That he was an artist of the first rank was agreed on all hands. And
he is further entitled to be remembered as one of the very earliest of
great scene-painters.
In England, some six-and-thirty years later, there was born an artist
and architect of even greater fame than Peruzzi: Inigo Jones, who,
like Peruzzi, rendered important aid to the adornment of the stage. In
his youth Inigo had studied landscape-painting in Italy. At Rome he
became an architect; as Walpole expresses it, "he dropped the pencil
and conceived Whitehall."
Meanwhile a taste, even a sort of passion, had arisen at the English
court for masques and pageants of extraordinary magnificence. Poetry,
painting, music, and architecture were combined in their production.
Ben Jonson was the laureate; Inigo Jones the inventor and designer of
the scenic decorations; Laniere, Lawes, and Ferabosco contributed the
musical embellishments; the king, the queen, and the young nobility
danced in the interludes. On these entertainments L3000 to L5000 were
often expended, and on more public occasions L10,000 and even L20,000.
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