Premium
Queen Anne, Court Culture and the Construction of Blenheim Palace
Author(s) -
LEGARD JAMES
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12158
Subject(s) - reign , queen (butterfly) , favourite , law , public figure , history , art , art history , political science , politics , hymenoptera , botany , biology
Conceived both as a personal gift from Q ueen A nne to her most enduring favourite, the duke of M arlborough, and as a ‘public monument’ to the military victories attained under her aegis, Blenheim Palace has long been recognised as the most ambitious architectural embodiment of her reign. Yet in spite of her crucial role in its genesis, A nne's relationship to the palace remains obscure. Seeking to remedy this omission, this essay re‐examines the major sources to show how M arlborough's complex, and increasingly conflicted, relationship with the queen and her court profoundly shaped the palace's formal development and symbolic purposes.