Palaces Of Venice

Palaces of Venice presents sixty-two of the greatest buildings from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. Hundreds of full-colour photographs show the exteriors and the interiors of the palazzi and the text relates the fascinating history of each architectural masterpiece, leading family and chosen architect. From the twelfth and thirteenth centuries onward, the Venetian Gothic style, much-extolled by John Ruskin in his book The Stones of Venice, started to develop. The main features of this style were pointed arches, mullioned windows with several lights, and the interplay of coloured marble. In the thirteenth century, the first monumental private buildings were designed, and the traditional plans of the Venetian Palace began. In the centuries that followed, the architects Mauro Codussi and Jacopo Sansovino reinterpreted these typical features of Venice's Gothic palaces in a renaissance key, Baldassare Longhena introduced the Baroque taste, and Giannantonio Selva continued to use these Goth