A Guide to Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture

Venetian Architecture of the Sixteenth Century

Palladio.  Facade, San Francesco della Vigna, Venice.  Begun
1562

Giovanni Maria Falconetto (1468-1535)

• Short biography
• Loggia Cornaro, Padua Circa 1530. Falconetto's most famous building.
  Image of the Loggia Cornaro.
• Villa Cornaro, Padua Built circa 1550 after designs by Falconetto.
• Villa dei Vescovi, in Luvigliana, circa 1529/1535.
• One of Falconetto's wretched paintings from the Sala dello Zodiaco in the Palazzo di Bagno, Mantua, of about 1520.
• View of the entire room.

• Giorgio Vasari's Life of Michele Sanmicheli
• Short biography and some links
• On the now-destroyed Villa Cornaro at Piombino Dese Built circa 1539/1540.
• Ca'Cornaro, Campo S. Polo, Venice 1555-1564.
• Palazzo Bevilaqua, Verona.
• Palazzo Canossa, Verona. Begun circa 1537, finished in the 17th century.
• Palazzo Grimani, Venice. Begun circa 1556, completed circa 1575.
• Porta Nuova, Verona 1542.
• Porta Terraferma, Zadar 1543.
• Porta Palio, Verona 1547/1557.

Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570)

• Giorgio Vasari's Life of Jacopo Sansovino
• A short biography with some links to examples of his architecture and sculpture.
• Portal of empire and wealth: Jacopo Sansovino's entrance to the Venetian mint By Eugene J. Johnson. From The Art Bulletin
• Piazza San Marco and Sansovino
• Library, Venice Begun 1537.
• Libreria Sansovinia The famous corner.
• Spin around the Library.
• The Zecca (Mint) of Venice. 1537-1545.
• The Loggetta.
• Raking view of the Loggetta and the Library.
• Ca'Cornaro della Ca'Grande Venice, 1540s.
• Villa Garzoni
• Scuola della Misericordia

Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)

• Giorgio Vasari's Life of Andrea Palladio
• Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio. In Italian and English.
• Andrea Palladio, the Revolutionary. Introduction to Palladio by Howard Burns.
• Why Palladio's Work Still Resonates. A short lecture by Howard Burns.
• Andrea Palladio: 500 years of architectural wonders Exhibition in Venice and Vicenza.
• He Made Antiquity Modern.Review of an exhibition on Palladio's architecture and its influence.
• Palladio: the father of Renaissance architecture. "His reliance on Roman heritage may have been misguided."
• Palladio, Architecture's Virgil. By James Gardner; the New York Sun, 8 July 2008.
• Andrea Palladio. Short biography with links to sites on many of his buildings, each with short description and bibliography.
• Andrea Palladio : Great buildings online Some basic information and bibliography with links to sites on some of his buildings.
• Rudolf Wittkower. Principles of Palladio's Architecture. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. Vol. 7, (1944): 102-122. Available through JSTOR.
• Harmony and Proportion A history of architectural theories, including sections from Palladio's Quattro Libri.
• Palladio in Venice. His buildings seen mostly from the water.

Individual Buildings by Palladio: Villas

• Villa Godi Malinverni
  Exterior and interior views from Visconti's film Senso of 1954.
• Villa Pisani a Bagnolo di Lonigo. 1544/1545. Official site.
• Villa Barbaro at Maser. The Official Web site.
• Villa Barbaro at Maser. 1554. From the CISA.
• Villa Barbaro at Maser. From the Met's Timeline of Art History.
• Villa Emo at Fanzolo. Near Treviso. Built in the later 1550s. This was the last Palladian Villa held by the original family--sold to a bank in 2004.
• Villa Rotonda in Losey's film of Don Giovanni. Exterior. "Madamina, il catalogo e' questo..."
• The Genius of the Villa Rotonda. Howard Burns' short lecture.
• Don Giovanni. Finale, Pt. 2. Villa Rotonda, interior.
• Palladio's Italian Villas.

Individual Buildings by Palladio: Palaces

• Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza Two good photographs.
• Palazzo Valmarana Braga. Vicenza, 1565.
• Palazzo Thiene, Vicenza

Individual Buildings by Palladio: Churches

• San Giorgio Maggiore Constructed 1566-1610. A Web site for the church and the island.
• San Giorgio Maggiore From Tulane.
• San Giorgio Maggiore Angle view of the facade.
• San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice: Interior
• San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice: The Cloister
• Il Redentore, Venice Begun 1577.

Palladio: Other Projects

• Logge of the Palazzo della Ragione (aka the Basilica). Vicenza, 1546/1549.
• Loggia del Capitanio. Vicenza, 1565.
• Teatro Olimpico. Vicenza, 1580. From CISA.
• Teatro Olimpico. Vicenza, 1580/1585. "Virtual Reconstruction of Palladio's Teatro Olimpico."
• Teatro Olimpico. From the "Empire of the Eye: The Magic of Illusion" series of short films from NGA, Washington. Shows the perspective trick of the actor who gets larger as he walks to the back of the scenery, plus how it was lit.
• Project for the Rialto Bridge. Venice. Unbuilt. Has a jazzy score (not by Palladio).
• Project for the Rialto Bridge. Unbuilt. Possible 3-D model.
• Bridge for Bassano del Grappa. 1570.

Some Other Palladian Resources

• La Citta di Vicenza A Web site for Vicenza, Palladio's native city.
• Cornaro family as patrons of art in Venice and in Rome have their own web site.
• Palladio's Four Books on Architecture. A bit from a CD-ROM of the book.
• Andrea Palladio, Renaissance architect. Well-done short film on his buildings.
• Palladio and His Books. Useful list and description of the many editions of the Quattro Libri and other writings by Palladio.
• The Architecture of A. Palladio Interactive. Online version of Palladio's Quattro Libri.
• The Four Books on Architecture A review of a new English translation of Palladio's treatise, I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, published in 1570. This is a blurb but gives good basic information on the book's importance.
• Palladio and Pattern Books On the influence of Palladio's Quattro Libri
• A copy of the original for sale. A bargain at $30,000.

Vincenzo Scamozzi (1548-1616)

• On Vincenzo Scamozzi. Large site with biography and photos from the RIBA.
• A short biography
• Scamozzi's facade for San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. Begun by Palladio; circa 1614.
• Analytic Diagrams of Proportion and the Human Body. From Scamozzi: Analytic Diagrams of Proportion and the Human Body. From the Met Museum's Timeline of Art History.
• Villa Cornaro at Poisolo, Treviso

Ottavio Bertotti-Scamozzi (1719-1790)

• Villa Fosacari (La Malcontenta). Exterior. Restoration.
• Villa Fosacari (La Malcontenta). Interior: the great hall. Restoration.
• Villa Foscari: interior.

Canaletto.   Venice.