VIGNOLA, GIACOMO BAROZZI (BAROZIO) da. — Architect, born in Vignola (Modena) on 1 October 1507, died in Rome on 7 July 1573.
He completed his early studies in painting and perspective in Bologna; but by around 1534 he was pursuing his intense and fruitful preparation in Rome, studying and measuring the monuments of classical antiquity, also at the initiative of the Accademia Vitruviana, of which he was appointed secretary around 1540. He was also entrusted with reproducing ancient statues in plaster for the adornment of the park at Fontainebleau, and from 1541 to 1543 he worked in France on the casting of those copies in bronze. Upon returning to Italy, he settled in Bologna, undertaking hydraulic engineering projects, executing a design in a rather Gothic style for the completion of the façade of S. Petronio, and drawing the portico of the Banchi and the tabernacle of the high altar in S. Petronio. In 1546 Vignola was in Rome, under the patronage of the Farnese and Del Monte families. In the grand Palazzo Farnesiano, designed by Antonio da Sangallo, he left a noble classical imprint on the rear façade and in various internal decorations, while in other works of this period (the crowning with a frieze of grotesque masks and the loggia on the first floor of the Palazzo Mattei-Paganica, the Palazzo Firenze, some houses in Via Capodiferro, and the façade of a small palace near Piazza Navona, with a lower Doric loggia and an upper piano nobile with Ionic pilasters and splendid stucco reliefs) a Mannerist orientation is evident, based on chiaroscural rhythms for expressive effect.
Vignola’s architectural skill, however, gained greater substance after 1550 with the members and scenographic decorative elements of the Villa of Pope Julius III (Del Monte). Not so much in the façade of the main building as in the grand exedra with its porticoes facing the internal garden and in the nymphaeum, adorned with agile caryatids and curved balustrades, the artist reveals his ability to master spaces and volumes, framing within the architectural structures the free expansion of plant forms and ambient light. At the same time, Vignola took part (though the extent is not precisely determinable) in the construction of the nearby Casina of Pope Julius III on the Via Flaminia (now the seat of the Italian Embassy to the Vatican) and designed, in that area, the graceful and sober tempietto of S. Andrea, inspired by the Pantheon, where the junction of a cubic volume and an elliptical cylinder above represents the first example of a pseudo-central scheme, widely adopted in the 17th century. Also part of Vignola’s activity during the pontificate of Julius III are the two three-arched porticoes erected at the top of the side staircases of Piazza del Campidoglio.
Between 1559 and 1564 he raised the building, constructed the splendid circular courtyard with its two orders, gave solemn grandeur to the spiral staircase with its paired Doric columns—anticipating developments by Borromini and Bernini—ornamented vaults and loggias with stuccoes and balustrades of generous elegance, and rendered even more grandiose and luminous the effects of outdoor scenography experimented in the Villa of Pope Julius III, with its ramps, casino, and architecturally disciplined garden. Other highly successful examples of this art, in bold collaboration with nature, were soon to follow: the Villa Lante (formerly Gambara) at Bagnaia, enlivened by a large basin and fountains with animated sculptures, and the harmonious arrangement of the so-called Orti Farnesiani on the Palatine Hill, now largely in ruins.
In the final period of his industrious career, Vignola had the distinction of establishing the exemplary model for churches of the Counter-Reformation with his design for the Roman church of the Gesù, begun in 1568. The external part of the building, including the façade (for which only an unexecuted drawing by Vignola survives), is due to his successor Giacomo della Porta. But inside, the Emilian master admirably developed the guiding concept desired by St Ignatius of Loyola: a single, vast barrel-vaulted nave with a series of side chapels where light is minimal, and a dome that dominates from above, irradiating the space with remarkable power.
Still within the ecclesiastical sphere, Vignola’s last works are the small dome, originally conceived by Michelangelo, which surmounts the Cappella Gregoriana in St Peter’s Basilica (of which he was appointed chief architect in 1571, having assisted Buonarroti from 1552 to 1554), and the church of S. Anna dei Palafrenieri (with the collaboration of his son Giacinto), with an elliptical plan. Other signs of his activity in Rome include the two portals of the Palazzo della Cancelleria and of the church of SS. Lorenzo e Damaso, and the fine French-style balcony in the Palazzo dei Convertendi on Via della Conciliazione. Also attributed to Vignola are the magnificent courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza; the Palazzo Comunale, Porta Faulle, the fountain of the Rocca, and other structures in Viterbo; the Castellina of Norcia; the massive portico of the Villa Mondragone in Frascati; the portico near S. Biagio in Montepulciano; a small palace with a loggia on the piano nobile in Rieti; and churches, chapels, and fountains in Capranica, Bomarzo, Ronciglione, Bagnaia, not to mention uncertain or collaborative works such as the church of S. Maria degli Angeli near Assisi.
Particular consideration must also be given to Vignola’s theoretical work, embodied in the Regola delle cinque ordini d’architettura, published in 1562, and in Le due regole della prospettiva pratica, published posthumously by Ignazio Danti in 1583. In the latter, the author defines the function and scope of the so-called “distance points,” integrating the concepts of the great Renaissance perspectivists; with the Regola delle cinque ordini he summarizes the abundant studies on Vitruvius conducted before him, simplifying to the utmost the measurements and stylistic modules and providing even the freest fantasies with a secure grammatical or metrical foundation, a solid premise of taste and experience. The immediate success of this work persisted for centuries through countless editions and translations in every language, and the text, which became a classic in schools of architecture and engineering, even served to diminish Vignola’s reputation as a builder, reducing him to the prototype of academic pedantry. But, as Adolfo Venturi rightly observed, the Modenese architect was not always a slavish follower of Vitruvius: “he consults him, follows him, but distances himself when the studies of monuments, the taste of his time, and the effects of light, air, and environment demand it.” And in the greater part of his creative output, certainly not homogeneous, Vignola stands among the freest yet most reflective builders of his transitional age. — See t.V. CXLVI.