Italian
At the Scuola Grande dei Carmini, an exhibition dossier reveals masterpieces never before exhibited by the Venetian maestro. Curated by Marco Dolfin, from April 12 to June 8, 2025
The Scuola Grande dei Carmini opens its rooms to a discovery that enriches the heritage of Venetian painting between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. Jacopo Palma il Giovane rediscovered is the title of the exhibition which, from April 12 to June 8, 2025, curated by Marco Dolfin, presents three unpublished works by the painter Jacopo Negretti, better known as Palma il Giovane (circa 1548 – 1628), never exhibited before and recently emerged from private collections.
Organized by the Scuola Grande dei Carmini in collaboration with Galleria Davide Beggio Antichità, the exhibition is set up as a precious historical-artistic dossier, which aims to offer new tools for interpreting the stylistic evolution and language of one of the absolute protagonists of the late Venetian Renaissance.
The works on display – an altarpiece depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds, a Youthful Self-Portrait, and a refined drawing from 1621 – add significant pieces to Palma’s already extensive catalog, showcasing his expressive versatility and painting quality.
Luministic dramaturgy and psychological introspection
At the center of the exhibition stands out the Adoration of the Shepherds, a work of intense narrative force, which strikes for its construction in symmetrical pairs and for an almost theatrical use of light. According to Sergio Marinelli in the essay in the catalog, the painting – dating back to the last decade of the sixteenth century – recalls the compositional scheme of Veronese but surprises with a naturalistic tension that anticipates suggestively the Caravaggesque language. The comparison with the contemporary version preserved at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow highlights the extraordinary executive quality, which is also reflected in the recurring iconographic elements of the artist’s sacred production, here resolved with unprecedented visual power.
The Youthful Self-Portrait, probably the earliest known, shows a young Palma, with an intense gaze, aware and proud of his role. The curator Marco Dolfin emphasizes the relevance of comparing it with the famous self-portrait preserved at the Pinacoteca di Brera, dated around 1585:
“The work on display in the exhibition seems to precede it by a few years, as undeniably suggested by the more youthful appearance and the beard still devoid of the silver veins present in the Milanese work.”
The closing piece is the drawing “The Saints Lucia, Rocco, and Sebastian”, dated 1621 and already part of the historic Sagredo collection in Venice. The sheet, created with refined technique, is an emblematic example of the tireless graphic activity of the artist, as also reported in contemporary sources. In this drawing, Palma demonstrates his inventive freedom and mastery of techniques on colored supports, creating a work that fits within his independent production destined not only for study, but also for circulation among collectors and friends. Annotations, dedications, dates: every mark tells the daily practice of a draftsman at the peak of Venetian graphics.
An exhibition in dialogue with the pictorial memory of the Serenissima
The exhibition is held on the first floor of the Scuola Grande dei Carmini, in the rooms adjacent to the famous Chapter House decorated by Giambattista Tiepolo. The environment that hosts the three works by Palma is already enriched with paintings by Giustino Menescardi, Gaetano Zompini, and a remarkable Giambattista Piazzetta, offering a visual context rich in references and connections with Venetian painting of the Eighteenth century.
Palma’s works, although from an earlier period, naturally engage with the spirit of the place and with the artistic history of the Serenissima. In this sense, it also fits into the broader intention of the initiative, as explained by Franco Campiutti, Guardian Grande dei Carmini:
“The exhibition inaugurates a new cycle of exhibition activities promoted by the School dedicated to the enhancement of Venetian art between the Sixteenth and Eighteenth centuries, through new research and critical studies.”
The catalog
The exhibition is accompanied by an 80-page catalog edited by Marco Dolfin and Professor Sergio Marinelli (emeritus professor at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice), with contributions also from Andrea Piai and Michele Vello, published by Arte Rara Edizioni. The texts provide a rigorous yet accessible analysis of the works, reconstruct their collecting history, attributive issues, and the historical-artistic context.
The artist
Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma il Giovane (Venice, 1548/50 – 1628), was born into a family deeply connected to Venetian painting: his father Antonio, also a painter, was the nephew of Jacopo Palma il Vecchio, while his mother Giulia Brunello belonged to the family of Bonifacio de Pitati, another renowned artist of the Renaissance. After an initial apprenticeship in his father’s workshop, he was noticed, still a teenager, by Duke Guidobaldo II della Rovere, who welcomed him to the court of Urbino and supported his long stay in Rome (1567-1574), where the young Palma had the opportunity to deepen his study of ancient statuary and the works of Michelangelo and Polidoro da Caravaggio.Upon his return to Venice, he came into contact with the circle of Titian and Tintoretto, and already in 1578 he was involved in the decoration of the Hall of the Great Council in the Doge’s Palace, alongside the great masters Veronese and Tintoretto. This commission marked the beginning of a brilliant career in the service of the Most Serene Republic, where he became an absolute protagonist of Venetian painting between the 16th and 17th centuries.
An tireless and versatile artist, Palma il Giovane created extensive painting cycles for confraternities such as the School of Saint John the Evangelist and the oratory of the Crociferi, in addition to numerous religious and celebratory commissions throughout the Republic’s territory. An excellent draftsman, he was also a leading figure in the renewal of Venetian graphic practice, leaving a vast production of studies now preserved in important international collections.
He died in Venice on October 17, 1628. By his own wish, he was buried in the basilica of Saints John and Paul, next to Palma il Vecchio and Titian, sealing an artistic legacy that established him as the heir and continuator of the great Venetian painting tradition.
Show Info
Jacopo Palma il Giovane rediscovered
📅 April 12 – June 8, 2025
📍 Scuola Grande dei Carmini – Sala dell’Archivio
📫 Dorsoduro 2617, Venice
🕰 Open daily, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
🎟 Entrance included in the visit ticket to the School
