Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
nofc one which does nofc bear reference to the religion ancl the ceremonies of a worship far . 'interior to tho time of Cyrus , ancl to the commencement of tho monarchy of which he was the founder . On entering the ruins of Persepolis the visitor sees first two colossal figures of animals . These figures of black marble
have been reduced to ruins b y having been struck by hammers . It is said at that time , that is fco say , at the time when Cambyses despoiled the temples of Thebes in Egypt , the Persians brought thence not only a great number of ornaments , but also artists , by means of whom they constructed the famous palaces of Persepolis ancl Susa , and those of Media .
From this narrative it is seen that the royal palace of Persepolis was not in existence before the time when Cambyses conquered Egypt , ivhich was five hundred ancl twentyfour years before the Christian era , aud one hundred and ninety-four before the destruction of the palace by the Macedonians . Scarcely was this palace commenced before
this prince died , for he never returned to Persia . He must have missed artists there , since thoy were obliged to be brought from Egypt . The reli gion of Zoroaster , which was followed by the Persians in the time of Cambyses , whose successor was a Magus , not permitting either tho construction of temples or
fche erection of statues , Persia and Media could have had only architects of little experience , and must have been wanting in sculptors : accordingly they coulcl nofc possibly have constructed there the great edifices or the great works of sculpture , the remains of which are existing at Persepolis . If one or tlie other had been directed by Egyptian artists , the
style and manner of these people would have been detected in them ; on tho other hand , there is nothing whicli can be more opposed to their practice . * Never did they erect isolated columns , ! as are all those of Persepolis ; never did they construct temples open to the light and without covering ; % every where they made edifices covered and without windows
; all is covered , all is windows in those of Persepolis . There is not found there a single obelisk , or a single pyramidal form ; all the sculptures there are in relievo , instead of being in basso , in the Egyptian manner . There is seen there the crowning of some doors , which may be compared § to similar members of Egyptian architecture .
Finally , what have been taken up to the present time to have been sphynxes , are , it will be seen , quite another tiling . These animals are standing up instead of lying down , as the sphynxes of E gypt ; they arc seen with wings , and among the Egyptians they hacl never these sorts of compositions . Everything shows that these worksfar anterior to the
, age of Cambyses , are of a time after which the arts were lost in Persia , to such an extent that it was requisite to bring Egyptians there in order to construct the palaces . This want of artists was a necessary consequence of the influence of the dogmas of Zoroaster on the arts in that part of Asia where they had found admission . Artists hacl no longer an
opportunity of either making statues or public temples ; ancl if in the end the Persians had money well struck , it was because the Lydians ancl the Greeks carried to perfection the mintage which those people hacl at epochs far anterior to their own . In speaking of the mintagetho scultureand the
archi-, p , tecture of the Persians , we must distinguish tho most ancient times from their first monarchy , from modem times commencing from Cyrus ; for then they were destitute of the knowledge ivhich they possessed in more remote times . It is thus that E gypt ancl Greece have nowadays fallen from
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
their ancient knowledge , and that , to execute there some important work of art , it is necessary to call in foreign artists . The opinion of Stieglitz , in his fifth chapter of the History of Architecture which treats of that of the Persians , being altogether opposed to that which has just been read , no other opinion can bo formed from all this—to judge from the
drawings which have come down to us of these ruins , ancl we can only judge of them from drawings which are now known—is , that they participate of the Egyptian stylo ancl of the Arabian style in the time of the Califs . We must wait for new discoveries of analogous monuments , to affirm or deny with certainty that these monuments are the work of the ancient Persians .
