Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola Bust

Giacomo Barozzi, known as Vignola, turned the classical orders into a clear working system. His Rule of the Five Orders of Architecture, published in 1562, reduced complicated questions of proportion to relationships that could be drawn and applied. Its usefulness helped the book circulate far beyond its original setting.

Born in 1507, Vignola worked on major projects in Rome and Lazio. He contributed to Villa Giulia for Pope Julius III and developed the Farnese palace at Caprarola from an earlier fortified scheme. The result at Caprarola combines the commanding presence of the pentagonal exterior with the organization of a residence inside it.

At the Gesù in Rome, his design established a broad nave with side chapels. The building became influential in later Catholic church design, but the facade seen today is by Giacomo della Porta. Assigning the whole church to Vignola conceals that division of responsibility.

He died in Rome in 1573. His buildings and treatise show two forms of architectural authority: resolving a particular commission and giving other designers a reusable set of proportions.