Palladio's in the Tradition of the Farm Author(s): Martin Kubelik Source: Assemblage, No. 1 (Oct., 1986), pp. 90-115 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3171057 Accessed: 08/12/2008 23:59

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mitpress.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Assemblage.

http://www.jstor.org '

'/1".4 vI:E / - - ,,* ' ' // / j . , "' , , .

Frontispiece: Emo, Fan- zolo, frontal view with thresh- ing floor and ramp. Martin Kubelik Palladio's Villas in the Tradition of the Veneto Farm

MartinKubelik is AssociateProfessor of (1508-80) is unquestionablyone of the ArchitecturalHistory, Department of central figures in architecture,' not Cornell Architecture, University. only because of the many buildings with which he was in some way involved, but also because his theoretical proj- ect, I quattro libri dell'architettura,2published in 1570, was to become one of the architecturalbestsellers of all time. Yet, it is this treatise, with its refined imagery and obviously didactic and thereforetheoretical scope,3 that has clouded the issues surroundingPalladio's work as a practic- ing architect.4Although this particulardialectic within his work is not the topic of this paper, it should nevertheless be kept in mind as a constant critical factor to be recalled when dealing with the relationshipof his villas to the vernacularfarm tradition. Palladio is also undoubtedly one of the most widely re- searched and published architectsof all time. And yet he still remains an enigma in many fundamental aspects of his professionalcareer. Only in recent years have such elementary questions as his practical relationshipto proportionsbeen doubted,5 his differingattitudes to the publication and to the construction of his buildings been illustrated,6his relationshipwithin a complex political situ- ation on the Venetian mainland even been considered,7 and, perhapsmost pertinent to this paper, the influence of a longstandingvernacular tradition on his architecture even been suggested.8That such a list of unansweredques- tions can be cited - a list which is only the tip of an iceberg - shows that there is an incredible historiographic

91 assemblage I

1. , Fanzolo, aerial view.

disequilibriumin the way one approachesthis architect's work.

Taking the vernacularfarm traditionas one of the spheres that influenced and helped form his architecture,and in particularhis villas, one will find that other potential spheres of influence have been studied to a far greaterex- tent. His relationshipto antique architectureand the inspi- ration and mathematical satisfactionhe must have found access to passage * : U:a ^ showing there can be seen in every monograph about him. Unfor- H - under ramp. tunately, the more popular such a monographor study be- comes, the more one finds that this particularelement of Palladio'sarchitectural inspiration is dealt with increasingly exclusively. And yet, most of his villas - their architecturalmanifesta- tion more clearly so than their subsequent publication - a a 1M.1 :: 1 r can only be understoodwhen one puts the vernaculartra- dition of the Veneto farm complex in the foregroundand considers the more commonly thought principal spheres of influence solely as additional formal, ornamental, or stylis- I, m: tic moments.

If oftl - = 6-L&jL2aa-_ RJ'LMjwJm%-BAm#L T;_Jt*aif - S_Mftf- L- I Taking this backgroundinto account, and thereforenot to- tally negating a priorithe influence of classical architec- ture, humanist thought, and Renaissancearchitecture in his villas, it should be possible to concentrate purely on the architecturallyprovable influence this vernacularfarm or villa tradition had on his villas. The to o ( a]o Q [- _T ( ] simplest way exemplify this phenomenon is to specifically demonstrateit in one well-chosen case study and then to show its general The best such is the Villa Emo at Fan- gec validity. example zolo.9 Palladio published this villa in his I quattro libri dell'architetturavery much as it was actually built;'?thus one does not face a serious problem concerning the rela- tionship between theory and practice. He received the commission either in the middle or towardthe end of his most active years as a practicingarchitect;" it is therefore the type of villa commission with which he was accus- 3. Villa Emo, Fanzolo, compari- tomed to deal. There was, most probably,no preexisting son of actual plan and eleva- structurethat Palladio had to consider in his design.12 tion with plan and elevation Without a doubt the structureas it stands was built from Andrea I today Palladio, quattro for a few minor libri dell'architettura,2: 55 during Palladio'slifetime, except details;'3 (, 1570). as a result one does not encounter the problem of consid-

92 Kubelik

ering later interventionsthat could fog the interpretationof those architecturalelements essential for the 4. Thatched cottage of un- argument. known building date. Rosara For all these reasons the Villa Emo is very much atypical; di Codevigo. but speakingpurely on a methodological level, if a hy- pothesis can be proven for this villa, then it should also be valid in those instances where Palladio had to insert his architectureinto a preexistingfarm and villa complex, let alone incorporatesuch a preexistingstructure. Therefore, any element at the Villa Emo found to have its roots in the vernacularcan be said to have these roots from the free will of Palladio, his client, or both, and thus can be con- sidered to emanate from the necessity of the architectural commission and, through it, from the everydayusage for which the building was intended. 5. Project B2. FromSebastiano Serlio, Sixth Book on Domestic The three elements of this quinquepartiteand overall sym- Architecture. metrical composition that must be traced back into the ver- nacular tradition of Venetian Terrafermavilla architecture are the various , the dovecot towers, and the rather surprisingramp leading up to the main entrance to the living and representationalquarters. The existence of a as an integral part of a villa can be traced, on the Venetian Terraferma,beyond the earliest extant examples of such buildings. The weight of circumstantialevidence is overpoweringlythat, preceding the villas made of more solid materialssuch as bricks or stone, the land was filled with thatched wooden cottages.14 In their typological con- tent these earliest thatched dwellings looked very similar to later ones, of which many still exist.15All these examples, 6. Villa Dal Zotto, Venegazzu, whether it be the evidence of historic ones or those that frontal view. remain, have a portico that spans at least part, if not the whole, of one facade of the main building of a villa com- plex. The earliest extant villas on the Terrafermacan be dated around 1400.16Two such examples are the Villa Dal Zotto in Venegazzu, constructedin one building phase be- tween 1405 and 1409,17and perhapseven more important, the Villa Rasia Dani in Villaga, originallybuilt at the end of the fourteenth century8 - more importantbecause var- ious dating analyses of the building material have shown a continuous reactivationof the portico and loggia structure continuing into the late sixteenth century.19In other words, such a simple and perhapsprimitive structurewas constantly restoredfor use as portico and loggia20be- 7. Villa Rasia Dani, Villaga, frontal view. being

93 assemblage 1

8. Villa Corner dall'Aglio, Lughignano sul Sile, frontal view.

9. Villa Corner dall'Aglio, Lughignano sul Sile, plan of ground floor.

10. Villa Cornerdall'Aglio, Lughignano sul Sile, bird's-eye view from the eighteenth century. (Misc. Mappe 228, Ar- chivio di Stato, Venice)

94 Kubelik

IF I I LuI

I- ---NL- --M-

L-h-im------J

Liia j~w I

cause that is essentially all this building really is. Through- out the fifteenth century these elements continued to be the major determining factors of the design of at least one b - -M- ---A - of the facades, usually the main facade of the casa padro- nale or dominicale of a villa. The asymmetryof the portico on the river facade of the Villa Corner dall'Aglio, built in 1492, has caused considerablecontroversy in literature.21 And yet it is extremely simple to explain when considered in connection with a map drawn in the eighteenth century22which clearly shows that the building had an agriculturalannex, a barchessa,and that the connection - -L - _ - - AL. - between the two buildings was of primaryconsideration in the design - definitely of a higher considerationthan questions of symmetry, harmony, or proportion.This ex- ample demonstratesthe role economic and functional con- siderationsplayed in the design of such villas. Although shown here in only one example, many such functional Lizi [ considerationscould be found for the design, location, and distributionof in villas. On a 11. Schematic of types porticos pre-Palladian diagram theoretical level it is Falcone who codifies this of access to porticos in Vene- Giuseppe tian villas of the fifteenth practice. In his La nuova, vaga ed dilettevolevilla, first century. published in 1559, he describesthe various functions of such a portico.23These can be summed up in three dis- tinct groups:protection for people, animals, and produce from the weather;repository for agriculturaltools that need to be at hand;24and transientstorage space for agricultural produce. Falcone also mentions the wine cellar on the rear of the house as a bricked-inportico. What he fails to men- tion in his treatise is the most obvious function of the por- tico, namely, the access to the house itself. Not only is this function self-evident, but the omission itself allows certain deductions to be made: The main entrance to the villa was not considered the actual access to the house, but the en- trance to the villa complex, as describedby other treatises such as the very much earlier one by De Creszentius.25 Slightly before Falcone wrote his treatise, a first splitting of these functions of the portico occurred:the entrance to the main house of a villa was no the . __J--_ __J __I- ... . -. II longer through agricul- tural portico, now generally situated in front of a bar- I12. Schematic of diagram types chessa, but through a portico specially located, generally of of in Venetian plans porticos on axis, in the facade of this main building. At this early villas of the fifteenth century. point in time the split was purely functional, all porticos

