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65-535: The first of the two palaces is in the Venetian Gothic style and was built in 1425 by Giovanni Bon , one of Venice's master stonemasons. It belonged to Piero Spiera in the early 15th century, passing through several hands before being acquired by Zaccaria Barbaro , Procurator of St Mark's in 1465. The second structure was executed in the Baroque style and was designed in 1694 by Antonio Gaspari , one of

130-511: A full aesthetic and structural exterior restoration. 45°25′54″N 12°19′48″E  /  45.4317°N 12.33°E  / 45.4317; 12.33 Venetian Gothic architecture Venetian Gothic is the particular form of Italian Gothic architecture typical of Venice , originating in local building requirements, with some influence from Byzantine architecture , and some from Islamic architecture , reflecting Venice's trading network. Very unusually for medieval architecture,

195-651: A group portrait of the Curtis family in the salon, titled An Interior in Venice . Isabella Stewart Gardner had her portrait painted at the Barbaro by Anders Zorn in 1894. Palazzo Barbaro was used as a location in the 1981 television series Brideshead Revisited as the home of Lord Marchmain and his mistress, and also used as a location in the 1997 film adaptation of The Wings of the Dove . The Palazzo has recently undergone

260-409: A large dome were not solved until the 15th century with a new plan by Brunelleschi . The rather plain original façade was demolished to construct the dome; the present façade was not built until the 19th century. The east end of the cathedral largely retains its original Gothic architecture. The Construction of Orvieto Cathedral occupied three centuries, from 1290 to 1591, nearly the entire span of

325-400: A red stone from Verona . Marmorino stucco , made from grinding limestone, brick and terracotta fragments, was the typical finish for interior walls, and sometimes exteriors. Flat ceilings supported with timber beams were preferred to vaults, which might crack as the building settled on the pile foundations. The main city was already very largely built up, with buildings tightly packed in

390-657: A similar municipal palace, the Palazzo Vecchio (1299–1310), though it retained many of the features of a fortress. A major example of a private Florentine palace is the Loggia della Signoria (1370s), next to the Palazzo Vecchio, whose round arches and roofline suggest the coming Renaissance. In the Kingdom of Sicily at the beginning of the 13th century, an important civil and military construction programme

455-598: Is reflected in some features of the Venetian style, in particular the use of colour and pattern on outside walls, and sometimes stone grills on windows, and perhaps purely decorative crenellations on rooflines. During the period the Venetian economy was heavily bound up with trade with both the Islamic world and the Byzantine Empire , and the architectural styles of these two are somewhat entangled, especially in

520-406: Is the decorated screen facade on the west end, with sculptural decoration designed and partly carved by Giovanni Pisano in 1284–1320. A number of major Italian Gothic buildings were begun in the late 13th century and completed in the 14th. Florence Cathedral , designed by Arnolfo di Cambio , was begun in 1296. It is not exceptionally high, but the interior has a sense of spaciousness created by

585-412: Is the other large Gothic church in the city that retains its original character. This was first begun in the 1240s, but that church was too small, and the current building was probably begun in 1333, although not consecrated until 1430. Many other churches retain significant Gothic work, especially Santo Stefano , a large parish church with a "ship's keel" wooden roof. The Madonna dell'Orto , built by

650-597: The Rule of Saint Benedict . They built austere churches, first in the Romanesque style and then with Gothic features but with a complete absence of decoration. The Cistercians banned any form of art, sculpture, or stained glass. Bell towers were absent or very simple. Nothing was permitted unless it had an essential practical purpose. Churches were usually far from the centre of cities. The first Gothic structures in Italy were

715-533: The Basilica di Sant'Andrea in Vercelli , which showed Antelami's influence. Siena Cathedral (1215–1263), which was begun in the mid-13th century, is another major landmark church of early Italian Gothic. Its interior is a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque elements, such as the domed crossing tower, and horizontal banding of the interior columns with polychrome marble. The most striking and original Gothic feature

