THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/architecturalrev1314unse Supplement to The Architectural Review, January 1903 ' INK-PHOTO." K. J. EVERETT & SONS, 56 LUDGATE HILL, E.C. THE LAST OF NEWGATE. DRAWN BY MUIRKEAD BONE. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW Volume Thirteen Jan.— June 1 9°3 London 6, Great New Street, Fetter Lane, E.C. The Architectural Review ” Editorial Committee. 4 4 R. Norman Shaw, R.A. John Belcher, A.R.A., F.R.I.B.A. Frank T. Baggallay, F.R.I.B.A. Reginald Blomfield, M.A. Gerald C. Horsley. Mervyn Macartney. E. J. May. Walter Millard. Ernest Newton. Edward S. Prior, M.A. Halsey Ricardo. Professor F. M. Simpson, F.R.I.B.A Leonard Stokes, F.R.I.B.A. D. S. MacColl, M.A. J. H. Elder-Duncan, Secretary. INDEX TO VOLUME THIRTEEN. PAGE Abingdon ... ... ... ... ... ••• Rev. W . J . Loftie ... ... ... i Illustrations : — Plans. Abbey Buildings, i. Map of Part of Abingdon, showing the Buildings Illustrated, 2. Remains of the Abbey Buildings, from the North-East, 4. Ground Floor, Abbey Buildings, 5. Interior, Long Abbey Building, 1st Floor, 6. Thirteenth Century Fireplace in Upper Floor of Abbey Building, 7. Thirteenth Century Chimney, 8. S. Helen's Wharf, 9. S. Helen’s Church, 10. Christ's Hospital, 11. T witty’s Alms¬ houses, 12 Tomkin's Almshouse, 13. Fountain in Wall of House, Ock Street, 13. The Market House, 15. Plans of Market House, 16. The Back of the Market House, 17. The Floor of the Market House, 17. The Town Hall and Municipal Buildings, 18. Window in Hall of Municipal Buildings, 18. Twickenham House, 20. Doorway of Twickenham House, 21. No. 36, Bath Street, 21. No. 57, East S. Helen Street, 22. Allhai.lows, Lombard Street ... ... ... Halsey Ricardo ... ... ... 97 Illustrations : — South Side of the Screen, 97. The Principal Entrance, 98. The Tower, 99. South-West Corner of Vestibule, showing Doorway into Porch, 100. View from North-West Corner of the Vestibule, 101. Vaulting Over Vestibule, 102. Old Gateway to the Church. Now Preserved in the Porch, 103. The Font, 104. Interior, Looking East, 105. The Pulpit, 106. The Organ, 107. The Civic Sword and Mace Rests in the Corporation Pew, 108. Andrea Palladio ... ... ... ... 1. Reginald Blomfield. 2. Banister F. Fletcher 127, 236 Illustrations : — Frontispiece to Palladio’s Architecture, Frontispiece. La Carita, Venice, from Palladio, Edition 1570, 129. Illustration from Large Edition of Barbaro’s “Vitruvius,” 131. Temple of Peace (Basilica of Constantine) as shown by Palladio, Edition 1570, 133. Ditto, as shown by Du Perac, 133. The Pantheon, as shown by Palladio, 134. Ditto, as shown by Du Perac, 134. House for the Trissini at Meledo, 137. Detail of Palazzo Valmarana, 138. Villa Almerigo, 139. Architectural Education (A Review and Discussion): I. Germany (with Austria and Switzerland) T . Bailey Saunders 177 II. Great Britain The Architectural Association Day School ... The Architectural Association Evening School Arthur T. Bolton. William G. B. Lewis. 217 Architecture and the Royal Academy : A Discussion : IV. Professor F. M. Simpson ... ... 37 V. Conclusion ... 1. Alexander Graham. 2. D. S. MacColl 47 Architecture at the Royal Academy, 1903. I. D. S. MacColl 222 Architecture, Current. See Current Architecture. Arts and Crafts Exhibition, The: A Discussion: I. Mervyn Macartney ... 141 II. Conclusion ... D. S. MacColl . 187 Atkinson, R. Frank 76, 77 Balfour and Turner 38, 39, 40 Belcher, John, A. R.A. i54> 159, 160, 161, 162, 163 Bell, E. Ingress ... 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235 Blomfield, Reginald 127 Bone, Muirhead Frontispieces. January, February, and June Books (Reviewed) : “ Manuel D’Archeologie Francaise.” Part I. (C. Enlart) G. H. Palmer 42 “ The Pavement Masters of Siena.” (R. FI. Hobart Cust) Gerald C. Horsley... 44 “ The Dictionary of Architecture.” (Russell Sturgis, Editor) Ernest Newton . 78 “Fra Angelico.” (R. Langton Douglas) ... Charles Holroyd 80 “ Emrlish Woodwork of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.” (FI. Tanner, Junr.) Rev. W. J . Loftie ... 164 Brown, Rev. J. Wood 65 Index lii PAGE Carden, Robert W. Cheston and Perkin Collcutt, T. E. Correspondence : 52 ...41, 42 ••• i54. i55. !56- i57. J5S The Cathedral of Siena ... ... ... ... 1. Louise M. Richter. 2. Langton Douglas 82 “Andrea Palladio” ... ... ... ... Banister F. Fletcher ... ... 236 Current Architecture : — Illustrations: -“Westbrook,” Godaiming: Balfour and Turner, Architects, 38, 39, 40. London and County Bank, Wandsworth : Cheston and Perkin, Architects, 41, 42. House at Wendover, Bucks : Marshall and Vickers, Architects, 73, 74, 75, 76. Lodge and Entrance Gates, Footscray Place, Kent: R. Frank Atkinson, Architect, 76, 77. “ Sandhouse,” Witley, for Mr. |oseph King: F. W. Troup, Architect, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124. Lloyd's Registry: T. E Collcutt, Architect, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158. Cornbury Park, Oxon : John Belcher, A.R.A., Architect, 154, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163. The Royal School of Art Needlework, South Kensington : F. B. Wade, Architect, 189, 190, 191. Fire Brigade Station, Euston Road, W.C. : W. E. Riley, Superintending Architect, London County Council, 192, 193. Joint Station of the East Indian and Bengal and Magpur Railways, Howrah, Calcutta: Halsey Ricardo, Architect, 194, 195. Christ's Hospital, West Horsham: Aston Webb, A.R.A., and E. Ingress Bell, Architects, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235 Cust, R. H. Hobart Douglas, Professor R. Langton Education, Architectural. I. and II. T. Bailey U 80, 83, 203 Saunders, A . T. Bollon, W. G. B. Lewis 177, 217 Enlart, C. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 42 Exeter Cathedral, How it was Built. I. ... ... Professor W. R. Lethaby ... 109, 167 Illustrations, 1st Article: — Plan, 109. Interior, from the West, 1x0. Border to Clerestory Windows, 111. Minstrel’s Gallery, North Side of Nave, 112. View across Transepts, showing Pulpitum, 113. The Image Wall and Central Door, 117. Statue over Central Door, 118. David, 11S. Corbel at South-East Angle of Crossing, 166. North Transeptal Tower, 167. Plan of Norman Church, 168. Corbel-table Turrets, South Tower, 168. South View of Norman Church, 168. Exeter Cathedral: Plan, 169. Exterior of the Choir from the North, 171. Exterior of the Nave from the South, 172. Interior of the Nave from the Clerestory, t73. Restoration of North Walk of Cloister, 174. Vault, Eastern Chapels, 175. Cor e Marble-Work, 175. Figure-Sculpture in England, Medieval ... ... Edward S. Prior and Arthur Gardner 23, 143 Fletcher, Banister F. ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... 236 Forms of the Tuscan Arch ... ... ... Rev. J. Wood Brown ... ... 65 Illustrations: — Arch Por' S. Maria, Florence, 66. Door of Bigallo, Florence, 67. North Door, S. M. Forisportam, Lucca, 67. Door of Torre delle Ore, Lucca, 69. South Facade Arch, San Martino, Lucca, 70. External Arch, Porta dell’ Annunziata, Lucca, 70. West Door, S. Stefano, Florence, 71. Campanile Arch, S. Piero Somaldi, Luc a, 72. Gardner, Arthur ... Graham, Alexander Guildhall, Peterborough, The Illustration, 229. Holroyd, Charles ... Horsley, Gerald C. How Exeter Cathedral was Built... Knossos, The Palace of. I. Lethaby, Professor W. R. Liverpool Cathedral Competition ... Illustrations : — The Des'gn placed First by the Assessors. Road, 224. Plan of Crypt, 225. Cross Section, 226. Loftie, Rev. W. J. ... Macartney, Mervyn MacColl, D. S. Marshall and Vickers Medieval Figure-Sculpture in England ... 23, M3 47 Rev. W. /. Loftie 230 80 44 Professor W. R. Lethaby 109, 167 R. Phene Spiers 196 109, 167 F. M. Simhson ... 225 G. Gilbert Scott, Architect. Elevation to St. James’s Ground Plan, 227. Longitudinal Section, 228. 1, 164, 230 ... 141 ... 48, 87, I40, 187, 222 ••• 73, 74, 75, 76 Edward S. Prior and Arthur Gardner Chapter IV. : First Gothic Sculpture, 1160-1275 Illustrations : — Head in Cloister, Bridlington, 27. Vault-corbel in N. Transept, Lichfield Cathedral, 27. Wells Cathedral: (a) Vault-corbel, S. Transept; (ft) Label-head, Nave (East Bay); ( c ) Capital, N. Transept, 28. Llandaff Cathedral. Head in Capital of Nave, 28. Wells Cathedral. Label-head in West Bays of Nave (N. side), 28. Salisbury Cathedral: (a) Corbel-head, East Bays of Nave; ( b ) Corbel-head, S.E. Transept; ( c ) Corbel-head in Quire, 29. (a and b) Boxgrove Priory Church. Corbel-heads in Quire, 29. (a and b ) Box- grove Priory. Label-heads in Quire, 29. Purbeck Sculpture: (a) Rochester Cathedral, Corbel-head in Quire ; (ft) Salisbury Cathedral, Corbel-head, E. Transept ; ( c ) Salisbury Cathedral, Corbel-head, Main Transept, 29. (a) Wells Cathedral, Label-head, West Bays of Nave ; (ft) Salisbury Cathedral, Corbel-head, West Bays of Nave ; (c and d) Westminster Chapter, Label-heads of Wall Arcade; (e, /, and g) Salisbury Chapter, Label-heads of Wall Arcade ; ( h ) Salisbury Quire-screen, Label-head of Arcade ; (i) Durham Quire, Corbel-head, 30. Lincoln Cathedral. Label-head in “Angel Choir,” 31. Hayling Church (near Portsmouth), Spur of Base, 31. Oxford Cathedral. Vault-corbel in Chapter-house, 32. Wells Cathedral. Vault-corbel in Passage to Chapter- house, 32. Wells Cathedral. Vault-corbel, N. Transept, 32. Lichfield Cathedral. Arch-mould to N. Transept Doorway, 32. Lincoln Cathedral. South Doorway of “ Angel Choir,” 33. Westminster Chapter-house. Moulding of Doorway, 33. Salisbury Chapter-house. Moulding of Doorway, “ The Virtues and Vices,” 33. Figure Capitals of First Gothic Period : (a) Wells Cathedral, N. Porch, “ Martyrdom of S. Edmund ” ; (ft) Wells, S. Transept, in W. Aisle; (c) Wells, in North Aisle, East Bay; (d) Durham Quire, in Triforium, N. si’e; (e) Lincoln, Corbel in S.E. Transept; (/) Lichfield Chapter, Capital of Wall Arcade, 34. Lincoln Cathedral, Capital of Door in South Quire Aisle, 35. Grotesques of the Thirteenth Century : (a) Lincoln Cathedral, Dragon on Plinth, N. side; (6) Oxford Cathedral, Corbel in Chapter-house ; ( c ) Hayling Church, Spur of Base; (d) Hayling Church, Capital of Font Shaft; ( e ) Wells, Corbel in N. Transept; (/) Chichester Cathedral, Gargoyle on N. Side of Nave ; (g) Chichester, N. Quire Aisle, 36. Index 1X7 i V Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture in England — continued. i-aqb Chapter V. : First Gothic Figure-Sculpture Carving in Relief ... ... ... 143 Illustrate ns : — Stone Reliefs, 1 urham, 143, Relief, Bristol Elder Lady Chapel, 144. Worcester South-East Tran- Ditto, 145. Westminster Abbey, Chapel of St. Edmund, 145. Reliefs, Westminster Abbey North Transept. West Side, 146. Salisbury Chapter-house, “Lot and his Daughters," 146. Ditto, “Jacob's Brethren," 147 Ditto, The Ark, 147. Ditto, “ Pharaoh's Dream," 148. Salisbury Anc ent Choir Screen, 148. Ditto, 149. Reliefs from Angel Choir, Lincoln: (a) Angel with Harp; (b) Madonna; (c) Angel with Spear; [,/, Angel swinging Censer, 150. Plan of Angel Choir, Lincoln Cathedral, 151. Reliefs from Angel Choir, ./ Angel with Scales: (6) The Expulsion, 152. Ditto, (a) Angel with Crowns, ( b ) Angel holding small Figure; (o Angel with Book ; (d) Angel with Scroll in lap, 153. Mediaeval Southampton ... ... ... ... Robert W. Carden ... . ... ... 52 Illustrations: — North Bailey Wall, 52. N.W. Angle, with Arundel and Catchcold Towers, 54. Interior of Arundel Tower, 54. Castle Watergate, 55. The Arcading with King John’s Palace and the “ Blue Anchor" Postern, 55. Westgate, from the Quay, 56. fl he Old Guardroom, 56. The Westgate, 57. The Spanish Prison, 58. The Watergate, 59. God’s House Tower, 59. Back of the Walls, 60. Eastgate, 60. The Polymond Tower, 61. The Bargate, 62. Arundel Tower, before the rebuilding of “Old Tower" Inn, 63. S. Michael's Church, 63. Font, S. Michael's Church, 64. Tudor House, 64. Mr. Watt’s Colossal, Equestrian Statue Illustration : — “ Physical Energy,” 140. D. S. MacColl 140 Newton, Ernest ... 78 Orvieto Cathedral ... ... R. Langton Douglas ... 203 Illustrations: — Plan, 203 View from the North-west, 204. Alternative Designs for the Fagade, by Lorenzo del Maitano, 206, 207. General View of Carvings on two Centre Piers of the Facade, 208. General View of Carvings on the Outside Piers of the Fagade, 209. The Fagade, Details : The Creation, 210. Ditto, Adam and Eve in Paradise, 21 1. Ditto, The Nativity, The Adoration of the Magi, The Visitation, 212. Ditto, The Resur¬ rection, 213. Ditto, The Inferno, 214. The Interior, looking East, 215. Palace of Knossos, Crete, The ... R. Phene Spiers 196 Illustrations : — Plan of the Palace, Facing page 197. Ruins of the Palace. General View of Remains on the East Slope, 197. Western Court and the Great Gypsum Wall, 198. Plan of Conjectural Restorations, 199. Entrance to Throne Room, 200. The Throne, 200. Palladio, Andrea 1. Reginald Blomfeld. 2. Banister F. Fletcher 127, 236 Palmer, G. W. 42 Peterborough Guildhall Rev. W . J . Loftie ... 229, 230 Plates ; Lithograph : The Last of Newgate. From a Draining by Muivhead Bone. January. Frontispieces: Housebreaking in the Strand. From a Drawing by Muivhead Bone. February. The Guildhall. From a Drawing by Muivhead Bone. June. Prior, Edward S. 23, i43 Ricardo, Halsey ... ... ... ... ... 97, W4> 195 Richter, Louise M. ... 82 Riley, W. E. 192, 193 Royal Academy, Architecture and the : V. A Discussion— Conclusion 1. Alexander Graham. 2. D . S . MacColl. 47 Royal Academy, 1903, Architecture at the. I. D.S. MacColl 222 Siena Cathedral 82 Simpson, Professor F. M. 37) 225 Southampton, Mediaeval Robert W. Carden ... ... 52 Spiers, R. Phene 196 Stevens, Alfred, The Wellington Monument of D. S. MacColl ... 87 Sturgis, Russell ... ... ... ... 78 Tanner, H., Junr. ... 164 Troup, F. W. ... ... ... . ... 120, 121, 122, 123, 124 Tuscan Arch, Forms of the Rev.J. Wood Brown ... 65 Wade, F. B. 189, 190, 191 Watts, G. F. 140 Webb, Aston, A.R.A. 230, 231, 232, 233, 234. 235 Wellington Monument of Alfred Stevens, The D. S. MacColl ... 87 Illustrations : — Full-size Model for the Equestrian Statue as designed to be be seen from the Nave, Frontispiece. Thd Equestrian Figure from the small Sketch-Model, 87. Full-size Model, front view, 88. Ditto, another view, 89. Ditto, as designed to be seen from the N. Aisle, 90. Donatello’s- Gattamelata at Padua, 91. Head of the Duke, from the fulf-size Model, 92. Study by Alfred Stevens for the Equestrian Statue, 93. View of the full-size Model for the Monument in Stevens’s studio, with corrections in pencil by Stevens, 94. The Monument as it now stands in St. Paul's, 95. The Original Sketch-Model for the Monument (South Kensington), 96. EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, HIS MAJESTY’S PRINTERS, DOWNS PARK ROAD, HACKNEY, LONDON, N.E. Abingdon. There are many towns and villages in England which maybe regarded as, in themselves, schools and museums of architecture. The cathe¬ dral cities have engrossed our attention, not only to the exclusion of places where there is no minster as a central feature, hut even of the minor features in these cities themselves. There is much to see in Salisbury, for example, besides the cathedral— much in Chichester. But, from this point of view, there are smaller towns which rival even Salisbury or Chichester in the abund¬ ance of their interesting and beautiful houses. Stamford will at once occur to the mind, where the parish churches must be added to the domes¬ tic buildings ; or Burford, a dead borough, which at one time must have displayed a street of palaces; or Bradford, or Tewkesbury, or Cor- sham, or Newbury, or, in short, any place where trade and manufactures were brisk in the years before the Reformation, where good materials were to be had on the spot, and wheie neither king nor baron nor abbot repressed the aesthetic ambition of the burghers. Such old towns abound. In several of them the architectural PACT of (WISJWN ASSPY relics take us back to Roman times ; but while a well-preserved hypocaust or a mosaic pavement is rare, such early features as a Norman keep, an Edwardian church, or a half-timbered house, are frequently found. Abingdon, it may be observed, from the peculiarity of its history — a peculiarity which it shares with St. Albans, Bury St. Ed¬ munds, Gloucester, and other places — -is deficient in mediaeval domestic buildings. The abbots of these towns discouraged settlers. There were seldom any local manufactures. The town grew, not on account of the abbey patronage, but in spite of its influence. The oldest houses now to be found at Abingdon, when we pass by those of the abbey itself, are of post-Reformation date. From the point of view indicated above, the town shows us specimens of Norman, in one of the churches, St. Nicholas; of First Pointed, in some of the domestic buildings of the abbey; of the Decorated style in the other church, St. Helen’s ; of Perpendicular in a few of the out-buildings of the monks and the greater part of the last-named church and the bridge. The latest Gothic is, however, scarce, and the more remarkable of the VOL. XIII. — A A bin cr don. o 3 A bingdon . buildings were erected after the dissolution of the monastery, and when the abbey church had fallen into ruin. Of the remains still existing, some interesting features should be noticed. Mr. Harry Redfern has explored the site of Abingdon Abbey, and the municipal authorities, the Mayor and Corporation, have warmly seconded his efforts for the preserva¬ tion of what remains. The church has wholly disappeared. It was, no doubt, to eastward of St. Nicholas, which stands, and has stood since Norman times, to eastward of the market place. A meadow behind Abbey House is locally and traditionally pointed out as the site. If so, it must have been very long, and the cloisters and residential buildings, like those of Westminster Abbey and many other ancient Benedictine houses, must have covered the ground to south¬ ward, between it and the Thames, if they did not extend across a bridge to the islet on which the modern house called The Abbey is built. Of these buildings, only foundations and a few carved stones are left of the church, the chapter house, the cloister, the abbot’s house and ther domestic offices, the bakehouse and the brewtrouse. To westward of the probable sites of these portions is a large and very interesting building of which I am able, by the kindness of Mr. Redfern, to offer a plan and some photographic views. To west¬ ward is a modern brewery, which may well occupy the ground formerly taken up by this most im¬ portant feature of a great mediaeval monastery. Rather to the south, on an island of the Thames, was, and is, the Abbey Mill. Abingdon was cer¬ tainly not deficient in either bread or beer, and the solicitude of the great Abbot, St. Ethelwold, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, in providing both for the monks, is specially recorded in the Chronicle. The long building just mentioned may have formed some part of the lodgings of the Abbot, or still more likely it may have been part of an infirmary. The abbots, before the thirteenth century, were noted for their medical skill. To it they owed the most important of their outlying estates — the church manor of Kensington, where they are still commemorated in St. Mary “ Abbott’s” and several other local names. Faricius, we read, was skilled in the treatment of disease, and to his care Aubrey Vere, the lord of the manors of Hyde, and Neyt, and Kensington, among others, entrusted Geoffrey, his son, who was in ill-health. Faricius so far relieved the sufferings of the youth that when he lay on his death-bed he besought his father to grant to his kind physician 270 acres of the last named manor. Faricius was born at Arezzo, in Italy, and came to England apparently as physician to Henry I. In this capacity he attended Queen Matilda at the birth of her first child, she having, it seems, resided near Abingdon for the purpose. To her gifts on this occasion, Abingdon owed much, in¬ cluding the materials of the Palace at Andersey. When, in after years, Faricius would have been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, the monks objected because of the mundane character of his principal occupation ; and he died Lord Abbot of Abingdon, to which office he was consecrated in 1100 by Bishop Robert of Lincoln. It will be remembered that Henry I. owed his surname of Beauclerc to the good education he had received at Abingdon. Of the Norman time, there remains now only the doorway, in the market place, of St. Nicholas Church, so severely “restored” in 1881, if not before, that nothing of the eleventh century, except the form, is left. It is recorded that Faricius built the Abbey Church, probably the eastern end, and possibly the transepts ; but all this has perished. He died in 1115, and was locally regarded as a saint, though he was never canonised. Two other abbots should be noticed. Nicholas of Coleham, or Culham, built the bridge at a spot south of the town called the “ borough ford,” or Burford ; and to him also is attributed the exist¬ ing structure of St. Nicholas Church. He had been Prior, and was Abbot from 1289 to 1307. The bridge was continued by a causeway and further bridge to Culham in the fifteenth century. The seven arches of the Burford end are all pointed, though disguised in part by a round- arched widening, and are ribbed. The bridge was taken in charge by a Guild of Holy Cross, which built itself a chapel or aisle in the church of St. Helen, as we shall see further on. The last Abbot is named in a roll of arms of 1515. He is described as “ Thabbot of Abyngdon, lord thomas pentecost,” and his arms are, “ Argent, a cross fleury, between four mart¬ lets,” impaling “ Sable, on a fess between three doves volant argent, ensigned with haloes and membered or, a lion’s face between two covered cups gules.” Similar doves, but without haloes, appear in the arms of the Lord Abbot of Bury, John Melford, alias Reve, whose name precedes that of Abbot Pentecost. In 1537, Pentecost and twenty-five monks surrendered to Henry VIII. The Abbot received a grant of the manor of Cumnor, and a pension. The estates of the Abbey were estimated to produce £1,876 10s. g d. a year, equal to some £18,000 now. The Lord Thomas Pentecost, resuming his patronymic, be¬ came Dr. Thomas Rowland, D.D., but does not figure again in ecclesiastical history. The in¬ fluence of the abbots had been always to repress 4 A bingdon. REMAINS OF THE ABBEY BUILDINGS, FROM THE NORTH-EAST. By kind permission of Mr. II . Redfern. the trade of the townsfolk. The early struggles of the burghers were for leave to hold markets and other small privileges, and were uniformly put down with a high hand. In 1327 the neigh¬ bouring city of Oxford, in the person of the Mayor and some of the students, came to the help of Abingdon, but spoilt a good cause by their excesses. Part of the abbey was burnt in this riot, which was not quelled until twelve of the rioters had been hanged. It maybe imagined that, once the abbey was dissolved, no one raised a hand to save the buildings; and where good stone 5 A bingdon. INTERIOR, GROUND FLOOR, ABBEY BUILDINGS. By kind permission 0/ Mr. H. Red/nn. 6 A Inn g don. INTERIOR, LONG ABBEY BUILDING, FIRST FLOOR. 7 A bin g don. was scarce, it is only surprising that this substan¬ tial fragment remains. The building shows two finely-vaulted cham¬ bers on the ground floor, with two more in an upper storey, and adjoining them to the eastward a long chamber with an oak roof. To the south¬ ward looking across a narrow lawn, which appears to have been in part, at least, enclosed by build¬ ings, to the Thames, was a solid stone wall pierced by several traceried windows. The win¬ dows of the vaulted chambers are in the First Pointed style, the Decorated style appearing on the north side in a kind of court. The long building, however, had only windows towards the river in its two centre bays ; the two bays at the west end, and the one, all that remains of two which were apparently at the eastern end, look¬ ing, according to some indications in the wood¬ work, into a corridor along the north side. The roof, too, shows that the two central bays on the first floor were separate chambers, with Perpen¬ dicular windows looking south, and with fireplaces of the same period. There is no internal communication apparent between this eastern building — all of the Perpen¬ dicular period — and the very substantial thirteenth Photo: W.J. Vasey. 13TH CENTURY FIREPLACE, IN UPPER FLOOR OF ABBEY BUILDING. century house to westward. In it all the original features are First Pointed, but two Decorated windows appear on the north front. An outside stair led to a narrow door. The parapet of the roof seems to have been battlemented. The groining within is very fine, and has survived a long period both of neglect and of injury. Now that it is well cared for, we may hope that archaeo¬ logists competent to pronounce may identify it and the adjoining chambers. Meanwhile guess¬ work would be wholly out of place. The external chimney is well known, being probably the only per¬ fect thirteenth century example in existence. The fireplace, which corresponds to it within, is also of the highest rarity, with its graceful shafts and carved capitals worthy of the age which has left us the chapter house of Southwell. The chimney long carried a vane, which is still in existence, after having threatened, until it was taken down a few years ago, to destroy the whole structure. The chimney is now in no great danger except from climbing plants. A second chimney, of the same period in Mr. Redfern’s opinion, but wanting the external hood, is on an adjoining building to the westward. This, which was for some years a Bridewell, now consists of tenements, which, with many of the houses in the immediate neighbour¬ hood, exhibits in roof and walls traces everywhere of mediaeval architecture. The abbey precincts extended to Bridge Street, the houses on the east side of which are still described in legal docu¬ ments as “ within the boundaries of the late dis¬ solved Abbey of St. Mary of Abingdon.” The Perpendicular gateway opens on the market place. Near the church of St. Helen a fragment, con¬ sisting of little more than a single wall with a Decorated window in it, exists of a cell of the nunnery of Godstow. d his relic was for many years a malt store, but, with an adjoining house of good Georgian style, has been rescued and worked into a very charming private residence by Mr. Redfern. Across a narrow street are the massive tower and the many gables of St. Helen’s church. On the south a wide quay is flanked by a range of almshouses and the two side-entrances to the churchyard. The spire is very familiar to passengers by river to or from Oxford, and figures in many landscapes from the days of Turner down. In addition to these monastic relics of the Gothic style, there are the two churches, both of which present features of interest. St. Nicholas stands on the east side of the market place, and must have closely abutted on the abbey church, like St. Gregory by St. Paul’s or St. Margaret beside the Westminster. It is said to have been built by Nicholas of Culham ; but that Prior, who 8 A bmgd 072 . \ I3TH CENTURY CHIMNEY, ABBEY BUILDINGS. Photo : W. J. Vasey. was afterwards Abbot, died in 1307, and a consider¬ able portion of the church, especially the western doorway, is of the Norman period. A very “thorough restoration ” in 1881 destroyed the evidences on which an opinion could be based. In fact, the church as we now see it is of the Victorian period, even some relics of stained glass bearing the arms of Richard, Duke of York, the father of Ed¬ ward IV., having been removed and sold. A further falsification of the record occurs on the south side, where the parapet is adorned with a series of small shields with a text from the Psalms in Latin in Lombardic letters. There are, or were, some curious features of a domestic cha¬ racter on the west and north sides, including a gabled stair-turret, which seem to suggest either that a priest’s residence adjoined the church or that it was connected with some abbey buildings which have now disappeared. At the south¬ eastern corner it adjoins the fine Perpendicular gateway. The narrow street just outside the abbey gateway is very picturesque. On the north side is the church ; on the east side is the ancient arch, with a hall, now occupied by the munici¬ pality, above. On the south is a further range of Perpendicular windows and doorways, now the Mayor’s court and magistrates’ room. These occupy the ground floor, a municipal hall of very good but simple Palladian design forming the first floor. The Gothic gate had originally a smaller archway on the north side only, but a second arch on the south side was among the alterations carried out during one of the “restorations.” The chamber above the gate is approached within from the Town Hall. It was within living memory used as a debtors’ prison, where the poor denizens were to be seen hanging their hats and bags for alms from its stone-mullioned windows. It is now in excellent repair, and well furnished for small gatherings and Masonic lodge meetings. Of the abbey buildings no other complete re¬ mains are to be seen. Two large modern houses, one on the north side of the street, called Abbey House, just within the gate, the other, called The Abbey, further on, approached by a bridge over a side stream, should be named, as well as a net¬ work of little tenements and lanes, among which, as already mentioned, fragments of old masonry may be identified. Among the houses is the chapel of a Calvinistic sect known from the name of its founder, John Tiptaft, who preached here seventy or eighty years ago. PYom St. Nicholas to St. Helen’s the distance is considerable. St. Nicholas, as we have seen, is outside the western gate of the abbey, but we find traces of monastic buildings close to St. Helen’s also. The Lord Abbot, no doubt, enjoyed the long garden with its ancient quav on the bank 9 A bivgdon . o o ST. HELEN’S WHARF, WITH A VIEW OF ST. HELEN S SPIRE AND CHRIST’S HOSPITAL BUILDINGS, ABINGDON. THE HOUSE AT THE EXTREME RIGHT OK THE VIEW IS HELENSTOWE. I o A In npdon. o Photo : W. J. Vasey. ST. HELEN’S CHURCH, SHOWING THE FIVE AISLES. of the Thames. A number of good houses of the early Georgian period now stand on the south side of East St. Helen's Street, and have gardens which reach to the Abbot’s Quay. Some of them are mentioned further on. St. Helen’s Church consists, strictly speaking) of a chancel and nave with two aisles, each flanked by a long chapel. Within, all these separate parts are thrown into the seated area of the church, which is thus described as having five aisles. It has not, however, suffered so much in recent years as St. Nicholas, the greatly larger area rendering a complete gutting and re-building too expensive. The chapels are now called — that on the south, Holy Cross aisle, and that on the north, Jesus aisle. The Lady Chapel occupies the north aisle proper, and the corresponding south aisle is dedicated to St. Katharine. A fine tomb near the north porch commemorates John Roysse, whom we meet again as the founder of the Grammar School. He died in 1571. The carving of his arms — “ Gules, a griffin, segreant, argent ” — has been well imitated in the decora¬ tions of the new Grammar School in the Albert Park. The tomb has been somewhat altered and pulled about, and the old “ shewbread ” for distribution is no longer laid on it. There are many other monuments of the sixteenth century, when, as John Leland wrote in 1540, the town “ stondeth by clothing,” as indeed it does still. The hour-glass for the pulpit — on which, in 1591, the churchwardens spent fourpence — has disap¬ peared. There are two monumental brasses, one of 1417, one of 1501. The view of the liighly- irregular five gables from the churchyard, round which the three almshouses are built, will be admired. The almshouses on the west side of the church¬ yard are the oldest, having been built about 1553. They look best from the garden outside, where a good bow window and small cupola, or bell turret, group very happily with the spire of the church rising beyond. The long cloister porch of dark oak admits the visitor to a hall which serves as a chapel. In it are hung the portraits of several benefactors, and especially of the founders of the allied charities, the building and maintenance of the bridges over the Thames and the Ock, and the endowment of the Grammar School. The building of the bridge in the fifteenth century increased the prosperity of the town, and the names of several wealthy burghers are A bingdon. i i CHRIST’S HOSPITAL. CHRIST’S HOSPITAL. A bingdon. i 2 connected with it. Burford, “ the borough ford,” as'the name denotes, was the only way across pre¬ viously, and no doubt was very often dangerous, especially when the Thames was high. With the oldest of the almshouses in the churchyard, and with one of the chapels in St. Helen’s Church, is connected the history of a Guild of the Holy increased. In 1797 the additional almshouse on the south side of the graveyard was built as funds permitted, in a quaint style, not unpicturesque. In 1707, a further benefaction by Charles Twitty, an Auditor of the Exchequer, supplemented by other gifts duly recorded on tablets on the front, led to the erection of the pretty little building on Photo : W. J. Vasey. TWITTY’S ALMSHOUSES. Cross, to whom the care and repair of the bridge was entrusted. When guilds were abolished by Act of Parliament in the reign of Edward VI., the lands which belonged to this fraternity were granted for the same uses to trustees, the most prominent being Sir John Mason, Chancellor of Oxford, a native of the town. The estates have increased in value, and under a recent scheme the number of the inmates has been largely the north side. It has a grandiose pediment and a small lantern and vane above, and forms a pleasing object with its flower beds at the entrance of the churchyard from St. Helen’s Street. Nearly as old is Tomkins’s Almshouse in Ock Street. The entrance gateposts admit us to two rows of small houses on either side of a narrow garden, and a curious clock tower and lantern at the northern end. It is of brick, in a very simple 13 A bin o don. o TOMKINS’S ALMSHOUSE, OCIC STREET. FOUNTAIN IN WALL OF HOUSE, QCK STREET, DATE 1 719. 14 A billed on. o but effective style. The tower bears an inscrip¬ tion : — These Alms Houses were built in the year 1733 by the order of Mr. Benjamin Tomkins the Elder of this town and according to the form prescribed by him to his Sons Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Joseph Tomkins who were executors to his last Will and Testament by which he gave Sixteen hundred Pounds to endow the same for four Poor Men and four Poor W omen for Ever. Close to these almshouses in Ock Street is a curious brick well or fountain, now sadly neglected and dirty. It was connected with a conduit which still exists on the hill above, being included within the boundaries of the Albert Park. The fountain is only about five feet high, but the proportions would suit a much larger building. It is inscribed “ Mr. R. Ely, 1719/’ and so is older than the almshouses and than any of the Tomkins buildings. In the admirable account of Abingdon in Kelly’s Directory for Berkshire, we are told that it was erected by Richard Eley in 1673, a date which might connect it with the designer of the Market House ; but, apart from the spelling of the name, no inscription to this effect can now be seen on the fountain, and I am forced to suspect an unusually accurate writer of napping on this occasion. Next in strict chronological order, therefore, should come the famous Market House. A smaller market building stood on the site, faced bv the “ Holv Cross,” of which the Chronicle of Abingdon ( Rolls Series) has so much to say, and which was built by the same fraternity as the bridge already mentioned. The cross was destroyed by General Waller in 1644. When Abingdon be¬ came an assize town, the burgesses determined to build a suitable county hall. The old Market House was accordingly taken down, and the present Market House was specially built to accommodate the courts. The old house may have been like that of Wallingford, a little further down the Thames, or that of Uxbridge in Middle¬ sex, or that of Peterborough. The new Market House is the great architectural glory of Abingdon, and will strike the visitor who comes upon it suddenly, whether from the wretched shed which does duty as a railway station in Stert Street, or up Bridge Street from the Thames, with a feeling of admiration in the double sense of that word — surprise and pleasure. It stands free from its surroundings, and is built of what appears to be ashlar in good-sized blocks. The outline is symmetrical, the east and west ends consisting of two bays, the north and south of four. Each bay has an arch, but the pilasters seen on the exterior rise through the upper storey to the roof. The order is Composite and boldly carved. At the western end, between the arches, is a small bracket with acanthus to suit the style, the only piece of pure ornament. At the back — that is, the northern side — is a square tower of three storeys rising to the level of the top of the roof, with its dormers, of the main building. The windows of the staircase in the tower have the cross mullions common under the Stuarts. The roof of the tower is flat with a plain parapet, relieved by three urns on each face. The sloping leaden roof of the main building has a balustraded platform in the centre from which the domed lantern rises, the windows of which are round- headed or triangular on alternate faces. This cupola, on which is an elaborate vane, is of wood roofed with lead. The roof of the tower, the open storey, is interesting, being made of oak rafters, flat, but supported by a series of arched beams, from the middle one of which a lamp is suspended by wrought ironwork. The houses press very closely on the north and north-east side, and Mr. Vasey, the photographer, had some difficulty in bringing the tower into focus. The rafters and beams of the roof were also taken at an awkward angle, but Mr. Redfern’s plan will have made all plain. The fine chamber designed for an assize court has been used of late for an art school, being admirably lighted. Visitors should not neglect to see the view from the roof, which is easy of access by the staircase of shallow steps arranged in sets of five. The local tradition which assigns this beautiful building to Inigo jones is obviously mistaken. Inigo died in 1652. The old Market House was not pulled down until 16 77, quarter of a century later. Mr. Reginald Blomfield has suggested (“ Renaissance Architecture,” i. 130) that the de¬ signs were prepared by Webb, who succeeded to Inigo's business, and there are certain points of resemblance between it and Ashdown, in the same county, unquestionably by Webb. The same difficulty, however, occurs here again, though not to so great a degree, for Webb had been dead three years in 16 77. The Market House, too, was not commenced till 28th May, 1678, when the foundation stone was laid at the north-western corner. The modern inscription on the wall is therefore incorrect. Work went on till 1684, but the building had been opened for use a year before. A bingdon. i5 Photo : W. J . Vasey. THE MARKET HOUSE, ABINGDON. NOW ATTRIBUTED TO CHRISTOPHER KEMPSTER. SOMETIME A CLERK OF THE WORKS UNDER WREN AT ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL. By the kindness of Mr. Arthur Preston, of Whitefield, Abingdon, I am able to offer what I conceive to be a solution of the questions thus indicated. Mr. Preston’s late father rescued cer¬ tain documents which were treated as waste paper by the municipal authorities of a former genera¬ tion. Among them are the accounts for the building of the Market House, and I am enabled to write with them before me. The first item in the account is dated January 1st, 1677, that is, in our reckoning, 1678. The whole entry is as follows: — “To Christopher 1 6 A bingdon. GROUND AND FIRST FLOOR PLANS. By kind permission of Mr. H. Red fern THE MARKET HOUSE. A bingdon A VOL. XIII.-— B THE BACK OF THE MARKET HOUSE, FROM EAST S. HELEN STREET. THE FLOOR OF THE MARKET HOUSE. 1 8 A bingdon. -- — : ugl || \ _ llg . _ . __ . - ------ wi t j 41 ii THE TOWN HALL AND MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. WINDOW IN HALL OF MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. !9 A bingdon. Kempster in part for monies due to him for build¬ ing the Sessions House . . . £30.” Else¬ where Kempster, who usually has “ Mr. ” before his name, is described as “ the undertaker.” In all, the payments made to him amount to £1,543, the last being on January 14th, 1682 (1683), when he received “ in full for all his work done at the Market House,” £345 10s. Kempster was almost certainly the same man who was one of Wren’s clerks at St. Paul’s, and lies buried at Burford, in Oxfordshire. That he designed the Market House seems very probable, and that he was not a com¬ mon workman, but a person of consideration, may be deduced from another item in the accounts : — “ April 14th, 1681. Spent at different times with Mr. Kempster when the account was made with him, 7s.” If, then, he did not actually make the design, he must have obtained it from a master, and that master was more probably Wren than either Inigo Jones or Webb. At all events, the enquiry has been advanced a stage, and we know, at least, who built the Market House. It is interesting to note the second entry in the account is for boards supplied by one John Webb, and that the iron work, which is very good, was wrought by Thomas Tomkins, one of a family elsewhere mentioned. The total cost was £2,840. The Town Hall has been mentioned already as being in part built on the old monastic gateway and other outlying adjuncts of St. Mary’s Abbey. Had these newer features been in such a style as the Hotel, which occupies since 1864 the site of the old New Inn, or in such a style as that of the Corn Exchange, the result would have been dis¬ tressing. Even if, when adding to the old Gothic buildings, some attempt had been made at using what is often with futility called a harmonious design, we might have had the old work disguised or falsified. But the unsophisticated burghers of the time of King George II. built their Town Hall and the adjoining Council Chamber in what they looked upon as the best and only reasonable style of the day. The designer of the wonderful Market House was no longer to be had ; but that, apart from the Town Hall, there was a good architec¬ tural school in Abingdon is evident from an in¬ spection of some of the beautiful dated fronts to which I hope to advert a little further on. A leaden spout on the Town Hall is dated 1733, and a certificate of insurance framed on the wall, with many other interesting documents, is dated 1736. The Council Chamber is reached from the Gothic ground floor — part, it is believed, of a hospital dedicated to St. John — by a handsome balustraded oak staircase. Some interesting portraits are in the largest room and a few pictures. The balcony which formerly faced the street has disappeared. In the small Council Chamber are many objects worth examining, the first and best being the very fine Venetian window, with its dark oak Ionic columns. A remarkable collection of views of old Abingdon and its vicinity is hung on the walls, and both here and in the lobby are original documents relating to the history of the town. Some of them tell us of the systematic attack made upon the liberties which had been first granted to the town by Mary Tudor, when James II. and Chan¬ cellor Jeffreys seized the charter and removed James Cordery, the Mayor. The framed “ Orders in Council ” relating to this event are dated 27 November, 1687. In a strong room is pre¬ served the collection of gold and silver plate which Messrs. Jewitt and St. John Hope describe as “ one of the largest assemblages belonging to any provincial town.” The mace dates from 1660, having been made from an older one of the Commonwealth period. A small silver mace, or truncheon, one of three of various dates, bears the arms of Edward VI. The whole collection is full of interest, but hardly concerns us here. The school was founded by John Roysse in 1563, and is well worthy of a visit. The entrance adjoins that to the Town Hall, and is of a most composite character, but how much in the design is original, how much due to an eighteenth cen¬ tury attempt to imitate Gothic, and how much to a recent “ restoration,” I cannot undertake to say. The visitor finds himself in an extensive courtyard, the municipal buildings partly Gothic, partly Italian, being on his left, A little further south an inscription over a low doorway catches the eye, Ingredere ut proficias. The interior is panelled, and has a gallery of seventeenth century character. The headmaster's seat is of dark oak. The pre¬ sent occupation of the building by the Volunteers has not injured it, and we may compare it with the very interesting schoolroom of the same period and character, still in use, at Bradford-on- Avon in Wiltshire. The school has been removed to a handsome and commodious new building looking on the park at the north end of the town, where a new quarter has sprung up of late years. The school is connected with Pembroke College, Oxford, and has been very successful. It is inte¬ resting to note the name of Dr. Lempriere among the masters. An edition of the “ Classical Dic¬ tionary” was issued in 1804 while he was here. Abingdon abounds in examples of domestic architecture of the style sometimes if incorrectly denominated “ Queen Anne.” The Americans call it “ Colonial,” but of late it has been more exactly described as “ Georgian ” — a name which, in all the cases illustrated in this paper, fits them very well. Of these the best examples are in East St. Helen’s Street. The houses on the south side of this street look on the old quay already men- b 2 20 A hingdon. tioned and the Thames. Some of them have pretty old-fashioned gardens, each with its sum¬ mer house, looking over the river. Beginning with the Old Bell Inn, close to the market place, we note the tradition which connects it with the holding of a Parliament during the Civil War, a tradition which probably originated in a visit of Charles I. and the sitting of a Council of War in 1644. We next come to No. 20, Twickenham House, a tvpical example of the style, but un¬ dated. Behind handsome gateposts are the stable and coach-house, over which are various modern apartments such as a billiard room, all retaining the cross-mullioned windows which we see in the oldest part of Kensington Palace, where they probably date from the reign of Charles II. They cannot be much later here. The western part of the house is considerably later, but in a very good style. The hall door is of wood. Some mantel¬ piece ornamentation in one of the rooms is par¬ ticularly pleasing, and seems to have been executed in stucco. Altogether Twickenham House forms a very satisfactory commencement of a street filled with good examples. No. 30 is another, and there are several more, all on the same side, ending with He'enstowe, already mentioned as incorporating a Gothic fragment. Over the do Dr is — 17. IT. 48 I. T. probably denotes Joseph Tomkins, one of a family also commemorated by a fine house now divided in Ock Street, by the almshouse already mentioned, and by a very good house in Bath Street, No. 36, which bears two tablets, cut in the brickwork : — T. A small house with a very good front is in East St. Helen’s Street, on the northern side, No. 57. It has an inscription : — R R E 1732. h ; j ; Hi HI IjJ §4 mm Mm* M, ii TWICKENHAM HOUSE, 20, EAST S. HELEN STREET. Photo : W. J. Vasey. A bingdon . 2 I DOORWAY OF TWICKENHAM HOUSE. 36, BATH STREET, DATED 1 722, 9 9 A bingdon. The first two, in which the Tomkins initials appear, form a group with a large house in Ock Street, and the Dissenters’ Almshouse, already mentioned, and all may be ascribed to the same designer. The house which bears the initials of R. R. is more ornate and elaborate, but on the whole scarcely as satisfactory, depending as it does, like too many of the modern houses of the town, on ornament for its effect. An immoderate conclusion that an architect, or possibly a school of architecture, existed in Berkshire at this period, before the first half of the eighteenth century had elapsed. In 1725 Wood was showing his powers at Bath. Burlington and his friends were at work both in London and in York. House-building as a fine art prevailed all over England, the impetus given by Inigo Jones before the Civil War having been revived by Wren and his contemporaries. It 57, EAST S. HELEN STREET. DATED 1 732. Photo : W.J. Vasey. use of gables, which came in and went out before the building of the Market House, is a tendency to be deprecated, but among the best or most picturesque examples a little house fast going to decay, in Bridge Street, with an elaborately carved barge-board, probably of the sixteenth century, will be noted with pleasure, as will some simpler specimens of nearly the same age in Stert Street and in West St. Helen’s Street. A comparison of these and many other ex¬ amples, almost if not quite as good, leads to the has been but little appreciated till during the past quarter of a century, but its characteristics, which seem incompatible with any but solid well-pro¬ portioned building in sound materials, stone, brick, or timber, and which seem to perish when applied to deceptive stucco or cast terra cotta, are capable of development and honest application at the present day. When studied with apprecia¬ tion and intelligence they are more likely to lead us to fine works in the future than any attempt, with our present building appliances, to imitate 23 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. the triumphs of the middle ages. It seems to me, if we must imitate, which I am not prepared to allow unreservedly, it is better to imitate such satisfactory designs as those of the seventeenth century Market House or the eighteenth century Town Hall, than the comparatively gloomy thirteenth or fourteenth century structures of the Abbey. W. j. Loftie. Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture in England. CHAPTER IV,— FIRST GOTHIC SCULP¬ TURE, 1160-1275. In our introduction we made some re¬ marks on the genius of Gothic figure-sculpture, and tried to show how exhibiting itself in the medium, of Gothic building, it found its capacities and its limitations in stone. It may be well at this point to refer to some other aspects of this question, which we have to recognise in our consideration of the subject. It is clear that the phases of Gothic building, as style succeeded style, were produced by a course of masonic evolution, which owed little to acci¬ dents of individual invention or designing imagi¬ nation. In exactly the same way mediaeval figure- sculpture went on its course under no distinct leadership, advancing with the advance in artistic skill of a whole nation, and not owing its improve¬ ments to the talent of any individual sculptor. We are quite unable to label the periods of medi¬ aeval art by the names of any great masters such as Pheidias in Greek or Donatello in Renaissance sculpture. More distinctly than with the arts of other periods the wholesale craft of the Middle Ages seems to have merged in one art the per¬ sonal distinctions of the artist. Still, in statue-making, where delicate distinc¬ tions of character or idea were expressed, the personal talent of the sculptor had its individual importance in the Gothic centuries as in others. Though we make full allowance for the impersonal nature of mediaeval church building, recognising it as the combined work of a great body of crafts¬ men, witness the contemporary representations of masons at work — for example, in the famous window at Chartres where vault-rib and statue are depicted as being shaped in the same workshop - — yet the personal touch of each individual sculptor must have had its own value. And so, as time went on, certain individuals were bound to be noticed as excelling in the making of statues ; such men would become more and more specialized, till from being mere proficients in a certain branch of stone-carving, they would sepa¬ rate themselves from those who were only stone- shapers, and become definitely “ imagers.” Thus by the end of the thirteenth century we find such mason-imagers mentioned in the accounts of the building of the Eleanor Crosses.42 Yet it is clear, from the way in which these sculptors are men¬ tioned, that their status was very different from that of the modern artist. The men who made the statues, the fragmentary remains of which excite our admiration, had no distinct position in their art as have the Royal Academicians of to-day, nor were they gentleman-artists of the Italian Cinquecento, welcomed at the court of prince and prelate alike. The mediaeval sculptor ranked as a stone-mason, and with men whose skill we should now class as that of artizans. It was the mason who was honoured : the statuary of the thirteenth century had his status as “ ccementarius,” the craftsman of stone-building. So we find that while masons or master-masons are recorded in mediaeval documents with consider¬ able frequency, sculptor is rarely mentioned, and then in such connection that his work might just as well have been stone-dressing as statue-carving.41 In England no mediaeval statue has been found signed by the artist, nor do records allude to him with any distinctness. Almost as a solitary indi¬ cation that it was possible in Gothic times to appreciate the artist in sculpture, is the reference of Matthew Paris to a M ariola pulchra by William of Colchester, whom he elsewhere calls picior et sculptor incomp arabilis. The sculptors of the most distinct masterpieces — such as the Wells statues, the Lincoln angels, the chapter-house figures at Westminster — are unknown to us. In some in¬ stances we can deduce from entries in accounts (as in the case of the Eleanor monuments) that masons employed, like Master William of Ire¬ land,42 or Alexander of Abingdon,43 or goldsmiths like Torel,44 the maker of the effigies of Eleanor and Henry III. at Westminster, were figure- artists, for the reason that they were paid for imagines. We shall mention in due course in our pages any such identifications as would avail us 41 See Gervase's well-known account of the rebuilding of Canterbury Quire in 1175, in which “ sculptores ” are stone- dressers. 42 In the accounts so much paid “ Magistro Willielmo de Hibernia cimentario,” also “Willielmo de Hibernia imagina- tori.” 4:1 Called in the accounts “ operarius,” for the making of Wal¬ tham Cross, as well as “ imaginator.” 44 In the accounts so much paid “ Magistro Will. Torel auri fabro.” 24 English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture. for a history of Sculptors, but they are really few and of small significance. An account of sculp¬ ture in mediaeval times can make nothing of the personal element. Our sources for the Gothic history differ very markedly from what are at hand for either the Greek or Renaissance arts, in which the individual achievement was distinctly recognised, and the genius and circumstances of certain celebrated artists constitute of themselves the divisions of the subject. In Gothic sculpture, while we acknowledge that the art of the statue must in each case have been personal, we must perforce treat the Gothic works in the aggregate, grouping them under the headings of style, like mouldings or arch-shapes. Dealing then with figure-sculpture as part and parcel of the church fabric, we might adopt the conventional headings of book-Gothic and label its divisions “ Transitional,” “ Early English,” “ Geometrical,” “ Decorated,” and “ Perpendicular.” Such a classification would, however, suggest that some particular impetus or origin of figure-technique lay in each of these architectural phases, and this can hardly be justified. Specific differences of corresponding value to those readily generalised for the mould¬ ings and arch-shapes fail us in the domain of the figure. We shall be safer with a simpler classification, and will divide our sculpture as “ First,” or “ Early Gothic ” ; “ Second,” or “ Mid-Gothic ” ; and “ Third,” or “ Late Gothic,” with the implication that the boundaries in these divisions are indistinct, and the changes from period to period those of growth, not kind. Still, in a wide sense we may (as our intro¬ duction has suggested) ally our classification of figure-sculpture to that of the architectural styles. For example, we can associate the First Gothic Sculpture with the sculpturesque dignity of first Gothic building, in which the massive Romanesque refined itself to the Gothic structural grace ; a corresponding progress can be traced in the efforts of the sculptor to realise the gracious facts of human beauty. Then, this skill attained, Mid- Gothic sculpture — just as its architecture — turned to variety of expression, and while enriching the simplicities of stone sculpture with the varied expressions of different materials, lost its purely architectonic intention in a romantic fulness of detail. And then the last century of Gothic sculpture, like the last of Gothic architecture, was one rather of hackneyed production by established guilds or schools of art. We find its work at one time the dignified accomplishments of an honoured and well-paid craftsmanship, at another the cheap wares of a commercial industry. The succeeding four chapters will deal with the First or Early Gothic figure-sculpture, which might be classified first by its occurrence in the fabric of Transitional Gothic style (1160 to 1200) ; then by examples which, along with the achievements of Early English building, grew in importance and freedom of style from 1200 till 1250; till from c. 1250 to 1275 (in connection with the Geometrical development of Early English art) the great works of English sculpture were produced, which in feeling and technique must be classed as the best, or, at any rate, the most characteristic of Gothic genius. But throughout there was no break or any marked step in the ever-increasing skill displayed by the architectural sculptor. To present our subject as divided into three at specified dates would be to make too much of them, and would disguise the distinctly continuous growth. A more effec¬ tive classification will be to treat the whole Early Gothic figure-sculpture in one division, with sec¬ tions for the separate architectural uses which gave a varying dignity and importance to it in the architectural scheme. Our first section therefore will present the head-stops, figure-corbels, figure- medallions, bosses, and other distinct architectural uses of figure-sculpture, which in first Gothic sculpture come in marked contrast to the pictorial scheme of Romanesque art. A second section will deal with the relief representations of the figure in spandrel and panel, which, starting in such Romanesque pictorial conventions as our last chapter illustrated, gradually acquired in the hands of the Gothic builder the statuesque motive of sculpture proper. A third section will illustrate the statue itself, the standing detached figure, which was the especial work of First Gothic Sculpture. And, finally, our concluding section will exhibit the recumbent statue or effigy, in the treatment of which sculpture, leaning from its first ideal, sought expressions of variety and in¬ dividuality which were the heralds of a change of feeling. But it must be understood that such divisions do not mean separate schools or different stages of attainment in figure-style, any more than they do periods in the art. All these classes of sculp¬ ture came at the same time from the hands of men engaged in the same craft. It will be seen from our illustrations in this and the following sections that the head-stop of the label has a merit and style identical with what we see in the relief-carving, and that statue, effigy, and spandrel-figure reveal just the same artistic hand¬ ling. The distinctness of this simultaneous merit in every department is no doubt symptomatic of First Gothic art, when' the stone carver, after- matching himself against the traditional handi¬ craft of the Romanesque goldsmith, went away ahead of him in the exercise of his stone-craft, English Mediaeval Figure-S culpture. 