ARCHITECTURAL MOVEMENTS

RENAISSANCE
1 Renaissance: Vignola, Palladio, Alberti, Viollet le Duc, Ruskin and others
______
RENAISSANCE THEORY (1600-1830)
• architects based their theories and practices on Classical Roman examples
• They wanted to create structures that would appeal to both emotion and reason.
• Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and Andrea Palladio.
• Brunelleschi was considered as the “Father of the Renaissance” whose new visions created the first
architecture of the Renaissance
• Manneti’s Biography - first comprehensive biography of a single Italian artist to be written during early
Renaissance
• Leon Battista Alberti (1404 – 1472) known as a renaissance architect authored De re aedificatoria (On
the Art of Building) a classic architectural treatise written between 1443 and 1452 with Ten Books of
Architecture.

EARLY RENNAISSANCE
In the Quattrocento, concepts of architectural order were explored and rules were formulated. The
study of classical antiquity led in particular to the adoption of Classical detail and Ornamentation.

Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance.
Works -
top: Florence Cathedral,
bottom left: Basilica di San Lorenzo

Leon Battista Alberti’s Basilica Sta. Maria Novella (bottom right) geometric proportioning system as
applied in the design of the facade of the church.

HIGH RENAISSANCE
Palazzo Pandolfini
High Renaissance (ca.1500–1525)
During the High Renaissance, concepts derived from classical antiquity were developed and used with
greater surety. The most representative architect is Bramante (1444–1514) who expanded the
applicability of classical architecture to contemporary buildings. His San Pietro in Montorio (above) was
directly inspired by circular Roman temples. He was, however, hardly a slave to the classical forms and it
was his style that was to dominate Italian architecture in the 16th century.

Raphael, (1483– 1520), Urbino.

Raffaello da Urbino,
better known simple
as Raphael, was an
Italian painter and
architect of the high
Renaissance. Works: Palazzo Pandolfini (below)

Donato Bramante was an Italian architect, who introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the
High Renaissance style to Rome.

MANNERISM
Mannerism (ca. 1520–1600)
During the Mannerist period, architects experimented with using architectural forms to emphasize solid
and spatial relationships. The Renaissance ideal of harmony gave way to freer and more imaginative
Rhythms.

Giacomo Barozzi Da Vignola was one of the great Italian architects of 16th century

_______
GIACOMO BAROZZI DA VIGNOLA
• La regoladelli cinque ordinid'architetturais the
one of the most successful architectural
textbooks ever written. It deals with the
classical orders. Doric, corinthian, ionic, tuscan
and composite
• The articles on each of the orders are divided into five sections:
– The colonnade
– Individual pedestal and base forms
– Arcade
– Individual capital and entablature forms
– Arcade with pedestal
• Vignola’s goal was to develop a set of rules for proportions that can be understood by
“average minds”.

• Based on his practical work, he laid down the ratio of pedestal: column: entablature = 4:12:3,
Thus the total height of an order = 19 sections or 15 if no pedestal.

“The five orders of architecture”

(Regola delli cinque ordini d’architettura)

First published 1562 in Rome, is one of the most successful architectural text books ever
written. The book presented Vignola's practical system for constructing columns in the five
classical orders (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite) utilizing proportions which
Vignola derived from his own measurements of classical Roman monuments.
Andrea Palladio is an Italian Renaissance architect of the Mannerist period who is widely considered as
the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture.

• Palladian architecture became a European style of architecture which is derived from the designs of
Palladio.

• Palladio’s work was strongly based on the symmetry, perspective and values of the formal classical
temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

• Palladio’s Work:
“La Rotonda” Villa Almerico Capra, Vicenza, Italy (top)

“The Four Books of Architecture”

(I Quattro libri dell architettura)

Palladio’s famous treatise published in 1570 describes the principles behind his architecture, which was
used for “Palladianism” or Palladian inspired classicism. It provided systematic rules and plans for
buildings which were creative and unique.
“Beauty will result from the form and correspondence of the whole, with respect to the several parts,
of the parts with regard to each other, and of these again to the whole; that the structure may appear
an entire and complete body, wherein each member agrees with the other, and all necessary to
compose what you intend to form” - Palladio

Eugene Viollet le duc

tried to express the true nature of architecture and believed the functional legacy of Gothic to be the
only precedent that a modern architect required.

