Inigo Jones

'Ignatii Iones Mag: Brit: Architecti Generalis Vera Effigies'. Portrait of Inigo Jones by Hollar after a painting by Van Dyck (now in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg).

Inigo Jones was celebrated as a designer of entertainments for the courts of James I and Charles I but his posthumous reputation is based on his architectural work. He was one of the first Englishmen to make a detailed study of the buildings of ancient Rome and of the works of the Italian Renaissance architects, particularly Andrea Palladio. Having been Surveyor to Henry, Prince of Wales, 1610-1612, he became Surveyor-General to his father, James I, in 1615 and (from 1625) to Charles I. Jones introduced into England a rigorous interpretation of the classical language of architecture, including the hierarchical use of the architectural orders and their attendant details arranged through the appropriate use of number, measure and proportion. His influence was curtailed by the English Civil War (1642-1649) but he enjoyed a great revival among Palladian architects of the 18th century. Of his own work, the Queen's House at Greenwich and the Banqueting House, Whitehall, are the major surviving examples.
Sir Anthony van Dyck (artist)

Original size: 205 mm x 139 mm