Restoration and photographic digitalization campaign completed with Save Venice General funds in 2009-2011; Doorknockers volume funded by Elizabeth Locke and John Staelin.

Venetian nobleman Pietro Gradenigo (1695–1776) commissioned Giovanni Grevembroch, a Venetian artist of German descent, to record Venetian clothing, artworks, occupations, collections, and daily life through a series of watercolor drawings bound into volumes. In 1879 the Gradenigo family donated the Grevembroch volumes to the Correr Museum, where they continue to be studied.

Grevembroch’s drawings often represent the only remaining image of works of art that were lost or destroyed in the aftermath of the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. They continue to be a valuable source of information for scholars today, and are of great interest to the general public as well for the glimpse into Venetian life that they provide.

Save Venice adopted for conservation and photographic digitization sixteen volumes comprising three thousand drawings. The drawings were restored by conservator Lilia Gianotti of the Restaure Opere Arte firm, with the guidance of project director Piero Lucchi of the Correr Museum.

Please note that Save Venice does not possess digital copies of Giovanni Grevembroch’s sixteen volumes. Those interested in accessing them are encouraged to contact the Library of the Correr Museum.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Giovanni Grevembroch (1731-1807)

Doorknockers
Venetian Saints
Sacred and Profane Curiosities in the Veneto (three volumes)
Wellheads in Venuce
Ancient Sacred and Profane Objects (two volumes)
Supplement to the Veneto Curiosities and Wellheads
Description of the Island of San Servolo
Representatives in Public Offices
Venetian and Veneto Monuments (three volumes)
Magnificent Objects in Venetian Palaces and Cloisters
The Golden Rose: Popes and Papal Representatives in Venice
Venetian Clothing from Every Age

Second half of the eighteenth century
Ink and watercolor on paper
Bound in volumes averaging 28 x 30 cm

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