VII. The Rotonda. This is certainly Palladio’s design, and must have been nearly completed by him, though Scamozzi lays claim to the honour of terminating it with some alteration; what this alteration was is not known. I willingly attribute to him the internal cornices of doors, chimneys, &c. which are heavy and inharmonious. It is published by Leoni, but not correctly, as the centre rises in successive frustra of depressed cones, and there is no external appearance of a dome. Externally, it partakes of the desolate condition of every thing at Vicenza, but still it is exquisitely beautiful, and the situation, at the extremity of a point of hill advancing from the general line, is no less delightful; no other position could have suited the house so well, and no other house, either larger or smaller, or with any other arrangement, would have been so well adapted to the situation. Internally, it is equally admirable; it looks small, even more so than it really is. This is probably owing to the preposterously massive ornaments about the doors. The rooms form altogether one suite of apartments, four of which are intended for bed-rooms; but this, in the system of Italian manners, would be no objection to their being all thrown open to receive company; and here, whatever may be the time of day, you are sure of shade, air, and beautiful scenery. It would be difficult to accommodate the design to our climate and manners, without spoiling it, even if we should find for it a suitable situation. In this most essential particular, the three imitations which we have, are all remarkably deficient.
VIII. Palazzo Valmarana. This has been published with sufficient correctness in Leoni’s Palladio. It is a handsome edifice, and would be more so, if the angles were better supported, but the small pilaster and figure over it, instead of the pilaster of the larger order, are as displeasing in reality as in the drawings; and the change in the size and number of the windows in the adjoining divisions, is equally reprehensible. The mouldings of the lesser order project beyond the pilasters of the larger, and if the panels of sculpture over the lower windows were somewhat narrower, they would have a better shape themselves, and the greater space over them would be an advantage. In other respects the proportions are excellent, and the distribution at once beautiful and uncommon. The total absence of windows in the height of the pedestal, I take to be a great advantage.
IX. Palazzo Trissino. This is probably one of the best works of Vincenzo Scamozzi, and it is a noble edifice, though it wants something of that undefinable grace of proportion we admire in Palladio, and it stands in so narrow a street, that one can hardly judge of it fairly. It has a range of nine windows on the principal floor, with intermediate pilasters doubled at the angles; but the change of design in the three middle divisions, the high unmeaning arch of the centre, and the double pilasters separating the centre from the wings, are so many defects. In the ground-floor, the large central arched opening is too reasonable to displease.
X. Palazzo Barbarano. Palladio has given this design with seven openings in the range; two more have since been added, and I do not know that the composition has been injured, except that the doorway is no longer in the centre. It is overloaded with ornament. The sprawling figures over the pediments of the windows, the husks which run down on each of the openings, and the trophies in the lower story, ought all to be taken away: with these exceptions in the decorative parts, the composition is excellent, and presents in its unbroken entablatures a simplicity not usual in the Palladian architecture. The house said to be that of Palladio, but which in fact was built by Sr. Pietro Cogolo, does not much please me, and I shall therefore not describe it to you; it is doubtful even whether Palladio was the architect.
XI. I am almost inclined to pass over the Palazzo Chiericati in the same manner. The inosculating columns at the angles of the centre, displease every body: a greater failure in point of effect arises from the architect having filled up the centre spaces of the upper colonnade; its solidity is so offensive where all the rest is open, that no pleasing impression can be produced by the building.
XII. Palazzo del Conte Orazio da Porto. This was designed by Palladio for a Conte Giuseppe Porto, and great part finished by him; but the whole design has never been completed. There are arches above the windows of the basement, larger than the openings below, and the lines not being continued downwards, they have an unmeaning appearance; and it would be better if the figures and husk ornament, which are added to the middle and extreme windows, were omitted. These are very trifling defects; and for every thing else, the building is one of the most correct of Palladio’s designs, and is in the highest degree graceful and pleasing.
