Category Archives: Baroque architecture

The Chinese Fret in Oiserie Design

1. The Chinese fret is a key theme in Chinoiserie design and its principles are not always obvious. This series of images attempts to explain its design principles. It is based on a Chinoiserie bridge design published by Becker in … Continue reading

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The Gardens in Hamilton New Zealand: Part 2. The Picturesque Garden

Part 1: Introduction The Hamilton Gardens garden recognise that there is another garden style beside the Chinese that relies on a linear itinerary, the picturesque landscape garden. At Hamilton this is done in an interestingly and quite original way by … Continue reading

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New Traditional Architecture 1: A Frankfurt Reconstruction

The New Traditional Architecture Facebook site is interesting, not least because of its European (often Central European) focus. While Putin seems to be revisiting WW2, as Hitler needing Lebensraum rather than Stalin resisting an invader, this site often engages with … Continue reading

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New Traditional Architecture 3: On Vernacular Architecture

In one posting on the New Traditional Architecture Facebook page is illustrated the ‘Villa Tällberg’, completed in 2019 in the Swedish vernacular manner. It is by a Swedish architectural firm Byggnadswerk, led by Tommy Janssen, who does some rather beautiful … Continue reading

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New Traditional Architecture 2: Right Wing Conspiracies and Leftist Divisiveness

An article in the Art Newspaper by Robert Bevan on 7 January 2022 (‘The ugly pursuit of beauty: how traditional architecture has become a battleground for right-wing politicians’) comes out firing on all barrels against New Traditional Architecture as a … Continue reading

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Grosssedlitz and the Grassy Pool

The grassed pools are quite fascinating, and almost constitute a design idea in its own right. Continue reading

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On Historical Chinoiserie and the Repertory of Oiserie

The challenge of Oiserie is that there are no rules: it is a field for invention. But its starting point is seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Chinoiserie. Compared to Rococo, there are many more components in Chinoiserie. The Rococo relies on a … Continue reading

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Fabriques in Paintings 1: Sebastian Vrancx. Part C. The Figures.

This series of posts (A-C) discusses depictions of small buildings that I feel inclined to appropriate to the category of fabriques. Images by the author unless otherwise stated. Sebastian Vrancx’s An Elegant Company Dining Outdoors, c. 1610–1620 in the Museum … Continue reading

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Fabriques in Paintings 1: Sebastian Vrancx. Part B. The Setting and Architecture

This series of posts (A-C) discusses depictions of small buildings that I feel inclined to appropriate to the category of fabriques. They work outwards from the fabrique to the image as a whole, as required. Images by the author unless … Continue reading

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Fabriques in Paintings 1: Sebastian Vrancx. Part A. The Trelliswork Fabrique on the Terrace

This series of posts (A-C) discusses depictions of small buildings that I feel inclined to appropriate to the category of fabriques. They work outwards from the fabrique to the image as a whole, as required. Images by the author unless … Continue reading

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