This year’s annual festival at Santa Maria Assunta in Malamocco on Venice’s Lido included the heartfelt celebration of the return of Giulia Lama’s enigmatic Virgin in Prayer following its transformative conservation funded by Save Venice. We gratefully thank lead corporate sponsor Lafayette 148 New York and additional supporters Alan & Sallymoon Bentz and Irina Tolstoy & John G. Gans for making this treatment possible. Prior to being reinstalled in the church, the painting was featured in the exhibition Eye to Eye with Giulia Lama: A Woman Artist in 18th-century Venice in the sacristy of the Basilica della Salute from February to June 2024.
On July 9, Mons. Cesare Zanusso and parishoner Gabriele Santonastaso graciously hosted the presentation of Lama’s restored painting as well as the ongoing work on the church’s 15th-century folding altarpiece, also funded by Save Venice. Speakers included Michele Zuin from the Comune di Venezia, Fr. Gianmatteo Caputo from the Diocese of Venice, Giulia Altissimo from Venice’s Soprintendenza ABAP, Melissa Conn, Nora Gietz, and Gabriele Matino from Save Venice, and conservators Claudia Vittori and Enrica Colombini.
On the occasion, Venice Director Melissa Conn announced that Save Venice has committed to fund the conservation treatment of a third artwork in the church, Girolamo Forabosco’s 17th-century painting ofThe Miraculous Rescue of a Gondola, which hangs on the left wall of the presbytery. This large canvas was commissioned by Zuane (Giovanni) Ventura as an ex-voto, a token of gratitude for his and his relatives’ survival from a gondola shipwreck. Described in the Malamocco parish archives as “the miraculous intervention of the Virgin, who saved the devotees from a shipwreck on June 14, 1610,” Forabosco’s piece stands out as a unique example in 17th-century Venetian painting history.
WOMEN ARTISTS OF VENICE (WAV) NEWS CONTINUED
New Research Sheds Light on the Work of Giovanna Garzoni (1600–1670)
Save Venice’s Women Artists of Venice (WAV) Program has inspired further investigations into work of 17th-century woman artist Giovanna Garzoni, who trained in the workshop of Jacopo Palma il Giovane. A painting of Saint Andrew, now held in the deposit of the Gallerie dell’Accademia, was created by the artist in her youth around 1616 for the Church of the Santissimo Salvatore. This church was part of the now-demolished Ospedale degli Incurabili complex. According to Marco Boschini (1664), this depiction of Saint Andrew formed part of a series of apostles decorating the upper tier of the church, which included works by some of the most esteemed artists of the time, including Andrea Vicentino, Domenico Tintoretto, and Jacopo Palma il Giovane himself. Giovanna’s appointment as an independent master at such a youthful age underscores the esteem in which she was held in Venice.
Giovanna Garzoni’s Saint Andrew is discussed by Dr. Sheila Barker in the forthcoming 2024 volume Women Artists and Artisans in Venice & the Veneto, 1400-1750. Uncovering the Female Presence edited by Tracy Cooper and published by the Amsterdam University Press.
