Page:Character of Renaissance Architecture.djvu/126

96 Palladio was the first architect of the Renaissance who was not at any time either a painter or a sculptor. He begins his well-known book as follows: "Guided by natural inclination, I began in my earliest years to devote myself to the study of



, and having been always of the opinion that the ancient Romans were in building, as in many other things, far in advance of all those who came after them, I took for my master and guide Vitruvius, who is the only ancient writer on this art,