198 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jii.v. 



are iiif(irme(l in a foot-note, was written before Mr. Ruskin's 

 "Seven Ijimips" had appeared, to throw a clieerinj;: gleam of lijfht 

 on Smirke's Aliiseum; and a very scanty gleam it is, for it leaves 

 ns altogetlier in the dark as to what are the beauties and merits 

 that obtain for it Mr. Ruskin's "sincere admiration." 



.Mr. Fergusson appears to attribute the defects of the design — 

 its coldness and unartistic ehiiracter — rather to the style than, as 

 we do, to the architect's very prosaic treatment of it. Yet, surely 

 tlie style itself is not deficient in beauty; and, in fact, what of 

 beauty there is in the design at all, is derived entirely from the 

 Ionic columns alone, for in every other respect the building is so 

 frigidly bare as to have hardly the look of being finished. Even 

 tlie columns themselves, too, are so disposed as to produce more of 

 wearisome sameness and monotony than of architectural richness. 

 There is so little agreement between the colonnades and the build- 

 ing behind them, that the former might be taken for an after- 

 tl]ought, and be supposed to ha\e been added mei-ely to eke out 

 and dress up the other. Unless the spirit of the style evidently 

 aimed at by the colonnades could have been faithfully kept up in 

 all the rest, it would have been better to have let it be seen that 

 the anti<iue Greek character was not professed to be adhered to. 

 Smirke, on the contrary, has so managed it that bis tame and scru- 

 jjulous accuracy with regard to antique columniation occasions 

 such a disparity of parts, that integrity of enaenible is quite for- 

 feited. 



We have said that the colonnades might pass for being an after- 

 thought, and they actually do appear to have been designed with- 

 dut any regard to what is behind them, because — as may be seen 

 by the plan given by Mr. Fergusson, who, however, does not point 

 out that very singular blunder — many of the windows are not in 

 the same axis as the corresponding intercolumns ; and in two 

 j>laces, a window comes immediately behind — tliat is, in the same 

 axis, as a column. This gross infringement of one of the simplest 

 rules of architectural grammar will probably be attributed to care- 

 lessness on the part of the engraver, especially as the jilan is on a 

 small scale ; whereas it occurs in the building itself, where it has 

 always pained our eyes. In a view either way straight down along 

 llie colonnade, from the entrance, the vista is sadly marred, and 

 made to have quite a lop-siileil look, by the window seen at the end 

 of it being out of the a.xis, and, moreover, sq\ieezed up against a 

 corner. 



Mr. Fergusson has pointed out how, by placing the staircase 

 (wliich is lighted from above) on the south side, instead of next 

 tlie inner court, which last situation would have been better for 

 the first gallery, — windows might have been dispensed with in that 

 part of the colonnades; and by a very little contrivance in the 

 jilan, they might have been got rid of in the corresponding portion 

 on the other side of the entrance. As to the windows within the 

 return colonnades, where the irregularity above-noticed takes 

 jilace, they seem to be quite uncalled for, the rooms there (mostly 

 jirivate ones) being liglited from the opposite side also, and some 

 of them even from a tbird side. 



As far as character is c(mcerned, there is nothing whatever in the 

 building to express plainly to the eye at once its specific jiurpose; 

 which particular definite expression might surely be imparted to a 

 museum far more easily than to a public edifice of any other class. 

 'I'liat it is the Museum is perfectly well known, — and so was the 

 lormer old building; yet surely the merely being known as such is 

 not sufficient, nor to be received in lieu <if intelligible architectu- 

 ral character, and marked indication of its peculiar purpose. If 

 there be any edifice which more than another admits of, or rather 

 demands arcbitec^tural luxury, it is a public museum of works of 

 art, for it ouglit to be a finished work of art itself; and thereby 

 tend to improve i)ublic taste. If we are content with a mere ware- 

 house or repository for books and sculpture, well and good. The 

 saving money in building, in order to a]q)ly it to enlarging the 

 (dllections, is intelligible and rational economy; whereas, to squan- 

 der it away by hundreds of thousands, to produce what is after all 

 i! poor, would-be-fine, botched-up structure, wherein the grossest 

 bungling, the most paltry meanness, and the most offensive eye- 

 sores disjday themselves,— is provoking and mortifying beyond 

 expression. The only comfort we now feel, is that the mortifica- 

 tion which we ourselves feel is, after what Mr. Fergusson has said, 

 likely to become very general, and to be most felt just where it 

 ought to he. 



