THE WORK OF JOHN WEBB 83 



but Italian. Very few of these designs appear to have been 

 actually carried out, but they had a considerable influence on 

 domestic architecture after their publication. They include 

 practically none of the houses attributed to Jones or Webb 

 which still exist. 



John Webb has hardly received his due as an architect, 

 either from his contemporaries or from posterity. Evelyn spoke 

 of him as " Inigo Jones's man." Most modern writers have 

 regarded him as merely a pale shadow of his master. But from 

 what has just been said about his share in the " Inigo Jones " 

 drawings, this estimate of his position ought to be revised, for 

 there can be no doubt that he was the actual draughtsman of 

 the designs for the palace at Whitehall ; of nearly all those in 

 the second volume of Kent inscribed "Inigo Jones, architectus"; 

 and of King Charles's block at Greenwich (Fig. 45). It may be 

 said, indeed it has been said, that even if that be so, he was 

 only carrying out ideas which had been already devised in the 

 rough by the older man. To which the reply is that there 

 is no evidence of this among the drawings themselves, and that 

 the evidence of contemporary documents, preserved among the 

 State Papers, confirms the presumption that Webb was the 

 designer of the Whitehall Palace and of the Greenwich block. 

 With regard to the series of house designs in Kent's second 

 volume, no extraneous evidence is likely to be found, for they 

 can only be regarded as exercises in design ; to transfer these 

 works from Jones's account to Webb's is to do no injustice to 

 the former's reputation, it is rather to enhance it. It relieves a 

 first-rate artist from the weight of work which is not quite first- 

 rate : and the same may be said, as already pointed out, of the 

 Whitehall drawings. With regard to the Greenwich design, it 

 has, with justice, been highly extolled ; but this is the less 

 surprising when it is remembered that it is a clever adaptation 

 of an excellent Italian design to be found in the pages of 

 Palladio. 1 



Webb's drawings of the Greenwich designs are fairly 

 numerous, and they include a plan for a complete scheme, as 

 well as plans, elevations and many details of King Charles's 

 block. They are dated 1663, 1665, 1666, and one 1669-70. 

 It is interesting, therefore, to find in the Audit Office Enrol- 



1 See the article on the Burlington-Devonshire Drawings in ihejournaf 

 of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Third Series, vol. xviii., No. 10. 



