Giacomo Leoni (1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni, was an
Italian architect
Following is a list of Italian architects.
Early architects
*Marcus Agrippa
*Vitruvius
Medieval architects
* Arnolfo di Cambio
* Pietro Baseggio
*Giotto di Bondone
* Arnolfo di Cambio
*Jacopo Celega
* Andrea Orcagna
*Andrea Pisano
*Gio ...
, born in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. He was a devotee of the work of
Florentine Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Leon Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...
, who had also been an inspiration for
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...
. Leoni thus served as a prominent exponent of
Palladianism
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 ...
in
English architecture
The architecture of England is the architecture of modern England and in the historic Kingdom of England. It often includes buildings created under English influence or by English architects in other parts of the world, particularly in the Engli ...
, beginning in earnest around 1720. Also loosely referred to as
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
, this style is rooted in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
.
Having previously worked in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
, Leoni arrived in England, where he was to make his name, in 1714, aged 28. His fresh, uncluttered designs, with just a hint of baroque flamboyance, brought him to the attention of prominent patrons of the arts.
Early life
Leoni's early life is poorly documented. He is first recorded in Düsseldorf in 1708, and arrived in England sometime before 1715. Between 1715 and 1720 he published in installments the first complete English language edition of
Palladio's ''
I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura
''I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (''The Four Books of Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture by the architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), written in Italian. It was first published in four volumes in 1570 in Venice, illustrated wi ...
'', which Leoni entitled ''The Architecture of A. Palladio, in Four Books''. The translation was a huge success and went into multiple editions in the following years (''illustration, left'') Despite Leoni's often eccentric alterations to Palladio's illustrations, his edition became a main vehicle for disseminating the essence of Palladio's style among British
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
s. The direct impact of Palladio's text was upon building patrons, for these expensive volumes were out of the reach of most builders, who could consult them only briefly in a gentleman's library. In 1738 Isaac Ware, with the encouragement of Richard Boyle, third
Earl of Burlington
Earl of Burlington is a title that has been created twice, the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 and the second in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831. Since 1858, Earl of Burlington has been a courtesy title used by the duk ...
, produced a more accurate translation of Palladio's work with illustrations which were faithful to the originals, but Leoni's changes and inaccuracies continued to influence Palladianism for generations.
On the frontispiece of his edition of Palladio, Leoni titled himself "Architect to his most serene Highness the Elector Palatine." This claim, however, remains unsubstantiated.
[Connor.]
Leoni followed his Palladian volume with an English translation of
Alberti's ''
De Re Aedificatoria'' ("On Architecture"), the first modern book on the theories and practice of architecture.
Works
Giacomo Leoni's principal architectural skill was to adapt Alberti's and Palladio's ideals to suit the landed classes in the English countryside, without straying too far from the principles of the great masters. He made Palladian architecture less austere, and adapted his work to suit the location and needs of his clients. The use of red brick as a building component had begun to replace dressed stone during the
William and Mary
William and Mary often refers to:
* The joint reign of William III of England (II of Scotland) and Mary II of England (and Scotland)
* William and Mary style, a furniture design common from 1700 to 1725 named for the couple
William and Mary may ...
era. Leoni would frequently build in both, depending on availability and what was indigenous to the area of the site.
Leoni's first commissions in England, though for high-profile clients the
Duke of Kent
Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of peerage of Great Britain, Great Britain and the peerage of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, most recently as a Royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom, royal dukedom ...
and
James, Earl Stanhope, first lord of the Treasury, remained unexecuted. His first built design in England was Queensberry House, 7 Burlington Gardens, for John Bligh, Lord Clifton, in 1721.
This was to be an important architectural landmark, as the first London mansion to be built in a terrace with an "antique temple front."
Throughout this career in England, Leoni was to be responsible for the design of at least twelve large country houses and at least six London mansions.
He is also known to have designed church monuments and memorials.
Lyme Park
In the early 1720s, Leoni received one of his most important challenges: to transform a great
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
house,
Lyme Hall
Lyme Park is a large estate south of Disley, Cheshire, England, managed by the National Trust and consisting of a mansion house surrounded by formal gardens and a deer park in the Peak District National Park. The house is the largest in Ches ...