25 and established the style of Gothic sculpture. So much seems clear : and that then this stone- style affected the imager is probable. That the latter began to take lessons from the stone-carver maybe reasonably conjectured, though the almost complete destruction of English image-work, whether in metal, ivory, or wood, leaves us with only indirect evidence for the fact. Still we think it may be seen that by 1290 the gold¬ smith’s image by Master Torel at Westminster is ideal, but no longer of the Byzantine ideal of the earlier art. There has been a new inspiration founded on the stone technique of the effigy- carver. And in France, where both the architec¬ tural figures and wood and ivory images have come down to us in a fairly continuous sequence, we can, in fact, trace three stages in the art of the latter. We can see that the ivories lagged for some time behind the Gothic expression of the stone statues, retaining for long Romanesque conventions, and only towards the middle of the thirteenth century adopted the superior motives of the architectural figure. Not till the fourteenth century did there develop again the imagers’ technique which went away from the motives of stone sculpture. It is probable that the same, course of events took place also in England, and that it was in the fourteenth century that the Gothic craft of image-making began again to have its own patterns and motives of style apart from the architectural carving of the building. First Gothic figure-sculpture, therefore, is note¬ worthy for the fact that it was a simple, straight¬ forward art, grown up in the stone-carving of a building. It owes to this its excellences, its directness, and adaptability to position and material. Thus it can be distinguished on the one hand from its Romanesque predecessor, whose technique began in copying the effects of the shrine-modeller and goldsmith, and, secondly, from the Mid-Gothic art, in which variety of materials in stone-carving produced effects which went away from the first ideal — wood, metal, and alabaster each creating their respective techniques, so that the motives of the church-furnisher parted company with those of the church-builder. We are treating our subject, then, for convenience under separate headings : but in expression of art, label-head and relief, image and effigy will be taken as all one and produced by one common inspiration. SECTION (A).— LABEL-HEADS, CORBEL FIGURE-SCULPTURE, AND OTHER SMALL ARCHITECTURAL USES OF THE FIGURE. It has been already pointed out that when Romanesque architecture passed into Gothic, figure-sculpture was used in a new way. Old schemes of decoration were discarded and new evolved. And this re-arrangement of function will be seen to be not one of mere caprice, but to have its meaning in the very nature of the new Gothic style. Our illustrations have shown how in the Norman building pillar, capital, and arch¬ mould were on occasion thickly charged with figure-motives. But the capital which (see Figs. 29, 30, 31, 32, in Chap. II.) had been frequently made the vehicle for subject •• representations, keeps this function no longer in Early English art. Only in a subordinate way — as a quip or byplay in the leaf-sculpture — does some head or little figure (usually more or less of a grotesque) appear in the design of the Gothic capital.45 So, too, figure-compounded shafts such as we illus¬ trated from Kilpeek (Figs. 35, 37, Chap. II.) are unknown in Gothic style in England, and though less decisively, there is a similar rejection of the figure-subject from the arch - mould. In the elaboration of its great doorways, the later Nor¬ man art had made each voussoir a beak-head or human mask or some figure-subject set in a medal¬ lion (Figs. 36, 48, 62, Chaps. II. and III.). The continuity of the arch-stones was little regarded : but in Early English art the structural emphasis of the arch-line was insisted on with manifold lines of mouldings, and we seldom find this effect inter¬ rupted. In the richer doorways, where we have the traditions of Romanesque decoration con¬ tinued, and figure-subjects are ranged all round the arches, they are usually intertwined in a leafage which distinctly maintains the masonic cohesion of the arch (see Figs. 78, 79). Now we must recognise in all this no mere shifting of a designer’s fancy, any more than any impotence or lack of feeling as to figure-use in decoration. It was rather that Gothic art, having found its theme in the vertebrate expression of stone building, refused to admit any discordant phrase. A figure-subject makes a distinct de¬ mand upon the attention, and so becomes a stop or focus of interest ; but Gothic implied a con¬ nective sculpture in pier, capital, and arch. No subject-sculpture could be allowed to break the supple rhythm of its building lines, because in the anatomy of stone-building itself lay the vehicle for sculpturesque expression. For this reason there appears in the Transi¬ tional style of our Gothic a certain deliberate rejection of the figure-motives of the Romanes¬ que ; a certain poverty compared with the rich abundance of the later Norman sculpture; and a 45 The Font followed the capital : though often largely deco¬ rated with figure-subjects in Romanesque art (see Figs. 28, 49, and 53 in Chaps. II., III.), it is plain in Early English, and only after 1350 becomes charged again with figures. 26 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. scantiness in figure-work which is marked too beside Continental usage. And this continues till almost the middle of Henry III.’s reign. Our first Gothic Cathedrals, e.g., the early quires and chapels of Canterbury, Chichester, Win¬ chester, and Lincoln, as well as the whole range of the north-country Early English buildings both secular and monastic — e.g., Fountains, Ripon, Beverley, Whitby, Rievaulx — if they have a beauty of architecture, whose quality can be best described as sculpturesque, yet get this out of the nobility of the architectural masses, not by the additions of sculpture. Figure-sculpture it¬ self finds hardly a place in the scheme of their building. The capitals are largely plain, the shafts unornamented, the arches mostly enriched with moulding only : base, buttress, and pinnacle owe their effect to their shapely contour and un¬ adorned constructional lines : the storied area- dings of the stately fronts are contrived to admit no statues : the doorheads, that in Norman style were brimming over with figure-subjects, are now mostly or entirely given up to geometrical or con¬ structional piercings. And even in the cases in Early English art where stone-carving has been abundant and rich, as in the nave of Lincoln or the quire of Ely, first Gothic sculpture for some eighty years in England clearly busied itself mostly with foliage : with some few excep¬ tions figure-treatment was absent. It is accepted indeed that the Cistercians as reformers objected to the sumptuous use of sculp¬ ture which appeared in the later Benedictine schools of decoration. Now it was in the magnificent building of the Cistercians and of the Regular (reformed) Canons that the early Gothic style of England was largely conceived : their churches set the fashion of masonry in which our first Gothic was most often built. In the north of England, there was much of this early archi¬ tecture of the reformed monastic societies, and Cistercian and Augustinian churches were built, as it were, in protest against Benedictine luxury. Here the sculpture, if used at all, was merely em¬ ployed to emphasise constructional lines or points, and, in the true Gothic spirit, the ornament con¬ sisted in the modelling of arch, column, and win¬ dow themselves, and not in any sculptured fretwork applied to them. Thus, in the north of England, we find scarcely a trace of figure-sculpture proper till we reach the mid-thirteenth century. In the West, however, and in the Midlands of England there is certainly a difference in this matter : figure-sculpture was less rigorously ex¬ cluded, though here too we can trace connec¬ tions between our first Gothic and the Augus¬ tinian and Cistercian buildings of Wales and the Welsh marches. Perhaps in this district there was a counter-influence to Cistercian au¬ sterity in the arts of the Cluniacs settled at Much Weidock, as suggested in the last chapter. At any rate in the birth of western Gothic not a little figure-sculpture of capitals and arch-moulds appears at Glastonbury and Wells, and the me¬ dallion motives, which Romanesque art had created at Iffley and Malmesbury are continued without break into the full Gothic style. If in the treatment of Wells ( c . 1175) there is not that exuberance with which the Norman carver strewed his figure-work (compare for example the North Porch of Wells with the South Porch of Malmes¬ bury),46 still in corbel, label-head, on boss and capital, new occasions for the sculptor’s render¬ ing of human beauty and living form are multiplied. And it is to be noted that this is all now in accord with the principles of Gothic expression. Corbels are by their functions excrescences and the fresh starting points of construction. While it may be said that pier, capital, and arch are as connected chapters, the corbel comes like the head-line of a news paragraph. Accordingly the attention, which figure-sculpture attracts, gives the fitting emphasis to the corbel. So, too, the label-stop as the finish of the drip-mould ; the boss as the centre of the vault ; the pinnacles, and stops of the gable copings, and finally the gar¬ goyles or projecting spouts of the parapets, all may have the expression of their constructive functions helped by the interest that crystallises round figure-representation. It was the appre¬ hension by the Gothic artist of these proper opportunities for his skill with the chisel which separates him essentially from the antecedent Romanesque carver. The latter had continued with increasing dexterity the pictorial representa¬ tions of classic tradition, but was without appre¬ ciation of the scope of sculpture or of its meaning in architecture. But immediately that stone building threw off the traditional methods of Roman concrete, and the heat and fervour of experiments in stone structure evolved distinct Gothic forms of construction — which leant no longer on the wisdom of the ancients, but stood erect in their own right of science — then at once the Gothic sculptor showed himself as an artist with power of human feeling and a skill for its delinea¬ tion in stone, such as had lain dormant in the human race for nearly a thousand years. So the expression of the human face became his instrument, upon which he was to play in many keys. The number of heads carved as 4C At Wells the relief panels on the porch-front and the martyr¬ dom of St. Edmond (see Fig. 82a) on the capitals are more foliage than figure. Inside there are label-heads and dragon-stops, but no great figure-subjects, as at Malmesbury, sit at the side of the porch, nor is there any tympanum sculpture of doorhead. English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture. 27 corbels and string stops in a mid-thirteenth-cen¬ tury church was almost endless. Destructions, determined and continuous, have been effacing them for six hundred years, but they still remain to us by the thousand, and the fine quality, vivacity, and variety of their treatment are aston¬ ishing. In neiriy all instances 47 they are formed of the same stone as the architectural mouldings in connection with them. Usually they must have been fixed in position along with the ashlar of the wall, and it is likely they were worked in the banker-shed along with the wall-stones, for thirteenth-century miniatures in manuscripts 48 show the carved work being dressed before fixing, and side by side with the facing stones. It is, of course, possible that in some cases the carving was from the scaffold, the block being built in rough, as is so usually done in the case of modern carving. But that they were left so intentionally for any time, and then carved as money came to pay the sculptor (our modern habit) is a theory which no evidence has yet been produced to justify. Indeed, we find very often in a series of heads here and there capricious substitu¬ tions of foliage, whose date is manifestly that of the walling around ; so that we must conclude that the whole was sculptured simultaneously, for there would seem to be no reason for carving some blocks with foliage and leaving others to be worked later. In certain cases head-stops (as in Salisbury Chapter-house) appear not to be built into the masonry, but to be face-blocks fastened in by a dowel behind, and in such cases after¬ carving was plainly possible. Still there can be little doubt that in most of the head-carvings of corbels and label-stops we have works contem¬ porary with the architecture in which they occur. 47 The Purbeck heads to be presently mentioned, and one or two of fine stone (either Bath or Caen) let into Douiting labels on the inside of the West front of Wells are the exceptions known to us. 48 For example see British Museum M.S. Cott. Nero. D.i. FIG. 63. — BRIDLINGTON. Head in Cloister. FIG. 64. — LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL. Vault-corbel in north transept. Thus they make a continuous record of head- sculpture which takes us from the earliest Gothic carving to the latest. This head-sculpture appears at first to be some¬ what more advanced than the contemporary re¬ presentation of the figure. The Norman masks, such as those of the corbel-table (see Fig. 33, Chap. II.), cease after 1150 to be merely horrible, and in some instances, especially in doorways (see Fig. 48, Chap. III.), attain no little shapeliness. Thus, in the Ely cloister, side by side with the bull’s-eyed blocks on the Monks’ and Prior’s door¬ ways (see Fig. 54, Chap. III.) a head set in the label of another doorway which by its ornament seems contemporary, is of effective and pleasant modelling. Heads of a somewhat similar kind may be seen in similar position in the nave arcades of Wimborne Minster and elsewhere, our illustra¬ tion (Fig. 63) showing one from the beautiful Romanesque cloister of the Bridlington Angus tinians, which has the character of those of the Lincoln reliefs (see Figs. 44 and 46, Chap. III.). The date of all these may be about 1150. By 1175, in the works of Transitional Gothic, examples of growing skill become frequent, as can be seen in the Ely west front.43 Heads at Oak¬ ham Hall, Rutland; a vault-corbel in the south transept of Hedon Church, Yorkshire ; two in the north transept of St. Cross, Winchester ; and two in the north transept 50 of Lichfield Cathedral (Fig. 64) are Gothic works which show the hard, vigorous execution of a new school of sculpture. Earlier in date and more elementary in modelling are the specimens in the south quire- aisle of St. Frideswide’s (the Cathedral), Oxford, and in the north porch of Wells Cathedral. As has been already said, it was this western 49 In the Temple Church, London, the heads of the 1180 wall- arcade have been completely renewed or touched up, in a resto¬ ration (c. 1840) whose appreciation of Mediaeval art was that which gave us the “ Ingoldsby Legends.” 50 Only on the east side in the north bay are they of the first Gothic quire-work ; the rest have been restored. 28 English Mediaval Figure-Sculpture. A A. G. B A. G. (A) Vault-corbel, south transept. (B) Label-head, nave (east bay). FIG. 65. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. (C) Capital, north transept. cathedral which began at once to develop Gothic figure-sculpture in various directions. The figure- capitals of Wells will be dealt with presently : here we show heads ; some from capitals, but chiefly a series of corbel and label-heads from the triforium arcades, which have that variety of type which is symptomatic of a period when the hand of the artist was experimenting with ideas, and hardly yet able to express them. The earliest heads here are those of the transepts and eastern bays of the nave ; they are stiffly set upon stunted shoulders, and may be taken as carved before 1200. In expression our illustrations (Fig. 65) may be compared with the Daniel head .at Lincoln (Fig. 41, Chap. III.). But the types are various : we have in one the blunt scowl of ascetic severity (Fig. 65 a) ; in another the archaic grin, which is so singularly like that of early Greek art (Fig. 65 b) ; in a third a maenadic expression of ecstasy (Fig. 65 c), which occurs again and again in connection with the peculiar snaky foliages of the capitals at Llandaff (Fig. 66 a) as here in Wells Cathedral, and in the church of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury. There are proofs, therefore, in sculpture, as in architectural treatment, of a dis- Head in Capital of Nave. tinct western local school of art, working in its own stone and developing Gothic on its own lines,51 at Llandaff, Shrewsbury, and Lichfield, in A. G. FIG. 66. — (B) WELLS CATHEDRAL. Label-head in west bays of nave, north side. the sandstone; at Wells and Glastonbury in the local Doulting stone. The west bays of the Wells nave, which are clearly later in date than those to the east, have label-stops and corbels with a larger type of head¬ carving, and of a smoother style (Fig. 66 b). Contemporary with these bays would come the beginning of the new cathedral at Salisbury, whose foundation stone was laid in 1220. We see there a succession of head-sculptures in white Tisbury stone begun probably about 1225, carried on through the whole building of the cathedral, and advancing step by step to the 1260 master¬ pieces of the chapter-house and quire screen. The earliest of the series would be in the triforium arcades of the quire and its transept ; and next those in the main transept and eastern bays of the nave (Figs. 67 A, B, c). As in the heads just men¬ tioned at Wells, advances are to be seen here on the earlier archaic types of Gothic art. While still mannered and dry, there is a rounder treat- 51 See the author’s “ History of Gothic Art in England," pp. 156, 157. English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture. 29 A A. G. (A) Corbel-head, east bays of nave. B A. G. (B) Corbel-head in south-east transept. FIG. 6/. — SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. C A. G. (C) Corbel-heads in quire. A A.g. FIG. 69. Figs. 68 A FIG. 68. A.G. B FIG. 68. (A and B) — Corbel-heads in quire. Figs. 69 (A and B) — Label-heads in quire. BOXGROVE PRIORY CHURCH. B A. FIG. 6q. A A.G. ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. (A) Corbel-head in quire. B A.G. C A.G. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. (B) Corbel-head, east transept. (C) Corbel head, main transept. FIG. 70. — PURBECK SCULPTURF. English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture o o A - A. G. WELLS CATHEDRAL. Label-head west bays of nave. B A.G. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. Corbel-head west bays of nave. E A. G. SALISBURY CHAPTER. Label-head of wall arcade. C A. G. WESTMINSTER CHAPTER. D A. G. WESTMINSTER CHAPTER. Label-heads of wall arcade. SALISBURY CHAPTER. Label-head of wall arcade. I A. G. DURHAM QUIRE. Corbel-head. H A. G. SALISBURY QUIRE SCREEN. Label-head of arcade. G A. G. SALISBURY CHAPTER. Label-head of wall arcade. FIG. 71.— HEADS OF THE MIDDLE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture . ment of feature, and less harshness of expression. Almost contemporary must have been the strik¬ ing Caen-stone corbels of Boxgrove (Figs. 68, 69) near Chichester, which show perhaps a greater archaism (the features being simply worked out in planes and the hair stiffly rendered in tight curls) but in their breadth of feature and no¬ bility of expression we have an earnest of the best Gothic achievements of head-sculpture. In all the above the heads are of the stone of the walling : moreover we can trace in each instance, at Lichfield, at Wells, at Salisbury, and at Box- grove, a progress in technique from inexpert beginnings. This implies in each place a local development of craft. Yet at Salisbury and else¬ where there are heads which must be kept dis¬ tinct from these local free-stone carvings. We find head-corbels of Purbeck marble, which there is reason to suspect were carved at Corfe, in Dorset, and supplied ready worked to the churches. The vault-corbels (Fig. 70 a) of Rochester quire (C. 1220) and certain heads (Fig. 70 b, c) at Salis¬ bury (those which in the great transept and in the eastern transept come lowest in the walls, and would therefore be built in before the triforium labels) are fine examples of Purbeck art. Their execution suggests a strangely developed capacity in the Dorset quarryman,52 and that his craft- 52 Quarrerii is used in the accounts of the Eleanor Crosses, 1291, for the Corfe masons when they were supplying worked Purbeck marble in quantities. A. G. FIG. 72. — LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. Label-head in "Angel Choir.” 31 skill gave an impetus to the free-stone carver both at Salisbury and Boxgrove. The Purbeck heads at Salisbury are bold in design, and deeply cut so as to allow them to be seen from below in spite of their dark colour — for possibly they were not painted.53 The nature of the material no doubt contributed to the style, and since at Box¬ grove there is a large quantity of Purbeck pillar- work, we may think the flat-sided, deep cutting of the Caen-stone heads (see Fig. 68) imitated from it. The solution of this question will, however, be attempted more fully when we come to the discussion of the Purbeck effigies. The latest or western bays of Salisbury nave, like those of Wells, have heads in white stone on a scale of importance, and of an execution which bring them within touch of the best period (Fig. 71 a and b). From 1250 onwards we may gather from all parts of England proofs of an extra¬ ordinary ability developed in the mediaeval stone- sculpture. The specimens we illustrate (Fig. 71) are drawn from Westminster chapter - house (c and d), from Salisbury chapter-house (e, f and g), from the quire screen (h), and from Durham quire (1). Also we give an example from the “ Angel Choir ” at Lincoln (Fig. 72). In each cathedral the working has been in a different stone — that of the local building — a fact which can leave us with scarcely a doubt that in each case we have workmanship of the local masons. We may thus appreciate the wide amount of artistic talent that was at hand for the purpose of mediaeval architec¬ ture. It is unnecessary to point out the great advance of the execution over what had been done twenty years earlier. There is, moreover, in these heads, apart from the workmanship, a delicacy of senti¬ ment which strikes us as specially English be¬ side the robuster, fuller types of French sculp¬ ture. This is apart from the fact that head-stops and head-corbels are rare in continental Gothic, as rare,54 indeed, as the interior label-strings, to which our examples are mostly attached. But it would be out of place to enter here into any com¬ parison of English work with the sculpture abroad. Recognising that our label-heads are in style, as in stone, local, we can see variety of style everywhere, yet in all a level of attainment that is wonderfully kept up : and this art, though its best-preserved examples are now found in our larger churches, was exhibited in the smaller parish churches also, where remoteness and the 5:i At Rochester, however, the Purbeck has been at some period painted. 44 Head-corbels are found in the early Gothic of Maine and Anjou. The triforium of the church of Semur, near Auxerre, has heads in its arcade much as in England. English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. A. G. FIG. 76. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. Vault-corbel in north transept. carving of C. 1260, and the grotesque there will be presently mentioned ; here the corbel-head and base spurs (Fig. 73) will indicate that this island had its thirteenth-century carver, whose place was no mean one in the history of our sculpture. It has been suggested that the excellence in the head was generally in advance of that of body- representation. In some corbels an attempt was made to introduce a good deal of the figure, and there is not uncommonly a contortion of attitude due to inexperience rather than intentionally grotesque. We illustrate this from the Oxford chapter-house of C. 1220 (Fig. 74), but it can be seen, too, in the Durham quire of C. 1260, and even in the beautiful figure we show (Fig. 75) from the staircase to the Wells chapter-house, also C. 1260. 55 The earlier corbel (Fig. 7 6) from the north tran¬ sept of Wells is free and graceful, but we must go to Crowland and Lincoln and to a date pos¬ sibly beyond 1270 for a well-constructed and satisfactory use of the figure-motive in archi- A. G. FIG. 73. — HAYLING CHURCH (NEAR PORTSMOUTH). Spur of base. The corresponding corbel on the other side of the staircase is less powerful. FIG. 77. — LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL. Arch-mould to north transept doorway. FIG. 74. — OXFORD CATHEDRAL. Vault-corbel in chapter-house. FIG. 75. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. Vault-corbel in passage to chapter-house. manner of building often necessitated the employ¬ ment of local talent. For example, at Hayling we have specimens of a fine and peculiar Caen-stone English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. 33 A. G. FIG. 78. — LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. South doorway of “ Angel Choir.” A. G. FIG. 79. — WESTMINSTER CHAPTER HOUSE. Moulding of doorway. VOL. XIII. — C tectural support. Once achieved, this regular pattern of angel bracket continued till the end of Gothic sculpture. The introduction of the figure into the arch¬ mould made an equal difficulty for architectural sculpture. Abroad we get an attached series of brackets, applied to the voussoirs, and making canopied niches for the statues. The simpli¬ city and boldness with which this is done in the great doorways of Paris, Amiens, and Reims, and the fine scale of the whole, disguise, if they do not atone for, the awkwardness of the positions which are so given to the figures. In England, however, as far as we know (for many of our doorways have perished), this method did not find favour in our thirteenth century. The tradition here descended from the medallion arch-moulds of late Norman work, such as those of Barfreston and Malmes¬ bury (see Figs. 61 and 62 in Chap. III.), where in a connected trellis of arabesque each voussoir shows a figure subject. In mid-thirteenth century certain rich doorways, as in the west front of Dunstable and in the transepts of Lichfield, seem to revive this tradition. The arch-moulds of the transept door on the north side of Lichfield are sufficiently preserved to allow us to Illustrate its sandstone figure-carvings (Fig. 77) which are set in the outer and inner orders of the arch, while be¬ tween them the midway order is enriched with carving, but without figures. A similar arrangement of orders is seen in the more magnificent doorway on the south side of the so-called “Angel Choir” of Lincoln. The inner order of door-arch is carved with elegant seated figures in niches, which are, however, so set into the profile of the arch-mould that they do not break its contour. The outer order (Fig. 78) has in similar fashion little figures of about three-quarter length standing in the hollows of the leaf enrichment, and these tiny works of stone sculpture show all the naivete and grace of the modelled terra-cottas that have been found at Tanagra. The chapter-house doorways of Westminster and Salisbury have also moulds in which are figure-carvings. At Westminster (Fig. 79) leaf and figure twine together : at Salis¬ bury (Fig. 80) are to be seen the Virtues trampling on the Vices, and though each is set in a niche, the projection is kept within the curve of the arch¬ mould and does not break its lines. In attitude and action these little figures may compete with the Lincoln examples for delicate grace. The figure-work of Gothic capitals, however, can stand on no such level, for, as has been indicated, it was only a caprice of the carving art. It never made itself of serious import, or achieved anything much beyond the success of a grotesque. Still, as a step in the progress of Gothic design, the figure-capital comes in place. Romanesque art had made picture-capitals in illustration of sacred 34 English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture A A.G. WELLS CATHEDRAL, NORTH PORCH. The Martyrdom of St Edmund. B A. G. WELLS, SOUTH TRANSEPT. In west aisle. C A.G. WELLS NAVE. In north aisle east bay. DURHAM QUIRE. In triforium north side. E LINCOLN. Corbel in south-east transept. F A.G. LICHFIELD CHAPTER. Capital of wall arcade. FIG. 81. — FIGURE CAPITALS OF THE FIRST GOTHIC PERIOD. English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture . 35 A. G. FIG. 8o. — SALISBURY CHAPTER-HOUSE. Moulding~of doorway, “The Virtues and Vices.” story, and some of its first sculpture was the transfer of painted representation to carving. But as the capital grew smaller, the space allowed only the slighter scenes of symbolic figure-work (see Figs. 31 and 32 in Chap. II.), and so thirteenth- century art took it up. The solemnities of reli¬ gious feeling were the theme and inspiration of statue and relief ; but the capital was issued by the sculptor as his brochure, or rather novelette. Its aim was to give little stories of everyday life, or fables from the Bestiaries, or the Books of A.G. FIG. 82. — -LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. Capital of door£in south quire aisle. beasts, which represented mediaeval natural his¬ tory. At Wells, nave and transept have in their capitals (F igs. 81 A, B, and c) quite a library of such novelettes ; but we illustrate examples also from Lincoln (Figs. 81 e and 82), Lichfield (f), and Durham (d). This role of the story-teller passed on to the wood-carving of the latter part of the century, particularly to the miserere carvings of stalls, which we shall illustrate in their place. The execution of these relief-carvings in the capital is generally slight and summary. They must be judged on the plane of their intention, and are really part of that reaction from serious¬ ness, that by-play of mockery, which in the Feasts of Fools, of Asses and such like, made buffoonery and grotesque a diversion of religion. And before leaving these lesser exhibitions of First Gothic figure-art, we should say a word on the thirteenth- century grotesque. Mediaeval sculpture was throughout markedly impressed by that back-cur- rent of art which, running counter to the ordinary motives of human beauty, introduces expressions of terror and contortion, aspects often indecorous and vulgar, dragons and monstrosities, or the strange lessons which magic and mysticism drew from animal life, a development whose significance has been discussed in Ruskin’s “ Stones of Venice.” The various expressions of grotesque certainly make a considerable feature in the whole sum of Gothic church-sculpture. A later chapter will therefore be specially devoted to it. Here we illustrate (Fig. 83) some examples which, belonging to the First Gothic sculpture, seem to carry with them the fine style of thirteenth-century art. The dragon from Lincoln (a) is dignified. And if such representations as those on the base of the door- shaft at Peterborough seem merely horrible, and in part a legacy from the truculent fancies of Norse heathendom ; if the devilry of such a face as that of the Oxford chapter-house (b) ; or of the Lincoln imps ; or of the Hayling head (d), is simply unclean and disgusting, still not a few of such thirteenth-century fancies (as for example the gargoyles at Chichester (f) and those two or three of 1240 on the south side of Ely quire) have with all their monstrosity and contortion a nobility of line and a statuesque breadth of treatment which rank them beside the great works of sculpture. In the little dragons and salamanders which at Wells (Fig. 83 e), Chichester (Fig. 83 g), and Hayling writhe and twine among the foliage, we have often the suggestion of animal movement, and the lithe beauty of it such as we look for in the naturalistic art of to-day. E. S. Prior and A. Gardner. Note. — Illustrations Nos. 64. 74, 75, 77, 8ie, and 83b are from photographs kindly lent by S. Gardner, Esq.. Nos. 63 and 66a are from casts in the Royal Architectural Museum, Westminster. 6 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. A A. G. LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. Dragon on plinth, north side. C A. G. HAYLING CHURCH. Spur of base. E A . G. WELLS CATHEDRAL. Corbel in north transept. B OXFORD CATHEDRAL. Corbel in chapter house. HAYLING CHURCH. Capital of font shaft. F A. G. CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL. Gargoyle on north side of nave. G A. G. CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL. North quire aisle. PIG. 83.— GROTESQUES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. Architecture and the Royal Academy. A DISCUSSION.— IV. BY PROFESSOR F. M. SIMPSON. The discussion on “Architecture and the Royal Academy ” has suggested to me that a brief account of an exhibition held in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, in the spring of 1895, may be of some interest, as it was arranged somewhat on the lines indicated by Mr. Ricardo in his article, and endorsed by Mr. Belcher. It was an Arts and Crafts Exhibition, and one room, 70 ft. by 35 ft., was devoted entirely to Architec¬ ture. In the circular sent out to architects, it was stated that the following were admissible : — (1) Drawings to scale, plans, elevations, sections, &c., either mounted on stretchers, or framed and glazed ; (2) photographs of executed work, if ac¬ companied by a plan or explanatory drawing; (3) perspectives, either mounted or framed, if accompanied by a plan ; (4) measured drawings and sketches of old work. The wall space allotted to each exhibitor was 30 sq. ft., but in some instances permission was given to exceed this. As a result 180 exhibits were hung, repre¬ senting about 60 architects. The dimensions of the room allowed drawings of considerable size to be shown, and amongst them were many half¬ inch scale working drawings. Each man’s work was hung together, no matter what it consisted of, and the effect was not bad, and by no means so motley as might have been expected. The point of interest, however, is not so much that the exhibition was held, as how it was re¬ ceived. I may at once frankly state that finan¬ cially it was not a success ; but otherwise I think one may fairly claim that it was. The interest it aroused was considerable, not only amongst archi¬ tects, who warmly expressed their satisfaction with the experiment, but also amongst those of the gene¬ ral public who came to see it. The feeling of the latter was that the drawings shown meant “ busi- nes ” ; that there was no humbug about them, no make-believe ; that they didn’t pretend to be any¬ thing but what they were ; that they were honest representations of a man’s work. With this was coupled the sensation that it was pleasant to get a bit “ behind the scenes ” and see how things were done. As one man said to me, “ I like the exhibition, although I don’t understand all of it ; I like it because it is a practical exhibition of a practical art.” This remark is not surprising when it is remembered that men who interest themselves in public affairs often have to deal with plans, and understand them better than architects sometimes imagine. They may not be able to grasp fully the architectural beauty of a plan or section ; that requires a trained imagina¬ tion ; but I deny that such drawings do not interest them. Of course, many people are not interested in them, neither are they in the exhibitions at Burlington House. Equally true is it that there will never be the same enthusiasm over an exhi¬ bition of architectural drawings as over a picture exhibition. Apart from the fact that architecture has not so many admirers as painting, our ex¬ hibits are not the real thing, no matter whether they consist of models, perspectives, or working drawings. But although we cannot have the real thing in a gallery, no strong reason exists why we should not try to get as near to it as possible ; and a photograph supplemented by a plan and detail drawing will give one an insight into a de¬ sign, which no perspective, whether prepared in or out of an office, can convey. Another point I should like to mention, which I fancy has not been touched upon before. An architectural exhibition conducted on practical lines can, I think, do a lot of good to builders, foremen, clerks of works, and workmen generally. The exhibition at Liverpool was thoroughly ap¬ preciated by many of these. Every evening several were to be found in the gallery studying, admiring, criticising the drawings. Of course, admission was free, but if such an exhibition as has been suggested could be held at the Academy, or elsewhere, one evening a week might well be set apart when the entrance fee could be small. Four men paying threepence each bring as much money as one man who pays a shilling, so it by no means follows that a reduced fee means less gate-money. More than that, I should like to see the masters of technical schools allotted a num¬ ber of free admission tickets for students. If the exhibition were held in the Academy, and the Council of that body decided that they could not afford to grant any free admissions, a few pounds spent on tickets by the London County Council, the Carpenters’ Company, and other bodies, for the benefit of their students, would not be thrown away. But that has nothing to do with this discussion. I write merely to show that an architectural exhi¬ bition arranged on different lines from that of the Academy has, at least once, been held in England, and that it aroused considerable interest amongst architects, workmen, and some of the general public. One more word. As our true exhibitions are held in the streets, why not have them catalogued? A board hung on each lamp-post giving the num¬ bers of the houses and the names of their archi¬ tects may be regarded as a suggestion pour rire, but it would at least enable us, as we walked through our towns, to know whom to bless and whom to curse, and no one would be likely to lodge a complaint that he had been pilloried ! Current A rchitecture. o 3 8 FROM THE SOUTH. Photo : A. E. Cockerell. FROM THE NORTH-WEST. Photo: A. E. Cockerell. “WESTBROOK,” GODALMING. BALFOUR AND TURNER, ARCHITECTS. Current A rchitecture. 39 Current Architecture. “ Westbrook,” Godalming. — The plan of this house was partly governed by a desire to obtain the view of the town to the east for both the dining-room and the drawing-room without making external bay windows. The external walls are of Bargate stone with a half-brick lining, and are just under 2 ft. thick. The internal walls are of brick. The stone was obtained on the site and used with its natural face, irregular¬ ities being filled in with mortar in a similar way to Devon and Somerset buildings. Doulting stone was used for window and other dressings, and the windows have gun-metal casements and lead lights filled with Crown glass. The floors are of stone and cement concrete, with a finishing of coke breeze concrete to which Oregon pine boards averaging about 16 in. wide are nailed. The chief staircase is of English oak with solid steps; the hall is panelled with the same wood. The drawing-room is panelled in deal painted white, and has an Austrian oak floor carried on deal joists, for dancing. The roof is covered with old hand-made tiles on in. vertical deal boarding. The architects were Messrs. Balfour and Turner. 4o Current A rchitecture. «LC.lw£E' %fm li# *: 4 -/ » » ^ aH “WESTBROOK,” GODALMING. GARDEN FRONT. BALFOUR AND TURNER, ARCHITECTS. Current A rchitecture. 4i THE LONDON AND COUNTY BANK, WANDSWORTH, PLANS. MESSRS. CHESTON AND PERKIN, ARCHITECTS. New Premises for the London and County Banking Company, Limited, Wands¬ worth, S.W. — These premises, which have re¬ cently been completed and opened for business, occupy a prominent position in the High Street, near to the parish church. The illustrations suffi¬ ciently explain the general arrangement, style, and purpose of the building. Above the strong-rooms, etc., in the rear, is arranged a residence for the caretaker, with a private entrance in the side road. The banking hall is 19 feet in height, and is amply lighted by the large front and side windows, and clerestory windows above the roofs of the manager’s and inspector’s rooms respectively at either side. Accommodation is provided for four cashiers and thirteen clerks, in addition to the manager. The floors of the offices are paved with pitch-pine blocks, and the public space with Roman mosaic paving. The panelled and deco¬ rated ceiling of the banking hall is in fibrous plaster. The joinery generally and the office fittings are in American walnut, and have been specially designed by the architects in keeping with the style of the building. The strong-rooms are faced internally with white glazed bricks. The offices are warmed by means of hot-air stoves, and lighted artificially by electric light. Gas is also laid on throughout. A natural system of ventilation has been adopted by means of Tobin fresh-air inlets, fitted with filters and regulating valves, foul-air extractors being pro¬ vided near the ceilings. Two sunburners are also provided in the banking hall to assist in the extraction of vitiated air, and also to light the office in the event of a temporary breakdown or failure of the electric light. Externally the buildings are faced generally with Ancaster stone, the plinths, pediments, cills, string courses, cor¬ nice and balustrade above, being of Portland stone from the Whitbed. The work was carried out by Messrs. Higgs and Hill, builders, and the architects are Messrs. Cheston and Perkin. 42 Books. Photo: E. Dockree. THE LONDON AND COUNTY BANK, WANDSWORTH. MESSRS. CHESTON AND PERKIN, ARCHITECTS. . Books. Manuel d’archeologie fran¬ chise. C. Enlart : Manuel d' Archeologie Frangaise, depuis les temps m^rovingiens jusqu’a la Renaissance. Premiere partie : Archi¬ tecture, Tome I. : Architecture religieuse. xxand8i6pp. 405 illustrations. 8vo. Paris (A. Picard et fils.) 15 frcs. This “Manual of French Archaeology” is to appear in two parts : the first devoted to Architecture ; the second to Sculpture, Painting, and Applied Art. The volume now under review is the first of Part I. ; the second, which will complete the part, deals with Civil and Military Architecture (including Monastic), and is in the press. Few can write with authority on so vast a subject. M. Mohnier was at first asked to undertake the work, » but he could not accept the invitation. The name of M. Enlart is not yet so well known in England, but he is well qualified for his task. Trained at the “Ecole des Chartes ” and at the “Ecole Francaise de Rome,” he has since written important books on Romanesque Architecture in Picardy, and Gothic Architecture in Italy and Cyprus ; besides a number of smaller works. He has, as “ Professeur suppleant,” occupied the chairs of French Archaeology at the “ Ecole des Chartes ” and at the Louvre, and has delivered a course of lectures on the same subject at the University of Geneva. In his preface, he states that he has found the collection and co-ordination of materials for his lectures the best possible preparation for this work. As to this particular volume, he claims to have visited every country, and nearly every . building, referred to therein. The book begins, not with a bald glossary, but with an interesting description of the constituent parts of a Books. 43 building, and of the details and ornaments belonging to each. When technical terms occur, Latin, Low Latin, Old French, and Provencal equivalents are often given with them. Then follows a chapter on proportions and general character, in which M. Enlart comes forward as an apologist for the Gothic style. He considers Gothic ornament natural in scale, and excellent in that it is so exactly adapted to the masonry to which it is applied. Deviations in axis and irregularities of construction may be compared with similar absences of mechanical exactness in Nature, and it is pointed out that some of these irregularities are intentional and reasonable, as when a church is left without windows on the side facing the mistral or sea gales. An especial warning is given against reading symbolic meanings into results of inaccuracy or carelessness. An interesting chapter on the life of artists in the Middle Ages includes some striking instances of architects travelling far in connection with their work. An ambassador from St. Louis met one as far away as China, in a.d. 1253. There are given, also, details as to architects’ emoluments and the contracts that bound them. We are met at once with the fact that individual copyright did not exist. It must not be inferred from this, that architects did not put a high value on themselves and their works, any more than from the fewness of the great names that have been preserved. This fewness is due to the destruction of so many inscriptions and records, rather than to modesty on their part. Instead of copyright there was a guild monopoly, and the guild was a very close one, which guarded its secrets well. Other chapters of general character, and general interest, deal with funds available for building during the period with which the book deals, the transport of materials, their re-employment, copying and archaism, changes, and restorations, the reasons for analogies between different countries and districts, and the relative value (so often discussed before) of architectural and documentary evidence. Warnings are given as to some pitfalls likely to entrap the inexperienced and unwary when studying texts. After this introductory section come five others, de¬ voted to the five great periods of French Architec¬ ture, viz. — (1) Roman and Merovingian; (2) Carlov- ingian, including the baptisteries ; (3) Romanesque ; (4) Gothic ; (5) Renaissance, till the final disappear¬ ance of all Gothic feeling and forms. Each section begins with a study of the origins of the style of the period with which it deals, and of its general character. It then details the development of the building as a whole, and of its parts and ornaments during the time. The main schools of each period are indicated, but no attempt is made to define their exact boundaries. This cannot yet, and per¬ haps never can, be done, the overlapping and inter¬ penetration of styles was so great. If they are ever defined, Mr. Enlart is convinced that they will follow the limits of provinces or lordships rather than of dioceses ; it was vassalage that kept artists, as other folk, tied to particular lands. Great attention is also paid to the spread of French styles to other lands, but M. Enlart does not exaggerate France’s supre¬ macy even in the Gothic period. It is plain, for example, that he recognises the great independence of the development of English Gothic, though he points out that our Norman style is the same thing as the Romanesque of the duchy, and can trace influences from the schools of Champagne (William of Sens) and Anjou, as well as Normandy, in the Gothic period. He considers it especially worthy of re¬ mark that the Cistercians, who did so much to spread French Gothic abroad on the Continent, built so little (he cites only Roche and Fountains Abbeys) in that style here. Mr. Bilson’s paper on the beginnings of Gothic* is discussed, but it is de¬ cided that the locality of the first ribbed vault cannot yet be definitely settled. English work in France itself is referred to, and England receives the credit of having taught Norway its Norman architecture, and Gothic as well. In Sweden, this English Gothic met French, brought thither, in 1287, by Etienne de Bonneval and his fellows, who were commissioned to build a cathedral at Upsala on the model of the Paris cathedral of Notre Dame. To the Renaissance, little space is devoted as compared with that given to the two preceding styles, but a good account is given of its introduc¬ tion into, and development in France, with a list, accompanied by short notices, of the chief workers in the style there. The book ends with a chapter on accessories of ecclesiastical architecture, such as pavements, altars, tabernacles, fonts, screens, and pulpits. These are dealt with here, rather than in Part II., for two reasons, viz. — (1) that they are often part of the masonry, and (2) that they are so important liturgi- cally, that a complete idea of an ecclesiastical build¬ ing cannot be obtained without considering them. Stained glass is, however, left with Painting and Sculpture for the Second Part. The work is written in an interesting style, and every point' in it is illustrated by copious references to examples. Each section is followed both by a bibliography, and by a list of buildings, classified according to departments. These lists will make the manual especially valuable to those who like to spend “holidays among the glories of France.” The illustrations include half-tone plates from the excellent photographs of the “ Commission des Monuments Historiques,” and from others by the author, and reproductions of pen drawings, of vary¬ ing merit as such, but generally good, and always well chosen to explain the points in connection with which they are introduced. The book is worthy to become, as its originators wish that it should, the standard manual on the subject of which it treats. G. H. Palmer. * “ Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects,” 1899 and 1902. 44 Books. The pavement masters of siena (1369-1562). “ The Pavement Masters of Siena (1369-1562).” By Robert H. Hobart Cust, M.A., Magdalen College, Oxford. Handbooks of the Great Craftsmen. Edited by G. C. Williamson, Litt. D. Price, 5s. net. London : Geo. Bell & Sons. The history of the pavement of the Cathedral of Siena covers the years from about 1350 to our own day. The greater part — particularly those portions anterior to the sixteenth century — has been lately almost entirely renewed by copying the original panels both in materials and method of workmanship; and is chiefly valuable to us now as a copy of the greatest church pavement of the Renaissance, magnificently typical of Italian art of that time; so typical, indeed, that had we but little else to go upon, it would not be impossible to construct a theory of the manner of that art in other directions. A pavement has always played an important part in architecture. The older literature and legends of the East — -the first home of art — tell us with much particularity of the pavements in actual buildings, and in story. To portray or to symbolise the mysteries of the heavenly bodies, the waters of heaven and of the earth beneath, the chief natural changes of the year, on the floors of their temples and buildings of import¬ ance was a favourite custom of the early builders. Pausanias describes the polished marble floor like unto a lake of black water, before the great ivory statue of Zeus in the Temple of Olympia, which reflected the figure and lighted lamps, as it were in the sea of heaven. In Roman pavements and later in those of Byzantine time and influence, as in Sta. Sophia and St. Mark’s, the idea of water, the “ glassy sea,” can be seen typified. This symbolism travelled westwards with the knowledge of eastern art, and Gothic cathedrals in Italy and the north give us pave¬ ments adorned with representations of the four rivers of paradise, the zodiac, the seasons, or the labyrinth, mysteries bound up with the lives of men. But the pavement of Siena strikes a different note. Except for a compartment of the nave floor illustrating a wheel, which we may conceive to be a survival of a labyrinth, and some noble representations of the virtues, which are among the earliest work (presumably executed between 1350 and 1400) now remaining in the Church, there is little to suggest the earlier Gothic pavements. We find the subjects of the panels of the floor to be scenes of classical allegory, and — in greater numbers — pictorial representations of biblical events. Strong as these works are in perfection of “ line ” drawing, as for example in the fine series of sibyls in the north and south aisles ; and in greatness in design, as in the “ Allegory of Fortune” by Pinturic- chio, the pavement suffers in part through its extra¬ ordinary pictorial quality. “ The Expulsion of Herod,” for instance, a vast subject picture crowded with figures recalls an early Italian battle piece. In the “ Massacre of the Innocents ” we think of the arrange¬ ment of Botticelli’s “ Calumny.” If the object of a pavement is to represent subjects in marble or stone inlay, which we are accustomed to see treated with great success on painted panel or canvas, then some portions of the Siena pavement are without a rival ; but we may assert that such a height of pictorial representation is not the fittest form of pavement art ; and that, remarkable as they are, the “ Relief of Bethulia,” “ The Expulsion of Herod,” and the “ Massacre of the Innocents,” do not give the same sense of fitness which is aroused by the simpler representations of the “ Sibyls,” the “Justice,” “Fortitude,” or the “David”; those, in fact, which belong to the early period in the pavement history. If this is the case in the work of the full Renaissance, it is still more apparent in the later works of Beccafumi and his followers, and in the modern cartoon-like panels of the last century. The varying materials of stone, marble, or mosaic, cannot compete with the fine qualities of paint or tempera. Simple and dignified design is preeminently necessary in a floor. While a “ Massacre of the Innocents ” will make a mosaic panel of movement and pathos, on a floor it has a look of being dropped from a wall ; on the other hand a labyrinth or a representation of the Zodiac would make dull paintings ; but on a floor, as we know is the case at Ravenna, Chartres, or Otranto, their effect is fine, and is one which arouses and stimulates the imagination. All this may be owing to the simple reason that a picture on a floor is difficult to see and understand by reason of its position. The prevailing habit of one art to imitate another, as here at Siena the stone- worker imitates the painter, does not affect us in other cases. We admire the Flemish tapestry, the picture woven, in close copy of a painting ; on the wall it is right, on the floor it would become accursed ; and I think Mr. Cust says truly of Beccafumi, where he speaks of his discarding the old graffito method in his outlines for a greater use of parti-coloured marbles, “ Even now it is doubtful whether the results are so practically durable or so artistically satisfactory on the floor as the older work. It would seem they, in a sense the apotheosis of this species of work, should be set up perpendicularly so that the full effect of their superb draughtsmanship could be fairly perceived and appreciated.” Mr. Cust has given us a very interesting account of the craftsmen of the Siena pavement and of the work itself as it now is. Research has enabled him to determine in large measure its authors and dates. His book as a handbook is admirable ; well arranged, clearly printed, and well illustrated with pians and reproductions from photographs. The visitors to the Cathedral will find it useful, while as a book of refe¬ rence it is all that is needed. We may regret, how¬ ever, that it was decided, as the preface declares, to omit criticism. Artists can make up their own minds as to the fitness or otherwise of some of the work for a pavement ; but as the book is likely to be used by the student and the amateur, a critical chapter might with advantage have been added. The book, how¬ ever, could not have been written without some ex¬ pression of view, as the extract quoted above shows. Gerald C. Horsley. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, FEBRUARY, I903, VOLUME XIII. NO. 75. HOUSEBREAKING IN THE STRAND. DRAWN BY MUIRHEAD BONE. Architecture and A DISCUSSION. V. ( Conclusion .) i. BY ALEXANDER GRAHAM. The question of devising some satisfactory mode of representing architecture on the walls of an exhibition gallery seems as far from solution as it was in earlier days, when the Royal Academy took up its new quarters in Burlington House, painting and sculpture finding ample accommoda¬ tion in lordly galleries, while architecture was compulsorily housed in a small chamber of any¬ thing but lordly proportions. Year after year comes the same lament that this Architectural Room is a failure, the contents being uninstructive to the student, and equally unattractive to the sight-seeing public. And then comes the outcry that the responsibility for such failure comes from within the walls of the Royal Academy, and not from without. A little consideration of the whole subject by any unprejudiced architect may assist in the solution of a problem which has already entered the controversial stage. On the one side we have the Council of the Academy, the recognised authority on national art, prepared with . open hands to receive for exhibition any meritorious work by painter, sculptor, or architect. With the first two there can be no difficulty, for their work, either with brush or chisel, is unmistake- able evidence of individual skill. But with the architect the case is totally different. The work submitted by him for exhibition is neither more nor less than a representation, either pictorial or geometric, of a building or parts of a structure of some kind or other, and, consequently, must be judged from another standpoint. Such exhibits are not necessarily the work of architects, but are, in most cases, the handiwork of professional draughtsmen specially trained to make pretty pictures to catch the public eye. There was a time when architectural drawing was rightly regarded as a technical art, and T-square, rule, and compasses were the principal implements employed by an architect to convey his ideas to paper. Drawings of this character will be found to prevail in works on architecture of the eigh¬ teenth century, and elaborate specimens, prepared by architects of high repute in the earlier half of the nineteenth century, may still be studied in portfolios in architectural libraries. But the most noticeable examples of pure architectural drawing may be seen in the Burlington Devonshire collec¬ tion, where the handiwork of Palladio, Inigo Jones, and other masters of art may be studied side by side. These productions are, in many VOL. XIII.— D 2 the Royal Academy. cases, supplemented by sketches of modelled and decorative work, sufficient to convey the archi¬ tect’s ideas of scale, proportion, and fitness in the composition and adornment of his building. But this method of drawing, which achieved such admirable results, would be regarded with some¬ thing akin to contempt by the pictorial draughts¬ men of our own time, and is not likely to find favour in an age which encourages sham perspectives, false accessories, and impossible skies. Some few years ago I was inspecting the architectural drawings at the Royal Academy Exhibition, when the tomb-like silence of that restful chamber, known as the Architectural Room, was broken by female utterance, “ Oh, what a pretty building ! ” I turned round and found only two other occupants, a man and a woman. Waiting an opportunity, I examined the drawing which had stirred female emotion. Yes ! It might fairly be called a pretty building, with its stately white facade, whether of brick or stone, terra-cotta or marble, it was impossible to say. Shadows were there, such as can only be seen under a tropical sun, nameless birds hovered in the cloudless sky, and a carriage and pair was dashing up the spacious causeway. In a shadowy corner was the inevitable policeman, and near him was a small bareheaded boy, gazing with wonder at the monumental edifice. How I pitied that poor boy in the blazing sunshine ! Then, taking note of the town that was to be adorned with this *• pretty building,” I resolved to pay a visit there when an opportunity offered. And what did I see ? A long fagade of dark red brick with a northern aspect, in a narrow, ill-paved street that would have been fatal to the springs of a well-appointed carriage. And for want of better material to cover the wall space of one poor little gallery, the Council of the Royal Academy are compelled, as a matter of necessity, to admit similar productions, commonly called architectural drawings. Can you blame them ? To suppose that the public are likely to be attracted by pictorial representations of buildings, or, in my opinion, by architectural drawings of any kind may be dismissed as hopeless. They see in the galleries devoted to painting and sculp¬ ture the creations themselves of the sculptor and painter face to face. In the Architectural Room they do not see the architect’s creations, but only pictorial attempts of various degrees of merit, all necessarily ineffectual to represent them. So much of the pictorial art as finds place in an architectural drawing is an endeavour to repre¬ sent, with more or less effect, the dimensions of a 48 Architecture and the Royal Academy. building, its symmetry, proportions, grace of line and traits of invention. But an architectural drawing entirely fails to make felt the structure's weight and mass, or to exhibit any skilled combi¬ nation of the forces of down pressure, thrust, and resistance which it embodies. The nobility of aspect, never absent from an ancient masterpiece of architecture, is a testimony to its having been conceived as an embodiment of these, quite as much as a presentment of grace, symmetry, and proportion of line and surface. And in the realised combination of all its factors lies such a struc¬ ture’s supreme charm. In the Architectural Room no indication is possible that, in the con¬ ception of any design, one ounce of ponderable matter has been consciously dealt with. If, therefore, a work of architecture can only be fully judged in realised combination of all its factors, and if none but a skilled architect can form an approximate forecast of their realised expres¬ sion, it is surely desirable to impress upon the general public their absolute and hopeless incapacity to pass judgment upon architectural designs. It is a matter of regret that there are no present indications of a return to the old order of honest architectural drawing, and that, in spite of continued ill-success, the prevailing custom of representing buildings by little pictures, admirably adapted for books and serial publications, should be encouraged. Perhaps the day may come when geometric drawings to a large scale in line and colour, and perspective sketches to a very small scale (sufficient to indicate the general appearance of a building), may find favour with the architect. And if the Council of the Royal Academy were to make known their sympathies with him by an intimation that pnetorial drawings were to be of limited size, and that geometric drawings and details of ornament and decorative features would be judged on the score of archi¬ tectural merit rather than as displays of draughts¬ manship, a step would be taken, in my opinion, in the right direction. It is not essential, nor is it desirable, that such drawings should be of that elaborate character which is the marked characteristic of the handi¬ work of successful students in the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Nothing can be more beautiful, as examples of architectural drawing, than the meri¬ torious studies of the Pantheon by M. Chadanne, or the restoration of the Baths of Diocletian by M. Paulin. Few of our students, entering the arena of practical architecture, could find leisure, after the office day work, for such laborious undertakings ; but, such is the skill displayed by many of them in competitive work submitted for our annual prizes and studentships, there is little doubt they would hold their own in any inter¬ national competition. Our period and country give rich opportunities to the art of architecture. The growth of munici¬ pal life, the spread of education, and the munifi¬ cence of citizens in bequeathing works of art to adorn the galleries of our great towns are among them. The Vestry Hall of a previous generation has given place to the Town Hall with its stately chambers and fayade of palatial aspect. The village school has been superseded by educa¬ tional buildings of almost monumental character, and galleries embellished with painting and sculp¬ ture are finding favour with a better-informed population. It is within the range of possibility that, contingent upon a short period of peace and prosperity, these newly-formed municipa¬ lities may be competing with each other in the near future in the erection of buildings sumptuous with marble and mosaic, and embellished with the best creations of both painter and sculptor. Nothing could tend more to further such a desir¬ able result, for the national benefit, than an exhibition at Burlington House of drawings, sketches, and models, by the architect, the painter, and the sculptor, embracing the chief constructive and decorative features of one or more notable buildings in course of progress. Such exhibits placed together in the same gallery would bear testimony to the brotherhood of art. 2. BY D. S. MacCoLL. The discussion on the architectural exhibi¬ tion at the Academy has run its course through several numbers of the Architectural Review.* I am to attempt a summing up, and to add anything that occurs to an observer interested but not im¬ plicated in the matter. Mr. Ricardo’s article, from which the discussion started, contained a criticism and a definite pro¬ posal. The criticism was, in brief, that (1) the space allotted to architecture in the summer exhi¬ bitions is too small to allow of proper illustration ; (2) that proper illustration would consist of work¬ ing drawings, including plans, sections, and details to ^ inch scale, models also, and photographs of completed work, at the discretion of the exhibitor; (3) that proper illustration does not include the pictorial perspectives furnished by professional draughtsmen : that these form the bulk of the present exhibitions ; that they are there in the vain hope of attracting popular interest to archi¬ tecture by mimicry of the adjoining pictorial * October, 1902, by Messrs. Ricardo, Norman Shaw, Belcher, and R. Blomfield ; November, by Mr. Ernest Newton; Decem¬ ber, by Messrs. Basil Champneys and Beresford Pite ; January, 1903, by Prof. Simpson. 49 Architecture and the Royal Academy. exhibition, and that they are there in this abun¬ dance by direct encouragement in the tradition of selection and hanging. Perspectives, he urged, should be small-scale explanatory sketches by the architect to give a general idea of grouping. Mr. Ricardo’s proposal was that the summer exhibition should be abandoned to the present tradition, making itself as popular as it may, and that a supplementary exhibition should be held in the winter months, when the Academy is already open for the Old Masters. Ample space might then be found for an exhibition such as veritable students could approve, and architects who at present abstain might feel disposed to take part. Mr. Ricardo’s criticism brought out a very interesting statement of the Academical view from Mr. Norman Shaw and Mr. Belcher, to be considered in a moment ; but first there is a more radical reply to be disposed of. In the view of Mr. Blomfield and Mr. Champneys not only the Academy exhibition, but any exhibition of archi¬ tecture by drawings is futile. Of this view it may be said that it will commend itself rather to the men whose ideas and methods, and also their position as architects, are settled, than to the younger and less reputed. An exhibition has two possible virtues : advertisement for the exhibitor, and instruction to be gained from other exhibitors. The man who has won his place may have got beyond the need, or at least the desire, of the second, and he may be chary of giving up his designs to the inevitable cribbing that follows successful work ; but the beginner is more fluid in his ideas, more eager to learn from contem¬ poraries, and he may be glad to show, not to the public, but to the fellow artists who in the first instance give him his reputation, of what he is capable. Granted, then, that there is to be an exhibition, we now have it, under the hand of two acade¬ micians, that within the Academy as without, the present exhibition is condemned. Both are at one with Mr. Ricardo in disapproving the pictorial perspective. If ever that has been the darling of the hanger’s tradition, it is now, we may take it, to be black-listed. Mr. Norman Shaw’s picture of things from within is not that of complacent hangers displaying, from embarrassing profusion, models of what ought, in their view, to be dis¬ played. They are revealed as making the best of a poor business. The small room is too big really. There is not enough of good work to go round its walls. And the academic appeal to architects is to rally, to send no more of those pictorial perspectives, to revert to severe pro¬ fessional methods of drawing, and to send in those ample working drawings that they have fondly supposed there was no space for. Here, then, is one misunderstanding and delusion very usefully cleared away. Mr. Ricardo’s black picture, rearranged in this fresh light, shows as follows : — There is no need for a winter exhibition, because at present there is more than room for all drawings of the right sort sent in ; all that is wanted is more of the right sort, and none of the right sort are over¬ looked. (Mr. Pite, it should be noted, is sceptical on this head.) We may take it, however, that the Academy is not, at present, prepared to admit photographs. Mr. Shaw throws his weight rather into the scale of highly-finished drawings, such as are made by French Prix de Rome students. It is urged, in reply, not unreasonably, that to demand this standard of drawing from working architects would mean bringing in the outside professional draughtsman, whom we have just dismissed, in a new role, and confusing the issue afresh between the merits of the thing represented, the building, and the charms of technique in its representa¬ tion. Mr. Champneys and Mr. Pite are all for the actual working drawings, with no titivation for exhibition purposes, and Mr. Pite urges that framing and glazing should not be enforced. The idea is that architects should address one another in the current language of the workshop, by the indications that are perfectly intelligible to them¬ selves, and with the least disturbance of their actual work for purposes of parade. Mr. Simpson points to a provincial exhibition, successfully arranged in accordance with Mr. Ricardo’s ideas, and demands greater facilities for the visits of students. Such being, in sum, the agreement and diver¬ gence of the views expressed, I will add the ob¬ servations that occur to me on the subject. i. The Exhibition and the Public. — Archi¬ tects will surely be wise if they make up their minds to it that the public who will take the trouble to understand architectural drawings of any kind, or who, having taken the trouble, will be competent to appreciate, must always be a small one. Mr. Belcher’s idea that “ in time the public would also come to appreciate how much is due to right proportions and to proper relations and scale of each part to the whole building . .” is, I fear, an amiable dream. The number of peo¬ ple who appreciate all this will continue to be a meagre company outside of the profession, and what is more, very limited inside of it. To think it unnatural that only two visitors enter the architectural room for every two thousand in the painting rooms is to misconceive the situation. If there were only good pictures in the painting rooms these would be as empty as are those of the National Gallery. In the matter of painting the Academy has definitely capitulated to public taste. 50 Architecture and the Royal Academy. It has no teaching, no convictions, holds up no • standard ; it is not an academy at all, but a universal provider. If this were profitably pos¬ sible in the case of architecture, the same thing would have happened. But drawings, even of the worst kind of architecture, have so feeble an attracting power on popular taste that the efforts of the most pictorial perspective-maker have not compromised the architectural room beyond re¬ demption. To suppose that people will be tickled by a pictorial perspective after a debauch of pic¬ tures, is like expecting a child to be corruptible by bread thinly buttered after unlimited cream tarts. By the nature of things, then, rather than by their own virtue, the architects alone in the Academy have still a respectable position that defies their efforts to lose it. If no pictures were in the adjoining rooms it is conceivable that by this time the architects of the popular art journals, the designers of art-nooks and all the rest of it, might have made a popular show of architecture in the Academy ; as it is, they have not a chance : the bad picture is too much for bad architecture. The architects, then, may thankfully resign themselves to seeing, in their Academy exhibition, instead of a bait for the obstinately shy public, a possible influence on students of their art, a place where a sense of honour and shame might be kept acute, and a premium put upon the right am¬ bitions. The smaller the room the more intense may be the effect produced. The managers of the exhibition ought to go beyond selection, and actively invite the thorough representation of notable work. Better four good buildings on the four walls than a job lot of four hundred. And let them be assured that the more they aim at doing the best thing for their students, the more they will interest and influence the perceiving part of the public. Severity will not alienate them ; paltering does. The difficulty of under¬ standing the conventions of architectural drawings has been very much exaggerated. To an intelli¬ gent man there is nothing inscrutable in an elevation, a plan, or a section. Every man who wishes to find his way makes use of a map. It is only in a few matters, like staircases, that the architect’s drawings call for a small exercise of spatial imagination. The mystery in architectural drawings is not what the lines stand for, is not the construction, for that may be learned, is not the planning, whose convenience may be appreciated ; it is beauty of design that is the mystery. The man who has the clue to this will find architec¬ tural drawings neither dull nor difficult; to the man who has not they can only be a bore. 2. Perspectives. — It is not, then, for the perceiving part of the public that the pictorial additions to perspectives are required; they are sauce for the artless client, and in decency should be shown to him only in camera. But the re¬ action against these dressings of perspectives might, it seems to me, do injustice to the uses of the perspective itself. The fictitious perspective is mischievous, but in many cases a diagram is really called for to realise the effect of the building, given the actual spaces round it. If these are not taken into account, the perspective is fictitious. But suppose the width of existing streets or spaces taken into account, and that the build¬ ing has a feature like a dome, set back from the street elevation. In the conventional elevation, which supposes the eye to be at the level succes¬ sively of each part drawn, the dome projects above the roof-line by the whole of its actual height. I defy most draughtsmen to guess accu¬ rately at the true effect from the other side of the street by an inspection of plan and elevation only. A diagram would have to be constructed by the designer for his own purposes, and this would be a proper part of his exhibition apparatus. Con¬ ventional perspectives, moreover, of the bird’s- eye sort, are very useful in giving a general idea of dispersed groups of buildings ; not of their aspect, but of their constitution as plan and elevation. Familiar instances are Loggan’s views of colleges, which are not reliable in detail, but enable one to grasp easily the setting out of these buildings. The policemen and hansom cabs should be reduced to their true function, which is to give a useful reference for scale. To serve this purpose their scale must not be fictitious. 3. Models. — Some years ago models were urged upon architects as more nearly approach¬ ing the real thing than drawings. Mr. Blomfield has enumerated various drawbacks : I may point out another in their ordinary use. We see them as toy-like objects from above. To get anything like the real aspect they should be supplemented with a screen, pierced with eyeholes at a height corresponding to the height of a spectator’s eye on the scale of the model. Otherwise they only serve the purpose of the bird’s-eye views referred to above. 4. Photographs. — Mr. Newton is surely right in his contention that photographs are the most satisfactory common term for comparing completed buildings, and the least misleading means of judging what any single building looks like. A picture of a building is one thing, viz., a pattern selected out of the lines, surface, and shadows of a building, with some humouring for the picture’s sake ; and we all pictorialise a build¬ ing that pleases us at all as we look at it. But the uncompromising account of the facts is another thing, and it is the thing we want for judgment, without the picturesque draughtsman's bias pei- Notes. 5* verting it. From most of the picturesque draughts¬ man’s efforts, it may be added, one can learn precious little about the architecture, especially when he employs a manner proper to thumb-nail sketches on a drawing several feet in extent. Photographs, then, would seem to be the proper supplement of the architect draughtsman's work in an exhibition. There is one point, how¬ ever, that has been a little lost sight of through¬ out the discussion. The summer exhibition at the Academy is only one moment of an exhibition that is going on all the year round. This exhibi¬ tion takes place in the pages of architectural periodicals like our own Review. Now a photo¬ graph, unless of large size, is, like a small drawing, a tiresome thing to look at on a wall : it is much more comfortably visible on the printed page, adjustable in the hand. This fact seems to indi¬ cate the reviews as a natural exhibition place lor photographs and small drawings, while the Academy is the necessary place for those larger working drawings that cannot be printed on a page without inconvenient reduction. The fact, I may add, that so wide an all-the-year-round exhibition is open to architects, makes the duty of the Academy to enforce a high standard the more easy, because there need be less fear of injustice by exclusion and a large review of material is ready to hand. Our policy, it may not be out of place to say here, in this Review, is to present, liberally, material that has one claim or another to be considered in such a sift¬ ing. We present it, as in an exhibition, without comment, reserving that for the really outstanding cases. 5. The Winter Exhibition. — May I return, last of all, to Mr. Ricardo’s suggestion, for the No The discussion on architectural drawing and its exhibition is brought to a conclusion in the present number, with the result, we may hope, of some clearing up of ideas on that subject. It will be immediately followed by the discussion of a more fundamental question, that of architectural education. This will be dealt with in the follow¬ ing way : — Before inviting an interchange of views and projects, we shall publish a series of state¬ ments, as full and exact as possible, of the exist¬ ing systems of education, not only in the various British centres, but also in France, Germany, and America. This comparative survey will furnish a ground-work for criticism, and we invite the close attention of theorists to this “Blue Book” work when they come to express their view of purpose of pointing out that, oddly enough, for the first time, I suppose, in the history of its winter exhibition, the Academy this year has given a room to architecture. The architecture, it is true, is that of one Old Master, Daedalus to wit. But in this fact, I think, we may see an opening for an exhibition that would meet Mr. Shaw’s desire for scholarly drawing of monuments, and also Mr. Ricardo’s for ample illustration of inte¬ resting modern work. The difficulty with an aged body like the Academy is to establish a new precedent ; the difficulty, for it, is to annul the precedent once established. Here is the prece¬ dent dropping from the sky (or coming up from the shades). Let the architects claim it for es¬ tablished that they now have proprietary rights in the gallery to the right of the entrance at winter exhibitions ; that there is to be an archi¬ tectural “ Old Masters.” Such an exhibition might include studies of old work such as Mr. Schultz did in Greece and Constantinople. But it might also include the drawings of deceased Masters up to the most recent, as is the case on the painting side. The precedent, it may be remarked, has set out with a fine carelessness of established rules : there are photographs in it, and casts and models, as well as drawings. The upshot of our discussion then is, that we may look for a new departure at the summer- exhibition of the Academy, if architects will respond to Mr. Shaw’s challenge and send in workmanlike drawings ; and that if architects know how to deal with Fortune when she is off guard, they have their Old Masters’ exhibition secured. If these two changes should spring from the friendly interchange of views here the dis¬ cussion will not have been in vain. t e s. what is the desirable system for England. Things are in a highly fluid state at present between the old prentice-system and the va¬ rious tentatives at regular teaching ; and a great deal will depend on the lead given to thought in the next year or two before it stiffens into organisation. We hope in a later number to give some illus¬ tration of the remarkable discoveries at Knossos in Crete, due to the energy of Mr. Arthur Evans. In the meantime we may advise all architects to visit the display of photographs, drawings, and casts illustrative of these discoveries to be seen at Burlington House, in an exhibition that ranges from Daedalus to Mr. John Brett. Mediaeval Southampton. Of the endless stream of travellers who pass through Southampton on their way to distant lands, probably not one in a thousand ever thinks of the town as anything more than an important modern seaport whose prominence is practically coincident with the South African War. But Southampton has seen other periods of prosperity besides the present, and can still exhibit to the sightseer relics of her greatness which date back at least to the time of William the Conqueror. It is not certain whether the spot was fortified in Saxon times; but if it was, the defences were evidently unavailing, for the Danes landed here in 873 and plundered the inhabitants. They landed again in 980, and again a few years later, which incidentally proves that the town was of some importance to have commanded such atten¬ tion from enemies. Later on Southampton had to protect herself almost constantly against the French, and in 1338 suffered terrible disaster at their hands when they landed from fifty galleys and sacked the whole town, being only driven off with the assistance of the country round after the damage had been done. But it was not only as a town which enemies might destroy at their leisure that Southampton excelled, though singularly enough nearly all its historical associations are connected with war, either aggressive or defensive. It was here that Edward III. and the Black Prince embarked with their army for the cam¬ paign which ended at Crecy, and, at a later date, Henry V. mustered his army here and sailed away to fight at Agincourt, while the town supplied its quota to assist in checking the Spanish Armada. There have been two periods of activity in building the walls, the first in Norman days fol¬ lowing the incursions of the Danes, and the second in the fourteenth century as a reply to the sack of the town by the French ; but while there are many portions which are entirely Decorated in style, there is little of the Norman work re¬ maining which has not been altered at the later period. The town, that is to say the old town which was enclosed within the walls — for what is now Southampton Docks was, until 1838, merely two hundred acres of slime and mud — stands at the southern end of a narrow spit of land abutting upon Southampton Water, and bounded on the east and west by the rivers Itchen and Test, so that it was eminently adapted to become a strong fortress. The base of the walls on the west and south was washed by the tide, and a broad ditch protected the other two sides. This ditch has long since disappeared, but its name survives, for the narrow alley now standing upon its site is still familiarly called “The Ditches.” The circuit of the walls comprised seven gates, five chief towers, and nineteen or twenty smaller ones, the number of the latter being differently give 1 by various authorities, the discrepancy probably arising through a misconception as to what was a tower and what was merely a large fiat buttress. In addition to these defences, the western curtain was strengthened and dominated by the Castle, which stood on a high artificial mound, but has entirely disappeared, except the bailey wall which ran inward in a double curve from the town wall and joined it again further south near the vanished Bridlegate. The Castle consisted of a keep standing in the midst of a small enclosure to which there were two gates, the chief of which, Castle Gate, stood in what is still called Castle Lane, where a fragment of the masonry still juts out into the roadway marking the exact site. The Castle Postern has entirely disappeared. Castle Watergate may be dismissed for the present, as it is included in the circuit of the walls. History does not tell us much about the Castle itself, but from the records of the various Constables we gather incidentally that it was not an unmixed blessing to live in a walled seaport town; for in 1206, Robert de Cantaloupe was in¬ structed to seize ships for the King, and owners who hesitated in parting with their vessels were to be treated as enemies ; and in 1339, Sir Richard Talbot was commanded to see that the town defences were kept up at the expense of the inhabitants (this was the year after the great sack by the French). By 1376 the burgesses felt NORTH BAILEY WALL. Mediceval Southampton 53 SOUTHAMPTON: THE WALLED TOWN. 54 Mediaeval Southampton . NORTH-WEST ANGLE WITH ARUNDEL AND CATCHCOLD TOWERS. themselves so burdened with the incessant mu¬ rages that they petitioned the King to accept the town at their hands and relieve them of the expense of keeping the walls in repair. The Castle was early allowed to fall into decay, and by 1550 it had become customary to shoot rubbish on the Castle Green. In 1618, what remained was granted away to the Gollop family, who speedily cleared the site by permitting the stone to be removed for the repair of the walls. The most convenient point for commencing a survey of the walls is the north-west angle, where the northern ditch emptied into Southampton Water. Along the western side of the town, where the walls still stand nearly 30 ft. high as far as the south bailey of the Castle, there are two towers which claim notice. The first is Arundel Tower, the summit of which stands about 60 ft. high above the former water level, or about 55 ft. above the Western Shore Road, which was made within the last fifty years and skirts the whole of this side. The tower is now a mere shell of Decorated masonry, with indications of the rampart walk and a flight of steps leading from the north town wall to the summit. The second tower, 130 ft. away, is called “ Wind Whistle,” or “ Catchcold ” Tower, and is seem¬ ingly of Perpendicular date, as it is evident from the masonry on either side that it is an insertion in the Decorated curtain. Further south the wall breaks forward to an obtuse angle which is dominated by a salient carried out to a diagonal buttress on flat arches and also Decorated in structure. This fourteenth century masonry ceases a few feet further to the south at the spot where the north bailey of the castle swept round to the town wall and terminated in a broad buttress built upon the sea-front of the wall to take the thrust. Here the stonework changes INTERIOR OK ARUNDEL TOWER. Mediceval Southampton. CASTLE WATERGATE. from large and small stones used indiscriminately to small ones of uniform size and roughly squared, and as it is exactly similar to the Norman work in King John’s Palace it may, without fear of contradiction, be attributed to the same period. This continues to the south bailey, a distance of about 120 yards in an unbroken line, save for seven buttresses towards the end, which seem to have been added at various times as the tide weakened the foot of the wall and rendered repairs necessary. Between the fourth and fifth of these stands the Castle Water Gate, and to the left of this is a vaulted chamber 55 ft. 3 in. by 19 ft. 6 in. by 25 ft. high. It is roofed with a barrel vault upon strong transverse arches. There is no access to it from above — it may have been entered from the Water Gate — and the floor level is above the present roadway and consequently 6 ft. above the water-line. It has one narrow- pointed window and a small doorway opening to the sea. The Water Gate is a mere fragment of its former self and has three steps remaining of a flight which led to the small Castle Quay, a landing stage to which the door of the vaulted chamber probably also gave access. From this gate to the south bailey there seem to have been other vaulted chambers, as there are indications of loops and windows in two storeys. South of the bailey the wall crossed the castle moat — if there was one as Davies’ “ History of Southampton ” suggests, but its use is not evident —and projected south-west in a large bastion which protected this moat, Biddlesgate and the West Quay, though not a vestige of these features remains. Bridlegate or Biddlesgate seems to have been merely an arch in the wall protected by machicolations, but was of great importance 5 5 as it formed one of the chief approaches to the then shipping centre. At this point the West Quay, now incorporated in the Western Shore Road, commenced and ex¬ tended about 230 yards as far as Bugle Tower. Half the Kings of England landed and embarked here during their periodical excursions into the region of their real or imaginary French posses¬ sions, and among other travellers a large number of the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from this once nar¬ row strip of gravel to help in founding the mighty nations which have arisen in North America. Resuming the circuit from Biddlesgate there are two other gates which led to the Quay, Blue Anchor Postern and Westgate, both of which are still in existence. Here also begins the Decorated arcading with which the Norman walls were strengthened, together with three towers which were pulled down in 1775. The walling is 30 ft. high, the Norman portion 4 ft. thick, and the Decorated addition 3 ft. thick, making a total thickness of 7 ft. The supporting piers of the arches are built into the older work as high as the springing, but above that the outer wall is 16 in. thick, and stands 20 in. clear of the Norman wall behind, forming a continuous machicolation hidden in the thickness of the wall. The Arcade has been built without regard to the openings in the rearwork, and would almost seem to have been contrived to block the windows. This is particularly the case with the building called King John’s Palace, which occupies the two bays south of Blue Anchor Postern. The town docu¬ ments make frequent mention of the “ King’s Houses,” and this edifice and another which stood on the north side of the Postern — Blue Anchor THE ARCADING, WITH KING JOHN’S PALACE AND THE BLUE ANCHOR POSTERN. 56 Mi edi ceva l Southampton . WESTGATE FROM THE QUAY. Lane being merely an alley between them, and the Postern a plain pointed arch with a portcullis — are commonly held to be the houses referred to, but the Rev. S. Davies, to whose “ History of Southampton ” the present writer is indebted for much of his information, combats the idea, say¬ ing that their small size is against the suggestion, and that the Castle was not a hundred yards away, where the King would certainly secure far better accommodation. Be this as it may, King John’s Palace shares with the Jews’ house at Lincoln the distinction of being the chief relic of Norman domestic work in England. It is simple in the extreme, and measures about 40 ft. square. Internally it had two floors, the upper being chief, with a fine shafted fireplace on the north wall and the chimney carried up in an external projection upon four plain corbels. There is also on this floor an intramural passage, which leads from the east wall along the south till it ends in the town wall upon the west. The house had a doorway to the beach, and therefore does not seem to have been intended seriously as part of the defences, but in the fourteenth century the arch was blocked up and only an oillet left. The windows are all two-light round-arched, with simple mouldings and a shaft with a cushion capital between the openings. There are no more features of interest except a salient — in the middle of which the masonry changes from Norman to Decorated — similar to the one already described, between this point and the Westgate. This Westgate is a structure of Decorated date, and one of the most picturesque spots in Southampton. It is three storeys in height, and was formerly square topped with two embrasures on each side for artillery, but the THE OLD GUARD ROOM. Medueval Southampton. 57 THE WESTGATE. embrasures are converted into windows now, and a tile roof adds just the requisite amount of colour to render it a perfect “bit” for artists. It was defended by portcullises worked from above, and, in addition, there are rows of holes in the vaulted archway for the purpose of pouring boiling water or lead on an enemy. Beside the gate is a flight of steps leading to the “ alure,” and separating the gate from the old Guard Room, also a Deco¬ rated structure, built of wood on a stone base, and erected against the town wall, but still pre¬ serving the alure, although the part covered by the Guard Room is incorporated in the building. The town guard mustered here in times of danger, received their orders, and marched out along the ramparts to their allotted posts. South of the Westgate the work is Decorated, clearly marked in most places, but at intervals degenerating into a slovenly rubble as if built in a hurry, possibly when the French, in 1404, were ravaging the Isle of Wight and were expected at Southampton. Behind a portion of this wall are the remains of another vaulted chamber. There are the remains, too, of an arcade similar to the one described, but consisting of six arches, of which only two are complete. The sixth of these probably abutted against Bugle Tower, which has disappeared, but is known to have stood somewhere near this spot. From here onwards as far as God’s House Tower, at the south-east of the town, there is little enough to show that fortifications ever existed along this front, for in addition to Bugle Tower, St. Barbara’s and Woolbridge Towers have disappeared, as well as the town Watergate and nearly the whole cur¬ tain wall. The West Quay ceased at Bugle Tower, and from here to the Watergate Quay the tide washed the foot of the walls, leaving at low water a narrow strip of shingle called the “ Gravel.” M ed iceva l Sou tJi a mp ton . THE SPANISH PRISON. Between Bugle and Corner Towers the walls re¬ main to a height of about io ft., and appear to have been patched up incessantly, and now have little interest. The foundations of the Corner Tower are still visible. The southern defences were destroyed by Act of Parliament, 1803-4, 1° allow of harbour improvements. Behind these vanished works were, and still remain, the gra¬ naries and stores, chief among which is the Wool- house, a rectangular structure of fourteenth-cen¬ tury date, with quaint semi-cylindrical buttresses. It is more familiarly known as the “ Spanish Prison,” and is thus a link with the Peninsular War. The foundations of the other stores have been used as a superstructure for their modern successors, but the Decorated masonry and but¬ tresses may be still seen 20 ft. high in places. In this same line behind the wall is also the frag¬ mentary portion of a building which was evidently another Norman house but of considerable extent, and it has in consequence been called “ Canute’s Palace,” for no other reason apparently beyond its size. It was over 100 ft. long by 16 ft. wide, two storeys in height, and consisted of two long galleries superimposed. Probably it was divided into apartments by wooden screens. It has no features of interest, as the original openings are greatly disguised, and even the alterations which were made in the Decorated style have almost entirely gone. Old drawings of this portion of the walls show a high semi-circular tower of three storeys with a sloping base, called Canute’s Tower, which, as no existing plan gives this name to any portion of the defences, is probably to be identified with Woolbridge Tower. The drawings show a breach close beside the tower, and as a breach is known to have been made near the Watergate about 1780 this surmise is probably correct. The Watergate, or Flood Gate as it was occa¬ sionally called, was an erection dating back to Richard II., and afforded the only approach to the Town Quay: and this is the chief cause of its destruction and the disappearance of the adjoining curtain. Something still remains of the curtain in a house west of the gate, where there are four machicolations in cement, and the house next to where the gate stood still follows the curve of the old wall, but is also masked in cement. An un¬ dated engraving of this portion, apparently about a hundred years old, shows these same features in stone, so that it is probable that the removal of the stucco would reveal the original town wall. The arch of the Watergate soon proved utterly inadequate for the traffic, and a postern was then cut on the western side, which was also insufficient. Then a breach was made east of the gate, and after that anyone who desired to tranship goods to his premises merely made a breach of his own at the most convenient point. The eastern breach was made too close to the gate and shook the abutment, so that a part of the Watergate col¬ lapsed in 1800, and the whole was taken down Mediczval Southampton 59 THE WATERGATE. FROM AN OLD PRINT. GOD’S HOUSE TOWER. 6o M edicBva l Southampton . BACK OF THE WALLS. four years later. The Watch Tower, which was similar to Woolbridge Tower, has disappeared, but its foundations exist in the base of a bay window of a public-house, and thus render it possible still to trace the walls across the south of the town. God’s House Tower, so called from its proximity to God’s House or the Hospital of St. Julian — now the French Church — is of two periods, the left-hand portion in the illustration dating back to the thirteenth century and the rest being a century later. Both portions, except the tower proper, seem to have been carried up higher, and probably were adorned with battlements. The addition of the later portion has thrown the gate¬ way into a corner as it were, but this was done as a protection to the sluices of the ditch and seems to have been a necessary precaution owing to the frequent French attacks. In the fifteenth century this building was used as a store, and from 1707 till 1855 was the town gaol. Turning northwards from this point, the wall continued in a long, sinuous line for a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile to Polymond Tower, at the north-east angle, with only one gateway — Eastgate — and six or seven semicircular turrets, all of which have practically disappeared, not apparently by deliberate licensed-by-Act-of-Parlia- ment vandalism, as was the case on the south side, but by the more insidious process of individual destructiveness. The southernmost of the semi¬ circular towers is still standing, together with a few fragments of wall about breast-high and of Decorated masonry, with tumbledown cottages built into and up against them. These are all the actual remains, but the names of vanished de¬ fences still survive, and incontrovertibly fix the position of ditches and walls. Thus what was once the passage-way which gave access to the ramparts in times of stress is still called “ Back- of-the-Walls,” and, incidentally, it is still quite as noisome as it could ever have been, even in the “good old days.’’ Cats, children, and dustbins abound in this locality, and one of the latter occupies the interior of the rectangular projection, shown on plan as coming next to the still remain¬ ing tower. Outside this wall was a moat, stated frequently to have been a double ditch, though old drawings and engravings only show a single one EASTGATE, FROM AN ENGRAVING BY HOOPER, MADE IN 1 784. Medieval Southampton. 6 1 THE POLYMOND TOWER. about 30 ft. wide. This spot has seen many changes since the ditch was first dug, for subse¬ quently, about a hundred years ago, a canal was projected and actually excavated, though never opened. This has now been filled up and built over, leaving only a narrow alley (on the exact site of the counterscarp of the old moat) called officially “ Canal Walk,” but, as already men¬ tioned, popularly known as “ The Ditches,” the two names taken together forming a very complete epitome of its history. Bridge Street is a com¬ paratively modern road, and was not made until the defences became useless. The Eastgate, now destroyed, consisted of a semi-octagon projecting between two round towers and wholly Decorated in style. It was well sup¬ plied with oillets, and seems to have been very strong with a battlemented summit arranged for artillery, which was thus able to sweep the whole ditch with its fire. It had a drawbridge until 1670, when it was removed, and a bridge built in its place of stone taken from the Castle. There appears to have been a chapel over the gate. This structure was entirely destroyed in 1775, probably so as not to obstruct the line of the canal. The next fragment in existence is St. Denys or Polymond Tower, a building little known even to natives of the town, as it lies now hidden from sight at the end of a brewer’s yard and embosomed in trees and creepers. Its first name is probably connected with St. Denys Priory, the scanty remains of which lie about two miles up the River Itchen. The name of Polymond is attributable to John Polymond, who was nine times mayor of Southampton between 1365 and 1392, dates which are quite in agreement with the character of the tower. The north wall of the town, 200 yards in extent, is the shortest of them all, with three semicircular towers, of which a fair amount remains still to be seen, and one gate, Bargate, at once the joy and sorrow of Southampton. Its gateway is so narrow that it effectually blocks all traffic year in and year out, and year in and year out schemes are drafted by which either the gate is removed or the roadway engineered round the side, as has been done at Warwick. To remove it would be little less than a deliberate sin, for it is one of the most picturesque of mediaeval gateways in the kingdom. It consists mainly of three portions — the wide Norman arch in the centre, which was the original gateway, and flush with the line of the curtain ; two semicircular towers of Early Decorated type, projecting into the ditch ; and a semioctagon (Richard II.) occupying the space between them and projecting still further outwards. It once VOL. xiu. — F. 62 Mediczval Southampton. THE BARGATE. had its drawbridge and portcullises, but these disappeared when this portion of the moat was filled up, about the beginning or middle of the sixteenth century. It has been altered many times, for Queen Elizabeth blocked up the centre and cross oillet with a coat-of-arms, and at one period of its history a vandalistic corporation placed sash windows in the position of the side oillets. The two posterns were cut about the year 1770. The two lions cast in lead once guarded the bridge giving approach to the gate¬ way. The town side of Bargate is a restora¬ tion, and has a modern appearance, but the sun-dial is original. In a bellcote to the left is a watch-bell dated 1605, the only remaining one of several about the walls which sounded the time of day, and also on occasion the alarm. York Gate, to the east of Bargate, is a modern insertion. There is nothing to be seen of the walls from Bargate to Arundel Tower, and this portion seems to have been masked by old timber buildings for at least two centuries. Apart from the old walls, Southampton has not much of architectural interest. There are many churches, it is true, and at least three of them are of ancient foundation, but these have un¬ fortunately been mutilated or re-built. St. Mary’s, the mother church, which, for some reason un¬ known to the writer, lies half a mile outside the walls, was founded by Matilda, but pulled down in 1550 because the spire formed an inconveniently good landmark for French invaders. It now forms the core under the road metalling of Bar- gate Street and East Street. Another and smaller church was built a few years later, a third in 1711 (enlarged in 1833), and the present one com¬ menced in 1878 from designs by Street. It is rather a curious coincidence that the spire of the present St. Mary’s is not yet built, though it is on account of funds, and not of French invaders. Mediceval Southampton. 63 Holy Rood Church was originally built in the middle of High Street (corner of Bridge Street), and in 1320 was removed to a less prominent posi¬ tion on the other side of the pavement. It was re¬ built fifty years ago, all except the tower, which, however, is quite as uninteresting as if it had suf¬ fered along with the rest of the edifice. It con¬ tains a very good brass lectern of the fourteenth century, representing an eagle on a globe, which in turn is supported on a tower standing on three lions. Even St. Michael’s Church is but the shadow of its former self, for the whole interior arrangement has been ruthlessly altered. Origi¬ nally it was Norman — and very early Norman, too, as is attested by the plain and massive tower crossing ; but the nave arcade has given way to iron and stucco columns of a not very great many years ago. The external walls are original Nor¬ man masonry for the most part, with Early English windows inserted, and Perpendicular tracery again inserted in the earlier arches. There is also a very good sixteenth century monument to Sir R. Lyster in the north aisle, but space will not admit of an illustration ; some old chained books and a very good carved Jacobean chest and cupboard in the vestry dated 1646. But the gem of St. Michael’s is the font. This consists of a square block of black marble on a cylindrical base sculptured with rude carvings, and credited with being of fabulous antiquity. It seems pro¬ bable that, together with the fonts at Winchester Cathedral, East Meon, and a fourth in the north of England, the one at St. Michael’s dates from about 1180, and is the work of Flemish artists, the shallowness of the carving being due not 1 ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH. 64 M ec ii ceva l South a mp to n . FONT, ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH. so much to inability on the part of the worker as to the hardness of the material. The whole font is untouched except for the small angle shafts of the base, which replace the original ones. Of monastic and semi-ecclesiastical institutions Southampton has had a large share ; but for the most part these buildings are no more, and even the actual location of some of them is in dispute. But those of which a vestige remains a few words may be added. St. Denys Priory (Augus- tines) was founded in 1124, and does not seem to have been famous for the good behaviour of its monks, for the records preserve a set of rules drawn up on account of the prevailing disso¬ luteness, which would hardly be considered necessary in the most depraved of modern communities. It was duly suppressed under Henry VIII., and the property passed through various hands and suffered various acts of van¬ dalism until, in the beginning of last century, all that remained was pulled down, except a fragment of Early English walling pierced with a single lancet window and the relics of a doorway, which stands isolated and forgotten in a field by the river. A convent of Friars Minor (Franciscans) also existed within the walls, but the only trace of the fraternity now remaining is a fragment of a conduit head a mile from the old town dating back to about 1300. The Hospital of St. Julian, or God’s House, which gave its name to the south-east tower on the walls, has rather more to show of its former extent; but, although it was built in 1195, the TUDOR HOUSE. Forms of the portions which remain — now the French Church and a gateway leading thereto under a tower — show a mixture of transitional Norman and Per¬ pendicular details, and are of no particular in¬ terest. One house of all that must have enriched such a thriving city alone stands to-day as evidence of former greatness— Tudor House, in St. Michael’s Tuscan Arch. 65 Square, a very fine and rich example of half- timbered construction. Nothing is known con¬ cerning it, but as Henry VIII. was a frequent visitor to the town, popular tradition has invented a legend that Anne Boleyn resided there, and it has a considerable romantic interest for those whc can swallow myths which are not in any way sup¬ ported by documentary evidence. Robert W. Carden. Forms of the Tuscan Arch. In the domestic and civic architecture of Italy during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, we find arches of which our illustrations should enable the reader to typify for himself the most frequent and characteristic forms. They are con¬ structed of massive masonry. The intrados is gene¬ rally semicircular, though it becomes slightly pointed in some of the later examples. The extrados varies extremely, but its varieties maybe reduced to one or other of three dominant types. In the first of these it is a portion of a circle struck from a higher centre than that of the intrados, so that a greater or less “ horseshoeing ” is perceptible at the base of the arch.* In the second the extrados is composite and rises above the intrados in the graceful form of a Gothic arch. In the third this effect of height is greatly increased by a device borrowed from the first type, and the extrados becomes what would be called in Italian an arco composto sorpassato, where the forms of the Gothic and horseshoe arches are seen in combination. f We may be allowed to regret that this arch has not received more attention in modern architec¬ tural practice : it is undoubtedly a form capable of very noble use and development. Taking the second of these types as the most frequent, normal, and characteristic, we are now concerned to note that closer examination shows it for something much more subtle and remark¬ able than it would seem at first sight. Here is no mere Gothic form given to the extrados of what is substantially and structurally a round- headed arch. The voussoirs which compose it are, at least in many cases, so cut that the twin forms of extrados and intrados in this doubly composite arch are the just and beautiful result of its inward structure. The principle of the semi¬ circular intrados makes itself felt in the upper voussoirs whose joints lie along the radii of that * An example given may be seen in the village of Monsummano Alto, Tuscany, which has hardly been inhabited since the plague of 1348. f The illustration of this form is taken from an ancient arch at No. i, Por Santa Maria, Florence. It is a rare example of double-pointing in early times. curve. But the lower voussoirs on each side answer to the extrados, as their joints radiate from two centres which lie near the opposite corners of the base. Thus this interesting arch is partially Gothic, not only by the form given to its extrados, but in the principle of its construc¬ tion, and may be held for a composite form of a very deep and remarkable kind. As to its dis¬ tribution that is wide enough. A stroll along the narrower and more ancient streets of almost any Tuscan town will bring the student face to face with unnumbered examples, and the same may be said of Umbria, where Perugia and Assisi are peculiarly rich in material for these studies. A remarkable, if not unique, variant may be ciUd from the Bigallo at Florence. Here the small door has in its head an arch whose extrados and intrados are both pointed, while, however, the joints of the voussoirs radiate from a single normal centre. This example then is essentially Romanesque, though its outward form has become completely Gothic. Of uncertain date,0 it should be particularly noted as furnish¬ ing the final link in the chain of these successive and varied forms of arch construction. The best point of departure for the study of such arches will be found in certain church doors of Lucca and its neighbourhood. To mention no others, the fa5ades of San Frediano and Sta Maria Forisportam in that city, and a remarkable door or window raised many feet from the ground in the north face of the campanile at Diecimo (valley of the Serchiojf show plainly the primi¬ tive way of building by which in early times their architects sought to gain a certain desired effect * This door is plainly part of an older building — perhaps of the famous Guardamorto — which has been saved and incorpo¬ rated with the Bigallo. f Similar door or window arches may be seen in the town of Lucca itself by those who have not time to travel further afield They will be found in the south face of the Campanile of San Frediano; the east face of the Campanile of the Duomo, and a civil example, though but ill-preserved, may be traced on the north face of an ancient tower at the corner of the Piazza del Salvatore and the Via Calderia. 