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diff --git a/76489-h/76489-h.htm b/76489-h/76489-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff55fe9 --- /dev/null +++ b/76489-h/76489-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6333 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + A Short History of Architecture | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + font-weight: normal; +} +h2 {margin-top: 4em; + word-spacing: .2em; + letter-spacing: .1em;} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +p.nm {margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; +} +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; 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padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent18 {text-indent: 6.0em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #FFFFFF; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + + p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + + /* to undo start of para indent */ + .noindent {text-indent: 0;} + .center {text-indent: 0;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + + .p1 {margin-top: 1em;} + .p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + .p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + .pb4 {margin-bottom: 4em;} + .p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + .pb6 {margin-bottom: 6em;} + + + .pspaced {line-height: 1em} + + .pad2 {padding-left: 2em;} + .pad35p {padding-left: 35%;} + .pad10p {padding-left: 10%;} + + + .fs50 {font-size: 50%;} + .fs60 {font-size: 60%;} + .fs75 {font-size: 75%;} + .fs80 {font-size: 80%;} + .fs110 {font-size: 110%;} + .fs120 {font-size: 120%;} + .fs150 {font-size: 150%;} + + + .wsp {word-spacing: 0.3em;} + .lspp5 {letter-spacing: 0.05em;} + .lsp1 {letter-spacing: 0.1em;} + .lsp2 {letter-spacing: 0.2em;} + + ul{ list-style-type: none; 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max-width:19em;} + .illowp40 {width: 40%; max-width:20em;} + .illowp45 {width: 45%; max-width:22em;} + .illowp50 {width: 50%; max-width:24em;} + .illowp55 {width: 55%; max-width:26em;} + .illowp60 {width: 60%; max-width:28em;} + .illowp65 {width: 65%; max-width:30em;} + .illowp75 {width: 75%; max-width:33.5em;} + .illowp80 {width: 80%; max-width:35em;} + .illowp85 {width: 85%; max-width:36.5em;} + .illowp90 {width: 90%; max-width:38em;} + .illowp100 {width: 100%; max-width:40em;} + + + .frstwrd {letter-spacing: .1em; + text-transform: uppercase;} + + /* for non-image large letter dropcaps */ + p.drop-cap {text-indent: -.7em;} + + /* note: margin = top, right, bottom, left (clockwise?)*/ + p.drop-cap:first-letter { + float: left; + margin: 0.05em 0.2em 0em .15em; + font-size: 350%; + line-height:0.7em; + clear: both; + } + + .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap {text-indent: 0em;} + + .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter { + float: none; + margin: 0; + font-size: 100%;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76489 ***</div> + + +<div class="transnote"> +<strong>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</strong> +<p class="noindent">Footnote anchors are denoted by <span class="fnanchor">[number]</span>, and the footnotes have been +placed at the end of the paragraph.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Some minor changes to the text are noted at the <a href="#END_NOTE">end of the book</a>. +</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="cover" > + <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Book Cover"> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="frontis" > + <img class="w100" src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + ST. TROPHYME AT ARLES. + </figcaption> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div> + + +<h1> +<br> +<span class="lspp5">A SHORT HISTORY</span><br> +<br> +<span class="fs50">OF</span><br> +<br> +<span class="fs150 lsp1">ARCHITECTURE</span><br> +</h1> +<p class="center p2 wsp lspp5"> +<span class="fs60">BY</span><br> +ARTHUR LYMAN TUCKERMAN<br> +</p> +<p class="center fs60 p4 pb4 wsp lspp5"> +<i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR</i><br> +</p> +<figure class="figcenter illowp30" id="tp" > + <img class="w100" src="images/tp.jpg" alt="Drawing of carving of winged hourse with human head"> +</figure> + + +<p class="wsp lsp1 center pspaced p2"> +<span class="fs75">NEW YORK</span><br> +CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS<br> +<span class="fs75">1897</span> +</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div> + + +<p class="center fs75 p4 pb6"> +<span class="smcap fs75">Copyright, 1887, by</span><br><br> +<span class="wsp fs110">CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</span><br> +</p><p class="center fs50 p4 pb4"> +TROW’S<br> +PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,<br> +NEW YORK. +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent18">“To build, to build!</div> +<div class="verse indent0">That is the noblest art of all the arts.</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Painting and Sculpture are but images,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Are merely shadows cast by outward things</div> +<div class="verse indent0">On stone or canvas, having in themselves</div> +<div class="verse indent0">No separate existence. Architecture,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Existing in itself, and not in seeming</div> +<div class="verse indent0">A something it is not, surpasses them</div> +<div class="verse indent0">As substance shadow.”</div></div> + +<p class="right"> +—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>, in <cite>Michael Angelo</cite>. +</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2></div> + +<hr class="r15"> + +<p class="drop-cap">I <span class="frstwrd">have</span> written this short history of architecture +to meet the requirements of those who +wish to become acquainted with the main facts +without having to read voluminous works, many of +which are addressed, not to the student, but to the +connoisseur, who is presumed at the start to have a +knowledge of the subject sufficient to enable him to +comprehend critical and theoretical essays.</p> + +<p>The plan I have adopted has been to trace the +origin of each style, its characteristic points and its +connection with those which preceded and succeeded +it, without introducing technical terms or any but +the most important dates.</p> + +<p>There is a temptation to enter into the social and +political histories of each building race, but brevity +forbids this, as well as any of the gushing descriptions +usually found in modern handbooks on art.</p> + +<p>I imagine that very few people have the time to +read lengthy treatises on architecture, but that there +are many who would be glad to know the chief historical +facts, were these to be presented within a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span>small compass. I hope, therefore, that this volume +may be of interest to the general reader and may +find its way to schools other than those which make +art matters their specialty, for it seems to me that +if the average schoolboy were taught as much about +the history of the most useful and beautiful of the +creations of the people of each age, as about the +manner and quantity of warfare and slaughter in +which they indulged, he would obtain as valuable a +quality of information.</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="smcap">Art Schools of the Metropolitan Museum.</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">March, 1887</span> +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="LIST_OF_PLATES">LIST OF PLATES.</h2></div> +<hr class="r15"> + + + +<table class="toc wd80"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">St. Trophyme at Arles</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><i>Frontispiece</i>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr fs50 lsp1 wsp" colspan="2">FACING PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">The Greek Orders</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing056">56</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of the Temple of Theseus at Athens</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing062">62</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">The Roman Orders</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing070-71">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Palace of Diocletian at Spalatro</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing073">73</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of the Pantheon at Rome</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing074">74</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of The Baths of Agrippa</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing075">75</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbek</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing076">76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of the Old Basilica of St. Paul’s + Beyond the Walls</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing089">89</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">St. Vitale, of Ravenna</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing092">92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">The Temple of Minerva Medica</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing093">93</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">The Temple of Vesta, sometimes + Called the Temple of Hercules</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing094_1">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span> + <span class="smcap">The Baptistery of Constantine</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing094_2">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">The Pendentive System in Byzantine Domes</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing097">97</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Church of Sergius and Bacchus at Constantinople</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing098">98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of St. Sophia, Constantinople</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing099">99</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Romanesque Construction</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing121">121</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Comparative Series, showing Greek, + Roman, Romanesque, and Gothic Methods of Support</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing124">124</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of Strasbourg Cathedral</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing128">128</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Chevet of Notre Dame du Port at Clermont</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing130">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of Rheims Cathedral</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing134">134</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of an English Cathedral</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing136">136</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of St. Peter’s as Originally +Designed by Michael Angelo</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing155">155</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm"><span class="smcap">Plan of Church of the Hotel + des Invalides at Paris</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#facing160">160</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2></div> + +<hr class="r15"> + + +<table class="toc wd80"> +<tr> +<td class="tdr fs50 lsp1 wsp" colspan="3">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span>,</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt wd1p5e">I.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">Celtic or Druidical Remains</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#I">5</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">II.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">The Monuments of Egypt</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#II">10</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">III.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">Asiatic Architecture</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#III">30</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">IV.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">Greece</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#IV">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">V.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">Etruria and Rome</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#V">68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">VI.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">The Early Christian Style</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#VI">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">VII.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">The Byzantine Style</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#VII">95</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">VIII.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">Mahometan Architecture</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#VIII">105</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">IX.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">The Romanesque Style</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#IX">115</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">X.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">Gothic Architecture</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#X">132</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">XI.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">The Renaissance</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#XI">151</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdrt">XII.</td> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hang1 nm">—<span class="smcap">Conclusion</span>,</p></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#XII">162</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> + + + +<p class="center lsp1 wsp fs120 p6" id="A_SHORT">A SHORT<br> +<br> +<span class="fs150">HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE.</span></p></div> + +<hr class="r15"> +<h2 class="nobreak p1" id="INTRODUCTION"><span class="fs60 lsp2">INTRODUCTION.</span></h2> + + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">Architecture</span> is an art combining the +qualities of utility and beauty. Its object +is, and has been from its origin, to satisfy both the +necessities and tastes of the various building races.</p> + +<p>For this purpose the two distinct, and yet closely +related, sciences of construction and decoration have +been employed, and the history of the progress +which has been made in each, goes hand in hand +with the history of each age and each race.</p> + +<p>The requirements of the inhabitants of every +country have always been defined by its character +and climate, and, in order to satisfy these requirements, +the art has adapted itself to them and grown +up and expanded in the different fields in which it +has been directed.</p> + +<p>It is customary to explain the origin of the art of +building somewhat as follows: The first impulse of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>the barbarian, in whatever part of the globe he may +be born, is to seek a shelter from the varying temperature +of night and day. If he lives in the mountains, +he chooses the caves and clefts in the rocks +for his habitation; if on the plain, he follows the +example of the animals and hollows out a retreat in +the ground where he may seek warmth and protection. +Where the soil is rocky, he gathers branches +and moss, and piles them in such a manner as to +form a rude dwelling. Soon after, he perceives +the inconvenience of these untrimmed boughs, and +remedies the discomfort by driving four straight +posts into the ground, and roofing them over with +cross-pieces, inclined so as to shed the rain.</p> + +<p>This is the first semblance of a thoughtful construction, +and the improvements upon it gradually +develop into the more studied forms of architecture.</p> + +<p>When the first requisite of shelter has been obtained, +the early builder cuts off the rough edges +and carves upon the posts rude emblems of the +natural objects he sees about him, and in doing this +takes the first step in design and decoration.</p> + +<p>When wood is not abundant, he seeks a similar +result in stone, and the treatment of each material +gives rise to distinct principles of construction.</p> + +<p>The Greeks, who had marble-quarries of easy access, +bridged over their posts or columns with +straight lintels, capable of supporting the weight +of the roof without danger of fracture. The Romans, +who found their travertine difficult to handle, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>built their baths and palaces of brick, and, in +seeking to connect their pillars and piers, adopted +the round arch as a means of effecting this end, and +this round arch was the main principle of Roman +architecture. When, in due time, the pointed arch +was found to combine great strength and beauty, +this new method of building became the leading +principle of Gothic art. So, according to each necessity, +the different styles of architecture arose.</p> + +<p>When civilization increases the requirements of +man, it is no longer possible to begin a rude construction, +and alter it afterward to suit these needs; +therefore it becomes necessary to consider beforehand +all the elements required, and, in order to facilitate +this consideration, drawing comes in as a simple +means of placing before one all that enters into the +proposed building.</p> + +<p>Therefore, in the study of architecture four divisions +of the art must be considered, namely: The +construction of buildings with various materials, the +appropriate proportions of the same, their representation +by draughtsmanship and their history in various +times and among various peoples.</p> + +<p>It will be readily understood that each of these +divisions embraces a wide scope individually, and +yet no one can be separated from the others without +affecting the result as a whole.</p> + +<p>It is proposed, therefore, to review briefly the history +of this art, and the causes which have affected +it, in order that, knowing the reasons which led to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>the formation of each style, the student may follow +its study with the practical understanding and logical +inference which lead to the best results.</p> + + +<p class="p2">The question of which country furnished the first +or earliest period of approach to civilization in the +building of monuments or habitations has been, +and is likely to be, an open one for some time to +come.</p> + +<p>Speculative discussion on this point can serve no +end of importance to architects; it interests more +especially the historian and antiquarian. Consequently +we will, for the sake of convenience, glance +over the periods of architecture in the following +order:</p> + +<ul> + +<li>1. Celtic or Druidical remains.</li> +<li>2. The Monuments of Egypt.</li> +<li>3. Asiatic architecture.</li> +<li>4. Greece.</li> +<li>5. Etruria and Rome.</li> +<li>6. The Early Christian style.</li> +<li>7. The Byzantine style.</li> +<li>8. Mahometan architecture.</li> +<li>9. The Romanesque style.</li> +<li>10. Gothic architecture.</li> +<li>11. The Renaissance.</li> +</ul> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="I">I. +<br><br> +CELTIC OR DRUIDICAL REMAINS.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">The</span> Celtic race has left enduring marks of its +power in the numerous monuments which are +found in various parts of Great Britain, France, +Germany, and Spain, and scattered through adjacent +countries.</p> + +<p>These consist of collections of huge uncarved +boulders, arranged in geometrical lines, and often +found in the centre of vast plains, far removed from +quarry or mountain-side.</p> + +<p>The more common forms are called “menhirs +or peulvans,” signifying in Celtic “long stones.” +These are either found separately or ranged in long +parallel lines.</p> + +<p>The most remarkable examples are at Carnac, in +Brittany, where there are twelve hundred of these +huge stones, varying from three to eighteen feet in +height, ranged in eleven rows, leading to a semicircular +enclosure.</p> + +<p>What purpose they served, and whether of +a religious or civil character, has not been conclusively +determined. Some consider that they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>served to mark the burial-spot of the Druids; +others that they were landmarks or emblems of +victory.</p> + +<p>To another class belong the so-called Rocking +Stones, which consist of two immense blocks of +rock, placed one upon the other, and either balanced +so exactly that the slightest touch will suffice to +shake them, or pivoted so as to revolve. There are +examples at Tenanville, near Cherbourg, in the +north of France, and in Sussex, England. One of +these, called the “Great upon Little,” is estimated +to weigh a million pounds.</p> + +<p>Batissier considers them to have been erected by +the priests, either to strike terror and wonder into +the hearts of the people, whom they sought to +hold in subjection, or as emblems of the world suspended +in the air. We know that they have existed +from remote ages, as mention is made of their +antiquity by Pliny and Ptolemy.</p> + +<p>Trilitha, or lichavens, are formed with three +stones, two vertical and one horizontal resting upon +the others, in the shape of a rude gateway. +This is what they were probably intended for, +though it has been suggested that they were used +for altars. Similar to these are the dolmens, or +table-stones, consisting of one large flat boulder +supported by several smaller ones. Their upper +surfaces, as a rule, have channels cut in them, +which are generally believed to have been receptacles +for the blood of victims sacrificed upon them, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>and some are even hollowed out in the shape of +the human body.</p> + +<p>The Merchants’ Tables, at Lochmariaker, are the +most noted among the many that still exist.</p> + +<p>From fragments of skeletons usually found in the +vicinity of dolmens, it has been imagined that either +the priests or their human offerings were buried +there as upon consecrated ground.</p> + +<p>There are several instances where these dolmens +form covered ways or avenues, being placed one +beside another in continuous line, and generally +surrounded by a plantation of trees. They are frequently +divided by blocks of stone into several +compartments, and, like the tumuli or barrows, +were probably used as places of interment for the +dead.</p> + +<p>The most interesting, perhaps, of any of these +groups of stones are the “cromlechs”: enclosures +formed of numerous boulders, arranged either in +elliptic rows or in concentric circles, with a large +monolith in the central point. Each circle is composed +of a definite number of “menhirs,” and the +whole is usually surrounded by a ditch.</p> + +<p>It is supposed that each stone represented a minor +deity, and the central one the chief of the gods. +Their purpose apparently was to mark the place of +large assemblies, called together for the administration +of civil, military, and religious rites.</p> + +<p>The cromlech of Stonehenge in Wiltshire is the +most celebrated and one of the largest known. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>country folk call it the Cor-Gaur, or dance of giants, +and attribute its formation to the magic of the famous +enchanter, Merlin. It is composed of two +circular and two elliptic enclosures, the one within +the other, and is several hundred feet in circumference.</p> + +<p>In none of these Celtic monuments is there anything +which may be called strictly architectural, +but some of them illustrate a principle of building +which is of importance to note. To place a row of +stones in upright positions denotes no special phase +of intelligent thought, beyond a desire to permanently +mark some interesting locality, but when the +ancient race which raised these massive rocks conceived +the idea of supporting one block upon a number +of smaller ones, it had reached a first principle +of construction, destined to be employed for many +centuries afterward in some of the finest buildings. +After the trilithon came the table-stones, and from +these it was but a step to the covered alleys, which +were in themselves a first conception of a rude habitation, +walled in and roofed over. There can be +nothing more elementary than this, and no simpler +constructional expedient, in whatever country it may +first have been evolved. We do not know the precise +date of Celtic monuments, nor is it probable +that they are as ancient as the Egyptian pyramids, +but as in any case they illustrate the transition from +brutal ignorance to an era of thought, we may place +them at the commencement of our chronological list. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>In the various themes and discussions advanced by +archæologists, and the strange legends and tales of +the peasantry with regard to them, we have no concern. +It is sufficient for us to know that they exist +and afford us an insight into the dawning efforts of +a barbaric people to progress in the art which we +propose to study.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="II">II. +<br><br> +THE MONUMENTS OF EGYPT.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">The</span> history of Egypt is divided into five periods, +from the earliest ages down to its conquest +by the Romans at the beginning of the +Christian era. The first period comprises the first +fourteen dynasties of ancient kings, among whom +the most important are: Menes, founder of Memphis, +Shoofoo or Cheops, Shafra or Chephren, and Mycerinus, +builders of the pyramids of Gizeh, and the +two Theban monarchs, Osirtasen I. and Amenemha +III., by whom the tombs at Beni Hassan, the Labyrinth +and Lake Moeris were constructed. According +to Bunsen these fourteen dynasties date from 3623 +to 2547 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span></p> + +<p>The second period is marked by the invasion of +the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, of whom there were +three dynasties. They remained in power until +1625 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> and were a warlike and destructive race, +leaving no permanent traces of their occupation.</p> + +<p>The third period is the most brilliant in Egyptian +history, extending from 1625 to 525 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, and comprising +nine dynasties of great conquerors and builders. +The best known of these are: Amosis, Thothmes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>III., Sethi I., Rameses II. (the Great), called +also Sesostris, and Rameses III. Under these kings +the great temples of Luxor, Abydus, and Karnak +were erected and the arts were assiduously cultivated.</p> + +<p>The Persians under Cambyses occupied the country +in the year 525 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> They were expelled a century +later, but were again victorious in 340 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, and +remained in possession until the conquest of Alexander +the Great in 332. This fourth period was as +unproductive in works of art as had been that of the +Hyksos dominion.</p> + +<p>After Alexander, the Ptolemys ruled until the +close of the first century before Christ. Their +government promoted the cultivation of the arts +and industries and formed the fifth and last period +in the history of ancient Egypt as an independent +state.</p> + +<p>Of these five epochs there are, therefore, only three—namely, +the first, third, and fifth—during which +architecture flourished, and these three in reality +form but one long period in the history of an art +which remained almost unaltered, scarcely either +improving or receding, from the remotest times to +its last day.</p> + +<p>Our knowledge of ancient Egypt has been chiefly +derived from bass-reliefs, mural paintings and hieroglyphics. +The latter were unintelligible until the +discovery of the Rosetta stone by the French consul +Champollion, in 1798. This was part of a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>stone tablet bearing three inscriptions, one in hieroglyphics, +one in the Cursive letters used by the +lower classes, and the third in Greek. By means of +this the old alphabet was reconstructed and all the +ancient inscriptions deciphered.</p> + + +<h3><i>TOMBS</i>.</h3> + +<p>The most important monuments of the first period +are the pyramids, the oldest of which were +built between three and four thousand years before +Christ.</p> + +<p>There remain about a hundred of these in the +vicinity of the ancient city of Memphis, extending +over a considerable extent of country, and others are +found in Thebes and at Meroë in Ethiopia. There +have been many theories advanced upon the subject +of their origin and purpose, and many arguments set +forth seeking to prove that they were observatories, +temples, granaries, meteorological monuments, or +tombs. Nearly all modern authorities agree upon +the last as the most probable solution of the problem, +not only from the sarcophagi and mummies +found within many of them, and from inscriptions +relating events in the lives of important personages +which adorn the walls of some of their inner chambers, +but from the fact that these buildings are never +found beyond the confines of cemeteries.</p> + +<p>In erecting these monuments, the Egyptians usually +selected a site upon a rocky plateau, on which +a space equal to the superficial area required for +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>the base was made level, a mound being left in +the centre which was bonded in with the masonry. +Below this platform a sepulchral chamber and connecting +passage were hollowed in the rock. The +pyramid was built over this chamber and contained +one or more additional apartments, reached from the +outside by narrow and inclined corridors. It was +generally constructed with blocks of limestone, in +successive steps receding at an angle varying from +forty-five to seventy degrees. The outside was afterward +cased with slabs of polished syenite, upon +which inscriptions were engraved or painted. The +interior chambers and corridors were likewise lined +with polished granite, sometimes so mathematically +jointed that a needle could not be pushed between +the stones. Ceilings were formed by inclined slabs +resting against each other or the walls were corbelled +inward until they met.</p> + +<p>The entrances to the passages were invariably +closed and concealed, and portcullises of heavy +granite blocks, sliding in grooves, were placed at intervals +along the corridors, the more effectually to +preserve the sepulchre from violation. Nearly all +have, nevertheless, been entered and rifled, so that +but little is left to aid the archæologist in his researches. +Fragmentary inscriptions and local observations +compared with the accounts given by +Greek and Latin authors have, however, resulted in +the piecing together of what may be presumed to +be an accurate history of the pyramid-builders.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span></p> +<p>The three largest pyramids are situated at Gizeh, +a small village near Cairo, and are respectively +those of Cheops, known also as Suphis or Shoofoo, +Chephren or Shafra, and Mycerinus.</p> + +<p>The following table shows the dimensions given +by two of the best authorities:</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Side of Base.</span></td> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Perpendicular Height.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdc">Sir G. Wilkinson.</td> +<td class="tdc">Col. H. Vyse.</td> +<td class="tdc">Sir G. Wilkinson.</td> +<td class="tdc">Col. H. Vyse.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Cheops</td> +<td class="tdc">756′ </td> +<td class="tdc">764′ </td> +<td class="tdc">480′ 9″</td> +<td class="tdc">480′ 9″</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Chephren</td> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdc">707′ 9″</td> +<td class="tdc">453′ </td> +<td class="tdc">454′ 3″</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Mycerinus</td> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdc">364′ 6″</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">208′ </td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>All of these are oriented and the entrances are +all on the North sides. This is a rule applicable to +all the pyramids except that of Sakkarah, which is +placed without reference to the points of the compass +and was probably erected at a much later +date.