162-405: Isaac Ware (1704—1766) was an English architect and translator of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio . Ware was born to a life of poverty, living as a street urchin and working as a chimney sweep , until he was adopted by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington at the age of eight (in about 1712) after which he was groomed and educated as a young nobleman. Reportedly he was drawing on
324-726: A council in Florence in an attempt to unify the Eastern and Western Churches. This brought books and, especially after the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, an influx of scholars to the city. Ancient Greece began to be studied with renewed interest, especially the Neoplatonic school of thought, which was the subject of an academy established by the Medici. Florence remained a republic until 1532 (see Duchy of Florence ), traditionally marking
486-399: A Palladian window, was another common feature of his style, which he used both for windows and the arches of the loggias of his buildings. It consists of an arched window flanked by two smaller square windows, divided by two columns or pilasters and often topped by a small entablature and by a small circular window or hole, called an oculus . These particular features originally appeared in
648-517: A Papal architect, but the death of Pope Paul III ended that ambition. His patron, Gian Giorgio Trissino, died in 1550, but in the same year Palladio gained a new supporter, the powerful Venetian aristocrat Daniele Barbaro . Through Barbaro he became known to the major aristocratic families of Northern Italy. In addition to the Barbaros , the aristocratic Cornaro , Foscari , and Pisani families supported Palladio's career, while he continued to construct
810-486: A capitalist gentry who developed an interest in agriculture and land. The configuration was a perfect architectural expression of their worldview, clearly expressing their perceived position in the social order of the times. His influence was extended worldwide into the British colonies . Palladio developed his own prototype for the plan of the villas that was flexible to moderate in scale and function. The Palladian villa format
972-633: A centralized block raised on an elevated podium , accessed by grand steps, and flanked by lower service wings, as at Villa Foscari and Villa Badoer . This format, with the quarters of the owners at the elevated centre of their own world, found resonance as a prototype for Italian villas and later for the country estates of the British nobility (such as Lord Burlington 's Chiswick House , Vanbrugh's Blenheim , Walpole's Houghton Hall , and Adam's Kedleston Hall and Paxton House in Scotland). His villas were used by
1134-449: A circular dome and interior with perfectly square facades, and placing the building pedestal to be more visible and more dramatic. Palladio was inspired by classical Roman architecture, but he did not slavishly imitate it. He chose elements and assembled them in innovative ways appropriate to the site and function of the building. His buildings were often placed on pedestals, raising them and making them more visible, and so they could offer
1296-581: A competition for the first United States Capitol building. It was won by William Thornton with a design inspired in part by Palladio and La Rotonda . The One Hundred Eleventh Congress of the United States of America called him the "Father of American Architecture" (Congressional Resolution no. 259 of 6 December 2010). His influence can also be seen in American plantation buildings . More than 330 of Palladio's original drawings and sketches still survive in
1458-633: A despotic monarchy, between the ideals of the Greek and Roman Republics and those of the Roman Empire and Medieval kingdoms. For Baron, the most important figure in crafting this ideology was Leonardo Bruni . This time of crisis in Florence was the period when the most influential figures of the early Renaissance were coming of age, such as Ghiberti , Donatello , Masolino , and Brunelleschi . Inculcated with this republican ideology they later went on to advocate republican ideas that were to have an enormous impact on
1620-417: A double loggia was divided into eleven spaces by rows of Doric columns , while a Doric cornice separated the lower level from the more important piano nobile above. The original plan of Palladio had the upper level identical to the lower level, but the owners wanted more space for ceremonies, so the central section on the piano nobile was brought forward and given windows with decorative frontons, doubling
1782-400: A grand stairway from either the front or back of the house. It has a very high ceiling, creating a large cubic space, and a roof supported by four Doric columns. Palladio placed niches in the walls of this salon, which were later filled with full-length statues of the ancestors of the owner. The more rustic functions of the house were carried on in the adjoining wings. The suburban villa was
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#17329203270901944-493: A highly organized whole, dominated by a strong centre and symmetrical side wings, as illustrated at Villa Barbaro . In the project of the Villa Barbaro, Palladio most likely was also engaged in the interior decoration. Alongside the painter Paolo Veronese , he invented the complex and sophisticated illusionistic landscape paintings that cover the walls of various rooms. The Villa Capra "La Rotonda" of 1552, outside Vicenza,
2106-403: A large base, and the central portico is flanked by two stairways. The upper and lower borders of the piano nobile are clearly indicated on the facade by darker reddish bands of stone. The same reddish border outlines the pediment over the portico and the attic, and appears on the rear facade. In another departure from traditional villas, the front doors lead directly into the main salon. The salon
2268-733: A major change in Italian poetry as the Dolce Stil Novo ( Sweet New Style , which emphasized Platonic rather than courtly love ) came into its own, pioneered by poets like Guittone d'Arezzo and Guido Guinizelli . Especially in poetry , major changes in Italian literature had been taking place decades before the Renaissance truly began. With the printing of books initiated in Venice by Aldus Manutius , an increasing number of works began to be published in
2430-435: A major influence for artists and authors, with the classics coming into their own as a second primary influence. In the early Italian Renaissance, much of the focus was on translating and studying classic works from Latin and Greek. Renaissance authors were not content to rest on the laurels of ancient authors, however. Many authors attempted to integrate the methods and styles of the ancient Greeks into their own works. Among
2592-471: A major source of inspiration and plots for many English authors in the Renaissance, including Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare . Aside from Christianity, classical antiquity , and scholarship, a fourth influence on Renaissance literature was politics. The political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli 's most famous works are Discourses on Livy , Florentine Histories and finally The Prince , which has become so well known in modern societies that
2754-457: A modern city hall resembled those of an ancient Roman Basilica. He did not construct the building from the ground up, but added two-story loggias to the exterior of an older building, which had been finished in 1459. For the facade, Palladio made use of two levels of arcades with rounded arches and columns, which opened the exterior of the building to the interior courtyard. The arcades were divided by columns and small circular windows ( oculi ), with
2916-541: A more powerful adversary, and with the decline of Genoese power during the 15th century Venice became pre-eminent on the seas. In response to threats from the landward side, from the early 15th century Venice developed an increased interest in controlling the terrafirma as the Venetian Renaissance opened. On land, decades of fighting saw Florence, Milan, and Venice emerge as the dominant players, and these three powers finally set aside their differences and agreed to
3078-555: A new improved version of the typical early Renaissance palazzo (exemplified by the Palazzo Strozzi ). Adapting a new urban palazzo type created by Bramante in the House of Raphael , Palladio found a powerful expression of the importance of the owner and his social position. The main living quarters of the owner on the second level were clearly distinguished in importance by the use of a pedimented classical portico , centred and raised above
3240-452: A particular type of building, a house near a city designed primarily for entertaining. Villa Barbaro (begun 1557) at Maser was an imposing suburban villa, built for the brothers Marcantonio and Daniele Barbaro , who were respectively occupied with politics and religious affairs in the Veneto , or Venice region. The long facade was perfectly balanced. The interior, following the professions of
