An exploration of the composition, content, reception and influence of Vitruvius's "Ten Books on Architecture," from antiquity to today, with special attention on the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Abstract This paper examines the first and most influential treatise on architecture, Vitruvius's "Ten Books on Architecture." First the content is considered, including Vitruvius's account of architecture as the mother of all arts followed by his outline of the ideal education for architects and his theory of architecture. It also discusses the transmission and reception of Vitruvius in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Particular attention is paid to Alberti and his reaction to Vitruvius in his own "Ten Books" on architecture. Finally, the historical significance of Vitruvius's treatise is examined-both from the point of view of today and of when the treatise was composed.
From the Paper "In the first chapter of Book II, Vitruvius gives his account of architecture, or rather, the story of civilization as the history of architecture. His synopsis is certainly simplistic, and at times humourously so, but on the whole it accords with common sense. To his mind, architecture, born of necessity, is mother to all the arts, and though he is not as explicit on this issue as later writers would be, he clearly holds the field in the highest regard. He sets out his ambitious "Education of the Architect" in the first chapter of the treatise, and explains the necessity of each branch of study-drawing, geometry, history, philosophy, music, medicine, law, astronomy. The application to any of these fields to architecture is obvious enough, but Vitruvius defends the others. History, for example, is useful in understanding the origin of particular styles. He uses the famous example of caryatides and the Persian porch."
Abstract This paper explores the works of Leon Battista Alberti, Adolf Loos, and Jennifer Bloome and compares and contrasts their opinions on combining different forms of art and architecture. It also examines why it is important for architecture to be aesthetic and practical.
From the paper:
"According to the AOL World Book Encyclopedia's definition of
architecture, architecture is an art form like painting or poetry writing. However, architecture is not entirely like these arts in its practice. The World Book states one of the essential differences between architects and other artists is the fact that while other artists have a certain amount of creative control in the fashioning of "rough drafts" of their work, architects face additional constraints because their work costs so much money to fashion."
From the Paper " Though both Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) and Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885) looked to the past for examples for contemporary architecture, they approached the problem in a completely different spirit. Where Alberti, the Renaissance architect and theorist, wished to impose greater rationality on architecture, and on the disorder of the Medieval city, Hugo, the Romantic novelist, saw a need to remain true to the organic, homogeneous nature of the city of the Middle Ages. The two men were similar in their perception of the Medieval city as an example of uncontrolled growth. But they placed an entirely different value on this fact. Anthony Blunt's remark about Renaissance classicism sums up this difference: "in architecture the revival of Roman forms was used to create a style which answered to the demands of human reason rather than to the more.."
