He began his career as an architect in
Bologna, supporting himself by painting and making perspective
templates for
inlay craftsmen. He made his first trip to Rome in 1536 to make measured drawings of
Roman temples, with a thought to publish an illustrated
Vitruvius. Then
François I called him to
Fontainebleau, where he spent the years 1541–1543. Here he probably met his fellow Bolognese, the architect
Sebastiano Serlio and the painter
Primaticcio.
After his return to Italy, he designed the
Palazzo Bocchi in Bologna. Later he moved to Rome. Here he worked for
Pope Julius III and, after the latter's death, he was taken up by the papal family of the
Farnese and worked with
Michelangelo, who deeply influenced his style (see
Works section for details of his works in this period).
From 1564 Vignola carried on Michelangelo's work at
St Peter's Basilica,[4] and constructed the two subordinate domes according to Michelangelo's plans.
Jacopo Barozzi died in Rome in 1573.[4] In 1973 his remains were reburied in the
Pantheon, Rome.
Villa Giulia for
Pope Julius III, in Rome (1550–1553). Here Vignola was working with
Ammanati, who designed the
nymphaeum and other garden features under the general direction of
Vasari, with guidance from the knowledgeable pope and
Michelangelo. A medal of 1553 shows Vignola's main villa substantially as it was completed, save for a pair of cupolas.
Palazzo Farnese, Piacenza. This was a grandiose project of a vast palace on a scale paralleled only by the
Vatican Palace in Italy; the rectangular plan is circa 111 metres by 88 metres. The actual construction, however, made up only less than half of Vignola's original project and lacked many of the planned architectural features; missing elements include part of the exterior surrounding walls, the main façade, modelled on the ancient triumphal arch and with a large tower, and a theatre in the large inner courtyard.
His two published books helped formulate the
canon of classical architectural style. The earliest, Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura ["Canon of the five orders of architecture"] (first published in 1562, probably in Rome), presented Vignola's practical system for constructing columns in the five classical orders (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite) utilising proportions which Vignola derived from his own measurements of classical Roman monuments.[7] The clarity and ease of use of Vignola's treatise caused it to become in succeeding centuries the most published book in architectural history.[8] Vignola's second treatise, Due regole della prospettiva pratica ["Two rules of practical perspective"], published posthumously with extensive commentary by the mathematician
Ignazio Danti (Bologna 1583), favours one-point perspective rather than two-point methods such as the bifocal construction. Vignola presented— without theoretical obscurities— practical applications which could be understood by a prospective patron.[9][full citation needed]
^Vignola, Canon of the Five Orders of Architecture, translated with an introduction by Branko Mitrovic (New York: Acanthus Press, 1999), p. 17.
ISBN0-926494-16-3.