English Palladian Revival

Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and the principles of formal classical architecture from ancient Greek and Roman traditions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Palladio's interpretation of this classical architecture developed into the style known as Palladianism.

Palladianism emerged in England in the early 17th century, led by Inigo Jones, whose Queen's House at Greenwich has been described as the first English Palladian building. Its development faltered at the onset of the English Civil War. After the Stuart Restoration, the architectural landscape was dominated by the more flamboyant English Baroque. Palladianism returned to fashion after a reaction against the Baroque in the early 18th century, fuelled by the publication of a number of architectural books, including Palladio's own '' I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (''The Four Books of Architecture'') and Colen Campbell's '' Vitruvius Britannicus''. Campbell's book included illustrations of Wanstead House, a building he designed on the outskirts of London and one of the largest and most influential of the early neo-Palladian houses. The movement's resurgence was championed by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, whose buildings for himself, such as Chiswick House and Burlington House, became celebrated. Burlington sponsored the career of the artist, architect and landscaper William Kent, and their joint creation, Holkham Hall in Norfolk, has been described as "the most splendid Palladian house in England". By the middle of the century Palladianism had become almost the national architectural style, epitomised by Kent's Horse Guards at the centre of the nation's capital.

The Palladian style was also widely utilised throughout Europe, often in response to English influences. In Prussia the critic and courtier Francesco Algarotti corresponded with Burlington about his efforts to persuade Frederick the Great of the merits of the style, while Knobelsdorff's opera house in Berlin on the Unter den Linden, begun in 1741, was based on Campbell's Wanstead House. Later in the century, when the style was losing favour in Europe, Palladianism had a surge in popularity throughout the British colonies in North America. Thomas Jefferson sought out Palladian examples, which themselves drew on buildings from the time of the Roman Republic, to develop a new architectural style for the American Republic. Examples include the Hammond–Harwood House in Maryland and Jefferson's own house, Monticello, in Virginia. The Palladian style was also adopted in other British colonies, including those in the Indian subcontinent.

In the 19th century, Palladianism was overtaken in popularity by Neoclassical architecture in both Europe and in North America. By the middle of that century, both were challenged and then superseded by the Gothic Revival in the English-speaking world, whose champions such as Augustus Pugin, remembering the origins of Palladianism in ancient temples, deemed the style too pagan for true Christian worship. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Palladianism has continued to evolve as an architectural style; its pediments, symmetry and proportions are evident in the design of many modern buildings, while its inspirer is regularly cited as having been among the world's most influential architects.

Palladio's architecture

Andrea Palladio was born in Padua in 1508, the son of a stonemason. He was inspired by Roman buildings, the writings of Vitruvius (80 BC), and his immediate predecessors Donato Bramante and Raphael. Palladio aspired to an architectural style that utilised symmetry and proportion to emulate the grandeur of classical buildings. His surviving buildings are in Venice, Veneto region, and Vicenza, and include villas and churches such as the Basilica del Redentore in Venice. Palladio's architectural treatises follow the approach defined by Vitruvius and his 15th-century disciple Leon Battista Alberti, who adhered to principles of classical Roman architecture based on mathematical proportions rather than the ornamental style of the Renaissance. Palladio recorded and publicised his work in the 1570 four-volume illustrated study, ''I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (The Four Books of Architecture).

Palladio's villas are designed to fit with their setting. If on a hill, such as Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana (Villa Capra, or La Rotonda), façades were of equal value so that occupants could enjoy views in all directions. Porticos were built on all sides to enable the residents to appreciate the countryside while remaining protected from the sun. Palladio sometimes used a loggia as an alternative to the portico. This is most simply described as a recessed portico, or an internal single storey room with pierced walls that are open to the elements. Occasionally a loggia would be placed at second floor level over the top of another loggia, creating what was known as a double loggia. Loggias were sometimes given significance in a façade by being surmounted by a pediment. Villa Godi's focal point is a loggia rather than a portico, with loggias terminating each end of the main building.

