Le Palais Pisani à Santo Stefano et Napoléon Bonaparte

Seats entrance hall

So the doorman at Palazzo Pisani was completely unaware of the name Leopold Robert, who was a stranger to him.

But he intelligently resumed: “Signora, there are several painters here who will give you more information than I can.”

And he offered to guide me around this immense palace.

We first pass through a courtyard with a cistern in the middle and a gallery around it adorned with all the busts of the Pisani; young women with coquettish eyes and smiling faces, haughty and serious warriors and magistrates; then a second courtyard adorned with mediocre statues, forming a grandiose decoration; finally a peristyle with columns overlooking an alley leading to the grand canal.


The view of Campo Santo Stefano It was through this passageway, draped in precious fabrics, that Napoleon I entered the Palazzo Pisani to attend a party that is still talked about in Venice.

On the left, I climb a magnificent staircase where statues abound.

Some have lost an arm, others a nose; the loves that used to frolic on the wall have had their heads or wings broken.

All these grey or powdery figures seem to look piteously at each other, humbled by the destruction and silence that surround them.

I arrive at a suspended gallery, which circulates around the immense ballroom where Napoleon sat.

I consider for a moment the mythological frescoes on the ceiling; then I ring a bell at a small door at the end of the gallery on the left: “Here, said the doorman, is the photographer's lodgings.”

And he left me at once.


Les Palais du Grand Canal de Venise Une jeune fille accorte, aux grands yeux noirs, vient m'ouvrir.

Je lui explique le but de ma visite relie me répond que son oncle me donnera avec plaisir les renseignements que je désire.

Nous traversons plusieurs grands salons à corniches dorées, dont l'un a été coupé en deux pour faire une cuisine et une salle à manger.

J'entre dans l'atelier du photographe, un beau vieillard, qui me reçoit avec aménité et qui, au nom de Léopold Robert, me répond aussitôt :

“C'est dans l'appartement qu'occupe M. Nerly, un peintre prussien, que Léopold Gobert s'est tué ; je vais vous y conduire, nous n'avons qu'un étage à monter.”


La Basilique et le Campanile de Saint-Marc Je le suis ; nous franchissons une seconde galerie, qui circule au-dessus de l'autre, autour de la même salle de bal ; nous trouvons au fond une jolie terrasse à couvert, ornée de fleurs et de rocailles.

Nous passons par une porte à gauche, et sommes introduits auprès de M. Nerly, vrai type allemand, blond, affable et doux.

Peintre d'un talent sérieux et recueilli, M. Nerly habite Venise depuis vingt ans ; il s'y est marié, et est devenu beaucoup plus Italien qu'Allemand ; il me reçoit dans son atelier, la palette à la main, et travaillant à une grande toile.

C'est dans cet atelier que Léopold Robert s'est suicidé.


Palazzi of Venice's Grand Canal It was then reached by a corridor leading to another staircase.

Léopold Robert's brother, warned one morning by an old Italian woman, who served the painter, that Léopold Robert had not called, as was his custom, and was not answering him, rushed into the corridor, forced open the studio door, and found his poor brother sitting on a trunk, his throat open.

Blood was pouring out all around him; he had taken the singular care to wipe off his razors and put them back in their case.

He made one last sign to his brother, as if to tell him that all help was useless, then he expired. »
Louise Colet - The Italy of Italians 1862

Venice Panoramic View Pisani Palace