I will conclude my remarks on the Gothic edifices of Venice with the Ducal Palace, which is said to have been founded in the ninth century; but nothing of the architecture at present existing can claim a higher date than the middle of the fourteenth, when it was erected by the doge, Marino Faliero. The architect is said to have been one Filippo Calendario, who was executed for taking part in the conspiracy of his patron.
I have already mentioned to you the external appearance, with which indeed, from the number of prints, you must be pretty familiar. Between this mass of building and the church of St. Mark is a gateway, by which one enters the court. This was built under the doge, Francesco Foscari, who was elected in 1423, and died in 1457; and from a comparison of other circumstances, it appears certain that it was begun about 1448, under the direction of a certain Bartholomeus de Cisternis. The name of Bartolommeo Buono, as architect, appears on the architrave; but as this artist did not die till 1529, it is hardly possible that he should have superintended a building in 1448. Perhaps this Bartholomeus de Cisternis was also named Buono; or perhaps the inscription was only in consequence of some posterior alteration; you may take which opinion you please; I incline to the first. The arches here, and indeed all the parts, are very much broken and confused; the architect appearing to have great horror of a continued line, whether straight or curved. The foliage above the arch is very large; and this, and the figures rising among it, are so exactly in the style of the upper finish of the church of St. Mark, that there can be no doubt of their being nearly of the same period. The court is surrounded on three sides by two stories of arcades, supporting the upper apartments of the building; the lower arches are semicircular, with a small round hole above each; the upper are pointed. The upper part of two sides is somewhat in the style of the front, but the windows are not regularly disposed; it is principally of brick. One side is as richly ornamented as possible. The remaining side towards the church is very irregular, but also much ornamented, and without any plain surface, except in some receding parts, which are covered with marble slabs. The whole is in bad taste, between Gothic, and the revival of Roman architecture; but the latter style seems to have been much less conspicuous at first, as considerable alterations are sufficiently evident. A very fine flight of marble steps leads to the first story, but you have another staircase to ascend before you enter the principal apartments. The first of these was ornamented by Palladio, after a fire which happened in 1574; particularly the four doorways are of his design, yet they are not very good, and are besides too solid and consequential for inside doorways. Each of them has a portico of two columns, without pediments, and there are three statues over each. The marble of the columns is very beautiful. The colour is a dark green, with yellow veins and red markings. They are not all precisely alike, yet perhaps are from the same bed; they are called Greek. The cornices and swelled friezes are also of dark veined marble, and this renders the mouldings confused.