Taylor Speer-Sims
July 18, 2012
Palladio’s Country Palaces
Andrea
Palladio learned the art of architecture from the ground up beginning his
career as a stonemason. Here he learned how to stones were hewn to perfect
right angles, which had been beneficial to him when he began building large
villas and palazzos. Palladio studied ancient Roman architecture like no other
architect had before him. He discovered that the art of versatility in design,
formatting and use. There had been other brilliant architects during the
Renaissance. However, none were able to design like Palladio. No other famous
architect of the Renaissance had been able to change the design of the house to
suit the property due to its environment.
Andrea Palladio
was one of history’s most influential architects for the nobility of the west.
Born in Padua in 1508 he had been named Andrea di Pietro della Gondola. Palladio’s father, who had been a miller and
had wanted more for his son, apprenticed him out as a stonemason.[1]
Palladio broke his contract after only 18 months at thirteen years of age by
running off to Vicenza to basically do the same thing.[2] Palladio worked as a stonemason for the
famous workshop of Pedimuro in Vicenza until he was thirty years old. Palladio
created portals, funerary monuments and alters in the style of Sanmicheli. It
is here where he, assumably, began to experiment in the profession of
draughtsman.[3]
At this time he
became the assistant architect for the home of Gian Giorgio Trissino, who had
been a leading humanist scholar of the time.[4]
Here Palladio learned classical studies, including classical literature and
architecture. Under Trissino, Palladio met many of the people that later became
his patrons. Here, too, had been where he had received the name that has
followed him throughout history. The name of the great architect became Andrea
Palladio after a character in Trissino’s epic poem “L’Italia Liberata dai
Goti”. [5]
The heroic epics
had been a fashion from antiquity that had found a new sense of being in the
Renaissance. Trissino had been one very famous poet that brought the idea of
heroic deeds to life through his words. The poem that Palladio had been named
after had been a fitting because it described “a classicizing palatial
courtyard, expatiating on the proportions and details of its classical
columns.”[6] 6 Both Trissino and Palladio had both
been interested in palazzos forms from ancient Rome, so to have been named such
after a character that romped in such an ancient styled courtyard, had
certainly been fitting.
Renaissance art
had also found itself a new love in the ancient world of Rome. Humanist
interest in the Greeks and Romans brought interest in education and moral
responsibility. They also had a belief in individual potential and even
encouraged individual achievement.[7] The artist, whether painter or sculptor, had
a concern with “developing perspectival systems and depicting anatomy
accurately…”[8] Forms and
formulations had begun to take hold to create the perfect balance. The Humanist
artist brought the ancient art into the contemporary world because it had been
lost somehow in the medieval period.[9]
Ancient Rome had
plenty of villas and palaces for the Renaissance architects to study. Vitruvius
described three fundamental constituents of all architecture from the antiquity
that followed through the Middle Ages. This treatise stated that the colonnade
originated from the columns from the wooden posts that held up the construction
of the basic hut of primitive man. The Doric order imitated the “proportion of
a man’s body, its strength and grace, the Ionic feminine slenderness, and the
Corinthian the slight dimensions of a virgin girl.”[10] Later the Tuscan order and Italian
(also called Composite) came into use.[11]
The ideals of the
styles of ancient architecture had been thought to have been relational to the
structure from which it originated. Body types were represented by orders, and
pagan gods.[12] Churches
popped up everywhere in Italy after the year 1,000 AD. There had been no
drastic style changes, even with this great building of new worship houses.
