The Geometry and Optics of Ancient Architecture: illustrated by examples from Thebes, Athens, and Rome

IMPORTANT RESEARCHES ON ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE IN A LAVISHLY PRODUCED & PRIVATELY PUBLISHED VOLUME
first edition large folio (57.5 x 38.5 cms.) [4 (half-title & title)], xvi, 249, [1 (blank)]pp.on thick paper, 55 lithographed plates (some coloured), original publisher's half maroon straight-grained leather with very dark green cloth on sides, spine gilt lettered, front board gilt lettered, neatly rebacked with the original spine relaid and the original yellow glazed endpapers reused, corners neatly refurbished, a few very minor patches of surface scuffing on spine, else an excellent copy. Uncommon, and rare in this condition.
Important researches on ancient architecture, in particular on the use of subtle curvature in Greek architecture to counteract perspective effects.
Pennethorne (1808–1888), English architect, followed his elder brother James into the influential architectural practice of the architect John Nash. "In 1830 he began a five-year tour of professional study in Europe and Egypt, visiting Paris, Milan, Florence, Venice, Rome, Sicily, Athens, and Thebes, which determined his subsequent career. On his first visit to Athens in 1832 he became interested in the geometrical 'refinements' of the temples of the Acropolis, notably the introduction of subtle curvature for the horizontal lines - something alluded to by Vitruvius. While spending the winter of 1833 at Thebes he made careful studies of the mouldings and coloured decorations of the temples and tombs, and came to the conclusion that the colouring and ornamentation of Greek temples, as well as some aspects of their geometry, derived ultimately from Egypt. On returning to Athens in 1834, he renewed his study of the Parthenon, taking wax moulds of the mouldings and ornaments. He returned to England in 1835, but in 1837 he again visited Athens to make more complete observations and measurements of the curved lines of the steps, stylobate and entablature, and the inclination of the columns, of the Parthenon. He finally came to the conclusion that there was no foundation in fact for the conventional belief that the system of design in Greek architecture was absolutely rectilinear. The same conclusion had already been reached by Josef Hoffer [on the basis of independent] measurements of the Parthenon ... by Edward Schaubert, an architect working for the Greek government.... In 1844 [Pennethorne] published, for private circulation, a pamphlet ... in which he drew upon passages in Plato, Aristotle, and Vitruvius, as well as his own discoveries, to set forth a theory of 'optical corrections'. His discoveries ... were pursued by F. C. Penrose, who in 1851 published his Investigations of the Principles of Athenian Architecture [and] the elaborate and exact measurements here given supplied Pennethorne with the mathematical data necessary to work out fully his theory of optical corrections.
[After break of several years] he resumed his studies in 1860, and in 1878 he published, at his own expense, an impressive folio volume, The geometry and optics of ancient architecture, illustrated by examples from Thebes, Athens, and Rome, with fifty-six plates by John Robinson, a pupil of his brother James. His findings were summarized in a paper on 'The connection between ancient art and the ancient geometry, as illustrated by works of the age of Pericles', published in the Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1878–9). His argument was that the Greek architects, having first designed a building so that geometrically its proportions were harmonious, afterwards corrected those dimensions with reference to the visual angle under which it would be seen, and by these methods of work produced a building which optically displayed the same harmony of proportion as characterized the merely geometrical projection. These optical corrections, he believed, contributed greatly to the superiority of Greek architecture over Roman. His conviction that Greek temples were designed to be seen only from certain points of view was challenged in his lifetime and was not accepted by later scholars. But his careful research, embodied in his book of 1878, made an important contribution to the understanding of the architecture of ancient Greece and of the importance of mathematics in determining architectural proportion" [O.D.N.B.]