Sir Christopher Wren - scientist. (By Hugh Pearman. Review of On a Grander Scale: the outstanding career of Sir Christopher Wren by Lisa Jardine, 600 pp, pub. HarperCollins, £25. Review published in The Sunday Times, 1st September 2002, under the title A restless genius never happy with his work). Well, you had to find some way to pass the time when you were an impoverished intellectual of staunchly Royalist stock during the closing years of the Commonwealth. Wren designed gadgets, including a duplicating machine, a seed drill, and a transparent beehive. He observed the stars, was a noted mathematician, and practised anatomy. None of this was architecture. Even by the multi-tasking standards of the day, Wren was unusual. Lisa Jardines lengthy and immensely detailed account of Wrens life and times chronicles how a circle of Royalist thinkers, deprived of public office and wealth under Cromwell and with time on their hands, was instrumental in progressing British science at this period. Wren, as a brilliant pupil and academic at Oxford, joined this circle at exactly the right time. In 1660 the monarchy was restored with the accession of Charles II, and the old Royalist supporters swept back into power, carrying Wren with them. As his late father, Dean Christopher Wren, and uncle Matthew were both leading churchmen loyal to the executed Charles I, the young Wren came with impeccable family credentials. He quickly became official architect to the throne. Staying on top of his game through five monarchs into the Hanoverian era was not the least of Wrens achievements. | |
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