CONTARINI PORTA DI FERRO, PALAZZO, near the Church of St. John and
Paul, so called from the beautiful ironwork on a door, which was some
time ago taken down by the proprietor and sold. Mr. Rawdon Brown
rescued some of the ornaments from the hands of the blacksmith, who
had bought them for old iron. The head of the door is a very
interesting stone arch of the early thirteenth century, already drawn
in my folio work. In the interior court is a beautiful remnant of
staircase, with a piece of balcony at the top, circa 1350, and one of
the most richly and carefully wrought in Venice. The palace, judging
by these remnants (all that are now left of it, except a single
traceried window of the same date at the turn of the stair), must once
have been among the most magnificent in Venice.
CONTARINI (DELLE FIGURE), PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal, III. 17.
CONTARINI DAI SCRIGNI, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal. A Gothic building,
founded on the Ducal Palace. Two Renaissance statues in niches at the
sides give it its name.
CONTARINI FASAN, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal, II. 244. The richest
work of the fifteenth century domestic Gothic in Venice, but notable
more for richness than excellence of design. In one respect, however,
it deserves to be regarded with attention, as showing how much beauty
and dignity may be bestowed on a very small and unimportant
dwelling-house by Gothic sculpture. Foolish criticisms upon it have
appeared in English accounts of foreign buildings, objecting to it on
the ground of its being "ill-proportioned;" the simple fact being,
that there was no room in this part of the canal for a wider house,
and that its builder made its rooms as comfortable as he could, and
its windows and balconies of a convenient size for those who were to
see through them, and stand on them, and left the "proportions"
outside to take care of themselves; which, indeed, they have very
sufficiently done; for though the house thus honestly confesses its
diminutiveness, it is nevertheless one of the principal ornaments of
the very noblest reach of the Grand Canal, and would be nearly as
great a loss, if it were destroyed, as the Church of La Salute itself.
CONTARINI, PALAZZO, at St. Luca. Of no importance.
CORNER DELLA CA' GRANDE, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal. One of the worst
and coldest buildings of the central Renaissance, It is on a grand
scale, and is a conspicuous object, rising over the roofs of the
neighboring houses in the various aspects of the entrance of the Grand
Canal, and in the general view of Venice from San Clemente.
CORNER DELLA REGINA, PALAZZO. A late Renaissance building of no merit
or interest.
CORNER MOCENIGO, PALAZZO, at St. Polo. Of no interest.
CORNER SPINELLI, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal. A graceful and
interesting example of the early Renaissance, remarkable for its
pretty circular balconies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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