***REPRINTING***

Paperback – 207 x 150 mm – 128 pages

Ninety-eight engraved views and diagrams

ISBN 9781843681199

The Baroque, for many the most thrilling architectural style ever created, was born in Rome and reached its apogee in the work of three geniuses born in the 1590s – Bernini, Borromini and Pietro da Cortona. Perhaps the greatest student of the style was Anthony Blunt, who spent a lifetime studying and teaching the work of these architects and its importance to us now. This elegant and concise introduction to the style and its flowering in Rome was first published in an anthology of essays in 1978, not long before Blunt died, and represents a summation of his teaching. It is republished here separately, copiously illustrated with contemporary engraved views and measured drawings. Many of these ravishing images have not been published since the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The combination of scintillating text and superb illustrations make this a delightful book as well as a must-have on any student’s list.

Anthony Blunt (1907-1983), art historian and Communist spy, was director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and professor of history of art at London University. A prolific writer, his major works include Artistic Theory in Italy (1940), Art and Architecture in France 1500–1700 (1953, revised 1981), Picasso: The Formative Years (with Phoebe Pool, 1962), Nicolas Poussin (1967), Sicilian Baroque (1968), Neapolitan Baroque and Rococo Architecture (1975), and Borromini (1979).