Sebastiano Serlio (6 September 1475 – c. 1554) was an Italian
Mannerist
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, who was part of the Italian team building the
Palace of Fontainebleau
Palace of Fontainebleau (; ) or Château de Fontainebleau, located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence ...
. Serlio helped canonize the
classical orders of architecture in his influential treatise variously known as ''I sette libri dell'architettura'' ("Seven Books of Architecture") or ''Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva'' ("All the works on architecture and perspective").
Biography
Born in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Serlio went to Rome in 1514, and worked in the atelier of
Baldassare Peruzzi, where he stayed until the
Sack of Rome in 1527 put all architectural projects on hold for a time. Like Peruzzi, he began as a painter. He lived in Venice from about 1527 to the early 1540s but left little mark on the city.
Serlio's model of a church façade was a regularized version, cleaned up and made more classical, of the innovative method of providing a façade to a church with a high vaulted nave flanked by low side aisles, providing a classical face to a Gothic form, that was first seen in
Alberti's
Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
The ch ...
in Florence (c. 1458). The idea was in the air in the 1530s: several contemporary churches compete for primacy, but Serlio's woodcut put the concept in every architect's hands. As a civil engineer he designed fortifications.
Serlio's publications, rather than any spectacular executed work, attracted the attention of
François I
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
. Serlio's career took off when the king invited him to France, to advise on the construction and decoration of the
Château of Fontainebleau, where a team of Italian designers and craftsmen were assembled (including
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola ( , , ; 1 October 15077 July 1573), often simply called Vignola, was one of the great Italian architects of 16th century Mannerism. His two great masterpieces are the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Jesuits' Churc ...
and
Benvenuto Cellini). Serlio took several private commissions, but the only one that has survived in any recognizable way is the
Chateau of Ancy-le-Franc, built about 1546 near Tonnerre in Burgundy.
Serlio died around 1554 in
Fontainebleau, after spending his last years in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
.
Treatise on architecture
![Tutte l'opere d'architettura MET DP109531](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Tutte_l%27opere_d%27architettura_MET_DP109531.jpg)
''Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva'' (''All the Works of Architecture and Perspective'') is Serlio's practical treatise on architecture. Although
Leon Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...
produced the first book-length architectural treatise of the Renaissance (c. 1450, published in 1486), it was unillustrated, written in Latin, and designed to appeal as much to learned humanists and potential patrons as to architects and builders. Serlio pioneered the use of high quality illustrations to supplement the text. He wrote in Italian, some of his books being published with parallel texts in Italian and French. His treatise catered explicitly to the needs of architects, builders, and craftsmen.
The treatise is composed of eight
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
s, the sixth of which was lost for some centuries and the eighth of which was not published until relatively recently. The eighth book is not always considered to be part of the treatise. The first five books cover Serlio's works on
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...
,
perspective,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
antiquity, the
orders and
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
design. The sixth illustrates domestic designs ranging from
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...
huts to royal palaces, providing a unique record of Renaissance house types, including up-to-date
fortresses for
tyrant
A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to re ...
s and mercenaries as well as Serlio's unbuilt design for the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. The seventh book illustrates a range of common design problems ignored by past theorists, including how to remodel, or 'restore',
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...
s following antique principles of
symmetry and
proportion. The eighth book, called "Castrametation of the Romans", reconstructs a Roman encampment after the description by
Polybius, followed by a military
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and monumental
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
supposedly built by the Emperor
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
. With its
forum
Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to:
Common uses
* Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States
*Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city
**Roman Forum, most famous example
*Internet ...
,
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
's palace and
baths, the book is part-fantasy and part-
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
, quite unlike Serlio's other more practical works.
In the introduction to Book IV, Serlio credits his recently deceased mentor for much of its content: "As for all the pleasant things which you will find in this book, you should give the credit not to me but to my teacher, Baldassare Peruzzi from Siena..." The extent of Peruzzi's contribution to the treatise is unknown. "Peruzzi had been the guiding spirit in the detailed study of the remains of antiquity, and he had left his drawings to Serlio.
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, Sculp ...
and Cellini would give most of the credit for the book to Peruzzi, but more recent writers defend Serlio's part in the study and his good faith in completing the work of his companion."
Plan and publication
By 1537, when the earliest of his books was published, Serlio had been working on the treatise for at least a decade and had already organized it as a work in seven books. Although Serlio completed all seven projected books, only the first five books were published during his lifetime. The sixth remained in manuscript until the 20th century. He composed two additional books, which can be thought of as appendices: the ''Extraordinary Book of Doors'', the last book he saw through the press; and ''On Polybius' Castrametation'', a discussion of ancient Roman military camp design, whose state of completion and intended relation to the other books are both uncertain.
It is not certain what title, if any, Serlio intended for the work as a whole—possibly ''General Rules of Architecture'', as is given on the first-published book, but this soon became attached specifically to that book. Various collections were known as the ''Five'' or ''Seven Books on Architecture'', depending on their content. Often it is referred to simply as Serlio's ''Architettura'', and several significant editions take the title ''Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva'' ("All the works on architecture and perspective"); though the first time that all nine existing books (or even all seven numbered books) were in fact published in a single edition was in the 2-volume English translation of 1996–2001.
