Wotton, Sir Henry

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Wotton, Sir Henry (1568–1639). English diplomat, collector, and writer. As English Ambassador (1604–12, 1616–19, and 1621–4) to Venice he was in a good position to purchase works of art and become familiar with distinguished architecture. In 1624 he published The Elements of Architecture, a work indebted to Alberti and Vitruvius, and which famously identified the ‘three conditions’ for ‘well building’ as ‘Commodity, Firmness, and Delight’ (a remark itself derived from Vitruvius). Wotton also described the Roman Corinthian Order as ‘a columne lasciviously decked like a courtesan’. It was the first book devoted to architecture written in English, and may have had some influence on architects such as Jones and Pratt. His admiration for Palladio put his work in good odour with Burlington and his circle.

Bibliography

E. Harris (1990);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004);
Pearsall Smith (1907);
Jane Turner (1996)

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture JAMES STEVENS CURL

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Sir Henry Wotton

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