Vincenzo Scamozzi (2 September 1548 – 7 August 1616) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and a writer on architecture, active mainly in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

and

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

area in the second half of the 16th century. He was perhaps the most important figure there between

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( , ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be on ...

, whose unfinished projects he inherited at Palladio's death in 1580, and

Baldassarre Longhena Baldassare Longhena (1598 – 18 February 1682) was an Italian architect, who worked mainly in Venice, where he was one of the greatest exponents of Baroque architecture of the period. His style is characterized by monumentality, skillful use of l ...

, Scamozzi's only pupil. The great public project of Palladio's that Scamozzi inherited early in the process of construction was the

Teatro Olimpico The ("Olympic Theatre") is a theatre in Vicenza, northern Italy, constructed in 1580–1585. It was the final design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and was not completed until after his death. The ''trompe-l'œil'' onstag ...

at Vicenza, which Palladio had designed in the last months of his life.

Biography

Chiesa di San Lorenzo a Vicenza - Interno - Monumento di Vincenzo Scamozzi

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 Serlio Sebastiano Serlio (6 September 1475 – c. 1554) was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential treatise ...

, laid out in Serlio's book. Vincenzo visited

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1579–1580, and then moved to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1581. In 1599 to 1600, he visited the German Empire and France and left a sketchbook record of his impressions of French architecture, which first saw the light of day in 1959. Scamozzi is famous for having inherited several unfinished projects from

at the time of Palladio's death in 1580 and for bringing them to their completed form.

''The Idea of a Universal Architecture''

Scamozzi - Idea della Architettura Universale - 1615

Scamozzi's influence spread far beyond his Italian commissions through his two-volume treatise, ''L'idea dell'architettura universale'' ("The Idea of a Universal Architecture"), which is one of the last works of the Renaissance dealing with the theory of architecture. It was originally published with woodcut illustrations at Venice in 1615. Scamozzi depended for sections of his treatment of

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

Daniele Barbaro Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro (also Barbarus) (8 February 1514 – 13 April 1570) was an Italian cleric and diplomat. He was also an architect, writer on architecture, and translator of, and commentator on, Vitruvius. Barbaro's fame is chie ...

's commentary, published in 1556 with illustrations by Palladio; he also discussed issues of building practice. At that time, such treatises were becoming a vehicle for self-promotion. Scamozzi was aware of the potential 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. His first book entitled ''Discorsi sopra l'antichita di Roma'' (Venice: Ziletti, 1583) had been quickly cobbled together with some illustrated commentary on the ruins of Rome, assembled in "the space of a few of days." According to his preface to the volumes, the images were stock productions that already existed. Over half were copied from a volume published by Hieronymus Cock in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

in 1551. His major book came out one year before his death and was too late to influence his own success. Scamozzi's practice is sometimes spoken of as being a source of the

neo-Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Republic of Venice, Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetr ...

architecture as it was introduced by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

, another follower of

's own example.

Rudolf Wittkower Rudolf Wittkower (22 June 1901 – 11 October 1971) was a British art historian specializing in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture, who spent much of his career in London, but was educated in Germany, and later moved to the Unit ...

referred to him as among "the intellectual father(s) of

neo-classicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

Piazza San Marco

Scamozzi moved to

in 1581, where he had been invited to design the ''

Procuratie Nuove The Procuratie (English: Procuracies) are three connected buildings along the perimeter of Saint Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. Two of the buildings, the Procuratie Vecchie (Old Procuracies) and the Procuratie Nuove (New Procuracies), were c ...

'' on the

Piazza San Marco Piazza San Marco (; ), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal Town Square, public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). The Piazzetta ("little Piazza/Square") is an ext ...

itself. The ''

'' was built as 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. In accomplishing this design, Scamozzi adapted a rejected project of Palladio's for a re-faced

Doge's Palace The Doge's Palace (''Doge'' pronounced ; ; ) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic architecture, Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace included government offices, a jail, and th ...

, 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 Baldassare Longhena (1598 – 18 February 1682) was an Italian architect, who worked mainly in Venice, where he was one of the greatest exponents of Baroque architecture of the period. His style is characterized by monumentality, skillful use of l ...

(Scamozzi's only pupil) to fill the whole south flank of the piazza.

Chronology of works

All but one of the following works are in the territory of the

: * 1568–1575: Villa of Girolamo Ferramosca, Barbano di

Grisignano di Zocco Grisignano 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 radius access to the Autostrada A4, the main highw ...

(

Province of Vicenza The province of Vicenza (; ) is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza. The province has an area of 2,722.53 km2, and a total population of 865,082 (as of 2017). There are 113 ''comuni'' (municipalities) in th ...

