A 2020 documentary short film narrated by Jeremy Irons thanking Save Venice supporters and showcasing the beautiful places, people, and patrimony that make our preservation work essential. Hear from: Paola Marini, Art Historian and President, Association of International Private Committees for the Safeguarding of Venice; Giovanni Cucco, Mosaic Conservator; Gabriele Matino, Art Historian and Save Venice Research Fellow; Greta Sartorato Student, Istituto Veneto per i Beni Culturali; Marcella Ansaldi Director, Museo Ebraico di Venezia; Alberto Nardi, Save Venice Board Member and Owner, Gioielleria Nardi; Frederick Ichman, Chairman, Save Venice; and Tina Walls, President, Save Venice Produced by Magnet Media Films. Filmed in Venice by Ginko Films. Additional Venice footage by Illumina Films. Filming and broadcast permissions authorized by the Ufficio Beni Culturali of the Curia Patriarcale di Venezia.

This talk provides an introduction to the exhibition on Vittore Carpaccio, which opened at the National Gallery of Art on November 20, 2022, and will then transfer to the Doge’s Palace, Venice, in the spring of 2023. Prepared by Dr. Peter Humfrey, Emeritus Professor at the University of St. Andrews and Guest Curator of the Carpaccio exhibition, the talk focuses on the paintings (and their preparatory drawings) shown in Washington, most of which were originally intended to be viewed in domestic rather than public spaces.

*Because of an unexpected medical issue, this talk was presented by Dr. Frederick Ilchman, Save Venice Chairman and Chair, Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on behalf of Prof. Peter Humfrey

Previously recorded on December 1, 2022.

A Concert Honoring the Completion of the Restoration of Titian’s “Assunta” Save Venice 50th Anniversary Gala Celebration Sunday, October 9, 2022 Featuring: Helen Charlston, Mezzo-Soprano, appearing by arrangement with Rayfield Allied and Tim Ribchester, Harpsichordist and Organist
Save Venice extends its heartfelt gratitude to Beatrice de Santo Domingo and the Jasmine Charity Trust in honor of Regina Jaglom Wachter and a special thank you to the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

Concert sponsored by Allen and Diane de Olazarra

Video by Ginko Film

Previously recorded on October 9, 2022.

Venice in the late 15th century was one of the largest cities in Europe and arguably the most sophisticated and cosmopolitan. The city teemed with artists and patrons. Not surprisingly, many of the features we take for granted in art collecting today—for example, the practice of connoisseurship, the gallery picture, the secondary market, and the illustrated collection catalogue—were first developed in Renaissance Venice. This lecture offers fascinating anecdotes of pioneering art collectors and their prized possessions in the Serenissima, a culture of competitive aesthetics that gave birth to the art market and art world of our time. Presented by Dr. Frederick Ilchman, Save Venice Chairman and Chair, Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Previously recorded on September 21, 2022.

Previously recorded on May 18, 2022.

Shakespeare’s two Venetian plays – The Merchant of Venice and Othello – seem to talk about the present – his present and our present. They dramatize the complex bond of Venice with the sea, seen as producer of wealth, harbinger of war, connector of peoples. Today the sea is rising and poses an unprecedented threat to Venice. Prof. Shaul Bassi explores the question: can Shakespeare help us think through our perilous condition and perhaps even suggest something about our future?

Previously recorded on April 27, 2022.

Taking the Votive Sculpture of the Madonna and Child in the Church of San Marziale, restored by Save Venice in 2019-20, as a starting point, art historian Nora Gietz explores the widespread cults dedicated to miraculous images of the Virgin Mary in early modern Venice.

Previously recorded on March 23, 2022.

Learn about the exhibition–that features 26 restorations sponsored by Save Venice–at the center of the celebrations for Venice’s 1600th birthday. The curatorial team of Venetia 1600: Births and Rebirths will introduce the exhibition project and how it surmounted the challenges of the pandemic. Viewers will enjoy a special behind-the-scenes tour recorded at the Palazzo Ducale. Presented by three of the exhibition’s co-curators: Dr. Frederick Ilchman, Save Venice Chairman and Chair, Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Dr. Robert Echols, Independent Scholar; and Dr. Gabriele Matino, Save Venice Research Associate. Moderated by Amy S. Gross, Save Venice Executive Director.

The recent acquisition of a painting depicting Lucretia, the legendary Roman heroine, by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, may help to shed new light on Artemisia Gentileschi’s (1593-c. 1654) sojourn in Venice (about 1627-30). In Artemisia Gentileschi in Venice: Facts and Suppositions, Dr. Davide Gasparotto, Senior Curator and Head of the Paintings Department, and Chair, Curatorial Affairs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, explores and revisits the evidence of Artemisia’s life, work, and reputation in the Serenissima.

Previously recorded on December 2, 2021.

Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757) was the most celebrated woman artist in 18th-century Europe. Dr. Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, The Frick Collection and Save Venice Board Member, follows in Rosalba’s footsteps, from her house in Venice to the European courts for which her pastels were destined, and shares his recent discovery of the sacred images placed by Rosalba in her pastels.

Previously recorded on October 21, 2021.

Dr. Frederick Ilchman, Save Venice Chairman and Chair, Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Dr. Robert Echols, Independent Scholar Dr. Gabriele Matino, former Save Venice Research Fellow

Go behind the scenes with the curatorial team of the exhibition Venetia 1600: Births and Rebirths at Palazzo Ducale: Frederick Ilchman, Robert Echols, and Gabriele Matino. They will discuss the impetus for the exhibition, how plans changed following the terrible acqua alta of 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic, and reflect on Save Venice’s vital role of supporting the conservation treatment of exhibited works.

Previously recorded on October 13, 2021.

Save Venice Chairman Frederick Ilchman, President Tina Walls, Project Director Christopher Apostle, and Venice Office Director Melissa Conn reflect on Save Venice’s 50th Anniversary in October 2021.

Video produced by Ginko Film, filmed by Chiara Becattini, and edited by Luigi Fronteddu.

The restored ensemble of Palma il Giovane’s “Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria” altarpiece and marble altar were presented to the public on Thursday, October 7, 2021, in the Basilica dei Frari in Venice. This restoration was funded by Save Venice and dedicated in honor of Terry Stanfill, Vice-President Emerita, the longest-serving board member of the organization, and the founder of the California Chapter.

Video produced by Ginko Film, filmed by Chiara Becattini, and edited by Luigi Fronteddu.

Dr. Carlo Corsato, Educator, National Gallery, London and Lecturer, Morley College explores how Titian challenged the power of miracle-making devotional images available in the Frari area, shaped his own legend, and ultimately left in the church the best testament of his miraculous talent.

Previously recorded on September 23, 2021.

Art historian Dr. Negar Rokhgar explores the enduring connections between the Republic of Venice and Safavid Shahs of Persia that resulted in complex diplomatic exchanges fostered through the establishment of reciprocal embassies and gift exchanges, presenting a series of objects and visual records associated with the Persian and Venetian missions. Dr. Rokhgar analyzes how these objects functioned as modes of communication integral to solidifying new forms of cross-cultural relationships in the early modern period.

Previously recorded on May 20, 2021.

Art historian Gabriele Matino and conservator Valentina Piovan discuss the new visual and documentary evidence that emerged from the recent conservation of Carpaccio’s Calling of Saint Matthew in the Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni.

Previously recorded on April 29, 2021.

Virtual Research & Restoration Roundtable at the Rosand Library & Study Center at Save Venice

Art historian Nora Gietz discusses the origins and history of the Venetian church of San Marziale, the significance of the artworks held within, and the rationale behind the building’s preservation during the Napoleonic parish reform in the early 19th-century.

This presentation is dedicated in memory of Frances R. Kolarek (1917-2021), a founding supporter of the Rosand Library & Study Center at Save Venice.

Previously recorded on March 17, 2021.

Dr. Dana E. Katz, the Joshua C. Taylor Professor of Art History and Humanities at Reed College will explore the concept of quarantine as it relates to another form of enforced residential restriction, that of the Venetian Jewish ghetto.

Recorded on March 11, 2021

Archaeologist Diego Calaon and Save Venice’s own Melissa Conn join us from Venice to discuss the latest findings from the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello. Last summer, during conservation of the famous mosaics – sponsored by Save Venice – restorers discovered frescoes from the ninth century that changed our notions of how the church appeared in earlier centuries. These frescoes and other archaeological discoveries propose a new understanding of Torcello’s role in Venetian history.

Recorded on February 21, 2021.

Learn more about the Boston Chapter.

Byzantine and Renaissance–Baroque art historian Emily L. Spratt discusses the enduring relationship between Venice and Byzantium and the role of icons as agents of faith, identity, and mercantilism in the Stato da Mar.

Recorded on February 4, 2021.

Acclaimed poet and New Yorker writer Cynthia Zarin shares musings on Venice from her latest book, a deeply personal meditation on two cities, Venice and Rome—each a work of art, both a monument to the past—and on how love and loss shape places and spaces.

Recorded on November 18, 2020.

Nathaniel Silver, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Collection, discusses the historic reunion of Titian’s series of Poesie paintings for the first time in a multi-venue exhibition, beginning in London and culminating at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 2021 (August 12, 2021 to January 2, 2022).

Recorded on November 5, 2020.

Venice Director Melissa Conn presents Save Venice’s 50th Anniversary projects at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello and the Italian Synagogue in the Ghetto of Venice, and reviews past restoration triumphs.

Recorded on October 1, 2020.

