Andrea Palladio and Developments in Western Architecture
Overview
At the height of his popularity and influence in 1570, Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) published his masterpiece, a treatise titled I Quattro Libri Dell' Architettura (Four Books of Architecture). The book solidified his standing as one of the greatest architects in history. Quattro Libri allowed Palladio's contemporaries and future generations of architects to examine his philosophies on the design of houses, bridges, civic and public buildings, and ancient temples. Quattro Libri is widely regarded as the finest architectural textbook ever produced.
Background
Palladio's spiritual mentor was ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, whose work Ten Books on Architecture, was the first attempt to outline the theoretical principles of the field. Although Vitruvius's efforts gave architecture an intellectual footing it lacked prior to his study, he still was unable to cover the discipline completely. Nevertheless, Vitruvius still supplied the best blueprint to date and his work was regarded as the exemplary text for hundreds of years.
Vitruvius's influence was so great that Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) imitated his style in his own De Re Aedificatoria, even though he was critical of the Roman master. Alberti incorporated numerous literary sources into his work, including Plato (427?-347 B.C.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), to create a sociology of architecture.
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