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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



131 



of France and England, especially in the low lands of Lincolnshire and the 

 North, the spire and the tower are found to be the effective and all-sufficient 

 means of obtaining that sublime which man desires in architecture — that 

 conglomerate composition of small stones which a man may carry up a 

 ladder on his back, are in character with the style and the manner of 

 building. 



But, recurring to the theory of the art, we find that Vitruvius (lib. i. c. 

 11.) lays down six principles : order, as addressing the understanding; dis- 

 position, as addressing the eye ; proportion ; symmetry ; consistency ; and 

 distribution, or economy. 



Order, as evincing design, whether geometrical or moral, affects the mind 

 with the sentiment of sublime. Whoever considers the movements of the 

 planets, and understands the laws of their velocities, the curves which they 

 describe, the relations of the periods of their revolutions and their dis- 

 tances, will find himself wrapt in a sublime pleasure, and will recognize a 

 divine beauty of order; but if he turns his contemplation to the fixed stars. 

 in which he' cdn trace no order, and which appear to be disposed fortui- 

 tously, the same pleasure is by no means felt. 



When a curve is formed by a certain rule and a constant law, as the semi- 

 circular vault and the apsis at the end of a church, both which shall be con- 

 centric, a great satisfaction is experienced ; if these are elliptical, the rule 

 and law is less easily understood ; but much more, if eccentric segments are 

 employed, the want of that uniformity is felt, and a kind of violence is done 

 to the eve and understanding. So the rhomboid, and much more the trape- 

 zium, displease by their anomalous and unequal angles. No predetermined 

 counsel, order, or industry are evinced, and the essential sense of order is 

 dissatisfied, 



If the philosopher finds any natural production— a stone, or a root — as- 

 suming the regularity of a geometrical form, he judges it worthy of a place 

 in his museum : such is the love of order. Individuals in a mob have nei- 

 ther force nor effect, but ranged in regimental order they acquire a new 

 qualitv. So trees planted in avenue have, in many situations, an effect supe- 

 rior to the forest. The desire of imparting variety to his work, often mis- 

 leads the architect from this important principle of his art ; forgetting that 

 his building is to derive its chief effect from the contrast of its regularity 

 and order with the surrounding irregular objects and scenery, he seeks, too 

 often, to make his own building his picture, and to engraft upon it that 

 variety which the scenery ought to supply. Thence picturesque architec- 

 ture, which has diverted the student from the ancient principles, universal 

 amongst the old masters. Succession and repetition of impression by parity 

 of objects, by regularity and order, the isometrical colonnade or Gothic 

 arches of the nave, or equidistant windows along an unbroken front, have 

 more energy and effect than all the varieties of such features that can be 

 contrived. The surrounding irregularities make order tell by their contrast. 



Vanbrugh was remarkable for this quality, and he knew at the same time 

 how, by the composition of his parts, to produce, from certain points of 

 view, the utmost variety of combination and picturesqueness, while, from 

 others, the whole was perfectly regular. 



Perrault observed order rigidly, as did Wren ; while by the contemporary 

 fashionable architects amongst the Italians it was totally abandoned, as may 

 be remarked in the front of St. Peter's, and in the works of Bernini, Bor- 

 romini, and Maderno. Columns in groups, or at irregular distances, broken 

 entablatures, for the sake of a repetition of profiles, curviliuear fronts, and 

 such scenery as belongs to painting, established the novelty of picturesque 

 architecture — a solecism in art, and a contradiction in terms, unless by com- 

 binations from certain points of view as above. 



If we call to mind the fact, that the greatest architectural efforts have 

 usually followed periods of political and moral disorder, we may recognize 

 in such works that natural love of order, which revolutions aud tumults 

 have denied. Certain it is, that after a long period of civil tranquility, ar- 

 chitectural efforts, especially of regular order, have ceased to be fashionable, 

 and the picturesque or the irregular is resorted to as a change. 



Disposition or composition of the various features of an architectural 

 work, is the second principle laid down by Vitruvius. It consists, says he, 

 of the idea of the iconography ; the idea of the orthography, or elevation ; 

 and the idea of the scenognvphy, or view in perspective, taken on the angle. 

 " These," continues he, " are the result of thought aud invention ; thought, 

 full of attention, application, and vigilance, accompanied with delight ; and 

 invention, which is a solution of different problems by new applications 

 seized with promptitude." 



Thus he proceeds as nature does : putting the purpose or the plan first, to 

 which the figure of the object adapts itself secondly, and thus each compo- 

 sition displays peculiar features ; and the appearance of his buildings would 

 be as various as their purposes ; whereas modern architects often reverse the 

 method, and they constrain the plan to a preconceived orthography. How 

 otherwise is it that we recognize the master the moment we see his work ? 

 The orthography ever the same, and the plan adapting itself as it can : so 

 we commonly put the cart before the horse. 



But the exact conception of the ultimate effect of the building, the reali- 

 zation of the prophetic vision of the architect, are of extreme difficulty, and 

 subject to lamentable disappointment. They can be attained only by great 

 knowledge of perspective, and by careful models; and the greatest masters 

 have been r.iost remarkable for their reliance on such means. 



