Vincenzo Scamozzi
Encyclopedia
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
and Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
area in the second half of the 16th century. He was perhaps the most important figure there between Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
, whose unfinished projects he inherited at Palladio's death in 1580, and Baldassarre Longhena
Baldassarre Longhena
thumb|250px|Tower of the church [[Santa Maria del Soccorso]], [[Rovigo]].Baldassarre Longhena was an Italian architect, who worked mainly in Venice, where he was one of the greatest exponents of Baroque architecture of the period....
, Scamozzi's only pupil.
The great public project of Palladio's that Scamozzi inherited early in the process of construction was the Teatro Olimpico
Teatro Olimpico
The Teatro Olimpico is a theatre in Vicenza, northern Italy: constructed in 1580-1585, it is the oldest surviving enclosed theatre in the world. The theatre was the final design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, Renaissance, and was not completed until after his death...
at Vicenza, which Palladio had designed in the last months of his life.
Biography
Scamozzi was born in Vicenza. His father was the surveyor and building contractor Gian Domenico Scamozzi; he was Scamozzi's first teacher, imbuing him with the principles of Sebastiano SerlioSebastiano Serlio
Sebastiano Serlio was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau...
, laid out in Serlio's book. Vincenzo visited Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1579-1580, and then moved to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1581, where he had been invited to design the Procuratie Nuove on the Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco , is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city are called "campi"...
itself. In 1600 he visited France and left a sketchbook record of his impressions of French architecture, which first saw the light of day in 1959.
The Procuratie Nuove were a row of official housing for the Procuratorate of San Marco, presented as a unified palace front that continues the end facade of the Sansovino Library, with its arcaded ground floor and arch-headed windows of the first floor, but adding an upper floor to provide the necessary accommodation, for which Scamozzi adapted a rejected project of Palladio's for a re-faced Doge's Palace, with colonnettes that flank the windows to support alternating triangular and arched pediments, upon which Scamozzi added reclining figures, to balance the richness of the Sansovinian decoration of the two lower floors. Eleven bays of this project were completed, and later were extended by Baldassare Longhena to fill the whole south flank of the piazza.
Popular 2-volume book on Architecture
Scamozzi's influence spread far beyond his Italian commissions through his treatise, L’Idea dell’Architettura Universale ("The Idea of Universal Architecture"), which is the last of the Renaissance works on the theory of architecture. It was published with woodcut illustrations at Venice in 1615. Scamozzi depended for sections of his treatment of VitruviusVitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
on Daniele Barbaro
Daniele Barbaro
Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro was an Italian translator of, and commentator on, Vitruvius. He also had a significant ecclesiastical career, reaching the rank of Cardinal....
's commentary, published in 1556 with illustrations by Palladio; he also discussed issues of building practice. Such treatises were becoming a vehicle for self-promotion. Scamozzi knew the value of publicity distributed through the established channels of the book trade and he included many of his own plans and elevations, as built, as they should have been built, and as idealized projects.
Previously, his first book had been a quickly cobbled together illustrated commentary on the ruins of Rome, assembled in "the space of a few of days," according to his preface, and the woodcut images were stock productions that already existed. Over half were copied from a volume by Hieronymus Cock
Hieronymus Cock
Jérôme or Hieronymus Cock, or Wellens de Cock was a Flemish painter and etcher of the Northern Renaissance, as well as a publisher and distributor of prints.-Biography:...
that appeared in the 1550s.
His major book came out too late to influence his own success; he died the following year. Scamozzi's practice is as much the source of the neo-Palladian architecture that was introduced by Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
as Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
's own example. Rudolf Wittkower
Rudolf Wittkower
Rudolf Wittkower was a German art historian.-Biography:He was born in Berlin and moved to London in 1934. He taught at the Warburg Institute, University of London from 1934 to 1956 and then at Columbia University from 1956 to 1969 where he was chairman of the Department of Art History and...
called him "the intellectural father of neo-classicism".
