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1998 Review of Sir William Chambers: Architect to George III, edited by John Harris and Michael Snodin; Catalogues of Architectural Drawings in the Victoria And Albert Museum: Sir William Chambers, edited by Michael Snodin David Cast Bryn Mawr College, [email protected]

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Custom Citation Cast, David. Review of Sir William Chambers: Architect to George III, edited by John Harris and Michael Snodin; Catalogues of Architectural Drawings in the Victoria And Albert Museum: Sir William Chambers, edited by Michael Snodin. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 57 (1998): 106-108, doi: 10.2307/991426.

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For more information, please contact [email protected]. have been criticized as excessive and in is apt because of the dramatic mise-en-scene, ans. By making us awarethat working meth- poor taste: Erwin Panofskydid not exempt and also Roubiliac's impresario-like ma- ods account for significant aesthetic differ- them when he wrote that after Gianlorenzo nipulation of the public reception of his ences in the works of sculptors of different Bernini, tomb monuments suffered from monuments. nations, Bindman and Bakeropen the door pomposity, sentimentality, and deliberate The book is of methodological interest to a new understanding of that neglected archaism. But by now even the tombs of because the material benefits from the in- stepchild, architecturalsculpture. Genoa's late nineteenth-century Cimiterio terplay of two approaches. Bindman, an - Betsy Rosasco di Staglieno have found advocates (see H. academic art, cultural, and social historian, PrincetonUniversity Hofstltter in Kunstwerk[January 1971], or wrote the first half, which places Roubiliac J. S. Curl, "Europe's Grandest Cemetery?," in context and covers the of the problem John Harris and Michael Snodin, editors CountryLife, 15 September 1977). A reas- tomb in eighteenth-century England, the SIR WILLIAMCHAMBERS: ARCHTrECT sessment of Roubiliac's monuments is thus career of Roubiliac compared with those TO GEORGEIII in order. of continental and English sculptors, and a New Haven and London: Yale Bindman and Baker begin from mate- thematic study of the imagery. In the sec- rial facts and present a compelling account ond half, Baker, a historian of sculpture at University Press, 1997, ix+ 240 pp., 287 of the work of the leading master of a the Victoria and Albert Museum, examines illus., 76 in color. $55.00 (cloth). ISBN genre which rose to great prominence in the working proceses and, with Bindman 0-300-06940-5. mid-eighteenth-centuryEngland. They find and Tessa Murdoch, catalogues the monu- that new prosperity and social pretensions ments, drawings,and models. Dialogue and Michael Snodin, editor formed the taste for such tombs, which synergy between two viewpoints, consider- CATALOGUESOF ARCH1TECITURAL were informed by contemporary ideas ation and reconsideration of the monu- DRAWINGSIN THEVICTORIA AND about death recorded in some of the most ments in different contexts, and probing ALBERTMUSEUM: SIR WuILAM famous elegaic poetry in the English lan- discussions of each work create a poly- CHAMBERS guage, in mostly forgotten sermons, and in phonic structure that enriches our percep- London: V&A Publications, 1996, 224 sublime oratorios, notably Handel's. The tions of individual monuments and the pp., 103 illus., 9 in color. ?50 (cloth). authors also inquire into the reasons for group as a whole. ISBN 1-85177-1824. Roubiliac's success in this domain. An out- An unexpected payoff is that, by isolat- standing craftsmanin marble, he was clever ing a class of monuments by a single, admit- Sir William Chambers has never been for- and efficient in piecing together the marble tedly brilliant, cosmopolitan, and diverse gotten. The earlynineteenth-century plates of components figures and setting, and sculptor working in England, the authors in William Pyne, History of the Royal Resi- able to finish surfaces beyond the local illuminate vitallyimportant aspects of sculp- dences(London, 1819) and the records of standard.Attention to and lighting settings tural practice on the continent as well. William Sandby,History of theRoyalAcademy were also important factors in Roubiliac's Baker is able to show how Roubiliac's pro- of Arts ([London, 1862], 1: 115) acknowl- dominant It would be position. interesting cedure of making a model of the whole edge his official position in the RoyalAcad- to know how he overhead planned light- monument, including the architectural emy and extensive work on royal resi- ing, but the authors do not speculate about support, which can be traced to his French dences. The account of his life and works this. training, allowed him to make adjustments in the later Dictionaryof NationalBiography Roubiliac rebuilt a chancel to accommo- in the spatial relations of figures with each (vol. 4 [1887], 26) was at once respectful date the Montagu tombs at Warkton, with other, with architectural components, and and comprehensive, even if the author, the a for plan indirect lighting possibly based with the viewer.The single-figure studies of connoisseur Cosmo William Monkhouse, on central European models, which he the Flemish-born and -trained Rysbraeck was prepared to cite the critical remarks of would have known from a recon- plausibly result in quite different spatial concepts James Fergusson in his History of Modern structed Central in his European trip youth. and less subtlety in the placement of fig- Stylesof Architecture(London, 1862, 4: 323) Moreover, he designed ingenious supports ures than Roubiliac could achieve. An- and voice a certain hesitancy about the for his figures. Among the most striking is other enlightening contrast is with models range and extent of what he referred to as a form used in the Duke of Montagu's for sculpture on the Town Hall of Amster- Chambers's architectural imagination. In monument that the authors compare to a dam, in which Netherlandish sculptors recent years more has been written; an German or Austrian stove. In the astound- squared the models for enlargement, with- unpublished thesis in 1949 by Heather Mar- ing Nightingale monument, a couple's rus- out taking the intervening step of making tienssen; a chapter, shared with Robert tic under the arch of a idyll, sheltering full-scale plaster models to set in the in- Adam, in John Summerson's great history is cut short when Death looms grotto, fatally tended places tojudge of the effect. French of English architecture; a monograph by from a up suddenly crypt, coming from and Italian practice included the making John Harris. And Howard Colvin's grow- the bowels of Westminster to aim a of such Abbey full-size models, which allowed ad- ing inventory of buildings and designs reg- dart at the wife's breast. deadly (Bindman justments to be made. isters the remarkable expansion in the re- discusses the latter monument most inter- It is currently a commonplace to de- cord of Chambers's work in architecture as a rare estingly example of Evangelical- bunk "national styles" as ideologically and kindred activities,including furniture, Methodist A art.) comparison with theater loaded inventions of modern art histori- interiors, and designs for silver and clocks.

