I circulated the message here and received this information from one of the
Lynchburg College librarians.
Elza C. Tiner
Lynchburg College
-----Original Message-----
From: Driskill, Shelby [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 1:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: New Plays by Ben Jonson (fwd)
Here is an article with some details of the plays and their discovery.
sd
Copyright 1999 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London)
September 14, 1999
SECTION: Guardian Home Pages; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 513 words
HEADLINE: Old stagers confound stately home researchers
BYLINE: Geoffrey Gibbs
BODY:
Geoffrey Gibbs
Researchers looking for material to support an
exhibition of 17th century portraits at one of Britain's leading stately
homes have been stunned to discover a long hidden volume of dramatic
works by two of the most celebrated artistic figures of that age.
The two short plays, or masques, co-written by the
dramatist Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones, the architect and stage designer, were
performed at court for King Charles I almost 370 years ago.
They were unearthed by chance in the archives of Wilton
House, ancient seat of the earls of Pembroke, during research for an
exhibition to mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Flemish artist
Sir Anthony van Dyck, nine of whose paintings hang in the Inigo Jones
designed
property.
Alun Williams, who discovered the hessian bound volume,
said experts from Christies had examined the works. They had confirmed they
were definitely from the period and were probably
part of a larger collection.
'We were surprised and delighted with this extraordinary
find," he said yesterday.
'We had no idea it was there and my heart started
thumping when I found it.
'The manuscripts lay untouched for centuries and we are
very excited to have rediscovered them."
The masques, entitled The Fortunate Isles and Love's
Triumph through Callipolis, were performed at court in 1626 and 1630.
According to notes on the back cover of the second play,
the fourth earl of Pembroke, lord chamberlain to the king and a noted patron
of the arts, was among the players.
Steve Hobbs, who oversees the Wilton House archive at
the Wiltshire county record office in Trowbridge, described the discovery of
the two short plays as significant.
'These are two masques written in contemporary hand in
the early 17th century. The discovery of their authors as Ben Jonson and
Inigo Jones is particularly exciting as Jones was not known as a
playwright."
Archivists are particularly pleased at the discovery as
much of the Herbert family's literature was lost in a fire that destroyed
large parts of the interior in 1647.
According to Mr Williams, Inigo Jones spent almost 20
years at Wilton after being asked to draw up plans to rebuilt the Tudor
house in the Palladian style that he had introduced to England.
The house, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, had long played
host to leading men of letters - Shakespeare among them.
'This must have been a little bit of fun which he and
the various participants enjoyed in their leisure time," said Mr Williams.
They are at present on dis play at Wilton House as part
of the Van Dyck exhibition. Van Dyck, who was born 400 years ago this year,
was court painter to Charles I who recommended him to the fourth earl.
In his designs for Wilton, Inigo Jones created what is
known as the double cube room - a room 60ft long by 30ft high and 30ft wide
- around the huge Van Dyck canvases.
The nine portraits housed at Wilton include what is
thought to be the largest Van Dyck in
existence - a 17ft high portrait of the 4th earl with his children.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: September 14, 1999