3402-507: A particularly imposing classical portico, like that of the Pantheon in Rome, placed before two tall bell towers , before an even higher cupola , which covers the church itself. The effect is to draw the eye upward, level by level. Inside, the circular interior is surrounded by eight half-columns and niches with statues. An open balustrade runs around the top of the interior wall, concealing the base of
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#17329203270903564-474: A rich variety of columns, arcades, pediments, pilasters and other details which were soon adapted and copied. The second book included Palladio's town and country house designs and classical reconstructions. The third book had bridge and basilica designs, city planning designs, and classical halls. The fourth book included information on the reconstruction of ancient Roman temples. The books were translated into many languages, and went through many editions, well into
3726-1094: A series of magnificent villas and palaces in Vicenza in his new classical style, including the Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza, the Villa Pisani in Montagnana , and the Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese . Cardinal Barbaro brought Palladio to Rome and encouraged him to publish his studies of classical architecture . In 1554, he published the first of a series of books, Antiquities of Rome . He continued to compile and write his architectural studies, lavishly illustrated, which were published in full form in 1570 as I quattro libri dell'architettura ( The Four Books of Architecture ), in Venice. These books, reprinted in different languages and circulated widely in Europe, secured his reputation as
3888-701: A similar Europe-wide impact, as practised by Brunelleschi , Leon Battista Alberti , Andrea Palladio , and Bramante . Their works include the Florence Cathedral , St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini , as well as several private residences. The musical era of the Italian Renaissance featured composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , the Roman School and later
4050-454: A small number of country houses , most of which have been subsequently remodelled or demolished. Clifton Hill House , Bristol, and Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire survive, Clifton Hill House, built in 1746 –50, is a Palladian villa, a type Ware also used for two houses in Scotland in the next ten years, both with service wings linked to the main house by passages. At Wrotham (1756) the central block
4212-520: A stonemason to make monuments and decorative sculptures. His career was unexceptional until 1538–1539; when he had reached the age of thirty, he was employed by the humanist poet and scholar Gian Giorgio Trissino to rebuild his residence, the Villa Trissino at Cricoli. Trissino was deeply engaged in the study of ancient Roman architecture , particularly the work of Vitruvius , which had become available in print in 1486. In 1540, Palladio received
4374-463: A systematized foreign exchange market , insurance , and government debt . Florence became the centre of this financial industry and the gold florin became the main currency of international trade. The new mercantile governing class, who gained their position through financial skill, adapted to their purposes the feudal aristocratic model that had dominated Europe in the Middle Ages. A feature of
4536-462: A trend towards refeudalization in the later Renaissance as the urban elites turned themselves into landed aristocrats. The situation differed in the cities. These were dominated by a commercial elite; as exclusive as the aristocracy of any Medieval kingdom. This group became the main patrons of and audience for Renaissance culture. Below them, there was a large class of artisans and guild members who lived comfortable lives and had significant power in
4698-554: A variety and richness of decorative detail. The building was not completed until 1617, after Palladio's death. Its design had a notable influence on many buildings across Europe, from Portugal to Germany. Palazzo Chiericati (begun in 1550) was another urban palace, built on a city square near the port in Vicenza . It was constructed after the Palazzo della Ragione , but it was very different in its plan and decoration. The two-story facade with
4860-459: A view. The villas very often had loggias, covered arcades or walkways on the outside of upper levels, which gave a view of the scenery or city below, and also gave variety to the facade. When he designed his rustic villas and suburban villas, he paid particular attention to the site, integrating them as much as possible into nature, either by sites on hilltops or looking out at gardens or rivers. The Serlian window, or Venetian window , also known as
5022-582: A wide array of Renaissance works of literature, which marks the end of the illuminated manuscript together with Giulio Clovio , who is considered the greatest illuminator of the Italian High Renaissance, and arguably the last very notable artist in the long tradition of the illuminated manuscript, before some modern revivals. Under the suppression of the Catholic Church and the ravages of war, humanism became "akin to heresy". Equally important
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5184-663: A widespread backlash over the secularism and indulgence of the Renaissance. His brief rule saw many works of art destroyed in the " Bonfire of the Vanities " in the centre of Florence. With the Medici returned to power, now as Grand Dukes of Tuscany , the counter-movement in the church continued. In 1542 the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition was formed and a few years later the Index Librorum Prohibitorum banned
5346-473: Is a late remnant of the Palladian format, clearly expressed as a podium for the main living space for the family. Similarly, Palladio created a new configuration for the design of Catholic churches that established two interlocking architectural orders, each clearly articulated, yet delineating a hierarchy of a larger order overriding a lesser order. This idea was in direct coincidence with the rising acceptance of
5508-516: Is let by a virtual wall of glass around the doorway of the south facade. The exterior and interior are closely integrated; the same classical elements own the facade, the columns and pediments, reappear in the interior, decorated with trompe-l'œil murals on the walls and ceiling. Daniele Barbaro and his younger brother Marcantonio introduced Palladio to Venice, where he developed his own style of religious architecture, distinct from and equally original as that of his villas. His first project in Venice
5670-470: Is opened by three arcades beneath a frieze , beneath a pediment . The interior of the main hall has a barrel-vaulted ceiling lavishly decorated with murals of mythological themes. One of the most important works of his early Vicenza period is the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza (1546), the palace of the city government. Palladio called it " Basilica ", explaining that the functions and form of
5832-479: Is still referred to as the "first floor" in Europe. Palladio also established an influential new building format for the agricultural villas of the Venetian aristocracy. Palladio's approach to his villa designs was not relative to his experience in Rome. His designs were based on practicality and employed few reliefs. He consolidated the various stand-alone farm outbuildings into a single impressive structure, arranged as
5994-410: Is the beginning of the project, not its completion. Italian Renaissance Timeline The Italian Renaissance ( Italian : Rinascimento [rinaʃʃiˈmento] ) was a period in Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries . The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked the transition from
6156-521: Is the original work of Palladio. In 1570, he was formally named "Proto della Serenissima" (chief architect of the Republic of Venice), following Jacopo Sansovino . The Tempieto Barbaro , built at the end of his life, was one of his most accomplished works. It was begun in 1580 as an addition to the Villa Barbaro at Maser. It unites two classical forms, a circle and a Greek cross . The facade features
6318-408: The commedia dell'arte . Italian Renaissance art exercised a dominant influence on subsequent European painting and sculpture for centuries afterwards, with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo , Raphael , Donatello , Giotto , Masaccio , Fra Angelico , Piero della Francesca , Domenico Ghirlandaio , Perugino , Botticelli , and Titian . Italian Renaissance architecture had
6480-503: The Bardi and Peruzzi banks would open the way for the Medici to rise to prominence in Florence. Roberto Sabatino Lopez argues that the economic collapse was a crucial cause of the Renaissance. According to this view, in a more prosperous era, businessmen would have quickly reinvested their earnings in order to make more money in a climate favourable to investment. However, in the leaner years of
6642-542: The Gonzaga , and Urbino under Federico da Montefeltro . In Naples , the Renaissance was ushered in under the patronage of Alfonso I , who conquered Naples in 1443 and encouraged artists like Francesco Laurana and Antonello da Messina and writers like the poet Jacopo Sannazaro and the humanist scholar Angelo Poliziano . In 1417 the Papacy returned to Rome, but that once-imperial city remained poor and largely in ruins through
