Italian Renaissance Villas and Gardens; Tuscany, the Veneto and Tivoli
Special Interest Day on Tuesday 26th October 2027 at 10:30AM
Lecturer: Dan Evans
Venue: Upton Bishop Village Hall
These three lectures explore the Renaissance villa and garden as a setting where power, pleasure and learning came together in spectacular fashion. From the Medici's artfully designed retreats in Tuscany, to Palladio's elegant villas for the agricultural elite of the Veneto, to Cardinal d'Este's fountain-filled mythological gardens at Tivoli, each talk reveals how architecture and landscape expressed status, taste and intellectual ambition.
Together, they show how the Italian villa became one of the most refined and influential creations of the Renaissance world.
The first talk looks at both Town and Country focused in Florence and Tuscany and is titled "The Medici and the Magnificence of Mother Nature". With the rise of Humanism came the rise of the idyllic country retreat. The Medici family, busy running their banking empire and then later the entire state of Tuscany, never forgot how important it was to kick back and show off. From the early fifteenth century through to the late sixteenth century the Medici built villas, suburban palaces and rural retreats, all of which were designed to impress visitors, but also to please the owners. This lecture will reveal the meaning behind the artistic programme of several gardens, and place their design within the context of the Florentine High Renaissance.
The second talk looks at Italian Renaissance Villa architecture and their interior design and is titled "Villas for the Agricultural and Cultural Elite". Palladio's designs for farmhouses and rural retreats in the Veneto. By the 1520s Venice had 'lost its trousers'. They turned away from the East and their island colonies and instead looked to the terrafirma of the Veneto. The seafaring mercantile families of the fifteenth century re-established themselves as farmers in the sixteenth century and wanted the trappings of an elite rural existence; top of that list was property designed by Andrea Palladio. This lecture will look at a selection of villa types as well as explore the far-reaching impact of his architectural design in subsequent centuries.
The final talk is the most relaxed, suitable for a post-lunch audience (!) and is titled "Hercules, Hesperides & Cardinal Ippolito D'Este's Water Park in Tivoli". Recreation and relaxation were sixteenth century pre-occupations for the wealthy, whilst celebration of high status was a compulsion for the Cardinals. The witty and didactic gardens of this villa in Tivoli, was commissioned by the affluent Cardinal D'Este and embodies all these urges, and with over 100 fountains they are some of the most spectacular in Europe. This lecture will take you on a tour of this mythological theme park, as it was supposed to appear in the sixteenth century.
Dan Evans is an educationalist with a passion for all things Italian. Dan is a Housemaster and Teacher at Cheltenham College, a full boarding and co-educational independent school established in 1841 and was formerly Head of History of Art at Wycombe Abbey School. He has been lecturing since 2001, and spent 9 years working as a senior lecturer, tutor and tour guide for Art History Abroad. He was voted the British winner of the World Guide of the Year Awards in 2008 and alongside his lectures and special interest days he also leads educational study trips for groups of friends to a range of destinations in Europe.