Chiswick House

Chiswick House is a neo-Palladian, neoclassical villa in Burlington Lane, Chiswick, in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. Template:Infobox UK property

Chiswick House

Classic Bridge in Chiswick House grounds, built in 1774, design attributed to James Wyatt.

Chiswick House was inherited by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, 4th Earl of Cork and Baron Clifford (1694-1753) on the death of his father, Charles Boyle, in 1704. The mansion was a medium sized Jacobean house and used as a summer retreat to get away from the heat of London in the same way as Marble Hill House, Strawberry Hill and Syon Park were used (the town house that the Burlingtons' used the rest of the year was Burlington House in Piccadilly, today the Royal Academy). Lord Burlington decided to add to the house by building a Villa to one side to contain his large collection of art and furniture, much of which was purchased on his first 'Grand Tour' of Europe in 1714 As accommodation was already provided in the old Jacobean House and stable block, there was little need for bedrooms in the new annex. Known as the "Apollo of the Arts" by Horace Walpole, the "architect earl" designed Chiswick Villa with the aid of William Kent (1685-1748) between 1726 and 1729. William Kent (who changed his name from ‘Cant’) also took a leading role in designing the gardens, which are regarded as the earliest example of the 'English Landscape Garden',- a mode of garden in which many aspects were deformalised and incorporated poetic and theatrical elements in an attempt to ensure 'variety'within the landscape.

Richard Boyle married Lady Dorothy Savile (1699-1758) on 21 March 1720 and their happy union produced three daughters. However, all three were to die before the age of twenty four. The last surviving daughter, Charlotte Boyle, married William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire,( 1720-1764) and the house, Villa and gardens passed to the Cavendish family after Lady Burlington's death in her Bedchamber at Chiswick on 21 September 1758. The Villa was then occasionally used by the Devonshires, who had numerous other residences (they inherited Bolton Abbey, Londesborough in Yorkshire, and Lismore Castle in Ireland from the Boyles’), and added two wings to the Villa to increase the amount of accommodation. Built in 1788 by the architect John White, these wings were designed in a sympathetic style, but inimical to the concept of the house as a compact perfectly formed Villa, and were removed by the Ministry of Works in 1952. The Villa was saved from destruction by a public campaign and petitioning from the newly created Georgian Society who recognised the Villa’s unique architectural heritage and its valuable contribution to the history of English Georgian domestic architecture.

Later Years

Between 1892 and 1929 the Villa was rented to the Tuke family and functioned as a mental hospital for wealthy male and female patients. The Tukes were Quakers by faith and were regarded as pioneers in the treatment of ill health. Where possible holistic methods were used to try and cure patients. The first V2 bomb to hit London landed in Chertsey Road, near Chiswick Villa in 1744, killing several people. This supersonic rocket was fired near The Hague in the Netherlands and damaged one of the two wing buildings. Vibration damage from heavy bombing in Chiswick was responsible for much of the plaster coffering falling down in the Upper Tribunal. In the interwar years the Villa become a fire station and had 'Green Goddess'fire engines stationed on its forecourt. The 9th Duke of Devonshire sold Chiswick House to Middlesex County Council (with contributions from public subscription including King George V) in 1929[2]. The grounds are currently in the care of the London Borough of Hounslow and the House is in the care of English Heritage. The garden is open to the public from dawn until dusk without charge. Hounslow Council and English Heritage formed part the Chiswick House and Gardens Trust in 2005 to unify the running of the House and Gardens. The Trust will take over administration for the Villa and Gardens on April 1, 2010 following the completion of the restoration works Heritage Lottery Fund Grant[3] complemented by approx GBP 4M from other sources, for restoration of the gardens.

• File:Sphinx in snow in the gardens of Chiswick House, London

The House (or Villa)