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6804-716: The Islamic Golden Age (normally in translation), but Greek literary, oratorical and historical works (such as Homer , the Greek dramatists, Demosthenes and Thucydides ) were not studied in either the Latin or medieval Muslim worlds ; in the Middle Ages these sorts of texts were only studied by Byzantine scholars. Some argue that the Timurid Renaissance in Samarkand was linked with the Ottoman Empire , whose conquests led to
6966-789: The Levant , and the Fourth Crusade had done much to destroy the Byzantine Empire as a commercial rival to the Venetians and the Genoese . The main trade routes from the east passed through the Byzantine Empire or the Arab lands and onward to the ports of Genoa , Pisa , and Venice . Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, and silks were imported to Italy and then resold throughout Europe. Moreover,
7128-699: The Marble Bridge , was made for Empress Catherine the Great of Russia for her gardens at Tsarskoe Selo near Saint Petersburg , Russia. Other English architects, including Elizabeth Wilbraham , and Christopher Wren also embraced the Palladian style. Another English admirer was the architect, Richard Boyle , 4th Earl of Cork , also known as Lord Burlington , who, with William Kent , designed Chiswick House . The Italian-born Giacomo Leoni also constructed Palladian houses in England. The influence of Palladio also reached
7290-523: The Middle Ages to modernity . Proponents of a "long Renaissance" argue that it started around the year 1300 and lasted until about 1600. In some fields, a Proto-Renaissance , beginning around 1250, is typically accepted. The French word renaissance (corresponding to rinascimento in Italian) means "rebirth", and defines the period as one of cultural revival and renewed interest in classical antiquity after
7452-831: The Office of Works , but his mentor in design was Lord Burlington . Ware was a member of the St. Martin's Lane Academy , which brought together many of the main figures in the English Rococo movement, among them Louis François Roubiliac , who sculpted Ware's portrait bust about 1741. Although he held various posts with the Office of Works between 1728 and his death, including Secretary, a position previously held by Nicholas Hawksmoor , Ware's major works were for private patrons. Aside from Chesterfield House, Westminster , (1747–52; demolished 1937) with its Palladian exterior and rococo interior details he built
7614-518: The Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century were important in sparking the new linguistic studies of the Renaissance, in newly created academies in Florence and Venice. Humanist scholars searched monastic libraries for ancient manuscripts and recovered Tacitus and other Latin authors. The rediscovery of Vitruvius meant that the architectural principles of Antiquity could be observed once more, and Renaissance artists were encouraged, in
7776-500: The Peace of Lodi in 1454, which saw relative calm brought to the region for the first time in centuries. This peace would hold for the next forty years, and Venice's unquestioned hegemony over the sea also led to unprecedented peace for much of the rest of the 15th century. At the beginning of the 15th century, adventurers and traders such as Niccolò Da Conti (1395–1469) travelled as far as Southeast Asia and back, bringing fresh knowledge on
7938-521: The Protestant Reformation , which started c. 1517 . The Italian Renaissance has a reputation for its achievements in painting , architecture , sculpture , literature , music , philosophy , science , technology , and exploration . Italy became the recognized European leader in all these areas by the late 15th century, during the era of the Peace of Lodi (1454–1494) agreed between Italian states. The Italian Renaissance peaked in
8100-644: The School of Fontainebleau that infused the style of the Italian Renaissance in France. From Fontainebleau, the new styles, transformed by Mannerism, brought the Renaissance to the Low Countries and thence throughout Northern Europe. This spread north was also representative of a larger trend. No longer was the Mediterranean Europe's most important trade route. In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India, and from that date
8262-613: The Venetian School , and the birth of opera through figures like Claudio Monteverdi in Florence. In philosophy , thinkers such as Galileo, Machiavelli, Giordano Bruno and Pico della Mirandola emphasized naturalism and humanism , thus rejecting dogma and scholasticism . By the Late Middle Ages ( c. 1300 onward ), Latium , the former heartland of the Roman Empire , and southern Italy were generally poorer than
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#17329203270908424-482: The Villa Godi (begun 1537). This design already showed the originality of Palladio's conception. A central block is flanked by two wings; the central block is recessed and the two wings are advanced and more prominent. Inside the central block, the piano nobile or main floor opened onto a loggia with a triple arcade, reached by a central stairway. On the reverse of the building, the rounded gallery projects outward to
8586-512: The plague began to decline in the early 15th century, Europe's devastated population once again began to grow. The new demand for products and services also helped create a growing class of bankers , merchants, and skilled artisans . The horrors of the Black Death and the seeming inability of the Church to provide relief would contribute to a decline of church influence. Additionally, the collapse of
8748-507: The 14th century, the city of Venice had become an emporium for lands as far as Cyprus ; it boasted a naval fleet of over 5000 ships thanks to its arsenal, a vast complex of shipyards that was the first European facility to mass-produce commercial and military vessels. Genoa also had become a maritime power. Thus, while northern Italy was not richer in resources than many other parts of Europe, the level of development, stimulated by trade, allowed it to prosper. In particular, Florence became one of
8910-552: The 14th century, the wealthy found few promising investment opportunities for their earnings and instead chose to spend more on culture and art. Unlike Roman texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Italy. Ancient Greek works on science, maths and philosophy had been studied since the High Middle Ages in Western Europe and in
9072-668: The 15th century or earlier, before Palladio. They had been skillfully brought together by Brunelleschi in the Pazzi Chapel (1420) and the Medici-Riccardi Palace (1444–1449). At the beginning of the High Renaissance in the early 16th century, Bramante used these elements together in the Tempietto in Rome (1502), which combined a dome and a central plan based on a Greek Cross . The architect Baldassare Peruzzi had introduced
9234-896: The 1740s himself helped to dissolve the dictatorship of taste that Burlington imposed in the 1720s.", In 1756 he published A Complete Body of Architecture a wide-ranging work intended to "supply the place of all other books". It was described by John Summerson as "ably compiled, reflecting very fairly the solid, thoughtful competence of its author's executed works". The following list is taken from Colvin; all were published at London. Summerson, John (1970). Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830 . Pelican History of Art. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( / p ə ˈ l ɑː d i oʊ / pə- LAH -dee-oh ; Italian: [anˈdrɛːa palˈlaːdjo] ; Venetian : Andrea Paładio ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580)
9396-660: The 17th century, such as the conclusion of the European wars of religion in 1648, as marking the end of the Renaissance. Accounts of proto- Renaissance literature usually begin with the three great Italian writers of the 14th century: Dante Alighieri ( Divine Comedy ), Petrarch ( Canzoniere ), and Boccaccio ( Decameron ). Famous vernacular poets of the Renaissance include the epic authors Luigi Pulci ( Morgante ), Matteo Maria Boiardo ( Orlando Innamorato ), Ludovico Ariosto ( Orlando Furioso ), and Torquato Tasso ( Jerusalem Delivered ). 15th-century writers such as
9558-511: The Albizzi managed to have Cosimo exiled. The next year, however, saw a pro-Medici Signoria elected and Cosimo returned. The Medici became the town's leading family, a position they would hold for the next three centuries. Florence organized the trade routes for commodities between England and the Netherlands, France, and Italy. By the middle of the century, the city had become the banking capital of Europe and thereby obtained vast riches. In 1439, Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos attended
9720-421: The Arabs and then the Normans . Sicily had prospered for 150 years during the Emirate of Sicily and later for two centuries during the Norman Kingdom and the Hohenstaufen Kingdom , but had declined by the Late Middle Ages. In contrast, Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous, and it has been calculated that the region was among the richest in Europe. The Crusades had built trade links to
