, and Canaletto has successfully captured the crowd’s excitement as the competitors skilfully manoeuvre their craft up the canal. Although many of the figures in the foreground have their backs to us, we still...
Not on display
Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice
Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice
Pietro Longhi
In 1751, a rhinoceros known as Miss Clara was publicly exhibited at the Venice Carnival, creating a sensation across Europe. She was the subject of poems, paintings, tapestries, medals and sculptures; ladies even styled their hair in the shape of a horn. Pietro Longhi painted this picture around...
Room 33
A Fortune Teller at Venice
A Fortune Teller at Venice
Pietro Longhi
Fortune tellers were a popular attraction during the Venetian Carnival, celebrated during the 40 days of Lent. The one here is reading the palm of a fashionable lady; a fruit seller with a full basket stops to watch and a masked figure leans forward for a closer look. One woman, however, stares i...
Room 33