DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1670#0025
of Archiictturt, 5
did other places in Tuscany sail in the production of eminent artists, among others, Baldassar
Perucci distinguiihed himselfj Pietko Cataneo was of Sienna, whose eight books have not
been without great use, and are worthy of much esteem. Leon Leoni and Giorgio Vasari*
both of Are2ZO, were conversant in the arts: these two have written somc accounts of itatuarics*
painters and architects.
It would have been matter of wonder, if in the sun-mine of thdse days there had been want-
ing excellent artists at Rome, where so many piles of ruined grandeur flood; thither repaired
Bramante, and the great Raphael from Urbino, who uniting their talents with those of Giu-
liano and Antonio Sangallo, raised the profession to its pristinegreatness and dignity j Giulio
Romano, a disciplc worthy of Raphael, must have transmitted his name with same to posterity,
had he lest nothing more than the villa near Ponte-molle, built aster his designs for Pope
Clement VII.
Antonio Labaccd was of Rome ; he delineated in a fine manner the ruins of several antiquities,
which may be feen in his book. In Lombard}', among the many who are celebrated, we selecl:
two, Sebastian Serl 10 of Bologna, and Giacomo Barozzi of Vignola : nor was the Veronese
territory in that age inferior to any other in Italy; sor all at once appeared three very able men,
for the re-establilhmerit of the art. One was Fra. Giocondo, a man of surprismg genius and in-
defatigable industry, master of every science, and well versed in the practice of every art ; he was the
first who amended and illustrated the writings of Vitruvius, till then, as he informs us, neither legible
nor intelligible, through the great incorrectness and obseurity of the copies. He was the first that
carried into France a taste for ancient architecture in the reign of Lewis XII. He built two bridges
at Paris, and ordered many great works besore he lest that kingdom ; he signalized himself also at
Rome, at Venice, and elscwhcre : when this same personage was far advanced in years and decrepi-
tude, arose Giovanni Maria Falconetto, of whom' Vasari speaks with great commendation.
Soon aster appeared Michele San Micheli, who greatly improved on the discoveries of the two
last mentioned. To these succeeded other two great masters, Andrea Palladio, excelled by
none, and Vincenzo Scamozzi. The next to mention, is Jacopo Sansovino, who, though
born in Tuscany, palled almost all his days at Venice, and adorned that city with several magni-
ficent buildings. Gio. Antonio Rusconi handled in a masterly manner the precepts of Vitruvius.
Nor must we pass over in silence Giuseppe Viola Zanini of Padua, who has lest behind him a
good treatise of architecture, partly from Vitruvius, and partly from others j but before him,
Ottavio Revesi of Vicenza, had also proposed a new method of measuring the sive orders, which,
has not been adopted, because, sor any considerable works it would become too laborious, and waste
too much time. It would be to no purpose to mention other names os lest note, which are prcserved
in more particular accounts of the artists os those days ; yet among the number, two Frenchmen,
Jean Bullant and Philibert de L'orme, are worthy of particular remembrance. These
and others of the same country, were, in all likelihood, scholars of Seb. Serlio of Bologna, at the
time when he was called into France by Francis I. It is remarkable that several of the famous men
abovementioned were excellent painters, and it cannot be too strongly advanced how much the union
of these arts in the same person contributes to their mutual advantage.
By the estahlished order of events, power and riches increase or diminish gradually ; and as was
said before, the arts do not at first receive the greatest improvement, nor are lost by any sudden neg-
ligence; yet by a strange and uncommon satality, the succeeding age to that of which we have
spoken, produced instances which seem to overthrow these general observations. For the fine arts
which but the preceding century, were brought very near to perfection in the next ensuing one, fell
almost into a total decay; and it would have been less Ihamefid for the Italians (it is an Italian C. A.
Pompei that asierts it) to have entirely lost the arts, than to have preserved them disfigured and cor-
rupted, and thus to have exposed themselves with unjustifiable levity to the censure of other nations.
