CHAPTER II

ROMAN RENAISSANCE¹

§ 1. OF all the buildings in Venice, later in date than the final additions to the Ducal Palace, the noblest is, beyond all question, that which, having been condemned by its proprietor, not many years ago, to be pulled down and sold for the value of its materials, was rescued by the Austrian Government, and appropriated - the Government officers having no other use for it-to the business of the Post-Office;² though still known to the gondolier by its ancient name, the Casa Grimani.³ It is composed of three stories of the Corinthian order, at once simple, delicate, and sublime; but on so colossal a scale, that the three-storied palaces on its right and left only reach to the cornice which marks the level of its first floor. Yet it is not at first perceived to be

¹ [Parts of this chapter form in the “Travellers’ Edition” a chapter called “The Spite of the Proud,” and the following verse (Psalms cxxiii. 4, Prayer-Book version) is placed at the top as a motto:-

“Our soul is filled with the scornful rebuke of the wealthy, and with the despitefulness of the proud.”

The verse is quoted below at the end of § 45 (where “reproof” is rightly read, instead of “rebuke”). The following footnote (not quite accurately given in the earlier issues, see “Varić Lectiones,” p. xxxiv.) is appended to the chapter-heading:-

“Portions (§§ 1-11, 23-40, and 45) of the chapter on the Roman Renaissance of the old edition, here more or less abstracted and recast; but the text nowhere altered.”]

² [Later issues of the “Travellers’ Edition” here add the note: “Now removed elsewhere”-viz. to the Fondaco de’ Tedeschi.]

³ [Seen on the right in the frontispiece to Vol. IX. The Grimani family, for whom the palace was built, were originally Vicentine nobles; two doges were of the family, Antonio (1521-1523), and Marino (1595-1606), for whose father, Girolamo, the palace was built. It is now the Court of Appeal. The architect was Michele Sanmichele of Verona (1484-1559), who, like most enthusiastic students of the time, had gone at an early age to Rome to study classical sculpture and architecture. He was much employed both at Verona and at Venice, and was distinguished also as a military architect, being employed by the Republic to strengthen the fortications of Corfu, Cyprus, and Candia. He was also the author of a work on classic architecture, Li Cinque Ordini dell’ Architettura. For another reference to the palace, see Seven Lamps, Vol. VIII. p. 144 n.]

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[Version 0.04: March 2008]