Palazzo Labia is a Baroque building in the Cannaregio district of
Venice, built between the 17th and 18th centuries. In the Ballroom
Giambattista Tiepolo painted some of his masterpieces, namely the cycle
of frescoes dedicated to the Stories of Antonio and Cleopatra,
commissioned by the brothers Angelo Maria and Paolo Antonio Labia.
Alongside the church of San Geremia, the building is located near the
confluence of the Cannaregio canal with the Grand Canal, towards which
the two older facades face; the third elevation overlooks Campo San
Geremia.
The Labias, originally from Gerona (Spain), were
enrolled in the Venetian patriciate in 1646, after having contributed a
large sum to the War of Candia. In fact, they possessed enormous wealth
which they spent on luxuries, on parties and on the construction of this
palace.
The palace was built in the Baroque style at the beginning of the
18th century for the Labia family, originally from Catalonia, from
Girona, and entered the circle of the Venetian aristocracy quite late,
in 1646, due to the fact that family members contributed a large sum
(about one hundred thousand ducats) to the Candian war with the Ottoman
Empire. The family possessed considerable wealth, which they spent on
luxurious festivities and the construction of their palace. The
magnificent palace was intended to highlight the importance of the Labia
family to the old patricians. To this end, the brothers Angelo Maria
Labia and Paolo Antonio Labia commissioned frescoes for the most famous
painter of Venice.
The relatively little known architects Andrea
Cominelli, Alessandro Tremignon and his son Paolo, who were commissioned
to build around 1700, worked under the influence of Baldassare Longhena.
The canal-facing façades, with rusticated ground floor, arched windows
and balustraded balconies, reflect the style of the Venetian Settechento
(18th-century art). On the facades there are sculptural images of eagles
from the coat of arms of the Labia family.
The ballroom, or "Salon of festivities" (Salone delle Feste), is
double-height (two tiers high, but with "false windows") and is
completely decorated with frescoes on the theme of the romantic history
of the consul Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, created in
1746-1747 years of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
The murals are
framed with architectural elements in the style of "trompe-l'œil"
("deception") or "square", with imitation of door and window openings,
made by Girolamo Mengozzi-Colonna. In these illusory frames, we see the
composition of the solemn reception of Antony by the Egyptian queen, and
from the painted balconies and "upper windows" Cleopatra's subjects are,
as it were, watching this scene. It is believed that members of the
Labia family served as models for these figures. In the feast scene
depicted by the artist, Cleopatra, according to legend, dissolves her
priceless pearl in a goblet of wine, demonstrating her wealth to Antony.
Presumably, the mistress of the palazzo Maria Labia, nee Sivran, became
the prototype of the Egyptian queen, but there is no documentary
evidence of this transparent metaphor.
The picturesque plafond of
the Ballroom depicts "Bellerophon on Pegasus". The rest of the halls,
built around the courtyard, are not as famous as the Ballroom, but are
also works of art. So in the "Green Salon" (Green Damask Salone), in
addition to the sculptural fireplace made of inlaid marble, there are
frescoes and a picturesque ceiling by Pompeo Batoni. In the Hall of
Mirrors we find another ceiling painting by Tiepolo "The Triumph of
Zephyr and Flora". In other rooms of the palace there are works by
Giandomenico Tiepolo (son of G. B. Tiepolo), Palma il Giovane,
Giambattista Canale, Placido Costanzi, Agostino Masucci, Pompeo Batoni,
Gregorio Lazzarini, Gasparo Diziani and Antonio Visentini. Other rooms
are decorated with Flemish tapestries on the theme "History of the
Scipios".
After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, the Labia family
lost their wealth and moved to Austria. At the beginning of the 19th
century, the palace was bought by Prince Lobkowitz, later it had
different owners and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1945, an
ammunition ship exploded near the building, damaging the palace and
Tiepolo's frescoes.
