MONTENARI, Giovanni.

Del teatro olimpico di Andrea Palladio in Vicenza. Discorso ...

Padua, per Giovambattista Conzatti, 1733. Large 8vo, pp. 84, [2], with engraved frontispiece portrait of Palladio and 5 engraved folding plates; title-page a little dust-soiled but a crisp, large copy in early 19th century quarter vellum and marbled boards. First edition of the first detailed architectural description and history of the Academic playhouse in Vicenza. In 1575 the Accademia Olimpico commissioned one of its members, Andrea Palladio, to construct a permanent theatre to stage their theatre productions.'Palladio based his design loosely upon that of a Roman theatre, making several significant exceptions to the classic plan: the theatre was under a roof rather than in the open air; the audience amphitheatre was widened from semicircle to a semi-eclipse, apparently to allow better sightlines and a wider stage for the size of the house; and an arrangement was made for the five doors mentioned by Virtuvius. ... Palladio's exact plans for the use of the five doors are not known, for the architect died before the building was completed. The remainder of the supervision and planning was left to his son, and then to his former pupil, Vincenzo Scamozzi. It was Scamozzi who designed the vistae in vanishing perspective which were erected behind each of the five doors ... The elaborate scaena frons, the elegantly proportioned and detailed gallery surrounding the top of the amphitheatre and the beautiful statuary all made a tremendous impression on those who viewed them ... (D. Mullin, The development of the playhouse, 1970, pp. 18-19).The fine plates illustrate ground plans (2), an elevation of the stage with the vanishing perspective, an elevation of the audience room which could accommodate 3000 spectators, and architectural details.Cicognara 767; Berlin Kat. 2803.

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