English Renaissance Architectural Plagiarism
Inigo Jones was born July 15, 1573, in London, England and died June 21, 1652, in London. In those seventy-nine years, he became a painter, architect, and designer, and is known for building the foundation of the “English classical tradition of architecture” (Summerson). Before he was employed for painting, architecture, and design, he traveled to Italy; where he studied the architecture and acquired the skills of painting and design. Many of his design were said to be influenced by Italian architect Andrea Palladio. Jones designs were so heavily influenced by Palladio that many researchers believe that Jones stole his ideas, and designs from Palladio, and brought them over to England during the English renaissance. In this essay, I will be exploring the possibility of plagiarism by Inigo Jones during the English renaissance through design and architecture.
Inigo Jones was first employed under King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, where he was an easel painter. He then went on to be employed under Anne of Denmark as a designer of the set and costumes of masques. While working on the Masques under Anne of Denmark, Jones was able to work closely with Ben Jonson. After Jones worked for Anne, he went on to become a surveyor for Henry, Prince of Wales, who soon died. He was then offered the opportunity to revisit Italy, by Howard, second earl of Arundel. During this trip they were able to tour Rome, as well. Jones brought Palladio’s The Four Books of Architecture with him on this journey. He took notes on the architecture that he saw in this book. When he returned to England, he had finished his self-taught education to become a classical architect. He had attained a career as a surveyor for James I and Charles I, which lasted twenty-eight years. In that time, he was “employed in the building, rebuilding, or improvement of royal houses” (Summerson). During this time, we begin to see the plagiarism of Palladio’s architecture.
Jones kept a sketchbook as many artists do, this is where most of the information from Jones comes from. He was able to draw and write about the different architecture he saw. He used Palladio’s words as a guide on his journey through Italy and Rome. He would write on Palladio’s work and then check back with Vitruvius and Scamozzi to make sure that Palladio’s statements passed the challenge. Through his sketchbook it seems that Jones traced back to the development of Palladio’s drawings. He would practice drawing by copying someone else’s work into his sketchbook and then redraw it over and over again. Jones was very interested in Parmigianino, a seventeenth-century designer of costumes for the theatre. It is thought that Jones was able to collect many examples of Parmigianino’s work and brought them over to England. Jones was known as a collector, he was able to acquire many types of art to bring back to England to later develop a large change in England.
Andrea Palladio, Italian architect, lived from 1508 to 1580. He is noted to be “one of the most influential figures in Western architecture” (Richardson) because of his treatise The four books of Architecture, as well as his palace designs. “Palladian” is a word derived from his name, which means “a columned building, something harmonious, easy on the eye; in English it has become almost synonymous with “classical”” (Rykwert). Palladio followed the principles of Roman architect Vitruvius and was highly influenced by ancient Roman architecture. The exteriors of Palladio’s works were “based on rules of proportion” (Museum), while the interiors were highly decorated. Most Palladian designs include Corinthian columns, scallop shells, pediments over doors and windows, terminus, and masks. His works are highly symmetrical as well. Corinthian columns are “the lightest and most ornate of the classical orders of architecture (used especially by the Romans), characterized by flared capitals with rows of acanthus leaves” (“English | Oxford Dictionaries”). The terminus is described as “a figure of a human bust or an animal ending in a square pillar from which it appears to spring…” (“English | Oxford Dictionaries”). The Venetian window or the Palladian window, which is “a large window consisting of a central arched section flanked by two narrow rectangular sections" (“English | Oxford Dictionaries”), is used largely within Palladio’s architecture. It is later used by Sebastian Serlio, Donato Bramnte, and Inigo Jones. Many sources say that Inigo Jones was a disciple of Palladio, and he brought the Palladian ideal to England. Palladio is almost always credited for the architecture that made its way over to England through Jones.
