A. Palladio

Brief History: The Villa Barbaro is located in the small village of Maser, located to the northwest of Venice. Built for Daniele Barbaro and his brother, both of whom played prominent roles in the Venetian Republic's civic life, the villa was largely completed by 1558. The Tempietto (chapel) was constructed 1579-80.

Above are two views of the Villa Almerico or Rotonda, designed by Palladio and begun c. 1565. In England, Palladio's imitators include Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, and John Wood. Below are several examples of their most famous buildings.

This is the Queen's House, located in Greenwich, England. Queen Anne of Denmark, wife of King James I, commissoned Inigo Jones (1573-1652) to build the villa in 1614. At Anne's death in 1619, only the basement and walls of the ground floor were complete. James' son, Charles I, gave the building and its grounds to his new queen, Henrietta Marie of France. Inigo Jones completed work on the exterior around 1630. By the beginning of England's Civil War in 1642, construction and decoration of the interior were ongoing.

Among England's most famous architects is Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). A brilliant student in all of his studies, Wren became a professor of astronomy at Oxford in 1661. As one of the Royal Society's founding members, he avidly investigated most areas of science and mathematics. For Wren, architecture posed a series of problems for which applied mathematics furnished solutions. With his design and construction of the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford (1664-69), Wrens' reputation as a brilliant architect was established. When the Great Fire of 2 September 1666 destroyed St. Paul's, King Charles II appointed Wren as one of 3 Royal Commissioners responsible for rebuilding London. While the King did not accept Wren's plan for rebuilding the city, his support gave Wren opportunity to design and rebuild 51 of the 88 burned churches. Prolific though he was, his greatest achievement is St. Paul's, where his grave bears the simple admonition: "If you require a monument, look about you."

The building at left is the Royal Crescent, designed and built by John Wood the younger in Bath, England. Adorned with 100 columns, this row of elegant town houses appears palatial. Completed in 1767, the Royal Crescent served as the most fashionable address in Bath for local and London aristocracy. Together with Queen Square and Circus, the Royal Crescent's design reveals the influence of Palladio's classical style both in its symmetry and ornamentation. Thus the architecture reminds viewers of Bath's Roman heritage, melding antiquity and the Enlightenment.

ANDREA PALLADIO (1608-80)