1843.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



193 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 

 FASCICULUS XLIX. 



" I must have liberty 

 Withal, as large a charter as the winds, 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. Many others besides myself have, no doubt, frequently been not 

 a little disappointed, on finding how very poor a building, that has 

 promised tolerably well during its progress, has eventually turned out 

 to be. So long as it was encumbered with scaffolding, and nothing 

 could be made out distinctly, there was room for the imagination to 

 work upon it; but when all is cleared away, then also does the po- 

 verty of the design become exposed to view — all faults and defects 

 become apparent; and perhaps you find that when completed, the 

 structure is altogether unfinished. Yet "finish " is one great secret— 

 and truly a far greater secret than it ought to be, in architectural 

 composition. Nor is "finish" to be confounded with decoration, for 

 there may be the first with little of the latter; and a very great deal 

 of the latter, with nothing at all of the first. Without finish, deco- 

 ration generally looks trumpery and meretricious, and what is in- 

 tended for simplicity, shows no better than inconsistent parsimony, 

 and therefore shabby meanness. In fact, finish is essential to simpli- 

 city ; and of this, Grecian architecture might long ago have con- 

 vinced us, had we studied it in an artist-like spirit, instead of merely 

 consulting its orders as so many patterns of columns. One rule worth 

 a hundred of those usually given in architectural books, is, never at- 

 tempt a higher degree of decoration than you can finish up to in 

 every respect ; since otherwise, do as much as you will, the ensemble 

 will always be unsatisfactory. There may be both tasteful ideas and 

 beautiful parts — but they will be only parts, causing by their very 

 beauty all the rest to displease. Attention to what seem trifling matters, 

 is a most important matter itself in architectural design, for it fre- 

 quently constitutes the chief difference between what is excellent and 

 what is poor — between what is captivating and what is dull common- 

 place. Yet because it happens to be what people call " Only that," 

 little regard is paid to it, although the onlyness of it, renders the 

 neglect of it all the less excusable. Oh ! if we had but all the " only 

 thats " which people give us to understand they could easily accom- 

 plish, did they but think it worth while to attend to such trifles, how 

 very superior we should become in art! 



II. Of opportunities in architecture there are two sorts — the most 

 obvious and intelligible one, that of having a building to execute 

 which affords some scope for design or the display of taste — the 

 other, that of being not only permitted but encouraged to treat the 

 subject con amore, and to satisfy oneself. To talk of an architect's 

 being left to satisfy himself — though some, by-the-bye, seem to be 

 very easily satisfied with themselves — may sound strangely to those 

 who look upon him as little better than a tradesman — not as a profes- 

 sional adviser in art, but a sort of apothecary, who has merely to 

 make up their own prescriptions; nevertheless, it is so essential an ar- 

 chitect should have such liberty granted to him, that he who shows 

 himself indifferent to it, almost forfeits the name of artist, showing 

 himself to be little better than a mere hireling. Of course, this is to 

 be understood grano satis, according to the circumstances and im- 

 portance of the case; neither is it to be supposed that employers and 

 their wishes are to stand for nothing in the matter, as if it were of 

 very little moment, whether they were satisfied or not. Let employers 

 explain their ideas, and urge their own particular views, but let them 

 also listen patiently to those of the artist himself, otherwise they 

 show either that they more t han doubt his capacity, or that they shrink 

 from listening to arguments that may convict them of ignorance or 

 of obstinacy. Architects themselves, on the other hand, might some- 

 times profit by the hints and remarks of their employers, and should 

 feel rather inspirited— certainly not discouraged, when they find their 

 designs strictly scrutinized, instead of all their merits being detected at 

 a glance ; in which latter case it may be presumed the merits are rather 

 superficial and not very numerous. Excellently well it is observed by 



Chateauneuf: "undoubtedly it is very pleasant to an architect to 

 meet with an employer disposed to give him carte-blanche and per- 

 mission to follow out his own ideas unrestrictedly ; yet it is still more 

 delightful to meet with one, who instead of merely passively acquies- 

 cing, assents from conviction, after deliberate study of the ideas sub- 

 mitted to him, and from the lively interest he takes in them." 



