What Meanings Did Contemporaries Attach To Styles

Fashionable In The Eighteenth Century Essay, Research Paper

The eighteenth century was a period of change as

much for the architectural world as for the world of the architect..... The Glorious Revolution marked the

beginning of great stability, vast economic growth and population growth;

factors that would lead to a massive growth in the amount of building going on

in Britain.... At the same time, London,

the hub of England, was transformed from a medieval city into a bustling stone

metropolis following the destruction of the old city during the Great

Fire.. The resulting boom in building

led to a popularisation of interest in architecture and the publication of

books detailing new fads and moulding patterns for use by builders in order

that they would be able to make their creations more fashionable without any

great effort.. The concept of taste as

something that was .right. or .wrong. (Shaftesbury saw taste as .founded on

truth, or veri similitudae at the least.) meant that reactions against styles

of architecture were usually tacit or tepid, as disagreeing with the panels of virtuosos

in such establishments as the Dilettanti or Antiquarians dictated the

fashionable and the unfashionable A powerful new national bank (introduced by William

III who had seen such a system operate with great success in his native

Netherlands), combined with the gradual industrialisation of Britain, the

growth of Empire and the development of the modern capitalist system led to a

growth of British affluence.. By the end

of the eighteenth century, Britain had swept from being at the edge of European

affairs to being the arbiter of them, mostly due to her economic maturity.. The physical result of this for the average

Briton would have been the massive growth in public works.. Financed by Queen Anne.s Coal Tax, the

British government was capable of raising huge funds for the building of

tremendous buildings.. The economic power of the government at the

beginning of the eighteenth century was manifest from the new St. Paul.s

Cathedral.. One of the largest churches

in Christendom, the famous domed cathedral of the new metropolis was just one

of the hundreds of churches built by Wren in the late seventeenth century in

London alone.. This prolific master was

seen in the early eighteenth century as a great .modern. to rival the

.ancients. and his work was everywhere to be seen. The result was a

proliferation of the baroque style.. The

baroque style was developed as a variation on the classical style during the

seventeenth century.. Abandoning the

classical rules of architecture as developed by Brunelleschi and Alberti (a

movement encouraged by the humanist movement who amongst other things advocated

study for its own sake, a point of philosophy that lead amongst other things to

a proliferation of interest in the classical works, including classical art and

architecture) whilst retaining the classical motifs, the baroque style was

replete with pilasters, columns, friezes and other obviously .classical. motifs

and yet these were deliberately .mismatched...

For example, St. Paul.s columns are paired together so that although the

pairs maintain equidistance, there is not equidistance between each column.. Equally the wanton placement of Doric,

Corinthian and Ionic columns would have been upsetting to the classical

architect. The abandonment of the strict rules governing the use of columns

allowed stylisation in a way impossible in the strictly classical mode. The rebuilding of London in the modern mode made the

old gothic buildings stand out to such an extent that many were retraced or

remoulded according to the new fashion..

The Palladian school, based on Palladio.s famous treatise, was the

emergent fashion from the Wren era and as the government renewed the fabric of

London, a city that held more than twenty times as many citizens as the next

largest of England.s cities, the baroque and Palladian fad was transmitted

across the country. These affluent people would also contribute in great

measure to the boom in building.. The

growth of capitalism, catalysed by such events as William III.s wars, which led

to the growth of the powerful London banking network developed a tremendous

.moneyed interest... Wealth poured in

from colonies and trading posts, and the British foreign policy became one of

ensuring the safety of British global trade. This growth in commerce led to a

greater pool of disposable income available to a greater number of people, and

as such it led to a growth in the number of people building their homes

according to their tastes.. As the

gentry and lesser nobility grew in financial power, the agrarian revolution led

to an increase in the profits of the older landed class.. The corruption, contacts and bribery of

politics let such people as Walpole, b

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать