International events: Exhibit unveiling two unique paintings from the State Hermitage Museum kicks off in Venice as a part of Cultural Exchange Year for Russia and Italy

On November 24th 2011 a new exhibit opened in the Academia Galleries in Venice (Italy) featuring two paintings from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum – “Husband and Wife” and “Madonna delle Grazie” by Lorenzo Lotto, an eminent Venetian master of the 16th century and one of the major representatives of the art of the Renaissance.

This exhibition in Venice is a gesture by the State Hermitage Museum in return for lending of the famous Giorgione masterpiece “The Tempest”, which was shown as a part of the “Masterpieces from the World’s Museums in the Hermitage”. The exchange between the State Hermitage Museum and the Academia Galleries in Venice is timed to coincide with the Year of Italian Culture in Russia and the Year of Russian Culture in Italy.

The choice of these two paintings was not accidental; interest in the art of Lorenzo Lotto has grown steadily over the last fifteen years. One need only consider the fact that several monographic exhibitions have taken place in Washington (USA), Bergamo (Italy), Paris (France) and Rome (Italy).

The exhibit will also include other paintings by Lotto, which are somehow connected with those from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum.