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diff --git a/30754.txt b/30754.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35fa4b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/30754.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15727 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3), by +John Ruskin + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3) + + +Author: John Ruskin + + + +Release Date: December 27, 2009 [eBook #30754] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STONES OF VENICE, VOLUME I (OF +3)*** + + +E-text prepared by Marius Masi, Juliet Sutherland, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 30754-h.htm or 30754-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30754/30754-h/30754-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30754/30754-h.zip) + + + Volumes II and III are available in the Project Gutenberg + Library: + Volume II--see http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30755 + Volume III--see http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30756 + + Volume III contains the index for all three volumes. The + index in the html version of Volume III has links to the + the other two volumes. + + +Transcriber's note: + + A few typographical errors have been corrected. They are + listed at the end of the text. + + A number following a letter, such as d3, was printed as a + subscript in the original. + + + + + +The Complete Works of John Ruskin + +Volume VII + +STONES OF VENICE + +VOLUME I + + +[Illustration: VENICE. + FROM A PAINTING BY + J. M. W. TURNER.] + + +Library Edition + +The Complete Works of John Ruskin + +STONES OF VENICE + +VOLUMES I-II + + + + + + + +National Library Association +New York Chicago + + + + +THE +STONES OF VENICE + +VOLUME I. + +THE FOUNDATIONS + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In the course of arranging the following essay, I put many things aside +in my thoughts to be said in the Preface, things which I shall now put +aside altogether, and pass by; for when a book has been advertised a +year and a half, it seems best to present it with as little preface as +possible. + +Thus much, however, it is necessary for the reader to know, that, when I +planned the work, I had materials by me, collected at different times of +sojourn in Venice during the last seventeen years, which it seemed to me +might be arranged with little difficulty, and which I believe to be of +value as illustrating the history of Southern Gothic. Requiring, +however, some clearer assurance respecting certain points of chronology, +I went to Venice finally in the autumn of 1849, not doubting but that +the dates of the principal edifices of the ancient city were either +ascertained, or ascertainable without extraordinary research. To my +consternation, I found that the Venetian antiquaries were not agreed +within a century as to the date of the building of the facades of the +Ducal Palace, and that nothing was known of any other civil edifice of +the early city, except that at some time or other it had been fitted up +for somebody's reception, and been thereupon fresh painted. Every date +in question was determinable only by internal evidence, and it became +necessary for me to examine not only every one of the older palaces, +stone by stone, but every fragment throughout the city which afforded +any clue to the formation of its styles. This I did as well as I could, +and I believe there will be found, in the following pages, the only +existing account of the details of early Venetian architecture on which +dependence can be placed, as far as it goes. I do not care to point out +the deficiencies of other works on this subject; the reader will find, +if he examines them, either that the buildings to which I shall +specially direct his attention have been hitherto undescribed, or else +that there are great discrepancies between previous descriptions and +mine: for which discrepancies I may be permitted to give this single and +sufficient reason, that my account of every building is based on +personal examination and measurement of it, and that my taking the pains +so to examine what I had to describe, was a subject of grave surprise to +my Italian friends. The work of the Marchese Selvatico is, however, to +be distinguished with respect; it is clear in arrangement, and full of +useful, though vague, information; and I have found cause to adopt, in +great measure, its views of the chronological succession of the edifices +of Venice. I shall have cause hereafter to quarrel with it on other +grounds, but not without expression of gratitude for the assistance it +has given me. Fontana's "Fabbriche di Venezia" is also historically +valuable, but does not attempt to give architectural detail. Cicognara, +as is now generally known, is so inaccurate as hardly to deserve +mention. + +Indeed, it is not easy to be accurate in an account of anything, however +simple. Zoologists often disagree in their descriptions of the curve of +a shell, or the plumage of a bird, though they may lay their specimen on +the table, and examine it at their leisure; how much greater becomes the +likelihood of error in the description of things which must be in many +parts observed from a distance, or under unfavorable circumstances of +light and shade; and of which many of the distinctive features have been +worn away by time. I believe few people have any idea of the cost of +truth in these things; of the expenditure of time necessary to make sure +of the simplest facts, and of the strange way in which separate +observations will sometimes falsify each other, incapable of +reconcilement, owing to some imperceptible inadvertency. I am ashamed of +the number of times in which I have had to say, in the following pages, +"I am not sure," and I claim for them no authority, as if they were +thoroughly sifted from error, even in what they more confidently state. +Only, as far as my time, and strength, and mind served me, I have +endeavored down to the smallest matters, to ascertain and speak the +truth. + +Nor was the subject without many and most discouraging difficulties, +peculiar to itself. As far as my inquiries have extended, there is not a +building in Venice, raised prior to the sixteenth century, which has not +sustained essential change in one or more of its most important +features. By far the greater number present examples of three or four +different styles, it may be successive, it may be accidentally +associated; and, in many instances, the restorations or additions have +gradually replaced the entire structure of the ancient fabric, of which +nothing but the name remains, together with a kind of identity, +exhibited in the anomalous association of the modernized portions: the +Will of the old building asserted through them all, stubbornly, though +vainly, expressive; superseded by codicils, and falsified by +misinterpretation; yet animating what would otherwise be a mere group of +fantastic masque, as embarrassing to the antiquary, as to the +mineralogist, the epigene crystal, formed by materials of one substance +modelled on the perished crystals of another. The church of St. Mark's +itself, harmonious as its structure may at first sight appear, is an +epitome of the changes of Venetian architecture from the tenth to the +nineteenth century. Its crypt, and the line of low arches which support +the screen, are apparently the earliest portions; the lower stories of +the main fabric are of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with later +Gothic interpolations; the pinnacles are of the earliest fully developed +Venetian Gothic (fourteenth century); but one of them, that on the +projection at the eastern extremity of the Piazzetta de Leoni, is of far +finer, and probably earlier workmanship than all the rest. The southern +range of pinnacles is again inferior to the northern and western, and +visibly of later date. Then the screen, which most writers have +described as part of the original fabric, bears its date inscribed on +its architrave, 1394, and with it are associated a multitude of small +screens, balustrades, decorations of the interior building, and probably +the rose window of the south transept. Then come the interpolated +traceries of the front and sides; then the crocketings of the upper +arches, extravagances of the incipient Renaissance: and, finally, the +figures which carry the waterspouts on the north side--utterly barbarous +seventeenth or eighteenth century work--connect the whole with the +plastered restorations of the year 1844 and 1845. Most of the palaces in +Venice have sustained interpolations hardly less numerous; and those of +the Ducal Palace are so intricate, that a year's labor would probably be +insufficient altogether to disentangle and define them. I therefore gave +up all thoughts of obtaining a perfectly clear chronological view of the +early architecture; but the dates necessary to the main purposes of the +book the reader will find well established; and of the evidence brought +forward for those of less importance, he is himself to judge. Doubtful +estimates are never made grounds of argument; and the accuracy of the +account of the buildings themselves, for which alone I pledge myself, +is of course entirely independent of them. + +In like manner, as the statements briefly made in the chapters on +construction involve questions so difficult and so general, that I +cannot hope that every expression referring to them will be found free +from error: and as the conclusions to which I have endeavored to lead +the reader are thrown into a form the validity of which depends on that +of each successive step, it might be argued, if fallacy or weakness +could be detected in one of them, that all the subsequent reasonings +were valueless. The reader may be assured, however, that it is not so; +the method of proof used in the following essay being only one out of +many which were in my choice, adopted because it seemed to me the +shortest and simplest, not as being the strongest. In many cases, the +conclusions are those which men of quick feeling would arrive at +instinctively; and I then sought to discover the reasons of what so +strongly recommended itself as truth. Though these reasons could every +one of them, from the beginning to the end of the book, be proved +insufficient, the truth of its conclusions would remain the same. I +should only regret that I had dishonored them by an ill-grounded +defence; and endeavor to repair my error by a better one. + +I have not, however, written carelessly; nor should I in any wise have +expressed doubt of the security of the following argument, but that it +is physically impossible for me, being engaged quite as much with +mountains, and clouds, and trees, and criticism of painting, as with +architecture, to verify, as I should desire, the expression of every +sentence bearing upon empirical and technical matters. Life is not long +enough; nor does a day pass by without causing me to feel more bitterly +the impossibility of carrying out to the extent which I should desire, +the separate studies which general criticism continually forces me to +undertake. I can only assure the reader, that he will find the certainty +of every statement I permit myself to make, increase with its +importance; and that, for the security of the final conclusions of the +following essay, as well as for the resolute veracity of its account of +whatever facts have come under my own immediate cognizance, I will +pledge myself to the uttermost. + +It was necessary, to the accomplishment of the purpose of the work (of +which account is given in the First Chapter), that I should establish +some canons of judgment, which the general reader should thoroughly +understand, and, if it pleased him, accept, before we took cognizance, +together, of any architecture whatsoever. It has taken me more time and +trouble to do this than I expected; but, if I have succeeded, the thing +done will be of use for many other purposes than that to which it is now +put. The establishment of these canons, which I have called "the +Foundations," and some account of the connection of Venetian +architecture with that of the rest of Europe, have filled the present +volume. The second will, I hope, contain all I have to say about Venice +itself. + +It was of course inexpedient to reduce drawings of crowded details to +the size of an octavo volume,--I do not say impossible, but inexpedient; +requiring infinite pains on the part of the engraver, with no result +except farther pains to the beholder. And as, on the other hand, folio +books are not easy reading, I determined to separate the text and the +unreducible plates. I have given, with the principal text, all the +illustrations absolutely necessary to the understanding of it, and, in +the detached work, such additional text as has special reference to the +larger illustrations. + +A considerable number of these larger plates were at first intended to +be executed in tinted lithography; but, finding the result +unsatisfactory, I have determined to prepare the principal subjects for +mezzotinting,--a change of method requiring two new drawings to be made +of every subject; one a carefully penned outline for the etcher, and +then a finished drawing upon the etching. This work does not proceed +fast, while I am also occupied with the completion of the text; but the +numbers of it will appear as fast as I can prepare them. + +For the illustrations of the body of the work itself, I have used any +kind of engraving which seemed suited to the subjects--line and +mezzotint, on steel, with mixed lithographs and woodcuts, at +considerable loss of uniformity in the appearance of the volume, but, I +hope, with advantage, in rendering the character of the architecture it +describes. And both in the plates and the text I have aimed chiefly at +clear intelligibility; that any one, however little versed in the +subject, might be able to take up the book, and understand what it meant +forthwith. I have utterly failed of my purpose, if I have not made all +the essential parts of the essay intelligible to the least learned, and +easy to the most desultory readers, who are likely to take interest in +the matter at all. There are few passages which even require so much as +an acquaintance with the elements of Euclid, and these may be missed, +without harm to the sense of the rest, by every reader to whom they may +appear mysterious; and the architectural terms necessarily employed +(which are very few) are explained as they occur, or in a note; so that, +though I may often be found trite or tedious, I trust that I shall not +be obscure. I am especially anxious to rid this essay of ambiguity, +because I want to gain the ear of all kinds of persons. Every man has, +at some time of his life, personal interest in architecture. He has +influence on the design of some public building; or he has to buy, or +build, or alter his own house. It signifies less whether the knowledge +of other arts be general or not; men may live without buying pictures or +statues: but, in architecture, all must in some way commit themselves; +they _must_ do mischief, and waste their money, if they do not know how +to turn it to account. Churches, and shops, and warehouses, and +cottages, and small row, and place, and terrace houses, must be built, +and lived in, however joyless or inconvenient. And it is assuredly +intended that all of us should have knowledge, and act upon our +knowledge, in matters with which we are daily concerned, and not to be +left to the caprice of architects or mercy of contractors. There is not, +indeed, anything in the following essay bearing on the special forms and +needs of modern buildings; but the principles it inculcates are +universal; and they are illustrated from the remains of a city which +should surely be interesting to the men of London, as affording the +richest existing examples of architecture raised by a mercantile +community, for civil uses, and domestic magnificence. + + DENMARK HILL, _February_, 1851. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + Preface, iii + + CHAPTER I. + The Quarry, 1 + + CHAPTER II. + The Virtues of Architecture, 36 + + CHAPTER III. + The Six Divisions of Architecture, 47 + + CHAPTER IV. + The Wall Base, 52 + + CHAPTER V. + The Wall Veil, 58 + + CHAPTER VI. + The Wall Cornice, 63 + + CHAPTER VII. + The Pier Base, 71 + + CHAPTER VIII. + The Shaft, 84 + + CHAPTER IX. + The Capital, 105 + + CHAPTER X. + The Arch Line, 122 + + CHAPTER XI. + The Arch Masonry, 132 + + CHAPTER XII. + The Arch Load, 144 + + CHAPTER XIII. + The Roof, 148 + + CHAPTER XIV. + The Roof Cornice, 155 + + CHAPTER XV. + The Buttress, 166 + + CHAPTER XVI. + Form of Aperture, 174 + + CHAPTER XVII. + Filling of Aperture, 183 + + CHAPTER XVIII. + Protection of Aperture, 195 + + CHAPTER XIX. + Superimposition, 200 + + CHAPTER XX. + The Material of Ornament, 211 + + CHAPTER XXI. + Treatment of Ornament, 236 + + CHAPTER XXII. + The Angle, 259 + + CHAPTER XXIII. + The Edge and Fillet, 267 + + CHAPTER XXIV. + The Roll and Recess, 276 + + CHAPTER XXV. + The Base, 281 + + CHAPTER XXVI. + The Wall Veil and Shaft, 294 + + CHAPTER XXVII. + The Cornice and Capital, 305 + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + The Archivolt and Aperture, 333 + + CHAPTER XXIX. + The Roof, 343 + + CHAPTER XXX. + The Vestibule, 349 + + * * * * * + + + APPENDIX. + + 1. Foundation of Venice, 359 + 2. Power of the Doges, 360 + 3. Serrar del Consiglio, 360 + 4. S. Pietro di Castello, 361 + 5. Papal Power in Venice, 362 + 6. Renaissance Ornament, 369 + 7. Varieties of the Orders, 370 + 8. The Northern Energy, 371 + 9. Wooden Churches of the North, 381 + 10. Church of Alexandria, 381 + 11. Renaissance Landscape, 381 + 12. Romanist Modern Art, 384 + 13. Mr. Fergusson's System, 388 + 14. Divisions of Humanity, 394 + 15. Instinctive Judgments, 399 + 16. Strength of Shafts, 402 + 17. Answer to Mr. Garbett, 403 + 18. Early English Capitals, 411 + 19. Tombs near St. Anastasia, 412 + 20. Shafts of the Ducal Palace, 413 + 21. Ancient Representations of Water, 417 + 22. Arabian Ornamentation, 429 + 23. Varieties of Chamfer, 429 + 24. Renaissance Bases, 431 + 25. Romanist Decoration of Bases, 432 + + + + +LIST OF PLATES. + + + Facing Page + + Plate 1. Wall Veil Decoration, Ca' Trevisan and Ca' Dario, 13 + + " 2. Plans of Piers, 100 + + " 3. Arch Masonry, 134 + + " 4. Arch Masonry, 137 + + " 5. Arch Masonry, Bruletto of Como, 141 + + " 6. Types of Towers, 207 + + " 7. Abstracts Lines, 222 + + " 8. Decorations by Disks, Ca' Badoari, 241 + + " 9. Edge Decoration, 268 + + " 10. Profiles of Bases, 283 + + " 11. Plans of Bases, 288 + + " 12. Decorations of Bases, 289 + + " 13. Wall Veil Decorations, 295 + + " 14. Spandril Decorations, Ducal Palace, 298 + + " 15. Cornice Profiles, 306 + + " 16. Cornice Decorations, 311 + + " 17. Capitals--Concave, 323 + + " 18. Capitals--Convex, 327 + + " 19. Archivolt Decoration, Verona, 333 + + " 20. Wall Veil Decoration, Ca' Trevisan, 369 + + " 21. Wall Veil Decoration, San Michele, Lucca, 378 + + + + +THE STONES OF VENICE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + THE QUARRY. + + +Sec. I. Since the first dominion of men was asserted over the ocean, +three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been set upon its sands: +the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. Of the First of these great +powers only the memory remains; of the Second, the ruin; the Third, +which inherits their greatness, if it forget their example, may be led +through prouder eminence to less pitied destruction. + +The exaltation, the sin, and the punishment of Tyre have been recorded +for us, in perhaps the most touching words ever uttered by the Prophets +of Israel against the cities of the stranger. But we read them as a +lovely song; and close our ears to the sternness of their warning: for +the very depth of the Fall of Tyre has blinded us to its reality, and we +forget, as we watch the bleaching of the rocks between the sunshine and +the sea, that they were once "as in Eden, the garden of God." + +Her successor, like her in perfection of beauty, though less in +endurance of dominion, is still left for our beholding in the final +period of her decline: a ghost upon the sands of the sea, so weak--so +quiet,--so bereft of all but her loveliness, that we might well doubt, +as we watched her faint reflection in the mirage of the lagoon, which +was the City, and which the Shadow. + +I would endeavor to trace the lines of this image before it be for ever +lost, and to record, as far as I may, the warning which seems to me to +be uttered by every one of the fast-gaining waves, that beat, like +passing bells, against the STONES OF VENICE. + +Sec. II. It would be difficult to overrate the value of the lessons which +might be derived from a faithful study of the history of this strange +and mighty city: a history which, in spite of the labor of countless +chroniclers, remains in vague and disputable outline,--barred with +brightness and shade, like the far away edge of her own ocean, where the +surf and the sand-bank are mingled with the sky. The inquiries in which +we have to engage will hardly render this outline clearer, but their +results will, in some degree, alter its aspect; and, so far as they bear +upon it at all, they possess an interest of a far higher kind than that +usually belonging to architectural investigations. I may, perhaps, in +the outset, and in few words, enable the general reader to form a +clearer idea of the importance of every existing expression of Venetian +character through Venetian art, and of the breadth of interest which the +true history of Venice embraces, than he is likely to have gleaned from +the current fables of her mystery or magnificence. + +Sec. III. Venice is usually conceived as an oligarchy: She was so during +a period less than the half of her existence, and that including the days +of her decline; and it is one of the first questions needing severe +examination, whether that decline was owing in any wise to the change in +the form of her government, or altogether, as assuredly in great part, +to changes, in the character of the persons of whom it was composed. + +The state of Venice existed Thirteen Hundred and Seventy-six years, from +the first establishment of a consular government on the island of the +Rialto,[1] to the moment when the General-in-chief of the French army of +Italy pronounced the Venetian republic a thing of the past. Of this +period, Two Hundred and Seventy-six[2] years were passed in a nominal +subjection to the cities of old Venetia, especially to Padua, and in an +agitated form of democracy, of which the executive appears to have been +entrusted to tribunes,[3] chosen, one by the inhabitants of each of the +principal islands. For six hundred years,[4] during which the power of +Venice was continually on the increase, her government was an elective +monarchy, her King or doge possessing, in early times at least, as much +independent authority as any other European sovereign, but an authority +gradually subjected to limitation, and shortened almost daily of its +prerogatives, while it increased in a spectral and incapable +magnificence. The final government of the nobles, under the image of a +king, lasted for five hundred years, during which Venice reaped the +fruits of her former energies, consumed them,--and expired. + +Sec. IV. Let the reader therefore conceive the existence of the Venetian +state as broadly divided into two periods: the first of nine hundred, +the second of five hundred years, the separation being marked by what +was called the "Serrar del Consiglio;" that is to say, the final and +absolute distinction of the nobles from the commonalty, and the +establishment of the government in their hands to the exclusion alike of +the influence of the people on the one side, and the authority of the +doge on the other. + +Then the first period, of nine hundred years, presents us with the most +interesting spectacle of a people struggling out of anarchy into order +and power; and then governed, for the most part, by the worthiest and +noblest man whom they could find among them,[5] called their Doge or +Leader, with an aristocracy gradually and resolutely forming itself +around him, out of which, and at last by which, he was chosen; an +aristocracy owing its origin to the accidental numbers, influence, and +wealth of some among the families of the fugitives from the older +Venetia, and gradually organizing itself, by its unity and heroism, into +a separate body. + +This first period includes the rise of Venice, her noblest achievements, +and the circumstances which determined her character and position among +European powers; and within its range, as might have been anticipated, +we find the names of all her hero princes,--of Pietro Urseolo, Ordalafo +Falier, Domenico Michieli, Sebastiano Ziani, and Enrico Dandolo. + +Sec. V. The second period opens with a hundred and twenty years, the +most eventful in the career of Venice--the central struggle of her +life--stained with her darkest crime, the murder of Carrara--disturbed +by her most dangerous internal sedition, the conspiracy of +Falier--oppressed by her most fatal war, the war of Chiozza--and +distinguished by the glory of her two noblest citizens (for in this +period the heroism of her citizens replaces that of her monarchs), +Vittor Pisani and Carlo Zeno. + +I date the commencement of the Fall of Venice from the death of Carlo +Zeno, 8th May, 1418;[6] the _visible_ commencement from that of another +of her noblest and wisest children, the Doge Tomaso Mocenigo, who +expired five years later. The reign of Foscari followed, gloomy with +pestilence and war; a war in which large acquisitions of territory were +made by subtle or fortunate policy in Lombardy, and disgrace, +significant as irreparable, sustained in the battles on the Po at +Cremona, and in the marshes of Caravaggio. In 1454, Venice, the first of +the states of Christendom, humiliated herself to the Turk: in the same +year was established the Inquisition of State,[7] and from this period +her government takes the perfidious and mysterious form under which it +is usually conceived. In 1477, the great Turkish invasion spread terror +to the shores of the lagoons; and in 1508 the league of Cambrai marks +the period usually assigned as the commencement of the decline of the +Venetian power;[8] the commercial prosperity of Venice in the close of +the fifteenth century blinding her historians to the previous evidence +of the diminution of her internal strength. + +Sec. VI. Now there is apparently a significative coincidence between the +establishment of the aristocratic and oligarchical powers, and the +diminution of the prosperity of the state. But this is the very question +at issue; and it appears to me quite undetermined by any historian, or +determined by each in accordance with his own prejudices. It is a triple +question: first, whether the oligarchy established by the efforts of +individual ambition was the cause, in its subsequent operation, of the +Fall of Venice; or (secondly) whether the establishment of the oligarchy +itself be not the sign and evidence, rather than the cause, of national +enervation; or (lastly) whether, as I rather think, the history of +Venice might not be written almost without reference to the construction +of her senate or the prerogatives of her Doge. It is the history of a +people eminently at unity in itself, descendants of Roman race, long +disciplined by adversity, and compelled by its position either to live +nobly or to perish:--for a thousand years they fought for life; for +three hundred they invited death: their battle was rewarded, and their +call was heard. + +Sec. VII. Throughout her career, the victories of Venice, and, at many +periods of it, her safety, were purchased by individual heroism; and the +man who exalted or saved her was sometimes (oftenest) her king, +sometimes a noble, sometimes a citizen. To him no matter, nor to her: +the real question is, not so much what names they bore, or with what +powers they were entrusted, as how they were trained; how they were made +masters of themselves, servants of their country, patient of distress, +impatient of dishonor; and what was the true reason of the change from +the time when she could find saviours among those whom she had cast into +prison, to that when the voices of her own children commanded her to +sign covenant with Death.[9] + +Sec. VIII. On this collateral question I wish the reader's mind to be +fixed throughout all our subsequent inquiries. It will give double +interest to every detail: nor will the interest be profitless; for the +evidence which I shall be able to deduce from the arts of Venice will +be both frequent and irrefragable, that the decline of her political +prosperity was exactly coincident with that of domestic and individual +religion. + +I say domestic and individual; for--and this is the second point which I +wish the reader to keep in mind--the most curious phenomenon in all +Venetian history is the vitality of religion in private life, and its +deadness in public policy. Amidst the enthusiasm, chivalry, or +fanaticism of the other states of Europe, Venice stands, from first to +last, like a masked statue; her coldness impenetrable, her exertion only +aroused by the touch of a secret spring. That spring was her commercial +interest,--this the one motive of all her important political acts, or +enduring national animosities. She could forgive insults to her honor, +but never rivalship in her commerce; she calculated the glory of her +conquests by their value, and estimated their justice by their facility. +The fame of success remains, when the motives of attempt are forgotten; +and the casual reader of her history may perhaps be surprised to be +reminded, that the expedition which was commanded by the noblest of her +princes, and whose results added most to her military glory, was one in +which while all Europe around her was wasted by the fire of its +devotion, she first calculated the highest price she could exact from +its piety for the armament she furnished, and then, for the advancement +of her own private interests, at once broke her faith[10] and betrayed +her religion. + +Sec. IX. And yet, in the midst of this national criminality, we shall be +struck again and again by the evidences of the most noble individual +feeling. The tears of Dandolo were not shed in hypocrisy, though they +could not blind him to the importance of the conquest of Zara. The habit +of assigning to religion a direct influence over all _his own_ actions, +and all the affairs of _his own_ daily life, is remarkable in every +great Venetian during the times of the prosperity of the state; nor are +instances wanting in which the private feeling of the citizens reaches +the sphere of their policy, and even becomes the guide of its course +where the scales of expediency are doubtfully balanced. I sincerely +trust that the inquirer would be disappointed who should endeavor to +trace any more immediate reasons for their adoption of the cause of +Alexander III. against Barbarossa, than the piety which was excited by +the character of their suppliant, and the noble pride which was provoked +by the insolence of the emperor. But the heart of Venice is shown only +in her hastiest councils; her worldly spirit recovers the ascendency +whenever she has time to calculate the probabilities of advantage, or +when they are sufficiently distinct to need no calculation; and the +entire subjection of private piety to national policy is not only +remarkable throughout the almost endless series of treacheries and +tyrannies by which her empire was enlarged and maintained, but +symbolised by a very singular circumstance in the building of the city +itself. I am aware of no other city of Europe in which its cathedral was +not the principal feature. But the principal church in Venice was the +chapel attached to the palace of her prince, and called the "Chiesa +Ducale." The patriarchal church,[11] inconsiderable in size and mean in +decoration, stands on the outermost islet of the Venetian group, and its +name, as well as its site, is probably unknown to the greater number of +travellers passing hastily through the city. Nor is it less worthy of +remark, that the two most important temples of Venice, next to the ducal +chapel, owe their size and magnificence, not to national effort, but to +the energy of the Franciscan and Dominican monks, supported by the vast +organization of those great societies on the mainland of Italy, and +countenanced by the most pious, and perhaps also, in his generation, the +most wise, of all the princes of Venice,[12] who now rests beneath the +roof of one of those very temples, and whose life is not satirized by +the images of the Virtues which a Tuscan sculptor has placed around his +tomb. + +Sec. X. There are, therefore, two strange and solemn lights in which we +have to regard almost every scene in the fitful history of the Rivo +Alto. We find, on the one hand, a deep and constant tone of individual +religion characterising the lives of the citizens of Venice in her +greatness; we find this spirit influencing them in all the familiar and +immediate concerns of life, giving a peculiar dignity to the conduct +even of their commercial transactions, and confessed by them with a +simplicity of faith that may well put to shame the hesitation with which +a man of the world at present admits (even if it be so in reality) that +religious feeling has any influence over the minor branches of his +conduct. And we find as the natural consequence of all this, a healthy +serenity of mind and energy of will expressed in all their actions, and +a habit of heroism which never fails them, even when the immediate +motive of action ceases to be praiseworthy. With the fulness of this +spirit the prosperity of the state is exactly correspondent, and with +its failure her decline, and that with a closeness and precision which +it will be one of the collateral objects of the following essay to +demonstrate from such accidental evidence as the field of its inquiry +presents. And, thus far, all is natural and simple. But the stopping +short of this religious faith when it appears likely to influence +national action, correspondent as it is, and that most strikingly, with +several characteristics of the temper of our present English +legislature, is a subject, morally and politically, of the most curious +interest and complicated difficulty; one, however, which the range of +my present inquiry will not permit me to approach, and for the treatment +of which I must be content to furnish materials in the light I may be +able to throw upon the private tendencies of the Venetian character. + +Sec. XI. There is, however, another most interesting feature in the +policy of Venice which will be often brought before us; and which a +Romanist would gladly assign as the reason of its irreligion; namely, +the magnificent and successful struggle which she maintained against the +temporal authority of the Church of Rome. It is true that, in a rapid +survey of her career, the eye is at first arrested by the strange drama +to which I have already alluded, closed by that ever memorable scene in +the portico of St. Mark's,[13] the central expression in most men's +thoughts of the unendurable elevation of the pontifical power; it is +true that the proudest thoughts of Venice, as well as the insignia of +her prince, and the form of her chief festival, recorded the service +thus rendered to the Roman Church. But the enduring sentiment of years +more than balanced the enthusiasm of a moment; and the bull of Clement +V., which excommunicated the Venetians and their doge, likening them to +Dathan, Abiram, Absalom, and Lucifer, is a stronger evidence of the +great tendencies of the Venetian government than the umbrella of the +doge or the ring of the Adriatic. The humiliation of Francesco Dandolo +blotted out the shame of Barbarossa, and the total exclusion of +ecclesiastics from all share in the councils of Venice became an +enduring mark of her knowledge of the spirit of the Church of Rome, and +of her defiance of it. + +To this exclusion of Papal influence from her councils, the Romanist +will attribute their irreligion, and the Protestant their success.[14] +The first may be silenced by a reference to the character of the policy +of the Vatican itself; and the second by his own shame, when he reflects +that the English legislature sacrificed their principles to expose +themselves to the very danger which the Venetian senate sacrificed +theirs to avoid. + +Sec. XII. One more circumstance remains to be noted respecting the +Venetian government, the singular unity of the families composing +it,--unity far from sincere or perfect, but still admirable when +contrasted with the fiery feuds, the almost daily revolutions, the +restless successions of families and parties in power, which fill +the annals of the other states of Italy. That rivalship should +sometimes be ended by the dagger, or enmity conducted to its ends under +the mask of law, could not but be anticipated where the fierce Italian +spirit was subjected to so severe a restraint: it is much that jealousy +appears usually unmingled with illegitimate ambition, and that, for +every instance in which private passion sought its gratification +through public danger, there are a thousand in which it was sacrificed +to the public advantage. Venice may well call upon us to note with +reverence, that of all the towers which are still seen rising like a +branchless forest from her islands, there is but one whose office was +other than that of summoning to prayer, and that one was a watch-tower +only: from first to last, while the palaces of the other cities of +Italy were lifted into sullen fortitudes of rampart, and fringed with +forked battlements for the javelin and the bow, the sands of Venice +never sank under the weight of a war tower, and her roof terraces were +wreathed with Arabian imagery, of golden globes suspended on the leaves +of lilies.[15] + +Sec. XIII. These, then, appear to me to be the points of chief general +interest in the character and fate of the Venetian people. I would next +endeavor to give the reader some idea of the manner in which the +testimony of Art bears upon these questions, and of the aspect which the +arts themselves assume when they are regarded in their true connexion +with the history of the state. + +1st. Receive the witness of Painting. + +It will be remembered that I put the commencement of the Fall of Venice +as far back as 1418. + +Now, John Bellini was born in 1423, and Titian in 1480. John Bellini, +and his brother Gentile, two years older than he, close the line of the +sacred painters of Venice. But the most solemn spirit of religious faith +animates their works to the last. There is no religion in any work of +Titian's: there is not even the smallest evidence of religious temper or +sympathies either in himself, or in those for whom he painted. His +larger sacred subjects are merely themes for the exhibition of pictorial +rhetoric,--composition and color. His minor works are generally made +subordinate to purposes of portraiture. The Madonna in the church of the +Frari is a mere lay figure, introduced to form a link of connexion +between the portraits of various members of the Pesaro family who +surround her. + +Now this is not merely because John Bellini was a religious man and +Titian was not. Titian and Bellini are each true representatives of the +school of painters contemporary with them; and the difference in their +artistic feeling is a consequence not so much of difference in their own +natural characters as in their early education: Bellini was brought up +in faith; Titian in formalism. Between the years of their births the +vital religion of Venice had expired. + +Sec. XIV. The _vital_ religion, observe, not the formal. Outward +observance was as strict as ever; and doge and senator still were painted, +in almost every important instance, kneeling before the Madonna or St. +Mark; a confession of faith made universal by the pure gold of the +Venetian sequin. But observe the great picture of Titian's in the ducal +palace, of the Doge Antonio Grimani kneeling before Faith: there is a +curious lesson in it. The figure of Faith is a coarse portrait of one of +Titian's least graceful female models: Faith had become carnal. The eye +is first caught by the flash of the Doge's armor. The heart of Venice +was in her wars, not in her worship. + +The mind of Tintoret, incomparably more deep and serious than that of +Titian, casts the solemnity of its own tone over the sacred subjects +which it approaches, and sometimes forgets itself into devotion; but the +principle of treatment is altogether the same as Titian's: absolute +subordination of the religious subject to purposes of decoration or +portraiture. + +The evidence might be accumulated a thousandfold from the works of +Veronese, and of every succeeding painter,--that the fifteenth century +had taken away the religious heart of Venice. + +Sec. XV. Such is the evidence of Painting. To collect that of +Architecture will be our task through many a page to come; but I must +here give a general idea of its heads. + +Philippe de Commynes, writing of his entry into Venice in 1495, says,-- + +"Chascun me feit seoir au meillieu de ces deux ambassadeurs qui est +l'honneur d'Italie que d'estre au meillieu; et me menerent au long de la +grant rue, qu'ilz appellent le Canal Grant, et est bien large. Les +gallees y passent a travers et y ay ven navire de quatre cens tonneaux +ou plus pres des maisons: et est la plus belle rue que je croy qui soit +en tout le monde, et la mieulx maisonnee, et va le long de la ville. Les +maisons sont fort grandes et haultes, et de bonne pierre, et les +anciennes toutes painctes; les aultres faictes depuis cent ans: toutes +ont le devant de marbre blanc, qui leur vient d'Istrie, a cent mils de +la, et encores maincte grant piece de porphire et de sarpentine sur le +devant.... C'est la plus triumphante cite que j'aye jamais vene et qui +plus faict d'honneur a ambassadeurs et estrangiers, et qui plus +saigement se gouverne, et ou le service de Dieu est le plus +sollempnellement faict: et encores qu'il y peust bien avoir d'aultres +faultes, si je croy que Dieu les a en ayde pour la reverence qu'ilz +portent au service de l'Eglise."[16] + +[Illustration: Plate I. Wall-Veil-Decoration. + CA'TREVISAN + CA'DARIO.] + +Sec. XVI. This passage is of peculiar interest, for two reasons. Observe, +first, the impression of Commynes respecting the religion of Venice: of +which, as I have above said, the forms still remained with some +glimmering of life in them, and were the evidence of what the real life +had been in former times. But observe, secondly, the impression +instantly made on Commynes' mind by the distinction between the elder +palaces and those built "within this last hundred years; which all have +their fronts of white marble brought from Istria, a hundred miles away, +and besides, many a large piece of porphyry and serpentine upon their +fronts." + +On the opposite page I have given two of the ornaments of the palaces +which so struck the French ambassador.[17] He was right in his notice of +the distinction. There had indeed come a change over Venetian +architecture in the fifteenth century; and a change of some importance +to us moderns: we English owe to it our St. Paul's Cathedral, and Europe +in general owes to it the utter degradation or destruction of her +schools of architecture, never since revived. But that the reader may +understand this, it is necessary that he should have some general idea +of the connexion of the architecture of Venice with that of the rest of +Europe, from its origin forwards. + +Sec. XVII. All European architecture, bad and good, old and new, is +derived from Greece through Rome, and colored and perfected from the East. +The history of architecture is nothing but the tracing of the various +modes and directions of this derivation. Understand this, once for all: +if you hold fast this great connecting clue, you may string all the types +of successive architectural invention upon it like so many beads. The +Doric and the Corinthian orders are the roots, the one of all Romanesque, +massy-capitaled buildings--Norman, Lombard, Byzantine, and what else you +can name of the kind; and the Corinthian of all Gothic, Early English, +French, German, and Tuscan. Now observe: those old Greeks gave the +shaft; Rome gave the arch; the Arabs pointed and foliated the arch. The +shaft and arch, the frame-work and strength of architecture, are from +the race of Japheth: the spirituality and sanctity of it from Ismael, +Abraham, and Shem. + +Sec. XVIII. There is high probability that the Greek received his shaft +system from Egypt; but I do not care to keep this earlier derivation in +the mind of the reader. It is only necessary that he should be able to +refer to a fixed point of origin, when the form of the shaft was first +perfected. But it may be incidentally observed, that if the Greeks did +indeed receive their Doric from Egypt, then the three families of the +earth have each contributed their part to its noblest architecture: and +Ham, the servant of the others, furnishes the sustaining or bearing +member, the shaft; Japheth the arch; Shem the spiritualisation of both. + +Sec. XIX. I have said that the two orders, Doric and Corinthian, are the +roots of all European architecture. You have, perhaps, heard of five +orders; but there are only two real orders, and there never can be any +more until doomsday. On one of these orders the ornament is convex: +those are Doric, Norman, and what else you recollect of the kind. On the +other the ornament is concave: those are Corinthian, Early English, +Decorated, and what else you recollect of that kind. The transitional +form, in which the ornamental line is straight, is the centre or root of +both. All other orders are varieties of those, or phantasms and +grotesques altogether indefinite in number and species.[18] + +Sec. XX. This Greek architecture, then, with its two orders, was clumsily +copied and varied by the Romans with no particular result, until they +begun to bring the arch into extensive practical service; except only +that the Doric capital was spoiled in endeavors to mend it, and the +Corinthian much varied and enriched with fanciful, and often very +beautiful imagery. And in this state of things came Christianity: seized +upon the arch as her own; decorated it, and delighted in it; invented a +new Doric capital to replace the spoiled Roman one: and all over the +Roman empire set to work, with such materials as were nearest at hand, +to express and adorn herself as best she could. This Roman Christian +architecture is the exact expression of the Christianity of the time, +very fervid and beautiful--but very imperfect; in many respects +ignorant, and yet radiant with a strong, childlike light of imagination, +which flames up under Constantine, illumines all the shores of the +Bosphorus and the Aegean and the Adriatic Sea, and then gradually, as the +people give themselves up to idolatry, becomes Corpse-light. The +architecture sinks into a settled form--a strange, gilded, and embalmed +repose: it, with the religion it expressed; and so would have remained +for ever,--so _does_ remain, where its languor has been undisturbed.[19] +But rough wakening was ordained for it. + +Sec. XXI. This Christian art of the declining empire is divided into two +great branches, western and eastern; one centred at Rome, the other at +Byzantium, of which the one is the early Christian Romanesque, properly +so called, and the other, carried to higher imaginative perfection by +Greek workmen, is distinguished from it as Byzantine. But I wish the +reader, for the present, to class these two branches of art together in +his mind, they being, in points of main importance, the same; that is to +say, both of them a true continuance and sequence of the art of old Rome +itself, flowing uninterruptedly down from the fountain-head, and +entrusted always to the best workmen who could be found--Latins in Italy +and Greeks in Greece; and thus both branches may be ranged under the +general term of Christian Romanesque, an architecture which had lost the +refinement of Pagan art in the degradation of the empire, but which was +elevated by Christianity to higher aims, and by the fancy of the Greek +workmen endowed with brighter forms. And this art the reader may +conceive as extending in its various branches over all the central +provinces of the empire, taking aspects more or less refined, according +to its proximity to the seats of government; dependent for all its power +on the vigor and freshness of the religion which animated it; and as +that vigor and purity departed, losing its own vitality, and sinking +into nerveless rest, not deprived of its beauty, but benumbed and +incapable of advance or change. + +Sec. XXII. Meantime there had been preparation for its renewal. While in +Rome and Constantinople, and in the districts under their immediate +influence, this Roman art of pure descent was practised in all its +refinement, an impure form of it--a patois of Romanesque--was carried by +inferior workmen into distant provinces; and still ruder imitations of +this patois were executed by the barbarous nations on the skirts of the +empire. But these barbarous nations were in the strength of their youth; +and while, in the centre of Europe, a refined and purely descended art +was sinking into graceful formalism, on its confines a barbarous and +borrowed art was organising itself into strength and consistency. The +reader must therefore consider the history of the work of the period as +broadly divided into two great heads: the one embracing the elaborately +languid succession of the Christian art of Rome; and the other, the +imitations of it executed by nations in every conceivable phase of early +organisation, on the edges of the empire, or included in its now merely +nominal extent. + +Sec. XXIII. Some of the barbaric nations were, of course, not susceptible +of this influence; and when they burst over the Alps, appear, like the +Huns, as scourges only, or mix, as the Ostrogoths, with the enervated +Italians, and give physical strength to the mass with which they mingle, +without materially affecting its intellectual character. But others, +both south and north of the empire, had felt its influence, back to the +beach of the Indian Ocean on the one hand, and to the ice creeks of the +North Sea on the other. On the north and west the influence was of the +Latins; on the south and east, of the Greeks. Two nations, pre-eminent +above all the rest, represent to us the force of derived mind on either +side. As the central power is eclipsed, the orbs of reflected light +gather into their fulness; and when sensuality and idolatry had done +their work, and the religion of the empire was laid asleep in a +glittering sepulchre, the living light rose upon both horizons, and the +fierce swords of the Lombard and Arab were shaken over its golden +paralysis. + +Sec. XXIV. The work of the Lombard was to give hardihood and system to +the enervated body and enfeebled mind of Christendom; that of the Arab +was to punish idolatry, and to proclaim the spirituality of worship. +The Lombard covered every church which he built with the sculptured +representations of bodily exercises--hunting and war.[20] The Arab +banished all imagination of creature form from his temples, and +proclaimed from their minarets, "There is no god but God." Opposite in +their character and mission, alike in their magnificence of energy, they +came from the North and from the South, the glacier torrent and the lava +stream: they met and contended over the wreck of the Roman empire; and +the very centre of the struggle, the point of pause of both, the dead +water of the opposite eddies, charged with embayed fragments of the +Roman wreck, is VENICE. + +The Ducal palace of Venice contains the three elements in exactly equal +proportions--the Roman, Lombard, and Arab. It is the central building of +the world. + +Sec. XXV. The reader will now begin to understand something of the +importance of the study of the edifices of a city which includes, within +the circuit of some seven or eight miles, the field of contest between +the three pre-eminent architectures of the world:--each architecture +expressing a condition of religion; each an erroneous condition, yet +necessary to the correction of the others, and corrected by them. + +Sec. XXVI. It will be part of my endeavor, in the following work, to mark +the various modes in which the northern and southern architectures were +developed from the Roman: here I must pause only to name the +distinguishing characteristics of the great families. The Christian +Roman and Byzantine work is round-arched, with single and +well-proportioned shafts; capitals imitated from classical Roman; +mouldings more or less so; and large surfaces of walls entirely covered +with imagery, mosaic, and paintings, whether of scripture history or of +sacred symbols. + +The Arab school is at first the same in its principal features, the +Byzantine workmen being employed by the caliphs; but the Arab rapidly +introduces characters half Persepolitan, half Egyptian, into the shafts +and capitals: in his intense love of excitement he points the arch and +writhes it into extravagant foliations; he banishes the animal imagery, +and invents an ornamentation of his own (called Arabesque) to replace +it: this not being adapted for covering large surfaces, he concentrates +it on features of interest, and bars his surfaces with horizontal lines +of color, the expression of the level of the Desert. He retains the +dome, and adds the minaret. All is done with exquisite refinement. + +Sec. XXVII. The changes effected by the Lombard are more curious still, +for they are in the anatomy of the building, more than its decoration. +The Lombard architecture represents, as I said, the whole of that of +the northern barbaric nations. And this I believe was, at first, an +imitation in wood of the Christian Roman churches or basilicas. Without +staying to examine the whole structure of a basilica, the reader will +easily understand thus much of it: that it had a nave and two aisles, +the nave much higher than the aisles; that the nave was separated from +the aisles by rows of shafts, which supported, above, large spaces of +flat or dead wall, rising above the aisles, and forming the upper part +of the nave, now called the clerestory, which had a gabled wooden roof. + +These high dead walls were, in Roman work, built of stone; but in the +wooden work of the North, they must necessarily have been made of +horizontal boards or timbers attached to uprights on the top of the nave +pillars, which were themselves also of wood.[21] Now, these uprights +were necessarily thicker than the rest of the timbers, and formed +vertical square pilasters above the nave piers. As Christianity extended +and civilisation increased, these wooden structures were changed into +stone; but they were literally petrified, retaining the form which had +been made necessary by their being of wood. The upright pilaster above +the nave pier remains in the stone edifice, and is the first form of the +great distinctive feature of Northern architecture--the vaulting shaft. +In that form the Lombards brought it into Italy, in the seventh century, +and it remains to this day in St. Ambrogio of Milan, and St. Michele of +Pavia. + +Sec. XXVIII. When the vaulting shaft was introduced in the clerestory +walls, additional members were added for its support to the nave piers. +Perhaps two or three pine trunks, used for a single pillar, gave the +first idea of the grouped shaft. Be that as it may, the arrangement of +the nave pier in the form of a cross accompanies the superimposition of +the vaulting shaft; together with corresponding grouping of minor shafts +in doorways and apertures of windows. Thus, the whole body of the +Northern architecture, represented by that of the Lombards, may be +described as rough but majestic work, round-arched, with grouped shafts, +added vaulting shafts, and endless imagery of active life and fantastic +superstitions. + +Sec. XXIX. The glacier stream of the Lombards, and the following one of +the Normans, left their erratic blocks, wherever they had flowed; but +without influencing, I think, the Southern nations beyond the sphere of +their own presence. But the lava stream of the Arab, even after it +ceased to flow, warmed the whole of the Northern air; and the history of +Gothic architecture is the history of the refinement and +spiritualisation of Northern work under its influence. The noblest +buildings of the world, the Pisan-Romanesque, Tuscan (Giottesque) +Gothic, and Veronese Gothic, are those of the Lombard schools +themselves, under its close and direct influence; the various Gothics of +the North are the original forms of the architecture which the Lombards +brought into Italy, changing under the less direct influence of the +Arab. + +Sec. XXX. Understanding thus much of the formation of the great European +styles, we shall have no difficulty in tracing the succession of +architectures in Venice herself. From what I said of the central +character of Venetian art, the reader is not, of course, to conclude +that the Roman, Northern, and Arabian elements met together and +contended for the mastery at the same period. The earliest element was +the pure Christian Roman; but few, if any, remains of this art exist at +Venice; for the present city was in the earliest times only one of many +settlements formed on the chain of marshy islands which extend from the +mouths of the Isonzo to those of the Adige, and it was not until the +beginning of the ninth century that it became the seat of government; +while the cathedral of Torcello, though Christian Roman in general form, +was rebuilt in the eleventh century, and shows evidence of Byzantine +workmanship in many of its details. This cathedral, however, with the +church of Santa Fosca at Torcello, San Giacomo di Rialto at Venice, and +the crypt of St. Mark's, forms a distinct group of buildings, in which +the Byzantine influence is exceedingly slight; and which is probably +very sufficiently representative of the earliest architecture on the +islands. + +Sec. XXXI. The Ducal residence was removed to Venice in 809, and the +body of St. Mark was brought from Alexandria twenty years later. The +first church of St. Mark's was, doubtless, built in imitation of that +destroyed at Alexandria, and from which the relics of the saint had been +obtained. During the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, the +architecture of Venice seems to have been formed on the same model, and +is almost identical with that of Cairo under the caliphs,[22] it being +quite immaterial whether the reader chooses to call both Byzantine or +both Arabic; the workmen being certainly Byzantine, but forced to the +invention of new forms by their Arabian masters, and bringing these +forms into use in whatever other parts of the world they were employed. + +To this first manner of Venetian architecture, together with vestiges as +remain of the Christian Roman, I shall devote the first division of the +following inquiry. The examples remaining of it consist of three noble +churches (those of Torcello, Murano, and the greater part of St. +Mark's), and about ten or twelve fragments of palaces. + +Sec. XXXII. To this style succeeds a transitional one, of a character +much more distinctly Arabian: the shafts become more slender, and the +arches consistently pointed, instead of round; certain other changes, +not to be enumerated in a sentence, taking place in the capitals and +mouldings. This style is almost exclusively secular. It was natural +for the Venetians to imitate the beautiful details of the Arabian +dwelling-house, while they would with reluctance adopt those of the +mosque for Christian churches. + +I have not succeeded in fixing limiting dates for this style. It appears +in part contemporary with the Byzantine manner, but outlives it. Its +position is, however, fixed by the central date, 1180, that of the +elevation of the granite shafts of the Piazetta, whose capitals are the +two most important pieces of detail in this transitional style in +Venice. Examples of its application to domestic buildings exist in +almost every street of the city, and will form the subject of the second +division of the following essay. + +Sec. XXXIII. The Venetians were always ready to receive lessons in art +from their enemies (else had there been no Arab work in Venice). But their +especial dread and hatred of the Lombards appears to have long prevented +them from receiving the influence of the art which that people had +introduced on the mainland of Italy. Nevertheless, during the practice +of the two styles above distinguished, a peculiar and very primitive +condition of pointed Gothic had arisen in ecclesiastical architecture. +It appears to be a feeble reflection of the Lombard-Arab forms, which +were attaining perfection upon the continent, and would probably, if +left to itself, have been soon merged in the Venetian-Arab school, with +which it had from the first so close a fellowship, that it will be found +difficult to distinguish the Arabian ogives from those which seem to +have been built under this early Gothic influence. The churches of San +Giacopo dell'Orio, San Giovanni in Bragora, the Carmine, and one or two +more, furnish the only important examples of it. But, in the thirteenth +century, the Franciscans and Dominicans introduced from the continent +their morality and their architecture, already a distinct Gothic, +curiously developed from Lombardic and Northern (German?) forms; and the +influence of the principles exhibited in the vast churches of St. Paul +and the Frari began rapidly to affect the Venetian-Arab school. Still +the two systems never became united; the Venetian policy repressed the +power of the church, and the Venetian artists resisted its example; and +thenceforward the architecture of the city becomes divided into +ecclesiastical and civil: the one an ungraceful yet powerful form of the +Western Gothic, common to the whole peninsula, and only showing Venetian +sympathies in the adoption of certain characteristic mouldings; the +other a rich, luxuriant, and entirely original Gothic, formed from the +Venetian-Arab by the influence of the Dominican and Franciscan +architecture, and especially by the engrafting upon the Arab forms of +the most novel feature of the Franciscan work, its traceries. These +various forms of Gothic, the _distinctive_ architecture of Venice, +chiefly represented by the churches of St. John and Paul, the Frari, and +San Stefano, on the ecclesiastical side, and by the Ducal palace, and +the other principal Gothic palaces, on the secular side, will be the +subject of the third division of the essay. + +Sec. XXXIV. Now observe. The transitional (or especially Arabic) style +of the Venetian work is centralised by the date 1180, and is transformed +gradually into the Gothic, which extends in its purity from the middle +of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century; that is to +say, over the precise period which I have described as the central epoch +of the life of Venice. I dated her decline from the year 1418; Foscari +became doge five years later, and in his reign the first marked signs +appear in architecture of that mighty change which Philippe de Commynes +notices as above, the change to which London owes St. Paul's, Rome St. +Peter's, Venice and Vicenza the edifices commonly supposed to be their +noblest, and Europe in general the degradation of every art she has +since practised. + +Sec. XXXV. This change appears first in a loss of truth and vitality in +existing architecture all over the world. (Compare "Seven Lamps," chap. +ii.) All the Gothics in existence, southern or northern, were corrupted +at once: the German and French lost themselves in every species of +extravagance; the English Gothic was confined, in its insanity, by a +strait-waistcoat of perpendicular lines; the Italian effloresced on the +mainland into the meaningless ornamentation of the Certosa of Pavia and +the Cathedral of Como (a style sometimes ignorantly called Italian +Gothic), and at Venice into the insipid confusion of the Porta della +Carta and wild crockets of St. Mark's. This corruption of all +architecture, especially ecclesiastical, corresponded with, and marked +the state of religion over all Europe,--the peculiar degradation of the +Romanist superstition, and of public morality in consequence, which +brought about the Reformation. + +Sec. XXXVI. Against the corrupted papacy arose two great divisions of +adversaries, Protestants in Germany and England, Rationalists in France +and Italy; the one requiring the purification of religion, the other its +destruction. The Protestant kept the religion, but cast aside the +heresies of Rome, and with them her arts, by which last rejection he +injured his own character, cramped his intellect in refusing to it one +of its noblest exercises, and materially diminished his influence. It +may be a serious question how far the Pausing of the Reformation has +been a consequence of this error. + +The Rationalist kept the arts and cast aside the religion. This +rationalistic art is the art commonly called Renaissance, marked by a +return to pagan systems, not to adopt them and hallow them for +Christianity, but to rank itself under them as an imitator and pupil. In +Painting it is headed by Giulio Romano and Nicolo Poussin; in +Architecture by Sansovino and Palladio. + +Sec. XXXVII. Instant degradation followed in every direction,--a flood of +folly and hypocrisy. Mythologies ill understood at first, then perverted +into feeble sensualities, take the place of the representations of +Christian subjects, which had become blasphemous under the treatment of +men like the Caracci. Gods without power, satyrs without rusticity, +nymphs without innocence, men without humanity, gather into idiot groups +upon the polluted canvas, and scenic affectations encumber the streets +with preposterous marble. Lower and lower declines the level of abused +intellect; the base school of landscape[23] gradually usurps the place +of the historical painting, which had sunk into prurient pedantry,--the +Alsatian sublimities of Salvator, the confectionery idealities of +Claude, the dull manufacture of Gaspar and Canaletto, south of the Alps, +and on the north the patient devotion of besotted lives to delineation +of bricks and fogs, fat cattle and ditchwater. And thus Christianity and +morality, courage, and intellect, and art all crumbling together into +one wreck, we are hurried on to the fall of Italy, the revolution in +France, and the condition of art in England (saved by her Protestantism +from severer penalty) in the time of George II. + +Sec. XXXVIII. I have not written in vain if I have heretofore done +anything towards diminishing the reputation of the Renaissance landscape +painting. But the harm which has been done by Claude and the Poussins is +as nothing when compared to the mischief effected by Palladio, Scamozzi, +and Sansovino. Claude and the Poussins were weak men, and have had no +serious influence on the general mind. There is little harm in their +works being purchased at high prices: their real influence is very +slight, and they may be left without grave indignation to their poor +mission of furnishing drawing-rooms and assisting stranded conversation. +Not so the Renaissance architecture. Raised at once into all the +magnificence of which it was capable by Michael Angelo, then taken up by +men of real intellect and imagination, such as Scamozzi, Sansovino, +Inigo Jones, and Wren, it is impossible to estimate the extent of its +influence on the European mind; and that the more, because few persons +are concerned with painting, and, of those few, the larger number +regard it with slight attention; but all men are concerned with +architecture, and have at some time of their lives serious business with +it. It does not much matter that an individual loses two or three +hundred pounds in buying a bad picture, but it is to be regretted that a +nation should lose two or three hundred thousand in raising a ridiculous +building. Nor is it merely wasted wealth or distempered conception which +we have to regret in this Renaissance architecture: but we shall find in +it partly the root, partly the expression, of certain dominant evils of +modern times--over-sophistication and ignorant classicalism; the one +destroying the healthfulness of general society, the other rendering our +schools and universities useless to a large number of the men who pass +through them. + +Now Venice, as she was once the most religious, was in her fall the most +corrupt, of European states; and as she was in her strength the centre +of the pure currents of Christian architecture, so she is in her decline +the source of the Renaissance. It was the originality and splendor of +the palaces of Vicenza and Venice which gave this school its eminence in +the eyes of Europe; and the dying city, magnificent in her dissipation, +and graceful in her follies, obtained wider worship in her decrepitude +than in her youth, and sank from the midst of her admirers into the +grave. + +Sec. XXXIX. It is in Venice, therefore, and in Venice only that effectual +blows can be struck at this pestilent art of the Renaissance. Destroy +its claims to admiration there, and it can assert them nowhere else. +This, therefore, will be the final purpose of the following essay. I +shall not devote a fourth section to Palladio, nor weary the reader with +successive chapters of vituperation; but I shall, in my account of the +earlier architecture, compare the forms of all its leading features with +those into which they were corrupted by the Classicalists; and pause, in +the close, on the edge of the precipice of decline, so soon as I have +made its depths discernible. In doing this I shall depend upon two +distinct kinds of evidence:--the first, the testimony borne by +particular incidents and facts to a want of thought or of feeling in the +builders; from which we may conclude that their architecture must be +bad:--the second, the sense, which I doubt not I shall be able to excite +in the reader, of a systematic ugliness in the architecture itself. Of +the first kind of testimony I shall here give two instances, which may +be immediately useful in fixing in the readers mind the epoch above +indicated for the commencement of decline. + +Sec. XL. I must again refer to the importance which I have above attached +to the death of Carlo Zeno and the doge Tomaso Mocenigo. The tomb of +that doge is, as I said, wrought by a Florentine; but it is of the same +general type and feeling as all the Venetian tombs of the period, and it +is one of the last which retains it. The classical element enters +largely into its details, but the feeling of the whole is as yet +unaffected. Like all the lovely tombs of Venice and Verona, it is a +sarcophagus with a recumbent figure above, and this figure is a faithful +but tender portrait, wrought as far as it can be without painfulness, of +the doge as he lay in death. He wears his ducal robe and bonnet--his +head is laid slightly aside upon his pillow--his hands are simply +crossed as they fall. The face is emaciated, the features large, but so +pure and lordly in their natural chiselling, that they must have looked +like marble even in their animation. They are deeply worn away by +thought and death; the veins on the temples branched and starting; the +skin gathered in sharp folds; the brow high-arched and shaggy; the +eye-ball magnificently large; the curve of the lips just veiled by the +light mustache at the side; the beard short, double, and sharp-pointed: +all noble and quiet; the white sepulchral dust marking like light the +stern angles of the cheek and brow. + +This tomb was sculptured in 1424, and is thus described by one of the +most intelligent of the recent writers who represent the popular feeling +respecting Venetian art. + + "Of the Italian school is also the rich but ugly (ricco ma non bel) + sarcophagus in which repose the ashes of Tomaso Mocenigo. It may be + called one of the last links which connect the declining art of the + Middle Ages with that of the Renaissance, which was in its rise. We + will not stay to particularise the defects of each of the seven + figures of the front and sides, which represent the cardinal and + theological virtues; nor will we make any remarks upon those which + stand in the niches above the pavilion, because we consider them + unworthy both of the age and reputation of the Florentine school, + which was then with reason considered the most notable in Italy."[24] + +It is well, indeed, not to pause over these defects; but it might have +been better to have paused a moment beside that noble image of a king's +mortality. + +Sec. XLI. In the choir of the same church, St. Giov. and Paolo, is another +tomb, that of the Doge Andrea Vendramin. This doge died in 1478, after a +short reign of two years, the most disastrous in the annals of Venice. +He died of a pestilence which followed the ravage of the Turks, carried +to the shores of the lagoons. He died, leaving Venice disgraced by sea +and land, with the smoke of hostile devastation rising in the blue +distances of Friuli; and there was raised to him the most costly tomb +ever bestowed on her monarchs. + +Sec. XLII. If the writer above quoted was cold beside the statue of one of +the fathers of his country, he atones for it by his eloquence beside the +tomb of the Vendramin. I must not spoil the force of Italian superlative +by translation. + + "Quando si guarda a quella corretta eleganza di profili e di + proporzioni, a quella squisitezza d'ornamenti, a quel certo sapore + antico che senza ombra d'imitazione traspare da tutta l'opera"--&c. + "Sopra ornatissimo zoccolo fornito di squisiti intagli s'alza uno + stylobate"--&c. "Sotto le colonne, il predetto stilobate si muta + leggiadramente in piedistallo, poi con bella novita di pensiero e di + effetto va coronato da un fregio il piu gentile che veder si + possa"--&c. "Non puossi lasciar senza un cenno l'_arca dove_ sta + chiuso il doge; capo lavoro di pensiero e di esecuzione," &c. + +There are two pages and a half of closely printed praise, of which the +above specimens may suffice; but there is not a word of the statue of the +dead from beginning to end. I am myself in the habit of considering this +rather an important part of a tomb, and I was especially interested in it +here, because Selvatico only echoes the praise of thousands. It is +unanimously declared the chef d'oeuvre of Renaissance sepulchral work, +and pronounced by Cicognara (also quoted by Selvatico) + + "Il vertice a cui l'arti Veneziane si spinsero col ministero del + scalpello,"--"The very culminating point to which the Venetian arts + attained by ministry of the chisel." + +To this culminating point, therefore, covered with dust and cobwebs, I +attained, as I did to every tomb of importance in Venice, by the +ministry of such ancient ladders as were to be found in the sacristan's +keeping. I was struck at first by the excessive awkwardness and want of +feeling in the fall of the hand towards the spectator, for it is thrown +off the middle of the body in order to show its fine cutting. Now the +Mocenigo hand, severe and even stiff in its articulations, has its veins +finely drawn, its sculptor having justly felt that the delicacy of the +veining expresses alike dignity and age and birth. The Vendramin hand is +far more laboriously cut, but its blunt and clumsy contour at once makes +us feel that all the care has been thrown away, and well it may be, for +it has been entirely bestowed in cutting gouty wrinkles about the +joints. Such as the hand is, I looked for its fellow. At first I thought +it had been broken off, but, on clearing away the dust, I saw the +wretched effigy had only _one_ hand, and was a mere block on the inner +side. The face, heavy and disagreeable in its features, is made +monstrous by its semi-sculpture. One side of the forehead is wrinkled +elaborately, the other left smooth; one side only of the doge's cap is +chased; one cheek only is finished, and the other blocked out and +distorted besides; finally, the ermine robe, which is elaborately +imitated to its utmost lock of hair and of ground hair on the one side, +is blocked out only on the other: it having been supposed throughout the +work that the effigy was only to be seen from below, and from one side. + +Sec. XLIII. It was indeed to be so seen by nearly every one; and I do +not blame--I should, on the contrary, have praised--the sculptor for +regulating his treatment of it by its position; if that treatment had +not involved, first, dishonesty, in giving only half a face, a +monstrous mask, when we demanded true portraiture of the dead; and, +secondly, such utter coldness of feeling, as could only consist with an +extreme of intellectual and moral degradation: Who, with a heart in his +breast, could have stayed his hand as he drew the dim lines of the old +man's countenance--unmajestic once, indeed, but at least sanctified by +the solemnities of death--could have stayed his hand, as he reached the +bend of the grey forehead, and measured out the last veins of it at so +much the zecchin? + +I do not think the reader, if he has feeling, will expect that much +talent should be shown in the rest of his work, by the sculptor of this +base and senseless lie. The whole monument is one wearisome aggregation +of that species of ornamental flourish, which, when it is done with a +pen, is called penmanship, and when done with a chisel, should be called +chiselmanship; the subject of it being chiefly fat-limbed boys sprawling +on dolphins, dolphins incapable of swimming, and dragged along the sea +by expanded pocket-handkerchiefs. + +But now, reader, comes the very gist and point of the whole matter. This +lying monument to a dishonored doge, this culminating pride of the +Renaissance art of Venice, is at least veracious, if in nothing else, in +its testimony to the character of its sculptor. _He was banished from +Venice for forgery_ in 1487.[25] + +Sec. XLIV. I have more to say about this convict's work hereafter; but I +pass at present, to the second, slighter, but yet more interesting piece +of evidence, which I promised. + +The ducal palace has two principal facades; one towards the sea, the +other towards the Piazzetta. The seaward side, and, as far as the +seventh main arch inclusive, the Piazzetta side, is work of the early +part of the fourteenth century, some of it perhaps even earlier; while +the rest of the Piazzetta side is of the fifteenth. The difference in +age has been gravely disputed by the Venetian antiquaries, who have +examined many documents on the subject, and quoted some which they never +examined. I have myself collated most of the written documents, and one +document more, to which the Venetian antiquaries never thought of +referring,--the masonry of the palace itself. + +Sec. XLV. That masonry changes at the centre of the eighth arch from +the sea angle on the Piazzetta side. It has been of comparatively small +stones up to that point; the fifteenth century work instantly begins +with larger stones, "brought from Istria, a hundred miles away."[26] The +ninth shaft from the sea in the lower arcade, and the seventeenth, which +is above it, in the upper arcade, commence the series of fifteenth +century shafts. These two are somewhat thicker than the others, and +carry the party-wall of the Sala del Scrutinio. Now observe, reader. The +face of the palace, from this point to the Porta della Carta, was built +at the instance of that noble Doge Mocenigo beside whose tomb you have +been standing; at his instance, and in the beginning of the reign of his +successor, Foscari; that is to say, circa 1424. This is not disputed; it +is only disputed that the sea facade is earlier; of which, however, the +proofs are as simple as they are incontrovertible: for not only the +masonry, but the sculpture, changes at the ninth lower shaft, and that +in the capitals of the shafts both of the upper and lower arcade: the +costumes of the figures introduced in the sea facade being purely +Giottesque, correspondent with Giotto's work in the Arena Chapel at +Padua, while the costume on the other capitals is Renaissance-Classic: +and the lions' heads between the arches change at the same point. And +there are a multitude of other evidences in the statues of the angels, +with which I shall not at present trouble the reader. + +Sec. XLVI. Now, the architect who built under Foscari, in 1424 (remember +my date for the decline of Venice, 1418), was obliged to follow the +principal forms of the older palace. But he had not the wit to invent +new capitals in the same style; he therefore clumsily copied the old +ones. The palace has seventeen main arches on the sea facade, eighteen +on the Piazzetta side, which in all are of course carried by thirty-six +pillars; and these pillars I shall always number from right to left, +from the angle of the palace at the Ponte della Paglia to that next the +Porta della Carta. I number them in this succession, because I thus have +the earliest shafts first numbered. So counted, the 1st, the 18th, and +the 36th, are the great supports of the angles of the palace; and the +first of the fifteenth century series, being, as above stated, the 9th +from the sea on the Piazzetta side, is the 26th of the entire series, +and will always in future be so numbered, so that all numbers above +twenty-six indicate fifteenth century work, and all below it, fourteenth +century, with some exceptional cases of restoration. + +Then the copied capitals are: the 28th, copied from the 7th; the 29th, +from the 9th; the 30th, from the 10th; the 31st, from the 8th; the 33rd, +from the 12th; and the 34th, from the 11th; the others being dull +inventions of the 15th century, except the 36th, which is very nobly +designed. + +Sec. XLVII. The capitals thus selected from the earlier portion of +the palace for imitation, together with the rest, will be accurately +described hereafter; the point I have here to notice is in the copy of +the ninth capital, which was decorated (being, like the rest, octagonal) +with figures of the eight Virtues:--Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, +Temperance, Prudence, Humility (the Venetian antiquaries call it +Humanity!), and Fortitude. The Virtues of the fourteenth century are +somewhat hard-featured; with vivid and living expression, and plain +every-day clothes of the time. Charity has her lap full of apples +(perhaps loaves), and is giving one to a little child, who stretches his +arm for it across a gap in the leafage of the capital. Fortitude tears +open a lion's jaws; Faith lays her hand on her breast, as she beholds +the Cross; and Hope is praying, while above her a hand is seen emerging +from sunbeams--the hand of God (according to that of Revelations, "The +Lord God giveth them light"); and the inscription above is, "Spes optima +in Deo." + +Sec. XLVIII. This design, then, is, rudely and with imperfect chiselling, +imitated by the fifteenth century workmen: the Virtues have lost their +hard features and living expression; they have now all got Roman noses, +and have had their hair curled. Their actions and emblems are, however, +preserved until we come to Hope: she is still praying, but she is +praying to the sun only: _The hand of God is gone._ + +Is not this a curious and striking type of the spirit which had then +become dominant in the world, forgetting to see God's hand in the light +He gave; so that in the issue, when that light opened into the +Reformation, on the one side, and into full knowledge of ancient +literature on the other, the one was arrested and the other perverted? + +Sec. XLIX. Such is the nature of the accidental evidence on which I shall +depend for the proof of the inferiority of character in the Renaissance +workmen. But the proof of the inferiority of the work itself is not so +easy, for in this I have to appeal to judgments which the Renaissance +work has itself distorted. I felt this difficulty very forcibly as I +read a slight review of my former work, "The Seven Lamps," in "The +Architect:" the writer noticed my constant praise of St. Mark's: "Mr. +Ruskin thinks it a very beautiful building! We," said the Architect, +"think it a very ugly building." I was not surprised at the difference +of opinion, but at the thing being considered so completely a subject of +opinion. My opponents in matters of painting always assume that there +_is_ such a thing as a law of right, and that I do not understand it: +but my architectural adversaries appeal to no law, they simply set their +opinion against mine; and indeed there is no law at present to which +either they or I can appeal. No man can speak with rational decision of +the merits or demerits of buildings: he may with obstinacy; he may with +resolved adherence to previous prejudices; but never as if the matter +could be otherwise decided than by a majority of votes, or pertinacity +of partizanship. I had always, however, a clear conviction that there +_was_ a law in this matter: that good architecture might be indisputably +discerned and divided from the bad; that the opposition in their very +nature and essence was clearly visible; and that we were all of us just +as unwise in disputing about the matter without reference to principle, +as we should be for debating about the genuineness of a coin, without +ringing it. I felt also assured that this law must be universal if it +were conclusive; that it must enable us to reject all foolish and base +work, and to accept all noble and wise work, without reference to style +or national feeling; that it must sanction the design of all truly great +nations and times, Gothic or Greek or Arab; that it must cast off and +reprobate the design of all foolish nations and times, Chinese or +Mexican, or modern European: and that it must be easily applicable to +all possible architectural inventions of human mind. I set myself, +therefore, to establish such a law, in full belief that men are +intended, without excessive difficulty, and by use of their general +common sense, to know good things from bad; and that it is only because +they will not be at the pains required for the discernment, that the +world is so widely encumbered with forgeries and basenesses. I found the +work simpler than I had hoped; the reasonable things ranged themselves +in the order I required, and the foolish things fell aside, and took +themselves away so soon as they were looked in the face. I had then, +with respect to Venetian architecture, the choice, either to establish +each division of law in a separate form, as I came to the features with +which it was concerned, or else to ask the reader's patience, while I +followed out the general inquiry first, and determined with him a code +of right and wrong, to which we might together make retrospective +appeal. I thought this the best, though perhaps the dullest way; and in +these first following pages I have therefore endeavored to arrange those +foundations of criticism, on which I shall rest in my account of +Venetian architecture, in a form clear and simple enough to be +intelligible even to those who never thought of architecture before. To +those who have, much of what is stated in them will be well known or +self-evident; but they must not be indignant at a simplicity on which +the whole argument depends for its usefulness. From that which appears a +mere truism when first stated, they will find very singular consequences +sometimes following,--consequences altogether unexpected, and of +considerable importance; I will not pause here to dwell on their +importance, nor on that of the thing itself to be done; for I believe +most readers will at once admit the value of a criterion of right and +wrong in so practical and costly an art as architecture, and will be apt +rather to doubt the possibility of its attainment than dispute its +usefulness if attained. I invite them, therefore, to a fair trial, being +certain that even if I should fail in my main purpose, and be unable to +induce in my reader the confidence of judgment I desire, I shall at +least receive his thanks for the suggestion of consistent reasons, which +may determine hesitating choice, or justify involuntary preference. And +if I should succeed, as I hope, in making the Stones of Venice +touchstones, and detecting, by the mouldering of her marble, poison more +subtle than ever was betrayed by the rending of her crystal; and if thus +I am enabled to show the baseness of the schools of architecture and +nearly every other art, which have for three centuries been predominant +in Europe, I believe the result of the inquiry may be serviceable for +proof of a more vital truth than any at which I have hitherto hinted. +For observe: I said the Protestant had despised the arts, and the +Rationalist corrupted them. But what has the Romanist done meanwhile? He +boasts that it was the papacy which raised the arts; why could it not +support them when it was left to its own strength? How came it to yield +to Classicalism which was based on infidelity, and to oppose no barrier +to innovations, which have reduced the once faithfully conceived imagery +of its worship to stage decoration? Shall we not rather find that +Romanism, instead of being a promoter of the arts, has never shown +itself capable of a single great conception since the separation of +Protestantism from its side?[27] So long as, corrupt though it might be, +no clear witness had been borne against it, so that it still included in +its ranks a vast number of faithful Christians, so long its arts were +noble. But the witness was borne--the error made apparent; and Rome, +refusing to hear the testimony or forsake the falsehood, has been struck +from that instant with an intellectual palsy, which has not only +incapacitated her from any further use of the arts which once were her +ministers, but has made her worship the shame of its own shrines, and +her worshippers their destroyers. Come, then, if truths such as these +are worth our thoughts; come, and let us know, before we enter the +streets of the Sea city, whether we are indeed to submit ourselves to +their undistinguished enchantment, and to look upon the last changes +which were wrought on the lifted forms of her palaces, as we should on +the capricious towering of summer clouds in the sunset, ere they sank +into the deep of night; or whether, rather, we shall not behold in the +brightness of their accumulated marble, pages on which the sentence of +her luxury was to be written until the waves should efface it, as they +fulfilled--"God has numbered thy kingdom, and finished it." + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Appendix 1, "Foundation of Venice." + + [2] Appendix 2, "Power of the Doges." + + [3] Sismondi, Hist. des Rep. Ital., vol. i. ch. v. + + [4] Appendix 3, "Serrar del Consiglio." + + [5] "Ha saputo trovar modo che non uno, non pochi, non molti, + signoreggiano, ma molti buoni, pochi migliori, e insiememente, _un + ottimo solo_." (_Sansovino._) Ah, well done, Venice! Wisdom this, + indeed. + + [6] Daru, liv. xii. ch. xii. + + [7] Daru, liv. xvi. cap. xx. We owe to this historian the discovery + of the statutes of the tribunal and date of its establishment. + + [8] Ominously signified by their humiliation to the Papal power (as + before to the Turkish) in 1509, and their abandonment of their right + of appointing the clergy of their territories. + + [9] The senate voted the abdication of their authority by a majority + of 512 to 14. (Alison, ch. xxiii.) + + [10] By directing the arms of the Crusaders against a Christian + prince. (Daru, liv. iv. ch. iv. viii.) + + [11] Appendix 4, "San Pietro di Castello." + + [12] Tomaso Mocenigo, above named, Sec. V. + + [13] "In that temple porch, + (The brass is gone, the porphyry remains,) + Did BARBAROSSA fling his mantle off, + And kneeling, on his neck receive the foot + Of the proud Pontiff--thus at last consoled + For flight, disguise, and many an aguish shake + On his stone pillow." + + I need hardly say whence the lines are taken: Rogers' "Italy" has, I + believe, now a place in the best beloved compartment of all + libraries, and will never be removed from it. There is more true + expression of the spirit of Venice in the passages devoted to her in + that poem, than in all else that has been written of her. + + [14] At least, such success as they had. Vide Appendix 5, "The Papal + Power in Venice." + + [15] The inconsiderable fortifications of the arsenal are no + exception to this statement, as far as it regards the city itself. + They are little more than a semblance of precaution against the + attack of a foreign enemy. + + [16] Memoires de Commynes, liv. vii. ch. xviii. + + [17] Appendix 6, "Renaissance Ornaments." + + [18] Appendix 7, "Varieties of the Orders." + + [19] The reader will find the _weak_ points of Byzantine + architecture shrewdly seized, and exquisitely sketched, in the + opening chapter of the most delightful book of travels I ever + opened,--Curzon's "Monasteries of the Levant." + + [20] Appendix 8, "The Northern Energy." + + [21] Appendix 9, "Wooden Churches of the North." + + [22] Appendix 10, "Church of Alexandria." + + [23] Appendix 11, "Renaissance Landscape." + + [24] Selvatico, "Architettura di Venezia," p. 147. + + [25] Selvatico, p. 221. + + [26] The older work is of Istrian stone also, but of different + quality. + + [27] Appendix 12, "Romanist Modern Art." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + THE VIRTUES OF ARCHITECTURE. + + +Sec. I. We address ourselves, then, first to the task of determining some +law of right which we may apply to the architecture of all the world and +of all time; and by help of which, and judgment according to which, we +may easily pronounce whether a building is good or noble, as, by +applying a plumb-line, whether it be perpendicular. + +The first question will of course be: What are the possible Virtues of +architecture? + +In the main, we require from buildings, as from men, two kinds of +goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be +graceful and pleasing in doing it; which last is itself another form of +duty. + +Then the practical duty divides itself into two branches,--acting and +talking:--acting, as to defend us from weather or violence; talking, as +the duty of monuments or tombs, to record facts and express feelings; or +of churches, temples, public edifices, treated as books of history, to +tell such history clearly and forcibly. + +We have thus, altogether, three great branches of architectural virtue, +and we require of any building,-- + +1. That it act well, and do the things it was intended to do in the best + way. + +2. That it speak well, and say the things it was intended to say in the + best words. + +3. That it look well, and please us by its presence, whatever it has to + do or say.[28] + +Sec. II. Now, as regards the second of these virtues, it is evident that +we can establish no general laws. First, because it is not a virtue +required in all buildings; there are some which are only for covert or +defence, and from which we ask no conversation. Secondly, because there +are countless methods of expression, some conventional, some natural: +each conventional mode has its own alphabet, which evidently can be no +subject of general laws. Every natural mode is instinctively employed +and instinctively understood, wherever there is true feeling; and this +instinct is above law. The choice of conventional methods depends on +circumstances out of calculation, and that of natural methods on +sensations out of control; so that we can only say that the choice is +right, when we feel that the means are effective; and we cannot always +say that it is wrong when they are not so. + +A building which recorded the Bible history by means of a series of +sculptural pictures, would be perfectly useless to a person unacquainted +with the Bible beforehand; on the other hand, the text of the Old and +New Testaments might be written on its walls, and yet the building be a +very inconvenient kind of book, not so useful as if it had been adorned +with intelligible and vivid sculpture. So, again, the power of exciting +emotion must vary or vanish, as the spectator becomes thoughtless or +cold; and the building may be often blamed for what is the fault of its +critic, or endowed with a charm which is of its spectator's creation. It +is not, therefore, possible to make expressional character any fair +criterion of excellence in buildings, until we can fully place ourselves +in the position of those to whom their expression was originally +addressed, and until we are certain that we understand every symbol, and +are capable of being touched by every association which its builders +employed as letters of their language. I shall continually endeavor to +put the reader into such sympathetic temper, when I ask for his judgment +of a building; and in every work I may bring before him I shall point +out, as far as I am able, whatever is peculiar in its expression; nay, I +must even depend on such peculiarities for much of my best evidence +respecting the character of the builders. But I cannot legalize the +judgment for which I plead, nor insist upon it if it be refused. I can +neither force the reader to feel this architectural rhetoric, nor compel +him to confess that the rhetoric is powerful, if it have produced no +impression on his own mind. + +Sec. III. I leave, therefore, the expression of buildings for incidental +notice only. But their other two virtues are proper subjects of +law,--their performance of their common and necessary work, and their +conformity with universal and divine canons of loveliness: respecting +these there can be no doubt, no ambiguity. I would have the reader +discern them so quickly that, as he passes along a street, he may, by a +glance of the eye, distinguish the noble from the ignoble work. He can +do this, if he permit free play to his natural instincts; and all that I +have to do for him is to remove from those instincts the artificial +restraints which prevent their action, and to encourage them to an +unaffected and unbiassed choice between right and wrong. + +Sec. IV. We have, then, two qualities of buildings for subjects of +separate inquiry: their action, and aspect, and the sources of virtue +in both; that is to say, Strength and Beauty, both of these being +less admired in themselves, than as testifying the intelligence or +imagination of the builder. + +For we have a worthier way of looking at human than at divine +architecture: much of the value both of construction and decoration, in +the edifices of men, depends upon our being led by the thing produced or +adorned, to some contemplation of the powers of mind concerned in its +creation or adornment. We are not so led by divine work, but are content +to rest in the contemplation of the thing created. I wish the reader to +note this especially: we take pleasure, or _should_ take pleasure, in +architectural construction altogether as the manifestation of an +admirable human intelligence; it is not the strength, not the size, not +the finish of the work which we are to venerate: rocks are always +stronger, mountains always larger, all natural objects more finished; +but it is the intelligence and resolution of man in overcoming physical +difficulty which are to be the source of our pleasure and subject of our +praise. And again, in decoration or beauty, it is less the actual +loveliness of the thing produced, than the choice and invention +concerned in the production, which are to delight us; the love and the +thoughts of the workman more than his work: his work must always be +imperfect, but his thoughts and affections may be true and deep. + +Sec. V. This origin of our pleasure in architecture I must insist upon +at somewhat greater length, for I would fain do away with some of the +ungrateful coldness which we show towards the good builders of old time. +In no art is there closer connection between our delight in the work, +and our admiration of the workman's mind, than in architecture, and yet +we rarely ask for a builder's name. The patron at whose cost, the monk +through whose dreaming, the foundation was laid, we remember +occasionally; never the man who verily did the work. Did the reader ever +hear of William of Sens as having had anything to do with Canterbury +Cathedral? or of Pietro Basegio as in anywise connected with the Ducal +Palace of Venice? There is much ingratitude and injustice in this; and +therefore I desire my reader to observe carefully how much of his +pleasure in building is derived, or should be derived, from admiration +of the intellect of men whose names he knows not. + +Sec. VI. The two virtues of architecture which we can justly weigh, are, +we said, its strength or good construction, and its beauty or good +decoration. Consider first, therefore, what you mean when you say a +building is well constructed or well built; you do not merely mean that +it answers its purpose,--this is much, and many modern buildings fail of +this much; but if it be verily well built, it must answer this purpose +in the simplest way, and with no over-expenditure of means. We require +of a light-house, for instance, that it shall stand firm and carry a +light; if it do not this, assuredly it has been ill built; but it may do +it to the end of time, and yet not be well built. It may have hundreds +of tons of stone in it more than were needed, and have cost thousands +of pounds more than it ought. To pronounce it well or ill built, we must +know the utmost forces it can have to resist, and the best arrangements +of stone for encountering them, and the quickest ways of effecting such +arrangements: then only, so far as such arrangements have been chosen, +and such methods used, is it well built. Then the knowledge of all +difficulties to be met, and of all means of meeting them, and the quick +and true fancy or invention of the modes of applying the means to the +end, are what we have to admire in the builder, even as he is seen +through this first or inferior part of his work. Mental power, observe: +not muscular nor mechanical, nor technical, nor empirical,--pure, +precious, majestic, massy intellect; not to be had at vulgar price, nor +received without thanks, and without asking from whom. + +Sec. VII. Suppose, for instance, we are present at the building of a +bridge: the bricklayers or masons have had their centring erected for +them, and that centring was put together by a carpenter, who had the +line of its curve traced for him by the architect: the masons are +dexterously handling and fitting their bricks, or, by the help of +machinery, carefully adjusting stones which are numbered for their +places. There is probably in their quickness of eye and readiness of +hand something admirable; but this is not what I ask the reader to +admire: not the carpentering, nor the bricklaying, nor anything that he +can presently see and understand, but the choice of the curve, and the +shaping of the numbered stones, and the appointment of that number; +there were many things to be known and thought upon before these were +decided. The man who chose the curve and numbered the stones, had to +know the times and tides of the river, and the strength of its floods, +and the height and flow of them, and the soil of the banks, and the +endurance of it, and the weight of the stones he had to build with, and +the kind of traffic that day by day would be carried on over his +bridge,--all this specially, and all the great general laws of force and +weight, and their working; and in the choice of the curve and numbering +of stones are expressed not only his knowledge of these, but such +ingenuity and firmness as he had, in applying special means to overcome +the special difficulties about his bridge. There is no saying how much +wit, how much depth of thought, how much fancy, presence of mind, +courage, and fixed resolution there may have gone to the placing of a +single stone of it. This is what we have to admire,--this grand power +and heart of man in the thing; not his technical or empirical way of +holding the trowel and laying mortar. + +Sec. VIII. Now there is in everything properly called art this concernment +of the intellect, even in the province of the art which seems merely +practical. For observe: in this bridge-building I suppose no reference +to architectural principles; all that I suppose we want is to get safely +over the river; the man who has taken us over is still a mere +bridge-builder,--a _builder_, not an architect: he may be a rough, +artless, feelingless man, incapable of doing any one truly fine thing +all his days. I shall call upon you to despise him presently in a sort, +but not as if he were a mere smoother of mortar; perhaps a great man, +infinite in memory, indefatigable in labor, exhaustless in expedient, +unsurpassable in quickness of thought. Take good heed you understand him +before you despise him. + +Sec. IX. But why is he to be in anywise despised? By no means despise him, +unless he happen to be without a soul,[29] or at least to show no signs +of it; which possibly he may not in merely carrying you across the +river. He may be merely what Mr. Carlyle rightly calls a human beaver +after all; and there may be nothing in all that ingenuity of his greater +than a complication of animal faculties, an intricate bestiality,--nest +or hive building in its highest development. You need something more +than this, or the man is despicable; you need that virtue of building +through which he may show his affections and delights; you need its +beauty or decoration. + +Sec. X. Not that, in reality, one division of the man is more human than +another. Theologists fall into this error very fatally and continually; +and a man from whom I have learned much, Lord Lindsay, has hurt his +noble book by it, speaking as if the spirit of the man only were +immortal, and were opposed to his intellect, and the latter to the +senses; whereas all the divisions of humanity are noble or brutal, +immortal or mortal, according to the degree of their sanctification; and +there is no part of the man which is not immortal and divine when it is +once given to God, and no part of him which is not mortal by the second +death, and brutal before the first, when it is withdrawn from God. For +to what shall we trust for our distinction from the beasts that perish? +To our higher intellect?--yet are we not bidden to be wise as the +serpent, and to consider the ways of the ant?--or to our affections? +nay; these are more shared by the lower animals than our intelligence. +Hamlet leaps into the grave of his beloved, and leaves it,--a dog had +stayed. Humanity and immortality consist neither in reason, nor in love; +not in the body, nor in the animation of the heart of it, nor in the +thoughts and stirrings of the brain of it,--but in the dedication of +them all to Him who will raise them up at the last day. + +Sec. XI. It is not, therefore, that the signs of his affections, which +man leaves upon his work, are indeed more ennobling than the signs of +his intelligence; but it is the balance of both whose expression we +need, and the signs of the government of them all by Conscience; and +Discretion, the daughter of Conscience. So, then, the intelligent part +of man being eminently, if not chiefly, displayed in the structure of +his work, his affectionate part is to be shown in its decoration; and, +that decoration may be indeed lovely, two things are needed: first, that +the affections be vivid, and honestly shown; secondly, that they be +fixed on the right things. + +Sec. XII. You think, perhaps, I have put the requirements in wrong order. +Logically I have; practically I have not: for it is necessary first to +teach men to speak out, and say what they like, truly; and, in the +second place, to teach them which of their likings are ill set, and +which justly. If a man is cold in his likings and dislikings, or if he +will not tell you what he likes, you can make nothing of him. Only get +him to feel quickly and to speak plainly, and you may set him right. And +the fact is, that the great evil of all recent architectural effort has +not been that men liked wrong things: but that they either cared nothing +about any, or pretended to like what they did not. Do you suppose that +any modern architect likes what he builds, or enjoys it? Not in the +least. He builds it because he has been told that such and such things +are fine, and that he _should_ like them. He pretends to like them, and +gives them a false relish of vanity. Do you seriously imagine, reader, +that any living soul in London likes triglyphs?[30]--or gets any hearty +enjoyment out of pediments?[31] You are much mistaken. Greeks did: +English people never did,--never will. Do you fancy that the architect +of old Burlington Mews, in Regent Street, had any particular +satisfaction in putting the blank triangle over the archway, instead of +a useful garret window? By no manner of means. He had been told it was +right to do so, and thought he should be admired for doing it. Very few +faults of architecture are mistakes of honest choice: they are almost +always hypocrisies. + +Sec. XIII. So, then, the first thing we have to ask of the decoration is +that it should indicate strong liking, and that honestly. It matters not +so much what the thing is, as that the builder should really love it and +enjoy it, and say so plainly. The architect of Bourges Cathedral liked +hawthorns; so he has covered his porch with hawthorn,--it is a perfect +Niobe of May. Never was such hawthorn; you would try to gather it +forthwith, but for fear of being pricked. The old Lombard architects +liked hunting; so they covered their work with horses and hounds, and +men blowing trumpets two yards long. The base Renaissance architects of +Venice liked masquing and fiddling; so they covered their work with +comic masks and musical instruments. Even that was better than our +English way of liking nothing, and professing to like triglyphs. + +Sec. XIV. But the second requirement in decoration, is a sign of our +liking the right thing. And the right thing to be liked is God's work, +which He made for our delight and contentment in this world. And all +noble ornamentation is the expression of man's delight in God's work. + +Sec. XV. So, then, these are the two virtues of building: first, the +signs of man's own good work; secondly, the expression of man's delight +in better work than his own. And these are the two virtues of which I +desire my reader to be able quickly to judge, at least in some measure; +to have a definite opinion up to a certain point. Beyond a certain point +he cannot form one. When the science of the building is great, great +science is of course required to comprehend it; and, therefore, of +difficult bridges, and light-houses, and harbor walls, and river dykes, +and railway tunnels, no judgment may be rapidly formed. But of common +buildings, built in common circumstances, it is very possible for every +man, or woman, or child, to form judgment both rational and rapid. Their +necessary, or even possible, features are but few; the laws of their +construction are as simple as they are interesting. The labor of a few +hours is enough to render the reader master of their main points; and +from that moment he will find in himself a power of judgment which can +neither be escaped nor deceived, and discover subjects of interest where +everything before had appeared barren. For though the laws are few and +simple, the modes of obedience to them are not so. Every building +presents its own requirements and difficulties; and every good building +has peculiar appliances or contrivances to meet them. Understand the +laws of structure, and you will feel the special difficulty in every new +building which you approach; and you will know also, or feel +instinctively,[32] whether it has been wisely met or otherwise. And an +enormous number of buildings, and of styles of buildings, you will be +able to cast aside at once, as at variance with these constant laws of +structure, and therefore unnatural and monstrous. + +Sec. XVI. Then, as regards decoration, I want you only to consult your +own natural choice and liking. There is a right and wrong in it; but you +will assuredly like the right if you suffer your natural instinct to +lead you. Half the evil in this world comes from people not knowing what +they do like, not deliberately setting themselves to find out what they +really enjoy. All people enjoy giving away money, for instance: they +don't know _that_,--they rather think they like keeping it; and they +_do_ keep it under this false impression, often to their great +discomfort. Every body likes to do good; but not one in a hundred finds +_this_ out. Multitudes think they like to do evil; yet no man ever +really enjoyed doing evil since God made the world. + +So in this lesser matter of ornament. It needs some little care to try +experiments upon yourself: it needs deliberate question and upright +answer. But there is no difficulty to be overcome, no abstruse reasoning +to be gone into; only a little watchfulness needed, and thoughtfulness, +and so much honesty as will enable you to confess to yourself and to all +men, that you enjoy things, though great authorities say you should not. + +Sec. XVII. This looks somewhat like pride; but it is true humility, a +trust that you have been so created as to enjoy what is fitting for you, +and a willingness to be pleased, as it was intended you should be. It is +the child's spirit, which we are then most happy when we most recover; +only wiser than children in that we are ready to think it subject of +thankfulness that we can still be pleased with a fair color or a dancing +light. And, above all, do not try to make all these pleasures +reasonable, nor to connect the delight which you take in ornament with +that which you take in construction or usefulness. They have no +connection; and every effort that you make to reason from one to the +other will blunt your sense of beauty, or confuse it with sensations +altogether inferior to it. You were made for enjoyment, and the world +was filled with things which you will enjoy, unless you are too proud to +be pleased by them, or too grasping to care for what you cannot turn to +other account than mere delight. Remember that the most beautiful things +in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance; at +least I suppose this quill I hold in my hand writes better than a +peacock's would, and the peasants of Vevay, whose fields in spring time +are as white with lilies as the Dent du Midi is with its snow, told me +the hay was none the better for them. + +Sec. XVIII. Our task therefore divides itself into two branches, and these +I shall follow in succession. I shall first consider the construction of +buildings, dividing them into their really necessary members or +features; and I shall endeavor so to lead the reader forward from the +foundation upwards, as that he may find out for himself the best way of +doing everything, and having so discovered it, never forget it. I shall +give him stones, and bricks, and straw, chisels, and trowels, and the +ground, and then ask him to build; only helping him, as I can, if I find +him puzzled. And when he has built his house or church, I shall ask him +to ornament it, and leave it to him to choose the ornaments as I did to +find out the construction: I shall use no influence with him whatever, +except to counteract previous prejudices, and leave him, as far as may +be, free. And when he has thus found out how to build, and chosen his +forms of decoration, I shall do what I can to confirm his confidence in +what he has done. I shall assure him that no one in the world could, so +far, have done better, and require him to condemn, as futile or +fallacious, whatever has no resemblance to his own performances. