Villa Grimani Molin Avezzù at Fratta Polesine : cosmological themes in decorative programs of sixteenth-century Venetian villas

The study provides the first comprehensive iconological analysis for the frescoes of the Villa Grimani Molin. A thorough documentary research established a chronological framework that enabled to coherently position the construction and decorative interventions, attributed respectively to Vincenzo Grimani and to his daughter Betta Grimani Molin (1570’s-1580’s). Based on technical and stylistic evidence, and documentary indications awaiting a definitive verification, the study proposed as authors the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi, and one or more painters from the Ferrarese Filippi family. The frescos testify the erudite cultural-intellectual background of their innovators; they embody a notable female presence, reflecting the identity of the main patroness. The iconographic program may be defined as an apparatus of cosmological philosophy, intended not as a purely celestial-astronomical discipline; rather, as a philosophy of nature, within the laws of the natural environment, as the discipline was understood in Renaissance culture. The variety of cultural references and certain iconographic choices served for exploring different systems of knowledge, culminating with the personification of Wisdom constituting the core of the program.