, into a
Palladian
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 ...
palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
. This he did so sympathetically that internally, large areas of the house remained completely unaltered, and the
wood carvings
Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...
by
Grinling Gibbons
Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and othe ...
were left intact. In the central courtyard Leoni achieved the Palladian style by hiding the irregularities and lack of symmetry of the earlier house in a series of
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
s around the courtyard.
The transformation at Lyme was a success. However, it has been claimed that the central Ionic portico, the focal point of the south front, was a little spoiled later by
English architect Lewis Wyatt
Lewis William Wyatt (1777–1853) was a British architect, a nephew of both Samuel and James Wyatt of the Wyatt family of architects, who articled with each of his uncles and began practice on his own about 1805.
Lewis Wyatt is known primarily ...
's 19th-century addition of a box-like structure above its
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
. This
squat tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
, known as a "hamper," is on the site of Leoni's intended
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, from ...
, which was rejected by the owner.
Leoni reconstructed Lyme in an early form of what was to become known as the Palladian style, with the secondary, domestic and staff rooms on a rusticated ground floor, above which was a
piano nobile
The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...
, formally accessed by an exterior double staircase from the courtyard. Above the piano nobile were the more private room and less formal rooms for the family.
In a true Palladian house (one
villa designed by Palladio himself), the central portion behind the portico would contain the principal rooms, while the lower flanking wings were domestic offices usually leading to terminating pavilions which would often be agricultural in use. It was this adaption of the wings and pavilions into the body of the house that was to be a hallmark of the 18th-century Palladianism that spread across Europe, and of which Leoni was an early exponent. At Lyme, while the central portico, resting upon a base reminiscent of Palladio's
Villa Pisani
Villa Pisani at Stra refers to the monumental, late-Baroque rural palace located along the Brenta Canal ( Riviera del Brenta) at Via Doge Pisani 7 near the town of Stra, on the mainland of the Veneto, northern Italy. This villa is one of the lar ...
, dominates the facade, the flanking wings are short, and of the same height as the central block, and the terminating pavilions are merely suggested by a slight projection in the facade. Thus in no way could the portico be seen as a
corps de logis
In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually Classical architecture, classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dict ...
. This has led some architectural commentators to describe the south front as more Baroque than Palladian in style. However, at this early stage his career Leoni appears to have been still following the earlier and more renaissance-inspired Palladianism which had been imported to England in the 17th century by
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
. This is evident by his use of classical pilasters throughout the south facade, in the same way that Jones had used them, a century earlier, at the Whitehall
Banqueting House
In English architecture, mainly from the Tudor period onwards, a banqueting house is a separate pavilion-like building reached through the gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining, especially eating. Or it may be buil ...
and Leoni's mentor, Alberti, had employed them at the
Palazzo Rucellai
Palazzo Rucellai is a palatial fifteenth-century townhouse on the Via della Vigna Nuova in Florence, Italy. The Rucellai Palace is believed by most scholars to have been designed for Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai by Leon Battista Alberti betwe ...
in the 1440s. These features, coupled with the heavy
mannerist
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...
use of rustication on ground floor with segmented arches and windows, is the reason that Lyme appears more "Italian" than many other English houses in the Palladian style and has led to it being described as "the boldest Palladian building in England."
Clandon House
In 1730 Leoni was commissioned by the
2nd Lord Onslow to build what is probably his masterpiece,
Clandon House
Clandon Park House is an early 18th-century grade I listed Palladian mansion in West Clandon, near Guildford in Surrey.
It stands in the south east corner of Clandon Park, a agricultural parkland estate which has been the seat of the Earls of ...
, near
Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
.
[Joekes, p88.] The result was a house of "exuberant grandeur and at the same time endearing naivety".
This coupling of grandeur and naivety was to become Leoni's own style, as he mixed the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and Palladian styles. Clandon was built of a fiery red brick, with the west front dressed with stone pilasters and medallion ornamentation. The interiors contrasted with the exterior: the huge double-height marble hall is in muted stone colours, to provide a foil for the vibrant colours of the adjoining suite of state rooms. The interiors were altered slightly later in the 18th century, but here the house was fortunate; the changes were made in the style of
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
, so were sympathetic to Leoni's original intentions. The marble hall is considered one of the most imposing 18th-century architectural features in England, as are the magnificent plaster work ceilings.
