6/17 Venice II

On our last full study day in Venice we visited the Palazzo Grassi, designed by Giorgio Massari in the 18^th century in classical Venetian style. Today it is owned by Francois Pinault and is home to a modern art gallery and an exhibit entitled “The World Belongs to You”. It contrasts with the Byzantine and Romanesque structures around it, as its white marble façade faces directly to the water with no loggia on the first floor, a signal that this edifice was for family living only, not businesses. I think partially one of the reasons we study this particular building is because the inside has been renovated by world renowned architect Tadao Ando. His focus in many of his buildings is the purity and spiritual qualities of both light and overall design. Diffused light pours into the interior courtyard along the trapezoidal floor plan that renders the interior space with a pleasant, soft glow.

Santa Maria della Salute is an octagonal-shaped church of the Roman Catholic order and can definitely be put into the category of a Baroque structure. Designed in 1687 by Baldassare Longhena, one of the most striking features on the exterior is large Ionic-like volutes that radiate around the building. Taking an element that previously had been used in one place for centuries and re-using it for some other purpose is one of the trademarks of any good Baroque design.

These types of structures tend to bend the rules like this in order to evolve the discipline further. In this case, they are merely the pedestals upon which statues of notable Venetian figures sit. I am also surprised to learn that this church, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin on November 21, has a double shell dome which is taller than St. Peter’s. From my studies of Renaissance architecture, I thought it was some sort of unspoken general rule that no structures were to be taller than the Vatican dome. What this tells me is that the Christian sect which built this church probably heavily disagreed with the teachings of the head of the Catholic Church for some reason, and decided to go against the grain and construct a taller dome. Many of the movements in Christianity throughout the years have produced splits within the general framework of the religion, of which these have produced some of the movements we see within religious architecture in parallel with each other.

The final two churches we visited on this day were both of Palladio’s designs: San Giorgio Maggiore and Il Redentore. The former is of the Benedictine tradition, and it features a cross-vaulted ceiling, classical moldings, clerestory lunette windows, a Latin cross plan, and abstracted composite capitals. What struck me most about this church was the elegance and simplicity in how Palladio renders the façade: how the rhythm of the Corinthian pilasters creates an undulating façade; how the pilasters themselves are presented on pillars, raising their stature even more so than would a normal Corinthian column possess; how even though the large pediment is divided up into a tri-partite design, it still feels whole somehow.

Compare this façade to Il Redentore’s, and you will find some striking similarities. It is rendered in the same white stone as the previous church and features some of the same signature moves that made Palladio such a prestigious and prolific architect. Nevertheless, while some may consider Il Redentore to be the pinnacle of his career, I find the façade to be lacking in overall composition when compared to San Giorgio. The two broken pediments and one whole pediment which line the upper story don’t seem to work in harmony as well as San Giorgio’s broken pediment, which spans the whole structure. In addition, the two outside pilasters being of a square profile and the two inner ones being of a rounded profile also throw me off, as I would much rather have preferred all 4 to be of the same profile. Yes, it does feature rigorous geometrical proportions and the ascent to the church is rather ceremonial and gradual, but I was left with the impression that the façade was rather flat as compared again to its cousin in San Giorgio. Yet, I would still classify these two churches to be both at the height of Late/High Renaissance design, despite my minor preferences and differences in taste.