Baldassare Longhena
Baldassare Longhena (1598 – 18 February 1682) was an Italian architect, who worked mainly in Venice, where he was one of the greatest exponents of Baroque architecture of the period.
Biography
Born in
His best-known work is the elegantly decorated
He designed many other churches in the city, among them the Chiesa dell'Ospedaletto and
One of his largest designs was the
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.[1] As Branko Mitrović 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."[2]
Gallery
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Palazzo Belloni-Battagia
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Ospedaletto, Venice
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Santa Maria degli Scalzi
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Belltower of
Santa Maria del Soccorso, Rovigo -
Loreo, Italy
References
- Frank, Martina, Baldassare Longhena, (Studi di arte veneta. 8), Venice 2004
- Andrew Hopkins, Baldassare Longhena, Milan, 2006