Palazzo Grimani di San Luca

The Palazzo Grimani ( di San Luca ) is a Renaissance palace in Venice. It is located on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge.

Architectural History

Built in 1556 the building of the Procurator of San Marco Girolamo Grimani, is a late work by the architect Michele Sanmicheli. Andrea Palladio had also - unsuccessfully - submitted a draft, which was later published in his Quattro libri dell'architettura ( 1570). The originally planned second floor was added after the death of Sammicheli in 1559 under the direction of Giangiacomo de ' Grigi. The art historiography tends to criticize the increase due to its effect on the proportions of the facade. The buildings in the immediate neighborhood of the Palazzo Grimani be crushed by the height of the building almost.

Architecture

The ground floor of the surrounding buildings built of white marble façade of the Palazzo Grimani in the contrast is dominated by a triumphal arch pattern in the middle. While the middle sheet takes up the entire height of the ground level, the lateral parts are considerably lower; the overlying window indicate the presence of the mezzanine floor. In the middle part of the upper floor ( piano nobile ) the triumphal arch motif is modified to a reaching to the floor Venetian window, with the lower lateral rectangular windows are surmounted by skylights. The larger outer window arches allow the approach to a ranking of the subject an idea of ​​how it is already evident at the Palazzo Bevilacqua in Verona, who also hails from Sammicheli. While the ground floor is divided vertically by pilasters, are found upstairs - apart from the corners of the building - columns. For the first time to see a Venetian palace facade a seemingly continuous balcony.

Later used

In the 19th century, the Palazzo Grimani seat of the post, then it was in the Court of Appeal for Veneto. The once existing decor inside has not been preserved.

The 1981 State-owned Palazzo Grimani was transferred to the responsibility of the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage, 2001. Since 2008, the building stands after a renovation of cultural events.

Exhibitions

• 2012: Echi neorealisti nella fotografia italiana del Doppoguerra ( Italian Neorealist photograph of the post-war period ).

Others

Different branches of the Grimani family had in Venice eight other palaces from different eras, of which six still exist.