Importance Of Detail In Architecture.

these parts is the amount and success gained . Take , for instance , one sculptured figure , to keep our argument within the narrowest bounds ; the intention of the artist ought to be patent to every one examining his work , and the eye led to the key by a proper arrangement of lines .-one part should not be too prominent , for fear of distracting or occupying too much of the attention to the

detriment ofthe other , neither should a necessarily important feature be too much suppressed . Light and shade , in which fche half tones are so carefully thought of , and cared foi-, by the master who knows the importance of the soft and delicate parts to give life and force , should be carefully weighed , or failure will be the result—all depends upon the result ; a muscle badly formed , a part oufc of proportion , a single action at variance with the character ofthe work , will jar upon the feelings and mar the design , however well all else may be done . Precisely

the same argument applies to architecture ; but let us again , for the sake of greater precision aud clearness , touch upon a subject more generally known by the people , and certainly supported aud appreciated to a greater extent by them , than either architecture or sculpture . Pew , indeed , who have had a liberal education , but know most of the essentials of a good picture , yet are not

ashamed to own thafc they know nothing of architecture , even stating with a strained effort certainly , that "Architect " to their mind has no signification . Let us hope that such days are afc an end , aud that a brighter dawn is breaking upon maligned art and ifcs votaries . Painting is betfcsr understood by the community at presentbecause they are more familiar wifch it and honor

, it by their patronage . Even fashion , powerful as it is , and much as it has to do in supporting an art , will fail in doing so if too great ignorance upon thafc art prevail . Painting iu these days is doubly blest , being tolerably known , and having fashion iu ifcs favour . Iu usiug it , therefore , as an illustration , we shall use thafc which all our readers can understand . Before putting brush to

canvass , the pamterhas mentally worked out to a great extent the conception of his mind . He has studied the position of the chief point of interest ; he has arranged his colours and weighed his light , aud shade , and contrasts ; nor unless he can bring his picture before his mind ' s eye , clearly and sharply defined , will the work be looked upon as an effort of genius : the manipulation might be all

thai ifc should be , but the soul and the fire will be wanting . A really good artist ' s difficulty is simply reproducing the picture of his brain , with the clumsy vehicles at his command . To attempt a work without first having given it mature deliberation , is even more dangerous to the tyro than to the muster ; the former , not knowing his powers , -will finish with failure and disgust;—successive attempts

gradually chilling any ardour wifch which he was afc first inspired . After having thought out his subject well let Km embody it upon his canvass , but in doing so numberless shoals , rocks , and quicksands will have to be avoided , especially the syren repletion , who will try to prevent his

leaving well alone , leading him still on until a mass ot dirty confusion is all he has for his pains . In fact , doing too much to a thing , attempting more than can be accomplished by the -know-ledge at your command , going beyond your powers , is a cause of half the sorry affairs , the glaring harshness and poverty of which so often elicit ? . prayer on behalf of the author . A few touches put in

with judgment will give more richness , or rather lead to an impression of more richness , more quickly and more effectively than a painful quantity of work , however neat . We might be told that none can arrive at such perfection without much practice , aud that none but those deeply versed in an art can be expected fco produce the maximum amount of effect with the minimum of labour . Trul

y , but many there are who think the reverse , -who go on from day to day wifch the fall conviction thafc labour and material , profusely exjjended , must win the admiration of mankind , and perhaps stamp their name upon the undying page of fame . Witness what are termed "

pre-Eaphaelites , " and carefully examine their exhibitions ; with what cave are the whole of the daisies and grass blades limned ! Could you not almost fancy the sweet scent of the apple blossoms exhaled from that shining surface ? No ! how strange ! The painter intended you should . He pored for hours , day after day , week after week , wifch his nose and chin so close upon his work , as

now and then to give them both a dash of pink , or may be blue ; his cuff would easily restore their tone , his brush . the pilfered pigment . But , after all his pains , has he succeeded in making a "joy for ever ? " Often the reverse . " Hideous , " without injustice , might be applied , rather " than a thing of beauty . " He has done too much , and made a grave error , as many now have told him . The

fact is , he has been labouring under an optical delusion , and people are unable to see things with the eye , of his photographic lens—fche facilities afforded by which pro - babiy led to his retrograde movement . Here , then , is a forcible illustration againsfc a thoughtless disregard of repose and want of judicious distribution or arrangement of highly finished parts- Many of these painters do not want ability , but then . " judgment is warped ; many can paint , and paint well , and hence a sale of their dreary repetitions .

Let us turn to something more congenial—some of Turner ' s landscapes—you are enchanted , but hadly know why . AVe must endeavour to get at the reason , a task both pleasing and instructive , and of easier accomplishment than afc first sight would appear . Turner arrived afc his effects generally by the quickest and easiest paths open to him . He knew nature well , and the power of his

own eyesight ; never attempting to show more than he could see , and rendering that as forcibly as the great depth and extent of his knowledge would allow . Many of his works hold the highest place iu art . All that man is supposed capable of achieving- iu fche particular branch in which he most delighted , he has done . Buskin holds that no other man ever painted stems and branches of

trees , hardly a jileasant contemplation to other men who have produced so much of what must be a new vegetable production uncommonly like trees , and sold for them . Who , then , can be a better instructor ? His pearly lights , his gradations of tints , his bold massing of shadows , and the breadth of the whole , are wonderful ; no splitting up of his subject into knots ; no weakness for a pretty bit here or there , and a consequent bringing of them out of their proper and subdued place . He bent his mind to the consummation of that which he had set about at

nrst , and would uot be wiled , away from his purpose by enticing parts which courted more attention than they deserved during the progress of the work . The reader may often have fancied , when standing before one of his landscapes , thafc he could almost walk into ifc , such a perfect illusion of reality was there . The power of singleness of purpose , breadth and repose , truth and

knowledge , are sure to make themselves felt , and to gain admiration . Now , we want architects to work as Turner did , and not as pve-Baphaelites do ; for there can be . and are . pre-Raphaelites iu architecture . One man will make a much more handsome and effective building , at half the cost for ornament , than another , simply by judicious lication of his detail . One will be a -Eaphaelite

app pre without knowing or intending it ; he will stipple his buildings wifch a regularity and carefulness marvellous to behold . If his funds are liberal he can bestow a thick coat ; if not , he might have some trouble in bestowing a thin one ; but the trouble would be taken , and mediocrity , afc the most , achieved . Breadth and repose , which follow as a necessityare often ignored bthe Gothic architect

, y , whose idea of perfection seems to be the greatest amount of breaks , gables , and angles he can possibly obtain in the smallest space ; his horror is an unbroken face , his joy no face afc all ; and this has been termed p icturesque —quaint Gothic ! The thing , above all others , thafc has brought ifc into disrepute , if such treatment must be without a loss of nhe style , then the style is rotten to the