Origins & Early Life

Sebastiano Serlio (6 September 1475 – c. 1554) was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential treatise variously known as I sette libri dell'architettura ("Seven Books of Architecture") or Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva ("All the works on architecture and perspective"). Born in Bologna, Serlio went to Rome in 1514, and worked in the atelier of Baldassare Peruzzi, where he stayed until the Sack of Rome in 1527 put all architectural projects on hold for a time.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Like Peruzzi, he began as a painter. He lived in Venice from about 1527 to the early 1540s but left little mark on the city. Serlio's model of a church façade was a regularized version, cleaned up and made more classical, of the innovative method of providing a façade to a church with a high vaulted nave flanked by low side aisles, providing a classical face to a Gothic form, that was first seen in Alberti's Santa Maria Novella in Florence (c. 1458). The idea was in the air in the 1530s: several contemporary churches compete for primacy, but Serlio's woodcut put...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Bartolomeo Colleoni — Contemporary (Died in 1475) (1475): Renowned 15th-century Italian condottiero and military officer of Venice.
• Cesare Borgia — Contemporary (Born in 1475) (1475): Cardinal, military leader, and architect of a short-lived state in Renaissance Italy.
• Diego de Almagro — Contemporary (Born in 1475) (1475): Spanish conquistador famed for his exploits and role in the conquest of Peru and Chile.
• Akira Kurosawa — Shared historical date (09-06 · Died) (1998): Master of Japanese cinema, known for dynamic style and epic storytelling.
• Anika Noni Rose — Shared historical date (09-06 · Born) (1972): Acclaimed American actress celebrated for Broadway triumphs and Disney voice roles.
• Paolo Uccello — Historical peer (Died in 1475) (1475): Florentine Renaissance painter renowned for pioneering visual perspective in art.
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa — Historical peer (Born in 1475) (1475): Spanish explorer famed for discovering the Pacific Ocean from the Isthmus of Panama.
• Andreas Vesalius — Historical peer (Born in 1514) (1514): Founder of modern human anatomy, revolutionized medical science with detailed publications.
• Donato Bramante — Historical peer (Died in 1514) (1514): Master architect who introduced Renaissance style to Milan and High Renaissance to Rome.
• Giuseppe Arcimboldo — Historical peer (Born in 1527) (1527): Mannerist painter famed for composite portraits made of fruits, vegetables, and objects.
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