Page:Character of Renaissance Architecture.djvu/273

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THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND
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no reason for the use of such elements. The low-pitched roof (wholly invisible from any near point of view) is unsuited to the English climate, and the parapet and balustrade are equally inappropriate. Yet of this design Walpole remarks[1] that "it stands as a model of the most pure and beautiful taste." And an earlier expression of the feeling which prevailed among the dilettanti of the time is found in the text which accompanies Kent's well-known book of Jones's designs[2] as follows: "If the reputation of this great man doth not rise in proportion to his merits in his own country, 'tis certain, in Italy, which was his school, and other Parts of Europe, he was in great esteem; in which places, as well as in England, his own works are his monument and best Panegyrick; which, together with those of Palladio, remain equal Proofs of the Superiority of those two great Masters to all others."

The whole scheme for the palace of Whitehall is fully illustrated by Kent.[3] The plan is a vast rectangle measuring 874 by 1151 feet, and comprising seven courts, of which the central one toward the park encloses a circular gallery. The long blocks are broken by rectangular pavilions, one on the axis of each of the four sides, one at each angle, and others at intervals between. It is thus French in character, rather than Italian, and suggests a derivation from De l'Orme's plan of the Tuileries. It is not worth while to examine the architectural character of the elevation fully in detail; but, in addition to the Banqueting Hall already noticed, it may be well to examine several other parts which further illustrate the art of Inigo Jones. The axial pavilions are flanked with rectangular towers in three stages, each stage adorned with an order, and surmounted with an octagonal cupola. On the Westminster front the basement has a Doric order with a modification of De l'Orme's column, in which the larger stones are square. This basement (Fig. 133) has a mezzanine marked by an entablature which is cut in the middle by the keystones of a flat arch over a window beneath. The great entablature in this case is borne by the columns, and the order has thus a structural character (though it has no struc-

  1. Cunningham, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 266.
  2. The Designs of Inigo Jones, consisting of Plans and Elevations for Publick and Private Buildings, by William Kent, London, 1727.
  3. Plates 1 to 52 inclusive.