1819.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



113 



ceives would have been painted in any temple less rich, but was in 

 the Parthendu carved as a crowning ornament to the great picture 

 below. 



The invisible curve, as to the form of which Mr. Penrose and 

 Mr. Jopling are in controversy, Mr. Fergusson altogetlier repu- 

 diates, and ends by saying, that "We have long copied what we do 

 not understand. It seems carrying the system to its acme of ab- 

 surdity to attempt also to copy what we cannot see." There is too 

 much truth in this to be willingly acknowledged. 



Another doctrine, but of older date, which is here controverted 

 is as to the commonly assumed symmetrical regularity of Greek 

 architecture. This, too, is repudiated, as a property which exists 

 only in the imagination of the moderns. Their temples, it is true, 

 are all perfectly so : and so are the Gothic churches and cathe- 

 drals designed; a line drawn through the centre divides the build- 

 ing into two equal and like halves, unless some local necessity pre- 

 vented. In contradistinction to the law of symmetrical regularity, 

 it is asserted that the true law of architecture throughout the 

 world is picturesque effect. As an example of its adoption by the 

 Greeks, an appeal is made to the little triple temple in the Acro- 

 polis. In this building not one part ranges, and even two different 

 orders are introduced ; so that it might be understood to be three 

 things joined together, as the steeple or chapter-house is joined to 

 a Gothic cathedral, — contributing to the general effect, but pre- 

 serving a distinctness of character. In the Propylasa, at Athens, is 

 another example. The centre part, as one apartment, was of 

 course symmetrical; but the wings were studiously separated from 

 the main design, and one wing made unlike the other, (^n one 

 side was placed, in front, the little temple of Nike Aptei'os, at an 

 incongruous angle; at the other a pedestal, the axis of which was 

 different fi-om that of every other part. On the sides of the main 

 building were placed other smaller ones, and the writer infers that 

 ])ains were purposely taken lest any one line of one should run 

 into any line of any other ; and the whole group was placed so as 

 to be as unsymmetrical as possible with the Parthenon, or with any 

 other building. The same effect is exemplified at Eleusis and at 

 Rhammis. 



Symmetrical regularity is asserted to be an invention of the 

 Italians. 



Having pointed out as a remarkable characteristic of Greek 

 architecture, that it made little progress, and became immutable 

 in its types, our writer contrasts with it the contem])orary art of 

 sculpture, and says, that instead of the stationary unprogressive 

 character of the former art, we find the latter striding forward 

 with a speed unequalled e\'en by the progress of Gothic art in the 

 thirteenth, or Italian painting in the fifteenth century. The spe- 

 cial cause of this was, first, tlie form of their mythology, — repre- 

 senting gods, bearing the forms of men and women, without any 

 other attribute than was possessed by human beings, and yet 

 greater and more beautiful than mortals. It is inferred that ar- 

 chitecture was by the Greeks in their best age looked upon as the 

 subordinate art, and sculpture as the principal art, — wliich is the 

 canon applied in judging of their temples and architecture. Mr. 

 Fergusson asserts roundly that though architecture has high aims, 

 they are neither so high nor so difficult of attainment as those of 

 the sister art : the proof of this lies in the facts, that barbarians 

 have surpassed Greeks in the one, but no nation ever equalled 

 them in the other. 



An ingenious theory is given to account for the length of time 

 during which Greek art maintained its vitality, — the Laocoon, the 

 Tauro Farnese, the Dying Gladiator, the Gladiator of Agesias, and 

 others, being executed after the age of Alexander — some extend- 

 ing late into the Roman period. A work in marble requires great 

 labour, time, and thought — far more sober mechanical contrivances 

 and labour than a painting, and the vehicle in sculpture must 

 always be a correct and literal imitation of the human or some 

 animal form — not even of plants. Expression and ideiis may be 

 added to any extent : but the form is given, and must always re- 

 main the same. In painting, on the other hand, harmonious co- 

 louring, chiaro-oscuro, aerial perspective, fore-shortening, and many 

 less attributes, may be magnified into importance, and lead the 

 painter astray from the true path ; — but the sculptor can wander 

 neither to the right or the left ; he must stand still, or go on. 



From this explanatiim the writer exempts the conventional ab- 

 surdities of winged men and beasts, chimeras, gorgons, satyrs, 

 hydras, harpies, minotaurs, and centaurs. 



Another point brought forward is as to the monochromy of 

 Greek sculpture. This is attacked, as the monochromy of archi- 

 tecture. All antiquity is so loud in praise of the chryselephantine 

 statues of Phidias, the Olympian Jupiter, the Pallas Athene, that 

 while we cannot refuse to allow that they were the greatest works 



of the best age of the arts, we must modify our views as to the 

 monochromatic form being the canonic form of sculpture. Still, 

 the transition from monochromatic to polychromatic sculpture is 

 so great, that we may well be said to jump at once from the so- 

 called purely Greek art of sculpture, to the native one of wax- 

 work. 



The Greeks, Mr. Fergusson thinks, had both ; but they must 

 have found out that perfection did not lie in the cold monumental 

 purity of the one, nor in the more correct imitation of the person 

 or thing represented, which is the aim of the other. Now, Mr. 

 Fergusson thinks the practice of the Greeks was diametrically 

 opposed to ours : that they generally, if not always, coloured their 

 statues, but rarely coloured their pictures — that is, they used one 

 or two colours only on a ground, as on the vases. 



Mr. Fergusson, therefore, urges most strongly the re-introduc- 

 tion of coloured sculpture, and" as strongly deprecates the white 

 inanity of sculptural works of the present day. The common ob- 

 jections to coloured sculpture, Mr. Fergusson shows to be without 

 any relevancy ; and we cannot but think it is well worthy of the 

 attention of sculptors to attempt something in this way. Gibson 

 broke the ground in his statue of the Queen ; and although some 

 conventionalists objected to his decoration of the robe, the least 

 prejudiced were pleased ; and the effect was such as at any rate to 

 authorise him to continue and carry the application further. 



The popular taste for Greek vases, coloured glass, painted por- 

 celain, coloured clay models, and waxwork is in keeping with a 

 love of the beautiful engendered by the progress of painting : and 

 unless the sculptor keeps pace with the growth of public taste, he 

 will be overcome by the better artistic feeling of Madame Tussaud 

 and the modellers of Spanish matadores, Mexican Indians, Maltese 

 water-carriers, and Hindoo coolies. There must be an imitative 

 plastic art, as well as an imitative art of design. 



(To be concluded in our next.) 



BEGISTSR OP NE'W PATENTS. 



TAPER TUBES. 



Robert Walter Wi.vfield, of Birmingham, manufacturer, and 

 John Ward, of Birmingham, for ^'improvements in the maiinfac- 

 tnre of tubes, and in tlie manufacture of certain, articles made in part 

 of tubes."— Granted September U, 1848; Enrolled March U, 18t9. 

 [Reported in the Patent Journal.'] 



This invention relates: First — to improvements in the making 

 of taper tubes, which is effected by drawing them through dies or 

 plates, as in the drawing of straight tubes. 



Secondly — to an improved mode of manufacturing brass tubes, 

 employed for conveying gas, which has for its object the better 

 prevention of any escape of the gas. 



In the manufacture of taper tubes, this invention is not confined 

 to the making of that description whose sides are in straight lines, 

 as at A, but may also be employed in the manufacture of such as 

 are of a curved form, as represented at B, and C', and also in the 

 tubes having flutes in a longitudinal direction, as at D; or spirally, 

 as represented at E. In the manufacture of such taper tubes, the 



16 



