Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

itself is still a secret, and likely ever to remain such, for want of that direct historical evidence which it is now almost hopeless to look for; yet there can hardly be a doubt that motives of construction, seconded, indeed, by happy skill and exercise of invention on the part of the architects in availing themselves of them, led gradually, yet also rapidly, to that completion and that unity of character by which it continued to be distinguished until it verged upon its decline.

Moller, a name tolerably well known in this country among amateurs and antiquaries, perhaps more than among architects, is almost the first who, instead of contenting himself with a knowledge of its external forms and characteristics, has attempted to inquire into the first rudiments of the constitution of Gothic architecture, by analyzing its peculiar modes of construction. His new work, Beyträge zu der Lehre von den Construktionen, is intended to point out and recommend the practical application of the same principles to which he himself has had recourse on various occasions, with apparently uniform success. These be considers to have lain in establishing a framework of the whole edifice, strongly articulated and firmly united together by intersecting ligatures, and his general views in regard to them may be found in his essay "On the Construction of the Buildings of the Middle Ages," attached to the recent English translation* of the descriptive text to his Denkmäler der Deutschen Baukunst. "Let us compare," he there says, "the strength of a number of cords arranged parallel with each other, and of the same number when united together by meshes. The latter, where the lengths are intersected by knots at small intervals apart, appear to me to be the characteristic principle observed in the constructions of the middle ages, and one which is deserving of being imitated. And for examples of it we may consult the vaultings, roofs, and spires exhibited in these very plates of Freiburg. One and the same

* This translation, which must not be confounded with an incomplete one published several years ago, contains, in addition to the original matter, much useful supplementary and illustrative information in the shape of notes, besides an excellent table of all the known lineal measures. Although, therefore, chiefly intended to accommodate the purchasers of the large German work, it may be considered in some respect independent of that. Yet there are few, we should conceive, professing to have any taste for Gothic architecture, who would not, now that the Denkmäler may be obtained at so low a cost, pass by the opportunity of possessing themselves of a work almost essential to attaining a full knowledge of a style, of which Germany affords specimens so distinct in their character from any of our own. It must be admitted that it does not contain such as would furnish immediate models for practice here, yet we would hardly think so meanly of our architects as to imagine that they take no interest save in what conduces to their interest another way,-little or none in those studies which tend to elevate their art, and extend the views of those who devote themselves to them.

principle may be detected in them all." Much, however, as this may be in favour of Gothic architecture, proving it to have been founded upon a correct theory skilfully carried into practice, it may be thought conclusive against a new style out of new modes of construction, since they must resolve themselves into some modification, or else some combination of the two already exemplified in their full perfection in Grecian and Gothic archi

tecture.

It would be idle to look for entirely new elements in what depends upon unchangeable physical laws. Still we would not despair, when we perceive how differently the same general principles of formation and structure manifest themselves in operation throughout both the animal and the vegetable world, according to the specific purposes to be accomplished. It is very possible, therefore, that, by allowing design, instead of entirely disregarding or concealing construction, to be in some degree controlled by it, we should be directed to congenial decorative forms. At the same time, we dare not flatter ourselves that, important as they are in themselves, any of the public works of the class to which we have already alluded promise to assist us in achieving such aim. Content with exciting admiration as triumphs of mechanical power and science, whose primary and ultimate object is utility, they stop short of the point where art commences. They do not even so much as pretend to show the slightest deference to its laws, æsthetic beauty being the indispensable condition of the one, utility and economy of the others. Little does it avail to insist that utility and fitness contribute in marked degree to beauty, which, unless recommended by those qualities, must offend the judgment even while it delights the eye; that beauty ought never to be at open variance with them; that, if possible, they should be indissolubly linked together with it is indisputable, but that in themselves they constitute æsthetic beauty is a doctrine we must broadly deny. Such beauty makes itself valued on its own account alone, and for the pleasurable emotions which it excites in the mind independently of ulterior purpose; whereas, if fitness and utility were beauty, it ought to exist in innumerable objects which make not the slightest pretension to that quality. Those who maintain the contrary ought, by way of showing their consistency, if nothing else, to assert that medicine is more delicious to the palate than the daintiest food, and an apothecary's bolus more relishing than a Perigord pâté. How architecture is to obtain other beautiful forms than those already appropriated, it is for architects-those, at least, who can detect all the latent and unexplored resources of their art, and who would have confidence enough to call them to their aid-to discover. They who

launch out upon such an undertaking must be prepared to be foiled in it; since to the first adventurers, if not to all, it might prove not a whit more successful than any of the voyages made for the purpose of discovering a North-West Passage. In all such cases, the only certainty we have is, that if we shrink from the peril attending the attempt, so likewise must we abandon all hope of success.

