BOOKING OFFICE 

Palladio, Architect Super Partes

Details

Last Updated: Thursday, 28 February 2013 14:45

Palladio's works boast more then one record, starting with the conception of the villa in its highest architectural expression. Beyond the credits for the single art works, however, there is a constant factor that characterizes his whole curriculum: the surprising variety of clients.

This aspect concerns not only the importance of public bodies, from the town council of Vicenza to the Venetian Serenissima Republic, or the social status of private clients, among which there are noblemen and merchants, but also their political orientation. At the time, it oscillated between France and Spain on the international chess board and between Venice, Milan and the church on the national chess board (and let's not forget that on an urban level, this situation was even worse because also families had inevitably their scores to settle).

Still, Palladio worked without distinction both for ones and for the others and pleasing everyone in the name of an architecture which, because it was inspired by the ideals of classicism, aroused unreserved admiration. An architecture which looked more universal also in this respect.

This having been said, we also must acknowledge that Palladio's life was not a bed of roses. In Vicenza, for instance, he worked on commission for public works that changed the aspect of the town (just think of the Basilica on the Piazza dei Signori,)but in return he sadly had the pleasure of seeing only few of his palazzi being fully built, as these works were too ambitious for the urban families.

In Venice also a different odd phenomenon happened: Palladio's palazzi were not considered apt for the capital, maybe because they were too innovative, or more likely because they were labelled as provincial; so that's why only few Palladian churches are reflected in the Venetian lagoon.

Palladio, a Life like a Novel

Details

Last Updated: Thursday, 28 February 2013 14:45

Palladio's biography would be worth a novel or a costume film: his humble Paduan descent, the difficult beginnings in the sculpture laboratories, the encounter with the patron who introduced him to classical culture...
It is not, of course, a cloak-and-dagger-story, but the tale of an extraordinary artistic career with the background of R enaissance Italy.

Every villa and every palazzo, as well as the great Venetian churches, have their own history and a key person that testifies a moment of the architect's personal history. It would be nice to see his works in chronological order, as we can do virtually on books and on the computer. We would be amazed of how accurately they reflect the aspects of his sojourn in Rome, for instance, or of the personality of his clients.

Palladio lived in a time of great economic growth: it was the years when Venice was suffering a crisis in sea matters and was looking with renewed interest at the dominions on the mainland. He was the right man at the right place: the big Venetian families were asking for country dwellings worth their high social standings, and the families of Vicenza claimed palazzi that should soothe the inferiority complex of provincial inhabitants.
Palladio's career reached its peak in Venice and it was not by chance that he turned to religious architecture.

The last act of his career took place in Vicenza and it is almost unbelievable that its object was the most meaningful piece of architecture, the Teatro Olimpico, as if to say, "The show goes on." 

History of Andrea Palladio

Details

Last Updated: Thursday, 28 February 2013 14:45

1508
Andrea is born in Padua on 30th November, son of miller Pietro della Gondola (his surname refers to the traditional Venetian boat and to the waterways along which the mills stand).

1521
At the age of 13 Andrea is employed in the Padua sculpture laboratory owned by the stonecutter Cavazza, but the hard working conditions lead him to search for better luck.

1524
Andrea moves to Vicenza and works in the laboratory of Girolamo Pittoni and Giovanni da Porlezza, the so-called Pedemuro masters, who get the name from the town quarter where their shop stands. The young man performs those repetitive jobs which the owners usually leave to the apprentices – capitals, reliefs and trabeations, but over the years, he becomes always more independent in dealing with the architectural aspects of the orders.

1534
At 26 Andrea marries Allegradonna, daughter of the carpenter Marcantonio, who will give birth to 5 children: four sons, Leonida, Marcantonio, Orazio and Silla, and a daughter, Zenobia.

1538 c.
At about 30 his encounter with Giangiorgio Trissino takes place, the famous scholar and humanist, who understands Andrea's genius, takes a liking on him and leads him to study classical architecture; he christend the young Andrea "Palladio", which is a reference to the Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena.

1538-1543
During these five years the young Palladio, accompanied by his patron, undertakes various study trips, first around the Veneto, then to Rome and its surroundings (other trips follow until 1554). Among the monuments that impress him most is the Pantheon, with its huge hemispheric dome, which will become a characteristic feature of Palladian villas.

1542
Around his 35 years Palladio gets the first relevant job: the renovation of the palazzo of the Thiene family, which, according to the project, should take up a whole block in a very central position, along the high street of the town. Some difficulties during the work in progress hinder the execution of the front facing the town quarter San Gaetano. Later the same year, he designs the Villa Pisano in Bagnolo di Lonigo, which is a turning point in his architectural conception.

1546
At the age of 38 the public commission officially appoints Palladio architect of the city of Vicenza. His job is the renovation of the loggias of the old Palazzo della Ragione, seat of the civil authorities in the Piazza dei Signori. It is Palladio who, as a tribute to classical architecture, names it "Basilica". During the same period he designs important palazzi for the noblemen of the town.

