Friday, September 26, 2014

Philibert de l'Orme's "The bad and good architect", 1567


French architect Philibert de l'Orme was one of the great masters of the French Renaissance. In the final pages of his treatise Le premier tome de l’architecture of 1567 he featured two illustrations entitled "The bad and good architect."  The illustrations serve as a manifesto and communicate the ideals of their author.

"Whereas the bad architect wanders in a barren landscape dominated by a gloomy medieval castle, the good architect enjoys the pleasures of the garden.  Beautiful buildings rise on each side, their ornaments echoing the productions of nature.... Revealingly, in addition to lacking hands because he does not know how to make something useful, the bad architect has no recognisable features; he is deprived of eyes, nose, mouth and ears, whereas the good architect has a visage.  The latter is moreover, engaged in a dialogue with a young disiciple who turns his face towards him.  With their windows wide open like eyes surveying the scene, the nearby buildings seem to look on this conversation with benevolence."
-from Ornament: The Politics of Architecture and Subjectivity by Antoine Picon

No comments:

Post a Comment