1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



109' 



lnents. On the pinnacles or battlements are the figures of the emperors and 

 electors in full armour. The emperor, who, at that time in alliance with 

 the electors, had confirmed the commercial union of the cities on the Rhine, 

 aud taken them under his protection, appears with them here, as the guar- 

 dian and bulwark of the house. In the midst of the princes, is the figure 

 of St. Martin, the patron of the city, dividing his cloak with his sword, to 

 give it to the poor. Thus, the leading forms announce the destination and 

 solidity of the building ; the figures of the princes, the protection it enjoys ; 

 St. Martin, that beneficence which ought to be the attendant of wealth ; 

 aud the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus, over the entrance, the higher 

 safeguard which the Divinity grants only to the just." Thus says the ac- 

 complished Moller. 



It is a fine observation of Aristotle, that " a noble building without orna- 

 ment is like a healthy man in indigence." Competence, if not wealth, must 

 be added for the accomplishment of his happiness. 



The sculptor's art affords the noblest ornaments to the architect. By his 

 aid. the expression which he has been labouring to give by other associa- 

 tions, and which before was mute, or scarcely audible, becomes parlant. 

 Sculpture may be called the voice of architecture. Unhappily a Protestant 

 country, with the holy fear of image-worship, discourages this generous and 

 most essential art ; and perhaps the want of character complained of in ar- 

 chitecture may be mainly attributed to this proscription. 



But the carver and the decorator are highly serviceable to the architect, 

 not only as multiplying images for the delight of the eye and the explanation 

 of the subject, but as greatly magnifying the scale of the whole by these 

 means, and giving value and distinction to the plainer features. Our mistress 

 Nature is prodigal in ornament, and the expression of every animal and 

 vegetable is increased by a texture of endless detail spread over the whole 

 Surface of her works. 



Finally, Distributio, the omovoiuo. of the Greeks, the sixth principle, is ex- 

 plained by Vitruvius, drily, as economy in the use and cost of materials ; but 

 doubtless the great masters from whom he borrowed, considered economy, 

 in the larger sense, as the adjustment of means to the end ; as the wise 

 and fine thought, contrivance, and supply, of all the requirements and appli- 

 ances of the building art ; in which the highest intelligence is displayed ; 

 such, indeed, as by that figure of speech which designates great subjects by 

 small titles, applies to the Creator himself that of the great architect. 



The diligent observer of architectural works will find the greatest strength 

 combined with the least material, beauty united with use, and resulting from 

 it, exact equilibrium, provisions for the accidents of time and climate, se- 

 lection of materials best adapted, in short, a prescience of every want and 

 consideration : throughout the contrivance admiration almost sublime is 

 occasioned ; we feel that the work has, as it were, been self-created by the 

 influences and the wisdom of nature, and as if the architect had only followed 

 her instructions. " I am not," says the heifer of Myron, " the work of 

 Myron — he only delivered me from the marble" in which I was inclosed. 



Having thus reviewed the theoretical rules handed down by Vitruvius from 

 the Greeks, as far as the limits and means permitted, the Professor pro- 

 ceeded to offer some observations to the students, with reference to their 

 future advancement, which it was the object of these lectures, and the ardent 

 ■wish of the members of the academy to promote. 



First, with respect to drawing, which was the very language of the art, it 

 was extremely important that the distinction between the painter and the 

 architect should be clearly understood. He deprecated the vain ambition of 

 making pretty drawings, especially on a small scale, as effeminate and unin- 

 structive; as also of pretensions to aerial perspective, which was a separate 

 art. Much time was commonly occupied in this captivating study, which 

 was wholly irrelevant, and at the expense of that valuable time which should 

 be employed in the more essential accomplishments of the art and science. 

 It might, indeed, improve the hand, but not the head; of which the archi- 

 tect had so much need. Drawing after the manner of painters had un- 

 doubtedly been an abuse and misdirection. 



The orthographic drawing or elevation was conventional : it represented 

 the proposed building from an immeasurable distance — the object being to 

 define those proportions and profiles which constitute the merit of the work 

 — such lights and shades as should more clearly display these forms, and 

 show their relief where necessary ; but whatever disturbed these paramount 

 objects, as colour, or such cast shades as might confuse the profiles and pre- 

 tend to illusion, were impertinent. 



Perspective, in the most accurate delineation, was, indeed, a most desirable 

 accomplishment, but it should be wholly linear, assisted with one tone, or 

 two at most. Sciography should be used with great reserve, since the harsh 

 outlines of cast shades were apt to disturb the form and outline ; and the 

 finest architectural perspectives, those of Pozzo especially, left them softened 

 and undefined on this account. It was certain that such had been the prac- 

 tice of the great Italian masters, specimens of which, by the bands of San- 

 sovino, (the front of Sta. Maria, at Florence, in the possession of Woodburn,) 

 of Michael Augelo, Raphael, and others, and especially the designs for White- 

 hall, by Inigo Jones, the Professor had exhibited in a former course. Exquisite 

 perspective, proportion, and profile were more scientific, difficult, and much 

 more profitable to the student. The coloured picturesque was a pandering 

 to a depraved taste, and it was a duty to inform the public on this head, 

 and lead them to the appreciation of the true intent of architectural deline- 

 ation. The draftsman should be habituated to a large scale, and a manly 

 drawing of profile and detail, such as a builder would comprehend and work 



from. The Professor exhibited a specimen of the architectural drawing of 

 the actual school in Paris, which, though not wholly to be approved, as being 

 rather too minute and elaborate in effect, still showed a more careful atten- 

 • tion to outline, and a better system than used by ourselves. 



