This book flows along at a nice pace, without being facile.
There is a brief biography of Andrea Palladio, for the benefit of those to whom he is not yet a familiar figure, which includes all too many people outside the field of architecture, surprisingly when one considers his influence on so many artists and others, over the centuries since his death, at the age of seventy-two, over four hundred and twenty years ago - in 1580, to be more precise.
Palladio's palaces, churches and villas are each treated as separate groups and designs based on his ideas are featured, from both sides of the Atlantic. A few paragraphs are dedicated to each design and illustrated but there are no colour plates in this volume so it may not be the ideal way to view Palladio's work for the first time. Experts will find little, if anything, that they did not already know but students may find plenty to stimulate interest, as will anyone who has not previously enjoyed the opportunity to view Palladio's architecture.
