Italians in England
Before either French or Flemish influence had been felt, however, there were Italian workers settled in England carrying out designs purely Italian in character. The earliest example is the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey, by Torrigiano. Many tombs and monuments were made entirely by Italians. Holbein, who was employed by Henry VIII, was distinctly a Renaissance painter and designer and encouraged the new movement.
As the style became more widely disseminated it lost much of its original purity, and classical details were used in conjunction with Gothic forms and methods of construction, due, doubtless, to the apparent difficulty with which the native workers grasped the essentials of the new style; indeed, there is more intermixing of styles in England than in any other part of Europe with the exception of Flanders.
No. 93. Stone Chimney-piece. Sala Borgia, Rome. 16th Century.
The purely Italian phase was followed by a rendering which was largely borrowed from French work, and this in turn was supplanted by the influence of the Flemish interpretation. The delicately modelled foliage, dolphins, candelabra, vases and cherubs, so characteristic of Italian and French work, were replaced by such typically Flemish details as interlacing strapwork with curved and scrolled ends, frequently cartouche-like in form, festoons of fruit and foliage, and terminal figures used as pilasters.
Study of Classic Style
In the late Jacobean and succeeding phases the classic manner was more thoroughly understood, and a more scholarly handling was the result, until the culmination was reached in the work of Inigo Jones and Wren.
The Elizabethan phase indicates an imperfectly understood, and in many instances meaningless, employment and adaptation of Italian forms to the requirements of the times.