For the third in its biannual series of temporary exhibitions, The Al Thani Collection at the Hôtel de la Marine hosts a selection of exceptional loans from the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti at the Ca’ d’Oro, Venice, while it undergoes restoration.

A palazzo with one of the most famous and elegant façades on the Grand Canal, the Ca’ d’Oro has been a national museum since 1927, although not one that is universally known among the general public. Its collections are the result of both the donation of the works collected by Baron Giorgio Franchetti (1865- 1922), who passionately restored the Ca’ d’Oro in the late 19th century, and long-term loans from other museums in Venice.

The exhibition presents an opportunity to explore the art and history of La Serenissima through the works at the Ca’ d’Oro, with a specific focus on the Renaissance. It also serves as an invitation to consider the taste of a collector who restored a palazzo that was once one of the most prestigious in the history of Venice, which had fallen into disrepair during the 19th century.

The selection of more than seventy works includes masterpieces by many of the greatest artists active in Venice and its surroundings during the Renaissance: medals by Pisanello and Gentile Bellini, paintings by Tintoretto, Paris Bordone and Titian, marbles by Tullio Lombardo, Bartolomeo Bergamasco, Jacopo Sansovino and Alessandro Vittoria, bronzes by Bartolomeo Bellano, Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (‘L’Antico’), Vittore Camelio and Andrea Riccio. Pride of place goes to Andrea Mantegna’s Saint Sebastian from the Giorgio Franchetti collection: the artist’s final masterpiece and the heart of the museum. For the first time in over a century, the painting leaves its display case on the banks of the Grand Canal to go on show on the Place de la Concorde.