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26-514: One of the most important Venetian theatres of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Teatro San Samuele was constructed in 1656 through a commission made by the Grimani family a year earlier. Initially the theatre was used primarily for plays but in the 18th century the house became more closely associated with opera and ballet . The famous playwright and librettist Carlo Goldoni notably served as

52-844: A Virgin among the Virgins in the Morgan Library , a Virgin and Child on a Crescent Moon in the Rothschild Prayerbook , and a portrait of the Emperor Maximilian in Vienna. Several of his drawings also survive, and elements from these appear in the works of other painters and illuminators for several decades after his death. Less known but also of high quality are the works of David found in Spanish public collections. The Prado Museum in Madrid owns

78-585: A bare outline of his life survives, although some facts are known. He may have been the Meester gheraet van brugghe who became a master of the Antwerp guild in 1515. He was very successful in his lifetime and probably ran two workshops, in Antwerp and Bruges. Like many painters of his period, his reputation diminished in the 17th century until he was rediscovered in the 19th century. He was born in Oudewater , now located in

104-618: A colourist. To this early period belong the St John of the Richard von Kaufmann collection in Berlin and the Salting 's St Jerome . In Bruges he came directly under the influence of Memling, the master whom he followed most closely. It was from him that David acquired a solemnity of treatment, greater realism in the rendering of human form, and an orderly arrangement of figures. He visited Antwerp in 1515 and

130-632: A painter who did little but distill the style of others and painted in an archaic and unimaginative style. However today most view him as a master colourist, and a painter who according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , worked in a "progressive, even enterprising, mode, casting off his late medieval heritage and proceeding with a certain purity of vision in an age of transition." In his early work David followed Haarlem artists such as Dirk Bouts , Albert van Oudewater, and Geertgen tot Sint Jans , though he had already given evidence of superior power as

156-468: A significant role in the development of the opera buffa . The Vendramins, who had considerable direct involvement in the management of the theatre, however they did not take their involvement as far as Vincenzo Grimani , who was a cardinal and opera librettist. worldcat Gerard David Gerard David ( c.  1460 – 13 August 1523) was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color. Only

182-757: A table "Rest on the flight into Egypt" resembling the one in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. The Prado also holds another two Works by the painter, one of them only attributed. Another one of the Spanish capital's Museums, The Thyssen-Bornemisza holds a "Crucifixión" from 1475. At the time of David's death, the glory of Bruges and its painters was on the wane: Antwerp had become the leader in art as well as in political and commercial importance. Of David's pupils in Bruges, only Adriaen Isenbrandt , Albert Cornelis , and Ambrosius Benson achieved importance. Among other Flemish painters, Joachim Patinir , Jan Mabuse and

208-585: Is innovative in his recasting of traditional themes and in his approach to landscape, which was then only an emerging genre in northern European painting. His ability with landscape can be seen in the detailed foliage of his Triptych of the Baptism and the forest scene in the New York Nativity . Many of the art historians of the early 20th century, including Erwin Panofsky and Max Jakob Friedländer saw him as

234-715: The Teatro Goldoni , which still thrives as the city's main theatre for plays, now in a building of the 1720s. In the age of Carlo Goldoni , the greatest Venetian dramatist, only the San Luca and the Malibran still put on spoken drama, and his desertion of the Grimani for the Vendramins at San Luca in 1752 was a major event in the theatrical history of the period, ushering in perhaps his finest period, in which as well as his comedies, he played

260-648: The Baptism of Christ in the Groeningemuseum , and the Transfiguration in the Church of Our Lady. The rest were scattered around the world, and to this may be due the oblivion into which his very name had fallen; this, and the fact that, some believed that for all the beauty and the soulfulness of his work, he had nothing innovative to add to the history of art. Even in his best work he had only given newer variations of

286-540: The Guild of Saint Luke in 1484. Upon the death of Hans Memling in 1494, David became Bruges' leading painter. He became dean of the guild in 1501, and in 1496 married Cornelia Cnoop , daughter of the dean of the goldsmiths ' guild. David was one of the town's leading citizens. Ambrosius Benson served his apprenticeship with David. Around 1519 they had a dispute over a number of paintings and drawings which Benson had collected from other artists. David refused to return

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312-529: The Master of the Plump-Cheeked Madonnas were to some degree influenced by him. David's name had been completely forgotten when in 1866 William Henry James Weale discovered documents about him in the archives of Bruges; these brought to light the main facts of the painter's life and led to the reconstruction of David's artistic personality, beginning with the recognition of David's only documented work,

338-471: The A. Scarsellini elementary school on the former site of the theatre. 45°25′58″N 12°19′44″E  /  45.4329°N 12.3289°E  / 45.4329; 12.3289 Grimani The House of Grimani was a prominent Venetian patrician family, including three Doges of Venice . They were active in trade, politics and later the ownership of theatres and opera-houses. Notable members included: The following structures are associated with

