Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork (
April 25,
1694 –
December 15,
1753), born in
Yorkshire, was a descendant of
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork.
Lord Burlington, also known as "the architect Earl", was instrumental in the revival of
Palladian architecture. He succeeded to the title and extensive estates in
Yorkshire and
Ireland at the age of ten. Three foreign
Grand Tours 1714 –
1719 and a further trip to Paris in
1726 gave him opportunities to develop his taste. His professional skill as an architect (always supported by a mason-contractor) was extraordinary in an English aristocrat. He carried his copy of
Andrea Palladio's book
I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura with him in touring the
Veneto in 1719, and made copious notes in the margins.
Burlington never closely inspected Roman ruins or made detailed drawings on the sites; he relied on Palladio and
Scamozzi as his interpreters of the classic tradition. Another source of his inspiration were drawings he collected, some drawings of Palladio himself, which had belonged to Inigo Jones (
illustration, left) and many more of Inigo Jones' pupil
John Webb, which Kent published in 1727 as
Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones... with Some Additional Designs that were by Kent and Burlington. The important role of Jones' pupil Webb in transmitting the palladian—neo-palladian heritage was not understood until the 20th century. Burlington's Palladio drawings include many reconstructions after Vitruvius of Roman buildings, which Burlington planned to publish. In the meantime, in 1723 he adapted the palazzo facade in the illustration for the London house of General Wade in Old Burlington Street, which was engraved for
Vitruvius Britannicus iii (1725). The process put a previously unknown Palladio design into circulation.
Burlington's first project, appropriately, was his own London residence,
Burlington House, where he dismissed his
baroque architect
James Gibbs when he returned from the continent in 1719 and employed the Scottish architect
Colen Campbell, with the history-painter-turned-designer
William Kent for the interiors. The courtyard front of Burlington House, prominently sited in
Piccadilly, was the first major executed statement of neo-Palladianism.
In the 1720s Burlington and Campbell parted, and Burlington was assisted in his projects by the young
Henry Flitcroft, "Burlington Harry"— who developed into a major architect of the second neopalladian generation— and Daniel Garrett— a straightforward palladian architect of the second rank— and some draughtsmen.
By the early 1730s Palladian style had triumphed as the generally-accepted manner for a British country house or public building. For the rest of his life Burlington was "the Apollo of the arts" as
Horace Walpole phrased it— and Kent his 'proper priest."
Many of Burlington's projects have suffered, from rebuilding or additions, from fire, from losses due to urban sprawl. In many cases his ideas were informal: at
Holkham Hall the architect
Matthew Brettingham recalled that "the general ideas were first struck out by the Earls of Burlington and
Leicester, assisted by Mr.
William Kent." Brettingham's engraved publication of Holkham credited Burlington specifically with ceilings for the portico and the north dressing-room.
Burlington's architectural drawings, inherited by his son-in-law the
Duke of Devonshire are preserved at
Chatsworth, and enable attributions that would not otherwise be possible.
|
Colen Campbell's Burlington House as it was in 1855, before a third storey was added |
* (
Burlington House, Piccadilly, London): Burlington's own contribution is likely to have been restricted to the former colonnade (demolished 1868) In London, Burlington offered designs for features at several aristocratic free-standing dwellings, none of which have survived: Queensbury House in Burlington Gardens (a gateway); Warwick House, Warwick Street (interiors); Richmond House, Whitehall (the main building);
*
Tottenham Park, Wiltshire, for Charles, Lord Bruce: from 1721, executed by Burlington's protegé
Henry Flitcroft (enlarged and remodelled since). In the original house, the high corner pavilion blocks of
Inigo Jones'
Wilton were provided with the "
Palladian window" motif to be seen at Burlington House. Burlington, with a good eye for garden effects, also designed ornamental buildings in the park (demolished)
*
Westminster School, the Dormitory: 1722 – 1730 (altered, bombed and restored), the first public work by Burlington, for which Sir
Christopher Wren had provided a design, which was rejected in favor of Burlington's, a triumph for the Palladians and a sign of changing English taste.
*
Old Burlington Street, London: houses, including one for General Wade: 1723 (demolished). General Wade's house adapted the genuine Palladio facade in Burlington's collection of drawings.
* Waldershare Park, Kent, the Belvedere Tower: 1725 – 27. A design for a garden eye-catcher that might have been attributed to Colen Campbell, were it not for a ground plan among Burlington's drawings at Chatsworth.
*
Chiswick House Villa, Middlesex: The "Casina" in the gardens, 1717, was Burlington's first essay. The house he designed for himself was demolished. The
villa is one of the gems of European 18th-century architecture.
* The
Assembly Rooms, York: 1731 – 32 (facade remodelled). In the
basilica-like space, Burlington attempted an archaeological reconstruction "with doctrinaire exactitude" (Colvin 1995) of the "Egyptian Hall" described by
Vitruvius, as it had been interpreted in Palladio's
Quattro Libri. The result is one of the grandest Palladian public spaces.
* Castle Hill, Devonshire
* Northwick Park, (now Gloucestershire)
* Kirby Hall, Yorkshire. An elevation
Richard married Lady Dorothy Saville on
21 March,
1720. Dorothy was daughter of
William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax and Mary Finch.
Mary was daughter of
Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and Lady Essex Rich. Essex was daughter of
Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick and Anne Cheeke. Anne was daughter of Sir Thomas Cheeke of Pirgo and a senior Essex Rich.
The elder Essex was daughter of
Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and
Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich. Essex was probably named after her maternal grandfather
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex. Her maternal grandmother was
Lettice Knollys.
They had two children:
*Lady Dorothy Boyle (
14 May,
1724 –
2 May,
1742). She was married to George Fitzroy,
Earl of Euston, second son of
Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton and Lady Henrietta Somerset. No known descedants.
*
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle (
27 October,
1731 –
8 December,
1751). She married
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire. They were parents to
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire,
George Augustus Henry Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington and two other children.
*
Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington*
Lord Burlington*
Howard Colvin,
Dictionary of British Architects 3rd ed. 1995
