Baldassare Longhena (1598 – 18 February 1682) was an Italian architect, who worked mainly in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, where he was one of the greatest exponents of

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

architecture of the period.

Biography

Born in

, Longhena studied under the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi and after Scamozzi's death completed his monumental Procuratie Nuove in St. Mark's Square, a complex of imposing residences and offices for officials of the Venetian Republic that gives the square its appearance today. His best-known work is the elegantly decorated

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute Santa Maria della Salute ( en, Saint Mary of Health), commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy. It stands on the nar ...

begun in 1631 to thank the Virgin for the city's deliverance from the plague. This two

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

d church on the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

between the Canal Grande and the Zattere is one of the city's best-known landmarks. The main entrance, modeled on the Roman triumphal

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

, was later copied in successive churches and cathedrals, in Venice and elsewhere. He designed many other churches in the city, among them the Chiesa dell'Ospedaletto and Santa Maria di Nazareth built between 1656 and 1680, although the façade of the latter church was designed by Giuseppe Sardi (1624–1699). He also designed the Palazzo Belloni Battagia and the Palazzo Giustiniani Lolin, both facing the Canal Grande. One of his largest designs was the Chioggia Cathedral, executed between 1624 and 1647. On the completion of the cathedral he designed two other palaces on the Grand Canal of Venice, Ca' Rezzonico and Ca' Pesaro, both completed after his death. Between 1641 and 1680 he designed the new library, the grand staircase, the monastery façade, the Novitiate building, the sick-room and the guest-rooms of the San Giorgio Maggiore monastery. Baldassare Longhena died at Venice in 1682.

Critical reception

Longhena developed the style of his master Vincenzo Scamozzi and Andrea Palladio. As Branko Mitrovic states in his book on renaissance architecture: "Scamozzi...adjusted the central intercolumnation of the main portico so that the edges of columns can be seen from the end of a circular hall. Visually, this is a way to suggest from inside that there is another formal space beyond the entrance door... Baldassare Longhena used a similar system of non-orthogonal axes in Santa Maria della Salute in Venice. As with Palladio, it is unclear whether Longhena intended to form such visual axes or whether they are a by-product of his complex geometries."''Learning from Palladio'', by Branko Mitrovic, W.W.Norton Press, 2004, p.60.

Gallery

Ca' Rezzonico (Venice).jpg, Palazzo Pesaro, Venice, Italy.jpg, Venezia - Palazzo Belloni Battagia.JPG, Venezia - Chiesa dell'Ospedaletto.JPG, Santa Maria degli Scalzi (Venice).jpg, Scola spagnola (Venice).jpg, VillaAngarano 2007 07 16 02.jpg, Campanile Baldassare Longhena - Rovigo Italy.JPG, Loreo (RO) Chiesa Arcipretale di Santa Maria Assunta (vista frontale).JPG,

References

*Frank, Martina, ''Baldassare Longhena'', (Studi di arte veneta. 8), Venice 2004 *Andrew Hopkins, ''Baldassare Longhena'', Milan, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Longhena, Baldassare 1598 births 1682 deaths Republic of Venice architects 17th-century Italian architects Italian Baroque architects