4 days ago
- General
- Wall Street Journal
Andrea Palladio's Palazzo Chiericati: Public Grandeur on Private Space
It is hard to think of a single architect's impact on a city that compares with that of Andrea Palladio (1508-80) on Vicenza, near Venice.
Despite his fame, enhanced by his publication of 'The Four Books of Architecture' (1570) and its success in spreading his ideas around the world, Palladio is known more for his country villas—such as the Rotunda, a model for Thomas Jefferson's Monticello—than for his urban palaces. But take a stroll through the streets of Vicenza and his remarkable ability to transform an entire cityscape becomes clear. Among the 16 palaces he built there one sees so much variety that an untrained eye might reasonably conclude they were each designed by different architects. Of these, the Palazzo Chiericati stands out for the exceptional way it harnesses the grandeur and ornament of public buildings in what was originally a private home.