From this point in time the house was largely unaltered, until the 2015 fire. A fire in April 2015 left the house gutted, apart from one room. Much of the architecture, walls, ceilings, floors and historic artifacts that the building housed were destroyed. The house currently remains a shell.
Moor Park
Leoni designed
Moor Park, Hertfordshire, during the 1720s, assisted by the painter Sir
James Thornhill
Sir James Thornhill (25 July 1675 or 1676 – 4 May 1734) was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the ...
. The commission was received from
Bengamin Styles, an entrepreneur later to lose his fortune in the
South Sea Bubble
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
.
[Hudson, pp 657-661.] Leoni completely redesigned the house, originally built for the Duke of Monmouth in 1680, giving it a massive Corinthian
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
which leads into a vast hall with a painted and gilded ceiling, with a
trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
dome, painted by Thornhill.
The house was to have similarities with one of Leoni's more ambitious projects, Lathom House. Both were similar in concept to
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...
's never-built
Villa Mocenigo, with great spreading and segmented colonnaded wings embracing a
cour d'honneur
A ''cour d'honneur'' (; ; german: Ehrenhof) is the principal and formal approach and forecourt of a large building. It is usually defined by two secondary wings projecting forward from the main central block ('' corps de logis''), sometimes w ...
. Today, the wings have been demolished but the square
corps de logis
In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually Classical architecture, classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dict ...
remains.
Lathom House (demolished in 1929) was a truly Palladian house with a large corps de logis, from which spread twin segmented
colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
s linking it to two monumental secondary wings of stables and
domestic offices. The secondary wings or blocks, each crowned with a
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, from ...
, were similar in style to those built by
Henry Flitcroft
Henry Flitcroft (30 August 1697 – 25 February 1769) was a major English architect in the second generation of Palladianism. He came from a simple background: his father was a labourer in the gardens at Hampton Court and he began as a joiner by t ...
for the
Duke of Bedford
Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...
twenty years later at the far larger
Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...
.
Miscellaneous works
However, Leoni's clients were not always satisfied, especially when he designed for clients unaware of the intricacies of Palladian architecture. Leoni had been commissioned by Edward and Caroline Wortley to rebuild the decayed
Wortley Hall
Wortley Hall is a stately home in the small South Yorkshire village of Wortley, located south of Barnsley, England. For more than six decades the hall has been chiefly associated with the British Labour movement. It is currently used by several ...
in
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
In N ...
. A magnificent residence arose. However, in 1800, the Wortleys complained they were unable to move in, as the architect had forgotten to build a staircase. One hundred years later, a
Duchess of Marlborough made the same complaint against Sir
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...
's
Blenheim Palace. Both owners had rather missed the point of a house built on a 'piano nobile' design. A piano nobile is the principal floor, usually above a lower floor or semi-basement. It contains all the rooms necessary for the grandees who inhabit the house. It usually consists of a central salon or saloon (the grandest room beneath the central pediment); on either side of the saloon (in the wings) there is often a slightly less grand, withdrawing room, and then a principal bedroom. After that perhaps would follow a smaller more intimate room, a "cabinet". The point both the Duchess and owners of Wortley had failed to grasp was that the owners lived in 'state' on the 'piano nobile' and had no need to go upstairs, hence only secondary/back staircases would reach the floors that were occupied by children, servants and less favoured guests. Indeed, these houses often did have a grand staircase, but it was external—the elaborate flights of stone steps to the main entrance on the piano nobile. From photographs of Wortley Hall, one can see the large, tall windows of the 'piano nobile' on the lower floor, and the much smaller windows of the secondary rooms above. It did not require a 'grand' staircase'. Wortley Hall survives today as an hotel; the owners still tell the story of the forgetful architect. Among Leoni’s other designs is
Alkrington Hall
Alkrington Garden Village is a suburban area of Middleton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester England.
Historically a part of Lancashire, in the Middle Ages Alkrington was a township in the parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldh ...
in
Middleton, now in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
.
Leoni also designed the longtime US Consolate building in Istanbul, the
Palazzo Corpi.
Influence
Leoni was not the first to import
Palladian Architecture
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 ...
to England; that accolade belongs firmly to
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
, who had designed the Palladian
Queen's House
Queen's House is a former royal residence built between 1616 and 1635 near Greenwich Palace, a few miles down-river from the City of London and now in the London Borough of Greenwich. It presently forms a central focus of what is now the Old Ro ...
at
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
in 1616 and the more ornate
Banqueting House
In English architecture, mainly from the Tudor period onwards, a banqueting house is a separate pavilion-like building reached through the gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining, especially eating. Or it may be buil ...
in
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
in 1619. Nor was he the only architect practising the concept during the Palladianism.
