1816.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



130 



attenuated, unflated, coupled, and mounted on stills : its antae fluted, di- 

 minished, and capped, as cylindrical columns should be; its cornice 

 crowned with an attic, or perhaps a balustrade; its shallow portico a mere 

 afterthought, advanced in front, and thus made the only prominent feature 

 in the composition; instead (as tlie painters would say) of every part being 

 worked into each other, so as to produce one whole ; — or, in short, although 

 it might have all the characteristics of the cinque-cento school, provided 

 that iu some respects it bore the resemblance of a caricature to the original, 

 it was designated as a Greek composition. 



In this so-called revival, abundant use is made of columns, particularly 

 as dressings for windows and doors ; and here there is a marked departure 

 from the principles as practised by the ancients and even as laid down by 

 the restorers themselves, namely, that the intercolumniation should not ex- 

 ceed a certain width. Palladio. in the 13th chapter of his first book, says 

 that " the intercolumniatious of the ancients never exceeded three diame- 

 ters except in the Tuscan." Now if only three diameters, or four from 

 centre to centre, be given, the opening would be too narrow either for a 

 door or a window ; hence the use of them in such situations in practice is 

 contrary to the principles so peremptorily laid down in theory. The great 

 object to be attained in the use of columns is the depth of shadow, which 

 has been called the chiaro-scuro of architectural composition, but as win- 

 dow dressings are stilted on a lofty slylobate they degenerate into mere 

 q%iisi ornaments, alfording no shadow that can be seen. The practice of 

 wide intercolumniatious in order to admit a window or door is defended on 

 the ground of the columns being attached, and therefore not requiring to 

 be limited in the interspaces ; but this seems like doing a thing in the first 

 instance, and finding out au excuse for it afterwards ; and there appears to 

 be no good reason for placing them in such situations, as they then convey 

 no idea of utility, and a wide intercolumniation and lofty situation prevent 

 their being ornamental ; besides, attached columns are only to be defended 

 on the ground of their harmonising with those that are insulated, and tliis 

 they do not when placed as door or window dressings ; but it can scarcely 

 be said that when so placed they are attached in the usual acceptation of 

 the term, for the architrave, or whatever may supply the place of one, has 

 uot the aid of any other support. 



For the practice of coupling columns, an expedient by which the sim- 

 plicity of the composition is marred, without any commensurate advantage 

 being obtained, we are said to be indebted to him wlio was justly called 

 the Prince of Painters. 



We must not omit mention of the practice of adapting single columns 

 for monumental purposes. The first example we have of this is the Alex- 

 andrine column, called Pompey's pillar; then the column of Phocas at 

 IJome ; these are both of the Corinthian order. Of an earlier date than 

 the latter, we have modifications of the Doric in those of Trajan and An- 

 toninus ; and iu our own times, a copy of Trajan's in the Napoleon at 

 Paris. In England we have several of both orders, but we are not aware 

 of any in the Ionic. The legitimate practice of architecture rejicts a 

 column in the singular number, except as a fractional part of an edifice, 

 und always requires, in the horizontal styles, that it should be surmounteil 

 by a suitable entablature, in order to give it that completeness which the 

 eye seeks for from association — the architect's line of beauty, from wbiili 

 lie is slow to admit of any deviation. Although, by their sculptured 

 reliefs, the columns of Trajan, Antoninus, and Napoleon, are in a great 

 measure taken out of the class of edilicial columns, yet they, as well as 

 those not so circumstanced, are unsuiled for the reception of figures on 

 the summit; for if the figure be badly designed and executed it should not 

 have place anywhere, and if well designed and executed it is lost to the 

 eye by its exaggerated elevation. An Irish round tower or an Egyptian 

 obelisk oS'ers a more appropriate model for a monument or landmark than 

 any modification of the classical orders.* 



In a Greek composition the columns may be said to form the building 

 itself (supporting its entablature, on which the roof is imposed) ; not 

 ranged in broken lines, for the purpose of pictorial effect, but presenting 

 an integrity of outline — giving the idea of completeness and unity of one 

 whole, and not several parts badly suited in size and form to be joined 

 together; for, as an accomplished writer has said, "however starlliug it 

 may be in geometry, it is true in taste that a great many little things do 

 not make a great one." It has been justly said that all the parts of a 

 Greek composition which are useful or necessary are rendered pleasing, 

 and what is beautiful appears to be necessary. The aspect of a building 

 of this description will be a bold unbroken outline; the ornamental parts 



* See a piper ob Obeliskg in tlie " Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal," Vol. VIII. 

