THE PICTORIAL TREATMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN FRENCH ART 1731 TO 180

After about 1740, the importance of architectural subject matter in French art increased dramatically. Pictures of buildings, both intact and in ruins began to appear with such frequency that, when considered en masse, they constitute a genre as separate and distinct as portraiture and still life. Like these more traditional genres, the pictorial architecture of the late eighteenth century appeared in a variety of forms and with varying degrees of fantasy and verism. During the most fertile period, from c. 1740 to c. 1790, dramatic transformations took place in the traditional perceptions of structure and function, as artists took a fresh look at the expressive and emotive properties of architecture. It was this exploration of the long-overlooked eloquence of buildings that was the enduring legacy of the architectural painters.;This dissertation explores the tradition of architectural representation from three points of view (all thematically linked) corresponding to the three chapters. These are; the tradition of ruin painting in France, French architectural fantasy, and the innovations in architectural representation at the Royal Academy of Architecture. All are approached from the standpoint of the cult of nature. Through their pictorial treatment of architecture, painters and architects sought to reveal essential truths about their culture and human existence--truths that could not be communicated as eloquently by constructed edifices.;The first chapter treats ruin painting related to the cult of ruins that was also very strongly manifested in literature.;Architectural fantasy is explored through its traditional aspects (derived from the theatrical decorateur tradition and the Italianate forms of the veduta ideale and the veduta di fantasia) and the radical-leaning French innovations in outlandish fantasy.;Architectural fantasy was also carried on at the Royal Academy of Architecture in Paris, but in a more high-minded way. This artistic phenomenon, in which depictions of architecture were separated from their traditional functions (either as decorations or project drawings) was rather short-lived. But during its most vital period, architectural motifs were studied with unmatched interest. This resulted in spectacular innovations of form and content and, in the author's opinion, some of the earliest manifestations of romanticism in French art.