1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



445 



ARCHITECTURE:— THE PUBLIC AND THE PROFESSION. 



I. Preliminary Discourse, $c, on Architecture. By T. L. Donaldson, 

 Professor of Architecture, University College, London. 



II. Encyclopedia of Architecture, Historical, Theoretical, and Prac- 

 tical. By Joseph Gwilt. 



III. Klenze Entwiirfe. Heft VII & VIII. 



"The importance which architecture has assumed in this country 

 within the last twenty years, and the deep interest taken by all classes 

 in its progress, have been most remarkable and striking. Disquisitions 

 upon those monuments of our art which rise up around us, occupy the 

 public mind, and form a distinguished portion of the literature of the 

 day. Pamphlets, newspapers, and other periodical publications, pass 

 in review the productions of our artists." Such are the opening 

 remarks of Professor Donaldson in his "Preliminary Discourse " (pro- 

 nounced before the University Collpge, London, Oct. 17, 1842) ; and 

 they may very appropriately be made use of, by way of introduction 

 to the present article, if merely to show that the subject we have 

 taken up, is held to be not without attraction for others besides pro- 

 fessional readers. Indeed, we might say that the latter class is the 

 least numerous one ; and also, that very few belonging to the pro- 

 fession have at any time taken up their pen with the view of instruct- 

 ing the public, or recommending the study of the art as deserving to 

 be cultivated for its own sake. Even may it be questioned if the 

 profession, taken generally, cordially approve of that sort of popularity 

 conferred upon their art, after the manner described by Mr. Donaldson. 

 At any rate some there are, who, so far from encouraging a taste for 

 architectural study on the part of those who apply themselves to it 

 merely as laymen, manifest a decided disapprobation of such "irregu- 

 lar " proceedings. Fain would they suppress all inquiry, all criticism, 

 all opinion, except what emanates directly from themselves. And as 

 far as themselves alone are concerned, they may be allowed to display 

 sound policy at least, though the reverse of liberality, of generous 

 feeling, and of zeal for the advancement of architecture as a branch of 

 fine art. No doubt it is not to the interest of every one who follows 

 it as his employment, that the public should have any clear under- 

 standing of it in the latter capacity, or be able to discriminate between 

 what is merely mechanical and matter of routine, and what gives 

 aesthetic value to an edifice, converting it from the mere manual work 

 of a builder iuto the production of an artist. 



Convenient as it may be in many — perhaps the majority of cases, to 

 have to do with a public who are nearly all but quite in the dark as 

 to what architecture, properly so termed, is or ought to be, and who 

 are, therefore, ready to admire whatever is palmed upon them as 

 works of art, merely because it is mechanically shaped secundum artem, 

 but may, nevertheless, bear the same relation to art that paste does to 

 diamonds ; convenient, we say, as such state of things may be, there 

 are, at the same time, considerable disadvantages attending it, and 

 extending to all parties, to the profession as well as to the public, and 

 certainly not least of all, injurious to the art itself. While its impor- 

 tance in the latter character is stoutly insisted upon, and endeavoured 

 to be supported by dint of assertion, architecture is virtually thrown 

 out of the ranks of fine art, by being represented as one too far re- 

 moved from ordinary sympathy to be appreciated by, or even intelli- 

 gible to those who have not been rpgularly initiated into it. To a 

 certain extent some kind of preparatory training is, undoubtedly, 

 requisite, because its beauties being more or less conventional, without 

 any positive type in nature, some knowledge of the signs it employs, 

 and of the principles by which it is governed, becomes indispensable; 

 but such knowledge is quite independent of, and runs in a different 

 channel from, that which belongs to building and construction. 

 Neither is the acquisition either difficult or tedious — at least would 

 not be so, were a suitable course of study provided for those who 

 require to learn no more than the ajsthelie branch of the subject, leav- 

 ing practical matters to the practical man. Works, indeed, there are 

 which profess to be expressly framed for such purpose, but among 

 them all we have not met with one that is really well adapted to it. 

 Some are little better than ordinary and even slovenly compilation or 

 abridgment ; and under the pretence of being easy and popular, nearly 

 all are defectively meagre, dry, and uninviting. Thev lack that 

 familiar but intelligent explanation which would really fa'cilitate the 

 progress of the nonprofessional student. There appears to be a fear 

 of communicating too much information — a greater desire to mystify 

 than to simplify. What is learned, must be learned doggedly and by 

 rote, for however well the writers may be acquainted with the subject 

 himself, they either want, or do not care to employ, the art of con- 

 veying instruction to others in such manner as to invest it with interest, 

 and forcibly bring out its attractions. 



