MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH SAINT JEROME AND SAINT AUGUSTINE (LEONARDO BONDRINI, 1452-98)

The Museo Correr takes its name from Teodoro Correr (1750-1830), a passionate art collector who was a member of an old family of the Venetian aristocracy. When he died in 1830, he donated to the city not only his works of art, but also the palazzo at San Zan Degolà in which they were housed, plus funds to maintain and further extend a collection which was to bear his name and ultimately became the core around which the Musei Civici di Venezia developed. Correr’s will was explicit about when and under what conditions his house was to be open to the public and to scholars, how many people were to work in maintaining the collection, and even what funds were to be used for this purpose. These precise instructions indicate that what he had in mind was not only a place of scholarly research, but also a veritable museum, a place in which to collect, conserve and exhibit works of various kinds.