Paola Modesti, VIU

Not apprenticed as an artist but as a stonemason, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) embodied a personal and influential synthesis of the architectural thought of his time. In his treatise The Four Books on Architecture (Venice 1570), rather than recognizing his debts to contemporary architecture Palladio considered his masters “the ancient Romans … [who] greatly surpassed all those who came after them in building well” (Foreword to the readers”). Palladio’s surviving production – alongside his treatise, many buildings for different functions, and large quantities of drawings – offers primary study material to challenge Palladio’s view as a critic of his own work by analysing his whole production and considering it within the context of sixteenth century architecture.

The course includes lectures, seminars, and visits. Lectures deal with broad issues and themes and aim at providing frameworks for seminar discussions on aspects of Palladio’s work. Each seminar shall be lead by small groups of students who will select and illustrate the points of discussion on the basis of material (readings, photocopies of drawings, and slides) available at VIU reading room. Visits will include Vicenza, some Palladio villas, the convent of the Carità, and the churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore in Venezia. A visit to Rome, with Palladio’s treatise as our guidebook, may be arranged outside classes, during a weekend.

Course requirements
All students are required to prepare the assigned readings (course-pack) in order to participate actively to seminars and lectures. Creditor students shall also lead at least one seminar according to a seminar-schedule which will be defined at the beginning of the course. Grade will be based on: class participation (20% of grade); seminar (30%); mid-term exam (slide recognition and description, 20%) and final exam (30%). The final exam will consist of an oral presentation of either a research paper on a topic related to the course (to be decided with the professor), or a design of a villa according to Palladio’s ideas.

Weeks Lectures and visits Seminars

Reference books
15th and 16th centuries architecture in Italy and in Venice:
- The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo. The Representation of Architecture, edited by Henry A. Millon and Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani (Milan, 1994).
- Deborah Howard, The Architectural History of Venice (New Haven and London, 2002).
- Manfredo Tafuri, Venice and the Renaissance, translated by Jessica Levine (Cambridge Mass., 1989).
- Manuela Morresi, ‘Treatises and the Architecture of Venice in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries’, in Paper Palaces. The Rise of the Renaissance Architectural Treatise, ed. by Vaughan Hart with Peter Hicks (New Haven and London, 1998), pp. 263-280.

Palladio:
- Andrea Palladio, The Four Book on Architecture, translated by Richard Schofield e Robert Tavernor (Cambridge Mass.- London Engl., 1997).
- James Ackerman, Palladio (Harmondsworth, 1966).
- Andrea Palladio 1508-1580. The portico and the farmyard, ehibition catalogue by Howard Burns in collaboration with Lynda Fairbairn and Bruce Boucher (The Arts Council of Great Britain 1975)
- Douglas Lewis, The Drawings of Andrea Palladio, exhibition catalogue (Washington 1981-1982)
- Denis Cosgrove, The Palladian Landscape (London, Leicester University Press, 1993)
- Bruce Boucher, Andrea Palladio. The Architect in his Time (New York 1994)
- Andrea Palladio: The Complete Illustrated Works, photography by Pino Guidolotti, introduction by Howard Burns, texts by Guido Beltramini and Antonio Padoan, New York: Universe, 2001 (This is also available on the web-site of Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio: http://www. cisapalladio.org)

Biography
Laurea in Architecture and dottorato in History of Architecture (IUAV). Research Fellow (assegnista) at the Department of History of Architecture, Iuav. Visiting Professor at Duke in Fall 2003. Teaches at VIU since 1999-2000. Her research areas include: church architecture; the patronage of private individuals and of religious orders; architecture and liturgy in the modern age up to Counter-Reformation; Andrea Palladio; Venetian architecture. Publications include: the exhibition catalogue Palladio al Tinell, Exposiciò de maquetes d’edificis d’Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), Vicenza, Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio (1996); Borromini variamente rivisitato, in “Casabella”, 678 (2000); La pubblicazione del “Serraglio de gli stupori del mondo” di Tomaso Garzoni: una disavventura editoriale nella Venezia di primo Seicento, in “Studi Veneziani”n.s. XLIII, 2002, pp. 311-330; Santa Maria della Passione a Milano, in Bramante milanese e l’architettura del Rinascimento lombardo, edited by Christoph L. Frommel, Luisa Giordano, Richard Schofield, Marsilio, Venice 2002, pp. 299-313. Forthcoming: a work on Palladio’s project for the Monastero di Santa Maria della Carità in Venice.