Giacomo Leoni
Giacomo Leoni (* 1686 in Venice ; † June 8, 1746 in London ?), Also known in English-speaking countries as James Leoni , was an Italian architect of the Georgian style (an English style related to classicism ). From 1714 Leoni worked mainly in England.
His most important works are Clandon House in the park of the same name and Lyme Park. His buildings and especially his translations of the architectural theoretical works of Andrea Palladio and Leon Battista Alberti into English made the Renaissance and thus Roman antiquity well known among English-speaking architects and thus paved the way for the architectural style of (neo) Palladianism .
resume
Giacomo Leoni grew up in northern Italy. His artistic role model was the humanist and Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), who had already been the most important source of inspiration for Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). After designing buildings for the Electoral Palatinate , Leoni came to England in 1714 at the age of 28. Here, too, Leoni remained true to Palladianism, but at the same time adapted his style to English conditions. Together with Alessandro Galilei , he became the most important Italian architect in London at that time. However, he became known for his mansion designs, for which the Palladian style was particularly suitable. Despite its Italian roots, Leoni's style is generally seen as "English".
Leoni was married to Mary Leoni and had two children, John Philip and Joseph. In the last two years of his life, from 1744, Giacomo Leoni lived in London at 52 Poland Street (later demolished), where he probably also died. Leoni was buried in the Old St. Pancras Cemetery. He left no will and appears to have died in poor circumstances.
Works
Around 1720 built Leoni Moor Park , a 1678–1679 brick country estate in Hertfordshire . He clad the facade with Portland limestone and added a large pillared courtyard ( portico ) and colonnades of the Tuscan column order (later demolished). The wings with a chapel were demolished between 1789 and 1799.
In 1721 Leoni designed the later Queensberry House in London's Old Burlington Street for John Bligh, the future Earl of Darnley . The building received a dome and a large double staircase. The building was named Queensberry House under its next owner, Charles Douglas, the third Duke of Queensberry , who turned it into a salon for famous writers. In 1775 the first earl of Uxbridge commissioned John Vardy to add three bays to the building; it was also clad in white Portland limestone. In 1855, Queensberry House was acquired by the Bank of England and furnished with a tall banking hall and oculus windows. After a sale to another building and vacancy in the 1990s, the building finally attracted Jil Sander's interest . The company had the architect and interior designer Michael Gabellini carry out a restoration and redesign of Leonis Bau, which earned Gabellini the Decade of Design Award 2002 from the International Interior Design Association (IIDA).
1723–1732, Leoni redesigned Lyme Park , a Tudor-style country estate (i.e. from Elizabethan times ), into a magnificent Italian-style building for Peter Legh . While he left some of the interiors almost unchanged and included, for example, the sculpture by Grinling Gibbons , Leoni rebuilt the facade in the neo-Palladian style, with a large Ionic portico and symmetrical wings on a rustic-looking base. The dome he planned over the gable in the center of the facade was rejected by the owner; Instead, the architect Lewis Wyatt built a box-shaped tower there around 1817. Lyme Park became the model for Aston Webb's redesign of the east facade of Buckingham Palace in 1913; Above all, Webb took on the gable with three columns and adjacent double pilasters over a triple arcade as well as Wyatt's box-shaped top.
1724–1734 Leoni built Lathom House , a mansion in Lathom , Lancashire, for Sir Thomas Booth . The proportions of the building are closely based on the Greek ideal of the Golden Shed . In 1859 the building was expanded because the owners needed more space, and another storey was added to the middle part of the building with the gable (a barely protruding middle risalit ).
1730-1733 Leoni was commissioned by the Earl of Onslow with either the new construction or a major renovation of Clandon Park , a country estate outside of Guildford in Surrey . Leoni combined baroque and neopalladianism for the building. He designed the outer walls in red brick, for the western front he used stone pilasters and decorative medallions . The interior, which was not completed until after 1740, creates a contrast with the exterior of the building: the large marble hall, which extends over two floors, is kept in muted stone colors; it and the plastered ceilings are considered outstanding examples of 18th century English architecture. The interior has hardly been changed to this day; minor changes were made a little after completion in the 18th century under Robert Adam . The rooms are therefore the most fully preserved work of the Italian architect.