</p> + +<p>The first or Great Pyramid contains one subterranean +chamber, reached by a passage some three hundred +feet long, and two other apartments above the +level of the ground, the one above the other, called +the King’s and Queen’s sepulchres. The entrance +to the connecting corridors is placed 45 feet above +the ground and 23 feet away from the true centre +in order to deceive explorers. The Queen’s Chamber +is about 18 feet square by 20 feet in height, +and is placed directly under the apex of the pyramid. +It is 67 feet above the ground, and 71 feet +below the King’s Chamber. The passage leading +to the latter is 28 feet high, formed by corbelled +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>walls. This chamber is roofed by a flat ceiling and +measures 34 feet in length by 17 in breadth, and is +19 feet high. The walls and ceiling are built of +finely polished granite, and the apartment contains +a sarcophagus of the same material. The weight +of the superincumbent masonry is relieved by five +other compartments placed over the chamber, four +of which are covered by flat slabs, and the fifth by +inclined stones resting against each other. It was +in this highest compartment that some hieroglyphics +scrawled in red ochre on the walls were discovered, +by means of which the name Shoofoo became known. +Herodotus says that one hundred thousand men +were employed during twenty years in building the +Great Pyramid, after they had devoted ten years, +previous to its erection, to the construction of a +causeway to the Nile, over which the stone was carried, +which had been brought down the river from +the Arabian hills.</p> + +<p>Diodorus asserts that the number of workmen +employed was upward of three hundred and sixty +thousand.</p> + +<p>The second pyramid contains two chambers, the +most important of which is on the ground level, +partly sunk in the rock. Its dimensions are 46 feet +long by 16 in width, and 22 feet high. Within it +a granite sarcophagus was found, containing the +bones of an ox. This discovery gave rise to much +speculation, as to whether the pyramids were not +originally intended for the sepulchres of the animal +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>deities worshipped by the Egyptians, the bull Apis +in particular. The third pyramid was covered by +a casing of polished red granite, formed of blocks +with bevelled edges. There are several chambers +inside, one of which contained a mummy and case, +now transferred to the British Museum.</p> + +<p>Near the pyramid of Cheops, on the same plateau, +is the Sphinx. This great statue, with a human +head and the body of a lion, is carved in the natural +rock, deficiencies being made up by added masonry. +Its dimensions are colossal, the body being 140 feet +long, and the face 30 feet high by 14 feet in breadth. +This mysterious creation was intended as the representation +of a god, and as such had sacrifices offered +before it, as the altars and temples erected beneath +it attest. From inscriptions upon a stone found +near by, it is known that the Sphinx was called +Hor-em-khoo, “The Sun in his Resting-place.” The +head was originally surmounted by a royal helmet, +the face had a beard, fragments of which have been +unearthed, and it is otherwise badly mutilated. +This fanciful creature has doubtless much affinity +with the winged bulls and lions of the Assyrian +epoch.</p> + +<p>The Egyptians also buried their dead in smaller +tombs, in subterranean vaults, and in catacombs excavated +in the rock of mountainous regions. A +great number of these smaller tombs were built +in the vicinity of ancient Memphis and are now +commonly called “mastabahs.” In arrangement +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>they were nearly all similar, the sepulchre consisting +of three parts: a temple overground, a pit or +well, and a subterranean chamber. The temple was +in the shape of a frustum of a pyramid, the walls inclining +inward at an angle of seventy degrees. It +contained one or several apartments, used as places +of assembly for the relatives and friends of the +deceased, who came at stated intervals to hold +services and to bring offerings of a suitable character. +A list of these occasions was placed over +the entrance, and on a second tablet or stella, inside, +the name, titles, and virtues of the dead were recorded. +The walls were brilliantly painted, domestic +and religious scenes being the usual subjects +depicted. The well-opening was usually concealed +and filled with masonry. Its sides were formed of +slabs of granite down to rock level and then excavated +in the rock, sometimes thirty or forty yards +below the surface. From the bottom of the pit a +doorway, usually walled up, opened into a chamber +containing a stone sarcophagus, in which the mummy +was placed.</p> + +<p>The finest excavated grottos are found at Beni +Hassan and in the neighborhood of Thebes. Those +at Beni Hassan follow the type of the “mastabah,” +having the assembly hall, the well, and the +chamber beneath, all being hollowed out of the +rock. The sides are decorated with columns, architraves, +and cornices, in imitation of constructive architecture, +and the ceilings are cut out to represent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>vaults, the uncarved surfaces being adorned with +paintings and hieroglyphics. The columns are especially +interesting, as having evidently furnished +the Greeks with the model for their Doric temples, +and the order has in consequence been called the +proto-doric. They have a diameter of five feet and +are sixteen feet high; the shaft has sixteen sides +with flutings and is surmounted by a tile or abacus. +Besides these, there are other columns with capitals +in the form of a lotus or papyrus bud, which are +more commonly found in Egyptian temples.</p> + +<p>The tombs of the kings at Thebes are arranged on +a different principle; they consist of long sloping +corridors opening into chambers and halls, and penetrating +in a continuous line into the mountain rock. +There are several groups, the most important of +which is situated in the valley of Biban-el-Molook, +or the “Gates of the Kings.” The tomb of Sethi +I., the father of Rameses II., discovered by the explorer +Belzoni in the earlier part of the century, +is the finest example, the sculpture and paintings +which it contains being very remarkable for their +execution and of great historical interest, as they +illustrate very completely the manners and customs +of the ancient Egyptians. Every effort had evidently +been made to conceal the tomb, for not only +was the entrance closed and covered with loose rock, +but the first chamber, reached by a succession of +passages and steep staircases, had been walled up +and the four sides painted, so as to have the appearance +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>of being the limit of the extent of the tomb. +The hollow sound, caused by hammering on the walls +at one point, led the explorer to continue his efforts, +which were rewarded by the discovery of several +more halls and chambers, terminating in a great +vaulted chamber, thirty feet long, containing an +alabaster sarcophagus. It has been conjectured that +many of these excavated grottos were occupied as +residences by the kings and great personages of +the empire during their lifetime, and converted into +sepulchres after death. The custom of relatives +meeting at intervals in an assembly hall connected +with the tomb does not seem to have prevailed here +as at Memphis, but it is not improbable that the +great Theban temples were used, if indeed they +were not erected for this purpose.</p> + +<p>The great mass of the people were not honoured by +such magnificent tombs, but were buried in subterranean +vaults in the necropolis (Greek, “city of the +dead”) attached to each great town. The largest +are those of Saïs, Sakkarah near Memphis, Thebes, +and Abydus. These underground galleries were +reached by deep wells, and often contained several +stories of small chambers in which the embalmed +bodies were placed, together with vases, statuettes, +and other votive offerings. There were also cemeteries +in which the animals worshipped by the +Egyptians were buried, containing thousands of +embalmed birds and reptiles, particularly the ibis +and crocodile. The Apis mausoleum at Sakkarah, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>where the sacred bulls were interred, is one of the +most important, the chambers and galleries being +excavated in the rock and covering an immense +area. The mausoleum was connected with the Serapeum, +a temple above ground, where the living +bull was worshipped as a deity.</p> + + +<h3><i>TEMPLES.</i></h3> + +<p>There are two classes of Egyptian temples—those +hollowed out of the mountain rock, commonly +called speos, and those built upon the open plain +and distinguished by the term “hypæthral” (Greek, +“under air”). The most important of the latter are +the temples of Sethi I., at Abydus; Amun re, at +Kooneh; the great and small temples of Medeenet +Haboo, erected by Rameses III. and Thothmes II.; +the Rameseum or Memnonium, of Rameses II.; +Luxor and Karnak, at Thebes; and the temples of +Denderah, Edfou, and Philæ, built by the Ptolemys. +All of these are similar in general plan, consisting +of a greater or less number of courts, halls, and +sanctuaries, which in each case are placed “en suite,” +that is, one opening into the other in a continuous +line, the larger apartments being in about the centre +of this line and gradually diminishing in size, the +last chamber being the smallest. As the main characteristics +of the largest temples apply in a modified +form to the smallest, a description of a complete +temple would seem to be the best way of explaining +the usual arrangements.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span></p> +<p>A wall of crude brick usually enclosed the whole +structure, which was surrounded by a sacred grove, +or <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: tenemos" id="tenemos">temenos</ins>. This wall was entered by an outer +gate, or pylon, built in the shape of a frustum of a +pyramid, and surmounted by a coved cornice, the +doorway having perpendicular or slanting jambs. +From this an avenue, or dromos, bordered with +sphinxes with human or rams’ heads, led up to the +propylæa, or towers. The latter resembled the outer +pylons, but were on a larger scale, containing staircases +leading to upper terraces. They were spaced +a short distance apart to admit of a passage between +them, which was entered through a second gateway +similar to the first. The sides of these buildings +were usually elaborately painted, and rings were inserted +in the masonry to hold the poles upon which +the royal banners were hoisted. This second entrance +was often flanked by two obelisks—long tapering +monoliths with pyramidal summits, covered +with hieroglyphic inscriptions recounting the dedication +of the temple by the king to his favorite divinity. +These obelisks were sometimes ninety feet +high, and mounted upon square blocks. They were +not always of equal size, probably owing to the difficulty +of obtaining single stones of such enormous +length. It is of interest to note that their sides +were made slightly convex in order to prevent their +appearing concave, which would be the effect had +they been left quite flat. A second set of towers, or +propylæa, with staircases, came next, with a court +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>or area intervening. On each side of this court a +colonnade was generally placed; and sometimes before +the entrance to the towers two colossal statues +of the king, represented seated, with his hands resting +upon his knees in the conventional attitude of +repose. The most famous are those known as the +Colossi of Memnon, which stand on the plain of +Thebes. They were probably in the court of the +temple of Amunoph III., of which scarcely any vestige +now remains. They are fifty feet high, mounted +upon pedestals. One of them is called the Vocal +Memnon, as, in ancient times, it gave forth sounds +at the break of day—a phenomenon more easily explained +as a trick of the priests, than by natural +causes.</p> + +<p>Beyond this court there was usually an inner vestibule, +with columns forming porticos on the four +sides; those opposite the entrance being connected +by stone screens, reaching half-way up, forming a +shaded anteroom, or pronaos, to the great hall of assembly, +which was the next apartment.</p> + +<p>The shafts and capitals of the columns varied in +different buildings. The plain cylinder, carrying +an inverted bell decorated with palm or other +smaller leaves, or a capital in the shape of the lotus +flower were the commonest forms. A column, representing +the stems of water-plants bound together +with rings, and swelling out at the top in the place +of the capital, was also often employed. Besides +these, statues of kings, or shafts surmounted by the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>heads of Isis or Osiris, were used as supports. The +architrave, or beam, did not rest directly upon the +capital, but upon an intermediate block. This +block, when on the heads of deities, was in the +shape of a miniature pylon. The cornices were +formed of a deep cove and fillet decorated with +winged asps.</p> + +<p>Some idea of the size of these inner vestibules, or +peristyles, may be formed from the dimensions of +that in the great temple of Medeenet Haboo, which +measures 123 by 133 feet, and has a height of 39 +feet 4 inches. Each of the porticos of the East and +West sides is supported by five columns; those on +the North and South by eight Osiride pillars, having +a circumference of 23 feet and a height of 24 feet.</p> + +<p>The great hall of assembly, which adjoined the vestibule, +was generally the finest portion of the temple. +The architraves supporting the roof rested upon a +great number of lofty columns, which in the centre +rose to a greater height, in order to obtain a clerestory, +by which the hall was lighted. The largest +of these is in the temple of Karnak, measuring 170 +by 329 feet. The central avenue consists of twelve +columns, 62 feet high by 11 feet 6 inches in diameter. +Besides these there are one hundred and twenty-two +others, 42 feet 6 inches in height and 28 +feet in circumference. The lintel over the doorway +by which it is entered measured 40 feet in length. +The sanctuary was contiguous to the great hall, +and terminated the suite. This consisted of a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>chamber, either occupying the whole of the rear +space, or isolated by corridors on each side, with +smaller sanctuaries opposite. In many of these, +altars and statues have been found, some of the +former formed of a single block, hollowed at the top +and pierced through from top to bottom, so that sacrifices +placed upon them could be consumed apparently +without ignition, by means of fires kindled in +subterranean vaults.</p> + +<p>In connection with the halls in the temple of +Abydus and elsewhere there were a number of vaulted +chambers; the vault not being formed of a series +of true arches, that is, with joints radiating to a +common centre, but consisting of stone beams placed +one beside the other, and hollowed out on the under +side. The arch, however, was not unknown to the +Egyptians—there are stone vaulted tombs at Sakkarah +of the time of Psammetichus (650 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>), and +crude brick arches have been found at Thebes dating +as far back as the period of the eighth dynasty +(2925 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>?). The antiquity of the arch has been +the subject of much debate, owing chiefly to the +fact that the Greeks made no use of it; recent explorations +have, however, shown that this constructive +expedient was known both in Egypt and Assyria +many years before it was adopted by the +Etruscans, to whom its invention was long attributed.</p> + +<p>The exterior walls of all temples were built on a +batter, sloping inward at an angle of about seventy +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>degrees and with scarcely any openings. The inside +walls were perpendicular, and decorated with bass-reliefs +and paintings. These were often of a most +elaborate character, and it is from them that so much +has been learned concerning the ancient history of +the country.</p> + +<p>The rock-cut temples of Nubia are laid out on +much the same plan. They usually consist of a +pronaos, naos, and sanctuary, forming a suite, with +an entrance marked by colossal statuary hewn out +of the side of the cliff. Some have a dromos of +sphinxes, propylæa, and a peristyle court of masonry +preceding the excavated portions. The temple of +Wady Sabooah is the best example of the latter. +Of the former none can compare with the Great +and Small temples of Aboo Simbel, or Ipsambool, +which are of the time of Rameses the Great.</p> + +<p>The smaller of the two is dedicated to the goddess +Athor, the Venus of the Egyptians. The exterior +is ornamented with six statues of deities recessed +in the rock, each measuring thirty-five feet in +height. In the interior there is a first hall, supported +by square pillars, opening into a corridor, +flanked by smaller halls, leading to the sanctuary.</p> + +<p>The front of the Great temple is adorned with +four statues of the king seated upon his throne, +each sixty feet high. In the great hall there are eight +Osiride pillars, upward of thirty feet in height. The +sides of the speos are carved with bass-reliefs, representing +the conquests of Rameses the Great.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></p> +<p>There are some sixteen smaller chambers, the suite +terminating in the sanctuary, which contains an altar +and four statues—the three deities, Amun re, Phre, +and Phtah, with the king seated in their company.</p> + +<p>Under the headings tombs and temples are comprised +the chief architectural works of the Egyptians. +Besides these there were one or two gigantic +constructions, famous in antiquity, but which have +now almost disappeared. Of these, the Labyrinth +and the Lake Moeris were the most important. The +former appears to have been an immense structure, +half palace, half tomb, built by Amenemha III., of +the twelfth dynasty. It was built on three sides of +an open square, measuring about five hundred feet on +the side, consisting of numerous chambers and courts, +in two stories, one above and the other below the +level of the ground. At the open end was placed a +large pyramid, of which the ruins still remain. Herodotus +admired the Labyrinth more than any other +of the Egyptian buildings, declaring it to surpass +the pyramids in labour and expense. Near by was +the artificial Lake Moeris, formed to retain the Nile +waters during the inundation, for the purpose of irrigating +the country surrounding Memphis, during +the dry season. It covered an immense area; tradition +says 450 miles in circumference. The banks +were fortified with massive masonry, and the waters +distributed by means of locks and sluices.</p> + +<p>The Egyptians appear as a civilized nation, having +a scientific, artistic, and political knowledge of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>no mean order, at a time when the greater part of +the world’s inhabitants were but a step removed from +the level of ignorant savages, and when, according to +a generally accepted chronology, the world itself had +existed but a few hundred years. The construction +of the Pyramids reveals a building capacity which +has rarely been rivalled, requiring not only immense +mechanical power, but an accuracy of judgment and +calculation in the adjustment of blocks of granite +weighing many tons, not simply piled one above the +other, but perfectly jointed and polished, and so disposed +that passages and chambers were roofed over +and their ceilings relieved from superincumbent +weight by ingeniously contrived compartments, one +above the other, and closed by sliding doors of monolithic +stones, the handling of which could only have +been successful by people well versed in the theories +of equilibrium and support; and yet all this was +done at a date which the best authorities agree in +saying could not have been later than three thousand +years before Christ. Their temples show an +equally advanced erudition, and the paintings and +hieroglyphics with which the walls of these buildings +are adorned give a faithful representation of +the customs of a people acquainted with the minor +arts and sciences and the appliances requisite for +agriculture.</p> + +<p>The admiration with which we may regard the +excellence of so ancient an art is tempered when we +find that it contained no element of progress. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>monuments of the eighteenth dynasty, though numerous +and imposing, scarcely differ from those of +the preceding period, and even in the days of the +Ptolemys, who encouraged the native art, there was +nothing attempted but a repetition of the old +methods. From beginning to end the arts were so +fettered by conventionality and dogmatic laws, opposed +to originality or change, that the only improvements +made were in mere mechanical execution.</p> + +<p>A great prevailing thought seems to have actuated +this people,—that of death and eternity. Their aim +in erecting their buildings was to render them quasi-eternal, +and by embalming the bodies of the dead +they even sought to perpetuate the semblance of +life. Their kings at the beginning of their reigns +commenced the construction of their own sepulchres, +employing hundreds of workmen and immense expenditure +of the national funds for the purpose, and +countless thousands passed their lives in hollowing +temples in the mountain rock and in carrying huge +blocks from great distances for the building of the +pylons and hypostylic halls of the Nile, in which +durability and massiveness were considered all-important.</p> + +<p>Egyptian architecture, simply from the enormous +scale of everything it produced, was always dignified +and it had also the merit of severe simplicity; +but mere size can scarcely be rated as an artistic +quality of a high order, and on that account it cannot +compare favourably with the art of the Greeks, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>who were probably inspired by what they saw in +Egypt, but who, in their own work, succeeded in +combining the qualities of majesty and beauty without +resorting to the use of extraordinary materials.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="III">III. +<br><br> +ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">It</span> would, perhaps, be reasonable to suppose that +in India, where the Aryan race had its origin, +the earliest traces of dawning art would be found. +It has, however, been fairly well established that +all remnants of very ancient art, which may have +existed there in former times, have now virtually +disappeared, and that at present there are no remains +in Hindostan of a remoter antiquity than the +second or third century before the Christian era.</p> + +<p>The architecture of India loses much of its interest +for us from the fact of its having had no influence +upon the origin or development of the European +styles of building, which, starting in Egypt +and Assyria, formed a continuous chain, each linked +with its predecessor and successor down to modern +times.</p> + +<p>The Indians were, in fact, never a migratory or +colonizing race of people, and their architecture was +a distinctly native production, executed in accordance +with the rules laid down by the priests in their +sacred books, having no affinity with the constructive +principles of the Western world and showing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>no trace of the arts practised by Western nations, +except in the slight resemblance of a few mouldings +and fragments of sculpture.</p> + +<p>The chief structures of the country are temples, +pagodas, and dagobas, which are found in many +different parts of the peninsular and adjacent +islands, resembling each other in general style, but +with some local peculiarities which have caused +them to be usually classified in certain comprehensive +divisions, of which the following are the most +important:</p> + +<p>The Buddhist style, including the stambhas or +lats, a species of commemorative pillar, the stupas +or topes, of which the best examples are found at +Sarnath and Manikyala, and the viharas of Bengal.</p> + +<p>The Dravidian style, exemplified in the temples of +<ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: Chilambaram" id="Chilambaram">Chidambaram</ins>, Tanjore, Combaconum, and Madura, +and the rock-cut temples of Mahavellipore, and +those known as the Kylas at Ellora.</p> + +<p>The Indo-Aryan, or Northern, comprising the temples +of Kanaruc, Bhuwaneswur, Jajepur, and Cuttack, +in the province of Orissa.</p> + +<p>The stupas, or dagobas, were a form of structure +specially erected for the purposes of Buddhist worship. +They were sometimes built in the shape of a +square tower upon rising ground, of which that at +Sarnath, north of Benares, is the best known. The +more important, however, are cylindrical and surmounted +by a semicircular dome. These are usually +erected on artificial mounds or tumuli, and are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>constructed either with jointed stones or with rough +blocks bedded in cement. The interiors are of +solid masonry, with the exception of a small square +chamber, used as a repository for sacred emblems, +the walls of which are continued up to the top of +the dome. The stupa at Manikyala, is of great size, +being upward of eighty feet in height, and measuring +some three hundred feet in circumference. The +base of the building is in the form of a cylinder, +six or seven feet high, supporting an attic decorated +with pilasters; above this the walls recede, and are +capped by a hemispherical dome. There are a great +number of dagobas in Ceylon, in the mountainous +districts. They are usually placed in a walled enclosure, +and surrounded by commemorative pillars. +Smaller constructions of the same description are +found in the interior of some of the temples, being +placed where the <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: baldaquins" id="baldaquins">baldachins</ins>, or altars, would be +placed in Christian edifices.</p> + +<p>The rock temples of India are of two classes, the +one consisting of grottos hollowed in the mountain +side, and the other of a series of monolithic buildings +cut bodily out of the solid rock, and detached +from the surrounding hill plateaus by wide excavated +areas.</p> + +<p>The former, resembling the speos of Egypt, consists +of long galleries, divided into aisles by piers +of the natural rock left at regular intervals to sustain +the superincumbent mass. A recess or sanctuary +is placed at one extremity, containing the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>statue of the divinity to whom the temple is dedicated. +In some cases the interior is terminated by a semicircular +apse with a hemispherical vault, and the +entrance preceded by a vestibule containing votive +figures, the whole forming a plan very similar to +that of the Latin basilicas, which will be described +in a subsequent chapter. The grottos are frequently +excavated in several stories and connected +by corridors and ramps.</p> + +<p>The walls or sides are ornamented with rude +sculptures, representing various forms of animal life +and monstrous creations of native fancy. The piers +or pillars are generally either square or octagonal, +decorated with mouldings and flutings, and having +well defined capitals and bases. The capitals usually +support a stone beam or bracket, evidently in +imitation of those used in wooden construction, in +which a similar expedient would be employed to +distribute the sustaining power over a wider surface +than that directly above the column or post. This +imitation of wooden forms, which we have already +noticed in Egypt, is found universally in all ancient +constructions showing that in nearly every country +wooden architecture was employed before stone.</p> + +<p>The group known as the Kylas of Ellora, is the +finest example of the temples fashioned both inside +and outside from the solid rock.</p> + +<p>The whole edifice is monolithic and situated in an +oblong court formed by a trench excavated “vivo +saxo” on the four sides. The exterior surfaces +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>are richly carved, and the piers shaped to represent +elephants, lions, and fantastic creatures supporting +the superstructure on their backs. The court is entered +from a monumental porch, the upper story +of which is connected with a small chapel by a +bridge. This chapel is flanked by two colossal elephants, +and by two columns or towers standing +isolated on either side. A second bridge leads +from this to the hall of Shiva, the chief room in +the suite, which is divided by sixteen columns, with +corresponding pilasters on the walls. At the farther +extremity is the sanctuary containing the statue of +the presiding divinity. Beyond this are open terraces, +surrounded by chapels. The great hall is +connected laterally with subterranean chambers in +the surrounding cliffs, reached also from excavated +corridors which follow the perimeter of the court, +the mass above being sustained by square piers +spaced at short distances apart.</p> + +<p>The inside walls are decorated with bass-reliefs +and the ceilings ornamented with stucco relievos, +which were originally brilliantly painted. The +height of the hall of Shiva is about fifty feet, the +hillside opposite to it being about ninety feet high.</p> + +<p>These temples may be said to be the most remarkable +and unique architectural productions to +be found anywhere. They are examples of long-continued +perseverance and patience, and can only +be the result of a preconceived design which must +have been thoroughly studied in all its elaborate +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>detail before the first stroke was given toward its +realization. The unity of conception and execution +exhibited in such works is truly wonderful, and it is +not astonishing that the superstitious natives should +attribute their creation to Visvakarma, the heavenly +architect. On the other hand, there are but few +practical lessons to be learned from their examination. +Such methods are not possible in our day, nor +if so, would they be desirable. Architecture of this +kind is scarcely more than wholesale sculpture, and +as such can in no sense compare favourably with +the grace of form and scientific construction which +we see in the works of Greek and Gothic artists.</p> + +<p>The Pagodas are the most important of the buildings +constructed with jointed materials. They consist +of vast enclosures containing numerous religious +and domestic edifices. There are often double or +triple series of enclosing walls of great height and +thickness. The sides are usually placed so as to face +the points of the compass and each contains a monumental +entrance, richly sculptured, and adorned with +bands of embossed copper.</p> + +<p>The chief buildings within are the temple proper, +or vimana, and a number of hypostylic halls with +small sanctuaries dedicated to different divinities.</p> + +<p>The form of the vimana differs in the North and +South of India. In both cases it is pyramidal, but +while in the Southern temples the plan is rectangular +and the elevations marked by a series of horizontal +stories and mouldings, in the North the exterior +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>surfaces are convex and the outlines curved, +showing vertical instead of horizontal divisions. +The lower story, containing the idol, is usually a hollow +cube of granite, and serves as a base to the pyramid +above, which is most frequently built of brick +with stucco facing.</p> + +<p>The halls are composed of a great number of columns +of varied design, placed in parallel rows. The +ceilings are formed by stone beams or slabs resting +upon the columns. The central aisle is frequently +wider than the others and is roofed over by a corbelled +vault.</p> + +<p>A tank of sacred water surrounded by an open +colonnade is not uncommonly placed within the enclosure, +the waters being used by the infirm for the +healing properties which they are supposed to contain.</p> + +<p>The pagodas of Tanjore, Combaconum, and Madura +are among the finest and most celebrated. They +were built between the fifth and eleventh centuries of +the Christian era, and should hardly, therefore, be +described among the ancient buildings of the world, +were it not that they are linked in with the chain of +the older Indian art too closely to be separated from it.</p> + +<p>In the period corresponding to the Middle Ages +of Europe, Mahometan architecture was introduced +in India and many beautiful buildings were erected +in a new style blending the foreign art with the +native ideas and taste, but offering a marked contrast +to that which preceded it.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></p> +<p>Although China was one of the oldest of civilized +countries it contains but few monuments of great +antiquity. The temples and palaces, being built of +wood, were exposed to fire and decay, and were +often pulled down and rebuilt. With the exception +of the great wall and of the numerous bridges crossing +rivers or arms of the sea, there are no important +stone constructions to be found there.</p> + +<p>The latter are formed of huge granite piers, +spanned by massive stone lintels, requiring the +united labour of thousands of men to convey them +from the quarries to their destination and to set +them in place. In the mountains the ravines are +bridged by iron chains suspended from cliff to cliff.</p> + +<p>The great wall was built as a frontier protection, +and extended the entire length of the boundaries of +the country. It has always been kept in repair, +although obviously absurd as a fortification in modern +times. It is of great thickness, and upward of +twenty feet in height. The foundations are of stone, +and the upper part of brick with stone facing, the +joints of which are extremely accurate. At short +intervals there are towers, placed so that the middle +distance between any two is within arrow-shot.