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780-620: The Basilica of San Francesco of Assisi (1228–1253) were decorated with colourful murals by Cimabue depicting the lives of the Saints. The Basilica was in the form of a simple Latin cross, and had none of the aspirations to great height of the French Gothic style. It was built of brick, covered with plaster on the inside. The stained glass windows were reduced in size, simple and colourless. The Franciscans constructed another important church, San Francesco, Bologna , in 1236 to 1230 that

845-520: The Doge's Palace . The most iconic Venetian Gothic structure, the Doge's Palace, is a luxuriously decorated building that includes traits of Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance architectural styles. In the 14th century, following two fires that destroyed the previous structure, the palace was rebuilt in its present, recognizably Gothic form. The two largest Gothic churches to remain largely unaltered are those of

910-606: The Humiliati order, is mostly 14th-century, but the facade, still Gothic, dates to the 1460s. Other Gothic churches have been given makeovers in Renaissance or Baroque styles. In San Marco , the main church of the republic, there is much Gothic sculpture on the facade, and other details, but the main elements of the structure remain Italo-Byzantine Romanesque. The influence of Islamic architecture

975-722: The Italian Peninsula , Northern Italy became the birthplace of Renaissance architecture . The Gothic style was first introduced into Italy in the 12th century by monks of the Cistercian and Franciscan Orders. The Cistercian Order was founded in France in 1098 as a breakaway from the Benedictine Order , which the Cistercians considered too lax. The Cistercians were determined on a stricter following of

1040-538: The androne . The Gothic Period arrived in Venice during a time of great affluence, when the upper class was funding the building of new churches as well as new, opulent homes for themselves. At the same time, the religious orders were beginning to bring the Gothic style to Venice's churches from mainland Italy. The most striking examples of this new architectural fashion can be seen in Santi Giovanni e Paolo and

1105-455: The ogee arch, capped with a relief ornament, and ropework reliefs, these are the most iconic characteristics of the style. Ecclesiastical Gothic architecture tended to be less distinctively Venetian, and closer to that in the rest of Italy. The beginning of the style probably goes back no further than the 13th century, although the dates of early Gothic palaces, and especially features such as windows in them, are largely uncertain. It dominated

1170-473: The ogee arch was at the start of the stylistic development of the Venetian Gothic arch, rather than in the middle or at the end, as elsewhere. Round arches began to sprout points on their outer rim, while initially remaining circular on the inside. But neat progressions of style are not always reflected in actual buildings, and a variety of styles can sometimes be seen in a particular period, and in

1235-437: The "Barbaro Circle" included Bernard Berenson , William Merritt Chase , Isabella Stewart Gardner , Edith Wharton , and Charles Eliot Norton . Henry James finished The Aspern Papers at a desk that is still housed in the palace today. James considered the Barbaro ballroom the finest example of a Venetian Baroque interior, and included a description in his novel The Wings of the Dove . In 1898, John Singer Sargent painted

1300-405: The 14th century and because of the city's conservatism Venetian Gothic buildings, especially smaller palaces, continued to be built well into the second half of the 15th century, and Venetian Renaissance architecture very often retained reminiscences of its Gothic predecessor. In the 19th century, inspired in particular by the writings of John Ruskin , there was a revival of the style, part of

1365-709: The 19th century, the Palazzo was bought by a series of speculators who auctioned off furniture and paintings. In 1881 the older palazzo was rented by a relative of the American painter John Singer Sargent , Daniel Sargent Curtis , who purchased it in 1885. Daniel and Ariana Curtis repaired and restored the Palazzo Barbaro, and it became a center of American artistic life in Venice with visits from Sargent, their son Ralph Wormeley Curtis , Henry James , Whistler , Robert Browning and Claude Monet . Other members of

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1430-522: The Byzantine styles of Constantinople , which Bellini visited in 1479, only some twenty-five years after it became the Ottoman capital. There were also Venetian connections with Islamic styles though Sicily and southern Italy, and possibly al-Andalus (Islamic Spain). Venetians probably saw the eastern elements in their architecture in a complex way, reflecting and celebrating both their history and

