Villa by Palladio
"More than one cause served to render the compositions of Palladio so celebrated. He possessed an especial felicity in the arrangement of his ground-plans, particularly in instances where he had an unlimited space for disposal. His command, moreover, of good proportion , rendered his combinations of civic and sacred buildings most pleasing to the eye; whilst the columnar arrangement of his entrances conveyed an agreeable, and at the same time, dignified impression. Consequently the works of Palladio, although often composed of heterogeneous elements, remained for a long period the model for an entire style; and even in the eighteenth century, when the total deterioration of architecture, as exemplified in what is called by the Germans "the Zopf-und-Perrücken Styl" (pigtail and periwig style), led architects again in the direction of the classical, the designs of Palladio became anew a subject of study. Even in present day they are often immoderately praised by those who are not really conversant with the principles and requirements of art, and who are ignorant of the history of the development of architecture."Villa Capra "La Rotonda" is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio. The correct name is Villa Almerico-Capra. It is also known as La Rotonda, Villa Rotunda, Villa La Rotonda, and Villa Almerico. The name "Capra" derives from the Capra brothers, who completed the building after it was ceded to them in 1591. Like other works by Palladio in Vicenza and the surrounding area, the building is conserved as part of the World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".
A. Rosengarten, W. Collett-Sandars A Handbook of Architectural Styles (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895)
Courtesy the private collection of Roy Winkelman