This exhibition, curated by Piero Lucchi and Monica Viero, presents a selection of works taken from the collection of Aldo Ravà (1879-1923), collector and scholar of the art and literature of the eighteenth century.
Born in Venice to a family of Hebrew origin, not noble but among the most eminent of the city, after studying the classics he took his degree in law, but never practiced the profession, dedicating himself from his youth to scholarship and collecting. Passionate about books, furniture and works of art, he collected in his house extraordinary examples of the arts of the eighteenth century.
His library of circa 10,000 volumes includes editions that reflect the passions of a book lover.
The prints and the volumes – that predominantly concern the arts, literature, music and daily life – reveal, in the eighteenth century, an innovative point-of-view highlighting a vivacity, a richness of contradictions, unexplored or incompletely investigated authors and themes. Aldo Ravà died in Venice, little more than forty years old, in 1923. His collection joined the Correr Museum according to the will that he made in the 1860s, until her death, his wife, Violet Fenton, took up his work, continuing to enrich the library.