1495-524: The Cistercian churches of Fossanova Abbey and Casamari Abbey , whuch were built on the model of the Cistercian churches in the Duchy of Burgundy , particularly the original Cistercian church, Citeaux Abbey . Casamari was originally built as a Benedictine church but was rebuilt entirely to meet the standards of simplicity and austerity of the Cistercians. The Cistercians built several churches throughout

1560-500: The Frari . However, these churches were still very similar to those found in the rest of Italy, the main difference being the building materials. It was not until the increase in palace construction, that Venetian Gothic became a distinct style in itself. Influenced by the Doge's Palace , the creators of this new style meshed Gothic, Byzantine, and Oriental themes to produce a totally unique approach to architecture. As described by Ruskin,

1625-471: The Gothic period. It was begun by Pope Urban IV as a pilgrimage church to display the relic of a proclaimed miracle, the Corporal of Bolsena . The architecture of the facade is in the basic Romanesque style. In 1309, Lorenzo Maitani , an architect and sculptor from Siena, became the master-builder. He redesigned the plans to give it greater structural integrity and more unified form. The original plan of

1690-759: The Great and of the Byzantine Empire . The first Gothic church in Rome, Santa Maria sopra Minerva , a Dominican church, was a copy of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, and was not begun until 1280. The Franciscans were founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1208. Their doctrine called for reaching out to the general population with their message, which meant constructing churches with large naves without any visual obstacles for preaching sermons to large congregations. Unlike Cistercian churches, they welcomed art in their architecture. The upper parts of their first major church,

1755-709: The Italian Peninsula, mostly in the countryside. They went as far as Sicily , where they constructed the unfinished basilica of Murgo near Lentini in the Province of Syracuse , begun in 1225. The spread of the French style of Gothic introduced by the Cistercians was resisted by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Rome , which preferred a return to the earlier style of architecture under Constantine

1820-641: The Palazzo remained the Barbaro family ’s property, they did not always live there. In 1499 it served as the French Embassy to the Republic of Venice. In 1524, Isabella d’Este, widow of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua and the sister of Alfonso I d'Este was living at the Palazzo Barbaro. In 1797 the Palazzi belonged to Senator Zuanne Barbaro. After the Barbaro family died out in the middle of

1885-722: The Sabine Women and works by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta . In the 18th century an elegant library was created on the 3rd floor of the palace with a ceiling that incorporated a rich stucco design. In the center of the library's ceiling was placed one of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 's masterpieces The Glorification of the Barbaro Family , a painting that now resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Tiepolo's frescoes have all been removed. While

1950-458: The aisles. At the same time, it followed the Italian preference for great interior space. The planning and early work involved an extraordinary number of prominent master masons from across Europe, including Jean Mignot and Nicolas de Bonaventure from Paris, Hans Parler from Germany, and a renowned Italian mathematician, Gabriele Stornaloco. Construction continued, with many interruptions, over

2015-478: The basic shape suited 19th-century requirements very well, and the Venetian-ness of the style appeared mainly in the elaborate windows, cornice and other decoration to the facade. In North America the style was popularized by architects Charles Amos Cummings , Frank Furness , Norman Shaw , William Robert Ware , Willard T. Sears , and Frederick William Stevens . In Australia, the architect William Pitt

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2080-521: The best-known example is Ca' d'Oro , or "House of Gold", built between 1421 and 1444 for Marco Contarini. It featured a portico and double gallery that were originally gilded, giving the palace its name. Beginning in the second half of the 13th century, Italy produced more examples of secular Gothic architecture than other parts of Europe. The buildings were frequently constructed by the Capitano del Populo of each city, an organization that represented

2145-528: The broader Gothic Revival movement in Victorian architecture . Even in the Middle Ages, Venetian palaces were built on very constricted sites, and were tall rectangular boxes with decoration concentrated on the front facade. The style was therefore developed for a similar architectural context to that found in late 19th-century city centre streets. Venice is built on alluvial mud, and all buildings in

