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diff --git a/43602-0.txt b/43602-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1eb1f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/43602-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6256 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43602 *** + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE PYRAMIDS OF GHIZEH.] + + + + +A + +HISTORY OF ART + +FOR + +BEGINNERS AND STUDENTS + +PAINTING--SCULPTURE--ARCHITECTURE + + +WITH + +_COMPLETE INDEXES AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + +BY + +CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT + +AUTHOR OF "HANDBOOK OF LEGENDARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL ART," "PAINTERS, +SCULPTORS, ENGRAVERS, ARCHITECTS AND THEIR WORKS," "ARTISTS OF THE +NINETEENTH CENTURY," ETC. + +[Illustration] + + NEW YORK + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + MDCCCXCI + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1887, + BY FREDERICK A. STOKES, + + SUCCESSOR TO WHITE, STOKES, & ALLEN. + + + + +[Illustration] + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + PAGE + ANCIENT OR HEATHEN ARCHITECTURE. 3000 B.C. TO A.D. 328, 1 + EGYPT, 2 + ASSYRIA, 20 + BABYLON, 29 + PERSIA, 34 + JUDEA, 44 + GREECE, 46 + ETRURIA, 71 + ROME, 74 + + + CHAPTER II. + + CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE. A.D. 328 TO ABOUT 1400, 87 + GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, 93 + BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE, 117 + SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE, 123 + + + CHAPTER III. + + MODERN ARCHITECTURE. A.D. 1400 TO THE PRESENT TIME, 133 + ITALY, 134 + SPAIN, 145 + FRANCE, 153 + ENGLAND, 166 + GERMANY, 172 + THEATRES AND MUSIC HALLS, 179 + UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 181 + + GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS, 191 + + INDEX, 195 + + + + +[Illustration] + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + The Pyramids of Ghizeh, _Frontispiece_ + The Ascent of a Pyramid, 4 + View of Gallery in the Great Pyramid, 5 + Poulterer's Shop, 6 + Rock-cut Tomb (Beni-Hassan), 6 + The Hall of Columns at Karnak, 10 + Pillar from Thebes (showing the Three Parts), 11 + Sculptured Capital, 12 + Palm Capital, 12 + Pillar from Sedingæ, 12 + The Great Sphinx, 13 + Cleopatra's Needles, 15 + Pavilion at Medinet Habou, 17 + Temple on the Island of Philæ, 18 + Gateways in Walls of Khorsabad, 21 + Entrance to Smaller Temple (Nimrud), 22 + Pavement Slab (from Koyunjik), 23 + Remains of Propylæum, or Outer Gateway (Khorsabad), 24 + Plan of Palace (Khorsabad), 25 + Relief from Khorsabad. A Temple, 26 + Restoration of an Assyrian Palace, 28 + Elevation of the Temple of the Seven Spheres at Borsippa, 31 + Birs-i-Nimrud (near Babylon), 33 + Masonry of Great Platform (Persepolis), 36 + Parapet Wall of Staircase. _Persepolis._ (Restored), 37 + Ruins of the Palace of Darius (Persepolis), 38 + Gateway of Hall of a Hundred Columns, 39 + Double-horned Lion Capital, 40 + Complex Capital and Base of Pillars (Persepolis), 40 + Base of Another Pillar (Persepolis), 40 + Ground-plan (Restored) of Hall of Xerxes (Persepolis), 41 + Part of a Base of the Time of Cyrus (Pasargadæ), 42 + The Tomb of Cyrus, 43 + Roof of One of the Compartments of the Gate Huldah, 45 + Temple of Diana (Eleusis), 48 + Gravestone from Mycenæ (Schliemann), 49 + Small Temple at Rhamnus, 50 + The Parthenon. _Athens._ (Restored), 51 + Plan of Temple of Apollo (Bassæ), 52 + From the Parthenon (Athens), 53 + Ionic Architecture, 55 + Ionic Base, 55 + Attic Base, 55 + Base from Temple of Hera (Samos), 56 + Ionic Capital (front view), 56 + Ionic Capital (side view), 56 + From Monument of Lysicrates (Athens), 57 + Corinthian Order, 58 + Caryatid, 59 + Stool, or Chair (Khorsabad), 59 + The Acropolis. _Athens._ (Restored), 63 + The Erechtheium. _Athens._ (Restored), 66 + Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. _Athens_, 68 + The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Restored), 69 + Tombs at Castel d'Asso, 71 + Principal Chamber of the Regulini-Galeassi Tomb, 72 + Arch at Volterra, 73 + Gateway (Arpino), 73 + Arch of Cloaca Maxima (Rome), 74 + Composite Order, from the Arch of Septimius Severus (Rome), 75 + Doric Arcade, 76 + Ground-plan of Pantheon (Rome), 77 + Interior of the Pantheon, 78 + Longitudinal Section of Basilica of Maxentius, 79 + Arch of Constantine (Rome), 82 + Arch of Trajan (Beneventum), 83 + Tomb of Cecilia Metella, 84 + Columbarium near the Gate of St. Sebastian (Rome), 85 + Interior of Basilica of St. Paul's (Rome), 88 + The Cathedral of Chartres, 91 + Church of St. Nicholas (Caen), 95 + Façade of Cathedral of Notre Dame (Paris), 96 + Clustered Pillar, 97 + Buttress, 97 + Hinge, 97 + Iron-work, 97 + Gargoyle, 97 + Nail-head, 98 + Scroll, 98 + Section of Church (Carcassone). With Outer Aisles Added in + Fourteenth Century, 99 + Spires of Laon Cathedral, 100 + Portal of the Minorites' Church (Vienna), 101 + External Elevation, Cathedral of Paris, 102 + Wheel Window, from Cathedral (Toscanella), 103 + Collegiate Church. _Toro._ (From Villa Amil), 105 + St. Paul, Saragossa, 106 + Cloister (Tarazona), 107 + Rood-screen, from the Madeleine (Troyes), 108 + Palace of Wartburg, 109 + Tower of Cremona, 111 + St. Mark's Cathedral (Venice), 113 + Section of San Miniato (near Florence), 115 + San Giovanni degli Eremiti (Palermo), 116 + Church of St. Sophia. _Constantinople._ (Exterior View), 118 + Lower Order of St. Sophia, 119 + Upper Order of St. Sophia, 120 + Interior View of Church of St. Sophia, 121 + Mosque of Kaitbey, 124 + The Call to Prayer, 125 + Exterior of the Sanctuary in the Mosque of Cordova, 127 + Court of the Lions (Alhambra), 131 + The Cathedral of Florence and Giotto's Campanile, 135 + View of St. Peter's (Rome), 137 + Section of St. Peter's, 139 + East Elevation of Library of St. Mark, 141 + The Doge's Palace (Venice), 143 + Great Court of the Hospital of Milan, 144 + The Escurial (near Madrid), 147 + Façade of the Church of St. Michael (Dijon), 155 + Façade of the Dome of the Invalides (Paris), 156 + The Pantheon (Paris), 157 + The Madeleine (Paris), 159 + Pavilion de l'Horloge and Part of the Court of the Louvre, 161 + Château of Chambord, 163 + Porte St. Denis (Paris), 164 + Arc de l'Étoile (Paris), 165 + East Elevation of St. Paul's (Covent Garden), 167 + St. Paul's, London (from the West), 168 + St. George's Hall (Liverpool), 169 + Windsor Castle, 170 + The Houses of Parliament (London), 171 + The Brandenburg Gate (Berlin), 174 + The Basilica at Munich, 175 + The Ruhmeshalle (near Munich), 176 + The Museum (Berlin), 177 + The Walhalla, 178 + The New Opera House (Paris), 180 + The United States Capitol (Washington), 182 + State Capitol (Columbus, Ohio), 183 + Sir William Pepperell's House (Kittery Point, Maine), 185 + Old Morrisania (Morrisania, New York), 187 + Residence at Irvington, New York, 189 + + + + +[Illustration] + +ARCHITECTURE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANCIENT OR HEATHEN ARCHITECTURE. + +3000 B.C. TO A.D. 328. + + +Architecture seems to me to be the most wonderful of all the arts. We +may not love it as much as others, when we are young perhaps we cannot +do so, because it is so great and so grand; but at any time of life one +can see that in Architecture some of the most marvellous achievements +of men are displayed. The principal reason for saying this is that +Architecture is not an imitative art, like Painting and Sculpture. The +first picture that was ever painted was a portrait or an imitation of +something that the painter had seen. So in Sculpture, the first statue +or bas-relief was an attempt to reproduce some being or object that the +sculptor had seen, or to make a work which combined portions of several +things that he had observed; but in Architecture this was not true. No +temples or tombs or palaces existed until they had first taken form in +the mind and imagination of the builders, and were created out of space +and nothingness, so to speak. Thus Painting and Sculpture are imitative +arts, but Architecture is a constructive art; and while one may love +pictures or statues more than the work of the architect, it seems to +me that one must wonder most at the last. + +We do not know how long the earth has existed, and in studying the +most ancient times of which we have any accurate knowledge, we come +upon facts which prove that men must have lived and died long before +the dates of which we can speak exactly. The earliest nations of whose +Architecture we can give an account are called heathen nations, and +their art is called Ancient or Heathen Art, and this comes down to the +time when the Roman Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity, +and changed the Roman Capitol from Rome to Constantinople in the year +of our Lord 328. + +The buildings and the ruins which still remain from these ancient times +are in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Judea, Asia Minor, Greece, Etruria, and +Rome. Many of these have been excavated or uncovered, as, during the +ages that have passed since their erection, they had been buried away +from sight by the accumulation of earth about them. These excavations +are always going on in various countries, and men are ever striving +to learn more about the wonders of ancient days; and we may hope that +in the future as marvellous things may be revealed to us as have been +shown in the past. + + +EGYPT. + +As we consider the Architecture of Egypt, the Great Pyramid first +attracts attention on account of its antiquity and its importance. This +was built by Cheops, who is also called Suphis, about 3000 years before +Christ. At that distant day the Egyptians seem to have been a nation of +pyramid-builders, for even now, after all the years that have rolled +between them and us, we know of more than sixty of these mysterious +monuments which have been opened and explored. + +Of all these the three pyramids at Ghizeh (Fig. 1) are best known, and +that of Cheops is the most remarkable among them. Those of you who have +studied the history of the wars of Napoleon I. will remember that it +was near this spot that he fought the so-called Battle of the Pyramids, +and that in addressing his soldiers he reminded them that here the +ages looked down upon them, thus referring to the many years during +which this great pyramid had stood on the border of the desert, as if +watching the flight of Time and calmly waiting to see what would happen +on the final day of all earthly things. + +There have been much speculation and many opinions as to the use for +which these pyramids were made, but the most general belief is that +they were intended for the tombs of the powerful kings who reigned in +Egypt and caused them to be built. + +The pyramid of Cheops was four hundred and eighty feet and nine inches +high, and its base was seven hundred and sixty-four feet square. It +is so difficult to understand the size of anything from mere figures, +that I shall try to make it plainer by saying that it covers more than +thirteen acres of land, which is more than twice as much as is covered +by any building in the world. Its height is as great as that of any +cathedral spire in Europe, and more than twice that of the monument on +Bunker Hill, which is but two hundred and twenty feet, and yet looks +very high. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE ASCENT OF A PYRAMID.] + +When it was built it was covered with a casing of stone, the different +pieces being fitted together and polished to a surface like glass; +but this covering has been torn away and the stones used for other +purposes, which has left the pyramid in a series of two hundred and +three rough and jagged steps, some of them being two feet and a half +in height, growing less toward the top, but not diminishing with any +regularity. The top is now a platform thirty-two feet and eight inches +square. Each traveller who ascends this pyramid has from one to four +Fellahs or Arabs, who pull him forward or upward by his arms, or push +him and lift him from behind, and finally drag him to the top (Fig. 2). +When he thinks of all the weary months and days of the twenty years +during which it is said that those who built it worked, cutting out the +stone in the quarries, moving it to the spot where it was required, and +then raising it to the great heights and fitting it all in place, he +regards his fatigue in its ascent as a little thing, though at the time +it is no joke to him. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--VIEW OF GALLERY IN THE GREAT PYRAMID.] + +Many of the pyramids were encased in stone taken from the Mokattam +Mountains, which were somewhat more than half a mile distant; but the +pyramid of Cheops was covered with the red Syenite granite, which must +have been quarried in the "red mountain," nearly five hundred miles +away, near to Syene, or the modern Assouan. The interior of the pyramid +is divided into chambers and passages (Fig. 3), which are lined with +beautiful slabs of granite and constructed in such a way as to prove +that at the remote time in which the pyramids were built Egyptian +architects and workmen were already skilled in planning and executing +great works. Of the seventy pyramids known to have existed in those +early days, sixty-nine had the entrance on the north side, leaving +but a single exception to this rule; all of them were situated on the +western side of the River Nile, just on the edge of the desert, beyond +the strip of cultivable ground which borders the river. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--POULTERER'S SHOP.] + +Near the pyramids there are numerous tombs, which are built somewhat +like low houses, having several apartments with but one entrance from +the outside. The walls of these apartments are adorned with pictures +similar to this one of a poulterer's shop (Fig. 4); they represent the +manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians with great exactness. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--ROCK-CUT TOMB, BENI-HASSAN.] + +The tombs at Beni-Hassan are among the most ancient ruins of Egypt, and +are very interesting (Fig. 5). They were made between 2466 and 2266 +B.C. They are on the eastern bank of the Nile, and are hewn out of the +solid rock; they are ornamented with sculptures and pictures which +are full of interest; it has been said that these tombs were built by +the Pharaoh, or king, of Joseph's time, and one of the paintings is +often spoken of as being a representation of the brethren of Joseph; +but of this there is no proof. The colors of the pictures are fresh +and bright, and they show that many of the customs and amusements of +that long, long ago were similar to our own, and in some cases quite +the same. The manufactures of glass and linen, cabinet work, gold +ornaments, and other artistic objects are pictured there; the games of +ball, draughts, and _morra_ are shown, while the animals, birds, and +fishes of Egypt are all accurately depicted. + +An interesting thing to notice about these tombs is the way in which +the epistyle--the part resting upon the columns--imitates squarely-hewn +joists, as if the roof were of wood supported by a row of timbers. +When we come to the architecture of Greece we shall see that its most +important style, the Doric, arose from the imitation in stone of the +details of a wooden roof, and from a likeness between these tombs and +the Doric order, this style has been named the Proto-Doric. + +The tombs near Thebes which are called the "Tombs of the Kings," +and many other Egyptian tombs, are very interesting, and within a +short time some which had not before been observed have been opened, +and proved to be rich in decorations, and also to contain valuable +ornaments and works of art, as well as papyri, or records of historical +value. + +The most magnificent of all the Egyptian tombs is that of King Seti +I., who began to reign in 1366 B.C. He was fond of splendid buildings, +and all the architects of his time were very busy in carrying out his +plans. His tomb was not discovered until 1817, and was then found by an +Italian traveller, whose name, Belzoni, has been given to the tomb. The +staircase by which it is entered is twenty-four feet long, and opens +into a spacious passage, the walls of which are beautifully ornamented +with sculptures and paintings. This is succeeded by other staircases, +fine halls, and corridors, all of which extend four hundred and five +feet into the mountain in which the tomb is excavated, making also a +gradual descent of ninety feet from its entrance. It is a wonderful +monument to the skill and taste of the architects who lived and labored +more than three thousand years ago. + +The two principal cities of ancient Egypt were Memphis and Thebes. The +first has been almost literally taken to pieces and carried away, for +as other more modern cities have been built up near it, the materials +which were first used in the old temples and palaces have been carried +here and there, and again utilized in erecting new edifices. + +Thebes, on the contrary, has stood alone during all the centuries that +have passed since its decline, and there is now no better spot in which +to study the ancient Egyptian architecture, because its temples are +still so complete that a good idea can be formed from them of what they +must have been when they were perfect. The ruins at Thebes are on both +banks of the Nile, and no description can do justice to their grandeur, +or give a full estimate of their wonders; but I shall try to tell +something of the palace-temple of Karnak, which has been called "the +noblest effort of architectural magnificence ever produced by the hand +of man." + +The word palace-temple has a strange sound to us because we do not now +associate the ideas which the two words represent. Many palaces of more +modern countries and times have their chapels, but the union of a grand +temple and a grand palace is extremely rare, to say the least. Perhaps +the Vatican and St. Peter's at Rome represent the idea and spirit of +the Egyptian palace-temples as nearly as any buildings that are now in +existence. + +The Egyptian religion controlled all the affairs of the nation. The +Pharaoh, or king, was the chief of the religion, as well as of the +State. When a king came to the throne he became a priest also, by +being made a member of a priestly order. He was instructed in sacred +learning; he regulated the service of the temple; on great occasions +he offered the sacrifices himself, and, in fact, he was considered +not only as a descendant of gods, but as a veritable god. In some +sculptures and paintings the gods are represented as attending upon +the kings, and after the death of a king the same sort of veneration +was paid to him as that given to the gods. This explains the building +of the palace and temple together, and shows the reason why the gods +and the kings, and the affairs of religion and of government, could +not be separated. As we study the arts of different countries we are +constantly reminded that the religion of a people is the central point +from which the arts spring forth. From its teachings they take their +tone, and adapt their forms and uses to its requirements. I refer to +this fact from time to time because it is important to remember that it +underlies much of the art of the world. + +It may be said that all the art of Egypt was devoted to the service of +its religion. Of course this is true of that used in the decoration +of the temples; it is also true of all that did honor to the kings, +because they were regarded as sacred persons, and all their wars and +wonderful acts which are represented in sculpture and painting, and by +statues and obelisks, are considered as deeds that were performed for +the sake of the gods and by their aid. + +It was also the religious belief in the immortality of the soul that +led the Egyptians to build their tombs with such care, and to provide +such splendid places in which to lay the body, which was the house of +the spirit. + +In the study of Architecture it will also be noted that a country +which has no national religion--or one in which the government and +the religion have no connection with each other--has no absolutely +national architecture. It will have certain features which depend upon +the climate, the building materials at command, and upon the general +customs of the people; but here and there will be seen specimens of +all existing orders of architecture, and buildings in some degree +representing the art of all countries and periods; such architecture +is known by the term composite, because it is composed of portions of +several different orders, and has no absolutely distinct character. + +This palace-temple of Karnak is made up of a collection of courts and +halls, and it is very difficult to comprehend the size of all these +parts which go to make up the enormous whole. The entire space devoted +to it is almost twice as large as the whole area of St. Peter's at +Rome, and four times as great as any of the other cathedrals of +Europe; a dozen of the largest American churches could be placed within +its limits and there still be room for a few chapels. All this enormous +space is not covered by roofs, for there were many courts and passages +which were always open to the sky, and one portion was added after +another, and by one sovereign and another, until the completion of the +whole was made long after the Pharaoh who commenced it had been laid in +one of the tombs of the kings. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--THE HALL OF COLUMNS AT KARNAK.] + +The most remarkable apartment of all is called the great Hypostyle +Hall, which high-sounding name means simply a hall with pillars (Fig. +6). This hall and its two pylons, or entrances, cover more space than +the great cathedral of Cologne, which is one of the largest and most +famous churches of all Europe. + +This splendid hall had originally one hundred and thirty-four +magnificent columns, of which more than one hundred still remain; they +are of colossal size, some of them being sixty feet high without the +base or capital, which would increase them to ninety feet, and their +diameter is twelve feet. This large number of columns was necessary to +uphold the roof, as the Egyptians knew nothing of the arch, and had no +way of supporting a covering over a space wider than it was possible +to cover by beams. The hall was lighted by making the columns down the +middle half as high again as the others, so that the roof was lifted, +and the light came in at the sides, which were left open. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--PILLAR FROM THEBES. + +Showing the three parts.] + +As I must speak often of columns, it is well to say here that the +column or pillar usually consists of three parts--the base, the shaft, +and the capital (Fig. 7). The base is the lowest part on which the +shaft rests. Sometimes, as in the Grecian Doric order, the base is +left out. The capital is the head of the column, and is usually the +most ornamental part, giving the most noticeable characteristics of +the different kinds of pillars. The shaft is the body of the pillar, +between the base and capital, or all below the capital when the base is +omitted. + +The Egyptian pillars seem to have grown out of the square stone piers +which at first were used for support. The square corners were first +cut off, making an eight-sided pier; then some architect carried the +cutting farther, and by slicing off each corner once more gave the +pillar sixteen sides. The advantage of the octagonal piers over the +square ones was that the cutting off of sharp corners made it easier +for people to move about between them, while the play of light on +the sides was more varied and pleasant to the eye. The sixteen-sided +pillar did not much increase the first of these advantages, while the +face of its sides became so narrow that the variety of light and shade +was less distinct and attractive. It is probable that the channelling +of the sides of the shaft was first done to overcome this difficulty, +by making the shadows deeper and the lights more striking; and we +then have a shaft very like that of the Grecian Doric shown in the +picture in Fig. 40, or the Assyrian pillars in Figs. 29 and 30. In +the Egyptian pillars it was usual to leave one side unchannelled and +ornament it with hieroglyphics. In time the forms of the Egyptian +pillars became very varied, and the richest ornaments were used upon +them. The columns in the hall at Karnak are very much decorated with +painting and sculptures, as Fig. 6 shows. The capitals represent the +full-blown flowers and the buds of the sacred lotus, or water-lily. In +other cases the pillars were made to represent bundles of the papyrus +plant, and the capitals were often beautifully carved with palm leaves +or ornamented with a female head. (See Figs. 8, 9, and 10). + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--SCULPTURED CAPITAL.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.--PALM CAPITAL.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 10.--PILLAR FROM SEDINGA.] + +The whole impression of grandeur made by the Temple of Karnak was +increased by the fact that the Temple of Luxor, which is not far away, +is also very impressive and beautiful, and was formerly connected with +Karnak by an avenue bordered on each side with a row of sphinxes cut +out of stone. These were a kind of statue which belonged to Egyptian +art, and originated in an Egyptian idea, although a resemblance to it +exists in the art of other ancient countries (Fig. 11). + +[Illustration: FIG. 11.--THE GREAT SPHINX.] + +Before the Temple of Luxor stood Colossi, or enormous statues, of +Rameses the Great, who built the temple, and not far distant were two +fine obelisks, one of which is now in Paris. + +There was much irregularity in the lines and plan of Egyptian palaces +and temples. It often happens that the side walls of an apartment +or court-yard are not at right angles; the pillars were placed so +irregularly and the decorations so little governed by any rule in their +arrangement, that it seems as if the Egyptians were intentionally +regardless of symmetry and regularity. + +The whole effect of the ancient Thebes can scarcely be imagined; its +grandeur was much increased by the fact that its splendid buildings +were on both banks of the Nile, which river flowed slowly and +majestically by, as if it borrowed a sort of dignity from the splendid +piles which it reflected, and which those who sailed upon its bosom +regarded with awe and admiration. There are many other places on the +Nile where one sees wonderful ruins of ancient edifices, but we have +not space to describe or even to name them, and Thebes is the most +remarkable of all. + + "Thebes, hearing still the Memnon's mystic tones, + Where Egypt's earliest monarchs reared their thrones, + Favored of Jove! the hundred-gated queen, + Though fallen, grand; though desolate, serene; + The blood with awe runs coldly through our veins + As we approach her far-spread, vast remains. + Forests of pillars crown old Nilus' side, + Obelisks to heaven high lift their sculptured pride; + Rows of dark sphinxes, sweeping far away, + Lead to proud fanes and tombs august as they. + Colossal chiefs in granite sit around, + As wrapped in thought, or sunk in grief profound. + + "The mighty columns ranged in long array, + The statues fresh as chiselled yesterday, + We scarce can think two thousand years have flown + Since in proud Thebes a Pharaoh's grandeur shone, + But in yon marble court or sphinx-lined street, + Some moving pageant half expect to meet, + See great Sesostris, come from distant war, + Kings linked in chains to drag his ivory car; + Or view that bright procession sweeping on, + To meet at Memphis far-famed Solomon, + When, borne by Love, he crossed the Syrian wild, + To wed the Pharaoh's blooming child." + +The obelisks of ancient Egypt have a present interest which is almost +personal to everybody, since so many of them have been taken away +from the banks of the Nile and so placed that they now overlook the +Bosphorus, the Tiber, the Seine, the Thames, and our own Hudson River; +in truth, there are twelve obelisks in Rome, which is a larger number +than are now standing in all Egypt. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.--CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES.] + +The above cut (Fig. 12) shows the two obelisks known as Cleopatra's +Needles, as they were seen for a long time at Alexandria. They have +both crossed the seas; one was presented to the British nation by +Mehemet Ali, and the other, which now stands in Central Park, was a +gift to America from the late Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha. + +The obelisks were usually erected by the kings to express their worship +of the gods, and stood before the temple bearing dedications of the +house to its particular deity; they were covered with the quaint, +curious devices which served as letters to the Egyptians, which we +call hieroglyphics, and each sovereign thus recorded his praises, and +declared his respect for the special gods whom he wished to honor. +They were very striking objects, and must have made a fine effect +when the temples and statues and avenues of sphinxes, and all the +ancient grandeur of the Egyptians was at its height; and these grave +stone watchmen looked down upon triumphal processions and gorgeous +ceremonials, and kings and queens with their trains of courtiers passed +near them on their way to and from the temple-palaces. + +It is always interesting to study the houses and homes of a +people--domestic architecture, as it is called; but one cannot do that +in Egypt. It may almost be said that but one ancient home exists, and +as that probably belonged to some royal person, we cannot learn from it +how the people lived. There were many very rich Egyptians outside of +the royal families, and they dwelt in splendor and luxury; on the other +hand, there were multitudes of slaves and very poor people, who had +barely enough to eat to keep them alive and enable them to do the work +which was set them by their task-masters. + +The house of which we speak is at Medinet Habou, on the opposite side +of the Nile from Karnak (Fig. 13). It has three floors, with three +rooms on each floor, and is very irregular in form. But if we have no +ancient houses to study in Egypt, we can learn much about them from the +paintings which still exist, and we may believe that the cities which +surrounded the old temples fully displayed the wealth and taste of the +inhabitants. These pictures show the houses in the midst of gardens +laid out with arbors, pavilions, artificial lakes, and many beautiful +objects, such as we see in the fine gardens of our own day. + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.--PAVILION AT MEDINET HABOU.] + +After about 1200 B.C. there was a long period of decline in the +architecture of Egypt; occasionally some sovereign tried to do as the +older kings had done, but no real revival of the arts occurred until +the rule of the Ptolemies was established; this was after 332 B.C., +when Alexander the Great conquered the Persians, who had ruled in Egypt +about one hundred and ninety-five years. + +Under the Ptolemies Egypt was as prosperous as she had been under the +Pharaohs, but the arts of this later time never reached such purity +and greatness as was shown in the best days of Thebes; the buildings +were rich and splendid instead of noble and grand, or, as we might say, +"more for show" than was the older style. + +It is singular that, though the Egypt of the Ptolemies was under Greek +and Roman influence, it still remained essentially Egyptian. It seems +as if the country had a sort of converting effect upon the strangers +who planned and built the temples of Denderah, and Edfou, and beautiful +Philæ, and made them try to work and build as if they were the sons of +the pure old Egyptians instead of foreign conquerors. So true is this +that before A.D. 1799, when scholars began to read hieroglyphics, the +learned men of Europe who studied art believed that these later temples +were older than those of Thebes. + +Outside of Thebes there is no building now to be seen in Egypt which +gives so charming an impression of what Egypt might be as does the +lovely temple on the island of Philæ (Fig. 14). Others are more sublime +and imposing, but none are so varied and beautiful. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.--TEMPLE ON THE ISLAND OF PHILÆ.] + +There is no more attractive spot in Egypt than this island, and when we +know that the priests who served in the Temple of Isis here were never +allowed to leave the island, we do not feel as if that was a misfortune +to them. It was a pity, however, that none but priests were allowed to +go there, and in passing I wish to note the fact that this was the +most ancient monastery of which we know; for that it was in simple +fact, and the monks lived lives of strict devotion and suffered severe +penance. + +The buildings at Philæ, as well as most of those of the Ptolemaic age, +had the same irregularity of form of which we have spoken before; their +design, as a whole, was fine, but the details were inferior, and it +often happens that the sculpture and painting which in the earlier +times improved and beautified everything, lost their effect and really +injured the appearance of the whole structure. + +At first thought one would expect to be able to learn much more about +the manners and customs of the later than of the earlier days of Egypt, +and to find out just how they arranged their dwellings. But this is not +so, for history tells us of nothing save the superstitious religious +worship of the conquerors of Egypt. There are no pictures of the +houses, or of the occupations and amusements of the people; no warlike +stories are told; we have no tombs with their instructive inscriptions; +not even the agricultural and mechanical arts are represented in the +ruins of this time. The fine arts, the early religion, the spirit of +independence and conquest had all died out; in truth, the wonderful +civilization of the days of the pyramid-builders and their descendants +was gone, and when Constantine came into power Egypt had lost her place +among the nations of the earth, and her grandeur was as a tale that is +told. + +The weakness of Egyptian architecture lay in its monotony or sameness. +Not only did it not develop historically, remaining very much the same +as long as it lasted, but the same forms are repeated until, even with +all their grandeur, they become wearisome. The plan of the temples +varies little; the tendency toward the shape of the pyramid appears +everywhere; while the powerful influence of the ritual of the Egyptian +religion gives a strong likeness among all the places of worship. The +Greeks performed the most important parts of their service in the open +air before their temples, and almost all their care was lavished on +exteriors; the Egyptians, on the other hand, elaborated the interior +with great abundance of ornaments, yet without that power of adaptation +which gave so great an air of variety and grace to Grecian art. + +A second and even more serious fault in Egyptian architecture is a +want of proportion. In natural organized objects there is always a +fixed proportion between the parts, so that if a naturalist is given a +single bone of an animal he can reproduce with considerable exactness +the entire beast. In art it is necessary to follow this principle +of adapting one part to another, and without this both grace and +refinement are wanting. The Egyptian temples are often too massive, so +that they impress by their size simply, and not by any beauty of plan +or arrangement. + +Yet for grandeur and impressiveness no nation has ever excelled the +Egyptians as builders. One may prefer the style and the ornamentation +of the Greeks, or the forms and arrangement of the Gothic order; but, +taken as a whole, the combination of architecture, sculpture, painting, +and hieroglyphics which goes to make up an Egyptian temple, with the +addition of the obelisks, the avenues of sphinxes and the Colossi, +which all seemed to belong together--these, one and all, result in +a whole that has never been surpassed in effect during the thirty +centuries that have rolled over the earth since Cheops built his +magnificent tomb on the great desert of Egypt. + + +ASSYRIA. + +Our knowledge of Egyptian history is more exact than that of some other +ancient nations, because scholars have been able to read Egyptian +hieroglyphics for a much longer time than they have read the cuneiform +or arrow-headed inscriptions which are found in Assyria, Babylon, +and Persia. But we know a great deal about the ruins of Assyria, and +especially of the cities of Nineveh and Khorsabad, where there are +wonderful architectural remains. + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.