Antonio Barbaro (1627-1678) “The Baroque in central Europe: places, architecture and art”, Manlio Brusatin; Gilberto Pizzamiglio; Gottfried Biedermann; Mark Smith; et al., Venice, Marsillio, 1992, pg. 30

/ref>,son of Marc'Antonio,“Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana, Volume 7”, Vittorio Spreti, Arnaldo Forni, 1981, pg. 27

/ref>was a Republic of Venice, Venetian general and governor, a member of the patrician

Barbaro family The Barbaro family () was a Patricianship, patrician family of Venice. They were wealthy and influential and owned large estates in the Veneto above Treviso.Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance & Mannerist art, Volume 1', Jane Turner, New York, 20 ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

(now

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

), who held positions in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Barbaro lived at a time when Venice had a maritime empire in the Mediterranean. Barbaro served in Candia (now

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

during the long-lasting

Siege of Candia The siege of Candia (now Heraklion, Crete) was a military conflict in which Ottoman forces besieged the Venetian-ruled capital city of the Kingdom of Candia. It lasted from 1648 to 1669 (a total of 21 years) and is one of the longest sieges in ...

. He was

Captain of the Gulf The Captain of the Gulf (; ) was a senior naval command of the Republic of Venice. The post was established around 1330, when a squadron of ships was set up to patrol the "Gulf of Venice" (as the Adriatic Sea was known to the Venetians) and provid ...

from 1655 to 1656, and in 1667 he became ''

Provveditore generale di Candia The Realm or Kingdom of Candia (; ; ) or Duchy of Candia (; ; ) was the official name of Crete during the island's period as an Stato da Màr, overseas colony of the Republic of Venice, from the initial Venetian conquest in 1205–1212 to its fal ...

''. Barbaro also served in the Balkans; from 1670 he became the ''provveditore generale'' of

Venetian Dalmatia Venetian Dalmatia () refers to the territories of Dalmatia under the rule of the Republic of Venice, mainly from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Dalmatia was first sold to Venice in 1409 but Venetian Dalmatia was not fully consolidated until 1420, ...

and

Venetian Albania Venetian Albania (, , , , ) was the official term for several possessions of the Republic of Venice in the southeastern Adriatic, encompassing coastal territories primarily in present-day southern Montenegro and partially in northern Albania. Se ...

. He was

Provveditore The Italian title ''prov ditore'' (plural ''provveditori''; also known in ; ), "he who sees to things" ( overseer), was the style of various (but not all) local district governors in the extensive, mainly maritime empire of the Republic of Venice. ...

general of

Zara Zara may refer to: Businesses * Zara (retailer), a fashion retail company based in Spain * Zara Investment Holding, a Jordanian holding company * Continental Hotel Zara, Budapest, Hungary People and fictional characters * Zara (name), primari ...

from 1670 to 1672. Antonio Barbaro was Podesta of Padua in 1672. “Rivista, Volume 1”, Collegio araldico, 1903, pg. 36

/ref> In 1676 he served as a ambassador to Rome. He also served as Proveditor general of an army against the Uscocchi, Captain in the

Battle of the Dardanelles Battle of the Dardanelles may refer to: During the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1645–1669: * Battle of the Dardanelles (1654), Ottoman victory led by Kara Murad Pasha over the Venetian armada * Battle of the Dardanelles (1655), Venetian victory led ...

, and conquered

Legacy

When Barbaro died in 1678, he left 30,000

ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...

s for the rebuilding of the church of

Santa Maria Zobenigo The Chiesa di Santa Maria del Giglio is a church in Venice, Italy. The church, whose name translates into ''St. Mary of the Lily'' referring to the flower classically depicted as being presented by the Angel Gabriel during the Annunciation), is m ...

