Andrea Palladio biography in Biographies from the artzine on artrepublic.com

Believed to have been born the son of a carpenter in 1518, Palladio became the protégé of a scholar and poet Gian Giorgio Trissino who gave him his name derived from that of Pallas, the goddess of Wisdom. He was educated as an architect and began an illustrious career in the 1540s. 

He is responsible for some of the most famous buildings in Venice. In 1570 his treatise on architecture 'I quattro Libri dell Architecttura' was published in Venice, and it was this famous work that Isaac Ware felt inspired to republish in England in 1738.

His style became fashionable all over Europe. In Britain, Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren embraced the Palladian style. Another admirer was the architect Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork, also known as Lord Burlington, who, with William Kent, designed Chiswick House. Later exponents of his work who helped to popularize Palladio's concepts included the 18th century Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni who published an authoritative four volume work on Palladio and his architectural concepts.

Palladio's architecture also inspired a classical music piece by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, called Palladio. Many people know it by its first movement, which was used for a De Beers diamond television commercial.

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