Lovers, Gentlemen and Farmers

Abstract

This article takes as a starting point amateur architects in 17th-century England. It considers architectural writings including Henry Wotton’s Elements of Architecture (1624), Sir Balthasar Gerbier’s Councel and Advice to All Builders (1663) as well as Sir Roger Pratt’s and Sir Roger North’s notes on architecture and several building manuals. It enquires into the different kinds of knowledge and professional figures associated with architecture in the period. The paper scrutinizes how being a lover of architecture influenced the actors’ approach to other branches of knowledge such as garden design and agriculture. Did being an amateur shape the way in which one went about apparently more trivial aspects of life such as managing one’s estate? Comparing Roger Pratt’s unpublished notes with other contemporary sources on agriculture and estate management, it provides an insight into distinctive ways in which “amateurs” approached the subject.