Architecture: A Very Short Introduction

_{16. Chiswick Villa, London, England (1725); Lord Burlington (1694–1753). Lord Burlington had a Jacobean mansion to the west of London, and was an enthusiastic amateur architect and devotee of Palladio, whose drawings he collected. The villa shown here was built next to the large house, and was an architectural showpiece that was used for entertaining, most famously for entertaining artists, some of whom Burlington supported with his patronage. The villa therefore had an influence much greater than its size alone would indicate. Lady Burlington had her bedroom here, and was the only person who actually lived in the building, which operated as an adjunct to the house (which is now demolished), and she had an important influence on the interiors, as did William Kent (1685–1748) who lived as part of the household and was responsible for the design of much of the furniture and the gardens. In designing the villa, Burlington took his inspiration mainly from Palladio’s Villa Capra (Figure 15) and Rocca Pisani, at Lonigo (1576) a villa by Palladio’s pupil Vincenzo Scamozzi (1552–1616), which adapted Palladio’s design by reducing the number of porticoes to one, and making the central rotunda an octagonal salone (or saloon). Burlington followed him in these modifications.}