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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Ma, 



sight of which is pre-eminently calculated to form the tasle both of the 

 public and the profession. 



It was utifortuiiate that architecture, at the period of the revival of the 

 (ireek stjle, was taken up as a profession by painters, whose minds are 

 too much imbued with a love of the picturesque ever to admit of their 

 producing a good ell'ect with such materials as wood and stone. The car- 

 penter's plane and the mason's chisel completely remove all that gives pic- 

 turesque effect to the tree and the rock ; and the painter seeks, by the ar- 

 rangement of the principal parts of an architectural composition, to pro- 

 liuce what a skilful architect will elTect by the minor details, namely, a 

 variation of light and shade — not as the principal feature of his picture, 

 but merely as a tinting; to obtain which he has not sacriliced either unity 

 or simplicity. It matters not then to the painter-architect whether his 

 columns be fluted or not ; all he cares for is to avoid what is not his line 

 of beauty — a straight one, which happens to be the very main-spring of 

 beauty in a Greek composition. The generality of mankind are betler 

 informed on the subject of painting and are belter judges of it than of 

 architecture ; hence, so many side with the painters, and architects are 

 driven to succumb to the ruling taste of the day, and to fashion their de- 

 signs, not with reference to how thi-y must appear in the solid, but to how 

 they do appear as pretty pictures on paper. It will not avail anything to 

 argue this with the painters, fur — 



*' Convince a painter against liis will, 

 And he'll hold the same opinion Btlll." 



Nor still less can it avail to argue with those who are led by the opinions 

 of the painters, and such are the great mass of those who compose what 

 are called Committees of Selection, who must be treated as children — as 

 babes in knowledge ; and, instead of giving them a toy, which they would 

 in a state of innocence seize with avidity and soon afier as capriciously 

 throw aside, something that they would prefer and continue to estimate 

 when their judgments shall be more matured and their taste improved 

 should be given. It is generally admitted that the Propylea at the London 

 terminus of the Birmingham Railway is one of the best examples in this 

 country of the Greek style, and justly, one of the most admired ; yet we 

 should tremble for its fate if its geometrical elevation were to be exhibited 

 before a Committee of Selection in competition with one of the facade of 

 the Goldsmith's Hall, the production of the same architect : in short, the 

 latter would appear on paper, to the eye of a commitltee-man, as much 

 preferable to the former, as it does in stone to the eye of every one. An 

 architect of genius will reject the opinions of such tribunals. Let com- 

 mittees say what they require, and proviile the funds — that is their legiti- 

 mate portion of the division of labour. Would any of the great painters 

 (to whom their art is so much indebted for a true revival) have submitted 

 to the control of ignorant monks (who wore their best patrons) in handling 

 their works? Did Titian alter his style because these monks objected to 

 his figures appearing to stand out from the canvas ? And shall architects 

 be less free from the intermeddling of ignorant pretenders? It is greatly 

 to be feared that too many in the profession are fettered by the opinions 

 and taste of persons who neither know, nor even profess to know anything 

 about the art — a state of things which it is neither the interest of the 

 public nor tiie profession should be maintained. 



