The book assigned to me is „The Architecture of Palladio“ by Giacomo Leoni. The book contains the projects in which Palladio wanted the purity and simplicity of classical architecture to be known, both in theory and in practice, and is illustrated with Andrea Palladio’s own drawings. In this article I will focus on some keywords, which are mentioned in this book.
The first topic I searched in Alice was „five orders* and what I discovered was a book on „Modern Architecture Theory“ by Harry Francis Mallgrave from Cambridge University. Harry Francis Mallgrave goes ahead criticizing the greeks for only inventing five orders and that although the Gothic didn’t have a side chapel in their cathedrals they had 50 orders and that the worst of their order was better than the best of the greeks.
Another look at Alice’s selection led me to „The Companions to the history of Architecture, Volume II“ also by Harry Francis Mallgrave. Harry Francis Mallgrave yet again criticizes the five orders, saying that attempts to codify the five orders through the production of standardized designs produces issues about their correct usage. Although as the book progresses he goes on to explain that the study of the five orders are important parts when studying architecture or becoming an architect.
The second keyword I searched for is „engraving“ since Palladio was particularly interested in techniques of engraving. Interestingly Harry Francis Mallgrave in his book about „Modern Architecture Theory“ did not just write about the five orders like mentioned before. He also touches on the topic of engravings. Harry Francis Mallgrave says that Le Lorrain’s (a french artist) engravings of Le Roy’s (a french architect) drawings fail to achieve the intense psychological intensity of Piranesi’s (an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist) mature style, but are not far off. In addition to that he praises that the forms and character of greek architecture are brought to europe for the first time.
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In the book “The Architecture of Palladio” are themes discussed which are very similar to the book “anciens temples et modernes”. The two books contain information about the style of buildings and what this style is good for. The intentions of this complex architecture with a deeper sense are to express atmosphere where humans feel well and maybe are impressed by the surrounding. As well the greek architecture was extremely important for this episode of time and this is really interesting because artists an architects all over the world where influenced by the greek architecture. Both books want to deliver the complexity and pureness of this architecture and they preserve this information very well. #112 #20-692-992