Chatsworth - south front from Vitruvius Britannicus

William Talman (1650–1719) was an English architect and landscape designer.

Career

A pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, in 1678 he and Thomas Apprice gained the office of King's Waiter in the

Port of London The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North Se ...

(perhaps through his patron

Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, PC (2 June 163831 October 1709) was an English aristocrat and politician. He held high office at the beginning of the reign of his brother-in-law, King James II. Early life He was the eldest son of Edward Hyd ...

). From May 1689 until William III's death in 1702, he was Comptroller of the Royal Works, and also in 1689

William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland Hans William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, (20 July 164923 November 1709) was a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of William, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder in the Netherlands, and future King of England. He ...

appointed Talman and George London as his deputies in his new role as Superintendent of the Royal Gardens. In these roles Talman worked with Wren in his rebuilding of Hampton Court Palace and its gardens and, by proposing a cheaper interior decoration scheme for the new building, won that commission over Wren's head.

Works

Talman's principal work is recognised to be Chatsworth House, considered to be the first baroque private house in Britain, and he was possibly the architect of

St Anne's Church, Soho Saint Anne's Church serves in the Church of England the Soho section of London. It was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop Henry Compton as the parish church of the new civil and ecclesiastical parish of St Anne, created from part of the pari ...

. Talman was held by many to be surly, rude and difficult to get on with. One of those who felt so was

Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, PC (c. 1669 – 1 May 1738) was a British nobleman, peer, and statesman. Charles Howard was the eldest son of Edward Howard, 2nd Earl of Carlisle, and inherited his title on the death of his father in 169 ...

, who chose John Vanbrugh, not Talman, as his architect for

Castle Howard Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, within the civil parish of Henderskelfe, located north of York. It is a private residence and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years ...

(Vanburgh had also been Talman's replacement as Comptroller of the Royal Works in May 1702.) During his long career, Talman worked on many of England's country houses. These include: *

Cannons A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

(1713) *

Dyrham Park Dyrham Park () is a baroque English country house in an ancient deer park near the village of Dyrham in South Gloucestershire, England. The house, attached orangery, stable block, and accompanying parish church are Grade I listed buildings, w ...

, Gloucestershire (1698) * Fetcham Park House, Surrey (1699) *

Hanbury Hall Hanbury Hall is a large 18th-century stately home standing in parkland at Hanbury, Worcestershire. The main range has two storeys and is built of red brick in the Queen Anne style. It is a Grade I listed building, and the associated Orangery a ...

, Worcestershire *

Herriard Park Herriard is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Basingstoke, which lies north. The village is situated mainly on the A339 road between Alton, and Basingstoke. At the 2001 ...

, Hampshire (c.1700) * Kimberley Hall, Norfolk (c.1700) *

Lowther Castle Lowther Castle is a country house in the historic county of Westmorland, which now forms part of the modern county of Cumbria, England. It has belonged to the Lowther family, latterly the Earls of Lonsdale, since the Middle Ages. It is a f ...

, Cumbria (1692) * Milton Hall, Peterborough (UA)Not listed in Harris 1982. *

Swallowfield Park Swallowfield Park is a Grade II* listed stately home and estate in the English county of Berkshire. The house is near the village of Swallowfield, some 4 miles south of the town of Reading. The House Swallowfield Park was the home of the ...

, Berkshire (1689) * Uppark, West Sussex (c.1690, UA) * Waldershare Park, Kent (1705, attributed).

Gallery of architectural works

File:Chatsworth House 04.jpg, Chatsworth House, south & east fronts File:Chatsworth House 032.jpg, Chatsworth House, south front File:Chatsworth main hallway.jpg, Chatsworth, Painted Hall File:Chatsworth bedroom.jpg, Chatsworth, State Bedroom File:Dyrham Park house, east side.jpg, Dyrham House, east front File:Uppark-Sfront-02.jpg, Uppark, south front File:St annes soho 1.jpg, St. Anne's Soho File:Petworth House, Geograph.jpg, Petworth House, West Sussex

References

Bibliography

* Harris, John, ''The Hampton Court Trianon Designs of William and John Talman'', in ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', xxiii, 1960. * Harris, John, ''William Talman: Maverick Architect''. London, Allen and Unwin. 1982. ''Studies in Architecture, 2.'' * Saunders, Edward, ''Bretby Hall'', in ''Derbyshire Life'', August 1975. * Whinney, M.D., ''William Talman'', in ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', xviii, 1955.

External links

Talman, William
at the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''.
The Talman Family Group at the National Portrait Gallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Talman, William 1650 births 1719 deaths English Baroque architects English landscape and garden designers Hampton Court Palace