1849.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL, 



145 



built in the provinces, many of which, as tliose of Baalbec, must 

 have been unmatched by anything at Rome, and the two temples 

 at Baalbec unmatched by anything in the Roman world. 



Of the Pantheon we believe our writer speaks fairly. He ob- 

 jects to the portico stuck on to the drum of the building, as a 

 clumsy and unsuitable piece of patchwork, the lines of which do 

 not range with the rest. The interior for conception is unmatched 

 in the olden world. The simplicity of its proportions is dwelt 

 upon as worthy of observation, though the details are Roman and 

 clumsy. The proportion of the height being exactly equal to the 

 width, Mr. Fergusson admires; and he thinks modern attempts 

 fail from trying to combine the Gothic steeple with the Etruscan 

 vault, and therefore the internal vault is carried high up into the 

 external ornament, — thus ruining both its proportion and its size. 

 Wren seems to have felt this, for his inner dome of St. Paul's is 

 built up separately from his outer one, and kept down much lower. 

 Mr. Fergusson, however, thinks it would have been infinitely more 

 pleasing in proportion, and both it and the church have looked 

 much larger, if, instead of being twice its width in height, it had 

 sprung from the whispering gallery, or the stringcourse above that. 

 Indeed, the dome of the Pantheon he would have brought ten or 

 fifteen feet lower, because it now crushes the drum or perpendicu- 

 lar part, and makes its decorations look more insignificant than 

 they should do. 



We cannot complain of prejudice being shown against the civic 

 buildings of the Romans, for they are treated as being as magnifi- 

 cent in their kind as any the world has yet seen. The Coliseum 

 he selects as the type of Roman art, as he did the Hypostyle Hall 

 of Karnac for Egypt, and the Parthenon for Greece. 



The columns, and particularly the sculptured columns, of Rome, 

 Paris, and London, Mr. Fergusson treats with severity; though, as 

 he says, the Romans were the less to blame, as they placed the 

 column of Trajan within the court of a basilica, having galleries 

 from which its sculptures could be seen. Still, it would have been 

 better had the same length of sculpture been made the frieze of a 

 building. 



The end to which he comes is, that the best and only satisfactory 

 works of the Romans are those belonging to the engineer — the 

 roads, bridges, aqueducts, harbours, and fortifications, the model 

 of which was got from Etruria, and not from Greece. The dis- 

 tinctive merits of Roman works are the mass and the constructive 

 magnificence, — marred sometimes, in architectural works, by clum- 

 siness in the artistic details, for which engineering works offered 

 little or no temptation. 



If, says our w riter, we have gone beyond the Romans in the two 

 arts in which they were really original and successful — namely, 

 law-making and engineering — why should we ascribe to them a 

 superiority in literature and the fine arts, in which they were 

 avowedly below the nations of antiquity ? 



We have thus followed Mr. Fergusson at some length through 

 his elaborate work ; we have followed him into every branch of 

 research, and have not spared our pages or the time of our read- 

 ers. We do not know if any ask that we should make an apology 

 for so doing, but we feel that we have discharged a duty. Mr. 

 Fergusson devotes talent, years, toil, and money to the execution 

 of a work much wanted; and so far from treating his task as if it 

 were to be slurred over, or as if it were unworthy, he has brought 

 to bear upon it all the resources of a most cultivated mind, and all 

 the illustrations of the most advanced state of knowledge. To do 

 this is to uphold the nobility of art; and we should be sorry to 

 stand idly by when such a service was done, — to neglect a work 

 which has justly excited the greatest attention from the press and 

 the public, — or to treat with coolness what has been wrought with 

 such good will. 



If we had wanted one reason above all others for noticing Mr. 

 Fergusson's book, it is to uphold him under the accusation of in- 

 troducing irrelevant matter; whereas we consider he has rendered 

 a common service to the fine arts and the other branches of learn- 

 ing, by showing their intimate connection, — and the more particu- 

 larly, by the reference of the fine arts to philosophy. He is only 

 blamed for the idleness and ignorance of others; and instead of 

 joining with them, we recommend to them his example. 



The fine arts are either unworthy studies, or they belong to the 

 general circle of learning, and admit of illustration from it. If 

 the latter, our artists must become scholars, which so few of them 

 are, — and our scholars must become artists. Whoever brings back 

 one art or science to the common fold of learning, renders an 

 essential service to all arts and sciences; and we think this merit 

 is due to Mr. Fergusson, for treating systematically what tlie 

 great men who have gone before him have given authority for by 

 treating with partiality. 