1550
At 42 Palladio designs the Palazzo Chiericati, one of his most important architectural artworks in the Vicenza area. His ideas for this great private residence are a transition into full maturity of expression of the architect. During the same year he designs the Villa Chiericati in Vancimuglio, where he implements the façade of the ancient temples for the first time.

1552
Palladio designs the Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese and the Villa Pisani in Montagnana, which are commissioned by important Venetian families. The architect's career enters a period with more opportunities, which lead him to different places within the mainland dominions of the Serenissima and into the lagoon town itself.

1554
Palladio has one of his most important villas built, the Villa Barbaro in Maser, not far from Asolo, which will be frescoed by Paolo Veronese in 1960-61. Its construction marks the goal of an important formal evolution, with the residence and its outbuildings aligned in a unique, spectacular complex.

1556
It is the year of the "Rotonda", also known as Villa Capra, the most famous among the Palladian villas, symbol of his idea of architecture. It is not by chance that the artist puts this temple-villa on an isolated hill, with a background scenery that sums up all the elements of the Veneto countryside. During the same year the architect is among the founders of the Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza, which unites the cream of the town's culture, to promote arts and science.

1559-65
Palladio designs the famous Villa Foscari, also called "Malcontenta", along the banks of the river Brenta, commissioned by one of the most powerful Venetian families. Over the following years, once more in Venice, he gets a number of important jobs, of which the most outstanding is the church of San Giorgio Maggiore with the annexed cloister, the Chiostro dei Cipressi.

1565
Twenty years after designing the Basilica, Palladio turns his attention on the Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza again: he works on the building opposite the square, the Loggia del Capitanio; however, it will remain unfinished. This case is quite unique for an architect of his rank, because within the same scenario we find two works, next to each other, one from the years of his beginnings and one from his mature age.

1569
Palladio designs a unique work of art, the bridge in Bassano del Grappa, in which the functionality of the wooden structure, the aptest to resist the furies of the floods, meets the beauty of great visual impact.

1570
Palladio replaces Jacopo Sansovino as architect counsellor of the Venetian Republic. After being consecrated to the highest artistic levels, he publishes The Four Books of Architecture, in which he leaves his teachings to posterity.

1580
It is the year of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, one of his most suggestive works, clearly inspired by classical art. Its construction will be completed by Palladio's son Silla and by Vincenzo Scamozzi, his spiritual heir. At the age of 72, in fact, Palladio dies in Maser, during an inspection on the building site of the Tempietto, the chapel, of the Villa Barbaro.

Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) - biographical notes

Details

Last Updated: Thursday, 28 February 2013 14:44

Son of miller Pietro della Gondola and of Marta "la zota" (limping Marta), Andrea was born in Padua in 1508.
In Padua, the town of the saint, he gained his first experiences as a stonecutter in the sculpture laboratory of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano, who is said to have set particularly hard working conditions. In fact, in 1524, after one failed attempt, Palladio managed to run away to Vicenza. There he started working in the sculpture laboratory of Pedemuro San Biagio, owned by Giovanni di Giacomo da Porlezza and Girolamo Pittoni da Lumignano, who then were very famous sculptors in Vicenza.

Between 1535 and 1538 the encounter took place that would radically change his life: while working on the building site of the suburban villa in Cricolo, he met Giangiorgio Trissino, a poet and humanist who took him under his wing. He christened him Palladio and guided him through his cultural education, which was based mostly on studies of classical buildings, and took him to Rome several times.

There Andrea found himself for the first time face to face the architecture he had learnt to love, he could see the imperial monuments with his own eyes and study their materials, their building techniques, their spacial ratios. But the journeys with his patron also involved the meeting with the greats of his time: Michelangelo, Sebastiano Serlio, Giulio Romano, Bramante.

Around 1540 he started his own architecture business, with works like the Palazzo Civena in Ponte Furo (Vicenza) and the Villa Godi in Lonedo, and in 1549 an event happened which definitely consecrated him to fame: the reconstruction of the loggias of the Vicenza Basilica, which replaced the former ones from the 14th century. Palladio's project beat a definitely seasoned competition (famous names on the list were Serlio, Sansovino, Sanmicheli, Giulio Romano). Since then, the noblemen of Vicenza and Venice competed for Palladio's works.

Thus Palladio's most intense working period began, in which artworks of absolute beauty came to life: from the Palazzo Chiericati to the Villa Barbaro di Maser, from the Villa "Malcontenta" in Mira to the Venetian churches of the Redentore and of San Giorgio Maggiore to the well known Villa "Rotonda". Moreover, in 1570 Palladio published his treatise The Four Books of Architecture, the expression of his culture, his ideals and also his concrete experience. In the Seventies he worked in Venice as "proto" (overseer), as architectural consultant of the Serenissima. Between February and March 1580 the worked for the building of the Teatro Olimpico started, a building erected by request of the "Accademici Olimpici" (Andrea himself had been a co-founder of the society in 1556), to perform classic tragedies. However, before the work could be completed, Palladio passed away on 19th August 1580.