Written in 1977. Unpublished. The essay is a good survey of the extant literature on the topic as of 1977. Author donated this essay to the public domain and reserves no rights. Scanned from a photocopy, and thus may have some typos.

SOCIAL STATUS AND THE RENAISSANCE VILLA (1977)

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For the student of the history of art who chooses to judge artworks by the degree to which they represent the culture of their age,* no Renaissance Italian building type could be more worthy of study than the villa.l To justify that assertion I would propose that preoccupation with social status was a distinctive feature of Italian Renaissance culture and as such found its expression in the Italian villa.+

Only the major villas—those of the rich and of the nobility, not of the poets or craftsmen—will be touched upon here, reflecting perhaps the cultural bias toward the upper classimplicit in nearly all historical studies. Large villas of the size of Lorenzo de Medici's Poggio a

* By "culture" I mean the whole way of life: material, intellectual and spiritual.1. L. H. Heydenreich, "La Villa: Genesi e Sviluppi Fino al Palladio," Vicenza, Bolletino del

C.I.S.A. Andrea Palladio , 1969, XI, pp 11 ff, calls the villa the most characteristic creation of the Renaissance.

+ Because the social and economic history of the Renaissance and of the Renaissance villa all await systematic study, the conclusions I reach here can pretend to be no more than tentative. To my knowledge, the bibliography for this essay contains all the general studies on the subject of Italian Renaissance villas, with the exception of two works: J. B. Patzak, Die Renaissance und Barockvilla in Italien, (vol.'s I and II, 1912-13, III, 1908), K. M. Swoboda, R ö mische und romanische Pal ä ste , (1919). I have been less thorough in exploring potential sources in economics and sociology. My sources indicate however that such material is not extensive.

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Caiano, Federigo Gonzaga's Palazzo del Te or Paolo Almerico's Villa Rotunda, all entailed considerable outlays of wealth. W. K. Ferguson states that the wealth available for patronage in Renaissance Italy was the product of means for concentrating wealth, appearing for the first time in Renaissance Italy—in the new forms of taxation by princes and in the evolution of business organization.2

Coinciding with the advent of such concentrations of wealth were social circumstances that brought the issue of status to a head among the rich and noble. In Florence, competition among families had long been rabid, but in the later 15th century their jostling had become a contest for noble status, because "the merchant patriciate was crystallizing into a nobility." The merchant patriciate group led by the Medici was not accepting new members.3 R. A. Goldthwaite, in his study of the social context of Renaissance Florentine palaces, notes that competition was fierce to make public expression of one's nobility.4

The same closing of ranks occurred in 15th century Venice and Vicenza, as well as in such other cities as Lucca, Pistoia, Padua, and Brescia.5 Alfred von Martin finds also within the clergy

2. W. K. Ferguson, "The Renaissance in Historical Thought," in Anthony Molho, ed., Social and Economic Foundations of the Italian Renaissance, New York, 1969, p 121.

3. P. Burke, Culture and Society in Renaissance Italy, 1420-1540, New York, 1972, p 245.4. R. A. Goldthwaite, "The Florentine Palace as Domestic Architecture," in American

Historical Review, 1972, 77, no. 4, pp 991-993.5. A. Ventura, "The Triumph of the Aristocracy in the Veneto," in Anthony Molho, ed., Social and Economic Foundations of the Italian Renaissance, New York, 1969, pp 169 ff; Ventura states that the 15th century saw the closing of access to aristocratic ranks in the Veneto. L. Puppi, (Andrea Palladio, Boston, 1975, pp 7-8), proposed that the Vicenzian nobility sought to distinguish themselves from a middle class of merchants and other bourgeoisie. P. Burke, (op. cit., p 245), cites historical studies which show a closing of noble ranks in Lucca, Pistoia, Padua and Brescia.