95 assemblage 1

using the same formal language - as, for example, at the Villa Agostini in Cusignana, built most probablyin the early 1520s.26One other element in the design of the Villa Agostini is importantin the context of the vernacularin- fluence on Palladio'sVilla Emo: its volumetric disposition and its overall symmetry.27The heightened central part and symmetricallyflanking barchesseclearly demonstrate the same overall concept. In his supposedlyearliest house, built within a villa complex at the in Lonedo,28 Palladio uses the traditionalformal elements of the rounded arch for the entrance portico of the house. In his Villa Emo, then, Palladio differentiatesbetween the various functional porticos on a formal level as well, some- thing hitherto uncommon. The porticos in front of the barchesseemploy the traditionalrounded arcades;the main entrance to the house receives a porticus29inspired by clas- sical elements, although their use is by no means dogmatic - for example, three-quartercolumns are used on the 13. Villa Agostini Tiretta, sides of the porticus, which breaksthe harshnessof the Cusignana, frontal view. corner. 30

The second element at the Villa Emo that Palladio picks up from the vernacular,and that should be looked at in some detail, is the two symmetricallyplaced end towers serving as dovecots. The Venetian countrysidestill has an immense number of dovecot towers either standing inde- pendently in the countrysideor attached to villa complexes as, for example, the tower of the Villa Paggello-Monzain Breganze.31Many of them show a row of bricked-inGhib- elline battlements, which at first sight might be interpreted as a purely ornamental aspect of this architecture.Their function, although many are not active today, has usually been seen as that of a pure dovecot tower, an essential element within the overall understandingof the villa as a self-sufficiententity. Grave doubts as to the correctnessof this history - that the towers were built ab initium as dovecot towers can be derived from the 14. Villa Godi Valmarana situation at the Villa at built between 1444 Malinverni,Lonedo, frontal Capra Carre, view. and 1446 with later additions.32Here the dovecots were placed in one part of the eave of the main building as was customary;the other part of the attic was used as a granary. However, just across the relativelysmall courtyardstands yet another dovecot - this time in the shape of a tower.

96 Kubelik

15. Villa Pagello Monza Miotti, Breganze, tower.

16. Villa Capra,Carre, plan.

17. Villa Capra, Carre,total view. 18. Villa Capra,Carre, main building, showing dovecots in gable wall.

97 assemblage 1

Quite obviously, such a relativelysmall villa complex did not need two distinct dovecots. Admittedly,all agricultural treatisesrecommend the placing of the dovecot as far away from the living quartersas possible due to the problem of odor.33But this alone does not sufficiently explain the quality of the dovecot at the Villa Capra in Carre. One such tower at the Villa Gonzato at Pozzoleone was thereforetaken as pars pro toto, and a series of dating analy- ses was carriedout. By dendrochronologicalanalysis34 it was found that the beams supportingall floors excepting the roof were made out of trees felled after 1378 and 19. Villa Gonzato, Pozzoleone, tower, detail showing bricked- before approximately1390; the roofbeams, on the other in battlements. hand, were made out of trees felled after 1525 and before approximately1545. This indicates that the whole roof structureis of a later date. The reason becomes obvious when read in with a law the Vene- 1150 1200 1400 1500 160 conjunction passed by tian Senate on 30 June 1520.35According to this law, all 1177 1532 16031655 torre, rocheet castelleti on the Terrafermawere to be ex- the of the Rason Vecchie.36The TL t-A I propriatedby magistrate [t_H , , law was both a retaliationon the of the Venetian Ser- (-- / 43 7) l(154/?12-8) (1 2/107) (?141/_+91) part 5/141 I I 5/3 12 5/1 17 5/2;11;13;15;16 enissima for the extremely ambiguous, if not hostile, role the Terrafermaprovinces, in particularVicenza, played DD (CORONA/KUBELIK) 1378 -H 1390 1525-H1545 I I I during the Wars of the League of Cambray(1509-17)37 where essentially the whole of what was then Europe GESETZ 1520 formed an alliance against Venice - and an intended safe- guard from further uprisings. How well did it really work? VILLA GONZATO IN POZZOLEONE (VI) Looking again at the tower of the Villa Gonzato, a dating analysis by thermoluminescence (TL)38of the bricksat the 20. Villa Gonzato, Pozzoleone, battlement level shows that many of them were replacedin tower, timeline showing dates a physically possible time span of 1523-41, in other words, obtained by thermolumines- during the same period the roof'structurewas added.39But cence (TL), dendrochronology bricksof this were found not in the infill between in to the law age only (DD) relationship the battlementswhere were to be but also passed in 1520. they expected, in the battlementsthemselves; while, at the same time, the joints between battlement and infill were clearly retained. What was done, in other words, was a camouflage job. On the one hand, expropriationwas avoided by changing the function of these towers from a defensive one to a peaceful one, namely, to use as a dovecot, and yet, on the other hand, the defensive potential was quite obviously simulta- neously reinforced. It would have been a quick and easy transformationback to a defensive tower by simply burning

98 Kubelik

21. Villa Alla Cuca, Breganze, tower.

off the roof and knocking out the infill. Although this dating analysis is definitive for this one tower only, the conclusion from this result is clear: Such dovecot towers, which are scatteredabout the Venetian Terrafermain large numbers, are nothing else but transformeddefensive tow- ers. In time such a tower became a topos. Examining the tower of the Villa Alla Cuca just outside Breganze,40one can clearly see the first step in the formal transformationof this element. A close look at the Ghibelline battlements makes it quite obvious that they no longer really are battle- ments, but have become purely decorativeelements. In time even those were dropped, as in the tower at a villa near Merlengo in the Trevigiano.41What thereforere- mained was the pure dovecot tower, which, seen in this 22. Tower of a villa near Mer- historical context, had a long traditionon the Venetian lengo di Ponzano. mainland, and which Palladio then picked up as inter alia a formal element to emphasize the ends of his Villa Emo and used, of course in a much more stylized way, in his Villa Barbaroat Maser.42 As the last element of surgical dissection, it is necessaryto look very briefly at the ramp leading up to the porticus of the Villa Emo. The threshing floor was an essential part of any villa complex and was usually situated in the center of the courtyardin front of the main building, as can be seen for example at the Ca' Querini in Pressana,a villa built mainly in 1500-01.43 At that period locating such an agriculturalelement on the entry axis posed no status problems. In the case of the Barco della Regina at Ativole,44built around 1491-92, it can in fact be proved by contemporarydescriptions that the identical area was used both for activities and for 23. , Maser. purely agricultural large festivitiesin which cardinalsand other dignitariespartici- pated.45At the Villa Emo the paved area before the ramp can also be defined as a threshing floor. As for the ramp itself, the historiographyprovides no convincing theory for its use. It does not work as a carriageramp due to the ribs running across it; it is not of a particularlypleasing gradient, as any one who has walked up it on a scorching summer day will confirm. But it does face due south. Why not credit Palladio with the ingenuity of combining an ac- cess ramp with the prolongationof a threshing floor where 24. Ca' main Querini, Pressana, the grain could be dried more effectivelybecause of its building with threshing floor.

99 assemblage 1

25. Villa Saraceno, Finale di Agugliaro, view of main build- ing by Andrea Palladio.

26. Villa Saraceno, Finale di Agugliaro, published plan and elevation. From Palladio, I quattro libri dell'architettura 2: 56.

slant towardthe south? The major architecturalelements of the Villa Emo can thereforebe traced back to vernaculartraditions. Seen in this light, Palladio'sachievement in this ex novo-conceived villa can be defined as an insertion into the long tradition of the homogeneous growth of the villa as a type on the Venetian Terraferma,where functional and economic fac- tors influenced the design much more fundamentallythan formal or aesthetic considerations.And yet, Palladio does go well beyond these limitations. Although his only clear formal innovation is the use of antique elements on the main porticus, the overall composition allows the defini- tion of a clearly thought-out and executed concept. Although the idea of symmetryappears beforehand at the Villa Agostini, and although all elements discussed can be traced back to the vernacular,it is the overall composition that makes this example something out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, the question of the vernacularwithin the broaderterms of Palladio'svilla oeuvrehas to be seen in a yet more dominant role. As stated at the outset, the Villa Emo is atypical. It is one of the few villas where the archi- tect was able to build ex novo, an occasion rarelyoffered him, since he could usually build only partsof the overall complex- in most cases the house of the owner, in other cases, however, perhapsonly the agriculturalannex. Both the Villa Saraceno at Finale46and the at Pojana Maggiore47are examples where Palladio added only the house of the owner. In both instances circumstantial historic evidence allows us in fact to argue that this would have been the commission he received from his clients and that the whole complex as published by him in I quattro libri dell'architetturahad nothing whatsoeverto do with the programgiven him.48 In the case of the Villa Sara- ceno, the old family villa complex with all its agricultural buildings is housed about six hundred yardseast of the Palladianbuilding.49 In the 1530s Biaggio Saraceno'solder brotherhad a house put into that complex, most probably 27. Villa Saraceno delle designed by Sanmicheli.50When Biaggio got marriedhe Trombe, Finale di Agugliaro, view of northwest corner of needed a house for himself and his family. Where else to the villa, showing main build- put it but close to his ancestralhome on the family ing (attributed to Michele property?And it is this house that he would have asked Sanmicheli)and tower. Palladio to build for him in the early 1540s. Although very

100 Kubelik

28. Villa Pojana, Pojana Maggiore.

29. Villa Pojana, Pojana Mag- giore, published plan and ele- vation. From Palladio, I quattro libri dell'architettura2: 58.

