The Perfect House: A Journey with Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio (33 page)

December 2002

A chronological listing of Palladio villas requires a caveat. Palladio described twenty-three villas in
Quattro libri,
but he did not include dates, and he did not arrange the designs in chronological order. Rather he “placed them in the text to suit myself.” To complicate matters further, he referred to certain villas as completed when they were still under construction, and sometimes when construction had not even begun. Roughly half a dozen additional villas have been attributed to Palladio on the basis of surviving drawings, likewise undated. Completion took years, in some cases, decades. Hence the precise times of design and construction are difficult to establish. Certain villas can be dated on the basis of contracts, wills, and contemporaneous accounts, or on stylistic grounds. The dates of others—Valmarana, Sarego at Santa Sofia—are only roughly known. Some dates are in dispute. The Villa Zen, for example, is dated as early as 1548 and as late as 1566. The captivating little Villa Forni is likewise variously dated, from 1541 to the 1560s. Moreover, its attribution, like that of the Villa Caldogno, is contested; some say it might have been designed by Alessandro Vittoria, a sculptor who often worked with Palladio. The fate of the Villa Ragona can only be guessed at despite its inclusion in
Quattro libri,
for it has vanished without a trace—possibly it was never built. Thus the list below includes conjecture, and the sequence of projects is necessarily imprecise.

L
OCATION OF
P
ALLADIO’S
V
ILLAS

1. Villa Godi, Lonedo di Lugo

2. Villa Pisani, Bagnolo

3. Villa Poiana, Poiana Maggiore

4. Villa Foscari, Malcontenta

5. Villa Cornaro, Piombino Dese

6. Villa Barbaro, Maser

7. Villa Badoer, Fratta Polesine

8. Villa Emo, Fanzolo

9. Villa Almerico (La Rotonda), Vicenza

10. Villa Saraceno, Finale di Agugliaro

The First Decade: 1540–50

Villa Godi, Lonedo di Lugo Vicentino (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Piovene, Lonedo di Lugo Vicentino (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Survives. Fragments may be by Palladio. Attribution is contested.

Villa Valmarana, Vigardolo di Monticello Conte Otto (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Gazoto, Bertesina (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Survives, though in poor condition.

Villa Pisani, Bagnolo di Lonigo (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives. Porticoes destroyed.

Villa Saraceno, Finale di Agugliaro (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Thiene, Quinto Vicentino (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Unfinished. Fragments survive.

Villa Muzani, Malo (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Destroyed in 1919.

Villa Poiana, Poiana Maggiore (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Chiericati, Vancimuglio di Grumolo delle Abbadesse (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Caldogno, Caldogno (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Survives. Attribution is contested.

Villa Angarano, Angarano di Bassano del Grappa (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
House was vastly altered in eighteenth century, only
barchesse
survive.

The Second Decade: 1550–60

Villa Foscari (La Malcontenta), Gambarare di Mira (Venezia)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Forni, Montecchio Precalcino (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Survives in poor condition. Attribution is contested.

Villa Schio, Montecchio Precalcino (Vicenza)

Not included in
Quattro libri.
Destroyed.

Villa Cornaro, Piombino Dese (Padova)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Pisani, Montagnana (Padova)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Ragona, Ghizzole di Montegaldella (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
No trace.

Villa Thiene, Cicogna di Villafranca (Padova)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Only an outbuilding was built. Survives.

Villa Barbaro, Maser (Treviso)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Villa Mocenigo, Dolo (Venezia)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Built, remodeled. Demolished in 1835.

Villa Sarego, Santa Sofia (Verona)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Partially built. Survives.

Villa Trissino, Meledo di Sarego (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Only a fragment was built. Survives.

Villa Repeta, Campiglia dei Berici (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Burned in seventeenth century.

Villa Zen, Donegal di Cessalto (Treviso)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives in poor condition.

Villa Emo, Fanzolo (Treviso)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

The Third Decade: 1560–70

Villa Mocenigo, Marocco (Treviso)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Not built.

Villa Sarego, Miega di Cologna Veneta (Verona)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Partially built. Destroyed.

Villa Valmarana, Lisiera di Bolzano (Vicenza)

Included in
Quattro libri.
Not built according to original design; rebuilt in 1969. Survives.

Villa Almerico (La Rotonda), Vicenza

Included in
Quattro libri.
Survives.

Readers interested in visiting the surviving villas may consult Caroline Constant’s
The Palladio Guide
(Princeton Architectural Press, 1985, revised 1993).

