- Department of Architecture & Urban Planning
Campus Boekentoren, Jozef Plateaustraat 22, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Elizabeth Merrill
Ghent University, Architecture & Urban Planning, Faculty Member
- Art History, Italian Renaissance Art, Modern Architecture, Roman Villae, Drawings (Architecture), History of Military Technology, and 15 moreArchitectural History, Art and Art History, History of Science, Renaissance Studies, Art Nouveau, Visual Arts, Art Theory, Museum Studies, Prints and Drawings, Renaissance Florence, Architecture, Architectural Theory, Material Architecture, History of Science and Technology, and Museum Design (Architecture)edit
- Ph.D., History of Art and Architectureedit
Table of Contents List of Illustrations Abbreviations Introduction: Embracing Specificity, Embracing Place (Elizabeth Merrill) 1. Architecture on Paper: The Development and Function of Architectural Drawings in the Renaissance... more
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction: Embracing Specificity, Embracing Place (Elizabeth Merrill)
1. Architecture on Paper: The Development and Function of Architectural Drawings in the Renaissance (Wolfgang Lefèvre)
Part I Marking Place
2. The Santacroce Houses along the Via in Publicolis in Rome: Law, Place and Residential Architecture in the Early Modern Period (Nele De Raedt)
3. Towards a New Architecture of Cosmic Experience (Noam Andrews)
4. Architecture for Music: Sonorous Spaces in Sacred Buildings in Renaissance and Baroque Rome (Federico Bellini)
Part II Teaching Place
5. The Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala and the Construction of Siena (Elizabeth Merrill)
6. Places of Knowledge between Ulm and the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century: The Kunstkammer of Johannes Faulhaber (Paul Brakmann and Sebastian Fitzner)
7. Nicola Zabaglia's Scaffoldings for the Maintenance of Architectural Space in St. Peter's Basilica and throughout Europe in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries (Stefan M. Holzer and Nicoletta Marconi)
Part III Excavating Place
8. Building on 'Hollow Land': Skill and Expertise in Foundation-Laying Practices in the Low Countries in the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries (Merlijn Hurx)
9. The 'Conquest' and Construction of an Urban Place: The Insula dei Gesuiti in Venice in the Early Modern Period (Ludovica Galeazzo)
10. Exploring the Book of Fortresses (Edward Triplett)
Index of Names
Index of Subjects and Places
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction: Embracing Specificity, Embracing Place (Elizabeth Merrill)
1. Architecture on Paper: The Development and Function of Architectural Drawings in the Renaissance (Wolfgang Lefèvre)
Part I Marking Place
2. The Santacroce Houses along the Via in Publicolis in Rome: Law, Place and Residential Architecture in the Early Modern Period (Nele De Raedt)
3. Towards a New Architecture of Cosmic Experience (Noam Andrews)
4. Architecture for Music: Sonorous Spaces in Sacred Buildings in Renaissance and Baroque Rome (Federico Bellini)
Part II Teaching Place
5. The Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala and the Construction of Siena (Elizabeth Merrill)
6. Places of Knowledge between Ulm and the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century: The Kunstkammer of Johannes Faulhaber (Paul Brakmann and Sebastian Fitzner)
7. Nicola Zabaglia's Scaffoldings for the Maintenance of Architectural Space in St. Peter's Basilica and throughout Europe in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries (Stefan M. Holzer and Nicoletta Marconi)
Part III Excavating Place
8. Building on 'Hollow Land': Skill and Expertise in Foundation-Laying Practices in the Low Countries in the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries (Merlijn Hurx)
9. The 'Conquest' and Construction of an Urban Place: The Insula dei Gesuiti in Venice in the Early Modern Period (Ludovica Galeazzo)
10. Exploring the Book of Fortresses (Edward Triplett)
Index of Names
Index of Subjects and Places
Research Interests: History of Science and Technology, Art History, Renaissance History, Art Theory, Construction Technology, and 15 moreHistory of Science, Early Modern Europe, Architectural History, Architecture in Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art, Venetian art and architectural history, Early Modern Italy, Renaissance Rome, History of Construction, German Renaissance Art, Renaissance and Baroque Architectural Drawings, History of the Low Countries, Spanish Renaissance and Baroque Art, Renaissance Siena, Architectural Drawing, and Dutch Renaissance
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Hopkins, O. A review of Maureen Cassidy-Geiger (ed.), Living with Architecture as Art: The Peter W. May Collection of Architectural Drawings, Models, and Artefacts. London: Ad Ilissvm, 2021. Svalduz, E. A Review of Martin Gaier and... more
Hopkins, O. A review of Maureen Cassidy-Geiger (ed.), Living with Architecture as Art: The Peter W. May Collection of Architectural Drawings, Models, and Artefacts. London: Ad Ilissvm, 2021. Svalduz, E. A Review of Martin Gaier and Wolfgang Wolters, eds., Dilettanti di architettura nella Venezia del Cinquecento. Venice: Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, 2020. Kuenzli, K. A review of Mark Wigley, Konrad Wachsmann’s Television: Post-architectural Transmissions. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2020. Antonucci, M. A review of Dario Donetti, Francesco da Sangallo e l’identità dell’architettura toscana. Rome: Officina Libraria, 2020. Williams, S. A review of Zoltán Somhegyi, Reviewing the Past: The Presence of Ruins. London: Rowman & Littlefield International Ltd., 2020.
