42 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[FEBRirART, 



Thus far our author. 



In the course of these observations there is one which it may be 

 allowable to remark upon, viz., the conviction tliat comes over tiie 

 mind of the traveller in Italy, that that favoured land has once been 

 the fixed abode of aichitecture. in her flight from Greece to Italy, 

 architecture alighted upon a congenial soil, and flourished through the 

 land, owing to the solicitude of the inhabitants in courting her stay 

 among them. The Italians soon found that architecture was their 

 domain, and set about studying it in that vigorous manner in which a 

 nation endeavours to effect any object influencing its honour; the chief 

 requisites for an architect being ascertained, they were early incul- 

 cated, and geometry and drawing were made the basis of excellence ; 

 indeed, most of the Italian architects ilrcw like painters; all dwell 

 upon the importance of that art in their writings, and manifest it by 

 the vigour, delicacy, and choice of detail, in their buildings; and one of 

 them, Scamozzi, treats of it in terms of veneration, and says "that 

 since, by means of drawing, that is so easily expressed which cannot 

 be described, even by a multi[)licity of words, we nuiy rightly say that 

 this art should be rather considered as a heavenly gift than as a mere 

 discovery of human invention" — in the original thus: 



"Di modo die, per via del disegno, si esprime molto facilmente 

 tutto quello, che non puo far la moltiplicita delle parole expresse, 

 o descritte in carta, e per cio, a ragione si puo dire, che il disegno 

 sia piu tasto dono celeste di Dio, che cosa ritrovata dall'ingegno 

 humano" — 



We may clearly see that it was not because architecture was prac- 

 tised by Italians, that the art made steady progress towards perfection, 

 but because the Italians, appreciating the art, studied it in a legitimate 

 manner, resting their claims upon the intrinsic merits of their com- 

 positions, and having no recourse to the blandishments of art, either 

 to make a parade of their beauties, or to screen their defects ; hence 

 it was that buildings, promising comparatively but little upon paper, 

 when erected became a real embellishment, creating delight and sur- 

 prise, answering completely the description of a French writer, who 

 says that a building should suit as a model to an architect, as a subject 

 for the painter, and as an object of attraction to the general observer. 



A verv little reflection will make us feel that the course we pursue 

 is very different from that pursued by the Italians of the fifteenth 

 century, and those who once shed a lustre upon this nation during its 

 great periods of art. 



It is ever essential that the means taken should be commensurate 

 with the end proposed; and as the end here is great, the means 

 should be so too. Architecture is a severe art, and consequently 

 should be severely studied. Geometry, the orders, the human form, 

 foliage, the countless and various objects of nature, are fit sub- 

 jects for the serious attention of the student of so delightful, com- 

 prehensive, and sublime an art as that of architecture. Doubtlessly, 

 there are many accomplishments which, if not pursued to the detri- 

 ment of more solid acquirements, add greatly to the perfection of the 

 architect. But may it not be asked whether we of the present day 

 pay not too much attention to these accomplishments, viewing them 

 rather as the fit materials for the foundation of our studies, than as 

 what they should be considered, the accessorial embellishments of the 

 uperstructure. 



Foremost, then, among these accomplishments, is that of water 

 colour painting, which, from the developement given to it of late, 

 appears amongst us a new art ; there can be no doubt that, in the 

 hands of a judicious architect, this art may prove a valuable acqui- 

 sition ; but indiscriminately pursued and applied, as it frequently is 

 with us, as a substitute for accuracy of form in drawing, it may act as 

 a serious check to the progress of architecture. It has this pernicious 

 quality, it easily captivates the mind of the student, and early destroys 

 that relish for those more severe studies which are so necessary to 

 his future excellence. Through the means of water colour painting, 

 defects in architectural composition are frequently cloaked, which, 

 when tlie building is in progress, appear in all their nakedness, to the 

 mortification and surprise of the employers, and to the lasting discom- 

 fiture of the architect ; and doubtlessly the forced and conventional 

 style of setting off" perspective views has led to the complaint so often 

 heard in this day, that buildings, at their completion, fail to produce 

 the effect they had in drawing, in short, that the drawing was a de- 

 ception ; we may feel assured that so fallacious a system is wholly 

 incompatible with the attainment of excellence in so severe an art as 

 that of architecture, and that if we wish to leave behind us buildings 

 which shall strike posterity, as those buildings which the Italians have 

 left do us, we must be content to submit ourselves to the same sage 

 and sober method of studying which those great masters pursued, and 

 then we shall enter the field with an advantage in our favour : for be 

 it remembered, that the Italian architects were obliged to glean, from 

 the works of their Roman ancestors, all they knew of Greek archi- 



tecture ; whereas, to ns is disclosed llie mine of Greek art itself, 

 enabling us to go at once to the fountain head of taste, and of obeying, 

 to the very letter, the advice which the Roman poet gave to his 

 countrymen, when he told them to study the works of the Greeks by 

 day and by night : — 



vos exemplaria Graeca 



Noctuma versate manu, versate diumii." — Hor 



ON THE STANDARD OF ARCHITECTURAL BEAUTY AND 

 SYMMETRICAL FORM. 



