Vincenzo Scamozzi, The Idea of a Universal Architecture (1615)

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro

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Vincenzo Scamozzi

L'Idea dell'Architettura Universale
[The Idea of a Universal Architecture]

Foreword by Franco Barbieri

With a text by Werner Oechslin

Vicenza, Centro Internazionale di Studi Andrea Palladio, 1997

Paolo Veronese, Portrait of Vincenzo Scamozzi
Source: Wikimedia Commons

N.B. On Vincenzo Scamozzi see in this blog also: Giovanni Mazzaferro, The 'Ownership Database' of the Marciana National Library and a New Book from Vincenzo Scamozzi's Library; Scamozzi and the books; The Sample of the Giunti Edition of Giorgio Vasari's Lives, as read and annotated by Vincenzo Scamozzi

[1] "This reprint of the first edition of the Idea della Architettura Universale (Idea of a Universal Architecture) by Vincenzo Scamozzi (Venice 1615) is the facsimile reproduction of the copy preserved in the collection of the Cappelletti Library of the Andrea Palladio International Centre for the Study of Architecture (Cap. CXVII 21-1 / 2)" (p. VI).

Frontcover of The Idea of a Universal Architecture (1615)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[2] We confess some embarrassment in writing on this treatise. There is no doubt that a series of statements (or perhaps clichés) has progressively settled on the work by the architect from Vicenza. However, this cannot hide a fact: the analytical study of the work in its entirety (or, rather, of the only six books that were published, compared to the ten books which had been pre-announced on the cover page) is still very far from being advanced. There is no critical nor a simply annotated edition of the Idea; it is probably not a coincidence that, of all the treatises planned for in the fundamental series of Italian Classics on Science, Techniques and Arts: the Treatises on Architecture, published by Il Polifilo, only the work by Scamozzi was eventually not published. Under this angle, this valuable facsimile reprint (preceded by an essay by Werner Oechslin, entitled Introduction to a new reading of the Idea of Universal Architecture by Scamozzi) already represents a major step forward. It should also be noted that a more "humble" attempt to deal with the Treaty has been emerging in recent years, by analysing its many meanings aspect by aspect; in this respect, the work by Lucia Collavo has to be commended for its steadiness. It is worth mentioning her essay Sic ad aethera virtus. Un trattato d’architettura di Vincenzo Scamozzi (So virtue advanced to heaven. A treatise on architecture by Vincenzo Scamozzi), published on Il Veltro, 2004 n. 1-2).

Vincenzo Scamozzi, Villa Pisani (Lonigo, Vicenza)
Source: http://www.wga.hu/html_m/s/scamozzi/pisani.html

[3] The treatise on architecture by Scamozzi is widely quoted as the last with the typical features of the Renaissance, i.e. aiming to provide an image of the discipline as a universal science (thus referring back to Leon Battista Alberti and naturally Vitruvius). That said, very soon it happened that the effort by Scamozzi was branded as being particular heavy in terms of the text as well as excessive in the display of erudition (there is no doubt that Scamozzi was a man of boundless culture). Certainly, this did not favour reading and interpretation. This was almost an univocal assessment, of which it is possible to find traces from Temanza until Schlosser. Thus, it was even felt that the numerous shortened versions published in the Netherlands, France and Germany, but also in Italy, and concentrated mainly on the theory of the architectural orders, have, in fact, put in place a useful operation for Scamozzi himself: to purify the Treatise of that excess of erudition that made it difficult to read it (see the pages XI-XX of the essay by Oechslin). By doing so, of course, another treaty and another Scamozzi were born. The challenge of the next years will be to recover the original project (if possible, also in the sections of the work that were not published) in all the complexity of the interplay between architecture, philosophy and science proposed by the architect from Vicenza.

