Pliny the Elder and the Emergence of Renaissance Architecture

The Naturalis historia by Pliny the Elder provided Renaissance scholars, artists and architects with details of ancient architectural practice and long-lost architectural wonders - material that was often unavailable elsewhere in classical literature. Pliny's descriptions frequently included the dimensions of these buildings, as well as details of their unusual construction materials and ornament. This book describes, for the first time, how the passages were interpreted from around 1430 to 1580, that is, from Alberti to Palladio. Chapters are arranged chronologically within three interrelated sections - antiquarianism; architectural writings; drawings and built monuments - thereby making it possible for the reader to follow the changing attitudes to Pliny over the period. The resulting study establishes the Naturalis historia as the single most important literary source after Vitruvius's De architectura.

Winner, 2018 Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Book Prize, Renaissance Society of America

'… this is highly recommended reading for the architectural historian of the Renaissance - especially one who wants to understand how thoroughly Plinian the Renaissance canon of the Five Column Orders actually is.'

Krista De Jonge Source: Renaissance Quarterly

… Pliny has had only limited attention paid to him by historians of Renaissance architecture, which is what this book sets out to rectify. It does so in a remarkably comprehensive and exceptionally scholarly manner …'

David Hemsoll Source: The Burlington Magazine

‘… this book has provided an important perspective that was long overdue.’

Joseph Rykwert Source: The Times Literary Supplement

‘… one seldom sees an issue that has the potential of filling a gap in the research of the modern reception of ancient culture … Peter Fane-Saunders's monograph represents a successful attempt to correct the deficiency … There is no doubt that [it] will become an essential handbook.’

Petra Hečková Source: Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'All in all, Fane-Saunders' brilliant investigation marks a milestone in Plinian studies, provides new food for thought, and will certainly inspire many new directions in research.’

Michail Chatzidakis Source: translated from Sehepunkte

'In this clearly structured and well-written account of the reception of Pliny the Elder’s chapters on ancient architecture in the Renaissance, Peter Fane-Saunders has made a significant contribution to the history of the humanities and, at the same time, fulfilled a desideratum in the history of architecture.’

Margaret Daly Davis Source: History of Humanities

'Peter Fane-Saunders masters a formidable and important topic with sophistication, erudition, and engaging prose. In offering the first comprehensive analysis of the Italian Renaissance reception of Pliny the Elder's writing on architecture, his book fills a significant gap in our understanding of early modern architecture. It makes a major contribution to our conception of the transmission of ideas from ancient Rome into the European architectural tradition.’

Source: Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Prize Award Committee, Renaissance Society of America

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Pliny the Elder and the Emergence of Renaissance Architecture

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