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [28] Appendix 13, "Mr. Fergusson's System." + + [29] Appendix 14, "Divisions of Humanity." + + [30] Triglyph. Literally, "Three Cut." The awkward upright ornament + with two notches in it, and a cut at each side, to be seen + everywhere at the tops of Doric colonnades, ancient and modern. + + [31] Pediment. The triangular space above Greek porticoes, as on the + Mansion House or Royal Exchange. + + [32] Appendix 15: "Instinctive Judgments." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + THE SIX DIVISIONS OF ARCHITECTURE. + + +Sec. I. The practical duties of buildings are twofold. + +They have either (1), to hold and protect something; or (2), to place or +carry something. + +1. Architecture of Protection. This is architecture intended to + protect men or their possessions from violence of any kind, whether + of men or of the elements. It will include all churches, houses, and + treasuries; fortresses, fences, and ramparts; the architecture of the + hut and sheepfold; of the palace and the citadel: of the dyke, + breakwater, and sea-wall. And the protection, when of living + creatures, is to be understood as including commodiousness and + comfort of habitation, wherever these are possible under the given + circumstances. + +2. Architecture of Position. This is architecture intended to carry + men or things to some certain places, or to hold them there. This + will include all bridges, aqueducts, and road architecture; + light-houses, which have to hold light in appointed places; chimneys + to carry smoke or direct currents of air; staircases; towers, which + are to be watched from or cried from, as in mosques, or to hold + bells, or to place men in positions of offence, as ancient moveable + attacking towers, and most fortress towers. + +Sec. II. Protective architecture has to do one or all of three things: +to wall a space, to roof it, and to give access to it, of persons, light, +and air; and it is therefore to be considered under the three divisions +of walls, roofs, and apertures. + +We will take, first, a short, general view of the connection of these +members, and then examine them in detail: endeavoring always to keep the +simplicity of our first arrangement in view; for protective architecture +has indeed no other members than these, unless flooring and paving be +considered architecture, which it is only when the flooring is also a +roof; the laying of the stones or timbers for footing being pavior's or +carpenter's work, rather than architect's; and, at all events, work +respecting the well or ill doing of which we shall hardly find much +difference of opinion, except in points of aesthetics. We shall therefore +concern ourselves only with the construction of walls, roofs, and +apertures. + +Sec. III. 1. _Walls._--A wall is an even and united fence, whether of +wood, earth, stone, or metal. When meant for purposes of mere partition +or enclosure, it remains a wall proper: but it has generally also to +sustain a certain vertical or lateral pressure, for which its strength +is at first increased by some general addition to its thickness; but if +the pressure becomes very great, it is gathered up into _piers_ to +resist vertical pressure, and supported by _buttresses_ to resist +lateral pressure. + +If its functions of partition or enclosure are continued, together with +that of resisting vertical pressure, it remains as a wall veil between +the piers into which it has been partly gathered; but if it is required +only to resist the vertical or roof pressure, it is gathered up into +piers altogether, loses its wall character, and becomes a group or line +of piers. + +On the other hand, if the lateral pressure be slight, it may retain its +character of a wall, being supported against the pressure by buttresses +at intervals; but if the lateral pressure be very great, it is supported +against such pressure by a continuous buttress, loses its wall +character, and becomes a dyke or rampart. + +Sec. IV. We shall have therefore (A) first to get a general idea of a +wall, and of right construction of walls; then (B) to see how this wall +is gathered into piers; and to get a general idea of piers and the +right construction of piers; then (C) to see how a wall is supported by +buttresses, and to get a general idea of buttresses and the right +construction of buttresses. This is surely very simple, and it is all we +shall have to do with walls and their divisions. + +[Illustration: Fig. I.] + +Sec. V. 2. _Roofs._--A roof is the covering of a space, narrow or wide. +It will be most conveniently studied by first considering the forms in +which it may be carried over a narrow space, and then expanding these on +a wide plan; only there is some difficulty here in the nomenclature, for +an arched roof over a narrow space has (I believe) no name, except that +which belongs properly to the piece of stone or wood composing such a +roof, namely, lintel. But the reader will have no difficulty in +understanding that he is first to consider roofs on the section only, +thinking how best to construct a narrow bar or slice of them, of +whatever form; as, for instance, _x_, _y_, or _z_, over the plan or area +_a_, Fig. I. Having done this, let him imagine these several divisions, +first moved along (or set side by side) over a rectangle, _b_, Fig. I., +and then revolved round a point (or crossed at it) over a polygon, _c_, +or circle, _d_, and he will have every form of simple roof: the arched +section giving successively the vaulted roof and dome, and the gabled +section giving the gabled roof and spire. + +As we go farther into the subject, we shall only have to add one or two +forms to the sections here given, in order to embrace all the +_uncombined_ roofs in existence; and we shall not trouble the reader +with many questions respecting cross-vaulting, and other modes of their +combination. + +Sec. VI. Now, it also happens, from its place in buildings, that the +sectional roof over a narrow space will need to be considered before we +come to the expanded roof over a broad one. For when a wall has been +gathered, as above explained, into piers, that it may better bear +vertical pressure, it is generally necessary that it should be expanded +again at the top into a continuous wall before it carries the true roof. +Arches or lintels are, therefore, thrown from pier to pier, and a level +preparation for carrying the real roof is made above them. After we have +examined the structure of piers, therefore, we shall have to see how +lintels or arches are thrown from pier to pier, and the whole prepared +for the superincumbent roof; this arrangement being universal in all +good architecture prepared for vertical pressures: and we shall then +examine the condition of the great roof itself. And because the +structure of the roof very often introduces certain lateral pressures +which have much to do with the placing of buttresses, it will be well to +do all this before we examine the nature of buttresses, and, therefore, +between parts (B) and (C) of the above plan, Sec. IV. So now we shall have +to study: (A) the construction of walls; (B) that of piers; (C) that of +lintels or arches prepared for roofing; (D) that of roofs proper; and +(E) that of buttresses. + +Sec. VII. 3. _Apertures._--There must either be intervals between the +piers, of which intervals the character will be determined by that of +the piers themselves, or else doors or windows in the walls proper. And, +respecting doors or windows, we have to determine three things: first, +the proper shape of the entire aperture; secondly, the way in which it +is to be filled with valves or glass; and thirdly, the modes of +protecting it on the outside, and fitting appliances of convenience to +it, as porches or balconies. And this will be our division F; and if the +reader will have the patience to go through these six heads, which +include every possible feature of protective architecture, and to +consider the simple necessities and fitnesses of each, I will answer for +it, he shall never confound good architecture with bad any more. For, as +to architecture of position, a great part of it involves necessities of +construction with which the spectator cannot become generally +acquainted, and of the compliance with which he is therefore never +expected to judge,--as in chimneys, light-houses, &c.: and the other +forms of it are so closely connected with those of protective +architecture, that a few words in Chap. XIX. respecting staircases and +towers, will contain all with which the reader need be troubled on the +subject. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + THE WALL BASE. + + +Sec. I. Our first business, then, is with Wall, and to find out wherein +lies the true excellence of the "Wittiest Partition." For it is rather +strange that, often as we speak of a "dead" wall, and that with +considerable disgust, we have not often, since Snout's time, heard of a +living one. But the common epithet of opprobrium is justly bestowed, and +marks a right feeling. A wall has no business to be dead. It ought to +have members in its make, and purposes in its existence, like an +organized creature, and to answer its ends in a living and energetic +way; and it is only when we do not choose to put any strength nor +organization into it, that it offends us by its deadness. Every wall +ought to be a "sweet and lovely wall." I do not care about its having +ears; but, for instruction and exhortation, I would often have it to +"hold up its fingers." What its necessary members and excellences are, +it is our present business to discover. + +Sec. II. A wall has been defined to be an even and united fence of wood, +earth, stone, or metal. Metal fences, however, seldom, if ever, take the +form of walls, but of railings; and, like all other metal constructions, +must be left out of our present investigation; as may be also walls +composed merely of light planks or laths for purposes of partition or +inclosure. Substantial walls, whether of wood or earth (I use the word +earth as including clay, baked or unbaked, and stone), have, in their +perfect form, three distinct members;--the Foundation, Body or Veil, and +Cornice. + +Sec. III. The foundation is to the wall what the paw is to an animal. It +is a long foot, wider than the wall, on which the wall is to stand, and +which keeps it from settling into the ground. It is most necessary that +this great element of security should be visible to the eye, and +therefore made a part of the structure above ground. Sometimes, indeed, +it becomes incorporated with the entire foundation of the building, a +vast table on which walls or piers are alike set: but even then, the +eye, taught by the reason, requires some additional preparation or foot +for the wall, and the building is felt to be imperfect without it. This +foundation we shall call the Base of the wall. + +Sec. IV. The body of the wall is of course the principal mass of it, +formed of mud or clay, of bricks or stones, of logs or hewn timber; the +condition of structure being, that it is of equal thickness everywhere, +below and above. It may be half a foot thick, or six feet thick, or +fifty feet thick; but if of equal thickness everywhere, it is still a +wall proper: if to its fifty feet of proper thickness there be added so +much as an inch of thickness in particular parts, that added thickness +is to be considered as some form of buttress or pier, or other +appliance.[33] + +In perfect architecture, however, the walls are generally kept of +moderate thickness, and strengthened by piers or buttresses; and the +part of the wall between these, being generally intended only to secure +privacy, or keep out the slighter forces of weather, may be properly +called a Wall Veil. I shall always use this word "Veil" to signify the +even portion of a wall, it being more expressive than the term Body. + +Sec. V. When the materials with which this veil is built are very loose, +or of shapes which do not fit well together, it sometimes becomes +necessary, or at least adds to security, to introduce courses of more +solid material. Thus, bricks alternate with rolled pebbles in the old +walls of Verona, and hewn stones with brick in its Lombard churches. A +banded structure, almost a stratification of the wall, is thus produced; +and the courses of more solid material are sometimes decorated with +carving. Even when the wall is not thus banded through its whole height, +it frequently becomes expedient to lay a course of stone, or at least of +more carefully chosen materials, at regular heights; and such belts or +bands we may call String courses. These are a kind of epochs in the +wall's existence; something like periods of rest and reflection in human +life, before entering on a new career. Or else, in the building, they +correspond to the divisions of its stories within, express its internal +structure, and mark off some portion of the ends of its existence +already attained. + +Sec. VI. Finally, on the top of the wall some protection from the weather +is necessary, or some preparation for the reception of superincumbent +weight, called a coping, or Cornice. I shall use the word Cornice for +both; for, in fact, a coping is a roof to the wall itself, and is +carried by a small cornice as the roof of the building by a large one. +In either case, the cornice, small or large, is the termination of the +wall's existence, the accomplishment of its work. When it is meant to +carry some superincumbent weight, the cornice may be considered as its +hand, opened to carry something above its head; as the base was +considered its foot: and the three parts should grow out of each other +and form one whole, like the root, stalk, and bell of a flower. + +These three parts we shall examine in succession; and, first, the Base. + +Sec. VII. It may be sometimes in our power, and it is always expedient, +to prepare for the whole building some settled foundation, level and +firm, out of sight. But this has not been done in some of the noblest +buildings in existence. It cannot always be done perfectly, except at +enormous expense; and, in reasoning upon the superstructure, we shall +never suppose it to be done. The mind of the spectator does not +conceive it; and he estimates the merits of the edifice on the +supposition of its being built upon the ground. Even if there be a vast +table land of foundation elevated for the whole of it, accessible by +steps all round, as at Pisa, the surface of this table is always +conceived as capable of yielding somewhat to superincumbent weight, and +generally is so; and we shall base all our arguments on the widest +possible supposition, that is to say, that the building stands on a +surface either of earth, or, at all events, capable of yielding in some +degree to its weight. + +[Illustration: Fig. II.] + +Sec. VIII. Now, let the reader simply ask himself how, on such a surface, +he would set about building a substantial wall, that should be able to +bear weight and to stand for ages. He would assuredly look about for the +largest stones he had at his disposal, and, rudely levelling the ground, +he would lay these well together over a considerably larger width than +he required the wall to be (suppose as at _a_, Fig. II.), in order to +equalise the pressure of the wall over a large surface, and form its +foot. On the top of these he would perhaps lay a second tier of large +stones, _b_, or even the third, _c_, making the breadth somewhat less +each time, so as to prepare for the pressure of the wall on the centre, +and, naturally or necessarily, using somewhat smaller stones above than +below (since we supposed him to look about for the largest first), and +cutting them more neatly. His third tier, if not his second, will +probably appear a sufficiently secure foundation for finer work; for if +the earth yield at all, it will probably yield pretty equally under the +great mass of masonry now knit together over it. So he will prepare for +the wall itself at once by sloping off the next tier of stones to the +right diameter, as at _d_. If there be any joints in this tier within +the wall, he may perhaps, for further security, lay a binding stone +across them, _e_, and then begin the work of the wall veil itself, +whether in bricks or stones. + +Sec. IX. I have supposed the preparation here to be for a large wall, +because such a preparation will give us the best general type. But it is +evident that the essential features of the arrangement are only two, +that is to say, one tier of massy work for foundation, suppose _c_, +missing the first two; and the receding tier or real foot of the wall, +_d_. The reader will find these members, though only of brick, in most +of the considerable and independent walls in the suburbs of London. + +Sec. X. It is evident, however, that the general type, Fig. II., will +be subject to many different modifications in different circumstances. +Sometimes the ledges of the tiers _a_ and _b_ may be of greater width; +and when the building is in a secure place, and of finished masonry, +these may be sloped off also like the main foot _d_. In Venetian +buildings these lower ledges are exposed to the sea, and therefore left +rough hewn; but in fine work and in important positions the lower ledges +may be bevelled and decorated like the upper, or another added above +_d_; and all these parts may be in different proportions, according to +the disposition of the building above them. But we have nothing to do +with any of these variations at present, they being all more or less +dependent upon decorative considerations, except only one of very great +importance, that is to say, the widening of the lower ledge into a stone +seat, which may be often done in buildings of great size with most +beautiful effect: it looks kind and hospitable, and preserves the work +above from violence. In St. Mark's at Venice, which is a small and low +church, and needing no great foundation for the wall veils of it, we +find only the three members, _b_, _c_, and _d_. Of these the first rises +about a foot above the pavement of St. Mark's Place, and forms an +elevated dais in some of the recesses of the porches, chequered red and +white; _c_ forms a seat which follows the line of the walls, while its +basic character is marked by its also carrying certain shafts with +which we have here no concern; _d_ is of white marble; and all are +enriched and decorated in the simplest and most perfect manner possible, +as we shall see in Chap. XXV. And thus much may serve to fix the type of +wall bases, a type oftener followed in real practice than any other we +shall hereafter be enabled to determine: for wall bases of necessity +must be solidly built, and the architect is therefore driven into the +adoption of the right form; or if he deviate from it, it is generally in +meeting some necessity of peculiar circumstances, as in obtaining +cellars and underground room, or in preparing for some grand features or +particular parts of the wall, or in some mistaken idea of +decoration,--into which errors we had better not pursue him until we +understand something more of the rest of the building: let us therefore +proceed to consider the wall veil. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [33] Many walls are slightly sloped or curved towards their tops, + and have buttresses added to them (that of the Queen's Bench Prison + is a curious instance of the vertical buttress and inclined wall); + but in all such instances the slope of the wall is properly to be + considered a condition of incorporated buttress. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + THE WALL VEIL. + + +Sec. I. The summer of the year 1849 was spent by the writer in researches +little bearing upon his present subject, and connected chiefly with +proposed illustrations of the mountain forms in the works of J. M. W. +Turner. But there are sometimes more valuable lessons to be learned in +the school of nature than in that of Vitruvius, and a fragment of +building among the Alps is singularly illustrative of the chief feature +which I have at present to develope as necessary to the perfection of +the wall veil. + +It is a fragment of some size; a group of broken walls, one of them +overhanging; crowned with a cornice, nodding some hundred and fifty feet +over its massy flank, three thousand above its glacier base, and +fourteen thousand above the sea,--a wall truly of some majesty, at once +the most precipitous and the strongest mass in the whole chain of the +Alps, the Mont Cervin. + +Sec. II. It has been falsely represented as a peak or tower. It is a vast +ridged promontory, connected at its western root with the Dent d'Erin, +and lifting itself like a rearing horse with its face to the east. All +the way along the flank of it, for half a day's journey on the Zmutt +glacier, the grim black terraces of its foundations range almost without +a break; and the clouds, when their day's work is done, and they are +weary, lay themselves down on those foundation steps, and rest till +dawn, each with his leagues of grey mantle stretched along the grisly +ledge, and the cornice of the mighty wall gleaming in the moonlight, +three thousand feet above. + +Sec. III. The eastern face of the promontory is hewn down, as if by the +single sweep of a sword, from the crest of it to the base; hewn concave +and smooth, like the hollow of a wave: on each flank of it there is set +a buttress, both of about equal height, their heads sloped out from the +main wall about seven hundred feet below its summit. That on the north +is the most important; it is as sharp as the frontal angle of a bastion, +and sloped sheer away to the north-east, throwing out spur beyond spur, +until it terminates in a long low curve of russet precipice, at whose +foot a great bay of the glacier of the Col de Cervin lies as level as a +lake. This spur is one of the few points from which the mass of the Mont +Cervin is in anywise approachable. It is a continuation of the masonry +of the mountain itself, and affords us the means of examining the +character of its materials. + +Sec. IV. Few architects would like to build with them. The slope of the +rocks to the north-west is covered two feet deep with their ruins, a +mass of loose and slaty shale, of a dull brick-red color, which yields +beneath the foot like ashes, so that, in running down, you step one +yard, and slide three. The rock is indeed hard beneath, but still +disposed in thin courses of these cloven shales, so finely laid that +they look in places more like a heap of crushed autumn leaves than a +rock; and the first sensation is one of unmitigated surprise, as if the +mountain were upheld by miracle; but surprise becomes more intelligent +reverence for the great builder, when we find, in the middle of the mass +of these dead leaves, a course of living rock, of quartz as white as the +snow that encircles it, and harder than a bed of steel. + +Sec. V. It is one only of a thousand iron bands that knit the strength +of the mighty mountain. Through the buttress and the wall alike, the +courses of its varied masonry are seen in their successive order, smooth +and true as if laid by line and plummet,[34] but of thickness and +strength continually varying, and with silver cornices glittering along +the edge of each, laid by the snowy winds and carved by the +sunshine,--stainless ornaments of the eternal temple, by which "neither +the hammer nor the axe, nor any tool, was heard while it was in +building." + +Sec. VI. I do not, however, bring this forward as an instance of any +universal law of natural building; there are solid as well as coursed +masses of precipice, but it is somewhat curious that the most noble +cliff in Europe, which this eastern front of the Cervin is, I believe, +without dispute, should be to us an example of the utmost possible +stability of precipitousness attained with materials of imperfect and +variable character; and, what is more, there are very few cliffs which +do not display alternations between compact and friable conditions of +their material, marked in their contours by bevelled slopes when the +bricks are soft, and vertical steps when they are harder. And, although +we are not hence to conclude that it is well to introduce courses of bad +materials when we can get perfect material, I believe we may conclude +with great certainty that it is better and easier to strengthen a wall +necessarily of imperfect substance, as of brick, by introducing +carefully laid courses of stone, than by adding to its thickness; and +the first impression we receive from the unbroken aspect of a wall veil, +unless it be of hewn stone throughout, is that it must be both thicker +and weaker than it would have been, had it been properly coursed. The +decorative reasons for adopting the coursed arrangement, which we shall +notice hereafter, are so weighty, that they would alone be almost +sufficient to enforce it; and the constructive ones will apply +universally, except in the rare cases in which the choice of perfect or +imperfect material is entirely open to us, or where the general system +of the decoration of the building requires absolute unity in its +surface. + +[Illustration: Fig. III.] + +Sec. VII. As regards the arrangement of the intermediate parts themselves, +it is regulated by certain conditions of bonding and fitting the stones +or bricks, which the reader need hardly be troubled to consider, and +which I wish that bricklayers themselves were always honest enough to +observe. But I hardly know whether to note under the head of aesthetic +or constructive law, this important principle, that masonry is always +bad which appears to have arrested the attention of the architect more +than absolute conditions of strength require. Nothing is more +contemptible in any work than an appearance of the slightest desire on +the part of the builder to _direct attention_ to the way its stones are +put together, or of any trouble taken either to show or to conceal it +more than was rigidly necessary: it may sometimes, on the one hand, be +necessary to conceal it as far as may be, by delicate and close fitting, +when the joints would interfere with lines of sculpture or of mouldings; +and it may often, on the other hand, be delightful to show it, as it is +delightful in places to show the anatomy even of the most delicate human +frame: but _studiously_ to conceal it is the error of vulgar painters, +who are afraid to show that their figures have bones; and studiously to +display it is the error of the base pupils of Michael Angelo, who turned +heroes' limbs into surgeons' diagrams,--but with less excuse than +theirs, for there is less interest in the anatomy displayed. Exhibited +masonry is in most cases the expedient of architects who do not know how +to fill up blank spaces, and many a building, which would have been +decent enough if let alone, has been scrawled over with straight lines, +as in Fig. III., on exactly the same principles, and with just the same +amount of intelligence as a boy's in scrawling his copy-book when he +cannot write. The device was thought ingenious at one period of +architectural history; St. Paul's and Whitehall are covered with it, and +it is in this I imagine that some of our modern architects suppose the +great merit of those buildings to consist. There is, however, no excuse +for errors in disposition of masonry, for there is but one law upon the +subject, and that easily complied with, to avoid all affectation and +all unnecessary expense, either in showing or concealing. Every one +knows a building is built of separate stones; nobody will ever object to +seeing that it is so, but nobody wants to count them. The divisions of a +church are much like the divisions of a sermon; they are always right so +long as they are necessary to edification, and always wrong when they +are thrust upon the attention as divisions only. There may be neatness +in carving when there is richness in feasting; but I have heard many a +discourse, and seen many a church wall, in which it was all carving and +no meat. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [34] On the eastern side: violently contorted on the northern and + western. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + THE WALL CORNICE. + + +Sec. I. We have lastly to consider the close of the wall's existence, or +its cornice. It was above stated, that a cornice has one of two offices: +if the wall have nothing to carry, the cornice is its roof, and defends +it from the weather; if there is weight to be carried above the wall, +the cornice is its hand, and is expanded to carry the said weight. + +There are several ways of roofing or protecting independent walls, +according to the means nearest at hand: sometimes the wall has a true +roof all to itself; sometimes it terminates in a small gabled ridge, +made of bricks set slanting, as constantly in the suburbs of London; or +of hewn stone, in stronger work; or in a single sloping face, inclined +to the outside. We need not trouble ourselves at present about these +small roofings, which are merely the diminutions of large ones; but we +must examine the important and constant member of the wall structure, +which prepares it either for these small roofs or for weights above, and +is its true cornice. + +Sec. II. The reader will, perhaps, as heretofore, be kind enough to think +for himself, how, having carried up his wall veil as high as it may be +needed, he will set about protecting it from weather, or preparing it +for weight. Let him imagine the top of the unfinished wall, as it would +be seen from above with all the joints, perhaps uncemented, or +imperfectly filled up with cement, open to the sky; and small broken +materials filling gaps between large ones, and leaving cavities ready +for the rain to soak into, and loosen and dissolve the cement, and +split, as it froze, the whole to pieces. I am much mistaken if his +first impulse would not be to take a great flat stone and lay it on the +top; or rather a series of such, side by side, projecting well over the +edge of the wall veil. If, also, he proposed to lay a weight (as, for +instance, the end of a beam) on the wall, he would feel at once that the +pressure of this beam on, or rather among, the small stones of the wall +veil, might very possibly dislodge or disarrange some of them; and the +first impulse would be, in this case, also to lay a large flat stone on +the top of all to receive the beam, or any other weight, and distribute +it equally among the small stones below, as at _a_, Fig. IV. + +[Illustration: Fig. IV.] + +Sec. III. We must therefore have our flat stone in either case; and let +_b_, Fig. IV., be the section or side of it, as it is set across the +wall. Now, evidently, if by any chance this weight happen to be thrown +more on the edges of this stone than the centre, there will be a chance +of these edges breaking off. Had we not better, therefore, put another +stone, sloped off to the wall, beneath the projecting one, as at _c_. +But now our cornice looks somewhat too heavy for the wall; and as the +upper stone is evidently of needless thickness, we will thin it +somewhat, and we have the form _d_. Now observe: the lower or bevelled +stone here at _d_ corresponds to _d_ in the base (Fig. II., page 59). +That was the foot of the wall; this is its hand. And the top stone here, +which is a constant member of cornices, corresponds to the under stone +_c_, in Fig. II., which is a constant member of bases. The reader has no +idea at present of the enormous importance of these members; but as we +shall have to refer to them perpetually, I must ask him to compare them, +and fix their relations well in his mind: and, for convenience, I shall +call the bevelled or sloping stone, X, and the upright edged stone, Y. +The reader may remember easily which is which; for X is an intersection +of two slopes, and may therefore properly mean either of the two sloping +stones; and Y is a figure with a perpendicular line and two slopes, and +may therefore fitly stand for the upright stone in relation to each of +the sloping ones; and as we shall have to say much more about cornices +than about bases, let X and Y stand for the stones of the cornice, and +Xb and Yb for those of the base, when distinction is needed. + +[Illustration: Fig. V.] + +Sec. IV. Now the form at _d_, Fig. IV., is the great root and primal type +of all cornices whatsoever. In order to see what forms may be developed +from it, let us take its profile a little larger--_a_, Fig. V., with X +and Y duly marked. Now this form, being the root of all cornices, may +either have to finish the wall and so keep off rain; or, as so often +stated, to carry weight. If the former, it is evident that, in its +present profile, the rain will run back down the slope of X; and if the +latter, that the sharp angle or edge of X, at _k_, may be a little too +weak for its work, and run a chance of giving way. To avoid the evil in +the first case, suppose we hollow the slope of X inwards, as at _b_; and +to avoid it in the second case, suppose we strengthen X by letting it +bulge outwards, as at c. + +Sec. V. These (_b_ and _c_) are the profiles of two vast families of +cornices, springing from the same root, which, with a third arising +from their combination (owing its origin to aesthetic considerations, and +inclining sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other), have been +employed, each on its third part of the architecture of the whole world +throughout all ages, and must continue to be so employed through such +time as is yet to come. We do not at present speak of the third or +combined group; but the relation of the two main branches to each other, +and to the line of origin, is given at _e_, Fig. V.; where the dotted +lines are the representatives of the two families, and the straight line +of the root. The slope of this right line, as well as the nature of the +curves, here drawn as segments of circles, we leave undetermined: the +slope, as well as the proportion of the depths of X and Y to each other, +vary according to the weight to be carried, the strength of the stone, +the size of the cornice, and a thousand other accidents; and the nature +of the curves according to aesthetic laws. It is in these infinite fields +that the invention of the architect is permitted to expatiate, but not +in the alteration of primitive forms. + +Sec. VI. But to proceed. It will doubtless appear to the reader, that, +even allowing for some of these permissible variations in the curve or +slope of X, neither the form at _b_, nor any approximation to that form, +would be sufficiently undercut to keep the rain from running back upon it. +This is true; but we have to consider that the cornice, as the close of +the wall's life, is of all its features that which is best fitted for +honor and ornament. It has been esteemed so by almost all builders, and +has been lavishly decorated in modes hereafter to be considered. But it +is evident that, as it is high above the eye, the fittest place to +receive the decoration is the slope of X, which is inclined towards the +spectator; and if we cut away or hollow out this slope more than we have +done at _b_, all decoration will be hid in the shadow. If, therefore, +the climate be fine, and rain of long continuance not to be dreaded, we +shall not hollow the stone X further, adopting the curve at _b_ merely +as the most protective in our power. But if the climate be one in which +rain is frequent and dangerous, as in alternations with frost, we may be +compelled to consider the cornice in a character distinctly protective, +and to hollow out X farther, so as to enable it thoroughly to accomplish +its purpose. A cornice thus treated loses its character as the crown or +honor of the wall, takes the office of its protector, and is called a +DRIPSTONE. The dripstone is naturally the attribute of Northern +buildings, and therefore especially of Gothic architecture; the true +cornice is the attribute of Southern buildings, and therefore of Greek +and Italian architecture; and it is one of their peculiar beauties, and +eminent features of superiority. + +Sec. VII. Before passing to the dripstone, however, let us examine a +little farther into the nature of the true cornice. We cannot, indeed, +render either of the forms _b_ or _c_, Fig. V., perfectly protective from +rain, but we can help them a little in their duty by a slight advance of +their upper ledge. This, with the form _b_, we can best manage by cutting +off the sharp upper point of its curve, which is evidently weak and +useless; and we shall have the form _f_. By a slight advance of the upper +stone _c_, we shall have the parallel form _g_. + +These two cornices, _f_ and _g_, are characteristic of early Byzantine +work, and are found on all the most lovely examples of it in Venice. The +type _a_ is rarer, but occurs pure in the most exquisite piece of +composition in Venice--the northern portico of St. Mark's; and will be +given in due time. + +Sec. VIII. Now the reader has doubtless noticed that these forms of +cornice result, from considerations of fitness and necessity, far more +neatly and decisively than the forms of the base, which we left only +very generally determined. The reason is, that there are many ways of +building foundations, and many _good_ ways, dependent upon the peculiar +accidents of the ground and nature of accessible materials. There is +also room to spare in width, and a chance of a part of the arrangement +being concealed by the ground, so as to modify height. But we have no +room to spare in width on the top of a wall, and all that we do must be +thoroughly visible; and we can but have to deal with bricks, or stones +of a certain degree of fineness, and not with mere gravel, or sand, or +clay,--so that as the conditions are limited, the forms become +determined; and our steps will be more clear and certain the farther we +advance. The sources of a river are usually half lost among moss and +pebbles, and its first movements doubtful in direction; but, as the +current gathers force, its banks are determined, and its branches are +numbered. + +Sec. IX. So far of the true cornice: we have still to determine the form +of the dripstone. + +[Illustration: Fig. VI.] + +We go back to our primal type or root of cornice, _a_ of Fig. V. We take +this at _a_ in Fig. VI., and we are to consider it entirely as a +protection against rain. Now the only way in which the rain can be kept +from running back on the slope of X is by a bold hollowing out of it +upwards, _b_. But clearly, by thus doing, we shall so weaken the +projecting part of it that the least shock would break it at the neck, +_c_; we must therefore cut the whole out of one stone, which will give +us the form _d_. That the water may not lodge on the upper ledge of +this, we had better round it off; and it will better protect the joint +at the bottom of the slope if we let the stone project over it in a +roll, cutting the recess deeper above. These two changes are made in +_e_: _e_ is the type of dripstones; the projecting part being, however, +more or less rounded into an approximation to the shape of a falcon's +beak, and often reaching it completely. But the essential part of the +arrangement is the up and under cutting of the curve. Wherever we find +this, we are sure that the climate is wet, or that the builders have +been _bred_ in a wet country, and that the rest of the building will be +prepared for rough weather. The up cutting of the curve is sometimes all +the distinction between the mouldings of far-distant countries and +utterly strange nations. + +[Illustration: Fig. VII.] + +Fig. VII. representing a moulding with an outer and inner curve, the +latter undercut. Take the outer line, and this moulding is one constant +in Venice, in architecture traceable to Arabian types, and chiefly to +the early mosques of Cairo. But take the inner line; it is a dripstone +at Salisbury. In that narrow interval between the curves there is, when +we read it rightly, an expression of another and mightier curve,--the +orbed sweep of the earth and sea, between the desert of the Pyramids, +and the green and level fields through which the clear streams of Sarum +wind so slowly. + +[Illustration: Fig. VIII.] + +And so delicate is the test, that though pure cornices are often found +in the north,--borrowed from classical models,--so surely as we find a +true dripstone moulding in the South, the influence of Northern builders +has been at work; and this will be one of the principal evidences which +I shall use in detecting Lombard influence on Arab work; for the true +Byzantine and Arab mouldings are all open to the sky and light, but the +Lombards brought with them from the North the fear of rain, and in all +the Lombardic Gothic we instantly recognize the shadowy dripstone: _a_, +Fig. VIII., is from a noble fragment at Milan, in the Piazza dei +Mercanti; _b_, from the Broletto of Como. Compare them with _c_ and +_d_; both from Salisbury; _e_ and _f_ from Lisieux, Normandy; _g_ and +_h_ from Wenlock Abbey, Shropshire. + +Sec. X. The reader is now master of all that he need know about the +construction of the general wall cornice, fitted either to become a +crown of the wall, or to carry weight above. If, however, the weight +above become considerable, it may be necessary to support the cornice at +intervals with brackets; especially if it be required to project far, as +well as to carry weight; as, for instance, if there be a gallery on top +of the wall. This kind of bracket-cornice, deep or shallow, forms a +separate family, essentially connected with roofs and galleries; for if +there be no superincumbent weight, it is evidently absurd to put +brackets to a plain cornice or dripstone (though this is sometimes done +in carrying out a style); so that, as soon as we see a bracket put to a +cornice, it implies, or should imply, that there is a roof or gallery +above it. Hence this family of cornices I shall consider in connection +with roofing, calling them "roof cornices," while what we have hitherto +examined are proper "wall cornices." The roof cornice and wall cornice +are therefore treated in division D. + +We are not, however, as yet nearly ready for our roof. We have only +obtained that which was to be the object of our first division (A); we +have got, that is to say, a general idea of a wall and of the three +essential parts of a wall; and we have next, it will be remembered, to +get an idea of a pier and the essential parts of a pier, which were to +be the subjects of our second division (B). + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + THE PIER BASE. + + +Sec. I. In Sec. III. of Chap. III., it was stated that when a wall had to +sustain an addition of vertical pressure, it was first fitted to sustain +it by some addition to its own thickness; but if the pressure became +very great, by being gathered up into PIERS. + +I must first make the reader understand what I mean by a wall's being +gathered up. Take a piece of tolerably thick drawing-paper, or thin +Bristol board, five or six inches square. Set it on its edge on the +table, and put a small octavo book on the edge or top of it, and it will +bend instantly. Tear it into four strips all across, and roll up each +strip tightly. Set these rolls on end on the table, and they will carry +the small octavo perfectly well. Now the thickness or substance of the +paper employed to carry the weight is exactly the same as it was before, +only it is differently arranged, that is to say, "gathered up."[35] If +therefore a wall be gathered up like the Bristol board, it will bear +greater weight than it would if it remained a wall veil. The sticks into +which you gather it are called _Piers_. A pier is a coagulated wall. + +Sec. II. Now you cannot quite treat the wall as you did the Bristol board, +and twist it up at once; but let us see how you _can_ treat it. Let A, +Fig. IX., be the plan of a wall which you have made inconveniently and +expensively thick, and which still appears to be slightly too weak for +what it must carry: divide it, as at B, into equal spaces, _a_, _b_, +_a_, _b_, &c. Cut out a thin slice of it at every _a_ on each side, and +put the slices you cut out on at every _b_ on each side, and you will +have the plan at B, with exactly the same quantity of bricks. But your +wall is now so much concentrated, that, if it was only slightly too weak +before, it will be stronger now than it need be; so you may spare some +of your space as well as your bricks by cutting off the corners of the +thicker parts, as suppose _c_, _c_, _c_, _c_, at C: and you have now a +series of square piers connected by a wall veil, which, on less space +and with less materials, will do the work of the wall at A perfectly +well. + +[Illustration: Fig. IX.] + +Sec. III. I do not say _how much_ may be cut away in the corners _c_, +_c_,--that is a mathematical question with which we need not trouble +ourselves: all that we need know is, that out of every slice we take +from the "_b_'s" and put on at the "_a_'s," we may keep a certain +percentage of room and bricks, until, supposing that we do not want the +wall veil for its own sake, this latter is thinned entirely away, like +the girdle of the Lady of Avenel, and finally breaks, and we have +nothing but a row of square piers, D. + +Sec. IV. But have we yet arrived at the form which will spare most room, +and use fewest materials. No; and to get farther we must apply the +general principle to our wall, which is equally true in morals and +mathematics, that the strength of materials, or of men, or of minds, is +always most available when it is applied as closely as possible to a +single point. + +Let the point to which we wish the strength of our square piers to be +applied, be chosen. Then we shall of course put them directly under it, +and the point will be in their centre. But now some of their materials +are not so near or close to this point as others. Those at the corners +are farther off than the rest. + +Now, if every particle of the pier be brought as near as possible to the +centre of it, the form it assumes is the circle. + +The circle must be, therefore, the best possible form of plan for a +pier, from the beginning of time to the end of it. A circular pier is +called a pillar or column, and all good architecture adapted to vertical +support is made up of pillars, has always been so, and must ever be so, +as long as the laws of the universe hold. + +The final condition is represented at E, in its relation to that at D. +It will be observed that though each circle projects a little beyond the +side of the square out of which it is formed, the space cut off at the +angles is greater than that added at the sides; for, having our +materials in a more concentrated arrangement, we can afford to part with +some of them in this last transformation, as in all the rest. + +Sec. V. And now, what have the base and the cornice of the wall been doing +while we have been cutting the veil to pieces and gathering it together? + +The base is also cut to pieces, gathered together, and becomes the base +of the column. + +The cornice is cut to pieces, gathered together, and becomes the capital +of the column. Do not be alarmed at the new word, it does not mean a new +thing; a capital is only the cornice of a column, and you may, if you +like, call a cornice the capital of a wall. + +We have now, therefore, to examine these three concentrated forms of the +base, veil, and cornice: first, the concentrated base, still called the +BASE of the column; then the concentrated veil, called the SHAFT of the +column; then the concentrated cornice, called the CAPITAL of the column. + +And first the Base:-- + +[Illustration: Fig. X.] + +Sec. VI. Look back to the main type, Fig. II., page 55, and apply its +profiles in due proportion to the feet of the pillars at E in Fig. IX. +p. 72: If each step in Fig. II. were gathered accurately, the projection +of the entire circular base would be less in proportion to its height +than it is in Fig. II.; but the approximation to the result in Fig. X. +is quite accurate enough for our purposes. (I pray the reader to observe +that I have not made the smallest change, except this necessary +expression of a reduction in diameter, in Fig. II. as it is applied in +Fig. X., only I have not drawn the joints of the stones because these +would confuse the outlines of the bases; and I have not represented the +rounding of the shafts, because it does not bear at present on the +argument.) Now it would hardly be convenient, if we had to pass between +the pillars, to have to squeeze ourselves through one of those angular +gaps or breches de Roland in Fig. X. Our first impulse would be to cut +them open; but we cannot do this, or our piers are unsafe. We have but +one other resource, to fill them up until we have a floor wide enough to +let us pass easily: this we may perhaps obtain at the first ledge, we +are nearly sure to get it at the second, and we may then obtain access +to the raised interval, either by raising the earth over the lower +courses of foundation, or by steps round the entire building. + +Fig. XI. is the arrangement of Fig. X. so treated. + +[Illustration: Fig. XI.] + +Sec. VII. But suppose the pillars are so vast that the lowest chink in +Fig. X. would be quite wide enough to let us pass through it. Is there +then any reason for filling it up? Yes. It will be remembered that in +Chap. IV. Sec. VIII. the chief reason for the wide foundation of the +wall was stated to be "that it might equalise its pressure over a large +surface;" but when the foundation is cut to pieces as in Fig. X., the +pressure is thrown on a succession of narrowed and detached spaces of +that surface. If the ground is in some places more disposed to yield than +in others, the piers in those places will sink more than the rest, and +this distortion of the system will be probably of more importance in +pillars than in a wall, because the adjustment of the weight above is more +delicate; we thus actually want the _weight_ of the stones between the +pillars, in order that the whole foundation may be bonded into one, and +sink together if it sink at all: and the more massy the pillars, the +more we shall need to fill the intervals of their foundations. In the +best form of Greek architecture, the intervals are filled up to the root +of the shaft, and the columns have no independent base; they stand on +the even floor of their foundation. + +Sec. VIII. Such a structure is not only admissible, but, when the column +is of great thickness in proportion to its height, and the sufficient +firmness, either of the ground or prepared floor, is evident, it is the +best of all, having a strange dignity in its excessive simplicity. It +is, or ought to be, connected in our minds with the deep meaning of +primeval memorial. "And Jacob took the stone that he had put for his +pillow, and set it up for a pillar." I do not fancy that he put a base +for it first. If you try to put a base to the rock-piers of Stonehenge, +you will hardly find them improved; and two of the most perfect +buildings in the world, the Parthenon and Ducal palace of Venice, have +no bases to their pillars: the latter has them, indeed, to its upper +arcade shafts; and had once, it is said, a continuous raised base for +its lower ones: but successive elevations of St. Mark's Place have +covered this base, and parts of the shafts themselves, with an +inundation of paving stones; and yet the building is, I doubt not, as +grand as ever. Finally, the two most noble pillars in Venice, those +brought from Acre, stand on the smooth marble surface of the Piazzetta, +with no independent bases whatever. They are rather broken away beneath, +so that you may look under parts of them, and stand (not quite erect, +but leaning somewhat) safe by their own massy weight. Nor could any +bases possibly be devised that would not spoil them. + +Sec. IX. But it is otherwise if the pillar be so slender as to look +doubtfully balanced. It would indeed stand quite as safely without an +independent base as it would with one (at least, unless the base be in +the form of a socket). But it will not appear so safe to the eye. And +here for the first time, I have to express and apply a principle, which +I believe the reader will at once grant,--that features necessary to +express security to the imagination, are often as essential parts of +good architecture as those required for security itself. It was said +that the wall base was the foot or paw of the wall. Exactly in the same +way, and with clearer analogy, the pier base is the foot or paw of the +pier. Let us, then, take a hint from nature. A foot has two offices, to +bear up, and to hold firm. As far as it has to bear up, it is uncloven, +with slight projection,--look at an elephant's (the Doric base of +animality);[36] but as far as it has to hold firm, it is divided and +clawed, with wide projections,--look at an eagle's. + +Sec. X. Now observe. In proportion to the massiness of the column, we +require its foot to express merely the power of bearing up; in fact, it +can do without a foot, like the Squire in Chevy Chase, if the ground +only be hard enough. But if the column be slender, and look as if it +might lose its balance, we require it to look as if it had hold of the +ground, or the ground hold of it, it does not matter which,--some +expression of claw, prop, or socket. Now let us go back to Fig. XI., and +take up one of the bases there, in the state in which we left it. We may +leave out the two lower steps (with which we have nothing more to do, as +they have become the united floor or foundation of the whole), and, for +the sake of greater clearness, I shall not draw the bricks in the shaft, +nor the flat stone which carries them, though the reader is to suppose +them remaining as drawn in Fig. XI.; but I shall only draw the shaft and +its two essential members of base, Xb and Yb, as explained at p. 65, +above: and now, expressing the rounding of these numbers on _a_ somewhat +larger scale, we have the profile _a_, Fig. XII.; _b_, the perspective +appearance of such a base seen from above; and _c_, the plan of it. + +Sec. XI. Now I am quite sure the reader is not satisfied of the stability +of this form as it is seen at _b_; nor would he ever be so with the main +contour of a circular base. Observe, we have taken some trouble to +reduce the member Yb into this round form, and all that we have gained +by so doing, is this unsatisfactory and unstable look of the base; of +which the chief reason is, that a circle, unless enclosed by right +lines, has never an appearance of fixture, or definite place,[37]--we +suspect it of motion, like an orb of heaven; and the second is, that the +whole base, considered as the foot of the shaft, has no grasp nor hold: +it is a club-foot, and looks too blunt for the limb,--it wants at least +expansion, if not division. + +[Illustration: Fig. XII.] + +Sec. XII. Suppose, then, instead of taking so much trouble with the +member Yb, we save time and labor, and leave it a square block. Xb must, +however, evidently follow the pillar, as its condition is that it slope +to the very base of the wall veil, and of whatever the wall veil +becomes. So the corners of Yb will project beyond the circle of Xb, and +we shall have (Fig. XII.) the profile _d_, the perspective appearance +_e_, and the plan _f_. I am quite sure the reader likes _e_ much better +than he did _b_. The circle is now placed, and we are not afraid of its +rolling away. The foot has greater expansion, and we have saved labor +besides, with little loss of space, for the interval between the bases +is just as great as it was before,--we have only filled up the corners +of the squares. + +But is it not possible to mend the form still further? There is surely +still an appearance of separation between Xb and Yb, as if the one might +slip off the other. The foot is expanded enough; but it needs some +expression of grasp as well. It has no toes. Suppose we were to put a +spur or prop to Xb at each corner, so as to hold it fast in the centre +of Yb. We will do this in the simplest possible form. We will have the +spur, or small buttress, sloping straight from the corner of Yb up to +the top of Xb, and as seen from above, of the shape of a triangle. +Applying such spurs in Fig. XII., we have the diagonal profile at _g_, +the perspective _h_, and the plan _i_. + +Sec. XIII. I am quite sure the reader likes this last base the best, +and feels as if it were the firmest. But he must carefully distinguish +between this feeling or imagination of the eye, and the real stability +of the structure. That this real stability has been slightly increased +by the changes between _b_ and _h_, in Fig. XII., is true. There is in +the base _h_ somewhat less chance of accidental dislocation, and +somewhat greater solidity and weight. But this very slight gain of +security is of no importance whatever when compared with the general +requirements of the structure. The pillar must be _perfectly_ secure, +and more than secure, with the base _b_, or the building will be unsafe, +whatever other base you put to the pillar. The changes are made, not for +the sake of the almost inappreciable increase of security they involve, +but in order to convince the eye of the real security which the base _b_ +_appears_ to compromise. This is especially the case with regard to the +props or spurs, which are absolutely useless in reality, but are of the +highest importance as an expression of safety. And this will farther +appear when we observe that they have been above quite arbitrarily +supposed to be of a triangular form. Why triangular? Why should not the +spur be made wider and stronger, so as to occupy the whole width of the +angle of the square, and to become a complete expansion of Xb to the +edge of the square? Simply because, whatever its width, it has, in +reality, no supporting power whatever; and the _expression_ of support +is greatest where it assumes a form approximating to that of the spur or +claw of an animal. We shall, however, find hereafter, that it ought +indeed to be much wider than it is in Fig. XII., where it is narrowed in +order to make its structure clearly intelligible. + +Sec. XIV. If the reader chooses to consider this spur as an aesthetic +feature altogether, he is at liberty to do so, and to transfer what we +have here said of it to the beginning of Chap. XXV. I think that its +true place is here, as an _expression_ of safety, and not a means of +beauty; but I will assume only, as established, the form _e_ of Fig. +XII., which is absolutely, as a construction, easier, stronger, and more +perfect than _b_. A word or two now of its materials. The wall base, it +will be remembered, was built of stones more neatly cut as they were +higher in place; and the members, Y and X, of the pier base, were the +highest members of the wall base gathered. But, exactly in proportion to +this gathering or concentration in form, should, if possible, be the +gathering or concentration of substance. For as the whole weight of the +building is now to rest upon few and limited spaces, it is of the +greater importance that it should be there received by solid masonry. Xb +and Yb are therefore, if possible, to be each of a single stone; or, +when the shaft is small, both cut out of one block, and especially if +spurs are to be added to Xb. The reader must not be angry with me for +stating things so self-evident, for these are all necessary steps in the +chain of argument which I must not break. Even this change from detached +stones to a single block is not without significance; for it is part of +the real service and value of the member Yb to provide for the reception +of the shaft a surface free from joints; and the eye always conceives it +as a firm covering over all inequalities or fissures in the smaller +masonry of the floor. + +Sec. XV. I have said nothing yet of the proportion of the height of Yb to +its width, nor of that of Yb and Xb to each other. Both depend much on +the height of shaft, and are besides variable within certain limits, at +the architect's discretion. But the limits of the height of Yb may be +thus generally stated. If it looks so thin as that the weight of the +column above might break it, it is too low; and if it is higher than its +own width, it is too high. The utmost admissible height is that of a +cubic block; for if it ever become higher than it is wide, it becomes +itself a part of a pier, and not the base of one. + +Sec. XVI. I have also supposed Yb, when expanded from beneath Xb, as +always expanded into a square, and four spurs only to be added at the +angles. But Yb may be expanded into a pentagon, hexagon, or polygon; and +Xb then may have five, six, or many spurs. In proportion, however, as +the sides increase in number, the spurs become shorter and less energetic +in their effect, and the square is in most cases the best form. + +Sec. XVII. We have hitherto conducted the argument entirely on the +supposition of the pillars being numerous, and in a range. Suppose, +however, that we require only a single pillar: as we have free space +round it, there is no need to fill up the first ranges of its +foundations; nor need we do so in order to equalise pressure, since the +pressure to be met is its own alone. Under such circumstances, it is +well to exhibit the lower tiers of the foundation as well as Yb and Xb. +The noble bases of the two granite pillars of the Piazzetta at Venice +are formed by the entire series of members given in Fig. X., the lower +courses expanding into steps, with a superb breadth of proportion to the +shaft. The member Xb is of course circular, having its proper decorative +mouldings, not here considered; Yb is octagonal, but filled up into a +square by certain curious groups of figures representing the trades of +Venice. The three courses below are octagonal, with their sides set +across the angles of the innermost octagon, Yb. The shafts are 15 feet +in circumference, and the lowest octagons of the base 56 (7 feet each +side). + +Sec. XVIII. Detached buildings, like our own Monument, are not pillars, +but towers built in imitation of Pillars. As towers they are barbarous, +being dark, inconvenient, and unsafe, besides lying, and pretending to +be what they are not. As shafts they are barbarous, because they were +designed at a time when the Renaissance architects had introduced and +forced into acceptance, as _de rigueur_, a kind of columnar high-heeled +shoe,--a thing which they called a pedestal, and which is to a true base +exactly what a Greek actor's cothurnus was to a Greek gentleman's +sandal. But the Greek actor knew better, I believe, than to exhibit or +to decorate his cork sole; and, with shafts as with heroes, it is rather +better to put the sandal off than the cothurnus on. There are, indeed, +occasions on which a pedestal may be necessary; it may be better to +raise a shaft from a sudden depression of plinth to a level with others, +its companions, by means of a pedestal, than to introduce a higher +shaft; or it may be better to place a shaft of alabaster, if otherwise +too short for our purpose, on a pedestal, than to use a larger shaft of +coarser material; but the pedestal is in each case a make-shift, not an +additional perfection. It may, in the like manner, be sometimes +convenient for men to walk on stilts, but not to keep their stilts on as +ornamental parts of dress. The bases of the Nelson Column, the Monument, +and the column of the Place Vendome, are to the shafts, exactly what +highly ornamented wooden legs would be to human beings. + +Sec. XIX. So far of bases of detached shafts. As we do not yet know in +what manner shafts are likely to be grouped, we can say nothing of those +of grouped shafts until we know more of what they are to support. + +Lastly; we have throughout our reasoning upon the base supposed the pier +to be circular. But circumstances may occur to prevent its being +reduced to this form, and it may remain square or rectangular; its base +will then be simply the wall base following its contour, and we have no +spurs at the angles. Thus much may serve respecting pier bases; we have +next to examine the concentration of the Wall Veil, or the Shaft. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [35] The experiment is not quite fair in this rude fashion; for the + small rolls owe their increase of strength much more to their + tubular form than their aggregation of material; but if the paper be + cut up into small strips, and tied together firmly in three or four + compact bundles, it will exhibit increase of strength enough to show + the principle. Vide, however, Appendix 16, "Strength of Shafts." + + [36] Appendix 17, "Answer to Mr. Garbett." + + [37] Yet more so than any other figure enclosed by a curved line: + for the circle, in its relations to its own centre, is the curve of + greatest stability. Compare Sec. XX. of Chap. XX. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + THE SHAFT. + + +Sec. I. We have seen in the last Chapter how, in converting the wall +into the square or cylindrical shaft, we parted at every change of form +with some quantity of material. In proportion to the quantity thus +surrendered, is the necessity that what we retain should be good of its +kind, and well set together, since everything now depends on it. + +It is clear also that the best material, and the closest concentration, +is that of the natural crystalline rocks; and that, by having reduced +our wall into the shape of shafts, we may be enabled to avail ourselves +of this better material, and to exchange cemented bricks for +crystallised blocks of stone. Therefore, the general idea of a perfect +shaft is that of a single stone hewn into a form more or less elongated +and cylindrical. Under this form, or at least under the ruder one of a +long stone set upright, the conception of true shafts appears first to +have occurred to the human mind; for the reader must note this +carefully, once for all, it does not in the least follow that the order +of architectural features which is most reasonable in their arrangement, +is most probable in their invention. I have theoretically deduced shafts +from walls, but shafts were never so reasoned out in architectural +practice. The man who first propped a thatched roof with poles was the +discoverer of their principle; and he who first hewed a long stone into +a cylinder, the perfecter of their practice. + +Sec. II. It is clearly necessary that shafts of this kind (we will call +them, for convenience, _block_ shafts) should be composed of stone not +liable to flaws or fissures; and therefore that we must no longer +continue our argument as if it were always possible to do what is to be +done in the best way; for the style of a national architecture may +evidently depend, in great measure, upon the nature of the rocks of the +country. + +Our own English rocks, which supply excellent building stone from their +thin and easily divisible beds, are for the most part entirely incapable +of being worked into shafts of any size, except only the granites and +whinstones, whose hardness renders them intractable for ordinary +purposes;--and English architecture therefore supplies no instances of +the block shaft applied on an extensive scale; while the facility of +obtaining large masses of marble has in Greece and Italy been partly the +cause of the adoption of certain noble types of architectural form +peculiar to those countries, or, when occurring elsewhere, derived from +them. + +We have not, however, in reducing our walls to shafts, calculated on the +probabilities of our obtaining better materials than those of which the +walls were built; and we shall therefore first consider the form of +shaft which will be best when we have the best materials; and then +consider how far we can imitate, or how far it will be wise to imitate, +this form with any materials we can obtain. + +Sec. III. Now as I gave the reader the ground, and the stones, that he +might for himself find out how to build his wall, I shall give him the +block of marble, and the chisel, that he may himself find out how to +shape his column. Let him suppose the elongated mass, so given him, +rudely hewn to the thickness which he has calculated will be +proportioned to the weight it has to carry. The conditions of stability +will require that some allowance be made in finishing it for any chance +of slight disturbance or subsidence of the ground below, and that, as +everything must depend on the uprightness of the shaft, as little chance +should be left as possible of its being thrown off its balance. It will +therefore be prudent to leave it slightly thicker at the base than at +the top. This excess of diameter at the base being determined, the +reader is to ask himself how most easily and simply to smooth the +column from one extremity to the other. To cut it into a true +straight-sided cone would be a matter of much trouble and nicety, and +would incur the continual risk of chipping into it too deep. Why not +leave some room for a chance stroke, work it slightly, _very_ slightly +convex, and smooth the curve by the eye between the two extremities? you +will save much trouble and time, and the shaft will be all the stronger. + +[Illustration: Fig. XIII.] + +This is accordingly the natural form of a detached block shaft. It is +the best. No other will ever be so agreeable to the mind or eye. I do +not mean that it is not capable of more refined execution, or of the +application of some of the laws of aesthetic beauty, but that it is the +best recipient of execution and subject of law; better in either case +than if you had taken more pains, and cut it straight. + +Sec. IV. You will observe, however, that the convexity is to be very +slight, and that the shaft is not to _bulge_ in the centre, but to taper +from the root in a curved line; the peculiar character of the curve you +will discern better by exaggerating, in a diagram, the conditions of its +sculpture. + +Let _a_, _a_, _b_, _b_, at A, Fig. XIII., be the rough block of the +shaft, laid on the ground; and as thick as you can by any chance require +it to be; you will leave it of this full thickness at its base at A, but +at the other end you will mark off upon it the diameter _c_, _d_, which +you intend it to have at the summit; you will then take your mallet and +chisel, and working from _c_ and _d_ you will roughly knock off the +corners, shaded in the figure, so as to reduce the shaft to the figure +described by the inside lines in A and the outside lines in B; you then +proceed to smooth it, you chisel away the shaded parts in B, and leave +your finished shaft of the form of the _inside_ lines _e_, _g_, _f_, +_h_. + +The result of this operation will be of course that the shaft tapers +faster towards the top than it does near the ground. Observe this +carefully; it is a point of great future importance. + +Sec. V. So far of the shape of detached or block shafts. We can carry the +type no farther on merely structural considerations: let us pass to the +shaft of inferior materials. + +Unfortunately, in practice, this step must be soon made. It is alike +difficult to obtain, transport, and raise, block shafts more than ten or +twelve feet long, except in remarkable positions, and as pieces of +singular magnificence. Large pillars are therefore always composed of +more than one block of stone. Such pillars are either jointed like +basalt columns, and composed of solid pieces of stone set one above +another; or they are filled up _towers_, built of small stones cemented +into a mass, with more or less of regularity: Keep this distinction +carefully in mind, it is of great importance; for the jointed column, +every stone composing which, however thin, is (so to speak) a complete +_slice_ of the shaft, is just as strong as the block pillar of one +stone, so long as no forces are brought into action upon it which would +have a tendency to cause horizontal dislocation. But the pillar which is +built as a filled-up tower is of course liable to fissure in any +direction, if its cement give way. + +But, in either case, it is evident that all constructive reason of the +curved contour is at once destroyed. Far from being an easy or natural +procedure, the fitting of each portion of the curve to its fellow, in +the separate stones, would require painful care and considerable masonic +skill; while, in the case of the filled-up tower, the curve outwards +would be even unsafe; for its greatest strength (and that the more in +proportion to its careless building) lies in its bark, or shell of +outside stone; and this, if curved outwards, would at once burst +outwards, if heavily loaded above. + +If, therefore, the curved outline be ever retained in such shafts, it +must be in obedience to aesthetic laws only. + +Sec. VI. But farther. Not only the curvature, but even the tapering by +straight lines, would be somewhat difficult of execution in the pieced +column. Where, indeed, the entire shaft is composed of four or five +blocks set one upon another, the diameters may be easily determined at +the successive joints, and the stones chiselled to the same slope. But +this becomes sufficiently troublesome when the joints are numerous, so +that the pillar is like a pile of cheeses; or when it is to be built of +small and irregular stones. We should be naturally led, in the one case, +to cut all the cheeses to the same diameter; in the other to build by +the plumb-line; and in both to give up the tapering altogether. + +Sec. VII. Farther. Since the chance, in the one case, of horizontal +dislocation, in the other, of irregular fissure, is much increased by +the composition of the shaft out of joints or small stones, a larger +bulk of shaft is required to carry the given weight; and, _caeteris +paribus_, jointed and cemented shafts must be thicker in proportion to +the weight they carry than those which are of one block. + +We have here evidently natural causes of a very marked division in +schools of architecture: one group composed of buildings whose shafts +are either of a single stone or of few joints; the shafts, therefore, +being gracefully tapered, and reduced by successive experiments to the +narrowest possible diameter proportioned to the weight they carry: and +the other group embracing those buildings whose shafts are of many +joints or of small stones; shafts which are therefore not tapered, and +rather thick and ponderous in proportion to the weight they carry; the +latter school being evidently somewhat imperfect and inelegant as +compared with the former. + +It may perhaps appear, also, that this arrangement of the materials in +cylindrical shafts at all would hardly have suggested itself to a people +who possessed no large blocks out of which to hew them; and that the +shaft built of many pieces is probably derived from, and imitative of +the shaft hewn from few or from one. + +Sec. VIII. If, therefore, you take a good geological map of Europe, and +lay your finger upon the spots where volcanic influences supply either +travertin or marble in accessible and available masses, you will +probably mark the points where the types of the first school have been +originated and developed. If, in the next place, you will mark the +districts where broken and rugged basalt or whinstone, or slaty +sandstone, supply materials on easier terms indeed, but fragmentary and +unmanageable, you will probably distinguish some of the birthplaces of +the derivative and less graceful school. You will, in the first case, +lay your finger on Paestum, Agrigentum, and Athens; in the second, on +Durham and Lindisfarne. + +The shafts of the great primal school are, indeed, in their first form, +as massy as those of the other, and the tendency of both is to continual +diminution of their diameters: but in the first school it is a true +diminution in the thickness of the independent pier; in the last, it is +an apparent diminution, obtained by giving it the appearance of a group +of minor piers. The distinction, however, with which we are concerned is +not that of slenderness, but of vertical or curved contour; and we may +note generally that while throughout the whole range of Northern work, +the perpendicular shaft appears in continually clearer development, +throughout every group which has inherited the spirit of the Greek, the +shaft retains its curved or tapered form; and the occurrence of the +vertical detached shaft may at all times, in European architecture, be +regarded as one of the most important collateral evidences of Northern +influence. + +Sec. IX. It is necessary to limit this observation to European +architecture, because the Egyptian shaft is often untapered, like the +Northern. It appears that the Central Southern, or Greek shaft, was +tapered or curved on aesthetic rather than constructive principles; and +the Egyptian which precedes, and the Northern which follows it, are both +vertical, the one because the best form had not been discovered, the +other because it could not be attained. Both are in a certain degree +barbaric; and both possess in combination and in their ornaments a power +altogether different from that of the Greek shaft, and at least as +impressive if not as admirable. + +Sec. X. We have hitherto spoken of shafts as if their number were fixed, +and only their diameter variable according to the weight to be borne. +But this supposition is evidently gratuitous; for the same weight may be +carried either by many and slender, or by few and massy shafts. If the +reader will look back to Fig. IX., he will find the number of shafts +into which the wall was reduced to be dependent altogether upon the +length of the spaces _a_, _b_, _a_, _b_, &c., a length which was +arbitrarily fixed. We are at liberty to make these spaces of what length +we choose, and, in so doing, to increase the number and diminish the +diameter of the shafts, or _vice versa_. + +Sec. XI. Supposing the materials are in each case to be of the same kind, +the choice is in great part at the architect's discretion, only there is +a limit on the one hand to the multiplication of the slender shaft, in +the inconvenience of the narrowed interval, and on the other, to the +enlargement of the massy shaft, in the loss of breadth to the +building.[38] That will be commonly the best proportion which is a +natural mean between the two limits; leaning to the side of grace or of +grandeur according to the expressional intention of the work. I say, +_commonly_ the best, because, in some cases, this expressional invention +may prevail over all other considerations, and a column of unnecessary +bulk or fantastic slightness be adopted in order to strike the spectator +with awe or with surprise.[39] The architect is, however, rarely in +practice compelled to use one kind of material only; and his choice +lies frequently between the employment of a larger number of solid and +perfect small shafts, or a less number of pieced and cemented large +ones. It is often possible to obtain from quarries near at hand, blocks +which might be cut into shafts eight or twelve feet long and four or +five feet round, when larger shafts can only be obtained in distant +localities; and the question then is between the perfection of smaller +features and the imperfection of larger. We shall find numberless +instances in Italy in which the first choice has been boldly, and I +think most wisely made; and magnificent buildings have been composed of +systems of small but perfect shafts, multiplied and superimposed. So +long as the idea of the symmetry of a perfect shaft remained in the +builder's mind, his choice could hardly be directed otherwise, and the +adoption of the built and tower-like shaft appears to have been the +result of a loss of this sense of symmetry consequent on the employment +of intractable materials. + +Sec. XII. But farther: we have up to this point spoken of shafts as always +set in ranges, and at equal intervals from each other. But there is no +necessity for this; and material differences may be made in their +diameters if two or more be grouped so as to do together the work of one +large one, and that within, or nearly within, the space which the larger +one would have occupied. + +Sec. XIII. Let A, B, C, Fig. XIV., be three surfaces, of which B and C +contain equal areas, and each of them double that of A: then supposing +them all loaded to the same height, B or C would receive twice as much +weight as A; therefore, to carry B or C loaded, we should need a shaft +of twice the strength needed to carry A. Let S be the shaft required to +carry A, and S_2 the shaft required to carry B or C; then S_3 may be +divided into two shafts, or S_2 into four shafts, as at S_3, all +equal in area or solid contents;[40] and the mass A might be carried +safely by two of them, and the masses B and C, each by four of them. + +[Illustration: Fig. XIV.] + +Now if we put the single shafts each under the centre of the mass they +have to bear, as represented by the shaded circles at _a_, _a2_, _a3_, +the masses A and C are both of them very ill supported, and even B +insufficiently; but apply the four and the two shafts as at _b_, _b2_, +_b3_, and they are supported satisfactorily. Let the weight on each of +the masses be doubled, and the shafts doubled in area, then we shall +have such arrangements as those at _c_, _c2_, _c3_; and if again the +shafts and weight be doubled, we shall have _d_, _d2_, _d3_. + +Sec. XIV. Now it will at once be observed that the arrangement of the +shafts in the series of B and C is always exactly the same in their +relations to each other; only the group of B is set evenly, and the +group of C is set obliquely,--the one carrying a square, the other a +cross. + +[Illustration: Fig. XV.] + +You have in these two series the primal representations of shaft +arrangement in the Southern and Northern schools; while the group _b_, +of which _b2_ is the double, set evenly, and _c2_ the double, set +obliquely, is common to both. The reader will be surprised to find how +all the complex and varied forms of shaft arrangement will range +themselves into one or other of these groups; and still more surprised +to find the oblique or cross set system on the one hand, and the square +set system on the other, severally distinctive of Southern and Northern +work. The dome of St. Mark's, and the crossing of the nave and transepts +of Beauvais, are both carried by square piers; but the piers of St. +Mark's are set square to the walls of the church, and those of Beauvais +obliquely to them: and this difference is even a more essential one than +that between the smooth surface of the one and the reedy complication of +the other. The two squares here in the margin (Fig. XV.) are exactly of +the same size, but their expression is altogether different, and in that +difference lies one of the most subtle distinctions between the Gothic +and Greek spirit,--from the shaft, which bears the building, to the +smallest decoration. The Greek square is by preference set evenly, the +Gothic square obliquely; and that so constantly, that wherever we find +the level or even square occurring as a prevailing form, either in plan +or decoration, in early northern work, there we may at least suspect the +presence of a southern or Greek influence; and, on the other hand, +wherever the oblique square is prominent in the south, we may +confidently look for farther evidence of the influence of the Gothic +architects. The rule must not of course be pressed far when, in either +school, there has been determined search for every possible variety of +decorative figures; and accidental circumstances may reverse the usual +system in special cases; but the evidence drawn from this character is +collaterally of the highest value, and the tracing it out is a pursuit +of singular interest. Thus, the Pisan Romanesque might in an instant be +pronounced to have been formed under some measure of Lombardic +influence, from the oblique squares set under its arches; and in it we +have the spirit of northern Gothic affecting details of the +southern;--obliquity of square, in magnificently shafted Romanesque. At +Monza, on the other hand, the levelled square is the characteristic +figure of the entire decoration of the facade of the Duomo, eminently +giving it southern character; but the details are derived almost +entirely from the northern Gothic. Here then we have southern spirit and +northern detail. Of the cruciform outline of the load of the shaft, a +still more positive test of northern work, we shall have more to say in +the 28th Chapter; we must at present note certain farther changes in the +form of the grouped shaft, which open the way to every branch of its +endless combinations, southern or northern. + +[Illustration: Fig. XVI.] + +Sec. XV. 1. If the group at _d3_, Fig. XIV., be taken from under its +loading, and have its centre filled up, it will become a quatrefoil; and +it will represent, in their form of most frequent occurrence, a family +of shafts, whose plans are foiled figures, trefoils, quatrefoils, +cinquefoils, &c.; of which a trefoiled example, from the Frari at +Venice, is the third in Plate II., and a quatrefoil from Salisbury the +eighth. It is rare, however, to find in Gothic architecture shafts of +this family composed of a large number of foils, because multifoiled +shafts are seldom true grouped shafts, but are rather canaliculated +conditions of massy piers. The representatives of this family may be +considered as the quatrefoil on the Gothic side of the Alps; and the +Egyptian multifoiled shaft on the south, approximating to the general +type, _b_, Fig. XVI. + +Sec. XVI. Exactly opposed to this great family is that of shafts which +have concave curves instead of convex on each of their sides; but these +are not, properly speaking, grouped shafts at all, and their proper place +is among decorated piers; only they must be named here in order to mark +their exact opposition to the foiled system. In their simplest form, +represented by _c_, Fig. XVI., they have no representatives in good +architecture, being evidently weak and meagre; but approximations to +them exist in late Gothic, as in the vile cathedral of Orleans, and in +modern cast-iron shafts. In their fully developed form they are the +Greek Doric, _a_, Fig. XVI., and occur in caprices of the Romanesque and +Italian Gothic: _d_, Fig. XVI., is from the Duomo of Monza. + +Sec. XVII. 2. Between _c3_ and _d3_ of Fig. XIV. there may be evidently +another condition, represented at 6, Plate II., and formed by the +insertion of a central shaft within the four external ones. This central +shaft we may suppose to expand in proportion to the weight it has to +carry. If the external shafts expand in the same proportion, the entire +form remains unchanged; but if they do not expand, they may (1) be +pushed out by the expanding shaft, or (2) be gradually swallowed up in +its expansion, as at 4, Plate II. If they are pushed out, they are +removed farther from each other by every increase of the central shaft; +and others may then be introduced in the vacant spaces; giving, on the +plan, a central orb with an ever increasing host of satellites, 10, +Plate II.; the satellites themselves often varying in size, and perhaps +quitting contact with the central shaft. Suppose them in any of their +conditions fixed, while the inner shaft expands, and they will be +gradually buried in it, forming more complicated conditions of 4, Plate +II. The combinations are thus altogether infinite, even supposing the +central shaft to be circular only; but their infinity is multiplied by +many other infinities when the central shaft itself becomes square or +crosslet on the section, or itself multifoiled (8, Plate II.) with +satellite shafts eddying about its recesses and angles, in every +possible relation of attraction. Among these endless conditions of +change, the choice of the architect is free, this only being generally +noted: that, as the whole value of such piers depends, first, upon their +being wisely fitted to the weight above them, and, secondly, upon their +all working together: and one not failing the rest, perhaps to the ruin +of all, he must never multiply shafts without visible cause in the +disposition of members superimposed:[41] and in his multiplied group he +should, if possible, avoid a marked separation between the large central +shaft and its satellites; for if this exist, the satellites will either +appear useless altogether, or else, which is worse, they will look as if +they were meant to keep the central shaft together by wiring or caging +it in; like iron rods set round a supple cylinder,--a fatal fault in the +piers of Westminster Abbey, and, in a less degree, in the noble nave of +the cathedral of Bourges. + +Sec. XVIII. While, however, we have been thus subdividing or assembling +our shafts, how far has it been possible to retain their curved or tapered +outline? So long as they remain distinct and equal, however close to +each other, the independent curvature may evidently be retained. But +when once they come in contact, it is equally evident that a column, +formed of shafts touching at the base and separate at the top, would +appear as if in the very act of splitting asunder. Hence, in all the +closely arranged groups, and especially those with a central shaft, the +tapering is sacrificed; and with less cause for regret, because it was a +provision against subsidence or distortion, which cannot now take place +with the separate members of the group. Evidently, the work, if safe at +all, must be executed with far greater accuracy and stability when its +supports are so delicately arranged, than would be implied by such +precaution. In grouping shafts, therefore, a true perpendicular line is, +in nearly all cases, given to the pier; and the reader will anticipate +that the two schools, which we have already found to be distinguished, +the one by its perpendicular and pieced shafts, and the other by its +curved and block shafts, will be found divided also in their employment +of grouped shafts;--it is likely that the idea of grouping, however +suggested, will be fully entertained and acted upon by the one, but +hesitatingly by the other; and that we shall find, on the one hand, +buildings displaying sometimes massy piers of small stones, sometimes +clustered piers of rich complexity, and on the other, more or less +regular succession of block shafts, each treated as entirely independent +of those around it. + +Sec. XIX. Farther, the grouping of shafts once admitted, it is probable +that the complexity and richness of such arrangements would recommend +them to the eye, and induce their frequent, even their unnecessary +introduction; so that weight which might have been borne by a single +pillar, would be in preference supported by four or five. And if the +stone of the country, whose fragmentary character first occasioned the +building and piecing of the large pier, were yet in beds consistent +enough to supply shafts of very small diameter, the strength and +simplicity of such a construction might justify it, as well as its +grace. The fact, however, is that the charm which the multiplication of +line possesses for the eye has always been one of the chief ends of the +work in the grouped schools; and that, so far from employing the grouped +piers in order to the introduction of very slender block shafts, the +most common form in which such piers occur is that of a solid jointed +shaft, each joint being separately cut into the contour of the group +required. + +Sec. XX. We have hitherto supposed that all grouped or clustered shafts +have been the result or the expression of an actual gathering and +binding together of detached shafts. This is not, however, always so: +for some clustered shafts are little more than solid piers channelled on +the surface, and their form appears to be merely the development of some +longitudinal furrowing or striation on the original single shaft. That +clustering or striation, whichever we choose to call it, is in this case +a decorative feature, and to be considered under the head of decoration. + +Sec. XXI. It must be evident to the reader at a glance, that the real +serviceableness of any of these grouped arrangements must depend upon +the relative shortness of the shafts, and that, when the whole pier is +so lofty that its minor members become mere reeds or rods of stone, +those minor members can no longer be charged with any considerable +weight. And the fact is, that in the most complicated Gothic +arrangements, when the pier is tall and its satellites stand clear of +it, no real work is given them to do, and they might all be removed +without endangering the building. They are merely the _expression_ of a +great consistent system, and are in architecture what is often found in +animal anatomy,--a bone, or process of a bone, useless, under the +ordained circumstances of its life, to the particular animal in which it +is found, and slightly developed, but yet distinctly existent, and +representing, for the sake of absolute consistency, the same bone in its +appointed, and generally useful, place, either in skeletons of all +animals, or in the genus to which the animal itself belongs. + +Sec. XXII. Farther: as it is not easy to obtain pieces of stone long +enough for these supplementary shafts (especially as it is always unsafe +to lay a stratified stone with its beds upright) they have been frequently +composed of two or more short shafts set upon each other, and to conceal +the unsightly junction, a flat stone has been interposed, carved into +certain mouldings, which have the appearance of a ring on the shaft. Now +observe: the whole pier was the gathering of the whole wall, the base +gathers into base, the veil into the shaft, and the string courses of +the veil gather into these rings; and when this is clearly expressed, +and the rings do indeed correspond with the string courses of the wall +veil, they are perfectly admissible and even beautiful; but otherwise, +and occurring, as they do in the shafts of Westminster, in the middle of +continuous lines, they are but sorry make-shifts, and of late since gas +has been invented, have become especially offensive from their unlucky +resemblance to the joints of gas-pipes, or common water-pipes. There are +two leaden ones, for instance, on the left hand as one enters the abbey +at Poet's Corner, with their solderings and funnels looking exactly like +rings and capitals, and most disrespectfully mimicking the shafts of +the abbey, inside. + +Thus far we have traced the probable conditions of shaft structure in +pure theory; I shall now lay before the reader a brief statement of the +facts of the thing in time past and present. + +Sec. XXIII. In the earliest and grandest shaft architecture which we know, +that of Egypt, we have no grouped arrangements, properly so called, but +either single and smooth shafts, or richly reeded and furrowed shafts, +which represent the extreme conditions of a complicated group bound +together to sustain a single mass; and are indeed, without doubt, +nothing else than imitations of bundles of reeds, or of clusters of +lotus:[42] but in these shafts there is merely the idea of a group, not +the actual function or structure of a group; they are just as much solid +and simple shafts as those which are smooth, and merely by the method of +their decoration present to the eye the image of a richly complex +arrangement. + +Sec. XXIV. After these we have the Greek shaft, less in scale, and losing +all suggestion or purpose of suggestion of complexity, its so-called +flutings being, visibly as actually, an external decoration. + +Sec. XXV. The idea of the shaft remains absolutely single in the Roman +and Byzantine mind; but true grouping begins in Christian architecture by +the placing of two or more separate shafts side by side, each having its +own work to do; then three or four, still with separate work; then, by +such steps as those above theoretically pursued, the number of the +members increases, while they coagulate into a single mass; and we have +finally a shaft apparently composed of thirty, forty, fifty, or more +distinct members; a shaft which, in the reality of its service, is as +much a single shaft as the old Egyptian one; but which differs from the +Egyptian in that all its members, how many soever, have each individual +work to do, and a separate rib of arch or roof to carry: and thus the +great Christian truth of distinct services of the individual soul is +typified in the Christian shaft; and the old Egyptian servitude of the +multitudes, the servitude inseparable from the children of Ham, is +typified also in that ancient shaft of the Egyptians, which in its +gathered strength of the river reeds, seems, as the sands of the desert +drift over its ruin, to be intended to remind us for ever of the end of +the association of the wicked. "Can the rush grow up without mire, or +the flag grow without water?--So are the paths of all that forget God; +and the hypocrite's hope shall perish." + +Sec. XXVI. Let the reader then keep this distinction of the three systems +clearly in his mind: Egyptian system, an apparent cluster supporting a +simple capital and single weight; Greek and Roman system, single shaft, +single weight; Gothic system, divided shafts, divided weight: at first +actually and simply divided, at last apparently and infinitely divided; +so that the fully formed Gothic shaft is a return to the Egyptian, but +the weight is divided in the one and undivided in the other. + +Sec. XXVII. The transition from the actual to the apparent cluster, in +the Gothic, is a question of the most curious interest; I have thrown +together the shaft sections in Plate II. to illustrate it, and exemplify +what has been generally stated above.[43] + +[Illustration: Plate II. + PLANS OF PIERS.] + +1. The earliest, the most frequent, perhaps the most beautiful of all +the groups, is also the simplest; the two shafts arranged as at _b_ or +_c_, (Fig. XIV.) above, bearing an oblong mass, and substituted for the +still earlier structure _a_, Fig. XIV. In Plate XVII. (Chap. XXVII.) are +three examples of the transition: the one on the left, at the top, is +the earliest single-shafted arrangement, constant in the rough +Romanesque windows; a huge hammer-shaped capital being employed to +sustain the thickness of the wall. It was rapidly superseded by the +double shaft, as on the right of it; a very early example from the +cloisters of the Duomo, Verona. Beneath, is a most elaborate and perfect +one from St. Zeno of Verona, where the group is twice complicated, two +shafts being used, both with quatrefoil sections. The plain double +shaft, however, is by far the most frequent, both in the Northern and +Southern Gothic, but for the most part early; it is very frequent in +cloisters, and in the singular one of St. Michael's Mount, Normandy, a +small pseudo-arcade runs along between the pairs of shafts, a miniature +aisle. The group is employed on a magnificent scale, but ill +proportioned, for the main piers of the apse of the cathedral of +Coutances, its purpose being to conceal one shaft behind the other, and +make it appear to the spectator from the nave as if the apse were +sustained by single shafts, of inordinate slenderness. The attempt is +ill-judged, and the result unsatisfactory. + +[Illustration: Fig. XVII.] + +Sec. XXVIII. 2. When these pairs of shafts come near each other, as +frequently at the turnings of angles (Fig. XVII.), the quadruple group +results, _b_ 2, Fig. XIV., of which the Lombardic sculptors were +excessively fond, usually tying the shafts together in their centre, in +a lover's knot. They thus occur in Plate V., from the Broletto of Como; +at the angle of St. Michele of Lucca, Plate XXI.; and in the balustrade +of St. Mark's. This is a group, however, which I have never seen used on +a large scale.[44] + +Sec. XXIX. 3. Such groups, consolidated by a small square in their centre, +form the shafts of St. Zeno, just spoken of, and figured in Plate XVII., +which are among the most interesting pieces of work I know in Italy. I +give their entire arrangement in Fig. XVIII.: both shafts have the same +section, but one receives a half turn as it ascends, giving it an +exquisite spiral contour: the plan of their bases, with their plinth, is +given at 2, Plate II.; and note it carefully, for it is an epitome of +all that we observed above, respecting the oblique and even square. It +was asserted that the oblique belonged to the north, the even to the +south: we have here the northern Lombardic nation naturalised in Italy, +and, behold, the oblique and even quatrefoil linked together; not +confused, but actually linked by a bar of stone, as seen in Plate XVII., +under the capitals. + +[Illustration: Fig. XVIII.] + +4. Next to these, observe the two groups of five shafts each, 5 and 6, +Plate II., one oblique, the other even. Both are from upper stories; the +oblique one from the triforium of Salisbury; the even one from the upper +range of shafts in the facade of St. Mark's at Venice.[45] + +Sec. XXX. Around these central types are grouped, in Plate II., four +simple examples of the satellitic cluster, all of the Northern Gothic: +4, from the Cathedral of Amiens; 7, from that of Lyons (nave pier); +8, the same from Salisbury; 10, from the porch of Notre Dame, Dijon, +having satellites of three magnitudes: 9 is one of the piers between the +doors of the same church, with shafts of four magnitudes, and is an +instance of the confusion of mind of the Northern architects between +piers proper and jamb mouldings (noticed farther in the next chapter, +Sec. XXXI.): for this fig. 9, which is an angle at the meeting of two +jambs, is treated like a rich independent shaft, and the figure below, +12, which is half of a true shaft, is treated like a meeting of jambs. + +All these four examples belonging to the oblique or Northern system, the +curious trefoil plan, 3, lies _between_ the two, as the double +quatrefoil next it _unites_ the two. The trefoil is from the Frari, +Venice, and has a richly worked capital in the Byzantine manner,--an +imitation, I think, of the Byzantine work by the Gothic builders: 1 is +to be compared with it, being one of the earliest conditions of the +cross shaft, from the atrium of St. Ambrogio at Milan. 13 is the nave +pier of St. Michele at Pavia, showing the same condition more fully +developed: and 11 another nave pier from Vienne, on the Rhone, of far +more distinct Roman derivation, for the flat pilaster is set to the +nave, and is fluted like an antique one. 12 is the grandest development +I have ever seen of the cross shaft, with satellite shafts in the nooks +of it: it is half of one of the great western piers of the cathedral of +Bourges, measuring eight feet each side, thirty-two round.[46] Then the +one below (15) is half of a nave pier of Rouen Cathedral, showing the +mode in which such conditions as that of Dijon (9) and that of Bourges +(12) were fused together into forms of inextricable complexity +(inextricable I mean in the irregularity of proportion and projection, +for all of them are easily resolvable into simple systems in connexion +with the roof ribs). This pier of Rouen is a type of the last condition +of the good Gothic; from this point the small shafts begin to lose +shape, and run into narrow fillets and ridges, projecting at the same +time farther and farther in weak tongue-like sections, as described in +the "Seven Lamps." I have only here given one example of this family, an +unimportant but sufficiently characteristic one (16) from St. Gervais of +Falaise. One side of the nave of that church is Norman, the other +Flamboyant, and the two piers 14 and 16 stand opposite each other. It +would be useless to endeavor to trace farther the fantasticism of the +later Gothic shafts; they become mere aggregations of mouldings very +sharply and finely cut, their bases at the same time running together in +strange complexity and their capitals diminishing and disappearing. Some +of their conditions, which, in their rich striation, resemble crystals +of beryl, are very massy and grand; others, meagre, harsh, or effeminate +in themselves, are redeemed by richness and boldness of decoration; and +I have long had it in my mind to reason out the entire harmony of this +French Flamboyant system, and fix its types and possible power. But +this inquiry is foreign altogether to our present purpose, and we shall +therefore turn back from the Flamboyant to the Norman side of the +Falaise aisle, resolute for the future that all shafts of which we may +have the ordering, shall be permitted, as with wisdom we may also permit +men or cities, to gather themselves into companies, or constellate +themselves into clusters, but not to fuse themselves into mere masses of +nebulous aggregation. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [38] In saying this, it is assumed that the interval is one which is + to be traversed by men; and that a certain relation of the shafts + and intervals to the size of the human figure is therefore + necessary. When shafts are used in the upper stories of buildings, + or on a scale which ignores all relation to the human figure, no + such relative limits exist either to slenderness or solidity. + + [39] Vide the interesting discussion of this point in Mr. + Fergusson's account of the Temple of Karnak, "Principles of Beauty + in Art," p. 219. + + [40] I have assumed that the strength of similar shafts of equal + height is as the squares of their diameters; which, though not + actually a correct expression, is sufficiently so for all our + present purposes. + + [41] How far this condition limits the system of shaft grouping we + shall see presently. The reader must remember, that we at present + reason respecting shafts in the abstract only. + + [42] The capitals being formed by the flowers, or by a + representation of the bulging out of the reeds at the top, under the + weight of the architrave. + + [43] I have not been at the pains to draw the complicated piers in + this plate with absolute exactitude to the scale of each: they are + accurate enough for their purpose: those of them respecting which we + shall have farther question will be given on a much larger scale. + + [44] The largest I remember support a monument in St. Zeno of + Verona; they are of red marble, some ten or twelve feet high. + + [45] The effect of this last is given in Plate VI. of the folio + series. + + [46] The entire development of this cross system in connexion with + the vaulting ribs, has been most clearly explained by Professor + Willis (Architecture of Mid. Ages, Chap. IV.); and I strongly + recommend every reader who is inclined to take pains in the matter, + to read that chapter. I have been contented, in my own text, to + pursue the abstract idea of shaft form. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + THE CAPITAL. + + +Sec. I. The reader will remember that in Chap. VII. Sec. V. it was said +that the cornice of the wall, being cut to pieces and gathered together, +formed the capital of the column. We have now to follow it in its +transformation. + +We must, of course, take our simplest form or root of cornices (_a_, in +Fig. V., above). We will take X and Y there, and we must necessarily +gather them together as we did Xb and Yb in Chap. VII. Look back to the +tenth paragraph of Chap. VII., read or glance it over again, substitute +X and Y for Xb and Yb, read capital for base, and, as we said that the +capital was the hand of the pillar, while the base was its foot, read +also fingers for toes; and as you look to the plate, Fig. XII., turn it +upside down. Then _h_, in Fig. XII., becomes now your best general form +of block capital, as before of block base. + +Sec. II. You will thus have a perfect idea of the analogies between base +and capital; our farther inquiry is into their differences. You cannot +but have noticed that when Fig. XII. is turned upside down, the square +stone (Y) looks too heavy for the supporting stone (X); and that in the +profile of cornice (_a_ of Fig. V.) the proportions are altogether +different. You will feel the fitness of this in an instant when you +consider that the principal function of the sloping part in Fig. XII. is +as a prop to the pillar to keep it from _slipping aside_; but the +function of the sloping stone in the cornice and capital is to _carry +weight above_. The thrust of the slope in the one case should therefore +be lateral, in the other upwards. + +Sec. III. We will, therefore, take the two figures, _e_ and _h_ of Fig. +XII., and make this change in them as we reverse them, using now the +exact profile of the cornice _a_,--the father of cornices; and we shall +thus have _a_ and _b_, Fig. XIX. + +[Illustration: Fig. XIX.] + +Both of these are sufficiently ugly, the reader thinks; so do I; but we +will mend them before we have done with them: that at _a_ is assuredly +the ugliest,--like a tile on a flower-pot. It is, nevertheless, the +father of capitals; being the simplest condition of the gathered father +of cornices. But it is to be observed that the diameter of the shaft +here is arbitrarily assumed to be small, in order more clearly to show +the general relations of the sloping stone to the shaft and upper stone; +and this smallness of the shaft diameter is inconsistent with the +serviceableness and beauty of the arrangement at _a_, if it were to be +realised (as we shall see presently); but it is not inconsistent with +its central character, as the representative of every species of +possible capital; nor is its tile and flower-pot look to be regretted, +as it may remind the reader of the reported origin of the Corinthian +capital. The stones of the cornice, hitherto called X and Y, receive, +now that they form the capital, each a separate name; the sloping stone +is called the Bell of the capital, and that laid above it, the Abacus. +Abacus means a board or tile: I wish there were an English word for it, +but I fear there is no substitution possible, the term having been long +fixed, and the reader will find it convenient to familiarise himself +with the Latin one. + +Sec. IV. The form of base, _e_ of Fig. XII., which corresponds to this +first form of capital, _a_, was said to be objectionable only because it +_looked_ insecure; and the spurs were added as a kind of pledge of +stability to the eye. But evidently the projecting corners of the abacus +at _a_, Fig. XIX., are _actually_ insecure; they may break off, if great +weight be laid upon them. This is the chief reason of the ugliness of +the form; and the spurs in _b_ are now no mere pledges of apparent +stability, but have very serious practical use in supporting the angle +of the abacus. If, even with the added spur, the support seems +insufficient, we may fill up the crannies between the spurs and the +bell, and we have the form _c_. + +Thus _a_, though the germ and type of capitals, is itself (except under +some peculiar conditions) both ugly and insecure; _b_ is the first type +of capitals which carry light weight; _c_, of capitals which carry +excessive weight. + +Sec. V. I fear, however, the reader may think he is going slightly too +fast, and may not like having the capital forced upon him out of the +cornice; but would prefer inventing a capital for the shaft itself, +without reference to the cornice at all. We will do so then; though we +shall come to the same result. + +The shaft, it will be remembered, has to sustain the same weight as the +long piece of wall which was concentrated into the shaft; it is enabled +to do this both by its better form and better knit materials; and it can +carry a greater weight than the space at the top of it is adapted to +receive. The first point, therefore, is to expand this space as far as +possible, and that in a form more convenient than the circle for the +adjustment of the stones above. In general the square is a more +convenient form than any other; but the hexagon or octagon is sometimes +better fitted for masses of work which divide in six or eight +directions. Then our first impulse would be to put a square or hexagonal +stone on the top of the shaft, projecting as far beyond it as might be +safely ventured; as at _a_, Fig. XX. This is the abacus. Our next idea +would be to put a conical shaped stone beneath this abacus, to support +its outer edge, as at _b_. This is the bell. + +[Illustration: Fig. XX.] + +Sec. VI. Now the entire treatment of the capital depends simply on the +manner in which this bell-stone is prepared for fitting the shaft below +and the abacus above. Placed as at _a_, in Fig. XIX., it gives us the +simplest of possible forms; with the spurs added, as at _b_, it gives +the germ of the richest and most elaborate forms: but there are two +modes of treatment more dexterous than the one, and less elaborate than +the other, which are of the highest possible importance,--modes in which +the bell is brought to its proper form by truncation. + +Sec. VII. Let _d_ and _f_, Fig. XIX., be two bell-stones; _d_ is part of +a cone (a sugar-loaf upside down, with its point cut off); _f_ part of a +four-sided pyramid. Then, assuming the abacus to be square, _d_ will +already fit the shaft, but has to be chiselled to fit the abacus; _f_ +will already fit the abacus, but has to be chiselled to fit the shaft. + +From the broad end of _d_ chop or chisel off, in four vertical planes, +as much as will leave its head an exact square. The vertical cuttings +will form curves on the sides of the cone (curves of a curious kind, +which the reader need not be troubled to examine), and we shall have the +form at _e_, which is the root of the greater number of Norman capitals. + +From _f_ cut off the angles, beginning at the corners of the square and +widening the truncation downwards, so as to give the form at _g_, where +the base of the bell is an octagon, and its top remains a square. A +very slight rounding away of the angles of the octagon at the base of +_g_ will enable it to fit the circular shaft closely enough for all +practical purposes, and this form, at _g_, is the root of nearly all +Lombardic capitals. + +If, instead of a square, the head of the bell were hexagonal or +octagonal, the operation of cutting would be the same on each angle; but +there would be produced, of course, six or eight curves on the sides of +_e_, and twelve or sixteen sides to the base of _g_. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXI.] + +Sec. VIII. The truncations in _e_ and _g_ may of course be executed on +concave or convex forms of _d_ and _f_; but _e_ is usually worked on a +straight-sided bell, and the truncation of _g_ often becomes concave +while the bell remains straight; for this simple reason,--that the sharp +points at the angles of _g_, being somewhat difficult to cut, and easily +broken off, are usually avoided by beginning the truncation a little way +down the side of the bell, and then recovering the lost ground by a +deeper cut inwards, as here, Fig. XXI. This is the actual form of the +capitals of the balustrades of St. Mark's: it is the root of all the +Byzantine Arab capitals, and of all the most beautiful capitals in the +world, whose function is to express lightness. + +Sec. IX. We have hitherto proceeded entirely on the assumption that the +form of cornice which was gathered together to produce the capital was +the root of cornices, _a_ of Fig. V. But this, it will be remembered, +was said in Sec. VI. of Chap. VI. to be especially characteristic of +southern work, and that in northern and wet climates it took the form of +a dripstone. + +Accordingly, in the northern climates, the dripstone gathered together +forms a peculiar northern capital, commonly called the Early +English,[47] owing to its especial use in that style. + +There would have been no absurdity in this if shafts were always to be +exposed to the weather; but in Gothic constructions the most important +shafts are in the inside of the building. The dripstone sections of +their capitals are therefore unnecessary and ridiculous. + +Sec. X. They are, however, much worse than unnecessary. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXII.] + +The edge of the dripstone, being undercut, has no bearing power, and the +capital fails, therefore, in its own principal function; and besides +this, the undercut contour admits of no distinctly visible decoration; +it is, therefore, left utterly barren, and the capital looks as if it +had been turned in a lathe. The Early English capital has, therefore, +the three greatest faults that any design can have: (1) it fails in its +own proper purpose, that of support; (2) it is adapted to a purpose to +which it can never be put, that of keeping off rain; (3) it cannot be +decorated. + +The Early English capital is, therefore, a barbarism of triple +grossness, and degrades the style in which it is found, otherwise very +noble, to one of second-rate order. + +Sec. XI. Dismissing, therefore, the Early English capital, as deserving no +place in our system, let us reassemble in one view the forms which have +been legitimately developed, and which are to become hereafter subjects +of decoration. To the forms _a_, _b_, and _c_, Fig. XIX., we must add +the two simplest truncated forms _e_ and _g_, Fig. XIX., putting their +abaci on them (as we considered their contours in the bells only), and +we shall have the five forms now given in parallel perspective in Fig. +XXII., which are the roots of all good capitals existing, or capable of +existence, and whose variations, infinite and a thousand times infinite, +are all produced by introduction of various curvatures into their +contours, and the endless methods of decoration superinduced on such +curvatures. + +Sec. XII. There is, however, a kind of variation, also infinite, which +takes place in these radical forms, before they receive either curvature +or decoration. This is the variety of proportion borne by the different +lines of the capital to each other, and to the shafts. This is a +structural question, at present to be considered as far as is possible. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXIII.] + +Sec. XIII. All the five capitals (which are indeed five orders with +legitimate distinction; very different, however, from the five orders as +commonly understood) may be represented by the same profile, a section +through the sides of _a_, _b_, _d_, and _e_, or through the angles of +_c_, Fig. XXII. This profile we will put on the top of a shaft, as at A, +Fig. XXIII., which shaft we will suppose of equal diameter above and +below for the sake of greater simplicity: in this simplest condition, +however, relations of proportion exist between five quantities, any one +or any two, or any three, or any four of which may change, irrespective +of the others. These five quantities are: + + 1. The height of the shaft, _a b_; + 2. Its diameter, _b c_; + 3. The length of slope of bell, _b d_; + 4. The inclination of this slope, or angle _c b d_; + 5. The depth of abacus, _d e_. + +For every change in any one of these quantities we have a new proportion +of capital: five infinities, supposing change only in one quantity at a +time: infinity of infinities in the sum of possible changes. + +It is, therefore, only possible to note the general laws of change; +every scale of pillar, and every weight laid upon it admitting, within +certain limits, a variety out of which the architect has his choice; but +yet fixing limits which the proportion becomes ugly when it approaches, +and dangerous when it exceeds. But the inquiry into this subject is too +difficult for the general reader, and I shall content myself with +proving four laws, easily understood and generally applicable; for proof +of which if the said reader care not, he may miss the next four +paragraphs without harm. + +Sec. XIV. 1. _The more slender the shaft, the greater, proportionally, may +be the projection of the abacus._ For, looking back to Fig. XXIII., let +the height _a b_ be fixed, the length _d b_, the angle _d b c_, and the +depth _d e_. Let the single quantity _b c_ be variable, let B be a +capital and shaft which are found to be perfectly safe in proportion to +the weight they bear, and let the weight be equally distributed over the +whole of the abacus. Then this weight may be represented by any number +of equal divisions, suppose four, as _l_, _m_, _n_, _r_, of brickwork +above, of which each division is one fourth of the whole weight; and let +this weight be placed in the most trying way on the abacus, that is to +say, let the masses _l_ and _r_ be detached from _m_ and _n_, and bear +with their full weight on the outside of the capital. We assume, in B, +that the width of abacus _e f_ is twice as great as that of the shaft, +_b c_, and on these conditions we assume the capital to be safe. + +But _b c_ is allowed to be variable. Let it become _b2 c2_ at C, which +is a length representing about the diameter of a shaft containing half +the substance of the shaft B, and, therefore, able to sustain not more +than half the weight sustained by B. But the slope _b d_ and depth _d +e_ remaining unchanged, we have the capital of C, which we are to load +with only half the weight of _l_, _m_, _n_, _r_, i.e., with _l_ and _r_ +alone. Therefore the weight of _l_ and _r_, now represented by the +masses _l2_, _r2_, is distributed over the whole of the capital. But the +weight _r_ was adequately supported by the projecting piece of the first +capital _h f c_: much more is it now adequately supported by _i h_, _f2 +c2_. Therefore, if the capital of B was safe, that of C is more than +safe. Now in B the length _e f_ was only twice _b c_; but in C, _e2 f2_ +will be found more than twice that of _b2_ _c2_. Therefore, the more +slender the shaft, the greater may be the proportional excess of the +abacus over its diameter. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXIV.] + +Sec. XV. 2. _The smaller the scale of the building, the greater may be +the excess of the abacus over the diameter of the shaft._ This principle +requires, I think, no very lengthy proof: the reader can understand at +once that the cohesion and strength of stone which can sustain a small +projecting mass, will not sustain a vast one overhanging in the same +proportion. A bank even of loose earth, six feet high, will sometimes +overhang its base a foot or two, as you may see any day in the gravelly +banks of the lanes of Hampstead: but make the bank of gravel, equally +loose, six hundred feet high, and see if you can get it to overhang a +hundred or two! much more if there be weight above it increased in the +same proportion. Hence, let any capital be given, whose projection is +just safe, and no more, on its existing scale; increase its proportions +every way equally, though ever so little, and it is unsafe; diminish +them equally, and it becomes safe in the exact degree of the diminution. + +Let, then, the quantity _e d_, and angle _d b c_, at A of Fig. XXIII., +be invariable, and let the length _d b_ vary: then we shall have such a +series of forms as may be represented by _a_, _b_, _c_, Fig. XXIV., of +which _a_ is a proportion for a colossal building, _b_ for a moderately +sized building, while _c_ could only be admitted on a very small scale +indeed. + +Sec. XVI. 3. _The greater the excess of abacus, the steeper must be the +slope of the bell, the shaft diameter being constant._ + +This will evidently follow from the considerations in the last +paragraph; supposing only that, instead of the scale of shaft and +capital varying together, the scale of the capital varies alone. For it +will then still be true, that, if the projection of the capital be just +safe on a given scale, as its excess over the shaft diameter increases, +the projection will be unsafe, if the slope of the bell remain constant. +But it may be rendered safe by making this slope steeper, and so +increasing its supporting power. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXV.] + +Thus let the capital _a_, Fig. XXV., be just safe. Then the capital _b_, +in which the slope is the same but the excess greater, is unsafe. But +the capital _c_, in which, though the excess equals that of _b_, the +steepness of the supporting slope is increased, will be as safe as _b_, +and probably as strong as _a_.[48] + +Sec. XVII. 4. _The steeper the slope of the bell, the thinner may be the +abacus._ + +The use of the abacus is eminently to equalise the pressure over the +surface of the bell, so that the weight may not by any accident be +directed exclusively upon its edges. In proportion to the strength of +these edges, this function of the abacus is superseded, and these edges +are strong in proportion to the steepness of the slope. Thus in Fig. +XXVI., the bell at _a_ would carry weight safely enough without any +abacus, but that at _c_ would not: it would probably have its edges +broken off. The abacus superimposed might be on _a_ very thin, little +more than formal, as at _b_; but on _c_ must be thick, as at _d_. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXVI.] + +Sec. XVIII. These four rules are all that are necessary for general +criticism; and observe that these are only semi-imperative,--rules of +permission, not of compulsion. Thus Law 1 asserts that the slender shaft +_may_ have greater excess of capital than the thick shaft; but it need +not, unless the architect chooses; his thick shafts _must_ have small +excess, but his slender ones need not have large. So Law 2 says, that as +the building is smaller, the excess _may_ be greater; but it need not, +for the excess which is safe in the large is still safer in the small. +So Law 3 says that capitals of great excess must have steep slopes; but +it does not say that capitals of small excess may not have steep slopes +also, if we choose. And lastly, Law 4 asserts the necessity of the thick +abacus for the shallow bell; but the steep bell may have a thick abacus +also. + +Sec. XIX. It will be found, however, that in practice some confession of +these laws will always be useful, and especially of the two first. The +eye always requires, on a slender shaft, a more spreading capital than +it does on a massy one, and a bolder mass of capital on a small scale +than on a large. And, in the application of the first rule, it is to be +noted that a shaft becomes slender either by diminution of diameter or +increase of height; that either mode of change presupposes the weight +above it diminished, and requires an expansion of abacus. I know no mode +of spoiling a noble building more frequent in actual practice than the +imposition of flat and slightly expanded capitals on tall shafts. + +Sec. XX. The reader must observe, also, that, in the demonstration of +the four laws, I always assumed the weight above to be given. By the +alteration of this weight, therefore, the architect has it in his power +to relieve, and therefore alter, the forms of his capitals. By its +various distribution on their centres or edges, the slope of their bells +and thickness of abaci will be affected also; so that he has countless +expedients at his command for the various treatment of his design. He +can divide his weights among more shafts; he can throw them in different +places and different directions on the abaci; he can alter slope of +bells or diameter of shafts; he can use spurred or plain bells, thin or +thick abaci; and all these changes admitting of infinity in their +degrees, and infinity a thousand times told in their relations: and all +this without reference to decoration, merely with the five forms of +block capital! + +Sec. XXI. In the harmony of these arrangements, in their fitness, unity, +and accuracy, lies the true proportion of every building,--proportion +utterly endless in its infinities of change, with unchanged beauty. And +yet this connexion of the frame of their building into one harmony has, +I believe, never been so much as dreamed of by architects. It has been +instinctively done in some degree by many, empirically in some degree by +many more; thoughtfully and thoroughly, I believe, by none. + +Sec. XXII. We have hitherto considered the abacus as necessarily a +separate stone from the bell: evidently, however, the strength of the +capital will be undiminished if both are cut out of one block. This is +actually the case in many capitals, especially those on a small scale; +and in others the detached upper stone is a mere representative of the +abacus, and is much thinner than the form of the capital requires, +while the true abacus is united with the bell, and concealed by its +decoration, or made part of it. + +Sec. XXIII. Farther. We have hitherto considered bell and abacus as both +derived from the concentration of the cornice. But it must at once occur +to the reader, that the projection of the under stone and the thickness +of the upper, which are quite enough for the work of the continuous +cornice, may not be enough always, or rather are seldom likely to be so, +for the harder work of the capital. Both may have to be deepened and +expanded: but as this would cause a want of harmony in the parts, when +they occur on the same level, it is better in such case to let the +_entire_ cornice form the abacus of the capital, and put a deep capital +bell beneath it. + +Sec. XXIV. The reader will understand both arrangements instantly by two +examples. Fig. XXVII. represents two windows, more than usually +beautiful examples of a very frequent Venetian form. Here the deep +cornice or string course which runs along the wall of the house is quite +strong enough for the work of the capitals of the slender shafts: its +own upper stone is therefore also theirs; its own lower stone, by its +revolution or concentration, forms their bells: but to mark the +increased importance of its function in so doing, it receives +decoration, as the bell of the capital, which it did not receive as the +under stone of the cornice. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXVII.] + +In Fig. XXVIII., a little bit of the church of Santa Fosca at Torcello, +the cornice or string course, which goes round every part of the church, +is not strong enough to form the capitals of the shafts. It therefore +forms their abaci only; and in order to mark the diminished importance +of its function, it ceases to receive, as the abacus of the capital, the +decoration which it received as the string course of the wall. + +This last arrangement is of great frequency in Venice, occurring most +characteristically in St. Mark's: and in the Gothic of St. John and Paul +we find the two arrangements beautifully united, though in great +simplicity; the string courses of the walls form the capitals of the +shafts of the traceries; and the abaci of the vaulting shafts of the +apse. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXVIII.] + +Sec. XXV. We have hitherto spoken of capitals of circular shafts only: +those of square piers are more frequently formed by the cornice only; +otherwise they are like those of circular piers, without the difficulty +of reconciling the base of the bell with its head. + +Sec. XXVI. When two or more shafts are grouped together, their capitals +are usually treated as separate, until they come into actual contact. If +there be any awkwardness in the junction, it is concealed by the +decoration, and one abacus serves, in most cases, for all. The double +group, Fig. XXVII., is the simplest possible type of the arrangement. In +the richer Northern Gothic groups of eighteen or twenty shafts cluster +together, and sometimes the smaller shafts crouch under the capitals of +the larger, and hide their heads in the crannies, with small nominal +abaci of their own, while the larger shafts carry the serviceable abacus +of the whole pier, as in the nave of Rouen. There is, however, evident +sacrifice of sound principle in this system, the smaller abaci being of +no use. They are the exact contrary of the rude early abacus at Milan, +given in Plate XVII. There one poor abacus stretched itself out to do +all the work: here there are idle abaci getting up into corners and +doing none. + +Sec. XXVII. Finally, we have considered the capital hitherto entirely as +an expansion of the bearing power of the shaft, supposing the shaft +composed of a single stone. But, evidently, the capital has a function, +if possible, yet more important, when the shaft is composed of small +masonry. It enables all that masonry to act together, and to receive the +pressure from above collectively and with a single strength. And thus, +considered merely as a large stone set on the top of the shaft, it is a +feature of the highest architectural importance, irrespective of its +expansion, which indeed is, in some very noble capitals, exceedingly +small. And thus every large stone set at any important point to +reassemble the force of smaller masonry and prepare it for the +sustaining of weight, is a capital or "head" stone (the true meaning of +the word) whether it project or not. Thus at 6, in Plate IV., the stones +which support the thrust of the brickwork are capitals, which have no +projection at all; and the large stones in the window above are capitals +projecting in one direction only. + +Sec. XXVIII. The reader is now master of all he need know respecting +construction of capitals; and from what has been laid before him, must +assuredly feel that there can never be any new system of architectural +forms invented; but that all vertical support must be, to the end of +time, best obtained by shafts and capitals. It has been so obtained by +nearly every nation of builders, with more or less refinement in the +management of the details; and the later Gothic builders of the North +stand almost alone in their effort to dispense with the natural +development of the shaft, and banish the capital from their +compositions. + +They were gradually led into this error through a series of steps which +it is not here our business to trace. But they may be generalised in a +few words. + +Sec. XXIX. All classical architecture, and the Romanesque which is +legitimately descended from it, is composed of bold independent shafts, +plain or fluted, with bold detached capitals, forming arcades or +colonnades where they are needed; and of walls whose apertures are +surrounded by courses of parallel lines called mouldings, which are +continuous round the apertures, and have neither shafts nor capitals. +The shaft system and moulding system are entirely separate. + +The Gothic architects confounded the two. They clustered the shafts till +they looked like a group of mouldings. They shod and capitaled the +mouldings till they looked like a group of shafts. So that a pier became +merely the side of a door or window rolled up, and the side of the +window a pier unrolled (vide last Chapter, Sec. XXX.), both being composed +of a series of small shafts, each with base and capital. The architect +seemed to have whole mats of shafts at his disposal, like the rush mats +which one puts under cream cheese. If he wanted a great pier he rolled +up the mat; if he wanted the side of a door he spread out the mat: and +now the reader has to add to the other distinctions between the Egyptian +and the Gothic shaft, already noted in Sec. XXVI. of Chap. VIII., this +one more--the most important of all--that while the Egyptian rush cluster +has only one massive capital altogether, the Gothic rush mat has a +separate tiny capital to every several rush. + +Sec. XXX. The mats were gradually made of finer rushes, until it became +troublesome to give each rush its capital. In fact, when the groups of +shafts became excessively complicated, the expansion of their small +abaci was of no use: it was dispensed with altogether, and the mouldings +of pier and jamb ran up continuously into the arches. + +This condition, though in many respects faulty and false, is yet the +eminently characteristic state of Gothic: it is the definite formation +of it as a distinct style, owing no farther aid to classical models; and +its lightness and complexity render it, when well treated, and enriched +with Flamboyant decoration, a very glorious means of picturesque effect. +It is, in fact, this form of Gothic which commends itself most easily to +the general mind, and which has suggested the innumerable foolish +theories about the derivation of Gothic from tree trunks and avenues, +which have from time to time been brought forward by persons ignorant of +the history of architecture. + +Sec. XXXI. When the sense of picturesqueness, as well as that of justness +and dignity, had been lost, the spring of the continuous mouldings was +replaced by what Professor Willis calls the Discontinuous impost; which, +being a barbarism of the basest and most painful kind, and being to +architecture what the setting of a saw is to music, I shall not trouble +the reader to examine. For it is not in my plan to note for him all the +various conditions of error, but only to guide him to the appreciation +of the right; and I only note even the true Continuous or Flamboyant +Gothic because this is redeemed by its beautiful decoration, afterwards +to be considered. For, as far as structure is concerned, the moment the +capital vanishes from the shaft, that moment we are in error: all good +Gothic has true capitals to the shafts of its jambs and traceries, and +all Gothic is debased the instant the shaft vanishes. It matters not how +slender, or how small, or how low, the shaft may be: wherever there is +indication of concentrated vertical support, then the capital is a +necessary termination. I know how much Gothic, otherwise beautiful, this +sweeping principle condemns; but it condemns not altogether. We may +still take delight in its lovely proportions, its rich decoration, or +its elastic and reedy moulding; but be assured, wherever shafts, or any +approximations to the forms of shafts, are employed, for whatever +office, or on whatever scale, be it in jambs or piers, or balustrades, +or traceries, without capitals, there is a defiance of the natural laws +of construction; and that, wherever such examples are found in ancient +buildings, they are either the experiments of barbarism, or the +commencements of decline. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [47] Appendix 19, "Early English Capitals." + + [48] In this case the weight borne is supposed to increase as the + abacus widens; the illustration would have been clearer if I had + assumed the breadth of abacus to be constant, and that of the shaft + to vary. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + THE ARCH LINE. + + +Sec. I. We have seen in the last section how our means of vertical support +may, for the sake of economy both of space and material, be gathered +into piers or shafts, and directed to the sustaining of particular +points. The next question is how to connect these points or tops of +shafts with each other, so as to be able to lay on them a continuous +roof. This the reader, as before, is to favor me by finding out for +himself, under these following conditions. + +Let _s_, _s_, Fig. XXIX. opposite, be two shafts, with their capitals +ready prepared for their work; and _a_, _b_, _b_, and _c_, _c_, _c_, be +six stones of different sizes, one very long and large, and two smaller, +and three smaller still, of which the reader is to choose which he likes +best, in order to connect the tops of the shafts. + +I suppose he will first try if he can lift the great stone _a_, and if he +can, he will put it very simply on the tops of the two pillars, as at A. + +Very well indeed: he has done already what a number of Greek architects +have been thought very clever for having done. But suppose he _cannot_ +lift the great stone _a_, or suppose I will not give it to him, but only +the two smaller stones at _b_, _b_; he will doubtless try to put them +up, tilted against each other, as at _d_. Very awkward this; worse than +card-house building. But if he cuts off the corners of the stones, so as +to make each of them of the form _e_, they will stand up very securely, +as at B. + +But suppose he cannot lift even these less stones, but can raise those +at _c_, _c_, _c_. Then, cutting each of them into the form at _e_, he +will doubtless set them up as at _f_. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXIX.] + +Sec. II. This last arrangement looks a little dangerous. Is there not +a chance of the stone in the middle pushing the others out, or tilting +them up and aside, and slipping down itself between them? There is such +a chance: and if by somewhat altering the form of the stones, we can +diminish this chance, all the better. I must say "we" now, for perhaps I +may have to help the reader a little. + +The danger is, observe, that the midmost stone at _f_ pushes out the +side ones: then if we can give the side ones such a shape as that, left +to themselves, they would fall heavily forward, they will resist this +push _out_ by their weight, exactly in proportion to their own +particular inclination or desire to tumble _in_. Take one of them +separately, standing up as at _g_; it is just possible it may stand up +as it is, like the Tower of Pisa: but we want it to fall forward. +Suppose we cut away the parts that are shaded at _h_ and leave it as at +_i_, it is very certain it cannot stand alone now, but will fall forward +to our entire satisfaction. + +Farther: the midmost stone at _f_ is likely to be troublesome chiefly by +its weight, pushing down between the others; the more we lighten it the +better: so we will cut it into exactly the same shape as the side ones, +chiselling away the shaded parts, as at _h_. We shall then have all the +three stones _k_, _l_, _m_, of the same shape; and now putting them +together, we have, at C, what the reader, I doubt not, will perceive at +once to be a much more satisfactory arrangement than that at _f_. + +Sec. III. We have now got three arrangements; in one using only one +piece of stone, in the second two, and in the third three. The first +arrangement has no particular name, except the "horizontal:" but the +single stone (or beam, it may be,) is called a lintel; the second +arrangement is called a "Gable;" the third an "Arch." + +We might have used pieces of wood instead of stone in all these +arrangements, with no difference in plan, so long as the beams were kept +loose, like the stones; but as beams can be securely nailed together at +the ends, we need not trouble ourselves so much about their shape or +balance, and therefore the plan at _f_ is a peculiarly wooden +construction (the reader will doubtless recognise in it the profile of +many a farm-house roof): and again, because beams are tough, and light, +and long, as compared with stones, they are admirably adapted for the +constructions at A and B, the plain lintel and gable, while that at C +is, for the most part, left to brick and stone. + +Sec. IV. But farther. The constructions, A, B, and C, though very +conveniently to be first considered as composed of one, two, and three +pieces, are by no means necessarily so. When we have once cut the stones +of the arch into a shape like that of _k_, _l_, and _m_, they will hold +together, whatever their number, place, or size, as at _n_; and the +great value of the arch is, that it permits small stones to be used with +safety instead of large ones, which are not always to be had. Stones cut +into the shape of _k_, _l_, and _m_, whether they be short or long (I +have drawn them all sizes at _n_ on purpose), are called Voussoirs; this +is a hard, ugly French name; but the reader will perhaps be kind enough +to recollect it; it will save us both some trouble: and to make amends +for this infliction, I will relieve him of the term _keystone_. One +voussoir is as much a keystone as another; only people usually call the +stone which is last put in the keystone; and that one happens generally +to be at the top or middle of the arch. + +Sec. V. Not only the arch, but even the lintel, may be built of many +stones or bricks. The reader may see lintels built in this way over +most of the windows of our brick London houses, and so also the +gable: there are, therefore, two distinct questions respecting each +arrangement;--First, what is the line or direction of it, which gives it +its strength? and, secondly, what is the manner of masonry of it, which +gives it its consistence? The first of these I shall consider in this +Chapter under the head of the Arch Line, using the term arch as including +all manner of construction (though we shall have no trouble except about +curves); and in the next Chapter I shall consider the second, under the +head, Arch Masonry. + +Sec. VI. Now the arch line is the ghost or skeleton of the arch; or rather +it is the spinal marrow of the arch, and the voussoirs are the vertebrae, +which keep it safe and sound, and clothe it. This arch line the +architect has first to conceive and shape in his mind, as opposed to, or +having to bear, certain forces which will try to distort it this way and +that; and against which he is first to direct and bend the line itself +into as strong resistance as he may, and then, with his voussoirs and +what else he can, to guard it, and help it, and keep it to its duty and +in its shape. So the arch line is the moral character of the arch, and +the adverse forces are its temptations; and the voussoirs, and what else +we may help it with, are its armor and its motives to good conduct. + +Sec. VII. This moral character of the arch is called by architects its +"Line of Resistance." There is a great deal of nicety in calculating it +with precision, just as there is sometimes in finding out very precisely +what is a man's true line of moral conduct; but this, in arch morality +and in man morality, is a very simple and easily to be understood +principle,--that if either arch or man expose themselves to their +special temptations or adverse forces, _outside_ of the voussoirs or +proper and appointed armor, both will fall. An arch whose line of +resistance is in the middle of its voussoirs is perfectly safe: in +proportion as the said line runs near the edge of its voussoirs, the +arch is in danger, as the man is who nears temptation; and the moment +the line of resistance emerges out of the voussoirs the arch falls. + +Sec. VIII. There are, therefore, properly speaking, two arch lines. One +is the visible direction or curve of the arch, which may generally be +considered as the under edge of its voussoirs, and which has often no +more to do with the real stability of the arch, than a man's apparent +conduct has with his heart. The other line, which is the line of +resistance, or line of good behavior, may or may not be consistent with +the outward and apparent curves of the arch; but if not, then the +security of the arch depends simply upon this, whether the voussoirs +which assume or pretend to the one line are wide enough to include the +other. + +Sec. IX. Now when the reader is told that the line of resistance varies +with every change either in place or quantity of the weight above the +arch, he will see at once that we have no chance of arranging arches by +their moral characters: we can only take the apparent arch line, or +visible direction, as a ground of arrangement. We shall consider the +possible or probable forms or contours of arches in the present Chapter, +and in the succeeding one the forms of voussoir and other help which +may best fortify these visible lines against every temptation to lose +their consistency. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXX.] + +Sec. X. Look back to Fig. XXIX. Evidently the abstract or ghost line of +the arrangement at A is a plain horizontal line, as here at _a_, Fig. XXX. +The abstract line of the arrangement at B, Fig. XXIX., is composed of +two straight lines, set against each other, as here at _b_. The abstract +line of C, Fig. XXIX., is a curve of some kind, not at present +determined, suppose _c_, Fig. XXX. Then, as _b_ is two of the straight +lines at _a_, set up against each other, we may conceive an arrangement, +_d_, made up of two of the curved lines at _c_, set against each other. +This is called a pointed arch, which is a contradiction in terms: it +ought to be called a curved gable; but it must keep the name it has got. + +Now _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, Fig. XXX., are the ghosts of the lintel, the +gable, the arch, and the pointed arch. With the poor lintel ghost we +need trouble ourselves no farther; there are no changes in him: but +there is much variety in the other three, and the method of their +variety will be best discerned by studying _b_ and _d_, as subordinate +to and connected with the simple arch at _c_. + +Sec. XI. Many architects, especially the worst, have been very curious +in designing out of the way arches,--elliptical arches, and four-centred +arches, so called, and other singularities. The good architects have +generally been content, and we for the present will be so, with God's +arch, the arch of the rainbow and of the apparent heaven, and which the +sun shapes for us as it sets and rises. Let us watch the sun for a +moment as it climbs: when it is a quarter up, it will give us the arch +_a_, Fig. XXXI.; when it is half up, _b_, and when three quarters up, +_c_. There will be an infinite number of arches between these, but we +will take these as sufficient representatives of all. Then _a_ is the +low arch, _b_ the central or pure arch, _c_ the high arch, and the rays +of the sun would have drawn for us their voussoirs. + +Sec. XII. We will take these several arches successively, and fixing the +top of each accurately, draw two right lines thence to its base, _d_, +_e_, _f_, Fig. XXXI. Then these lines give us the relative gables of +each of the arches; _d_ is the Italian or southern gable, _e_ the +central gable, _f_ the Gothic gable. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXI.] + +Sec. XIII. We will again take the three arches with their gables in +succession, and on each of the sides of the gable, between it and the +arch, we will describe another arch, as at _g_, _h_, _i_. Then the +curves so described give the pointed arches belonging to each of the +round arches; _g_, the flat pointed arch, _h_, the central pointed arch, +and _i_, the lancet pointed arch. + +Sec. XIV. If the radius with which these intermediate curves are drawn be +the base of _f_, the last is the equilateral pointed arch, one of great +importance in Gothic work. But between the gable and circle, in all the +three figures, there are an infinite number of pointed arches, +describable with different radii; and the three round arches, be it +remembered, are themselves representatives of an infinite number, +passing from the flattest conceivable curve, through the semicircle and +horseshoe, up to the full circle. + +The central and the last group are the most important. The central +round, or semicircle, is the Roman, the Byzantine, and Norman arch; and +its relative pointed includes one wide branch of Gothic. The horseshoe +round is the Arabic and Moorish arch, and its relative pointed includes +the whole range of Arabic and lancet, or Early English and French +Gothics. I mean of course by the relative pointed, the entire group of +which the equilateral arch is the representative. Between it and the +outer horseshoe, as this latter rises higher, the reader will find, on +experiment, the great families of what may be called the horseshoe +pointed,--curves of the highest importance, but which are all included, +with English lancet, under the term, relative pointed of the horseshoe +arch. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXII.] + +Sec. XV. The groups above described are all formed of circular arcs, +and include all truly useful and beautiful arches for ordinary work. I +believe that singular and complicated curves are made use of in modern +engineering, but with these the general reader can have no concern: the +Ponte della Trinita at Florence is the most graceful instance I know of +such structure; the arch made use of being very subtle, and +approximating to the low ellipse; for which, in common work, a barbarous +pointed arch, called four-centred, and composed of bits of circles, is +substituted by the English builders. The high ellipse, I believe, exists +in eastern architecture. I have never myself met with it on a large +scale; but it occurs in the niches of the later portions of the Ducal +palace at Venice, together with a singular hyperbolic arch, _a_ in Fig. +XXXIII., to be described hereafter: with such caprices we are not here +concerned. + +Sec. XVI. We are, however, concerned to notice the absurdity of another +form of arch, which, with the four-centred, belongs to the English +perpendicular Gothic. + +Taking the gable of any of the groups in Fig. XXXI. (suppose the +equilateral), here at _b_, in Fig. XXXIII., the dotted line representing +the relative pointed arch, we may evidently conceive an arch formed by +reversed curves on the inside of the gable, as here shown by the inner +curved lines. I imagine the reader by this time knows enough of the +nature of arches to understand that, whatever strength or stability was +gained by the curve on the _outside_ of the gable, exactly so much is +lost by curves on the _inside_. The natural tendency of such an arch to +dissolution by its own mere weight renders it a feature of detestable +ugliness, wherever it occurs on a large scale. It is eminently +characteristic of Tudor work, and it is the profile of the Chinese roof +(I say on a large scale, because this as well as all other capricious +arches, may be made secure by their masonry when small, but not +otherwise). Some allowable modifications of it will be noticed in the +chapter on Roofs. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXIII.] + +Sec. XVII. There is only one more form of arch which we have to notice. +When the last described arch is used, not as the principal arrangement, +but as a mere heading to a common pointed arch, we have the form _c_, +Fig. XXXIII. Now this is better than the entirely reversed arch for two +reasons; first, less of the line is weakened by reversing; secondly, the +double curve has a very high aesthetic value, not existing in the mere +segments of circles. For these reasons arches of this kind are not only +admissible, but even of great desirableness, when their scale and +masonry render them secure, but above a certain scale they are +altogether barbarous; and, with the reversed Tudor arch, wantonly +employed, are the characteristics of the worst and meanest schools of +architecture, past or present. + +This double curve is called the Ogee; it is the profile of many German +leaden roofs, of many Turkish domes (there more excusable, because +associated and in sympathy with exquisitely managed arches of the same +line in the walls below), of Tudor turrets, as in Henry the Seventh's +Chapel, and it is at the bottom or top of sundry other blunders all over +the world. + +Sec. XVIII. The varieties of the ogee curve are infinite, as the reversed +portion of it may be engrafted on every other form of arch, horseshoe, +round, or pointed. Whatever is generally worthy of note in these +varieties, and in other arches of caprice, we shall best discover by +examining their masonry; for it is by their good masonry only that they +are rendered either stable or beautiful. To this question, then, let us +address ourselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + THE ARCH MASONRY. + + +Sec. I. On the subject of the stability of arches, volumes have been +written and volumes more are required. The reader will not, therefore, +expect from me any very complete explanation of its conditions within +the limits of a single chapter. But that which is necessary for him to +know is very simple and very easy; and yet, I believe, some part of it +is very little known, or noticed. + +We must first have a clear idea of what is meant by an arch. It is a +curved _shell_ of firm materials, on whose back a burden is to be laid +of _loose_ materials. So far as the materials above it are _not loose_, +but themselves hold together, the opening below is not an arch, but an +_excavation_. Note this difference very carefully. If the King of +Sardinia tunnels through the Mont Cenis, as he proposes, he will not +require to build a brick arch under his tunnel to carry the weight of +the Mont Cenis: that would need scientific masonry indeed. The Mont +Cenis will carry itself, by its own cohesion, and a succession of +invisible granite arches, rather larger than the tunnel. But when Mr. +Brunel tunnelled the Thames bottom, he needed to build a brick arch to +carry the six or seven feet of mud and the weight of water above. That +is a type of all arches proper. + +Sec. II. Now arches, in practice, partake of the nature of the two. So +far as their masonry above is Mont-Cenisian, that is to say, colossal in +comparison of them, and granitic, so that the arch is a mere hole in the +rock substance of it, the form of the arch is of no consequence +whatever: it may be rounded, or lozenged, or ogee'd, or anything else; +and in the noblest architecture there is always _some_ character of this +kind given to the masonry. It is independent enough not to care about +the holes cut in it, and does not subside into them like sand. But the +theory of arches does not presume on any such condition of things; it +allows itself only the shell of the arch proper; the vertebrae, carrying +their marrow of resistance; and, above this shell, it assumes the wall +to be in a state of flux, bearing down on the arch, like water or sand, +with its whole weight. And farther, the problem which is to be solved by +the arch builder is not merely to carry this weight, but to carry it +with the least thickness of shell. It is easy to carry it by continually +thickening your voussoirs: if you have six feet depth of sand or gravel +to carry, and you choose to employ granite voussoirs six feet thick, no +question but your arch is safe enough. But it is perhaps somewhat too +costly: the thing to be done is to carry the sand or gravel with brick +voussoirs, six inches thick, or, at any rate, with the least thickness +of voussoir which will be safe; and to do this requires peculiar +arrangement of the lines of the arch. There are many arrangements, +useful all in their way, but we have only to do, in the best +architecture, with the simplest and most easily understood. We have +first to note those which regard the actual shell of the arch, and then +we shall give a few examples of the superseding of such expedients by +Mont-Cenisian masonry. + +Sec. III. What we have to say will apply to all arches, but the central +pointed arch is the best for general illustration. Let _a_, Plate III., +be the shell of a pointed arch with loose loading above; and suppose you +find that shell not quite thick enough; and that the weight bears too +heavily on the top of the arch, and is likely to break it in: you +proceed to thicken your shell, but need you thicken it all equally? Not +so; you would only waste your good voussoirs. If you have any common +sense you will thicken it at the top, where a Mylodon's skull is +thickened for the same purpose (and some human skulls, I fancy), as at +_b_. The pebbles and gravel above will now shoot off it right and left, +as the bullets do off a cuirassier's breastplate, and will have no +chance of beating it in. + +If still it be not strong enough, a farther addition may be made, as at +_c_, now thickening the voussoirs a little at the base also. But as this +may perhaps throw the arch inconveniently high, or occasion a waste of +voussoirs at the top, we may employ another expedient. + +Sec. IV. I imagine the reader's common sense, if not his previous +knowledge, will enable him to understand that if the arch at _a_, Plate +III., burst _in_ at the top, it must burst _out_ at the sides. Set up +two pieces of pasteboard, edge to edge, and press them down with your +hand, and you will see them bend out at the sides. Therefore, if you can +keep the arch from starting out at the points _p_, _p_, it _cannot_ +curve in at the top, put what weight on it you will, unless by sheer +crushing of the stones to fragments. + +Sec. V. Now you may keep the arch from starting out at _p_ by loading it +at _p_, putting more weight upon it and against it at that point; and this, +in practice, is the way it is usually done. But we assume at present +that the weight above is sand or water, quite unmanageable, not to be +directed to the points we choose; and in practice, it may sometimes +happen that we cannot put weight upon the arch at _p_. We may perhaps +want an opening above it, or it may be at the side of the building, and +many other circumstances may occur to hinder us. + +Sec. VI. But if we are not sure that we can put weight above it, we are +perfectly sure that we can hang weight under it. You may always thicken +your shell inside, and put the weight upon it as at _x x_, in _d_, Plate +III. Not much chance of its bursting out at _p_, now, is there? + +Sec. VII. Whenever, therefore, an arch has to bear vertical pressure, it +will bear it better when its shell is shaped as at _b_ or _d_, than as +at _a_: _b_ and _d_ are, therefore, the types of arches built to resist +vertical pressure, all over the world, and from the beginning of +architecture to its end. None others can be compared with them: all are +imperfect except these. + +[Illustration: Plate III. + ARCH MASONRY.] + +The added projections at _x x_, in _d_, are called CUSPS, and they are +the very soul and life of the best northern Gothic; yet never thoroughly +understood nor found in perfection, except in Italy, the northern +builders working often, even in the best times, with the vulgar form at +_a_. + +The form at _b_ is rarely found in the north: its perfection is in the +Lombardic Gothic; and branches of it, good and bad according to their +use, occur in Saracenic work. + +Sec. VIII. The true and perfect cusp is single only. But it was probably +invented (by the Arabs?) not as a constructive, but a decorative +feature, in pure fantasy; and in early northern work it is only the +application to the arch of the foliation, so called, of penetrated +spaces in stone surfaces, already enough explained in the "Seven Lamps," +Chap. III., p. 85 _et seq._ It is degraded in dignity, and loses its +usefulness, exactly in proportion to its multiplication on the arch. In +later architecture, especially English Tudor, it is sunk into dotage, +and becomes a simple excrescence, a bit of stone pinched up out of the +arch, as a cook pinches the paste at the edge of a pie. + +Sec. IX. The depth and place of the cusp, that is to say, its exact +application to the shoulder of the curve of the arch, varies with the +direction of the weight to be sustained. I have spent more than a month, +and that in hard work too, in merely trying to get the forms of cusps +into perfect order: whereby the reader may guess that I have not space +to go into the subject now; but I shall hereafter give a few of the +leading and most perfect examples, with their measures and masonry. + +Sec. X. The reader now understands all that he need about the shell of +the arch, considered as an united piece of stone. + +He has next to consider the shape of the voussoirs. This, as much as is +required, he will be able best to comprehend by a few examples; by which +I shall be able also to illustrate, or rather which will force me to +illustrate, some of the methods of Mont-Cenisian masonry, which were to +be the second part of our subject. + +Sec. XI. 1 and 2, Plate IV., are two cornices; 1 from St. Antonio, Padua; +2, from the Cathedral of Sens. I want them for cornices; but I have put +them in this plate because, though their arches are filled up behind, +and are in fact mere blocks of stone with arches cut into their faces, +they illustrate the constant masonry of small arches, both in Italian +and Northern Romanesque, but especially Italian, each arch being cut out +of its own proper block of stone: this is Mont-Cenisian enough, on a +small scale. + +3 is a window from Carnarvon Castle, and very primitive and interesting +in manner,--one of its arches being of one stone, the other of two. And +here we have an instance of a form of arch which would be barbarous +enough on a large scale, and of many pieces; but quaint and agreeable +thus massively built. + +4 is from a little belfry in a Swiss village above Vevay; one fancies +the window of an absurd form, seen in the distance, but one is pleased +with it on seeing its masonry. It could hardly be stronger. + +Sec. XII. These then are arches cut of one block. The next step is to form +them of two pieces, set together at the head of the arch. 6, from the +Eremitani, Padua, is very quaint and primitive in manner: it is a +curious church altogether, and has some strange traceries cut out of +single blocks. One is given in the "Seven Lamps," Plate VII., in the +left-hand corner at the bottom. + +7, from the Frari, Venice, very firm and fine, and admirably decorated, +as we shall see hereafter. 5, the simple two-pieced construction, +wrought with the most exquisite proportion and precision of workmanship, +as is everything else in the glorious church to which it belongs, San +Fermo of Verona. The addition of the top piece, which completes the +circle, does not affect the plan of the beautiful arches, with their +simple and perfect cusps; but it is highly curious, and serves to show +how the idea of the cusp rose out of mere foliation. The whole of the +architecture of this church may be characterised as exhibiting the +maxima of simplicity in construction, and perfection in workmanship,--a +rare unison: for, in general, simple designs are rudely worked, and as +the builder perfects his execution, he complicates his plan. Nearly +all the arches of San Fermo are two-pieced. + +[Illustration: Plate IV. + ARCH MASONRY.] + +Sec. XIII. We have seen the construction with one and two pieces: _a_ and +_b_, Fig. 8, Plate IV., are the general types of the construction with +three pieces, uncusped and cusped; _c_ and _d_ with five pieces, +uncusped and cusped. Of these the three-pieced construction is of +enormous importance, and must detain us some time. The five-pieced is +the three-pieced with a joint added on each side, and is also of great +importance. The four-pieced, which is the two-pieced with added joints, +rarely occurs, and need not detain us. + +Sec. XIV. It will be remembered that in first working out the principle +of the arch, we composed the arch of three pieces. Three is the smallest +number which can exhibit the real _principle_ of arch masonry, and it +may be considered as representative of all arches built on that +principle; the one and two-pieced arches being microscopic +Mont-Cenisian, mere caves in blocks of stone, or gaps between two rocks +leaning together. + +But the three-pieced arch is properly representative of all; and the +larger and more complicated constructions are merely produced by keeping +the central piece for what is called a keystone, and putting additional +joints at the sides. Now so long as an arch is pure circular or pointed, +it does not matter how many joints or voussoirs you have, nor where the +joints are; nay, you may joint your keystone itself, and make it +two-pieced. But if the arch be of any bizarre form, especially ogee, the +joints must be in particular places, and the masonry simple, or it will +not be thoroughly good and secure; and the fine schools of the ogee arch +have only arisen in countries where it was the custom to build arches of +few pieces. + +Sec. XV. The typical pure pointed arch of Venice is a five-pieced arch, +with its stones in three orders of magnitude, the longest being the +lowest, as at _b2_, Plate III. If the arch be very large, a fourth order +of magnitude is added, as at _a2_. The portals of the palaces of Venice +have one or other of these masonries, almost without exception. Now, as +one piece is added to make a larger door, one piece is taken away to +make a smaller one, or a window, and the masonry type of the Venetian +Gothic window is consequently three-pieced, _c2_. + +Sec. XVI. The reader knows already where a cusp is useful. It is wanted, +he will remember, to give weight to those side stones, and draw them +inwards against the thrust of the top stone. Take one of the side stones +of _c2_ out for a moment, as at _d_. Now the _proper_ place of the cusp +upon it varies with the weight which it bears or requires; but in +practice this nicety is rarely observed; the place of the cusp is almost +always determined by aesthetic considerations, and it is evident that the +variations in its place may be infinite. Consider the cusp as a wave +passing up the side stone from its bottom to its top; then you will have +the succession of forms from _e_ to _g_ (Plate III.), with infinite +degrees of transition from each to each; but of which you may take _e_, +_f_, and _g_, as representing three great families of cusped arches. Use +_e_ for your side stones, and you have an arch as that at _h_ below, +which may be called a down-cusped arch. Use _f_ for the side stone, and +you have _i_, which may be called a mid-cusped arch. Use _g_, and you +have _k_, an up-cusped arch. + +Sec. XVII. The reader will observe that I call the arch mid-cusped, not +when the cusped point is in the middle of the curve of the arch, but +when it is in the middle of the _side piece_, and also that where the +side pieces join the keystone there will be a change, perhaps somewhat +abrupt, in the curvature. + +I have preferred to call the arch mid-cusped with respect to its side +piece than with respect to its own curve, because the most beautiful +Gothic arches in the world, those of the Lombard Gothic, have, in all +the instances I have examined, a form more or less approximating to this +mid-cusped one at _i_ (Plate III.), but having the curvature of the cusp +carried up into the keystone, as we shall see presently: where, however, +the arch is built of many voussoirs, a mid-cusped arch will mean one +which has the point of the cusp midway between its own base and apex. + +The Gothic arch of Venice is almost invariably up-cusped, as at _k_. +The reader may note that, in both down-cusped and up-cusped arches, the +piece of stone, added to form the cusp, is of the shape of a scymitar, +held down in the one case and up in the other. + +Sec. XVIII. Now, in the arches _h_, _i_, _k_, a slight modification has +been made in the form of the central piece, in order that it may +continue the curve of the cusp. This modification is not to be given to +it in practice without considerable nicety of workmanship; and some +curious results took place in Venice from this difficulty. + +At _l_ (Plate III.) is the shape of the Venetian side stone, with its +cusp detached from the arch. Nothing can possibly be better or more +graceful, or have the weight better disposed in order to cause it to nod +forwards against the keystone, as above explained, Ch. X. Sec. II., where +I developed the whole system of the arch from three pieces, in order that +the reader might now clearly see the use of the weight of the cusp. + +Now a Venetian Gothic palace has usually at least three stories; with +perhaps ten or twelve windows in each story, and this on two or three of +its sides, requiring altogether some hundred to a hundred and fifty side +pieces. + +I have no doubt, from observation of the way the windows are set +together, that the side pieces were carved in pairs, like hooks, of +which the keystones were to be the eyes; that these side pieces were +ordered by the architect in the gross, and were used by him sometimes +for wider, sometimes for narrower windows; bevelling the two ends as +required, fitting in keystones as he best could, and now and then +varying the arrangement by turning the side pieces _upside down_. + +There were various conveniences in this way of working, one of the +principal being that the side pieces with their cusps were always cut to +their complete form, and that no part of the cusp was carried out into +the keystone, which followed the curve of the outer arch itself. The +ornaments of the cusp might thus be worked without any troublesome +reference to the rest of the arch. + +Sec. XIX. Now let us take a pair of side pieces, made to order, like that +at _l_, and see what we can make of them. We will try to fit them first +with a keystone which continues the curve of the outer arch, as at _m_. +This the reader assuredly thinks an ugly arch. There are a great many of +them in Venice, the ugliest things there, and the Venetian builders +quickly began to feel them so. What could they do to better them? The +arch at _m_ has a central piece of the form _r_. Substitute for it a +piece of the form _s_, and we have the arch at _n_. + +Sec. XX. This arch at _n_ is not so strong as that at _m_; but, built of +good marble, and with its pieces of proper thickness, it is quite strong +enough for all practical purposes on a small scale. I have examined at +least two thousand windows of this kind and of the other Venetian ogees, +of which that at _y_ (in which the plain side-piece _d_ is used instead +of the cusped one) is the simplest; and I never found _one_, even in the +most ruinous palaces (in which they had had to sustain the distorted +weight of falling walls) in which the central piece was fissured; and +this is the only danger to which the window is exposed; in other +respects it is as strong an arch as can be built. + +It is not to be supposed that the change from the _r_ keystone to the +_s_ keystone was instantaneous. It was a change wrought out by many +curious experiments, which we shall have to trace hereafter, and to +throw the resultant varieties of form into their proper groups. + +Sec. XXI. One step more: I take a mid-cusped side piece in its block form +at _t_, with the bricks which load the back of it. Now, as these bricks +support it behind, and since, as far as the use of the cusp is +concerned, it matters not whether its weight be in marble or bricks, +there is nothing to hinder us from cutting out some of the marble, as at +_u_, and filling up the space with bricks. (_Why_ we should take a fancy +to do this, I do not pretend to guess at present; all I have to assert +is, that, if the fancy should strike us, there would be no harm in it). +Substituting this side piece for the other in the window _n_, we have +that at _w_, which may, perhaps, be of some service to us afterwards; +here we have nothing more to do with it than to note that, thus built, +and properly backed by brickwork, it is just as strong and safe a +form as that at _n_; but that this, as well as every variety of ogee +arch, depends entirely for its safety, fitness, and beauty, on the +masonry which we have just analysed; and that, built on a large scale, +and with many voussoirs, all such arches would be unsafe and absurd in +general architecture. Yet they may be used occasionally for the sake of +the exquisite beauty of which their rich and fantastic varieties admit, +and sometimes for the sake of another merit, exactly the opposite of the +constructional ones we are at present examining, that they seem to stand +by enchantment. + +[Illustration: Plate V. + Arch Masonry. + BRULETTO OF COMO.] + +Sec. XXII. In the above reasonings, the inclination of the joints of the +voussoirs to the curves of the arch has not been considered. It is a +question of much nicety, and which I have not been able as yet fully to +investigate: but the natural idea of the arrangement of these lines +(which in round arches are of course perpendicular to the curve) would +be that every voussoir should have the lengths of its outer and inner +arched surface in the same proportion to each other. Either this actual +law, or a close approximation to it, is assuredly enforced in the best +Gothic buildings. + +Sec. XXIII. I may sum up all that it is necessary for the reader to keep +in mind of the general laws connected with this subject, by giving him an +example of each of the two forms of the perfect Gothic arch, uncusped +and cusped, treated with the most simple and magnificent masonry, and +partly, in both cases, Mont-Cenisian. + +The first, Plate V., is a window from the Broletto of Como. It shows, in +its filling, first, the single-pieced arch, carried on groups of four +shafts, and a single slab of marble filling the space above, and pierced +with a quatrefoil (Mont-Cenisian, this), while the mouldings above are +each constructed with a separate system of voussoirs, all of them +shaped, I think, on the principle above stated, Sec. XXII., in alternate +serpentine and marble; the outer arch being a noble example of the pure +uncusped Gothic construction, _b_ of Plate III. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXIV.] + +Sec. XXIV. Fig. XXXIV. is the masonry of the side arch of, as far as I +know or am able to judge, the most perfect Gothic sepulchral monument in +the world, the foursquare canopy of the (nameless?)[49] tomb standing +over the small cemetery gate of the Church of St. Anastasia at Verona. I +shall have frequent occasion to recur to this monument, and, I believe, +shall be able sufficiently to justify the terms in which I speak of it: +meanwhile, I desire only that the reader should observe the severity +and simplicity of the arch lines, the exquisitely delicate suggestion of +the ogee curve in the apex, and chiefly the use of the cusp in giving +_inward_ weight to the great pieces of stone on the flanks of the arch, +and preventing their thrust outwards from being severely thrown on the +lowermost stones. The effect of this arrangement is, that the whole +massy canopy is sustained safely by four slender pillars (as will be +seen hereafter in the careful plate I hope to give of it), these pillars +being rather steadied than materially assisted against the thrust, by +iron bars, about an inch thick, connecting them at the heads of the +abaci; a feature of peculiar importance in this monument, inasmuch as we +know it to be part of the original construction, by a beautiful little +Gothic wreathed pattern, like one of the hems of garments of Fra +Angelico, running along the iron bar itself. So carefully, and so far, +is the system of decoration carried out in this pure and lovely +monument, my most beloved throughout all the length and breadth of +Italy;--chief, as I think, among all the sepulchral marbles of a land of +mourning. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [49] At least I cannot find any account of it in Maffei's "Verona," + nor anywhere else, to be depended upon. It is, I doubt not, a work + of the beginning of the thirteenth century. Vide Appendix 19, "Tombs + at St. Anastasia." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + THE ARCH LOAD. + + +Sec. I. In the preceding enquiry we have always supposed either that the +load upon the arch was perfectly loose, as of gravel or sand, or that it +was Mont-Cenisian, and formed one mass with the arch voussoirs, of more +or less compactness. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXV.] + +In practice, the state is usually something between the two. Over +bridges and tunnels it sometimes approaches to the condition of mere +dust or yielding earth; but in architecture it is mostly firm masonry, +not altogether acting with the voussoirs, yet by no means bearing on +them with perfectly dead weight, but locking itself together above them, +and capable of being thrown into forms which relieve them, in some +degree, from its pressure. + +Sec. II. It is evident that if we are to place a continuous roof above the +line of arches, we must fill up the intervals between them on the tops +of the columns. We have at present nothing granted us but the bare +masonry, as here at _a_, Fig. XXXV., and we must fill up the intervals +between the semicircle so as to obtain a level line of support. We may +first do this simply as at _b_, with plain mass of wall; so laying the +roof on the top, which is the method of the pure Byzantine and Italian +Romanesque. But if we find too much stress is thus laid on the arches, +we may introduce small second shafts on the top of the great shaft, _a_, +Fig. XXXVI., which may assist in carrying the roof, conveying great part +of its weight at once to the heads of the main shafts, and relieving +from its pressure the centres of the arches. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXVI.] + +Sec. III. The new shaft thus introduced may either remain lifted on the +head of the great shaft, or may be carried to the ground in front of it, +or through it, _b_, Fig. XXXVI.; in which latter case the main shaft +divides into two or more minor shafts, and forms a group with the shaft +brought down from above. + +Sec. IV. When this shaft, brought from roof to ground, is subordinate to +the main pier, and either is carried down the face of it, or forms no +large part of the group, the principle is Romanesque or Gothic, _b_, +Fig. XXXVI. When it becomes a bold central shaft, and the main pier +splits into two minor shafts on its sides, the principle is Classical or +Palladian, _c_, Fig. XXXVI. Which latter arrangement becomes absurd or +unsatisfactory in proportion to the sufficiency of the main shaft to +carry the roof without the help of the minor shafts or arch, which in +many instances of Palladian work look as if they might be removed +without danger to the building. + +Sec. V. The form _a_ is a more pure Northern Gothic type than even _b_, +which is the connecting link between it and the classical type. It is +found chiefly in English and other northern Gothic, and in early +Lombardic, and is, I doubt not, derived as above explained, Chap. I. Sec. +XXVII. _b_ is a general French Gothic and French Romanesque form, as in +great purity at Valence. + +The small shafts of the form _a_ and _b_, as being northern, are +generally connected with steep vaulted roofs, and receive for that +reason the name of vaulting shafts. + +Sec. VI. Of these forms _b_, Fig. XXXV., is the purest and most sublime, +expressing the power of the arch most distinctly. All the others have +some appearance of dovetailing and morticing of timber rather than +stonework; nor have I ever yet seen a single instance, quite +satisfactory, of the management of the capital of the main shaft, when +it had either to sustain the base of the vaulting shaft, as in _a_, or +to suffer it to pass through it, as in _b_, Fig. XXXVI. Nor is the +bracket which frequently carries the vaulting shaft in English work a +fitting support for a portion of the fabric which is at all events +presumed to carry a considerable part of the weight of the roof. + +Sec. VII. The triangular spaces on the flanks of the arch are called +Spandrils, and if the masonry of these should be found, in any of its +forms, too heavy for the arch, their weight may be diminished, while +their strength remains the same, by piercing them with circular holes or +lights. This is rarely necessary in ordinary architecture, though +sometimes of great use in bridges and iron roofs (a succession of such +circles may be seen, for instance, in the spandrils at the Euston Square +station); but, from its constructional value, it becomes the best form +in which to arrange spandril decorations, as we shall see hereafter. + +Sec. VIII. The height of the load above the arch is determined by the +needs of the building and possible length of the shaft; but with this we +have at present nothing to do, for we have performed the task which was +set us. We have ascertained, as it was required that we should in Sec. VI. +of Chap. III. (A), the construction of walls; (B), that of piers; (C), +that of piers with lintels or arches prepared for roofing. We have next, +therefore, to examine (D) the structure of the roof. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + THE ROOF. + + +Sec. I. Hitherto our enquiry has been unembarrassed by any considerations +relating exclusively either to the exterior or interior of buildings. +But it can remain so no longer. As far as the architect is concerned, +one side of a wall is generally the same as another; but in the roof +there are usually two distinct divisions of the structure; one, a shell, +vault, or flat ceiling, internally visible, the other, an upper +structure, built of timber, to protect the lower; or of some different +form, to support it. Sometimes, indeed, the internally visible structure +is the real roof, and sometimes there are more than two divisions, as in +St. Paul's, where we have a central shell with a mask below and above. +Still it will be convenient to remember the distinction between the part +of the roof which is usually visible from within, and whose only +business is to stand strongly, and not fall in, which I shall call the +Roof Proper; and, secondly, the upper roof, which, being often partly +supported by the lower, is not so much concerned with its own stability +as with the weather, and is appointed to throw off snow, and get rid of +rain, as fast as possible, which I shall call the Roof Mask. + +Sec. II. It is, however, needless for me to engage the reader in the +discussion of the various methods of construction of Roofs Proper, for +this simple reason, that no person without long experience can tell +whether a roof be wisely constructed or not; nor tell at all, even with +help of any amount of experience, without examination of the several +parts and bearings of it, very different from any observation possible +to the general critic: and more than this, the enquiry would be useless +to us in our Venetian studies, where the roofs are either not +contemporary with the buildings, or flat, or else vaults of the simplest +possible constructions, which have been admirably explained by Willis in +his "Architecture of the Middle Ages," Chap. VII., to which I may refer +the reader for all that it would be well for him to know respecting the +connexion of the different parts of the vault with the shafts. He would +also do well to read the passages on Tudor vaulting, pp. 185-193, in Mr. +Garbett's rudimentary Treatise on Design, before alluded to.[50] I shall +content myself therefore with noting one or two points on which neither +writer has had occasion to touch, respecting the Roof Mask. + +Sec. III. It was said in Sec. V. of Chapter III. that we should not have +occasion, in speaking of roof construction, to add materially to the +forms then suggested. The forms which we have to add are only those +resulting from the other curves of the arch developed in the last +chapter; that is to say, the various eastern domes and cupolas arising +out of the revolution of the horseshoe and ogee curves, together with +the well-known Chinese concave roof. All these forms are of course +purely decorative, the bulging outline, or concave surface, being of no +more use, or rather of less, in throwing off snow or rain, than the +ordinary spire and gable; and it is rather curious, therefore, that all +of them, on a small scale, should have obtained so extensive use in +Germany and Switzerland, their native climate being that of the east, +where their purpose seems rather to concentrate light upon their orbed +surfaces. I much doubt their applicability, on a large scale, to +architecture of any admirable dignity; their chief charm is, to the +European eye, that of strangeness; and it seems to me possible that in +the east the bulging form may be also delightful, from the idea of its +enclosing a volume of cool air. I enjoy them in St. Mark's, chiefly +because they increase the fantastic and unreal character of St. Mark's +Place; and because they appear to sympathise with an expression, +common, I think, to all the buildings of that group, of a natural +buoyancy, as if they floated in the air or on the surface of the sea. +But, assuredly, they are not features to be recommended for +imitation.[51] + +Sec. IV. One form, closely connected with the Chinese concave, is, +however, often constructively right,--the gable with an inward angle, +occurring with exquisitely picturesque effect throughout the domestic +architecture of the north, especially Germany and Switzerland; the lower +slope being either an attached external penthouse roof, for protection +of the wall, as in Fig. XXXVII., or else a kind of buttress set on the +angle of the tower; and in either case the roof itself being a simple +gable, continuous beneath it. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXVII.] + +Sec. V. The true gable, as it is the simplest and most natural, so I +esteem it the grandest of roofs; whether rising in ridgy darkness, like +a grey slope of slaty mountains, over the precipitous walls of the +northern cathedrals, or stretched in burning breadth above the white and +square-set groups of the southern architecture. But this difference +between its slope in the northern and southern structure is a matter of +far greater importance than is commonly supposed, and it is this to +which I would especially direct the reader's attention. + +Sec. VI. One main cause of it, the necessity of throwing off snow in the +north, has been a thousand times alluded to: another I do not remember +having seen noticed, namely, that rooms in a roof are comfortably +habitable in the north, which are painful _sotto piombi_ in Italy; and +that there is in wet climates a natural tendency in all men to live as +high as possible, out of the damp and mist. These two causes, together +with accessible quantities of good timber, have induced in the north a +general steep pitch of gable, which, when rounded or squared above a +tower, becomes a spire or turret; and this feature, worked out with +elaborate decoration, is the key-note of the whole system of aspiration, +so called, which the German critics have so ingeniously and falsely +ascribed to a devotional sentiment pervading the Northern Gothic: I +entirely and boldly deny the whole theory; our cathedrals were for the +most part built by worldly people, who loved the world, and would have +gladly staid in it for ever; whose best hope was the escaping hell, +which they thought to do by building cathedrals, but who had very vague +conceptions of Heaven in general, and very feeble desires respecting +their entrance therein; and the form of the spired cathedral has no more +intentional reference to Heaven, as distinguished from the flattened +slope of the Greek pediment, than the steep gable of a Norman house has, +as distinguished from the flat roof of a Syrian one. We may now, with +ingenious pleasure, trace such symbolic characters in the form; we may +now use it with such definite meaning; but we only prevent ourselves +from all right understanding of history, by attributing much influence +to these poetical symbolisms in the formation of a national style. The +human race are, for the most part, not to be moved by such silken cords; +and the chances of damp in the cellar, or of loose tiles in the roof, +have, unhappily, much more to do with the fashions of a man's house +building than his ideas of celestial happiness or angelic virtue. +Associations of affection have far higher power, and forms which can be +no otherwise accounted for may often be explained by reference to the +natural features of the country, or to anything which habit must have +rendered familiar, and therefore delightful; but the direct +symbolisation of a sentiment is a weak motive with all men, and far +more so in the practical minds of the north than among the early +Christians, who were assuredly quite as heavenly-minded, when they built +basilicas, or cut conchas out of the catacombs, as were ever the Norman +barons or monks. + +Sec. VII. There is, however, in the north an animal activity which +materially aided the system of building begun in mere utility,--an +animal life, naturally expressed in erect work, as the languor of the +south in reclining or level work. Imagine the difference between the +action of a man urging himself to his work in a snow storm, and the +inaction of one laid at his length on a sunny bank among cicadas and +fallen olives, and you will have the key to a whole group of sympathies +which were forcefully expressed in the architecture of both; remembering +always that sleep would be to the one luxury, to the other death. + +Sec. VIII. And to the force of this vital instinct we have farther to +add the influence of natural scenery; and chiefly of the groups and +wildernesses of the tree which is to the German mind what the olive or +palm is to the southern, the spruce fir. The eye which has once been +habituated to the continual serration of the pine forest, and to the +multiplication of its infinite pinnacles, is not easily offended by the +repetition of similar forms, nor easily satisfied by the simplicity of +flat or massive outlines. Add to the influence of the pine, that of the +poplar, more especially in the valleys of France; but think of the +spruce chiefly, and meditate on the difference of feeling with which the +Northman would be inspired by the frostwork wreathed upon its glittering +point, and the Italian by the dark green depth of sunshine on the broad +table of the stone-pine[52] (and consider by the way whether the spruce +fir be a more heavenly-minded tree than those dark canopies of the +Mediterranean isles). + +Sec. IX. Circumstance and sentiment, therefore, aiding each other, the +steep roof becomes generally adopted, and delighted in, throughout the +north; and then, with the gradual exaggeration with which every pleasant +idea is pursued by the human mind, it is raised into all manner of +peaks, and points, and ridges; and pinnacle after pinnacle is added on +its flanks, and the walls increased in height, in proportion, until we +get indeed a very sublime mass, but one which has no more principle of +religious aspiration in it than a child's tower of cards. What is more, +the desire to build high is complicated with the peculiar love of the +grotesque[53] which is characteristic of the north, together with +especial delight in multiplication of small forms, as well as in +exaggerated points of shade and energy, and a certain degree of +consequent insensibility to perfect grace and quiet truthfulness; so +that a northern architect could not feel the beauty of the Elgin +marbles, and there will always be (in those who have devoted themselves +to this particular school) a certain incapacity to taste the finer +characters of Greek art, or to understand Titian, Tintoret, or Raphael: +whereas among the Italian Gothic workmen, this capacity was never lost, +and Nino Pisano and Orcagna could have understood the Theseus in an +instant, and would have received from it new life. There can be no +question that theirs was the greatest school, and carried out by the +greatest men; and that while those who began with this school could +perfectly well feel Rouen Cathedral, those who study the Northern Gothic +remain in a narrowed field--one of small pinnacles, and dots, and +crockets, and twitched faces--and cannot comprehend the meaning of a +broad surface or a grand line. Nevertheless the northern school is an +admirable and delightful thing, but a lower thing than the southern. The +Gothic of the Ducal Palace of Venice is in harmony with all that is +grand in all the world: that of the north is in harmony with the +grotesque northern spirit only. + +Sec. X. We are, however, beginning to lose sight of our roof structure in +its spirit, and must return to our text. As the height of the walls +increased, in sympathy with the rise of the roof, while their thickness +remained the same, it became more and more necessary to support them by +buttresses; but--and this is another point that the reader must +specially note--it is not the steep roof mask which requires the +buttress, but the vaulting beneath it; the roof mask being a mere wooden +frame tied together by cross timbers, and in small buildings often put +together on the ground, raised afterwards, and set on the walls like a +hat, bearing vertically upon them; and farther, I believe in most cases +the northern vaulting requires its great array of external buttress, not +so much from any peculiar boldness in its own forms, as from the greater +comparative thinness and height of the walls, and more determined +throwing of the whole weight of the roof on particular points. Now the +connexion of the interior frame-work (or true roof) with the buttress, +at such points, is not visible to the spectators from without; but the +relation of the roof mask to the top of the wall which it protects, or +from which it springs, is perfectly visible; and it is a point of so +great importance in the effect of the building, that it will be well to +make it a subject of distinct consideration in the following Chapter. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [50] Appendix 17 + + [51] I do not speak of the true dome, because I have not studied its + construction enough to know at what largeness of scale it begins to + be rather a _tour de force_ than a convenient or natural form of + roof, and because the ordinary spectator's choice among its various + outlines must always be dependent on aesthetic considerations only, + and can in no wise be grounded on any conception of its infinitely + complicated structural principles. + + [52] I shall not be thought to have overrated the effect of forest + scenery on the _northern_ mind; but I was glad to hear a Spanish + gentleman, the other day, describing, together with his own, the + regret which the peasants in his neighborhood had testified for the + loss of a noble stone-pine, one of the grandest in Spain, which its + proprietor had suffered to be cut down for small gain. He said that + the mere spot where it had grown was still popularly known as "El + Pino." + + [53] Appendix 8. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + THE ROOF CORNICE. + + +Sec. I. It will be remembered that in the Sixth Chapter we paused (Sec. +X.) at the point where the addition of brackets to the ordinary wall +cornice would have converted it into a structure proper for sustaining a +roof. Now the wall cornice was treated throughout our enquiry (compare +Chapter VII. Sec. V.) as the capital of the wall, and as forming, by its +concentration, the capital of the shaft. But we must not reason _back_ +from the capital to the cornice, and suppose that an extension of the +principles of the capital to the whole length of the wall, will serve +for the roof cornice; for all our conclusions respecting the capital +were based on the supposition of its being adapted to carry considerable +weight condensed on its abacus: but the roof cornice is, in most cases, +required rather to project boldly than to carry weight; and arrangements +are therefore to be adopted for it which will secure the projection of +large surfaces without being calculated to resist extraordinary +pressure. This object is obtained by the use of brackets at intervals, +which are the peculiar distinction of the roof cornice. + +Sec. II. Roof cornices are generally to be divided into two great +families: the first and simplest, those which are composed merely by the +projection of the edge of the roof mask over the wall, sustained by such +brackets or spurs as may be necessary; the second, those which provide a +walk round the edge of the roof, and which require, therefore, some +stronger support, as well as a considerable mass of building above or +beside the roof mask, and a parapet. These two families we shall +consider in succession. + +Sec. III. 1. The Eaved Cornice. We may give it this name, as represented +in the simplest form by cottage eaves. It is used, however, in bold +projection, both in north, and south, and east; its use being, in the +north, to throw the rain well away from the wall of the building; in the +south to give it shade; and it is ordinarily constructed of the ends of +the timbers of the roof mask (with their tiles or shingles continued to +the edge of the cornice), and sustained by spurs of timber. This is its +most picturesque and natural form; not inconsistent with great splendor +of architecture in the mediaeval Italian domestic buildings, superb in +its mass of cast shadow, and giving rich effect to the streets of Swiss +towns, even when they have no other claim to interest. A farther value +is given to it by its waterspouts, for in order to avoid loading it with +weight of water in the gutter at the edge, where it would be a strain on +the fastenings of the pipe, it has spouts of discharge at intervals of +three or four feet,--rows of magnificent leaden or iron dragons' heads, +full of delightful character, except to any person passing along the +middle of the street in a heavy shower. I have had my share of their +kindness in my time, but owe them no grudge; on the contrary, much +gratitude for the delight of their fantastic outline on the calm blue +sky, when they had no work to do but to open their iron mouths and pant +in the sunshine. + +Sec. IV. When, however, light is more valuable than shadow, or when +the architecture of the wall is too fair to be concealed, it becomes +necessary to draw the cornice into narrower limits; a change of +considerable importance, in that it permits the gutter, instead of being +of lead and hung to the edge of the cornice, to be of stone, and +supported by brackets in the wall, these brackets becoming proper +recipients of after decoration (and sometimes associated with the stone +channels of discharge, called gargoyles, which belong, however, more +properly to the other family of cornices). The most perfect and +beautiful example of this kind of cornice is the Venetian, in which the +rain from the tiles is received in a stone gutter supported by small +brackets, delicately moulded, and having its outer lower edge decorated +with the English dogtooth moulding, whose sharp zigzag mingles richly +with the curved edges of the tiling. I know no cornice more beautiful in +its extreme simplicity and serviceableness. + +Sec. V. The cornice of the Greek Doric is a condition of the same kind, +in which, however, there are no brackets, but useless appendages hung to +the bottom of the gutter (giving, however, some impression of support as +seen from a distance), and decorated with stone symbolisms of raindrops. +The brackets are not allowed, because they would interfere with the +sculpture, which in this architecture is put beneath the cornice; and +the overhanging form of the gutter is nothing more than a vast dripstone +moulding, to keep the rain from such sculpture: its decoration of guttae, +seen in silver points against the shadow, is pretty in feeling, with a +kind of continual refreshment and remembrance of rain in it; but the +whole arrangement is awkward and meagre, and is only endurable when the +eye is quickly drawn away from it to sculpture. + +Sec. VI. In later cornices, invented for the Greek orders, and farther +developed by the Romans, the bracket appears in true importance, though +of barbarous and effeminate outline: and gorgeous decorations are +applied to it, and to the various horizontal mouldings which it carries, +some of them of great beauty, and of the highest value to the mediaeval +architects who imitated them. But a singularly gross mistake was made in +the distribution of decoration on these rich cornices (I do not know +when first, nor does it matter to me or to the reader), namely, the +charging with ornament the under surface of the cornice between the +brackets, that is to say, the exact piece of the whole edifice, from top +to bottom, where ornament is least visible. I need hardly say much +respecting the wisdom of this procedure, excusable only if the whole +building were covered with ornament; but it is curious to see the way in +which modern architects have copied it, even when they had little enough +ornament to spare. For instance, I suppose few persons look at the +Athenaeum Club-house without feeling vexed at the meagreness and +meanness of the windows of the ground floor: if, however, they look up +under the cornice, and have good eyes, they will perceive that the +architect has reserved his decorations to put between the brackets; and +by going up to the first floor, and out on the gallery, they may succeed +in obtaining some glimpses of the designs of the said decorations. + +Sec. VII. Such as they are, or were, these cornices were soon considered +essential parts of the "order" to which they belonged; and the same +wisdom which endeavored to fix the proportions of the orders, appointed +also that no order should go without its cornice. The reader has +probably heard of the architectural division of superstructure into +architrave, frieze, and cornice; parts which have been appointed by +great architects to all their work, in the same spirit in which great +rhetoricians have ordained that every speech shall have an exordium, and +narration, and peroration. The reader will do well to consider that it +may be sometimes just as possible to carry a roof, and get rid of rain, +without such an arrangement, as it is to tell a plain fact without an +exordium or peroration; but he must very absolutely consider that the +architectural peroration or cornice is strictly and sternly limited to +the end of the wall's speech,--that is, to the edge of the roof; and +that it has nothing whatever to do with shafts nor the orders of them. +And he will then be able fully to enjoy the farther ordinance of the +late Roman and Renaissance architects, who, attaching it to the shaft as +if it were part of its shadow, and having to employ their shafts often +in places where they came not near the roof, forthwith cut the +roof-cornice to pieces and attached a bit of it to every column; +thenceforward to be carried by the unhappy shaft wherever it went, in +addition to any other work on which it might happen to be employed. I do +not recollect among any living beings, except Renaissance architects, +any instance of a parallel or comparable stupidity: but one can imagine +a savage getting hold of a piece of one of our iron wire ropes, with its +rings upon it at intervals to bind it together, and pulling the wires +asunder to apply them to separate purposes; but imagining there was +magic in the ring that bound them, and so cutting that to pieces also, +and fastening a little bit of it to every wire. + +Sec. VIII. Thus much may serve us to know respecting the first family of +wall cornices. The second is immeasurably more important, and includes +the cornices of all the best buildings in the world. It has derived its +best form from mediaeval military architecture, which imperatively +required two things; first, a parapet which should permit sight and +offence, and afford defence at the same time; and secondly, a projection +bold enough to enable the defenders to rake the bottom of the wall with +falling bodies; projection which, if the wall happened to slope inwards, +required not to be small. The thoroughly magnificent forms of cornice +thus developed by necessity in military buildings, were adopted, with +more or less of boldness or distinctness, in domestic architecture, +according to the temper of the times and the circumstances of the +individual--decisively in the baron's house, imperfectly in the +burgher's: gradually they found their way into ecclesiastical +architecture, under wise modifications in the early cathedrals, with +infinite absurdity in the imitations of them; diminishing in size as +their original purpose sank into a decorative one, until we find +battlements, two-and-a-quarter inches square, decorating the gates of +the Philanthropic Society. + +Sec. IX. There are, therefore, two distinct features in all cornices of +this kind; first, the bracket, now become of enormous importance and of +most serious practical service; the second, the parapet: and these two +features we shall consider in succession, and in so doing, shall learn +all that is needful for us to know, not only respecting cornices, but +respecting brackets in general, and balconies. + +Sec. X. 1. The Bracket. In the simplest form of military cornice, the +brackets are composed of two or more long stones, supporting each other +in gradually increasing projection, with roughly rounded ends, Fig. +XXXVIII., and the parapet is simply a low wall carried on the ends of +these, leaving, of course, behind, or within it, a hole between each +bracket for the convenient dejection of hot sand and lead. This form is +best seen, I think, in the old Scotch castles; it is very grand, but has +a giddy look, and one is afraid of the whole thing toppling off the +wall. The next step was to deepen the brackets, so as to get them +propped against a great depth of the main rampart, and to have the inner +ends of the stones held by a greater weight of that main wall above; +while small arches were thrown from bracket to bracket to carry the +parapet wall more securely. This is the most perfect form of cornice, +completely satisfying the eye of its security, giving full protection to +the wall, and applicable to all architecture, the interstices between +the brackets being filled up, when one does not want to throw boiling +lead on any body below, and the projection being always delightful, as +giving greater command and view of the building, from its angles, to +those walking on the rampart. And as, in military buildings, there were +usually towers at the angles (round which the battlements swept) in +order to flank the walls, so often in the translation into civil or +ecclesiastical architecture, a small turret remained at the angle, or a +more bold projection of balcony, to give larger prospect to those upon +the rampart. This cornice, perfect in all its parts, as arranged for +ecclesiastical architecture, and exquisitely decorated, is the one +employed in the duomo of Florence and campanile of Giotto, of which I +have already spoken as, I suppose, the most perfect architecture in the +world. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXVIII.] + +Sec. XI. In less important positions and on smaller edifices, this cornice +diminishes in size, while it retains its arrangement, and at last we +find nothing but the spirit and form of it left; the real practical +purpose having ceased, and arch, brackets and all, being cut out of a +single stone. Thus we find it used in early buildings throughout the +whole of the north and south of Europe, in forms sufficiently +represented by the two examples in Plate IV.: 1, from St. Antonio, +Padua; 2, from Sens in France. + +[Illustration: Fig. XXXIX.] + +Sec. XII. I wish, however, at present to fix the reader's attention on the +form of the bracket itself; a most important feature in modern as well +as ancient architecture. The first idea of a bracket is that of a long +stone or piece of timber projecting from the wall, as _a_, Fig. XXXIX., +of which the strength depends on the toughness of the stone or wood, and +the stability on the weight of wall above it (unless it be the end of a +main beam). But let it be supposed that the structure at _a_, being of +the required projection, is found too weak: then we may strengthen it in +one of three ways; (1) by putting a second or third stone beneath it, as +at _b_; (2) by giving it a spur, as at _c_; (3) by giving it a shaft and +another bracket below, _d_; the great use of this arrangement being that +the lowermost bracket has the help of the weight of the shaft-length of +wall above its insertion, which is, of course, greater than the weight +of the small shaft: and then the lower bracket may be farther helped by +the structure at _b_ or _c_. + +[Illustration: Fig. XL.] + +Sec. XIII. Of these structures, _a_ and _c_ are evidently adapted +especially for wooden buildings; _b_ and _d_ for stone ones; the last, +of course, susceptible of the richest decoration, and superbly employed +in the cornice of the cathedral of Monza: but all are beautiful in their +way, and are the means of, I think, nearly half the picturesqueness and +power of mediaeval building; the forms _b_ and _c_ being, of course, the +most frequent; _a_, when it occurs, being usually rounded off, as at +_a_, Fig. XL.; _b_, also, as in Fig. XXXVIII., or else itself composed +of a single stone cut into the form of the group _b_ here, Fig. XL., or +plain, as at _c_, which is also the proper form of the brick bracket, +when stone is not to be had. The reader will at once perceive that the +form _d_ is a barbarism (unless when the scale is small and the weight +to be carried exceedingly light): it is of course, therefore, a +favorite form with the Renaissance architects; and its introduction is +one of the first corruptions of the Venetian architecture. + +Sec. XIV. There is one point necessary to be noticed, though bearing on +decoration more than construction, before we leave the subject of the +bracket. The whole power of the construction depends upon the stones +being well _let into_ the wall; and the first function of the decoration +should be to give the idea of this insertion, if possible; at all +events, not to contradict this idea. If the reader will glance at any of +the brackets used in the ordinary architecture of London, he will find +them of some such character as Fig. XLI.; not a bad form in itself, but +exquisitely absurd in its curling lines, which give the idea of some +writhing suspended tendril, instead of a stiff support, and by their +careful avoidance of the wall make the bracket look pinned on, and in +constant danger of sliding down. This is, also, a Classical and +Renaissance decoration. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLI.] + +Sec. XV. 2. The Parapet. Its forms are fixed in military architecture +by the necessities of the art of war at the time of building, and are +always beautiful wherever they have been really thus fixed; delightful +in the variety of their setting, and in the quaint darkness of their +shot-holes, and fantastic changes of elevation and outline. Nothing is +more remarkable than the swiftly discerned difference between the +masculine irregularity of such true battlements, and the formal +pitifulness of those which are set on modern buildings to give them a +military air,--as on the jail at Edinburgh. + +Sec. XVI. Respecting the Parapet for mere safeguard upon buildings not +military, there are just two fixed laws. It should be pierced, otherwise +it is not recognised from below for a parapet at all, and it should not +be in the form of a battlement, especially in church architecture. + +The most comfortable heading of a true parapet is a plain level on which +the arm can be rested, and along which it can glide. Any jags or +elevations are disagreeable; the latter, as interrupting the view and +disturbing the eye, if they are higher than the arm, the former, as +opening some aspect of danger if they are much lower; and the +inconvenience, therefore, of the battlemented form, as well as the worse +than absurdity, the bad feeling, of the appliance of a military feature +to a church, ought long ago to have determined its rejection. Still (for +the question of its picturesque value is here so closely connected with +that of its practical use, that it is vain to endeavor to discuss it +separately) there is a certain agreeableness in the way in which the +jagged outline dovetails the shadow of the slated or leaded roof into +the top of the wall, which may make the use of the battlement excusable +where there is a difficulty in managing some unvaried line, and where +the expense of a pierced parapet cannot be encountered: but remember +always, that the value of the battlement consists in its letting shadow +into the light of the wall, or _vice versa_, when it comes against light +sky, letting the light of the sky into the shade of the wall; but that +the actual outline of the parapet itself, if the eye be arrested upon +this, instead of upon the alternation of shadow, is as _ugly_ a +succession of line as can by any possibility be invented. Therefore, the +battlemented parapet may only be used where this alternation of shade is +certain to be shown, under nearly all conditions of effect; and where +the lines to be dealt with are on a scale which may admit battlements of +bold and manly size. The idea that a battlement is an ornament anywhere, +and that a miserable and diminutive imitation of castellated outline +will always serve to fill up blanks and Gothicise unmanageable spaces, +is one of the great idiocies of the present day. A battlement is in its +origin a piece of wall large enough to cover a man's body, and however +it may be decorated, or pierced, or finessed away into traceries, as +long as so much of its outline is retained as to suggest its origin, so +long its size must remain undiminished. To crown a turret six feet high +with chopped battlements three inches wide, is children's Gothic: it is +one of the paltry falsehoods for which there is no excuse, and part of +the system of using models of architecture to decorate architecture, +which we shall hereafter note as one of the chief and most destructive +follies of the Renaissance;[54] and in the present day the practice may +be classed as one which distinguishes the architects of whom there is no +hope, who have neither eye nor head for their work, and who must pass +their lives in vain struggles against the refractory lines of their own +buildings. + +Sec. XVII. As the only excuse for the battlemented parapet is its +alternation of shadow, so the only fault of the natural or level parapet +is its monotony of line. This is, however, in practice, almost always +broken by the pinnacles of the buttresses, and if not, may be varied by +the tracery of its penetrations. The forms of these evidently admit +every kind of change; for a stone parapet, however pierced, is sure to +be strong enough for its purpose of protection, and, as regards the +strength of the building in general, the lighter it is the better. More +fantastic forms may, therefore, be admitted in a parapet than in any +other architectural feature, and for most services, the Flamboyant +parapets seem to me preferable to all others; especially when the leaden +roofs set off by points of darkness the lace-like intricacy of +penetration. These, however, as well as the forms usually given to +Renaissance balustrades (of which, by the bye, the best piece of +criticism I know is the sketch in "David Copperfield" of the personal +appearance of the man who stole Jip), and the other and finer forms +invented by Paul Veronese in his architectural backgrounds, together +with the pure columnar balustrade of Venice, must be considered as +altogether decorative features. + +Sec. XVIII. So also are, of course, the jagged or crown-like finishings +of walls employed where no real parapet of protection is desired; +originating in the defences of outworks and single walls: these are used +much in the east on walls surrounding unroofed courts. The richest +examples of such decoration are Arabian; and from Cairo they seem to +have been brought to Venice. It is probable that few of my readers, +however familiar the general form of the Ducal Palace may have been +rendered to them by innumerable drawings, have any distinct idea of its +roof, owing to the staying of the eye on its superb parapet, of which we +shall give account hereafter. In most of the Venetian cases the parapets +which surround roofing are very sufficient for protection, except that +the stones of which they are composed appear loose and infirm: but their +purpose is entirely decorative; every wall, whether detached or roofed, +being indiscriminately fringed with Arabic forms of parapet, more or +less Gothicised, according to the lateness of their date. + +I think there is no other point of importance requiring illustration +respecting the roof itself, or its cornice: but this Venetian form of +ornamental parapet connects itself curiously, at the angles of nearly +all the buildings on which it occurs, with the pinnacled system of the +north, founded on the structure of the buttress. This, it will be +remembered, is to be the subject of the fifth division of our inquiry. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [54] Not of Renaissance alone: the practice of modelling buildings + on a minute scale for niches and tabernacle-work has always been + more or less admitted, and I suppose _authority_ for diminutive + battlements might be gathered from the Gothic of almost every + period, as well as for many other faults and mistakes: no Gothic + school having ever been thoroughly systematised or perfected, even + in its best times. But that a mistaken decoration sometimes occurs + among a crowd of noble ones, is no more an excuse for the + habitual--far less, the exclusive--use of such a decoration, than + the accidental or seeming misconstructions of a Greek chorus are an + excuse for a school boy's ungrammatical exercise. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + THE BUTTRESS. + + +Sec. I. We have hitherto supposed ourselves concerned with the support +of vertical pressure only; and the arch and roof have been considered as +forms of abstract strength, without reference to the means by which +their lateral pressure was to be resisted. Few readers will need now to +be reminded, that every arch or gable not tied at its base by beams or +bars, exercises a lateral pressure upon the walls which sustain +it,--pressure which may, indeed, be met and sustained by increasing the +thickness of the wall or vertical piers, and which is in reality thus +met in most Italian buildings, but may, with less expenditure of +material, and with (perhaps) more graceful effect, be met by some +particular application of the provisions against lateral pressure called +Buttresses. These, therefore, we are next to examine. + +Sec. II. Buttresses are of many kinds, according to the character and +direction of the lateral forces they are intended to resist. But their +first broad division is into buttresses which meet and break the force +before it arrives at the wall, and buttresses which stand on the lee +side of the wall, and prop it against the force. + +The lateral forces which walls have to sustain are of three distinct +kinds: dead weight, as of masonry or still water; moving weight, as of +wind or running water; and sudden concussion, as of earthquakes, +explosions, &c. + +Clearly, dead weight can only be resisted by the buttress acting as a +prop; for a buttress on the side of, or towards the weight, would only +add to its effect. This, then, forms the first great class of buttressed +architecture; lateral thrusts, of roofing or arches, being met by props +of masonry outside--the thrust from within, the prop without; or the +crushing force of water on a ship's side met by its cross timbers--the +thrust here from without the wall, the prop within. + +Moving weight may, of course, be resisted by the prop on the lee side of +the wall, but is often more effectually met, on the side which is +attacked, by buttresses of peculiar forms, cunning buttresses, which do +not attempt to sustain the weight, but _parry_ it, and throw it off in +directions clear of the wall. + +Thirdly: concussions and vibratory motion, though in reality only +supported by the prop buttress, must be provided for by buttresses on +both sides of the wall, as their direction cannot be foreseen, and is +continually changing. + +We shall briefly glance at these three systems of buttressing; but the +two latter being of small importance to our present purpose, may as well +be dismissed first. + +Sec. III. 1. Buttresses for guard against moving weight and set towards +the weight they resist. + +The most familiar instance of this kind of buttress we have in the sharp +piers of a bridge, in the centre of a powerful stream, which divide the +current on their edges, and throw it to each side under the arches. A +ship's bow is a buttress of the same kind, and so also the ridge of a +breastplate, both adding to the strength of it in resisting a cross +blow, and giving a better chance of a bullet glancing aside. In +Switzerland, projecting buttresses of this kind are often built round +churches, heading up hill, to divide and throw off the avalanches. The +various forms given to piers and harbor quays, and to the bases of +light-houses, in order to meet the force of the waves, are all +conditions of this kind of buttress. But in works of ornamental +architecture such buttresses are of rare occurrence; and I merely name +them in order to mark their place in our architectural system, since in +the investigation of our present subject we shall not meet with a single +example of them, unless sometimes the angle of the foundation of a +palace set against the sweep of the tide, or the wooden piers of some +canal bridge quivering in its current. + +Sec. IV. 2. Buttresses for guard against vibratory motion. + +The whole formation of this kind of buttress resolves itself into mere +expansion of the base of the wall, so as to make it stand steadier, as a +man stands with his feet apart when he is likely to lose his balance. +This approach to a pyramidal form is also of great use as a guard +against the action of artillery; that if a stone or tier of stones be +battered out of the lower portions of the wall, the whole upper part may +not topple over or crumble down at once. Various forms of this buttress, +sometimes applied to particular points of the wall, sometimes forming a +great sloping rampart along its base, are frequent in buildings of +countries exposed to earthquake. They give a peculiarly heavy outline to +much of the architecture of the kingdom of Naples, and they are of the +form in which strength and solidity are first naturally sought, in the +slope of the Egyptian wall. The base of Guy's Tower at Warwick is a +singularly bold example of their military use; and so, in general, +bastion and rampart profiles, where, however, the object of stability +against a shock is complicated with that of sustaining weight of earth +in the rampart behind. + +Sec. V. 3. Prop buttresses against dead weight. + +This is the group with which we have principally to do; and a buttress +of this kind acts in two ways, partly by its weight and partly by its +strength. It acts by its weight when its mass is so great that the +weight it sustains cannot stir it, but is lost upon it, buried in it, +and annihilated: neither the shape of such a buttress nor the cohesion +of its materials are of much consequence; a heap of stones or sandbags, +laid up against the wall, will answer as well as a built and cemented +mass. + +But a buttress acting by its strength is not of mass sufficient to +resist the weight by mere inertia; but it conveys the weight through its +body to something else which is so capable; as, for instance, a man +leaning against a door with his hands, and propping himself against the +ground, conveys the force which would open or close the door against him +through his body to the ground. A buttress acting in this way must be of +perfectly coherent materials, and so strong that though the weight to +be borne could easily move it, it cannot break it: this kind of buttress +may be called a conducting buttress. Practically, however, the two modes +of action are always in some sort united. Again, the weight to be borne +may either act generally on the whole wall surface, or with excessive +energy on particular points: when it acts on the whole wall surface, the +whole wall is generally supported; and the arrangement becomes a +continuous rampart, as a dyke, or bank of reservoir. + +Sec. VI. It is, however, very seldom that lateral force in architecture is +equally distributed. In most cases the weight of the roof, or the force +of any lateral thrust, are more or less confined to certain points and +directions. In an early state of architectural science this definiteness +of direction is not yet clear, and it is met by uncertain application of +mass or strength in the buttress, sometimes by mere thickening of the +wall into square piers, which are partly piers, partly buttresses, as in +Norman keeps and towers. But as science advances, the weight to be borne +is designedly and decisively thrown upon certain points; the direction +and degree of the forces which are then received are exactly calculated, +and met by conducting buttresses of the smallest possible dimensions; +themselves, in their turn, supported by vertical buttresses acting by +weight, and these perhaps, in their turn, by another set of conducting +buttresses: so that, in the best examples of such arrangements, the +weight to be borne may be considered as the shock of an electric fluid, +which, by a hundred different rods and channels, is divided and carried +away into the ground. + +Sec. VII. In order to give greater weight to the vertical buttress piers +which sustain the conducting buttresses, they are loaded with pinnacles, +which, however, are, I believe, in all the buildings in which they +become very prominent, merely decorative: they are of some use, indeed, +by their weight; but if this were all for which they were put there, a +few cubic feet of lead would much more securely answer the purpose, +without any danger from exposure to wind. If the reader likes to ask any +Gothic architect with whom he may happen to be acquainted, to +substitute a lump of lead for his pinnacles, he will see by the +expression of his face how far he considers the pinnacles decorative +members. In the work which seems to me the great type of simple and +masculine buttress structure, the apse of Beauvais, the pinnacles are +altogether insignificant, and are evidently added just as exclusively to +entertain the eye and lighten the aspect of the buttress, as the slight +shafts which are set on its angles; while in other very noble Gothic +buildings the pinnacles are introduced as niches for statues, without +any reference to construction at all: and sometimes even, as in the tomb +of Can Signoria at Verona, on small piers detached from the main +building. + +Sec. VIII. I believe, therefore, that the development of the pinnacle is +merely a part of the general erectness and picturesqueness of northern +work above alluded to: and that, if there had been no other place for +the pinnacles, the Gothic builders would have put them on the tops of +their arches (they often _did_ on the tops of gables and pediments), +rather than not have had them; but the natural position of the pinnacle +is, of course, where it adds to, rather than diminishes, the stability +of the building; that is to say, on its main wall piers and the vertical +piers at the buttresses. And thus the edifice is surrounded at last by a +complete company of detached piers and pinnacles, each sustaining an +inclined prop against the central wall, and looking something like a +band of giants holding it up with the butts of their lances. This +arrangement would imply the loss of an enormous space of ground, but the +intervals of the buttresses are usually walled in below, and form minor +chapels. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLII.] + +Sec. IX. The science of this arrangement has made it the subject of +much enthusiastic declamation among the Gothic architects, almost as +unreasonable, in some respects, as the declamation of the Renaissance +architects respecting Greek structure. The fact is, that the whole +northern buttress system is based on the grand requirement of tall +windows and vast masses of light at the end of the apse. In order to +gain this quantity of light, the piers between the windows are +diminished in thickness until they are far too weak to bear the roof, +and then sustained by external buttresses. In the Italian method the +light is rather dreaded than desired, and the wall is made wide enough +between the windows to bear the roof, and so left. In fact, the simplest +expression of the difference in the systems is, that a northern apse is +a southern one with its inter-fenestrial piers set edgeways. Thus, _a_, +Fig. XLII., is the general idea of the southern apse; take it to pieces, +and set all its piers edgeways, as at _b_, and you have the northern +one. You gain much light for the interior, but you cut the exterior to +pieces, and instead of a bold rounded or polygonal surface, ready for +any kind of decoration, you have a series of dark and damp cells, which +no device that I have yet seen has succeeded in decorating in a +perfectly satisfactory manner. If the system be farther carried, and a +second or third order of buttresses be added, the real fact is that we +have a building standing on two or three rows of concentric piers, with +the _roof off_ the whole of it except the central circle, and only ribs +left, to carry the weight of the bit of remaining roof in the middle; +and after the eye has been accustomed to the bold and simple rounding of +the Italian apse, the skeleton character of the disposition is painfully +felt. After spending some months in Venice, I thought Bourges Cathedral +looked exactly like a half-built ship on its shores. It is useless, +however, to dispute respecting the merits of the two systems: both are +noble in their place; the Northern decidedly the most scientific, or at +least involving the greatest display of science, the Italian the +calmest and purest, this having in it the sublimity of a calm heaven or +a windless noon, the other that of a mountain flank tormented by the +north wind, and withering into grisly furrows of alternate chasm and +crag. + +Sec. X. If I have succeeded in making the reader understand the veritable +action of the buttress, he will have no difficulty in determining its +fittest form. He has to deal with two distinct kinds; one, a narrow +vertical pier, acting principally by its weight, and crowned by a +pinnacle; the other, commonly called a Flying buttress, a cross bar set +from such a pier (when detached from the building) against the main +wall. This latter, then, is to be considered as a mere prop or shore, +and its use by the Gothic architects might be illustrated by the +supposition that we were to build all our houses with walls too thin to +stand without wooden props outside, and then to substitute stone props +for wooden ones. I have some doubts of the real dignity of such a +proceeding, but at all events the merit of the form of the flying +buttress depends on its faithfully and visibly performing this somewhat +humble office; it is, therefore, in its purity, a mere sloping bar of +stone, with an arch beneath it to carry its weight, that is to say, to +prevent the action of gravity from in any wise deflecting it, or causing +it to break downwards under the lateral thrust; it is thus formed quite +simple in Notre Dame of Paris, and in the Cathedral of Beauvais, while +at Cologne the sloping bars are pierced with quatrefoils, and at Amiens +with traceried arches. Both seem to me effeminate and false in +principle; not, of course, that there is any occasion to make the flying +buttress heavy, if a light one will answer the purpose; but it seems as +if some security were sacrificed to ornament. At Amiens the arrangement +is now seen to great disadvantage, for the early traceries have been +replaced by base flamboyant ones, utterly weak and despicable. Of the +degradations of the original form which took place in after times, I +have spoken at p. 35 of the "Seven Lamps." + +Sec. XI. The form of the common buttress must be familiar to the eye of +every reader, sloping if low, and thrown into successive steps if they +are to be carried to any considerable height. There is much dignity in +them when they are of essential service; but even in their best +examples, their awkward angles are among the least manageable features +of the Northern Gothic, and the whole organisation of its system was +destroyed by their unnecessary and lavish application on a diminished +scale; until the buttress became actually confused with the shaft, and +we find strangely crystallised masses of diminutive buttress applied, +for merely vertical support, in the northern tabernacle work; while in +some recent copies of it the principle has been so far distorted that +the tiny buttressings look as if they carried the superstructure on the +points of their pinnacles, as in the Cranmer memorial at Oxford. Indeed, +in most modern Gothic, the architects evidently consider buttresses as +convenient breaks of blank surface, and general apologies for deadness +of wall. They stand in the place of ideas, and I think are supposed also +to have something of the odor of sanctity about them; otherwise, one +hardly sees why a warehouse seventy feet high should have nothing of the +kind, and a chapel, which one can just get into with one's hat off, +should have a bunch of them at every corner; and worse than this, they +are even thought ornamental when they can be of no possible use; and +these stupid penthouse outlines are forced upon the eye in every species +of decoration: in St. Margaret's Chapel, West Street, there are actually +a couple of buttresses at the end of every pew. + +Sec. XII. It is almost impossible, in consequence of these unwise +repetitions of it, to contemplate the buttress without some degree of +prejudice; and I look upon it as one of the most justifiable causes of +the unfortunate aversion with which many of our best architects regard +the whole Gothic school. It may, however, always be regarded with +respect when its form is simple and its service clear; but no treason to +Gothic can be greater than the use of it in indolence or vanity, to +enhance the intricacies of structure, or occupy the vacuities of design. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + FORM OF APERTURE. + + +Sec. I. We have now, in order, examined the means of raising walls and +sustaining roofs, and we have finally to consider the structure of the +necessary apertures in the wall veil, the door and window; respecting +which there are three main points to be considered. + +1. The form of the aperture, _i.e._, its outline, its size, and the +forms of its sides. + +2. The filling of the aperture, _i.e._, valves and glass, and their +holdings. + +3. The protection of the aperture, and its appliances, _i.e._, canopies, +porches, and balconies. We shall examine these in succession. + +Sec. II. 1. The form of the aperture: and first of doors. We will, for +the present, leave out of the question doors and gates in unroofed walls, +the forms of these being very arbitrary, and confine ourselves to the +consideration of doors of entrance into roofed buildings. Such doors +will, for the most part, be at, or near, the base of the building; +except when raised for purposes of defence, as in the old Scotch border +towers, and our own Martello towers, or, as in Switzerland, to permit +access in deep snow, or when stairs are carried up outside the house for +convenience or magnificence. But in most cases, whether high or low, a +door may be assumed to be considerably lower than the apartments or +buildings into which it gives admission, and therefore to have some +height of wall above it, whose weight must be carried by the heading of +the door. It is clear, therefore, that the best heading must be an +arch, because the strongest, and that a square-headed door must be +wrong, unless under Mont-Cenisian masonry; or else, unless the top of +the door be the roof of the building, as in low cottages. And a +square-headed door is just so much more wrong and ugly than a connexion +of main shafts by lintels, as the weight of wall above the door is +likely to be greater than that above the main shafts. Thus, while I +admit the Greek general forms of temple to be admirable in their kind, I +think the Greek door always offensive and unmanageable. + +Sec. III. We have it also determined by necessity, that the apertures +shall be at least above a man's height, with perpendicular sides (for +sloping sides are evidently unnecessary, and even inconvenient, +therefore absurd) and level threshold; and this aperture we at present +suppose simply cut through the wall without any bevelling of the jambs. +Such a door, wide enough for two persons to pass each other easily, and +with such fillings or valves as we may hereafter find expedient, may be +fit enough for any building into which entrance is required neither +often, nor by many persons at a time. But when entrance and egress are +constant, or required by crowds, certain further modifications must take +place. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLIII.] + +Sec. IV. When entrance and egress are constant, it may be supposed that +the valves will be absent or unfastened,--that people will be passing more +quickly than when the entrance and egress are unfrequent, and that the +square angles of the wall will be inconvenient to such quick passers +through. It is evident, therefore, that what would be done in time, for +themselves, by the passing multitude, should be done for them at once by +the architect; and that these angles, which would be worn away by +friction, should at once be bevelled off, or, as it is called, splayed, +and the most contracted part of the aperture made as short as possible, +so that the plan of the entrance should become as at _a_, Fig. XLIII. + +Sec. V. Farther. As persons on the outside may often approach the door or +depart from it, _beside_ the building, so as to turn aside as they enter +or leave the door, and therefore touch its jamb, but, on the inside, +will in almost every case approach the door, or depart from it in the +direct line of the entrance (people generally walking _forward_ when +they enter a hall, court, or chamber of any kind, and being forced to do +so when they enter a passage), it is evident that the bevelling may be +very slight on the inside, but should be large on the outside, so that +the plan of the aperture should become as at _b_, Fig. XLIII. Farther, +as the bevelled wall cannot conveniently carry an unbevelled arch, the +door arch must be bevelled also, and the aperture, seen from the +outside, will have somewhat the aspect of a small cavern diminishing +towards the interior. + +Sec. VI. If, however, beside frequent entrance, entrance is required for +multitudes at the same time, the size of the aperture either must be +increased, or other apertures must be introduced. It may, in some +buildings, be optional with the architect whether he shall give many +small doors, or few large ones; and in some, as theatres, amphitheatres, +and other places where the crowd are apt to be impatient, many doors are +by far the best arrangement of the two. Often, however, the purposes of +the building, as when it is to be entered by processions, or where the +crowd most usually enter in one direction, require the large single +entrance; and (for here again the aesthetic and structural laws cannot be +separated) the expression and harmony of the building require, in nearly +every case, an entrance of largeness proportioned to the multitude which +is to meet within. Nothing is more unseemly than that a great multitude +should find its way out and in, as ants and wasps do, through holes; and +nothing more undignified than the paltry doors of many of our English +cathedrals, which look as if they were made, not for the open egress, +but for the surreptitious drainage of a stagnant congregation. Besides, +the expression of the church door should lead us, as far as possible, to +desire at least the western entrance to be single, partly because no man +of right feeling would willingly lose the idea of unity and fellowship +in going up to worship, which is suggested by the vast single entrance; +partly because it is at the entrance that the most serious words of the +building are always addressed, by its sculptures or inscriptions, to the +worshipper; and it is well, that these words should be spoken to all at +once, as by one great voice, not broken up into weak repetitions over +minor doors. + +In practice the matter has been, I suppose, regulated almost altogether +by convenience, the western doors being single in small churches, while +in the larger the entrances become three or five, the central door +remaining always principal, in consequence of the fine sense of +composition which the mediaeval builders never lost. These arrangements +have formed the noblest buildings in the world. Yet it is worth +observing[55] how perfect in its simplicity the single entrance may +become, when it is treated as in the Duomo and St. Zeno of Verona, and +other such early Lombard churches, having noble porches, and rich +sculptures grouped around the entrance. + +Sec. VII. However, whether the entrances be single, triple, or manifold, +it is a constant law that one shall be principal, and all shall be of size +in some degree proportioned to that of the building. And this size is, +of course, chiefly to be expressed in width, that being the only useful +dimension in a door (except for pageantry, chairing of bishops and +waving of banners, and other such vanities, not, I hope, after this +century, much to be regarded in the building of Christian temples); but +though the width is the only necessary dimension, it is well to increase +the height also in some proportion to it, in order that there may be +less weight of wall above, resting on the increased span of the arch. +This is, however, so much the necessary result of the broad curve of the +arch itself, that there is no structural necessity of elevating the +jamb; and I believe that beautiful entrances might be made of every span +of arch, retaining the jamb at a little more than a man's height, until +the sweep of the curves became so vast that the small vertical line +became a part of them, and one entered into the temple as under a great +rainbow. + +Sec. VIII. On the other hand, the jamb _may_ be elevated indefinitely, so +that the increasing entrance retains _at least_ the proportion of width +it had originally; say 4 ft. by 7 ft. 5 in. But a less proportion of +width than this has always a meagre, inhospitable, and ungainly look +except in military architecture, where the narrowness of the entrance is +necessary, and its height adds to its grandeur, as between the entrance +towers of our British castles. This law however, observe, applies only +to true doors, not to the arches of porches, which may be of any +proportion, as of any number, being in fact intercolumniations, not +doors; as in the noble example of the west front of Peterborough, which, +in spite of the destructive absurdity of its central arch being the +narrowest, would still, if the paltry porter's lodge, or gatehouse, or +turnpike, or whatever it is, were knocked out of the middle of it, be +the noblest west front in England. + +Sec. IX. Further, and finally. In proportion to the height and size of the +building, and therefore to the size of its doors, will be the thickness +of its walls, especially at the foundation, that is to say, beside the +doors; and also in proportion to the numbers of a crowd will be the +unruliness and pressure of it. Hence, partly in necessity and partly in +prudence, the splaying or chamfering of the jamb of the larger door will +be deepened, and, if possible, made at a larger angle for the large door +than for the small one; so that the large door will always be +encompassed by a visible breadth of jamb proportioned to its own +magnitude. The decorative value of this feature we shall see hereafter. + +Sec. X. The second kind of apertures we have to examine are those of +windows. + +Window apertures are mainly of two kinds; those for outlook, and those +for inlet of light, many being for both purposes, and either purpose, or +both, combined in military architecture with those of offence and +defence. But all window apertures, as compared with door apertures, have +almost infinite licence of form and size: they may be of any shape, from +the slit or cross slit to the circle;[56] of any size, from the loophole +of the castle to the pillars of light of the cathedral apse. Yet, +according to their place and purpose, one or two laws of fitness hold +respecting them, which let us examine in the two classes of windows +successively, but without reference to military architecture, which +here, as before, we may dismiss as a subject of separate science, only +noticing that windows, like all other features, are always delightful, +if not beautiful, when their position and shape have indeed been thus +necessarily determined, and that many of their most picturesque forms +have resulted from the requirements of war. We should also find in +military architecture the typical forms of the two classes of outlet and +inlet windows in their utmost development; the greatest sweep of sight +and range of shot on the one hand, and the fullest entry of light and +air on the other, being constantly required at the smallest possible +apertures. Our business, however, is to reason out the laws for +ourselves, not to take the examples as we find them. + +Sec. XI. 1. Outlook apertures. For these no general outline is +determinable by the necessities or inconveniences of outlooking, except +only that the bottom or sill of the windows, at whatever height, should +be horizontal, for the convenience of leaning on it, or standing on it +if the window be to the ground. The form of the upper part of the window +is quite immaterial, for all windows allow a greater range of sight +when they are _approached_ than that of the eye itself: it is the +approachability of the window, that is to say, the annihilation of the +thickness of the wall, which is the real point to be attended to. If, +therefore, the aperture be inaccessible, or so small that the thickness +of the wall cannot be entered, the wall is to be bevelled[57] on the +outside, so as to increase the range of sight as far as possible; if the +aperture can be entered, then bevelled from the point to which entrance is +possible. The bevelling will, if possible, be in every direction, that is +to say, upwards at the top, outwards at the sides, and downwards at the +bottom, but essentially _downwards_; the earth and the doings upon it +being the chief object in outlook windows, except of observatories; and +where the object is a distinct and special view downwards, it will be of +advantage to shelter the eye as far as possible from the rays of light +coming from above, and the head of the window may be left horizontal, or +even the whole aperture sloped outwards, as the slit in a letter-box +is inwards. + +The best windows for outlook are, of course, oriels and bow windows, but +these are not to be considered under the head of apertures merely; they +are either balconies roofed and glazed, and to be considered under the +head of external appliances, or they are each a story of an external +semi-tower, having true aperture windows on each side of it. + +Sec. XII. 2. Inlet windows. These windows may, of course, be of any shape +and size whatever, according to the other necessities of the building, and +the quantity and direction of light desired, their purpose being now to +throw it in streams on particular lines or spots; now to diffuse it +everywhere; sometimes to introduce it in broad masses, tempered in +strength, as in the cathedral colored window; sometimes in starry +showers of scattered brilliancy, like the apertures in the roof of an +Arabian bath; perhaps the most beautiful of all forms being the rose, +which has in it the unity of both characters, and sympathy with that of +the source of light itself. It is noticeable, however, that while both +the circle and pointed oval are beautiful window forms, it would be very +painful to cut either of them in half and connect them by vertical +lines, as in Fig. XLIV. The reason is, I believe, that so treated, the +upper arch is not considered as connected with the lower, and forming an +entire figure, but as the ordinary arch roof of the aperture, and the +lower arch as an arch _floor_, equally unnecessary and unnatural. Also, +the elliptical oval is generally an unsatisfactory form, because it +gives the idea of useless trouble in building it, though it occurs +quaintly and pleasantly in the former windows of France: I believe it is +also objectionable because it has an indeterminate, slippery look, like +that of a bubble rising through a fluid. It, and all elongated forms, +are still more objectionable placed horizontally, because this is the +weakest position they can structurally have; that is to say, less light +is admitted, with greater loss of strength to the building, than by any +other form. If admissible anywhere, it is for the sake of variety at the +top of the building, as the flat parallelogram sometimes not +ungracefully in Italian Renaissance. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLIV.] + +Sec. XIII. The question of bevelling becomes a little more complicated in +the inlet than the outlook window, because the mass or quantity of light +admitted is often of more consequence than its direction, and often +_vice versa_; and the outlook window is supposed to be approachable, +which is far from being always the case with windows for light, so that +the bevelling which in the outlook window is chiefly to open range of +sight, is in the inlet a means not only of admitting the light in +greater quantity, but of directing it to the spot on which it is to +fall. But, in general, the bevelling of the one window will reverse that +of the other; for, first, no natural light will strike on the inlet +window from beneath, unless reflected light, which is (I believe) +injurious to the health and the sight; and thus, while in the outlook +window the outside bevel downwards is essential, in the inlet it would +be useless: and the sill is to be flat, if the window be on a level with +the spot it is to light; and sloped downwards within, if above it. +Again, as the brightest rays of light are the steepest, the outside +bevel upwards is as essential in the roof of the inlet as it was of +small importance in that of the outlook window. + +Sec. XIV. On the horizontal section the aperture will expand internally, +a somewhat larger number of rays being thus reflected from the jambs; and +the aperture being thus the smallest possible outside, this is the +favorite military form of inlet window, always found in magnificent +development in the thick walls of mediaeval castles and convents. Its +effect is tranquil, but cheerless and dungeon-like in its fullest +development, owing to the limitation of the range of sight in the +outlook, which, if the window be unapproachable, reduces it to a mere +point of light. A modified condition of it, with some combination of the +outlook form, is probably the best for domestic buildings in general +(which, however, in modern architecture, are unhappily so thin walled, +that the outline of the jambs becomes a matter almost of indifference), +it being generally noticeable that the depth of recess which I have +observed to be essential to nobility of external effect has also a +certain dignity of expression, as appearing to be intended rather to +admit light to persons quietly occupied in their homes, than to +stimulate or favor the curiosity of idleness. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [55] And worth questioning, also, whether the triple porch has not + been associated with Romanist views of mediatorship; the Redeemer + being represented as presiding over the central door only, and the + lateral entrances being under the protection of saints, while the + Madonna almost always has one or both of the transepts. But it would + be wrong to press this, for, in nine cases out of ten, the architect + has been merely influenced in his placing of the statues by an + artist's desire of variety in their forms and dress; and very + naturally prefers putting a canonisation over one door, a martyrdom + over another, and an assumption over a third, to repeating a + crucifixion or a judgment above all. The architect's doctrine is + only, therefore, to be noted with indisputable reprobation when the + Madonna gets possession of the main door. + + [56] The arch heading is indeed the best where there is much + incumbent weight, but a window frequently has very little weight + above it, especially when placed high, and the arched form loses + light in a low room: therefore the square-headed window is + admissible where the square-headed door is not. + + [57] I do not like the sound of the word "splayed;" I always shall + use "bevelled" instead. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + FILLING OF APERTURE. + + +Sec. I. Thus far we have been concerned with the outline only of the +aperture: we were next, it will be remembered, to consider the necessary +modes of filling it with valves in the case of the door, or with glass +or tracery in that of the window. + +1. Fillings of doors. We concluded, in the previous Chapter, that doors +in buildings of any importance or size should have headings in the form +of an arch. This is, however, the most inconvenient form we could +choose, as respects the fitting of the valves of the doorway; for the +arch-shaped head of the valves not only requires considerable nicety in +fitting to the arch, but adds largely to the weight of the door,--a +double disadvantage, straining the hinges and making it cumbersome in +opening. And this inconvenience is so much perceived by the eye, that a +door valve with a pointed head is always a disagreeable object. It +becomes, therefore, a matter of true necessity so to arrange the doorway +as to admit of its being fitted with rectangular valves. + +Sec. II. Now, in determining the form of the aperture, we supposed the +jamb of the door to be of the utmost height required for entrance. The +extra height of the arch is unnecessary as an opening, the arch being +required for its strength only, not for its elevation. There is, +therefore, no reason why it should not be barred across by a horizontal +lintel, into which the valves may be fitted, and the triangular or +semicircular arched space above the lintel may then be permanently +closed, as we choose, either with bars, or glass, or stone. + +This is the form of all good doors, without exception, over the whole +world and in all ages, and no other can ever be invented. + +Sec. III. In the simplest doors the cross lintel is of wood only, and +glass or bars occupy the space above, a very frequent form in Venice. +In more elaborate doors the cross lintel is of stone, and the filling +sometimes of brick, sometimes of stone, very often a grand single stone +being used to close the entire space: the space thus filled is called the +Tympanum. In large doors the cross lintel is too long to bear the great +incumbent weight of this stone filling without support; it is, therefore, +carried by a pier in the centre; and two valves are used, fitted to the +rectangular spaces on each side of the pier. In the most elaborate +examples of this condition, each of these secondary doorways has an arch +heading, a cross lintel, and a triangular filling or tympanum of its +own, all subordinated to the main arch above. + +Sec. IV. 2. Fillings of windows. + +When windows are large, and to be filled with glass, the sheet of glass, +however constructed, whether of large panes or small fragments, requires +the support of bars of some kind, either of wood, metal, or stone. Wood +is inapplicable on a large scale, owing to its destructibility; very fit +for door-valves, which can be easily refitted, and in which weight would +be an inconvenience, but very unfit for window-bars, which, if they +decayed, might let the whole window be blown in before their decay was +observed, and in which weight would be an advantage, as offering more +resistance to the wind. + +Iron is, however, fit for window-bars, and there seems no constructive +reason why we should not have iron traceries, as well as iron pillars, +iron churches, and iron steeples. But I have, in the "Seven Lamps," +given reasons for not considering such structures as architecture at +all. + +The window-bars must, therefore, be of stone, and of stone only. + +Sec. V. The purpose of the window being always to let in as much light, +and command as much view, as possible, these bars of stone are to be made +as slender and as few as they can be, consistently with their due +strength. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLV.] + +Let it be required to support the breadth of glass, _a_, _b_, Fig. XLV. +The tendency of the glass sustaining any force, as of wind from without, +is to bend into an arch inwards, in the dotted line, and break in the +centre. It is to be supported, therefore, by the bar put in its centre, +_c_. + +But this central bar, _c_, may not be enough, and the spaces _a c_, _c +b_, may still need support. The next step will be to put two bars +instead of one, and divide the window into three spaces as at _d_. + +But this may still not be enough, and the window may need three bars. +Now the greatest stress is always on the centre of the window. If the +three bars are equal in strength, as at _e_, the central bar is either +too slight for its work, or the lateral bars too thick for theirs. +Therefore, we must slightly increase the thickness of the central bar, +and diminish that of the lateral ones, so as to obtain the arrangement +at _f h_. If the window enlarge farther, each of the spaces _f g_, _g +h_, is treated as the original space _a b_, and we have the groups of +bars _k_ and _l_. + +So that, whatever the shape of the window, whatever the direction and +number of the bars, there are to be central or main bars; second bars +subordinated to them; third bars subordinated to the second, and so on +to the number required. This is called the subordination of tracery, a +system delightful to the eye and mind, owing to its anatomical framing +and unity, and to its expression of the laws of good government in all +fragile and unstable things. All tracery, therefore, which is not +subordinated, is barbarous, in so far as this part of its structure is +concerned. + +Sec. VI. The next question will be the direction of the bars. The reader +will understand at once, without any laborious proof, that a given area +of glass, supported by its edges, is stronger in its resistance to +violence when it is arranged in a long strip or band than in a square; +and that, therefore, glass is generally to be arranged, especially in +windows on a large scale, in oblong areas: and if the bars so dividing +it be placed horizontally, they will have less power of supporting +themselves, and will need to be thicker in consequence, than if placed +vertically. As far, therefore, as the form of the window permits, they +are to be vertical. + +Sec. VII. But even when so placed, they cannot be trusted to support +themselves beyond a certain height, but will need cross bars to steady +them. Cross bars of stone are, therefore, to be introduced at necessary +intervals, not to divide the glass, but to support the upright stone +bars. The glass is always to be divided longitudinally as far as +possible, and the upright bars which divide it supported at proper +intervals. However high the window, it is almost impossible that it +should require more than two cross bars. + +Sec. VIII. It may sometimes happen that when tall windows are placed very +close to each other for the sake of more light, the masonry between them +may stand in need, or at least be the better of, some additional +support. The cross bars of the windows may then be thickened, in order +to bond the intermediate piers more strongly together, and if this +thickness appear ungainly, it may be modified by decoration. + +Sec. IX. We have thus arrived at the idea of a vertical frame work of +subordinated bars, supported by cross bars at the necessary intervals, +and the only remaining question is the method of insertion into the +aperture. Whatever its form, if we merely let the ends of the bars into +the voussoirs of its heading, the least settlement of the masonry would +distort the arch, or push up some of its voussoirs, or break the window +bars, or push them aside. Evidently our object should be to connect the +window bars among themselves, so framing them together that they may +give the utmost possible degree of support to the whole window head in +case of any settlement. But we know how to do this already: our window +bars are nothing but small shafts. Capital them; throw small arches +across between the smaller bars, large arches over them between the +larger bars, one comprehensive arch over the whole, or else a horizontal +lintel, if the window have a flat head; and we have a complete system of +mutual support, independent of the aperture head, and yet assisting to +sustain it, if need be. But we want the spandrils of this arch system to +be themselves as light, and to let as much light through them, as +possible: and we know already how to pierce them (Chap. XII. Sec. VII.). +We pierce them with circles; and we have, if the circles are small and the +stonework strong, the traceries of Giotto and the Pisan school; if the +circles are as large as possible and the bars slender, those which I +have already figured and described as the only perfect traceries of the +Northern Gothic.[58] The varieties of their design arise partly from the +different size of window and consequent number of bars; partly from the +different heights of their pointed arches, as well as the various +positions of the window head in relation to the roof, rendering one or +another arrangement better for dividing the light, and partly from +aesthetic and expressional requirements, which, within certain limits, +may be allowed a very important influence: for the strength of the bars +is ordinarily so much greater than is absolutely necessary, that some +portion of it may be gracefully sacrificed to the attainment of variety +in the plans of tracery--a variety which, even within its severest +limits, is perfectly endless; more especially in the pointed arch, the +proportion of the tracery being in the round arch necessarily more +fixed. + +Sec. X. The circular window furnishes an exception to the common law, that +the bars shall be vertical through the greater part of their length: for +if they were so, they could neither have secure perpendicular footing, +nor secure heading, their thrust being perpendicular to the curve of the +voussoirs only in the centre of the window; therefore, a small circle, +like the axle of a wheel, is put into the centre of the window, large +enough to give footing to the necessary number of radiating bars; and +the bars are arranged as spokes, being all of course properly capitaled +and arch-headed. This is the best form of tracery for circular windows, +naturally enough called wheel windows when so filled. + +Sec. XI. Now, I wish the reader especially to observe that we have arrived +at these forms of perfect Gothic tracery without the smallest reference +to any practice of any school, or to any law of authority whatever. They +are forms having essentially nothing whatever to do either with Goths or +Greeks. They are eternal forms, based on laws of gravity and cohesion; +and no better, nor any others so good, will ever be invented, so long as +the present laws of gravity and cohesion subsist. + +Sec. XII. It does not at all follow that this group of forms owes its +origin to any such course of reasoning as that which has now led us to +it. On the contrary, there is not the smallest doubt that tracery began, +partly, in the grouping of windows together (subsequently enclosed +within a large arch[59]), and partly in the fantastic penetrations of a +single slab of stones under the arch, as the circle in Plate V. above. +The perfect form seems to have been accidentally struck in passing from +experiment on the one side, to affectation on the other; and it was so +far from ever becoming systematised, that I am aware of no type of +tracery for which a _less_ decided preference is shown in the buildings +in which it exists. The early pierced traceries are multitudinous and +perfect in their kind,--the late Flamboyant, luxuriant in detail, and +lavish in quantity,--but the perfect forms exist in comparatively few +churches, generally in portions of the church only, and are always +connected, and that closely, either with the massy forms out of which +they have emerged, or with the enervated types into which they are +instantly to degenerate. + +Sec. XIII. Nor indeed are we to look upon them as in all points superior +to the more ancient examples. We have above conducted our reasoning +entirely on the supposition that a single aperture is given, which it is +the object to fill with glass, diminishing the power of the light as +little as possible. But there are many cases, as in triforium and +cloister lights, in which glazing is not required; in which, therefore, +the bars, if there be any, must have some more important function than +that of merely holding glass, and in which their actual use is to give +steadiness and _tone_, as it were, to the arches and walls above and +beside them; or to give the idea of protection to those who pass along +the triforium, and of seclusion to those who walk in the cloister. Much +thicker shafts, and more massy arches, may be properly employed in work +of this kind; and many groups of such tracery will be found resolvable +into true colonnades, with the arches in pairs, or in triple or +quadruple groups, and with small rosettes pierced above them for light. +All this is just as _right_ in its place, as the glass tracery is in its +own function, and often much more grand. But the same indulgence is not +to be shown to the affectations which succeeded the developed forms. Of +these there are three principal conditions: the Flamboyant of France, +the Stump tracery of Germany, and the Perpendicular of England. + +Sec. XIV. Of these the first arose, by the most delicate and natural +transitions, out of the perfect school. It was an endeavor to introduce +more grace into its lines, and more change into its combinations; and +the aesthetic results are so beautiful, that for some time after the +right road had been left, the aberration was more to be admired than +regretted. The final conditions became fantastic and effeminate, but, in +the country where they had been invented, never lost their peculiar +grace until they were replaced by the Renaissance. The copies of the +school in England and Italy have all its faults and none of its +beauties; in France, whatever it lost in method or in majesty, it gained +in fantasy: literally Flamboyant, it breathed away its strength into +the air; but there is not more difference between the commonest doggrel +that ever broke prose into unintelligibility, and the burning mystery of +Coleridge, or spirituality of Elizabeth Barrett, than there is between +the dissolute dulness of English Flamboyant, and the flaming undulations +of the wreathed lines of delicate stone, that confuse themselves with +the clouds of every morning sky that brightens above the valley of the +Seine. + +Sec. XV. The second group of traceries, the intersectional or German +group, may be considered as including the entire range of the absurd forms +which were invented in order to display dexterity in stone-cutting and +ingenuity in construction. They express the peculiar character of the +German mind, which cuts the frame of every truth joint from joint, in +order to prove the edge of its instruments; and, in all cases, prefers a +new or a strange thought to a good one, and a subtle thought to a useful +one. The point and value of the German tracery consists principally in +turning the features of good traceries upside down, and cutting them in +two where they are properly continuous. To destroy at once foundation +and membership, and suspend everything in the air, keeping out of sight, +as far as possible, the evidences of a beginning and the probabilities +of an end, are the main objects of German architecture, as of modern +German divinity. + +Sec. XVI. This school has, however, at least the merit of ingenuity. Not +so the English Perpendicular, though a very curious school also in _its_ +way. In the course of the reasoning which led us to the determination of +the perfect Gothic tracery, we were induced successively to reject +certain methods of arrangement as weak, dangerous, or disagreeable. +Collect all these together, and practise them at once, and you have the +English Perpendicular. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLVI.] + +As thus. You find, in the first place (Sec. V.), that your tracery bars +are to be subordinated, less to greater; so you take a group of, suppose, +eight, which you make all exactly equal, giving you nine equal spaces in +the window, as at A, Fig. XLVI. You found, in the second place (Sec. +VII.), that there was no occasion for more than two cross bars; so you +take at least four or five (also represented at A, Fig. XLVI.), also +carefully equalised, and set at equal spaces. You found, in the third +place (Sec. VIII.), that these bars were to be strengthened, in order to +support the main piers; you will therefore cut the ends off the uppermost, +and the fourth into three pieces (as also at A). In the fourth place, you +found (Sec. IX.) that you were never to run a vertical bar into the arch +head; so you run them all into it (as at B, Fig. XLVI.); and this last +arrangement will be useful in two ways, for it will not only expose both +the bars and the archivolt to an apparent probability of every species +of dislocation at any moment, but it will provide you with two pleasing +interstices at the flanks, in the shape of carving-knives, _a_, _b_, +which, by throwing across the curves _c_, _d_, you may easily multiply +into four; and these, as you can put nothing into their sharp tops, will +afford you a more than usually rational excuse for a little bit of +Germanism, in filling them with arches upside down, _e_, _f_. You will +now have left at your disposal two and forty similar interstices, which, +for the sake of variety, you will proceed to fill with two and forty +similar arches: and, as you were told that the moment a bar received an +arch heading, it was to be treated as a shaft and capitalled, you will +take care to give your bars no capitals nor bases, but to run bars, +foliations and all, well into each other after the fashion of cast-iron, +as at C. You have still two triangular spaces occurring in an important +part of your window, _g g_, which, as they are very conspicuous, and you +cannot make them uglier than they are, you will do wisely to let +alone;--and you will now have the west window of the cathedral of +Winchester, a very perfect example of English Perpendicular. Nor do I +think that you can, on the whole, better the arrangement, unless, +perhaps, by adding buttresses to some of the bars, as is done in the +cathedral at Gloucester; these buttresses having the double advantage of +darkening the window when seen from within, and suggesting, when it is +seen from without, the idea of its being divided by two stout party +walls, with a heavy thrust against the glass. + +Sec. XVII. Thus far we have considered the plan of the tracery only: +we have lastly to note the conditions under which the glass is to be +attached to the bars; and the sections of the bars themselves. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLVII.] + +These bars we have seen, in the perfect form, are to become shafts; but, +supposing the object to be the admission of as much light as possible, +it is clear that the thickness of the bar ought to be chiefly in the +depth of the window, and that by increasing the depth of the bar we may +diminish its breadth: clearly, therefore, we should employ the double +group of shafts, _b_, of Fig. XIV., setting it edgeways in the window: +but as the glass would then come between the two shafts, we must add a +member into which it is to be fitted, as at _a_, Fig. XLVII., and +uniting these three members together in the simplest way, with a curved +instead of a sharp recess behind the shafts, we have the section _b_, +the perfect, but simplest type of the main tracery bars in good Gothic. +In triforium and cloister tracery, which has no glass to hold, the +central member is omitted, and we have either the pure double shaft, +always the most graceful, or a single and more massy shaft, which is the +simpler and more usual form. + +Sec. XVIII. Finally: there is an intermediate arrangement between the +glazed and the open tracery, that of the domestic traceries of Venice. +Peculiar conditions, hereafter to be described, require the shafts of +these traceries to become the main vertical supports of the floors and +walls. Their thickness is therefore enormous; and yet free egress is +required between them (into balconies) which is obtained by doors in +their lattice glazing. To prevent the inconvenience and ugliness of +driving the hinges and fastenings of them into the shafts, and having +the play of the doors in the intervals, the entire glazing is thrown +behind the pillars, and attached to their abaci and bases with iron. It +is thus securely sustained by their massy bulk, and leaves their +symmetry and shade undisturbed. + +Sec. XIX. The depth at which the glass should be placed, in windows +without traceries, will generally be fixed by the forms of their +bevelling, the glass occupying the narrowest interval; but when its +position is not thus fixed, as in many London houses, it is to be +remembered that the deeper the glass is set (the wall being of given +thickness), the more light will enter, and the clearer the prospect +will be to a person sitting quietly in the centre of the room; on the +contrary, the farther out the glass is set, the more convenient the +window will be for a person rising and looking out of it. The one, +therefore, is an arrangement for the idle and curious, who care only +about what is going on upon the earth: the other for those who are +willing to remain at rest, so that they have free admission of the light +of Heaven. This might be noted as a curious expressional reason for the +necessity (of which no man of ordinary feeling would doubt for a moment) +of a deep recess in the window, on the outside, to all good or +architectural effect: still, as there is no reason why people should be +made idle by having it in their power to look out of window, and as the +slight increase of light or clearness of view in the centre of a room is +more than balanced by the loss of space, and the greater chill of the +nearer glass and outside air, we can, I fear, allege no other structural +reason for the picturesque external recess, than the expediency of a +certain degree of protection, for the glass, from the brightest glare of +sunshine, and heaviest rush of rain. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [58] "Seven Lamps," p. 53. + + [59] On the north side of the nave of the cathedral of Lyons, there + is an early French window, presenting one of the usual groups of + foliated arches and circles, left, as it were, loose, without any + enclosing curve. The effect is very painful. This remarkable window + is associated with others of the common form. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + PROTECTION OF APERTURE. + + +Sec. I. We have hitherto considered the aperture as merely pierced in the +thickness of the walls; and when its masonry is simple and the fillings +of the aperture are unimportant, it may well remain so. But when the +fillings are delicate and of value, as in the case of colored glass, +finely wrought tracery, or sculpture, such as we shall often find +occupying the tympanum of doorways, some protection becomes necessary +against the run of the rain down the walls, and back by the bevel of the +aperture to the joints or surface of the fillings. + +Sec. II. The first and simplest mode of obtaining this is by channelling +the jambs and arch head; and this is the chief practical service of +aperture mouldings, which are otherwise entirely decorative. But as this +very decorative character renders them unfit to be made channels for +rain water, it is well to add some external roofing to the aperture, +which may protect it from the run of all the rain, except that which +necessarily beats into its own area. This protection, in its most usual +form, is a mere dripstone moulding carried over or round the head of the +aperture. But this is, in reality, only a contracted form of a true +_roof_, projecting from the wall over the aperture; and all protections +of apertures whatsoever are to be conceived as portions of small roofs, +attached to the wall behind; and supported by it, so long as their scale +admits of their being so with safety, and afterwards in such manner as +may be most expedient. The proper forms of these, and modes of their +support, are to be the subject of our final enquiry. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLVIII.] + +Sec. III. Respecting their proper form we need not stay long in doubt. A +deep gable is evidently the best for throwing off rain; even a low gable +being better than a high arch. Flat roofs, therefore, may only be used +when the nature of the building renders the gable unsightly; as when +there is not room for it between the stories; or when the object is +rather shade than protection from rain, as often in verandahs and +balconies. But for general service the gable is the proper and natural +form, and may be taken as representative of the rest. Then this gable +may either project unsupported from the wall, _a_, Fig. XLVIII., or be +carried by brackets or spurs, _b_, or by walls or shafts, _c_, which +shafts or walls may themselves be, in windows, carried on a sill; and +this, in its turn, supported by brackets or spurs. We shall glance at +the applications of each of these forms in order. + +Sec. IV. There is not much variety in the case of the first, _a_, Fig. +XLVIII. In the Cumberland and border cottages the door is generally +protected by two pieces of slate arranged in a gable, giving the purest +possible type of the first form. In elaborate architecture such a +projection hardly ever occurs, and in large architecture cannot with +safety occur, without brackets; but by cutting away the greater part of +the projection, we shall arrive at the idea of a plain gabled cornice, +of which a perfect example will be found in Plate VII. of the folio +series. With this first complete form we may associate the rude, single, +projecting, penthouse roof; imperfect, because either it must be level +and the water lodge lazily upon it, or throw off the drip upon the +persons entering. + +Sec. V. 2. _b_, Fig. XLVIII. This is a most beautiful and natural type, +and is found in all good architecture, from the highest to the most +humble: it is a frequent form of cottage door, more especially when +carried on spurs, being of peculiarly easy construction in wood: as +applied to large architecture, it can evidently be built, in its boldest +and simplest form, either of wood only, or on a scale which will admit of +its sides being each a single slab of stone. If so large as to require +jointed masonry, the gabled sides will evidently require support, and an +arch must be thrown across under them, as in Fig. XLIX., from Fiesole. + +[Illustration: Fig. XLIX.] + +If we cut the projection gradually down, we arrive at the common Gothic +gable dripstone carried on small brackets, carved into bosses, heads, or +some other ornamental form; the sub-arch in such case being useless, is +removed or coincides with the arch head of the aperture. + +Sec. VI. 3. _c_, Fig. XLVIII. Substituting walls or pillars for the +brackets, we may carry the projection as far out as we choose, and form +the perfect porch, either of the cottage or village church, or of the +cathedral. As we enlarge the structure, however, certain modifications +of form become necessary, owing to the increased boldness of the +required supporting arch. For, as the lower end of the gabled roof and +of the arch cannot coincide, we have necessarily above the shafts one of +the two forms _a_ or _b_, in Fig. L., of which the latter is clearly the +best, requiring less masonry and shorter roofing; and when the arch +becomes so large as to cause a heavy lateral thrust, it may become +necessary to provide for its farther safety by pinnacles, _c_. + +This last is the perfect type of aperture protection. None other can +ever be invented so good. It is that once employed by Giotto in the +cathedral of Florence, and torn down by the proveditore, Benedetto +Uguccione, to erect a Renaissance front instead; and another such has +been destroyed, not long since, in Venice, the porch of the church of +St. Apollinare, also to put up some Renaissance upholstery: for +Renaissance, as if it were not nuisance enough in the mere fact of its +own existence, appears invariably as a beast of prey, and founds itself +on the ruin of all that is best and noblest. Many such porches, however, +happily still exist in Italy, and are among its principal glories. + +[Illustration: Fig. L.] + +Sec. VII. When porches of this kind, carried by walls, are placed close +together, as in cases where there are many and large entrances to a +cathedral front, they would, in their general form, leave deep and +uncomfortable intervals, in which damp would lodge and grass grow; and +there would be a painful feeling in approaching the door in the midst of +a crowd, as if some of them might miss the real doors, and be driven +into the intervals, and embayed there. Clearly it will be a natural and +right expedient, in such cases, to open the walls of the porch wider, so +that they may correspond in slope, or nearly so, with the bevel of the +doorway, and either meet each other in the intervals, or have the said +intervals closed up with an intermediate wall, so that nobody may get +embayed in them. The porches will thus be united, and form one range of +great open gulphs or caverns, ready to receive all comers, and direct +the current of the crowd into the narrower entrances. As the lateral +thrust of the arches is now met by each other, the pinnacles, if there +were any, must be removed, and waterspouts placed between each arch to +discharge the double drainage of the gables. This is the form of all the +noble northern porches, without exception, best represented by that of +Rheims. + +Sec. VIII. Contracted conditions of the pinnacle porch are beautifully +used in the doors of the cathedral of Florence; and the entire +arrangement, in its most perfect form, as adapted to window protection and +decoration, is applied by Giotto with inconceivable exquisiteness in the +windows of the campanile; those of the cathedral itself being all of the +same type. Various singular and delightful conditions of it are applied +in Italian domestic architecture (in the Broletto of Monza very +quaintly), being associated with balconies for speaking to the people, +and passing into pulpits. In the north we glaze the sides of such +projections, and they become bow-windows, the shape of roofing being +then nearly immaterial and very fantastic, often a conical cap. All +these conditions of window protection, being for real service, are +endlessly delightful (and I believe the beauty of the balcony, protected +by an open canopy supported by light shafts, never yet to have been +properly worked out). But the Renaissance architects destroyed all of +them, and introduced the magnificent and witty Roman invention of a +model of a Greek pediment, with its cornices of monstrous thickness, +bracketed up above the window. The horizontal cornice of the pediment is +thus useless, and of course, therefore, retained; the protection to the +head of the window being constructed on the principle of a hat with its +crown sewn up. But the deep and dark triangular cavity thus obtained +affords farther opportunity for putting ornament out of sight, of which +the Renaissance architects are not slow to avail themselves. + +A more rational condition is the complete pediment with a couple of +shafts, or pilasters, carried on a bracketed sill; and the windows of +this kind, which have been well designed, are perhaps the best things +which the Renaissance schools have produced: those of Whitehall are, in +their way, exceedingly beautiful; and those of the Palazzo Ricardi at +Florence, in their simplicity and sublimity, are scarcely unworthy of +their reputed designer, Michael Angelo. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + SUPERIMPOSITION. + + +Sec. I. The reader has now some knowledge of every feature of all possible +architecture. Whatever the nature of the building which may be submitted +to his criticism, if it be an edifice at all, if it be anything else +than a mere heap of stones like a pyramid or breakwater, or than a large +stone hewn into shape, like an obelisk, it will be instantly and easily +resolvable into some of the parts which we have been hitherto +considering: its pinnacles will separate themselves into their small +shafts and roofs; its supporting members into shafts and arches, or +walls penetrated by apertures of various shape, and supported by various +kinds of buttresses. Respecting each of these several features I am +certain that the reader feels himself prepared, by understanding their +plain function, to form something like a reasonable and definite +judgment, whether they be good or bad; and this right judgment of parts +will, in most cases, lead him to just reverence or condemnation of the +whole. + +Sec. II. The various modes in which these parts are capable of +combination, and the merits of buildings of different form and expression, +are evidently not reducible into lists, nor to be estimated by general +laws. The nobility of each building depends on its special fitness for its +own purposes; and these purposes vary with every climate, every soil, and +every national custom: nay, there were never, probably, two edifices +erected in which some accidental difference of condition did not require +some difference of plan or of structure; so that, respecting plan and +distribution of parts, I do not hope to collect any universal law of +right; but there are a few points necessary to be noticed respecting the +means by which height is attained in buildings of various plans, and +the expediency and methods of superimposition of one story or tier of +architecture above another. + +Sec. III. For, in the preceding inquiry, I have always supposed either +that a single shaft would reach to the top of the building, or that the +farther height required might be added in plain wall above the heads of +the arches; whereas it may often be rather expedient to complete the +entire lower series of arches, or finish the lower wall, with a bold +string course or cornice, and build another series of shafts, or another +wall, on the top of it. + +Sec. IV. This superimposition is seen in its simplest form in the interior +shafts of a Greek temple; and it has been largely used in nearly all +countries where buildings have been meant for real service. Outcry has +often been raised against it, but the thing is so sternly necessary that +it has always forced itself into acceptance; and it would, therefore, be +merely losing time to refute the arguments of those who have attempted +its disparagement. Thus far, however, they have reason on their side, +that if a building can be kept in one grand mass, without sacrificing +either its visible or real adaptation to its objects, it is not well to +divide it into stories until it has reached proportions too large to be +justly measured by the eye. It ought then to be divided in order to mark +its bulk; and decorative divisions are often possible, which rather +increase than destroy the expression of general unity. + +Sec. V. Superimposition, wisely practised, is of two kinds, directly +contrary to each other, of weight on lightness, and of lightness on +weight; while the superimposition of weight on weight, or lightness on +lightness, is nearly always wrong. + +1. Weight on lightness: I do not say weight on _weakness_. The +superimposition of the human body on its limbs I call weight on +lightness: the superimposition of the branches on a tree trunk I call +lightness on weight: in both cases the support is fully adequate to the +work, the form of support being regulated by the differences of +requirement. Nothing in architecture is half so painful as the apparent +want of sufficient support when the weight above is visibly passive: +for all buildings are not passive; some seem to rise by their own +strength, or float by their own buoyancy; a dome requires no visibility +of support, one fancies it supported by the air. But passive +architecture without help for its passiveness is unendurable. In a +lately built house, No. 86, in Oxford Street, three huge stone pillars +in the second story are carried apparently by the edges of three sheets +of plate glass in the first. I hardly know anything to match the +painfulness of this and some other of our shop structures, in which the +iron-work is concealed; nor, even when it is apparent, can the eye ever +feel satisfied of their security, when built, as at present, with fifty +or sixty feet of wall above a rod of iron not the width of this page. + +Sec. VI. The proper forms of this superimposition of weight on lightness +have arisen, for the most part, from the necessity or desirableness, in +many situations, of elevating the inhabited portions of buildings +considerably above the ground level, especially those exposed to damp or +inundation, and the consequent abandonment of the ground story as +unserviceable, or else the surrender of it to public purposes. Thus, in +many market and town houses, the ground story is left open as a general +place of sheltered resort, and the enclosed apartments raised on +pillars. In almost all warm countries the luxury, almost the necessity, +of arcades to protect the passengers from the sun, and the desirableness +of large space in the rooms above, lead to the same construction. +Throughout the Venetian islet group, the houses seem to have been thus, +in the first instance, universally built, all the older palaces +appearing to have had the rez de chaussee perfectly open, the upper +parts of the palace being sustained on magnificent arches, and the +smaller houses sustained in the same manner on wooden piers, still +retained in many of the cortiles, and exhibited characteristically +throughout the main street of Murano. As ground became more valuable and +house-room more scarce, these ground-floors were enclosed with wall +veils between the original shafts, and so remain; but the type of the +structure of the entire city is given in the Ducal Palace. + +Sec. VII. To this kind of superimposition we owe the most picturesque +street effects throughout the world, and the most graceful, as well as +the most grotesque, buildings, from the many-shafted fantasy of the +Alhambra (a building as beautiful in disposition as it is base in +ornamentation) to the four-legged stolidity of the Swiss Chalet:[60] nor +these only, but great part of the effect of our cathedrals, in which, +necessarily, the close triforium and clerestory walls are superimposed +on the nave piers; perhaps with most majesty where with greatest +simplicity, as in the old basilican types, and the noble cathedral of +Pisa. + +Sec. VIII. In order to the delightfulness and security of all such +arrangements, this law must be observed:--that in proportion to the +height of wall above them, the shafts are to be short. You may take your +given height of wall, and turn any quantity of that wall into shaft that +you like; but you must not turn it all into tall shafts, and then put +more wall above. Thus, having a house five stories high, you may turn +the lower story into shafts, and leave the four stories in wall; or the +two lower stories into shafts, and leave three in wall; but, whatever +you add to the shaft, you must take from the wall. Then also, of course, +the shorter the shaft the thicker will be its _proportionate_, if not +its actual, diameter. In the Ducal Palace of Venice the shortest shafts +are always the thickest.[61] + +Sec. IX. The second kind of superimposition, lightness on weight, is, in +its most necessary use, of stories of houses one upon another, where, of +course, wall veil is required in the lower ones, and has to support wall +veil above, aided by as much of shaft structure as is attainable within +the given limits. The greatest, if not the only, merit of the Roman and +Renaissance Venetian architects is their graceful management of this +kind of superimposition; sometimes of complete courses of external +arches and shafts one above the other; sometimes of apertures with +intermediate cornices at the levels of the floors, and large shafts from +top to bottom of the building; always observing that the upper stories +shall be at once lighter and richer than the lower ones. The entire +value of such buildings depends upon the perfect and easy expression of +the relative strength of the stories, and the unity obtained by the +varieties of their proportions, while yet the fact of superimposition +and separation by floors is frankly told. + +Sec. X. In churches and other buildings in which there is no separation +by floors, another kind of pure shaft superimposition is often used, in +order to enable the builder to avail himself of short and slender +shafts. It has been noted that these are often easily attainable, and of +precious materials, when shafts large enough and strong enough to do the +work at once, could not be obtained except at unjustifiable expense, and +of coarse stone. The architect has then no choice but to arrange his +work in successive stories; either frankly completing the arch work and +cornice of each, and beginning a new story above it, which is the +honester and nobler way, or else tying the stories together by +supplementary shafts from floor to roof,--the general practice of the +Northern Gothic, and one which, unless most gracefully managed, gives +the look of a scaffolding, with cross-poles tied to its uprights, to the +whole clerestory wall. The best method is that which avoids all chance +of the upright shafts being supposed continuous, by increasing their +number and changing their places in the upper stories, so that the whole +work branches from the ground like a tree. This is the superimposition +of the Byzantine and the Pisan Romanesque; the most beautiful examples +of it being, I think, the Southern portico of St. Mark's, the church of +S. Giovanni at Pistoja, and the apse of the cathedral of Pisa. In +Renaissance work the two principles are equally distinct, though the +shafts are (I think) always one above the other. The reader may see one +of the best examples of the separately superimposed story in Whitehall +(and another far inferior in St. Paul's), and by turning himself round +at Whitehall may compare with it the system of connecting shafts in the +Treasury; though this is a singularly bad example, the window cornices +of the first floor being like shelves in a cupboard, and cutting the +mass of the building in two, in spite of the pillars. + +Sec. XI. But this superimposition of lightness on weight is still more +distinctly the system of many buildings of the kind which I have above +called Architecture of Position, that is to say, architecture of which +the greater part is intended merely to keep something in a peculiar +position; as in light-houses, and many towers and belfries. The subject +of spire and tower architecture, however, is so interesting and +extensive, that I have thoughts of writing a detached essay upon it, +and, at all events, cannot enter upon it here: but this much is enough +for the reader to note for our present purpose, that, although many +towers do in reality stand on piers or shafts, as the central towers of +cathedrals, yet the expression of all of them, and the real structure of +the best and strongest, are the elevation of gradually diminishing +weight on massy or even solid foundation. Nevertheless, since the tower +is in its origin a building for strength of defence, and faithfulness of +watch, rather than splendor of aspect, its true expression is of just so +much diminution of weight upwards as may be necessary to its fully +balanced strength, not a jot more. There must be no light-headedness in +your noble tower: impregnable foundation, wrathful crest, with the vizor +down, and the dark vigilance seen through the clefts of it; not the +filigree crown or embroidered cap. No towers are so grand as the +square-browed ones, with massy cornices and rent battlements: next to +these come the fantastic towers, with their various forms of steep roof; +the best, not the cone, but the plain gable thrown very high; last of +all in my mind (of good towers), those with spires or crowns, though +these, of course, are fittest for ecclesiastical purposes, and capable +of the richest ornament. The paltry four or eight pinnacled things we +call towers in England (as in York Minster), are mere confectioner's +Gothic, and not worth classing. + +Sec. XII. But, in all of them, this I believe to be a point of chief +necessity,--that they shall seem to stand, and shall verily stand, in +their own strength; not by help of buttresses nor artful balancings on +this side and on that. Your noble tower must need no help, must be +sustained by no crutches, must give place to no suspicion of +decrepitude. Its office may be to withstand war, look forth for tidings, +or to point to heaven: but it must have in its own walls the strength to +do this; it is to be itself a bulwark, not to be sustained by other +bulwarks; to rise and look forth, "the tower of Lebanon that looketh +toward Damascus," like a stern sentinel, not like a child held up in its +nurse's arms. A tower may, indeed, have a kind of buttress, a +projection, or subordinate tower at each of its angles; but these are to +its main body like the satellites to a shaft, joined with its strength, +and associated in its uprightness, part of the tower itself: exactly in +the proportion in which they lose their massive unity with its body and +assume the form of true buttress walls set on its angles, the tower +loses its dignity. + +Sec. XIII. These two characters, then, are common to all noble towers, +however otherwise different in purpose or feature,--the first, that they +rise from massy foundation to lighter summits, frowning with battlements +perhaps, but yet evidently more pierced and thinner in wall than +beneath, and, in most ecclesiastical examples, divided into rich open +work: the second, that whatever the form of the tower, it shall not +appear to stand by help of buttresses. It follows from the first +condition, as indeed it would have followed from ordinary aesthetic +requirements, that we shall have continual variation in the arrangements +of the stories, and the larger number of apertures towards the top,--a +condition exquisitely carried out in the old Lombardic towers, in which, +however small they may be, the number of apertures is always regularly +increased towards the summit; generally one window in the lowest +stories, two in the second, then three, five, and six; often, also, +one, two, four, and six, with beautiful symmetries of placing, not at +present to our purpose. We may sufficiently exemplify the general laws +of tower building by placing side by side, drawn to the same scale, a +mediaeval tower, in which most of them are simply and unaffectedly +observed, and one of our own modern towers, in which every one of them +is violated, in small space, convenient for comparison. (Plate VI.) + +[Illustration: Plate VI. + TYPES OF TOWERS. + BRITISH VENETIAN.] + +Sec. XIV. The old tower is that of St. Mark's at Venice, not a very +perfect example, for its top is Renaissance, but as good Renaissance as +there is in Venice; and it is fit for our present purpose, because it owes +none of its effect to ornament. It is built as simply as it well can be to +answer its purpose: no buttresses; no external features whatever, except +some huts at the base, and the loggia, afterwards built, which, on +purpose, I have not drawn; one bold square mass of brickwork; double +walls, with an ascending inclined plane between them, with apertures as +small as possible, and these only in necessary places, giving just the +light required for ascending the stair or slope, not a ray more; and the +weight of the whole relieved only by the double pilasters on the sides, +sustaining small arches at the top of the mass, each decorated with the +scallop or cockle shell, presently to be noticed as frequent in +Renaissance ornament, and here, for once, thoroughly well applied. Then, +when the necessary height is reached, the belfry is left open, as in the +ordinary Romanesque campanile, only the shafts more slender, but severe +and simple, and the whole crowned by as much spire as the tower would +carry, to render it more serviceable as a landmark. The arrangement is +repeated in numberless campaniles throughout Italy. + +Sec. XV. The one beside it is one of those of the lately built college at +Edinburgh. I have not taken it as worse than many others (just as I have +not taken the St. Mark's tower as better than many others); but it +happens to compress our British system of tower building into small +space. The Venetian tower rises 350 feet,[62] and has no buttresses, +though built of brick; the British tower rises 121 feet, and is built +of stone, but is supposed to be incapable of standing without two huge +buttresses on each angle. The St. Mark's tower has a high sloping roof, +but carries it simply, requiring no pinnacles at its angles; the British +tower has no visible roof, but has four pinnacles for mere ornament. The +Venetian tower has its lightest part at the top, and is massy at the +base; the British tower has its lightest part at the base, and shuts up +its windows into a mere arrowslit at the top. What the tower was built +for at all must therefore, it seems to me, remain a mystery to every +beholder; for surely no studious inhabitant of its upper chambers will +be conceived to be pursuing his employments by the light of the single +chink on each side; and, had it been intended for a belfry, the sound of +its bells would have been as effectually prevented from getting out as +the light from getting in. + +Sec. XVI. In connexion with the subject of towers and of superimposition, +one other feature, not conveniently to be omitted from our +house-building, requires a moment's notice,--the staircase. + +In modern houses it can hardly be considered an architectural feature, +and is nearly always an ugly one, from its being apparently without +support. And here I may not unfitly note the important distinction, +which perhaps ought to have been dwelt upon in some places before now, +between the _marvellous_ and the _perilous_ in apparent construction. +There are many edifices which are awful or admirable in their height, +and lightness, and boldness of form, respecting which, nevertheless, we +have no fear that they should fall. Many a mighty dome and aerial aisle +and arch may seem to stand, as I said, by miracle, but by steadfast +miracle notwithstanding; there is no fear that the miracle should cease. +We have a sense of inherent power in them, or, at all events, of +concealed and mysterious provision for their safety. But in leaning +towers, as of Pisa or Bologna, and in much minor architecture, passive +architecture, of modern times, we feel that there is but a chance +between the building and destruction; that there is no miraculous life +in it, which animates it into security, but an obstinate, perhaps vain, +resistance to immediate danger. The appearance of this is often as +strong in small things as in large; in the sounding-boards of pulpits, +for instance, when sustained by a single pillar behind them, so that one +is in dread, during the whole sermon, of the preacher being crushed if a +single nail should give way; and again, the modern geometrical +unsupported staircase. There is great disadvantage, also, in the +arrangement of this latter, when room is of value; and excessive +ungracefulness in its awkward divisions of the passage walls, or +windows. In mediaeval architecture, where there was need of room, the +staircase was spiral, and enclosed generally in an exterior tower, which +added infinitely to the picturesque effect of the building; nor was the +stair itself steeper nor less commodious than the ordinary compressed +straight staircase of a modern dwelling-house. Many of the richest +towers of domestic architecture owe their origin to this arrangement. In +Italy the staircase is often in the open air, surrounding the interior +court of the house, and giving access to its various galleries or +loggias: in this case it is almost always supported by bold shafts and +arches, and forms a most interesting additional feature of the cortile, +but presents no peculiarity of construction requiring our present +examination. + +We may here, therefore, close our inquiries into the subject of +construction; nor must the reader be dissatisfied with the simplicity or +apparent barrenness of their present results. He will find, when he +begins to apply them, that they are of more value than they now seem; +but I have studiously avoided letting myself be drawn into any intricate +question, because I wished to ask from the reader only so much attention +as it seemed that even the most indifferent would not be unwilling to +pay to a subject which is hourly becoming of greater practical interest. +Evidently it would have been altogether beside the purpose of this essay +to have entered deeply into the abstract science, or closely into the +mechanical detail, of construction: both have been illustrated by +writers far more capable of doing so than I, and may be studied at the +reader's discretion; all that has been here endeavored was the leading +him to appeal to something like definite principle, and refer to the +easily intelligible laws of convenience and necessity, whenever he found +his judgment likely to be overborne by authority on the one hand, or +dazzled by novelty on the other. If he has time to do more, and to +follow out in all their brilliancy the mechanical inventions of the +great engineers and architects of the day, I, in some sort, envy him, +but must part company with him: for my way lies not along the viaduct, +but down the quiet valley which its arches cross, nor through the +tunnel, but up the hill-side which its cavern darkens, to see what gifts +Nature will give us, and with what imagery she will fill our thoughts, +that the stones we have ranged in rude order may now be touched with +life; nor lose for ever, in their hewn nakedness, the voices they had of +old, when the valley streamlet eddied round them in palpitating light, +and the winds of the hill-side shook over them the shadows of the fern. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [60] I have spent much of my life among the Alps; but I never pass, + without some feeling of new surprise, the Chalet, standing on its + four pegs (each topped with a flat stone), balanced in the fury of + Alpine winds. It is not, perhaps, generally known that the chief use + of the arrangement is not so much to raise the building above the + snow, as to get a draught of wind beneath it, which may prevent the + drift from rising against its sides. + + [61] Appendix 20, "Shafts of the Ducal Palace." + + [62] I have taken Professor Willis's estimate; there being discrepancy + among various statements. I did not take the trouble to measure the + height myself, the building being one which does not come within the + range of our future inquiries; and its exact dimensions, even here, + are of no importance as respects the question at issue. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + THE MATERIAL OF ORNAMENT. + + +Sec. I. We enter now on the second division of our subject. We have no +more to do with heavy stones and hard lines; we are going to be happy: +to look round in the world and discover (in a serious manner always, +however, and under a sense of responsibility) what we like best in it, +and to enjoy the same at our leisure: to gather it, examine it, fasten +all we can of it into imperishable forms, and put it where we may see it +for ever. + +This is to decorate architecture. + +Sec. II. There are, therefore, three steps in the process: first, to find +out in a grave manner what we like best; secondly, to put as much of +this as we can (which is little enough) into form; thirdly, to put this +formed abstraction into a proper place. + +And we have now, therefore, to make these three inquiries in succession: +first, what we like, or what is the right material of ornament; then how +we are to present it, or its right treatment; then, where we are to put +it, or its right place. I think I can answer that first inquiry in this +Chapter, the second inquiry in the next Chapter, and the third I shall +answer in a more diffusive manner, by taking up in succession the +several parts of architecture above distinguished, and rapidly noting +the kind of ornament fittest for each. + +Sec. III. I said in chapter II. Sec. XIV., that all noble ornamentation +was the expression of man's delight in God's work. This implied that +there was an _ig_noble ornamentation, which was the expression of man's +delight in his _own_. There is such a school, chiefly degraded classic +and Renaissance, in which the ornament is composed of imitations of +tilings made by man. I think, before inquiring what we like best of +God's work, we had better get rid of all this imitation of man's, and be +quite sure we do not like _that_. + +Sec. IV. We shall rapidly glance, then, at the material of decoration +hence derived. And now I cannot, as I before have done respecting +construction, _convince_ the reader of one thing being wrong, and +another right. I have confessed as much again and again; I am now only +to make appeal to him, and cross-question him, whether he really does +like things or not. If he likes the ornament on the base of the column +of the Place Vendome, composed of Wellington boots and laced frock +coats, I cannot help it; I can only say I differ from him, and don't +like it. And if, therefore, I speak dictatorially, and say this is base, +or degraded, or ugly, I mean, only that I believe men of the longest +experience in the matter would either think it so, or would be prevented +from thinking it so only by some morbid condition of their minds; and I +believe that the reader, if he examine himself candidly, will usually +agree in my statements. + +Sec. V. The subjects of ornament found in man's work may properly fall +into four heads: 1. Instruments of art, agriculture, and war; armor, and +dress; 2. Drapery; 3. Shipping; 4. Architecture itself. + +1. Instruments, armor, and dress. + +The custom of raising trophies on pillars, and of dedicating arms in +temples, appears to have first suggested the idea of employing them as +the subjects of sculptural ornament: thenceforward, this abuse has been +chiefly characteristic of classical architecture, whether true or +Renaissance. Armor is a noble thing in its proper service and +subordination to the body; so is an animal's hide on its back; but a +heap of cast skins, or of shed armor, is alike unworthy of all regard or +imitation. We owe much true sublimity, and more of delightful +picturesqueness, to the introduction of armor both in painting and +sculpture: in poetry it is better still,--Homer's undressed Achilles is +less grand than his crested and shielded Achilles, though Phidias would +rather have had him naked; in all mediaeval painting, arms, like all +other parts of costume, are treated with exquisite care and delight; in +the designs of Leonardo, Raffaelle, and Perugino, the armor sometimes +becomes almost too conspicuous from the rich and endless invention +bestowed upon it; while Titian and Rubens seek in its flash what the +Milanese and Perugian sought in its form, sometimes subordinating +heroism to the light of the steel, while the great designers wearied +themselves in its elaborate fancy. + +But all this labor was given to the living, not the dead armor; to the +shell with its animal in it, not the cast shell of the beach; and even +so, it was introduced more sparingly by the good sculptors than the good +painters; for the former felt, and with justice, that the painter had +the power of conquering the over prominence of costume by the expression +and color of the countenance, and that by the darkness of the eye, and +glow of the cheek, he could always conquer the gloom and the flash of +the mail; but they could hardly, by any boldness or energy of the marble +features, conquer the forwardness and conspicuousness of the sharp +armorial forms. Their armed figures were therefore almost always +subordinate, their principal figures draped or naked, and their choice +of subject was much influenced by this feeling of necessity. But the +Renaissance sculptors displayed the love of a Camilla for the mere crest +and plume. Paltry and false alike in every feeling of their narrowed +minds, they attached themselves, not only to costume without the person, +but to the pettiest details of the costume itself. They could not +describe Achilles, but they could describe his shield; a shield like +those of dedicated spoil, without a handle, never to be waved in the +face of war. And then we have helmets and lances, banners and swords, +sometimes with men to hold them, sometimes without; but always chiselled +with a tailor-like love of the chasing or the embroidery,--show helmets +of the stage, no Vulcan work on them, no heavy hammer strokes, no Etna +fire in the metal of them, nothing but pasteboard crests and high +feathers. And these, cast together in disorderly heaps, or grinning +vacantly over keystones, form one of the leading decorations of +Renaissance architecture, and that one of the best; for helmets and +lances, however loosely laid, are better than violins, and pipes, and +books of music, which were another of the Palladian and Sansovinian +sources of ornament. Supported by ancient authority, the abuse soon +became a matter of pride, and since it was easy to copy a heap of cast +clothes, but difficult to manage an arranged design of human figures, +the indolence of architects came to the aid of their affectation, until +by the moderns we find the practice carried out to its most interesting +results, and, as above noted, a large pair of boots occupying the +principal place in the bas-reliefs on the base of the Colonne Vendome. + +Sec. VI. A less offensive, because singularly grotesque, example of the +abuse at its height, occurs in the Hotel des Invalides, where the dormer +windows are suits of armor down to the bottom of the corselet, crowned +by the helmet, and with the window in the middle of the breast. + +Instruments of agriculture and the arts are of less frequent occurrence, +except in hieroglyphics, and other work, where they are not employed as +ornaments, but represented for the sake of accurate knowledge, or as +symbols. Wherever they have purpose of this kind, they are of course +perfectly right; but they are then part of the building's conversation, +not conducive to its beauty. The French have managed, with great +dexterity, the representation of the machinery for the elevation of +their Luxor obelisk, now sculptured on its base. + +Sec. VII. 2. Drapery. I have already spoken of the error of introducing +drapery, as such, for ornament, in the "Seven Lamps." I may here note a +curious instance of the abuse in the church of the Jesuiti at Venice +(Renaissance). On first entering you suppose that the church, being in a +poor quarter of the city, has been somewhat meanly decorated by heavy +green and white curtains of an ordinary upholsterer's pattern: on +looking closer, they are discovered to be of marble, with the green +pattern inlaid. Another remarkable instance is in a piece of not +altogether unworthy architecture at Paris (Rue Rivoli), where the +columns are supposed to be decorated with images of handkerchiefs tied +in a stout knot round the middle of them. This shrewd invention bids +fair to become a new order. Multitudes of massy curtains and various +upholstery, more or less in imitation of that of the drawing-room, are +carved and gilt, in wood or stone, about the altars and other theatrical +portions of Romanist churches; but from these coarse and senseless +vulgarities we may well turn, in all haste, to note, with respect as +well as regret, one of the errors of the great school of Niccolo +Pisano,--an error so full of feeling as to be sometimes all but +redeemed, and altogether forgiven,--the sculpture, namely, of curtains +around the recumbent statues upon tombs, curtains which angels are +represented as withdrawing, to gaze upon the faces of those who are at +rest. For some time the idea was simply and slightly expressed, and +though there was always a painfulness in finding the shafts of stone, +which were felt to be the real supporters of the canopy, represented as +of yielding drapery, yet the beauty of the angelic figures, and the +tenderness of the thought, disarmed all animadversion. But the scholars +of the Pisani, as usual, caricatured when they were unable to invent; +and the quiet curtained canopy became a huge marble tent, with a pole in +the centre of it. Thus vulgarised, the idea itself soon disappeared, to +make room for urns, torches, and weepers, and the other modern +paraphernalia of the churchyard. + +Sec. VIII. 3. Shipping. I have allowed this kind of subject to form a +separate head, owing to the importance of rostra in Roman decoration, +and to the continual occurrence of naval subjects in modern monumental +bas-relief. Mr. Fergusson says, somewhat doubtfully, that he perceives a +"_kind_ of beauty" in a ship: I say, without any manner of doubt, that a +ship is one of the loveliest things man ever made, and one of the +noblest; nor do I know any lines, out of divine work, so lovely as those +of the head of a ship, or even as the sweep of the timbers of a small +boat, not a race boat, a mere floating chisel, but a broad, strong, sea +boat, able to breast a wave and break it: and yet, with all this beauty, +ships cannot be made subjects of sculpture. No one pauses in particular +delight beneath the pediments of the Admiralty; nor does scenery of +shipping ever become prominent in bas-relief without destroying it: +witness the base of the Nelson pillar. It may be, and must be sometimes, +introduced in severe subordination to the figure subject, but just +enough to indicate the scene; sketched in the lightest lines on the +background; never with any attempt at realisation, never with any +equality to the force of the figures, unless the whole purpose of the +subject be picturesque. I shall explain this exception presently, in +speaking of imitative architecture. + +Sec. IX. There is one piece of a ship's fittings, however, which may +be thought to have obtained acceptance as a constant element of +architectural ornament,--the cable: it is not, however, the cable +itself, but its abstract form, a group of twisted lines (which a cable +only exhibits in common with many natural objects), which is indeed +beautiful as an ornament. Make the resemblance complete, give to the +stone the threads and character of the cable, and you may, perhaps, +regard the sculpture with curiosity, but never more with admiration. +Consider the effect of the base of the statue of King William IV. at the +end of London Bridge. + +Sec. X. 4. Architecture itself. The erroneous use of armor, or dress, or +instruments, or shipping, as decorative subject, is almost exclusively +confined to bad architecture--Roman or Renaissance. But the false use of +architecture itself, as an ornament of architecture, is conspicuous even +in the mediaeval work of the best times, and is a grievous fault in some +of its noblest examples. + +It is, therefore, of great importance to note exactly at what point this +abuse begins, and in what it consists. + +Sec. XI. In all bas-relief, architecture may be introduced as an +explanation of the scene in which the figures act; but with more or less +prominence in the _inverse ratio of the importance of the figures_. + +The metaphysical reason of this is, that where the figures are of great +value and beauty, the mind is supposed to be engaged wholly with them; +and it is an impertinence to disturb its contemplation of them by any +minor features whatever. As the figures become of less value, and are +regarded with less intensity, accessory subjects may be introduced, such +as the thoughts may have leisure for. + +Thus, if the figures be as large as life, and complete statues, it is +gross vulgarity to carve a temple above them, or distribute them over +sculptured rocks, or lead them up steps into pyramids: I need hardly +instance Canova's works,[63] and the Dutch pulpit groups, with +fishermen, boats, and nets, in the midst of church naves. + +If the figures be in bas-relief, though as large as life, the scene may +be explained by lightly traced outlines: this is admirably done in the +Ninevite marbles. + +If the figures be in bas-relief, or even alto-relievo, but less than +life, and if their purpose is rather to enrich a space and produce +picturesque shadows, than to draw the thoughts entirely to themselves, +the scenery in which they act may become prominent. The most exquisite +examples of this treatment are the gates of Ghiberti. What would that +Madonna of the Annunciation be, without the little shrine into which she +shrinks back? But all mediaeval work is full of delightful examples of +the same kind of treatment: the gates of hell and of paradise are +important pieces, both of explanation and effect, in all early +representations of the last judgment, or of the descent into Hades. The +keys of St. Peter, and the crushing flat of the devil under his own +door, when it is beaten in, would hardly be understood without the +respective gate-ways above. The best of all the later capitals of the +Ducal Palace of Venice depends for great part of its value on the +richness of a small campanile, which is pointed to proudly by a small +emperor in a turned-up hat, who, the legend informs us, is "Numa +Pompilio, imperador, edifichador di tempi e chiese." + +Sec. XII. Shipping may be introduced, or rich fancy of vestments, crowns, +and ornaments, exactly on the same conditions as architecture; and if +the reader will look back to my definition of the picturesque in the +"Seven Lamps," he will see why I said, above, that they might only be +prominent when the purpose of the subject was partly picturesque; that +is to say, when the mind is intended to derive part of its enjoyment +from the parasitical qualities and accidents of the thing, not from the +heart of the thing itself. + +And thus, while we must regret the flapping sails in the death of Nelson +in Trafalgar Square, we may yet most heartily enjoy the sculpture of a +storm in one of the bas-reliefs of the tomb of St. Pietro Martire in the +church of St. Eustorgio at Milan, where the grouping of the figures is +most fancifully complicated by the undercut cordage of the vessel. + +Sec. XIII. In all these instances, however, observe that the permission +to represent the human work as an ornament, is conditional on its being +necessary to the representation of a scene, or explanation of an action. +On no terms whatever could any such subject be independently admissible. + +Observe, therefore, the use of manufacture as ornament is-- + + 1. With heroic figure sculpture, not admissible at all. + 2. With picturesque figure sculpture, admissible in the degree of its + picturesqueness. + 3. Without figure sculpture, not admissible at all. + +So also in painting: Michael Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel, would not +have willingly painted a dress of figured damask or of watered satin; +his was heroic painting, not admitting accessories. + +Tintoret, Titian, Veronese, Rubens, and Vandyck, would be very sorry to +part with their figured stuffs and lustrous silks; and sorry, observe, +exactly in the degree of their picturesque feeling. Should not _we_ also +be sorry to have Bishop Ambrose without his vest, in that picture of the +National Gallery? + +But I think Vandyck would not have liked, on the other hand, the vest +without the bishop. I much doubt if Titian or Veronese would have +enjoyed going into Waterloo House, and making studies of dresses upon +the counter. + +Sec. XIV. So, therefore, finally, neither architecture nor any other human +work is admissible as an ornament, except in subordination to figure +subject. And this law is grossly and painfully violated by those curious +examples of Gothic, both early and late, in the north, (but late, I +think, exclusively, in Italy,) in which the minor features of the +architecture were composed of _small models_ of the larger: examples +which led the way to a series of abuses materially affecting the life, +strength, and nobleness of the Northern Gothic,--abuses which no +Ninevite, nor Egyptian, nor Greek, nor Byzantine, nor Italian of the +earlier ages would have endured for an instant, and which strike me with +renewed surprise whenever I pass beneath a portal of thirteenth century +Northern Gothic, associated as they are with manifestations of exquisite +feeling and power in other directions. The porches of Bourges, Amiens, +Notre Dame of Paris, and Notre Dame of Dijon, may be noted as +conspicuous in error: small models of feudal towers with diminutive +windows and battlements, of cathedral spires with scaly pinnacles, mixed +with temple pediments and nondescript edifices of every kind, are +crowded together over the recess of the niche into a confused fool's cap +for the saint below. Italian Gothic is almost entirely free from the +taint of this barbarism until the Renaissance period, when it becomes +rampant in the cathedral of Como and Certosa of Pavia; and at Venice we +find the Renaissance churches decorated with models of fortifications +like those in the Repository at Woolwich, or inlaid with mock arcades in +pseudo-perspective, copied from gardeners' paintings at the ends of +conservatories. + +Sec. XV. I conclude, then, with the reader's leave, that all ornament +is base which takes for its subject human work, that it is utterly +base,--painful to every rightly-toned mind, without perhaps immediate +sense of the reason, but for a reason palpable enough when we _do_ think +of it. For to carve our own work, and set it up for admiration, is a +miserable self-complacency, a contentment in our own wretched doings, +when we might have been looking at God's doings. And all noble ornament +is the exact reverse of this. It is the expression of man's delight in +God's work. + +Sec. XVI. For observe, the function of ornament is to make you happy. +Now in what are you rightly happy? Not in thinking of what you have done +yourself; not in your own pride, not your own birth; not in your own +being, or your own will, but in looking at God; watching what He does, +what He is; and obeying His law, and yielding yourself to His will. + +You are to be made happy by ornaments; therefore they must be the +expression of all this. Not copies of your own handiwork; not boastings +of your own grandeur; not heraldries; not king's arms, nor any +creature's arms, but God's arm, seen in His work. Not manifestation of +your delight in your own laws, or your own liberties, or your own +inventions; but in divine laws, constant, daily, common laws;--not +Composite laws, nor Doric laws, nor laws of the five orders, but of the +Ten Commandments. + +Sec. XVII. Then the proper material of ornament will be whatever God has +created; and its proper treatment, that which seems in accordance with +or symbolical of His laws. And, for material, we shall therefore have, +first, the abstract lines which are most frequent in nature; and then, +from lower to higher, the whole range of systematised inorganic and +organic forms. We shall rapidly glance in order at their kinds; and, +however absurd the elemental division of inorganic matter by the +ancients may seem to the modern chemist, it is one so grand and simple +for arrangements of external appearances, that I shall here follow it; +noticing first, after abstract lines, the imitable forms of the four +elements, of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, and then those of animal +organisms. It may be convenient to the reader to have the order stated +in a clear succession at first, thus:-- + + 1. Abstract lines. + 2. Forms of Earth (Crystals). + 3. Forms of Water (Waves). + 4. Forms of Fire (Flames and Rays). + 5. Forms of Air (Clouds). + 6. (Organic forms.) Shells. + 7. Fish. + 8. Reptiles and insects. + 9. Vegetation (A.) Stems and Trunks. + 10. Vegetation (B.) Foliage. + 11. Birds. + 12. Mammalian animals and Man. + +It may be objected that clouds are a form of moisture, not of air. They +are, however, a perfect expression of aerial states and currents, and +may sufficiently well stand for the element they move in. And I have put +vegetation apparently somewhat out of its place, owing to its vast +importance as a means of decoration, and its constant association with +birds and men. + +Sec. XVIII. 