--GATEWAYS IN WALLS OF KHORSABAD.] + +The walls which surrounded Nineveh are an important part of its ruins. +It is said that in the days of the earliest sovereign these walls were +one hundred feet high, and so broad that three chariots could drive +abreast on their top. This story does not seem unreasonable, for all +the years that have passed, and all the dust and deposit of these ages +that are collected about the foot of the walls, still leave some places +where they are forty-six feet high and from one to two hundred feet +wide. The lower portion was of limestone, and the upper of sun-dried +bricks; the blocks of stone were neatly hewn out and smoothly polished. +The walls surrounded the city, which was so large that one hundred and +seventy-five thousand people could live there, and we know that its +inhabitants were very numerous. The gates which opened through the +walls were surmounted by lofty towers, and it is supposed that shorter +towers were built upon the walls between the gateways (Fig. 15). + +The above plans show the arrangement of gateways which have been +excavated. It seems that there were four separate gates, and between +them large chambers which may have been used by soldiers or guards. +The two outer gates were ornamented by sculptured figures of colossal +bulls with human heads and other strange designs; but the inner gates +had a plain finish of alabaster slabs. It is thought that arches +covered these gateways like some representations of gates which are +seen on Assyrian bas-reliefs. Within the gates there is a pavement +of large slabs, in which the marks worn by chariot wheels are still +plainly seen. + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.--ENTRANCE TO SMALLER TEMPLE, NIMRUD.] + +We learn that the Assyrians made their religion a prominent part of +their lives. The inscriptions of the kings begin and end with praises +and prayers to their gods, and on all occasions religious worship is +spoken of as a principal duty. We know that the monarchs devoted much +care to the temples, and built new ones continually; but it also +appears from the excavations that have been made that they devoted +the best of their art and the greatest sum of their riches to the +palaces of their kings. The temple was far less splendid than the +palace to which it was attached as a sort of appendage. This was +undoubtedly due to the fact that the Assyrian kings received more than +the monarchs of any other ancient people divine honors while still +living; so that the palace was regarded as the actual dwelling of a +god. The inner ornamentation of the temples was confined to religious +subjects represented on sculptured slabs upon the walls, but no large +proportion of the wall was decorated, and the rest was merely plastered +and painted in set figures. The gateways and entrances were guarded by +sacred figures of colossal bulls, or lions (Fig. 16), and covered with +inscriptions; there was a similarity between the palace entrances and +those of the temples. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.--PAVEMENT SLAB FROM KOYUNJIK.] + +The palaces were always built on artificial platforms, which were made +of solid brick or stone, or else the outside walls of the platforms +were built of these substances and the middle part filled in with dirt +and rubbish. Sometimes the platforms, which were from twenty to thirty +feet high, were in terraces and flights of steps led up and down from +one to another. It also happened that more than one palace was erected +on the same platform; thus the size and form of the platforms was much +varied, and when palaces were enlarged the platforms were changed also, +and their shape was often very irregular. The tops of the platforms +were paved with stone slabs or bricks, the last being sometimes as +much as two feet square; the pavements were frequently ornamented with +artistic designs (Fig. 17), and inscriptions are also found upon them. + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.--REMAINS OF PROPYLÆUM, OR OUTER GATEWAY, +KHORSABAD.] + +At the lower part of the platform there was a terrace on which several +small buildings were usually placed, and near by was an important +gateway, or, more properly, a propylæum, through which every one must +pass who entered the palace from the city. The next cut (Fig. 18) shows +one of these grand entrances decorated with the human-headed bulls +and the figure of what is believed to be the Assyrian Hercules, who +is most frequently represented in the act of strangling a lion. Much +rich ornament was lavished on these portals, and the entrance space was +probably protected by an arch. + +Below these portals, quite down on a level with the city, there were +outer gateways, through which one entered a court in front of the +ascent to the lower terrace. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.--PLAN OF PALACE, KHORSABAD.] + +The principal apartments of the palaces were the courts, the grand +halls, and the small, private chambers. The fine palaces had several +courts each; they varied from one hundred and twenty by ninety feet, to +two hundred and fifty by one hundred and fifty feet in size, and were +paved in the same way as the platforms outside (Fig. 19). + +The grand halls were the finest portions of these splendid edifices; +here was the richest ornament, and the walls were lined with sculptured +slabs, while colossal bulls, winged genii, and other figures were +placed at the entrances. Upon the slabs the principal events in the +lives of the monarchs were represented, as well as their portraits, and +religious ceremonies, battles, and many incidents of interest to the +nation (Fig. 20). + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.--RELIEF FROM KHORSABAD. A TEMPLE.] + +The slabs rested on the paved floors of the halls and reached a height +of ten or twelve feet; above them the walls were of burnt brick, +sometimes in brilliant colors; the whole height of the walls was from +fifteen to twenty feet. The smaller chambers surrounded these grand +halls, and the number of rooms was very large; in one palace which has +been but partially explored there are sixty-eight apartments, and it +is not probable that any Assyrian palace had less than forty or fifty +rooms on its ground floor. Of all the palaces which have been examined +that of Khorsabad is best known and can be most exactly described. It +is believed that Sargon, a son of Sennacherib, built it, and it is very +splendid. + +After entering at the great portal one passes through various courts +and corridors; these are all adorned with sculptures such as have +been described above; at length one reaches the great inner court of +the palace, which was a square of about one hundred and fifty feet +in size. This court had buildings on two sides, and the other sides +extended to the edge of the terrace of the platform on which the +palace was built, and commanded broad views of the open country. On +one side the buildings contained the less important apartments of the +officers of the court; the grand state apartments were on the other +side. There were ten of these at Khorsabad; five were large halls, +four were smaller chambers, and one a long and narrow room. Three of +the large halls were connected with one another, and their decorations +were by far the most splendid of any in the palace. In one of them +the sculptures represented the king superintending the reception and +chastisement of prisoners, and is called the "Hall of Punishment." The +middle hall has no distinguishing feature, but the third opened into +the "Temple Court," on one side of which the small temple was situated. +The lower sculptures of the middle and third halls represented the +military history of Sargon, who is seen in all sorts of soldier-like +positions and occupations; some of the upper sculptures represent +religious ceremonies. + +On one side of the Temple Court there were several chambers called +Priests' Rooms, but the temple itself and the portions of the palace +connected with it are not as well preserved as the other parts, and +have nothing about them to interest us in their study. + +The palaces of Nineveh are much less perfect than the palace-temples +of Thebes, and cannot be described with as much exactness. There is no +wall of them still standing more than sixteen feet above the ground, +and we do not even know whether they had upper stories or not, or how +they were lighted--in a word, nothing is positively known about them +above the ground floors, and it is very strange that the sculptures +nowhere represent a royal residence. But what we do know of the +Assyrians proves that they equalled and perhaps excelled all other +Oriental nations as architects and designers, as well as in other +departments of art and industry. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21.--RESTORATION OF AN ASSYRIAN PALACE.] + +This representation of an Assyrian palace (Fig. 21) is a restoration, +as it is called, being made up by a careful study of the remains and +such facts as can be learned from bas-reliefs, and cannot be wholly +unlike the dwellings of the king-gods. It is pleasing in general +appearance, and for lightness and elegance is even to be preferred +to Egyptian architecture, though it is far inferior in dignity and +impressiveness. + +The Assyrians knew the use of both column and arch, but never developed +either to any extent. They also employed the obelisk, and it is +noticeable that instead of terminating it with a pyramid, as was the +case in Egypt, they capped it with the diminishing terraces, which +is the fundamental form which underlies all the architecture of the +country, as the smooth pyramid is the most prominent element in the +architecture of Egypt. + + +BABYLON. + +It is probable that Babylon was the largest and finest of all the +ancient cities. The walls which surrounded it, together with its +hanging gardens, were reckoned among the "seven wonders of the world" +by the ancients. Its walls were pierced by a hundred gates and +surmounted by two hundred and fifty towers; these towers added much to +the grand appearance of the city; they were not very high above the +walls, and were probably used as guard-rooms by soldiers. + +The River Euphrates ran through the city. Brick walls were built upon +its banks, and every street which led to the river had a gateway in +these walls which opened to a sloping landing which extended down +to the water's edge; boats were kept at these landings for those +who wished to cross the stream. There was also a foot-bridge across +the river that could be used only by day, and one writer, Diodorus, +declares that a tunnel also existed which joined the two sides of the +river, and was fifteen feet wide and twelve feet high in the inside. + +The accounts of the "Hanging Gardens" make it seem that they resembled +an artificial terraced mountain built upon arches of masonry and +covered with earth, in which grew trees, shrubs, and flowers. It is +said by some writers that this mountain was at least seventy-five feet +high, and occupied a square of four acres; others say that in its +highest part it reached three hundred feet; but all agree that it was a +wonderful work and very beautiful. + +In the interior of the structure machinery was concealed which raised +water from the Euphrates and filled a reservoir at the summit, from +which it was taken to moisten the earth and nourish the plants. Flights +of steps led up to the top, and on the way there were entrances to fine +apartments where one could rest. These rooms, built in the walls which +supported the structure, were cool and pleasant, and afforded fine +views of the city and its surroundings. The whole effect of the gardens +when seen from a distance was that of a wooded pyramid. It seems a pity +that it should have been called a "Hanging Garden," since, when one +knows how it was built, this name is strangely unsuitable, and carries +a certain disappointment with it. + +The accounts of the origin of this garden are interesting. One of +them says that it was made by Semiramis, a queen who was famous for +her prowess as a warrior, for having conquered some cities and built +others, for having dammed up the River Euphrates, and performed many +marvellous and heroic deeds. It is not probable that any woman ever did +all the wonders which are attributed to Semiramis, but we love to read +these tales of the old, old time, and it is important for us to know +them since they are often referred to in books and in conversation. + +Another account relates that the gardens were made by Nebuchadnezzar +to please his Median queen, Amytis, because the country round about +Babylon seemed so barren and desolate to her, and she longed for the +lovely scenery of her native land. + +What we have said will show that the Babylonians were advanced in +the science of such works as come more properly under the head of +engineering; their palaces were also fine, and their dwelling-houses +lofty; they had three or four stories, and were covered by vaulted +roofs. But the Babylonians, like the Egyptians, lavished their best +art upon their temples. The temple was built in the most prominent +position and magnificently adorned. It was usually within a walled +inclosure, and the most important temple at Babylon, called that of +Belus, is said to have had an area of thirty acres devoted to it. The +chief distinguishing feature of a Babylonish temple was a tower built +in stages (Fig. 22). + +[Illustration: FIG. 22.--ELEVATION OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SEVEN SPHERES +AT BORSIPPA.] + +The number of the stages varied, eight being the largest. At the summit +of the tower there was a chapel or an altar, and the ascent was by +steps or an inclined plane which wound around the sides of the tower. +The Babylonians were famous astronomers, and it is believed that these +towers were used as observatories as well as for places of worship. At +the base of the tower there was a chapel for the use of those who could +not ascend the height, and near by, in the open air, different altars +were placed, for the worship of the Babylonians included the offering +of sacrifices. + +Very ancient writers describe the riches of the shrines at Babylon as +being of a value beyond our belief. They tell of colossal images of the +gods of solid gold; of enormous lions in the same precious metal; of +serpents of silver, each of thirty talents' weight (a talent equalled +about two thousand dollars of our money), and of golden tables, bowls, +and drinking-cups, besides magnificent offerings of many kinds which +faithful worshippers had devoted to the gods. These great treasures +fell into the hands of the Persians when they conquered Babylon. + +The Birs-i-Nimrud has been more fully examined than any other +Babylonish ruin, and a description of it can be given with a good +degree of correctness. As it now stands, every brick in it bears the +name of Nebuchadnezzar; it is believed that he repaired or rebuilt it, +but there is no reason to think that he changed its plan. Be this as it +may, it is a very interesting ruin (Fig. 23). It was a temple raised +on a platform and built in seven stages; these stages represented +the seven spheres in which the seven planets moved (according to the +ancient astronomy), and a particular color was assigned to each planet, +and the stages colored according to this idea. That of the sun was +golden; the moon, silver; Saturn, black; Jupiter, orange; Mars, red; +Venus, pale yellow, and Mercury, deep blue. + +[Illustration: FIG. 23.--BIRS-I-NIMRUD, NEAR BABYLON.] + +It is curious to know how the various colors were obtained. The lower +stage, representing Saturn, was covered with bitumen; that of Jupiter +was faced with bricks burned to an orange color; that of Mars was made +of bricks from a bright red clay and half burned, so that they had a +blood-red tint; the stage dedicated to the sun was probably covered +with thin plates of gold; that of Venus had pale yellow bricks; that of +Mercury was subjected to intense heat after it was erected, and this +produced vitrification and gave it a blue color; and the stage of the +moon was coated in shining white metals. + +Thus the tower rose up, all glowing in colors and tints as cunningly +arranged as if produced by Nature herself. The silvery, shining band +was probably the highest, and had the effect of mingling with the +bright sky above. We can scarcely understand how glorious the effect +must have been, and when we try to imagine it, and then think of the +present wretched condition of these ruins, it gives great force to +the prophecies concerning Babylon which foretold that her broad walls +should be utterly broken down, her gates burned with fire, and the +golden city swept with the besom of destruction. + +We know so little of the arrangement of the palaces of Babylon that we +cannot speak of them in detail. They differed from those of Assyria in +two important points: they are of burnt bricks instead of those dried +in the sun which the Assyrians used, and at Babylon in the decoration +of the walls colored pictures upon the brick-work took the place of +the alabaster bas-reliefs which were found in the palaces of Nineveh. + +These paintings represented hunting scenes, battles, and other +important events, and were alternated with portions of the wall upon +which were inscriptions painted in white on a blue ground, or spaces +with a regular pattern of rosettes or some fixed design in geometrical +figures. A sufficient number of these decorations have been found +in the ruins of Babylon to prove beyond a doubt that this was the +customary finish of the walls. We also know that the houses of Babylon +were three or four stories in height, but were rudely constructed and +indicate an inferior style of domestic architecture. + + +PERSIA. + +The Persians were the pupils of the Assyrians and Babylonians in Art, +Learning, and Science, and they learned their lessons so well that +they built magnificent palaces and tombs. Temples seem to have been +unimportant to them, and we know nothing of any Persian temple remains +that would attract the attention of travellers or scholars. + +The four most important Persian palaces of which we have any good +degree of knowledge are that of Ecbatana, the ruins of which are very +imperfect; a second at Susa, of which the arrangement is known; a +third at Persepolis, which is not well enough preserved for any exact +description to be given; and a fourth, the so-called Great Palace, +near Persepolis, in which the latest Persian sovereigns lived. This +magnificent palace was burned by Alexander the Great before he or his +soldiers had seen its splendor. The story is that he made a feast at +which Thais, a beautiful and wicked woman, appeared, and by her arts +gained such power over Alexander that he consented to her proposal to +fire the palace, and the king, wearing a crown of flowers upon his +head, seized a torch and himself executed the dreadful deed, while all +the company followed him with acclamations, singing, and wild shouts. +At last they surrounded and danced about the dreadful conflagration. + +The poet Dryden wrote an ode upon "Alexander's Feast" in 1697 which has +a world-wide reputation. I quote a few lines from it: + + "'Twas at the royal feast for Persia won + By Philip's warlike son: + Aloft, in awful state, + The godlike hero sate + On his imperial throne; + His valiant peers were placed around, + Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound + (So should desert in arms be crowned); + The lovely Thais by his side + Sate, like a blooming Eastern bride, + In flower of youth and beauty's pride. + Happy, happy, happy pair! + None but the brave, + None but the brave, + None but the brave deserves the fair. + + "Behold how they toss their torches on high, + How they point to the Persian abodes, + And glittering temples of their hostile gods! + The princes applaud with a furious joy, + And the king seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy; + Thais led the way + To light him to his prey, + And, like another Helen, fired another Troy." + +Much study and time has been given to the examination of the ruins of +Persepolis, and the whole arrangement of the city has been discovered +and is made plain to the student of these matters by means of the many +charts, plans, and photographs of it which now exist. I shall try to +tell you something of the Great Palace of Persepolis, and the other +palaces near it and on the platform with it, for the Persians, like the +Assyrians and Babylonians, built their palaces upon platforms. This +one of which we speak was distinct from the city, but quite near it, +and is in almost perfect condition. + +[Illustration: FIG. 24.--MASONRY OF GREAT PLATFORM, PERSEPOLIS.] + +It is composed of large masses of hewn stone held together by clamps +of iron or lead. Many of the blocks in this platform wall are so large +as to make their removal from the quarries and their elevation to the +required height a difficult mechanical task, which could only have been +performed by skilled laborers with good means for carrying on their +work. The wall was not laid in regular blocks, but was like this plate +(Fig. 24). + +The platform was not of the same height in all its parts, and seems +to have been in several terraces, three of which can still be seen. +The buildings were on the upper terrace, which is about forty-five +feet above the plain and very large; it is seven hundred and seventy +feet long and four hundred feet wide. The staircases are an important +feature of these ruins, and when all the palaces were in perfection +these broad steps, with their landings and splendid decorations, must +have made a noble and magnificent effect. The ascent of the staircases +was so gradual and easy that men went up and down on horseback, and +travellers now ascend and descend in this way. + +There is little doubt that the staircases of Persepolis were the +finest that were ever built in any part of the world, and on some +of them ten horsemen could ride abreast. The broadest, or platform +staircase, is entirely without ornament; another which leads from the +platform up to the central or upper terrace is so elaborately decorated +that it appears to be covered with sculptures. There are colossal +representations of lions, bulls, Persian guardsmen, rows of trees, and +continuous processions of smaller figures. In some parts the sculptures +represent various nations bringing tributes to the Persian monarch; in +other parts all the different officers of the court and those of the +army are seen, and the latter appear to be guarding the stairs. (See +Fig. 25.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.--PARAPET WALL OF STAIRCASE, PERSEPOLIS +(RESTORED).] + +In a conspicuous position on this ornamental staircase there are +three slabs; on two there is no design of any sort; on the third an +inscription says that this was the work of "Xerxes, the Great King, +the King of Kings, the son of King Darius, the Achæmenian." This +inscription is in the Persian tongue, and it is probable that it was +the intention to repeat it on the slabs which are left plain in some +other languages, so that it could easily be read by those of different +nations; it was customary with the ancients to repeat inscriptions in +this way. + +The other staircases of this great platform are all more or less +decorated with sculptures and resemble that described; they lead to +the different palaces, of which there are three. The palaces are those +of Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Ochus, and besides these there are +two great pillared halls; one of these is called the "Hall of One +Hundred Columns," and the other _Chehl Minar_, or the "Great Hall of +Audience." + +This view of the palace of Darius gives an idea of the appearance +of all these buildings. A description of them would be only a wordy +repetition of the characteristics of one apartment and hall after +another, and I shall leave them to speak of the magnificent halls which +are the glory of the ruins of Persepolis, and the wonders of the world +to those who are acquainted with the architectural monuments of the +Turkish, Greek, Roman, Moorish, and Christian nations. (See Fig. 26.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 26.--RUINS OF THE PALACE OF DARIUS, PERSEPOLIS.] + +The Hall of a Hundred Columns was very splendid, as one may judge +from this picture of its gateway (Fig. 27); but the _Chehl Minar_, or +Great Hall of Audience, which is also called the Hall of Xerxes, was +the most remarkable of all these edifices. Its ruins occupy a space +of almost three hundred and fifty feet in length and two hundred and +forty-six feet in width, and consist principally of four different +kinds of columns. One portion of this hall was arranged in a square, +in which there were six rows of six pillars each, and on three sides +of this square there were magnificent porches, in each of which there +were twelve columns; so that the number of pillars in the square was +thirty-six, and that of those in the three porches was the same. These +porches stood out boldly from the main building and were grand in their +effect. + +[Illustration: FIG. 27.--GATEWAY OF HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMNS.] + +The columns which remain in various parts of this hall are so high +that it is thought that they must originally have measured sixty-four +feet throughout the whole building. The capitals of the pillars were of +three kinds: the double Horned Lion capital (Fig. 28) was used in the +eastern porch, and was very simple; in the western porch was the double +Bull capital, which corresponded to the first in size and general form, +the difference being only in the shape of the animal. + +[Illustration: FIG. 28.--DOUBLE HORNED LION CAPITAL.] + +The north porch faced the great sculptured staircase, and was the real +front of the hall. On this side the columns were much ornamented. The +following plates show the entire design of them, and it will be seen +that the bases were very beautiful (Figs. 29 and 30). + +[Illustration: FIG. 29.--COMPLEX CAPITAL AND BASE OF PILLARS, +PERSEPOLIS.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 30.--BASE OF ANOTHER PILLAR, PERSEPOLIS.] + +The capitals have three distinct parts; at the bottom is a sort of +bed of lotus leaves, part of which are turned down, and the others +standing up form a kind of cup on which the next section above rests. +The middle section is fluted and has spiral scrolls or volutes, such +as are seen in Ionic capitals, only here they are in a perpendicular +position instead of the customary horizontal one. The upper portion had +the same double figures of bulls as were on the columns of the western +colonnade. The decoration on the bases was made of two or three rows +of hanging lotus leaves, some round and others pointed in form. The +shafts of these pillars were formed of different blocks of stone joined +by iron cramps; they were cut in exact and regular flutings, numbering +from forty-eight to fifty-two on each pillar. + +[Illustration: FIG. 31.--GROUND PLAN (RESTORED) OF HALL OF XERXES, +PERSEPOLIS.] + +This plan of the Hall of Audience will help you to understand its +arrangement more clearly (Fig. 31). + +The square with the thirty-six columns, and the three porches with +twelve columns each, are distinctly marked. The most ornamental pillars +were on the side with the entrance or gateway. The two small rooms on +the ends of the main portico may have been guard-rooms. + +We can only regret that, while we know certain things about this hall, +there is still much of which we know nothing. However, there are many +theories concerning it. Some authorities believe that it was roofed, +while others think that it was open and protected only by curtains +and hangings, of which the Persians made much use. As we cannot know +positively about it, and Persepolis was the spring residence of the +Persian kings, it is pleasant to fancy that this splendid pillared hall +was a summer throne-room, having beautiful hangings that could be drawn +aside at will, admitting all the spicy breezes of that sunny land, +and realizing the description of the palace of Shushan in the Book of +Esther, which says, "In the court of the garden of the king's palace; +where were white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine +linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble; the beds were +of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and +black marble." + +Here the king could receive all those who sought him; the glorious +view of the plains of Susa and Persepolis, the breezes which came to +him laden with the odors of the choicest flowers would soothe him to +content, and realize his full desire for that deep breath from open air +which gives a sense of freedom and power. We know that no Oriental, be +he monarch or slave, desires to live beneath a roof or within closed +doors. + +[Illustration: FIG. 32.--PART OF A BASE OF THE TIME OF CYRUS, +PASARGADÆ.] + +The column was in Persia developed with a good deal of originality +and much artistic feeling; and one fine base of the time of Cyrus is +especially interesting for its close resemblance to the base of certain +Ionic pillars afterward made in Greece (Fig. 32). + +The tombs of the royal Persians were usually hewn out of the solid +rock; the tomb of Cyrus, only, resembles a little house; this plate +gives a representation of it (Fig. 33). + +[Illustration: FIG. 33.--THE TOMB OF CYRUS.] + +The one apartment in this tomb is about eleven feet long, seven feet +broad, and seven feet high; it has no window, and a low, narrow doorway +in one of the end walls is the only entrance to it. Ancient writers say +that the body of Cyrus in a golden coffin was deposited in this tomb. + +Seven other tombs have been explored; they are excavations in the sides +of the mountains high enough to be prominent objects to the sight, +and yet difficult of approach. The fronts of these tombs are much +ornamented, and the internal chambers are large; there are recesses for +the burial-cases, and these vary in number, some having only space for +three bodies. The tomb of Darius had three recesses, in each of which +there were three burial-cases; but this was an unusually large number. +The tombs near Persepolis are the finest which have yet been examined. + +The most noticeable characteristic of Persian architecture is its +regularity. The plans used are simple, and only straight lines occur in +them; thus, all the angles are right angles. The columns are regularly +placed, and the two sides of an apartment or building correspond to +each other. The magnificent staircases, and the abundance of elegant +columns which have been called "groves of pillars" by some writers, +produced a grand and dignified effect. The huge size of the blocks of +stone used by Persian builders gives an impression of great power in +those who planned their use, and demands for them the respect of all +thoughtful students of these edifices. + +The faults of this architecture lay in the narrow doorways, the small +number of passages, and the clumsy thickness of the walls. But these +faults are insignificant in comparison with its beauties, and it is all +the more to be admired that it was invented by the Persians, not copied +from other nations, and there is little doubt that the Greeks profited +by its study to improve their own style, and through this study +substituted lightness and elegance for the clumsy and heavy effect of +the earliest Grecian architecture. + + +JUDEA. + +There is so much of religious, historical, romantic, and poetical +association with the land of Judea, that it is a disappointment to +know that there are no remains of Judean architecture from which to +study the early art-history of that country; it is literally true that +nothing remains. + +The ruins of Jerusalem, Baalbec, Palmyra, Petra, and places beyond +the Jordan are not Jewish, but Roman remains. The most interesting +remnant is a passage and gateway which belonged to the great temple at +Jerusalem. This passage is situated beneath the platform of the temple; +it is called "The Gateway Huldah." The width of it is forty-one feet, +and at one point there is a magnificent pillar, called a monolith, +because it is cut from a single stone. This pillar supports four +arches, which divide the passage into as many compartments, each one +of which has a flat dome. On these domes or roofs there were formerly +beautiful ornamental designs, one of which remains, and is like this +picture (Fig. 34). Its combination of Oriental and Roman design proves +that it cannot be very old, but must have been made after the influence +of the Romans had been felt in Judea. + +[Illustration: FIG. 34.