English art and architectureThe RenaissanceEnglish design tends to be far more complicated then its Italian and French counterparts lacking the clear lines of demarcation they exhibit. Styles overlap each other and/or continue to develop side by side. The 22 miles of the English channel and Englands natural conservatism act as a wall to continental influence so that when the Renaissance finally arrives in England it is as the fully developed style (as seen in the work of Inigo Jones) without a transitional period. The "law of primogeniture" in which the estate goes to the first born son prevents the break up of the great estates and lessens the need to develop new styles. Renaissance style characteristics are for the most part simply overlaid on English Gothic forms to produce a form completely English. This is a period marked by increasing trade and commerce, the rise of the middle class and corresponding decrease in feudal power , the break with the Catholic Church and the growth of the English colonies in the Americas. It is also a period in which religious warfare and conflict between the King and the new upper classes ultimately lead to civil war and an England in which design will follow a separate path then that of the French lead continent.Tudor: Primarily English Gothic with a few Renaissance elements. Outward look away from central courtyard. Large windows made up of a number of small panes, lack of symmetry and order , few classical elements and remnants of Gothic/Castle design. Middle class domestic houses remain half timber with thatched roofs be the most common form.Elizabethan: Greater reliance on classical elements and Mannerist concepts. Horizontal emphasis, regularity, larger scale but still highly individualistic in appearance. Growing importance of the staircase, Bay and Oriel windows and concept of comfort.Jacobean: Simplification with greater unity, classical vocabulary used as decoration only.http://www3.canyons.edu/Departments/INTD/Faculty/Kavesh/ID%20114/114%20Reading%20Assignments/11.%20english_renaissance.htmThe transition from Gothic to a classic Renaissance style was slow in England. Religious art of every kind had declined drastically by 1540, with the dissolution of the monasteries and the break with Rome. John Thynne and Robert Smythson were major builders of the 16th cent. at a time when secular art and architecture began to assume greater importance. Manor houses and palaces were designed for greater comfort than in previous eras and were often arranged according to a symmetrical plan, facing outward toward a splendid garden. Attention was paid to the paneling and stucco adornment of interiors. English builders inconsistently adapted Italian designs, particularly the published works of Sebastiano Serlio.http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/english-art-architecture.html

Tudor style,

Tudor style type of British architecture, mainly domestic, that grafted Renaissance decorative elements onto the Perpendicular Gothic style between 1485 and 1558. The Tudor style in architecture coincides with the first part of the reign of the Tudor monarchs, which commenced in 1485 with the accession of Henry VII to the throne and ended with the death of Elizabeth I The characteristic exterior features of the Tudor style as used in secular architecture are: a lavish use of half-timber work; large groups of rectangular windows; rich oriel, or bay, windows; complex roofs with many gables; interesting and sometimes fantastic chimney treatments; and much brickwork, frequently in patterns. The interiors of secular buildings featured richly wood-paneled walls and the lavish use of molded plasterwork to decorate ceilings, cornices, and walls, frequently in a naive imitation of Renaissance ornamental motifs.http://www.britannica.com/art/Tudor-styleThe Perpendicular style had already broken away from the European mainstream of late Gothic. In Tudor times it developed fan vaulting, for example in the cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral and Henry VII's magnificent Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey. The characteristic Tudor depressed arch can be seen in both ecclesiastical and secular buildings.http://www.buildinghistory.org/style/tudor.shtmlThe Elizabethan Style

The Elizabethan style prevailed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Renaissance motifs were mixed with Flemish decorative work, such as strapwork, and late-Gothic mullioned and transomed windowsThe Elizabethan style is more symmetrical than earlier architecture. Elizabethan mansions usually had numerous towers, gables, parapets, balustrades, and chimneystacks. Pavillions, gardens, fountains, and terraces were also popular.http://www.nicholls.edu/art-dhc/jacobeanarchitecture.html