9882-435: The High Middle Ages in Northern Italy was the rise of the urban communes which had broken from the control by bishops and local counts. In much of the region, the landed nobility was poorer than the urban patriarchs in the High Medieval money economy whose inflationary rise left land-holding aristocrats impoverished. The increase in trade during the early Renaissance enhanced these characteristics. The decline of feudalism and
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#173292032709010044-419: The Italian Renaissance affected only a small part of the population. Italy was the most urbanized region of Europe, but three-quarters of the people were still rural peasants. For this section of the population, life remained essentially unchanged from the Middle Ages. Classic feudalism had never been prominent in Northern Italy, and most peasants worked on private farms or as sharecroppers . Some scholars see
10206-399: The Italian Renaissance. Examples of individuals who rose from humble beginnings can be instanced, but Burke notes two major studies in this area that have found that the data do not clearly demonstrate an increase in social mobility . Most historians feel that early in the Renaissance social mobility was quite high, but that it faded over the course of the 15th century. Inequality in society
10368-451: The Italian language in addition to the flood of Latin and Greek texts that constituted the mainstream of the Italian Renaissance. The source for these works expanded beyond works of theology and towards the pre-Christian eras of Imperial Rome and Ancient Greece. This is not to say that no religious works were published in this period: Dante Alighieri 's The Divine Comedy reflects a distinctly medieval world view. Christianity remained
10530-421: The King of Prussia Frederick-William III in the style, including the Paretz Palace . Friedrich Gilly's work, the National Theatre in Berlin (1798), built for Frederick the Great was in the style. Most of the buildings were destroyed during World War II . Palladio's work was especially popular in England, where the villa style was adapted for country houses. The first English architect to adapt Palladio's work
10692-430: The Middle Ages, such as through the sale of indulgences. It also did not pay taxes, making the Church's wealth even more than some kings. In the 13th century, much of Europe experienced strong economic growth. The trade routes of the Italian states linked with those of established Mediterranean ports and eventually the Hanseatic League of the Baltic and northern regions of Europe to create a network economy in Europe for
10854-405: The North. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference, particularly by France, and later Spain. The Papacy was affronted when the Avignon Papacy was created in southern France as a consequence of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France. In the south, Sicily had for some time been under foreign domination, by
11016-411: The Olympic Society of Vicenza, of which Palladio was a member. He was asked to produce a design and model, and construction began in February 1580. The back wall of the stage was in the form of an enormous triumphal arch divided into three levels, and three portals through which actors could appear and disappear. This wall was lavishly decorated with columns and niches filled with statuary. The view through
11178-423: The Renaissance. Northern Italy and upper Central Italy were divided into a number of warring city-states , the most powerful being Milan , Florence, Pisa , Siena , Genoa , Ferrara , Mantua , Verona and Venice . High Medieval Northern Italy was further divided by the long-running battle for supremacy between the forces of the Papacy and of the Holy Roman Empire : each city aligned itself with one faction or
11340-410: The United States, where it inspired "Neo-Palladianist" buildings such as Mereworth Castle (1724) in Kent and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia (1772). Villa Foscari , also known as "La Malcontenta" for the name of the suburban village near Venice where it is located, faces the Brenta Canal and for this reason, unlike his other villas, it faces south to the canal. The villa is set upon
11502-462: The United States, where the architecture and symbols of the Roman Republic were adapted for the architecture and institutions of the newly independent nation. The Massachusetts governor and architect Thomas Dawes also admired the style and used it when rebuilding Harvard Hall at Harvard University in 1766. Palladio's villas inspired Monticello , the residence of the third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson , himself an architect. Jefferson organized
11664-578: The Vatican. Pope Sixtus IV continued Nicholas' work, most famously ordering the construction of the Sistine Chapel . The popes also became increasingly secular rulers as the Papal States were forged into a centralized power by a series of "warrior popes". The nature of the Renaissance also changed in the late 15th century. The Renaissance ideal was fully adopted by the ruling classes and the aristocracy. In
11826-590: The Veneto are listed by UNESCO as part of a World Heritage Site named City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto . The churches of Palladio are to be found within the "Venice and its Lagoon" UNESCO World Heritage Site. Palladio was born on 30 November 1508 in Padua and was given the name Andrea di Pietro della Gondola (Venetian: Andrea de Piero de ła Gondoła ). His father, Pietro, called "della Gondola",
11988-409: The appearance of a classical Roman structure. His success as an architect is based not only on the beauty of his work, but also on its harmony with the culture of his time. His success and influence came from the integration of extraordinary aesthetic quality with expressive characteristics that resonated with his clients' social aspirations. His buildings served to communicate, visually, their place in
12150-412: The arches gave the illusion of looking down classical streets. The painted ceiling was designed to give the illusion of sitting under an open sky. Behind the hemicycle of seats, Palladio placed a row of Corinthian columns. Palladio died on 19 August 1580, not long after the work was begun. It was completed, with a number of modifications, by Vincenzo Scamozzi and inaugurated in 1584 with a performance of
12312-461: The architecture of the United States. Palladio is known as one of the most influential architects in Western architecture. His architectural works have "been valued for centuries as the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony". The basic elements of Italian Renaissance architecture , including Doric columns, lintels , cornices , loggias , pediments and domes had already been used in
12474-644: The atmosphere of humanist optimism, to excel in the achievements of the Ancients, like Apelles , of whom they read. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD, the Catholic Church filled the subsequent vacuum. In the Middle Ages, the Church was considered to be conveying the will of God, and it regulated the standard of behaviour in life. A lack of literacy required most people to rely on
12636-431: The brothers, had both classical and religious motifs. The central hall, The Hall of Olympus on the ground floor, was decorated with Roman gods and goddesses, but when one mounted the stairs, the long upper floor was in the form of a cross and Christian images predominate. The villa also has a series of remarkable frescos and ceiling paintings by Paolo Veronese combining mythical themes with scenes of everyday life. Behind
12798-630: The centuries during what Renaissance humanists labelled as the "Dark Ages" . The Italian Renaissance historian Giorgio Vasari used the term rinascita ("rebirth") in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in 1550, but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the work of scholars such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt . The Renaissance began in Tuscany in Central Italy and centred in
12960-400: The city of Florence . The Florentine Republic , one of the several city-states of the peninsula , rose to economic and political prominence by providing credit for European monarchs and by laying down the groundwork for developments in capitalism and in banking . Renaissance culture later spread to Venice , the heart of a Mediterranean empire and in control of the trade routes with
13122-474: The city's ancient monuments and churches. Trissino also gave him the name by which he became known, Palladio, an allusion to the Greek goddess of wisdom Pallas Athene and to a character in a play by Trissino. The word Palladio means Wise one . His earliest work is held to be an addition to Villa Trissino at Cricoli, built before his first trip to Rome. The earliest of his villas is generally considered to be
