The Collector’s passion

Comparable to the big game hunter’s quest, there was no art fair, sales outlet or antique dealer he failed to visit in search of new objects to add to his collection. If in final years his research was transformed into a systemic process, at first it was purely a pursuit of harmony. No such thing as minor art existed for him, and this allowed him to find value in objects others failed to considered.

His was a collector’s mind: there was method in his choosing, waiting, and buying only the right thing, having decided beforehand whether such object in glass could be exchanged for something worth even more. Right away, we knew this passion would grow, also in different ways. Every piece was discovered, desired, hunted down, then captured, but only if it were also in some way meaningful to the surroundings in which would be placed. The first setting was naturally our home, which by size and structure was able to host objects of medium, even large dimension. Today – once again fortuitously – the collective space at Ca’ Pesaro has appeared.

Francesco possessed a flair for understanding how different objects could relate harmoniously to one another. Not one thing ever entered our lives but for the pleasure of having something beautiful around us.  The first purchase we made together was a modest Primavera chandelier. We’d seen it in an antique dealer’s window in Venice walking home from a dinner one night. It was there for everyone to see but he chose it through the process that draws the gaze to an object, the process we call art. Not a real collection, ours was more an accumulation of objects from the Novecento that seemed to belong together. Our choices depended also on the space that would host them. We always knew in advance where each piece would go, and we wanted everything to be enveloped in a continuum. 

Our life came to be defined by art. Our journeys brought us into relationship with many of the world’s leading art collectors, starting from the day we met, in Moscow, in the mid-70s. Our search prompted Francesco’s move from Padova to Venice, a city he would never leave again. 

Today we donate to his city and the world community a part of our collection, in hopes that the pure amazement these unique works of art aroused in us will arise in others. We had been considering the establishment of a Foundation but the idea only took form after Francesco passed away. The collections fit to perfection with the rooms in Ca’ Pesaro, the setting and the collection completing one another, enhancing one another. I hope the visitors to these rooms will share our same passion for an entire life dedicated to beauty.