Sir John Vanbrugh, 1664-1726
Soldier, dramatist and architect, Vanbrugh has left a magnificent legacy of palatial building to the country of his Flemish grandfather’s adoption. By Christopher Lloyd.
Painters, poets and builders have very 'high flights, but they must be kept down.” So wrote Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough in the course of her notorious quarrel with Vanbrugh. Yet Blenheim still stands, and The Relapse still delights audiences whenever it is staged.
Among the many anniversaries celebrated this year, that of Sir John Vanbrugh, who was born in January 1664, should not be forgotten. If not our greatest architect or dramatist—and certainly not our most learned herald or our most distinguished captain of marines—he represents that combination of genius, versatility and the amateur status on which the English have always prided themselves, and which so annoyed Voltaire when Vanbrugh’s friend Congreve insisted on being regarded as a gentleman rather than a playwright.
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