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Trained in Rome and Florence as a painter, "Il Kentino," as his critics mockingly called him, was lured home from Italy in 1720 by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, to work as interior decorator for Burlington House, Piccadilly. As the leading proponent of the revival of the Palladian style in England and an architect himself, Boyle was influential in establishing this classical style as the predominant architectural language of the mid-eighteenth century. The Italian architect's I quattri libri dell'architettura was the first translated into English in 1715, the same year as the appearance of the first volume of Colen Campbell's homage to Palladio, Vitruvius Britannicus. Kent's interior decoration, architecture, and garden design repeatedly return to the classicism and rationalism of Palladio for inspiration. General James Tyrell continued his father's plans to renovate the house and gardens of Shotover Park when he inherited the property in 1718, and Kent's design indicates Tyrell's desire for the latest style, to transform his grounds into a landscape inspired by the paintings of Claude. Kent's temple, erected near the west front of the house, displays the even proportions, solid masses, and plain exterior characteristic of his interpretation of the Palladian style. The drawing depicts the traditional plan, elevation, and cross-section of the structure. However, Kent has also included an ornate grotesque design that does not correspond to his depiction of the decorated ceiling of the temple interior. This drawing could represent an alternative decorative scheme or indicate Kent's well-known habit of doodling on his drawings.

Morna O'Neill

Wilcox, Forrester, O'Neill, Sloan. The Line of Beauty: British Drawings and Watercolors of the Eighteenth Century. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2001. pg. 135 cat. no. 113