Save Venice and the Italian Embassy co-present the panel discussion Protecting Historic Sites From High Water: The Immediate Response Fund at Work in Venice, on the impact of Save Venice’s Immediate Response Fund in Venice since the floods of November 2019–the second worst in Venice’s history. Panelists include Christopher Apostle, Melissa Conn, Frederick Ilchman, and Xavier F. Salomon; with remarks from His Excellency Armando Varricchio, Ambassador of Italy to the United States.

Recorded on September 17, 2020.

When Palma il Giovane unveiled his depiction of the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the Basilica dei Frari in 1595, the monks in the church disapproved of the artist’s violent and frenetic style. In this episode of #SVFavorites, C.D. Dickerson, head of sculpture and decorative arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and member of the Save Venice Projects Committee, explores the altarpiece and Save Venice’s current campaign to restore the work together with its marble altar and frame.

Jacopo Tintoretto’s Saint Martial in Glory with Saints Peter and Paul had long been overlooked as the altarpiece’s powerful details and vibrant colors were obscured beneath layers of darkened varnishes and surface grime. In this episode of #SVFAVORITES, Claire Barry, Director of Conservation at the Kimbell Art Museum and Save Venice Projects Committee Member, explores how conservation treatment transformed the painting, revealing new insights about the artist’s working methods, and bringing about renewed interest thanks to two major exhibitions.

Released September 1, 2020

Thanks to Patricia Fortini Brown, Professor Emerita of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University and Projects Committee Member, Save Venice came to the rescue of the “forgotten” tomb of Alvise Della Torre in the Basilica dei Frari. On this episode of #SVFAVORITES, Prof. Fortini Brown explains the dramatic history of this precious artifact of Venetian history, which offers a rare “window” into a time when the feudal ethos of the landed nobility of the Terraferma clashed with Venetian republican values.

Released August 3, 2020

Save Venice’s conservation work in the church of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello has led to exciting new discoveries. Archaeologist Diego Calaon presents these exceptional findings representing fundamental elements for the reconstruction of the artistic history not only of the church, but for the entire island of Torcello in the early Middle Ages.

Released July 23, 2020.

Imbued with legends that date to an outbreak of the plague in the 1630s, the Sotoportego di Corte Nova is a much-beloved Venetian landmark. Join Anne Hawley, member of the Save Venice projects committee and Director Emerita of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, as she explores this miraculous place that was recently restored in 2016 by the conservation students and docents from the Istituto Veneto per i Beni Culturali with support from Save Venice.

Released June 30, 2020.

Learn more about Jacopo Tintoretto’s portraits and Save Venice’s Tintoretto 500 campaign in this virtual lecture by Frederick Ilchman, Save Venice Chairman and Chair, Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Released June 18, 2020.

Go behind the scenes with Sarah Blake McHam, Distinguished Professor of Art History at Rutgers University and member of the Save Venice Project Committee, as she explores Paolo Veneziano’s Santa Chiara Polyptych and shows us the amazing discoveries being made during the conservation treatment that is now underway.

Released June 8, 2020

Save Venice Research Fellow Gabriele Matino explores Vittore Carpaccio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew from the Scuola Dalmata. Save Venice is currently funding the conservation of Carpaccio’s entire narrative cycle in the scuola.

Released June 1, 2020

C.D. Dickerson, Save Venice Board Member and head of sculpture and decorative arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., explores Titian’s Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro altarpiece in the Basilica dei Frari, which was restored by Save Venice from 2013-2017.

Released May 25, 2020

Explore Paolo Veronese’s masterpieces in the church of San Sebastiano, all recently restored by Save Venice, with Xavier F. Salomon, Save Venice Board Member and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator at The Frick Collection.

Released May 21, 2020

Xavier F. Salomon, Save Venice Board member and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator at The Frick Collection, discusses Vittore Carpaccio’s Lion of Saint Mark painting from Palazzo Ducale.

Released May 18, 2020

Learn about the mission and history of Save Venice and current conservation priorities as the organization approaches its 50th Anniversary in 2021. Highlights include the church of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello (Torcello Cathedral), the church of San Sebastiano, Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin in the Frari, and the Immediate Response Fund for artistic heritage recovery following the November 2019 floods.

Released May 12, 2020

Christopher Apostle, Save Venice Board member and Projects Committee Director and Senior Vice President of Old Master Paintings at Sotheby’s New York, discusses the Virgin Hodegetria Mosaic in the church of Santa Maria Assunta (Torcello Cathedral) on the Island of Torcello, being restored for Save Venice’s 50th Anniversary.

Released May 11, 2020

Melissa Conn, Director of the Venice Office of Save Venice, presents an update on conservation projects from Venice.

Released May 7, 2020

C. D. Dickerson, Save Venice Board member and head of sculpture and decorative arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington presents the first lecture in the #SVPRESENTS series on his current research related to Antonio Canova.

Released April 23, 2020

CNN Style’s Derek Blasberg explores the enduring inspiration of Italian heritage in Venice with actor Jeremy Irons. Together they explore the church of San Sebastiano, an ongoing Save Venice conservation site.