Isaac Ware (1704[1]–1766) was an English architect and translator of Italian Renaissance architectAndrea Palladio.[2]
Ware was born to a life of poverty, living as astreet urchin and working as achimney sweep, until he was adopted byRichard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington at the age of eight (in about 1712) after which he was groomed and educated as a young nobleman. Reportedly he was drawing on the pavement ofWhitehall whereupon Burlington, recognising the talent, intelligence and personality, took him into his own household. His subsequent education included aGrand Tour of Europe and the study of architecture. (On his deathbed the ingrained soot of the chimney-sweep was still detectable on his skin.)[3]
He was apprenticed toThomas Ripley, 1 August 1721, and followed him in positions in theOffice of Works, but his mentor in design wasLord Burlington. Ware was a member of theSt. Martin's Lane Academy, which brought together many of the main figures in the EnglishRococo movement, among themLouis François Roubiliac, who sculpted Ware's portrait bust about 1741.[4]
Although he held various posts with the Office of Works between 1728 and his death, including Secretary, a position previously held byNicholas Hawksmoor, Ware's major works were for private patrons.[5] Aside fromChesterfield House, Westminster, (1747–52; demolished 1937) with its Palladian exterior and rococo interior details he built a small number ofcountry houses, most of which have been subsequently remodelled or demolished.Clifton Hill House, Bristol, andWrotham Park, Hertfordshire survive,[citation needed] Clifton Hill House, built in 1746 –50, is a Palladian villa, a type Ware also used for two houses in Scotland in the next ten years, both with service wings linked to the main house by passages.[6] At Wrotham (1756) the central block was flanked by wings ending in octagonal pavilions.[7] He also engaged in speculative building in theWest End of London.
Ware was also involved in the completion of some elements ofLeinster House following the death ofRichard Cassels in 1751. In the later 1750s he was also involved in completing later alterations to the interior of the house forJames FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster.[8]
Ware was dissatisfied with the first English language edition of Andrea Palladio'sI Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, translated byGiacomo Leoni), and in particular with Leoni's illustrations. In 1738 Ware published his translation illustrated with his own careful engravings. Ware's version of theFour Books of Architecture remained the best English translation into the twentieth century in the opinion ofHoward Colvin.
"Having thoroughly assimilated Palladian theory", wrote Colvin "he looked beyond it, and in the 1740s himself helped to dissolve the dictatorship of taste that Burlington imposed in the 1720s.",[9] In 1756 he publishedA Complete Body of Architecture a wide-ranging work intended to "supply the place of all other books". It was described byJohn Summerson as "ably compiled, reflecting very fairly the solid, thoughtful competence of its author's executed works".[5]
The following list is taken from Colvin; all were published at London.
Summerson, John (1970).Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830. Pelican History of Art. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
