VILLA MAD AM A, FARNESIAN GARDENS AND VILLA PAPA GIULIO. 51 



65. VILLA DI PAPA GIULIO : BATHING POOL IN SUNK COURT. 



The stuccos to be seen in the villa are remarkably fine ; in a panel on the screen wall 

 of the centre pavilion they are combined with a marble frame to form a unique piece 

 of wall decoration. The durability or' this true stucco-duro work, even outside, is most 

 remarkable. It alters an architect's ideas as to the legitimacy of the use of stucco, at any 

 rate in Italy. 



The great feature of the scheme is the sunk fountain court, with its grotto used as a 

 bathing pool. There is a vaulted and beautifully decorated sala di reposo opposite, and 

 smaller dressing-rooms approached by ingenious private passages. Red and grey granite 

 and various marbles are used in the Ionic columns of these loggias. Many of these may have 

 been taken direct from old buildings. Very fine architectural detail is used throughout, but the 

 relationship of the Orders employed is not entirely satisfactory. A descending scale is used, 

 diminishing from the house itself towards the final garden court, and on the main axis line the 

 effect is quite satisfactory. 



The difficulty of the actual adjustment at the breaks, however, as, for instance, in 

 the sunk court, has not been so successfully overcome. From this apparent dislocation the 

 idea is started that different architects must have been employed, until the mind of the 

 spectator realises that it is part of an intentional idea. The same thing was done in the 

 Egyptian temples, where the scale diminished down to the innermost shrine. The architects 

 of Egypt, however, employed the vertical masses of their pylons to break the monotony of 

 extended horizontal lines, and in so doing they avoided the excessive continuity of Renaissance 

 entablatures maintained at one level. 



There is great merit in the central pavilion, which is different on the two faces, horizontal 

 in front but arched at the back in order to agree with the general scheme of the sunk fountain 

 court. The adjustment here is extraordinarily clever and displays a great command of 