Jacobean Architecture

1603-25The Jacobean style dates from the period of King James I and James VI, at the beginning of the 17th century. Although Inigo Jones introduced Palladian Classicism during the period, Jacobean architecture combined French, Italian, and Flemish elements. The Jacobean style, along with Roman classical forms, survived under the Stuarts (1625-1702).Stuart Architecture (1603-1714) Shell-headed doorway of Tailors Almshouse, Bristol, 1701Under the Stuart kings British architecture took a pick-and-mix approach to Continental influences. Fashions from France, Italy and the Netherlands could be blended in a single building, or Dutchgables on one house could stare across like lifted eyebrows at the Palladian parapet of a neighbour.http://www.buildinghistory.org/style/stuart.shtml

Important architectsPietro Torrigiano

Torrigiano, Pietro (pytr tr-rjn) [key], 14721528, Florentine Renaissance sculptor. Upon leaving Florence in 1492, he worked in Rome and small Italian cities until his departure for the Netherlands, where he worked for the court. By 1511 he was in England, where his gilt bronze masterpiece, the tomb of King Henry VII and his queen, is preserved in Westminster Abbey. In Spain from c.1522, he executed the fine terra-cotta statues of St. Jerome and the Virgin and Child (both: Seville Mus.). Two male portrait busts in the Metropolitan Museum exemplify his firmly modeled, refined, and dignified style. Torrigiano is said to have broken Michelangelo's nose in a quarrel when they were fellow students.http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/torrigiano-pietro.html

Inigo Jones

The first and greatest of English Renaissance architects, Inigo Jones was an unlikely candidate to change the landscape of British style and design. Yet this self-taught son of a Smithfield clothmaker had an enormous effect on the course of British art and architecture.Inigo Jones, (born July 15, 1573, Smithfield, London, Eng.died June 21, 1652, London), British painter, architect, and designer who founded the English classical tradition of architecture. The Queens House (161619) at Greenwich, London, his first major work, became a part of the National Maritime Museum in 1937. His greatest achievement is the Banqueting House (161922) at Whitehall. Joness only other surviving royal building is the Queens Chapel (162327) at St. Jamess Palace.http://www.britannica.com/biography/Inigo-Jones

Sir Christopher Wren (1632 - 1723) Wren was an English scientist and mathematician and one of Britain's most distinguished architects, best known for the design of many London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral. In 1666, the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the medieval city, providing a huge opportunity for Wren. He produced ambitious plans for rebuilding the whole area but they were rejected, partly because property owners insisted on keeping the sites of their destroyed buildings. Wren did design 51 new city churches, as well as the new St Paul's Cathedral. In 1669, he was appointed surveyor of the royal works which effectively gave him control of all government building in the country. He was knighted in 1673.

Sir John Vanbrugh

Vanbrugh is thought to have had no formal training in architecture. His inexperience was compensated for by his unerring eye for perspective and detail and his close working relationship with Nicholas Hawksmoor. Hawksmoor, a former clerk of Sir Christopher Wren, was to be Vanbrugh's collaborator in many of his most ambitious projects.Nicholas Hawksmoor

Young Nicholas was a quick study, and he readily absorbed the skills of his master. From 1684 on Hawksmoor worked with Wren on all his major architectural projects, including Chelsea Hospital, the rebuilding of the London churches damaged in the great Fire of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Hampton Court Palace, and Greenwich Hospital.Notable examplesst paul's cathedral

The present Cathedral, the masterpiece of Britain's most famous architect Sir Christopher Wren, is at least the fourth to have stood on the site. It was built between 1675 and 1710, after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and services began in 1697.

https://www.stpauls.co.uk/history-collections/historyDelve into the history of the magnificent Banqueting House. Designed by renowned architect Inigo Jones it is the only surviving building from the old Whitehall Palace. The Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, is the grandest and best known survivor of the architectural genre of banqueting house, and the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall. The building is important in the history of English architecture as the first building to be completed in the neo-classical style which was to transform English architecture.[1]

The Queen's House, Greenwich, is a former royal residence built between 16161619 in Greenwich, then a few miles downriver from London, and now a district of the city. Its architect was Inigo Jones, for whom it was a crucial early commission, for Anne of Denmark, the queen of King James I of England. It was altered and completed by Jones, in a second campaign about 1635 for Henrietta Maria, queen of King Charles I.[1] The Queen's House is one of the most important buildings in British architectural history, being the first consciously classical building to have been constructed in Britain. It was Jones's first major commission after returning from his 16131615 grand tour[2] of Roman, Renaissance and Palladian architecture in Italy.