THE ‘castle style’ of the Georgian era might be said to have been invented by Vanbrugh, who aimed to give ‘something of the castle air’ with his additions to Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire, in 1707–10. In practice, that amounted to little more than a battlemented parapet applied to a completely symmetrical building. In the late 18th century, the architect Robert Adam was undoubtedly influenced by Vanbrugh, whose mastery of what he called ‘movement’ in architectural composition—‘the rising and fall, the advance and recess with other diversity of form, in the different parts of a building’— he admired (although he deplored the Baroque master’s ‘barbarisms and absurdities’).
It is possibly in deference to Vanbrugh, therefore, that, at a time when Adam’s rivals began to feel that Picturesque asymmetry and Gothic detailing were highly desirable in the design of houses in a castle style, Adam stuck strictly to overall symmetry. As an added curiosity, he showed little interest in Gothic trimmings. Indeed, he lacked any scholarly interest in medieval architecture and his relatively few essays may be charming, but are quite inauthentic. A much more powerful influence on his ‘castle’ exteriors—with the striking exception of the medieval Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, which he was involved with others in renovating—are examples of Roman military architecture, such as he had observed in Italy in the 1750s and surveyed at Split on the Dalmatian coast.
Denne historien er fra August 25, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 25, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds