GiacomoBarozzida Vignola, often simply called Vignola, 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.
Biography
Giacomo Barozzi was born at Vignola, near Modena. He began his career as architect in Bologna, supporting himself by painting and making perspective templates for inlay craftsmen. He made a first trip to Rome in 1536 to make measured drawings of Roman temples, with a thought to publish an illustrated Vitruvius. Then François I called him to Fontainebleau, where he spent the years 1541–1543. Here he probably met his fellow Bolognese, the architect Sebastiano Serlio and the painter Primaticcio. After his return to Italy, he designed the Palazzo Bocchi in Bologna. Later he moved to Rome. Here he worked for Pope Julius III and, after the latter's death, he was taken up by the papal family of the Farnese and worked with Michelangelo, who deeply influenced his style. In 1558, he was in Piacenza to revise the designs of Palazzo Farnese, commissioned by Margaret of Austria, wife of the Duke Ottavio Farnese and daughter of Emperor Charles V. From 1564 Vignola carried on Michelangelo's work at St Peter's Basilica, and constructed the two subordinate domes according to Michelangelo's plans. Giacomo Barozzi died in Rome in 1573. In 1973 his remains were reburied in the Pantheon, Rome.
Villa Giulia for Pope Julius III, in Rome. Here Vignola was working with Ammanati, who designed the nymphaeum and other garden features under the general direction of Vasari, with guidance from the knowledgeable pope and Michelangelo. A medal of 1553 shows Vignola's main villa substantially as it was completed, save for a pair of cupolas.
Villa Farnese at Caprarola ;
Villa Lante at Bagnaia, including the gardens and their water features and casini;
Palazzo Farnese, Piacenza. This was a grandiose project of a vast palace on a scale paralleled only by the Vatican Palace in Italy; the rectangular plan is circa 111 metres by 88 metres. The actual construction, however, made up only less than a half of Vignola's original project and lacked many of the planned architectural features; missing elements include part of the exterior surrounding walls, the main façade, modelled on the ancient triumphal arch and with a large tower, and a theater in the large inner courtyard.
Other Architectural Works
The main courtyard of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, formerly the convent of the Church of Santi Domenico e Sisto, is traditionally attributed to Vignola but completed after his death. Ten arches on the long sides and seven on the short are sustained by pilasters with Tuscan style ornamentation that rise from high plinths. A simple frieze with smooth triglyphs and metopes separates the lower from the upper levels.
His two published books helped formulate the of classical architectural style. The earliest, Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura , presented Vignola's practical system for constructing columns in the five classical orders utilising 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, Due regole della prospettiva pratica , published posthumously with extensive commentary by the mathematician Ignazio Danti, 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.
