Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

The classical language of architecture / John Summerson ; with 139 illustrations

By: Series: World of art libraryPublication details: London Thames and Hudson 1980Edition: [Revised and enlarged ed.]Description: 144 pages : illustrations ; 21 cmISBN:
  • 9780500201770
  • 0500201773
Subject(s): Summary: Classical architecture is a visual 'language' and like any other language has its own grammatical rules. Classical buildings as widely spaced in time as a Roman temple, an Italian Renaissance palace and a Regency house all show an awareness of these rules even if they vary them, break them or poetically contradict them. Sir Christopher Wren described them as the 'Latin' of architecture and the analogy is almost exact. There is the difference, however, that whereas the learning of Latin is a slow and difficult business, the language of classical architecture is relatively simple. It is still, to a great extent, the mode of expression of our urban surroundings, since classical architecture was the common language of the western world till comparatively recent times. Anybody to whom architecture makes a strong appeal has probably already discovered something of its grammar for himself. In this book, the author's purpose is to set out as simply and vividly as possible the exact grammatical workings of this architectural language. He is less concerned with its development in Greece and Rome than with its expansion and use in the centuries since the Renaissance. He explains the vigorous discipline of 'the orders' and the scope of 'rustication'; the dramatic deviations of the Baroque and, in the last chapter, the relationship between the classical tradition and the 'modern' architecture of today. The book is intended for anybody who cares for architecture but more specifically for students beginning a course in the history of architecture, to whom a guide to the classical rules will be an essential companion.

'This book originated in a series of six talks broadcast by the BBC in 1963' - Preface

Previous ed.: London : Methuen, 1964

Bibliography: p.135-139. - Includes index

Classical architecture is a visual 'language' and like any other language has its own grammatical rules. Classical buildings as widely spaced in time as a Roman temple, an Italian Renaissance palace and a Regency house all show an awareness of these rules even if they vary them, break them or poetically contradict them. Sir Christopher Wren described them as the 'Latin' of architecture and the analogy is almost exact. There is the difference, however, that whereas the learning of Latin is a slow and difficult business, the language of classical architecture is relatively simple. It is still, to a great extent, the mode of expression of our urban surroundings, since classical architecture was the common language of the western world till comparatively recent times. Anybody to whom architecture makes a strong appeal has probably already discovered something of its grammar for himself. In this book, the author's purpose is to set out as simply and vividly as possible the exact grammatical workings of this architectural language. He is less concerned with its development in Greece and Rome than with its expansion and use in the centuries since the Renaissance. He explains the vigorous discipline of 'the orders' and the scope of 'rustication'; the dramatic deviations of the Baroque and, in the last chapter, the relationship between the classical tradition and the 'modern' architecture of today. The book is intended for anybody who cares for architecture but more specifically for students beginning a course in the history of architecture, to whom a guide to the classical rules will be an essential companion.