Christopher Tadgell – författare

The first in a new series of five books describing and illustrating the seminal architectural traditions of the world, Antiquity traces architectural history from its very beginnings until the time when the traditions that shape today’s environments began to flourish.More than a catalogue of buildings, in this work Tadgell provides their political, technological, social and cultural contexts and explores architecture, not only as the development of form and space but as an expression of the civilization within which it evolves. The buildings are analyzed and illustrated with over 1200 colour photographs and 400 drawings while the societies that produced them are brought to life through a broad selection of their artefacts.

Christopher Tadgell covers the major architectural traditions of the Middle Ages, from the Romanesque architecture of the ninth and tenth centuries, built on the legacy of ancient Rome and including elements from Carolingian, Ottonian, Byzantine and northern European traditions, through to the evolution of the Gothic which heralded new, structurally daring architecture. The book ends with the Italian rediscovery of classical ideas and ideals and the emergence of the great Renaissance theorists and architects, including Brunelleschi, Alberti, and Bramante. As well as the palazzos, villas and churches of Renaissance Italy, this period saw the building of great chateaux in France, palaces in Germany and the golden-domed cathedrals of Russia.With more than two thousand images, including many plans, The West is a beautiful, single-volume guide to the history of architecture in this period, covering the whole of Europe from Ireland to Russia and placing architectural developments within their political, technological, artistic and intellectual contexts.

This book examines the architectural tradition which developed with the religious culture of Islam. Essentially heir to the Roman development of space, it had its source in the ubiquitous courtyard house, while the development of the mosque as both place of worship and the centre of the community, its form a response to the requirements of prayer set out in the Koran, was given a range of forms as the conquests of Islam came up against the traditions of Egypt, Persia, India and China. The tradition developed further in tombs, palaces and fortifications, all of which are described and illustrated here.The architecture of Islam encompasses a high proportion of the world's most beautiful buildings. This book covers the whole range in unprecedented breadth and depth.

The seventh book in the Architecture in Context series, this is a comprehensive survey of European architecture from the pre-dawn of the Enlightenment in early Georgian England to the triumph of Brutalism in the seventh decade of the twentieth century.The three main sections of the book are preceded by a concise introduction isolating the key philosophical or political theories which dominated the period: in particular Enlightenment and industrialization. The first section covers Anglo-Palladianism, French academic rationalism, their Neoclassical developments and the aspiration to the Sublime. This first part of the book develops the major strand of eclecticism before progressing to Historicism in the second, the choice of style seen to be relevant to a given commission, and the impact of industrial building techniques. The third and final part begins with Design Reform in reaction to industrialism and then proceeds to Design Reform in response to the reactionaries, but they too continue to make their mark as the chronicle progresses. The epilogue covers developments from the advent of the Postmodernists and their High-Tech adversaries to the diversity of formal and technological games played out towards the end of the century.The many great architects and designers whose work both defines and illustrates the themes of the book include visionaries like Soane, Boullée and Schinkel, entrepreneurial innovators such as the Adams brothers and Repton, engineers of the age of iron including Eiffel, Paxton and Bélanger, and 20th-century giants – Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier among numerous others.

Dedicated to the tracing of continuity across sectarian divides, Christopher Tadgell’s History of Architecture in India (1989) was the first modern monograph to draw together in one volume all the strands of India’s pre-colonial architectural history – from the Vedic and Native traditions of early India, through Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and secular architecture. This comprehensive revision, Architecture in the Indian Subcontinent: From the Mauryas to the Mughals, expands the structure to acknowledge the great advance in scholarship across this extremely complex subject over the last three decades.An understanding of Indian history and religion is the basis for understanding the complex pattern of relationships in the evolution of architecture in the subcontinent. Therefore, background material covers major invasions, migrations, dynastic conflicts and cultural and commercial connections, the main religious developments and their significance and repercussions, and external architectural precedents. While avoiding the usual division of the subject into ‘Buddhist and Hindu’ and ‘Islamic’ parts in order to trace continuity, the importance of religion, symbolism and myth to the development of characteristic Indian architectural forms in all their richness and complexity is fully explained in this fully illustrated account of the subcontinent’s architecture.

In tracing the evolution of the Louvre from fortress to palace and of Versailles from hunting domain to dynastic capital, Dr Tadgell’s detailed architectural analysis of many projects – external and internal, realised and unrealised – is set in the context of the development of the medieval monarchy towards absolutism, of the development of the medieval château towards precedents for the seat of absolutism, and of the effect of the French monarchy’s financial incontinence on the realisation of royal building ambitions.In particular, Tadgell challenges received opinion on the introduction of Hispano-Burgundian court etiquette to French palace design, relates the court front of Lescot’s Renaissance Louvre to the iconography of apotheosis, revises the current ordering of François Mansart’s designs for the Louvre and reassesses the subsequent contribution of Claude Perrault to the completion of the east front in respect for the opinion of 17th and 18th century commentators. After surveying the various phases of work for Louis XIV at Versailles, he traces the evolution of Ange-Jacques Gabriel’s grand projet for rebuilding the town side of the palace for Louis XV, noting the influence of Bernini on the definitive phase, and he masters the intricacies of the incessant changes to the royal apartments which inhibited rebuilding.Finally, the book looks at the influence of the great French palaces on those seeking to emulate their ambition, from Stockholm in the late-17th century to the deliriously opulent late-19th century palace of Ludwig II of Bavaria at Herrenchiemsee. A wealth of illustrative material and supporting documents bring this comprehensive and authoritative text to life.

