Subjective Proportions 18th-Century Interpretations of Paestum's 'Disproportion'
When 18th-century travellers saw the Doric temples of Paestum in Southern Italy with their own eyes, they observed for the first time true examples of the proportions of archaic Greek architecture. Contrary to the Roman proportional systems, the Greek ones had been largely unavailable to architects...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Architectural histories / European Architectural History Network, EAHN |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Format: | Online |
| Sprache: | eng |
| Veröffentlicht: |
26 Feb 2016
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| Online Zugang: | Volltext |
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Tag hinzufügen | Zusammenfassung: | When 18th-century travellers saw the Doric temples of Paestum in Southern Italy with their own eyes, they observed for the first time true examples of the proportions of archaic Greek architecture. Contrary to the Roman proportional systems, the Greek ones had been largely unavailable to architects until then. With the rediscovery of Paestum, conveniently located south of Naples and not in far away Greece, the secret of Greek proportions was no more. Architects were able to precisely measure the temples and wrote many accounts about their primitive forms and proportions. But what did architects mean exactly when describing the proportions as primitive? What kinds of reflections did these proportions provoke? This article treats proportions as aesthetics, or as visible proportions, not as a numerical system. The discourse on proportions changed in this period, giving more weight to their cultural and historical meaning. The writings by such architects as Soane, Wilkins, and Labrouste demonstrate how Paestum functioned as a laboratory to unveil the secret of primitive proportions, and how, with the different meanings architects attached to them, it enlarged and renewed the debate on proportions. |
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| Beschreibung: | Illustrationen |
| ISSN: | 2050-5833 |