Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington

(1674-1753)

*See Chiswick Garden Links Below*

Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington, emerged as the leader of the second triumvirate to dominate English architecture in the eighteenth century. Walpole, in his Anecdotes of Painting, described Boyle as "the Apollo of Arts" and Kent as his "proper priest." He was a close friend of Alexander Pope, whose "Epistle to Burlington" acknowledges his great taste in both architecture and landscape design.

The Neo-Palladian School dominated by Boyle was guided by three masters:

Vitruvius, the Roman architect and military engineer of Augustus' time, was the author of the only ancient treatise on architecture to have survived. Vitruvius laid down proportions and taught correct use of the classical orders.

Andrea Palladio (1518-70) of Vincenza studied Vitruvius and existing architecture in Italy and wrote the book which would dominate neoclassical architecture for centuries: I Quattro libri dell'architettura , The Four Books of Architecture (1570). Palladio's detailed drawings were directly incorporated into the plans of the Neo-Palladians.

Inigo Jones (1573-1652) modeled his own architectural styles on Palladio's. The Neo-Palladians sought to take up where Jones had left off before the Civil War and the "baroque interruption" of the Wren School.

Chiswich House, London (1725): Bi-lateral Symmetry with a Vengeance!

Chiswick Gardens

The landscaping around Chiswick House stands in stark contrast to the severe neoclassicism of the home's architecture. A cascade, several temple follies, and a Palladian bridge mark Chiswick's grounds as transitional landscape designs heavily influenced by Alexander Pope, whom Burlington consulted for guidance.

The Avenue: