Palladio's true face revealed

After 500 years, the true face of Andrea Palladio, one of the most famous architects in the history of art, has been revealed.

The mystery stems from the non-existence of an official portrait of him, which caused a multitude of different portraits throughout the 18th century intended to depict him in his real likeness.

On the occasion of organizing the exhibition "Andrea Palladio. The Mystery of the Face" running until June 18, 2017 at the Palladio Museum in Vicenza, twelve portraits that could represent the real face of the great architect were identified from different continents.

At the end of a lengthy investigation carried out by the art historians of the Palladio Museum and the Superintendence of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza in collaboration with the Scientific Police, which used methods of physiognomic comparison, it was revealed that Andrea Palladio would have had a broad, convex forehead, stemmed on the sides, round eyes with regular eyebrows, and a pronounced straight nose without humps. The architect’s real features would appear in a portrait with a hat made by painter Bernardino India and in another portrait from the Palladian Rotunda and bought by a Russian collector.

Source: ANSA - La Repubblica

Palladio's true face revealed

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