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Doge's Palace: Exterior, Porta della Carta on the Piazetta facade

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posted on 2017-07-03, 00:00 authored by G. Massiot & cie
Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon created the Porta della Carta (1438-1442), a monumental Late Gothic gate on the Piazzetta side of the palace. This gate leads to a central courtyard. Above the cornice, Francesco Foscari (Doge when the gateway was built) is shown kneeling before the Lion of St. Mark.\u000a\u000a'The Doge's Palace, Venice, has fa\u00E7ades which date from 1309-1424, designed by Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon. [Bono] The palace, started in the ninth century, several times rebuilt, and completed in the Renaissance period, forms part of that great scheme of town-planning which was carried out through successive centuries. The fa\u00E7ades, with a total length of nearly 152 m (500 ft), have open arcades in the two lower storeys, and the third storey was rebuilt after a fire in the sixteenth century, so as to extend over the arcades. This upper storey is faced with white and rose-coloured marble, resembling ornate windows and finished with a lace-like parapet of oriental cresting. The arcade columns, which originally stood on a stylobate of three steps, now rise from the ground without bases, and the sturdy continuous tracery of the second tier of arcades lends an appearance of strength to the open arches. The capitals of the columns, particularly the angle capital which was eulogised by Ruskin in The Stones of Venice, are celebrated for the delicate carving in low-grained marble. The whole scheme of columned and pointed arcades, with its combination of carved capitals and long horizontal lines of open tracery, is of that unique design which can only be termed Venetian Gothic.' p. 506. It is currently a museum.

History

Alt Title

Palazzo Ducale di Venezia

Date Created

1910-01-01

Date Modified

2017-07-03

Spatial Coverage

Venice|+45.4339+12.34|Venice, Veneto, Italy: facades face 12 on the land side and the Venetian Lagoon on the waterside

Temporal Coverage

before or circa 1910

Cultural Context

Gothic (Medieval)

Rights Statement

To view the physical lantern slide, please contact the Architecture Library.

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