Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Polio) (46 – 30 B.C.), Rome
STYLE:
DICTUM: Architecture must meet 3 requirements : Strenght, Beauty, Utility.
INFORMATION: He was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. Author of the oldest research on architecture ―The 10 Books of Architecture‖ or ―De Architectura Libri Decem‖. Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect. In Roman times architecture was a broader subject than at present including the modern fields of architecture, construction management, construction engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, military engineering and urban planning
FAMOUS WORK:
Leon Battista Alberti (1404 – 1472) Italy
STYLE: Humanist, Renaissance
DICTUM:
INFORMATION: author of first architecture book after invention of printing ―De re Aedificatoria‖ ―On Building‖: Person in charge of constructions commanded by Pope More emphasis on decoration of building Exteriors. He was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer, and general Renaissance humanist polymath: though he is often characterized as "architect" James Beck observes.
FAMOUS WORK: S. Francesco Façade of Palazzo Rucellai Completion of the facade of Santa Maria Novella San Sebastiano Pienza Sepolcro Rucellai Tribune for Santissima Annunziata Sant'Andrea, Mantua
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507 – 1573) Italy
STYLE: Mannerism,Renaissance
DICTUM:
INFORMATION: He 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 architects who spread the Italian Renaissance style throughout Western Europe are Vignola, Serlio and Palladio.
The earliest, Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura "Canon of the five orders of architecture" (first published in 1562, probably in Rome), presented Vignola's practical system for constructing columns in the five classical orders (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite) utilizing proportions which Vignola derived from his own measurements of classical Roman monuments.
The clarity and ease of use of Vignola's treatise caused it to become in succeeding centuries the most published book in architectural history.
Vignola's second treatise, the posthumously-published Due regole della prospettiva pratica "Two rules of practical perspective" (Bologna 1583), favours one-point perspective rather than two point methods such as the bifocal construction.
Vignola presented— without theoretical obscurities— practical applications which could be understood by a prospective patron.
FAMOUS WORK:
The five orders, engraving from Vignola's Regola delle cinque ordini d'architettura.
Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) Italy
STYLE: Renaissance
DICTUM:
INFORMATION: He was an Italian Renaissance 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.
All of his buildings are located in northern Italy, but his teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture), gained him wide recognition.
The father of modern picture books of architecture
He was born as Andrea di Pietro della Gondola in Padua, then part of the Republic of Venice.
FAMOUS WORK: Palazzo Chiericati Palazzo Thiene Redentore Church, San Giorgio Maggiore Teatro Olimpico
Michael Angelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Italy
STYLE: Renaissance
DICTUM:
INFORMATION: Presented a Greek Cross Plan & strengthened the piers of the dome. Redesigned the surroundings of St. Peter Basilica. Commenced the construction of the Greek Dome.
FAMOUS WORK: Laurentian Library Piazza del Campidoglio Sforza Chapel
Donato Bramante (1444-1514) Italy
STYLE: Early and High Renaissance style
DICTUM:
INFORMATION: First Roman Architect of Renaissance time.
First Architect in St.Peters Basilica in greek cross plan.
Who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his most famous design was St. Peter's Basilica.
Bramante was born in Monte Asdrualdo (now Fermignano), under name Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio, near Urbino.
FAMOUS WORK: Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Milan, ca. 1482–1486 Santa Maria delle Grazie (cloister and apse); Milan, 1492–1498 Palazzo Caprini (also known as Raphael's House), Rome, started around 1510 (demolished in the 17t century) San Pietro in Montorio (also called the Tempietto); Rome, 1502 Santa Maria della Pace (cloister); Rome, 1504 St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, design 1503, ground breaking, 1506 Cortile del Belvedere, Vatican City, Rome, 1506.
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) Florence, Italy
STYLE: Renaissance
DICTUM:
INFORMATION: He was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance.
He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture (churches and chapels, fortifications, a hospital, etc), mathematics, engineering (hydraulic machinery, clockwork mechanisms, theatrical machinery, etc) and even ship design. His principal surviving works are to be found in Florence, Italy.
FAMOUS WORK: Church of San Spirito Ospedale Degli Innocenti Pazzi Chapel S. Maria degli Angeli, San Lorenzo, Florence
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italy
STYLE:
DICTUM:
INFORMATION: commonly known as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution.
Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy".
The "father of modern physics".
The "father of science"
The ―father of Modern Science‖
Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."
Galileo defended heliocentrism, and claimed it was not contrary to those Scripture passages.
FAMOUS WORK:
Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814 – 1879), France
STYLE: Gothic Revival architect and Personal Style
DICTUM: "restorations" of medieval buildings.
INFORMATION: He was a French architect and theorist.
The first theorist who set out to create a totally new system of architectural forms independent of antiquity.
Viollet-le-Duc's "restorations" frequently combined historical fact with creative modification.
Viollet-le-Duc's restorations at Notre Dame de Paris gave him national attention.
His other main works include Mont St-Michel, Carcassonne, Roquetaillade castle and Pierrefonds.
An imported idiom: Viollet-le-Duc's slate-covered conical towers at Carcasonne