The Ruins of the Most Beautiful Monuments of Greece

by Julien-David Le Roy, Robin Middleton (Introduction), David Britt (Translator)

Overview

Julien-David Le Roy's Les ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grece, initially issued in 1758, first revealed to European eyes the wonders of Greek classical architecture. Overnight, Greece became the rage, much to the chagrin of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and other defenders of the genius of Rome. The impact of the volume's splendid engravings of Athens's ancient ruins on contemporary aesthetics was heightened, particularly in the much-expanded edition of 1770, by its two highly provocative theoretical essays. In one, Le Roy set forth a compelling linear history of the conceptual forms of architecture that began in Egypt, moved to Greece, then Rome, and finally modern Europe. In the other, seeking to express the experience of architectural form and its effects, Le Roy gave new voice to feeling. Here the second edition of Les ruines is published in English for the first time, framed by Robin Middleton's sweeping exposition of both the intellectual milieu out of which Le Roy's work emerged and the controversies it generated.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780892366699
Publisher:	Getty Publications
Publication date:	01/15/2004
Series:	Texts & Documents
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	568
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.80(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Acknowledgments	xi
	Introduction	1
Volume 1	Which Contains the Ruins of Those Monuments Erected by the Athenians before the End of the Age of Pericles; with an Essay on the History of Architecture, and a Dissertation on the Length of the Greek Foot
	Preface	205
	Essay on the History of Architecture	209
Part 1.	The Ruins of the Monuments Erected by the Athenians before the End of the Age of Pericles, Historically Considered	236
Part 2.	The Ruins of the Monuments Erected by the Athenians before the End of the Age of Pericles and Alexander, Architecturally Considered	309
Volume 2	Which Contains the Ruins of the Monuments Erected by the Athenians after the End of the Age of Pericles and the Antiquities of Corinth and Sparta; with an Essay on the Theory of Architecture, and a Dissertation on the Length of the Course at Olympia
	Essay on the Theory of Architecture	367
Part 1.	The Ruins of the Monuments Erected by the Athenians after the End of the Age of Pericles, Historically Considered; with the Antiquities of Corinth and Sparta	387
Part 2.	The Ruins of the Monuments Erected by the Athenians after the End of the Age of Pericles, Architecturally Considered; with a Description of Two Temples, One at Pola, the Other at Corinth	473
	Works by Le Roy	501
	Works Cited by Le Roy	507
	Prospectus	518
	Comparison of Editions	522
	Illustration Credits	530
	Index	532