Hercules Brabazon Brabazon (1821-1906)

One of the most celebrated palazzi on the Grand Canal, the Ca' d'Oro is the finest example of Venetian Gothic architecture in the city. The faade, with its finely carved ogee windows, oriental pinnacles and intricate marble tracery, has an almost Moorish flavour.

It was built by Marino Contarini, a procurator of San Marco, who commissioned Marco d'Amadio to re-design the existing Veneto-Byzantine palazzo and Matteo Raverti to rebuild it. Finished in 1434, it was known as the Ca' d'Oro because of the gilding on the pinnacles. It presently houses the art collection of Baron Giorgio Franchetti, who left it to the state in 1916.

The medieval campanile that one sees on the opposite bank is attached to the church of San Cassiano.

For another view of Ca' d'Oro, see lot 78.