) (with Gian Domenico Scamozzi) * 1569: Palazzo Godi,

(project, altered during later execution) * 1572–1593: Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare, Vicenza (reworked on a previous project by Palladio) * 1574–1615: Villa of Leonardo Verlato,

Villaverla Villaverla is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is west of SP349 and south of A31. Origins From Roman times, the original name of the nearby village that eventually became Villaverla was "Roveredum." The center of that first vi ...

(Vicenza) * 1575: Palazzo Caldogno, Vicenza * 1575–1578:

Rocca Pisana Rocca Pisana is a 16-century patrician villa in the comune of Lonigo, province of Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi for the Pisani family. In Italy there are several villas called Villa Pisani, which take their ...

(Vettor Pisani Villa),

Lonigo Lonigo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy, its population counts around 16,400 inhabitants. In its ''frazione'' of Bagnolo is the Villa Pisani (Bagnolo), Villa Pisani, a Renaissance patrician villa designed ...

(Vicenza) * 1576–1579: Trissino-Trento (Pierfranceso Trissino Palace), Vicenza (with Gian Domenico Scamozzi) * 1580: Villa of Francesco Priuli, Treville di

Castelfranco Veneto Castelfranco Veneto () is a town and (municipality) of Veneto, northern Italy, in the province of Treviso. It is the third largest municipality in the province by population after the capital Treviso and Conegliano. It is centrally located betwe ...

(

Province of Treviso The province of Treviso () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso. The province is surrounded by Province of Belluno, Belluno in the north, Province of Vicenza, Vicenza in the west, Pro ...

) (north wing) * 1580–1584: Villa Nani Mocenigo,

Canda Canda is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rovigo in the Italian region Veneto, located about 80 km southwest of Venice and about west of Rovigo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 958 and an area of .All demographi ...

(

Province of Rovigo The 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 provi ...

) * 1580–1592:

Villa Capra "La Rotonda" Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in Northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, and begun in 1567, though not completed until the 1590s. The villa's official name is Villa Almerico Capra V ...

, near Vicenza (completed construction of

's structure for Mario Capra, and added stables, not completed until 1620) * 1581–1586: Church of San Gaetano Thiene,

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

* 1581–1599: Procuratie Nuove,

, Venice (continued with a different interior design by Francesco Smeraldi and completed in 1663 by Longhena) * 1582: Palazzo Cividale, Vicenza ttributed* 1582–1591: Library of San Marco, Venice (completion of

Jacopo Sansovino Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino (2 July 1486 – 27 November 1570) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect, best known for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. These are crucial works in the history of Venetian Renaissance arc ...

's design) * 1584–1585:

, Vicenza (remodeling of structure designed by Andrea Palladio, wooden scene) * 1587–1596: Library of San Marco, Venice (the vestibule, ''Antisala'') * 1588: Villa Cornaro, Poisolo, Treville di Castelfranco Veneto (Treviso) (reconstruction) * 1588–1590: Teatro all'antica for Duke Vespasiano I Gonzaga,

Sabbioneta Sabbioneta () is a town and in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, Northern Italy. It is situated about north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages o ...

(

Province of Mantova The province of Mantua (; Mantuan, Lower Mantuan: ; Upper Mantuan: ) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Mantua. It is bordered to the north-east by the province of Verona, to the east by the province o ...

) * 1590:

Villa Contarini Villa Contarini is a mostly Baroque-style, patrician rural palace in Piazzola sul Brenta, province of Padova, in the region of the Veneto of northern Italy. The villa is spread over a 40 hectare area, with canals, and a lake. Now owned by the g ...

for Girolamo Contarini, Loreggia (Padua) (revised in construction) * 1590–1595: Church of San Nicolò da Tolentino, Venice * 1591–1593: Statuary of Venice Republic (museum), Venice * 1591–1593: Design of

Palmanova Palmanova () is a town and (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeast Italy. The town is an example of a star fort of the late Renaissance, built up by the Venetian Republic in 1593. Th ...

, an 'ideal city' built over the next thirty years 100km northeast of Venice * 1591–1594: Monastery and Church of San Gaetano Thiene,

* 1591–1595:

Villa Cornaro Villa 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 masterwo ...

for Girolamo Cornaro,

Piombino Dese Piombino Dese is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about north of Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and ...

(

Province of Padua The province of Padua () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua. Geography It has an area of 2,142 km2, and a total population of 936,492 (2016) making it the most populated provi ...

