Architectural principles in the age of humanism / Rudolf Wittkower.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wittkower, Rudolf.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Architecture, Renaissance--Italy.

Architecture, Renaissance.

Italy.

Architecture--Italy.

Architecture.

Architecture--Composition, proportion, etc.

Physical Description:

160 pages : illustrations, plans ; 25 cm

Edition:

Fifth edition.

Place of Publication:

London : Academy, [1998]

Summary:

"Professor Wittkower's....studies of humanist architecture are masterpieces of scholarship."-Sir Kenneth Clark, Architectural Review. A fourth edition of the forty-year-old classic. Focusing on the principal architects of that time-from Alberti to Palladio-this bestselling classic explains the true significance of certain architectural forms, bringing to light the connections between the architecture and culture of the period. With publication scheduled to coincide with that of Architectonics of Humanism, this important reference is superbly reproduced in a new, large square format. The late RUDOLF WITTKOWER was a college professor and eminent scholar residing in London, England.

Contents:

Part I The Centrally Planned Church and the Renaissance

1. Alberti's Programme of the Ideal Church 16

2. Centralized Churches in Later Architectural Theory 22

3. Building Practice: S. Maria delle Carceri 29

4. Bramante and Palladio 31

5. The Religious Symbolism of Centrally Planned Churches 38

Part II Alberti's Approach to Antiquity in Architecture

1. The Column in Alberti's Theory and Practice 41

2. S. Francesco at Rimini 43

3. S. Maria Novella 47

4. S. Sebastiano and S. Andrea at Mantua 51

5. The Change in Alberti's Interpretation of Classical Architecture 59

Part III Principles of Palladio's Architecture

1. The Architect as 'uomo universale': Palladio, Trissino and Barbaro 60

2. Palladio's Geometry: The Villas 67

3. Palladio and Classical Architecture: Palaces and Public Buildings 75

4. The Genesis of an Idea: Palladio's Church Facades 89

5. Palladio's Optical and Psychological Concepts: Il Redentore 97

Part IV The Problem of Harmonic Proportion in Architecture

1. Francesco Giorgi's Platonic Programme for S. Francesco della Vigna 104

2. The Mean Proportionals and Architecture 107

3. Alberti's 'Generation' of Ratios 111

4. Musical Consonances and the Visual Arts 113

5. Palladio's 'fugal' System of Proportion 119

6. Palladio's Ratios and the Development of Sixteenth-Century Musical Theory 123

7. The Break-away from the Laws of Harmonic Proportion in Architecture 130

Appendix I Francesco Giorgi's Memorandum for S. Francesco della Vigna 138

Appendix II The Problem of the Commensurability of Ratios in the Renaissance 140

Appendix III Bibliographical Notes on the Theory of Proportion 142

Appendix IV Proportion in Art and Architecture: an amalgamation of previously unpublished lectures by Professor Wittkower

The Need for Order 145

Origins of Western Proportional Systems 147

Geometry and Mediaeval Proportions 150

Renaissance Proportions and Commensurability 152

Post-Renaissance Proportioning

Dilemmas and Possibilities 154.

Notes:

"First published in 1949 as volume 19 of the Studies of the Warburg Institute. Second edition published by Alec Tiranti Ltd. in 1952, followed by a third revised edition in 1962 ... Fourth edition published in 1988 in a new format ... This fifth edition is intended to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the book"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0471977632

OCLC:

41528231