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reflections of a concern with status. The upper class clergy were anxious to secure a considerable distance between themselves, the ordinary laity and the lower class clergy, particularly after the "cheapening" effect the mendicant orders had had hobnobbing with the people on equal terms.6

The growing political importance of courts (in place of republican governments), Burke suggests, gave sanction and necessity to courtly life styles and noble values among the rich merchants aspiring to ruling class status.7 The common set of values which typified the nobility as a group, and which the aspirant merchant would have to adopt, revolved around the notion of honor, or esteem. "Honor" could be manifested in such qualities as courage (war), loyalty and generosity (conspicuous consumption). As Burke notes, it was also possible to be accepted as noble in Renaissance Italy even if not so by birth, by living nobly. A noble life was characterized in particular by a life of liesure.8 We might then find a reflection of social aspiration in the fact that among the great Florentine and Venetian families, the 16th century saw a trend away from the active life of trade and toward the leisurely life of rentierships and conspicuous consumption.9 Among the most prestigious forms of rentiership was land ownership. While

6. A. von Martin, Sociology of the Renaissance, New York, 1963. 7. P. Burke, op. cit., p 236.8. Ibid., p 235. 9. Ibid., p 282

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alms, clothes, horses, hospitality or patronage of the arts, especially commissions for palaces and funeral monuments, were items sanctioned for conspicuous consumption.10 Gino Luzzatto notes the presence of a tendency among wealthy families of the period to withdraw their capital from industry and trade and invest it, from motives of security and social prestige, in town and country properties.11 The idea that agriculture itself was the "highest and most worthy of human occupations" was highly fashionable at the time.12

We can construct, then, a whole set of popular values that would provide an atmosphere highly conducive to the rise of the villa. We can also add to that a list of more concrete reasons for its popularity. The value of land as a source of agricultural income was apparently a very obvious, if not necessary, character of the properties upon which villa buildings were built. For example, income from Poggio a Caiano played a major role in keeping Lorenzo de Medici solvent when his banking finances were in danger of collapse.13 And in the Veneto, noble Venetian families transferred their wealth to the land, intending to transform it into a source of income through huge reclamation projects.14 Even in Rome, agricultural activities were common, especially vine cultivation.15

Cardini identifies the villa with a long Tuscan tradition, dating back to the 13th century, of retreating to the country for relaxation. For the Florentine, he says, the villa was more than a

10. Ibid., pp 236-237.11. G. Luzzatto, An Economic History of Italy, London, 1961, pp 145-146.12. Ibid., p 165, The idea was produced, he notes, by a nostalgia for classical antiquity.13. M. Brion, The Medici, a Great Florentine Family, New York, 1969, p 111.14. G. Mazzotti, Palladian and other Venetian Villas, Rome, 1966, p 38. 15. I. S. Barsali, Ville di Roma, Lazio I, Milano, 1970, p 100.

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luxury, it was a necessity of life—a place where one could retreat from the noise of the city and concentrate upon more profound study or work worthy of one's talents.16 It should also be said that no doubt villas served as convenient havens from civic unrest. Von Martin explains the popularity of villas as retreats with the proposition that a romance of the villa infused wealthy society through the influence of the intelligentsia and the intellectual escapism which they sought in the country.17

16. G. Lensi Orlandi Cardini, Le Ville di Firenze, Firenze, 1954. The majority of Florentine villas were already in existence in the 13th century (p XIII). He mentions its retreat function on page XIX.

17. A. von Martin, op, cit., pp 53-62. According to von Martin, the villas was the material expression of the merging of the values of the humanist intelligentsia with those of the bourgeois. The values of the intelligentsia, detachment, intellectual freedom, and estheticism, drove the intellectual to separate himself from the "glare of the rational civilization" of his time and to seek out a solitude where he could give free reign to his intellectual imagination. In pursuing that flight from reality, the intelligentsia escaped into a dream world of classical romanticism, filled with beautiful illusions and ideals. This a-social attitude ultimately expressed itself in the romance of the villa. Under the influence of the intelligentsia, the moneyed class turned from the obsessive pursuit of economic gain to the pursuit of leisure. The capacity of the villa to provide both leisure and a change of venue made it an ideal setting for expressing their new values.

