Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Kneller's Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Kneller's finest portraits.

Sir John Vanbrugh (pronounced "Van'-bru") (January 24, 1664?–March 26, 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse (1696) and The Provoked Wife (1697), which have become enduring stage favourites but originally occasioned much controversy. Download high resolution version (874x1163, 159 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (874x1163, 159 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Sir Godfrey Kneller (August 8, 1646 -October 19, 1723) was an artist, court painter to several British monarchs. ... The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit-Kat Club) was an early 18th century English club in London with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives. ... The silver Anglia knight, commissioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events March 12 - New Jersey becomes a colony of England. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (86th in leap years). ... Events George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ... Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. ... John Vanbrugh (1664–1726), author of The Relapse. ... Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Knellers Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Knellers finest portraits. ...

Vanbrugh was in many senses a radical throughout his life. As a young man and a committed Whig, he was part of the scheme to overthrow James II, put William III on the throne and protect English parliamentary democracy, dangerous undertakings which landed him in the dreaded Bastille of Paris as a political prisoner. In his career as a playwright, he offended many sections of Restoration and 18th-century society, not only by the sexual explicitness of his plays, but also by their messages in defence of women's rights in marriage. He was attacked on both counts, and was one of the prime targets of Jeremy Collier's Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage. In his architectural career, he created what came to be known as English Baroque. His architectural work was as bold and daring as his early political activism and marriage-themed plays, and jarred conservative opinions on the subject.
While the Whigs (along with the Tories) are often described as one of the two political parties in late 17th to mid 19th century Great Britain, it is more accurate to describe them as loose political groupings or tendencies. ... James II of England and VII of Scotland (14 October 1633–16 September 1701) became King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland on 6 February 1685. ... William III of England (The Hague,14 November 1650 – Hampton Court, 8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, Stadtholder of the United Netherlands from 28 June 1672, King of... A parliamentary system, or parliamentarism, is distinguished by the executive branch of government being dependent on the direct or indirect support of the parliament, often expressed through a vote of confidence. ... The Bastille The Bastille ( ) was a prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. ...   City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area... A political prisoner may be someone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, because their ideas or image are deemed by a government to either challenge or threaten the authority of the state. ... Template:Unsourced A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... King Charles II, the first monarch to rule after the English Restoration. ... Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerned with the experiences of women. ... Jeremy Collier (1650-1726) was an English bishop. ... Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage is an anti-theatre pamphlet written in 1698 by the Puritan divine Jeremy Collier. ... The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, αρχιτεκτων, a master builder, from αρχι- chief, leader and τεκτων, builder, carpenter) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... Greenwich Hospital: Sir Christopher Wren, 1694. ... This article deals with conservatism as a political philosophy. ...

Early life

Vanbrugh was born in London, and grew up in Chester, where the family had been driven by the major outbreak of the plague in London in 1665.^[1] Downes is sceptical of earlier historians' claims of a lower middle-class background, and shows that an 18th-century suggestion that his father Giles Vanbrugh "may have been a sugar-baker" has been misunderstood. "Sugar-baker" implies wealth, as the term refers not to a maker of sweets but to an owner of a sugar house, a factory for the refining of raw sugar from the Barbados. Sugar refining would normally be combined with sugar trading, which was a lucrative business. Downes' example of one sugar baker's house in Liverpool being estimated to bring in £40,000 a year in trade from the Barbados throws a different light on Vanbrugh's social background than the picture of a backstreet Chester sweetshop which is painted by Leigh Hunt in 1840 and reflected in many later accounts. London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... Chester is the county town of Cheshire in North West England. ... The Great Plague was a massive outbreak of disease in Britain that killed 60,000 people, up to a fifth of Londons population in 1665. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... A sugar-baker was the owner of a sugar house, a factory for the refining of raw sugar from the Barbados. ... A selection of confections The term confectionery refers to food items that are (at least perceived to be) rich in sugar. ... Magnification of typical sugar In non-scientific use, the term sugar means sucrose, also called table sugar or saccharose, a white crystalline solid disaccharide. ... Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in North West England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom Inflation 2. ... An artists rendering of James Henry Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (October 19, 1784 - August 28, 1859) was an English essayist and writer. ...

How Vanbrugh spent the years from age 18 to 22 (after leaving school) is something of a mystery. There are no records of him between 1682 and 1686, or any shred of evidence for the persistent story that he was studying (sometimes specifically architecture) in France (stated as fact in the Dictionary of National Biography). As Laurence Whistler pointed out more than 60 years ago, there would have been no need for a young man of talent to go to France from England to study architecture. Moreover, the early drawings for Castle Howard show that he still drew like a novice in 1700, while the first thing he would have learned in a French architect's office would have been to set out a drawing properly. The garden front of Castle Howard John Vanburghs complete project for Castle Howard, which was not all built. ...

The picture of a well-connected youth is reinforced by the fact that Vanbrugh in 1686 took up an officer's commission in his distant relative the Earl of Huntingdon's regiment. Since commissions were in the gift of the commanding officer, Vanbrugh's entry as an officer shows that he did have the kind of upscale family network that was then essential to a young man starting out in life.

It is worth noting, however, that in spite of the distant noble relatives and the sugar trade, Vanbrugh never in later life possessed any capital for business ventures such as the Haymarket Theatre, but always had to rely on loans and backers. The fact that Giles Vanbrugh had twelve children to support and set up in life may go some way towards explaining the debts that were to plague John all his life. See also: Haymarket Theatre (Leicester) Haymarket Theatre, ca. ...

Political activism and the Bastille

The infamous French state prison the Bastille, where Vanbrugh was incarcerated.

From 1686, Vanbrugh was working undercover, playing a role in bringing about the armed invasion by William of Orange, the deposition of James II, and the Glorious Revolution of 1689. He thus demonstrates an intense early identification with the Whig cause of parliamentary democracy, with which he was to remain affiliated all his life. Returning from bringing William messages at The Hague, Vanbrugh was arrested at Calais on a charge of espionage (which Downes concludes was trumped-up) in September 1688, two months before William invaded England. Vanbrugh remained in prison in France for four and a half years, part of the time in the Bastille, before being released in exchange for a French political prisoner. His life is sharply bisected by this prison experience, which he entered at age 24 and emerged from at 29, after having spent, as Downes puts it, half his adult life in captivity. It seems to have left him with a lasting distaste for the French political system but also with a taste for the comic dramatists and the architecture of France. Image File history File links Bastille2. ... Image File history File links Bastille2. ... The Bastille The Bastille ( ) was a prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. ... William III of England (The Hague,14 November 1650 – Hampton Court, 8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, Stadtholder of the United Netherlands from 28 June 1672, King of... James II of England and VII of Scotland (14 October 1633–16 September 1701) became King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland on 6 February 1685. ... The Glorious Revolution was the overthrow of James II of England in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians and the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange). ... A parliamentary system, or parliamentarism, is distinguished by the executive branch of government being dependent on the direct or indirect support of the parliament, often expressed through a vote of confidence. ... Arms of The Hague Flag of The city of The Hague. ... Location within France The Burghers of Calais, by Rodin, with Calais Hotel de Ville behind J.M.W. Turner: Calais Pier Calais (Dutch: ) is a town in northern France, located at 50°57N 1°52E. It is in the département of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a... Espionage is the practice of obtaining information about an organization or a society that is considered secret or confidential (spying) without the permission of the holder of the information. ...

