Sir John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh, (1664-1726). English dramatist and architect. His two chief comedies, The Relapse (1696) and The Provok’d Wife (1697), were highly successful but condemned as licentious by opponents of the theatre. In 1702 Vanbrugh began his career as an architect of the grand and ornate baroque style; in collaboration with Nicholas Hawksmoor he designed Castle Howard in Yorkshire and Blenheim Palace, which was built for the Duke of Marlborough. The grandiose and extravagant nature of his architectural designs is humorously recalled in his epitaph by Abel Evans: “Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he/Laid many heavy loads on thee!”
