Icons of Renaissance Architecture FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Renaissance was aesthetically one of the most demanding and fascinating periods in the history of architecture. It developed out of Filippo Brunelleschi's Foundllings' Hospital in Florence and subsequently evolved into a pan-European phenomenon, the end of this period being marked by works by Carlo Maderno, Inigo Jones and Elias Holl. The style is based on rationality and clarity, the harmony of proportions and a balanced relationship between the individual and the whole. Influenced by Classical models, there was a growing awareness in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that something new could be created, something new that could be compared to the art of the ancient world.
As opposed to other works on Renaissance architecture, this publication does not focus solely on Italy with its buildings and urban areas in central and northern Italy and the palace architecture of Mantua and Urbino. The inclusion of the 'Italian architectural model' in the buildings of other European countries is also treated in depth. Readers can relish in a delightfully varied and often surprising panorama of Renaissance architecture reaching out from Italy to Germany, France, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Russia. This volume captures the rediscovery of harmony in architecture throughout Europe by focusing on the most impressive buildings and describing this development in exquisite photographs, numerous drawings and explanatory texts, placing the buildings in their appropriate architectural, cultural and historical setting. Interesting details about patrons, a building's specific requirements, its function and the impression it was intended to make are also discussed.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
This encyclopedic "greatest hits" of Western and central European Renaissance architecture systematically covers 63 monuments over two centuries, from Florence's Foundlings' Hospital in Italy (1419) to the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall, London (1619). The churches, villas, palaces, and government buildings that are described and photographed show regional variations on classical themes. Similar in format to Prestel's Icons of Architecture: The 20th Century, this book presents a brief historical sketch with a small, basic floor plan and a handful of dates from the architect's chronology, facing one or more color photographs. Although only a few paragraphs in length, the sketches contain useful introductory material, supplemented in the bibliography by recommended further readings. The contemporary photos are mostly in color and are of consistent quality. The chronological presentation, however, creates some jarring juxtapositions. For example, the Louvre is sandwiched between the minor chateaus of Ancy-le-Franc and Anet. The introduction touches on the roles of Renaissance architects and patrons, as well as written sources. Written and edited by Markschies (History of Art Inst. RWTH, Aachen, Germany), this book is recommended as a well-illustrated overview for undergraduate and larger public libraries.-Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Home
