Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola
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Giacomo (or Jacopo) Barozzi (or Barocchio) da Vignola, often simply called Vignola (October 1, 1507 - July 7, 1573) was one of the great Italian architects of 16th century Mannerism. His two great masterpieces are the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Jesuits' Church of the Gesù in Rome. The three writers who spread the Italian Renaissance style throughout Western Europe are Vignola, Serlio and Palladio.
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[edit] Biography
Giacomo Barozzi was born at Vignola, near Modena (Emilia-Romagna).
He began his career as architect in Bologna, supporting himself by painting and making perspective templates for inlay craftsmen. He made a first trip to Rome in 1536 to make measured drawings of Roman temples, with a thought to publish an illustrated Vitruvius. Then François I called him to Fontainebleau, where he spent the years 1541 1543. Here he probably met his fellow Bolognese, the architect Sebastiano Serlio and the painter Primaticcio.
After his return to Italy, he designed the Palazzo Bocchi in Bologna. Later he moved to Rome. Here he worked for Pope Julius III and, after the latter's death, he was taken up by the papal family of the Farnese and worked with Michelangelo, who deeply influenced his style (see Works section for details of his works in this period).
From 1564 Vignola carried on Michangelo's work at St Peter's Basilica, and constructed the two subordinate domes according to Michelangelo's plans.
Giacomo Barozzi died in Rome in 1573. In 1973 his remains were reburied in the Pantheon, Rome.
It is unknown who he was married to and who his children were, but his living descendents currently live in America under the shortened last name of Rozzi.
[edit] Works
Vignola's main works include:
- Villa Giulia for Pope Julius III, in Rome (1550‑1553). Here Vignola was working with Ammanati, who designed the nymphaeum and other garden features under the general direction of Vasari, with guidance from the knowledgable pope and Michelangelo. A medal of 1553 shows Vignola's main villa substantially as it was completed, save for a pair of cupolas.
- Villa Farnese at Caprarola (1559-1573);
- Villa Lante at Bagnaia (1566 onwards), including the gardens and their water features and casini;
- Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, the mother church of the Jesuit order, which would become a source for Baroque church facades in the 17th century;
- Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi (with Galeazzo Alessi);
- Church of Sant'Andrea in Via Flaminia, Rome, the first church to have an oval dome, which became a signature of the Baroque.
Like many other architects, Vignola submitted his plans for completing the facade of San Petronio, Bologna. Designs by Vignola, in company with Baldassare Peruzzi, Giulio Romano, Andrea Palladio and others furnished material for an exhibition in 2001 .
His two published books helped formulate the canons of classical architectural style: Regole delli cinque ordini d'architettura "Rules of the five orders of architecture," (first published without a place given but probably in Rome, 1562) and the posthumously-published Due regole della prospettiva pratica ("Two rules of practical perspective", Bologna 1583), which favour one-point perspective rather than two point methods such as the bifocal construction. Vignola presented— without theoretical obscurities— practical applications that could be understood by a prospective patron.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Marzia Faietti and Massimo Medica, 2001. La Basilica incompiuta: Progetti antichi per la facciata di San Petronio (Ferrara: Edisai)
[edit] References
- Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite... (1568 edition; Volume IV, 94-95).
- G. Loukmski, 1927. Remains a standard monograph.
- Egnatio Danti, Les deux règles de la perspective pratique de Vignole, 1583, Pascal Dubourg Glatigny, Paris, 2003, ISBN 2-271-06105-9.
[edit] External links
- Brief biographical sketch
- Paolo Zauli on Vignola from a Bolognese perspective
- Vignola's effect on garden design
