William Vertue (died 1527) was an English architect specialising in
Fan vault ceilings.
Along with his brother
Robert, he was involved in the construction of the
Tower of London (1501–1502),
Bath Abbey,[1] the Vertue brothers are reported as telling Bishop
Oliver King the patron of the work that the vaulting "Ther shal be no one so goodeley, neither in England nor in France"[2] and the vaulting and the
clerestory windows and walls of the
Henry VII's chapel at
Westminster,[3] between 1506 and 1509, though Robert Virtue was dead by then and William is thought to be entirely responsible.
Fan Vault, Bath Abbey, the vault by Virtue is in the distance, in the chancel, the nearer vault is a Victorian copy by Sir
George Gilbert Scott
St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, vaulting, the vault by Vertue is the fan vault over the crossing
Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, main vault
Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, aisle vault
Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, exterior from the south-east
Henry VII's chapel, Westminster Abbey, interior looking west
References
^page 113, Kenneth Hylson-Smith, Bath Abbey A History, 2003, The Friends of Bath Abbey
^Correspondence of Bishop Oliver King and Sir Reginald Bray, published in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society 60 pt 2 1914 4
^page 201, Tim Tatton-Brown & Richard Mortimer, Westminster Abbey: The Lady Chapel of Henry VII, 2003, Boydell Press
^pages 203-4, Francis Woodman, The Architectural History of King's College Chapel and its Place in the Development of Late Gothic Architecture in England and France, 1986, Routledge & Kegan Paul
^page 656, Geoffrey Tyack, Simon Bradley & Nikolaus Pevsner, Buildings of England Berkshire, 2010, Yale University Press