Discovering Palladio

'Of all the colors, none is more proper for churches than white, since the purity of the color, as of life itself, is particularly satisfying to God.'Andrea Palladio, The four books of Architecture, 1570

Andrea Palladio may be described as one of the most famous among the architects of the Renaissance. His system of proportions, the elegant symmetry of his projects, and the techniques of composition he used all serve to establish a relationship between each individual component and the whole, something he felt was at the very heart of classical architectural design. He has been an inspiration to countless architects throughout the Western world, including Thomas Jefferson, Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren.Palladio was influenced by the work of Vitruvius, the classical roman architect, and Leon Battista Alberti. He also familiarized himself with the work of his contemporaries like Guilio Romano, Giovanni Maria Falconetto, Sebastian Serlio and Michele Sanmicheli. Although he imbibed the ideas of the classicists and his contemporaries, he was also very creative and combined art forms and nature in many of his works. Much more famous for his villas and palaces, Palladio projected some among the most amazing and beautiful churches in Venice. In 1560 Palladio was commissioned to build a refectory for the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. He then constructed the cloister of the monastery of San Maria della Carità, which is now the Accademia Galeries. He also built the façade of the church of San Francesco della Vigna. He built two magnificent churches in Venice, which can be admired for their architecture today. They are San Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore.

We start this tour at the Redentore (the Redeemer), built in 1577 in gratitude for saving Venice from the plague. The façade design features interlocking temple fronts with engaged columns and pilasters. This is Palladio's perfect masterpiece, a bright image of his thoughts as a classical architect. Light is the only word we can use to define this church. In his church designs, he merged the classical and the contemporary into a new kind of architecture. Inside we can admire works of Tintoretto, veronese, Bassano. San Giorgio Maggiore sits on its own island across the Basin from the Piazza San Marco and the Doge's Palace. The island had been the site of a Benedictine church and convent since 790, and Palladio was commissioned to rebuild the complex in 1565. Clad in Istrian marble, the façade consists of two temple fronts behind and above one another. The central, higher front has four, three-quarter composite columns on high pedestals and a complete triangular pediment. The interior is in the form of the Latin cross with a transept and side aisles, and brings together the Renaissance ideal of the centralized plan, the medieval tradition of nave churches, and the requirements of the Counter-reformation for functional churches with naves for large congregations. The ceiling is a simple barrel vault with a semi-circular window that leads to the crossing. Inside last paintings made by Tintoretto and a splendid Madonna by Sebastiano Ricci. The tour ends at S.Francesco della Vigna. For this church, made by Sansovino, Palladio projected the façade, the first important work he realized in Venice. It is a splendid proportion following the theories based on the sacred number three, trying to create the perfection of harmony in the universe. In the Giustinian chapel we admire the outstanding bas-relief by Bon and Lombardo. Paintings by Bellini, Veronese, Antonio da Negroponte are great.