106 JSAH / 57:1, MARCH 1998 Yet, for all this attention, Chambers's bers himself had designed for the Royal Soane, and John Pollard Seddon. A series place in the history of architecture is not Academy (reviewed in JSAH 56 [1997]: of essays lay out, clearly and interestingly, fixed, or, like Somerset House, it has to be 212-214). The firstvolume, edited byJohn the history of the collection and how it was ever discovered and rediscovered. As Sum- Harris and Michael Snodin, commemo- assembled. The inventory covers some 864 merson observed, Chambers was a profes- rates and comments upon the material drawings, by or after Chambers, running sional man, "conservative, balanced and included in the exhibition: portraits,travel from those of his earliest student days in civilised,"conducting a well-regulatedbusi- sketches, architectural drawings, designs the 1750s to later sketches for Somerset ness (Architecturein Britain 1530-1830, 6th for silver and furniture and various other House, Kew Gardens, and many other rev. ed. [London, 1977], 424). And, how- objects that were part of Chambers's vast projects, some not identifiable. Perhaps ever partial or acrimonious he was to his practice. After a general introduction by the most suggestive and interesting item is colleagues, his work to establish the social Harris,fifteen chapters cover many aspects the so-called Franco-Italian album of 525 position of the architect within the Royal of Chambers's life: his contacts with Swe- drawings, 507 by Chambers, which date Academy was of immense importance for den and his work at Svartsj6and Ulriksdal, from his years of study in Italy and France the profession, both during his lifetime the designs for the royal gardens being between 1749 and 1755 and which stand, and later. Extraordinarilywell traveled for discovered only in 1993; his studies in Italy as Janine Barrier suggests, as one of the his time, he had an association with the and France; his excursions into various major documents of early European neo- Swedish East India Company that took him types of buildings; his interiors; his interest classicism. The loose sheets are a mixed from Cape Town and Bengal to Canton in silver and ceramic and furniture; his bunch: copies after familiar older Italian and Madras. And thanks to studies in professional relationships with craftsmen designs, many of course by Palladio, plus a France and Italy and his friendship and like John Yenn and Matthew Boulton and predictable range of Roman palaces-- the work with architectsCharles de Wailly,C. L. the many sculptors, silversmiths, gilders, Chigi, Farnese, Massimo, and Spada. Be- Cl6risseau, and Carl Fredrick Aldecranz, and carvers whose work, as a part of his yond one or two designs for theaters, the he was remarkablywell versed in the tradi- interior decoration, he had to supervise. only post-seventeenth-century building tions of architecture; as Nikolaus Pevsner Most striking, if perhaps not entirely typi- drawn is S. Maria dei Gradi at Viterbo, by put it in BuildingsofEngland: London (vol. 1 cal of his decorative works, is the rococo Nicola Salvi, one of the few contemporary [London, 1957], 332), Chambers had a design for the royal state coach, used still, architects Chambers admired. Plans out- truer understanding of Franco-ItalianRe- done with the carver John Wilton and number facades, reflecting what is termed naissance architecture than any of his con- Giovanni Battista Cipriani, both of whom the influence on Chambers of the interest temporaries, certainly than any in En- Chambersknew from yearsearlier in Rome. of French pensionnairesin theoretical plan- gland. Passion he felt, but it often seems The essaysare well written,detailed, and ning. There are batches of designs for stifled, only to burst out in disgust at the interesting;those that stand out are the ac- Charlemont, the Casino at Marino, and Incorporated Society of Artistsor the Gusto counts byJohn Newman of Somerset House especially Somerset House, the subject of Greco.And he seems to have had singular ill and the other public buildings Chambers forty-one drawings, including an interest- timing in the positions he took up in mat- designed, the analysisby Robin Middleton ing early scheme for the riverfront and ters of taste, criticizing Capability Brown of Chambers'streatise on civil architecture, many sketches of interior decorations. As when Brown had won the day, supporting and the brief account by GilesWorsley of his we would expect, most of these drawings rococo when its time was past, and attempt- architecturaldesigning, an important topic were prepared not by Chambers himself ing to thwart the influence of Abbe Lau- yet difficult for us now to unravel since we but by assistantsin his office. gier when architecture as a whole was mov- know so little of the organization of Cham- All the drawings in the collections are toward functionalism. ing Laugier's Pevsner bers's architecturaloffice. The plates, many treasures. But it is also striking that enough noted that if the style of Somerset House in color, are full of interest; it is especially drawings of various kinds have survived, as was essentially academic, it also contained useful to have a visual record of the build- the authors of the catalogue point out, to an if well in the interest, concealed, unaca- ings now demolished, like Gower House, reconstruct the stages in the design pro- demic. More commonly Chambers'sworks Whitehall, or Chambers'sown house at 56 cess Chambers devised. The rough sketch are described as having no fault, except, as Berners Street, London, or altered beyond of Marino House, Dublin, done on the an anonymous critic wrote in the Times recognition, like the interiors of Charle- inside of an envelope, is clearly by Cham- Literary Supplement(17 December 1971, mont House, Dublin, or those at Bucking- bers himself. There is an instance of what 1535), "they do not warm the heart" and ham Palace.At the end of the volume are a can be called contract drawings:two sheets that had been "a severe to drawback the checklistof the items in the exhibition, some of designs for the elevations of Peper Har- architect'sposthumous general reputation." 233 in all, a chronology of the life of Cham- row House, Surrey, produced by Cham- In different ways the volumes under bers, a bibliography, and notes to the ar- bers's office and dated and signed by both review mark the two hundredth anniver- ticles. Only an index is missing. Chambers and his patron, the third Vis- of sary Chambers's death in 1797. With The second volume is of a different count Middleton. There are also many fin- wonderful appropriateness, an exhibition order. It is the fifth in a series of catalogues ished drawings, some for the approval of of work was held in 1996 at the Courtauld of drawings in the Victoria and Albert Mu- clients, others to gain clients or for public in Gallery Somerset House in some of the seum, London, following earlier volumes exhibition at the Society of Arts or the very rooms, newly refurbished, that Cham- on Robert Adam, A. W. Pugin, Sir John Royal Academy. Unlike the practice of

