Remarks on Architecture: The Vitruvian Tradition in Enlightenment Poland - Hardcover

Potocki, Ignacy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0271066288 ISBN 13: 9780271066288

Publisher: Penn State University Press, 2015

Synopsis

At the end of the eighteenth century, the authors of Poland’s 3 May 1791 Constitution became the heirs to a defunct state whose territory had been partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. At this moment of intensive national postmortem, Ignacy Potocki, an eminent statesman and co-author of the Constitution, wrote the treatise Remarks on Architecture.

One of the best-preserved examples of early modern Polish architectural thought, Potocki’s work announces itself as a project of national introspection, with architecture playing a direct role in the betterment of the nation. Addressed to the contemporary Polish nobility, the book argues that architecture is a vessel for cultural values and that it plays an important part in the formation and critique of broader national traditions. Throughout, Potocki conveys the lessons of a Vitruvian canon that shaped Continental classical architectural theory and practice throughout the early modern period.

Expertly translated by Carolyn Guile and featuring an introduction that explores Polish Enlightenment architectural writing as an example of cultural exchange, inheritance, and transformation, this edition of Potocki’s treatise broadens our understanding of European architectural history during the early modern period.

About this title

About the Author

Carolyn C. Guile is Assistant Professor of Art History at Colgate University.

Review

“An exceptional case study of what rigorous and inventive scholarship can bring to our knowledge not only of the strategies at work in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, but also of the Enlightenment European architectural theory more generally.”

—Basile Baudez, Journal of Art Historiography

“This publication of Ignacy Potocki's treatise on architecture makes an important contribution to our understanding of Enlightenment ideas about architecture, aesthetics, and classicism, while further elucidating the complex relation of Polish ideas to the European Enlightenment as a whole. Carolyn Guile has provided an excellent translation and a fascinating introduction to Potocki, his treatise, and its significance for the history of art, architecture, and aesthetics.”

—Larry Wolff, New York University

“A very valuable addition to the existing body of literature and primary sources on eastern Europe available in English.”

—Iryna Vushko, Slavic Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0271066288
• ISBN 13: 9780271066288
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176