GIL DE HONTAN, JUAN AND RODRIGO

born c. 1480 died 1526, Salamanca?, Spain born c. 1500, , Burgos died May 31, 1577, Segovia father and son who were celebrated architects. Juan, the father, was maestro mayor (official architect) of Segovia cathedral and designed in a late medieval style. The son, Rodrigo, succeeded to the position of maestro mayor, working in a style that combined his father's style with the features of the characteristically Spanish style known as Plateresque (q.v.). He is best known for his treatise on architecture. Juan Gil de Hontan worked in Burgos with Simon of Cologne, one of a family of German architects who were responsible for many important Spanish buildings. He laid the cornerstone of the Segovia cathedral in 1525. After his death, his son Rodrigo took command of the project and executed his father's plans. Rodrigo designed two important secular buildings: the Monterrey Palace in Salamanca and the University of Alcal de Henares (153753). He also worked on Salamanca cathedral (after 1538). The cathedrals of Segovia and Salamanca are both designed in a mixture of late medieval and Plateresque; the spaces are unified under relatively simple roofing. The mature Plateresque can be seen in Rodrigo's masterpieces: the Monterrey Palace and the university in Alcal. The palace, only partially completed, is a richly ornamented and ponderous structure. The university, free of the few medieval and Mudjar (Spanish Muslim) traces that still remain in the palace, is a work of remarkable elegance and harmony. Rodrigo's treatise (c. 1538) is a compilation of medieval work on computation of thrusts and the calculation of proportions. It reveals that, as late as the 16th century, architects had no standard system for calculating vault thrusts and buttress requirements.