A CABINET OF WONDERS.
A Celebration of Art in Nature.
The George Loudon Collection

Fontanka, Londra 2025

Curated by Thierry Morel

The publication of the volume was funded by Venetian Heritage

This volume, published in both Italian and English, accompanies the eponymous exhibition presented by the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon, and produced in collaboration with the Venetian Heritage Foundation and the George Loudon Collection.
The exhibition “A Cabinet of Wonders”, on view at the Museo di Palazzo Grimani from 15 December 2024 to 5 October 2025, is curated by art historian Thierry More and unfolds in two distinct sections.
The first section, designed specifically for the museum’s mythological rooms, aims to evoke a 16th–17th century cabinet of curiosities. It features an extraordinary array of artworks as well as naturalia et mirabilia, on loan from prominent national and international cultural institutions — including the MAK in Vienna and the Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco — as well as from the collections of the Museo di Palazzo Grimani and Patriarch Giovanni.
The second section, titled “The George Loudon Collection”, presents a remarkable selection of objects from the collection of George Loudon — a sophisticated connoisseur and collector of 19th-century natural science artifacts — in a completely original display. For the first time, these scientific specimens are freed from their original educational purpose and reimagined as an artistic installation, revealing themselves as true works of art.