 1845. 



from a distance, will appear subdued, so as not to interfere with the ap- 

 pearance of unity, and merely solicit a closer examination ; and wlien, to 

 obtain this, the eye approaches, the most highly finished details aloue lay 

 claim to inspection,— fitness, completeness, and harmony, will be the dis- 

 tinguishing characteristics throughout the entire. Let us bring some of 

 the edifices erected in the so-called revived style to this test, and the difler- 

 ence in the effect produced shall at once be evident. If then our most 

 elaborate and expensive compositions fail in this, should we not inquire 

 how the defect might be remedied? Perhaps it may be urged that gran- 

 deur, magnificence, sublimity, and harmony, have all been attained in tlw 

 florid Gothic ; but it must be considered that although in detail this style is 

 trifling, weak, and often ridiculous, yet the parts in themselves are so 

 minute, and the outline so bold, as rather to afford a proof of the contrary. 

 There was a man who dared to work out the Greek principle, and that 

 man was Michael Angelo Buonarroti— a name that stands second to none 

 either as painter or sculptor,— a name which it is difficult to decide as 

 meriting more praise or censure as an architect. In the noble cornice of 

 the Farnese palace, and the daring dome of St. Peter's fane, we have the 

 principle carried out on another model ; the remainder of the Farnese 

 palace was designed by San Gallo, and cannot be laid to the charge of 

 Michael Angelo.* But if, after seeing the dome of St. Peter's, we cross 

 the Tiber, and look at the Capitol, we find it hard to believe that it is the 

 production of the same hand, and would willingly ascribe it to some other 

 San Gallo did truth permit. The beauty of the dome almost covers all the 

 architectural sins of the rest of the edifice, but the Capitol presents no 

 such redeeming feature ; all is trifling and unworthy of the name and site, 

 and fit only for the habitation of the feathered guardians of the mount 

 — whose efligies in bronze it contains, — but not to crown a Roman Forum 

 even in ruins ! 



It must at the same time be mentioned, to the credit of Buonarroti, that 

 his plan was to make St. Peter's in the form of a Greek instead of a 

 Latin cross: with the former figure the dome would have been more effect- 

 ive exteriorly, and on this account it is to be lamented that a sectarian 

 feeling of preference for tlie abstract figure subsequently prevailed over 

 the belter taste of the architect. We participate with Sir Joshua Reynolds 

 in the admiration he expresses for "this truly great man," and gladly turn 

 from his faults to admire his excellencies, and see in the dome and corni- 

 cione the elforts of genius emancipating itself from fhe trammels and false 

 principles of a vicious school. He also intended to have given a portico 

 to St. Peter's on the plan of that of the Pantheou of Agrippa, instead of 

 Carlo Maderno's miserable fafade ; such a portico, with a colonnade of 

 the same order, on the plan of the present one, but having its entablature 

 and stylobate on a level with those of the portico, would indeed have ex- 

 hibited what the art was capable of effecting, and given a coup d'leil supe- 

 rior perhaps to anything in art the world has ever yet beheld. The genius 

 and taste which designed such examples as the dome and cornicione are 

 exactly what we most require in modern times ; not, indeed, for the pro- 

 duction of isolated features to redeem a composition from censure, but as 

 parts only of works in which the same character shall be carried through- 

 out the entire. 



Much has been written by accomplished authors on the subject of taste, 

 and rules have been laid dowu for the formation and diiection of it. In 



au altogether artificial art like architecture — a mere creation of llie mind 



we can glean but little from nature for our guidance, and are driven to 

 refer to the best models of each particular style to form our rules from 

 what we there observe ; and it would be wise to take it for granted as a 

 general rule, that those who had the genius to invent a style or sub-divisiou 

 of one, were the fittest persons to give rules for the guidance of those who 

 were to follow them as copyists; therefore it would, in most cases, be more 

 desirable to invent a new style for our purpose in preference to violating 

 the rules observed in the old ones, or applying tlicir peculiar and striking 

 details to other purposes than those for which we find tbeni invented. The 

 architect who does so may indeed lay claim to a kind of invention, but it 

 is of the lowest description, and is anything but a proof of genius. Had 

 we known nothing of Greek arcliitecture save what we see in its restora- 

 tion, doubtless we should have thought these restorations very beautiful, 

 and have been perfectly satisfied to have fumed our tastes on such models; 

 but a single glance at a Greek peripteral temple would awaken in us new 

 sensations of pleas re, and leave an impression that would never after- 

 wards be obliterated from the mind. Seldom do our climate and wants 

 admit of the erection of such a structure, but happy indeed must be the 

 lot of the architect to whom such an occasion shall fall of oHering that, the 



* The d«t(iils of tbt doce do not deserve commendation. 



]&« 



