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Article ON THE NATURE OF DESIGN AND DECORATION IN ARCHITECTURE. ← Page 3 of 3 Article ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Page 1 of 3 →
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On The Nature Of Design And Decoration In Architecture.
From the whole , then , we may draw this general inference , that nothing but nature , and a long and attentive stud y of the ancient and modern structures , will enrich the mind sufficiently to excel in this noble and useful art .
On Gothic Architecture.
ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE .
OUR Gothic ancestors had juster and manlier notions than the modern mimics of Greek and Roman magnificence ; which , because the thing does honour to their genius , I shall endeavour to explain . All our ancient churches are called , without distinction , GOTHIC , but erroneously . They are of two sorts ; the one built in the Saxon times
, the other during our Norman race of kings . Several cathedral and collegiate churches of the first sort are yet remaining , either in whole or in part , of which this was the ori ginal : When the Saxon kings became . Christians , their piety ( which was the piety of the times ) consisted in building churches aUiome , and performing pilgrimages to the Holy Land : and these spiritual exercises assisted and supported one . another .
For the most venerable , as well as most elegant models of reli gious edifices , were those in Palestine . From these our Saxon builders took the whole of their ideas , as may be seen b y comparing the drawings which travellers have given us of the churches yet standing in that country , with the Saxon remains of what we find at home ; and particularl y " in that sameness of style in the later reliious edifices of the Knihts
g g Templars ( professedly built upon the model of the church of the Hol y Sepulchre at Jerusalem ) , with the earlier remains of our Saxon edifices . Now the architecture of the Holy Land was entirely Grecian , but Greatly fallen from its ancient elegance . Our Saxon performance was indeed a bad copy of it , and as much inferior to the works of St . Helene , as hers were to the Grecian models she had followed . Yet still the
footsteps of ancient art appeared in the circular arches , the entire columns , the division of the entablature into a sort of architecture , frize and cornish , and a solidity equally diffused over the whole mass . This , by way of distinction , I would call the SAXON Architecture .
But our Norman works had a very "different ori ginal . When the Goths had conquered Spain , and the genial warmth of the climate , and the relig ion of the old inhabitants had ripened their wits , and inflamed their mistaken piety ( both kept in exercise by the nei ghbourhood of the Saracens , through emulation of their science and aversion to their superstition ) , they struck out a new species of architecture unknown to Greece and Rome , upon ori ginal princi ples and ideas much nobler than what had given birth even to classical magnificence . For having been
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Nature Of Design And Decoration In Architecture.
From the whole , then , we may draw this general inference , that nothing but nature , and a long and attentive stud y of the ancient and modern structures , will enrich the mind sufficiently to excel in this noble and useful art .
On Gothic Architecture.
ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE .
OUR Gothic ancestors had juster and manlier notions than the modern mimics of Greek and Roman magnificence ; which , because the thing does honour to their genius , I shall endeavour to explain . All our ancient churches are called , without distinction , GOTHIC , but erroneously . They are of two sorts ; the one built in the Saxon times
, the other during our Norman race of kings . Several cathedral and collegiate churches of the first sort are yet remaining , either in whole or in part , of which this was the ori ginal : When the Saxon kings became . Christians , their piety ( which was the piety of the times ) consisted in building churches aUiome , and performing pilgrimages to the Holy Land : and these spiritual exercises assisted and supported one . another .
For the most venerable , as well as most elegant models of reli gious edifices , were those in Palestine . From these our Saxon builders took the whole of their ideas , as may be seen b y comparing the drawings which travellers have given us of the churches yet standing in that country , with the Saxon remains of what we find at home ; and particularl y " in that sameness of style in the later reliious edifices of the Knihts
g g Templars ( professedly built upon the model of the church of the Hol y Sepulchre at Jerusalem ) , with the earlier remains of our Saxon edifices . Now the architecture of the Holy Land was entirely Grecian , but Greatly fallen from its ancient elegance . Our Saxon performance was indeed a bad copy of it , and as much inferior to the works of St . Helene , as hers were to the Grecian models she had followed . Yet still the
footsteps of ancient art appeared in the circular arches , the entire columns , the division of the entablature into a sort of architecture , frize and cornish , and a solidity equally diffused over the whole mass . This , by way of distinction , I would call the SAXON Architecture .
But our Norman works had a very "different ori ginal . When the Goths had conquered Spain , and the genial warmth of the climate , and the relig ion of the old inhabitants had ripened their wits , and inflamed their mistaken piety ( both kept in exercise by the nei ghbourhood of the Saracens , through emulation of their science and aversion to their superstition ) , they struck out a new species of architecture unknown to Greece and Rome , upon ori ginal princi ples and ideas much nobler than what had given birth even to classical magnificence . For having been