In 1948, the palazzo was purchased by an
eccentric French-Spanish billionaire who made his fortune in Mexican
silver mines, Don Carlos de Beistegui (1895-1970), whom his friends
called simply "Charlie", and the rest - "The Count of Monte Cristo of
the twentieth century" . Don Carlos was an unusual patron and collector,
he considered himself a natural interior decorator, and his taste became
known in Europe as "the taste of Beistegui" (le goût Beistegui). For the
abandoned palazzo, he acquired paintings by Raphael, Annibale Carracci
and Guido Reni. These works of art, combined with recently purchased
period furniture from other palazzos, tapestries and antiques, restored
the palace to its former splendor.
After the completion of the
restoration work, on September 3, 1951, a costumed masquerade ball took
place, which the owner called oriental (Le Bal oriental). It was one of
the largest and most luxurious events of the twentieth century: the
"Ball of the Century" in eighteenth century costumes. More than a
thousand guests were invited to the ball, during the week they sailed
along the Grand Canal to the palace, surrounded by a crowd of
spectators. There were artists, aristocrats and millionaires from all
over the world. The guest list included Aga Khan III, Daisy Fellows,
Paul-Louis Weiler, Baron de Chabrol, Desmond Guinness, Alexis von
Rosenberg, Baron de Rede, Prince and Princess Chavchavadze, Princess
Natalia Pavlovna Paley, Aimé de Heerin, Princess Ghislain de Polignac,
Princess del Drago, Princess Gabrielle of Arenberg, Helene Rocha,
Princess Caetani, Princess Colonna, Prince Mathieu de Brancovan, Arturo
Lopez-Wilshaw, Patricia Lopez-Wilshaw, Dimitri Hayek, Fulco di Verdura,
Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, Princess Barbara Hutton,
actress Gene Tierney, Countess Jacqueline de Ribes, fashion designers
Jacques Fat and Nina Ricci, Count Armand de La Rochefoucauld, designer
Lady Duff, Lady Diana Cooper, director Orson Welles, photographer and
costume designer Cecil Beaton, Salvator Dali with his wife Gala Dali,
jeweler Fulco di Verdura, artists Fabrizio Clerici and Leonor Fini and
many others. Winston Churchill, Duke and Duchess of Windsor were also
invited but did not attend.
The "Oriental Ball" marked the
beginning of the career of the Venetian fashion designer Pierre Cardin,
who designed about thirty costumes for guests. Christian Dior and
Salvador Dali designed costumes for each other. The famous art collector
Arturo López-Wilshaw and his wife Patricia, along with an entourage,
arrived in costumes of the Chinese emperor and empress, copied from an
old tapestry. Their costumes were designed by fashion designer Oliver
Messel. Couturier Jacques Fat, dressed as the Sun King, solemnly swam up
to the palace in his gondola standing. His wife Genevieve portrayed the
Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute. Lady Diana Cooper,
famous English beauty and wife of the former British ambassador to
France, shone in a Cleopatra costume borrowed from a Tiepolo fresco
designed for her by Oliver Messel - the artist was chosen to design many
of the guests' costumes, as he made sets and costumes for the film in
1945 "Caesar and Cleopatra" starring Vivien Leigh. The owner was dressed
in a scarlet robe and a long curled wig[4].
Cecil Beaton's
photographs depict an almost surreal society, reminiscent of Venetian
life just before the fall of the republic at the end of the 18th
century. The party was supposed to be one of the last truly spectacular
events in the famous Ballroom. Don Carlos suffered a series of strokes
in the 1960s and retired to France, to Montfort-l'Amaury. In 1964, at an
auction for 350 million lire, Palazzo Labia was acquired by the RAI
company (State Television Corporation of Italy) and made great efforts
to preserve and further restore the building and the works of art in it.
In 2008, RAI put the building up for sale. In 2012, a project was drawn
up, according to which the museum fund of the municipality of Venice
should purchase half, and the Venetian foundation (Fondazione
Harthstarich) the other half of the palace, in order to make it a museum
and exhibition building. As of 2018, prior to the sale, the building was
used for international festivals, conferences and exhibitions.