William Kent
William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, but ...
designed
Holkham Hall
Holkham Hall ( or ) is an 18th-century English country house, country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for the Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation), 1st Earl of Leicester ...
in 1734 in the Palladian manner;
Thomas Archer
Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his
contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque archit ...
was also a contemporary, although his work tended toward the
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style that had been popular in England prior to the Palladian revival. Palladian architecture was able to flourish in England though, as it was suited to the great country houses being built or re-modelled; because unlike the
French, the
British aristocracy
The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the (landed) gentry. The nobility of its four constituent home nations has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although now they retain only the rights to stand for election ...
placed primary importance on their country estates.
For all his work and fame, Leoni did not achieve great financial benefit. It is recorded that in 1734,
Lord Fitzwalter of Moulsham gave him £25 to ease his "being in distress.". Later, as Leoni lay dying in 1746, Lord Fitzwalter sent him a further £8 "par charité" He is known to have had a wife, Mary, and two sons, one of whom is "thought" to have been a clerk to the great exponent of Palladianism
Matthew Brettingham.
Leoni did not only design grand mansions. His lesser designs included an octagonal garden temple at Cliveden for Lord Orkney, in 1735; an elegant arch in purest Palladian tradition, at
Stowe
Stowe may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Stowe, Buckinghamshire, a civil parish and former village
**Stowe House
**Stowe School
* Stowe, Cornwall, in Kilkhampton parish
* Stowe, Herefordshire, in the List of places in Herefordshire
* Stowe, Linc ...
, for the
Marquis of Buckingham
Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingham. ...
; and a
Portland stone bridge at Stone Court,
Carshalton
Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton ...
. Leoni is thought to have designed a new church when working for the 8th
Lord Petre at
Thorndon Hall
Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and from central London.
Formerly the country seat of the Petre family who now reside at nearby In ...
, Essex. The original church had been swept away to make room for the new mansion he was designing there.
Today, it is difficult to assess Leoni's works as much has been destroyed.
Amongst his country houses,
Moulsham, built in 1728, was pulled down in 1816; Bodecton Park, completed in 1738 was razed in 1826 and Lathom, completed circa 1740, was lost like so many other
English country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
s in the 20th century. By the early 20th century, the style of Palladianism which Leoni's books and works did so much to promote,
[Curl, p27] was so
quintessentially English
The culture of England is defined by the cultural norms of England and the English people. Owing to England's influential position within the United Kingdom it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate English culture from the culture of the U ...
that the fact that it was regarded as purely Italian at the time of its inception was largely forgotten. So indigenous to England does it seem, that in 1913 – a time of huge pride in all things British – Sir
Aston Webb
Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in pa ...
's new principal
facade at
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
strongly resembled Leoni's 'Italian palazzo.'
Death and legacy
Giacomo Leoni died in 1746 and was buried in Old St Pancras Churchyard in London.
His name is listed on the
Burdett-Coutts Memorial, erected in that churchyard in 1879 by
Baroness Burdett Coutts, listing the important graves lost.
By the time of his death, Palladianism had been taken up by a whole new generation of British architects working in the classical forms, and was to remain in fashion until it was replaced by the Neoclassical interpretations of such architects as
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
.
His final intended publication, which would have added to an evaluation of his work "''Treatise of Architecture and ye Art of Building Publick and Private Edifices—Containing Several Noblemen's Houses & Country Seats''’ was to have been a book of his own designs and interpretations. It remained uncompleted at the time of his death.
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References
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* T. P. Connor, ‘Leoni, Giacomo (c.1686–1746)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 200
accessed 6 Nov 2008*
* A. C. Edwards, ed., The account books of Benjamin Mildmay, Earl Fitzwalter (1977)
English Heritage. National Monuments Recordretrieved 7 November 2008.
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Wortley Hall (a brief history)retrieved 2 November 2008.
retrieved 2 November 2008.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leoni, Giacomo
1686 births
1746 deaths
18th-century Italian architects
Palladian architecture
Republic of Venice architects
Italian emigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain
18th-century English architects