Ventura Rodríguez Tizón (July 14, 1717 – September 26, 1785) was a Spanish architect and artist. Born at Ciempozuelos, Rodríguez was the son of a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry ...

. In 1727, he collaborated with his father in the work at the

Royal Palace of Aranjuez The Royal Palace of Aranjuez ( es, Palacio Real de Aranjuez) is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. It is located in the town of Aranjuez (Madrid), Spain. Established in the 16th century as a royal hunting lodge, the pala ...

Major works

Ventura's career was remarkably prolific. Between 1749 and 1753, he built the church of San Marcos in Madrid. In 1752, he was named the director of architectural studies at the

Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acade ...

. In 1750, he was commissioned with finishing and remodeling the basílica del Pilar of

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...

. Earlier plans by Felipe Busiñac, Felipe Sánchez, and

Francisco Herrera the Younger Francisco Herrera the Younger ("el Mozo"; 1622 – 25 August 1685) was a Spanish painter and architect. Life Born in Seville, he was the second son of Francisco Herrera the Elder ("el Viejo"), and began his career under his father's instruc ...

had not satisfied the demands of the municipality, a convenient distance from the river and proper alignment with the icon and other buildings. In the cathedral of Cuenca, Ventura was asked to construct a ''Transparente''(a glass-roofed altar complex) similar to that made by

Narciso Tomé Narciso Tomé (1690–1742) was a Spanish architect and sculptor of the late-Baroque or Rococo period. Tomé was born in Toro, Spain. With his brother, Diego, he sculpted the facade of the University of Valladolid in 1715. In 1721, he was named ...

in the

Cathedral of Toledo , native_name_lang = , image = Toledo Cathedral, from Plaza del Ayuntamiento.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption ...

. Between 1755 and 1767, he decorated the interior of the church of the Royal Monastery of la Encarnación, in Madrid. Then at his peak of influence, the Bourbon monarchs of Spain,

Fernando VI , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Savoy , birth_date = 23 September 1713 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Madrid, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Villavic ...

and Carlos III began to favor foreign architects such as the French

Jacques Marquet Jaime Marquet (born Jacques Marquet, in París, 1710–1782) was a French architect who worked extensively in Bourbon Spain, and whose most important work includes the central plaza of Madrid known as Puerta del Sol and the adjacent monumental b ...

and the Neapolitan

Francesco Sabatini Francesco Sabatini (1721 – 19 February 1797), also known as Francisco Sabatini, was an Italian architect of the 18th century who worked in Spain. Biography Born in Palermo, he studied architecture in Rome. His first contacts with the Spa ...

(nephew of

Luigi Vanvitelli Luigi Vanvitelli (; 12 May 1700 – 1 March 1773), known in Dutch as (), was an Italian architect and painter. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made an eas ...

). However, ensconced in 1766 in a role similar to buildings commissioner for the Council of Castile, Rodríguez played a role in many works. Buildings or renovations needing official approval came to his purview, and often underwent his scrutiny and change.Artículo de Doña Cristina Pina Caballero en Biblioteca Universitaria Digitum
/ref> He aided in the design of the Convent of the Philippine Augustines of

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

, the college of surgery in Barcelona (1761, home today of the academy of Medicine), the town hall of Haro (1769), and his projects for a new National library and the factory of glass at La Granja. Rodríguez helped design the Palacio de Liria (1770); Palacio de Altamira (1773–1775) (now the European Institute of Design); the Palace of Infante Don Luis; the Palacio de Almanzora in Almería; and the Palace at

Arenas de San Pedro Arenas de San Pedro is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 6,682 inhabitants. Its seal Seal may refer to any of the following: ...

(he also built the Royal Chapel for the Convent/Sanctuary of San Pedro de Alcántara). He helped remodel the Palacio Municipal de

Betanzos Betanzos () is a municipality in the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña. It belongs to the comarca of Betanzos. In Roman times Betanzos was called Flauvium Brigantium or ''Brigantium''. During the ...

. Rodríguez was named Maestro Mayor del Ayuntamiento of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in 1764. Among other works are portions of the plaza mayor de Ávila, the Hospital General de Madrid, the facade of the catedral de Toledo, the Sagrario (1761–1764) of the Cathedral of Jaén, the main retablo for Cathedral of Zamora (1765–1776), which replaced the one by Joaquín Benito Churriguera (brother of José Benito), that had been damaged by the

Lisbon earthquake of 1755 The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...

, the ermita de San Nicasio in

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

(1772–1780, the baths at Caldas (1773), the sanatorium at Trillo (1775), the jail at

Brihuega Brihuega is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Spain. According to the 2007 census ( INE), the municipality had a population of 2,835 inhabitants. In 1710 a hard-fought battle took place in the township between Lord Stanhop ...

, and the church at Larravezna. He designed the facade of the cathedral of

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

in Neoclassic style. He created the present church at the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos; for this project, he almost destroyed all traces of earlier Romanesque constructions. He replaced Lucas Ferro Caaveiro, the original architect, in the rebuilding of the Abbey of San Juan Bautista de Corias in

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

. Rodríguez was unable to complete several important commissions, the

Puerta de Alcalá The Puerta de Alcalá is a Neo-classical gate in the Plaza de la Independencia in Madrid, Spain. It was a gate of the former Walls of Philip IV. It stands near the city center and several meters away from the main entrance to the Parque del ...

(finished by Sabatini en 1764), the

Basilica of San Francisco el Grande The Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great ( es, Real Basílica de San Francisco el Grande) is a Roman Catholic church in central Madrid, Spain, located in the neighborhood of Palacio. The main façade faces the Plaza of San Francisco, at the ...

in Madrid (also Sabatini in 1768), Also in Madrid, the refurbishment of the main plaza

Puerta del Sol The Puerta del Sol ( English: "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid, one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ('' Km 0'') of the radial network of Spanish roads. The square also contains the famous c ...

and the construction of the adjacent

Real Casa de Correos The Royal House of the Post Office (Spanish: ''Real Casa de Correos'') is an eighteenth century building in Puerta del Sol, Madrid. It was built for the postal service, but currently serves as the office of the President of the Community of Madrid ...

postal service headquarters, both completed by Jaime Marquet between 1760 - 1768. The church of La Encarnación (1785) in Santa Fe (Granada) was completed by his pupil Domingo Loys de Monteagudo. Of his works, the church for the

Convento de San Norberto The Convento de Premonstratenses de San Norberto, also known as Convento de Mostenses or Convento de San Norberto, named after the founder of the Premonstratensian Order, is a religious building that disappeared. It was located on the ground of th ...

of the

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

order, no longer exists. It was torn down by

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic ...

, also known as ''Pepe Plazuelas'', who was zealous in opening up plaza spaces in Madrid. The first two architects, Silvestre Pérez and Juan Antonio Cuervo, both disciples of Ventura Rodríguez, refused to carry out the destruction of the church. He died in

in 1785. A station of the Line 3 of

Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro ( Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of 293 km (182 mi). Its gr ...

is named Ventura Rodríguez. Palacio-infante-don-luis-panoramica-120818

References

External links

Scholarly articles
in English about Ventura Rodríguez both in web an
PDF
@ th
Spanish Old Masters Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Ventura 18th-century Spanish architects Spanish neoclassical architects 1717 births 1785 deaths