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THE CIVIL E>fGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



there to measure and stuily those plorious remnins of ancient 

 iriaffiiiticeiice for which lie had so profound a venenition. 



He at first obtained employment by making' drawings for 

 Alelighini of Ferrara, the same unfortunate wijrht, who, it is said, 

 served liis holiness in capacity of jrrooni, and who, upon the occa- 

 sion of the comjietition for the Cornirioiie of the Farnese Palace, 

 was called by Antonio Sanpallo ''that mountebank of an architect." 

 The necessity of jirocuring the means of subsistence ohli;;ed 

 \'i)jrn(da occasionally to resort to painting small pictures for sale, 

 hut this jirecarious mode of life was so distasteful to him, that 

 upon the formation of an Academy of Architecture in Rome, by 

 •Monsignore Marcello Cervini (afterwards elevated to the papal 

 chair), he gave up painting- and devoted himself entiiely to the 

 study of architecture, drawing and measuring nearly all the 

 then existing remains for the use of the academy, arid to the 

 entire satisfaction of its members. 



About the year 1537, Vignola left Rome in company with Prima- 

 ticcio, the painter, who took him with him to France, and presented 

 him to Francis the Fir^t, to whose service he became attached as 

 l)rofessor of design. He made several drawings of ancient monu- 

 ments for that great monarch, and various designs, the execution 

 of which was prevented by the wars and troubles of that period. 

 Some of his designs in perspective are said, however, to have been 

 executed upon the walls of the palace at Fontainbleau. Vignola 

 appears also to have assisted in casting in metal several statues 

 from the antique for that palace, but Francis the First, having 

 other occupations and demands upon his time and treasure, was 

 obliged to withdraw his patronage from the fine arts, and our 

 architect therefore returned to Bologna at the invitation of Count 

 Filippo Pepoli, president of S. Pet'ronio, and he was engaged up 

 to tlie year 1650, in making designs for that establishment. 



Competition designs in the sixteenth century do not appear to 

 have been managed with more satisfaction to the i)arties engaffed, 

 than in the nineteenth: and \'ignola is said to have been troubled 

 with many dissatisfied rivals, when Giulio Romano and Christoforo 

 Lombard! being called in to advise (much in the same way as in 

 imr own times) upon the designs sent in for the restoration of S. 

 Petronio, Vignola's was adjudged by those two great artists to he 

 the most meritorious. This account^ however, does not quite agree 

 with Giorgio \'assari's statement, in his life of Giulio Romano, 

 from which it wcnild appear that Giulio Romano himself made a 

 design for the fajade, which was much admired by the Bolognese. 

 Palladio made four designs, and Baldassari Peruzz'i and Alessi were 

 among the competitors. The affair appears to have created a great 

 sensation in the architectural circles throughout Italy at that 

 l)eriod. These designs are still preserved in the Reverenda 

 Fabricn, at Bologna (adjoining S. Petronio); they were seen by 

 Mr. Falkener and .Mr. Newman last year. Vignola's design is of a 

 Gothic character, in accordance with the other parts of the build- 

 ing; it does not appear so meritorious as Giulio Romano and 

 Lomhardi adjudged it to have been. 



Me gather from .Milizia, that it was the custom at that time to 

 consult the chief architects of the day upon any questionable point 

 of design or ])ractice, for in a dispute between Bassi and Tihaldi 

 upon some matter connected with the works in progress at Milan 

 Cathedral, Bassi applied for the advice of Palladio, Vignola, 

 Vassari, and Bertarii: and Milizia remarks that the answer of 

 Vignola as respected the Baptistery was well worthy of being 

 recorded. Tibaldi, in order to support his ill-proportioned interco- 

 lumniations, proposed to introduce iron chains, Vignola remarked, 

 "CAe lefubbrkhe mm si hanno da sosteitere co/k iftringhe" — "a golden 

 sentence," as is well observed by the ingenious and learned author 

 of the "Notitia." 



\ignola appears about this period to have been employed upon 

 a palaceat Miuerbio, for the Conte Alemano Isohini, and upon a 

 house for .Achille Bocchi, in Bohigna: upon the Facade dei Banchi 

 in that city; and upon the Canal of Naviglio, a work of engineer- 

 ing, which architects then undertook as a legitimate part of their 

 profession. 



My friends, Mr. Edward Falkener, and Mr. Newman (both of 

 whom have lately returned from Italy with rich stores of archi- 

 tectural study) were induced, from finding the palace at Miuerbio 

 described as a great work of \'ignola's, to make a detour of some 

 twenty miles to see it, and we may judge of their disappointment 

 upon finding the only work of \'ignola's now existing at Minerbio 

 to consist of a Columbajo, of an octagon form, about 25 feet in 

 diameter, and 70 feet in height. No traces of the palace could he 

 iound; but if that building was in proportion in extent of accom- 

 modation to the Columbajo, which would contain 13,000 pigeons, 

 it must have been a building of nolittle magnitude. 



