Andrea Palladio was an influential Italian Renaissance architect, known for his classical designs. He received patronage from Giorgio Trissino and designed famous works such as the basilica in Padua and the Triumphal Arch in Vicenza. His commitment to classical Roman paradigms inspired later architects across the world.
Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect, today considered one of the most influential architects of the western world. Born Andrea di Pietro della Gondola in Padua, Italy, Palladio was something of a child prodigy. At the age of 13 he fled Padua and his apprenticeship as a stonemason to move to Vicenza, where he was known to frequent the studio of Bartolemo Cavazza and from whom he learned the basics of the stonemason’s trade. However, for all his early promises, it was not until his thirties that Palladio became the architect we know today, designing some of the most remarkable and exquisite buildings in Italy.
Andrea Palladio really rose to architectural prominence when he received the patronage of the famous humanist poet Giorgio Trissino. From Trissino Palladio received money and his imaginative nickname, taken from Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom. In 1549, having returned from a trip to classical Italy, he began work on the basilica in his native Padua; the colonnades of which he built are considered to be among his most famous works. The Triumphal Arch (or Arco di Trionfo) in Vicenza is also a remarkable architectural work as it reproduces with great precision the essence of the classic Roman triumphal arches.
Other works by Andrea Palladio are equally famous for their balance and harmonious classical design. His creations are found throughout Vicenza and all demonstrate the architect’s commitment to the classical Roman paradigms of proportion and symmetry. He designed a whole range of buildings, but mainly his energies were spent on the creation of churches, palaces and villas. Two examples of the latter are the Villa Rotonda and the Villa Malcontenta, commissioned by Venetian patrician families of the Serenissima.
Many of Andrea Palladio’s buildings remain today, as does his famous 1570 treatise on his craft entitled “The Four Books of Architecture.” His treatise, and indeed his buildings, inspired later architects across the continent and in North America. Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones, in Britain, were admirers of Palladio’s structures, and indeed the latter was at the forefront of the first Palladian revival that took place in Jacobean England. Later admirers include architectural notables such as Lord Burlington and Colen Campbell. George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Virginia is also designed according to Palladian principles, as are Tsarskoe Selo Palace in Russia and Prior Park, England.
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