III. Whatever the Pecksniff's may think of the matter, certain it 

 is, that though the more obvious features of a style may be copied 

 mechanically by any one, to give the true and the better spirit of the 

 style itself requires an earnest study of it, and a kind of study which 

 instead of being to be got out of books, must be brought to thein. 

 That such should be the case is rather consolatory than otherwise, 

 since it proves architecture to have some pretensions to rank as a 

 fine art, not only in regard to the works it produces, but co the mode 

 in which it works. In architecture, very much depends upon conven- 

 tional forms, and conventional as well as mechanical rules : yet though 

 indispensable in themselves, rules are of little mote than negative 

 value : they instruct us to do just that which they can teach any one 

 else to do equally well — and no more. They bring us up to the point 

 where the many stick fast, and beyond which only the few can pass 

 who possess within themselves that finer instinct called genius or 

 talent. Though such opinion may appear somewhat paradoxical, by 

 no means does it follow that a building or design which exhibits the 

 more direct and standard features of the style it professes to be in, 

 gives us the spirit of the style itself ; for instead of doing so at all, it 

 may fail to manifest any of its better qualities, and of its latent powers 

 may indicate nothing. Mere correctness and no more, is not much 

 matter for boasting of, the merit attending it, whatever it may be in 

 itself, being but a second-hand one. Much less is it any merit to be 

 correct only in parts — in the commonplace features of the style pro- 

 fessed to be followed, while everything else is all but in direct variance 

 with it. 



IV. Professor Cockerell has been denounced by Professor Pugin as 

 the man "wot" paganizes in the universities, but there was another 

 paganizing Professor before Cockerell at work in them — at least at 

 Cambridge — namely Wilkins, the author of that mass of architectural 

 mawkishness, ycleped Downing College, as which James Wyatt's 

 design would have been as good. Colleges are not built every day, 

 therefore when an opportunity of the kind does present itself, it 

 should be prized accordingly, and made the most of; yet it is lament- 

 able to perceive how often some of the best opportunities have been 

 converted into mere jobs. King's College in the Strand is such an 

 arrant architectural nullity, that its insignificance in that respect 

 shields it from criticism, no one considering it worth while to ani- 

 madvert upon or even mention so miserable a piece of design. 



V. Much as it is the fashion to talk about style and styles, we 

 generally content ourselves with their mere rincings out — with sadly 

 deluted, sickly watery stuff, that has neither flavour nor body in it. Of 

 such quality is most of our modern Anglo-Grecian, and our recent 

 Early English. The original spirit is so weakened aud rendered so 

 "wishy-washy" by the insipidity poured into it, as to be scarcely 

 perceptible. Yet such dilutions of style are palmed upon us as 

 being quite pure and unadulterated, although they are so only inas- 

 much as no other spirit or flavour of any kind has been infused into 

 the style nominally adopted; the consequence of which is that we 

 get only the purity of pure insipidity. 



Bavaria.— Munich.— The Pompeian House.— We mentioned in our last 

 the project of the King to erect a Pompeian House near his residence of As- 

 chaffenburg. This plan advances towards realization ; the director of build- 

 ings, Von Gartner, is instructed to employ the drawings brought by Pro- 

 fessor Zahn from Pompeii in 1839, for its construction. It was in this house 

 that the beautiful painting on the walls was found, representing Achilles 

 found by Ulysses among the daughters of Lyoomedes ; also the groups of 

 fauns and bacchantes, on a blue ground ; Hypolitus and Phaedra, Ceres, 

 Hygeia, Venus, and Adonis. All these will be carefully copied for the Pom- 

 peian House at Aschafienburg, with the rich bronze altars, marbles, and in- 

 scriptions found in the house of Castor and Pollux ; so that the visitor will 

 find himself completely in the domus of an ancient Pompeian. 



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