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Article ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT ABSTRACTEDLY CONSIDERED. ← Page 3 of 3 Article OUR PUBLIC STATUES AND MEMORIALS. Page 1 of 3 →
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Architectural Development Abstractedly Considered.
The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks , in the middle of the 15 th century , induced them to model their architecture from the church of Sta . Sophia , as the mosques of Solyman and Achmet prove , although the style began to be individualised . Thus we see the style originated by the Mahometan conquests of the Arabs , by degrees receive form and local impress—this latter
character , generally predominating in those countries ^ where the victorious Arabs left the subjected people their own forms of architecture , merely influencing them with the peculiarities of the Mahometan faith ; and we see it was not till these were combined that a tolerably homogenous character which resulted in the imaginary and poetic fancy which such a sparkling brilliance to some
gave varieties . Natural imitation , especially human representation , prohibited by the Koran , was replaced by that conventionalism of ornament , combined with those flights of Eastern fancy glowing with colour and gold , which so profusely enrich the mosque of Cordova , and blaze still more in the palace of the Alhambra Moors of Granada . It has been reasonablsuggested by some that the
y stalactite arches , the diapering , and other features which are so remarkable in the Arabian and Moorish buildings , tell of their tent-archetype ; and we may also note the semblance of the interlacing character of their ornament generally , with the like character so significant of Byzantine ornamentation .
Thus the Saracenic styles , exhibiting as they do such fertility of form , still retain analogies to antecedent types —many early varieties , as we have seen , being hardly distinguishable from Byzantine . We might multiply examples to show how sparingly other styles of architecture have introduced radical changes ; and , when they have , how slowly they have supplanted preceding types .
Plan , no less than architectural detail , has evidenced the same gradual development which we have been considering . The change from square parallelogramatic forms , to circular and complex , seems to have been slow . The varied requirements of luxurious nations chiefly effected this change . The monumental character of Egyptian , Assyrian , and other architecture ; the templar
character of Grecian and Gothic ; and the palatial character of Persian , Eoman , and other architecture , may have influenced , more or less , the forms of arrangement common in these different nations .
It is interesting to see how the Eoman basilica , for instance , grew into the medi _ eval cathedral ; how the forum , or atrium , became the Early Christian , narthex , or porch ; how the circular baptistery was supplied by the font ; how the Pagan apse developed into the Christian chancel ; till the perfected cruciform cathedral was producedThe by which the early timber
. processes roofs of the basilican churches were gradually supplanted by cylindrical and groined vaults , as well as the stages of spire and dome growth , were naturally conducive to complex ichnography ; and show , moreover , that love for elaborating existing forms which we have before noticed .
Were it necessary , we might go on enumerating examples to substantiate those principles and views of Architectural development we have advanced ; though many will readily suggest themselves to our readers in proof of what ive have said . Exceptions there are to every rule , and eases might be instanced as exceptional , at first thought , to some of our conclusions , though , on
closer investigation , they will be found to confirm them . Whether we take Assyrian , Grecian , Eoman , Byzantine , Saracenic , Eomanesque , or the Gothic developments , the principles of selection or discriminate imitation of features , is , more or less , found in all ; the principle of adaptation or an indigenousness of character , is also clear in the most distinctive styles ; while the process of elaboration has shown itself in all those varieties whose prolific and fertile elements were susceptible of growth or capable of refinement . —Budding News . '
Our Public Statues And Memorials.
OUR PUBLIC STATUES AND MEMORIALS .
The great decennial Exhibition which we have just closed , comprised , nothwithstanding all its mismanagement and shortcomings , such an aggregation of the arts and industries of the whole civilised world , as they existed in the year 1862 , as did not fail attract vast numbers of foreign visitors of all countries to our metropolis . Men of science , literature , and art naturally formed an
unusually large proportions of the vast multitude of strangers drawn together on such an exceptional occassion ; and we have consequently had to undergo a course of criticisms which , thong occasionally severe and often unjust , was yet , iu the main , truthful ; often exposing shortcomings of various kinds to which our national self-sufficiency induced us to close our eyes . If . is well
to be occasionally reminded , of our national defects , especially through the medium of foreign visitors ; who , viewing us from their own stand , which is very different from ours , naturally perceive blemishes ( occasionally rather remarkable ones ) which we had never looked for , and of which , in our insular self-sufficiency , we had not indeed believed the existence possible .