Content
Although the books apparently appeared more or less in Serlio's desired publication order, his nominal order provides a distinct flow from general to specific:
Serlio's reader moves from: first, the Euclidean 'heaven' composed of the definitions of geometry comprising point, line and perfect (square) planes; second, the underlying, three-dimensional forms of Nature represented through the theory of perspective; third, the architectural embodiment of perfect form reflected in the Pantheon and the 'idealised' monuments of antiquity; fourth, the rules of the Orders, progressing from Tuscan to Composite, as evidenced in antique ruins and the text of Vitruvius, and the universality of the Orders in composing doors, fireplaces and palace façades; fifth, the use of the Orders in temples of Serlio's invention; sixth, the use of the Orders in house designs (again graded, ascending from hut to palace); concluding at the lowest, seventh stage with 'accidents' or practical problems which the architect might encounter.
Significantly, the last few pages of the second book, "On Perspective", contain three theatrical scenes (comic, tragic, and satiric) and a stage plan and cross section which were highly influential in Renaissance theater.
In Aesthetics point of view Serlio is one of the first that use the expression fine arts: "and lately Leo X father and patron of all fine arts and all good artists".
Influence
Serlio's volumes were highly influential in France, the Netherlands and England as a conveyor of the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
style, and quickly became available in a variety of languages. His plans and elevations of many Roman buildings provided useful repertory of classical images, often reprinted.
Within five years of its original publication, the Flemish scholar
Pieter Coecke van Aelst published, in Antwerp, adaptations of Book IV in Flemish, German, and French; Serlio considered these unauthorized versions of his work to be inferior forgeries; nevertheless they served as significant vectors in the spread of his influence. Coecke van Aelst's pupil the Dutch architect and engineer
Hans Vredeman de Vries
Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527 – c. 1607) was a Dutch Renaissance architect, painter, and engineer. Vredeman de Vries is known for his publication in 1583 on garden design and his books with many examples on ornaments (1565) and perspective (1604 ...
propagated Serlio's style and ornaments north of the Alps. And a Dutch version of Books I-V -- published in Amsterdam in 1606 and based largely on Coecke van Aelst's work in Flemish—served as the basis for the English translation of Books I-V published by
Robert Peake in London in 1611. Fourth-hand though it was, it remained the most complete English edition of Serlio for almost four centuries. Its example countered the influence of the engravings of
Antwerp Mannerism
Antwerp Mannerism is the name given to the style of a group of largely anonymous painters active in the Southern Netherlands and principally in Antwerp in roughly the first three decades of the 16th century, a movement marking the tail end of Ear ...
that were the main inspiration for
Jacobean architecture. Later Serlio's book was in the libraries of Sir
Christopher Wren and
John Wood, the Elder the architect and entrepreneur who laid out
Bath.
Inigo Jones possessed Italian editions, which he annotated.
[Hart & Hicks 1996, p. xxxiv.]
Books III & IV were published in Spanish in 1552 in
Toledo by Juan de Ayala with the same illustrations as the original Italian editions.
Assezat-Serlio-en.jpg, Influence on hôtel d'Assézat
The Hôtel d'Assézat in Toulouse, France, is a French Renaissance ''hôtel particulier'' (urban palace) of the 16th century which houses the Bemberg Foundation, a major art gallery of the city.
The hôtel was likely built by Toulouse architect N ...
's facades.
Assezat - portail - inspiration Serlio-en.jpg, Influence on hôtel d'Assézat
The Hôtel d'Assézat in Toulouse, France, is a French Renaissance ''hôtel particulier'' (urban palace) of the 16th century which houses the Bemberg Foundation, a major art gallery of the city.
The hôtel was likely built by Toulouse architect N ...
's portal.
Toulouse hotel Molinier - inspiration Serlio-en.jpg, Influence on hôtel Molinier's portal.
Porte Commutation - Serlio-en.jpg, Influence on a former gate of Toulouse Capitole.
Maison du crible - Serlio-en.jpg, Influence on Maison du Crible's gate.
Notes
References
* (translated by Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach & Robert Tavernor)
*
*
* Hart, Vaughan, Day, Alan (1995). ‘A Computer Model of the Theatre of Sebastiano Serlio, 1545’, ''Computers and the History of Art'', Harwood Academic Publishers, vol.5 no.1, pp.41-52.
* Hart, Vaughan (1998), ‘Decorum and the five Order of Architecture: Sebastiano Serlio’s Military City’, ''RES: Journal of Anthropology and Aesthetics'', pp.75-84.
* Hart, Vaughan (2003). ‘“Of little or even no importance to the architect.” On Absent Ideals in Serlio’s Drawings in the Sixth Book on Domestic Architecture’, in ''The Rise of the Image: Essays on the History of the Illustrated Art Book'', Series Title: ''Histories of Vision'', volume one, edited by Rodney Palmer and Thomas Frangenberg, pp.87-104.
* (SBN 87024-004-8)
* A translation by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks of Paolo Rosci's notes to the Munich MS Book VI at: http://www.serlio.net/
External links
Extraordinario libro di architettvra1560. From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Divisionat the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Regole generali di architetvra sopra le cinqve maniere de gliedifici.. 1537. From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Divisionat the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Il terzo libro, nel qval si figvrano...1540. From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Divisionat the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Palladio's Literary PredecessorsChâteau de Fontainebleau (in English)
* Online Editions of Serlio's ''Architettura''
*
Bibliography and books on line*
** Dutch: De vijf boeken van architecturen Sebastiani Serlii (Amsterdam, 1606
** English
The Five Books of Architecture (London, 1611)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serlio, Sebastiano
1475 births
1554 deaths
Italian architecture writers
Italian male non-fiction writers
Renaissance architects
Architects from Bologna
Mannerist architecture in Italy