Review: Perfection in Proportion: The Legacies of Palladio and Scamozzi in the Golden Age/Schoonheid op maat: De erfenis van Palladio en Scamozzi in de Gouden Eeuw

Abstract

Perfection in Proportion: The Legacies of Palladio and Scamozzi in the Golden Age/Schoonheid op maat: De erfenis van Palladio en Scamozzi in de Gouden Eeuw . Royal Palace/Koninklijk Paleis, Amsterdam. 30 June–12 September 2010 Architectural exhibitions, especially those devoted to early modern architecture, rarely succeed in reaching new audiences. To present and explain a selection of buildings or the ideas or thoughts of individuals about architecture, or to synthesize a group or style with the aid of varied media in a temporary setting usually attracts only cognoscenti and architecture aficionados. The exhibition Perfection in Proportion: The Legacies of Palladio and Scamozzi in the Golden Age , organized by the Royal Palace Foundation in collaboration with the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura “Andrea Palladio” in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, was more successful. A better location to present and explain a complex episode in international architectural history is hardly imaginable (Figure 1). Figure 1 Schoonheid op maat (author's photo) Built as the town hall in the Golden Age (1648–65) after designs by Jacob van Campen, the Royal Palace has recently been reopened after years of intensive restoration, and it has quickly regained popularity, even though the outside of the building is still hidden behind scaffolding. This massive gray sandstone block of a building with giant orders of composite and Corinthian pilasters with superbly sculpted capitals, pediments set against high-pitched roofs, and crowned by …