On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    ruling harmonies [;¦ the secondaries and tertiaries , from being subordinate , became dominant , and muddiness and indistinctness resulted . . . , "In Egypt , during the reigns of her native kings , tfie primaries mainly prevailed whilst under her Greek rulers art languished , and being practised rather from imperfect tradition than from poetic inspiration , the secondaries usurped the place of the primaries , and the beautiful harmonies which had before been produced by their combination were lost . - ' « The progress to further decline is again remarkable under the Bomans ,: who taught the Egyptians to build up temples of greater magnitude , with stones more nicely fitted , with the mechanical processes more advanced , but with the poetic fire wanting , and naught but a barren work of skill remaining . the

    " The same decline may be observed with Greek architecture . In temples of Greece , as far as we are acquainted with them , the primaries were dominant ; whilst in Greek towns under Roman rule , the true principles of their noble ancestors were thrown aside , and the caprices of their Roman masters substituted . " It is very strange , considering the amount of trouble ( not to mention money ) , people bestow on the furnishing of their houses , how much research , discussion , shopping , and consultation with ignorant shopmen , and still more ignorant friends , that they never think of settling a few general principles , and acting Upon them . If y ou are going to furnish , a room look at it as if you were going to paint a picture . If you have a fancy , forthe Gothic , for the Renaissance , for the Rococo , or the modern Manchester , it matters not , so that in the first place you adhere to the style chosen , and in the next place you arrange the details into an ensemble . For this purpose bear in mind the following—especially the concluding sentences : —

    " Proposition IV . " The primary colours should bemedon the upper portions of objects , the secondary and tertiary on the lower , " This proposition , founded also on observation of Nature ' s works , was generally obeyed in the best periods of art , but nowhere so well or so universally as in the buildings of the Moors , who confined the primary colours entirely to the upper portions of their buildings , and the Secondary arid tertiary to the lower . In Egypt we do see occasionally the secondary ( green ) used in the upper portions of their temples ; but this arises from the fact that ornaments in Egypt were symbolical , and more nearly represented natural objects -than in other styles . If a lotusleaf were used in the upper portions of a building , it would necessarily be coloured green , but the law is true in the main : the general aspect of an Egyptian building gives us the primaries above and the secondaries below . ¦ ¦ . . * . ¦

    " Even in Pompeii , we find this sometimes ; in the interior of their houses there is a gradual gradation of colour downwards from the roof , from light to dark , ending with black : but this is by no means so usual as t o convince us that they felt it as a law , for there are _ many examples of black immediately under the ceiling * This law will be found of great use in the decoration of the interiors-of our dwellings . Ceilings and cornices may be decorated with the primaries of prismatic intensity on the small surfaces of their mouldings ; the walls , on the contrary , from presenting larger masses , should be of seconftry colour , of low tones and hues . The dados still stronger in colour , and more broken in hue . The carpets should be darkest of all , composed of broken secondaries and tertiaries , so interwoven and neutralized that they retire from the eye , both as furnishing repose for the colouring of the upper portions and as backgrounds to the furniture placed

    upon them . And this , — " Peoposition XXI . " Imitations , such as the graining of woods and of the various coloured marbles , allowable only when the employment of the thing imitated would not lave been inconsistent . , . . " There has often been much discussion upon the propriety of imitations in Decorative Art , such as imitations of the graining of woods and various coloured marbles ; there is no daibt that , of late years , the skill obtained by our artisans in producing these imitations , has caused the practice to bo very much abused , but it need not for that be entirely discouraged .