Upon a second visit to Rome, Vignola was introduced by Giorgio 

 Vassari to the Pope Julius 111, who, when legate at Bologna, 

 was acquainted with Barozzi. His holiness appointed him as 

 architect, giving him the direction of conducting the Acqua di 

 Trevi, and commanding him to make designs for his celebrated 

 residence, the Villa Papa Giulio; he was also engaged upon the 

 small neighbouring Church of S. Andrea a Ponte Molle. 



The Cardinal .\lessaudro Farnese was a most influential patron 

 of Vignola'sv He employed him upon that portion of the Farnese 

 Palace known as the Caracci Gallery, and his hand may be traced 

 in other parts of this celebrated building. He was engaged at the 

 Cancellaria; and he also designed for the Cardinal the exquisite 

 gateway to the Orti Farnesiani in the Campo Vaccine. The 

 greatest work, however, upon which this powerful prelate employed 

 him, was that superb specimen of architecture, the palace of 

 Caprarola. 



At the decease of Michael Angelo, in 1561, Vignola was ap- 

 pointed architect to St. Peter's, and to his refined taste we are 

 indebted for the two beautiful lateral cupolas of that building. The 

 Church of the Gesu in Rome was also a commission from the Car- 

 dinal Alessandro Farnese; the foundations were laid in 15(j8, but 

 the works were only carried up to the height of the cornice bv 

 \'ignola. The building was completed under the direction of 

 Giacomo della Porta. 



The great Ducal Palace at Piacenza was designed by Vignola, 

 hut completed by his son Giacinto. A chapel in the church of San 

 Francesco in Perugia, the Capella Ricci in Santa Caterina de' 

 Funari at Rome, the church of Santa Anna dei Palafrenieri, the 

 Oratorio di San Marcello, and the tomb of the ('ardinal Ranuccio 

 Farnese in San Giovanni Laterano, were among the works of 

 ^'ignola about this period; and he was also employed upon several 

 public and private edifices in various parts of Italy, among which 

 were the Chiesa della Terra di Manzano, that of S. Oreste (Mount 

 Soraete), and Santa Maria degli Angeli at Assisi. 



The foundations of the Palace of theEscurial were laid in 1563, 

 when the Baron Martirano being at the court of Philip the Second, 

 and being much esteemed by that monarch as of acknowledged 

 taste in the arts, he was consulted in respect of this important 

 building, and commissioned to return to Italy to advise with the ' 

 most celebrated architects of the day, — Galeazzo Alessi at Genoa, 

 Pelegrini Tibaldi at Milan, Palladio at Venice, and the Academy 

 of Design at Florence. The grand duke Cosmo di Medici also 

 ordered a design to he made by Vicenzio Danti. No less than 

 twenty-twt) designs from different architects were collected on this 

 occasion; but it is stated that none were so well received by the 

 King of Spain and Martirano as that by Vignola, who, having had 

 all the designs sent to him for his inspection and judgment, selected 

 the best parts of each, and thus dressed up a description of olla 

 podrida design for his most Catholic Majesty. This at first sight 

 does not appear to have been a very creditable proceeding on the 

 part of our architect, but at this distance of time it would hardly 

 be just to venture a censure without having all the circumstances 

 of the case before us; and as the character of Vignola for honour 

 and integrity has never been impeached, it is only fair to presume 

 that he did nothing unworthy of it in this transaction. Philip 

 invited Vignola to proceed to Spain to superintend the execution 

 of his design, but finding himself advancing in years, and being 

 much occupied with his professional duties (more particularly with 

 those pertaining to St. Peter's), he prudently declined the royal 

 invitation, and determined ui)on continuing in his favourite Rome. 

 The Escurial, according to Milizia, was afterwards erected by 

 Giovanni Battista of Toledo, who commenced the work in 1563. 



In the year 1573, Vignola was invited by Pope Gregory the 

 Thirteenth to proceed to the city of Castello to examine into a 

 dis|>uted question of boundary between the Tuscan and Papal 

 States; and although suffering greatly from indisposition at the 

 time, he obeyed the pope's commands, and fulfilled his commission 

 with care and great judgment. Upon recovering his health he 

 immediately returned to Rome, and sought audience of the pope 

 to 'render him an account of the successful performance of his 

 commission; he remained an hour discoursing with his holiness 

 upon the subject, and upon the state of the progress of several 

 buildings from his designs, and received permission to proceed on 

 the following day to Caprarola; but during the night he was 

 attacked with fever, which terminated in his death after six days' 

 continuance. 



Vignola died on the 7th July, 1573, at the age of 66; he had 

 requested to be buried in a private manner, but his son Giacinto 

 was obliged to concede to the wish of his friends and admirers, and 

 be was interred with great pomp in the Pantheon, all the members 



