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James "Athenian" Stuart (1713 - 2 February 1788) was an English
English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England who speak English language in England. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
 archaeologist, architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 and artist
Fine art

Fine art describes any art form developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than utility. This type of art is often expressed in the production of art objects using Visual arts and performing art forms, including painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture, photography and printmaking....
 best known for his central role in pioneering Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
.

rt was born in 1713 in Creed Lane, Ludgate
Ludgate

File:Ludgate plaque London.jpgLudgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, and Ludgate Circus....
 Street, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, to a Scottish
Scottish people

The Scots people are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Historically, as an ethnic group, they emerged from an amalgamation of Celts, Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
 sailor who died when he was young. Proving a talented artist while his family was in poverty, he was apprenticed to a fan
Fan (implement)

A hand-held fan is an implement used to induce an airflow for the purpose of cooling or refreshing oneself. Any broad, flat surface waved back-and-forth will create a small airflow and therefore can be considered a rudimentary fan....
 painter to support the family financially.






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James "Athenian" Stuart (1713 - 2 February 1788) was an English
English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England who speak English language in England. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
 archaeologist, architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 and artist
Fine art

Fine art describes any art form developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than utility. This type of art is often expressed in the production of art objects using Visual arts and performing art forms, including painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture, photography and printmaking....
 best known for his central role in pioneering Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
.

Life


Early life

Stuart was born in 1713 in Creed Lane, Ludgate
Ludgate

File:Ludgate plaque London.jpgLudgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, and Ludgate Circus....
 Street, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, to a Scottish
Scottish people

The Scots people are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Historically, as an ethnic group, they emerged from an amalgamation of Celts, Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
 sailor who died when he was young. Proving a talented artist while his family was in poverty, he was apprenticed to a fan
Fan (implement)

A hand-held fan is an implement used to induce an airflow for the purpose of cooling or refreshing oneself. Any broad, flat surface waved back-and-forth will create a small airflow and therefore can be considered a rudimentary fan....
 painter to support the family financially. However, in around 1719, he was able to travel to Italy (albeit on foot) for his artistic improvement, working there as a cicerone
Cicerone

Cicerone is an old term for a guide, one who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums, galleries, etc., and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest....
 and a painter, learning Latin, Italian and Greek, and studying Italian and Roman art and architecture. There he produced his first major work, his illustrated treatise on the Egyptian obelisk of Psammetichus II
Psammetichus II

Psamtik II was a king of the Saite based Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt . His prenomen, Neferibre, means "Beautiful is the Heart of Re." He was the son of Necho II....
 within A. M. Bandini's De obelisco Caesaris Augusti, and met Nicholas Revett
Nicholas Revett

Nicholas Revett was a Suffolk gentleman and amateur architect and artist.He is best known for his famous work with James Stuart documenting the ruins of ancient Athens....
, a young East Anglia
East Anglia

East Anglia is a region of eastern England. It was named after one of the ancient Heptarchy, the Kingdom of the East Angles, which was in turn named after the homeland of the Angles, Angeln, in northern Germany....
n nobleman and amateur architect on his Grand Tour
Grand Tour

The Grand Tour was the traditional travel of Europe undertaken by mainly Upper class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of mass railroad transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary....
.

Naples and Greece

In 1748 Stuart joined Revett, Gavin Hamilton
Gavin Hamilton (artist)

Gavin Hamilton was a Scotland Neoclassicism history Painting, who is more widely remembered for his hunts for antiquities in the neighborhood of Rome....
 and the architect Matthew Brettingham
Matthew Brettingham

Matthew Brettingham , sometimes called Matthew Brettingham the Elder, was an 18th-century England who rose from humble origins to supervise the construction of Holkham Hall, and eventually became one of the country's better-known architects of his generation....
 the younger on a trip to Naples
Naples

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
 to study the ancient ruins and, from there, under the auspices of the Society of Dilettanti of London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, they travelled through the Balkans (stopping at Pula) to Greece
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
. Visiting Salonica, Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
, and an Ionic
Ionic order

The Ionic order column forms one of the Classical order of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric order and the Corinthian order....
 temple on the River Ilissus
Ilissos

The Ilissos or Ilissus was a river in ancient Greece. Now it has been largely canalised into underground routes. During antiquity, it ran outside the defensive walls of Athens....
 among others, they made accurate measurements and drawings of the ancient ruins.

Antiquities of Athens

Stuart and Revett returned to London in 1755 and published their work, The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece, in 1762. There were more than five hundred subscribers to its first volume and, although few of the subscribers were architects or builders, thus limiting its impact as a design sourcebook, it later helped fuel the Greek Revival in European architecture. Its illustrations were among the first of their kind and the work was welcomed by antiquaries, scholars, and gentleman amateurs.

Work in England

On his return to England, he also acted as an interior designer, medal designer, and architect, creating the first tripod
Sacrificial tripod

A sacrificial tripod was a type of altar used by the ancient Greeks. The most famous was the Delphic tripod, on which the Pythia took her seat to deliver the oracles of the deity....
 in metal since antiquity, building and remodelling country houses, garden buildings, and town houses (eg Shugborough Hall
Shugborough Hall

Shugborough is a country estate in Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England, 4 miles from Stafford on the edge of Cannock Chase. It comprises a country house, kitchen garden, and model farm....
, Hagley Hall
Hagley Hall

Hagley Hall , of Hagley, Worcestershire and its park are among the supreme achievements of 18th century English architecture and landscape gardening....
, Spencer House
Spencer House

Spencer House is a mansion in St. James's, London.The house was commissioned by John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer in 1756, the Earl requiring a large London house to cement his position and status....
), creating book illustrations, designing commemorative medals and tomb monuments, and being appointed Surveyor to the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich.

Later life

Stuart's more and more chaotic business practices (possibly to be explained by his chronic gout
Gout

Gout is a crystal deposition disease hallmarked by elevated levels of uric acid in the Circulatory system. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons and surrounding tissues....
 and deteriorating health, and to his coming into a private fortune - a contemporary report on his death in The World stated that "unexpectedly to most people, [he] has died possessed of much property, chiefly on mortgage on new buildings in Marybone
Marylebone

Marylebone is an affluent, inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It can be pronounced as Marribun or Mar-lee-bone Marylebone is in an area of London that can be roughly defined as the area bounded by Oxford Street to the south, Marylebone Road to the north, Edgware Road to the west and Portland Place to...
") attracted adverse comment from the late 1760s. By the early 1780s, his devoting the afternoons not to business but to drinking (sources state he "regularly frequented a public-house on the north side of Leicester-fields
Leicester Square

Leicester Square is a pedestrianised city square in the West End of London of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west....
, of the sign of the feathers" and that "his face declared him to be fond of what is called friendly society" - J. T. Smith, Nollekens and his Times, 1929, 27) and playing skittles was even commented on by his friends. Enemies even accused him of 'Epicurianism
Epicureanism

Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus , founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomism materialism, following in the steps of Democritus....
' in reference to his alcoholism and recent second marriage at 67 to Elizabeth, a maidservant of 20, by whom he had five children, of whom two died before him. (His first marriage had been to someone described in different places as his housekeeper and as a ‘Grecian lady’.)

Stuart continued to work on and off, and returned to working on The Antiquities of Athens, though it was still unfinished at the time of his death in 1788, with the final volume only appearing in 1816, when the Greek Revival it had fostered was starting to become the dominant force in British architecture. He died suddenly on 2 February 1788 at his house on the south side of Leicester Square, London and was buried in the crypt of nearby St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields

St Martin-in-the-Fields is an Church of England church at the northeast corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours....
.

His London buildings played some part in popularising Neo-classical taste. The Antiquities of Athens allowed architects, sculptors and designers in Europe and America for the first time to use Neo-Classicism without having to go to Greece themselves and acted as a sourcebook for them for the next two centuries. The first retrospective
Retrospective

Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle....
 on his life and works was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million Object ....
 in early 2007.

Bibliography

  • James Stuart & Nicholas Revett
    Nicholas Revett

    Nicholas Revett was a Suffolk gentleman and amateur architect and artist.He is best known for his famous work with James Stuart documenting the ruins of ancient Athens....
    , The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece (London, 1762). ISBN 1402159846 (2002 reprint edition. According to at least one review, this modern "facsimile
    Facsimile

    A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, old master print or other item of historical value that is as true-to-the-original source as possible using, normally, some form of photographic technique....
    " is incomplete.)


  • James Stuart, Critical observations on the buildings and improvements of London (London, 1771). ISBN 0404701892 (1992 reprint edition.)


  • In 2007 "The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece" was published as a hard bound reprint edition by Princeton Architectural Press. It is represented as a complete reprint. Running in size: 9 x 12 in or 22.9 cm by 30.5 cm. 496 pages with 400 illustrations.