Vaughan Hart

Last updated

Vaughan Hart is a leading architectural historian, [1] and Professor Emeritus of Architecture in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath. [2] He served as head of department between 2008 and 2010.

Contents

Biography

Hart was born in Ireland in 1960 and spent part of his childhood in Hong Kong. He studied architecture at the University of Bath and University of Cambridge (Trinity Hall), where he was taught by Michael Brawne, Patrick Hodgkinson, Peter Smithson, Ted Happold and Dalibor Vesely. [3] Smithson was his final year undergraduate tutor, and part of Hart's student project was exhibited in the 1986 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition where it won the RA Student Prize. Between 1985 and 1986 he worked as an architectural assistant to Sir Colin St John Wilson on the British Library project in London, and one of his drawings of the entrance hall is now in the RIBA drawing's collection at the V&A in London. Hart then moved to Cambridge to teach in Wilson's unit and study for a doctorate on Inigo Jones under Joseph Rykwert. Hart's thesis formed the basis for his first book, on the art and architecture of the Stuart Court, published by Routledge in 1994.

Publications

Hart's concerns lie in particular with the symbolic function of architecture, and with the sources and meaning of architectural forms. He has published widely in the field of architectural history, specialising in the Italian architectural treatises and in British architectural history of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. He is the co-translator (with Peter Hicks) of the treatises of Sebastiano Serlio, funded by the Getty Grants Programme and The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and he has also translated the two guidebooks to Rome published by Andrea Palladio and the guidebook to Venice by Francesco Sansovino (2017). These works were all published by Yale University Press, and have in turn been translated into Chinese and Japanese. Hart's translation of these classic works formed part of a wider project initiated by Rykwert and Robert Tavernor through their translation of the treatise by Leon Battista Alberti. In addition, Hart's monographs include influential studies of the work of Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, all published by Yale University Press for The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. [4] The latter monograph was awarded the Best Book on British Art Prize of the American College Art Association in 2004.

Exhibitions

In 1997 Hart was the curator of an exhibition entitled 'Paper Palaces: Architectural books from 1472 to 1800 in the collection of Cambridge University Library'. [5] This consisted of architectural prints, manuscripts and over 140 rare books and incunabula, and was held in the Adeane Gallery of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. It was opened by the Duke of Gloucester. In 2008 he co-organised (with Peter Hicks and Alan Day) an exhibition entitled 'Palladio's Rome' held at the British School at Rome, and in 2009 he co-organised (again with Hicks and Day) an exhibition of research work held at the Réfectoire des Cordeliers at the Sorbonne, Paris. [6] Along with Tavernor, Hart has pioneered the use of the computer to visualise lost buildings and investigate historic forms. [7] In 2002 he was funded by the AHRC to build a computer model of Hawksmoor's work in the city of Oxford. [8] His computer work has been displayed in the 1993 and 1995 Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions, in the National Theatre Museum at Covent Garden, the George Peabody Library at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, [9] and in the ‘Nelson and Napoleon’ exhibition held at the National Maritime Museum, London, in July 2005. [10]

Teaching and Fellowships

Vaughan Hart has lectured in many schools of architecture throughout the world, and his graduate students hold academic and museum posts in Australia, Sweden and the UK. Hart has held visiting posts as a senior fellow of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in 2005, and as a visiting scholar at St John's College, Oxford in the same year. In 2009 he was Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. [11] He was a visiting professor at Kent University. [12] He served on the AHRC Peer Review College from 2011 to 2016. He was a trustee of the Holburne Museum in Bath [13] from 2011 to 2016 and a member of the advisory board of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, an independent research institute within the University of Helsinki, Finland, from 2012 to 2017. He served as the assistant honorary secretary and trustee of the Oriental Ceramic Society between 2014 and 2019.

Publications (selection)

Related Research Articles

Nicholas Hawksmoor 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 of the time, Christopher Wren and John Vanbrugh, and contributed to the design of some of the most notable buildings of the period, including St Paul's Cathedral, Wren's City of London churches, Greenwich Hospital, Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. Part of his work has been correctly attributed to him only relatively recently, and his influence has reached several poets and authors of the twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiswick House</span> Neo-Palladian villa in Chiswick, London

Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753), and completed in 1729. The house and garden occupy 26.33 hectares. The garden was created mainly by the architect and landscape designer William Kent, and it is one of the earliest examples of the English landscape garden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Vanbrugh</span> English architect and dramatist

Sir John Vanbrugh was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse (1696) and The Provoked Wife (1697), which have become enduring stage favourites but originally occasioned much controversy. He was knighted in 1714.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inigo Jones</span> English architect (1573–1652)

Inigo Jones was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable architect in England and Wales, Jones was the first person to introduce the classical architecture of Rome and the Italian Renaissance to Britain. He left his mark on London by his design of single buildings, such as the Queen's House which is the first building in England designed in a pure classical style, and the Banqueting House, Whitehall, as well as the layout for Covent Garden square which became a model for future developments in the West End. He made major contributions to stage design by his work as theatrical designer for several dozen masques, most by royal command and many in collaboration with Ben Jonson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincenzo Scamozzi</span> 16th century Italian architect

