Palazzo Grimani at Santa Maria Formosa differs sharply from the Gothic palaces lining the Grand Canal. The Grimani family transformed an older house during the sixteenth century into a residence inspired by Roman architecture, with a monumental courtyard, classical proportions, stucco and fresco. Vettore and Giovanni Grimani drove the decoration from the 1530s.
Giovanni, Patriarch of Aquileia, assembled an important collection of Greek and Roman sculpture. In 1587 he donated much of it to the Venetian Republic, where it became foundational to the public Statuario della Repubblica and the later National Archaeological Museum. The palace’s Tribuna was designed as an architectural setting for antiquities rather than a neutral gallery.
