Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Jacobean and Pre-
Restoration Period
(1603-1660)
Introduction
As Colvin (1982, 37-8) says of the Jacobean period and its brickwork:
Building materials and techniques underwent no conspicuous change in the
early years of James I…. Brick remained, of course, the basic structural mate-
rial, whether stone-faced, rendered, painted or exposed….Inigo Jones seems to
have encouraged the interpretation of classical features in brick…at the Prince's
Lodging at Newmarket (1619-21) the chimney-shafts had Tuscan heads of 'hewn
bricks'. At James I's banqueting house at Theobalds (1625) the brickwork was
'hewed with an axe' and rendered; but at the repository for the king's clocks at
Whitehall (1635-6) the brickwork was 'neately axed and joynted' and evidently
exposed. An early appearance of gauged, [or fine cut and rubbed], brickwork
seems to be recorded at Greenwich (1623-4) where rustic piers were formed with
bricks 'rubbed and polished'.
Clearly the gradual movement in architecture away from the late gothic detailing
of the Tudor period to that of the classical, and the use of brick instead of stone,
was leading to an ever-refined use of cut and rubbed brickwork; not intended to
be covered by stucco. The desire was to set the brickwork with ever-tighter joints
to reduce their distracting impact on the enrichment or overall façade.
The Jacobean Period (1603-25) was a time of immense architectural change.
The Renaissance, or 'Re-birth', began in Italy during the fifteenth century.
There, influential designers and artists were the first to be influenced by an intel-
lectual movement reviving the learning and artistic styles of classical Greece and
Rome; the central emphasis being on symmetry, proportion, and space.
Andrea Palladio (1508-80) published
'Quattro Libri dell' Architetura
in 1570,
setting out his theories and illustrating his works, which was to be hugely influ-
ential on Inigo Jones (1573-1652). Jones was the first English architect to be
truly conversant with the rules of classical architecture; whose architectural
style was later to become associated with Palladianism.
71
