`vēəs), fl...... Click the link for more information. , a description of practical systems of design and proportioning. This famous work, I quattro libri dell'architectura (1570, tr. The Four Books of Architecture, 1716), was reissued many times.
His buildings, chiefly town palaces and villas, were executed mostly in Vicenza and its vicinity. Usually they were made of humble materials that contrasted with their formal classicism. Palladio's first important work (begun 1549) was to rebuild the medieval town hall, the basilica at Vicenza. He designed arches supported on minor columns and framed between larger engaged columns. Each of these arch-and-column compositions formed what is termed a "Palladian motif" and was much imitated. The characteristic facade of many of Palladio's country houses displayed the classic temple front—superimposed pilasters or columns or often a colossal order two stories in height and supported by a rusticated ground story. Generally in his buildings he systematized the ground plan, designing a central hall around which other rooms were grouped in absolute symmetry. Among his best-known houses (built in the 1550s and 1560s) are the Villa Rotonda (overlooking Vicenza), the Chiericati Palace and the Valmarana Palace (both: Vicenza), and the Villa Barbaro (Maser). At Venice he adapted the classical motif to three church facades, in his designs for San Francesco della Vigna, San Giorgio Maggiore, and Il Redentore. Just before his death Palladio planned the Teatro Olimpico, in which he incorporated a permanent scenic background, built in architectural perspective.
Reviving and redesigning the ancient Roman villa for a new humanist age, Palladio set the vocabulary of architectural pattern, proportion, and ornament for much of Western domestic architecture for centuries to come. His books and buildings exerted an unparalleled influence on European and American architecture. In the 17th cent., Inigo Jones Jones, Inigo (ĭn`ĭgō'), 1573–1652, one of England's first great architects.
..... Click the link for more information. imported Palladio's classic grandeur of design into England and profoundly influenced the course of English architecture. Subsequently, William Kent Kent, William, 1685–1748, English landscape gardener, architect, and painter. A minor painter, Kent made ceiling decorations for Kensington Palace. He greatly influenced landscape gardening by changing the prevailing artificial style to one based more closely
..... Click the link for more information. , Colin Campbell Campbell, Colin, d. 1729, Scottish architect, who, in England, became one of the initiators of the Neo-Palladian movement. Campbell's most important contribution to this revival of classicizing architecture was his publication of Vitruvius Britannicus (3 vol.
..... Click the link for more information. , Sir Christopher Wren Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford.
..... Click the link for more information. , Sir William Chambers Chambers, Sir William, 1723–96, English architect, b. Gothenburg, Sweden. He traveled extensively in the East Indies and in China making drawings of gardens and buildings, many of which were later published.
..... Click the link for more information. , and others created a great body of works termed Palladian. In the United States his influence can be seen in the manor houses of southern plantations, e.g., Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Monticello (mŏn'tĭsĕl`ō, –chĕl`ō) [Ital.,=little mountain], estate, 640 acres (259 hectares), central Va.
..... Click the link for more information. .
Bibliography
See R. Wittkower, Palladio and Palladianism (1974); J. Ackerman, Palladio (2d ed. 1977); W. Rybczynski, The Perfect House (2002).
Palladio, Andrea
orig. Andrea di Pietro della Gondola(born Nov. 30, 1508, Padua, Republic of Venice—died August 1580, Vicenza) Italian architect. While a young mason, he was noticed by an Italian scholar and soon found himself studying mathematics, music, philosophy, and Classical authors. From 1541 he made several trips to Rome to study ancient ruins. His first palace design, the Palazzo Civena (1540–46), was innovative for its use of an arcaded area behind the main elevation, in imitation of a Roman forum. In his villas, Palladio tried to re-create the Roman villa based on ancient descriptions. His first, Villa Godi at Lonedo (c. 1540–42), contained elements for which he is famous, including symmetrical wings and a walled court. His most widely copied villa was the Villa Rotonda (1550–51), near Vicenza. Palladio was the first to systematize the plan of a house and to use the ancient Greco-Roman temple front as a portico. His reconstruction of the Basilica (town hall) in Vicenza (begun 1549) employs a two-story arcade with a motif that came to be known as Palladian: rounded arches flanked by rectangular openings. His facades for San Francesco della Vigna (c. 1565), San Giorgio Maggiore (begun 1566), and Il Redentore (begun 1576), all in Venice, became prototypes for attaching Classical temple fronts to basilican churches. Though Palladio absorbed contemporary Mannerist motifs, his plans and elevations always retained a repose and order not associated with Mannerist architecture. His Four Books of Architecture was possibly the most influential architectural pattern book ever printed. His influence climaxed during the 18th-century Classical Revival; the resulting Palladianism spread through Europe and the U.S.
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