HISTORY OF WESTERN ARCHITECTURE

AR20364 Architectural History & Theory 2.1 2017-18

1. ORDER AND THE ORDERS

This lecture examines the discovery and reinterpretation of Roman

architecture by the Renaissance as understood through a knowledge
of Vitruvius. Vitruvius was both a guide (though a poor one) and a
model for the architect. We look first at the three principal orders in
Vitruvius and Rome, the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, and the
application of a Vitruvian understanding of the orders to Renaissance
architecture. Vitruvius’s discussion of perfect proportions leads us to
consider how Renaissance architects sought for harmony in their
plans, and, particularly following the Pantheon, designed centralised
church plans. Finally we look briefly at the establishment of a
‘canonical’ Vitruvian and Palladian approach to Roman architecture
in the work of Inigo Jones and Richard Boyle (Lord Burlington), an
attempt to claim a distinct ‘tradition’ of rule and precedent in
architecture.

Vitruvius and the Treatise

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (Vitruvius), De Architectura [The Ten Books on

Architecture], c. 20 BC
Leon Battista Alberti, De Re Aedificatoria [On the Art of Building]
(Florence: 1485)
Sebastiano Serlio, Tutte l’Opere d’Architettura et Prospetiva di Sebastiano
Serlio [The Book of Architecture] (Venice: 1544-7)
Andrea Palladio, I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (Venice: 1570)

The Three Main Orders

Doric
Ionic
Corinthian

Order and Temple Terminology

Column: Entablature: Temple Front or Portico

Capital Cornice | Frieze | Architrave Pediment
Base Triglyph | Metope
The Orders in Ancient Rome

Theatre of Marcellus, Rome, C1 AD (Doric)

Temple of Fortuna Virilis (or Portunus), Rome, C1 BC (Ionic)
Maison Carrée, Nîmes, c. 15 BC (Corinthian; classic temple)
Temple of Vesta, Tivoli, near Rome, C1 BC (special Corinthian)
The Colosseum, Rome, 80 AD (orders combined)

Orders in the Renaissance

Donato Bramante: Tempietto, Rome, 1502

Andrea Palladio: Villa Rotonda, Vicenza, 1550
Michelangelo Buonarotti: St Peter’s, Rome, 1550
Jacopo Sansovino: Library of St Mark, Venice, 1537

Proportion and Geometry

Filippo Brunelleschi: Pazzi Chapel, Florence, 1429

Filippo Brunelleschi: S. Spirito, Florence, 1430s
The Pantheon, Rome, 120 AD
Plans for St Peter’s, Rome, by Bramante (1506) and Michelangelo (1546)

Vitruvian Classicism

Inigo Jones: Queen’s House, Greenwich, London, 1616-35

Richard Boyle (Lord Burlington): Assembly Rooms, York, 1730-35
John Wood the Elder: The Circus, Bath, 1754-68

Reading Suggestions

Furnari, Michele, Formal Design in Renaissance Architecture (New York, 1995)

Harris, John, The Palladian Revival: Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick (New
Haven, 1994)
Murray, Peter, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance (London, 1986)
Onians, John, Bearers of Meaning: The Classical Orders in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance (Princeton, 1988) (read the sections on Rome and the Renaissance)
Summerson, John, Architecture in Britain, 1530-1830 (New Haven, 1993)
Summerson, John, The Classical Language of Architecture (London, 1980)
Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture (various editions) (especially Books 3 and 4)
Ward-Perkins, J. B., Roman Imperial Architecture (New Haven, 1994)
Wittkower, Rudolf, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism (London: Academy
Editions, 1973)
Wittkower, Rudolf, Palladio and English Palladianism (London, 1974)