JONES, Inigo

It is often stated that Queen’s House constitutes the first essay in pure Renaissance design in England. It was designed by Inigo Jones soon after the last of his study tours to Italy in 1613-14 and offered an opportunity to give form to his dreams of architectural design. Although the Queen’s House was intended to be a Renaissance building, and there are a number of Italian borrowings, Jones was too good an architect to rely on one source.

The details of plan and elevation derive from Jones’s studies of Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi. The chief influence is thought to be Vincenzo Scamozzi, the most important of Palladio’s Italian followers whom Jones met and from whom he acquired an extensive collection of architectural drawings.

The picture shows the south fa�ade.

View the original ground plan of Queen’s House, Greenwich.

The picture shows the north side of the Queen’s House.

View the original ground plan of Queen’s House, Greenwich.

Jones’s Queen’s Chapel at St James’s Palace, London, incorporates a central arched opening and end quoins in its west front; it also has a pediment, although the fa�ade is devoid of orders. The interior has a distinctive coffered vault based on Palladio’s reconstruction (I quattro libri, IV) of the ‘Temple of the Sun and Moon’ (actually the Temple of Venus and Rome). A large Venetian window - the first executed by Jones - dominates the east end.

The simple interior was more suited to Protestant use than to the elaborate liturgy of the Catholic Church, although the building was constructed for a Catholic queen (originally intended for the Spanish Infanta but completed for the French Queen Henrietta Maria, for whom Jones also carried out other works.

The photo shows the Queen’s Chapel seen from the grounds of Marlborough House. Part of the building of the palace of St James can be seen at the right.

The Queen’s Chapel now fronts onto Marlborough Road.

Jones’s Queen’s Chapel at St James’s Palace, London, incorporates a central arched opening and end quoins in its west front; it also has a pediment, although the fa�ade is devoid of orders. The interior has a distinctive coffered vault based on Palladio’s reconstruction (I quattro libri, IV) of the ‘Temple of the Sun and Moon’ (actually the Temple of Venus and Rome). A large Venetian window - the first executed by Jones - dominates the east end.

The simple interior was more suited to Protestant use than to the elaborate liturgy of the Catholic Church, although the building was constructed for a Catholic queen (originally intended for the Spanish Infanta but completed for the French Queen Henrietta Maria, for whom Jones also carried out other works.

The photo shows the Marlborough Road front.

By 1619, Iinigo Jones had received his greatest commission, the new Banqueting House in Whitehall, a building for court festivities originally intended as part of a fairly large palace complex. Within only three months, during which Jones experimented solutions derived from antiquity and the work of Palladio, he created a monumental building comprising a creative mixture of Venetian and Vicenza devices which became characteristic of the English Palladian style.

The great banqueting room, for which Rubens painted the ceiling frescoes, is as wide as an ancient basilica. The vertical plane is dominated by Ionic half-columns in the lower storey and composite pilasters in the upper storey, a pattern which also appears on the external walls.

View the ground plan and section of Banqueting House, Whitehall.

There were very few architects, almost exclusively his collaborators and students, who escaped from the shadow of Inigo Jones, the great innovator. Among these were Isaac de Caus (c. 1590-c.1655), who, according to recent findings, designed Wilton House. The harmoniously proportioned fa�ade is broad and flanked by high corner pavilions, with a window decorated in venetian style accentuating the central section.

The construction was begun in 1632, and the building was renovated in 1647 after a fire.

There were very few architects, almost exclusively his collaborators and students, who escaped from the shadow of Inigo Jones, the great innovator. Among these were Isaac de Caus (c. 1590-c.1655), who, according to recent findings, designed Wilton House. The harmoniously proportioned fa�ade is broad and flanked by high corner pavilions, with a window decorated in venetian style accentuating the central section.

The construction was begun in 1632, and the building was renovated in 1647 after a fire.

Lindsay House, with its rusticated ground floor and its giant order of pilasters above, supporting entablature and top balustrade, is the prototype for a whole series of representational English town houses down to the Royal Crescent at Bath and Nash’s Regent Park terraces.

Lindsay House, with its rusticated ground floor and its giant order of pilasters above, supporting entablature and top balustrade, is the prototype for a whole series of representational English town houses down to the Royal Crescent at Bath and Nash’s Regent Park terraces.

The photo shows the fa�ade of Lindsay House.

It is often stated that Queen’s House constitutes the first essay in pure Renaissance design in England. It was designed by Inigo Jones soon after the last of his study tours to Italy in 1613-14 and offerered an opportunity to give form to his dreams of architectural design. Although the Queen’s House was intended to be a Renaissance building, and there are a number of Italian borrowings, Jones was too good an architect to rely on one source.

The details of plan and elevation derive from Jones’s studies of Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi. The chief influence is thought to be Vincenzo Scamozzi, the most important of Palladio’s Italian followers whom Jones met and from whom he acquired an extensive collection of architectural drawings.

View the original ground plan of Queen’s House, Greenwich.

The Tulip Stairs and lantern in the Queen’s House is the first centrally unsupported helical stairs constructed in England. The stairs are supported by a combination of support by cantilever from the walls and each tread resting on the one below.

The Tulip Stairs and lantern in the Queen’s House is the first centrally unsupported helical stairs constructed in England. The stairs are supported by a combination of support by cantilever from the walls and each tread resting on the one below.

The simple interior was more suited to Protestant use than to the elaborate liturgy of the Catholic Church, although the building was constructed for a Catholic queen (originally intended for the Spanish Infanta but completed for the French Queen Henrietta Maria, for whom Jones also carried out other works.

By 1619, Iinigo Jones had received his greatest commission, the new Banqueting House in Whitehall, a building for court festivities originally intended as part of a fairly large palace complex. Within only three months, during which Jones experimented solutions derived from antiquity and the work of Palladio, he created a monumental building comprising a creative mixture of Venetian and Vicenza devices which became characteristic of the English Palladian style.

The great banqueting room, for which Rubens painted the ceiling frescoes, is as wide as an ancient basilica. The vertical plane is dominated by Ionic half-columns in the lower storey and composite pilasters in the upper storey, a pattern which also appears on the external walls.

The picture shows the great banqueting room.

View the ground plan and section of Banqueting House, Whitehall.

By 1619, Iinigo Jones had received his greatest commission, the new Banqueting House in Whitehall, a building for court festivities originally intended as part of a fairly large palace complex. Within only three months, during which Jones experimented solutions derived from antiquity and the work of Palladio, he created a monumental building comprising a creative mixture of Venetian and Vicenza devices which became characteristic of the English Palladian style.

The great banqueting room, for which Rubens painted the ceiling frescoes, is as wide as an ancient basilica. The vertical plane is dominated by Ionic half-columns in the lower storey and composite pilasters in the upper storey, a pattern which also appears on the external walls.

The picture shows the great banqueting room.

View the ground plan and section of Banqueting House, Whitehall.

There were very few architects, almost exclusively his collaborators and students, who escaped from the shadow of Inigo Jones, the great innovator. Among these were Isaac de Caus (c. 1590-c.1655), who, according to recent findings, designed Wilton House. The harmoniously proportioned fa�ade is broad and flanked by high corner pavilions, with a window decorated in venetian style accentuating the central section.

The interior is dominated by a cube and a double cube, two box-shaped reception rooms furnished with the utmost elegance.

The picture shows a view of the interior of the “Double Cube.”

In England the Elizabethan theatre descended chiefly from inn-yards where plays were originally staged. A few later theatres adapted the classical form to a tiny scale, but the future lay with the proscenium theatre where the only classical allusion would be the scenery.