Domenico Grimani

Domenico Grimani ( born February 19, 1461 Venice; † August 27, 1523 in Rome) was Patriarch of Aquileia, and a major patron of the arts and art collector.

Life

Domenico Grimani was the son of Antonio Grimani and Caterina Loredan. Even in his early youth he showed a strong interest in the humanities. He received his first training in Venice, before he went to further studies to Florence. There he met Lorenzo il Magnifico and humanist Angelo Poliziano know and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. On September 20, 1493 at the age of 33, he was appointed by Pope Alexander VI. elevated to Cardinal of San Marco. From that time on he lived alternately in Rome and Venice.

1499 got his family into political trouble. His father, who had been appointed against his will to the captain-general of the fleet, suffered a severe defeat by the Turks at Zonchio and was accused of treason before the Grand Council of Venice. Antonio Grimani eluded the enforcement of a judgment by fleeing to his son to Rome. It was not until 1510 - in the wake of the threat of Venice by the League of Cambrai - he was rehabilitated and was able to return to Venice, where he was in 1521 elected Doge.

In Rome, the Grimani acquired a plot of land for the construction of a palace near the present-day Piazza Barberini. In the course of excavation numerous ancient finds came to light that formed the foundation for Grimani's antiquities collection. He collected coins and medals, intaglios and cameos, as well as sculptures. Other pieces were due to flourishing in the Rome of time antiquities trade in the collection. There was also a significant library of ancient manuscripts and codices. Another book and art collection was housed in a Palace of Grimani near Santa Maria Formosa in Venice, where mainly manuscripts and paintings have been kept from the Netherlands.

Shortly before his death bequeathed Domenico Grimani in a will, the collection - with a few pieces of his nephew Marino Grimani - the Republic of Venice. The Serenissima was - bring the collection to Venice, where it was first housed in the convent of Santa Chiara on the island of Murano - despite the protests of an empty outgoing heirs. After the will had been successfully challenged because it was written outside the territory of the Venetian Republic, it was returned to a few pieces that were on display in the Doge's Palace to the rightful heirs. These ancient statues from the possession Grimani formed the basis for Venice's excellent collection of antiquities, which can be admired in the Museo Correr today.