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SUMMARY:Aesthetics of architecture and geology in Britain during the first
  half of the nineteenth century - Allison Ksiazkiewicz (Department of Hist
 ory and Philosophy of Science)
DTSTART:20100126T131000Z
DTEND:20100126T140000Z
UID:TALK22975@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Hilary Powell
DESCRIPTION:At a time when geology was developing as a scientific pursuit\
 , debates about the origins of architecture were hotly contested. The cave
  was increasingly becoming a site for geological research\, as seen in wor
 k by geologists such as William Buckland. The prehistoric remains of anima
 ls remained undisturbed in these natural shelters\, which for Buckland\, o
 ffered a ‘window into the past’. In architectural treatises of the per
 iod\, however\, caves were described as ‘Nature’s first architecture
 ’. Some architectural critics of the period argued that all human archit
 ecture is derived from the cave’s natural form. Joseph Gandy’s waterco
 lour entitled “Architecture: It’s Natural Model” (1838)\, combines t
 hese two perspectives. The image depicts two ape-like humanoids building a
  primitive hut at the entrance of Fingal’s Cave\, and important geologic
 al site of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Using the c
 ave and primitive hut as its example\, this paper will explore aesthetic a
 nd political connections between geology\, architecture\, and the antiquit
 y of the Earth and its denizens for the nineteenth century geologist.
LOCATION:Entertaining Room\, Darwin College
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