Banqueting House, Whitehall, ca.1882

From: Henry Dixon & Son

RA Collection: Art

"No. 68 The Banqueting House, Whitehall.

The Banqueting House was built from the designs of Inigo Jones in 1619-1622. "The account, " says Peter Cunningham, " was not declared (i.e., finally settled) till the 29th June, 1633, eleven years after the completion of the building, and eight after the death of King James, a delay confirmatory of the unwillingness of both father and son to bring the works at Whitehall to a final settlement." The Banqueting House is in truth but a fragment of a magnificent design. The following rhapsody is instructive, as showing the value set on Jones's work in the last century; it is from Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus: "This incomparable Piece was designed by the immortal Jones, as one Pavilion for that admirable Model he gave for a Royal Palace; and if this Specimen has just commanded the Admiration of Mankind, what must the finished Pile have produced? I hope Britain will still have the Glory to accomplish it, which will as far exceed all the Palaces of the Universe, as the Valour of our Troops and Conduct of our Generals have surpassed all others. Here, our excellent architect has introduc'd Strength with Politeness, Ornament with Simplicity, Beauty with Majesty: It is without Dispute the first Structure in the World, and was built Anno 1616 " (read 1619).

After this Walpole's eulogy seems frigid: "The whole fabric was so glorious an idea that one forgets for a moment, in the regret for its not being executed, the confirmation of our liberties obtained by a melancholy scene that passed before the very windows of that very Banqueting House." The reference, it is needless to say, is the execution of Charles I., who was beheaded on a scaffold before the front shown in the view. (Cunningham, Handbook of London .) The ceiling of the Banqueting House is decorated with pictures painted by Rubens at Antwerp. (Sainsbury's Rubens, 183-186; 191-205.) In its early days Masques were performed at the Banqueting House; it is now used as a chapel, though it has never been consecrated. It was restored in 1831. Jones's first drawing, or at all events one in an early stage, for that front of the projected Palace which comprised the Banqueting House, it is now in the British Museum. In the Library of Worcester College is the finished drawing of the same, one of a series, consisting of fourteen rolls of superb drawings, which seem to have escaped Peter Cunningham, the only writer known to me who has examined and described the Oxford drawings. Life of Inigo Jones , pp.42, 43.)"

The above description, by Alfred Marks, was taken from the descriptive letterpress.