- Geoffrey Scott
Geoffrey Scott (
June 11 ,1884 –August 14 ,1929 ) was an English scholar and poet, known as a historian ofarchitecture . His biography ofIsabelle de Charrière entitled "The Portrait of Zelide" won the 1925James Tait Black Memorial Prize .Born in
Hampstead , he was educated atRugby School andNew College, Oxford .While still an undergraduate he was befriended by
Mary Berenson , leading to his admission to theFlorence 'circle' ofBernard Berenson . From 1907 to 1909 he was employed by Berenson; he worked on the design of the garden of "I Tatti", the Berenson villa, with Cecil Ross Pinsent (1884–1963). This led to work on other gardens. It also brought him the friendship ofJohn Maynard Keynes , who met him there.In 1914 the publication of "The Architecture of Humanism" made him a reputation. He married [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p20785.htm#i207841 thePeerage.com - Person Page 20785 ] ] in 1916 Lady Sybil Cutting, widowed in 1910 (who later married
Percy Lubbock ). With little in the way of career, it has been suggested that an unlikely love affair withVita Sackville-West from 1923 to 1925 spurred him into his later literary production.At the time of his death, of
pneumonia inNew York , he had been retained as an editor of the papers ofJames Boswell .He was one of
Edith Wharton 's close friends.Works
* The Architecture of Humanism: A Study in the History of Taste (1914)
* A Box of Paints (1923) poems
* The Portrait of Zélide (1925) biography ofIsabelle de Charrière
* Poems (1931)References
* "Geoffrey Scott and the Berenson Circle: Literary and Aesthetic Life in the Early 20th Century" (1998) Richard M. Dunn
Notes
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