66 Forms of the Tuscan Arch. TYPICAL TUSCAN ARCH— POR S. MARIA, FLORENCE. of height in such constructions. The door-jambs were treated as flat pilasters with projecting and sometimes richly floriated capitals. Over these was laid a deep and massive lintel, and it is this which, with its elaborate and deeply-cut foliage or figure subjects, forms such a strongly-marked feature in the ancient architecture of Lucca. Over this again the pilasters were repeated in a stunted form and with capitals less boldly marked, and from these, at last, sprang the simple round- headed arch which it had been the architect’s purpose in all this storied underbuilding to carry as high as possible above the headway of the door. Here then we have a reason for the depth given to the great lintel stone, and for the pre¬ sence of the smaller pair of pilasters which rested on it, while the remarkable sculpture generally found on the lintel and the mouldings, if no more, which served as capitals to the final pilasters was no doubt designed to reduce, if not remove, the somewhat clumsy effect of what was in fact a double stilting of the arch. The Diecimo door* shows us the same arrange- * This cannot easily be photographed, hence we have substi¬ tuted for it in the illustrations a door of the same type which is found in the west face of the Torre delle Ore, Lucca, and will serve the purpose of this study equally well. ment of parts, but in the simplest form, and stripped of all adventitious ornament, and it is particularly useful as helping us to see clearly the connection of the Lucchese door-heads with the composite arches of Tuscany. Imagine that the doorway of S. Maria Forisportam has been chiselled to the absolute level of the wall-face, and you have a result exactly like what may be seen at Diecimo. In the latter example the jambs have lost their capitals, except at the angles of the doorway, where the simple brackets which still remain to support the lintel may certainly be held for a survival of them at the two precise points to which the reducing process we have supposed could not reach. Now such brackets under the lintel are a well-known feature in the older Tuscan doors — Florence has many examples of this arrangement — and it is therefore interest¬ ing to find at Lucca the fuller form of which they are the incomplete survival. Nor is this all that may be learned at Diecimo. The severe plainness of construction seen here is carried out with consistence even in the door-head, where the simple Romanesque arch has neither carving about its extrados nor mouldings to mark where it springs. Thus nothing is left to mask the real nature of its building, and both the lintel Forms of the Tics can Arch. 67 DOOR OF BIGALLO — FLORENCE. NORTH DOOR— S. M. FORISPORTAM, LUCCA. 68 Forms of the and what it immediately supports are seen for what they truly are : a stilting in two stages, meant to give height to the round-headed arch above. Now just as the brackets of this door have helped us to understand those commonly found in such situations throughout Tuscany, so does the upper part of the same example throw light on what we are chiefly concerned with here : the varied forms of arch used in the Tuscan door- heads. Judged and interpreted by what is found at Diecimo, these horseshoe and Gothic forms, in all their varied combinations with the Romanesque arch and with each other, are nothing but attempts successively made to gain, with a new grace un¬ known to the older style, the same effect of height and proportion once sought in the studied stilting of a simple round-headed arch. That the new expedients were successful is seen in the fact that the builders who employed them were aide almost at once to dispense with the help of that lavish ornament which their predecessors had so freely used to mask or relieve the clumsiness of the plan on which they worked. Such a view of the matter may easily be con¬ firmed by greater and more striking instances of what is essentially the same practice. At Pisa, for example, the Cathedral has Romanesque arches in the central nave, but in the aisles both arches and vaulting become pointed, and for a very obvious reason. The aisles are double, and the columns which divide them being a good deal shorter than those of the nave, it became a difficult matter to contrive arches and vaulting in the aisles which should combine well with those built to support the clerestory. Now the problem was solved not by stilting, but by introducing Gothic arches in the aisle arcades, and so carrying these up to a point where vaulting common to both might easily connect them with the round arches of the nave.* Or take the case of the horseshoe arch. When at Lucca, in the opening years of the thirteenth century, a new porch was ordered at San Martino, the architect found his limits strictly defined by the projection of the Campanile on the south and the line of the Church wall on the north, while yet the arches he was to build must be made to fall opposite the three doors in the fagade. The arch next the Campanile had perforce to be made smaller than the other two, and the architect, wishing in spite of this difficulty to gain some¬ thing like a just proportion, or rather to mask as far as possible the want of it, has given this smaller arch more than something of a horseshoe * Another and probably earlier example of the pointed arch, apparently used from mere delight in its form, may be found in San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno. It was evidently well known to the early Pisan builders. Tuscan Arch. shape as the most graceful form of stilting which he knew or could contrive.* A very singular example of the horseshoe arch is to be seen at Florence, which not only confirms the conclusion we have already reached, but shows considerable connection with the Lucchese stiltings already noticed. The lower part of the fagade of San Stefano of Florence has fortunately been left in its primitive state : it is commonly held for work of the twelfth century. The main door is set in a flat frame of black and white marbles laid in alternate horizontal bands. These become vertical wedges in the lintel, which is built in the form of a level arch. Above this rises a slightly-pointed arch to form the door-head. That is, the extrados is slightly pointed over a semi¬ circular intrados, and the peculiarity here is that the intrados so combines with the slanting lines of the lintel voussoirs as to be in them prolonged downwards through the lintel in the form of a horseshoe. So far, studying the intrados alone, we see that this result might be simply an acci¬ dental form unintentionally evolved in the course of construction. But when we pass to the ex¬ trados it is plain that what we have found here was a studied effect of art. The door-head arch is outlined by a shallow three-line moulding about the extrados. Now these lines are carried onwards and downwards through the depth of the lintel at the same inclination till a short horizontal return brings them to meet the corners of the doorway. Thus the horseshoe form stands out here as a clear intention of the builder. By a strange coinci¬ dence the iron-plated door below bears an actual horseshoe nailed upon it : the same which one story connects with the visit of Charlemagne to Florence in the opening years of the ninth cen¬ tury, and another with the death of Buondelmonte at the beginning of the thirteenth. For us it is enough to remember how we have found the lintel and horseshoe arch important elements in the stilting of door-heads at Lucca, and to notice that here at San Stefano of Florence these are singu¬ larly combined to serve the same purpose. Before leaving San Stefano it may be well to notice another detail, which confirms in a remark¬ able way the view we are about to take of the real nature and history of the horseshoe arch. That it was invented as a peculiarly happy and orna¬ mental mode of stilting the Romanesque arch, may be proved from the classic mode of its construc¬ tion. In Spain, where, as is well known, this arch attained extraordinary development under * Other examples of the horseshoe arch at Lucca may be seen in the Annunziata Gate and — very remarkably — in the west face of the Campanile of San Pietro Somaldi. These, however, like the pointed arches of San Paolo at Pisa, would seem to have been built for no other reason than that of fashion or delight in the form for its beauty's sake. Forms of the Tuscan Arch. 69 DOOR OF TORRE DELLE ORE — LUCCA. the Moors, only the upper part of the horseshoe ? — barely half the curve — was built as a true arch, that is, with radiating voussoirs. The rest, and in it all that is most characteristic of this beauti¬ ful form, was composed of stones or bricks laid level in the usual courses of the wall, but allowed to project more and more and dressed to the curve desired. Now this very form of construc¬ tion may be seen at San Stefano. The intrados of the horseshoe, as we have noted already, needs and has no more than the inevitable lines of the lintel voussoirs for its definition. But the course of the moulding which prolongs the extrados and passes down through the lintel, cuts across the joints of stones laid horizontally and dressed at the ends to meet the angle of the first voussoir of the lintel on each side. Thus here, as in the classic Spanish examples of this arch,* the horse¬ shoe proclaims itself by its internal construction for what indeed it is ; the most striking form ever given to the supports of a stilted arch. Much that we have already noticed is now of service, if we choose to inquire whence it was that the Italians derived the arch forms which they used with such subtlety and effect. Not only the horseshoe arch at San Stefano, but the whole character of that doorway with its sur¬ rounding ornament is oriental, and that to such a degree as to suggest at once an influence of the * Such as the Moorish gateway at Burgos, the Puerta de Justicia of the Alhambra, and the Puerta del Sol, Toledo, to mention only a few well-known cases. Forms of the Tuscan Arch 70 SOUTH FACADE ARCH— SAN MARTINO, LUCCA. EXTERNAL ARCH — PORTA DELL’ ANNUNZIATA, LUCCA. Forms of the T us can Arch. 7i WEST DOOR — S. STEFANO, FLORENCE. Saracenic architecture upon the Italian. And this idea is confirmed when we remember the geographical position of Pisa and Lucca, where the forms of the pointed and the horseshoe arch undoubtedly prevailed from early times. May it not well have been that like the silk and dyestuffs of the Levant these new and charming forms of arch here first reached Italian soil, and hence spread through the breadth of Tuscany, affecting Umbria on the south, and on the north even crossing the Apennines to Modena, where there is still a distinct trace of their early influence.* Thus our view would be, that so introduced, these forms of arch became early known over a con¬ siderable part of Italy, and were soon combined with the native Romanesque so as to result in the subtle and remarkable arches which we set out by describing. * In the fa9ade of the Duomo where we find a remarkable arcade of horseshoe arches. Yet the matter is not quite so simple as this, and an enquiry into origins, however brief, would be faulty did it take no account of other facts pointing to a further and perhaps the ultimate source of at least one if not both of the forms in question. In the Baptistery of Venice is to be seen a carved slab of marble, which came from the early church built on that site in the first half of the ninth century. The carving betrays, as we should expect, a Greek chisel, yet on one face of the slab stands, clear and unmistakable, above a pair of columns with Byzantine basketwork capitals, the characteristic form of the horseshoe arch.* If then, by way of Pisa and Lucca, Tus¬ cany and Umbria at large received from the Saracens elements of design which profoundly influenced their native practice, we are yet to look to Byzantium as the place where in all probability * This slab has been figured and described by Cattanej, L’Architettura in Italia,” Venice, Ongania, 1888, p. 250. Forms of the Tuscan Arch 72 CAMPANILE ARCH, S. PIERO SOMALDI, LUCCA. these forms were first tried since the Christian era and on European soil. Think of the peculiar character of Byzantium in this connection : for, indeed, if architecture be the unconscious expression of an age’s mind, this can by no means be left out of account. The capital of the Eastern Empire was founded to be a better and grander Rome. To surpass the glories of the West was the daily dream of those who lived by the Bosphorus. And surely, inevitably, this desire to surmount and surpass found its lasting expression in a new style of architecture — the Byzantine — when at last the serene height and beauty of St. Sophia’s dome spread above sup¬ porting arches, whose form was still that of Rome. The triumph of the new style was not won in a day, however, nor reached without many an experiment, in which the builders of Byzantium strove for increased height in their arches before fixing on a dominant cupola as the best expres¬ sion of their mind and the nation’s spirit. In Greece hard by, the tombs of prehistoric kings might have furnished them with the form, if not the true structure of the pointed arch, while our Venetian example shows that Byzantium knew, perhaps from Asiatic teachers, the effect to be gained by stilting in the form of a horseshoe the round-headed arch of Rome. Such devices, then, we may believe Byzantine builders had tried and had discarded. They do not enter into the substance of that style, which gains its effect of height rather by multiplying arcades one over the other to crown the whole at last with a wondrous dome. But though discarded at Byzantium, these forms were not forgotten nor lost, and at last, in the outskirts of that vast empire and by the banks of Nile, they had their renaissance, and came to their kingdom. The Copts who served the followers of Moham¬ med, untrained yet in the arts, as the architects of their first mosques were under the influence of Byzantium, and in their work done for the new Current A rchitecture. 73 conquerors appear for the first time in clear relief along with the Byzantine dome, the twin forms of the pointed and horseshoe arch. Well suited to a style which, while availing itself to the utmost of the profusion of marble columns which every ancient site afforded, aimed above all at an effect of lightness and height, these arches rose along the African coast far as the victorious Saracen pressed, till in Spain the horseshoe had the final advantage, and became in Moorish hands the characteristic note of a style not to be surpassed for dainty elegance. But all this may surely be regarded as but the subtle elaboration brought at last by Arabian minds to themes borrowed from Greek, and perhaps ultimately from Indian sources. Much there is which must always remain diffi¬ cult and obscure in every attempt to trace the ultimate origin of these architectural forms ; but their nearer history grows increasingly clear, and the part which Italy played in their extension and development is plain enough. If Spain in her Moorish provinces may claim the perfection of the horseshoe arch and of the style which was founded upon it, France has undoubtedly the credit of first working out the possibilities of the pointed style, and by the banks of the Seine began what is generally called Gothic architecture. Yet Italy, as a natural consequence of her situation in regard to the nearer East, had the advantage of receiving these forms in their first and most direct importation. Her builders played with them out of sheer delight in their novel beauty, as in the south door-head of the fapade of San Paolo at Pisa (pointed), or the campanile arch of San Piero Somaldi at Lucca (horseshoe) ; they used them as convenient ways of overcoming constructive diffi¬ culties as in the aisles of Pisa Cathedral or the porch of San Martino at Lucca ; finally, in their hands these twin arch forms subtly combined and varied became the prevalent Tuscan fashion for the extrados of window and door-heads. At Siena, where perhaps this style reached its acme, and where, therefore, the chances of further development were greatest, at least one church remains to form an indubitable link between the extremes we have been considering. Built during the twelfth century in the pointed style, it recalls on the one hand the Mosque of Fostat, and on the other carries us on to the developments of the pointed arch which took place on French soil. So near did Italy come to the glories of the Gothic style. The reason why Italian architecture held a merely intermediate and subordinate place in the development of the pointed arch is plainly to be seen in almost all the examples we have noticed in this paper. When the forms of the pointed or the horseshoe arch reached Italy they were used by the Italians either out of mere delight in their ornamental effect or in their strict subservience to the round arches of the native Romanesque. Never does it seem to have entered Italian minds, unless for a brief moment at Siena, that the fun¬ damental form of an arch could be other than the semicircle. Pointed as a leaf above, or bent to a horseshoe shape below, the line of the extrados during all these centuries was a thing to be played with at will, while still, beneath, the intrados stood fast in the stubborn form and force of ancient Roman building. Even when, dazzled for a little by the imported glories of Milan and Assisi, Italian builders yielded so far as to dream a brief Gothic of their own, the style was in decadence almost as soon as born, and carried in itself clear signs of the coming age. The door- head of the Florentine Bigallo, altogether pointed in form, is still by the lines of its voussoirs struc¬ turally Romanesque, and precious, therefore, as showing the last stronghold of the semicircular arch which expands hard by in the Loggia, where Orgagna (if indeed he built it) was bold to discard the cusped ornaments of his tabernacle in Or San Michele, and let his work stand free in the strength of the coming Renaissance. Roman, Romanesque, and Renaissance : these are the three “ R’s ” of Italian architecture. J. Wood Brown. Current Architecture. House at Wendover. — This house has just been built for Sir Thomas Barlow, Bart. It stands in a bend of the downs, the entrance front looking north over the Aylesbury plain. The piers and railings (shown in the view of this side) will be connected with the house by yew hedges when the laying out of the grounds is completed. The south front will overlook a formal flower garden, backed by low hills. The house is built of local red brick and flints, the stonework being Doulting stone. The roof is tiled. Both bricks and tiles vary in colour, and are mingled at hazard, with the object of keeping the house as quiet in tone as possible, the site being bare of trees. The architects are Messrs. Marshall and Vickers ; the builders, Messrs. Webster and Cannon, of Aylesbury. 74 C u rren t A rch it edit re . HOUSE AT WEN DOVER, BUCKS. ENTRANCE FRONT. MARSHALL AND VICKERS, ARCHITECTS. Current A rchitecture 75 MARSHALL AND VICKERS, Current Architecture. 7 6 CROVND FLOOR ■ PLAN • ^ : ) I,,? _ I? _ m _ 22 _ tZ _ _ 5L HOUSE AT WENDOVEK, BUCKS. MARSHALL AND VICKERS, ARCHITECTS. 1 Lodge and Entrance Gates, Foots Cray Place, Kent. — This forms the principal entrance to a fine Classic mansion erected in 1750, now the resi¬ dence of Mr. S. J. Waring, jun. The external walls are of Bath stone (Monks Park), lined with brick in cement, a 2-in. cavity intervening ; the internal walls are also of brick in cement. The roof is covered with green Westmore¬ land slates from the “ Tilberthwaite ” quarries ; the ridge is of lead. The windows are filled in with wood sashes painted white, and doors painted a pale green ; the rain-water pipes and heads are of wrought lead to special design. The work was executed by Mr. Thomas Knight, builder, of Sidcup, the en¬ trance gates, which are of fine wrought- iron work, being by Messrs. Singer and Sons, of Frome ; all specially designed by the Architect, Mr. R. Frank Atkinson. PI an 10 5 5cale Xo feet" PLAN OF LODGE AND ENTRANCE GATES, FOOTS CRAY PLACE, KENT. R. FRANK ATKINSON, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecturc 77 VOL. XIII.— F FRANK ATKINSON, ARCHITECT. Books. 'JpHE DICTIONARY OF ARCHITECTURE. ,:A Dictionary of Architecture and Building; Biographical, Historical, and Descriptive." Edited by Russell Sturgis, A.M., Ph. D. In 3 Vols., price 25s. each net. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited. The “ Dictionary of Architecture and Build¬ ing,” which Mr. Russell Sturgis and his fellow-workers have produced, is an unusually interesting and com¬ plete book of reference. The articles cover a very wide range, and the most important are written by men whose names are a guarantee of historical ac¬ curacy. The administrative aspect of the “ business ” of modern architecture has but an ephemeral interest, and might perhaps with advantage have been pre¬ sented in a more condensed form. The only English work of the kind, “The Dictionary of Architecture,” compiled by the Architectural Publication Society, has the disadvantage of being in six large volumes, and is not so well arranged for reference ; its informa¬ tion on many subjects is moreover already a little antiquated. The aim of the new Dictionary is to be not only extremely handy and thoroughly up to date, but by means of “alphabetical arrangement carried to minute sub-division and cross-references in abund¬ ance ” to make it easy for the student to obtain an outline of a subject, and also to compile a list of most of the works bearing on it. Mr. Russell Sturgis and Mr. Robert Gibson deal respectively with the architect in America and Eng¬ land. These articles are concerned mainly with his training and functions as a “professional man”; we gather that in America he is nowadays “primarily the fiduciary agent whose business it is to administer the funds committed to his charge.” In England he appears still to cherish the rags of tradition, and to attempt to “ engraft upon the outgrowth of the living world as much as he can of a past archaeological flora, even at the sacrifice of some of the more modern tendencies.” These generalisations may perhaps be considered more as representing to some extent the popular view than as a statement of facts. There is, as we know, a great deal of modern American work which proves that in reality the American architect takes his art seriously, and is as little disposed, as are English architects, to fill the role of entrepreneur. Indeed, Mr. Montgomery Schuyler, writing in a later article on the architecture of the United States, em¬ phasises this point, and in criticising the modern country house claims that the American architect, by giving to material and methods of construction an appropriate architectural expression, has really de¬ veloped a vernacular type “which, being of no style, yet has style.” He even sees great possibilities in the “tall building,” the qualities of which our insular minds have been slow to recognise, when the problems of construction are carried by serious architects beyond the point which now satisfies the “practitioners.” It appears, from Mr. Sturgis’s article on bricklay¬ ing, that “trade customs” are not unknown in America. There is, for example, an amusing little lament that the bricklayer’s “ custom ” is to use the minimum of mortar, and this is defended on the grounds that unless there are interstices to allow the water to trickle away, the internal face will be affected ! The “ custom ” is not wholly confined to America, but the slower wit of the English workman could never have invented so ingenious a defence. The architecture of Asia Minor from the fifth cen¬ tury, b.c., to the end of the twelfth century, a.d., is dealt with in an interesting article by Mr. Phene Spiers, who contributes also most valuable accounts of Imperial Roman, Persian, and Syrian work. The origin, characteristics and history of Byzantine architecture are very ably treated by Professor Hamlin, who presents the subject clearly and concisely. He considers that the chief distinction of Byzantine archi¬ tecture is “ the revolution in structural design brought about by the invention of the dome on pendentives, and Sancta Sophia, its greatest achievement, as one of the really great buildings of the world.” Owing, however, to the fact that the Eastern Empire declined before the culmination of the arts, it never carried the early principles of construction to their logical con¬ clusion. Professor Hamlin also contributes other important articles on Indian, Moslem, and Scottish architecture. Under the heading “ Church ” is given a useful list of the principal churches in Europe, with approximate dates of foundation, notable additions or re-building. Mr. Lethaby, in his extremely suggestive article on modern design, lays down as a fundamental principle “ the expressive use of materials for the satisfaction of worthy needs,” and insists that old monuments should be studied as essays in practical building with a view to estimating the value of their structural methods for the needs and materials of to-day. We have been so much accustomed to study architecture from the archaeological point of view and to its pre¬ sentation as an art of tabulated styles, that we have almost forgotten that its history is really a record of the struggles with problems of construction. The expression of the true constructional functions of columns, arches, vaults, domes, has inevitably shaped the building and confined the design or intention of their builders within the limits of this expression. It must not, however, be inferred that Mr. Lethaby is suggesting a retrograde movement, and advocating a primitive and rudimentary architecture, ignoring all that has gone before ; he very truly observes that “ Within the phenomena of the architectural styles there are certain large principles common to all vital periods, and it is these principles which will still form the positive conditions of modern architecture.” And “ he who at this time knows best what the constant spirit of past art has been knows best what its future may be.” To see ourselves as others see us is always instruc¬ tive, and when that view is in the main so sympa¬ thetic as Mr. Clipston Sturgis’s, there is little to cavil Books. 79 at. His article on English architecture is a most able one. One gathers that the essentially English character of our national Gothic appeals strongly to his imagination, while that of France he considers a more logical, scientific, and complete art. He argues that the aims of the English cathedral builders and those of the French were different. He writes, “ The first impetus of Gothic came as did that of Roman¬ esque from across the Channel” (from Normandy, a country which he describes as “quite as much English as it was French ”), “ but like its Norman predecessor, it took on a distinct impress and character at the hands of the English. They showed no more enthu¬ siasm over problems of vaulting than they had over the dome,” and further, “ in all the architectural his¬ tory of England one must be impressed by the fact that architecture, as a science, was not practised in England, but that, as an art, it called forth the best energies of the Nation,” but “with the French, Gothic was a scientific building, and their superb abilities were directed, were concentrated on the achievement of the perfectly balanced vault.” There is doubtless much truth in this view, but “ art ” and “ science ” •would seem to be too sharply opposed. The English domestic work with “ its sobriety, directness of pur¬ pose, its unambitious qualities, and its lack of pre¬ tentiousness,” receives its full measure of praise, but he is not sparing in his condemnation of the “ superb foolish and wholly un-English work of Vanbrugh and the men of the early eighteenth century,” with its open colonnades entirely unsuited to the English climate and its wasteful and often embarrassing symmetry, in fact he does not hesitate to condemn Blenheim as “ a superb example of folly seeking vain- gloriously for fine effects, and neglecting wholly the fundamental aim of sound architecture.” This whole¬ sale condemnation of the English Renaissance work betrays a bias which, however natural, is a little out of place in a work of this kind. Of Inigo Jones and Wren he has little to say, but no record of archi¬ tecture in England can be complete, which ignores the fine work of these masters, and lumps it with that of the amateurs and formalists who succeeded them ; it had a most important influence, and set a type which was followed throughout the country, a type moreover which was definitely English. In his general summing up, Mr. Sturgis pays this flattering tribute to the national character of our architecture: “Not¬ withstanding shortcomings and faults, no country contains in itself a more precious architectural heri¬ tage than England ; for, if it teaches no great lessons of art, it is yet instinct with all those qualities that have made England great, and every stone tells the history of a people who for all time have stood for freedom and justice, for honesty and uprightness.” It seems a little ungracious in the face of such a testimonial to take exception to the opinion that our architecture teaches no great lessons in art. We are all probably agreed that the science of French Gothic was ahead of that of England, and experiment was indeed carried to the extreme verge of safety ; but as an expressive building art English Gothic has cer¬ tainly many lessons to teach. Mr. Clipstone Sturgis also contributes a short article on “ English Roman¬ esque.” Mr. W. P. P. Longfellow in his article on Greco- Roman Architecture, attempts the defence of the Romans against the charge of having tampered with the sanctity of the Greek orders ; he does not deny the fact, but points out that the Romans were not artists in form as were the Greeks ; they accepted “ the orders ” as their natural heritage, but could not be content with the limitations imposed by them ; he considers, however, that the result fully justified the departure from strict tradition, and that Roman archi¬ tecture is “ a much greater intellectual achievement,’ “its problems were more complex and difficult, its conceptions grander, its combinations more inventive and interesting.” Greek work was more limited in its range than Roman, but it is impossible to imagine anything more intellectual than its absolute purity and refined beauty. Having fixed upon the simple post and lintel treatment they were content to leave it at that, and lavish their best energies in a constant refining. They sought no fresh fields for the display of their building genius, attempted little that was complex. As Mr. Longfellow says, “The habit of cumulative design seems to have been foreign to the Greeks ; of Roman architecture, as would appear, this was the strong side, and it is doubtful whether any¬ thing has surpassed the majesty of its great combina¬ tions.” We need not defend the Romans for their vigour and want of delicate perception, nor apologize for the culture and refinement of the Greeks. The characters of both came out in their buildings, and it is quite natural to find them entirely different. Professor Frothingham, jun., and Mr. S. Sa fiord Fiske deal exhaustively with the architecture of Italy, and the fourteen articles treating respectively with Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Venetia, Emilia, The Marches, Tuscany, Umbria, Latium, Abruzzi and Molise, Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, and Calabria review the work of each province historically and criti¬ cally instead of dealing with the country as a whole. Italy is such a vast storehouse of art, and its phases of architecture are so many and various, that only by such an arrangement could any clear idea be given and the difficulty of overlapping be avoided. Mr. Alexander Graham contributes a most useful article on the Architecture of North Africa, in which he says that notwithstanding the labours of many dis¬ tinguished archseologists, “ there cannot be said to be any continuous history of North Africa as recorded by its monuments. ’ The remains of the great structural works in Carthage he attributes to the Greeks, and considers that the fine arts were not indigenous ; and although the streets of the old city are still unexca¬ vated, all claim to a native architecture may be dismissed. Mr. Russell Sturgis wrestles with the thorny pro¬ blem of “ Restoration,” and the early part of his article seems almost to be an apologia for the restorer ; “ it was,” he says, “ natural to remove from a church of the thirteenth century an organ loft which had been 8o Books. put up in the 18th ; ” later on, however, we have the sounder doctrine that “ Buildings should be stayed up, fastened together, held in place,” but nothing more; “ no modern work whatever shall be put upon them in the way of rebuilding, carving, painting, or the like.” This is, of course, excellent so far as it goes, but if nothing is to be added to falsify the history of the building, neither must its record be mutilated by removal ; his view that on the whole the restorations of the great French cathedrals has been judicious can hardly be endorsed ; many are, or have been, suffering a deliberate process of scraping and reworking. This passion for neatness and newness is gradually but surely destroying their value. Chartres is assuming a jaunty and youthful air. The priceless glass is being taken out, washed, flattened, and re-leaded. Almost everywhere this ruthless “ restoration ” is going on, and in a few more years the glory of many a fine building will be no more than a memory. “Truth in Architecture,” Mr. Henry Rutgers Marshall defines as “ The expression, in design, of the essential facts of the plan and structure.” He then goes on to say that although “there is a great aesthetic value in certain expressions of constructional function, to claim that the expression of constructional function is necessarily aesthetic is certainly impossible, for, were this true, all scientific engineering would have architectural value, which manifestly is not the case.” It is doubtful if anyone has seriously claimed this, and it is quite true, of course, that an engineering work of merely mathematical exactness may have little or no aesthetic value ; but French engineers, at any rate, have added to this scientific exactness a certain grace, an almost Greek refinement and nice adjustment of parts, and have produced iron structures, which, although we may be shy of calling them architecture, have nevertheless a distinct beauty “ after their kind,” a beauty as different from that of a stone building, as both the material and its possibilities are different. The conclusion he arrives at is that “ this construc¬ tional and practical worth may quite properly be subordinated to other elements which are incom¬ patible with it, provided that the latter, without it, are capable of producing aesthetic results which with it would be impossible of achievement.” This seems to mean that the constructional expression may be ignored if it happens to interfere with a preconceived “ design.” It is difficult to understand how a building can be aesthetically satisfying when the expression of its chief function is deliberately subordinated. The book is very fully illustrated by a large number of excellent photographs and drawings ; many of the latter are of English origin and of familiar aspect. By a curious oversight, Nesfield, whose book “Sketches from France and Italy,” has been very largely drawn upon, and whose position as an archi¬ tect of undisputed talent gives him a place among the “ Immortals,” receives no biographical notice, al¬ though scattered throughout the Dictionary are many short accounts of the life and work of men of less eminence. The articles, as a whole, are adequate, and many of them are of exceptional interest. Mr. Russell Sturgis has not only proved himself to be a most skilful and tactful editor, but has also con¬ tributed a great many useful and able articles, in addition to nine out of the ten devoted to the archi¬ tecture of France ; and he is to be congratulated on the completion of a work which contains much new matter, is excellently arranged, and is as complete on the scientific aspect of architecture, and the “ profes¬ sional practice ” of to-day, as it is in everything dealing with its history. Ernest Newton. pRA ANGELICO. “Fra Angelico.” By Langton Douglas. Second Edition, 25 . nett. London : George Bell and Sons. One quiet Sunday afternoon in San Silvestro on Monte Cavallo, Michael Angelo was talking with his friends of religious painting, and he is reported to have said that “ in order to imitate to some extent the venerated image of our Lord it is not sufficient merely to be a great master in painting, and very wise, but I think that it is necessary for the painter to be very good in his mode of life, or even, if that were possible, a saint, so that the Holy Spirit may inspire his intellect.” We are persuaded that the great master had the Blessed Fra Angelico in his mind when he spoke these words, for the saying is true of him in both kinds — the master of San Marco was as good a painter as he was a monk ; and we welcome this new edition of the Monograph by Mr. Langton Douglas because he says so ; as far as we know, he is the first who has said so, plainly, since the time of Giorgio Vasari. Mr. Langton Douglas would not have us forget the judgment of the delightful bio¬ grapher, for he quotes the words we are thinking of at the very beginning of the introduction: “Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole . . . was no less pre¬ eminent as a painter and miniaturist than as a religious.” Mr. Langton Douglas makes an excel¬ lent remark at the end of Note 3, pp. 89, 90 : “Critics and commentators are too ready to conclude that they have convicted Vasari of inaccuracy.” We should like to see this sentiment expressed under the middle paragraph of page 3, “ And if a rich afterglow affected the imaginations of those Dominicans who in the succeeding age drew Fra Angelico’s portrait, surely the colour that the picture thus gained would lose nothing at the hands of Giorgio Vasari ! He was too fine a literary artist to spoil a beautiful story at the bidding of historical truth.” We do not believe a bit of it. Vasari never darkened counsel with words: he told us plainly what he thought and what the gossips of the Florentine workshops thought, in all singleness of heart ; mistakes he made, but they were due to slips of memory, to wrong information and to lack of time, for unfortunately he was very busy over his architecture and painting ; let us not slander him by calling him a “ literary artist ” if that means saying Books. 8 1 what he knew to be untrue. For our part we can believe all he tells us about Fra Angelico, down to the prayers he uttered whenever he took brush in hand. Surely many an artist to-day (not only the very saintly) must pray in secret for power to overcome the difficulties of his craft. We remember to have heard hurried cries for help out of the wrestle before their canvases, both to heaven, and — alas ! that we must say it — to another place as well. Mr. Langton Douglas guides us with devoted care through the long development of his hero ae the artist adds grace to grace culled from Nature and the an¬ tique, beginning with the miniature-like painting of his early period, of which the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (No. 1,290) in the Uffizi is per¬ haps the finest example ; and ending with the great histories of Saints Stephen and Laurence on the walls of the Chapel of Nicolas V. in the Vatican. No greater stride was ever made by any artist ! Fra Angelico seems to have been developing to the very end of his long life, and to have died, a growing boy, at the age of sixty-eight. We are always astonished when we see the date of his birth — 1387. Chronolo¬ gically he was the very first of the great revivalists of the quattro-cento, and, as Mr. Langton Douglas points out, he led the van of reform, but with such a gentle spirit that the critics have often classed him as the last of the Giottesques. His reverent nature would not throw down all tradition at a blow, but choosing the best, especially in technique, he infused new life into worn-out formula. Let any artist make a drawing of one of the heads of the saints from the Perugia altar-piece, and he will at once be convinced of the true mastery of Fra Angelico, his subtle draw¬ ing and modelling, and above all his broad containing line. He was never a very powerful draughtsman, but for subtle line and character in young heads he holds his own with all later artists ; among the latest an interesting comparison lies with the young Legros, in his religious works. Even the fine touch of Lorenzo de Credi ruined Fra Angelico’s altar-pieces at San Domenico. One misapprehension we must notice in the descrip¬ tion of the Last Judgment, in the Academy, on page 51. The angels are said to be dancing “hand- in-hand ” in the blessed fields full of flowers, whereas they are dancing hand-in-hand with mortals who have put on immortality, blessed souls clothed in bright raiment and crowned with wreaths of roses, white and red, one soul between every two angels. The angels may be known by their wings and heavenly halos. The ceremony appears to be that each soul shall be individually welcomed to the celestial fields by his guardian angel (we like to think) ; his angel leads him as partner to the “ Ballo dei angeli,” and on completing the round escorts him through rays of light to the Celestial City, the only exception being two souls of monks, a Dominican and a Franciscan (Saint Dominic and Saint Francis), who walk together in holy converse along the pleasant paths of Paradise. All this agrees even more closely with the glorious rondel, may we call it, of Jacopone da Todi, which is rightly quoted in full, and might be printed in golden letters : — “ In quella rota vanno i santi Et li angiol’ tutti quanti — ” One other point we think Mr. Langton Douglas does not allude to, but it may be that his greater knowledge of the Giottesques silences him. We believe Fra Angelico was the first to illuminate heaven from the Source of all light. The light in his picture of the Risen Christ surrounded by His Saints (No. 663), in the National Gallery, radiates from the figure of Christ, the saints and angels on His right are lit from the right, those on His left from the left ; and so also in the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (No. 1,290) in the Uffizi, the rays of light follow the engraved lines of the glory behind the Christ. As a rule Fra Angelico insists upon the Giottesque prin¬ ciple of lighting his wall-paintings from the light of the building in which they are painted to a most realistic extreme, as, for instance, in the very long cast shadows to the capitals of the pilasters in the picture of the Madonna of the Corridor in San Marco, where the faces too are lit with a raking light, any¬ thing but becoming, as if they were really standing there illuminated by the distant window at the end of the corridor. The good Frate was, however, in a difficulty when he painted the great Transfiguration in one of the cells near by. Here the supernatural personages are lit from the direction of the natural light, the window of the cell, and so are the three Apostles at the foot ; the Saint Peter comes aright, for he is beyond the Christ, and the lighting does not contradict the glory of the Transfiguration ; Saint John, however, is between the Christ and the window of the cell, but his face receives a strong reflected light from the glory. All the wonderful light effects in these paintings in San Marco are produced by the simplest means, the Crucifixion in the Corridor, for instance, is painted with the fewest possible colours ; the light grey plaster ground forms the greater part of the sky, landscape and middle tint of the light part of the robe of Saint Dominic, the shadows are lightly drawn in brown and the high lights put on with fine strokes of white, making as solid a monk as we could wish. The portraits of Saint Dominic at the foot of the Cross, so often repeated, are all different ; can it be that they are portraits of the monks occupying the cells in the painter’s time ? The Frate’s naturalistic treatment of the naked human figure is religious in its exactitude, down to the very hair growing on the body, which is drawn and copied from nature hair by hair with a decorative devotion to truth, even in these pictures of the Cruci¬ fied Saviour. Another instance of naturalism is the way the grain of the wood is differentiated in the crosses, and especially in the ladder used at the Depo¬ sition, in the Academy ; the rungs are of a different wood to the uprights ; the nails, too, in this picture are silvered to make them more real. The painting of the saints and angels in the frame of this picture is so beautiful that it may be compared to the painting of 82 Correspondence . the flowers in the frame of the Gentile da Fabriano opposite, but the Fra Angelico is as light as the Gen¬ tile is dark. To date a picture from the architecture represented in it would, we fancy, be rather a dangerous expedient, but we confess it appears to lead to just conclusions in this instance. It is so easy for a painter to try fan¬ tastic experiments with bricks and mortar that he may sometimes record ideas of architecture before they were put into solid form, especially when architect and painter were the same person, as was often the case. We seem to remember classical details and even “obtuse-angled pediments ” in Giotto, and pin¬ nacles surmounted by classical statues. We think it was unnecessary for Mr. Langton Douglas to depreciate the Florentine School “ from Uccello to Michael Angelo,” as he does in his “ Con¬ clusions ” in order to exalt his hero. The works of these great artists are not to be circumscribed by our modern cant of pictorial and literary motives ; as long as the scientific or even literary ideas are treated with the artist spirit they are good in painting, as, for instance, the perspective pictures of Pietro di Borgo and the fables of Bellini, to take other schools than the Florentine. Or, again, the wrestle of Hercules with Antaeus by Pollaiuolo of that school — all depends on the way it is done. The interesting pages referring to landscape art are not convincing to us, at least as regards the effects of distance ; we do not feel the power of the third dimension of space in any Florentine work. Fra Angelico, Alessio Baldovinetti, and all of them, made their distances by adding small quantities of white and grey to each plane as it receded ; even the limit¬ less atmospheres of Lionardo da Vinci affect us much in the same way as the series of planes of shallower and shallower relief in the gates of Ghiberti, and not as the actual space of Titian’s backgrounds. We quite agree with Mr. Langton Douglas in his contention that Benozzo Gozzoli had little to do with the frescoes in the Chapel of Nicolas V. Never in all his life, even in his best time, could Benozzo Gozzoli have designed such big backgrounds or such grand and simple figures as may there be seen, the final work of his master, Fra Angelico. Vasari was right when he described Benozzo Gozzoli : “ Although he was not of great excellence as compared with many who surpassed him in design, yet he distanced others of his age by his perseverance, and among the quantity of works produced some are necessarily good,” good to us that may mean ; he painted at least something loved by each one of us, so we have a kindly feeling for him; but his crowded, crumpled towns and his ill-drawn grimacing figures are as unlike the frescoes of the chapel of Nicolas V. as the work of a devoted pupil can be unlike the work of his master. We have tried to say what we can to support Mr. Langton Douglas in his contention that Fra Angelico was a good artist as well as a good man, and we are glad to see this second edition of his work, for we hope it means many converts to his teaching, and no better study than the art of Fra Angelico, in its purity and soberness, can be recommended to a dis¬ tracted modern. Charles Holroyd. Correspondence. We insert the following correspondence relating to the articles on the Cathedral of Siena, (i) by Mrs. Richter (The Architectural Review, September, 1901) and (2) by Professor Langton Douglas (The Architectural Review, November, 1902). I. — BY LOUISE M. RICHTER. It has been said, and not without reason, that the Duomo of Siena is an edifice that bears the evi¬ dence of its date in itself. There is certainly no doubt that, like other sacred buildings in Italy, “ it grew out of an earlier construction by successive modifications and additions.” * We can only solve the question, why it has been built such as it stands before us now, by concluding that final results must have been quite unpremeditated in its original design. To what an extent some of the earlier elements of Gothic art have been grafted on the existing Lombard-Romanesque stock, is proved, for instance, by the ribbed vaultings which are brought together with functional groupings of support in the interior. Charles Herbert Moore, in referring to the Cathedral of Siena as the first in * Norton “Historical Studies of Church Building,’’ p. 91. date amongst the more important Gothic buildings in Italy, goes even so far as to say that in the interior it exhibits no more advanced organic character than the naves of St. Ambrogio of Milan and of San Michele of Pavia — both supposed to have been built 200 years earlier. This amply proves how much the Sienese Cathedral has retained its Lombard-Roman¬ esque character. But it is, therefore, none the less Gothic in its architecture, since it has been shown I that Gothic is an art, not only derived from Roman¬ esque, but that it is Romanesque completely de¬ veloped. In default of reliable documentary evidence we must judge architecture by very much the same rules of art criticism that guide us in judging old pictures which bear no name and no date. The statement of Mala- volti, a Sienese historian of the time of the Renais¬ sance, that a new cathedral was begun at Siena in 1245, has no other documentary support, except that money was spent on the Duomo and workmen paid in * •' Development and Character of Gothic Architecture,’’ P- 275- f Charles Herbert Moore “ Development and Character of Gothic Architecture,” p. 9. Correspondence. 1246. This, according to an entry in the Nuovo Document!*, may just as likely imply that alterations with regard to that building were energetically taken in hand at that time. There is certainly no evidence to prove that the old Cathedral, which had been dedi¬ cated in the 12th century by the Sienese Pope Alex¬ ander III., was entirely demolished so as to make room for a new cathedral,! as has been surmised by Mr. Lang- ton Douglas and other writers on Siena. The evidence that “ Stilkritik ” affords us, lies, in fact, much rather the other way. It tells us that in Siena, as was the case with so many other cathedrals in Italy, the Duomo underwent a gradual process of modification and alteration, and that the earlier Gothic elements, such as are perceptible in the interior of the church, must have been engrafted on the older structure long before 1245, and even before the Cistercian monks built the Abbey churches of Casamari and Fos- sanova. The same tale is told by the Campanile built upon the solid foundations of one of those towers of defence which in the mediaeval times formed so essential a part of the city. When the Cistercian monks came to the neighbour¬ hood of Siena to build the abbey church of San Galgano, some of them, as is well known, were subse¬ quently summoned to Siena to act as architects of the Siena Cathedral. Not, however, to transform it after the model of their church at San Galgano, but simply to go on with such alterations as had been begun and carried on by earlier architects. It was then that some elements of the Burgundian Gothic were intro¬ duced, now chiefly perceptible on the exterior of the building. With Giovanni Pisani came the Pisan influence, so evident in the decoration of black and white marble. Later on, in 1315, in order to add a new choir, an enlargement towards the eastern side of the cathedral was resolved on, and at the same time also the build¬ ing of a new baptistry, which was to be like the old one, an integral part of the Cathedral. This work, begun with great energy under Camaino di Crescen- tino, was at one time interrupted, but boldly brought to completion about 1333, in spite of serious terri¬ torial difficulties. We may, therefore, fairly surmise that also the choir, so essential a part in the functions of the church, was completed under Camaino di Cres- centino, who, according to Milanesi, remained in the service of the Duomo until 1338.! This does not, how¬ ever, exclude that later on again alterations may have been undertaken with regard to the choir, and not completed till 1370, as Veri di Donato, not always a reliable chronicler, states in Muratori. So anxious were the Sienese to outvie Pisa, Lucca and the rival city Florence, that again in 1339 they decided that a new Cathedral should be raised. But here again the plan was not entirely to demolish what already existed, but was to be limited to the construc¬ tion of a new nave with double aisles on the southward * “Nuovo Document! di S. Borgese and L. Baueli,” p. 4. t Langton Douglas, “ History of Siena,’’ p. 273. t “ Milanesi Document! ” Tomo I., p. 183. 83 side of the old nave, which was thus intended to be converted into a transept. This huge plan, however, was, as is well known, doomed never to be carried out. We may finally state that in Siena, perhaps more rapidly than in any other Italian Cathedral, did the northern Gothic subsequently develop into what is generally styled the Italian Gothic, that lofty and serene architecture which, instead of superseding its predecessors, rather clung to the older lines, crowning the rounded arch with the pointed gable. But how well the Sienese architects knew also to create the so-called purer Gothic, is shown by the eastern much more than by the western facade of their Duomo, and more especially by those noble ruins on the south side, now the only record of what might have been the finest Gothic temple in Italy. II.— BY LANGTON DOUGLAS. In my article on Siena Cathedral,* I called in question two statements of Mrs. Richter in regard to that building. I also mildly complained that she had quoted a document not quite accurately, when, in fact, she had made six mistakes in transcribing a passage but five or six lines in length. The first assert i m of hers that I disputed was this : — “ The Cathedral of Siena is the oldest Gothic building in Italy ; as such it marks a new era in the history of Italian architec¬ ture, and with it the Gothic style makes its first appearance on this side of the Alps.” Whatever signification be assigned to the term “ Gothic,” this statement, I hold, is indefensible. The Cathedral of Siena, as Mrs. Richter agrees, is a Romanesque structure upon which certain Gothic elements were superimposed. Documents prove that none of these purely Gothic elements — that is to say, the clerestory windows, the external decoration, and the fagade — were of an earlier date than 1259. And, as the tyro in the study of Gothic architecture knows, the Gothic churches of Chiaravalie di Castagnola and Fossanova were then more than half a century old. Mrs. Richter now contends, however, that the earlier structural portions of Siena Cathedral are Gothic because they are Romanesque. “Gothic,” she quotes — and in a sense the statement is a truism — “is but Romanesque completely developed.” Therefore, she concludes, it is right to call a Roman¬ esque church “a Gothic building.” It might just as reasonably be argued that it is right to call an ape a man, or a chrysalis a butterfly. But let that pass. Let us admit for the sake of argument that it is right to call a Romanesque cathedral a Gothic building, and let us further admit — an opinion I hold to be even more erroneous — that the old twelfth-century church was incorporated in its entirety in the thirteenth- century Duomo. All this being granted, it yet remains indefensible to say that with the Siena Cathedral “ the Gothic style makes its first appearance on the southern side of the Alps.” For there are many North Italian buildings in which are to be found all * The Architectural Review, December, 1902. 