Palladio's architecture: Inigo Jones and the Whig taste makers

The architectural style of Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) and his Renaissance villas was set out in his 1570 book Quattro Libri, showing a style that was calm, simple, sophisticated, bound by the rules of proportion and above all, planned.  Enthusiasm for the style was first seen in the writing of up-and-coming British architect Inigo Jones (1573-1652). In Vicenza Inigo Jones minutely examined Palladio's villas in person, then returned to England ready to introduce this classical architecture into England.

Jones' Italianised taste a la Palladio affected local architecture both directly and indirectly. He had a direct impact through the buildings he designed as Surveyor of the King's Works - the Banqueting House in Whitehall; Queen's House at Greenwich and St Paul's Covent Garden. Classical Palladian patterns were introduced into homes via fully integrated architecture, furniture and decoration. And he had an indirect impact, as a result of having travelled to Italy with the young Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel (died 1646). This was the man who went on to become one of the greatest patrons and art collectors of his era.

Villa Capra/Rotunda, Vicenza

designed by Palladio

in 1570 

By 1700-1715, classicism was seen to meet the needs of politically ascendant Whigs for the ancient rules, rationality and a plain, serious style. Thus arguably the greatest era of arts occurred under Whig rule. After their Grand Tour, the great Whig patrons returned home ready to build, especially my old favourites, Lords Pembroke (1656–1732), Burlington (1694-1753) and Leicester (1697-1759).

These were honourable men for whom politics was more than a bunfight between vested interests. They believed that politics included ethics, art and aesthetics. And their politics laid emphasis on social duty, moderation, tolerance, stoical good sense, politeness, decency and the civilised virtues; a distrust of enthusiasms and of vigorous dissent. We can safely say they created a British Georgian style, using the Italian design of Andrea Palladio.

Once adapted to British taste, the Italianised villa was built on hills, giving emphasis to the long gallery and focusing on maximising the views. In Kent, Mereworth Castle was closely modelled by Colen Campbell on the most famous Palladian site, Villa Rotunda in Vicenza. In Derbyshire, Chatsworth House was an Elizabethan home rebuilt by the first Duke of Devonshire early in the C18th. The southern and eastern fronts of his new classical palazzo style building were designed by William Talman, while the west and north fronts were done by Thomas Archer. Talman was directly influenced by Indigo Jones and his books on Palladio.

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl Burlington, had lands in Ireland, Yorkshire and fashionable NW London. In 1714-15 Burlington travelled through Belgium, Holland, Germany then Italy as a gentleman architect. For him, taste came directly from his Grand Tour and Palladianism. On his way home, Boyle stayed in Pisa Padua and Venice where he saw the Vicenza villas of Andrea Palladio.

Chiswick House, London

designed by by Lord Burlington and William Kent 

in 1729

So what was the charm of a 16th century Italian architect to early 18th century English Grand Tourists? In C16th Italy, Martin Randall Travels noted that a villa was a farm; in the Veneto agriculture it had become a serious business for the city-based mercantile aristocracy.  As the Venetian maritime empire gradually crumbled before the advancing Ottoman Turks, Venetians compensated by investing in the terra ferma of their hinterland.

But beauty was equally the determinant of form, though beauty of a special kind. Palladio was designing buildings for a clientele who, whether princes of commerce, traditional soldier-aristocrats or gentlemen of leisure, shared an intense admiration for ancient Rome. They were children of the High Renaissance and steeped in humanist learning. Palladio was the first architect regularly to apply the colonnaded temple fronts to secular buildings.

The beauty of his villas was not solely a matter of applied ornament. As can be seen particularly in his low-budget, pared-down villas and auxiliary buildings, there was a geometric order which arose from sophisticated systems of proportion and an unerring intuitive sense of design. It is little wonder that Andrea Palladio became arguably the most influential architect the western world has ever known.

Martin Randall Travel’s three tours of Vicenza in 2013 will cover most of the finest surviving Palladian villas and palaces, as well as some of the lesser-known and less accessible ones. Each tour takes six days.