A Russian general , a dilettante in the fine arts , who took a part iu the war in Persia , assured me that in that country whole deserted towns hacl been discovered , the ruins of which appeared to bo of the highest antiquity , and indicated a very great magnificence . There then still remains travels to be made in Persia with reference solely to architecture ; aud if somo French artist
does not without delay undertake them ancl publish their results with engravings , we shall be anticipated by the English , who take up these curious enterprises with avidity . The superb tomb of rTakschi Rustan , as it is called , situated near the ruins which up to the present have been known as the ancient Palace of Persepolis , is fashioned out of the
rock , as well as several monuments of Egypt ancl Syria , which have been already described , or will be hereafter . What ought to be particularly observed in this tomb is the singular composition of the capital of the columns , where the anterior portion of the two chimerical animals , which are as like as possible to oxenand are caparisonedare kneeling down ancl
, , seem to bear the entablature , This order is channelled , and in a proportion more than Corinthian , having a shaft of nine diameters , a base of more than a diameter , ancl a capital of more than a diameter ancl a half , which gives for the whole eleven diameters and a half more ; however , it does not ajipear meagre in consequence of the Stirling projection of the
capital and the bold form of the base , which is a species of Egpytian capital reversed . It is embellished with large channels aud other ornaments , is epiite circular , and without a square plinth at the bottom . The chann . ellings are semicircular , and separated by a fillet like those of the Ionic order ; there is no astragal , but only a square fillet , if we may place reliance on the fidelity of Corneille Le Bruyn , and of Chardin , who have both given us drawings of ifc .
THE AHCHITECI'UBE OF THE CHINESE . Chinese architecture is so generally known , both from a great number of accounts of that country , and from the pictures , models and utensils whicli are in the cabinets of the curious , and in the public collections of all nations in tho world , that there is no absolute necessity of giving a description of the pagodastombsand kiosks of the Chinese in order
, , to impart easily to the dilettante an idea of that kind of architecture , at once as elegant , original , and varied in its colours , as the brilliant birds , plants , and insects of China . It will then bo sufficient here to recapitulate , in a few words , what every one can read ancl examine in travels relative to that ancient and populous nation .
I fancy that I shall be able to accomplish this task by a brief extract from the General History of Architecture , from which I have not hesitated to draw largely ancl incessantly , and from which I shall now take the contents of this very abridged article on the monuments of the Chinese . The antiquity of tho Chinese is lostlike that of the most
, ancient nations , in the night of ages ; but it has , at any rate , the advantage of being less obscured by those puerile fables , ivhich seem to have been invented but to take up points whicli history leaves alone for want of proofs , and at the same time to deceive the credulity of readers . The antiquity « f the Chinese , on the contrary , is supported by an uninter-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
nofc one which does nofc bear reference to the religion ancl the ceremonies of a worship far . 'interior to tho time of Cyrus , ancl to the commencement of tho monarchy of which he was the founder . On entering the ruins of Persepolis the visitor sees first two colossal figures of animals . These figures of black marble
have been reduced to ruins b y having been struck by hammers . It is said at that time , that is fco say , at the time when Cambyses despoiled the temples of Thebes in Egypt , the Persians brought thence not only a great number of ornaments , but also artists , by means of whom they constructed the famous palaces of Persepolis ancl Susa , and those of Media .
From this narrative it is seen that the royal palace of Persepolis was not in existence before the time when Cambyses conquered Egypt , ivhich was five hundred ancl twentyfour years before the Christian era , aud one hundred and ninety-four before the destruction of the palace by the Macedonians . Scarcely was this palace commenced before
this prince died , for he never returned to Persia . He must have missed artists there , since thoy were obliged to be brought from Egypt . The reli gion of Zoroaster , which was followed by the Persians in the time of Cambyses , whose successor was a Magus , not permitting either tho construction of temples or
fche erection of statues , Persia and Media could have had only architects of little experience , and must have been wanting in sculptors : accordingly they coulcl nofc possibly have constructed there the great edifices or the great works of sculpture , the remains of which are existing at Persepolis . If one or tlie other had been directed by Egyptian artists , the
style and manner of these people would have been detected in them ; on tho other hand , there is nothing whicli can be more opposed to their practice . * Never did they erect isolated columns , ! as are all those of Persepolis ; never did they construct temples open to the light and without covering ; % every where they made edifices covered and without windows
; all is covered , all is windows in those of Persepolis . There is not found there a single obelisk , or a single pyramidal form ; all the sculptures there are in relievo , instead of being in basso , in the Egyptian manner . There is seen there the crowning of some doors , which may be compared § to similar members of Egyptian architecture .