84 Correspondence. the principal elements common to the Lombard- Romanesque and the Burgundian-Gothic styles, which are of a much earlier date than the earliest assigned to the existing Cathedral of Siena. The second statement of Mrs. Richter which I objected to was her assertion that the choir of Siena Cathedral- the existing choir above the Baptistery — was finished before 1318. * From the year 1310 to the year 1318, Camaino da Crescentino was the chief architect of the Duomo. After that date, up to his death in 1338, there is evidence to show that he received at least occasional employment from the Opevai, but he no more directed the work upon the Cathedral and Baptistery. Mrs. Richter runs away from her former statement, and now maintains that the choir was finished, not in 1318, but about 1333. But this revised conclusion is as erroneous as her original statement. For there is clear documentary proof that the choir above S. Giovanni was yet unfinished in 1356. In a document of that year, Domenico d’Agostino and Niccolo di Cecco, two distinguished architects who had been consulted by the Sienese authorities, advised the Opevai “ to complete the addition which is above San Giovanni, on which men are now at work.”f Mrs. Richter attempts to strengthen her untenable “surmise” by unjustifiably throwing discredit upon Neri di Donato’s veracity. She is probably not aware that Neri was living in Siena at the time when the present choir and facade were being built, and that he took an intelligent interest in the architectural O work that was being carried on. Neri is in the best sense of the term, a first-hand witness, for he was a diarist rather than a chronicler ; and no competent historian capable of dealing with documentary sources has ever regarded him as an unreliable authority on the local events of his own time. Mrs. Richter again shows an inadequate knowledge of the documentary evidence relating to the history of the Duomo, in her reference to the great unfinished cathedral that the Sienese planned in the fourteenth century. She states that this plan was “ limited to the construction of a new nave.” That, it is true, was the original plan, but it was soon found to be impracticable : it was discovered that, in order to complete this new church, it would be necessary to pull down the campanile, the cupola, and all the vaults of the old church.” J It is always a matter of surprise to me that practical architects could ever have arrived at any other conclusion. This work of destruction was never carried out. For the Sienese were unable to realise their great plan, and they * Richter: Siena, Berlin and Leipzig, 1901, p. 37: — XJnter Camainos Leitung ( bis 1318) scheint der Chovbau zu ende gefuhrt zu sein. . . . Fortunately Mrs. Richter's admirable account of Sienese art contains few mistakes of this kind. f Arch, di Stato, Siena, Arch, dell' i pera del Duomo, Libro di Documenti Artistici, Documento, No. 5. See Milanesi, Documenti, Tomo I„ p. 252. + See the document referred to above. Milanesi, op. cit„ Tomo I., p 252. decided to complete and to beautify the older Duomo, the present Cathedral. It is possible that some portion of the twelfth- century church, of which I have spoken in my History of Siena, was incorporated in the great cathedral which the Sienese began to build in honour¬ able rivalry with neighbouring cities, in the great age of the communes, the thirteenth century. But both documents and stilkritik alike, show that but a very small part of the church Alexander III is said to have consecrated, can have been embodied in the thirteenth century edifice. The application of stilkritik has led those architectural experts of America, France, and England who have written fully upon the subject of Siena Cathedral, to speak of it as a thirteenth century building. Moreover, Mrs. Richter herself, in her Siena, published in 1901, speaks of the “new church ”* that the Sienese began in “ the thirteenth century.” This conclusion she herself arrived at by the methods of stilkritik after two lengthy periods of resi¬ dence in Siena. And it is this new church that she said was “the oldest Gothic building in Italy.” Rather than confess her mistake, she now denies the results of her previous prolonged study of the Duomo ; and, although she has not, I understand, visited Siena since her book was published, advances the theory that a great part of the twelfth-century church was preserved. For the same reason, she includes the Romanesque style under the term Gothic. But, in reality, Mrs. Richter still gives the existing “Gothic” church a later date even than I do! In my article I showed that the employment of layers of black and white marble which prevails in the most essential parts of the structure of the Cathedral was due to Pisan influence.! Mrs. Richter now seeks “to go one better,” if I may say so without discourtesy, and asserts that this feature in the Cathedral is due to Giovanni Pisano ! J Mrs. Richter’s use of stilkritik leads to curious results. She admits that the pointed windows of the clerestory were the work of Cistercian architects, and were built between 1259 and 1272. But the striped piers which support the clerestory were not completed, she holds, until after 1288, the year in which Giovanni Pisano was appointed chief architect. From which it follows that an application of critical tests leads to the conclusion that Siena in the thirteenth century was a kind of topsy-turvy land, and that the building of the Duomo began at the top. * Das neue Gotteshaus — Richter, Siena, 1901, p. 34- f See The Architectural Review, November, 1902, pp. 183 and 184. + Contemporary documents prove that these stripes were in existence long before Giovanni Pisano was born. In my History of Siena, and also in my article in this Review, I stated that the date when the thirteenth century church was begun was un¬ known. I have now in my possession documentary evidence, which I shall shortly publish, pointing to the conclusion that this church was begun in the third decade of the thirteenth century, THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, MARCH, I903, VOLUME XIII. NO. 76. FIG. i.— ALFRED STEVENS’S FULL-SIZE MODEL IN PLASTER EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. AS DESIGNED TO BE SEEN FROM THE NAVF. The Wellington Monument of Alfred Stevens. A Description, with Illustrations, of the existing Models and Drawings for the Equestrian Statue. I do not propose, in the present notice, to return upon the personal and official history of the Wellington Monument, or to enter upon the personal issues raised by the action of the Com- miitee for its completion ; my object is to place before the public, so far as it can be done by illus¬ trations, with explanatory notes, the material from the hand of Stevens that exists for carrying out the equestrian statue, and for tracing the his¬ tory of the design. In the absence of ocular evidence, statements on one side or the other cannot be checked, and the reader is confused by words like “ sketch ” and “ model,” which do not convey to him any exact idea of the facts. The small sketch-model, made for the competi¬ tion in 1857, familiar enough to visitors at the South Kensington Museum ; but very few people have ever seen the full-size model, the work of Stevens’s later years. It has been preserved, since his death, in the crypt of St. Paul’s ; the casual visitor did not see it there, because it was covered up ; and even when it was uncovered, the bad light, its closeness to the wall, and the absence of the Duke’s head, which Mr. Stannus had sawn off and preserved separately for greater security, made it difficult to form an exact idea of the design and of its condition. A drawing of this model, by Mr. John Watkins, with the head still attached, was published in Sir Walter (then Mr.) Armstrong’s “Alfred Stevens: a Biogra¬ phical Study.* This gives a fair notion of the general design from one point of view. In 1901 a small flash-light photograph of the model, as it appeared in the crypt, was published in Black and White, and this was re-published recently. In this, naturally, the head was missing. So far as I am aware, no other reproduction has appeared, so that the model is fully published for the first time in these pages. We have not reproduced Stevens’s pen-and-ink sketches of the whole * “ Librairie de 1’Art,” Paris and London, 1881. The sub¬ stance of this book, the first on Stevens, had appeared in I’Art. It is now out of print, and somewhat scarce. The later book, by Mr. Hugh Stannus, Alfred Stevens and his Work, is a folio published by the Autotype Company, 1891, at £6 6s. It contains a splendid series of reproductions from the artist’s work, as well as the fullest account of his life that has been given. No reproduction of the full-sized model of the horse, however, is included, nor any of the sketch-model or of the monument as it stands. monument under the arch at St. Paul’s. They are exhibited at South Kensington and St. Paul’s, and a tracing of one of them is given in Mr. Stannus’s work. The first care of the Committee, when they had obtained possession of the large model, was to have it accurately piece-moulded and thus reproduced in facsimile. The head was reproduced in the same way, and fitted on in accordance with the marks made for this purpose. Stevens’s plaster, which will remain, of course, absolutely untouched, rests for the present where it was, till it has been decided where it can best be disposed for safe keeping and public inspection. Our photographs are taken from the facsimile of this model, nothing what- F1G. 2. — THE EQUESTRIAN HGURE FROM THE SMALL SKETCH MODEL AT SOUTH KENSINGTON. (Com fare Fig. 11.) VOL. XIII.— G 2 The Wellington Monument of Alfred Stevens FIG. 3.-THE FULL-SIZE MODEL. FRONT VIEW The Wellington Monument of Alfred Stevens. 89 FIG. 4— THE FULL-SIZE MODEL. ANOTHER VIEW 9° The Wellington Monument of A Ifred Stevens. FIG. 5.— THE FULL-SIZE MODEL AS DESIGNED TO BE SEEN FROM THE NORTH AISLE. ever having been done to remove even those acci¬ dental roughnesses which arise from the rather careless joints of the piece-moulding in Stevens’s plaster. This, then, is the equestrian group so far as Stevens had completed it, and exactly as it passed from his studio after his death (Figs. 1, 3, 4> 5)- The reader is now in a position better to under¬ stand the references made to this model and to the original sketch-model in the statement of the Committee’s intentions. It will be seen that in several particulars the large model is defective. The near hind hoof is missing, leaving the leg short; the tail is a mere stump ; the drapery of the Duke The Wellington Monument of A If red Stevens. 9 1 fig. 6. — donatf.llo’s Gattamelata at padua. (■ Compare Fig. i.) is fractured, the fingers of the right hand broken, and there are some other minor defects, as well as accidental roughnesses of surface in the plaster. The sketch-model, however (Figs. 2 and 11), comes in to supplement the other. In particular it gives Stevens’s design for the treatment of the horse’s tail, a beautiful and characteristic feature. It also supplies the missing hoof, the tip of which touches the ground and gives a third point of support. It will be observed that there are variations in detail between the first sketch and the later model. The action of the horse differs some¬ what, the near fore-leg being more advanced, with slightly cabre effect ; more trappings are indicated in the sketch, the form and covering of the Duke’s legs is different, and, most noticeable of all, in the sketch he holds his cocked hat in his right hand above the horse’s neck, its feathers drooping to the mane ; in the plaster the hand is simply placed on the mane of the horse. The bridle, not actually given, is of course supposed by the action of the two hands. I will allow myself a little digression here. If the reader will compare a photograph of Donatello’s Gattamelata at Padua (Fig. 6), with this group bv Stevens he will see where he probably got the plas¬ tic motive of this detail, and indeed of the whole group. The growth of the one out of the other is a beautiful instance of how great art usually forms itself very closely on some preceding work, and is none the less original. The variations on the action of horse and man in Stevens’s group are in one sense slight, yet cumulatively amount to a new creation. The later design is as new a creature as the son of a man who preserves much of his father’s type. Donatello’s Condottiere stretches out his baton in a line that connects his arm with the horse’s neck. Stevens, with his eye for the possibilities of grand design in the ordinary thing, made the hat serve the same plastic office in a most interesting and beautiful way. The motive, moreover, according to a tradition that Mr. Clayton has preserved, was not only decora¬ tive. The idea was to represent the Duke at the moment of the final advance at Waterloo, when he gave the signal for the charge by lifting his hat.* In respect of some of these details the evidence seems to show that Stevens had simplified his design as time went on. At least we cannot be sure that he would have reintroduced them into his final model. We now find ourselves in face of the question. How far can this model be regarded as Stevens’s final and finished design ? His biographers, one of them closely concerned with him in the last stages of the monument, state clearly that he looked forward to the completion of his entire project, in spite of the refusal by the authorities at the time to admit the horse. How far can we accept the existing model as his last word ? To this question it may be replied that no man can be certain, with a fastidious lover of perfection like Stevens, that had he lived he would not have modified his project even in matters affecting its general design. But this is certain, that no man can affirm what changes, if any, of a radical kind Stevens would have made. We may, therefore, put aside all this region of conjecture as un¬ profitable. Stevens’s magnificent design is there, arrested, possibly, in some particulars by his death ; but in a shape that no living man, even if he had Stevens’s genius, would have the right to touch, supposing he had the desire. No equestrian statue ever erected has escaped criti¬ cism from the point of view of the action and anatomical details of the horse. Stevens’s will, like others, be the mark of such criticism. But, as Mr. Legros has well said, anyone who took in hand to correct a design by Stevens “ would cover himself with reprobation and ridicule.” Discussion, then, limits itself to the condition of the detailed modelling. How far had Stevens “finished” his model? Here the fact evidently is that he had not given the last refinements. The state of the hoof, the tail, the hands, the draperies, the mane, the holsters, and much of the surface modelling, speaks of a stage short of this. The head, fortunately, had been brought to a * Mr. Clayton has been good enough to give me the words of the [chroniclers who vouch for the incident. Hooper writes, “Wellington was seen to raise his hat with a noble gesture as the signal for the wasted line of heroes to sweep like a dark wave, and roll out their lines and columns over the plain." Cotton, an eye-witness, says more simply, “ The Duke stood on the ridge immediately in front of the line, with his hat raised in the air as a signal to advance." 92 The Wellington Monument of A If red Stevens. higher state of finish, and is a most interesting reading of the Duke as portrait sculpture. It is less the Iron Duke than the portrait on the cenotaph below, it is a younger and more genial face, and curiously like in some respects to the sketch by Goya that is now in the Print Room, and that was the occasion of the only encounter in which Wellington was put to flight.*' The rest of the work had not been wrought to that pitch. Stevens’s practice was to do a good deal of his final shaping by work upon the plaster with riffel-files and other scraping tools. He had probably learned this method of working under Thorwaldsen, whose assistant at one time he was, for a set of those tools belonging to Thorwaldsen is in existence. Parts of the horse show signs of having been modelled thus in the plaster, and there can be no doubt that Stevens would have taken up his details again and wrought them nearer to the degree of finish we find in the bronze of the allegorical groups. On the other hand we must remember that the horse will be farther from the eye than these groups, that at the height of the monument, and in the light of St. Paul’s the dif¬ ference between highly-finished detail, and detail short of that finish will be hardly discernible, and we may well suppose that Stevens would have treated his detail more broadly than in the case of a group to be seen at the level of the spectator’s eye. What appears rough, then, in a photograph of the cast taken in the latter circumstances, does not represent the effect at the given height, which will be an effect rather of mass, contour, and main shadows. All this in Stevens’s model is, thank God, determined. Finally, as I have already incidentally observed, there are certain accidental roughnesses of joints and surface in the plaster which are merely the result of imperfect casting, and which there is no reason for religiously conserving. Even the head is not free from these marks. I will only add now, that none of us really know, although we may surmise, what the effect of the model would be till it is tried in position, and that it will be reasonable to postpone all discussion of detail till that shall have been done. A word remains to be said about two illus¬ trations (8 and 9) which accompany the photo¬ graphs of the earlier and later models. The first of these is a drawing by Stevens. I came across it some years ago when examining the collec¬ tion of Mr. Herbert Singer, by whose courtesy it is published here. It belongs evidently to the earlier stages of the design, when Stevens was debating with himself the form to be given to one * According to the story, Goya objected to some criticism by the Duke, and taking down a large sword from the wall, chased him from the studio. KIG. 7. — HEAD OF THE DUKE FROM FULL-SIZE MODEL. or two features of the group. The drawing is not one of his studies from life, but a rough sketch for this special purpose. It is in red chalk, and over this he has made corrections in pencil for most of the contours, which are not distinguishable in a monochrome reproduction. In particular, he has- dropped the hand lower, and seems hesitating about the hat. He has also taken up the leg and made a more careful study of that. The other of these illustrations (Fig. 9) is a very interesting document. When Stevens had obtained the commission for the monument, he considered himself obliged by the terms of it to’ build up a full-sized solid model of the whole design for trial in situ, a work that cost him a great deal of time and money. This model was made partly of wood and partly of clay or plaster- Of this intermediate model no trace has yet been found, and the probability is that it was de¬ stroyed. But happily it was photographed, and one of these photographs has been preserved by Mr. J. R. Clayton, who has kindly allowed me to- reproduce it here. There are several interesting points about this photograph. If the reader will compare the views we give of the original sketch- model of the whole monument (Fig. 11) and of the monument as it now stands in St. Paul's (Fig. 10), he will see that the architectural form was considerably modified and the disposition, in relation to it, of the allegorical groups. There are different ways possible of reading Stevens’s JmSF-: 93 FIG. 8. 94 The Wellington Monument of Alfred Stevens. FIG. 9. — VIEW OF THE FULL-SIZE MODEL FOR THE MONUMENT, IN STEVENS’S STUDIO. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH IN POSSESSION OF MR. J. R. CLAYTON, WITH CORRECTIONS IN PENCIL BY STEVENS. The Wellington Monument of Alfred Stevens . 95 Photo: S. B. Bolus and Co. FIG. io.— ‘ THE MONUMENT AS IT NOW STANDS IN ST. PAUL’S. 96 The Wellington Monument of Alfred Stevens. Photo : S. B. Bolas and Co. FIG. II. — THE ORIGINAL SKETCH MODEL FOR THE MONUMENT (SOUTH KENSINGTON). motive in this change. He may have felt, when he saw his sketch set up, that it divided into too many distinct stages above the columns, and that the allegorical groups dropped too much below the waist of the design. He accordingly drew these up nearer the equestrian group, combining them more closely with the square structure that forms the present crown of the monument, and heightening his arch at the same time by giving it a sort of stilted hood, that breaks over what had been the base of the superstructure. I think in designing this feature he must have been influenced by those curious hooded arches that form so noticeable a feature in the filling between the piers of Wren’s dome. An alternative reading of his motive for the change that suggests itself to me, is that it was forced upon Stevens by the fact that his eques¬ trian statue was disallowed. Without it there was a danger that the square structure designed as its pedestal would appear unmeaning. He seems, therefore, to have determined on a compromise which would allow the monument to look reason¬ ably finished without the horse, and still permit of the horse eventually taking its place. I think any designer who compares the part below the allegorical groups with the same part in the original project will be driven to this conclusion. It was here that the compromise had to be paid for in a rather stretched elongation. The photo¬ graph here reproduced shows Stevens in the act of making the change. He had already raised the groups slightly by the gables under them, and inserted the stilts, and this photograph shows the whole design at a very fine moment. Over this photograph he has sketched, in pencil, just trace¬ able in our reproduction, the new disposition of the arch, and at the same time he has scribbled over the equestrian model and the allegorical group. 1 his equestrian model, by the way, wag evidently a fiat wooden one, enough to give the silhouette from one side and the other. The photograph appears to me to have been taken from a previous one, on which some corrections in paint had been made, and the sketch of the cathedral arches had been added in the same way over the background of Stevens’s studio. Yet another point is brought out by this photo¬ graph. It will be observed that on either side of the escutcheon in the square panel are models of supporting figures that appear neither in the sketch nor the finished work. These also are pencilled over, and it is not unlikely that Stevens may have felt compelled to relinquish a charming feature for want of funds. It is arguable, of course, that at the moment he preferred bareness at this point, in fear of competition with the allegorical groups. There are studies for the figures in the corner of Mr. Singer’s drawing, already described, as well as a sketch for the Valour. It is not beyond possibility that these models exist somewhere, and that the present notice may call the attention of the possessor to their identity. Stevens also altered the design of the small pedestal immediately below the horse, and his drawing for it has been preserved ; but into this and the question of his intention with regard to some other details of the monument I will not at present enter. I shall be glad, however, if anyone in a position to add details to the known history of the monument will communicate with me on the subject. My object here has been to lay before lovers of art, at the earliest possible mo¬ ment, this our great English Horse and Rider, and to share with them the joy of its rescue from the limbus to which it has been so long condemned. It is hardly necessary to explain that the props which appear in the photographs are necessary to support the plaster. They have not been painted out, to avoid any sort of doctoring of the photo¬ graphs. D. S. MacColl. Allhallows, Lombard Street. The proposed destruction of another of Wren’s City churches, on the grounds that they have outstayed their usefulness and that their site has become too valuable for them to cumber it any longer, wakes up afresh the anxious question as to what is to be the logical outcome of such reasoning, and what may remain to be considered our possessions as each heirloom is taken away from us on the plea that we are too poor, both in sentiment and in purse, to maintain it. The Commissioners appointed under the Union of Benefices Act, have given in their report to the Bishop of London, and it is now being considered by him and by the Dean and Chapter of Canter¬ bury. The report recommends that the church and site of Allhallows should be sold by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the property developed in connection with the frontage pre¬ mises in Gracechurch Street. The proceeds, they suggest, should go to the building of churches in poor districts under the direction of the Bishop of London. It is stated that the Bishop finds himself unable to withstand the recommendations of this report, or to do other than his best to further them, considering the heavy nature of the responsibility of his charge. The possibilities of useful action from the proceeds of the sale, so glaringly en¬ forced by the hard glitter of statistics, overwhelm the less defined actualities of present service, and the decision becomes too serious to be settled on any other than the so-called business grounds ; figures shall be the justification, and by figures it shall be determined. But, one asks, Is it right that so much responsi¬ bility should be thrust upon a man, or even a dean and chapter ? Are our national monuments to be at the mercy of considerations that are local rather than national, and our custodians of them asked to determine their fate, without feel¬ ing free to exercise any further discretion than what would be allowed by an actuary ? Here is a case in point. Allhallows Church is from the hand of Sir Christopher Wren ; it is (though this is but an accidental piece of colour) his last work in the City. England will be poorer by its removal. It can never be replaced. By the loss of its churches the City becomes less and less civilised — more sordid and more brutal. The amenity and the small decencies of the streets are ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. SOUTH SIDE OF THE SCREEN. Limelight photo : E. Dockree. 4 Zlhallows, Lombard Street , 98 ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE Photo : E. Dockree. Allhallows , Lombard Street 99 ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. THE TOWER Photo : E. Dockree. IOO A ll hall oivs, Lombard Street , Limelight photo : E. Dockree. ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. SOUTH-WEST CORNER OF THE VESTIBULE, SHOWING DOORWAY INTO TORCH. A I lhallows, Lombard Street. i o I Limelight photo : E. Dockree. ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. VIEW FROM NORTH-WEST CORNER OF VESTIBULE. VOL. XIII.— H 102 Allhallows , Lombard Street . Limelight photo : E. Dochvee STREET. VAULTING OVER VESTIBULE ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD Allhallows , Lombard Street . •03 Limelight photo : E. Doc 1 tee ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD ST. OLD GATEWAY TO THE CHURCH. NOW PRESERVED IN THE PORCH. H 2 104 A llhcillows, Lombard Street , ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. THE FONT Limelight photo : E. Dockree. Allhallows, Lombard Street. 105 Limelight photo: E. Dockree. ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST. disappearing, giving place to violent buildings that are fevered and short-lived. If architecture has no influence on the swarms that throng the streets, why go to the expense of putting up costly architectural fronts to dominate these streets ? If architecture has an influence, then surely we should not lessen the number of examples that we cannot replace, and of whose influence we cannot define the reach ? Many ingredients go to constitute the usefulness of a church ; the temper and habits of the neighbourhood fluctuate ; the number of people within its walls do not comprise all its congregations : a church has its votaries beyond the pew-opener’s ken, and these votaries have their claims, claims which amount to rights. Is there to be no provision for such folk in the City, and are we to add, amongst the many other signs in Lombard Street, the Bishop’s Wash-Pot and Shoe ? Nor is it only the destruction of our national Allhallows, Lombard Street , 106 ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. THE PULPIT. A l lh allows, Lombard Street. 1 07 Photo : E. Dockree. ALLHALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. THE ORGAN. monuments that we have to deplore, due to the overweighted responsibility of their guardians ; they dare not also refuse to accept the gifts from impulsive unaccredited donors. Anyone may dump down a sackful of plate upon the altar, or stick painted glass into the windows of our architectural masterpieces, provided the money value of the gift is heavy enough to precipitate the responsibility of their guardians, which for the most other while remains unavailable in solution. And these disastrous additions count as so much loss to us ; the indelible window darkens our churches and impairs their usefulness ; the heaped treasure adds to the anxieties of the church’s custody, and nothing to the impressiveness of devotion. The Church ot Allhallows points the A l l hal lows, Lombard Street. 1 08 moral of the stained glass injury. Some eager donor has filled all the windows with painted glass, so completely darkening the church already obscured by the tall buildings hemming it in on all sides, that they have had to cut a skylight in the ceiling, and withal keep a couple of score of gas lights burning, to counteract their unfortu¬ nate acceptance of this pious donation. Moreover it is nearly as difficult to remove these additions, when once placed, as it is to replace a building when once demolished. It seems then, that public monuments, such as our City churches, need putting under a different guardianship — a guardianship more remote from the influences of parochial or diocesan considera¬ tions, more tender and reverential of the works of our fathers “and of the old times before them,” and more alive to the influences which make for good in the fret and turmoil of our streets, and in the want of any inspiring ideal in the modern architecture that composes them. If the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s are open to the attack of the same logic, how long may we still count upon seeing our Cathedral standing on so valuable and so vendible a site ? It is worth while remembering that there was a period when St. Paul’s itself was practically a City church without congregations. Halsey Ricardo. Note. — The following facts may be added to Mr. Ricardo’s argument. (1) The Rector (Canon Rawlinson) died October 6th, 1902. There being a vacancy in the living, the trustees of London Parochial Charities took the opportunity to move for the demo¬ lition of the church, setting forth their reasons in a long letter to the Times , and stating that a sum of £6,oocr a year could be realised by the sale of the site of Church and Rectory. The Rec¬ tory, however, is the Langbourn Chop House, let on a long lease, and if the tenant had to be bought out, the large sum demanded would much decrease the sum to be realised for the Bishop's Fund. Moreover, there is No. 18, Gracechurch Street, one of the houses backing on to the church ; here, again, a lease of nine years must be met, and the tenant does not at all wish to be bought out or to move. As the churchyard cannot be built over because of the Disused Burial Grounds Act, the site is further curtailed in width. These are but one or two difficulties to be considered before the £6,000, or even £3,000 or £4,000 can be thought of. (2) Ancient Lights. This does not apply really to the frontage in Gracechurch Street, as Nos. 18, 19, 20, 21, are all in the hands, now, of the London Parochial Charities. But the Lombard Street shop owners would probably object to any higher building than the present church This also applies to the houses on the west side of Ball’s Alley and the block of offices which draws light from the narrow court leading to the Lang¬ bourn Chop House. (3) The Actual Use made of the Church. This has been greatly misrepresented by the advocates of destruction. The population is, roughly, 260. The church has an average congre¬ gation of 50 ; and 60 communicants a month. It is open daily from 11 a m. to 4 p m. for private prayer. Limelight photo: E. Dockree. ALI HALLOWS, LOMBARD STREET. THE CIVIC SWORD AND MACE RESTS IN THE CORPORATION PEW. REMOVED FROM ST. DION IS BACKCHURCH IN 1 878. How Exeter Cathedral was Built. I. It is a foolish occupation arguing for pre¬ ferences in things supreme, but I have been drawn to take a special interest in Exeter Cathedral, be¬ cause it is the first that I ever saw. Moreover, its unusual form, its unity, completeness, and, up to now, comparative freedom from the falsifications of restoration, do lend it, perhaps, a peculiar power and attraction. Its unity has impressed all writers. Isaak says: — “Yet is the same so uniformly compacted as if if had been builded by one man, and done in an instant of time.” We are now so used to write and read of “ Gothic,” and of “styles and proportions,” that we are apt to forget the mystery of it; that just this thing should have been wrought into stone at all. Some twenty years ago I was standing be¬ fore the west front of Coutances when two young architects with the accoutrements of sketchers came up. They talked together a minute, looked around, pointed, wagged their heads, and in some subtle way conveyed to me a sense of their disap¬ proval of the cathedral, and then turned their backs and sauntered away. Every w’riter on any one of our cathedrals seems to feel himself called upon to show that it is not all that it might have been, and to point out how it could have been improved. In this respect we are hardly in advance of a Mr. Ralph, a gentleman of taste of two centuries ago, who disapproved of West¬ minster Abbey, and pointed out how its defects of proportion could be remedied by putting a plaster ceiling at two-thirds of the interior height. Now all this is absurd, and reminds one of how the man of science in Fenimore Cooper disap¬ proved of the quadrupeds because they had not “ rotary levers ” instead of hindlegs. It is not criticism to object to the Pyramids, or to wish that the Parthenon had a dome, or to point out, with Professor Freeman, that Exeter might have been higher.0 “ You might as well,” I once heard Morris say, “ criticise a geological period.” The office of criticism is to know facts, and to understand conditions, to perceive essen¬ tial truths, to set aside the unreal and trivial, but to worship that which is worthy. And Exeter is worthy — a marvellous thing, the spirit of which will only speak to us through our reverence and wonder. The noble materials in marble pillars and stone vault ; the strongly moulded arches ; the unbroken vista ; the sense of reality, power, serenity, and fairness, make a whole of amazing beauty (Fig. i). The sun strikes through the great windows, and fills the interior with positive sunlight ; the pillars, set diagonally, allow of full sight into the aisles, thus making the whole width effective, and they take the light and shadow in broad spaces; the arches are easily adjusted to the piers, and their many mouldings follow the same diagonal planes as the pillars they rise from. The dainty triforium is an exquisite foil to the large clerestory above and the great arches beneath. The tracery is as beautiful as tracery can be at its best — romantic yet reasonable, strong yet elegant, various yet balanced — and the way in which the quatrefoil balustrade along the window sills allows the light to filter through its intricacies is per¬ fectly lovely. The vault is unbroken for fifteen bays, and each severy is supported by a dozen pairs of stout diverging ribs, without sub-division or caprice of any sort. The lines are multitudinous as the timbers of a half-finished ship, and in the distant vault, the web-fillings appear to be quite hidden by the stout moulded ribs. The bosses are rounded masses of intricate foliage like great nests built in the branches of the vault. The * Professor Freeman, author of “ Exeter," in Historic Towns Series, is not to be confounded with Canon Freeman, whose book with the works of Dr. Oliver, Britton and Carter, must be the basis of all future study of the cathedral. EXETER CATHEDRAL, PLAN I 10 How Exeter Cathedral was Built . FIG. i.— THE INTERIOR FROM THE WEST. How Exeter Cathedral was Built. 1 1 t corbels of the vaulting shafts have figure subjects, the Virgin and Child or a Coronation, the others foliage : here and there traces of gold and ver¬ milion show how they were decorated. The west window is magnificently stately ; what a blaze of splendour must have streamed through it when it was filled with fourteenth century glass, the plainer parts of which were fretted over with white vine-leaves on a ruby field.* All the hun¬ dred windows of the church seem to have been filled with stained glass, almost the whole of fourteenth century work ; the east window con¬ tains glass both of the early and late parts of that century. The clerestory window in the middle of the north side of the choir retains enough glass to show that these windows were filled with bright figures on a grisaille ground. In the head of the window at the west end of south choir-aisle are also considerable remnants which furnish some clue as to the lower tier of win¬ dows. St. Gabriel’s and its com¬ panion chapel have both preserved much early glass ; the finials of canopy work in the heads of the lights show that these originally had figures like the early portions of the great east window. In the clerestory of the nave are to be seen in several places borders of fourteenth century work to the lights which show that the nave also had early patterned glass (Fig. 2).t The beauty of it all when the sun struck through the forest of tracery may not be told. Even if you enter the nave by the west door you must not miss seeing the north porch, the walls of which have been but little touched since it was finished. Traces of colouring, rose-red and white, remain. In the niche over the door stood a statue of the Virgin mentioned in 1409. The vault is carefully built of chalk, the boss is the Lamb in a wreath of roses, and round the noble arch-mould of the door runs a trail of roses. Compare this with the doves in the hollow around the west door — both have the touch of poetry common to all the finest ornament. High up on the left of the nave is the beautiful “Minstrels’ Gallery” (Fig. 3). On the floor to the right in the sixth bay was the Courteney chantry where the fine, but terribly restored tomb, * Portions remain in this very interesting window, which is to be sacrificed, I suppose, for a correct twentieth- fourteenth century example. f The windows generally are delightful in their present state, made up with old glass on old lines, if not original : Carter, a century ago, spoke of them as ancient. now in the south transept, stood, within what Westcote describes as “ a sumptuous, curious little chapel lately taken down.” Before the figures were scraped they showed traces of gilding and colour. The knight’s armour was gilt, and on his breast were blazoned the arms of Courteney. On the north side, opposite, was the chantry and tomb of Bishop Brantingham. To its infinite advantage, Exeter still retains its pulpitum ( choir screen), called “la Pulpytte” in the Fabric Rolls (Fig. 4). It is of early fourteenth century work. The range of niches above, where at present are some dark post- Reformation paint¬ ings, must originally have held sculptures — almost certainly a series of the Life of the Virgin. Amongst the wreckage of carving now in the cloister, is a fragment of a fine relief of St. Elizabeth embracing the Virgin, which may very well have belonged to the sculptures of the pul¬ pitum wrought in 1323-24.* On the loft above stood the “ organs ” and the great eagle lectern for the Gospels. Still higher was suspended the nave rood with the attendant figures of St. Mary and St. John. Indications of the attachments of the beam which carried this crucifix have been found in the walls. ) Beneath it, and in front of the pulpitum, was the altar of Holy Cross. I To the right and left were two other nave altars, those of the Virgin and St. Nicholas (for Exeter was a seaport town). The transepts (see Fig. 4) stand under the Norman towers; in this respect the church is more like Geneva Cathedral than any other ; Angouleme has a somewhat similar arrangement, and Poictiers seems to have been prepared after the same type. At Exeter, however, it may have been a purely English development from the Saxon churches with closed-in transepts. Here the ancient arches have been enlarged, and the big traceried windows cut through the Norman walls. The vaulting of these transepts is in wood. High up are the delightful stone galleries which climb out on the air. The clock in the north transept is ancient and interesting. In the choir aisles are three stone knights, very fine — in the battle-harness of Bannockburn. One is Raleigh or Chichester, his neighbour is Bohun, and the third is Stapledon. Notice the raised gesso work of the mail and on the sword-belt ; * Scott says that the choir door is old, the painting of it old “ restored.” It is well to know on documentary evidence, as. no one can be certain when once the restoring machine has passed over a work of art. The backs of the two recesses in the Screen were pierced by Scott reluctantly, the former state may be seen in Britton. f The veil before the great cross is mentioned in 1402. + Oliver puts this in the north tower, but the nave under the Rood was its position in many other churches. FIG. 2. I I 2 How Exeter Cathedral was Built, Photo : S. B. Bolas and Co. FIG. 3. — MINSTRELS’ GALLERY, NORTH SIDE OF NAVE. How Exeter Cathedral was Built, 1 13 FIG. 4.— VIEW ACROSS TRANSEPTS, SHOWING PULPITUM Photo: S. B. Bolas and Co. i 14 How Exeter Cathedral was Built. also the carved heads, which serve as corbels to the arch of the recess, over the first-named effigrv. The south choir chapel is that of St. James. Here is a stately canopied tomb recess. The other chapel, on the north of the choir, is St. Andrew's, with another beautiful recess, almost cer¬ tainly for the tomb of Dean Kilkenny (1302). From the transverse aisle, or Retro choir, open the Lady Chapel and two side chapels — -St. Gabriel’s on the south and St. Mary Magdalene’s on the north. Two little added chantries, late and rich, also open from the Retro choir. The blue “ star-freckled ” vaults of St. Gabriel’s and its companion chapel are in large part original, the patterns of the ribs, however, are, Scott says, “ foolish additions.” Directly at the back of the high altar and its reredos was the feretory, a narrow chamber for the preservation of relics. A remnant of a small door which gave access to it may be seen by the corner of Bishop Stapledon’s tomb. I n the Gabriel chapel is Bishop Branscombe’s effigy, lying under a later canopy. This figure is one of the most perfect works of English sculpture, and must be included in any selected dozen tomb-statues from the whole country. After we have picked out a king and a queen, a knight and a lady, I do not know where to go for a bishop so grand as this one. Wrought about 1280, perfect in early maturity of style and easy mastery of craftsmanship, as well as in pose, dignity, and feeling ; it was painted to the highest pitch of the image-painter’s art, and in this is unrivalled amongst early effigies. It is a thing superb.* Opposite on the north side is Bishop Stafford’s tomb. The Lady chapel is full of points of interest : the forms are all a little earlier than in the rest of the church. The tomb recesses are of great beauty, those to the right containing Purbeck effigies of early bishops. The arcaded stone stalls by the altar are also especially noticeable; an image of the Virgin stood over the altar. Window tracery and vault are unsurpassable. The painting of the vault, Scott says, is an exact “reproduc¬ tion ” of what was found. In the choir the lines and forms are much the same as in the nave^, but in the eastern bays — the “ presbytery ” — the carved corbels from which the vaulting shafts spring, and the bosses of the vault are even more exquisite. They were wrought just at the moment when carving burst into full leaf— the June of architecture — before there was a sign of the crumpling which evidenced approaching decay. These carvings of nut, maple, oak, thorn, syca¬ more, vine, and fig, are crisp and fresh as if the dew were on them. The bosses of the vault have figure subjects : over the altar is a Coronation of * A careful drawing of the painting was given in an early volume of the Trans. Ex. Dioc. Socy. the Virgin and a Crucifixion, with Mary and John and sun and moon. Westward are Samson and the lion, a siren, two dragons fighting, a woman playing a viol, and a noble king’s head — all triumphs of romantic beauty. The restored gildi ng and painting of these bosses represent pretty faithfully the original; for the rest “the indications were slight ” and the ribs were imi¬ tated from the Lady chapel. The wall surfaces seem to have been coated with a soft rose colour ; some of it may still be seen over the pulpitum on the north, and also in St. Andrew’s Chapel. The marble columns, of a colour changing between grey-purple and grey-green, were polished. Points like the corbels and caps of triforium were gilded, and the bosses were highly coloured and gilt like great enamelled clasps. On the right of the choir, which had a marble floor, is the bishop’s throne, which rises some sixty feet, an oak spire of tabernacle work.0 The misericordes, re-set in the modern stalls, are the finest series of “ Early English ” wood- carvings anywhere to be found — foliage, birds and beasts, knights, fables, and fairy stories. The stone screen dividing off the aisles is modern save the open cresting at the top. Scott found this set on a plain wall which Carter says was ancient. Further east, by the south side of the altar, is the triple stone-stall, the presbytery proper, usually called the sedilia. Here an open tabernacle of stone is supported on slender brass columns which seem to be original. Isaak speaks of it as “ a monument fairly arched, and three seats, with side pillars of brass, erected to the memory of King Edward (the Confessor), Edith his queen, and Leofric the first bishop.” Carter says the columns were gilded brass. There is reason to suppose that Leofric was re-buried beneath this stone seat, for no other tomb is known, and at Westminster Abbey an old coffin, supposed to be that of the first founder, was moved to a place under the sedilia on its erection in 1307, and the sedilia came to be known as Sebert’s Tomb, just as the one at Exeter was called Leofric’s Stone. t On the opposite side of the altar space is the canopied tomb of Stapledon, the bishop who finished the works of the choir. It has a fine effigy, and on the ceiling of the canopy which surmounts it is a faded painting of Christ dis¬ playing His five wounds. Westward of this is the early Purbeck tomb of Bishop Marshall. The ancient high altar and its reredos were, as we know from the fabric accounts, of extraordi- * The paintings at the base are said to be “ revived,” but are as dead as oil-cloth. There appear to have been images in the open spire- work. f Lyttleton speaks cf the remains of three paintings of the Confessor, Queen Edith, and Leofric the bishop, on these stalls. How Exeter Cathedral was Built , nary splendour. Leland says that Bishop Staple- don made “ the Riche Front of stonework at the High Altar, and also made the riche silver Tabic in the middle of it. Yet some say that Bishop Lacye made this silver Table, but there is no likelyhood in it.” The “Table” must have been a silver retable. In 1324 John the Gold¬ smith was paid pro opere tabulce argente, and as this was something different from the frontal, which is mentioned separately, it implies, as we have said, a panel above the altar, which would have occupied a space similar to a recess in the Winchester reredos before that was restored. Above this imagery in beaten silver was the tabla- tnra lapidis — ranges of niche-work and sculpture — - rising as high as the points of the arches behind it,° and spreading over into a vaulted tabernacle from which hung the golden dove. On either side of the silver retable probably stood the famous statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, given by Bishop Stapledon. When Carter made his survey the reredos was in position, but the face had been destroyed. From the top of it a curious little flight of steps crossed to the east window where a casement opened, evidently to give access to the top of the reredos. From the vault of the choir was suspended a silver corona of lights. All this was but the setting and background for an appropriate and impressive ritual, rising at times into such dramatic festivals as Grandisson’s special ordinals for Christmas Eve, when, at the first nocturn, a youth holding a lighted torch appeared in the east from behind the high altar, and sang, “ Hodie nobis coelorum Rex de Virgine nasci dignatus est.” He was then joined by six other choir boys singing together (in allusion to the song of the morning stars of Job) “ Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax ” ; then passing slowly through the choir they disappeared beyond the western en¬ trance. II. — The Sculptured Frontispiece. The western gable rises above a ground- story of niche-work and sculpture which stands in advance and includes the three western porches (Fig. 5). It is usually called the Western Screen, but this is an unhappy and non-explanatory name. So far from its purpose being to hide it is to manifest. It is an external Iconostasis — a sort of title-page to a great book of doctrine. This work is usually assigned to Brantingham, 1370-94. Canon Free¬ man says it was completed somewhere between 1377 and 1399 ; but in his analytic plan he shows * Some marks of the old reredos were found at the last “ restoration,” see Scott's “ Recollections.” Many vestiges of it were found about 1815, see Britton. The balustrade under the east window is modern, done when the reredos was destroyed. 115 it as of fifteenth century work. He writes, how¬ ever, that the only intimation we have of a more exact date is the statement that 6 ft. of glass at a shilling per foot were inserted in the vestibule of the church in 1377-7S. He has before told us that some work about the great west door, and to the new chapel next the font (supposed to be Grandisson’s burial chapel in the west front) was done as early as 1329-30. In the year before, thirty-three stones from Silverton, being 80 ft. run of gutters above the porch, were provided. Free¬ man, however, would, I think, wrongly refer this to some repair to an old west porch. Again, in 1346, there is an entry for costs of work about the porches ( adhuc custus porticorum) . Fourteen stones were also prepared at Wells about the same time for the “ tablature ” of the porches. Freeman says that the “ porches ” are here spoken of as separate, and we must not understand these entries as referring to the Western Screen, but that they can only apply to other sculptures, those in the south porch, for instance. His position obliges him to speak of the western recesses severally as porches and to give them the early date; but he will not allow that “ porticorum ” applies to them collectively with the niche- work connecting them. He allows even further that Grandisson completed the little chapel in the west front for his own burial (1369). Now the windows of this chapel are so adjusted in regard to the niche-work, etc., of the frontispiece that it seems impossible to suppose that all was not built together. And indeed the very fact of Grandis¬ son’s burial here in the thickness of the west wall goes to show that he regarded it as his special work. The work of the “ porches ” was still in hand in 1348, when Grandisson subscribed £10 to what seems to have been a special fund {pro constructions porticorum). Great efforts were being made at this time for the completion of some work, as in 1349 eight hundred indulgences were issued for bene¬ factors to the fabric. From these indications it seems plain that the image-wall was executed as a separate work almost immediately after the completion of the nave (about 1345) under Grandisson. “Tablature” is used elsewhere in the Rolls for the imagery behind the high altar. If now we turn to the frontispiece itself we may be surprised that such work can have been ascribed to the same time and influence as pro¬ duced the east window, which is known certainly to be of Brantingham’s time, and is typically “ Perpendicular ” in style. The niche-work may be just the last word of the old era, but it is certainly of fine mid-century character. The central statues of the lower tier, as well as all the supporting angels, must also be of Grandisson’s time. These romantic, cross-legged kings, habited How Exeter Cathedral was Built. i i 6 in diapered stuffs and an early type of plate-armour, can hardly have been wrought many years after the terrible scourge of the Black Death which changed so profoundly the spirit of mediaeval art. The upper row of sculptures, and those at the ends below, are doubtless later. It is on one of the pedestals beneath the two central upper figures that the Coat-of-Arms of Richard II. appears, and this seems to be the only reason that has led to the supposition that the whole of this romantic work was of that king’s time. The image-wall of Exeter is still practically intact, except for a specimen of what “ restoration ” may be expected to achieve, and. thus furnishes by far the best point of departure for the study of the storied west fronts of our great churches. I he sculptures have been examined more than once with a view to reading the general meaning of the scheme and identifying the individual figures. I shall follow each account in sequence as far as it appears to be valid. Carter, a century ago, made a survey of the cathedral, the results of which were published in the Vetusta Monumenta (1797). He also etched most of the sculptures of the kings for his Specimens of Painting and Sculpture. For this purpose he made sketches of all the figures and these are especially valuable for com¬ parison with the statues in their present state. In the first-named publication, the two central niches above the great door are said to have formerly held two seated figures — -that on the left being, when he wrote, destroyed. The figure to the right is described as a Royal Figure, his foot on a globe which was divided into three parts. The statues on each side of these, at the same level, are ten of the Apostles (twelve, count¬ ing the returns of the two buttresses) with their attributes. On the face of the two buttresses, and at the same level are the Four Evangelists with their symbols. To the right, at the angle, is St. Michael triumphing over Satan. Over the smaller north door in the west front are three small figures, the fourth being lost. These are Justice with scales, Fortitude with lance and shield, Discipline (or Prudence) with a heart (?) in her hands, and religious dress. All are crowned and are trampling down Vices. On the jambs of the central door are four small figures in relief crowned and seated. Britton, in his “Cathedral Antiquities,” gave a list which pretended to identify all the figures with a haphazard jumble of historical and Biblical persons; early kings of Wessex, Godfrey de Bouillon, and Guy de Lusignan, appear here in no recognisable order and for no conceivable reason. Although this scheme was abolished by the criticism of Cockerell fifty years ago, it still appears in the most recent and popular guide¬ book, along with regrets expressed, in regard to the sculpture, “ that there is so much of it ! ” Cockerell, in his remarkable book* on mediaeval sculpture, 1851, gives the result of prolonged study of the iconographical schemes of our cathedrals. He properly identifies the remaining one of the two central figures with Christ, and points out that He was in the act of crowning the Virgin. Her figure had been destroyed and His was made to do duty for one of the English kings by the addition of a sceptre. The twelve Apostles are severally identified by Cockerell — I. St. Philip holding loaves of bread ; 2. St. Bar¬ tholomew holding his own skin ; 3. St. Matthew with a book ; 4. St. Thomas (?) ; 5. St. Andrew ; 6 and 7. SS. Peter and Paul on either side of the Coronation of the Virgin; 8. St. John with cup; 9. St. James with palmer’s hat ; 10. St. Simeon ; II. St. James the Less with fuller’s club ; 12. St. |ude(?) broken. He explains the remarkable reliefs of angels in the spandrels of the central door as being “ in ecstatic attitudes as if dazzled,” and alludes to Psalm xxiv., “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates .... and the King of Glory shall come in.” As some substantiation of this, he points to the choir of rejoicing angels along the battlements. The four Evangelists in the upper tier of the two buttresses have their usual symbols at their feet. St. Matthew and St. John with an angel and an eagle, St. Luke and St. Mark with a calf and a lion. The remaining sixteen figures of the upper row (excepting that at the south angle), Cockerell assigns to the twelve minor and four greater Prophets. In the lower row two pairs of figures in the buttresses, below the Evangelists, are, Cockerell suggests, four Doctors of the Church — -St. Jerome and St. Gregory, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine. The rest of the lower row he explains as being English Kings, from Alfred to Henry VI. The identification of the two central figures above the great door as having been Christ and the Virgin is certain. The head and gesture of the remaining figure are entirely characteristic, and the globe on which His foot rests is the world subdivided into its three then known con¬ tinents and the ocean (Fig. 6). A lovely version of the Coronation of the Virgin occupies a similar position at Wells, and no other could so properly gather up the meaning of the Exeter scheme. Distributed over the front are four Coats-of-Arms. * This book shows Cockerell, the exquisite classicist, to have had quick insight into the meaning of mediaeval art, and a true enthusiasm for it ; a man full in intellect and in heart. He speaks of the “ intensity of character and the delicacy of execu¬ tion.” The knight, with his visor up, “casting a shadow over his face, and reminding us of Michael Angelo, is the very model of deliberate valour.” Hozv Exeter Cathedral was Built. 1 17 VO I XIII.— I FIG. 5.