The often-repeated claim that Vanbrugh wrote part of his comedy The Provoked Wife in the Bastille is based on allusions in a couple of much later memoirs and is regarded with some doubt by modern scholars (see McCormick). After being released from the Bastille, he had to spend three months in Paris, free to move around but unable to leave the country, and with every opportunity to see an architecture "unparalleled in England for scale, ostentation, richness, taste and sophistication" (Downes 75). He was allowed to return to England in 1693, and took part in a naval battle against the French in Camaret Bay in 1694. At some point in the mid-1690s, it is not known exactly when, he exchanged army life for London and the London stage. Camaret Bay is a small bay on the north coast of Brittany, France. ...

Public life

London

Vanbrugh's London career was diverse and varied, comprising playwriting, architectural design, and attempts to combine these two overarching interests. For a chronological overview of his overlapping achievements and business ventures, which were sometimes confusing even to Vanbrugh himself.

The Kit-Cat Club

Vanbrugh was a committed Whig and member of the Whig Kit-Cat Club — indeed being regarded as its most popular and beloved member — in line with the charm of personality and talent for friendship which his contemporaries mention over and over again. The Club is best known today as an early 18th-century social gathering point for culturally and politically prominent Whigs, including many artists and writers (William Congreve, Joseph Addison, Godfrey Kneller) and politicians (the Duke of Marlborough, Charles Seymour, the Earl of Burlington, Thomas Pelham-Holles, Sir Robert Walpole). The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit-Kat Club) was an early 18th century English club in London with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives. ... William Congreve (January 24, 1670 – January 19, 1729) was an English playwright and poet. ... Joseph Addison, the Kit-cat portrait, circa 1703–1712, by Godfrey Kneller. ... Sir Godfrey Kneller (August 8, 1646 -October 19, 1723) was an artist, court painter to several British monarchs. ... Politics of the United Kingdom take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government. ... John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in his Garter robes John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, KG, PC (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722) was an English military officer during the War of the Spanish Succession. ... Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (13 August 1662 - December 2, 1748), succeeded his brother Francis, the 5th Duke, when the latter was shot in 1678 at the age of twenty, by a Genoese gentleman, named Horatio Botti, whose wife Somerset was said to have insulted at Lerici. ... Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme (July 21, 1693 - November 17, 1768) was a Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. ... The Right Honourable Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), usually known as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. ...

Politically, the Club promoted the Whig objectives of a strong Parliament, a limited monarchy, resistance to France, and the Protestant succession to the throne. Yet the Kit-Cats always presented their club as more a matter of dining and conviviality, and this reputation has been successfully relayed to posterity. Downes suggests, however, that the Club's origins go back to before the Glorious Revolution of 1689 and that its political importance was much greater before it went public in 1700, in calmer and more Whiggish times. Downes proposes a role for an early Kit-Cat grouping in the armed invasion by William of Orange and the Glorious Revolution. Horace Walpole, son of Kit-Cat Sir Robert Walpole, claims that the respectable middle-aged Club members generally mentioned as "a set of wits" were originally "in reality the patriots that saved Britain", in other words were the active force behind the Glorious Revolution itself. Secret groups tend to be poorly documented, and this sketch of the pre-history of the Club cannot be proved. But as we have seen, young Vanbrugh was indeed back in 1688 part of a secret network working for William's invasion. If the roots of the Club go back that far, it is tempting to speculate that Vanbrugh in joining the club was not merely becoming one of a convivial London "set of wits" but was also linking up with old friends and co-conspirators. A hero of the cause who had done time in French prison for it could have been confident of a warm welcome. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ... Places where monarchies maintain rule appear in blue. ... Protestantism is one of three primary branches of Christianity. ... Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, more commonly known as Horace Walpole, (September 24, 1717 – March 2, 1797), was a politician, writer and forerunner of the Gothic revival. ...

The Haymarket theatre

The Queen's Theatre

In 1703, Vanbrugh started buying land and signing backers for the construction of a new theatre in the Haymarket, designed by himself and intended for the use of an actors' cooperative (see The Provoked Wife below) led by Thomas Betterton. Vanbrugh and his associate William Congreve hoped by this enterprise to improve the chances of legitimate theatre in London, which was under threat from more colourful types of entertainment such as opera, juggling, pantomime (introduced by John Rich), animal acts, travelling dance troupes, and famous visiting Italian singers. They also hoped to make a profit, and Vanbrugh optimistically bought up the actors' company, making himself sole owner. He was now bound to pay salaries to the actors and, as it turned out, to manage the theatre, a notorious tightrope act for which he had no experience. The often repeated rumour that the acoustics of the building Vanbrugh had designed were bad is exaggerated (see Milhous), but the more practical Congreve had become anxious to extricate himself from the project, and Vanbrugh was left spreading himself extremely thin, running a theatre and simultaneously overseeing the building of Blenheim, a project which after June 1705 often took him out of town. William Capon (1757-1827): Italian Opera House (Kings Theatre), The Haymarket, London. ... William Capon (1757-1827): Italian Opera House (Kings Theatre), The Haymarket, London. ... The Haymarket is a street in the St Jamess district of the City of Westminister in London, England. ... Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Knellers Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Knellers finest portraits. ... Thomas Betterton (c. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan is one of the worlds most famous opera houses. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... It has been suggested that The British Pantomime be merged into this article or section. ... John Rich (1682 - 1761) was an important theater manager in 18th century London. ...

Unsurprisingly under these circumstances, Vanbrugh's management of the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket showed "numerous signs of confusion, inefficiency, missed opportunities, and bad judgment" (Milhous). Having burned his fingers on theatre management, Vanbrugh too extricated himself, expensively, by selling the business in 1708, though without ever collecting much of the putative price. He had put a lot of money, his own and borrowed, into the theatre company, which he was never to recover. It was noted as remarkable by contemporaries that he continued to pay the actors' salaries fully and promptly while they were working for him, just as he always paid the workmen he had hired for construction work; shirking such responsibilities was close to being standard practice in early 18th-century England. Vanbrugh himself never seems to have pursued those who owed him money, and throughout his life his finances can at best be described as precarious.

