Villa Barbaro
Villa Barbaro, also known as the Villa di Maser, is a large villa in Maser, Treviso in the Veneto, of northern Italy. It was designed and built by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio for his patrons, the brothers Daniele, patriarch of Aquileia, and Marcantonio (an ambassador of the Venetian Republic). The Barbaro family is an old Venetian aristocratic family documented as holding high office in the Repubic of Venice as early as the ninth century.[1]
The villa, which is part of the World Heritage Site of the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, was featured in Bob Vila's three-part six-hour production for A&E Network, Guide to Historic Homes: In Search of Palladio.[2]
The dates given for the building of the villa vary. The architectural author and historian Adalbert dal Lago states it was built between 1560 and 1570 [3] while others state that the villa was mostly completed by 1558 [4] Hobson [5] concurs with dal Lago that the date of commencement was probably 1560. Hobson credits Daniele with the idea of not only building the villa but also the choice of architect and the sculptor Alessandro Vittoria. While Daniele was the connoisseur of the arts - it was for the use of Marcantonio's family and descendents that the villa was truly intended. [6]
Palladio planned the villa on low lines extending into a large park. The ground floor plan is complex - rectangular with perpendicular rooms on a long axis, the central block projects and contains the principal reception room. The central block which is designed to resemble the portico of a Roman temple is decorated by four Ionic columns a motif which takes inspiration from the Temple of Fortuna Virilis in Rome. The central block is surmounted by a large pediment with heraldic symbols of the Barbaro family in relief.
The Central block is flanked by two symmetrical wings of two floors recessed being an open arcade. The wings are terminated by pavilions which feature large sundials set within their pediments. The pavilions were intended to house dovecotes on the uppermost floor, while the rooms below were for wine-making, stables and domestic use.
In many of Palladio's villa's similar pavilions were little more than mundane farm buildings behind a concealing facade. A typical feature of Palladio's villa architecture they were to be much copied and changed in the Palladian architecture inspired by Palladio's original designs.
However, the Villa Barbaro is unusual as it is the only one of Palladio's works from this era to have not only no portico but to site the private living quarters on the upper level of the "barchesse" (that is: the rooms behind the arcades of the two wings) in most of Palladio's designs these wings were merely open colonnades or housing secondary service rooms.
The interior, the central block is painted with frescoes executed between 1560 and 1562 by Paolo Veronese.
Standing close to the villa is the circular chapel, known as the "Tempietto" this too was designed by Palladio and completed in 1580, this is thought to be inspired by Rome's pantheon [7]. However the proportions of the chapel's porch and projecting chapels are entirely Palladio's own design and are features not discernable at the Pantheon.
The male line of the Barbaro's San Vidal branch, whom owned Villa Barbaro, died out in the 18th century [8] and the villa passed through the San Vidal's female line into the ownership of the Trevisan and then the Basadonna aristocratic families. Finally, it passed to the Manin family, of whom produced Venice's last doge. Having been allowed to become ruinous in 1850, the villa was purchased by the wealthy industrialist Sante Giacomelli. Giacomelli completely restored and renovated the villa. In 1934 Count Giuseppe Volpi di Masurata acquired the villa and began to restore it back to its former glory, today it is lived in by his grand-daughter.
References
- Dal Lago, Adalbert. Villas and Palaces of Europe. 1969. Paul Hamlyn
- Hobson, Anthony. (Villa Barbaro - pages 89 – 97) "Great Houses of Europe". 1961. Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. London. ISBN 0-600-33843-6.
- VILLA BARBARO: ARCHITECTURE, KNOWLEDGE AND ARCADIA retrieved 09 July 2007