Toledo, Juan Bautista de

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Toledo, Juan Bautista de (c.1515–67). Spanish architect, mathematician, and philosopher. He lived in Italy for some time, where he absorbed the essence of Renaissance architecture. In 1562 he became Architect to the Escorial, near Madrid, basing the grid-like ground-floor plan on reconstructions of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, and the Court of the Evangelists on Sangallo's cortile in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome. The plan is also an allusion to the attribute of St Laurence, whose melted fat was enshrined in the great Church in the centre of the whole ensemble. El Escorial's enormous external elevations are models of restraint. After his death the work was completed by Juan de Herrera.

Bibliography

Cruickshank (ed.) (1996);
J. Curl (2002);
Fraser, Hibbard, & Lewine (eds.) (1967);
Kubler (1982);
Kubler & and Soria (1959); Rivera Blanco (1984);
Jane Turner (1996)