The College of Arms

Vanbrugh's introduction and advancement in the College of Arms, remain controversial. On 21 June 1703 the obsolete office of Carlisle Herald was revived for Vanbrugh. This appointment was followed by a promotion to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms in March of 1704. In 1725 he sold this office to Knox Ward and he told a friend he had "got leave to dispose in earnest, of a place I got in jest" ^[2]. His colleagues' opposition to an ill-gotten appointment ought to have been directed to Lord Carlisle, who as Deputy Earl Marshal, arranged both appointments and against whose wishes they were powerless. Vanbrugh went on to make more friends than enemies at the College, however. The pageantry of state occasions appealed to his theatrical sense, his duties were not difficult, and he appears to have performed them well. In the opinion of a modern herald and historian, although the appointment was "incongruous," he was "possibly the most distinguished man who has ever worn a herald's tabard" ^[3] In May of 1706 Lord Halifax and Vanbrugh—representing the octogenarian Garter King of Arms, Sir Henry St George—led a delegation to Hanover to confer the Order of the Garter on Prince George. The Colleges own coat of arms was granted in 1484. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... Events February 2 - Earthquake in Aquila, Italy February 4 - In Japan, the 47 samurai commit seppuku (ritual suicide) February 14 - Earthquake in Norcia, Italy April 21 - Company of Quenching of Fire (ie. ... Clarenceux King of Arms is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. ... Earl Marshal (alternatively Marschal or Marischal) is an ancient chivalric title used separately in England, Ireland and the United Kingdom. ... Henry Edgar Paston-Bedingfeld, Her Majestys York Herald of Arms in Ordinary at the College of Arms. ... A tabard worn over armour A tabard is a short coat, either sleeveless, or with short sleeves or shoulder pieces, emblazoned on the front and back with the arms of the sovereign, and worn, as their distinctive garment, by heralds and pursuivants. ... An octogenarian is a person in the age group of 80 to 89 years old. ... The Colleges own coat of arms was granted in 1484. ... Hanover (German: Hannover []), on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ... The Garter is the most recognizable insignia of the Order of the Garter. ... George II (George Augustus) (10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. ...

Marriage and death

In 1719, at St Lawrence Church, York, Vanbrugh married Henrietta Maria Yarborough of Heslington Hall, aged 26 to his 55. In spite of the age difference, this was by all accounts a happy marriage, which produced two sons. Unlike that of the rake heroes and fops of his plays, Vanbrugh's personal life was without scandal. York had around forty-five parish churches in 1300. ... Heslington Hall Heslington Hall is an English manor house located on the campus of the University of York, near the village of Heslington. ... The Tavern Scene from A Rakes Progress by William Hogarth. ... FOP (Formatting Objects Processor) is an XSL-FO processor written in Java, which provides the feature to convert XSL-FO files to PDF or direct-printable-files. ...

Vanbrugh died "of an asthma" in 1726 in the modest town house designed by him in 1703 out of the ruins of Whitehall Palace and satirised by Swift as "the goose pie". His married life, however, was mostly spent at Greenwich (then not considered part of London at all) in the house on Maze Hill now known as Vanbrugh Castle, a miniature Scottish tower house designed by Vanbrugh in the earliest stages of his career. The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698 when all except Inigo Jones 1622 Banqueting House was destroyed by fire. ... Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Irish priest, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, and poet, famous for works like Gullivers Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapiers Letters, The Battle of the Books, and A Tale of a Tub. ... This page is about Greenwich in England. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1. ... A tower house stands on a hillock near Quin along the back road from Limerick to Ennis. ...

Playwright

Actor Colley Cibber's comedy Love's Last Shift, or Virtue Rewarded inspired Vanbrugh to write The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger.

Thomas Betterton, Sir John Brute in The Provoked Wife. Betterton's acting ability was lavishly praised by Samuel Pepys, Alexander Pope, Richard Steele and Colley Cibber.

Elizabeth Barry was a celebrated tragedienne who brought depth to Lady Brute in Vanbrugh's comedy The Provoked Wife.

Anne Bracegirdle, Bellinda in The Provoked Wife, often played the comic half of a contrasted tragic/comic heroine pair with Elizabeth Barry.

Vanbrugh arrived in London at a time of scandal and internal drama at London's only theatre company, as a long-running conflict between pinchpenny management and disgruntled actors came to a head and the actors walked out. A new comedy staged with the makeshift remainder of the company in January 1696, Colley Cibber's Love's Last Shift, had a final scene that to Vanbrugh's critical mind demanded a sequel, and he threw himself into the fray by providing it. Download high resolution version (700x981, 217 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Download high resolution version (700x981, 217 KB) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Popes Dunciad. ... John Vanbrugh (1664–1726), author of The Relapse. ... Portrait of Thomas Betterton by Godfrey Kneller The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Portrait of Thomas Betterton by Godfrey Kneller The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Thomas Betterton (c. ... Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Knellers Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Knellers finest portraits. ... Portrait of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls. ... Alexander Pope, an English poet best known for his Essay on Criticism and Rape of the Lock Pope, circa 1727. ... Sir Richard Steele (bap. ... Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Popes Dunciad. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (629x797, 1224 KB)Early 18th-century etching of Elizabeth Barry after portrait by Godfrey Kneller The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (629x797, 1224 KB)Early 18th-century etching of Elizabeth Barry after portrait by Godfrey Kneller The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright... Elizabeth Barry changed like Nature which she represents, from Passion to Passion, from Extream to Extream, with piercing Force and with easy Grace. Elizabeth Barry (1658–November 7, 1713) was an English actress. ... In general usage, a tragedy or tragoedy is a drama, movie or sometimes a real world event with a sad outcome. ... Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Knellers Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Knellers finest portraits. ... The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Anne Bracegirdle, (c. ... Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Knellers Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Knellers finest portraits. ... Elizabeth Barry changed like Nature which she represents, from Passion to Passion, from Extream to Extream, with piercing Force and with easy Grace. Elizabeth Barry (1658–November 7, 1713) was an English actress. ... Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Popes Dunciad. ...

The Relapse

Cibber's Love's Last Shift

Colley Cibber's notorious tear-jerker Love's Last Shift, Or, Virtue Rewarded was written and staged in the eye of a theatrical storm. London's only and mismanaged theatre company, known as the United Company, had split in two in March 1695 when the senior actors began operating their own acting cooperative, and the next season was one of cutthroat rivalry between the two companies.