— THE IMAGE WALL AND CENTRAL DOOR. How Exeter Cathedral was Built. i 1 8 Above, on the two great buttresses, are the pseudo¬ coats of Athelstan the benefactor to Exeter, and the Confessor, w h o founded the cathedral.* Beneath the Coronation of the Virgin are two other coats — that on the left is England impaling the Confessor — the well- known armsof Richard II., that on the right shows the pseudo arms of Leo- fric the first Bishop of Exeter, impaling the ordi¬ nary Arms of the See. The two doubtless stood for the reigning king when the upper statues were wrought, and the See. As, however, Richard II's. arms come under the niche where the Virgin was enthroned, it is now filled with a mean and silly figure of a king, ! and this and the figure of Christ, we are told in the guide-books, represent Richard II. and Athelstan. It is also certain that the Apos¬ tles stand much in the order Cockerell gives. St. Philip comes first as the first called. St. Peter and St. Paul usually stand on the right and left of the central group, and here, where they share in the dedication of the church, it was especially appropriate. St. Paul is a bald, bearded man with a sword ; St. John, much younger, carries the chalice ; St. James is a splendid figure with staff and wallet and scallop shell in his palmer’s hat. The subject of the south angle Cockerell calls St. George, rather than St. Michael, as was first proposed. Here he appears to be wrong, as in Carter’s sketch the figure is feathered as an arch¬ angel. That the rest of the figures in the upper row are prophets is also certain : they carry scrolls on which they seem to write or to read, and their headdress is the characteristic hat given in the MSS. to Jewish persons of authority. On the scrolls were probably wiitten extracts from their prophecies. In the east window three pro¬ phets bear scrolls on which are inscribed Gen. * Two large isolated figures stand above these arms and are usually named Athelstan and the Confessor. According to Oliver these were renewed about 1820. They are too remote to say anything about. f Oliver says this figure was done about 1818. The whole top row of niche-heads and battlements above are “restored’' work of doubtful character. The new figure in the lower row called “William the Conqueror " (!) preserves the old attitude as described by Cockerell ; but what a poor, scowling creature it is beside the old figures — and still we go on putting our trust in “ restoration,” not even knowing what it is we restore, and always full of belief for next time. xvii. 19, Deut. xviii. 1-5, and Isa. has Egrcdietur virga de radice Jesse. The lower figures, with the exception of those on the buttresses as we have seen, have hitherto been called English kings. The short list which Cockerell gives is much more reasonable than that in Britton, and there seemed little to be said against the supposition because this scheme appeared to be parallel with the well- known galleries of the kings on French Cathe¬ drals. In France, however, the kings have not such important positions as at Exeter and Lich¬ field. And by this reading, moreover, Richard II. in whose reign Cockerell supposes the statues to have been carved, and Edward III., his great predecessor, were represented only by two busts over the south door. Only a few years after Cockerell wrote, V. le Due pointed out that the statues of kings on the cathedrals dedicated to the Virgin were the kings of Judah ( Dictionnaire , s. v. Cathedrale), and this is now generally accepted. M. Emile Male, in IS Art Religieux, 1902, points out that the Gallery of Kings “ is another form of the tree of Jesse.’’ The figures are crowned because they were all of the royal line, if not all kings. At Paris there were twenty-eight, exactly the number in the genealogy as given by St. Matthew. But the number is not fixed ; at Chartres there are eigh¬ teen, at Amiens twenty-two. The presumption now becomes that the English scheme follows the French model ; and, in support of this view, so many points can be urged as to amount to proof. Examination of the images themselves shows (and this has never been pointed out) that the second in order was a king playing upon a harp, who cannot be any other than David (Fig. 7). Another figure held a flower, which must be a bud of the Tree of Jesse: one or more had crosses on their breasts. It is common, in the Trees, to find the prophets associated with the royal ancestors. In the Dorchester window we have Jesse, David playing his harp, to¬ gether with three or four others of the royal line, and twelve pro¬ phets. On the beautiful rose-coloured cope at South Kensington (c. 1300) there are Jesse, David and his harp, Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijah, together with twelve prophets, and the Virgin. The large figures of the _ Christ Church reredos fig. 7.— david. FIG. 6. — STATUE OVER CENTRAL DOOR. How Exeter Cathedral was Built. are unfortunately for the most part destroyed, but the two which remain besides Jesse and the central Nativity, are David and another king sitting cross- legged so exactly like the kings of Exeter that we can hardly doubt that they were the work of the same hand,*' and the supposition that the kings are English does not seem to go very far back at Exeter or Wells or Lichfield. From his account Cockerell seems to have been the first to apply the theory to Wells, and this in opposition to the old interpretation of the Clergy (which he cites) as reported by William of Worcester in 1450. Ac¬ cording to this traditional account the North tower was devoted to stories of the “ Old Law,” and the West face and South tower to the “ New.”t In 1634 several cathedrals were visited by some antiquaries who have left an account of what they saw, which has been printed in the Gentleman's Magazine. They tell us that at Lichfield there were 100 fair statues curiously graven and carved in freestone, of kings, patriarchs, pro¬ phets, fathers and apostles, that grace it much, and angels and a majesty at top. This very valuable account is not by itself conclusive, but in a “ History of the City and Cathedral ” issued in 1805 (John Jackson, jun.), we are told that a statue of Charles II. took the place of Christ, and “ on both sides [on] the steeples were all the old Patriarchs. The next two rows were filled with figures of prophets or prophetesses and judges. Underneath sit a range of the kings of Israel and Judah in various postures, King David playing upon his harp, and in the centre a statue with a mitre supposed to be St. Chad [probably a virgin originally] .... the walls between the large and small doors were filled with figures of the twelve Apostles.” Over the north door was also a Jesse “or descent of kings,” twenty- eight generations, “also the descent of Priests.” In these descriptions of Lichfield we have out¬ lined a scheme sufficiently large even to explain the image front of Wells, and it can hardly be doubted that at the other end of the scale the west door of Rochester should be explained on the same analogy. Here the King standing in one jamb is probably David and the Queen (bear¬ ing a scroll) Bathsheba, the lion in the capital over the king is the symbol of the tribe of Judah. At Exeter there are twenty-nine figures in the lower tier, but the four on the buttresses seem to be of another type. The penultimate figure in * Carter says that the second king is Solomon and that the smaller statues compr se the Apostles, Moses, &c. It is evi¬ dently almost a counterpart' of the Exeter Scheme. See also bosses, South Walk of Cloister at Worcester, as described by Cockerell. f This division agrees with what is found in French churches (see Male). I IQ Carter’s sketch looks very much like a woman’s; it was headless, but it is tempting to suggest that it represented the Virgin ; of this, however, 1 do not feel at all certain without verification. But I have no doubt at all that the first three are Jesse, David, and Rehoboam, and that the genealogical line was continued to either the Virgin or Joseph or both. The figures on the buttresses which Cockerell assigned to the four Doctors of the Western Church, were, with the exception of the third, headless at the time that Carter made his notes; they all, however, had ecclesiastical vest¬ ments and bore scrolls ; the third one having also a mitre. The scrolls mark them as teachers, and it is possible that Cockerell was right ; * the four Doctors are often found together in MSS. Four of the great figures of the south porch at Chartres represent them, and they appear to be sculptured over the chapter-house door at Rochester. A French miniature (MS. Hark, 1585) shows us to the right and left of the Throne of Heaven St. Peter and St, Paul. Beyond St. Peter are St. Jerome and St. Gregory ; beyond St. Paul are St. Augustine and St. Ambrose. In the vault of Heaven is a door guarded by Faith, Hope, and Charity. The last point may well introduce a suggestion as to the four little crowned figures on the jambs of the great door. It seems in any case unlikely that only the four subsidiary virtues should have places to the exclusion of the theological virtues. Now, if these small figures at the central door represent Faith, Hope, Charity, and Humility, we can better understand the position of the others over the north door. An eighth virtue is very fre¬ quently found together with the better known seven, when conditions of design call for it. On the north porch of Chartres are sculptured Pru¬ dence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, Faith, Hope, Charity, and Humility,! and the same selection is made on Andrea Pisano’s door of the Baptistry at Florence. M. Male remarks that Humility was happily chosen since the mediaeval theologians considered Pride (which she tramples beneath her feet) to be the root of all vices. One other small point — between the two busts over the south door is a carving which, accord¬ ing to Cockerell, is a double-necked swan, the badge, he says, of the Plantagenets. It is, how¬ ever, far more probably the well-known badge of Bohun, a splendid example of which appears on the tomb of the Bohun wife of Edward Courteney, now in the south transept, but which formerly stood in the south aisle to which this doorway * An alternative solution would be that they represented the priestly line of descent, but that three of the figures had their heads dest 'oyed shows that they were probably the Fathers. f Humility is found at Salisbury. I 20 Current A rckitecture. leads. Opposite their tomb in the south aisle were, Isaak says, their arms in the glazing : she married Courteney about 1325, and he, it is said, gave the large sum of 200 marks to the fabric fund. Besides the sculptures of the front proper, there are within this south porch two magnificent groups representing the Annunciation and Nativity, and beneath the former a Secondary Annunciation — the angel appearing to Joseph. The key-stone of the vault of the great porch is a Crucifixion. On the vault of Grandisson’s Chapel is Christ in Majesty. The whole is evidently a harmonious scheme. We are not likely to have statues of Rufus, Henry II., fohn, and Edward II., surrounded by rejoicing angels in this sculptured Bible of Exeter, which was all illuminated in bright colour and gold.* Note.- Here I cannot venture on more than a suggestion in regard to Wells, but I have no doubt that its scheme fell in with the general system, and that no secular history was included. On the left the images are mostly Kings ; on the right Ecclesias¬ tics. There are exceptions, but the Arabic numerals on the statues probably show that they have been moved at some time. The Kings are probably the ancestors of Christ, and the priests may be the priest'y line ; the rest are saints, prophets, apostles. W. R. Lethaby. * Oliver. At Lichfield also this was the case : the account before cited goes on, " These statues were formerly all richly gilt and painted.” These west fronts — the early door of Roches¬ ter, the images of Exeter, and the latest effort of Gothic symbol¬ ism at Bath--are sculptured Heavens where the saints stand tier on tier beneath the throne of Christ. “ SANDHOUSE,” VVITLEY, SURREY. THE STAIRCASE. E. \V. TROUP, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture. i 2 i Photo: G. E. Martin. “SANDHOUSE,” WITLEY, SURREY. THE DINING ROOM. F. W. TROUP, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture. Sandhouse, Witley, Surrey, for Joseph King, Esq. — The position this house occupies, close to the roadway, was dictated by the subsoil. Most of the ground is clay, but at this point the sand from which the adjoining hamlet of Sandhills takes its name, finishes in a spur on which the house has been built. The entrance court is a foot or two below the level of the road, and the ground falls away more rapidly beyond the house southward, giving a sunny aspect for the garden, and the opportunity for terraces, walls, and garden steps, as the ground dips towards the orchards and green glades be¬ yond. The bricks used for the house come from a kiln close by. As they are wood-burnt, most of the headers are vitreous flare-ends of a soft grey colour, and these have been worked into a diaper over the whole of the buildings. The contrast of the two colours, grey and red, becomes exag¬ gerated in the photographs. The diaper in reality is almost identical in colour with the lead, of which a good deal occurs in pipes, heads, and elsewhere about the buildings. All the window frames, doors, etc., are of oak. Weatherboarding is also of oak, except the stables and workshops, where elm has been used. There is some stone¬ work in gate piers, terrace walls, and so forth, which is of the local Bargate stone, the copings and dressed stone is Portland, and a good deal of paving and steps about the garden have been done with old London flagstones. Internally the woodwork of the principal rooms is English oak. In the dining-room ceiling (shown in one of the photographs) all the beams and joists are left rough from the saw, and whitewashed. With regard to the plan, it was the particular wish of the owner that the kitchen, scullery, etc., should have a south aspect, and overlook the grounds. I 2 2 C u rren t A rch itectu re. The somewhat unusual south larder has double windows and triple walls, and is supplemented by good cellars and a detached dairy with covered approach. The latter has also the triple wall and a thatched roof. A small enclosed garden has been formed at this end of the house for the use of the servants, the kitchen garden being to the east of the house, where a good aspect and sheltered situation was available. Mr. Herbert Hutchinson, of Ilaslemere, was the builder, and Mr. F. W. Troup the architect. T/ i d urgin' fluff /V'< ,trn" SANDHOUSE,” WIT LEY, SURREY. PLANS. F. W. TROUP, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture. 123 uM&il h l! ei >L ’I* \>!>k ' ' JHiP I BK®!® sfJte#-;!! t!fi| »*l*!‘j* mt jiHjfjr ggPi a. SANDHOUSE,” WITLEY, SURREY. ENTRANCE FRONT (NORTH). . W. TROUP, ARCHITECT. 124 Current Architecture ifiliSiliMi ’*&«**' I «K>o»S mwwAC ;!■(• , -I; ! • V itii-. wii' ; • *!*•?■ ■, w ■>! v :frm[ 'Tift- H : ■ wnrnnjinj b.‘5, ti. ‘4* V 1 . ' ! I f, i | 4 1 ^ .... 85W! tmrjrtrawtriw ludau 6 o "o 5 “SANDHOUSE,” WITLEY, SURREY. GARDEN FRONT FROM THE PERGOLA. F. W. TROUP, ARCHITECT. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, APRIL, I903, VOLUME XIII. NO. 77- FRONTISPIECE TO PALLADIO’S ARCHITECTURE. THIS IS FROM LORD BURLINGTON’S COPY, NOW IN THE AUTHOR’S POSSESSION. Andrea Palladio.* Andrea Palladio was born at Vicenza in the year 1518 — there is some uncertainty as to the date — and was the son of Pietro, stone mason, of that city. He is said to have begun his career as a sculptor — the probable meaning of which is that he helped his father in building — but to have given up sculpture for the study of architecture. Mr. Fletcher, repeating a story given by Temanza and Milizia, says “ his master at this time, it is believed, was Giovanni Fontana.” The famous Giovanni Fontana known to Vasari was some twenty-two years younger than Palladio, so that we should like to hear more of this other Giovanni Fontana, “ architect of the Grand Palace of Udine.” Temanza rested his assertion first on a passage at the end of Vasari’s “ Life of Jacopo Sansovino,” which mentions “ un Giovanni intag- liatore e architetto ” as belonging to Vicenza; and secondly, on a supposed record that the design for the Basilica of Vicenza was sent in under the joint names of Maestro Giovanni and A. Palladio, and he assumed that this Giovanni must have been Palladio’s master; but the passage in Vasari was added by certain of his editors ; moreover, this unknown Giovanni is there described as a sculptor of ornament rather than an architect, and there seems to be no evidence for the story worth the name. An entry of a payment to “ Messer Andrea, architect,” in 1540, discovered by Bertotti Scamozzi, probably refers to Palladio, and, if so, shows that he was already recognised as an archi¬ tect, but, so far, his early training is a matter of conjecture, and he probably learnt his business with his father, with such education as he picked up from his patron and employer, Gian Giorgio Trissino. In 1541 Palladio accompanied Trissino to Rome to study the remains of Classical archi¬ tecture, and subsequently he visited Ancona, Rimini, Naples, Capua, and Nimes. He refers to the famous double staircase at Chambord, but there is no evidence to show that he ever went there. In 1547 he was at Tivoli, and in 1551 he was at Rome for the third time, in the company of Vene¬ tian gentlemen. It is during these years, from 1540 to 1551, that he appears to have collected the materials for his work “ Le Antichita di Roma,” published at Rome in 1557 and at Venice in 1565. Meanwhile, he had begun practice as an archi¬ tect. His earliest work is said to have been certain alterations to the Palazzo Trissino at Criccoli for Trissino in 1536, but even taking lull account of the precocity of artists of the Renaissance, it is hardly likely that he was em- * "Andrea Palladio : his Life and Works.” By Banister F. Fletcher. G. Bell and Sons. 1902. ployed here as architect. The probable explana¬ tion is that he acted as foreman or superintendent for Trissino, possibly with his father Pietro as contractor. This is only a theory, but Imperiale definitely states that Palladio was “ famulus ” to Trissino, and that it was Trissino who first intro¬ duced him to the study of architecture. Palladio’s first important work was the addition of the two- storied arcaded Loggia to the Salla della Ragione at Vicenza in 1545 to 1549. In 1549 he is said to have been summoned to Rome by Paul III. to advise on the completion of St. Peter’s ; but as the Pope died before his arrival, nothing came of the visit. The whole story, however, seems to be doubtful. In 1556 he designed the church of St. Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, and the Church of II Redentoreat Venice was begun from his designs in 1576. Among his other important buildings are the series of palaces at Vicenza, such as the Palazzi Chiericate, Thiene, Valmarana, Bar- barano, and Porto, the Casa del Diavolo, and the Palazzo del Consiglio, the Olympic Theatre at Vicenza, the Convent of La Carita at Venice, and various country houses, of which the most im¬ portant executed design was a villa for Paolo Almerigo, a favourite model of eighteenth century architects. There is a good deal of confusion about the name of this building. The villa in question (which is shown on page 18, Book II., of the 1570 edition of Palladio and on plates 14 and 15 Book II., of Leoni’s edition) was built for the Referendary Paolo Almerigo (not Armerico) “ within less than a quarter of a mile ” of Vicenza. Mr. Fletcher calls it “ the Villa Capra.” Now Palladio did build a house for Signor Giulio Capra “ in un bellissimo sito sopra la strada principale della Citta ” (Vicenza), which is shown in page 20, Book II., Palladio, 1570 — immediately following the plate of Almerigo’s house. Milizia first called Almerigo’s house the Villa Capra, and Mr. Fletcher appears to have followed him.f Palladio’s literary work is of course of first-rate importance in the history of architecture. In addition to the “ Antichita ” and the Commentaries of Caesar he helped Daniel Barbara (not Barbero) in his edition of “ Vitruvius” (1556), and in 1570 he pub¬ lished the final results of his studies in those famous four books which have done more to influ¬ ence architecture than any book ever written on the subject, except the treatise of Vitruvius. His latest design was made for the Theatre of the Olympic Academy at Vicenza. This was begun f The initial confusion appears to have arisen from the fact that in the eighteenth century the Villa Almerigo belonged to a Marquis Capra. VOL. XIII. — K 2 128 Andrea Palladio. in 1580, but Palladio did not live to see the com¬ pletion of this building, for he died the same year, and was buried in S. Corona, at Vicenza. In 1845 his remains were removed to the Communal Cemetery, on which occasion, says Mr. Fletcher, “ a loud volley of cannon proved an impressive finale to the solemnity of the occasion.” In spite of this and similar literary embellish¬ ments, Mr. Fletcher’s account is hardly adequate to his subject. The scanty collection of facts which, with one or two additions, I have sum¬ marised above, are pretty well all that Mr. Fletcher has to offer, supplemented by a catalogue raisonne of Palladio's buildings and designs ; but the facts are taken from Paolo Gualdo’s life, published at Padua in 1749, and the account of his buildings is drawn from Palladio’s own description as tran¬ slated in Leoni’s edition of Palladio’s four books on architecture, together with certain notes and dimensions from “ Les Batiments et les desseins de Andre Palladio,” Vicenza, by Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, first published in 1776 in Italian, and in French in 1796. Mr. Fletcher calls the latter author indifferently Bertotti and Scamozzi, much to the mystification of his reader. Few dates are given to the buildings, and as they are not arranged chronologically in Mr. Fletcher’s book the student has no opportunity of tracing the development of Palladio’s style. The illustrations consist of photographs and reproductions of en¬ gravings from the works of O. B. Scamozzi and Leoni. Considering that many of the latter’s engravings are well-known to be inaccurate, it is somewhat singular that Mr. Fletcher should have reproduced them in preference to Palladio’s original woodcuts. There is little trace of any research on the spot, or, indeed, of any personal appreciation of the precise value of Palladio’s work. In view of such alarming developments as are now taking place under the comprehensive title of “ L’Art Nouveau,” one the more regrets the inadequacy of this biography. An authoritative critical study of Palladio, and his time would be of great value in the present state of architectural practice. Mr. Fletcher’s account is deficient in historical background and inaccurate in facts. It is no great help to the student of Palladio to be told (p. 4) that on the 23rd of May, 1498, Savonarola “ was, alas ! burnt as a heretic at the stake,” or that “ antiquity seems to have formed the prin¬ cipal study in every branch of learning at the time.” What antiquity ? The wisdom of the Egyptians or of the Greeks, of the Romans, or of whom ? — or to be told (p. 5) that Michelozzi, Cronaca, San Gallo, and Mangelli, are all “ Cinque cento Florentines in favour of the Renaissance.” There were seven designers of the name of San Gallo, was it Giuliano or Antonio, Aristotile or Giovanni ? and one would like to hear more of the architect “ Mangelli.” Vasari mentions a stonecutter and architect Mangone who erected many palaces and buildings at Rome “with con¬ siderable ability.” Why, again, should a com¬ paratively unimportant designer, such as Baccio Pintelli (not Pentelli) be mentioned in the com¬ pany of Brunelleschi, Bramante, and Peruzzi ? There is a want of proportion in such grouping as this. On p. 6, Mr. Fletcher says : “ Later San¬ sovino built the library of St. Mark’s, Venice, and also the magnificent palace of the Procuratie, which Palladio specially eulogises, etc.” Pal¬ ladio’s words are : “ Procuratia nova, la quale e il piu ricco e ornato edificio che forse sia stato fatto da gli antichi in qua.” It is known that Scamozzi built what is known as the “ Procuratie nuove ” after Palladio's death, and he refers to it as his work in his book, pt. 1, p. 125, 1. 50. There can be no doubt that Palladio is here referring to the library which, according to Vasari, Sansovino built for the Procurators of St. Mark's. On p. 8, we are informed that “ in these days ” (i.e., when Palladio was at Rome, 1540-1550) “ Rome was gay with music and laughter, bright with an in¬ fluence which was slowly but surely effacing the rust of barbarity which had so long remained on the surface of the ages, and loosening the fetters which had long bound them in indolence.” “ Purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter Assuitur pannus .... Sed nunc non erat his locus.” The date in question is, say 1550. It appears then that Alberti, Fra Giocondo, Brunelleschi, Bra¬ mante, Raphael, Michelozzo, Peruzzi, Sanmichele, Sangallo, Sansovino, and the great architects that preceded Palladio, had been labouring under “the rust of barbarity ” and “ the fetters of indolence,” and that it was reserved for Palladio to place the arts on a proper footing. This is a new reading of history with a vengeance, but the merely casual student will find a good deal in this work to make him rub his eyes. On the same page, Mr. Fletcher states that of the remains of ancient Rome existing at the time of Palladio’s visit “the four gates still stood, those of the Rotunda, St. Adriano, St. Cosino and St. Agnes”. Imperial Rome possessed, according to the late Professor Middleton, some forty-five gates, but I do not find in his list any of Mr. Fletcher’s four gates, though one learns from Palladio himself that the Porta Viminalis was known as the Porta St. Agnese, probably on account of its proximity to the seventh century church of Sant’ Agnese fuori i muri. Palladio himself gives the names of fifteen gates in “ L’Antichita di Roma,” which Mr. Fletcher does not appear to have consulted. On the other hand there was “ the Rotunda,” or the Pantheon, in Andrea Palladio . i 29 ) existence ; and also the Church of SS. Cosimo and Damian. Does Mr. Fletcher refer to these buildings ? Mr. Fletcher’s descriptions of buildings are not always easy to follow, as on p. 87, the portico of the church at Maser is described as “ hexagonal.” As, however, it appears from the illustrations to be a regular composition of four columns and two angle piers, carrying a tr i -angular pediment, per¬ haps “ hexastyle ” would be a more suitable term. On p. 88 the plan of a church measuring 44.6 wide by yy.o long is described as “ nearly square.” So again on p. 93 we are told that Inigo Jones used Palladio’s design for the convent of La Carita at Venice, in Houghton Hall, Bedford¬ shire, a building now in ruins, the point of resem¬ blance being a certain recessed portico at Hough¬ ton “ about twenty-two feet by twelve with four Ionic Corinthian and compo¬ site orders is taken as the half diameter.” Palladio states twice over that it is only to the Doric order that the half diameter module ap¬ plies. Mr. Fletcher has been at some pains to explain the Vicenza foot, “ an English foot,” he says, “is to the Vicenza foot as i.if is to 1 foot, so that by adding 1 -7th to a measurement in Vicentine feet, we obtain the equivalent in English feet.” Leoni (Palladio, Book II., Chap. 2, p. 60, ed. 1721) says that “the English foot makes only io4- inches of the Vi con¬ iine foot.” About this state¬ ment there can be no mis¬ understanding, and it seems to me preferable to the elabo¬ rate system of adding vtl > . Mr. Fletcher’s English is somewhat peculiar. In his “ Forewords ” he uses “ Peda¬ gogy ” as synonymous with pedantry, and it is not appa¬ rent why Raphael should be accused of making plans “ to exploit the ancient works of Rome ” when all that he con¬ templated was their illus¬ tration and record. Again, “Agora” and “Palaestra” are not nominatives plural, as Mr. Fletcher appears to suggest. On p. 120 we come across another of Mr. three-quarter Doric columns.” On looking up the plan of La Carita in Palladio, I find that Palladio designed it as a large cloister court, 86 by 70, with three orders, entered by an atrium or vesti¬ bule 60 feet long by 45J wide, open to the sky in the centre with a colonnade of four columns on either side of the composite order 40 feet high. The figures are taken from Mr. Fletcher’s account. From this it would appear that there was not the very slightest resemblance between the design of La Carita and the designs of Houghton or of the Queen’s house at Greenwich, to which Mr, Fletcher also refers. On p. g8 we are correctly told that Palladio’s module is the diameter of the column taken at the base, except in the case of the Doric order in which the module is half the diameter ; but nine lines lower down we are told “ the module in this ” (the Doric order) “ and the LA CARITA, VENICE. FROM PALLADIO, ED. 1570. DE I DISEGNI chcfeguono,i!primoedipartediquefto Atrio in forma nuggiore, & itfccondo di pane dell'Inclauftro. DELL'ATRIO 130 Andrea Palladio. Fletcher's startling historical statements, “ as to France, says Boffrand, Milizia in l’Hopital des enfants trouves, and Goudouin in l’Ecole de Medicine, were followers of Palladio.” Bnt Boffrand was the architect of the Hopital des Enfants trouves, and as for Milizia he was not an architect at all, but a most industrious if inac¬ curate writer who published his “ Lives ” of the more celebrated architects at Rome in 1768.* Mr. Fletcher’s concluding chapter on the influence of Palladio and his school is a perfect farrago of uncritical statements. He repeats the foolish story that Inigo Jones designed the garden front of St. John's, Oxford, for which there is no authority either on its own showing or in docu¬ mentary evidence, and that he designed the Palladian Bridge at Wilton, which is known to have been designed for Lord Pembroke by Morris a hundred years later. There is no evidence for the statement that Inigo Jones was in “ a lucra¬ tive practice ” before 1612. It is very doubtful whether he had designed any architectural work at all before that year. After an excursus on Lord Burlington, Mr. Fletcher assures us (p. 126) that “at the universities Wren carried out many works bearing the impress of his Palladian train¬ ing ; ” and, as an instance, couples together the Sheldonian theatre at Oxford, and the library of Trinity, Cambridge, two quite dissimilar build¬ ings, both in date and treatment. It is well known that Wren never travelled in Italy, and that the only foreign influence which seriously affected his work was that of the architects of Louis Quatorze, and they took Vignola for their model in prefer¬ ence to Palladio. The mistake is a serious one, for it shows a total misconception of the cha¬ racter of Wren’s work and of that of the architects who succeeded him. Early in the eighteenth century a dead set was made against Wren by the younger generation, and the whole point of their disparagement of Wren was that in fact he was a free lance who disregarded the niceties of Palladian architecture. Lord Burlington was an amateur and a prig, but the architects ought to have known better than to join in a conspiracy of silence against one of the greatest architects the world has ever seen. Mr. Fletcher, however, bravely jumbles together Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh, Lord Burlington, Robert Adam, and Sir William Chambers ; indeed one wonders why he should have stopped short at this point and not swept into his collection Decimus Burton, Sir Charles Barry, Greek Thompson and Professor Cockerell. * Milizia’s “ Lives ” appears in Mr. Fletcher’s Bibliographical List, but I see no mention in it of the late Mr. William Ander¬ son’s “ General View of the Renaissance in Italy.” Mr. Anderson was one of the very few recent writers on architecture who approached his subject from the standpoint of an architect, and his untimely death is a real loss to students. If Mr. Fletcher addresses himself again to the study of Palladio, his readers would be grateful for an extension of his area of research, and he may perhaps recall a certain caustic remark in Leoni’s preface : “ ’Tis pity that the authors who have made mention of him are silent in the par¬ ticulars of his life. They have taken great pains in giving us a long list of the fine buildings where¬ with he adorned his country, but to little purpose, since we have them drawn and explained by himself in the second and third books of his architecture.” Had Mr. Fletcher even consulted Vasari, he might have placed Palladio in some sort of relation to his contemporaries. He would have told us that he designed a theatre in wood and open to the sky, in the manner of the Colosseum, for the “ Signori della Compagnia della Calza ” at Venice, and that he employed Federigo Zucchero to paint the scenery for his theatre in twelve large pictures, representing incidents in the life of Hyrcanus king of Jerusalem, the hero of the tragedy to be performed in this theatre. Mr. Fletcher might also have gleaned the more important fact that Palladio was a member of the Academy of Flo¬ rence — a body which included in its ranks Titian, Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, Bronzino, and many others, including the excellent Vasari himself. In the Bologna edition of Vasari (1647, the edition on which Temanza founded his wild theory about Giovanni “ Fontana ”) two pages and a half are devoted to an extravagant panegyric of Palladio and a complete list of his works. The writer states that Palladio had made of Vicenza the most honourable and beautiful of cities, and that in regard to his design in general “ sarebbe stata lunghissima storia voler raccontare molto partico- lari di belle e strane inventioni e capricci.” Ca¬ price in connection with Palladio is hardly what one would expect, and the whole passage bears evident marks of being a later interpolation. It seems to me an ex post facto and worthless testi¬ monial, but Mr. Fletcher may be glad of a passage to support his enthusiasm for “ our master.” What the student wants to know is Palladio’s place among architects, how he came to occupy the position in history that he does, what were the sources from which he drew his inspiration, and the genesis of his individual methods of thought and design. Architects do not spring into existence fully armed, as Pallas Athene sprang from the brow of Zeus. One wants to know and understand their antecedents, the labours of their predecessors which became their heritage, the intellectual atmosphere of the time which made them possible at all ; and this is, in fact, the function of historical criticism. Palladio, for instance, could hardly have conceived of his books on architecture and his antiquities of Andrea Palladio i 3 i Andrea Palladio. Rome if Alberti had not written his ten books, “ De Re JEdificatoria,” more than a hundred years before, and if that extraordinary scholar and architect, Fra Giocondo, had not led the way with his “ Corpus Inscriptionum,” and if Daniele Barbaro had not produced his immensely learned commentaries on Vitruvius in his own lifetime ; and if, in short, all the great architects of the hundred years before him had not given the profoundest study possible at the time to the remains of classical architecture then existing in Rome. Flavio Biondo had written his “ Roma Instaurata ” as early as 1430-40, and his MS. was printed at Rome in 1480. Poggio’s MS., “ De Fortunae Varietate,” written about the same time as Biondo’s work, was printed at Basle in 1538. Moreover, the works of Albertini, Pomponius Leto, Fulvio, Calvus, Lafreri, Marliani, Fauno, Labacco, and Ligorio, were all earlier than Palladio's book ; and besides these there is Serlio’s work to be considered. Serlio published the first of his books on architecture in 1532, and completed the series in 1540. Now Serlio was in the field long before Palladio, for the first book which he published was actually the fourth in the complete set, and in this book he gave a full account of the five orders and their various orna¬ ments, while in the book next published (third in the complete set) he treated “of all kinds of excellent antiquities of buildings, of Houses, Temples, Amphitheatres, Palaces, Thermes, Obe¬ lisks, Bridges, Arches triumphant, etc.’’, with the motto, “ Romas quanta fuit ipsa ruina docet.” Among the buildings delineated are the Pantheon, the Temple of Bacchus, the Temple of Peace, the Temple of Piety, the Temple of Vesta, four un¬ named Temples (one of Minerva Medica), various designs of St. Peter’s, S. Pietro in Montorio, the theatre of Marcellus, the theatre at Pisa, a theatre near Viterbo, Trajan’s Column, the Colosseum, the amphitheatres at Verona and Pisa, a palace on Monte Cavallo at Rome, the harbour of Ostia, the Thermae of Titus and of Diocletian, one of the Pyramids, the “ Bankers’ building ”, S. Georgio in Velabro, the Temple of Janus, the arches of Titus and Septimius Severus, an archway at Bene- ventum, the Arch of Constantine, arches at Ancona and Pola, at Castel Vecchio in Verona, and others ; and Serlio concludes his third book with some account of works by Bramante, Peruzzi, and Raphael. When Palladio took up the study of Roman antiquities Serlio’s work was the acknow¬ ledged authority on the subject ; and not only did Serlio, in fact, anticipate Palladio in nearly every instance, but his survey covered a good deal more ground. Palladio’s book was therefore by no means such an epoch-making affair as it has been generally represented to be, but he went one better than Serlio in that he gratified the taste of the time by restorations of the buildings he repre¬ sented. These restorations were quite hypotheti¬ cal, and in many cases improbable, yet they were so apparently complete as to satisfy entirely an appetite for classical knowledge as uncritical as it was insatiable. One would willingly ex¬ change the whole set of Palladio’s restored anti¬ quities for a dozen trustworthy measured drawings of the buildings as they were when he saw them. That in making this criticism one is not asking the impossible is proved by the fact that while Palladio was at work on his fancy drawings other men were actually endeavouring to give a faithful record of the buildings them¬ selves. In 1575 Stefano du Perac published his “ vestigi dell’ Antichita di Roma,” in which he says that his object was “ rappresentar fidelmente i residui della Romana grandezza.” In order to show the historical untrustworthiness of Palladio’s drawings, I give his version of what they both call “the Temple of Peace” (the Basilica of Con¬ stantine), together with du Perac’s view of the fragments actually remaining at the time ; and both du Perac’s and Palladio’s views of the Pan¬ theon. There can be no doubt, from other evi¬ dence, that du Perac drew what he actually saw, and his work has historical value to this day, whereas Palladio’s version has retired to the limbo of those academical exercises in restoration which have been the plaything of architects from his time to our own. It appears from a comparison of the blocks in Serlio’s “ Architectura ” and Marliani’s “ Urbis Romse Topographia,” that Palladio used the work of his predecessors freely and not always accurately. Marliani’s book appeared in 1535; it was dedicated to Francis I., and is said to have gone through eleven editions in the sixteenth century. On page 46 of the fifth edition is given a plan of the Basilica of Constan¬ tine, with dimensions which differ from those given by Palladio. But Marliani’s dimensions are right and Palladio’s are wrong. Serlio’s plan is identical with Marliani’s. Judged by modern standards of research, Serlio’s work in this direction is the more valuable of the two; and as for the erudition displayed by Palladio, almost any important building by Baldassare Peruzzi — such, for instance, as the Palazzo Massimi alle Colonne at Rome — -shows pro¬ founder study and a more intimate grasp of the architecture of the past than the whole of Pal¬ ladio’s books and buildings put together. Palladio’s extraordinary reputation is indeed a remarkable illustration of the luck of history. It has transcended the fame of abler men. It ap¬ pears and re-appears at regular intervals, and in England, at any rate, the work of this architect A ndrea Palladio. '33 “THE TEMPLE OF PEACE” (BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE), AS SHOWN BY PALLADIO. ED. 1 5 70. “THE TEMPLE OF PEACE,” AS SHOWN BY I)U PEKAC. '34 A ndrea Palladio THE PANTHEON, AS SHOWN BY PALLADIO. THE PANTHEON, AS SHOWN BY DU PERAC. Andrea Palladio. >35 (whom Mr. Fletcher, with somewhat nauseating iteration, describes as “our master”) should be introduced to students with very great care and numerous limitations ; for at recurring intervals Palladio has been a sort of old man of the sea to the art of architecture. There is assuredly a good deal of chance in reputations ; an astute and able man in a poor time can acquire a reputation of more or less fictitious value, until somebody takes the trouble to look into the work that the man actually did. Palladio was certainly happy in his opportunity. His fame rests partly on his writings and partly on his architecture. In England, at any rate, and I think to a con¬ siderable extent in Italy, his writings were the principal factor in his success, for his four books on architecture appeared at the precise psycho¬ logical moment. Somebody was wanted to codify the result of the last hundred years of work. The great effort of the Renaissance was over. That whirlwind of energy which had swept through every nook and cranny of the arts was nearly spent, the reaction was setting in, and of that reaction Palladio was the exact exponent. More neat and orderly in his methods than Serlio, more comprehensive than Vignola, with the touch of pedantry in his nature that suited the times and invested his writings with a fallacious air of scholarship, he was the very man to summarize and classify, and to save future generations of architects the labour of thinking for themselves. After the days of the intellectual giants came the schoolmaster to put everything in order. What to them had been facts and vital elements of expres¬ sion were now to be docketed as thin abstractions. Architecture was to be put into a strait waist¬ coat in order to keep it respectable and adjust it to the standard of the virtuoso. The result is rather depressing. The neatness and precision of the pedant are poor stuff after the clanging blows of the heroes. Yet I suppose even heroes cannot go on banging each other for ever, and no doubt it is well that somebody should come and tidy up before the next set-to. This seems to me the explanation of Palladio’s commanding reputation in Italy. More than any other man of his time, he hit the taste and temper of his audience. Under the guise of scholarship he was able to justify the most astonishing follies in architecture, and for the time his fame was paramount, but it had no staying power. The Italians were much too brilliant and versatile a people to acquiesce in their strait waistcoat. They very soon turned their back on their pedagogue, and indulged to their hearts’ content in a wild orgie of exuberant and unlicensed architecture. The impudence of Borromini was the inevitable sequel to the dogma¬ tism of Palladio, much as in England the Gothic revival was the result of Kent and Campbell’s pedantry. Palladio’s reputation in England in the eigh¬ teenth century, amounting almost to fetish wor¬ ship, was, again, partly the result of accident. There is no doubt that by the beginning of the sixteenth century Palladio’s treatise was generally recognised as the authority on architecture. The French, it is true, with the fine instinct which has always guided their architecture, preferred Vignola. But Palladio was so complete and systematic that to others he was inevitable, and when Inigo Jones came to Italy at the end of the sixteenth century, he fell headlong into the arms of this teacher, studied the antiquities of Rome by the very untrustworthy light of Palladio, and came back to England to put into practice the results of this narrow if devoted study. It is unnecessary to dwell on the commanding genius of the English architect. He swept aside the puerilities of Elizabethan design, and definitely set up Palladio as the model of architecture. What would have been gained if he could have come under the influence of Peruzzi instead of Palladio is now only a melancholy speculation. Fortunately, Wren did break away from Palladianism. His extraordinarily intelligent genius was much too active and alert for any such hide-bound stuff, and he became the great architect that he did because he was in fact a very great constructor. The weaker men who succeeded him had to fall back on rule and text-book, and Palladio recovered his ascendancy in England because his method exactly adapted itself to the taste of the English virtuoso of the eighteenth century. The positive value of Palladio’s treatise on architecture consists chiefly in its lucidity and orderly arrangement. The chapters are short, and on the whole to the point, though by no means original. Palladio acknowledges his obli¬ gations to Vitruvius as his master and guide, and indeed follows him closely, only omitting the fables and anecdotes with which Vitruvius adorned his pages. His illustrations (always excepting the drawings of ancient buildings) are workman¬ like and very well drawn. His examples were selected with fine taste, and he gives a more com¬ plete explanation of the orders than any treatise hitherto published — an explanation, moreover, that was easily grasped by his readers ; and I think that in this lay the secret of his success. Yet the book has some serious defects. There is a large parade of learning, but where it is not borrowed from other writers it is chiefly drawn from Palladio’s inner consciousness ; and then there is that uncomfortable habit of advertise¬ ment, for, out of the four books that Palladio wrote, two are in fact mainly occupied with the A ndrea Palladio. 136 illustration of his own inventions. His motives may, of course, have been disinterested. He may have honestly believed that no better illustrations of his theory were to be found than his own practice, and at least there is no trace of jealousy in Palladio. He is as enthusiastic about the merits of his contemporaries as he is about his own ; but we regret his failure in historical sense. Palladio was, it appears, a self-made, and to some extent a self-educated, man. There is little evidence that he received his training from any architect, and he appears to have picked up his knowledge as he could. To a man of Palladio’s temperament, the desire to parade his learning must have been irresistible, and he found his chance in the preciosity of the later Renaissance. It is in this, more particularly, that he seems to me to have shown his weakness. Alberti, for instance, the first serious modern writer on archi¬ tecture, was induced to write his book, not only by his real interest in the art, but also by a certain intellectual restlessness that was not to be satisfied until it had got abreast of its subject and reduced it to ordered shape. His interest lay in the facts of building, but Alberti was a scholar and a gen¬ tleman, and not in the least concerned with the advertisement of his own capacity as an architect, whereas in this regard Palladio was a most con¬ spicuous offender, and the first to set a disastrous precedent. Moreover, the real concern of all great architects has been with building, not with the dressing up of antiquity. It is true that there was no escaping the orders in the sixteenth century, yet other architects were able to avoid the obsession of that fixed idea that the orders summed up the whole meaning of architecture. Philibert Delorme, for example, the first edition of whose works appeared three years before Palladio’s architecture, was able to devote himself at length to the intricate problems of setting out of ma¬ sonry, and to matters of construction in his “ nouvelles inventions pour bien bastir,” a matter to which Palladio, with his stucco translation of stonework, appears to have given the very slightest consideration. I do not know if Palladio was ever a play-actor, but the theatricality of his design did not confine itself to his buildings. The same insincerity, the same inability or un¬ willingness to grasp the essential facts of archi¬ tecture are visible in his books. The “ Antiquities of Rome” do not remove this impression. This little book (of which, by the way, and of Palladio’s edition of Caesar’s Com¬ mentaries, Mr. Fletcher gives no account) was published at Rome in 1557. It is a small octavo of thirty-two pages, and is, in fact, a collection of archaeological notes on Rome, taken from ancient and modern writers. Palladio says that he was induced to write it by the decay of the great monuments of Rome, and also by his having come into possession of a certain small book, entitled, “ Le Cose Maravigliose di Roma,” “ tutto pieno di strane bugie.” This little book was no other than the famous twelfth century guide-book known as the “ Mirabilia urbis Romae.” Palladio’s own remarks are scarcely less strange than the lies with which he says this book is filled. He states that Rome was built in the year 5550 of the world’s history, and offers an exact date for the birth of Romulus and Remus. There are no illustrations, though Palladio says he measured many of the buildings with his own hands ; * and the notes are brief descriptions dealing indiscrimi¬ nately with gates, bridges, aqueducts, fountains, vestal virgins, Roman marriages, and the like. It is a surprising fact that this worthless little book went through at least eight editions, and was tran¬ slated into Spanish in 1589. Palladio’s edition of the Commentaries of Caesar was published by Franceschi at Venice in 1575. Apathetic interest attaches to this book. Palladio states that he had always interested himself in military matters, and indeed there is a story that on one occasion he surprised some officers by putting a number of galley slaves through the drill of the Roman legionaries. It appears that he directed the atten¬ tion of two of his sons, Horatio and Leonidas, to the subject, and they set about making a series of designs to illustrate Caesar’s campaigns. Their untimely death left the work unfinished, and some time afterwards Palladio published this edition as a monument of his sons’ labours, asking his readers’ pardon for any faults, on the ground that in so far as they were the faults of his sons, they were but young men, who had devoted themselves to an excellent study ; and in so far as they were his own, they were those of a father too distracted by grief to collect the material necessary to com¬ plete the work. It does not appear whether Pal¬ ladio translated the Commentaries himself, or used an existing translation. From the absence of any reference to translation on the title-page and in the preface, I am inclined to think the latter, and the chief interest of the book lies in the quaint imagination and curious research of the illustrations. Palladio’s position as an architect is much less easy to determine. That he possessed great knowledge of certain forms of architectural detail, * There seems no doubt that Palladio did measure some, at any rate, of these buildings, and left a good many of his notes in manuscript. Some of them came into the possession of Lord Burlington, who published his plans of the “Thermae of Rome “ in 1730 ; but a comparison of the various sixteenth century measured drawings of Rome shows that plagiarism was the regular rule ; and as students of this period are aware, writers hardly ever acknowledged their obligations to each other. Andrea Palladio. 137 HOUSE FOR THE TRISSINI AT MELEDO. FROM PALLADIO, ED. I57O. and though not exactly a fine sense, yet a very great feeling for proportion, is certain. He was, moreover, a most ingenious planner, and, so far as resource and knowledge go, a skilful builder. No doubt if Palladio were among us now we should think him a very great man ; but we live in an unfavourable time, and one has to consider that when Palladio practised the age of the giants was hardly over. Vignola, and Giacomo Sansovino, and Galeazzo Aiessi, were his contemporaries, and it seems to me that any one of these men, in their different ways, was a more original architect than Palladio.* But it is when one compares him with his immediate predecessors that the failure ap¬ pears. With all his skill and knowledge, Palladio possessed little originality. He was a master of * I recently came across a curious confirmation of the regard in which Palladio was held during his life. A year or two before 1570, Pellegrini was appointed architect to the Cathedral of Milan, and it appears that his methods and mistakes so exasper¬ ated a certain Martino Bassi of Milan, that the latter made a formal protest to the Deputies of the Fabric, and cited in sup¬ port of his charges the written opinions of four eminent archi¬ tects — Palladio, Vignola, Vasari, and Gio. Battista Bertani of Mantua. Bassi published his account of the whole affair at Milan in 1570, and proved that Pellegrini was guilty of making two parallel straight lines vanish to two different points on the horizon. the orders, and of temples, pro-style, peripteral , pseudodipteral, and all the rest, and he played with the devices of his learning, combining them and re-combining them with all the zest of a pedant. But when it was all done there was no charm about the work, or at least no more than the arid satisfac¬ tion to be derived from a meritorious student’s exer¬ cise ; and the reason is that there was little genuine architectural imagination behind it. The best of his town palaces, with all its ability, leaves one cold. Contrast, for instance, the Palazzo Thieni, at Vicenza, with Peruzzi’s Palazzo Albergati, at Bologna. Palladio’s work is fine in proportion and severe in treatment, yet it is not severe enough, and the mechanical fa£ade makes no such appeal to the imagination as the massive fortress-like front of the Palazzo Albergati. Mr. Fletcher gives a photograph of the Arco di Trionfo at Vi¬ cenza, attributed to Palladio. This, again, is a characteristic piece of work, fine in proportion, admirable in detail, cold, scholarly, accomplished, but without a grain of imagination in it. Com¬ pare this with Sanmichele’s superb Porta del Palio at Verona. Sanmichele used classical detail not less severe than Palladio’s, and his treatment is even simpler. Yet, while Palladio’s arch would A ndrea Palladio. i 38 be within the reach of any well-trained architec¬ tural student, the Porta del Palio is, I suppose, about the finest gateway in existence, one of the world’s masterpieces. Where Peruzzi and San- michele used their brains, Palladio used his note¬ book. His sense of proportion has always been held up to admiration as the greatest of his quali¬ ties. That sense seems to me to have been mainly technical. A sense of proportion is shown not merely in the exact adjustment of the proportion of the order to certain recognised canons, it is shown to the only purpose for which an architect need con¬ sider it, in what we generally call a sense of scale. Now considered in this aspect, Palladio’s work shows some conspicuous failures. In the first place, he seems to have had little idea of the use that can be made of a blank wall. Where Peruzzi would have got quality from the plain surface, Palladio breaks it up again and again with some irrelevant order ; and even his warmest admirers have to admit that he never knew how to handle the ends of his buildings. In the new fronts that he put to the Palazzo della Ragione at Vicenza, his only recognition of the angle is to double the columns, and draw in the subordinate order, though the front absolutely cries out for one solid piece of wall. At the Palazzo Barbarano he ran his engaged columns into each other, with the result that there is no line at all ; and at the Palazzo Valmarana he appears to have given up the end as a bad job, for after putting a mighty great order to the five central bays of the front, he ends up with pilasters half the size, and a figure above them. A man with a sense of scale in the wider meaning of the term, with a grasp of the imaginative possibilities of the different parts of a building, would never have dropped into such bathos as this. The last criticism I have to suggest on Palladio's architecture is that he shows little sense of ma¬ terial. Most of his palaces are of brick, covered with stucco, and though no doubt he would have preferred to build in stone or marble, he never seems to have realised the possibilities of brick itself, either in combination with stone or without it. By this means he was able to spread his money very thin. He gave his clients large pre¬ tentious palaces, and they appear to have been satisfied. Yet a keener artist would have got more out of his materials than this. Peruzzi did, and Inigo fones, and more conspicuously Wren, who at Hampton Court showed once and for all what could be done with brick and stone properly handled. It seems to me that an artist of deeper conviction and greater power would not have been content to go on imitating stone with stucco, and producing what was in fact not very far removed from stage architecture. There is this to be said for Palladio, first, that it had been the practice of the Romans to use their splendid brickwork as the mere drudge of architecture, and in nearly every case to cover it up with some other material, so that Palladio may have considered it a point of honour to follow the habit of the Romans ; and secondly, that his patrons may have asked him to make stone with bricks, and insisted on his building those vast pretentious ill-constructed palaces at an impossible price. A man of genius would have found his way out of the difficulty, but Palladio seems to me typical of the able second-rate architect, of the man who can draw well and design freely, but who fails as an artist both in imagination and temperament. Yet his life and work deserve close study if only for the understanding of the architecture of the last three hundred years ; and to enable the student to grasp the fact that there is such a thing as a standard in architectural design, and one that he does well to observe until he is able to walk by himself. I have ventured to suggest a few criticisms of the work of this famous architect, because it seems to me that in the erratic, I might say chaotic, state of modern architectural taste, there is danger of a too abrupt revulsion from anarchy to rigid dogmatism in design ; and the restoration of Palladio as an object of idol-wor¬ ship, talk about him as “ our master ” and the DETAIL OF PALAZZO VALMARANA. FROM PALLADIO, ED. I570. Andrea Palladio. 