SCAMOZZI, VINCENZO, a celebrated architect, born at Vicenza in 155'2. Ile was educated under his father, Gian Domenico, an able artist in the same branch; and, at the age of seventeen, he made designs for buildings that were very highly esteemed. lie went to Venice for improvement, where Palladio and others were then employed about works of mag nitude and consideration, and he made very rapid advances in his profession. At the age of twenty-two, he composed a treatise, in six books, De "Tcatri e dale Scene, which has never been published. In a visit to Rome, he was engaged in the diligent study of the remains of antiquity to be found in that city, and in the study of mathematics under the cele brated Clavio. After extending his tour to Naples, he returned, in 1583, to his native city, and settled at Venice, where, Palladio being dead, he became the first architect, and was employed in various public and private works, of which one of the most remarkable was the additions to the library of St. Nark, lie was sent for to Vicenza to finish the
famous Olympic theatre, by which he gained credit. In 1588, Duke Vespasian Gonzaga engaged him in the construction of a new theatre at his town of Sabioneta. After this, he visited many of the chief places on the continent; and decorated several other cities in Italy, besides Venice and Vicenza, and few artists seem to have enjoyed a more exten sive reputation. In 1615, he published a work, entitled dell'Architettura Universale, in six books, which con , tains many useful observations and instructions. The sixth Look, which contains the five orders or arehitecture, is most e/teemed, and has been translated into the French language. Scamozzi died in 1610. Besides the writings above-men tioned, he published a work of descriptions, of which three chapters contained the buildings and topography of Rome.