ITALIAN VILLAS 
Gurlitt has produced the most masterly work yet writ- 
ten on the subject, his “ History of the Baroque Style 
in Italy.” These authors, however, having to work in 
a new and extensive field, have necessarily been obliged 
to restrict themselves to its most important divisions. 
Burckhardt’s invaluable “ Renaissance Architecture,” 
though full of critical insight, is rather a collection of 
memoranda than a history of the subject; and even 
Herr Gurlitt, though he goes into much greater detail, 
cannot forsake the highroad for the by-paths, and has 
consequently had to pass by many minor ramifications 
of his subject. This is especially to be regretted in re- 
gard to the villa-architecture of Venetia, the interest and 
individuality of which he fully appreciates. He points 
out that the later Venetian styles spring from two 
sources, the schools of Palladio and of Sansovino. The 
former, greatly as his work was extolled, never had the 
full sympathy of the Venetians. His art was too pure 
and severe for a race whose taste had been formed on 
the fantastic mingling of Gothic and Byzantine and on 
the glowing decorations of the greatest school of colour- 
ists the world has known. It was from the warm and 
picturesque art of Sansovino and Longhena that the 
Italian baroque naturally developed ; and though the 
authority of Palladio made itself felt in the official archi- 
tecture of Venetia, its minor constructions, especially 
the villas and small private houses, seldom show any 
trace of his influence save in the grouping of their win- 
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