30. Villa Paltinieri(also known as the fifteenth-century Villa of the Pojana), Pojana Maggiore, courtyard.

31. Site plan showing present configuration of the Villas Paltinieriand Pojana, Pojana Maggiore.

101 assemblage 1

32. Villa Trissino,Meledo, agri- cultural annex and tower.

33. Villa Trissino,Meledo, published plan and elevation. From Palladio, I quattro libri dell'architettura2: 60.

much different in detail, the same argument can be made for the Villa Pojana at Pojana Maggiore. In this instance the whole agriculturalcomplex is across the street.51 The old walled-in villa complex obviously needed a new house for the owner. In both these instances, what Palladio inserts into the over- all picture of the villa is the house of the owner within a primarilyagricultural unit. In fact, the raison d'etrefor the house of the owner is the farm and nothing else. There are also instances where Palladio builds only the agricultural annex, as in the Villa Trissino at Meledo,52generally known more because of the enormous theoretical complex in situ elevata that Palladio published in I quattro libri dell'architettura.53But the old house of the owners, dating from the fifteenth century, still stands today and serves exactly this function.54Instead, the villa needed a new barchessa,and that is exactly what the client got unfinished, rudimentary,and full of classical detailing, with a dovecot tower, but neverthelessfully functional, located next to the river and so optimally situated for the shipping of agriculturalproduce. Returningto the agriculturalfunction as found within the main building of a Palladian villa complex, how does the spatial distributionwithin it relate to a farm?The horizon- tal functional distributionanswers this question very clearly:The ground floor was used as a service floor that is, as a kitchen55and auxiliaryspaces, but also as the agrarianaccess to the main building.56The main floor of the building, the piano nobile, was used by the owner as both living and representationalquarters. And finally, the top floor served as a granary.The use of attics as granaries had very serious insulating considerationsas well. After the harvest, in other words, for the winter, the layer of agricul- tural produce was thickest and thus gave optimum thermal insulation;then, as the year progressedand it got warmer, this layer was graduallyused up, became thinner, and offered less insulation. The square windows that are often considereda well- proportionedelement in the overall Palladianfacade com- 34. Granarystill in use, position also served the agriculturalnecessities. They were Ponzano Veneto. nothing else than ventilating holes desperatelyneeded to

102 Kubelik

prevent fires in a granary!The question of access to this granaryis of similar importance within the overall plan concept of some Palladian villas, most obviously so in the Villas Pisani at Montagnana57and Cornaro at .58 There the relativelylarge oval brick staircasessitu- ated symmetricallyon the side of each building facing the fields served essentially as a one-way system allowing the 35. , Piombino to be carried one stair and the From agriculturalproduce up by Dese, published plan. laborerto then come down the other one Palladio, I quattro libri empty-handed, dell'architettura 2:53. thus avoiding a circulation problem. This horizontal functional distributionin the levels of the Palladianvilla is also nothing Palladio invented; it can be found in the Veneto long before his time. It is sufficient to cite yet again the Villa Agostini at Cusignana, which fol- lows the same pattern and dates from pre-Palladiantimes. Taking all these considerationsinto account, it should be possible, finally, to verify them also for the Villa Almerico, Capra, Valmarana, better known as La Rotonda.59Two aspects of this building seem to have been the major elements that thrust it into such an exceptional role. First of all, it has been considered for many years as one of very few examples in architecturewhere something really new has happened, where the unique conjunction of form, function, and site permitted Palladio the creation of an architecturalmanifestation hitherto unknown.60And secondly, possibly provokedby this first point of view, it has been copied, imitated, and interpretedright up to the present by architectsall over the world.61The realization of such a situation has, in turn, produced an extensive conglomeration of literatureabout the building, which has supportedan evermore uncritical acceptance of these two premises, now often taken for grantedand no longer 36. Villa Almerico, Capra, mentioned. Thus a vicious historiographiccircle has been "La Valmarana, Rotonda," closed, which makes it difficult to , aerial view. extremely penetrate these premises and to understandwhat this building really is. In order to be able to analyse its original function, it is necessary, first of all, to try to reconstructwhat the building actually looked like at the time of its original completion. In 1570, when La Rotonda was still under construction, Palladio published his I quattro libri dell'architettura,

103 assemblage 1

104 Kubelik

37. La Rotonda, Vicenza, 39. La Rotonda, Vicenza, pub- frontal view. lished plan and section/eleva- tion. From Palladio, / quattro libri dell'architettura 2:19. 38. La Rotonda, Vicenza, side view with threshing floor in the foreground. 40. La Rotonda, Vicenza, open wooden model showing both the published and the currently existing roof above the central hall. where in the second book two pages are dedicated to the Rotonda - one with a brief text praisingthe site and the client, the other showing the plan of the main floor and a section/elevation through the building.62Strangely enough Palladio published the Rotonda among the chaptersdedi- cated to town palaces and not to country houses, a fact that has helped to obscure what the Rotonda originally might have been. The published building does not correspondto what stands today. The most significant and also the most frequently mentioned difference is the height and the outside shape of the cupola.63This difference can be at least partially explained by the change in architect and in client that occurred after Palladio'sdeath in 1580 and Almerico's in 1589.64In 1591 Almerico's natural son sold the villa to Mario Capra who had it completed by the architect .65However, it is never clearly stated exactly how much had been completed by the time of Palladio'sdeath, that is, how much was actually executed under his direction. Vincenzo Scamozzi also built the agriculturalannex, which was not finished, however, until 1620, four years after Scamozzi's death.66It is furthermore known that later interventionstook place. These include interventionsby Francesco Muttoni at some point in the early eighteenth century and by Ottavio Bertotti, also known as Scamozzi - a nomenclature apt to confuse - in the second half of the eighteenth century.67These inter- ventions are usually considered minimal, perhapsout of respect for the great Vicentine master or perhapsout of a certain local chauvinism. And this, even though the graphic evidence from the eighteenth century is loaded with strong indications that the building looked very different in that period. Both Muttoni68and Bertotti- Scamozzi69published plans and sections or elevations that show the Rotonda in a form which disagreeswith both the currentlystanding building and Palladio'spublished ver- sion. There are such differencesas, for example, the cut- outs in the four exteriorstaircases that afforddirect access to the lower floor,70which can be seen only in these draw- ings. There are other eighteenth-centurydrawings by the same architectsthat are often referredto. They, however, depict the Rotonda either as it was published by Palladio or in its current state.71

105 assemblage 1

Trying to sum up this chronology, one is faced with a whole series of uncertaintiesregarding both the original work executed under Palladio'sdirection and where and how subsequent architects intervened. The questions to be answeredencompass such problems as, for example: Is Vincenzo Scamozzi really responsiblefor only the roof of the main building and the agriculturalannex? Is Muttoni really involved only with one of the interior staircasesand the refurbishingof the upper mezzanine into an apart- ment? And finally, what did Bertotti-Scamozzireally do to this building? 41. La Rotonda, Vicenza, plan. FromOttavio Bertotti Sca- The dating analysis of the Rotonda carriedout with mozzi, II forestiere istru- thermoluminescence72clearly confirms that the passages ito... (Vicenza, 1761). shown in the Muttoni and Bertotti-Scamozziplans existed not only in the eighteenth century when these plans were drawn, but as early as, though not earlier than, the Vin- cenzo Scamozzi completion of the building.73A similar confirmation, however not of the post quem date as offered by TL, can be found in two traveloguesof the early seven- teenth century. The English architect visited the Rotonda on 24 September 1613 and noted in his copy of I quattro libri dell'architetturathat "the staires ar parted wth a raille of Iorne so that you see throughthe part vnderneathand so euery way." 74As known and as importantas this quotation may be for the dating of the Rotonda, a passagehitherto not quoted in this context but to be found in another travelogue is substantiallymore important:It is a descrip- tion by the Englishman Thomas Coryate, who visited the Rotonda on 9 or 10 August 1608. He writes:"Every front hath sixe most stately great pillars, and two paire of staires to ascend to the same, . . ."75 In other words, Scamozzi does not adhere to the Palladian project, either to the one under constructionor to the one published in 1570 by Palladio. When he completed the building it must have looked, at least in its essential func- tional parts, like those drawingspublished by Muttoni and 42. La Rotonda, Vicenza, eleva- Bertotti-Scamozzi,which might be consideredas measured tion. From Bertotti-Scamozzi, of their time.76 II forestiere istruito ... (Vi- drawings cenza, 1761). All this has shown that the eighteenth-centuryinterven- tions were substantiallygreater than hitherto presumedand

