Palazzo Grimani Marcello, also known as Grimani dall'albero d'oro and more recently Palazzo Vendramin Grimani, is a building located in Venice, in the San Polo district and overlooking the Grand Canal and the Rio delle Erbe between Ca' Cappello and Palazzo Querini Dubois.
It was built where an ancient palace dating back to the 12th century
once stood by Giovanni Buora. It was profoundly and several times
restructured during the eighteenth century. In 1825 Carlo Bevilacqua
frescoed the internal rooms.
After a careful two-year renovation
by the Fondazione dell'Albero d'oro, the Palace was opened to the public
in 2021 to allow visitors to visit the interiors and the art collection
but also to host temporary exhibitions.
The facade is tripartite as per tradition, punctuated by pilaster
strips culminating in Corinthian capitals and covered entirely in
Istrian stone, which gives it an extraordinary luminosity. The ground
floor is characterized by the presence of a large water portal with a
square arch and four openings with a triangular tympanum.
The
first noble floor is characterized by an airy three-mullioned window
with a continuous balcony and pillars on which the slender semi-columns
rest, taken up and varied on the second floor: there, the columns rest
directly on the balcony, giving the impression of greater compactness.
The side openings, surrounded by small pillars and capitals, have a
lively decoration with ribbons and scrolls.
It turns out to be
one of the most elegant buildings among those built in Venice in the
Lombard style: its facade is decorated with numerous sculptural elements
among which the bas-relief of an eagle with spread wings stands out for
its beauty placed on the corner capital of the ground floor, similar to
a allegory already used in Palazzo Vendramin Calergi. The gold
decoration of some of the bas-reliefs has been hypothesized.
As
for the plan, frequently remodeled over the centuries, it is
characterized by the presence of a vast internal courtyard behind the
rear facade, once enriched by the presence of a grandiose open staircase
which was later demolished. It is said that the ballroom was decorated
with a precious frieze created by Tintoretto. The heaviest
interventions, which have altered the plan, date back to the first and
second half of the eighteenth century.
The secondary facade is
devoid of any architectural interest except for the characteristic water
door made up of three holes separated by columns.