Chronology of works
All but one of the following works are in the territory of the Republic of VeniceRepublic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
:
- 1568-1575: Villa of Girolamo Ferramosca, Barbano di Grisignano di ZoccoGrisignano di ZoccoGrisignano di Zocco is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is south of E70.It is an important traffic node because of the local highway junction, that allows businesses within a 10 miles radius access to the Autostrada A4, the main highway in Northern Italy crossing it west to...
(Province of VicenzaProvince of VicenzaThe Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
) (with Gian Domenico Scamozzi) - 1569: Palazzo Godi, VicenzaVicenzaVicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
(project, altered during later execution) - 1572-1593: Palazzo Thiene Bonin LongarePalazzo Thiene Bonin LongarePalazzo Thiene Bonin Longare is a patrician palace in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio probably in 1572 and built after Palladio's death by Vincenzo Scamozzi...
, Vicenza (reworked on a previous project by Palladio) - 1574-1615: Villa of Leonardo Verlato, VillaverlaVillaverlaVillaverla is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is west of SP349 and south of A31.-Sources:*...
(Vicenza) - 1575: Palazzo Caldogno, Vicenza
- 1575-1578: Rocca PisanaRocca PisanaRocca Pisana is a sixteenth-century villa which was designed by the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi for the Pisani family.In Italy there are several villas called Villa Pisani, which take their name from this powerful Venetian family. This villa is also known as La Rocca or La Rocca Pisana...
(Vettor Pisani Villa), LonigoLonigoLonigo is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy, its population counts around 16.000 inhabitants.In its frazione of Bagnolo is the Villa Pisani, a Renaissance patrician villa designed by Andrea Palladio, which is part of a World Heritage Site...
(Vicenza) - 1576-1579: Trissino-Trento (Pierfranceso Trissino Palace), Vicenza (with Gian Domenico Scamozzi)
- 1580: Villa of Francesco Priuli, Treville di Castelfranco VenetoCastelfranco VenetoCastelfranco Veneto is a town and comune of Veneto, northern Italy, in the province of Treviso, 30 km by rail from the town of Treviso. It is approximately 40 km inland from Venice.-History:...
(Province of TrevisoProvince of TrevisoThe Province of Treviso is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso.The province has an area of 2,477 km², and a total population of 886.886 . There are 95 municipalities in the province .-Municipalities:-External links:*...
) (north wing) - 1580-1584: Villa Nani Mocenigo, CandaCandaCanda is a comune in the Province of Rovigo in the Italian region Veneto, located about 80 km southwest of Venice and about 20 km west of Rovigo...
(Province of RovigoProvince of RovigoThe Province of Rovigo is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rovigo.It borders on the north with the provinces of Verona, Padua and Venice, on the south with the province of Ferrara, on the west with the province of Mantua, and on the eastwith the Adriatic Sea.-...
) - 1580-1592: Villa Capra "La Rotonda", near Vicenza (completed construction of Andrea PalladioAndrea PalladioAndrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
's structure for Mario Capra, and added stables, not completed until 1620) - 1581-1586: Church of San Gaetano Thiene, PaduaPaduaPadua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
- 1581-1599: ProcuratieProcuratieThe Procuratie are three connected buildings on St Mark's Square in Venice. They are also connected to St Mark's Clocktower...
Nuove, Piazza San MarcoPiazza San MarcoPiazza San Marco , is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city are called "campi"...
, Venice (continued with a different interior design by Francesco Smeraldi and completed in 1663 by Longhena) - 1582: Palazzo Cividale, Vicenza [attributed]
- 1582-1591: Library of San MarcoBiblioteca MarcianaThe Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana is a library and Renaissance building in Venice, northern Italy; it is one of the earliest surviving public manuscript depositories in the country, holding one of the greatest classical texts collections in the world. The library is named after St. Mark, the...
, Venice (completion of Jacopo SansovinoJacopo SansovinoJacopo d'Antonio Sansovino was an Italian sculptor and architect, known best for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino's Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity...
's design) - 1584-1585: Teatro OlimpicoTeatro OlimpicoThe Teatro Olimpico is a theatre in Vicenza, northern Italy: constructed in 1580-1585, it is the oldest surviving enclosed theatre in the world. The theatre was the final design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, Renaissance, and was not completed until after his death...
