OPUS 7 - P Week

An object or drawing with perspective – that is something that depicts volume while none is present – has the ability to connect the present with the past, as well as the indoors with the outdoors. Also, as Blakemore states, the use of perspective "seems to obliterate the solidity of the wall" (Blakemore 100) as achieved by Baldassare Peruzzi in his Hall of Perspective. The person most famous for designs featuring perspective at this time, however, was Palladio. He used these “illusionistic devices” or perspective drawings in a deliberate order or “compartmentalized arrangements” to illustrate the subject, usually on entire walls. (Blakemore 98)





During the Italian Renaissance, rooms were sparsely furnished, but this furniture was highly ornamented, and massive. (Blakemore 107) The processes of creating these highly decorated, dignified pieces included inlay, carving and veneer application. This process was highly important because it wasn’t how much furniture a person had, but how royal and highly decorated they appeared (even if only appearing on the façade).



In the case of the Villa Giullia, periphery played an important role – what surrounded the building was actually important and served a purpose. This was one of the first instances of a garden-scape and building-scape being locked together to create one flowing landscape. The Villa Barbaro did a similar thing; there was one horizontal room across the whole building which controlled the landscape, demonstrating how buildings and land work together.

During the Renaissance some families, such as Medici and his family, had homes with space on the ground floor for their business. (Roth 376) To maintain a sense of professionalism, and in order to separate home life from business (as well as literally the home from the business) though the buildings were connected, Michelozzo di Bartolommeo created exterior visual cues which he utilized in the Palazzo de Medici. The ground floor was the largest in scale, and had the roughest stone, the next level was smaller and had a smoother surface, followed by the top level which was smallest and the smoothest. The building was then topped with an oversized cornice, tying the separate layers together.



A portfolio is crucial to making or breaking an architect in their career. For example, Palladio was very accomplished – he not only had four books on architecture, but he also had many buildings and was responsible for well known perspective drawings. This made him better known and well respected, people liked his work and wanted houses or rooms designed similar to ones he had done. However, a portfolio is not just about quantity, but about quality. If someone has made many buildings, however they have not been functional, firm, or appealing, for example, they don’t have a very effective portfolio.

This week we learned the importance of the Italian Renaissance. Some crucial aspects were the façade, the surrounding land (or in some cases the surrounding water) and the idea of perspective drawings. Also, I learned that one of the most influential architects, Palladio, designed during this period, and utilized each of the things I have already mentioned – façade, land, and perspective.