William Vertue

William Vertue (died 1527) was an English architect specialising in Fan vault ceilings.

William Vertue
Died1527
NationalityBritish
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsBath Abbey, Tower of London, King's College Chapel, Cambridge

Along with his brother Robert, he was involved in the construction of the Tower of London (1501–1502), Bath Abbey,[1] the Vertue brothers are reported as telling Bishop Oliver King the patron of the work that the vaulting "Ther shal be no one so goodeley, neither in England nor in France"[2] and the vaulting and the clerestory windows and walls of the Henry VII's chapel at Westminster,[3] between 1506–09, though Robert Virtue was dead by then and William is thought to be entirely responsible.

He advised John Wastell about the design for the fan vaulted ceiling at King's College Chapel, Cambridge,.[4] The fan vault over the crossing at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in 1528 finished after his death was his last known architectural work.[5]

  • Fan Vault, Bath Abbey, the vault by Virtue is in the distance, in the chancel, the nearer vault is a Victorian copy by Sir George Gilbert Scott
  • St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, vaulting, the vault by Vertue is the fan vault over the crossing
  • Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, main vault
  • Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, aisle vault
  • Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, exterior from the south-east
  • Henry VII's chapel, Westminster Abbey, interior looking west

References
  1. page 113, Kenneth Hylson-Smith, Bath Abbey A History, 2003, The Friends of Bath Abbey
  2. Correspondence of Bishop Oliver King and Sir Reginald Bray, published in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society 60 pt 2 1914 4
  3. page 201, Tim Tatton-Brown & Richard Mortimer, Westminster Abbey: The Lady Chapel of Henry VII, 2003, Boydell Press
  4. pages 203-4, Francis Woodman, The Architectural History of King's College Chapel and its Place in the Development of Late Gothic Architecture in England and France, 1986, Routledge & Kegan Paul
  5. page 656, Geoffrey Tyack, Simon Bradley & Nikolaus Pevsner, Buildings of England Berkshire, 2010, Yale University Press


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