Early Renaissance Architecture in England: A Historical & Descriptive Account of the Tudor, Elizabethan, & Jacobean Periods, 1500-1625Gotch, J. Alfred (John Alfred)
History
Early Renaissance Architecture in England: A Historical & Descriptive Account of the Tudor, Elizabethan, & Jacobean Periods, 1500-1625
The eastern and southern counties appear to have been specially
affected by the new movement, for we find considerable traces of it
scattered over wide areas, and affecting not only small objects like
tombs, but permanent structures. We shall presently see it at Layer
Marney Tower, and among other places at East Barsham and Great Snoring
in Suffolk; while in Wymondham Church, in Norfolk, the sedilia is made
of what appear to be fragments of a tomb much resembling those at
Layer Marney in character (Fig. 12). In the southern counties, Sutton
Place, near Guildford, abounds in Anglo-Italian detail; some of the
woodwork at the Vyne, in Hampshire, is also affected by it. There is
some very interesting work of the same nature at the Chapel of the
Holy Ghost, at Basingstoke; while at Christchurch, in the same county,
the chantry of the Countess of Salisbury is strongly touched with the
Italian influence, and at St. Cross, near Winchester, are the very
beautiful fragments of a Renaissance screen (Plate VII.). Winchester
itself has some good work in the choir of the Cathedral; and still
further west, at Bingham Melcombe, in Dorset, there is a charming gable
of mixed English and Italian detail. At Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire,
there is a considerable amount of Renaissance work, wrought when the
abbey buildings were converted into a dwelling-house soon after the
dissolution of the monasteries.
[Illustration: 11.--TOMB OF HENRY, LORD MARNEY (D. 1523), LAYER
MARNEY CHURCH, ESSEX.]
[Illustration: PLATE III.
DETAILS FROM THE TOMB OF HENRY, LORD MARNEY.]
Some of this work is in stone and some in wood, but some of it is in
terra-cotta, and it would be an interesting task to ascertain why this
pronounced detail should have been largely confined to these particular
districts. The stone and woodwork might have been carved by itinerant
Italians wandering some distance from their ports of debarkation; but
the terra-cotta must have been cast, and need not have been cast
close to where it was fixed, but abroad, and thence conveyed to almost
any part of the country. Nevertheless, none of the work entirely loses
its English character, whether it was done abroad or not. Some of it
must certainly have been wrought by Italians, but about much of it the
general impression produced is that it was done by Englishmen with
Italian proclivities, rather than by Italians under English orders.
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
CHAPEL OF THE RED MOUNT, KING'S LYNN.
FAN-VAULTING.
COWDRAY HOUSE, SUSSEX.
FAN-VAULTING OF PORCH.]
[Illustration: 12.--FROM THE SEDILIA, WYMONDHAM CHURCH,
NORFOLK.]
[Illustration: 13.--COWDRAY HOUSE, SUSSEX. VAULTING RIB TO PORCH
(CIR. 1540).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account