, Vicenza (remodeling of structure designed by Andrea Palladio, wooden scene) - 1587-1596: Library of San MarcoBiblioteca MarcianaThe Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana is a library and Renaissance building in Venice, northern Italy; it is one of the earliest surviving public manuscript depositories in the country, holding one of the greatest classical texts collections in the world. The library is named after St. Mark, the...
, Venice (the vestibule, Antisala) - 1588: Villa Cornaro, Poisolo, Treville di Castelfranco Veneto (Treviso) (reconstruction)
- 1588-1590: Teatro all'anticaTeatro all'anticaThe Teatro all'antica is a theatre in Sabbioneta, northern Italy; it was the first free-standing, purpose-built theater in the modern world...
for Duke Vespasiano I GonzagaVespasiano I Gonzagathumb|250px|Vespasiano I Gonzaga.Vespasiano I Gonzaga was an Italian nobleman, diplomat, writer, military engineer and condottiero...
, SabbionetaSabbionetaSabbioneta is a town and comune in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, northern Italy. It is situated about 30 km north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River...
(Province of Mantova) - 1590: Villa ContariniVilla ContariniVilla Contarini is a patrician villa veneta in Piazzola sul Brenta, province of Padova, northern Italy. The villa is in Baroque style and is backed by a 40 ha park with lakes and alleys....
for Girolamo Contarini, LoreggiaLoreggiaLoreggia is a comune in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 35 km northwest of Venice and about 20 km northeast of Padua...
(Padua) (revised in construction) - 1590-1595: Church of San Nicolò da TolentinoSan Nicolò da TolentinoThe Chiesa di San Nicolò da Tolentino, commonly known as the Tolentini, is a church in Venice, northern Italy, the home of the Theatines order in the city. The Theatines arrived in Venice in 1527 after the Sack of Rome. The church dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Tolentino was begun in 1590 by...
, Venice - 1591-1593: Statuary of Venice Republic (museum), Venice
- 1591-1594: Monastery of San Gaetano Thiene, PaduaPaduaPadua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
- 1591-1595: Villa CornaroVilla CornaroVilla Cornaro is a patrician villa in Piombino Dese, about 30 km northwest of Venice, Italy. It was designed by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in 1552 and is illustrated and described by him in Book Two of his 1570 masterwork, I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura [The Four...
for Girolamo Cornaro, Piombino DesePiombino DesePiombino Dese is a comune in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 35 km northwest of Venice and about 20 km north of Padua...
(Province of PaduaProvince of PaduaThe Province of Padua is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua.-History and territory:...
) (completion) [attributed] - 1591-1597: Villa DuodoVilla DuodoVilla Duodo also known as the is a villa situated at Monselice near Padua in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is attributed to the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi although some later parts are known to have been designed by Andrea Tirali. The villa was built for a Venetian patrician, Francesco Duodo,...
and Chapel of San Giorgio, MonseliceMonseliceMonselice is a town and municipality located in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region, in the province of Padua.It is about 20 km southeast of the city of Padua, at the southern edge of the Euganean Hills .-History:...
(Padua) - 1592-1616: Palace of Galeazzo Trissino al Corso, Vicenza
- 1594-1600: Villa of Valerio Bardellini, MonfumoMonfumoMonfumo is a comune in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about 50 km northwest of Venice and about 30 km northwest of Treviso. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,447 and an area of 11.3 km².Monfumo borders the following municipalities:...
- 1596: Villa of Girolamo Ferretti on the Riviera del BrentaRiviera del BrentaRiviera del Brenta is the coastline of the Naviglio del Brenta which runs from Padua and through the Veneto countryside, through Stra, Fiesso d'Artico, Dolo, Mira, Oriago and Malcontenta to Fusina , in the North-east of Italy.From 16th to 18th century many venetian aristocratic family built their...
, Sambruson del DoloDoloDolo is a town and comune in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy. It is connected by the SP26 provincial road and his one of the towns of the Riviera del Brenta.-Sources:*...