, also known as the Santa Maria de Giglio, in Venice. This was done according precise specifications listed in an attachment to Barbaro's will, which also notes that the church is in a good position 'to speak directly to Ca' Morosini'. The church was originally built around 900 by the Zubenigo family, who died out in 1124. It was rebuilt in a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style by

Giuseppe Sardi Giuseppe Sardi (1680 – documented until 1768) was an italians, Italian architect active in Rome. He was born at Sant'Angelo in Vado, Marche which was then part of the Papal States. Known primarily for his church of Santa Maria del Rosario in ...

between 1678 and 1680.“The companion guide to Venice”, Hugh Honour, New York, Harper & Row, 1966, pg. 18

/ref> The

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

shows has

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s with plans for the cities

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

Candia The name Candia can refer to: People * The House of Candia, a noble family from Savoy (14th-16th) * Alfredo Ovando Candía, 56th president of Bolivia * Antoinette Candia-Bailey, American academic administrator * Cecilia Maria de Candia, British-It ...

, Spalatro, and

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

; all places where Barbaro or his brothers held civil or military appointments. Another series of bas-reliefs above the first portray the six naval battles in which the brothers participated. These maps predate the official Venetian cartographic commission of

Vincenzo Coronelli Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (August 16, 1650 – December 9, 1718) was an Italian Franciscan friar, cosmographer, cartographer, publisher, and encyclopedist known in particular for his atlases and globes. He spent most of his life in Venice. Biog ...

by almost a decade. A statue of Antonio Barbaro is in the middle of the façade. It was damaged by lighning in 1759. Statues of Antonio Barbaro's four brothers flank his, two on each side. . Other statues portray

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

figures of

Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...

Honor Honour ( Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as val ...

Virtue A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...

, and

Wisdom Wisdom, also known as sapience, is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, and good judgment to navigate life’s complexities. It is often associated with insight, discernment, and ethics in decision-making. Throughout history, wisdom ha ...

. “The Baroque in central Europe: places, architecture and art”, Manlio Brusatin; Gilberto Pizzamiglio; Gottfried Biedermann; Mark Smith; et al., Venice, Marsillio, 1992, pg. 306

/ref> All of the statues are probably the work of

Josse de Corte 250px, ''Queen of Heaven expelling the Plague'', Main altar, Salute Josse de Corte (1627–1679) was a Baroque Flemish sculptor, born in Ypres, but mainly active in Venice after 1657. History He is also known as ''Giusto Le Court'' ''Giusto Cor ...

. The Barbaro coat of arms, as well as the four

cardinal virtues The cardinal virtues are four virtues of mind and character in classical philosophy. They are prudence, Justice (virtue), justice, Courage, fortitude, and Temperance (virtue), temperance. They form a Virtue ethics, virtue theory of ethics. The t ...

are also depicted. There are no Christian symbols on the façade.

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

condemned the façade as “a manifestation of insolent atheism”.“Views of Venice”, Antonio Canaletto, Antonio Visentini, J. G. Links, Dover Publications, 1971, pg. 7

ISBN 0486226271 and thought that the poverty of the last members of the Barbaro family was justice for the family having rebuilt the Church as a monument to themselves. Barbaro was praised by Gabriele d'Annunzio during his declaration in Zara in 1918.

Bibliography

* ''Decisione degli auditori nuovi alle sentenze di Venezia''. 1693 maggio 28, Venezia Decisione di Antonio Barbaro, Benedetto Zorzi ed Alvise Gritti, auditori nuovi alle sentenze di Venezia sulla sentenza emessa da Alvise Priuli, capitano di Bergamo, a favore del marchese Gaspare Giacinto Martinengo fu Gherardo e contro la comunità di Calcinate, per l'elezione a canevaro, camparo e tesoriere del comune. * Michaela Marangoni: ''Una famiglia veneziana nella storia: i Barbaro; atte del Convegno di Studi in Occasione del Quinto Centenario della Morte dell'Umanista Ermolao''; Venezia, 4 - 6 novembre 1993. Venezia, 1996 * A. Miculian: ''Copia dei Capitoli già stabiliti dall’ Ill. mo et ecc. mo Sig.r Antonio Barbaro Prov.re Gnal in Dalmatia, et Albania per gl’Haiduci''

References

1627 births 1679 deaths

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top ...

Republic of Venice military personnel Venetian governors 17th-century Italian military personnel Provveditori Generali di Dalmazia {{Italy-mil-bio-stub