WARE, Isaac.
Designs by Inigo Jones and others
London, J. Millan, opposite to the Admiralty Office, White Hall, 1743£1,950.00
8vo. 53 full page plates, 6 double page, plus index and t-p, all engraved. T-p and index in Roman and Italic. Title on plinth base beneath a decorative jar adorned with vines and two male heads, imprint beside pedestal, index with publisher’s advertisement at foot of page. Good clean copy on thick paper, plates in good strong impression, very light foxing, one plate with tear repaired without loss. In contemporary mottled calf, slight scuffing to corners, rebacked.
Second Edition of a lovely book featuring architectural designs, plans and ornamental detail by Inigo Jones, William Kent and Lord Burlington. Plates engraved by Paul Fourdrinier (1698-1758), a Dutch engraver and print-seller. They feature a variety of smaller scale designs, all listed in the index at the front, including fireplaces, ceilings and cornices, decorated in classical style, as well as a few sections of rooms, porticoes, stairways and a theatre plan. Ware’s engravings, as well as three designs that were not engraved, can be found in the Soane Museum.
This publication serves as ‘evidence of [Ware’s] association with the Burlington circle’ (Harris 468) and strengthens the claim that he was patronised by the Earl (1694-1753), a wealthy amateur architect, also known as the ‘Apollo of the Arts’ and the ‘Architect Earl’, who likely provided him his education and the opportunity to develop his architectural studies in Italy. His connection with Burlington, who is credited with the design of pl.30, comprising piers flanked by two symmetrically mirrored pillars, rusticated blocks of stone crowned by a carved meander band, garland motif and two seated sphinxes. Ware’s name features on two very detailed engravings in the 1730 edition of Palladio’s ‘Fabbriche Antiche’, published by Lord Burlington. All three architects were instrumental in the introduction of the Palladian style to England. The large selection of plates and lack of text suggest this to be a pattern book, intended to show to clients to assist in their selection of various designs. The inclusion of scale and a variety of aspects enabled their actual reproduction.
Inigo Jones (1573-1652) was reportedly the son of a cloth worker, who, by 1603, had visited Italy long enough to study painting and design and attracted the patronage of King Christian IV of Norway. Having spent time at his court, he moved to the court of King James I, obtaining employment from Queen Anne, Christian’s sister. Under the reign of Charles I, he completed the Queen’s House in Greenwich (1616-1619), one of his most famous works and in 1619, after a fire destroyed the Banqueting Hall, he was commissioned to replace the building, completed in 1622.
The third architect featured in this volume, William Kent (1685-1748), was another protégé of the Earl of Burlington. He was sent to Rome to study painting from 1709 to 1719, under Benedetto Lutti, where he first encountered the Earl. He was taken back to England to decorate Burlington House in 1719 and by the 1730s had become a fashionable architect, his most notable building being Holkham Hall in Norfolk, which was begun in 1734.
The inclusion of locations for some of the pieces, such as Windsor Castle and Somerset House, invites the reader to visit them first hand, adding another degree of charm to the book.
ESTC: T114549. Harris 910. Fowler 4379. Berlin Cat. 2224.In stock