    « The principle which should regulate the employment of imitations has never yet been defined : it appears to me , that imitations are allowable ivltenever the employment of the thing imitated toould not have been inconsistent . " For instance , there can be no objection to grain a deal door in imitation of oak , because the mind would bo perfectly satisfied if the door were oak ; but it would be an absurdity and abuse of means to paint it in imitation of marble . " Again the practice of covering the walls of halls and staircases with paper , in imitation of costly marbles , is v « ry objectionable , because the employment of marble character of most housesand

    to such an extent would bo inconsiatent with the , consequently the sham is much too glaring : on the contrary , were the pilasters and columns of a hall only painted , the objection would cease , seeing that the mind would be satisfied with the reality . A violent instance of the abuse of graining existed formerly in the Elgin Boom at the British Museum , where beams on the ceilinc thirty feet long , wore splashed in imitation of granite . Here was a manifold absurdity , as no granite beam could have supported itself in any such situation . The door-jambs of an opening , on the contrary , might bo imitation granite without inconsistency , as in such a situation granite would bo useful us indicating

    strength . ' Indeed we would recommend you to study the whole lecture , and master its principles . . To tho extracts already made we must add this on NATIONAL STYLE IN ABCtfITECTURE . " As each now architectural publication appears , it immediately generates a mania for thai , particular stylo . When Stuart and Rovott returned from Athens , mania for Greek architecture

    and published their work on Greece , it generated a , from which wo arc barely yet recovered . Taylor and Crcsy did as much for the architecture of Rome . Tho travels of Bolwmi nnd his succobsoiv . produced the Etrvntian Hull , and oven Egyptian-faced railway tunnels . Tho celebrated 1 < ranch work on tho architecture of Tuscany , ami Lotarouilly ' B Modern Home , huvo more recently inspired us with a desire for Italian palaces . ,, „ -.. , " The works of tho older Pugin and Britton , with a host of followers , havo flooded tho country with Gothic buildings ; with which , notwithstanding tho loaming and research they exhibit , I must frankly avow I havo but hfctlo wnipathy . 1 admire and appreciate tho Gothic buildings , which wore tho exP ^ on at the ieelings of the ago in which they wore created , but I mourn over tho law winch Una

    age has suffered , and still continues to siiifer , by so many feie imiiSs devoting all their talents to the reproduction of a galvanized corpse , v 7 " Instead of . exhausting ; theinselves ink ^^ the vain attempt , who will dare say that had these same men of genius , as they certainlyare , directed . theirsteps forward instead of backward , architecture would not have made some progress towards becoming , as it is its office , the true expression of the wants , the faculties , and the sentiments of the age in which we live ? " . ¦ ¦ " Could the new wants to be supplied , the new materials at command , tlie newsentiments to be expressed , find no echo to their admonitions ? Alas 1 iron has been forged in vain , —the teachings of science disregarded , —4 ; he voice of the poet has fallen upon ears like those of the deaf adder , which move not , charm the musician never so wisely .

    " More than this , instead of new materials and processes suggesting to the artist ¦ new forms , more in harxnony with them , he has moulded them to his own will , and niade them , so to speak , accomplices of his crime . The tracery of Gothic windows , generated by the mason ' s art , have been reproduced in cast iron ; the Doric columns of Greek temples , which owe their peculiar form and bulk to the necessities of stone , have been a hollow iron sham . " We % ave gone oh from bad to worse : from the Gothic mania We fell into the Elizabethan—a malady , fortunately , of shorter duration ; for we then even worshipped not only a dead body , but a corrupt one . " We have had an Italian mania without ah Italian sky ; and we are even now threatened with the importation of a Renaissance mania from France . It would be most unfortunate if the attention which has been directed to the peculiar beauties

    of the East Indian collection of the Great Exhibition should result m an Indian mania ; but if this disease , like measles , must come , the sooner it comes and goes the better . What we want to be convinced of is , that there is good mixed with evil in all these styles ; and I trust , when each has strutted its brief hour on the stage , recording for posterity the prevailing affectation of the day , we shall . We want to be convinced thafe all these styles do but' express the same eternal truth , but in a different language r let us retain the ideaa , but discard the language in which they are expressed , and endeavour to employ our own for the same purpose . We have no more business to clothe ourselves in mediaeval garments , than to shut ourselves in cloisters and talk Latin ; to wrap ourselves in Indian robes than to sit all day ondivans , leading a life of voluptuous contemplation .

