Marc-Antoine Laugier (1713-69) transformed architectural practice with his Essai
sur I'Architecture (1753) in which he argued that the Primitive Hut was the origin of
western architecture, and that the Orders were descended from construction methods such
as beams and pitched roofs. He claimed that this link was revealed in the simplicity of
the Doric Order. From this argument he drew the principles that the Orders should serve
their purpose and express their function clearly. Columns should be used as columns,
and not engaged for decorative purposes.
Laugier's principles, which anticipated modernism, influenced many Georgian
architects with pretensions to modernity. Initially, however, they adopted Roman
architecture as their style, believing it to embody the purity and functionalism Laugier
had extolled. This occurred because of the prevalence of English Palladianism. Aspiring
purists recognised that Palladio and the Renaissance had been a filter through which
Roman architecture had passed, and instead they turned directly to Roman ruins, which
seemed to be closer to the origins of architecture.
However, it was gradually realized that Roman architecture was itself highly
decorative, even Baroque. It was not pure at all, and far from being functional it made
stylized and decorative use of the Orders.' Enthusiasm for Roman architecture started to
wane, and several enterprising figures began to find a truer embodiment of Laugier's
theory in the architecture of Greece. This had taken so long to occur because Greece had
been a dominion of the Ottoman Empire of Turkey since the 15th century. Furthermore,
the threats of brigands and plague made Greece inaccessible. But by the end of the 17th
century the Ottoman Empire was in decline, and Greece became (relatively) safe for
those who wanted to rediscover its antiquity.
The second impulse behind the Greek revival, then, was archeology. Greece
became an integral part of the Grand Tour, with Winckelmann visiting in 1758. Greek
ruins were illustrated by Piranesi (1777) in a series of brooding, grandiose engravings,
which did much to publicize the ruins in antiquarian circles. Most notoriously, Thomas
Bruce, Earl of Elgin (1766-1841) removed portions of the frieze and metopes of the
Parthenon, as well as various sculptures, and sent them to England. The ship sank during
the voyage, and the marbles had to be dredged out of the sea. Elgin was accused of
vandalism and theft, particularly by Byron, but the Elgin Marbles were highly influential
nonetheless.
Without question, the most significant contribution to the study of Greece was the
Society of Dilettanti - a club of young English noblemen who had been on the Grand
Tour. Horace Walpole's oft-quoted remark that the nominal qualification for
membership was having been to Italy, but the real one was to get drunk, illustrates the
nature of the Society. It consisted, in equal measures, of antiquarian collecting, drinking,
learning, and indecent ribaldry. It was opposed to Robert Walpole and the Whig
Oligarchy, and therefore to formalized Palladianism. Instead, it possessed "a Romantic
and ill-defined enthusiasm for the antique."
J.M. Crook argued that the Greek revival was an aspect of Romanticism, a view
that was corroborated by Summerson. Crook wrote, "the Romantic rebellion brought in
its wake a new wave of historicism, eclecticism and experimentation." All of these are
evident in the practice of the Greek revivalists. The Greek revival, then, consisted of the
three impulses mentioned earlier, involving: "the selection of historical styles and motifs
according to archaeological precedent, and their combination in accordance with new
theories of composition [from Laugier]."
In 1751-54 the Society financed James Stuart and Nicholas Revett to make a tour
of Greece, during which they meticulously measured and illustrated ruins. The result of
this study was the four-volume The Antiquities of Athens (1762), which became the
principle sourcebook on the subject. It was scholarly, precise and accurate, and
transformed the Society into a serious publisher and patron of study. It was both a
reference work for scholars and a handbook for amateurs - simultaneously an
archaeological record and an architectural treatise. The book, however, had less impact
than might be supposed. It took 82 years for its four volumes to be published, and sold
more to patrons than to architects. Its influence was therefore spasmodic, and many of
the earliest examples of Greek revival in Britain were by Stuart himself. These include
his Doric Temple at Hagley Park, Worcestershire (1758-9), the Demosthenes Lanthom
(1770), which is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, Athens, and his
Triumphal Arch (1764), based on the Arch of Theseus, Athens.
Roman architecture was still being promoted by figures such as Sir William
Chambers, who vehemently denounced the Greek style as crude, primitive and barbaric.
For example, he criticized the Greek Doric Order for its simplicity and the columns' lack
of bases. The fact, however, is that Chambers was simply too accustomed to Roman
architecture, with its novelty, variety and sophistication. He failed to realise that the
simplicity and primitivism he criticized were now seen as chief virtues by the Greek
revivalists. This is evident from the first major Greek revival buildings in Europe.
Downing College, Cambridge (1804) by William Wilkins, launched both the career of its
architect and the Greek revival as a fashion.
