Sir John Vanbrugh: Storyteller in Stone

New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Black cloth/boards; gilt lettering. Color-photographic dj with green lettering on white spine. 288 pp. with 367 color and bw images. Hart examines architect/playwright John Vanburgh's surviving, destroyed and unrealised buildings as well as the designs he executed in collaboration with Nicholas Hawksmoor. Vanbrugh's buildings were first maligned and then misunderstood, even though two of his most famous works were Castle Howard and Blenheim. It was Vanbrugh's declared intention for those visiting Blenheim to 'read' the Duke of Marlborough's 'story' through the form and iconography of the house, and in consequence, Vanbrugh emerges here as an accomplishd 'storyteller in stone.' Includes 8 chapters with 2 appendices. Extensively illustrated, often with a contemporary drawing and a current photo.