    "After the expression of so much heresy , I must beg to say that the fault does not at all lie with the architectural profession , to which I esteem it an honour to belong . The fault lies with the public ; the public must educate themselves on this question . Architects , unfortunately , can but obey their clients : this one will have an Eb' zabethan mansion ; this clergyman can admit no bther than a mediaeval church ; this club of gentlemen must be accommodated in an Italian palace ; this mechanics' institute committee must be located in a Greek temple , for there alone wisdom can be found or philosophy taught ; this railway director has a fancy for Moorish tunnels or Doric termini ; this company , again , an Egyptian

    suspension-bridge—the happy unioh of the alpha , and the omega of science ; the retired merchant must spend his surplus in Chinese follies and pagodas . And , to wind up the list of these melancholy reproductions , I will cite the worst I ever saw , though , fortunately , not an English one . We have here a client , who , requiring a steamengine for the purposes of irrigation for his garden , caused his architect to build an engine-house in facsimile of one of the beautifnl mosque tombs of the caliphs of Cairo . The minaret was the chimney-shaft . Nothing was omitted : even the beautiful galleries , which you all know were used for the purpose of calling tho Moslem to his prayers , here surrounded a chimney without a means of access . will make

    " I again repeat , the fault lies with the public ; an ignorant public complacent and indolent architects . Manufacturers , again , will always tell you , in answer to a reproach for the bad designs they produce , that they are only what the public require , and will have : let us trust that this excuse will no longer avail them . The Great Exhibition has opened the eyes of the British public to our deficiencies in art ; although they were unable to suggest better things , they wero found quite able to appreciate them when put before them . There must be on the part of manufacturers , architects , artists , and all who in any way minister to the wants and luxuries of life , a long pull and a strong pull , and a pull all together ; they have one and all , like dramatic authors , written down to the taste ot tno audience , instead of trying to elevate it . The public , on the other hand , must do their part , and exercise a little pressure from without . ,, tneir pare , ana exercise a nine pressuiu uum wiuuuui ' . / , lo of architecture

    " I know that I shall be told that the production of a new sty is not so easy a matter ; that it has never been the work of any one man , or set ot men , but rather something in tho like of a revelation , for which , probably , wo may be told to wait . Much of what I havo said hero this evening will be sot down as the ravings of folly . Some will say , Architecture is a thing of five orders , discovered and perfected once for all a beyond which we cannot go , and all that is left us is an adaptation of it to our own wants ; others will tell you that a Christian P 00 !* 10 should havo no other than Christian architecture , and will tell us to go bock to tno thirteenth century in search of architecture , and beyond . this there is no snlvation : but I answer , that this architecture is dead and gone ; it has passed th rough ^ J several periods of faith , prosperity , and decay ; and had it not been so , the Jtcl " mation , which separated the tie which ever existed between Religion and Art , gav to Christian architecture its death-blow . "

    Untitled Article

    GRANT'S HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY . History of Physical Astronomy , l ? rom the Earliest Ages to tho MM }** fJ * Nineteenth Century . Comprohonding a Petailod Account of tho ostaDUBiu ^ tho Theory of Gravitation , by Nowton , And its dovolopmont by success «*• ,. * Robort Grant , F . R . A . S . ^^ This 19 a valuablo though a misnamed book . A history of Astronomy wo cannot call it . There is noitker tho progression nor the f ? WJJJL of history ; but in liou thereof sovoral important essays on tno W ' rLn .. astronomical discovery , and on tho efforts to elucidate tho mocnaniciu p ^ ciplos which rogulato celestial movements . As a p hilosophic surv > y ^ astronomical history w « can sav little in its favour ; but wo can"

    highly . applaud tlui diligence , orudition , paina-taking oxactitudo , ^ q ^ . details of these chapters , especially those devoted to the lheory ° * * a tat ion , which are truly exhaustive . Tho whole boolc is , so * mirious hymn to tho glory of Newton , of whom Mr . Grant montlons T ft 1 ; ho first reservation with respect to the movement of tho lunar apogee , xn ^ edition of the JPrinotpiahe gave tho results of » V T * v i « 3 treated movement of the lunar apogee which seemed to imply that he W

    Untitled Article

    ¦ ¦ - ¦ ' 446 -. ¦ ' :: - ' ¦ ' ¦ ' - ¦ ¦ : ' ¦ ¦ .: ¦ ' ¦ T M

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 8, 1852, page 446, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1934/page/18/