--ROOF OF ONE OF THE COMPARTMENTS OF THE GATE +HULDAH.] + +Since the excavations in Assyria, and through the use of the knowledge +obtained there and in other ancient countries, and by comparing this +with the descriptions of the Bible and the works of Josephus, some +antiquarians have made plans and drawings of what they believe that +the temple at Jerusalem must have been at the time of the Crucifixion. +The result of this work has little interest, for two reasons: first, +because we do not know that it is correct; second, because even at the +time to which it is ascribed, it was not the ancient temple of Solomon. +That had been destroyed, and after the return of the Jews from the +Captivity, was rebuilt; again, it had been changed and restored by the +Romans under Herod, so that it had little in reality, or by way of +association, to give it the sacred and intense interest for us which +would belong to the true, ancient temple at Jerusalem. + + "Lost Salem of the Jews, great sepulchre. + Of all profane and of all holy things, + Where Jew and Turk and Gentile yet concur + To make thee what thou art, thy history brings + Thoughts mixed of joy and woe. The whole earth rings + With the sad truth which He has prophesied, + Who would have sheltered with his holy wings + Thee and thy children. You his power defied; + You scourged him while he lived, and mocked him as he died! + + "There is a star in the untroubled sky, + That caught the first light which its Maker made,-- + It led the hymn of other orbs on high; + 'Twill shine when all the fires of heaven shall fade. + Pilgrims at Salem's porch, be that your aid! + For it has kept its watch on Palestine! + Look to its holy light, nor be dismayed, + Though broken is each consecrated shrine, + Though crushed and ruined all which men have called divine." + + +GREECE. + +The earliest history of Greece is lost in what we may call the Age of +Legend. From that period have come to us such marvellous stories of +gods and goddesses, and all sorts of wonderful happenings and doings, +that even the most serious and wise scholars can learn little about it, +and it remains to all alike a kind of delightful fairy-land. + +Back to that remote age one can send his fancy and imagination to +feast upon the tales of wondrous bravery, passionate love, dire +revenge, and supernatural occurrences of every sort until he is weary +of it all. Then he is glad to come back to his actual life, in which +cause and effect are so much more clearly seen, and which, if more +matter-of-fact, is more comfortable than the hap-hazard existence of +those remarkable beings who were liable to be changed into beasts, or +trees, or almost anything else at a moment's notice, or to be whisked +away from the midst of their families and friends and set down to +starve in some desolate place where there was nothing to eat, and no +one to listen to complaints of sorrow or hunger. + +This legendary time in Grecian history begins nobody knows when, and +ends about one thousand years before the birth of Christ. Our only +knowledge of it comes from the mythology which we have inherited from +the past, and the two poems of Homer, called the "Iliad" and the +"Odyssey." + +The "Iliad" recounts the anger of Achilles and all that happened in the +Trojan War; the "Odyssey" relates the wonderful adventures of Ulysses. +Probably Homer never thought of such a thing as being an historian--he +was a poet--much less did he dream of being the only historian of any +certain time or age; but since, in the course of his poems, he refers +to the manners and customs of the years that had preceded him, and +gives accounts of certain past events, he is, in truth, the prime +source from which we learn the little that we know of the prehistoric +days in Greece. + +It is believed that Homer wrote about 850 B.C., and after that date +we have nothing complete in Greek literature until the time of +Herodotus, who is called the "Father of History" and was born in 484 +B.C. Thus four centuries between Homer and Herodotus are left with no +authoritative writings. + +The legendary or first period of Greek history was followed by five +hundred years more of which we have no continuous history; but facts +have been gathered here and there from the works of various authors +which make it possible to give a reliable account of the Greece of that +time. For our purpose in this book we go on to a still later time, or +a third period, which began about 500 B.C., in which the architecture +and art which we have in mind, when we use the general term Greek Art, +originated. + +It is true that before this temples had been erected of which we +have some knowledge, and the elegant and ornate articles which Dr. +Schliemann has found in his excavations at Troy and Mycenæ prove +that the art of that remote time reached a high point of excellence. +The temples and other buildings of which we know anything, and which +belonged to the second period, were clumsy and rude when compared with +the perfection of the time which we propose to study. + +Before we speak of any one edifice it is best to understand something +of the various orders of Greek architecture, more especially as the +terms which belong to it and had their origin in it are now used in +speaking of architecture the world over, and from being first applied +to Greek art have grown to be general in their application. + +[Illustration: FIG. 35.--GRAVESTONE FROM MYCENÆ (SCHLIEMANN).] + +In the most ancient days of Greece the royal fortresses were the finest +structures, but in later days the temple became the supreme object +upon which thought and labor were lavished. The public buildings which +served the uses of the whole people were second in consideration, while +the private dwellings were of the least importance of all. The Greek +temple was built upon a raised structure like those of Assyria and +other Oriental nations, but the Greek temple was much smaller, and by +a dignified and simple elegance in detail, and a harmony in all its +parts, it expressed a more noble religious sentiment than could be +conveyed by all the vast piles of massive confusion that had abounded +in more Eastern lands. + +[Illustration: FIG. 36.--TEMPLE OF DIANA, ELEUSIS.] + +The earliest and simplest Greek temples were merely small, square +chambers made to contain an image of a god, and in later times, when +the temples came to be splendid and grand, the apartment containing +the sacred image was still called the _cella_ or cell, as it had been +named from the first. The simplest form of temple was like the little +cut (Fig. 36), and had two pillars in the centre of the front and two +square pilasters at the front end of the side walls. These pilasters +are called _antæ_, and the whole style of the building is called +_distyle in antis_; the word distyle denotes the two pillars, and the +expression means two pillars with antæ. + +[Illustration: FIG. 37.--SMALL TEMPLE AT RHAMNUS.] + +The above picture shows the next advance that was made in form (Fig. +37). A porch was added to the cell, the two parts being separated +by a wall with a doorway in it. After a time the number of pillars in +front was increased to six, and the two outer ones were the first of a +row which extended along the entire length of the sides of the temple, +thus forming a peristyle, or a row of columns entirely around the cell; +the cell itself remained, according to the original plan, in the centre +of the building. The ground plan of such a temple is given in the next +wood-cut (Fig. 38). + +[Illustration: FIG. 38--PLAN OF TEMPLE OF APOLLO, BASSÆ.] + +A large proportion of the Greek temples were built in this manner, and +were called _hexastyle_ from the six columns on the front. + +The different orders of ancient Greek architecture are called the +Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. The Greeks were very fond of +the Doric order, and used it so extensively as to make it almost +exclusively their own. The picture of the Parthenon will help you to +understand the explanations of the characteristics of the Doric order +(Fig. 39). + +[Illustration: FIG. 39--THE PARTHENON. _Athens_. (RESTORED.)] + +As you see, the pillars had no base, but rested directly on the upper +plinth of the foundation of the building. The shaft of the column is +cut in flutings, and the number of them varies from sixteen to twenty; +the latter number being most frequently used. The capital of the column +is divided into two portions; the lower one is called the _echinus_, +and projects beyond the shaft and supports a square tile or block which +is called the _abacus_, and this is the architectural name for the +upper member of all capitals to columns. The _architrave_ or principal +beam above these columns rests directly on the capitals and runs around +the building. This architrave is made of separate blocks of marble +or stone, and is finished at the top by a small strip of the same +materials, which is called a _tenia_. This cut, which gives a section +of the Parthenon on a larger scale than the last picture, will enable +you to find the different portions more easily (Fig. 40). + +[Illustration: FIG. 40.--FROM THE PARTHENON, ATHENS.] + +Above the architrave and resting on it is the _frieze_; this is +ornamented with fluted spaces called _triglyphs_, because they are +cut in three flutings. The spaces between the triglyphs are called +_metopes_, and sometimes left plain, and sometimes ornamented with +sculptures, as is the case in the frieze of the Parthenon. Under the +triglyphs six little blocks, or drops, are placed so that they lay +over the architrave. Above the frieze there is another narrow strip, +or tenia, like that upon the architrave. Above all this rests the +_cornice_, and underneath the cornice are one or more rows of the +small, drop-like blocks such as make the lower finish of the triglyphs; +in the lower band of the cornice separate blocks are placed over each +triglyph and each metope, with a small space between. + +It is important to know that the architrave, frieze, and cornice, +all taken together, form what is called the _entablature_; and the +entablature occupies the whole of the broad space between the top of +the capitals of the pillars and the lower edge of the roof. + +The triangular space formed by the sloping of the roof upon the ends +of a building is called the _pediment_, and, as you will see in the +picture of the Parthenon, its pediment was ornamented with elaborate +sculptures which are spoken of in the volume of this series which is +devoted to that art. It was customary to thus ornament the pediment and +to paint the walls of the cella and other portions of the building, so +that while the pure Doric style seems at first sight to be stiff and +straight in its effect, it becomes rich and ornamental by the use of +sculpture and painting, and yet remains solid and stable. + +The Doric style may be regarded as a native growth in Greece, as almost +every detail of its construction and its ornaments may be traced back +to the early wooden buildings of the people, as the architecture +of the tombs of Beni-Hassan had been. The triglyphs, for instance, +represent the ends of the beams upon which the rafters rested, while +the bas-reliefs between took the place of the votive offerings which +in the primitive temples were placed in the open spaces between the +beams. It is not necessary here to go into all the particulars of this +resemblance, which perhaps learned men have sometimes carried too far, +and which are rather difficult to understand; it is enough to say that +there are excellent reasons for regarding the theory as, upon the +whole, sound, although, of course, the Grecian architects modified and +enriched the forms which the simple timber work had suggested. + +[Illustration: FIG. 41.--IONIC ARCHITECTURE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 42.--IONIC BASE, FROM PRIENE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 43.--ATTIC BASE.] + +The next great order was called the Ionic, and has a close relation +with certain forms found in Asia Minor. This picture of an Ionic +capital and entablature is taken from the Temple of Athena at Priene +(Fig. 41). Its scroll-like capital recalls those of the pillars in the +Great Hall of Xerxes at Persepolis, shown in Figs. 28 and 29, and many +examples of even closer resemblance might be given. The order differed +from the Doric principally in the ornamentation of its capitals and +in the fact that the columns have bases. These cuts show different +kinds of bases belonging to the Ionic order. The first is from the +temple at Priene (Fig. 42), and the second is the form known as the +Attic base (Fig. 43). The third is especially interesting from its +close resemblance to the ancient Persian base shown in Fig. 32, and is +another illustration of the Eastern origin of this order (Fig. 44). + +[Illustration: FIG. 44.--BASE FROM TEMPLE OF HERA, SAMOS.] + +The Ionic capital is very easily recognized by its spiral projections, +or scrolls, which are called volutes (Fig. 45). These are so placed +that they present a flat surface on the opposite sides of the capital, +like the picture below (Fig. 46); sometimes the volutes are finished by +a rosette in the centre. + +[Illustration: FIG. 45.--IONIC CAPITAL (FRONT VIEW).] + +[Illustration: FIG. 46.--IONIC CAPITAL (SIDE VIEW).] + +The shaft of the Ionic column is sometimes plain and sometimes fluted; +the flutings number twenty-four, and are separated by a narrow, plain +band or fillet. In some ancient examples of the Ionic order the entire +entablature is left plain, but in many instances there are bands of +carvings, as in the first Ionic example given above; in some modern +Italian architecture even more ornament has been added. + +The three, or sometimes two, layers or bands of stone which form the +Ionic architrave project a little, each one more than the other, and +the ornamented band above it serves to separate it from the frieze so +as to make these two portions of the entablature quite distinct from +each other. The frieze is never divided into set spaces as in the Doric +order, but when ornamented has a continuous design in relief. + +The lower part of the cornice is frequently cut in little pieces or +dentals which form what is called the "tooth-like ornament;" these +have the effect of hanging from underneath the cornice. There is a +certain pleasing effect in Ionic architecture which, perhaps, appeals +to our taste at first sight more forcibly than does the severe elegance +of the Doric order. Nevertheless, the latter is a higher type of art, +and it is not probable that it can ever be superseded by any new +invention or lose the prestige which it has held so long. + +[Illustration: FIG. 47.--FROM MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES, ATHENS.] + +That which is called the Corinthian order differs very little from the +Ionic except in the capital, but as this was so prominent a member of +the Ionic style, the difference seems greater than it really is. It is +therefore not necessary to speak of its parts in detail. The Choragic +Monument of Lysicrates at Athens is as good a specimen of the order as +remains at this time, and of this we give an illustration (Fig. 47). + +[Illustration: FIG. 48.--CORINTHIAN ORDER.] + +The Corinthian order of architecture does not belong to the early +period of art in Greece. It came after the influence of Oriental +architecture had been shown in the Ionic style; and perhaps the +beautiful Corinthian capital may have been suggested by the palm-leaf +and lotus capitals of Egypt. What has been said of other orders will +help you in understanding this; but I shall tell you especially about +its capital, as that is its distinguishing feature. The form of the +capital may be called bell-shaped, and it is set round with two rows of +leaves, eight in each row; above these is a third row of leaves, or of +a sort of small twisted husks, which supports eight small volutes. The +abacus or top portion of the capital is cut out at the corners so that +sharp projections are made, called horns, and one volute comes directly +under each horn of the abacus. This cut (Fig. 48) gives a more distinct +idea of the capital than does that above, and you will see that four +of the volutes really form the upper corners of the capital. The four +other volutes meet on two opposite sides of the capital; sometimes +they are interwoven, and a flower, or rosette, or some other ornament +is placed above them and lays up over the abacus. Different kinds +of leaves are used in making this capital; olive, water plant, and +acanthus are all thus employed; there is a very pretty legend as to its +origin which makes the acanthus seem to be the only one which belongs +to it, and is as follows: + +It was the custom in Greece to place a basket upon the new-made graves +in which were the viands which those there buried had preferred when +in life. About 550 B.C. a lovely virgin died at Corinth, and her nurse +arranged the basket with care and covered it with a tile. It happened +that the basket was set directly over a young acanthus plant, and the +leaves grew up about it in such a manner that the sculptor Callimachus +was attracted by its grace and beauty, and conceived the idea of using +it as a model for a new capital in architecture. I have always been +sorry that it was not named for the beautiful maiden rather than for +the city in which she was buried. + +[Illustration: FIG. 49.--CARYATID.] + +Another feature of Greek architecture is the use of the Caryatid, or +a human figure standing upon a base and supporting the capital of +a column upon the head, or, to put it more plainly, a human figure +serving as the shaft to a column. These figures are usually females, +and this picture of one from the Erechtheium at Athens shows how +they are placed (Fig. 49). Sometimes the figures of giants, called +_Telamones_, were used in the same way. + +[Illustration: FIG. 50.--STOOL, OR CHAIR, KHORSABAD.] + +In Oriental art such figures are numerous; they are used to support +platforms and the thrones of kings; their position is sometimes varied +by making the uplifted hands bear the weight instead of the head (Fig. +50). In any case this feature in architecture is tiresome, and its use +is certainly questionable as a matter of good taste. + +Having given a general outline of the characteristics of Greek +architecture, I will speak of some remarkable edifices which are +beautiful in themselves and have an interest for us on account of their +associations with the history of the world, as well as with that of +art. + +The Temple of Diana at Ephesus, of which nothing now remains, was the +largest and most splendid of all the Greek temples. It was four hundred +and twenty-five feet long by two hundred and twenty wide. + +The ancients counted this temple as one of the Seven Wonders of the +World, and when we know that its pillars were sixty feet high, and +that the beams of the architrave which had to be lifted up above the +pillars to be put in place were each thirty feet long, we can readily +understand that the building of it was a wonderful work. This was not +the first temple that had stood on the same spot, for we know that one +had been burned on the night in which Alexander the Great was born, 356 +B.C. It was set on fire by Herostratus; he was tried for this crime +and was put to the torture to make him declare his motive for doing +such a dreadful deed; he gave as his only reason his desire to have his +name handed down through all ages, and he believed that by burning the +temple he should accomplish his object--as, indeed, he did, for every +historian repeats the story of his crime, and his name stands as a +synonym for wicked ambition. + +After this destruction the temple was rebuilt on a most magnificent +scale, and was not finished until two hundred and twenty years had +passed. Diana was a great and powerful goddess, and all the nations of +Asia united in gifts for the adornment of her shrine; the women even +gave their personal ornaments to be sold to increase the fund to be +spent upon it. + +This temple was four times as large as the Parthenon at Athens, and +had one hundred and twenty-seven splendid columns, thirty-six of which +were finely carved and were the gifts of various sovereigns. The grand +staircase was made from the wood of a single Cyprian vine. But great +as was the temple itself, its adornments of statues by the sculptor +Praxiteles, and the vast treasures of ornaments and rare objects by +which it was enriched made it even more famous. The Temple of Diana +was robbed by Nero and burned by the Goths, but its final destruction +probably occurred after A.D. 381, when the Emperor Theodosius I. issued +an edict forbidding all the ceremonies of the pagan worship. + +Many beautiful objects were taken away to adorn the mediæval churches +of other religions than that of the Ephesians. Some of its green jasper +columns were used to support the dome of St. Sophia at Constantinople, +and other parts of it are seen in the cathedrals of Italy. + +There is scarcely a more desolate spot in the world than is the Ephesus +of to-day. No remaining ruins are so preserved as to afford the visitor +any satisfaction. The marbles and stone have been used to build other +towns, which in their turn have been destroyed. The inhabitants are a +handful of poor Greek peasants; wolves and jackals from the neighboring +mountains roam about; and though an abundance of myrtle and some lovely +groves relieve the gloominess of the scene, it is impossible when +there to re-create in imagination the splendid Ephesian city, with +its wharves and docks, its temples, theatres, and palaces, which were +so famous as to cause it to be spoken of with wonder throughout the +ancient world. + +We often hear of the glory of the Periclean age at Athens, and it is +true that under the leadership of Pericles Athens reached its greatest +prosperity. This picture shows the Acropolis as it appeared at that +time (Fig. 51). + +[Illustration: FIG. 51.--THE ACROPOLIS. _Athens._ (RESTORED.)] + +In these best days of Athens the whole Acropolis was consecrated to +religious worship and ceremonials, and its entire extent was occupied +by temples and statues of the gods. The fact that I have before +mentioned, that the religion of a country moulds its art, is especially +true of the art of Greece; figures of the gods and bas-reliefs of the +ceremonies of the Grecian worship form a large and most important part +of the work of the Greek artists, and the splendid temples were raised +to be the sacred homes of the statues of the great gods, to which the +people could come with offerings and prayers. + +The Acropolis was also a sort of fortress, because it was an eminence, +and its sides of craggy rock allowed of but one ascent; thus it could +be easily defended. Then, when all the wonders and riches of art +had been collected there, the pure white marble, the sculpture and +painting, and the ornaments of shining metals which glistened in the +sun, while brilliant colors added their rich effect, it might be called +a gorgeous museum, such as has never since been equalled in the history +of the world. + +It is important to know that the Athenians worshipped three different +goddesses, all called by the one name of Athene or Athena. The most +ancient and most sacred of these was Athena Polias, whose statue, made +of olive-wood, was believed to have fallen from heaven. The Erechtheium +was dedicated to this goddess, and there this holy, heaven-sent figure +was kept, with other sacred objects of which I shall speak in their +place. + +The Athena next in importance was the goddess of the Parthenon, or the +"House of the Virgin," as the word signifies, for this Athena Parthenos +is the same as the goddess Minerva, who is said never to have married +or known the sentiment of love; she was the goddess of war, prudence, +and wisdom. The third Athena was called Promachos, which means the +champion. Phidias made of her one of his splendid statues, standing +erect, with helmet, spear, and shield. + +In describing the Acropolis we shall begin with the Propylæa, or the +entrances, which occupy the centre of our picture and to which the +steps lead, showing the passage between the pillars, three being left +on each side. This magnificent series of entrances--as the whole +ascent from the outer gate in the wall, up the steps, and through the +passage between the pillars may be called--was erected about 437 B.C., +and cost two thousand talents of gold, which is equal to about two +millions of our dollars. The fame of the Propylæa was world-wide, and +together with the Parthenon it was considered the architectural glory +of the Periclean age. The style in which they are built is a splendid +example of the combination of the Doric and the Ionic orders, for while +the exterior is almost pure Doric, the interior is made more cheerful +by the use of the Ionic columns and ornamentation. + +High up at the right of the picture stands the Parthenon. Its +architecture, which is Doric, has been described. We do not know when +this temple was begun, but it is probably on the site of an older one. +It was finished 438 B.C., and the general care of its erection was +given to Phidias, the most famous of all sculptors. The marble of which +the Parthenon was built was pure Pentelic, and as it rested on a rude +basement of limestone the contrast between the two made the marble of +the temple seem all the finer. Within and without this temple abounded +in magnificent sculptures executed by Phidias himself or under his +orders. + +The Erechtheium, which is only partly visible at the back on the left +of the picture, was the most sacred temple of Athens. It was the +burial-place of Erechtheus, who was regarded not only as the founder +of this temple, but also of the religion of Athena in Athens. Beside +the heaven-descended statue of Athena Polias which was kept here, there +was the sacred olive-tree which Athena had called forth from the earth +when she was contending for the possession of Attica; here, too, was +the well of salt water which Poseidon (or Neptune) made by striking the +spot with his trident, and several other sacred objects (Fig. 52). + +[Illustration: FIG. 52.--THE ERECHTHEIUM. _Athens._ (RESTORED.)] + +This beautiful temple was built in the Ionic style, and is very +interesting because it is so different in form from every other Greek +temple of which we know. This is partly due to the fact that it was +built where the ground was not level, one portion of it being eight +feet higher than another. A second reason for its irregularity may +be that it required to be divided into more cells or apartments than +other Greek temples in order to arrange the different sacred objects +within its walls. A very considerable portion of this temple is still +standing. The frieze, of which but little remains, was of black marble, +upon which there were figures in white marble. + +The Erechtheium is certainly a splendid example of the Attic-Ionic +style, and the eye rests upon it with admiration; but its half-pillars +and caryatides, its various porches and luxuriant detail of form and +ornament, are less effective as a whole than is the Parthenon in its +pure Doric architecture. + +An interesting fact about Greek architecture is that the marbles used +were painted in high colors. There is a theory, which may or may not +be true, that the custom first arose in the same way as the shape of +the Doric entablature, from the imitation of wooden buildings. The wood +was painted to preserve it, and when stone began to be substituted, +the architects, accustomed to bright effects, colored the marbles +to look like wood. Whether this is the true origin of the custom or +not, it is certain that the custom prevailed. The lower parts of the +pillars of a Doric temple were usually stained a light golden-brown +tint; the triglyphs and the mutules, or brackets beneath the cornices, +were a rich blue; the trunnels, or wooden pins, were red or gilded; +the metopes had a dark red background, against which the bas-reliefs +with which they were ornamented stood out in strong contrast, while the +frieze and cornice were richly painted with garlands and leaves. So +highly colored a building would seem less out of place amid the varied +landscape of Greece than under our colder skies, and it is difficult +for us to form any just idea of the splendid appearance it must have +presented. + +One of the most wonderful things about Greek architecture is the way +in which allowance was made for the deception of the eye by certain +forms and lines. It is not easy to explain this fully, but it is too +remarkable to be wholly passed over. If a column were cut so as to +diminish regularly from the bottom to the top it would seem to the eye +to hollow in, and to correct this the clever Greek architect made his +columns swell out a little at the middle. This is called _entasis_, and +is the best known of the means taken to make forms look as they should. +Another case is that of long horizontal lines. If they are really level +they appear to sag at the centre, therefore in Greek temples they +are delicately rounded up a little, and so have the effect of being +perfectly straight. These two examples may serve to show what I mean +by saying that architectural forms were made one way so as to look +another, and in nothing did the Greek architecture show more marvellous +skill and taste than in this. + +In other Grecian cities the architecture differed but little from that +of Athens, and, indeed, the influence of Athenian art and artists was +felt all over the Eastern world; it is therefore not necessary for our +purpose to speak further of Greek temples. + +Next in importance were the municipal buildings, of which we find but +few traces at Athens. The monument of Lysicrates is so beautiful that +it gives us a most exalted idea of what the taste in such edifices must +have been (Fig. 53). + +[Illustration: FIG. 53.--CHORAGIC MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES. _Athens._] + +This monument was erected in the year 334 B.C. when Lysicrates was +_choragus_; this officer provided the chorus for the plays represented +at Athens for the year. It was expensive to hold this position, and its +duties were arduous; the choragus had to find the men for the chorus, +bring them together, and have them instructed in the music, and also +provide proper food for them while they studied. It was customary to +present a tripod to the _choragus_ who provided the finest musical +entertainment, and also to build a monument upon which the tripod was +placed as a lasting honor to him who had received it. There was a +street at Athens called the "Street of the Tripods" because it passed a +line of choragic monuments. These monuments were dedicated to different +gods; this of Lysicrates was devoted to Bacchus, and was decorated +with sculptures representing scenes in the story of that god, who was +regarded as the patron of plays and theatres; indeed, the Greek drama +originated in the choruses which were sung at his festivals. + +The Greek theatres were very large and fine; the seats were ranged in a +half circle, but as none remain in a sufficient state of preservation +to afford a satisfactory picture, it would be impossible to give a +clear description of them here. + +[Illustration: FIG. 54.--THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS (RESTORED).] + +The ancient Greeks were not tomb-builders, and we know little of +their burial-places. However, the Mausoleum built at Halicarnassus by +Artemisia, in memory of her husband, Mausolus, was so important as to +be numbered among the seven wonders of the world (Fig. 54). Mausolus +was the King of Caria, of which country Halicarnassus was the chief +city. He died about 353 B.C., and his wife, Artemisia, gradually faded +away with sorrow at his death, and survived him but two years. But +during this time she had commenced the erection of the Mausoleum, +and the artists to whom she intrusted the work were as faithful in +completing it as though she had lived, for the sake of their own fame +as artists. This magnificent tomb may be described as an example of +architecture as a fine art exclusively, for it cannot be said to have +been useful, since the body of Mausolus was burned according to custom, +and certainly a much smaller tomb would have been sufficient for the +remaining ashes. + +The whole height of the Mausoleum was one hundred and forty feet; the +north and south aisles were sixty-three feet long, and the others a +little less. The burial vault was at the base, and the whole mass +above it was ornamented with magnificent designs splendidly executed. +Above the whole was a quadriga, or four-horse chariot, in which it is +said that a figure of Mausolus was placed so that from land or sea it +could be seen at a great distance. It is not strange that this tomb +was called a wonder in its day, and from it we still take our word +"mausoleum" for all burial-places which merit so distinguished a name. + +Writers of the twelfth century speak of the beauty of this tomb, +but in A.D. 1402, when the Knights of St. John took possession of +Halicarnassus, it no longer remained, and a castle was built upon its +site. The tomb had been buried, probably by an earthquake, and the name +of the place was then changed to Boodroom. + +In the year 1522 some sculptures were found there, but it was not until +1856 that Mr. Newton, an Englishman, discovered that these remains had +belonged to the Mausoleum. A large collection of reliefs, statues, and +other objects, more or less imperfect, was taken to London and placed +in the British Museum, where they are known as the "Halicarnassus +Sculptures." + +As other temples were influenced by the example of the Athenian +builders, so many other tombs resembled that of Mausolus in greater or +less degree, although none approached it in grandeur and magnificence. + +Of the domestic architecture of the Greeks we know very little. Almost +all that is said of it is chiefly speculation, as even the descriptions +of Grecian palaces and houses which are given by the classic writers +are imperfect. The life of the Greek was passed largely in public, at +the temple, the theatre, or the baths, or at least in the open air, and +comparatively little attention was given to the building of the private +houses; but in the ruins of the temples and other monuments which +still exist we have sufficient proof that no art has surpassed that of +ancient Greece in purity, elegance, and grandeur of style. + + +ETRURIA. + +Since the Etruscans were an earlier Italian nation than the Romans, +and Rome, in her primal days, was ruled by Etruscan kings, it is here +fitting to speak of this remarkable old people. + +As Rome increased the Etruscans disappeared, and the younger power +came to have so mighty an influence in the world that it absorbed the +consideration of all nations as much as if no other had ever ruled in +Italy. + +No Etruscan temple now remains, but we know that they were not splendid +like those of Greece. They were of two forms, one being circular and +dedicated to a single deity, while others were devoted to three gods +and had three cells; their walls were built at right angles, thus +making their shape regular. + +The theatres and amphitheatres of the Etruscans were nearly circular +and much like those of the later Italians, but not one remains except +that at Sutri, which, being cut in the rock, does not afford a good +example of the usual arrangement of these edifices. + +[Illustration: FIG. 55.