1. Abstract lines. I have not with lines named also shades +and colors, for this evident reason, that there are no such things as +abstract shadows, irrespective of the forms which exhibit them, and +distinguished in their own nature from each other; and that the +arrangement of shadows, in greater or less quantity, or in certain +harmonical successions, is an affair of treatment, not of selection. And +when we use abstract colors, we are in fact using a part of nature +herself,--using a quality of her light, correspondent with that of the +air, to carry sound; and the arrangement of color in harmonious masses +is again a matter of treatment, not selection. Yet even in this separate +art of coloring, as referred to architecture, it is very notable that +the best tints are always those of natural stones. These can hardly be +wrong; I think I never yet saw an offensive introduction of the natural +colors of marble and precious stones, unless in small mosaics, and in +one or two glaring instances of the resolute determination to produce +something ugly at any cost. On the other hand, I have most assuredly +never yet seen a painted building, ancient or modern, which seemed to me +quite right. + +Sec. XIX. Our first constituents of ornament will therefore be abstract +lines, that is to say, the most frequent contours of natural objects, +transferred to architectural forms when it is not right or possible to +render such forms distinctly imitative. For instance, the line or curve +of the edge of a leaf may be accurately given to the edge of a stone, +without rendering the stone in the least _like_ a leaf, or suggestive of +a leaf; and this the more fully, because the lines of nature are alike +in all her works; simpler or richer in combination, but the same in +character; and when they are taken out of their combinations it is +impossible to say from which of her works they have been borrowed, their +universal property being that of ever-varying curvature in the most +subtle and subdued transitions, with peculiar expressions of motion, +elasticity, or dependence, which I have already insisted upon at some +length in the chapters on typical beauty in "Modern Painters." But, that +the reader may here be able to compare them for himself as deduced from +different sources, I have drawn, as accurately as I can, on the opposite +plate, some ten or eleven lines from natural forms of very different +substances and scale: the first, _a b_, is in the original, I think, the +most beautiful simple curve I have ever seen in my life; it is a curve +about three quarters of a mile long, formed by the surface of a small +glacier of the second order, on a spur of the Aiguille de Blaitiere +(Chamouni). I have merely outlined the crags on the right of it, to show +their sympathy and united action with the curve of the glacier, which is +of course entirely dependent on their opposition to its descent; +softened, however, into unity by the snow, which rarely melts on this +high glacier surface. + +The line _d c_ is some mile and a half or two miles long; it is part of +the flank of the chain of the Dent d'Oche above the lake of Geneva, one +or two of the lines of the higher and more distant ranges being given in +combination with it. + +[Illustration: Plate VII. + ABSTRACT LINES.] + +_h_ is a line about four feet long, a branch of spruce fir. I have taken +this tree because it is commonly supposed to be stiff and ungraceful; +its outer sprays are, however, more noble in their sweep than almost any +that I know: but this fragment is seen at great disadvantage, because +placed upside down, in order that the reader may compare its curvatures +with _c d_, _e g_, and _i k_, which are all mountain lines; _e g_, about +five hundred feet of the southern edge of the Matterhorn; _i k_, the +entire slope of the Aiguille Bouchard, from its summit into the valley +of Chamouni, a line some three miles long; _l m_ is the line of the side +of a willow leaf traced by laying the leaf on the paper; _n o_, one of +the innumerable groups of curves at the lip of a paper Nautilus; _p_, a +spiral, traced on the paper round a Serpula; _q r_, the leaf of the +Alisma Plantago with its interior ribs, real size; _s t_, the side of a +bay-leaf; _u w_, of a salvia leaf; and it is to be carefully noted that +these last curves, being never intended by nature to be seen singly, are +more heavy and less agreeable than any of the others which would be seen +as independent lines. But all agree in their character of changeful +curvature, the mountain and glacier lines only excelling the rest in +delicacy and richness of transition. + +Sec. XX. Why lines of this kind are beautiful, I endeavored to show in +the "Modern Painters;" but one point, there omitted, may be mentioned +here,--that almost all these lines are expressive of action of _force_ +of some kind, while the circle is a line of limitation or support. In +leafage they mark the forces of its growth and expansion, but some among +the most beautiful of them are described by bodies variously in motion, +or subjected to force; as by projectiles in the air, by the particles of +water in a gentle current, by planets in motion in an orbit, by their +satellites, if the actual path of the satellite in space be considered +instead of its relation to the planet; by boats, or birds, turning in +the water or air, by clouds in various action upon the wind, by sails in +the curvatures they assume under its force, and by thousands of other +objects moving or bearing force. In the Alisma leaf, _q r_, the lines +through its body, which are of peculiar beauty, mark the different +expansions of its fibres, and are, I think, exactly the same as those +which would be traced by the currents of a river entering a lake of the +shape of the leaf, at the end where the stalk is, and passing out at its +point. Circular curves, on the contrary, are always, I think, curves of +limitation or support; that is to say, curves of perfect rest. The +cylindrical curve round the stem of a plant binds its fibres together; +while the _ascent_ of the stem is in lines of various curvature: so the +curve of the horizon and of the apparent heaven, of the rainbow, etc.: +and though the reader might imagine that the circular orbit of any +moving body, or the curve described by a sling, was a curve of motion, +he should observe that the circular character is given to the curve not +by the motion, but by the confinement: the circle is the consequence not +of the energy of the body, but of its being forbidden to leave the +centre; and whenever the whirling or circular motion can be fully +impressed on it we obtain instant balance and rest with respect to the +centre of the circle. + +Hence the peculiar fitness of the circular curve as a sign of rest, and +security of support, in arches; while the other curves, belonging +especially to action, are to be used in the more active architectural +features--the hand and foot (the capital and base), and in all minor +ornaments; more freely in proportion to their independence of structural +conditions. + +Sec. XXI. We need not, however, hope to be able to imitate, in general +work, any of the subtly combined curvatures of nature's highest +designing: on the contrary, their extreme refinement renders them unfit +for coarse service or material. Lines which are lovely in the pearly +film of the Nautilus shell, are lost in the grey roughness of stone; and +those which are sublime in the blue of far away hills, are weak in the +substance of incumbent marble. Of all the graceful lines assembled on +Plate VII., we shall do well to be content with two of the simplest. We +shall take one mountain line (_e g_) and one leaf line (_u w_), or +rather fragments of them, for we shall perhaps not want them all. I will +mark off from _u w_ the little bit _x y_, and from _e g_ the piece _e +f_; both which appear to me likely to be serviceable: and if hereafter +we need the help of any abstract lines, we will see what we can do with +these only. + +Sec. XXII. 2. Forms of Earth (Crystals). It may be asked why I do not +say rocks or mountains? Simply, because the nobility of these depends, +first, on their scale, and, secondly, on accident. Their scale cannot be +represented, nor their accident systematised. No sculptor can in the +least imitate the peculiar character of accidental fracture: he can obey +or exhibit the laws of nature, but he cannot copy the felicity of her +fancies, nor follow the steps of her fury. The very glory of a mountain +is in the revolutions which raised it into power, and the forces which +are striking it into ruin. But we want no cold and careful imitation of +catastrophe; no calculated mockery of convulsion; no delicate +recommendation of ruin. We are to follow the labor of Nature, but not +her disturbance; to imitate what she has deliberately ordained,[64] not +what she has violently suffered, or strangely permitted. The only uses, +therefore, of rock form which are wise in the architect, are its actual +introduction (by leaving untouched such blocks as are meant for rough +service), and that noble use of the general examples of mountain +structure of which I have often heretofore spoken. Imitations of rock +form have, for the most part, been confined to periods of degraded +feeling and to architectural toys or pieces of dramatic effect,--the +Calvaries and holy sepulchres of Romanism, or the grottoes and fountains +of English gardens. They were, however, not unfrequent in mediaeval +bas-reliefs; very curiously and elaborately treated by Ghiberti on the +doors of Florence, and in religious sculpture necessarily introduced +wherever the life of the anchorite was to be expressed. They were rarely +introduced as of ornamental character, but for particular service and +expression; we shall see an interesting example in the Ducal Palace at +Venice. + +Sec. XXIII. But against crystalline form, which is the completely +systematised natural structure of the earth, none of these objections +hold good, and, accordingly, it is an endless element of decoration, +where higher conditions of structure cannot be represented. The +four-sided pyramid, perhaps the most frequent of all natural crystals, +is called in architecture a dogtooth; its use is quite limitless, and +always beautiful: the cube and rhomb are almost equally frequent in +chequers and dentils: and all mouldings of the middle Gothic are little +more than representations of the canaliculated crystals of the beryl, +and such other minerals: + +Sec. XXIV. Not knowingly. I do not suppose a single hint was ever actually +taken from mineral form; not even by the Arabs in their stalactite +pendants and vaults: all that I mean to allege is, that beautiful +ornament, wherever found, or however invented, is always either an +intentional or unintentional copy of some constant natural form; and +that in this particular instance, the pleasure we have in these +geometrical figures of our own invention, is dependent for all its +acuteness on the natural tendency impressed on us by our Creator to love +the forms into which the earth He gave us to tread, and out of which He +formed our bodies, knit itself as it was separated from the deep. + +Sec. XXV. 3. Forms of Water (Waves). + +The reasons which prevent rocks from being used for ornament repress +still more forcibly the portraiture of the sea. Yet the constant +necessity of introducing some representation of water in order to +explain the scene of events, or as a sacred symbol, has forced the +sculptors of all ages to the invention of some type or letter for it, if +not an actual imitation. We find every degree of conventionalism or of +naturalism in these types, the earlier being, for the most part, +thoughtful symbols; the latter, awkward attempts at portraiture.[65] The +most conventional of all types is the Egyptian zigzag, preserved in the +astronomical sign of Aquarius; but every nation, with any capacities of +thought, has given, in some of its work, the same great definition of +open water, as "an undulatory thing with fish in it." I say _open_ +water, because inland nations have a totally different conception of the +element. Imagine for an instant the different feelings of an husbandman +whose hut is built by the Rhine or the Po, and who sees, day by day, +the same giddy succession of silent power, the same opaque, thick, +whirling, irresistible labyrinth of rushing lines and twisted eddies, +coiling themselves into serpentine race by the reedy banks, in omne +volubilis aevum,--and the image of the sea in the mind of the fisher upon +the rocks of Ithaca, or by the Straits of Sicily, who sees how, day by +day, the morning winds come coursing to the shore, every breath of them +with a green wave rearing before it; clear, crisp, ringing, merry-minded +waves, that fall over and over each other, laughing like children as +they near the beach, and at last clash themselves all into dust of +crystal over the dazzling sweeps of sand. Fancy the difference of the +image of water in those two minds, and then compare the sculpture of the +coiling eddies of the Tigris and its reedy branches in those slabs of +Nineveh, with the crested curls of the Greek sea on the coins of +Camerina or Tarentum. But both agree in the undulatory lines, either of +the currents or the surface, and in the introduction of fish as +explanatory of the meaning of those lines (so also the Egyptians in +their frescoes, with most elaborate realisation of the fish). There is a +very curious instance on a Greek mirror in the British Museum, +representing Orion on the Sea; and multitudes of examples with dolphins +on the Greek vases: the type is preserved without alteration in mediaeval +painting and sculpture. The sea in that Greek mirror (at least 400 +B.C.), in the mosaics of Torcello and St. Mark's, on the font of St. +Frediano at Lucca, on the gate of the fortress of St. Michael's Mount in +Normandy, on the Bayeux tapestry, and on the capitals of the Ducal +Palace at Venice (under Arion on his Dolphin), is represented in a +manner absolutely identical. Giotto, in the frescoes of Avignon, has, +with his usual strong feeling for naturalism, given the best example I +remember, in painting, of the unity of the conventional system with +direct imitation, and that both in sea and river; giving in pure blue +color the coiling whirlpool of the stream, and the curled crest of the +breaker. But in all early sculptural examples, both imitation and +decorative effect are subordinate to easily understood symbolical +language; the undulatory lines are often valuable as an enrichment of +surface, but are rarely of any studied gracefulness. One of the best +examples I know of their expressive arrangement is around some figures +in a spandril at Bourges, representing figures sinking in deep sea (the +deluge): the waved lines yield beneath the bodies and wildly lave the +edge of the moulding, two birds, as if to mark the reverse of all order +of nature, lowest of all sunk in the depth of them. In later times of +debasement, water began to be represented with its waves, foam, etc., as +on the Vendramin tomb at Venice, above cited; but even there, without +any definite ornamental purpose, the sculptor meant partly to explain a +story, partly to display dexterity of chiselling, but not to produce +beautiful forms pleasant to the eye. The imitation is vapid and joyless, +and it has often been matter of surprise to me that sculptors, so fond +of exhibiting their skill, should have suffered this imitation to fall +so short, and remain so cold,--should not have taken more pains to curl +the waves clearly, to edge them sharply, and to express, by drill-holes +or other artifices, the character of foam. I think in one of the Antwerp +churches something of this kind is done in wood, but in general it is +rare. + +Sec. XXVI. 4. Forms of Fire (Flames and Rays). If neither the sea nor +the rock can be imagined, still less the devouring fire. It has been +symbolised by radiation both in painting and sculpture, for the most +part in the latter very unsuccessfully. It was suggested to me, not long +ago,[66] that zigzag decorations of Norman architects were typical of +light springing from the half-set orb of the sun; the resemblance to the +ordinary sun type is indeed remarkable, but I believe accidental. I +shall give you, in my large plates, two curious instances of radiation +in brick ornament above arches, but I think these also without any very +luminous intention. The imitations of fire in the torches of Cupids and +genii, and burning in tops of urns, which attest and represent the +mephitic inspirations of the seventeenth century in most London +churches, and in monuments all over civilised Europe, together with the +gilded rays of Romanist altars, may be left to such mercy as the reader +is inclined to show them. + +Sec. XXVII. 5. Forms of Air (Clouds). Hardly more manageable than flames, +and of no ornamental use, their majesty being in scale and color, and +inimitable in marble. They are lightly traced in much of the cinque +cento sculpture; very boldly and grandly in the strange Last Judgment in +the porch of St. Maclou at Rouen, described in the "Seven Lamps." But +the most elaborate imitations are altogether of recent date, arranged in +concretions like flattened sacks, forty or fifty feet above the altars +of continental churches, mixed with the gilded truncheons intended for +sunbeams above alluded to. + +Sec. XXVIII. 6. Shells. I place these lowest in the scale (after inorganic +forms) as being moulds or coats of organism; not themselves organic. The +sense of this, and of their being mere emptiness and deserted houses, +must always prevent them, however beautiful in their lines, from being +largely used in ornamentation. It is better to take the line and leave +the shell. One form, indeed, that of the cockle, has been in all ages +used as the decoration of half domes, which were named conchas from +their shell form: and I believe the wrinkled lip of the cockle, so used, +to have been the origin, in some parts of Europe at least, of the +exuberant foliation of the round arch. The scallop also is a pretty +radiant form, and mingles well with other symbols when it is needed. The +crab is always as delightful as a grotesque, for here we suppose the +beast inside the shell; and he sustains his part in a lively manner +among the other signs of the zodiac, with the scorpion; or scattered +upon sculptured shores, as beside the Bronze Boar of Florence. We shall +find him in a basket at Venice, at the base of one of the Piazzetta +shafts. + +Sec. XXIX. 7. Fish. These, as beautiful in their forms as they are +familiar to our sight, while their interest is increased by their +symbolic meaning, are of great value as material of ornament. Love of +the picturesque has generally induced a choice of some supple form with +scaly body and lashing tail, but the simplest fish form is largely +employed in mediaeval work. We shall find the plain oval body and sharp +head of the Thunny constantly at Venice; and the fish used in the +expression of sea-water, or water generally, are always plain bodied +creatures in the best mediaeval sculpture. The Greek type of the dolphin, +however, sometimes but slightly exaggerated from the real outline of the +Delphinus Delphis,[67] is one of the most picturesque of animal forms; +and the action of its slow revolving plunge is admirably caught upon the +surface sea represented in Greek vases. + +Sec. XXX. 8. Reptiles and Insects. The forms of the serpent and +lizard exhibit almost every element of beauty and horror in strange +combination; the horror, which in an imitation is felt only as a +pleasurable excitement, has rendered them favorite subjects in all +periods of art; and the unity of both lizard and serpent in the ideal +dragon, the most picturesque and powerful of all animal forms, and of +peculiar symbolical interest to the Christian mind, is perhaps the +principal of all the materials of mediaeval picturesque sculpture. By the +best sculptors it is always used with this symbolic meaning, by the +cinque cento sculptors as an ornament merely. The best and most natural +representations of mere viper or snake are to be found interlaced among +their confused groups of meaningless objects. The real power and horror +of the snake-head has, however, been rarely reached. I shall give one +example from Verona of the twelfth century. + +Other less powerful reptile forms are not unfrequent. Small frogs, +lizards, and snails almost always enliven the foregrounds and leafage of +good sculpture. The tortoise is less usually employed in groups. Beetles +are chiefly mystic and colossal. Various insects, like everything else +in the world, occur in cinque cento work; grasshoppers most frequently. +We shall see on the Ducal Palace at Venice an interesting use of the +bee. + +Sec. XXXI. 9. Branches and stems of Trees. I arrange these under a +separate head; because, while the forms of leafage belong to all +architecture, and ought to be employed in it always, those of the branch +and stem belong to a peculiar imitative and luxuriant architecture, and +are only applicable at times. Pagan sculptors seem to have perceived +little beauty in the stems of trees; they were little else than timber to +them; and they preferred the rigid and monstrous triglyph, or the fluted +column, to a broken bough or gnarled trunk. But with Christian knowledge +came a peculiar regard for the forms of vegetation, from the root +upwards. The actual representation of the entire trees required in many +scripture subjects,--as in the most frequent of Old Testament subjects, +the Fall; and again in the Drunkenness of Noah, the Garden Agony, and +many others, familiarised the sculptors of bas-relief to the beauty of +forms before unknown; while the symbolical name given to Christ by the +Prophets, "the Branch," and the frequent expressions referring to this +image throughout every scriptural description of conversion, gave an +especial interest to the Christian mind to this portion of vegetative +structure. For some time, nevertheless, the sculpture of trees was +confined to bas-relief; but it at last affected even the treatment of +the main shafts in Lombard Gothic buildings,--as in the western facade +of Genoa, where two of the shafts are represented as gnarled trunks: and +as bas-relief itself became more boldly introduced, so did tree +sculpture, until we find the writhed and knotted stems of the vine and +fig used for angle shafts on the Doge's Palace, and entire oaks and +appletrees forming, roots and all, the principal decorative sculptures +of the Scala tombs at Verona. It was then discovered to be more easy to +carve branches than leaves and, much helped by the frequent employment +in later Gothic of the "Tree of Jesse," for traceries and other +purposes, the system reached full developement in a perfect thicket of +twigs, which form the richest portion of the decoration of the porches +of Beauvais. It had now been carried to its richest extreme: men +wearied of it and abandoned it, and like all other natural and beautiful +things, it was ostracised by the mob of Renaissance architects. But it +is interesting to observe how the human mind, in its acceptance of this +feature of ornament, proceeded from the ground, and followed, as it +were, the natural growth of the tree. It began with the rude and solid +trunk, as at Genoa; then the branches shot out, and became loaded +leaves; autumn came, the leaves were shed, and the eye was directed to +the extremities of the delicate branches;--the Renaissance frosts came, +and all perished. + +Sec. XXXII. 10. Foliage, Flowers, and Fruit. It is necessary to consider +these as separated from the stems; not only, as above noted, because +their separate use marks another school of architecture, but because +they are the only organic structures which are capable of being so +treated, and intended to be so, without strong effort of imagination. To +pull animals to pieces, and use their paws for feet of furniture, or +their heads for terminations of rods and shafts, is _usually_ the +characteristic of feelingless schools; the greatest men like their +animals whole. The head may, indeed, be so managed as to look emergent +from the stone, rather than fastened to it; and wherever there is +throughout the architecture any expression of sternness or severity +(severity in its literal sense, as in Romans, XI. 22), such divisions of +the living form may be permitted; still, you cannot cut an animal to +pieces as you can gather a flower or a leaf. These were intended for our +gathering, and for our constant delight: wherever men exist in a +perfectly civilised and healthy state, they have vegetation around them; +wherever their state approaches that of innocence or perfectness, it +approaches that of Paradise,--it is a dressing of garden. And, +therefore, where nothing else can be used for ornament, vegetation may; +vegetation in any form, however fragmentary, however abstracted. A +single leaf laid upon the angle of a stone, or the mere form or +frame-work of the leaf drawn upon it, or the mere shadow and ghost of +the leaf,--the hollow "foil" cut out of it,--possesses a charm which +nothing else can replace; a charm not exciting, nor demanding laborious +thought or sympathy, but perfectly simple, peaceful, and satisfying. + +Sec. XXXIII. The full recognition of leaf forms, as the general source of +subordinate decoration, is one of the chief characteristics of Christian +architecture; but the two _roots_ of leaf ornament are the Greek +acanthus, and the Egyptian lotus.[68] The dry land and the river thus +each contributed their part; and all the florid capitals of the richest +Northern Gothic on the one hand, and the arrowy lines of the severe +Lombardic capitals on the other, are founded on these two gifts of the +dust of Greece and the waves of the Nile. The leaf which is, I believe, +called the Persepolitan water-leaf, is to be associated with the lotus +flower and stem, as the origin of our noblest types of simple capital; +and it is to be noted that the florid leaves of the dry land are used +most by the Northern architects, while the water leaves are gathered for +their ornaments by the parched builders of the Desert. + +Sec. XXXIV. Fruit is, for the most part, more valuable in color than +form; nothing is more beautiful as a subject of sculpture on a tree; but, +gathered and put in baskets, it is quite possible to have too much of +it. We shall find it so used very dextrously on the Ducal Palace of +Venice, there with a meaning which rendered it right necessary; but the +Renaissance architects address themselves to spectators who care for +nothing but feasting, and suppose that clusters of pears and pineapples +are visions of which their imagination can never weary, and above which +it will never care to rise. I am no advocate for image worship, as I +believe the reader will elsewhere sufficiently find; but I am very sure +that the Protestantism of London would have found itself quite as secure +in a cathedral decorated with statues of good men, as in one hung round +with bunches of ribston pippins. + +Sec. XXXV. 11. Birds. The perfect and simple grace of bird form, in +general, has rendered it a favorite subject with early sculptors, and +with those schools which loved form more than action; but the difficulty +of expressing action, where the muscular markings are concealed, has +limited the use of it in later art. Half the ornament, at least, in +Byzantine architecture, and a third of that of Lombardic, is composed of +birds, either pecking at fruit or flowers, or standing on either side of +a flower or vase, or alone, as generally the symbolical peacock. But how +much of our general sense of grace or power of motion, of serenity, +peacefulness, and spirituality, we owe to these creatures, it is +impossible to conceive; their wings supplying us with almost the only +means of representation of spiritual motion which we possess, and with +an ornamental form of which the eye is never weary, however +meaninglessly or endlessly repeated; whether in utter isolation, or +associated with the bodies of the lizard, the horse, the lion, or the +man. The heads of the birds of prey are always beautiful, and used as +the richest ornaments in all ages. + +Sec. XXXVI. 12. Quadrupeds and Men. Of quadrupeds the horse has received +an elevation into the primal rank of sculptural subject, owing to his +association with men. The full value of other quadruped forms has hardly +been perceived, or worked for, in late sculpture; and the want of +science is more felt in these subjects than in any other branches of +early work. The greatest richness of quadruped ornament is found in the +hunting sculpture of the Lombards; but rudely treated (the most noble +examples of treatment being the lions of Egypt, the Ninevite bulls, and +the mediaeval griffins). Quadrupeds of course form the noblest subjects +of ornament next to the human form; this latter, the chief subject of +sculpture, being sometimes the end of architecture rather than its +decoration. + +We have thus completed the list of the materials of architectural +decoration, and the reader may be assured that no effort has ever been +successful to draw elements of beauty from any other sources than +these. Such an effort was once resolutely made. It was contrary to the +religion of the Arab to introduce any animal form into his ornament; but +although all the radiance of color, all the refinements of proportion, +and all the intricacies of geometrical design were open to him, he could +not produce any noble work without an _abstraction_ of the forms of +leafage, to be used in his capitals, and made the ground plan of his +chased ornament. But I have above noted that coloring is an entirely +distinct and independent art; and in the "Seven Lamps" we saw that this +art had most power when practised in arrangements of simple geometrical +form: the Arab, therefore, lay under no disadvantage in coloring, and he +had all the noble elements of constructive and proportional beauty at +his command: he might not imitate the sea-shell, but he could build the +dome. The imitation of radiance by the variegated voussoir, the +expression of the sweep of the desert by the barred red lines upon the +wall, the starred inshedding of light through his vaulted roof, and all +the endless fantasy of abstract line,[69] were still in the power of his +ardent and fantastic spirit. Much he achieved; and yet in the effort of +his overtaxed invention, restrained from its proper food, he made his +architecture a glittering vacillation of undisciplined enchantment, and +left the lustre of its edifices to wither like a startling dream, whose +beauty we may indeed feel, and whose instruction we may receive, but +must smile at its inconsistency, and mourn over its evanescence. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [63] The admiration of Canova I hold to be one of the most deadly + symptoms in the civilisation of the upper classes in the present + century. + + [64] Thus above, I adduced for the architect's imitation the + appointed stories and beds of the Matterhorn, not its irregular + forms of crag or fissure. + + [65] Appendix 21, "Ancient Representations of Water." + + [66] By the friend to whom I owe Appendix 21. + + [67] One is glad to hear from Cuvier, that though dolphins in general + are "les plus carnassiers, et proportion gardee avec leur taille, + les plus cruels de l'ordre;" yet that in the Delphinus Delphis, + "tout l'organisation de son cerveau annonce _qu'il ne doit pas etre + depourvu de la docilite_ qu'ils (les anciens) lui attribuaient." + + [68] Vide Wilkinson, vol. v., woodcut No. 478, fig. 8. The tamarisk + appears afterwards to have given the idea of a subdivision of leaf + more pure and quaint than that of the acanthus. Of late our + botanists have discovered, in the "Victoria regia" (supposing its + blossom reversed), another strangely beautiful type of what we may + perhaps hereafter find it convenient to call _Lily_ capitals. + + [69] Appendix 22, "Arabian Ornamentation." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + TREATMENT OF ORNAMENT. + + +Sec. I. We now know where we are to look for subjects of decoration. The +next question is, as the reader must remember, how to treat or express +these subjects. + +There are evidently two branches of treatment: the first being the +expression, or rendering to the eye and mind, of the thing itself; and +the second, the arrangement of the thing so expressed: both of these +being quite distinct from the placing of the ornament in proper parts of +the building. For instance, suppose we take a vine-leaf for our subject. +The first question is, how to cut the vine-leaf? Shall we cut its ribs +and notches on the edge, or only its general outline? and so on. Then, +how to arrange the vine-leaves when we have them; whether symmetrically, +or at random; or unsymmetrically, yet within certain limits? All these I +call questions of treatment. Then, whether the vine-leaves so arranged +are to be set on the capital of a pillar or on its shaft, I call a +question of place. + +Sec. II. So, then, the questions of mere treatment are twofold, how to +express, and how to arrange. And expression is to the mind or the sight. +Therefore, the inquiry becomes really threefold:-- + + 1. How ornament is to be expressed with reference to the mind. + + 2. How ornament is to be arranged with reference to the sight. + + 3. How ornament is to be arranged with reference to both. + + +Sec. III. (1.) How is ornament to be treated with reference to the mind? + +If, to produce a good or beautiful ornament, it were only necessary to +produce a perfect piece of sculpture, and if a well cut group of flowers +or animals were indeed an ornament wherever it might be placed, the work +of the architect would be comparatively easy. Sculpture and architecture +would become separate arts; and the architect would order so many pieces +of such subject and size as he needed, without troubling himself with +any questions but those of disposition and proportion. But this is not +so. _No perfect piece either of painting or sculpture is an +architectural ornament at all_, except in that vague sense in which any +beautiful thing is said to ornament the place it is in. Thus we say that +pictures ornament a room; but we should not thank an architect who told +us that his design, to be complete, required a Titian to be put in one +corner of it, and a Velasquez in the other; and it is just as +unreasonable to call perfect sculpture, niched in, or encrusted on a +building, a portion of the ornament of that building, as it would be to +hang pictures by the way of ornament on the outside of it. It is very +possible that the sculptured work may be harmoniously associated with +the building, or the building executed with reference to it; but in this +latter case the architecture is subordinate to the sculpture, as in the +Medicean chapel, and I believe also in the Parthenon. And so far from +the perfection of the work conducing to its ornamental purpose, we may +say, with entire security, that its perfection, in some degree, unfits +it for its purpose, and that no absolutely complete sculpture can be +decoratively right. We have a familiar instance in the flower-work of +St. Paul's, which is probably, in the abstract, as perfect flower +sculpture as could be produced at the time; and which is just as +rational an ornament of the building as so many valuable Van Huysums, +framed and glazed and hung up over each window. + +Sec. IV. The especial condition of true ornament is, that it be beautiful +in its place, and nowhere else, and that it aid the effect of every +portion of the building over which it has influence; that it does not, +by its richness, make other parts bald, or, by its delicacy, make other +parts coarse. Every one of its qualities has reference to its place and +use: _and it is fitted for its service by what would be faults and +deficiencies if it had no especial duty_. Ornament, the servant, is +often formal, where sculpture, the master, would have been free; the +servant is often silent where the master would have been eloquent; or +hurried, where the master would have been serene. + +Sec. V. How far this subordination is in different situations to be +expressed, or how far it may be surrendered, and ornament, the servant, +be permitted to have independent will; and by what means the +subordination is best to be expressed when it is required, are by far +the most difficult questions I have ever tried to work out respecting +any branch of art; for, in many of the examples to which I look as +authoritative in their majesty of effect, it is almost impossible to say +whether the abstraction or imperfection of the sculpture was owing to +the choice, or the incapacity of the workman; and, if to the latter, how +far the result of fortunate incapacity can be imitated by prudent +self-restraint. The reader, I think, will understand this at once by +considering the effect of the illuminations of an old missal. In their +bold rejection of all principles of perspective, light and shade, and +drawing, they are infinitely more ornamental to the page, owing to the +vivid opposition of their bright colors and quaint lines, than if they +had been drawn by Da Vinci himself: and so the Arena chapel is far more +brightly _decorated_ by the archaic frescoes of Giotti, than the Stanze +of the Vatican are by those of Raffaelle. But how far it is possible to +recur to such archaicism, or to make up for it by any voluntary +abandonment of power, I cannot as yet venture in any wise to determine. + +Sec. VI. So, on the other hand, in many instances of finished work in +which I find most to regret or to reprobate, I can hardly distinguish what +is erroneous in principle from what is vulgar in execution. For instance, +in most Romanesque churches of Italy, the porches are guarded by +gigantic animals, lions or griffins, of admirable severity of design; +yet, in many cases, of so rude workmanship, that it can hardly be +determined how much of this severity was intentional,--how much +involuntary: in the cathedral of Genoa two modern lions have, in +imitation of this ancient custom, been placed on the steps of its west +front; and the Italian sculptor, thinking himself a marvellous great man +because he knew what lions were really like, has copied them, in the +menagerie, with great success, and produced two hairy and well-whiskered +beasts, as like to real lions as he could possibly cut them. One wishes +them back in the menagerie for his pains; but it is impossible to say +how far the offence of their presence is owing to the mere stupidity and +vulgarity of the sculpture, and how far we might have been delighted +with a realisation, carried to nearly the same length by Ghiberti or +Michael Angelo. (I say _nearly_, because neither Ghiberti nor Michael +Angelo would ever have attempted, or permitted, entire realisation, even +in independent sculpture.) + +Sec. VII. In spite of these embarrassments, however, some few certainties +may be marked in the treatment of past architecture, and secure +conclusions deduced for future practice. There is first, for instance, +the assuredly intended and resolute abstraction of the Ninevite and +Egyptian sculptors. The men who cut those granite lions in the Egyptian +room of the British Museum, and who carved the calm faces of those +Ninevite kings, knew much more, both of lions and kings, than they chose +to express. Then there is the Greek system, in which the human sculpture +is perfect, the architecture and animal sculpture is subordinate to it, +and the architectural ornament severely subordinated to this again, so +as to be composed of little more than abstract lines: and, finally, +there is the peculiarly mediaeval system, in which the inferior details +are carried to as great or greater imitative perfection as the higher +sculpture; and the subordination is chiefly effected by symmetries of +arrangement, and quaintnesses of treatment, respecting which it is +difficult to say how far they resulted from intention, and how far from +incapacity. + +Sec. VIII. Now of these systems, the Ninevite and Egyptian are altogether +opposed to modern habits of thought and action; they are sculptures +evidently executed under absolute authorities, physical and mental, such +as cannot at present exist. The Greek system presupposes the possession +of a Phidias; it is ridiculous to talk of building in the Greek manner; +you may build a Greek shell or box, such as the Greek intended to +contain sculpture, but you have not the sculpture to put in it. Find +your Phidias first, and your new Phidias will very soon settle all your +architectural difficulties in very unexpected ways indeed; but until you +find him, do not think yourselves architects while you go on copying +those poor subordinations, and secondary and tertiary orders of +ornament, which the Greek put on the shell of his sculpture. Some of +them, beads, and dentils, and such like, are as good as they can be for +their work, and you may use them for subordinate work still; but they +are nothing to be proud of, especially when you did not invent them: and +others of them are mistakes and impertinences in the Greek himself, such +as his so-called honeysuckle ornaments and others, in which there is a +starched and dull suggestion of vegetable form, and yet no real +resemblance nor life, for the conditions of them result from his own +conceit of himself, and ignorance of the physical sciences, and want of +relish for common nature, and vain fancy that he could improve +everything he touched, and that he honored it by taking it into his +service: by freedom from which conceits the true Christian architecture +is distinguished--not by points to its arches. + +Sec. IX. There remains, therefore, only the mediaeval system, in which +I think, generally, more completion is permitted (though this often +because more was possible) in the inferior than in the higher portions +of ornamental subject. Leaves, and birds, and lizards are realised, or +nearly so; men and quadrupeds formalised. For observe, the smaller and +inferior subject remains subordinate, however richly finished; but the +human sculpture can only be subordinate by being imperfect. The +realisation is, however, in all cases, dangerous except under most +skilful management, and the abstraction, if true and noble, is almost +always more delightful.[70] + +[Illustration: Plate VIII. + DECORATION BY DISKS. + PALAZZO DEI BADOARI PARTECIPAZZI.] + +Sec. X. What, then, is noble abstraction? It is taking first the essential +elements of the thing to be represented, then the rest in the order of +importance (so that wherever we pause we shall always have obtained more +than we leave behind), and using any expedient to impress what we want +upon the mind, without caring about the mere literal accuracy of such +expedient. Suppose, for instance, we have to represent a peacock: now a +peacock has a graceful neck, so has a swan; it has a high crest, so has +a cockatoo; it has a long tail, so has a bird of Paradise. But the whole +spirit and power of peacock is in those eyes of the tail. It is true, +the argus pheasant, and one or two more birds, have something like them, +but nothing for a moment comparable to them in brilliancy: express the +gleaming of the blue eyes through the plumage, and you have nearly all +you want of peacock, but without this, nothing; and yet those eyes are +not in relief; a rigidly _true_ sculpture of a peacock's form could have +no eyes,--nothing but feathers. Here, then, enters the stratagem of +sculpture; you _must_ cut the eyes in relief, somehow or another; see +how it is done in the peacock on the opposite page; it is so done by +nearly all the Byzantine sculptors: this particular peacock is meant to +be seen at some distance (how far off I know not, for it is an +interpolation in the building where it occurs, of which more hereafter), +but at all events at a distance of thirty or forty feet; I have put it +close to you that you may see plainly the rude rings and rods which +stand for the eyes and quills, but at the just distance their effect is +perfect. + +Sec. XI. And the simplicity of the means here employed may help us, both +to some clear understanding of the spirit of Ninevite and Egyptian work, +and to some perception of the kind of enfantillage or archaicism to +which it may be possible, even in days of advanced science, legitimately +to return. The architect has no right, as we said before, to require of +us a picture of Titian's in order to complete his design; neither has he +the right to calculate on the co-operation of perfect sculptors, in +subordinate capacities. Far from this; his business is to dispense with +such aid altogether, and to devise such a system of ornament as shall be +capable of execution by uninventive and even unintelligent workmen; for +supposing that he required noble sculpture for his ornament, how far +would this at once limit the number and the scale of possible buildings? +Architecture is the work of nations; but we cannot have nations of great +sculptors. Every house in every street of every city ought to be good +architecture, but we cannot have Flaxman or Thorwaldsen at work upon it: +nor, even if we chose only to devote ourselves to our public buildings, +could the mass and majesty of them be great, if we required all to be +executed by great men; greatness is not to be had in the required +quantity. Giotto may design a campanile, but he cannot carve it; he can +only carve one or two of the bas-reliefs at the base of it. And with +every increase of your fastidiousness in the execution of your ornament, +you diminish the possible number and grandeur of your buildings. Do not +think you can educate your workmen, or that the demand for perfection +will increase the supply: educated imbecility and finessed foolishness +are the worst of all imbecilities and foolishnesses; and there is no +free-trade measure, which will ever lower the price of brains,--there is +no California of common sense. Exactly in the degree in which you +require your decoration to be wrought by thoughtful men, you diminish +the extent and number of architectural works. Your business as an +architect, is to calculate only on the co-operation of inferior men, to +think for them, and to indicate for them such expressions of your +thoughts as the weakest capacity can comprehend and the feeblest hand +can execute. This is the definition of the purest architectural +abstractions. They are the deep and laborious thoughts of the greatest +men, put into such easy letters that they can be written by the +simplest. _They are expressions of the mind of manhood by the hands of +childhood._ + +Sec. XII. And now suppose one of those old Ninevite or Egyptian builders, +with a couple of thousand men--mud-bred, onion-eating creatures--under +him, to be set to work, like so many ants, on his temple sculptures. +What is he to do with them? He can put them through a granitic exercise +of current hand; he can teach them all how to curl hair thoroughly into +croche-coeurs, as you teach a bench of school-boys how to shape +pothooks; he can teach them all how to draw long eyes and straight +noses, and how to copy accurately certain well-defined lines. Then he +fits his own great design to their capacities; he takes out of king, or +lion, or god, as much as was expressible by croche-coeurs and granitic +pothooks; he throws this into noble forms of his own imagining, and +having mapped out their lines so that there can be no possibility of +error, sets his two thousand men to work upon them, with a will, and so +many onions a day. + +Sec. XIII. I said those times cannot now return. We have, with +Christianity, recognised the individual value of every soul; and there +is no intelligence so feeble but that its single ray may in some sort +contribute to the general light. This is the glory of Gothic +architecture, that every jot and tittle, every point and niche of it, +affords room, fuel, and focus for individual fire. But you cease to +acknowledge this, and you refuse to accept the help of the lesser mind, +if you require the work to be all executed in a great manner. Your +business is to think out all of it nobly, to dictate the expression of +it as far as your dictation can assist the less elevated intelligence: +then to leave this, aided and taught as far as may be, to its own simple +act and effort; and to rejoice in its simplicity if not in its power, +and in its vitality if not in its science. + +Sec. XIV. We have, then, three orders of ornament, classed according to +the degrees of correspondence of the executive and conceptive minds. We +have the servile ornament, in which the executive is absolutely subjected +to the inventive,--the ornament of the great Eastern nations, more +especially Hamite, and all pre-Christian, yet thoroughly noble in its +submissiveness. Then we have the mediaeval system, in which the mind of +the inferior workman is recognised, and has full room for action, but is +guided and ennobled by the ruling mind. This is the truly Christian and +only perfect system. Finally, we have ornaments expressing the endeavor +to equalise the executive and inventive,--endeavor which is Renaissance +and revolutionary, and destructive of all noble architecture. + +Sec. XV. Thus far, then, of the incompleteness or simplicity of execution +necessary in architectural ornament, as referred to the mind. Next we +have to consider that which is required when it is referred to the +sight, and the various modifications of treatment which are rendered +necessary by the variation of its distance from the eye. I say +necessary: not merely expedient or economical. It is foolish to carve +what is to be seen forty feet off with the delicacy which the eye +demands within two yards; not merely because such delicacy is lost in +the distance, but because it is a great deal worse than lost:--the +delicate work has actually worse effect in the distance than rough work. +This is a fact well known to painters, and, for the most part, +acknowledged by the critics of painters, namely, that there is a certain +distance for which a picture is painted; and that the finish, which is +delightful if that distance be small, is actually injurious if the +distance be great: and, moreover, that there is a particular method of +handling which none but consummate artists reach, which has its effects +at the intended distance, and is altogether hieroglyphical and +unintelligible at any other. This, I say, is acknowledged in painting, +but it is not practically acknowledged in architecture; nor until my +attention was especially directed to it, had I myself any idea of the +care with which this great question was studied by the mediaeval +architects. On my first careful examination of the capitals of the upper +arcade of the Ducal Palace at Venice, I was induced, by their singular +inferiority of workmanship, to suppose them posterior to those of the +lower arcade. It was not till I discovered that some of those which I +thought the worst above, were the best when seen from below, that I +obtained the key to this marvellous system of adaptation; a system +which I afterwards found carried out in every building of the great +times which I had opportunity of examining. + +Sec. XVI. There are two distinct modes in which this adaptation is +effected. In the first, the same designs which are delicately worked +when near the eye, are rudely cut, and have far fewer details when they +are removed from it. In this method it is not always easy to distinguish +economy from skill, or slovenliness from science. But, in the second +method, a different design is adopted, composed of fewer parts and of +simpler lines, and this is cut with exquisite precision. This is of +course the higher method, and the more satisfactory proof of purpose; +but an equal degree of imperfection is found in both kinds when they are +seen close; in the first, a bald execution of a perfect design; the +second, a baldness of design with perfect execution. And in these very +imperfections lies the admirableness of the ornament. + +Sec. XVII. It may be asked whether, in advocating this adaptation to the +distance of the eye, I obey my adopted rule of observance of natural +law. Are not all natural things, it may be asked, as lovely near as far +away? Nay, not so. Look at the clouds, and watch the delicate sculpture +of their alabaster sides, and the rounded lustre of their magnificent +rolling. They are meant to be beheld far away; they were shaped for +their place, high above your head; approach them, and they fuse into +vague mists, or whirl away in fierce fragments of thunderous vapor. Look +at the crest of the Alp, from the far-away plains over which its light +is cast, whence human souls have communion with it by their myriads. The +child looks up to it in the dawn, and the husbandman in the burden and +heat of the day, and the old man in the going down of the sun, and it is +to them all as the celestial city on the world's horizon; dyed with the +depth of heaven, and clothed with the calm of eternity. There was it +set, for holy dominion, by Him who marked for the sun his journey, and +bade the moon know her going down. It was built for its place in the +far-off sky; approach it, and as the sound of the voice of man dies away +about its foundations, and the tide of human life, shallowed upon the +vast aerial shore, is at last met by the Eternal "Here shall thy waves +be stayed," the glory of its aspect fades into blanched fearfulness; its +purple walls are rent into grisly rocks, its silver fretwork saddened +into wasting snow, the storm-brands of ages are on its breast, the ashes +of its own ruin lie solemnly on its white raiment. + +Nor in such instances as these alone, though strangely enough, the +discrepancy between apparent and actual beauty is greater in proportion +to the unapproachableness of the object, is the law observed. For every +distance from the eye there is a peculiar kind of beauty, or a different +system of lines of form; the sight of that beauty is reserved for that +distance, and for that alone. If you approach nearer, that kind of +beauty is lost, and another succeeds, to be disorganised and reduced to +strange and incomprehensible means and appliances in its turn. If you +desire to perceive the great harmonies of the form of a rocky mountain, +you must not ascend upon its sides. All is there disorder and accident, +or seems so; sudden starts of its shattered beds hither and thither; +ugly struggles of unexpected strength from under the ground; fallen +fragments, toppling one over another into more helpless fall. Retire +from it, and, as your eye commands it more and more, as you see the +ruined mountain world with a wider glance, behold! dim sympathies begin +to busy themselves in the disjointed mass; line binds itself into +stealthy fellowship with line; group by group, the helpless fragments +gather themselves into ordered companies; new captains of hosts and +masses of battalions become visible, one by one, and far away answers of +foot to foot, and of bone to bone, until the powerless chaos is seen +risen up with girded loins, and not one piece of all the unregarded heap +could now be spared from the mystic whole. + +Sec. XVIII. Now it is indeed true that where nature loses one kind of +beauty, as you approach it, she substitutes another; this is worthy of +her infinite power: and, as we shall see, art can sometimes follow her +even in doing this; but all I insist upon at present is, that the +several effects of nature are each worked with means referred to a +particular distance, and producing their effect at that distance only. +Take a singular and marked instance: When the sun rises behind a ridge +of pines, and those pines are seen from a distance of a mile or two, +against his light, the whole form of the tree, trunk, branches, and all, +becomes one frostwork of intensely brilliant silver, which is relieved +against the clear sky like a burning fringe, for some distance on either +side of the sun.[71] Now suppose that a person who had never seen pines +were, for the first time in his life, to see them under this strange +aspect, and, reasoning as to the means by which such effect could be +produced, laboriously to approach the eastern ridge, how would he be +amazed to find that the fiery spectres had been produced by trees with +swarthy and grey trunks, and dark green leaves! We, in our simplicity, +if we had been required to produce such an appearance, should have built +up trees of chased silver, with trunks of glass, and then been +grievously amazed to find that, at two miles off, neither silver nor +glass were any more visible; but nature knew better, and prepared for +her fairy work with the strong branches and dark leaves, in her own +mysterious way. + +Sec. XIX. Now this is exactly what you have to do with your good ornament. +It may be that it is capable of being approached, as well as likely to +be seen far away, and then it ought to have microscopic qualities, as +the pine leaves have, which will bear approach. But your calculation of +its purpose is for a glory to be produced at a given distance; it may be +here, or may be there, but it is a _given_ distance; and the excellence +of the ornament depends upon its fitting that distance, and being seen +better there than anywhere else, and having a particular function and +form which it can only discharge and assume there. You are never to say +that ornament has great merit because "you cannot see the beauty of it +here;" but, it has great merit because "you _can_ see its beauty _here +only_." And to give it this merit is just about as difficult a task as I +could well set you. I have above noted the two ways in which it is done: +the one, being merely rough cutting, may be passed over; the other, +which is scientific alteration of design, falls, itself, into two great +branches, Simplification and Emphasis. + +A word or two is necessary on each of these heads. + +Sec. XX. When an ornamental work is intended to be seen near, if its +composition be indeed fine, the subdued and delicate portions of the +design lead to, and unite, the energetic parts, and those energetic +parts form with the rest a whole, in which their own immediate relations +to each other are not perceived. Remove this design to a distance, and +the connecting delicacies vanish, the energies alone remain, now either +disconnected altogether, or assuming with each other new relations, +which, not having been intended by the designer, will probably be +painful. There is a like, and a more palpable, effect, in the retirement +of a band of music in which the instruments are of very unequal powers; +the fluting and fifeing expire, the drumming remains, and that in a +painful arrangement, as demanding something which is unheard. In like +manner, as the designer at arm's length removes or elevates his work, +fine gradations, and roundings, and incidents, vanish, and a totally +unexpected arrangement is established between the remainder of the +markings, certainly confused, and in all probability painful. + +Sec. XXI. The art of architectural design is therefore, first, the +preparation for this beforehand, the rejection of all the delicate +passages as worse than useless, and the fixing the thought upon the +arrangement of the features which will remain visible far away. Nor does +this always imply a diminution of resource; for, while it may be assumed +as a law that fine modulation of surface in light becomes quickly +invisible as the object retires, there are a softness and mystery given +to the harder markings, which enable them to be safely used as media of +expression. There is an exquisite example of this use, in the head of +the Adam of the Ducal Palace. It is only at the height of 17 or 18 feet +above the eye; nevertheless, the sculptor felt it was no use to trouble +himself about drawing the corners of the mouth, or the lines of the +lips, delicately, at that distance; his object has been to mark them +clearly, and to prevent accidental shadows from concealing them, or +altering their expression. The lips are cut thin and sharp, so that +their line cannot be mistaken, and a good deep drill-hole struck into +the angle of the mouth; the eye is anxious and questioning, and one is +surprised, from below, to perceive a kind of darkness in the iris of it, +neither like color, nor like a circular furrow. The expedient can only +be discovered by ascending to the level of the head; it is one which +would have been quite inadmissible except in distant work, six +drill-holes cut into the iris, round a central one for the pupil. + +Sec. XXII. By just calculation, like this, of the means at our disposal, +by beautiful arrangement of the prominent features, and by choice of +different subjects for different places, choosing the broadest forms for +the farthest distance, it is possible to give the impression, not only +of perfection, but of an exquisite delicacy, to the most distant +ornament. And this is the true sign of the right having been done, and +the utmost possible power attained:--The spectator should be satisfied +to stay in his place, feeling the decoration, wherever it may be, +equally rich, full, and lovely: not desiring to climb the steeples in +order to examine it, but sure that he has it all, where he is. Perhaps +the capitals of the cathedral of Genoa are the best instances of +absolute perfection in this kind: seen from below, they appear as rich +as the frosted silver of the Strada degli Orefici; and the nearer you +approach them, the less delicate they seem. + +Sec. XXIII. This is, however, not the only mode, though the best, in which +ornament is adapted for distance. The other is emphasis,--the unnatural +insisting upon explanatory lines, where the subject would otherwise +become unintelligible. It is to be remembered that, by a deep and narrow +incision, an architect has the power, at least in sunshine, of drawing a +black line on stone, just as vigorously as it can be drawn with chalk on +grey paper; and that he may thus, wherever and in the degree that he +chooses, substitute _chalk sketching_ for sculpture. They are curiously +mingled by the Romans. The bas-reliefs of the Arc d'Orange are small, +and would be confused, though in bold relief, if they depended for +intelligibility on the relief only; but each figure is outlined by a +strong _incision_ at its edge into the background, and all the ornaments +on the armor are simply drawn with incised lines, and not cut out at +all. A similar use of lines is made by the Gothic nations in all their +early sculpture, and with delicious effect. Now, to draw a mere +pattern--as, for instance, the bearings of a shield--with these simple +incisions, would, I suppose, occupy an able sculptor twenty minutes or +half an hour; and the pattern is then clearly seen, under all +circumstances of light and shade; there can be no mistake about it, and +no missing it. To carve out the bearings in due and finished relief +would occupy a long summer's day, and the results would be feeble and +indecipherable in the best lights, and in some lights totally and +hopelessly invisible, ignored, non-existant. Now the Renaissance +architects, and our modern ones, despise the simple expedient of the +rough Roman or barbarian. They do not care to be understood. They care +only to speak finely, and be thought great orators, if one could only +hear them. So I leave you to choose between the old men, who took +minutes to tell things plainly, and the modern men, who take days to +tell them unintelligibly. + +Sec. XXIV. All expedients of this kind, both of simplification and energy, +for the expression of details at a distance where their actual forms +would have been invisible, but more especially this linear method, I +shall call Proutism; for the greatest master of the art in modern times +has been Samuel Prout. He actually takes up buildings of the later times +in which the ornament has been too refined for its place, and +translates it into the energised linear ornament of earlier art: and to +this power of taking the life and essence of decoration, and putting it +into a perfectly intelligible form, when its own fulness would have been +confused, is owing the especial power of his drawings. Nothing can be +more closely analogous than the method with which an old Lombard uses +his chisel, and that with which Prout uses the reed-pen; and we shall +see presently farther correspondence in their feeling about the +enrichment of luminous surfaces. + +Sec. XXV. Now, all that has been hitherto said refers to ornament whose +distance is fixed, or nearly so; as when it is at any considerable +height from the ground, supposing the spectator to desire to see it, and +to get as near it as he can. But the distance of ornament is never fixed +to the _general_ spectator. The tower of a cathedral is bound to look +well, ten miles off, or five miles, or half a mile, or within fifty +yards. The ornaments of its top have fixed distances, compared with +those of its base; but quite unfixed distances in their relation to the +great world: and the ornaments of the base have no fixed distance at +all. They are bound to look well from the other side of the cathedral +close, and to look equally well, or better, as we enter the cathedral +door. How are we to manage this? + +Sec. XXVI. As nature manages it. I said above, Sec. XVII., that for +every distance from the eye there was a different system of form in all +natural objects: this is to be so then in architecture. The lesser +ornament is to be grafted on the greater, and third or fourth orders of +ornaments upon this again, as need may be, until we reach the limits of +possible sight; each order of ornament being adapted for a different +distance: first, for example, the great masses,--the buttresses and +stories and black windows and broad cornices of the tower, which give it +make, and organism, as it rises over the horizon, half a score of miles +away: then the traceries and shafts and pinnacles, which give it +richness as we approach: then the niches and statues and knobs and +flowers, which we can only see when we stand beneath it. At this third +order of ornament, we may pause, in the upper portions; but on the +roofs of the niches, and the robes of the statues, and the rolls of the +mouldings, comes a fourth order of ornament, as delicate as the eye can +follow, when any of these features may be approached. + +Sec. XXVII. All good ornamentation is thus arborescent, as it were, +one class of it branching out of another and sustained by it; and its +nobility consists in this, that whatever order or class of it we may be +contemplating, we shall find it subordinated to a greater, simpler, and +more powerful; and if we then contemplate the greater order, we shall +find it again subordinated to a greater still; until the greatest can +only be quite grasped by retiring to the limits of distance commanding +it. + +And if this subordination be not complete, the ornament is bad: if the +figurings and chasings and borderings of a dress be not subordinated to +the folds of it,--if the folds are not subordinate to the action and +mass of the figure,--if this action and mass not to the divisions of the +recesses and shafts among which it stands,--if these not to the shadows +of the great arches and buttresses of the whole building, in each case +there is error; much more if all be contending with each other and +striving for attention at the same time. + +Sec. XXVIII. It is nevertheless evident, that, however perfect this +distribution, there cannot be orders adapted to _every_ distance of the +spectator. Between the ranks of ornament there must always be a bold +separation; and there must be many intermediate distances, where we are +too far off to see the lesser rank clearly, and yet too near to grasp +the next higher rank wholly: and at all these distances the spectator +will feel himself ill-placed, and will desire to go nearer or farther +away. This must be the case in all noble work, natural or artificial. It +is exactly the same with respect to Rouen cathedral or the Mont Blanc. +We like to see them from the other side of the Seine, or of the lake of +Geneva; from the Marche aux Fleurs, or the Valley of Chamouni; from the +parapets of the apse, or the crags of the Montagne de la Cote: but there +are intermediate distances which dissatisfy us in either case, and from +which one is in haste either to advance or to retire. + +Sec. XXIX. Directly opposed to this ordered, disciplined, well officered +and variously ranked ornament, this type of divine, and therefore of all +good human government, is the democratic ornament, in which all is +equally influential, and has equal office and authority; that is to say, +none of it any office nor authority, but a life of continual struggle +for independence and notoriety, or of gambling for chance regards. The +English perpendicular work is by far the worst of this kind that I know; +its main idea, or decimal fraction of an idea, being to cover its walls +with dull, successive, eternity of reticulation, to fill with equal +foils the equal interstices between the equal bars, and charge the +interminable blanks with statues and rosettes, invisible at a distance, +and uninteresting near. + +The early Lombardic, Veronese, and Norman work is the exact reverse of +this; being divided first into large masses, and these masses covered +with minute chasing and surface work, which fill them with interest, and +yet do not disturb nor divide their greatness. The lights are kept broad +and bright, and yet are found on near approach to be charged with +intricate design. This, again, is a part of the great system of +treatment which I shall hereafter call "Proutism;" much of what is +thought mannerism and imperfection in Prout's work, being the result of +his determined resolution that minor details shall never break up his +large masses of light. + +Sec. XXX. Such are the main principles to be observed in the adaptation of +ornament to the sight. We have lastly to inquire by what method, and in +what quantities, the ornament, thus adapted to mental contemplation, and +prepared for its physical position, may most wisely be arranged. I think +the method ought first to be considered, and the quantity last; for the +advisable quantity depends upon the method. + +Sec. XXXI. It was said above, that the proper treatment or arrangement of +ornament was that which expressed the laws and ways of Deity. Now, the +subordination of visible orders to each other, just noted, is one +expression of these. But there may also--must also--be a subordination +and obedience of the parts of each order to some visible law, out of +itself, but having reference to itself only (not to any upper order): +some law which shall not oppress, but guide, limit, and sustain. + +In the tenth chapter of the second volume of "Modern Painters," the +reader will find that I traced one part of the beauty of God's creation +to the expression of a _self_-restrained liberty: that is to say, the +image of that perfection of _divine_ action, which, though free to work +in arbitrary methods, works always in consistent methods, called by us +Laws. + +Now, correspondingly, we find that when these natural objects are to +become subjects of the art of man, their perfect treatment is an image +of the perfection of _human_ action: a voluntary submission to divine +law. + +It was suggested to me but lately by the friend to whose originality of +thought I have before expressed my obligations, Mr. Newton, that the +Greek pediment, with its enclosed sculptures, represented to the Greek +mind the law of Fate, confining human action within limits not to be +overpassed. I do not believe the Greeks ever distinctly thought of this; +but the instinct of all the human race, since the world began, agrees in +some expression of such limitation as one of the first necessities of +good ornament.[72] And this expression is heightened, rather than +diminished, when some portion of the design slightly breaks the law to +which the rest is subjected; it is like expressing the use of miracles +in the divine government; or, perhaps, in slighter degrees, the relaxing +of a law, generally imperative, in compliance with some more imperative +need--the hungering of David. How eagerly this special infringement of a +general law was sometimes sought by the mediaeval workmen, I shall be +frequently able to point out to the reader; but I remember just now a +most curious instance, in an archivolt of a house in the Corte del Remer +close to the Rialto at Venice. It is composed of a wreath of +flower-work--a constant Byzantine design--with an animal in each coil; +the whole enclosed between two fillets. Each animal, leaping or eating, +scratching or biting, is kept nevertheless strictly within its coil, and +between the fillets. Not the shake of an ear, not the tip of a tail, +overpasses this appointed line, through a series of some five-and-twenty +or thirty animals; until, on a sudden, and by mutual consent, two little +beasts (not looking, for the rest, more rampant than the others), one on +each side, lay their small paws across the enclosing fillet at exactly +the same point of its course, and thus break the continuity of its line. +Two ears of corn, or leaves, do the same thing in the mouldings round +the northern door of the Baptistery at Florence. + +Sec. XXXII. Observe, however, and this is of the utmost possible +importance, that the value of this type does not consist in the mere +shutting of the ornament into a certain space, but in the acknowledgment +_by_ the ornament of the fitness of the limitation--of its own perfect +willingness to submit to it; nay, of a predisposition in itself to fall +into the ordained form, without any direct expression of the command to +do so; an anticipation of the authority, and an instant and willing +submission to it, in every fibre and spray: not merely _willing_, but +_happy_ submission, as being pleased rather than vexed to have so +beautiful a law suggested to it, and one which to follow is so justly in +accordance with its own nature. You must not cut out a branch of +hawthorn as it grows, and rule a triangle round it, and suppose that it +is then submitted to law. Not a bit of it. It is only put in a cage, and +will look as if it must get out, for its life, or wither in the +confinement. But the spirit of triangle must be put into the hawthorn. +It must suck in isoscelesism with its sap. Thorn and blossom, leaf and +spray, must grow with an awful sense of triangular necessity upon them, +for the guidance of which they are to be thankful, and to grow all the +stronger and more gloriously. And though there may be a transgression +here and there, and an adaptation to some other need, or a reaching +forth to some other end greater even than the triangle, yet this liberty +is to be always accepted under a solemn sense of special permission; and +when the full form is reached and the entire submission expressed, and +every blossom has a thrilling sense of its responsibility down into its +tiniest stamen, you may take your terminal line away if you will. No +need for it any more. The commandment is written on the heart of the +thing. + +Sec. XXXIII. Then, besides this obedience to external law, there is the +obedience to internal headship, which constitutes the unity of ornament, +of which I think enough has been said for my present purpose in the +chapter on Unity in the second vol. of "Modern Painters." But I hardly +know whether to arrange as an expression of a divine law, or a +representation of a physical fact, the alternation of shade with light +which, in equal succession, forms one of the chief elements of +_continuous_ ornament, and in some peculiar ones, such as dentils and +billet mouldings, is the source of their only charm. The opposition of +good and evil, the antagonism of the entire human system (so ably worked +out by Lord Lindsay), the alternation of labor with rest, the mingling +of life with death, or the actual physical fact of the division of light +from darkness, and of the falling and rising of night and day, are all +typified or represented by these chains of shade and light of which the +eye never wearies, though their true meaning may never occur to the +thoughts. + +Sec. XXXIV. The next question respecting the arrangement of ornament is +one closely connected also with its quantity. The system of creation is +one in which "God's creatures leap not, but express a feast, where all the +guests sit close, and nothing wants." It is also a feast, where there is +nothing redundant. So, then, in distributing our ornament, there must +never be any sense of gap or blank, neither any sense of there being a +single member, or fragment of a member, which could be spared. Whatever +has nothing to do, whatever could go without being missed, is not +ornament; it is deformity and encumbrance. Away with it. And, on the +other hand, care must be taken either to diffuse the ornament which we +permit, in due relation over the whole building, or so to concentrate +it, as never to leave a sense of its having got into knots, and curdled +upon some points, and left the rest of the building whey. It is very +difficult to give the rules, or analyse the feelings, which should +direct us in this matter: for some shafts may be carved and others left +unfinished, and that with advantage; some windows may be jewelled like +Aladdin's, and one left plain, and still with advantage; the door or +doors, or a single turret, or the whole western facade of a church, or +the apse or transept, may be made special subjects of decoration, and +the rest left plain, and still sometimes with advantage. But in all such +cases there is either sign of that feeling which I advocated in the +First Chapter of the "Seven Lamps," the desire of rather doing some +portion of the building as we would have it, and leaving the rest plain, +than doing the whole imperfectly; or else there is choice made of some +important feature, to which, as more honorable than the rest, the +decoration is confined. The evil is when, without system, and without +preference of the nobler members, the ornament alternates between sickly +luxuriance and sudden blankness. In many of our Scotch and English +abbeys, especially Melrose, this is painfully felt; but the worst +instance I have ever seen is the window in the side of the arch under +the Wellington statue, next St. George's Hospital. In the first place, a +window has no business there at all; in the second, the bars of the +window are not the proper place for decoration, especially _wavy_ +decoration, which one instantly fancies of cast iron; in the third, the +richness of the ornament is a mere patch and eruption upon the wall, and +one hardly knows whether to be most irritated at the affectation of +severity in the rest, or at the vain luxuriance of the dissolute +parallelogram. + +Sec. XXXV. Finally, as regards quantity of ornament I have already said, +again and again, you cannot have too much if it be good; that is, if it +be thoroughly united and harmonised by the laws hitherto insisted upon. +But you may easily have too much if you have more than you have sense to +manage. For with every added order of ornament increases the difficulty +of discipline. It is exactly the same as in war: you cannot, as an +abstract law, have too many soldiers, but you may easily have more than +the country is able to sustain, or than your generalship is competent +to command. And every regiment which you cannot manage will, on the day +of battle, be in your way, and encumber the movements it is not in +disposition to sustain. + +Sec. XXXVI. As an architect, therefore, you are modestly to measure +your capacity of governing ornament. Remember, its essence,--its being +ornament at all, consists in its being governed. Lose your authority +over it, let it command you, or lead you, or dictate to you in any wise, +and it is an offence, an incumbrance, and a dishonor. And it is always +ready to do this; wild to get the bit in its teeth, and rush forth on +its own devices. Measure, therefore, your strength; and as long as there +is no chance of mutiny, add soldier to soldier, battalion to battalion; +but be assured that all are heartily in the cause, and that there is not +one of whose position you are ignorant, or whose service you could +spare. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [70] Vide "Seven Lamps," Chap. IV. Sec. 34. + + [71] Shakspeare and Wordsworth (I think they only) have noticed this, + Shakspeare, in Richard II.:-- + + "But when, from under this terrestrial ball, + He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines." + + And Wordsworth, in one of his minor poems, on leaving Italy: + + "My thoughts become bright like yon edging of pines + On the steep's lofty verge--how it blackened the air! + But, touched from behind by the sun, it now shines + With threads that seem part of his own silver hair." + + [72] Some valuable remarks on this subject will be found in a notice + of the "Seven Lamps" in the British Quarterly for August, 1849. I + think, however, the writer attaches too great importance to one out + of many ornamental necessities. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + THE ANGLE. + + +Sec. I. We have now examined the treatment and specific kinds of ornament +at our command. We have lastly to note the fittest places for their +disposal. Not but that all kinds of ornament are used in all places; but +there are some parts of the building, which, without ornament, are more +painful than others, and some which wear ornament more gracefully than +others; so that, although an able architect will always be finding out +some new and unexpected modes of decoration, and fitting his ornament +into wonderful places where it is least expected, there are, +nevertheless, one or two general laws which may be noted respecting +every one of the parts of a building, laws not (except a few) imperative +like those of construction, but yet generally expedient, and good to be +understood, if it were only that we might enjoy the brilliant methods in +which they are sometimes broken. I shall note, however, only a few of +the simplest; to trace them into their ramifications, and class in due +order the known or possible methods of decoration for each part of a +building, would alone require a large volume, and be, I think, a +somewhat useless work; for there is often a high pleasure in the very +unexpectedness of the ornament, which would be destroyed by too +elaborate an arrangement of its kinds. + +Sec. II. I think that the reader must, by this time, so thoroughly +understand the connection of the parts of a building, that I may class +together, in treating of decoration, several parts which I kept separate +in speaking of construction. Thus I shall put under one head (A) the +base of the wall and of the shaft; then (B) the wall veil and shaft +itself; then (C) the cornice and capital; then (D) the jamb and +archivolt, including the arches both over shafts and apertures, and the +jambs of apertures, which are closely connected with their archivolts; +finally (E) the roof, including the real roof, and the minor roofs or +gables of pinnacles and arches. I think, under these divisions, all may +be arranged which is necessary to be generally stated; for tracery +decorations or aperture fillings are but smaller forms of application of +the arch, and the cusps are merely smaller spandrils, while buttresses +have, as far as I know, no specific ornament. The best are those which +have least; and the little they have resolves itself into pinnacles, +which are common to other portions of the building, or into small +shafts, arches, and niches, of still more general applicability. We +shall therefore have only five divisions to examine in succession, from +foundation to roof. + +[Illustration: Fig. LI.] + +Sec. III. But in the decoration of these several parts, certain minor +conditions of ornament occur which are of perfectly general application. +For instance, whether, in archivolts, jambs, or buttresses, or in square +piers, or at the extremity of the entire building, we necessarily have +the awkward (moral or architectural) feature, the _corner_. How to turn +a corner gracefully becomes, therefore, a perfectly general question; to +be examined without reference to any particular part of the edifice. + +Sec. IV. Again, the furrows and ridges by which bars of parallel light and +shade are obtained, whether these are employed in arches, or jambs, or +bases, or cornices, must of necessity present one or more of six forms: +square projection, _a_ (Fig. LI.), or square recess, _b_, sharp +projection, _c_, or sharp recess, _d_, curved projection, _e_, or curved +recess, _f_. What odd curves the projection or recess may assume, or how +these different conditions may be mixed and run into one another, is +not our present business. We note only the six distinct kinds or types. + +Now, when these ridges or furrows are on a small scale they often +themselves constitute all the ornament required for larger features, and +are left smooth cut; but on a very large scale they are apt to become +insipid, and they require a sub-ornament of their own, the consideration +of which is, of course, in great part, general, and irrespective of the +place held by the mouldings in the building itself: which consideration +I think we had better undertake first of all. + +Sec. V. But before we come to particular examination of these minor forms, +let us see how far we can simplify it. Look back to Fig. LI., above. +There are distinguished in it six forms of moulding. Of these, _c_ is +nothing but a small corner; but, for convenience sake, it is better to +call it an edge, and to consider its decoration together with that of +the member _a_, which is called a fillet; while _e_, which I shall call +a roll (because I do not choose to assume that it shall be only of the +semicircular section here given), is also best considered together with +its relative recess, _f_; and because the shape of a recess is of no +great consequence, I shall class all the three recesses together, and we +shall thus have only three subjects for separate consideration:-- + + 1. The Angle. + 2. The Edge and Fillet. + 3. The Roll and Recess. + +Sec. VI. There are two other general forms which may probably occur to the +reader's mind, namely, the ridge (as of a roof), which is a corner laid +on its back, or sloping,--a supine corner, decorated in a very different +manner from a stiff upright corner: and the point, which is a +concentrated corner, and has wonderfully elaborate decorations all to +its insignificant self, finials, and spikes, and I know not what more. +But both these conditions are so closely connected with roofs (even the +cusp finial being a kind of pendant to a small roof), that I think it +better to class them and their ornament under the head of roof +decoration, together with the whole tribe of crockets and bosses; so +that we shall be here concerned only with the three subjects above +distinguished: and, first, the corner or Angle. + +Sec. VII. The mathematician knows there are many kinds of angles; but the +one we have principally to deal with now, is that which the reader may +very easily conceive as the corner of a square house, or square +anything. It is of course the one of most frequent occurrence; and its +treatment, once understood, may, with slight modification, be referred +to other corners, sharper or blunter, or with curved sides. + +Sec. VIII. Evidently the first and roughest idea which would occur to any +one who found a corner troublesome, would be to cut it off. This is a +very summary and tyrannical proceeding, somewhat barbarous, yet +advisable if nothing else can be done: an amputated corner is said to be +chamfered. It can, however, evidently be cut off in three ways: 1. with +a concave cut, _a_; 2. with a straight cut, _b_; 3. with a convex cut, +_c_, Fig. LII. + +[Illustration: Fig. LII.] + +The first two methods, the most violent and summary, have the apparent +disadvantage that we get by them,--two corners instead of one; much +milder corners, however, and with a different light and shade between +them; so that both methods are often very expedient. You may see the +straight chamfer (_b_) on most lamp posts, and pillars at railway +stations, it being the easiest to cut: the concave chamfer requires more +care, and occurs generally in well-finished but simple architecture--very +beautifully in the small arches of the Broletto of Como, Plate V.; and +the straight chamfer in architecture of every kind, very constantly in +Norman cornices and arches, as in Fig. 2, Plate IV., at Sens. + +Sec. IX. The third, or convex chamfer, as it is the gentlest mode of +treatment, so (as in medicine and morals) it is very generally the best. +For while the two other methods produce two corners instead of one, this +gentle chamfer does verily get rid of the corner altogether, and +substitutes a soft curve in its place. + +[Illustration: Fig. LIII.] + +But it has, in the form above given, this grave disadvantage, that it +looks as if the corner had been rubbed or worn off, blunted by time and +weather, and in want of sharpening again. A great deal often depends, +and in such a case as this, everything depends, on the _Voluntariness_ +of the ornament. The work of time is beautiful on surfaces, but not on +edges intended to be sharp. Even if we needed them blunt, we should not +like them blunt on compulsion; so, to show that the bluntness is our own +ordaining, we will put a slight incised line to mark off the rounding, +and show that it goes no farther than we choose. We shall thus have the +section _a_, Fig. LIII.; and this mode of turning an angle is one of the +very best ever invented. By enlarging and deepening the incision, we get +in succession the forms _b_, _c_, _d_; and by describing a small equal +arc on each of the sloping lines of these figures, we get _e_, _f_, _g_, +_h_. + +Sec. X. I do not know whether these mouldings are called by architects +chamfers or beads; but I think _bead_ a bad word for a continuous +moulding, and the proper sense of the word chamfer is fixed by Spenser +as descriptive not merely of truncation, but of trench or furrow:-- + + "Tho gin you, fond flies, the cold to scorn, + And, crowing in pipes made of green corn, + You thinken to be lords of the year; + But eft when ye count you freed from fear, + Comes the breme winter with chamfred brows, + Full of wrinkles and frosty furrows." + +So I shall call the above mouldings beaded chamfers, when there is any +chance of confusion with the plain chamfer, _a_, or _b_, of Fig. LII.: +and when there is no such chance, I shall use the word chamfer only. + +Sec. XI. Of those above given, _b_ is the constant chamfer of Venice, and +_a_ of Verona: _a_ being the grandest and best, and having a peculiar +precision and quaintness of effect about it. I found it twice in Venice, +used on the sharp angle, as at _a_ and _b_, Fig. LIV., _a_ being from +the angle of a house on the Rio San Zulian, and _b_ from the windows of +the church of San Stefano. + +[Illustration: Fig. LIV.] + +Sec. XII. There is, however, evidently another variety of the chamfers, +_f_ and _g_, Fig. LIII., formed by an unbroken curve instead of two +curves, as _c_, Fig. LIV.; and when this, or the chamfer _d_, Fig. LIII., +is large, it is impossible to say whether they have been devised from the +incised angle, or from small shafts set in a nook, as at _e_, Fig. LIV., +or in the hollow of the curved chamfer, as _d_, Fig. LIV. In general, +however, the shallow chamfers, _a_, _b_, _e_, and _f_, Fig. LIII., are +peculiar to southern work; and may be assumed to have been derived from +the incised angle, while the deep chamfers, _c_, _d_, _g_, _h_, are +characteristic of northern work, and may be partly derived or imitated +from the angle shaft; while, with the usual extravagance of the northern +architects, they are cut deeper and deeper until we arrive at the +condition _f_, Fig. LIV., which is the favorite chamfer at Bourges and +Bayeux, and in other good French work. + +I have placed in the Appendix[73] a figure belonging to this subject, +but which cannot interest the general reader, showing the number of +possible chamfers with a roll moulding of given size. + +Sec. XIII. If we take the plain chamfer, _b_, of Fig. LII., on a large +scale, as at _a_, Fig. LV., and bead both its edges, cutting away the +parts there shaded, we shall have a form much used in richly decorated +Gothic, both in England and Italy. It might be more simply described as +the chamfer _a_ of Fig. LII., with an incision on each edge; but the +part here shaded is often worked into ornamental forms, not being +entirely cut away. + +[Illustration: Fig. LV.] + +Sec. XIV. Many other mouldings, which at first sight appear very +elaborate, are nothing more than a chamfer, with a series of small echoes +of it on each side, dying away with a ripple on the surface of the wall, +as in _b_, Fig. LV., from Coutances (observe, here the white part is the +solid stone, the shade is cut away). + +Chamfers of this kind are used on a small scale and in delicate work: +the coarse chamfers are found on all scales: _f_ and _g_, Fig. LIII., in +Venice, form the great angles of almost every Gothic palace; the roll +being a foot or a foot and a half round, and treated as a shaft, with a +capital and fresh base at every story, while the stones of which it is +composed form alternate quoins in the brickwork beyond the chamfer +curve. I need hardly say how much nobler this arrangement is than a +common quoined angle; it gives a finish to the aspect of the whole pile +attainable in no other way. And thus much may serve concerning angle +decoration by chamfer. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [73] Appendix 23: "Varieties of Chamfer." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + THE EDGE AND FILLET. + + +Sec. I. The decoration of the angle by various forms of chamfer and bead, +as above described, is the quietest method we can employ; too quiet, +when great energy is to be given to the moulding, and impossible, when, +instead of a bold angle, we have to deal with a small projecting edge, +like _c_ in Fig. LI. In such cases we may employ a decoration, far ruder +and easier in its simplest conditions than the bead, far more effective +when not used in too great profusion; and of which the complete +developments are the source of mouldings at once the most picturesque +and most serviceable which the Gothic builders invented. + +Sec. II. The gunwales of the Venetian heavy barges being liable to +somewhat rough collision with each other, and with the walls of the +streets, are generally protected by a piece of timber, which projects in +the form of the fillet, _a_, Fig. LI.; but which, like all other fillets, +may, if we so choose, be considered as composed of two angles or edges, +which the natural and most wholesome love of the Venetian boatmen for +ornament, otherwise strikingly evidenced by their painted sails and +glittering flag-vanes, will not suffer to remain wholly undecorated. The +rough service of these timbers, however, will not admit of rich ornament, +and the boatbuilder usually contents himself with cutting a series of +notches in each edge, one series alternating with the other, as +represented at 1, Plate IX. + +Sec. III. In that simple ornament, not as confined to Venetian boats, +but as representative of a general human instinct to hack at an edge, +demonstrated by all school-boys and all idle possessors of penknives or +other cutting instruments on both sides of the Atlantic;--in that rude +Venetian gunwale, I say, is the germ of all the ornament which has +touched, with its rich successions of angular shadow, the portals and +archivolts of nearly every early building of importance, from the North +Cape to the Straits of Messina. Nor are the modifications of the first +suggestion intricate. All that is generic in their character may be seen +on Plate IX. at a glance. + +[Illustration: Plate IX. + EDGE DECORATION.] + +Sec. IV. Taking a piece of stone instead of timber, and enlarging the +notches, until they meet each other, we have the condition 2, which is a +moulding from the tomb of the Doge Andrea Dandolo, in St. Mark's. Now, +considering this moulding as composed of two decorated edges, each edge +will be reduced, by the meeting of the notches, to a series of +four-sided pyramids (as marked off by the dotted lines), which, the +notches here being shallow, will be shallow pyramids; but by deepening +the notches, we get them as at 3, with a profile _a_, more or less +steep. This moulding I shall always call "the plain dogtooth;" it is +used in profusion in the Venetian and Veronese Gothic, generally set +with its front to the spectator, as here at 3; but its effect may be +much varied by placing it obliquely (4, and profile as at _b_); or with +one side horizontal (5, and profile _c_). Of these three conditions, 3 +and 5 are exactly the same in reality, only differently placed; but in 4 +the pyramid is obtuse, and the inclination of its base variable, the +upper side of it being always kept vertical. It is comparatively rare. +Of the three, the last, 5, is far the most brilliant in effect, giving +in the distance a zigzag form to the high light on it, and a full sharp +shadow below. The use of this shadow is sufficiently seen by fig. 7 in +this plate (the arch on the left, the number beneath it), in which these +levelled dogteeth, with a small interval between each, are employed to +set off by their vigor the delicacy of floral ornament above. This arch +is the side of a niche from the tomb of Can Signorio della Scala, at +Verona; and the value, as well as the distant expression of its +dogtooth, may be seen by referring to Prout's beautiful drawing of this +tomb in his "Sketches in France and Italy." I have before observed +that this artist never fails of seizing the true and leading expression +of whatever he touches: he has made this ornament the leading feature of +the niche, expressing it, as in distance it is only expressible, by a +zigzag. + +Sec. V. The reader may perhaps be surprised at my speaking so highly of +this drawing, if he take the pains to compare Prout's symbolism of the +work on the niche with the facts as they stand here in Plate IX. But the +truth is that Prout has rendered the effect of the monument on the mind +of the passer-by;--the effect it was intended to have on every man who +turned the corner of the street beneath it: and in this sense there is +actually more truth and likeness[74] in Prout's translation than in my +fac-simile, made diligently by peering into the details from a ladder. I +do not say that all the symbolism in Prout's Sketch is the best +possible; but it is the best which any architectural draughtsman has yet +invented; and in its application to special subjects it always shows +curious internal evidence that the sketch has been made on the spot, and +that the artist tried to draw what he saw, not to invent an attractive +subject. I shall notice other instances of this hereafter. + +Sec. VI. The dogtooth, employed in this simple form, is, however, rather +a foil for other ornament, than itself a satisfactory or generally +available decoration. It is, however, easy to enrich it as we choose: +taking up its simple form at 3, and describing the arcs marked by the +dotted lines upon its sides, and cutting a small triangular cavity +between them, we shall leave its ridges somewhat rudely representative +of four leaves, as at 8, which is the section and front view of one of +the Venetian stone cornices described above, Chap. XIV., Sec. IV., the +figure 8 being here put in the hollow of the gutter. The dogtooth is put +on the outer lower truncation, and is actually in position as fig. 5; +but being always looked up to, is to the spectator as 3, and always +rich and effective. The dogteeth are perhaps most frequently expanded +to the width of fig. 9. + +Sec. VII. As in nearly all other ornaments previously described, so in +this,--we have only to deepen the Italian cutting, and we shall get the +Northern type. If we make the original pyramid somewhat steeper, and +instead of lightly incising, cut it through, so as to have the leaves +held only by their points to the base, we shall have the English +dogtooth; somewhat vulgar in its piquancy, when compared with French +mouldings of a similar kind.[75] It occurs, I think, on one house in +Venice, in the Campo St. Polo; but the ordinary moulding, with light +incisions, is frequent in archivolts and architraves, as well as in the +roof cornices. + +Sec. VIII. This being the simplest treatment of the pyramid, fig. 10, from +the refectory of Wenlock Abbey, is an example of the simplest decoration +of the recesses or inward angles between the pyramids; that is to say, +of a simple hacked edge like one of those in fig. 2, the _cuts_ being +taken up and decorated instead of the _points_. Each is worked into a +small trefoiled arch, with an incision round it to mark its outline, and +another slight incision above, expressing the angle of the first +cutting. I said that the teeth in fig. 7 had in distance the effect of a +zigzag: in fig. 10 this zigzag effect is seized upon and developed, but +with the easiest and roughest work; the angular incision being a mere +limiting line, like that described in Sec. IX. of the last chapter. But +hence the farther steps to every condition of Norman ornament are self +evident. I do not say that all of them arose from development of the +dogtooth in this manner, many being quite independent inventions and +uses of zigzag lines; still, they may all be referred to this simple +type as their root and representative, that is to say, the mere hack of +the Venetian gunwale, with a limiting line following the resultant +zigzag. + +Sec. IX. Fig. 11 is a singular and much more artificial condition, cast +in brick, from the church of the Frari, and given here only for future +reference. Fig. 12, resulting from a fillet with the cuts on each of its +edges interrupted by a bar, is a frequent Venetian moulding, and of +great value; but the plain or leaved dogteeth have been the favorites, +and that to such a degree, that even the Renaissance architects took +them up; and the best bit of Renaissance design in Venice, the side of +the Ducal Palace next the Bridge of Sighs, owes great part of its +splendor to its foundation, faced with large flat dogteeth, each about a +foot wide in the base, with their points truncated, and alternating with +cavities which are their own negatives or casts. + +Sec. X. One other form of the dogtooth is of great importance in northern +architecture, that produced by oblique cuts slightly curved, as in the +margin, Fig. LVI. It is susceptible of the most fantastic and endless +decoration; each of the resulting leaves being, in the early porches of +Rouen and Lisieux, hollowed out and worked into branching tracery: and +at Bourges, for distant effect, worked into plain leaves, or bold bony +processes with knobs at the points, and near the spectator, into +crouching demons and broad winged owls, and other fancies and +intricacies, innumerable and inexpressible. + +[Illustration: Fig. LVI.] + +Sec. XI. Thus much is enough to be noted respecting edge decoration. +We were next to consider the fillet. Professor Willis has noticed an +ornament, which he has called the Venetian dentil, "as the most +universal ornament in its own district that ever I met with;" but has +not noticed the reason for its frequency. It is nevertheless highly +interesting. + +The whole early architecture of Venice is architecture of incrustation: +this has not been enough noticed in its peculiar relation to that of the +rest of Italy. There is, indeed, much incrusted architecture throughout +Italy, in elaborate ecclesiastical work, but there is more which is +frankly of brick, or thoroughly of stone. But the Venetian habitually +incrusted his work with nacre; he built his houses, even the meanest, as +if he had been a shell-fish,--roughly inside, mother-of-pearl on the +surface: he was content, perforce, to gather the clay of the Brenta +banks, and bake it into brick for his substance of wall; but he overlaid +it with the wealth of ocean, with the most precious foreign marbles. You +might fancy early Venice one wilderness of brick, which a petrifying sea +had beaten upon till it coated it with marble: at first a dark +city--washed white by the sea foam. And I told you before that it was +also a city of shafts and arches, and that its dwellings were raised +upon continuous arcades, among which the sea waves wandered. Hence the +thoughts of its builders were early and constantly directed to the +incrustation of arches. + +[Illustration: Fig. LVII.] + +Sec. XII. In Fig. LVII. I have given two of these Byzantine stilted +arches: the one on the right, _a_, as they now too often appear, in its +bare brickwork; that on the left, with its alabaster covering, literally +marble defensive armor, riveted together in pieces, which follow the +contours of the building. Now, on the wall, these pieces are mere flat +slabs cut to the arch outline; but under the soffit of the arch the +marble mail is curved, often cut singularly thin, like bent tiles, and +fitted together so that the pieces would sustain each other even without +rivets. It is of course desirable that this thin sub-arch of marble +should project enough to sustain the facing of the wall; and the reader +will see, in Fig. LVII., that its edge forms a kind of narrow band round +the arch (_b_), a band which the least enrichment would render a +valuable decorative feature. Now this band is, of course, if the +soffit-pieces project a little beyond the face of the wall-pieces, a +mere fillet, like the wooden gunwale in Plate IX.; and the question is, +how to enrich it most wisely. It might easily have been dogtoothed, but +the Byzantine architects had not invented the dogtooth, and would not +have used it here, if they had; for the dogtooth cannot be employed +alone, especially on so principal an angle as this of the main arches, +without giving to the whole building a peculiar look, which I can not +otherwise describe than as being to the eye, exactly what untempered +acid is to the tongue. The mere dogtooth is an _acid_ moulding, and can +only be used in certain mingling with others, to give them piquancy; +never alone. What, then, will be the next easiest method of giving +interest to the fillet? + +[Illustration: Fig. LVIII.] + +Sec. XIII. Simply to make the incisions square instead of sharp, and to +leave equal intervals of the square edge between them. Fig. LVIII. is +one of the curved pieces of arch armor, with its edge thus treated; one +side only being done at the bottom, to show the simplicity and ease of +the work. This ornament gives force and interest to the edge of the +arch, without in the least diminishing its quietness. Nothing was ever, +nor could be ever invented, fitter for its purpose, or more easily cut. +From the arch it therefore found its way into every position where the +edge of a piece of stone projected, and became, from its constancy of +occurrence in the latest Gothic as well as the earliest Byzantine, most +truly deserving of the name of the "Venetian Dentil." Its complete +intention is now, however, only to be seen in the pictures of Gentile +Bellini and Vittor Carpaccio; for, like most of the rest of the +mouldings of Venetian buildings, it was always either gilded or +painted--often both, gold being laid on the faces of the dentils, and +their recesses colored alternately red and blue. + +Sec. XIV. Observe, however, that the reason above given for the +_universality_ of this ornament was by no means the reason of its +_invention_. The Venetian dentil is a particular application (consequent +on the incrusted character of Venetian architecture) of the general idea +of dentil, which had been originally given by the Greeks, and realised +both by them and by the Byzantines in many laborious forms, long before +there was need of them for arch armor; and the lower half of Plate IX. +will give some idea of the conditions which occur in the Romanesque of +Venice, distinctly derived from the classical dentil; and of the gradual +transition to the more convenient and simple type, the running-hand +dentil, which afterwards became the characteristic of Venetian Gothic. +No. 13[76] is the common dentiled cornice, which occurs repeatedly in +St. Mark's; and, as late as the thirteenth century, a reduplication of +it, forming the abaci of the capitals of the Piazzetta shafts. Fig. 15 +is perhaps an earlier type; perhaps only one of more careless +workmanship, from a Byzantine ruin in the Rio di Ca' Foscari: and it is +interesting to compare it with fig. 14 from the Cathedral of Vienne, in +South France. Fig. 17, from St. Mark's, and 18, from the apse of Murano, +are two very early examples in which the future true Venetian dentil is +already developed in method of execution, though the object is still +only to imitate the classical one; and a rude imitation of the bead is +joined with it in fig. 17. No. 16 indicates two examples of experimental +forms: the uppermost from the tomb of Mastino della Scala, at Verona; +the lower from a door in Venice, I believe, of the thirteenth century: +19 is a more frequent arrangement, chiefly found in cast brick, and +connecting the dentils with the dogteeth: 20 is a form introduced richly +in the later Gothic, but of rare occurrence until the latter half of the +thirteenth century. I shall call it the _gabled_ dentil. It is found in +the greatest profusion in sepulchral Gothic, associated with several +slight variations from the usual dentil type, of which No. 21, from the +tomb of Pietro Cornaro, may serve as an example. + +Sec. XV. All the forms given in Plate IX. are of not unfrequent +occurrence: varying much in size and depth, according to the expression of +the work in which they occur; generally increasing in size in late work +(the earliest dentils are seldom more than an inch or an inch and a half +long: the fully developed dentil of the later Gothic is often as much as +four or five in length, by one and a half in breadth); but they are all +somewhat rare, compared to the true or armor dentil, above described. On +the other hand, there are one or two unique conditions, which will be +noted in the buildings where they occur.[77] The Ducal Palace furnishes +three anomalies in the arch, dogtooth, and dentil: it has a hyperbolic +arch, as noted above, Chap. X., Sec. XV.; it has a double-fanged dogtooth +in the rings of the spiral shafts on its angles; and, finally, it has a +dentil with concave sides, of which the section and two of the blocks, +real size, are given in Plate XIV. The labor of obtaining this difficult +profile has, however, been thrown away; for the effect of the dentil at +ten feet distance is exactly the same as that of the usual form: and the +reader may consider the dogtooth and dentil in that plate as fairly +representing the common use of them in the Venetian Gothic. + +Sec. XVI. I am aware of no other form of fillet decoration requiring +notice: in the Northern Gothic, the fillet is employed chiefly to give +severity or flatness to mouldings supposed to be too much rounded, and +is therefore generally plain. It is itself an ugly moulding, and, when +thus employed, is merely a foil for others, of which, however, it at +last usurped the place, and became one of the most painful features in +the debased Gothic both of Italy and the North. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [74] I do not here speak of artistical merits, but the play of the + light among the lower shafts is also singularly beautiful in this + sketch of Prout's, and the character of the wild and broken leaves, + half dead, on the stone of the foreground. + + [75] Vide the "Seven Lamps," p. 122. + + [76] The sections of all the mouldings are given on the right of + each; the part which is constantly solid being shaded, and that + which is cut into dentils left. + + [77] As, however, we shall not probably be led either to Bergamo or + Bologna, I may mention here a curiously rich use of the dentil, + entirely covering the foliation and tracery of a niche on the + outside of the duomo of Bergamo; and a roll, entirely incrusted, as + the handle of a mace often is with nails, with massy dogteeth or + nail-heads, on the door of the Pepoli palace of Bologna. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + THE ROLL AND RECESS. + + +Sec. I. I have classed these two means of architectural effect together, +because the one is in most cases the negative of the other, and is used +to relieve it exactly as shadow relieves light; recess alternating with +roll, not only in lateral, but in successive order; not merely side by +side with each other, but interrupted the one by the other in their own +lines. A recess itself has properly no decoration; but its depth gives +value to the decoration which flanks, encloses, or interrupts it, and +the form which interrupts it best is the roll. + +Sec. II. I use the word roll generally for any mouldings which present +to the eye somewhat the appearance of being cylindrical, and look like +round rods. When upright, they are in appearance, if not in fact, small +shafts; and are a kind of bent shaft, even when used in archivolts and +traceries;--when horizontal, they confuse themselves with cornices, and +are, in fact, generally to be considered as the best means of drawing an +architectural line in any direction, the soft curve of their side +obtaining some shadow at nearly all times of the day, and that more +tender and grateful to the eye than can be obtained either by an +incision or by any other form of projection. + +Sec. III. Their decorative power is, however, too slight for rich work, +and they frequently require, like the angle and the fillet, to be rendered +interesting by subdivision or minor ornament of their own. When the roll +is small, this is effected, exactly as in the case of the fillet, by +cutting pieces out of it; giving in the simplest results what is called +the Norman billet moulding: and when the cuts are given in couples, and +the pieces rounded into spheres and almonds, we have the ordinary Greek +bead, both of them too well known to require illustration. The Norman +billet we shall not meet with in Venice; the bead constantly occurs in +Byzantine, and of course in Renaissance work. In Plate IX., Fig. 17, +there is a remarkable example of its early treatment, where the cuts in +it are left sharp. + +Sec. IV. But the roll, if it be of any size, deserves better treatment. +Its rounded surface is too beautiful to be cut away in notches; and it +is rather to be covered with flat chasing or inlaid patterns. Thus +ornamented, it gradually blends itself with the true shaft, both in the +Romanesque work of the North, and in the Italian connected schools; and +the patterns used for it are those used for shaft decoration in general. + +Sec. V. But, as alternating with the recess, it has a decoration peculiar +to itself. We have often, in the preceding chapters, noted the fondness +of the Northern builders for deep shade and hollowness in their +mouldings; and in the second chapter of the "Seven Lamps," the changes +are described which reduced the massive roll mouldings of the early +Gothic to a series of recesses, separated by bars of light. The shape of +these recesses is at present a matter of no importance to us: it was, +indeed, endlessly varied; but needlessly, for the value of a recess is +in its darkness, and its darkness disguises its form. But it was not in +mere wanton indulgence of their love of shade that the Flamboyant +builders deepened the furrows of their mouldings: they had found a means +of decorating those furrows as rich as it was expressive, and the entire +frame-work of their architecture was designed with a view to the effect +of this decoration; where the ornament ceases, the frame-work is meagre +and mean: but the ornament is, in the best examples of the style, +unceasing. + +Sec. VI. It is, in fact, an ornament formed by the ghosts or anatomies of +the old shafts, left in the furrows which had taken their place. Every +here and there, a fragment of a roll or shaft is left in the recess or +furrow: a billet-moulding on a huge scale, but a billet-moulding reduced +to a skeleton; for the fragments of roll are cut hollow, and worked into +mere entanglement of stony fibres, with the gloom of the recess shown +through them. These ghost rolls, forming sometimes pedestals, sometimes +canopies, sometimes covering the whole recess with an arch of tracery, +beneath which it runs like a tunnel, are the peculiar decorations of the +Flamboyant Gothic. + +Sec. VII. Now observe, in all kinds of decoration, we must keep carefully +under separate heads, the consideration of the changes wrought in the +mere physical form, and in the intellectual purpose of ornament. The +relations of the canopy to the statue it shelters, are to be considered +altogether distinctly from those of the canopy to the building which it +decorates. In its earliest conditions the canopy is partly confused with +representations of miniature architecture: it is sometimes a small +temple or gateway, sometimes a honorary addition to the pomp of a saint, +a covering to his throne, or to his shrine; and this canopy is often +expressed in bas-relief (as in painting), without much reference to the +great requirements of the building. At other times it is a real +protection to the statue, and is enlarged into a complete pinnacle, +carried on proper shafts, and boldly roofed. But in the late northern +system the canopies are neither expressive nor protective. They are a +kind of stone lace-work, required for the ornamentation of the building, +for which the statues are often little more than an excuse, and of which +the physical character is, as above described, that of ghosts of +departed shafts. + +Sec. VIII. There is, of course, much rich tabernacle work which will not +come literally under this head, much which is straggling or flat in its +plan, connecting itself gradually with the ordinary forms of independent +shrines and tombs; but the general idea of all tabernacle work is marked +in the common phrase of a "niche," that is to say a hollow intended for +a statue, and crowned by a canopy; and this niche decoration only +reaches its full development when the Flamboyant hollows are cut +deepest, and when the manner and spirit of sculpture had so much lost +their purity and intensity that it became desirable to draw the eye away +from the statue to its covering, so that at last the canopy became the +more important of the two, and is itself so beautiful that we are often +contented with architecture from which profanity has struck the statues, +if only the canopies are left; and consequently, in our modern +ingenuity, even set up canopies where we have no intention of setting +statues. + +Sec. IX. It is a pity that thus we have no really noble example of the +effect of the statue in the recesses of architecture: for the Flamboyant +recess was not so much a preparation for it as a gulf which swallowed it +up. When statues were most earnestly designed, they were thrust forward +in all kinds of places, often in front of the pillars, as at Amiens, +awkwardly enough, but with manly respect to the purpose of the figures. +The Flamboyant hollows yawned at their sides, the statues fell back into +them, and nearly disappeared, and a flash of flame in the shape of a +canopy rose as they expired. + +Sec. X. I do not feel myself capable at present of speaking with perfect +justice of this niche ornament of the north, my late studies in Italy +having somewhat destroyed my sympathies with it. But I once loved it +intensely, and will not say anything to depreciate it now, save only +this, that while I have studied long at Abbeville, without in the least +finding that it made me care less for Verona, I never remained long in +Verona without feeling some doubt of the nobility of Abbeville. + +Sec. XI. Recess decoration by leaf mouldings is constantly and beautifully +associated in the north with niche decoration, but requires no special +notice, the recess in such cases being used merely to give value to the +leafage by its gloom, and the difference between such conditions and +those of the south being merely that in the one the leaves are laid +across a hollow, and in the other over a solid surface; but in neither +of the schools exclusively so, each in some degree intermingling the +method of the other. + +Sec. XII. Finally the recess decoration by the ball flower is very +definite and characteristic, found, I believe, chiefly in English work. It +consists merely in leaving a small boss or sphere, fixed, as it were, at +intervals in the hollows; such bosses being afterwards carved into +roses, or other ornamental forms, and sometimes lifted quite up out of +the hollow, on projecting processes, like vertebrae, so as to make them +more conspicuous, as throughout the decoration of the cathedral of +Bourges. + +The value of this ornament is chiefly in the _spotted_ character which +it gives to the lines of mouldings seen from a distance. It is very rich +and delightful when not used in excess; but it would satiate and weary +the eye if it were ever used in general architecture. The spire of +Salisbury, and of St. Mary's at Oxford, are agreeable as isolated +masses; but if an entire street were built with this spotty decoration +at every casement, we could not traverse it to the end without disgust. +It is only another example of the constant aim at piquancy of effect +which characterised the northern builders; an ingenious but somewhat +vulgar effort to give interest to their grey masses of coarse stone, +without overtaking their powers either of invention or execution. We +will thank them for it without blame or praise, and pass on. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + THE BASE. + + +Sec. I. We know now as much as is needful respecting the methods of minor +and universal decorations, which were distinguished in Chapter XXII., Sec. +III., from the ornament which has special relation to particular parts. +This local ornament, which, it will be remembered, we arranged in Sec. II. +of the same chapter under five heads, we have next, under those heads, +to consider. And, first, the ornament of the bases, both of walls and +shafts. + +It was noticed in our account of the divisions of a wall, that there are +something in those divisions like the beginning, the several courses, +and the close of a human life. And as, in all well-conducted lives, the +hard work, and roughing, and gaining of strength come first, the honor +or decoration in certain intervals during their course, but most of all +in their close, so, in general, the base of the wall, which is its +beginning of labor, will bear least decoration, its body more, +especially those epochs of rest called its string courses; but its crown +or cornice most of all. Still, in some buildings, all these are +decorated richly, though the last most; and in others, when the base is +well protected and yet conspicuous, it may probably receive even more +decoration than other parts. + +Sec. II. Now, the main things to be expressed in a base are its levelness +and evenness. We cannot do better than construct the several members of +the base, as developed in Fig. II., p. 55, each of a different colored +marble, so as to produce marked level bars of color all along the +foundation. This is exquisitely done in all the Italian elaborate wall +bases; that of St. Anastasia at Verona is one of the most perfect +existing, for play of color; that of Giotto's campanile is on the whole +the most beautifully finished. Then, on the vertical portions, _a_, _b_, +_c_, we may put what patterns in mosaic we please, so that they be not +too rich; but if we choose rather to have sculpture (or _must_ have it +for want of stones to inlay), then observe that all sculpture on bases +must be in panels, or it will soon be worn away, and that a plain +panelling is often good without any other ornament. The member _b_, +which in St. Mark's is subordinate, and _c_, which is expanded into a +seat, are both of them decorated with simple but exquisitely-finished +panelling, in red and white or green and white marble; and the member +_e_ is in bases of this kind very valuable, as an expression of a firm +beginning of the substance of the wall itself. This member has been of +no service to us hitherto, and was unnoticed in the chapters on +construction; but it was expressed in the figure of the wall base, on +account of its great value when the foundation is of stone and the wall +of brick (coated or not). In such cases it is always better to add the +course _e_, above the slope of the base, than abruptly to begin the +common masonry of the wall. + +Sec. III. It is, however, with the member _d_, or Xb, that we are most +seriously concerned; for this being the essential feature of all bases, +and the true preparation for the wall or shaft, it is most necessary +that here, if anywhere, we should have full expression of levelness and +precision; and farther, that, if possible, the eye should not be +suffered to rest on the points of junction of the stones, which would +give an effect of instability. Both these objects are accomplished by +attracting the eye to two rolls, separated by a deep hollow, in the +member _d_ itself. The bold projections of their mouldings entirely +prevent the attention from being drawn to the joints of the masonry, and +besides form a simple but beautifully connected group of bars of shadow, +which express, in their perfect parallelism, the absolute levelness of +the foundation. + +Sec. IV. I need hardly give any perspective drawing of an arrangement +which must be perfectly familiar to the reader, as occurring under nearly +every column of the too numerous classical buildings all over Europe. +But I may name the base of the Bank of England as furnishing a very +simple instance of the group, with a square instead of a rounded hollow, +both forming the base of the wall, and gathering into that of the shafts +as they occur; while the bases of the pillars of the facade of the +British Museum are as good examples as the reader can study on a larger +scale. + +[Illustration: Plate X. + PROFILES OF BASES.] + +Sec. V. I believe this group of mouldings was first invented by the +Greeks, and it has never been materially improved, as far as its peculiar +purpose is concerned;[78] the classical attempts at its variation being +the ugliest: one, the using a single roll of larger size, as may be seen +in the Duke of York's column, which therefore looks as if it stood on a +large sausage (the Monument has the same base, but more concealed by +pedestal decoration): another, the using two rolls without the +intermediate cavetto,--a condition hardly less awkward, and which may be +studied to advantage in the wall and shaftbases of the Athenaeum +Club-house: and another, the introduction of what are called fillets +between the rolls, as may be seen in the pillars of Hanover Chapel, +Regent Street, which look, in consequence, as if they were standing upon +a pile of pewter collection plates. But the only successful changes have +been mediaeval; and their nature will be at once understood by a glance +at the varieties given on the opposite page. It will be well first to +give the buildings in which they occur, in order. + + 1. Santa Fosca, Torcello. | 14. Ca' Giustiniani, Venice. + 2. North transept, St. Mark's, | 15. Byzantine fragment, Venice. + Venice. | 16. St. Mark's, upper Colonnade. + 3. Nave, Torcello. | 17. Ducal Palace, Venice (windows.) + 4. Nave, Torcello. | 18. Ca' Falier, Venice. + 5. South transept, St. Mark's. | 19. St. Zeno, Verona. + 6. Northern portico, upper shafts, | 20. San Stefano, Venice. + St. Mark's. | 21. Ducal Palace, Venice (windows.) + 7. Another of the same group. | 22. Nave, Salisbury. + 8. Cortile of St. Ambrogio, Milan. | 23. Santa Fosca, Torcello. + 9. Nave shafts, St. Michele, Pavia.| 24. Nave, Lyons Cathedral. + 10. Outside wall base, St. Mark's, | 25. Notre Dame, Dijon. + Venice. | 26. Nave, Bourges Cathedral. + 11. Fondaco de' Turchi, Venice. | 27. Nave, Mortain (Normandy). + 12. Nave, Vienne, France. | 28. Nave, Rouen Cathedral. + 13. Fondaco de' Turchi, Venice. | + +Sec. VI. Eighteen out of the twenty eight varieties are Venetian, +being bases to which I shall have need of future reference; but the +interspersed examples, 8, 9, 12, and 19, from Milan, Pavia, Vienne +(France), and Verona, show the exactly correspondent conditions of the +Romanesque base at the period, throughout the centre of Europe. The last +five examples show the changes effected by the French Gothic architects: +the Salisbury base (22) I have only introduced to show its dulness and +vulgarity beside them; and 23, from Torcello, for a special reason, in +that place. + +Sec. VII. The reader will observe that the two bases, 8 and 9, from the +two most important Lombardic churches of Italy, St. Ambrogio of Milan and +St. Michele of Pavia, mark the character of the barbaric base founded on +pure Roman models, sometimes approximating to such models very closely; +and the varieties 10, 11, 13, 16 are Byzantine types, also founded on +Roman models. But in the bases 1 to 7 inclusive, and, still more +characteristically, in 23 below, there is evidently an original element, +a tendency to use the fillet and hollow instead of the roll, which is +eminently Gothic; which in the base 3 reminds one even of Flamboyant +conditions, and is excessively remarkable as occurring in Italian work +certainly not later than the tenth century, taking even the date of the +last rebuilding of the Duomo of Torcello, though I am strongly inclined +to consider these bases portions of the original church. And I have +therefore put the base 23 among the Gothic group to which it has so +strong relationship, though, on the last supposition, five centuries +older than the earliest of the five terminal examples; and it is still +more remarkable because it reverses the usual treatment of the lower +roll, which is in general a tolerably accurate test of the age of a +base, in the degree of its projection. Thus, in the examples 2, 3, 4, 5, +9, 10, 12, the lower roll is hardly rounded at all, and diametrically +opposed to the late Gothic conditions, 24 to 28, in which it advances +gradually, like a wave preparing to break, and at last is actually seen +curling over with the long-backed rush of surf upon the shore. Yet the +Torcello base resembles these Gothic ones both in expansion beneath and +in depth of cavetto above. + +Sec. VIII. There can be no question of the ineffable superiority of these +Gothic bases, in grace of profile, to any ever invented by the ancients. +But they have all two great faults: They seem, in the first place, to +have been designed without sufficient reference to the necessity of +their being usually seen from above; their grace of profile cannot be +estimated when so seen, and their excessive expansion gives them an +appearance of flatness and separation from the shaft, as if they had +splashed out under its pressure: in the second place their cavetto is so +deeply cut that it has the appearance of a black fissure between the +members of the base; and in the Lyons and Bourges shafts, 24 and 26, it +is impossible to conquer the idea suggested by it, that the two stones +above and below have been intended to join close, but that some pebbles +have got in and kept them from fitting; one is always expecting the +pebbles to be crushed, and the shaft to settle into its place with a +thunder-clap. + +Sec. IX. For these reasons, I said that the profile of the pure classic +base had hardly been materially improved; but the various conditions of +it are beautiful or commonplace, in proportion to the variety of +proportion among their lines and the delicacy of their curvatures; that +is to say, the expression of characters like those of the abstract lines +in Plate VII. + +The five best profiles in Plate X. are 10, 17, 19, 20, 21; 10 is +peculiarly beautiful in the opposition between the bold projection of +its upper roll, and the delicate leafy curvature of its lower; and this +and 21 may be taken as nearly perfect types, the one of the steep, the +other of the expansive basic profiles. The characters of all, however, +are so dependent upon their place and expression, that it is unfair to +judge them thus separately; and the precision of curvature is a matter +of so small consequence in general effect, that we need not here pursue +the subject farther. + +[Illustration: Fig. LIX.] + +Sec. X. We have thus far, however, considered only the lines of moulding +in the member X b, whether of wall or shaft base. But the reader will +remember that in our best shaft base, in Fig. XII. (p. 78), certain +props or spurs were applied to the slope of X b; but now that X b is +divided into these delicate mouldings, we cannot conveniently apply the +spur to its irregular profile; we must be content to set it against the +lower roll. Let the upper edge of this lower roll be the curved line +here, _a_, _d_, _e_, _b_, Fig. LIX., and _c_ the angle of the square +plinth projecting beneath it. Then the spur, applied as we saw in Chap. +VII., will be of some such form as the triangle _c e d_, Fig. LIX. + +Sec. XI. Now it has just been stated that it is of small importance +whether the abstract lines of the profile of a base moulding be fine or +not, because we rarely stoop down to look at them. But this triangular +spur is nearly always seen from above, and the eye is drawn to it as one +of the most important features of the whole base; therefore it is a point +of immediate necessity to substitute for its harsh right lines (_c d_, +_c e_) some curve of noble abstract character. + +Sec. XII. I mentioned, in speaking of the line of the salvia leaf at p. +224, that I had marked off the portion of it, _x y_, because I thought +it likely to be generally useful to us afterwards; and I promised the +reader that as he had built, so he should decorate his edifice at his +own free will. If, therefore, he likes the above triangular spur, _c d +e_, by all means let him keep it; but if he be on the whole dissatisfied +with it, I may be permitted, perhaps, to advise him to set to work like +a tapestry bee, to cut off the little bit of line of salvia leaf _x y_, +and try how he can best substitute it for the awkward lines _c d c e_. +He may try it any way that he likes; but if he puts the salvia curvature +inside the present lines, he will find the spur looks weak, and I think +he will determine at last on placing it as I have done at _c d_, _c e_, +Fig. LX. (If the reader will be at the pains to transfer the salvia leaf +line with tracing paper, he will find it accurately used in this +figure.) Then I merely add an outer circular line to represent the outer +swell of the roll against which the spur is set, and I put another such +spur to the opposite corner of the square, and we have the half base, +Fig. LX., which is a general type of the best Gothic bases in existence, +being very nearly that of the upper shafts of the Ducal Palace of +Venice. In those shafts the quadrant _a b_, or the upper edge of the +lower roll, is 2 feet 1-3/8 inches round, and the base of the spur _d +e_, is 10 inches; the line _d e_ being therefore to _a b_ as 10 to +25-3/8. In Fig. LX. it is as 10 to 24, the measurement being easier and +the type somewhat more generally representative of the best, _i.e._ +broadest, spurs of Italian Gothic. + +[Illustration: Fig. LX.] + +Sec. XIII. Now, the reader is to remember, there is nothing magical in +salvia leaves: the line I take from them happened merely to fall +conveniently on the page, and might as well have been taken from +anything else; it is simply its character of gradated curvature which +fits it for our use. On Plate XI., opposite, I have given plans of the +spurs and quadrants of twelve Italian and three Northern bases; these +latter (13), from Bourges, (14) from Lyons, (15) from Rouen, are given +merely to show the Northern disposition to break up bounding lines, and +lose breadth in picturesqueness. These Northern bases look the prettiest +in this plate, because this variation of the outline is nearly all the +ornament they have, being cut very rudely; but the Italian bases above +them are merely prepared by their simple outlines for far richer +decoration at the next step, as we shall see presently. The Northern +bases are to be noted also for another grand error: the projection of +the roll beyond the square plinth, of which the corner is seen, in +various degrees of advancement, in the three examples. 13 is the base +whose profile is No. 26 in Plate X.; 14 is 24 in the same plate; and 15 +is 28. + +[Illustration: Plate XI. + PLANS OF BASES.] + +Sec. XIV. The Italian bases are the following; all, except 7 and 10, being +Venetian: 1 and 2, upper colonnade, St. Mark's; 3, Ca' Falier; 4, lower +colonnade, and 5, transept, St. Mark's; 6, from the Church of St. John +and Paul; 7, from the tomb near St. Anastasia, Verona, described above +(p. 142); 8 and 9, Fon daco de' Turchi, Venice; 10, tomb of Can Mastino +della Scala, Verona; 11, San Stefano, Venice; 12, Ducal Palace, Venice, +upper colonnade. The Nos. 3, 8, 9, 11 are the bases whose profiles are +respectively Nos. 18, 11, 13, and 20 in Plate X. The flat surfaces of +the basic plinths are here shaded; and in the lower corner of the square +occupied by each quadrant is put, also shaded, the central profile of +each spur, from its root at the roll of the base to its point; those of +Nos. 1 and 2 being conjectural, for their spurs were so rude and ugly, +that I took no note of their profiles; but they would probably be as +here given. As these bases, though here, for the sake of comparison, +reduced within squares of equal size, in reality belong to shafts of +very different size, 9 being some six or seven inches in diameter, +and 6, three or four feet, the proportionate size of the roll varies +accordingly, being largest, as in 9, where the base is smallest, and in +6 and 12 the leaf profile is given on a larger scale than the plan, or +its character could not have been exhibited. + +[Illustration: Plate XII. + DECORATION OF BASES.] + +Sec. XV. Now, in all these spurs, the reader will observe that the +narrowest are for the most part the earliest. No. 2, from the upper +colonnade of St. Mark's, is the only instance I ever saw of the double +spur, as transitive between the square and octagon plinth; the truncated +form, 1, is also rare and very ugly. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 are the +general conditions of the Byzantine spur; 8 is a very rare form of plan +in Byzantine work, but proved to be so by its rude level profile; while +7, on the contrary, Byzantine in plan, is eminently Gothic in the +profile. 9 to 12 are from formed Gothic buildings, equally refined in +their profile and plan. + +Sec. XVI. The character of the profile is indeed much altered by the +accidental nature of the surface decoration; but the importance of the +broad difference between the raised and flat profile will be felt on +glancing at the examples 1 to 6 in Plate XII. The three upper examples +are the Romanesque types, which occur as parallels with the Byzantine +types, 1 to 3 of Plate XI. Their plans would be nearly the same; but +instead of resembling flat leaves, they are literally spurs, or claws, +as high as they are broad; and the third, from St. Michele of Pavia, +appears to be intended to have its resemblance to a claw enforced by the +transverse fillet. 1 is from St. Ambrogio, Milan; 2 from Vienne, France. +The 4th type, Plate XII., almost like the extremity of a man's foot, is +a Byzantine form (perhaps worn on the edges), from the nave of St. +Mark's; and the two next show the unity of the two principles, forming +the perfect Italian Gothic types,--5, from tomb of Can Signorio della +Scala, Verona; 6, from San Stefano, Venice (the base 11 of Plate XI., in +perspective). The two other bases, 10 and 12 of Plate XI., are +conditions of the same kind, showing the varieties of rise and fall in +exquisite modulation; the 10th, a type more frequent at Verona than +Venice, in which the spur profile overlaps the roll, instead of rising +out of it, and seems to hold it down, as if it were a ring held by +sockets. This is a character found both in early and late work; a kind +of band, or fillet, appears to hold, and even compress, the _centre_ of +the roll in the base of one of the crypt shafts of St. Peter's, Oxford, +which has also spurs at its angles; and long bands flow over the base of +the angle shaft of the Ducal Palace of Venice, next the Porta della +Carta. + +Sec. XVII. When the main contours of the base are once determined, its +decoration is as easy as it is infinite. I have merely given, in Plate +XII., three examples to which I shall need to refer, hereafter. No. 9 is +a very early and curious one; the decoration of the base 6 in Plate XI., +representing a leaf turned over and flattened down; or, rather, the idea +of the turned leaf, worked as well as could be imagined on the flat +contour of the spur. Then 10 is the perfect, but simplest possible +development of the same idea, from the earliest bases of the upper +colonnade of the Ducal Palace, that is to say, the bases of the sea +facade; and 7 and 8 are its lateral profile and transverse section. +Finally, 11 and 12 are two of the spurs of the later shafts of the same +colonnade on the Piazzetta side (No. 12 of Plate XI.). No. 11 occurs on +one of these shafts only, and is singularly beautiful. I suspect it to +be earlier than the other, which is the characteristic base of the rest +of the series, and already shows the loose, sensual, ungoverned +character of fifteenth century ornament in the dissoluteness of its +rolling. + +Sec. XVIII. I merely give these as examples ready to my hand, and +necessary for future reference; not as in anywise representative of the +variety of the Italian treatment of the general contour, far less of the +endless caprices of the North. The most beautiful base I ever saw, on the +whole, is a Byzantine one in the Baptistery of St. Mark's, in which the +spur profile approximates to that of No. 10 in Plate XI.; but it is formed +by a cherub, who sweeps downwards on the wing. His two wings, as they half +close, form the upper part of the spur, and the rise of it in the front +is formed by exactly the action of Alichino, swooping on the pitch lake: +"quei drizzo, volando, suso il petto." But it requires noble management +to confine such a fancy within such limits. The greater number of the +best bases are formed of leaves; and the reader may amuse himself as he +will by endless inventions of them, from types which he may gather among +the weeds at the nearest roadside. The value of the vegetable form is +especially here, as above noted, Chap. XX., Sec. XXXII., its capability +of unity with the mass of the base, and of being suggested by few lines; +none but the Northern Gothic architects are able to introduce entire +animal forms in this position with perfect success. There is a beautiful +instance at the north door of the west front of Rouen; a lizard pausing +and curling himself round a little in the angle; one expects him the +next instant to lash round the shaft and vanish: and we may with +advantage compare this base with those of Renaissance Scuola di San +Rocca[79] at Venice, in which the architect, imitating the mediaeval +bases, which he did not understand, has put an elephant, four inches +higher, in the same position. + +Sec. XIX. I have not in this chapter spoken at all of the profiles which +are given in Northern architecture to the projections of the lower +members of the base, _b_ and _c_ in Fig. II., nor of the methods in +which both these, and the rolls of the mouldings in Plate X., are +decorated, especially in Roman architecture, with superadded chain work +or chasing of various patterns. Of the first I have not spoken, because +I shall have no occasion to allude to them in the following essay; nor +of the second, because I consider them barbarisms. Decorated rolls and +decorated ogee profiles, such, for instance, as the base of the Arc de +l'Etoile at Paris, are among the richest and farthest refinements of +decorative appliances; and they ought always to be reserved for jambs, +cornices, and archivolts: if you begin with them in the base, you have +no power of refining your decorations as you ascend, and, which is still +worse, you put your most delicate work on the jutting portions of the +foundation,--the very portions which are most exposed to abrasion. The +best expression of a base is that of stern endurance,--the look of being +able to bear roughing; or, if the whole building is so delicate that no +one can be expected to treat even its base with unkindness,[80] then at +least the expression of quiet, prefatory simplicity. The angle spur may +receive such decoration as we have seen, because it is one of the most +important features in the whole building; and the eye is always so +attracted to it that it cannot be in rich architecture left altogether +blank; the eye is stayed upon it by its position, but glides, and ought +to glide, along the basic rolls to take measurement of their length: and +even with all this added fitness, the ornament of the basic spur is +best, in the long run, when it is boldest and simplest. The base above +described, Sec. XVIII., as the most beautiful I ever saw, was not for that +reason the best I ever saw: beautiful in its place, in a quiet corner of +a Baptistery sheeted with jasper and alabaster, it would have been +utterly wrong, nay, even offensive, if used in sterner work, or repeated +along a whole colonnade. The base No. 10 of Plate XII. is the richest +with which I was ever perfectly satisfied for general service; and the +basic spurs of the building which I have named as the best Gothic +monument in the world (p. 141), have no ornament upon them whatever. The +adaptation, therefore, of rich cornice and roll mouldings to the level +and ordinary lines of bases, whether of walls or shafts, I hold to be +one of the worst barbarisms which the Roman and Renaissance architects +ever committed; and that nothing can afterwards redeem the effeminacy +and vulgarity of the buildings in which it prominently takes place. + +Sec. XX. I have also passed over, without present notice, the fantastic +bases formed by couchant animals, which sustain many Lombardic shafts. +The pillars they support have independent bases of the ordinary kind; +and the animal form beneath is less to be considered as a true base +(though often exquisitely combined with it, as in the shaft on the +south-west angle of the cathedral of Genoa) than as a piece of +sculpture, otherwise necessary to the nobility of the building, and +deriving its value from its special positive fulfilment of expressional +purposes, with which we have here no concern. As the embodiment of a +wild superstition, and the representation of supernatural powers, their +appeal to the imagination sets at utter defiance all judgment based on +ordinary canons of law; and the magnificence of their treatment atones, +in nearly every case, for the extravagance of their conception. I should +not admit this appeal to the imagination, if it had been made by a +nation in whom the powers of body and mind had been languid; but by the +Lombard, strong in all the realities of human life, we need not fear +being led astray: the visions of a distempered fancy are not indeed +permitted to replace the truth, or set aside the laws of science: but +the imagination which is thoroughly under the command of the intelligent +will,[81] has a dominion indiscernible by science, and illimitable by +law; and we may acknowledge the authority of the Lombardic gryphons in +the mere splendor of their presence, without thinking idolatry an excuse +for mechanical misconstruction, or dreading to be called upon, in other +cases, to admire a systemless architecture, because it may happen to +have sprung from an irrational religion. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [78] Another most important reason for the peculiar sufficiency and + value of this base, especially as opposed to the bulging forms of + the single or double roll, without the cavetto, has been suggested + by the writer of the Essay on the Aesthetics of Gothic Architecture + in the British Quarterly for August, 1849:--"The Attic base + _recedes_ at the point where, if it suffered from superincumbent + weight, it would bulge out." + + [79] I have put in Appendix 24, "Renaissance Bases," my memorandum + written respecting this building on the spot. But the reader had + better delay referring to it, until we have completed our + examination of ornaments in shafts and capitals. + + [80] Appendix 25, "Romanist Decoration of Bases." + + [81] In all the wildness of the Lombardic fancy (described in + Appendix 8), this command of the will over its action is as distinct + as it is stern. The fancy is, in the early work of the nation, + visibly diseased; but never the will, nor the reason. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + THE WALL VEIL AND SHAFT. + + +Sec. I. No subject has been more open ground of dispute among architects +than the decoration of the wall veil, because no decoration appeared +naturally to grow out of its construction; nor could any curvatures be +given to its surface large enough to produce much impression on the eye. +It has become, therefore, a kind of general field for experiments of +various effects of surface ornament, or has been altogether abandoned to +the mosaicist and fresco painter. But we may perhaps conclude, from what +was advanced in the Fifth Chapter, that there is one kind of decoration +which will, indeed, naturally follow on its construction. For it is +perfectly natural that the different kinds of stone used in its +successive courses should be of different colors; and there are many +associations and analogies which metaphysically justify the introduction +of horizontal bands of color, or of light and shade. They are, in the +first place, a kind of expression of the growth or age of the wall, like +the rings in the wood of a tree; then they are a farther symbol of the +alternation of light and darkness, which was above noted as the source +of the charm of many inferior mouldings: again, they are valuable as an +expression of horizontal space to the imagination, space of which the +conception is opposed, and gives more effect by its opposition, to the +enclosing power of the wall itself (this I spoke of as probably the +great charm of these horizontal bars to the Arabian mind): and again +they are valuable in their suggestion of the natural courses of rocks, +and beds of the earth itself. And to all these powerful imaginative +reasons we have to add the merely ocular charm of interlineal opposition +of color; a charm so great, that all the best colorists, without a +single exception, depend upon it for the most piquant of their pictorial +effects, some vigorous mass of alternate stripes or bars of color being +made central in all their richest arrangements. The whole system of +Tintoret's great picture of the Miracle of St. Mark is poised on the +bars of blue, which cross the white turban of the executioner. + +[Illustration: Plate XIII. + WALL VEIL DECORATIONS.] + +Sec. II. There are, therefore, no ornaments more deeply suggestive in +their simplicity than these alternate bars of horizontal colors; nor do +I know any buildings more noble than those of the Pisan Romanesque, in +which they are habitually employed; and certainly none so graceful, so +attractive, so enduringly delightful in their nobleness. Yet, of this +pure and graceful ornamentation, Professor Willis says, "a practice more +destructive of architectural grandeur can hardly be conceived:" and +modern architects have substituted for it the ingenious ornament of +which the reader has had one specimen above, Fig. III., p. 61, and with +which half the large buildings in London are disfigured, or else +traversed by mere straight lines, as, for instance, the back of the +Bank. The lines on the Bank may, perhaps, be considered typical of +accounts; but in general the walls, if left destitute of them, would +have been as much fairer than the walls charged with them, as a sheet of +white paper is than the leaf of a ledger. But that the reader may have +free liberty of judgment in this matter, I place two examples of the old +and the Renaissance ornament side by side on the opposite page. That on +the right is Romanesque, from St. Pietro of Pistoja; that on the left, +modern English, from the Arthur Club-house, St. James's Street. + +Sec. III. But why, it will be asked, should the lines which mark the +division of the stones be wrong when they are chiselled, and right when +they are marked by color? First, because the color separation is a +natural one. You build with different kinds of stone, of which, +probably, one is more costly than another; which latter, as you cannot +construct your building of it entirely, you arrange in conspicuous bars. +But the chiselling of the stones is a wilful throwing away of time and +labor in defacing the building: it costs much to hew one of those +monstrous blocks into shape; and, when it is done, the building is +_weaker_ than it was before, by just as much stone as has been cut away +from its joints. And, secondly, because, as I have repeatedly urged, +straight lines are ugly things as _lines_, but admirable as limits of +colored spaces; and the joints of the stones, which are painful in +proportion to their regularity, if drawn as lines, are perfectly +agreeable when marked by variations of hue. + +Sec. IV. What is true of the divisions of stone by chiselling, is equally +true of divisions of bricks by pointing. Nor, of course, is the mere +horizontal bar the only arrangement in which the colors of brickwork or +masonry can be gracefully disposed. It is rather one which can only be +employed with advantage when the courses of stone are deep and bold. +When the masonry is small, it is better to throw its colors into +chequered patterns. We shall have several interesting examples to study +in Venice besides the well-known one of the Ducal Palace. The town of +Moulins, in France, is one of the most remarkable on this side the Alps +for its chequered patterns in bricks. The church of Christchurch, +Streatham, lately built, though spoiled by many grievous errors (the +iron work in the campanile being the grossest), yet affords the +inhabitants of the district a means of obtaining some idea of the +variety of effects which are possible with no other material than brick. + +Sec. V. We have yet to notice another effort of the Renaissance architects +to adorn the blank spaces of their walls by what is called Rustication. +There is sometimes an obscure trace of the remains of the imitation of +something organic in this kind of work. In some of the better French +eighteenth century buildings it has a distinctly floral character, like +a final degradation of Flamboyant leafage; and some of our modern +English architects appear to have taken the decayed teeth of elephants +for their type; but, for the most part, it resembles nothing so much as +worm casts; nor these with any precision. If it did, it would not bring +it within the sphere of our properly imitative ornamentation. I thought +it unnecessary to warn the reader that he was not to copy forms of +refuse or corruption; and that, while he might legitimately take the +worm or the reptile for a subject of imitation, he was not to study the +worm cast or coprolite. + +Sec. VI. It is, however, I believe, sometimes supposed that rustication +gives an appearance of solidity to foundation stones. Not so; at least +to any one who knows the look of a hard stone. You may, by rustication, +make your good marble or granite look like wet slime, honeycombed by +sand-eels, or like half-baked tufo covered with slow exudation of +stalactite, or like rotten claystone coated with concretions of its own +mud; but not like the stones of which the hard world is built. Do not +think that nature rusticates her foundations. Smooth sheets of rock, +glistening like sea waves, and that ring under the hammer like a brazen +bell,--that is her preparation for first stories. She does rusticate +sometimes: crumbly sand-stones, with their ripple-marks filled with red +mud; dusty lime-stones, which the rains wash into labyrinthine cavities; +spongy lavas, which the volcano blast drags hither and thither into ropy +coils and bubbling hollows;--these she rusticates, indeed, when she +wants to make oyster-shells and magnesia of them; but not when she needs +to lay foundations with them. Then she seeks the polished surface and +iron heart, not rough looks and incoherent substance. + +Sec. VII. Of the richer modes of wall decoration it is impossible to +institute any general comparison; they are quite infinite, from mere +inlaid geometrical figures up to incrustations of elaborate bas-relief. +The architect has perhaps more license in them, and more power of +producing good effect with rude design than in any other features of the +building; the chequer and hatchet work of the Normans and the rude +bas-reliefs of the Lombards being almost as satisfactory as the delicate +panelling and mosaic of the Duomo of Florence. But this is to be noted +of all good wall ornament, that it retains the expression of firm and +massive substance, and of broad surface, and that architecture instantly +declined when linear design was substituted for massive, and the sense +of weight of wall was lost in a wilderness of upright or undulating +rods. Of the richest and most delicate wall veil decoration by inlaid +work, as practised in Italy from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, I +have given the reader two characteristic examples in Plates XX. and XXI. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXI.] + +Sec. VIII. There are, however, three spaces in which the wall veil, +peculiarly limited in shape, was always felt to be fitted for surface +decoration of the most elaborate kind; and in these spaces are found the +most majestic instances of its treatment, even to late periods. One of +these is the spandril space, or the filling between any two arches, +commonly of the shape _a_, Fig. LXI.; the half of which, or the flank +filling of any arch, is called a spandril. In Chapter XVII., on Filling +of Apertures, the reader will find another of these spaces noted, called +the tympanum, and commonly of the form _b_, Fig. LXI.: and finally, in +Chapter XVIII., he will find the third space described, that between an +arch and its protecting gable, approximating generally to the form _c_, +Fig. LXI. + +Sec. IX. The methods of treating these spaces might alone furnish subject +for three very interesting essays; but I shall only note the most +essential points respecting them. + +(1.) The Spandril. It was observed in Chapter XII., that this portion of +the arch load might frequently be lightened with great advantage by +piercing it with a circle, or with a group of circles; and the roof of +the Euston Square railroad station was adduced as an example. One of the +spandril decorations of Bayeux Cathedral is given in the "Seven Lamps," +Plate VII. fig. 4. It is little more than one of these Euston Square +spandrils, with its circles foliated. + +[Illustration: Plate XIV. + SPANDRIL DECORATION + THE DUCAL PALACE.] + +Sometimes the circle is entirely pierced; at other times it is merely +suggested by a mosaic or light tracery on the wall surface, as in the +plate opposite, which is one of the spandrils of the Ducal Palace at +Venice. It was evidently intended that all the spandrils of this +building should be decorated in this manner, but only two of them seem +to have been completed.[82] + +Sec. X. The other modes of spandril filling may be broadly reduced to four +heads. 1. Free figure sculpture, as in the Chapter-house of Salisbury, +and very superbly along the west front of Bourges, the best Gothic +spandrils I know. 2. Radiated foliage, more or less referred to the +centre, or to the bottom of the spandril for its origin; single figures +with expanded wings often answering the same purpose. 3. Trefoils; and +4, ordinary wall decoration continued into the spandril space, as in +Plate XIII., above, from St. Pietro at Pistoja, and in Westminster +Abbey. The Renaissance architects introduced spandril fillings composed +of colossal human figures reclining on the sides of the arch, in +precarious lassitude; but these cannot come under the head of wall veil +decoration. + +Sec. XI. (2.) The Tympanum. It was noted that, in Gothic architecture, +this is for the most part a detached slab of stone, having no +constructional relation to the rest of the building. The plan of its +sculpture is therefore quite arbitrary; and, as it is generally in a +conspicuous position, near the eye, and above the entrance, it is almost +always charged with a series of rich figure sculptures, solemn in feeling +and consecutive in subject. It occupies in Christian sacred edifices very +nearly the position of the pediment in Greek sculpture. This latter is +itself a kind of tympanum, and charged with sculpture in the same +manner. + +Sec. XII. (3.) The Gable. The same principles apply to it which have been +noted respecting the spandril, with one more of some importance. The +chief difficulty in treating a gable lies in the excessive sharpness of +its upper point. It may, indeed, on its outside apex, receive a finial; +but the meeting of the inside lines of its terminal mouldings is +necessarily both harsh and conspicuous, unless artificially concealed. +The most beautiful victory I have ever seen obtained over this +difficulty was by placing a sharp shield, its point, as usual, +downwards, at the apex of the gable, which exactly reversed the +offensive lines, yet without actually breaking them; the gable being +completed behind the shield. The same thing is done in the Northern and +Southern Gothic: in the porches of Abbeville and the tombs of Verona. + +Sec. XIII. I believe there is little else to be noted of general laws +of ornament respecting the wall veil. We have next to consider its +concentration in the shaft. + +Now the principal beauty of a shaft is its perfect proportion to its +work,--its exact expression of necessary strength. If this has been +truly attained, it will hardly need, in some cases hardly bear, more +decoration than is given to it by its own rounding and taper curvatures; +for, if we cut ornaments in intaglio on its surface, we weaken it; if we +leave them in relief, we overcharge it, and the sweep of the line from +its base to its summit, though deduced in Chapter VIII., from +necessities of construction, is already one of gradated curvature, and +of high decorative value. + +Sec. XIV. It is, however, carefully to be noted, that decorations are +admissible on colossal and on diminutive shafts, which are wrong upon +those of middle size. For, when the shaft is enormous, incisions or +sculpture on its sides (unless colossal also), do not materially +interfere with the sweep of its curve, nor diminish the efficiency of +its sustaining mass. And if it be diminutive, its sustaining function is +comparatively of so small importance, the injurious results of failure +so much less, and the relative strength and cohesion of its mass so much +greater, that it may be suffered in the extravagance of ornament or +outline which would be unendurable in a shaft of middle size, and +impossible in one of colossal. Thus, the shafts drawn in Plate XIII., of +the "Seven Lamps," though given as examples of extravagance, are yet +pleasing in the general effect of the arcade they support; being each +some six or seven feet high. But they would have been monstrous, as +well as unsafe, if they had been sixty or seventy. + +Sec. XV. Therefore, to determine the general rule for shaft decoration, +we must ascertain the proportions representative of the mean bulk of +shafts: they might easily be calculated from a sufficient number of +examples, but it may perhaps be assumed, for our present general +purpose, that the mean standard would be of some twenty feet in height, +by eight or nine in circumference: then this will be the size on which +decoration is most difficult and dangerous: and shafts become more and +more fit subjects for decoration, as they rise farther above, or fall +farther beneath it, until very small and very vast shafts will both be +found to look blank unless they receive some chasing or imagery; blank, +whether they support a chair or table on the one side, or sustain a +village on the ridge of an Egyptian architrave on the other. + +Sec. XVI. Of the various ornamentation of colossal shafts, there are no +examples so noble as the Egyptian; these the reader can study in Mr. +Roberts' work on Egypt nearly as well, I imagine, as if he were beneath +their shadow, one of their chief merits, as examples of method, being +the perfect decision and visibility of their designs at the necessary +distance: contrast with these the incrustations of bas-relief on the +Trajan pillar, much interfering with the smooth lines of the shaft, and +yet themselves untraceable, if not invisible. + +Sec. XVII. On shafts of middle size, the only ornament which has ever been +accepted as right, is the Doric fluting, which, indeed, gave the effect +of a succession of unequal lines of shade, but lost much of the repose +of the cylindrical gradation. The Corinthian fluting, which is a mean +multiplication and deepening of the Doric, with a square instead of a +sharp ridge between each hollow, destroyed the serenity of the shaft +altogether, and is always rigid and meagre. Both are, in fact, wrong in +principle; they are an elaborate weakening[83] of the shaft, exactly +opposed (as above shown) to the ribbed form, which is the result of a +group of shafts bound together, and which is especially beautiful when +special service is given to each member. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXII.] + +Sec. XVIII. On shafts of inferior size, every species of decoration may be +wisely lavished, and in any quantity, so only that the form of the shaft +be clearly visible. This I hold to be absolutely essential, and that +barbarism begins wherever the sculpture is either so bossy, or so deeply +cut, as to break the contour of the shaft, or compromise its solidity. +Thus, in Plate XXI. (Appendix 8), the richly sculptured shaft of the +lower story has lost its dignity and definite function, and become a +shapeless mass, injurious to the symmetry of the building, though of +some value as adding to its imaginative and fantastic character. Had all +the shafts been like it, the facade would have been entirely spoiled; +the inlaid pattern, on the contrary, which is used on the shortest shaft +of the upper story, adds to its preciousness without interfering with +its purpose, and is every way delightful, as are all the inlaid shaft +ornaments of this noble church (another example of them is given in +Plate XII. of the "Seven Lamps"). The same rule would condemn the +Caryatid; which I entirely agree with Mr. Fergusson in thinking (both +for this and other reasons) one of the chief errors of the Greek +schools; and, more decisively still, the Renaissance inventions of shaft +ornament, almost too absurd and too monstrous to be seriously noticed, +which consist in leaving square blocks between the cylinder joints, as +in the portico of No. 1, Regent Street, and many other buildings in +London; or in rusticating portions of the shafts, or wrapping fleeces +about them, as at the entrance of Burlington House, in Piccadilly; or +tying drapery round them in knots, as in the new buildings above noticed +(Chap. 20, Sec. VII.), at Paris. But, within the limits thus defined, +there is no feature capable of richer decoration than the shaft; the +most beautiful examples of all I have seen, are the slender pillars, +encrusted with arabesques, which flank the portals of the Baptistery and +Duomo at Pisa, and some others of the Pisan and Lucchese churches; but +the varieties of sculpture and inlaying, with which the small +Romanesque shafts, whether Italian or Northern, are adorned when they +occupy important positions, are quite endless, and nearly all admirable. +Mr. Digby Wyatt has given a beautiful example of inlaid work so +employed, from the cloisters of the Lateran, in his work on early +mosaic; an example which unites the surface decoration of the shaft with +the adoption of the spiral contour. This latter is often all the +decoration which is needed, and none can be more beautiful; it has been +spoken against, like many other good and lovely things, because it has +been too often used in extravagant degrees, like the well-known twisting +of the pillars in Raffaelle's "Beautiful gate." But that extravagant +condition was a Renaissance barbarism: the old Romanesque builders kept +their spirals slight and pure; often, as in the example from St. Zeno, +in Plate XVII. below, giving only half a turn from the base of the shaft +to its head, and nearly always observing what I hold to be an imperative +law, that no twisted shaft shall be single, but composed of at least two +distinct members, twined with each other. I suppose they followed their +own right feeling in doing this, and had never studied natural shafts; +but the type they _might_ have followed was caught by one of the few +great painters who were not affected by the evil influence of the +fifteenth century, Benozzo Gozzoli, who, in the frescoes of the Ricardi +Palace, among stems of trees for the most part as vertical as stone +shafts, has suddenly introduced one of the shape given in Fig. LXII. +Many forest trees present, in their accidental contortions, types of +most complicated spiral shafts, the plan being originally of a grouped +shaft rising from several roots; nor, indeed, will the reader ever find +models for every kind of shaft decoration, so graceful or so gorgeous, +as he will find in the great forest aisle, where the strength of the +earth itself seems to rise from the roots into the vaulting; but the +shaft surface, barred as it expands with rings of ebony and silver, is +fretted with traceries of ivy, marbled with purple moss, veined with +grey lichen, and tesselated, by the rays of the rolling heaven, with +flitting fancies of blue shadow and burning gold. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [82] Vide end of Appendix 20. + + [83] Vide, however, their defence in the Essay above quoted, p. 251. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + THE CORNICE AND CAPITAL. + + +Sec. I. There are no features to which the attention of architects has +been more laboriously directed, in all ages, than these crowning members +of the wall and shaft; and it would be vain to endeavor, within any +moderate limits, to give the reader any idea of the various kinds of +admirable decoration which have been invented for them. But, in +proportion to the effort and straining of the fancy, have been the +extravagances into which it has occasionally fallen; and while it is +utterly impossible severally to enumerate the instances either of its +success or its error, it is very possible to note the limits of the one +and the causes of the other. This is all that we shall attempt in the +present chapter, tracing first for ourselves, as in previous instances, +the natural channels by which invention is here to be directed or +confined, and afterwards remarking the places where, in real practice, +it has broken bounds. + +Sec. II. The reader remembers, I hope, the main points respecting the +cornice and capital, established above in the Chapters on Construction. +Of these I must, however, recapitulate thus much:-- + +1. That both the cornice and capital are, with reference to the _slope_ +of their profile or bell, to be divided into two great orders; in one of +which the ornament is convex, and in the other concave. (Ch. VI., +Sec. V.) + +2. That the capital, with reference to the method of twisting the +cornice round to construct it, and to unite the circular shaft with the +square abacus, falls into five general forms, represented in Fig. XXII., +p. 119. + +3. That the most elaborate capitals were formed by true or simple +capitals with a common cornice added above their abacus. (Ch. IX., Sec. +XXIV.) + +We have then, in considering decoration, first to observe the treatment +of the two great orders of the cornice; then their gathering into the +five of the capital; then the addition of the secondary cornice to the +capital when formed. + +Sec. III. The two great orders or families of cornice were above +distinguished in Fig. V., p. 69.; and it was mentioned in the same place +that a third family arose from their combination. We must deal with the +two great opposed groups first. + +They were distinguished in Fig. V. by circular curves drawn on opposite +sides of the same line. But we now know that in these smaller features +the circle is usually the least interesting curve that we can use; and +that it will be well, since the capital and cornice are both active in +their expression, to use some of the more abstract natural lines. We +will go back, therefore, to our old friend the salvia leaf; and taking +the same piece of it we had before, _x y_, Plate VII., we will apply it +to the cornice line; first within it, giving the concave cornice, then +without, giving the convex cornice. In all the figures, _a_, _b_, _c_, +_d_, Plate XV., the dotted line is at the same slope, and represents an +average profile of the root of cornices (_a_, Fig. V., p. 69); the curve +of the salvia leaf is applied to it in each case, first with its +roundest curvature up, then with its roundest curvature down; and we +have thus the two varieties, _a_ and _b_, of the concave family, and _c_ +and _d_, of the convex family. + +[Illustration: Plate XV. + CORNICE PROFILES.] + +Sec. IV. These four profiles will represent all the simple cornices in +the world; represent them, I mean, as central types: for in any of the +profiles an infinite number of slopes may be given to the dotted line of +the root (which in these four figures is always at the same angle); and +on each of these innumerable slopes an innumerable variety of curves may +be fitted, from every leaf in the forest, and every shell on the shore, +and every movement of the human fingers and fancy; therefore, if the +reader wishes to obtain something like a numerical representation of the +number of possible and beautiful cornices which may be based upon these +four types or roots, and among which the architect has leave to +choose according to the circumstances of his building and the method of +its composition, let him set down a figure 1 to begin with, and write +ciphers after it as fast as he can, without stopping, for an hour. + +Sec. V. None of the types are, however, found in perfection of curvature, +except in the best work. Very often cornices are worked with circular +segments (with a noble, massive effect, for instance, in St. Michele of +Lucca), or with rude approximation to finer curvature, especially _a_, +Plate XV., which occurs often so small as to render it useless to take +much pains upon its curve. It occurs perfectly pure in the condition +represented by 1 of the series 1-6, in Plate XV., on many of the +Byzantine and early Gothic buildings of Venice; in more developed form +it becomes the profile of the bell of the capital in the later Venetian +Gothic, and in much of the best Northern Gothic. It also represents the +Corinthian capital, in which the curvature is taken from the bell to be +added in some excess to the nodding leaves. It is the most graceful of +all simple profiles of cornice and capital. + +Sec. VI. _b_ is a much rarer and less manageable type: for this evident +reason, that while _a_ is the natural condition of a line rooted and +strong beneath, but bent out by superincumbent weight, or nodding over +in freedom, _b_ is yielding at the base and rigid at the summit. It has, +however, some exquisite uses, especially in combination, as the reader +may see by glancing in advance at the inner line of the profile 14 in +Plate XV. + +Sec. VII. _c_ is the leading convex or Doric type, as _a_ is the leading +concave or Corinthian. Its relation to the best Greek Doric is exactly +what the relation of _a_ is to the Corinthian; that is to say, the +curvature must be taken from the straighter limb of the curve and added +to the bolder bend, giving it a sudden turn inwards (as in the +Corinthian a nod outwards), as the reader may see in the capital of the +Parthenon in the British Museum, where the lower limb of the curve is +_all but_ a right line.[84] But these Doric and Corinthian lines are +mere varieties of the great families which are represented by the +central lines _a_ and _c_, including not only the Doric capital, but all +the small cornices formed by a slight increase of the curve of _c_, +which are of so frequent occurrence in Greek ornaments. + +Sec. VIII. _d_ is the Christian Doric, which I said (Chap. I., Sec. XX.) +was invented to replace the antique: it is the representative of the great +Byzantine and Norman families of convex cornice and capital, and, next +to the profile _a_, the most important of the four, being the best +profile for the convex capital, as _a_ is for the concave; _a_ being the +best expression of an elastic line inserted vertically in the shaft, and +_d_ of an elastic line inserted horizontally and rising to meet vertical +pressure. + +If the reader will glance at the arrangements of boughs of trees, he +will find them commonly dividing into these two families, _a_ and _d_: +they rise out of the trunk and nod from it as _a_, or they spring with +sudden curvature out from it, and rise into sympathy with it, as at _d_; +but they only accidentally display tendencies to the lines _b_ or _c_. +Boughs which fall as they spring from the tree also describe the curve +_d_ in the plurality of instances, but reversed in arrangement; their +junction with the stem being at the top of it, their sprays bending out +into rounder curvature. + +Sec. IX. These then being the two primal groups, we have next to note the +combined group, formed by the concave and convex lines joined in various +proportions of curvature, so as to form together the reversed or ogee +curve, represented in one of its most beautiful states by the glacier +line _a_, on Plate VII. I would rather have taken this line than any +other to have formed my third group of cornices by, but as it is too +large, and almost too delicate, we will take instead that of the +Matterhorn side, _e f_, Plate VII. For uniformity's sake I keep the +slope of the dotted line the same as in the primal forms; and applying +this Matterhorn curve in its four relative positions to that line, I +have the types of the four cornices or capitals of the third family, +_e_, _f_, _g_, _h_, on Plate XV. + +These are, however, general types only thus far, that their line is +composed of one short and one long curve, and that they represent the +four conditions of treatment of every such line; namely, the longest +curve concave in _e_ and _f_, and convex in _g_ and _h_; and the point +of contrary flexure set high in _e_ and _g_, and low in _f_ and _h_. The +relative depth of the arcs, or nature of their curvature, cannot be +taken into consideration without a complexity of system which my space +does not admit. + +Of the four types thus constituted, _e_ and _f_ are of great importance; +the other two are rarely used, having an appearance of weakness in +consequence of the shortest curve being concave: the profiles _e_ and +_f_, when used for cornices, have usually a fuller sweep and somewhat +greater equality between the branches of the curve; but those here given +are better representatives of the structure applicable to capitals and +cornices indifferently. + +Sec. X. Very often, in the farther treatment of the profiles _e_ or _f_, +another limb is added to their curve in order to join it to the upper or +lower members of the cornice or capital. I do not consider this addition +as forming another family of cornices, because the leading and effective +part of the curve is in these, as in the others, the single ogee; and +the added bend is merely a less abrupt termination of it above or below: +still this group is of so great importance in the richer kinds of +ornamentation that we must have it sufficiently represented. We shall +obtain a type of it by merely continuing the line of the Matterhorn +side, of which before we took only a fragment. The entire line _e_ to +_g_ on Plate VII., is evidently composed of three curves of unequal +lengths, which if we call the shortest 1, the intermediate one 2, and +the longest 3, are there arranged in the order 1, 3, 2, counting +upwards. But evidently we might also have had the arrangements 1, 2, 3, +and 2, 1, 3, giving us three distinct lines, altogether independent of +position, which being applied to one general dotted slope will each give +four cornices, or twelve altogether. Of these the six most important are +those which have the shortest curve convex: they are given in light +relief from _k_ to _p_, Plate XV., and, by turning the page upside down, +the other six will be seen in dark relief, only the little upright bits +of shadow at the bottom are not to be considered as parts of them, being +only admitted in order to give the complete profile of the more +important cornices in light. + +Sec. XI. In these types, as in _e_ and _f_, the only general condition is, +that their line shall be composed of three curves of different lengths +and different arrangements (the depth of arcs and radius of curvatures +being unconsidered). They are arranged in three couples, each couple +being two positions of the same entire line; so that numbering the +component curves in order of magnitude and counting upwards, they will +read-- + + _k_ 1, 2, 3, + _l_ 3, 2, 1, + _m_ 1, 3, 2, + _n_ 2, 3, 1, + _o_ 2, 1, 3, + _p_ 3, 1, 2. + +_m_ and _n_, which are the _Matterhorn line_, are the most beautiful and +important of all the twelve; _k_ and _l_ the next; _o_ and _p_ are used +only for certain conditions of flower carving on the surface. The +reverses (dark) of _k_ and _l_ are also of considerable service; the +other four hardly ever used in good work. + +Sec. XII. If we were to add a fourth curve to the component series, we +should have forty-eight more cornices: but there is no use in pursuing +the system further, as such arrangements are very rare and easily +resolved into the simpler types with certain arbitrary additions fitted +to their special place; and, in most cases, distinctly separate from the +main curve, as in the inner line of No. 14, which is a form of the type +_e_, the longest curve, _i.e._, the lowest, having deepest curvature, +and each limb opposed by a short contrary curve at its extremities, the +convex limb by a concave, the concave by a convex. + +Sec. XIII. Such, then, are the great families of profile lines into +which all cornices and capitals may be divided; but their best examples +unite two such profiles in a mode which we cannot understand till we +consider the further ornament with which the profiles are charged. And +in doing this we must, for the sake of clearness, consider, first the +nature of the designs themselves, and next the mode of cutting them. + +[Illustration: Plate XVI. + CORNICE DECORATION.] + +Sec. XIV. In Plate XVI., opposite, I have thrown together a few of the +most characteristic mediaeval examples of the treatment of the simplest +cornice profiles: the uppermost, _a_, is the pure root of cornices from +St. Mark's. The second, _d_, is the Christian Doric cornice, here +lettered _d_ in order to avoid confusion, its profile being _d_ of Plate +XV. in bold development, and here seen on the left-hand side, truly +drawn, though filled up with the ornament to show the mode in which the +angle is turned. This is also from St. Mark's. The third, _b_, is _b_ of +Plate XV., the pattern being inlaid in black because its office was in +the interior of St. Mark's, where it was too dark to see sculptured +ornament at the required distance. (The other two simple profiles, _a_ +and _c_ of Plate XV., would be decorated in the same manner, but require +no example here, for the profile _a_ is of so frequent occurrence that +it will have a page to itself alone in the next volume; and c may be +seen over nearly every shop in London, being that of the common Greek +egg cornice.) The fourth, _e_ in Plate XVI., is a transitional cornice, +passing from Byzantine into Venetian Gothic: _f_ is a fully developed +Venetian Gothic cornice founded on Byzantine traditions; and _g_ the +perfect Lombardic-Gothic cornice, founded on the Pisan Romanesque +traditions, and strongly marked with the noblest Northern element, the +Lombardic vitality restrained by classical models. I consider it a +perfect cornice, and of the highest order. + +Sec. XV. Now in the design of this series of ornaments there are two main +points to be noted; the first, that they all, except _b_, are distinctly +rooted in the lower part of the cornice, and spring to the top. This +arrangement is constant in all the best cornices and capitals; and it is +essential to the expression of the supporting power of both. It is +exactly opposed to the system of _running_ cornices and _banded_[85] +capitals, in which the ornament flows along them horizontally, or is +twined round them, as the mouldings are in the early English capital, +and the foliage in many decorated ones. Such cornices have arisen from a +mistaken appliance of the running ornaments, which are proper to +archivolts, jambs, &c., to the features which have definite functions of +support. A tendril may nobly follow the outline of an arch, but must not +creep along a cornice, nor swathe or bandage a capital; it is essential +to the expression of these features that their ornament should have an +elastic and upward spring; and as the proper profile for the curve is +that of a tree bough, as we saw above, so the proper arrangement of its +farther ornament is that which best expresses rooted and ascendant +strength like that of foliage. + +There are certain very interesting exceptions to the rule (we shall see +a curious one presently); and in the carrying out of the rule itself, we +may see constant licenses taken by the great designers, and momentary +violations of it, like those above spoken of, respecting other +ornamental laws--violations which are for our refreshment, and for +increase of delight in the general observance; and this is one of the +peculiar beauties of the cornice _g_, which, rooting itself in strong +central clusters, suffers some of its leaves to fall languidly aside, as +the drooping outer leaves of a natural cluster do so often; but at the +very instant that it does this, in order that it may not lose any of its +expression of strength, a fruit-stalk is thrown up above the languid +leaves, absolutely vertical, as much stiffer and stronger than the rest +of the plant as the falling leaves are weaker. Cover this with your +finger, and the cornice falls to pieces, like a bouquet which has been +untied. + +Sec. XVI. There are some instances in which, though the real arrangement +is that of a running stem, throwing off leaves up and down, the positions +of the leaves give nearly as much elasticity and organisation to the +cornice, as if they had been rightly rooted; and others, like _b_, where +the reversed portion of the ornament is lost in the shade, and the +general expression of strength is got by the lower member. This cornice +will, nevertheless, be felt at once to be inferior to the rest; and +though we may often be called upon to admire designs of these kinds, +which would have been exquisite if not thus misplaced, the reader will +find that they are both of rare occurrence, and significative of +declining style; while the greater mass of the banded capitals are heavy +and valueless, mere aggregations of confused sculpture, swathed round +the extremity of the shaft, as if she had dipped it into a mass of +melted ornament, as the glass-blower does his blow-pipe into the metal, +and brought up a quantity adhering glutinously to its extremity. We have +many capitals of this kind in England: some of the worst and heaviest in +the choir of York. The later capitals of the Italian Gothic have the +same kind of effect, but owing to another cause: for their structure is +quite pure, and based on the Corinthian type: and it is the branching +form of the heads of the leaves which destroys the effect of their +organisation. On the other hand, some of the Italian cornices which are +actually composed by running tendrils, throwing off leaves into oval +interstices, are so massive in their treatment, and so marked and firm +in their vertical and arched lines, that they are nearly as suggestive +of support as if they had been arranged on the rooted system. A cornice +of this kind is used in St. Michele of Lucca (Plate VI. in the "Seven +Lamps," and XXI. here), and with exquisite propriety; for that cornice +is at once a crown to the story beneath it and a foundation to that +which is above it, and therefore unites the strength and elasticity of +the lines proper to the cornice with the submission and prostration of +those proper to the foundation. + +Sec. XVII. This, then, is the first point needing general notice in the +designs in Plate XVI. The second is the difference between the freedom +of the Northern and the sophistication of the classical cornices, in +connection with what has been advanced in Appendix 8. The cornices, _a_, +_d_, and _b_, are of the same date, but they show a singular difference +in the workman's temper: that at _b_ is a single copy of a classical +mosaic; and many carved cornices occur, associated with it, which are, +in like manner, mere copies of the Greek and Roman egg and arrow +mouldings. But the cornices _a_ and _d_ are copies of nothing of the +kind: the idea of them has indeed been taken from the Greek honeysuckle +ornament, but the chiselling of them is in no wise either Greek, or +Byzantine, in temper. The Byzantines were languid copyists: this work is +as energetic as its original; energetic, not in the quantity of work, +but in the spirit of it: an indolent man, forced into toil, may cover +large spaces with evidence of his feeble action, or accumulate his +dulness into rich aggregation of trouble, but it is gathered weariness +still. The man who cut those two uppermost cornices had no time to +spare: did as much cornice as he could in half an hour; but would not +endure the slightest trace of error in a curve, or of bluntness in an +edge. His work is absolutely unreproveable; keen, and true, as Nature's +own; his entire force is in it, and fixed on seeing that every line of +it shall be sharp and right: the faithful energy is in him: we shall see +something come of that cornice: The fellow who inlaid the other (_b_), +will stay where he is for ever; and when he has inlaid one leaf up, will +inlay another down,--and so undulate up and down to all eternity: but +the man of _a_ and _d_ will cut his way forward, or there is no truth in +handicrafts, nor stubbornness in stone. + +Sec. XVIII. But there is something else noticeable in those two cornices, +besides the energy of them: as opposed either to _b_, or the Greek +honeysuckle or egg patterns, they are _natural_ designs. The Greek egg +and arrow cornice is a nonsense cornice, very noble in its lines, but +utterly absurd in meaning. Arrows have had nothing to do with eggs (at +least since Leda's time), neither are the so-called arrows like arrows, +nor the eggs like eggs, nor the honeysuckles like honeysuckles; they are +all conventionalised into a monotonous successiveness of +nothing,--pleasant to the eye, useless to the thought. But those +Christian cornices are, as far as may be, suggestive; there is not the +tenth of the work in them that there is in the Greek arrows, but, as far +as that work will go, it has consistent intention; with the fewest +possible incisions, and those of the easiest shape, they suggest the +true image, of clusters of leaves, each leaf with its central depression +from root to point, and that distinctly visible at almost any distance +from the eye, and in almost any light. + +Sec. XIX. Here, then, are two great new elements visible; energy and +naturalism:--Life, with submission to the laws of God, and love of his +works; this is Christianity, dealing with her classical models. Now look +back to what I said in Chap. 1. Sec. XX. of this dealing of hers, and +invention of the new Doric line; then to what is above stated (Sec. VIII.) +respecting that new Doric, and the boughs of trees; and now to the +evidence in the cutting of the leaves on the same Doric section, and see +how the whole is beginning to come together. + +Sec. XX. We said that something would come of these two cornices, _a_ and +_d_. In _e_ and _f_ we see that something _has_ come of them: _e_ is +also from St. Mark's, and one of the earliest examples in Venice of the +transition from the Byzantine to the Gothic cornice. It is already +singularly developed; flowers have been added between the clusters of +leaves, and the leaves themselves curled over: and observe the +well-directed thought of the sculptor in this curling;--the old +incisions are retained below, and their excessive rigidity is one of the +proofs of the earliness of the cornice; but those incisions now stand +for the _under_ surface of the leaf; and behold, when it turns over, on +the top of it you see true _ribs_. Look at the upper and under surface +of a cabbage-leaf, and see what quick steps we are making. + +Sec. XXI. The fifth example (_f_) was cut in 1347; it is from the tomb of +Marco Giustiniani, in the church of St. John and Paul, and it exhibits +the character of the central Venetian Gothic fully developed. The lines +are all now soft and undulatory, though elastic; the sharp incisions +have become deeply-gathered folds; the hollow of the leaf is expressed +completely beneath, and its edges are touched with light, and incised +into several lobes, and their ribs delicately drawn above. (The flower +between is only accidentally absent; it occurs in most cornices of the +time.) + +But in both these cornices the reader will notice that while the +naturalism of the sculpture is steadily on the increase, the classical +formalism is still retained. The leaves are accurately numbered, and +sternly set in their places; they are leaves in office, and dare not +stir nor wave. They have the shapes of leaves, but not the functions, +"having the form of knowledge, but denying the power thereof." What is +the meaning of this? + +Sec. XXII. Look back to the XXXIIIrd paragraph of the first chapter, +and you will see the meaning of it. These cornices are the Venetian +Ecclesiastical Gothic; the Christian element struggling with the +Formalism of the Papacy,--the Papacy being entirely heathen in all its +principles. That officialism of the leaves and their ribs means +Apostolic succession, and I don't know how much more, and is already +preparing for the transition to old Heathenism again, and the +Renaissance.[86] + +Sec. XXIII. Now look to the last cornice (_g_). That is Protestantism,--a +slight touch of Dissent, hardly amounting to schism, in those falling +leaves, but true life in the whole of it. The forms all broken through, +and sent heaven knows where, but the root held fast; and the strong sap +in the branches; and, best of all, good fruit ripening and opening +straight towards heaven, and in the face of it, even though some of the +leaves lie in the dust. + +Now, observe. The cornice _f_ represents Heathenism and Papistry, +animated by the mingling of Christianity and nature. The good in it, the +life of it, the veracity and liberty of it, such as it has, are +Protestantism in its heart; the rigidity and saplessness are the +Romanism of it. It is the mind of Fra Angelico in the monk's +dress,--Christianity before the Reformation. The cornice _g_ has the +Lombardic life element in its fulness, with only some color and shape of +Classicalism mingled with it--the good of classicalism; as much method +and Formalism as are consistent with life, and fitting for it: The +continence within certain border lines, the unity at the root, the +simplicity of the great profile,--all these are the healthy classical +elements retained: the rest is reformation, new strength, and recovered +liberty. + +Sec. XXIV. There is one more point about it especially noticeable. The +leaves are thoroughly natural in their general character, but they are +of no particular species: and after being something like cabbage-leaves +in the beginning, one of them suddenly becomes an ivy-leaf in the end. +Now I don't know what to say of this. I know it, indeed, to be a +classical character;--it is eminently characteristic of Southern work; +and markedly distinctive of it from the Northern ornament, which would +have been oak, or ivy, or apple, but not anything, nor two things in +one. It is, I repeat, a clearly classical element; but whether a good or +bad element, I am not sure;--whether it is the last trace of Centaurism +and other monstrosity dying away; or whether it has a figurative +purpose, legitimate in architecture (though never in painting), and has +been rightly retained by the Christian sculptor, to express the working +of that spirit which grafts one nature upon another, and discerns a law +in its members warring against the law of its mind. + +Sec. XXV. These, then, being the points most noticeable in the spirit both +of the designs and the chiselling, we have now to return to the question +proposed in Sec. XIII., and observe the modifications of form of profile +which resulted from the changing contours of the leafage; for up to Sec. +XIII., we had, as usual, considered the possible conditions of form in +the abstract;--the modes in which they have been derived from each other +in actual practice require to be followed in their turn. How the Greek +Doric or Greek ogee cornices were invented is not easy to determine, +and, fortunately, is little to our present purpose; for the mediaeval +ogee cornices have an independent development of their own, from the +first type of the concave cornice _a_ in Plate XV. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXIII.] + +Sec. XXVI. That cornice occurs, in the simplest work, perfectly pure, but +in finished work it was quickly felt that there was a meagreness in its +junction with the wall beneath it, where it was set as here at _a_, Fig. +LXIII., which could only be conquered by concealing such junction in a +bar of shadow. There were two ways of getting this bar: one by a +projecting roll at the foot of the cornice (_b_, Fig. LXIII.), the other +by slipping the whole cornice a little forward (_c_. Fig. LXIII.). From +these two methods arise two groups of cornices and capitals, which we +shall pursue in succession. + +Sec. XXVII. First group. With the roll at the base (_b_, Fig. LXIII.). The +chain of its succession is represented from 1 to 6, in Plate XV.: 1 and +2 are the steps already gained, as in Fig. LXIII.; and in them the +profile of cornice used is _a_ of Plate XV., or a refined condition of +_b_ of Fig. V., p. 69, above. Now, keeping the same refined profile, +substitute the condition of it, _f_ of Fig. V. (and there accounted +for), above the roll here, and you have 3, Plate XV. This superadded +abacus was instantly felt to be harsh in its projecting angle; but you +know what to do with an angle when it is harsh. Use your simplest +chamfer on it (_a_ or _b_, Fig. LIII., page 287, above), but on the +visible side only, and you have fig. 4, Plate XV. (the top stone being +made deeper that you may have room to chamfer it). Now this fig. 4 is +the profile of Lombardic and Venetian early capitals and cornices, by +tens of thousands; and it continues into the late Venetian Gothic, with +this only difference, that as times advances, the vertical line at the +top of the original cornice begins to slope outwards, and through a +series of years rises like the hazel wand in the hand of a diviner:--but +how slowly! a stone dial which marches but 45 degrees in three +centuries, and through the intermediate condition 5 arrives at 6, and so +stays. + +In tracing this chain I have kept all the profiles of the same height in +order to make the comparison more easy; the depth chosen is about +intermediate between that which is customary in cornices on the one +hand, which are often a little shorter, and capitals on the other, which +are often a little deeper.[87] And it is to be noted that the profiles 5 +and 6 establish themselves in capitals chiefly, while 4 is retained in +cornices to the latest times. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXIV.] + +Sec. XXVIII. Second group (c, Fig. LXIII.). If the lower angle, which +was quickly felt to be hard, be rounded off, we have the form _a_, Fig. +LXIV. The front of the curved line is then decorated, as we have seen; +and the termination of the decorated surface marked by an incision, as +in an ordinary chamfer, as at _b_ here. This I believe to have been the +simple origin of most of the Venetian ogee cornices; but they are +farther complicated by the curves given to the leafage which flows over +them. In the ordinary Greek cornices, and in _a_ and _d_ of Plate XVI., +the decoration is _incised_ from the outside profile, without any +suggestion of an interior surface of a different contour. But in the +leaf cornices which follow, the decoration is represented as _overlaid_ +on one of the early profiles, and has another outside contour of its +own; which is, indeed, the true profile of the cornice, but beneath +which, more or less, the simpler profile is seen or suggested, which +terminates all the incisions of the chisel. This under profile will +often be found to be some condition of the type _a_ or _b_, Fig. LXIV.; +and the leaf profile to be another ogee with its fullest curve up +instead of down, lapping over the cornice edge above, so that the entire +profile might be considered as made up of two ogee curves laid, like +packed herrings, head to tail. Figures 8 and 9 of Plate XV. exemplify +this arrangement. Fig. 7 is a heavier contour, doubtless composed in the +same manner, but of which I had not marked the innermost profile, and +which I have given here only to complete the series which, from 7 to 12 +inclusive, exemplifies the gradual restriction of the leaf outline, from +its boldest projection in the cornice to its most modest service in the +capital. This change, however, is not one which indicates difference of +age, but merely of office and position: the cornice 7 is from the tomb +of the Doge Andrea Dandolo (1350) in St. Mark's, 8 from a canopy over a +door of about the same period, 9 from the tomb of the Dogaressa Agnese +Venier (1411), 10 from that of Pietro Cornaro (1361),[88] and 11 from +that of Andrea Morosini (1347), all in the church of San Giov. and +Paola, all these being cornice profiles; and, finally, 12 from a capital +of the Ducal Palace, of fourteen century work. + +Sec. XXIX. Now the reader will doubtless notice that in the three +examples, 10 to 12, the leaf has a different contour from that of 7, 8, +or 9. This difference is peculiarly significant. I have always desired +that the reader should theoretically consider the capital as a +concentration of the cornice; but in practice it often happens that the +cornice is, on the contrary, an unrolled capital; and one of the richest +early forms of the Byzantine cornice (not given in Plate XV., because its +separate character and importance require examination apart) is nothing +more than an unrolled continuation of the lower range of acanthus leaves +on the Corinthian capital. From this cornice others appear to have been +derived, like _e_ in Plate XVI., in which the acanthus outline has +become confused with that of the honeysuckle, and the rosette of the +centre of the Corinthian capital introduced between them; and thus their +forms approach more and more to those derived from the cornice itself. +Now if the leaf has the contour of 10, 11, or 12, Plate XV., the profile +is either actually of a capital, or of a cornice derived from a capital; +while, if the leaf have the contour of 7 or 8, the profile is either +actually of a cornice or of a capital derived from a cornice. Where the +Byzantines use the acanthus, the Lombards use the Persepolitan +water-leaf; but the connection of the cornices and capitals is exactly +the same. + +Sec. XXX. Thus far, however, we have considered the characters of profile +which are common to the cornice and capital both. We have now to note +what farther decorative features or peculiarities belong to the capital +itself, or result from the theoretical gathering of the one into the +other. + +Look back to Fig. XXII., p. 110. The five types there given, represented +the five different methods of concentration of the root of cornices, _a_ +of Fig. V. Now, as many profiles of cornices as were developed in Plate +XV. from this cornice root, there represented by the dotted slope, so +many may be applied to each of the five types in Fig. XXII.,--applied +simply in _a_ and _b_, but with farther modifications, necessitated by +their truncations or spurs, in _c_, _d_, and _e_. + +Then, these cornice profiles having been so applied in such length and +slope as is proper for capitals, the farther condition comes into effect +described in Chapter IX. Sec. XXIV., and any one of the cornices in Plate +XV. may become the _abacus_ of a capital formed out of any other, or +out of itself. The infinity of forms thus resultant cannot, as may well +be supposed, be exhibited or catalogued in the space at present +permitted to us: but the reader, once master of the principle, will +easily be able to investigate for himself the syntax of all examples +that may occur to him, and I shall only here, as a kind of exercise, put +before him a few of those which he will meet with most frequently in his +Venetian inquiries, or which illustrate points, not hitherto touched +upon, in the disposition of the abacus. + +Sec. XXXI. In Plate XVII. the capital at the top, on the left hand, is the +rudest possible gathering of the plain Christian Doric cornice, _d_ of +Plate XV. The shaft is octagonal, and the capital is not cut to fit it, +but is square at the base; and the curve of its profile projects on two +of its sides more than on the other two, so as to make the abacus +oblong, in order to carry an oblong mass of brickwork, dividing one of +the upper lights of a Lombard campanile at Milan. The awkward stretching +of the brickwork, to do what the capital ought to have done, is very +remarkable. There is here no second superimposed abacus. + +Sec. XXXII. The figure on the right hand, at the top, shows the simple +but perfect fulfilment of all the requirements in which the first example +fails. The mass of brickwork to be carried is exactly the same in size +and shape; but instead of being trusted to a single shaft, it has two of +smaller area (compare Chap. VIII., Sec. XIII.), and all the expansion +necessary is now gracefully attained by their united capitals, hewn out +of one stone. Take the section of these capitals through their angle, +and nothing can be simpler or purer; it is composed of 2, in Plate XV., +used for the capital itself, with _c_ of Fig. LXIII. used for the +abacus; the reader could hardly have a neater little bit of syntax for a +first lesson. If the section be taken through the side of the bell, the +capital profile is the root of cornices, _a_ of Fig. V., with the added +roll. This capital is somewhat remarkable in having its sides perfectly +straight, some slight curvature being usual on so bold a scale; but it +is all the better as a first example, the method of reduction being +of order _d_, in Fig. XXII., p. 110, and with a concave cut, as in +Fig. XXI., p. 109. These two capitals are from the cloister of the duomo +of Verona. + +[Illustration: Plate XVII. + CAPITALS CONCAVE GROUP.] + +[Illustration: Fig. LXV.] + +Sec. XXXIII. The lowermost figure in Plate XVII. represents an exquisitely +finished example of the same type, from St. Zeno of Verona. Above, at 2, +in Plate II., the plan of the shafts was given, but I inadvertently +reversed their position: in comparing that plan with Plate XVII., Plate +II. must be held upside down. The capitals, with the band connecting +them, are all cut out of one block; their profile is an adaptation of 4 +of Plate XV., with a plain headstone superimposed. This method of +reduction is that of order _d_ in Fig. XXII., but the peculiarity of +treatment of their truncation is highly interesting. Fig. LXV. +represents the plans of the capitals at the base, the shaded parts being +the bells: the open line, the roll with its connecting band. The bell of +the one, it will be seen, is the exact reverse of that of the other: the +angle truncations are, in both, curved horizontally as well as +uprightly; but their curve is convex in the one, and in the other +concave. Plate XVII. will show the effect of both, with the farther +incisions, to the same depth, on the flank of the one with the concave +truncation, which join with the rest of its singularly bold and keen +execution in giving the impression of its rather having been cloven +into its form by the sweeps of a sword, than by the dull travail of a +chisel. Its workman was proud of it, as well he might be: he has written +his name upon its front (I would that more of his fellows had been as +kindly vain), and the goodly stone proclaims for ever, ADAMINUS DE +SANCTO GIORGIO ME FECIT. + +Sec. XXXIV. The reader will easily understand that the gracefulness of +this kind of truncation, as he sees it in Plate XVII., soon suggested the +idea of reducing it to a vegetable outline, and laying four healing +leaves, as it were, upon the wounds which the sword had made. These four +leaves, on the truncations of the capital, correspond to the four leaves +which we saw, in like manner, extend themselves over the spurs of the +base, and, as they increase in delicacy of execution, form one of the +most lovely groups of capitals which the Gothic workmen ever invented; +represented by two perfect types in the capitals of the Piazzetta +columns of Venice. But this pure group is an isolated one; it remains in +the first simplicity of its conception far into the thirteenth century, +while around it rise up a crowd of other forms, imitative of the old +Corinthian, and in which other and younger leaves spring up in luxuriant +growth among the primal four. The varieties of their grouping we shall +enumerate hereafter: one general characteristic of them all must be +noted here. + +Sec. XXXV. The reader has been told repeatedly[89] that there are two, +and only two, real orders of capitals, originally represented by the +Corinthian and the Doric; and distinguished by the concave or convex +contours of their bells, as shown by the dotted lines at _e_, Fig. V., +p. 65. And hitherto, respecting the capital, we have been exclusively +concerned with the methods in which these two families of simple +contours have gathered themselves together, and obtained reconciliation +to the abacus above, and the shaft below. But the last paragraph +introduces us to the surface ornament disposed upon these, in the +chiselling of which the characters described above, Sec. XXVIII., which +are but feebly marked in the cornice, boldly distinguish and divide the +families of the capital. + +Sec. XXXVI. Whatever the nature of the ornament be, it must clearly have +relief of some kind, and must present projecting surfaces separated by +incisions. But it is a very material question whether the contour, +hitherto broadly considered as that of the entire bell, shall be that of +the _outside_ of the projecting and relieved ornaments, or of the +_bottoms of the incisions_ which divide them; whether, that is to say, +we shall first cut out the bell of our capital quite smooth, and then +cut farther into it, with incisions, which shall leave ornamental forms +in relief, or whether, in originally cutting the contour of the bell, we +shall leave projecting bits of stone, which we may afterwards work into +the relieved ornament. + +Sec. XXXVII. Now, look back to Fig. V., p. 65. Clearly, if to ornament the +already hollowed profile, _b_, we cut deep incisions into it, we shall +so far weaken it at the top, that it will nearly lose all its supporting +power. Clearly, also, if to ornament the already bulging profile _c_ we +were to leave projecting pieces of stone outside of it, we should nearly +destroy all its relation to the original sloping line X, and produce an +unseemly and ponderous mass, hardly recognizable as a cornice profile. +It is evident, on the other hand, that we can afford to cut into this +profile without fear of destroying its strength, and that we can afford +to leave projections outside of the other, without fear of destroying +its lightness. Such is, accordingly, the natural disposition of the +sculpture, and the two great families of capitals are therefore +distinguished, not merely by their concave and convex contours, but by +the ornamentation being left outside the bell of the one, and cut into +the bell of the other; so that, in either case, the ornamental portions +will fall _between the dotted lines_ at _e_, Fig. V., and the pointed +oval, or vesica piscis, which is traced by them, may be called the Limit +of ornamentation. + +Sec. XXXVIII. Several distinctions in the quantity and style of the +ornament must instantly follow from this great distinction in its +position. First, in its quantity. For, observe: since in the Doric +profile, _c_ of Fig. V., the contour itself is to be composed of the +surface of the ornamentation, this ornamentation must be close and +united enough to form, or at least suggest, a continuous surface; it +must, therefore, be rich in quantity and close in aggregation; otherwise +it will destroy the massy character of the profile it adorns, and +approximate it to its opposite, the concave. On the other hand, the +ornament left projecting from the concave, must be sparing enough, and +dispersed enough, to allow the concave bell to be clearly seen beneath +it; otherwise it will choke up the concave profile, and approximate it +to its opposite, the convex. + +Sec. XXXIX. And, secondly, in its style. For, clearly, as the sculptor +of the concave profile must leave masses of rough stone prepared for his +outer ornament, and cannot finish them at once, but must complete the +cutting of the smooth bell beneath first, and then return to the +projecting masses (for if he were to finish these latter first, they +would assuredly, if delicate or sharp, be broken as he worked on; since, +I say, he must work in this foreseeing and predetermined method, he is +sure to reduce the system of his ornaments to some definite symmetrical +order before he begins); and the habit of conceiving beforehand all that +he has to do, will probably render him not only more orderly in its +arrangement, but more skilful and accurate in its execution, than if he +could finish all as he worked on. On the other hand, the sculptor of the +convex profile has its smooth surface laid before him, as a piece of +paper on which he can sketch at his pleasure; the incisions he makes in +it are like touches of a dark pencil; and he is at liberty to roam over +the surface in perfect freedom, with light incisions or with deep; +finishing here, suggesting there, or perhaps in places leaving the +surface altogether smooth. It is ten to one, therefore, but that, if he +yield to the temptation, he becomes irregular in design, and rude in +handling; and we shall assuredly find the two families of capitals +distinguished, the one by its symmetrical, thoroughly organised, and +exquisitely executed ornament, the other by its rambling, confused, and +rudely chiselled ornament: But, on the other hand, while we shall +often have to admire the disciplined precision of the one, and as often +to regret the irregular rudeness of the other, we shall not fail to find +balancing qualities in both. The severity of the disciplinarian capital +represses the power of the imagination; it gradually degenerates into +Formalism; and the indolence which cannot escape from its stern demand +of accurate workmanship, seeks refuge in copyism of established forms, +and loses itself at last in lifeless mechanism. The license of the +other, though often abused, permits full exercise to the imagination: +the mind of the sculptor, unshackled by the niceties of chiselling, +wanders over its orbed field in endless fantasy; and, when generous as +well as powerful, repays the liberty which has been granted to it with +interest, by developing through the utmost wildness and fulness of its +thoughts, an order as much more noble than the mechanical symmetry of +the opponent school, as the domain which it regulates is vaster. + +[Illustration: Plate XVIII. + CAPITALS CONVEX GROUP.] + +Sec. XL. And now the reader shall judge whether I had not reason to cast +aside the so-called Five orders of the Renaissance architects, with +their volutes and fillets, and to tell him that there were only two real +orders, and that there could never be more.[90] For we now find that +these two great and real orders are representative of the two great +influences which must for ever divide the heart of man: the one of +Lawful Discipline, with its perfection and order, but its danger of +degeneracy into Formalism; the other of Lawful Freedom, with its vigor +and variety, but its danger of degeneracy into Licentiousness. + +Sec. XLI. I shall not attempt to give any illustrations here of the most +elaborate developments of either order; they will be better given on a +larger scale: but the examples in Plate XVII. and XVIII. represent the +two methods of ornament in their earliest appliance. The two lower +capitals in Plate XVII. are a pure type of the concave school; the two +in the centre of Plate XVIII., of the convex. At the top of Plate XVIII. +are two Lombardic capitals; that on the left from Sta. Sofia at Padua, +that on the right from the cortile of St. Ambrogio at Milan. They both +have the concave angle truncation; but being of date prior to the time +when the idea of the concave bell was developed, they are otherwise left +square, and decorated with the surface ornament characteristic of the +convex school. The relation of the designs to each other is interesting; +the cross being prominent in the centre of each, but more richly +relieved in that from St. Ambrogio. The two beneath are from the +southern portico of St. Mark's; the shafts having been of different +lengths, and neither, in all probability, originally intended for their +present place, they have double abaci, of which the uppermost is the +cornice running round the whole facade. The zigzagged capital is highly +curious, and in its place very effective and beautiful, although one of +the exceptions which it was above noticed that we should sometimes find +to the law stated in Sec. XV. above. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXVI.] + +Sec. XLII. The lower capital, which is also of the true convex school, +exhibits one of the conditions of the spurred type, _e_ of Fig. XXII., +respecting which one or two points must be noticed. + +If we were to take up the plan of the simple spur, represented at _e_ in +Fig. XXII., p. 110, and treat it, with the salvia leaf, as we did the +spur of the base, we should have for the head of our capital a plan like +Fig. LXVI., which is actually that of one of the capitals of the Fondaco +de' Turchi at Venice; with this only difference, that the intermediate +curves between the spurs would have been circular: the reason they are +not so, here, is that the decoration, instead of being confined to the +spur, is now spread over the whole mass, and contours are therefore +given to the intermediate curves which fit them for this ornament; the +inside shaded space being the head of the shaft, and the outer, the +abacus. The reader has in Fig. LXVI. a characteristic type of the plans +of the spurred capitals, generally preferred by the sculptors of the +convex school, but treated with infinite variety, the spurs often being +cut into animal forms, or the incisions between them multiplied, for +richer effect; and in our own Norman capital the type _c_ of Fig. XXII. +is variously subdivided by incisions on its slope, approximating in +general effect to many conditions of the real spurred type, _e_, but +totally differing from them in principle. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXVII.] + +[Illustration: Fig. LXVIII.] + +Sec. XLIII. The treatment of the spur in the concave school is far more +complicated, being borrowed in nearly every case from the original +Corinthian. Its plan may be generally represented by Fig. LXVII. The +spur itself is carved into a curling tendril or concave leaf, which +supports the projecting angle of a four-sided abacus, whose hollow sides +fall back behind the bell, and have generally a rosette or other +ornament in their centres. The mediaeval architects often put another +square abacus above all, as represented by the shaded portion of Fig. +LXVII., and some massy conditions of this form, elaborately ornamented, +are very beautiful; but it is apt to become rigid and effeminate, as +assuredly it is in the original Corinthian, which is thoroughly mean and +meagre in its upper tendrils and abacus. + +Sec. XLIV. The lowest capital in Plate XVIII. is from St. Mark's, and +singular in having double spurs; it is therefore to be compared with +the doubly spurred base, also from St Mark's, in Plate XI. In other +respects it is a good example of the union of breadth of mass with +subtlety of curvature, which characterises nearly all the spurred +capitals of the convex school. Its plan is given in Fig. LXVIII.: the +inner shaded circle is the head of the shaft; the white cross, the +bottom of the capital, which expands itself into the external shaded +portions at the top. Each spur, thus formed, is cut like a ship's bow, +with the Doric profile; the surfaces so obtained are then charged with +arborescent ornament. + +Sec. XLV. I shall not here farther exemplify the conditions of the +treatment of the spur, because I am afraid of confusing the reader's +mind, and diminishing the distinctness of his conception of the +differences between the two great orders, which it has been my principal +object to develope throughout this chapter. If all my readers lived in +London, I could at once fix this difference in their minds by a simple, +yet somewhat curious illustration. In many parts of the west end of +London, as, for instance, at the corners of Belgrave Square, and the +north side of Grosvenor Square, the Corinthian capitals of newly-built +houses are put into cages of wire. The wire cage is the exact form of +the typical capital of the convex school; the Corinthian capital, +within, is a finished and highly decorated example of the concave. The +space between the cage and capital is the limit of ornamentation. + +Sec. XLVI. Those of my readers, however, to whom this illustration is +inaccessible, must be content with the two profiles, 13 and 14, on Plate +XV. If they will glance along the line of sections from 1 to 6, they +will see that the profile 13 is their final development, with a +superadded cornice for its abacus. It is taken from a capital in a very +important ruin of a palace, near the Rialto of Venice, and hereafter to +be described; the projection, outside of its principal curve, is the +profile of its _superadded_ leaf ornamentation; it may be taken as one +of the simplest, yet a perfect type of the concave group. + +Sec. XLVII. The profile 14 is that of the capital of the main shaft of +the northern portico of St. Mark's, the most finished example I ever met +with of the convex family, to which, in spite of the central inward bend +of its profile, it is marked as distinctly belonging, by the bold convex +curve at its root, springing from the shaft in the line of the Christian +Doric cornice, and exactly reversing the structure of the other profile, +which rises from the shaft, like a palm leaf from its stem. Farther, in +the profile 13, the innermost line is that of the bell; but in the +profile 14, the outermost line is that of the bell, and the inner line +is the limit of the incisions of the chisel, in undercutting a +reticulated veil of ornament, surrounding a flower like a lily; most +ingeniously, and, I hope, justly, conjectured by the Marchese Selvatico +to have been intended for an imitation of the capitals of the temple of +Solomon, which Hiram made, with "nets of checker work, and wreaths of +chain work for the chapiters that were on the top of the pillars ... and +the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in +the porch." (1 Kings, vii. 17, 19.) + +Sec. XLVIII. On this exquisite capital there is imposed an abacus of +the profile with which we began our investigation long ago, the profile _a_ +of Fig. V. This abacus is formed by the cornice already given, _a_, of +Plate XVI.: and therefore we have, in this lovely Venetian capital, the +summary of the results of our investigation, from its beginning to its +close: the type of the first cornice; the decoration of it, in its +emergence from the classical models; the gathering into the capital; the +superimposition of the secondary cornice, and the refinement of the bell +of the capital by triple curvature in the two limits of chiselling. I +cannot express the exquisite refinements of the curves on the small +scale of Plate XV.; I will give them more accurately in a larger +engraving; but the scale on which they are here given will not prevent +the reader from perceiving, and let him note it thoughtfully, that the +outer curve of the noble capital is the one which was our first example +of associated curves; that I have had no need, throughout the whole of +our inquiry, to refer to any other ornamental line than the three which +I at first chose, the simplest of those which Nature set by chance +before me; and that this lily, of the delicate Venetian marble, has but +been wrought, by the highest human art, into the same line which the +clouds disclose, when they break from the rough rocks of the flank of +the Matterhorn. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [84] In very early Doric it was an absolute right line; and that + capital is therefore derived from the pure cornice root, represented + by the dotted line. + + [85] The word banded is used by Professor Willis in a different + sense; which I would respect, by applying it in his sense always to + the Impost, and in mine to the capital itself. (This note is not for + the general reader, who need not trouble himself about the matter.) + + [86] The Renaissance period being one of return to formalism on the + one side, of utter licentiousness on the other, so that sometimes, + as here, I have to declare its lifelessness, at other times (Chap. + XXV., Sec. XVII.) its lasciviousness. There is, of course, no + contradiction in this: but the reader might well ask how I knew the + change from the base 11 to the base 12, in Plate XII., to be one + from temperance to luxury; and from the cornice _f_ to the cornice + _g_, in Plate XVI., to be one from formalism to vitality. I know it, + both by certain internal evidences, on which I shall have to dwell + at length hereafter, and by the context of the works of the time. + But the outward signs might in both ornaments be the same, + distinguishable only as signs of opposite tendencies by the event of + both. The blush of shame cannot always be told from the blush of + indignation. + + [87] The reader must always remember that a cornice, in becoming a + capital, must, if not originally bold and deep, have depth added to + its profile, in order to reach the just proportion of the lower + member of the shaft head; and that therefore the small Greek egg + cornices are utterly incapable of becoming capitals till they have + totally changed their form and depth. The Renaissance architects, + who never obtained hold of a right principle but they made it worse + than a wrong one by misapplication, caught the idea of turning the + cornice into a capital, but did not comprehend the necessity of the + accompanying change of depth. Hence we have pilaster heads formed of + small egg cornices, and that meanest of all mean heads of shafts, + the coarse Roman Doric profile chopped into a small egg and arrow + moulding, both which may be seen disfiguring half the buildings in + London. + + [88] I have taken these dates roughly from Selvatico; their absolute + accuracy to within a year or two, is here of no importance. + + [89] Chap. I. Sec. XIX., Appendix 7: and Chap. VI. Sec. V. + + [90] Chap. I., Sec. XIX. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + THE ARCHIVOLT AND APERTURE. + + +[Illustration: Plate XIX. + ARCHIVOLT DECORATION. + AT VERONA.] + +Sec. I. If the windows and doors of some of our best northern Gothic +buildings were built up, and the ornament of their archivolts concealed, +there would often remain little but masses of dead wall and unsightly +buttress; the whole vitality of the building consisting in the graceful +proportions or rich mouldings of its apertures. It is not so in the +south, where, frequently, the aperture is a mere dark spot on the +variegated wall; but there the column, with its horizontal or curved +architrave, assumes an importance of another kind, equally dependent +upon the methods of lintel and archivolt decoration. These, though in +their richness of minor variety they defy all exemplification, may be +very broadly generalized. + +Of the mere lintel, indeed, there is no specific decoration, nor can be; +it has no organism to direct its ornament, and therefore may receive any +kind and degree of ornament, according to its position. In a Greek +temple, it has meagre horizontal lines; in a Romanesque church, it +becomes a row of upright niches, with an apostle in each; and may become +anything else at the architect's will. But the arch head has a natural +organism, which separates its ornament into distinct families, broadly +definable. + +Sec. II. In speaking of the arch-line and arch masonry, we considered +the arch to be cut straight through the wall; so that, if half built, it +would have the appearance at _a_, Fig. LXIX. But in the chapter on Form +of Apertures, we found that the side of the arch, or jamb of the +aperture, might often require to be bevelled, so as to give the section +_b_, Fig. LXIX. It is easily conceivable that when two ranges of +voussoirs were used, one over another, it would be easier to leave +those beneath, of a smaller diameter, than to bevel them to accurate +junction with those outside. Whether influenced by this facility, or by +decorative instinct, the early northern builders often substitute for +the bevel the third condition, _c_, of Fig. LXIX.; so that, of the three +forms in that figure, _a_ belongs principally to the south, _c_ to the +north, and _b_ indifferently to both. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXIX.] + +Sec. III. If the arch in the northern building be very deep, its depth +will probably be attained by a succession of steps, like that in _c_; and +the richest results of northern archivolt decoration are entirely based on +the aggregation of the ornament of these several steps; while those of +the south are only the complete finish and perfection of the ornament of +one. In this ornament of the single arch, the points for general note +are very few. + +Sec. IV. It was, in the first instance, derived from the classical +architrave,[91] and the early Romanesque arches are nothing but such an +architrave, bent round. The horizontal lines of the latter become +semicircular, but their importance and value remain exactly the same; +their continuity is preserved across all the voussoirs, and the joints +and functions of the latter are studiously concealed. As the builders +get accustomed to the arch, and love it better, they cease to be ashamed +of its structure: the voussoirs begin to show themselves confidently, +and fight for precedence with the architrave lines; and there is an +entanglement of the two structures, in consequence, like the circular +and radiating lines of a cobweb, until at last the architrave lines get +worsted, and driven away outside of the voussoirs; being permitted to +stay at all only on condition of their dressing themselves in mediaeval +costume, as in the plate opposite. + +Sec. V. In other cases, however, before the entire discomfiture of the +architrave, a treaty of peace is signed between the adverse parties on +these terms: That the architrave shall entirely dismiss its inner three +meagre lines, and leave the space of them to the voussoirs, to display +themselves after their manner; but that, in return for this concession, +the architrave shall have leave to expand the small cornice which +usually terminates it (the reader had better look at the original form +in that of the Erechtheum, in the middle of the Elgin room of the +British Museum) into bolder prominence, and even to put brackets under +it, as if it were a roof cornice, and thus mark with a bold shadow the +terminal line of the voussoirs. This condition is seen in the arch from +St. Pietro of Pistoja, Plate XIII., above. + +Sec. VI. If the Gothic spirit of the building be thoroughly determined, +and victorious, the architrave cornice is compelled to relinquish its +classical form, and take the profile of a Gothic cornice or dripstone; +while, in other cases, as in much of the Gothic of Verona, it is forced +to disappear altogether. But the voussoirs then concede, on the other +hand, so much of their dignity as to receive a running ornament of +foliage or animals, like a classical frieze, and continuous round the +arch. In fact, the contest between the adversaries may be seen running +through all the early architecture of Italy: success inclining sometimes +to the one, sometimes to the other, and various kinds of truce or +reconciliation being effected between them: sometimes merely formal, +sometimes honest and affectionate, but with no regular succession in +time. The greatest victory of the voussoir is to annihilate the cornice, +and receive an ornament of its own outline, and entirely limited by its +own joints: and yet this may be seen in the very early apse of Murano. + +Sec. VII. The most usual condition, however, is that unity of the two +members above described, Sec. V., and which may be generally represented +by the archivolt section _a_, Fig. LXX.; and from this descend a family of +Gothic archivolts of the highest importance. For the cornice, thus +attached to the arch, suffers exactly the same changes as the level +cornice, or capital; receives, in due time, its elaborate ogee profile +and leaf ornaments, like Fig. 8 or 9 of Plate XV.; and, when the shaft +loses its shape, and is lost in the later Gothic jamb, the archivolt has +influence enough to introduce this ogee profile in the jamb also, +through the banded impost: and we immediately find ourselves involved in +deep successions of ogee mouldings in sides of doors and windows, which +never would have been thought of, but for the obstinate resistance of +the classical architrave to the attempts of the voussoir at its +degradation or banishment. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXX.] + +Sec. VIII. This, then, will be the first great head under which we shall +in future find it convenient to arrange a large number of archivolt +decorations. It is the distinctively Southern and Byzantine form, and +typically represented by the section _a_, of Fig. LXX.; and it is +susceptible of almost every species of surface ornament, respecting +which only this general law may be asserted: that, while the outside or +vertical surface may properly be decorated, and yet the soffit or under +surface left plain, the soffit is never to be decorated, and the outer +surface left plain. Much beautiful sculpture is, in the best Byzantine +buildings, half lost by being put under soffits; but the eye is led to +discover it, and even to demand it, by the rich chasing of the outside +of the voussoirs. It would have been an hypocrisy to carve them +externally only. But there is not the smallest excuse for carving the +soffit, and not the outside; for, in that case, we approach the building +under the idea of its being perfectly plain; we do not look for the +soffit decoration, and, of course, do not see it: or, if we do, it is +merely to regret that it should not be in a better place. In the +Renaissance architects, it may, perhaps, for once, be considered a +merit, that they put their bad decoration systematically in the places +where we should least expect it, and can seldomest see it:--Approaching +the Scuola di San Rocco, you probably will regret the extreme plainness +and barrenness of the window traceries; but, if you will go very close +to the wall beneath the windows, you may, on sunny days, discover a +quantity of panel decorations which the ingenious architect has +concealed under the soffits. + +The custom of decorating the arch soffit with panelling is a Roman +application of the Greek roof ornament, which, whatever its intrinsic +merit (compare Chap. XXIX. Sec. IV.), may rationally be applied to waggon +vaults, as of St. Peter's, and to arch soffits under which one walks. +But the Renaissance architects had not wit enough to reflect that people +usually do not walk through windows. + +Sec. IX. So far, then, of the Southern archivolt: In Fig. LXIX., above, +it will be remembered that _c_ represents the simplest form of the +Northern. In the farther development of this, which we have next to +consider, the voussoirs, in consequence of their own negligence or +over-confidence, sustain a total and irrecoverable defeat. That +archivolt is in its earliest conditions perfectly pure and +undecorated,--the simplest and rudest of Gothic forms. Necessarily, when +it falls on the pier, and meets that of the opposite arch, the entire +section of masonry is in the shape of a cross, and is carried by the +crosslet shaft, which we above stated to be distinctive of Northern +design. I am more at a loss to account for the sudden and fixed +development of this type of archivolt than for any other architectural +transition with which I am acquainted. But there it is, pure and firmly +established, as early as the building of St. Michele of Pavia; and we +have thenceforward only to observe what comes of it. + +Sec. X. We find it first, as I said, perfectly barren; cornice and +architrave altogether ignored, the existence of such things practically +denied, and a plain, deep-cut recess with a single mighty shadow +occupying their place. The voussoirs, thinking their great adversary +utterly defeated, are at no trouble to show themselves; visible enough +in both the upper and under archivolts, they are content to wait the +time when, as might have been hoped, they should receive a new +decoration peculiar to themselves. + +Sec. XI. In this state of paralysis, or expectation, their flank is turned +by an insidious chamfer. The edges of the two great blank archivolts are +felt to be painfully conspicuous; all the four are at once beaded or +chamfered, as at _b_, Fig. LXX.; a rich group of deep lines, running +concentrically with the arch, is the result on the instant, and the fate +of the voussoirs is sealed. They surrender at once without a struggle, +and unconditionally; the chamfers deepen and multiply themselves, cover +the soffit, ally themselves with other forms resulting from grouped +shafts or traceries, and settle into the inextricable richness of the +fully developed Gothic jamb and arch; farther complicated in the end by +the addition of niches to their recesses, as above described. + +Sec. XII. The voussoirs, in despair, go over to the classical camp, in +hope of receiving some help or tolerance from their former enemies. They +receive it indeed: but as traitors should, to their own eternal +dishonor. They are sharply chiselled at the joints, or rusticated, or +cut into masks and satyrs' heads, and so set forth and pilloried in the +various detestable forms of which the simplest is given above in Plate +XIII. (on the left); and others may be seen in nearly every large +building in London, more especially in the bridges; and, as if in pure +spite at the treatment they had received from the archivolt, they are +now not content with vigorously showing their lateral joints, but shape +themselves into right-angled steps at their heads, cutting to pieces +their limiting line, which otherwise would have had sympathy with that +of the arch, and fitting themselves to their new friend, the Renaissance +Ruled Copy-book wall. It had been better they had died ten times over, +in their own ancient cause, than thus prolonged their existence. + +Sec. XIII. We bid them farewell in their dishonor, to return to our +victorious chamfer. It had not, we said, obtained so easy a conquest, +unless by the help of certain forms of the grouped shaft. The chamfer +was quite enough to decorate the archivolts, if there were no more than +two; but if, as above noticed in Sec. III., the archivolt was very deep, +and composed of a succession of such steps, the multitude of chamferings +were felt to be weak and insipid, and instead of dealing with the +outside edges of the archivolts, the group was softened by introducing +solid shafts in their dark inner angles. This, the manliest and best +condition of the early northern jamb and archivolt, is represented in +section at fig. 12 of Plate II.; and its simplest aspect in Plate V., +from the Broletto of Como,--an interesting example, because there the +voussoirs being in the midst of their above-described southern contest +with the architrave, were better prepared for the flank attack upon them +by the shaft and chamfer, and make a noble resistance, with the help of +color, in which even the shaft itself gets slightly worsted, and cut +across in several places, like General Zach's column at Marengo. + +Sec. XIV. The shaft, however, rapidly rallies, and brings up its own +peculiar decorations to its aid; and the intermediate archivolts receive +running or panelled ornaments, also, until we reach the exquisitely rich +conditions of our own Norman archivolts, and of the parallel Lombardic +designs, such as the entrance of the Duomo, and of San Fermo, at Verona. +This change, however, occupies little time, and takes place principally +in doorways, owing to the greater thickness of wall, and depth of +archivolt; so that we find the rich shafted succession of ornament, in +the doorway and window aperture, associated with the earliest and rudest +double archivolt, in the nave arches, at St. Michele of Pavia. The nave +arches, therefore, are most usually treated by the chamfer, and the +voussoirs are there defeated much sooner than by the shafted +arrangements, which they resist, as we saw, in the south by color; and +even in the north, though forced out of their own shape, they take that +of birds' or monsters' heads, which for some time peck and pinch the +rolls of the archivolt to their hearts' content; while the Norman zigzag +ornament allies itself with them, each zigzag often restraining itself +amicably between the joints of each voussoir in the ruder work, and even +in the highly finished arches, distinctly presenting a concentric or +sunlike arrangement of lines; so much so, as to prompt the conjecture, +above stated, Chap. XX. Sec. XXVI., that all such ornaments were intended +to be typical of light issuing from the orb of the arch. I doubt the +intention, but acknowledge the resemblance; which perhaps goes far to +account for the never-failing delightfulness of this zigzag decoration. +The diminution of the zigzag, as it gradually shares the defeat of the +voussoir, and is at last overwhelmed by the complicated, railroad-like +fluency of the later Gothic mouldings, is to me one of the saddest +sights in the drama of architecture. + +Sec. XV. One farther circumstance is deserving of especial note in Plate +V., the greater depth of the voussoirs at the top of the arch. This has +been above alluded to as a feature of good construction, Chap. XI., Sec. +III.; it is to be noted now as one still more valuable in decoration: +for when we arrive at the deep succession of concentric archivolts, with +which northern portals, and many of the associated windows, are headed, +we immediately find a difficulty in reconciling the outer curve with the +inner. If, as is sometimes the case, the width of the group of +archivolts be twice or three times that of the inner aperture, the inner +arch may be distinctly pointed, and the outer one, if drawn with +concentric arcs, approximate very nearly to a round arch. This is +actually the case in the later Gothic of Verona; the outer line of the +archivolt having a hardly perceptible point, and every inner arch of +course forming the point more distinctly, till the innermost becomes a +lancet. By far the nobler method, however, is that of the pure early +Italian Gothic; to make every outer arch a _magnified fac-simile_ of the +innermost one, every arc including the same number of degrees, but +degrees of a larger circle. The result is the condition represented in +Plate V., often found in far bolder development; exquisitely springy and +elastic in its expression, and entirely free from the heaviness and +monotony of the deep northern archivolts. + +Sec. XVI. We have not spoken of the intermediate form, _b_, of Fig. LXIX. +(which its convenience for admission of light has rendered common in +nearly all architectures), because it has no transitions peculiar to +itself: in the north it sometimes shares the fate of the outer +architrave, and is channelled into longitudinal mouldings; sometimes +remains smooth and massy, as in military architecture, or in the simpler +forms of domestic and ecclesiastical. In Italy it receives surface +decoration like the architrave, but has, perhaps, something of peculiar +expression in being placed between the tracery of the window within, and +its shafts and tabernacle work without, as in the Duomo of Florence: in +this position it is always kept smooth in surface, and inlaid (or +painted) with delicate arabesques; while the tracery and the tabernacle +work are richly sculptured. The example of its treatment by colored +voussoirs, given in Plate XIX., may be useful to the reader as a kind of +central expression of the aperture decoration of the pure Italian +Gothic;--aperture decoration proper; applying no shaft work to the +jambs, but leaving the bevelled opening unenriched; using on the outer +archivolt the voussoirs and concentric architrave in reconcilement (the +latter having, however, some connection with the Norman zigzag); and +beneath them, the pure Italian two-pieced and mid-cusped arch, with rich +cusp decoration. It is a Veronese arch, probably of the thirteenth +century, and finished with extreme care; the red portions are all in +brick, delicately cast: and the most remarkable feature of the whole is +the small piece of brick inlaid on the angle of each stone voussoir, +with a most just feeling, which every artist will at once understand, +that the color ought not to be let go all at once. + +Sec. XVII. We have traced the various conditions of treatment in the +archivolt alone; but, except in what has been said of the peculiar +expression of the voussoirs, we might throughout have spoken in the same +terms of the jamb. Even a parallel to the expression of the voussoir may +be found in the Lombardic and Norman divisions of the shafts, by zigzags +and other transverse ornamentation, which in the end are all swept away +by the canaliculated mouldings. Then, in the recesses of these and of +the archivolts alike, the niche and statue decoration develops itself; +and the vaulted and cavernous apertures are covered with incrustations +of fretwork, and with every various application of foliage to their +fantastic mouldings. + +Sec. XVIII. I have kept the inquiry into the proper ornament of the +archivolt wholly free from all confusion with the questions of beauty in +tracery; for, in fact, all tracery is a mere multiplication and +entanglement of small archivolts, and its cusp ornament is a minor +condition of that proper to the spandril. It does not reach its +completely defined form until the jamb and archivolt have been divided +into longitudinal mouldings; and then the tracery is formed by the +innermost group of the shafts or fillets, bent into whatever forms or +foliations the designer may choose; but this with a delicacy of +adaptation which I rather choose to illustrate by particular examples, +of which we shall meet with many in the course of our inquiry, than to +delay the reader by specifying here. As for the conditions of beauty in +the disposition of the tracery bars, I see no hope of dealing with the +subject fairly but by devoting, if I can find time, a separate essay to +it--which, in itself, need not be long, but would involve, before it +could be completed, the examination of the whole mass of materials +lately collected by the indefatigable industry of the English architects +who have devoted their special attention to this subject, and which are +of the highest value as illustrating the chronological succession or +mechanical structure of tracery, but which, in most cases, touch on +their aesthetic merits incidentally only. Of works of this kind, by far +the best I have met with is Mr. Edmund Sharpe's, on Decorated Windows, +which seems to me, as far as a cursory glance can enable me to judge, to +exhaust the subject as respects English Gothic; and which may be +recommended to the readers who are interested in the subject, as +containing a clear and masterly enunciation of the general principles by +which the design of tracery has been regulated, from its first +development to its final degradation. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [91] The architrave is properly the horizontal piece of stone laid + across the tops of the pillars in Greek buildings, and commonly + marked with horizontal lines, obtained by slight projections of its + surface, while it is protected above in the richer orders, by a + small cornice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + THE ROOF. + + +Sec. I. The modes of decoration hitherto considered, have been common to +the exteriors and interiors of all noble buildings; and we have taken no +notice of the various kinds of ornament which require protection from +weather, and are necessarily confined to interior work. But in the case +of the roof, the exterior and interior treatments become, as we saw in +construction, so also in decoration, separated by broad and bold +distinctions. One side of a wall is, in most cases, the same as another, +and if its structure be concealed, it is mostly on the inside; but, in +the roof, the anatomical structure, out of which decoration should +naturally spring, is visible, if at all, in the interior only: so that +the subject of internal ornament becomes both wide and important, and +that of external, comparatively subordinate. + +Sec. II. Now, so long as we were concerned principally with the outside of +buildings, we might with safety leave expressional character out of the +question for the time, because it is not to be expected that all persons +who pass the building, or see it from a distance, shall be in the temper +which the building is properly intended to induce; so that ornaments +somewhat at variance with this temper may often be employed externally +without painful effect. But these ornaments would be inadmissible in the +interior, for those who enter will for the most part either be in the +proper temper which the building requires, or desirous of acquiring it. +(The distinction is not rigidly observed by the mediaeval builders, and +grotesques, or profane subjects, occur in the interior of churches, in +bosses, crockets, capitals, brackets, and such other portions of minor +ornament: but we do not find the interior wall covered with hunting and +battle pieces, as often the Lombardic exteriors.) And thus the interior +expression of the roof or ceiling becomes necessarily so various, and +the kind and degree of fitting decoration so dependent upon particular +circumstances, that it is nearly impossible to classify its methods, or +limit its application. + +Sec. III. I have little, therefore, to say here, and that touching rather +the omission than the selection of decoration, as far as regards +interior roofing. Whether of timber or stone, roofs are necessarily +divided into surfaces, and ribs or beams;--surfaces, flat or carved; +ribs, traversing these in the directions where main strength is +required; or beams, filling the hollow of the dark gable with the +intricate roof-tree, or supporting the flat ceiling. Wherever the ribs +and beams are simply and unaffectedly arranged, there is no difficulty +about decoration; the beams may be carved, the ribs moulded, and the eye +is satisfied at once; but when the vaulting is unribbed, as in plain +waggon vaults and much excellent early Gothic, or when the ceiling is +flat, it becomes a difficult question how far their services may receive +ornamentation independent of their structure. I have never myself seen a +flat ceiling satisfactorily decorated, except by painting: there is much +good and fanciful panelling in old English domestic architecture, but it +always is in some degree meaningless and mean. The flat ceilings of +Venice, as in the Scuola di San Rocco and Ducal Palace, have in their +vast panellings some of the noblest paintings (on stretched canvas) +which the world possesses: and this is all very well for the ceiling; +but one would rather have the painting in a better place, especially +when the rain soaks through its canvas, as I have seen it doing through +many a noble Tintoret. On the whole, flat ceilings are as much to be +avoided as possible; and, when necessary, perhaps a panelled +ornamentation with rich colored patterns is the most satisfying, and +loses least of valuable labor. But I leave the question to the reader's +thought, being myself exceedingly undecided respecting it: except only +touching one point--that a blank ceiling is not to be redeemed by a +decorated ventilator. + +Sec. IV. I have a more confirmed opinion, however, respecting the +decoration of curved surfaces. The majesty of a roof is never, I think, +so great, as when the eye can pass undisturbed over the course of all +its curvatures, and trace the dying of the shadows along its smooth and +sweeping vaults. And I would rather, myself, have a plain ridged Gothic +vault, with all its rough stones visible, to keep the sleet and wind out +of a cathedral aisle, than all the fanning and pendanting and foliation +that ever bewildered Tudor weight. But mosaic or fresco may of course be +used as far as we can afford or obtain them; for these do not break the +curvature. Perhaps the most solemn roofs in the world are the apse +conchas of the Romanesque basilicas, with their golden ground and severe +figures. Exactly opposed to these are the decorations which disturb the +serenity of the curve without giving it interest, like the vulgar +panelling of St. Peter's and the Pantheon; both, I think, in the last +degree detestable. + +Sec. V. As roofs internally may be divided into surfaces and ribs, +externally they may be divided into surfaces, and points, or ridges; +these latter often receiving very bold and distinctive ornament. The +outside surface is of small importance in central Europe, being almost +universally low in slope, and tiled throughout Spain, South France, and +North Italy: of still less importance where it is flat, as a terrace; as +often in South Italy and the East, mingled with low domes: but the +larger Eastern and Arabian domes become elaborate in ornamentation: I +cannot speak of them with confidence; to the mind of an inhabitant of +the north, a roof is a guard against wild weather; not a surface which +is forever to bask in serene heat, and gleam across deserts like a +rising moon. I can only say, that I have never seen any drawing of a +richly decorated Eastern dome that made me desire to see the original. + +Sec. VI. Our own northern roof decoration is necessarily simple. Colored +tiles are used in some cases with quaint effect; but I believe the +dignity of the building is always greater when the roof is kept in an +undisturbed mass, opposing itself to the variegation and richness of the +walls. The Italian round tile is itself decoration enough, a deep and +rich fluting, which all artists delight in; this, however, is fitted +exclusively for low pitch of roofs. On steep domestic roofs, there is no +ornament better than may be obtained by merely rounding, or cutting to +an angle, the lower extremities of the flat tiles or shingles, as in +Switzerland: thus the whole surface is covered with an appearance of +scales, a fish-like defence against water, at once perfectly simple, +natural, and effective at any distance; and the best decoration of +sloping stone roofs, as of spires, is a mere copy of this scale armor; +it enriches every one of the spires and pinnacles of the cathedral of +Coutances, and of many Norman and early Gothic buildings. Roofs covered +or edged with lead have often patterns designed upon the lead, gilded +and relieved with some dark color, as on the house of Jaques Coeur at +Bourges; and I imagine the effect of this must have been singularly +delicate and beautiful, but only traces of it now remain. The northern +roofs, however, generally stand in little need of surface decoration, +the eye being drawn to the fantastic ranges of their dormer windows, and +to the finials and fringes on their points and ridges. + +Sec. VII. Whether dormer windows are legitimately to be classed as +decorative features, seems to me to admit of doubt. The northern spire +system is evidently a mere elevation and exaggeration of the domestic +turret with its look-out windows, and one can hardly part with the +grotesque lines of the projections, though nobody is to be expected to +live in the spire: but, at all events, such windows are never to be +allowed in places visibly inaccessible, or on less than a natural and +serviceable scale. + +Sec. VIII. Under the general head of roof-ridge and point decoration, we +may include, as above noted, the entire race of fringes, finials, and +crockets. As there is no use in any of these things, and as they are +visible additions and parasitical portions of the structure, more +caution is required in their use than in any other features of ornament, +and the architect and spectator must both be in felicitous humor before +they can be well designed or thoroughly enjoyed. They are generally +most admirable where the grotesque Northern spirit has most power; and I +think there is almost always a certain spirit of playfulness in them, +adverse to the grandest architectural effects, or at least to be kept in +severe subordination to the serener character of the prevalent lines. +But as they are opposed to the seriousness of majesty on the one hand, +so they are to the weight of dulness on the other; and I know not any +features which make the contrast between continental domestic +architecture, and our own, more humiliatingly felt, or which give so +sudden a feeling of new life and delight, when we pass from the streets +of London to those of Abbeville or Rouen, as the quaint points and +pinnacles of the roof gables and turrets. The commonest and heaviest +roof may be redeemed by a spike at the end of it, if it is set on with +any spirit; but the foreign builders have (or had, at least) a peculiar +feeling in this, and gave animation to the whole roof by the fringe of +its back, and the spike on its forehead, so that all goes together, like +the dorsal fins and spines of a fish: but our spikes have a dull, +screwed on, look; a far-off relationship to the nuts of machinery; and +our roof fringes are sure to look like fenders, as if they were meant to +catch ashes out of the London smoke-clouds. + +Sec. IX. Stone finials and crockets are, I think, to be considered in +architecture, what points and flashes of light are in the color of +painting, or of nature. There are some landscapes whose best character +is sparkling, and there is a possibility of repose in the midst of +brilliancy, or embracing it,--as on the fields of summer sea, or summer +land: + + "Calm, and deep peace, on this high wold, + And on the dews that drench the furze, + And on the silvery gossamers, + _That twinkle into green and gold_." + +And there are colorists who can keep their quiet in the midst of a +jewellery of light; but, for the most part, it is better to avoid +breaking up either lines or masses by too many points, and to make the +few points used exceedingly precious. So the best crockets and finials +are set, like stars, along the lines, and at the points, which they +adorn, with considerable intervals between them, and exquisite delicacy +and fancy of sculpture in their own designs; if very small, they may +become more frequent, and describe lines by a chain of points; but their +whole value is lost if they are gathered into bunches or clustered into +tassels and knots; and an over-indulgence in them always marks lowness +of school. In Venice, the addition of the finial to the arch-head is the +first sign of degradation; all her best architecture is entirely without +either crockets or finials; and her ecclesiastical architecture may be +classed, with fearless accuracy, as better or worse, in proportion to +the diminution or expansion of the crocket. The absolutely perfect use +of the crocket is found, I think, in the tower of Giotto, and in some +other buildings of the Pisan school. In the North they generally err on +one side or other, and are either florid and huge, or mean in outline, +looking as if they had been pinched out of the stonework, as throughout +the entire cathedral of Amiens; and are besides connected with the +generally spotty system which has been spoken of under the head of +archivolt decoration. + +Sec. X. Employed, however, in moderation, they are among the most +delightful means of delicate expression; and the architect has more +liberty in their individual treatment than in any other feature of the +building. Separated entirely from the structural system, they are +subjected to no shadow of any other laws than those of grace and +chastity; and the fancy may range without rebuke, for materials of their +design, through the whole field of the visible or imaginable creation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + THE VESTIBULE. + + +Sec. I. I have hardly kept my promise. The reader has decorated but little +for himself as yet; but I have not, at least, attempted to bias his +judgment. Of the simple forms of decoration which have been set before +him, he has always been left free to choose; and the stated restrictions +in the methods of applying them have been only those which followed on +the necessities of construction previously determined. These having been +now defined, I do indeed leave my reader free to build; and with what a +freedom! All the lovely forms of the universe set before him, whence to +choose, and all the lovely lines that bound their substance or guide +their motion; and of all these lines,--and there are myriads of myriads +in every bank of grass and every tuft of forest; and groups of them +divinely harmonized, in the bell of every flower, and in every several +member of bird and beast,--of all these lines, for the principal forms +of the most important members of architecture, I have used but Three! +What, therefore, must be the infinity of the treasure in them all! There +is material enough in a single flower for the ornament of a score of +cathedrals, but suppose we were satisfied with less exhaustive +appliance, and built a score of cathedrals, each to illustrate a single +flower? that would be better than trying to invent new styles, I think. +There is quite difference of style enough, between a violet and a +harebell, for all reasonable purposes. + +Sec. II. Perhaps, however, even more strange than the struggle of our +architects to invent new styles, is the way they commonly speak of this +treasure of natural infinity. Let us take our patience to us for an +instant, and hear one of them, not among the least intelligent:-- + + "It is not true that all natural forms are beautiful. We may hardly + be able to detect this in Nature herself; but when the forms are + separated from the things, and exhibited alone (by sculpture or + carving), we then see that they are not all fitted for ornamental + purposes; and indeed that very few, perhaps none, are so fitted + without correction. Yes, I say _correction_, for though it is the + highest aim of every art to imitate nature, this is not to be done by + imitating any natural form, but by _criticising_ and _correcting_ + it,--criticising it by Nature's rules gathered from all her works, + but never completely carried out by her in any one work; correcting + it, by rendering it more natural, _i.e._ more conformable to the + general tendency of Nature, according to that noble maxim recorded of + Raffaelle, 'that the artist's object was to make things not as Nature + makes them, but as she WOULD make them;' as she ever tries to make + them, but never succeeds, though her aim may be deduced from a + comparison of her efforts; just as if a number of archers had aimed + unsuccessfully at a mark upon a wall, and this mark were then + removed, we could by the examination of their arrow marks point out + the most probable position of the spot aimed at, with a certainty of + being nearer to it than any of their shots."[92] + +Sec. III. I had thought that, by this time, we had done with that stale, +second-hand, one-sided, and misunderstood saying of Raffaelle's; or that +at least, in these days of purer Christian light, men might have begun +to get some insight into the meaning of it: Raffaelle was a painter of +humanity, and assuredly there is something the matter with humanity, a +few _dovrebbe's_, more or less, wanting in it. We have most of us heard +of original sin, and may perhaps, in our modest moments, conjecture that +we are not quite what God, or nature, would have us to be. Raffaelle +_had_ something to mend in Humanity: I should have liked to have seen +him mending a daisy!--or a pease-blossom, or a moth, or a mustard seed, +or any other of God's slightest works. If he had accomplished that, one +might have found for him more respectable employment,--to set the stars +in better order, perhaps (they seem grievously scattered as they are, +and to be of all manner of shapes and sizes,--except the ideal shape, +and the proper size); or to give us a corrected view of the ocean; that, +at least, seems a very irregular and improveable thing; the very +fishermen do not know, this day, how far it will reach, driven up before +the west wind:--perhaps Some One else does, but that is not our +business. Let us go down and stand by the beach of it,--of the great +irregular sea, and count whether the thunder of it is not out of time. +One,--two:--here comes a well-formed wave at last, trembling a little at +the top, but, on the whole, orderly. So, crash among the shingle, and up +as far as this grey pebble; now stand by and watch! Another:--Ah, +careless wave! why couldn't you have kept your crest on? it is all gone +away into spray, striking up against the cliffs there--I thought as +much--missed the mark by a couple of feet! Another:--How now, impatient +one! couldn't you have waited till your friend's reflux was done with, +instead of rolling yourself up with it in that unseemly manner? You go +for nothing. A fourth, and a goodly one at last. What think we of yonder +slow rise, and crystalline hollow, without a flaw? Steady, good wave; +not so fast; not so fast; where are you coming to?--By our architectural +word, this is too bad; two yards over the mark, and ever so much of you +in our face besides; and a wave which we had some hope of, behind there, +broken all to pieces out at sea, and laying a great white table-cloth of +foam all the way to the shore, as if the marine gods were to dine off +it! Alas, for these unhappy arrow shots of Nature; she will never hit +her mark with those unruly waves of hers, nor get one of them, into the +ideal shape, if we wait for a thousand years. Let us send for a Greek +architect to do it for her. He comes--the great Greek architect, with +measure and rule. Will he not also make the weight for the winds? and +weigh out the waters by measure? and make a decree for the rain, and a +way for the lightning of the thunder? He sets himself orderly to his +work, and behold! this is the mark of nature, and this is the thing into +which the great Greek architect improves the sea-- + +[Illustration] + +[Greek: Thalatta, thalatta]: Was it this, then, that they wept to see +from the sacred mountain--those wearied ones? + +Sec. IV. But the sea was meant to be irregular! Yes, and were not also +the leaves, and the blades of grass; and, in a sort, as far as may be +without mark of sin, even the countenance of man? Or would it be +pleasanter and better to have us all alike, and numbered on our +foreheads, that we might be known one from the other? + +Sec. V. Is there, then, nothing to be done by man's art? Have we only to +copy, and again copy, for ever, the imagery of the universe? Not so. We +have work to do upon it; there is not any one of us so simple, nor so +feeble, but he has work to do upon it. But the work is not to improve, +but to explain. This infinite universe is unfathomable, inconceivable, +in its whole; every human creature must slowly spell out, and long +contemplate, such part of it as may be possible for him to reach; then +set forth what he has learned of it for those beneath him; extricating +it from infinity, as one gathers a violet out of grass; one does not +improve either violet or grass in gathering it, but one makes the flower +visible; and then the human being has to make its power upon his own +heart visible also, and to give it the honor of the good thoughts it has +raised up in him, and to write upon it the history of his own soul. And +sometimes he may be able to do more than this, and to set it in strange +lights, and display it in a thousand ways before unknown: ways specially +directed to necessary and noble purposes, for which he had to choose +instruments out of the wide armory of God. All this he may do: and in +this he is only doing what every Christian has to do with the written, +as well as the created word, "rightly _dividing_ the word of truth." Out +of the infinity of the written word, he has also to gather and set forth +things new and old, to choose them for the season and the work that are +before him, to explain and manifest them to others, with such +illustration and enforcement as may be in his power, and to crown them +with the history of what, by them, God has done for his soul. And, in +doing this, is he improving the Word of God? Just such difference as +there is between the sense in which a minister may be said to improve a +text, to the people's comfort, and the sense in which an atheist might +declare that he could improve the Book, which, if any man shall add +unto, there shall be added unto him the plagues that are written +therein; just such difference is there between that which, with respect +to Nature, man is, in his humbleness, called upon to do, and that which, +in his insolence, he imagines himself capable of doing. + +Sec. VI. Have no fear, therefore, reader, in judging between nature and +art, so only that you love both. If you can love one only, then let it +be Nature; you are safe with her: but do not then attempt to judge the +art, to which you do not care to give thought, or time. But if you love +both, you may judge between them fearlessly; you may estimate the last, +by its making you remember the first, and giving you the same kind of +joy. If, in the square of the city, you can find a delight, finite, +indeed, but pure and intense, like that which you have in a valley among +the hills, then its art and architecture are right; but if, after fair +trial, you can find no delight in them, nor any instruction like that of +nature, I call on you fearlessly to condemn them. + +We are forced, for the sake of accumulating our power and knowledge, to +live in cities; but such advantage as we have in association with each +other is in great part counterbalanced by our loss of fellowship with +nature. We cannot all have our gardens now, nor our pleasant fields to +meditate in at eventide. Then the function of our architecture is, as +far as may be, to replace these; to tell us about nature; to possess us +with memories of her quietness; to be solemn and full of tenderness, +like her, and rich in portraitures of her; full of delicate imagery of +the flowers we can no more gather, and of the living creatures now far +away from us in their own solitude. If ever you felt or found this in a +London Street,--if ever it furnished you with one serious thought, or +one ray of true and gentle pleasure,--if there is in your heart a true +delight in its grim railings and dark casements, and wasteful finery of +shops, and feeble coxcombry of club-houses,--it is well: promote the +building of more like them. But if they never taught you anything, and +never made you happier as you passed beneath them, do not think they +have any mysterious goodness nor occult sublimity. Have done with the +wretched affectation, the futile barbarism, of pretending to enjoy: for, +as surely as you know that the meadow grass, meshed with fairy rings, is +better than the wood pavement, cut into hexagons; and as surely as you +know the fresh winds and sunshine of the upland are better than the +choke-damp of the vault, or the gas-light of the ball-room, you may +know, as I told you that you should, that the good architecture, which +has life, and truth, and joy in it, is better than the bad architecture, +which has death, dishonesty, and vexation of heart in it, from the +beginning to the end of time. + +Sec. VII. And now come with me, for I have kept you too long from your +gondola: come with me, on an autumnal morning, through the dark gates of +Padua, and let us take the broad road leading towards the East. + +It lies level, for a league or two, between its elms, and vine festoons +full laden, their thin leaves veined into scarlet hectic, and their +clusters deepened into gloomy blue; then mounts an embankment above the +Brenta, and runs between the river and the broad plain, which stretches +to the north in endless lines of mulberry and maize. The Brenta flows +slowly, but strongly; a muddy volume of yellowish-grey water, that +neither hastens nor slackens, but glides heavily between its monotonous +banks, with here and there a short, babbling eddy twisted for an instant +into its opaque surface, and vanishing, as if something had been dragged +into it and gone down. Dusty and shadeless, the road fares along the +dyke on its northern side; and the tall white tower of Dolo is seen +trembling in the heat mist far away, and never seems nearer than it did +at first. Presently you pass one of the much vaunted "villas on the +Brenta:" a glaring, spectral shell of brick and stucco, its windows with +painted architraves like picture-frames, and a court-yard paved with +pebbles in front of it, all burning in the thick glow of the feverish +sunshine, but fenced from the high road, for magnificence sake, with +goodly posts and chains; then another, of Kew Gothic, with Chinese +variations, painted red and green; a third composed for the greater +part of dead-wall, with fictitious windows painted upon it, each with a +pea-green blind, and a classical architrave in bad perspective; and a +fourth, with stucco figures set on the top of its garden-wall: some +antique, like the kind to be seen at the corner of the New Road, and +some of clumsy grotesque dwarfs, with fat bodies and large boots. This +is the architecture to which her studies of the Renaissance have +conducted modern Italy. + +Sec. VIII. The sun climbs steadily, and warms into intense white the walls +of the little piazza of Dolo, where we change horses. Another dreary +stage among the now divided branches of the Brenta, forming irregular +and half-stagnant canals; with one or two more villas on the other side +of them, but these of the old Venetian type, which we may have +recognised before at Padua, and sinking fast into utter ruin, black, and +rent, and lonely, set close to the edge of the dull water, with what +were once small gardens beside them, kneaded into mud, and with blighted +fragments of gnarled hedges and broken stakes for their fencing; and +here and there a few fragments of marble steps, which have once given +them graceful access from the water's edge, now settling into the mud in +broken joints, all aslope, and slippery with green weed. At last the +road turns sharply to the north, and there is an open space, covered +with bent grass, on the right of it: but do not look that way. + +Sec. IX. Five minutes more, and we are in the upper room of the little +inn at Mestre, glad of a moment's rest in shade. The table is (always, I +think) covered with a cloth of nominal white and perennial grey, with +plates and glasses at due intervals, and small loaves of a peculiar +white bread, made with oil, and more like knots of flour than bread. The +view from its balcony is not cheerful: a narrow street, with a solitary +brick church and barren campanile on the other side of it; and some +coventual buildings, with a few crimson remnants of fresco about their +windows; and, between them and the street, a ditch with some slow +current in it, and one or two small houses beside it, one with an arbor +of roses at its door, as in an English tea-garden; the air, however, +about us having in it nothing of roses, but a close smell of garlic and +crabs, warmed by the smoke of various stands of hot chestnuts. There is +much vociferation also going on beneath the window respecting certain +wheelbarrows which are in rivalry for our baggage: we appease their +rivalry with our best patience, and follow them down the narrow street. + +Sec. X. We have but walked some two hundred yards when we come to a low +wharf or quay, at the extremity of a canal, with long steps on each side +down to the water, which latter we fancy for an instant has become black +with stagnation; another glance undeceives us,--it is covered with the +black boats of Venice. We enter one of them, rather to try if they be +real boats or not, than with any definite purpose, and glide away; at +first feeling as if the water were yielding continually beneath the boat +and letting her sink into soft vacancy. It is something clearer than any +water we have seen lately, and of a pale green; the banks only two or +three feet above it, of mud and rank grass, with here and there a +stunted tree; gliding swiftly past the small casement of the gondola, as +if they were dragged by upon a painted scene. + +Stroke by stroke we count the plunges of the oar, each heaving up the +side of the boat slightly as her silver beak shoots forward. We lose +patience, and extricate ourselves from the cushions: the sea air blows +keenly by, as we stand leaning on the roof of the floating cell. In +front, nothing to be seen but long canal and level bank; to the west, +the tower of Mestre is lowering fast, and behind it there have risen +purple shapes, of the color of dead rose-leaves, all round the horizon, +feebly defined against the afternoon sky,--the Alps of Bassano. Forward +still: the endless canal bends at last, and then breaks into intricate +angles about some low bastions, now torn to pieces and staggering in +ugly rents towards the water,--the bastions of the fort of Malghera. +Another turn, and another perspective of canal; but not interminable. +The silver beak cleaves it fast,--it widens: the rank grass of the +banks sinks lower, and lower, and at last dies in tawny knots along an +expanse of weedy shore. Over it, on the right, but a few years back, we +might have seen the lagoon stretching to the horizon, and the warm +southern sky bending over Malamocco to the sea. Now we can see nothing +but what seems a low and monotonous dock-yard wall, with flat arches to +let the tide through it;--this is the railroad bridge, conspicuous above +all things. But at the end of those dismal arches, there rises, out of +the wide water, a straggling line of low and confused brick buildings, +which, but for the many towers which are mingled among them, might be +the suburbs of an English manufacturing town. Four or five domes, pale, +and apparently at a greater distance, rise over the centre of the line; +but the object which first catches the eye is a sullen cloud of black +smoke brooding over the northern half of it, and which issues from the +belfry of a church. + +It is Venice. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [92] Garbett on Design, p. 74. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + 1. FOUNDATION OF VENICE. + +I find the chroniclers agree in fixing the year 421, if any: the +following sentence from De Monaci may perhaps interest the reader. + +"God, who punishes the sins of men by war sorrows, and whose ways are +past finding out, willing both to save the innocent blood, and that a +great power, beneficial to the whole world, should arise in a spot +strange beyond belief, moved the chief men of the cities of the Venetian +province (which from the border of Pannonia, extended as far as the +Adda, a river of Lombardy), both in memory of past, and in dread of +future distress, to establish states upon the nearer islands of the +inner gulphs of the Adriatic, to which, in the last necessity, they +might retreat for refuge. And first Galienus de Fontana, Simon de +Glauconibus, and Antonius Calvus, or, as others have it, Adalburtus +Falerius, Thomas Candiano, Comes Daulus, Consuls of Padua, by the +command of their King and the desire of the citizens, laid the +foundations of the new commonwealth, under good auspices, on the island +of the Rialto, the highest and nearest to the mouth of the deep river +now called the Brenta, in the year of Our Lord, as many writers assure +us, four hundred and twenty-one, on the 25th day of March."[93] + +It is matter also of very great satisfaction to know that Venice was +founded by good Christians: "La qual citade e stada hedificada da veri e +boni Christiani:" which information I found in the MS. copy of the +Zancarol Chronicle, in the library of St. Mark's. + +Finally the conjecture as to the origin of her name, recorded by +Sansovino, will be accepted willingly by all who love Venice: "Fu +interpretato da alcuni, che questa voce VENETIA voglia dire _VENI +ETIAM_, cioe, vieni ancora, e ancora, percioche quante volte verrai, +sempre vedrai nuove cose, enuove bellezze." + + + 2. POWER OF THE DOGES. + +The best authorities agree in giving the year 697 as that of the +election of the first doge, Paul Luke Anafeste. He was elected in a +general meeting of the commonalty, tribunes, and clergy, at Heraclea, +"divinis rebus procuratis," as usual, in all serious work, in those +times. His authority is thus defined by Sabellico, who was not likely to +have exaggerated it:--"Penes quem decus omne imperii ac majestas esset: +cui jus concilium cogendi quoties de republica aliquid referri +oporteret; qui tribunos annuos in singulas insulas legeret, a quibus ad +Ducem esset provocatio. Caeterum, si quis dignitatem, ecclesiam, +sacerdotumve cleri populique suffragio esset adeptus, ita demum id ratum +haberetur si dux ipse auctor factus esset." (Lib. I.) The last clause is +very important, indicating the subjection of the ecclesiastical to the +popular and ducal (or patrician) powers, which, throughout her career, +was one of the most remarkable features in the policy of Venice. The +appeal from the tribunes to the doge is also important; and the +expression "decus omne imperii," if of somewhat doubtful force, is at +least as energetic as could have been expected from an historian under +the influence of the Council of Ten. + + + 3. SERRAR DEL CONSIGLIO. + +The date of the decree which made the right of sitting in the grand +council hereditary, is variously given; the Venetian historians +themselves saying as little as they can about it. The thing was +evidently not accomplished at once, several decrees following in +successive years: the Council of Ten was established without any doubt +in 1310, in consequence of the conspiracy of Tiepolo. The Venetian +verse, quoted by Mutinelli (Annali Urbani di Venezia, p. 153), is worth +remembering. + + "Del mille tresento e diese + A mezzo el mese delle ceriese + Bagiamonte passo el ponte + E per esso fo fatto el Consegio di diese." + +The reader cannot do better than take 1297 as the date of the beginning +of the change of government, and this will enable him exactly to divide +the 1100 years from the election of the first doge into 600 of monarchy +and 500 of aristocracy. The coincidence of the numbers is somewhat +curious; 697 the date of the establishment of the government, 1297 of +its change, and 1797 of its fall. + + + 4. S. PIETRO DI CASTELLO. + +It is credibly reported to have been founded in the seventh century, and +(with somewhat less of credibility) in a place where the Trojans, +conducted by Antenor, had, after the destruction of Troy, built "un +castello, chiamato prima Troja, poscia Olivolo, interpretato, luogo +pieno." It seems that St. Peter appeared in person to the Bishop of +Heraclea, and commanded him to found in his honor, a church in that spot +of the rising city on the Rialto: "ove avesse veduto una mandra di buoi +e di pecore pascolare unitamente. Questa fu la prodigiosa origine della +Chiesa di San Pietro, che poscia, o rinovata, o ristaurata, da Orso +Participazio IV Vescovo Olivolense, divenne la Cattedrale della Nuova +citta." (Notizie Storiche delle Chiese e Monasteri di Venezia. Padua, +1758.) What there was so prodigious in oxen and sheep feeding together, +we need St. Peter, I think, to tell us. The title of Bishop of Castello +was first taken in 1091: St. Mark's was not made the cathedral church +till 1807. It may be thought hardly fair to conclude the small +importance of the old St. Pietro di Castello from the appearance of the +wretched modernisations of 1620. But these modernisations are spoken of +as improvements; and I find no notice of peculiar beauties in the older +building, either in the work above quoted, or by Sansovino; who only +says that when it was destroyed by fire (as everything in Venice was, I +think, about three times in a century), in the reign of Vital Michele, +it was rebuilt "with good thick walls, maintaining, _for all that_, the +order of its arrangement taken from the Greek mode of building." This +does not seem the description of a very enthusiastic effort to rebuild a +highly ornate cathedral. The present church is among the least +interesting in Venice; a wooden bridge, something like that of Battersea +on a small scale, connects its island, now almost deserted, with a +wretched suburb of the city behind the arsenal; and a blank level of +lifeless grass, rotted away in places rather than trodden, is extended +before its mildewed facade and solitary tower. + + + 5. PAPAL POWER IN VENICE. + +I may refer the reader to the eleventh chapter of the twenty-eighth book +of Daru for some account of the restraints to which the Venetian clergy +were subjected. I have not myself been able to devote any time to the +examination of the original documents bearing on this matter, but the +following extract from a letter of a friend, who will not at present +permit me to give his name, but who is certainly better conversant +with the records of the Venetian State than any other Englishman, will +be of great value to the general reader:-- + +"In the year 1410, or perhaps at the close of the thirteenth century, +churchmen were excluded from the Grand Council and declared ineligible +to civil employment; and in the same year, 1410, the Council of Ten, +with the Giunta, decreed that whenever in the state's councils matters +concerning ecclesiastical affairs were being treated, all the kinsfolk +of Venetian beneficed clergymen were to be expelled; and, in the year +1434, the RELATIONS of churchmen were declared ineligible to the post of +ambassador at Rome. + +"The Venetians never gave possession of any see in their territories to +bishops unless they had been proposed to the pope by the senate, which +elected the patriarch, who was supposed, at the end of the sixteenth +century, to be liable to examination by his Holiness, as an act of +confirmation of installation; but of course, everything depended on the +relative power at any given time of Rome and Venice: for instance, a few +days after the accession of Julius II., in 1503, he requests the +Signory, cap in hand, to ALLOW him to confer the archbishopric of Zara +on a dependant of his, one Cipico the Bishop of Famagosta. Six years +later, when Venice was overwhelmed by the leaguers of Cambrai, that +furious pope would assuredly have conferred Zara on Cipico WITHOUT +asking leave. In 1608, the rich Camaldolite Abbey of Vangadizza, in the +Polesine, fell vacant through the death of Lionardo Loredano, in whose +family it had been since some while. The Venetian ambassador at Rome +received the news on the night of the 28th December; and, on the morrow, +requested Paul IV. not to dispose of this preferment until he heard from +the senate. The pope talked of 'poor cardinals' and of his nephew, but +made no positive reply; and, as Francesco Contarini was withdrawing, +said to him: 'My Lord ambassador, with this opportunity we will inform +you that, to our very great regret, we understand that the chiefs of the +Ten mean to turn sacristans; for they order the parish priests to close +the church doors at the Ave Maria, and not to ring the bells at certain +hours. This is precisely the sacristan's office; we don't know why their +lordships, by printed edicts, which we have seen, choose to interfere in +this matter. This is pure and mere ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and +even, in case of any inconvenience arising, is there not the patriarch, +who is at any rate your own; why not apply to him, who could remedy +these irregularities? These are matters which cause us very notable +displeasure; we say so that they may be written and known: it is decided +by the councils and canons, and not uttered by us, that whosoever forms +any resolve against the ecclesiastical liberty, cannot do so without +incurring censure: and in order that Father Paul [Bacon's correspondent] +may not say hereafter, as he did in his past writings, that our +predecessors assented either tacitly or by permission, we declare that +we do not give our assent, nor do we approve it; nay, we blame it, and +let this be announced in Venice, so that, for the rest, every one may +take care of his own conscience. St. Thomas a Becket, whose festival is +celebrated this very day, suffered martyrdom for the ecclesiastical +liberty; it is our duty likewise to support and defend it.' Contarini +says: 'This remonstrance was delivered with some marks of anger, which +induced me to tell him how the tribunal of the most excellent the Lords +chiefs of the Ten is in our country supreme; that it does not do its +business unadvisedly, or condescend to unworthy matters; and that, +therefore, should those Lords have come to any public declaration of +their will, it must be attributed to orders anterior, and to immemorial +custom and authority, recollecting that, on former occasions likewise, +similar commissions were given to prevent divers incongruities; +wherefore an upright intention, such as this, ought not to be taken in +any other sense than its own, especially as the parishes of Venice were +in her own gift,' &c. &c. The pope persisted in bestowing the abbacy on +his nephew, but the republic would not give possession, and a compromise +was effected by its being conferred on the Venetian Matteo Priuli, who +allowed the cardinal five thousand ducats per annum out of its revenues. +A few years before this, this very same pope excommunicated the State, +because she had imprisoned two churchmen for heinous crimes; the strife +lasted for more than a year, and ended through the mediation of Henry +IV., at whose suit the prisoners were delivered to the French +ambassador, who made them over to a papal commissioner. + +"In January, 1484, a tournament was in preparation on St. Mark's Square: +some murmurs had been heard about the distribution of the prizes having +been pre-arranged, without regard to the 'best man.' One of the chiefs +of the Ten was walking along Rialto on the 28th January, when a young +priest, twenty-two years old, a sword-cutlers son, and a Bolognese, and +one of Perugia, both men-at-arms under Robert Sansoverino, fell upon a +clothier with drawn weapons. The chief of the Ten desired they might be +seized, but at the moment the priest escaped; he was, however, +subsequently retaken, and in that very evening hanged by torch-light +between the columns with the two soldiers. Innocent VIII. was less +powerful than Paul IV.; Venice weaker in 1605 than in 1484. + +"* * * The exclusion from the Grand Council, whether at the end of the +fourteenth or commencement of the following century, of the Venetian +ecclesiastics, (as induced either by the republic's acquisitions on the +main land then made, and which, through the rich benefices they +embraced, might have rendered an ambitious churchman as dangerous in the +Grand Council as a victorious condottiere; or from dread of their +allegiance being divided between the church and their country, it being +acknowledged that no man can serve two masters,) did not render them +hostile to their fatherland, whose interests were, with very few +exceptions, eagerly fathered by the Venetian prelates at Rome, who, in +their turn, received all honor at Venice, where state receptions given +to cardinals of the houses of Correr, Grimani, Cornaro, Pisani, +Contarini, Zeno, Delfino, and others, vouch for the good understanding +that existed between the 'Papalists' and their countrymen. The Cardinal +Grimani was instrumental in detaching Julius II. from the league of +Cambrai; the Cardinal Cornaro always aided the state to obtain anything +required of Leo X.; and, both before and after their times, all +Venetians that had a seat in the Sacred College were patriots rather +than pluralists: I mean that they cared more for Venice than for their +benefices, admitting thus the soundness of that policy which denied them +admission into the Grand Council." + +To this interesting statement, I shall add, from the twenty-eighth book +of Daru, two passages, well deserving consideration by us English in +present days: + +"Pour etre parfaitement assuree contre les envahissements de la +puissance ecclesiastique, Venise commenca par lui oter tout pretexte +d'intervenir dans les affaires de l'Etat; elle resta invariablement +fidele au dogme. Jamais aucune des opinions nouvelles n'y prit la +moindre faveur; jamais aucun heresiarque ne sortit de Venise. Les +conciles, les disputes, les guerres de religion, se passerent sans +qu'elle y prit jamais la moindre part. Inebranlable dans sa foi, elle ne +fut pas moins invariable dans son systeme de tolerance. Non seulement +ses sujets de la religion grecque conserverent l'exercise de leur culte, +leurs eveques et leurs pretres; mais les Protestantes, les Armeniens, +les Mahomitans, les Juifs, toutes les religions, toutes les sectes qui +se trouvaient dans Venise, avaient des temples, et la sepulture dans les +eglises n'etait point refuse aux heretiques. Une police vigilante +s'appliquait avec le meme soin a eteindre les discordes, et a empecher +les fanatiques et les novateurs de troubler l'Etat." + + * * * * * + +"Si on considere que c'est dans un temps ou presque toutes les nations +tremblaient devant la puissance pontificale, que les Venitiens surent +tenir leur clerge dans la dependance, et braver souvent les censures +ecclesiastiques et les interdits, sans encourir jamais aucun reproche +sur la purete de leur foi, on sera force de reconnaitre que cette +republique avait devance de loin les autres peuples dans cette partie de +la science du gouvernement. La fameuse maxime, 'Siamo veneziani, poi +christiani,' n'etait qu'une formule energique qui ne prouvait point +quils voulussent placer l'interet de la religion apres celui de l'Etat, +mais qui annoncait leur invariable resolution de ne pas souffrir qu'un +pouvoir etranger portat atteinte aux droits de la republique. + +"Dans toute la duree de son existence, an milieu des revers comme dans +la prosperite cet inebranlable gouvernement ne fit qu'une seule fois des +concessions a la cour de Borne, et ce fut pour detacher le Pape Jules +II. de la ligue de Cambrai. + +"Jamais il ne se relacha du soin de tenir le clerge dans une nullite +absolue relativement aux affaires politiques; on peut en juger par la +conduite qu'il tint avec l'ordre religieux le plus redoutable et le plus +accoutume a s'immiscer dans les secrets de l'Etat et dans les interets +temporels." + +The main points, next stated, respecting the Jesuits are, that the +decree which permitted their establishment in Venice required formal +renewal every three years; that no Jesuit could stay in Venice more than +three years; that the slightest disobedience to the authority of the +government was instantly punished by imprisonment; that no Venetian +could enter the order without express permission from the government; +that the notaries were forbidden to sanction any testamentary disposal +of property to the Jesuits; finally, that the heads of noble families +were forbidden to permit their children to be educated in the Jesuits' +colleges, on pain of degradation from their rank. + +Now, let it be observed that the enforcement of absolute exclusion of +the clergy from the councils of the state, dates exactly from the period +which I have marked for the commencement of the decline of the Venetian +power. The Romanist is welcome to his advantage in this fact, if +advantage it be; for I do not bring forward the conduct of the senate of +Venice, as Daru does, by way of an example of the general science of +government. The Venetians accomplished therein what we ridiculously call +a separation of "Church and State" (as if the State were not, in all +Christendom, necessarily also the Church[94]), but _ought_ to call a +separation of lay and clerical officers. I do not point out this +separation as subject of praise, but as the witness borne by the +Venetians against the principles of the Papacy. If they were to blame, +in yielding to their fear of the ambitious spirit of Rome so far as to +deprive their councils of all religious element, what excuse are we to +offer for the state, which, with Lords Spiritual of her own faith +already in her senate, permits the polity of Rome to be represented by +lay members? To have sacrificed religion to mistaken policy, or +purchased security with ignominy, would have been no new thing in the +world's history; but to be at once impious and impolitic, and seek for +danger through dishonor, was reserved for the English parliament of +1829. + +I am glad to have this opportunity of referring to, and farther +enforcing, the note on this subject which, not without deliberation, I +appended to the "Seven Lamps;" and of adding to it the following +passage, written by my father in the year 1839, and published in one of +the journals of that year:--a passage remarkable as much for its +intrinsic value, as for having stated, twelve years ago, truths to which +the mind of England seems but now, and that slowly, awakening. + +"We hear it said, that it cannot be merely the Roman religion that +causes the difficulty [respecting Ireland], for we were once all Roman +Catholics, and nations abroad of this faith are not as the Irish. It is +totally overlooked, that when we were so, our government was despotic, +and fit to cope with this dangerous religion, as most of the Continental +governments yet are. In what Roman Catholic state, or in what age of +Roman Catholic England, did we ever hear of such agitation as now exists +in Ireland by evil men taking advantage of an anomalous state of +things--Roman Catholic ignorance in the people, Protestant toleration in +the government? We have yet to feel the tremendous difficulty in which +Roman Catholic emancipation has involved us. Too late we discover that a +Roman Catholic is wholly incapable of being safely connected with the +British constitution, as it now exists, _in any near relation_. The +present constitution is no longer fit for Catholics. It is a creature +essentially Protestant, growing with the growth, and strengthening with +the strength, of Protestantism. So entirely is Protestantism interwoven +with the whole frame of our constitution and laws, that I take my stand +on this, against all agitators in existence, that the Roman religion is +totally incompatible with the British constitution. We have, in trying +to combine them, got into a maze of difficulties; we are the worse, and +Ireland none the better. It is idle to talk of municipal reform or +popular Lords Lieutenant. The mild sway of a constitutional monarchy is +not strong enough for a Roman Catholic population. The stern soul of a +Republican would not shrink from sending half the misguided population +and all the priests into exile, and planting in their place an +industrious Protestant people. But you cannot do this, and you cannot +convert the Irish, nor by other means make them fit to wear the mild +restraints of a Protestant Government. It was, moreover, a strange logic +that begot the idea of admitting Catholics to administer any part of our +laws or constitution. It was admitted by all that, by the very act of +abandoning the Roman religion, we became a free and enlightened people. +It was only by throwing off the yoke of that slavish religion that we +attained to the freedom of thought which has advanced us in the scale of +society. We are so much advanced by adopting and adhering to a reformed +religion, that to prove our liberal and unprejudiced views, we throw +down the barriers betwixt the two religions, of which the one is the +acknowledged cause of light and knowledge, the other the cause of +darkness and ignorance. We are so much altered to the better by leaving +this people entirely, and giving them neither part nor lot amongst us, +that it becomes proper to mingle again with them. We have found so much +good in leaving them, that we deem it the best possible reason for +returning to be among them. No fear of their Church again shaking us, +with all our light and knowledge. It is true, the most enlightened +nations fell under the spell of her enchantments, fell into total +darkness and superstition; but no fear of us--we are too well informed! +What miserable reasoning! infatuated presumption! I fear me, when the +Roman religion rolled her clouds of darkness over the earlier ages, that +she quenched as much light, and knowledge, and judgment as our modern +Liberals have ever displayed. I do not expect a statesman to discuss the +point of Transubstantiation betwixt Protestant and Catholic, nor to +trace the narrow lines which divide Protestant sectarians from each +other; but can any statesman that shall have taken even a cursory +glance at the face of Europe, hesitate a moment on the choice of the +Protestant religion? If he unfortunately knew nothing of its being the +true one in regard to our eternal interests, he is at least bound to see +whether it be not the best for the worldly prosperity of a people. He +may be but moderately imbued with pious zeal for the salvation of a +kingdom, but at least he will be expected to weigh the comparative +merits of religion, as of law or government; and blind, indeed, must he +be if he does not discern that, in neglecting to cherish the Protestant +faith, or in too easily yielding to any encroachments on it, he is +foregoing the use of a state engine more powerful than all the laws +which the uninspired legislators of the earth have ever promulgated, in +promoting the happiness, the peace, prosperity, and the order, the +industry, and the wealth, of a people; in forming every quality valuable +or desirable in a subject or a citizen; in sustaining the public mind at +that point of education and information that forms the best security for +the state, and the best preservative for the freedom of a people, +whether religious or political." + +[Illustration: Plate XX. + WALL VEIL DECORATION. + CA' TREVISAN.] + + + 6. RENAISSANCE ORNAMENTS. + +There having been three principal styles of architecture in Venice,--the +Greek or Byzantine, the Gothic, and the Renaissance, it will be shown, +in the sequel, that the Renaissance itself is divided into three +correspondent families: Renaissance engrafted on Byzantine, which is +earliest and best; Renaissance engrafted on Gothic, which is second, and +second best; Renaissance on Renaissance, which is double darkness, and +worst of all. The palaces in which Renaissance is engrafted on Byzantine +are those noticed by Commynes: they are characterized by an +ornamentation very closely resembling, and in some cases identical with, +early Byzantine work; namely, groups of colored marble circles inclosed +in interlacing bands. I have put on the opposite page one of these +ornaments, from the Ca' Trevisan, in which a most curious and delicate +piece of inlaid design is introduced into a band which is almost exactly +copied from the church of Theotocos at Constantinople, and correspondent +with others in St. Mark's. There is also much Byzantine feeling in the +treatment of the animals, especially in the two birds of the lower +compartment, while the peculiar curves of the cinque cento leafage are +visible in the leaves above. The dove, alighted, with the olive-branch +plucked off, is opposed to the raven with restless expanded wings. +Beneath are evidently the two sacrifices "of every clean fowl and of +every clean beast." The color is given with green and white marbles, the +dove relieved on a ground of greyish green, and all is exquisitely +finished. + +In Plate I., p. 13, the upper figure is from the same palace (Ca' +Trevisan), and it is very interesting in its proportions. If we take +five circles in geometrical proportion, each diameter being two-thirds +of the diameter next above it, and arrange the circles so proportioned, +in contact with each other, in the manner shown in the plate, we shall +find that an increase quite imperceptible in the diameter of the circles +in the angles, will enable us to inscribe the whole in a square. The +lines so described will then run in the centre of the white bands. I +cannot be certain that this is the actual construction of the Trevisan +design, because it is on a high wall surface, where I could not get at +its measurements; but I found this construction exactly coincide with +the lines of my eye sketch. The lower figure in Plate I. is from the +front of the Ca' Dario, and probably struck the eye of Commynes in its +first brightness. Salvatico, indeed, considers both the Ca' Trevisan +(which once belonged to Bianca Cappello) and the Ca' Dario, as buildings +of the sixteenth century. I defer the discussion of the question at +present, but have, I believe, sufficient reason for assuming the Ca' +Dario to have been built about 1486, and the Ca' Trevisan not much +later. + + + 7. VARIETIES OF THE ORDERS. + +Of these phantasms and grotesques, one of some general importance is +that commonly called Ionic, of which the idea was taken (Vitruvius says) +from a woman's hair, curled; but its lateral processes look more like +rams' horns: be that as it may, it is a mere piece of agreeable +extravagance, and if, instead of rams' horns, you put ibex horns, or +cows' horns, or an ass's head at once, you will have ibex orders, or ass +orders, or any number of other orders, one for every head or horn. You +may have heard of another order, the Composite, which is Ionic and +Corinthian mixed, and is one of the worst of ten thousand forms +referable to the Corinthian as their head: it may be described as a +spoiled Corinthian. And you may have also heard of another order, called +Tuscan (which is no order at all, but a spoiled Doric): and of another +called Roman Doric, which is Doric more spoiled, both which are simply +among the most stupid variations ever invented upon forms already known. +I find also in a French pamphlet upon architecture,[95] as applied to +shops and dwelling houses, a sixth order, the "Ordre Francais," at least +as good as any of the three last, and to be hailed with acclamation, +considering whence it comes, there being usually more tendency on the +other side of the channel to the confusion of "orders" than their +multiplication: but the reader will find in the end that there are in +very deed only two orders, of which the Greek, Doric, and Corinthian are +the first examples, and _they_ not perfect, nor in anywise sufficiently +representative of the vast families to which they belong; but being the +first and the best known, they may properly be considered as the types +of the rest. The essential distinctions of the two great orders he will +find explained in Secs. XXXV. and XXXVI. of Chap. XXVII., and in the +passages there referred to; but I should rather desire that these +passages might be read in the order in which they occur. + + + 8. THE NORTHERN ENERGY. + +I have sketched above, in the First Chapter, the great events of +architectural history in the simplest and fewest words I could; but this +indraught of the Lombard energies upon the Byzantine rest, like a wild +north wind descending into a space of rarified atmosphere, and +encountered by an Arab simoom from the south, may well require from us +some farther attention; for the differences in all these schools are +more in the degrees of their impetuosity and refinement (these +qualities being, in most cases, in inverse ratio, yet much united by the +Arabs) than in the style of the ornaments they employ. The same leaves, +the same animals, the same arrangement, are used by Scandinavians, +ancient Britons, Saxons, Normans, Lombards, Romans, Byzantines, and +Arabians; all being alike descended through classic Greece from Egypt +and Assyria, and some from Phoenicia. The belts which encompass the +Assyrian bulls, in the hall of the British Museum, are the same as the +belts of the ornaments found in Scandinavian tumuli; their method of +ornamentation is the same as that of the gate of Mycenae, and of the +Lombard pulpit of St. Ambrogio of Milan, and of the church of Theotocos +at Constantinople; the essential differences among the great schools are +their differences of temper and treatment, and science of expression; it +is absurd to talk of Norman ornaments, and Lombard ornaments, and +Byzantine ornaments, as formally distinguished; but there is +irreconcileable separation between Arab temper, and Lombard temper, and +Byzantine temper. + +Now, as far as I have been able to compare the three schools, it appears +to me that the Arab and Lombard are both distinguished from the +Byzantine by their energy and love of excitement, but the Lombard stands +alone in his love of jest: Neither an Arab nor Byzantine ever jests in +his architecture; the Lombard has great difficulty in ever being +thoroughly serious; thus they represent three conditions of humanity, +one in perfect rest, the Byzantine, with exquisite perception of grace +and dignity; the Arab, with the same perception of grace, but with a +restless fever in his blood; the Lombard, equally energetic, but not +burning himself away, capable of submitting to law, and of enjoying +jest. But the Arabian feverishness infects even the Lombard in the +South, showing itself, however, in endless invention, with a refreshing +firmness and order directing the whole of it. The excitement is greatest +in the earliest times, most of all shown in St. Michele of Pavia; and I +am strongly disposed to connect much of its peculiar manifestations with +the Lombard's habits of eating and drinking, especially his +carnivorousness. The Lombard of early times seems to have been exactly +what a tiger would be, if you could give him love of a joke, vigorous +imagination, strong sense of justice, fear of hell, knowledge of +northern mythology, a stone den, and a mallet and chisel; fancy him +pacing up and down in the said den to digest his dinner, and striking on +the wall, with a new fancy in his head, at every turn, and you have the +Lombardic sculptor. As civilisation increases the supply of vegetables, +and shortens that of wild beasts, the excitement diminishes; it is still +strong in the thirteenth century at Lyons and Rouen; it dies away +gradually in the later Gothic, and is quite extinct in the fifteenth +century. + +I think I shall best illustrate this general idea by simply copying the +entries in my diary which were written when, after six months' close +study of Byzantine work in Venice, I came again to the Lombard work of +Verona and Pavia. There are some other points alluded to in these +entries not pertaining to the matter immediately in hand; but I have +left them, as they will be of use hereafter. + +"(Verona.) Comparing the arabesque and sculpture of the Duomo here with +St. Mark's, the first thing that strikes one is the low relief, the +second, the greater motion and spirit, with infinitely less grace and +science. With the Byzantine, however rude the cutting, every line is +lovely, and the animals or men are placed in any attitudes which secure +ornamental effect, sometimes impossible ones, always severe, restrained, +or languid. With the Romanesque workmen all the figures show the effort +(often successful) to express energetic action; hunting chiefly, much +fighting, and both spirited; some of the dogs running capitally, +straining to it, and the knights hitting hard, while yet the faces and +drawing are in the last degree barbarous. At Venice all is graceful, +fixed, or languid; the eastern torpor is in every line,--the mark of a +school formed on severe traditions, and keeping to them, and never +likely or desirous to rise beyond them, but with an exquisite sense of +beauty, and much solemn religious faith. + +"If the Greek outer archivolt of St. Mark's is Byzantine, the law is +somewhat broken by its busy domesticity; figures engaged in every trade, +and in the preparation of viands of all kinds; a crowded kind of London +Christmas scene, interleaved (literally) by the superb balls of leafage, +unique in sculpture; but even this is strongly opposed to the wild war +and chase passion of the Lombard. Farther, the Lombard building is as +sharp, precise, and accurate, as that of St. Mark's is careless. The +Byzantines seem to have been too lazy to put their stones together; and, +in general, my first impression on coming to Verona, after four months +in Venice, is of the exquisitely neat masonry and perfect _feeling_ +here; a style of Gothic formed by a combination of Lombard surface +ornament with Pisan Gothic, than which nothing can possibly be more +chaste, pure, or solemn." + +I have said much of the shafts of the entrance to the crypt of St. +Zeno;[96] the following note of the sculptures on the archivolt above +them is to our present purpose: + +"It is covered by very light but most effective bas-reliefs of jesting +subject:--two cocks carrying on their shoulders a long staff to which a +fox (?) is tied by the legs, hanging down between them: the strut of the +foremost cock, lifting one leg at right angles to the other, is +delicious. Then a stag hunt, with a centaur horseman drawing a bow; the +arrow has gone clear through the stag's throat, and is sticking there. +Several capital hunts with dogs, with fruit trees between, and birds in +them; the leaves, considering the early time, singularly well set, with +the edges outwards, sharp, and deep cut: snails and frogs filling up the +intervals, as if suspended in the air, with some saucy puppies on their +hind legs, two or three nondescript beasts; and, finally, on the centre +of one of the arches on the south side, an elephant and castle,--a very +strange elephant, yet cut as if the carver had seen one." + +Observe this elephant and castle; we shall meet with him farther north. + +"These sculptures of St. Zeno are, however, quite quiet and tame +compared with those of St. Michele of Pavia, which are designed also in +a somewhat gloomier mood; significative, as I think, of indigestion. +(Note that they are much earlier than St. Zeno; of the seventh century +at latest. There is more of nightmare, and less of wit in them.) Lord +Lindsay has described them admirably, but has not said half enough; the +state of mind represented by the west front is more that of a feverish +dream, than resultant from any determined architectural purpose, or even +from any definite love and delight in the grotesque. One capital is +covered with a mass of grinning heads, other heads grow out of two +bodies, or out of and under feet; the creatures are all fighting, or +devouring, or struggling which shall be uppermost, and yet in an +ineffectual way, as if they would fight for ever, and come to no +decision. Neither sphinxes nor centaurs did I notice, nor a single +peacock (I believe peacocks to be purely Byzantine), but mermaids with +_two_ tails (the sculptor having perhaps seen double at the time), +strange, large fish, apes, stags (bulls?), dogs, wolves, and horses, +griffins, eagles, long-tailed birds (cocks?), hawks, and dragons, +without end, or with a dozen of ends, as the case may be; smaller birds, +with rabbits, and small nondescripts, filling the friezes. The actual +leaf, which is used in the best Byzantine mouldings at Venice, occurs in +parts of these Pavian designs. But the Lombard animals are all _alive_, +and fiercely alive too, all impatience and spring: the Byzantine birds +peck idly at the fruit, and the animals hardly touch it with their +noses. The cinque cento birds in Venice hold it up daintily, like +train-bearers; the birds in the earlier Gothic peck at it hungrily and +naturally; but the Lombard beasts gripe at it like tigers, and tear it +off with writhing lips and glaring eyes. They are exactly like Jip with +the bit of geranium, worrying imaginary cats in it." + +The notice of the leaf in the above extract is important,--it is the +vine-leaf; used constantly both by Byzantines and Lombards, but by the +latter with especial frequency, though at this time they were hardly +able to indicate what they meant. It forms the most remarkable +generality of the St. Michele decoration; though, had it not luckily +been carved on the facade, twining round a stake, and with grapes, I +should never have known what it was meant for, its general form being a +succession of sharp lobes, with incised furrows to the point of each. +But it is thrown about in endless change; four or five varieties of it +might be found on every cluster of capitals: and not content with this, +the Lombards hint the same form even in their griffin wings. They love +the vine very heartily. + +In St. Michele of Lucca we have perhaps the noblest instance in Italy of +the Lombard spirit in its later refinement. It is some four centuries +later than St. Michele of Pavia, and the method of workmanship is +altogether different. In the Pavian church, nearly all the ornament is +cut in a coarse sandstone, in bold relief: a darker and harder stone (I +think, not serpentine, but its surface is so disguised by the lustre of +ages that I could not be certain) is used for the capitals of the +western door, which are especially elaborate in their sculpture;--two +devilish apes, or apish devils, I know not which, with bristly +moustaches and edgy teeth, half-crouching, with their hands +impertinently on their knees, ready for a spit or a spring if one goes +near them; but all is pure bossy sculpture; there is no inlaying, except +of some variegated tiles in the shape of saucers set concave (an +ornament used also very gracefully in St. Jacopo of Bologna): and the +whole surface of the church is enriched with the massy reliefs, well +preserved everywhere above the reach of human animals, but utterly +destroyed to some five or six feet from the ground; worn away into large +cellular hollows and caverns, some almost deep enough to render the +walls unsafe, entirely owing to the uses to which the recesses of the +church are dedicated by the refined and high-minded Italians. But St. +Michele of Lucca is wrought entirely in white marble and green +serpentine; there is hardly any relieved sculpture except in the +capitals of the shafts and cornices, and all the designs of wall +ornament are inlaid with exquisite precision--white on dark ground; the +ground being cut out and filled with serpentine, the figures left in +solid marble. The designs of the Pavian church are encrusted on the +walls; of the Lucchese, incorporated with them; small portions of real +sculpture being introduced exactly where the eye, after its rest on the +flatness of the wall, will take most delight in the piece of substantial +form. The entire arrangement is perfect beyond all praise, and the +morbid restlessness of the old designs is now appeased. Geometry seems +to have acted as a febrifuge, for beautiful geometrical designs are +introduced amidst the tumult of the hunt; and there is no more seeing +double, nor ghastly monstrosity of conception; no more ending of +everything in something else; no more disputing for spare legs among +bewildered bodies; no more setting on of heads wrong side foremost. The +fragments have come together: we are out of the Inferno with its weeping +down the spine; we are in the fair hunting-fields of the Lucchese +mountains (though they had their tears also),--with horse, and hound, +and hawk; and merry blast of the trumpet.--Very strange creatures to be +hunted, in all truth; but still creatures with a single head, and that +on their shoulders, which is exactly the last place in the Pavian church +where a head is to be looked for. + +My good friend Mr. Cockerell wonders, in one of his lectures, why I give +so much praise to this "crazy front of Lucca." But it is not crazy; not +by any means. Altogether sober, in comparison with the early Lombard +work, or with our Norman. Crazy in one sense it is: utterly neglected, +to the breaking of its old stout heart; the venomous nights and salt +frosts of the Maremma winters have their way with it--"Poor Tom's a +cold!" The weeds that feed on the marsh air, have twisted themselves +into its crannies; the polished fragments of serpentine are spit and +rent out of their cells, and lie in green ruins along its ledges; the +salt sea winds have eaten away the fair shafting of its star window into +a skeleton of crumbling rays. It cannot stand much longer; may Heaven +only, in its benignity, preserve it from restoration, and the sands of +the Serchio give it honorable grave. + +In the "Seven Lamps," Plate VI., I gave a faithful drawing of one of its +upper arches, to which I must refer the reader; for there is a marked +piece of character in the figure of the horseman on the left of it. And +in making this reference, I would say a few words about those much +abused plates of the "Seven Lamps." They are black, they are overbitten, +they are hastily drawn, they are coarse and disagreeable; how +disagreeable to many readers I venture not to conceive. But their truth +is carried to an extent never before attempted in architectural drawing. +It does not in the least follow that because a drawing is delicate, or +looks careful, it has been carefully drawn from the thing represented; +in nine instances out of ten, careful and delicate drawings are made at +home. It is not so easy as the reader, perhaps, imagines, to finish a +drawing altogether on the spot, especially of details seventy feet from +the ground; and any one who will try the position in which I have had to +do some of my work--standing, namely, on a cornice or window sill, +holding by one arm round a shaft, and hanging over the street (or canal, +at Venice), with my sketch-book supported against the wall from which I +was drawing, by my breast, so as to leave my right hand free--will not +thenceforward wonder that shadows should be occasionally carelessly +laid in, or lines drawn with some unsteadiness. But, steady, or infirm, +the sketches of which those plates in the "Seven Lamps" are fac-similes, +were made from the architecture itself, and represent that architecture +with its actual shadows at the time of day at which it was drawn, and +with every fissure and line of it as they now exist; so that when I am +speaking of some new point, which perhaps the drawing was not intended +to illustrate, I can yet turn back to it with perfect certainty that if +anything be found in it bearing on matters now in hand, I may depend +upon it just as securely as if I had gone back to look again at the +building. + +It is necessary that my readers should understand this thoroughly, and I +did not before sufficiently explain it; but I believe I can show them +the use of this kind of truth, now that we are again concerned with this +front of Lucca. They will find a drawing of the entire front in Gally +Knight's "Architecture of Italy." It may serve to give them an idea of +its general disposition, and it looks very careful and accurate; but +every bit of the ornament on it is _drawn out of the artist's head_. +There is not _one line_ of it that exists on the building. The reader +will therefore, perhaps, think my ugly black plate of somewhat more +value, upon the whole, in its rough veracity, than the other in its +delicate fiction.[97] + +[Illustration: Plate XXI. + WALL VEIL DECORATION.] + +As, however, I made a drawing of another part of the church somewhat +more delicately, and as I do not choose that my favorite church should +suffer in honor by my coarse work, I have had this, as far as might be, +fac-similied by line engraving (Plate XXI.). It represents the southern +side of the lower arcade of the west front; and may convey some idea of +the exquisite finish and grace of the whole; but the old plate, in the +"Seven Lamps," gives a nearer view of one of the upper arches, and a +more faithful impression of the present aspect of the work, and +especially of the seats of the horsemen; the limb straight, and well +down on the stirrup (the warrior's seat, observe, not the jockey's), +with a single pointed spur on the heel. The bit of the lower cornice +under this arch I could not see, and therefore had not drawn; it was +supplied from beneath another arch. I am afraid, however, the reader has +lost the thread of my story while I have been recommending my veracity +to him. I was insisting upon the healthy tone of this Lucca work as +compared with the old spectral Lombard friezes. The apes of the Pavian +church ride without stirrups, but all is in good order and harness here: +civilisation had done its work; there was reaping of corn in the Val +d'Arno, though rough hunting still upon its hills. But in the north, +though a century or two later, we find the forests of the Rhone, and its +rude limestone cotes, haunted by phantasms still (more meat-eating, +then, I think). I do not know a more interesting group of cathedrals +than that of Lyons, Vienne, and Valencia: a more interesting indeed, +generally, than beautiful; but there is a row of niches on the west +front of Lyons, and a course of panelled decoration about its doors, +which is, without exception, the most exquisite piece of Northern Gothic +I ever beheld, and with which I know nothing that is even comparable, +except the work of the north transept of Rouen, described in the "Seven +Lamps," p. 159; work of about the same date, and exactly the same plan; +quatrefoils filled with grotesques, but somewhat less finished in +execution, and somewhat less wild in imagination. I wrote down hastily, +and in their own course, the subjects of some of the quatrefoils of +Lyons; of which I here give the reader the sequence:-- + + 1. Elephant and castle; less graphic than the St. Zeno one. + + 2. A huge head walking on two legs, turned backwards, hoofed; the + head has a horn behind, with drapery over it, which ends in + another head. + + 3. A boar hunt; the boar under a tree, very spirited. + + 4. A bird putting its head between its legs to bite its own tail, + which ends in a head. + + 5. A dragon with a human head set on the wrong way. + + 6. St. Peter awakened by the angel in prison; full of spirit, the + prison picturesque, with a trefoiled arch, the angel eager, St. + Peter startled, and full of motion. + + 7. St. Peter led out by the angel. + + 8. The miraculous draught of fishes; fish and all, in the small + space. + + 9. A large leaf, with two snails rampant, coming out of nautilus + shells, with grotesque faces, and eyes at the ends of their + horns. + + 10. A man with an axe striking at a dog's head, which comes out of + a nautilus shell: the rim of the shell branches into a stem + with two large leaves. + + 11. Martyrdom of St. Sebastian; his body very full of arrows. + + 12. Beasts coming to ark; Noah opening a kind of wicker cage. + + 13. Noah building the ark on shores. + + 14. A vine leaf with a dragon's head and tail, the one biting the + other. + + 15. A man riding a goat, catching a flying devil. + + 16. An eel or muraena growing into a bunch of flowers, which turns + into two wings. + + 17. A sprig of hazel, with nuts, thrown all around the quatrefoils + with a squirrel in centre, apparently attached to the tree only + by its enormous tail, richly furrowed into hair, and nobly + sweeping. + + 18. Four hares fastened together by the ears, galloping in a circle. + Mingled with these grotesques are many _sword_ and _buckler_ + combats, the bucklers being round and conical like a hat; I + thought the first I noticed, carried by a man at full gallop on + horseback, had been a small umbrella. + +This list of subjects may sufficiently illustrate the feverish character +of the Northern Energy; but influencing the treatment of the whole there +is also the Northern love of what is called the Grotesque, a feeling +which I find myself, for the present, quite incapable either of +analysing or defining, though we all have a distinct idea attached to +the word: I shall try, however, in the next volume. + + + 9. WOODEN CHURCHES OF THE NORTH. + +I cannot pledge myself to this theory of the origin of the vaulting +shaft, but the reader will find some interesting confirmations of it in +Dahl's work on the wooden churches of Norway. The inside view of the +church of Borgund shows the timber construction of one shaft run up +through a crossing architrave, and continued into the clerestory; while +the church of Urnes is in the exact form of a basilica; but the wall +above the arches is formed of planks, with a strong upright above each +capital. The passage quoted from Stephen Eddy's Life of Bishop Wilfrid, +at p. 86 of Churton's "Early English Church," gives us one of the +transformations or petrifactions of the wooden Saxon churches. "At Ripon +he built a new church of _polished stone_, with columns variously +ornamented, and porches." Mr. Churton adds: "It was perhaps in bad +imitation of the marble buildings he had seen in Italy, that he washed +the walls of this original York Minster, and made them 'whiter than +snow.'" + + + 10. CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA. + +The very cause which enabled the Venetians to possess themselves of the +body of St. Mark, was the destruction of the church by the caliph for +the _sake of its marbles_: the Arabs and Venetians, though bitter +enemies, thus building on the same models; these in reverence for the +destroyed church, and those with the very pieces of it. In the somewhat +prolix account of the matter given in the Notizie Storiche (above +quoted) the main points are, that "il Califa de' Saraceni, per +fabbricarsi un Palazzo presse di Babilonia, aveva ordinato che dalle +Chiese d' Cristiani si togliessero i piu scelti marmi;" and that the +Venetians, "videro sotto i loro occhi flagellarsi crudelmente un +Cristiano per aver infranto un marmo." I heartily wish that the same +kind of punishment were enforced to this day, for the same sin. + + + 11. RENAISSANCE LANDSCAPE. + +I am glad here to re-assert opinions which it has grieved me to be +suspected of having changed. The calmer tone of the second volume of +"Modern Painters," as compared with the first, induced, I believe, this +suspicion, very justifiably, in the minds of many of its readers. The +difference resulted, however, from the simple fact, that the first was +written in great haste and indignation, for a special purpose and +time;--the second, after I had got engaged, almost unawares, in +inquiries which could not be hastily nor indignantly pursued; my +opinions remaining then, and remaining now, altogether unchanged on the +subject which led me into the discussion. And that no farther doubt of +them may be entertained by any who may think them worth questioning, I +shall here, once for all, express them in the plainest and fewest words +I can. I think that J. M. W. Turner is not only the greatest (professed) +landscape painter who ever lived, but that he has in him as much as +would have furnished all the rest with such power as they had; and that +if we put Nicolo Poussin, Salvator, and our own Gainsborough out of the +group, he would cut up into Claudes, Cuyps, Ruysdaels, and such others, +by uncounted bunches. I hope this is plainly and strongly enough stated. +And farther, I like his later pictures, up to the year 1845, the best; +and believe that those persons who only like his early pictures do not, +in fact, like him at all. They do _not_ like that which is essentially +_his_. They like that in which he resembles other men; which he had +learned from Loutherbourg, Claude, or Wilson; that which is indeed his +own, they do not care for. Not that there is not much of his own in his +early works; they are all invaluable in their way; but those persons who +can find no beauty in his strangest fantasy on the Academy walls, cannot +distinguish the peculiarly Turneresque characters of the earlier +pictures. And, therefore, I again state here, that I think his pictures +painted between the years 1830 and 1845 his greatest; and that his +entire power is best represented by such pictures as the Temeraire, the +Sun of Venice going to Sea, and others, painted exactly at the time when +the public and the press were together loudest in abuse of him. + + Turner. Tintoret. + Massaccio. + John Bellini. + Albert Durer. + Giorgione. + Paul Veronese. + Titian. + Rubens. + Correggio. + Orcagna. + Benozzo Gozzoli. + Giotto. + Raffaelle. + Perugino. + +I desire, however, the reader to observe that I said, above, _professed_ +landscape painters, among whom, perhaps, I should hardly have put +Gainsborough. The landscape of the great figure painters is often +majestic in the highest degree, and Tintoret's especially shows exactly +the same power and feeling as Turner's. If with Turner I were to rank +the historical painters as landscapists, estimating rather the power +they show, than the actual value of the landscape they produced, I +should class those, whose landscapes I have studied, in some such order +as this at the side of the page:--associating with the landscape of +Perugino that of Francia and Angelico, and the other severe painters of +religious subjects. I have put Turner and Tintoret side by side, not +knowing which is, in landscape, the greater; I had nearly associated in +the same manner the noble names of John Bellini and Albert Durer; but +Bellini must be put first, for his profound religious peace yet not +separated from the other, if but that we might remember his kindness to +him in Venice; and it is well we should take note of it here, for it +furnishes us with a most interesting confirmation of what was said in +the text respecting the position of Bellini as the last of the religious +painters of Venice. The following passage is quoted in Jackson's "Essay +on Wood-engraving," from Albert Durer's Diary: + +"I have many good friends among the Italians who warn me not to eat or +drink with their painters, of whom several are my enemies, and copy my +picture in the church, and others of mine, wherever they can find them, +and yet they blame them, _and say they are not according to ancient art, +and therefore not good_. Giovanni Bellini, however, has praised me +highly to several gentlemen, and wishes to have something of my doing: +he called on me himself, and requested that I would paint a picture for +him, for which, he said, he would pay me well. People are all surprised +that I should be so much thought of by a person of his reputation: he is +very old, but is still the best painter of them all." + +A choice little piece of description this, of the Renaissance painters, +side by side with the good old Venetian, who was soon to leave them to +their own ways. The Renaissance men are seen in perfection, envying, +stealing, and lying, but without wit enough to lie to purpose. + + + 12. ROMANIST MODERN ART. + +It is of the highest importance, in these days, that Romanism should be +deprived of the miserable influence which its pomp and picturesqueness +have given it over the weak sentimentalism of the English people; I call +it a miserable influence, for of all motives to sympathy with the Church +of Rome, this I unhesitatingly class as the basest: I can, in some +measure, respect the other feelings which have been the beginnings of +apostasy; I can respect the desire for unity which would reclaim the +Romanist by love, and the distrust of his own heart which subjects the +proselyte to priestly power; I say I can respect these feelings, though +I cannot pardon unprincipled submission to them, nor enough wonder at +the infinite fatuity of the unhappy persons whom they have +betrayed:--Fatuity, self-inflicted, and stubborn in resistance to God's +Word and man's reason!--to talk of the authority of the Church, as if +the Church were anything else than the whole company of Christian men, +or were ever spoken of in Scripture[98] as other than a company to be +taught and fed, not to teach and feed.--Fatuity! to talk of a separation +of Church and State, as if a Christian state, and every officer therein, +were not necessarily a part of the Church,[99] and as if any state +officer could do his duty without endeavoring to aid and promote +religion, or any clerical officer do his duty without seeking for such +aid and accepting it:--Fatuity! to seek for the unity of a living body +of truth and trust in God, with a dead body of lies and trust in wood, +and thence to expect anything else than plague, and consumption by worms +undying, for both. Blasphemy as well as fatuity! to ask for any better +interpreter of God's Word than God, or to expect knowledge of it in any +other way than the plainly ordered way: if _any_ man will do he shall +know. But of all these fatuities, the basest is the being lured into the +Romanist Church by the glitter of it, like larks into a trap by broken +glass; to be blown into a change of religion by the whine of an +organ-pipe; stitched into a new creed by gold threads on priests' +petticoats; jangled into a change of conscience by the chimes of a +belfry. I know nothing in the shape of error so dark as this, no +imbecility so absolute, no treachery so contemptible. I had hardly +believed that it was a thing possible, though vague stories had been +told me of the effect, on some minds, of mere scarlet and candles, until +I came on this passage in Pugin's "Remarks on articles in the +Rambler":-- + +"Those who have lived in want and privation are the best qualified to +appreciate the blessings of plenty; thus, those who have been devout and +sincere members of the separated portion of the English Church; who have +prayed, and hoped, and loved, through all the poverty of the maimed +rites which it has retained--to them does the realisation of all their +longing desires appear truly ravishing. * * * Oh! then, what delight! +what joy unspeakable! when one of the solemn piles is presented to them, +in all its pristine life and glory!