2210-495: The building. Venice had always held the concern that every inch of land is valuable, because of the canals running through the city. One major aspect of the Venetian Gothic style change that came about during the 14th and 15th centuries was the proportion of the central hall in secular buildings. This hall, known as the portego, evolved into a long passageway that was often opened by a loggia with Gothic arches. Architects favored using intricate traceries, similar to those found on

2275-690: The cause of their trade-derived wealth. Venetian traders, and those of rival cities, reached into Persia and Central Asia in the Pax Mongolica after the Mongol conquests , from roughly 1240 to 1360. There were small Venetian colonies of merchants in Alexandria , as well as Constantinople. Venice's relations with the Byzantine Empire were still more intimate and complicated, involving many wars, treaties, and massacres. The style

2340-528: The centre; this is shown clearly by Jacopo de' Barbari 's huge woodcut View of Venice with an elevated view of the city in 1500. Because buildings were tightly packed, Venice was even more prone than other Italian city centres to fires, creating the need for many of the new buildings. Unlike the palaces or houses of wealthy families in other Italian cities, defence was not a major concern for Venetian palaces, which in any cases often had "moats" on some sides. The crowded city centre encouraged building high by

2405-412: The centuries; it was not finally completed until 1965; the style was kept generally consistent, especially for the exterior, but for example the doors and windows on the front facade have classicizing Renaissance-Baroque door-frames. Its remarkable features include its gigantic columns, whose ornate capitals midway up the columns contain statues; the pale pink marble that faces the interior and exterior; and

2470-632: The city were (and mostly still are) supported by large numbers of timber piles driven into the mud . Above that the normal building material is brick, although the grander facades were usually faced with Istrian stone , a fine limestone that is not strictly a marble , although it is often so called. This came by sea from quarries in Istria in the Terraferma , now in Croatia . Other stones with different colours were often used for contrast, especially

2535-424: The construction of a new south facade. It was richly decorated with an assortment of Gothic pinnacles and tabernacles. The most original examples of Venetian Gothic were not the churches, but the palatial residences built for the Venetian aristocrats and merchants, The Venetian Republic achieved a peak of prosperity in the 15th century, especially after the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, which made Venice

2600-593: The construction of a series of new churches in the Venetian Gothic style, including the church of the Franciscans, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari , begun in 1340. Built of brick, it featured three naves and an apse with six radiating chapels, and rib vaulting that sprang from massive cylindrical columns. The Dominicans also built a new church, Santi Giovanni e Paolo (15th century), with three naves separated by columns, and Gothic capitals, arches and decoration. A fire in 1419 badly damaged St Mark's Basilica , requiring

2665-412: The decoration. The City of Florence took it very seriously as a civic monument, financing it with a tax upon all the male inhabitants of the city, and even lowering the level of the streets around it so it would be more visible. A modified new plan adopted in 1366 called for a massive dome, as wide as the combined nave and aisles, on an octagonal base with three apses. The technical problems of building such

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2730-454: The early Islamic period. As an example, decorating walls with large veneers of fancy coloured marble or other stones, which was certainly a Venetian taste, was also found in Byzantine and Islamic architecture, but both had derived it from imperial Roman architecture . There are still examples in Ravenna (ruled by Venice from 1440 to 1509), Milan as well as Rome, and very likely much of

2795-583: The exterior, with ground-floor loggias, large upper windows, balconies, and outside staircases, and frequently had large halls that were decorated with fresco painting. Another notable example of Gothic city planning is the fan-shaped Campo, or town square, in Siena , which is dominated by the Palazzo Publico (1298–1348) and the Torre della Mangia, the tallest municipal tower in Italy. Florence constructed

2860-458: The facade was modelled after Siena Cathedral. Under Maitani It gradually became a showcase of Gothic art; the interior and upper portions of the facade were decorated with mosaics, sculpted figures and reliefs in marble and bronze. The upper portions of the mosaics on the facade are gilded. In the interior, the most striking features are the banded polychrome columns, and the walls covered with murals. A number of churches in this period followed