In tracing the evolution of the Louvre from fortress to palace and of Versailles from hunting domain to dynastic capital, Dr Tadgell’s detailed architectural analysis of many projects – external and internal, realised and unrealised – is set in the context of the development of the medieval monarchy towards absolutism, of the development of the medieval château towards precedents for the seat of absolutism, and of the effect of the French monarchy’s financial incontinence on the realisation of royal building ambitions.In particular, Tadgell challenges received opinion on the introduction of Hispano-Burgundian court etiquette to French palace design, relates the court front of Lescot’s Renaissance Louvre to the iconography of apotheosis, revises the current ordering of François Mansart’s designs for the Louvre and reassesses the subsequent contribution of Claude Perrault to the completion of the east front in respect for the opinion of 17th and 18th century commentators. After surveying the various phases of work for Louis XIV at Versailles, he traces the evolution of Ange-Jacques Gabriel’s grand projet for rebuilding the town side of the palace for Louis XV, noting the influence of Bernini on the definitive phase, and he masters the intricacies of the incessant changes to the royal apartments which inhibited rebuilding.Finally, the book looks at the influence of the great French palaces on those seeking to emulate their ambition, from Stockholm in the late-17th century to the deliriously opulent late-19th century palace of Ludwig II of Bavaria at Herrenchiemsee. A wealth of illustrative material and supporting documents bring this comprehensive and authoritative text to life.

The seventh book in the Architecture in Context series, this is a comprehensive survey of the European tradition of architecture from the pre-dawn of the Enlightenment in early Georgian England to the triumph of Brutalism in the seventh decade of the twentieth century.The three main sections are preceded by a concise introduction isolating the key philosophical and political theories which dominated the period: in particular Enlightenment and industrialization. The first section of the book covers Anglo-Palladianism, French academic rationalism, their Neoclassical developments and the aspiration to the Sublime. This first part develops the major strand of eclecticism before progressing to Historicism and the impact of industrial building techniques in the second. The third and final part begins with Design Reform in reaction to industrialism and then proceeds to Design Reform in response to the reactionaries – though they too continue to make their mark as the chronicle progresses. The epilogue covers developments from the advent of the Postmodernists and their High-Tech adversaries to the diversity of formal and technological games played out towards the end of the century.The numerous great architects and designers whose work both defines and illustrates the book’s themes include visionaries like Soane, Boullée and Schinkel, entrepreneurial innovators such as the Adams brothers and Repton, engineers of the age of iron including Eiffel, Paxton and Bélanger, and 20th-century giants – Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier among many others.

This is the first in a series of seven books that describe and illustrate the seminal architectural traditions of the world. It describes the origins of the Classical tradition in the mountain temples of Sumer, the pyramids of Egypt and the ziggurats of Mesopotamia. The story continues with the temples, theatres, palaces and council chambers of ancient Greece and Rome, and finishes with the adoption of Classical models to house the new institutions of Christian Europe. Excursions along the way take in Mesoamerica and the Andean littoral, and Africa.Not simply a profusely illustrated catalogue of buildings, the book also provides their political, technological, social and cultural contexts. It functions equally well as a detailed and comprehensive narrative, as a collection of the great buildings of the world, and as an archive of themes across time and place.

Unprecedented in scope, this fifth volume in the Architecture in Context series traces the rediscovery of Classical ideas and the emergence of the great artists and architects of late 15th- and early 16th-century Italy that led to the cultural peak characterized as the High Renaissance.It begins with a definition of Mannerism, the seminal development from the High Renaissance and the Baroque, associated with such dominant and influential figures as Raphael, Michelangelo, Vignola, Romano and Palladio. The political context within which Mannerism and its variants developed – from the Reformation to the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War – is outlined before the major figures and achievements of Italian architecture in the period are explored in great depth and breadth. The journey then moves to France and architects and thinkers such as Pierre Lescot, Philibert de l’Orme, J.A. du Cerceau and Salomon de Brosse. These two major traditions – with the intercession of architects from the Netherlands who had ideas of their own – had a huge impact in central Europe, the ideas spreading across a vast area including modern-day Germany, Austria and Poland.After a digression to the notably eclectic England of Elizabeth I and James I, where pioneers such as Robert Smythson were overshadowed by the towering figure of Inigo Jones, Reformations ends with a survey of architecture in the Iberian peninsula and the colonies of Spain and Portugal, where the powerful influence of the Italian masters met a strong vernacular tradition.Profusely illustrated and with many specially drawn plans, this is a wide-ranging and detailed guide to the architecture of a period that continues to fascinate and engage us today.

