The Ca' d'Oro ★★

Venice's Ca' d'Oro (Golden House) is a gorgeous 15th century palatial home housing the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti museum

The 15th-century Ca' d'Oro is one of the best preserved and most impressive of the hundreds of patrician palazzi lining the Grand Canal. After the Palazzo Ducale, it's the city's finest example of Venetian Gothic architecture.

A restoration of its delicate pink-and-white facade (its name, the Golden Palace, refers to a former, gilt-covered facade that faded long ago) was completed in 1995.

Inside, the ornate beamed ceilings, mosaicked floors, and palatial trappings provide an attention-grabbing backdrop for the private collection of former owner Baron Giorgio Franchetti, who bequeathed his palazzo and his collection of paintings, sculpture, and other artwork to the city during World War I. This now comprises the palazzo's Galleria Giorgio Franchetti.

The Galleria Franchetti

The core collection, expanded over the years, now includes sculptures, furniture, 16th-century Flemish tapestries, an impressive collection of bronzes (12th–16th century), and a painting gallery.

The most important canvases are Andrea Mantegna's San Sebastiano and Titian's Venus with a Mirror.

I realize there is no actual mirror in the painting, but that is because the right side of the canvas was (tragically) cut off at some point in the past.

We know there once was a miror, because this work was either a study for—or a copy of—the famous, more sumptuous version that now hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (pictured below to the left, to give you a sense of what the rest of the canvas once looked like).

This Venus proved so popular that Titian's workshop cranked out several copies. However, scholars are willing to bet (based on the drapery and other details) that the master himself made this particular copy/study.

There are also several nice works by Carpaccio and some lesser paintings by Tintoretto, Van Dyck, Giorgione, Jan Steen, and Alvise Vivarini.

The loggia and ceramics

Step out onto the palazzo's loggia, overlooking the Grand Canal, for a view up and down the aquatic waterway and across to the Rialto pescheria (fish market), a timeless vignette of an unchanged city.

Off the loggia is a small but worthy ceramics collection open from 10am to noon.

Tips & links

Share this page

Search ReidsItaly.com