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Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)

Article  in  Nexus Network Journal · October 2008

DOI: 10.1007/s00004-008-0066-1

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 Stephen R. Wassell Research
Department of Mathematics Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)
and Computer Science
Sweet Briar College Abstract. A brief description of Palladio’s life and works. The
Sweet Briar, VA 24595 USA focus is on the evolution of his design methodology, including
wassell@sbc.edu the growing importance of proportion to his approach. Selected
mathematical details are cited in the endnotes, and the list of
Keywords: Andrea Palladio, references includes many publications focused on the
Renaissance architecture, ratio relationships between architecture and mathematics in Palladio’s
and proportion, harmonic designs.
proportions, geometry, design
theory, classical architecture

All over the western world, hundreds of thousands of houses, churches and
public buildings with symmetrical fronts and applied half-columns topped
by a pediment descend from the designs of Andrea Palladio. He is the most
imitated architect in history, and his influence on the development of
English and American architecture probably has been greater that that of all
other Renaissance architects combined.
[Ackerman 1966: 19]
Half a millennium ago in Padua, a prominent city in the Veneto region of Italy,
decades before the future architect would adopt the moniker Palladio, Andrea di Pietro
dalla Gondola (1508-1580) was born into a family of modest means, his father Pietro being
a mill worker. In 1521 Palladio was apprenticed to a Paduan stonemason, Bartolomeo
Cavezza, but he broke away from Cavezza in 1524 and moved to Vicenza. To this day his
adopted city celebrates Palladio as its most famous citizen.

Fig. 1. Villa Godi (photograph by the author)

Here Palladio joined the Pedemuro bottega, a workshop of stonemasons that enjoyed a
steady stream of sculptural and architectural commissions, due in no small part to Vicenza’s
wealth. The workshop’s consistent use of “protoclassical elements” with a “rare and unusual

Nexus Network Journal 10 (2008) 213-226 NEXUS NETWORK JOURNAL – VOL. 10, NO. 2, 2008 213
1590-5896/08/020213-14 DOI 10.1007/ S00004-008-0066-1
© 2008 Kim Williams Books, Turin
virtuosity in the range of artisan skills” undoubtedly influenced Palladio, although the
workshop’s classical “references have the effect of quotations embedded in vernacular
architecture.”1 Palladio inherited his first architectural commission, Villa Godi (begun c.
1537, fig. 1), from Pedemuro at about the same time that he left the bottega.
During these formative years, Palladio developed the origins of his classical architectural
vocabulary, deriving elements from many skilled architects, scholars, and practitioners in
the surrounding region. These included the Pedemuro master Giovanni di Giacomo da
Porlezza; the prominent Paduan patron Alvise Cornaro and his architectural circle, most
notably Giovanni Maria Falconetto, Michele Sanmicheli, Jacopo Sansovino, Giulio
Romano, and Sebastiano Serlio, whose nascent treatise on architecture was available to
Palladio, books III and IV having been published by 1540. Palladio’s drawings of classical
elements such as capitals and entablatures from this time period show his desire to exercise
his growing vocabulary, and it is telling that he later modified a number of these drawings
after seeing the original buildings with his own eyes.
What was clearly missing in his early years was the first-hand knowledge of the Roman
architectural sources upon which any respectable classical language must be based.
Instrumental in bridging this gap was Giangiorgio Trissino, an aristocrat, writer, and
humanist, who recognized Palladio’s tremendous potential and facilitated his first trip to
Rome in 1541. Palladio returned to Rome a number of times, with and without Trissino,
where he meticulously researched, drew, and recorded copious amounts of architectural
information, from ancient Roman sources to Renaissance masters such as Bramante,
Raphael, and Michelangelo, from intricate details to overall plans and elevations.2 Trissino
also had formed an academy of sorts at his estate Villa Trissino in Cricoli (near Vicenza),
on which Palladio had worked during his Pedemuro years. Here Trissino provided a
humanistic education to promising scholars. He became a mentor to Palladio in the late
1530s and probably created the young architect’s pseudonym. Through his study of the
classics with Trissino, especially the architectural treatise of Vitruvius, and with the first-
hand knowledge of Rome he acquired over several years, Palladio transformed his design
approach substantially.
Let us first consider his earlier designs, during the 1540s, before the full extent of his
education had taken force. Palladio makes scant use of the orders and other classical
elements in many of his early villas. Instead he exhibits an innate interest in geometry as
design medium, using simple forms such as the circle and semicircle to adorn his early
façades, e.g., Villa Valmarana at Vigardolo (begun 1541, fig. 2) and Villa Poiana (begun c.
1548, fig. 3).
Symmetry is a constant stabilizing force early on and remains so throughout his career.
Palladio’s façade motif comprised of a three bay arcade surmounted by a pediment can
inherently be viewed as a formal abstraction, a template from his toolkit – one that he
realized at least four times, twice with rustication, once with orders, and once with minimal
treatment; cf. Villa Pisani at Bagnolo (begun c. 1542-45), Villa Caldogno (begun c. 1545),
Villa Gazzotti (begun 1541-42), and Villa Saraceno (begun c. 1545-8).

