British architectural historian Tinniswood (The National Trust Historic Houses Handbook) offers a life of Britain's great architect Wren (1632–1723), whose most famous masterpiece is St Paul's Cathedral in London, site of Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding and, most recently, a moving service in memory of the victims of the World Trade Center attacks. Starting unexpectedly with a scene of Wren as polymath performing a "canine splenectomy" (as Tinniswood correctly terms the removal of a dog's spleen), the book finds Wren during the days of the Great Fire of 1666 offering a brilliant plan for rebuilding in 53 days. (It was stymied by property disputes.) Nearly 30 years later, Wren planned a massive layout of blocks of structures for the Royal Naval Hospital, which was built over the next 50 years, including a Queen Anne Block to match a King Charles Block, and matching King William and Queen Mary Blocks, the latter two dominated by Wren's spectacular domes. One sees why Samuel Johnson found the buildings at Greenwich "too magnificent for a place of charity." Wren also made important contributions to science, inventing a "weather clock" that works like a modern barometer and new methods of engraving, and he helped develop a technique for blood transfusions. All of this work is intelligently described. Tinniswood admits where documents are lacking regarding events in Wren's private life (for example, for his daughter's cause of death). He finds that praising Wren's works (shown in 30 b&w illustrations), can seem almost trite, "rather like saying that Shakespeare wrote some good plays." Still, readers interested in European art and architecture will be glad for the care he takes in doing so, while academics will find the book a sure guide to their sources. (Jan.)
