This magnificent palace, now the Museum of 18th-Century Venice, was designed by the greatest architect of the Venetian Baroque era, Baldassare Longhena, for the aristocratic Bon family. Construction began in 1649. Longhena’s death in 1682, practically concurrent with that of his noble client, and the Bon family’s financial setbacks brought construction to a halt, leaving the palace incomplete. In the meantime, the Rezzonico family, native to the Lombardy region, moved to Venice and purchased a title in 1687. Giambattista Rezzonico, a merchant and banker, bought the palace in 1751 and appointed Giorgio Massari, one of the most highly esteemed and eclectic artists of the day, to complete the palace. Work proceeded rapidly and construction was completed in 1756. The building was fully finished by 1758 when Giambattista Rezzonico’s younger brother Carlo, Bishop of Padua, was elected Pope under the name of Clement XIII: this moment represented the peak of the family’s fortunes and the palace at San Barnaba celebrated the event in grand style. But by 1810 the family had become extinct. This was the beginning of a long, troubled period for the palace as its great heritage of art and history was dismembered and dispersed. Stripped of its furnishings, which were divided among the heirs and then sold, the palace passed through the hands of various owners in the 19th century; purchased by the English painter Robert Barrett (“Pen”) Browning, it was used as a residence by his father, the poet Robert Browning, who died there. It was subsequently bought by Count Lionello Hirschell de Minerbi, a member of the Italian Parliament, who, after long and complex negotiations, sold it to the City Council of Venice in 1935.
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