Lord Burlington - The Man and His Politics: Questions of Loyalty

The political opinions of the architect and (apparently) confirmed Whig and supporter of Hanoverian Kings George I and George II, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, have recently become a source of controversy. This well-balanced collection of essays reexamines Lord Burlington's career, and the true nature of Burlington's loyalty. The authors are all experts in their fields, and the final contribution is by Jane Clark, the historian who sparked the original controversy. Her work contains the eagerly-awaited new evidence to support the thesis that Lord Burlington, despite his Whig appearances, was in reality a secret Jacobite. If true, this would be of importance not just to political historians, but to architectural historians as well. There are political essays which explore his direct links with the exiled Jacobite King; cultural essays examining his patronage of artists, architects, writers, and the implications of his own architectural masterpiece, Chiswick House, among others.