The Ongania collection

The sala Ongania houses original drawings and watercolours made for the works to the basilica, published by Ferdinando Ongania at the end of the 1880s.

The debate ensuing after the disputed restoration work> to the south façade, the Zen chapel and the baptistery (1865-75), which aroused international public opinion, helped mature the idea that it was necessary to start from a comprehensive knowledge of the ancient monuments and their decorations to correctly preserve them.
A group of young venetians, supported by John Ruskin, felt the moral imperative to act. He writes the introduction where he expresses his will to defend the integrity of the city of Venice. After the publication of these writings, an inquiry is open and the west façade restauration works are interrupted.

Ferdinando Ongania remained one of the great publishers of his time, directed in his selections by personally felt and technically advanced ideals. In this impressive publishing work, Ongania completes the studies on the history and the art of the basilica with a wide set of pictures and images. The survey and representation of the monument were entrusted to numerous artists, in particular the architects Nicolò Moretti and Eugenio Pedon and the painter Alberto Prosdocimi. Numerous photographs of the basilica were also taken for the first time. These were by Oreste Bertani and were published in heliotype by Carlo Jacobi.

Geometrical elevation of the west façade of St. Mark's basilica

Eugenio Pedon - c. 1880

Detail of the doge’s procession on Palm Sunday
painted heliotype reproduction of the xylograph
by Mattio Pagan 1556-1569
Venice, c. 1880

Alberto Prosdocimi, Exterior view of St. Mark’s basilica
watercolor on paper
1883-1885

Alberto Prosdocimi, Interior view of St. Mark’s basilica
watercolor on paper
1885-1887