The social life of Bartolomeo della Nave’s art collection in Seicento Venice

Abstract Information on the life of the Venetian merchant Bartolomeo della Nave (1571/79?–1632) is scarce, but what is known is that he exhibited one of the most outstanding art collections in Venice in the early seventeenth century. This essay considers the places from which della Nave acquired some of his works, brings together visitor accounts of the collection, and examines della Nave’s innovative methods of displaying art in his home, which was frequented by visual artists, architects and writers. Itinerary accounts, visual quotations and poetic evocations chart the vivid afterlives of della Nave’s works – not only in Britain, where many of them travelled after his death, as has been well treated in the literature – but in Venice, where most of them originated.