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Research Interests: History, Cultural History, Sociology, Art History, Architecture, and 15 moreJapanese Language And Culture, Historiography, History of Science, History of Museums, Architectural History, Modernity, Architectural Theory, East German History, History of architecture, Anthropocene, Pier Luigi Nervi, Architecture and Public Spaces, Roman Archaeology, History of Architecture, and Architecture of Yale
As epitomised in the works of Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, and Daniel Libeskind, the ‘new museum’ of art claims its own architectural typology. With asymmetrical silhouettes, gallery spaces that eschew the much derided ‘white cube’, and... more
As epitomised in the works of Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, and Daniel Libeskind, the ‘new museum’ of art claims its own architectural typology. With asymmetrical silhouettes, gallery spaces that eschew the much derided ‘white cube’, and cleverly conceived circulation systems, the new museum has been heralded as revolutionising the display of art. Yet its function extends beyond the display and conservation of art. The new art museum is conceived as a multifaceted cultural centre – a public forum – where art and culture are democratised, and families, scholars, students, tourists, and teachers come together. At the same time, the new museum competes with other entertainment venues on a commercial level. As a cultural factory replete with an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions, media facilities, restaurants, and shops, the new museum emphasises consumption as much as it does contemplation. In fact, the array of non-artrelated diversions contained in the new museum is often more ...
Research Interests: Art History, Art, Architecture, Museum Studies, Typology, and 15 moreContemporary Art, History of Museums, Architectural History, Frank Lloyd Wright, Architectural Theory, Museology, Entertainment, Visual Arts, Museums, Urban Renewal, Exhibition, Guggenheim Museum, Cincinnati History, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and Contemplation
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Based on the study of five small-scale Italian architectural manuscripts, dated between 1470 and 1520, this article uses the practitioners’ drawings to examine early modern artistic education, and the means by which architectural... more
Based on the study of five small-scale Italian architectural manuscripts, dated between 1470 and 1520, this article uses the practitioners’ drawings to examine early modern artistic education, and the means by which architectural knowledge was systematized, developed, shared, and retrieved. To this end, the paper consider the books’ contents in terms of differing divisions of architectural knowledge and modes of visualization. The function of the manuscripts’ drawings—which include generic models, building diagrams, design “recipes,” and exercises in architectural invenzione—varied significantly depending on context, and although no single image served as a “working” plan, all were in some way immediately useful to the practitioner. The drawings may thus be understood as records of architectural practice, and as such, relate to the codification of design-based knowledge and the evolving language of early modern architectural representation.
Research Interests: History, Computer Science, Art History, Italian Studies, History of Science, and 10 moreArchitectural History, Architectural Theory, Italian Renaissance Art, Italian Renaissance Architectural History, Theory of Knowledge, Architectural Design, Architectural Drawing, Representation Politics, Architectural Pattern, and Springer Ebooks
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The Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala was central to the development of architecture and infrastructure in early modern Siena. A major landowner and patron, the hospital institution oversaw the construction of a wide range of buildings... more
The Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala was central to the development of architecture and infrastructure in early modern Siena. A major landowner and patron, the hospital institution oversaw the construction of a wide range of buildings throughout the commune, and also played a crucial role in the perpetuation of a distinctly Sienese corpus of technical knowledge. Archival records attest to the presence of the Spedale’s building workshop, which contributed workers, materials and expertise to both the institution’s projects, as well as those involving Siena’s infrastructure and defences. Several fifteenth-century model books trace the technical tradition spearheaded by the Scala. Assembled by individual practitioners, the books bolstered a collective memory, delineating the ideas and structures that made Siena a place.