This work will be esteemed a useful and valuable one according 

 to the use the reader makes of it. If he slurs over it, as requiring 

 too much thought and care, — if he casts it aside as opposed to his 

 prejudices, — or even if he blindly adopts its conclusions, he will 

 not ascertain its value: but if he truly seizes the independent 

 spirit of the author, — if he sets himself free from the shackles of 

 cant, — and gets the power of thinking for himself in matters of 

 art, he will have rendered a service to the fine arts, by giving 

 them one true votary the more. 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK, 

 FASCICULUS XCIII. 



" I must have liberty 

 Withal, as large a charter aw the winds. 

 To bloiv on whom I please." 



I. It is equally matter for surprise and regret, that, instead of 

 confining his study, as he appears to have done, to Palladio's 

 buildings, Inigo Jones did not, while he was at Venice, direct his 

 attention to the examples of the earlier Venetian style, — from 

 which he could have culled mtich that was capable of being en- 

 grafted on the Elizabethan he had left at home, and by the aid of 

 which he might have advanced the latter to a finished English 

 style, — at least, have put it in the way of becoming such in time; 

 for between both the styles just mentioned there are, with of 

 course many differences, not a few points of contact also ; and an 

 infusion of the former might greatly have improved the latter. 

 Instead of so doing, Inigo contented himself with importing the 

 style of Palladio quite '■'■neat." Thereby he has obtained among us 

 the name of the English Palladio; — the plain English of which is, 

 that as far as he was Palladio at all, he was so only at second-hand 

 — a professed imitator and copyist. 



II. It may very fairly be questioned whether professional men 

 are the best judges of iesthetic quality in design, and capable of 

 appreciating it impartially. Educated as they are at present — 

 which is pretty much like being uneducated as regards the essen- 

 tial principles of their Art — architects are apt to contract pre- 

 judices which in turn contract both their judgment and taste; 

 blinding them equally to errors and defects in productions of 

 established repute, and to merits in those which happen to deviate 

 more or less from conventional rules. The opinion which is un- 

 supported, either way, by valid reasons for it, and rests only on an 

 appeal to precedent, custom, and ordinary rules, is surely no better 

 than prejudice; and even if it be one on the right side, it is no 

 better than prejudice still. Nor are prejudices and contracted 

 notions confined to professional men, since the generality of critics 

 are equally chargeable with them, owing to their having imbibed 

 them from the same sources as the others, and to their speaking 

 by rote — "by heart," as it is called, and that is a very different 

 matter from speaking l>y head, and with thoughtful consideration. 

 For my own part, I should be inclined to trust rather to the ver- 

 dict of a jury of artists, than to that of one composed entirely of 

 architects; of course I mean only as far as composition and design 

 are concerned. What strikes the eye of an artist as good, as Iiar- 

 monious and consistent in its proportions and ensemble, and other- 

 wise effectful, may pretty safely be assumed to possess the meriJjTf 

 sound artistic quality, if no otlier. It is true, the followers of the 

 other Fine Arts cannot be competent judges of the technicalities 

 and processes of Architecture; but then if such ignorance ought 

 to disqualify them from passing any opinion upon productions of 

 Architecture, the same ignorance, or perhaps a greater degree of 

 it, would disqualify the whole of the rest of the public; so that 

 architects would have none but themselves to admire them, or to 

 patronise their Art. As to the opinion entertained of architects 

 by artists, I fancy it to be the reverse of flattering, for among the 

 latter I have heard more than one accuse the former of obtuseness, 

 and want of iesthetic perception and feeling — at any rate, of tlie 

 non-exercise of them; therefore, although Architecture itself may 

 be a Fine Art, it is now rarely exercised as such, — so that those 

 who practise it merely according to precedent and routine, have 

 little or no claim to the title of aitists; for even although the 

 structures erected by them may be satisfactory, scarcely ever do 

 they put into them aught of design which emanates directly from 

 their own minds. 



III. The value of an artist's opinion in regard to Architecture is 

 sufiieiently apparent from what that of Reynolds has done for 

 Vanbrugh. But for the honourable testimony borne to his peculiar 



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