Joseph Gandy : an architectural visionary in Georgian England / Brian Lukacher

London : Thames & Hudson, 2006. First Edition. Hardback. An exceptional copy; fine in an equally fine dw. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Literally as new and still in the publisher's protective shrink-wrap.; 8vo 8"" - 9"" tall; 222 pages; Physical description: 222 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm. Summary: Joseph Gandy (1771 - 1843) is a classic case of unrecognized genius. His dreams of being a great architect were frustrated, and his fame today rests on the imaginative power of his unrealized projects, on his superbly imagined reconstruction of Greek and Roman buildings and on the drawings in which he brought Sir John Soane's most extravagant ideas to vivid life. Professor Lukacher's book, the first biography of this remarkable man, draws together the threads of his life and art, forcing us to re-assess one of the most original minds between Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Contents: Chapter 1 traces his early training and foreign travel; Chapter 2 his obsession with sepulchres and monuments; Chapter 3 his doomed efforts to be an architect; Chapter 4 the huge canvases in which he sought to recreate the classical world; Chapter 5 his partnership with Soane, who owed him so much; and Chapter 6 his eccentric and finally demented quest to construct a unified theory of the history of architecture.