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The Sienese tradition of technical design is perhaps most emblematically represented in the treatises of Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501), illustrated compendia that were widely popular and frequently reproduced in the early... more
The Sienese tradition of technical design is perhaps most emblematically represented in the treatises of Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501), illustrated compendia that were widely popular and frequently reproduced in the early modern period. The number of manuscripts featuring drawings associated with Francesco di Giorgio numbers in the hundreds. But in underscoring Francesco's connection with this rich body of material, scholars have often overlooked the inherent value of the manuscripts as copy volumes: technical design manuals that guided practitioners in a course of autodidactic education. What is more, by insisting that such manuscripts are part of Francesco's legacy, scholars have never fully considered the alternative: what if this distinctive corpus of designs did not directly derive from Francesco di Giorgio? At stake here is not only a revisionist history of the celebrated Sienese architect, but also an enriched understanding of early modern architectural training. Two anonymous manuscript model books-London, British Library Add. MS 34113 and Dresden, Sächsische Landes bibliothek MS Ob. 13-provide the basis for a critical enquiry into this very question. Careful study of the manuscripts' contents, both graphic and textual, reveals an extraordinary number of parallels: between the volumes themselves, and with the 'signature' compilations of Francesco di Giorgio. The disclosed material does not recast Francesco as a mere copyist. Rather, it shows him as an engaged member of a vibrant artistic community: one in which information of all kinds was openly exchanged, and copying was the established means by which designers trained and assembled a repertoire of practical models.
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A reassessment of Zaha Hadid’s Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati within the context of new museum architecture and competing social, economic, and ideological expectations.
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Originally developed in the ecological circles of the 1970s that pursued critical alternatives to the modernist worldview, the concept of ‘resilience’ has pervaded 21st-century thought, from psychology to political theory, and from... more
Originally developed in the ecological circles of the 1970s that pursued critical alternatives to the modernist worldview, the concept of ‘resilience’ has pervaded 21st-century thought, from psychology to political theory, and from planning to architecture. But in most of its current guises, it has been used in positivist and future-oriented frames of thinking that limit it to an aspired benchmark for managing crises and withstanding catastrophic events. This Special Collection of Architectural Histories is an attempt to recuperate the overlooked potential of ‘resilience’ by asking whether and how its introduction in architectural history can transform current disciplinary practices. In their articles, the contributing authors revisit buildings that have been reused and transformed to withstand change over the centuries. Adopting the long-term perspective of ‘resilience’, they examine these physical objects as carriers of multiple layers of interventions, leading them to re-evaluate the intentions of architects and users and to reconsider the place of these buildings in architectural history. In most cases, ‘resilience’ offers a novel historiographical perspective that unveils long-standing conceptual schemata, from periodizations to methodological tropes, which still condition the historians’ interpretation of the past. In the final instance, ‘resilience’ illuminates the deep-seated modernist dichotomy between ‘innovation’ and ‘tradition’ in architectural history. In keeping with its origins in the late 20th-century, the concept offers a significant alternative to 21st-century architectural historians’ established views on modernity that are still embedded in their thought and practice.
Research Interests: Cultural History, Art History, Architecture, Japanese Language And Culture, History of Science, and 10 moreHistory of Museums, Architectural History, Architectural Theory, Sustainable Architecture, East German History, History of architecture, Pier Luigi Nervi, Architecture and Public Spaces, Roman Archaeology, and Architecture of Yale
The Professione di Architetto in Renaissance Italy shows how Renaissance Italian architects used the concept of the professione di architetto as a way to affirm and delineate the character of their occupation. Drawing inspiration from... more
The Professione di Architetto in Renaissance Italy shows how Renaissance Italian architects used the concept of the professione di architetto as a way to affirm and delineate the character of their occupation. Drawing inspiration from antiquarian models and taking advantage of the humanist ethos, these architects equated “profession” with manual and theoretical expertise, social authority, and the fulfillment of artistic, civic, and moral ideals. Elizabeth Merrill places the origins of architectural professionalism in early modern Italy—rather than in the nineteenth-century movements frequently cited by social historians—and describes the theoretical context for the architect's professional rise. Positioning themselves alongside university-educated professors, architects of Renaissance Italy crafted didactic treatises about their work and created academies for its instruction, foreshadowing a long history of architectural discourse that continues to this day.
