Editing Renaissance architecture (section)

===Andrea Palladio===
[[Andrea Palladio]], (1508–80), "the most influential architect of the whole Renaissance",<ref name= BF /> was, as a stonemason, introduced to Humanism by the poet [[Giangiorgio Trissino]]. His first major architectural commission was the rebuilding of the [[Basilica Palladiana]] at [[Vicenza]], in the [[Veneto]] where he was to work most of his life.<ref name= I.R. />
[[File:Larotonda2009.JPG|thumb|[[Villa Capra "La Rotonda"]]]]
Palladio was to transform the architectural style of both palaces and churches by taking a different perspective on the notion of Classicism. While the architects of Florence and Rome looked to structures like the [[Colosseum]] and the [[Arch of Constantine]] to provide formulae, Palladio looked to classical temples with their simple [[peristyle]] form. When he used the triumphal arch motif of a large arched opening with lower square-topped opening on either side, he invariably applied it on a small scale, such as windows, rather than on a large scale as Alberti used it at Sant'Andrea's. This Ancient Roman motif<ref>described by the architectural writer [[Sebastiano Serlio]] (1475–1554) in ''Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva''</ref> is often referred to as the Palladian Arch.

The best known of Palladio's domestic buildings is [[Villa Capra]], otherwise known as "La Rotonda", a centrally planned house with a domed central hall and four identical façades, each with a temple-like portico like that of the [[Pantheon, Rome]].<ref>Manfred Wundram, Thomas Pape, Paolo Marton, ''Andrea Palladio'', Taschen, {{ISBN|3-8228-0271-9}}</ref> At the [[Villa Cornaro]], the projecting portico of the north façade and recessed loggia of the garden façade are of two [[Classical order|ordered]] stories, the upper forming a balcony.<ref>Branco Mitrovic and Stephen R. Wassell, ''Andrea Palladio: Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese'' (New York: Acanthus Press, 2006, {{ISBN|0-926494-36-8}}</ref>

Like Alberti, della Porta and others, in the designing of a church façade, Palladio was confronted by the problem of visually linking the aisles to the nave while maintaining and defining the structure of the building. Palladio's solution was entirely different from that employed by della Porta. At the [[church of San Giorgio Maggiore]] in Venice he overlays a tall temple, its columns raised on high plinths, over another low wide temple façade, its columns rising from the basements and its narrow lintel and pilasters appearing behind the giant order of the central nave.<ref name=BF />