In Lorenzo's paeans about Poggio a Caiano that romanticism is very much in evidence—to the disregard of the economic considerations which must have played a dominant role in the creation of the villa. The importance of the villa's dairy farm in the conception of Poggio a Caiano is described in a study by Forster, which Heydenreich, (op, cit., p 16) mentions, (P. Forster, "Lorenzo de Medici's Cascina at Poggio a Caiano," in Mit d. Kunsthist Inst. Florenz, 1969, XIV, pp 47 ff).

The reflection of humanist romantic escapism in the villa is undoubtedly a topic highly relevant to the study of the villa as art.

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Both in Florence and Venice, villas also served as gathering places for eminent literati, poets and artists, at the villas of such humanists as Cosimo Medici and Giangiorgio Trissini, until, after the mid 16th century, social receptions replaced intellectual discussions as the primary entertainment function of the villa. In Rome, from the onset of villa building at the beginning of the 16th century, "villas were planned to accommodate the large retinues of the owners who dwelt there during the summer months and who used them as a stage for receptions and other festivities."18 Also, in Rome and elsewhere, hunting was a highly popular pastime. Many villas were planted with woodlands for that reason; Barsali mentions that the barco, or wood, of the Villa Giulia consisted of 30,000 trees.19 Villas also provided the growing number of collectors of antiquities with the large, unobstructed spaces they needed for proper display. Indeed, Ackerman describes the existence of Julius II's statuary court at the Belvedere villa as probably the primary reason for joining the Belvedere villa to the Vatican palace.20 The incorporation of collections of statuary was also a central factor in the creation of two other major villas: the Villa Giulia and the Villa Medici.21

The ownership of a villa apparently bestowed upon its owner a much sought after status.

18. L. H. Heydenreich and W. Lotz, Architecture in Italy, 1400-1600, Harmondsworth, 1974, p 263.

19. I. S. Barsali, op, cit., p 100.20. J. S. Ackerman, The Cortile del Belvedere, Citta del Vaticano, 1954, p 18.21. I. S, Barsali, op, cit., p 172, indicates the importance of Julius III's statuary collection in the

design of his villa. M. L. Gothein, (A History of Garden Art, New York, 1966, p 299), mentions that Ferdinand de Medici bought the collection of antiques belonging to Cardinal della Valle with the intention of turning the then existing Pincian villa into a great garden museum.

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Cardini notes that the fact that villas covered the hillsides surrounding Florence stands as testimony to the competitive spirit of the city.22 Mazzotti notes that noble Venetian families "driven by a spirit of emulation, built two, three, as many as ten villas."23 While Puppi adds that in the city of Vicenza, for one, the local nobility sought architectural symbols of their consolidation of power and social status.24 Von Martin notes a similar propagandistic interest within the upper class clergy.25

The Italian Renaissance villa as a building type could readily accommodate such expressions of status. The special character of its architectural program gave it far greater range of expression in this respect than that of the urban palazzo. While the designer of an urban palazzo faced restrictions on the degree he could depart from traditional models, the villa designer had almost unlimited architectural license.26 For example, both Palladio and Giuliano da Sangallo were free to use classical porticoes for their villas, a motif the palazzo tradition would not have sanctioned.27

23. G. Mazzotti, op, cit., p 9.24. L. Puppi, Andrea Palladio, Boston, 1975, pp 7-8.25. A, von Martin, op, cit., states that their answer to the demotion in status which they believed

they and the church had suffered was an alliance "with the powers of form and beauty, recognizing in them the mighty means of creating a visible impression of greatness."

26. L. B. Alberti, Ten Books on Architecture, London, 1955, p 188, advises that for the home in the country all the gayest and "most licentious" ornamentation is allowable.

27. J. S. Ackerman, Palladio, Baltimore, 1966, p 65, views Palladio's use of the temple front as a symbolic gesture. H. Bierman, ("Lo Sviluppo della Villa Toscana sotto L' influenze Umanistica della Corte di Lorenzo il Magnifico," in Vicenza, Bolletino del C.I.S.A. Andrea Palladio, 1969, XI, p 41), calls the pedimented portico at Poggio a Caiano a programmatic expression of the political and personal aspirations of Lorenzo.

