Baldassarre Longhena (Venice 1598 - 1682) was one of Italy’s top [Baroque] architects and sculptors.

He started sculpting in his father Melchisedec’s workshop, where he met the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi and learnt about Pallladio and Sansovino’s work in Venice in the early 1600s.
In 1630 was awarded the contract for the church of Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute, his greatest work, which he built in the Baroque style with clever scenography and spatial organisation.
In 1640 he completed the Procuratie Nuove, which Scamozzi had left unfinished, then in 1641 - 1645 he built the library and staircase in the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore.
In 1656 - 1663 he worked on the Chiesa degli Scalzi and from 1670 to 1672 the facade of the Chiesa dell’Ospedaletto.

Longhena’s sense for scenography also inspired many civic buildings, including Palazzo Pesaro (begun in 1652) and Palazzo Rezzonico (begun in 1667), whose façade was later completed by the architect Giorgio Massari.

1600 - 1700 - - rev. 0.1.5