XIII. I will not trouble you with criticisms on other palaces, where there is nothing particularly beautiful to render them objects of study; but pass on to the Olympic Theatre, which is too celebrated to be omitted, though as far as my own taste is concerned it might have slept in oblivion. The outside of this edifice, it having been erected on a contracted and irregular piece of ground, does not claim any attention. The scene, which is the part most admired, borders upon trumpery. It consists of two orders and an attic, has clustered columns and pilasters, and breaks upon breaks, and abounds in figures and bas-reliefs. The finish against the ceiling is low and poor. The author wished apparently to give the appearance of a building terminating in an attic, and meant that the ceiling should entirely disappear; and if the latter were kept of a uniform dead colour, this by candle-light might perhaps have been the case; but the idea has not been preserved, for the ceiling is gilt and painted. In the middle avenue a very considerable effect of distance is obtained; those on each side, opening into the middle, are nearly lost; those of the second openings on the right and left, look pretty well from certain points of view; the end ones are failures. I saw it however only by daylight, and with some partial shadows, very injurious to its effect. It is remarkable, that the point of sight is lower than it would be on the lowest seat, which is three or four feet above the stage. The seats are most inconveniently narrow, and nearly as high as they are wide. The colonnade above the seats is beautifully proportioned; but the centre division has been filled up in consequence of want of room, and this is very injurious to its beauty. The row of statues at the top seem in danger of knocking their heads against the ceiling, and offer another proof that this was not intended to be conspicuous: they would be very much in the way of any spectators in the gallery.
The Gothic architecture of Vicenza is of little value. The church of Sta. Corona is perhaps the best edifice of the middle ages. The church of S. Lorenzo is now a barn. The front of the Duomo is a very ugly mixture of different styles: the inside is a single nave, of great width, to which neither the height nor length is in proportion. It is nearly 60 feet between the pillars, which are placed against the wall. They all belong to that sort of pointed architecture which prevailed during the thirteenth century, in this part of Italy, and of which I have given you the church of Sta. Anastasia, at Verona, as one of the finest examples.
From Vicenza I proceeded again in the Diligence to Padua. The weather continues bad, but you may walk about this city in rain or sunshine, as the footways are mostly under arcades. It is a damp, gloomy town, with narrow streets, and no leading one; and three or four squares, but all of them small; unless you except the Prato della Valle, which is a fine open space, but cannot properly be called a square; and though within the walls, seems rather out of the town than in it. Verona is said to contain 45,000 inhabitants, Vicenza 30,000, Padua 44,000; they are probably all overrated.
The great wonder-worker, St. Anthony, takes his name from this city, where he died; although he was born at Lisbon. His miracles, indeed, put all other saints to the blush; and so great was the impression made by them, that he was canonized within a year of his death, and in the following year (1232) preparations were made for erecting an immense church in his honour. Political events suspended the execution, and no material progress was made till 1259. In 1307, the whole was finished except one cupola, and the internal work of the choir; which was not perfected till 1424. It is 326 English feet long, 160 feet wide in the transept, and 128 feet high in the domes internally. The front is 128 feet long, and 93 feet high. These dates and dimensions are taken from a little book of two hundred and thirteen pages, entitled, “Il forestiere istruito delle meraviglie e delle cose più belle che si ammirano internamente ed esternamente nella basilica del grantaumaturgo S. Antonio di Padova,” and which, among the relation of inscriptions, miracles, relics, processions, and indulgences, does contain a page or two about the building. The dimensions do not agree perfectly with the apparent proportions, and I suspect the length is rather underrated, even if we suppose it not to include a circular building behind the choir, which is called the sanctuary, but which forms no part of the original structure. The architect of the front is said to have been Niccola da Pisa, and Milizia attributes to him the design of the whole building. It is a vast pile, of uncommon ugliness in every part; exhibiting seven domes, a small octagonal tower above the gable of the front, (my book says there are four small towers) two high octagonal towers near the choir, and a lofty cone in the centre, surmounted by an angel. The internal architecture is hardly superior to the exterior; but it is so odd, and so complicated, that it would require a very long description to make the arrangement understood, and it really is not worth it. Bad as it is, it has evidently afforded many hints towards the much admired church of Sta. Giustina. The shrine of the saint is as splendid as gold and marble can make it: the architect was Sansovino, and the lower part, which is a range of five arches, supported on columns, is good; but the top is overloaded with a double attic. The most sober architect takes some license in these small productions, and is more lavish of ornament in them; and it is probable that the eye requires more play of line, and more richness of detail, than where the impression is helped out by the mass of the edifice; but the architects of the north of Italy have run too much into ornament in their houses; how much more then are we likely to find in their monuments? Sansovino preceded Palladio, and may perhaps dispute with Sanmicheli the second place; both are superior to Scamozzi, whose name is so much better known in England. There are two bronze panels by Riccio (Andrea Crispo Briosio detto il Riccio) in this church, which are very fine. The figures are numerous, and there is a great deal of character and variety in the heads both of men and horses. There is also a magnificent bronze candelabrum by the same artist.