 Panteon Veneto On the south-west side of Campo Santo Stefano stands a rather grand building. It is the Palazzo Loredan, home to a rather grand institution, the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. The main hall and the two stairwells of the palazzo host the Panteon Veneto, a large collection of marble busts and medallions representing 'men who had distinguished themselves in politics, arms, navigation, science, humanities and arts who were born or who had long lived in the Venetian Provinces'. The fifty-eight sculptures were created between 1847 and 1932. As far as the arts are concerned, painters are well represented: Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and Giambattista Tiepolo. Composers, however, fare less well. In spite of Venice's erstwhile prominence in the world of classical music, only a single composer is honoured. And that is not Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), as one might expect, but the much less well-known figure of Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739). This may seem strange, given that Vivaldi's music is now to be heard everywhere in Venice. But at the time the collection was created, the great Baroque composer had been all but forgotten.  Palazzo Loredan Comments are closed.
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