The museum originates from a donation: that of the family of Michelangelo Grigoletti (1801-1870), an artist born in Pordenone and a central figure in nineteenth-century Venetian portraiture. An entire room is dedicated to him.
Here the narrative unfolds on two levels: biographical and pictorial. At the centre, the portrait of the artist’s parents (1829) powerfully evokes his origins, while around it are arranged sisters, nephews and familiar faces, captured with an increasing capacity for introspection. Alongside these, works from his mature period present more refined and composed portraits, with meticulous attention to fabrics, postures and gazes. The culmination is the portrait of the Busetto-Petich family (1845): the head of the household guides the viewer’s eye among children, grandchildren and relatives, where each gesture constructs a precise family hierarchy; on the table, a project; beyond the window, the railway bridge of Venice, at the time still under construction, yet here already crossed by a smoking train. A domestic scene, but also a narrative of power and progress
