1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



185 



cular end of the hemicycle from the two side sacristies. This disposition 

 is characteristic of the architecture of Ani. It may be noticed in the 

 other church, which is in much better preservation than the cathedral, 

 but which was not so much esteemed by the Armenians. No traces 

 are to be found amongst these ruins of any staircase, nor of any vaults 

 for purposes of sepulture. It was, however, the custom of the Ar- 

 menians to inter the dead in churches, for we read in the geography 

 of Vartan, that " the body of Gregory the Illuminator was brought from 

 Constantinople, and was placed in a grave under the four columns of 

 the church." The same author mentions a great number of relics found 

 in the churches and monasteries. 



One striking circumstance in this architecture is the ingenious 

 manner in which the inhabitants availed themselves of the materials 

 placed within their reach. The roofing is constructed with an art 

 equal to that, which has produced the finest monuments of antiquity. 

 The large tiles made of lava have their edges turned up at right 

 angles, like the tiles of marble used in the temples; these two ends, 

 applied one against the other, are covered by a continuous capping, 

 and the whole is supported upon a stone vaulting. Hence it arises 

 that in the construction of the edifice no wood has been employed; 

 and although abandoned for five or six centuries, the edifices of Ani 

 have suffered little from the effects of time. It is, in my opinion, a 

 remarkable feature in Armenian architecture, to have been conceived in 

 accordance with the materials so immediately within reach. Wood 

 being scarce in the country, the use of it was entirely excluded. As 

 lime is a substance very uncommon in volcanic formations, they learnt 

 to do without it ; whilst tufo of different consistence and divers colours 

 were cut, chiselled, and sculptured in walls and capitals, in columns 

 and vaultings, in great variety. 



The century which followed that of the erection of the cathedral, 

 witnessed the decline of the town of Ani, which fell into the hands of 

 the Byzantine princes, who already possessed Kars and Erzinghan. 

 The church, which was situated close to the river, appears to have 

 been consecrated to the Greek ritual, as they had added before the 

 entrance a portico or vestibule, which was always placed in front of 

 the churches of this communion. 



The two lower courses only remain of the lantern, but all the other 

 fragments are heaped up in the nave. The lantern has been restored 

 from these fragments, and from those of a neighbouring church which 

 is exactly similar to that of the cathedral. The dressings of the door 

 are also very little injured ; the rest of the edifice is in perfect preser- 

 vation. The whole of the monument is constructed of yellow and 

 black lava. 



ON THE CORINTHIAN CAPITAL. 



Observations upon the very marked and varied style of composition 

 exhibited in the capitals appertaining to the Temples of Jupiter Stator, 

 and of Mars Ultor, and to the interior of the Pantheon at Rome. 



By A. W. Hakewell. 



The first and paramount duty of the architect being to select an ap- 

 propriate form or outline for his building, he next considers the detail, 

 with a view to give to the outline a suitable expression. 



It is proposed, in the following observations, to take into consider- 

 ation the subject of detail only, moreover directing attention to one 

 sole feature of ornamental detail, viz., that triumph of human inven- 

 tion, the Corinthian Capital ; with a view then to show how bent 

 the ancients were upon giving expression to their works, in order that 

 these, if it may be so expressed, should speak a peculiar and suitable 

 language, it may be well to cite those admirable examples of the 

 Corinthian Capital, left us by the Romans. But prior to entering 

 upon the merits of particular examples of the Corinthian Capital, it 

 may be allowable to refer to the composition itself, commencing with 

 the account of its origin; and here we are indebted to Vitruvius for 

 a simple and elegant story, the spirit of which, it must be confessed, 

 is quite in harmony with the beautiful object to which it relates, and 



if not taken too literally, but on the contrary, properly entered into, 

 will be found like most of the allegories of the ancients, to contain 

 an important truth. 



We are told that a maid of Corinth having died, her devoted at- 

 tendant seeking consolation in the last sad offices, collected the fa- 

 vourite trinkets of the departed into a gracefully elongated basket, 

 which she carried to the tomb, and secured there, by placing upon it a 

 square tile ; it so happened that a young acanthus shot up close to the 

 spot, and entwined its leaves round the basket, 



" Flexile around its sides the acanthus twin'd, 

 Strikes as a miracle of art the mind." 



Theocritus. 



that the ends of the delicate stems meeting with resistance from the 

 overhanging stone at the top, bent gracefully down, resolving them- 

 selves into spirals, which altogether produced so much of symmetry 

 and variety of form, that the artist Callimachus, who chanced to see 

 the composition, made a representation of it, and reduced it to the 

 Corinthian Capital. 



The graceful spirit of this metamorphosis will, of itself, secure to it 

 an abode in our minds, but its utility gives it the greatest claim to our 

 attention; linked as the story is with so masterly an invention in the 

 ornamental department of architecture, it reminds us forcibly that art 

 to be striking, must spring from the contemplation of nature ; but 

 not exactly from that species of contemplation inferred by this in- 

 genious tale, which can be viewed in no other light, than as a 

 graceful fiction setting forth the first principles of invention; it is to 

 contemplation of a far more mental and abstracted kind, that we stand 

 indebted for the ingenuity and grace exhibited in the design under 

 consideration ; we leave no scope to intellectual vision in this affair, 

 and wholly discard originality, if we view it as a matter of fact; and 

 yet there have not been wanting those who have inserted this story 

 in their works, as a credible manner of accounting for the origin of 

 the Corinthian Capital, whilst others have gone still further, and ren- 

 dered it ridiculous, by graphically illustrating the subject, presenting 

 us with the whimsical group of Callimachus with his basket of leaves. 

 The inventive faculty requires no such broad hints, nor such palpable 

 suggestions, but suggests powerfully itself, and from the slightest in- 

 cidents ; the primary objects which inspire an artist's thoughts, stand 

 in no nearer relation to his matured conceptions, than do the juices 

 gathered by the bee, to the honey to which she finally converts them. 



First principles form the basis of his conceptions, but the power of 

 combining is wholly dependent upon originality of feeling, and when 

 taste and judgment are united to invention, then it is that the objects 

 created assume that natural and easy aspect which prompts us to as- 

 sign their origin to some production of nature ; thus the graceful 

 Ionic capital is said to be in imitation of a peculiar style of female 

 headdress; the groined vaulting in Gothic architecture to the inter- 

 lacing of the boughs of a grove of trees ; and because the Corinthian 

 capital does not exist in nature, we go about to make up a most im- 

 probable story, we require a trick, a harlequinade on the part of na- 

 ture, merely because we are unwilling to admit the truth, and pay 

 just homage to tlio inventive faculty of man. 



While discoursing upon the Corinthian Capital, it may not be amiss 

 to remark upon the simplicity of the design itself— simplicity, that 

 essential quality, the inseparable concomitant of all that is beautiful 

 in nature and art, enters largely into the composition of this graceful 

 work ; nothing can be more easily understood than the plan of the 

 Corinthian Capital ; two circular tiers of leaves, one tier placed above 

 the other, the centres of the upper leaves, corresponding with the 

 spaces separating those of the lower tier; a stem giving birth to spi- 

 rals jutting out at each of the four angles, the whole surmounted by a 

 slab, concave on its outer edges, constitute this striking architectural 

 feature; albeit the parts are few, still the effect is great; there is no 

 appearance of effort ; this is the result of simple intelligent arrange- 

 ment. These are the lessons which teach us to value the sentiment 

 so winningly expressed by the poet, when invoking simplicity he 

 savs — 