364-535: The Grimani family preferred to stage opera seria and other more dramatic works at their other theatre, the Teatro San Benedetto (built 1755). At the end of the 18th century, the Teatro San Samuele lost much of its former prestige. In 1770 the Grimani family had been forced to sell the theatre due to the economic crisis that hit the Venetian aristocracy. The theatre continued to operate until 6 April 1807 when it

390-402: The art of his predecessors and contemporaries. His rank among the masters was renewed, however, when a number of his paintings were assembled at the seminal 1902 Gruuthusemuseum , Bruges exhibition of early Flemish painters . He also worked closely with the leading manuscript illuminators of the day, and seems to have been brought in to paint specific important miniatures himself, among them

416-736: The family: Cardinal Domenico Grimani was a noted art collector. Many ancient sculptures were found on land the family had purchased on the Quirinal Hill , once site of an ancient Roman bath and garden. He founded the Venice National Archaeological Museum in 1523. Bishop Giovanni Grimani , nephew of Cardinal Domenico, expanded the Palazzo Grimani di Santa Maria Formosa , where he set up his refined collection of antiques, including sculptures, marbles, vases, bronzes and gems, some of which he inherited from his uncle. Long in

442-574: The library of San Marco and the Biblioteca Marciana , Venice, this breviary is a key work in the late history of Flemish illuminated manuscripts . It was produced in Ghent and Bruges ca. 1515–1520 and by 1520 owned, though possibly not originally commissioned, by Cardinal Domenico Grimani . Several leading artists, including Simon Bening , the Master of James IV of Scotland and Gerard David , contributed some of their finest work to it. All

468-529: The main Venetian theatres were owned by important patrician families; combining business with pleasure in the Italian, if not European, city with the most crowded and competitive theatrical culture. When most opera in Europe was still being put on by courts, "economic prospects and a desire for exhibitionistic display", as well a decline in their traditional overseas trading, attracted the best Venetian families to invest in

494-527: The materials because Benson owed him a large debt. Benson sought legal recourse in court and after he won, David was condemned to a prison term. He died on 13 August 1523 and was buried in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges. David's surviving work mainly consists of religious scenes. They are characterised by an atmospheric, timeless, and almost dream like serenity, achieved through soft, warm and subtle colourisation, and masterful handling of light and shadow. He

520-583: The province of Utrecht . His year of birth is approximated as c. 1450–1460 on the basis that he looks to be around 50 years in the 1509 self-portrait found in his Virgin among the Virgins . He is believed to have spent time in Italy from 1470 to 1480, where he was influenced by the Italian Renaissance . He formed his early style under Albert van Oudewater in Haarlem , and moved to Bruges in 1483, where he joined

546-680: The theatre during the 17th century. The Grimani were dominant, owning what is now called the Teatro Malibran , then called the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo , as well as the San Benedetto theatre, and other houses. The Veniers owned La Fenice , still the main opera house. The Vendramin owned the important Teatro di San Luca or Teatro Vendramin , founded in 1622, later renamed the Teatro Apollo , and since 1875 called

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572-504: The theatre was renamed as the Teatro Camploy. In the third edition of Murray's Hand-book for travellers in northern Italy (1847) Sir Francis Palgrave reported "It is a pretty theatre well adapted for hearing. Opera buffas are performed here" In his will, Camploy bequeathed the theatre to the City of Verona. The Venice City Council bought it and, after demolishing the theatre in 1894, built

598-462: The theatre's director from 1737 to 1741, and many of his works were premiered at the theatre during his career. The original Teatro San Samuele was destroyed by fire on the last night of September 1747. A new theatre was built in almost identical design and opened in May 1748 as opulent competition for the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo . The new theatre became associated with the opera buffa repertoire, as

624-945: The triptych of the Madonna Enthroned and Saints of the Brignole-Sale collection in Genoa ; the Annunciation of the Sigmaringen collection; and above all, the Madonna with Angels and Saints (usually titled The Virgin among the Virgins ), which he donated to the Carmelite Nuns of Sion at Bruges, and which is now in the Rouen museum. Only a few of his works have remained in Bruges: The Judgment of Cambyses , The Flaying of Sisamnes and

650-638: Was impressed with the work of Quentin Matsys , who had introduced a greater vitality and intimacy in the conception of sacred themes. Together they worked to preserve the traditions of the Bruges school against influences of the Italian Renaissance. The works for which David is best known are the altarpieces painted before his visit to Antwerp: the Marriage of St Catherine at the National Gallery, London;

676-634: Was ordered closed by a Napoleonic decree which also shut down the Teatro San Cassiano , the Teatro San Angelo , and the Teatro San Luca . The San Samuele and the San Luca were re-opened after a 21 April 1815 Austrian decree. In 1819 the Teatro San Samuele was acquired by impresario Giuseppe Camploy . With the exception of the 1840s when performances were sporadic, the theatre remained continuously active until Camploy's death in 1889. In 1853

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