--TOMBS AT CASTEL D'ASSO.] + +In fact, the only important remains of Etruscan architecture are the +tombs, of which there are many. These are of two kinds; the first +are cut in the rocks and resemble the Egyptian tombs at Beni-Hassan, +reminding one of little houses (Fig. 55). + +[Illustration: FIG. 56.--PRINCIPAL CHAMBER IN REGULINI-GALEASSI TOMB.] + +The second and most numerous class are mounds of earth raised above +a wall at the base. These were called "Tumuli," and some of them had +fine, well-furnished apartments in their midst. The next cut shows such +a room as it appeared when first opened; in it were found bedsteads, +biers, shields, arrows, a variety of vessels, and several kinds of +useful utensils (Fig. 56). + +[Illustration: FIG. 57.--ARCH AT VOLTERRA.] + +These tombs are in truth more connected with other arts than with +architecture, and many beautiful articles have been found in them. +The most interesting feature of Etruscan architecture is the arch, +which was first brought into general use by the Romans, but is +found in Etruscan remains (Fig. 57), both in the semi-circular and +pointed forms. The principle of the arch had been known to several +Oriental nations, but it had been applied only to short spaces and +comparatively unimportant uses, such as windows and doorways (Fig. 58). + +[Illustration: FIG. 58.--GATEWAY. _Arpino._] + +There is no doubt that many of the earliest works of the Romans were +executed under the direction of Etruscan architects. Among these was +the great Cloaca Maxima, or principal drain of ancient Rome. This was a +wonderful achievement; it is probable that the oldest arch in Europe is +that of this sewer, and the fact of its still remaining proves how well +it must have been built in order to last so long (Fig. 59). + +[Illustration: FIG. 59.--ARCH OF CLOACA MAXIMA. _Rome._] + + +ROME. + +The early works of Rome, which were largely executed by the Etruscans, +were principally those useful, semi-architectural objects necessary in +the making of a city, such as aqueducts and bridges. These belong quite +as much to civil engineering as to architecture, and we shall not speak +of them. + +In studying Roman architecture one is surprised at the number of uses +to which it was applied, for not only do the temples, tombs, theatres, +and monuments such as we have found in other countries exist in Rome, +but there are also basilicas, baths, palaces, triumphal arches, pillars +of victory, fountains, and various other objects suited to the wants of +a great people. + +[Illustration: FIG. 60.--COMPOSITE ORDER, FROM THE ARCH OF SEPTIMIUS +SEVERUS. _Rome._] + +No truly pure, national order of architecture existed at Rome. The +union of the arch of the Etruscans with the columns of the Greeks +enabled the Romans to change the forms of their edifices and to produce +a great variety in them. They employed the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian +orders, but they rarely used one of these alone; they united them in +endless combinations, and introduced a capital of the order which is +called the Composite (Fig. 60). It consists of the lower part of the +Corinthian and the upper part of the Ionic capital; this was very rich +in ornament, but the line where the two orders were joined was always a +defect, and it never came into general favor. + +The Romans also introduced what is called the Tuscan order, which is +usually mentioned with the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite, +as being one of the five classic orders of architecture, although it +is really little more than a variety of the Doric, as the Composite is +of the Corinthian order. It differed from the Doric in having a base, +while its frieze was simple and unadorned, the cornice also being very +plain. The shaft of the Tuscan column was never fluted. + +[Illustration: FIG. 61.--DORIC ARCADE.] + +The Romans also used an arcade which was a combination of Greek and +Etruscan art, like this cut (Fig. 61); thus showing a power of adapting +forms which already existed in new combinations and for new purposes, +rather than an originative genius. + +A very important advance made by the Romans was the improvement of +interior architecture. The halls and portions of edifices to be used +were more cared for than ever before; this was sometimes done at the +expense of the exteriors, to which the Greeks had devoted all their +thought. In fact, many ancient Roman temples were inferior to other +edifices which they built. The Pantheon is the only one existing in +such a state as to be spoken of with satisfaction. + +[Illustration: FIG. 62.--GROUND-PLAN OF PANTHEON. _Rome._] + +This ground-plan (Fig. 62) shows that the Pantheon is circular with +a porch. Taken separately, the rotunda and the porch are each fine +in their own way, but the joining of the circular and angular forms +has an effect of unfitness which one cannot forget even when looking +at that which we regard with reverent interest. The central portion +was at first a part of the Baths of Agrippa, but on account of its +great beauty it was changed by Agrippa himself into a temple, by the +addition of a row of Corinthian columns around the interior. (See Fig. +63.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 63.--INTERIOR OF THE PANTHEON.] + +Taken all in all, the effect of the Pantheon is that of grandeur and +simplicity. When we remember that sixteen hundred and eighty-eight +years have passed since it was repaired by Septimius Severus, we wonder +at its good preservation, though we know that it has been robbed of +its bronze covering and other fine ornaments. An inscription still +remaining on its portico states that Marcus Aurelius and Septimius +Severus repaired this temple; history says that Hadrian restored it +after a fire, probably about the year 117, and it is even said that +Agrippa, who died A.D. 13, added the portico to a rotunda which existed +before his time. + +The objects now in the interior of the Pantheon are so largely modern +that they do not belong to this portion of our subject, but there is +much interest associated with this spot, and it is dear to all the +world as the burial-place of Raphael, Annibale Caracci, and other great +artists. + +Next to the temples of Rome came the Basilicas, of which there were +many before the time of Constantine. The word basilica means the royal +house, and these edifices were first intended for a court-room in which +the king administered his laws; later they became markets, or places of +exchange, where men met for business transactions. The ruins of the +Basilicas of Trajan and Maxentius, two of the finest of these edifices, +are in such condition that their plans can be understood (Fig. 64). +They were large, and divided into aisles by rows of columns; at one +end there was a semi-circular recess or apse, in which was a raised +platform, approached by steps, also semi-circular in form. Upon this +platform the king or other exalted officer had his place, while those +of lesser rank were on the steps below, on either side. Fronting the +apse was an altar upon which sacrifices were offered before commencing +any important business. + +[Illustration: FIG. 64.--LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF BASILICA OF MAXENTIUS.] + +The principal reason for speaking of basilicas is that by the above cut +you may see the great change made in architecture about this time by +the use of columns, only half the height of the building, which were +united by arches. This was a very important step, and is, in truth, one +of the principal features that mark the progress of the change from +ancient to Gothic architecture--a change not fully developed until the +twelfth century. + +I shall not say much of the theatres, amphitheatres, and baths of +ancient Rome, because it is not easy to treat them in the simple manner +suited to this book; they were magnificent and costly, and made an +important part of Roman architecture; they were probably copied from +the public buildings of the Etruscans. + +Marcus Scaurus built a theatre in 58 B.C. which held eighty thousand +spectators; it had rich columns and statues, and was decorated with +gold, silver, and ivory. The first stone theatre in Rome was built in +55 B.C., and was only half the size of that of Marcus Scaurus. Parts +of the theatre of Marcellus still remain in the present Orsini Palace +in Rome, and serve to give an idea of the architecture of the period +immediately before the birth of Christ. + +The Emperor Augustus boasted that he had found a city of brick and +had changed it to one of marble, but after his time architecture +suffered a decline, and its second flourishing period may be dated from +A.D. 69. To this time belongs the Colosseum, also called the Flavian +Amphitheatre; it covers about five acres of ground, and is sufficiently +well preserved for a good idea to be formed of what it must have been +when in its best estate. The enormous size of these ancient Roman +edifices is almost too much for us to imagine, and the most extensive +of them all were the _Thermæ_, or public baths. + +The Baths of Diocletian, built A.D. 303, were the largest of all; they +had seats for twenty-four hundred bathers. These baths were in reality +a group of spacious halls of varied forms, but all magnificent in size. +The great hall of the Baths of Diocletian was three hundred and fifty +feet long by eighty feet in width and ninety-six feet high; it was +converted into a church by Michael Angelo and is called S. Maria Degli +Angeli, or Holy Mary of the Angels. Many splendid pictures which were +once in St. Peter's are now in this church, and copies of them made in +mosaic fill the places where they were originally hung. + +The Baths of Caracalla were built in A.D. 217, and though they had +seats for but sixteen hundred bathers, they were much more splendid +than the Baths of Diocletian. They were surrounded by pleasure +gardens, porticoes, and a stadium or race-course, where all sorts of +games were held. Some beautiful mosaic pavements have been taken from +these baths, and are now in the Lateran and the Villa Borghese palaces; +there was a Pinacotica, or Fine Art Gallery here, in which were some of +the greatest art treasures of the world, such as the Farnese Hercules, +the Farnese Bull, the two Gladiators, and other famous statues, besides +cameos, bronzes, and sculptures, almost without end. The granite basins +in the Piazza Farnese, and some green basalt urns now in the Vatican +Museum, were taken from the Baths of Caracalla, and, indeed, all over +Rome there are objects of more or less beauty which were found here. + +Formerly the site of these baths was like a beautiful Eden where +Nature made herself happy in luxuriant growths of all lovely things. +The poet Shelley was very fond of going there, and wrote of it, "Among +the flowery glades and thickets of odoriferous blossoming trees, which +are extended in ever-winding labyrinths upon its immense platforms +and dizzy arches suspended in the air," by which we know that the +ruins were covered with a soil which was fruitful in flowers, vines, +and trees; but all these have been torn away in order to make the +excavations which were necessary for the exploration of these wonderful +baths, and now the parts which remain stand fully exposed to the view +of the curious traveller. + +The Roman Triumphal Arches were one of the characteristic outgrowths of +the Imperial period. These splendid works were designed to perpetuate +the fame of the emperors and to recall to the people the important +acts of their lives. The arch of Constantine given below is one of the +most famous arches in Rome (Fig. 65). It is believed that parts of it +were in an arch of Trajan's time, and some even go so far as to say +that it was originally dedicated to the earlier emperor and adopted +by Constantine as his own. It is remarkably well preserved, and this +is undoubtedly due to the fact of its being dedicated to the first +Christian sovereign of Rome. The other most famous arches in the city +are that of Titus, which dates from A.D. 81, and that of Septimius +Severus, which was erected in honor of him and of his wife, Julia, by +the silversmiths and merchants of the Forum Boarium, in which spot the +arch was raised. + +[Illustration: FIG. 65.--ARCH OF CONSTANTINE. _Rome._] + +These triumphal arches existed in all the countries where Rome held +sway, and, indeed, this is true of all kinds of Roman architectural +works. + +This Arch of Beneventum was erected in the second century after Christ, +by Trajan, when he repaired the Appian Way. It is one of the most +graceful and best preserved of all the arches of Italy (Fig. 66). + +[Illustration: FIG. 66.--ARCH OF TRAJAN. _Beneventum._] + +All these arches had originally groups of statuary upon them, for which +they served merely as the pedestals. Their taking the form of an arch +was due to their being placed in the public way, where it was necessary +to leave a passage for the street. Sometimes they were placed where two +roads met, and a double arch was then made. Elaborate as the arches +often were, you must keep in mind that they are only a part of the +entire design, and that the least important part; the statuary, which +has been destroyed by time, being really the more striking feature of +the whole. + +[Illustration: FIG. 67.--TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA.] + +The tombs of Rome were very numerous, and were an important element +in Roman architecture. The tomb of Cecilia Metella is of importance +because it is the oldest remaining building of Imperial Rome and the +finest tomb which has been preserved (Fig. 67). + +As you see, the tomb is a round tower. In the thirteenth century it +was turned into a fortress, and so much dust has been deposited on its +summit in the passing of time that bushes and ivy now grow there. Many +writers describe it, and Byron in his "Childe Harold" spoke of it in +some verses, of which the following is the beginning: + + "There is a stern round tower of other days, + Firm as a fortress, with its fence of stone, + Such as an army's baffled strength delays, + Standing with half its battlements alone, + And with two thousand years of ivy grown, + The garland of eternity, where wave + The green leaves over all by time o'erthrown;-- + What was this tower of strength? within its cave + What treasure lay so lock'd, so hid?--a woman's grave." + +The tomb of Hadrian, now known as the Castle of St. Angelo, is very +interesting, and is one of the most prominent and familiar objects in +Rome at the present day. But the tombs called Columbaria were much +in use in ancient Rome, and differed essentially from those of which +we have spoken, inasmuch as they were usually below the ground, and +externally had no architecture. They consisted of oblong or square +apartments, the sides of which were filled with small apertures of the +proper size to hold an urn which contained the ashes that remained +after a body had been burned, according to the Roman custom. Some of +these apartments, especially when they belonged to private families, +were adorned with pilasters and decorated with colors. (See Fig. 68.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 68.--COLUMBARIUM NEAR THE GATE OF ST. SEBASTIAN. +_Rome._] + +The sepulchres of Rome were gradually enlarged, until, in the days of +Constantine, they were frequently built like small temples above the +ground, with crypts or vaults beneath them. + +So little now remains of the ancient domestic architecture of Rome that +one is forced to study this subject from written descriptions collected +from the works of various historians, poets, and other writers. But +from what we know we may conclude that the villas and country-houses +were so constructed as to be full of comfort, and suited to the uses +for which they were built, without too much regard to the symmetry +of the exteriors. The interior convenience was the chief thing to +be considered, and when finished they must have often resembled a +collection of buildings all joined together, of various heights and +shapes; but within they were adapted to the different seasons, as +some rooms were made for being warm, while others were arranged for +coolness; the views from the windows were also an important feature, +and, in short, the pleasure of the people living in them was made the +first point to be gained, rather than the impression upon the eye of +those who saw them from without. + +There was great luxury and elegance in the palaces of the noble classes +in ancient Rome. The home of Diocletian at Spalatro was one of the most +famous Roman palaces, and its ruins show that it was once magnificent. +This palace was divided by four streets which ran through it at right +angles with each other and met in its centre. Its entrances were +called the Golden, Iron, and Brazen Gates. Its exterior architecture +was simple and massive, as it was necessary that it should serve as a +fortress in case of an attack. Its principal gallery overlooked the +sea; it was five hundred and fifteen feet long and twenty-four feet +wide, and was famous for its architectural beauty and for the views +which it commanded. + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER II. + +CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE. + +A.D. 328 TO ABOUT 1400. + + +I have written more in detail concerning Ancient architecture than I +shall do of that of later times, because it is best to be thorough in +studying the beginnings of things; then we can make an application of +our knowledge which helps us to understand the results of what has gone +before, just as we are prepared for the full-blown rose after we have +seen the bud. Or, to be more practical, just as we use the simplest +principles of arithmetic to help us to understand the more difficult +ones; sometimes we scarcely remember that in the last lessons of the +book we unconsciously apply the first tables and rules which were so +difficult to us in the beginning. + +I shall not try, because I have not space, to give a connected account +of Christian architecture, but I shall endeavor to give such an outline +of its rise and progress in various countries as will make a good +foundation for the knowledge you will gain from books which you will +read in future. + +The architecture of Italy in the period which followed the conversion +of the Emperor Constantine is called the Romanesque order. As the +Christians were encouraged under Constantine and became bold in their +worship, many basilicas were given up for their use. The bishops held +the principal place upon the platform formerly occupied by the king +and his highest officers, and the priests of the lower orders were +ranged around them. The same altars which had served for the heathen +sacrifices were used for the worship of the true God, and from this +cause the word basilica has come to signify a large, grand church, in +the speech of our time. + +[Illustration: FIG. 69.--INTERIOR OF BASILICA OF ST. PAUL'S. _Rome._] + +Among the early basilicas of Rome which still remain none are more +distinguished than that of _San Paolo fuori della Mura_, or St. Paul's +without the Walls. It was ancient, and splendid in design and ornament. +In 1823 it was burned, and has been rebuilt with great magnificence, +but the picture above shows it as it was before the fire (Fig. 69). +It was built about 386 A.D. under the Emperors Valentinian II. and +Theodosius. + +This basilica had four rows of Corinthian columns, twenty in each +row; many of these pillars were taken from more ancient edifices, and +were composed of very beautiful marbles, forming by far the finest +collection of columns in the world. The bronze gates were cast at +Constantinople; the fine paintings and magnificent mosaics with which +it was decorated added much to its splendor. Tradition taught that the +body of St. Paul was buried beneath the high altar. + +Before the Reformation the sovereigns of England were protectors of +this basilica just as those of France were of St. John Lateran; this +gives it a peculiar interest for British people, and the symbol of the +Order of the Garter is still seen among its decorations. On account of +its associations, San Paolo was the most interesting, if not the most +beautiful, of the oldest Christian edifices in Rome. + +In the early days there were many circular churches throughout Italy; +some of these had been built at first for tombs. The Christians used +churches of this form for baptisms, for the sacrament for the dying, +burials, and sometimes for marriage. + +The circular temple of Vesta is very beautiful. It had originally +twenty Corinthian columns; nineteen of which still remain. This temple +is not older than the time of Vespasian, and is not the famous one +mentioned by Horace and other ancient writers, in which the Palladium +was preserved--that temple no longer exists. It is probable that many +of the earliest churches built by Christians in Italy were circular in +form, and numbers of these still remain in various Italian cities; but +they differed from the ancient temples of this form in their want of +exterior decoration. The ancient Romans had used columns, peristyles, +and porticoes; the Christians used the latter only in a few instances, +but even these were soon abandoned. + +The beautiful Baptistery at Florence was originally the cathedral +of the city. It is octagonal, or eight-sided, and this form is not +infrequent in buildings of the fourth and following centuries. It +is said that this Baptistery was built by Theodolinda, who married +Autharis, King of the Lombards in 589. + +This king had proposed to Garibald, King of Bavaria, for the hand of +his daughter, and had been accepted. Autharis grew impatient at the +ceremonies of the wooing, and escaping from his palace joined the +embassy to the King of Bavaria. + +When they reached the court of Garibald and were received by that +monarch, Autharis advanced to the throne and told the old king that the +ambassador before him was indeed the Minister of State at the Lombard +Court, but that he was the only real friend of Autharis, and to him had +been given a charge to report to the Italian king concerning the charms +of Theodolinda. Garibald summoned his daughter, and after an admiring +gaze the stranger hailed her Queen of Italy and respectfully asked that +she should, according to custom, give a glass of wine to the first of +her future subjects who had tendered her his duty. Her father commanded +her to give the cup, and as Autharis returned it to her he secretly +touched her hand and then put his finger on his own lips. At evening +Theodolinda told this incident to her nurse, who assured her that this +handsome and bold stranger could have been none other than her future +husband, since no subject would venture on such conduct. + +[Illustration: FIG. 70.--THE CATHEDRAL OF CHARTRES.] + +The ambassadors were dismissed, and some Bavarians accompanied the +Lombards to the Italian frontier. Before they separated Autharis +raised himself in his stirrups and threw his battle-axe against a tree +with great skill, exclaiming, "Such are the strokes of the King of +the Lombards!" Then all knew the rank of this gallant stranger. The +approach of a French army compelled Garibald to leave his capital; +he took refuge in Italy, and Autharis celebrated his marriage in the +palace of Verona; he lived but one year, but in that time Theodolinda +had so endeared herself to the people that she was allowed to bestow +the Italian sceptre with her hand. She had converted her husband to +the Catholic faith. She also founded the cathedral of Monza and other +churches in Lombardy and Tuscany, all of which she dedicated to St. +John the Baptist, who was her patron saint. + +The cathedral of Monza is very interesting from its historical +associations. Here is deposited the famous iron crown which was +presented to Theodolinda by Pope Gregory I. This crown is made of a +broad band of gold set with jewels, and the iron from which it is +named is a narrow circlet inside, said to have been made from one +of the nails used in the crucifixion of Christ, and brought from +Jerusalem by the Empress Helena. This crown is kept in a casket which +forms the centre of the cross above the high altar in the cathedral +of Monza; it was carried away in 1859 by the Austrians; at the close +of the Italo-Prussian war, in 1866, the Emperor of Austria gave it to +Victor Emmanuel, then King of Italy. This crown has been used at the +coronation of thirty-four sovereigns; among them were Charlemagne, +Charles V., and Napoleon I. The latter wore it at his second coronation +as King of the Lombards in 1805. He placed it on his head himself, +saying, "God has given it to me, woe to him who touches it!" + +There are few secular buildings of this period remaining in Italy, and +Romanesque architecture endured but a short time, for it was almost +abandoned at the time of the death of Gregory the Great, in 604. During +the next four and a half centuries the old styles were dying out and +the Gothic order was developing, but cannot be said to have reached any +high degree of perfection before the close of the eleventh century. + + +GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. + +It is difficult to speak concisely of Gothic architecture because there +is so much that can be said of its origin, and then it has so extended +itself to all parts of the world as to render it in a sense universal. +Perhaps Fergusson makes it as simple as it can be made when he divides +Europe by a line from Memel on the shores of the Baltic Sea to Spalatro +on the Adriatic, and then carries the line westward to Fermo and +divides Italy almost as the forty-third parallel of latitude divides +it. He then says that during the Middle Ages, or from about the seventh +to the fifteenth centuries, the architecture north and west of these +lines was Gothic; south and east it was Byzantine, with the exception +of Rome, which always remained individual, and a rule unto herself. + +There was a very general belief in all Christian lands that the world +would end in the year 1000 A.D., and when this dreaded period had +passed without that event happening, men seem everywhere to have been +seized with a passion for erecting stone buildings. An old chronicler +named Rodulphe Glaber, who died in 1045 A.D., relates that as early +as the year 1003 A.D. so many churches and monasteries of marble were +being erected, especially in France and Italy, "that the world appeared +to be putting off its old dingy attire and putting on a new white robe. +Then nearly all the bishops' seats, the churches, the monasteries, and +even the oratories of the villages were changed for better ones." + +Such a movement could not fail to have a great influence upon +architecture, and it was at this time that the Gothic style began to +be rapidly developed; and, indeed, so far as any particular time may +be fixed for the beginning of the Gothic order, it would fall in the +tenth and eleventh centuries. The classic forms, with their horizontal +cornices and severe regularity, were then laid aside, and a greater +freedom and variety than had ever obtained before began to make itself +felt in all architectural designs. + +We must first try to understand what are the distinguishing features +of Gothic architecture. Perhaps the principal one may be called +constructiveness; which is to say, that in Gothic architecture there +is far greater variety of form, and the power to make larger and more +complicated buildings than had been possible with the orders which +preceded it. During the Middle Ages the aim was to produce large +edifices, and to build and ornament them in a way that would make them +appear to be even larger than they were. The early Gothic buildings are +so massive as to have a clumsy effect, because the architects had not +yet learned how to make these enormous masses strong and enduring, and +yet so arranged as to be light and graceful in their appearance. + +A second striking difference between the ancient orders and the Gothic, +is that in the former enormous blocks of stone or marble were used and +great importance was attached to this. Many ancient works are called +Cyclopean for this reason. It does not make a building more beautiful +to have it massive, but it does make it grand. Even in a less colossal +mode of building a column is more effective when it is a monolith, +and an architrave more beautiful when its beams are not joined too +frequently. But in the Gothic order the use of massive blocks is +largely given up, and the endeavor is to so arrange smaller materials +as to display remarkable constructive skill. + +[Illustration: FIG. 71.--CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS. _Caen._] + +A third and a very important feature of the Gothic order is the use of +the arch. The much-increased constructive power of which we have spoken +depended very largely upon this. The ancients knew the use of the arch, +but did not like it because they thought that it took away from the +repose of a building. Even now the Hindoos will not use it; they say, +"An arch never sleeps," and though the Mohammedan builders have used it +in their country, the Hindoos cannot overcome their dislike of it. In +the Gothic order, however, the use of arches, both round and pointed, +is unending. The results are very much varied, and range all the way +from a grand and impressive effect to a sort of toy-like lightness +which seems more suited to the block-houses made by children than to +the works of architects. The earlier Gothic arches were round, although +pointed arches are occasionally found in very ancient buildings. The +picture (Fig. 71), however, gives a just idea of the form of arch most +used until the introduction of the pointed arch, which occurred in +France during the twelfth century. Of this form the doorways of the +next cut present a fine example (Fig. 72). + +[Illustration: FIG. 72.--FAÇADE OF CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME. _Paris._] + +[Illustration: FIG. 73.--CLUSTERED PILLAR.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 74.--BUTTRESS.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 75.--HINGE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 77.--IRON-WORK.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 78.--GARGOYLE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 76.--NAIL-HEAD.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 79.--SCROLL.] + +An important characteristic of Gothic architecture was the fact that +every part of the building was so made as to show its use. Instead of +hiding the supports they were made prominent. If a pier or buttress +was to stand a perpendicular strain, even the lines of decoration were +generally made to run in that direction; if extra supports were needed, +they were not concealed, but built in so as to show, and even to be +prominent. In the details the same feeling was often shown in a very +marked degree; the hinges and nails and locks of Gothic buildings were +made to be seen, and whatever was needed for use was treated as if it +were of value as an ornament. The spouts by which the water was carried +over the eaves were made bold and comparatively large, and carved into +those curious shapes of animals and monsters called gargoyles, which +are seen on so many mediæval edifices. Many of these details of Gothic +buildings are very elegant, and serve to-day as models for modern +workmen. (See Figs. 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79.) + +Among the inventions of Gothic architects the division of the interior +into three aisles, with the centre one much the highest, was very +important. By this arrangement the space was made to appear longer and +higher than it really was, and what was lost in the effect of width was +more than made up in a certain elegance of form which is very pleasing. +The three central aisles of the next cut illustrate this arrangement +(Fig. 80). + +[Illustration: FIG. 80.--SECTION OF CHURCH. _Carcassone._ WITH OUTER +AISLES ADDED IN FOURTEENTH CENTURY.] + +The Gothic builders gave loftiness to their edifices by the use of +spires and towers. They became very skilful in constructing them with +buttresses below and pinnacles above, so that the spires should not +detract from the apparent size of the buildings to which they were +attached (Fig. 81). + +[Illustration: FIG. 81.--SPIRES OF LAON CATHEDRAL.] + +In the matter of design in ornament the Gothic order had no fixed +method, except so far as its forms were symbolic. Every form of +vegetable design was employed; vines and leaves were abundant. As +a rule the use of human forms or animals as supports to columns or +other weights was avoided. If they were introduced the animals were +not reproductions of such as exist, but the imaginary griffin or +other monster, and at times dwarfs or grotesque human beings, were +represented as if for caricatures. + +Sculptured figures were usually placed upon a pedestal either with or +without niches for them, and were not made to appear to be a part of +the building itself. The deep recesses of Gothic portals, the pinnacles +and niches gave opportunities to display exterior sculpture to great +advantage (Fig. 82). The interiors were also appropriate for any amount +of artistic ornament in bas-reliefs or figures that could be lavished +upon them. + +[Illustration: FIG. 82.--PORTAL OF THE MINORITES' CHURCH. _Vienna._] + +The most original and effective feature of ornament, however, which was +introduced by Gothic architects is that of painted glass. To this they +devoted their best talent. It is not necessary to say how beautiful and +decorative it is; we all know this, and our only wonder is that it was +left for the Gothic architects to apply it to architectural uses. We do +not know precisely when stained or painted glass was invented, but we +know that it existed as early as 800, and came into very general use in +the eleventh and twelfth centuries. + +[Illustration: FIG. 83--EXTERNAL ELEVATION, CATHEDRAL OF PARIS.] + +Before painted glass was used windows were made very small, and it was +some time before the large, rich style was adopted. The following cut +from Notre Dame, at Paris, gives the three stages of the change, and it +is interesting to see them thus in one church (Fig. 83). + +On the left are the undivided windows without mullions or dividing +supports; next, at the right, the upper window shows the form with one +perpendicular mullion and a circular or rose window above the centre; +lastly, on the right of the lower story we see a full traceried window. + +The window became one of the most important and characteristic features +of Gothic buildings. These large open spaces gave opportunity for +elegant shapes and splendid colors, both the form of the opening and +the dividing ribs, or tracery, as it was called, being made with the +utmost beauty and grace. The round windows, called rose windows and +wheel windows, were often exquisitely designed, as the following +example shows (Fig. 84). + +[Illustration: FIG. 84.