Vincenzo Scamozzi, Planimetry of Villa Pisani
Source: Deutsche Fotothek Architektur Profanbau Villa Grundriss

[4] For a brief overview about the contents of the Treaty, see pp. 118-120 of Teoria dell’architettura. 117 trattati dal Rinascimento ad oggi (Theory of architecture. 117 treatises from the Renaissance to date). We are displaying hereafter what Julius von Schlosser writes about it in his Art Literature at pages 416-417 (noting that his judgment of Scamozzi is not the most positive): "After a long general introduction on the theory of art, the first book gives us a historical summary of the major architects and writers of architecture ... Thereafter, the preliminary theoretical cognitions of architecture are exposed with nearly unbearable amplitude. Characteristic for this time... is the historical overview in chapter. 18, where the medieval architecture is blamed with all the typical contempt of classic-like architecture, even with the typical arrogance of the theoretical and pedantic Italian architect vis-à-vis the empirical architects from the North [note of the editor: on the personal experiences of Scamozzi in northern Europe see his Taccuino di viaggio da Parigi a Venezia (14 marzo – 11 maggio 1600) (Travel notebook from Paris to Venice (14 March to 11 May 1600)]... The second book contains, among other things, a rather broad exposure of the laws governing the construction of the city; of particular value are the considerations on the location of major cities, even outside Italy. Attached is a treatise on military architecture, which has a special interest in this age and in that environment... The third book treats of civil construction, and reconnects to the old house...; of course, of particular interest to us is the discussion on the arrangement of museums, especially the Venetian 'galleries' and their content, which is one of the first systematic essays of this genre.... Among the other [note of the editor: published] books, the Book VI ... is the catechism of any ‘true‘ architecture, i.e. the five orders, in a very large and unbearable manner to the most minute details; nor can the typical invectives be missing against the ridiculous inventions of the "barbarians". The Book VII is devoted to architectural materials; on the management of the buildings in general is focused the eighth book, written without any order and in a great hurry, with an increasingly weak hand."

Vincenzo Scamozzi, Villa Molin alla Mandria (Padua)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[5] On the treaty, it is advisable to read also the pages 55-67 of Vincenzo Scamozzi, the still essential monograph published by Franco Barbieri in 1952.

[6] It is not necessary to dwell long on the erudition by Scamozzi. However, it is worth noting that the footnotes he affixed to a copy of De architectura (On architecture) by Vitruvius commented by Daniele Barbaro and of Vasari's Lives, and the index set at the beginning of the Venetian edition of the books by Serlio in 1584 find specific correspondence also within the Idea of a Universal Architecture.

[7] As regards the influence of the Treaty by Scamozzi in the Netherlands, here some notes about Konrad Ottenheym, L’Idea dell’Architettura universale de Vincenzo Scamozzi et l’architecture du XVIIe siècle aux Pays-Bas (The Idea of Universal Architecture by Vincenzo Scamozzi and The Architecture of XVII Century in the Low Countries):

Konrad Ottenheym
L’Idea dell’Architettura universale de Vincenzo Scamozzi et l’architecture du XVIIe siècle aux Pays-Bas

Jacob van Campen, Mauritshuis, Den Haag

The great success which the Idea of a Universal Architecture by Vincenzo Scamozzi had in the Low Countries in 1600 is well known. Ottenheym flags that the reception of Italian treatises in those regions and in those years was not something rare. Starting from 1625, the architect Jacob van Campen first, and his students later on, began planning buildings which reflected faithfully what Scamozzi had proposed in his treatise. Ten years after the publication of the work, clearly van Campen based himself on the first edition. From 1640 onwards, however, and throughout the entire century, the Idea of a Universal Architecture experienced a great editorial success in the Netherlands, starting from the first translation into Dutch, printed in Amsterdam. The work is published in full or in abstracts (very demanded was the sixth book, the one dealing with the architectural orders), in deluxe editions or other editions intended for consultation by carpenters and stonemasons (see. pp. 130-135), with accurate comments, or with illustrations only (without any text). The most curious aspect is that Scamozzi collects this great fortune in the Netherlands, while elsewhere are especially Palladio or Vignola to become famous. Among the various explanations given by Ottenheym, we are pleased to display one that seems particularly striking: "The Italian architect did not just write on the palaces of the nobility. There are three species of homes: that of the monarch, that of the nobility and that of the (upper) bourgeoisie. By doing it, he integrated the middle-class mansion in the great system of the Vitruvian architecture. In the Netherlands, centred on bourgeois and commercial culture, there was great interest for any indications in this direction" (p. 137). In short, Scamozzi offers a "Vitruvian" solution to the housing problem of the upper class in an urban environment, and can only collect the keen attention of a society that has is strong point in the new middle classes.