Cibber, an inconspicuous young actor still employed by the parent company, seized this moment of unique demand for new plays and launched his career on two fronts by writing a play with a big, flamboyant part for himself: the Frenchified fop Sir Novelty Fashion. Backed up by Cibber's own uninhibited performance, Sir Novelty delighted the audiences. In the serious part of Love's Last Shift, wifely patience is tried by an out-of-control Restoration rake husband, and the perfect wife is celebrated and rewarded in a climactic finale where the cheating husband kneels to her and expresses the depth of his repentance. The Tavern Scene from A Rakes Progress by William Hogarth. ...

Love's Last Shift has not been staged again since the early 18th century and is read only by the most dedicated scholars, who sometimes express distaste for its businesslike combination of four explicit acts of sex and rakishness with one of sententious reform (see Hume). If Cibber indeed was deliberately attempting to appeal simultaneously to rakish and respectable Londoners, it worked: the play was a great box-office hit.

Sequel: The Relapse

Vanbrugh's witty sequel The Relapse, Or, Virtue in Danger, offered to the United Company six weeks later, questions the justice of women's position in marriage at this time. He sends new sexual temptations in the way of not only the reformed husband but also the patient wife, and allows them to react in more credible and less predictable ways than in their original context, lending the flat characters from Love's Last Shift a dimension that at least some critics are willing to consider psychological (see Hume). Matrimony redirects here. ... Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of the human mind, brain, and behavior. ...

In a trickster subplot, Vanbrugh provides the more traditional Restoration attraction of an overly well-dressed and exquisite fop, Lord Foppington, a brilliant re-creation of Cibber's Sir Novelty Fashion in Love's Last Shift (Sir Novelty has simply in The Relapse bought himself the title of "Lord Foppington" through the corrupt system of Royal title sales). Critics of Restoration comedy are unanimous in declaring Lord Foppington "the greatest of all Restoration fops" (Dobrée), by virtue of being not merely laughably affected, but also "brutal, evil, and smart" (Hume). The trickster figure Renart the Fox as depicted in an 1869 childrens book by Michel Rodange. ...

The Relapse, however, came very close to not being performed at all. The United Company had lost all its senior performers, and had great difficulty in finding and keeping actors of sufficient skills for the large cast required by The Relapse. Members of that cast had to be kept from defecting to the rival actors' cooperative, had to be "seduced" (as the legal term was) back when they did defect, and had to be blandished into attending rehearsals which dragged out into ten months and brought the company to the threshold of bankruptcy. "They have no company at all", reports a contemporary letter in November, "and unless a new play comes out on Saturday revives their reputation, they must break". That new play, The Relapse, did turn out a tremendous success that saved the company, not least by virtue of Colley Cibber again bringing down the house with his second impersonation of Lord Foppington. "This play (the Relapse)", writes Cibber in his autobiography forty years later, "from its new and easy Turn of Wit, had great Success".

The Provoked Wife

Vanbrugh's second original comedy, The Provoked Wife, followed soon after, performed by the rebel actors' company. This play is different in tone from the largely farcical The Relapse, and adapted to the greater acting skills of the rebels. Vanbrugh had good reason to offer his second play to the new company, which had got off to a brilliant start by premièring Congreve's Love For Love, the greatest London box-office success for years. The actors' cooperative boasted the established star performers of the age, and Vanbrugh tailored The Provoked Wife to their specialties. While The Relapse had been robustly phrased to be suitable for amateurs and minor acting talents, he could count on versatile professionals like Thomas Betterton, Elizabeth Barry, and the rising young star Anne Bracegirdle to do justice to characters of depth and nuance. Elizabeth Barry changed like Nature which she represents, from Passion to Passion, from Extream to Extream, with piercing Force and with easy Grace. Elizabeth Barry (1658–November 7, 1713) was an English actress. ... Anne Bracegirdle, (c. ...

The Provoked Wife is a comedy, but Elizabeth Barry who played the abused wife was especially famous as a tragic actress, and for her power of "moving the passions", i.e., moving an audience to pity and tears. Barry and the younger Bracegirdle had often worked together as a tragic/comic heroine pair to bring audiences the typically tragic/comic rollercoaster experience of Restoration plays. Vanbrugh takes advantage of this schema and these actresses to deepen audience sympathy for the unhappily married Lady Brute, even as she fires off her witty ripostes. In the intimate conversational dialogue between Lady Brute and her niece Bellinda (Bracegirdle), and especially in the star part of Sir John Brute the brutish husband (Betterton), which was hailed as one of the peaks of Thomas Betterton's remarkable career, The Provoked Wife is something as unusual as a Restoration problem play. The premise of the plot, that a wife trapped in an abusive marriage might consider either leaving it or taking a lover, outraged some sections of Restoration society. The term problem plays is applied to the three plays William Shakespeare wrote between the last of his pure comedies (Twelfth Night) and the first of his pure tragedies (Othello) They are Alls Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida. ...

Changing audience taste

In 1698, Vanbrugh's argumentative and sexually frank plays were singled out for special attention by Jeremy Collier in his Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage, particularly for their failure to impose exemplary morality by appropriate rewards and punishments in the fifth act. Vanbrugh laughed at these charges and published a joking reply, where he accused the clergyman Collier of being more sensitive to unflattering portrayals of the clergy than to real irreligion. However, rising public opinion was already on Collier's side. The intellectual and sexually explicit Restoration comedy style was becoming less and less acceptable to audiences and was soon to be replaced by a drama of sententious morality. Colley Cibber's Love's Last Shift, with its reformed rake and sentimental reconciliation scene, can be seen as a forerunner of this drama. Jeremy Collier (1650-1726) was an English bishop. ... Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage is an anti-theatre pamphlet written in 1698 by the Puritan divine Jeremy Collier. ... Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. ...

Although Vanbrugh continued to work for the stage in many ways, he produced no more original plays. With the change in audience taste away from Restoration comedy, he turned his creative energies from original composition to dramatic adaptation/translation, theatre management, and architecture.

Architect

As an architect (or surveyor, as the term then was) Vanbrugh is thought to have had no formal training (compare Early life above). His inexperience was compensated by his unerring eye for perspective and detail and his close working relationship with Nicholas Hawksmoor. Hawksmoor, a former clerk of Sir Christopher Wren, was to be Vanbrugh's collaborator in many of his most ambitious projects, including Castle Howard and Blenheim. During his almost thirty years as a practising architect Vanbrugh designed and worked on numerous buildings. More often than not his work was a rebuild or remodel, such as that at Kimbolton Castle, where Vanbrugh had to follow the instructions of his patron. Consequently these houses, which often claim Vanbrugh as their architect, do not typify Vanbrugh's own architectural concepts and ideas. Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Knellers Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Knellers finest portraits. ... Perspective when used in the context of vision and visual perception refers to the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes or dimension and the position of the eye relative to the objects. ... The career of Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 - 25 March 1736) formed the brilliant middle link in Britains trio of great baroque architects. ... Sir Christopher Wren, (20 October 1632–25 February 1723) was a 17th century English designer, astronomer, geometrician, and the greatest English architect of his time. ... Kimbolton Castle in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, is best known as the final home (or prison) of King Henry VIIIs first queen, Catherine of Aragon. ...