106 Kubelik

the granaryattic, only that this pairing is now doubled and expressesitself in four internal staircases.And finally, the AD 1560 80 1600 20 40 60 80 1700 20 40 60 80 villa also shows a threshing floor, not placed centrally as at the Villa Emo, but neverthelessin a dominant 1575 1616 1657 1679 1716 1765 position. TL DATES -F - - 6- 1| - 11 Whether or not the position of the threshing floor dates (7 1/1j 65.3/t0 21 t3.9/t941 i.?t8.7, 18h/:4j /9.3 1 101241 322 34 1 10X14 1 27 1:302 31 1 101112 29 1 10111 1 151 33 1 101121 13 1 262 10,22 1 342381 43 40 ifi l 272 9i 41 back to the sixteenth century is unclear, for the current KNOWN OR 1565-69 1592 1606 1620 1645-63 1680-87 1725-401 1761-78 SUPPOSED - - BUILDING SUPPOSED PRONAOOF ANNEBY CHAPELBYfRESCOSBY F.MUTTON' O.BERTOTTI- material does not. OF STEPS SCAMOZZ G ALBANESE D.ORIGNY SCAMOZZI definitely PERIODSBUPERIODSG PRPERIODN6PA4 COERED V. CONSTRUCTION Three versions of the Rotonda have been identified. It is ACCOMPANYING 1571 191 1569 1570 1580 HISTORICALHISTORICAL i I 1589I I 1616 worthwhile to these three versions with to DATES A BCDE F G H analyze regard the circulation for the of and A PALMERICO SIGNS WILL AND TESTAMENT E PALLADIO D;E5 optimal synthesis agriculture 8 (ROTUNDA NOT MEtlTONED)MSEMENZATO 1968 45i F P.-LMERICO DIFS(SEMENZATO 1968) ROTUNDA MENTIONED IN RECORDS IA S VlI. F AYICENAB687) G M. CAPRA BUYS THE VILLA AND RESOLYES TO as defined the functional term villa.78 C PALLADIO PUBLISHES I OUATTRO LIBRI IVENICE 1570X COMLETE IT(SEMENZATO 1968,45) representation by O PALMERICO SIGNSW :LL IN THE ROTUtqDA H V. SCAMOZZI DIES (BARBIERI 19521 IMANTESE 1967 23) The theoretical version, the one published in I quattro libri dell'architettura,is directed totally to representation: The building can be accessed only through the four pro- and the service and the can be VILLA ALMERICO-CAPRA-VALMARANA;LAROTONDA' IN VICENZA naos, quarters granary only reached through the main central hall and then through the four internal staircases.There is no direct access from 43. La Rotonda, Vicenza, time- the outside to the service on the floor. In line showing dates obtained by quarters ground thermoluminescence (TL) in other words, in theory Palladio makes no allowance for the relationship to known or pre- Rotonda to be a functioning villa. Is this one reason why it sumed building interventions is included among the town palaces in I quattro libri and to related historical events. dell'architettura?The currentlystanding version of the Ro- tonda, on the other hand, allows direct access from the that it is essentially these that have given the Rotonda its outside to the service floor. However, circulation at that present appearance.77In addition, they graduallyaltered level is not optimal: The carts bringing the agricultural the Rotonda to more closely resemble Palladio'spublished produce into the ground floor have to turn a sharp corner version. to get into the building, and there is no connection be- tween the central space and the staircasesat this floor What this also means is that, in trying to understandthis level. All this changes in the version of the Rotonda as it building, one is confronted by not only two versions, but was originally completed: Carts can drive into the building three: First, there is the version published by Palladio in at ground-floorlevel and stop in front of the correct stair- his I quattro libri dell'architetturaof 1570; second, there is case in the central space. There is also no problem for the the current appearanceof the building; and third, there is representationalsequence, although the person entering the state of its first completion, most closely reflected in through one of the four pronaos has to decide to use either those measured drawingsof the eighteenth century. Now the left or the right flight of stairs. knowing what the villa originally looked like, one should be able to deduce its use and so returnto the original These three versions, as most clearly expressedthrough the initial of what this building really is. question way they functioned, reflect the changing needs and de- In its horizontal functional distributionthe Rotonda fol- sires of the various owners. The chronologically first two lows the typical pattern of the Palladianvilla. It has the versionsalso offer an insight into the architect/clientrela- typical three-floorarrangement of this villa type. It also has tionship:The Quattro libri version is the product of the the paired stairsconnecting the ground service floor with ideals of Paolo Almerico, a nonagriculturallybased intel-

107 assemblage I

108 Kubelik

44. La Rotonda, Vicenza, axon- ometric diagrams of circulation patterns.

lectual who had spent the greaterpart of his life outside of Vicenza,79and of Palladio. It reflects the desire to build a perfectbuilding in the Renaissance sense; just outside the city, and to optimally utilize the advantagesthe hilltop site offered. Could it possibly be defined as the only example Palladio offers, speaking in Vitruvian categories, of a Villa Pseudourbana?And is that another reason why it is included among the town palaces in I quattro libri dell'architettura?The next version is a radical change from this attitude. However, by inserting itself into the building traditionof that region and that period of not destroying sound existing structure,80and by reflecting the more land- based economic attitude of the next owner,81it becomes, in its built form, a synthesis between the intellectual aims of the first architect/clientrelationship and the typical villa of its time, in this instance not developed by Palladio, but by the second architect/client relationship, the one be- tween Scamozzi and Capra. Agriculturaluse of the whole area east of the Colli Berici can be documented well be- fore the sixteenth century.82This second version is, in fact, far more typical for the sort of commissions Palladio nor- mally received for villas. At its original completion during the first two decades of the seventeenth century, the Rotonda can, in a functional sense, thereforebe defined as the typical villa of the local traditionof its time, combining the representationaland the agriculturalfunctions of this building type. On a formal level, Palladio's Rotonda can be understood within the villa-plan-typologyhe develops. For example, the various permutationshe chose for the sala centrale of his villas are all primarygeometric forms or their immedi- ate derivates:the square, a specifically defined rectangle, a Greek- or Latin cross, and, as in the case of the Rotonda, a circle.83The obvious extension of the two-dimensional circle into the third dimension is the cupola. Extraurban, nonecclesiastical structureswith a cupola are nothing new: Examples Palladio knew in written descriptioninclude such buildings as La Cuba and La Zisa just outside Pa- lermo.84It can therefore be argued that also on this formal level there are clear ties to Palladio'svilla typology,85and that the Rotonda is part of the overall tradition into which he inserts his villas.

