32a 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[NoVEMfiEB, 



V. In tlie subjects generally proposed to architectural students 

 in oom])etition for aeademiciil medals or other premiums, no very 

 preat jiidgnient is shown, tliey beinff almost invariably of a class 

 altogether out of the sphere of usual practice. Such subjects as 

 royal palaces, senate-bouses, cathedrals, and others of a similarly 

 ambitious kind, do not exercise those faculties and abilities which 

 jire most of all necessary, because the o|i]iortunities for exerting 

 them are comparatively of every-day occurrence. He who can 

 dis])lay talent, ingenuity, and taste, on occasions which seem to 

 affurd'hardly any room for displaying them, will be at no loss for 

 ideas on more important occasions that may reipiire him to put 

 f(jrth his strength, at the same time that they afford great scope 

 for his imagination. The converse does not hold good : the pro- 

 duction of an extravagant chimerical prnjct as an academical 

 tlieme, is no pledge for the sort of talent which is really wanted, 

 any more than the obtaining a Gold Medal is any pledge for after- 

 distinction. Suljjeets so rare and exceptional that they may be 

 ranked among the phenomena of the art, are hardly the very best 

 preparatory themes and exercises. Even granting that they tend to 

 develope and confirm artistic talent of a higher grade, if the talent 

 itself be of a kind that requires extraordinary emergencies and 

 illimitable resources for exerting and displaying it, it becomes, in 

 a manner, a superfluous one. Unless he at the same time has 

 powers more generally available, the possessor of it is likely to 

 prove in the condition of Hercules employed in spinning with a 

 distaff, at which labour his gigantic thevi-s and sinews could have 

 been of little service to him. Of Hercules' handiwork of that 

 sort, no "long yarns" have been preserved as relics ; but no doubt 

 they were ratlier clumsy ones — as clumsy as this fantastic compa- 

 rison will perhaps be considered by many. So I drop it, and re- 

 sume with a fresh paragraph. 



VI. Such ambitious efforts in architectural design as those above 

 alluded to, do not at all serve to call into play wliat is a most va- 

 luable species of ability, tluit which can acecmimodate itself to un- 

 toward circumstances, and overc(mie difficulties. Where a carte 

 Idiinche is offered, all those thwarting and fettering conditions 

 which the architect must expect to meet and contend with, are got 

 rid of at once. C^omparatively little exertion of thought is re- 

 quired where what may be called dreaming will suffice. Were 

 airte blanche matter of course on all occasions, imagination might 

 he left to run riot at will. Though as to imagination, it may 

 be doubted whether even that is much exercised and disciplined by 

 the kind of subjects proposed for Grands Prix and Gold Medals. 

 They generally show more of high-flown but empty aixhitectural 

 bombast, than of fertile invention. \Vhen examined, they may be 

 found to be made up out of the usual stock ideas — some of them 

 rather worn out, or at least the worse for the wear. It requires 

 no great exertion of imagination, or power of fancy, to draw out 

 upon paper mile-long colonnades, or spires that shall pierce the 

 clouds. Between such mere extravagance and the artistic and 

 poetical, there is a wide difference. Moreover, it is very possible 

 to be exceedingly extravagant and exceedingly dull at the same 

 time. Some of Soane's architectural " visions," as it pleased him 

 to call them, partook of that double quality. Tliere was enough 

 of them as to measure and quantity, but the stuff itself of which 

 they were formed was very ordinary and homespun — fitr more prosaic 

 than poetical in texture. Schemes of such magnitude have ere 

 now been produced upon paper, that Barry's " Palace of Westmin- 

 ster" would shrink into insignificance in comparison w ith them ; 

 yet, thimgh the things themselves have been of monster size, they 

 iiave oftener than not been made up of rather dwarfish ideas. 

 Even empty common-place may be inflated to such bulk, as to look 

 not only large, but solid too. But as a monster projei proposed 

 by an Academy is required for producing the inflation, the bladder 

 empties itself, and falls to the ground again. Were colossal mo- 

 numental edifices reared by us every day, there would be some 

 reason in proposing them as subjects to students ; although even 

 then they ought to be accompanied by some sort of conditions, 

 which would have to be observed ; but as such is not the case, it 

 would surely be better to direct study with more regard to tlie ap- 

 plication of it on ordinary occasions. And the talent which can 

 display itself upon such occasions, — which is capable of elevating 

 what seems to be a common-place subject into the sphere of art, by 

 happiness of treatment and skilful touches,— is, though it may seem 

 a comparatively humble, an exceedingly rare one. It is one that 

 demands artistic feeling, and a thorough knowledge of artistic 

 cJiaracter and effect. It works out, as it were intuitively, rules for 

 itself, which unlike ordinary technical ones, do not admit of being 

 fornuilly and clearly expressed in words. 