--WHEEL WINDOW, FROM CATHEDRAL. _Toscanella._] + +The window is illustrative of the influence which climate may have on +the development of architectural style. In warm countries where spaces +were left open, window forms and painted glass were, of course, never +employed; but in more northern lands they became one of the most marked +features in important edifices. + +A whole book might be written about these windows and be very +interesting also, but we can give no more space to them here. + +Gothic architecture gradually extended from the centre of Italy to +the most northern bounds of civilization, and though practised by so +many nations, was as much the architectural expression of a religion +as the architecture of a single ancient nation had been the outgrowth +of its peculiar religious belief. During the Middle Ages the priests +and monks preserved learning in the midst of general darkness and +ignorance, and were the chief patrons of all art which survived the +decline of the time. They built up the Christian faith by every means +in their power. The monks were missionaries. They went to various +countries, and selecting favorable spots they founded abbeys; around +these abbeys a poor population settled; gradually churches were built, +and it frequently happened that the monks not only planned the work to +be done, but also executed it with their own hands. Many of them were +masons and builders, and several bishops were architects. St. Germain, +Bishop of Paris, designed the church in that city now called by his +name, and was also sent to Angers to build another church, and to Mans +to erect a monastery. + +The finest buildings being thus made for religious purposes and under +the direction of the clergy, they must have been as full an expression +of Christianity as were the temple-palaces of Egypt an expression of +the religion of Osiris and Isis, when the kings were both priests and +sovereigns, and dwelt in these palaces. And this was true as long as +Gothic art was in the hands of the clergy and used almost entirely for +religious purposes. + +Later on, when it was employed for civic edifices erected under the +direction of laymen, it became an expression of political independence +also. The freedom of thought which came with the decline of the feudal +system inspired new aspirations and imaginations in the hearts and +minds of men, and these found expression in all the arts, and very +especially in architecture. If we cannot always admire the manner in +which Gothic art was made to express these lofty desires, we can fully +sympathize with the sentiment which was behind it. + +The Gothic order held undisputed sway west and north of the +geographical line of which we have spoken until the fifteenth century. +Then a revival of classical literature took place, and with this there +arose also a revival of classic art and architecture; this revival is +known as the Renaissance, or the new birth, and the period of time +is spoken of as that of the Renaissance. The effect of this classic +reaction was very great upon all the educated classes of Europe, and +its influence may be said to have endured through about three centuries. + +Again, during the eighteenth century, Gothic art was revived. A +reverence has grown up for the good that wrestled with the darkness of +the Middle Ages and survived all their evils. The rough, strong manhood +of that time is now justly appreciated. Perhaps the feeling in this +direction is too much exaggerated. While our regard for a rude and +weather-stained monument of the spirit and architecture of the past may +be natural and proper, the imitation of it which is made in our day may +easily become absurd, and is very rarely suited to our purposes. + +Spain is one of the countries which are on the Gothic side of the +geographical line we have drawn, and among the many splendid edifices +in that country some of the finest are of the Gothic order. There is no +national architecture there, for though the Spaniards love art and its +expression passionately, they have themselves invented almost nothing +which is artistic. + +[Illustration: FIG. 85.--COLLEGIATE CHURCH, TORO. _From Villa Amil._] + +But while it is true that the Spaniards invented no styles, they +did modify those which they adopted, and there are peculiarities +in the Spanish use and arrangement of the Gothic order which give +it new elements in the eyes of those who understand architecture +scientifically. To the uneducated also it appears to have a personality +of its own, something that is suited to Spain and the Spaniards; so +that, while we know that Spanish Gothic architecture was borrowed +from France and Germany, we yet feel that if the cathedrals of Paris +and Cologne were to be put down in Valencia or Madrid they would look +like strangers, and not at all well-contented ones at that; and if +the churches of Toledo or Burgos were copied precisely in any other +country, they would have an air of being quite out of keeping with +everything around them (Fig. 85). + +We call the architecture of Spain before 1066 the "Early Spanish," and +from that time the Gothic order prevailed during nearly three centuries. + +[Illustration: FIG. 86.--ST. PAUL. _Saragossa._] + +Meantime in the south of Spain the Moresco or Moorish order had sprung +up, of which Fig. 86 gives an example. It was gradually adopted to a +limited extent, until finally some specimens of it existed in almost +every province of the country. The Gothic order was affected by it, +inasmuch as the richness of ornament of the Moorish order so pleased +the taste of the Spaniards that their architects allowed themselves to +indulge in a certain Moorish manner of treating the Gothic style. We +cannot describe these differences in words, but Figs. 86 and 87 will +make it plain. + +[Illustration: FIG. 87.--CLOISTER. _Tarazona._] + +As has been said, the interior decoration of all Gothic churches was +very rich and abundant. It is also true that all church furniture was +made with great care; the matter of symbolism was carefully considered, +and each design made to indicate the use of the article for which it +was intended. No altar, preaching-desk, stall, chair, or screen was +made without due attention to every detail, and the endeavor to have it +in harmony with its use and its position in the church. The following +cut shows a rood-screen, which was the kind of screen that was placed +before the crucifixion over the high altar (Fig. 88). + +[Illustration: FIG. 88.--ROOD-SCREEN, FROM THE MADELEINE. _Troyes._] + +The fantastic sculptures and wealth of ornament in Gothic decorations +produce a confusing effect on the brain and the eye if we look at +the whole carelessly; but when we remember that each separate design +has its especial meaning we are interested to examine them, and we +find that the variety of forms is almost innumerable. Where there are +trailing vines and lions, faith is indicated; roses and pelicans are +the symbols of mercy and divine love; dogs and ivy, of truth; lambs, of +gentleness, innocence, and submission; fishes are an emblem of water +and the rite of baptism; the dragon, of sin and paganism; a serpent, +too, typifies sin, and when wound around a globe it indicates the power +of evil over the whole world; a hind or hart signifies solitude; the +dove, purity; the olive, peace; the palm, martyrdom; the lily, purity +and chastity; the lamp, lantern, or taper, piety; fire and flames, zeal +and the sufferings of martyrdom; a flaming heart, fervent piety and +spiritual love; a shell, pilgrimage; a standard or banner, victory; +and so on, and on, we find that meaning and thought were worked out in +every bit of Gothic ornament, and that what at first appears so wild +and hap-hazard is full of a method which well repays one for the study +of it. + +The Gothic order was also used in building municipal edifices, +palaces, and even for the purposes of domestic architecture. The finest +remains of this kind are in Germany, the most interesting of them all +being the castle on the Wartburg. This castle is large, grand, and +imposing. It is also well preserved. A few years ago it was discovered +that many windows and arched galleries, of very beautiful style, had +been filled up, and that frescoes and other decorations had been +covered. The Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar caused its restoration, and the +ancient halls are now quite in their original state. (See Fig. 89.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 89.--PALACE OF WARTBURG.] + +There are very interesting legends and historical facts connected with +this castle of Wartburg. As early as 1204 to 1208, when Hermann, Count +of Thuringia, dwelt there with his wife, the Countess Sophia, it is +related that the "War of the Minstrels" occurred. This was a contest +between several of the wandering minstrels or Minnesingers of that +time as to who should excel, and he who failed was to suffer death. +The penalty fell on Henry of Ofterdingen; in his despair he begged the +Countess to gain him a respite so that he could go for his master, +Klingsor. Her prayer was granted, and in the end Henry of Ofterdingen +saved his head, though the legend says that Satan aided him. This story +is without doubt founded on truth, but has much of fancy mingled with +it. + +The next remarkable story connected with Wartburg is the residence here +of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, as she is called. This wonderful woman +was the daughter of the King of Hungary, and when four years old she +was betrothed to Prince Louis, son of Count Hermann, mentioned above. +At this tender age she was given to his family. Her life at Wartburg +was very remarkable, and I advise you to read about it, for it is too +long to be given here. At last, her husband having died in Jerusalem, +where he had gone with the Crusaders, his brother Henry drove her out +with her children to seek a home where she could. She suffered much, +and supported herself by spinning wool. But when the knights who had +gone with her husband returned, they obliged Henry to give the son of +Elizabeth his rights. She received the city of Marburg as her dower, +but she did not live long. Miraculous things are told of her, and she +is often represented by painters and sculptors. + +Again, Wartburg was the residence of a remarkable person; for Luther +dwelt there after escaping from the Diet at Worms. He was called Ritter +George, and the room where he wrote and spent much of his time is shown +to travellers who visit the castle. + +We come back now to Italy, the country we left when we passed from the +Romanesque to Gothic architecture. In the north of Italy where the +Gothic order had prevailed after the eleventh century, it had been +modified by the Romanesque influences and Roman traditions, in some +such degree as the Moors had influenced the Gothic order in Spain. But, +on the whole, the mediæval buildings of Northern Italy were Gothic in +style. + +Rome, as we said, was individual, and her art remained Roman or +Romanesque up to the date of the Renaissance. In Southern Italy, as we +shall see, the architecture was of the Byzantine order. + +Among the most interesting edifices of the Middle Ages are the Italian +towers. They were frequently quite separate from the churches and were +built for various purposes. Some of them were bell towers, and such a +tower was called a _campanile_. Others were in some way associated with +the civic power of the cities which built them; but the largest number +were for religious uses. + +The _campanile_ is always square at the bottom and for some distance +up, and then is frequently changed to an octagonal or circular form and +finished with a slender spire or ornamental design. + +[Illustration: FIG. 90.--TOWER OF CREMONA.] + +Fig. 90 shows one of the finest square towers in all Italy. It was +built in 1296 to commemorate a peace after a long war. It is three +hundred and ninety-six feet high. It has little beauty in the lower two +thirds; above that it is more pleasing, but the two parts do not look +as if they belonged together. The tower of Italy, however, which is +most beloved and most famous is that of Giotto, beside the cathedral of +Florence. (See Fig. 102.) + +Another striking feature of Gothic art in Northern Italy is seen in the +porches attached to the churches. They are commonly on the side, and +as they were usually added after the rest of the church was finished, +and frequently do not correspond to the rest in style, they look as if +they were parts of some other churches and had come on a visit to those +beside which they stand. In Italy the main portion of these porches +always rested on lions. + +A porch at Bergamo is one of the finest, and certainly its details are +exquisite, and the whole structure is beautiful when it is considered +separately; but as a part of the church it loses its effect, and seems +to be pushed against it as a chair is placed beside the wall of a room. + +Some of the mediæval town-halls are still well preserved, and a few of +them are truly beautiful. Perhaps the Broletto at Como is as fine a +remnant of civic architecture as exists in Northern Italy. It is not +very large and is faced with party-colored marbles. + +The architecture of Venice and the Venetian Province must be treated +almost as if it were outside of Italy, because it differs so much from +that of other portions of that country. During the Middle Ages it was +the most prosperous portion of Italy. Its architecture was influenced +by the Byzantine and Saracenic orders, but is not like them; neither +is it like that of Northern Italy; in fact, it is Venetian, being +Gothic in principle, but treated with Eastern feeling and decorated +in Oriental taste; and this was quite natural since the Venetians had +extensive traffic and intercourse with the nations of the East. + +[Illustration: FIG. 91.--ST. MARK'S CATHEDRAL. _Venice._] + +There are few places in the world, of no greater extent, about which so +many interesting associations cluster as about the Piazza of St. Mark's +in Venice. On one side stands the great basilica, and not far away are +the _campanile_ and the clock-tower; the ancient Doge's Palace, and the +beautiful Library of St. Mark, of later date, are near by, with their +treasures of art and literature to increase the value of the whole. It +is a spot dear to all, and especially so to English-speaking people, +since the poetry of Shakespeare has given them a reason for personal +interest in it under all its varying aspects. At some hours of the day +St. Mark's seems as if it were the very centre of the earth, to which +men of all nations are hastening; again this bustle dies away, and one +could fancy it to be forgotten and deserted of all mankind, though its +silence is eloquent in its power to recall the great events of the +Venice of the past. (See Figs. 91, 105, and 106.) + +St. Mark's Basilica is called Byzantine in its order, and in a general +way the term is applicable to it; but on careful examination there +are so many differences between it and a purely Byzantine church that +it would be more properly described by the name Italian or Venetian +Byzantine. Its five domes were added to its original form late in the +Middle Ages, and though there are many Eastern mosques with this +number, they are not arranged like those of St. Mark's, and so have +quite a different appearance. The portico with its five entrances is +not European in form, but the details of these deep recesses are more +like the Norman architecture than like anything Byzantine. + +It is scarcely profitable to carry this examination farther, for, in +a word, the whole effect of St. Mark's is very impressive from the +exterior, and the interior is so beautiful in its subdued light and +shadow that one is satisfied to enjoy it without criticising it, and +many critics consider it one of the finest interiors of Western Europe. + +The same difficulty which one finds in defining or classing the +architecture of Venice is met in that of Southern Italy, which is +Byzantine and not Byzantine, but, in fact, is that order so changed +that the name of Byzantine-Romanesque seems better suited to it than +any other term could be. We shall mention but a single example of this +order, and pass to the true Byzantine style. + +[Illustration: FIG. 92.--SECTION OF SAN MINIATO. _Near Florence._] + +The church of San Miniato, which overlooks the city of Florence, was +built in 1013, and is one of the most perfect as well as one of the +earliest of the churches of the Byzantine-Romanesque order in Italy. +It is not large, but the proportions are so good as to make it very +pleasing; the pillars are so nearly classic in design that they were +probably taken from some earlier building, and the effect of colored +panelling both within and without is very satisfactory to the eye. (See +Fig. 92.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 93.--SAN GIOVANNI DEGLI EREMITI. _Palermo._] + +There arose in Sicily in the eleventh century, and after the Norman +Conquest, a remarkable style of architecture. It belongs to Christian +art because it was used by Christians to construct places of Christian +worship; but, in truth, it was a combination of Greek spirit with Roman +form and Saracenic ornament. It makes an interesting episode in the +study of architecture. I shall give one picture of a church built by +King Roger for Christian use as late as 1132, which, except for the +tower, might well be mistaken for a purely Oriental edifice (Fig. 93). + + +BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE. + +This term strictly belongs to the order which arose in the East after +Constantinople was made the Roman capital. It is especially the order +of the Greek Church as contrasted with the Latin or Roman Church. It +would make all architectural writing and talking much clearer if this +fact were kept in mind; but, unfortunately, wherever some special +bit of carving in an Oriental design or a little colored decoration +is used--as is frequently done in the modern composite styles of +building--the term Byzantine is carelessly applied, until it is +difficult for one not learned in architecture to discover what the +Byzantine order is, or where it belongs. + +We have spoken of its influence and partial use in Italy. Now we +will consider it in its home and its purity. Before the time of +Constantine the architecture used at Rome was employed at Jerusalem, +Constantinople, and other Eastern cities which were under Roman rule +and influence. Between the time of Constantine and the death of +Justinian, in A.D. 565, the true ancient Byzantine order was developed. +The church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, was the greatest and the +last product of the pure old Byzantine style. + +From that time the order employed may be called the Neo-Byzantine. This +was a decline of art as much as the history of Greece and the Eastern +Empire during the same period (about 600 to 1453) was the history of +the decline and extinction of a power that had once been as great among +governments as St. Sophia (Fig. 94) was among churches. + +[Illustration: FIG. 94.--CHURCH OF ST. SOPHIA. _Constantinople. +Exterior View._] + +The chief characteristic of Byzantine architecture is the use of the +dome, which is the most important part of its design. A grand central +dome rises over the principal portion of the edifice, and just as in +other orders courts and colonnades were added to the simpler basilica +form in the ground plan of the churches, so in the Byzantine order +lesser domes and cupolas were added above until almost any number of +them was admissible, and they were placed with little attention to +regularity or symmetry of arrangement. + +[Illustration: FIG. 95.--LOWER ORDER OF ST. SOPHIA.] + +As domes were the chief exterior feature, so the profuse ornamentation +was most noticeable in the interior. The walls were richly decorated +with variegated marbles; the vaulted ceilings of the domes and niches +were lined with brilliant mosaics; the columns, friezes, cornices, door +and window-frames, and the railings to galleries were of marbles, and +entirely covered with ornamental designs (Figs. 95 and 96). + +[Illustration: FIG. 96.--UPPER ORDER OF ST. SOPHIA.] + +The historian Gibbon describes the building of St. Sophia and its +decorations. He tells us that the emperor went daily, clad in a linen +tunic, to oversee the work. The architect was named Anthemius; he +employed ten thousand workmen, and they were all paid each evening. +When it was completed and Justinian was present at its consecration, he +exclaimed, "Glory be to God, who hath thought me worthy to accomplish +so great a work; I have vanquished thee, O Solomon!" + +Paul Silentiarius was a poet; he saw St. Sophia in all its glory and +describes it with enthusiasm. It was very rich in variegated marbles. +He mentions the following: 1. _The Carystian_, pale with iron veins. +2. _The Phrygian_, two sorts, both of a rosy hue; one with a white +shade, the other purple with silver flowers. 3. _The Porphyry of +Egypt_, with small stars. 4. _The green marble of Laconia._ 5. _The +Carian_, from Mount Iassis, with oblique veins, white and red. 6. _The +Lydian_, pale, with a red flower. 7. _The African or Mauritanian_, +of a gold or saffron hue. 8. _The Celtic_, black, with white veins. +9. _The Bosphoric_, white, with black edges. There were also the +_Proconnesian_, which made the pavement; and the _Thessalian_ and +_Molossian_ in different parts. + +This array of marbles was made even more effective by the beautiful +columns brought from older temples. The mosaics were rich in color, and +numerous, and many parts of the church were covered with gold, so that +the effect was dazzling. + +Those objects that were most sacred were of solid gold and silver, +while such as were less important were only covered with gold-leaf. In +the sanctuary there was altogether forty thousand pounds of silver; the +vases and vessels used about the altar were of pure gold and studded +with gems. Its whole cost was almost beyond belief. At the close of +his description Gibbon says: "A magnificent temple is a laudable +monument of taste and religion, and the enthusiast who entered the dome +of St. Sophia might be tempted to suppose that it was the residence or +even the workmanship of the Deity. Yet how dull is the artifice, how +insignificant is the labor, if it be compared with the formation of the +vilest insect that crawls upon the surface of the temple!" + +Of course, individual taste must largely influence the opinion +regarding the beauty of any work of art, but to me St. Sophia, which +is the chief example of Byzantine architecture, is far less beautiful +and less grand than the finest Gothic cathedrals. Comparatively little +attention was paid to the elegance and decoration of the exterior +in the Eastern edifices, while the interiors, in spite of all their +riches, have a flat and unrelieved effect. Probably the chief reason +for this is that color is substituted for relief--that is to say, in +Gothic architecture heavy mouldings and panellings, though of the same +color as the walls themselves, yet produce a marvellous effect of light +and shadow, and even lend an element of perspective to various parts +of the building. In the place of these mouldings flat bands of color +are often used in the Byzantine order, and the whole result is much +weakened, though a certain gorgeousness comes from the color. Another +cause of disappointment in St. Sophia is the absence of painted glass. +At the same time, and in spite of these defects, St. Sophia is grand +and beautiful--but not solemn and impressive in comparison with the dim +cathedral aisles of many Gothic churches in other parts of the world. +(See Fig. 97.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 97.--INTERIOR VIEW OF CHURCH OF ST. SOPHIA.] + +The Romanesque and Byzantine styles came at last to be so mingled that +it would be folly to attempt to separate their influence, but the +Byzantine had much more originality, and left a far wider mark. + +Among the most noted examples of the latter style, beside St. Sophia +and St. Mark's, are the church of St. Vitale at Ravenna, the cathedral +at Aix-la-Chapelle, supposed to have been built by Charlemagne about +800 A.D., and the church of the Mother of God at Constantinople. + + +SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. + +In speaking of Saracenic architecture I will first explain that it is +one with the Moresco or Moorish order of which I spoke in connection +with Spain. The only difference is that the earliest Mohammedan +conquerors of Spain are said to have come from ancient Mauri or +Mauritania and were called Moors, while the name of _Saraceni_, which +means "the Easterns," was also given to them. Thus the Mohammedan +architecture in Spain is called both Moresco, or Moorish, and +Saracenic. Again, it is also called Arabian, but I think this is +the least correct, since the Easterns who went to Spain were not so +universally Arabian as to warrant this name. When we speak of Moresco +or Moorish architecture we speak of Spain; but the term Saracenic is +used for Mohammedan architecture in all countries where it is found, +and is a just term, for they are Eastern or Oriental lands. + +In absolute fact, Saracenic architecture is that of the followers of +"the Prophet," as Mohammed is called, and would be more suitably named +if it were called Mohammedan architecture, or the architecture of Islam. + +Mohammed was born at Mecca A.D. 570, but it was not until 611 that he +was commissioned, as he believed, to build up a new faith and a new +church. At first his followers were so few and so mingled with other +sects and tribes in their outward life that they had no distinctive +art. It was not until A.D. 876, when the ruler Ibn-Touloun commenced +his splendid mosque at Cairo, that the Mohammedans could claim any +architecture as their own. It is very interesting to know that there +were pointed arches in this mosque, probably two centuries, at least, +earlier than they were used in England, for it is generally believed +that they were first used there in the rebuilding of Canterbury +Cathedral after it was burned in 1174. When, however, the Saracenic +order was fully established it was so individual and so different from +all other architecture that there is no mistaking it for that of any +other religion or nation than that of Mohammed and his followers. + +The picture of the mosque of Kaitbey shows one of the finest and most +elegant mosques of the East. It is just outside the walls of Cairo, and +is quite modern, having been built in 1463. This view of it gives an +excellent idea of the appearance of a fine mosque and shows the minaret +or tower, which is so important in a mosque, to good advantage (Fig. +98). + +[Illustration: FIG. 98.--MOSQUE OF KAITBEY.] + +These minarets are constantly used for the many calls to prayer which +are made throughout the day and night. The person who makes these calls +is styled "the Muezzin," and is usually blind. Several times during +the day he ascends the minaret and calls out in a loud and melodious +tone, "God is most great; there is no God but Allah, and I testify that +Mohammed is Allah's prophet! Come to prayer! Come to security! Prayer +is better than sleep!" This is several times repeated and is called the +_Adan_. + +The form of words used for the night varies a little, ending, "There +is no God but Allah. He has no companion! To Him belongs dominion, +etc.;" this is called the _Ula_. The call made an hour before day is +the _Ebed_, and praises the perfection of God. When one is sleeping +near enough to a minaret to hear the muezzin's voice it is a pleasant +sound and helps one to realize that the care of God is ever about him; +the clear, Christian bell can be heard by more people, and this was +originally intended as a call to prayer. (See Fig. 99.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 99.--THE CALL TO PRAYER.] + +The principal homes of Saracenic architecture are Syria, Egypt, Mecca, +Barbary, Spain, Sicily, Turkey, Persia, and India. There are many very +interesting mosques and minarets that might be mentioned had we space, +but I can speak only of the mosque of Cordova, which is universally +admitted to be the finest Saracenic edifice in the world (Fig. 100), +and shall quote a part of the interesting description of it given by De +Amicis in his delightful book called "Spain and the Spaniards." + +[Illustration: FIG. 100.--EXTERIOR OF THE SANCTUARY IN THE MOSQUE OF +CORDOVA.] + +This mosque was commenced by the Caliph Abd-er-Rahman in 786, and was +completed by his son Heshâm, who died 796. The great Caliph declared +that he would build a mosque which should exceed all others in the +world and be the Mecca of the West. De Amicis, after describing the +garden which surrounds the mosque, enters, and then goes on as follows: +"Imagine a forest, fancy yourself in the thickest portion of it, and +that you can see nothing but the trunks of trees. So, in this mosque, +on whatever side you look, the eye loses itself among the columns. +It is a forest of marble whose confines one cannot discover. You +follow with your eye, one by one, the very long rows of columns that +interlace at every step with numberless other rows, and you reach +a semi-obscure background, in which other columns still seem to be +gleaming. There are nineteen naves, which extend in every direction, +traversed by thirty-three others, supported (among them all) by more +than nine hundred columns of porphyry, jasper, breccia, and marbles of +every color. Each column upholds a small pilaster, and between them +runs an arch (see plate above), and a second one extends from pilaster +to pilaster, the latter placed above the former, and both of them in +the shape of a horseshoe; so that, in imagining the columns to be the +trunks of so many trees, the arches represent the branches, and the +similitude of the mosque to a forest is complete.... How much variety +there is in that edifice which at first sight seems so uniform! The +proportions of the columns, the designs of the capitals, the forms +of the arches change, one might say, at every step. The majority of +the columns are old, and were taken from the Arabs of Northern Spain, +Gaul, and Roman Africa, and some are said to have belonged to a temple +of Janus, on the ruins of which was built the church that the Arabs +destroyed in order to erect the mosque. Above several of the capitals +one can still see traces of the crosses that were cut on them, which +the Arabs broke with their chisels.... I stopped for a long time to +look at the ceiling and walls of the principal chapel, the only part of +the mosque that is quite intact. It is a dazzling gleam of crystals of +a thousand colors, a network of arabesques, which puzzles the mind, and +a complication of bas-reliefs, gildings, ornaments, minutiæ of design +and coloring, of a delicacy, grace, and perfection sufficient to drive +the most patient painter distracted.... You might turn a hundred times +to look at it, and it would only seem to you, in thinking it over, a +mingling of blue, red, green, gilded and luminous points, or a very +intricate embroidery changing continually, with the greatest rapidity, +both design and coloring. Only from the fiery and indefatigable +imagination of the Arabs could such a perfect miracle of art +emanate.... Such is the mosque of to-day. But what must it have been in +the time of the Arabs? It was not surrounded by a wall, but open, so +that one could catch a glimpse of the garden from every part of it; and +from the garden one could see to the end of the long naves, and the air +was full of the fragrance of oranges and flowers. The columns which now +number less than a thousand were then fourteen hundred; the ceiling was +of cedar-wood and larch, sculptured and enamelled in the finest manner; +the walls were trimmed with marble; the light of eight hundred lamps, +filled with perfumed oil, made all the crystals in the mosaics gleam, +and produced on the pavements, arches, and walls a marvellous play +of color and reflection. 'A sea of splendors,' sang a poet, 'filled +this mysterious recess; the ambient air was impregnated with aromas +and harmonies, and the thoughts of the faithful wandered and lost +themselves in the labyrinth of columns which gleamed like lances in the +sun.'" + +The famous palace of the Alhambra is so well known that I cannot leave +this part of our subject without one picture and one bit of description +of it from the same author, De Amicis. + +The Alhambra was built about four centuries ago, and the wall which +inclosed it was four thousand feet long by twenty-two hundred feet +wide. Within this there were gardens, fountains, kiosks, and many +beautiful, fanciful structures, all of which doubtless cost as +much as the more necessary parts of the edifice. The roofs of the +different parts of the palace were supported by forty-three hundred +columns of precious marbles; eleven hundred and seventy-two of these +were presented to Abd-er-Rahman (for he was also the founder of the +Alhambra) by sovereigns of other countries, or else brought by him +from distant shores for the decoration of this splendid, fairy-like +place. All the pavements were of beautiful marbles; the walls, too, +were of the same material, with friezes arranged in splendid colors; +the ceilings were of deep blue color, with figures in gilding and +interlacing designs running over all. In truth, nothing that could be +imagined or wealth buy to make this palace beautiful was left out; and +yet we are told that the palace of Zahra which was destroyed was still +finer. All this leads one to almost believe that the "Arabian Nights" +are no fanciful tales, but quite as true as many more serious sounding +stories. + +The Court of the Lions is called "the gem of Arabian art in Spain," +and of this our author says: "It is a forest of columns, a mingling of +arches and embroideries, an indefinable elegance, an indescribable +delicacy, a prodigious richness, a something light, transparent, and +undulating like a great pavilion of lace; with almost the appearance of +a building which must dissolve at a breath; a variety of lights, views, +mysterious darkness, a confusion, a capricious disorder of little +things, the majesty of a palace, the gayety of a kiosk, an amorous +grace, an extravagance, a delirium, the fancy of an imaginative child, +the dream of an angel, a madness, a nameless something--such is the +first effect produced by the Court of the Lions!" (Fig. 101.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 101.