While Jones was in Italy the second time, he was reading Palladio’s The Four Books of Architecture where he would write commentary on the architecture that he had witnessed. Italy is where Jones had begun to learn architecture and design. Inigo Jones showed an interest in Roman architectural works, as well as Palladio’s works. Palladio was also highly interested in ancient Roman work and based a lot of his work off of Roman architecture. This makes it plausible for Jones to have been so highly influenced by Palladio that in turn he was automatically influenced by Roman architecture. “Jones was a Platonist, who believed that architecture should embody perfect geometrical or numerical forms to reflect the harmonious structure of the cosmos” (Higgott). Both Jones and the Palladian ideal reflect “harmonious structure”. Mitrović believes that Palladio was also a Platonist, even though there is no written evidence of Palladio citing that he is a Platonist. Palladio’s work shows “a consistant application of design principles that correspond to a philosophical position” (Mitrović). The similarity in design principles, and design influences are very telling of the traces of plagiarism that have been present in Jones work.
Jones’s design work on the exterior of Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, shows design work similar to Palladio’s. Look at almost any of Palladio’s architecture and there is a large pediment structure that serves as the roof top or there are smaller pediment’s over every door or window. Banqueting House includes Venetian windows, as well as a pediment over each first story window. Corinthian columns have been added to Banqueting House by Jones. Banqueting house is also extremely symmetrical. It is very evident that Inigo Jones used many of Palladio’s design principles in just this one work of architecture. Banqueting house truly feels stylistically like Palladio’s work. This piece of architecture is not the only one that screams Palladio. Another example would be Queen’s House at Greenwich. The exterior of Queen’s House includes Corinthian columns, and Venetian windows. Queen’s House is symmetrical as well. Queen’s House is drastically less like Palladio’s architectural work, but it still seems to mimic Palladio’s style. One last example of the Palladian style in Inigo Jones architecture would be Lindsay House. This house has Corinthian columns, pediments over the windows and doorways, Venetian windows and a symmetrical shape and look. The influence of Palladio’s architecture on Jones is highly evident through just looking at the exterior of all of these buildings.
Palladio had a very different way of decorating and designing the interior of each of these buildings. His design style for interiors was much more detailed, the interiors were painted, or resembled Roman Temple interiors, but sometimes the interiors were very simple. The interiors of the buildings are where Palladio would place the terminus. They would be placed in many different areas throughout the building, some would be placed on ledges in the ceiling and others would be placed on the floors as a statue would. Palladio’s ceilings had many different textures, and appliques added to the coffers of different shapes. Paintings were framed out Paintings would consist of murals of religious stories. Jones’s interiors had very similar looks and shapes to Palladio’s interior designs. The interior of Banqueting House has circular, and rectangular coffers on the ceiling, and it has the different textures and appliques applied to them. Each coffer is framing a painting of some sort of religious story. The interior also has the Corinthian columns just like Palladio’s structures. Queen’s House is much simpler, as it has coffers on the ceiling but not paintings. All of the walls are white, and the floor has black and white tiles that create a circle in the center of the room. The doorways are arches which harken back to ancient Rome’s architecture. Palladio’s interior design is not as simple as Queen’s House but there are still traces of Palladio’s work in such a simple interior design.
The interior and exterior design work of each of the architects is compelling to view next to each other. You can look at one building alone and then another and not really notice any similarities but once you bring two different buildings together, you realize how similar they actually are. Jones came after Palladio in architecture and it is obvious that he has copied many of Palladio’s design principles and characteristics. The similarities are so strikingly similar in some cases that it seems as if Inigo might have had some of the ground plans of other Palladio works. It was discovered by W. Grant Keith in 1925, that “Inigo Jones acquired in Italy a number of designs by Andrea Palladio” (Harris). In these drawings there was “a plan of the Banqueting House and two early projects for the Queen’s House” (Harris). This would make sense as to why Banqueting House is so similar to Palladio’s work because Inigo could have pulled the entire plan from Palladio’s drawing, and then just put his name on the design. Since Palladio was not around anymore, Inigo had no one to stand in his way. Jones acquired these drawings on his second trip to Italy in 1613, which was before the Banqueting House was built in 1619. Those three years gave Inigo plenty of time to recreate the drawings with his own name on them. These are however the only drawings that Inigo was able to acquire. This is the only account that can be actually summarized as stealing the work of Andrea Palladio.
