Description
Book SynopsisAt first glance, Borromini’s architecture is a flight of Baroque fantasy, the product of limitless imagination. A closer look reveals an almost ruthlessly logical geometry underlying his creation. Blunt shows how the combination of revolutionary inventiveness and intellectual control gives Borromini’s work its great appeal.
Trade ReviewBlunt has made a highly significant contribution to our understanding of Borromini’s work from his first ideas on paper to the finished buildings. -- Bruce Boucher * Times Literary Supplement *
This full-length study by a very eminent British art historian is a valuable aid for readers interested in an up-to-date and very thorough analysis of everything Borromini did. -- Raymond Sokolov * New York Times Book Review *
Anthony Blunt reveals his great powers as an architectural historian. His prose is remarkably lucid and concise, even plain, yet extremely evocative. -- Edmund Leites * Art in America *
Anthony Blunt excites expectation whenever he publishes… To the delight of many readers, [his writing moves] with an absolute minimum of technical architectural vocabulary… Altogether the most lucid, sensitive, and trustworthy study of Borromini yet to appear. -- Robert T. Petersson * Yale Review *
Table of ContentsForeword 1. Birth and Early Training 2. Sources and Theories 3. S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane 4. The Oratory of S. Filippo Neri and the Filomarino Altar 5. Ivo della Sapienza and S. Maria dei Sette Dolori 6. S. Giovanni in Laterano and S. Agnese in Piazza Navona 7. Domestic Architecture 8. The Last Phase 9. Influence and Reputation Notes on Further Reading List of Illustrations Index
