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Loading... The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice: The Stories of Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim (edition 2017)by Judith Mackrell (Author)
Work InformationThe Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice by Judith Mackrell
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. All things considered, I admire these women who lived their lives with passion and intensity – what more can any of us hope to achieve? https://wanderlustandwords.blogspot.com/2020/11/life-love-and-art-in-venice.html A highly readable enjoyable biography detailing a trinity of unhappy and essentially misunderstood women in the early part to the late 20th century. Using the setting of their house on the grand canal in Venice Mackerel looks at their lives, love, art and the social milieu and tones in which they circulate. Very intriguing, slightly gossipy but ultimately rewarding. no reviews | add a review
Commissioned in 1750, the Palazzo Venier was planned as a testimony to the power and wealth of a great Venetian family, but the fortunes of the Venier family waned and the project was abandoned with only one storey complete. Empty, unfinished, and in a gradual state of decay, the building was considered an eyesore. Yet in the early 20th century the Unfinished Palazzo's quality of fairytale abandonment, and its potential for transformation, were to attract and inspire three fascinating women at key moments in their lives: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim. Each chose the Palazzo Venier as the stage on which to build her own world of art and imagination, surrounded by an amazing supporting cast, from d'Annunzio and Nijinsky, via Noel Coward and Cecil Beaton, to Yoko Ono. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)700.411The arts Modified subdivisions of the arts Standard subdivisions of the arts Special topics in the arts Arts displaying specific qualities of style, mood, viewpoint Nontraditional viewpointsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Quite an interesting trio. Casati came from an extremely wealthy family, married a marquess from whom she later separated, and was known for taking her pet cheetah along in her gondola. Her life was her art.
Doris Castlerosse came from a middle-class family, but was determined to become rich and social. Her path to that was to become a "professional mistress", though she later made a rather unfortunate marriage. She had quite the variety of lovers, including Cecil Beaton (!!!) and Winston Churchill. But it was a woman who bought the palazzo for her. She lived there only briefly, however, leaving Venice with the onset of World War II, and never returning.
Peggy Guggenheim had a difficult childhood, not helped by her father's death in the sinking of the Titanic, and, like the others, had lousy taste in men. She became, of course, a great patron of modern art, and the palazzo is now the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Her ashes (and her dogs) are buried in the garden.