Joseph Gandy
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Joseph Gandy's life is in many respects the familiar saga of genius unrecognized. Upon his death he seemed to the world, and to himself, a failure. Having begun his career with high hopes, great imagination and exceptional talent, he ended it in a state of neglect and obscurity.
That was in 1843. A century and a half later Gandy is recognized as one of the most original figures of English romanticism.
Works such as his unearthly Pandemonium or his luminous Tomb of Merlin have a hypnotic power that no other artist could surpass - a power that he brought to bear on Sir John Soane's bizarre 'Monk's Parlour' at his renowned house-musuem in Lincoln's Inn and on the lost masterpiece of Soane's Bank of England in the City of London, buildings that we have come to see through Gandy's eyes.
Brian Lukacher, the acknowledged authority on Gandy, has now written the definitive life of this architect-artist who exemplified the cultural temper of the romantic period. It is a fresh, deeply researched biography and a critical assessment of Gandy's work in its historical context. It is a tragic story but also an inspiring one, and a significant episode in the history of the architectural imagination and the visual arts during the nineteenth century.
That was in 1843. A century and a half later Gandy is recognized as one of the most original figures of English romanticism.
Works such as his unearthly Pandemonium or his luminous Tomb of Merlin have a hypnotic power that no other artist could surpass - a power that he brought to bear on Sir John Soane's bizarre 'Monk's Parlour' at his renowned house-musuem in Lincoln's Inn and on the lost masterpiece of Soane's Bank of England in the City of London, buildings that we have come to see through Gandy's eyes.
Brian Lukacher, the acknowledged authority on Gandy, has now written the definitive life of this architect-artist who exemplified the cultural temper of the romantic period. It is a fresh, deeply researched biography and a critical assessment of Gandy's work in its historical context. It is a tragic story but also an inspiring one, and a significant episode in the history of the architectural imagination and the visual arts during the nineteenth century.
Extent: 224 pp
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 205
Publication date: 2006-03-20
Size: 28.0 x 25.0 cm
ISBN: 9780500342213
Chapter 1 traces his early training and foreign travel; Chapter 2 his obsession with sepulchres and monuments; Chapter 3 his doomed efforts to be an architect; Chapter 4 the huge canvases in which he sought to recreate the classical world; Chapter 5 his partnership with Soane, who owed him so much; and Chapter 6 his eccentric and finally demented quest to construct a unified theory of the history of architecture.
Press Reviews
RA Magazine
RIBA Journal
State of Art
Evening Standard
About the Author
Brian Lukacher is professor of art at Vassar College. He is the co-author, with Stephen F. Eisenman and others, of Nineteenth Century Art, also published by Thames & Hudson.
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