Valerie Shrimplin

Sir Christopher Wren: Architect-Astronomer

Abstract

Significantly for the current conference held at Gresham College in the City of London, the first Professor of Astronomy in England was appointed at Gresham College in 1596, predating the founding of Chairs in astronomy at Oxford and Cambridge by more than 20 years. A continuous line of thirty-six Gresham Professors of Astronomy has followed up to the present day and the collective contribution of ‘Greshamite’ men and women to the study of Astronomy is immense. Amongst the most famous holders of this position, Sir Christopher Wren is in many circles better known as an architect rather than astronomer, having designed St Paul’s Cathedral and another 51 parish churches in London, following the Great Fire of London in 1666. Drawing on Wren’s role as Gresham Professor of Astronomy (and details that survive of some of his lectures), this paper will aim to bridge the gap between these two major aspects of Wren’s career, focussing on the astronomical elements that he transferred over to his later architectural works, focussing in particular on the astronomical symbolism and significance of St Paul’s Cathedral (in walking distance of the College) and other selected Wren churches in the City of London.

Biography

Dr Valerie Shrimplin has specialised in particular in Renaissance history and art history, her major publication being on the influence of Copernican heliocentricity on Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. She is a member of the International Executive Committee of INSAP and has presented papers on Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance art and cosmology at previous conferences in the INSAP series. She is Academic Registrar and Company Secretary of Gresham College (see www.gresham.ac.uk).