PalladianaJOURNAL OF THE CENTER FOR PALLADIAN STUDIES IN AMERICA SPRING 2017 Virginia in the Veneto The Students’ Experience William Sherman As the students from the University of Virginia’s Venice program By contrast, the experience in situ, especially when coupled with gathered in front of the Villa Capra (La Rotonda) with Palladian the act of drawing, leads to insights that move the work from a case scholar Howard Burns, the setting sun produced a soft glow to study to a new foundation. While this may apply to the experience the surface of the building that nearly matched the illumination of any work of architecture, it is especially poignant in the work of the sky. of Andrea Palladio in Venice and the Veneto. There, the students gather lessons that are relevant today At a moment like this, the villa became as designers seek to find new, culturally a living work, more than a mere object rooted connections between the of study in a Renaissance history class. organization of cities and landscapes, The lessons of the architecture, the design of buildings, and the manifest in its form, materials, and expression of shared values. the relationship to the surrounding landscape are revealed in a way that When Mario di Valmarana founded connects tangible experience to the the Venice and Vicenza programs in the understanding of cultural origins and 1970s, he hoped to share the continuity historical significance. between culture, city, landscape, and building with students in ways that For students of architecture, this would “be portable,” not in order to experience is a critical link in translating reproduce that history but so that their the lessons of history into an accessible own designs would be as richly grounded wellspring for design. Architecture as those which they experienced. can only be as rich as the mental Howard Burns with Venice Program students framework that guides the design at the Villa Capra In hosting a lunch in the cellar kitchen process. A framework dependent on of Villa Capra made entirely from knowledge that has been reduced local ingredients, in tasting the wine into the two-dimensional visual format of the slide lecture from the vineyards of a nearby villa, in sharing ways to read the provides a constrained set of tools, leading to a pejorative relationship of the villas to the structure of the landscape, he created connotation of the term “academic.” Continued from page 6. INSIDE 4 2018 Veneto Trip 10 Book Review 2 President’s Letter, New look 5 CPSA Spring Tour 10 News and Announcements 3 New Board Members 6 Virginia in the Veneto continued 11 Membership 9 Vicenza Study Course New Look for Palladiana and Website John Zeugner, CO- PRESIDENT John Zeugner The CPSA Board has been making great progress on several Next, we will work with Anne to completely overhaul and update fronts. With the Center’s move to Charlottesville, we wanted to our website: palladiancenter.org. The new one will look similar shift the layout and printing of Palladiana out of Richmond. to this newsletter, be easier to use, and will include links to Fortunately, we found Anne Chesnut, a Charlottesville-area social media platforms and connections to other national and graphic and website designer with national clients. She identified international centers of Palladian study, museums, and significant ways to update the appearance and readability of the newsletter, buildings. We anticipate the changes this summer. Last summer, we added Bill Sherman, UVA architecture professor, “Last summer, we added Bill Sherman, multidisciplinary innovator, and Veneto-Venice faculty member UVA architecture professor, to our Board. Bill also brought us designer Chesnut. This fall we gained three other new Directors who represent major historic multidisciplinary innovator, and homes the Central Virginia region. They bring invaluable expertise Veneto-Venice faculty member in restoring and sustaining national-level historic properties, mar- to our Board. This fall we gained keting and educational programming, and non-profit networking. With this issue, we introduce them to the membership in the biog- three other new Directors who raphies and photos elsewhere in this issue. ■ represent major historic homes the . Central Virginia region.” SUBMISSIONS We are interested in articles and research pertaining to Palladio and most of which we have adopted for this issue. There are a few his Four Books’ influence on American architecture; new discoveries holdovers from the old format to help bridge the transition. and new books on Palladio; and information on exhibitions and But all improvements are Anne's and all the old-fashioned symposia on Palladio and his followers in the US and overseas. conventions are our doing. We would like to hear from you about Inquiries, articles, and