(1573-1652)
English architect. He began his artistic career as a painter for aristocratic patrons and as a maker of ecclesiastical furnishings. He toured Italy in 1598, visited Denmark in 1603, and collaborated with the playwright Ben Jonson in designing court masques for Anne, queen of King James I. In 1613 he accompanied an English embassy to celebrate the marriage of the king's daughter to the Elector Palatine in Heidelberg and then made a second trip to Italy. Guided by the writings of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, he studied ancient monuments. Back in England in 1615, he became surveyor of the king's works and produced a number of designs for buildings (most of them never built) intended to transform London into a magnificent royal capital. His most famous surviving building is the Banqueting House (1619-1622) at Whitehall, designed in a classicizing style inspired by Palladio.
Historical Dictionary of Renaissance. Charles G. Nauert. 2004.