Finally , what have been taken up to the present time to have been sphynxes , are , it will be seen , quite another tiling . These animals are standing up instead of lying down , as the sphynxes of E gypt ; they arc seen with wings , and among the Egyptians they hacl never these sorts of compositions . Everything shows that these worksfar anterior to the
, age of Cambyses , are of a time after which the arts were lost in Persia , to such an extent that it was requisite to bring Egyptians there in order to construct the palaces . This want of artists was a necessary consequence of the influence of the dogmas of Zoroaster on the arts in that part of Asia where they had found admission . Artists hacl no longer an
opportunity of either making statues or public temples ; ancl if in the end the Persians had money well struck , it was because the Lydians ancl the Greeks carried to perfection the mintage which those people hacl at epochs far anterior to their own . In speaking of the mintagetho scultureand the
archi-, p , tecture of the Persians , we must distinguish tho most ancient times from their first monarchy , from modem times commencing from Cyrus ; for then they were destitute of the knowledge ivhich they possessed in more remote times . It is thus that E gypt ancl Greece have nowadays fallen from
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
their ancient knowledge , and that , to execute there some important work of art , it is necessary to call in foreign artists . The opinion of Stieglitz , in his fifth chapter of the History of Architecture which treats of that of the Persians , being altogether opposed to that which has just been read , no other opinion can bo formed from all this—to judge from the
drawings which have come down to us of these ruins , ancl we can only judge of them from drawings which are now known—is , that they participate of the Egyptian stylo ancl of the Arabian style in the time of the Califs . We must wait for new discoveries of analogous monuments , to affirm or deny with certainty that these monuments are the work of the ancient Persians .
A Russian general , a dilettante in the fine arts , who took a part iu the war in Persia , assured me that in that country whole deserted towns hacl been discovered , the ruins of which appeared to bo of the highest antiquity , and indicated a very great magnificence . There then still remains travels to be made in Persia with reference solely to architecture ; aud if somo French artist
does not without delay undertake them ancl publish their results with engravings , we shall be anticipated by the English , who take up these curious enterprises with avidity . The superb tomb of rTakschi Rustan , as it is called , situated near the ruins which up to the present have been known as the ancient Palace of Persepolis , is fashioned out of the
rock , as well as several monuments of Egypt ancl Syria , which have been already described , or will be hereafter . What ought to be particularly observed in this tomb is the singular composition of the capital of the columns , where the anterior portion of the two chimerical animals , which are as like as possible to oxenand are caparisonedare kneeling down ancl
, , seem to bear the entablature , This order is channelled , and in a proportion more than Corinthian , having a shaft of nine diameters , a base of more than a diameter , ancl a capital of more than a diameter ancl a half , which gives for the whole eleven diameters and a half more ; however , it does not ajipear meagre in consequence of the Stirling projection of the
capital and the bold form of the base , which is a species of Egpytian capital reversed . It is embellished with large channels aud other ornaments , is epiite circular , and without a square plinth at the bottom . The chann . ellings are semicircular , and separated by a fillet like those of the Ionic order ; there is no astragal , but only a square fillet , if we may place reliance on the fidelity of Corneille Le Bruyn , and of Chardin , who have both given us drawings of ifc .
THE AHCHITECI'UBE OF THE CHINESE . Chinese architecture is so generally known , both from a great number of accounts of that country , and from the pictures , models and utensils whicli are in the cabinets of the curious , and in the public collections of all nations in tho world , that there is no absolute necessity of giving a description of the pagodastombsand kiosks of the Chinese in order
, , to impart easily to the dilettante an idea of that kind of architecture , at once as elegant , original , and varied in its colours , as the brilliant birds , plants , and insects of China . It will then bo sufficient here to recapitulate , in a few words , what every one can read ancl examine in travels relative to that ancient and populous nation .
I fancy that I shall be able to accomplish this task by a brief extract from the General History of Architecture , from which I have not hesitated to draw largely ancl incessantly , and from which I shall now take the contents of this very abridged article on the monuments of the Chinese . The antiquity of tho Chinese is lostlike that of the most
, ancient nations , in the night of ages ; but it has , at any rate , the advantage of being less obscured by those puerile fables , ivhich seem to have been invented but to take up points whicli history leaves alone for want of proofs , and at the same time to deceive the credulity of readers . The antiquity « f the Chinese , on the contrary , is supported by an uninter-