Book of Architecture: Containing the General Principles of the Art and the Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Some of the Edifices Built in France and in Foreign Countries

by Boffrand, Germain; Eck, Caroline Van; Britt, David; Eck, Caroline Van

• ISBN13: 9781840146875
• ISBN10: 1840146877
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781351753326
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Ashgate Pub Co
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Summary

Germain Boffrand was one of the great French architects of the early eighteenth century. His work encompassed not only the design of town and country houses for the wealthy but also mines, bridges and hospitals. His Livre d'Architecture is one of the most original books on architecture ever written in France. Taking the Art of Poetry by the Latin poet Horace as its starting point, it developed an aesthetic of architecture focused on character, style and the emotional impact of a building that influenced Blondel, Le Camus de Mezieres and Soane, and is still central to contemporary debate about the nature and meaning of architecture.Translated for the first time by David Britt, Boffrand's text is here accompanied by an extensive introduction and notes by Caroline van Eck who situates Boffrand within the main issues of eighteenth-century architectural aesthetics. Beautifully illustrated, including all the pictures chosen by Boffrand for his original publication, this book is an invaluable tool for teaching the history of architectural theory and an essential work for any architectural library.Germain Boffrand is published with the assistance of the Getty Foundation.

Author Biography

Caroline van Eck is a Senior Research Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where she directs a research program on the role of rhetoric in the visual arts and architecture funded by the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO). She has published widely on architectural theory of the nineteenth century and the Renaissance

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	xi
Germain Boffrand: life and work	xi
The theoretical context	xiv
The Livre d'architecture	xvii
Taste	xvii
Principles	xviii
Optical Correction	xxiii
Boffrand's influence	xxv
Notes	xxvi
A Note on the French and Latin Versions and the Plates	xxxiii
Book of Architecture Containing the General Principles of the Art	1	(96)
M. Boffrand
Table of contents and of engraved plates	97	(1)
Notes	98	(3)
Bibliography	101	(4)
Index	105