What characteristics distinguish palladian architecture from neoclassical?

Question

What characteristics distinguish palladian architecture from neoclassical?

Answer 1

Palladio was the 17th century Italian architect whose buildings and highly influential written work 'The Four Books of Architecture' lead to the popular humanist 'Palladian' style of architecture.

His work was a revival of the architectural rules of visual proportion and style of Roman architecture written about by 'universal man' Alberti in 'Ten Books of Architecture' 100 years previously.

This in turn was based on 'On Architecture' by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius who lived 1500 years before him and so Palladio is seen as a true heir to the Romans.

By the 18th century there had been both greater study of ancient Greek architecture and also the development of a royally elaborate and superficial 'Rococo' and 'Baroque'.

Reaction against such excess and the incorporation of Greek ideals meant that the broader term 'neo-calssical' became a more appropriate desciption of the resulting designs.

All the best,

Mike