William Kent

William Kent 1685-1748, English landscape gardener, architect, and painter. A minor painter, Kent made ceiling decorations for Kensington Palace. He greatly influenced landscape gardening by changing the prevailing artificial style to one based more closely on nature, as in the gardens at Rousham. As an architect, he followed Neo-Palladian tenets and adhered to strictly symmetrical planning, especially in his masterpiece, Holkham Hall, Norfolk (begun 1734). In London he planned the treasury building (1734) and the Horse Guards building (erected after his death, 1750-58).

Bibliography: See study by M. Jourdain (1948).

Kent, William (1685–1748). Architect, painter and landscape architect. In 1719 Kent was brought back from Rome by Lord Burlington, and together they became the leading proponents of Palladianism in England. In 1727 Kent published The Designs of Inigo Jones. Although Kent designed the Horse Guards, the Royal Mews, and the Treasury buildings, most of his architecture was for private clients. A notable instance of this was his collaboration with Burlington at Holkham Hall, Norfolk (1734), with its dramatic apsidal entrance hall with columns, coffered ceiling, and grand staircase. Significant too are Kent's garden buildings and landscaping at Chiswick, Rousham, Stowe, and Claremont.

Kent, William (1685–1748). Architect, painter, furniture designer, and landscape architect. In 1719 Kent was brought back to London from Rome by Lord Burlington, and together they became the leading proponents of Palladianism in England. In 1727, with Burlington's support, Kent published The Designs of Inigo Jones (though most of the designs were by Webb). Although Kent, as a member of the Board of Works, designed the Horse Guards, the Royal Mews, and the Treasury buildings, most of his architecture was for private clients. A notable instance of this was his collaboration with Burlington at Holkham Hall, Norfolk (1734 onwards, executed by Brettingham), with its ‘staccato’ elevations with Venetian windows, and its dramatic apsidal entrance hall with columns, coffered ceiling, and grand staircase. Here, as in other places, Kent's elegant furniture and rich decoration anticipated the interiors of Robert Adam. Significant too are Kent's illustrations for Gay's Fables (1727), Thomson's The Seasons (1730), and Spenser's Faerie Queene (1751), and his garden buildings and progressive landscaping at Chiswick, Rousham, Stowe, and Claremont. In Horace Walpole's words, as Bridgeman's successor, Kent ‘leapt the fence, and saw that all nature was a garden’.

Peter Willis