DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56731#0124
56. AUGUSTAN DECORATION
Many large rooms from Inigo Jones’ days onwards until about the middle of the eighteenth
century were profusely decorated and more in line with the grandeur of international Baroque
than with the classical serenity of their own exteriors. In a note in his Roman sketch-book of 1614
Inigo Jones has given the reason for this contrast between inside and outside:
“All the composed ornaments which proceed out of the abundance of designers and were
brought in by Michelangelo and his followers, in my opinion do not well in solid architecture
and the fagades of houses, but in gardens, loggias, stucco or ornaments of chimneypieces or
in the inner parts of houses those compositions are of necessity to be used. For as outwardly
every wise man carries a gravity in public places, where there is nothing else looked for, yet
inwardly has his imagination set on fire, and sometimes licenciously flying out, as nature
herself does oftentimes stravagantly ...”
The heir of Inigo’s decorative style was William Kent, who based many of his designs for door-
frames and ceilings, chimney-pieces and decorative details on the drawings by Jones brought
together in Lord Burlington’s collection (see 3). The affinity to Jones is surely the most marked
characteristic of Kent’s style. But he was a versatile man whose art had many facets. His pictures
are influenced by the late Roman Baroque of his teacher Benedetto Luti; his painted prospects
derive from Venice and so do many of his gilded ornaments (see 2) as well as much of his furniture;
his arabesque ceilings (see 73, b) are nearer to the genuinely Roman than Raphael’s grotesque
style of the Loggie, and much of his architectural detail is directly taken from Palladio, Serlio
(see b, c) and the publication of Roman buildings by Desgodetz (see 59, 5). All these elements
were welded together by a virile personality into a bold and often heavy style which was to persist
with many variations and modifications until the mature Robert Adam broke the spell with his
elegant and slightly effeminate manner.
1. The Double Cube Room in Wilton House, Wiltshire. Built about 1649 by Inigo Jones and
John Webb.
The precise geometrical form of the room (60 ft. by 30 ft. by 30 ft.) derives from Palladio.
But the decoration of the walls, with the massive gilded garlands, the rich panelling and the heavy
door frames, the boldly projecting cornice and coved and painted ceiling, give an impression of
baroque grandeur.
2. Detail of decoration in the Octagon Room, Chiswick House (see 54).
The accomplished gilded decorations of the house, executed towards the end of the 1720’s
by William Kent, have a seventeenth-century Venetian flavour. The caryatid heads crowned
with baskets out of which grow garlands of flowers are perhaps the most remarkable motif in the
house. This ornament is a visual paraphrase of Vitruvius’ account of the origin of the Corinthian
capital. Vitruvius tells us that a young girl from Corinth died, and a basket, placed on her tomb,
was by chance put on the root of an acanthus which began to sprout and the shoots grew up the
sides of the basket. The leaves which surround the baskets of Kent’s decoration are certainly
acanthus leaves.
5. Detail of the fireplace in the Octagon Room, Chiswick. Designed by William Kent after a
drawing by Inigo Jones in Lord Burlington’s collection (now in the Royal Institute of British
Architects).
Two Roman elements—garland and Medusa—have here been connected to form the heavy
sculptured centre of a fireplace. Compare this style with Adam’s fireplace 72, 5.
4. The Saloon at Houghton, Norfolk, after 1725 (see 59, 2).
The decoration, including the painting of the ceiling, is typical of William Kent’s massive and
ornate style. The central window feature is an admirable example of Kent’s “tabernacle frame”
so much decried by Robert Adam.
5. William Kent. Detail of monochrome painting in the staircase hall of Kensington Palace, 1724.
In his monochrome paintings Kent delighted to imitate classical architecture, trophies and
caryatids and ancient statues in niches. In the example here shown an ancient figure was faithfully
copied (see a).
a. Figure of a Barbarian. Lateran Museum, Rome.
b. William Kent. Detail of a ceiling in the Treasury (Room 21), Whitehall.
Very heavy beams are here decorated with patterns, classical in origin, but directly dependent
on Serlio.
c. Decorative patterns from Serlio’s “Fourth Book on Architecture”, first published 1537.
