Marcantonio Barbaro
Encyclopedia
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
.
Family
He was born in VeniceVenice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
into the aristocratic Barbaro family. His father was Francesco di Daniele Barbaro and his mother Elena Pisani, daughter of the banker Alvise Pisani and Cecilia Giustinian.
Barbaro married Guistina Giustiniani in 1534 and they had four sons, one of which, Francesco
Francesco Barbaro (Patriarch of Aquileia)
Francesco Barbaro was a Venetian diplomat and an Italian Catholic bishopHe was the great-grandson of Francesco Barbaro and son of Marcantonio Barbaro. From 1578 to 1581 he was ambassador at the court of Savoy...
, became Patriarch of Aquileia
Patriarch of Aquileia
The Patriarch of Aquileia was an office in the Roman Catholic Church. During the Middle Ages the Patriarchate of Aquileia was a temporal state in Northern Italy. The Patriarchate of Aquileia as a church office was suppressed in 1752....
, and another, Alvise, married a daughter of Jacopo Foscarini.
On the death of Francesco Barbaro, Marcantonio and his elder brother Daniele Barbaro
Daniele Barbaro
Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro was an Italian translator of, and commentator on, Vitruvius. He also had a significant ecclesiastical career, reaching the rank of Cardinal....
jointly inherited a country estate at Maser. There was already a house on the estate, but the brothers replaced it with a new house designed for them by the architect Palladio; this Villa Barbaro
Villa Barbaro
Villa Barbaro, also known as the Villa di Maser, is a large villa at Maser in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It was designed and built by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, with frescos by Paolo Veronese and sculptures by Alessandro Vittoria for Daniele Barbaro, Patriarch of Aquileia...
is now preserved as part of the World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
"City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto
Palladian Villas of the Veneto
The City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto is a World Heritage Site protecting a cluster of works by the architect Andrea Palladio. UNESCO inscribed the site on the World Heritage List in 1994. At first the site was called "Vicenza, City of Palladio" and only buildings in the...
".
The brothers probably had some input in the design of the building. Daniele was a published author whose interests included architecture.
Marcantonio Barbaro was an amateur sculptor, and seems to have focused mainly on the garden of the new house (in particular, a water feature, the nymphaeum
Nymphaeum
A nymphaeum or nymphaion , in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs....
).
Towards the end of Palladio's life, Marcantonio commissioned him to design a circular chapel, the Tempietto, to serve the Maser estate, and he personally supervised its construction. However, Marcantonio was not buried at Maser, but rather in the family chapel in San Francesco della Vigna
San Francesco della Vigna
San Francesco della Vigna is a Roman Catholic church in the Sestiere of Castello in Venice, northern Italy.-History:Along with Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, this is one of two Franciscan churches in Venice. The site, originally a vineyard , was donated by Marco Ziani in 1253 for construction of...
in Venice.
Career and interests
Marcantonio was educated at the University of PaduaUniversity of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
. In the 1590s he was to return to the university as its Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
. Galileo was teaching there at the same time.
In 1560, he held the office of Savio di Terraferma. He served as ambassador to France from 1561-64. and later served as ambassador to the Sublime Porte (ie, the Turkish Empire) from 1568-73 and again in 1574. Barbaro negotiated a peace treaty in the aftermath of his country's loss of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
in 1571 and the Battle of Lepanto
Battle of Lepanto (1571)
The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece...
later the same year.
In 1583, he was instructed by the Senate to map the Friulan
Friuli
Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
frontier to avoid border disputes. In 1593 he was finally authorized to begin fortification of the area. He was involved in the development of the fortress town of Palmanova
Palmanova
Palmanova is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, close to the border with Slovenia. It is located 20 km from Udine, 28 km from Gorizia and 55 km from Trieste near the junction of the Autostrada Alpe-Adria and the Autostrada Venezia-Trieste .Palmanova is famous for its fortress...
. Barbaro was a candidate for Doge of Venice
Doge of Venice
The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...
in 1570, 1578, 1585, and 1595.
Barbaro used his position as a senator to influence public architecture in Venice. In 1558 he and his brother Daniele supported Palladio's design for a new façade for the Cathedral of San Pietro di Castello
San Pietro di Castello (church)
The Basilica di San Pietro di Castello , commonly called San Pietro di Castello, is a Roman Catholic minor basilica of the Patriarch of Venice located in the Castello sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. The present building dates from the 16th century, but a church has stood on the site since...
. Palladio’s project for rebuilding the Doge's Palace after a fire was rejected despite Barbaro's support. However, Palladio’s design for the church of the Redentore
Il Redentore
The Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore , commonly known as ', is a 16th century Roman Catholic church located in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. It was designed by the architect Andrea Palladio and built as a votive church to thank God for the deliverance of the city from a major...
was approved by the senate..
After Palladio’s death, Barbaro transferred his support to Vincenzo Scamozzi
Vincenzo Scamozzi
thumb|250px|Portrait of Vincenzo Scamozzi by [[Paolo Veronese]]Vincenzo Scamozzi was a Venetian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century...
. In 1587 he supported Scamozzi's design for a triple-arched Rialto Bridge
Rialto Bridge
The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.- History :...
, though Antonio da Ponte
Antonio da Ponte
Antonio da Ponte was an Venetian architect and engineer, most famous for his rebuilding the Rialto Bridge in that city.Da Ponte was head architect of the rebuilding of the Ducal Palace that was badly damaged by fire in 1574. After the original wooden structure of the Rialto Bridge had collapsed...
’s design for a single-arched bridge was chosen instead, and was one of three Venetian noblemen appointed to oversee the rebuilding of the bridge.
Marcantonio was an early pioneer of Jewish rights within the Republic of Venice. He played an instrumental role in acceptance of Solomon of Udine, Turkish ambassador to Venice, at the Doge's Palace.
Further reading
- La Vie d'un patricien de Venise au seizième siècle, Charles Yriarte, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1874 - "Barbaro Marcantonio", Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol.6, Franco Gaeta, RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, 1964, 110-112.