2925-447: The few that adapted many of the structural features of French Gothic, including the flying buttress and the arched rib vault . It also has a highly ornamented exterior, with many pinnacles and crockets, as well as great numbers of statues and reliefs. Work began in 1387, based generally on the plans of two French Cathedrals, Bourges Cathedral and Le Mans Cathedral , with the plan of a high central nave descending in steps downward over

2990-542: The finest architects of the 17th century. This building was originally two stories and belonged to the Tagliapietra family. In the 16th century, they gave the Barbaro family permission to build on top. Antonio Gaspari made enlargements to the building from 1694 to 1698. Gaspari's building housed the Barbaro family's ballroom which included a magnificent interior of Baroque stucco -work, paintings of ancient Roman subject matter, such as Sebastiano Ricci 's Rape of

3055-576: The forest of stone pinnacles that decorates the upper portions. While the interior is thoroughly Italianate in style, the exterior is covered with decorative tracery, similar to the Rayonnant style in Northern Europe. The mostly-15th-century Certosa of Pavia , built by the rulers of Milan just south of the city, shows a similar extravagantly ornamented style, but now edging into Renaissance classical revival. The 14th and 15th centuries saw

3120-635: The guilds and the wealthy merchants of the city. Major examples included the Capitano del Popolo in Orvieto , the Palazzo Communale at Piacenza , and the massive Palazzo del Capitano, or Bargello , in Florence . Other Major examples are found in Siena, Florence and Venice. They illustrated the importance of Italian cities as banking centres, and increasing civic pride. These buildings were open to

3185-500: The interiors from having Baroque makeovers, as has happened elsewhere. The Frari is the Franciscan church. Like most medieval Franciscan churches, this is a large plain building, built economically to hold large crowds to hear star preachers. First constructed in the 13th century, it was rebuilt in its current Gothic style over a long period in the 14th and 15th centuries. The rival Dominican church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo

3250-413: The main mendicant orders ; both are designed to provide large open spaces for star preachers to reach big congregations. These orders were controlled from the Italian mainland, and their original architecture mostly reflected broader Italian styles developed by each order elsewhere, and so represented a novelty in Venice. Both became home to numerous important wall tombs inside, which has probably prevented

3315-637: The merger of the nave and the aisles. The work proceeded very slowly. The campanile, designed by Giotto , was begun in 1334. Work continued after Giotto's death in 1337, first under Andrea Pisani and then, in the 1350s, by Francesco Talenti . The campanile is square and decorated in marble with rectilinear panelling, and follows the Italian Romanesque tradition. It was largely modelled after the older baptistery (1060–1150). The Cathedral plans were modified between 1357 and 1360 by several committees of painters, sculptors and artists, giving priority to

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3380-473: The rear an open staircase led to a small courtyard with a well-head and often a rear door to the street. In fact there are no true wells in Venice, and the well-head led down to a cistern sealed from the salty groundwater, which collected rainwater from the roof and courtyard through stone gutters leading to a sand filter system and the cistern. By the 13th century porticos at the front were often abandoned, and replaced by one or more large doorways leading to

3445-440: The residential upper floors, where ceilings are rather low by the standards of palaces. The portico on a canal allowed goods to be loaded and unloaded, and led to a large space called the androne , where they were stored and business transacted. Upstairs, the portego or salone was another large room, centrally placed and usually T-shaped, received light from the windows and was the main space for dining and entertaining. To

3510-470: The same building. The ogee arch is "relatively uncommon in ecclesiastical buildings", where a more conventional Italian Gothic was adopted (and there are fewer survivals). Conversely, conventional Gothic arches are seen in palaces "only in the most solid elements". Because the unstable ground discouraged vaulting , the "structural raison d'etre of Gothic architecture – to allow the erection of higher and higher vaults, with more flexibility in ground-plan –

