z<( <( Q ! ,,; ~ "':c I z U('icr'\ .:.,YI(' "\<,' ~\'.\~\' lntmdurtion and Acluww/prfgmenL1 A -t~tf The Drawings Collectionof the Royal Institute of British Architects(RIBA) is one of the largestand most comprehensivebodies of archiLecturaldrawings in the world, containing a quarter of a million drawingsfrom the Renaissance to the present day. Although the collectionfocuses on British drawing, it also includes imporLantworks from other countries such as France, Italy, and the UniLedStales. This exhibitionpresents masLerpieces from the Royal InstituLecollection by archiLectspracticing during the la,t five centuries, such as Palladio, Christopher Wren, Norman Shaw, and Edwin Lutyens, with works by twentieth-century luminaries, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, PeLerBehrens, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and James Stirling. These eighty-twodrawings and a group of drawing instruments were selecLedby John Harris, Curator of the Drawings Collection. The drawings span in dale and style the entire range of the collection, beginning with a fifLeenth-centurydesign for a towerwith turrets, the earliestdrawing in the lnstituLes collection,and ending with a 1981 Richard Rogers elevation drawing/or the rebuilding of Lloyds of London. In addition to the eighty-two drawings and archiLecturalinstruments, the Chicagoshowing of the exhibition has been supplemenLedwith a selectionof Lenpublications drawn from the Ryersonand Burnham Libraries at The Art Institute of Chicago and the Department of Special Collectionsof The Universityof ChicagoLibrary The books, selectedby the Art lnstituLes Architectural Archivist, Paul Glassman, and myselfdirectly relate to the drawings on exhibit. They span four centuries and rangefrom a rare 1570 edition of Palladio s I QyuittroLibri dell' ArchiLetturato a plaLefrom the 1969 Museum of Modem Art portfolio that beautifully reproducesa selectionof drawings and collagesfor Mies s most important projecLs. Many of the books,such as the 1720 Vitrnvius Britannicus, exactlyreproduce the drawings on exhibit; others,such as the March 1871 issue of The Building News and Engineering journal, reproducedifferent views of one of the projectson exhibit. Our inLent wa, to point out some of the occasionson which the drawings werepub lished and to provide a fuller conLextfor understanding this set of influential drawings that comprisebut a small segment of the extensive JUBA drawing collection. This brochurehas been produced in conjunction with the Chicagoshowing of Great Drawings. The illustrations and captions refer to the supplemenLalpublications on view, and excerptshave been taken, in part, from the catalogue that accompaniesthis exhibition, Great Drawings from the Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Thefully ­ illustrated catalogue includes essaysby john Harris,Jill Lever, and Margaret Richardson. The caLalogueis 136 pages and includes 100 black and white illustrations and 15 color plates. It is available in the Museum Store in softcoverfor $15. 00. I would like to thank thefollowing organizations and individuals for their assistancein producing this brochure:the Dr. Scholl Foundationfor theirfunding; Susan Johnsonfor her design; Elizabeth Prattfor editing the brochure;and Bob H ashimotofor photographing the booksreproduced here. I would also like to thank architecturalartist Jim Smith and his staff, Scott Mazurek and Le Um McAllister,for designing and executing the splendid Palladian arcade that highlights the Chicago installation of the exhibition. The exhibition has been made possible by a generousgrant from Henry J. Heinz II, KBE, and Mr.,. Heinz, and by additional grantsfrom the VincentAstor Foundation, Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, Manufacturers Hanover Tru1t, Marley Holdings (U.S.A.) Inc., Mr. and Mrs.]. Irwin Miller, Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Pinewood Foundation, Reed Stenhouse Inc., Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Thomas Tilling Inc. Publicsupport ha1 been receivedfrom The National Endowmentfor the ArL1,the New York Councilfor the Humanities, and the New YorkState Council on the Arts. The Chicagoshowing of the exhibition has beenfunded by a generousgrant from the DI: Scholl Foundation. Front and back covers: Pauline Salip;a Andrea Palladio, deLailof drawing Assistant Curator of Architecture of a capitalfrom the Templeof The Art institute of Chirngu Hadrian, Rome, early 1550s. Collectionof The Royal InstituLe of British ArchiLects. LATE MEDIEVAL AND AFTER The lirst gn>up of drawings in the exhibition ha\e in common that the) (r/mwi11g11m. /-6) are earl, examples of architectural designs that were made by architects who recei\ed their initial training as stonemasons. These examples of architecture-from England, France, and northern Italy-range in date from the late fifieenth century to the Hi'.Ws. The earliest of the designs. for a to\\'er with turrets and large windows (see no. 1). demonstrates the ne11 political stabilit\ of Tudor England as well as th<: romantic taste of its Court. The design for Bishop Fox's chantry chapel at \,\'inch ester Cathedral (no. 2) was among the last of such 1rnrks, for the social changes made by the Reformation of H<:nry VIII brought a halt to ecclesiastical building in England. It marks, too, the final phase of medieval Gothic architectur<:, while the square­ ness, symmetry. and gTeat windows of the tm,er design were to become the hallmarks ofEli1abcthan domestic architecture. Robert Smvthson (c. 153:J-Hil4) designed a country house in about 1590 (no. 3) that is a typical El i1abethan design . Though the design In .John Sm) th son (died Hi:14-)for a room in Bolsovcr Castle (no . t) shows the influence of imported ideas. Eli1abethan architecture \,·as large!