Urbis et Orbis: Mikroistoriâ i Semiotika Goroda (Dec 2023)
The correlation of urban and country lifestyles (on the example of A. Palladio’s architecture)
Abstract
The article deals with the problem of images of active and contemplative life on the example of translations of the 1570 treatise by the Italian architect of the Late Renaissance Andrea Palladio Four Books on Architecture. A widely read treatise in different countries and cultural regions of Europe has been translated into different languages (French, English, Russian). This article will refer to the English translation of Giacomo Leoni in 1715 and the Russian edition of I. V. Zholtovsky in 1936. Analysis of the translations of G. Leoni and I. V. Zholtovsky allows us to determine the significance of A. Palladio’s treatise on European and world culture. The main equivalents of Palladio’s treatise are the concepts of words borrowed from the Roman architect Vitruvius: convenience, strength, and beauty. Each of the translators, according to the context of the time, was looking for their equivalents to Italian words, thereby supplementing and expanding the meanings discovered and declared by Palladio in his theory and practice. But despite this, one thing remained unchanged: the forms reflected the era (macrocosm), methods of thinking, and the structure of the inner world (microcosm) of the individual. The combination of these two worlds resulted in the achievement of harmony, which is typical for the works of Palladio, and his construction is considered to be the ideal of a harmonious, comfortable life. An important aspect of this article is the extraction of the concepts ‘vita activa’ (active life) and ‘vita contemplativa’ (contemplative life) from the context of the architect Palladio’s theoretical discussions about usefulness, strength, and beauty. The villa, Palladio writes about, during its existence opened up various connections between man, architecture, and nature. Today it is possible to consider the ‘villa’ in new aspects: a villa in a well-organized space, according to Palladio, creates a comfortable lifestyle characterized by contemplation and tranquility. The Anglicisms that exist and are included in everyday conversation today: comfort, harmony, proportion, etc. designate and reveal to us the problem that Palladio spoke about back in the 16th century.
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