One thing which we ought not to leave, as the Spaniards say, in our inkstand, and which may be shaped interrogatively, is, through what sinister circumstances does it happen that, while we of this country follow the Grecian style so much more closely, our architecture, as exhibited in our public buildings, is, with few exceptions, of inferior effect, upon the whole, to buildings of the same class abroad,less dignified and impressive in the ensemble, although more tasteful and correct in certain details? Perhaps we should not be altogether wide of the mark, were we to ascribe this defectiveness to our trusting too exclusively to the efficacy of the copied parts alone, and to the comparatively little study bestowed on everything else, which might, by different treatment, be rendered of value in the design. Neither do we appear even so much as to suspect that our excessively punctilious niceness, as far as mere copying goes, serves to render our negligence in other respects, and the inequality of our taste, the more apparent. Taking all merit to ourselves, it would seem, for being fastidiously correct, where correctness is no more than mechanical imitation, we are apt to limit our ambition to that humble scope, instead of bestowing all the greater care upon the rest; which, if it does not fully bear out and support the character of the order, or other adopted features from the antique, necessarily interferes with them, and thereby disturbs and deteriorates the whole. Hence, while the correctness is but partial, the incongruousness becomes total. To the same mistaken mode of proceeding, may we also very fairly set down the disregard manifested for every other kind of quality and effectnor are they few-which the art is capable of eliciting and expressing.

And yet we have occasionally seen designs that assure us there is talent among us which, could it meet with opportunities, and obtain fair scope, would give would give us much superior edifices to almost any we now possess. Indeed it is not a little surprising to observe the vast difference between ideal architectural compositions

of course we do not mean in general-and designs intended for actual execution, even when proceeding from the same mind. It looks not much unlike as if, when called upon to provide the latter, the architect's powers were all at once paralyzed; or, as if

his chief aim was to comply with such taste as is likely to be sanctioned by those who have the power of selecting-a power, we are sorry to say, perfectly irresponsible, and very frequently abused-sometimes to such a degree as to render competition little more than a mere form, subservient to collusion in favour of some individual to whose interests every other consideration is made to give way. This calls loudly for correction; and it might tend to produce it, were the designs sent in on such occasions gratuitously exhibited for some days beforehand to the public.

The competitions for the additional new churches now proposed to be erected will, it is to be hoped, be conducted with more attention to architectural merit, and so as to afford no room for the suspicion of undue preference. Equally is it to be hoped that architects will, on their part, seize the opportunity thus presented to them for bringing forward ideas both more novel and appropriate for Protestant places of worship than either abortive imitations of ancient temples, with no other pretension to classicality than a portico taken from Stuart; or those Gothic churches shorn of all their beauties, and miserably curtailed, in order to meet the conditions imposed in regard to economy. Here, then, an opening presents itself for originating a better treatment for subjects of this class-and that both internally and externally-than what has been hitherto pursued; and surely one may be devised quite as appropriate to actual circumstances as that derived from buildings adapted either to Pagan or to Roman Catholic worship. Nor can there be much danger in innovating even freely, since, to speak unreservedly, little is risked in breaking away from the patterns for buildings of this particular class, which the last twenty or thirty years have scattered over the country. We dare not be too sanguine; yet, as more intelligent and liberal views of the art than were formerly entertained appear to be now gaining ground among the profession-among its rising generation at least-there ought to be room for hoping that the advance made in theory and criticism, together with the increased practical resources now at our command, will lead to a corresponding degree of improvement in the application of those means, and in actual design.

* A good deal has at various times been said on the subject of competition in the "Architectural Magazine," and some exceedingly curious anecdotes illustrative of it have come to our knowledge; one especially, where, owing to the unfortunate mistake of a name, the influential person gave all his interest in favour of the wrong candidate, who thereby immediately obtained the preference, the merits of the respective designs being left entirely out of the question.

ART. V.-Denkwürdigkeiten der Gräfin Maria Aurora Königsmark und der Königsmarkschen Familie. Nach bisher unbekannten Quellen. (Memoirs of the Countess Maria Aurora of Königsmark, and of the Königsmark Family, from sources hitherto unknown.) Von Dr. Friedrich Cramer. Bände, 8vo. Leipzig, 1836.

2

We have long entertained a suspicion that the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, at least the greater part of the latter, were the most vicious periods of time that the world has seen since the unspeakable corruption of the Roman Emperors, diffused by them throughout the Roman world, was simultaneously punished and crushed by the invasion of the northern barbarians. This suspicion was strengthened by seeing sufficient cause for such vice, public and private, in the then state of the world, which might be termed in modern phrase, a state of transition. We omit many particulars of that state, which were perhaps local-as, for instance, on the Continent the rise of the military profession, which, superseding chivalry, had inherited all the violence and lawlessness of feudalism without any of its lofty spirit, of its patriarchal sentiments, and as yet dreamt not of its later high tone of honour and patriotism --we will speak only of what may be esteemed European. Knowledge, civilization, and luxury had, at this epoch, made just sufficient progress to throw ridicule upon the ignorance, the prejudice, the coarse simplicity of past times; and this degree of progress necessarily brings on a crisis unpropitious for human nature. The virtues belonging to the contemned state of society are but too likely to share in the reprobation and mockery lavished upon their concomitants;-as was exemplified during our own civil war and after the Restoration, when the royalists thought vice indispensable as a security against the suspicion of republicanism and puritanism. Succeeding generations, as they grow more enlightened, see the faults and absurdities of their immediate predecessors, and learn to discriminate between the good and the bad qualities of their remoter ancestors; until gradually science and civilization attain to that height of improvement at which knowledge induces modest self-distrust, and refinement is the parent of delicacy. We use the word delicacy in a comprehensive sense, including personal, social, moral, and intellectual delicacy; inasmuch as we consider the delicacy of moral feeling that would render it impossible for even the most vulgar-minded of our living English public men to accept from a foreign power such bribes as a Sidney, a Russell, a Marlborough, received without any apparent consciousness of disgrace; the delicacy of manner that

« НазадПродовжити »