MASSARI, Giorgio
(b. 1687, Venezia, d. 1766, Venezia)

Palazzo Grassi: Façade

1748-72
Photo
Canal Grande, Venice

The main façade of this palace in the Venetian Classical style faces onto the Canal Grande while one side onto Campo San Samuele. Its construction was started in 1748 by Giorgio Massari but it was completed only in 1772, after the death of the architect.

The external appearance of the palace is sober, clean and almost "flat", contrasting with Ca' Rezzonico on the opposite bank, also the work of Massari. It is almost unadorned on a luminous plane which anticipates the Neo-classical spirit. The façade adopts the traditional Venetian three-part arrangement with the central windows gathered around the centre. Over the ground floor there are a mezzanine, two upper floors and the loft. The two upper floors differ in terms of the shape of the windows: round arches on the first floor and rectangular with curved or triangular tympanum on the second floor, highlighted by smooth pilasters with Ionic and Corinthian capitals.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.