The Appreciation of Pompeii's Architectural Remains in the Late 18th and Early 19th Century

Abstract

In the decades after the discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 1730s and 1740s, the two towns attracted the attention of many European tourists, scholars, and litterati. Although they were seen as primary examples of Greco-Roman culture and of the way people lived in an ancient urban environment, the remains of their architecture aroused much less attention. This paper explores why architects did not view these sites, and Pompeii in particular, as a source of inspiration until well into the 19th century.