St. Saviour's, Venice

“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."Il Redentore, more properly Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore (Church of the Most Holy Redeemer), is Andrea Palladio’s great domed church on Giudecca, one of the islands of Venice. Located on the waterfront of the Canale della Giudecca, it dominates the skyline of the island.The Redentore was built in thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague that decimated Venice from 1575 to 1576, in which some 46,000 people, 25-30 percent of the population, died. The Senate commissioned the great architect Palladio to design it. Construction began in May 1577. The building was in a satisfactory stage and was consecrated in 1592.

Downloads