IB19."1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



229 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURAL PUBLICATIONS 



1. Gothic Ornaments; drawn from Existing Authorities. By James 

 H. Colling, Architect. London : George Bell, 1849. 



2. Examples of Ancient Pulpits existing in England; selected and 

 drawn from Sketches and Measurements taken on the spot, with 

 descriptive letter-press. By Francis T. Dollman, Architect. 

 London : George Bell, 184.9. 



3. The Open Timber Roofs of the Middle Ages; itlastrated by per- 

 spective and working drawings of some of the best varieties of 

 Church Roofs, with descriptive letter-press. By Raphael and 

 J. Arthur Brandon, Architects. London: David Bogue, 1849. 



{With Three Engravings, Plates XIV., XV., and XVI.) 



In whatever way we look at it, the extent of publication on 

 church architecture is gratifying, for it stores up materials for the 

 student, and, by showing the infinite fertility of resource of the 

 mediajval architects, it very strongly suggests the propriety of 

 adopting now the same course which they did — not the path of 

 imitation, but of invention. Whatever may be the extent to which 

 the inventive faculties are to be applied, it is indispensable the 

 architect should be well acquainted witli the resources of construc- 

 tive art, and should be fully master of the experience of the past. 

 For this end and so far, books are valuable; but nothing can be 

 more injurious than to push them beyond this, and make the work 

 of the present day the thievish copy of the work of old. English- 

 men have not degenerated; and if they could apply their ingenuity 

 in the ninth century, so can they in the nineteenth, and so ought 

 they. 



This is a cuckoo note of ours, but we have encouragement to 

 persevere in it, because it is already listened to; and, although 

 small, there is an evident improvement, and an evident desire for 

 improvement, of which the architectural publications give full tes- 

 timony. Tliere are readers for them, — therefore they are bought, 

 and more are written; the resources of illustration are brought to 

 bear, and a class of books is now placed at the disposal of students, 

 which formerly masters could scarcely buy. We have before us 

 three of these publications — -'Gothic Ornaments,' by James Col- 

 ling, being the Fifth Part; 'The Open Timber Roofs of the Middle 

 Ages,' by Raphael and Arthur Brandon; and 'Examples of Ancient 

 Pulpits existing in England,' by Francis T. Dollman. All these 

 are by architects, and all have been got up with great caie by 

 Mr. Jobbins. 



The 'Gothic Ornaments' constitutes a gorgeous work, illustrated 

 by gold and coloui-, giving correct ideas of the magnificence of the 

 original examples, of which the unilluminated works afford but a 

 scanty conception, as they give form without the chief characteris- 

 tic of the medireval architect — colour. In the present day, too, 

 the public are better instructed, and are unwilling to take form 

 alone as the representation of Gothic art; and the architect is 

 compelled to go through a wider course of study, giving him a 

 more enlarged acquaintance with art. The addiction to the study 

 of form alone has done more than anything to keep back, in this 

 country, the pursuit of architecture in every form. This special 

 and restricted study, this abstinence and seclusion from the catho- 

 lic pursuit of art, necessarily involved a complete neglect of chiaro 

 oscuro, as well as of colour, and hence the bareness aud baldness of 

 our architectural monuments. The sculptor, who restricts himself 

 to bas-relief, the painter who draws only cartoons, can scarcely 

 lower himself to the tameness too prevalent in our buildings. 

 Nothing is better calculated to remedy this than the restoration 

 of the architect to his proper sphere, — reminding him that his is an 

 intellectual and elevated pursuit, and that no department of art, 

 no feature of beauty, no work of nature, is beneath him, or is un- 

 necessary for his acquirement. Those who look back on the studies 

 of the architectural student in the beginning of this century, which 

 Stuart's 'Athens' might be said to satisfy, and compare them with 

 the requirements of the present day, will see how much architecture 

 has advanced, and will acquire the hope that if we have not already 

 the full results, we shall not long be kept waiting for them. 



Whatever some may think as to the mediaeval architect being 

 ignorant, living in what are popularly known as the dark ages, yet 

 it may very much be questioned whether at any time then the 

 architect was worse educated than now— if, indeed, he did not re- 

 ceive a more liberal and catholic training. The practitioner in 

 architecture was a member of one of the great colleges, in which 

 a wide circle of studies was pursued; and we may see by the works 

 which have come down to us that he largely shared in them. So 

 much attention has been gi\'en to Free Masons, and so much non- 

 sense has been written about them, that the actual position of the 

 architect has been too commonly lost sight of. Freemasons never 



No. 143.— Vol. XII.— August, 1S49. 



existed before Wren's time, in the modern sense, but Free Masons 

 there certainly were, as Free Barbers, Free Tailors, Free Cord- 

 wainers, and Freemen of every craft; and the Free Masons were 

 in no respect distinguishable from any other guild, and there is no 

 authentic document to show that they were otherwise. The Free- 

 mason after whom the archiEologist searches was the monk, a man 

 trained in Latin learning, and having access to the great stores of 

 knowledge; well versed in the vernacular learning of French or 

 English, — but, above all, cunning in music, drawing, painting, 

 carving, building, mechanics, and husbandry, and dabbling in every 

 art and handicraft of the day. If less book-learned, he was very 

 handy; if he had no newspaper or periodical, he was a travelled 

 man himself: he had been to court, to Paris, to Rome, or the Holy 

 Land, and was thrown into society with the most intellectual men 

 of the day. If he had read few books himself, and had access to 

 few, yet all the stores of learning whicli could be spread by word 

 of mouth were his; and a travelling monk served at once as a 

 newspaper, a book of travels, and a digest of the library of his own 

 monastery, and perhaps of many others. A'bu multum sed nndta — 

 what was learned was learned thoroughly. A man who had ardour 

 enough to become a good architect was likewise well versed in 

 other studies; and many of the names which have come down to us 

 are those of the best scholars and greatest men of the time. The 

 architect then was not so liable to be bullied by idle lords, and by 

 purse-proud commoners, making a boast of their own ignorance, 

 for he was often the chancellor or prime minister of his day. Ar- 

 chitecture was not claimed as the mystery of a few, and was there- 

 fore not the byeword of the many. Architects will never again 

 become prime ministers; but it will be no harm when prime minis- 

 ters know something of architecture, and architects treat their 

 profession as one of liberal ideas and pursuits. It may seem that 

 to study bricks and mortar only is the most practical way of 

 becoming an architect, but the experience of ages is rather in 

 favour of the preliminary of an architect being a man of learning 

 and education. 



Fig. 1. — Roof over the Nave of Outwell Church, Norfolk, 



We cannot transfer one of the illuminated drawings from Mr. 

 Ceiling's work, and therefore we are narrowed in our selection. 

 The one we have given (Plate XIV.) shows the details of a highly 

 painted Stone Canopy from the Stalls of the Ladj' Chapel in Ely 

 Cathedral. 



^Vhat called itself classicism was all in favour of pure marble 

 and white stone : the colouring which the Almighty has distributed 

 throughout creation, as one of the unequivocal stamps of authentic 

 origination, was ignored, and any attempt to use its rainbow tints 

 was declared unclassical, unpleasing, and unsublime. It is won- 

 derful that pictures were still allowed to be made with colours, 

 though certainly some ingenious men did paint black and white 

 imitations of bas-reliefs, and thereby gave the example of classi- 

 cality in painting; but architecture and sculpture were completely 



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