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It is curious that while Cosimo de Medici surrounded his villa at Cafaggiolo with defensive iconography, it was his rationalized urban palazzo that was in most need of defensive apparati.28

The monumentality that is associated with wealth and power, and the long formal sequences of spaces associated with grandeur, are certainly realizable in the urban palazzo, but only through the use of the sort of space and construction time that entail a vast commitment of assets and patience. The villa, on the other hand, offered what were no doubt cheaper and potentially quicker means of achieving monumentality and grandeur, i.e., through the use of long axes, generous spaces, expansive colonnades or arcades and gardens.29 Two rare Medician projects

28. G. Cardini, op, cit., p X, notes that the tower and other castle motifs were used in the Florentine countryside to associate the villa owner with a knightly ancestry, which probably explains Cosimo's use of those vestigial features at Cafaggiolo.

29. Bramante created such a prototypical monumental axis at the Cortile del Belvedere. There, he linked stairs, niche, terraces and exedra along a central axis. Axes play a fundamental role at other monumental projects, such as the Villa Madama, the Villa Giulia, the Palazzo del Te, and the Villa Lante at Bagnaia, and play a role in Palladio's villa projects. As for the use of space, one need only point to the large or complex inner courts at the Cortile del Belvedere, the Villa Giulia, the Palazzo del Te and the Villa Imperiale to demonstrate its effective use in the monumentalizing and aggrandizement of the villa. Likewise, colonnades and arcades appear in many of the great Roman Renaissance villas and are essential features of the monumentality of Palladian villas. The monumental garden is a Roman invention, and during the 16th century makes few appearances elsewhere. The Tuscans, for their part, could make up in the grandeur of a site what they lacked in landscaping, as the hills surrounding Florence provided many prominent locations for their buildings. Of course, Rome also had such sites.

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exist for palaces within the urban settings of Rome and Florence which would have incorporated the axes, courts, gardens and colonnades of the villa—both apparently discarded as impractical.30

For the Medici to have conceived such projects is not unlike the Medici, yet among other rich and noble families too, the building of country houses was just as much a passion.31 To erect great buildings, Castiglione counseled the aristocracy, was one of the virtues of a great prince. It is not enough, of course, to merely show that preconditions for the use of villas for the display of status existed. Villas can be shown to contain features that can be explained primarily in terms of status motives. I do not propose here to provide a systematic description of the status features in the Italian Renaissance villa, but will provide examples of villas in which historians have found various features influenced by status consciousness. Mentioned already were Cardini's view that Tuscan's employed fortress motifs as symbols of status (note 28) and Bierman's opinion that the portico at Poggio a Caiano served a propagandistic purpose (note 27). At the ducal Medician villa, Castello, D. R. Wright finds an iconographic representation of the of the "Medician

30. Antonio da Sangallo, the Elder, drew plans for a palace at the Piazza Navona, I assume for Leo X, (illustrated in Stegmann and Geymuller, The Architecture of the Renaissance in Tuscany, New York, p 132). Giuliano da Sangallo created a project for a villa suburbana within the walls of Florence, 1512, as mentioned in H. Bierman ("Lo Sviluppo della Villa Toscana sotto L' influenze Umanistica della Corte di Lorenzo il Magnifico," cit., p 23).

31. C. L. Frommel, "La Villa Madama e la Tipologia della Villa Romana nel Rinascimento," in Vicenza, Bolletino del C.I.S.A. Andrea Palladio , 1969, XI, p 56. Cardini and Mazzotti voice the same conclusions about Tuscany and the Veneto.

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Spring," the revival of Medician rule in 1530.32 Frommel finds a similar meaning in the Villa Madama, describing it as serving as a monument to the glory of the Medici.33 Ackerman suggests that the references to antiquity which Bramante makes in the Cortile del Belvedere were intended to serve the iconographic function of comparing the temporal church-state to the Roman empire.34 The Farnese "villa-castles" at Capodemente and Caprorola were likewise intended as symbols of political power.35 Not to be overshadowed by symbols of power emanating from Rome, Federigo Gonzaga envisioned the Palazzo del Te, according to a study by Verheyen, as an iconographic rival to the monumentality of Rome.36 In addition, Fredrick Hartt suggests that the inner court at the Palazzo del Te was intended to accommodate a labyrinth, a Gonzaga emblem and as such a dynastic reference.37

Palladio writes in his treatise that a house should reflect the owner's status, not just what he is able to afford.38 Ackerman interprets the temple front, which occurs so frequently in Palladio's designs, as symbolizing the "grandeur and magnificence" that Palladio intends as compensation

32. D. R. E. Wright, "The Iconography of the Medici Garden at Castello," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, December 1975, XXXIV, p 314.