214 STEPHEN R. WASSELL – Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)

 Palladio makes use of the orders, on palazzos
and a small number of villas, to convey the
importance of the owners, yet a major formal role of
the classical elements is to regulate the steady
rhythm of the principal façade (see, e.g., Palazzo
Civena [begun c. 1540], Palazzo Thiene [begun c.
1542-6], and Palazzo Iseppo Porto [begun c.
1549]). In his interiors Palladio demonstrates a
natural genius for shaping space while addressing
programmatic concerns; of particular note is his use
of vaults, individually and in combination, which,
whether frescoed or left monochrome, read
beautifully in their form, geometry, and structural
grace.

Fig. 2. Villa Valmarana (photograph by

the author)

Fig. 3. Villa Poiana (photograph by the author)

Towards the end of the 1540s and into the 1550s, as Palladio’s classical vocabulary
developed, there emerged a more advanced approach to his praxis. While still utilizing his
mastery of geometry and creative ingenuity, Palladio fully embraced the use of the classical
orders, which he integrated in more sophisticated ways. The previous uniform rhythm of
pilasters or columns along the entire front façade becomes richer through the use of column
groupings and varying intercolumniations, or it gives way completely to a central

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pedimented zone containing the orders. Entablatures become more articulated and
prominent. Orders of different scales are combined. Intercolumniations are reduced in
order to better conform to Vitruvian specifications. Buildings from this time period include
the famous Basilica loggias (begun 1549) that adorn the main piazza of Vicenza and helped
establish Palladio as the preeminent architect of the Veneto, Palazzo Chiericati (begun c.
1551), Villa Pisani at Montagnana (begun c. 1552), and Villa Cornaro (begun c. 1552, fig.
4).
In combination with his more sophisticated use of the orders, Palladio also takes strides
in unifying the various components of plan, elevation, and section, an approach he would
later describe in a sort of general maxim:
Beauty will derive from a graceful shape and the relationship of the whole to the parts,
and of the parts among themselves and to the whole, because buildings must appear to
be like complete and well-defined bodies, of which one member matches another and
all the members are necessary for what is required.3

Fig. 4. Villa Cornaro (photograph by the author)

This unified approach, which Palladio further refined during the 1550s and 1560s, was
due in large part to the influence of his highly accomplished patron, Daniele Barbaro, a
Venetian patrician, scholar, and humanist, who started working with Palladio soon after
Trissino died in 1550. Palladio provided illustrations for Barbaro’s translation and
commentary of Vitruvius, published in 1556. Barbaro’s commentaries are quite involved
on topics concerning proportions, from the theory of the orders in books III and IV, to
music in book V, to room ratios in book VI.

