Lost Treasure of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice February 21–April 28, 2013
Italian, Torah Crown, mid-19th century, parcel-gilt silver, Collection of the Comunità Ebraica di Venezia (The Jewish Community of Venice).
Italian, probably Venice, Torah Case, 18th century, giltwood and fabric, Collection of the Comunità Ebraica di Venezia (The Jewish Community of Venice).
Michele Marieschi, View of the Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, c. 1740, oil on canvas, Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation.
Italian, probably Venice, Hanging Lamp, 1804, silver, Collection of the Comunità Ebraica di Venezia (The Jewish Community of Venice).
Venetian, One of a Pair of Vegetable Plates, early 20th century, silver, Collection of the Comunità Ebraica di Venezia (The Jewish Community of Venice).
Italian, One of a Pair of Rimmonim, 18th century, silver, Collection of the Comunità Ebraica di Venezia (The Jewish Community of Venice).
Lost Treasure of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice
Restored by Venetian Heritage Inc.
A cache of silver and bronze objects from the 17th to 20th centuries—hidden away from Nazis during World War II—has been rediscovered and restored. These works of art are on display in America for the first time in Lost Treasure of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice. The MFAH presentation is complemented by Venetian paintings from the same time period.
Jewish residents played a valuable role in the economy of Venice from the time of the Renaissance. In 1516, the Venetian Senate segregated Jews in a six-acre area that housed several thousand people and five synagogues, at the site of a former foundry (geto).
The objects in Lost Treasure of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, made by master craftsmen using traditional silversmithing and bronze-casting methods, represent an in-depth look at Venetian Jewish silver from the 1600s to early 1900s. When Nazis invaded Italy in 1943, two elderly Jewish religious leaders stored the pieces in a secret hiding place within a Venetian synagogue. The treasures remained untouched for more than 60 years, until they were accidentally discovered, and they have now been restored by Venetian Heritage Inc.
The exhibition comprises predominantly ritual objects, including wooden Torah cases, silver Torah crowns, and lamps of silver and bronze. Among the works that relate to dining traditions are silver vegetable plates, used during Passover Seders, and a silver ewer and basin, used for the washing of hands prior to eating. Also on view are Venetian paintings from a private collection and from the collections of the MFAH and Houston's Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation.
This exhibition is organized by Venetian Heritage Inc. and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in collaboration with the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation. The objects were restored with the support of Maison Vhernier.
Generous funding is provided by:
Joan and Stanford Alexander
Julie and Drew Alexander
in honor of Joan and Stanford Alexander and Davna and Edward Brook
Joyce Z. Greenberg
Barbara and Gerry Hines
Shirley Toomim
Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff
Helaine and David Lane
Jeri and Marc Shapiro
Nancy and Scott Atlas
Nancy Beren and Larry Jefferson
Paula and Irving Pozmantier
Regina Rogers
in honor of Holocaust survivor Stefi Altman
Glen Rosenbaum
Shirley and Marvin Rich