Ca' Pesaro Historical Timeline

Origins

The Pesaro family commissioned the palace from the architect Baldassare Longhena, already Venice's leading Baroque architect, with work beginning in 1659. The courtyard was finished by 1676 and the Grand Canal facade had reached its second floor by 1679, but Longhena died in 1682 with the building still incomplete.

Turning points

Construction was finally completed in 1710 under the architect Gian Antonio Gaspari, who carried Longhena's design through to its finish more than five decades after work had begun.

Influential people

The Pesaro family held the palace until the last family member died in 1830. Ownership then passed through the Gradenigo family, a period as a residence for Armenian Mekhitarist Fathers, and the Bevilacqua family, before Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa bequeathed the building to the city of Venice in 1898.

Cultural evolution

Following the Duchess's bequest, the city council opened the palace in 1902 as the home of Venice's municipal collection of modern art -- a deliberate transformation of a 17th-century noble residence into a showcase for contemporary work, at a time when the Venice Biennale itself was still a young institution.

Present-day significance

Ca' Pesaro today holds both the International Gallery of Modern Art, with works by Klimt, Kandinsky, Chagall, and Klee across its upper floors, and a separate Museum of Oriental Art, built around some 30,000 objects collected largely from Edo-period Japan.