On the part of the profession nothing has been done towards fur- 

 nishing a popular course of instruction for lay students and the public; 

 neither have they advocated any scheme for throwing open the study 

 of the aesthetic department of their art, and extending it beyond the 

 pale of their own order. Only one solitary instance occurs to us of an 

 architect's earnestly recommending the adoption of such views. With 

 no less of sound policy than generous liberality, Mr. G. Wightwiek 

 has urgently pointed out how desirable it is that a due acquaintance 

 with architecture should be cultivated as one of the accomplishments 

 of education, and that, too, for females as well as men; which is so 

 contrary to the prejudices established by custom, that on the first 

 blush of it, it appears to carry with it some degree of chimerical 

 extravagance, if not of actual absurdity, and may easily be turned into 

 ridicule by wilful representation of the purpose in view. It may be 

 sneeringly hinted that dabbling in brick and mortar would not be a 

 very ladylike amusement, nor even a very gentlemanly pursuit ; with 

 much more to the same effect. To meet idle objections of that kind 

 formally, would be itself idle, since they proceed from sheer ignorance, 

 or from still more incorrigible malice prepense, and from the determi- 

 nation to mistake and pervert, and to set matters in a ridiculous light. 



With respect to architecture as an esthetic study, and so far capable 

 of being pursued apart from the mechanical processes of building, the 

 usually awkward Cui bono ? is not a very formidable question. It is 

 the pursuit itself which is the prize, the labour which is the gain, the 

 occupation which is the reward. Else why should the sportsman risk 

 his neck in the chace, and willingly encounter both danger and 

 fatigue — to say nothing of the expensiveness of his amusement, which 

 makes every hare cost him about as much as a horse ? The value 

 of architectural study as a mere study, consists in the mental occu- 

 pation it furnishes, and in its opening a source of gratification from 

 which we are else debarred, because without such study we can but 

 imperfectly relish what requires to be viewed by the mind as much as 

 by the eye. Where preparatory education is wanting, the finest 

 buildings will be looked at either with listless indifference or ignorant, 

 perhaps merely affected, admiration, certainly not witli that lively 

 interest and enjoyment felt by those who possess a cultivated taste. 

 Without some study of the art, people are actually unable to see a 

 very great deal that is to be considered in a building or a design; 

 there are an infinitude of circumstances, more or less influential, 

 which they can neither distinguish, nor perceive, nor take note of. 

 To be convinced that such is really the case, we need merely open 

 almost any tourist-book where architectural description or comment 

 is attempted ; for seldom do we meet with more than confused, im- 

 perfect, and bungling description, or what is intended for such, and 

 with crude, hasty, shallow, haphazard remarks, which too evidently 

 show that the writer has no real knowledge of what he professes to 

 speak of. 



It is true that, by opening our eyes, the study of the art drives us 

 out of the "fool's paradise" of stupid wonder, where ignorance is 

 bliss; yet if, on the one hand, it renders us more fastidious, and apt 

 to be shocked at defects and imperfections that do not interfere with 

 the satisfaction felt by ordinary spectators, on the other it greatly en- 

 hances our enjoyment of what is excellent, imparting to it a fulness, 

 an intensity, and a gusto, which can else hardly be conceived, much 

 less be felt. While enjoyment, too, is thus increased in degree, it is 

 also greatly extended as to duration ; instead of being an object 

 merely to be glanced at, or inspected once for all, a fine piece of 

 architecture is to the educated man, whether amateur or profession- 

 alist, a work of art which, however often it may have been viewed, is 

 again contemplated with refreshened feelings of delight, and whose 

 image is faithfully stored up in the memory, where it remains both 

 for instruction and gratification. Unless it be useless to have some 

 study or pursuit, affording both innocent and intellectual occupation, 

 the question as to the value of that of architecture among others may 

 be considered, after what has been said, completely settled. So far 

 from having at all less, it has rather more to recommend it than 

 several— botany, mineralogy, and some others, which are now applied 

 to by females, inasmuch as it exercises the critical faculties, leads to 

 the valuable habit of discriminating observation, and forms and refines 

 taste or Esthetic feeling ; whereas other studies, of the kind above 

 alluded to, have comparatively little value as mere accomplishments, 

 since they are too positive and material, too remote from general 

 sympathies, and partake of that Darwinism which renders them as 

 unfit for conversation as for poetry. 



For what we have been saying, we admit that there ought to be no 

 occasion : it should long ere tiiis have become so self-evident, as to 

 incur for us the reproach of bringing forward stale and common-place 

 remarks. Yet, be the remarks themselves what they may, most cer- 

 tain it is that the views we advocate are not those entertained by 

 the public, no, nor even by the profession. Accordingly, instead of 



