Carlo Lodoli (1690 – October 27, 1761) was an Italian architectural theorist, Franciscan priest, mathematician and teacher, whose work anticipated modernist notions of functionalism and
truth to materials
Truth to materials is a tenet of modern architecture (as opposed to postmodern architecture), which holds that any material should be used where it is most appropriate and its nature should not be hidden. Concrete, therefore, should not be painted ...
. He claimed that architectural forms and proportions should be derived from the abilities of the material being used. He is sometimes referred to as the
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
of architecture since his own writings have been lost his theories are only known from the works of others. Together with architects and architectural theorists including
Claude Perrault
Claude Perrault (25 September 1613 – 9 October 1688) was a French physician and an amateur architect, best known for his participation in the design of the east façade of the Louvre in Paris.Jean-Louis de Cordemoy, Abbé
Marc-Antoine Laugier
Marc-Antoine Laugier (Manosque, Provence, January 22, 1713 – Paris, April 5, 1769) was a Jesuit priest until 1755 than a Benedictine monk. He was one of the first architectural theorist.
Laugier is best known for his ''Essay on Architectur ...
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
styles.
Girolamo Zanetti records that after 20 years of writing Lodoli finished his treatise on architecture but refused to publish it. Instead
Francesco Algarotti
Count Francesco Algarotti (11 December 1712 – 3 May 1764) was an Italian polymath, philosopher, poet, essayist, anglophile, art critic and art collector. He was a man of broad knowledge, an expert in Newtonianism, architecture and opera. He wa ...
endeavoured to publicise Lodoli's thinking in his own work ''Saggio sopra l'architettura'' (1757) albeit in a somewhat watered down form, emphasising imitation rather than Lodoli's daring anti-Baroque rationalism. It was Andrea Memmo who attempted to do justice to Lodoli's theories in his work ''Elementi d'architettura lodoliana'' (1786) published one year before the first edition of the only book bearing Lodoli's name, ''Apologhi immaginati'' (1787); a collection remarks and tales, often paradoxical in nature, told to his friends and pupils. Another pupil of Lodoli's, Francesco Milizia (1725–1798) published a long treatise, ''Principles of Civic Architecture'' (1781), which presented an exhaustive architectural system inspired by contemporary science.Lefaivre, Liane and Alexander Tzonis (2004) ''The emergence of modern architecture: a documentary history from 1000 to 1810'' Routledge, London and New York. p. 428.
Lodoli spent the years 1739 to 1751 in the office of Padre Generale Commissario di Terra Santa in Venice, here he committed himself to the restoration (1739–43) of the pilgrim's hospice attached to the monastery. This was his only built architectural work.