109 assemblage I

These few examples of Palladian villas clearly demonstrate 3. For a concise outline of the po- London c. 1972); Puppi, Andrea how much Palladio was influenced by functional exigen- sition of Palladio'streatise in the Palladio, pp. 352-53. overall of Renaissancear- cies that, in turn, were based on local traditions.It is these picture 10. Palladio, Quattro libri 2: 55. chitecturaltreatises, see Ludwig H. The difference is the indigenous traditionswith roots in both the agricultural major replace- Heydenreich and Wolfgang Lotz, ment of the front exteriorstair with and the of the villa - a that Architecturein 1400-1600 representationalusage duality a ramp (see below); for other differ- was not conceived as such, but considereda unity (Harmondsworth,1974), p. 303. ences see n. 13. in much be considered the fundamental which, fact, basis 4. For the relationshipbetween 11. The date of the Villa Emo is for the in in theory and in Palladio's definition of the term villa the Veneto this practice controversial,and argumentscan be work, see Martin Kubelik, "Peruna and preceding periods.86 made to supporta chronology any- nuova lettura del secondo libro di where from 1546 to 1567. See Andrea Palladio,"Bolletino del The deduction to be formed must not, however, be a Ciampaolo Bordignon Favero, Centro Internazionaledi Studi di negative criticism of Palladio'spractical achievements as a "Una precisazione sul committente ArchitetturaAndrea Palladio architect. A deduc- (Boll. di Villa Emo a Fanzolo," Boll. practicing Quite the.contrary. negative CISA) 21 (1979): 177-97; Martin CISA 20 (1978): 225-36; Puppi, tion of these design limitations will be possible only if Kubelik"Palladios Werk im Span- AndreaPalladio, p. 352. Palladio is placed on an artificialpedestal as the pure hu- nungsfeld zwischen Bau-Realisation 12. The manist architect who built according to classical dogmas, und Bau-Publikation,"bauforum possibilityof a preexisting structureon the site is whatever be. this is done all too 14, no. 86 (October 1981): 13-22. closely they may Unfortunately, linked to the issue of the 5. For the necessarydata that dating often. And one day this pedestal will crumble under the Palladianvilla (see n. 11) and is opens this line of thought, see Deb- of a critical of his built architecturethat Andrea weight analysis orah Howardand Malcolm Lon- argued by Puppi (Puppi, mere and aesthetic Palladio, p. 352). However, even goes beyond harmonic, stylistic, values. gair, "HarmonicProportions and if such a structuredid exist no Palladio'sgreatness lies in a differentand, in my opinion, Palladio'sQuattro Libri,"JSAH 41, evidence of it remains and much field of values: in his ability to have remained no. 2 (May 1982): 116-43. today, larger the potential incorporationof it by an architect whose values were constantly down to earth 6. See n. 4. Palladio cannot be in any way and yet, at the same time, to have produced an innovative 7. Although not related to villas, sustained;a destructionof the and successful synthesis between vernaculartraditions, such an attempt has been made il preexistingbuilding would be dia- as exemplified by the agriculturaldemands of his clients, comparingthe commissions Palla- metricallyopposite to the normal dio received for Palladianpractice of and the lessons he learned late in his youth through public buildings, incorporating where such an attitude is more existing buildings within the func- humanistic ideas and classical architecture. readily visible. See Martin Kubelik, tional necessities of such a villa "The Basilica Palladianaand the complex. See, for example, the in- Loggia del Capitaniato:An Archi- corporationof an old mill into the Notes tectural and Socio-Historic Con- Villa Barbaroat Maser, as evi- frontation,"in Kurt W. Forsterand denced by a recently discovered This paper was originally given as a of Literatureon Palladio,"Journal Martin Kubelik, eds., Palladio-Ein medieval wall. (This wall, found lecture at Syracuse University in of the Society of ArchitecturalHisto- Symposium(Bibliotheca Helvetica during restorationwork by the Sov- April 1984, and repeatedat Prince- rians (ISAII) 39, no. 3 (October Romana XVIII, , 1980), rintendenzain Venice, was men- ton one year later. I am very grate- 1980): 224-41. For survey pp. general 47-56. tioned by Douglas Lewis in his ful for the invaluable help of worksin the see English language, lecture, "Precisazioniper il ruolo ProfessorVal Warke (Cornell Uni- James S. Ackerman, Palladio 8. The fundamentalargumentation del Palladio nel ciclo degli affreschi versity)in making a lecture text into (Harmondsworth,1966); Lioiello in this respect can be found in Kurt di Maser,"Convegno Internazionale an article. Andrea Palladio, The Com- W. Forster,"Back to the Farm," ar- Puppi, su: "Palladioe il Palladianesimo," plete Works(Boston and New York, chitectura, no. 1 (1974): 1-12. 1. Literatureon Palladio has been Vicenza/Venice, 29 August-3 Sep- 1975); and Walter M. Whitehill growing at an inmmenserate ever 9. For the Villa Emo, see tember 1980). Another example is and FrederickD. Nichols, Palladio since the sixteenth century. It is im- Giampaolo Bordignon Favero, La the Villa Sarego at S. Sofia di Pe- in America(Milan, 1976). possible to even attempt to give the Villa Emo di Fanzolo, Corpus Pal- demonte where Palladio incorpo- essential titles. For this survey, see 2. Andrea Palladio, I quattro libri ladianrum,vol. 5 (Viceiza, 1970), rates a preexistingCasa dominicale Deborah Howard, "Four Centuries dell'architettura(Venice, 1570). (English ed., UniversityPark and (Puppi, Andrea Palladio, p. 390)

110 Kubelik

built in the 1380s (ChristianGoe- with the mid-sixteenth century, are fell under Venetian domination be- amples mentioned here; more com- dicke, Martin Kubelik, and Klaus the innumerous maps of the Vene- tween 1404 and 1406, has not been mon, in fact, was the arch, or a Slusallek, "Thermoluminescence tian office of the Beni Inculti. For decisively proven either way. combination of these two construc- Dating in ArchitecturalHistory: a of the see tional where the history office, Ugo 17. See Martin Kubelik, Die Villa methods, portico Venetian Villas," /SAH 40, no. 3 Mozzi, "L'anticoveneto use arches and the magistrato im Veneto, Zur typologischenEnt- might loggia [October 1981]: 203-17; Christian dei beni inculti," La Terra 1, nos. architraves. wicklung im Quattrocento, 2 vols. Goedicke, Martin Kubelik, and 7-9 (c. 1921): 207, also in, "Acque (Munich, 1977), 1: 84-86, 2: 440- 21. For various opinions, see Wol- Klaus Slusallek, Thermoluminesz- e Trasporti,"vol. 5 (1921): 84-92; 45. An analysis of the brickworkof fram Prinz et al., Studien zu den enzdatierungenin der Architekturge- for the extent of the archival mate- the rear facade shows that the brick Anfdngen des oberitalienischenVil- schichte:Dargestellt an Hand von rial, see Andrea Da Mosto, L'archi- bonding is such that it could only lenbaues (1973), pp. 22-24; Bern- Villen in Veneto, Berliner Beitrage vio di stato di Venezia vol. 1 have been built in one building hard Rupprecht, "Ville venete dell zur Archaometrie,vol. 6 [Berlin, (Rome, 1937), pp. 168-74; for the phase, although the appearanceof '400 e del primo '500: Forme e svi- 1985], pp. 81, 108, 180.) Here he relevance of this material to Palla- the front facade might suggest two luppo," Boll. CISA 6, pt. 2 (1964): incorporatesa preexistingwall as dio's architecture, see Martin Kube- building phases, especially when 239-50, esp. p. 246; Kubelik, Villa the central retainingwall of his lik, "Gli edifici palladiani nei considering the interruptedcornice im Veneto 1: 76-77, 2: 419-25. structure,thus being limited in del veneto dei disegni magistrato (see Kubelik, Villa im Veneto, n. both site-location and orientation of beni Boll. CISA 16 22. Misc. Mappe no. 228, Archi- inculti," (1974): 819). his building. 445-65). Older iconographic evi- vio di Stato, Venice. dence can be found in various 18. See Kubelik, Villa im Veneto 23. La 13. These include the narrowingof Giuseppe Falcone, nuova, paintings and drawings. For exam- 1: 217-18, 2: 582, 910-11. the two arches at the end of the two vaga ed dilettevole villa (Brescia, ple, see Jacopo Bellini's drawingof barchesse- i.e., those which 19. The original side walls were 1559; reprint, Treviso, 1602). go the ThreeLiving and Three Dead, out to the sides of the - built in the late fourteenth century. 24. In various building illus. 7 in Forster,"Back to the regions immediately and the rear exteriorstair that con- The wooden structureof the portico the for ex- Farm," and Girolamo dai Libri's surrounding Veneto, nects the sala centrale with the and loggia was replaced for un- in the the term painting II presepiodei conigli, Mu- ample Engadin, fields. known reasons in the first decade of means of seo di Castelvecchio, Verona. portico repository goods. the sixteenth century. The portico See W. Romanisch 14. Such evidence can be found on Meyer-Liibke, 15. For example at Piavon di was bricked in and the buttresslike EtymologischesWorterbuch, 3d. ed. a whole variety of levels, which in- Oderzo, with only a rudimentary retaining wall on the northwest (Heidelberg, 1953) p. 554 (no. corporateboth documentary and portico (see Ennio Ciaccia, Rustico facade was added as late as the last 6675). iconographic indicators:On a trevigiano[Treviso, 1981], figs. 35- third of the sixteenth century. For a documentary level there are the 25. See Societa Agrariadi Bologna, 38), or at Carturain the Province more complete chronology and dat- sixteenth-centurytreatises by both ed., Pier de'Crescenzi, 1233-1321, of (see Paolo Tieto, I casoni ing analysis of this villa, see Goe- Doni and Serlio - Anton Fran- studi e documenti (Bologna, 1933). veneti [Padua, 1979], pp. 114-15, dicke, Kubelik, and Slusallek, cesco Doni, Attavanta, MS. Cor- 142). Both sources illustratemany "ThermoluminescenceDating," pp. 26. See Howard Burns et al., An- rer 1433, , Venice; more examples. Ciaccia's book con- 208-9; Goedicke, Kubelik, Slusal- drea Palladio 1508-1580, The Por- , Sesto libro della tains a catalogue of all rustici in the lek, Thermolumineszenzdatierun- tico and the Farmyard, exhibition habitazione, Avery Library,New . See further, gen, pp. 63-64, 103, 153. catalogue (London, 1975), p. 176, York(see Myra Nan Rosenfeld, Se- Enzo Bandelloni, La casa rurale no. 311. bastiano Serlio on Domestic Archi- 20. The distinction in the nomen- nel padovano (Padua, 1975); Giu- 27. This is adhered to tecture [New York, Cambridge, and clature between portico and loggia symmetry seppe Mazzotti, ed., Case rustichee only in elevation, not in For London, 1978]) and Cod. Icon. is specific to the Venetian Terra- plan. architetturaspontanee nella marca measured of this 189, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, ferma. It has arisen because of the published drawings trevigiana (Treviso, 1970). villa, see Giancarlo Corsi, "La villa Munich (see Marco Rosci, II trat- superimpositionof these semiopen prepalladianadi Archi- tato di architetturadi Sebastiano 16. The question whether or not spaces. The portico on the ground Cusignana," tettura 5, no. 53 (March 1960): Serlio [Milan, 1967]). Both authors the change in building material, floor is open to and accessible from 776-81. discuss this type of thatched wooden from wood and thatch to the the fields, and the loggia directly cottage within the villa typology longer-lastingbrick and stone, can above it is open only to the air. 28. See Paul Hofer, Palladios Erst- Doni only by word, Serlio mainly in any way be brought into connec- They form a structuraland formal ling, Die Villa Godi Valmarana in through illustrations(see his proj- tion with the political change on entity, and need not necessarily Lonedo bei Vicenza (Basel and ects A1-C3). On an iconographical the Venetian Terraferma,where the have used only architravesin their Stuttgart, 1969). level, however also only beginning more or less independent city-states construction, as in the two ex- 29. The nomenclature porticus as