) (completion) ttributed* 1591–1597: Villa Duodo and Chapel of San Giorgio,

Monselice Monselice (; ) is a town and municipality (comune) located in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region, in the province of Padua about southwest of the city of Padua, at the southern edge of the Euganean Hills (''Colli Euganei''). ''Monselic ...

(Padua) * 1592–1616: Palace of Galeazzo Trissino al Corso, Vicenza * 1594–1600: Villa of Valerio Bardellini, Monfumo * 1596: Villa Ferretti for Girolamo Ferretti on the

Riviera del Brenta () is an Italian word which means , ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria (the Genoa region in northwestern Italy) in the form , then shortened in English. Riviera ma ...

Sambruson del Dolo Dolo is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, Italy. It is connected by the SP26 provincial road and is one of the towns of the Riviera del Brenta. History The growth of the town of Dolo is due to the gradual downsizi ...

(Venice). The A. Everett Austin House in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, U.S. is an homage to the Villa Ferreti. * 1596–1597:

for Girolamo Cornaro,

(Padua) (added stable wing) Villa-Molin-3

* 1597:

Villa Molin Villa Molin is a patrician residence in the neighborhood of Mandria, in Ponte della Cagna, south of Padua, Italy, Padua, in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It was designed for Nicolò Molin, a Venetian nobility, Venetian noble, by Vincenzo Sca ...

, Mandria, (Padua) * 1597: Villa Priuli, Carrara (Padua) * 1597–1598: Villa Godi, Sarmego di Grumolo delle Abbadesse (Vicenza) * 1601:

Palazzo del Bò The Bo Palace (Italian language, Italian: Palazzo del Bo) is the historical seat of University of Padua since 1493, It is still home to the Rectorate and the School of Law. It is also home to the oldest anatomical theatre in the world. Referen ...

, Padua (university facade) * 1601–1606: San Giacomo di Rialto,

(altar of Scuola degli Orefici; with

Girolamo Campagna Girolamo Campagna (1549–1625) was a Northern Italian sculptor. Life Born in Verona, he went to Venice in 1572 and studied under both Jacopo Sansovino and Danese Cattaneo, and completed many of the latter's works. He was responsible f ...

) * 1601–1636: San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti Church and Hospital, Venice * 1604–1612: Cathedral of Sts. Rupert and Virgil,

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, Austria (project; completed in 1614-28 by

Santino Solari Santino Solari (1576 – April 10, 1646), was a Swiss architect and sculptor, who worked mainly in Austria. He was born in the Canton of Tessin, in Switzerland, near Lugano. In 1612, he was appointed chief architect of Salzburg by the a ...

) * 1605: Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice (sacristy door; with Alessandro Vittoria) * 1605–1616: Villa Duodo,

(Padua) (six chapels for Via Romana) * 1607–1611:

San Giorgio Maggiore San Giorgio Maggiore () is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The island, or more specifically its Palladian church, is an important landmark. It has been much painted, ...

(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 * 1610: Villa Contarini degli Scrigni detta Vigna Contarena (Este) * 1614: Palazzo Loredan Vendramin Calergi,

(east wing; demolished in 1659 and rebuilt in 1660)

Citations

General and cited references

Bibliography of the ''Idea''
at Architectura - Les livres d'Architecture
Guido Beltramini, "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Scamozzi’s Idea della Architettura Universale in Palladian Territory"
in ''Annali di architettura'', no. 18–19, 2007
Howard Burns, "Inigo Jones and Vincenzo Scamozzi"
in ''Annali di architettura'', no. 18–19, 2007
Charles Davis, "Architecture and Light: Vincenzo Scamozzi’s Statuary Installation in the Chiesetta of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice"
in ''Annali di architettura'' no. 14, Vicenza 2002
Branko Mitrović and Vittoria Senes, "Vincenzo Scamozzi’s Annotations to Daniele Barbaro’s Commentary on Vitruvius’ De Architectura"
in ''Annali di architettura'' no. 14, Vicenza 2002
Konrad Ottenheym, "A Bird’s-Eye View of the Dissemination of Scamozzi’s Treatise in Northern Europe"
in ''Annali di architettura'', no. 18–19, 2007 * * * Scamozzi, Vincenzo. '' Uvres d'architecture de Vincent Scamozzi, architecte de la République de Venise'', 1764 * Giles Worsley
"Scamozzi’s Influence on English Seventeenth-Century Architecture"
in ''Annali di architettura'', no. 18–19, 2007

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scamozzi, Vincenzo 1548 births 1616 deaths 16th-century Italian architects Republic of Venice architects Italian architecture writers Italian male non-fiction writers