Italian language and culture

THREE WORKS BY ANDREA PALLADIO

Andrea Palladio is among the foremost architects of his time. His works helped to change the face of the Renaissance architecture despite working during a time when the Council of tent aimed at reforming the religious architectures as per the Protestant Reform criticism as well as criticism from with the church itself. Thus, Palladio’s architectural designs were limited to a large extent. One of his work was the Basilica di San Pietro di Castello in Venice which was publicly commission buildings. Basilica di San Pietro di Castello is a building that dates from the 16th century. It was the cathedral church of the city. Andrea Palladio was nominated to provide ideas for additions and alterations of the prominent early architects of Venice. His work was to rebuild the interior and faced of St Pietro. The church has a large dome showing the ecclesiastical importance of the church. The drum supports the dome with rectangular windows for letting in light. The interior has a large nave at the central with Latin aisle. There is a transept crossing the church separating the presbytery from the navel.

However, few years later he was commissioned to construct a private chapel for the Barbaro brothers who became his central opportunity of having a perfect plan of the church. Tempietto Barbaro is, therefore, his most crucial work that is a vehicle for discussing his other entire central plan and understanding the theories of architectural planning during the Renaissance. The Barbaro brothers were the Venetian aristocrats prominent for their goal of establishing a humanistic society and educated in humanistic educations. The final architectural work was a product of Palladio’s and Marcantonio Barbaro ideas. The church's location at the Barbaro estate bounded in the village of the Maser. Its primary purpose was to become a private chapel for the function of the village parish and the Barbaro (Figure 1). The churches plan design is from the Greek cross but in a smaller version of the chapel. It has a semi-circular dome and four arms (Figure 2).

The construction’s facade transports the viewer immediately to the Pantheon in Rome, with its portion and pediment fronting the great dome. There is minimal extravagant ornamentation inside the church. It has no paintings but white walls; the decorations comprise of the statuary. The function of the church to become the village parish was secondary to its purpose of being the Marc’antonio and his family mortuary chapel. Therefore, the church is constructed to bring in muted lighting, and its decorations are not over the top There are repeated sets of Corinthian columns within the triumphal arch motif replicated throughout the room (Weissmuller, 2007).

Il Redentore is another work by Palladio has the Aedicules that feature on the walls encrypted with the Barbaros’ patron saints pictures. The Il Redentore was Palladio’s idyllic church that he has always had in his mind. Palladio’s ideas and thought in designing the Il Redentore had their way in planning for the Tempietto Barbaro. Each feature in Il Redentore is well elevated showing the steps leading to the front entrance. The Il Redentore is a square shape outwardly but the inside there is a faint Greek cross plan that is more pronounced that the Tempietto. The front features of Il Redentore comprise of four engaged columns that are Tempiettos temple front. In general, the initial ideas that Palladio conceived for the Il Redentore were revived and rejuvenated in the construction of Tempietto Barbaro (Weismuller, 2007).

Other architects and their importance

Girolamo Savonarola was a friar Dominican, who preached in Florence in the Renaissance period. His preaching was to seek both political and spiritual reform. Savonarola preached against the materialistic lifestyle of Florence, which was the great center of literature, architecture, and Renaissance art. Sandro Botticelli during his time produced many volumes of paintings and drawings such as the 'Divine Comedy' manuscript by Dante. With Botticelli's work were mainly church related.

For instance, the Adoration of the Magi' (c.1481) provides heavy details with well elaborated architectural representations and expressive set of figures within religious contexts. He had a good reputation in religious art and was invited to work in decorating the Sistine Chapel in Vatican. By the turn of the century, he had readopted the Gothic principle and abandoned modern architecture in place of rural elements for framing subjects.

The Scrovegni Chapel Giotto di Bandon’s masterwork that he completed in 1305 in Padua, Italy for the Enrich Scrovegni family. The forgoes that adorn the ceilings and walls of the chapel relate to an emotional and complex narrative of the lives of Jesus and Mary. The narrative outlook forms the genius aspect of this chapel. Bandon’s settings and themes are exclusively religious as seen in the ionic scenes that depict Jesus, Mary, and Joachim.

Scrovegni Chapel

Leon Battista Alberti in 1435 gave the first theory about the modern day linear perspective ion his book the painting. This new system has a major impact on measurements in paintings to many artists after 1435. The artist created a floor on the ground of the painting and drew another receding grid to guide the reflective scale on other elements in the picture. It was the first step that painting was not just for the purpose of God’s glorifications as it was the case of the Medieval Europe. Instead, painting during the Renaissance was for the people looking at the painting (Grafton, 200

REFERENCES

Buckley, A. (2004). The Rough Guide to Venice and the Veneto. Rough Guides Limited.

Grafton, A. (2000) Leon Battista Alberti. Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance. New York

Weismuller, A (2007). Palladio in Venice. Grafiche Vianello Srl

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