Byzantine and Romanesque style had still been the popular building
characteristics until the Gothic style came into vogue. This, however, had
remained more popular in the north than in Polladio’s native Italy.[13]
Interestingly
there had been slight changes to housing, some with severe exteriors, high
gothic exteriors with fancy tracery and fortifications.[14]
Palazzo Medici had been one palazzo that had been set in a pattern with
rigidity and sobriety to create a sense of the forbidden.[15] The Palazzo Loredan-Vendramin was created in
an Italianate style, yet the top two floors had double-arched windows with a
circle window sitting in the abutment. Small gothic tracery was set in the
windows to resemble the quatrefoils of the Northern Gothic.[16]
The Palazzo Venzia had been conceived for the Pope’s palace.[17]
This was a veritable fortress style
palace that resembled an Italian castle of the Middle Ages. There had
been no fear of attach from marauders, so there had been many more windows than
the older citadels that had been actual strongholds. Towers had acquired an
association with luxury during the Middle Ages, and this lasted into the
Renaissance for many architects.[18]
Luxury was what
all of the Renaissance architects had wanted for his wealthy clients. Bramante
had not been an exception. He came to Rome at the when the Pope had plunged the
papal state into the worst crises that it had gone through. He had commissions
almost immediately to revitalize many of the churches. He also received a
contract to reconstruct the old Roman
residence, for Aurelio Caprini, who had been a curial official. This was later
to be named Palazzo Caprini. This was to have been a two-story palace due to
the latest papal decree on ostentation. However, Bramante still added the third
story to accommodate the Italianate trend of palaces. And, because his patron
could not acquire the necessary property to create the full size, Bramante
built the palazzo as a fragmentary piece.[19]
Even though a master architect, Bramante tried to fulfill his original design,
based on the old Roman palace without changing the size of the building even
though there had been considerably less land to build on.
Raphael had also
been interested in beautiful real estate. The son of the Duke of Urbino’s court
painter, Giovanni Santi. Raphael grew up in Urbino’s court, and had unequivocal
access to not only paintings, but also architectural drawings. Apprenticed to
Perugino, Raphael became the prized student. Here he learned about to use halls
with vaulted ceilings. And, he used the ducal palace of Urbino for his basis on
loggias and upper stories of his creations.[20]
Michelangelo had
been a force to be reckoned with when he decided to turn to architecture. The
three palazzos, Palazzo dei Senatori, Palazzo dei Censervatori and the Piazza
del Campidoglio were built within an old Roman square. The Piazza del
Campidoglio had been in “dismal condition” when he received the commission.[21]
The Palazzo dei Censervatori had fallen into ruins, yet he had been able to
recreate the structure using “giant Corinthian Order[s]”.[22]
He used his own signature systematic style of the flat roof for all three of
the palazzos.[23]
Two examples of
Michele Sanmicheli’s palazzos indicate that not even another great stonemason
had the foresight to work out of the standardization practices. Just as
Palladio, Sanmicheli had been a stonemason for many years before his foray into
the architectural field. Palazzo Canossa followed the same interior layout as
Palazzo Pucci. The sequence of vestibulum, atrium, peristylium, and cavaedium
remained, along with the inclusion of the courtyard that extended to the
riverbank.
This religious
following of plans had been true to the point of detriment to the balance of
symmetry to Palazzo Bevilacqua. The Palazzo’s designs had originally consisted
of eleven bays with the entrance at the center of the building. However, for
some unknown reason, the construction fell short, most probably due to
patrician funding before construction began.[24]
The palazzo had been completed with only seven bays, with the entrance door set
in an unusually placed, almost far left with one bay to it’s side, and with
five to its other. So, this author assumes that this idea of knowing before the
construction began that there had not been enough money to complete as
designed, was most probably due to the fact that besides the asymmetry, the
palazzo had been finished off perfectly.