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The establishment and evolution of AEG—German Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft, or General Electric Company—was quintessentially linked to the rise of modernism. Peter Behren's design for the company's first Turbine Factory in... more
The establishment and evolution of AEG—German Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft, or General Electric Company—was quintessentially linked to the rise of modernism. Peter Behren's design for the company's first Turbine Factory in Berlin, Germany was an integral part of this process. Crowned with a massive, reinforced concrete pediment, the factory served as a cultural icon of modern industrial power. It expanded the realm of the architect’s work and established new guidelines for mass-production.
https://smarthistory.org/peter-behrens-turbine-factory/
https://smarthistory.org/peter-behrens-turbine-factory/
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Space is essential to architecture. In contrast to painting and sculpture, architecture is fundamentally defined as a spatial construct, taking form not in two dimensions or three, but four. Architecture—as a direct product of its spatial... more
Space is essential to architecture. In contrast to painting and sculpture, architecture is fundamentally defined as a spatial construct, taking form not in two dimensions or three, but four. Architecture—as a direct product of its spatial dimension—is also fundamentally experiential and social. The theoretical conception of space—the understanding of space as a social product—provides a systematic, yet expandable language for examining the production of architecture—the processes, materials, structures, knowledge systems, and people integral in the making of architecture. To the extent that the concept of space facilitates such avenues of investigation, this conference pursues these insights in regards to architecture of early modern Europe.
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References to professionalism are found in abundance in sixteenth-century writings on architecture. These works – theoretical tracts, practitioner’s manuals and contemporary histories – are substantially different in scope and form, but... more
References to professionalism are found in abundance in sixteenth-century writings on architecture. These works – theoretical tracts, practitioner’s manuals and contemporary histories – are substantially different in scope and form, but correspond in their codification of the then poorly-defined role of the architect. The appellation of the “professional” was integral in the elevation of the early-modern architect. It was not incidental that Pietro Cataneo and Andrea Palladio each dedicated their treatises to the “professione” of architecture, or that Giorgio Vasari described Italy’s greatest architects as professionals. That early-modern practitioners and theorists conceived architecture as a “profession” – an occupation involving prolonged training and formal qualification, in which professed knowledge of a subject or science is applied – is quite clear. Yet, according to the standard historical trope, “professionalism” as we know it today did not exist in the sixteenth century, or even the seventeenth. Indeed, it was not until the nineteenth-century that the modern professional truly emerged. This paper explores this apparent paradox, questioning how we might reconcile the discrepancy between the early-modern concept of the architectural professional and the professional architect of the modern period. More generally, this paper explores what professionalism meant in the early-modern period, and considers whether or not the discussion of Renaissance artistic professionalism is anachronistic.
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Within Renaissance art theory, architecture was often said to be the greatest feat of artistic ingenuity. Indeed, in many respects, the great early modern architects epitomized the epithet “Renaissance man,” combining innate talent with... more
Within Renaissance art theory, architecture was often said to be the greatest feat of artistic ingenuity. Indeed, in many respects, the great early modern architects epitomized the epithet “Renaissance man,” combining innate talent with invenzione, practical know-how and the ability to communicate their ideas through writing and drawing. However, by the very nature of his work, the architect was never autonomous. Architecture in the early modern period, as still today, was highly collaborative in nature. Buildings were produced by many hands, and materialized over years if not decades. This paper examines how Renaissance architects confronted the tension between the contemporary ideal of the autonomous artistic genius and the collaborative reality of their practice. Developing upon the Albertian model of the authorial-architect, leading architects of the 15th- and 16th-centuries individuated themselves through writing, the development of signature forms, political involvement, and the cultivation of distinguished patrons.
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This dissertation examines the prodigious career of the Sienese architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439 – 1501), and considers the modes of his practice within the broader framework of the emerging early-modern architectural... more
This dissertation examines the prodigious career of the Sienese architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439 – 1501), and considers the modes of his practice within the broader framework of the emerging early-modern architectural profession. The role of the early-modern architect is a subject of longstanding historical interest, as during this period the character of the building designer remained substantially undefined. Yet, whereas scholars customarily highlight the heterogeneity displayed by Renaissance architects – who followed diverse courses of training and executed a wide range of building commissions – my study draws attention to the skills, design procedures and social networks these practitioners shared in common. Francesco di Giorgio, I argue, is exemplary of the early-modern architect due not only to the breadth of his practice – which extends beyond the modern definition of architecture and challenges our historical understanding of this polysemic concept – but also the degree to which his activities may be examined through primary source documentation. Perhaps even more importantly, Francesco di Giorgio is a model of the early-modern architect due to his well-documented desire to delineate the nascent profession, an ambition which found a receptive audience in his popular Trattato di Architettura.