Lord Burlington's finest architectural creation, Chiswick Villa, is inspired in part by several buildings of the sixteen century Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) and is often incorrectly stated as being a more or less direct copy of Palladio's most famous Villa, the Villa Capra "La Rotonda" near Vicenza. However, recent research has confirmed that the architecture of Chiswick House is more indebted to Roman sources which Lord Burlington came into contact with on his two Grand Tours than any one building by Palladio. The architectural historian Richard Hewlings has established that Chiswick House was an attempt by Lord Burlington to create a Roman Villa situated in symbolic Roman gardens. Palladio exerted an important influence on Lord Burlington through his reconstructions of Roman buildings, many of which were never published but were purchased by Lord Burlington on his second Grand Tour and contained in the Blue Velvet Room within the Villa. These reconstructions of Roman buildings by Palladio were the source for many of the varied geometric shapes within Burlington's Villa, including the use of the octagon, circle and rectangle (with apses). Possibly the most influential building reconstructed by Palladio and used at Chiswick was the monumental Roman Baths of Diocletian, and references to this building can be found in the Domed Hall, Gallery, Library and Link Rooms. Burlington's use of Roman sources can be viewed in the Dome of the Villa which is derived from the Pantheon in Rome. The finely carved capitals on the prostyle, systyle, hexastyle portico were carved by John Boson and are derived from the Temple of Jupiter Stator. The inset door, projecting plinth and v necked rusticated vermiculation (resembling 'tufa') were all derived from the base of Trajan's Column. The short sections of crenulated wall which extend out either side of the Villa are inspired by their use by Palladio and Inigo Jones (1573-1652) and to reinforce this link two full length statues of Palladio and Jones by the Flemish born celebrated sculptor John Michael Rysbrack (1694-170) are positioned in front of these sections of wall. Palladio's influence can also be found in the general cubic form of the Villa with its central hall with other rooms leading off its axis. The Villa is a double half cube of 70 feet by 70 feet by 35 feet. Inside are rooms of 10 feet square, 15 feet square and 15 feet by 20 feet by 25 feet.

On the portico leading to the Domed Hall is positioned a bust of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Augustus was regarded by many of the early eighteenth century English aristocracy as the greatest of all the Roman Emperors (the early Georgian era was known as the 'Augustan' age). This link with the Emperor Augustus was reinforced in the garden at Chiswick through the presence of Egyptianizing objects such as sphinxes (who symbolically guard the 'Temple' front and rear), obelisks and stone lions. Lord Burlington and his contemporaries were conscious of the fact that it was Augustus who invaded Egypt and brought back Egyptian objects and erected them in Rome. As such Grand Tourists visiting Rome would have regarded such objects as Roman. Augustus was viewed through eighteenth century eyes as a peacemaker would had brought to an end the civil wars. In his own words he "found Rome clay and left it marble”. Augustus was also seen to have transformed Rome architecturally into a city fit to rule an expanding Empire, whilst carrying out large-scale public works (such as erecting drainage systems) for the good of his Roman people. The Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (‘Vitruvius’) was also writing in the age of Augustus, a fact not lost on Lord Burlington. (It was also believed that Jesus Christ had chosen to be born at this specific time).

The origins of Rome were made manifest at Chiswick through Burlington's strategic deployment of statues, including a statue of a gladiator, a Venus de' Medici, wolf (used to inspire nostalgic memories to the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus) and a boar located at the rear of the Villa (symbolic of the great Boar hunt). Inside the Villa many references to the Roman goddess Venus abound, as Venus was the mother of Aeneas who fled Troy and co-founded Rome. On the forecourt to the Villa are several 'Term' statues that derive their forms from the Roman god Terminus, the god of distance and space. Such items therefore are used as boundary markers, positioned in the hedge at set distances apart. At the rear of the Villa were positioned 'Herm' statues that derive from the Greek god Hermes, the patron of travelers and Freemasons and thus are welcoming figures for all who wish to visit Lord Burlington's gardens (Lord Burlington's gardens at Chiswick were the most visited of all London Villas).

Lord Burlington's intentions for his Villa have never been established and received much speculation. The social commentator, Lord John Hervey, for example, described the newly built Villa as 'To little to live in, and too big to hang to ones watch'. However, what is certain is that the Villa was never intended for occupation as it contained no kitchens and space for only three beds on the ground floor. It is possible that one purpose of the Villa was as an Art Gallery as inventories show over 167 painting hanging in situ at Chiswick House in Lord Burlington's lifetime, many purchased on his two Grand Tours of Europe in 1714 and 1718.

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Other interpretations of Chiswick House.

1. As a large garden building or pavillion.

2. As a Masonic Temple

Chiswick House is believed by some to have been built as a Masonic lodge or temple, and English Heritage, which administers the site, offers a tour exploring the building's Masonic symbolism.[1]. This theory has some merit as the ceiling paintings by William Kent in the Red, Blue, Gallery, Domed Hall and Summer Parlour Rooms in the Villa have all been shown to contain iconography of a strong Masonic, Hermetic, and possible Jacobite character [6]. Masonic iconography has also been detected within the gardens.

Freemasonry in England officially started with the coming together of four lodges in London in 1717. However, it is known that Freemasons existed as far back as at least the mid seventeenth century and almost certainly earlier stretching back to medieval times. From the early 1720s Freemasonry was to expand at an increasing rate with many of the aristocracy becoming 'brothers' by 1750. For example, the poet Alexander Pope, the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, the Whig leader Robert Walpole, the thespian David Garrick, the painters Sir James Thornhill and William Hogarth, and the antiquarian William Stukeley were all known Freemasons. Lord Burlington's status as an important Freemason is indicated by his inclusion in the Freemason's Pocket Companion of 1736 and in a poem in James Anderson's Constitutions of the Free Masons of 1723 where he is linked to an illustrious line of personalities in Freemasonry's legendary history: ‘Then in our songs be justice done To those who have enrich'd the Art, From Jabal down to Burlington And let each Brother bear a part Let noble Masons' Healths go round Their praise in lofty Lodge resound.’ Lord Burlington was also involved in building projects for aristocrats such as Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, and Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, at Goodwood House, West Sussex. Both men were Grand Masters of the Freemasons at the time of Lord Burlington's and William Kent's involvement.

