52 REMAINING EXAMPLES OF JONES'S WORK 



theatre, and King Charles's block at Greenwich, rests upon the 

 Worcester College and Burlington - Devonshire drawings, but 

 these buildings should more properly be credited to Webb, by 

 whose hand they were drawn. 



The largest design by far which has hitherto been ascribed 

 to Jones is that for the great palace at Whitehall, but it will 

 be presently shown that the ascription is wrong, and that here 

 also the chief credit ought to be given to John Webb. 



But although in the interests of historical accuracy it is 

 necessary to throw doubt upon much of the work with which 

 Inigo Jones has been credited, what remains is sufficient to 

 establish his fame, and it is beyond controversy that he was 

 regarded as the " Vitruvius of his age." What he undoubtedly 

 did was to introduce into England a refined and scholarly 

 rendering of that Italian manner at which all designers had 

 been aiming for half a century. As Webb says in addressing 

 Dr Charleton, " I must tell you that what was truly meant by the 

 Art of Design was scarcely known in this kingdom, until he, 

 under the protection of his late Sacred Majesty, and that 

 famous Maecenas of Arts, the Right Honourable Thomas 

 Earl of Arundel and Surrey, brought it in use and esteem among 

 us here." We can also agree with him when he says that " Mr 

 Jones was generally learned, eminent for Architecture, a great 

 geometrician, and in designing with his pen (as Sir Anthony 

 Vandike used to say) not to be equalled by whatever great 

 masters in his time, for boldness, softness, sweetness, and sureness 

 of his touches." 1 Of the buildings ascribed by Webb to Inigo 

 Jones there remain but three the Banqueting House, St Paul's, 

 Covent Garden, which has been much altered, and the Queen's 

 House at Greenwich, which was begun in 1619 and finished 

 in 1635. It is quite as far removed as the Banqueting House 

 from the traditional type of English design. It is essentially 

 Italian both in plan and elevation (Figs. 25-27), and it indicates 

 how completely Inigo Jones had departed from the old ways. 

 The original drawings for the house itself have not been 

 preserved, but there exist several sketches by Jones's hand of 

 chimney-pieces and other details connected with it. 2 



1 Webb's "Vindication," p. n. It would seem that Vandyke is here 

 quoted as using the phrase " designing with his pen," and not (as biographers 

 have freely supposed) as having given Jones a certificate of ability. 



2 In the collection at the Royal Institute of British Architects. 



