The Stage Designs of Inigo Jones: The European Context (review)

This copiously illustrated book, with 195 images distributed throughout 327 pages of text, also contains extensive notes and bibliography, and a good index. Peacock begins with a lengthy yet clearly written discussion of the court masque that properly emphasizes the difficulties of adequately describing such a form. His introduction serves as a reminder that, while we have a number of texts from these royal spectacles, some music, and several books on their visual aspects (including this one), we are still lacking an adequate study of the dances that were so integral to their success.

Peacock’s particular project is to locate Jones in the context of the continental art and architectural theory of the time. In doing this he hopes to provide a rationale for Jones’s considerable “borrowing” from other artists, especially in his designs for the court masques, since “[n]early all the surviving masque designs have identifiable sources, which cover an almost encyclopedic range” (13). One of the great strengths of this book is that it proves this through the inclusion of many illustrations. Furthermore, at least 79 of the 195 illustrations, divided into chapters covering architecture, figures, landscapes, ornament, and antiquity, are by Jones. Peacock provides one or more source pictures for almost every picture by Jones in order to demonstrate the nature and extent of the influence continental art had on his work. The visual parallels are generally quite striking, although there are admittedly a few for which the comparisons seem somewhat forced. However, not all the illustrations are here for comparative purposes; some are visual aids for Peacock’s more salient points on Renaissance art theory and the development of Jones as an artist. Regardless of their use, the illustrations remain the greatest asset of this book.

Sadly, however, the quality of the illustrations may not fully justify the cost of the volume. Many of the reproductions are small, in black and white, and unexceptional though they are clear. They are far inferior to those in the 1989 Harris and Higgott catalogue to the Inigo Jones: Complete Architectural Drawings exhibition, even though that work does not provide continental parallels.

In building his arguments, Peacock makes use of the books and marginal notations found in Jones’s own library. He makes the case that Jones would have seen his task in the same way Ben Jonson, author of most of the masques that Jones designed, saw his. Jonson believed in the neoclassical dictum that dramatic art ought “to teach and to delight,” a concept dating back to Horace. What Jones sets out to teach, Peacock argues, goes beyond the moral message of the masque; Jones gives the Stuart court lessons on Renaissance art and architecture through his designs. This persuasive point is somewhat muddied by Peacock’s other argument: that Jones finds justification for his imitation of other artists in a more widespread Renaissance belief that art needs to imitate nature. Through imitation of others, “an analytical discipline,” Jones teaches both himself and the Stuart court about the subtleties of “composing with reason” (26). These complex arguments, though well-made and well-supported, at times seem somewhat labored. This is less the case in the chapter on “The Masques as Pictures,” where Peacock argues that while Jonson used words to achieve the didactic goal of neoclassical dramatic art, Jones used the visual arts as “a meaningful language, a valid discourse in its own terms” (35). It is at this point that Peacock’s knowledge of art history really comes into play; his descriptions are clear, perceptive and reveal a wide knowledge of Renaissance art and artists.

My major criticism of the book is less of its content than of its presentation. Peacock’s analysis is both detailed and meticulously documented; unfortunately, this is done through endnotes that become difficult and even tedious to use. The problem is compounded by the location of illustrations that too often appear a page or two after their discussion. Much...