Between City and Country: Architecture, Site, and Patronage at Palladio's Villa Pisani at Montagnana

Abstract

This dissertation examines the patronage of the Venetian patrician Francesco Pisani, with a focus on his villa at Montagnana, built in 1553–54 by Andrea Palladio (1508–80). Pisani supported major Veneto artists at work in mid–sixteenth –century Venice, including Paolo Veronese and Alessandro Vittoria, but until recently little was known about him. This dissertation offers new insights, based on extensive archival research, about his life and the history of his two villas in Venetian mainland territory at Montagnana and Monselice. Pisani represents a striking counter–example to the image of the Renaissance patrician who sojourned at his country estate primarily during times of harvest and whose principal social, cultural, and economic activities took place in the city. Although he belonged to one of Venice's most prominent families, he eschewed the political and mercantile pursuits of many Venetian noblemen. He also opted not to invest in a family palace there but rented instead, so that he could erect his primary residence close to his agricultural estate at Montagnana.

The first two chapters reconstruct Pisani's private and public life in his native city before turning to his rented residences in Venice and his smaller villa at Monselice. This “stop–over villa“ accommodated his travel between Venice and the estate at Montagnana, and its relationship to the larger villa is proclaimed in its architecture and decoration. Chapter three presents the acquisition history of the Montagnana property and analyzes Palladio's hybrid villa–palace design in light of the suburban site. Chapter four argues on the basis of new documentary evidence that the villa's unrealized wings, published by Palladio in his treatise <italic>I quattro libri dell'architettura</italic> (1570), should be considered part of his original project as commissioned by Pisani. This chapter presents Villa Pisani as a case study for conceptualizing the relationship between the apparently ideal projects of Palladio's treatise and his executed buildings. Chapter five moves inside Villa Pisani and considers its function as villa <italic>and</italic> palace, a locus of both <italic>otium</italic> and <italic>negotium</italic>. In his artistic patronage as in his living situation, Pisani lived between <italic>terraferma</italic> and lagoon, between country and city.