Palazzo Contarini delle Figure

Palazzo Contarini delle Figure is a palace in Venice in the Veneto region of Italy . It is located in the Sestiere of San Marco , overlooking the Grand Canal, between the Palazzo Mocenigo Ca 'Vecchia and the Palazzo Erizzo Nani Mocenigo , opposite the Palazzo Civran Grimani .

designation

The palace owes its name "delle Figure" to the fact that under the main balcony there are two caryatids that represent monsters. Popular belief sees the two characters as a man who is desperate because he has lost everything in the game and his angry wife. However, this interpretation is not scientifically recognized.

Attribution

This building posed assignment problems. Most scholars attribute it to Antonio Abbondi . Others point out the similarities between the palace and Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi , attributing it to a group of artists who were inspired by the works of Mauro Codussi . They see the multicolored cartouches and the columns with capitals in a classic order as the greatest similarities. However, it should be emphasized that the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi is also a work of dubious attribution. Interventions by Andrea Palladio were also thought of , but these were limited to completing the facade already sketched. The element that most suggests an intervention by Palladio is the triangular tympanum above the central quadruple window.

history

The palace seen from the Grand Canal in a photo by Paolo Monti from 1969

Detail of the facade on a photo by Paolo Monti , 1977

The palace was built by order of Jacopo Contarini , a member of the well-known and influential Contarini family , Procurator of San Marco. In the place of the current building there was another palace built in the Gothic style ; it once belonged to the Contarinis, was sold and bought back again. The palace was sold around 1448, and the repurchase can soon be assigned to the first years of the 16th century. The construction of the current palace took place from 1504 to 1546; Andrea Palladio was a guest in the house before the owner and his family settled there in 1577. Jacopo Contarini chose the palace as the repository for his own art collection. In 1713 Bertucci Contarini , the last offspring of the dynasty, left the art collection to the collection of the Doge's Palace . In the 19th century the town house became the property of Marchese Alessandro Guiccioli , whose wife, Teresa , is said to have been Lord Byron's last Venetian love . The Palazzo Contarini delle Figure is still in private hands today, but has been divided into different apartments.

description

The house was built in a style that shows many references to Andrea Palladio's work. The facade, which shows numerous decorative details, is distinguished by an effective color scheme and has great formal competence, shows an advanced expression, appears as one of the most outstanding of the palaces facing the Grand Canal and does not ignore the traditional vertical and horizontal tripartite division. This effect was more appealing to contemporary critics, who appreciated the style , which was harmoniously balanced between Venetian classicism and Renaissance . The ground floor shows a wide portal to the water, flanked by eight individual windows that are distributed over two levels. The central element of the composition is the four-window in the middle, divided by fluted , Corinthian columns and underlined by the triangular tympanum, whose style anticipates the neo-classical architecture. The pre-classical architects actually took up this motif again in the 18th century. The capitals may once have been gilded. This was repeated on the floor above in a simpler way and without a tympanum; the quadruple window there is surrounded by a series of single windows with round arches .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 69.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Andrea Fasolo: Palazzi di Venezia . Arsenale edtirice, 2003. ISBN 978-88-7743-295-7 . P. 80.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 70.
^ Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 355.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 71.

Web links

Commons : Palazzo Contarini delle Figure - Collection of images, videos and audio files

45.43444444 12.32777778Coordinates: 45 ° 26 ′ 4 ″ N , 12 ° 19 ′ 40 ″ E

[Brusegan69-1] Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 69.

[Fasolo80-2] Andrea Fasolo: Palazzi di Venezia . Arsenale edtirice, 2003. ISBN 978-88-7743-295-7 . P. 80.

[Brusegan70-3] Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 70.

[Brusegan355-4] Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 355.

[Brusegan71-5] Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Crompton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 . P. 71.