Juvarra, Filippo

Juvarra, Filippo fēlēpˈpō yo͞ovärˈrä [key], 1678–1736, Italian architect of the late baroque and early rococo periods. Trained in the studio of Carlo Fontana in Rome, he entered (1714) the service of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and was soon appointed first architect to the king. Juvarra acquired an unparalleled reputation throughout Europe. In 1719 he was in Portugal, planning the palace at Mafra for King John V, after which he traveled to London and Paris. He died in Madrid, where he had gone (1735) to design a royal palace for Philip V. The main body of his work, however, is in Piedmont, where he planned many royal residences and churches. Among them are the Palazzo Madama, Turin; the castle at Stupinigi; and the churches of the Superga near Turin and of the Carmine, Turin. Drawing mainly from Italian and German Renaissance and baroque works, Juvarra integrated a variety of elements, achieving unity and grandeur of design.

See R. Pommer, Eighteenth Century Architecture in Piedmont (1967).

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