111 assemblage 1

see Cevese, Ville 2: 535; Kubelik, opposed to portico seems appropri- Elio Corona and is published in 40. See Kubelik, Villa im Veneto Villa im Veneto 1: 2: 716- ate here in order to differentiate Kubelik, Villa im Veneto, nn. 232, 1: 139, 2: 600, 602; Rigon, "Le 179-80, 21. For a site the between the possible formal expres- 235. torri,"pp. 54-62. plan showing close relationshipof these com- sions of this architecturalelement. 41. Rustico 35. Senato Terra, Reg. 21, 1519- Ciaccia, trevigiano, fig. one in the six- The term portico is used to define plexes (i.e., complex 20, pp. 129 r and v, Archivio di 28. the more vernacularmanifestation, teenth century), see Ministero per Stato, Venice. The same law is also 42. The of the Villa i Beni Culturali ed Ambientali- whereas the term porticus is used to bibliography quoted, with some essential tran- Barbaroat Maser is al- define the use of classical orders, extensive, Soprintendenzaper i beni Ambientali errors, in Marino Sanuto, or not. scription though no thorough exclusively ar- e Architettonicidi Verona, whether dogmatic I re-edited diarii, (Venice, 1890), chitectural monographexists. See Restauri di monumenti palladiani, 30. This of the classical vol. cols. 681-82. expression 28, esp. Puppi, Andrea Palladio, pp. Diversi aspetti di un problemadi orders is in diametricallyopposite 36. For this office and its complex 314-18. tutela (Verona, 1980), p. 81. its dialectic manifestation to the one role in Venetian administration,see 43. See Kubelik, Villa im Veneto 52. See Andrea employed by the neoclassical move- Puppi, Palladio, Da Mosto, L'archivio1: 139-40. 1: 2: F. more see Lio- ment, as can be seen, for example, 115-16, 540-43; Giuseppe pp. 384-88; recently The most notorious example of an La Villa nel Veronese nello "Dubbi e certezze in the first villa that Otto Wagner Viviani, Puppi, per expropriationby this office under 805-9. Palladio costruttorein Arte built for himself at the Hittelberg- (Verona, 1975), pp. Villa," this law is the case of the Villa Veneta 28 93-105. Another strasse26 in Vienna in 1886-88 44. See Kubelik, Villa im Veneto (1974): Nogarola at Bagnolo, expropriated is Palladio'sVilla (see Heinz Geretseggerand Max 1: 73-75, 2: 409-15; Lionello example in 1523 and then sold to Giovanni at see Andrea Pal- Peintner, Otto Wagner 1841-1918, Puppi, "I1barco di Caterina Cicogna: Puppi, Pisani of the Venetian patrician 311-13. Grosstadt, Beginn der Cornaro ad Altivole," ladio, pp. Unbegrenzte Pisani family, for whom Palladio Prospettive modernenArchitektur [Munich, was later to build a villa on this 25 (1962): 52-64. 53. Palladio, I quattro libri 2: 66 1980], 119-26). The compari- should read pp. same site (see Puppi, Andrea 45. See Martin Kubelik, "I1barco (impaginationerror, p. son of these two villas is also For a detailed Palladio, 255). di Caterina Cornaro ad Altivole in 78). comparison, from a pp. extremely appropriate del both verbal and graphic, of the 37. For an exhaustive of una carta del territoriotrevisano volumetric point of view, making analysis published version and the built bar- around the 1556 ritrovatodi recente," Boll. the dialectic in the approachtoward the political picture chessa, see Renato Cevese, I modelli of see S. CISA 15 (1973): 401-7. classical antiquity in the work of League Cambray, della mostradel Palladio (Venice, Storia documentata di 46. See Puppi, Andrea Palladio, these two architects very evident. Romanin, 1976), pp. 70-79. Venezia (Venice 1853-60; reprint pp. 257-59. 31. See Kubelik, Villa im Veneto 54. See, Cevese, Ville, 2: 587; 1972-75), esp. vol. 5. 47. See Puppi, Andrea Palladio, 1: 137-38, 2: 600-02; Fernando Ri- Kubelik, Villa im Veneto 1: 195, intro- 273-76. gon, "Torrimedievali, colombare e 38. For recent, more general pp. 2: 760-64. ductions to prime residenze di campagne nel thermoluminescence, 48. Palladio, I quattro libri 2: 56 and 55. For an of the limited veneto: un problema da risolvere," see Martin J. Aitken, Physics (Saraceno), 58 (Pojana). analysis 79 Archaeology(Oxford, 1974); Stuart knowledgeabout kitchens in the Bolletino Italia Nostra (1971): 49. For this fifteenth- di J. Fleming, Dating in Archaeology essentially sixteenth-centuryVenetian Terra- 15-17; Fernando Rigon "Le torri Ville 2: Stuart century villa, see Cevese, see Paola Paolo Breganze,"Antichita viva 11, no. 1 (London, 1976); J. Fleming, ferma, Marini, in 285-87; Kubelik, Villa im Veneto and Aldo (1972): 54-62. All three publica- ThermoluminescenceTechniques Rigoli, dall'Igna, eds., M. 1: 122-23, 2: 562-64. cibi e vini nell'etd di An- tions give further examples of such Archaeology(Oxford, 1979); J. Cucina, towers. Aitken, ThermoluminescenceDating 50. The attributionto Michele drea Palladio (Vicenza, 1981). (London and Orlando, 1985). Sanmicheli goes back to Giulio 32. See Renato Cevese, Ville della 56. The need for such an access Fasolo, Le ville del vicentino (Vi- Provincia di Vicenza, 2 vols. 39. The TL-Mean Date is A.D. and the problem it created in its cenza, 1929), pp. 71-72, and has 1971), 2: 372-73 (an En- 1532 (+15.4, +12.8, RFTL-VV 5/ practicalrealization can be seen in (Milan, since been picked up by both Palla- of the text is offered 3; 12) (fg). For a more detailed dis- numerous Palladianvillas for ex- glish summary dian and Sanmichelian scholars, in this edition, not in the 1980 cussion of the TL-Dating results of ample, at the Villa Godi in Lonedo only more recently by Cevese, Ville 2: edition); Kubelik, Villa im Veneto this tower, see Goedicke, Kubelik, (see n. 28), where the exteriorstair- 286, and Lionello Puppi, Michele 1: 2: 625-27. and Slusallek, "Thermolumines- case leading to the main floor is 145-46, Sanmicheli, architettodi Verona cence Dating," pp. 209-10; Goe- stronglyinfluenced by this neces- 33. For Falcone, La (Padua, 1971), 85. example, dicke, Kubelik, and Slusallek, p. sity. In I quattro libri, 2: 65, Palla- nuova villa (1602), p. 55. Thermolumineszensdatierungen,pp. 51. For the older villa complex, dio shows a staircasespanning all 34. This analysis was carried out by 60-62, 103, 137, 151-52. also known as the Villa Paltiniera, three bays of the round-archedpor-

