BRITAIN AND FRANCE. l6TH TO l8TH CENTURY

94. SIR JOHN VANBRUGH: BLENHEIM PALACES BEGUN 1705.

The same conflict will be experienced in interiors of Wren's and
Vanbrugh's time. There again spatial relations bind rooms together
which are articulated and decorated according to the principles of
Classicism—by panelling if they are small, by columns or pilasters
if they are larger. At Blenheim there is an enormous entrance hall
leading into the saloon which forms the centre of two symmetrical
groups of rooms along the whole garden front, with all the doors in
one axis, or as it is called, one enfilade, as at Versailles. But—this is of
the greatest significance—the staircase, the dynamic element par
excellence, is nothing like as prominent as it would be in a contem-
porary palace in France or Germany. This lack of interest in spatial
dynamics is by no ftieans a sign of meanness in planning. On the
contrary, Blenheim is just as vast as the largest new palaces ©f the
minor rulers of Germany, and just as unpractical—at least from our
point of view.
However, it seems rather cheap to harp on the fact that kitchen
and service rooms are far away from the dining-room—in one of
the two wings in fact, opposite die other with the stables (an accepted
Palladian tradition). Servants may have had to walk a long way, and
hot dishes may have got cold long before they reached their destin-