13284-506: The city's cathedral. The failed assassination led to a war with the Papacy and was used as justification to further centralize power in Lorenzo's hands. Renaissance ideals first spread from Florence to the neighbouring states of Tuscany such as Siena and Lucca . The Tuscan culture soon became the model for all the states of Northern Italy, and the Tuscan dialect came to predominate throughout
13446-507: The city-states of Italy, these laws were repealed or rewritten. The 14th century saw a series of catastrophes that caused the European economy to go into recession. The Medieval Warm Period was ending as the transition to the Little Ice Age began. This climate change saw agricultural output decline significantly, leading to repeated famines , exacerbated by the rapid population growth of
13608-540: The city. In 1469 the reins of power passed to Cosimo's 21-year-old grandson Lorenzo , who would become known as "Lorenzo the Magnificent." Lorenzo was the first of the family to be educated from an early age in the humanist tradition and is best known as one of the Renaissance's most important patrons of the arts. Lorenzo reformed Florence's ruling council from 100 members to 70, formalizing the Medici rule. The republican institutions continued, but they lost all power. Lorenzo
13770-420: The classic humanist education being propounded by scholars like Pico della Mirandola was the hunting down of lost or forgotten manuscripts that were known only by reputation. These endeavours were greatly aided by the wealth of Italian patricians, merchant-princes and despots, who would spend substantial sums building libraries . Discovering the past had become fashionable and it was a passionate affair pervading
13932-521: The collections of the Royal Institute of British Architects , most of which originally were owned by Inigo Jones. Jones collected a significant number of these on his Grand Tour of 1613–1614, while some were a gift from Henry Wotton . The Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc. , a nonprofit membership organization, was founded in 1979 to research and promote understanding of Palladio's influence in
14094-454: The connection between physical beauty and inner virtues. In Renaissance Italy, virtue and beauty were often linked together to praise men. One role of Petrarch is as the founder of a new method of scholarship, Renaissance humanism . Petrarch encouraged the study of the Latin classics and carried his copy of Homer about, at a loss to find someone to teach him to read Greek. An essential step in
14256-447: The countryside in all directions. The villa is perfectly symmetrical, with four identical facades with porticos around the domed centre. The height of the base is exactly the height of the attic, and the width of each portico is exactly half the length of the facade. The interior frescos were painted by Ludovico Dorigny in 1680–1687, and were not part of Palladio's plan. The building was especially influential, particularly in England and
14418-782: The course of the 15th century, the most powerful city-states annexed their smaller neighbours. Florence took Pisa in 1406, Venice captured Padua and Verona , while the Duchy of Milan annexed a number of nearby areas including Pavia and Parma . The first part of the Renaissance saw almost constant warfare on land and sea as the city-states vied for preeminence. On land, these wars were primarily fought by armies of mercenaries known as condottieri , bands of soldiers drawn from around Europe, but especially Germany and Switzerland, led largely by Italian captains. The mercenaries were not willing to risk their lives unduly, and war became one largely of sieges and manoeuvring, occasioning few pitched battles. It
14580-537: The dome itself, making it appear that the dome is suspended in the air. This idea would be adopted frequently in later Baroque churches . He achieves a perfect balance between the circle and the cross, and the horizontal and vertical elements, both on the facade and in the interior. The final work of Palladio was the Teatro Olimpico in the Piazza Matteotti in Vicenza , built for the theatrical productions of
14742-434: The earlier era. The Hundred Years' War between England and France disrupted trade throughout northwest Europe, most notably when, in 1345, King Edward III of England repudiated his debts, contributing to the collapse of the two largest Florentine banks, those of the Bardi and Peruzzi . In the east, war was also disrupting trade routes, as the Ottoman Empire began to expand throughout the region. Most devastating, though,
14904-453: The early Renaissance artists were seen as craftsmen with little prestige or recognition. By the later Renaissance, the top figures wielded great influence and could charge great fees. A flourishing trade in Renaissance art developed. While in the early Renaissance many of the leading artists were of lower- or middle-class origins, increasingly they became aristocrats. As a cultural movement,
15066-592: The east since its participation in the Crusades and following the journeys of Marco Polo between 1271 and 1295. Thus Italy renewed contact with the remains of ancient Greek culture , which provided humanist scholars with new texts. Finally the Renaissance had a significant effect on the Papal States and on Rome , largely rebuilt by humanist and Renaissance popes , such as Julius II and Leo X , who frequently became involved in Italian politics , in arbitrating disputes between competing colonial powers and in opposing
15228-578: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Palladio's style inspired several works by Claude Nicolas Ledoux in France, including the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans , begun in 1775. In Germany, Johann von Goethe in his Italian Journey described Palladio as a genius, declaring that his unfinished Convent of Santa Maria della Carità was the most perfect existing work of architecture. The German architects David Gilly and his son Friedrich Gilly were also admirers of Palladio, and constructed palaces for
15390-457: The end of the High Renaissance in Florence, but the instruments of republican government were firmly under the control of the Medici and their allies, save during the intervals after 1494 and 1527. Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici rarely held official posts but were the unquestioned leaders. Cosimo was highly popular among the citizenry, mainly for bringing an era of stability and prosperity to
15552-648: The ever prospering merchant class. In 1298, one of the leading banking families of Europe, the Bonsignoris , were bankrupted and so the city of Siena lost her status as the banking centre of Europe to Florence. The main challengers of the Albizzi family were the Medicis, first under Giovanni de' Medici , and later under his son Cosimo de' Medici . The Medici controlled the Medici bank —then Europe's largest bank—and an array of other enterprises in Florence and elsewhere. In 1433,
15714-430: The facade, tending toward Mannerism . His buildings in this period were examples of the transition beginning to what would become Baroque architecture . Palladio's architecture was not dependent on expensive materials, which must have been an advantage to his more financially pressed clients. Many of his buildings are of brick covered with stucco . Stuccoed brickwork was always used in his villa designs in order to give
15876-531: The first Renaissance suburban villas, based on a Roman model and surrounded by gardens. The Farnese Palace in Rome (1530–1580) by Sangallo introduced a new kind of Renaissance palace, with monumental blocks, ornate cornices, lateral wings and multiple stairways. Michelangelo had made a plan for a central dome at Saint Peter's Basilica and added a new loggia to the facade of the Farnese Palace. All of these plans already existed before Palladio; his contribution
16038-429: The first stirrings of Renaissance art were to be seen, notably in the realism of Giotto . Paradoxically, some of these disasters would help establish the Renaissance. The Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population. The resulting labour shortage increased wages and the reduced population was therefore much wealthier, better fed, and, significantly, had more surplus money to spend on luxury goods. As incidences of
16200-536: The first time since the 4th century. The city-states of Italy expanded greatly during this period and grew in power to become de facto fully independent of the Holy Roman Empire ; apart from the Kingdom of Naples , outside powers kept their armies out of Italy. During this period, the modern commercial infrastructure developed, with double-entry book-keeping , joint stock companies , an international banking system,
16362-499: The first years of the Renaissance. The great transformation began under Pope Nicholas V , who became pontiff in 1447. He launched a dramatic rebuilding effort that would eventually see much of the city renewed. The humanist scholar Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini became Pope Pius II in 1458. As the papacy fell under the control of wealthy families, such as the Medici and the Borgias , the spirit of Renaissance art and philosophy came to dominate
