Italian Architecture from Michelangelo to Borromini (World of Art)
Category: Books,Literature & Fiction,History & Criticism
Italian Architecture from Michelangelo to Borromini (World of Art) Details
About the Author Andrew Hopkins is the editor of The Burlington Magazine and a renowned authority on Italian architecture. Read more
Reviews
I am an amateur, who has digested several good books on this subject by OTHER authors. I found this book rather unsatisfactory for several reasons:1. It doesn't seem to present themes - rather it's a catalogue of Italian buildings of this period.2. Architecture is absolutely VISUAL, yet there is a lot of discussion of buildings and parts of buildings that are NOT illustrated.3. Even when a building is illustrated, the discussion includes lots of terms that are not defined and are not clear in the referenced illustration (or are simply out of the field of view). For example, right at the start (p. 10) the text uses the following terms, which I cannot identify in the photo that is provided: console brackets, blind aedicules, T-shaped rectangular volumes, tombs, grotesque capitals, balusters, flanking aedicules, pendentive zones, and the dome. This problem continues throughout the book.4. There is no glossary of architectural terms. Perhaps specialists that know all the classical architectual terminology (and can imagine the structures that are not illustrated) would enjoy the book.