216 STEPHEN R. WASSELL – Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)

 Palladio undoubtedly heightened his command of classical Roman architectural theory,
as well as ancient Greek arithmetic and geometry, through his relationship with Barbaro.4
Villas from Palladio’s later period include Villa Barbaro (begun c. 1556, fig. 5), Villa
Malcontenta (begun c. 1558, fig. 6), Villa Emo (begun c. 1560, fig. 7), and the design
widely considered to be his masterpiece, Villa Rotonda (begun c. 1566, fig. 8). His
approach to design in this period has been the inspiration for much analysis. In “The
Mathematics of the Ideal Villa” Colin Rowe compares Villa Malcontenta to Le Corbusier’s
Villa Stein, focusing mainly on proportional considerations [Rowe 1982: 127]. Villa Emo
is one that most easily fits into Rudolf Wittkower’s “harmonic proportions” formulation of
Palladio’s design theory, which has generated much interest and scrutiny since its
publication about fifty years ago.5 It is true that such proportional analyses can be used to
argue that the beauty of Palladio’s architecture is not necessarily tied to his use of the
orders, and that architecture devoid of ornamentation can still delight the eye if
aesthetically pleasing proportions are incorporated.6 It is impossible to deny, however, that
classical architecture has stood the test of time, and to this day classical designers look to
the timeless beauty of Palladio’s oeuvre for guidance and inspiration.7

Fig. 5. Villa Barbaro (photograph by the author)

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 Fig. 6. Villa Malcontenta (photograph by the author)

Fig. 7. Villa Emo (photograph by the author)

218 STEPHEN R. WASSELL – Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)

 Fig. 8. Villa Rotonda (photograph by the author)

The death of Sansovino in 1570 left open the position of proto of the procurators of
San Marco, i.e., the primary architect of Venice. Although Palladio never officially filled
this position, during the 1560s and 1570s he succeeded in landing major commissions in
the capital city, aided by his relationship with the Barbaro brothers, Daniele, who also died
in 1570, and Marc’Antonio. Rather than adapt to Venetian styles, Palladio applied the
architectural lexicon that he had derived from Roman sources and had mastered through
years of study and practice. Palladio designed the front façade (commissioned 1562) of San
Francesco della Vigna in a style that solves the problem of unifying the height of the central
nave with the lower sides, by overlapping a classical temple front spanning the whole
elevation with a colossal order fronting the nave. Variations on this same theme are seen on
two churches in Venice fully designed by Palladio (albeit not completed until after his
death), San Giorgio Maggiore (church begun 1566, fig. 9) and Il Redentore (begun 1577).
The interiors of these two may seem a bit austere to some observers, since the only
ornamentation is that which is implicit in the orders and concomitant classical elements,
but this underscores the importance he placed upon them. Their use in ecclesiastical
architecture had already been established, having made the transition from pagan and
secular sources in ancient Rome, where they had been used for the glorification of the gods
or of the state. Palladio’s now fully Roman classical vocabulary was simply the only means
of ornamentation acceptable to him. His genius lay in his inventiveness and creativity in
assembling the elements of this vocabulary in order to shape space, articulate solid, and
modulate light with elegance, grace, and beauty.

