Glorious Temples or Babylonic Whores

Morel, Anne-Françoise

doi:10.1163/9789004398979

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Platonic idealism, in which the world mirrors a deeper reality of essential forms, had long contributed to the devaluing of surface embellishment, as had theological principles of purity and restraint, despite the decorative splendour of much religious architecture. The sober and aniconic character of reformist churches in the Counter-Reformation period and concurrent dismissal of decoration as morally suspect produced an ostentatious puritanism seen 'itself an introverted form of display' and the outcome of a complex conflation of polity and ceremony (Brett 2004;Morel 2019). Roman Catholics were pleased by surface appearance and Protestants by interiorised restraint, a juxtaposition also associated with gender identity in art and architecture and with the hegemony of classicism.…”

Section: Antipathymentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Value: Ways of Seeing Decoration in Architecture

Casey

2021

Architectural Histories

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The long 18th century was a period of intense investment in elite architecture in Britain which sustained an extensive craft culture in carving, modelling, and joinery. Yet decoration is largely marginalised or ignored by architectural historians. This antipathy to the enrichment of buildings is not particular to Britain and reflects a wider discourse on the architecture of many periods and places. By situating past and present attitudes to 18th-century decoration in Britain within a wider historiography, this paper reveals the prejudices which still attend the discussion of ornament and craft production in architecture. Conversely, it explores revisionist perspectives on craft and decoration and considers how they can inform architectural history and contribute to a more holistic understanding of building production. Despite a recent, widespread revival of interest in ornament, however, scholarship continues to privilege conceptual issues over the material practices of decoration. Disciplinary boundaries have militated against an integrated approach to architecture and decoration and historians of sculpture and architecture have overlooked significant common ground. Lacunae in the historiography of decoration in 18th-century British architecture call for approaches which integrate the analytical and methodological tools of architectural and sculpture history.

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Section: Antipathymentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Value: Ways of Seeing Decoration in Architecture

Casey

2021

Architectural Histories

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Glorious Temples or Babylonic Whores

Cited by 1 publication

References 84 publications

Surface Value: Ways of Seeing Decoration in Architecture

Surface Value: Ways of Seeing Decoration in Architecture

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