Page:Character of Renaissance Architecture.djvu/126

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96
ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE
chap.

Palladio was the first architect of the Renaissance who was not at any time either a painter or a sculptor. He begins his well-known book[1] as follows: "Guided by natural inclination, I began in my earliest years to devote myself to the study of architec-

Fig. 52.—Tablet from Vignola.

ture, and having been always of the opinion that the ancient Romans were in building, as in many other things, far in advance of all those who came after them, I took for my master and guide Vitruvius, who is the only ancient writer on this art,

  1. Quatro libri dell’ Architectura di Andrea Palladio, Venice, 1581.