Commissioned in 1750, the Palazzo Venier was planned as a testimony to
the power and wealth of a great Venetian family, but the fortunes of the
Veniers waned during construction and the project was abandoned. Empty,
unfinished, and decaying, the building was considered an eyesore until
the early twentieth century, when it attracted and inspired three women
at key moments in their lives: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse, and
Peggy Guggenheim. Their extraordinary, acclaimed story is now available
in paperback.
Luisa Casati turned her home into an aesthete's fantasy, where she
hosted parties as extravagant and decadent as Renaissance court operas,
spending small fortunes on her own costumes in her quest to become a
"living work of art" and muse. Doris Castlerosse strove to make her mark
in London and Venice during the glamorous interwar years, hosting film
stars and royalty at glittering parties. In the postwar years, Peggy
Guggenheim turned the Palazzo into a model of modernist simplicity that
served as a home for her exquisite collection of modern art. Each vivid
life story is accompanied by previously unseen materials from family
archives, weaving an intricate history of these legendary art world
eccentrics.