242 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AD ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[AUGLST, 



as far as we are aware, is the first publication that presents us with speci- 

 mens of brickwork as it was formerly practised in Italy. 



Did we previously doubt it, we should be convinced by these examples 

 that brickwork, combined with mouldeil bricks and terra-cotta ornaments, is 

 susceptible of a high degree of embellishment, and readily affords great di- 

 versity of combinations. But we are prejudiced against it by the slovenly 

 coarseness of our modern bricks, which are only used for ordinary buildings, 

 or else intended to be concealed by ashlar facing. Thanks to acts of parlia- 

 ment, which have prescribed their size and shape, ours are, as Hope observes, 

 the coarsest and most unsightly bricks used in any country ; yet why parlia- 

 ment should interfere with the fashion of bricks, more than with any other 

 fashion, it puzzles us to make out. Such interference has certainly been so 

 mischievous, that unless the interest now affected for the advancement of art 

 be all make-believe and sham, such injurious restrictions ought at once to be 

 repealed. 



The frontispiece, or engraved title-page, of Uunge's work exhibits the por- 

 tel of the church of Sta. Caterina at Bologna, a composition of such remarka- 

 ble elegance and delicacy, that it is astonishing it should have escaped the 

 notice of those who professedly go in quest of architectural studies. The 

 next plate gives us t,vo admirably profiled cornices at Ferrara and Faenza, 

 also the part of a window and highly enriched string-course from a house at 

 the latter-place ; somewhat similar decoration to which, we are informed by 

 the author, has been adopted in the restoration of the Klosterkirche at Ber- 

 lin. A house at Bologna has furnished the subject of the two following 

 plates, and although it cannot be affirmed that the building itself is by any 

 means a model, the windows and some of the other details afford valuable 

 hints. It is to be regretted, however, that the principal cornicione and its 

 frieze are not shown at large like some of the other parts, for if we may 

 judge by what can be made out in the perspective view of the building, they 

 are of particularly rich and elaborate design. The other plates show a 

 variety of other cornices, wherein the mere arrangement of bricks of nearly 

 the usml shape is made to produce very bold and effective mouldings for 

 such purpose. Hardly need we add that Runge's work deserves to meet 

 with extensive encouragement in this country, as one of real practical utility, 

 and calculated to improve the character of brick buildings. 



Osten's work, on the contrary, is more of an archsological and historical 

 nature, in which respect it is a highly welcome contribution to the history of 

 architecture in Lombardy and the North of Italy, from the 7th to the Uth 

 century. It promises to go far towards filling up what is now an hiatus in 

 the architect's library, — towards serving as a bridge across the chasm which 

 separates the classic from the medieval period of the art. Lombardic archi- 

 lecture has of late years obtained attention ; yet, owing to the want of ade- 

 quate notices and illustrations, those who have spoken of it have not been 

 able to enter into the subject so fully as they otherwise might and would 

 have done. We do not know whether Osten intends to give only unedited 

 monuments, but even should any that have been before represented be here 

 introduced, thoy will be more satisfactorily explained than hitherto. The 

 principal monuments contained in the two first Lieferungen of the work are 

 the cathedral of S. Evasio, at Casale, Monteferrato ; the baptistery of S. 

 Pietro, at Asti, and the church of S. Andrea, at Vercelli, of none of which is 

 any mention at all made by either Seroux d'Agincourt, or Wiebeking, Hope, 

 or Woods. Both the cluirches are interesting, that at Vercelli more espe- 

 cially, it being, we are told, the work of an English architect, named Briginthe 



at least one whom the founder. Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, brought over 



