By Anne Leader
Italian architect, engineer, and author Tommaso Temanza was born on 3 March 1705 in Venice, where he spent his career designing buildings and writing about art and architecture. Born into a family of architects, Temanza is best known for the little church of La Maddalena in Venice, a domed, centrally planned building reminiscent of the Roman Pantheon and Palladian buildings, especially the Tempietto Barbaro at Maser. Temanza was well versed in ancient architecture, having spent time studying in Rimini and publishing Delle antichità di Rimino in 1741. In 1778 he published his Vite dei più celebri architetti e scultori veneziani che fiorirono nel secolo decimosesto, the first biographical collection to focus on Venetian sculptors and architects. He also published a historical and topographical study of his native city, Antica pianta dell’indita città di Venezia, delineata circa la metà del XII. secolo, ed ora per la prima volta pubblicata, ed illustrata: Dissertazione topografico-storico-critico, in 1781.
Reference: “Temanza, Tommaso.“ Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Santa Maria Maddalena, Venice. Photo: Didier Descouens. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons; Photo: Lucidi Umberto
Oratory of S. Margherita, Padua.
Vite dei più celebri architetti e scultori veneziani che fiorirono nel secolo decimosesto, 1778
Antica pianta dell’indita città di Venezia…, 1781.