3575-410: The standards of the period, and the main access for light was often from the front facade, which therefore typically has more and larger windows than palaces elsewhere. Most palaces doubled as places of business, on the ground floor, and homes above. The ground floors, which even when built were probably rather prone to periodic flooding, have relatively few rooms, and a rather grand stairway leading to

3640-515: The stripping of these from other surviving Roman buildings had not yet taken place. Venetians may also have regarded some aspects of Byzantine and Islamic architecture as reflecting the world of Early Christianity – all over Italy "eastern" costume very often served for biblical figures in art, and the paintings of some Venetians, for example St Mark Preaching at Alexandria by Gentile Bellini ( c.  1505 ) also use clearly Islamic architecture (including stone grills), although also reflecting

3705-464: The style is at its most characteristic in secular buildings, with the great majority of surviving examples of the style being secular. The best-known examples are the Doge's Palace and the Ca' d'Oro . Both feature loggias of closely spaced small columns, with heavy tracery with quatrefoil openings above, decoration along the roofline, and some coloured patterning to plain wall surfaces. Together with

3770-543: The style of San Francesco in Bologna and were built of red brick, plastered on the inside, instead of stone. The architects of many Italian Gothic churches ignored the French Gothic use of flying buttresses and used wooden tie beams across the nave to support the upper walls. Milan Cathedral , also called the Duomo, was begun in the late fourteenth century. It was one of the most ambitious Italian Gothic cathedrals, and one of

3835-593: The trading hub for the Eastern Mediterranean. The Doge's Palace , begun in the mid-14th century but greatly expanded in the 1420s, contained the Doge's apartments, council chambers, law courts, a prison, and the meeting hall for the lower house of the Venetian parliament. The ground and first floor had a double colonnade, while the upper floors were decorated with white and pink marble in delicate geometric designs. Major examples of aristocratic residences include Palazzo Pisani and Palazzo Foscari , but

3900-507: The traditional construction methods established in the previous centuries, and architectural solutions and technical innovations of French Gothic architecture were seldom used. A soaring height was less important than in Northern Europe . Brick, rather than stone, was in many areas the most common building material, and marble was widely used for decoration. In the 15th century, when the Gothic style dominated both Northern Europe and

3965-401: Was revived in the 19th century, largely through the influence of British architectural critic John Ruskin and his treatise The Stones of Venice . Because of the shortage of space in Venice, most palazzi were high (by medieval standards) rectangular boxes, with an ornamented facade, but very often plain on the other external elevations. Nor did they have space-wasting courtyards. Hence

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4030-541: Was an exponent of the style and Joseph Reed was known to experiment in it also. Italian Gothic architecture Italian Gothic architecture (also called temperate Gothic architecture , has characteristics that distinguish it considerably from those of the place of origin of Gothic architecture , France , and from other European countries in which this language has spread (the United Kingdom , Germany and Spain ). Italian architects preferred to keep

4095-468: Was closer to the French Gothic model. It was built of red brick, beginning a tradition in Bologna architecture that lasted for two centuries. The facade was similar to those of Romanesque churches, but inside it had a more Gothic form, with aisles, an ambulatory with radiating chapels, and flying buttresses. Other important early buildings included the Parma Baptistery by Benedetto Antelami and

4160-630: Was completely irrelevant in Venice". In Northern Europe, traceries only supported stained glass. In contrast, traceries in Venetian Gothic supported the weight of the entire building. Therefore, the relative weight sustained by the traceries alludes to the relative weightlessness of the buildings as a whole. This (and the associated reduced use of weight-bearing walls) gives the Venetian Gothic architectural style lightness and grace in structure. The Venetian Gothic, while far more intricate in style and design than previous construction types in Venice, never allowed more weight or size than necessary to support

4225-650: Was promoted by the Sicilian king, Frederick II , who was Holy Roman Emperor and through his mother Constance, Queen of Sicily grandson of the great Norman king Roger II of Sicily . The Emperor called upon the architects and craftsmen who had built the Cistercian monasteries to build castles and fortifications. The most important works include the Castel del Monte in Apulia and the Castello Maniace protecting

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