Classicism, 1750–1830

Italy was the centre from which Neoclassicism emanated, in the sense that Neoclassicism would be unimaginable without Rome. The remains of antiquity on Italian soil, many of which were by the 18th century romantically overgrown and half buried, inspired all artists and architects. Yet, Italian architects were followers rather than initiators of international Neoclassicism. One of the most important formative influences on the movement was Piranesi, whose etchings of Roman ruins transformed those antique fragments into sublime romantic compositions. Piranesi was in the forefront of Roman activity, and through his acquaintance with the foreign architects and patrons who visited the Italian capital he helped to crystallize the growing taste for Neoclassicism. Juvarra’s designs for a tomb for the King of France (1715?) served as a source for Piranesi in his design for the Piazza of the Knights of Malta in Rome (c. 1765). In the church of Santa Maria del Priorato, Piranesi incorporated Classical references that were to greatly influence the succeeding generation of architects.

In the field of pure theory, a Venetian, Carlo Lodoli, was an important early advocate of Functionalism. His ideas are known through the writings of Francesco Algarotti, including the Saggio sopra l’architettura (1753) and Lettere sopra l’architettura (beginning 1742). Lodoli’s theories were similar to those of Laugier, requiring that every part of a building derive from necessity and that architecture be true to the nature of materials, and tolerating no useless ornament. The theories of Francesco Milizia contained in his Principi d’architettura civile of 1785 were similar.

The tradition of the Baroque was of course strong in Italy and lingered on throughout the 18th century in many parts of what was still an agglomeration of independent states. Early tendencies toward Neoclassicism appear in the late work of Luigi Vanvitelli; for example, the Castelluccio Reale (1774) in the park at Caserta, an octagonal structure with a round superstructure. Other barometers of the new taste were the Villa Albani, Rome (completed c. 1760), built by Carlo Marchionni to house a collection of ancient marbles formed by Alessandro Cardinal Albani; and the new Pio-Clementino Museum at the Vatican (1776–81), the work of Michelangelo Simonetti.

Early in the 18th century Italy had experienced a fertile Palladian revival, and a number of buildings based on the Pantheon model were built, among them Tommaso Temanza’s church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Venice in 1748. Palladianism was a significant element in much Italian Neoclassical architecture.

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Quarenghi, who was to work in Russia for Catherine II, built the monastery of Santa Scolastica, Subiaco (1774–77), with a barrel-vaulted nave characteristic of the new taste. In 1787 the first baseless Greek Doric columns in Italy appeared in the Chiesetta di Piazza di Siena in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, Rome, designed by Mario Asprucci, 20 years after Stuart’s temple at Hagley. Also Greek was the Gymnasium, in the Botanic Garden, Palermo (1789–92), built by Léon Dufourny, who had been a pupil of LeRoy and Peyre.

Neoclassical buildings after 1800 were more numerous, and a few examples illustrate the character and range of the movement. Peter von Nobile’s Sant’Antonio, Trieste (1826–49); Luigi Cagnola’s Rotunda, Ghisalba (1834); and Giovanni Antonio Selva’s Canova Temple, Possagno (1819–33) all took the Pantheon as their starting point. Cagnola also built the Ionic Ticinese Gate in Milan (1801–14), and the Arch of Sempione in Milan (1806–38), a Roman triumphal arch similar to the contemporary Parisian Arc du Carrousel. Luigi Canina’s Greek propylea, or gateway, at the entrance to the Villa Borghese (1827–29); Carlo Barabino’s Doric Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa (1826–28); and Giuseppe Japelli’s meat market at Padua (1821) using the unfluted Paestum order all exemplify the continuing taste for Greek forms. Japelli was also the architect of the Pedrocchi Café, Padua (1816–42), which, with its Doric and Gothic exteriors and equally eclectic interiors is a remarkable extravaganza.

The greatest achievement in urban planning of the period was the design of the Piazza del Popolo in Rome (1813–31) by Giuseppe Valadier, a great open space with three diagonal avenues leading off it.

Spain and Portugal

In Spain the leading Neoclassical architect was Juan de Villanueva, who studied in Rome and returned to Spain in 1705 with a style similar to that evolved by the leading contemporary French and English architects. His buildings include three villas; the Casita de Arriba (1773) and the Casita de Abajo (1773), both at El Escorial, and the Casita del Principe at El Prado (1784). His major building was the Prado Museum in Madrid (1785–87). In Portugal the destruction of Lisbon by earthquake in 1755 necessitated rebuilding, most of which was carried out by military engineers. The Ajuda Palace (begun 1802) by the Italian Manuel Fabri is Neoclassical; and in Oporto, the Hospital of Santo Antonio with a vast Doric portico was designed by the English architect John Carr.