--COURT OF THE LIONS. ALHAMBRA.] + +This court is not large; the ceiling is high, and a light portico +runs round it upheld by white marble columns in clusters of two, +three, or more, so arranged as to resemble trees coming up from the +ground. Above the columns the designs almost resemble curtains, and +there are little graceful suggestions like ribbons and waving flowers. +"From the middle of the shortest sides advance two groups of columns, +which form two species of square temples of nine arches each (see +cut) surmounted by as many colored cupolas. The walls of these little +temples and the exterior of the portico are a real lace-work of stucco, +embroideries, and hems, cut and pierced from one side to the other, and +as transparent as net-work, changing in design at every step. Sometimes +they end in points, in crimps, in festoons, sometimes in ribbons waving +round the arches, in kinds of stalactites, fringes, trinkets, and bows +which seem to move and mingle with each other at the slightest breath +of air. Large Arabic inscriptions run along the four walls, over the +arches, around the capitals, and on the walls of the little temples. In +the centre of the court rises a great marble basin, upheld by twelve +lions (see cut), and surrounded by a little paved canal.... At every +step one takes in the court that forest of columns seems to move and +change place, to form again in another way; behind one column, which +seems alone, two, three, or a row will spring out; others separate, +unite, and separate again.... We remained for more than an hour in the +court, and it passed like a flash; I, too, did what almost all people +do, be they Spanish or strangers, men or women, poets or not. I ran my +hand along the walls, touched all the little columns, and passed my two +hands around them, one by one, as around the waist of a child; I hid +among them, counted them, looked at them on a hundred sides, crossed +the court in a hundred ways, tried if it were true that in saying a +word, _sotto voce_, into the mouth of one lion, one could hear it +distinctly from the mouths of all the others; I looked on the marbles +for the spots of blood of poetic legends, and wearied both brain and +eye over the arabesques.... In all my life I have never thought, nor +said, nor shall I say, so many foolish, stupid, pretty, senseless +things as I said and thought in that hour." + +The study of Saracenic architecture in Turkey, Persia, and India is +very interesting, but our space warns us that we must hasten to leave +this dreamy, fairy-like part of our subject and come down to later +times and more realistic matters. + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER III. + +MODERN ARCHITECTURE. + +1400 A.D. TO THE PRESENT TIME. + + +All Architecture since the time of the Renaissance is called Modern +Architecture; this term, therefore, embraces all edifices erected +during nearly four centuries. + +When I first spoke of Architecture I said that it was a constructive +art, and not imitative like Painting and Sculpture. In its earlier +history this was true, but the time came when it also became an +imitative art and had no true or original style. The Gothic order was +the last distinct order which arose, and since its decline, at the +beginning of the Renaissance, all architecture has been an imitation +because it is a reproduction of what existed before; at times some one +of the older orders has been in favor and closely imitated, and again, +parts of several orders are combined in one edifice. Since the time of +the Reformation it has been true, almost without exception, that every +building of any importance has been copied from something belonging to +a country and a people foreign to the land in which it was erected. + +When the revival of Classic Literature began, Rome was the first to +feel its influence. It was welcomed there with open arms, just as we +might receive the early history and literature of our country if it had +all been lost and was found again; for this was precisely what it meant +to the Romans, when, after the Dark Ages, the works of Livy, Tacitus, +and Cæsar were in their hands, and they read of the history, art, and +literature of their past. They were enthusiastic, and their feeling +soon spread over all Italy. + +France was the next to adopt the newly-revived ideas, for that country +looked to Rome as the source of true religion, and a model in all +things. Spain was then in an unsettled state, and welcomed the revival +of classic art as heartily as it had already embraced the Church of +Rome. + +In Germany the love of the classics was enthusiastic, but that nation +was more taken up with literature and slower in adopting the revival +of the arts than were the more southern peoples, and the fifteenth +and sixteenth centuries are a barren period in the history of German +architecture. + +In England, too, the Renaissance made slow progress. It was not until +the time of Charles I. that any influence was felt in Great Britain +from the revival of classic taste which was so well established on the +Continent. + +As it is true that no new order of Architecture has arisen since the +time of those of which I have already told you, I shall try to make +you understand something of Modern Architecture by speaking of certain +important edifices in one country and another, with no attempt at any +more detailed explanation of it. + + +ITALY. + +We cannot say that the art of the Renaissance originated in one +city or another, because the movement in the revival of art was so +general throughout Italy; but Florence has a strong claim to our first +consideration from the fact that Filippo Brunelleschi was a Florentine +and did his greatest work in his native city, and on account of it has +been called "the father of the Art of the Renaissance." He was born in +1377, and from his early boyhood was inclined to be an architect. The +cathedral of Florence (Fig. 102), which is also called the church of +Sta. Maria del Fiore, had been built long before, but had never been +finished by a roof or dome. + +[Illustration: FIG. 102.--THE CATHEDRAL OF FLORENCE AND GIOTTO'S +CAMPANILE.] + +Brunelleschi was possessed with but one desire, which was to complete +this cathedral. He went to Rome and diligently studied the remains +of classic art which he found there, and especially the dome of the +Pantheon. Returning to Florence he took measures to bring his plans +before the superintendents of the cathedral works; he was ridiculed and +discouraged on every hand, but he never gave up his hopes nor lessened +his study of the ways and means by which the dome could be built. Thus +many weary years passed by; Brunelleschi made drawings in secret, and +from these he constructed models in order to convince himself of what +he could do. + +At last those who had authority in the matter were ready to act, and a +convention was called, before which the architects of different nations +appeared and were requested to explain their theories of what could be +done to cover the cathedral. Many artists were assembled and various +plans were shown, but after all had been examined the work was given to +Brunelleschi, and he was happy in finding that the years he had devoted +to the study of the dome had not been spent in vain. + +It was on this occasion that Brunelleschi refused to show his models, +and when the other architects blamed him for this he asked that some +eggs should be brought, and proposed that he who could make an egg +stand upright on a smooth piece of marble should be the builder of the +dome. The others tried to do this and failed; at last Brunelleschi +brought his egg down on the marble with a sharp tap and left it +standing erect. Then all exclaimed, "Oh, we could have done that if we +had known that was the way," to which Brunelleschi replied, "So you +could have built a dome if I had shown you my models." + +This story is often told of Columbus, but as Brunelleschi was much +older than Columbus, and the fact is related by Florentine writers +of his time, it is probable that Columbus had heard of it from the +geographer Toscanelli, who was a great admirer of Brunelleschi and a +friend of Columbus also. In building the dome, Brunelleschi encountered +great difficulties, but he lived to be assured of his success, for at +his death, in 1444, it lacked but little of completion, and all the +parts essential to its perfection and durability were finished. + +This is the largest dome in the world, for though the cross on the top +of St. Peter's is farther from the ground than that of Florence, the +dome itself above the church is not as large as the dome of Sta. Maria +del Fiore. + +This work made Brunelleschi's greatest fame, but he was the architect +of many other fine churches and of secular buildings also; among the +last the Pitti Palace, in which is the famous Pitti Gallery, is one of +the most important. When you go to Florence you will see a statue of +Filippo Brunelleschi, which is very interesting, on account of the way +in which it is represented and the position in which it is placed. It +is on one side of the Piazza of the cathedral; he is calmly sitting +there with a plan of the church spread before him on his lap, while he +lifts his head to look at the great dome as it stands out against the +sky, the realization of all his thought and labor during so many years. + +[Illustration: FIG. 103.--VIEW OF ST. PETER'S. _Rome._] + +The church of St. Peter's at Rome, which is the largest and most +magnificent of all Christian temples, was begun about 1450, and was +not brought into its present form until about 1661, or more than two +centuries later (Fig. 103). + +The history of its building is largely a story of contentions and +troubles between popes, architects, and artists of different kinds. +As it now stands it is as much the work of Michael Angelo as of any +one man, but several other architects left their imprint upon it, both +before and after his time; and all who aided in its construction were +eminent men, in their way. Michael Angelo was in his seventy-second +year when he took up the task of completing St. Peter's. Bramante, +Raphael, and Peruzzi had preceded him as architects of the church; +Michael Angelo designed the dome, and when he was ninety it was nearly +finished; the models for its completion which he made were not followed +after his death; his plan would have made the church more harmonious +with the dome, in size, than it now is. Money was sent in large sums, +from all Europe, to carry on this work; the finest materials were +used in building it, and the most gifted artists were employed in its +decoration; it is now the vast home of multitudes of treasures. "I +have hung the Pantheon in the air!" Michael Angelo is said to have +exclaimed, while looking at the splendid dome of St. Peter's; and no +dome in the world has a more imposing effect, although its harmony with +the rest of the building is injured by the change of the plan from that +of a Greek cross which was made after his death.[A] + + [A] The interior diameter of the dome of St. Peter's is one + hundred and thirty-nine feet; that of St. Sophia, one + hundred and fifteen feet, and that of Sta. Maria del Fiore, + at Florence, one hundred and thirty-eight feet, six inches. + +In spite of all this the critics of architecture are never weary of +pointing out the defects of St. Peter's; but to those who cannot apply +to it the test of strictly scientific rules, its interior is sublime in +its effect, and has few rivals--perhaps but one--in the world, and that +is the great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, of which we spoke when writing +of Egyptian architecture. But even here the difference is almost too +great to admit of comparison; the spirit of the two is so unlike--St. +Peter's is complete and Karnak is a ruin--so, after all, it must be +admitted that the interior of St. Peter's is superior to all other +edifices of which we know (Fig. 104). + +[Illustration: FIG. 104.--SECTION OF ST. PETER'S.] + +From the time of the beginning of the Renaissance, about 1420, to +about 1630, the architecture of Venice was going through a change, and +finally reached such perfection that during the next half century the +most magnificent style of architecture prevailed which has ever been +known there. We mean to say that the whole effect was the grandest, +for, while it is true that the edifices of that time are stately and +striking in their appearance, it is equally true that their form and +ornamentation are not as much in keeping with their use as they had +been in older edifices. + +Sansovino, who lived from 1479 to 1570, was an important architect and +had great influence upon modern Venetian architecture. His masterpiece +was the Library of St. Mark, of which the preceding cut gives one +end (Fig. 105). It is a very beautiful structure, and is made more +interesting from the fact that it stands directly opposite to the +Doge's Palace, and in the midst of all the interest which centres about +the Piazza of St. Mark. + +[Illustration: FIG. 105.--EAST ELEVATION OF LIBRARY OF ST. MARK. +_Venice._] + +The Ducal Palace at Venice is called by John Ruskin, the great English +critic, "the central edifice of the world." It is divided into three +stories, of which the uppermost occupies rather more than half the +height of the building. The two lower stories are arcades of low, +pointed arches, supported on pillars, the one beneath being bolder and +heavier in character than the second. The capitals of the columns are +greatly varied, no two in the upper arcade being exactly alike. Above +the arches of the middle story was a row of open-work spaces, of the +form called quatrefoil; while the third story is faced with alternating +blocks of rose-colored and white marble, and is pierced with a few +large pointed windows. The whole front, or façade, is crowned by an +open parapet made up of blocks of stone carved into lily-like forms +alternating with lance-shaped leaves. The whole effect is one of great +richness and beauty, especially since time has mellowed its color, and +softened without destroying the whiteness of its marbles (Fig. 106). + +[Illustration: FIG. 106.--THE DOGE'S PALACE. _Venice._] + +During the time of the Renaissance there were churches, palaces, +museums, hospitals, and other large buildings erected in all the +important cities of Italy. There are but few of these which have such +special features as entitle them to be selected for description here. +The reason for this has been given already--viz.: there was nothing new +in them; they were all repetitions of what has been described in one +form or another. Perhaps the next cut gives as good an example of +secular architecture in this age as any that could be selected (Fig. +107). + +[Illustration: FIG. 107.--GREAT COURT OF THE HOSPITAL OF MILAN.] + +Indeed, it is one of the most remarkable buildings of its class in any +age. It was commenced by Francesco Sforza and his wife, Bianca, in +1456. They died long before its completion, and one part and another +have been changed from time to time, but its great court, which was +designed by Bramante, still remains, the finest thing of its kind in +all Italy. + +I shall now leave Italy with saying that the early days of the +Renaissance were the best days of Italian Architecture, and, indeed, of +Italian Art. The period made sacred by the genius and works of Michael +Angelo, Bramante, Sangallo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael was a +golden era, and still sheds its lustre over the land of their nativity. +These artists followed the highest ideal of Art, and their errors were +superior to the so-called successes of less gifted men. + +The Italian Art of the fifteenth century was individual and grand; in +the sixteenth century it became formal and elegant; in the seventeenth +century it was bizarre, over-ornamented, and uncertain in its aim and +execution; since then it has been comparatively unimportant, and its +architecture scarcely merits censure, and certainly cannot be praised. + + +SPAIN. + +From the time of the fall of Granada, in 1492 to 1558, Spain was the +leading nation of Europe. The whole country had been united under +Ferdinand and Isabella, and their reign was a glorious period for their +country. The importance of the nation was increased by the discovery +of the New World, and so many great men were in her councils that her +eminence was sure, and almost undisputed. Thus it followed that during +the first half of the sixteenth century the Architecture of Spain gave +expression to the spirit by which the nation was then animated. + +This did not long continue, however, for the iron, practical rule +of Philip II. crushed out enthusiasm and was fatal to artistic +inspiration. This sovereign desired only to extend his kingdom; the +priests, who acquired almost limitless power under his reign, aimed +only to strengthen their authority, while the people were wildly +pursuing riches in the New World which opened up to them a vast and +attractive field. Thus no place or time was left to the cultivation +of Art, and the only noteworthy period of Spanish Architecture since +the beginning of the Renaissance was the sixty years which we have +mentioned. + +The Modern Architecture of Spain has been divided into three eras, each +of which was distinguished by its own style. The first extends from +the beginning of the Renaissance down to that of the abdication of the +great Emperor Charles V. in 1555; the manner of this period is called +Platerisco, or the silversmith's style, on account of the vast amount +of fine, filigree ornament which was used. The second period is from +the above date to about 1650, and its art is called the Græco-Roman +style because it is an attempt to revive the Classic Art of the +ancient Greeks and Romans. The third period comes from 1650 to about a +century later, and the Spaniards call its manner the Churrigueresque, +which difficult name they take from that of Josef de Churriguera, the +architect who invented this style. Since 1750 we may almost say that no +such thing as Spanish Architecture has existed. + +The cathedrals of Granada, Jaen, and Valladolid, and the churches +of Malaga and Segovia, with many other ecclesiastical edifices, are +among the chief monuments of Spanish Renaissance Architecture, but +we shall pass on to a little later period and speak of but one great +achievement, the famous Escurial, which is of much historic interest. + +This combination of basilica, palace, monastery, and college was begun +in 1563 by Philip II., in accordance with a vow which he made to St. +Lawrence at the battle of St. Quentin. This battle was fought in 1557 +under the walls of the French town of St. Quentin, by the French and +the Spaniards, and the latter were completely victorious. + +This cut gives an idea of how grand and impressive this collection +of walls, towers, courts, and edifices must be, all crowned with the +dome of the basilica. It is almost like a city by itself, and all who +visit it agree that it is a gloomy and depressing place in spite of its +grandeur (Fig. 108). + +[Illustration: FIG. 108.--THE ESCURIAL. _Near Madrid._] + +The front has three imposing entrances, with towers at the corner +angles. Within the inclosure are a college, monastery, palace with +state apartments, the church, numerous courts, gardens, and fountains. +The front is injured by the great number of small windows, which divide +it into such numberless sections as to become very tiresome to the +eye, while they take away the noble elegance of larger spaces and the +air of repose which such spaces give. The angle towers are not as rich +in effect as they should be, and the side walls have been compared +to those of a Manchester cotton-mill; thus the exterior, which is +effective from its size and general air, has not the beauty of detail +which satisfies a close observer. + +The effect of the interior, as one goes in by the central entrance, +is all that can be desired. The court leads directly to the square +before the church; as one passes to it he has the college on one side, +the monastery on the other, farther on the palace, with the whole +culminating in the grand state apartments and the basilica. The various +courts are striking in their arrangement, and the church with its dome +and towers gives a supreme glory to the whole. Gardens, fountains, and +many other fine objects add their effect to the richness and beauty +of the whole; but all are insignificant beside the basilica, which +merits a place in the foremost rank of the churches of the Renaissance. +Indeed, the Escurial is a marvellous place, and is often called "the +eighth wonder of the world." The richest marbles, splendid pictures, +and many magnificent objects help to make it one of the grandest works +of modern architecture. + +It is also true that it is one of the gloomiest places visited by +travellers, and I shall quote a few lines from De Amicis to show the +depressing effect which it has upon those who go there. + +"The first feeling is that of sadness; the whole building is of +dirt-colored stone, and striped with white between the stones; the +roofs are covered with strips of lead. It looks like an edifice built +of earth. The walls are very high and bare, and contain a great number +of loopholes. One would call it a prison rather than a convent.... +The locality, the forms, the colors, everything, in fact, seems to +have been chosen by him who founded the edifice with the intention of +offering to the eyes of men a sad and solemn spectacle. Before entering +you have lost all your gayety; you no longer smile, but think. You +stop at the doors of the Escurial with a sort of trepidation, as at +the gates of a deserted city; it seems to you that, if the terrors of +the Inquisition reigned in some corner of the world, they ought to +reign among those walls. You would say that therein one might still +see the last traces of it and hear its last echo.... The royal palace +is superb, and it is better to see it before entering the convent and +church, in order not to confuse the separate impressions produced by +each. This palace occupies the northeast corner of the edifice. Several +rooms are full of pictures, others are covered from floor to ceiling +with tapestries, representing bull-fights, public balls, games, fêtes, +and Spanish costumes, designed by Goya; others are regally furnished +and adorned; the floor, the doors, and the windows are covered with +marvellous inlaid work and stupendous gilding. But among all the rooms +the most noteworthy is that of Philip II.; it is rather a cell than a +room, is bare and squalid, with an alcove which answers to the royal +oratory of the church, so that, from the bed, by keeping the doors +open, one can see the priest who is saying mass. Philip II. slept in +that cell, had his last illness there, and there he died. One still +sees some chairs used by him, two little stools upon which he rested +the leg tormented with gout, and a writing-desk. The walls are white, +the ceiling flat and without any ornament, and the floor of brick.... +In the court-yard of the kings you can form a first idea of the immense +frame-work of the edifice. The court is inclosed by walls; on the side +opposite the doors is the façade of the church. On a spacious flight +of steps there are six enormous Doric columns, each of which upholds +a large pedestal, and every pedestal a statue. There are six colossal +statues, by Battiste Monegro, representing Jehoshaphat, Ezekiel, David, +Solomon, Joshua, and Manasseh. The court-yard is paved, scattered +with bunches of damp turf. The walls look like rocks cut in points; +everything is rigid, massive, and heavy, and presents the fantastic +appearance of a Titanic edifice, hewn out of solid stone, and ready to +defy the shocks of earth and the lightnings of heaven. There one begins +to understand what the Escurial really is. + +"One ascends the steps and enters the church. The interior is sad and +bare.... Beside the high altar, sculptured and gilded in the Spanish +style, in the inter-columns of the two royal oratories, one sees two +groups of bronze statues kneeling, with their hands clasped toward the +altar. On the right Charles V. and the Empress Isabella, and several +princesses; on the left, Philip II. with his wives.... In a corner, +near a secret door, is the chair which Philip II. occupied. He received +through that door letters and important messages, without being seen +by the priests who were chanting in the choir. This church, which, in +comparison with the entire building, seems very small, is nevertheless +one of the largest in Spain, and although it appears so free from +ornamentation, contains immense treasures of marble, gold, relics, +and pictures, which the darkness in part conceals, and from which the +sad appearance of the edifice distracts one's attention.... But every +feeling sinks into that of sadness. The color of the stone, the gloomy +light, and the profound silence which surrounds you, recall your mind +incessantly to the vastitude, unknown recesses, and solitude of the +building, and leave no room for the pleasure of admiration. The aspect +of the church awakens in you an inexplicable feeling of inquietude. You +would divine, were you not otherwise aware of it, that those walls are +surrounded, for a great distance, by nothing but granite, darkness, +and silence; without seeing the enormous edifice, you feel it; you +feel that you are in the midst of an uninhabited city; you would fain +quicken your pace in order to see it rapidly, to free yourself from the +weight of that mystery, and to seek, if they exist anywhere, bright +light, noise, and life.... One goes to the convent, and here human +imagination loses itself; ... you pass through a long subterranean +corridor, so narrow that you can touch the walls with your elbows, +low enough almost to hit the ceiling with your head, and as damp as +a submarine grotto; you reach the end, turn, and you are in another +corridor. You go on, come to doors, look, and other corridors stretch +away before you as far as the eye can reach. At the end of some you see +a ray of light, at the end of others an open door, through which you +catch a glimpse of a suite of rooms.... You look through a door and +start back alarmed; at the end of that long corridor, into which you +have glanced, you have seen a man as motionless as a spectre, who was +looking at you. You proceed, and emerge on a narrow court, inclosed +by high walls, which is gloomy, overgrown with weeds, and illumined +by a faint light which seems to fall from an unknown sun, like the +court of the witches described to us when we were children.... You +pass through other corridors, staircases, suites of empty rooms, and +narrow courts, and everywhere there is granite, a pale light, and the +silence of a tomb. For a short time you think you would be able to +retrace your steps; then your memory becomes confused, and you remember +nothing more; you seem to have walked ten miles, to have been in that +labyrinth for a month, and not to be able to get out of it. You come to +a court and say, 'I have seen it already!' but you are mistaken; it is +another.... You seem to be dreaming; catch glimpses of long frescoed +walls ornamented with pictures, crucifixes, and inscriptions; you see +and forget; and ask yourself, 'Where am I?'... On you go from corridor +to corridor, court to court; you look ahead with suspicion; almost +expect to see suddenly, at the turning of a corner, a row of skeleton +monks, with their hoods drawn over their eyes and their arms folded; +you think of Philip II., and seem to hear his retreating step through +dark hallways; you remember all that you have read of him, of his +treasures, the Inquisition, and all becomes clear to your mind's eye; +you understand everything for the first time; the Escurial _is_ Philip +II., he is still there, alive and frightful, and with him the image +of his terrible God.... The Escurial surrounds, holds, and overwhelms +you; the cold of its stones penetrates to your marrow; the sadness of +its sepulchral labyrinths invades your soul; if you are with a friend +you say, 'Let us leave;' if you were alone you would take to flight. At +last you mount a staircase, enter a room, go to the window, and salute +with a burst of gratitude the mountains, sun, freedom, and the great +and beneficent God who loves and pardons. What a long breath one draws +at that window! + +"An illustrious traveller said that after having passed a day in the +convent of the Escurial, one ought to feel happy throughout one's life, +in simply thinking that one might still be among those walls, but is +no longer there. This is almost true. Even at the present day, after +so great a lapse of time, on rainy days, when I am sad, I think of the +Escurial, then look at the walls of my room, and rejoice!" + +During the sixteenth century there were many palaces erected in Spain, +but nothing can be added to the impressions you will get from the +descriptions we have quoted of the cheerful, gay Alhambra, and the +gloomy, sad Escurial. + +The domestic architecture of Spain is unattractive. There are no +fine _châteaux_, as in France, or elegant parks, as in England. Ford +compares the front of the residence of the Duke of Medina to "ten +Baker-street houses put together," and this is true of many so-called +palaces. This state of modern Spanish architecture is fully accounted +for by the following quotation from Fergusson, the learned writer on +architecture: + +"On the whole, perhaps, we should not be far wrong in assuming that the +Spaniards are among the least artistic people in Europe. Great things +have been done in their country by foreigners, and they themselves have +done creditable things in periods of great excitement, and under the +pressure of foreign example; but in themselves they seem to have no +innate love of Art, no real appreciation for its beauties, and, when +left to themselves, they care little for the expression of beauty in +any of the forms in which Art has learned to embody itself. In Painting +they have done some things that are worthy of praise; in Sculpture they +have done very little; and in Architectural Art they certainly have not +achieved success. Notwithstanding that they have a climate inviting +to architectural display in every form; though they have the best of +materials in infinite abundance; though they had wealth and learning, +and were stimulated by the example of what had been done in their own +country, and was doing by other nations--in spite of all this, they +have fallen far short of what was effected either in Italy or France, +and now seem to be utterly incapable of appreciating the excellencies +of Architectural Art, or of caring to enjoy them." + + +FRANCE. + +After the reigns of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. the French people +became somewhat familiar with Italian Art, and at length, during the +reign of Francis I., from 1515 to 1546, everything Italian was the +fashion in France. Francis invited such artists as Leonardo da Vinci, +Benvenuto Cellini, Primaticcio, and Andrea del Sarto to come to France +and aid him in his works at Fontainebleau and elsewhere. + +It was not long before the Gothic architecture which had been so much +used and improved in France was thought to be inferior in beauty to +the Italian architecture as it existed in the sixteenth century, and +very soon the latter style was adopted and considered as the only one +worthy of admiration. But the French architects had been so trained +to the Gothic order that it was not easy for them to change their +habits of design, and the result was that new edifices were largely +of the Gothic form, but were finished and ornamented like the Italian +buildings; by this means the effect of the whole, when completed, was +such as is seen in this picture of the church of St. Michael at Dijon +(Fig. 109). In these days no one approves of this union of Gothic +design and Italian decoration, but when it was the fashion it was +thought to be very beautiful by French architects. + +[Illustration: FIG. 109.--FAÇADE OF THE CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL. _Dijon._] + +Francis I., who was so anxious to introduce Italian art into France, +erected edifices of a very different sort from those which he attempted +to imitate. In Italy, the principal buildings of the Renaissance were +churches or convents, or such as were in some way for religious uses. +Francis I. built palaces like that of Fontainebleau, and splendid +châteaux like those of Chambord, or Chenonceaux, and the Italian style +of architecture could not be readily adapted to the lighter uses of the +French kings. The splendid massive Pitti Palace, built after the design +of the great Brunelleschi, would scarcely have harmonized with the +river banks and the lovely undulating meadows around a country villa +or château. So it gradually happened that French Architecture was more +graceful, light, and elegant than the architecture of the churches, +monasteries, and other religious edifices of Italy, and at the same +time the Italian feeling and influence can easily be traced in the +French buildings of the time of which we speak. + +In Italy the Pope and the Church governed in Art, and considered it +only as a religious means of glorifying the Church and impressing its +doctrines upon the whole people. In France the sovereigns held the +leading place, and in the midst of their ambitions and their gayeties +they found little time to consider the matter of church architecture. +Though the church of St. Eustache was erected at Paris, and other +churches were restored, it was not until 1629, when Cardinal Richelieu +ordered the building of the church of the Sarbonne, that an example +was given of the full effects upon French church architecture of the +change from the Gothic, or Mediæval style, to that of the Renaissance, +or the Classic style. + +Perhaps the church of the Invalides is the most remarkable building of +the seventeenth century in France. It was designed and superintended +by Jules Hardouin Mansard, a skilful architect, who was born in 1647, +and died in 1708. The erection of the dome of the Invalides occupied +him from 1680 to 1706. It is a fashion to criticise this as well as all +famous buildings, but if it is remembered that the dome was intended to +be _the feature_ of the edifice, and that it was therefore necessary to +sacrifice something to it, in the construction of the whole, we must +admit that what its admirers claim for it is true--namely, that it is +one of the finest domical edifices in Europe, and a most satisfactory +example of the architecture of its class (Fig. 110). + +[Illustration: FIG. 110.--FAÇADE OF THE DOME OF THE INVALIDES. _Paris._] + +Directly underneath this dome is the crypt in which is the sarcophagus +which contains the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte. On the door which +leads to the crypt are inscribed the following words, taken from the +will of the exile at St. Helena: "I desire that my ashes may rest on +the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people whom I have +loved so well." + +This tomb is said to have cost nearly two millions of dollars, and +though it is beautiful, and in good taste in its details, yet one can +but regret that all this expense should not have erected a splendid +mausoleum, such as would have dignified the monumental art of France. + +The church of St. Genevieve, or the Pantheon, as it is usually called, +is a very important architectural work. It was twenty-six years in +building, and was not completed until after the death of its architect, +Soufflot, which occurred in 1781 (Fig. 111). + +[Illustration: FIG. 111.