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Article STRAY THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE FINE ARTS. ← Page 2 of 2 Article ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHÆOLOGY. Page 1 of 5 →
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Stray Thoughts On The Origin And Progress Of The Fine Arts.
began to copy the works of their more refined neighbours ; but , either through want of taste to appreciate the simple but sublime beauties of the Greek style , or unwilling to appear mere copyists , they undertook to vary the style , and increase the ' ornaments of the existing orders ; and hence doubtless arose the Bomanor Compositein which
, , the volutes of the Ionic are united with the foliage of the Corinthian . But there is one particular in which Eome has an apparent rig ht to assert her superiority , that is in the invention of the arch or dome . No trace whatever appears of such an arrangement of materials in the buildings of any nation prior to its intercourse
with Eome ; instances occur where an artificial perforation in the shape of an arch has been made in a solid wall , but such perforations cannot come under tlie name of " arch . " Such methods have been practised iu all countries in all times ; but of that kind of arch , ivhich consists of a number of Avedge-like stones , disposed in a
vertical plane , and supporting themselves in the air by their mutual pressure , ive meet with no sigu among the remains ofthe early architecture of Greece ; even over the river Cephissus , which crosses the road to Athens , there was no bridge until one was erected by the Eomans when they were in possession of the country . AVhoever may have been the inventor of the archthe Eomans have
, the honour of bringing it into general use , and of applying it to the most important purposes . At Tusculum , near Eome , there is a conduit AA'hich is considered one of the earliest specimens of arches : it is a subterranean channel , issuing from a reservoir under a mountain ; it has vertical - sides , and is covered Avith stones exhibiting the principle
of the arch—that is , a- frustra of Avedges abutting against each other at their oblique sides . Examples of the arch hare been found in parfc of the ancient walls of Eome built by Tullius . The Cloaca Maxima , supposed to have been built by Tarquin the Elder , formed of immense blocks of stone joined together Avithout any cement whateverexhibits a semi-circular vault as perfect as any
, subsequently erected . The theatre of Marcellus , erected hy Julius Ca ? sar , is adorned on the exterior withroAvs of arches ; and ns tliis theatre is said to have been an imitation of one erected hy Pompey , and his theatre again to hai-e been imi tated from that at Mitylene , ofthe time of Alexander , it has been thence inferred that
there must have been arches in the last mentioned 'buildings like those in the theatre of Marcellus . But as every trace of the theatre of Pompey , ancl that at Mitylene have disappeared , there is no possibility of ascertaining whether this is the fact or not . The Chinese have also laid claim to the honour of having invented the arch : it seems to have been known to them from
time immemorial , and certainly long before its introduction into Europe . Tlie arch covers the gateways in their great- Avail ; they employed it in the construction of monuments to their illustrious dead , and in the formation of bridges . Arches must have been used iu Eome long before the time of Yitraviuswho lived iu the
, age of Augustus , from the unmistakeable manner iu which he speaks of them ; and he gives directions for their construction in that workmanlike manner Avhich must have been the result of long and intimate acquaintance ivith their structure .
SALE or CONDEMNED JAIL STOCK . —A curious auction took place ut Gloucester " lately . The place of sale was the city srsol , ancl the articles sold were- the bedsteads , bedding-, und clothing- provided for prisoners , including the trond-ivhcel . i ' or a long time the gaol has been without prisoners , except- a tortoise , forty years of age The trend-ivli . ee ] , Avliicb cost one hundred guineas , sold for live , to be broken up . There wore inquiries for the gallows , hut this will continue to be part ofthe city property .
Architecture And Archæology.
ARCHITECTURE AND ARCH ? OLOGY .
ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF CHURCHES . ( Concludedfrom page 7 . ) Paper read by Mr . Blomficld , M . A ., at the last meeting of the Architectural Association . Next as to the Pulpit . At least tivo sermons are preached
from it every Sunday in most oases , so that I suppose the preaching of sermons may be considered a fixed and essential parfc of our services , and if so ifc ought undoubtedly to find expression in the architecture of the church . NOAV here , Avhero AVC arc afc perfect liberty to look for assistance to the best times of arfc ( seeing thafc tho conditions for addressing a congregation must be much the same in all ages and for
all creeds ) , hero , AA * here AVC should find plenty of assistance if Ave did look for ifc , Ave seem to neglect it in an unaccountable maimer . I will just read a short extract from Afollet le Duos Dictionary on this point , ivhich exactly illustrates my remarks . In the article on "Pulpits" he says : — "In Erance none of our ancient churches bave , as far as we know , preserved any pulits of an earlier date than the fifteenth
p century . It ivas customary , from the commencement of the tn'clfth century , in our northern churches to arrange a roodloft at the entrance of the choir , from the top of Avhich the Epistle and Gospel were read , ancl exhortations addressed to the faithful Allien occasion served . In every case these sermons , before the institution of preaching friars , only took place occasionally . It is probable thafc in particular
cases sermons were preached from a movable pulpit , arranged in some parfc of the church for that occasion . The pulpit AVUS then only a little wooden stage , closed on three sides , and covered iu front with a hanging . But in the thirteenth century , AA'hen the preaching orders had been established to combat heresy , and to explain to the people the truths of Christianity , preaching borm-mo n necessity , ivhicli tho architectural arrangements of religious edifices were compelled
to obey . Exactly to fulfil these conditions the Dominicans and the Jacobins , amongst others , built churches wifch two naves , one being reserved for the monks and divine service , and the other for preaching ; then fche pulpits became fixed and entered into fche construction . They formed , as ifc ivere , a balcony projecting into tho interior of the church , carried on corbelling , accompanied by a niche taken out of the ivall , aud lit blittle windows
j generally y . Access ivas gained by a little staircase contrived in the thickness of the wall . " | Thus AVO see the thirteenth century architect afc once felt instinctively that when a sermon became a thing of fixed and regular recurrence , instead of an occasional address , he must express the fact in his building . Ifc ivas no longer sufficient to provide a little movable Avooden stage closed on three sides
, but lie must contrive a balcony , or some architectural feature , that should distinctly proclaim its original use as long as the building should stand . There is an instance of such a pulpit in the south nave of tho great church of the Jacobin convent at Toulouse . Ifc has long been disused , the balcony and corbelling shaved off , and the niche blocked but still there arc the evident remainsand
up , , you must pull down the building before you can obliterate the traces of what it has once been . As I said just now , a particular form of pulit can have no more to clo Avith creed or doctrine than a particular kind of brick or stone in a building ( although I havo heard a stone pulpit objected to on principle ) , and if this method of treating a pulpit AA'as right in the thirteenth centuryit is right ht to
, now ; wo oug feel as mstmctii-ely as the architect of thafc day that ' - ' a wooden stage closed ou three sides , " in fact , any sort of pulpit nofc entering into the const-ruction of the church , does not thoroughly satisfy a principle ive all acknowledge in the abstract .
1 ' no examples of ancient pulpits treated in this thoroughly common-souse manner are very numerous , but ive must not confine our search after the earliest and best examples to the interior of churches : ive shall find some of the best iu the refectories of monasteries , used for reading to the monks during their meals . A very fine example of this kind of pulpit exists in a building ( formerly the refectory ) attached to the cloisters afc Chester , andnoiv used as a school .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Stray Thoughts On The Origin And Progress Of The Fine Arts.
began to copy the works of their more refined neighbours ; but , either through want of taste to appreciate the simple but sublime beauties of the Greek style , or unwilling to appear mere copyists , they undertook to vary the style , and increase the ' ornaments of the existing orders ; and hence doubtless arose the Bomanor Compositein which
, , the volutes of the Ionic are united with the foliage of the Corinthian . But there is one particular in which Eome has an apparent rig ht to assert her superiority , that is in the invention of the arch or dome . No trace whatever appears of such an arrangement of materials in the buildings of any nation prior to its intercourse
with Eome ; instances occur where an artificial perforation in the shape of an arch has been made in a solid wall , but such perforations cannot come under tlie name of " arch . " Such methods have been practised iu all countries in all times ; but of that kind of arch , ivhich consists of a number of Avedge-like stones , disposed in a
vertical plane , and supporting themselves in the air by their mutual pressure , ive meet with no sigu among the remains ofthe early architecture of Greece ; even over the river Cephissus , which crosses the road to Athens , there was no bridge until one was erected by the Eomans when they were in possession of the country . AVhoever may have been the inventor of the archthe Eomans have
, the honour of bringing it into general use , and of applying it to the most important purposes . At Tusculum , near Eome , there is a conduit AA'hich is considered one of the earliest specimens of arches : it is a subterranean channel , issuing from a reservoir under a mountain ; it has vertical - sides , and is covered Avith stones exhibiting the principle
of the arch—that is , a- frustra of Avedges abutting against each other at their oblique sides . Examples of the arch hare been found in parfc of the ancient walls of Eome built by Tullius . The Cloaca Maxima , supposed to have been built by Tarquin the Elder , formed of immense blocks of stone joined together Avithout any cement whateverexhibits a semi-circular vault as perfect as any
, subsequently erected . The theatre of Marcellus , erected hy Julius Ca ? sar , is adorned on the exterior withroAvs of arches ; and ns tliis theatre is said to have been an imitation of one erected hy Pompey , and his theatre again to hai-e been imi tated from that at Mitylene , ofthe time of Alexander , it has been thence inferred that
there must have been arches in the last mentioned 'buildings like those in the theatre of Marcellus . But as every trace of the theatre of Pompey , ancl that at Mitylene have disappeared , there is no possibility of ascertaining whether this is the fact or not . The Chinese have also laid claim to the honour of having invented the arch : it seems to have been known to them from
time immemorial , and certainly long before its introduction into Europe . Tlie arch covers the gateways in their great- Avail ; they employed it in the construction of monuments to their illustrious dead , and in the formation of bridges . Arches must have been used iu Eome long before the time of Yitraviuswho lived iu the
, age of Augustus , from the unmistakeable manner iu which he speaks of them ; and he gives directions for their construction in that workmanlike manner Avhich must have been the result of long and intimate acquaintance ivith their structure .
