Inigo Jones was the first English classical architect, famous in his own time (he was nine years junior to Shakespeare) and the posthumous sponsor of the Palladianism of the 18th century. Sir John Summerson clears away a mass of legend in order to direct attention to the essential, basing a new assessment of his genius on the evidence of buildings and designs of undoubted authenticity. While the Queen's house at Greenwich and the famous Whitehall Banqueting House receive due acknowledgement, such long lost works as the Covent Garden Piazza and the transformation of old St Paul's are shown, after rigorous examination of there cords, to be even more eloquent of their architect's philosophy. Inigo Jones emerges as a unique figure in Europe of his time and an architect of fundamental importance.