BOOKS 107 Adam, Chambers employed the same tech- inscriptions. Yenn, it is interesting to note, times confused details of his practice, but niques in his drawings of interiors and was appointed Clerkof the Worksat Somer- there may still be questions about his taste exteriors. In some of most interesting draw- set House in 1776 and after that he held a and imagination. Fergusson was prepared ings, carried out in pure watercolor, ceil- number of posts on the Office of Works.In to admire the Strand side of Somerset ings are shown in what the authors refer to the introduction the editors remark that House but considered the scale of the river- as a partialand picturesquelyruined sketch, many of the drawings by Yenn are in an front beyond Chambers's abilities; his a technique Chambers first used to record album, then attributed toJames Paine, pur- imagination "could rise no higher than remains in Italy and abandoned shortly chased in 1863 from Bernard Quaritch. the conception of a square and unpoetic after his return to England. The others came from varied sources: the mass" (Historyof theModern Styles ofArchitec- Yet the character of Chambers'swork is Franco-Italianalbum was bought in 1868; ture, 4: 323). Perhaps we will agree with limited. He raised the general quality of the loose drawings from about 1860 on- Summerson's judgment that the design draftsmanship in England, but seems to ward through a firm, E. Paris and Sons, failed to give a total impression "either of have done little to work with the new tech- located near the Victoria and Albert Mu- magnitude or magnificence," but the de- niques appearing in the offices of some seum; others from the architect C. J. Rich- tails, as he notes, are often extraordinary contemporaries; record drawings,perspec- ardson, who worked for many years with (Architecturein Britain, 420). Cars still im- tives, the use of colors to depict different Sir John Soane, suggesting that some of pede the view of the central courtyard,but materials. Despite a vast amount of work, what was assembled may once have been despite these distractions the qualityof the the organization of his office seems not to owned by Soane himself. Another set of stucco and stonework is immediately evi- have been notably methodical or standard- drawings was purchased in 1910 from dent. Chambers was above all else a great ized. Worsleyconsiders the use of drawings J. Starkie Gardner, an art metalworker; synthesizer and borrower. Perhaps, as in his office, compared to that of Adam or there are a remarkable number of draw- J. Mordaunt Crook has said, much of what Robert Mylne, relativelyunsubtle; very few ings by or attributed to Yenn, and the is here comes from elsewhere-from drawingsare signed or numbered or dated, authors of the catalogue suggest that these Vignola, the Farnese Palace or the Louvre, and very few are of a standard size. This may all have come from a source other A.J. Gabriel andJacques-GermainSoufflot practice seems to have changed with Som- than Chambers himself. The volume in- (TimesLiterary Supplement, 8 Nov. 1995, 9). erset House. Here a new vigor can be seen cludes an appendix of drawings in the But in the end there is nothing in London in the way Chambers used drawings to Franco-Italian album by artists other like the riverfront-a view now best seen control the processes of design; as the au- than Chambers, a bibliography, and an from trains making their slow way to Lon- thors of the Victoria and Albert Museum index. don Bridge Station-and we can only be catalogue say,we can see his extensive reli- These two volumes provide a striking grateful that by a recent agreement, the ance on office assistance to work though amount of material for an accounting of British government will lease the building the designs, some of these, especially from Chambers's work and his place in the his- to a new trust which will restore Somerset John Yenn, being of a very high quality, tory of English architecture. What conclu- House it to its former glory, inside and out. imitating the style of Chambers in both the sions can we draw?Of his professionalism, David Cast techniques of drawing and the style of the there are no doubts, despite the some- BrynMawr College