NEXUS NETWORK JOURNAL  Vol. 10, No. 2, 2008 219

 Fig. 9. Interior, San Giorgio Maggiore (photograph by the author)
The work that secured Palladio such a prominent place in the history of architecture is
not made of brick or stone, however. It is his treatise, I quattro libri dell’architettura, first
published in 1570 but translated and republished myriad times since, which ensured that
his influence would be felt centuries after his death in 1580. It became the de facto primary
source book for classical architecture, since Palladio included a plethora of painstakingly
detailed and amply dimensioned architectural drawings, from designs to details, which
would be the inspiration for many later architects.8 He also presents his design philosophies
in substantial detail, and the importance he placed on ratio and proportion (recall “the
relationship of the whole to the parts, and of the parts among themselves and to the
whole”) cannot be overstated. The specifications of the five orders in book I are
exhaustively dimensioned in terms of a module based on the column diameter, in some
cases to such precision as to be beyond what could actually be achieved or perceived, which
underscores his theoretical approach.9 Later in book I Palladio lists his seven preferred room
types, namely the circle, the square, and rectangles with the following length-to-width
ratios: ¥2:1, 4:3, 3:2, 5:3, and 2:1.10 Of course, Palladio’s own designs in book II, as well as
those of Roman buildings in book IV, are ready made for creative borrowing and extensive
analysis.11
Palladio’s later works in Vicenza include Palazzo Valmarana (begun c. 1565), his first
palace with a colossal order; Palazzo Barbarano (begun c. 1570); Palazzo Porto Breganze
(begun c. 1571, fig. 10); Loggia del Capitaniato (begun c. 1571, fig. 11), which is located
across the piazza from the Basilica; and Teatro Olimpico (begun c. 1580). The last of these
Palladio designed for the Accademia Olimpica, of which he was one of the earliest
members, and he completed his design for the theater just prior to his death in August of
1580.

220 STEPHEN R. WASSELL – Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)

 Fig. 10. Palazzo Porto Breganze Fig. 11. Loggia del Capitaniato
(photograph by the author) (photograph by the author)
Palladio and his wife, Allegradonna, had five children, three of whom survived their
father. Palladio’s body was buried in the Dominican church of Santa Corona in Vicenza,
but his remains were exhumed in the nineteenth century and moved to prominent tomb in
a new, neoclassical civic cemetery.
Palladio certainly benefited from the renaissance of intellectual thought that surrounded
him in cinquecento Italy. The studies occurring in the various circles to which Palladio
belonged over the years, such as those associated with Alvise Cornaro, Giangiorno Trissino,
and Daniele Barbaro, were widely ranging. Palladio himself was at times stone mason,
architect, engineer, archaeologist and architectural historian. Through meticulous research
in Rome and elsewhere, he was able to develop an authentic classical vocabulary from
ancient and contemporary sources, which he incorporated with seemingly boundless care
and ingenuity in order to design an impressively large number of exceptionally beautiful
and sturdy buildings. In the final analysis, however, the exceptional beauty of his
architecture depends on an inborn artistic ability that cannot be quantified or otherwise
explained by the influences of those around him. There is a huge difference between
classically true and truly beautiful, and it is Palladio’s innate mastery of aesthetics that is his
greatest legacy.
Acknowledgment
This biography of Palladio was originally written for “The Year of Palladio” website of the Institute
for Classical Architecture and Classical America (http://www.classicist.org/resources/year-of-
palladio/), and the bibliography accompanying the original includes several sources for further
reading. The endnotes and bibliography have now been expanded from the original version to
highlight numerous publications concerning relationships between architecture and mathematics in
Palladio’s oeuvre.

