HUGIJENOT ARTISTS DESIGNERS AND CRAYPSNEN IN GREAT ...

105.
the execution of Bodt's design, as there is no record that Bodt returned
to England to supervise the project himself. Only one other surviving
thawing a plan of the cellars, in the Sheffield Record Office bears
a French inscription;' Dessein & lettre de Thomas Thackray Aout 171k',
and another, a plan and elevation for a garden pavilion is probably a copy
of a Bodt original, as it is decidedly Franco-Prussian in flavour.
Indeed, there is positive evidence that Bodt did not supervise the building
himself. A letter from Lady Wentworth, 28th April 1709, records the fact
that 'Mr. Benson is to bock after your buildin in Yorkshire', two years
later, 22nd May, 1711, Peter Wentworth advises his brother 'When I was at
the Duke of Shrewsbury's my Lord Scarborough was there and he was talking
of his building and they did agree that there was no Building without a
Surveyor..wch agrees w-ith the advise Mr. Benson is always desiring to send
32 .
you' • Mr. Benson lived at nearby Bramham Park, where William Talman
has assisted with the building. It seems probable that both were connected
with the building at Wentworth Castle, and it is probable that Thomas
Archer and a certain Mr. Bromley were also involved. It is not surprising
therefore, to find that Jean de Bodt's design differs from the facade as
executed, most notably in the basement storey, in which the rectangular
arched top windows of the design have been omitted; and the windows of the
ground floor are supported by twin overlapping doric pilasters, with a
distinct entasis, their eccentric and daring shape is strongly reminiscent
of Thomas Archer's known architectural work.33
The facade is uilteen bays, not thirteen bays as in the design, the two
end pavilions consist of two bays each, and the central bay contains
three round topped windows, as opposed to the one central round topped
window, flanked by two storeys of rectangular windows as in the design.
(Plate 98). However, it is interesting to note that the decorative sculpture
plays an important part in the articulation of both te design of the
facade and the facade as executed. The extraordinary fine quality of the
coat of arms supported by trumpeting angels, suitably representing Fame,
and tI'e garlands, point to Daniel Harvey as the craftsman, although there
is no recorded payment for this work. The earliest record of Harveys
presence at Stainb3rough is the following contract, dated 29 May, 1720.