A Masonic pipe was found in the gardens at Chiswick by English Heritage archeologists in 2008.

3. As a Royal Palace in waiting for the return of the exiled Stuart Monarchy.[7]

In 1995 the historian Jane Clark published a paper on the purpose of Chiswick House which caused a sensation in art history circles. In her paper Lord Burlington is Here[8] Clark claimed that Lord Burlington led a secret double life and that instead of being a loyal, Whig aristocrat in support of the newly installed Hanoverian regime, that he was in fact a Jacobite supporter who secretly was facilitating the return of the exiled Stuart monarchy. For Clark the true purpose of Chiswick Villa was as a symbolic Royal Palace which awaited the return of the 'Kings over water' who were destined to rule by ‘Divine Right’. This theory was further strengthened by the recent research of the late Giles Worsley who illustrated that certain 'Palladian' features used by Inigo Jones were only utilized in Royal buildings or buildings linked to Royalty. These features, employed by Lord Burlington at his Villa at Chiswick, were the Serliana (Venetian window) and the Portico. Worsley also pointed out that the unexecuted designs of Whitehall Palace by Jones and Webb were also influenced by the Temple of Jerusalem, which Lord Burlington owned and housed at Chiswick Villa.

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The First Floor Rooms

Chiswick Villa revolutionized English architecture in two specific ways. Firstly, Chiswick Villa was the first domestic building to have a centrally planned room which provided access to other rooms around its perimeter. The source for this was Andrea Palladio's centrally planned Villas, such as the Villa Capra and Villa Foscari. Secondly Lord Burlington used different geometric shapes for his rooms, some with coved ceilings. Such a variety of differing spatial forms, many derived from Palladio's reconstructions of ancient Roman buildings (such as the Bathhouses of Diocletian) had never been seen in English architecture before.

Many of the most important rooms within Chiswick Villa were situated on the ''piano nobile'' (Upper Floor) and comprise of eight rooms and a link building. The rooms on this level were either of the Composite or Corinthian order of architecture to illustrate their important status. This contrasts with the ground floor level of the Villa which was always intended to be plain and unadorned, with low ceilings, with little carving or gilding. These rooms were for business purposes and here Lord Burlington followed Palladio’s recommendations of using the lowest order of Roman architecture, the Tuscan, on the ground floor.

The Upper Tribunal (or Domed Hall)

The Upper Tribunal is an octagonal room surmounted with a central dome with octagonal coffering derived from the Basilica of Maxentius (Temple of Constantine). Originally this room contained four heavy gilded tables designed by William Kent and eight mahogany chairs with pediment backs. Eight large paintings were placed in gilded frames above the stone pediments and busts, including three of the Stuart Royal family, one executed by Sir Godfrey Kneller of Lord Burlington and his sisters, and several mythological scenes. This central room, which provides access to the Gallery, Green and Red Velvet Rooms, would originally have been used for poetry readings, theatrical performances, gambling and small musical recitals. This room was entered from the outside staircase.

The Gallery

The series of rooms overlooking the garden at the rear of the Villa are collectively known as the ‘Gallery Rooms’. The distinctive apses here are derived from the Temple of Venus and Roma (Temple of the Sun and Moon), the same source that Inigo Jones draw on when he refaced the west front of old St. Paul’s Cathedral before its destruction in 1666. In the four niches were placed four classical mythological statues as this series of rooms would have been a loggia if located in Italy. The distinctive nine-paneled compartmentalized ceiling is a conflation to two ceilings derived from The Queen’s House at Greenwich and The Banqueting House at Whitehall, both designed Inigo Jones. The central painting, by Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734), is a copy of Paolo Veronese's (c.1528-88) ‘The Defense of Scutari’ located in the Doge’s Palaces,Venice. The side paintings, believed also to be by William Kent, show Turkish prisoners in various positions of captivity. This room also contains two splendid purple Egyptian porphyry urns purchased by Burlington on his first Grand Tour in 1714. These are accompanied by two heavy tables designed by Kent with their distinctive shells and featuring a mask of Neptune, accompanied by two water cherubs wearing pearls. These were also joined by two torchers in the form of ‘Terms’. Either end of the Gallery are rooms that are circular and octagonal in shape. Together with the central rectangular Gallery, this series of geometric forms derive from Andrea Palladio’s reconstructions of the Diocletian Bathhouses, which Lord Burlington owned. The female faces in the decorations of these rooms tell the story as told by Vitruvius of the origins of the Corinthian order. The double sunflowers mark Lord and Lady Burlington’s status as courtiers in the service of the King and Queen (but Hanoverian or Jacobite?).

