CIRCULAR ARCHITECTURE REINTERPRETED IN LATER CENTURIES
- Stonehenge and its historians in the 17th and 18th centuries
The prehistorical standing stones of Stonehenge are placed in circles:
- They were studied by 17th century architects: Inigo Jones (see our first lesson on the theatre) believed they were Roman, an example of the geometrical architecture of the Ancients.
On Stonehenge, see the English Heritage website.
On Inigo Jones's view of Stonehenge, see the Nexus Journal.
His drawings, executed in 1620 when he undertook to study Stonehenge and published posthumely by his pupil John Webb, show the circle both as a ruin and reconstructed as a geometrical building in the classical style of the Tuscan order (the most ancient order).
- In the 18th century, the antiquarian William Stukeley studied Stonehenge.
His book Stonehenge A Temple Restor'd to the British Druids (1740) gives a plan (Groundplot) and an elevation (Orthography) according to the usual practices of architectural draughtsmanship.
- The Circus in Bath
Bath, a fashionable spa of the 18th century, developed new areas in the 18th century to accommodate visitors. They were built in classical style by the architects John Wood the Elder and the Younger, and they were meant to reproduce Roman town-planning motifs. The Circus was inspired by Stonehenge, in which John Wood was interested, as well as by the Coliseum in Rome.
Study Bath in the Grove Dictionary of Art
(available by subscription: our University has a subscription), an encyclopaedia of the arts.