Though Vanbrugh is best known in connection with stately houses, the parlous state of London's 18th-century streets did not escape his attention. In the London Journal of March 16, 1722–23, James Boswell comments: Boswells London Journal is his second most popular work, after his Life of Johnson. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). ... // Events Abraham De Moivre states De Moivres theorem connecting trigonometric functions and complex numbers Publication of the first book of Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier Fall of Persias Safavid dynasty during a bloody revolt of the Afghani people. ... James Boswell James Boswell (October 29, 1740 - May 19, 1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...

"We are informed that Sir John Vanbrugh, in his scheme for new paving the cities of London and Westminster, among other things, proposes a tax on all gentlemen's coaches, to stop all channels in the s"eet, and to carry all the water off by drains and common sewers under ground.

Vanbrugh's chosen style was baroque, which had been spreading across Europe during the 17th century promoted by, among others, Bernini and Le Vau. The first baroque country house built in England was Chatsworth House designed by William Talman three years before Castle Howard. In the race for the commission of Castle Howard, the untrained and untried Vanbrugh astonishingly managed to out-charm and out-clubman the professional but less socially adept Talman and to persuade the Earl of Carlisle to give the great opportunity to him instead (see Downes, 193–204). Seizing it, Vanbrugh instigated European baroque's metamorphosis into a subtle, almost understated version that became known as English baroque. Three of Vanbrugh's designs act as milestones for evaluating this process:- For the Baroque style in a more general sense, see Baroque. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Louis Le Vau (1612 – 1670) was a French architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. ... A view of Chatsworth from the south-west circa 1880. ... The South Front of Chatsworth from Colen Campbells Vitruvius Britannicus. ... Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle (c. ...

1. Castle Howard, commissioned in 1699;
2. Blenheim Palace, commissioned in 1704;
3. Seaton Delaval Hall, begun in 1718.

Work in progress on each of these projects overlapped into the next, providing a natural progression of thoughts and style. The garden front of Castle Howard John Vanburghs complete project for Castle Howard, which was not all built. ... Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ... Seaton Delaval Hall, drawn before completion, as Vanbrugh envisaged the house. ...

Castle Howard

Main article: Castle Howard

Vanbrugh's south facade of Castle Howard.

Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, a fellow member of the Kit-Cat Club, commissioned Vanbrugh in 1699 to design his mansion, often described as England's first truly baroque building. The baroque style at Castle Howard is the most European that Vanbrugh ever used. The garden front of Castle Howard John Vanburghs complete project for Castle Howard, which was not all built. ... Photo of Castle Howard, taken by SimonP released under the GFDL File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Photo of Castle Howard, taken by SimonP released under the GFDL File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... West facade of the Notre-Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral A facade (or façade) (Pronounced fa-sa-de) is generally the exterior of a building — especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. ... The garden front of Castle Howard John Vanburghs complete project for Castle Howard, which was not all built. ... Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle (c. ... Mansion near Almelo, The Netherlands A mansion is a large and stately dwelling house for the wealthy. ...

Castle Howard, with its immense corridors in segmental colonnades leading from the main entrance block to the flanking wings, its centre crowned by a great domed tower complete with cupola, is very much in the school of classic European baroque. It combined aspects of design that had only appeared occasionally, if at all, in English architecture: John Webb's Greenwich Palace, Wren's unexecuted design for Greenwich, which like Castle Howard was dominated by a domed centre block, and of course Talman's Chatsworth. A possible inspiration for Castle Howard was also Vaux-le-Vicomte in France. Enormous colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg. ... Cupola of St Peters Basilica, Rome In architecture, a cupola consists of a dome-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome, often used as a lookout or to admit light and provide ventilation. ... Architect John Webb (1611-24 October 1672) was born in Butley in Somerset and became son-in-law and personal assistant to fellow architect and theatre designer Inigo Jones from 1628, having married Jones daughter Anne. ... Vaux-le-vicomte was in many ways the most important work built before Louis XIV came to power. ...

The interiors are extremely dramatic, the Great Hall rising 80 feet (24 m) into the cupola. Scagliola, and Corinthian columns abound, and galleries linked by soaring arches give the impression of an opera stage-set — doubtless the intention of the architect. A foot (plural: feet) is any of several old units of distance or length, measuring around a quarter to a third of a meter. ... The metre, or meter (US), is a measure of length. ... Scagliola (from the Italian scaglia, meaning chips) is a technique for producing plasterwork columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements that resemble marble. ... The Corinthian order as used for the portico of the Pantheon, Rome provided a prominent model for Renaissance and later architects, through the medium of engravings. ...

Castle Howard was acclaimed a success. This fantastical building, unparalleled in England, with its facades and roofs decorated by pilasters, statuary, and flowing ornamental carving, ensured that baroque became an overnight success. While the greater part of Castle Howard was inhabited and completed by 1709, the finishing touches were to continue for much of Vanbrugh's lifetime. The west wing was finally completed after Vanbrugh's death.

The acclaim of the work at Castle Howard led to Vanbrugh's most famous commission, architect for Blenheim Palace.

Blenheim Palace

Main article: Blenheim Palace

The West facade of Blenheim Palace ("Vanbrugh's castle air") shows the unique severe towering stone belvederes ornamenting the skyline.

The Duke of Marlborough's forces defeated King Louis XIV's army at Blenheim, a village on the Danube in 1704. Marlborough's reward, from a grateful nation, was to be a splendid country seat, and the Duke himself chose fellow Kit-Cat John Vanbrugh to be the architect. Work began on the palace in 1705. Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ... Blenheim Palace, West Facade. ... Blenheim Palace, West Facade. ... Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ... Belvedere (occasionally Belvidere) is an architectural term adopted from the Italian (literally fair view), which refers to any architectural structure sited to take advantage of such a view. ... John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in his Garter robes John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, KG, PC (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722) was an English military officer during the War of the Spanish Succession. ... Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) ruled as King of France and of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death just prior to his seventy-seventh birthday. ... Blenheim may refer to a number of towns and cities in different countries: Blenheim, a city in New Zealand. ... The Danube bend at Visegrád is a popular destination of tourists The Danube (ancient Danuvius) is Europes second-longest river (after the Volga). ...

