Inigo Jones - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Beyond the fact that he was born in Smithfield in central London, the son of a Welsh Catholic cloth worker, and christened at the church of St Bartholomew-the-Less, little is known about Jones's early years. Jones did not approach the architectural profession in the traditional way, namely either by rising up from a craft or through early exposure to the Office of Works, although there is evidence that Sir Christopher Wren obtained information that recorded Inigo Jones as an apprentice joiner in St Paul's Churchyard. Regardless, he unquestionably appears in the household accounts of the Earl of Rutland in 1603 as "Henygo Jones, a picture maker". His early career seems to have been devoted to the devising of costumes and scenery for masques, plays and other court entertainment.

He is credited with introducing movable scenery and the proscenium arch to English theatre. Between 1605 and 1640, Jones was responsible for staging over 500 performances, collaborating with Ben Jonson for many years, despite a relationship fraught with competition and jealousy: the two had famous arguments about whether stage design or literature was more important in theatre. (Jonson ridiculed Jones in a series of his works, written over a span of two decades.). Over 450 drawings for the scenery and costumes survive, surviving evidence of Jones’s virtuosity as a draughtsman and understanding of Italian set design, particularly that of Alfonso and Giulio Parigi. It is important to understand that there was no conception of such draughtsmanship in England at this time, although it had been the medium used by Italian painters, sculptors and architects for about a hundred years. Around this time, Jones also learnt how to speak Italian fluently and obtained an Italian copy of Andrea Palladio’s I quattro libri dell'architettura (first published in 1570): all indicating that Jones made his first formative trip to Italy between 1598–1603, possibly funded by Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland. These drawings of set design and costume reveal an interesting development in Jones’s draughtsmanship between 1605 and 1609, initially showing "no knowledge of Renaissance draughtsmanship", then in 1609, exhibiting an "accomplished Italianate manner". This offers potential evidence of a second visit to Italy, possibly around 1606, influenced by the ambassador Henry Wotton: there is evidence that Jones owned a copy of Andrea Palladio's works with marginalia that refer to Wotton. His work became particularly influenced by Palladio. To a lesser extent, he also held that the setting out of buildings should be guided by principles first described by ancient Roman writer Vitruvius.

Jones’s first recorded structural work is his monument to Lady Cotton, circa 1608, showing early signs of his classical intentions. Around this time, Jones also produced drawings for the New Exchange in the Strand and the central tower of St. Paul’s Cathedral, displaying a similar practical architectural inexperience and immature handling of themes from sources including Palladio, Serlio and Sangallo. In 1609, Inigo Jones appears as an architectural consultant at Hatfield House, making small modifications to the design as the project progressed, and in 1610, Jones was appointed Surveyor to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales and in this position, Jones devised a masque for the Prince and was possibly involved in some alterations to St James’s Palace.

Then, on 27 April 1613, Inigo Jones was appointed the position of Surveyor of the King’s Works and shortly after, embarked on a tour of Italy with Earl of Arundel, destined to become one of the most important patrons in the history of English art. On this trip, Jones was exposed to the architecture of Rome, Padua, Florence, Vicenza, Genoa and Venice amongst others, and his surviving sketchbook indicates his preoccupation with the art of such artists as Parmigianino and Schiavone. He is also known to have met Vicenzo Scamozzi at this time too. His annotated copy of Palladio’s Quattro libri dell’ architecttura also demonstrates his close interest in classical architecture: Jones gave priority to Roman antiquity rather than observing the contemporary fashion in Italy. He was probably the first Englishman to study these Roman remains first hand and this was key to the new architecture Inigo Jones introduced in England.