Barbaro family
The Barbaro family is a noble Venetian family who is classified as one of the "old patrician families", the highest classification within the Republic of Venice's social hierarchy for its aristocracy.[1] The House of Barbaro has produced many leaders in politics, education, and the arts, two of the most famous being the brothers Daniele Barbaro and Marcantonio Barbaro, who were the primary patrons of the architect Andrea Palladio and the painter Paolo Veronese.[2].[3] Of the family's three primary branches, only two continue to survive today.[4][5]
History
The Barbaro family's San Vidal branch built a country home at Maser - the famous Villa Barbaro designed by Palladio and with frescos by Veronese. By the end of the 18th century, this branch's male line became exstinguished. The San Vidal's held the title Patrician of Venice.[6]
The Albergo branch resided at the Barbaro family's Palazzo Dario, first inherited by Vincenzo Barbaro in 1494. Following the Congress of Vienna, the Albergo branch maintained a baronial estate in Catanzaro, Italy, using the title Baron dell'Albergo while also continuing with the line's previously earned titles of Patrician of Venice and Princely Count of the Grand Principality of Transylvania. The line's princely title was earned by service to the Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine, who also awarded the princely style Their Illustrious Highnesses to the Albergo branch. The noble Scalfaro family, a baronial family first created in 1814, was one of the aristocratic houses loyal to the Barbaro family's Albergo.[7] [8]
The Barbaro family's third branch, San Giorgio, ceased being classified as Venatian nobility in the 18th century after becoming established as Maltese nobility. They earned several noble titles, one through marriage, and with the title Marquis of San Giorgio being the highest awarded. [9]
The Barbaro family is documented as holding high office in the Republic of Venice as early as the ninth century,[10] One member was elected to the post of Doge, but chose to pass on officially accepting this supreme honor.[11] Other Barbaro family members acted as deans and professors of the University of Padua and as Patriarchs of Aquileia.[12]
In the 17th century, the family began an expansive building campaign. Some projects included enlarging their Palazzo Barbaro of Gothic design on Venice's Grand Canal by also building a second Baroque palace right next to it for the purpose of housing their ballroom.[13] Another project was to install a Barbaro chapel within the church of San Francesco della Vigna, displayed within is the Barbaro's ancestral arms, a red circle on a white field, granted in the 12th century after Admiral Marco Barbaro was victorious in Jaffa.[14] [15] Yet another project was to honor the family on the facade of the Venetian church, Santa Maria Zobenigo, which was rebuilt by them to provide a family crypt.[16]
Within Venice, the Barbaro family Albergo supported the Scuola Grande of the church of San Rocco, Venice, which primarily assisted citizens in time of plague, and the Scuola's Sala dell'Albergo functioned as the conference room for the members of the confraternity's Albergo. [17]
Notable members
- Donato Barbaro (fl. c. 1259), Venetian admiral
- Francesco Barbaro (1390–1454), humanist
- Ermolao Barbaro (1410–1471/1474), bishop of Treviso and Verona
- Giosafat Barbaro (1413–1494), ambassador
- Ermolao Barbaro (1454–1493/1495), philosopher
- Marco Barbaro (1511–1570), genealogist
- Daniele Barbaro (1513–70), scholar, cardinal and co-owner of Villa Barbaro
- Marcantonio Barbaro (1518–1595), ambassador and co-owner of Villa Barbaro
- Antonio Barbaro (d. 1679), Venetian soldier and colonial official
References
- ^ Spretti, Vittorio; L'encyclopedie Storico Nobiliaire (Barbaro); Milano, 1932; pp275-278
- ^ Hobson, Anthony, "Villa Barbaro", in Great Houses of Europe, ed. Sacheverell Sitwell (London: Weidenfeld, 1961), pp. 89–97. ISBN 0-600-33843-6
- ^ Spretti,Vittorio; L'encyclopedie Storico Nobiliaire (Barbaro); Milano, 1932; pp275-278
- ^ Hobson, p.93
- ^ Spretti, Vittorio; L'encyclopedie Storico Nobiliaire (Barbaro); Milano, 1932; pp.275-278
- ^ Hobson, p.93
- ^ Spretti, Vittorio;L'encyclopedie Storico Nobiliare (Barbaro); Milano, 1932; pp.275-278
- ^ Hobson, p. 93.
- ^ Spretti, Vittorio; L'encyclopedie Storico Nobiliaire (Barbaro); Milano, 1932; pp.275-278
- ^ Hobson, p. 91.
- ^ Spretti, Vittorio; L'encyclopedie Storico Nobiliare (Barbaro); Milano, 1932; pp.275-278
- ^ ""The Patriarchate of Aquileia"". Retrieved 2007-10-07.
- ^ ""Ca' Barbaro" (Italian)". Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ Spretti, Vittorio; L'encyclopedie Storico Nobiliaire (Barbaro); Milano, 1932; pp.275-278
- ^ The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto, Jonathan Buckley, Rough Guides, 2004, pg.165
- ^ Tafuri, Manfredo, Venice and the Renaissance, trans. Jessica Levine (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989). ISBN 0262700549
- ^ Astrid Zenkert, Tintoretto in Der Scuola di San Rocco, Ensemble un Wirkung, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tubingen 2003. ISBN 3-8030-1918-4.
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