Blenheim Palace was conceived to be not only a grand country house, but a national monument. Consequently, the light baroque style used at Castle Howard would have been unsuitable for what is in effect a war memorial. The house had to display strength and military glory. It is in truth more of a castle, or citadel, than a palace. The qualities of the building are best illustrated by the massive East Gate (illustration, below, left), set in the curtain wall of the service block, which resembles an impregnable entrance to a walled city. Few realise it also serves as water tower for the palace, thus confounding those of Vanbrugh's critics who accused him of impracticability. For the Blur single, see Country House (song). ... This memorial in England lists the names of soldiers who died in the First World War. ... Caernarfon Castle, Wales. ... This article is about a type of fortification. ... The quintessential medieval European palace: Palais de la Cité, in Paris, the royal palace of France. ... Glass curtain wall of the Bauhaus Dessau. ... The mushroom-shaped concrete water tower of Roihuvuori in Helsinki, Finland was built in the 1970s. ...

Vanbrugh's monumental East Gate at Blenheim Palace is more the entrance to a citadel than to a palace. Vanbrugh cunningly slightly tapered the sides to create an illusion of even greater height and drama.

Blenheim, the largest non-royal domestic building in England, consists of three blocks, the centre containing the living and state rooms, and two flanking rectangular wings both built around a central courtyard: one contains the stables, and the other the kitchens, laundries, and storehouses. If Castle Howard was the first truly baroque building in England, then Blenheim Palace is the most definitive. While Castle Howard is a dramatic assembly of restless masses, Blenheim is altogether of a more solid construction, relying on tall slender windows and monumental statuary on the roofs to lighten the mass of yellow stone. East Gate of Blenheim Palace. ... East Gate of Blenheim Palace. ... Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ... This article is about a type of fortification. ... The quintessential medieval European palace: Palais de la Cité, in Paris, the royal palace of France. ... A State Room in a large European mansion, is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed to impress, they were the most luxurious in the house and contained the finest works of art. ... A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. ... Leland Stanfords horse stable, still in use Horse kept in stable A stable is a building in which livestock, usually horses, are kept. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Man and woman washing linen in a brook, from William Henry Pynes Microcosm, 1806. ...

The suite of state rooms placed on the piano nobile were designed to be overpowering and magnificent displays, rather than warm, or comfortable. Cosy, middle class comfort was not the intention at Versailles, the great palace of Marlborough's foe, and it was certainly not deemed a consideration in the palace built to house the conqueror of Versailles' master. Kedleston Hall. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... , Versailles (pronounced , roughly vair-sye’, in French), formerly the de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important administrative and judicial center. ...

The pediment over the south portico is a complete break from the convention. The flat top is decorated by a trophy bearing the marble bust of Louis XIV looted by Marlborough from Tournai in 1709, weighing 30 tons. The positioning of the bust was an innovative new design in the decoration of a pediment.

As was common in the 18th century, personal comfort was sacrificed to perspective. Windows were to adorn the facades, as well as light the interior. Blenheim was designed as a theatre piece from the 67 foot (20 m) high great hall, leading to the huge frescoed saloon, all designed on an axis with the 134 foot (41 m) high column of victory in the grounds, with the trees planted in the battle positions of Marlborough's soldiers. Over the south portico (illustrated right), itself a massive and dense construction of piers and columns, definitely not designed in the Palladian manner for elegant protection from the sun, a huge bust of Louis XIV is forced to look down on the splendours and rewards of his conqueror. If this placement and design was an ornamental feature created by Vanbrugh, or an ironic joke by Marlborough, is not known. However, as an architectural composition it is a unique example of baroque ornament. South Portico, Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace,south portico. ... South Portico, Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace,south portico. ... John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in his Garter robes John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, KG, PC (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722) was an English military officer during the War of the Spanish Succession. ... The cathedral of Notre Dame de Tournai Tournai (in Dutch: Doornik) is located 85 kilometers southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt in the Belgian province of Hainaut. ... Fresco by Dionisius representing Saint Nicholas. ... Saloon may refer to: Any bar, especially in the American Wild West. ...

At Blenheim, Vanbrugh developed baroque from the mere ornamental to a denser, more solid, form, where the massed stone became the ornament. The great arched gates and the huge solid portico were ornament in themselves, and the whole mass was considered rather than each facade.

Seaton Delaval Hall

Main article: Seaton Delaval Hall

Seaton Delaval Hall – corps de logis viewed from the north

Seaton Delaval Hall was Vanbrugh's final work, this northern, seemingly rather bleak country house is considered his finest architectural masterpiece (see all architectural references below). The reasons for this are not immediately apparent to the viewer; by this stage in his architectural career Vanbrugh was a master of baroque, he had taken this form of architecture way beyond the almost flamboyant continental baroque of Castle Howard, past the more severe but still decorated Blenheim, to a point of pure sophistication. Vulgar ornament was almost disguised: a recess or a pillar was not placed for support, but to create a play of light or shadow. The silhouette of the building was of equal, if not greater, importance with the plan of rooms. In every aspect of the house, subtlety was the keyword; this is the secret of Seaton Delaval. Seaton Delaval Hall, drawn before completion, as Vanbrugh envisaged the house. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1003 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): John Vanbrugh Baroque architecture Seaton Delaval Hall Talk:Seaton Delaval Hall English Baroque ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1003 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): John Vanbrugh Baroque architecture Seaton Delaval Hall Talk:Seaton Delaval Hall English Baroque ... Seaton Delaval Hall, drawn before completion, as Vanbrugh envisaged the house. ... Blenheim Palace, unscaled plan of the Corps de logis. ... Seaton Delaval Hall, drawn before completion, as Vanbrugh envisaged the house. ... In architecture, ornament is decorative detail on buildings. ... A silhouette is a view of an object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior. ...

Built between 1718 and 1728 for Admiral George Delaval, it replaced the existing house on the site. It is possible that the design of Seaton Delaval was influenced by Palladio's Villa Foscari (sometimes known as "La Malcontenta"), built circa 1555. Both have rusticated facades and similar demilune windows over a non-porticoed entrance. Even the large attic gable at Villa Foscari hints at the clerestory of Seaton's great hall. Illustration from a 1736 English edition of I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura. ... Villa Foscari, a great creation by Andrea Palladio, is better known as La Malcontenta. ... Facade of the Palazzo del Te clearly showing rusticated stonework between the pilasters Rustication is an architectural term referring to the cutting of ashlar. ... An attic is an area found above a house. ... The House of the Seven Gables, Salem, Massachusetts, showing four gables in this view. ... Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ...

