# Ralph Symons

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
thumb|Ralph Symons, ca. 1595, National Portrait Gallery, London
'''Ralph Symons''' (also spelled '''Ralph Symonds; Ralph Symondes; Ralph Simons; Rudolph Symons''' or '''Rudolph Simons''') (active ca. 1583–1605) was an English mason and architect known for his work at the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) in the reign of [Elizabeth I](/source/Elizabeth_I_of_England).

== Work ==

In 1584, Symons designed the first portion of [Emmanuel College, Cambridge](/source/Emmanuel_College%2C_Cambridge) for [Sir Walter Mildmay](/source/Walter_Mildmay).<ref name="DictArch">{{cite book|last1=Richards|first1=T.|title=The Dictionary of Architecture|date=1887|location=London|page=46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJJZAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA4-PA46|accessdate=8 April 2016}}</ref>

In 1593, he was overseeing the building of the Great Court of [Trinity](/source/Trinity_College%2C_Cambridge), "one of the outstanding college setpieces in Britain",<ref name="Foyle">{{cite news|last1=Foyle|first1=Jonathan|title=Is this the earliest known portrait of an English artisan?|url=https://next.ft.com/content/05347468-eb99-11e5-bb79-2303682345c8|website=Financial Times|date=24 March 2016|accessdate=8 April 2016}}</ref> and from 1596 to 1598 he worked on the newly founded [Sidney Sussex College](/source/Sidney_Sussex_College%2C_Cambridge).<ref name="DictArch"/><ref name="Foyle"/>

Between 1598 and 1602, Symons worked in partnership with Gilbert Wigge of Cambridge on the Second Court of [St John's College](/source/St_John's_College%2C_Cambridge), which was built atop the demolished foundations of an earlier, smaller court. Their original architectural drawings are housed in the college's library, and are the oldest surviving plans for a Cambridge college building.  Symons lost his left hand sometime during the work on St John's.<ref name="Mould">{{cite web|title=Portrait of Ralph Symons (fl.1580-1610), c.1602|url=http://philipmould.com/browse-art/old-masters/16th-17th-century/portrait-ralph-symons-english-school|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413045908/http://philipmould.com/browse-art/old-masters/16th-17th-century/portrait-ralph-symons-english-school|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 April 2016|website=Philip Mould & Co.|accessdate=8 April 2016}}  {{cite web|url=http://online.fliphtml5.com/lfln/ptfb/#p=25|title=Philip Mould & Company New Stock Catalogue|accessdate=3 November 2016|pages=24–29}}</ref>

Symons produced designs for building work at [King's College](/source/King's_College%2C_Cambridge) in 1602–3, and the following year he worked on the hall and kitchen at Trinity.<ref name="Mould"/>

==Portrait==

thumb|left|The Facius print of the Kerrich drawing, 1803
A portrait of Ralph Symons by an unknown artist, now in the [National Portrait Gallery, London](/source/National_Portrait_Gallery%2C_London), is the earliest known portrait of an artisan in England.<ref name="NPG">{{cite web|title=National Portrait Gallery Acquires Earliest Known Portrait of a British Architect|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/about/press/npg-acquires-earliest-known-painting-of-a-british-architect.php|website=National Portrait Gallery|accessdate=24 August 2016}}</ref><ref name="Mould" /><ref name="Cooper">{{cite book | last = Cooper | first = Tarnya | title = Citizen portrait : portrait painting and the urban elite of Tudor and Jacobean England and Wales | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven Conn | year = 2012 | isbn = 9780300162790 |page = 196}}</ref>  A painting of Symons which may be this one appears in inventories at Sidney Sussex College from 1639 to 1748, and then disappears from the college record. The portrait was long known only from a post-1630 copy at Emmanuel College, a drawing in chalks by [Thomas Kerrich](/source/Thomas_Kerrich) (1748-1828) from the original, and an 1803 printed stipple and line engraving of the Kerrich drawing by [Georg Siegmund Facius](/source/Georg_Siegmund_Facius) (captioned "From an original Picture which was in the/ possession of the late Mr. Essex at Cambridge").<ref name="Mould" /><ref name="NPG" /><ref name="NPG Facius">{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw269960/Ralph-Simons-Symons|title=Ralph Simons (Symons)|website=National Portrait Gallery|accessdate=24 August 2016}}</ref>

In March 2016, the art dealers [Philip Mould & Co.](/source/Philip_Mould) announced the discovery of the "lost" painting in Turin, Italy. The portrait shows Symons in a leather jerkin holding a pair of architect's compasses. Mould offered the painting to the National Portrait Gallery, which acquired it for its Tudor galleries. The portrait, dated by the NPG to ca. 1595, went on display on 11 July 2016.<ref name="Mould" /><ref name="NPG" /><ref name="Times">{{cite news|last1=Brooks|first1=Richard|title=Lost tradesman to hang next to his Tudor rulers|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/2609381c-45fe-11e6-aa95-b8eae56da983|access-date=24 August 2016|work=The Sunday Times|date=10 July 2016}}</ref>
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==Notes==
<references/>

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Ralph}}
Category:English stonemasons
Category:16th-century English architects
Category:Architects from Cambridgeshire

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ralph Symons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Symons) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Symons?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.