The History of Art Society was very fortunate in hearing a talk about Palladio and Palladianism in northern Europe and America, given by Professor Bruce Boucher, who is based at the University of Virginia. His talk showed clearly why Palladio’s architecture became so popular in the years from around 1550 in northern Italy and then, promoted by his own publication of ‘The Four Books of Architecture’ in 1570, in northern Europe. He showed how Inigo Jones gave this style a new lease of life under the court patronage of James I and Charles I and then how, rather unexpectedly, it was revived again by Colen Campbell and the circle around Lord Burlington in the 1720s. Towards the end of his beautifully-illustrated talk, Professor Boucher explained how Palladio’s book, in all its variant forms, crossed the Atlantic to become a mainstay of amateur (and some professional) architects in the American colonies which were shortly to become the United States of America. His final illustration was, appropriately enough, of the pure Palladian University of Virginia founded by that keen amateur architect, Thomas Jefferson.
J.D.H.
