238 
THE GARDEXS OF ITALY. 
we seem to know but little about him, and more particularly so in regard to his earlier achieve- 
ments. Some of the work attributed to him, like the portico on the Capitol at Rome, is flat and 
delicate, as of the school of Bramante, to which order of ideas the casino of the Villa Lante 
belongs. It is the difficulty of reconciling this work with other examples of his architecture 
that confronts us. The truth probably lies in the fact that he fell under the influence of 
Michelangelo, whom he w'as destined to succeed as architect at St. Peter’s. To that great pile 
Vignola contributed the secondary domes, which are, for sound architectural expression, perhaps 
the best part of that colossal building. Thoroughly trained as an architect, his death at the age of 
sixty-six was a great misfortune for the art, then falling into the hands of a school of mannerists. 
How little w'e know of Vignola is shown by the fact that, in spite of his famous visit to France in 
1537-39, there remains no actual well established example of his w^ork in that country. If it 
had not been for his 
book on the Orders, 
and a few outstanding 
works like Caprarola, 
his name might other- 
wise have been entirely 
forgotten. There may 
have been in the 
character of the man a 
fine element which 
contributed to his being 
passed over. No one 
could have had a better 
right, after Peruzzi, to 
tlie position of architect 
at St. Peter’s, w'hich 
w^as, however, given to 
Michelangelo. 
Vi g n o 1 a ’s real 
name was J a c o b o 
Barozzi, and he was 
born at Vignola in the 
region of Modena, in 
1507. His father was 
a wealthy Milanese who 
had been ruined by a 
civil war, and the 
mother was the 
daughter of a German 
officer. He was 
educated at Bologna 
with a view to painting, 
but turned to archi- 
tecture, and par- 
ticularly to perspective, 
of which he became a 
master. He then 
resorted to Rome, and 
became a great student 
of the antique. He 
was early engaged as 
d r a u gh t s m a n and 
248.— NORTH G.XTE. technical expert to a 