</p> + +<p>Chinese wooden buildings are all much alike, +whether temples or palaces. As a rule, they have +but one or two stories; they are surrounded by +porticos, consisting of wooden columns mounted on +stone bases, without capitals, which are replaced by +a species of bracket. The roofs project considerably, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>and their angles are turned up, this form +being undoubtedly borrowed from the old tent +habitations, which were composed of hides stretched +tightly on bamboos. The tiles with which they are +covered are semicylindrical in shape and are enamelled +with bright colour.</p> + +<p>The celebrated taas, or Buddhist towers, are of +similar construction. They are generally octagonal, +and from six to ten stories high. Each story is set +back from the one below, and has a balcony and +projecting roof, with bells hung in the angles. The +walls are covered with tiles or paintings. A high +staff is placed on the top and connected with angles +of the roof by chains.</p> + +<p>The tower of Nankin, known as the Porcelain +Tower, was the most famous. It was erected in +1431, and but recently destroyed.</p> + +<p>The Chinese have always excelled in artificial or +landscape gardening. In this work they build airy +bridges, with open-work balustrades, pavilions highly +ornamented and enriched with painting and gilding, +and boundary walls with circular openings, disclosing +vistas of great beauty.</p> + +<p>Their commemorative gateways are of interest, as +they have a central opening and a smaller one on +each side, like the Roman triumphal arches; the +heads are square, however, with brackets in the corners. +The upper parts are ornamented with figures +in relief and inscriptions recording the virtues of +persons to whose memory they are dedicated.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span></p> +<p>Although communication existed between China +and the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean +from remote ages, Chinese architecture, like the +Indian, was without influence upon that of Europe. +It is only in Western Asia that the first forms of +building are discernible, which were subsequently +imitated or followed in European constructions. +The most important of these are situated in Mesopotamia, +the fertile region comprised between the +Tigris and the Euphrates.</p> + +<p>The political histories of Assyria, Babylon, and +Persia are generally treated separately, but the architecture +of each belongs to one style, which may +be called the Assyrian, for its distinguishing characteristics +remain the same in all the great cities +which were in turn the capitals of reconstructed +kingdoms and empires.</p> + +<p>It may be considered in four chronological divisions: +In ancient Babylon, from 2234 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> to 1520 +<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, at Wurka and Mugheyr; in Nineveh, from the +fourteenth to the seventh century <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, at Nimrod, +Khorsabad, and Koyoundjik; in the second Babylon, +during the seventh century and after the capture +of the latter by Cyrus in the year 538 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, in +Persia, at Persepolis, Passargadæ, and Susa. A +renaissance of the art may be traced in Sassanian +buildings erected eight centuries later.</p> + +<p>The citadels, palaces, and other important structures +of these cities were usually built upon artificial +mounds or terraces, strengthened by massive walls. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>The materials used were bituminous bricks, cemented +with bitumen, slabs of gypsum anchored +with copper nails and bands, and timber for roofs +and columns. Stone and gypsum or <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: ababaster" id="ababaster">alabaster</ins> +were employed in Nineveh and in the cities of Persia. +In Babylon the only available material was +bituminous clay, and consequently all the buildings +there were built of brick. At the present day nothing +remains of these but irregular mounds, from +which but little can be gathered toward an understanding +of what their appearance was when entire.</p> + +<p>Wood was probably used to a great extent, and +was naturally most easily destroyed by the fire of +invading armies. The roofs, formed of thick layers +of earth carried on beams, in falling in, buried the +lower portions of buildings, and it is probably due +to this fact that the bass-reliefs have been preserved.</p> + +<p>The surfaces of the bricks were frequently enamelled +in colours, and the wood-work was probably +brilliantly painted, as traces of pigments have been +found upon the more durable materials.</p> + +<p>But little was known of Assyrian art prior to +1843, when the excavations of Botta, the French +consul at Mosul, followed soon after by those conducted +by Layard, brought to light many ruined +buildings, in which bass-reliefs, inscribed stones and +metals, and other important relics were found, enabling +historians to form a consecutive account of +the government, warfare, and arts practised by a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>people whose cities have lain buried and whose very +name has almost been forgotten for over two thousand +years.</p> + +<p>The explorations were made in Nimrod, Koyoundjik, +and Khorsabad. The palace of Asshur-bani-pal, +erected at Nimrod, in the ninth century <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, is +situated upon a terrace, or platform, approached by +a wide staircase, and preceded by two gates decorated +with winged bulls.</p> + +<p>These winged bulls, or lions, were placed as the +guardian deities, at the portals of all the great Assyrian +palaces, after the manner of the Egyptian +sphinxes, not standing isolated like these, however, +but built into the masonry, one side or the front +and one side only, being carved. The head was human, +with long beard and hair, and surmounted by +a helmet, the wings large and proportioned to the +body. As Sir Henry Layard remarks, it would +have been difficult to find more fitting symbols to +express at once the wisdom, power, and ubiquity +of a supreme being.</p> + +<p>The chief apartments of the palace are a large +assembly hall, 152 feet in length by 30 feet in +width, and a number of smaller chambers and banqueting-halls, +ranged around an open court. The +walls of the great hall were decorated with bass-reliefs, +representing triumphal processions, carved +upon slabs of gypsum eight feet in height.</p> + +<p>The palace of Esarhaddon, erected in the seventh +century, on the same terrace, contains a large hall, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>165 by 62 feet, divided in its length by a wall, surmounted +by a gallery of columns. One of the only +well-preserved ramps which has been discovered +was that leading to this palace.</p> + +<p>At Koyoundjik, opposite Mosul, the palace of +Sennacherib was found at the Southwest corner of +a mound a mile and a half in circumference. It +contained a vast number of courts and halls, decorated +with bass-reliefs and winged bulls, and two +colossal statues.</p> + +<p>The palace of Sargon at Khorsabad, erected in the +year 704 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, is among the best preserved. Like +the others it is placed upon an artificial terrace, enclosed +by a wall a mile long on each side. It was +defended by a citadel of eight towers with doors +flanked by winged bulls. The palace was reached +by a long, narrow passage leading to a court and entered +through three great gates. The bulls of the +central portal were 19 feet high. On each side were +two bulls, 13 feet high, with the figure of a giant +strangling a lion between them.</p> + +<p>The halls and chambers were grouped around two +great courts measuring about 350 by 200 feet. The +hareem formed a separate set of buildings, as did +also the stables and outhouses. The walls were of +great thickness, evidently for coolness. They were +decorated with slabs of alabaster, enamelled tiles, and +designs painted on stucco.</p> + +<p>There has been much speculation on the method +of roofing these rooms, some believing that circular +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>vaults were employed and others that wooden beams, +supported on wooden columns, similar to the stone +ones found in Persian palaces, were used for this +purpose. The latter theory seems the more probable, +as the local manner of building is the same as +this at the present day. No traces of columns remain, +however, and the spans are in many cases too +great to be roofed by single pieces of timber. One +of the most interesting discoveries made at Khorsabad +was the gate of the city, the jambs supporting +a semicircular arch over a span of eighteen feet. +The gate was a double one having two separate +passages, one for vehicles and the other for pedestrians: +the marks of chariot-wheels still remaining +in the pavement of the former. The sides were ornamented +with winged bulls, and the archivolts of +the arches were decorated with blue and yellow designs +in enamelled tiles.</p> + +<p>It had been long supposed that the Etruscans were +the first to make use of the true semicircular arch +(<i>i.e.</i>, formed of wedge-shaped stones or bricks, with +joints radiating to a common centre), but this discovery, +and the finding of pointed arches in the sewers +of Babylon, by Layard, places the date when both +these expedients were known, at a much remoter +period, though even these are probably much later +than the examples found in Egypt.</p> + +<p>No complete example of a Chaldean temple has +been found, but there are several the lower stories +of which are sufficiently well preserved to give an +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>accurate idea of their size and details, and in the +tomb of Cyrus at Passagardæ, in Persia, we have +probably a model on a small scale of one of these +buildings when entire. This tomb consists of a +platform of six steps, eighteen feet high, surmounted +by a rectangular chamber. The latter has a +doorway and a ridged roof abutting against pediments.</p> + +<p>It has been surmised that all the temples were +like this, consisting of a chamber or cella built on +the summit of a several-storied structure, each story +being either concentric and reached by a ramp winding +around the four sides or placed farther to one +side than that immediately below it and approached +by straight flights of stairs.</p> + +<p>The oldest is probably that at Wurka, dating +as far back as 2000 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, known as the Bowariyeh. +There are the remains of two stories, the lower occupying +about 200 square feet. It is probable that +a third story or a cella was placed above these, but +nothing positive can be said on the subject, owing +to the extremely ruinous condition of the building. +The temple of Birs Nimroud, probably identical +with the tower of Babel, is in a more satisfactory +condition, the upper story having been preserved by +a process of vitrification. The lowest story occupies +a square measuring 272 feet on the side, each of +the upper ones, of which it is supposed there were +originally six, being 42 feet less.</p> + +<p>For the materials used in its construction we have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>the scriptural authority: “Go to, let us make brick +and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for +stone, and slime had they for mortar” (Gen. xi.); +slime being probably bitumen.</p> + +<p>M. Place discovered the remains of a tower at +Khorsabad, with a winding ramp, which he thinks +was originally seven stories in height. The walls +were strengthened with buttresses and decorated +with sunken panels, and from traces of colour found +upon them it has been supposed that each floor +was painted in a different hue. The area covered +by the base is about one hundred and fifty square +feet, and the total height was probably one hundred +and thirty-five feet.</p> + +<p>The ruins of Persepolis are the best preserved of +the ancient Persian buildings, those at Susa and +Passagardæ being in too bad a condition to offer +much that is interesting.</p> + +<p>They are situated in the plain of Mardacht, upon +a terrace partly formed of masonry, and partly +cut in the rock of the adjoining range of hills. The +wall is composed of huge blocks of stone fitted together +without mortar, but with the finest of joints. +The terrace is reached by a splendid double flight +of steps, upward of twenty feet in width, and on +a grade easy enough to permit of the passage of +long processions without interruption. At the head +of the stairs is a propylæum, or outer gate, flanked +by colossal human-headed bulls. Beyond this, a second +staircase, ornamented with a triple row of bass-reliefs, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>gives access to the Chehil Minar, or great +hall of Xerxes.</p> + +<p>This building occupies a rectangle about three +hundred and fifty feet long by three hundred in +width. It consists chiefly of a central hall and +three lateral porticos, the roofs of which were sustained +by 72 columns, 36 in the hall and 12 in each +of the porches.</p> + +<p>Thirteen of these are still standing, and the position +of all the others is well defined by broken bases +or shafts. They are of two different kinds, the +one having a capital composed of double-headed +bulls, and the other a capital with volutes, not +placed horizontally as we see them in classical columns, +but vertically and resting on a complicated +series of mouldings. These last may have been also +surmounted by the double-headed bulls, as without +such an addition the columns are shorter than the +others, which measure 67 feet 4 inches. The beams +which they sustained, rested upon the body of the +bull between the two heads.</p> + +<p>The shafts of the columns at Persepolis are fluted +and taper upward from the bases, which are elaborately +ornamented with mouldings.</p> + +<p>It is probable that the Greek Ionic capital was +derived directly from the Persian voluted model, as +the order originated in the Greek colony in Asia +Minor.</p> + +<p>The Chehil Minar is the finest building on the +platform, the other halls of Darius and Xerxes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>being smaller, and though a hall containing 100 +columns has been found, it is inferior in height, +the total altitude not exceeding twenty-five feet.</p> + +<p>The hall of Darius contained sixteen columns, +forming a square, preceded by a portico with eight +more. The walls have long since disappeared, but +the façade of the building is reproduced upon the +face of the rock-cut tomb of Darius in the neighbouring +hill called Naksh-i-Rustam, so that a restoration +of the structure as it originally appeared is +easily made.</p> + +<p>This tomb shows the four front columns of the +porch with double-headed capitals, sustaining an entablature, +above this is placed an attic decorated +with bass-reliefs and a figure is represented standing +on the top in the act of sacrificing on an altar.</p> + +<p>The stone buildings of Persia are generally supposed +to be reproductions of the wooden constructions +of Assyria, as the character of the art is similar +in both, the bass-reliefs and winged bulls of +Persepolis being practically identical with those of +Nineveh.</p> + +<p>We find no traces of Assyrian art for several +centuries after the erection of the buildings just described, +though it is probable that it had influence +in all Eastern edifices erected during the interval, +not only in Asia, but in Greece and later in Byzance. +There was evidently a revival of Assyrian +taste during the dynasty of Sassanian kings who +reigned between the third and seventh centuries of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>our era. The remnants of their palaces are found +at Firouzabad, Al Hadhr, Serbistan, Ctesiphon, and +Mashita, where we find large halls vaulted and +domed and ornamented in a manner directly traceable +to the ancient buildings in Assyria. The chief +peculiarity of these structures lies in the use of the +horseshoe or elliptical arch, which is found nowhere +else. The porch of the Tak-Kesra at Ctesiphon +consists of a great elliptical tunnel-vault, 115 feet +deep, 85 feet high, over a span of 72 feet.</p> + +<p>There is more or less Roman influence in the details +of the Sassanian palaces, but it is not altogether +certain whether the knowledge of domical construction +which they exhibit was derived from, or +was not itself parent to, Byzantine art.</p> + +<p>Comparatively little is known concerning this +Assyrian style, but it contains interesting elements, +and it may be that its constructive forms are susceptible +of a greater development in our own +time.</p> + +<p>Asia Minor, Palestine, and Cyprus are fields covered +with the evidences of the glory of past ages, +but the ruin and desolation everywhere is complete. +The case of the temple of Jerusalem, where not one +stone remains upon another, applies in most instances +in places which have formerly been great +cities, filled with magnificent buildings which were +their pride in the day of their prosperity.</p> + +<p>The temple of Solomon was situated upon Mount +Moriah, and was built to accommodate the Levites, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>to offer a place of assembly for the people, and as +a temple for the worship of the priests. The two +sanctuaries were richly decorated with polished cedar +and gold, with columns and cornices of bronze, and +divided by linen curtains embroidered with purple +and scarlet.</p> + +<p>The peculiar formation of the hill upon which it +was built, required immense walls of the most substantial +character to be raised from the valley below +to enlarge its summit, so as to afford sufficient +space for the erection of the various courts. “It +was built of stone, made ready before it was brought +thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, +nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was +in building” (2 Kings vi., 7).</p> + +<p>The temple itself is supposed to have been 60 +cubits long, the porch 20 cubits, the Holy place 20 +cubits; the width was 20 cubits and the height 30 +cubits. The porch, however, was 120 cubits high. +(The cubit is estimated to equal from 10 to 20 +inches.)</p> + +<p>The temple underwent several profanations, and +at last was utterly destroyed in the reign of Jedekiah +by Nebuchadnezzar, 580 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> After laying in +ruins 42 years, the foundation of the second temple +was laid by Zerubbabel and in breadth and height +was double that of Solomon’s. This second temple +was plundered and profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes, +and afterward rebuilt by Herod. It was considerably +larger than its predecessor and was made of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>marble and of the most costly workmanship. It became +the admiration and envy of the world, but, as +our Lord predicted (Mark xiii., 2), it was completely +demolished by Titus, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 70.</p> + +<p>Many restorations of the temples of the Greek +colonists in Ionia have been attempted, but they are +based on historical descriptions, inscriptions on +coins, and other uncertain records, and are too conjectural +to be accepted as accurate. There are, in +fact, but few architectural remains sufficiently well +preserved to be of interest to the architect, excepting +the temples at Baalbek and Palmyra which are +of the Roman period.</p> + +<p>There are several groups of tombs, the most important +being in Lycia.</p> + +<p>These are of interest, as they illustrate more completely +the transition between wooden and stone +building than any other examples. There are two +kinds, the one consisting of sarcophagi standing isolated, +and the other of excavations in the mountain-sides. +The former are composed of a stylobate or +pedestal, serving as a base to a coffer ornamented +with uprights and cross-pieces and panelled doors +imitating exactly a wooden original. The roofs +are curved, having in section the form of a pointed +arch, being probably the earliest instances of its employment +as a decorative feature.</p> + +<p>The tombs cut in the face of the rock are of +a similar description, having the same carpentry +framework. The upper parts are terminated by a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>low pediment or by a row of stone logs supporting +a horizontal moulding.</p> + +<p>Later on during the Greek occupation, these +wooden forms were abandoned and replaced by +porticos of the Ionic order.</p> + +<p>In various parts of Asia Minor, there are remains +of tombs similar to these erected by the Pelasgi and +Etruscans, which will be described in another chapter.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV">IV. +<br><br> +GREECE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">The</span> oldest architectural works in Greece are +those erected by the Cyclopes or Pelasgi, a +race who came originally from Lycia, and moved +gradually Westward, peopling successively the islands +of the Grecian Archipelago, the Peloponnesus, +Sicily, and Italy. At Tiryns and Mycenæ, in +the province of Argolis, are to be seen the most +remarkable remains of the buildings of this people, +which were always grouped together in walled +cities, serving as strongholds to protect the inhabitants +of the province from the wild tribes with whom +they came in contact. These cities were generally +placed upon a rocky eminence, difficult of access +and commanding a view of the surrounding country.</p> + +<p>There are remains of high walls at Tiryns built of +huge stones extracted from a neighbouring quarry +and put together without cement or mortar, the +interstices being filled with smaller stones. From +the fallen blocks lying scattered at their base it is +estimated that they originally measured sixty feet +in height.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span></p> +<p>At intervals these walls are pierced by triangular +doors and windows, the sides of which are curved, +forming arches obtained by corbelled or overlapping +instead of wedged stones. These Cyclopean constructions +date from the seventeenth century before +Christ.</p> + +<p>The Acropolis of Mycenæ is entered by a doorway +formed of two vertical monoliths of great size supporting +a lintel, and called the Gate of the Lions, +from the carving above, representing two rampant +lions separated by an engaged column.</p> + +<p>This city was surrounded by high fortified walls, +and contained a place of assembly for the people +and rude habitations, the remains of which are still +visible. There is also still to be seen a conical or +bee-hive-like structure, commonly called the Treasury +of Atreus. This cone is formed by overlapping +stones, curving gradually until they meet at the top +of the vault, which is capped by a large block. +The doorway by which it is entered is composed of +slanting jambs of stone, sustaining a massive lintel. +This lintel is relieved from direct weight above by +a triangular opening, obtained by a similar process +of corbelling. The Cyclopean remains are of interest +to architects chiefly on account of this system +of corbelled vaulting employed in their construction, +which would never have been adopted had +their builders been acquainted with the voussoir +principle.</p> + +<p>Dr. Schliemann has recently excavated the Acropolis +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>of Mycenæ, and found there many interesting +objects of gold and pottery. Bronze nails with flat +heads have also been found within the Treasury of +Atreus, which were evidently used to attach copper +plates with which the interior was lined. Pausanias +speaks of a similar treasury belonging to King Minyas, +at Orchomenos, and other remains of the same +description have been discovered in different parts +of the Morea, bearing a resemblance to the ruined +cities of Etruria.</p> + +<p>In fact, the various tumuli found in Western Europe, +Sardinia, Sicily, Greece, and Asia are all of +the same type, and were a form commonly adopted +by the ancient nations.</p> + +<p>When we come to the epoch preceding Roman +architecture, we will examine the character of Etruscan +buildings, which were similar in many respects +to the works of the Pelasgi; at present the subject +of most interest is that of the great century of Greek +art, for it marks the transition from Crude Art, to +which belongs all that has preceded, to Fine Art, in +which the Greeks excelled.</p> + +<p>Greek buildings were erected according to the +rules of three systems or orders, of the origin and +character of which Vitruvius gives the following +account, which, if not strictly accurate, is at least as +reasonable as some of the versions which have been +advanced. “Dorus, King of the Peloponnesus, having +had a temple erected to Juno, in Argos, it was +built by chance in the manner which we call Doric; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>afterward, in several other towns, other temples were +built in this same order, having no established rule +for the proportions of their architecture. About +the same period the Athenians established several +colonies in Asia Minor under the guidance of Ion, +and they called the country which he occupied Ionia. +These colonists built Doric temples there at first, of +which the chief was that of Apollo, but as they did +not know what proportion to give to the columns, +they sought the means of making them at once +strong enough to sustain the building, and of rendering +them at the same time agreeable to the eye. +For this they took the measure of a man’s foot as +the sixth part of his height, and on this measure +formed their column, giving it six diameters.<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> We have already seen that there are columns at Beni Hassan, in Egypt, +resembling so closely the Greek Doric, that it is reasonable to suppose that +the Greeks borrowed their conception of the order from the Egyptians and +refined it.</p></div></div> + +<p>“Some time afterward, wishing to build a temple +to Diana, they endeavoured to find a new method, +equally beautiful and more appropriate to their +purpose. They imitated the delicacy of a woman’s +form; they heightened the columns, gave them a +base like the twisted cords which bind a sandal; +they carved volutes in the capital to represent that +portion of the hair which falls to the right and left +of the head; they put circles and rings on the columns +to imitate the rest of the hair which is braided +and caught up on the back of women’s heads; and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>by flutings they imitated the folds of the dress. +And this order, invented by the Ionians, took the +name of Ionic.</p> + +<p>“The Corinthian column represents the delicacy of +a young girl, at the age when the figure is slender +and best suited to the display of ornaments which +may add to her natural beauty. The invention of +its capital is due to the following incident: A young +girl of Corinth, who was about to marry, having +died, her nurse placed some little vases which she +had been fond of during her life, in a basket on her +tomb, and, in order that the weather should not +spoil them, she placed a tile on the basket. This, +having been laid accidentally over an acanthus-root, +it came to pass, when the leaves began to grow, that +the stems of the plant crept up the sides of the basket +and, meeting the corners of the tile, were forced to +curve downward, and to take the form of volutes. +Callimachus, a sculptor and architect, struck by the +harmonious result, imitated it in the capitals of +columns which he subsequently made in Corinth, establishing +on this model the proportions of the Corinthian +order.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="facing056" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing056.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <table class="autotable wd100" ><tr><td class="tdc wd40">DORIC.</td> + <td class="tdc wd25">IONIC.</td> + <td class="tdc wd45"><span class="pad10p">CORINTHIAN.</span></td> +</tr><tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3">THE GREEK ORDERS.</td> +</tr> +</table> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>At this stage it is necessary to explain briefly that +an order consists of a column, the pedestal upon +which it stands, and the entablature, or top member, +which it supports. The column is subdivided into +the capital, or head; the shaft, or body; and the +base, or foot. The entablature has likewise three +divisions: the architrave, or beam sustained by the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>columns; the frieze, or space occupied by the cross-beams; +and the cornice, or line of stone marking the +extremity of the rafters. These were originally +made of wood and subsequently imitated in stone.<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> Viollet le Duc maintained that the Greek buildings were in no sense +an imitation of wooden constructions, but gave no very satisfactory explanation +of the origin of their component parts. It is perhaps best to +conclude that they were adaptations of pre-existing edifices to new materials.</p></div> +</div> +<p>The Greek Doric column had no base and rested +upon a series of steps in place of the pedestal. The +ends of the cross-beams were marked upon the frieze +by a projection, upon which were cut three grooves +into which the rain-water ran and fell in drops to +the ground. These drops were represented in stone +underneath, completing an ornament which was +called a triglyph (meaning in Greek, three grooves). +The spaces intervening between the triglyphs were +called metopes. The inclination of the sides of the +roof formed the lines of the triangular termination +which we call the pediment.</p> + +<p>The Greeks employed three methods in their +Doric, namely, the hexametric, heptametric, and +octometric, that is, a proportion of six, seven, and +eight diameters to the height.</p> + +<p>We have seen what were the component parts of +the Ionic and Corinthian orders in the quotation +from Vitruvius.</p> + +<p>In Greek temples the shafts of the columns not +only tapered considerably, but the vertical lines of an +entire building inclined to imaginary points determined +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>by the intersection of lines following the +inclination of the end columns. The mass was thus +in the form of the frustum of a pyramid, being intentionally +so designed to bind the parts of the building +together in a manner to withstand effectually +the oscillation caused by earthquakes, which occur +frequently in this region.</p> + +<p>The city of Athens contained numerous examples +of each of these orders, and a brief account of the +buildings of that city will be the best means of +showing their principal characteristics.</p> + +<p>The city proper, in which were the chief temples, +was built upon a rocky hill rising from the valley +of the Illysus, lying between the mountain-chains of +Pentelicus and Hymettus, and situated about five +miles from the port of Phalerum, on the Gulf of +Ægina. This Acropolis (rock city) is approached +by a broad flight of stairs leading to the Propylæum, +or outer gate, with high pedestals on each +side which were formerly surmounted by equestrian +statues.</p> + +<p>The Propylæum is composed of a porch of six +Doric columns, giving access to a large vestibule +flanked by two outer halls. This vestibule is divided +by a flight of steps, placed between six Ionic +columns on pedestals, supporting nine marble beams +or architraves which carry the weight of the roof.</p> + +<p>Beyond is a second porch, opening on the plateau +of the Acropolis by means of five doors of different +proportions. The lintel of the central or largest +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>door measures 23 feet, while the architraves are 17 +feet in length and of single stones.</p> + +<p>The Athenians prided themselves greatly upon +the vestibule of the Propylæum, and believed Pericles, +by whose direction the building was erected, to +have been divinely inspired. The details and proportions +of the two orders here combined are of +great beauty, and show the most refined study. +From the farther porch, the Parthenon (meaning +in Greek, virgin), or temple of Minerva, is seen to +the right, exhibiting a fine perspective view of its +North and West elevations.</p> + +<p>The temple is raised upon a platform surrounded +by steps, and is rectangular in form, composed of a +cella, or oblong room, surrounded by an open portico. +It measures 228 by 101 feet, having eight +Doric columns on the front and seventeen on the +flank, inclusive of the corner ones.</p> + +<p>Ictinus and Callicrates were the architects, under +the general supervision of Phidias, who designed +the gold and ivory figure of Minerva within.</p> + +<p>The Doric is of the hexametric order, having an +approximate proportion of six diameters of the column +to its height.</p> + +<p>The pediments of the Parthenon were decorated +with rich carvings in high relief, representing, in +the one, the presentation of Minerva to the assembled +gods by her father Jupiter, and in the other, +the contest of Minerva and Neptune for the naming +of the city.