Daniele Barbaro

Daniele Barbaro as a high-ranking clericbyPaolo Veronese(the book in the painting is a translation ofVitruviusby Barbaro )

Painting of Daniele Barbaro byTitian.

Etching of Daniele Barbaro byWenzel Hollar.

Gentleman in erminebyPaolo Veronese,previously identified as Barbaro.

Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro(alsoBarbarus) (8 February 1514 – 13 April 1570)was an Italian cleric and diplomat. He was also anarchitect,writer onarchitecture,and translator of, and commentator on,Vitruvius.

Barbaro's fame is chiefly due to his vast output in the arts, letters, and mathematics. A culturedhumanist,he was a friend and admirer ofTorquato Tasso,a patron ofAndrea Palladio,and a student ofPietro Bembo.Francesco Sansovinoconsidered Daniele to be one of the three best Venetian architects, along withPalladioand Francesco's fatherJacopo.

Biography

He was born inVenice,the son of Francesco di Daniele Barbaro and Elena Pisani, daughter of the banker Alvise Pisani and Cecilia Giustinian.Barbaro studied philosophy, mathematics, and optics at theUniversity of Padua.He has been credited with the design of the university'sbotanical garden.

Barbaro served theRepublic of Veniceas ambassador to the court of Edward VI in London and as representative at theCouncil of Trent.In 1561Pope Pius IVappointed him a cardinalin pectore,that is, secretly, to avoid causing diplomatic complications, but since Pius never made the appointment public Barbaro was never a cardinal. In 1550 he was electedPatriarch of Aquileia,an ecclesiastical appointment that required the approval of the Venetian Senate.

On the death of his father, he inherited a country estate with his brotherMarcantonio Barbaro.They commissionedPalladioto design their shared country homeVilla Barbaro,which is now part of aWorld Heritage Site.Palladio and Barbaro visited Rome together and the architecture of the villa reflects their interest in the ancient buildings they saw there. The interior of the villa is decorated withfrescoesbyPaolo Veronese,who also painted oil portraits of Daniele; one reproduced in this article shows him dressed as a Venetian aristocrat, the other shows him in clerical dress.

Barbaro died inUdine.His will refers to his collection of purchased and constructed astronomical instruments. Daniele renounced his inheritance in favor of his brother Marcantonio and was buried in an unmarked grave behind the Church ofSan Francesco della Vignainstead of the family chapel there. Daniele commissioned the church's altarpiece ofThe Baptism of Christ(c. 1555) byBattista Franco.

Works

Pratica della perspettiva,1569

Barbaro may have designed thePalazzo TrevisaninMurano,alone or in collaboration with Palladio. Like at theVilla Barbaro,Paolo VeroneseandAlessandro Vittoriaprobably also worked on the project, which was completed in 1557.

His works include:

• (1542)Exquisitae in Porphyrium Commentationes.
• (1542)Predica de' sogni,published under the pseudonym of Reverend padre Hypneo da Schio.
• (1544) Edited an edition of the commentaries on Aristotle'sRhetoricwritten by his great-uncleErmolao Barbaro.
• (1545) Edited an edition of Ermolao Barbaro'sCompendium scientiae naturalis.
• (1556) An Italian translation with extended commentary ofVitruvius'Ten Books of Architecture,published asDieci libri dell'architettura di M. Vitruvio.The work was dedicated to CardinalIppolito II d'Este,patron of theVilla d'EsteatTivoli.
• (1567) He later simultaneously published a revised Italian edition and a Latin edition entitledM. Vitruvii de architectura.The original illustrations of Vitruvius' work have not survived, and Barbaro's illustrations were done specially byAndrea Palladio,and engraved by Johann Chrieger. As well as being important as a discussion of architecture, Barbaro's commentary was a contribution to the field of aesthetics in general.El Greco,for example, owned a copy. Earlier translations had been made, by Fra Giovanni Giocondo (1511) and Cesare Cesariano (1521), but this work was considered the most accurate version to date. Barbaro clearly explained some of the more technical sections and discussed the relationship between nature and architecture, though he also acknowledged the way Palladio's theoretical and archeological expertise contributed to the work.
• (1567)Dell'Eloquenza Dialogo
• (1568)La pratica della perspettiva,a book on perspective for artists and architects.This work describes how to use alenswith acamera obscura.
• an unpublished and unfinished treatise on the construction of sundials (De Horologiis describendis libellus,Venice,Biblioteca Marciana,Cod. Lat.VIII, 42, 3097). The latter work was supposed to have discussed other instruments as well, including theastrolabe,theplanisphereof Spanish mathematicianJuan de Rojas,thenavigationinstrumentcross-staff,thetorquetum,anastronomicalinstrument andAbel Foullon's holometer, a surveying instrument.

See also

• Perfection(Aesthetic perfection)
• Portrait of Daniele Barbaro
• Barbaro family

References

• Burke, Peter (2 November 1998).The European Renaissance: Centers and Peripheries.Wiley.ISBN978-0-631-19845-1.
• Grendler, Paul F., ed. (1 January 2006). "XI: The Leaders of the Venetian State, 1540–1609: a Prosopographical Analysis".Renaissance Education Between Religion and Politics.Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 72.ISBN978-0-86078-989-5.
• Rose, Hugh James;Rose, Henry John;Wright, Thomas (1857).A New General Biographical Dictionary.Vol. 3. T. Fellowes. pp. 136–137.
• Tatarkiewicz, Władysław(1974). Petsch, D. (ed.).History of Aesthetics, vol. III: Modern Aesthetics.Translated by Kisiel, Chester A.; Besemeres, John F. The Hague: De Gruyter Mouton.ISBN978-90-279-3943-2.
• Turner, Jane (2000).Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance & Mannerist Art.Grove's Dictionaries. pp. 112–113.ISBN978-1-884446-02-3.