58 BAYNHAM PARK, NORFOLK 



from his usual manner in this particular case, it is probable that 

 the room was left to the unaided skill of some local craftsman, 

 who relied on his own traditions. 



Of Jones's connection with Raynham Park, in Norfolk (Figs. 

 32, 33), there is no evidence beyond tradition and the style of the 

 work itself; but much of this has touches about it which are 

 quite in his manner. There are indications that the house was 

 built at two periods, and these make it difficult to attribute the 

 whole work to one designer. But the treatment of the front, with 

 its two wings of decided though slight projection, and its rather 

 heavily-curved gables, serves to make it a connecting link between 

 the old and the new styles. The date of this house is generally 

 stated to be 1636, but further investigation is required in order 

 to arrive at its true history, and to account for the two periods 

 of building. 



At Wilton, in Wiltshire, is some of the finest of Jones's in- 

 ternal work, and his connection with this house is established by 

 a series of designs for the ceilings preserved among the Worcester 

 College drawings. The south front, of which there is a sketch 

 in the R.I.B.A. collection, would hardly have served to make 

 his reputation, but the splendid suite of state rooms is unrivalled 

 in any English house. One of these is a double cube, being 

 60 ft. by 30 ft. by 30 ft. high, and another is a single cube 

 of 30 ft. The double cube, with its stately panelling filled with 

 Vandyke's portraits of the family, deserves its reputation as the 

 finest room in the country (Fig. 34). A plain, double cube of 

 these dimensions would be unpleasantly lofty (as may be realised 

 by. visiting one at St James's Palace), but here at Wilton the 

 great height is lessened to the eye by the introduction of a large 

 cove which springs from a bold cornice some 9 ft. below the 

 ceiling, thus reducing the height of the walls to 21 ft. 



The double cube and such precise proportions were quite 

 new in English architecture ; so also were the careful propor- 

 tions of the windows and their relation to the wall space, the 

 pervading refinement of the mouldings, and the simplicity 

 (almost amounting to baldness in some cases) of the general 

 treatment. These factors inevitably influenced the plan of the 

 house, which became much less elastic than of old, and less 

 adaptable to the wants of English life. They tended towards 

 the glorification of the house at the expense of its inhabitants 

 and to subordinate household comfort to architecture. 