Although be has shown no contrivance whatever in any other 

 respect, Sir Robert Smirke lias contrived to make his Ionic colon- 

 iKides look no better than niere fi-iji/ieri/ — a sort of architectural 

 ''cover-slut" to a very ugly and piean-looking brick building; and, 

 moreover, put on so slovenly, that it does not even so much as 

 conceal what it is intended to mask and hide. Even were the 



central mass of the general facade many degrees better than it 

 actually is, and in itself satisfactory, still all the rest — tlie parts 

 mixed up, for we cannot say combined, w ith it — are such exceed- 

 ingly ordinary, everyday, and some of them even vulgar stuff", that 

 grandiose composition — and considering what has been e.\uended, 

 we ought at all exents to have had that for our money — is quite 

 out of the question. 



Good, substantial, but quite plain brick houses would surely have 

 been good enough for the officers of the establishment; and had a 

 range of such bouses been erected in continuation of those on the 

 west side of Montague-street, besides great saving as to cost, two 

 decided advantages would have been obtained, — for, in the first 

 place, those houses would have screened out the ugly brick mass 

 to the which the "grand" Ionic facade is merely tacked on; and, 

 in the next place, there would then have been an opportunity of 

 jiroviding additional accommodation for the increasing collections, 

 by erecting, for the enlargement of the Museum itself, two e.x- 

 treme wings brought nearly up to the main structure, so as to 

 form together with it one consistent and well-balanced, yet varied, 

 composition. Such e.xtension in front is, however, now rendered 

 impossible; yet, that enlargement in some way or other would be 

 required within a few years, had become tolerably evident even 

 before the two ranges of official dwellings, which are made to offi- 

 ciate as wings, had been commenced. Perbaps the very best course 

 that can now be pursued would be to adopt what Mr. Fergusson 

 recommends, which is to convert the gallery of antiquities, and 

 other rooms occupied by the several collections of sculpture and 

 natural history, into a repository for the Public Records, — so that 

 tliey and the Library would form a vast national collection of lite- 

 rature and historical documents treasured in one and the same 

 building. This w ould require no alteration of the structure itself, 

 and the merely fitting-up the rooms for their new purpose would 

 be attended with comparatively small expense. The chief obstacle 

 in the way of its being done is that such scheme involves the ne- 

 cessity of a further one also proposed by Mr. Fergusson, which is 

 to incorporate the collection of sculpture and antiquities now in 

 the Museum, with the National pictures. He accordingly suggests 

 that the Barracks at the rear of the National Gallery should be 

 removed elsewhere, and additional galleries be erected on the site; 

 and the whole plan be gradually extended in the course of time, so 

 as to take in St. Martin's ^V^orkhouse also, and ultimately occupy 

 the whole space bounded by ^V'bitcomb-street and Dorset-place on 

 the west. Orange-street and Hemming's-row on the north, and 

 St. Martin's-lane on the east. And there we think he might very 

 prudently have stopped ; instead of which, he further proposes 

 that the present National Gallery should be taken down and re- 

 built; which certainly does appear to us a very uncalled-for, and 

 therefore wanton, piece of extravagance. Even Mr. Fergusson 

 himself vindicates that structure from the senseless abuse heaped 

 ujion it while several others which are many degrees worse are 

 allowed to escape perfectly censure-free. He questions whether 

 we should get anything much better upon the whole instead of it; 

 and further admits, that as far as they go, the present picture- 

 i-ooms answer their purpose sufficiently well. Then, why, in the 

 name of common-sense, should that be destroyed which requires 

 only to be enlarged ? — as may be done with the greatest facility, 

 provided the poii xto, the ground for additional buildings, and 

 of course, the requisite "wherewithal" or funds, also can be 

 obtained. So far, then, we do not altogether agree with Mr. Fer- 

 gusson; and we think, besides, that where so much is asked for, or 

 proposed all at once, alarm is likely to be taken, — and so in the 

 end nothing whatever be done. One effect, however, Mr. Fergus- 

 son's "Observations" will certainly have, though his "Suggestions" 

 may have none; since the former can hardly fail to make the 

 Trustees of the British Museum open their eyes pretty widely, 

 and stare at each other very profoundly, when they find out how 

 blunderingly they have managed their building, — and, what is 

 worst of air, that the public are now informed how egregiously 

 they have blundered from first to last. As for Sir Robert Smirke, 

 he, it appears, is intact, and remains tutus, teres, atque rotundus. At 

 the very worst, he can console himself by saying : 

 " Popnhia me sibilat j at mihi plaudo 

 Ipse donii, »iiniil uc liuininoa contemplor iti area " 



Mural Paintinijs at St. Cross. — Coloured drawings of these paintings, re- 

 cently diseiivered on the walls of the Ciiurch of St. Cross, were exhiliited 

 l>y Mr. Francis liaigent, al a recent nieiUng of the Archsological Associa- 

 linn. Sniiie art- exceedingly elegant in design, and apparently of the early 

 part of the liflcenlh centnry. 



