![]() Nothing is more invigorating and refreshing in times of confusion than to go back to origins. The first principle of imitation would thus be to study the originals – to study them as they are in their firstness, their unprecedented novelty, without regard to what follows. Vitruvius’ Ten Books of Architecture, Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture, the Abbé Laugier’s An Essay on Architecture, Alberti’s Ten Books of Architecture, Quatremère de Quincy’s On Imitation, Ruskin’s The Seven Lamps of Architecture, Tessenow’s Handwerk und Kleinstadt, Schumacher’s Der Geist der Baukunst, Karl Gruber’s Die Gestalt der Deutschen Stadt – these are all works of great beauty, beautiful in their ideas and concepts as well as in expression, composition and style. Abandon yourselves, dear readers, to the pleasure of the text. Let me therefore make a case for a conscientious study of his writings and encourage genuinely original architects and artists to learn from authentic sources. It is difficult to add anything substantial to Quatremère de Quincy’s Essai sur la nature, le but et les moyens de l’imitation dans les beaux-arts ( 1823) 1 and Dictionnaire historique de l’architect ure ( 1823–33) 2, for Quatremère excels in precision and comprehensiveness as well as in depth. ![]() ![]() EDITOR’S NOTE: This chapter from Lucien Steil’s insightful and forthcoming book, In the Mood for Architecture: Tradition, Modernism & Serendipity, is reprinted here with the gracious permission of both the author and his publisher, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag Tübingen.
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