Symmetry had been
one of the ideals of the Renaissance artist, including the architects. So had
studying the ancient Roman villas and palaces. Trissino had even drawn designs
of Vitruvius’s Roman house and also tried reconstruct it himself.[25]
The Renaissance friendship ideals had been an obligation to elevate and assist
the friend in all enterprises, whether for profit or not.[26]
Therefore, Trissino not only wanted his friend Palladio to build his palazzo,
he sent him to study Roman buildings.[27]
In 1538, after
taking a tour to Rome for Ancient Roman and early Renaissance works, Palladio
undertook his first formal commission. This had been as the principal architect
at Villa Godi. Not until 1560 did the great architect received his first
commission within Venice, even though he had been designing villas outside the
area for the past decade.[28]
He started by copying other people’s survey drawings of ancient Roman
buildings, then redrew them to his specifications. He, like many others,
believed that the Romans had superior architecture.[29]
Palladio also had
his own drawings of Roman and Byzantine buildings that he used. He created Four
Books on Architecture that included many, many illustrations of ancient
works. He “began to measure all their parts minutely and with the greatest
care” and included each detail within his books.[30]
His copious notes had been fundamental to his success. But it was his ability
to innovate his designs to match the local that had been his real genius.
Another brilliant
point was that Palladio used the idea of orthogonal projection for his villas
and palazzos. This idea of moving right angles into different positions created
an easier way to transform the ideal Roman concrete into a building of bricks.[31]
Indeed, this may have been what made Palladio into a god among amateurs. Perhaps
the other architects were just not able to understand the idea of the
orthographic. So, it was only Palladio that had been able to grasp the idea of
symmetry by lessoning, which would have been a geometry equation. Being a
stonemason and cutting right angles for many years, may have allowed Palladio
the understanding that the other architects of his day, with the exception of
Sanmicheli, could not.
Another
point that Palladio had noticed was that the Romans had been flexible. He noted
in his books that they had different types of ornaments, variations in
function, design, and scheme. He had been novel in this idea, in fact. Serlio
and Vignola had noted that the Romans had rules for their architecture.[32]
With his greater study of flexibility of the Roman architecture, Palladio would
have had another added advantage in being able to transform palazzos and
loggias from the original drawn design into a resembled reality because of its
surroundings.
Loggias had been
the direct descendents of the medieval castle but had little martial use by the
sixteenth century.[33]
Having prominent windows on the ground floor was one point that changed the
ideal from warfare to sumptuousness. Palladio understood this when he designed
Villa Trissino at Cricoli.[34]
He designed a Roman townhouse in between two medieval building towers. He even
used a medieval ruin as the base of one of his designs, Villa Badoer.[35]
Both villas showed Palladios individual style and ability to progress through
different location requirements.
Villa Pisani had
its origins in two different Palladio designs. Also, the patron had decided to
enlarge the palazzo after construction had begun. Palladio was able to change
the design of the building without having to even create a new drawing. The
loggia had been jettisoned, and the roofline was changed at a very late stage.[36]
The other architects most probably would have added additions without enlarging
the rooms, like Palladio had.
Also, the
constructed villa had treated the house as a “nucleus” for the other buildings.
Palladio used the streets to the benefit of the palazzo, which had never been
done before. He created bridges over the streets to the servant’s wings in an
aesthetically pleasing manner.[37]
The villa had been built very close to the town moat to accommodate the house
site. While this may at times not have had the best aroma, this site
arrangement had certainly been accommodating to reaching the highest concession
possible.[38] This author
does not believe that any of the other architects would have had the insight to
have been able to adjust their original plans to the degree that Palladio had.
Palladio had
decades of experience as a stonemason. With this time he had working knowledge
of right angles. This background was just one reason that he had surpassed the
other architects of the Renaissance. He had been exposed to other learning
through Trissino, and had studied Roman architecture to an extent that had not
been seen before. Palladio discovered that the Romans had been very adaptable,
while the other designers were not able to see that point. Bramante, Raphael,
Michelangelo, and even Sanmicheli, were unable to change a design once it had
been set to paper. It was only the great Palladio that had been able to change
the building to suit the environment on which the great villa palazzos had
stood.
Bibliography:
Boucher, Bruce. Andrea Palladio: The Architect in his
Time. New York: Abbeville Press,
1998.
Frommel, Christoph Luitpold. The Architecture of the
Italian Renaissance. London: Thames
& Hudson Ltd., 2007.