from England, where that prelate had resided for several years. The edifice 

 is further remarkable for having been completed within the short space of 

 about two years, it being begun in 1219, and finished, together with the 

 buildings of the adjoining convent, in 1222. It is accordingly uniform in 

 idea, though it at the same time exhibits the combination of two different 

 styles, for while the exterior is decidedly Lombardic, and the windows are 

 very small semicircular-headed openings, the pillars, arches, and vaulting of 

 the nave are expressly in the Pointed style, and some of the arches are un- 

 usually acute. The general dimensions of the plan are about 223 by 108 

 English feet, and 131 across the transept. The other church, viz. : that at 

 Casale, which was begun in 741, by KingLiutprond, and consecrated as a ca- 

 thedral in 1107, by Pope Paschal 11., forms externally a parallelogram of 170 

 ft^et by 104 ; but although the external form is so simple, the internal plan 

 i« very remarkable, the church itself, notwithstanding its moderate dimen- 

 lions, being divided into five compartments or aisles, and preceded by an 



atrium or Galilee; of which latter two sections are given, but not even one, 

 unluckily, of the body of the church itself. The baptistery at Asti is a polygon 

 of 24 sides — accordingly may be classed with rotundas. It is 53 feet in its 

 external, and 4G in its internal, diameter, and 40 high to the summit in the 

 centre of the plan ; although to the edge of the sloping lean-to roof over 

 the surrounding aisle, or whatever else it may be called, the height is only 17 

 feet. Strikingly piquant, the architectural character of the structure arises 

 almost entirely out of plan, and its consecutive forms, independently of, and 

 in this instance quite without, decoration ; wherefore, were naive a term cur- 

 rent among architects, we should apply it to this building as a very appro- 

 priate epithet for it, — one that goes far towards expressing a prominent 

 a;sthetic quality in it. The edifice itself, indeed, belongs to a class now ex- 

 tinct ; nevertheless, ideas available for other purposes than the original one, 

 may be derived from it. Were our architects occasionally to turn to such 

 studies as this example at Asti, and the Abbot's Barn at Glastonbury, they 

 would not give us such fantastic monstrosities as they now frequently do 

 when called upon to design buildings for industrial or economical purposes, 

 for which a mediaeval style is desiderated. 



The third publication on our list, is of quite a different character from the 

 other two, it being devoted to specimens of furniture and articles of p/r/ii, 

 both of the middle-age period, and that of the Cinque-cento and Renaissance. 

 Most tastefully executed both as to drawing and colouring, it will form a 

 very suitable companion work to H. Shaw's " Encyclopaidia of Ornament," 

 with which it agrees also in size, — at least the difference of size is so very 

 slight, that the two books may stand beside each other on the same shelf. 

 To many of our readers this, we presume, will be sufficient information as to 

 the general nature and character of this collection of "Kuustwerke." Hav- 

 ing as yet only the first heft or part before us, we cannot say which class of 

 subjects will predominate, but the specimens themselves, selected from public 

 and private collections at Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Gotba, Cassel, Darm- 

 stadt, and other places in Germany, will be new to this country, and will 

 extend our acquaintance with medi.-eval art and taste. That the latter re- 

 proaches the taste of our modern fashionable pseudo-medijevalism in furni- 

 ture, is tolerably evident from an oak cabinet here represented, which unites 

 extreme simplicity of general form with elaborate ornamental design. If we 

 compare this with modern productions calling themselves designs for "Gothic 

 furniture" — and we may mention those of Heideloff, both because he is a 

 German artist of considerable repute, and because some of them have been 

 not only shown, but extolled in the Art-Union, — the latter appear truly 

 coarse and barbarous extravagancies, devoid of a single principle of either 

 design or composition. To say the truth, some of Herr Heideloff 's chairs are 

 so preposterously absurd, that their clumsiness, inconvenience, and uncom- 

 fortableness, if not their ugliness, must deter any one from adopting them. 

 Neither do we say that even such a specimen of furniture as the cabinet 

 above-mentioned, is now suitable as an express model for us; for even the 

 choicest and most genuine reliques of the kind require considerable modifica- 

 tion, and ought to be regarded not as patterns, but as studies ; and as a 

 collection of such studies, these " Kuntswerke und Gerathschaften" promise 

 to become a most valuable addition to the information we already possess — 

 too scanty, perhaps, in itself — relative to " industrial art " during the middle 



OF LOG.\RITHMS. 

 By Oliver Byrne. 



Sir — Having known for years the readiness with which you publish any 

 thing interesting in art or science, even when it is not in strict accordance 

 with the avowed objects of your excellent Journal, I take the liberty of 

 sending you a few remarks on the construction of logarithms. Indeed, I 

 know of no other periodical open to mathematical communications, particu- 

 larly when the subjects require woodcuts to illustrate, or symbolical lan- 

 guage to investigate. 



Logarithms is as powerful an agent in calculation as steam is in mechan- 

 ics; with this truth before us, it is strange that few know their proper use 

 or how they are computed, — and fewer strll,from the great labour attending 

 the operations by any known method, attempt the calcirlation of these very 

 important numbers. Since the days of Napier and Briggs, logarithraotechnv, 

 in a practical point of view, has received but little improvement, while 

 logarithmic formulae have been cultivated with great success, and advan- 

 tagcously employed to abridge many analytical inquiries in different parts of 

 mathematics. However, it is also true, that some analvsts have bestowed 



