Sir John Soane: Enlightenment Thought and the Royal Academy Lectures (Cambridge Studies in the History of Architecture) [Hardcover]

David Watkin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521440912 | ISBN-13: 978-0521440912 | Publication Date: June 1, 1996

This novel and thoroughly documented study of Sir John Soane (1753-1837) contains the fullest intellectual biography yet published of any English architect. It also sheds new light on eighteenth-century British and continental architectural theory. Dr Watkin enters Soane's private dialogue with an astonishing array of philosophers, architectural theorists, art-historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists, whose writings he studied while preparing his lectures on architecture at the Royal Academy from 1809. The texts he studied range from classical authors to many of his most famous contemporaries. The book relates Soane's reading to his own architecture and to his lectures, which are published here in full for the first time, with over one hundred and fifty of his superb lecture illustrations, including twenty-five in colour. Recipient of the 1997 Sir Banister Fletcher Prize

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The most noted English architect of the Neoclassical period (1780-1840), Soane outshone his contemporaries in the elegant economy of his form, a quality that echoed across the Continent during his lifetime and long after in the development of modern architecture. Watkin (A History of Western Architecture, Antique Collectors' Club, 1986) explores Soane's debt to Enlightenment architectural theory, especially French, by examining his lectures at the Royal Academy in 1809, including hidden preparatory notes discovered in his 8000-book private library, which is still preserved in the John Soane Museum in London. This scholarly tome complements and deepens our extensive knowledge of Soane, established in numerous articles and books published over the years, including Pierre de la Ruffiniere du Prey's John Soane: The Making of an Architect (Univ. of Chicago, 1982) and John Soane's Education, 1753-1780 (Garland, 1977). For academic libraries.?Peter Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr. Lib.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

'These brilliant, passionate, wayward lectures have been republished with an equally brilliant sequence of introductory essays in Sir John Soane, Enlightenment Thought and the Royal Academy Lectures by David Watkin.' The Independent

'David Watkin's intellectual biography is graceful, scholarly and rewarding. His efforts have been matched by Cambridge University Press, who have produced the most lavish book of architectural scholarship in many years.' The Times

'... by far the most significant single contribution to the study of Sir John Soane.' The Observer

'The book certainly fills a huge hole in the Soane literature: it should be perused by all students of the Enlightenment, Neoclassicism, and the architectural concerns of the early decades of the nineteenth century.' Journal of Architectural Conservation

'This mammoth volume projects architectural history onto a new plane ... Never before ... has [architecture] been so comprehensively analysed as a vehicle for thought.' Country Life

'... a beautifully written book, and so a joy to read ... It is a lodestar for any future work on Soane.' Apollo

'David Watkin's intellectual biography is graceful, scholarly and rewarding.' The Times

'... one of the finest works on English Architecture to have appeared in the last decade.' The Sunday Telegraph

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 783 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521440912
• ISBN-13: 978-0521440912
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,777,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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