Passage 1: Andrea Palladio, Italian Architect

SECTION 1: READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Andrea Palladio, Italian Architect

A new exhibition celebrates Palladio’s architecture 500 years on

A

Vicenza is a pleasant, prosperous city in the Veneto, 60 km west of Venice. Its grand families settled and farmed the area from the 16th century. But its principal claim to fame is Andrea Palladio, who is such an influential architect that a neoclassical style is known as Palladian. The city is a permanent exhibition of some of his finest buildings, and as he was born – in Padua, to be precise – 500 years ago, the International Centre for the Study of Palladio’s Architecture has an excellent excuse for mounting la grande mostra, the big show.

B

The exhibition has the special advantage of being held in one of Palladio’s buildings, Palazzo Barbaran da Porto. Its bold façade is a mixture of rustication and decoration set between two rows of elegant columns. On the second floor, the pediments are alternately curved or pointed, a Palladian trademark. The harmonious proportions of the atrium at the entrance lead through to a dramatic interior of fine fireplaces and painted ceilings. Palladio’s design is simple, clear, and not over-crowded. The show has been organised on the same principles, according to Howard Burns, the architectural historian who co-curated it.

C

Palladio’s father was a miller who settled in Vicenza, where the young Andrea was apprenticed to a skilled stonemason. How did a humble miller’s son become a world-renowned architect? The answer in the exhibition is that, as a young man, Palladio excelled at carving decorative stonework on columns, doorways, and fireplaces. He was plainly intelligent and lucky enough to come across a rich patron, Gian Giorgio Trissino, a landowner and scholar, who organised his education, taking him to Rome in the 1540s, where he studied the masterpieces of classical Roman and Greek architecture and the work of other influential architects of the time, such as Donato Bramante and Raphael.

D

Burns argues that social mobility was also important. Entrepreneurs, prosperous from agriculture in the Veneto, commissioned the promising local architect to design their country villas and their urban mansions. In Venice, the aristocracy were anxious to co-opt talented artists, and Palladio was given the chance to design the buildings that have made him famous – the churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore, both easy to admire because they can be seen from the city’s historical centre across a stretch of water.

E

He tried his hand at bridges – his unbuilt version of the Rialto Bridge was decorated with the large pediment and columns of a temple – and, after a fire at the Ducal Palace, he offered an alternative design which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London. Since it was designed by Inigo Jones, Palladio’s first foreign disciple, this is not as surprising as it sounds.>> Form đăng kí giải đề thi thật IELTS 4 kĩ năng kèm bài giải bộ đề 100 đề PART 2 IELTS SPEAKING quý đang thi (update hàng tuần) từ IELTS TUTOR

F

Jones, who visited Italy in 1614, bought a trunk full of the master’s architectural drawings; they passed through the hands of Dukes of Burlington and Devonshire before settling at the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1894. Many are now on display at Palazzo Barbaran. What they show is how Palladio drew on the buildings of ancient Rome as models. The major theme of both his rural and urban buildings was temple architecture, with a strong pointed pediment supported by columns and approached by wide steps.

G

Palladio’s work for rich landowners alienates unreconstructed critics on the Italian left, but among the papers in the show are designs for cheap housing in Venice. In the wider world, Palladio’s reputation has been nurtured by a text he wrote and illustrated, Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura. His influence spread to St Petersburg and to Charlottesville in Virginia, where Thomas Jefferson commissioned a Palladian villa he called Monticello.

H

Vicenza’s show contains detailed models of the major buildings and is leavened by portraits of Palladio’s teachers and clients by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto; the paintings of his Venetian buildings are all by Canaletto, no less. This is an uncompromising exhibition; many of the drawings are small and faint, and there are no sideshows for children, but the impact of harmonious lines and satisfying proportions is to impart in a viewer a feeling of benevolent calm. Palladio is history’s most therapeutic architect.

I

“Palladio, 500 Anni: La Grande Mostra” is at Palazzo Barbaran da Porto, Vicenza, until January 6th, 2009. The exhibition continues at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, from January 31st to April 13th, and travels afterwards to Barcelona and Madrid.

Questions 1-7

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet write:

• TRUE if the statement agrees with the information.
• FALSE if the statement contradicts the information.
• NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

1. The building where the exhibition is staged has been newly renovated.
2. Palazzo Barbaran da Porto typically represents Palladio’s design.
3. Palladio’s father worked as an architect.
4. Palladio’s family refused to pay for his architectural studies.
5. Palladio’s alternative design for the Ducal Palace in Venice was based on an English building.
6. Palladio designed buildings for both wealthy and poor people.
7. The exhibition includes paintings of people by famous artists.