33. C. L. Frommel, op, cit., p 56.34. J. S. Ackerman, The Cortile del Belvedere, cit., pp 125-138. 35. C. L. Frommel, op, cit., p 55.36. E. Verheyen, The Palazzo del Te, Mantua, Baltimore, 1977, p 22, supports that proposition

by identifying copies of monumental entrances from the Farnese Palace [which was in turn borrowed from the fortified east exterior wall of the Cortile del Belvedere] and from the drawings for the Villa Madama which appear on the western and eastern wings respectively.

37. F. Hartt, Giulio Romano, New Haven, 1958, p 94.38. A. Palladio, The Four Books of Architecture, New York, 1965, p 37

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for the nobleman's rural isolation.39 Mazzotti believes Venetian villa owners intended by magnificence to impress and subdue the peasants of their dominions.40 Around the periphery of the Palladian villa, Badoer, is a crenellation topped wall which Puppi identifies as a symbolic fortress barrier.41 The wall and the shape of the compound it encloses may be a reference to an earlier tradition of castle-like noble establishments on the terrafirma before the League of Cambrai, for example, the villa of Caterina Cornaro.42 We can note, lastly, an interpretation of the Villa Rotunda by Lotz in which he identifies its dome and temple front as "symbols of grandeur". When it is recalled that the patron of La Rotunda was an apostolic referendary, the idea that the upper class clergy sought to rectify and enhance their social status through the power of art, which von Martin proposes, becomes apropos here. Lotz cites "the Renaissance tradition of domed centralized churches often dedicated to the Madonna on hilltops" and suggests that Palladio intended to recall such monumental sanctuaries with their "dome of Heaven".43

A concern with status is hardly a cultural trait unique to the Renaissance. Indeed, it might be fair to say that every age shares that concern and that it is in fact a permanent feature of the human condition. We might well look for other, better, reflections of culture in Renaissance artworks such as the villa. I have mentioned the question of the embodiment of intellectual escapism in the villa and would add, among others, the question of the villa's reflection of codification versus experimentation in the Renaissance.

39. J. S. Ackerman, Palladio, cit., p 65. 40. G. Mazzotti, op, cit., p 10.41. L. Puppi, op, cit., 118.42 Illustrated in J. S. Ackerman, Palladio, cit., p 56.43. W. Lotz (1962) paraphrased in J. S. Ackerman, Palladio's Villas, Locust Valley, 1967, pp 17

and n28.

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York University, 1967.Ackerman, James S., "Sources of the Renaissance Villa," in Transactions of the XX International

Congress on the History of Art, (New York), 1961, II, 6 ff.Acton, Harold, Great Houses of Italy; The Tuscan Villas, (New York), Viking Press, 1973.Alberti, Leone Battista, Ten Books on Architecture, trans. by James Leoni, ed by Joseph

Rykwert, London, Alec Tiranti, 1955.Barsali, Isa Belli, Ville di Roma, Lazio I, (Milano), Edizioni SISAR, 1970.Bialostocki, Jan, "The Renaissance Concept of Nature and Antiquity," Transactions of the XX

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Brion, Marcel, The Medici, A Great Florentine Family, (New York) Crown Publishers, 1969.Burke, Peter, Culture and Society in Renaissance Italy 1420-1540, New York, Scribner's, 1972.Cevese, Renato, Ville della Provincia di Vicenza, Tomo I, Veneto 2, (Milano), Edizioni SISAR,Coffin, David R., "The Plans of the Villa Madama," in The Art Bulletin, XLIX, June, 1967,

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Wright, D. R. E., "The Iconography of the Medici Garden at Castello," in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XXXIV, December, 1975, p 314.