Jones, Inigo 1573-1652
English architect and stage designer

Born in London, he studied landscape painting in Italy, where he became a lifelong admirer of Andrea Palladio, and from Venice introduced the Palladian style into England. In Denmark, he is said to have designed the palaces of Rosenborg and Frederiksborg. In 1606 James I of England employed him in arranging the masques of Ben Jonson. He introduced the proscenium arch and movable scenery to the English stage. From 1613 to 1614 he revisited Italy and on his return in 1615 was appointed Surveyor-General of the royal buildings. In 1616 he designed the Queen's House at Greenwich, completed in the 1630s. Other commissions included the rebuilding of the Banqueting House at Whitehall (1619-22), the nave and transepts and a large Corinthian portico of old St Paul's, Marlborough Chapel, the Double Cube room at Wilton (1649-52), and possibly the York Water Gate. He laid out Covent Garden and Lincoln's Inn Fields. He is regarded as the founder of classical English architecture.

Bibliography: J M Summerson, Inigo Jones (1964)