16524-609: The formal title of architect. In 1541, he made a first trip to Rome, accompanied by Trissino, to see the classical monuments first-hand. He took another, longer trip to Rome with Trissino from the autumn of 1545 to the first months of 1546, and then another trip in 1546–1547. He also visited and studied the Roman works in Tivoli , Palestrina and Albano . Trissino exposed Palladio to the history and arts of Rome, which gave him inspiration for his future buildings. In 1554 he would publish guides to
16686-680: The garden. Palladio made numerous changes and additions over the years, adding lavish frescoes framed by classical columns in the Hall of the Muses of the Villa Godi in the 1550s. In his early works in Vicenza in the 1540s, he sometimes emulated the work of his predecessor Giulio Romano , but in doing so he added his own ideas and variations. An example was the Palazzo Thiene in Vicenza, which Romano had begun but which, after Romano's death, Palladio completed. It
16848-420: The importance of the Renaissance in human history. These historians tend to think in terms of " Early Modern Europe " instead. Roger Osborne argues that "The Renaissance is a difficult concept for historians because the history of Europe quite suddenly turns into a history of Italian painting, sculpture and architecture." The end of the Italian Renaissance is as imprecisely marked as its starting point. For many,
17010-641: The inland city-states profited from the rich agricultural land of the Po Valley. From France, Germany, and the Low Countries, through the medium of the Champagne fairs , land and river trade routes brought goods such as wool, wheat, and precious metals into the region. The extensive trade that stretched from Egypt to the Baltic generated substantial surpluses that allowed significant investment in mining and agriculture. By
17172-485: The interior space. The Palazzo del Capitaniato , the offices of the Venetian governor of the region, is a later variation on the urban palace, built in Vicenza facing the Basilica Palladiana, and the finest of his late urban palaces. The four brick half-columns on the facade give a strong element of verticality, carefully balanced by the horizontal balustrades on the piano nobile , and on the projecting cornice at
17334-538: The merchants almost complete control of the governments of the Italian city-states, again enhancing trade. One of the most important effects of this political control was security. Those who grew extremely wealthy in a feudal state ran the constant risk of running afoul of the monarchy and having their lands confiscated, as famously occurred to Jacques Cœur in France. The northern states also kept many medieval laws that severely hampered commerce, such as those against usury , and prohibitions on trading with non-Christians. In
17496-606: The mid-16th century as domestic disputes and foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars (1494–1559). However, the ideas and ideals of the Italian Renaissance spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance from the late 15th century. Italian explorers from the maritime republics served under the auspices of European monarchs, ushering in the Age of Discovery . The most famous voyage
17658-411: The migration of Greek scholars to Italy. One of the greatest achievements of Italian Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity. Another popular explanation for the Italian Renaissance is the thesis, first advanced by historian Hans Baron , that states that the primary impetus of the early Renaissance
17820-452: The most emulated Romans are Cicero , Horace , Sallust , and Virgil . Among the Greeks, Aristotle , Homer , and Plato were now being read in the original for the first time since the 4th century, though Greek compositions were few. The literature and poetry of the Renaissance were largely influenced by the developing science and philosophy. The humanist Francesco Petrarch , a key figure in
17982-414: The most influential figure in the renewal of classical architecture, a reputation which only continued to grow after his death. The type of villa invented by Palladio at the Villa Cornaro (begun 1553), located at Piombino Dese near Padua, was a mixture of villa rustica (country house), designed for country living, and a suburban villa, designed for entertaining and impressing. The distinction between
18144-453: The other, yet was divided internally between the two warring parties, Guelfs and Ghibellines . Warfare between the states was common, and invasion from outside Italy was confined to intermittent sorties of Holy Roman Emperors . Renaissance politics developed from this background. Since the 13th century, as armies became primarily composed of mercenaries , prosperous city-states could field considerable forces, despite their low populations. In
18306-407: The pavement of Whitehall whereupon Burlington, recognising the talent, intelligence and personality, took him into his own household. His subsequent education included a Grand Tour of Europe and the study of architecture. (On his deathbed the ingrained soot of the chimney-sweep was still detectable on his skin.) He was apprenticed to Thomas Ripley , 1 August 1721, and followed him in positions in
18468-472: The period include Machiavelli himself, his friend and critic Francesco Guicciardini and Giovanni Botero ( The Reason of State ). The Aldine Press , founded in 1494 by the printer Aldo Manuzio , active in Venice, developed Italic type and pocket editions that one could carry in one's pocket; it became the first to publish printed editions of books in Ancient Greek. Venice also became the birthplace of
18630-717: The poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek. In the early 16th century, Baldassare Castiglione laid out his vision of the ideal gentleman and lady in The Book of the Courtier , while Niccolò Machiavelli rejected the ideal with an eye on la verità effettuale della cosa ('the effectual truth of things') in The Prince , composed, in humanistic style, chiefly of parallel ancient and modern examples of virtù . Historians of
18792-572: The priest's explanation of the Bible and laws. In the eleventh century, the Church persecuted many groups including pagans, Jews, and lepers in order to eliminate irregularities in society and strengthen its power. In response to the laity's challenge to Church authority, bishops played an important role, as they gradually lost control of secular authority, and to regain the power of discourse, they adopted extreme control methods, such as persecuting infidels. The Church also collected wealth from believers in
18954-607: The primary route of goods from the Orient was through the Atlantic ports of Lisbon, Seville, Nantes, Bristol, and London. The thirteenth-century Italian literary revolution helped set the stage for the Renaissance. Before the Renaissance, the Italian language was not the literary language in Italy. It was only in the 13th century that Italian authors began writing in their native language rather than Latin , French , or Provençal . The 1250s saw
19116-621: The region, especially in literature. In 1447 Francesco Sforza came to power in Milan and rapidly transformed that still medieval city into a major centre of art and learning that drew Leone Battista Alberti . Venice , one of the wealthiest cities due to its control of the Adriatic Sea, also became a centre for Renaissance culture, especially Venetian Renaissance architecture . Smaller courts brought Renaissance patronage to lesser cities, which developed their characteristic arts: Ferrara , Mantua under
19278-574: The renewed sense of scholarship, was also an accomplished poet, publishing several important works of poetry. He wrote poetry in Latin , notably the Punic War epic Africa , but is today remembered for his works in the Italian vernacular , especially the Canzoniere , a collection of love sonnets dedicated to his unrequited love Laura. He was the foremost writer of Petrarchan sonnets , and translations of his work into English by Thomas Wyatt established
19440-438: The republican governments. This was in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe where artisans were firmly in the lower class. Literate and educated, this group participated in the Renaissance culture. The largest section of the urban population was the urban poor of semi-skilled workers and the unemployed. Like the peasants, the Renaissance had little effect on them. Historians debate how easy it was to move between these groups during
19602-401: The rise of cities influenced each other; for example, the demand for luxury goods led to an increase in trade, which led to greater numbers of tradesmen becoming wealthy, who, in turn, demanded more luxury goods. This atmosphere of assumed luxury of the time created a need for the creation of visual symbols of wealth, an important way to show a family's affluence and taste. This change also gave
19764-559: The rise to power in Florence of the austere monk Girolamo Savonarola in 1494–1498 marks the end of the city's flourishing; for others, the triumphant return of the Medici family to power in 1512 marks the beginning of the late phase in the Renaissance arts called Mannerism . Other accounts trace the end of the Italian Renaissance to the French invasions of the early 16th century and the subsequent conflict between France and Spanish rulers for control of Italian territory. Savonarola rode to power on
