Andrea Palladio

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Andrea Palladio (November 30, 1508 – August 19, 1580), was an Italian architect, widely considered the most influential person in the history of Western architecture.

Born Andrea di Pietro della Gondola, he trained in stonework and sculpting. His talents were recognised in his early thirties by Count Giangiogino Trissino, who later gave him the name Palladio, an allusion to the Greek goddess of wisdom Pallas Athene. Thus, Palladian style is named after him; a style which adhered to classical Roman principles, similarly to styles of the Early and High Renaissance, when classical revivalism was at its peak. His architectural works have "been valued for centuries as the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony" (Watkin, D. A History of Western Architecture). Palladio designed many churches, villas, and palaces, especially in Venice and the surrounding area. A number of his works are protected as part of the World Heritage Site The Palladian Villas of the Veneto.

His style became fashionable all over Europe, for example in parts of the Loire Valley of France. In Britain, Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren embraced the Palladian style. Another admirer was the architect Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork, also known as Lord Burlington, who, with William Kent, designed Chiswick House. Later exponents of his work who helped to popularize Palladio's concepts included the 18th century Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni who published an authoritative four volume work on Palladio and his architectural concepts. In a letter written by Colonel Isaac A. Coles to General Hartwell Cocke in 1816, Coles related Thomas Jefferson's admiration for Palladio: "With Mr. Jefferson I conversed at length on the subject of architecture -- Palladio, he said 'was the Bible -- you should get it and stick close to it...' "

Palladio's architecture also inspired a classical music piece by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, called Palladio. Many people know it by its first movement, which was used for a De Beers diamond television commercial.

[edit] History

Palladio was born in Padua, then part of the Republic of Venice, to Pietro della gondola.

Apprenticed as a stonecutter in Padua when he was 13, he broke his contract after only 18 months and fled to the nearby town of Vicenza. Here he became an assistant in the leading workshop of stonecutters and masons. He frequented the workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza, from whom he learned some of his skills. The most important influence was by the noble Gian Giorgio Trissino, who invented the classical name of Palladio for his friend and pupil Andrea. In 1541 Palladio went to Rome to study the ancient monuments.

Significant dates:

1508: Born 30 November

1521: Begins work as a stone mason

1540: Begins his first work, Villa Godi in Lonedo

1544: Begins construction of Villa Pisani in Bagnolo

1545: Involved in the refurbishment of the Basilica of Vicenza

1550: Produces drawings for palazzo Chiericati and Villa Foscari

1552: Begins work on Villa Cornaro and the palace of Iseppo De' Porti

1556: In Udine he works on Casa Antonini and in Vicenza begins with palazzo Thiene. While his assignments increase along with his fame, he collaborates with the patriarch of Aquileia on the edition of a book on 'Vitruvio', providing the drawings.

1557: Begins Villa Badoer in the Po river valley

1558: Realises a project for the church of S. Pietro in Castello in Venice and probably in the same year begins the construction of villa Malcontenta

1559: Begins Villa Emo in the village of Fanzolo di Vedelago

1561: Begins the construction of villa Pojana Maggiore and at the same time of the refettorio for the Benedictines of St. George in Venice, and subsequently the facade of the monastery Monastero per la Carità and Villa Serego.

Villa La Rotonda, in I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura 1570

1562: Begins the facade of San Francesco della Vigna and work on San Giorgio Maggiore

1565: Begins the construction of Villa Cagollo in Vicenza and Villa Pisani in Montagnana

1566: palazzo Valmarana and villa Zeno

1567: Begins works for the Villa Capra "La Rotonda"

1570: He is nominated Proto della Serenissima (Illustrious citizen of Venice) and publishes in Venice I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture)

1571: Realises: villa Piovene, palazzo Porto Barbaran, the loggia del Capitanio and palazzo Porto Breganze

1574: Publishes the 'Commentari' (commentaries) of Caesar and works on studies for the front of S. Petronio in Bologna

1577: Begins the construction of the Il Redentore

1580: Prepares drawings for the interior of the church of S. Lucia in Venice and in the same year on the 23rd of March oversees the beginning of the construction of the Teatro Olimpico but dies on 19 August 1580