Claude Perrault's Influence on Classical Architecture
1.
2. Born : 25 September 1613 Paris
Died : 9 October 1688 (aged 75) Paris
Education: Doctor of Medicine
Occupation: architect, physician, writer
3. Claude Perrault's Vitruvian project was
instrumental in defining the theoretical
boundaries and concerns ruling French
classicism, but he also played a crucial role in
facilitating its adoption by architects by
devising a system for the practical
application of classical principles, which he
published as The Ordinance of the Five
Columnar Orders According to the Methods of
the Ancients in 1683.
The work was an extraordinarily important
manifesto couched as a practical “how-to“
guide to architectural composition, and its
widespread adoption and numerous
translations had a profound impact upon the
course of classical architecture.
4. The central part of the East and West
Fronts of the United States Capitol (1792-
1811) in Washington, DC[3]
The Raczyński Library (1822–28) in Poznań
The Metropolitan Museum (1874) in New
York City
The original Pennsylvania Station (1910) in
New York City
War Memorial Opera House (1932), San
Francisco, California, USA
Metropolitan
Museum, New York
City
The Raczyński Library
,Poznań
The central part of the
East and West Fronts of
the United States Capitol
War Memorial Opera
House (1932), San
Francisco, California,
USA
For centuries, Perrault’s Colonnade has provided
a model for many grand edifices in Europe and
America:
5. Paris Observatory
Claude Perrault's Colonnade is
the easternmost façade of
the Palais du Louvre in Paris
These are two are
famous
example of his theory
6. According to Perrault, the proportions of
the orders had no basis in absolute truth
but were instead the result of fancy and
association. The consequent attempt to
discover a new basis for architectural
reality took many forms, from archaeology
to theory.