Description
Book SynopsisA revised and updated edition of Sir John Summerson's classic book. Derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture in antiquity, the classical style has long dominated the history of western architecture from the Renaissance to the present. Sir John Summersonâs timeless text, as relevant today as it was when first published, distils the visual language of architecture into its core classical elements, and illustrates that building throughout the ages express an awareness of the âgrammarâ of style and its rules even if they vary, break or poetically contradict them. From the original edifices of Greece and Rome to the recapitulations and innovations of the Renaissance; the explosive rhetoric of the Baroque to the grave statements of Neo-classicism; and finally, the exuberant eclecticism of the Victorians and Edwardians to the 'stripped Neo-classicism' of some of the moderns; Summerson explains how every period has employed classical language to make their statement. W
Trade Review'An easy introduction to both the grammar and the superstructure of classical orders' - Guardian
Table of ContentsPreface
1. The Essentials of Classicism
2. The Grammar of Antiquity
3. Sixteenth-Century Linguistics
4. The Rhetoric of the Baroque
5. The Light of Reason – and of Archaeology
6. Classical into Modern
Glossary
Notes on the Literature of Classical Architecture
Sources of Illustrations
