Selva, Giovanni Antonio

Selva, Giovanni Antonio (1751–1819). Important Venetian architect. A pupil of Temanza, he travelled in Italy, France, Austria, The Netherlands, and England before establishing a practice in Venice where he became a leading Neo-Classicist, much influenced by Antonio Canova (1757–1822), the Neo-Classical sculptor. His early works show a pronounced Palladian influence, notably the Teatro La Fenice, Venice (1788–92—burnt 1996, and subsequently restored), but his later designs were powerful essays in Neo-Classicism, and include the grandly Roman Duomo, Cologna Veneta (1806–17), and the Churches of San Maurizio (1806–10) and Santissima Nome di Gesù (1815–34), both in Venice. He also won commissions (1815–19) to design public parks at Castello and the Giudecca, and the cemetery on the island of San Michele. He prepared works by Chambers, Perrault, and Scamozzi for publication, wrote Sulla voluta ionica (On the Ionic Volute—1814), and taught Jappelli.

Bibliography

E. Bassi (1936);
D. Howard (1980);
Meeks (1966);
Mezzanotte (1966);
Milizia (1785);
Jane Turner (1996)