SALE or CONDEMNED JAIL STOCK . —A curious auction took place ut Gloucester " lately . The place of sale was the city srsol , ancl the articles sold were- the bedsteads , bedding-, und clothing- provided for prisoners , including the trond-ivhcel . i ' or a long time the gaol has been without prisoners , except- a tortoise , forty years of age The trend-ivli . ee ] , Avliicb cost one hundred guineas , sold for live , to be broken up . There wore inquiries for the gallows , hut this will continue to be part ofthe city property .
Architecture And Archæology.
ARCHITECTURE AND ARCH ? OLOGY .
ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF CHURCHES . ( Concludedfrom page 7 . ) Paper read by Mr . Blomficld , M . A ., at the last meeting of the Architectural Association . Next as to the Pulpit . At least tivo sermons are preached
from it every Sunday in most oases , so that I suppose the preaching of sermons may be considered a fixed and essential parfc of our services , and if so ifc ought undoubtedly to find expression in the architecture of the church . NOAV here , Avhero AVC arc afc perfect liberty to look for assistance to the best times of arfc ( seeing thafc tho conditions for addressing a congregation must be much the same in all ages and for
all creeds ) , hero , AA * here AVC should find plenty of assistance if Ave did look for ifc , Ave seem to neglect it in an unaccountable maimer . I will just read a short extract from Afollet le Duos Dictionary on this point , ivhich exactly illustrates my remarks . In the article on "Pulpits" he says : — "In Erance none of our ancient churches bave , as far as we know , preserved any pulits of an earlier date than the fifteenth
p century . It ivas customary , from the commencement of the tn'clfth century , in our northern churches to arrange a roodloft at the entrance of the choir , from the top of Avhich the Epistle and Gospel were read , ancl exhortations addressed to the faithful Allien occasion served . In every case these sermons , before the institution of preaching friars , only took place occasionally . It is probable thafc in particular
cases sermons were preached from a movable pulpit , arranged in some parfc of the church for that occasion . The pulpit AVUS then only a little wooden stage , closed on three sides , and covered iu front with a hanging . But in the thirteenth century , AA'hen the preaching orders had been established to combat heresy , and to explain to the people the truths of Christianity , preaching borm-mo n necessity , ivhicli tho architectural arrangements of religious edifices were compelled
to obey . Exactly to fulfil these conditions the Dominicans and the Jacobins , amongst others , built churches wifch two naves , one being reserved for the monks and divine service , and the other for preaching ; then fche pulpits became fixed and entered into fche construction . They formed , as ifc ivere , a balcony projecting into tho interior of the church , carried on corbelling , accompanied by a niche taken out of the ivall , aud lit blittle windows
j generally y . Access ivas gained by a little staircase contrived in the thickness of the wall . " | Thus AVO see the thirteenth century architect afc once felt instinctively that when a sermon became a thing of fixed and regular recurrence , instead of an occasional address , he must express the fact in his building . Ifc ivas no longer sufficient to provide a little movable Avooden stage closed on three sides
, but lie must contrive a balcony , or some architectural feature , that should distinctly proclaim its original use as long as the building should stand . There is an instance of such a pulpit in the south nave of tho great church of the Jacobin convent at Toulouse . Ifc has long been disused , the balcony and corbelling shaved off , and the niche blocked but still there arc the evident remainsand
up , , you must pull down the building before you can obliterate the traces of what it has once been . As I said just now , a particular form of pulit can have no more to clo Avith creed or doctrine than a particular kind of brick or stone in a building ( although I havo heard a stone pulpit objected to on principle ) , and if this method of treating a pulpit AA'as right in the thirteenth centuryit is right ht to
, now ; wo oug feel as mstmctii-ely as the architect of thafc day that ' - ' a wooden stage closed ou three sides , " in fact , any sort of pulpit nofc entering into the const-ruction of the church , does not thoroughly satisfy a principle ive all acknowledge in the abstract .
1 ' no examples of ancient pulpits treated in this thoroughly common-souse manner are very numerous , but ive must not confine our search after the earliest and best examples to the interior of churches : ive shall find some of the best iu the refectories of monasteries , used for reading to the monks during their meals . A very fine example of this kind of pulpit exists in a building ( formerly the refectory ) attached to the cloisters afc Chester , andnoiv used as a school .