Hawksmoor, Nicholas

Downes, Kerry

doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t037004

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…62 Downes claims that, owing to Hawksmoor's relative obscurity in the early twentieth century, Pearce is unlikely to have invented documentary information contradicting the previous attribution to the universally respected Wren. 63 Pearce's evidence certainly suggests that Hawksmoor was responsible for drawings made some time before June 1692, but are these the ones at All Souls?…”

Section: Schooled By Wren or A School By Wren? 9imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is these distinctive characteristics, also apparent in Hawksmoor's later, independent work, that led Summerson, and subsequently Downes, to attribute the design itself to Hawksmoor, and their argument is certainly forceful. 65 The unusual pepper-pot domes of the Writing School designs find their nearest parallel at Hawksmoor's stable court in St James's Palace, London, of 1716-17.…”

Section: Schooled By Wren or A School By Wren? 9imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Downes, for example, argues that, towards the end of the century, Wren allowed assistants to execute projects that did not particularly interest him. 88 The more recent literature, however, suggests otherwise, and drawings for nearly all the categories of Wren's architecture have been attributed to Hawksmoor. 89 For example, while Downes argued that Hawksmoor had little to do with the design of Hampton Court, recent analysis has shown that many of the drawings were in his hand.…”

Section: Ll F Ii?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Schooled by Wren, or a School by Wren? The Conception and Design of Christ’s Hospital Writing School, London

Foxall¹

2008

Architectural History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On 2 March 1692, Sir Christopher Wren visited the governors of Christ’s Hospital in London, bringing with him a design for a new writing school to be erected on the Hospital’s Newgate Street site. Seven drawings for the school building survive in the Wren collection at All Souls College, Oxford. However, rather than suggesting Wren’s authorship, these drawings are customarily attributed to his pupil and long-time assistant, Nicholas Hawksmoor. It is generally accepted that Hawksmoor received delegated commissions from Wren by at least the early 1690s, but, although the draughtsmanship and stylistic evidence of the Writing School drawings suggest consistency with this interpretation, the surviving documentary evidence by no means proves Hawksmoor’s involvement. In fact, Wren’s name appears no less than thirteen times in the surviving Hospital minutes of 1691 to 1696, while Hawksmoor is never mentioned.The Writing School designs are briefly described in most architectural histories of the period, although they are considered remarkable more for heralding a shift in architectural taste than for the building shown in the drawings or for the social and ideological impulses that impelled its creation. This article considers the Writing School in the context of contemporary debates and anxieties concerning the provision of education for the poor, and within the wider sphere of late seventeenth-century charity-school building. Wren’s involvement is considered in relation to his philanthropic interest in the charity-school movement. The article concludes with an analysis of the designs and building history of the Writing School, and, on the basis of previously unpublished eighteenth- and nineteenth-century graphic sources, discounts Giles Worsley’s suggestion that Hawksmoor added a pediment to the final design. Wren and Hawksmoor’s specific responsibilities for the conception, design and execution of the building are considered, and it is argued that, although Hawksmoor was responsible for most of the surviving drawings relating to the project, Wren directed the process, taking responsibility for all designs produced in his office and claiming authorship for the drawings produced.

show abstract

Section: Schooled By Wren or A School By Wren? 9imentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Schooled By Wren or A School By Wren? 9imentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ll F Ii?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation