Vanbrugh, Sir John 1664-1726
English playwright and baroque architect

Born in London, the son of a tradesman and grandson of a Protestant refugee merchant from Ghent, he was educated in France, commissioned into Lord Huntingdon's regiment and suffered imprisonment in the Bastille, Paris, as a suspected spy (1690-1702). A staunch Whig, he became a leading spirit in society life and scored a success with his first comedy, The Relapse (1696), followed, again with success, by The Provok'd Wife (1697). The Confederacy (1705) was put on in the Haymarket, London, where William Congreve and Vanbrugh became theatre managers. The Provok'd Husband was left unfinished, and was completed by Colley Cibber (1728). A natural playwright of the uninhibited Restoration comedy of manners period, he also achieved success as architect of Castle Howard (1702) and in 1705 was commissioned to design Blenheim Palace at Woodstock. The immense baroque structure aroused the ridicule of Jonathan Swift and Pope, and the Duchess of Marlborough disliked the plans and was so appalled at its enormous cost that she long refused to pay Vanbrugh. He was made comptroller of royal works in 1714, and was Clarencieux king-of-arms (1705-25).

Bibliography: L Whistler, Sir John Vanbrugh (1938)