Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Renaissance
For centuries Gothic cathedrals soared to the skies, pointing the eye and aspirations heav-
enward - but as the Renaissance ushered in an era of reason and humanism, architecture
became more grounded and rational. Venice wasn't immediately sold on this radical new
Tuscan world view, but the revival of classical ideals was soon popularised by Padua
University and Venetian publishing houses.
With the study of classical philosophy came a fresh appreciation for strict classical order,
harmonious geometry and human-scale proportions. A prime early example in Venice is the
1489 Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a small church and great achievement by
sculptor-architect Pietro Lombardo (1435-1515) with his sons Tullio and Antonio. The ex-
terior is clad in veined multicolour marbles apparently 'borrowed' from Basilica di San
Marco's slag-heap, kept in check by a steady rhythm of Corinthian pilasters. The stark
marble interiors set off a joyous profusion of finely worked sculpture, and the coffered ceil-
ing is filled in with portraits of saints in contemporary Venetian dress. This is ecclesiastical
architecture come down to earth, intimate and approachable.
Sansovino's Humanist Architecture
Born in Florence and well versed in classical architecture in Rome, Jacopo Sansovino
(1486-1570) was a champion of the Renaissance as Venice's
proto
(official city architect).
His best works reveal not just a shift in aesthetics but a sea change in thinking. While the
Gothic ideal was a staggeringly tall spire topped by a cross, his Libreria Nazionale Mar-
ciana is an ideal Renaissance landmark: a low, flat-roofed monument to learning, showcas-
ing statues of great men. Great men are also the theme of Sansovino's Scala dei Giganti in
the Palazzo Ducale, a staircase reserved for Venetian dignitaries and an unmistakable meta-
phorical reminder that in order to ascend to the heights of power, one must stand on the
shoulders of giants.
Instead of striving for the skies, Renaissance architecture reached for the horizon. Sanso-
vino changed the skyline of Venice with his work on 15 buildings, including the serenely
splendid Chiesa di San Francesco della Vigna, completed with a colonnaded facade by Pal-
ladio and sculptural flourishes by Pietro and Tullio Lombardo. But, thankfully, one of
Sansovino's most ambitious projects never came to fruition: his plan to turn Piazza San
Marco into a Roman forum.
