Palazzo Venier dei Leoni: An Unfinished Venetian Palace and Art Collection
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- High
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Venetian
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page7 sections
History
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni is an unfinished palace in Venice, Italy, located in the Dorsoduro district on the Grand Canal near the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Lorenzo Boschetti designed it in 1749 for the Venier family, intending to unite the architectural approaches of Andrea Palladio, a Renaissance architect whose designs influenced later European architecture, and Baldassare Longhena, a leading Venetian Baroque architect. Financial problems left only part of the ground floor completed.
An Unfinished Eighteenth-Century Project
A wooden model at the Correr Museum shows the palace’s planned appearance. Two traditional explanations are associated with its incomplete state. The powerful Corner family, whose palace stood opposite across the canal, may have opposed a building that would obstruct their view. Another tradition holds that Venier heirs began the work to fulfill their deceased father’s testament but did not possess the wealth needed to finish it.
The origin of the name “dei Leoni” remains uncertain. It may refer to the lion sculptures along the base of the facade. A different tradition says that the Venier family kept a lion in the garden.
Twentieth-Century Residents and Collection
Luisa Casati lived in the palace from 1910, but financial difficulties forced her to sell it in 1924. Viscountess Doris Castlerosse acquired it in 1936, and the buildings behind the facade took their present form during her ownership.
Peggy Guggenheim bought Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1948. The American art collector and patron made it her Venetian residence, and from 1949 the palace housed the Peggy Guggenheim Collection of modern art.
Remains
Canal Facade and Terrace
The surviving palace is a one-story structure facing the Grand Canal, with a visibly unfinished form. Its facade is built of Istrian stone and uses rustication, a treatment that emphasizes masonry blocks through recessed joints or rough surfaces. Eight medium-sized single-light windows, each formed as one uninterrupted opening, line the canal facade. Beneath them, lion-head mascarons, sculpted ornamental faces, are positioned at the waterline.
At the center, a recessed canal entrance lies behind a gate. It opens onto a broad terrace overlooking the Grand Canal, with a view extending from the Accademia Bridge to the basin of Saint Mark.
Rear Buildings and Garden
The buildings behind the original facade have the form established during Doris Castlerosse’s ownership. At the rear, a symmetrically arranged entrance leads to a small garden.
Collection and Burial Place
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni houses the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, with works by Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, René Magritte, and Jackson Pollock. The palace also preserves the original furnishings of Peggy Guggenheim’s bedroom. Her ashes are buried in the garden beside those of her Lhasa Apso dogs.
Nearby sites