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span></p> +<p>In the metopes were depicted the battles of the +Athenians with the Centaurs, and scenes in the lives +of Perseus, Theseus, and Hercules, in the admirable +sculpture of Phidias.</p> + +<p>The building stood almost intact from the fifth +century before Christ to the seventeenth century of +our era, when it suffered greatly from Venetian +artillery, and in modern times its richest sculpture +was torn from it under the Turkish régime, by order +of Lord Elgin, who obtained permission from the +authorities to remove it to the British Museum. +One of the ships containing the marbles was sunk +off Cape Matapan. Even in its ruined condition +the Parthenon stands to-day a great example of the +finest architecture the world has known.</p> + +<p>On the plateau of the Acropolis are the three +contiguous temples of Pandrosus, Erictheus, and +Minerva Polias, and the temple of the Wingless +Victory (Niké Apteros), of the Ionic order.</p> + +<p>The temple of Pandrosus is virtually a porch attached +to the larger temple of Erictheus. It is composed +of six female figures or caryatides upon a +high base, supporting an entablature without frieze. +These figures are of exceeding grace and beauty, and +are models of the sculptor’s art. The single cella was +probably divided into three, to which access was had +separately by the several porches. The ceilings of +these temples are flat and decorated with sunken +panels, ornamented with egg and dart moulds. According +to Diodorus Sicculus, the temple of Erictheus +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>was erected in his honour by the Athenians, +in gratitude for his having instructed them in the +worship of Ceres, Goddess of Agriculture. While +Pausanias states that it contained the miraculous +spring created by Neptune, who shared in its dedication.</p> + +<p>There are three windows in the wall of the cella—unusual +features in Greek architecture—and the +levels of the temples are different, evidently so arranged, +with a view to distinguish them the more +completely.</p> + +<p>The temple of the Wingless Victory is supposed +to have been erected where Ægeus fell from the +wall upon seeing the black sails of his son’s ship +returning after his victory over the Minotaur. +Others again assert that it was built without reference +to site and so-called because the Athenians +considered victory would never leave them, and +consequently needed no wings. The temple is +composed of a cella and two porches of four +columns each, supporting a beautifully decorated +entablature.</p> + +<p>At the base of the Acropolis stood the resident +portion of the city, containing also other temples +and public buildings, which are still standing. +The most important are the temple of Theseus, +the Tower of the Winds, the theatre of Bacchus, +and the monument of Lysicrates. Besides these +there are many Roman buildings, but they belong +to a subsequent period.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span></p> +<p>Plutarch says that the Athenians under Cimon +erected the temple of Theseus on his return from +Crete, and that it is of older construction than the +temple of Minerva. It has six columns in the front +and thirteen in flank, supporting marble beams the +extremities of which rest on the inner wall and correspond +on the other with the triglyphs on the outer +face. The metopes had carvings representing the +exploits of Theseus. The temple stands at the base +of the Acropolis to the North; it is similar to the +Parthenon in many respects, being of the same +Doric order, though less rich in sculpture. It is +the best preserved of all the monuments, having +suffered but little during the twenty-two centuries +it has existed.</p> + +<p>The Tower of the Winds, erected by Adronichus +Cyrrhastes, is an octagonal structure surmounted by +a frieze, upon which the eight winds of heaven are +carved in allegorical figures. The roof is a pyramid +of marble slabs and was at one time surmounted +by a bronze triton holding a switch, which answered +the purpose of a vane, but has since disappeared. +The building was used as a water-clock.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp35" id="facing062" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing062.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS AT ATHENS. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The choragic monument of Lysicrates, commonly +called the Lantern of Demosthenes, is a circular +structure of the Corinthian order. The spaces intervening +between its six columns are closed by +panels of a single stone upon which trivets are +carved. The stone roof is decorated with scales +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>and surmounted by a finial of delicate workmanship. +On this was placed the tripod of the choir +which had been successful in the Olympian contest +of the year 375 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, according to inscription.</p> + +<p>There are other Corinthian buildings scattered +throughout Greece, but this is generally taken to +be the best example and its proportions followed. +The carvings of the frieze depict the exploits of +Hercules, who is represented clothed in the traditional +lion’s skin.</p> + +<p>On the opposite slope of the hill are the ruined +chairs and benches of the theatre of Bacchus, fronting +an open stage. In building a theatre, the Northern +slope of a hillside was generally selected for +the site, in order to avoid the direct solar rays. +Seats were provided for the audience by cutting +circular tiers in the rock and a marble stage, profusely +ornamented, was erected facing them. The +stage was raised in order that the orchestra might +not interfere with the view of the actors, and a portico +adjoining it, served as a promenade during the +intervals in the performance.</p> + +<p>The stadium, or circus, of Athens was formed in +this way, taking in plan the shape of a horseshoe. +It was here that the public games and races took +place, the upper or circular end being occupied by +the seats of the judges. It belongs, however, to a +later period, having been constructed in the time of +the Roman Emperor Hadrian. A few years ago +the King of Greece caused the stadium to be excavated, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>and several marble chairs and seats were discovered.</p> + +<p>Each city of importance possessed a Palæstra, or +gymnasium, in which were rooms for bathing in hot +or cold water, for the wrestlers to anoint themselves +with oil and fine dust, and a school for young +lads. The building was enclosed by a portico and +surrounded by pleasure-grounds in which the public +exercises took place.</p> + +<p>The private dwellings were of one story in height, +surmounted by terraces and divided by courts. The +women’s apartments were separated from the men’s, +and the larger houses contained banqueting-halls with +accommodation for musicians and singers. The +furniture consisted of tables in wood and choice +stone, vases, candelabra, tripods in bronze, and rich +Oriental carpets.</p> + +<p>Externally the houses were painted brilliantly +and decorated with wreaths, garlands, and arms. +Outside the entrance door stood the statue of the +god of the household—Jupiter, Minerva, or Mercury.</p> + +<p>The richer citizens preferred country villas to +city residences, which they surrounded with ornamental +gardens and woods. The groves of the +Academy where Plato held his school in the shade +of the olives, outside the city gates, are probably +the most celebrated of the latter.</p> + +<p>The dead were buried in necropoli without the +city, and their place of interment marked by tombs +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>in the form of pyramids or funeral pyres, or more +simply by a stella, or upright tablet, inscribed with +the name and virtues of the deceased, and upon +which were carved scenes in his life. In the colonies +in Asia Minor the system of excavating chambers +in the rock was adopted, the entrance to them +being marked by Ionic columns supporting entablatures +and pediments.</p> + +<p>The public buildings of Athens were built of +white marble from the island of Paros and the +mountain quarries of Pentelicus, resembling in its +fracture the purest loaf-sugar. The sun and rain +have stained them to a tawny red during the many +ages which have passed over them, and nearly all +trace of the various dyes, with which they are supposed +to have been coloured, has disappeared to-day.</p> + +<p>The Greeks built their walls of bonded masonry, +the vertical joints coming in the centres of the +stones above and below, and they were frequently additionally +strengthened by metal anchors. In walls +of unusual thickness it was customary to construct +the inside and outside faces first and fill the intervening +spaces with loose stones and mortar, with +an occasional through stone to connect the parts and +bind them together.</p> + +<p>The joints were sometimes emphasized by grooves, +but this ornament was used more frequently in Roman +work.</p> + +<p>Until its introduction by the Romans the arch +was rarely, if ever, employed, and the limit of inter-columniation +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>was restricted by the necessity of finding +stones of sufficient length to form the architraves.</p> + +<p>The roofs were generally of wood, covered with +terra-cotta tiles or sheet metal, and left open at intervals +for the admission of light. This is, however, +a disputed point, as the wood, being perishable, has +left no positive proofs of the method employed. +It appears that an awning or sail was stretched +over these openings when services were being held. +It is probable that in many instances there was no +light admitted, except that from the entrance door. +The effect of a religious ceremony performed in +the temples by the artificial light of torches, with +the flickering fires from the tripods and votive stands +reflected upon the ivory and gold of the statues, and +the smoke wreathing weirdly above the heads of +the assembled multitude, must have been infinitely +more impressive than if lit by the colder light of +day.</p> + +<p>The Greek colonists carried the principles of +their architecture with them, leaving monuments of +their genius wherever they established themselves. +Of the temple of Diana, at Ephesus, nothing but +a few fluted drums and scattered fragments remain +to-day. It was the most magnificent temple of the +Ionic order, erected with lavish expenditure, and +decorated within with panels of cedar wood. It +was burned and pillaged by the Persians.</p> + +<p>At Agrigentum, in Sicily, and Pæstum, in Southern +Italy, there are several Doric temples of massive +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>proportions. Of these the temples of Concord, Jupiter, +and Neptune are the most notable. The columns +are shorter and their capitals broader than the +Athenian type, and in one instance there are two +orders superposed, within the cella, to support the +roof.</p> + +<p>The Greeks erected buildings in many parts of +Southern Europe, in Asia Minor, and in Egypt, and +in later times, even under the Roman conquest, they +remained the masters of the arts, teaching their +principles and supervising the erection of the monuments +of Rome. The race was, indeed, peculiarly +endowed with a genius for creating the beautiful, +for though we have but scant information on the +subject of Greek painting, we have preserved to us +examples of sculpture which have never been surpassed +or even equalled, and in architecture, though +many more elaborate buildings have since been +erected, nothing has ever been produced worthy of +comparison with the harmonious proportions and +majestic simplicity of the temples of Attica.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="V">V. +<br> +ETRURIA AND ROME.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">Etruria</span> was peopled, from remote ages, by +the indigenous inhabitants, and by colonizing +races from Asia and Greece.</p> + +<p>To the latter may be attributed the chief architectural +works of the country; the ancient Etruscan +walled cities resembling, in their general construction, +those of Tiryns and Mycenæ.</p> + +<p>Judging from the remains found upon the soil at +the present day, the Etruscans used their knowledge +of the laws of building principally in the erection +of tombs. Of temples there now remain no traces; +but, according to Vitruvius, they were composed, as +a rule, of the rectangular chamber, or cella, of the +Greeks, which was divided into three parts, and preceded +by a porch of Tuscan columns. The origin +of the latter he describes as follows:</p> + +<p>“The Greek colonists, having brought to Etruria, +the Tuscany of to-day, their acquaintance with the +proportions of the Doric order, which was the only +one as yet used in Greece, they employed this order +there during a long period, in the same manner as +in the country where it originated; but finally they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>changed it in several respects; they lengthened the +column, and added a base to it; they altered the +capital, simplified the entablature, and, thus changed, +it was adopted by the Romans, under the name of +the Tuscan order.”</p> + +<p>Etruscan tombs varied with the nature of the districts +in which they were erected. In the flat portions +of the country they consisted usually of an +earthen cone raised upon a circular foundation of +masonry, with one or more chambers within for the +reception of the dead. The largest of these tumuli +was that called the Cucumella, at Vulci.</p> + +<p>In the mountains, where material was abundant, +it was customary to bury the dead in a square stone +chamber, surmounted by a pyramidal roof, and entered +by a doorway ornamented with the Greek +architrave. There are several examples of these at +Castel d’Asso.</p> + +<p>A third form of sepulchre was the hypogee, or +underground tomb, the entrance to which was +marked by a colonnade of the Tuscan order, carved +in the face of the rock; the interior apartment +being usually rectangular, and reached by a staircase. +The walls were decorated with paintings, and +the tomb filled with vases, tripods, arms, and other +votive offerings. The body was generally either +placed in a stone sarcophagus or laid upon a bronze +bed. The ceilings in the older tombs were either +flat, being cut in the natural rock, with piers left as +supports, and ornamented with sunken panels, or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>constructed of inclined slabs, resting against and sustaining +each other.</p> + +<p>The corbelled vaults, similar to those of Mycenæ, +were employed for a considerable number of these +buildings, but were subsequently relinquished for +vaults of voussoirs, or wedge-shaped stones. The +invention of the semicircular vault, the joints of +which converge to a common centre, was long attributed +to the Etruscans, but we have seen that +recent discoveries have shown that it was already +in use in Egypt and Assyria many centuries before.</p> + +<p>This principle, however, was the chief feature of +Etruscan architecture, and its great legacy to succeeding +styles.</p> + +<p>Etruria as well as Greece sent artists to Rome, +and the conjunction of the methods used in the two +countries produced Roman art.</p> + +<p>“The Romans took from the Etruscans the semicircular +arch, formed of jointed stones; from the +populations of the Campagna they obtained the +general arrangement of sacred edifices, the Greek +orders, the distribution and decoration of private +dwellings. They drew thus from two different +sources, and endeavoured to unite two principles +diametrically opposed to one another—the principle +of the Greek lintel and the Etruscan arch. In +doing this they show clearly that their ideas upon +the arts were but little better than those of pirates, +whose acts are actuated by pride rather than by +taste, and who adorn themselves in spoils of distinctly +different origin, the mingling of which produces +unseemly contrasts.”<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> Entretiens sur l’Architecture.</p></div> +</div> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100 p2" id="facing070-71" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing070-71.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> +<table class="autotable wd100"><tr> +<td class="tdc wd20"><span class=pad2>TUSCAN.</span></td> +<td class="tdc wd20"><span class=pad2>DORIC.</span></td> +<td class="tdc wd20">IONIC.</td> +<td class="tdc wd20">CORINTHIAN.</td> +<td class="tdc wd20">COMPOSITE.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="5"> +THE ROMAN ORDERS.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdl" colspan="3"> + +<ul class="caption fs60"> +<li> PEDESTAL. BASE. COLUMN. SHAFT. </li> +<li>CAPITAL ARCHITRAVE FRIEZE. ENTABLATURE. CORNICE.</li> +<li> WASH. OVOLO. ASTRAGAL. CORONA. ASTRAGAL. CYMA REVERSA.</li> +<li> TENIA. FACIA.</li> +<li> ABACUS. OVOLO. NECK. ASTRAGAL.</li> +<li> FILLET. TORUS. PLINTH.</li> +</ul> + +</td> + +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> + </figcaption> +</figure> + + + + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>In fact, the Greek orders, modified to suit the +taste of the Romans, and combined with the Etruscan +arch and vault, formed the basis of all Roman +architecture. The scale of their buildings, however, +was vastly greater than that of those upon which +they were modelled. The colonnades of their palaces +and the arcades of their aqueducts were to be +measured by the mile, the vaults of their baths were +of prodigious span, and, in general size and number, +the edifices erected by the Romans exceeded anything +which had come before them.</p> + +<p>The Roman orders were five in number, namely, +the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite.</p> + +<p>The Tuscan we have already examined. The +Doric was somewhat more elaborate, having additional +mouldings in the capital and base, and the +triglyph ornament in the frieze. The Ionic and Corinthian +were but modifications of the corresponding +Greek orders. The Composite was of the same +proportion as the Corinthian, the capital being a +combination of the Ionic and Corinthian.</p> + +<p>The Corinthian order was the most generally used, +its rich character suiting the ostentatious ideas of +the Romans. The superposition of columns was a +common method of indicating different stories, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>different orders were often employed where different-sized +columns occurred in the same building.</p> + +<p>In plan the Roman buildings were rectangular, +polygonal, and circular, or combinations of these +geometrical forms. The materials used were local +stone, imported marbles and alabaster, and bricks, +which were flatter and longer than the form employed +at the present day. The Romans excelled in +their mortars and cements, which were of a strength +sufficient to make their walls virtually of one mass.</p> + +<p>In bonding their stone they employed various +methods, including those of the Greeks. Of these, +a favourite one was the building of exterior faces +only, and filling up the intervening space with broken +stone and mortar. In order to produce the greatest +effect at the least cost, in the use of marble, they resorted +to panelling the external surfaces only with +thin slabs. Interiors were lined with stucco and frequently +ornamented with paintings, and the floors +inlaid with mosaic. Roman mouldings were sections +of the sphere, differing from the Greek, which +were hyperbolas or parabolas.</p> + +<p>The chief constructions of the Romans were +houses, temples, palaces, amphitheatres, theatres, +aqueducts, sewers, baths, triumphal arches, tombs +and commemorative structures, camps, bridges, and +basilicas.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp65" id="facing073" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing073.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PALACE OF DIOCLETIAN AT SPALATRO. +<br> + (<i>From Durand.</i>) + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>In, and in close proximity to, the Forum Romanum, +or Campo Vaccino, are admirable examples of nearly +all these different buildings. The level of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>ancient market-place is several feet below that of the +streets of modern Rome, but in the excavated portions +are to be seen the old pavements of irregular +stone slabs, laid upon concrete foundations and worn +with the wheels of chariots.</p> + +<p>Many ruined temples, the arches of Septimius +Severus, of Titus and Constantine, the palace of the +Cæsars, the Colosseum, and the Baths of Constantine +are collected here within a stone’s throw. By +taking up each class of buildings separately, however, +we will get a better idea of the nature of Roman +architecture than by a description of isolated buildings.</p> + +<p>Roman houses resembled in a measure the Greek, +the different apartments being grouped around inner +courts. The rooms consisted of halls, vestibules, +banqueting-rooms, and sleeping-chambers, the women +not being separated from the men, as was the case in +Greece. The courts were surrounded by colonnades +and in the centre a well was usually placed, to receive +the water from the roofs. Many of the houses +were several stories in height, but a limit to their +altitude was fixed by decree.</p> + +<p>The excavations in Pompeii have uncovered many +interesting specimens of private dwellings, richly +decorated with several paintings and having elaborate +mosaic patterns on their floors.</p> + +<p>In the city of Rome the palace of the Cæsars was +the most notable example of domestic architecture, +but at the present day it is difficult to discern among +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>the débris and fallen walls what its original plan may +have been. Some paintings in the so-called house +of Livia, upon the plateau of the palace, however, +show that the artists of the period had attained a +high degree of merit.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="facing074" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing074.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF THE PANTHEON AT ROME + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Roman temples consisted generally of a cella or +rectangular apartment, preceded by a porch, the +whole being raised on a platform, reached by stairs +and enclosed by a colonnade below. Occasionally +there was a double cella, with separate entrances +and porches, as in that of Venus and Rome; and +there are two remaining examples of circular temples—that +of Vesta, on the Tiber, in Rome, and of +the Sybil, at Tivoli—while still another type, that of +the Pantheon of Agrippa, had a circular cella and a +rectangular porch.</p> + +<p>The Corinthian order was the most frequently employed, +that of the temple of Jupiter Stator being +the richest, while those of the Pantheon, the Maison +Carrée, at Nîmes, and of the temple of Antonine and +Faustina are admirable specimens.</p> + +<p>This last is one of the best preserved temples, being +very nearly entire at the present time; its frieze +is of the most refined workmanship, representing +allegorical animals, plants, etc.</p> + +<p>The temple of Fortuna Virilis is a good example of +the Ionic order, but this order was never a favourite +with the Romans.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp80" id="facing075" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing075.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF THE BATHS OF AGRIPPA CONNECTING WITH THE PANTHEON, ACCORDING TO PALLADIO. + + (<i>From Durand</i>) + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>A debased form of Ionic is that of the temple of +Concord, or Vespasian, where the capital is altered +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>to a considerable extent and a rope moulding added. +A remarkable constructional feature of this temple +is the relieving arch of brick, concealed behind the +frieze, to diminish the weight on the lintel below.</p> + +<p>The great drum of the Pantheon, enclosed by a +circular vault, is one of the earliest examples of +domical architecture. A notable feature in it is the +absence of the keystone, which is replaced here by +an open ring, leaving an aperture for the entrance +of light. The walls are pierced with niches and +relieved by immense arches. The pediment of the +porch is one of the most perfect remaining; in +height its proportion exceeds that of Greek temples.</p> + +<p>The temple of Diana, at Nîmes, is a remarkable +structure, having three aisles, the central one being +decorated with niches and columns, which support +an entablature and a ribbed vault.</p> + +<p>The ruined temples of Baalbek and of Jupiter +Olympius, at Athens, are among the most colossal +of this class of building. The Corinthian columns +of the latter measure upward of sixty feet, and their +capitals are of singularly fine workmanship.</p> + +<p>The Emperor Hadrian embellished Athens with +numerous and splendid buildings, which to-day have +assumed the colour and ruined appearance of the +older constructions of the time of Pericles.</p> + +<p>Of the temple of Jupiter Olympius there are +scarcely more than a dozen columns standing of +the original one hundred and twenty. The Turks +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>ground up many of them to make lime for their +mortar.</p> + +<p>The Romans took their conception of the theatre +from the Greeks. The building was composed of +two parts, the one devoted to the stage and its +accessories, and the other to the accommodation of +the audience. The stage was usually in the form +of a rectangle, the longer side of which formed the +diameter of the semicircle, which was the plan of +the second part. The latter was composed of concentric +seats in successive steps, to which access was +had by stairs radiating from the centre and leading +to an upper surrounding gallery. At the foot of +these steps a space was reserved called the orchestra +(Greek, “dancing place”), usually occupied by the +senators. The stage, which was decorated with +columns and niches, was raised above the orchestra, +and was connected with the actors’ rooms. The +wall at the back of the stage was carried up to the +level of the circular enclosing wall, and treated with +superposed orders. The theatre of Marcellus, in +Rome, and those of Herculaneum, Arles, and Orange +are among the best examples.</p> + +<p>The most celebrated amphitheatre (amphi theatron, +Greek, “double theatre”) is that commonly +known as the Colosseum, or Flavian Amphitheatre. +It is composed of the arena or oval space, occupied +by the combatants, and of the “visorium,” formed by +concentric seats placed in tiers, one above the other.</p> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp35" id="facing076" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing076.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN AT BAALBEK. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>It was capable of seating eighty thousand spectators, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>and upon its arena four thousand gladiators +have fought at a time. It was here that before +commencing their combats they came to the foot of +the emperor’s throne, saluting him with the celebrated +cry, “Morituri te salutamus.”</p> + +<p>The substructure of the building consists of +vaulted passages, communicating with the visorium +by numerous staircases, and with the exterior by the +doors called “vomitoria.” The arena was surrounded +by a ditch of running water, and under +it were chambers in which prisoners and animals +were confined.</p> + +<p>The visorium was divided according to the rank +of its occupants. The upper classes occupied the +“podium” or lower gallery, which extended on either +side of the emperor’s throne, at the extremity of the +longer axis of the building. For protection from +the elements during performances an immense sail +was stretched over the building from posts inserted +in stone brackets at the top of the exterior wall.</p> + +<p>The heights of the three lower stories of the +Colosseum are marked externally by arcades and +superposed orders with engaged columns, Doric, +Ionic, and Corinthian, and the fourth and upper one +by Corinthian pilasters. The entablatures of each +order are carried around the entire circumference +of the building.</p> + +<p>Architects generally criticise this construction adversely, +for “if, on the one hand, the engaged columns +might be supposed to serve as buttresses and thus +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>become a useful decoration, it must be admitted, on +the other, that the projecting entablatures carried +from column to column do more harm than good +as regards the solidity of the building. [The architrave +having no longer the force of the Greek lintel, +being composed of several blocks supported by the +arch below.] The Romans, however, did not always +falsely apply the true principles of architecture. In +the arena of Nîmes, for instance, the two superposed +orders which serve as buttresses between the arcades +of the two stories on the exterior of that building, +are real buttresses. The lower order is composed +of projecting piers, the upper order of engaged +columns; the cornices follow the contour of each +pilaster or column and do not form those projecting +belts which are placed so clumsily and uselessly +around such buildings as the theatre of Marcellus +and the Colosseum of Rome.”<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> Viollet le Duc.</p></div> +</div> +<p>This amphitheatre was commenced by Vespasian +and continued under Titus, who dedicated it in the +year 80 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> In the ninth century it was half destroyed, +and subsequently became a quarry, from +which materials were extracted for the construction +of the Farnese palace and other buildings.</p> + +<p>A large part, however, is standing to-day, having +been rescued from total destruction by order of Pope +Benoit XIV.</p> + +<p>There are celebrated remains of amphitheatres at +Verona, Pola, Capua, Arles, and Nîmes.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p> +<p>Circuses and Naumachias belong to the same class +of buildings, the one serving for chariot and other +races, and the other for naval combats. The arena +in each was oval in plan and from it rose the successive +tiers of broad steps upon which the seats +were ranged. At the top a portico decorated with +statues enclosed the whole building.</p> + +<p>The Circus Maximus was the most important of +these, containing numerous splendid statues and +obelisks, and covering a vast area.</p> + +<p>The aqueducts of ancient Rome stretched for +miles across the Campagna. The channel in which +the water flowed was supported by one or more arcades, +superposed according to the height required. +These arcades consisted of round brick arches carried +on substantial piers, and were placed where possible +upon the highest elevations of the country they +traversed. At intervals wide basins were provided +for the collection of sediment, and reservoirs received +the water at their termination. From the latter +pipes supplied the baths and private dwellings.</p> + +<p>In France the famous Pont du Gard is a portion +of an immense Roman aqueduct formed of three +rows of arcades, which supplied the city of Nîmes.</p> + +<p>Bridges were constructed on the same principle; +the arches increasing their span according to the +depth of the piers upon which they rested, being +generally of two stories, the upper one having double +the number of piers.</p> + +<p>The Roman bridges and aqueducts in Spain are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>among the most justly celebrated, notably those of +Segovia, Tarragona, and Alcantara. Bridging rivers +by boats was a common method in use by the Roman +armies under Julius Cæsar. We have also an account +of a wooden bridge over the Danube, constructed +by Trajan.</p> + +<p>Under every street in Rome there ran vaulted +sewers conducting all impurities into the main artery, +called the Cloaca Maxima, which in turn discharged +its contents into the Tiber. This sewer is +one of the oldest examples of the use of voussoirs, +dating from the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. It is +covered by a triple vault, sustaining the street above.</p> + +<p>Agrippa conducted the waters of several streams +into the sewers and appointed inspectors to keep +them in repair and good order.</p> + +<p>In the building of the baths of Rome, Agrippa, +Nero, Vespasian, Caracalla, Titus, Diocletian, and +Constantine vied with each other in the production +of the most magnificent structures. They are to-day +in a hopelessly ruined condition, but from the numerous +fragments of carved marble and panelled +stucco lying on their sites, and from the rich paintings +and mosaics of the baths of Titus and Caracalla, +it is not difficult to form an idea of their +original splendour.</p> + +<p>It is not a little significant of what their rich +decoration must have been to note that such marvels +of statuary as the Laocoon, the Farnese Bull, and +the Gladiators have been discovered within them. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>Besides the necessary administrative rooms, these +buildings generally contained a frigidarium or cold +bath, a tepidarium or warm bath, and a sudatorium, +circular in form and covered in by a dome. +The walls, built of brick, were pierced with niches +and supported high cross and barrel vaults of immense +span. It has been conjectured that the Pantheon +was the entrance hall of the baths of Agrippa, +the porch having been added at a later period when +the building was converted into a temple.