The Ca ‘d’Oro, Franchetti Gallery

The Ca ‘d’Oro is the Venice museum that houses the Franchetti Gallery and is located in the Cannaregio district, overlooking the Grand Canal. The building is the result of the renovation of a property acquisition in 1412 by the Venetian merchant Marino Contarini. Its name, Ca d’Oro, comes from the presence of gold in the original facade that unfortunately disappeared. Over the years and following a series of property changes, the appearance of the building has changed considerably, especially in the interior, due to the different needs of the owners.

At the end of the 19th century, the Ca ‘d’Oro, by the decision of then-owner Alexander Trubetzkoi, was finally subjected to a restoration by the architect Giovanni Battista Meduna, who clearly modified the facade and interior of the building. In 1894 the whole building was bought by Baron Giorgio Franchetti, who undertook a series of attempts to make Ca ‘d’Oro return as far as possible to its original form of the 400. In 1916 Franchetti reached an agreement with the Italian State, in which they agree to transfer the property of the building at the end of the work, in exchange for the financing necessary to complete the restructuring. The museum was inaugurated in January of 1927 with the name of “Galleria Giorgio Franchetti” in memory of the baron, who died in 1922.

Inside the gallery you can fined the collection of works of art that Giorgio Franchetti had collected during his lifetime, along with some state collections that were added after the donation of the museum to the Italian State. These collections include most of the bronzes, sculptures and many Venetian and Flemish paintings. Among the main works are the San Sebastiano by Andrea Mantegna, the Venere allo Specchio and the Giuditta by Titian, the views of Francesco Guardi and much of the frescoes by Giorgione from the facade of the German Warehouse in Venice. In addition to the art collections, in the museum there are several laboratories for the conservation and restoration of works of art.