By John Rooke, Esq., Author of " Geology as a Science. 



In wliat may be called our own day, architectural forms that avow- 

 edly go by the name of taste, would seem to have fallen into all but 

 ideal conceptions. A train of discussion has however been introduced 

 into the Architect's Journal, based on the jmre freedom of criticism, 

 which is likely to uproot the inveterate conceits of the past ere long. 

 Heaven's laws are all founded on omniscience, directed by the infinite 

 wisdom of Almighty power. Were the universe divested of symme- 

 trical proportions, by which each part sustains its duties in an infinite 

 system, or bereft of the divine will. Chaos would necessarily lay pros- 

 trate the harmony of the heavens. But this is not so. God rules. 

 Mind is more mighty than passive substance. Physics place the signet 

 of universal truth on this comprehensive law, so conspicuously shown 

 in all tliat comes within our means of observation. Mind has rendered 

 all substance a self-acting instrument ou substance by the adoption of 

 such unification of purpose. We must believe in this ere we shall be 

 able to take in science a single step, which is not empirical. All 

 magnitudes of substance, which the intelligence of man is able to con- 

 vert into substantial forms, and in which that substance operates upon 

 itself, speedily fix their own limits, and would therefore break down 

 under the influence of excessive weight. In the hands of heaven's 

 laws, the extent of symmetrical harmonies is illimitable in magnitudes 

 and exactness of proportions, in perfect conformity to a unity in de- 

 sign, worked by physics, as created by a Godhead, whose Almighty 

 dominion nothing is either too extensive nor too small. 



We may put our definitions on extent, and call this science, yet it 

 is nothing beyond an amusing bubble, until we apply such definitions 

 to the investigation of physical extent and combination in active forces. 

 By such means we discover the universal and varied forms in which 

 physics exist, and learn our own ignorance in the perfections and ex- 

 actness of natural laws, even in the most trivial details, worked to 

 their distinct ends, by that all-seeing mind which has made itself 

 known through the medium of organic substance, working itself into 

 like ends and means that are employed by man, when he embodies his 

 conceptions and will in works of stone, wood, iron, or other materials, 

 causing them to assume a self-working form for some end desired. 



We so far observe two classes existing in forms of art. Those of 

 heaven ; and those of lowly man. In the first class, the more we study 

 them, the more we find the adaptation of their provisions suited to 

 their several uses. We find both a due quantity and quality of the 

 materials employed to produce the ends required, neither more nor 

 less, and taking the precise form held in view for attaining the object 

 designed. This principle is constant in each and all of the works of 

 the Deity, however opposite may be the magnitudes of such organic 

 framework. The spheres of the heavens are so exactly adjusted in 

 magnitudes as to retain their places truly ; and work out those com- 

 prehensive changes in the phenomena of our earth which geology, as 

 a science, based on the unity of divine wisdom, so plainly figures out 

 to us. 'Though the earth mayfly in its orbit at the rate of 6S,000 

 miles in each hour, and turn on its axis more than lOOO an hour, yet 

 these mighty motions, otherwise certain to disturb the waters of the 

 earth, and cause them to roll over the most lofty eminences, have been 

 efl'ectuallv bridled by a depository process, which has made a fruitful 

 laud, symmetrical in surface line.mients, to appear from beneath those 

 proud waves which have been thus stayed. By the same lofty destinies, 

 and by the application of similar laws, every secure haven for ships, 

 found on the borders of the great deeps, has its origin. We find the 

 sturdy oak provided with sufficient strength of timber, and durability 

 of q/ality to withstand the blasts of almost ten centuries. In that 

 slim animal the hare we find material enough to impart to her the 

 strength requisite for speed, without any of that unnecessary lumber, 

 which would retard her foot, and operate as a drag upon her course. 

 The greyhound may excel her in stride, and be able speedily to over- 

 take her; yet her adaptation for turning more readily than her pur- 

 suer, chiefly owing perhaps to her more supple joints and less bulk, is 

 suited for preservation. The ox, the horse ,the elephant, and indeed 