</p> + +<p>The chief commemorative structures were triumphal +arches and votive columns. The former were +of two kinds, having either one main arched opening, +or a large central arch for vehicles and two +lower ones on either side for foot passengers. The +arch of Titus in Rome is an example of the first, its +main arch being flanked by composite columns, supporting +a richly carved entablature, which is in +turn surmounted by an attic, inscribed with the dedication +to the conqueror by the Senate and Roman +people. The bassi relievi employed in its decoration +represent the sacking of Jerusalem by Titus; +a specially notable feature among the spoils depicted +being the golden candelabra with the seven +sockets, mentioned in Scripture history.</p> + +<p>The arches of Constantine and Septimius Severus +are of the second category. They are covered with +rich sculpture and are of very beautiful proportion. +Famous arches are those of Orange in the +south of France, Beneventum, Ancona, Rimini, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>Pola, and Athens. Everywhere, in fact, where a victory +was to be commemorated, or the termination +of a great military road to be marked, it was customary +to erect an arch.</p> + +<p>Another method of paying homage to great +men was to erect columns surmounted by their +statues. The columns of Trajan and Antoninus in +Rome are especially remarkable. The former is the +higher and of the best workmanship. The pedestal +upon which it rests is ornamented with elaborate +carvings representing the arms of conquered nations, +and is enriched at the four upper corners of its cornice +by imperial eagles with garlands suspended +between them. A wreath replaces the torus or +round mould at the base of the column, and +around the shaft is wound a ribbon of sculpture, +representing a triumphal procession, which +terminates at the capital. Isolated columns were +also often employed for the inscription of legal +notices, as boundary-marks, or for marking military +limits.</p> + +<p>The gates at the entrances of the principal cities +were similar to the triumphal arches. There are +two especially fine examples in France, those of +Autun and Treves. In these the attic story is replaced +by a gallery connecting the two flanking +wings, which are several stories in height, and contain +chambers which it is commonly supposed were +used as courts of justice.</p> + +<p>Roman camps were regulated and arranged with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>military precision, and were of two descriptions. The +one, erected for temporary use, was defended by a +rude palisade of branches and a ditch, the other, +the “castra hiberna,” or winter quarters, was generally +a permanent structure, built of brick, containing +within a square enclosure the barracks, workshops, +hospitals, and other necessary buildings. +This enclosure was divided by cross-roads, passing +through gates in the outer wall. The gate facing +the enemy was called the porta prætoria, hence +prætorian camp.</p> + +<p>Necrological monuments were built in various +forms, from the simple tablet to the immense mausoleums +of the emperors. Just without the walls +of Rome are still to be seen the remains of the +sepulchre of Caius Sestius, a large pyramid containing +a chamber several feet above the ground level. +Farther out, on the Appian Way, is the tomb of Cæcilia +Metella, a cylindrical structure upon a square +base, of considerable magnitude. The exterior is +simple, the only decoration being a series of ox-skulls +in the frieze. This building was probably originally +surmounted by an earthen cone, after the manner +of the Etruscan tombs.</p> + +<p>The tomb of Augustus was constructed in a similar +manner but on a larger scale. The entrance +was preceded by a porch and the exterior walls +contained niches. The conical mound above was +planted with trees and shrubbery.</p> + +<p>The Scipios were buried in stone sarcophagi in a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>subterranean chamber, which has been but recently +discovered.</p> + +<p>A curious monument was that of the Horatii, +consisting of a rectangular block of masonry, containing +the sepulchre, surmounted by four stone +cones, grouped around a fifth and higher one. +These probably had a symbolical meaning, as a similar +structure, called the tomb of Porsenna, is said +to have existed in Etruria.</p> + +<p>By far the most magnificent building of the kind +was the Mausoleum, or Mole of Hadrian, the ruins +of which now go by the name of the Castel St. Angelo. +The tomb rose conspicuously on the banks +above the Tiber, on a square foundation; its two +upper stories were circular in plan, and decorated +with colonnades and statuary, and the whole was +capped by an immense roof, terminated by a pineapple +of bronze.</p> + +<p>The tombs of St. Helena and St. Costanza were +circular structures similar to that of Cæcilia Metella, +the cone of earth, however, being replaced by +a dome. The interior of the tomb of St. Costanza +was divided by columns which sustained a vault +connecting with the outer wall.</p> + +<p>The practice of burning bodies and preserving +their ashes gave rise also to the building of columbariums, +rectangular structures containing in their +walls receptacles for funereal urns.</p> + +<p>In the valley of Jerusalem the hypogee was the +form of sepulchre commonly adopted, its entrance +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>being decorated with a colonnade of one of the +Roman orders.</p> + +<p>Basilicas were the law courts of the Roman +people and places of assembly for the transaction of +their daily affairs. On the exterior, these buildings +were surrounded by numerous courts and porticos, +where the merchants assembled daily to discuss +their affairs or to await the result of the trials conducted +within. In the interior they contained a +large hall or nave flanked by side aisles, preceding a +transept or further room which was terminated by +a semicircular apse. This apse was occupied by +the magistrate while presiding in the cases submitted +to his decision.</p> + +<p>The ruins of the basilicas of Titus and Maxentius +remain, at the present day, in sufficient preservation +to show that in the one a flat ceiling of timber +was employed, and in the other a system of intersecting +vaults similar in construction to those of +the baths of Caracalla. There are traces of several +ancient buildings of this kind, but it is supposed +that many were pulled down by the Christians, who +erected churches on their sites, using the old basilica +as their model.</p> + +<p>The plan was, in reality, but an improvement on +that of the Roman temple, the side aisles and +transepts being naturally developed additions to the +older cella to which the apse had been added previously +in many examples.</p> + +<p>The great administrative power governing the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>erection of the buildings of Rome was one of the +most remarkable features connected with them. +Architecture with the Romans was a means to an +end, this end being the construction of edifices suiting +their requirements and their desire for display. No +scope was allowed for individual talent or ingenuity, +unless employed in the carrying out of a distinct +programme, laid down by those in power; each +building forming part of a great scheme, prevailing +throughout the conquered world.</p> + +<p>In Greece architectural works were produced in +the different cities and states under the guidance of +independent artists, with the co-operation of their +fellow-citizens who were eager to attain the true principles +of art; in Rome and the Roman world, art +was entirely subservient to a system of politics which +ran through all departments.</p> + +<p>The vast wealth which flowed into the capital +from tributary provinces was the great mainstay +which permitted the execution of so many vast and +expensive structures, forming a collection never surpassed. +Roman art corresponded with the national +character, for it was coarse and ostentatious, but at +the same time vast and strong. The population of +Athens delighted in intellectual pursuits, in philosophy, +in art; it crowded the seats on the slope of +the Acropolis to enjoy the wit and satire of Æschylus +and Sophocles, and the palæstra to witness the +development of bodily grace and dexterity, while the +Romans flocked to the Colosseum for the enjoyment +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>of scenes of blood and carnage, to gaze upon the +slaughter of captives and the anguish of animals. +The force of their government, nevertheless, was unquestionable; +their patriotism, unlike that of the +Greeks, was unaffected by civic jealousies or party +feeling; they trod rough-shod upon the nations, but +they planted everywhere the imprint of their heroic +civilization and made their capital the centre of the +world, and left to it, for all ages, the proud appellation +of the Eternal City.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VI">VI. +<br><br> +THE EARLY CHRISTIAN STYLE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">After</span> the conversion of the Emperor Constantine +to Christianity, in the fourth century, +the Christians who, as a persecuted sect had hitherto +held their religious observances in hiding, in +the catacombs of Rome, adopted the basilica as +the most convenient form of building for the purposes +of their worship. The bishop occupied a throne +in the apse, surrounded by the presbyters or fathers +of the church, and the congregation of the faithful +filled the central nave.</p> + +<p>For several centuries this plan was but little +changed, the only notable additions to it being the +continuation of the transept beyond the line of the +walls of the nave, thus making it cruciform; the occasional +substitution of double aisles, making five +divisions in the body of the church, instead of the +original three, and the addition of a tower or belfry.</p> + +<p>All subsequent churches, whether Romanesque, +Gothic, or Renaissance were constructed on but +slight modifications of this original plan, which, in +fact, was itself evolved from that of the Roman +temple.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp40" id="facing089" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing089.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF THE OLD BASILICA OF ST. PAUL’S BEYOND THE WALLS. +<br> +<ul> +<li class="caption"> A - Apse</li> +<li class="caption"> T - Transept</li> +<li class="caption"> N - Nave</li> +<li class="caption"> X - Narthex</li> +</ul> + </figcaption> +</figure> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span></p> +<p>The first basilicas erected for Christian worship +had double aisles; this form was, however, soon discontinued, +probably owing to the difficulty of observing +the offices of the clergy from the outer aisle. +Of these St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s beyond the walls, and +St. John Lateran were the finest examples. The first-named +was built upon the site of the present cathedral, +and was removed in the sixteenth century to +make room for it. Its dimensions were of notable +size, being about 380 feet long by 212 feet in width. +It was preceded by an atrium, or open court, surrounded +by a colonnade, in which the Christians met +to transact their affairs. The basilica of St. Paul’s +was destroyed by fire in the early part of this century, +and a new structure resembling the old was +erected in its place on a scale of great magnificence. +The columns of its Corinthian colonnade and the +floor are of polished marble and the wooden roof +lavishly ornamented with carving and gilding. The +transept is enriched with mosaics, and contains a +baldachin over the altar, in which malachite and +other choice stones have been used unsparingly.</p> + +<p>A typical basilica was generally arranged as follows: +The atrium or quadrangular open court, surrounded +by porticos, preceded the main building, or +was replaced by a porch composed of columns sustaining +a low roof which was called the narthex. Within, +the structure was divided into a nave, side aisles, +transept, and apse. The nave (derived from “navis,” +a vessel, symbolical of that of St. Peter) was loftier +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>than the adjoining aisles, the upper wall being +usually panelled with pictures and pierced at the +top by a range of windows, from which the Gothic +clerestory was derived later on. In one or two instances +where the side aisles had a second story or +upper gallery for the women, the panels and windows +were placed in the outer wall.</p> + +<p>The interior lines of columns were usually of the +Ionic or Corinthian orders, having been taken from +older buildings, but if new they were of stouter +proportions than the Classical models. These columns +supported either a continuous architrave or +circular arches.</p> + +<p>Wooden doors, often covered by chased bronze, +were hung in the main entrance and the wall above +was usually pierced by a round window or bull’s-eye, +afterward developed into the rose window. At +the other end of the nave a wide arched opening, +called the triumphal arch, connected it with the +transept.</p> + +<p>An enclosure, separated from the body of the +church by a balustrade, at the upper end of the nave, +contained the seats of the choristers and the reading-desks.</p> + +<p>The altar was placed in the transept and was frequently +surmounted by a baldachin composed of +four or six columns supporting a light dome. Behind +the altar in the centre of the apse was the +throne (cathedra) occupied by the bishop (episcopus), +being raised by steps from the semicircular +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>stone seats (exedra) used by the presbyters, which +were covered with carpets. The walls of the transept +and apse were inlaid with mosaic inscriptions +and pictures, in which the head of our Saviour, +the figures of saints and holy emblems were the +chief subjects. Deep blue, purple, and green were +the prevailing colours and the letters were of gold. +The floors were decorated with mosaic patterns. +The roofs were either flat with sunken panels framed +with mouldings and gilded ornaments, or else showed +the open trussed wood-work, though the latter was +the exception. Externally there was no attempt at +enrichment, the exterior generally offering a great +contrast to the lavish internal decorations.</p> + +<p>At the present day nearly all the basilicas have +undergone transformation, the old roofs have been +replaced, the walls covered with a modern adornment +of pilasters and gaudy paintings, the colonnades +have been broken through to allow of entrances +to side-chapels, or disfigured by the heterogeneous +decoration of the eighteenth century, and +the exteriors treated with renaissance façades.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the general plan and arrangements +have remained substantially the same, and we have +very interesting specimens of this class of building +in St. Maria Maggiore, St. Agnese, San Clemente, +and others, in Rome, San Appolinare, in Ravenna, +the basilicas at Torcello, in the Venetian lagoons, +and later examples in St. Ambrogio, of Milan, and St. +Maria Sopra Minerva, in Rome.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></p> +<p>The basilica at Torcello was built mainly from +fragments of an older church upon the mainland +at Altino. The bishop’s throne is one of the most +interesting and best preserved examples we have.</p> + +<p>The Greek name for this, cathedra, was the origin +of our term cathedral, applied to churches containing +the bishop’s seat, there being no architectural distinction +between the buildings.</p> + +<p>From the tombs of the Romans the Christians +derived their conception of the edifices which they +used as baptisteries. Their exterior walls were +either polygonal or circular, and of severe simplicity. +The interiors were generally divided by a +row of columns sustaining a round vault, and forming +a circular enclosure in which the font was +placed. A wall, carried on these columns, contained +windows, and served as a lantern to light the building. +This wall occasionally supported a dome. +San Stephano Rotondo, in Rome; St. Angeli, in +Perugia, and St. Vitale, in Ravenna, are the best +examples among the many found in Italy.</p> + +<p>San Stephano has a double range of interior columns, +taken from Roman temples, the one supporting +an entablature, and the other a series of arches. +The church has been much modified by successive +alterations, and the interior is ornamented with curious +paintings, representing the sufferings of the +martyrs.</p> + +<p>The baptistery of St. Angeli is smaller, but has +preserved its original form in a greater degree.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="facing092" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing092.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + ST. VITALE, OF RAVENNA. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp75" id="facing093" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing093.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA MEDICA. + </figcaption> +</figure> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span></p> +<p>St. Vitale is a type of structure much copied in +subsequent buildings. It is itself modelled on the +so-called temple of Minerva Medica, differing only +in having an octagon instead of a decagon plan. +Of this Fergusson gives the following account:</p> + +<p>“It certainly belongs to the best days of the Roman +empire, if, indeed, it be not a Christian building, +which I am very much inclined to believe it is, +for on comparing it with the baptistery of Constantine +and the tomb of St. Contanza, it shows a considerable +advance in construction on both of these +buildings, and a greater similarity to San Vitale, +at Ravenna, and other buildings of that time, than +to anything else now found in Rome.</p> + +<p>It has a dome eighty feet in diameter, resting on +a decagon of singularly light and elegant construction. +Nine of the compartments contain niches, +which give great room on the floor, as well as variety +and lightness to the general design. Above +this is a clerestory of ten well-proportioned windows, +which give light to the building; perhaps +not in so effective a manner as the one eye of the +Pantheon, though by a far more convenient arrangement, +to protect from the elements a people who +did not possess glass.</p> + +<p>“So far as I know, all domed buildings erected by +the Romans up to the time of Constantine, and, indeed, +long afterward, were circular in the interior, +though they were sometimes octagonal externally. +This, however, is a polygon both internally and on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>the outside, and the mode in which the dome is +placed on the polygon shows the first rudiments of +the pendentive system, which was afterward carried +to such perfection by the Byzantine architects, but +is nowhere else to be found in Rome. It probably +was for the purpose of somewhat diminishing the +difficulties of this construction that the architect +adopted a figure with ten instead of eight sides.”</p> + +<p>The plans of the temple of Vesta and of the baptistery +of Constantine have been placed here next to +one another in order to show the transposition of +the columns from the exterior to the interior, which +is the chief distinction between the Roman circular +buildings and Christian baptisteries.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp75" id="facing094_1" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing094_1.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + THE TEMPLE OF VESTA, SOMETIMES CALLED THE TEMPLE OF HERCULES. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp85" id="facing094_2" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing094_2.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + THE BAPTISTERY OF CONSTANTINE. + </figcaption> +</figure> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VII">VII. +<br><br> +THE BYZANTINE STYLE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">Constantine</span> and his mother St. Helena +built churches in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and +Antioch, and embellished Constantinople with numerous +splendid edifices. The Eastern basilicas +preserved the same character in their construction +as those of Italy, but their component parts were +more homogeneous, the materials being specially +prepared, instead of being borrowed from ancient +buildings. The first vigour of emancipated Christianity +found vent not only in the erection of +edifices devoted to its religious observances, but in +the infliction of irreparable injury upon the pagan +monuments of Greece and Rome. Constantine +brought many fragments of these Classical buildings +to the new capital, but they have been destroyed, +together with the palaces, churches, and baths which +he built there, in successive invasions, by fire, or by +earthquakes.</p> + +<p>In Thessalonica there are two good examples of +early basilicas—the old mosque and the five-aisled +church of St. Demetrius; and in Northern Syria there +are many admirable specimens. Of these the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>churches at Rouheilia, Kalb-Louzeh, and Tourmanim +deserve special mention.</p> + +<p>The latter is a particularly successful building, +designed in the new style growing out of the older +Roman one, and is a model structure, being constructed +exactly in accordance with the requirements +of the early Church.</p> + +<p>In plan, the Syrian conventual buildings depart +but slightly from that of the basilicas of Rome, but +in their interior treatment they show a gradual +secession from the rules which govern Classical +buildings, retaining only their useful and discarding +their merely ornamental features.</p> + +<p>When the seat of the empire had been transferred +to Byzance, the Christians carried with them +the principles of the arch and the vault and combined +them in a new form of structure. This construction, +differing from that employed in Rome, +combined with Eastern or late Greek forms of +ornament, produced a new style called the Byzantine.</p> + +<p>The distinctive feature of this method of construction +was the placing of the circular dome, not +upon a cylindrical drum, as had been done by the +Romans in the Pantheon and other buildings, but +upon four walls, square in plan, surmounted by +semicircular arches, with the intervening spaces +occupied by pendentives. To each side of this +central square was joined a nave of the same length, +forming thus in plan a Greek cross, that is, one +having each arm equally long. These naves were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>usually short, more frequently semicircular than +rectangular, and often terminated by an apse.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp40" id="facing097" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing097.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + THE PENDENTIVE SYSTEM IN BYZANTINE DOMES. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>We have seen, in the baptistery of St. Vitale, at +Ravenna (in which Greek artists were undoubtedly +employed), a tendency to reduce the number of sides +of polygonal buildings supporting circular domes; +the architects of Byzance were therefore merely +taking another step in the same direction when they +placed the dome upon a quadrilateral substructure.</p> + +<p>To comprehend the pendentive, let us take a circle +and inscribe within it a square; at the four angles +of the square we will place solid piers of masonry +and connect them with semicircular arches. Let us +now suppose that a hemispherical dome had been +built upon this circle as plan, and we will see that +the planes of the arches and the plane passing at +the level of the top of the keystones of the arches, +in intersecting this dome, would leave but four triangular +portions of it. These triangular portions +are called pendentives, and are the only portions of +the original hemisphere which are actually built. +As this hemisphere would have been necessarily +constructed of materials the joints of which would +have radiated from the centre of the sphere, so also +do the joints of the pendentives radiate from this +same centre, which is identical with the centre of +the original circle. The plane passing at the level +of the top of the keystones in intersecting the hemisphere +describes another circle, upon which the actual +dome is placed.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span></p> +<p>The question has not been established satisfactorily +whether the Byzantine architects really understood +the pendentive, as in many instances they +resorted to less scientific methods of filling in the +vacant spaces between the arches and the upper +dome, but the only logical method of constructing +it is that which has just been described.</p> + +<p>In building domes, it was not uncommon in the +East to replace stonework by light terra-cotta pipes, +fitting into each other, giving great lightness and +comparative strength.</p> + +<p>Justinian gave a marked impetus to architectural +work and to the building of religious edifices in particular. +He commissioned Anthemius of Thralles, +and Isidor of Miletus, to execute the plans for the +new church of St. Sophia, upon the site of an older +building of Constantine, also dedicated to the “Holy +Wisdom,” which had been burnt during an emeute +soon after it had been repaired by Theodosius.</p> + +<p>Justinian had already built the church of Sergius +and Bacchus in Constantinople, on a plan nearly +identical with that of St. Vitale, at Ravenna, with +the exception that the whole structure was externally +in the form of a square, enclosing the octagon +supporting the dome. This served as a stepping-stone +to the conception of the larger church, which +became the type of all subsequent Byzantine constructions.</p> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp65" id="facing098" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing098.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + CHURCH OF SERGIUS AND BACCHUS AT CONSTANTINOPLE. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp55" id="facing099" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing099.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>By comparing the plans of the Pantheon, the +temple of Minerva Medica, the baptistery of Constantine, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>St. Vitale, at Ravenna, and the church of +Sergius and Bacchus, in the order in which they are +enumerated, with that of St. Sophia, the sequence +and continuous progress of domical construction is +at once apparent, and such comparison explains the +successive steps in a more satisfactory manner than +a folio of description.</p> + +<p>“The church of St. Sophia,” says M. Texier, “is +built on a square plan, 251 feet long by 186 feet +wide. In the centre of this square rises the dome, +the diameter of which, measuring 108 feet, determines +the width of the nave. The dome is supported +by four great arches and four pendentives. Two +hemispheric vaults abut against the two arches, +which are perpendicular to the axis of the nave, +giving it an oval appearance. Each of these hemispheres +is itself pierced by two smaller hemispheres +carried on columns. This superposition of domes, +whose points of abutment are not visible, gives to +the whole structure a lightness difficult to realize.”</p> + +<p>The church is built upon a foundation of béton +twenty feet deep. It is preceded by an atrium +surrounded by a portico of the Ionic order. The +nave is entered by a double narthex, or porch, extending +along the whole width of the West front. +The interior, both floor and walls, was formerly +adorned with rich marbles, and paintings upon a +ground of gold. The dome was built of light bricks +faced with hard cement and mosaic, and was lighted +by forty windows.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span></p> +<p>Originally a painting of the Holy Father was +placed in the centre of the dome, and four cherubim +in the pendentives. The latter are still to be +discerned under the coat of whitewash with which +the Turks have hidden the original magnificence of +the interior.</p> + +<p>The apse, lighted by three windows, contained +the throne and seat of the Church fathers. The +columns supporting the great arches and the galleries, +originally occupied by the women, are of rare +marble, eight of them having, it is said, formed part +of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, being brought, +together with the spoils of many Eastern and +Western buildings, to adorn the great edifice. The +foliage of their capitals is fine and sharp and intricately +interlaced, having no resemblance to the Classic +models beyond a debased form of the volute +which terminates their upper corners. This style of +ornament is a distinguishing feature of the Byzantine +style, and reappears in many examples both in +the East and West.</p> + +<p>The church, commenced in the year 532, took sixteen +years to build, during which time incredible +sums were expended upon it. When completed, +the appearance it presented was most magnificent, +resulting not only from the rich marbles, wood-work, +paintings, and mosaics with which it was decorated, +but also from the countless candelabras, curtains, +precious vases, and golden vessels with which it was +furnished.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span></p> +<p>After the capture of Constantinople by Mahomet +II., in the year 1453, St. Sophia was converted into +a mosque, and suffered greatly at the hands of the +Turks. It is only within recent years that any attempt +at preserving its original splendour has been +made.</p> + +<p>The architectural principles upon which St. Sophia +was constructed were reproduced in all Byzantine +buildings in Italy and France as well as in the +Orient. In Turkey, indeed, the edifices subsequently +erected are almost counterparts of the original +structure, the mosque of Suleiman and that of Achmet, +built as late as 1610, embodying almost identical +features of construction.</p> + +<p>In Athens there are two or three small Byzantine +churches, which, though differing greatly in point +of size, are founded upon the plan of the mother +church; and in Asia Minor generally and Armenia +especially, there are a great number; notably the +churches of Daghour and Pitzounda and the cathedral +of Anim.</p> + +<p>The decoration of some of the latter differs from +the usual Byzantine methods in the frequent revival +of Classic forms, and in the use of thin pilasters, +carrying blind arches on the exterior.</p> + +<p>This feature reappears in the buildings of Italy, +influenced by the style, particularly at Pisa.</p> + +<p>In some later buildings a new manner of obtaining +light was introduced, by raising the dome upon +a cylindrical drum, supported by the four arches +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>and pendentives of the older system. St. Nicodemus, +of Athens, is one of the best examples of this.</p> + +<p>When the body of St. Mark was brought to +Venice, having been stolen from Constantinople by +means of a clever trick about the year 831, the +Doge Partecipazio ordered a church to be built to +his memory. The greater part of this building as +it stands to-day dates, however, from the tenth century. +It resembles St. Sophia in a great degree, +the frequent intercourse of the Venetian maritime +population with the Orient having enabled them to +study the principles of Byzantine art, and to bring +spoils from the buildings of the East to their native +city.</p> + +<p>St. Mark’s has also much affinity with the church +of Mone-tes-Koras, in Armenia, the principal façade, +with its five large bays decorated with columns +and arches framing the five doors which give access +to the church, being identical in general conception.</p> + +<p>The interior of the building has the form of +the Greek cross, the four arms of which and also +the central compartment formed by their intersection, +are roofed by domes supported on arches and +pendentives. The style of ornament is very similar +to that of its prototype, with its rich gold mosaics, +frescos, and inlaid marble, some of the details being +essentially Oriental in character.</p> + +<p>The constructors of the pendentives in St. Mark’s +do not seem to have properly understood that they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>formed part of a sphere to the centre of which their +joints should have converged, but filled up the spaces +between the supporting arches by a series of small +superposed arches.</p> + +<p>The influence of this Byzantine construction extended +into Aquitania, in the South of France. At +the close of the tenth century a number of churches +were erected there, with the dome as a prominent +feature. St. Front, of Perigueux, was built upon +a plan closely resembling that of St. Mark’s in +Venice, and very nearly upon a similar scale of dimensions. +The architects of the church, however, +seem to have distrusted the strength of the semicircular +arch, and resorted to the ogival<a id="FNanchor_5_5" href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> or pointed +form as a means of securing greater supporting +power, although this arch had not as yet been +adopted in France.