In 1560 Palladio began a series of works in the city of Venice. His refectory (1560-63) at the Benedictine monastery of S Giorgio Maggiore on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore is in every sense a monumental testimony to Palladio's urge to create a style in the manner of Classical antiquity that was both severe and imposing. The unusually high-placed windows, like the dimensions of other individual parts from the portal to the cornice around the building, celebrate architectural form as an end in itself, almost regardless of the building's function. The success of this work resulted in Palladio's commission (1564) to rebuild the monastery church of San Giorgio Maggiore. Another commission in Venice, although never fully realized, was the monastery of Santa Maria della Carità (begun 1560; partly destroyed 1630).
Although Palladio never succeeded in producing a secular building in Venice, nor in having his costly plan to reconstruct the Rialto Bridge adopted, he was nevertheless engaged for further ecclesiastical works there, including a new façade (1562-c. 1570) for San Francesco della Vigna. Here, he achieved a unified composition by employing a variety of scales, a technique he later adopted in the Palazzo Valmarana.
Works by Palladio |
Churches in Venice |
Palaces in Vicenza |
Villas in Veneto |
Other constructions |