The History Of All Saints' Wickhambrook

Hendrik de Keyser

Hendrik de Keyser

The master mason de Keyser cannot be accused of provincialism. His international contacts helped him to keep in touch with the mainstream of European architecture. The Amsterdam city administrators sent him to England where he worked with Inigo Jones (1573-1652). Jones was the first English architect who went to Italy to learn all he could about classical architecture. He studied the famous treatises written by the Roman architect Vitruvius (circa 30 BC), and his intimate knowledge of the work of Palladio (1518-1580) gave him the nickname the English Palladio. The Banqueting House in London, designed for the Stuart monarchs, became the prototype of classical architecture in England. When de Keyser returned to Amsterdam one of Jones' assistants, Nicholas Stone, joined him. Stone worked with de Keyser in Amsterdam from 1607 to 1613 and even became his son-in-law. It was not a coincidence that de Keyser focused his attention on England and English architecture. Amsterdam, as a commercial centre the whole of Europe had to reckon with, maintained close contacts with England.