Mark Girouard – författare

Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture— the uniquely strange and exciting buildings built by the great and powerful, ranging from huge houses to gem-like pavilions and lodges designed for feasting and hunting—is a phenomenon as remarkable as the literature that accompanied it, the literature of Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, Marlow, and others. In this beautiful and fascinating book, Mark Girouard discusses social structure and the way of life behind it, the evolution of the house plan, the excitement of English patrons and craftsmen as they learned not only about the classic Five Orders and the buildings of Ancient Rome, the surprising wealth of architectural drawings that survive from the period, the inroads of foreign craftsmen who brought new fashions in ornament, but also the strength of the native tradition that was creatively integrated with the “antique” style. Behind the book is a vivid consciousness of the European scene: Italy, France, central Europe and above all the Low Countries and their influence on England. But the principal argument of the book is the unique individuality of the English achievement. The result of new research and fieldwork, as well as a lifetime’s observation and scholarship, this remarkable book displays Girouard’s unique sense of style and his enduring excitement for the architecture of the period.Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

A selective autobiography of the most successful, most celebrated and most important architectural historian of his generation. Elegant and moving reminiscences with significant Irish, catholic and architectural resonance by a well established and much loved writer with many successful books in the catalogue.

The first comprehensive dictionary of everyone of importance in the creation of English architecture during the Elizabethan and Jacobean agesThis long-awaited work of scholarship provides a comprehensive dictionary of everyone of importance in the creation of English architecture in the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages. With characteristically deft prose, Mark Girouard draws on a lifetime of experience in the study of architectural history to assess the impact of some six hundred master craftsmen, surveyors, designers and patrons at work between 1540 and 1640. Surveying a period not covered by other dictionaries, this book is a key text for students and scholars of British architecture and its allied arts between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  Mark Girouard’s lively comments and felicitous style also make it an enjoyable browse for anyone interested in the magnificent buildings that formed the background to the music of Dowland, Wilbye and Byrd; the fascinating political intrigues of the Tudor court; and the writings of Sidney, Shakespeare, Donne, Campion and Jonson.Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art