The Pillared Drawing Room

Today known as the Upper Link, this room was built c.1730 to attach the new Villa to the old Jacobean House. The room is divided into three sections by the inclusion of unfluted Corinthian pillars which support an elaberate Corinthian entablature. Above the entablature are open screens. These features are associated with the Baths of Diocletian and Caracalla, with Andrea Palladio’s reconstructions again the source. The ceiling is a copy of a sixteenth century design depicting a decorative relief from a Roman sarcophagus. Outside this room is a central avenue flanked by funerary urns. This was Lord Burlington’s attempt to symbolise the Appian Way which led to ancient Rome.

The Green Velvet Room

The Green Velvet Room is 15 feet by 20 feet by 25 feet in size and has no painted ceilings. The nine paneled compartmentalized ceiling is derived from Inigo Jones’s design for the Queen’s Chapel at Old Somerset House (formally Denmark House, now demolished). The pagan god of the Oak, the Green Man, symbolic of resurrection, can be viewed carved into the marble fireplaces.

Lady Burlington’s Bedchamber and Closet

Lady Burlington died in this bedchamber in 1758, followed by the Whig leader Charles James Fox in 1806.The purpose of this room in Lord Burlington’s lifetime is unknown, but it appears Lady Burlington moved into this room after the death of her last daughter in 1754. Today several portraits of the Savile family can be viewed in this room and in the Bedchamber closet. One painting of note is of the poet Alexander Pope, painted by his good friend William Kent. The bedchamber closet is a perfect cube and has a ceiling design derived from the Queen’s House, Greenwich. Prince of Wales swags and feathers can be seen in both rooms, possibly denoting the Villa as a Royal Palace.

The Red Velvet Room

The Red Velvet Room once contained the largest and most expensive paintings in Lord Burlington’s collection, including paintings by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Giacomo Cavedone (1577-1660), Peter Paul Rubens (1573-1640), Rembrandt van Ryn](1606-69), Salvador Rosa (1615-1673), Pier Francesco Mola (1612-1666), Jacopo Ligozzi (c.1547-1632), Jean Lemaire (1598-1659), Francisque Millet (1642-79) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), The Venetian window in this room is derived from the Queen’s Chapel at St James’s Palace and was much imitated. The fireplaces and surrounds again come from sources by Inigo Jones, in this case from the Queen’s House, Greenwich. These marble fireplaces have the inclusion of roses, Scottish thistles, sunflowers and fleur-de-lys which have been interpreted as Jacobite symbols. The ceiling design is derived from the Queen’s Chapel, Old Somerset House. The central ceiling painting by William Kent represents Lord Burlington’s patronage of the arts. The central character is the Roman god Mercury, who is dispensing money into the arts who are depicted below (the figure in the roundal is a self-portait of William Kent). The alternative interpretation of this room is that the iconography all relates to Freemasonry and its history, and that this room (and indeed Temple) could have been used as a Masonic lodge. The six known planets with their associated zodiacal bodies are located in six panels around the central painting. the seventh, the planet Mercury, is personified in the central painting and is accompanied by a section of the zodiacl wheel containing the zodiacs Gemini and Virgo.

The Blue Velvet Room and Closet

The Blue Velvet Room is a perfect cube measuring 15 feet by 15 feet by 15 feet to the egg and dart lip. This room was Lord Burlington’s studiola or ‘Drawing Room’ and originally contained a large table by William Kent which contained many designs by architects such as Andrea Palladio, Inigo Jones, John Webb and Vincenzo Scamozzi, which were ready for inspection. The ceiling is supported by eight large cyma reversa brackets, all in the Italian manor. The ceiling was painted by William Kent and shows a personification of ‘Architecture’ accompanied by three putti who grasp architectural implements in the form of T-Square, Set-Square and plumb line. ‘Architecture’ herself holds dividers and an unknown Temple plan (possible derived from the Jesuit architect Juan Bautista Villalpando who produced a classicsed reconstruction of the sanctum sanctorum at the heart of Solomon's Temple). All four characters are seated on a fallen, hollow, metal column and are surrounded by a canopy of stars. This ceiling represents Lord Burlington’s interest in architecture. Alternatively the ceiling and its surrounding decoration (including the presence of rats and snakes) can been interpreted as having a Masonic motivation, as dividers, Set-Squares, T-Squares and plumb lines were important Masonic tools of morality. The putto to the left of ‘Architecture’ holds his finger to his lips suggesting silence or secrecy- a gesture mimicking the Egyptian child god of silence, Harpocrates.

The principle Rooms on the Ground Floor.

The rooms of particular note on the ground floor of the Villa include the Lower Tribunal, Library Rooms and the Summer Parlour.

The Lower Tribunal

The Lower Tribunal was essentially a waiting room (an ‘inner court’ or ‘vestibule’) for associates wishing to meet with Lord Burlington. The room is an octagon with eight Tuscan columns positioned around its perimeter. The architect Andrea Palladio made it clear that the Tuscan order of architecture, being the simplest of the five Roman orders of architecture, should only ever be used on the ground floor of a building as they were suitable for prisons, fortifications and amphitheatres. The eight pillars placed in a circular formation within on octagon is derived from the Baptistry of Constantine, (also known as the Baptistry of St John Lateran), a building reconstructed by Palladio in his I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura in 1570.

The Library

Echoing the Gallery Rooms located above; the Library is a tripartite arrangement of rooms composed of an octagon, rectangle and circular spatial forms. Today devoid of books (they are all at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, or in the Royal Institute of British Architects), in the 1740s these rooms were lined with books on all aspects of the arts including sections on architecture, antiques, sculpture, history, poetry, geography, fortification, science, divinity, philosophy and exploration. Books were in English, French, Italian and Latin. Lord Burlington owned three copies of the original 1570 publication of Andrea Palladio’s I Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura which were also housed here. Many of these books were housed in specially commissioned cabinets which were designed by William Kent. Twelve steps leading from the octagonal section of the Library descend to an early English brick vaulted octagonal cellar, from which could be operated a ‘dumb waiter’ through which wine and beer could be hoisted to the piano nobile.

The Summer Parlour'

The Summer Parlour was the most important room on the ground floor of the Villa. Possible the oldest part of the complex, it was designed around 1715 by either Lord Burlington or [[James Gibbs]] (who also designed the ‘Pagan Temple’ in the gardens). This is the only room on this level to have elevated and painted ceilings. (James Gibbs was sacked by Lord Burlington on advice of Colen Campbell, who subsequenly took over his architectural projects at Chiswick and Burlington House). Originally designed as a Summer Room for Lady Burlington, in terms of expense the contents of this private room doubled that of any other room. The ceilings were executed by William Kent in the ‘Grotesque’ style- a mode of painting found predominately in subterranean Rome and popularised by the artist Raphael. The Grotesque Style, rare in Britain until reintroduced by William Kent, was comprised of foliage forms interwoven with mythical creatures, such as cherubs or sphinxes. In the ceiling of the Summer Parlour, Kent also added small owls, a motif that incorporated the owl of the Savile heraldic device. Kent also designed two tables with matching mirror frames which also contained the owl device (the owl was also associated with the owl-faced Roman goddess Minerva (Aphrodite), like Lady Burlington a great patroness of the arts). The central ceiling panel shows a sunflower painted at the centre with four scenes of ports headed by shells of the water goddess Venus. The panel nearest the fireplace (in Burlington’s time the doorway) depicts two putti, one of whom paints a female bust and the second who holds his finger to his lips illustrating the need for silence. The historian Jane Clark has suggested that the female busts bears an uncanny resemblance to the Stuart Queen and Polish Princess (wife of James III) Maria Clementina Sobieska. If this is correct the two putti with reddish hair could possibly be representations of the two Stuart Princes living in exile, Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie- the 'Young Pretender') and Henry Stuart. In the ceiling painting furthest away from the door the two putti appear again, this time hugging a badly painted pug dog. The pug dog was a symbol of the Society of the Mopses, a European pseudo-Masonic organisation who were comprised of male and female Freemasons. The pug dog became particularly important after the publication of Pope Clement XII’s Papal Bull In Eminenti in 1738 which condemned Catholic involvement in Craft Freemasonry. As Clark points out, a symbolic initiation of female Freemasons involved the visiting of ports, a possible link to the four scenes of ports arranged around the inner perimeter of the central ceiling painting. As such the sunflower at the centre would double as a Masonic Blazing Star. At the rear of the Summer Parlour was a small china closet for Lady Burlington’s most valuable objects. It was in the Summer Parlour that Lady Burlington was taught to paint by William Kent.

