The Maddalena at Ca' D'oro

The Venetian Gothic style is Byzantine in appearance. On the Ca' d'Oro's ground floor a recessed colonnaded loggia gives access to the entrance hall (portego de mezo) directly from the canal.

Above this colonnade is the enclosed balcony of the principal salon on the piano nobile. The columns and arches of this balcony have capitals which in turn support a row of quatrefoil windows of great delicacy; above this balcony is another enclosed balcony or loggia of a similar yet even lighter design. To describe the style of the palazzo simply: it is a cross between a medieval church and a mosque.

Following the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 the palazzo changed ownership several times. One 19th century owner, the ballet dancer Marie Taglioni, removed (in what today can be considered an act of vandalism) the Gothic stairway from the inner courtyard and also destroyed the ornate balconies overlooking the court.

In 1922 the palazzo was bequeathed to the State by its last owner and saviour Baron Giorgio Franchetti who had acquired it in 1894. Following extensive restoration, including the reconstruction of the stairway, it is now open to the public as a gallery

Giorgione/Giò Ponti. What else can bring together these two artists, beyond first three letters of their names? They are as far apart in time as they are in space, in artistic profession, the first was a painter, the second a designer/ architect, and yet their subjects are so similar. Their women, for example.

Their preference for woman as a subject is expressed with fascinating, evocative elegance in the two works now on display at the Galleria Franchetti, Ca’ d’Oro. The Maddalena by Giorgione is the woman redeemed by the humanity of Jesus. She is shown in deep contemplation of the unguent container which is the sublime symbol of her devotion.

That same deep contemplation, in which in this case there is perhaps a veil of self-complacent malice, is revealed in the decorated eyes of the young woman "portrayed" by Giò Ponti in 1923.

Information:

Galleria G. Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro
Cannaregio 3932
30126 Venezia

Tel.  39 (0)41 5222349
Fax  39  (0)41 5238790
sspsae-ve.franchetti@beniculturali.it