There are two ways of seeing a ruined building. The first is to see the fragments as pieces of a jigsaw, as clues to a reconstruction - the view of an archaeologist, or of an architect in the Renaissance. The second way is to see a ruin as Picturesque. Ignoring the intentions of the original builder, the artist enjoys the romantic effects of the damage done by Time: crumbling stone, ivy, mysterious dark spaces, and dramatic contrasts of light and shade. This view began in Rome in the mid-18th century when artists such as Piranesi, Clerrisseau and Hubert Robert depicted the ‘poetry of decay’ and captivated young English architects in Rome, such as Robert Adam and William Chambers. Returning to Britain, Adam and Chambers designed mock-Roman ruins as ornaments in landscape gardens. The exhibition includes several of their designs, for example, the ruined arch built by William Chambers in Kew Gardens as depicted in Richard Wilson’s famous painting (Brinsley Ford Collection). (via Sir John Soane’s Museum Exhibitions)