VII. Ordinary rules have, no doubt, their serviceableness, but it 

 i£ rather of a negative sort : the observance of them will prevent 



faults, but will not ensure positive beauties, or other merits than 

 those which partake of mere routine, and are therefore equally at 

 every one's command — of the novice as well as of the master. 

 Rules are indisjiensable, since they constitute the very grammar of 

 the art ; but from its grammar to its poetry the distance is prodi- 

 gious — at least, so great that ninety-nine out of a hundred never 

 advance beyond the former so as to reach the latter. ^Vhat is 

 done by mere rules and routine, can be accomplished by one man 

 just as well as by another. It is the sonu-thing more — the unde- 

 finable and individual 7/on soche, which lyinp beyond the reach of 

 rules, is not to be overtaken and cauglit by them. As far as this 

 finer quality of art can be studied and learnt at all, it is w bat every 

 one must study for himself ; for it is not to be learnt from general 

 precepts and rules, but from a careful and diligent examination of 

 examples marked by such felicitous quality. Rules teach mvch, 

 but they do not teach all. Yet, instead of being frankly acknow- 

 ledged, this is a truth which is thrust aside and kept out of sight ; 

 whereas it is one that ought to be strongly im))ressed upon every 

 student. Rules and the observance of precedent will suffice for 

 mere mechanical copying, but if architecture need not, or cannot 

 now advance beyond that, it ought to forfeit all pretension to the 

 character and title of Fine Art. And why should it or its fol- 

 lowers for it be ambitious of such title, if it cannot support it by 

 acting up to it .? If we are content with it in its present con- 

 dition as a mechanical art, wherefore not confess as much by call- 

 ing it so, instead of claiming for it an empty title, which only re- 

 minds us of what it no longer is ? As a Fine Art, all its privileges 

 seem to be gone ; therefore, they and its power being gone, it 

 would lose nothing by being deprived of its nominal rank. This 

 will, no doubt, be considered very harsh and unwelcome advice. 

 Well, then, if its rank must not be given up, let us endeavour to 

 render it worthy of such rank, and to re-instate it in its quality of 

 Fine Art, endowed with all those prerogatives and privileges of 

 which in these latter days it has been despoiled and stripped, 

 and forced to subsist upon the remnants of its former treasures. 



VIIT. Many, it might be supposed, would be really glad, were 

 the idea of architecture being a Fine Art to be altogether renounced, 

 sinceart does not seem to be at all their element. They are safer on 

 dry land — on the honest terra firma of practical routine. Art is a 

 treacherous element to those unprepared for and inexperienced in 

 it. If, according to the opinion which, though not formally ex- 

 pressed, is to be gathered from the remarks of certain writers, we 

 have no further occasion for artistic invention, or any actually ope- 

 rating and creative principle iaarchitecture, but may get all the art 

 that is required for it at second-hand, and would therefore do well 

 to confine ourselves exclusively to traditional forms and ideas, — if 

 such be the case, and we can now dispense with art itself, we can 

 surely dispense with the name of it. Or, if we must call it art, 

 let us call architecture the art of making new buildings by 

 copying or hashing-up old ones. But to afl'ect to consider and 

 style it a fine art, when we make it in practice just the reverse, 

 partakes too much of quackery. Architects are now such a nume- 

 rous class, that it would be strange if there were not some among 

 them who might fairly aspire to the honourable name of artists ; 

 but the majority have very questionable claim to it, and some 

 none at all; nor even so much as any genuine relish for their "art": 

 and the want of earnest affection for it, is of itself a proof of the 

 want of the talent requisite for it. 



IX. Those who admire one style of architecture, are apt to 

 be not merely indifferent to, but intolerant of every other. The 

 lover of pure Greek architecture sees only the corruption of it in 

 the Roman style ; and of this latter, the degradation in the 

 Italian. His standard of excellence is the Parthenon ; and by 

 that standard he tries everything else, no matter bow different 

 may be the principles upon which it is constituted. He would have 

 Greek-Doric tenii)les spring up everywhere throughout the length 

 and breadth of Europe, and of America also. He is willing to 

 extend some degree of favour to Ionic, that being at all events 

 Grecian ; but Corinthian is Roman, and shows a sad falling-off 

 from the manly simplicity of the earlier style. On the other 

 hand, the lover of Roman and Italian design is equally strong 

 both in his liking and his antipathy, holding Greek architecture to 

 be frigidly severe and monotonous, exceedingly borne withal; and 

 Gothic, together with all other mediaeval styles, to exhibit only 

 the barbarous conceits of the dark ages, — to be utterly devoid of 

 " proportions," lawless, extravagant, and irreducible to " rules." 

 Such at least used to be the case, for at the present day, such 

 sweeping condemnation and insolent contempt of^ mediaeval archi- 

 tecture cannot be expressed with impunity. Tempora mutantur: 

 Gothic may be said to have now the ascendancy, and its admirers 

 and devotees repay with compound interest the insults and indig- 



