The architectural treatise in the Italian Renaissance
Subtitle: architectural invention, ornament, and literary culture
By: Alina A. Payne.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 343
Subjects: Architecture -- Early works to 1800; Architecture -- Textbooks; Architecture, Renaissance -- Italy -- Textbooks
Description: Vitruvius's Ten Books of Architecture, the only architectural treatise to have survived from antiquity, was the fountainhead of architectural theory in the Italian Renaissance. This study examines the Italian Renaissance architect's efforts to negotiate between imitation and reinvention of classicism. Through a close reading of Vitruvius and texts written during the period 1400-1600, Alina Payne identifies ornament as the central issue around which much of this debate focused.

Ornament, she argues, facilitated a dialogue across disciplines and invited exchanges with literary and rhetorical practices. Payne's study also highlights the place of the architectural treatise in the text-based culture of the period and of architectural discourse in Renaissance thought.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-328) and index.