Jacques-François Blondel (8 January 1705 – 9 January 1774) was an 18th-century French architect and teacher. After running his own highly successful school of architecture for many years, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Académie Royale d'Architecture in 1762, and his Cours d'architecture ("Course of Architecture", 1771–1777) largely superseded a similarly titled book published in 1675 by his famous namesake, François Blondel , who had occupied the same post in the late 17th century.
28-573: Earl de Grey , of Wrest in the County of Bedford, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom . The title was created on 25 October 1816 (as Countess de Grey ) for Amabell Hume-Campbell , Dowager Lady Polwarth and suo jure 5th Baroness Lucas , with remainder to the heirs male of her body, and in default of such issue to her sister Mary Jemima Robinson, Dowager Baroness Grantham, and
56-707: A commission to produce thirteen of the engravings for the festival book commemorating the fêtes that celebrated the wedding of Madame Elizabeth of France with Dom Philippe of Spain , published in 1740. That same year he opened his own private school in Paris, the École des Arts , sanctioned by the Académie in 1743. In the ensuing years a long sequence of architects profited from his discourse: Boullée , Brongniart , Chalgrin , La Guêpière , Desprez , de Wailly , Gondoin , Ledoux , Guimard and Rondelet , and to foreigners who would bring Neoclassicism home with them:
84-415: A more informal landscape style. The park is divided by a wide gravel central walk, continued as a long canal that leads to a Baroque pavilion banqueting house designed by Thomas Archer and completed in 1711. The garden designer Batty Langley was employed in the 1730s. The interior of the pavilion is decorated with an impressive Ionic columns in trompe-l'œil . Boundary canals were altered to take
112-456: A progress through Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. He noted monuments in the garden in memory of the Duke of Kent's children who all predeceased him, as well as a monument to Kent himself, at that time still alive. A Wellingtonia planted in 1856 was in its earlier years brought into the house annually to serve as a Christmas tree , one of the earliest surviving examples known in the U.K. In
140-629: The Anglo-Swedish Sir William Chambers , and the Dane Caspar Frederik Harsdorff . "Blondel was the most significant French architectural educator of the eighteenth century.....his objective was to establish design principles for domestic architecture that correspond to the classical principles already in practice for civil structures". In his clear and rational Architecture françoise , a four-volume work published from 1752 to 1756, he covered
168-579: The Countess de Grey (see Marquess of Ripon for earlier history of the Robinson family). He died in 1859 and was succeeded in the barony of Lucas (which could be passed on through female lines) by his eldest daughter Lady Anne (see Baron Lucas for further history of this title) and in the earldom of de Grey (which could only be passed on through male lines) by his nephew, George Robinson, 2nd Earl of Ripon , only son of F. J. Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon ,
196-574: The Grade-I-listed Wrest Park house and gardens to their original splendour. In 2008 the music video for " The Fear " by Lily Allen featured interior as well as exterior scenes of Wrest Park. In July 2010 English Heritage announced that it had secured over £1m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a new visitors centre, car parking, exhibition space and accessible paths. Work was completed in summer 2011 and
224-513: The Grey title was revived in favour of her daughter, the style "de Grey" was used to distinguish it from the earldom of Grey , which had been created in 1806; the Grey family was extremely distantly related to the Earls Grey. The Countess de Grey was the widow of Alexander Hume-Campbell, Lord Polwarth , eldest son of Hugh Hume, 3rd Earl of Marchmont . The Countess de Grey was childless, and she
252-605: The Second World War it became a centre for modern agricultural engineering research. English Heritage took over the house and gardens in 2006 and began a 20-year restoration project to return the gardens to their pre-1917 state. Wrest Park has an early eighteenth-century garden, spread over 92 acres (37 ha), which was probably originally laid out by George London and Henry Wise for Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent , then modified for his granddaughter Jemima, 2nd Marchioness Grey by Lancelot "Capability" Brown in
280-583: The autumn of 2007 English Heritage announced that the Wolfson Foundation had pledged up to £400,000 towards the restoration of a number of the key features of the Wrest Park estate, including the mansion's formal entrance area, the garden statuary, railings and gates, and to alter the height of the carriage drive. In the next phases the lakes and canals will be restored. On 12 September 2008 English Heritage unveiled extensive plans to restore
308-590: The first four were published. The work brought him to official notice; he was inducted into the Académie Royale d'Architecture in 1755 and appointed architect to Louis XV . Though his executed body of work was small, mostly confined to work he executed at Metz under commission of the duc de Choiseul , his approach was soundly grounded: for Diderot's Encyclopédie he wrote the article on masonry, as well as architecture, and contributed nearly 500 articles between 1751 and his death in 1774. In 1762, he
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#1732791492530336-414: The former prime minister better known as Lord Goderich. On succeeding to the earldom of de Grey, Lord Ripon styled himself "Earl de Grey and Ripon". In 1871, he was created Marquess of Ripon, whereafter Earl de Grey became the courtesy title used by the heir apparent to the marquessate. Ripon was succeeded by his son and only surviving child, Frederick Robinson, 2nd Marquess of Ripon . The second Marquess
364-427: The heirs male of her body. She was the elder daughter and co-heir of Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke , and Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey (see Marquess Grey ), eldest daughter of John Campbell, 3rd Earl of Breadalbane and Holland , and Lady Amabel Grey, eldest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent (see Duke of Kent ). The marquessate of Grey had become extinct on her mother's death in 1797, and when
392-549: The house. Following the death of her brother Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas , she inherited his title and the house and sold it in 1918. It was sold after the War to Mr JG Murray, who was associated with cricket in Bedfordshire. During his 18-year tenure, much of the garden statuary was sold, while extensive felling stripped park and garden of many of their oldest trees. He sold it to Sun Alliance Insurance in 1939, and after