19926-505: The rising power of science and secular humanists , this architecture found great favor with the Catholic Church as a clear statement of the proper relationship of the earthly and the spiritual worlds. Aside from Palladio's designs, his publications further contributed to Palladianism. During the second half of his life, Palladio published many books on architecture, most famously, I quattro libri dell'architettura ( The Four Books of Architecture , Venice, 1570). Note: The first date given
20088-480: The role of the Papacy as the largest patron of Renaissance art and architecture. While the Italian Renaissance was fading, the Northern Renaissance adopted many of its ideals and transformed its styles. A number of Italy's greatest artists chose to emigrate. The most notable example was Leonardo da Vinci , who left for France in 1516, but teams of lesser artists invited to transform the Château de Fontainebleau created
20250-566: The six columns, supported by pediments, into the walls as part of the façade. This technique had been applied in his villa designs as well. Palladio experimented with the plan of the Palazzo Porto by incorporating it into the Palazzo Thiene . It was an earlier project from 1545 to 1550 and remained uncompleted due to elaborate elevations in his designs. He used Mannerist elements such as stucco surface reliefs and large columns , often extending two stories high. In his urban structures, he developed
20412-452: The social order of their culture. This powerful integration of beauty and the physical representation of social meanings is apparent in three major building types: the urban palazzo, the agricultural villa, and the church. Relative to his trips to Rome, Palladio developed three main palace types by 1556. In 1550, the Palazzo Chiericati was completed. The proportions for the building were based on musical ratios for adjacent rooms. The building
20574-490: The sonnet form in that country, where it was employed by William Shakespeare and countless other poets. Petrarch's disciple, Giovanni Boccaccio , became a major author in his own right. His major work was the Decameron , a collection of 100 stories told by ten storytellers who have fled to the outskirts of Florence to escape the black plague over ten nights. The Decameron in particular and Boccaccio's work, in general, were
20736-500: The state of the world, presaging further European voyages of exploration in the years to come. Until the late 14th century, prior to the Medici, Florence's leading family were the House of Albizzi . In 1293 the Ordinances of Justice were enacted which effectively became the constitution of the Republic of Florence throughout the Italian Renaissance. The city's numerous luxurious palazzi were becoming surrounded by townhouses , built by
20898-462: The subsidiary and utilitarian ground level (illustrated in the Palazzo Porto and the Palazzo Valmarana ). The tallness of the portico was achieved by incorporating the owner's sleeping quarters on the third level, within a giant two-story classical colonnade, a motif adapted from Michelangelo 's Capitoline buildings in Rome. The elevated main floor level became known as the piano nobile , and
21060-405: The theological ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas , who postulated the notion of two worlds existing simultaneously: the divine world of faith, and the earthly world of humans. Palladio created an architecture which made a visual statement communicating the idea of two superimposed systems, as illustrated at San Francesco della Vigna . In a time when religious dominance in Western culture was threatened by
21222-477: The top. The red brick of the walls and columns and the white stone of the balustrades and bases of the columns give another contrast. The facade was later given stucco sculptural decoration in the Mannerist style, which has considerably deteriorated. The success of the Basilica Palladiana propelled Palladio into the top ranks of the architects of Northern Italy. He had travelled to Rome in 1549, hoping to become
21384-407: The town. One of his most important accomplishments was negotiating the Peace of Lodi with Francesco Sforza ending the decades of war with Milan and bringing stability to much of Northern Italy. Cosimo was also an important patron of the arts, directly and indirectly, by the influential example he set. Cosimo was succeeded by his sickly son Piero de' Medici , who died after five years in charge of
21546-517: The tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles . Very little is known of Palladio's personal life. Documents show that he received a dowry in April 1534 from the family of his wife, Allegradonna, the daughter of a carpenter. They had four sons: Leonida, Marcantonio, Orazio and Silla, and a daughter, Zenobia. Two of the sons, Leonida and Orzzio, died during a short period in 1572, greatly affecting their father. He died on 19 August 1580 at either Vicenza or Maser, and
21708-544: The triumphal arches of Rome, and had been used in the earlier Renaissance by Bramante , but Palladio used them in novel ways, particularly in the facade of the Basilica Palladiana and in the Villa Pojana . They also became a common feature of later Palladian buildings in England and elsewhere. In his later work, particularly the Palazzo Valmarana and the Palazzo del Capitaniato in Vicenza, his style became more ornate and more decorative, with more sculptural decoration on
21870-481: The two parts was clearly expressed in the architecture. The central block is nearly square, with two low wings. The rear facade facing the garden has a spacious loggia, or covered terrace, supported by independent columns, on both the ground level and above on the piano nobile . The front facade facing the road has the same plan but with narrower loggias. The Hall of the Four Columns, the grand salon, could be entered by
22032-526: The upper reaches of society. I go , said Cyriac of Ancona , I go to awake the dead . As the Greek works were acquired, manuscripts found, libraries and museums formed, the age of the printing press was dawning. The works of Antiquity were translated from Greek and Latin into the contemporary modern languages throughout Europe, finding a receptive middle-class audience, which might be, like Shakespeare, "with little Latin and less Greek". While concern for philosophy , art, and literature all increased greatly in
22194-406: The various coalitions led by Florence that sought in vain to halt the advance. This culminated in the 1402 siege of Florence when it looked as though the city was doomed to fall, before Giangaleazzo suddenly died and his empire collapsed. Baron's thesis suggests that during these long wars, the leading figures of Florence rallied the people by presenting the war as one between the free republic and
22356-452: The villa, Palladio created a remarkable nymphaeum , or Roman fountain, with statues of the gods and goddesses of the major rivers of Italy. The most famous suburban villa constructed by Palladio was the Villa Capra "La Rotonda" , not far from Vicenza, begun in 1566 for Count Paolo Almerico, the canon of Pope Pius IV and Pope Pius V . The site is on a gentle wooded hilltop, with views of
22518-678: The wealthiest of the cities of Northern Italy, mainly due to its woollen textile production, developed under the supervision of its dominant trade guild , the Arte della Lana . Wool was imported from Northern Europe (and in the 16th century from Spain) and together with dyes from the east were used to make high-quality textiles. The Italian trade routes that covered the Mediterranean and beyond were also major conduits of culture and knowledge. The recovery of lost Greek classics brought to Italy by refugee Byzantine scholars who migrated during and following
22680-500: The word Machiavellian has come to refer to the cunning and ruthless actions advocated by the book. Along with many other Renaissance works, The Prince remains a relevant and influential work of literature today. Many Italian Renaissance humanists also praised and affirmed the beauty of the body in poetry and literature. In Baldassare Rasinus's panegyric for Francesco Sforza, Rasinus considered that beautiful people usually have virtue. In northern Italy, humanists had discussions about
22842-471: The workshop in April 1523 and went to Vicenza, but was forced to return to fulfil his contract. In 1524, when his contract was finished, he moved permanently to Vicenza, where he resided for most of his life. He became an assistant to a prominent stonecutter and stonemason, Giovanni di Giacomo da Porlezza in Pedemuro San Biagio, where he joined the guild of stonemasons and bricklayers. He was employed as
23004-578: Was Inigo Jones , who made a long trip to Vicenza and returned full of Palladian ideas. His first major work in the style was the Queen's House at Greenwich (1616–1635), modelled after Palladio's villas. Wilton House is another adaptation of Palladio's villa plans. It had a particularly famous feature, the Palladio Bridge, designed around 1736. The bridge was extremely popular, and copies were made for other houses, including Stowe House . Another variation,