NEXUS NETWORK JOURNAL  Vol. 10, No. 2, 2008 221

Notes
1. The first two quotations are from [Puppi 1975: 27]; the third is from [Boucher 1994: 20].
2. This first-hand architectural information eventually became source material for Palladio’s first
two publications, Le antichità di Roma and Descrizione della chiese di Roma, both published
in 1554, as well as for book IV of his treatise, I quattro libri dell’architettura, published in
1570.
3. Palladio’s treatise, book I, chapter 1, p. 67 [Palladio 1997: 7]; similar statements are found in
book II, chapters 1–2, p. 34 [Palladio 1997: 77–78]. For an example from Palladio’s work, at
Villa Cornaro not only do the exterior columns reflect the placement of the interior walls and
columns; the main sala’s length-to-width ratio equals not only its width-to-height ratio but also
the ratio of the lower-storey column diameter to the upper-storey column diameter. See
[Mitroviü and Wassell 2006: 2829, 46]; the ratios cited are based on dimensions from their
2003 survey of Villa Cornaro, on which their book is based.
4. Note Puppi’s quotes of Barbaro in the following: “For Barbaro the scientific basis of knowledge
was to be found in mathematics, … [and] he concludes that ‘some arts have more of science
and others less’, and the ‘more worthy’ are ‘those wherein the art of numeracy, geometry, and
mathematics is required’”; see [Puppi 1975: 18]. Puppi cites his quotes as D. Barbaro, 1556, p.
7, i.e., from Barbaro’s translation and commentary of Vitruvius [Barbaro 1556].
5. [Wittkower 1988: 104 ff]. Wittkower bases his analysis on the dimensions given in Palladio’s
treatise. Two articles providing more in-depth analyses related to Wittkower’s appear in the
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians: [Howard and Longair 1982] and [Mitroviü
1990]. A more exhaustive study of potential proportional sources for Palladio is available in
[March 1998]; indeed, Palladio’s corpus certainly supports March’s claim: “In truth the
Renaissance might be called the era of conspicuous erudition in which patrons, scholars and
artists displayed their breadth of classical learning in various works and commissions” [March
1998: xii]. For example, although Palladio’s use of ad triangulum references (inherently
involving ¥3) on the Villa Rotonda cannot be explained through Wittkowerian means, the
length-to-width ratio of the four large corner rooms (26:15) is a canonical ancient Greek
approximation for ¥3, as Mitroviü stated in his first JSAH article [Mitroviü 1990: 285].
Moreover, the diameter of the central circular room, 30, completes a virtual 30º-60º-90º
triangle. (The dimensions 15, 26, and 30 are those given by Palladio in his treatise, book II,
chapter 3, p. 19 [Palladio 1997: 95].) To state this using modern notation, the angles of a
triangle with side lengths 15, 26, and 30 are, to the hundredth of a degree, 30.00º, 60.07º, and
89.93º; cf. [Wassell 1999: 124125].
6. See, for example, two articles in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians: [Millon
1972] and [Payne 1994].
7. See the chapter “Palladianism Today” in [Mitroviü 2004: 171187], where he carefully
analyzes and counters arguments against the use of classicism today, especially regarding the
issue of appropriateness to time, and offers several examples of contemporary Palladian
architecture.
8. The principal competitor, over the years, to Palladio’s treatise has been [Vignola 1563]. While
some prefer Vignola’s canon of the five orders, his treatise lacked the plethora of drawings
available in books II through IV of I quattro libri dell’architettura.
9. See book I, chapters 1219 of [Palladio 1997]; cf. [Mitroviü 2004: 149].
10. See book I, chapter 21, p. 52 of [Palladio 1997: 57]; the full text is:
There are seven types of room that are the most beautiful and well proportioned and
turn out better: they can be made circular, though these are rare; or square; or their
length will equal the diagonal of the square of the breadth; or a square and a third; or
a square and a half; or a square and two-thirds; or two squares.

222 STEPHEN R. WASSELL – Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)

 Palladio also gives constructions for the arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic means in book I,
chapter 23, p. 5354 [Palladio 1997: 5859], and he recommends choosing from them to find
a vaulted room’s height given its length and width.
11. Palladio included his Basilica amongst the public architecture in book III, which is otherwise
dominated by bridge design.

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About the author

Stephen R. Wassell received a B.S. in architecture in 1984, a Ph.D. in mathematics (mathematical
physics) in 1990, and an M.C.S. in computer science in 1999, all from the University of Virginia.
He is a Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Sweet Briar College, where he joined the faculty in
1990. Steve’s primary research focus is on the relationships between architecture and mathematics.
He has co-authored two books, one with Kim Williams entitled On Ratio and Proportion (a
translation and commentary of Silvio Belli, Della proportione et proportionalità), and one with
Branko Mitroviü entitled Andrea Palladio: Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese (see review in this issue).
Steve’s overall aim is to explore and extol the mathematics of beauty and the beauty of mathematics.

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