reviews (approximately 1,500 words) may be the changes, so drop us a line please. submitted to our Administrator, Kay Slaughter, at [email protected]. Palladiana JOURNAL OF THE CENTER FOR PALLADIAN STUDIES IN AMERICA, INC. | SPRING 2017 NEWSLETTER CREDITS CONTACT VISIT EDITOR MAILING ADDRESS Facebook | @PalladianStudies Calder Loth Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc. COPY EDITORS P.O. Box 4754 palladiancenter.org | Under construction Kay Slaughter and John Zeugner Charlottesville, VA 22905 DESIGN Anne Chesnut PRINTER Mid Valley Press Palladiana 2 Palladiana | SPRING 2017 Members from Monticello, Poplar Forest, Montpelier, and UVA Join CPSA Board Elizabeth Chew is Vice President Travis C. McDonald is an for Museum Programs at James architectural historian who has directed Madison’s Montpelier, where she the restoration of Thomas Jefferson’s oversees the Curatorial, Preservation, Poplar Forest since 1989. This restoration Archaeology, Education, and Research is acknowledged as one of the most departments. An art historian, she authentic restorations in the country. holds a BA from Yale, an MA from the McDonald has written and lectured Courtauld Institute, and a PhD from extensively on Thomas Jefferson, the University of North Carolina- Poplar Forest, Andrea Palladio, and Chapel Hill. She began her career at early Virginia architecture. He formerly art museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, worked for the Chief Historical Architect of the National Park the National Gallery, and the Phillips Collection. As curator at Service, for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and has Monticello from 2000–2013, she was instrumental in expanding directed museum restorations in Virginia for more than 30 years. interpretation to include women, domestic work, and slavery He received an MA in architectural history from the University of and curated the exhibition “‘To Try All Things’: Monticello as Virginia. For his work directing the restoration of Poplar Forest he Experiment” in the Monticello Visitor Center. Before arriving at received in 2011 The Architecture Medal for Virginia Service, by Montpelier, she was Director of the Curatorial and Education the Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and in Division at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston- 2016, a Virginia Senate Commendation for Preserving the Heritage Salem, NC. She has taught art history at UVA, James Madison of Virginia. He serves on several advisory boards, including that for University, Wake Forest, and Davidson College and has published Thomas Jefferson’s buildings at the University of Virginia. ■ and lectured widely on ways that art collecting and architectural patronage relate to gender, race, and family politics. ■ William Sherman is the Lawrence Lewis, Jr. Professor of Gardiner Hallock is Robert H. Architecture, Associate Vice President Smith Director of Restoration at for Research in Design, Arts, and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. He Humanities, and the Founding Director has spent most of his career working of OpenGrounds at the University of at Virginia’s presidential historic sites. Virginia. His OpenGrounds initiative After receiving his masters of science is a network of places and programs in Historic Preservation from the that inspire creative research at the University of Vermont, he served as confluence of technology, science, the the Restoration Manager at George arts, and humanities. He has lectured widely on the concept of Washington’s Mount Vernon. OpenGrounds and serves as a member of the Executive Committee Before coming to Monticello, he was Director of Architectural of the Alliance for the Arts at Research Universities. Sherman Research at the Montpelier Foundation during the restoration teaches studios and has taught in the Venice and Vicenza programs of James Madison’s home. His recent projects at Monticello of the School of Architecture. He has served as Associate Dean included the reconstruction of two log outbuildings, restoration for Academics and Chair of the Department of Architecture and of the mountaintop’s Kitchen Road, reconstruction of the Landscape Architecture. He has received honors from the American North Wing, restoration of Jefferson’s Chamber and Cabinet, Institute of Architects for design excellence and excellence in and of the Mulberry Row Stable’s roof. Currently, he is education. In 2010, Sherman was awarded UVA’s Z Society involved with the reconstruction of Sally Hemings’ quarters Distinguished Faculty Award and the Creative Achievement Award in the South Wing. ■ of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. ■ Palladiana | SPRING 2017 3 CPSA Fall 2018 Trip Tour Planning Stages Palladio and His Sphere of Influence