The Gardens

There can be no doubt that the gardens at Chiswick were an attept to symbolically recreate a garden of ancient Rome. The gardens, like the Villa, were inspired by the architecture of ancient Rome combined with the influence of poetry and literature. Authors' such as Pliny and his descriptions of his own gardens were particularly important as he describes gardens with alleys shaded by trees, parterres, topiary, and fountains. The first architect of the gardens appears to have been the King's gardener, Charles Bridgeman,1690-1738) who worked on them with Lord Burlington until 1720, and then William Kent, whom Lord Burlington had met during his first journey to Italy in 1714 and brought back with him on his return from his second Grand Tour in 1719. William Kent was also inspired by the picture-postcards scenes of the French artists Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) and Claude Lorrain (1600-1682).The poet Alexander Pope (who had hos own Villa with gardens in close by Twickenham), was also involved and responsible for confirming Lord Burlington's belief that Roman and Greek gardens were largely 'informal' affairs, with nature ruled by God. Burlington, Kent and Pope were also informed by the writings of Anthony Ashley Cooper,3rd Earl of Shaftsbury (1671-1713)who advocated 'variety' in a garden, not complete informalisation. The gardens at Chiswick were filled with fabriques(garden buildings) which illustrated Lord Burlington's knowledge of Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Renaissance architecture, and statues and architecture which expressed his Whig(and very possibly Jacobite) ideals. The garden included an area known as the 'Orange Tree Garden' which included a small model of the Pantheon in Rome, its portico based on the Temple of Fortuna Virilis with an obelisk positioned before the Temple in the centre of a circular pool of water. A second obelisk was erected at the centre of another 'Goose Foot' beyond the cascade to west of the Villa. A theater of hedges known as an exedra was designed by William Kent and originally displayed ancient statues of three unknown Roman gentlemen. However, these three statues were later speculatively 'identified' by the writer Daniel Defoe (1659-1731) as Caesar (100-44 BC) and Pompey (106-48 B.C) responsible for the decline of the Roman republic facing a statue of Cicero (106-43 B.C), the defender of the Republic. This was intended as a criticism of the policies of Burlington's opponent, Prime Minister Robert Walpole.[12].However, it was the figures of Homer, Virgil, Socrates, Lucius Verus and Lycurgus which once graced the exedra whose political message was one of democracy and anti-tyranny. (William Kent made a similar statement against Walpole for Lord Cobham at Stowe[13]). The original design by William Kent for the end of the exedra was a stone 'Temple of Worthies' which was rejected by Lord Burlington and subsequently used by Lord Cobham at Stowe. William Kent also added a cascade (a symbolic Grotto), inspired by the upper cascade of the gardens of the Villa Aldbrandini. Kent's garden also featured a flower garden, an orchard, an aviary (which included an owl) and a symmetrical planned arrangement of trees known as the 'Grove' To the side of the Grove was a patte d'oie, or 'Goosefoot', three avenues which terminated by buildings including the 'Bagnio' (or casino, designed by Lord Burlington and Colen Campbell), the 'Pagan Temple' (designed by the Catholic Baroque architect James Gibbs) and the Rustic House (designed by Lord Burlington). Near the second Deer House, also designed by Lord Burlington, stood a Doric column on which was placed a statue of the Venus di' Medici. In the eighteenth century statues of Venus were the most common statue in a garden as it was known that the goddess Venus was the protector of gardens and gardeners. The statue that can be seen on the Doric column today is a copy in Portland stone and was commissioned by the Chiswick House Friends in 2009. The lawn at the rear of the house was created by 1745 and planted with young Cedar of Lebanon trees which alternate with stone urns which were designed by William Kent. Placed between the urns and the Cedar of Lebanon are three more sphinxes who are orientated to face the easterly direction of the rising sun. A lake was created around 1727 by widening the Bollo Brook. The excess soil was then heaped up behind William Kent's cascade to produce an elevated walkway for people to admire the gardens and also offered a view of the nearby river Thames. The Classic Bridge located beyond the Orange Tree Garden was built for the famous Georgiana Spencer (1757-1806), glamorous wife of the William Cavendish, fifth Duke of Devonshire, and was constructed in 1774 to the designs of James Wyatt (1757-1806)., A gateway designed by Inigo Jones in 1621 at Beaufort House in Chelsea (home of Sir Hans Sloan) and was removed by Lord Burlington and rebuilt in the gardens at Chiswick in 1738. The garden has two "wilderness" areas and numerous other features described at Chiswick House and Gardens Trust Web site [15]. The grounds of Little Moreton Hall, an adjoining property to the East were added in 1812, the Hall itself was demolished. The Italian Garden was laid out on the newly acquired grounds in that year to a design by Lewis Kennedy. The Conservatory adjoining the Italian Garden was completed in 1813, and at 96m was the longest at that time. A collection of Camellias is housed in the Conservatory some of which survive from 1828 to this day. The garden designer Joseph Paxton (1803-1865), creator of the Crystal Palace, started his career in the gardens at Chiswick for the Royal Horticultural Society before his talents were recognised by William Cavendish, the sixth Duke of Devonshire and he relocated as ‘Head Gardener’ to Chatsworth House, Derbyshire.

