Placido Columbani was an Italian architectural designer who worked chiefly in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the latter part of the 18th century. He belonged to the school of the Adams and

Pergolesi Pergolesi is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, (1710–1736), Italian composer, violinist, and organist * Michael Angelo Pergolesi, 18th-century Italian decorative artist {{Surname Italian-langu ...

, and like them frequently designed the enrichments of

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

. He was a prolific producer of

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

-pieces, which are often mistaken for Adam work, of moulded

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

s, and painted plaques for cabinets and the like. English furniture designers of the end of the 18th century, such as the Adams,

Hepplewhite George Hepplewhite (1727? – 21 June 1786) was a cabinetmaker. He is regarded as having been one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale. There are no pieces of furnit ...

and Sheraton, were influenced by his graceful, flowing and classical conceptions. His books are still a valuable store-house of sketches for internal architectural decoration.

Published works

His principal works are: *''Vases and Tripods'' (1770) *''A New Book of Ornaments, containing a variety of elegant designs for Modern Panels, commonly executed in

Stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

, Wood or Painting, and used in decorating Principal Rooms'' *''A variety of Capitals, Friezes and Cornickes, and how to increase and decrease them, still retaining their proportions'' (1776) He also assisted

John Crunden John Crunden (c. 1741 – 1828) was an English architect of country houses and villas, and mobiliary designer. Biography Most of his early inspiration was drawn from Chippendale and his school. He produced a very large number of designs which wer ...

in the production of ''The Chimneypiece Maker's Daily Assistant'' (1766).

References

18th-century English architects 18th-century Italian architects {{UK-architect-stub