Christopher Wren: In Search of Eastern Antiquity by Vaughan Hart

A fresh look at the Eastern origins of Christopher Wrens architecture In this revelatory study of one of the great architects in British history Vaughan Hart considers Christopher Wrens 16321723 interest in Eastern antiuity and Ottoman architecture an interest that would animate much of his theory and practice As the early modern understanding of antiuity broadened to include new discoveries at Palmyra and Persepolis Wren disputed common assumptions about the European origins of Classical and Gothic architecture tracing these building traditions not to theGreeks or Germans but to the stonemasons of the biblical East In a deft analysis Hart contextualizes Wrens use of classical elementscolumns domes and cross planswithin his enthusiasm for the East and the broader Anglican interest in the Eastern church A careful study of diary records reappraises Wrens working relationship with Robert Hooke 16351703 who shared in many of Wrens theoretical commitments The result is a new deepened understanding of Wrens work