William Kent (c.1685-1748)

William Kent was born in Yorkshire, and thanks to a benefactor was able to travel and study painting in Italy, where he met his future patrons Lord Burlington and Thomas Coke. From 1729 he was engaged by Queen Caroline at Richmond to design garden buildings such as the Queen’s Pavilion, the canal-side Dairy and Rotunda, a Summer-house on the Terrace and, most notably, the Hermitage and Merlin’s Cave. The Hermitage (which was situated to the north-east of the present-day Azalea Garden) consisted of a roughly-built triple façade emerging from a mount and, inside, a domed octagon surrounded by cells on three sides, containing the busts of a contemporary scientific and philosophical pantheon including Newton and Locke. Merlin’s Cave was constructed in 1735, at the south-east corner of the Duck Pond (close to the present-day Lake). Its central chamber contained waxworks, including Merlin, and the building’s poet-custodian, Stephen Duck, and was flanked by two octagonal wings lined with bookcases. In 1732 Kent was also employed by Frederick, Prince of Wales, to renovate a house which he had leased at Kew, just to the south of the present Kew Palace. In addition to the new interior and wings, he gave it a white stucco façade, from which came its name – the White House. Kent also worked on houses and gardens such as Holkham Hall, Carlton House and Stowe.

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