‘Palladio and Britain’ - architeria.eu

RIBA LAUNCHES 'PALLADIO AND BRITAIN' WEBSITE


Website launch: 26 January 2009

www.architecture.com/palladio

On 26 January 2009 the RIBA British Architectural Library are launching a major online resource:
Palladio and Britain. To complement the forthcoming exhibition Andrea Palladio: His Life and Legacy
at the Royal Academy of Arts and to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Palladio’s birth this web-hub
will enable users to explore the RIBA’s unparalleled collection of Palladio’s books and drawings –
over 80 percent of those in existence. As well as viewing Palladio’s design drawings and books, visitors
can learn about Palladio’s influence on British architects from the 16th century to the present day.

Britain’s love affair with Palladio began in the early 17th century when Inigo Jones brought to England
a large collection of his drawings. Many more were acquired by Lord Burlington who also bought Jones’s
collection and who in turn left these to the Duke of Devonshire. In 1894, the drawings were given
to the RIBA by the Duke of Devonshire as a gift in trust. The RIBA Library is now home to over
330 of Palladio’s drawings. These drawings are greater in number than for all other Italian
Renaissance architects put together.

Visitors to the site will be able to feast their eyes on Palladio’s own design drawings for villas, palaces
and churches, preliminary drawings for woodcuts in his seminal work I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura,
and drawings and reconstructions of Roman buildings. They can explore British Palladian villas,
interiors and elegant country houses through the outstanding collection of photographs held
in the RIBA Photographs Collection. Visitors can also browse the Library’s collection of early books,
drawings and archives and find out how and why writers, artists, architects and patrons
have been captivated by Palladio through the centuries.

Sunand Prasad, RIBA President says:

“Andrea Palladio’s buildings and drawings supremely exemplify the practice of architecture as a compositional
art. 500 years later his three dimensional imagination, organisational rigour and mastery of scale and
proportion inspire us and set standards that transcend architectural style. The RIBA is fortunate that British
architects were amongst the first to recognise the quality of his drawings and, in the conviction that
Palladio’s relevance will last and last, we will continue to make these treasures available for study
and pleasure as widely as possible.”

Charles Hind, the RIBA’s H.J. Heinz Curator of Drawings says:

‘The RIBA’s collection of Palladio’s drawings is a treasure trove of international importance. Their purchase
by two Englishmen, a century apart, saved them from destruction and their constant use as a reference
by generations of architects have reinforced Palladio’s supreme position in Western architecture.’

The exhibition ‘Andrea Palladio: His Life and Legacy’, currently open in Vicenza, will open in London
on 31 January 2009 at the Royal Academy of Arts.

With thanks to the generous support of the Italian Cultural Institute.


Andrea Palladio: His Life and Legacy
Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J OBD
Open to public: Saturday 31 January – Monday 13 April 2009 / 10am – 6pm daily (last admission 5.30pm)
Late night openings: Fridays until 10pm (last admission 9.30pm)

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CREDITS:
Text and logo: The Royal Institute of British Architects