1848.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



9r 



CANDIDUS'S NOT E-BOOK, 

 FASCICULUS LXXX. 



" I must have liberly 

 Withal, as Urge a charter a= the winds, 

 To blow on wliora I please." 



I. Caryatides completely contradict Vitruvius's conceit, as to Ionic 

 and Corintliiiiii columns being proportioned respectively after Gre- 

 cian mammas and misses, for tlie real feminine or lady-like pillars 

 are far more bulky and robust than even the most masculine ex- 

 amples of tlie Doric order, — to such degree, in fact, that tliey would 

 be positively clumsy were they mere pillars, whereas variety of 

 form and play of outline entirely dissipate the heaviness which 

 would attend simple masses of stone of the same bulk. Of the 

 effect and value of Caryatides in architectural composition scarcely 

 anj'thing is said by architectural writers, altliough it is that which 

 chiefly demands their consideration and remark ; for as to the 

 origin or first introduction of such figures to perform the office of 

 columns, that in reality matters not a rush, notwithstanding it is 

 what exclusively occupies the attention of those who speak of them. 

 The current legend respecting the adoption of them into Greek 

 architecture, may be true or may be false ; but at aU events it is 

 not necessary in order to account for pillars being shaped to re- 

 semble human figures, such figures being frequent in the Egyptian 

 style, — of course with very wide differences as to taste and de- 

 sign, the fundamental idea being nevertheless one and the same. 

 Far more to the purpose is it to consider the aesthetic effect of 

 such statue-columns, and their value in architectural composition. 

 That while they greatly extend the resources of the latter, there is 

 direct classical authority for them, and that in an example fraught 

 with the most exquisite taste, is undeniable ; notwithstanding which, 

 the propriety of the taste so displayed has been called in question, 

 or rather has been peremptorily condemned. It is contended that 

 such figures both suggest painful ideas, and partake of the prepos- 

 terous. With regard to the first of these objections, it is difficult 

 to understand wherefore statues performing the office of pillars 

 should excite any idea of pain if they themselves express no such 

 feeling — which of course they ought not to do — Imt stand calm, 

 immoveable, and indicate perfect ease and tranquillity. As to the 

 preposterousness of employing human forms for offices which living 

 human beings could not possibly perform, if there he absurdity in 

 that, it is of a species which extends itself — or I might say, incor- 

 porates itself — with a very great deal of both architectural decora- 

 tion and ornamental design generally. It has been said that what- 

 ever is contrary to common-sense is contrary also to good taste. 

 The validity of such dictum depends very much upon the latitude 

 allowed to the term " common-sense." If we are to understand by 

 it merely the knowledge based upon actual experience, a very great 

 deal that has hitlierto been regarded as manifesting refined taste, 

 must be set aside altogether, and pronounced to be in very false 

 taste. If Caryatides are to be condemned as inconsistent with 

 good taste, because they represent the human form contrary to 

 what we know by common-sense it is capable of, tlie same autho- 

 rity of common-sense must pronounce statues employed as pinna- 

 cles and acroteria on pediments or elsewhere to be equally repug- 

 nant to good taste, they being placed for a continuance wJiere real 

 persons — if they could stand there at all — could remain for only a 

 few minutes, and that at the peril of their necks and limbs. 

 Again, how can we reconcile with plain common-sense such 

 classical monstrosities as arabesques or human and animal 

 figures terminating in foliage .-' Nay, is there anything of common- 

 sense — that is, of plain, honest, matter-ot-fact common-sense — in 

 the cramming a crowd of figures into a pediment, where half of 

 them are, perforce, crouching down ? Or what shall we say to 

 such conceits as corbel-heads, or to statues fixed in between the 

 mouldings of the head of an arch, in such manner that some of 

 them are nearly in a horizontal position .-' If common-sense is not 

 startled by them, it may surely excuse what are less at variance 

 with it — namely. Caryatides, which last are at once so picturesque 

 and elegant in effect, that their being so rarely employed may well 

 excite our wonder. Their being frequently employed" is not to be 

 looked for, on account of their expensiveness as' compared with 

 other pillars of the same dimensions ; still what prevents their be- 

 coming too common by being applied on ordinary occasions, should 

 operate as a strong reason for introducing them where magnificence 

 is affected, and cost becomes a secondary consideratk)n. 