It was from this time spent traveling that he refined his interest in architecture, his passion for
restoration, and his romantic vision of the Middle Ages.

To restore an edifice is not just to maintain it, repair it or rebuild it but, to reestablish it in a complete
state that may never have existed before at a particular moment in history.”
- Palladio

John Ruskin
In his book, “Stones of Venice”, Ruskin made the argument that Renaissance style is cold and
emotionless. Ruskin contended that Renaissance architects created for their own glory, while Gothic
architects created for the glory of God.
While discussing the Gothic style, Ruskin also argued that the Gothic approach demonstrated a better
understanding of the fusion of thought and manual craft. He proposed that the Renaissance style
separated the gentlemanly thinker from the common manual laborer.
ARTS AND
CRAFTS
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that
began in Britain and flourished in Europe and North America between 1880 and 1920,
emerging in Japan in the 1920s as the Mingei movement.

-The Arts & Crafts aesthetic varied greatly depending on the media and location involved, but
it was influenced most prominently by both the imagery of nature and the forms of medieval
art, particularly the Gothic style, which enjoyed a revival in Europe and North America during
the mid-19th century.
-It stood for traditional craftsmanship using simple forms, and often used

medieval, romantic, or folk styles of decoration.

-It advocated economic and social reform and was essentially anti-industrial.
-What this movement emphasizes on is the aesthetic designs and decorations that strongly
oppose machine production art. -The usual subjects of paintings
and creations under tthis art movement include flora and fauna, domestic traditions, and the
British countryside.
-This movement stood for craftsmen and designers who work by hand. Morris even went
ahead to advocate for these free craftspeople who took pleasure in doing manual work.

WILLIAM MORRIS
“Red House”, home of artist William Morris and his family designed by Philip Webb. Webb rejected the
grand classical style and instead found inspiration in British vernacular architecture. With its well-
proportioned solid forms, deep porches, steep roof, pointed window arches, brick fireplaces and
wooden fittings.

William Morris was the central figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement and one of the
most important and influential designers in British History. He was an artist designer, printer,
typographer, bookbinder, craftsman, poet, writer, and champion of socialist ideals. Founder
of Morris & company ,The kelmscott press
Morris combined his artistic skills with strong political beliefs. A committed
conservationist and Socialist, he dedicated his life to the idea that art should improve the
lives of ordinary people.

Morris was a brilliant two dimensional pattern designer. Style: botanic, decorative
In 1861 he founded his first company which produced a wide range of decorative
objects for the home including furniture, fabrics, wallpaper and stained
glass.
He believes that nature was perfect example of God’s creation.
 Morris & Co. Tiles

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe
to be beautiful. – Morris

John Ruskin

• He is certainly one of the greatest masters of English prose style.

• Picturesque in his literary expression.
• He is rich in the power of illustration.
• Ruskin argued for the secularization of the Gothic and for its use in new domestic buildings and
churches.

• His thought is based on the following :

- Beauty and Art are closely connected.
- Beauty has a moral function:
it helps us develop a
high moral sense;
- Art contributes to
the spiritual health
of man.
- All great art derives
from deep morality.

Ruskin believed in the power of art to transform the lives of people oppressed more by visual illiteracy
than by poor material conditions.

“There is no
wealth but life.” – Ruskin

What we think,
or what we
know, or what
we believe is, in
the end, of little
consequence.
The only
consequence is
what we do.”
- Ruskin

Augustus Pugin
 Pugin's house "The Grange"

Some of the ideas of the movement were anticipated by Pugin a leader in the
Gothic revival in architecture. Pugin articulated the tendency of social critics to
compare the faults of modern society with the Middle Ages, such as the sprawling
growth of cities and the treatment of the poor—a tendency that became routine
with Ruskin, Morris, and the Arts and Crafts movement.