Theorist

Claude Perrault

1613–1688 French classicism / rationalism
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Proportion Knowledge Meaning

Details

Nationality
French

Notes

Physician, anatomist and architect of the east front of the Louvre; annotated French translation of Vitruvius (1673) and Ordonnance des cinq espèces de colonnes (1683). Drew the distinction between beauté positive and beauté arbitraire, central to the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes. The source listed with year 1993 is the modern English translation by Indra Kagis McEwen (Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities); the original French publication was Paris: Jean Baptiste Coignard, 1683.

Connections

Referenced by

Sources

  1. Perrault. Ordonnance des cinq espèces de colonnes selon la méthode des Anciens. 1993.
  2. Pérez-Gómez. Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science. 1983.
  3. Perrault, Claude. Ordonnance des cinq espèces de colonnes selon la méthode des Anciens. Jean Baptiste Coignard, 1683.

Cite this entry

First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026

CLAD. "Claude Perrault." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/theorist/claude-perrault/. Accessed July 17, 2026.