Nothing so much , struck the artistic section of our crowds of foreign visitors during the present season as the extreme poverty of our public memorials and honorary statutes . They appeared to our continental critics utterly unworthy ofthe intellectual and artistic eminence of our nation ; and so , in fact , they are ; and the foreign critics , however sarcastically unpleasant they may haye correct in
been in their mode of stating it , were perfectly their general verdict . Let us ourselves examine a few of our public statues and memorials , from the dingy kings in the dingy outof-the-way squares , to the caricature of the Great Duke at Hyde-park-corner , the monstrosities of Trafalgarsquare , and the clumsy masonry of the monument of Waterloo-place . We have , as a rule , adopted bronze statuary instead of
marble , on account of our variable climate , which proves speedily fatal to the beauty of the fair Carrara product . This necessity ought to have led to a more careful study of statuesque out line ; for is is the character and general perfection of the main external lines of a group or figure that can alono impart attractive effect to bronze statuary , which soon changes its naturally deep hue to one of
positive black . Characteristic outline is as necessary to a bronze statue , unless gilt , as to a shadow on the wall , as no details within the external line can be made expressively visible , when blackened by a London atmosphere , except in a very favourable light . Tet this necessary feature in bronze statuary has not been successfully studied in any of our principal public statues . Like
Take , for instance , that of Pitt , in Hanover-square . _ many others , its general outline is entirely without meaning ; the figure being , after a kind of artistic superstitution which prevails amongst ns , muffled up in a kind of cloak or toga . It is true that this statue of Pitt , by Sir Erancis Chantrey , on of the artist ' s best works , has dash of characteristic life about itinthe
outa , _ stretched arm , and in the fine head , which is thrown back with that defiant air which the orator often assumed in rebutting the attacks of a talented and powerful opposition . But here all effective outline ceases ; the rest of the figure bundled up in a mass of unmeaning cloak , such as assuredly Pitt never wore while addressing the House , nor we should think under any other
circumstances . There is , moreover , a little lump of this wrappering gathered together just above the left arm which , at a little distance , is altogether unintelligle . Only the other morning , while taking a round among our public monuments , guided by the official list recently called for in Parliament , we stood beforo this work , at about the proper focal distance , pondering upon what could be the meaning of the lump of something over the left arm ; and it was not till after a much closer aud very careful examination of the nature of the excrescence , that its
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Architectural Development Abstractedly Considered.
The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks , in the middle of the 15 th century , induced them to model their architecture from the church of Sta . Sophia , as the mosques of Solyman and Achmet prove , although the style began to be individualised . Thus we see the style originated by the Mahometan conquests of the Arabs , by degrees receive form and local impress—this latter
character , generally predominating in those countries ^ where the victorious Arabs left the subjected people their own forms of architecture , merely influencing them with the peculiarities of the Mahometan faith ; and we see it was not till these were combined that a tolerably homogenous character which resulted in the imaginary and poetic fancy which such a sparkling brilliance to some
gave varieties . Natural imitation , especially human representation , prohibited by the Koran , was replaced by that conventionalism of ornament , combined with those flights of Eastern fancy glowing with colour and gold , which so profusely enrich the mosque of Cordova , and blaze still more in the palace of the Alhambra Moors of Granada . It has been reasonablsuggested by some that the
y stalactite arches , the diapering , and other features which are so remarkable in the Arabian and Moorish buildings , tell of their tent-archetype ; and we may also note the semblance of the interlacing character of their ornament generally , with the like character so significant of Byzantine ornamentation .
Thus the Saracenic styles , exhibiting as they do such fertility of form , still retain analogies to antecedent types —many early varieties , as we have seen , being hardly distinguishable from Byzantine . We might multiply examples to show how sparingly other styles of architecture have introduced radical changes ; and , when they have , how slowly they have supplanted preceding types .
Plan , no less than architectural detail , has evidenced the same gradual development which we have been considering . The change from square parallelogramatic forms , to circular and complex , seems to have been slow . The varied requirements of luxurious nations chiefly effected this change . The monumental character of Egyptian , Assyrian , and other architecture ; the templar
character of Grecian and Gothic ; and the palatial character of Persian , Eoman , and other architecture , may have influenced , more or less , the forms of arrangement common in these different nations .
