Title: Observations on the Letter of Monsieur Mariette (Texts & Documents)
First published: October 8, 2002
Description: "The engraver and designer Giovanni Battista Piranesi published this lively three-part defense of Roman architectural "invention" in 1765, just as the "beautiful and noble simplicity" of ancient Greek art was becoming a tenet of Western aesthetics.

An impassioned plea for a Roman-Style eclecticism that draws freely on all artistic forms and traditions, Piranesi's Observations anticipates the contemporary debate between devotees of a rational, minimal architecture and advocates of an architecture rich in ornament and historical references."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: Architecture, Early works to 1800, Aesthetics, Architectural criticism, Classical Architecture, History, Architecture, early works to 1800, Ouvrages avant 1800, Architecture antique, Esthétique, Critique d'architecture, Histoire, Antiquités, Architectuurtheorieën, Eclecticisme
Places: Europe
People: Pierre Jean Mariette (1694-1774)
Time periods: 18th century