Events

This talk will trace the use of color in European architectural drawing and prints between the Renaissance and the early nineteenth century. Its most basic premise posits that color was never an essential feature of architectural drawing but made so by an increasingly codified and precise system of architectural representation that responded to the demands of political institutions and the general public. Color provided a visual means of communication that sidestepped textual explication of technically and structurally complex building programs. Looking across national borders yet attentive to the eventual supremacy of a French model, this talk will address color as a key player in the long history of rivalry and exchange between European traditions in architectural representation and practice.