It is interesting to see how the Eoman basilica , for instance , grew into the medi _ eval cathedral ; how the forum , or atrium , became the Early Christian , narthex , or porch ; how the circular baptistery was supplied by the font ; how the Pagan apse developed into the Christian chancel ; till the perfected cruciform cathedral was producedThe by which the early timber
. processes roofs of the basilican churches were gradually supplanted by cylindrical and groined vaults , as well as the stages of spire and dome growth , were naturally conducive to complex ichnography ; and show , moreover , that love for elaborating existing forms which we have before noticed .
Were it necessary , we might go on enumerating examples to substantiate those principles and views of Architectural development we have advanced ; though many will readily suggest themselves to our readers in proof of what ive have said . Exceptions there are to every rule , and eases might be instanced as exceptional , at first thought , to some of our conclusions , though , on
closer investigation , they will be found to confirm them . Whether we take Assyrian , Grecian , Eoman , Byzantine , Saracenic , Eomanesque , or the Gothic developments , the principles of selection or discriminate imitation of features , is , more or less , found in all ; the principle of adaptation or an indigenousness of character , is also clear in the most distinctive styles ; while the process of elaboration has shown itself in all those varieties whose prolific and fertile elements were susceptible of growth or capable of refinement . —Budding News . '
Our Public Statues And Memorials.
OUR PUBLIC STATUES AND MEMORIALS .
The great decennial Exhibition which we have just closed , comprised , nothwithstanding all its mismanagement and shortcomings , such an aggregation of the arts and industries of the whole civilised world , as they existed in the year 1862 , as did not fail attract vast numbers of foreign visitors of all countries to our metropolis . Men of science , literature , and art naturally formed an
unusually large proportions of the vast multitude of strangers drawn together on such an exceptional occassion ; and we have consequently had to undergo a course of criticisms which , thong occasionally severe and often unjust , was yet , iu the main , truthful ; often exposing shortcomings of various kinds to which our national self-sufficiency induced us to close our eyes . If . is well
to be occasionally reminded , of our national defects , especially through the medium of foreign visitors ; who , viewing us from their own stand , which is very different from ours , naturally perceive blemishes ( occasionally rather remarkable ones ) which we had never looked for , and of which , in our insular self-sufficiency , we had not indeed believed the existence possible .
Nothing so much , struck the artistic section of our crowds of foreign visitors during the present season as the extreme poverty of our public memorials and honorary statutes . They appeared to our continental critics utterly unworthy ofthe intellectual and artistic eminence of our nation ; and so , in fact , they are ; and the foreign critics , however sarcastically unpleasant they may haye correct in
been in their mode of stating it , were perfectly their general verdict . Let us ourselves examine a few of our public statues and memorials , from the dingy kings in the dingy outof-the-way squares , to the caricature of the Great Duke at Hyde-park-corner , the monstrosities of Trafalgarsquare , and the clumsy masonry of the monument of Waterloo-place . We have , as a rule , adopted bronze statuary instead of
marble , on account of our variable climate , which proves speedily fatal to the beauty of the fair Carrara product . This necessity ought to have led to a more careful study of statuesque out line ; for is is the character and general perfection of the main external lines of a group or figure that can alono impart attractive effect to bronze statuary , which soon changes its naturally deep hue to one of
positive black . Characteristic outline is as necessary to a bronze statue , unless gilt , as to a shadow on the wall , as no details within the external line can be made expressively visible , when blackened by a London atmosphere , except in a very favourable light . Tet this necessary feature in bronze statuary has not been successfully studied in any of our principal public statues . Like
Take , for instance , that of Pitt , in Hanover-square . _ many others , its general outline is entirely without meaning ; the figure being , after a kind of artistic superstitution which prevails amongst ns , muffled up in a kind of cloak or toga . It is true that this statue of Pitt , by Sir Erancis Chantrey , on of the artist ' s best works , has dash of characteristic life about itinthe
outa , _ stretched arm , and in the fine head , which is thrown back with that defiant air which the orator often assumed in rebutting the attacks of a talented and powerful opposition . But here all effective outline ceases ; the rest of the figure bundled up in a mass of unmeaning cloak , such as assuredly Pitt never wore while addressing the House , nor we should think under any other
circumstances . There is , moreover , a little lump of this wrappering gathered together just above the left arm which , at a little distance , is altogether unintelligle . Only the other morning , while taking a round among our public monuments , guided by the official list recently called for in Parliament , we stood beforo this work , at about the proper focal distance , pondering upon what could be the meaning of the lump of something over the left arm ; and it was not till after a much closer aud very careful examination of the nature of the excrescence , that its