Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola

Lore & Background

Jacopo Barozzi was born at Vignola, near Modena. He began his career as an architect in Bologna, supporting himself by painting and making perspective templates for inlay craftsmen. He made his 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, probably meeting the architect Sebastiano Serlio and the painter Primaticcio. After his return to Italy, he designed the Palazzo Bocchi in Bologna and later moved to Rome, where he worked for Pope Julius III and, after the pope's death, was taken up by the Farnese family and worked with Michelangelo, who deeply influenced his style.

In 1558, Vignola was in Piacenza to revise the designs of Palazzo Farnese, commissioned by Margaret of Austria. From 1564 he carried on Michelangelo's work at St Peter's Basilica and constructed the two subordinate domes according to Michelangelo's plans. He died in Rome in 1573; his remains were reburied in the Pantheon in 1973. His major works include the Villa Farnese at Caprarola (1559–1573), Villa Lante at Bagnaia (from 1566), the Church of the Gesù in Rome, and the first church with an oval dome, Sant'Andrea in Via Flaminia. He also submitted plans for completing the facade of San Petronio, Bologna, though they were not built.

Reader's Guide

Vignola's significance rests on his built works and his influential written treatises. His two published books helped formulate the canon of classical architectural style. The earliest, Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura (first published in 1562), presented a practical system for constructing columns in the five classical orders using proportions derived from his own measurements of Roman monuments. The clarity and ease of use of this treatise caused it to become in succeeding centuries the most published book in architectural history. His second treatise, Due regole della prospettiva pratica (published posthumously in 1583 with commentary by the mathematician Ignazio Danti), favors one-point perspective and presents practical applications understandable by a prospective patron. As an architect, Vignola is often considered the most important in Rome during the Mannerist era. His Church of the Gesù became a source for Baroque church facades in the 17th century, and his oval dome at Sant'Andrea in Via Flaminia became a signature of the Baroque. Along with Serlio and Palladio, he is credited with spreading the Italian Renaissance style throughout Western Europe.

Did You Know?

• Vignola's remains were reburied in the Pantheon, Rome, in 1973.
• His treatise Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura became the most published book in architectural history.
• He designed the first church with an oval dome, Sant'Andrea in Via Flaminia in Rome.
• From 1564 he carried on Michelangelo's work at St Peter's Basilica.