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5_5" href="#FNanchor_5_5" class="label">[5]</a> From augere, to strengthen.</p></div> +</div> +<p>They, too, failed completely to grasp the principle +of the pendentive, as those of St. Front are +formed of corbelled stones with horizontal beds, +instead of voussoirs converging to the centre of +the hemisphere of which they should form part.</p> + +<p>Besides St. Front, the churches of Fontevrault, +Souliac, Angoulême, and others in Aquitania were +built with similar characteristics, though in plan +they adopted the Latin instead of the Greek cross. +The abbey church of Fontevrault is perhaps the +most successful of these, the four domes of its +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>nave producing a very pleasing effect. The greater +number of these buildings were erected during the +eleventh and twelfth centuries, in an imported +fashion, rather than in a style destined to be engrafted +upon French national architecture.</p> + +<p>All of them show the want of a clear comprehension +of the principles involved, and are evidently +foreign to the taste of the people.</p> + +<p>The introduction of this style in France, offers a +parallel case to the introduction of Gothic architecture +in Italy, a century or two later, for in neither +case were the styles in accordance with native inspiration.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII">VIII. +<br><br> +MAHOMETAN ARCHITECTURE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">The</span> year 622 of our era is a remarkable one in +historical annals, being the date of the flight +of Mahomet, the Hegira from which all events are +computed by followers of his religion. Within a +marvellously short period the new faith spread from +the confines of Arabia, throughout Asia Minor and +Persia and all along the North coast of Africa to +Spain, propagated everywhere by the force of the +victorious sword, until, scarcely a century later, we +find its promoters bearing the crescent against Charlemagne, +under the shadow of the Pyrenees.</p> + +<p>As a political and theological narrative the history +of the rise of the faith of Islam, is a wonderfully interesting +one, and to us it is important as it explains +the reason for the geographical position of so many +buildings, erected in accordance with the requirements +of the new religion, and therefore having a +great similarity in all countries where it prevailed.</p> + +<p>The Kaabah, or “square house,” built by Mahomet +at Mecca upon the site of a temple which tradition +says was founded by Abraham, appears to have been +the earliest Mahometan mosque. Mahomet had already +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>erected a building at Medina, but this seems +to have been not so much a house of prayer as a +dwelling-place for his family. The Kaabah has less +importance as an architectural production than as the +centre of the wheel of Mahometanism, the faithful +being directed to turn their faces toward it when +praying, and to regard it as the ultimate goal of their +wanderings.</p> + +<p>The original structure was built by foreign workmen, +and had no great pretensions, but subsequently +it was surrounded by a colonnaded court, and by +later additions was very considerably enlarged. Although +the Koran decrees that all good Mussulmen +should make a pilgrimage to Mecca, it does not uphold +the Kaabah as a model to be followed in the +erection of other mosques nor give any specific directions +of the manner in which they should be built. +It was therefore natural when the peace, following +their rapid conquests, permitted the Mahometans to +turn their thoughts to the erection of religious edifices, +suitable for the observances of their worship, +that they should borrow inspiration from the surrounding +nations.</p> + +<p>The style they eventually evolved was drawn from +Byzantine, Sassanian, Greek, and Roman sources, and +became native by adaptation.</p> + +<p>In Turkey, Asia Minor, and Persia we find Mahometan +mosques closely resembling Christian and Byzantine +churches, many domed edifices being copied +from St. Sophia and differing only in point of decoration, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>while the atrium or courtyard preceding the +entrance to Christian buildings furnished the type +for the wide colonnaded courts, with porticos roofed +with a succession of hemispherical or bulbous domes, +which became so common in Arabian buildings.</p> + +<p>The mosques of Omar, at Jerusalem, on the site of +the temple of Solomon, of Wallid, at Damascus, Al-Azhar, +Athar-en-Neby, Ibn Touloun, and Hassan, in +Cairo, are notable edifices, in which the columns are +either taken or copied from Greek and Roman temples, +and in which the pointed arches seem to have +been suggested by the hyperbolic arches of certain +ancient Sassanian structures, such as the palace of +Coroes, the Takt Kesra in the ruins of Ctesiphon, on +the Tigris, and the buildings of Firouzabad and Sarbistan, +which were mentioned in connection with +Persian art.</p> + +<p>One of the earliest examples of the use of the +pointed arch is in the Nilometer, erected on the +Rodah, or Isle of Gardens, at Cairo, by Wallid, in +the eighth century.</p> + +<p>This is a matter worthy of note, as showing conclusively +that the Gothic arch was no invention of the +thirteenth century, in Europe, but merely the adoption +of a form used five centuries before in Egypt, +and probably universally known, if indeed it had +ever been lost sight of, since the days of the prosperity +of Babylon.</p> + +<p>Of the early mosques the most important are +those of Omar and Abd-el-Malek at Jerusalem and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>of Wallid at Damascus. The mosque of Omar was +but a simple vaulted chamber, oriented in order to +enable the faithful to turn in the direction of Mecca +while praying. That of Abd-el-Malek, called the +Aksah, adjoins it and is an extensive structure. It +is chiefly remarkable for its general resemblance to +the basilica in its division into aisles. The columns +forming these carry pointed arches, built over connecting +beams. It is not improbable that this design +was inspired by the order of the church of the +Dome of the Rock, adjoining it, built by Constantine, +where the columns support circular arches, over a +continuous entablature.</p> + +<p>Wallid, Caliph of Damascus, erected a mosque on +the site of the old church of St. John the Baptist, +and employed labour and material in its construction +furnished by Justinian, Emperor of Byzance.</p> + +<p>The mosques of Cairo resemble each other in a +great degree. They have usually a first court, giving +access to apartments for the accommodation of +strangers, with baths, and stables for their camels, +connected with a second and larger quadrangular +court, having a fountain in the centre and porticos +on three sides. The fourth side, facing the entrance, +has a series of aisles roofed in and forming the +sanctuary, with recesses in the rear wall, where the +prayers are offered. Reading-desks, provided with +copies of the Koran, and hanging lamps form the +chief furniture.</p> + +<p>The minarets, one or more of which are usually +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>erected at the angles of the building, are special +features. These tall, graceful towers, from whose +summits a crier calls the people to prayers five +times daily, serve a purpose similar to that of the +belfries and campaniles of Europe. The diameter +of most of them is small in proportion to the height, +giving them a slender and beautiful aspect, very +distinct from another class of towers, of which the +Giralda at Seville is the best known, which were +conceived in the same spirit of massiveness in which +the campanile in the square before St. Mark’s in +Venice was built. They are ascended by spiral +staircases placed either within or without, and have +projecting balconies at various stages.</p> + +<p>The building materials employed by the Arabs +were chiefly stone of different colours, combined in +bands and patterns, and brick covered with stucco. +Enamelled tiles and multicoloured marbles were used +both externally and internally, while within, carved +wood, gilding, painting, and plaster were lavishly +employed.</p> + +<p>Of the forms of decoration, the chief were elaborate +gold inscriptions in Arabic characters, floral +and geometric designs in interlaced patterns of the +most intricate combinations, coloured with all the +profusion suggested by the Oriental love of brilliancy +and with the exquisite harmony which we see in +Persian and Indian fabrics.</p> + +<p>A favourite form of decoration was that formed +by a multiplication of minute pendentives, called the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>honeycomb ornament, the whole surface, as well as +the dome above, being covered with an agglomeration +of minute niches, the effect of which is frequently +compared to that of stalactites. This form of ornament +was much used, particularly in the mosques +and palaces of Spain.</p> + +<p>In Cairo domestic architecture has a distinctive +character of its own. The houses have reception-rooms +on the ground floor, furnished with the divans, +carpets, and lamps usual in Oriental manner of life, +while the upper floors, occupied by the women, have +projecting balconies of lattice wood-work, which +permit them to see without being seen, and form an +agreeable and picturesque feature on the exterior.</p> + +<p>The richness and the progress of Arabic art at a +period when architecture had sunk to the lowest +ebb throughout Europe, is due in great measure +to the establishment of the learned academies of +Damascus, Bagdad, and other principal cities, and +to the revival of Classic learning by the translation +of the works of Greek authors.</p> + +<p>In Spain, where the Moorish and Christian populations +were thrown in constant contact with one +another, the difference of religious opinion maintained +a wide gulf between them, and while the +Christians struggled with the difficulties of the +Romanesque revival, their opponents attained a +brilliant era in art, as a result of their superior +industry and civilization.</p> + +<p>One of the oldest Arabian buildings in Spain is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>the great mosque at Cordova. Here, as in the East, +we find Corinthian and Composite columns, taken +from Roman buildings on the soil, forming integral +parts of the new structure, but the Classical principles +of building are in no sense adhered to. The +entablature is replaced by cinque-foiled arches with +voussoirs of alternate stone and brick; a second +order of columns is superposed directly upon the +capitals of the first, carrying horseshoe arches, and +between the two arcades an intermediary series of +trefoiled arches is placed, springing from the keystone +of the lower arches and divided at the centre +by the upper ones.</p> + +<p>The general plan of the building consists of the +usual series of aisles, of which there are nineteen, +with divisional walls. The sanctuary has a vault +with intersecting ribs, surmounted by a small dome +and enriched by profuse ornament, and is the object +of much just admiration for its beauty.</p> + +<p>The chapel of Villa Viciosa, a later structure, has +a series of arcades similar to those before the sanctuary, +differing only in the arrangement of the intermediary +arches, which are carried up to the level +of the upper arches from a horizontal course, and +are cinque-foiled instead of trefoiled, both on the +extrados and intrados.</p> + +<p>The mosque was begun by <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: Adb-el-Rhaman" id="Adb-el-Rhaman">Abd-el-Rhaman</ins>, in +the eighth century, and successively added to during +the four centuries following. It covers a very +large superficial area, upwards of one hundred and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>sixty thousand square feet, and surpasses, in this +respect, most European buildings. Its chief defects +are the want of height, which does not exceed thirty +feet, and the monotony of the aisles, which are +nearly all precisely alike.</p> + +<p>At Toledo there are several Moorish buildings of +merit, the principal one of which is the mosque +called, at present, the church of “Cristo de la Luz.” +It is similar to the sanctuary of Cordova in general +aspect, but is a marvel of intricate and minute workmanship. +The whole area which it occupies does +not exceed four hundred superficial feet, but the +proportions are so nicely balanced that it appears +much larger. There are four columns carrying +horseshoe arches, above which comes a second arcade, +and each division is roofed in by a vault of intersecting +ribs. These vaults are formed of wood, +overlaid with plaster, and have no pretension to +scientific construction. Indeed, in none of the Arabian +buildings in Spain do we find anything of the +kind attempted, the decorative features being always +the most prominent.</p> + +<p>In the tower of Seville a species of vault was +formed by thickening the walls gradually as they +rose from the ground until they met; this, however, +was nothing more than extensive corbelling, +and, consequently, very inferior to Roman and Byzantine +methods.</p> + +<p>The Alcázar, at Seville, and the Palace of the Alhambra, +at Granada, are the richest examples of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>Moorish architecture, and show in their design and +ornament the most fertile expression of the brilliant +imagination with which this warm-blooded people +imbued all its creations.</p> + +<p>The Court of the Lions in the latter, a rectangular +enclosure, surrounded by arcades, with projecting +domed pavilions at the upper and lower ends, is +generally held to be the finest production of the +later period of the style.</p> + +<p>The same materials are used here as in the other +buildings—plaster shaped in the most exquisite forms +and coloured brilliantly, tiles ornamented with patterns +and devices of the most elaborate character, +and wooden ceilings carved and richly painted. All +these are handled with such correct taste that their +brilliancy never degenerates into gaudiness.</p> + +<p>A splendid fountain in the centre of the court, +the lower bowl of which is supported upon the +backs of lions, explains the name given to this celebrated +structure.</p> + +<p>The mosque of Cordova is superior, in respect to +materials, to the other remaining Moorish buildings +in Spain, in which plaster is used to excess. It is +vain, however, to look in any of them for any distinct +or novel constructional departure. The lintel +and arch in Greece and Rome, the dome carried on +pendentives in Byzance, were features giving character +to each style, but the art of the Mahometan +architects differed only in form and colour from its +predecessors. The horseshoe arch with one and two +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>centres, that is both round and pointed, was used by +them almost exclusively, but it cannot rank as a +constructional invention, for the real arch starts +only at the level of the centres, and the remaining +lower portion is a mere corbelling to obtain a form +pleasing to the eye.</p> + +<p>Any new method of construction always affected +the surrounding parts, and often altered the whole +design of a building. It is obvious, therefore, that a +mere change in the appearance of an arch such as +this, which affects nothing connected with it, cannot +be said to have created any new era in the progress +of building.</p> + +<p>We hear the question frequently asked why a +modern and new style is not developed in our times, +and the answer architects make is illustrated by +just this case, that is, that no new style can be +evolved without a new constructive principle. As +yet none such has been forthcoming, the only novel +method of construction lately introduced being the +employment of iron girders and posts, which, from an +artistic point of view, can scarcely be considered an +improvement upon the use of what are called the +natural building materials.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="IX">IX. +<br><br> +THE ROMANESQUE STYLE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">Some</span> late historians have departed from the +previously generally accepted nomenclature of +architectural styles, in designating under the general +term of Christian architecture all buildings +erected between the tenth and sixteenth centuries +in Western Europe.</p> + +<p>As, however, Christian building in Europe began +with the conversion of Constantine, this chronology +is hardly satisfactory, and as the customary division +of Gothic from the styles preceding it, is on +many grounds a convenient one, it is preferable to +adopt the conventional names, and to distinguish +under the title of “Romanesque” the outgrowth of +the debased form of Roman architecture which, influenced +by Byzantine and Arabic art, formed a distinct +method of building throughout the West for +nearly two centuries after the year 1000 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, giving +it the alternative name of “Norman” in Normandy +and England.</p> + +<p>Previous to this date the long continuance of war +and barbaric incursions seem to have prevented the +erection of any stable edifices; fire and the poverty +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span>of the material with which they were constructed +having caused the destruction of the few of which +an account has been preserved.</p> + +<p>Many churches subsequently built, however, were +erected upon the sites of these older ones and have +fragments of the older buildings incorporated in +them. Of such are the churches of St. Germain +des Prés, in Paris, and Notre Dame du Port, at +Clermont.</p> + +<p>Under Charlemagne, a revival of art was attempted, +the chief building constructed by him +being a reproduction of St. Vitale, of Ravenna, in +which he employed sculpture and ornament torn +from the original structure, and fragments from +the edifices of ancient Rome; but this effort soon +died away, and the period intervening between the +eighth and tenth centuries was totally lacking in +any architectural production of merit.</p> + +<p>As the Roman principles of architecture had been +taken Eastward and gradually transformed into a +new style at Byzance, so also in the West they had +been the forerunners of another method of building, +but proportionately different in accordance with the +character, customs, and race of the Western populations.</p> + +<p>The basilica formed, as it had in the East, the +model upon which all church architecture was designed, +the nave, transept, aisles, and apse being all +retained in this new class of buildings, but many of +the building methods were new, and the details of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>their decoration differed considerably from the precise +proportions and Classic graces of the buildings +of Rome. The result exhibits a curious contrast +between the barbaric ornament and the scientific +construction, which advanced throughout the style +in the genuine efforts which were made to progress +in the art of building.</p> + +<p>Starting thus at the decadence of Classic art, with +a Classical building as the original type for their +churches, the Romanesque architects took up each +of the parts combining in its formation, and sought +to improve or elaborate each, in pursuance of certain +ends, arising from local necessities. There is +virtually no point where Romanesque ends and +Gothic commences, to give due reason for the conventional +divisions of historians, for the one style +melts into the other in the continual progress in +the study of the principles of construction which +was steadily effected throughout both styles.</p> + +<p>They differ chiefly in that, during the two centuries +prior to the thirteenth century, the pointed arch +was rarely used, and that the influence of the Classic +decadence is more apparent in the buildings of the +earlier period. After this, the pointed arch became +universal, and the whole style becoming entirely +distinct from its derivation, the ornament and +detail, quite unlike anything which had come +before, it may be said that a new style had been +created.</p> + +<p>This new style, which has been called Gothic, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>continued to be developed until the fifteenth century, +when its principles became exaggerated, and +it died out at the extreme point to which they could +be pushed.</p> + +<p>It has been customary to call the buildings of the +eleventh and twelfth centuries, built in the transition +of Roman to Gothic art, Romanesque; but the +pointed arch was used in both styles, though, as +stated above, less frequently in the earlier one; and +it should not, therefore, be taken as the distinguishing +characteristic of Gothic architecture.</p> + +<p>The chief points wherein the Romanesque churches, +which were the only buildings of importance constructed +at that period, differed from the basilicas +were in the methods of vaulting and their consequent +effects upon the whole structure, the elaboration +of the apse, and the system of connected +supports employed. The main characteristics of +the style were the same in all Western countries, +and these being known, it is not difficult to distinguish +the slight differences arising from local causes.</p> + +<p>In the old basilicas the aisles, whether of one or +two stories, were lighted by windows in the lateral +walls, while the nave borrowed light from them, +and also received it directly from a clerestory rising +above the roof of the galleries. As we have seen, +these buildings were usually covered by wooden +roofs, tunnel-vaults or a series of intersecting vaults +thrown across the square formed by two of the +columns of the nave, equidistant from each other +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>and from corresponding pilasters in the side walls, +being only occasionally used in the aisles.</p> + +<p>The Western architects of the tenth century continued +to build their churches in this manner, and +we have a splendid example of a timber roof of +this kind, as late even as the twelfth century, in +Peterborough Cathedral; but at an early period +they sought to replace these perishable roofs by +stone vaults. They found the construction of the +semi-dome of the apse and the vaulting of the side +aisles, either by a <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: continuons" id="continuons">continuous</ins> tunnel-vault, by a series +of semicircular vaults perpendicular to the lateral +walls, or by intersecting vaults upon a square plan, +comparatively easy; but the vaulting of the nave +was a much more difficult matter.</p> + +<p>The circular tunnel-vault would have been the +simplest known method of accomplishing this, but +the pressure of a circular vault placed over the +nave would have tended to push outward the walls +upon which it rested, and this pressure being continuous, +it was obviously of no avail to place buttresses +at any separate point, and to place a great +number, side by side, all along the vault, or, in other +words, to greatly thicken the supporting wall, was +to take up too much valuable ground space.</p> + +<p>In St. Front and kindred structures we have seen +the problem solved in one way by the introduction +of Byzantine domes; but these churches were confined +to a province of Southern France, and had but +little influence in other districts.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p> +<p>In St. Etienne de Nevers, St. Sernin de Toulouse, +and in Notre Dame du Port at Clermont in Auvergne, +and others, this difficulty is partially overcome +by the building of a half vault over the upper +galleries connecting the tunnel-vault of the nave +with the outer main walls, and taking the strain +continuously, the thickness of the outer wall not +being considered of consequence. This system permitted +the placing of roofing-tiles directly upon the +extrados of the vaults, and the entire suppression +of wooden rafters, which was advantageous in diminishing +the risk of fire, although the pitch was +scarcely sufficient to prevent leakage. The great +disadvantage, however, was that the nave had only +borrowed light, and in large churches it was inconveniently +dark.</p> + +<p>Another method adopted was that of suppressing +the upper gallery, and bringing the arches of the +aisles up to the level of the springing of the main +vault, so that the summits of the side vaults and the +walls erected between them, which were at right +angles to the nave, served to counteract the strain +of the upper vault. We have examples of this in +the cathedral of Limoges and at Fontenay, but it +is open to the same objection, that of darkening +the nave.</p> + +<p>Still another system consisted in binding the +vault over the nave by ribs or arches thrown +across to opposite piers, which were strengthened +by buttresses. These buttresses, however, were +built upon the top of the arches, thrown across +the aisles, and did more harm than good.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="facing121" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing121.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="fs80">ELEVATION. +<span class="pad35p">SECTION.</span><br></span> + + ROMANESQUE CONSTRUCTION + </figcaption> +</figure> + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span></p> +<p>There is an example of unusual construction at +Tournus, in Burgundy, where the difficulty is effectually +surmounted by the building of a number of +arches at right angles to the axis of the nave, between +each set of piers; but the effect is far from +satisfactory.</p> + +<p>Finally at Vezelay, in France, the tunnel-vault was +abandoned and diagonal intersecting vaults were +thrown across the nave, framed in between semicircular +arch ribs carried upon piers spaced at equal +intervals, the weight being thus wholly transferred +to the four points at the angles of each compartment. +It was found, however, that these piers needed +strengthening, as the strain upon them was excessive, +and it was thus that external buttresses were resorted +to, which were connected with the piers by arches, +called flying buttresses, bridging the side aisles and +conveying the pressure to the outer wall. A weight +was placed over each buttress, generally taking the +form of a pinnacle, which stiffened it and counteracted +the pressure of the arch.</p> + +<p>An illustration of this mode of construction has +been attempted in the accompanying drawing, which +does not represent any special building, but in which +the chief characteristics of the style at this juncture +have been introduced.</p> + +<p>The distance across the nave being usually greater +than that between the columns dividing it from the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>aisles, the rectangular compartments of the vault +were consequently no longer square, but oblong, +so that while the arches crossing the nave at right +angles were still semicircular those between the pillars +were pointed.</p> + +<p>The transition from this, in the thirteenth century, +to the definite adoption of the pointed vault was +consequently but a step.</p> + +<p>We see, thus, that a continual progress was made +in vaulting throughout the style, and the principle +of concentrating weight upon isolated points was +evolved in order to vault the nave and at the same +time give direct light to it. In effecting this result, +however, the original aim had been lost sight of—namely, +that of avoiding the use of wooden roofs; for +when the Romanesque architects abandoned tunnel-vaulting +they had to surmount their more complicated +intersecting vaults by wooden roofs, the perishable +nature of which caused the ruin of many of +the finest buildings. Nor was the external appearance +of these roofs any improvement upon those +of St. Etienne and St. Sernin, for it is a question +whether any more monumental roof has been conceived +than that which is formed by the natural outside +surface of stone vaults.</p> + +<p>In the old basilicas, columns taken from or modelled +upon those of the temples and palaces of Rome +had sufficed to support the light brick wall, carried +upon an architrave or arches, which enclosed the +nave. When the Western architects resumed the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>building of churches, after an interval of war and +trouble which had proved fatal to architectural progress, +brick was little used and the formation of +light masonry and good mortar were lost arts. The +slender Classic column was consequently insufficient +to carry the load of a heavy stone wall and had, +necessarily, to be replaced by a more solid pier.</p> + +<p>These piers assumed various forms in the tentative +efforts made to construct them of the dimensions +calculated to occupy the least amount of floor +space; some were square, others circular or formed +of a number of small columns grouped together, but +for a long time no very satisfactory shape was found +which avoided a clumsy adjustment of the superstructure.</p> + +<p>It came to be gradually recognized that the form +of the pier should be subservient to, and made to +correspond with, the arches and the column receiving +the arch rib of the vault above, which it had to +sustain. This was effected at first by a square pier, +with rectangular projections on each side, forming +abutments for the reception of the constructional +arrangement above. Subsequently these were replaced +by pilasters and engaged columns on each +face, three of which supported the rear and side +arches of the nave, the fourth being continued up +to the springing of the vault, and redeemed from +exaggerated effect by bands or string-courses. There +are good examples in France at Vezelay, Beaune +and Langres and Autun. In England the contemporary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> +architects usually employed square or circular +masses of solid masonry, carrying a heavy abacus, +these pillars being sometimes ornamented with a +fluting, as in the crypt at Canterbury, or with zigzag +patterns, as at Waltham Abbey, Durham, and +Lindisfarne.</p> + +<p>The capitals of Romanesque columns are especially +interesting, for they became constructively useful +instead of simply ornamental, as were those used +in the Roman orders. The section of the arch rib +being square and the column round, it was necessary +to afford support to the overlapping corners, the +whole surface of the projecting tile or abacus being +occupied by the upper masonry, instead of the line +of the shaft being continued up, as had been done +in Rome. The capital was therefore made to spread +outward from the shaft in order to corbel the superstructure.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="facing124" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing124.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + COMPARATIVE SERIES, SHOWING GREEK, + ROMAN, ROMANESQUE, AND GOTHIC METHODS OF SUPPORT. + +<ul class="wd70"> +<li class="caption"> 1. Greek Lintel.</li> +<li class="caption"> 2. Roman Arch, showing False Lintel.</li> +<li class="caption"> 3. Vault Springing from Entablature.</li> +<li class="caption"> 4. Arch Springing</li> +<li class="caption hang1"> 5. Romanesque Column, with Arches Springing from Outer Edge of the Capital.</li> +<li class="caption"> 6. Romanesque Pier.</li> +<li class="caption"> 7. Gothic Pier.</li> +</ul> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>A simple form of this is found in many German, +Italian, and English examples, the upper part of the +capital being a cube and the lower a hemisphere. +The early examples generally imitate those of the +Corinthian order in a rude fashion corresponding +with the poverty of talent of the period. The +capitals of the twelfth century are better carved and +better suited to the services they have to perform. +Figures representing biblical subjects are introduced +in some and in others strange animals and conventional +foliage, sometimes arranged as the acanthus +leaf had been in the Roman models. The proportions +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>of the Classic column were also departed from, the +capital often being a quarter or a sixth of the whole +column; its height being regulated by the size of +the beds of stone, which were generally low. In +Germany, however, the older proportions were more +closely adhered to. The quality of the stone determined +in a great measure the depth of the carving, +the harder kinds having less depth of incision +and the style of ornament applied to them resembling +the Byzantine.</p> + +<p>In France the Romanesque column has usually +a third of the diameter of its shaft engaged in a +pier or wall, though isolated ones are used in the +triforiums, towers, and porches; in England the +latter are common, and recessed columns, that is +to say, placed in an angle of masonry, are also +frequently seen.</p> + +<p>The bases of Romanesque columns, at first simple +round and hollow moulds, gradually became more +elaborate, until they resembled the attic base. Occasionally +they were decorated with foliage or animals, +and there are instances where both capital +and base are similar. The introduction of an angle +ornament, connecting the torus or round mould +with the corners of the plinth beneath, is especially +noticeable; this was effective in preventing the +angles from being broken by thickening the stone +at the weakest points, and in later examples added +to the beauty of the base.</p> + +<p>The arches of the period were usually semicircular +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>and employed either separately or with a second and +broader one, their contour being frequently marked +by a few simple mouldings of degenerate classic +origin.</p> + +<p>Two or three arches supported by detached columns, and comprised +within a larger one, were frequently placed in the triforiums; when +three were used the central one was usually higher than the others. +Besides mouldings: billets, zigzags, stars, and similar simple ornaments + <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: weer" id="weer">were</ins> +employed in their decoration. Where Arabic taste exercised its +influence, it is not uncommon to find alternate voussoirs of +different-coloured stones, and variegated bands in the piers.</p> + +<p>The Italians were especially fond of this treatment +and it is seen in the exteriors and interiors of many +of their buildings. To them is also due the introduction +of blind arcades, the columns of which were +either engaged in the wall or separated from it by +an intervening gallery. The façade of the cathedral +at Pisa is perhaps the most beautiful example of this.</p> + +<p>In the West, arcades of this kind became a frequent +method of decorating blank walls, and there +are instances where a second series of arches intersect +the first, resulting in a number of pointed +arches formed by the crossing of the circular ones; +from this an ingenious but unfounded theory has +been deducted purporting to explain the origin of +Gothic architecture.</p> + +<p>The doors and porches of the Romanesque period +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>are among the most beautiful to be found in any +style. Starting in the earlier examples with a simple, +round-arched opening, the number of mouldings +in the arch became richer and of greater number, +and, as the style advanced, recessed and supported +by columns. These mouldings were decorated with +the zigzag, billet, and kindred ornaments, many of +which were probably copied from the decoration +of the old basilica of St. Paul’s without the walls +of Rome.</p> + +<p>As the jambs of the doorways were generally +built on an angle, the contiguous shafts and arches +sometimes gave the effect of an arched passage in +perspective. Such effects were frequently intentional +in the churches in Southern France, for we +find that the walls of the nave and vault of Notre +Dame de Poitiers, and of other buildings, were purposely +made to converge in order to give the appearance +of greater length.</p> + +<p>It was not uncommon to give the doors square +heads, supported by corbels and occasionally by a +central shaft; in these cases the arch above relieved +the lintel from the weight of the superstructure, +and gave the character of the style to the whole. +The tympanum, thus enclosed, offered a ground for +rich sculpture, which was availed of to the fullest +extent. The outer door of a porch was usually +richer in design than the inner one; in England +there are many examples of shallow porches with +single deeply recessed doors.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span></p> +<p>In Provence there are many beautiful examples, +foremost amongst which must be mentioned the +porch of St. Trophyme, at Arles (see <a href="#frontis">frontispiece</a>). +Romanesque windows were but modifications of the +doors; often having recessed shafts at their sides +and being frequently divided by a central column.</p> + +<p>The bull’s-eye, or round window, of the early +Christian basilicas continued to be used, but it had +not as yet the richness of tracery which it attained +in the Gothic period.</p> + +<p>Classical features of design still retained their +hold upon many details, notably in the cornices, +where the modillions or brackets of the Corinthian +order were frequently employed, and but slightly +altered in form, although of native composition. +The corona of the cornice also differed but little +from the Roman models, and was occasionally supported +directly by engaged columns replacing buttresses, +chiefly on the exterior of apsidal chapels.</p> + +<p>In the early Christian churches the apse had consisted +of a central semicircular termination to the +building, flanked occasionally by two smaller semicircular +recesses containing altars. In the baptisteries +and Byzantine churches these had been multiplied, +and had come to be customary features +in every new building. In England, the Norman +architects generally ended their churches rectangularly, +without even the original single apse, though +there are a few examples in which it is used, as at +Newhaven, Sussex. In Germany it was frequently +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>the custom to affix apses to three sides of the +square tower placed at the intersection of the +nave and transept, and the result was generally +satisfactory, as may be seen in St. Martin’s of +Cologne, and in the Apostles’ Church in the same +city.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="facing128" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing128.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL<br> (Compare with Basilica, page <a href="#facing089">89</a>.) + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>In France the plan resolved itself into an open +semicircular colonnade with a passage intervening +between it and the outer wall which followed the +outline of a series of small apses. These formed an +harmonious cluster, and became a type which was +matured in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. +Those belonging to the Romanesque period, however, +had a distinct and constructively excellent +character which has rarely been subsequently surpassed. +Among the best are those of Notre Dame +du Port at Clermont, St. Etienne de Nevers, and +St. Sernin at Toulouse.</p> + +<p>In France towers were generally placed at the +West end of the church, while in England and Germany +the usual way was to build them at the junction +of the nave and transept; in Italy they were often +detached from the main structure. They were +characterized by simple solidity; the openings being +few and the detail bold; the angles were strengthened +by stout piers; the roofs were either of timber +or stone, according to the nature of the materials +in the localities in which they were erected, and +they were usually lighted by the round-arched double +window. This round arch, ornamented with a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>few simple mouldings and reposing upon short +sturdy columns, forms a constantly recurring feature +in the composition of the several parts of Romanesque +buildings.</p> + +<p>The corridors which surrounded the square courtyards +adjoining churches, and connected them with +the dormitories, refectories, and other apartments of +the clergy, are called cloisters. They differed but little +from the Roman “impluvium” and the “atrium” +of the basilica, the changes consisting chiefly in the +addition of raised sills separating them from the +court, and in their being usually vaulted instead of +carrying timber roofs. The series of arcades forming +them were treated in many ways, and the detail +admitted of much elaboration and variety, as may +be seen in the many remarkable examples throughout +Europe. The cloisters of St. Paul’s, at Rome, +and the atrium of St. Ambrogio, at Milan, form +very interesting historical links between the Roman +and Romanesque styles and are very beautiful specimens +of their kind.</p> + +<p>It had been the custom during the struggling +period of the early Church to bury the bodies of +saints in subterranean chambers called crypts, a +word derived from the Greek verb “to hide”; subsequently +these became component parts of all +churches, serving as places of interment and for the +occasional celebration of masses. Their masonry +was necessarily of the massive character required +for the foundation of the piers of the church above, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>consisting generally in a grouping of columns sustaining +a heavy vault.</p> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp80" id="facing130" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing130.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + CHEVET OF NOTRE DAME DU PORT AT CLERMONT. +<br> + (<i>From Chapuy.</i>) + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The crypt of St. Eutrope, at Saintes in France, +may be mentioned as one of the best examples, the +pillars being richly carved, and the ribs of the vault +of great boldness and strength.</p> + +<p>In Germany the crypt is often raised sufficiently +above the level of the ground to obtain light from +windows, as at Spires, and this is sometimes carried +to such an extreme that the church becomes double, +that is, of two stories, as at Schwartz Rheindorf.</p> + +<p>In England, Canterbury Cathedral possesses perhaps +the best example, the crypt being very large +and its details varied. Some of the capitals of the +columns remain half finished, the work upon them +having been arrested by a conflagration in the +twelfth century.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="X">X. +<br><br> +GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">Briefly</span> recapitulating the preceding chapters: +We have seen that the Greek temple, +composed of a cella, or oblong room, surrounded +by a colonnade, was copied by the Romans with +but few alterations, the only one of importance being +the addition of a semicircular recess to the rear +wall. The columns of the colonnade having been +transposed from the outside to the interior, dividing +the room in three parts, longitudinally; a cross +wall having been introduced dividing it transversely, +and the apse retained, the building became a basilica. +By extending the transept and nave the plan +became cruciform and symbolically the most suitable +for that of a Christian church.</p> + +<p>The Western architects, desiring to replace the +wooden roofs by stone vaults, found it convenient to +substitute for columns carrying arches, piers with +engaged shafts connecting directly with the superstructure.</p> + +<p>After various attempts to obtain direct light for +the central division or nave, rendered difficult by +the necessity of counteracting the continuous thrust +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>of the barrel vault thrown across it, this vault was +finally abandoned and replaced by intersecting vaults, +which conveyed the thrust diagonally upon equidistant +piers. To avoid increasing the size of the latter +to an inconvenient extent, an expedient was resorted +to which consisted in propping them from the exterior +by flying buttresses thrown from them to outside +piers across the roof of the aisles. The result +of the width of the nave being usually greater than +the distance between piers was that, while the diagonal +ribs of the vault remained semicircular, their +lateral intersection produced pointed arches.</p> + +<p>This form of construction was developed during +the middle and latter half of the twelfth century. +The pointed arch had been used occasionally before +by the Romanesque architects; it had been used frequently +by the Arabs, as far back as the eighth century, +and had been known and employed long before +the Christian era in the sewers of Babylon. It +was, therefore, not a new invention, but a known +method adopted in a fresh departure in constructive +architecture; for the circular arches being abandoned +and definitely replaced by the pointed arch the +succeeding architecture became pointed or Gothic.</p> + +<p>This is the condensed history of the derivation of +the style as generally accepted at the present day, +though the subject has given rise to much controversy.</p> + +<p>The concentration of the weight of the vault upon +the piers, instead of upon a continuous wall, was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>more or less the key to the whole scheme of Gothic +construction; for the main principle remained the +same throughout its many and varied examples. +The idea was improved upon gradually and finally +pushed to exaggeration; the decoration of the component +parts of a building increased as the style advanced +and they were reduced to just the sizes needed +for stability, but their construction remained almost +unaltered throughout.</p> + +<p>We have followed the steps by which the form +given to Christian churches emanated from the early +basilicas; this form of building, that is, its plan and +divisions into nave, aisles, transept, choir, apse, etc., +had become traditional and was generally accepted +in all the best examples.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp30" id="facing134" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing134.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The problem of accommodating large assemblies +in the manner best suited to enable them to concentrate +their sight and hearing upon a given point has +been solved in various ways, perhaps most successfully +in our modern opera-houses, but this problem +was not one with which the Gothic architects endeavoured +to grapple; their attention was devoted +to the improvement and embellishment of the typical +plan of structure, which custom and dogma had +prescribed as the most suitable and in accordance +with the needs of the liturgy. The plan was more +or less elastic, and differed without material distinction +in the different countries of Western Europe. +These differences are easily noted by comparing the +appended plans; the one, that of Rheims Cathedral, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>showing perhaps the most perfect arrangement +of any in France, and the other, that of a typical +English cathedral. The latter does not represent +any particular structure, but is a composition including +all the usual divisions and connecting buildings, +taken from an old copy of Rickman.</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>a</i>, <i>a</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Towers at West end.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>b</i>, <i>b</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Porches.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>c</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">The nave.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>d</i>, <i>d</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Side aisles of the nave.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>e</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">The cloisters.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>f</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Library.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>g</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">North transept.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>h</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">South transept.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>i</i>, <i>i</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Side aisles of South transept.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>k</i>, <i>k</i>, <i>k</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Chapels.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>l</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Chapter house with passage from the cloisters.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>m</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Central tower, cross or lantern.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>n</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Screen, over which the organ is usually placed.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>o</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Choir, at the east end of which the altar is usually placed.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>p</i>, <i>p</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Side aisles of the choir.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><i>q</i>,</td> +<td class="tdl">Lady chapel.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>In the thirteenth century the style was formed +in all its purity; it was characterized by great simplicity +and beauty, and in these respects was never +surpassed. The arch had few mouldings, and these +clearly defined and graceful; the shafts of columns +were of slender and charming proportions, and the +foliage employed for the decoration of their capitals, +while conventional, departed entirely from the +acanthus leaves of Classic origin, and assumed forms +suggested by Western plants.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span></p> +<p>Piers were reduced to the precise dimensions +needful, and were formed of slender shafts, grouped +together, which received the arch mouldings on +either side, and rose in the front and rear to the +height necessary to take the springing of the vault. +In practice, the thrust of the vault was found not to +be transmitted directly to a point to be received by +an arch, but to two points above and below this +theoretical one, which necessitated the employment +of two flying buttresses, the one above the other. +In Chartres Cathedral these are connected by +radiating columns, and there are many examples +where the intervening space is occupied by an open +arcade. The French generally built their vertical +buttresses very massively, but in England the pinnacle +was more frequently used to counteract the +thrust of the arch. For this purpose it was eminently +appropriate, and might be considered ornamental, +but the placing of pinnacles upon the corners +of the towers and elsewhere where they served +no end, which was often done, was always a mistake; +and a defect which mars the effect of many beautiful +English buildings.</p> + +<p>In Notre Dame of Paris, we find the single round +column still occupying the first story, with the +more complex arrangement of pier and connected +shafts starting above the abacus of its capital, but +as a general thing, a distinct shaft was provided for +each set of mouldings. In time this was replaced +by a continuation of the vault mouldings down to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>the floor, interrupted only by an occasional string-course, +or a band of foliage replacing the capital.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="facing136" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing136.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF AN ENGLISH CATHEDRAL. + + (<i>From Rickman.</i>) + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Once the weight of the vault had been transferred +to piers, the wall connecting them ceased to support +anything but the extremity of the cross-vault comprised +between the piers, and otherwise served only +as a screen. The Gothic architects soon took advantage +of this to widen the windows, which had been +narrow in the early stages, for by throwing a discharging +arch just under the upper vault across the +piers the whole space underneath could be occupied +by windows, which, with the improvement in the +making of painted glass, became extremely desirable. +This was accordingly done, the only stonework +left being the network of mullions and tracery +necessary to receive the panes. This tracery, probably +suggested by the rich Arabic window fillings, +made a great advance during the latter part of the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the combinations +of geometrical figures, chiefly the circle, being often +wonderfully beautiful. The rose window was much +favoured by the French in their West fronts and transepts, +but in England the large pointed window was +generally preferred, and admirably suited the square +termination of the apse, which was the most frequently +used in that country.</p> + +<p>The space enclosed by the pointed window had +an outline to which it was always difficult to adjust +geometric traceries so as to avoid clumsy joints, +or oddly shaped patterns, and these were, therefore, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>subsequently replaced by flowing lines, which could +be used with much greater freedom.</p> + +<p>As these grew bolder they assumed a flame-like +appearance, and the later period of the style to +which they belong was, in consequence, called +“Flamboyant.” This development occurred chiefly +in France, some of the best examples being in the +church of St. Ouen, at Rouen.</p> + +<p>The simplest form of the Gothic vault was that +in which the compartment comprised between two +piers on one side and two on the opposite side of +the nave was marked by two ribs bridging it, and +two diagonal ribs intersecting each other. As the +system advanced the vault became more complex +by the addition of other ribs, as strengtheners or as +ornaments, until in some examples the whole vault +became a network of intersecting ribs.</p> + +<p>These intersections were frequently emphasized +by a keystone or by an ornament called a boss, +which in English work was also placed at intervals +along string-courses, breaking the continuity after +the manner of modillions in Classic cornices.</p> + +<p>A keystone placed in the centre of a vault was +held there by a combination of great strength, as it +became a point of abutment for all the main ribs, +whose thrust was distributed against four piers and +hence exteriorly by buttresses to the ground. A +good stone, therefore, in this position could have +extraordinary dimensions, and was susceptible of a +variety of treatment. In some French examples it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>was extended, or rather hung, considerably below +the surface of the vault and ornamentally carved, +while in England, in the late so-called Perpendicular +Gothic, it formed the centre of a large pendant, +or circular hanging ornament, which in some cases +came down almost to the level of the springing of +the ribs.</p> + +<p>This construction was used chiefly in connection +with the fan-vaulting, in which English architects +excelled, which may indeed be said to be an English +invention and monopoly, as no examples of it +are found elsewhere. The name explains, in measure, +the form taken by the ribs, which, spreading +out from the sheaf of mouldings in the pier, trace a +perfect semicircle on the upper ceiling, their intervening +spaces being occupied by panels. The four +semicircles thus traced by the ribs, starting from +four piers of a compartment, are each tangent to a +central and whole circle forming the contour of the +pendant.</p> + +<p>To be successful this requires that the compartment +or space included between four piers, two on +each side of the nave or choir, should be a square, +otherwise the circles do not touch, and the lines are +inharmonious.</p> + +<p>The chapels of Henry the Seventh, at Westminster, +and of St. George, at Windsor, contain the +best examples of fan-vaulting, and are very beautiful +in general effect, though it is questionable +whether such constructive tricks are worthy of unrestricted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>praise, while the abuse of panelling in +which English architects indulged in these later +Gothic buildings, by which the whole wall and +ceiling surface was cut up in an unending repetition, +was certainly blameworthy, and tended to reduce +their art to a mechanical science.</p> + +<p>They excelled, however, in all mechanical workmanship, +in which perhaps that employed in the +execution of timber roofs is the most remarkable. +These were in a measure, at least upon so large +a scale, a feature wholly English, for nothing approaching +them is found elsewhere. The roof of +Westminster Hall is the most justly celebrated +and is unique in general character.</p> + +<p>The natural stonework showing all its joints was +generally left untouched in the interior of Gothic +buildings, and afforded the best finish as well as +contrast to the stained glass in the windows.</p> + +<p>Polychrome decoration was attempted occasionally, +chiefly on the Continent, and in some instances +successfully. The best examples are the restorations +of the Ste. Chapelle and St. Germain des +Prés, in Paris, though the latter belongs more +properly to the Romanesque period. Many churches +have been completely spoiled as regards their inside +appearance by coats of whitewash applied to the +whole interior surface, giving them a bleak and +barn-like aspect fatal to architectural effect; this is +especially frequent in Belgium.</p> + +<p>This whitewash, coupled with horribly incongruous +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>late Renaissance decoration, has gone far in +many cases to ruin what would otherwise be fine +buildings.</p> + +<p>Externally all <em>good</em> Gothic buildings showed a +direct correspondence with the interior: buttresses, +flying buttresses, pinnacles, etc., were all constructive +and never decorative devices; there was never such +a thing as a façade or false front built independently +of the interior, and though the harmony of the lines +of both were often difficult to reconcile, it was just +in the overcoming of such difficulties that the +brilliant qualities of Gothic architects were called +forth.</p> + +<p>In the arrangement of the West fronts the French +were at their best, for the combination of deeply +recessed porches with the rose window and gable +above, flanked by the towers, which in France were +usually placed here, was both judicious and effective. +In England such porches as those of Rheims, +or deep openings, such as the entrances to the cathedral +of Paris, were not used, and the West elevations +are consequently less interesting. Peterborough +is an exception to this rule, but the design +is so exaggerated, that the three immense arcades +dwarf everything connected with them.</p> + +<p>The custom of placing a tower and spire over the +intersection of the nave and transept was always +adhered to in England, and was always a happy +arrangement which gave the building dignity and +character, even when the Western towers were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>omitted. Of this the celebrated Salisbury Cathedral +is a beautiful example.</p> + +<p>The spires of Chartres and of St. Ouen, at Rouen, +are the finest in France, where towers were frequently +built to receive spires which were never +added. The height to which the nave was carried +there often prevented the towers from having their +due effect, as it was impossible to carry them out +on a scale large enough to give them a corresponding +proportion. English architects contented themselves +with moderate interior heights, rendering the +proportioning of their buildings a much easier task +than that which their neighbours imposed upon +themselves, by attempting with each new building +a more daring altitude, until the crumbling vaults of +Beauvais set a limit to their audacity.</p> + +<p>The comparison of contemporary Gothic in England +and France covers the subject more accurately +than between that of any other countries, for these +two nations rivalled each other all along in the solution +of the various problems which arose with each +step in their progress, while the architects of other +countries profited by the results they attained and +erected their buildings on Anglo-French principles.</p> + +<p>The cathedrals of Cologne, in Germany, and +Toledo, in Spain, are as fine as any to be found in +France or England, but they are neither German nor +Spanish in conception and principle, and therefore +do not belong to the national architecture of these +countries.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span></p> +<p>In Italy, Gothic architecture was never understood +as it was in the North, and whenever anything +was attempted in direct imitation of Northern +principles of design, the result was always hard and +mechanical. The true Italian Gothic was of itself +often beautiful, but this was almost a separate style, +in which the influences of pointed forms, Oriental +colour, and the example which the Classical ruins +held out so conspicuously on their own soil, were +brought together by the Italians so as to form an +harmonious whole.</p> + +<p>In Venice a peculiar development of the style +was attained, adapted to the flat elevations of the +canal palaces. This arrangement consisted of a consecutive +series of arcades, in which the mouldings of +each arch were carried up and returned, forming a +second and sometimes a third row of lights, replacing, +in the play of light and shadow, the forced +absence of projections.</p> + +<p>These arcades were surmounted by horizontal +mouldings, and the lines of the cornices and imposts +were also horizontal, the Italians never having lost +sight of the entablature, which had been dropped +in France with the rise of Romanesque architecture +and replaced always afterward by the vertical lines +which are the prominent one sin of all Northern +Gothic buildings.</p> + +<p>The celebrated Doge’s palace is the foremost of +these and ranks amongst the most picturesque buildings +in Europe. It is not free, however, from grave +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>defects and is criticised by architects for the top-heavy +and injudicious construction, by which a high +and rarely pierced wall is sustained by the slenderest +of arcades.</p> + +<p>Most of these palaces are of the fifteenth century +and should not perhaps be mentioned first, but as +they illustrate the principle of horizontal lines more +readily than by reference to the isolated parts of +less well-known buildings, they are introduced now.</p> + +<p>Although Milan Cathedral is one of the largest +and most pretentious ecclesiastical buildings in Italy, +it is scarcely a good example of Italian Gothic, for +German architects were employed in its construction +and their influence is apparent. It is rather to the +Cathedral of Sienna that we should turn for a complete +typical Italian structure. Here we find a +beautiful building and yet one which can in no way +be judged from a Northern standard. The West +front has three porches, but their recessed arches +are round instead of pointed, although the detail is +Gothic (the church having been begun in the middle +of the thirteenth century); above is a rose window, +but, unlike the Western models, without dividing +tracery. Both the exterior and interior are striped +with alternate bands of black and white marble. +The intersection of the nave and transept is covered +by a dome, a feature unknown in France or England +(with the single exception of the wooden one +in the cathedral of Ely), and the tower or campanile +is placed in the angle of the South transept. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>These points are all essentially different from Northern +treatment, in which some of them would be considered +defects. Here, however, the parts are sufficiently +harmoniously united to produce a whole +which is pleasing and original. The cathedral of +Sienna has much in addition to these to make it +interesting: attached to it is a library—a later +building, beautifully decorated in a style similar to +the Loggie of Raphael in the Vatican; the stalls of +the choir are of carved wood, of the richest Renaissance +design, and the pulpit, by Nicholas Pisano, is +a gem of sculpture. This pulpit is octagonal; its +sides are carved in high relief in representation of +Scriptural scenes, and it is supported by polished +columns carrying trefoiled arches and resting upon +marble lions in lieu of bases. As a work in which +both sculpture and architecture combine, it is, on a +small scale, one of the most beautiful productions +of its kind, essentially Italian, and rivalled only by +that in the baptistery of Pisa by the same artist.</p> + +<p>The body of a lion as the base of a column was +a favourite device of Italian architects, and is frequently +met with. Porches formed of columns carrying +a round arch and gable and resting on lions, +are often attached to the entrance of churches.</p> + +<p>Orvieto Cathedral is, on a smaller scale, similar to +the neighbouring cathedral of Sienna. The West +front is designed with most elaborate detail and +highly ornamented with painting and sculpture. +The Duomo of Florence partakes also of the general +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>characteristics of Sienna, although its proportions +are vastly larger. Its most striking feature is the +great dome, added by Brunelleschi, when the +church, designed by Arnolfo, was approaching completion; +but it is unsatisfactory, as its immense size +dwarfs the rest of the building. The general picturesqueness +of outline, the delicate design of the +doors and windows, and the proximity of the beautiful +tower of Giotto, go far to atone for this. The +exterior walls of the church are covered with a veneering +of coloured marbles, which, while judiciously +treated and good of its kind, is too false to be easily +reconciled to true artistic principles, and its skin-deep +beauty has been painfully apparent, until very +recently, owing to the unfinished condition of the +West front.</p> + +<p>It may be said in extenuation of this that plaster, +while generally accepted as an honest material, is +no less a shallow covering to disguise naked walls; +it is, however, frequently misused, and is only tolerable +so long as it is not employed in imitation of +better materials, while the thin marble is really intended +to deceive the eye, and give the impression +that its depth is equal to that of the wall.