1816.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



327 



given to arches and vaulting taxed to tbe utmost the resources of arcuate 

 construction. 



Then followed the decline of the arts. Pointed architecture became dis- 

 tinguished hy conventionalism and over-refinement— the sure precursor of 

 decay. Artistic feeling grew feebler and at last absolutely perished. A 

 conclusive proof that it had perished, and that caprice had succeeded to its 

 place was this— that men lost sight of architectural principles and cared only 

 for architectural forms. There arose a strange classic mania, and, as might 

 be expected in such an age, the classic forms were employed in utter igno- 

 rance or defiance of their right application. Every perversion and grotesque 

 absurdity which empericism could invent or ignorance tolerate received 

 sanction during the period styled the Revival. The confusion of arcuate and 

 trabeate construction e.xhibited in Roman architecture was renewed in an 

 aggravated form. Columns stilted to give them an undue height, their shafts 

 deformed by square dies disposed at regular intervals, or channelled with 

 sinuous lines in extravagant imitation of the natural roughness of unhewn 

 stone were among the minor barbarisms. What shall we say of semblances 

 of huge gables or pediments attached to the internal walls of buildings and 

 ridiculous imitations of small gables arranged in rows on the external walls ? 

 Sometimes we find double pediments on the outlines of two gables repre- 

 sented in the surface of a wall by triangles set one immediately above the 

 other. And sometimes we find portions of cornices cut away so as to leave 

 a gap in the upper or lower part of the pediment; and at other times the 

 pediment is polygonal or curvilinear, the curves having occasionally a con- 

 trary flexure. No amount of precedent would sanction these abuses which 

 seemed to have been perpetrated for the express purpose of bringing the 

 Classic forms into disgrace. Moreover, the weight of Precedent, if in this 

 case it have any weight, is on our side, for it was the Revivalists, not we, who 

 rejected its authority by appropiating the ancient forms to strange and novel 



uses. 



It belongs immediately to the subject to observe that in the history of Art 

 tbe decadence of constructive arts has generally been coeval with the ad- 

 vancement of the decorative. At the time when architecture has flourished, 

 painting, sculpture, *c., have generally been neglected, and conversely. The 

 noblest, purest, most faithful architecture which the world has seen since the 

 Christian era, belongs undoubtedly to the age of Cologne Cathedral: and yet 

 the uncouth forms of monumental brasses, wood carvings, and painted glass, 

 of that age, are inartistic in tbe extreme. They are for the most part incor- 

 rect in drawing, shadow, or perspective ; inaccurate in the anatomical forms 

 and proportion, and manifest that stiffness and uncertainty in the use of the 

 chisel and pencil which infallibly mark the first efforts of rude art. Monu- 

 mental sculptures did indeed occasionally exhibit great merit, but these works 

 are rare exceptions ; and those of them which exist in our country seem to 

 have been the productions of foreign artists. In proportion however as 

 architecture progressed toward decay, tbe decorative arts established them- 

 selves on its ruins. Tbe Chapel of Henry YII. at Westminster is filled with 

 the most beautiful carving ; and his tomb is one of the last and noblest pro. 

 ductions of mediteval art. The painted windows of King's College Chapel 

 have no parallel throughout the world for magnificence : executed probably 

 after the completion of the building, they exhibit far higher merits than 

 those of gorgeous colouring and minute workmanship. The composition 

 and drawing of the east window in particular are wonderful proofs of the 

 excellence to which the decorative arts had attained. 



Of the era of Raphael it does not lie within the compass of our subject to 

 say more than that the magnificence of its sculpture and painting presents a 

 strange contrast to the impurity and incongruity of its architecture. Once, 

 and once only, in the world's history, a Phidias and Ictinus appeared toge- 

 ther. 



The classic Revival affected England more slowly than the rest of Europe. 

 Among a people, whose attachment to particular forms and customs is slowly 

 contracted and long retained, an imported style of architecture would not 

 easily find favour. Even after Pointed Arcliitecture had died of old age, 

 many of its forms were retained. The windows of the Debased Tudor style 

 are mullioned and retain their hood mouldings. The Elizabethan frequently 

 shows a great deal of constructive faithfulness and picturesque effect, and 

 where it is tolerably free from classic details, presents much that is worthy 

 of modern imitation. 