T
HE
P
ARTS OF
C
LASSICAL
A
RCHITECTURE

After Andrea Palladio’s drawing of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, Rome

1. Pediment

2. Entablature

3. Column

4. Cornice

5. Frieze

6. Architrave

7. Capital (Corinthian)

8. Shaft (fluted)

9. Base

10. Tympanum

Acanthus:
Prickly Mediterranean plant whose stylized leaf is represented in classical decorations such as the capitals, or headpieces, of Corinthian and Composite columns.

Apse:
Semicircular or polygonal recess, usually with a half-domed ceiling. Palladio used apses in the entrance loggia of the Villa Pisani.

Barchessa:
Traditional barn of the Trevigiana region in the Veneto; the roof is extended to form a sheltered arcade on the south side. Palladio incorporated
barchesse
in the designs of the Villa Barbaro and the Villa Emo.

Bucrania:
Decorations in a Doric frieze representing ox skulls and recalling the sacrificial function of Roman temples. Palladio used bucrania in town houses such as the Palazzo Chiericati and in suburban villas such as the Villa Pisani in Montagnana, but rarely in country houses.

Capital:
Headpiece or carved block at the top of a column. While the columns in Palladio villas are made of brick—plastered or unplastered—capitals and bases are generally carved stone.

Column:
Basic element of classical architecture. Columns consist of three parts: bases, shafts, and capitals, or headpieces. They may be entirely freestanding or engaged—that is, part of the wall. A flat representation of a column that is part of the wall is called a pilaster. Ancient Roman columns were made of stone, but Palladio’s columns are usually plastered brick.

Composite order:
An order is the entire assembly of columns and entablature. The composite order is Roman in origin and its capital combines Ionic volutes with Corinthian acanthus leaves. Palladio rarely used this ornate order in country houses, the early Villa Gazoto being a rare exception.

Corinthian order:
Athenian order whose capital consists of stylized acanthus leaves. Palladio designed beautiful Corinthian columns for the upper porticoes of the Villa Cornaro.

Dado:
Lower section of a wall that is decorated differently from the upper section—for example, a plaster wall might have a dado of inlaid stone. Palladio often had faux marble dados frescoed on the walls of his villas.

Doric order:
Greek order distinguished by an extremely simple saucer-shaped capital consisting of several moldings, and by its complicated frieze consisting of alternating panels called triglyphs and metopes. Doric, because it is the simplest order, usually represents the manly virtues, which may be why Palladio chose it for the Villa Emo, one of his most robust designs.

Entablature:
Horizontal beamlike element that is supported by columns. The entablature is divided into three parts: the architrave
at the bottom, the frieze in the middle, and the cornice at the top under the eaves. Palladio derived the exact profiles of his entablatures from studies of Roman ruins. The entablature could be a real beam, as in the Villa Emo, or a flattened representation of a beam, as at the Villa Pisani.

Entasis:
Classical columns are always narrower at the top, and the subtle curved taper is referred to as entasis. This effect not only gives columns a gracious shape but it also creates the optical illusion that the columns are perfectly straight, since a column without entasis will appear to be bulging at the top.

Fascia:
Plain, flat horizontal molding projecting slightly from the surface of a wall. Palladio often used fascias to demarcate floor levels on the exterior of his villas.

Fluting:
Vertical grooves of concave profile carved into the shafts of columns. Although ancient Roman columns are almost always fluted, Palladio rarely used fluted columns since his plastered brick columns could not be carved. The stone columns in the interior of San Giorgio Maggiore are fluted.

Giant column:
Any column more than one story high. Also called colossal column. Palladio introduced giant columns to domestic architecture when he used them first in the portico of the Villa Chiericati.

Groin:
Line formed by the intersection of two vaults. Commonly found in the cruciform
salas
of Palladio villas.

Hemicycle:
Semicircular columned structure. A freestanding hemicycle is the focus of the rear garden of the Villa Barbaro.

Impost:
Block-shaped headpiece at the top of a pier from which an arch springs. Usually stone, but in Palladio villas often plastered brick.

Intercolumniation:
The distance, measured in column diameters, between two columns. Columns can be spaced closer or farther apart. Vitruvius described five different intercolumniations: pynostyle (1
¹
/
₂
diameters); systyle (2 diameters); eustyle (2
¹
/
₄
diameters); diastyle (3 diameters); and araeostyle (4 diameters). Palladio favored eustyle for villa porticoes, but used wider spacing such as araeostyle for flanking loggias and arcades.

Ionic order:
Said to have originated in Ionia, today western Turkey. The chief distinguishing feature of the Ionic capital is a pair of decorative spirals, or volutes, that resemble ram’s horns. Ionic was Palladio’s favorite order and he used it in most of his villas, including the four porticoes of the Villa Rotonda.

Mascherone:
Grotesque mask, used to adorn the keystone of arches—a common Renaissance motif. It appears in Palladio’s Basilica and also in the arcades of the Villa Barbaro.