" The architect," says Wren, "ought, above all things, to be well skilled 

 in perspective, for everything that appears well in orthography may not be 



good in the model, especially when there are many angles and prefectures ; and 

 everything that is good in model may not be so when built, because a model 

 is seen from other stations and distances than the eye sees the building. But 

 this will hold universally true, that whatsoever is good in perspective, and 

 will hold so in all the principal views, whether direct or oblique, will be as 

 good in great ; if this only caution he observed, that regard he had to the 

 distance of the eye hi the principal stations." 



In this last particular the methods of the different masters have varied 

 materially. For instance, Vanbrugh always supposed himself at a cti 

 of 500 to 1000 feet from his buildings; consequently his sky line ami con- 

 tour are well studied, but his details wholly neglected, and the pleasing effect 

 of his buildings in approaching them; whereas Adams supposed himself 

 from 50 to 100 feet only from his buildings; cousequently they have no 

 contour from a distance, but are full of elaborate detail on the approach. 



The visual angle, extending at most to 45 D , should he carefully applied to 

 the points of distance; and the scale of the drawing or study should he 

 correctly adjusted to this distance, so that no misconception should arise. 

 A study for a building to be seen at 100 feet distance only, will be on a large 

 scale, and occupy the whole height of the paper; whereas, seen at 500 feet, 

 it may be only one-fourth that size. 



The Greeks were consummate masters of this branch of optics, as we 

 should doubtless have known had Aristotle's work on taste been preserved 

 to us. The terms synoptic and eusynoptic correspond with the points of 

 view which all their arrangements were calculated to afford. 



The Parthenon and the Temple of Jupiter Olympius — indeed, almo I all 

 the great temples— were approached on the angle, the peribolus and the 

 propylea by which they were inclosed, concealing great part of them, 

 they could be contemplated to the utmost advantage from a synoptical point 

 of view. The plans of Palmyra aud Balbec, and those of Rome, preserved to 

 us by Palladio, are lessons, in these respects, demanding the most careful at- 

 tention. 



It is obvious that street architecture, being seen chiefly in flank, should be 

 treated otherwise than buildings at right angles with the point of view, as 

 triumphal arches, or terminations to the vista. 



In the 15th and 16th centuries perspective delineation became a new art 

 in the hands of Lombardi, Bramante, Peruzzi. Raphael, and lastly the re- 

 nowned Pozzi ; and though Vitruvius assures us that in the 5th century B.C. 

 Agatharcus wrote a treatise upon perspective, it is probable that the ancients 

 ne\er arrived at the skill attained by those masters. 



But perspective calculation applied to architecture, and the adjustment to 

 the point of view, was undoubtedly better understood practically by the an- 

 cients than ourselves, as their remains abundantly prove. The vista which 

 shortens the length and discloses the eud at once — the exposure of the en- 

 tire object staring from a distance as well as near — the placing colossal ob- 

 jects in colossal places, are all modern mistakes. The temple at Luxor, the 

 colonnade at Palmyra, are deflected in angles, so that the bounds are con- 

 cealed, the successive columns disclose themselves by degrees, aud the length 

 seems interminable. The temple is partially hidden, and excites the imagi- 

 nation from the promise of its roof, entablature, and capitals, until it is per- 

 mitted to be seen in its overwhelming majesty. 



The columns of Trajan and Antonine are placed in confined positions, and 

 the effect is tenfold. 



Palladio was remarkable for the adjustment of his building to the position, 

 of which the Town Hall at Vicenza is one of the most remarkable exam- 

 ples ; and the surprise and admiration of the traveller who has known that 

 building only in the orthographic engravings can never be forgotten. 



Vignola is said to have made his studies of his buildings at the points of 

 view from which only they could be seen. 



It is quite certain that Sir W. Chambers was less master of this part of his 

 art than of many others. Any one visiting the front of Somerset House, in 

 the Strand, is satisfied with its scale and sufficiency in all respects ; hut 

 when he enters the spacious quadrangle, and looks on the back of the same 

 building, he experiences some disappointment ; he finds the scale too small 

 for the size of the quadrangle ; hut much more, when he observes the same 

 proportions from the opposite side of the river, he deplores their littleness 

 and want of mass and feature, the petty dome in the centre, and the con- 

 fusion of chimney shafts which disfigure the roof. Had Vanbrugh disposed 

 the river front, we should have seen those chimney shafts united in towers; 

 the whole outline or sky-line would have been marked and varied with em- 

 phatic features, suited to the scale of the river and the majestic position 

 given to the building. 



" It is the part of a wise man," says Alberti, " to have the idea of his 

 work well fixed in his imagination. ' The ancients, therefore, not only by 

 perspectives, but by models of the whole, and of parts, submitted their 

 works to practised men before they laid a stone. Such models should not, 

 however, be prettv tovs, in which delicacy of workmanship draw, the atten- 

 tion from the merit of the design. Finally," continues Alberti, " when the 

 model satisfies the architects and practised judges. I recommend that there 

 should be no hurrv to begin, but if possible time should be allowed that the 

 conceit of the design may cool ; when, having laid aside the natural over- 

 weening affection for your own production, you may judge more justly of 

 its effect. Time discloses many counsels for the advantage of our under- 

 takings ; and many defects, which at first escaped attention, at length be- 

 come apparent." Scaroozzi used to say. that pretty little models were like 

 pretty little birds, no one could tell whether thty were masculine or ferui- 



