Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Designing of Five East Anglian Country Houses, 1505-1637

1978; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 21; Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1568359

2059-5670

Malcolm Airs,

Architecture and Cultural Influences

It is clear that any explanation of the course taken by English country house design at the time of its first vigorous growth in the sixteenth century cannot be founded on a simple iconographical basis. A detailed knowledge of the processes by which the houses were constructed is essential to an understanding of their finished appearance and, as in any other age, due regard must be had to the characters of the individual personalities involved. In recent years, such an approach has considerably advanced our comprehension of the country houses, principally in the north Midlands, associated with Robert Smythson. Although at present the evidence is wanting for a biographical study of similar importance for any other part of the country, an examination of the documentary sources for a particular region could well prove fruitful in establishing a comprehensible picture of aesthetic control and design which may have a more general application.