They can be described as a cross between a ball, a play and a fancy-dress party in which music, dance, song and recitation were all presented in exquisite costume.įor King James, and later for his son, Charles I, a masque was not merely entertainment: it demonstrated the Stuart concept of kingship, delivering messages about royal authority. ![]() The dynamic partnership of Inigo Jones and playwright Ben Jonson produced a series of evermore elaborate and expensive masques at the Banqueting House. The hall was to be used for grand receptions, formal entertainment and especially the performance of the Stuart court masque. In fact, while musicians may have played there, its true purpose was to admit an audience. Ionic half-columns embellish the whole room and fluted Corinthian pilasters run up to the ceiling.Īt second-floor level one can see what is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a minstrels' gallery. The perfect balance, with large windows and soaring columns, is calculated in accordance with a Roman idea of perfection. The main hall is a two-storey, double-cube room, in which the length of the room is twice its equal width and height this is typically Palladian, where all proportions are mathematically related. As the first classical design to be completed in London, in 1622, it must have stood out as extraordinary and modern amid the old, rambling Tudor buildings – a radical expression of the power of the Stuart line. Jones had been to Italy and he designed what was considered revolutionary architecture, inspired by the Palladian style, based on the designs of Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–80). It was not intended for feasting but for propaganda entertainments to glorify the Stuart dynasty. James commissioned Inigo Jones, the first great English architect, to construct a new hall, but the term ‘banqueting’ is a misnomer. ![]() This achievement would later be celebrated in the glorious Peter Paul Rubens ceiling in the Banqueting House. In 1603, James VI and I united the crowns of Scotland and England, bringing two old enemies together in peace under Stuart kingship. Inside the great main hall of the Banqueting House, with Rubens' ceiling While the flames raged, Christopher Wren was ordered expressly by the Stuart king, William III, to focus his manpower on saving an architectural jewel at the heart of the complex – the 1622 Banqueting House. The building was later destroyed, in 1698, in an accidental fire. Henry VIII died at Whitehall in January 1547. The painting expressed the power of the Tudors in a magnificent interior that echoed the gorgeous decoration of the palace itself. It was a portrait that would make him our most recognisable English king and perfectly captured his majesty and menace. Inside the Privy Chamber a mural by the artist Hans Holbein portrayed the definitive Henry VIII – immense, chest thrust out and hand on dagger. It was so colourful that it would look to us like something out of Disneyland. There was brickwork in red ochre, black and white timbering and the fanciful mural or sculptural decorative detail called grotesque (derived from the Italian grotteschi, in reference to decorated grottoes). All external surfaces were lavishly decorated. ![]() ![]() A pleasure complex was built on the other side with a tilt yard, tennis courts and spaces for games and amusements. It had state rooms, privy apartments, chambers and courtyards. The original palace on the riverside was the royal residence. From 1530 it was the centre of government, combining the functions of present-day Buckingham Palace, Downing Street and all the government offices of Whitehall. Henry had more than 50 great houses, but none were more important than his vast power base here. The Banqueting House is a remarkable survivor: the last part of Henry VIII’s lost Tudor Palace of Whitehall in London. The last image of the Palace of Whitehall by the Dutch artist Leonard Knijff, with the Banqueting House shown in the centre, c.1695 ‘His Majesty received us in a great hall newly built for public spectacles, royally adorned with marvellous tapestries and gold’Ī Venetian ambassador on a visit to the Banqueting House in 1625 Our expert, Siobhan Clarke, relates its story and the tale of why Parliament dared to kill a kingĬharles I painted by court favourite, the artist Sir Anthony van Dyck The building, a masterpiece of revolutionary architecture, was central to the Stuart dynasty – a space that denoted power. On a frosty January morning in 1649, Charles I stepped from the Banqueting House at Whitehall to his execution.
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