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Important Visitors to Chiswick Villa and Gardens

Although little is known of the people who stayed or visited Chiswick Villa in Lord Burlington's lifetime, many important visitors to the property are recorded as visiting throughout its history. These included leading figures of the European 'Enlightenment' including the philosopher's François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) 1694-1778 and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (1712-1778), the future American Presidents John Adams (1735-1826) and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the Italian statesmen Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Russian Tsars Nicholas I (1796-1855) and Alexander I (1777-1825), Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819-61), Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), Prince Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817) who employed the architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Endmannsdorff to design Schloss Wörlitz, Prime Minister's William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) and Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1683-1737), John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713-92) his architect William Burges (1827-181) and the present Prince of Wales and Princess Margaret. Within the Villa the Whig leader Charles James Fox died in the Bedchamber in 1806 and the Prime Minister George Canning died in one of the wing buildings in 1827.

Filming and Photography at Chiswick House and Gardens

In 1966, The Beatles shot films for their two songs called "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" in the grounds - many of the shots being in the conservatory among the camellias. The ashes of British actor, broadcaster and songwriter Michael Flanders are scattered in the grounds. In 2004 several scenes from a film production of Vanity Fair starring Reese Witherspoon and Gabriel Byrne were filmed in the Orange Tree Garden and the lake The Villa was also briefly featured in the 2007 film adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass In 2009 the portico of the house was used as the setting for the Biffy Clyro music video for the single "That Golden Rule".

External links

• Chiswick House and Gardens Trust
• Chiswick House Friends
• English Heritage
• Chiswick House entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
• Detailed illustrated discussion of Chiswick

Endnotes and Further Reading

• Ackerman, James S., The Villa. Form and Ideology of Country Houses,London:Thames and Hudson, 1995
• Arciszewska, Barbara, The Hanoverian Court and the Triumph of Palladio. The Palladian Revival in Hanover and England c.1700,Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Dig, 2002
• Arnold, Dana, The Georgian Villa,Stroud:Alan Sutton Publishing, 1996
• Arnold, Dana, The Georgian Country House. Architecture, Landscape and Society, Alan Sutton, 2003
• Badeslade, J, Gandon, James, Rocque, J, & Woolfe, John, Vitruvius Britannicus(second series), New York: Dover Publications, 2008. Originaly published between 1739 and 1771
• Campbell, Colin, Vitruvius Britannicus,New York: Dover Publications, 2007. Originaly published in 1715.
• Colvin, Howard, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, London: John Murray, 1978, 128-132
• Harris,John The Palladian Revival: Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994
• Hewlings,Richard Chiswick House and Gardens,English Heritage guide book, 1989
• Kingsbury,Pamala D. Lord Burlington's Town Architecture, RIBA Heinz Gallery, 1995
• Knight, Caroline, London's Country Houses, West Sussex: Phillimore & Co Ltd, 2009, 109-115
• Parissien, Steven, Palladian Style,London: Phaidon Press, 1994
• Rykwert, Joseph, The First Moderns. The Architects of the Eighteenth Century,MIT Press,1983
• Stutchbury, Howard E., The Architecture of Colen Campbell,Manchester:Manchester Univeristy Press, 1967
• White,Roger,Chiswick House and Gardens,English Heritage guide book, 2001
• Wilson, Michael I, William Kent. Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685-1748,Hampshire: Routledge & Kegan Paul PLC,1984
• Wittkower, Rudolf, Palladio and English Palladianism,Hampshire:Thames and Hudson, 1974

The English Landscape Garden

• Batty, Mavis, Alexander Pope. The Poet and the Landscape,London:Barn Elms Publishing, 1999, 26-41
• Chambers, Douglas, D.C, The Planters of the English Landscape Gardner,New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1993
• Hunt, John Dixon, The Picturesque Garden in Europe,London: Thames & Hudson, 2002
• Hunt, John Dixon, Garden and Grove. The Italian Renaissance Garden in the English Imagination: 1600-1750,London: Dent & Sons, 1986
• Mowl, Tomothy, Gentlemen and Players. Gardeners of the English Landscape,Alan Sutton, 2004
• Richardson, Tim, The Arcadian Friends. Inventing the English Landscape Garden,London: Bantam Press, 2007, 187-190
• Strong, Roy, The Artist & the Garden,New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000
• Williamson, Tom, Polite Landscapes. Gardens and Society in Eighteenth-Century England,Alan Sutton Publishing, 1995

William Kent

• Jourdain, Margaret, The Work of William Kent, London' Country Life, 1948
• Mowl, Timothy, William Kent. Architect, Designer, Opportunist,London: Jonathan Cape, 2006
• Wilson, Michael I, William Kent. Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685-1748,Hampshire: Routledge & Kegan Paul PLC,1984

