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Description: Bearers of Meaning: The Classical Orders in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the...
~CONSIDERING the importance of the Classical orders in the history of architecture and the substance of the theoretical writings about them, it is remarkable how little attention has been devoted to either. Many of the issues discussed here have never been treated extensively before. Those scholars who have directly addressed them...
PublisherPrinceton University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00026.003
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Acknowledgements
Considering the importance of the Classical orders in the history of architecture and the substance of the theoretical writings about them, it is remarkable how little attention has been devoted to either. Many of the issues discussed here have never been treated extensively before. Those scholars who have directly addressed them stand out the more for their isolation, and their contributions have been a source of continuous inspiration. Most influential was Ernst Gombrich, who guided and encouraged the dissertation which was the first stage of this enquiry. He has lifted many veils, and his study of Giulio Romano fifty years ago at once revealed the mask-like character of the Renaissance façade and the complexity of the mind behind it. Also important were two others associated at some time with the Warburg Institute, Erwin Panofsky and Rudolf Wittkower. Their interpretations of Gothic and Renaissance architecture proved to be landmarks in the relation of style to intellectual context. Others were more directly forerunners in the present research. Erik Forssmann wrote two books which first demonstrated the richness of the history of the orders. John Summerson showed how the same subject could be handled more broadly and elegantly. Friedrich Deichmann started to decipher the colonnades of Early Christian churches. Alste Horn-Oncken revealed the mysteries of Vitruvian decor. Henry Millon demonstrated the value of the frequently fruitless attempt to relate theory to practice by his neat proof that it works for Francesco di Giorgio. James Ackerman revealed the tensions between ars and scientia not only for the builders of Milan Cathedral, but for Michelangelo and Palladio too. John Shearman, among his many other contributions, greatly enlarged the subject of Renaissance architecture by his studies of Raphael. More recently other scholars have done important work which contributes to the present study, particularly Howard Burns, Christoph Frommel, George Hersey, Volker Hoffmann, Joseph Rykwert, and Christof Thoenes. These have also shaped its development by their comments and criticisms—as have many others, chief among them my colleagues and students at the University of East Anglia.
Much of the research published here would have been impossible without travel grants from the University of East Anglia, and earlier from the Central Research Fund of London University and the Leverhulme Foundation. Preparation of the photographs would have been much less easy and enjoyable without the expert assistance of Michael Brandon-Jones. The drawings, an essential feature of this presentation, are the product of a long and rewarding collaboration with Don Johnson. The composition and editing of the text depended on the swiftness and accuracy of the typing of Joan Awbery and the word processing of Carole Leonard. Above all, I remember that the manuscript would not have come to Princeton if it had not been for the generous interest of the late Christine Ivusic, nor would it have improved so much in passage through the press without the alert editing of Eric Van Tassel.
Besides this material help, hospitality and essential backing have been provided by many institutions over the years since the project was first inspired by the twin muses of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes. These include Syracuse University, the Kunsthistorisch Instituut of Amsterdam University, the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the University of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of California at Los Angeles. The opportunity to bring the book to completion at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in the National Gallery, Washington, surrounded by the many columns of that capital’s buildings, provided me with the valuable reassurance that the Classical orders mean as much in the modern United States as they did in ancient Athens.
Beyond acknowledgement is all I owe to my father, Richard Broxton Onians, to my mother, Rosalind Lathbury, and to my family. With my wife, Elisabeth de Bievre, I have walked and talked the length of this colonnade. Much of the life in this book is hers. Our two children, Isabelle and Charles, were often ahead of both of us in exploring behind columns.
Norwich, August 1985
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