</p> + +<p>The interior of the Florence Cathedral is disappointing, +it is insufficiently lighted, bare, and much +in need of the frescos with which it was originally +intended to be decorated.</p> + +<p>The cathedral of Pisa belongs in greater part to +the preceding style, but the campo-santo adjoining +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>it has a cloister with traceried windows, which, notwithstanding +its round arches, more nearly resembles +Northern Gothic than anything in Italy, and +by its greater height shows a novel and more effective +treatment than is usually seen in France or +England.</p> + +<p>The little church of St. Maria della Spina in this +town, on the banks of the Arno, is a charming little +edifice of the Sienna type.</p> + +<p>In civil architecture Italy has much to boast of. +Her palaces and fortresses are amongst the noblest +and most picturesque buildings of the Middle Ages +found anywhere in Europe. Most of these are rectangular +masses of stone, the austerity of which is +relieved by heavy window-openings with pointed +heads and moulded frames, and crowned by a battlemented +cornice, occasionally enlivened by shields +placed between alternate corbels. The addition of +the campanile, used as a lookout tower rather than as +a belfry, generally completes an imposing structure.</p> + +<p>Of those in stone, the Palazzo Vecchio and the +Bargello, in Florence, are among the finest of these +half town-hall, half fortress buildings, while the +Municipio of Sienna, with its immensely high campanile, +may be mentioned as typical of those in +brick. Nearly every large city possesses one of +these tall towers, notably Verona, Cremona, Mantua, +and Florence. In the last-named the tower of +Giotto is the most highly ornamented and graceful +of this class of structure, and for general proportions +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>unsurpassed. Longfellow, in his well-known +poem, regrets the lack of a spire to complete it, but +it is questionable whether such an addition could +have been made in keeping with the style in which +it is designed.</p> + +<p>In France the lately restored Chateau de Pierrefonds, +near Compiegne, illustrates, perhaps as well +as any, the typical military building of the Gothic +period, with all the usual accompanying structures. +The exterior walls are high and massive, with round +towers at the angles crowned with projecting battlements +and conical roofs. An interior court is +reached only by traversing a drawbridge and passing +through an outer gate and passage defended by +heavy portcullis. Around this court are grouped +the apartments, banqueting-halls, the chapel, and +the necessary quarters for residents and garrison.</p> + +<p>The number of remaining domestic buildings of +the period is comparatively limited. The house of +Jacques Coeur at Bourges, the monastic Hotel de +Cluny, in Paris, the Palais de Justice, and the Hotel +Bourgtheroulde, in Rouen, may be mentioned +among the few still standing, as the best examples +of contemporary architecture.</p> + +<p>Of small half-timbered houses there remain a fair +number in France, though they are daily being demolished, +in the principal cities, to make way for +so-called improvements.</p> + +<p>England is rich in military and civil buildings: +the castles of Windsor, Warwick, Kenilworth, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>Rochester, and the Tower of London, are all well +known and have been frequently described. Perhaps +the most interesting of English civil structures +of the Middle Ages, are the colleges at Oxford; as, +however, they follow, in the Gothic treatment, the +progress of the styles, as illustrated in the contemporary +ecclesiastical edifices, they do not require +special description.</p> + +<p>The town-halls of Belgium are important Gothic +buildings, and are found in all the principal cities +of that country. Their flat façades are singularly +rich, but as they embody only the forms and ornament +of Gothic art, they are less interesting and +poorer examples than any less pretentious structures +showing the constructive element, which predominated +in the Gothic style.</p> + +<p>Toward the close of the style, and before the rebirth +of Classic art had completely superseded +Gothic architecture, a curious transitional style had +a brief sway, in which both were blended. The +wing of the Chateau de Blois, built by Louis XII., +and the Chateau de Gaillon, built by Cardinal Amboise, +in the year 1500, the façade of which is now +preserved in the courtyard of the Ecole des Beaux +Arts, may be regarded as the best specimens of this +charming and short-lived art. The churches of St. +Etienne du Mont, and St. Eustache, at Paris, may +be added to these as typical of the contemporary +religious edifices.</p> + +<p>In them we see the last throes of a dying style +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>which had become extravagant and distorted in its +final efforts to survive, but retained traces of its +former beauty even in its expiring moments.</p> + +<p>The Gothic style arose in the latter half of the +twelfth century, it attained its greatest purity and +simplicity in the thirteenth; during the fourteenth +a more extensive use of ornament was introduced, +in consequence of which it has been termed Decorated +Gothic; finally, in the fifteenth, its principles +and principal features were exaggerated and pushed +to their utmost limits, until its brilliancy, flickering +in the flamboyant traceries of the latest period, expired +and gave place to a Classic revival.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XI">XI. +<br><br> +THE RENAISSANCE.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">A not</span> uncommon error is made in applying the +name Renaissance only to the delicately +treated style of revived Classic art, such as was +prevalent in France during the reigns of Francis +the First, and his immediate successors.</p> + +<p>The word—derived from the verb <i lang="fr">renaître</i>, signifying +in French the rebirth (of the classics understood)—cannot, +however, be confined to any such +narrowed limits, for no new style having been substituted +since, it is as correct a term to-day as it +was in the sixteenth century. There is certainly a +distinction between the first brilliant productions +of the revival, and the more ponderous buildings +which succeeded them, but Early and Late Renaissance +express this satisfactorily. It did not always +follow, however, that all the work which, from its +characteristics, would be classified under the first +head, necessarily antedated that belonging to the +later period.</p> + +<p>In Italy, where the works of the Romans were +too colossal to be utterly destroyed, and too conspicuous +to be easily forgotten, the first movement +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>naturally took place to reawaken the long dormant +art, by which they had been produced.</p> + +<p>In the fifteenth century Orcagua built the Loggia +dei Lanzi, in Florence, and boldly substituted +round arches for the pointed ones then in vogue. +This was the turning-point in the tide of Gothic +architecture, for it needed but little more to induce +the delighted Italians to throw off the yoke +of an art which they had adopted but unwillingly, +and which had never been sympathetic to their +taste. Consistently with their impetuous nature, the +change was effected without hesitation in a marvellously +short period, and with scarcely any of the +usual intervening transitional stages. The ancient +forms reappeared and replaced the dying Gothic +as rapidly as in the days of the French monarchy +the cry “Le roi est mort. Vive le roi!” heralded at +once the king’s death and his son’s succession to +power.</p> + +<p>It is strange that there should have been so +little to connect the succeeding styles, that the revival +should have been so completely independent of +and uninfluenced by a style which had been steadily +growing for four centuries, and which men must +have become accustomed to consider the only one +suited to their times. Delicate workmanship was, +however, the only Gothic legacy the Renaissance +architects accepted, and this was the chief characteristic +of the work of the early period. The proportions +and scale of their buildings were small; a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>whole order: pedestal, column, and entablature generally +occupying and marking the height of an +ordinary story of fifteen or twenty feet, and the +ornament used, while profuse, was executed in the +lowest relief and with most minute detail.</p> + +<p>If the revolution in art was great, it had proportionately +great exponents: Brunelleschi, Bramante, +Raphael, Sangallo, Vignola, Michael Angelo +are names as prominent in history as those of much-lauded +victors in the battlefield.</p> + +<p>Brunelleschi, architect of the dome of St. Mary’s +in Florence, was one of the earliest innovators. +He designed the Strozzi and Pitti Palaces in that +city, with the horizontal lines and round arches +of the Classic school, although still retaining the +feudal traditions in their massive stonework and +in the austerity of their exteriors. The great palaces +of Rome which belong to this period partake also +of this external severity, and confine their brilliancy +to interior display. The palaces of the Cancelleria +by Bramante, the Palazzo Massini by Balthasar +Perruzzi, of Sienna, the Sacchetti and Corsini Palaces +by Sangallo, the Barberini designed by Bernini, +and the Farnese Palace upon which Sangallo, Vignola, +and Michael Angelo devoted their labors in +turn, are a few among the most celebrated.</p> + +<p>Most of these buildings, while varying in size +and in accordance with the character of their sites, +are rectangular in plan, and enclose quadrangular +courts, the different stories being marked by superposed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>orders and arcades. They are planned on a +liberal scale, with broad proportions and with great +deference to symmetry. The beauty of the plan +was, in fact, one of the best features of the new +style, not only in domestic, but in ecclesiastical architecture, +for the arbitrary Gothic arrangements +being once discarded, it became possible to combine +the circle and straight line in many novel and +beautiful ways, for which the older Roman buildings +furnished admirable examples. The study of these +plans forms one of the most important elements +in an architect’s education, and their examination in +these days of iron props and twelve-inch walls is +fraught with much pleasure and profit.</p> + +<p>The light and brilliant creations of the early +period are abundant in Northern Italy, and were +models with which the French were readily impressed. +The façade of the church in the Certosa +of Pavia, with its elaborate detail and delicate +ornament, and such buildings as the Spinelli Rezzonico +and Vendramin palaces, the church of St. +Zachariah, the Logetta and Library of St Mark’s +of Sansovino, in Venice, and farther South the Palazzo +Fava in Bologna, the Capella Pazzi attached +to the older Sta. Croce in Florence, and the monument +to Julius II. in Sta. Maria del Popolo in Rome +are a few beautiful examples of the early treatment +which has so much affinity with the works produced +in France under the Valois.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp65" id="facing155" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing155.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF ST. PETER’S AS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BY MICHAEL ANGELO. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The great Italian cathedral upon which nearly all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>subsequent churches were modelled was commenced +upon the site of the old basilica of St. Peter’s in +Rome in the year 1506, upon plans by Bramante, +and occupied a century and a half in completion. +After Bramante, Giocondo, Julian Sangallo, Raphael, +Perruzzi, Antonio di Sangallo, Michael Angelo and +Carlo Maderno each worked upon it in turn.</p> + +<p>Michael Angelo, who designed the dome, wished +to adopt the plan of the Greek cross, that is, with +equal arms, as shown in the accompanying plan. +The result would have been much more monumental +and would have given the dome its due effect +within a moderate distance, while now it can only +be properly judged from afar, and the high façade +terminating the nave is both poor in composition +and detrimental to the general conception. The +building is essentially Classic in all its details, but +differs from the general design of any particular +Classical building. The nave is formed by a Corinthian +arcade similar to those of ancient Rome, +though on a vastly larger scale, supporting a tunnel-vault, +which is decorated with sunken panels like +those of the ancient Baths. The dome is supported +on a circular drum carried on four immense piers +and improves on the Pantheon only in size, while it +is surpassed by St. Sophia in scientific construction.</p> + +<p>The cathedral is most richly, even gaudily, decorated +within, with coloured marbles and mosaics +and contains numerous tombs of great magnificence +and an altar with twisted columns designed by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>Bernini. It is the largest church in the world, and +yet its proportions are so harmoniously, or inharmoniously +designed, that it does not produce a corresponding +sense of its vastness upon the beholder. +The single order occupying the height of two stories +is a feature, the invention, or rather arrangement of +which, is attributed to Michael Angelo. In subsequent +buildings it was nearly always adopted in +preference to the smaller orders marking each floor.</p> + +<p>The life of this great artist forms of itself a +chapter in the history of architecture. Michael +Buonarotti, surnamed Angelo, the most brilliant +architect of the sixteenth century, was born of +noble parentage in Arezzo in the year 1575. He +developed extraordinary talents at an early age, +and after outstripping his first instructor, took up +his residence in Florence, where he studied anatomy +and the human figure until he became the most +expert draughtsman of his time. In Rome, where +he was summoned by Julius II., he produced several +fine works in statuary, but owing to the jealousy of +Bramante was forced to quit the city and return to +Florence. There he aided the citizens to sustain a +siege during a year, by his superior knowledge of +fortification, and subsequently went to Venice, where +he designed the famous Rialto bridge. At the +earnest solicitation of the pope he returned to Rome +and commenced the great paintings in the Sistine +Chapel, to which work he had been assigned by the +counsels of Bramante, who wished to prove his inferiority +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>to his own nephew Raphael. The result of +the work, completed in a marvellously short period, +however, was so successful that all Rome ran to +see it.</p> + +<p>After the accession of Paul III. to the Papal see, +Michael Angelo was definitely appointed architect +of St. Peter’s and worked on the building during +the remainder of his life, although he returned to +Florence several times and there executed the splendid +statues which adorn the chapel of the Medicis. +In his later days he was assisted by Vignola in his +work, but died before its completion at the advanced +age of eighty-eight.</p> + +<p>Giacomo Barrozio, called Vignola from his birthplace +near Bologna, is known for his great works, +the chief of which are the Jesuits’ church in Rome +and the castle of Caprarolla at Viterbo, which he +built for the Cardinal Alexander Farnese, and also, +especially to architects, for the rules and measurements +of Classical orders which he composed from +the buildings of Rome with the aid of the manual +of Vitruvius.</p> + +<p>This work comprises the elements of design used +in nearly all the buildings erected during the two +following centuries, many of their elevations being +simple combinations of different pages of Vignola’s +book, which to this day is the best guide for Classical +proportions and the architects’ A B C.</p> + +<p>The discriminator between the various architectural +styles is fond of drawing a marked distinction +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>between Italian, French, and German Renaissance, +and illustrating it by views of the typical Italian +palace, with a flat tile roof and low pediments, and +the typical French house, with immensely high slate +roofs and pretentious dormers. Although the eye +of the practised architect can distinguish between +the representative work of Sansovino and Philibert +Delorme, and between that of Bernini and Claude +Perrault, yet such distinctions do not form separate +styles, for they are but unimportant differences, +caused by local influences.</p> + +<p>The subject should be looked upon in a broader +sense, for all these subdivisions tend to confuse the +student and lead him to forget the sequence of the +great historical style of which they form part.</p> + +<p>The Jacobean, Queen Anne, and kindred so-called +styles in England were merely eccentric streams +flowing out of the one main channel, which were +scarcely worthy of distinction and certainly not of +revival in our times.</p> + +<p>In France, under each reign, there was a slight +difference of treatment, chiefly in the decoration of +interiors, which permits of a classification most convenient +to the modern upholsterer, but for our purposes +it is sufficient to apply the two divisions—Early +and Late Renaissance.</p> + +<p>The Chateaux of Blois, Chambord, and Chenonceaux +in the Valley of the Loire, the Palaces of Fontainebleau, +St. Germain en Laye, the Tuileries and +the old Louvre in Paris are splendid examples of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>former, and monuments worthy of the great artists, +Pierre Lescot, Philibert Delorme, Jean Goujon, and +others, who laboured upon them. They are illustrative +of the employment of the small orders and ornament +in low relief, which characterized the corresponding +period in Italy, though they are generally +richer and more spirited in design than the Italian +buildings, and the soft stone which is so abundant +in France permitted more lavish ornament upon the +exteriors.</p> + +<p>The skeletons of each design, that is to say, the +main architectural lines, stripped of elaborate detail, +are much alike and can nearly all be brought +back to the ancient method of superposing orders. +This is no disparagement on the value of the work, +for the plans of many buildings were excellent, and +the variety of ornamental design was of a delicacy +and imaginative beauty which has rarely been surpassed.</p> + +<p>It is questionable, indeed, whether the change +which took place in the century of Louis XIV., in +the introduction of larger proportions and greater +severity of ornament, was so much a gain as it was +considered at the time. To this period belong some +of the great churches modelled upon or rather suggested +by St. Peter’s in Rome: St. Paul’s in London, +rebuilt by Christopher Wren; the Val de Grace, the +joint work of Lemercier, Leduc, and Mansart, and +the church of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, also by +Mansart, are among the finest of the period and style.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span></p> +<p>The plan of the last-named church is appended +as a particularly happy example in general arrangement +and symmetrical variety, doing great credit to +Mansart, who also built the larger portion of the +celebrated Chateau de Versailles.</p> + +<p>The publication of Stewart and Revetts’ great +work upon the antiquities of Athens called general +attention in England to the beauty of Greek art, toward +the close of the last century, and resulted in +the erection of a number of buildings in imitation of +Athenian monuments which were utterly inappropriate +and unsuited to the English climate.</p> + +<p>In France architecture went through two or three +fashionable phases, from great extravagance of design +under Louis XV. to extreme simplicity under +Louis XVI., finally relapsing under Napoleon into +the servile copying of entire Classic buildings: a +great falling off from the principle of the sixteenth +century work, which had always been original in +conception although borrowing detail from the antique.</p> + +<p>During the early part of this century, architecture +sank to the lowest ebb all over the world, probably +owing to the disturbing influences of the great Napoleonic +wars. Within the last thirty years the +spirited writings of a few enthusiasts and the liberal +teachings of the French schools have caused a general +revival, and better work is being done now than +at any time during the century.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp55" id="facing160" > + <img class="w100" src="images/facing160.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PLAN OF CHURCH OF THE HOTEL DES INVALIDES AT PARIS. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Avaricious commerce and the predominance of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>the desire for display rather than quiet love of the +arts are factors which stand much in the way of genuine +progress, but it is not improbable that the spread +of refined education will eventually succeed in planting +the seeds of this love in the heart of the great +masses, and enable architecture to resume its natural +and elevating position in their midst.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span></p> + + + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="XII">XII. +<br><br> +CONCLUSION.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="frstwrd">At</span> the present stage of modern art we have the +principles, broadly speaking, of two great +styles of architecture to guide us in the design of +the buildings which we may have to erect. These +are the Classic and the Gothic; for we may apply +the term Classic not merely to the works of the +Greeks and Romans, but to their offshoots the +Byzantine and Romanesque styles, the one branching +Eastward and the other Westward, altered in +many respects, but founded on the older systems; +and we have seen that the Renaissance was but a +revival of the same methods and forms.</p> + +<p>In each of these styles the best result has always +been attained where the constructional element has +been held to be as important as the decorative, +where the essential and useful have not been subservient +to considerations of ornament or display. +In Classic work much has been done that is unworthy, +in the senseless repetition of columns and +pilasters which support nothing, in decoration which +serves only to conceal ill-adjusted architectural +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>lines; and the same is equally true of degenerate +Gothic, in which whole walls have been covered +with meaningless panels, and massive buttresses +built up to receive no strain.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, by following only what is good in +the principles of each, and by avoiding the errors +which experience has enabled us to perceive, especially +those which have engrafted themselves upon +us by bigoted custom, we can not only produce fine +work but assist in the advance of architecture.</p> + +<p>Before deciding upon what style to employ in +the composition of an edifice, it is well to first +consider thoroughly the programme of what is +wanted in its plan, and then the special character +with which we desire to invest it both exteriorly +and interiorly. It is scarcely necessary to add that +both should be intimately connected.</p> + +<p>We have seen that the best period of Gothic art +was that wherein the whole structure was raised on +a theory of weights and strains thrown from vault +to pier, and pier to buttress; it is, therefore, absurd, +when a building occupies a space between the party-walls +of modern street lots, to attempt an interior +construction having the appearance of corresponding +with buttresses and similar contrivances for which +there is no room on the outside.</p> + +<p>If, therefore, we choose Gothic for our style, let +us follow no false theory, but work on the principles +demonstrated in its innumerable examples, in +which it may be possible to find room for further +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>development, introducing no feature of construction +which has not a full and consistent meaning.</p> + +<p>One can scarcely go the lengths to which many +venture, in saying that Gothic architecture is suited +only to ecclesiastical buildings, for there are many +splendid military and civil structures, from the keeps +and castles of England and France, to the town-halls +of Belgium. But there is this much to be said in +their favour, that while the laws of fortification and +domestic life have altered entirely since the Middle +Ages, on the one hand, those governing the observances +of religion have remained unchanged and +no manner of building is so essentially religious in +its character or better calculated to command the +reverence and awe of the devotee, on the other.</p> + +<p>In support of this view many will agree in admitting +that there is nothing of this religious sentiment +expressed in the Corinthian colonnades of St. Peter’s, +or, in fact, in any of the great number of Renaissance +churches which are scattered throughout the +cities of Europe, while it never fails to exercise its +influence upon anyone entering the great Gothic +cathedrals.</p> + +<p>The great prevailing thought of Mediæval times +was a religious one, and we see it reflected in the +minutest details of the lives of the people of that +age; it was, consequently, but natural that it should +attain its highest expression when they filled their +churches with the best that could be produced in +architecture, sculpture, and painting.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span></p> +<p>While the Classic orders seem out of place in a +temple of Christian worship they are appropriate in +civil buildings, and we have no better examples for +beauty of proportion. They are the result of the +thought and taste of generations of architects and +have stood the test of time, for they are as pleasing +to-day as in the days of ancient Greece and Rome.</p> + +<p>It is their proportion rather than their component +parts which we should follow, for a column, unless +needed as a support, is a questionable decoration, +and pilasters or engaged columns are only desirable +where additional thickness of wall is required, used +as the Gothic architect would have used buttresses, +and never as mere ornaments, which are at once a +fraudulent delusion and a retrogression in the progress +of architecture.</p> + +<p>A multiplicity of columns and entablatures does +not make perfect architecture, but great leading +lines, good proportion, clear detail, and appropriate +ornament.</p> + +<p>The guiding rule is to do nothing which has not +intrinsic merit. It is better to have an absolutely +plain wall than one covered with poor decoration; +far better to have no cornice at all than a galvanized +iron one, painted to look like stone.</p> + +<p>The true definition of architecture is “ornamental +construction.” It is not a utilitarian science, because +if so there would be no <i lang="fr">raison d’être</i> for +beauty of design, for mere shelter and commodious +arrangement could as well be provided by the engineer +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span>as by the architect. The art of the architect +lies in the composition of buildings at once suited +to their purpose and beautiful to the eye; and as +such his art is one that can progress, not through a +series of changing fashions which grow wearisome +before they have lasted a decade, but step by step, +according to the example of the great periods of the +past.</p> + +<p>This example teaches us never to copy slavishly, +but to imitate old examples only so far as they may +suit modern needs, in principle rather than in detail, +and to eschew the reproduction of defects, however +picturesque, so that architecture may be a living art +instead of the mummified representation of archæological +researches.</p> + +<p>In pursuing the study of so vast and splendid an +art we should do so with some feeling of reverence +for its dignity, not looking upon it as a mere money-making +trade, for the greatest architects the world +has known have been satisfied in being only worshippers +at a great shrine. Reverence is a sentiment +slightly regarded in an age when delicacy of +feeling in such matters is often held up as a butt +for the jests and derision of the vulgar, and the +dignity of the art has little foothold when it has +become a custom for the vendor of cheap furniture +to style his shop an “Art Repository,” and the +founder of cast-iron abortions to call his factory +“The Art Metal Works.”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless all of our work must reflect something +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>of our inner thoughts, and if we do not place +them upon a high plane it is not possible for their +reflection to contain what is noble and true. We +cannot become artists in the true sense of the word +without loving and reverencing the beauty and +principles which have made the art so great a one.</p> + +<p>It is the custom among certain people to sneer at +sentiment, and call for practical art; but the most +practical art is essentially the product of thoughtful +sentiments.</p> + +<p>As an illustration, let us compare the Laocoön, +of sculpture; the Halls of Karnak, of architecture; +the Dead March, of music; the “Descent from the +Cross,” of painting, with the “Dancing Faun,” the +arabesques of the Renaissance, the waltzes of Chopin, +and the gay feasts depicted by Paolo Veronese, +and the contrast shows us that each branch of an +universal art expresses the opposite feelings of +gravity or tragedy, of joy or comedy, each in its +separate manner.</p> + +<p>In designing, questions arise every moment which +can only be decided by an innate sentiment of what +is good and appropriate. There are no fixed laws +governing the height of a spire or the projection of +a moulding; they are matters which depend upon +correct feeling, or, in other words, upon educated +taste.</p> + +<p>If it were not so, art would become a mechanical +science, and could no longer be called by that +name. Emotion has no place in mechanics, but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>it has great influence in the arts. We know the +Greeks were an emotional race, and it is said that +Michael Angelo wept before a beautiful statue or +painting; and the works of the people and of the individual +were proportionate to the depth of their +feelings, and have perhaps never been excelled.</p> + +<p>Let us, therefore, commence this study—for the +omega of this book is but the alpha of architecture—despising +none of its delicate subtleties, and endeavour +to grasp its principles, in the hope of doing +our share in its further advance, laying aside the +petty gratification of our vanity in a genuine affection +for our art.</p> + + +<p class="center p4">THE END</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div> + +<div class="transnote" id="END_NOTE"> +<strong>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</strong> + + +<p class="noindent">Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs +and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support +hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to +the corresponding illustrations.</p> + +<p class="noindent">The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page +references.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been +corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within +the text and consultation of external sources.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, +when a predominant preference was found in the original book.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, +and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.</p> + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl smcap" colspan="2">Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#tenemos">21</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl">“tenemos” replaced by “temenos”.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Chilambaram">31</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl">“Chilambaram” replaced by “Chidambaram”.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#baldaquins">32</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl">“baldaquins” replaced by “baldachins”.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#ababaster">40</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl">“ababaster” replaced by “alabaster”.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Adb-el-Rhaman">111</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl">“Adb-el-Rhaman” replaced by “Abd-el-Rhaman”.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#continuons">119</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl">“continuons” replaced by “continuous”.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#weer">126</a>:</td> +<td class="tdl">“weer” replaced by “were”.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76489 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76489-h/images/cover.jpg b/76489-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2df7807 --- /dev/null +++ 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