Isaac Ware (1704–1766) was an English architect and translator of Italian Renaissance architect

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( , ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be on ...

Early life

Ware was born to a life of poverty, living as a street urchin and working as a

chimney sweep A chimney sweep is a person who inspects then clears soot and creosote from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combust ...

, until he was adopted by

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork (25 April 1694 – 4 December 1753) was a British architect and noble often called the "Apollo of the Arts" and the "Architect Earl". The son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Ear ...

at the age of eight (in about 1712) after which he was groomed and educated as a young nobleman. Reportedly he was drawing on the pavement of

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

whereupon Burlington, recognising the talent, intelligence and personality, took him into his own household. His subsequent education included a Grand Tour of Europe and the study of architecture. (On his deathbed the ingrained soot of the chimney-sweep was still detectable on his skin.)

Architectural career

He was apprenticed to Thomas Ripley, 1 August 1721, and followed him in positions in the

Office of Works The Office of Works was an organisation responsible for structures and exterior spaces, first established as part of the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it be ...

, but his mentor in design was Lord Burlington. Ware was a member of the St. Martin's Lane Academy, which brought together many of the main figures in the English

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

movement, among them Louis François Roubiliac, who sculpted Ware's portrait bust about 1741. Although he held various posts with the Office of Works between 1728 and his death, including Secretary, a position previously held by

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor ( – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects ...

, Ware's major works were for private patrons.Summerson 1970, p.362 Aside from

Chesterfield House, Westminster Chesterfield House was Townhouse (Great Britain), a grand London townhouse built between 1747 and 1752 by Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773), statesman and man of letters. The exterior was in the Palladian style, the inte ...

, (1747–52; demolished 1937) with its Palladian exterior and rococo interior details he built a small number of country houses, most of which have been subsequently remodelled or demolished. Clifton Hill House, Bristol, and Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire survive, Clifton Hill House, built in 1746 –50, is a Palladian villa, a type Ware also used for two houses in Scotland in the next ten years, both with service wings linked to the main house by passages. At Wrotham (1756) the central block was flanked by wings ending in octagonal pavilions. He also engaged in speculative building in the West End of London. Ware was also involved in the completion of some elements of

Leinster House Leinster House () is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Duke of Leinster, Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it has been a complex of buildings which houses Oirea ...

following the death of

Richard Cassels Richard Cassels (1690 – 1751), also known as Richard Castle, was an architect who ranks with Edward Lovett Pearce as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel, Germany. Although ...

in 1751. In the later 1750s he was also involved in completing later alterations to the interior of the house for

James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster Lieutenant-General James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, PC (Ire) (29 May 1722 – 19 November 1773), styled Lord Offaly until 1743 and known as The Earl of Kildare between 1743 and 1761 and as The Marquess of Kildare between 1761 and 17 ...

. Ware was dissatisfied with the first English language edition of Andrea Palladio's I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, translated by

Giacomo Leoni Giacomo Leoni (; 1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni, was an List of Italian architects, Italian architect, born in Venice. He was a devotee of the work of Florence, Florentine Renaissance architecture, Renaissance architect Leon Ba ...

), and in particular with Leoni's illustrations. In 1738 Ware published his translation illustrated with his own careful engravings. Ware's version of the ''Four Books of Architecture'' remained the best English translation into the twentieth century in the opinion of

Howard Colvin Sir Howard Montagu Colvin (15 October 1919 – 27 December 2007) was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field: ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–18 ...

"Having thoroughly assimilated Palladian theory", wrote Colvin "he looked beyond it, and in the 1740s himself helped to dissolve the dictatorship of taste that Burlington imposed in the 1720s.", In 1756 he published ''A Complete Body of Architecture'' a wide-ranging work intended to "supply the place of all other books". It was described by

John Summerson Sir John Newenham Summerson (25 November 1904 – 10 November 1992) was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century. Early life John Summerson was born at Barnstead, Coniscliffe Road, Darlington. His grandfather wo ...

as "ably compiled, reflecting very fairly the solid, thoughtful competence of its author's executed works".

Publications

The following list is taken from Colvin; all were published at London. *''Designs of Inigo Jones and others'', 1731. Second edition, 1743. *''The Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Houghton in Norfolk'', 1735. *''The Four Books of Andrea Palladio's Architecture'' 1738. Dedicated to Burlington. *Two engravings of Rokeby Hall, Yorkshire. *''A Complete Body of Architecture'', issued in parts 1756-57. Second edition, 1767, reissued in 1768. *''The Practice of Perspective, from the Original Italian of Lorenzo Sirigatti, with the figures engraved by Isaac Ware, Esq.'' A translation of Sirigatti's, ''La Practica di Prospettiva'' (Venice, 1596).

Notes

References

External links

''A Complete Body of Architecture''
Digital facsimile of the 1757 edition; ETH-Bibliothek.
Isaac Ware architectural drawings, circa 1730-1766, held by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ware, Isaac 18th-century English architects 1704 births 1766 deaths Palladian architecture