John Vanbrugh and the Art of Client Management - A Georgian Group Lecture

The early eighteenth-country houses designed by John Vanbrugh, including Blenheim in Oxfordshire and the now-lost Claremont in Surrey and Eastbury in Dorset are, or were, remarkable for their bold forms and unorthodox ornament. Yet in one respect Sir John’s work was supremely delicate: the ways in which he persuaded clients that boldness and unorthodoxy were the most economical routes to displays appropriate to their status. His arguments are gossipy, funny, and often suspect. They present the architect less as a designer than as a hedge against financial and reputational risk. At the same time, they offer us a fascinating insight into the sometimes-fraught social and familial relationships in play when it came to spending money on a house. This lecture by Christine Stevenson reveals these interesting interplays.