Understanding Palladio’s Use of Proportion from the Roman Baths to Il Redentore Via 3D Models

Abstract

This paper compares the interior spaces of the Great Halls of four Roman baths (Diocletian, Constantine, Caracalla and Agrippa), as documented in Palladio’s reconstruction drawings, to the interior space of the nave of his Venetian church, Il Redentore. Three-dimensional computer models based on these reconstruction drawings then are compared to 3D computer models of the Il Redentore nave and side chapels. An interactive interface provides fresh insight into the architect’s previously unexamined late design processes, and allows viewers to compare similarities in composition, form, and proportion by overlaying plan, sections and scaled 3D models of the bath’s Great Halls and the Il Redentore interior. While it is well known that the design of Palladio’s buildings, particularly his villas, drew many of their features from Roman architecture, this paper analyzes the design sources for the Il Redentore nave and side chapels and finds previously uninvestigated similarities in their form, composition, and proportions to the Great Halls of the Roman baths that a young, aspiring architect carefully documented, then studied closely.