II. From what Mr. Gwilt says on the subject, in his Encyclopse- 

 dia, it would seem that Caryatid figures are by no means uncom- 

 mon features in architectural composition, for he tells us that "the 

 No. 127— Vol. XI.— Aphil, 1848. 



variety in quest of which the eye is always in search, and the pic- 

 turesque effect which may be produced by the employment of Carya- 

 tides, leads often to tlieir necessary employment." How he recon- 

 ciles the epitliet " necessary" with the opinion uttered by him just 

 before, viz., that the purj)ose of support can be not only as well but 

 even better accomplished by a small order, — must be left to himself 

 to explain, whicli it would, perhaps, puzzle him to do ; and ])uzzle 

 him also it would to justify the expression " Often " by enumerating 

 examples. On the contrary, they are exceedingly rare indeed, in 

 this country more especially, for I can call to mind only one in- 

 stance of the kind in the metropolis, namely, that affoi-ded by the 

 church of St. Pancras. Yet, though he evidently entertains no par- 

 tiality for Carj'atides, Mr. Gwilt appears to regard with favour 

 Inigo Jones's idea for the circular court in the palace of Whitehall, 

 which was intended to have two orders of colossal figures, answer- 

 ing to two entire stories of the edifice, which enlargement of scale 

 for figures of the kind is certainly no improvement upon the taste- 

 ful Athenian example. 



III. It would be well were we to ask ourselves what is likely to 

 be the result of the present system of architectural copyism and 

 mere reproduction. The works so formed and fashioned will, by 

 and by, come to be looked upon, at the best, only as so many clever 

 counterfeits and imitations of what were previously living styles 

 of the art, fraught with vitality and with the actual impress of the 

 period when they respectively flourished. Just now, while we are 

 imitating, our imitations may interest ourselves, but they will be 

 of no interest or value to those who come after us. Historic int&- 

 rest they will have none, except as testifying to our skill in me- 

 chanical mimicry, and our utter want of inventive and creative 

 power. Do what we will, imitation of something done before there 

 always must be in architecture; yet, as if that were not sufficient, 

 we affect and pique ourselves upon direct and express imitation. We 

 must always have " something after somebody,' or after something 

 else. And this of itself constitutes a prodigious difference between 

 the art at the present day and in former jieriods, our own being 

 little better than a blank with regard to original ideas. So that 

 with all our reverence — real or pretended — for i)recedent, we refuse 

 to recognise the artistic liberty to which we are indebted for those 

 styles and examples of them which we now cry up as patterns of 

 excellence. 



IV. The free exercise of invention in design is not to be con- 

 founded with mere arbitrary innovation. The inventive power for 

 which such freedom is claimed must, however, be of a legitimate 

 kind, — that is, be directed by sound principles of art. With them 

 and a cultivated taste for his guidance, he who has the spirit of an 

 artist in him may safely be trusted to his own impulses and ideas ; 

 whereas he who has no insiglit into artistic principles, who has 

 never applied himself to aesthetic study, cannot be trusted at all 

 beyond the limits of the most ordinary common-place and jog-trot 

 design, for if there be a possibility of blundering he is sure to do 

 so. No matter in what style he attempts to disguise himself, his 

 vulgarity is certain to betray him, and his irrepressible Pecksniffism 

 breaks out, without being at all suspected by him, or it being in 

 his power to guard against it, for the simple reason that it is his 

 nature, and he has no idea of what he ought to guard against. 

 Daily experience confirms the truth of this : how many atrociously 

 vile and vulgar copies — or rather parodies and caricatures, although 

 intended for copies — do we see of styles and modes of design and 

 composition that happen to have been brought into vogue — as, for 

 instance, the astylar " Palazzo" fashion introduced by Barry, which 

 has in many cases been either positively vulgarized, or else treated 

 in the most prosaic manner, — as if the intention were to prove 

 what miserable taste may be displayed in things that affect to con- 

 form to precedent and to be perfectly free from caprice. 



V. As to caprice, tliat term is frequently applied ^•ery unmean- 

 ingly. It is very common for people to set down at once for 

 caprice whatever deviates fi-om general rule and usual method ; 

 thereby perplexing that ordinai-y and petty criticism which has no 

 other standard of judging than established routinier precepts, in- 

 terpreting them, moreover, to the very letter. Such criticism is 

 unable to discriminate betvveen what is mere caprice and what is 

 not, — wide as is the difference between them. The capricious is 

 that for which no satisfactory reason can be assigned by the author 

 of it ; but, however contrary it may be to usual practice, that is 

 not caprice which is done with deliberate intention and well- 

 studied aim at effects previously untried. And if to do well 

 merely according to precedent be meritorious, much more so must i 

 be to do so and at the same timegobeyond actual precedent, creating 

 what in its turn will be recognised as valid precedent and authority. 

 It is proper enough to be perfectly well acquainted with precedent, 

 but to be tied down to it — to be made a slave to it, is ul. Those 



14 