The design concept Vanbrugh drew up was similar to that employed at Castle Howard and Blenheim: a centre block between two arcaded and pedimented wings. However, Seaton Delaval was to be on a much smaller scale. Work began in 1718 and continued for ten years. The building is an advancement on the style of Blenheim, rather than the earlier castle Howard. The principal block, or corps de logis, containing, as at Blenheim and Castle Howard, the principal state and living room, forms the centre of a three-sided court. Towers crowned by balustrades and pinnacles give the house something of what Vanbrugh called his castle air. Blenheim Palace, unscaled plan of the Corps de logis. ... Stairs, staircase, stairway, flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. ... pinnacle Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk, Ostend, Belgium A pinnacle (from Latin pinnaculum, a little feather, pinna) is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. ...

Seaton Delaval is one of the few houses Vanbrugh designed alone without the aid of Nicholas Hawksmoor. The sobriety of their joint work has sometimes been attributed to Hawksmoor, and yet Seaton Delaval is a very sombre house indeed. Whereas Castle Howard could successfully be set down in Dresden or Würzburg, Seaton Delaval firmly belongs in Northumberland and in that landscape. Vanbrugh, in the final stage in his career, was fully liberated from the rules of the architects of a generation earlier. The rustic stonework is used for the entire facade, including on the entrance facade, the pairs of twin columns supporting little more than a stone cornice. The twin columns are severe and utilitarian, and yet ornament, as they provide no structural use. This is part of the furtive quality of the baroque of Seaton Delaval: the ornamental appears as a display of strength and mass. Dresden (Sorbian: Drježdźany; etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest) is the capital city of the German Federal State of Saxony and situated in a valley on the River Elbe. ... Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. ... Northumberland is a county in northern England. ... Example of cornice laden roof line In classical architecture the cornice is the set of projecting moldings that crown an entablature. ...

The likewise severe, but perfectly proportioned, garden facade has at its centre a four columned, balcony-roofed portico. Here the slight fluting of the stone columns seems almost excessive ornament. As at Blenheim, the central block is dominated by the raised clerestory of the great hall, adding to the drama of the building's silhouette, but unlike Vanbrugh's other great houses, no statuary decorates the roof-scape here. The decoration is provided solely by a simple balustrade hiding the roof line, and chimneys disguised as finials to the balustrading of the low towers. Vanbrugh was now truly a master of the baroque. The massing of the stone, the colonnades of the flanking wings, the heavy stonework and intricate recesses all create light and shade which is ornament in itself. A balcony comprising a balustrade supported at either end by plinths. ... A finial is a vertically mounted spike attached at the top of a building or structure. ... Enormous colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg. ...

Only Vanbrugh could have taken for his inspiration one of Palladio's masterpieces, and while retaining the humanist values of the building, alter and adapt it, into an unrivalled form of subtle, sophisticated baroque unseen elsewhere in Europe. English baroque had arrived.

Architectural reputation

Vanbrugh's prompt success as an architect can be attributed to his friendships with the influential of the day. No less than five of his architectural patrons were fellow members of the Kit-cat club. In 1702, through the influence of Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle, Vanbrugh was appointed comptroller of the Royal Works (now the Board of Works, where several of his designs may still be seen). In 1703, he was appointed commissioner of Greenwich Hospital, which was under construction at this time, and succeeded Wren as the official architect (or Surveyor), while Hawksmoor was appointed Site Architect. Vanbrugh's small but conspicuous final changes to the nearly completed building were considered a fine interpretation of Wren's original plans and intentions. Thus what was intended as an infirmary and hostel for destitute retired sailors was transformed into a magnificent national monument. His work here is said to have impressed both Queen Anne and her government, and is directly responsible for his subsequent success. A comptroller is an official who supervises expenditures. ... The Greenwich Hospital was founded in 1694 as the Royal Naval Hospital for Seamen. ... Anne Queen of Great Britain and Ireland Anne (6 February 1665–1 August 1714), became Queen of England and Scotland on 8 March 1702. ...

Vanbrugh's reputation still suffers from accusations of extravagance, impracticability and a bombastic imposition of his own will on his clients. Ironically, all of these unfounded charges derive from Blenheim — Vanbrugh's selection as architect of Blenheim was never completely popular. The Duchess, the formidable Sarah Churchill, particularly wanted Sir Christopher Wren. However, eventually a warrant signed by the Earl of Godolphin, the parliamentary treasurer, appointed Vanbrugh, and outlined his remit. Sadly, nowhere did this warrant mention Queen, or Crown. This error provided the get-out clause for the state when the costs and political infighting escalated. Sarah Churchill, née Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough (May 29, 1660 - October 18, 1744), rose to be one of the most influential women in British history, largely as a result of her close friendship with Queen Anne. ... Sir Christopher Wren, (20 October 1632–25 February 1723) was a 17th century English designer, astronomer, geometrician, and the greatest English architect of his time. ... In law, a warrant can mean any authorization. ... Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin (c. ...

Blenheim Palace The great court, and state entrance to the palace. The Duchess of Marlborough felt the building was extravagant.

Though Parliament had voted funds for the building of Blenheim, no exact sum had ever been fixed upon, and certainly no provision had been made for inflation. Almost from the outset, funds had been intermittent. Queen Anne paid some of them, but with growing reluctance and lapses, following her frequent altercations with her one time best friend, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. After the Duchess's final argument with the Queen in 1712, all state money ceased and work came to a halt. £220,000 had already been spent and £45,000 was owing to workmen. The Marlboroughs went into exile on the continent, and did not return until after Queen Anne's death in 1714. Blenheim Palace from Petruvius Brittanicus. ... Blenheim Palace from Petruvius Brittanicus. ... Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ...

The day after the Queen's death the Marlboroughs returned, and were reinstated in favour at the court of the new King George I. The 64-year-old Duke now decided to complete the project at his own expense; in 1716 work re-started and Vanbrugh was left to rely entirely upon the means of the Duke of Marlborough himself. Already discouraged and upset by the reception the palace was receiving from the Whig factions, the final blow for Vanbrugh came when the Duke was incapacitated in 1717 by a severe stroke, and the thrifty (and hostile) Duchess took control. The Duchess blamed Vanbrugh entirely for the growing extravagance of the palace, and its general design: that her husband and government had approved them, she discounted. (In fairness to her, it must be mentioned that the Duke of Marlborough had contributed £60,000 to the initial cost, which, supplemented by Parliament, should have built a monumental house.) Following a meeting with the Duchess, Vanbrugh left the building site in a rage, insisting that the new masons, carpenters and craftsmen were inferior to those he had employed. The master craftsmen he had patronised, however, such as Grinling Gibbons, refused to work for the lower rates paid by the Marlboroughs. The craftsmen brought in by the Duchess, under the guidance of furniture designer James Moore, completed the work in perfect imitation of the greater masters, so perhaps there was fault and intransigence on both sides in this famed argument. George I (Georg Ludwig) (28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was Elector of Hanover from 23 January 1698, and King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 1 August 1714, until his death. ... While the Whigs (along with the Tories) are often described as one of the two political parties in late 17th to mid 19th century Great Britain, it is more accurate to describe them as loose political groupings or tendencies. ... One of the many bookcase carvings Gibbons made for the Wren Library, Cambridge. ... James Moore is the name of more than one person of note: James Moore, colonial governor of South Carolina from 1700-03 and 1719-21. ...

