A Cabinet of Wonders is a map of the unconscious, written in objects.
— W. D’Ambra
The exhibition presents a unique selection of 19th-century scientific specimens from the George Loudon Collection, reimagined as an extraordinary artistic installation. In the first part of the show, these objects are accompanied by a variety of evocative treasures reminiscent of 17th-century Wunderkammern, including rare artifacts, natural curiosities, paintings, bronzes, antiquities, and masterpieces of decorative arts. Highlights of the exhibition include pieces on loan from major institutions such as the Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca’ d’Oro and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Enhancing the visual experience are furnishings and artworks from renowned European private collections, creating a bridge between eras and perspectives.
Among the most significant contributions are masterpieces never exhibited before, including works by Venetian icons such as Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, alongside paintings by Sebastiano del Piombo, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and Giambologna. These treasures weave a complex tapestry, celebrating the indelible link between art, nature, and the eternal spirit of discovery.
The curator, Thierry Morel, was supported by a scientific committee composed of experts from Palazzo Grimani, the MAK, the Ca’ d’Oro, and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, whose contributions enrich the exhibition.
“This exhibition represents an important step in our reflection on collecting, establishing a dialogue between the Grimani family’s collections and the George Loudon Collection. It is precisely in this encounter between past and present that the Museum reaffirms its role as an active cultural promoter, through innovative exhibition projects that enhance heritage and stimulate new interpretations,” says Marianna Bressan, Director of the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon. “Palazzo Grimani is both host and protagonist: object and subject of an installation centered on curiosity and patronage, founding elements of the Grimani family’s history. In recent years we have seen a steady increase in visitors, and this exhibition has contributed to reaching record attendance, thanks to its captivating nature, historical coherence, and originality within the current museum landscape.”
THE VISION
A Cabinet of Wonders is a tribute to the art of collecting, taking place within the splendid setting of Palazzo Grimani — a treasure in itself. Once the home of Giovanni Grimani – a visionary patron whose renowned collection of Greek and Roman statues has recently returned in part to the Palazzo after more than 400 years – no location could be more fitting for such an exhibition, where echoes of Renaissance grandeur meet contemporary curiosity.
“Palazzo Grimani was once the home of one of the most fascinating collections in Renaissance Venice, curated with insatiable curiosity and a deep love of beauty by Giovanni Grimani and his ancestors,” notes Thierry Morel, the exhibition’s curator. “This palace embodies the very essence of collecting: a passion for knowledge, admiration for the mysteries of the natural world, and a celebration of human ingenuity. Together with the George Loudon Collection, displayed almost in its entirety for the first time, the exhibition bridges the traditions of past and present collecting.”
Here, science and art converge, reflecting the philosophy of the 17th-century Wunderkammer, where nature’s secrets were explored through both artistic and scientific lenses. After all, art and science share a common goal: the pursuit of beauty and understanding.
THE GEORGE LOUDON COLLECTION
The George Loudon Collection and the Wunderkammer offer an opportunity to explore and compare collecting practices, focusing on processes, objects, and both historical and artistic contexts.
George Loudon’s collecting journey began in the 1970s with contemporary art. Over time, however, his growing interest in science led him to seek beauty, wonder, and even magic in 19th-century natural science illustrations and models. His collection focuses on objects originally crafted by skilled artisans for educational purposes, later replaced by industrially produced versions and often relegated to storage. These models, many designed for teaching natural sciences, are now reassessed as objets d’art, emerging from the shadow of their didactic origins. Among the collection’s most remarkable works on display at Palazzo Grimani are the Leçons de choses series by M. Pitoiset for French primary schools, rare Blaschka glass models, Brendel botanical specimens, Japanese globes, and wax models of plants and fruits from Northern Italy. These pieces, often intricate and finely crafted, highlight the innovative tools of the 19th century, such as wax casting, nature printing, and early photographic techniques including cyanotype. By exhibiting these objects, the collection celebrates their craftsmanship and aesthetics, recognizing their transformative power as both scientific instruments and works of art. A Cabinet of Wonders pays tribute to the extraordinary craftsmanship behind each piece, celebrating their aesthetic and evocative power. The exhibition acknowledges and values the motivation, passion, and often unexpected outcomes of collecting.
“My collection is really about the pleasure or the ‘wonder’ of these objects and illustrations which, although originally created as facsimiles and specialist teaching tools, were nevertheless technically precious. Now that they’ve lost that function, we can do with them what we want,” says George Loudon. “The way I collected was largely a continuation of how I viewed contemporary art. It was only when I was struck by the beauty of these objects that I began my research and my attempt to build a collection. Each object must present itself to the viewer, and its story is, in large part, a visual one.”
The common thread connecting the pieces of the George Loudon Collection presented in A Cabinet of Wonders is that each work — mushrooms, flowers, parts of the human body, sea creatures made from different materials — is an interpretation of nature. The artisans who made them acted like artists, drawing inspiration from natural elements to create something beautiful. Though redundant as scientific tools, these high-quality handmade replicas remain a testament to our curiosity about the world, a symbol of our admiration for it, and the result of a synergy between hand and heart.
THE WUNDERKAMMER
“In the Wunderkammer, you touch time: a fossil, a feather, a shadow.”
— W. d’Ambra
In the 17th century, Wunderkammern, or cabinets of curiosities, were eclectic collections that brought together natural specimens, scientific instruments, precious artifacts, and works of art. These spaces were not only showcases of wealth and knowledge, but also reflections of the owner’s intellectual curiosity and desire to understand and classify the world. The Renaissance Wunderkammer laid the foundation for modern collecting practices, acting as precursors to museums and creating structured environments where objects were preserved, studied, and displayed. These early collections reflected an interdisciplinary approach, bridging science, art, and philosophy, and promoting the idea that knowledge could arise from the careful observation and assembly of the extraordinary and the unusual.
The Wunderkammer reconstruction in A Cabinet of Wonders introduces the Loudon Collection, displayed in the rooms that follow. The choice of the Camerino di Callisto and the Camerino di Apollo as settings is related to the likelihood that these were Giovanni Grimani’s private studioli, which may have once housed a similar collection. Far from being a purely philological exercise, this reconstruction seeks to immerse visitors in the atmosphere of Renaissance Venice, when collectors were true Humanists, deeply engaged in art, botany, craftsmanship, zoology, mineralogy, alchemy, and all fields of knowledge.
The collector does not own the objects: he guards their vertigo.
— W. d’Ambra
