Horace Walpole (17 17- 1797) was born in a prominent family. He is the fourth and youngest son of the first robert walpole, Earl of Orford, British Prime Minister 172 1 to 1742. 1779, after his brother's son Earl of Orford died for the third time, he inherited the fourth title of Earl of Orford.
Horace was born in London and spent his childhood in his father's home. When I was eight years old, I met the great poet alexander pope during my summer vacation at Cambridge Palace in Wikner on the Thames in southwest London. After receiving early education in bexley, a municipality directly under the Central Government outside Greater London, walpole entered Eton College on 1727, and became friends with thomas gray, a future poet who is famous for Elegy in the Cemetery. 1734 entered king's college, Cambridge after leaving Eaton for one year. 1739 came out of King's College and took Gray to roam around France, Italy and other mainland places. When he returned to England in September, he found himself elected to Parliament during his absence. Twenty years later, in May of 1767, walpole retired from parliament [1].
Walpole had never been married, and his greatest interest in life was to make friends, especially collecting paintings during his travels in the old world, or excavating antiques in Pompeii and Herculaneum, two ancient Italian cities destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. His four-volume collection of poems, Anecdotes of English Painting, a list of British royal and aristocratic writers, a historical inquiry about the life and rule of Charles III and nearly 3,000 newsletters edited by W.S. Lewis show his enthusiasm for medieval life.
There is a small house in Vikner called Strawberry Slope. Built in 1698. It was originally composed of playwright and poet laureate Cory Siber (167 1- 1757) and Bishop Talbot of Durham (65438). It was later rented to elizabeth cheney Vickers. Mrs Chenevix is the wife of Paul daniel cheney Vickers and the owner of one of the most fashionable toy stores in London. In 1748, walpole spent 1339 and 10 shilling. After buying a small farm here, Mrs. Chenevik subletted strawberry slope to him and settled here.
At first, walpole just wanted to plant some trees, flowers and plants here and raise some poultry, cattle and sheep. And then decided to rebuild. Walpole came up with such an idea, partly influenced by the fashion of collecting art and building museums in Britain at that time, hoping to build villas to store his collections; More importantly, he is determined to make an ideal building in his heart come true, that is, he said in his letter to his friend on September 28th 1749 that the hut should be built into a "Gothic Castle" according to his own taste.
In order to ensure that the architectural planning can meet his ideal aesthetic needs, walpole invited his friend, connoisseur John Qiute and artist and cartographer Richard Bentley to form an "appreciation committee" with himself. In addition, william robinson, who has practical experience in architecture, was invited as the staff. During this period, Bentley had a quarrel with walpole, so he quit halfway and was replaced by Thomas Pitt, a neighbor of architectural knowledge. Although walpole designed a detailed map of strawberry slope with reference to the Gothic field architecture and Gothic architectural model in books, his ideal "small castle" is not a typical Gothic building, but a fake castle, or a Gothic-like building, which, as the name implies, "transcends the imitation of fantasy works".
The strawberry slope in walpole was built in three stages. The first phase of the project ended in 1753, the second phase ended in 1758, and was finally completed in the 1970s. In the chapter "18th century" written by Stacy finn jones in Cambridge Art History, this building is described as follows: "This house was built bit by bit over the years, and the design is not probable, but walpole turned this disadvantage into an advantage. The earliest Gothic flavor is nothing more than the thin shell on the classical villa, but Gothic itself is a kind of architectural style with thin shell structure, and columns, domes and arches represent its architectural characteristics. However, walpole only decorated with Gothic details. This incomplete technology might as well be called' Gothic' (imitating people's spelling in18th century). The east gate of Strawberry Villa is always symmetrical. Although there are pointed windows and Gothic details, it never makes people feel terrible and has no dramatic structure. Later, walpole added a north gate, and the destination was a circular castle looming in the Woods, symbolizing the legendary castle. This produces an effect similar to that in Claude's paintings, where small castles emerge above the trees. But in addition, this circular castle also has some factors of traditional English castles ... "After this transformation, it is recorded that the strawberry slope has gradually expanded from the original five acres to a 46-acre manor, which can be said to be a" strawberry villa "that relies on forest environmental protection; The hut also became a famous Gothic house, worth 2 1000. Strawberry villa is even considered as a model of European Gothic architecture and the source of such architecture in Europe.
Therefore, Stacy finn jones went on to write: "In walpole himself, classical temperament is more than romantic temperament, so when he sat in his study, he would rather immerse himself in the joy of association than be intimidated by the fear of a real Gothic world." But Stacy finn jones was wrong about this. Once, the owner of Strawberry Villa was awakened by a nightmare.
It was a night in early June of 17 17. After walpole fell asleep in the dark, he later wrote in a letter to his disciple Reverend William Cole: "One morning in early June, I woke up from a dream and I remember everything. This is a very realistic dream, because it is like the beginning of my Gothic novel. I feel like I'm in an old castle, on that big staircase. Although it was a nightmare, it inspired walpole's creation. So "that night," walpole said, "I sat down and started writing. "At first, he said," I don't know why I want to write or what I want to write. " But as "the work is written bit by bit, I gradually like it and like thinking about non-political things very much." In short, I was so absorbed in this story that I wrote it in less than two months that one night, I started drinking tea at about six o'clock and wrote it until half past six the next morning, and my hands and fingers were too tired to finish that sentence ... "walpole finished his Gothic novel in this way.