Vanbrugh was deeply distressed by the turn of events. The rows and resulting rumours had damaged his reputation, and the palace he had nurtured like a child was forbidden to him. In 1719, while the duchess was "not at home", Vanbrugh was able to view the palace in secret; but when he and his wife, with the Earl of Carlisle, visited the completed Blenheim as members of the viewing public in 1725, they were refused admission to even enter the park. The palace had been completed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. The career of Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 - 25 March 1736) formed the brilliant middle link in Britains trio of great baroque architects. ...

That Vanbrugh's work at Blenheim has been the subject of criticism can largely be blamed on those, including the Duchess, who failed to understand the chief reason for its construction: to celebrate a martial triumph. In the achievement of this remit, Vanbrugh was as triumphant as was Marlborough on the field of battle.

Legacy

Vanbrugh is remembered today for his vast contribution to British culture, theatre, and architecture. An immediate dramatic legacy was found among his papers after his sudden death, the three-act comedy fragment A Journey to London. Vanbrugh had told his old friend Colley Cibber that he intended in this play to question traditional marriage roles even more radically than in the plays of his youth, and end it with a marriage falling irreconcilably apart. The unfinished manuscript, today available in Vanbrugh's Collected Works, depicts a country family travelling to London and falling prey to its sharpers and temptations, while a London wife drives her patient husband to despair with her gambling and her consorting with the demi-monde of con men and half-pay officers. As with The Relapse at the outset of Vanbrugh's dramatic career, Colley Cibber again became involved, and this time he had last word. Cibber, now poet laureate and successful actor-manager, completed Vanbrugh's manuscript under the title of The Provoked Husband (1728) and gave it a happy and sententious ending in which the provocative wife repents and is reconciled: a eulogy of marriage which was the opposite of Vanbrugh's declared intention to end his last and belated "Restoration comedy" with marital break-up. Cibber considered this projected outcome to be "too severe for Comedy", and such severity was in fact rarely to be seen on the English stage before Ibsen. A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. ... Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Look up eulogy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Photo of Henrik Ibsen in his older days Henrik Johan Ibsen (March 20, 1828 – May 23, 1906) was an influential Norwegian playwright who was largely responsible for the rise of the modern realistic drama (dubbed the father of modern drama). It is said that Ibsen is the most frequently performed...

The role of Sir John Brute in The Provoked Wife became one of David Garrick's most famous roles.

On the 18th-century stage, Vanbrugh's Relapse and Provoked Wife were only considered possible to perform in bowdlerised versions, but as such, they remained popular. Throughout Colley Cibber's long and successful acting career, audiences continued to demand to see him as Lord Foppington in The Relapse, while Sir John Brute in The Provoked Wife became, after being an iconic role for Thomas Betterton, one of David Garrick's most famous roles. In the present day, The Relapse, now again to be seen uncut, remains a favourite play. Image File history File links Zoffany-Garrick_in_Provoked_Wife. ... Image File history File links Zoffany-Garrick_in_Provoked_Wife. ... Portrait of David Garrick David Garrick (February 19, 1717 – January 20, 1779) was an English actor, dramatist, theatrical producer and theatrical manager, and a friend and pupil of Samuel Johnson. ... Portrait of David Garrick David Garrick (February 19, 1717 – January 20, 1779) was an English actor, dramatist, theatrical producer and theatrical manager, and a friend and pupil of Samuel Johnson. ...

With the completion of Castle Howard English baroque came into fashion overnight. It had brought together the isolated and varied instances of monumental design, by, among others, Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren. Vanbrugh thought of masses, volume and perspective in a way that his predecessors had not.

He also had the unusual skill, for an architect, of delivering the goods that his clients required. His reputation has suffered because of his famed disagreements with the Duchess of Marlborough, yet, one must remember his original client was the British Nation, not the Duchess, and the nation wanted a monument and celebration of victory, and that is what Vanbrugh gave the nation.

His influence on successive architects is incalculable. Nicholas Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh's friend and collaborator on so many projects continued to design many London churches for ten years after Vanbrugh's death. Vanbrugh's pupil and cousin the architect Edward Lovett Pearce rose to become one of Ireland's greatest architects. Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 - 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of palladianism in Ireland. ...

Vanbrugh is remembered throughout Britain, by inns, street names, a university college (York) and schools named in his honour, but one only has to wander through London, or the English country-side dotted with their innumerable country houses, to see the ever present influence of his architecture. Vanbrugh College is a college of the University of York, a UK university. ...

See also

• The Relapse
• Restoration comedy
• Elizabeth Barry
• Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage
• Colley Cibber
• Greenwich Hospital
• Nicholas Hawksmoor
• Baroque

John Vanbrugh (1664–1726), author of The Relapse. ... Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. ... Elizabeth Barry changed like Nature which she represents, from Passion to Passion, from Extream to Extream, with piercing Force and with easy Grace. Elizabeth Barry (1658–November 7, 1713) was an English actress. ... Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage is an anti-theatre pamphlet written in 1698 by the Puritan divine Jeremy Collier. ... Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Popes Dunciad. ... The Greenwich Hospital was founded in 1694 as the Royal Naval Hospital for Seamen. ... The career of Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 - 25 March 1736) formed the brilliant middle link in Britains trio of great baroque architects. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ...

Notes

1913 advertisement for the 11th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, with the slogan When in doubt—look it up in the Encyclopædia Britannica The Encyclopædia Britannica (properly spelled with æ, the ae-ligature) was first published in 1768–1771 as The Britannica was an important early English-language general... The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history. ... Sir Anthony Richard Wagner KCB KCVO FSA (6 September 1908–1995) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. ...

References

External links

• The Vanbrugh articles in Encyclopædia Britannica and Dictionary of National Biography are available by subscription only. See also the caution in Early life, above, about the basis of both these articles in traditional rather than scholarly sources.
• Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife. Use with caution, this is an abridged and bowdlerised text.
• Colley Cibber, Apology, vol. 1
• Colley Cibber, Apology, vol. 2
• Castle Howard
• Blenheim Palace
• Seaton Delaval Hall
• Vanbrugh Castle

   

Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Knellers Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Knellers finest portraits. ... Image File history File links LinkFA-star. ...