Renaissance Architecture in England: Inspiration and Development



Overview

Inigo Jones, architect of the Queen’s House at Greenwich and the Banqueting House in Whitehall, travelled widely in Italy to study its Renaissance architecture. By contrast, Christopher Wren drew ideas from the publications of Italian architects as these became available in England and probably from his own observation of new Renaissance building in Paris.

We will examine how Renaissance architecture emerged in Italy, including the important work of Palladio, and see how these English architects, and others including John Vanbrugh, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Colen Campbell and William Kent, interpreted the style in their design of buildings in England. Neo-classical in the later 1700s included the work of Robert Adam whose travels gave direct experience of classical building beyond italy itself.  We will conclude with a look at contemporary work in this tradition by English architects such as Quinlan Terry and John Simpson.

Programme details

Course starts: 27 Sep 2023

Week 1: Starting Point - The Renaissance in Italy

Week 2: Palladio - Palazzi, Villas and Churches

Week 3: Publications arriving in Britain - Vitruvius, Serlio and Palladio  

Week 4: Early Renaissance in Elizabethan England  

Week 5: The groundbreaking work of Inigo Jones

Week 6: The Restoration - Investigating Christopher Wren's architectural sources 

Week 7: The "English Baroque" - John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor - but how Baroque was it?

Week 8: English Palladian style - Colen Campbell, Lord Burlington and William Kent 

Week 9: Georgian Architecture - the John Woods in Bath -  Neo-Classical, the Adam Style and Greek Revival

Week 10: English Classical building into the Modern Era - Edwin Lutyens, Quinlan Terry and John Simpson 

 

Certification

Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £257.00
Take this course for CATS points £10.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Mr Keith Hasted

Keith's initial research focus was Italian Renaissance palace architecture, and he has since developed a special interest in the architecture of cathedrals, not only in England but also in mainland Europe. He has taught courses over a number of years in the OUDCE weekly programme and Summer School and for the WEA. A book on Modernist Architecture was published in 2019. 

Course aims

To enable course members to investigate architectural design in the Italian Renaissance and identify the significance of this architectural influence in England.

Course objectives: 

  • To understand the key features of Renaissance architecture and recognise how these have been applied in successive phases of classical style in English building.
  • To examine the steady development of classical architecture in England, in relation to the range of sources from which ideas have been drawn.

Teaching methods

Weekly lectures with visual images

Weekly classroom discussions

Illustrated notes provided each week

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

  • be able to appreciate the development of the Renaissance style in English classsical architecture;
  • be able to recognise the key architectural features by which the style can be identified;
  • understand the various means by which these ideas were brought to England.

Assessment methods

Course members are invited to prepare an assignment as a short essay of no more than 1500 words. Alternatively a small number of shorter pieces of equivalent length in total can be prepared.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

Application

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

Most of the Department's weekly classes have 10 or 20 CATS points assigned to them. 10 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of ten 2-hour sessions. 20 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of twenty 2-hour sessions. It is expected that, for every 2 hours of tuition you are given, you will engage in eight hours of private study.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support