Juan Bautista Villalpando also Villalpandus, or Villalpanda (1552 – 22 May 1608) was a Spanish priest of Sephardic ancestry, a member of the Jesuits, a scholar, mathematician, and architect.
In 1596, he published the first volume of Ezechielem Explanationes, or Commentary on Ezekiel[2] a work begun by Jerónimo del Prado, who died the year prior.
His drawings were based on the assumption that the buildings of Jerusalem were designed using the laws of geometry, and they were drawn in parallel or orthographic projection, which is a form of image Villalpando likened to God's vision.
In the opinion of some art historians, Villalpando's illustrations of Solomon's temple influenced numerous monastery constructions of the baroque era, as well as on the grids schemes of urban planners.
[7] Villalpando was a disciple of Juan de Herrera, architect of El Escorial, whose designs for that complex included quadratic inner courtyards and risalits.