Abstract
Although allusions to Freemasonry in the architecture of Chiswick House have been identified before, the Masonic programme illustrated in the ceiling painting of the Red Velvet Room there has not previously been fully described. The painting illustrates the story of Hiram Abiff, the murdered master mason of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. This legend was first published in Samuel Prichard's Masonry Dissected in October 1730, at about the same time that the painting was executed, and the latter is probably the first illustrated exemplification of a legend which formed the basis of the so-called Master Mason degree within Freemasonry. The painting illustrates Inigo Jones in the character of the murdered master mason, and its allusions to the fallen house of Stuart and its neglected architectural preferences may have reflected the political sympathies of Lord Burlington, the owner and architect of Chiswick House.
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