Introduction

Geometrical techniques were central to a reform of architectural practice in England from the 16th to the 18th century, changing how architects worked and what they built as well the intellectual status and social standing of their discipline.

Architecture was commonly identified as a branch of practical mathematics through design, the practical skills of drawing, and a reliance on measurement, calculation and proportion. This exhibition brings together major loans from public and private collections across Britain to reveal the material world of the English architect. Examining the work of such renowned figures as Sir Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones, it also illuminates a cast of less familiar characters, from Henry VIII’s engineers to London’s entrepreneurial instrument makers. Between medieval masons and the architectural education and patronage of George III, the exhibition shows how architecture became the most artistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the arts.

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