La ville antique et l'embellissement urbain au XVIIIe siècle: visions prospectives

• Autores: Sophie Descat
• Localización: Revue de l'art, ISSN 0035-1326, Nº. 170, 2010, págs. 85-94
• Idioma: francés
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• Resumen

  • The reference to the antique city seems to have been unavoidable in 18th-century projects for urban embellishment. Assessments involving a profound archaeological knowledge (especially due to the fundamental rediscoveries of Paestum, Herculaneum, and Pompeii) acted as a mirror to a vast theoretical consideration of the city at a time of growing urbanization. Architects, theoreticians, and informed amateurs sought to transmit their ideas through this reference to the antique city, while at the same time affirming a position as “moderns,” in varied and sometimes paradoxical ways. The writer goes on to discuss several emblematic cases: the projects of Germain Boffrand for Place Louis XV in Paris, and those of George Dance Jr. for the reconstruction of the Port of London.