-
Articles/Ads
Article ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHÆOLOGY. ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Architecture And Archæology.
of any one to conceive . " '' An eminent foreign critic , who is a devoted admirer of Medievalism , by the way , declared that , in his opinion , " eclecticism ( or a reasoned selection ) was the curse of art ; " and there are , it is to be feared , many very able and sincere men , of his opinion , amongst ourselves . Ifc seems to me , however , that any such exclusive cultivation of one series of formsof one mode of artistic expression
, , proceeds from an incomplete view of thc question , and from an incapacity to perceive the beauties of the various styles hitherto adopted . I may myself be guilty of au error in the opposite direction to the one thus referred to ; but certainly I am inclined almost to believe that nothing was ever fashionable even , for any length of time , without possessing some element of beautyor withoutin some or other
, , way , coinciding with the prevalent ideal of perfection in art at the time of its reign . It is the duty of tho architect to discover the universal element , so to speak , in all the accidental exhibitions of art , and to apply it , when found , to his own practice . He can only do so by a careful study of all styles , and the effect of such a broad and universal mode of
investigation will be , I am tolerably sure , to destroy anything like the exclusive cultivation of any one of thorn . I dwell upon this part of the subject under consideration , because you , who are , after all , executors of other mens designs , not designers in an independent capacity , require especially to feel that you are not labouring against the interests of truth , when you arc striving to carry out a
design in a style which may bo opposed to thc prevailing taste of your day . No true workman worked well when ho disliked the work he was employed upon ; and you may be sure that if yon cultivate an exclusive taste for one phase of architectural expression , you will hardly bo able to perform your duty when you are employed upon a work designed in another irit . I should be the last man to
adsp vise you , hoivever , thus to expend your time and energies in the endeavour to seize the subtile principles of the beauty of the different forms of art practised in your generation , were I not convinced that such a coin-se is fche ivisosfc and best that you could adopt—not only in order to advance your OAVII proficiency as workmen , but also in order to advance the interests of true art , ivhich always was , and
always will bo , influenced by the feelings of tho great body of its cultivators . It is precisely because I knoAv that the class you represent exercises a very potent influence on thc formation of public opinion on these questions , that I feef it to be incumbent on you to examine the abstruser parts of the science of the arts you are connected with ; and I am equally sure that if you enter upon such an examination in
a- candid spirit you will ultimately arrive at the conclusion that it is jiossible to express by the outward forms adopted by almost every pure style , the ideal perfection ivhich ought to prevail in a building . There are two other points to which I would wish to call your attention , before proceeding- to illustrate what I consider to be your especial duties in the attempt to apply the
ascertained laws of beauty to your pursuits . One of these is the influence of the materials you employ on thc artistic expression of your work ; the other is the precise nature of the distinction between conventional and natural
ornamentation , or , to quote the commonly but incorrectly received words of the day , between tho realistic and the idealistic schools of architecture . JNoiv , as to the former of these points , ifc may be observed that it is intimately connected with the considerations before alluded to with respect to consistency : tho materials used must bo so used as to satisfthe spectator that they are not
y only able to discharge the functions thoy arc designed to fulfil , but they must always appear to be and actually bo tho most fitted for their respective positions . Throughout thecommer - cial cities of Europe , and I fear , also , in oth er parts of tho world , the recent application of iron , for instance , have furnished illustrations of tho use and of the abuse of which it is
susceptible : ana I go a little out of my way to call your attention to this matter , because it is notorious that in many cases you , or men liko yourselves , are the only ones consulted by the public . The legitimate use of iron in great engineering works is now , thanks to Messrs . Hodgkinson , Barlow , Tate , Remiie , Stephenson , Fairbairn , Morin , Flachat , and others , tolerably well understood ; and it is applied
openly and avowedly as iron , without any attempt afc Iiidiug or disguise . In shop or house architecture ( for when we are talking of the application of general laws we must seek the most familiar illustrations ) , we find , however , that , as though the designers had taken literally the proverb , ars est eelare artem , they strive to conceal the means by which they aro enabled to produce their effects ; or if the iron supports
must be shown , they are painted to represent marble or bronze , or anything but what they really are . To my mind there cannot be a more striking illustration of thc converse of beauty than some of the modern street architecture of such towns as London , Paris , Brussels , or Amsterdam , precisely on this score ; for the aim of tho designers of many of the most attractive shops seems to have been to produce tho
effect of having placed solid , heavy structures upon sheets of glass , which every one must feel to be insufficient to bear the load they seem to carry . In these cases there is evidently a discrepancy between the form and thc idea ; the means employed do not correspond with the end supposed to be attained ; so that the first elements of real beauty are wanting in these uncomfortable looking structures . What
may be tho commercial value of tho ICAV inches of show room lost by exhibiting the points of support of thc buildingabove ifc is hard to say , but to any educated eye , a shop-front entirely composed of glass must always be repulsive , because it always looks unsafe . Again , in much of the modern ecclesiastical architecture of thc day ifc is tho fashion to execute the sheitered parts of tho walling ivith the hard
