22 Facts About Girolamo Zulian

Cavaliere Girolamo Zulian was a Venetian nobleman, ambassador, patron of the arts, art collector and Senatore Amplissimo.

Girolamo Zulian is credited as having played a fundamental role in Canova's rise to fame.

Girolamo Zulian was born in Venice, Republic of Venice, in 1730.

Girolamo Zulian was born into an influential old Venetian noble family, which built the Palazzo Zulian on Venice's Canal Grande in the 17th century.

Girolamo Zulian is said to have been an extremely clever man, who, for all being neither an artist nor a scholar, used his power and wealth to promote and protect the arts.

Girolamo Zulian went on to become Savio di Terraferma and Senator.

Girolamo Zulian was one of the Correttori delle leggi elected together with Lodovico Flangini and Alvise Elmo in 1774.

Girolamo Zulian was ducal councillor of Cannaregio and San Marco, Savio of the Council of Ten, and Savio del Consiglio.

Girolamo Zulian later became Venetian ambassador to the Holy See, and later still bailo to Constantinople.

Girolamo Zulian was a Knight of the Order of the Golden Stole.

Girolamo Zulian took Canova under his patronage and protection, and significantly helped him in Rome, welcoming him as his guest and allowing him to turn some rooms of his palace into his studio.

In 1781, Girolamo Zulian commissioned the Theseus and the Minotaur from Canova, one of Canova's earliest works after settling in Rome.

However, Girolamo Zulian decided not to listen to his first judge, and instead trusted the counsel of Hamilton, who had approved of Canova's work.

Girolamo Zulian left the choice of subject for this commission to Canova.

Girolamo Zulian commissioned a plan of Padua from Giovanni Volpato while in Rome.

Girolamo Zulian donated the original to the Padua Academy, which named him an honorary member, and to which he made other donations in the years, including an ancient tablet discovered by Fortis, which confirmed the existence of the cult of Isis in Albano, and a bust of Cardinal Bembo.

Girolamo Zulian commissioned a bust of Torquato Tasso from Giuseppe Angelini during his embassy in Rome, which he donated to his friend Pierantonio Serassi.

Girolamo Zulian, following the advice of Canova, transferred a well-known sculpture, the Mezzo piede di un Colosso, to Venice a few years before 1785.

Girolamo Zulian asked his friend Canova, whom he much helped in Rome, to restore the sculptures.

When he was elected bailo and was shipping out to Costantinople, Girolamo Zulian was followed by Alberto Fortis, a prominent naturalist, the Neapolitan botanist Domenico Cirillo, and the French scholar Jean Baptiste LeChevalier.

Girolamo Zulian died in 1795, leaving to the public Library of Saint Mark a part of his collection, which included his Cammeo.

Girolamo Zulian's collection, bequeathed by him to the city of Venice, was spared auctioning and dispersion, a fate which befell most local collections.