(Venice) - 1596-1597: Villa CornaroVilla CornaroVilla Cornaro is a patrician villa in Piombino Dese, about 30 km northwest of Venice, Italy. It was designed by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in 1552 and is illustrated and described by him in Book Two of his 1570 masterwork, I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura [The Four...
for Girolamo Cornaro, Piombino DesePiombino DesePiombino Dese is a comune in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 35 km northwest of Venice and about 20 km north of Padua...
(Padua) (added stable wing) - 1597: Villa MolinVilla MolinVilla Molin is a patrician residence at Mandria, in Ponte della Cagna, south of Padua, in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It was designed for Nicolò Molin, a Venetian noble, by Vincenzo Scamozzi and completed in 1597. It faces Mandriola, on the opposite side of the Canale di Battaglia...
, Mandria, (Padua) - 1597: Villa Priuli, Carrara (Padua)
- 1597-1598: Villa GodiVilla GodiVilla Godi is a patrician villa in Lugo di Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy. It was one of the first projects by Andrea Palladio, as attested in his monograph I quattro libri dell'architettura...
, Sarmego di Grumolo delle AbbadesseGrumolo delle AbbadesseGrumolo delle Abbadesse is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is on SP24.In the frazione of Vancimuglio Andrea Palladio's Villa Chiericati can be seen.-External links:*...
(Vicenza) - 1601: Palazzo del Bò, Padua (university facade)
- 1601-1606: San Giacomo di Rialto, VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
(altar of Scuola degli Orefici; with Girolamo CampagnaGirolamo CampagnaGirolamo Campagna was a Northern Italian sculptor.Born in Verona, he studied under Jacopo Sansovino and Danese Cattaneo, and completed many of the latter's works. He was responsible for the figure of Doge Leonardo Loredano on the tomb which Cattaneo made in Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice...
) - 1601-1636: San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti Church and Hospital, Venice
- 1604-1612: Cathedral of Sts. Rupert and Virgil, SalzburgSalzburg-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, Austria (project; completed in 1614-28 by Santino SolariSantino SolariSantino Solari , was a Swiss architect and sculptor, who worked mainly in Austria. He was born at Verna near Lugano ....
) - 1605: Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice (sacristy door; with Alessandro VittoriaAlessandro VittoriaAlessandro Vittoria was an Italian Mannerist sculptor of the Venetian school, "one of the main representatives of the Venetian classical style" and rivalling Giambologna as the foremost sculptors of the late 16th century in Italy....
) - 1605-1616: Villa DuodoVilla DuodoVilla Duodo also known as the is a villa situated at Monselice near Padua in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is attributed to the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi although some later parts are known to have been designed by Andrea Tirali. The villa was built for a Venetian patrician, Francesco Duodo,...
, MonseliceMonseliceMonselice is a town and municipality located in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region, in the province of Padua.It is about 20 km southeast of the city of Padua, at the southern edge of the Euganean Hills .-History:...
(Padua) (six chapels for Via Romana) - 1607-1611: San Giorgio MaggioreSan Giorgio MaggioreSan Giorgio Maggiore is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The isle is surrounded by Canale della Grazia, Canale della Giudecca, Saint Mark Basin, Canale di San Marco and the southern lagoon...
(church), Venice (completion of Palladio's facade) - 1607-1616: Villa Cornaro al Paradiso, Venice (twin pavilions)
- 1609: Domenico Trevisan Villa, San Donà di Piave
- 1609-1616: Palazzo Contarini degli Scrigni, Santrovaso on the Canal Grande, Venice
- 1614: Palazzo Loredan Vendramin CalergiCa' Vendramin CalergiCa' Vendramin Calergi is a palace on the Grand Canal in the sestiere of Cannaregio in Venice, northern Italy. Other names by which it is known include: Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, Palazzo Loredan Vendramin Calergi, and Palazzo Loredan Griman Calergi Vendramin. The architecturally distinguished...
, VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
(east wing; demolished in 1659 and rebuilt in 1660)