139 VILLA ALMERIGO. PALLADIO, ED. 1570. like, are all in the direction of setting back the hands of the clock, of perpetuating dulness. In the present state of uncertainty the study of his¬ tory is extremely important, and it is essential that careful critical study should be applied to the architecture of the past, and that the facts should be presented in true historical perspective and proportion. It is with this intention that I have offered these criticisms on Palladio’s work, but it is not to be overlooked that as architects go he was a learned man, and that within his narrow limits he was a past-master of technique, and an architect who, in such churches as those of S. Georgio Maggiore and II Redentore at Venice, showed himself capable of fine and distinguished architecture. Although the really great quality of Roman buildings seems to have escaped him, although in his laborious search for details he caught no glimpse of that magnificent daring in construction which is the glory of Roman archi¬ tecture, he yet had a real passion for antiquity, and definite convictions as to the path that archi¬ tecture should follow. There is something attrac¬ tive in the modesty which led him to believe it was not for him to revolutionise art, but to find in the past his guide for the future. He had not the slightest sympathy with the impudent audacity of ignorance, with what his biographer, Scamozzi, calls “ la folle ambition de se singulariser, et de passer pour createurs ou reformateurs de l’archi- tecture.” The stand he made against this ten¬ dency was the essential service that Palladio rendered to architecture. The position he occu¬ pies in the history of Italian art is not unlike that filled by Sir William Chambers in regard to English architecture of the eighteenth century. Both men were purists, even pedants, and their professional ability was not illuminated by any Hash of genius. Yet both men made a conscious and deliberate stand against the merely fashion¬ able license of their time, and endeavoured to recall the art of architecture to the graver practice of the past. It is a service that needs doing again. The remains of the classical tradition was the last effective influence in England, but that influence practically came to an end a hundred years ago, and the efforts of English architecture since that date have given us nothing in its place except any quantity of false sentiment. With rare exceptions, the architectural exploits of the nineteenth century were of the nature of guerilla fighting ; they may or may not have been magnifi¬ cent, according to taste, but they were certainly not war ; and the work of steadying English architecture has yet to be done if it is ever to resume its rightful place in the great procession of history. Reginald Blomfield. Mr. Watts’s Colossal Equestrian Statue. Mr. Watts's remarkable project is now so far advanced that it is being cast in bronze at the instance of Earl Grey, and will be set up on the Matoppos as a memorial to Cecil Rhodes. When the design is completely finished to his mind, Mr. Watts intends to present it to the Government, and I have suggested elsewhere that the right thing would be for the Government or some public body to find the bronze as a small mark of penitence for our neglect of a public servant, of esteem for a national benefactor, and as a beginning of better things in the treatment of artists when England is so fortunate as to breed them. The design of a man and horse in sculpture is so difficult a thing that there is only one supremely successful example on the colossal scale in the world; for the Colleoni, constantly quoted as the greatest, does not, for all its expression of threaten¬ ing energy, rank with the Gattamelata in plastic •composition. Equestrian compositions, from the time of the Renaissance, divide roughly into two lines: those of the horse passant and of the horse rearing. Donatello’s sources were the Greek horses at Venice and the Marcus Aurelius. The type of the other line was the Colossi of Monte Cavallo, along with the equestrian figures of em¬ perors on various Roman coins; for the Par¬ thenon frieze has been familiar only for about a hundred years. Leonardo’s projects, which never reached bronze-founding, are divided between these two types, the type of Donatello and the type of the rearing horse. Modern design shows a third variety, of which a familiar example is the ecorche of a horse by M. Isidore Bonheur, as remarkable for its design as for its anatomical usefulness. M. Rodin’s admirable model for the statue of General Lynch follows this closely in some respects, as Mr. Tweed reminds me, and Mr. Watts’s Hugh Lupus at Eaton Hall is of the same family. The later design, here illustrated, is varied from that by bring¬ ing the hind legs into line. A curious action re¬ sults, which appears intended to combine in one 41 PHYSICAL ENERGY.” BY G. E. WATTS, R.A. (By permission of the Artist.) Photo: Fredk. Hollyer. The Arts and Crafts Exhibition. pose a spring on the part of the horse and a checking and transforming of that impulse by the rider. This characteristic hesitation among various things hinted at affects the design through¬ out, reappearing in the character of the surface modelling; but the whole work is of a different order from various pitiful groups that encumber our public places. This aim at a plastic expres¬ sion of physical energy should find a site in Lon¬ don, which has at present only the fine Charles I. and the decent King George to its credit. At the same time the Duke of Wellington attri¬ buted to Boehm, with its ludicrous attendant figures, ought to be sent to Aldershot, and the jolly old scrag and London landmark that was banished to that camp should be brought back and replaced on the arch till we have something overwhelmingly better to show. If the first of these projects is carried out, Mr. Watts will see at least one result of his life¬ long campaign for a grave public art in this country. He will not, however, have been granted what he asked for at first, a few public walls to exercise his painting upon. Twenty years after the shabby treatment he and other artists received at the hands of the Houses of Parliament Commission, and the refusal of the London and North Western Railway to find him paint and scaffolding for the decoration of Euston station, he returned to the charge on behalf of the younger generation. In 1863 he was not yet an academician, and therefore still cherished illusions about the aims and character of the Royal Academy. He developed before the Royal Com¬ mission on that body a scheme for the training of its students. His belief was that in this country H1 we have all that is needed in talent and in char¬ acter to produce an art reflecting what is majestic in national history and aspirations, an art of gravity and dignity; and that nothing was lacking for this monumental revival but the walls to paint on, the paint, the wages of painters, and the direction of the young into this kind of art. He appealed to the Academy to make a beginning by getting per¬ mission for some of its students to work upon the walls of class rooms in the public schools during the long vacations. He thought a start might be made by reproducing the designs of Flaxman in flat colour, and that academicians like Maclise would be ready to furnish other designs, and perhaps to superintend or appoint superintendents. Such work would be provisional, and might even be effaced later on, and replaced by something else. And he thought that this scheme would not only be a valuable training and stimulus for the students, but would temper a little the curious ignorance and contempt of art in which the fine type of Philistine bred at our public schools for the most part grows up. Mr. Watts’s proposals fell apparpptly on deaf ears, but perhaps now that the Prince of Wales has joined himself to the critics of the Academy Schools the Council of that body may ask themselves whether its professedly principal object is being carried out in any real sense, and whether a scheme like this is not worth considering. Architects will look in vain for the steady help of mural painters till some school, be it the Academy or another, pro¬ vides wall space and materials, so that students can get the necessary initial training. D. S. MacColl. The Arts and Crafts Exhibition. A Discussion. I.— -BY A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY. There is no Exhibition held in London which is so hard to criticise as the Arts and Crafts. The variety of objects requires a know¬ ledge not only of design but, in most cases, of workmanship. Very few, if any, critics, how¬ ever gifted, are equipped with these essentials. Lord Byron’s verses are still true, that “ a man must serve his time to every trade save censure. Critics all are ready made.” We find in many periodicals smart articles on this exhibition. The fault of most art critics is that they know too VOL. XIII.— L little and write too much. It is easy to select a few specimens and put them in the pillory ; but I believe it could be proved that there are better examples in this year’s show of jewellery, silver work, furniture, glass, tiles, textiles, needlework, metal work, etc., than are to be found in any shop in London. Of course I refer to modern work entirely. If this is so, and I am convinced my assertion can be demonstrated, it seems hardly fair to select some articles which are not of the first rank and use them as pegs for a diatribe. The original object of the Society — that of exhibiting works that are not admissible in the 142 The Arts and Crafts Exhibition. picture shows — has been successful : also that of bringing forward the executant from his obscurity. The whole aim has been to try and induce people to value an article because thought and labour have been expended on it. A piece of jewellery, or square of printed cloth, is interesting, and worth having, not on account of the material used, but from the amount of skill in design and technical knowledge or craft employed. It has been urged more than once that the exhibits are childish ; that may be so, but in any effort to bring back an art or craft from over elaboration, it is necessary to begin de novo. The senseless application of ornament is the usual resource of unskilful designers to hide their ignor¬ ance. It is much harder to produce an article depending on form and proportion for its beauty than one fuli of meaningless ornament and fussy detail. We see this more strikingly in architecture. Pure Classic is not employed now as it requires too much knowledge and thought to work it in. It is a favourite sneer to dub any demure and sober design as affectation. This, no doubt, would have been the critics' term for the introduction of the notes of the cuckoo and quail in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, or the bird melodies in Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll. To some minds there is no music unless it is played on a big brass band with lots of drum and trombone to pick out the air. Though one objects to the arrogance of the critic, that is no reason why some defects of the exhibition should not be admitted and deplored. A new departure was entered on this year, namely, the introduction of recesses in the North Gallery allotted to certain exhibitors and firms. This, though giving the latter a better opportunity of showing their productions, led to the inclusion of several articles that certainly would not have passed the Committee. In connection with this subject, one may mention that, two exhibits that have been particularly held up to ridicule were rejected by the Committee three years ago. These No We are obliged to hold over the second part of Mr. Lethaby’s account of Exeter Cathedral. This will appear in the May number of the Architectural Review, and also the first in¬ stalment of a series of articles on architectural education, to which reference has already been made. We shall begin with an account of the German system, written by Mr. Bailey Saunders, who drew up a report on this subject for the London University Commission some years ago, and has brought his investigations up tc date for the present purpose. The May number will also recesses were practically hors concours. This ought to be remedied in future. Nothing should be ex¬ hibited that has not been approved by the Com¬ mittee. This unfortunate body has no light task. We are constantly reminded of the labours of the Royal Academy Council, but theirs are confined to one class of exhibit. When you have to select and arrange some two dozen different classes of objects the labour is proportionately greater. Few are in a position to compare accurately the work of this year’s exhibition with the first two. Were it possible to place them side by side the improvement would strike one as immense. Certain names unfortunately would be absent, such as Morris and Burne-Jones, but the average level would be much higher. Many of the exhibits are remarkable for a restraint in design, that is a noticeable feature of this year’s show. It seems strange that here in England there should be so small an appreciation of the work done by the Society when its influence has almost revolution¬ ised the decorative work of the world. Let me conclude with the words of M. Folcka, the Swedish Representative on the jury of the Inter¬ national Exhibition at Turin. “You all know where we have to look fur the origin of this movement of which we see around us — at this exhibition — the actual results; a move¬ ment which began more than thirty years ago, and with which are inseparably joined the names of William Morris, of Edward Burne-Jones, and Walter Crane. “ For us jurors at this First International Exhibition it should be a duty to give our special homage to the art of England, and I take liberty to propose that we create a grand and unique Diploma of Special Honour as an act of homage and thankfulness to England.” Truly a prophet is not without honour save in his own country. Mervyn Macartney. A reply for the critics will appear in the May number. te. contain the first part of a critical examination of the architectural discoveries at Knossos, by Mr. Phene Spiers. We may join here in urging the claims of the Cretan Exploration Fund, which have been put anew before the public by Mr. George Macmillan. Everyone who is stirred by curiosity to know yet more of those secrets of remote antiquity that lie a few spade-depths below the surface of the ground, and can afford to pay for that curiosity, should send Mr. Mac¬ millan a cheque. English Mediaeval Figure -Sculpture. CHAPTER V.— FIRST GOTHIC FIGURE- SCULPTURE (1175-1280). CARVING IN RELIEF. Pre- Gothic figure-work had been almost solely in relief, whether in Anglian cross-work, in Saxon roods and panels, or in the Norman tympana. We shall in the following chapters show the Gothic sculptor as essentially a worker in the round, and this different sense of his art appears also in his reliefs. A new style appears in them. For the slabs and panels of the earlier sculpture had been detached from the church fabric, either entirely separate from it, or added to its structure as a picture might be. But in the feeling of the Gothic artist the sculpture had to be part of the building, and so the First Gothic reliefs were carved not on, but in the scheme of the construction. There may have been, also, detached reliefs, carved in stone, in the thirteenth century, of the same kind, as we have shown in the Saxon art (Figs. 14, 15, and 19, in Chaps. I. and II.). and in the Romanesque (Figs. 56 and 57 in Chap. II.). We give, for example, a Majesty from a church at Durham (Fig. 84), a stone¬ carving in low relief, which seems certainly a work of the thirteenth century. There is another at Sompting, in Sussex, very similar, but of earlier date, and coarser execution. The oblong shape FIG. 84. — STONE RELIEF AT DURHAM. (From a photograph kindly taken for the purpose by Mr. Freeman, of Durham.) of these slabs makes it likely that they were carved for screens or some detached position. But it was not till the fourteenth century that there began the great trade in alabaster reliefs, and the “ Alablasters,” as they were called, of Nottingham and York, sent re-tables, screens, and figure- panels to all parts of Western Europe, even to Iceland. In the century of First Gothic art, the furniture for the altar seems to have been ordered from the carpenter and goldsmith— images and tabernacle-work being of wood enriched with gild¬ ing and precious stones, or very commonly en¬ tirely in precious materials, gold, silver, and ivory.55 This, at any rate, is the conclusion to which we are led by the records and accounts, which, while they abound in references to these goldsmiths’ images, are deficient in hints of any important pieces of marble or stonework being used as church-furniture in English churches of the First Gothic period. We are, too, justified in believing that the con¬ structions necessary for shrines and screens were generally in the hands of the goldsmith, when we see how Henry III. made his marble shrine for the Confessor at Westminster in a design un¬ known to English mason-craft, with mosaic in¬ crustations, upon which we are not surprised to see the signature “ Petrus civis Romanus ” en¬ graved. This seems evidence that up to 1250 the native marbler had not attempted elaborate shrines.56 In the latter part of the thirteenth century he asserted himself, as for example in the monuments of Archbishop Gray, at York, 1260, and of Bishop Bridport, at Salisbury, 1263. After which, as our later chapters will relate, stone and marble tombs were constantly carved with figure- reliefs. In such works the mason-imager appeared by the side of the goldsmith-imager, and was commonly employed upon marble and stone fur¬ niture, sedilia, Easter sepulchres, altar-screens, as well as on shrines and tombs, and covered all with figure-work.57 In the First Gothic art, however, the talent ot the relief-carver had been used strictly for the larger architectural work. Mason and sculptor, as has been said, were one person, and accordingly his reliefs were worked in the scheme of his build- 55 The Exchequer Rolls show that there were fifteen golden statues set with precious stones ready for the shrine of the Con¬ fessor in 1261. See also in the Liberate Rolls of 1242 payment for silver tabernacle to ivory image at Westminster. 5r’ The accounts of the works done at Westminster in 1253 suggest an intention of copying the shrine of St. Alban for that of the Confessor. The mosaic erection is dated to c. 1268. si A distinct entry as to the mason-imager is in the Close Roll of 1259, where John of Gloucester, the king’s mason, is ordered to supply five images of free stone. L 2 r44 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. ing — that scheme which, in the thirteenth cen¬ tury, developed the wall as tiers of arcades. Between the extrados of the arcade-arches of one tier, and the level springing of the next, were interspaces (spandrels) which made convenient fields for sculpture, in a way that was, as our last chapter explained, agreeable to the building genius of the Gothic artist. Similarly when the arch compassed two subsidiary arches, as so fre¬ quently happened in the development of Gothic construction, a spandrel ready for decoration declared itself, which, in many cases, became filled with figure-sculpture. These interspaces, also, under the impetus of Gothic art, developed struc¬ tural decorations — i.e. geometrical piercings out¬ lined with moulded voussoirs — the trefoils and quatrefoils which were the beginnings of tracery. When, as often happened, such openings were blind, they afforded an excellent lodgment for figure-sculpture, and advantage of them was largely taken. In these three positions, therefore, First Gothic figure-relief found its occasions, and the uses made of them fall broadly into divisions under the attendant conditions of the architecture. When developed above a wall arcade, the span¬ drels provided a running frieze for a continuous set of subjects level with the eye, as in Worcester quire. Similarly in the scheme of the thirteenth century bay, the triforium of the arcade gave a place for bolder figure-work, ranged in a connected theme, as along the Lincoln “ Angel Ghoir,” or in the transept ends at Westminster. So also such quatrefoils, trefoils, etc., as came in the heads of structural arcades, as, for example, in the Wells front, allowed figures and subjects to be set in their recesses. Finally, in the single spaces of great doorheads, we have sculpture-fields, in which the interest is concentrated, and where a different type of figure-relief appears, in this position rapidly developing into the statue. So, for ex¬ ample, we have the sculptured Majesty of Lincoln, and the figures of the Madonna so usually set in the chapter-doorways, as at Westminster. We will, accordingly, take the thirteenth-century re¬ liefs in the above order, and deal first with those subject-reliefs which run in continuous series. Arcade-structure had been largely practised in the Romanesque art, and its later ornament after Stephen's reign had been very profuse and varied. This ornament grew less exuberant in Gothic style, but the arcade did not immediately lose its Romanesque tradition — at least this is the case in the South and West of England. In the North, as already said, the Gothic evolution of building found its motive in the rejection of the rich sculp¬ ture of the later Romanesque, and the figure- ornament, which had been largely employed at A. G. FIG. 85. — BRISTOL. ELDER LADY CHAPEL. C. 1200. Durham, Adel, and Bridlington, is entirely absent from the graceful arcadings of the First Gothic abbeys of Yorkshire and the North. It is diffe¬ rent, however, southward and westward in Eng¬ land, where we can see in the First Gothic arcades an immediate derivation from the ornamentation of Rochester, Barfreston, and Malmesbury. At first we have the same symbolic representations, zodiacal beasts, warriors and dragons. The “ Elder” Lady Chapel, as it is called, of Bristol Cathedral, the first building of which was c. 1200, gives a good example (Fig. 85) illustrating the direct descent of the Early English carving craft from the Romanesque of the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire tympana, as shown in our preceding chapters (see Figs. 26 and 48). At Bristol the figure-work is on scarcely a larger scale than on the 1186 arch-moulds of St. Mary’s Chapel, Glastonbury, or on the capital of Wells porch (see Fig. 81, Chap. IV.). In the Wells- triforium, as one of our illustrations of the Wells label-heads (see Fig. 66, Chap. IV.) incidentally showed, was spandrel-work of this kind, but of finer finish. In the Chapels at the eastern end of the Worcester Quire — that part of the new “ front ” which was probably the first built, c. 1224 — the wall-arcades have a series of span¬ drels carved with fabulous beasts and fighting knights, elegant and distinct in design. We have here probably the latest instance on a big scale of these Romanesque motives which we have traced upwards from the rude beginnings of Scandinavian design. In the same work, but farther west, at Worcester the wall-arcades of the eastern transept show quite a different type, which we may speak of as the inauguration of Gothic sculpture. Though very many of the spandrel-carvings have been, unfortunately, touched up or entirely re¬ worked in the restorations which afflicted Worces¬ ter Cathedral in 1857, still there remains enough to show the distinct style. On the south side is a 1 45 English Mediczval Figtire- Sculp hire . series of some twenty spandrels giving a detailed representation of the Doom. The whole Gothic drama of the subject is set out with all its stock ■characters— the angelic trumpeters, the bursting tombs, the mouth of hell (Fig. 86), the tortures of the damned, and the angel leading the saved to glory (Fig. 87). In the liveliness of the gestures and the emotions depicted there is an echo of the Vezelay sculpture, and we may trace the style to those traditions of Cluniac sculpture which have been suggested for the sculpture of the West Mid¬ lands (seeChap. III.), but the technique of the work is shallow, and the treatment dry and lean as com¬ pared with the Burgundy work. There has pro¬ bably been much damage from the scraping process of restoration, but while the style is that of Gothic stone-carving, we recognise little advance on the goldsmith’s art of fifty years earlier, as we saw A. G. FIG. 86. — WORCESTER. SOUTH-EAST TRANSEPT. this, for example, in the Gloucester candlestick (Fig. 38, Chap. II.), or in the Lincoln reliefs (Figs. 41 to 46, Chap. III.). On the north side the spandrels represent scenes from Old and New Testament history, and not much of the ancient carving is left undamaged. The style here is different again, with a quietude which is much in contrast with the energy of the Doom spandrels. One might trace an artistic descent from the re¬ liefs (see Fig. 58, Chap. III.) in Kelloe churchyard. There is yet another type of work in these Wor¬ cester spandrels. Some half-dozen on either side of the quire to the east of the transept are to be noted as apparently representing the history of the building of the cathedral. We are shown the “ master-mason ” and the “ working-mason,” and the Bishop, who presents the model of the church on the altar. This last is perhaps the most accomplished of all the Worcester works, and in its technique is but little inferior to what A. G. FIG. 87. — WORCESTER. SOUTH-EAST TRANSEPT. we shall find in the earliest reliefs on the west front of Wells (see on to Fig. 104). Such was the Gothic sculpture of 1225 : at Westminster we can see that of twenty years later. It occupies parallel positions to that at Worcester, in the spandrels of the wall-arcades in the eastern chapels and in the north and south transepts. The misfortune at Westminster has not been restoration but a wanton destruction to make room for later monuments, and a surface decay of the stone, which has obliterated all the edges and tool marks. We show the best pre¬ served of what must once have been very beauti¬ ful sculpture. The attitudes and expressions of these little figures, and the skill and knowledge of their relief, are as perfect as can be, and the only archaism perceptible lies in the experimental plac- ings and attitudes of the figures in order to fit FIG. 88. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. CHAPEL OF S. EDMUND. (From a photograph kindly lent by S. Gardner, Esq.) English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. 1 46 A. G FIG. 89. — WESTMINSTER ABBEY. NORTH TRANSEPT. WEST SIDE. them to the spandrel shapes. Foliage is called in to help the demi-angel with the crown (Fig. 88), but the maladroitness visible in our illustration (Fig. 89), where it is attempted to fill the field with figure-work only, is still more apparent in some of the neighbouring compositions. At Salisbury we have reliefs to be dated from c. 1265 to 1275. Those on Bishop Bridport’s tomb-canopy are the earlier, and though much defaced, are probably the work of the sculptors who afterwards carved in the Chapter-house. The wall-arcades there remain with their full series of subject-reliefs in what may be called good preservation. Restoration has been hard at work on them, but it has been of a different kind from the unintelligent, coarse substitutions of Worcester. Moreover, the sympathetic and learned skill of W. Burges, who was in charge, provided for his renewals the hand of a competent sculptor. Since, however, in this renewal old and new were both together painted, and subse¬ quently, when the painting began to peel off, were again stripped to the stone, the distinctions between the actually genuine work and what was so cleverly imitated to match it are rendered obscure. Fortunately, we have from Burges a detailed description 58 of the sculptures as he saw them first and admired them, and with hints from this we can pick our way to the most genuine examples. It will be seen that though the Salisbury work lacks the intrinsic First Gothic charm which everything has at Westminster — perhaps because there we have merely to deal with decay, whereas restoration, however clever, inevitably destroys as much as it preserves — still we can recognise a skill in grouping and composition which is a distinct advance on anything we have at the “ Abbey.” The plastic expression and balance in Lot and his daughters turning their backs on the pillar of salt 58 “ The Iconography of the Chapter House.” (Fig. 90), or in Jacob’s brethren setting forth to Egypt (Fig. g 1 ), will establish this point; and in most of the compositions this merit has at any rate not been altered in the recarving, though heads and hands are almost entirely new through¬ out. We have, however, picked out our examples to show some of the few ancient heads remaining. And the cleverness of Burges' restoration will be seen by comparing the heads of Noah (Fig. 92) and Pharaoh (Fig. 93), which are genuine, with that of Lot (Fig. go), which is the one head added in this piece, or with the heads put by Burges’ sculptor to all except one of ‘‘ Jacob's Brethren ” (Fig. 91). The draperies throughout are genuine, and it can be seen that their treatment is different from both what it was at Westminster and what we shall presently illustrate at Wells. Indeed, it shows its later date by its distinct step outside the First Gothic manner. ,1. G FIG. 90. — SALISBURY. CHAPTER HOUSE. “LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS.” (Lot’s head.has been restored, and also partly the hands and arms of the other figures.) 147 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture . A.G. FIG. 91. — SALISBURY. CHAPTER HOUSE. “JACOB’S BRETHREN.” (All the heads of the figures, except the third from the right and various hands, arms, etc., are restorations.) A good deal of colour remained on these reliefs when their renovation was undertaken thirty years ago, and W. Burges, a born colourist, made a striking success of its renewal, as great a success as it is likely modern methods can achieve. Still, for all this, the question of the effect of the mediae¬ val colouring on architecture and sculpture cannot logically be judged on the basis of such restora¬ tions, however clever, at the hands of our Revival architects Burges, Street, or Butterfield. They are the best we can do, but to take them as ex¬ amples of what they imitate is an unfairness to ancient art, for, like any other art effect, that of colour can be effective only by its sincerity. A learned imitative restoration represents only the knowledge of the restorer. As such it may charm the scholar who can recognise the culture and imagination it implies ; but it creates no general expression of value for the criticism of the genuine art of the thirteenth century. It is therefore a shallowconnoisseurship which, looking at mediaeval architecture painted up to the nineteenth century standard of scholarship, exclaims, “ how barbaric and crude this mediaeval colouring must have been ! ” ; or which argues that cathedrals were meant to appear solemn and shadowy in the drab of plain stone surfaces, and calls the painting of his sculpture a faux pas on the part of the mediaeval artist. Like Greek sculpture mediaeval figure- work was undoubtedly always painted, sometimes heavily, sometimes delicately.59 That in the thirteenth century this painting would be simple and direct we can call in evidence the whole record of the thirteenth-century art. On backgrounds of blue or red the figures stood out in pale tints enforced with brown and gilding; the flesh colours were palely rendered, the lips and the eyeballs picked out darker, the draperies white, green, and black, powdered with gold and coloured patterns. How these colours were harmonized, what was the art — the expressive glory — of their combina¬ tion, if we have no examples in sufficient preser¬ vation to show us directly, yet there is left us a fair means of estimating. If we turn to the contemporary manuscripts, to the Apocalypse at Trinity College, Cambridge, for example, or to that exhibited in the show cases of the British Museum Library, or, indeed, to any English thirteenth-century manuscripts, we find in their illuminations and miniatures not only the delicate drawing and plastic liveliness which we might expect from the contemporaries of the Westminster and Salisbury relief-carvers, but a quality of colour, whose analogue we may find in ancient eastern carpets, or, close on our own day, in the masterpieces of Japanese artists. Our attempted restorations of this colouring would naturally be_failures, just as surely as our paintings, for all their effort, do not show the lively colour sense of the great Vene¬ tian paintings; just as surely as our imitations of the Eastern arts are vulgar and unpleasing. And it shows some hardihood on the part of our artistry with its conscious weakness in architectural decoration to say “ sour grapes ” to the brightness and splendour of mediaeval architectural sculpture. Only here and there now can we see the actual vestiges of the an¬ cient colouring, and where they 59 The Liberate Rolls of Henry III. abound in orders for the painting of images. English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture. remain they are the ground colours which at the time of the painting were materially altered by glazings and diapers. Nothing really repre¬ sentative of the thirteenth century is left us. Painted in tempera, it must have faded and been continually re¬ touched. The old quire screen of Salisbury, now set in the north-east transept (and sadly flaunted by the grimacings of the modern church fur¬ nishings opposite), has some sugges¬ tion, perhaps, of the effect of coloured relief-carvings. The backgrounds of full colour can still be discerned, and the gilded angel -wings, the warm flesh-colours, and the cool grey draperies are indications of the delicious harmonies so often to be seen in the manuscripts. The whole must have had a lively smiling countenance, each spandrel with its min¬ strel angel and all gay with colour and gilding (Figs. 94, 95). The date of this work may be put at c 1270, almost on the edge of the period which we have called that of First Gothic sculpture. Passing to the larger relief-sculptures of the triforium, our great thirteenth-century example is that of the Lincoln “Angel Choir, ” and we take it next (though the similar reliefs at Westminster are rather earlier in date) because its motive is most directly that of the Salisbury quire screen, but carried out on a big scale at a height of some forty feet from the floor. The notion, as shown in the easternmost bays, has been to carve a choir of jocund angel minstrelsy looking down from the triforium spandrels. Lincoln, in the wall-arcades of St. Flugh’s quire, had some angel reliefs on a small scale carved between the labels. In the “Angel Choir” the idea seems at first to have been as simple. But when the work had advanced so that by the taking down of St. Hugh’s apse the new building could be joined up to the transept, a more serious artist, and one whose art was pregnant with a mediaeval mysticism, ap¬ peared on the scene, and his influence put a deeper note into what was primarily a decorative composition. The Lincoln angels come in aptly here, too, because the assertion has been made that they were clearly un¬ coloured, and that no traces of paint have been found on them. Our illustration FIG. 93. — SALISBURY. CHAPTER HOUSE. “ PHARAOH'S DREAM. (Fig. 99 a) of the central angel with crowns disproves this. It will be seen that the camera discloses a diapered pattern on the wall face, and we can scarcely doubt that the usual thirteenth-century colour-treatment was given here as elsewhere, and that a dark background spangled with gold stars was painted for all the figures. Our plan (p. 151) gives the subjects distin¬ guished by letters, so that the reader may follow our analysis of their peculiarities and our ascrip¬ tions to various hands. In each bay it is to be noted that there is a central angel and two flanking figures. C. R. Cockerell, in his well- known treatise 60 written in 1S51, gave very defi¬ nite meanings to all of them, so that the angels are often called by his names. We have, how¬ ever, no faith in his interpretations, and prefer to indicate each work by the paraphernalia and attitudes given by the sculptor. Looking at their art, then, as being the most interesting gauge of varying authorship, we at once perceive a marked difference between the eastern and the 60 “ Iconography of the West Front of Wells Cathedral.” FIG. 94.— SALISBURY. ANCIENT CHOIR SCREEN. (Now in North-East Transept.) English Medieval Figure-Sculpture. 149 a. a. FIG. 95. — SALISBURY. ANCIENT CHOIR SCREEN. (Now in North-East Transept.) western angels. A distinct division is marked in the middle bay, where the central angel on either side belongs clearly to the western series, which in style is much superior to the eastern set. We may conclude that as in similar cases, the work was begun with the east front of the new building, and with the erection of the first two or three bays which could be built outside the existing apse of the church. The date of this beginning is said to have been in 1256. So since these carvings have been worked and built before fixing into the work, the first set may belong to that year. There are in these four central full-fronted angels with spread wings, and ten flanking angels. The larger number of these — all the flanking figures except one, and two of the central angels — would seem to be from one hand, and they are marked A in plan. We give as an example of this style the harping angel from the north side (Fig. 96 a). It will be seen how the figure is short and stout, with baggy folds of drapery broadly rendered, and it shows particularly well-developed feet. The heads in this style are large featured and with pleasant expres¬ sions, but the dust now settled on their noses gives them in the photographs an expression not intended by the sculptor ; still generally it may be said that their quality is not of much distinction : they must rank with the decorative sculpture of the Salisbury angels. The other three figures — the two opposite centrals in the east bay, and one of the flanking angels, marked B in plan, are from a different hand. They are longer in their anatomy with narrow shoulders and wide hips, the heads queerly modelled with Jewish noses, the draperies being full and confused, while the wings are turned upwards at the tips instead of as in the A’s. Moreover, despite their somewhat gro¬ tesque appearance when viewed Irom the triforium directly opposite, below in the quire they show an emotional suggestion which is less conventional than in the A’s, though the quality of the execution is perhaps on a no higher plane. All these eastern angels are pedestailed on baggy clouds, and their hair, which is coarsely rendered in blobby curls, is bound with fillets. In the central angels of the mid-bays of the “ choir ” we come to an evident change of quality. Since, as we know, the work of building was protracted — the new shrine not being ready for the saint till 1280 — we may suppose an interval of some years before the angels of the western bays were carved. They show a different motive and a su¬ perior class of execution. This is not perhaps the case with the angel on the north side close upon the transept, but is certainly so with the other flanking angels on the same side (which we have marked C) as well as with the two centrals — that with the crowns (shown in Fig. 99 a), with the angel of the the scales (Fig.g8 a), and those shown in Figs. 96c and d. They all have the same large heads and full features, which we saw in the A’s, and mostly the same cloud bases, but the expressions are graver and finer, and the draperies more functional to the attitudes. They differ, however, from one another not a little in quality ; the flanking angel that swings the censer is almost as fine as anything (Fig. 96 d), and the angel of the scales (Fig. 98 a) is no mean achievement. Still there is a clear gap between the C’s and the three great angels which we have marked D. It is the character, mystic and intense, breathed intc these three reliefs (Figs. 98 b and 99 b), which has established the reputation of the Lincoln angels as some of the most remarkable of mediaeval works in sculpture. The concentration and dignity of the intellectual expressions, and the sure touch shown in the technique of their sculpture, give the figures a distinction which it is difficult to match elsewhere. Their fault is that they are adapted to be seen rather from opposite than from below. Besides the distinction of their quality, there are certain treatments of detail which sufficiently mark the D figures as coming from a different hand. The heads are smaller, with short necks, and deli¬ cate features, the draperies are clearly and simply cut, with strong functional lines. A peculiarity is to be seen in the fine female heads shaped triangu¬ larly by the wimple, which in each case appear in English M ed iccva l Figure-Sculpture 150 A. 0 b. MADONNA. NO. 30. “ F ” TYPE. FIG. 96. — LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. ANGEL CHOIR. English Mediceval Figure-S culpture . *5 i NORTH SIDE. i. Angel, full front, looking right, reading roll I. 2. EAST WINDOW. i • l 3. [ 4 II. \ 5- 6. [ 7- III. 8' IV. full front, holding sun and moon. facing to left, playing harp, facing to right, holding palm and roll, facing to left, playing on viol. full front, playing on lute. full front, but leaning over and reading roll. full front, holding up two crowns. full front, holding palm and roll. in profile, looking to right, swinging a censer full front, with scales. , 12. Full front, showing wounded side, small angel pre- V senting figure. l' 13. Angel, looking to right, with spear. V 14- full front, with sword and figure, “Adam and Eve.” 15- , full front, with crown held up. A B A A A A B C c c c r c D c A B A A A A A D E E ET E r v F SOUTH SIDE. 16. Angel, full front, leaning to left, right arm raised showing scroll. full front, crowned and holding harp. full front, right arm raised, with extended roll. turning to left and blowing trumpet, left leg crossed over right. full front, extending a long roll, showing feet. full front, extending both arms raised. facing to left and blowing double trumpet, right leg over left. II. full front, with pipe and tabor. full front, holding book to breast. Right arm I raised, wings crossed. ) full front, looking to left and reading roll, wings crossed. turning sideways, with lure and hawk. ^ * full front, with scroll in lap, wings crossed. full front, but leaning into angle away from arch, with book held up. full front, but looking to side, holding up small V. figure in hands. 30. Madonna and Child, with small censing angel. EAST TRANSEPT (ST. HUGH’S). C. 1 195. FIG. 97. — LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. PLAN OF ANGEL CHOIR. (The Roman numerals indicate the bays from the east : the capitals the works which seem to have the same qualities of style.) the bases. We do not show the angel with the pipe and tabor (No. 23 in plan) but with it the female head is attached to a dragon tail : and very similar human headed dragons take the place of supporting clouds in the figures which we have marked as E and F. Two of these — the central angel (No. 26 in plan) and the flanking Madonna (Fig. 96 b) — have merits which might rank them with the great D figures. But the sentiment of their sculpture is different : the heads, too, are larger and with long necks, the whole attitudes being less statuesque, and the draperies with a somewhat different handling. These E’s and F's, though we distinguish them as showing different methods of treatment, as for example in the wings and also in the attitudes, may possibly be from the hands of one sculptor. We may regard him as working by the side of and influenced by the great creator of the D figures, but with an individuality of his own. As a sample of E, we give (Fig. 99 d) the flanking angel of the fourth bay from the east on the south side. This is a charming figure, lively and graceful, as is also the central angel with the hawk next to it ; with the similar two flanking angels to the east they are clearly from one hand. But still more sprightly is the “ Madonna ” (Fig. 96b), which we associate with the other flanking angel of the fifth bay (Fig. 99 c), and with the spandrel on the opposite side, that which instead of an angel has a man showing his wounded side. These are all fine sculptures, but their style — the long necks of the figures, their arch expres¬ sions, the airy poising of their heads, as well as the arrangement, and picturesque detail of the fluttering wings — can hardly have come from the same hand which moulded the stern-faced, con¬ centrated sculpture of the “ Expulsion from Para¬ dise ” (Fig. 98 b). On the whole, then, we conceive the sculptors of the sixteen spandrels of the western bays to have been three persons. The first of these, whose work we initial C on the plan, may have been the sculp¬ tor of the A’s of the eastern bays, who, after the interval, continued his work with greater skill and under a new inspiration. That inspiration we can scarcely doubt to have been derived from the sculptor of the great angels, initialled D. But side by side with them both was another fine sculptor (or possibly there were two), whose art was not so stern and intellectual, but graceful and plastic ; and his masterpiece must be allowed to be the “ Madonna.” E. S. Prior. A. Gardner. (To be continued.) tO English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. 9 a. ANGEL WITH SCALES. NO. II. “C” TYPE. (From a Photograph kindly lent by S. Gardner, Esq.) FIG. 98.— LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. ANGEL CHOIR. English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture . 153 b. ANGEL HOLDING SMALL FIGURE. NO. 29. “ D ” TYPE. FIG. 99. -LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. ANGEL CHOIR. Current Architecture Lloyd’s Registry. — This building is situated at the western corner of Fenchurch Street and Lloyd’s Avenue, a new street recently formed through the site of some old East India warehouses, and has a frontage of 70 feet to the former and 150 feet to the latter thoroughfare. It was necessary to provide larger and more com¬ modious office room for the increasing business ; a large store or strong-room for the books and registers of the Society ; a library and a luncheon room ; also classification and committee rooms, a board-room, and a museum in which to store models of ships and machinery and other memo¬ rials of the Society’s work. The general scheme has been a free treatment of Georgian classic. The roof has sufficient pitch to be visible from the street. Portland stone has been mainly used for the facades, with bands of Hoptonwood stone on the Fenchurch Street frontage. There is a large amount of carving on the facades, including a frieze running round the main building above the door and window heads, by Mr. George Frampton, R.A., who is also responsible for four bronze figures between the rusticated columns on the ground floor, which represent ancient and modern shipping. Professor Gerald Moira has executed the decoration of the vaulting over the Ground Floor P/an main staircase and upper hall, and is also deco¬ rating the ceiling of the board-room with painted panels emblematical of the sea. The upper and lower halls are, with the staircase, built of Devon¬ shire marble, and the stairs are of Carrara marble. Round the walls of the upper hall is a frieze designed by Mr. F. Lynn Jenkins. The interior walls of the board-room have a scheme in Numi- dian, black Belgian and Irish green marbles, and the dado is of African mahogany with richly- carved panels. Messrs. Mowlem and Co. were the contractors. The whole of the fittings and furniture have been specially designed by the architect, Mr. T. E. Collcutt. Alterations and Additions at Corn- bury Park, Oxon, for Vernon Watney, Esq.— The whole of the new work was built of stone procured from the quarries on the estate. This stone was highly commended by Evelyn. The whole of the interior has been more or less re¬ modelled. The oakwork has been carried out by Messrs, }. Garvie and Sons, of Aberdeen, and the builders were Messrs. Higlett and Hammond, of Guildford. Mr. John Aitchison was clerk of the works, and Mr. [ohn Belcher, A.R.A., the archi¬ tect. LLOYD’S REGISTRY. PLANS. T. E. COLLCUTT, ARCHITECT. C ter rent A rchitecture 155 Photo : E. Dockree. LLOYD’S REGISTRY. GENERAL VIEW. T. E. COLLCUTT, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture. 15 6 LLOYD’S REGISTRY. VIEW IN LLOYD’S AVENUE. T. E. COLLCUTT, ARCHITECT. Photo : E. Dockree. Current A rchitecture 157 VOL. XIII. — M LLOYD'S REGISTRY. THE UPPER HALL. T. E. COLLCUTT, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture Photo: S. B. Bolus and Co. LLOYD’S REGISTRY. THE BOARD ROOM. T. E. COLLCUTT, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture 1 59 CORNBURY PARK, OXON. NEW PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE. Photo : S. B. Bolas ami Co. JOHN BELCHER, A.R.A., ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture 1 60 Photo: S. B. Bolas and Co. CORNBURY CORRIDOR. PARK, OXON. THE VESTIBULE ANI) JOHN BELCHER, A.R.A., ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture , 1 6 r C — 111 — ~w; CORNBURY PARK, OXON. THE HALL JOHN BELCHER, A.R.A., ARCHITECT. Photo : S. B. Bolus and Co. Citrrent A rckitecture , 162 Photo : S. B. Bolas and Co CORN BURY PARK, OXON. THE LIBRARY. JOHN BELCHER, A.R.A., ARCHITECT. Ctirrent Architecture 163 Books. I-'NGLISII WOODWORK. “ English Interior Woodwork of the XVI., XVII. and XVIII. Centuries.” By El. Tanner, junr., A.R.I.B.A. I’rice 36s. nett. London. B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn. 1902. This volume contains a series of carefully measured drawings of the best and most characteristic examples of panelling and other interior fittings. It ought to prove very instructive to the student, and most useful to the designer. Indeed, it is open to question whether Mr. Tanner's labours will not chiefly result in a saving of trouble to that large and ever¬ growing class who having no ideas of their own will appropriate all they can. Against this fear we may set a feeling of satisfaction that such designers will be led aright — since they so badly need leading. Mr. Tanner discriminates carefully between a number of styles and enumerates the few first attempts, now extant, of Italian workmen to introduce Classical forms. Of these, which generally take the shape of Italian ornament grafted upon late English Gothic, he men¬ tions examples at Hampton Court, King’s College Chapel at Cambridge, the Vine and Christ Church in Hampshire, and a few more. These specimens of Italian work were imitated in many country churches, wherever a school of native carvers, whether in wood or in freestone, existed. They were and are very obnoxious to “ restorers,” and in hundreds of cases have perished ; to which cause I should be disposed to attribute their rarity rather than to any feeling on the part of workmen, that “ the style was too severe for the English to handle,” as Mr. Tanner supposes. He points out that the Classic style was chiefly re¬ commended to our forefathers by the Dutch and German examples. Many German pattern books were to be had in the sixteenth century, but our artists improved on the florid style fashionable in the Low Countries and on the Rhine. He traces to these sources many such “ vile vagaries ” as “ the pedestal¬ like pilasters surmounted by human bodies,” and the multiplication of parts without knowledge “ of the grammar and general composition of Classic and Renaissance work.” The style then prevalent in England, the last phase, namely, of Gothic paid little or no attention to general proportions. “ Such periods of doubt and uncertainty,” says Mr. Tanner, “had to be passed through, for the maturity of a national style, such as that attained under the guidance of Inigo Jones, was not to be accomplished in one turn of the wheel.” The most important point to be noted in this last sentence is the evidence it affords of the complete conversion of some at least of our modern archi¬ tects, to see the absurdity of what was a stock principle with the critics and others who wrote during the prevalence of the so-called “Gothic Revival.” Forty years ago and less it was common to hear St. Paul’s described as “ a heathen temple.” One rather eminent author called the western towers of West¬ minster Abbey, Grecian. That, in the third year of the twentieth century, the Palace of Whitehall or St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, should be spoken of as in “a national style ” would have seemed a thing incredible. Yet it is impossible to pass by this entirely reasonable expression of Mr. Tanner’s without recording the full assent which it demands, and without remarking that all through the introductory essay there are similar postulates, often inferred though not repeated in words. We find in short that the peculiar form of Palladian architecture, which was brought to perfection by the great English architects, was wholly different in its results, when adapted to our insular requirements and materials from what prevailed in France, Germany, the Low Countries, and above all in Italy. I have perhaps wandered from the tenour of Mr. Tanner’s introduction, but his sentences are so full of suggestion that it is difficult not to dwell upon one or more of them. The principal subjects of his drawings are the chapel and hall screens of the Charterhouse, Hardwick Hall, some Elizabethan staircases and Broughton Castle, all of the sixteenth century; Had- don Hall, Ivnole, Bolsover, Guildford, and other country examples. Plate XXXIX. brings us to a series of specimens of Wren’s buildings in London, all the woodwork left in St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, after the recent destructive “ restoration ” — which, by the way, Mr. Tanner does not mention — being represented in measured drawings. Hampton Court occupies thiee plates and Chelsea Hospital two more. The last of the 50 plates contains a series of examples of seven¬ teenth and eighteenth century staircases. Among these is one from a building which, till recently, was little known, the old royal palace at Kew. It was built in 1631, and is of red brick, with some curious plaster work on the ceilings. The staircase is here figur¬ ed. Of all these pictures specialattention may be directed to the vestry door of St. Lawrence, Jewry, of which, besides a beautiful elevation, we have sections and enlarged details of important features ; and to the details, in three plates, of Thorpe Hall, which was built in 1656 by John Webb, who carried out the designs, and seems to have succeeded to the profes¬ sional practice of his wife’s cousin, Inigo Jones. Mr. Tanner indulges in no perspective views; his book is evidently intended for use by working designers, and no doubt will prove a mine of suggestions to many students. It proves once more, what too often we forget, that examples of good art are to be had with¬ out wandering beyond the limits of our native shores. Any attempt to introduce foreign forms, however fine in themselves, must be made in wilful forgetfulness of the numberless beautiful carvings which are scattered broadcast through our own country. It is safe to say, and I doubt not Mr. Tanner would bear me out in asserting, that for each specimen to be found in these admirable plates, at least ten more will occur to the mind of any one acquainted with even a limited number of the old houses and churches of England. W. J. Loftie. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, M A V, I903, VOLUME XIII. NO. 78. Photo: S. B. Bolas and Co. EXETER CATHEDRAL. CORBEL AT SOUTH-EAST ANGLE OF CROSSING. HEAD OF A LAY MASTER, POSSIBLY THE ARCHITECT. How Exeter Cathedral was Built-II.* III. — The Norman Church. The history of Exeter Cathedral has been less fully unravelled than has been the case with many others. Dr. Oliver, in a valuable survey made before Scott’s restoration, printed some in¬ teresting extracts from the Fabric Rolls, but his reading of the building itself was not satisfactory.