Inigo Jones

• Anderson, Christy, Inigo Jones and the Classical Tradition,"Cambridge University Press, 2006
• Harris, John and Higgott, Gordon, Inigo Jones. Complete Architectural Drawings,New York: 1989
• Leapman, Michael, Inigo. The Troubled Life of Inigo Jones, Architect of the English Renaissance,London: Review Books, 2003, 353-55

Early 18th century furniture and dcoration

• Bowett, Adam, Early Georgian Furniture. 1715-1740,Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club Ltd, 2009
• Cornforth, John, Early Georgian Interiors,New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004
• Edwards, Dr Clive; Rosoman, Treve; Meyer, Jonathan; Barrington, Michael; Stevens, Christian Claxton, Britsh Furniture. 1600-2000,London: The Intelligent Layman, 2005
• Fowler, John and Cornforth, John, English Decoration in the 18th Century,London: Barrie & Jenkins Ltd, 1974

Freemasonry in the Eighteenth Century

• Curl, James Stevens, The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry,
• Harrison, David, The Genesis of FreemasonrySurrey: Lewis Masonic, 2009
• Jacob, Margaret C. The Radical Enlightenment. Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans,Louisiana, Cornerstone Books, 2006 reprint
• Jacob, Margaret C. Lving the Enligtenment. Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe,Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1991
• Rosenau, Helen, Vision of the Temple. The Image of the Temple of Jerusalem in Judaism and ChristianityLondon:Oresko Books Ltd, 1979
• Stevenson, David, The Origins of reemasonry. Scotland's Century, 1590-1710,Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1988

Magazines, Articles and Periodicals

• Bryant, Julius, Chiswick House- the inside story. Policies and problems of restoraion,in Apollo Magazine,CXXXVI, 1992, 17-22
• Cornforth, John, Chiswick House, London,in Country Life,February 16, 1995, 32-37
• Wilton-Ely, John, Lord Burlington and the Virtuoso Portrait,in Architectural History,Volume 27, Design and Practice in British Architecture: studies in Architectural History Presented to Howard Colvin, 1984, 376-381
• Fellows, David, This old house. Excavations at Chiswick House,in Current Archaeology,Number 223, October 2008,20-29
• Hewlings, Richard Palladio in England. Chiswick House, London,in Country Life,January 28, 2009, 46-51
• Richard Hewlings, The Statues of Inigo Jones and Palladio at Chiswick Housein English Heritage Historical Review,Volume 2, 2007, 71-83
• Richard Hewlings, The Link Room at Chiswick House. Lord Burlington as antiquarian,in Apollo Magazine,CXLI, 1995, 28-29
• Kingsbury, Pamela D. The Tradition of the Soffitto Veneziano in Lord Burlington's Suburban Villa in Chiswick,in Architectural History,Volume 44, 2001, 145-152
• Pfister, Harold Francis, Burlingtonian Architectural Theory in England and America,in Winterthur Portfolio", Volume 11, 1976, 123-151
• Pound, Ricky,Chiswick House- a Masonic Temple?,in Gillian Clegg (eds.),Brentford & Chiswick Local History Journal,Number 16, 2007,4-7
• Rosoman, Treve, The Decoration and Use of the Principal Apartments of Chiswick House, 1727-70, in The Burlington Magazine, Volume 127, Number 991, October 1985, 663-677
• Sicca, Cinzia, The Architecture of the Wall: Astyism in the Architecture of Lord Burlington,inArchitectural History", Volume 33, 1990, 83-101
• Spence, R.T, Chiswick House and its gardens,in The Burlington Magazine,Volume 135, Number 1085, August 1993, 525-531
• Scanlan, Matthew, A Masonic Temple in West London?,in Freemasonry Today,Winter 2006/7, Issue 39,32-34
• Worsley, Giles, Antique Assumptions,in Country Life,August 6, 1992

Gardens at Chiswick

• Carre, Jacques, Lord Burlington's Garden at Chiswick,in Garden History,Volume 1, Number 3, Summer 1973, 23-30
• Clegg, Gillian, The Duke of Devonshire's Menagerie at Chiswick Housein Richard Hewlings (eds.) English Heritage Historical Review,Volume 3, 2008, 123-127
• Harris, John, Is Chiswick a 'Palladian' Garden?, in Garden History,Volume 32, No.1, Spring 2004, 124-136
• Jacques, David, What to Do about Earlier Inaccurate Restoration: A Case Study of Chiswick House,in APT Bulletin," Volume 24, Number 3/4, Conserving Historic Landscapes, 1992, 4-13
• Sicca, Cinzia Maria, Lord Burlington at Chiswick: Architecture and Landscape,in Garden History", Volume 10, Number 1, Spring 1982, 36-69