420-520: The last volumes were seen through the press by his disciple Pierre Patte . His Cours d'architecture is sometimes referred to as the "Petit Blondel" to distinguish it from the "Grand Blondel", his Architecture françoise . Blondel's practical, encyclopedic approach, largely ignoring the excesses of Rococo , had survived changes in taste and remained in the mainstream of French architectural training for several decades more. Blondel married Marie Anne Garnier in 1729. Their son, Georges-François Blondel, who
448-575: The latter's L'Architecture françoise (1727, 1738), as a writer and as an architectural engraver. Blondel developed into a conservative and thorough architect, whose rationally ordered mind consolidated French classical tradition and practice. His first independent publication was the hugely influential encyclopedic work, De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance, et de la Décoration des Edifices en General , issued at Paris, 1737–38. It contained 155 carefully engraved plates. His Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance and other engraved work attracted
476-506: The more natural shape by Capability Brown, who worked there between 1758 and 1760, and who also ringed the central formal area with a canal and woodland. The gardens and garden houses were mapped by John Rocque in 1735. During the later 18th and 19th centuries, an orangery and marble fountains were added. The Bathhouse (sometimes referred to as a Roman bath, a hermitage and a grotto) was built, and its grounds laid out, between about 1769 and 1772. In 1736 Horace Walpole visited Wrest on
504-523: The movies Flyboys and The Death of Stalin , drama series The Royals , and historical drama series Belgravia . Jacques-Fran%C3%A7ois Blondel Born in Rouen , he initially trained under his uncle Jean-François Blondel (1683–1756), architect of Rouen. Jacques-François was in Paris by 1726 and continued his studies with Gilles-Marie Oppenord , from whom he acquired a knowledge of rococo . He also worked with Jean Mariette , contributing to
532-680: The old house which was demolished between 1834 and 1840. The present house was built in 1834–39, to designs by its owner Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey (1781–1859), an amateur architect and the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects , who was inspired by buildings he had seen on trips to Paris . He based his house on designs published in French architectural books such as Jacques-François Blondel 's Architecture Française (1752). The works were superintended as clerk of works on site by James Clephan, who had been clerk of
560-412: The park opened to the public on 4 August 2011. English Heritage and Historic England have undertaken a number of indepth investigations of the gardens at Wrest as part of the restoration process, including archaeological and geophysical surveys. The removal of an overgrown yew hedge, which maps suggested existed in 1717, led to a dendrochronological investigation on the trunks to discover if
588-471: The past century and more of French buildings in and near Paris, setting them in their historical context and providing a wealth of detailed information that would otherwise have been lost. In the preface, he remarked, "I have used simple terms and a popular style with the intention of being understood by layman and artist alike; having noticed that recent books about architecture are either badly organised or overlong." He originally planned eight volumes, but only
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#1732791492530616-427: The professional assistance of Lancelot Brown Esq. in the years 1758, 1759, 1760." Wrest Park has been used as a location for filming and events including: the video for the 2008 song " The Fear " by Lily Allen ; a 2015 concert by Status Quo ; Strictly Come Dancing , "The People's Strictly for Comic Relief", which aired in 2015; a 2016 episode of BBC's Flog It! ; an episode of BBC miniseries The Serpent ;
644-515: The service infrastructure, such as plumbing and drainage. The decorative layout and features of the house were produced by De Grey's own hand. Wrest has some of the earliest Rococo Revival interiors in England. Reception rooms in the house are open to the public. Nan Ino Cooper ran Wrest Park as a military hospital during World War I , although a fire in September 1916 halted this usage of
672-601: The trees removed were original or part of later re-plantings. The wood was found to date to 1780–1800. There is a memorial column dedicated to Lancelot "Capability" Brown . It was originally placed near the Bowling Green House, which was remodelled by Batty Langley in 1735, but is now located in the eastern part of the gardens. The column has the inscription: "These gardens, originally laid out by Henry Duke of Kent, were altered by Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey with
700-544: The works at the Liddell seat, Ravensworth Castle in County Durham, and had recently served as professional amanuensis and builder for Lord Barrington . Although Nikolaus Pevsner previously stated that Clephan was a French architect who designed the present house instead of De Grey the amateur architect, as Charles Read has shown in his biography of De Grey, Clephan (born Clapham) in fact only produced drawings of
728-407: Was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Académie, closing his own school and introducing his comprehensive curriculum to the Académie. His Cours d'architecture ou traité de la décoration, distribution et constructions des bâtiments contenant les leçons données en 1750, et les années suivantes began appearing in 1771 and ran to nine volumes by 1777, a volume of plates to each two volumes of text;
756-536: Was childless, and on his death in 1923, the marquessate and earldom of de Grey and all other titles became extinct. Wrest Park Wrest Park is a country estate located in Silsoe , Bedfordshire , England. It comprises Wrest Park, a Grade I listed country house , and Wrest Park Gardens, also Grade I listed, formal gardens surrounding the mansion . Thomas Carew (1595–1640) wrote his country house poem "To My Friend G.N. from Wrest" in 1639 that described
784-432: Was succeeded in the barony of Lucas according to the normal descent of that title and in the earldom of de Grey according to the special remainder by her nephew, Thomas Robinson, 3rd Baron Grantham , who assumed the surname of de Grey on succeeding to the title. Lord de Grey was the eldest son of Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham , and the aforementioned Mary Jemima Robinson, Dowager Baroness Grantham (died 1830), sister of
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