Architecture, Its Purpose And Place Amongst The Arts.

tion ; architecture has been the art in which all nations have rejoiced , and in which national creed and social life haA e been reflected . Having referred at some length to the relation of architecture to the other arts , Mr . Parry concluded his lecture , of which the foregoing is an abstract , as follows : —The recognition ¦ of universal beauty leads to one or other of the two

ends—confusion by admixture—truth by subordination . The arts , therefore , to Avork well together , must practise self-denial . Architecture has been in its purest style the great central influence in the ar # of civilization . Their combination with architecture has forced them up to a high ideal . I recognize the

exquisite beauty of the most imitative art so long as there be mind in it , and not matter only . But the higher the ideal the greater the art , if it can but attain to it . The combination , therefore , of those arts must reach the acme of all human power , which fulfils the yearning of thathis highest aim . Look , thenat

, , what a position an architect holds in the Avorld of art if he be worthy of the profession which he makes . Study of all art is needed for such a course as his , for of his art I conclude—and Avith ' this I conclude this short review of it—that as gold is among colours , so is architecture among the arts : it is that round which

they meet in perfect harmony ; and thus , with its sister arts about it , it is that great treasure-store of the genius of our fellow men in ages long gone by ; a golden harvest , a precious legacy , left sacred in their safe-keeping for us , to delight our highest sense , to elevate our sentiments , and to discipline our hearts .

On The Art Collections At South Kensington, Considered In Reference To Architecture.

ON THE ART COLLECTIONS AT SOUTH KENSINGTON , CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO ARCHITECTURE .

( Continued from No , 206 . ) I feel that I am not only on the threshold of my subject . I had intended to have taken a chronological method as the most convenient ; that is , going from century to century , to pass rapidly in review classes and modes of art to which each age and country gave rise , at least as they are illustrated by actual monuments in the Museum ;

but it is obvious we have only time for a few disconnected examples . Now the Museum is very rich in Byzautine or Romanesque art , in my opinion a most original and interesting phase , —one , moreover to be studied rather in decorative utensils and objects of a portable nature , than in great buildings , which , in the lapse jof so many centurieshave nearly all perished or lost their oriinal

, g character . The first great awakening of art iu Europe took place in Germany , under the successors of Charlemagne ; and the second Otho , by his family connection with the Byzantine court , introduced all manner of skilled craftsmen from the East , whose varied and ingenious technical processes took root and speedily bore more excellent fruit than in the East itself .

Western Europe was then preparing to take that great stride onwards , which speedily led ib to dominate over the East alike in arts and arms . The great old city of Cologne was , as I believe , thenceforth , perhaps for at least two centuries , the prime centre of art in Europe : thence proceeded those noble works in metalsuch as the seven-branched candelabrathe

so-, , called trees of Milan , Brunswick , Essen in Westphalia , Hildersheim , Prague , and I fear I must class our own Gloucester candlestick as a work of this school , though I would fain believe it to be of English origin . I know , for instance , nothing of any age superior either in design or technical execution to that stupendous work , the " Albero " of Milan Cathedral , a production

unquestionably of German art . Now , here under my hand are several objects of great interest of this period . The beautiful Ohampleve enamels we have alluded to are of prior origin , and of much higher merit than the better known and more abundant ones of Limoges . Our Museum affords numerous examples of both . Then , again , what a mine of varied instruction is presented by

the numerous monuments in carved ivory—the croziers , book-cover plaques , diptychs , the mosaics , nielli , and book illuminations of this fertile period . In all these branches the Museum affords characteristic specimens . At this eai * ly time , moreover , textile art had arrived at singular perfection , and I cannot but allude to an important collection of specimens in this class , which the

museum has recently required , —I mean the extraordinary gathering of ancient fabrics , and articles of costume formed by that distinguished archasologist , Dr . Franz Bock , canon of Ais-la-Chapelle . I am happy to announce that the Museum has acquired upwards of one hundred specimens from that collection ; and I trust the remainder of the seriesmaking in all about 450 ieceswill

ulti-, p , mately be secured . I have hung around some few examples , but by no means the most important , for the bulk of the specimens are not jet ready for exhibition . Now , this collection alone is a treasure of flat ornamentation of the most admirable and diversified kind . From the sixth or seventh century downwards , there is a complete series of the most exquisitelbeautiful

texy tile fabrics ever produced , —chiefly the splendid tissues of Byzantium , the costliest products of the looms of Cologne , of Bruges , Venice , and Palermo . This collection in its entirety is , and will , doubtless , ever remain unique and unapproached in importance . Not a few of the specimens , for instance , have been the shrouds and

rich pontificals of ancient ecclesiastics rescued from the tomb ; others envelopes of relics ; many , indeed , relics themselves , having been the known vestments of sainted ecclesiastics , preserved from generation to generation , in their own churches and monasteries , Now our English mediaavalists are beginning to take note of textile art as within their province . Here , then ,

is a boon to them ; but I need scarcely say that , for all art in which colour and geometrical or flat ornament is concerned , for wall-diapers , painted glass , & c , the truly beautiful stuffs of the middle ages , dwarfing into insignificance as they certainly do , all our modern products , are an indispensable source of study . We now come to that great era of art which I

may , perhaps , for want of a better title , still be allowed to call the Gothic system or style . I do not employ the term " Christian Art , " simply on account of its too great comprehensiveness ; though it is here , in a certain sense , very properly applied , inasmuch as we have now a new and perfectly original art-system , in which Pagan antiquity had absolutely no share , and to which it was

radically and essentially antagonistic . I shall not occupy your time with assthetieal or historical speculations as to the origin of this Gothic architecture . It was the spontaneous and genuine expression of a peculiar state of society iu western Europe . Chivalry , the feudal system , and the ardent unquestioning faith , stimulated by romantic mysticism , of the Roman Catholic Church ,

produced , in fact , in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries , an art so wonderfully complete and original , so rich and varied , and yet so inflexible in its leading principles and forms , that it seems impossible either to take from or add to it . It seems to me , indeed , that the greatest tribute we can pay to this system is to avow that we must be content with an humble and loving initiation of it , or its entire abandonment .

ihe museum is very rich m works of this great phase of art . We may commonly class works of the Mediaeval Gothic period under two heads , namely , —Ecclesiastical , and Secular or Domestic . Generally speaking , from obvious causes , objects in the later class are more rare . There are , nevertheless , to be found many most interest-