Venetian Renaissance Master Jacopo Bassano at the Sinebrychoff Art Museum in autumn 2024

Jacopo Bassano – Venetian Renaissance Master
12.9.2024–12.1.2025
Sinebrychoff Art Museum


In the autumn, the Sinebrychoff Art Museum will host a monographic exhibition by the Italian Renaissance master Jacopo Bassano (c. 1515–1592). As a master of light and colour, Jacopo Bassano ranks among the great names of the Venetian Renaissance, alongside Titian, Jacopo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. The exhibition, produced by the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, shows the artworks of this innovative artist for the first time in Europe outside of Italy.

“We are delighted to be able to show the public a broad selection of the oeuvre of one of the most important painters of the Venetian Renaissance. This rare exhibition is a significant investment for our museum,” says Kirsi Eskelinen, Director, Sinebrychoff Art Museum.

The exhibition presents a diverse selection from Jacopo’s oeuvre, both paintings for private collectors and public works painted on church altars. A total of 34 works will be on display. The starting point for the exhibition are two paintings by Jacopo Bassano in the collection of the Sinebrychoff Art Museum: The Virgin and Child with John the Baptist and St Anthony the Abbot (early 1560s) and John the Baptist Picking Flowers for his Parents (c. 1559–1560). Preparations for the exhibition began more than four years ago, and it is the result of an extensive international collaboration. The curators are Kirsi Eskelinen and Claudia Caramanna, researchers specialising in Jacopo Bassano.

A successful workshop set in the Venetian countryside

Jacopo Bassano worked in the workshop founded by his father, Francesco il Vecchio (c. 1470/1475–1539), in Bassano on the mainland periphery of the city state of Venice. Jacopo is called Bassano after his hometown. He took over the running of the workshop after his father died in 1539.

Under Jacopo’s leadership, the workshop became very successful and its production was diversified. Its clients included both the nobility and common people. Jacopo Bassano painted a large number of monumental altarpieces and frescoes, some of which can still be seen in their original locations in small rural churches in the region of Venice.

“Although Jacopo Bassano is less well-known today than his celebrated contemporaries, he was highly regarded by critics during his lifetime and his works were in great demand on the art market,” Eskelinen says.

In the traditional Venetian manner, the workshop was a family business, in which Jacopo was assisted by his four sons. The most talented of them, Francesco (1549–1592) and Leandro (1557–1622), set up their own workshops in Venice during their father’s lifetime. Jacopo’s son Giambattista (1553–1613) continued to run the workshop after his father’s death. The activity of Bassanos’ workshop continued without interruptions until 1654, when Jacopo’s grandson and successor Jacopo Apollonio died.


A rare opportunity to see a broad selection of artworks from the 16th century

The exhibition produced by the Sinebrychoff Art Museum is the first monographic exhibition of Jacopo Bassano’s oeuvre in Europe outside of Italy. A previous monographic exhibition of his works was shown at the Museo Civico in Bassano del Grappa in 2010, and previously in 1992. The 1992 exhibition moved on to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where it was shown in 1993. An extensive monographic exhibition by a single artist consisting of works from the 16^th century is a rarity in itself. Old master paintings are not moved around easily or readily lent for exhibitions.

“A starting point in research and very good international networks are absolutely necessary for creating an exhibition like this. The lenders have also conserved their works, thus making a major contribution to the mounting of the exhibition. On display will also be several paintings not seen in previous exhibitions,” Eskelinen says.

In the exhibition, Jacopo Bassano is shown as a master of light and colour, and a creator of biblical pastoral paintings. In his paintings, animals are often the protagonists, and some of Jacopo’s works depicting dogs can be seen as real portraits. The exhibition features some of Jacopo Bassano’s finest paintings, such as Saint Jerome Meditating, 1563, (Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice), The Adoration of the Magi, circa 1555, (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and The Sleeping Shepherd, circa 1568, (Museum of Fine Art, Budapest).

Jacopo Bassano – Venetian Renaissance Master is the outcome of many years of work and a result of extensive international collaboration. The exhibition’s partners include the Gallerie dell’Accademia, the Gallerie degli Uffizi and Galleria Borghese in Italy, as well as the Louvre in France and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Austria.


Exhibition curators:
Dr Kirsi Eskelinen, is the director of the Sinebrychoff Art Museum and a researcher specialising in Jacopo Bassano.
Dr Claudia Caramanna is an independent researcher specialised in Jacopo Bassano.

Exhibition publication:
Jacopo Bassano – Renaissance Painter of Venetian Country Life
Editor-in-chief: Dr Hanna-Leena Paloposki
Publisher: Mercatorfonds

Lenders of works:
Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
Galleria Borghese, Rome
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna
Museo Civico di Bassano del Grappa
Musei Civici di Padova
Musei Civici di Vicenza
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo
National Gallery, Prague
The Royal Castle, Warsaw
Private lenders