Sir John Vanbrugh : Storyteller in Stone

by Vaughan Hart

• ISBN13: 9780300119299
• ISBN10: 0300119291
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2008-09-09
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This engaging and beautifully illustrated book looks at the remarkable life and work of Sir John Vanbrugh (16641726)by turns businessman, soldier, playwright, and (despite lacking either training or qualifications) the architect of some of the most important country houses of his era. Architectural historian Vaughan Hart examines Vanbrugh's surviving, destroyed, and unrealized buildingsamong them Castle Howard and Blenheim Palaceoutlining the contemporary political and social events that influenced their design and showing how these strikingly original buildings can be interpreted through reference to classical mythology, Renaissance fortifications, and medieval houses.

Author Biography

Vaughan Hart is Professor of the History of Architecture at the University of Bath.

Table of Contents

Preface: Tory Mobs and Ignorant Priests
'A good-natured fellow': Vanbrugh's Character and Works for the Crown	p. 1
'By Achievement, Arms, Device': Dramatist, Herald and Architect	p. 27
Without thought or lecture': The Early Influences on Vanbrugh	p. 29
'The Historicall Argument': The Order of the Garter and Vanbrugh's 'Castle Air'	p. 45
'Agreable Objects': Vanbrugh on Architecture, Landscape and Mood	p. 83
'The Reverend look of a Temple': Decorum and Vanbrugh's London Church Proposals	p. 111
'Building Houses Here T'oblige the Peers': Luxurious Palaces and Sham Castles	p. 127
'Wonder enough in the Story': Castle Howard and Blenheim	p. 129
'Something of the Castle Air': Characters in Stone at Kimbolton and Seaton Delaval	p. 147
'Pleas'd to Storm my Castle': Englishmen's Homes and Castles at Kings Weston, Eastbury, Grimsthorpe and Stowe	p. 171
'A sort of Child of my Owne': Autobiography in Stone at 'Goose-Pie' House, Greenwich and Chargate	p. 213
Conclusion: 'Starv'd London Rogues': Country Estates and National Decay	p. 243
Transcription of Vanbrugh's 'Reasons Offer'd for Preserving some Part of the Old Manour' of 11 June 1709, sent to the Duchess of Marlborough	p. 253
Transcription of 'Mr. Van-Brugg's Proposals about Building ye New Churches', addressed to the Church Commissioners around 1711	p. 254
Notes	p. 256
Bibliography	p. 275
Photograph Credits	p. 283
Index	p. 284
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.