{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O617647"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O617647/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HC4147/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HC4147/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014HC4147","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O617647/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O617647","accessionNumber":"D.1439-1886","objectType":"drawing","titles":[{"title":"Elevation and plan of the Libreria Marciana and of the Procuratie Nuove, Venice","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This drawing shows an elevation of the Marciana Library and of the Procuratie Nuove in Venice with a plan of the ground floor portico below. The Marciana Library was built from 1537 after the design of Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570) to house Bishop Bessarion’s donation of 750 codices and 250 manuscripts to the Venetian City State. It is depicted in the left of the elevation and is composed of two superimposed orders of three arched bays. Adjacent to it, the Procuratie Nuove were begun in 1586 after the design of Vincenzo Scamozzi (1548-1616) to house the offices and the apartments of the procurators of San Marco—the highest functionaries of the Venetian Republic after the Doge. Scamozzi modeled the first two orders of the Procuratie on Sansovino’s library to achieve the impression of a continuous front along St. Mark’s Square. At ground level both buildings consist of an order of engaged Doric columns set against arches on piers. This order is terminated by a Doric entablature which carries across the entire elevation. The second level is composed of an order of engaged Ionic columns on pedestals with contracted <i>serlianas</i> - a structure composed of an arch with two lower rectangular openings on the sides. The entablature of this order is discontinuous. The third level of the Procuratie consists of an order of engaged Corinthian columns on pedestals with alternating triangular and segmental pediments over the openings.\n\r\nDuring the Napoleonic period, the Procuratie Nuove were chosen as the site of the Royal Palace.\r\n\nThe drawing belongs to a set of 66 measured drawings of Italian Renaissance and Ancient Roman architecture which the V&amp;A purchased from Edwin Parsons in 1886. The Parsons set may belong to a larger series of over 700 architectural drawings scattered in English and international collections formerly owned by the British Consul at Venice, Joseph Smith (1682-1770). A proponent of Palladian architecture, Smith began collecting measured drawings of classical and Renaissance architecture from the early 1740s. Today, most of this material exists in a series of bound volumes at the Royal Collection (where the <i>Admiranda Artis Architecturae Varia</i> is kept) and at the British Library (which holds the three-volume <i>Admiranda Urbis Venetae</i>), as well as in loose sheets scattered in collections across Europe and North America including the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. \n\r\nThe author of these drawings is unknown. However, their style and subject matter suggests the involvement of the Venetian architect, painter, engraver and theorist Antonio Visentini (1688-1782). A member of the Venetian Academy since its foundation in 1755, Visentini was affiliated with Smith and executed a vast number of architectural drawings for the British Consul as well as for a broader British collector base. Most of these drawings are scaled in English feet and consist of simplified plans and elevations of exemplary Italian architecture. Often produced as a series, the drawings were purchased by British Gentlemen to be included in their libraries and collections. The present drawing forms part of this material. The drawing is not signed by Visentini, but may have been produced by one of Visentini’s workshop members or pupils or by an unknown draughtsman working in the style of Visentini.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Elevation and plan of the Libreria Marciana and of the Procuratie Nuove in Venice, in pencil, pen and ink with brown wash, on paper. The drawing, in a landscape format, depicts the façade of the buildings seen from St. Mark’s Square with a plan of the ground floor portico below. A linear scale in English feet is inscribed in pen in the bottom centre of the sheet.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown, circle of Antonio Visentini (1688-1782)","id":"AUTH353400"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"pen and ink","id":"x30618"},{"text":"wash","id":"AAT11051"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"architectural drawing","id":"AAT54197"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pencil, pen and ink with brown wash on paper","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2014HC4147"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"A","shelf":"105","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":"AAT33973"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"mid 18th century","earliest":"1725-01-01","latest":"1775-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"d.1440-1886","id":"O617646"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"488","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurements taken at the opening of the mount"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"358","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurements taken at the opening of the mount"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Linear scale in English feet inscribed in the bottom centre of the sheet.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"‘Venice, Library off Mark (Palazzo Reale)’, inscribed in pencil in the lower right in another hand.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"The object was purchased from Edwin Parsons in 1886 as part of a collection of 66 drawings of Italian Renaissance and Ancient Roman architecture. Edwin Parsons was a dealer in books, prints and drawings. He was the founder of Edwin Parsons &amp; Sons (1850-1950s) at 45 Brompton Road SW7. Parsons had a notable client base reportedly including the writer William Makepeace Thackeray, Sir John Pierpoint Morgan (of J.P. Morgan), and Napoleon III.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Elevation of the Libreria Marciana and the Procuratie Nuove, Venice, Italy, mid 18th century (made)","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"McAndrew, John. <u>Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects: Antonio Visentini</u>. Farnsborough: Gregg, 1974. 130p., ill. ISBN 0576159999."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Modesti, Paola. I disegni architettonici di Antonio Visentini (1688-1782): un corpus autografo inedito e una produzione con un’etichetta da riconsiderare. <u>In</u>: Alessandro Bordini and Giovanna Curcio, eds. <u>Porre un limite all’infinito errore.’ Studi di storia dell’architettura dedicati a Christof Thoenes</u>. Rome: Campisano, 2014. pp. 191-208, ill. ISBN 8888168524."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Vivian, Francis. <u>The Consul Smith Collection: masterpieces of Italian drawing from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle : Raphael to Canaletto</u>. Munich: Hirmer, 1989. 200 p., ill. ISBN 3777452505."}],"production":"The drawing depicts the two buildings in simplified form. The high-relief allegorical figures occupying the spandrels of the first two orders are missing, as are the divinities and lion heads carved into the keystones of the arches. The statues over the pedestals on the Marciana’s attic floor have also not been drawn. \n\nThe drawing is comparable to a loose sheet at the Royal Collection (RCIN 919293) with which it shares the subject matter, the layout, the quality of draughtsmanship and the design of the linear scale. A related drawing depicting the elevation of the Procuratie Nuove is also included in the E. Parsons series (D.1440-1886).","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"buildings","id":"AAT4792"},{"text":"elevations","id":"AAT34065"},{"text":"plans","id":"AAT34158"},{"text":"","id":""}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["D.1439-1886"],"accessionNumberNum":"1439","accessionNumberPrefix":"D","accessionYear":1886,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-23","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}