Villanueva, Juan de

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Villanueva, Juan de (1739–1811). Spanish architect. He worked in the Churrigueresque and Baroque styles before visiting Rome (1759–65) when he adopted Neo-Classicism. He and his brother Diego (1715–74) published a collection of critical papers on architecture (1766) in which they promoted a purer form of Classicism than that currently being practised in Spain. Appointed to work at El Escorial by the Jeronymite Order, he soon came to the notice of the Spanish Royal House. King Carlos III (1759–88) and his son, the future Carlos IV (1788–1819), became his patrons. He designed the Palafox Chapel, Burgo de Osma Cathedral (1770–83), the Casita de Arriba in the Escorial (1771–3), the Casita del Príncipe, El Pardo (1784–8), and his masterpiece, the Prado Museum, Madrid (1787–9), a powerful Neo-Classical composition, the finest of its type in all Spain. He also designed Observatorio Astronómico (1750), and the cemetery and chapel, Puerta da Fuencarral—(1804–9), both in Madrid.

Bibliography

Chueca Goitia & and Miguel (1949);
Gaya Nuño (1966);
Goya, cxcvi (1987), 213–21;
Kubler & and Soria (1959);
Moleon Gavilanes (1988, 1998);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
W. Papworth (1892);
Schubert (1924);
Jane Turner (1996);

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Villanueva, Juan de

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