Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Baroque & Neoclassical
In other parts of Europe, baroque architecture seemed lightweight: an assemblage of frills
and thrills, with no underlying Renaissance reason or gravitas. But baroque's buoyant spir-
its made perfect sense along the Grand Canal, where white-stone party palaces with tiers of
ornament looked like floating wedding cakes. Baldassare Longhena (1598-1682) stepped
into the role of the city's official architect at a moment when the city was breathing a sigh
of relief at surviving the Black Death, and he provided the architectural antidote to Venice's
dark days with the buoyant white bubble-dome of Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.
Architectural historians chalk up Longhena's unusual octagon-base dome to the influen-
ce of Roman shrines and cabbala diagrams, and the church's geometric stone floors are said
to have mystical healing powers. Santa Maria della Salute's exterior decoration evokes pa-
gan triumphal arches, with statues posing triumphantly on the facade and reclining over the
main entrance. The building has inspired landscape artists from Turner to Monet, leading
baroque-baiting Ruskin to concede that 'an architect trained in the worst schools, and ut-
terly devoid of all meaning or purpose in his work may yet have such natural gift of mass-
ing and grouping as will render all his structures effective when seen from a distance'.
Ruskin deemed Longhena's fanciful facade of hulking sculptures at the Ospedaletto
'monstrous'; baroque fans will think otherwise. Another Longhena-designed marvel is Ca'
Rezzonico, featuring sunny salons with spectacular Tiepolo ceilings. For its soaring
grandeur and mystical geometry, the interior of the Ghetto's Schola Spagnola is also often
attributed to Longhena.
Neoclassicism
Venice didn't lose track of Renaissance harmonies completely under all that ornament, and
in the 18th century, muscular neoclassicism came into vogue. Inspired by Palladio, Giorgio
Massari (c 1686-1766) created the Chiesa dei Gesuati as high theatre, setting the stage for
Tiepolo's trompe l'œil ceilings. He built the gracious Palazzo Grassi with salons around a
balustraded central light well, and brought to completion Longhena's Ca' Rezzonico on the
Grand Canal.
Napoleon burst into Venice like a bully in 1797, ready to rearrange its face. The emper-
or's first order of architectural business was demolishing Sansovino's Chiesa di Geminiano
to construct a monument in his own glory: the Ala Napoleonica (now Museo Correr) by
Giovanni Antonio Selva (1753-1819). Napoleon had an entire district with four churches
bulldozed to make way for the Giardini Pubblici and Via Garibaldi in Castello. Though Na-