Gable,
C. I. “Andrea Palladio [Andrea di
Pietro della Gondola]”. Boglewood.com, 1999.
http://www.boglewood.com/cornaro/xpalladio.html
(accessed June 15, 2012).
Hines, Charles and Irena Murray. Palladio and his Legacy:
A Transatlantic Journey.
Pittsburgh, PA: The Heinz
Architectural Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, 2011.
Honour, Hugh and John Fleming, The Visual Arts: A
History, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1986
Kent, Dale. Friendship, Love, and Trust in Renaissance
Florence. (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 2009
Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global
History, Vol. 1, 13th Ed. Boston,
MA: Thomson Higher Education, 2009.
Palladio,
Andrea. “The First Book on Architecture”
1570 quoted in Four Books on
Architecture. (Cambridge, MA: MIT
University Press, 1997.), 5.
http://books.google.com/books?id=BNBva2kKm0wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
(accessed July 22, 2012).
Petrarch, Francis. “To Posterity” Ca. 1371-1372. in
“Familiar Letters” Hanover Historical
Texts Project. 2000.
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/petrarch/pet01.html. (accessed June 29, 2012).
Ruehring,
Lauren Mitchell . “Michelangelo Buildings.” Howstuffworks. 2012.
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/michelangelo-buildings8.htm.
(accessed July 20, 2012).
Originally written for class at American Military University.
[1]Christoph Luitpold Frommel, The Architecture of the
Italian Renaissance. (London: Thames
& Hudson Ltd., 2007). 201.
[2] C. I.
Gable. “Andrea Palladio [Andrea di Pietro
della Gondola]”. Boglewood.com, 1999.
http://www.boglewood.com/cornaro/xpalladio.html (accessed June 15, 2012).
[3] Frommel.
[4] Gable.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Fred S.
Kleiner, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History, Vol. 1, 13th
Ed. (Boston, MA: Thomson Higher Education, 2009.), 541.
[8] Ibid, 542.
[9] Gary Grimm.
Personal communication with author. June 15, 2012. Forum reply to author “Humanism According to Petrarch”. June 14. 2012. American Military University.
https://edge.apus.edu/xsl-portal/site/200299/page/f222e5ef-be3a-41d9-8b3b-6754b1b4213a.
(accessed July 20, 2012).
[10] Vetruvius
in Frommel.
[11] Frommel, 9.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Hugh Honour
and John Fleming, The Visual Arts: A History, 2nd ed..
(Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1986.), 288, 289, 333.
[14] Ibid,
343-344; Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country House. (London: Yale
University Press, 1978), 68.
[15] Honour,
343.
[16] Frommel,
89.
[17] Ibid, 52.
[18] Girouard,
69.
[19] Frommel,
20.
[20] Ibid, 114-115.
[21] Lauren
Mitchell Ruehring. “Michelangelo Buildings.” Howstuffworks. 2012.
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/michelangelo-buildings8.htm.
(accessed July 20, 2012).
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Frommel,
158-159.
[25] Ibid, 201.
[26] Dale Kent. Friendship, Love, and Trust in
Renaissance Florence. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009.), 32.
[27] Charles Hines and Irena
Murray. Palladio and his Legacy: A Transatlantic Journey.
(Pittsburgh, PA: The Heinz Architectural Center,
Carnegie Museum of Art, 2011.), 11.
[28] Frommel, 9.
[29] Hines.
[30] Andrea
Palladio. “The First Book on Architecture”
1570 quoted in Four Books on Architecture. (Cambridge, MA: MIT
University Press, 1997.), 5.
http://books.google.com/books?id=BNBva2kKm0wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
(accessed July 22, 2012).
[31] Hines.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Girouard.
[34] Bruce Boucher. Andrea
Palladio: The Architect in his Time. (New York: Abbeville Press,
1998.), 19.
[35] Ibid, 127.
[36] Ibid, 76.
[37] Ibid, 117.
[38] Ibid, 118.
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