--THE PANTHEON. _Paris._] + +It is said that this church was begun as the fulfilment of a vow made +by King Louis XV. when he was ill, but as the French Revolution was +in progress when it was completed, it was dedicated to the "_Grands +Hommes_," or the great men of France, and not to God or the sweet St. +Genevieve, who was one of the patron saints of Paris. + +The dome of the Pantheon is elegant and chaste, but not great in design +or effect, and the whole appearance of the church is weakened by the +extreme width of the spaces between the front columns; this makes the +entablature appear weak, and is altogether a serious defect. Another +striking fault is the way in which a second column is placed outside +at each end of the portico; one cannot imagine a reason for this, and +it is confusing and unmeaning in the extreme. The interior of the +Pantheon is superior to the exterior, and many authorities name it as +the most satisfactory of all modern, classical church interiors; when +it was built it was believed to be as perfect an imitation of antique +classical architecture as could be made, and all the world may be +grateful that it escaped the fate prepared for it by the Communists. +This was averted by the discovery and cutting of the fuse which they +had prepared for its destruction on May 24th, 1871; the fuse led to the +crypts beneath the church, where these reckless men had placed large +quantities of powder. + +In the beginning of the present century French architects believed it +best to reproduce exactly ancient temples which had been destroyed. +According to this view the church of the Madeleine was begun in 1804, +after the designs of Vignon. Outwardly it is a temple of the Corinthian +order, and is very beautiful, though its position greatly lessens +its effect. If it were on a height, or standing in a large square by +itself, it would be far more imposing (Fig. 112). + +[Illustration: FIG. 112.--THE MADELEINE. _Paris._] + +The church of the Trinity and that of the Augustines, at Paris, are +important church edifices of the present day, but though much thought +and time have been lavished on them, they are not as attractive as +we could wish the works of our own time to be; and they seem almost +unworthy of attention when we remember that in the same city there are +so many examples of architecture that have far more artistic beauty, +as well as the additional charms of age and the interest of historical +associations. + +We have already spoken of the sort of building in which Francis I. +delighted. Of all his undertakings the rebuilding of the Louvre was the +most successful. Its whole design was fine and the ornaments beautiful; +many of these decorations were made after the drawings of Jean Goujon, +who was an eminent master in such sculptures. The court of the Louvre +has never been excelled in any country of Europe; it is a wonderful +work for the time in which it was built, and satisfies the taste of +the most critical observers (Fig. 113). + +[Illustration: FIG. 113.--PAVILION DE L'HORLOGE AND PART OF THE COURT +OF THE LOUVRE.] + +We cannot give space to descriptions of the châteaux built by Francis +I., but this picture of that of Chambord affords a good example of what +these buildings were (Fig. 114). + +[Illustration: FIG. 114.--CHÂTEAU OF CHAMBORD.] + +From the time of the reign of Charles IX. (1560) to the close of the +reign of Louis XIII., the style of architecture which was used in +France was called the "style of Henry IV.;" this last-named king ruled +before Louis XIII., and during his time architecture sank to a very low +plane--there was nothing in it to admire or imitate. Under Louis XIII. +it began to improve, and in the days of Louis XIV., who is called the +"_Grand Monarque_," all the arts made great progress and received much +patronage from the king, and all the people of the court, for whom +the king was a model. Louis XIV. began a revival of Roman classical +architecture, and there is no doubt that he believed that he equalled, +or perhaps excelled, Julius Cæsar and all other Roman emperors as a +patron of the Fine Arts. + +But we know that this great monarch was deceived by his self-love and +by the flatteries of those who surrounded him and wished to obtain +favors from him. His architectural works had so many faults that it is +very tiresome to read what is written about them, and in any case it +is pleasanter to speak of virtues than of faults. The works of Louis +XIV. were certainly herculean, and when we think of the building of the +palace of Versailles, the completion of the Louvre, and the numberless +hôtels, châteaux, and palaces which belong to his reign, we feel sure +that if only the vastness of the architectural works of his time is +considered, he well merits the title of the Great Monarch. But these +important edifices require more time and space if spoken of in detail +than we can give, and I pass to some consideration of the works of our +own time. + +The architecture of the reign of Napoleon III. requires the space +of a volume, at least, were it to be clearly described, for during +that reign there was scarcely a city of France that did not add some +important building to its public edifices. First, the city of Paris was +remodelled and rebuilt to a marvellous extent, and as in other matters +Paris is the leader, so its example was followed in architecture. The +new Bourse in Lyons, the Custom House at Rouen, and the Exchange at +Marseilles are good specimens of what was done in this way outside the +great metropolis. + +During the reign of Louis Philippe, and a little later, French domestic +architecture was vastly improved, and since then much more attention +has been given by Frenchmen to the houses in which they live. The +appearance of the new Boulevards and streets of Paris is picturesque, +while the houses are rich and elegant. Many portions of this city are +more beautiful than any other city of Europe; and yet it is true that +the architecture of forty years or so ago was more satisfactory than +that of the present time. + +[Illustration: FIG. 115.--PORTE ST. DENIS. _Paris._] + +The French are an enthusiastic people, and have been very fond of +erecting monuments in public places which would remind them continually +of the glories of their nation, the conquests of their armies, and +the achievements of their great men. Triumphal Arches and Columns of +Victory are almost numberless in France; many of them are impressive, +and some are really very fine in their architecture. Since the Porte +St. Denis was (Fig. 115) erected, in 1672, almost every possible +design has been used for these monuments, in one portion of France or +another, until, finally, the Arc de l'Étoile (Fig. 116) was built at +the upper end of the Champs Elysées, at Paris. This is the noblest +of all modern triumphal arches, as well as one of the most splendid +ornaments in a city which is richly decorated with architectural works +of various styles and periods--from that of the fine Renaissance +example seen in the west front of the Louvre, built in 1541, down +to the Arc de l'Étoile, the Fontaine St. Michel, and the Palais du +Trocadéro of our own time. + +[Illustration: FIG. 116.--ARC DE L'ÉTOILE. _Paris._] + +The French architecture of the present century is in truth a classic +revival; its style has been called the _néo-Grec_, or revived Greek, +and the principal buildings of the reign of Napoleon III. all show that +a study of Greek art had influenced those who designed these edifices. + + +ENGLAND. + +We may say that England has never had an architecture of its own, since +it has always imitated and reproduced the orders which have originated +in other countries. The Gothic order is more than any other the order +of England, and, in truth, of Great Britain. All English cathedrals, +save one, and a very large proportion of the churches, in city and +country, are built in this style of architecture. + +It is also true that during the Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholics +were in power in England and made use of Gothic architecture, they +built so many churches, that, during several later centuries, it might +be truly said that England had no church architecture, because so few +new churches were required or built. + +It is so difficult to trace the origin and progress of the Classical +or Renaissance feeling in English architecture that I shall leave it +altogether, and passing the transition style and period, speak directly +of the first great architect of the Renaissance in England, Inigo +Jones, who was born in 1572 and died in 1653. He studied in Italy +and brought back to his native country a fondness for the Italian +architecture of that day. He became the favorite court architect, +and there are many important edifices in England which were built +from his designs. His most notable work was the palace of Whitehall, +though his design was never fully carried out in it; had it been, this +palace would have excelled all others in Europe, either of earlier or +later date. Among the churches designed by Inigo Jones that of St. +Paul's, Covent Garden, is interesting because it is probably the first +important Protestant church erected in England which still exists. It +is small and simple, being almost an exact reproduction of the early +Greek temples called _distyle in antis_, such as I described when +speaking of Greek architecture (Fig. 117). + +[Illustration: FIG. 117.--EAST ELEVATION OF ST. PAUL'S. _Covent +Garden._] + +Inigo Jones made many designs for villas and private residences, and +perhaps he is more famous for these works than for any others. Among +them are Chiswick and Wilton House, and many others of less importance. + +After Jones came Sir Christopher Wren, who was the architect of some of +the finest buildings in London. He was born in 1632 and died in 1723. +The great fire, in 1666, when he was thirty-four years old, gave him a +splendid opportunity to show his talents. Only three days after this +fire he presented to the king a plan for rebuilding the city, which +would have made it one of the most convenient as well as one of the +most beautiful cities of the world. + +Sir Christopher Wren is most frequently mentioned as the architect +of St. Paul's Cathedral. This was commenced nine years after the +great fire, and was thirty-five years in building. St. Paul's is the +largest and finest Protestant cathedral in the world, and among all +the churches of Europe that have been erected since the revival of +Classical architecture, St. Peter's, at Rome, alone excels it (Fig. +118). + +[Illustration: FIG. 118.--ST. PAUL'S, LONDON. _From the West._] + +Although so many years were consumed in the building of St. Paul's, +Sir Christopher Wren lived to superintend it all, and had the +gratification of placing the topmost stone in the lantern of this +splendid monument to his genius. + +The western towers of Westminster Abbey are said to have been built +after a design by Wren, but of this there is a doubt. Among his other +works in church architecture are the steeple of Bow Church, London; the +church of St. Stephen's, Walbrook; St. Bride's, Fleet Street, and St. +James's, Piccadilly. + +The royal palaces of Winchester and Hampton were designed by Wren, and +many other well-known edifices, among which is Greenwich Hospital. +He made some signal failures, but it is great praise to say, what is +undoubtedly true, that, though he was a pioneer in the Renaissance +architecture of England, and died a century and a half ago, no one of +his countrymen has surpassed him, and we may well question whether any +other English architect has equalled him. + +[Illustration: FIG. 119.--ST. GEORGE'S HALL. _Liverpool._] + +Churches, palaces, university buildings, and fine examples of municipal +and domestic architecture are so numerous in England and other +portions of Great Britain that we cannot speak of them in detail. The +culmination of the taste for the imitation of Classical architecture +was reached about the beginning of the present century, and among +the most notable edifices in that manner are the British Museum, +Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and St. George's Hall, Liverpool (Fig. +119). + +A revival of Gothic Architecture has taken place in England in our +own time. The three most prominent secular buildings in this style +are Windsor Castle, the Houses of Parliament, and the New Museum, +at Oxford. Of course, in the case of Windsor Castle, the work was a +remodelling, but the reparations were so extensive as to almost equal +a rebuilding. Sir Jeffry Wyatville had the superintendence of it, +and succeeded in making it appear like an ancient building refitted +in the nineteenth century--that is to say, it combines modern luxury +and convenience in its interior with the exterior appearance of the +castellated fortresses of a more barbarous age (Fig. 120). + +[Illustration: FIG. 120.--WINDSOR CASTLE.] + +In the Houses of Parliament there was an attempt to carry out, even to +the minutest detail, the Gothic style as it existed in the Tudor age, +when there was an excess of ornament, most elaborate doorways, and the +fan-tracery vaultings were decorated with pendent ornaments which look +like clusters of stalactites. Sir Charles Barry was its architect. The +present school of artists in England are never weary of abusing it; +they call it a horror and declare its style to be obsolete. In fact, +it is not the success at which Barry aimed; but it excels the other +efforts to revive the Gothic in this day, not only in England, but +in all Europe, and has many points to be admired in its plan and its +detail, while the beauty of its sky-line must be admitted by all (Fig. +121). + +[Illustration: FIG. 121.--THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. _London._] + +In the New Museum of Oxford, the Gothic is that of Lombardy, rather +than the Early English. It is an example of the result of the +teaching of Mr. Ruskin. It does not realize the expectations of +those who advocated this manner of building, and has proved a great +disappointment to the advanced theorists of a quarter of a century ago. + +English architecture of the present day may be concisely described by +saying that it is Gothic for churches, parsonage-houses, school-houses, +and all edifices in which the clergy are interested or of which they +have the oversight. On the other hand, palaces, town-halls, municipal +buildings, club-houses, and such structures as come within the care of +the laity, are almost without exception in the Classic style. + +Neither of these orders seems to be exactly suited to the climate of +England or to the wants of its people; therefore, neither would satisfy +the demands of the ancients, who taught that the architecture of a +nation should be precisely adapted to its climate and to the purposes +for which the edifices are intended. In fact, the ancients carried +their ideas of fitness so far that one could tell at a glance the +object for which a structure had been designed; we know that it is not +possible to comply with this law in this day, although it is doubtless +in accord with the true ideal of what perfect architecture should be. +At the present day there is little doubt that the edifices of the +Church and clergy are far more praiseworthy and true architecturally +than are those for secular and domestic uses. + + +GERMANY. + +I shall not speak of the period of the Renaissance in Germany, but +shall go forward to the time of the Revival of Classic Architecture, +which dated about 1825. During the eighteenth century the discoveries +which were made in Greece were of great interest to all the world, and +the drawings which were made of the temples and monuments, as well +as of the lesser objects of art which existed there, were sent all +over Europe, and had such an effect upon the different nations, that +with one accord they began to adopt the Greek style of architecture, +whenever any important work was to be done. This effect was very +marked in Germany, and the German architects tried to copy every detail +of Greek architecture with great exactness. + +When we begin to speak of modern German architecture at this point, we +do not omit anything important, for the struggles of the Reformation, +and the results of the Thirty Years' War were such, that no great +architectural advances were attempted for a long time. Again, +the division of Germany into many small principalities, and the +establishment of many little courts so divided the wealth of the German +people into small portions, that no one was rich enough to undertake +large buildings. There was no one great central city as in France and +England, and no one sovereign was rich enough to adorn his capital with +splendid edifices or to be a magnificent patron of art and artists +after the fashion of the "_Grand Monarque_" in France. + +Before taking up the Revival, however, I wish, for two reasons, to give +a picture of the Brandenburg Gate, at Berlin. This gate was erected +between 1784 and 1792. It is important because such monuments are +more rare in Germany than in other European countries, especially of +the time in which this was built, and because it is one of the best +imitations of Greek art that exists in any nation (Fig. 122). + +[Illustration: FIG. 122.--THE BRANDENBURG GATE. _Berlin._] + +It is interesting to remember that when Napoleon entered Berlin as a +conqueror, after the Battle of Jena, he sent the Car of Victory, which +surmounts this gate, to Paris, as a trophy of his prowess. After his +abdication it was returned to its original position. + +The effect of the German revival of Greek art is more plainly seen in +Munich than in any other city. It is the capital of Bavaria, and one of +its kings, Louis I., while he was young and had not yet become king, +resided at Rome; he was a passionate lover of art, and he resolved +that when he came to the throne he would make his capital famous for +beautiful things. Above all, he desired to imitate all that he had +most admired in the countries he had visited, and also the art of the +ancients as he knew it from models and pictures. For this reason it +happens that Munich is a collection of copies of buildings which have +existed in other countries and in past ages, and as these buildings, +which were first made in marble and stone, are mostly copied in plaster +in Munich, much of their beauty is lost; and since these copied +buildings are not used for the same purposes for which the ancient ones +were intended, the whole effect of them is very far from pleasing or +satisfactory. In fact, the result is just such as must always follow +the imitation of a beautiful object, when no proper regard is paid to +the use to be made of it. If, for example, a fine copy of a light and +airy Swiss châlet should be made in the United States of America, +and placed on some business street in one of our cities, and used for +a bank building, we could not deny that it was an exact copy of a +building which is good in its way; but it would be so unsuited to its +position and its uses, that the man who built it there would be counted +as insane or foolish. And this is the effect of the modern architecture +of Munich; it seems as if King Louis must have been a madman to expend +so much time and money in this absurd kind of imitative architecture, +and yet it is very interesting to visit this city and see these +edifices. + +Of the Munich churches erected under Louis I. that of St. Ludwig is in +the Byzantine order; the Aue-Kirche is in the pointed German Gothic, +and the Basilica is like a Roman basilica of the fifth century. It +resembles that of St. Paul's-without-the-Walls; it was begun in 1835 +and completed in 1850. In a vault beneath this basilica Louis and his +Queen, Theresa, are buried. The picture given here shows its extreme +simplicity; its whole effect is solemn and satisfactory; still one must +regret that since it is so fine up to a certain point, it should not +have been made still finer (Fig. 123). + +[Illustration: FIG. 123.--THE BASILICA AT MUNICH.] + +The Ruhmeshalle, or Hall of Fame, at Munich, is an interesting and +somewhat unique edifice. It is a portico of marble with forty-eight +Doric columns, each twenty-six feet high. Against the walls are +brackets holding busts of celebrated Germans who have lived since +1400. In front of the portico stands the colossal bronze statue of +Bavaria. She is represented as a protectress with a lion by her side; +in the right hand she holds a sword, and a chaplet in the left; it is +sixty-one and a half feet high, and the pedestal raises it twenty-eight +and a half feet more; inside, a staircase leads up into the head, where +there are seats for eight persons. The view from the top of this statue +is fine, and so extensive that in a favorable atmosphere the heights +of the Alps can be discerned. The hill upon which the Ruhmeshalle is +built is to the south of Munich, and is called the Theresienhöhe. +The grand statue is intended to be the principal object of interest +here, and the portico is made so low as to throw the figure out and +show it off to advantage; altogether it is one of the most successful +architectural works in Munich (Fig. 124). + +[Illustration: FIG. 124.--THE RUHMESHALLE. _Near Munich._] + +The Glyptothek, or Sculpture Gallery, the Pinakothek, or Picture +Gallery, the Royal Palace, the Public Library, the War Office, the +University, Blind School, other palaces and secular buildings, all +belong to the time of the Revival in Germany. The Ludwig Strasse, which +King Louis fondly hoped to make one of the most beautiful avenues in +the world, is--with its Roman arch at one end, and a weak copy of the +Loggia dei Lanzi at the other--a tiresome, meaningless, architectural +failure. + +[Illustration: FIG. 125.--THE MUSEUM. _Berlin._] + +The Museum of Berlin is a striking result of the same Revival of +Classic architecture, and is far more splendid than anything in Munich +(Fig. 125). + +In Dresden the most important works in this style are the New Theatre +and Picture Gallery. The last is almost an exact reproduction of the +Pinakothek of Munich. All over Germany the effects of this Revival are +more or less prominent, but I shall speak of but one other edifice, the +Walhalla (Fig. 126). + +[Illustration: FIG. 126.--THE WALHALLA.] + +This is also a Temple of Fame, and is situated about six miles from +Ratisbon. It overlooks the River Danube from a height of more than +three hundred feet. It was begun in 1830, and was twelve years in +building, costing eight millions of florins. It is of white marble, +and on the exterior is an exact reproduction of the Parthenon at +Athens. The interior is divided into two parts by an entablature, +which supports fourteen caryatides, made from colored marbles. These +figures in turn support a second entablature, on which is a frieze in +eight compartments, on which is sculptured scenes representing the +history of Germany from its early days to the time of the introduction +of Christianity. Along the lower wall there are one hundred busts of +illustrious Germans who had lived from the earliest days of Germany +down to those of the poet Goethe. + +The grounds about the Walhalla are laid out in walks, and from them +there are fine, extensive views. Taken by itself there is much to +admire in the Walhalla. The sculptures arouse an enthusiasm about +Germany, her history, and the men who have helped to make it, in spite +of the strange unfitness with which the artists have mingled Grecian +myths and German sagas. But aside from this sort of interest the +whole thing seems incongruous and strangely unsuited to its position; +one writer goes so far as to say of it that "Minerva, descending in +Cheapside to separate two quarrelling cabmen, could hardly be more out +of place." And yet it is true that the Walhalla is the only worthy +rival to St. George's Hall, Liverpool, as an example of the possible +adaptability of Greek or Roman Architecture to the needs and uses of +our own days. + + +THEATRES AND MUSIC HALLS. + +In speaking of theatres I will first give a list of the most important +ones in Europe, as they are given by Fergusson in his "History of +Modern Architecture." + + ----------------------------+----------------------+---------- + | Depth from Curtain | Depth of + | to back of Boxes. | Stage. + ----------------------------+----------------------+---------- + | feet. | feet. + La Scala, Milan | 105 | 77 + San Carlo, Naples | 100 | 74 + Carlo Felice, Genoa | 95 | 80 + New Opera House, Paris | 95 | 98 + Opera House, London (old) | 95 | 45 + Turin Opera House | 90 | 110 + Covent Garden, London | 89 | 89 + St. Petersburg, Opera | 87 | 100 + Académie de Musique, Paris | 85 | 82 + Parma, Opera | 82 | 76 + Fenice, Venice | 82 | 48 + Munich Theatre | 80 | 87 + Madrid Theatre | 79 | 55 + ----------------------------+----------------------+---------- + +The Opera House of La Scala, at Milan, is generally said to be the +finest of all for seeing and hearing what goes on upon the stage: it +was begun in 1776 and finished two years later. San Carlo, Naples, +holds the second place, and was first erected in 1737, but was almost +destroyed by fire in 1816, and was afterward thoroughly rebuilt. + +The new Opera House of Paris is interesting to us because it has been +built so recently and so much written and said of it that we are +familiar with it. Any description that would do it justice would occupy +more space than we can afford for it, but this cut (Fig. 127) gives an +excellent idea of its size and exterior appearance. It is distinguished +by great richness of material and profusion of ornament, its interior +decorations being especially splendid. It has been criticised as +lacking repose and dignity, but its elegance and magnificence compel +admiration. + +[Illustration: FIG. 127.--THE NEW OPERA HOUSE. _Paris._] + +Music halls are only another sort of theatre, and have come into great +favor in recent days, especially in England. The Albert Hall, South +Kensington, is the finest music hall that has been erected. It seats +eight thousand people, besides accommodating an orchestra of two +hundred and a chorus of one thousand singers; it is one hundred and +thirty-six feet from the floor to the highest part of the ceiling. This +hall has some defects, but is so far successful as to prove that a +theatre or music hall could be so constructed as to seat ten thousand +persons and permit them to hear the music as distinctly as it is heard +in many halls where only two or three thousand can be comfortable. + + +UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. + +When we remember that we have been able to give some account of +architecture as it existed thousands of years before Christ, and to +speak of the temples and tombs of the grand old nations who laid the +foundation of the arts and civilization of the world--and then, when +we remember the little time that has passed since the first roof was +raised in our own land, we may well be proud of our country as it +is--and at the same time we know that its architecture may in truth be +said to be a thing of the future. + +It is but a few years, not more than seventy, since any building +existed here that could be termed architectural in any degree. To be +sure, there were many comfortable, generous-sized homes scattered up +and down the land, but they made no claim to architectural design, and +were not such edifices as one considers when speaking or writing of +architecture. + +The first buildings to which much attention was given in the United +States were the Capitols, both State and National, and until recently +they were in what may be called a Classic style, because they had +porticoes with columns and certain other features of ancient orders; +but when the cella, as is the case in America, is divided into +two or more stories, with rows of prosaic windows all around, and +chimneys, and perhaps attics also added, the term Classic Architecture +immediately becomes questionable, and it is difficult to find a name +exactly suited to the needs of the case; for it is still true that from +a distance, and in answer to a general glance, they are nearer to the +Classic orders than to anything else. + +[Illustration: FIG. 128.--THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL. _Washington._] + +The National Capitol at Washington, which is the principal edifice in +the United States, was begun in 1793, when General Washington laid the +foundation-stone; the main portion was completed in 1830; two wings and +the dome have since been added, and its present size is greater than +that of any other legislative building in the world, except the British +Houses of Parliament (Fig. 128). + +The dome, and the splendid porticoes, with the magnificent flights of +steps leading up to them, are the fine features of the Capitol. The +dome compares well with those that are famous in the world, and taken +all in all the Washington Capitol is more stately than the Houses of +Parliament, and is open to as little criticism as buildings of its +class in other lands. + +Several of the State Capitols illustrate the manner of building which +I described above. This cut of the Capitol of Ohio is an excellent +example of it (Fig. 129). + +[Illustration: FIG. 129--STATE CAPITOL. _Columbus, Ohio._] + +In domestic architecture, while there has been no style so original and +absolutely defined as to be definitely called American, we may roughly +classify three periods--the Colonial, the Middle, and the Modern. +These terms have no close application, and you must understand that I +use them rather for convenience than because they accurately, or even +approximately, indicate particular styles. The mansions of the Colonial +period are, perhaps, most easily recognized, and in some respects were +the frankest and most independent class of houses ever built in this +country. The early settlers took whatever suited them from all styles, +and instead of imitating the English, the Dutch, or the French manner +of building, mingled parts of all, with especial reference to the needs +of their climate and surroundings. + +[Illustration: FIG. 130.--SIR WILLIAM PEPPERELL'S HOUSE. _Kittery +Point, Maine._] + +This fine old house (Fig. 130) shows the plain, homely, yet quaint +style of many of the mansions of the Colonial period. It was built +near the beginning of the last century, and occupied by Sir William +Pepperell until his death. Its interior, with heavy wainscoting of +solid mahogany, was more imposing by far than the exterior. The Van +Rensselaer homestead at Albany is an excellent example of a more +stately house, possessing much dignity and impressiveness. + +The Middle period was a time when domestic architecture, still without +any originality and losing much of the independence of the Colonial, +copied more closely from foreign models. Some fine old mansions belong +to this period, which covered the last years of the last century and +the first half of this. The celebrated Cragie House at Cambridge, +occupied by the poet Longfellow; "Elmwood," the home of James Russell +Lowell; "Bedford House," in Westchester County, New York, the home of +the Hon. John Jay, are to be referred to this period; and so is the +imposing "Old Morrisania," at Morrisania, New York, the old Morris +mansion (Fig. 131). + +[Illustration: FIG. 131.--"OLD MORRISANIA." _Morrisania, New York._] + +It is modelled after a French château, and was erected by General +Morris after his return from France in 1800. It is one of the most +striking among the mansions of its time, and both its interior and +exterior are highly interesting. + +These views serve to illustrate the want of anything like a regular +style, of which I spoke above; but they show how many different forces +were at work to influence building in the Modern period. This division +is meant to extend to and include the present time, and so great is the +diversity of styles now employed that in a work like this it would be +idle to attempt anything like an enumeration of them, and still less +to try and determine their origin and importance. I can only give you +one example of the handsome and costly homes which are being built +to-day, and leave you to observe others as you now see them everywhere +about the country (Fig. 132). A modern writer on American architecture +claims that in private dwellings an American order is gradually being +developed by the changes made to adapt foreign forms to our climate, +and especially to the brilliancy of the sunlight here. All this is so +difficult to define, however, that it would be impossible to show it +clearly in the limits of a book like this, even if it exists. + +[Illustration: FIG. 132.--RESIDENCE AT IRVINGTON, NEW YORK.] + +What is called the "Queen Anne" style, modelled upon the English +fashion of the time of that monarch, is very widely used in country +houses at the present time, sometimes in conjunction with the Colonial, +which also exists as an independent style. The tendency of domestic +architecture is to make everything quaint and picturesque, though this +is not so far carried to extremes as was the case a few years since. + +In public buildings many splendid edifices have been erected of late +years. The imitation of classic forms which was formerly the fashion, +and which is so strikingly exhibited by Girard College, Philadelphia, +is now almost entirely laid aside. A lighter, less constrained style, +which may be called eclectic--which means selecting--because it +takes freely from any and all styles whatever suits its purpose, +is arising; and as this selecting is being every year more and more +intelligently done, and as original ideas are constantly being +incorporated with those chosen, the prospects for architecture are more +promising than ever before in this country. The Casino, at Newport, +is a fine example of a modern building; and the still more recent +Casino in New York shows a fine example of the adapting of ideas from +Saracenic architecture to American uses. The Capitol at Albany has many +fine features, but it is the work of several designers who did not +harmonize. Memorial Hall, at Cambridge, is one of the more striking of +modern American buildings, but its sky-line--that is, its outline as +seen against the sky--lacks simplicity and repose. + +The churches in this country exhibit the widest variety of style. +Trinity Church in New York was the first Gothic church erected in +America, and Trinity Church in Boston, one of the latest churches of +importance, is also Gothic, though of the variety called Norman Gothic, +and considerably varied. