Ca Pesaro: International Gallery of Modern and Oriental Art
The Ca'Pesaro:
photo vy Attilios, GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
The Pesari were an
aristocratic family of high-achievers. Its members included Benedetto
Pesaro, a 16th century admiral; his son Girolamo, also a distinguished
military commander; Giacomo Pesaro, a papal legate; and Francesco Pesaro,
a 16th century Patriarch of Constantinople.
The family achieved new heights in 1658 when Giovanni Pesaro was elected
Doge of Venice. Plans were made for a new family seat in the Santa Croce
district, on the south bank of the Grand Canal, at the point where it is
joined by the Rio delle do Torri.
The family commissioned Baldassare Longhena who was the foremost
architect of his day, and who had already designed the monumental domed
church of the Santa Maria della Salute on the southern mouth of the
Grand Canal.
Longhena specialised in the latest Baroque styles, and constantly sought
ways to achieve eye-catching contrasts in the design and decoration of
his buildings.
He achieves this in the case of the Ca' Pesaro by contrasting a
rusticated twin-arched doorway on the ground floor with an apparently
random arrangement of statues, balconies and pilasters on the piani
nobili.
He also avoids the banality of a completely flat facade by protruding
the second storey over the first in order to create a series of sharp
angles. A chiaroscuro effect is also accomplished through the shadows
created by the colonnaded arcades on the second and third floors.
Longhena died before the final completion of the project in 1710. His
successor, Antonio Gaspari, enhanced the rhythm of the palazzo by adding
an arrangement of pendentives and entablatures to the third storey.
The Santa Maria
della Salute, the baroque masterpiece also designed Baldassare Longhena.
Photo by Necrothesp 13 May 2004
GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
The palazzo is entered by a huge reception
hall which continues along the entire length of the house to a rear
courtyard enclosed by a series of terraces and arcades.
The interior is finely decorated with frescos by Bambini, Pittoni,
Brusafero and others. Tiepolo's famous Zephyrus and Flora Allegory,
which formerly graced the ceiling of the banqueting hall, was
transferred to the Ca’ Rezzonico in 1935.
The Pesaro family suffered a serious reverse in their fortunes after
Napoleon’s conquest of Venice in 1797. The family died out for want of
an heir in 1830; the palazzo then passed to the Gradenigo family, who in
turn sold it to the Armenian Mechitarist Fathers who converted it into a
college.
The Ca’ Pesaro was purchased by the Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua in 1885
and became her official residence until her death in 1898. The Duchess
bequeathed the Ca' Pesaro to the city of Venice on the condition that it
be used for the purpose of exhibiting the work of young artists.
The International Gallery of Modern Art, previously located in the Ca’
Fosari, was subsequently transferred to the Ca’ Pesaro.
The first floor of the Ca’ Pesaro now displays numerous paintings and
sculptures by Modigliani, Klimt, Chagall, Henry Moore and others.
The second floor contains two sections dedicated to oriental art: one
displays works from China and Indonesia, and the other exhibits Japanese
art.
The Ca’ Pesaro was recently closed for almost ten years for extensive
refurbishment and only reopened in November 2004.
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