23166-532: Was a miller. From an early age, Andrea Palladio was introduced to the work of building. When he was thirteen, his father arranged for him to be an apprentice stonecutter for a period of six years in the workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano, a noted sculptor, whose projects included the altar in the Basilica del Carmine in Padua. Bartolomeo Cavazza is said to have imposed particularly hard working conditions: Palladio fled
23328-428: Was also in the interest of mercenaries on both sides to prolong any conflict, to continue their employment. Mercenaries were also a constant threat to their employers; if not paid, they often turned on their patron. If it became obvious that a state was entirely dependent on mercenaries, the temptation was great for the mercenaries to take over the running of it themselves—this occurred on a number of occasions. Neutrality
23490-624: Was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic . Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture , primarily Vitruvius , is widely considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture . While he designed churches and palaces, he was best known for country houses and villas. His teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture , gained him wide recognition. The city of Vicenza , with its 23 buildings designed by Palladio, and 24 Palladian villas of
23652-646: Was buried in the church of Santa Corona in Vicenza. In 1844, a new tomb was built in a chapel dedicated to him in that cemetery. Although all of Palladio's buildings are found in a relatively small corner of Italy, they had an influence far beyond. They particularly inspired neoclassical architects in Britain and in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. While he designed churches and urban palaces, his plans for villas and country houses were particularly admired and copied. His books with their detailed illustrations and plans were especially influential. His first book, L'Antichida di Roma ( Antiquities of Rome )
23814-602: Was centralized by a tripartite division of a series of columns or colonnades . In 1552, the Palazzo Porto located in Vicenza was rebuilt incorporating the Roman Renaissance element for façades. A colonnade of Corinthian columns surrounded a main court. The Palazzo Antonini in Udine, constructed in 1556, had a centralized hall with four columns and service spaces placed relatively toward one side. He used styles of incorporating
23976-405: Was constructed as a summer house with views from all four sides. The plan has centralized circular halls with wings and porticos expanding on all four sides. Palladio began to implement the classical temple front into his design of façades for villas. He felt that to make an entry appear grand, the Roman temple front would be the most suitable style. The Palladian villa configuration often consists of
24138-574: Was dissatisfied with the first English language edition of Andrea Palladio's I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura , translated by Giacomo Leoni ), and in particular with Leoni's illustrations. In 1738 Ware published his translation illustrated with his own careful engravings. Ware's version of the Four Books of Architecture remained the best English translation into the twentieth century in the opinion of Howard Colvin . "Having thoroughly assimilated Palladian theory", wrote Colvin "he looked beyond it, and in
24300-619: Was easily adapted for a democratic worldview, as may be seen in Thomas Jefferson 's Monticello and his arrangement for the University of Virginia . It also may be seen applied as recently as 1940 in Pope's National Gallery in Washington D.C., where the public entry to the world of high culture occupies the exalted centre position. The rustication of exposed basement walls of Victorian residences
24462-455: Was flanked by wings ending in octagonal pavilions. He also engaged in speculative building in the West End of London. Ware was also involved in the completion of some elements of Leinster House following the death of Richard Cassels in 1751. In the later 1750s he was also involved in completing later alterations to the interior of the house for James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster . Ware
24624-520: Was his first construction of a large townhouse. He used Romano's idea for windows by stone corbeaux , a ladder of stone blocks, but Palladio gave the heavy facade a new lightness and grace. Several other villas of this time are attributed to Palladio, including the Villa Piovene (1539) and Villa Pisani (1542). Of the Villa Pisani, only the central structure of the original plan remains. The loggia
24786-451: Was less successful than his illustrious forebears in business, and the Medici commercial empire was slowly eroded. Lorenzo continued the alliance with Milan, but relations with the papacy soured, and in 1478, Papal agents allied with the Pazzi family in an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo. Although the Pazzi conspiracy failed, Lorenzo's young brother, Giuliano , was killed at Easter Sunday mass in
24948-464: Was maintained with France, which found itself surrounded by enemies when Spain disputed Charles VIII 's claim to the Kingdom of Naples . Peace with France ended when Charles VIII invaded Italy to take Naples. At sea, Italian city-states sent many fleets out to do battle. The main contenders were Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, but after a long conflict, the Genoese succeeded in reducing Pisa. Venice proved to be
25110-404: Was published in 1554. He then made architectural drawings to illustrate a book by his patron, Daniele Barbaro , a commentary on Vitruvius . His most famous work was I quattro libri dell'architettura ( The Four Books of Architecture ), published in 1570, which set out rules others could follow. The first book includes studies of decorative styles, classical orders, and materials. He illustrated
25272-633: Was that of Christopher Columbus (who sailed for Spain) and laid the foundation for European dominance of the Americas. Other explorers include Giovanni da Verrazzano (for France), Amerigo Vespucci (for Spain), and John Cabot (for England). Italian scientists such as Falloppio , Tartaglia , Galileo and Torricelli played key roles in the Scientific Revolution , and foreigners such as Copernicus and Vesalius worked in Italian universities. Historiographers have proposed various events and dates of
25434-509: Was the Black Death that decimated the populations of the densely populated cities of Northern Italy and returned at intervals thereafter. Florence, for instance, which had a pre-plague population of 45,000 decreased over the next 47 years by 25–50%. Widespread disorder followed, including a revolt of Florentine textile workers, the ciompi , in 1378. It was during this period of instability that authors such as Dante and Petrarch lived, and
25596-464: Was the cloister of the church of Santa Maria della Carità (1560–1561), followed by the refectory and then the interior of the San Giorgio Monastery (1560–1562). His style was rather severe compared with the traditional lavishness of Venetian Renaissance architecture . San Georgio Maggiore was later given a new facade by Vincenzo Scamozzi (1610), which integrated it more closely into the Venetian skyline. The original rigorous, perfectly balanced interior
25758-402: Was the end of stability with a series of foreign invasions of Italy known as the Italian Wars that would continue for several decades. These began with the 1494 invasion by France that wreaked widespread devastation on Northern Italy and ended the independence of many of the city-states. Most damaging was the 6 May 1527, Spanish and German troops' sacking Rome that for two decades all but ended
25920-447: Was the long-running series of wars between Florence and Milan. By the late 14th century, Milan had become a centralized monarchy under the control of the Visconti family. Giangaleazzo Visconti , who ruled the city from 1378 to 1402, was renowned both for his cruelty and for his abilities, and set about building an empire in Northern Italy. He launched a long series of wars, with Milan steadily conquering neighbouring states and defeating
26082-430: Was to refine, simplify, and use them in innovative ways. The style of Palladio employed a classical repertoire of elements in new ways. He clearly expressed the function of each part of the building by its form, particularly elevating and giving precedence to the piano nobile , the ceremonial floor, of his villas and palaces. As much as possible he simplified the forms, as he did at Villa Capra "La Rotonda", surrounding
26244-522: Was very high. An upper-class figure would control hundreds of times more income than a servant or labourer. Some historians see this unequal distribution of wealth as important to the Renaissance, as art patronage relies on the very wealthy. The Renaissance was not a period of great social or economic change, only of cultural and ideological development. It only touched a small fraction of the population, and in modern times this has led many historians, such as any that follow historical materialism , to reduce
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