Editing Venetian window (section)

==Overview==
The Venetian window consists of an arched central light, symmetrically flanked by two shorter [[sidelight]]s. Each sidelight is flanked by two columns or [[pilasters]] and topped by a small [[entablature]]. The entablatures serve as [[Impost (architecture)|imposts]] supporting the semicircular arch that tops the central light. In the library at Venice, [[Jacopo Sansovino|Sansovino]] varied the design by substituting columns for the two inner pilasters. To describe its origin as being either Palladian or Venetian is not accurate; the motif was first used by [[Donato Bramante]]<ref>Ackerman, Jaaes S. (1994). ''Palladio'' (series "Architect and Society")</ref> and later mentioned by Serlio in his seven-volume architectural book ''[[Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva]]'' expounding the ideals of Vitruvius and Roman architecture, this arched window is flanked by two lower rectangular openings, a motif that first appeared in the [[triumphal arch]]es of ancient Rome.

Palladio used the motif extensively, most notably in the arcades of the [[Basilica Palladiana]] in [[Vicenza]]. It is also a feature of his entrance to [[Villa Forni Cerato]]. It is perhaps this extensive use of the motif in the [[Veneto]] that has given the window its alternative name of the Venetian window; it is also known as a Serlian window. Whatever the name or the origin, this form of window has probably become one of the most enduring features of Palladio's work seen in the later architectural styles evolved from Palladianism.<ref>Andrea Palladio, Caroline Constant. ''The Palladio Guide''. [[Princeton Architectural Press]], 1993. p. 42.</ref> According to [[James Lees-Milne]], its first appearance in Britain was in the remodeled wings of [[Burlington House]], London, where the immediate source was actually in [[Inigo Jones]]'s designs for [[Whitehall Palace]] rather than drawn from Palladio himself.<ref>"The earliest example of the revived Venetian window in England", Lees-Milne, ''The Earls of Creation'', 1962:100.</ref>