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of New York, and +many others of less magnitude, might be cited as a proof that American +architecture is advancing, and that we may speak hopefully of its +future. + +Railroad depots and school-houses of certain types are among the +most distinctive and characteristic American edifices. The first, +especially, are being constructed more nearly in accordance with the +ancient principle of suiting the structure to its uses than are any +other buildings that are worthy to be considered architecturally. +Art museums and public libraries, too, now form an important feature +in both town and country, and, in short, the beginning of American +architecture, for that is all that can be claimed for what as yet +exists, is such as would be the natural outcome of a nation such as +ours--varied, restless, bold, ugly, original, and progressive. All +these terms can be applied to American art, but in and through it all +there is a promise of something more. As greater age will bring +repose and dignity of bearing to our people, so our Fine Arts will +take on the best of our characteristics; as we outgrow our national +crudities the change will be shown in our architecture, and we may well +anticipate that in the future we shall command the consideration and +assume the same importance in these regards that our excellence in the +Useful Arts has already won for us in all the world. + + + + +[Illustration] + +GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS. + + +_Abacus._--The uppermost portion of the capital of a column, upon which +rested the weight above. + +_Aisle._--The lateral divisions of a church; more properly, the side +subdivisions. + +_Amphitheatre._--A round or oval theatre. + +_Apse._--The semi-circular or polygonal termination to the choir or +aisles of a church. + +_Arcade._--A series of arches supported on piers or columns. + +_Arch._--A construction of wedge-shaped blocks of stone or of bricks, +of curved outline, spanning an open space. + +_Architrave._--(1) The lowest division of the entablature, in Classic +architecture resting on the abacus. (2) The moulding used to ornament +the margin of an opening. + + +_Base._--The foot of a column or wall. + +_Basilica._--Originally a Roman hall of justice; afterward an early +Christian church. + +_Buttress._--A projection built from a wall for strength. + +_Byzantine._--The Christian architecture of the Eastern church, +sometimes called the round arched; named from Byzantium +(Constantinople). + + +_Capital._--The head of a column or pilaster. + +_Caryatid._--A statue of a woman used as a column. + +_Cathedral._--A church containing the seat of a bishop. + +_Cella._--That part of the temple within the walls. + +_Chamfer._--A slope or bevel formed by cutting off the edge of an angle. + +_Column._--A pillar or post, round or polygonal; the term includes the +base, shaft, and capital. + +_Composite Order._--See _Order_. + +_Corinthian Order._--See _Order_. + +_Cornice._--The horizontal projection crowning a building or some +portion of a building. Each classic order had its peculiar cornice. + +_Crypt._--A vault beneath a building. + + +_Dome._--A cupola or spherical convex roof. + +_Doric Order._--See _Order_. + + +_Entablature._--In classic styles all the structure above the columns +except the gable. The entablature had three members, the architrave or +epistyle, the frieze, and the cornice. + +_Entasis._--The swelling of a column near the middle to counteract the +appearance of concavity caused by an optical delusion. + +_Epistyle._--See _Architrave_. + + +_Façade._--The exterior face of a building. + +_Frieze._--The middle member of an entablature. + + +_Gable._--The triangular-shaped wall supporting the end of a roof. + +_Gargoyle._--A projecting water-spout carved in stone or metal. + + +_Hexastyle._--A portico having six columns in front. + + +_Intercolumniation._--The clear space between two columns. + +_Ionic Order._--See _Order_. + + +_Metope._--The space between the triglyphs in the frieze of the Doric +Order. + +_Minaret._--A slender tower with balconies from which Mohammedan hours +of prayer are called. + +_Mosaic._--Ornamental work made by cementing together small pieces of +glass, stone, or metal in given designs. + + +_Nave._--The central aisle of a church; the western part of the church +occupied by the congregation. + + +_Obelisk._--A quadrangular monolith terminating in a pyramid. + +_Order._--An entire column with its appropriate entablature. There are +usually said to be five orders: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and +Composite; the first and last are, however, only varieties of the Doric +and Corinthian developed by the Romans. The peculiarities of the orders +have been described in the body of the book. When more than one order +was used in a building, the heavier and plainer, the Doric and Tuscan, +are placed beneath the others. + + +_Pediment._--In classic architecture what the gable (which see) was in +later styles. + +_Peristyle._--A court surrounded by a row of columns; also the +colonnade itself surrounding such a space. + +_Pier._--A solid wall built to support a weight. + +_Pilaster._--A square column, generally attached to the wall. + +_Pillar._--See _Column_. + +_Plinth._--A square member forming the lower division of the base of a +column. + +_Polychrome._--Many-colored; applied to the staining of walls or +architectural ornaments. + + +_Quatrefoil._--A four-leaved ornament or opening. + + +_Shaft._--The middle portion of a column, between base and capital. + +_Story._--The portion of a building between one floor and the next. + + +_Triglyph._--An ornament upon the Doric frieze consisting of three +vertical, angular channels separated by narrow, flat spaces. + + + + +[Illustration] + +INDEX. + + + Abacus, 52 + + Abd-er-Rahman, Caliph, 126 + + Acropolis, 61, 62 + + Adan, the, 126 + + Age of Legend (Greece), 46 + + Agrippa, 76 + + Albert Hall, South Kensington, 181 + + Alexander the Great; 17; + and Thais, 34 + + Alexandria, obelisks at, 15 + + Alhambra; 129; + described by De Amicis, 129, 130 + + American architecture; + youth of, 181; + domestic, 183, 184; + periods of, 184; + modern writer on, 186; + promise of, 188, 190 (and _see_ United States) + + Amytis, 30 + + Ancient or heathen art, 2 + + Ancient architecture; 87; + change from, to Gothic, 79; + adapted to climate and use, 172 + + Andrea del Sarto, 153 + + Angers, church at, 103 + + Antæ. _See_ pilasters + + Arabs, 128 + + Arcades; + combined from Greek and Etruscan art, 76; + of Ducal Palace, Venice, 142 + + Arc de l'Étoile (Paris), 165 + + Arch; + knowledge of principle of, 73; + found in Etruscan ruins, 73; + oldest in Europe (of Cloaca Maxima), 74; + the Roman triumphal, 81; + of Titus, 82; + of Septimius Severus, 82; + of Beneventum, 82, 83; + Roman, 83; + (Gothic) unending use of, 95; + French use of pointed, 96; + early use of pointed, 123; + examples of, in Court of the Lions, 130; + examples of, in Ducal Palace, 142; + triumphal, in France, 164 + + Architecture _in general_, 1 + + Architrave, 52, 56 + + Art; + as effected by Athenian influence, 67; + (Gothic) religious use of, 103; + (Gothic) revival of, 104; + (Gothic) applied to civic edifices, 104; + of Renaissance, and Filippo Brunelleschi, 134-138; + (Italian) 145; + (Italian) as a means of religion, 154 + + Artaxerxes Ochus, palace of, 38 + + Artemisia, 68, 69 + + Assouan. _See_ Syene + + Assyria; + ruins of, 21; + cuneiform inscriptions found in, 21; + religious influence in, 22; + bas-reliefs of, 22; + palaces of, described, 23-26; + Hercules of, 24; + excelling in + architects and designers, 28; + obelisk of, 28, 29 + + Assyrian pillars, shaft of, 12 + + Assyrians, Persians taught by, 34 + + Astronomy, and Birs-i-Nimrud, 32 + + Athena; + Parthenos, 62; + Polias; + statue of, 62, 64; + Promachos, 62 (and _see_ Minerva) + + Athens; + Choragic Monument of Lysicrates at, 57; + Erechtheium at, 59; + Acropolis of, 61; + municipal buildings of, 67 + + Attic base, 55 + + Attic-Ionic style, the Erechtheium an example of, 65 + + Aue-Kirche (Munich), 175 + + Augustines, church of the (Paris), 160 + + Augustus (Emperor), boast of, 80 + + Autharis, 90 + + Avenue of Sphinxes, 13 + + + Babylon; + inscriptions of, 21; + hanging gardens of, 29; + temples of, 30; + temple of Belus at, 31; + prophecies concerning, 33 + + Babylonians; + knowledge of, as builders, 30; + Persians taught by, 34 + + Bacchus, monument of Lysicrates dedicated to, 68 + + Baptistery at Florence, 90 + + Barry, Sir Charles, 171 + + Base; + Grecian Doric, 11; + decorations on, at Persepolis, 41; + Attic, 55; + Ionic, 55; + Tuscan order of, 76; + Composite, 76 + + Basilica; + of St. Paul's (Rome), 88; + of the Escurial, 146, 148; + near St. Mark's, 114; + at Munich, 175 + + Basilicas; + of Rome, 78; + of Trajan and Maxentius, 79; + columns of, 79; + given up to Christians, 87 + + Bas-reliefs, of Assyria, 22 + + Baths; + of Agrippa, 76; + of Diocletian, 80; + of Caracalla, 80 + + Battiste Monegro, statues of Escurial by, 149 + + Bavaria, bronze statue of, 176 + + Bedford House, 184 + + Belus, temple of (Babylon), 31 + + Belzoni, and tomb of Seti I., 7 + + Beneventum, arch of, 82, 83 + + Beni-Hassan, tombs at, 5 + + Benvenuto Cellini, 153 + + Bergamo, porch at, 112 + + Berlin; + Brandenburg Gate at, 173; + New Museum at, 177 + + Bianca, wife of Francesco Sforza, 144 + + Birs-i-Nimrud, 32 + + Bishop of Paris, St. Germain, 173 + + Boodroom, name of Halicarnassus changed to, 70 + + Boulevards (Paris), 164 + + Bourse (Lyons), 162 + + Bow Church (London), steeple of, 168 + + Bramante; 140; + great court (Milan), designed by, 144 + + Brandenburg Gate (Berlin), 173 + + British Museum, 169 + + Broletto at Como, 112 + + Brunelleschi, Filippo; 134; + and story of Columbus and the egg, 138; + statue of (Florence), 138; + architect of Pitti Palace, 138, 154 + + Byzantine order, the; + geographical boundaries of, 93; + in Southern Italy, 111, 115; + and Constantinople, 117; + the dome the chief characteristic of, 117; + and the Greek Church, 117; + decline of, 117; + exterior and interior of, 119 + + Byzantine-Romanesque, 115, 122 + + + Cæsar, works of, 134 + + Cairo; + mosque at, 123; + mosque near, 125 + + Caliph Abd-er-Rahman, 126 + + Callimachus (sculptor), and Corinthian capital, 58, 59 + + Cambridge, Fitzwilliam College at, 169 + + Campaniles, 112, 114 (and _see_ Clock-tower). + + Canterbury Cathedral, and pointed arches, 124 + + Capital; + definition of, 11; + varieties of in Great Hall of Karnak, 40; + Grecian, 52; + Ionic, 55; + of Corinthian order, 57, 58; + of Roman Composite order, 75; + variety of in mosque of Cordova, 128; + in Ducal Palace, 142 + + Capitol; + State and National, 181; + at Washington, 182, 183; + of Ohio, 183; + at Albany, 188 + + Car of Victory, and Napoleon, 173 + + Cardinal Richelieu, 154 + + Caria, King of, 69 + + Caryatides; 59; + of the Walhalla, 178 + + Casino; + at Newport, 188; + at New York, 188 + + Castle of Wartburg, 109, 110 + + Cathedral; + at Aix-la-Chapelle, 123; + at Florence, 136, 138; + at Jaen, 146; + at Valladolid, 146; + of St. Paul's London, 167; + at New York, 188 + + Cecilia Metella, tomb of, 84 + + Cella, 51 + + Central Park, New York, obelisk in, 16 + + Chambord, château of, 154, 161 + + Champs Elysées, Arc de l'Étoile in (Paris), 165 + + Charlemagne, 123 + + Charles I. of England and classic art, 134 + + Charles V. of Spain, abdication of, 146 + + Charles IX. of France, 161 + + Chehl Minar, 38 (and _see_ Great Hall of Audience) + + Chenonceaux, châteaux of, 154 + + Cheops. _See_ Pyramids + + Chiswick House, Inigo Jones designer of, 167 + + Choragic Monument of Lysicrates (Athens), 57 + + Choragus, 67 + + Christians; + art of, in Sicily, 116; + under Constantine, 87; + rise and progress of architecture of, 87; + influence of belief of, 93 + + Church; + of San Miniato, 115; + of Mother of God (Constantinople), 123; + of St. Vitale (Ravenna), 123; + of the Escurial, 155; + of the Sarbonne, 156; + of St. Genevieve, 158 (and _see_ Pantheon); + of the Invalides (Paris), 156-158; + of the Trinity (Paris), 160; + of the Madeleine (Paris), 160; + of the Augustines (Paris), 160; + of St. Paul's (Covent Garden), 166; + of St. Stephen's (Walbrook), 168; + of St. Ludwig (Munich), 175 + + Churches; + early forms of, in Italy, 89; + (Gothic) interiors of, 98, + rood-screens of, 107; + of Burgos, 105; + of Toledo, 105; + of Malaga and Segovia, 146 + + Churriguera, Josef de, 146 + + Churrigueresque style, 146 + + Civic order, Broletto at Como, 112 + + Classic style, revival of, in Germany, 172 + + Classic literature of Rome, influence of, 153 + + Cleopatra's Needles, 15 + + Cloaca Maxima (Rome), 74 + + Clock-tower; near St. Mark's (Venice), 114 (and _see_ Campanile) + + Cologne, great cathedral of, 10 + + Colonial period (America), 184 + + Colosseum, 80 + + Colossi, 13 (and _see_ Rameses the Great) + + Columbaria, 84, 85 + + Columns; 11; + of Hypostyle Hall (Karnak), 11; + Assyrian knowledge of, 28; + of Great Hall of Audience, 39, 40; + Persian development of, 42; + Grecian, 52; + Ionic, 56; + of temple of Diana (Ephesus), 60; + of green jasper at St. Sophia, 61; + Tuscan order of, 76; + of basilicas, 79; of St. Paul's (Rome), 89; + of St. Sophia, 120; + of mosque of Cordova, 127, 128; + of the Alhambra, 129, 130; + in court-yard of the Escurial, 149; + of the Pantheon, 158; + of Victory, in France, 164; + of portico of Ruhmeshalle, 176 (and _see_ "Groves of Pillars" and + Pillars) + + Composite order, 75 + + Constantine, Emperor; 2; + Egypt in time of, 19; + arch of, 81; + Christians under, 87, 117 + + Constantinople; + St. Sophia at, 61; + and Byzantine order, 117 + + Convent of Escurial, 150, 151 + + Cordova, mosque at, 126 + + Corinthian capital, 58, 59 + + Corinthian order; 52; 57; + capital of, 57, 58; + shown in the Madeleine (Paris), 160 + + Cornice, 53, 76 + + Count of Thuringia, 110 + + Court of the Lions, 129, 130 + + Cragie House (Cambridge), 184 + + Crown, iron, of Theodolinda, 92 + + Crypt of the Invalides, 158 + + Custom House at Rouen, 162 + + Cyrus, tomb of, 42, 43 + + + Darius; + palace of, 38; + tomb of, 43 + + Dark Ages, 134 + + De Amicis; + quoted concerning the mosque of Cordova, 126; + quoted concerning the Escurial, 148-152 + + Diana, 60 + + Diocletian, palace of (Spalatro), 86 + + Distyle in Antis, 51 + + Doge's Palace (Venice), 114 (and _see_ Ducal Palace) + + Dome; + chief characteristic of Byzantine architecture, 117; 119; + of the cathedral of Florence, 138; + of St. Peter's (Rome), 138; + of the Invalides, 157; + of the Pantheon (Paris), 158; + of the Capitol (Washington), 183 + + Domes of St. Mark's (Venice), 114 + + Domestic architecture; + Egyptian study of, 16; + of Greece, 70; + of Rome, 85; + Gothic, 109; + of Spain, 152; + of France, 162; + examples of, in Great Britain, 169; + of America, 183, 184 + + Doric order; + imitated old Egyptian tombs, 7; + characteristics of, 52-54; + traced back, 54; + and Ionic order, compared, 57; + Propylæa and Parthenon as examples of, 64 + + Dresden, new theatre and picture gallery of, 177 + + Ducal Palace (Venice), and John Ruskin, 142 (and _see_ Doge's Palace) + + + "Easterns," the, 123 (and _see_ Saracens) + + Ebed, the, 126 + + Ecbatana, palace of, 34 + + Echinus, 52 + + Eclectic style, 188 + + Edfou, temple of, 17 + + 'Early Spanish' architecture, 106 + + Egypt, tombs and ruins of, 2-20; + religion of, influencing art, 8; + pillars of, 11; + hieroglyphics on pillars of, 12; + irregular plans of palaces and temples of, 13; + obelisks of, removed, 15; + ancient houses of, 16; + domestic architecture of, 16; + under the Ptolemies, 17; + decline of arts of, in later days, 19; + in time of Constantine (Emperor), 19; + present knowledge of history of, 20 + + Elmwood, 184 + + England; + imitation of other styles of architecture in, 166; + Gothic order in, 166; + examples of various architectural styles in, 169; + art of, at the present time, 172; + revival of Gothic art in, 170 + + Entablature; + definition of, 54; + of Walhalla, 178 + + Entasis, 67 + + Ephesus; + temple of Diana at, 60; + desolation at, 61 + + Epistyle, 7 + + Erechtheium (Athens); 59; + and Athena Polias, 62; + burial-place of Erechtheus, 64; + founded by Erechtheus, 64; + example of Attic-Ionic style, 65 + + Erechtheus, founder of the Erechtheium, 65 + + Escurial (near Madrid), 146-152; + combination forming, 146; + dome of basilica of, 146; + palace of, 147; + De Amicis's description of, 148-152; + statues of, by Battiste Monegro, 149; + room of Philip II. in, 149; + basilica of, 149; + church of, 149; + courtyard of the kings of, 149; + convent of, 150, 151 + + Etruscans; 71; + theatres and amphitheatres of, 72 + + Euphrates, 29 + + Exchange at Marseilles, 162 + + + Façade of Ducal Palace, 142 + + "Farnese Bull," 81 + + "Farnese Hercules," 81 + + Ferdinand and Isabella, reign of, 145 + + Fergusson and Gothic architecture, 93 + + Filippo Brunelleschi and art of Renaissance, 134-138 + + Fine Art Gallery, near baths of Caracalla, 81 + + Fitzwilliam College (Cambridge), 169 + + Flavian Amphitheatre, 80 + + Florence, cathedral of, 134 + + Fontaine St. Michel, 165 + + Fontainebleau, palace of, 154 + + Fortress, the Acropolis as a, 62 + + Fortresses of ancient Greece, 48 + + Forum Boarium, 82 + + France; + and revival of classic art, 134; + and Gothic architecture, 153; + sovereigns of, as influencing architecture, 154; + change in style in, from Gothic to Renaissance, 156; + style of Henry IV. in, 161; + time of classic revival, 162; + domestic architecture of, 162; + _Neo-Grec_ style in, 165, 166; + modern, 165, 166 + + Francesco Sforza, 144 + + Francis I., of France; + and introduction of Italian art, 154; + Louvre rebuilt by, 160 + + Frieze; + definition of, 53; + of Ionic order, 56; + of Tuscan order, 76; + of Walhalla, 178 + + + Gargoyle, 98 + + Garibald, King of Bavaria, 90 + + Gateway Huldah of temple at Jerusalem, 44 + + Gateways; + in walls of Nineveh, 21; + in walls of Babylon, 29; + golden, iron, and brazen, of palace of Diocletian, 86 + + Germany; + and revival of classic art, 134; + imitation of details of Greek architecture in, 173; + modern architecture of, 173 + + Ghizeh, pyramids of, 3 + + Gibbon (historian) and St. Sophia, 122 + + Giotto's campanile, 112 + + Girard College (Philadelphia), 186 + + Glaber, Rodulphe, 93 + + Glyptothek at Munich, 177 + + Gothic order; + Fergusson's location of, 93; + extension and origin of, 93; + invention of interior aisles in, 98; + design of, in ornament, 99; + painted glass applied to, 100; + Spanish variation of, 105; + modification of in Northern Italy, 111; + combined with Eastern decoration in Venetian architecture, 114; + last distinct order, 133; + in France, 153; + union of, with Italian design in France, 154; + in England, 166; + in the Tudor age, 170; + and Houses of Parliament, 171 + + Goths, temple of Diana burned by, 61 + + Goujon, Jean, and the Louvre, 160 + + Goya, 149 + + Græco-Roman style, 146 + + Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 110 + + "_Grand Monarque._" _See_ Louis XIV. + + "_Grands Hommes_," Pantheon dedicated to, 158 + + Great Hall of Audience; + plan of, 41; + theories concerning, 42 + + Great Hall of Baths of Diocletian, 80 + + Great Palace near Persepolis, 36-38 + + Grecian Doric order; + shaft of, 12; + domestic architecture of, 70 + + Greece; + art of, as compared with that of Egypt, 20; + prehistoric days of, 47; + origin of architecture of, 48; + coloring of marbles in, 65; + skill in deceiving the eye, in architecture of, 67; + theatres of, 68; + origin of drama in, 68; + effect in Germany of discoveries in, 173 + + Greenwich Hospital, 169 + + Gregory I. (Pope), 92 + + "Groves of Pillars," 44 + + + Hadrian; 77; + tomb of (castle of St. Angelo), 84 + + Halicarnassus; + mausoleum at, 68; + in possession of Knights of St. John, 70; + name of, changed to Boodroom, 70; + sculptures of, in British Museum, 70 + + Hall of Fame, 176 (and _see_ Ruhmeshalle) + + Hall of One Hundred Columns, 38 + + Hall of Xerxes, 38-41 (and _see_ Great Hall of Audience) + + Hampton, palace of (designed by Wren), 169 + + Hanging Gardens of Babylon; 29; + interior structure of, 29, 30; + and Semiramis, 30; + and Nebuchadnezzar, 30 + + Henry of Ofterdingen, 110 + + "Hercules of Assyria," 24 + + Hermann, Count of Thuringia, 110 + + Herodotus, "Father of History," 47 + + Herostratus, 60 + + Heshâm, 126 + + Hexastyle, 52 + + Homer, "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of, 47 + + "House of the Virgin," 62 (and _see_ Parthenon) + + Houses of Parliament (London); 170; + and Gothic revision, 171 + + Hypostyle Hall (Karnak); 11; + compared with St. Peter's (Rome), 140 + + + Ibn-touloun, mosque built by, 123 + + "Iliad," knowledge of Grecian history from, 47 + + Inigo Jones. _See_ Jones, Inigo + + Inscriptions, Arabic, 130 + + Invalides, church of the, 156-158 + + Ionic capital, 55, 56 + + Ionic order; 52-54; + traced back, 55; + capital of, 55, 56; + architrave of, 56; + columns of, 56; + compared with Doric order, 57; + combined with Doric in interior of the Parthenon, 64 + + Isabella and Ferdinand, reign of, 145 + + Isis, temple of, 18 + + Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, 16 + + Italy; + architecture of; 87; + Byzantine order in southern part of, 111; + best days of architecture in, 144 + + + Jaen (Granada); + cathedral of, 146 + + Jay, Hon. John, home of, 184 + + Jerusalem, temple of; + Gateway Huldah of, 44; + design of, proving Roman influence, 45 + + Jones, Inigo (architect); 166; + designer of Chiswick House, 167; + designer of Wilton House, 167 + + Jordan, ruins beyond, 44 + + Josef de Churriguera, 146 + + Josephus, proving time of building temple of Jerusalem, 45 + + Judea; + art-history of, 44; + ruins of, at Jerusalem, Baalbec, Palmyra, and Petra, 44 + + Justinian (Emperor), and St. Sophia, 119 + + + Kaitbey, mosque at, 125 + + Karnak, palace-temple of; 8-12; + Hypostyle Hall in, 10 + + Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, 16 + + Khorsabad, palace of, 26 + + + La Scala, Milan, 180 + + Lateran, palace of, 81 + + Leonardo da Vinci, 153 + + Library of St. Mark's (Venice), 142 + + Liverpool, St. George's Hall at, 169 + + Livy, works of, 134 + + Longfellow, home of, 184 + + Louis I. (Bavaria), and revival of Greek art, 173, 175 + + Louis XIII. (France), and classic architecture, 161 + + Louis XIV. (France), and revival of classic architecture, 162 + + Louis XV. (France), 158 + + Louis Philippe, 162 + + Louvre (Paris), 160 + + Lowell, James Russell, home of, 184 + + Ludwig Strasse (Munich), architectural failure, 177 + + Luther and castle of Wartburg, 111 + + Lyons, new Bourse in, 162 + + Lysicrates, monument of, 67 + + + Madeleine, church of the, 160 + + Malaga, churches of, 146 + + Mans, monastery at, 103 + + Mansard, Jules Hardouin, 156 + + Marburg, 110 + + Marcus Scaurus, 80 + + Marseilles, exchange at, 162 + + Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, 68 + + Mausolus, 69, 70 + + Maxentius, basilica of, 79 + + Mecca, 123 + + Medinet Habou, house at, 16 + + Mehemet Ali, 15 + + Memorial Hall (Cambridge), 188 + + Memphis, ruins of, used in new buildings, 7 + + Metope, 53 + + Michael Angelo, and church of S. Maria Degli Angeli, 80; + and St. Peter's (Rome), 138-140 + + Middle Ages; + Italian towers of, 111; + prosperity of architecture of (Venice), 114 + + Middle period in America, 184 + + Milan, La Scala of, 180 + + Minarets of mosques, 125 + + Minerva. _See_ Athena + + Modern architecture; + imitative, 133; + since Renaissance, 133; + in Italy, 134; + three eras of, in Spain, 146; + in Germany, 173; + diversity of style of, in United States, 186 + + Mohammed, 123 + + Mokattam Mountains, 4 + + Monks of Middle Ages, 102 + + Monolith of the Gateway Holdah, 44 + + Monuments in France, 164 + + Monza, cathedral of, 92 + + Moresco or Moorish order, 106, 123 + + Morris, General, and "Old Morrisania," 184 + + Morrisania, 184 + + Mosaics of St. Sophia, 120 + + Mosque; + at Cairo, 123; + minarets of same, 125; + near Cairo, 125 + + Mosque of Cordova, 126; + De Amicis, concerning, 126; + naves of, 127; + marbles of, 127; + columns of, 127, 128 + + Mosque of Kaitboy, 125 + + Mother of God, church of (Constantinople), 123 + + Muezzin, the call of, 125, 126 + + Munich; + modern architecture of, 173, 174; + church of St. Ludwig at, 175; + Ruhmeshalle at, 176; + glyptothek of, 177 + + Museum; + of Berlin, 177; + at Oxford, 170, 171 + + Music halls, 180 + + Mutules, 65 + + Mycenæ, 48 + + Mythology, 47 + + + Napoleon I.; + and pyramids, 3; + tomb of, 158; + inscription from will of, 158; + Car of Victory, trophy of, 173 + + Napoleon III., 162, 166 + + Nebuchadnezzar; + and "Hanging Gardens," 30; + and Birs-i-Nimrud, 32 + + Neo-Byzantine order, 117 + + Neo-Grec order, 166 + + Nero (Emperor), temple of Diana robbed by, 61 + + New museum at Oxford, 170, 171 + + New theatre, Dresden, 177 + + Newton, discoverer of sculptures at Halicarnassus, 70 + + New World, discovery of, 145 + + New York, Trinity Church in, 188 + + Nile, near Thebes, 14 + + Nineveh; + walls of, 21; + gateways of, 21; + ornamentation of gateways of, 23; + palaces of, 27 + + Norman Conquest, 116 + + Northern Spain, Arabs of, 128 + + + Obelisk; + now in Paris, 13; + at Alexandria, 15; + Cleopatra's Needles, 15; + expressing worship, 16; + in Central Park, New York, 16; + the Assyrian, 28, 29 + + "Odyssey," knowledge of Grecian history from, 47 + + "Old Morrisania," 184 + + Opera House (Paris), 180 + + Order. _See_ Gothic, Moresco or Moorish, Civil, Neo-Byzantine, + _Neo-Grec_, Romanesque, Byzantine, Saracenic + + Order of the Garter, symbol of, 89 + + Oriental art; + characteristics of, 59; + and the caryatid, 59 + + Oxford, new museum at, 170 + + + Painted glass and Gothic architecture, 100 + + Palace; + of Khorsabad, 27; + of Ecbatana, 34; + of Susa, 34; + of Artaxerxes Ochus, 38; + of Darius, 38; + of Xerxes, 38; + of Diocletian at Spalatro, 86; + of the Escurial, 147, 149; + of Versailles, 162; + of Whitehall, 166; + of Hampton, 169; + of Winchester, 169 + + Palaces; + of Assyria, 23-26; + of Nineveh, 27 + + Palace-temples, Egyptian, 8 + + Palais du Trocadéro, 165 + + Pantheon (Rome); 76-78; + rotunda and porch of, 76; + preservation of, 77; + inscription on portico of, 77; + burial-place of Raphael and Annibale Caracci, 78 + + Pantheon (Paris), 158; + and _see_ church of St. Genevieve + + Parapet of Ducal Palace, Venice, 142 + + Paris; + rebuilt, 162; + the boulevards of, 164; + new opera house of, 180 + + Parthenon (Athens); 53, 54; + built of Pentelic marble, 64; + of Doric order of architecture, 64; + erected under care of Phidias, 64; + sculptures of, 64 + + Paul Silentiarius and description of St. Sophia, 120 + + Pediment, 54 + + Pepperell, Sir William, 184 + + Pericles at Athens, 61 + + Peristyle, 52 + + Persepolis; + great palace near, 36-38; + spring residence of Persian kings, 42 + + Persia; + inscriptions found in, 21; + palaces of, 34; + taught by Assyria and Babylonia, 34; + platforms of, 36; + regularity of architecture of, 43; + faults of architecture of, 44 + + Peruzzi, 140 + + Pharaoh, and tombs at Beni-Hassan, 6 + + Phidias; + and Athena Promachos, 62; + Parthenon erected under care of, 64; + sculptures executed by, 64 + + Philæ; + temple on island of, 18; + buildings at, 19 + + Philip II. of Spain; + and decline of Spanish art, 145; + and the Escurial, 146; + cell of, in the Escurial, 149; + chair of, 150 + + Piazza of St. Mark (Venice), 142 + + Picture Gallery, Dresden, 177 + + Piers, Egyptian, 11 + + Pilasters, 52; 127; (and _see_ Antæ) + + Pillar of the Gateway Huldah, 44 + + Pillars; + of Great Hall of Audience, 38-41; + of Doric order, 52; + of San Miniato, 116; + of Ducal Palace, 142; + (and _see_ Columns) + + Pinacotica, near Baths of Caracalla, 81 + + Pinakothek (Dresden), 177 + + Pitti Palace, gallery of, 138, 154 + + Platerisco, 146 + + Platforms, Persian, 36 + + Pope, the, and Italian art, 154 + + Porches of Northern Italy, 112 + + Porte St. Denis (Paris), 164 + + Portico; + of basilica of St. Mark's, 115; + of the Court of Lions, 130; + the Ruhmeshalle, 176; + of Capitol at Washington, 183 + + Praxiteles and temple of Diana, 60, 61 + + Priene, temple of Athena at, 55 + + Priests, patrons of art during Middle Ages, 102 + + Primaticcio, 153 + + Prince Louis of Thuringia, 110 + + Promachos (_see_ Athena), 62 + + Propylæa; + Assyrian, 24; + of Acropolis, 62, 64 + + Proto-Doric order, 7 + + Ptolemies, 17 + + Public Library of Munich, 177 + + Pyramids of Cheops; 2; + size of, 3; + interior of, 4 + + Pyramids of Ghizeh; 3; + tombs near, 5 + + + Quatrefoil, 142 + + "Queen Anne style" in America, 186 + + + Rameses the Great. _See_ Colossi. + + Raphael, 140 + + Ratisbon, the Walhalla near, 178 + + Reformation, the, 133 + + Religion; + influencing Egyptian art, 8; + a factor in national architecture, 9 + + Renaissance; 104; 134; + buildings erected in Italy during, 142; + and Leonardo da Vinci, 145; + and Michael Angelo, 145; + and Raphael, 145; + in England, 166 + + Richelieu (cardinal), 154 + + "Ritter George," 111 + + Roman theatre, first, 80 + + Romanesque order, 87 + + Romanesque and Byzantine orders mingled, 122 + + Rome; + ruled by Etruscans, 71; + acqueducts and bridges of, 74; + earliest works of, directed by Etruscans, 74; + growth of Composite order in, 75; + temples of, 76; + interior architecture of, 76; + Pantheon of, 76-78; + basilicas of, 78; + decline of art in, 80; + theatres of, 80; + triumphal arches of, 81; + tombs of, 83-86; + domestic architecture of, 85; + influence of classic literature in, 133; + St. Peter's at, 138-140 + + Rood-screens, 107 + + Rose windows, 102 + + Rouen, custom house at, 162 + + Royal Palace at Munich, 177 + + Ruhmeshalle (Munich); + columns of, 176; + statue in front of, 176 + + Ruins; + Assyrian, 21; + Judean, 44; + of temple of Diana, at Ephesus, 60 + + Ruskin, John; + and Ducal Palace (Venice), 142; + teaching of, 171 + + + St. Bride's (Fleet Street), 168 + + St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 110 + + St. Eustache, church of (Paris), 154 + + St. Genevieve, church of (Paris), 158 + + St. George's Hall, Liverpool, 169 + + St. Germain; 103, 173 + + St. James's (Piccadilly), church of, 168 + + St. John Lateran, 89 + + St. Ludwig, church of (Munich), 175 + + St. Mark's (Venice), 114; + piazza of, 114; + portico of, 115 + + St. Mark's, Library of (Venice), 114 + + St. Paul's, cathedral of (London), 167 + + St. Paul's, Covent Garden, 166, 167 + + St. Paul's without the Walls; 88; + bronze gates of, 89; + columns of, 89 + + St. Peter's (Rome); + as compared with palace-temple, 8; + dome and cross of, 138; + and Michael Angelo, 138-140; + begun and finished, 138-140; + criticised, 140 + + St. Quentin, battle of, 146 + + St. Sophia, church of (Constantinople); + green jasper columns of, 61; 117; + and Justinian, 119; + Gibbon's description of, 119; + Paul Silentiarius's description of, 120 + + St. Vitale, church of (Ravenna), 123 + + San Carlo, opera house of (Naples), 180 + + San Miniato, church of (Florence), 115, 116 + + San Paolo fuori della Mura. _See_ St. Paul's without the Walls + + Sansovino, 142 + + Sta. Maria del Fiore. _See_ cathedral of Florence + + Sta. Maria Degli Angeli, church of, and Michael Angelo, 80 + + Saraceni. _See_ "the Easterns" + + Saracenic architecture, 123, 124; + principal homes of, 126; + study of, 132 + + Sargon, 26 + + Scaurus, Marcus, 80 + + Schliemann, 48 + + Sculpture Gallery of Munich, 177 + + Sculptures; + executed by Phidias, 64; + Gothic use of, in decoration, 107 + + Segovia, churches of, 146 + + Semiramis (Queen), and "Hanging Gardens," 30 + + Sennacherib, 26 + + Septimius Severus; + and Pantheon, 77; + arch of, 82; + wife of, 82 + + Sepulchres, 85 (and _see_ Tombs) + + Seti I., tomb of, 7 + + Sforza, Francesco, 144 + + Shaft of Tuscan column, 76 + + Shrines of Babylon, riches of, 31, 32 + + Shushan, 42 + + Sicilian architecture, remarkable style of, 116 + + Sicily, Christian art of, 116 + + Soufflot (architect), 158 + + Spain; + and Gothic art, 104, 105; + and Moorish architecture, 123; + and classic art, 134; + from time of fall of Granada, 145; + modern architecture of, 146; + domestic architecture of, 152; + people of, as artists, and Fergusson, 152, 153 + + Sphinx, 13 + + Spires, 98 + + Staircase of temple of Diana (Ephesus), 60 + + Staircases of Persepolis, 36 + + Statue of Bavaria, 176 + + Statues of the Escurial, 149, 150 + + Street of the Tripods, 68 + + Suphis. _See_ Cheops + + Susa, palace of, 34 + + Sutri, 72 + + Syene, granite of, in pyramids, 4 + + Symbol of Order of the Garter, 89 + + Symbolism of Gothic ornament, 107, 108 + + + Tacitus, 134 + + Tapestries of Escurial, 149 + + Temple; + of Karnak, 13; + of Luxor, 13; + of Denderah, 17; + of Philæ, 17; + influenced by Egypt, in building, 17; + of Birs-i-Nimrud, 32; + of Jerusalem, 44, 45; + earliest style of, in Greece, 48; + of Athena at Priene, 55; + of Diana at Ephesus, 60, + and Praxiteles, 60, 61, + and Theodosius I. (Emperor), 61, + burned by Goths, 61, + robbed by Nero, 61; + the Erechtheium as a, 65; + of Vesta, 89 + + Temple Court of palace of Khorsabad, 27 + + Temples; + of Babylon, 30; + of Rome, 76; + in the Court of the Lions, 130 + + Tenia, 52 + + Thais, 34 + + Theatres; + of Rome, 80; + list of most important, 179 + + Thebes; + "Tombs of the Kings" near, 7; + grandeur of ruins of, 7,8 + + Theodolinda; 90; + iron crown of, 92 + + Theodosius I., and temple of Diana, + 61; + and St. Paul's without the Walls, 88 + + Theresa, Queen of Louis I. of Bavaria, 176 + + Theresienhöhe, 177 + + Thermæ, 80 + + Titus, arch of, 82 + + Tomb; + of Seti I., 7; + of Cyrus, 42, 43; + of Darius, 43; + of Mausolus, 69, 70; + of Hadrian, 84 + + Tombs; + at Beni-Hassan, 5; near Pyramids, 5; + "of the kings," near Thebes, 7; + Persian, 42; + exploration of Persian, 43; + Etruscan, 73; + of Rome, 83-86 + + Toscanelli, 138 + + Tower; + of Birs-i-Nimrud, 32; + of Giotto, 112 + + Towers; + of Babylonish temples, 31; + in Gothic architecture, 98; + of Italy, in Middle Ages, 111; + of Westminster Abbey, 168 (and _see_ Campanile) + + Trajan; + basilica of, 79; + and arch of Beneventum, 82 + + Triglyphs, 53 + + Trinity Church; + Paris, 160; + Boston, 188; + New York, 188 + + Tripod, 68 + + Trojan war, 47 + + Troy, Schliemann's discoveries at, 48 + + Tudor age, Gothic style in, 170 + + Tumuli, 73 + + Tuscan order, 75, 76 + + + Ula, the, 126 + + United States; + capitols of, 181; + first buildings of, 181; + classic architecture and, 182; + cella divided in, 182; + characteristic types of edifices in, 188 + + University of Munich, 177 + + + Valentinian II., 88 + + Valladolid, cathedral of, 146 + + Van Rensselaer homestead, 184 + + Vatican compared with palace-temple, 8 + + Venice, architecture of, 114 + + Versailles, palace of, 162 + + Vesta, temple of, 89 + + Vignon, 160 + + Villa Borghese, palace of, 81 + + + Walhalla, 178, 179 + + Walls; + of Nineveh, 21; + of Babylon, 29 + + War office (Munich), 177 + + Wartburg, castle on, 109 + + Washington (U. S.), national capitol at, 182 + + Washington, George, and national capital, 182 + + Wren, Sir Christopher, 167, 168, 169 + + Wyatville, Sir Jeffrey, 170 + + + Xerxes, 37, 38 + + + Zahra, 129 + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant +preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. + +Simple typographical errors were corrected. + +Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. + +Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs and some +illustrations have been moved closer to the text that references them. + +Uncaptioned illustrations are decorative Headpieces or the publisher's +logo on the Title page. + +Most Index entries that did not match the referenced text have been +changed when the differences were hyphenation or accent marks. However, +the Index entries for "Neo-Grec" have not been changed to "Néo-Grec". + +Index entries were not checked for accuracy. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Art for Beginners and +Students, by Clara Erskine Clement + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43602 *** |