HOPKINS, Andrew 1965-

PERSONAL:

Born 1965. Education: Graduated from Melbourne University; Courtauld Institute of Art, London, Ph.D., 1995.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Publicity Department, Thames & Hudson Ltd., 181a High Holborn, London WC1V 7QX, England.

CAREER:

Architectural historian and author. Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, lecturer at Mackintosh School of Architecture; British School at Rome, Rome, Italy, assistant director; Burlington Magazine, editor.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Essay Medal, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Santa Maria della Salute: Architecture and Ceremony in Baroque Venice, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Italian Architecture: From Michelangelo to Borromini, Thames & Hudson (London, England), 2002.

(Editor, with Gavin Stamp) Lutyens Abroad: The Work of Sir Edwin Lutyens outside the British Isles, British School at Rome (London, England), 2002.

(Editor, with Claudia Conforti) Architettura e Tecnologia: Acque, Tecniche e Cantieri Nell'Architettura Rinascimentale e Barocca, Nuova Argos (Rome, Italy), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

In addition to writing a survey of Italian architecture and editing several other books on architecture, Andrew Hopkins published the solo work Santa Maria della Salute: Architecture and Ceremony in Baroque Venice. The book takes a detailed look at one of Venice's great attractions, Baldassare Longhena's seventeenth-century octagonal church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In this "scholarly, yet eminently readable book," to quote Choice's S. C. Scott, Hopkins chronicles the designing by Baldassare Longhena of the church, describes the choice of the site, analyzes the paintings and sculptures in the church, and discusses how the design facilitated the ceremonies that would take place in the building. This "admirably comprehensive book" gives readers "thorough accounts" of not only the design and construction history of Santa Maria della Salute, but discusses the building's ceremonial functions, noted David Hemsoll in Burlington Magazine.

In the mid-1600s Italy was decimated by the bubonic plague, known as the Black Death. Over half of the Venetian population perished during this time. In an effort to appeal to the saints for an end to the plague, the Venetian senate sponsored a competition for the design of a church in honor of the Virgin Mary. In Sixteenth Century Journal, Sabrina DeTurk praised Hopkins's "fascinating focus." DeTurk added that the proposed church's use as the site of a major annual procession prompted Longhena to create a "radically new plan for the church, unlike anything previously constructed in Venice." When the period of pestilence ended and Santa Maria della Salute was still under construction, it was completed as a gesture of thanksgiving.

Hopkins is a studious researcher, a fact that did not go unnoticed by reviewers. As Diana Gisolfi wrote in the Renaissance Quarterly, Hopkins's work is "solidly based in documentary material," including some never-before published drawings from the Archivio di Stato di Venezia. "The text is well organized and written with clarity. The plates are abundant and of excellent quality," she added. Several reviewers predicted that Santa Maria della Salute would fill a gap in the existing literature, yet Gisolfi noted that Hopkins "misses some setting of the human situation of the extreme devastation of the plague of 1630." Despite this alleged error, Hemsoll applauded the breadth of the study as "a wealth of information and intelligent discussion about this major building, the book is certain to establish itself as a key monograph on Venetian architecture and seventeenth-century architecture in general."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Burlington Magazine, January, 2002, David Hemsoll, review of Santa Maria della Salute: Architecture and Ceremony in Baroque Venice, pp. 30-31.

Choice, February, 2001, S. C. Scott, review of Santa Maria della Salute, p. 1073.

Contemporary Review, October, 2002, review of Italian Architecture from Michelangelo to Borromini, pp. 247-249.

Renaissance Quarterly, fall, 2001, Diana Gisolfi, review of Santa Maria della Salute, pp. 949-952.

Sixteenth Century Journal, fall, 2001, Sabrina DeTurk, review of Santa Maria della Salute, pp. 818-819.

Times (London, England), February 3, 2003, review of Lutyens Abroad: The Work of Sir Edwin Lutyens outside the British Isles, p. 11.

Times Literary Supplement, June 21, 2002, Timothy Mowl, review of Lutyens Abroad, p. 21; January 17, 2003, Giles Worsley, review of Italian Architecture, p. 22.*