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• Biography

 

• Early Life and Training

 

• Projects

   

   â€¢ Palladian Villa Design

   â€¢ Church Architecture

 

• Palladianism

 

• Famous Buildings

Andrea Palladio transformed architecture in the Western world

Biography
  • Andrea Palladio is one of the giants of the Renaissance architecture of the 16th century. He is regarded as one of the greatest architects in the history of Western art, best known for his villas, as well as his palaces and churches, all located within the Venetian Republic.
  • His architectural theories were laid out in his treatise Quattro Libri dell Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture), which had an impact on building design throughout Europe and America.
  • His style of architecture - a blend of Greek values, Roman traditions and Renaissance art, later known as Palladianism - accorded the greatest priority to maintaining symmetry, perspective and overall harmony.
Early Life and Training
  • Born Andrea Di Pietro della Gondola in Padua in 1508, the son of a miller, Andrea Palladio was lucky to be young enough to be unaffected by the warfare which struck the Veneto in the early years of 1500.
  • Only a series of courageous military efforts enabled the Republic to regain its political viability. In that time in Padua, Palladio trained as a stone mason in the workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano.
  • At the age of 16 he moved to Vicenza, where he settled for much of his life. He became a pupil in the busy Pedemuro workshop, which specialized in stonecutting, and joined the local guild of stonemasons. His particular specialty was the carving of monuments and decorative sculpture.
Projects
  • Every building Palladio designed, from a simple farmhouse to his grand monastic churches such as San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, was a gem, Designed inside and out according to a sophisticated play of perfect geometry, Handsomely crafted, imaginatively sited and bringing the best of classical Roman architecture up to date, his buildings had a profound influence on architecture worldwide.
Famous Buildings
Among the many surviving buildings designed by Palladio, several of which were popular sights on the European Grand Tour (c.1650-1850), are the following:
- Villa Pisani (1544) Bagnolo.
- Villa Polana (1545-50) Maggiore, Vicenza.
- Palazzo Chiericati (1550) Vancimuglio di Grumolo delle Abbadesse, Veneto.
- Villa Cornaro (1552-54) Piombino Dese, Treviso.
- Palazzo Iseppo Porto (1552) Vicenza.
- Villa Barbaro (1554) Maser.
- Palazzo Antonini (1556) Udine.
- Villa Foscari (La Malcontenta) (1558-60) Mira, near Venice.
- Villa Cagollo (1565) Vicenza.
- Villa Capra (La Rotunda) (1566-91) Vicenza.
- Church of San Pietro di Castello (1558) Venice.
- Church of San Giorgio Maggiore (1562-1610) Venice.
- Church of San Francesco della Vigna (1562) Venice.
- Church of Il Redentore (1577-92) Venice.

Andrea Palladio

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Church of San Giorgio Maggiore
villa foscari
PaLladianism
Palladianism is a style based on the designs of the 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). Palladio was inspired by the buildings of ancient Rome. In turn, British designers drew on Palladio's work to create a Classical British style. Palladian exteriors were plain and based on rules of proportion. By contrast, the interiors were richly decorated. Palladianism was fashionable from about 1715 to 1760.

People

William Kent (1685 - 1748)

William Kent trained as a painter, but his true talents lay in other directions. While studying in Italy he met Lord Burlington and on his return to Britain in 1720 became Burlington's assistant and protégé. He worked initially as an interior decorator, in which capacity he designed much of the furniture and interiors for Burlington's villa, Chiswick House. He subsequently worked on many large country houses first on interior decoration and then on architecture and garden design.

 

Lord Burlington (1694 - 1753)

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington was an architect and enthusiastic promoter of Palladianism and was influential in establishing it as a new national style. He studied the buildings of Andrea Palladio at first hand in Italy, and had a collection of designs by both Palladio and Inigo Jones. He designed Chiswick House as an addition to his country estate. It was based on a villa designed by Palladio.

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Characteristics

Columns

Columns with acanthus leaf capitals at the top (called 'Corinthian') are characteristic of Palladian design.

 

Scallop shells

Scallop shells are a typical motif in Greek and Roman art. The shell is a symbol of the Roman goddess Venus, who was born of the sea, from a shell.

 

Pediments

Pediments were used over doors and windows on the outside of buildings. They are also found over inside doors. The design of objects in the Palladian style often incorporates this sort of architectural element.

 

Symmetry

Palladian design tends to be highly symmetrical. This means that when a line is drawn down the middle, each side is a mirror image of the other. Symmetry and balance were important in the ancient Greek and Roman architecture that inspired Palladianism.

 

Masks

Masks are faces used as a decorative motif. They are based on examples from ancient Greek and Roman art.

 

Terms

Terms are based on free-standing stones representing the Roman god, Terminus. They consist of a head and upper torso, often just the shoulders, on top of a pillar and were originally used as boundary markers.

Buildings

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