\ untouched h\· the Renaissance on continental Europe. Despite some occasional excep­ tions in decorati\'e details. the tlovelty, daring. and unity ofrhc best examples ofEfoabethan architecture arc utlparallclcd outside Eng land. In France, the influence of the Italian Renaissance \ras felt by the first vears of the sixteenth centun. From 154G,\rith the rebuilding of the Louvre, a national Renaissance style developed in France, as seen in the dr,l\\ing for a house (no . 5) by.Jacques Centilh;1tre (born 1578). The Renaissance came later to Genoa than to other Italian cities and the drawing of the Palau.o del Signor Antonio Doria (no . G) represents an carlv stage in the development ofa distinctive Cenoesc style. Typica l of this local st\ le arc the heavih articulated ornament of the cornice and the decorati\e ernphasis at the entrance. PALLADIO AND PALLADIANISM Andrea Palladio ( 1508-1580) is the onh architect to ha\ e given his (1h"wi11g1111.,.7-!0J name to an architectural St) le that has scarce!\ been out of use since its invention. Palladio\ influence has been !elt through his Classically­ .\11drt'!IPalladio( 1508-1580) based bu i leiings, his clr;mi ngs. and his hooks, particularly I (21wllro hg. I (seejJ. 4) Half-section Libri dc/l'.\rrhite/lum. through the courtyard of the Palau.a In addition to the requiremcnls defined In the buildillg program, da Porto Festa., Vicenza, c. 1549 site, and structural and aesthetic possibilities of building mater ials such (unexecuted), as publishPdi n 1 Quat­ as stuccoed brick. stone. and timber, Palladio's design sources were tro Libri dell'Architetturadi Andrea nature it.selLrnd the ideas that he deri,ed from Vitnn·ius\ treatise Palladio ( Venice: Appresso Dominico about Roman architecture. Ik \\·as also indebted to other Italian archi­ de ' Franceschi, 1570), book 2, p. IO. tects of the time. including Sebastiano Serlio. Palladio is best known This is a rare copyfrom thefirst as the designer oh ii las that housed not only the o\\·11c1;but also his Pdition of 1 Quattro Libri published steward. laborers, and farm animals in a complex that included farm­ in Venice in 1570. The right half of vanls and farm buildings. gardens. and orchards. The Villa Rotonda Palladio'sdrawing/or the Palazzo near \'iccn1.a is the most famous of Palladio's ,·illas . d.a.Porto h.sta (no. 7) details a. court­ Palladio'., I Quattro Uhri dell'. \rchitl'l/11ra\\'as !irst publi,hecl in yard with giant mmposite columns \'en ice in 1570. ;md other editions soon follm,ed . A cop, of the first a.ndfigurat ivt' sculpture in niches and cd ition mav be seen in the first Ii lirary-book case ace om panyi ng this in a fri eze near the rooflin,1. This exhibition (,cc fig. I). Fngl ish architect Inigo Jones (1573- Hi!'.i~)took was a.pr eparatory drawing for thP woodcut of thPs ame courtyard seen with him on his second trip to Itah in ltil:~-14 a cop\ of the 1601 edition lwre. The Pa.Lau.a was designed/or of Palla clio 's hook and made notes on the bu ilcli ngs as he \·isi ted them. C:ui,rp/Je l'orto and follows a stan­ A 1970 reproduction ofJonc.•;s annotated I Q11al/roJ,ibri dell';\rchitettum drml palau.'osc hf'mf' ba1Pd on is also on vie11 in the exhibition cases (sec fig. 2). \\'hile in \'en ice. h, a 8ram.ante's Home of Raphael. stroke ofgoocl f<irtunc that helped to change the course of English 3 architecture.Jones was able to buy virtually all of Palladio's survi\·ing design dra\\·ings from either Palladio's son, Silla, or Palladio's disciple, Vincenzo Scamozzi, an architect much respected by.Jones. The result of Inigo.Jones's visit to Italy became evident, for example, in his designs for the Prince's Lod1-,ringat Newmarket of about 1619 (no . 9). The Prince's Lodging became the primarv source for the design of English count!')' houses of the later seventeenth century. i\ndrm l'a/ladio ( 1508-1580) hp, 2 Half -elevation of thefacade of the Palazzo da Porto Festa, Vicenza, c. 1549, as published in Inigo Jones on Palladio (Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Oriel Press, 1970), vol. 2, book 2, p. 9. I Quattro Libri proved to be one of Palladio's most influential publica­ tions. Inigo Jones, who carried the influence of Palladio to England, took a copy of the 1601 edition of I Quattro Libri with him on his second trip to Italy in 1613-14.Jones recorded extensive notes in the mar­ gins of the book as he visited the sites of Palladio's many buildings in Italy.