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By Root 2847 0

boggles at what he might have accomplished in Rome, where all the buildings are part of a gigantic and historic urban landscape. As it was, Venice provided an equally exciting setting for his imagination, and his work on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, across the basin from St. Mark’s, altered the visual skyline of Venice permanently and gave the city much of the magic we all love. He built the refectory of the San Giorgio monastery there, making it both simple, even severe, and monumental (1560). The monks were so pleased they commissioned him to rebuild their church. The result was magnificent, seen from across the water from the piazzetta—dramatic, elegant, almost ethereal, depending on the season and the weather. That of course was how it was meant to be seen. Looked at close to, it is less impressive, and the interior disappoints, Palladio not being a man who thought of churches as primarily places of worship. It was, then, a vision, not based on any classical model or recent creation by Brunelleschi, Alberti et al., but sui generis, a piece of wonderful stage scenery. It has been criticized, but no one who has seen it—Ruskin apart—would wish it changed. His other great Venetian church, the Redentore, is more carefully designed for use, though its peculiarity as a votive church, where the rich made solemn vows and gave thanks for mercies, often in the form of huge processions, demanded theatrical effects. The water façade, from which it is entered, is a virtuoso display of the classical orders and proportions, crowned by giant statues, and is another of the great sights of Venice, with the dome and spires crouching behind and constantly changing their relationship to the front as you come up to it by gondola. The interior of the church, however, also functions well and has always been much used.

In fact, while Palladio had a taste and a genius for theatrical effects, and could be quite ruthless at achieving them at the expense of function, he was fundamentally, odd as it may seem, a practical architect who designed his buildings for use. Most of his life he spent designing villas or country houses, and he set out his principles. In 1570 he published his Quattro libri dell’architettura, four books that describe, in order, general principles and technology, private residential buildings, public secular buildings, and antique temples. In the second of these he insists that the villa is the center of an agricultural estate. It must be situated, therefore, with a view to the well-being of the land, so that the owner may supervise it properly. And it must be built with agricultural aspects in mind—however noble and imposing, the farm must be catered for in the structure.

Moreover, although Palladio was a classical architect in that he knew and understood everything about the theory and practice of antiquity—insofar as the knowledge was then available—he insisted that he followed the antique because it was functional as well as beautiful. He did not hesitate to introduce his own fundamental modifications of design when they added to utility, though he ensured they added grace too. This firm foundation of sense and flexibility of execution help to explain why he was so successful in his day, why his houses work as well as please and why they were so generally followed for generations, all over Europe.

Palladio never repeated himself. Each design is a little world in itself. The Villa Godi-Malinverni, the Palazzo Chiericati and the Palazzo della Ragione, all in or near Vicenza, the Villa Cornaro, near Treviso, and the Villa Rotonda, at Vicenza, are all very different, and the Villa Serego, near Verona, with its all-rusticated surface, surprises people when they are told Palladio was the architect, as it seems so uncharacteristic. But all these works and others, on close inspection, are seen to embody Palladio’s principles: attention to climate and setting; serving to impress from afar and offer service and comfort within; radiating order and economy as well as utility; and making the most intelligent possible use of sun