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Elevation and detail of Palazzo Grimani a San Luca, Venice

Drawing
mid 18th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The Grimani a San Luca Palace was built for the procurator at San Marco, Girolamo Grimani, after a design by the architect Michele Sanmicheli (1484-1559) and is one of the most important palaces facing the Grand Canal. The building was completed later by Gian Giacomo de’ Grigi detto il Bergamasco (1549-1572) who erected a second upper floor based on the forms of the first piano nobile and a massive, atypical cornice. The drawing depicts the three-levelled facade of the palace. The first level has a flight of stairs leading up to the main door. On each side, is a smaller arched door separated by Corinthian columns. A Corinthian entablature surmounted by a balustrade separates the first level from the second. The second level has three arched-doors and two rectangular compartmented doors. The third level is a smaller replica of the second one. A detail of the greek key string course over the Palace’s rusticated base is depicted in the bottom right of the sheet.

After the fall of the Venetian Republic, the owners wanted to pull down the palace, but the Austrian occupiers finally acquired it and installed the post office headquarter. The interior decoration is lost.

The drawing belongs to a set of 66 measured drawings of Italian Renaissance and Ancient Roman architecture which the V&A purchased from Edwin Parsons in 1886. The Parsons set may belong to a larger series of over 700 architectural drawings scattered in English and international collections formerly owned by the British Consul at Venice, Joseph Smith (1682-1770). A proponent of Palladian architecture, Smith began collecting measured drawings of classical and Renaissance architecture from the early 1740s. Today, most of this material exists in a series of bound volumes at the Royal Collection (where the Admiranda Artis Architecturae Varia is kept) and at the British Library (which holds the three-volume Admiranda Urbis Venetae), as well as in loose sheets scattered in collections across Europe and North America including the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

The author of these drawings is unknown. However, their style and subject matter suggests the involvement of the Venetian architect, painter, engraver and theorist Antonio Visentini (1688-1782). A member of the Venetian Academy since its foundation in 1755, Visentini was affiliated with Smith and executed a vast number of architectural drawings for the British Consul as well as for a broader British collector base. Most of these drawings are scaled in English feet and consist of simplified plans and elevations of exemplary Italian architecture. Often produced as a series, the drawings were purchased by British Gentlemen to be included in their libraries and collections. The present drawing forms part of this material. The drawing is not signed by Visentini, but may have been produced by one of Visentini’s workshop members or pupils or by an unknown draughtsman working in the style of Visentini.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleElevation and detail of Palazzo Grimani a San Luca, Venice (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Pencil, pen and ink with brown wash on paper
Brief description
Elevation and detail of Palazzo Grimani a San Luca, Venice, Italy, mid 18th century (made)
Physical description
Elevation of the Grimani a San Luca Palace in Venice, in pencil, pen and ink with brown wash, on paper. The drawing, in portrait format, depicts the façade of the building seen from the Grand Canal with a plan of the façade relief below. A detail of a Greek key string course is depicted at the bottom right of the sheet. A linear scale in English feet is inscribed in pen in the bottom centre.
Dimensions
  • Length: 488mm (Note: Measurements taken at the opening of the mount)
  • Width: 360mm (Note: Measurements taken at the opening of the mount)
Marks and inscriptions
  • Linear scale in English feet inscribed in pen in the bottom centre of the sheet.
  • ‘Grimani Palace at Venice’, inscribed in pencil in the lower right in another hand.
Object history
The object was purchased from Edwin Parsons in 1886 as part of a collection of 66 drawings of Italian Renaissance and Ancient Roman architecture. Edwin Parsons was a dealer in books, prints and drawings. He was the founder of Edwin Parsons & Sons (1850-1950s) at 45 Brompton Road SW7. Parsons had a notable client base reportedly including the writer William Makepeace Thackeray, Sir John Pierpoint Morgan (of J.P. Morgan), and Napoleon III.
Production
The drawing is comparable to an elevation of the Grimani a San Luca palace at the V&A attributed to Antonio Visentini (E.15:22-2001). Further drawings of the palace executed in the manner of Visentini are included in the three-volume Admiranda Urbis Venetae at the British Library (71.i.1).
Subjects depicted
Summary
The Grimani a San Luca Palace was built for the procurator at San Marco, Girolamo Grimani, after a design by the architect Michele Sanmicheli (1484-1559) and is one of the most important palaces facing the Grand Canal. The building was completed later by Gian Giacomo de’ Grigi detto il Bergamasco (1549-1572) who erected a second upper floor based on the forms of the first piano nobile and a massive, atypical cornice. The drawing depicts the three-levelled facade of the palace. The first level has a flight of stairs leading up to the main door. On each side, is a smaller arched door separated by Corinthian columns. A Corinthian entablature surmounted by a balustrade separates the first level from the second. The second level has three arched-doors and two rectangular compartmented doors. The third level is a smaller replica of the second one. A detail of the greek key string course over the Palace’s rusticated base is depicted in the bottom right of the sheet.

After the fall of the Venetian Republic, the owners wanted to pull down the palace, but the Austrian occupiers finally acquired it and installed the post office headquarter. The interior decoration is lost.

The drawing belongs to a set of 66 measured drawings of Italian Renaissance and Ancient Roman architecture which the V&A purchased from Edwin Parsons in 1886. The Parsons set may belong to a larger series of over 700 architectural drawings scattered in English and international collections formerly owned by the British Consul at Venice, Joseph Smith (1682-1770). A proponent of Palladian architecture, Smith began collecting measured drawings of classical and Renaissance architecture from the early 1740s. Today, most of this material exists in a series of bound volumes at the Royal Collection (where the Admiranda Artis Architecturae Varia is kept) and at the British Library (which holds the three-volume Admiranda Urbis Venetae), as well as in loose sheets scattered in collections across Europe and North America including the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

The author of these drawings is unknown. However, their style and subject matter suggests the involvement of the Venetian architect, painter, engraver and theorist Antonio Visentini (1688-1782). A member of the Venetian Academy since its foundation in 1755, Visentini was affiliated with Smith and executed a vast number of architectural drawings for the British Consul as well as for a broader British collector base. Most of these drawings are scaled in English feet and consist of simplified plans and elevations of exemplary Italian architecture. Often produced as a series, the drawings were purchased by British Gentlemen to be included in their libraries and collections. The present drawing forms part of this material. The drawing is not signed by Visentini, but may have been produced by one of Visentini’s workshop members or pupils or by an unknown draughtsman working in the style of Visentini.
Bibliographic references
  • McAndrew, John. Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects: Antonio Visentini. Farnsborough: Gregg, 1974. 130p., ill. ISBN 0576159999.
  • Modesti, Paola. I disegni architettonici di Antonio Visentini (1688-1782): un corpus autografo inedito e una produzione con un’etichetta da riconsiderare. In: Alessandro Bordini and Giovanna Curcio, eds. Porre un limite all’infinito errore.’ Studi di storia dell’architettura dedicati a Christof Thoenes. Rome: Campisano, 2014. pp. 191-208, ill. ISBN 8888168524.
  • Vivian, Francis. The Consul Smith Collection: masterpieces of Italian drawing from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle : Raphael to Canaletto. Munich: Hirmer, 1989. 200 p., ill. ISBN 3777452505.
Collection
Accession number
D.1434-1886

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
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