Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
●
The continuing use of brick for the building of influential houses in and
around London.
Until the middle of the seventeenth century, the design and control of a build-
ing, as it had from the Middle Ages, lay largely with the master mason or brick-
layer. This manifested itself during the early Stuart period in the so-called
Artisan Mannerist style of architecture, so called because of the licence the
builders (artisans) took with the rules of classical architecture.
The word architect (from the Greek architekton, meaning 'builder-in chief')
begins to be encountered during the latter part of the sixteenth century, but
Airs (1995, 31, 34) suggests:
…it is used in a vague and imprecise way…. However, even though the term
'architect' was loosely used in the sixteenth century, with a meaning that was not
synonymous with that which is has now, many of the men to whom it was applied
were clearly able to make designs. But most of them remained 'mechanics',
employed as wage earners and servants of the builder.
In England, the client's wishes had a crucial influence on the overall layout of
a building, but the master craftsmen had a continuing tradition of deciding
the nature of mouldings and architectural detailing (Airs, 1995, 35):
…innovations, perhaps initiated by a few master craftsmen, were quickly absorbed
into that tradition and spread by example from their place of origin throughout
the rest of the country.
The foundation of Renaissance architecture was intellectual and to under-
stand its rules required at least dedicated book learning and, if possible, travel
abroad to witness first-hand its effects.
During the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, wealthy noblemen,
patrons with a keen interest in classical European architecture, were travelling
abroad and amassing libraries of foreign architectural topics. This served to
advance the arrival of the architect. This, however, caused much resentment
from the master craftsmen, most of whom lacked a full formal education,
complete access to Renaissance designs and the opportunity to travel abroad.
As Airs (1995, 49) states:
The well-known dispute between Inigo Jones and Ben Jonson was partly a reflec-
tion of this battle for the status of the architect.
Ben Jonson (
c
.1572-1637), soldier, actor and playwright, was also a time-served
city bricklayer. Bell (1938, 21) states legend had it that Jonson worked, '…as a
bricklayer upon the great turret gateway in Chancery Lane of Lincoln's Inn,
bearing a trowel in one hand and a Horace in the other.' Jonson was certainly
