Giulio Parigi (6 April 1571 – 13 July 1635) was an Italian architect and designer. He was the main member of a family of architects and designers working for the Grand Ducal court of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

. His father,

Alfonso Parigi the Elder Alfonso Parigi (died 1590) was an Italian architect and designer working in Florence for the Grand Duke of Tuscany. His major commission was the completion of Giorgio Vasari's Palazzo degli Uffizi. His main works are all in Florence, and include: ...

, was an architect and designer working in Florence for the

Grand Duke of Tuscany The rulers of Tuscany varied over time, sometimes being margraves, the rulers of handfuls of border counties and sometimes the heads of the most important family of the region. Margraves of Tuscany, 812–1197 House of Boniface :These were origin ...

. He became noted as one of the most innovative stage designers of the 17th-century and was also the first architect to use the

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

style in public buildings.

Early life and education

Giulio Parigi was born in Florence on 6 April 1571, the son of Alfonso di Santi Parigi and his wife, Alessandra di Berto Fiammeri. His father was an architect and set designer who was in service to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Giulio grew up in Medici Florence, amongst the craftsmen who worked for his father. In 1594 he was enrolled at the Academy of Design as a painter and in 1597 he was enrolled at the Grand Ducal Court He was apprenticed to his father, Alfonso, Bartolomeo di Antonio Ammannati (1511–1592) and also to the theatre engineer, Bernardo Buontalenti (1535–1608).

Career

Through his father's collaborations under the court architect

Bernardo Buontalenti Bernardo Buontalenti (), byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole ( 1531 – June 1608), was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist and inventor of italian ice cream. Biography Buontalenti was born in ...

, Giulio Parigi was trained in the practice of architecture. Following Buontalenti's death (1608) he designed and oversaw the creation of the elaborate ephemeral decorations for court festivities, in which he was an influence on

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

, who was providing similar services in the same years for the court of

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the Union of the Crowns, union of the Scottish and Eng ...

. In 1610 Parigi built the Convent of the Peace of the Friars of St. Bernard, outside of the Roman Gate (now destroyed). From 1613 onwards Giulio worked intensively as a civil engineer commissioned by the Grand Duke. Giulio worked on the

Boboli Gardens The Boboli Gardens ( it, Giardino di Boboli) is a historical park of the city of Florence that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, ...

, constructing the Grotto of Vulcan (''Grotticina di Vulcano'', 1617) and laying out the second axis of the

, at right angles to the first, with the

bosquet In the French formal garden, a ''bosquet'' (French, from Italian ''bosco'', "grove, wood") is a formal plantation of trees in a wide variety of forms, some open at the bottom and others not. At a minimum a bosquet can be five trees of identical s ...

s on either side. Giulio constructed the Loggia del Grano in 1619, a Tuscan style loggia, and was thus amongst the first architects to employ the

in public buildings such as markets. The loggias established a pattern of market trading using mobile stalls under covered arcades which filtered out of the Italian peninsula and across Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Earlier exponents of this style included Giovanni Battista del Tasso with the Mercato Nuovo in 1547 and

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

with the Mercato Vecchio in Florence in 1567. Giulio rebuilt the

Villa di Poggio Imperiale Villa del Poggio Imperiale (English: Villa of the Imperial Hill) is a predominantly neoclassical former grand ducal villa in Arcetri, just to the south of Florence in Tuscany, Central Italy. Beginning as a villa of the Baroncelli of Florence, ...

(1620–1622), and constructed the Ospedale dei Medicanti (1621), the church of San Felice in Piazza (1634–1635) and worked on projects for the

Palazzo della Crocetta The National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Italian – Museo archeologico nazionale di Firenze) is an archaeological museum in Florence, Italy. It is located at 1 piazza Santissima Annunziata, in the Palazzo della Crocetta (a palace built ...

for

Maria Maddalena de' Medici Maria Maddalena de' Medici (29 June 1600 – 28 December 1633) was a Tuscan princess, the eighth daughter of Ferdinando I and Christina of Lorraine, making her the sister of Cosimo II. Life Born disabled, she was christened at the age of nine ...

. His is also the grand stairs of Palazzo Gianni-Lucchesini-Vegni (1624). In the 16th and 17th century, theatre was for the very wealthy. Parigi constructed many sets for the Medici Court. Although none of these sets have survived, descriptions of them have been passed down. Parigi's set designs were notable for the instructions of machines that could emulate natural phenomena. These designs earned him a reputation as one of the most innovative stage designers of the 17th century.Valleriani, M., ''The Structures of Practical Knowledge,'' Springer, 2015, pp. 91–97 Parigi's worked straddled many various media and disciplines. He was an artist who worked in oil, drawing and frescoes; he was an engraver, cabinet-maker, jeweller, landscape designer, architect and engineer. His work as a set designer required skills in engineering and mechanics in which he was noted for his innovations. He was also the Master of an Academy where he studied Euclid, taught mechanics, perspective, civilian and military architecture.

Later life and family

Giulio's son, Alfonso's grandson,

Alfonso Parigi Alfonso Parigi the Younger (1606–1656) was an Italian architect and scenographer, the son of Giulio Parigi, and grandson of Alfonso Parigi the Elder. He worked mainly in Florence, beginning at a very early age as his father's assistant. After t ...

the Younger was also an architect and engraver. Alfonso worked with his father and under his supervision, completed some of the major projects. Parigi died in Florence on 13 July 1635.

Influence

According to the ''Dictionary of Biography,'' "The centrality of the role played by Giulio Parigi in the artistic culture of his time emerges with great clarity in the Privilege that on February 14, 1623 it was granted to him by Grand Duke Ferdinand II ... recalling how during the grandfathers of Ferdinand I and of Cosimo II there was no "factory or work famous" that had not been invented, manned and "perfected" by Parigi."

Gallery

Parigi's Work: Architecture File:Loggia del grano e complesso dell'ex-cinema capitol (2021) 01.jpg, Loggia del grano, Florence, Italy, 1619 File:Cosimo II, loggia del Grano.JPG, Loggia del Grano, Florence (detail of facade) File:Boboli pianta antica.jpg, Plan of Boboli Gardens, 1617 File:Boboli, grotticina 01.JPG, Grotticina, Boboli Gardens Villa del poggio imperiale, esterno 06.jpg, Villa di Poggio Imperiale, 1620–22 File:San Felice in Piazza esterno.JPG, San Felice, Piazza, 1634–1635 File:Design for a Balustrade with Female Figures and Urns MET DP802604.jpg, Design for a Balustrade with Female Figures and Urns File:Sixth interlude- temple of peace (Intermedio sesto- tempio della pace), from the series 'Seven Interludes' for the wedding celebration of Cosimo de' Medici in Florence, 1608 MET DP832206.jpg, Sixth interlude- temple of peace (Intermedio sesto- tempio della pace), set design from the series 'Seven Interludes' for the wedding celebration of Cosimo de' Medici in Florence, 1608

References

* Arthur Blumenthal, 'Giulio Parigi's Stage Designs: Florence and the Early Baroque Spectacle', PhD, New York University, 1984. * Arthur Blumenthal, ''Theatre Art of the Medici'', Dartmouth:1980 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parigi, Giulio 1571 births 1635 deaths 17th-century Italian architects Architects from Florence