William Kent was a Georgian architect, artist, and designer, working in sculpture, furniture, garden design, and painting. He is best known for introducing the Palladian style of architecture to England and for cultivating a naturalistic approach to English landscape gardening.
Born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, Kent was encouraged by his first employer to pursue art. With funding from a group of local gentlemen, he travelled to Italy in July 1709 to receive an artistic education. Under the guidance of Giuseppe Chiari, he spent 1709–1719 refining his abilities and forming important acquaintances that developed into lifelong patronage and friendship.
Amongst these early connections was Thomas Coke, later 1st Earl of Leicester. Through him Kent was introduced to the architecture of Andrea Palladio’s palaces in Vicenza, which they visited on their 1714 tour. The most significant acquaintance of Kent’s career, however, was Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. This relationship shaped Kent’s life and established him as a leading English architect. He was able to recreate classical forms and interiors admired by patrons who had been inspired by their travels in Italy. In 1726, Kent began work at Chiswick House, creating for Burlington, a Palladian style villa and landscape garden.
Alongside his work for the Earl of Burlington, Kent designed the new Devonshire House for the 3rd Duke of Devonshire between 1734-1740. The Duke later became the father-in-law of the Earl of Burlington’s heir, Charlotte Boyle (pictured above), through whom the Burlington inheritance and properties passed into the possession of the Dukes of Devonshire. Through both the 3rd Duke and Charlotte Boyle, several works by Kent have entered the Devonshire collection and survive today at Chatsworth. The works include furniture, and drawings which comprise both architectural and garden designs. Amid the drawings are designs Kent created for the 3rd Duke of Devonshire for a cascade at Chatsworth. Unfortunately, these designs were never realised.
Kent is recognised as the first architect to conceive a complete interior, designing fireplaces, tables, picture frames, door surrounds, and other furnishings. His ‘Kentian’ furniture is richly gilded, ornate, heavy, and almost immovable, making his pieces near permanent features of a space. As a landscape designer, Kent helped initiate the shift away from rigid formality in garden plans towards a more naturalistic style that became the model for the English landscape garden. He arranged land, water, and planting to create the ‘picturesque’, a poetic composition of shape, colour, and light.
William Kent died in 1748 and as a mark of distinguished respect from his great friend and patron, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, was buried in the Burlington family vault at Chiswick.
