34 6 



THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE PISANI PALACE AT STRA AND THE MALGONTENTA 

 VILLA ON THE BRENTA, VENICE. 



THE Villa Palace of the Pisani at Stra was built about 1740, so that it is a late work, 

 built in the century which marked the decline of Venice as a great state. Standing at 

 a bend of the Brenta, the long facade faces an open space, roughly oval in shape 

 (Fig. 358). The park walls stretch round behind in long curves broken by gateways, 

 features of fantastic outline, which are placed on the internal axis lines of the lay-out of 

 the great garden court. The Palace has all the merits and defects of the style. It is 

 grandly conceived and well planned, but the adjustment of the columnar architecture is 

 extremely careless, and the details, whether of architecture or sculpture, are of an indifferent 

 character. 



It is all immensely effective, like the great ballroom upstairs, with its Tiepolo 

 ceiling and painted baroco architecture ; it is, in truth, the back scene of a theatre." 



* This work was painted in 1762, and it has for its subject the Glory of the Pisani. 



357. THE PISANI PALACE AT STRA, ON THE BRENTA : THE CENTRE FEATURE OF THE FACADE. 



