Antonio Foscari

Mixed feelings about Antonio Foscari's book, a recounting of the life of the architect with an emphasis on projects that never got off the ground. As far the buildings are concerned, Foscari knows what he's talking about, helped along by really nice book design with visual footnotes reflecting whatever's under discussion. Where the wheels begin to fall off though is his take on the historical context - mostly cause he can't make up his mind whether it diminishes Palladio's genius to admit that he had to play within the Venetian Republic's rules. Foscari's so set on the architect as a unimpeachable superman that the only solution is simply detaching him from life, leaving Palladio, in the words of Charlie Brooker, 'ignoring all the pricks milling around him like he's gliding through the fucking Matrix'. At one point the author flatly states that a technical disagreement was 'the only time he had ever complained in his entire life'. Give me a break.… (mere)