In addition, Leoni designed the Bold Hall in Lancashire for Peter Bold in 1730 , and in 1740 Burton or Bodecton Park in Sussex for R. Biddulph, as well as the construction of Moulsham Park in Essex , which was demolished in 1810, for Benjamin Mildmay, Earl FitzWalter. Another construction by Leoni is Alkrington Hall at Middleton, Rochdale , in Lancashire. In addition to mansions, Leoni also built an octagonal garden temple in Cliveden, several smaller garden structures including a bridge and a classic arch in the Stowe Landscape Garden in northwest Buckingham in Buckinghamshire . Towards the beginning of his time in England, Leoni should also design a palace-like building in Grove Park , a park in the London suburb of Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton ; the construction was never realized, but Leoni probably designed a white Portland limestone bridge in the park (also called the Leoni Bridge ).
Unrealized and controversial works
Leoni probably designed a new church for Thorndon Hall in Essex . The previous building had been demolished to make room for the new mansion that Leoni was planning there.
It has also been suggested that Leoni was involved in the construction of Bramham Park , a country estate near Wetherby in West Yorkshire . Since Bramham Park was built in baroque style and was completed in 1710 - before Leoni's arrival in England - Leoni's participation is rather unlikely.
Leonis translations
His translations of the classical architectural theoretical works by Alberti and Palladio also had a great influence on architecture in the English-speaking world: The Architecture of A. Palladio (also Palladio's Four Books of Architecture ), the first English edition of Palladio's I Quattro Libri dell ', was published in 1715. Architettura . Over the next few years the book was reprinted several times (1721, 1725, 1742) and also translated into French (1726).
In 1726, Leon Battista Albertis followed a ten-volume work on architecture, De Re Aedificatoria ; Translated into Italian by Cosima Bartoli and into English by Leoni, the work was published as a bilingual edition (left the Italian, right the English translation) under the title The Architecture of Leon Battista Alberti (also The Ten Books of Architecture ). Alberti's translation also saw several new editions (1739, 1751, 1755, the latter only in English); In 1741 the translated books on painting and sculpture were reissued individually.
Both Leoni's translations, together with Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus and William Kent's The Designs of Inigo Jones ... with Some Additional Designs, formed the most important basis for the rediscovery of ancient forms in England. This led to the transition from the English Baroque to Neopalladianism.
Individual evidence
Parts of the article in its original version of April 7, 2007 are based on the article Giacomo Leoni of the English Wikipedia in the version of April 30, 2007 . Also to be mentioned:
- ^ Poland Street Area , on the British History Online website (accessed April 7, 2007)
- ^ A b c Stephen, Leslie, & Lee, Sidney (1893). Dictionary of National Biography . (P. 65). Electronic copy on google Book Search (accessed April 9, 2007)
- ↑ Shan Kelly (January 1, 2003). In the bank. Gabellini Associates racks up the IIDA's top honor for 2002, remaking a historic London bank as a Jil Sander flagship. Interior Design ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; accessed April 10, 2007)
- ^ Lyme Park - Disley, Cheshire (NT) , on the UK Heritage website (accessed April 12, 2007)
- ↑ Lathom House , on the Internet site The Lathom Angel about the Bootle-Wilbraham family ( memento of the original of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; accessed April 7, 2007)
- ↑ Clandon Park: About this property , on the website of the National Trust ( Memento of the original dated February 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; accessed April 7, 2007)
- ↑ Carshalton: a brief history , on the website The London Borough of Sutton ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; accessed April 7, 2007)
- ↑ Stephen, Leslie, & Lee, Sidney (1893). Dictionary of National Biography . (P. 65). Electronic copy on google Book Search (accessed April 9, 2007); so still today in: Bramham Park. Yorkshire: Bramham Park, Estate Office. (No author, no page numbering.) - Quoted in Braham Park , an article in the making by user Giano on Wikipedia.
- ^ Leslie, Stephen & Lee, Sidney (1893). Dictionary of National Biography . (P. 64). Electronic copy on google Book Search (accessed April 9, 2007)
- ^ Leslie, & Lee, Sidney (1893). Dictionary of National Biography . (Pp. 64-65). Electronic copy on google Book Search (accessed April 9, 2007)
Web links
- Electronic copy of the first edition of The Architecture of Leon Battista Alberti (Books IV), bilingual with Leoni's translation (Italian, English; with sketches by Leoni on pages 10 , 17 , 33 , 40 , 42 , 49 , 53 , 54 , 72 )
- Pictures of the Queensberry House after restoration and renovation by Michael Gabellini (bottom right on the page)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leoni, Giacomo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Leoni, James |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian architect of the Georgian style |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1686 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Venice |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 8, 1746 |
| Place of death | unsure: London |