The importance of the British architect A. W. N. Pugin (1812-52) in the history of the Gothic Revival, the development of ecclesiology, the origins of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and in architectural theory is incontestable. His letters are vigorous, direct, and invaluable for architectural and historical research. The fourth of five volumes.
A.W.N Pugin (1812-52) was one of the most significant cultural figures of the mid-19th century and one of the greatest British designers. This text provides an important insight into his character and his work.
"The importance of A.W.N. Pugin (1812-52) in the history of the Gothic Revival, in the development of ecclesiology, in the origins of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and in architectural theory is incontestable. A leading British architect who was also a designer of furniture, textiles, stained glass, metalwork, and ceramics, he is one of the most significant figures of the mid-nineteenth century and one of the greatest designers. His correspondence is important because it provides more insight into the man and more information about his work than any other source. In this volume, the third of five, which spans the years 1846 to 1848, Pugin's two most important churches are completed and the first part of the House of Lords is opened. He makes his only trip to Italy, and he marries for the third time. His correspondence sheds light too on the religious life of the time, especially ecclesiastical politics."--Jacket.
The importance of A. W. N. Pugin (1812-52) in architecture and design in England and beyond is incontestable. The leading architect of the Gothic Revival, Pugin is one of the most significant figures of the mid-nineteenth century and one of the greatest designers. His correspondence furnishes more insight into the man and more information about his work than any other source. This volume, the last of five, contains letters from 1851 and the first months of 1852; after that, Pugin's health failed and he died in September. In the great event of the period, the international exhibition held in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, the display of objects made to Pugin's design, which he planned and oversaw, was an outstanding success, bringing substantial commercial benefit to his colleagues and spreading Pugin's influence even more widely than before. The value of his judgment was recognized in his appointment to two committees in connection with the Great Exhibition. Frantic though the preparations for what came to be known as the Medieval Court were, Pugin made time to write for publication. He issued letters and pamphlets in explanation, defence, and support of the Catholic Church and its re-established hierarchy, and turned again to the conundrum that had long teased him, the relation between the faith and the form, not only architectural, in which it found expression. He completed the book on chancel screens conceived some years before. At home in The Grange at Ramsgate, he continued to design stained glass windows, for other architects as well as his own clients, and supervised the production of cartoons; he poured out designs in his usual fields of metalwork, ceramics, furniture, carving, and wallpaper, and branched out, not always happily, into new areas such as embroidery and the decoration of piano cases. The demand for drawings for Westminster, where the House of Commons was due to open early in 1852, was as incessant as ever. His last child, Edmund Peter, was born in 1851 only a few months before his first grandchild, Mildred. Both were baptized in the church of St Augustine which he was still building next to his house and where he himself was soon to be laid in the vault he provided for the purpose. The volume also includes some letters which have come to light too late for inclusion in their proper chronological places and some texts of doubtful authenticity.
A.W.N. Pugin transformed the Gothic Revival from an architectural style into an international movement. He decorated and furnished the Houses of Parliament, creating one of the icons of modern British identity in the process. His church designs were vastly influential, and although he was staunchly Roman Catholic, he did much to set the aesthetic tone of modern Anglicanism. The house he designed for himself at Ramsgate transformed the Victorian Gothic villa, demonstrating the ways a thoroughly modern house could draw integral lessons from the Middle Ages. And although his whole ideal was woven around a conception of English identity, his influence was international. Architects in the United States, northern Europe, and across the British Empire followed his lead, drawing from elements of his aesthetic and ideals, and in doing so, altered the look and feel of the nineteenth-century city. Despite the popularity of Pugin’s work, this is the first single-volume overview of his architecture to be published since 1971. It summarises much new scholarship and provides a good introduction to his career as well as new insight for those who might already be familiar with it.
Pugin’s global influence on church architecture and material reform The year 2012 marked the bicentenary of the gothic revival architect A.W.N. Pugin. His influence as a designer not only spread fast globally, but also played a leading part in the transformation of material culture from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. Pugin’s work has been comprehensively reevaluated over the last decade. In this volume sixteen leading scholars from across the globe discuss Pugin’s direct influence on church architecture and furnishing. Beautifully illustrated with a large selection of new photography, Gothic Revival Worldwide, the successor to the volume Gothic Revival published in 2000, reveals how Pugin’s ideas played a profound role in the changing face of material reform in church architecture as an expression of the evolving identity of the churches across the world from North America to Mongolia and the South Pacific. Contributors Stephen Bann (Bristol University), Jessica Basciano (University of St. Thomas, Houston), G.A. Bremner (University of Edinburgh), Martin Bressani (McGill University, Montréal), Karen Burns (University of Melbourne), Timothy Brittain-Catlin (University of Kent), Peter Coffman (Carleton University, Ottawa), Thomas Coomans (KU Leuven), Jan De Maeyer (KU Leuven / KADOC), Candace Iron (York University, Toronto), Stephen Kite (Cardiff University, Wales), Alex Lawrey (independent scholar), Peter N. Lindfield (University of Stirling), Cameron Macdonell (Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, ETH Zurich), M. Stephen McNair, Jr. (McNair Historic Preservation), Gilles Maury (École National Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage, Lille), Henrik Schoenefeldt (University of Kent), Richard A. Sundt (University of Oregon), Malcolm Thurlby (York University, Toronto)
Stained glass reached the height of its popularity in the Victorian period. But how did it become so popular and who was involved in this remarkable revival? The enthusiasm for these often exquisite pieces of artwork spread from specialist groups of antiquarians and architects to a much wider section of the Victorian public. By looking at stained glass from the perspective of both glass-painter and patron, and by considering how stained glass was priced, bought and sold, this enlightening study traces the emergence of the market for stained glass in Victorian England. Thus it contains new insights into the Gothic Revival and the relationship between architecture and the decorative arts. Beautifully illustrated with colour plates and black and white illustrations, this book will be valuable to those interested in stained glass and the wider world of Victorian art.
This study explores Victorian poetry in relation to Victorian religion, with particular emphasis on the bitter contemporary debates over the use of forms in worship. It discusses major Victorian poets - Tennyson, the Brownings, Rossetti, Hopkins, Hardy - and also argues that their work was influenced by a host of minor and less studied writers.