This volume tells the story of European architecture in the ‘middle ages’ – from the destruction by northern barbarians of Rome and the urban society it had fostered to the rediscovery of Classical values and the rebirth of humanism in 15th-century Italy.This period saw the evolution of feudalism, with its patterns of dependency and obligation, the establishment of monasticism in its varied forms, and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire. The art and architecture that emerged alongside this profound social reordering is known as Romanesque. Based on the legacy of ancient Rome, it included elements from Carolingian, Ottonian, Byzantine and northern European traditions. This synthesis produced some of its most powerful monuments in the glorious abbey churches that a period of prosperity and political stability fostered in unprecedented numbers.Romanesque architecture was succeeded by the Gothic, a movement that originated at the abbey of S. Denis in France in the 12th century. Structurally daring, it heralded a new architecture of light, most enduringly expressed in great cathedrals, subsequently in the growing sophistication of houses and civic architecture as feudal magnates increasingly ceded power to the central authority.The book ends with the Italian rediscovery of Classical ideas and ideals and the emergence of the great Renaissance theorists and architects, including Brunelleschi, Alberti and Bramante. As well as the palazzos, villas and churches of Renaissance Italy, this period saw the building of great châteaux in France, palaces in Germany and the golden-domed cathedrals of Russia.With more than two thousand images, including many plans, The West is an unprecedented single-volume survey of the period, covering the whole of Europe from Ireland to Russia, and placing architectural developments within their political, technological, artistic and intellectual contexts.

Unprecedented in scope – like its companion volume on the High Renaissance, Mannerism – this sixth volume in the Architecture in Context series traces the development of architecture and decoration in the 17th and early 18th centuries – particularly the transformation of rationalist Classical ideals into the emotive, highly theatrical style known as Baroque and the further development away from architectonic principles to the free-ranging decorative style known as Rococo.It begins with an outline of the politics of Absolutism and its opposite over the century from the Thirty Years’ War to the War of the Austrian Succession: this is illustrated with images largely chosen from the major artists of the day; a supplementary introduction outlines the cross-currents of painting in the early Baroque era. The first substantive section deals with the seminal masters active in Rome – Maderno, Cortona, Borromini and Bernini – and their contemporaries there, in Venice and in Piedmont. The second section deals with the seminal French masters – above all François Mansart, Louis Le Vau, Andre Le Nôtre, Jules Hardouin-Mansart and the latter’s followers who developed the Rococo style in the domestic field. The rest of the book is divided into three large sections: the Protestant North – the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Britain; the Divided Centre – the Catholic powers of central Europe and southern Germany, the Protestants of northern Germany and the Orthodox Russians; the Catholic South – the Iberian kingdoms and their dominions in southern Italy and the Americas.

The East, the second in a series of seven books that describe and illustrate the seminal architectural traditions of the world, is a survey of unparalleled range and depth. The journey starts on the Indian subcontinent with the Vedic and native traditions of the 2nd millennium BCE, modified by the changing demands of worship to produce the characteristic forms of Buddhist and Hindu temples in all their spatial and sculptural variety – which also helped to shape palaces and even towns in a complex line of development.The tradition in its exported forms – in Java, Cambodia, Burma and Thailand among other territories – developed in stupendous buildings, producing monuments as fabulous as Angkor Wat and the Shwe-dagon pagoda in Rangoon.In the second part of the book, the long but conservative traditions of China, Korea and Japan and their spheres of influence are examined, a story of absorption and transformation centred on the walled enclosures of China and the Japanese predilection for informality and artful simplicity.Not simply a profusely illustrated catalogue of buildings, the book also provides their political, technological, social and cultural contexts. It functions equally well as a detailed and comprehensive narrative, as a collection of the great buildings of the world, and as an archive of themes across time and place.

Architecture in Context is a series of seven books describing and illustrating all the seminal traditions of architecture from the earliest settlements in the Euphrates and Jordan valleys to the stylistically and technologically sophisticated buildings of the second half of the twentieth century. It brings together the fruits of the author’s lifetime of teaching and travelling the world, seeing and photographing buildings in an extraordinary synthesis. Each stand-alone volume sets the buildings described and illustrated within their political, technological, social and cultural contexts, exploring architecture not only as the development of form but as an expression of the civilization within which it evolved.The series focuses on the story of the Classical tradition from its origins in Mesopotamia and Egypt, through its realization in ancient Greece and Rome, to the Renaissance, Neo-Classicism, Eclecticism and Modernism. This thread is supplemented with detailed excursions to cover the development of architecture in Central America, India, South-East Asia, and the Islamic world.For students of architecture and art history, for travellers, and for readers who want to understand the genesis of the buildings they see around them, each volume provides a complete, readable and superbly illustrated reference.