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Article: Sir John Vanbrugh: Storyteller in Stone.(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Architectural Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 EMAP Architecture. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Vaughan Hart. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. 2008 [pounds sterling]35
The researches of twentieth-century scholars established the dates and factual details of Vanbrugh's masterpieces like Castle Howard, Seaton Delaval, and garden buildings at Stowe. It is thus now open to Vaughan Hart to interpret the meaning of his buildings as a 'storyteller in stone', a brilliant interpretation which links him to the world of literature including Dryden and Swift, as well as to music, heraldry and politics. Hart sees Vanbrugh's buildings as an architectural expression of the Discourse on Epic Poetry by his friend and collaborator, Dryden, who could praise Homer ...