The Ascension of the Bourgeoisie
Daily Life
“The country villa – a place of representation and pleasure.”
The bourgeoisie employed prominent artists, such as Andrea Palladio in Italy, to design both city palaces and country villas used as summer residences. Decoration of the residences of the bourgeoisie corresponds with the owner’s position and function. Allegorical images of nature – the four seasons or the four elements – are frequently seen, and this connection with nature is carried through and enhanced by landscape paintings on walls or on canvas. Still-life paintings, which made appealing interior decorations as supraports in dining halls, hunting rooms and studies, also impacted the viewer’s senses and heightened their experience.
Villa Albergati

1660–1680
Zola Predosa, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Architect: Giovan Giacomo Monti (1620–1692); painters: Angelo Michele Colonna (1604–1687) and Giuseppe Alboresi (1632–1677); painter: Antonio Burrini (1656–1727); Marcantonio Chiarini (1652–1734); Vittorio Maria Bigari (1692–1776); Stefano Orlandi (1681–1760); Prospero (1710–1784) and Gaetano Pesci (?)
The monumental and sumptuous villa of this noble family stands in the fertile countryside close to the city.