The Persistence of the Classical

Linked by the common theme of classicism, the chapters are divided into three sections. The first section is concerned with architectural ideas and includes essays on Renaissance interpretations of Vitruvius, Roman Catholic chapels in post-Reformation London, and the architectural writers John Summerson and Hope Bagenal; the central section addresses aspects of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century neoclassicism and includes new work on Marie-Joseph Peyre, Charles Barry, and C.R. Cockerell; and the final section is devoted to studies of classicism and the Picturesque in the twentieth century. Essays in this last section include studies of Albert Richardson and the architectural partnership of McMorran and Whitby, as well as an account of the rise of postmodernism in relation to the Architecture of the École des Beaux-Arts exhibition held at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1975-6.

The book includes 107 monochome illustrations and a full bibliography of David Watkin's own writings.