Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is a large and monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the only non episcopal country house, in England, to hold the title "palace". The Palace, one of England's greatest houses in every sense of the word, was built between 1705 and circa 1722. Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation in return for military triumph against the French. However, it soon became the subject of political infighting which led to Marlborough's exile, the fall from power of his Duchess, and the irreparable damage to the reputation of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Designed in the rare, and short lived, English baroque style, architectural appreciation of the palace is as divided today as it was in the 1720s. {{fn|1}} It is unique in its combined usage as a family home, mausoleum and national monument.

Architect

The architect selected for the ambitious project was a controversial one. The Duchess was known to favour Sir Christopher Wren, famous for St Paul's Cathedral and many other national buildings. The Duke however, following a chance meeting at a playhouse, is said to have commissioned Sir John Vanbrugh there and then. Vanbrugh, a popular dramatist, was an untrained architect, who usually worked in conjunction with the trained and practical Nicholas Hawksmoor. The duo had recently completed the first stages of the baroque Castle Howard. This huge Yorkshire mansion was one one of England's first houses in the flamboyant European baroque style. Marlborough had obviously been impressed by this grandiose pile and wished for something similar at Woodstock.

Related Topics:
Christopher Wren - St Paul's Cathedral - John Vanbrugh - Nicholas Hawksmoor - Castle Howard - Yorkshire - Baroque

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Blenheim, however, was not to provide Vanbrugh with the architectural plaudits he imagined. The fighting over funding led to accusations of extravagance and impracticality of design, many of these charges levelled by the Whig factions in power. He found no defender in the Duchess of Marlborough. Having been foiled in her wish to employ Wren,{{fn|2}} she levelled criticism at Vanbrugh on every level, from design to taste. In part their problems arose from what was demanded of the architect. The nation (who it was then assumed, by architect and owners, was paying the bills) wanted a monument, but the Duchess wanted not only a fitting tribute to her husband but also a comfortable home, two requirements which were not compatible in 18th-century architecture. Finally, in the early days of the building the Duke was frequently away on his military campaigns, and it was left to the Duchess to negotiate with Vanbrugh. More aware than her husband of the precarious state of the financial aid they were receiving, she attempted to curb Vanbrugh's grandiose ideas, in an arrogant fashion (as was her wont) rather than explain the true reasons behind her frugality.

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Following their final altercation Vanbrugh was banned from the site. In 1719, while the Duchess was away, Vanbrugh viewed the palace in secret. However, when he and his wife, with the Earl of Carlisle, visited the completed Blenheim as members of the viewing public in 1725, they were refused admission to even enter the park. The palace had been completed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, his friend and architectural associate.

Related Topics:
1719 - Earl of Carlisle

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Vanbrugh's severe massed baroque used at Blenheim never truly caught the public imagination, and was quickly superseded by the revival of the Palladian style. Vanbrugh's reputation was irreparably damaged, and he received no further truly great public commissions. For his final design, Seaton Delaval Hall, he used a refined version of the baroque employed at Blenheim, which was hailed as his masterpiece. He died shortly before its completion.

Related Topics:
Palladian - Seaton Delaval Hall

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