There was a trabeate style which reached its greatest perfection in the 

 reign of Elizabeth, which is to be noted as especially remarkable for its 

 character and the time in which it appeared. We mean the timber framed 

 architecture of the halls and manor-houses erected in this reign. This style 



is frequently exhibited in great magnificence in this country, and in parts 

 of the continent, such as Belgium and Normandy, where timber is abundant. 

 The cities of Ghent, Bruges, Rouen, &c, display beautiful specimens of street 

 architecture, which put to shame our modern system of showy decoration. 

 It seems singular that a style almost purely trabeate should have flourished 

 at a time when great eft'orts were made to effect an incongrous adaptation of 

 Classic forms to arcuate construction. Nor is it less remarkable that the 

 timber-framed style should be so nearly faithful as it is. The gables are 

 treated constructively as the ends of roofs, and where columns are used, they 

 are generally used as supports. The fashion of aflising columns upon the 

 faces of walls, where they appear as mere protuberances, was of later growth. 



The Elizabethan and tiraljer-framed were the last of the original styles. 

 The houses of tbe period of Queen Anne have indeed a certain degree of 

 character from the conspicuous use of the plate-band or straight arch in 

 doors and windows. Still it may be considered with sufficient accuracy that 

 no new species of construction was introduced subsequently to the reign of 

 Elizabeth. Since that period architecture has consisted in the imitation of 

 ancient styles and the reproduction of ancient forms. 



We have therefore arrived at the conclusion of the historical portion of 

 our subject. The application of the principles which distinguish arcuate 

 and trabeate constructio to modern architecture, will be tbe subject of 

 another paper. These principles have been so systematically violated during 

 the last three centuries that great difference of opinion will exist respecting 

 their importance in architecture. The historical sketch here given may 

 however be useful in indicating a plan for compiling an altogether new kind 

 of History of Architecture. Numerous writers have already chronicled the 

 successive changes of architectural forms — the history of Architectural Con- 

 struction remains to be written. 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 

 FASCICULUS LXXI. 



" I must have liberty 

 Withal, as large a cliarter as the winds, 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. Those who have suggested — altogether prematurely, it now seems — 

 the Tudor style, for a new metropolitan royal i-esidence in lieu of Bucking- 

 ham Palace, have overlooked one or two objections that present them- 

 selves. In (he fir-st place, the Queen herself might wish for something 

 altogether different from Windsor Castle,— for a "companion" or " pendant" 

 to it, but distinct from it in character, and aH'ording opportunity for ex- 

 hibiting quite another mode of embellishment. In the next, were it to be 

 at all similar in style to the " Palace of Westminster," immediate compari- 

 son between the two would be the consequence, and as it is not at all likely 

 that a second palace would at all rival or approach Mr. Barry's edifice, in 

 luxuriant oinateness, the comparison would hardly be to its advantage. 

 Thirdly, domestic Tudor or Elrzabethan are now so frequently employed 

 for buildings, which however large they may be, are the reverse of palatial 

 in purpose, that owing to the modern application of them those styles are 

 now in some degree identified with hospitals and other public buildings of 

 that class. 



If. Surely it must have been said for Wilkie, since be himself could 

 hardly have uttered such a piece of extravagance as to assert that, " what 

 the tour of Europe is necessary to see elsewhere is now found congregated 

 in the single city of Edinburgh !"— At any rate he could not have uttered 

 any such arrant claptrap in Ids sober moments, for only the influence of 

 " mountain dew" could have enabled him to find " the bays of Genoa and 

 Naples, the Roman capitol, and tbe Grecian Acropolis, there realized." 

 Pity ! that he could not fancy Venice there also, and take St. George's 

 church for another St. Mark's. If nature has been somewhat liberal to- 

 wards the Northern capital by affording it a picturesque site, art has been 

 stingy enough. The locality may be called romanlic, but the architecture 

 is shockingly prosaic. Scarcely a single edifice in the whole city can be 

 quoted as a monument of art or superior taste, least of all those which 

 have been erected for the nonce as " monumeuts," to wit, the Nelson one — 

 a thing so truly contemptible that its architect has prudently preserved a 

 strict incognito ; — the fragment of the Calton Hill Parthenon that was to 



42'* 



