Burlington, Richard Boyle, 3rd earl of Burlington and 4th earl of Cork

Burlington, Richard Boyle, 3rd earl of Burlington and 4th earl of Cork (1684–1753). Patron and architect. Following visits to Italy in 1714–19, Burlington determined to restore Palladian architecture to the prominence it held in England during the time of Inigo Jones. Burlington's protégé was William Kent, and together they promoted Palladianism for the next thirty years. Burlington arranged for the publication of Kent's The Designs of Inigo Jones (1727) and after 1730 published Palladio's engraved drawings of Roman baths as Fabbriche antiche disegnate da Andrea Palladio. Notable among Burlington's own buildings are the dormitory at Westminster School, London (1722–30, rebuilt 1947), and the Assembly Rooms, York (1731–2, refronted 1828), which is a model of Palladio's Egyptian Hall, based on Vitruvius. Examples of Burlington's collaboration with Kent include Holkham Hall, Norfolk (about 1734) and Chiswick House, Middlesex (from 1717), a Palladian villa whose garden layout and buildings reflect ideas expressed in Robert Castell's The Villas of the Ancients, Illustrated (1729) which was dedicated to Burlington.

Peter Willis