PALLADIO'S VILLA AT MASER AND POSSAGNO, TREVISO. jsi 
the practical point of view, the 
foundation work would have 
been greatly lessened. The rise 
of the ground disappears in 
the photograph of the approach 
(Fig. 366). 
The site has been a deter- 
mining factor in the scheme. 
The house is ledged into the 
rock so that the principal floor 
is level with the back court, an 
oblong of about one hundred 
and eighty by fifty-four feet, 
extended in the centre by a 
great niche, or apsidal recess, 
sixty feet across (Fig. 369). 
d'he principal rooms form a 
communicating series looking 
into this court for summer 
coolness and shade. Behind 
these rooms the long line of 
the arcade forms a sure protec- 
tion against the fierce rays of 
364. — SECTION OF THE CHURCH AT MASER. 
From O. B. Scanw::i. 
the sun on a full southern exposure. The smaller rooms filling in the angles of the cruciform 
saloon are the winter rooms, and these enjoy the sunshine of the east, west and south, and 
are also provided with large fireplaces. 
The entrance to the house has always been noted as a peculiarity. Ignoring 
the centre block, the visitor passes up five steps at the nearest arch of the arcade and 
then ascends a wide flight occupying the width of this covered way, landing direct into 
the latin cross hall of the villa. There is a vista through the entire depth of the 
house. The centre room of the back block looks direct across the back court into 
the great apse, with its pool of water in front, and into the depth of the grotto recess 
beyond. The e.xuberant, but rather amateurish, ornamentation of this great apse is calculated 
not only to raise the architect’s doubts as to the artistic standing of Vittoria the Stuccatore, 
but also to make him wonder how far Palladio approved of it (Figs. 369 and 370). 
The owners of the villa, 
Daniele and Marcantonio Bar- 
baro, w’ere both remarkable men. 
Daniele, the Patriarch of Acquila, 
was known for his learned com- 
mentary on Vitruvius. He had 
been Ambassador in England in 
the reign of Elizabeth, and there 
is a room at Penshurst, called 
the Venetian Ambassador’s 
Room, which he is stated to 
have occupied. Marcantonio, 
besides being a Venetian patri- 
cian and a man of business, 
seems also to have been an 
amateur sculptor. Some of this 
work in the great niche is attri- 
buted to hini. It is quite 365. -PLAN OF THE CHURCH AT MASER, 
certain that the two brothers o. b. Scamozzi. 