The architectural room in the annual exhibition was at great disadvantage 

 in the neighbourhood of the splendours of the sister art; the vain attempt 

 at vying with her productions in architectural drawings, had both corrupted 

 our style and exposed the utter futility of the attempt. The true course 

 would be a closer adherence to the province of the architect in a more cor- 

 rect delineation of profile and proportion, and in the most accurate linear 

 perspective; a tasteful employment of these resources would probably more 

 effectually uphold the interest of that room than any other means that could 

 be devised. 



Constant observation and travel were essential to the architect ; but the 

 interesting objects of our own country should be seen before those of others. 

 Much time was often lost in foreign travel by misdirection and the dangerous 

 novelty of the student's position. 



In examining architectural works, the student should bear in mind an im- 

 portant rule of criticism, which was, to account in precise terms, for the 

 motives of approbation or dislike which he might experience. By applying 

 a just expression on all occasions, he would soon cease to take one tiling for 

 another — the beautiful for the sublime— quantity for quality — cost for mag- 

 nificence — and either of these for proportion or fitness — ornament for art. 

 He would learn to apply characteristic terms to every gradation, quality, and 

 style: and so, by degrees, he would form a just and discriminating taste. 



In an art and science essentially referable to association, this discrimination 

 ' was peculiarly necessary : the emotions arising from sight, like tnose from 

 music, would often be found irrespective of the intrinsic merit of the per- 

 formance, as loyalty in hearing " God save the Queen," union and patriotism 

 in the " Marsellaise." Often patriotic, historical, and romantic associations 

 will blind us to forms and styles, otherwise both unfit and unworthy our age ; 

 often quantity, extent, and quality of material would impose that approba- 

 tion which ought only to be accorded to elegant and just proportions ; ela- 

 boration would often usurp the praise which was due only to a well-ordered 

 work. 



To hide by ornament the want of art, 



should not deceive the experienced critic ; and the painter " who would 

 make his Venus fine, not knowing how to make her beautiful," would be 

 ranked as he deserved. The discernment of merits rather than defects will 

 be found more difficult, and much more profitable, because those we shall 

 appropriate, while the latter are only to be rejected. Such a habit will exer- 

 cise the better qualities of the mind, and lead to originality. The works of 

 men who have long enjoyed reputation, should be the peculiar objects of our 

 critical examination ; they will seldom be found frauds ; the inquiry will 

 commonly justify their fame, and like the conversations of original inventors, 

 they will reveal secrets which can else hardly be discovered. 



The antiquary should be distinguished from the architect, and he should 

 be careful to separate the available experience, from research into the curious 

 and obsolete. 



The student was recommended especially to cultivate that manly indepen- 

 dence of mind which became a thinker, and the leader of an art ; he should 

 have a settled distrust of fashion; although he would find himself sometimes 

 constrained in some measure to bend to it. Those " who live to please, 

 must please to live ;" he should, however, courageously but respectfully re- 

 monstrate. 



There were two rocks, which the art was expressly liable to ; the first was 

 the presumption of absolute novelty; the second, the indolent and servile 

 imitation of former styles. The latter was the peculiar vice of these times 

 throughout all the civilized countries of Europe. Grecian, Gothic, Byzan- 

 tine, Italian, Revival, French, were indifferently employed. There was no 

 attempt at a style which should express to future ages the century in which 

 we live ; and posterity will be at a loss to recognize in the buildings of our 

 day, that character which a country great and glorious at the present period, 

 the bulwark of civilization, the arbiter of the world, and the great exemplar 

 of political government, morals, and useful science, should impress upon its 

 architectural productions. Shall it be said that this great people, original 

 and free in other respects, adapting aud expanding itself in an unexampled 

 manner to times and improvements, was stationary, or rather retrogade, in 

 the arts alone ? That though science and capital and mechanical skill were 

 daily furnishing new engines for our art, with prodigality, that our invention 

 alone in these walks of genius was at a stand ? that our skill as artists was 

 the only deficiency in the march of our age? That they crudely adapted 

 the models of ancient Greece to modern Loudon, the sunny palaces of Italy 

 to the foggy atmosphere of England : the niched and canopied architecture 

 of a religion peopled with images of saints and martyrs, sibyls, angels, and 

 holy men, to a Protestant religion, which, admitting none of these, must 

 leave the niches and the canopies tenanlless : like well-guilt frames adorning 

 an apartment, the pictures being omitted : the pride and pomp of heraldry, 

 armorial shields and crests, to an age in which chivalry was exploded, and 

 quarterings had dwindled to insignificance? What .should we say of Harry 

 the Sixth, if, instead of that admirable and most original chapel of King's 

 College, at Cambridge, be bad limited his artists to the style of the Con- 

 queror, or any other imitation ; or if Henry the Seventh bad concluded on 

 carrying on the style of the cathedral of Henry the Third, and so on, saving 