--the stoups are filled to the brim; +the rood is raised on high; the screen glows with sacred imagery and +rich device; the niches are filled; the altar is replaced, sustained by +sculptured shafts, the relics of the saints repose beneath, the body of +Our Lord is enshrined on its consecrated stone; the lamps of the +sanctuary burn bright; the saintly portraitures in the glass windows +shine all gloriously; and the albs hang in the oaken ambries, and the +cope chests are filled with orphreyed baudekins; and pix and pax, and +chrismatory are there, and thurible, and cross." + +One might have put this man under a pix, and left him, one should have +thought; but he has been brought forward, and partly received, as an +example of the effect of ceremonial splendor on the mind of a great +architect. It is very necessary, therefore, that all those who have felt +sorrow at this should know at once that he is not a great architect, +but one of the smallest possible or conceivable architects; and that by +his own account and setting forth of himself. Hear him:-- + +"I believe, as regards architecture, few men have been so unfortunate as +myself. I have passed my life in thinking of fine things, studying fine +things, designing fine things, and realising very poor ones. I have +never had the chance of producing a single fine ecclesiastical building, +except my own church, where I am both paymaster and architect; but +everything else, either for want of adequate funds or injudicious +interference and control, or some other contingency, is more or less a +failure. * * * + +"St. George's was spoilt by the very instructions laid down by the +committee, that it was to hold 3000 people on the floor at a limited +price; in consequence, height, proportion, everything, was sacrificed to +meet these conditions. Nottingham was spoilt by the style being +restricted to lancet,--a period well suited to a Cistercian abbey in a +secluded vale, but very unsuitable for the centre of a crowded +town. * * * + +"Kirkham was spoilt through several hundred pounds being reduced on the +original estimate; to effect this, which was a great sum in proportion +to the entire cost, the area of the church was contracted, the walls +lowered, tower and spire reduced, the thickness of walls diminished, and +stone arches omitted." (Remarks, &c., by A. Welby Pugin: Dolman, 1850.) + +Is that so? Phidias can niche himself into the corner of a pediment, and +Raffaelle expatiate within the circumference of a clay platter; but +Pugin is inexpressible in less than a cathedral? Let his ineffableness +be assured of this, once for all, that no difficulty or restraint ever +happened to a man of real power, but his power was the more manifested +in the contending with, or conquering it; and that there is no field so +small, no cranny so contracted, but that a great spirit can house and +manifest itself therein. The thunder that smites the Alp into dust, can +gather itself into the width of a golden wire. Whatever greatness there +was in you, had it been Buonarroti's own, you had room enough for it in +a single niche: you might have put the whole power of it into two feet +cube of Caen stone. St. George's was not high enough for want of money? +But was it want of money that made you put that blunt, overloaded, +laborious ogee door into the side of it? Was it for lack of funds that +you sunk the tracery of the parapet in its clumsy zigzags? Was it in +parsimony that you buried its paltry pinnacles in that eruption of +diseased crockets? or in pecuniary embarrassment that you set up the +belfry foolscaps, with the mimicry of dormer windows, which nobody can +ever reach nor look out of? Not so, but in mere incapability of better +things. + +I am sorry to have to speak thus of any living architect; and there is +much in this man, if he were rightly estimated, which one might both +regard and profit by. He has a most sincere love for his profession, a +heartily honest enthusiasm for pixes and piscinas; and though he will +never design so much as a pix or a piscina thoroughly well, yet better +than most of the experimental architects of the day. Employ him by all +means, but on small work. Expect no cathedrals from him; but no one, at +present, can design a better finial. That is an exceedingly beautiful +one over the western door of St. George's; and there is some spirited +impishness and switching of tails in the supporting figures at the +imposts. Only do not allow his good designing of finials to be employed +as an evidence in matters of divinity, nor thence deduce the +incompatibility of Protestantism and art. I should have said all that I +have said above, of artistical apostasy, if Giotto had been now living +in Florence, and if art were still doing all that it did once for Rome. +But the grossness of the error becomes incomprehensible as well as +unpardonable, when we look to what level of degradation the human +intellect has sunk at this instant in Italy. So far from Romanism now +producing anything greater in art, it cannot even preserve what has been +given to its keeping. I know no abuses of precious inheritance half so +grievous, as the abuse of all that is best in art wherever the Romanist +priesthood gets possession of it. It amounts to absolute infatuation. +The noblest pieces of mediaeval sculpture in North Italy, the two +griffins at the central (west) door of the cathedral of Verona, were +daily permitted to be brought into service, when I was there in the +autumn of 1849, by a washerwoman living in the Piazza, who tied her +clothes-lines to their beaks: and the shafts of St. Mark's at Venice +were used by a salesman of common caricatures to fasten his prints upon +(Compare Appendix 25); and this in the face of the continually passing +priests: while the quantity of noble art annually destroyed in +altarpieces by candle-droppings, or perishing by pure brutality of +neglect, passes all estimate. I do not know, as I have repeatedly +stated, how far the splendor of architecture, or other art, is +compatible with the honesty and usefulness of religious service. The +longer I live, the more I incline to severe judgment in this matter, and +the less I can trust the sentiments excited by painted glass and colored +tiles. But if there be indeed value in such things, our plain duty is to +direct our strength against the superstition which has dishonored them; +there are thousands who might possibly be benefited by them, to whom +they are now merely an offence, owing to their association with +idolatrous ceremonies. I have but this exhortation for all who love +them,--not to regulate their creeds by their taste in colors, but to +hold calmly to the right, at whatever present cost to their imaginative +enjoyment; sure that they will one day find in heavenly truth a brighter +charm than in earthly imagery, and striving to gather stones for the +eternal building, whose walls shall be salvation, and whose gates shall +be praise. + + + 13. MR. FERGUSSON'S SYSTEM. + +The reader may at first suppose this division of the attributes of +buildings into action, voice, and beauty, to be the same division as Mr. +Fergusson's, now well known, of their merits, into technic, aesthetic and +phonetic. + +But there is no connection between the two systems; mine, indeed, does +not profess to be a system, it is a mere arrangement of my subject, for +the sake of order and convenience in its treatment: but, as far as it +goes, it differs altogether from Mr. Fergusson's in these two following +respects:-- + +The action of a building, that is to say its standing or consistence, +depends on its good construction; and the first part of the foregoing +volume has been entirely occupied with the consideration of the +constructive merit of buildings: but construction is not their only +technical merit. There is as much of technical merit in their +expression, or in their beauty, as in their construction. There is no +more mechanical or technical admirableness in the stroke of the painter +who covers them with fresco, than in the dexterity of the mason who +cements their stones: there is just as much of what is technical in +their beauty, therefore, as in their construction; and, on the other +hand, there is often just as much intellect shown in their construction +as there is in either their expression or decoration. Now Mr. Fergusson +means by his "Phonetic" division, whatever expresses intellect: my +constructive division, therefore, includes part of his phonetic: and my +expressive and decorative divisions include part of his technical. + +Secondly, Mr. Fergusson tries to make the same divisions fit the +_subjects_ of art, and art itself; and therefore talks of technic, +aesthetic, and phonetic, _arts_, (or, translating the Greek,) of artful +arts, sensitive arts, and talkative arts; but I have nothing to do with +any division of the arts, I have to deal only with the merits of +_buildings_. As, however, I have been led into reference to Mr. +Fergusson's system, I would fain say a word or two to effect Mr. +Fergusson's extrication from it. I hope to find in him a noble ally, +ready to join with me in war upon affectation, falsehood, and prejudice, +of every kind: I have derived much instruction from his most interesting +work, and I hope for much more from its continuation; but he must +disentangle himself from his system, or he will be strangled by it; +never was anything so ingeniously and hopelessly wrong throughout; the +whole of it is founded on a confusion of the instruments of man with his +capacities. + +Mr. Fergusson would have us take-- + + "First, man's muscular action or power." (Technics.) + + "Secondly, those developments of sense _by_ which _he does!!_ as much + as by his muscles." (Aesthetics.) + + "Lastly, his intellect, or to confine this more correctly to its + external action, _his power of speech!!!_" (Phonetics.) + +Granting this division of humanity correct, or sufficient, the writer +then most curiously supposes that he may arrange the arts as if there +were some belonging to each division of man,--never observing that every +art must be governed by, and addressed to, one division, and executed by +another; executed by the muscular, addressed to the sensitive or +intellectual; and that, to be an art at all, it must have in it work of +the one, and guidance from the other. If, by any lucky accident, he had +been led to arrange the arts, either by their objects, and the things to +which they are addressed, or by their means, and the things by which +they are executed, he would have discovered his mistake in an instant. +As thus:-- + + These arts are addressed to the,--Muscles!! + Senses, + Intellect; + or executed by,--Muscles, + Senses!! + Intellect. + +Indeed it is true that some of the arts are in a sort addressed to the +muscles, surgery for instance; but this is not among Mr. Fergusson's +technic, but his politic, arts! and all the arts may, in a sort, be said +to be performed by the senses, as the senses guide both muscles and +intellect in their work: but they guide them as they receive +information, or are standards of accuracy, but not as in themselves +capable of action. Mr. Fergusson is, I believe, the first person who has +told us of senses that act or do, they having been hitherto supposed +only to sustain or perceive. The weight of error, however, rests just as +much in the original division of man, as in the endeavor to fit the arts +to it. The slight omission of the soul makes a considerable difference +when it begins to influence the final results of the arrangement. + +Mr. Fergusson calls morals and religion "Politick arts" (as if religion +were an art at all! or as if both were not as necessary to individuals +as to societies); and therefore, forming these into a body of arts by +themselves, leaves the best of the arts to do without the soul and the +moral feeling as rest they may. Hence "expression," or "phonetics," is +of intellect only (as if men never expressed their _feelings!_); and +then, strangest and worst of all, intellect is entirely resolved into +talking! There can be no intellect but it must talk, and all talking +must be intellectual. I believe people do sometimes talk without +understanding; and I think the world would fare ill if they never +understood without talking. The intellect is an entirely silent faculty, +and has nothing to do with parts of speech any more than the moral part +has. A man may feel and know things without expressing either the +feeling or knowledge; and the talking is a _muscular_ mode of +communicating the workings of the intellect or heart--muscular, whether +it be by tongue or by sign, or by carving or writing, or by expression +of feature; so that to divide a man into muscular and talking parts, is +to divide him into body in general, and tongue in particular, the +endless confusion resulting from which arrangement is only less +marvellous in itself, than the resolution with which Mr. Fergusson has +worked through it, and in spite of it, up to some very interesting and +suggestive truths; although starting with a division of humanity which +does not in the least raise it above the brute, for a rattlesnake has +his muscular, aesthetic, and talking part as much as man, only he talks +with his tail, and says, "I am angry with you, and should like to bite +you," more laconically and effectively than any phonetic biped could, +were he so minded. And, in fact, the real difference between the brute +and man is not so much that the one has fewer means of expression than +the other, as that it has fewer thoughts to express, and that we do not +understand its expressions. Animals can talk to one another intelligibly +enough when they have anything to say, and their captains have words of +command just as clear as ours, and better obeyed. We have indeed, in +watching the efforts of an intelligent animal to talk to a human being, +a melancholy sense of its dumbness; but the fault is still in its +intelligence, more than in its tongue. It has not wit enough to +systematise its cries or signs, and form them into language. + +But there is no end to the fallacies and confusions of Mr. Fergusson's +arrangement. It is a perfect entanglement of gun-cotton, and explodes +into vacuity wherever one holds a light to it. I shall leave him to do +so with the rest of it for himself, and should perhaps have left it to +his own handling altogether, but for the intemperateness of the spirit +with which he has spoken on a subject perhaps of all others demanding +gentleness and caution. No man could more earnestly have desired the +changes lately introduced into the system of the University of Oxford +than I did myself: no man can be more deeply sensible than I of grievous +failures in the practical working even of the present system: but I +believe that these failures may be almost without exception traced to +one source, the want of evangelical, and the excess of rubrical religion +among the tutors; together with such rustinesses and stiffnesses as +necessarily attend the continual operation of any intellectual machine. +The fault is, at any rate, far less in the system than in the +imperfection of its administration; and had it been otherwise, the terms +in which Mr. Fergusson speaks of it are hardly decorous in one who can +but be imperfectly acquainted with its working. They are sufficiently +answered by the structure of the essay in which they occur; for if the +high powers of mind which its author possesses had been subjected to the +discipline of the schools, he could not have wasted his time on the +development of a system which their simplest formulae of logic would have +shown him to be untenable. + +Mr. Fergusson will, however, find it easier to overthrow his system than +to replace it. Every man of science knows the difficulty of arranging a +_reasonable_ system of classification, in any subject, by any one group +of characters; and that the best classifications are, in many of their +branches, convenient rather than reasonable: so that, to any person who +is really master of his subject, many different modes of classification +will occur at different times; one of which he will use rather than +another, according to the point which he has to investigate. I need only +instance the three arrangements of minerals, by their external +characters, and their positive or negative bases, of which the first is +the most useful, the second the most natural, the third the most simple; +and all in several ways unsatisfactory. + +But when the subject becomes one which no single mind can grasp, and +which embraces the whole range of human occupation and enquiry, the +difficulties become as great, and the methods as various, as the uses to +which the classification might be put; and Mr. Fergusson has entirely +forgotten to inform us what is the object to which his arrangements are +addressed. For observe: there is one kind of arrangement which is based +on the rational connection of the sciences or arts with one another; an +arrangement which maps them out like the rivers of some great country, +and marks the points of their junction, and the direction and force of +their united currents; and this without assigning to any one of them a +superiority above another, but considering them all as necessary members +of the noble unity of human science and effort. There is another kind of +classification which contemplates the order of succession in which they +might most usefully be presented to a single mind, so that the given +mind should obtain the most effective and available knowledge of them +all: and, finally, the most usual classification contemplates the powers +of mind which they each require for their pursuit, the objects to which +they are addressed, or with which they are concerned; and assigns to +each of them a rank superior or inferior, according to the nobility of +the powers they require, or the grandeur of the subjects they +contemplate. + +Now, not only would it be necessary to adopt a different classification +with respect to each of these great intentions, but it might be found so +even to vary the order of the succession of sciences in the case of +every several mind to which they were addressed; and that their rank +would also vary with the power and specific character of the mind +engaged upon them. I once heard a very profound mathematician +remonstrate against the impropriety of Wordsworth's receiving a pension +from government, on the ground that he was "only a poet." If the study +of mathematics had always this narrowing effect upon the sympathies, the +science itself would need to be deprived of the rank usually assigned to +it; and there could be no doubt that, in the effect it had on the mind +of this man, and of such others, it was a very contemptible science +indeed. Hence, in estimating the real rank of any art or science, it is +necessary for us to conceive it as it would be grasped by minds of every +order. There are some arts and sciences which we underrate, because no +one has risen to show us with what majesty they may be invested; and +others which we overrate, because we are blinded to their general +meanness by the magnificence which some one man has thrown around them: +thus, philology, evidently the most contemptible of all the sciences, +has been raised to unjust dignity by Johnson.[100] And the subject is +farther complicated by the question of usefulness; for many of the arts +and sciences require considerable intellectual power for their pursuit, +and yet become contemptible by the slightness of what they accomplish: +metaphysics, for instance, exercising intelligence of a high order, yet +useless to the mass of mankind, and, to its own masters, dangerous. Yet, +as it has become so by the want of the true intelligence which its +inquiries need, and by substitution of vain subtleties in its stead, it +may in future vindicate for itself a higher rank than a man of common +sense usually concedes to it. + +Nevertheless, the mere attempt at arrangement must be useful, even where +it does nothing more than develop difficulties. Perhaps the greatest +fault of men of learning is their so often supposing all other branches +of science dependent upon or inferior to their own best beloved branch; +and the greatest deficiency of men comparatively unlearned, their want +of perception of the connection of the branches with each other. He who +holds the tree only by the extremities, can perceive nothing but the +separation of its sprays. It must always be desirable to prove to those +the equality of rank, to these the closeness of sequence, of what they +had falsely supposed subordinate or separate. And, after such candid +admission of the co-equal dignity of the truly noble arts and sciences, +we may be enabled more justly to estimate the inferiority of those which +indeed seem intended for the occupation of inferior powers and narrower +capacities. In Appendix 14, following, some suggestions will be found as +to the principles on which classification might be based; but the +arrangement of all the arts is certainly not a work which could with +discretion be attempted in the Appendix to an essay on a branch of one +of them. + + + 14. DIVISIONS OF HUMANITY. + +The reader will probably understand this part of the subject better if +he will take the trouble briefly to consider the actions of the mind and +body of man in the sciences and arts, which give these latter the +relations of rank usually attributed to them. + +It was above observed (Appendix 13) that the arts were generally ranked +according to the nobility of the powers they require, that is to say, +the quantity of the being of man which they engaged or addressed. Now +their rank is not a very important matter as regards each other, for +there are few disputes more futile than that concerning the respective +dignity of arts, all of which are necessary and honorable. But it is a +very important matter as regards themselves; very important whether +they are practised with the devotion and regarded with the respect +which are necessary or due to their perfection. It does not at all +matter whether architecture or sculpture be the nobler art; but it +matters much whether the thought is bestowed upon buildings, or the +feeling is expressed in statues, which make either deserving of our +admiration. It is foolish and insolent to imagine that the art which we +ourselves practise is greater than any other; but it is wise to take +care that in our own hands it is as noble as we can make it. Let us take +some notice, therefore, in what degrees the faculties of man may be +engaged in his several arts: we may consider the entire man as made up +of body, soul, and intellect (Lord Lindsay, meaning the same thing, says +inaccurately--sense, intellect, and spirit--forgetting that there is a +moral sense as well as a bodily sense, and a spiritual body as well as a +natural body, and so gets into some awkward confusion, though right in +the main points). Then, taking the word soul as a short expression of +the moral and responsible part of being, each of these three parts has a +passive and active power. The body has senses and muscles; the soul, +feeling and resolution; the intellect, understanding and imagination. +The scheme may be put into tabular form, thus:-- + + Passive or Receptive Part. Active or Motive Part. + Body Senses. Muscles. + Soul Feeling. Resolution. + Intellect Understanding. Imagination. + +In this scheme I consider memory a part of understanding, and conscience +I leave out, as being the voice of God in the heart, inseparable from +the system, yet not an essential part of it. The sense of beauty I +consider a mixture of the Senses of the body and soul. + +Now all these parts of the human system have a reciprocal action on one +another, so that the true perfection of any of them is not possible +without some relative perfection of the others, and yet any one of the +parts of the system may be brought into a morbid development, +inconsistent with the perfection of the others. Thus, in a healthy +state, the acuteness of the senses quickens that of the feelings, and +these latter quicken the understanding, and then all the three quicken +the imagination, and then all the four strengthen the resolution; while +yet there is a danger, on the other hand, that the encouraged and morbid +feeling may weaken or bias the understanding, or that the over shrewd +and keen understanding may shorten the imagination, or that the +understanding and imagination together may take place of, or undermine, +the resolution, as in Hamlet. So in the mere bodily frame there is a +delightful perfection of the senses, consistent with the utmost health +of the muscular system, as in the quick sight and hearing of an active +savage: another false delicacy of the senses, in the Sybarite, +consequent on their over indulgence, until the doubled rose-leaf is +painful; and this inconsistent with muscular perfection. Again; there is +a perfection of muscular action consistent with exquisite sense, as in +that of the fingers of a musician or of a painter, in which the muscles +are guided by the slightest feeling of the strings, or of the pencil: +another perfection of muscular action inconsistent with acuteness of +sense, as in the effort of battle, in which a soldier does not perceive +his wounds. So that it is never so much the question, what is the +solitary perfection of a given part of the man, as what is its balanced +perfection in relation to the whole of him: and again, the perfection of +any single power is not merely to be valued by the mere rank of the +power itself, but by the harmony which it indicates among the other +powers. Thus, for instance, in an archer's glance along his arrow, or a +hunter's raising of his rifle, there is a certain perfection of sense +and finger which is the result of mere practice, of a simple bodily +perfection; but there is a farther value in the habit which results from +the resolution and intellect necessary to the forming of it: in the +hunter's raising of his rifle there is a quietness implying far more +than mere practice,--implying courage, and habitual meeting of danger, +and presence of mind, and many other such noble characters. So also in a +musician's way of laying finger on his instrument, or a painter's +handling of his pencil, there are many qualities expressive of the +special sensibilities of each, operating on the production of the habit, +besides the sensibility operating at the moment of action. So that there +are three distinct stages of merit in what is commonly called mere +bodily dexterity: the first, the dexterity given by practice, called +command of tools or of weapons; the second stage, the dexterity or +grace given by character, as the gentleness of hand proceeding from +modesty or tenderness of spirit, and the steadiness of it resulting from +habitual patience coupled with decision, and the thousand other +characters partially discernible, even in a man's writing, much more in +his general handiwork; and, thirdly, there is the perfection of action +produced by the operation of _present_ strength, feeling, or +intelligence on instruments thus _previously_ perfected, as the handling +of a great painter is rendered more beautiful by his immediate care and +feeling and love of his subject, or knowledge of it, and as physical +strength is increased by strength of will and greatness of heart. +Imagine, for instance, the difference in manner of fighting, and in +actual muscular strength and endurance, between a common soldier, and a +man in the circumstances of the Horatii, or of the temper of Leonidas. + +Mere physical skill, therefore, the mere perfection and power of the +body as an instrument, is manifested in three stages: + + First, Bodily power by practice; + Secondly, Bodily power by moral habit; + Thirdly, Bodily power by immediate energy; + +and the arts will be greater or less, caeteris paribus, according to the +degrees of these dexterities which they admit. A smith's work at his +anvil admits little but the first; fencing, shooting, and riding, admit +something of the second; while the fine arts admit (merely through the +channel of the bodily dexterities) an expression almost of the whole +man. + +Nevertheless, though the higher arts _admit_ this higher bodily +perfection, they do not all _require_ it in equal degrees, but can +dispense with it more and more in proportion to their dignity. The arts +whose chief element is bodily dexterity, may be classed together as arts +of the third order, of which the highest will be those which admit most +of the power of moral habit and energy, such as riding and the +management of weapons; and the rest may be thrown together under the +general title of handicrafts, of which it does not much matter which are +the most honorable, but rather, which are the most necessary and least +injurious to health, which it is not our present business to examine. +Men engaged in the practice of these are called artizans, as opposed to +artists, who are concerned with the fine arts. + +The next step in elevation of art is the addition of the intelligences +which have no connection with bodily dexterity; as, for instance, in +hunting, the knowledge of the habits of animals and their places of +abode; in architecture, of mathematics; in painting, of harmonies of +color; in music, of those of sound; all this pure science being joined +with readiness of expedient in applying it, and with shrewdness in +apprehension of difficulties, either present or probable. + +It will often happen that intelligence of this kind is possessed without +bodily dexterity, or the need of it; one man directing and another +executing, as for the most part in architecture, war, and seamanship. +And it is to be observed, also, that in proportion to the dignity of the +art, the bodily dexterities needed even in its subordinate agents become +less important, and are more and more replaced by intelligence; as in +the steering of a ship, the bodily dexterity required is less than in +shooting or fencing, but the intelligence far greater: and so in war, +the mere swordsmanship and marksmanship of the troops are of small +importance in comparison with their disposition, and right choice of the +moment of action. So that arts of this second order must be estimated, +not by the quantity of bodily dexterity they require, but by the +quantity and dignity of the knowledge needed in their practice, and by +the degree of subtlety needed in bringing such knowledge into play. War +certainly stands first in the general mind, not only as the greatest of +the arts which I have called of the second order, but as the greatest of +all arts. It is not, however, easy to distinguish the respect paid to +the Power, from that rendered to the Art of the soldier; the honor of +victory being more dependent, in the vulgar mind, on its results, than +its difficulties. I believe, however, that taking into consideration the +greatness of the anxieties under which this art must be practised, the +multitude of circumstances to be known and regarded in it, and the +subtleties both of apprehension and stratagem constantly demanded by it, +as well as the multiplicity of disturbing accidents and doubtful +contingencies against which it must make provision on the instant, it +must indeed rank as far the first of the arts of the second order; and +next to this great art of killing, medicine being much like war in its +stratagems and watchings against its dark and subtle death-enemy. + +Then the arts of the first order will be those in which the Imaginative +part of the intellect and the Sensitive part of the soul are joined: as +poetry, architecture, and painting; these forming a kind of cross, in +their part of the scheme of the human being, with those of the second +order, which wed the Intelligent part of the intellect and Resolute part +of the soul. But the reader must feel more and more, at every step, the +impossibility of classing the arts themselves, independently of the men +by whom they are practised; and how an art, low in itself, may be made +noble by the quantity of human strength and being which a great man will +pour into it; and an art, great in itself, be made mean by the meanness +of the mind occupied in it. I do not intend, when I call painting an art +of the first, and war an art of the second, order, to class Dutch +landscape painters with good soldiers; but I mean, that if from such a +man as Napoleon we were to take away the honor of all that he had done +in law and civil government, and to give him the reputation of his +soldiership only, his name would be less, if justly weighed, than that +of Buonarroti, himself a good soldier also, when need was. But I will +not endeavor to pursue the inquiry, for I believe that of all the arts +of the first order it would be found that all that a man has, or is, or +can be, he can fully express in them, and give to any of them, and find +it not enough. + + + 15. INSTINCTIVE JUDGMENTS. + +The same rapid judgment which I wish to enable the reader to form of +architecture, may in some sort also be formed of painting, owing to the +close connection between execution and expression in the latter; as +between structure and expression in the former. We ought to be able to +tell good painting by a side glance as we pass along a gallery; and, +until we can do so, we are not fit to pronounce judgment at all: not +that I class this easily visible excellence of painting with the great +expressional qualities which time and watchfulness only unfold. I have +again and again insisted on the supremacy of these last and shall +always continue to do so. But I perceive a tendency among some of the +more thoughtful critics of the day to forget that the business of a +painter is to _paint_, and so altogether to despise those men, Veronese +and Rubens for instance, who were painters, par excellence, and in whom +the expressional qualities are subordinate. Now it is well, when we have +strong moral or poetical feeling manifested in painting, to mark this as +the best part of the work; but it is not well to consider as a thing of +small account, the painter's language in which that feeling is conveyed, +for if that language be not good and lovely, the man may indeed be a +just moralist or a great poet, but he is not a _painter_, and it was +wrong of him to paint. He had much better put his morality into sermons, +and his poetry into verse, than into a language of which he was not +master. And this mastery of the language is that of which we should be +cognizant by a glance of the eye; and if that be not found, it is wasted +time to look farther: the man has mistaken his vocation, and his +expression of himself will be cramped by his awkward efforts to do what +he was not fit to do. On the other hand, if the man be a painter indeed, +and have the gift of colors and lines, what is in him will come from his +hand freely and faithfully; and the language itself is so difficult and +so vast, that the mere possession of it argues the man is great, and +that his works are worth reading. So that I have never yet seen the case +in which this true artistical excellence, visible by the eye-glance, was +not the index of some true expressional worth in the work. Neither have +I ever seen a good expressional work without high artistical merit: and +that this is ever denied is only owing to the narrow view which men are +apt to take both of expression and of art; a narrowness consequent on +their own especial practice and habits of thought. A man long trained to +love the monk's visions of Fra Angelico, turns in proud and ineffable +disgust from the first work of Rubens which he encounters on his return +across the Alps. But is he right in his indignation? He has forgotten, +that while Angelico prayed and wept in his _olive shade_, there was +different work doing in the dank fields of Flanders;--wild seas to be +banked out; endless canals to be dug, and boundless marshes to be +drained; hard ploughing and harrowing of the frosty clay; careful +breeding of stout horses and fat cattle; close setting of brick walls +against cold winds and snow; much hardening of hands and gross +stoutening of bodies in all this; gross jovialities of harvest homes and +Christmas feasts, which were to be the reward of it; rough affections, +and sluggish imagination; fleshy, substantial, ironshod humanities, but +humanities still; humanities which God had his eye upon, and which won, +perhaps, here and there, as much favor in his sight as the wasted +aspects of the whispering monks of Florence (Heaven forbid it should not +be so, since the most of us cannot be monks, but must be ploughmen and +reapers still). And are we to suppose there is no nobility in Rubens' +masculine and universal sympathy with all this, and with his large human +rendering of it, Gentleman though he was, by birth, and feeling, and +education, and place; and, when he chose, lordly in conception also? He +had his faults, perhaps great and lamentable faults, though more those +of his time and his country than his own; he has neither cloister +breeding nor boudoir breeding, and is very unfit to paint either in +missals or annuals; but he has an open sky and wide-world breeding in +him, that we may not be offended with, fit alike for king's court, +knight's camp, or peasant's cottage. On the other hand, a man trained +here in England, in our Sir Joshua school, will not and cannot allow +that there is any art at all in the technical work of Angelico. But he +is just as wrong as the other. Fra Angelico is as true a master of the +art necessary to his purposes, as Rubens was of that necessary for his. +We have been taught in England to think there can be no virtue but in a +loaded brush and rapid hand; but if we can shake our common sense free +of such teaching, we shall understand that there is art also in the +delicate point and in the hand which trembles as it moves; not because +it is more liable to err, but because there is more danger in its error, +and more at stake upon its precision. The art of Angelico, both as a +colorist and a draughtsman, is consummate; so perfect and beautiful, +that his work may be recognised at any distance by the rainbow-play and +brilliancy of it: However closely it may be surrounded by other works of +the same school, glowing with enamel and gold, Angelico's may be told +from them at a glance, like so many huge pieces of opal lying among +common marbles. So again with Giotto; the Arena chapel is not only the +most perfect expressional work, it is the prettiest piece of wall +decoration and fair color, in North Italy. + +Now there is a correspondence of the same kind between the technical and +expressional parts of architecture;--not a true or entire +correspondence, so that when the expression is best, the building must +be also best; but so much of correspondence as that good building is +necessary to good expression, comes before it, and is to be primarily +looked for: and the more, because the manner of building is capable of +being determinately estimated and classed; but the expressional +character not so: we can at once determine the true value of technical +qualities, we can only approximate to the value of expressional +qualities: and besides this, the looking for the technical qualities +first will enable us to cast a large quantity of rubbish aside at once, +and so to narrow the difficult field of inquiry into expression: we +shall get rid of Chinese pagodas and Indian temples, and Renaissance +Palladianisms, and Alhambra stucco and filigree, in one great rubbish +heap; and shall not need to trouble ourselves about their expression, or +anything else concerning them. Then taking the buildings which have been +rightly put together, and which show common sense in their structure, we +may look for their farther and higher excellences; but on those which +are absurd in their first steps we need waste no time. + + + 16. STRENGTH OF SHAFTS. + +I could have wished, before writing this chapter, to have given more +study to the difficult subject of the strength of shafts of different +materials and structure; but I cannot enter into every inquiry which +general criticism might suggest, and this I believe to be one which +would have occupied the reader with less profit than many others: all +that is necessary for him to note is, that the great increase of +strength gained by a tubular form in iron shafts, of given solid +contents, is no contradiction to the general principle stated in the +text, that the strength of materials is most available when they are +most concentrated. The strength of the tube is owing to certain +properties of the arch formed by its sides, not to the dispersion of its +materials: and the principle is altogether inapplicable to stone shafts. +No one would think of building a pillar of a succession of sandstone +rings; however strong it might be, it would be still stronger filled up, +and the substitution of such a pillar for a solid one of the same +contents would lose too much space; for a stone pillar, even when solid, +must be quite as thick as is either graceful or convenient, and in +modern churches is often too thick as it is, hindering sight of the +preacher, and checking the sound of his voice. + + + 17. ANSWER TO MR. GARBETT. + +Some three months ago, and long after the writing of this passage, I met +accidentally with Mr. Garbett's elementary Treatise on Design. (Weale, +1850.) If I had cared about the reputation of originality, I should have +been annoyed--and was so, at first, on finding Mr. Garbett's +illustrations of the subject exactly the same as mine, even to the +choice of the elephant's foot for the parallel of the Doric pillar: I +even thought of omitting, or rewriting, great part of the chapter, but +determined at last to let it stand. I am striving to speak plain truths +on many simple and trite subjects, and I hope, therefore, that much of +what I say has been said before, and am quite willing to give up all +claim to originality in any reasoning or assertion whatsoever, if any +one cares to dispute it. I desire the reader to accept what I say, not +as mine, but as the truth, which may be all the world's, if they look +for it. If I remember rightly, Mr. Frank Howard promised at some +discussion respecting the "Seven Lamps," reported in the "Builder," to +pluck all my borrowed feathers off me; but I did not see the end of the +discussion, and do not know to this day how many feathers I have left: +at all events the elephant's foot must belong to Mr. Garbett, though, +strictly speaking, neither he nor I can be quite justified in using it, +for an elephant in reality stands on tiptoe; and this is by no means the +expression of a Doric shaft. As, however, I have been obliged to speak +of this treatise of Mr. Garbett's, and desire also to recommend it as of +much interest and utility in its statements of fact, it is impossible +for me to pass altogether without notice, as if unanswerable, several +passages in which the writer has objected to views stated in the "Seven +Lamps." I should at any rate have noticed the passage quoted above, +(Chap. 30th,) which runs counter to the spirit of all I have ever +written, though without referring to me; but the references to the +"Seven Lamps" I should not have answered, unless I had desired, +generally, to recommend the book, and partly also, because they may +serve as examples of the kind of animadversion which the "Seven Lamps" +had to sustain from architects, very generally; which examples being +once answered, there will be little occasion for my referring in future +to other criticisms of the kind. + +The first reference to the "Seven Lamps" is in the second page, where +Mr. Garbett asks a question, "Why are not convenience and stability +enough to constitute a fine building?"--which I should have answered +shortly by asking another, "Why we have been made men, and not bees nor +termites:" but Mr. Garbett has given a very pretty, though partial, +answer to it himself, in his 4th to 9th pages,--an answer which I +heartily beg the reader to consider. But, in page 12, it is made a grave +charge against me, that I use the words beauty and ornament +interchangeably. I do so, and ever shall; and so, I believe, one day, +will Mr. Garbett himself; but not while he continues to head his pages +thus:--"Beauty not dependent on ornament, _or superfluous_ features." +What right has he to assume that ornament, rightly so called, ever was, +or can be, superfluous? I have said before, and repeatedly in other +places, that the most beautiful things are the most useless; I never +said superfluous. I said useless in the well-understood and usual sense, +as meaning, inapplicable to the service of the body. Thus I called +peacocks and lilies useless; meaning, that roast peacock was unwholesome +(taking Juvenal's word for it), and that dried lilies made bad hay: but +I do not think peacocks superfluous birds, nor that the world could get +on well without its lilies. Or, to look closer, I suppose the peacock's +blue eyes to be very useless to him; not dangerous indeed, as to their +first master, but of small service, yet I do not think there is a +superfluous eye in all his tail; and for lilies, though the great King +of Israel was not "arrayed" like one of them, can Mr. Garbett tell us +which are their superfluous leaves? Is there no Diogenes among lilies? +none to be found content to drink dew, but out of silver? The fact is, I +never met with the architect yet who did not think ornament meant a +thing to be bought in a shop and pinned on, or left off, at +architectural toilets, as the fancy seized them, thinking little more +than many women do of the other kind of ornament--the only true +kind,--St. Peter's kind,--"Not that outward adorning, but the inner--of +the heart." I do not mean that architects cannot conceive this better +ornament, but they do not understand that it is the _only_ ornament; +that _all_ architectural ornament is this, and nothing but this; that a +noble building never has any extraneous or superfluous ornament; that +all its parts are necessary to its loveliness, and that no single atom +of them could be removed without harm to its life. You do not build a +temple and then dress it.[101] You create it in its loveliness, and +leave it, as her Maker left Eve. Not unadorned, I believe, but so well +adorned as to need no feather crowns. And I use the words ornament and +beauty interchangeably, in order that architects may understand this: I +assume that their building is to be a perfect creature capable of +nothing less than it has, and needing nothing more. It may, indeed, +receive additional decoration afterwards, exactly as a woman may +gracefully put a bracelet on her arm, or set a flower in her hair: but +that additional decoration is _not_ the _architecture_. It is of +curtains, pictures, statues, things that may be taken away from the +building, and not hurt it. What has the architect to do with these? He +has only to do with what is part of the building itself, that is to say, +its own inherent beauty. And because Mr. Garbett does not understand or +acknowledge this, he is led on from error to error; for we next find him +endeavoring to define beauty as distinct from ornament, and saying that +"Positive beauty may be produced by a studious collation of whatever +will display design, order, and congruity." (p. 14.) Is that so? There +is a highly studious collation of whatever will display design, order, +and congruity, in a skull, is there not?--yet small beauty. The nose is +a decorative feature,--yet slightly necessary to beauty, it seems to me; +now, at least, for I once thought I must be wrong in considering a skull +disagreeable. I gave it fair trial: put one on my bed-room +chimney-piece, and looked at it by sunrise every morning, and by +moonlight every night, and by all the best lights I could think of, for +a month, in vain. I found it as ugly at last as I did at first. So, +also, the hair is a decoration, and its natural curl is of little use; +but can Mr. Garbett conceive a bald beauty; or does he prefer a wig, +because that is a "_studious_ collation" of whatever will produce +design, order, and congruity? So the flush of the cheek is a +decoration,--God's painting of the temple of his spirit,--and the +redness of the lip; and yet poor Viola thought it beauty truly blent; +and I hold with her. + +I have answered enough to this count. + +The second point questioned is my assertion, "Ornament cannot be +overcharged if it is good, and is always overcharged when it is bad." To +which Mr. Garbett objects in these terms: "I must contend, on the +contrary, that the very best ornament may be overcharged by being +misplaced." + +A short sentence with two mistakes in it. + +First. Mr. Garbett cannot get rid of his unfortunate notion that +ornament is a thing to be manufactured separately, and fastened on. He +supposes that an ornament may be called good in itself, in the +stonemason's yard or in the ironmonger's shop: Once for all, let him put +this idea out of his head. We may say of a thing, considered separately, +that it is a pretty thing; but before we can say it is a good ornament, +we must know what it is to adorn, and how. As, for instance, a ring of +gold is a pretty thing; it is a good ornament on a woman's finger; not a +good ornament hung through her under lip. A hollyhock, seven feet high, +would be a good ornament for a cottage-garden; not a good ornament for a +lady's head-dress. Might not Mr. Garbett have seen this without my +showing? and that, therefore, when I said "_good_" ornament, I said +"well-placed" ornament, in one word, and that, also, when Mr. Garbett +says "it may be overcharged by being misplaced," he merely says it may +be overcharged by being _bad_. + +Secondly. But, granted that ornament _were_ independent of its position, +and might be pronounced good in a separate form, as books are good, or +men are good.--Suppose I had written to a student in Oxford, "You cannot +have too many books, if they be good books;" and he had answered me, +"Yes, for if I have many, I have no place to put them in but the +coal-cellar." Would that in anywise affect the general principle that +he could not have too many books? + +Or suppose he had written, "I must not have too many, they confuse my +head." I should have written back to him: "Don't buy books to put in the +coal-hole, nor read them if they confuse your head; you cannot have too +many, if they be good: but if you are too lazy to take care of them, or +too dull to profit by them, you are better without them." + +Exactly in the same tone, I repeat to Mr. Garbett, "You cannot have too +much ornament, if it be good: but if you are too indolent to arrange it, +or too dull to take advantage of it, assuredly you are better without +it." + +The other points bearing on this question have already been stated in +the close of the 21st chapter. + +The third reference I have to answer, is to my repeated assertion, that +the evidence of manual labor is one of the chief sources of value in +ornament, ("Seven Lamps," p. 49, "Modern Painters," Sec. 1, Chap. III.,) +to which objection is made in these terms: "We must here warn the reader +against a remarkable error of Ruskin. The value of ornaments in +architecture depends _not in the slightest degree_ on the _manual labor_ +they contain. If it did, the finest ornaments ever executed would be the +stone chains that hang before certain Indian rock-temples." Is that so? +Hear a parallel argument. "The value of the Cornish mines depends not in +the slightest degree on the quantity of copper they contain. If it did, +the most valuable things ever produced would be copper saucepans." It is +hardly worth my while to answer this; but, lest any of my readers should +be confused by the objection, and as I hold the fact to be of great +importance, I may re-state it for them with some explanation. + +Observe, then, the appearance of labor, that is to say, the evidence of +the past industry of man, is always, in the abstract, intensely +delightful: man being meant to labor, it is delightful to see that he +_has_ labored, and to read the record of his active and worthy +existence. + +The evidence of labor becomes painful only when it is a _sign of Evil +greater, as Evil, than the labor is great, as Good_. As, for instance, +if a man has labored for an hour at what might have been done by another +man in a moment, this evidence of his labor is also evidence of his +weakness; and this weakness is greater in rank of evil, than his +industry is great in rank of good. + +Again, if a man have labored at what was not worth accomplishing, the +signs of his labor are the signs of his folly, and his folly dishonors +his industry; we had rather he had been a wise man in rest than a fool +in labor. + +Again, if a man have labored without accomplishing anything, the signs +of his labor are the signs of his disappointment; and we have more +sorrow in sympathy with his failure, than pleasure in sympathy with his +work. + +Now, therefore, in ornament, whenever labor replaces what was better +than labor, that is to say, skill and thought; wherever it substitutes +itself for these, or _negatives these by its existence_, then it is +positive evil. Copper is an evil when it alloys gold, or poisons food: +not an evil, as copper; good in the form of pence, seriously +objectionable when it occupies the room of guineas. Let Danae cast it +out of her lap, when the gold comes from heaven; but let the poor man +gather it up carefully from the earth. + +Farther, the evidence of labor is not only a good when added to other +good, but the utter absence of it destroys good in human work. It is +only good for God to create without toil; that which man can create +without toil is worthless: machine ornaments are no ornaments at all. +Consider this carefully, reader: I could illustrate it for you +endlessly; but you feel it yourself every hour of your existence. And if +you do not know that you feel it, take up, for a little time, the trade +which of all manual trades has been most honored: be for once a +carpenter. Make for yourself a table or a chair, and see if you ever +thought any table or chair so delightful, and what strange beauty there +will be in their crooked limbs. + +I have not noticed any other animadversions on the "Seven Lamps" in Mr. +Garbett's volume; but if there be more, I must now leave it to his own +consideration, whether he may not, as in the above instances, have made +them incautiously: I may, perhaps, also be permitted to request other +architects, who may happen to glance at the preceding pages, not +immediately to condemn what may appear to them false in general +principle. I must often be found deficient in technical knowledge; I +may often err in my statements respecting matters of practice or of +special law. But I do not write thoughtlessly respecting principles; and +my statements of these will generally be found worth reconnoitring +before attacking. Architects, no doubt, fancy they have strong grounds +for supposing me wrong when they seek to invalidate my assertions. Let +me assure them, at least, that I mean to be their friend, although they +may not immediately recognise me as such. If I could obtain the public +ear, and the principles I have advocated were carried into general +practice, porphyry and serpentine would be given to them instead of +limestone and brick; instead of tavern and shop-fronts they would have +to build goodly churches and noble dwelling-houses; and for every +stunted Grecism and stucco Romanism, into which they are now forced to +shape their palsied thoughts, and to whose crumbling plagiarisms they +must trust their doubtful fame, they would be asked to raise whole +streets of bold, and rich, and living architecture, with the certainty +in their hearts of doing what was honorable to themselves, and good for +all men. + +Before I altogether leave the question of the influence of labor on +architectural effect, the reader may expect from me a word or two +respecting the subject which this year must be interesting to all--the +applicability, namely, of glass and iron to architecture in general, as +in some sort exemplified by the Crystal Palace. + +It is thought by many that we shall forthwith have great part of our +architecture in glass and iron, and that new forms of beauty will result +from the studied employment of these materials. + +It may be told in a few words how far this is possible; how far +eternally impossible. + +There are two means of delight in all productions of art--color and +form. + +The most vivid conditions of color attainable by human art are those of +works in glass and enamel, but not the most perfect. The best and +noblest coloring possible to art is that attained by the touch of the +human hand on an opaque surface, upon which it can command any tint +required, without subjection to alteration by fire or other mechanical +means. No color is so noble as the color of a good painting on canvas or +gesso. + +This kind of color being, however, impossible, for the most part, in +architecture, the next best is the scientific disposition of the natural +colors of stones, which are far nobler than any abstract hues producible +by human art. + +The delight which we receive from glass painting is one altogether +inferior, and in which we should degrade ourselves by over indulgence. +Nevertheless, it is possible that we may raise some palaces like +Aladdin's with colored glass for jewels, which shall be new in the annals +of human splendor, and good in their place; but not if they superseded +nobler edifices. + +Now, color is producible either on opaque or in transparent bodies: but +form is only expressible, in its perfection, on opaque bodies, without +lustre. + +This law is imperative, universal, irrevocable. No perfect or refined +form can be expressed except in opaque and lustreless matter. You cannot +see the form of a jewel, nor, in any perfection, even of a cameo or +bronze. You cannot perfectly see the form of a humming-bird, on account +of its burnishing; but you can see the form of a swan perfectly. No noble +work in form can ever, therefore, be produced in transparent or lustrous +glass or enamel. All noble architecture depends for its majesty on its +form: therefore you can never have any noble architecture in transparent +or lustrous glass or enamel. Iron is, however, opaque; and both it and +opaque enamel may, perhaps, be rendered quite lustreless; and, therefore, +fit to receive noble form. + +Let this be thoroughly done, and both the iron and enamel made fine in +paste or grain, and you may have an architecture as noble as cast or +struck architecture even can be: as noble, therefore, as coins can be, or +common cast bronzes, and such other multiplicable things;[102]--eternally +separated from all good and great things by a gulph which not all the +tubular bridges nor engineering of ten thousand nineteenth centuries cast +into one great bronze-foreheaded century, will ever overpass one inch of. +All art which is worth its room in this world, all art which is not a +piece of blundering refuse, occupying the foot or two of earth which, if +unencumbered by it, would have grown corn or violets, or some better +thing, is _art which proceeds from an individual mind, working through +instruments which assist, but do not supersede, the muscular action of +the human hand, upon the materials which most tenderly receive, and most +securely retain, the impressions of such human labor_. + +And the value of every work of art is exactly in the ratio of the +quantity of humanity which has been put into it, and legibly expressed +upon it for ever:-- + +First, of thought and moral purpose; + +Secondly, of technical skill; + +Thirdly, of bodily industry. + +The quantity of bodily industry which that Crystal Palace expresses is +very great. So far it is good. + +The quantity of thought it expresses is, I suppose, a single and very +admirable thought of Mr. Paxton's, probably not a bit brighter than +thousands of thoughts which pass through his active and intelligent +brain every hour,--that it might be possible to build a greenhouse +larger than ever greenhouse was built before. This thought, and some +very ordinary algebra, are as much as all that glass can represent of +human intellect. "But one poor half-pennyworth of bread to all this +intolerable deal of sack." Alas! + + "The earth hath bubbles as the water hath: + And this is of them." + + + 18. EARLY ENGLISH CAPITALS. + +The depth of the cutting in some of the early English capitals is, +indeed, part of a general system of attempts at exaggerated force of +effect, like the "_black_ touches" of second-rate draughtsmen, which I +have noticed as characteristic of nearly all northern work, associated +with the love of the grotesque: but the main section of the capital is +indeed a dripstone rolled round, as above described; and dripstone +sections are continually found in northern work, where not only they +cannot increase force of effect, but are entirely invisible except on +close examination; as, for instance, under the uppermost range of stones +of the foundation of Whitehall, or under the slope of the restored base +of All Souls College, Oxford, under the level of the eye. I much doubt +if any of the Fellows be aware of its existence. + +Many readers will be surprised and displeased by the disparagement of +the early English capital. That capital has, indeed, one character of +considerable value; namely, the boldness with which it stops the +mouldings which fall upon it, and severs them from the shaft, +contrasting itself with the multiplicity of their vertical lines. +Sparingly used, or seldom seen, it is thus, in its place, not +unpleasing; and we English love it from association, it being always +found in connection with our purest and loveliest Gothic arches, and +never in multitudes large enough to satiate the eye with its form. The +reader who sits in the Temple church every Sunday, and sees no +architecture during the week but that of Chancery Lane, may most +justifiably quarrel with me for what I have said of it. But if every +house in Fleet Street or Chancery Lane were Gothic, and all had early +English capitals, I would answer for his making peace with me in a +fortnight. + + + 19. TOMBS NEAR ST. ANASTASIA. + +Whose they are, is of little consequence to the reader or to me, and I +have taken no pains to discover; their value being not in any evidence +they bear respecting dates, but in their intrinsic merit as examples of +composition. Two of them are within the gate, one on the top of it, and +this latter is on the whole the best, though all are beautiful; uniting +the intense northern energy in their figure sculpture with the most +serene classical restraint in their outlines, and unaffected, but +masculine simplicity of construction. + +I have not put letters to the diagram of the lateral arch at page 154, +in order not to interfere with the clearness of the curves, but I shall +always express the same points by the same letters, whenever I have to +give measures of arches of this simple kind, so that the reader need +never have the diagrams lettered at all. The base or span of the centre +arch will always be _a b_; its vertex will always be V; the points of +the cusps will be _c c_; _p p_ will be the bases of perpendiculars let +fall from V and _c_ on _a b_; and _d_ the base of a perpendicular from +the point of the cusp to the arch line. Then _a b_ will always be a span +of the arch, V _p_ its perpendicular height, V _a_ the chord of its side +arcs, _d c_ the depth of its cusps, _c c_ the horizontal interval +between the cusps, _a c_ the length of the chord of the lower arc of the +cusp, V _c_ the length of the chord of the upper arc of the cusp, +(whether continuous or not,) and _c p_ the length of a perpendicular +from the point of the cusp on _a b_. + +Of course we do not want all these measures for a single arch, but it +often happens that some of them are attainable more easily than others; +some are often unattainable altogether, and it is necessary therefore to +have expressions for whichever we may be able to determine. + +V _p_ or V _a_, _a b_, and _d c_ are always essential; then either _a c_ +and V _c_ or _c c_ and _c p_: when I have my choice, I always take _a +b_, V _p_, _d c_, _c c_, and _c p_, but _c p_ is not to be generally +obtained so accurately as the cusp arcs. + +The measures of the present arch are: + + Ft. In. + _a b_, 3 ,, 8 + V _p_, 4 ,, 0 + V _c_, 2 ,, 4-1/2 + _a c_, 2 ,, 0-1/4 + _d c_, 0 ,, 3-1/2 + + + 20. SHAFTS OF DUCAL PALACE. + +The shortness of the thicker ones at the angles is induced by the +greater depth of the enlarged capitals: thus the 36th shaft is 10 ft. +4-1/3 in. in circumference at its base, and 10 ,, 0-1/2[103] in +circumference under the fillet of its capital; but it is only 6 ,, +1-3/4 high, while the minor intermediate shafts, of which the thickest +is 7 ,, 8 round at the base, and 7 ,, 4 under capital, are yet on the +average 7 ,, 7 high. The angle shaft towards the sea (the 18th) is +nearly of the proportions of the 36th, and there are three others, the +15th, 24th, and 26th, which are thicker than the rest, though not so +thick as the angle ones. The 24th and 26th have both party walls to +bear, and I imagine the 15th must in old time have carried another, +reaching across what is now the Sala del Gran Consiglio. + +They measure respectively round at the base, + + The 15th, 8 ,, 2 + 24th, 9 ,, 6-1/2 + 26th, 8 ,, 0-1/2 + +The other pillars towards the sea, and those to the 27th inclusive of +the Piazzetta, are all seven feet round at the base, and then there is a +most curious and delicate crescendo of circumference to the 36th, thus: + + The 28th, 7 ,, 3 The 33rd, 7 ,, 6 + 29th, 7 ,, 4 34th, 7 ,, 8 + 30th, 7 ,, 6 35th, 7 ,, 8 + 31st, 7 ,, 7 36th, 10 ,, 4-1/3 + 32nd, 7 ,, 5 + +The shafts of the upper arcade, which are above these thicker columns, +are also thicker than their companions, measuring on the average, 4 ,, +8-1/2 in circumference, while those of the sea facade, except the 29th, +average 4 ,, 7-1/2 in circumference. The 29th, which is of course above +the 15th of the lower story, is 5 ,, 5 in circumference, which little +piece of evidence will be of no small value to us by-and-by. The 35th +carries the angle of the palace, and is 6 ,, 0 round. The 47th, which +comes above the 24th and carries the party wall of the Sala del Gran +Consiglio, is strengthened by a pilaster; and the 51st, which comes over +the 26th, is 5 ,, 4-1/2 round, or nearly the same as the 29th; it +carries the party wall of the Sala del Scrutinio; a small room +containing part of St. Mark's library, coming between the two saloons; +a room which, in remembrances of the help I have received in all my +inquiries from the kindness and intelligence of its usual occupant, I +shall never easily distinguish otherwise than as "Mr. Lorenzi's."[104] + +I may as well connect with these notes respecting the arcades of the +Ducal Palace, those which refer to Plate XIV., which represents one of +its spandrils. Every spandril of the lower arcade was intended to have +been occupied by an ornament resembling the one given in that plate. The +mass of the building being of Istrian stone, a depth of about two inches +is left within the mouldings of the arches, rough hewn, to receive the +slabs of fine marble composing the patterns. I cannot say whether the +design was ever completed, or the marbles have been since removed, but +there are now only two spandrils retaining their fillings, and vestiges +of them in a third. The two complete spandrils are on the sea facade, +above the 3rd and 10th capitals (_vide_ method of numbering, Chap. I., +page 30); that is to say, connecting the 2nd arch with the 3rd, and the +9th with the 10th. The latter is the one given in Plate XIV. The white +portions of it are all white marble, the dental band surrounding the +circle is in coarse sugary marble, which I believe to be Greek, and +never found in Venice to my recollection, except in work at least +anterior to the fifteenth century. The shaded fields charged with the +three white triangles are of red Verona marble; the inner disc is green +serpentine, and the dark pieces of the radiating leaves are grey marble. +The three triangles are equilateral. The two uppermost are 1 ,, 5 each +side, and the lower 1 ,, 2. + +The extreme diameter of the circle is 3 ,, 10-1/2; its field is slightly +raised above the red marbles, as shown in the section at A, on the left. +A _a_ is part of the red marble field; _a b_ the section of the dentil +moulding let into it; _b c_ the entire breadth of the rayed zone, +represented on the other side of the spandril by the line C _f_; _c d_ +is the white marble band let in, with the dogtooth on the face of it; +_b c_ is 7-3/4 inches across; _c d_ 3-3/4; and at B are given two joints +of the dentil (mentioned above, in the chapter on dentils, as unique in +Venice) of their actual size. At C is given one of the inlaid leaves; +its measure being (in inches) C _f_ 7-3/4; C _h_ 3/4; _f g_ 3/4; _f e_ +4-3/4, the base of the smaller leaves being of course _f e_ - _f g_ = 4. +The pattern which occupies the other spandril is similar, except that +the field _b c_, instead of the intersecting arcs, has only triangles of +grey marble, arranged like rays, with their bases towards the centre. +There being twenty round the circle, the reader can of course draw them +for himself; they being isosceles, touching the dentil with their +points, and being in contact at their bases: it has lost its central +boss. The marbles are, in both, covered with a rusty coating, through +which it is excessively difficult to distinguish the colors (another +proof of the age of the ornament). But the white marbles are certainly, +in places (except only the sugary dentil), veined with purple, and the +grey seem warmed with green. + +A trace of another of these ornaments may be seen over the 21st capital; +but I doubt if the marbles have ever been inserted in the other +spandrils, and their want of ornament occasions the slight meagreness in +the effect of the lower story, which is almost the only fault of the +building. + +This decoration by discs, or shield-like ornaments, is a marked +characteristic of Venetian architecture in its earlier ages, and is +carried into later times by the Byzantine Renaissance, already +distinguished from the more corrupt forms of Renaissance, in Appendix 6. +Of the disc decoration, so borrowed, we have already an example in Plate +I. In Plate VII. we have an earlier condition of it, one of the discs +being there sculptured, the others surrounded by sculptured bands: here +we have, on the Ducal Palace, the most characteristic of all, because +likest to the shield, which was probably the origin of the same ornament +among the Arabs, and assuredly among the Greeks. In Mr. Donaldson's +restoration of the gate of the treasury of Atreus, this ornament is +conjecturally employed, and it occurs constantly on the Arabian +buildings of Cairo. + + + 21. ANCIENT REPRESENTATIONS OF WATER. + +I have long been desirous of devoting some time to an enquiry into the +effect of natural scenery upon the pagan, and especially the Greek, +mind, and knowing that my friend, Mr. C. Newton, had devoted much +thought to the elucidation of the figurative and symbolic language of +ancient art, I asked him to draw up for me a few notes of the facts +which he considered most interesting, as illustrative of its methods of +representing nature. I suggested to him, for an initiative subject, the +representation of water; because this is one of the natural objects +whose portraiture may most easily be made a test of treatment, for it is +one of universal interest, and of more closely similar aspect in all +parts of the world than any other. Waves, currents, and eddies are much +liker each other, everywhere, than either land or vegetation. Rivers and +lakes, indeed, differ widely from the sea, and the clear Pacific from +the angry Northern ocean; but the Nile is liker the Danube than a knot +of Nubian palms is to a glade of the Black Forest; and the Mediterranean +is liker the Atlantic than the Campo Felice is like Solway moss. + +Mr. Newton has accordingly most kindly furnished me with the following +data. One or two of the types which he describes have been already +noticed in the main text; but it is well that the reader should again +contemplate them in the position which they here occupy in a general +system. I recommend his special attention to Mr. Newton's definitions of +the terms "figurative" and "symbolic," as applied to art, in the +beginning of the paper. + + * * * * * + +In ancient art, that is to say, in the art of the Egyptian, Assyrian, +Greek, and Roman races, water is, for the most part, represented +conventionally rather than naturally. + +By natural representation is here meant as just and perfect an imitation +of nature as the technical means of art will allow: on the other hand, +representation is said to be conventional, either when a confessedly +inadequate imitation is accepted in default of a better, or when +imitation is not attempted at all, and it is agreed that other modes of +representation, those by figures or by symbols, shall be its substitute +and equivalent. + +In figurative representation there is always _impersonation_; the +sensible form, borrowed by the artist from organic life, is conceived to +be actuated by a will, and invested with such mental attributes as +constitute personality. + +The sensible _symbol_, whether borrowed from organic or from inorganic +nature, is not a personification at all, but the conventional sign or +equivalent of some object or notion, to which it may perhaps bear no +visible resemblance, but with which the intellect or the imagination has +in some way associated it. + +For instance, a city may be figuratively represented as a woman crowned +with towers; here the artist has selected for the expression of his idea +a human form animated with a will and motives of action analogous to +those of humanity generally. Or, again, as in Greek art, a bull may be a +figurative representation of a river, and, in the conception of the +artist, this animal form may contain, and be ennobled by, a human mind. + +This is still impersonation; the form only in which personality is +embodied is changed. + +Again, a dolphin may be used as a symbol of the sea; a man ploughing +with two oxen is a well-known symbol of a Roman colony. In neither of +these instances is there impersonation. The dolphin is not invested, +like the figure of Neptune, with any of the attributes of the human +mind; it has animal instincts, but no will; it represents to us its +native element, only as a part may be taken for a whole. + +Again, the man ploughing does not, like the turreted female figure, +_personify_, but rather _typifies_ the town, standing as the visible +representation of a real event, its first foundation. To our mental +perceptions, as to our bodily senses, this figure seems no more than +man; there is no blending of his personal nature with the impersonal +nature of the colony, no transfer of attributes from the one to the +other. + +Though the conventionally imitative, the figurative, and the symbolic, +are three distinct kinds of representation, they are constantly combined +in one composition, as we shall see in the following examples, cited +from the art of successive races in chronological order. + +In Egyptian art the general representation of water is the +conventionally imitative. In the British Museum are two frescoes from +tombs at Thebes, Nos. 177 and 170: the subject of the first of these is +an oblong pond, ground-plan and elevation being strangely confused in +the design. In this pond water is represented by parallel zigzag lines, +in which fish are swimming about. On the surface are birds and lotos +flowers; the herbage at the edge of the pond is represented by a border +of symmetrical fan-shaped flowers; the field beyond by rows of trees, +arranged round the sides of the pond at right angles to each other, and +in defiance of all laws of perspective. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXXI.] + +In the fresco, No. 170, we have the representation of a river with +papyrus on its bank. Here the water is rendered by zigzag lines arranged +vertically and in parallel lines, so as to resemble herring-bone +masonry, thus. There are fish in this fresco as in the preceding, and in +both each fish is drawn very distinctly, not as it would appear to the +eye viewed through water. The mode of representing this element in +Egyptian painting is further abbreviated in their hieroglyphic writing, +where the sign of water is a zigzag line; this line is, so to speak, a +picture of water written in short hand. In the Egyptian Pantheon there +was but one aquatic deity, the god of the Nile; his type is, therefore, +the only figurative representation of water in Egyptian art. (Birch, +"Gallery of British Museum Antiquities," Pl. 13.) In Assyrian sculpture +we have very curious conventionally imitative representations of water. +On several of the friezes from Nimroud and Khorsabad, men are seen +crossing a river in boats, or in skins, accompanied by horses swimming +(see Layard, ii. p. 381). In these scenes water is represented by masses +of wavy lines somewhat resembling tresses of hair, and terminating in +curls or volutes; these wavy lines express the general character of a +deep and rapid current, like that of the Tigris. Fish are but sparingly +introduced, the idea of surface being sufficiently expressed by the +floating figures and boats. In the representation of these there is the +same want of perspective as in the Egyptian fresco which we have just +cited. + +In the Assyrian Pantheon one aquatic deity has been discovered, the god +Dagon, whose human form terminates in a fish's tail. Of the character +and attributes of this deity we know but little. + +The more abbreviated mode of representing water, the zigzag line, occurs +on the large silver coins with the type of a city or a war galley (see +Layard, ii. p. 386). These coins were probably struck in Assyria, not +long after the conquest of it by the Persians. + +In Greek art the modes of representing water are far more varied. Two +conventional imitations, the wave moulding and the Maeander, are well +known. Both are probably of the most remote antiquity; both have been +largely employed as an architectural ornament, and subordinately as a +decoration of vases, costume, furniture and implements. In the wave +moulding we have a conventional representation of the small crisping +waves which break upon the shore of the Mediterranean, the sea of the +Greeks. + +Their regular succession, and equality of force and volume, are +generalised in this moulding, while the minuter varieties which +distinguish one wave from another are merged in the general type. The +character of ocean waves is to be "for ever changing, yet the same for +ever;" it is this eternity of recurrence which the early artist has +expressed in this hieroglyphic. + +With this profile representation of water may be compared the sculptured +waves out of which the head and arms of Hyperion are rising in the +pediment of the Parthenon (Elgin Room, No. (65) 91, Museum Marbles, vi. +pl. 1). Phidias has represented these waves like a mass of overlapping +tiles, thus generalising their rippling movement. In the Maeander pattern +the graceful curves of nature are represented by angles, as in the +Egyptian hieroglyphic of water: so again the earliest representation of +the labyrinth on the coins of the Cnossus is rectangular; on later coins +we find the curvilinear form introduced. + +In the language of Greek mythography, the wave pattern and the Maeander +are sometimes used singly for the idea of water, but more frequently +combined with figurative representation. The number of aquatic deities +in the Greek Pantheon led to the invention of a great variety of +beautiful types. Some of these are very well known. Everybody is +familiar with the general form of Poseidon (Neptune), the Nereids, the +Nymphs and River Gods; but the modes in which these types were combined +with conventional imitation and with accessory symbols deserve careful +study, if we would appreciate the surpassing richness and beauty of the +language of art formed out of these elements. + +This class of representations may be divided into two principal groups, +those relating to the sea, and those relating to fresh water. + +The power of the ocean and the great features of marine scenery are +embodied in such types as Poseidon, Nereus and the Nereids, that is to +say, in human forms moving through the liquid element in chariots, or on +the back of dolphins, or who combine the human form with that of the +fish-like Tritons. The sea-monsters who draw these chariots are called +Hippocamps, being composed of the tail of a fish and the fore-part of a +horse, the legs terminating in web-feet: this union seems to express +speed and power under perfect control, such as would characterise the +movements of sea deities. A few examples have been here selected to show +how these types were combined with symbols and conventional imitation. + +In the British Museum is a vase, No. 1257, engraved (Lenormant et De +Witte, Mon. Ceram., i. pl. 27), of which the subject is, Europa crossing +the sea on the back of the bull. In this design the sea is represented +by a variety of expedients. First, the swimming action of the bull +suggests the idea of the liquid medium through which he moves. Behind +him stands Nereus, his staff held perpendicularly in his hand; the top +of his staff comes nearly to the level of the bull's back, and is +probably meant as the measure of the whole depth of the sea. Towards the +surface line thus indicated a dolphin is rising; in the middle depth is +another dolphin; below a shrimp and a cuttle-fish, and the bottom is +indicated by a jagged line of rocks, on which are two echini. + +On a mosaic found at Oudnah in Algeria (Revue Archeol., iii. pl. 50), we +have a representation of the sea, remarkable for the fulness of details +with which it is made out. + +This, though of the Roman period, is so thoroughly Greek in feeling, +that it may be cited as an example of the class of mythography now under +consideration. The mosaic lines the floor and sides of a bath, and, as +was commonly the case in the baths of the ancients, serves as a +figurative representation of the water it contained. + +On the sides are hippocamps, figures riding on dolphins, and islands on +which fishermen stand; on the floor are fish, crabs, and shrimps. + +These, as in the vase with Europa, indicate the bottom of the sea: the +same symbols of the submarine world appear on many other ancient +designs. Thus in vase pictures, when Poseidon upheaves the island of Cos +to overwhelm the Giant Polydotes, the island is represented as an +immense mass of rock; the parts which have been under water are +indicated by a dolphin, a shrimp, and a sepia, the parts above the water +by a goat and a serpent (Lenormant et De Witte, i., tav. 5). + +Sometimes these symbols occur singly in Greek art, as the types, for +instance, of coins. In such cases they cannot be interpreted without +being viewed in relation to the whole context of mythography to which +they belong. If we find, for example, on one coin of Tarentum a shell, +on another a dolphin, on a third a figure of Tarus, the mythic founder +of the town, riding on a dolphin in the midst of the waves, and this +latter group expresses the idea of the town itself and its position on +the coast, then we know the two former types to be but portions of the +greater design, having been detached from it, as we may detach words +from sentences. + +The study of the fuller and clearer examples, such as we have cited +above, enables us to explain many more compendious forms of expression. +We have, for instance, on coins several representations of ancient +harbors. + +Of these, the earliest occurs on the coins of Zancle, the modern Messina +in Sicily. The ancients likened the form of this harbor to a sickle, and +on the coins of the town we find a curved object, within the area of +which is a dolphin. On this curve are four square elevations placed at +equal distances. It has been conjectured that these projections are +either towers or the large stones to which galleys were moored still to +be seen in ancient harbors (see Burgon, Numismatic Chronicle, iii. p. +40). With this archaic representation of a harbor may be compared some +examples of the Roman period. On a coin of Sept. Severus struck at +Corinth (Millingen, Sylloge of Uned. Coins, 1837, p. 57, Pl. II., No. +30) we have a female figure standing on a rock between two recumbent +male figures holding rudders. From an arch at the foot of the rock a +stream is flowing: this is a representation of the rock of the Acropolis +of Corinth: the female figure is a statue of Aphrodite, whose temple +surmounted the rock. The stream is the fountain Pirene. The two +recumbent figures are impersonations of the two harbors, Lechreum and +Cenchreia, between which Corinth was situated. Philostratus (Icon. ii., +c. 16) describes a similar picture of the Isthmus between the two +harbors, one of which was in the form of a youth, the other of a nymph. + +On another coin of Corinth we have one of the harbors in a semicircular +form, the whole arc being marked with small equal divisions, to denote +the archways under which the ancient galleys were drawn, _subductae_; at +the either horn or extremity of the harbor is a temple; in the centre of +the mouth, a statue of Neptune. (Millingen, Medailles Ined., Pl. II., +No. 19. Compare also Millingen, Ancient Coins of Cities and Kings, 1831, +pp. 50-61, Pl. IV., No. 15; Mionnet, Suppl. vii. p. 79, No. 246; and the +harbor of Ostium, on the large brass coins of Nero, in which there is a +representation of the Roman fleet and a reclining figure of Neptune.) + +In vase pictures we have occasionally an attempt to represent water +naturally. On a vase in the British Museum (No. 785), of which the +subject is Ulysses and the Sirens, the Sea is rendered by wavy lines +drawn in black on a red ground, and something like the effect of light +playing on the surface of the water is given. On each side of the ship +are shapeless masses of rock on which the Sirens stand. + +One of the most beautiful of the figurative representations of the sea +is the well-known type of Scylla. She has a beautiful body, terminating +in two barking dogs and two serpent tails. Sometimes drowning men, the +_rari nantes in gurgite vasto_, appear caught up in the coils of these +tails. Below are dolphins. Scylla generally brandishes a rudder to show +the manner in which she twists the course of ships. For varieties of her +type see Monum. dell'Inst. Archeol. Rom., iii. Tavv. 52-3. + +The representations of fresh water may be arranged under the following +heads--rivers, lakes, fountains. + +There are several figurative modes of representing rivers very +frequently employed in ancient mythography. + +In the type which occurs earliest we have the human form combined with +that of the bull in several ways. On an archaic coin of Metapontum in +Lucania, (see frontispiece to Millingen, Ancient Coins of Greek Cities +and Kings,) the river Achelous is represented with the figure of a man +with a shaggy beard and bull's horns and ears. On a vase of the best +period of Greek art (Brit. Mus. No. 789; Birch, Trans. Roy. Soc. of +Lit., New Series, Lond. 1843, i. p. 100) the same river is represented +with a satyr's head and long bull's horns on the forehead; his form, +human to the waist, terminates in a fish's tail; his hair falls down his +back; his beard is long and shaggy. In this type we see a combination of +the three forms separately enumerated by Sophocles, in the commencement +of the Trachiniae. + + [Greek: Acheloon lego, + os m' en trisin morphaisin exetei patros, + phoiton enarges auros allot' aiolos, + drakon heliktos, allot' andreio kytei + bouproros, ek de daskiou geneiados + krounoi dierrhainonto krenaiou potou]. + +In a third variety of this type the human-headed body is united at the +waist with the shoulders of a bull's body, in which it terminates. This +occurs on an early vase. (Brit. Mus., No. 452.) On the coins of Oeniadae +in Acarnia, and on those of Ambracia, all of the period after Alexander +the Great, the Achelous has a bull's body, and head with a human face. +In this variety of the type the human element is almost absorbed, as in +the first variety cited above, the coin of Metapontum, the bull portion +of the type is only indicated by the addition of the horns and ears to +the human head. On the analogy between these, varieties in the type of +the Achelous and those under which the metamorphoses of the marine +goddess Thetis are represented, see Gerhard, Auserl. Vasenb. ii. pp. +106-113. It is probable that, in the type of Thetis, of Proteus, and +also of the Achelous, the singular combinations and transformations are +intended to express the changeful nature of the element water. + +Numerous other examples may be cited, where rivers are represented by +this combination of the bull and human form, which maybe called, for +convenience, the Androtauric type. On the coins of Sicily, of the +archaic and also of the finest period of art, rivers are most usually +represented by a youthful male figure, with small budding horns; the +hair has the lank and matted form which characterises aquatic deities in +Greek mythography. The name of the river is often inscribed round the +head. When the whole figure occurs on the coin, it is always represented +standing, never reclining. + +The type of the bull on the coins of Sybaris and Thurium, in Magna +Graecia, has been considered, with great probability, a representation of +this kind. On the coins of Sybaris, which are of a very early period, +the head of the bull is turned round; on those of Thurium, he stoops his +head, butting: the first of these actions has been thought to symbolise +the winding course of the river, the second, its headlong current. On +the coins of Thurium, the idea of water is further suggested by the +adjunct of dolphins and other fish in the exergue of the coin. The +ground on which the bull stands is indicated by herbage or pebbles. This +probably represents the river bank. Two bulls' head occur on the coins +of Sardis, and it has been ingeniously conjectured by Mr. Burgon that +the two rivers of the place are expressed under this type. + +The representation of river-gods as human figures in a reclining +position, though probably not so much employed in earlier Greek art as +the Androtauric type, is very much more familiar to us, from its +subsequent adoption in Roman mythography. The earliest example we have +of a reclining river-god is in the figure in the Elgin Room commonly +called the Ilissus, but more probably the Cephissus. This occupied one +angle in the western pediment of the Parthenon; the other Athenian +river, the Ilissus, and the fountain Callirrhoe being represented by a +male and female figure in the opposite angle; this group, now destroyed, +is visible in the drawing made by Carrey in 1678. + +It is probable that the necessities of pedimental composition first led +the artist to place the river-god in a reclining position. The head of +the Ilissus being broken off, we are not sure whether he had bull's +horns, like the Sicilian figures already described. His form is +youthful, in the folds of the drapery behind him there is a flow like +that of waves, but the idea of water is not suggested by any other +symbol. When we compare this figure with that of the Nile (Visconti, +Mus. Pio Clem., i., Pl. 38), and the figure of the Tiber in the Louvre, +both of which are of the Roman period, we see how in these later types +the artist multiplied symbols and accessories, ingrafting them on the +original simple type of the river-god, as it was conceived by Phidias in +the figure of the Ilissus. The Nile is represented as a colossal bearded +figure reclining. At his side is a cornucopia, full of the vegetable +produce of the Egyptian soil. Round his body are sixteen naked boys, who +represent the sixteen cubits, the height to which the river rose in a +favorable year. The statue is placed on a basement divided into three +compartments, one above another. In the uppermost of these, waves are +flowing over in one great sheet from the side of the river-god. In the +other two compartments are the animals and plants of the river; the +bas-reliefs on this basement are, in fact, a kind of abbreviated +symbolic panorama of the Nile. + +The Tiber is represented in a very similar manner. On the base are, in +two compartments, scenes taken from the early Roman myths; flocks, +herds, and other objects on the banks of the river. (Visconti, Mus. P. +Cl. i., Pl. 39; Millin, Galerie Mythol., i. p. 77, Pl. 74, Nos. 304, +308.) + +In the types of the Greek coins of Camarina, we find two interesting +representations of Lakes. On the obverse of one of these we have, within +a circle of the wave pattern, a male head, full face, with dishevelled +hair, and with a dolphin on either side; on the reverse a female figure +sailing on a swan, below which a wave moulding, and above, a dolphin. + +On another coin the swan type of the reverse is associated with the +youthful head of a river-god, inscribed "Hipparis" on the obverse. On +some smaller coins we have the swan flying over the rippling waves, +which are represented by the wave moulding. When we examine the chart of +Sicily, made by the Admiralty survey, we find marked down at Camarina, a +lake through which the river Hipparis flows. + +We can hardly doubt that the inhabitants of Camarina represented both +their river and their lakes on their coins. The swan flying over the +waves would represent a lake; the figure associated with it being no +doubt the Aphrodite worshipped at that place: the head, in a circle of +wave pattern, may express that part of the river which flows through the +lake. + +Fountains are usually represented by a stream of water issuing from a +lion's head in the rock: see a vase (Gerhard, Auserl. Vasenb., taf. +CXXXIV.), where Hercules stands, receiving a shower-bath from a hot +spring at Thermae in Sicily. On the coins of Syracuse the fountain +Arethusa is represented by a female head seen to the front; the flowing +lines of her dishevelled hair suggest, though they do not directly +imitate, the bubbling action of the fresh-water spring; the sea in which +it rises is symbolized by the dolphins round the head. This type +presents a striking analogy with that of the Camarina head in the circle +of wave pattern described above. + +These are the principal modes of representing water in Greek +mythography. In the art of the Roman period, the same kind of figurative +and symbolic language is employed, but there is a constant tendency to +multiply accessories and details, as we have shown in the later +representations of harbors and river-gods cited above. In these crowded +compositions the eye is fatigued and distracted by the quantity it has +to examine; the language of art becomes more copious but less terse and +emphatic, and addresses itself to minds far less intelligent than the +refined critics who were the contemporaries of Phidias. + +Rivers in Roman art are usually represented by reclining male figures, +generally bearded, holding reeds or other plants in their hands, and +leaning on urns from which water is flowing. On the coins of many Syrian +cities, struck in imperial times, the city is represented by a turreted +female figure seated on rocks, and resting her feet on the shoulder of a +youthful male figure, who looks up in her face, stretching out his arms, +and who is sunk in the ground as high as the waist. See Mueller +(Denkmaeler d. A. Kunst, i., taf. 49, No. 220) for a group of this kind +in the Vatican, and several similar designs on coins. + +On the column of Trajan there occur many rude representations of the +Danube, and other rivers crossed by the Romans in their military +expeditions. The water is imitated by sculptured wavy lines, in which +boats are placed. In one scene (Bartoli, Colonna Trajana, Tav. 4) this +rude conventional imitation is combined with a figure. In a recess in +the river bank is a reclining river-god, terminating at the waist. This +is either meant for a statue which was really placed on the bank of the +river, and which therefore marks some particular locality, or we have +here figurative representation blended with conventional imitation. + +On the column of Antoninus (Bartoli, Colon. Anton., Tav. 15) a storm of +rain is represented by the head of Jupiter Pluvius, who has a vast +outspread beard flowing in long tresses. In the Townley collection, in +the British Museum, is a Roman helmet found at Ribchester in Lancashire, +with a mask or vizor attached. The helmet is richly embossed with +figures in a battle scene; round the brow is a row of turrets; the hair +in the forehead is so treated as to give the idea of waves washing the +base of the turrets. This head is perhaps a figurative representation of +a town girt with fortifications and a moat, near which some great battle +was fought. It is engraved (Vetusta Monum. of Soc. Ant. London, iv., Pl. +1-4). + +In the Galeria at Florence is a group in alto relievo (Gori, Inscript. +Ant. Flor. 1727, p. 76, Tab. 14) of three female figures, one of whom is +certainly Demeter Kourotrophos, or the earth; another, Thetis, or the +sea; the centre of the three seems to represent Aphrodite associated, as +on the coins of Camarina, with the element of fresh water. + +This figure is seated on a swan, and holds over her head an arched veil. +Her hair is bound with reeds; above her veil grows a tall water plant, +and below the swan other water plants, and a stork seated on a _hydria_, +or pitcher, from which water is flowing. The swan, the stork, the water +plants, and the _hydria_ must all be regarded as symbols of fresh water, +the latter emblem being introduced to show that the element is fit for +the use of man. + +Fountains in Roman art are generally personified as figures of nymphs +reclining with urns, or standing holding before them a large shell. + +One of the latest representations of water in ancient art is the mosaic +of Palestrina (Barthelemy, in Bartoli, Peint. Antiques) which may be +described as a kind of rude panorama of some district of Upper Egypt, a +bird's-eye view, half man, half picture, in which the details are +neither adjusted to a scale, nor drawn according to perspective, but +crowded together, as they would be in an ancient bas-relief. + + + 22. ARABIAN ORNAMENTATION. + +I do not mean what I have here said of the Inventive power of the Arab +to be understood as in the least applying to the detestable +ornamentation of the Alhambra.[105] The Alhambra is no more +characteristic of Arab work, than Milan Cathedral is of Gothic: it is a +late building, a work of the Spanish dynasty in its last decline, and +its ornamentation is fit for nothing but to be transferred to patterns +of carpets or bindings of books, together with their marbling, and +mottling, and other mechanical recommendations. The Alhambra ornament +has of late been largely used in shop-fronts, to the no small detriment +of Regent Street and Oxford Street. + + + 23. VARIETIES OF CHAMFER. + +Let B A C, Fig. LXXII., be the original angle of the wall. Inscribe +within it a circle, _p_ Q N _p_, of the size of the bead required, +touching A B, A C, in _p_, _p_; join _p_, _p_, and draw B C parallel to +it, touching the circle. + +Then the lines B C, _p p_ are the limits of the possible chamfers +constructed with curves struck either from centre A, as the line Q _q_, +N _d_, _r u_, _g c_, &c., or from any other point chosen as a centre in +the direction Q A produced: and also of all chamfers in straight lines, +as _a b_, _e f_. There are, of course, an infinite number of chamfers to +be struck between B C and _p p_, from every point in Q A produced to +infinity; thus we have infinity multiplied into infinity to express the +number of possible chamfers of this species, which are peculiarly +Italian chamfers; together with another singly infinite group of the +straight chamfers, _a b_, _e f_, &c., of which the one formed by the +line _a b_, passing through the centre of the circle, is the universal +early Gothic chamfer of Venice. + +Again. Either on the line A C, or on any other lines A _l_ or A _m_, +radiating from A, any number of centres may be taken, from which, with +any radii not greater than the distance between such points and Q, an +infinite number of curves may be struck, such as _t u_, _r s_, N _n_ +(all which are here struck from centres on the line A C). These lines +represent the great class of the northern chamfers, of which the number +is infinity raised to its fourth power, but of which the curve N _n_ +(for northern) represents the average condition; the shallower chamfers +of the same group, _r s_, _t u_, &c., occurring often in Italy. The +lines _r u_, _t u_, and _a b_ may be taken approximating to the most +frequent conditions of the southern chamfer. + +[Illustration: Fig. LXXII.] + +It is evident that the chords of any of these curves will give a +relative group of rectilinear chamfers, occurring both in the North and +South; but the rectilinear chamfers, I think, invariably fall within the +line Q C, and are either parallel with it, or inclined to A C at an +angle greater than A C Q, and often perpendicular to it; but never +inclined to it at an angle less than A C Q. + + + 24. RENAISSANCE BASES. + +The following extract from my note-book refers also to some features of +late decoration of shafts. + +"The Scuola di San Rocco is one of the most interesting examples of +Renaissance work in Venice. Its fluted pillars are surrounded each by a +wreath, one of vine, another of laurel, another of oak, not indeed +arranged with the fantasticism of early Gothic; but, especially the +laurel, reminding one strongly of the laurel sprays, powerful as well as +beautiful, of Veronese and Tintoret. Their stems are curiously and +richly interlaced--the last vestige of the Byzantine wreathed work--and +the vine-leaves are ribbed on the surfaces, I think, nearly as finely as +those of the Noah,[106] though more injured by time. The capitals are +far the richest Renaissance in Venice, less corrupt and more masculine +in plan, than any other, and truly suggestive of support, though of +course showing the tendency to error in this respect; and finally, at +the angles of the pure Attic bases, on the square plinth, are set +couchant animals; one, an elephant four inches high, very curiously and +cleverly cut, and all these details worked with a spirit, finish, fancy, +and affection quite worthy of the middle ages. But they have all the +marked fault of being utterly detached from the architecture. The +wreaths round the columns look as if they would drop off the next +moment, and the animals at the bases produce exactly the effect of mice +who had got there by accident: one feels them ridiculously diminutive, +and utterly useless." + +The effect of diminutiveness is, I think, chiefly owing to there being +no other groups of figures near them, to accustom the eye to the +proportion, and to the needless choice of the largest animals, +elephants, bears, and lions, to occupy a position so completely +insignificant, and to be expressed on so contemptible a scale,--not in a +bas-relief or pictorial piece of sculpture, but as independent figures. +The whole building is a most curious illustration of the appointed fate +of the Renaissance architects,--to caricature whatever they imitated, +and misapply whatever they learned. + + + 25. ROMANIST DECORATION OF BASES. + +I have spoken above (Appendix 12) of the way in which the Roman Catholic +priests everywhere suffer their churches to be desecrated. But the worst +instances I ever saw of sacrilege and brutality, daily permitted in the +face of all men, were the uses to which the noble base of St. Mark's was +put, when I was last in Venice. Portions of nearly all cathedrals may be +found abandoned to neglect; but this base of St. Mark's is in no obscure +position. Full fronting the western sun--crossing the whole breadth of +St. Mark's Place--the termination of the most noble square in the +world--the centre of the most noble city--its purple marbles were, in +the winter of 1849, the customary _gambling tables_ of the idle children +of Venice; and the parts which flank the Great Entrance, that very +entrance where "Barbarossa flung his mantle off," were the counters of a +common bazaar for children's toys, carts, dolls, and small pewter spoons +and dishes, German caricatures and books of the Opera, mixed with those +of the offices of religion; the caricatures being fastened with twine +round the porphyry shafts of the church. One Sunday, the 24th of +February, 1850, the book-stall being somewhat more richly laid out than +usual, I noted down the titles of a few of the books in the order in +which they lay, and I give them below. The irony conveyed by the +juxtaposition of the three in Italics appears too shrewd to be +accidental; but the fact was actually so. + +Along the edge of the white plinth were a row of two kinds of books, + + Officium Beatae Virg. M.; and Officium Hebdomadae sanctae, juxta Formam + Missalis et Breviarii Romani sub Urbano VIII. correcti. + +Behind these lay, side by side, the following: + + Don Desiderio. Dramma Giocoso per Musica. + Breve Esposizione della Carattere di vera Religione. + +On the top of this latter, keeping its leaves open, + + La Figlia del Reggimento. Melodramma comica. + _Carteggio di Madama la Marchesa di Pompadour, ossia + raccolta di Lettere scritte della Medesima._ + _Istruzioni di morale Condotta per le Figlie._ + _Francesca di Rimini. Dramma per Musica._ + +Then, a little farther on, after a mass of plays:-- + + Orazioni a Gesu Nazareno e a Maria addolorata. + Semiramide; Melodramma tragico da rappresentarsi nel Gran Teatro + il Fenice. + Modo di orare per l'Acquisto del S. Giubileo, conceduto a tutto il + Mondo Cattolico da S. S. Gregorio XVI. + Le due illustre Rivali, Melodramma in Tre Atti, da rappresentarsi + nel nuovo Gran Teatro il Fenice. + Il Cristiano secondo il Cuore di Gesu, per la Pratica delle sue + Virtu. + Traduzione dell'Idioma Italiana. + La chiava Chinese; Commedia del Sig. Abate Pietro Chiari. + La Pelarina; Intermezzo de Tre Parti per Musica. + Il Cavaliero e la Dama; Commedia in Tre Atti in Prosa. + +I leave these facts without comment. But this being the last piece of +Appendix I have to add to the present volume, I would desire to close +its pages with a question to my readers--a statistical question, which, +I doubt not, is being accurately determined for us all elsewhere, and +which, therefore, it seems to me, our time would not be wasted in +determining for ourselves. + +There has now been peace between England and the continental powers +about thirty-five years, and during that period the English have visited +the continent at the rate of many thousands a year, staying there, I +suppose, on the average, each two or three months; nor these an inferior +kind of English, but the kind which ought to be the best--the noblest +born, the best taught, the richest in time and money, having more +leisure, knowledge, and power than any other portion of the nation. +These, we might suppose, beholding, as they travelled, the condition of +the states in which the Papal religion is professed, and being, at the +same time, the most enlightened section of a great Protestant nation, +would have been animated with some desire to dissipate the Romanist +errors, and to communicate to others the better knowledge which they +possessed themselves. I doubt not but that He who gave peace upon the +earth, and gave it by the hand of England, expected this much of her, +and has watched every one of the millions of her travellers as they +crossed the sea, and kept count for him of his travelling expenses, and +of their distribution, in a manner of which neither the traveller nor +his courier were at all informed. I doubt not, I say, but that such +accounts have been literally kept for all of us, and that a day will +come when they will be made clearly legible to us, and when we shall see +added together, on one side of the account book, a great sum, the +certain portion, whatever it may be, of this thirty-five years' +spendings of the rich English, accounted for in this manner:-- + +To wooden spoons, nut-crackers, and jewellery, bought at Geneva, and +elsewhere among the Alps, so much; to shell cameos and bits of mosaic +bought at Rome, so much; to coral horns and lava brooches bought at +Naples, so much; to glass beads at Venice, and gold filigree at Genoa, +so much; to pictures, and statues, and ornaments, everywhere, so much; +to avant-couriers and extra post-horses, for show and magnificence, so +much; to great entertainments and good places for seeing sights, so +much; to ball-dresses and general vanities, so much. This, I say, will +be the sum on one side of the book; and on the other will be written: + +To the struggling Protestant Churches of France, Switzerland, and +Piedmont, so much. + +Had we not better do this piece of statistics for ourselves, in time? + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [93] Ed. Venetis, 1758, Lib. I. + + [94] Compare Appendix 12. + + [95] L'Artiste en Batiments, par Louis Berteaux: Dijon, 1848. My + printer writes at the side of the page a note, which I insert with + thanks:--"This is not the first attempt at a French order. The + writer has a Treatise by Sebastian Le Clerc, a great man in his + generation, which contains a Roman order, a Spanish order, which the + inventor appears to think very grand, and a _new_ French order + nationalised by the Gallic cock crowing and clapping its wings in + the capital." + + [96] The lower group in Plate XVII. + + [97] One of the upper stories is also in Gally Knight's plate + represented as merely banded, and otherwise plain: it is, in + reality, covered with as delicate inlaying as the rest. The whole + front is besides out of proportion, and out of perspective, at once; + and yet this work is referred to as of authority, by our architects. + Well may our architecture fall from its place among the fine arts, + as it is doing rapidly; nearly all our works of value being devoted + to the Greek architecture, which is _utterly useless_ to us--or + worse. _One_ most noble book, however, has been dedicated to our + English abbeys,--Mr. E. Sharpe's "Architectural Parallels"--almost a + model of what I should like to see done for the Gothic of all + Europe. + + [98] Except in the single passage "tell it unto the Church," which + is simply the _extension_ of what had been commanded before, i.e., + tell the fault first "between thee and him," then taking "with thee + one or two more," then, to all Christian men capable of hearing the + cause: if he refuse to hear their common voice, "let him be unto + thee as a heathen man and publican:" (But consider how Christ + treated both.) + + [99] One or two remarks on this subject, some of which I had + intended to have inserted here, and others in Appendix 5, I have + arranged in more consistent order, and published in a separate + pamphlet, "Notes on the Construction of Sheep-folds," for the + convenience of readers interested in other architecture than that of + Venetian palaces. + + [100] Not, however, by Johnson's _testimony_: Vide Adventurer, No. + 39. "Such operations as required neither celerity nor strength,--the + low drudgery of collating copies, comparing authorities, _digesting + dictionaries_, or accumulating compilations." + + [101] We have done so--theoretically; just as one would reason on + the human form from the bones outwards: but the Architect of human + form frames all at once--bone and flesh. + + [102] Of course mere multiplicability, as of an engraving, does not + diminish the intrinsic value of the work; and if the casts of + sculpture could be as sharp as the sculpture itself, they would hold + to it the relation of value which engravings hold to paintings. And, + if we choose to have our churches all alike, we might cast them all + in bronze--we might actually coin churches, and have mints of + Cathedrals. It would be worthy of the spirit of the century to put + milled edges for mouldings, and have a popular currency of religious + subjects: a new cast of nativities every Christmas. I have not heard + this contemplated, however, and I speak, therefore, only of the + results which I believe are contemplated, as attainable by mere + mechanical applications of glass and iron. + + [103] I shall often have occasion to write measures in the current + text, therefore the reader will kindly understand that whenever they + are thus written, 2 ,, 2, with double commas between, the first + figures stand for English feet, the second for English inches. + + [104] I cannot suffer this volume to close without also thanking my + kind friend, Mr. Rawdon Brown, for help given me in a thousand ways + during my stay in Venice: but chiefly for his direction to passages + elucidatory of my subject in the MSS. of St. Mark's library. + + [105] I have not seen the building itself, but Mr. Owen Jones's work + may, I suppose, be considered as sufficiently representing it for + all purposes of criticism. + + [106] The sculpture of the Drunkenness of Noah on the Ducal Palace, + of which we shall have much to say hereafter. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CORRECTIONS MADE TO THE ORIGINAL TEXT. + + +Footnote [31] 'Greek porticos' changed to 'Greek porticoes'. + +Page 42: 'Sec. XL. It is not' corrected to 'Sec. XI. It is not'. + +Page 161: Added 'r' to 'timbe' in 'long stone or piece of timbe'. + +Page 180: 'XII. 2. Inlet' corrected to 'Sec. XII. 2. Inlet'. + +Page 237: 'rererence' changed to 'reference' in 'How is ornament to be + treated with rererence'. + +Page 247: 'Sec. XIV. Now this is' corrected to 'Sec. XIX. Now this is'. + +Page 273: 'no' changed to 'not' in 'a peculiar look, which I can no + otherwise describe'. + +Page 333: comma changed to period at the paragraph ending with + 'separates its ornament into distinct families, broadly definable'. + +Page 370: 'two-thsrds' corrected to 'two-thirds'. + +Page 397: 'bodly' corrected to 'bodily' in 'merely through the channel + of the bodly dexterities'. + +Page 398: 'calld' corrected to 'called' in 'Men engaged in the practice + of these are calld artizans'. + +Page 401: 'necesary' corrected to 'necessary' in 'as Rubens was of that + necesary for his'. + +Page 406: Space placement corrected in 'I found it a sugly at last' to + 'I found it as ugly at last'. + +Page 423: 'Milligen' corrected to 'Millingen' in 'Compare also Milligen, + Ancient Coins of Cities and Kings'. + +Page 433: space between 'rappresent' and 'arsi' removed in 'Tre Atti, da + rappresent arsi'. + +Page 433: 'del' corrected to 'dell' in 'Traduzione del' Idioma + Italiana'. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STONES OF VENICE, VOLUME I (OF +3)*** + + +******* This file should be named 30754.txt or 30754.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/7/5/30754 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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