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"In explaining why Vanbrugh's buildings look the way they do, Hart allows his novel architectural forms to be understood for the first time as expressions of the visual and psychological theories of his friend and fellow Whig Joseph Addison."--BOOK JACKET.
This book is the first complete study of the circumstances which led to the building of Castle Howard, one of the greatest and best-known English country houses. It describes how and why Charles Howard, third earl of Carlisle, decided to build it; how the architect Sir John Vanbrugh received his first commission; how the building was paid for and where the money came from; what the original interiors looked like; how the gardens and park were laid out; and the decision taken to build the first classical mausoleum in England, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. It relates the physical appearance of the architecture to the hopes, desires and personalities of those involved in the building and makes it possible to look at the house in the way that it was intended to be seen by visitors in the eighteenth century. The Building of Castle Howard should appeal to anyone who is interested in eighteenth-century architecture, in the history of gardens, in country houses, and in a historical detective story of a house which Sir John Vanbrugh was determined should be 'the top seat and garden of England.'
The country houses designed by Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) are some of the most original and memorable works of architecture in Britain. He was rightly judged 'The Shakespeare of architects' by Sir John Soane, and was the designer of Castle Howard in Yorkshire, and Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, two of the great iconic houses of their age. He also designed or remodelled a string of amazing country houses, sometimes described as 'enchanted castles' such as Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland and Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire. Vanbrugh's life was even more remarkable than his houses. The son of a merchant of Dutch extraction, his grandfather left Haarlem to avoid religious persecution as a protestant; his mother was related to many of the great landed families of the day, including the Earl of Abingdon and the Duke of Devonshire. He began his career as a merchant, travelled to India in the service of the East India Company, served as an army officer, was arrested, as a civilian in France and imprisoned on suspicion of being a spy, worked as both playwright and theatrical impresario, writing and producing successful comedies such as The Relapse and then, in 1699 he turned his lively mind to architecture. This new book, brings together 200 of the finest photographs of his country houses, taken for Country Life magazine over the last 100 years, and is introduced by a short biography covering his remarkable life and character and his important relationship with his assistant, Nicholas Hawksmoor. The breathtaking colour and duotone images that illustrate the book are accompanied with well-researched and readable accounts of his great houses and their landscapes. Jeremy Musson is an architectural historian, writer and broadcaster who worked for Country Life for 12 years, first as architectural writer and then as architectural editor; he has also worked as a curator for the National Trust and presented a popular BBC 2 series The Curious House Guest and is author of The English Manor House and How to Read a Country House.
Excerpt from the Prologue: Spoken by a Shabby Poet. Ye Gods! what crime had my poor father done, That you should make a poet of his son? Or is't for some great services of his, Y'are pleas'd to compliment his boy--with this? [Shewing his crown of laurel. The honour, I must needs confess is great, If, with his crown, you'd tell him where to eat: Tis well--But I have more complaints-look here! [Shewing his ragged coat. Hark ye; d'ye think this suit good winter wear? In a cold morning; whu--at a Lord's gate, How you have let the porter let me wait! You'll say, perhaps, you knew I'd get no harm, You'd given me fire enough to keep me warm. Ah-- A world of blessings to that fire we owe; Without it I'd ne'er made this princely show. I have a brother too, now in my sight, [Looking behind the scenes. A busy man amongst us here to-night: Your fire has made him play a thousand pranks, For which, no doubt you've had his daily thanks: He's thank'd you, fi fi, for all his decent plays, Where he so nick'd it, when he writ for praise.
The thrust of these five volumes is contained in their title, London Opera Observ’d. It takes its cue from the numerous texts and volumes which — during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — used the concept of ‘spying’ or ‘observing’ by a narrator, or rambler, as a means of establishing a discourse on aspects of London life. The material in this five-volume reset edition examines opera not simply as a genre of performance, but as a wider topic of comment and debate. The stories that surrounded the Italian opera singers illuminate contemporary British attitudes towards performance, sexuality and national identity. The collection includes only complete, published material organised chronologically so as to accurately retain the contexts in which the original readers encountered them — placing an emphasis on rare texts that have not been reproduced in modern editions. The aim of this collection is not to provide a history of opera in England but to facilitate the writing of them or to assist those wishing to study topics within the field. Headnotes and footnotes establish the publication information and provide an introduction to the piece, its author, and the events surrounding it or which caused its publication. The notes concentrate on attempting to identify those figures mentioned within the texts. The approach is one of presentation, not interpretation, ensuring that the collection occupies a position that is neutral rather than polemical.