Education
Like his uncle he spent a part of his early life in Italy, from where he returned in 1781. Brettingham"s subsequent works, and the drawings which he exhibited on his return at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, showed that he did not neglect his opportunities for study in Italy. Among them may be noted in 1783 a drawing of a sepulchral chapel from the Villa Medici at Rome, in 1790 the design for a bridge which he had erected in the preceding year at Benham Place, in Berkshire, and the entrance porch of the church at Saffron Walden restored by him in 1792.
In 1773 he published another edition of his uncle"s Plans, &c. of Holkham, also, like it, in atlas folio, "to which are added the ceilings and chimney-pieces, and also a descriptive account of the statues, pictures, and drawings, not in the former edition" Descriptive Account Brettingham wrote the descriptive accountant
As in the original edition, the plans are ascribed to Matthew Brettingham, and William Kent is ignored.