Previous scholarship on Francesco di Giorgio has tended to atomize his career – focusing on either his Trattato di Architettura, his work as fortification designer, or his tenure at the court of Urbino. These highly focused studies have created a fragmented vision of the important architect, glossing over crucial aspects of his life because they exhibit no immediate link to his cardinal architectural achievements. This thesis, by contrast, examines Francesco di Giorgio’s career in its entirety, drawing attention to the underlying conditions which structured his practice, and which in turn linked the many, seemingly disparate components of his professional life. Three conditions which structured Francesco di Giorgio’s career, and which I argue came to epitomize the profession more broadly, are technical training, travel, and social-political engagement. These three lenses provide not only a formable, objective framework for understanding the complex architect, but also allow us more easily to draw comparisons between his work and that of his contemporaries. Beyond Francesco di Giorgio, this is a study of Renaissance building and design practices, and the development of artistic professionalism. The attention given to the technical nature of early-modern architecture – which often required knowledge of hydraulic engineering, machine design, and defense construction – is particularly noteworthy, as these themes have been substantially neglected in art historical scholarship, despite their central role in early modern practice.
Previous scholarship on Francesco di Giorgio has tended to atomize his career – focusing on either his Trattato di Architettura, his work as fortification designer, or his tenure at the court of Urbino. These highly focused studies have created a fragmented vision of the important architect, glossing over crucial aspects of his life because they exhibit no immediate link to his cardinal architectural achievements. This thesis, by contrast, examines Francesco di Giorgio’s career in its entirety, drawing attention to the underlying conditions which structured his practice, and which in turn linked the many, seemingly disparate components of his professional life. Three conditions which structured Francesco di Giorgio’s career, and which I argue came to epitomize the profession more broadly, are technical training, travel, and social-political engagement. These three lenses provide not only a formable, objective framework for understanding the complex architect, but also allow us more easily to draw comparisons between his work and that of his contemporaries. Beyond Francesco di Giorgio, this is a study of Renaissance building and design practices, and the development of artistic professionalism. The attention given to the technical nature of early-modern architecture – which often required knowledge of hydraulic engineering, machine design, and defense construction – is particularly noteworthy, as these themes have been substantially neglected in art historical scholarship, despite their central role in early modern practice.
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This course will examine the rich interconnections in early-modern Italy between technological innovations and architecture – broadly defined to include fortifications, hydraulic works, building machines, as well as the more traditionally... more
This course will examine the rich interconnections in early-modern Italy between technological innovations and architecture – broadly defined to include fortifications, hydraulic works, building machines, as well as the more traditionally studied civic, religious and residential constructions. Lectures and assigned readings will consider some of the key, early-modern achievements in architecture which were engendered through technological advances – from the construction of the great Florentine Duomo, to the development of the ichnographic map, and the design of new firearms and firearm-resistant fortifications. Within the context of these case-studies, we will also address broader themes pertaining to the role of the early-modern architect and his training. These include modes of draftsmanship, the architect’s education in practical mathematics, the development of a patent-system for technological inventions, and the collaboration and information-exchange between practitioners.
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This seminar examines the Italian Renaissance Villa in the context of humanist culture and literary study, building typology and economic initiative. The course begins with an overview of the classical origins of the villa and the ideal... more
This seminar examines the Italian Renaissance Villa in the context of humanist culture and literary study, building typology and economic initiative. The course begins with an overview of the classical origins of the villa and the ideal of country living (villeggiatura). We then trace the evolution of the early-modern villa – from the fortified villa-castles of Tuscany, to the papal villas and gardens of Rome, and the expansive villa-palaces and villa-farms of Andrea Palladio in the Veneto. Within this, we will explore themes related to early-modern recreation, prescriptions for healthy living, farming, building patronage, and land reclamation.
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This seminar focuses on Italian Renaissance court architecture – the palaces, villas, castles and fortifications constructed by the ruling dukes, marquis and princes of the 15th and 16th centuries. Readings and seminar discussions center... more
This seminar focuses on Italian Renaissance court architecture – the palaces, villas, castles and fortifications constructed by the ruling dukes, marquis and princes of the 15th and 16th centuries. Readings and seminar discussions center on themes of patronage, court politics and culture, artistic decorum, courtly style and artists' travel. Questions considered include: What is Renaissance court architecture and how did it differ from contemporary urban or civic building? Who was the court architect? How did court style impact the development of architecture outside of the court?