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Article THE CRYSTAL PALACE AND THE ARTS ← Page 3 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Crystal Palace And The Arts
must lead to results of permanent advantage to society . Whilst the virtuoso amasses the relics of the past , he neglects philosophical deductions Avhich they might afford ; and modern science , intent upon the present and the future , sometimes disregards the obvious teachings of nature , and too often the discoveries of
the men of old . Thus Avriting by picture , Avhich grew up by the waters of the sacred Nile , ancl Avhich alone could to lasting ages , speak the language of devotion amidst the persecutions of the Catacombs , —Avhich expanded into the noblest works of art , at a time Avhen such Avere the sole means of instruction to the le—Avhich Naturethrough the earliest emotions of the
peop , , infant , SIIOAVS us as the direct means in our hands for instruction , —this rational system had nearly become extinct—as though the possession of neAv facilities through the press had rendered all others unnecessary . It Avould therefore be appropriate to the present time , that Ave should give particulars as to the most important step yet taken ,
in provision of permanent means for this rational method of instruction—as Avell as that we should hail the prospect of extended appreciation of art—even had not the building itself , now so far advanced at Sydenham , jjecnliar features , Avhich should be of great interest to Freemasons . Masons indeed there can be none at work , Avhere—if Ave except the external
terraces and steps—not a particle of stone enters into the construction . Rubble walls , and groined roofs , give place to a transparent case , in which glass and windoiv opening bear relation to structural support , the same as the painted glass of the medi-cBval Avindow to its leaden frameiuork and cross-bars , rather than to thick and buttressed Avails . Mechanism more than
art-Avorkmanship is characteristic of the execution . Yet in the general plan of the building , ancl indeed in some features in the effect externally and internally , there are points of resemblance between the structure at Sydenham and the finest works of the old Freemasons . Placed on a site , Avhich the Directors of the Crystal Palace Company—not Avithout reason—say is one of the finest sites in
England ; in magnitude exceeding the largest of the cathedrals ; like them , the great structure toArers above its adjacent city , and is a conspicuous object from every point of the compass . There is not indeed the same effect of grouping with the houses as in the case of structures like Durham and Lincoln , Avhere some six miles of country do not intervene ; nor , from a distance , is
anything realized like the beauty of the effect of the great metropolis as seen from the building itself , Avith the dome of St . Paul ' s rising from the midst . Seen from a nearer point , the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Crystal Palace And The Arts
must lead to results of permanent advantage to society . Whilst the virtuoso amasses the relics of the past , he neglects philosophical deductions Avhich they might afford ; and modern science , intent upon the present and the future , sometimes disregards the obvious teachings of nature , and too often the discoveries of
the men of old . Thus Avriting by picture , Avhich grew up by the waters of the sacred Nile , ancl Avhich alone could to lasting ages , speak the language of devotion amidst the persecutions of the Catacombs , —Avhich expanded into the noblest works of art , at a time Avhen such Avere the sole means of instruction to the le—Avhich Naturethrough the earliest emotions of the
peop , , infant , SIIOAVS us as the direct means in our hands for instruction , —this rational system had nearly become extinct—as though the possession of neAv facilities through the press had rendered all others unnecessary . It Avould therefore be appropriate to the present time , that Ave should give particulars as to the most important step yet taken ,
in provision of permanent means for this rational method of instruction—as Avell as that we should hail the prospect of extended appreciation of art—even had not the building itself , now so far advanced at Sydenham , jjecnliar features , Avhich should be of great interest to Freemasons . Masons indeed there can be none at work , Avhere—if Ave except the external
terraces and steps—not a particle of stone enters into the construction . Rubble walls , and groined roofs , give place to a transparent case , in which glass and windoiv opening bear relation to structural support , the same as the painted glass of the medi-cBval Avindow to its leaden frameiuork and cross-bars , rather than to thick and buttressed Avails . Mechanism more than
art-Avorkmanship is characteristic of the execution . Yet in the general plan of the building , ancl indeed in some features in the effect externally and internally , there are points of resemblance between the structure at Sydenham and the finest works of the old Freemasons . Placed on a site , Avhich the Directors of the Crystal Palace Company—not Avithout reason—say is one of the finest sites in
England ; in magnitude exceeding the largest of the cathedrals ; like them , the great structure toArers above its adjacent city , and is a conspicuous object from every point of the compass . There is not indeed the same effect of grouping with the houses as in the case of structures like Durham and Lincoln , Avhere some six miles of country do not intervene ; nor , from a distance , is
anything realized like the beauty of the effect of the great metropolis as seen from the building itself , Avith the dome of St . Paul ' s rising from the midst . Seen from a nearer point , the