“The Banqueting House, Whitehall, holds a unique position in the history of English art. It marks not only a complete change in taste but also represents a distinct phase in English history” (Smith). The Banqueting House designed by Andrea Palladio but stolen by Inigo Jones was the first major change to architecture in England. This structure brought the Italian renaissance ideals over to England. It brought the Palladian ideal over to England. Before this structure was built, “any use of classical features in building had been confined to superficial ornament, often applied with total disregard to suitability” (Smith). Jones introduced many new additions to the theatrical world during the English Renaissance. He brought many of them over from the Italian stage. He brought costumes, the proscenium arch, moveable scenery and settings. Jones did not begin with architecture of buildings, he began with scenic design and costume design for masques. Many do not understand how he got into the art of architecture or what sparked his interest in designing the Banqueting House but that has now been solved because of his acquiring of Palladio’s drawings. It is said that “Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico – the most complete theatrical setting of the time – made a great impression on Jones and its main features were echoed in the later masque designs” (Smith). Palladio is the link to the theatrical world and the architectural world for Jones.
Before Jones was an architect, he was given more creative freedom, to be able to experiment or be more accurate and transform the world that they were all living in at the time, through theatre. Theatrical design gave Jones more opportunities to build ““unreal” architecture” (Peacock). Everything he designed, however, is derived from something or someplace. Whether it is the set or costumes. Inigo did bring art and theatrical elements over from Italy and the Italian Renaissance, and yet again he is faced with plagiarism. Jones takes the archway, and the architectural motifs from Serlio. Inigo Jones first theatrical set is “derived from Giulio Parigi’s Palazzo della fama” (Peacock). Jones changed a lot about Parigi’s palace to make the set work for what he needed. It ended up with a more Palladianism even though he hadn’t been fully introduced to Palladio’s design style. All of his early work in scenic design is thought to have traces of the French model, as well as English and Italian styles. It seems that all of those different styles would not mix well but “what emerges is not a theatrical babel of typological and stylistic confusion but a legible architectural statement” (Peacock). Jones may have stolen certain pieces of work during his time as a stage designer, but he changed them and made them work for the stage.
John Peacock writes in Inigo Jones’s Stage Architecture and Its Source, “A word should be said about this inveterate habit of borrowing. In the case of an artist so intellectually self-conscious as Inigo, a merely empirical explanation cannot satisfy. It is not enough to see him as cleverly coping with a heavy work load, a stage designer only with the left hand who conserved his energy by the practice of ceaseless plagiarism. Rather, it should be remembered that by the time he began his career the new scenography of the Renaissance had become embodied in a recognizable tradition, and in a characteristic way he must have wanted to relate himself firmly to that tradition; he must also have realised that he could not just hitch himself to it by being a copyist or imitator” (pg. 1, para. 3). When I initially read this paragraph, I thought “this is just a way to say he did not plagiarize but he did”, then I kept thinking about it, and the justification behind it. Is this not the same as today when we create art. We create art based off of something that we have learned or something that is tradition. We use this base and then we change it and make it what it needs to be. Think of any scenic design you have seen before there is something within it that you recognize, stylistically. Inigo Jones was creating, at least stage work, based off of another person’s work but he would change it, and make it where it worked for them. In architecture though there were instances where he did plagiarize. He stole an entire work of Palladio’s, and it made him the most important architect to the English Renaissance, when Palladio should really be credited for that work. Jones used Palladio’s design principle and styles in architecture, but he did not change them. He did not try to create from scratch, he used designs that had already been established in Italy, and he brought them over to England.
Inigo Jones did and did not plagiarize. Not all of his work was plagiarism, but he did plagiarize. He was an intellectual who studied, learned, and believed what he was doing was the right thing. If Jones wouldn’t have ever brought Palladio’s design principles and ideals back from Italy, how significantly different would art and theatre be in England? Would some other architect or designer have brought the ideals back to England? Jones brought the Banqueting House over from Italy and yes, it was Palladio’s design but if he had not brought it over, think of how different architecture would be in England. It probably would not have changed, and there would not be as much art and culture in England. We learn so much from art, and today we can tell that Jones brought Italian art and architecture over to England, but that is because we have a larger perspective of what was going on at the time. We may not have all of the pieces to the puzzle, but we have enough pieces to solve it. Inigo Jones was a plagiarizer but maybe he plagiarized for the good of England and the good of art.
Works Cited
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