Questions 8-13

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

1. What job was Palladio training for before he became an architect?
2. Who arranged Palladio’s architectural studies?
3. Who was the first non-Italian architect influenced by Palladio?
4. What type of Ancient Roman buildings most heavily influenced Palladio’s work?
5. What did Palladio write that strengthened his reputation?
6. In the writer’s opinion, what feeling will visitors to the exhibition experience?

1. Exhibition

   • Meaning: Triển lãm
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "A new exhibition celebrates Palladio’s architecture 500 years on." - Một cuộc triển lãm mới kỷ niệm kiến trúc của Palladio sau 500 năm.

2. Prosperous

   • Meaning: Thịnh vượng
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Vicenza is a pleasant, prosperous city in the Veneto..."- Vicenza là một thành phố dễ chịu, thịnh vượng ở vùng Veneto.

3. Claim to fame

   • Meaning: Điều làm nên danh tiếng
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "But its principal claim to fame is Andrea Palladio..." - Nhưng điều làm nên danh tiếng chính của nó là Andrea Palladio.

4. Neoclassical

   • Meaning: Tân cổ điển
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "...who is such an influential architect that a neoclassical style is known as Palladian." - ...một kiến trúc sư có ảnh hưởng đến mức một phong cách tân cổ điển được gọi là Palladian.

5. Façade

   • Meaning: Mặt tiền
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Its bold façade is a mixture of rustication and decoration..." - Mặt tiền ấn tượng của nó là sự pha trộn giữa đá thô và trang trí.

6. Pediments

   • Meaning: Phần đầu hồi (kiến trúc)
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "On the second floor the pediments are alternately curved or pointed..." - Ở tầng hai, các phần đầu hồi luân phiên cong hoặc nhọn.>> IELTS TUTOR có hướng dẫn kĩ PHÂN TÍCH ĐỀ THI THẬT TASK 2 (dạng advantages & disadvantages) NGÀY 04/8/2020 IELTS WRITING GENERAL MÁY TÍNH (kèm bài được sửa hs đi thi)

7. Harmonious proportions

   • Meaning: Tỷ lệ hài hòa
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "The harmonious proportions of the atrium at the entrance..." - Tỷ lệ hài hòa của sân trong tại lối vào.

8. Social mobility

   • Meaning: Sự thăng tiến xã hội
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Burns argues that social mobility was also important." - Burns lập luận rằng sự thăng tiến xã hội cũng quan trọng.

9. Patron

   • Meaning: Nhà bảo trợ
   • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "He was plainly intelligent, and lucky enough to come across a rich patron, Gian Giorgio Trissino..." - Anh ấy rõ ràng thông minh và may mắn gặp được một nhà bảo trợ giàu có, Gian Giorgio Trissino.

10. Temple architecture

    • Meaning: Kiến trúc đền thờ
    • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "The major theme of both his rural and urban building was temple architecture..." - Chủ đề chính của cả công trình nông thôn và đô thị của ông là kiến trúc đền thờ.

11. Uncompromising

    • Meaning: Không khoan nhượng
    • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "This is an uncompromising exhibition..." - Đây là một triển lãm không khoan nhượng.

12. Therapeutic

    • Meaning: Thư giãn, mang tính trị liệu
    • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Palladio is history’s most therapeutic architect." - Palladio là kiến trúc sư thư giãn nhất trong lịch sử.

13. Alienates

    • Meaning: Làm xa lánh
    • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Palladio’s work for rich landowners alienates unreconstructed critics on the Italian left..." - Công trình của Palladio dành cho các chủ đất giàu làm xa lánh những nhà phê bình chưa được cải tạo ở cánh tả Ý.

1. NOT GIVEN
2. TRUE
3. FALSE
4. NOT GIVEN
5. FALSE
6. TRUE
7. TRUE>> IELTS TUTOR hướng dẫn PHÂN TÍCH ĐỀ THI 30/5/2020 IELTS WRITING TASK 2 (kèm bài sửa HS đạt 6.5)
8. Stonemason
9. Gian Giorgio Trissino
10. Inigo Jones
11. Temple
12. Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura
13. benevolent calm