The Progress of Architecture
Albert Joseph Moore (1841–1893)
Print of wood engraving by the Dalziels
1862
Off-white paper, 16 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches (42 x 29.7 cm). 5¾ x 33/8 inches
[Click on image to enlarge it. See below for commentary and and mouse over the text to find links.]
Text by Dennis T. Lanigan. Image: private collection, courtesy of the author.
Closer view of the lower panel.
Surely Moore's most important illustration, this is for the title-page of William Eden Nesfield's book Specimens of Mediaeval Architecture Chiefly Selected from Examples of the 12th and 13th Centuries in France & Italy, published by Day and Son, London, in 1862. It shows ancient architects from various countries and periods, bowing before the goddess of architecture, and proved a harbinger of Moore's future development, in its innovative reinterpretation of Greek classical art. As Robyn Asleson has written: "The change is clear in the allegorical representation of the progress of architecture that Moore drew for the title page of Nesfield's volume. Here again, the artist and architect merged medieval and classical style, with Nesfield's embellished title in the upper register clearly based on Gothic and Celtic prototypes, while Moore's frieze below draws on the flowing lines and rounded forms of Greek sculpture" (50).
The British Museum has an India-proof of this wood engraving.
Related Material
- Moore's Drawings: Studies, Preparatory Sketches and Designs
- William Eden Nesfield's Specimens of Medieval Architecture
Bibliography
Asleson, Robyn. Albert Moore. London: Phaidon, 2000. 49-50.
Baldry, Alfred Lys. Albert Moore. His Life and Works. London: George Bell and Sons, 1893, 14.
Created 9 October 2026
Last modified 20 October 2026