Deborah Howard (1) (1946–)

Venice is well known for its unusual architecture which reflects not only the "Veneto-Byzantine" flavor dating from the 12th century, and the Venetian Gothic which began to appear in the 15th century, but also the new Classical elements influenced by the rediscovery by Poggio Bracciolini in 1414 of De architectura, Vitruvius's four-volume work on architecture dating from the first century. Jacopo Sansovino was only one of several architects in the 1500s to have caught the Vitruvian bug, for he had studied the ruins in Rome which made his absorption of Vitruvian principles that much easier.

Sansovino was born in Florence in 1486 and spent his early career there and in Rome, where he was in close contact with the great artists of the High Renaissance. He knew Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo and many more. He had been trained as a sculptor and had limited architectural experience when, to escape the ravages of the sack of Rome in 1527, he fled to Venice where he was welcomed by Doge Andrea Gritti, an enthusiastic patron of the arts.

His first architectural commission in Venice was to restore the domes on St. Mark's Basilica, which led to his appointment as architect to the Procurators of St. Marks, a quasi-governmental body which had responsibility for management of all the properties surrounding both the Piazza San Marco and the Piazzetta in front of the Doge's Palace.

In 1529 the Peace of Bologna ended Venetian hostilities with the pope and the Holy Roman Empire, beginning a long period of relative peace that lasted throughout the rest of Sansovino's life. In this environment, architectural projects abounded. Sansovino formed lifelong friendships with Doge Gritti who was very interested in civic improvement, and with Titian and Pietro Aretino the poet.

In addition to the Procurators, other patrons of Sansovino included the state itself, the Church, charitable institutions and private citizens. In this book his work is analyzed according to these various categories of patron with a chapter devoted to each.

Sansovino is probably best known for "modernizing" and improving Piazza San Marco and designing the Marciano Library and the Loggetta in front of the campanile. The choice of the west side of the Piazzetta for the library was a long time in coming — in fact, fifty years overdue. The gift of 500 Greek manuscripts by Cardinal Bessarion of Trebizond had languished in an obscure room of the Doge's palace and later in the Basilica itself. Cardinal Pietro Bembo was the newly appointed librarian, and work began in 1527. Palladio called Sansovino's library "the richest and most ornate [building] since antiquity." The Senate pointed out in a decree of 1515 that the "whole notion of building a splendid public library was a conscious attempt to emulate the ancients." Of his design, Aretino wrote in a letter to Sansovino: "You are the man who knows how to be Vitruvius."

The Logetta, which sits in front of the Campanile, is a unified architectural allegory which, in its sculptural decorations, sets out the virtues of the Venetian government.

The Mint, which shares the far wall of the Library and faces on the lagoon, was designed to replace an older structure. Sansovino received a commission by the Venetian Council of Ten, and the project was underwritten by freeing some of the 25,000 white slaves on the island of Cyprus at 50 ducats per head.

Sansovino's ecclesiastical patrons were of two types: monastic institutions and parish churches. Altogether he built six churches in Venice, all of which replaced earlier structures that had fallen into disrepair, and three of which were later destroyed during the Napoleonic period. "Churches form the nuclei in the cell structure of the city of Venice." This is because in the earliest days (5th – 7th centuries) each of seventy islands in the marshy lagoon became individual parishes with church and campo being built and set apart on the highest ground. The three parish churches had originally been established a thousand years before Sansovino was engaged to rebuild them.

Sansovino's reputation as an ecclesiastical architect does not match those of Palladio and others for a variety of reasons. First, there are no unifying architectural ideas behind his churches: they each reflect individual circumstances to which he adapted his plans. Second, "there is no trace of the sixty plans of temples and churches, apparently intended for publication," that Vasari tells us were left to his son Francisco. Finally, he left no writings, unlike Palladio, to reveal his ideas about religious architecture.

The Church played no significant role in providing medical care or relief to the poor in Venice. Charitable institutions in Venice were of two types: self-governing scuole and state-run hospitals. Sansovino designed one of each.

The palazzi that line the Grand Canal are some of the great attractions of Venice. Sansovino designed two: the Palazzo Dolfin and the Palazzo Corner. In addition he undertook countless restorations and alterations. Before his flight to Venice in 1527 Sansovino had already built a palace in Rome — the Palazzo Gaddi in the Renaissance banking quarter, begun in 1520.

The Venetian economy was founded on trade mostly organized on a family basis, and the palazzo served as headquarters for the business and sometimes four generations of the family. Over the centuries, the style of façades evolved from "Veneto-Byzantine" to gothic to classical.

Palazzo Dolfin was a characteristic merchant's house and reflected classical architectural features, adapted to the needs of the Dolfin family and fully described in the text.

The Corner family was one of the oldest in the Venetian nobility. Zorzi Corner died the year Sansovino arrived in Venice (1527) and his sons inherited his estate. Five years after his death, the legendary Corner Palace — legendary both for its size and beauty — burned to the ground in a spectacular fire. The new palazzo was not completed until long after Sansovino's death, and while the design is impressive, its large scale seems out of proportion to the neighboring palazzi.

In summary, Sansovino's architectural style is impossible to generalize or categorize, although his fondness for classical features is apparent in a variety of settings. His versatility is reflected in the wide variety of patrons and buildings intended for vastly different purposes which he designed over a forty-year period. This generously illustrated book focusing on his architectural achievements in Venice gives a well-drawn behind-the-scenes look at the city from an architectural point of view. Notes can be read or skipped, as the reader desires.… (mehr)