SACRED SPACE

William Tronzo the Sainte-Chapelle was built by Louis IX The volume is divided into four appro- THE CULTURES OF His KINGDOM: as part of an enveloping royal residence, so priately unequal chapters. Chapter 1, "The the at Palermo was one unit within ROGER II AND THE CAPPELIA PALATINA chapel Ensemble: '... et ornamentisvariis ditavit IN PALERMO the grandiose Palermitan palace from ... ,' " sets the stage for the subsequent which the Norman even the of Princeton: Princeton University Press, kings-perhaps analysis by locating physical place before the time of II, the the within its urban and 1997, xviii + 280 pages, 162 illus., 10 in Roger chapel's chapel palatial original patron-reigned over the chang- the frame of color. $69.50 (cloth). ISBN 0-691-02580-0. setting, general chronological ing fortunes of their south Italian and Sicil- its construction, and the tradition of schol- The Palatina in Palermo Cappella stands ian kingdom. The Cappella Palatina is arship it has engendered. Chapter 2, "New among the greatest ensembles of medieval hardly a neglected monument; its bibliog- Dates and Contexts for the Decorations architecture and interior embellishment-- raphyis significant.Yet until now no scholar and Furnishings of the Chapel," is the floors, walls, ceiling, and furnishings-to has attempted a unified analysis of the analytical core of the book. Here the vari- have come down to the modern world, constituent parts of the chapel. William ous sections of the building's embellish- rivaled in its integrity only by the likes of Tronzo is to be congratulated for his com- ment are studied from an almost archaeo- Chartres cathedral more on its own and, prehensive treatment of the subject and logical point of view in an attempt to scale, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.Just as his method. understand some of their most characteris-

108 JSAH / 57:1, MARCH 1998