This fascinating book offers the first comprehensive study in English of Baldassare Longhena (1598-1682), the indispensable architect of the Venetian Baroque. While Longhena's legacy is most visible in his iconic Madonna della Salute, the 17th-century basilica devoted to the Virgin Mary in gratitude for Venice's deliverance from the plague, and in the Pesaro and Rezzonico palaces along the Grand Canal, he created a plethora of other works over the course of a career that spanned half a century.

Andrew Hopkins's lucid and thought-provoking text considers the full span of Longhena's illustrious career, from his monumental staircases and libraries to the palaces commissioned by private patrons and his projects for Venice's Greek and Jewish communities. This lively account is accompanied by more than sixty color and 300 black-and-white photographs commissioned especially for the book. A complete list of Longhena's work is included in an appendix.