Product Description

Here is a lavishly illustrated portrait of the oeuvre of one of the most accomplished architects of the Renaissance, Andrea Palladio. Following the same logic that inspired Palladio in Book II of his famous treatise Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, the editors have kept the written word to the absolute minimum, letting his sixty-six signature works speak for themselves in more than 250 photographs by Pino Guidolotti specially commissioned for this book. Guido Beltramini provides insightful historical and architectural references to this extravagant photographic survey. With a brilliant introduction by architectural historian Howard Burns and a comprehensive bibliography of works on Palladio edited by Almut Goldhahn, this beautifully written and sumptuously illustrated compendium is a must for architectural enthusiasts and historians alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #906609 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-07
• Released on: 2001-12-07
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Library Journal
Perhaps no other architect had as great an impact on Western architecture and its underlying thought as Andrea Palladio (1508-80). His publications were highly influential, and his self-promotional Four Books of Architecture were translated into English in 1738. Palladio's reinterpretation of classicism is perhaps the chief cause of its persistence; filtered through English Palladianism, the style in the United States is most evident in dozens of state capitols. This publication comprises the buildings firmly attributed to the architect and arranges them by locality. Howard Burns's introduction places the body of work in historical and, perhaps more substantively, theoretical context. Concise historical and background information, as well as a floor plan, is provided for each building. The primary value of the publication, however, lies in the photographs by Guidolotti; in full color and beautifully lit, they portray the buildings as no previous publication has. Unfortunately, although the exteriors are documented thoroughly and with their details glowingly captured, there are very few views of interiors. For overall depth of analysis, Manfred Wundram's Andrea Palladio, 1508-1580: Architect Between the Renaissance and the Baroque (Taschen, 1996) still prevails. Nevertheless, any collection with titles on architecture of the Renaissance should acquire this. Paul Glassman, New York Sch. of Interior Design Lib.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Pino Guidolotti was born in Verona in 1947. In the early 1970s he attended a set design course at the Fine Arts Academy of Bologna. His acquaintances and friends from that time turned out to be of fundamental importance for his future development as a photographer: Paolo Monti (to whom he became an assistant), Romeo Martinez in Paris, and Ernst Gombrich in London. Guidolotti's photography features subjects as varied as fashion, portraiture, sculpture, and architecture, and he has been published in major international magazines. He has also illustrated art books such as A. Rosenauer's, Donatello. L'opera completa (Milan 1993) and R. Wittkower's, Bernini (Milan 1990, London 1997).

Born in Cicenza in 1961, Guido Beltramini is the director of the Centro Internazionale de Studi di Architettura "Andrea Palladio," Vicenza, and a professor at the University of Ferrara. He has edited several works: a catalogue of drawings by the 18th-century Palladio follower Ottone Calderari (Venice 1999), the catalogue for the exhibitions on Carlo Scarpa (Milan 2000), with Kurt Foster and Paola Marini, and the special issue of the Quaderni della Scuola Superiore de Pisa dedicated to digital models in architectural studies (Pisa 2000) with Marco Gaiani. Together with Howard Burns and Marco Gaiani, he has also devised and made several CD-ROMS: Le fabbriche e i disegni di Andrea Palladio (1996), Andrea Palladio. Le ville (1997), Palladio and the Veneto (1999), and Palladio e Vicenza (2001).

Customer Reviews

Copiously illustrated album
There are 66 projects in over 300 excellent photos and without much text on 308 pages of this album with a little bit of a technical touch in a few dozens of small plans, elevations and sections, accompanied by 7 pages of introduction, and 50 pages of bibliography. It is superior to the book by Wundram and Pape.