Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 06 (of 10): Fra Giocondo to Niccolo SoggiVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 06 (of 10): Fra Giocondo to Niccolo Soggi
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
The same architect built a very large and magnificent Doric portal for
the Palace of the Captain of that place; and this portal is much praised
by everyone as a work of great purity. He also erected two very
beautiful gates for the city, one of which, called the Porta di S.
Giovanni, and leading to Vicenza, is very fine, and commodious for the
soldiers who guard it; and the other, which is very well designed, was
called the Porta Savonarola. He made, likewise, for the Friars of S.
Dominic, the design and model of the Church of S. Maria delle Grazie,
and laid the foundations; and this work, as may be seen from the model,
is so beautiful and well designed, that one of equal size to rival it
has perhaps never been seen up to our own day in any other place. And
by the same master was made the model of a most superb palace for Signor
Girolamo Savorgnano, at his well fortified stronghold of Usopo in
Friuli; for which all the foundations were then laid, and it had begun
to rise above the ground, when, by reason of the death of that nobleman,
it was left in that condition without being carried further; but if this
building had been finished, it would have been a marvel.
About the same time Falconetto went to Pola, in Istria, for the sole
purpose of seeing and drawing the theatre, amphitheatre, and arch that
are in that most ancient city. He was the first who made drawings of
theatres and amphitheatres and traced their ground-plans, and those that
are to be seen, particularly in the case of Verona, came from him, and
were printed at the instance of others after his designs. Giovan Maria
was a man of exalted mind, and, being one who had never done anything
else but draw the great works of antiquity, he desired nothing save that
there should be presented to him opportunities of executing works
similar to those in greatness. He would sometimes make ground-plans and
designs for them, with the very same pains that he would have taken if
he had been commissioned to put them into execution at once; and in this
he lost himself so much, so to speak, that he would not deign to make
designs for the private houses of gentlemen, either in the country or in
the city, although he was much besought to do so.
Giovan Maria was in Rome on many occasions besides those described
above; whence that journey was so familiar to him, that when he was
young and vigorous he would undertake it on the slightest opportunity.
Persons who are still alive relate that, falling one day into a
discussion with a foreign architect, who happened to be in Verona, about
the measurements of I know not what ancient cornice in Rome, after many
words Giovan Maria said, "I will soon make myself certain in this
matter," and then went straight to his house and set out on his way to
Rome.
[Illustration: PALAZZO DEL CAPITANIO
(_After_ Falconetto. _Padua_)
_Anderson_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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