, resisting stones , such as the Kentish rag , whilst the quoins , parapets , iinials , & c , are executed in the more perishable Bath or Caen stones . The conjunction of these materials would , to au educated mind , destroy the beauty of a building , particularly . of a building devoted to the worship of Him who is emphatically the "Eternal , " because it must suggest
the notion of a temporary character in fche structure itself , and thus give rise to a discrepancy between the external form and the idea ivhich should attach to evoiy such structure . In other cases also the materials used for the body of the work may bo of such a nature as to render ifc advisable —nay , even necessary—to cover them with some protecting coat of cement , mastic , or plaster . If this were done honestly
and openly there would bo no reason to complain of the use of this ciass of materials , and even tho most bigoted Medievalist , who objects to cement shams , is " a little blind " to the analogy between them and the rough cast , so liberally employed by the very men ho delights to honour . The fact is , that the objections to the use of cements arises from their having been made shams , from thc absurd mania for
scoring the surfaces with the vain hope of making them look like stone ; and so long as thc cements are used simply as protecting coats , without any attempt at the imitation of the effect of other materials , they cannot bo considered objectionable as art-materials even . Thc real condition to be aimed at in all these cases is , that no part of a building should bo exposed to efforts ivhich would manifestly exceed tho powers of resistance of the materials employed ; and
there must be a distinct relation between thc more or less permanent nature of the materials , and the more or less permanent character of ihe building . The conviction of tho durability of the granite employed in the pyramids of Egypt must add to the sensation of beauty they inspire ; tho plaster ceiling of Milan Cathedral destroys the pleasure which , 2 Jerhaps , might have been derived from its design .
Our ideas of thc beauty of the latter arc marred by the discrepancy between the actual state of the building and of our ideas of what it ought to be as a jiermanenfc teumlc to the honour of the Eternal . Truth and consistency must , in fact , be the ruling principles in our use of building materials ; and as for the introduction of colour by their means , ifc may bo dismissed by observing that to us Englishmen ifc can
never bo a matter of great importance , es 2 iecially in our great towns ; for our atmosphere effectually prevents our socking , with any probability of success , for beauty from this adventitious and ( I cannot hc ^ i suspecting , for my own part this inferior clement of that quality . One of thc most brilliant authors of the | n-esent day , Mr . Euskin , has in his recent work , The Two Paths , endeavoured to establish a distinction between the res 2 ") cctivc schools of art ivhich resort to thc imitation of natural objects
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Architecture And Archæology.
of any one to conceive . " '' An eminent foreign critic , who is a devoted admirer of Medievalism , by the way , declared that , in his opinion , " eclecticism ( or a reasoned selection ) was the curse of art ; " and there are , it is to be feared , many very able and sincere men , of his opinion , amongst ourselves . Ifc seems to me , however , that any such exclusive cultivation of one series of formsof one mode of artistic expression
, , proceeds from an incomplete view of thc question , and from an incapacity to perceive the beauties of the various styles hitherto adopted . I may myself be guilty of au error in the opposite direction to the one thus referred to ; but certainly I am inclined almost to believe that nothing was ever fashionable even , for any length of time , without possessing some element of beautyor withoutin some or other
, , way , coinciding with the prevalent ideal of perfection in art at the time of its reign . It is the duty of tho architect to discover the universal element , so to speak , in all the accidental exhibitions of art , and to apply it , when found , to his own practice . He can only do so by a careful study of all styles , and the effect of such a broad and universal mode of
investigation will be , I am tolerably sure , to destroy anything like the exclusive cultivation of any one of thorn . I dwell upon this part of the subject under consideration , because you , who are , after all , executors of other mens designs , not designers in an independent capacity , require especially to feel that you are not labouring against the interests of truth , when you arc striving to carry out a
design in a style which may bo opposed to thc prevailing taste of your day . No true workman worked well when ho disliked the work he was employed upon ; and you may be sure that if yon cultivate an exclusive taste for one phase of architectural expression , you will hardly bo able to perform your duty when you are employed upon a work designed in another irit . I should be the last man to
adsp vise you , hoivever , thus to expend your time and energies in the endeavour to seize the subtile principles of the beauty of the different forms of art practised in your generation , were I not convinced that such a coin-se is fche ivisosfc and best that you could adopt—not only in order to advance your OAVII proficiency as workmen , but also in order to advance the interests of true art , ivhich always was , and
always will bo , influenced by the feelings of tho great body of its cultivators . It is precisely because I knoAv that the class you represent exercises a very potent influence on thc formation of public opinion on these questions , that I feef it to be incumbent on you to examine the abstruser parts of the science of the arts you are connected with ; and I am equally sure that if you enter upon such an examination in
