Ca' Rezzonico
The Ca' Rezzonico: Adriano, 23.3.2004, GNU Free Documentation Licence , Version 1.2 or later
The Ca' Rezzonico is
located in the Dorsoduro district at the junction of the Rio di San
Barnaba and the Grand Canal.
The site of the Ca' Rezzonico was formerly occupied by two palaces owned
by the aristocratic Bon family.
In 1650, Filippo Bon commissioned Baldassare Longhena to demolish the
existing palaces and build one large palace in their place.
At the time Baldassare Longhena was the leading Venetian exponent of the
new baroque school of architecture. His design for the new palace
contrasted sharply with the traditional floral Gothic style of earlier
palaces such as the Ca' d'Oro and the Ca' Foscari.
Longhena, like other baroque architects, sought ways of contrasting
light with shade in order to create unexpected and eye-catching
contrasts.
The Ca' Rezzonico, built in marble, consists of four storeys. The first
is rusticated with three bays and a recessed portico.
The second consists of seven high-arched windows divided by pilasters.
Its balconies protrude over the first storey so as to accentuate the
chiaroscuro effect created by the deep bays and heavy columns.
The third storey is also slightly projected and repeats the design of
the second storey but on a different contrasting scale.
The fourth storey is a mezzanine floor with a series of small oval
windows.
The palace is designed around an interior courtyard with a colonnaded
balcony and ornamental fountain.
Baldassare Longhena, who died in 1682, did not live to see the
completion of the palace. Indeed, work was delayed for several decades
following a reverse in the fortunes of the Bon family.
Eventually the site was purchased by the Rezzonico family. The palace
was finally completed in 1756 by Giorgio Massari who followed Longhena's
original plans.
Massari did, however, design much of the palace's interior.
The huge ballroom, located at the rear of the second storey, is the
focal point of the adjoining suite of state rooms.
The ballroom possesses a double-height ceiling. Its walls are decorated
with trompe d'oeil frescoes by Pietro Visconti which create the illusion
that the flat surfaces are really three-dimensional windows, doors and
balconies and thus make the room seem even larger than it is.
The ceiling, by Giovan Battista Crosato, depicts Apollo driving his
chariot and horses across the globe.
The ballroom is accessed by a grand marble staircase decorated with
sculptures by Giusto Le Court.
The other notable staterooms include the Nuptial Allegory Room which was
decorated by Tiepolo in celebration of the marriage in 1758 of Ludovico
Rezzonico to the heiress, Faustina Savorgnan.
Tiepolo depicts the happy couple riding through the sky in Apollo's
chariot.
Ceiling fresco by Tiepolo in the Nuptial Allegory Room, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice
The three state rooms on
the second storey, overlooking the Rio di San Barnaba, are also notable
for their ceiling frescos by Guarana, Diziani and Tiepolo.
The Rezonnico family died out for want of an heir in 1810 whereupon the
palace became a Jesuit college.
It then fell into the hands of the Pindemonte-Giovanelli family who
stripped it bare, leaving only the frescos.
After its subsequent acquisition by Count Ladislao Zelinsky, the palace
was divided into a series of apartments and let to wealthy foreigners.
It was then purchased by the family of the famous English poet, Robert
Browning, who died there in 1889.
In 1906 Kaiser Wilhelm II attempted to buy the palace from the Browning
family who sold it instead to Count Lionello von Hierschel de Minerbi.
The Count lived lavishly in the palace until 1935 when faced with
bankruptcy he agreed to transfer it to the Venice City Council. The Ca'
Rezzonico was subsequently converted into a museum specialising in 18th
century art.
In addition to a collection of some three hundred paintings by such
masters as Canaletto, Pietro Longhi and Francesco Guardi, the Ca'
Rezzonico displays antiques and furniture salvaged from its decaying
neighbours.
Indeed, entire rooms from neighbouring palazzi have been reassembled in
the Ca' Rezzonico.
There is for example the "Allegory of Merit", a ceiling fresco by
Tiepolo, which once graced the Palazzo Barbarigo, but which now adorns
the throne room of the Ca' Rezzonico.
The Ca' Rezzonico also displays an entire oriental salon removed from
the crumbling Palazzo Calbo-Crotta.
The Ca' Rezzonico is a particularly suitable environment in which to
display furniture and paintings intended for a grand palazzo.
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