Beginning May 18, The Morgan Library & Museum will unveil an extraordinary exhibition of drawings and related material that brings to life the dynamic artistic and cultural milieu of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Venice. The first exhibition to focus on the Morgan’s outstanding collection of drawings created during this important era in the history of the great port city, Renaissance Venice: Drawings from the Morgan features work by masters such as Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Carpaccio, as well as many other less known but highly gifted artists. On view through September 23, 2012, the show also includes books and maps that reveal Venice’s role at the forefront of luxury book production and innovative printing.

In the early sixteenth century Venice established itself as a powerful maritime republic and center of international trade. The wealth created by this activity fueled the city’s ascent as a cultural capital, and artists were supported by government commissions, churches and lay religious communities, and, notably, by a powerful and enlightened aristocracy who sought to decorate their impressive private dwellings in Venice and on the mainland.