His Invention So Fertile: A Life of Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren has earned his reputation as a man of great learning and marvelous architectural works. He is therefore entitled to another book devoted to his lifework and HIS INVENTION SO FERTILE is just that. Adrian Tinniswood's "A Life of Christopher Wren" offers a well researched and finely detailed picture of the architectural legacy of Wren and his equally impressive, but lesser known work as an inventor, astronomer, and scientist. As a straight biography of the man - his thoughts and ideas and his family life - the book is a little sketchy. Unlike his friend John Evelyn and Samuel Pepys, Wren was no diarist. He in fact had very little to say about himself, his family, or the times in which he lived. When a biographer says that this is "a man you would give a great deal to know" you get a clear sense of the frustration Tinniswood faced in unearthing biographical details on Wren. There is still of course quite a story to tell. Wren was born in 1632 and since his father was King's Chaplain at Windsor Castle one of little Christopher's playmates was the young Prince Charles (later Charles II). By the time Wren was 17 he had invented a pneumatic engine and a machine that wrote in the dark. His early interest was in astronomy and he made sundials and created a model of the Solar System. Wren tested the effectiveness of opium as an anaesthetic for prolonged surgery. This is where Tinniswood begins his book and I'd recommend skimming through the unpleasant description of experiments on a dog. A point that Tinniswood brings across, with Wren as a classic example, is that this was a time of knowledge as something whole. Learning was enlightenment in many subjects. Wren distinguished himself in mathematics, physics, medicine, and astronomy. In 1661, Wren not yet 30, was made professor of Astronomy at Oxford. Tinniswood highlights another interesting point about the general historical setting. How is it that this "fertile" period of great scientific discovery and expanding intellectual horizons coexisted with a time of civil war and massive political upheaval? The 1640's in England was a time of parliamentary revolt, a King (Charles I) losing his head - literally, and the rise of Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell represented a significant threat to Royalists such as Wren and his family. When the Restoration of the monarchy was achieved and Charles II took the throne, Wren was in a perfect position to benefit from the application of his "formidable intellect" in the service of his friend the King. Shortly after Wren and others formed a society for the study of science Charles II gave it a Royal Charter in 1661, and thus the Royal Society of London was created. The main substance of the book and the work for which we best know Wren - his architecture - we now see as simply just another career for Wren. The first building he designed was the chapel for Pembroke College, Cambridge but the work that was to stand him in good stead a few years later was his d

In London, within St. Paul's Cathedral, one can find possibly the most famous epitaph in the world. In Latin, it says, "Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you." Within the crypt is the architect of St. Paul's, and what a monument he has, and how fitting. But it is not hard, even oceans away from England, to look around and find something that Wren affected. One of the great lessons of the fascinating _His Invention So Fertile: A Life of Christopher Wren_ (Oxford University Press) by Adrian Tinniswood is that Wren is not St. Paul's, although the cathedral may be regarded as the centerpiece of his life. He was not even merely an architect. Wren's astonishingly comprehensive genius reached into many fields, and he was an advocate to encourage the way we do science in the modern world.It was obvious when Wren entered Wadham College at Oxford as a seventeen year old in 1649 that he had a mind directed toward inquiry and practicality - his favorite activity was designing sundials. The two impulses would continue throughout his long life. The "new science" of Francis Bacon was showing that experimentation was better than Aristotle at showing how the universe worked, and as a scientist, not as a builder, Wren initially found fame. He made discoveries in astronomy and anatomy, and showed practical insights into lens grinding, water pumps, weaving, and submarine navigation. He was a founding member of the Royal Society which propelled science forward in England in the ensuing centuries. It is not surprising that this many-sided man would take an interest in architecture. When London burned in 1666, he was the first with a plan to rebuild the city (nine days after the fire), and although the plan was too ambitious, its centerpiece, the new St. Paul's, became his to work on for over three decades. He had one chapel finished in Cambridge at the time, and a theater under construction in Oxford; before he was appointed architect of St. Paul's, this was his entire architectural portfolio.Tinniswood has given us a big, thorough biography of an imposing intellect. The facts of Wren's endeavors must remain as the only real illumination to his personality, because much of his personal life is hidden. He died at age 91, and had many fights with lesser minds in order to bring his vision of St. Paul's into being. He succeeded, but it might have been that the battles made him look back with regret as death approached. He concluded that by being appointed Surveyor General he had been condemned "to spend all his time in Rubbish." He mean such rubbish as the Royal Hospitals at Greenwich and Chelsea, the Trinity College library, or the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. At the end he lamented that he had eventually let architecture sap his time from being a professional scientist. Wren did leave behind a scientific legacy, and one cannot second guess history, but read this fine biography and know that he made the right choice.

Tinniswood's new book is the first of a string of new biographies of Wren due out over the next few years. Tinniswood is a writer first and a historian second and he was succeeded in producing a book that is undoubtedly highly readable. The tone is as a colleague described, positively conspiratorial and the reader is seduced into turning each of the 463 pages to find out what happens next. This is thoroughly admirable and there is no doubt that Tinniswood has succeeded in his aim of producing the most readable account of Wren's life to date. He is also extremely good at setting the scene, quoting from a wide range of sources from the period, rumour as well as fact. In view of all this it thus seems almost carping to comment on the scholarship but as people will inevitably use such a good book as a source for Wren I think it is justified. Tinniswood himself says in the foreword that he relies heavily on the Wren Society, yet this is now out of date. His facts are unreliable and students should beware. Moreover the truth is often sacrificed at the altar of readability so that in those places where there is considerable doubt, such as Christopher's son's mental handicap, the arguments for and against are not mentioned, one side being presented as gospel. All this said if asked to recommend a single volume introduction to Wren, I would cite this one. There are few writers that have managed to capture the excitement of Wren and none are likely to be as accessible to the modern reader.