A Civic Utopia: Architecture and the City in France, 1765-1837

A nice exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery looking at French architectural drawings from 1765 to 1837.

I must admit I can’t work out the significance of the dates! Maybe it was just the first and last pictures in the show but it feels a little random. Generally in the show I’d have liked to know a bit more about whether the designs were influenced by historic events. This is an amazing period in France but there was little mention of the effect of this on architecture except to say there was a growth in civic building after the Revolution.

There were some delightful pictures. I loved a cross section of the Comedie Italiene theatre complete with audience members moving around it. One section looked at building for hygiene and featured a meat market and slaughter house!

I liked the way some works were displayed on a table in the centre of the room in the same way they were probably shown at the time, propped up in frames. The trestle used was a contemporary French one which was a nice touch.

Closes on 8 January 2016

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