Abstract

The place of patina, or weathering, in the architecture of the Enlightenment has been somehow neglected by historians of architecture. This study aims at showing that patina became an important issue of architecture in England and France during the second half of the eighteenth century. First, this thesis looks at the patina of painting and sculpture, which was already a topic of interest in the artistic world. The patina of architecture only grew in importance during the eighteenth century. It was then that it became more and more present in architectural representations, especially in the numerous views of Antique ruins. Patina also became increasingly popular and discussed among garden architects and theoreticians, who appreciated its contribution to landscape harmony. At the same time, the theoreticians of the Picturesque mentioned patina as a central characteristic of rustic and vernacular architecture. While patina was adopted in the garden and incorporated into the aesthetics of the Picturesque, it did not raise the same enthusiasm in the city. On the contrary, at a time of hygiene reform, patina was considered filthy and seen as a symptom of contamination. As a result, weathered and dirty surfaces were frenetically cleaned and whitewashed. Architects were no longer ready to accept the forming of patina on their work. Such a reaction was no surprise since classical architecture had always considered as its task to conceive an abstract idea of a building. The physical relation of architecture to its environment was not an important concern, and it was left to technical innovation to guarantee immutability. Finally, patina also raises the question of time in architecture. Resistance to patina occurred in places where relation to time was problematic. Such was the case in eighteenth-century European culture.