page_title: Procuratie
section_title: Façade
hierarchical_section_title: Procuratie / Procuratie Nuove / Architecture / Façade
caption_attribution_description: English: Juncture between the Biblioteca Marciana and the Procuratie Nuove, showing Scamozzi's shorter frieze.
context_page_description: The Procuratie are three connected buildings along the perimeter of Saint Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. Two of the buildings, the Procuratie Vecchie and the Procuratie Nuove, were constructed by the procurators of Saint Mark, the second-highest dignitaries in the government of the Republic of Venice, who were charged with administering the treasury of the Church of Saint Mark as well as the financial affairs of state wards and trust funds established on behalf of religious and charitable institutions.
  The Procuratie Vecchie on the northern side of the square was built during the War of the League of Cambrai in the early sixteenth century to replace an earlier structure, damaged by fire. Although the war imposed financial constraints and limited innovation, it was nevertheless the first major public building in Venice to be erected in a purely classical style. It always contained apartments that were rented by the procurators as a source of revenue to finance building projects and repairs. Rental income was significant, given the prestige of the location.
context_section_description: For the first two floors, Scamozzi was obliged to continue Sansovino's design for the library. But in his architectural treatise L’Idea dell’Architettura Universale (The Idea of a Universal Architecture), he is highly critical of Sansovino's entablatures, which he states are excessive in height with respect to the columns. The arches are consequently said to be dwarfed and ill-proportioned. In the Procuratie Nuove, Scamozzi, a rigid classicist, corrects the 'error' by reducing the height of the Ionic frieze, without, however, successfully resolving the problem of transitioning between the two buildings.
  In Sansovino's library, the ground floor  consists in a series of Doric columns, supporting an entablature, that is superimposed on an arcade. The ancient prototypes are the Theatre of Marcellus and the Colosseum in Rome. Similarly, on the upper floor of the library, a row of large Ionic columns is superimposed on a series of Serlians. Scamozzi, while acknowledging the existence of both Roman and Renaissance precedents, was critical of such layering. In his design for the additional floor of the Procuratie Nuove, the series of Corinthian columns rests against a simple wall. As a result, the third level lacks the deep recesses and the strong chiaroscuro effect of the lower floors.
  The wall between the Corinthian columns is pierced with rectangular aedicule windows, topped by alternating curvilinear and triangular tympanums. The solution of the alternating tympanums had been employed by both Bramante and Raphael for residential architecture and by Palladio for Palazzo Porto and Palazzo Chiericati. Palladio also proposed the combination in his design for the rebuilding of the Doge's Palace after the fire of 1577, which may have been the immediate source for Scamozzi. The ancient prototype is the Pantheon where the altars alternate around the perimeter, in pairs, with curvilinear and triangular pediments. Scamozzi's design for the upper floor included elaborate carvings and reclining figures atop the tympanums. But these were eliminated from the design by Smeraldi and exist only above the first ten windows, completed during Scamozzi's superintendence.
caption: The juncture between the Ionic entablature of Sansovino's library (left) and the 'corrected' entablature of Scamozzi's Procuratie Nuove (right)
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