Titian and textile: Rediscovering the Loredan collection between Venice and Brescia

Abstract

This essay presents the first critical overview of the collection and display of art objects acquired by the Venetian nobleman Andrea di Nicolo Loredan (1450-1513). It focuses on the decoration of three key sites maintained by the Loredan clan: the governor's palace in Brescia, the location and contents of which are here identified for the first time; the Loredan palace on the Grand Canal in Venice; and the Loredan funerary chapel in the church of San Michele in Isola in the Venetian lagoon. Examination of Titian's grandiose easel painting the 'Flight into Egypt' (c.1507), recently discovered to have played a crucial role within the Loredan palace, helps to elucidate the range of material and devotional agendas of the art possessed by Andrea. Critical reconstruction of the Loredan collection is achieved through fresh attention to archival records, and a little-known panegyric (1504) by the Brescian friar Martino Codagnello.