Description
Ca' Rezzonico is one of the most famous palaces in Venice: on the Grand Canal, in the Dorsoduro district, it has housed the Museum of the Venetian Eighteenth Century since 1936. The paintings and furniture are arranged as in a home, and the two-story ballroom is worth the visit on its own.
The story begins with a palace left half-built. Baldassare Longhena designed it for the Bon family, who however ran out of money. When the architect died in 1682, there was only the façade on the Grand Canal and a first floor covered with beams.
In 1751 the Rezzonico, who had come from Lake Como, bought it. Giorgio Massari finished it in a few years, creating the grand staircase, the water stairway, the atrium and the ballroom, built by removing a floor.
A few years later a Rezzonico, Carlo, ascended the throne of Peter as Clement XIII. The family died out in 1810, and the palace was stripped of its furnishings.
Inside, look for the frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo and the other decorators of the eighteenth century, such as Crosato, Visconti, Guarana and Diziani. The paintings by Canaletto, Guardi, Pietro Longhi and Tintoretto are arranged in the rooms like furnishings.
There are also the terracotta sketches by Giovanni Maria Morlaiter, the Pinacoteca Egidio Martini and the Mestrovich Collection. On the third floor is the old pharmacy Ai Do San Marchi.
The palace has had notable guests. In 1888 Robert Barrett Browning, son of the English poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, bought it and restored it with his American wife's money. His father, Robert, died there the following year, in the mezzanine, on December 12, 1889.
In 1906 Robert Barrett Browning himself sold it, ignoring an offer from the German emperor Wilhelm II, and in 1926 the composer Cole Porter lived there for a year. Since 1935 it has belonged to the City of Venice. The façade, heavily criticized by John Ruskin, impresses with its size and monumentality.
The story begins with a palace left half-built. Baldassare Longhena designed it for the Bon family, who however ran out of money. When the architect died in 1682, there was only the façade on the Grand Canal and a first floor covered with beams.
In 1751 the Rezzonico, who had come from Lake Como, bought it. Giorgio Massari finished it in a few years, creating the grand staircase, the water stairway, the atrium and the ballroom, built by removing a floor.
A few years later a Rezzonico, Carlo, ascended the throne of Peter as Clement XIII. The family died out in 1810, and the palace was stripped of its furnishings.
Inside, look for the frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo and the other decorators of the eighteenth century, such as Crosato, Visconti, Guarana and Diziani. The paintings by Canaletto, Guardi, Pietro Longhi and Tintoretto are arranged in the rooms like furnishings.
There are also the terracotta sketches by Giovanni Maria Morlaiter, the Pinacoteca Egidio Martini and the Mestrovich Collection. On the third floor is the old pharmacy Ai Do San Marchi.
The palace has had notable guests. In 1888 Robert Barrett Browning, son of the English poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, bought it and restored it with his American wife's money. His father, Robert, died there the following year, in the mezzanine, on December 12, 1889.
In 1906 Robert Barrett Browning himself sold it, ignoring an offer from the German emperor Wilhelm II, and in 1926 the composer Cole Porter lived there for a year. Since 1935 it has belonged to the City of Venice. The façade, heavily criticized by John Ruskin, impresses with its size and monumentality.