Vincenzo Scamozzi was an Italian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century. He was perhaps the most important figure there between Andrea Palladio, whose unfinished projects he inherited at Palladio's death in 1580, and Baldassarre Longhena, Scamozzi's only pupil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Palladio</span> 16th-century Italian Renaissance architect of the Republic of Venice

Andrea Palladio was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture. While he designed churches and palaces, he was best known for country houses and villas. His teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palladian architecture</span> Style of architecture derived from the Venetian Andrea Palladio

Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and the principles of formal classical architecture from ancient Greek and Roman traditions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Palladio's interpretation of this classical architecture developed into the style known as Palladianism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastiano Serlio</span> Italian architect and painter (1475–1554)

Sebastiano Serlio was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential treatise variously known as I sette libri dell'architettura or Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vitruvian module</span> Semidiameter of the column at its base

A module is a term that was in use among Roman architects, corresponding to the semidiameter of the column at its base. The term was first set forth by Vitruvius, and was employed by architects in the Italian Renaissance to determine the relative proportions of the various parts of the Classical orders. The module was divided by the 16th century theorists into thirty parts, called minutes, allowing for much greater precision than was thought necessary by Vitruvius, whose subdivision was usually six parts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuscan order</span> Architectural order

The Tuscan order is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with un-fluted columns and a simpler entablature with no triglyphs or guttae. While relatively simple columns with round capitals had been part of the vernacular architecture of Italy and much of Europe since at least Etruscan architecture, the Romans did not consider this style to be a distinct architectural order. Its classification as a separate formal order is first mentioned in Isidore of Seville's Etymologies and refined during the Italian Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venetian window</span> Tripartite window

A Venetian window is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) and is almost a trademark of his early career. The true Palladian window is an elaborated version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Gibbs</span> British architect

James Gibbs was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transition between English Baroque architecture and Georgian architecture heavily influenced by Andrea Palladio. Among his most important works are St Martin-in-the-Fields, the cylindrical, domed Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University, and the Senate House at Cambridge University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldassare Peruzzi</span> Italian architect and painter

Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena and died in Rome. He worked for many years with Bramante, Raphael, and later Sangallo during the erection of the new St. Peter's. He returned to his native Siena after the Sack of Rome (1527) where he was employed as architect to the Republic. For the Sienese he built new fortifications for the city and designed a remarkable dam on the Bruna River near Giuncarico. He seems to have moved back to Rome permanently by 1535. He died there the following year and was buried in the Rotunda of the Pantheon, near Raphael.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh May</span> English architect

Hugh May was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowering of English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His own work was influenced by both Jones' work, and by Dutch architecture. Although May's only surviving works are Eltham Lodge, and the east front, stables and chapel at Cornbury House, his designs were influential. Together with his contemporary, Sir Roger Pratt, May was responsible for introducing and popularising an Anglo-Dutch type of house, which was widely imitated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Rykwert</span> British historian (born 1926)

Joseph Rykwert CBE is Paul Philippe Cret Professor Emeritus of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and one of the foremost architectural historians and critics of his generation. He has spent most of his working life in the United Kingdom and America. He has taught the history and theory of architecture at several institutions in Europe and North America. Rykwert is the author of many influential works on architecture, including The Idea of a Town (1963), On Adam's House in Paradise (1972), The Dancing Column (1996) and The Seduction of Place (2000). All his books have been translated into several languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Ware</span> English architect and translator (1704–1766)

Isaac Ware (1704—1766) was an English architect and translator of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio.

Robert Tavernor is an English Emeritus Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and founding director of the Tavernor Consultancy in London. He is an architecture historian and urbanist, who has published widely on architecture and urban design, including the impact of tall buildings on historic cities. His long academic career includes being appointed to the Forbes Chair in Architecture at the University of Edinburgh at age 36.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hicks</span> British historian and church musician (born 1964)

Peter Geoffrey Barry Hicks is a British historian and church musician.

Kerry John Downes was an English architectural historian whose speciality was English Baroque architecture. He was Professor of History of Art, University of Reading, 1978–91, then Emeritus.

References

  1. "JSTOR: Search Results". Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. "Vaughan Hart". the University of Bath's research portal. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019. https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/professor-vaughan-hart-retires/
  3. See entry for Hart in Who's Who 2020.
  4. McKellar, Elizabeth (April 2010). "Vaughan Hart. Sir John Vanbrugh: Storyteller in Stone. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2008. Pp. 288. $65.00 (cloth). | Journal of British Studies | Cambridge Core". Journal of British Studies. 49 (2): 431–432. doi:10.1086/649946. S2CID   163124116 . Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  5. "Library Publications - Exhibition Catalogues". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  6. "Paris exhibition features 'virtual balloon flight' over Bath". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  7. "How Historians Are Now Using Computer Technology". Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  8. "3DVISA". 3dvisa.cch.kcl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Coronation and consecration of Napoleon I". Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2016 via www.youtube.com.
  11. "National Gallery of Art - Resources". Archived from the original on 12 May 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  12. "Vaughan Hart appointed visiting Professor of Architecture - Kent School of Architecture - University of Kent". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  13. "The Holburne Museum – Trustees". Archived from the original on 11 December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  14. "Who made the Conway Library?". Digital Media. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.