Godfrey Knoeller, Portrait of John Vanbrugh, c. 1704-10. National Portrait Gallery, London..
Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) was one of Britain’s greatest architects and the designer of some of the most important and best beloved English country houses, including Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. This talk explores Vanbrugh’s ideas, beliefs, friendships and buildings, as well as his professional practice and working relationships. By the standards of architects of the time, Vanburgh was a worldly figure, friend and ally of the great, with a strong sense of the imaginative characteristics of architecture, its power of evocation, and a building’s emotional impact, particularly when compared to the more disciplined and scholarly work of his contemporaries Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor.
Charles Saumarez Smith paints a fascinating portrait of a man whose architecture was shaped by his personality. We explore Vanbrugh's activities as a playwright and theatre manager, his circle of friends, his place in 18th-century society, and, his influence on later architects from Robert Adam to Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.
John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture by Charles Saumarez Smith is published by Lund Humphries (20 November 2025); talk ticket holders receive a special offer via their website here. The book accompanies an exhibition at Sir John Soane’s Museum to mark the tercentenary of the architect’s death in 2026.
This event will be recorded. Ticket holders are emailed a link to view the recording afterwards which is available for one month. Proceeds from ARTscapades ticket sales benefit museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations and projects.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live with Q&A, or on-demand for one month afterwards. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends.