Description

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How and why Palladio has become the most influential architect of the Renaissance and beyond. There is perhaps no single architect who has had as great an influence on the development of architecture over the course of the early modern period and beyond as Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). For more than four and a half centuries, his works have continuously provided a touchstone for architects, not only in the Veneto, where architects were able to scrutinize his works firsthand, but abroad as well. Indeed, his followers are legion; however, the manner in which his oeuvre has been interpreted varied considerably according to time and place. His successors have ranged from those advocating a return to classical orthodoxy to those who have sought to borrow from his work more freely. Yet as the call for architectural reform grew ever more urgent over the course of the eighteenth century, this polysemy came to be overshadowed by a rationalized classical interpretation of Palladio’s work.

About the Author

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Daniel McReynolds is a research associate at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.