This thesis is a study of sixteenth century Italian theories of appropriateness in architecture, of their influence on style in practice and of their origins in antiquity, the Middle Ages and the fifteenth century. The importance of such theories is suggested by the assertion of Vasari that Sansovino's Lain contribution to Venetian architecture was the introduction of the practice of varying the design of buildings according te their function and siting. As the stylistic change brought about by Sansovine in Venice was similar to that effected in Rome at the beginning of the centur, an understanding of Yasari's aeaning may help us to appreciate the essential character of High Renaissance architecture as a whole. In Part I I study the most important group of Sansovino's buildings in the light of contemporary texts and other documents. Using this material I propose a set of theories which explain Sansovino's choice of elements in their design. These theories are closely related to those in the contemporary writings of Serlio. They are also chiefly concerned with the appropriate use of the different orders,Part II is a survey of previous writings on architecture from ancient Greece to the Rome where Serlio and Bansovino were trained. Attention is paid to theories of appropriateness in general and of the use of the orders in particular. These theories are throughout related to contemporary practice which is discussed in appendices to the different chapters. Main conclusions are; 1) The style of Sansovino's buildings is largely governed by theories of decorum. 2> Mid-fifteenth century theoriet were stimulated chiefly by the need to justify morally expenditure both on large private buildings and elaborate classical forms. 3) Lt the end of the century and the beginning of the sixteenth a new respect tsr the sense of sight and a corresponding increase in the authority of the visual arts gave architecture expressive and. communicative powers which had previously been attributed only to literature and music.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:337545 |
| Date | January 1968 |
| Creators | Onians, John Browning |
| Publisher | University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds