John of Padua

Who is John of Padua?

John of Padua was an elusive figure of the English Renaissance who was employed at the courts of Henry VIII and his successor, Edward VI, during a period in which numerous foreign architects and artisans arrived in England, bringing with them the new concepts and evolutions of the Italian Renaissance as it spread across Europe. He disappears from the records after 1557.

John of Padua, John Thorpe and Robert Smythson were near contemporaries all working in the currently evolving English Renaissance style in an age of often poor record keeping. As a result, their works have become blurred and there is debate over whose hand was responsible for which building, and John of Padua has become a mysterious and enigmatic figure in English architectural history. Sir John Summerson warned of this phenomenon, however, that "when it comes to the test of building accounts we find that very little indeed can be ascribed to foreign hands."