Hill Hall: A Singular House Devised by a Tudor Intellectual - Couverture rigide

Drury, Paul; Simpson, Richard

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0854312919 ISBN 13 : 9780854312917

Editeur : Society of Antiquaries of London, 2009

Synopsis

This is the complete history of a building that began as a hunting lodge, late in the eleventh century and that grew to be the principal house of the manor of Theydon Mount in Essex, a small country retreat within easy reach of London. In 1556, the house was acquired by Sir Thomas Smith (1512-77), a man of humble origins but precocious intellect who became Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge at the age of thirty and Chancellor of the University two years later. He then forsook academic for political life, becoming Master of Requests to the Lord Protector Somerset. From 1557, Smith rebuilt the house in French-influenced classical style and decorated it with wall paintings of Cupid and Psyche and King Hezekiah, conveying complex messages of morality and affinity as part of a coherent programme of images in paint, glass and tiles. Four centuries on, the house was first used as an open prison, then, in 1969, largely gutted by fire and finally, in 1980, taken into the care of the Department of the Environment. Archaeological excavation and detailed recording of the surviving fabric took place prior to the restoration of the house and its mural paintings, the results of which are now presented in this copiously illustrated account of one of the most important and influential houses to be built in Elizabethan England.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

This is the complete history of a building that began as a hunting lodge, late in the eleventh century and that grew to be the principal house of the manor of Theydon Mount in Essex, a small country retreat within easy reach of London. In 1556, the house was acquired by Sir Thomas Smith (1512-77), a man of humble origins but precocious intellect who became Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge at the age of thirty and Chancellor of the University two years later. He then forsook academic for political life, becoming Master of Requests to the Lord Protector Somerset. From 1557, Smith rebuilt the house in French-influenced classical style and decorated it with wall paintings of Cupid and Psyche and King Hezekiah, conveying complex messages of morality and affinity as part of a coherent programme of images in paint, glass and tiles.Four centuries on, the house was first used as an open prison, then, in 1969, largely gutted by fire and finally, in 1980, taken into the care of the Department of the Environment. Archaeological excavation and detailed recording of the surviving fabric took place prior to the restoration of the house and its mural paintings, the results of which are now presented in this copiously illustrated account of one of the most important and influential houses to be built in Elizabethan England. As Director of Chelmsford Archaeological Trust in the 1980s, Paul Drury, FSA, directed four seasons of excavations at Hill Hall; subsequently employed by English Heritage, he then established the Paul Drury Partnership, specialising in understanding and planning sustainable futures for historic buildings and areas, as well as heritage policy.Richard Simpson, whose discussion of the mural paintings at Hill Hall forms an important component of the book, took an extensive series of black-and-white photographs of the building in 1975, which are now a very important source of information about the decorative scheme for the house. He first encountered Hill Hall as a student architect in the mid-1970s. Shocked by the state of the building, he investigated the history of the wall paintings, and was able to explain how, exceptional as they are, they could convincingly be dated to the 1560s and 70s. With a first degree in history from Oxford, Richard further explored the broad range of Sir Thomas Smith's interests as a senior Frances A. Yates Fellow at the Warburg Institute. He is currently a member of staff of the Institute of Classical Studies in the University of London.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Society of Antiquaries of London
• Date d'édition: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0854312919
• ISBN 13: 9780854312917
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 544
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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