Venice - Ca Rezzonico: The Venice International Foundation – Annual Fund Raising Gala Dinner: Missione Fortuny. TheVenice International Foundation held it’s annual fund-raising gala dinner in the garden of Ca Rezzonico in order to gather funds to carry on with the Missone Fortuny project to restore works by the grand maestro, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo stored in the Palazzo Fortuny itself.
Above: Teatro delle Feste. In 1912, Mariano Fortuny, Gabriele D’Annunzio and Lucien Hesse designed this theatre, which was to be constructed at Esplanade des Invalides in Paris. Mariano himself built the model, based on their design, with his prodigious hands, inside the studio of the present-day Fortuny Palace Museum. As you can see, it has been beautifully restored to its former splendor with the sale of virtual seats (some seats are still available at affordable prices ranging from 10-150 Euros each through www.venicefoundation.org), a brilliant idea of micropatronage conceived by The Venice International’s president, Franca Coin.
Ca Rezzonico: The Venice International Foundation - Missione Fortuny dinner. The director of the Fortuny Museum, Architetto Daniela Ferretti is photographed with two gigantic checks received for the completion of restored works of Mariano Fortuny housed in the museum itself, his former atelier.
Ca Rezzonico: The Venice International Foundation - Missione Fortuny dinner. The president of the Venice International Foundation, Franca Coin proudly stands between the Fortuny Museum director, Daniela Ferretti and the new president of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Walter Hartsarich, who also received a gigantic check for the restoration of the Tiepolo door in the Ca Rezzonico Museum dedicated to Eighteenth Century Venice.
The garden at Ca Rezzonico. The annual gala dinner of The Venice International Foundation was held in the garden of Ca Rezzonico. The gigantic checks and the coveted Cotisso Venice Foundation prize were given out during the dinner on a stage set up under the dramatically lit eighteenth century statues.
The mayor of Venice Giorgio Orsoni and his wife Agnese arrive at Ca Rezzonico.
The renowned worldwide Italian cellist and musician Mario Brunello, winner of the 2011 Cotisse Venice Foundation prize chats with Marilena Tamaro and producer of symphony and chamber music events, Yasunori Gunji.
The curator of the Barry X Ball exhibition currently on at Ca Rezzonico, until September 11, Laura Mattioli Rossi talks about the exhibition during the pre dinner cocktail party held in the “portego de mezzo” (ground floor) of Ca Rezzonico.
photograph by manfredi bellati
A special treat for the members of The Venice International Foundation of a guided tour, before dinner in the garden, by Barry X Ball’s curator, Laura Mattioli Rossi, seen here with her portrait in lapis lazuli.
Entrepeneur Marina Deserti and photographer Manfredi Bellati.
Glass dealer Giordana Naccari whose shop, L’Angolo del Passato, on the charming Campiello degli Squellini, sells some of the most interesting antique and modern Murano glassware, chats with French artist, Marie-Laure Viebel de Villepin.
Haute Couture collector Cecilia Matteucci poses in the portego in her Haute Couture, Yves Saint Laurent leopard print voile dress designed by Stefano Pilati. The rock crystal cross around Cecilia’s neck used to sit on the YSL’s bedside table in Chateau Gabriel and was bought at the auction that was dubbed as “The Sale of the Century”.
Small hors d’oeuvres where served with refreshing cold white wine before dinner in the portego of Ca Rezzonico.
Giustina and Nereo Destro
Italian architect, Massimo Scolari and opera director Elena Barbalich.
The tables set up in the garden of Ca Rezzonico under the eighteenth century statues. Note the paper swans centerpieces made with recycled magazines by Mila Evangelista.
The paper swans. The paper swans which graced the table centerpiece were made up of thrown out magazines by Mila Evangelista who learnt the craft in Brunei from a Malaysian friend. They are made of tiny bits of folded paper into small cone shapes, which are then placed one on top of the other to create these pretty swans like containers.
Archistar Vittorio Gregotti and his wife Marina
Piergiorgio Coin, Don Roberto Donadoni, director of the Marcianum Press, Franca Coin and the Reverend Monsignor Brian Ferme who is one of the most appreciated professors at the Marcianum Foundation.
The Centerpiece and the artist. Marie-Laure Viebel de Villepin proudly shows of one of her Coco de Mer inspired sculptures, made from Murano glass. The artist has taken the sensuous form of the Seychellois Coco de Mer and turned it into a work of art interpreting the shape in various materials including gold, bronze and of course glass. “The unique shape of this nut, touches me probably because I am a woman. Behind it all, this could be the idea of a mother, the life cycle, the birth. I was also taken after touching them, and in working with these shapes today, this unique feeling comes to life,” explains Marie-Laure.
The appetizer. The Caprese is re-invented, stacked up mozzarella and tomatoes are garnished with a mild pesto sauce and pretty edible flowers, the big trend in food this summer.
The Cotisso. Franca Coin gives the Cotisso Venice Foundation Prize to Mario Brunello, the renowned worldwide Italian cellist and musician.
The music. Mario Brunello played Bach for the members of The Venice Foundation from his repertoire.
The cello case #1. Mario Brunello’s famous 17th century Maggini cello is housed in a glossy red Ferrari cello case custom made for the Maestro at the Italian sports car manufacturing plant in Marranello.
The Cello case # 2. A detail of the famous Ferrari “Cavallino Rampante” or Prancing Horse together with the glossy red case cover, both synonymous with Formula One racing they are a worthy shell for the 17th century Maggini cello.
Moved to tears. The Mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni congratulates Franca Coin, president of The Venice International Foundation for the fundraising she has done to help restore works of art for the Musei Civici Veneziani and especially for the brainwave of involving small donators through micropatronage financing.
photograph courtesy Museo Fortuny
You can help too: Missione Fortuny. The next project to be restored on the agenda is the “Theatre Drawings” Album. An extraordinary and unique collection of drawings relating to studies and the scenic and lighting applications which Fortuny designed in support of his complex and structured theatrical reform at the beginning of the twentieth century. Worthy of note in this album are various drawings and sketches dating back to 1898 of scenographies of Wagnerian operas along with several architectural reliefs of the Bayreuth Theatre, but above all it is the first drawings of 1902, done in Paris, of the structure of the scenographic device commonly known as the “Fortuny Dome” and the system for the lighting of scenes with indirect and reflected light that are the most striking. This thick and bulky album gathers together an undefined but very consistent number of drawings, which are attached directly onto pieces of cloth. Given the poor preservative condition of the album, upon the completion of the restoration the individual insertion of each drawing into a double page with the inventory number on the outside is foreseen. For more information and on how to contribute to the restoration, contact The Venice International Foundation.