In reviewing the modificalions which the style experienced in the hands 

 of the Romans, one of the most important is to be found in the arrangement 

 of the portico, which, in all the edifices remaining in Cireece, Magna 

 Grecia, and Sicily, with the exception of the two porches attached to the 

 little octagonal tower of Andronicus Cyrrhestes, called the Temple of the 

 Winds, forms an integral part of the design, from which it is impossible to 

 consider it separately. The earliest example we have of the Roman mo- 

 dification is that of the Pantheon of Agrippa. This magnificent portico, 

 raised on a graduated stylobale of nine steps, has eight columns in front, 

 and, reckoning those at the angles, three and an anta; at each side ; if the 

 columns were lluted, and the aniaj not, and these latter had suitable 

 mouldings instead of foliated capitals, this portico would perhaps possess 

 all the excellence that taste could require or fancy conceive. The neces- 

 sity for an isolated portico in that instance is obvious both from the form 

 and magnitude of the principal building, which, for the latter reason, at 

 once forbids the attempt to make the cornice of the one correspond in line 

 with that of tlie other. The unornaraented state of the Great Rotunda also 

 suggests that probably it either was, or was intended to be, concealed from 

 observation by surrounding buildings, leaving only the stately portico 

 itself in view; however this be, the idea of what may be either called an 

 attached or a detached portico seems to have been seized with avidity in 

 modern practice, where it is made not ttu ornamented part of the design, 



but rather a mere ornament attached to it. In many instances the difli- 

 culties arising from considerations of expense seem to be more porterful 

 than good taste in influencing the selection of a starved-lo-.ikiug poiiico of 

 four columns only in front, instead of six or eight or more, which would 

 have occupied the entire field ; and for the same pecuniary reasons, ilia 

 rear ranks of colunms, which, by the depth of shade they afford, are so 

 essenlial to the beauty of a portico, too often are dispensed with. In the 

 instance of the nine column portico at Pa;stum, we see how indispensable 

 the Greeks considered it to be that the integrity and unity of outline should 

 be preserved. In more modern practice, a building of ibis description 

 would probably have been furnished with only four or six columns in 

 front, leaving the angles of the exterior of the cella either naked or witli a 

 pilaster ; thus making the cornice of the portico and that of the rest of 

 the building on different ranges. One of the most beautiful, as well as 

 one of the most perfectly preserved cxamjiles of Roman taste we have is 

 the little pseudo-peripteral temple at Nismes, calJMl the Maison Carrte '. 

 If, with a Iransposable model, we take away the Hanking columns of the 

 portico, or attempt any other arrangement of them, unless it be to make it 

 peripteral, it will be seen how much it may be deteriorated in effect ; but 

 it seems unnecessary to enter into a lengthened condemnation of a niodiS* 

 cation which no one attempts to defend on the score of good taste, though 

 many practice it on the plea of saving expense, as it must be their poverty 

 and not their will which consents. 



Another departure in most of the Roman examples, from the plan of the 

 Greek portico is the larger space left between the two centre colunms. in 

 the Ionic and Corinthian orders if not carried to excess, this is scarcely 

 perceptible, but in the Doric it necessarily requires an additional triglypb, 

 and is highly otl'eusive and painful to the eye, as the architrave is elongat- 

 ed, and of course apparently weakened at the place where it has to suslaio 

 the loftiest and weightiest portion of the pediment; for although in build- 

 ing (using the term in contradistinction to architecture), it may answer 

 every purpose if the supi)orling parts be sufficiently strong to bear the im- 

 posed burden, yet in the higher branch which commends itself less to the 

 judgment than to the eye, that organ must be satisfied both from analogy 

 and comparison : for instance, the inclining tower at Pisa was erected, and 

 acquired its present inclination of about twelve feet from the perpendicular 

 about 670 years ago, and although the spectator may be assured from the 

 experience of so many centuries that it may remain some years longer, yel 

 after the first ell'ects of astonishment subside, it is a painful object, between 

 which and the eye it is impossible to effect a reconciliation. 



It was the practice of the Greeks to make the base of the triangular 

 pediment correspond in length with the cornice on which it was imposed, 

 just as we see a capital correspond in diameter with the neck of the shaft 

 which it crowns ; but it is now the practice either from poverty of taste or 

 of purse, or both, to place on the cornice a pediment with a shorter base; 

 it would not be more at variance with good taste were we to suggest that 

 for the sake of harmony the capital also should have a less diameter 

 than the shaft ; and again, the pediment was the crowning feature of the 

 composition, and had no wall, attic, or parapet either pierced or unpierced 

 above it, but just as the capital was placed on the summit of the shaft; 

 modern practice in the management of pediments is frequently otherwise, 

 and we might with propriety propose that when it is deemed advisable to 

 surmount the pediment with a mass of building, the columns also should 

 have their elevation increased by the addition of a portion of shaft placed 

 above the capital,* but if any object to this suggestion, then we have 

 only to reply that our proposal is as capable of defence as their practice, 

 and we are willing to let both fall together. Me are coafideut that Mr. 

 Hay will agree with us on the justness of the hypothesis, and from Lis 

 admirable works on the harmony of colour, form, and proportion, we 

 could not appeal to a more able judge. 



The rage for pediments appears to have commenced in the reign of 

 Diocletian ; not satisfied with one at the gable ends of each edifice, the 

 exaggerated taste of that day required that they should be represented ia 

 small, and turned into dressings for doors and niches ; the latter in some 

 measure corresponding with our windows, thus making a kind of moch- 

 gable where no real one could possibly have place. Such a description of 

 window dressing, although more expensive than appropriate mouldings, ig 

 very fashionable in our own times, and was also much used by the ciuque- 

 cento restorers. 



The discovery, or as we should rather say, general introduction of win- 



• We do not lay any claim to originality in offering this suggestion, for we have In our 

 possession a much adiulied coiumuor cUiiuoey piece of ciDque-ceato design, from vblvla 

 we t&ke the hint. 



