The New Palaces of Medieval Venice
412 pages | 218 illustrations | 9.5 x 10 | 2004
ISBN 978-0-271-02351-9 | cloth: $97.95 sh
Paperback edition is not available in the U.S.
Winner of a 2005 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
The palaces of Venice have long excited the wonder of visitors. Ornate and grand, the buildings seem to float on the water of the city’s canals like the sea castles in a mariner’s dream. But Juergen Schulz demonstrates that he origins of these residences lay on terra firma, in a widely disseminated building type that, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was adapted to the special circumstances of an Adriatic lagoon and the needs of the merchants turning this environment into a center of trade.
An internationally recognized expert on Venetian art, architecture, and cartography, Schulz examines the city’s medieval palaces with scholarship of unprecedented breadth and insight. Based in both archival research and first-hand knowledge of Venice, his book reconstructs the original appearance of the city’s oldest surviving residences, such as that of the Corner and Pesaro families, and traces the many later modifications made to these buildings. Further, Schulz’s book breaks new ground by presenting a systematic discussion of the use of sculpture in Venice’s early palaces, famed for their “exhibitionistic” scale and ornament.
Illustrated with numerous photographs and plans, The Palaces of Medieval Venice provides a comprehensive account of the ways in which a group of buildings came to embody the lives of Venice’s leading mercantile families. Schulz’s discussion of the Venetian palaces’ impact on later architecture further enhances the significance of this handsome publication.
Juergen Schulz is Andrea V. Rosenthal Professor of Art History and Architecture, Emeritus, Brown University and the author of numerous books and articles on Venetian art, architecture, and cartography.