112 Kubelik

tico on the main floor of the Villa Novelty?"in Forsterand Kubelik, in other sixteenth-centuryvillas of Goedicke, Martin Kubelik, and Godi, whereas in reality the stairs Palladio-Ein Symposium, pp. 27- the Veneto, for example with a cen- Klaus Slusallek, "Thermoluminesc- are only the width of the central 34. tral passageat the pre-Palladian ence Dating in ArchitecturalHis- bay, thus allowing lateral access Villa Giusti in Vendri tory:The of Palladio's 61. For an overview containing (Viviani, Chronology into this service floor. Another ex- Villa nel or Villa Rotonda," no. 4 some of these buildings, see Renato Veronese,pp. 484-89) ISAH 45, ample is the Villa Emo, discussed at Vincenzo Scamozzi's for December Cevese, ed., Palladio, la sua eredita project (forthcoming, 1986). above, where a passage under the the near nel mondo (Venezia, 1980). Campo 73. A large group of samples re- top landing of the ramp gives access Sanpiero(Vincenzo Scamozzi, moved for TL-Dating were found to to the ground floor. Most of these 62. Palladio, I quattro libri 2: 18- L'Ideadella ArchitetturaUniversale date from the period of the inter- accesses have been closed in later 19. [Venice, 1615] 1: 289); and with vention of Vincenzo Scamozzi, giv- periods, demonstratingthe lateral for at the change 63. For a visual and verbal analysis passages, example ing a mean TL-Date of A.D. 1616 in function of this level in post- pre-PalladianVilla Grimani at Pres- of these differences, see Cevese, I (?5.3, +10.2, RFTL-VV 10/14.1; Palladian periods. Traces of such sana (Viviani, Villa nel Veronese, modelli, pp. 80-83. 27.1; 30.2; 31.1; 34.2; 38.1; 43) accesses that were part of the origi- pp. 803-4). As late as the eigh- 64. Semenzato, La Rotonda, p. (fg), in other words, a physically nal Palladian built structurecan teenth century such an element can 45. possible time span of 1606-26 for still be seen in the Villa Pojana at be found at the Villa BernardiVal- the firing of the bricks. These in- Pojana Maggiore (see n. 47) and 65. The on Vin- ier at , no For only monograph longer standing. clude samples taken from the out- the Villa Cornaro at Piombino cenzo Scamozzi remains Franco both a brief and a analysis repro- side layer of the columns of the Dese (see n. 58). Vincenzo Scamozzi duction of the eighteenth-century Barbieri, (Vi- northwestpronaos, consisting of graphic evidence, see Guido Piov- 57. See Puppi, Andrea Palladio, cenza, 1952). specially shaped segmental bricks, ene and Licisco Magagnato, Ville pp. 288-89. 66. Ibid., p. 9. and samples taken from the brick del , nelle vedute di Vincenzo 58. 292-95. vault underneath the external stair- Ibid., pp. 67. For the commonly held atti- Coronellie GianfrancescoCosta case leading up to the southwest The on the Ro- tude about the date, scope, and size (Milan, 1960), p. 171, 54-55. 59.. bibliography figs. pronaos. Obviously, if this vault was tonda is extensive. As of these interventions, see Semen- Divorced from a main facade Palla- monographs built by Scamozzi, then so were the see Camillo zato, La Rotonda. A monograph on dio treatsthis in Semenzato, La Ro- problem identically steps above it. This brick vault does Francesco Muttoni does not exist; both and tonda di Andrea Palladio, Corpus theory practice, as can be not run underneath the whole vol. 1 there are two on Ottavio Bertotti seen at the Villa Barbaroat Maser, Palladianum, (Vicenza, width of the steps. In all four pro- London and Scamozzi, Christine Kamm- where the paired stairsare used to 1968; English ed., naos it is interruptedin the center Robert Kyburz,Der ArchitektOttavio Ber- access the main floor from the two University Park, 1968); of the stairs by a stepped barrel La Rotonde et sa totti Scamozzi, 1719-1790 (Bern, wings of the barchessa,and the Streitz, Palladio, vault running perpendicularto the 1983); LoredanaOlivato, Ottavio central is used to connect geometrie(Lausanne and Paris, passage respectivestairs, as if it had been BertottiScamozzi, studioso di the two 1973). wings (Palladio, I quattro closed in later. Further evidence AndreaPalladio 2: 60. This attitude is reflected in (Vicenza, 1975). libri, 51). that Vincenzo Scamozzi was most opinions on the villa. See in 68. Francesco Muttoni, L'Architet- 71. Muttoni, L'Architetturadi An- involved with these ground-floor particularWolfgang Lotz, "La Ro- tura di Andrea Palladio Vicentino drea Palladio, vol. 5 (1744), fig. 14; passages,which run in a straight tonda: edificio civile con cupola," con le osservazionedell'architetto Bertotti-Scamozzi,Le Fabbrichee i line from the outside to the service Boll. CISA 4 (1962): 69-73 (En- N.N., 9 vols. (Vicenza, 1740-60). disegni di Andrea Palladio, vol. 2, quartersin the ground floor, is of- glish ed., The Rotonda: A Secular For the drawingsmentioned here, figs. 1-2; Bertotti-Scamozzi,II fo- fered by samples removed from the Building with a Dome, in Wolfgang see vol. 1, figs. 11-12. restiere,2d ed. (Vicenza, 1780), entrance to the main block of the Lotz, Studies in RenaissanceArchi- at this The shal- 69. Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, Il pls. 6-8. building point. tecture[Cambridge and London, lower a Palladio forestiereistruito delle cose piu rare sample gave date, 1977], pp. 190-96); Wolfram Prinz, 72. For a preliminarypublished re- the a Scamozzi di architettura.... (Vicenza, deeper sample gave SchlossChambord und die Villa port, see Goedicke, Kubelik, and date. It is not in this 1761), pls. 6-8. surprising Rotonda in Vicenza, Studien zur Slusallek, "Thermoluminescence case, as at this depth (the deeper Ikonologie(Berlin, 1980). The only 70. Such cutouts in major exterior Dating," pp. 212-13; for a further, sample was removed at more than published opinion that (correctly) stairsare not uncommon, as can be more comprehensive report, see one foot inside the wall) the wall it- questions this attitude and can sub- seen in Palladio'swork- for ex- Goedicke, Kubelik, and Slusallek, self could have been bricked up at a stantiateit on a documentarylevel ample, in the reversalof this ele- Thermolumineszenzdatierungen,pp. later date from the inside, without is Kurt W. Forster,"Is Palladio's ment at the Villa Godi (see n. 56). 67-73, 104-06, 159-74. For an affecting the original Palladian Villa Rotonda an Architectural Both formal solutions can be found English summary, see Christian structure.This location is of course

113 assemblage 1

at no other point than the prolon- Muttoni, currentlyloosely dated by symbolic faun oriented towardthe 46, no. 486 [December 1982]: 28). gation, within the building itself, of circumstantialevidence to be be- northwest, but it is unfortunatelyof For example, the top fascia of the these outside passages. In the eigh- tween 1725 and 1740. It is gener- stone and cannot be dated by TL. architraveis pulled up at the ends, teenth century Francesco Muttoni ally assumed that this intervention The fact that at least one of its sup- incorrectlyand too crudely to pre- in to argued his commentary Palla- at most affected one of the internal ports was rebuilt indicates that the suppose detailed knowledge of dio's executed worksthat these pas- spiral staircasesand the remodelling faun itself must have been replaced Greek doric practice, thus lifting sages were inserted into the building of the upper mezzanine floor. The or repositionedin the early eigh- also the frieze and the cornice line. by Vincenzo Scamozzi to give TL-Dates indicate very stronglythat teenth century, thus making its ori- This type of optical illusion was light, air, and access to the ground- Muttoni's interventiontook place entation useless as evidence of the unknown in the Veneto of the six- floor service quarters(Muttoni, slightly earlier, in A.D. 1716 (+8.6, location of the original main en- teenth or seventeenth century. It L'Architetturadi Andrea Palladio +7.4, RFTL-VV)(10/12.1; 13.1; trance, which might be an impor- has generally been presumed that [1740], 1: 12). The TL-Dating 26.1; 26.2; 39.1; 41) (fg), giving a tant factor in the determinationof such knowledge would have come seems to indicate that Scamozzi did physically possible time span for the the original way the Rotonda was to Italy from Greece around or after not alter the preexistingstructure firing of the bricksfrom 1709 to accessed and possibly used. But the 1750. The TL-Date might indicate but built something new. In other 1723, which does not, however, samples from the Muttoni era that here that in fact it was known mar- words he did not interferewith an contradictthe available documenta- are really surprisingare those taken ginally earlier, unless one presumes existing part of Palladio's Rotonda. tion (see Semenzato, La Rotonda, from the columns of the northwest that the rebuildingof the pronaos Palladio had not got this far. (For p. 45). Again it is the location of pronaos. The outer skin of these was interruptedand taken up again further reference see n. 72.) Vin- these samples that causes some columns consists of bricksfired at a later date, possibly by Ottavio cenzo Scamozzi used the same problems in the interpretationof during Vincenzo Scamozzi's com- BertottiScamozzi. One solitary formal disposition of exterior lateral what this architect actually did, but pletion of the villa in the early sev- sample was found to stem from this stairs, flanking a central passageway it is obvious that he was involved in enteenth century. The core of the often hypothesized, yet never leading into the ground floor at his substantiallymore than hitherto as- same columns is made out of bricks clearly defined intervention. It is Villa Contarini near Campo sumed: TL has shown, for example, fired during the Muttoni interven- located on the west corner, on the Sanpiero, designed in 1590 (see n. that during his interventiona sup- tion a century later, a seemingly outside brick face of the building. 70). porting wall of one of the triangular impossible situation. The most Both the date and the extent of wooden staircases attrib- obvious for this is 74. Inigo Jones owned a copy of generally explanation that Bertotti'sintervention can perhaps uted to Palladio was rebuilt. This the 1601 edition of Palladio, I Muttoni had to rebuild the columns be deduced using again his own attributionto Palladio is based and that the quattro libri, which is now kept at specially fired external graphic evidence: The plans of the on the fact that he bricks Oxford, WorcesterCollege. The solely published segmental were reused in Rotonda as published in the first staircasesand that two of order to transcriptionused here is Bruce All- triangular save the cost of remanu- edition of his guidebook in 1761 these four staircasesare still these sop, ed., Inigo Jones on Palladio, triangu- facturing expensive special show the cutouts in the external lar which has led to the con- being the notes by Inigo Jones today, bricks. The reason why this would stairs(see n. 69), however, the clusion that must thereforebe in the copy I Quattro Libri they have been necessaryis not abso- plans from the second edition of the dell'Architetturadi Andrea Palladio original. However, even if the sup- lutely clear, but most probably same guidebook, published in 1780, wall was it some 1601 .... (Newcastle upon Tyne, porting only reinforced, sort of structuralreason can do not (see n. 71). If one is to as- would still necessitate a 1970), 1: 23. rebuilding be assumed. Although this theory sume that the guidebooksare a rep- of these stairs. This location is seems farfetched, it has received resentationof the status at the 75. Thomas Coryate, Coryats quo unimportantin the reconstruction from a different time of then Bertotti Crudities .... (London, 1611; support totally publication, of the original villa; it does on the method. Clemente di must facsimile ed., with an introduction investigative have closed in the four pas- other hand show the extent of Mut- Thiene Universitariodi Ar- between 1761 and 1780 by William M. Schutte, London, (Istituto sages (see toni's intervention. The same can chitettura, Venice) measured this La It 1978), p. 303. The author is deeply Semenzato, Rotonda, p. 45). also be said of a sample removed facade dis- grateful to ProfessorColin Rowe by photogrammetryand, is possible to narrowthis date mar- from one of the four supportsof the which no other the TL-Result. Its (Cornell University)for drawing covered-something ginally, using floor of the sala centrale. As mas- measured had time to his attention to this important drawing previously span goes only up 1774; sive as these piers are, they serve no seen-that illusions are used quotation. optical thereforeit is legitimate to assume other structuralpurpose than to in the constructionof the pronaos that Bertotti'sintervention took 76. See nn. 69, 71. supportthe floor of this room, and (see Clemente di Thiene and Fran- place between 1761 and 1774. (For 77. A of' dates large group samples could thereforehave been replaced, cesco Curcio, "Palladioe il disegno: furtherreference, see n. 72.) from just before the work pre- if and when the floor of the main I1 rilievo della Rotonda con tec- sumedly undertakenby Francesco hall was redone. They do supporta niche fotogrammetriche,"Casabella 78. This analysis was carriedout by