One of the principal causes of this depravity, was the desire of novelty, which is very commendable
when cautioussy attempted with proper discernment and sound judgment; otherwise, without these
two necesi'ary guides, it must ever be productive of great corruption and abuse. The wild sancies of
BoRFSOMlNO, and the peculiar affectedness of Bernini, both as a statuary and an architect, have
B d muled
J
did other places in Tuscany sail in the production of eminent artists, among others, Baldassar
Perucci distinguiihed himselfj Pietko Cataneo was of Sienna, whose eight books have not
been without great use, and are worthy of much esteem. Leon Leoni and Giorgio Vasari*
both of Are2ZO, were conversant in the arts: these two have written somc accounts of itatuarics*
painters and architects.
It would have been matter of wonder, if in the sun-mine of thdse days there had been want-
ing excellent artists at Rome, where so many piles of ruined grandeur flood; thither repaired
Bramante, and the great Raphael from Urbino, who uniting their talents with those of Giu-
liano and Antonio Sangallo, raised the profession to its pristinegreatness and dignity j Giulio
Romano, a disciplc worthy of Raphael, must have transmitted his name with same to posterity,
had he lest nothing more than the villa near Ponte-molle, built aster his designs for Pope
Clement VII.
Antonio Labaccd was of Rome ; he delineated in a fine manner the ruins of several antiquities,
which may be feen in his book. In Lombard}', among the many who are celebrated, we selecl:
two, Sebastian Serl 10 of Bologna, and Giacomo Barozzi of Vignola : nor was the Veronese
territory in that age inferior to any other in Italy; sor all at once appeared three very able men,
for the re-establilhmerit of the art. One was Fra. Giocondo, a man of surprismg genius and in-
defatigable industry, master of every science, and well versed in the practice of every art ; he was the
first who amended and illustrated the writings of Vitruvius, till then, as he informs us, neither legible
nor intelligible, through the great incorrectness and obseurity of the copies. He was the first that
carried into France a taste for ancient architecture in the reign of Lewis XII. He built two bridges
at Paris, and ordered many great works besore he lest that kingdom ; he signalized himself also at
Rome, at Venice, and elscwhcre : when this same personage was far advanced in years and decrepi-
tude, arose Giovanni Maria Falconetto, of whom' Vasari speaks with great commendation.
Soon aster appeared Michele San Micheli, who greatly improved on the discoveries of the two
last mentioned. To these succeeded other two great masters, Andrea Palladio, excelled by
none, and Vincenzo Scamozzi. The next to mention, is Jacopo Sansovino, who, though
born in Tuscany, palled almost all his days at Venice, and adorned that city with several magni-
ficent buildings. Gio. Antonio Rusconi handled in a masterly manner the precepts of Vitruvius.
Nor must we pass over in silence Giuseppe Viola Zanini of Padua, who has lest behind him a
good treatise of architecture, partly from Vitruvius, and partly from others j but before him,
Ottavio Revesi of Vicenza, had also proposed a new method of measuring the sive orders, which,
has not been adopted, because, sor any considerable works it would become too laborious, and waste
too much time. It would be to no purpose to mention other names os lest note, which are prcserved
in more particular accounts of the artists os those days ; yet among the number, two Frenchmen,
Jean Bullant and Philibert de L'orme, are worthy of particular remembrance. These
and others of the same country, were, in all likelihood, scholars of Seb. Serlio of Bologna, at the
time when he was called into France by Francis I. It is remarkable that several of the famous men
abovementioned were excellent painters, and it cannot be too strongly advanced how much the union
of these arts in the same person contributes to their mutual advantage.
By the estahlished order of events, power and riches increase or diminish gradually ; and as was
said before, the arts do not at first receive the greatest improvement, nor are lost by any sudden neg-
ligence; yet by a strange and uncommon satality, the succeeding age to that of which we have
spoken, produced instances which seem to overthrow these general observations. For the fine arts
which but the preceding century, were brought very near to perfection in the next ensuing one, fell
almost into a total decay; and it would have been less Ihamefid for the Italians (it is an Italian C. A.
Pompei that asierts it) to have entirely lost the arts, than to have preserved them disfigured and cor-
rupted, and thus to have exposed themselves with unjustifiable levity to the censure of other nations.
One of the principal causes of this depravity, was the desire of novelty, which is very commendable
when cautioussy attempted with proper discernment and sound judgment; otherwise, without these
two necesi'ary guides, it must ever be productive of great corruption and abuse. The wild sancies of
BoRFSOMlNO, and the peculiar affectedness of Bernini, both as a statuary and an architect, have
B d muled
J