Palladio would often model his villa elevations on Roman temple façades. The temple influence, often in a cruciform design, later became a trademark of his work. Palladian villas are usually built with three floors: a rusticated basement or ground floor, containing the service and minor rooms; above this, the ''piano nobile'' (noble level), accessed through a portico reached by a flight of external steps, containing the principal reception and bedrooms; and lastly a low mezzanine floor with secondary bedrooms and accommodation. The proportions of each room (for example, height and width) within the villa were calculated on simple mathematical ratios like 3:4 and 4:5. The arrangement of the different rooms within the house, and the external façades, were similarly determined. Earlier architects had used these formulas for balancing a single symmetrical façade; however, Palladio's designs related to the entire structure. Palladio set out his views in ''I quattro libri dell'architettura'': "beauty will result from the form and correspondence of the whole, with respect to the several parts, of the parts with regard to each other, and of these again to the whole; that the structure may appear an entire and complete body, wherein each member agrees with the other, and all necessary to compose what you intend to form."

Palladio considered the dual purpose of his villas as the centres of farming estates and weekend retreats. These symmetrical temple-like houses often have equally symmetrical, but low, wings sweeping away from them to accommodate horses, farm animals, and agricultural stores. The wings, sometimes detached and connected to the villa by colonnades, were designed not only to be functional but also to complement and accentuate the villa. Palladio did not intend them to be part of the main house, but the development of the wings to become integral parts of the main building – undertaken by Palladio's followers in the 18th century – became one of the defining characteristics of Palladianism.

Venetian and Palladian windows

Palladian, Serlian, or Venetian windows are a trademark of Palladio's early career. There are two different versions of the motif: the simpler one is called a Venetian window, and the more elaborate a Palladian window or "Palladian motif", although this distinction is not always observed.

The Venetian window has three parts: a central high round-arched opening, and two smaller rectangular openings to the sides. The side windows are topped by lintels and supported by columns. This is derived from the ancient Roman triumphal arch, and was first used outside Venice by Donato Bramante and later mentioned by Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) in his seven-volume architectural book '' Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva'' (''All the Works of Architecture and Perspective'') expounding the ideals of Vitruvius and Roman architecture. It can be used in series, but is often only used once in a façade, as at New Wardour Castle, or once at each end, as on the inner façade of Burlington House (true Palladian windows).

Palladio's elaboration of this, normally used in a series, places a larger or giant order in between each window, and doubles the small columns supporting the side lintels, placing the second column behind rather than beside the first. This was introduced in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice by Jacopo Sansovino (1537), and heavily adopted by Palladio in the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, where it is used on both storeys; this feature was less often copied. The openings in this elaboration are not strictly windows, as they enclose a loggia. Pilasters might replace columns, as in other contexts. Sir John Summerson suggests that the omission of the doubled columns may be allowed, but the term "Palladian motif" should be confined to cases where the larger order is present.

Palladio used these elements extensively, for example in very simple form in 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. Whatever the name or the origin, this form of window has become one of the most enduring features of Palladio's work seen in the later architectural styles evolved from Palladianism. According to James Lees-Milne, its first appearance in Britain was in the remodelled wings of Burlington House, London, where the immediate source was in the English court architect Inigo Jones's designs for Whitehall Palace rather than drawn from Palladio himself. Lees-Milne describes the Burlington window as "the earliest example of the revived Venetian window in England".

A variant, in which the motif is enclosed within a relieving blind arch that unifies the motif, is not Palladian, though Richard Boyle seems to have assumed it was so, in using a drawing in his possession showing three such features in a plain wall. Modern scholarship attributes the drawing to Vincenzo Scamozzi. Burlington employed the motif in 1721 for an elevation of Tottenham Park in Savernake Forest for his brother-in-law Lord Bruce (since remodelled). William Kent picked it up in his designs for the Houses of Parliament, and it appears in his executed designs for the north front of Holkham Hall. Another example is Claydon House, in Buckinghamshire; the remaining fragment is one wing of what was intended to be one of two flanking wings to a vast Palladian house. The scheme was never completed and parts of what was built have since been demolished.

Early Palladianism

During the 17th century, many architects studying in Italy learned of Palladio's work, and on returning home adopted his style, leading to its widespread use across Europe and North America. Isolated forms of Palladianism throughout the world were brought about in this way, although the style did not reach the zenith of its popularity until the 18th century. An early reaction to the excesses of Baroque architecture in Venice manifested itself as a return to Palladian principles. The earliest neo-Palladians there were the exact contemporaries Domenico Rossi (1657–1737) and Andrea Tirali

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