a- candid spirit you will ultimately arrive at the conclusion that it is jiossible to express by the outward forms adopted by almost every pure style , the ideal perfection ivhich ought to prevail in a building . There are two other points to which I would wish to call your attention , before proceeding- to illustrate what I consider to be your especial duties in the attempt to apply the
ascertained laws of beauty to your pursuits . One of these is the influence of the materials you employ on thc artistic expression of your work ; the other is the precise nature of the distinction between conventional and natural
ornamentation , or , to quote the commonly but incorrectly received words of the day , between tho realistic and the idealistic schools of architecture . JNoiv , as to the former of these points , ifc may be observed that it is intimately connected with the considerations before alluded to with respect to consistency : tho materials used must bo so used as to satisfthe spectator that they are not
y only able to discharge the functions thoy arc designed to fulfil , but they must always appear to be and actually bo tho most fitted for their respective positions . Throughout thecommer - cial cities of Europe , and I fear , also , in oth er parts of tho world , the recent application of iron , for instance , have furnished illustrations of tho use and of the abuse of which it is
susceptible : ana I go a little out of my way to call your attention to this matter , because it is notorious that in many cases you , or men liko yourselves , are the only ones consulted by the public . The legitimate use of iron in great engineering works is now , thanks to Messrs . Hodgkinson , Barlow , Tate , Remiie , Stephenson , Fairbairn , Morin , Flachat , and others , tolerably well understood ; and it is applied
openly and avowedly as iron , without any attempt afc Iiidiug or disguise . In shop or house architecture ( for when we are talking of the application of general laws we must seek the most familiar illustrations ) , we find , however , that , as though the designers had taken literally the proverb , ars est eelare artem , they strive to conceal the means by which they aro enabled to produce their effects ; or if the iron supports
must be shown , they are painted to represent marble or bronze , or anything but what they really are . To my mind there cannot be a more striking illustration of thc converse of beauty than some of the modern street architecture of such towns as London , Paris , Brussels , or Amsterdam , precisely on this score ; for the aim of tho designers of many of the most attractive shops seems to have been to produce tho
effect of having placed solid , heavy structures upon sheets of glass , which every one must feel to be insufficient to bear the load they seem to carry . In these cases there is evidently a discrepancy between the form and thc idea ; the means employed do not correspond with the end supposed to be attained ; so that the first elements of real beauty are wanting in these uncomfortable looking structures . What
may be tho commercial value of tho ICAV inches of show room lost by exhibiting the points of support of thc buildingabove ifc is hard to say , but to any educated eye , a shop-front entirely composed of glass must always be repulsive , because it always looks unsafe . Again , in much of the modern ecclesiastical architecture of thc day ifc is tho fashion to execute the sheitered parts of tho walling ivith the hard
, resisting stones , such as the Kentish rag , whilst the quoins , parapets , iinials , & c , are executed in the more perishable Bath or Caen stones . The conjunction of these materials would , to au educated mind , destroy the beauty of a building , particularly . of a building devoted to the worship of Him who is emphatically the "Eternal , " because it must suggest
the notion of a temporary character in fche structure itself , and thus give rise to a discrepancy between the external form and the idea ivhich should attach to evoiy such structure . In other cases also the materials used for the body of the work may bo of such a nature as to render ifc advisable —nay , even necessary—to cover them with some protecting coat of cement , mastic , or plaster . If this were done honestly
and openly there would bo no reason to complain of the use of this ciass of materials , and even tho most bigoted Medievalist , who objects to cement shams , is " a little blind " to the analogy between them and the rough cast , so liberally employed by the very men ho delights to honour . The fact is , that the objections to the use of cements arises from their having been made shams , from thc absurd mania for
scoring the surfaces with the vain hope of making them look like stone ; and so long as thc cements are used simply as protecting coats , without any attempt at the imitation of the effect of other materials , they cannot bo considered objectionable as art-materials even . Thc real condition to be aimed at in all these cases is , that no part of a building should bo exposed to efforts ivhich would manifestly exceed tho powers of resistance of the materials employed ; and
there must be a distinct relation between thc more or less permanent nature of the materials , and the more or less permanent character of ihe building . The conviction of tho durability of the granite employed in the pyramids of Egypt must add to the sensation of beauty they inspire ; tho plaster ceiling of Milan Cathedral destroys the pleasure which , 2 Jerhaps , might have been derived from its design .
Our ideas of thc beauty of the latter arc marred by the discrepancy between the actual state of the building and of our ideas of what it ought to be as a jiermanenfc teumlc to the honour of the Eternal . Truth and consistency must , in fact , be the ruling principles in our use of building materials ; and as for the introduction of colour by their means , ifc may bo dismissed by observing that to us Englishmen ifc can
never bo a matter of great importance , es 2 iecially in our great towns ; for our atmosphere effectually prevents our socking , with any probability of success , for beauty from this adventitious and ( I cannot hc ^ i suspecting , for my own part this inferior clement of that quality . One of thc most brilliant authors of the | n-esent day , Mr . Euskin , has in his recent work , The Two Paths , endeavoured to establish a distinction between the res 2 ") cctivc schools of art ivhich resort to thc imitation of natural objects