114 Kubelik

siderationsthan on formal-aesthetic Daniel Ambrosi of the Computer he had been a frequent guest (ibid., lent wines growing there since the is much older and can be Graphics Laboratory(Director, Pro- p. 16). It is Odorico Capra, who sixteenth century (Jacopo Cabianca ones, documented for the whole of the fessor Donald Greenberg)at Cornell buys the Rotonda from Paolo Al- and Fedele Lampertico, Vicenza e fifteenth in the Veneto University. merico's natural son, Virginio, on 7 il suo territorio[Milan, 1861], p. century (see 1591 Andrea Palladio, 997). Much closer to the Rotonda, Kubelik, Villa im Veneto 1: 14-22). 79. Palladio himself (Palladio, I May (Puppi, If Odorico was still within a radius of about half a quattro libri 2: 18) refersto Almer- p. 382). Capra the much more modest mile, there still stand three ico as a man of the church, who using very structurein Lbngarato live in and fifteenth-centuryvilla complexes, had lived most of his life in Rome for Figure Credits to receive his guests as late as 1604 which served, at least partially, and returnedto Vicenza only after 1, 2, 14, 17, 23, 25, 28, 30, 32, one has to wonder why he did not agriculture:the Villa Pagello in the death of his whole family. 645- 36-38, 40. Centro Internazionale use the Rotonda for such purposes. Campedello (Cevese, Ville, 2: 80. See n. 12. di Studi di ArchitetturaAndrea because it was still not suf- 46 [who speaksof an original agri- Perhaps Palladio. 81. This is in specific contrastto ficiently liveable? Although Paolo cultural annex at this villa]; Kube- Paolo Almerico. The Capra family Almerico signs his second testament lik, Villa, 1: 207-8, 2: 798-800); 3, 5-7, 9, 11-13, 15, 16, 18-21, can be documented to have been nella Ritonda (sic) on 13 September the Villa Rossi in Campedello 24, 26, 27, 29, 33, 35, 39, 41-43. the major landowner, for example, 1571 (Giovanni Mantese, "La Ro- (Cevese, Ville, 2: 646 [who refersto Courtesy of the author. in Carre, north of Vicenza as Rivista della Prov- the fact that this villa stood in the early tonda," Vicenza, 4. From Paolo Tieto, I casoni ve- as 1172 (see Giovanni Mantese, incia no. 1 there meadowsof Campedello];Kubelik, 9, [1967]: 23-24), neti (Panda Edizioni: Padua, 1979), Memoriestoriche della chiesa vicen- is a contradictorydocument to this Villa, 1: 208-9, 2: 798); and the p. 131. tina, vol. 1 [Vicenza, 1952] p. 27). from 10 May 1591 that the Ro- Villa "Del Plebiscito"(Cevese, 8. By the fifteenth century their agri- tonda was abmodum imperfecta Ville, 2: 647-48; Kubelik, Villa, 1: Courtesy of Val Warke. 2: cultural holdings all over the vicen- (ChristianA. Isermeyer,"Die Villa 209, 798, 801). 10. Parere 1023, 12 December tino expresseditself in the Rotonda von Palladio,"Zeitschrift 83. For a schematic comparison of 1976, Archivio di Stato, Venice. ownership also of numerous villa fiir Kunstgesschichte,[1967], pp. these see Rudolf plans, Wittkower, 22, 34. From Ennio Ciaccia, Rus- complexes, such as the ones at 207-21, see 215), which would p. ArchitecturalPrincipals in the Age tico della Gal- Carre, Marano, Marostica, Magre, indicate that the Rotonda trevigiano(Edizioni strongly of Humanism, 3d ed. (London, 89. and S. Pietro in Gui leria: Treviso, 1981), figs. 25, Pozzoleone, was very incomplete. A signing of a 1962), fig. 8 p. 73. (see Cevese, Ville, 2: s.v. Capra; testamentcan occur in a building 31. Ministero per i Beni Culturali Kubelik, Villa, 2: s.v. Capra). The with hypotheticallyonly one room 84. For a critical analysis of this ed Ambientali-Soprintendenzaper i closest such complex, the one at complete. TL has shown (see n. 73) influence on Palladio'sRotonda, Beni Ambientali e Archit ttonici di Longara(for further information on that substantivework was done after see Forster,"Palladio's Villa Ro- Verona, Restauridi monumenli this fifteenth-centuryvilla, see 1606-completed by 1608 (see n. tonda," pp. 30-34. palladiani:Diversi aspetti di un Cevese, Ville, 2: 655-56; Kubelik, 75)-which would explain why problema di tutela (Verona, 1980). Villa, 1: 212, 2: 798, 809-10) is Odorico still lived in his villa 85. On the relevance of the Ro- Capra 44. Daniel Ambrosi, Computer only about two miles to the south in in 1604. It remains to tonda in Palladio'slaboratorio Longara tipo- Graphics Laboratory,Cornell of the Rotonda. Note however, that be clarified Odorico is not see Andrea Palladio, why logico, Puppi, University. the exact date when the Capra fam- mentioned in the external inscrip- pp. 382-83. ily bought the villa from the first tion on the Rotonda, whereas his owners, the Proveglianis, is not es- brotherMario is. Semenzato argues 86. The architecturalmanifestation tablished, although documented for that this is because Odorico left the of this attitude can be seen in the the late sixteenth century, because villa to his brother;however, it is fact that only those partswere by 1603 the Caprasare well estab- Odorico'sson Marzio, who then added to a villa complex that ful- lished there in their park (Filippo inherits the villa (Semenzato, La filled certain given exigencies at a Pigafetta,La descrizionedel territo- Rotonda, p. 47). given moment in time. Such exi- ro e del contado di Vicenza, MS, gencies can of course also have a as published by Alvise Da Schio 82. Fertile land in the flats adjoin- representationalcharacter and these and Franco Barbieriin their critical ing the east side of the Colli Berici obviously flourished in the time pe- transcription[Vicenza, 1974], pp. is extensivelydocumented, for tiod in which Palladio was active in 52, 66). Filippo Pigafettadies in example just south in Barbarano, the Veneto. But the tradition itself, 1604, in the house of his friend which is praisedas the most fertile namely, to base villa architecture Odorico Capra in Lbngara,where region of the vicentino, with excel- more on functional-economic con-

115