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Colen Campbell ( 1676 — 1729) was born in Scotland, a descendent of the Campbells of Cawdor Castle; he initially trained as a lawyer, and then studied architecture.
His major published work, Vitruvius Britannicus, or the British Architect... appeared in three volumes between 1715 and 1725. (Further volumes using the successful title were assembled by Woolfe and Gandon, and published in 1767 and 1771.) Vitruvius Britannicus was the first architectural work to originate in England since John Shute's Elizabethan First Groundes. In the British empirical vein, it was not a treatise but basically a catalogue of design containing engravings of English buildings by Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren as well as Campbell himself and other prominent architects of the era. In the introduction that he appended and in the brief descriptions, Campbell belaboured the "excesses" of Baroque style and declared British independence from foreigners while he dedicated the volume to Hanoverian George I. The third volume (1725) has several grand layouts of gardens and parks, with straight allées, forcourts and patterned parterres and radiating rides through wooded plantations, in a Baroque manner that was rapidly becoming old-fashioned.
Buildings were shown in plan, section and elevation, but also some were in a bird's-eye perspective. The drawings and designs contained in the book were under way before Campbell was drawn into the speculative scheme. The success of the volumes was instrumental in popularizing neo- Palladian Architecture in Britain during the 18th century17th century 18th century 19th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701- 1800; however, historians will sometimes specifically refer to the 18th Century as 1715- 89,.
Campbell was influenced as a young man by the Scottish architect James Smith (ca 1645 - 1731), the pre-eminent Scots architect of his day, and a closet neo-palladian whom Campbell called "the most experienced architect" of Scotland (Vitruvius Britannicus, ii).
The somewhat promotional volume, with its excellently rendered engravings, came at a propitious moment at the beginning of a boom in country house and villa building among the Whig oligarchy. Campbell was quickly taken up by Lord Burlington, who replaced James Gibbs with Campbell at Burlington HouseBurlington House is a courtyard building off Picadilly in London. The main building houses the Royal Academy while five learned societies occupy the two wings on the east and west sides of the courtyard. These societies, collectively known as the Courtyar in London and set out to place himself at the center of English neo- Palladian architectureI Quattro Libri dell'Architettura in a modestly-priced English translation published in London, 1736. Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture originally designed by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio ( 1508 1580). Today, any building. In 1718, Campbell was appointed deputy to the amateur gentleman who had replaced Wren as Surveyor General of the Royal Board of Works, an appointment that Burlington is certain to has pressed, but a short-lived one. When Benton, the new Surveyor was turned out of office, Campbell went with him.