Fig. 4 by permission of Country Life.
a
c
b
Many large rooms from Inigo Jones’ days onwards until about the middle of the eighteenth
century were profusely decorated and more in line with the grandeur of international Baroque
than with the classical serenity of their own exteriors. In a note in his Roman sketch-book of 1614
Inigo Jones has given the reason for this contrast between inside and outside:
“All the composed ornaments which proceed out of the abundance of designers and were
brought in by Michelangelo and his followers, in my opinion do not well in solid architecture
and the fagades of houses, but in gardens, loggias, stucco or ornaments of chimneypieces or
in the inner parts of houses those compositions are of necessity to be used. For as outwardly
every wise man carries a gravity in public places, where there is nothing else looked for, yet
inwardly has his imagination set on fire, and sometimes licenciously flying out, as nature
herself does oftentimes stravagantly ...”
The heir of Inigo’s decorative style was William Kent, who based many of his designs for door-
frames and ceilings, chimney-pieces and decorative details on the drawings by Jones brought
together in Lord Burlington’s collection (see 3). The affinity to Jones is surely the most marked
characteristic of Kent’s style. But he was a versatile man whose art had many facets. His pictures
are influenced by the late Roman Baroque of his teacher Benedetto Luti; his painted prospects
derive from Venice and so do many of his gilded ornaments (see 2) as well as much of his furniture;
his arabesque ceilings (see 73, b) are nearer to the genuinely Roman than Raphael’s grotesque
style of the Loggie, and much of his architectural detail is directly taken from Palladio, Serlio
(see b, c) and the publication of Roman buildings by Desgodetz (see 59, 5). All these elements
were welded together by a virile personality into a bold and often heavy style which was to persist
with many variations and modifications until the mature Robert Adam broke the spell with his
elegant and slightly effeminate manner.
1. The Double Cube Room in Wilton House, Wiltshire. Built about 1649 by Inigo Jones and
John Webb.
The precise geometrical form of the room (60 ft. by 30 ft. by 30 ft.) derives from Palladio.
But the decoration of the walls, with the massive gilded garlands, the rich panelling and the heavy
door frames, the boldly projecting cornice and coved and painted ceiling, give an impression of
baroque grandeur.
2. Detail of decoration in the Octagon Room, Chiswick House (see 54).
The accomplished gilded decorations of the house, executed towards the end of the 1720’s
by William Kent, have a seventeenth-century Venetian flavour. The caryatid heads crowned
with baskets out of which grow garlands of flowers are perhaps the most remarkable motif in the
house. This ornament is a visual paraphrase of Vitruvius’ account of the origin of the Corinthian
capital. Vitruvius tells us that a young girl from Corinth died, and a basket, placed on her tomb,
was by chance put on the root of an acanthus which began to sprout and the shoots grew up the
sides of the basket. The leaves which surround the baskets of Kent’s decoration are certainly
acanthus leaves.
5. Detail of the fireplace in the Octagon Room, Chiswick. Designed by William Kent after a
drawing by Inigo Jones in Lord Burlington’s collection (now in the Royal Institute of British
Architects).
Two Roman elements—garland and Medusa—have here been connected to form the heavy
sculptured centre of a fireplace. Compare this style with Adam’s fireplace 72, 5.
4. The Saloon at Houghton, Norfolk, after 1725 (see 59, 2).
The decoration, including the painting of the ceiling, is typical of William Kent’s massive and
ornate style. The central window feature is an admirable example of Kent’s “tabernacle frame”
so much decried by Robert Adam.
5. William Kent. Detail of monochrome painting in the staircase hall of Kensington Palace, 1724.
In his monochrome paintings Kent delighted to imitate classical architecture, trophies and
caryatids and ancient statues in niches. In the example here shown an ancient figure was faithfully
copied (see a).
a. Figure of a Barbarian. Lateran Museum, Rome.
b. William Kent. Detail of a ceiling in the Treasury (Room 21), Whitehall.
Very heavy beams are here decorated with patterns, classical in origin, but directly dependent
on Serlio.
c. Decorative patterns from Serlio’s “Fourth Book on Architecture”, first published 1537.
Fig. 4 by permission of Country Life.
a
c
b