Department of the History of Art

Work In Progress Series

Topographical History and Architectural History in Early Modernity

Kristoffer Neville, Ph.D. Professor of Art History

This informal work-in-progress presentation explores some strands of early modern history writing, with a particular interest in the linkage of history and topography, the latter of which routinely encompassed architecture in the early modern period. After presenting the basic outline of my project, I will look at the ways that some prominent writers integrated topography into their historical work, and how topographers incorporated history into their work. In both cases, it contained the seeds of an architectural history that was more inclusive both geographically and chronologically than the more familiar antiquarian works, for example, which tended to emphasize antiquity and a limited number of ancient sites.