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I conceived this book more or less a
year ago, when I found a long unpublished manuscript in the Archives of the
Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, entitled "General Repertoire of Venetian Fine Arts", written by Giovanni
Edwards in 1833.
Reading it, I quickly realized that
much of the manuscript was following the writings of Pietro Edwards (Giovanni's father), a leading executive in the
cultural circles of Venice, ca between 1770 and 1820.
Later on, I consulted all the
Venetian archives that preserve documents (many of which are also unpublished) by
Pietro Edwards and I re-read them in the light of the Repertoire. I obtained a new
interpretative framework of facts.
Pietro, a man of enormous
professional and organizational capacity,
was defeated by history. All were losers alike, in that Venice which had to
give up the centuries-old independence of the Republic and had been reduced to
a bargaining chip between the French and the Austrians. However, Pietro was a victim
of history even more than others. For art historiography on the one hand has
recognized him as a great restorer, before the fall of the Republic, but on the
other hand also as co-responsible for the dispersion of Venetia’s artistic
heritage under the varying rulers of the moment.
A view that I propose to dismantle, starting with the examination of his
manuscripts and those of his son. In this sense,
this is not a history of art textbook in strict sense, nor is intended for
specialists only, but for all those who
want to understand the overall context of the Venetian art world from 1770 to
1820.
Thus, we will find out that Pietro
was above all the true representative of Venetian art politics in the last
years of the Republic; that precisely because of that role he was confronted
with the French and Austrians. We will see how many of his today
incomprehensible instructions (such as the order to burn all 'trivial' paintings)
should be understood defensively as an
attempt to safeguard the economic value of the art heritage held by private
collectors, as well as to protect the income of intermediaries and contemporary
artists.
Finally, we will understand how his
decision to accept the role of Envoy for the choice of the assets of the Crown,
in the years of the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleon, can be explained with his
project to create a chronologically
ordered Gallery of Venetian Painters, to display in a museum the art evolution
of Venetian painters from its origins to the eighteenth century. Pietro,
therefore, sought to preserve the artistic heritage of Venice and to avoid its dispersion.
Unfortunately for him, it all came to nothing.
Edwards was not a hero (history is
not made of heroes), but also not an inconsistent man. Simply a man of his time. Like those who are
depicted in this work.
Perhaps you would be interested in my dissertation? I translated many many pages of Edwards' original writings in the Seminario Patriarcale, Archivio di Stato etc--I am eager to read your book!
RispondiEliminaPietro Edwards and the restoration of the public pictures of Venice, 1778-1819: necessity introduced these arts (2000) University of Washington