Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism - Softcover

Rudolf Wittkower Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism 'Scores have profited from, and been inspired by, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism and its lesson of the importance of consistent modular relations. No other book on the subject of architectural history written by scholars of his generation has had such a creative effect on men in practice.' Nikolaus Pevsner, Foreword to Art and Architecture in Italy 'Professor Wittkower's mind is not only inquiring but immensely well stored and tenacious. His studies of humanist architecture are masterpieces of scholarship.' Sir Kenneth Clark, Architectural Review 'To say that this is the best study of Italian Renaissance architecture in English is faint praise.' John Coolidge, Magazine of Art Since its original publication in 1949, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism has acquired the status of a classic, having brought to light, through exemplary scholarship, the connections between the architecture and the culture of the Renaissance. Focusing on the work of the main Renaissance architects from Alberti to Palladio, Rudolf Wittkower has produced definitive explanations of the true significance of certain architecture forms, and has at the same time revealed the limitations of a purely aesthetic theory of Renaissance architecture. This fifth edition of Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, intended to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the book, integrates the illustrations with the text and includes an edited selection of lectures on Proportion by Professor Wittkower.

Rudolf Wittkower was born in Berlin in 1901. Leaving Germany when the Nazis came to power, he was one of the animators of the Warburg Institute of London. In 1941 he organized, with Fritz Saxl, the exhibition British Art and the Mediterranean, the publication of which (1948) forms an important document of the aims and methods of the Warburg Institute. A great scholar of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, Wittkower taught at both the University of London and Columbia University. His books, all important works of scholarship, include Die Zeichnungen des Gian Lorenzo Bernini (with H. Bruer, 1931), The Drawings of the Carracci at Windsor Castle (1952), Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Sculptor of Roman Baroque (1955), Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750 (1958), Born under Saturn (with Margot Wittkower, 1963), and Divine Michelangelo: The Florentine Academy's Homage on His Death in 1564 (with Margot Wittkower, 1964). In addition, he was a frequent contributor to the Journal of the Warbung and Courtauld Institute, the Art Bulletin, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, among others.