Serlio, Sebastiano (1475–1554)

Bolognese architect and painter. He was the author of Regale generali di architettura/General Rules of Architecture (published in six parts 1537–51, with a posthumous seventh part in 1575), which set down practical rules for the use of the classical orders and was used by architects of the neoclassical style throughout Europe.

He was born at Bologna, and trained by his father as a painter. He went to Rome in 1514, and became assistant to Peruzzi, whom he accompanied to Venice in 1527 after the Sack of Rome. Here he began writing his book. In 1541 he was invited to Paris by Francis I, by whom he was employed at the palace of Fontainebleau for some years. The course of French architecture was to be greatly influenced by his limited number of executed buildings, and even more so by L'Architettura/Architecture.