* Canon P. Freeman’s careful examination of the Fabric, taken together with his citation of the documents, is the best authority we have. Pro¬ fessor E. Freeman, in his history of Exeter, pub¬ lished in 1886, quite ignored his namesake’s work, published a dozen years before, and fell back on Oliver; and still more recent accounts seem to have been compiled by jumbling the two incom- mensurables together. It is a pity, in regard to Exeter, that we have not had the advantage of such an analysis as Professor Willis made of the development of Canterbury and Winchester. * “ Lives of the Bishops of Exeter,” etc., etc The great singularity of this cathedral is to be found in the two massive Norman towers which stand on either side of the body, or, if I may be allowed to use the better F'rench word, of the Vessel, at the half-length. These are said to have been the work of Bishop Warelwast, 1107-36;! but the fineness of the ashlar masonry and the advanced detail would almost suggest work wrought in the second half of the twelfth century. The South Tower is entirely Norman, including the four crowning turrets and their corbel tables (Fig. 3), but the upper storey of the North Tower was built, or rebuilt, in 1478-86, together with the pointed leaded roof which is shown in King’s etching for Dugdale. This leaded spire balanced a pyramidal leaded roof about 55 feet high, which from the first seems to have surmounted the South Tower. Weatherings above the slope of this leaded spire are, or were, to be found on the inner angles of the four Norman turrets which stand well in over the angles and allow the passage-ways to pass through them and the spire to spring from them. That from the first these towers formed transepts opening from the interior is shown by the comparatively large windows, one of which is to be seen in the west face of the North Tower, while a second in the same, and two others in the South Tower may be traced. During the works carried out by Scott, evidence was found which shows that the walls of the nave aisles are still in part Norman for their entire length. At successive points along the aisles, especially on the south side, signs are to be seen that early pier-responds have been cut away, and the base of one of these was found in situ under the present wall-seat. These show that the piers of the nave arcade were about 18 ft. 6 in. apart from centre to centre. (See Trans. Ex. Dioc. Archl. Soc., N. Series, Vol. V., p. 120.) The later pier-responds are evi¬ dently cut into an older wall, * Continued from the March issue, f A fifteenth-century chronicle quoted by Freeman. The character of the masonry of the North Tower has been much falsified by that abomination wide tuck pointing. FIG. I. — NORTH TRANSEPTAL TOWER. VOL. XIII. — N 2 1 68 How Exeter Cathedral was Built . FIG. 2. — PLAN OF NORMAN CHURCH. and even the early thirteenth-century door to the cloister is also an insertion, while a part of the west wall is almost certainly Norman work. On the exterior the evidence is still clearer. On the south it may be seen how the nave-walling ranges with the masonry of the tower, and on the north we have not only a Norman plinth in con¬ tinuation with that of the tower, but the lower parts of the flat Norman buttresses of the aisle- wall are preserved. These buttresses, which pro¬ ject 9 inches, were 4 feet wide, and the inter¬ spaces were about 14 feet 6 inches, which again gives us 183- feet for the dimensions of the bays. In the eastern limb of the church there is a decided break in the work after the third bay from the crossing. Up to this point the fourteenth- century marble columns are 8 or 9 inches bigger than those beyond, and differences may be seen in the arches and other details. Further, on the inside of the nave- walls, just above the wall-seat, a chamfered plinth is to be seen which is plainly part of the Norman work; a similar plinth may be traced along the south aisle of choir for three bays. An article written on the discoveries made while Scott’s work was in progress, contributed to the Saturday Review, says : “It is now known that the Norman cathedral ended eastward in a triple apse, since the foundations of one of the three divisions were discovered in the north aisle, at the end of the third bay from the west . The western bays are, in fact, the old Norman walls transformed.”* There were probably also small apsidal chapels opening from the transept towers where there are now square chapels. These towers must always have had altars from whence their names of St. Paul’s Tower (north) and * See “ Exeter Cathedral and its TURRETS, SOUTH TOWER. Restoration,” T. B. Worth, 1878. St. John’s Tower (south) are derived. In the Fabric Roll of the year 1280 we are told of altera¬ tions to “ St. John’s Tower,” and in 1285 there are entries for similar work in “ St. Paul’s Tower,” and for removing “ St. Paul’s altar.” In 1287 “ St. John’s altar” was also moved into the en¬ larged chapel opening from the tower (Freeman, p. 73). We can even carry back the altar of St. John a century further, for about 1235 Bishop Bruere gave a portion of his garden “ juxta turrem Set. Johannis” for a new Chapter House; and Bishop John, who died in 1191, was buried in the South Tower (evidently before the altar of his name saint), “ where his tomb remains undis¬ turbed.”* If we consider the original spacing of the bays of the nave, of which, as we have seen, clear evidence remains in place, we find that each tower with its thick walls occupies the space of two bays. As the old choir doubtless ran on westward of the towers,! the great arcade would almost certainly have been continuous, and it is probable that the towers at first opened from the aisles with a pair of arches, * Oliver : a document of 1409 speaks of this tomb of Bp. John in St. John's Tower (in Lyttleton) : Leland says the same, f Freeman. FIG. 4. — SOUTH VIEW OF NORMAN CHURCH. How Exeter Cathedral was Built. and that the great alteration of c. 1280 consisted in throwing these into one and heightening the opening in each case. We are not left without some indications of the treatment of the church in detail. The remnants of the pier-responds along the nave show that they were accurately built with alternate courses of bright red and white stone, the red stone bonding on each side of the responds (of 2 feet wide) in an exactly symmetrical manner. Here we have an¬ other instance of the counter-changing of two varieties of stone, of which the Chapter House of Worcester is such a remarkable example, and which is also found at Chichester and other places. Even for the height indications might probably be found on the inner faces of the towers as seen in the roof-spaces of the heightened church. (Since writing the above I find that Britton states “ That the roof of the new church was raised con¬ siderably higher than that of the old one is evident from the ancient Norman windows and other orna¬ mental work which may be seen on each tower between the present vaulting and the roof.”)* The windows of the church, we may suppose, were generally like those which remain to us in the towers. Altogether, the Norman church, with its companion towers and leaded spires, standing high above the nave and choir, furnishes a distinct type in the history of English architecture. IV. — The Lady Chapel and the New Work. According to tradition, Bishop Marshall (1194- 1206) finished the church after the “ plat and foundation ” of his predecessors. On the south side * It would be very interesting to have careful drawings of these parts. I 69 of the nave (exterior) are Early English consecra¬ tion crosses, which may witness to the dedication of the nave altars at this time.* A Lady Chapel is mentioned in a document of 1237, which provides for certain masses in the chapel of the Virgin. Oliver concluded that this was the present Lady Chapel ; and Canon Free¬ man supposed further that a large eastern exten¬ sion was made to the church at the same early date to connect the chapel with the old work, and he assigns to Marshall the “longer choir (presby¬ tery), Lady Chapel, and six other chapels, north porch,” &c. That is, as he follows it in detail, the entire ground plan as it exists to-day. More¬ over, he says that the whole was vaulted only four or five feet lower than at present ; and even the towers were opened up “partially” with pointed arches. Further, he supposes that Branscombe (1257-80) made a first recasting of the Lady Chapel and its two side chapels. Then came Quivil (1280-91), who “designed the decorated cathedral, and transformed the transepts, east bay of nave, Lady and adjacent chapels, and retro-choir.” That is, according to this theory, leaving the Norman choir and Marshall’s sup¬ posed Presbytery as an island to be dealt with by Bitton (1292-1307), Quivil transformed the work round about, and made a specimen bay of his new design in the nave. The evidence submitted for the extensive work assigned to Marshall ought to be overwhelming, in face of the improbability that here, at Exeter, we should get, at the end of the twelfth century, the same fully-developed plan as at Salisbury, and that such a great work was superseded on the same lines from 1280 to 1310. Canon Freeman’s sug- * The chapter house was built by Bruere (1224-44). The large door in south wall of nave was probably also his work, and inserted in the Norman wall to give access to the chapter house. Chapel. N. Porch # <§> # # #0# #> # # 1 1 € The 1 Nave. 1 1 S'. Andrew's Chapel. 53 S M. Mag- 21 dalen Chapel. S. John’s Tower. FIG. 5. — EXETER CATHEDRAL. PLAN. i;o How Rxeter Cathedral was Built . gested proofs from the structure all seem to me to fail, and the allusion to a “ Chapel of the Blessed Virgin,” in 1237, does not necessarily imply the early existence of the present eastern Lady Chapel. The strongest point in favour of such a large eastern extension at an early time is a deed of Branscombe's (1280) endowing St. Gabriel’s Chapel, where he had chosen his place of burial, “ in the chapel almost anew constructed (de novo constructa) by the Chapel of St. Mary on the south side,” which Freeman reads: “in the almost reconstructed chapel.” Further evidence seems to be required before we should accept the Marshall theory as proved.* The place assigned to Quivil by Freeman, is that he “ designed ” the transformation of the Norman and Transition church into a decorated one. It is certain that work done in his day (which included the finishing of the remodelling of the transepts), deeply impressed his contempo¬ raries and successors. The witness of the stones themselves, however, taken together with the documents, is final as against the great claims to initiation set up for Quivil. t The existing Fabric Rolls show that an im¬ portant “work” was already in hand on Quivil's accession ; the first of the rolls now in existence being of Branscombe’s last year. We have no knowledge of how many are lost, but it is certain that a work and the rolls of accounts are comple¬ mentary to one another, and that the series of rolls dates from Branscombe's time. Again, when we find that already in 1280, in the latter half of which year Branscombe died (July 22), the altera¬ tions to the transeptal towers were in full course, we are driven to carry back the origin of even that part of the work still earlier. Provision for such a work could not have been made in the first two or three months of Quivil’s rule. The deed of Branscombe’s, before referred to, shows that the Chapel of St. Gabriel, next the Lady Chapel, was in July, 1280, nearly com¬ pleted. Again, Freeman himself, speaking of the Chapels of St. James and St. Andrew opening from the choir aisles, says, in an aside out of the line of his main argument for Quivil, that “ Brans¬ combe, toward the end of his time, began to transform these chapels into their present state — just as he had, a little before, reconstructed the Gabriel and Magdalen Chapels. For the very * Freeman supposes that the buttresses of choir and Lady Chapel, the corbel table of the latter, and the internal piers between it and the side chapels, belong to Marshall's time : the windows of Retro-choir he dates about 1230, and says they resemble those of the Choir of Westminster, “ c. 1230 ”• — a mis¬ take in itself, as this should be c. 1250 — and the Exeter windows show a considerable advance on Westminster. f Fie appears to have made generous gifts to the Fabric, and this may be the reason of his reputation. first entry in our Fabric Rolls is for three win¬ dows for St. James' Chapel, September, 1279. It is most probable that the St. Andrew’s Chapel was in part transformed at the same time.” I object here to the idea of a mere re-editing of old chapels, but it is certain, in any case, that the windows of the present south chapel were being wrought nearly a year before Branscombe’s death, and that St. Gabriel’s Chapel (St. Gabriel was this bishop’s special patron) was at the same time being built for the place of his tomb, and that the Lady Chapel in its present situation by St. Gabriel’s was spoken of as in being, although possibly only rising from the ground, like its flanking chapels. If we now turn to the building itself we find that the lower part of the Lad)’ Chapel, with its companion chapels and the retro-choir, certainly form part of one effort, and are of earlier date than the rest of the work. In the sedilia of the Lady Chapel we have the only example to be found in the church of the trefoil foliage typical of Early English, and it is associated with naturalistic leaf¬ age in a way that could only be found in work wrought not later than the first years of Edward I. If the five chapels of the eastern limb of the church were well advanced by Branscombe before his death, and even the remodelling of the tran¬ septs was in progress in the first months of Quivil's reign, it is evident that the whole scheme for re¬ casting the eastern end must have been already settled, and the “design” of the present church must be credited to Branscombe and not to Quivil.* Everything shows that Branscombe was a great organiser and man of affairs, and his rule extended to twenty-three years, as against Quivil’s eleven. He instituted the Diocesan Register, which shows that in 1259 no less than forty new or enlarged churches were consecrated in his diocese. He gave liberally to the building of Newnham Priory and Bodmin Friary. He restored the establish¬ ment at Crediton, founded the College of Glaseney, and built the bishop’s house at Clyst. He col¬ lected the constitutions of the cathedral body, and instituted a celebration of St. Gabriel, with the annual feeding of 500 poor. Even his own magnificent effigy was probably wrought before his death, and seems to speak of a dominant and ambitious character. It fell to Quivil not only to continue the work in hand on his accession, and to carry the eastern chapels on to completion, but we must allow him the chief part in the next block of work under¬ taken, that is to say, the Presbytery immediately west of the retro choir. The Presbytery and the choir seem in the Fabric Rolls to be specially * Even St. Edmund’s Chapel, at the north-west end of the nave, seems to be as early as the other chapels. How Exeter Cathedral was Built. 1 7 i FIG. 6. — EXTERIOR OF THE CHOIR FROM THE NORTH. Photo : S. B. Bolas and Co. called the “ New Work ” ; and the Fabric Roll for 1308 speaks of Quivil as first founder of the new work ( primus fundator novi opcris). Eight years after his death the Presbytery was ready for its roof, and in two years more (1301) was com¬ pleted even to some of the glazing. If we con¬ sider the long preparation required for such a work, including the great marble pillars from Corfe, we are surely forced to assign to him the chief glory of the Presbytery. In his Obit he is said to have “enlarged the church in respect to the new work therein,” and that he did it largely at his own expense. He was buried in the centre of the still hardly completed Lady Chapel, and was celebrated first amongst its benefactors. Freeman supposes that his enlargement of the church by the new work refers merely to the re¬ modelling of the transept towers, but I think How Exeter Cathedral was Built. i 9 FIG. 7. — EXTERIOR OF NAVE FROM THE SOUTH. INDICATIONS OF TEN COUPLED BAYS OF THE CLOISTER MAY BE SEEN ON THE AISLE WALL. Photo : S. B. Bolus and Co. further consideration of the extracts he gives shows conclusively that the Presbytery was his ; and the phrase “first founder of the new work ” is an argument against Marshall’s supposed prior extension. Bitton, who was to complete Quivil’s work, succeeded in 1292. Under him in 1301 the vaults of the eastern chapels were painted with gold, silver, azure, and other colours.* In the same year the glazing of the east gable of the new work was in progress ( frontis novi operis) and this, as Free¬ man says, undoubtedly refers to the east window * This seems to be the moment of the completion of the Lady Chapel. Its beautiful reredos agrees with this date. '* The centre niche is the only original one remaining ; the others on either side are of somewhat similar design but have been badly restored. They do not join the centre one as they must have done originally, as the modern pinnacle is stuck against the ancient one, and conceals a portion of the crockets and springing of the small canopies. The whole of the centre niche has been richly painted and gilded, but when the new work was added the old was covered with yellow wash. The modern work is, probably, a rough imitation of the original." — See Codings’ Gothic Ornaments , 1850. of the Presbytery. In 1303 Thomas the Plumber was at work super capellam B. M ., ct alibi super novum opus. Here it plainly appears, as Lyttleton has already remarked, that the New Work is dis¬ tinct from the Lady Chapel. Again in 1303 we have an entry for setting the glass in the upper gable, in the eight upper win¬ dows (clerestory), and the six aisle windows of the New Work. The glazier was Master Walter le Verrouer, and the moment speaks of the structural completion of the Presbytery. The second division of the new work, the choir proper, seems to have followed the first, six or eight years later (Fig. 6). In 1310 Master Walter le Ver¬ rouer was setting the glass, and in the previous September the stalls were moved into their place in the new choir. There is a marked difference in the carving of these two sections; and in the eastern, or first executed, bays, there was at first no triforium, which was only cut in by Sta- pledon in 1318 to range with that in the choir, which had it from the first. Bitton died in 1307, '73 How Rxeter Cathedral was Built. and was buried in the midst of the new work before the high altar. We may assign to him the structure of the choir, which he must have seen nearly completed before his death. Examination of the fabric demonstrates, I think, that the crossing and the first bay of the nave, form part of one work with the choir, the carving throughout having closer affinity with the nave than with the Presbytery. The first bay of the nave did not receive its glazing until 1317 and 1318; along with other windows about the cross¬ ing and in St. Edmund’s Chapel at the north-west angle of the nave. This bay we may perhaps assign to Stapledon (1308-1326) ; he, however, was for the most part engaged in finishing and furnishing the works of his predecessors. Much of the glazing, the bishop’s throne, the sedilia, the altar and high canopied reredos, and the pul¬ pit um, all were provided before his death. He was buried to the left of the high altar, and Grandisson, his successor, in 1328 dedicated the new work. Grandisson, in his turn, took up what he called “ the half-finished church,” but it seems almost certain that the work of the nave must have been well in hand in Stapledon’s last year when he bought fifteen great poplar trees for scaffolds ; and it appears from the rolls that this year was one of the two points of maximum expenditure in the course of the works. The other was in 1310 when the choir was being completed. As early as 1326 work was going forward at the west front, and in 1332 William Canon reckoned with the Dean and Chapter for marble found by himself and his father for the fabric of the nave, and received at this time a small balance of £j. 8s. He also bound himself to do any repairs found necessary at the time of fixing. This he fulfilled and received 54s. (which had been disputed) in final settlement, September gth, 1334. The details show, as Free¬ man has pointed out, that this reckoning included all the marble work of the nave except the east bay, which had been done before, and comprised the triforium as well as the great columns. The design and origin of the new nave must, it seems from this, be pushed back into Stapledon’s time. In 1338 Grandisson wrote an order for twelve oaks, and these, no doubt, were for the roof, as Free¬ man supposes. In 1341 £190 was spent ; in 1342 £144. but after this there is a sudden drop to an average of FIG. 8. — INTERIOR OF THE NAVE FROM THE CLERESTORY. Photo : S. B. Bolas and Co. i74 How Exeter Cathedral was Built. south A r s e r. FIG. 9. — RESTORATION OF NORTH WALK OF CLOISTER. about £40 as the work of the nave drew toward a close. There was not, I suppose, any cessation in the progress of the works from the time when Branscombe began at the east end, let us say about 1270. As soon as the masons were taken oft one part they were probably set about the next, in a clearly defined general scheme. Thus the beginning of the nave would date from the completion of the crossing and first bay. The average annual expenditure seems to have been about £ 200 . For seventy-five years this would amount to £15,000, and this sum, about £300,000 of our money, we may put as the cost of Exeter Cathedral. Amongst the last items of expense was the bringing of water to the close, and the erection of St. Peter’s fountain in 1346-48. This was a conduit near the N.\V. angle of the nave ; it is shown on the old coloured plot of the close. Even a wall which enclosed a yard on the N. side of the nave, now destroyed, belonged, I suppose, to this time ; it had a fine coping, and the yard probably formed the plumbery. In I353 a new work was begun “ in front of the great cross,” the expenses of which were alto¬ gether £46 — this, Freeman supposes, is the Minstrels’ Gallery.* The north walk of the cloister attached to the nave appears to have been built along with the nave buttresses which form an integral part of it. Marble for it is mentioned in Canon’s bill for 1332. The form of this north walk can be easily conjectured from the fragments which remain, al¬ though it is to be hoped that no one will want to “ restore ” it (Fig. 9). The trivial game of resto¬ ration is surely now played out. This cloister formed a series of alcoves between the buttresses. From fragments which were found in 1817, it appears that the bosses, vaulting, and tracery had been richly gilt and painted, and that there had * For the fine collection of musical instruments figured here see Carl Engel’s “ Musical Instruments.” They comprise the Ciffern, Bagpipe, Clarion, Rebec, Psaltery, Syrinx, Sackbut, Regals, Gittern, Shalm, Timbrel, Cymbals. been large windows between the buttresses.* A south walk, and probably one to the west, were added about 1370-80; the windows were glazed. There is some doubt as to an east walk, and in the “ scientific restoration ” now begun of this thing, for the previous exist¬ ence of which there is no proof, a great buttress of the chapter house has been cut away to make room for it. The other, too, will vanish, I suppose, when money is forth¬ coming for this whim. The expen¬ diture shown in the fabric accounts rises again at the building of this cloister, and its erection seems to have formed a separate work ( opus claustrale). The accounts rise again in 1390, the year when the new east window was inserted. On one other last point I have to differ from Freeman’s valuable book, which sets out its facts so accurately that they can often be used against his conclusions. Fie assigns to Bishop Oldham (1504-19) not only the three late chantries, but also the graceful screens to the three eastern chapels; now those before the chapels of St. Gabriel and St. M. Magdalen, bear illuminated on the jambs of their doorways, faded but certain, the Arms of Stafford (1395-1419) — -or, a chevron gules, on a bordure azure eight mitres or. These screens were probably erected in 1410 when Stafford invited subscriptions tor the fabric. The wood doors in these screens are very well painted in an early style, those of the north chapel with flourishes of white on a vermilion ground, and those to the chapel of St. Gabriel with a beau¬ tiful Annunciation, Gabriel bearing a scroll in¬ scribed Avc Maria plena gratia. V. — The Architects and other Artists. As we have seen, Exeter Cathedral, as it stands to-day in its seeming unity and exquisite “ propor¬ tions,” was no exercise in original design, but is the result of recasting a pre-existing church by making an extension eastward, retaining the old towers and rebuilding the nave on the old lines. According to our point of view such a work is either a compromise and a cobble, or a thing super¬ personal, a unity whose day was three centuries. This process of building was conducted by a series of head-masons, carpenters, plumbers, and glaziers, who were engaged and “ sworn ” as occasion re¬ quired, to carry on the work at fixed wages. We have in the Fabric Rolls of Exeter a series of accounts for the building done from 1279 to 1440. There are upwards of a hundred tight little rolls * See Britton. How Exeter Cathedral zuas Built. i 75 of parchment, about nine inches wide and two to five yards long. I have looked over one or two of these, not, it is true, at sufficient leisure to add to what has been extracted by Oliver and Freeman, but a glance shows the precision with which the names and wages of the masons and other artists were set out week by week. And it is certain that a day or two of labour would make plain that a great deal of the work could be assigned to the individual workman who wrought it. These Rolls, as a series, are, however, incomplete, especially it would seem at the beginning. In the practice of Mediaeval building, as each considerable effort was made, what was called a “ New Work ” was constituted, together with a special fund and responsible heads, who were called “ keepers of the work.” The Rolls show that here at Exeter, exactly as at Westminster Abbey, building was carried on under the joint charge of a master of accounts and a master of masonry.* Dr. Oliver has printed in full a roll for 1299, an important moment when the beautiful work of the Presbytery was nearing its comple¬ tion. In it the wages of each man is set out for every week in the year ; it is headed “ Compotus Domini Roberti de Asperton et Magistri Rogeri Cementarii, custodum novi operis.” Nine or ten other masons are mentioned besides Master Roger ; five received 2 s. 2 d. a week, the others less. Richard de la Streme, evidently the foreman, heads the list with 2 s. 3d. At the end of every quarter is entered, “ In Stipendio Magistri Rogeri Cementarii, pro termino, 30s. Efe Domini Roberti de Asperton, 12s. 6 d." The latter in one place is called Vicar, so that we may know that he was one of the clergy. Cementarius is, of course, “ Mason ” ; the latter word came more into use in the fourteenth century. The wages of Archi¬ tect Roger were thus just under 2 s. 6 d. a week. Master Walter, the carpenter, at the same time, received 2 s. 3d. a week. This Master Walter appears together with a sudden addition to the staff of carpenters in the third quarter of this year, 1299, and his advent probably marks the moment of beginning the roofs of the Presbytery. Four years later we hear of three shillings paid to Roger, the mason, for going to Corfe to buy stones. We may almost certainly assign to him the vault of the Lady Chapel, the upper part of the Presbytery, and the beginning of the choir. Possibly he was architect of the Presbytery from the first. William de Montacute was working as a sculptor at this time. Freeman says that he executed carved doors for the choir in 1302, and brackets and bosses in 1313. But with our usual * See my account of the Westminster Architects, Journal of the R.I.B.A., June 1891. English eagerness to give away English art, he adds that William de Montacute was a French¬ man. Now Montacute is close to the Ham Hill Quarries only about thirty miles away in Somerset¬ shire. We may associate him more exactly with the bosses of the high vault which were wrought 1303-4 1 they cost 5 s. each.* Under the Corbel at the S.E. angle of the crossing is carved the head of a layman in a master’s cap. It is very fine and cha¬ racteristic and may have been intended for the mason or sculptor. See Frontispiece. In 1286, Richard de Malmes¬ bury was employed in painting, at 2 s. lid. per week. In 1301, the vaulting of the eastern chapels was painted with “ gold, silver, azure, and other colours.” (The stars and silver moons on blue still remain, although much restored.) In 1303, Thomas Plumber was paid for covering the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and other parts on the new work, and Master Walter le Verrouer was engaged in glazing the Presbytery. He was still busy in 1310, when he was receiving 3s. a week for himself and two boys in setting the glass.! Six lights of his great east window still remain to us, re-inserted amongst the later glass. * In 1299, Henry Manger, mercator of Kaim (Caen), was paid for stone. In 1304, we hear of Portlonde stone. f The calling in of little masters with their apprentices was general. In 1299, we find a carpenter cum garcione suo, four days, twenty pence. We may note also here, as a custom of the carpenters’ trade, that they had gloves provided for raising timber. How Exeter Cathedral was Built. i 76 In 1309, William Canon was paid “ for marble from Corfe for the columns.” The Canons were the great Purbeck marble contractors of the time. It is interesting to note how the mouldings of the columns at Exeter are similar to the Purbeck work of Winchester Presbytery and Wells Chapter House (see Fig. 12). The “ Corfe marblers ” evi¬ dently supplied their own mouldings. In this same year Master John de Glaston (carpenter or junctor?) moved the stalls to their situation in the new choir. The superb bishop’s throne of oak is the work of Robert de Galmeston, who in 1316 received £'4 for making it by piece-work (ad tascam) ; Nicholas Pictor receiving ns. for imaginibus ; the oak had been bought in 1312 for £6 T2s. 8 d. John, the goldsmith, in 1319, was paid for work in silver for the altar. In 1317, the choir screen, called “la pulpytte,” was begun. William Canon wrought the marble-work, and the Dean and Chapter gave him £4 “ of their courtesy,” so pleased were they with the result. Amongst the sums paid for the Pulpitum, one is mentioned in 1324 to an Imaginator of London, imaginibus talliand .” The London image- makers were doubtless the finest school of sculp¬ tors in the country. As we have seen, Bishop Stapledon must have begun the works for the nave before his death. The head mason at this time, 1325-6 (name not printed by Oliver), received 33s. 4 d. a quarter ; and the clerk, his co-keeper, 12s. 6 d. as before. This mason we may probably look on as first architect of the nave, and an hour’s search in the Roll of this year would almost assuredly give us his name. We are not left in any doubt, how¬ ever, as to who was Grandisson’s architect a dozen years later when (1338) the Bishop wrote to his bailiff at Chudieigh to deliver “au gardeyne de meisme loeur xii. cheynes (twelve oaks for the work) convenables pour la dite eglise . selon la visement Sir Thomas de Doulcote, clerk, et Maistre Thomas le Maceoun ” (by the advice of our clerk and of Master Thomas the mason). This is the moment when the masonry of the nave was nearing completion. At this time we still have exactly the same dual control as was the wont forty years before. By means of this fact we can probably explain an entry of six years earlier ; this is the memorandum mentioned be¬ fore, in which William, Canon of Corfe then (January, 1332) reckoned for marble supplied by his father and himself for the nave (including equal to eleven and a half great columns at £10 10s. each, etc.), whereof the said William received payment from “Dominis John Shireford et Petro de Castro,” Wardens of the said church, by the hands of the said Master Petro de Castro. The Cathedral was no sooner finished than an amendment was made at the east end. According to Oliver, Henry de Blakeburn, a canon, gave a hundred marks for a new east window in 1389. In the Fabric Roll for this year is an entry for a skin of parchment ad pmgendum magnam fenestram. In 1391 an agreement was made with Robert Lyen, the glazier of the church (and sworn to that office with a yearly salary of 26 s. 8 d.), whereby he was to receive twenty pence for each foot of new glass ; and for refitting the old glass (Master Walter’s) he was to receive 3s. qd. a week, and his men 2 s. ; all new glass being supplied by the Chapter. In 1396 William Houndling and William Gervys are mentioned — the former had a salary of 26s. 8 d., I suppose, as master mason, as that was now the rate for mastership; and in him we may have the architect of the east window just inserted. Oliver, speaking generally, says, “ The headmason, or overseer of the works had an additional salary of 26s. 8 d.” In 1412 John I ilney, mason, was called in to inspect the ruinous chapter house, and work on it was undertaken soon after. Probably the upper storey is his work. John Harry, “ freemason,” was cathedral mason in 1424, at a yearly fee of 26s. 8 d., over and above his wages. In 1437 he began the new vestry for the Lady Chapel. At the same time John Budd, painter of Exeter, was working in the Cathedral, he painted the clock in 1424, and two years later he repainted “Old St. Peter,” a figure which stood at the choir gate. In 1429 Henry Glazier of Exon received pay¬ ment for glazing a new window in the western tower. Many entries in the rolls use the word “tower” in a way difficult to be understood, but approximating to our “ bay.” Probably this pay¬ ment dates the clerestory windows in the west bay where the work is clearly late. So do these old rolls of accounts reveal to us the methods used and the persons engaged in the simple and romantic craft of building as practised in the middle age. We might define “ Gothic ” in rive words, as the Art of many Little Masters, the “ Renaissance ” as the Art of a few Great Masters. In conclusion, I wish, as a student and lover of Exeter Cathedral, to express a hope that the glass in the west window will not be sacrificed for newer fashions of stained glass. It is un¬ obtrusive— indeed, pleasant — and is already 150 years old. It is most interesting historically. Winston supposed that the ruby glass used in it was the last made in England before the process was rediscovered in France. Its removal and the insertion of the most up-to-date plaything must injure the old stonework. As a Devonshire man I protest against the extravagance of violently destroying this window. W. R. Lethaby. Architectural Education. A Review and Discussion. — I. The Englishman’s belief in happy-go-lucky methods has lately received some rude shocks in results that were neither happy nor lucky. It is established now that battles may be lost on the playing-fields of our public schools, and that even Waterloo was not won there; that to manoeuvre for a “muddle” or a “mess” in the sure and certain hope of genius punctually declaring itself to clear it up is dangerous when an empire de¬ pends upon the wager, and that a systematic neglect of system is only one kind of pedantry. The suggested remedy of entrusting our affairs to “ business-men ” can hardly be listened to with a grave face when we find those same business-men confessing that they are out-paced in energy and outwitted in combination by the foreigner they were accustomed to despise. The average “ busi¬ ness man ” is as hollow a person as the average “ artist.” It seems admitted on all hands that it may be desirable to devote to military and com¬ mercial affairs something of the study, training, and keenness that we give at present to sport. Energy and independence we have in abundance, but we are too fond of living from hand to mouth, too disdainful of systematic professional schooling. If South Africa, Germany, and America have been teaching us these lessons in public and com¬ mercial affairs, the chaotic state of architectural design sharpens the question whether here, too, the conditions of education are not partly to blame. Art is not, to the same extent as war or business, a pursuit in which great numbers of the average man must and can be drilled to perform subordinate and half-mechanical services, and to a greater extent than these it depends on original combining and creative power. But this power, when it exists, calls for drilling in two respects. Architecture is science made art ; a knowledge of the principles of construction is a first necessity of the architect, and modern architects ought to be ashamed of the fact that “ engineer ” and “ archi¬ tect ” seldom mean the same person. But the decorative as well as the constructive sense calls for training. “ Originality ” in design is the merest weed, and must be grafted on the old stocks and pruned if any fruit is to come of it. Genius itself must learn its use and the conduct of its forces from a study of the past. In England we maintain for architects relics of a mediaeval system of training stripped of its severe sanctions. No one is forced to be a pren¬ tice before he calls himself an architect, and the amount of practical training a prentice obtains depends too much on the chances of his own industry, and his teacher’s conscience or leisure. Yet there are advantages in this early practical office-training that it would be rash to imperil by hasty action. For theoretical and historical training the student must turn to one or more of those schools that have sprung up to sup¬ plement the traditional system. But unless the prentice system is relaxed, this study has to be carried on in the evenings, after hours. On the one side we have the Academy courses, which are practically confined to draughtsmanship; on the other hand, the efforts of the Archi¬ tectural Association to form a school prepara¬ tory to, or concurrent with, apprenticeship. There are other courses at Kensington and at University and King’s Colleges. Into the merits of all these fragments of a system it is not the business of this preliminary notice to enter. But it may be said that they do not constitute at present a complete and authoritative technical school of architecture as foreigners understand the word. The foreigners may not have said the last word of wisdom on the subject, but it is hoped that a review of the existing schools in England, and of the more systematic education of France, Germany, and America may lead to a useful discussion of the problem how far such a school or set of schools is possible and desirable in England, and of the relation this systematic edu¬ cation ought to bear to the office training. The moment seems to be ripe for the reorganising of teaching in all its branches; the work of the new University of London in co-ordinating individual schools is a hopeful beginning, and the clearing up of ideas and concentration of forces on the part of architects might lead to something more satisfactory than the present state of things. With a view to this we shall give accounts as full and authoritative as pos¬ sible of the existing systems in different coun¬ tries, and then invite discussion based upon this Blue-book survey. We begin with the country that has a very complete apparatus if it has not an art proportionate to its educational system. A rch itectu ral R due a tio n . ■73 GERMANY (WITH AUSTRIA AND SWITZERLAND). By T. Bailey Saunders. When Secretary to the Commission which recon¬ stituted the University of London as a teaching body, it fell to me, a few years ago, to examine the relation between technical education and Univer¬ sity studies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and I thus had an opportunity, which I have since endeavoured to improve, of seeing what has been done in those countries to provide the best pos¬ sible training for every kind of professional career. If a description of what has been done for the training of architects in particular be of any value or interest at the present moment to the readers of this Review, I gladly do my best to give it. Let me begin with Berlin. There is some ad¬ vantage in doing so, not only because the famous Technical High School in the suburb of Charlot- tenburg is the largest and, on any general esti¬ mate, must surely be accounted the best in Europe, but also because similar schools else¬ where, even if they do not accept it as their exemplar in all the details of technical educa¬ tion, cannot escape its influence. On its size — ■ the main building has a frontage of some 7 50 ft. and a depth of some 295 ft. — on the complete¬ ness of its equipment, on the number of its halls and lecture-rooms, laboratories and museums, or on the excellence of its library, there is no need to dwell, unless for the sake of mentioning that in this respect as ample provision is made for the study of architecture as for the study of any other subject pursued within its walls. For architec¬ ture is there regarded as a subject of education quite as definite and important, and demanding just as systematic a treatment, as any other kind of special knowledge. Equally with civil engineer¬ ing, mechanical engineering, naval architecture and naval engineering, chemistry and mining, and general science, it takes full rank as one of the six departments into which the school is divided, and it is actually the first of them. Attached to this department is a fine museum comprising several large rooms or galleries, in which models, draw¬ ings, paintings and various objects of art are displayed. The great attention given to architec¬ ture among the technical subjects pursued in the school seems to me, at least, to be a matter of the highest significance, because, although the opinion that it is not technical in at all the same sense in which the other subjects are so, and ought not to be studied under the same roof with them, is not unknown in Germany any more than in Great Britain, the opinion is one which finds little favour with the authorities at Berlin. The fact, too, that, according to the latest statistics, out of 4,811 students in the school during the last winter term 843 were found in this department, is fairly conclusive evidence that the authorities are not alone in their view, d he curriculum laid down pro¬ vides for both the scientific and the artistic aspects of architectural study, and in this as in other sub¬ jects it is very important to remember that the aim of the school is to furnish, not practical ex¬ perience of actual work, but instruction in the practical application of science. The mention of students in such large numbers may suggest a question as to their social position and previous training; and without some informa¬ tion on these points no one, it may be said, can form any correct idea of the part which the Tech¬ nical High School at Berlin, or any other institu¬ tion of the like kind, plays in the educational life of Germany. I hasten to state, therefore, that the students are drawn, to a far larger extent than has prevailed hitherto in England or in France, from all classes ; and that in common with the students at most of the German Universities they are drawn in the main from the families of military or naval officers, professional men, the clergy, civil servants, schoolmasters and teachers of all kinds, bankers, merchants, shopkeepers, and farmers. The lowest age at which they can enter is seven¬ teen, but in consequence of the thorough character of the previous training demanded few enter before the age of eighteen, and in many cases, owing to the exigencies of military service, much later still. The utmost care is taken in the department of architecture as in other departments that those only shall be admitted who are likely to make the best use of the instruction provided. To matricu¬ late and obtain all the advantages of full student¬ ship, a candidate must inter alia have passed the Abiturienten or leaving examination in a German classical or semi-classical or upper modern school, or have passed some other examination which, in the opinion of the Prussian Ministry of Education, is of a similar standard. In this connection it is interesting to know that, according to a recent computation, onlv 7 per cent, of the students in all the Prussian Technical High Schools came from secondary schools of a lower rank than those mentioned. When I was last in Berlin one of the professors told me, indeed, that half of those attending lectures in Charlottenburg came from classical schools. In addition, however, to the matriculated students there are others called Hospitanten, who may be men unable to satisfy these conditions of entrance, which are, in fact, severer than obtain at any English University, and who nevertheless may desire to attend some of the lectures. For them, or for others unwill¬ ing to follow a complete course of study, different arrangements are made ; but in every case a A rchitectural Education. 179 sufficient equipment in the way of previous know¬ ledge is required. Of the 843 students in the department of architecture during the term cited 350 were Hospitanten — a number, be it said, out of all proportion large in comparison with those in other departments. The instruction provided is on an elaborate scale, and as in the Universities so here, too, it is highly specialised. In the department of archi¬ tecture alone there are no less than eight regular professors, ten assistant professors, and sixteen Privatdocenten or licensed lecturers and readers — in all thirty-four members of the teaching staff, who are directly engaged in giving instruction in one or another of the scientific or artistic aspects of this one subject. For sciences preliminary or accessory to the subject, such as mathematics, geology, and hygiene, the lectures and classes of nineteen professors and readers in other depart¬ ments are available ; so that a pupil in architec¬ ture, if he takes the full curriculum, can make his choice among fifty-three teachers. This choice is, in theory at least, a free one. The regulations expressly lay down that the student may deter¬ mine for himself which lectures and what courses of practical work he will attend, thereby ensuring him that Lernfreiheit or academic freedom which is the distinguishing feature and one of the most valued advantages of German university life. He can, if he so wishes, obtain a certificate that he has attended such and such lectures, or passed such and such terminal examinations, should he desire to submit himself to this test ; but the whole apparatus of compulsory curriculum, com¬ pulsory examinations during the period of study, terminal reports, and so on, which are character¬ istic of the English system, is not to be found at Berlin except in the case of scholars and exhibi¬ tioners. Nevertheless, for the guidance of the students, certain courses of study are recom¬ mended, and are, in fact, generally followed, although sometimes, it is true, a student will strike out a line of his own. The head of each department, moreover, is always ready to give advice to such students as ask for it, and to assist them in the choice of the lectures and practical work most suited to their individual aims. But unless this Lernfreiheit is borne in mind the tables which I now propose to give, showing what lines the instruction in architecture follows, may easily be misunderstood as pointing to a compulsion which does not exist. The full course in architecture occupies four academic years, and each year is divided into a winter term beginning in October, and a summer term beginning in April. Each set of lectures is paid for separately, and, apart from the matricu¬ lation fee of £ 1 ios., the average annual cost to the student in fees works out at from £15 to £20. Without an ample subvention from the State — and the Prussian State is not only ready to spend money on education, but also knows how to spend it advantageously — the fees received would ob¬ viously not cover the expenses involved. Some¬ times two or more lectures on the same subject, or lectures and classes for practical work, may be advertised for the same hour ; but owing to the number of the teachers and the extent to which specialisation is carried, it is an arrangement under which the students gain rather than suffer. The instruction over the whole course of four years is arranged as follows* : — The Architectural Curriculum in Berlin. FIRST YEAR. Winter Term. Monday. Tuesday. W ednesday . Thursday. Friday. Saturday. (1) Descriptive Geo- (1) E xperimental (1) Statics of Con- (1) Experimental (1) Figure Drawing (1) Descriptive Geo- metry. Chemistry. struction (includ- Chemistry. from Models (prac- metry. (2) Ornamental Mo- (2) Figure Modelling ing Mathematical (2) Drawing of Orna- tical classes). (2) Landscape Draw- delling (practical (practical). principles). ments (practical). (2) Experimental ing in ink, pencil. classes). (3) Experimental (2) Surveys a nd Mea- (3) Surveys and Mea- Physics. carbon, and water (3) Ancient Art. Physics. (4) Theory of Con- s truction (two practical classes). surements. (3) Ancient Architec¬ ture (practical stu¬ dies in details). surements. (4) Surveys and Mea¬ surements (practi¬ cal classes). (3) History of Art (Ancient, Early, Christian, Mediae¬ val, and Early Re¬ naissance in Italy) . (4) Theory of Con¬ struction (two lec¬ tures). colours (practical classes). (3) Geometry (practi¬ cal classes). Summer Term. (1) and (2) as in the (2) and (4) as in the As in the winter (2), (3), and (4) as in (1) and (4) as in the (1), (2), and (3) as in winter term. (3) Early Christian and Italian Mediae¬ val Art. winter term. term. the winter term. winter term. (3) History of Art (Italian Renais¬ sance and Baro¬ que). the winter term. (4) Surveys and Mea¬ surements (practi¬ cal classes in the field). * These and the further particulars given in this article are in each case taken from the current prospectus. Architectural Education. i 80 SECOND YEAR. Winter Term. Monday. (1) Ornamental Mo¬ delling. (2) Ditto (practical classes) - (3) Internal Construc¬ tion (practical classes) (4) Theory of Con¬ struction (higher course). (5) Ancient Art. (2), (3), and (4) as in the winter term. (5) Building materials. (6) Early Christian and Italian Mediae¬ val Art. T uesday. (1) Simple Buildings (practical classes). (2) Figure Modelling (practical classes). (3) Simple Buildings (lecture). (4) Decoration and F urniture( Ancient, Mediaevaland Ear¬ ly Renaissance). (5) Contracts and Estimates. (1), (2), and (3) as in the winter term. (4) Decoration and Furniture (Renais¬ sance to the end of the 18th century). Wednesday. (1) Working Draw¬ ings from given Sketches (prac¬ tical classes.) (2) Ditto (lecture). (3) History of the Evolution of Orna¬ ment (4) Theory of Con¬ struction (higher course). Summer (1), (2), (3), and (4) as in the winter term. (5) General Geology. (6) Practical work in Geology. (7) Architectural Technology. Thursday. (1) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. (2) Drawing of Orna¬ ments (practical classes). (3) General Mineral¬ ogy. Term. (1) and (2) as in the winter term. Friday. (1) Figure Drawing from Models. (2) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. J (3) Statics of Con¬ struction (higher course). \ (4) Ditto (practical classes). (5) History of Art (from ancient times to the early Re¬ naissance). (6) Fo u nd a t i on s, bridge - building, retaining walls, planking and 1 strutting. (1) as in the winter term. (2) History of Roman Architecture. (3) History of Art (Italian Renais¬ sance and Rococo). (4) Principles of rail¬ way, steel, and hy¬ draulic construc¬ tion. Saturday. (1) Plans and Draw¬ ings (practical clas¬ ses). (2) Ancient Architec¬ ture (practical stu¬ dies). (3) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. (4) Landscape Draw¬ ing in ink, etc. (practical classes). (5) Foundations, joists, etc. (1) History of Roman Architecture. (2) and (4) as in the winter term. (3) General Geology. (5) Principles of rail¬ way, steel, and hy¬ draulic construc¬ tion. As the course progresses it will be noticed that the lectures and practical classes become more numerous and take on a still more specialised character. THIRD YEAR. Winter Term. Monday. (x) Building in wood. J (2) Drawing of Orna¬ ment in Particular Methods and Or- J namental Studies (practical classes). (3) Mediaeval Archi¬ tecture. Designs in ' stone, brick, and wood (practical classes). (4) Renaissance Arch¬ itecture. Designs (practical clashes), j (5) Select species of Ornament. (6) Ventilation and Heating. (7) Theory of Con- ! struction (higher practical course). (1). (2). (3). (4). (5). and (7) as in the winter term. Tuesday. (1) Theory of form and construction in Mediaeval Archi¬ tecture. (2) Insurance against accident. Indus¬ trial Hygiene (technical part). (3) Drawing. Archi¬ tectural Perspec¬ tive (practical classes). (4) The chief kinds of public and pri¬ vate buildings. The laying out of towns. (5) Practical classes in sketching de¬ signs. (6) Ventilation and Heating. (1) , (3), (4), and (5) as in the winter term (2) Industrial Hy¬ giene (social, chemical, and phy¬ siological part). Wednesday. (1) Gothic Architec¬ ture. (2) Mediaeval Archi¬ tecture. Designs in stone, brick, and wood (practical j classes). (3) Renaissance Architecture. De¬ signs (practical classes). (4) History of the | Evolution of the leading forms of Ornament. (5) Figure sketching on specified lines. (6) Do. (practical classes). (7) Figure drawing | from the life (prac¬ tical classes). (8) Theory of Con- j struction (higher course). Summer As in the winter term. Thursday. (1) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. (2) Building in brick. (3) Building plans in detail (practical classes). (4) Plans and details in Mediaeval forms with special refer¬ ence to brickwork (practical classes). (5) P r i n c i p 1 e s of building in iron. (6) Do. (practical classes). Term. (1) History of Roman Architecture (3). (4). (5). and (6) as in the winter term. Friday. (1) Building plans on specified lines (practical classes). (2) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. (3) Building in brick. (4) Building plans in detail. (5) Plans and details in Mediaeval forms with special refer¬ ence to brickwork (practical classes). (6) Statics of con¬ struct, on (third course). (7) Do. (practical classes). (8) Modelling and drawing from na¬ ture (practical classes). (2) History of Roman Architecture (1). (4). (5). (6), (7). and (8) as in the winter term. Saturday. (1) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. (2) Insurance against accident. Industrial Hygiene. (3) Modelling and drawing from na¬ ture (practical classes). (4) Do. (lecture). (5) Rococo styles (general history of style, decoration, and industrial art). (1) History of Roman Architecture. (2) History of styles in the 19th century. (3) and (4), as in the winter term. (5) Industrial Hy¬ giene. A rc kite chiral Education. i 8 i FOURTH YEAR. Winter Term. Monday. (1) Building in wood. (2) Mediaeval Archi¬ tecture in stone, brick, and wood (practical classes) (3) Renaissance Architecture. Re¬ signs (practical classes). (4) Select species of Ornament. (5) Ventilation and Heating. (1), (2), (3), and (4) as in the winter term. Tuesday. (1) Theory of form and construction in Mediaeval Architecture. (2) Decoration in colour (practical classes) (3) The chief kinds of public and pri¬ vate buildings. The laying out of towns. (4) Practical classes on sketching de¬ signs. (5) Ventilation and Heat ng (practical classes). (1), (2), (3), and (4) as in the winter term. Wednesday. (1) Gothic Architec¬ ture (2) Ornamental De¬ signs. Extempore sketches (prac.ical classes). (3) Mediaeval Archi¬ tecture in stone, brick, and wood (practical classes) (4) Figure sketching on specified lines. (5) Do. (practical classes). (6) Figure drawing from the life (prac¬ tical classes). Somme As in the winter term. Thursday. (1) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece (2) Building in brick (3) Building plans in detail (practical classes) (4) Plans and details in Mediaeval forms with special refer¬ ence to brickwork (practical classes) Term. (1) History of Roman Architecture. (3) and (4) as in the winter term. Friday. (1) Building sketches on given lines (practical classes) (2) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. (3) Building in brick. (4) Plans and details in Mediaeval forms with special refer¬ ence to brickwork (practical classes). (5) Building plans in detail (practical classes). (6) Modelling and drawing from na¬ ture (practical classes) . (7) Machinery. Saturday. (1) History of Archi¬ tecture in Western Asia and Greece. (2) Machinery (prac¬ tical classes) (3) Modelling and drawing from na¬ ture. (4) Do. (practical classes). (5) Kococo (general history of style, decoration and in¬ dustrial art). (1) , (4). (5). and (6) as in the winter term. (2) Historyof Roman Architecture. (1) Historyof Roman Architecture (2) Machinery (lec¬ tures). (6) Do (practical classes). (3) , (4), and (5) as in the winter term. Such is the course of study in architecture pro¬ vided at Berlin. By a recent ordinance of the Prussian Ministry of Education, those who take it are under certain conditions enabled to enter for examinations which, if passed, confer a diploma in the subject. It must, however, be clearly under¬ stood that entry for such examinations is volun¬ tary, and that there is nothing to prevent anyone from engaging in private practice as an architect who does not take out a diploma or has not undergone the technical training provided. There are eminent architects in Germany, as there are in England, who consider that too much impor¬ tance may easily be attached to technical training, and that theorists may come to regard it as usurp¬ ing the place which ought to be taken by artistic insight and practical knowledge. The extreme form of this opinion is that architecture ought to be excluded from the Technical High School, on the ground that its chief factors are of the nature of Art, and that what scientific knowledge it requires is of an elementary character. This, however, as I have already mentioned, is not the general opinion, and young men who aspire to appoint¬ ments in architectural firms, or to winning confi¬ dence in independent positions, as a rule undergo the technical training in full, and may possibly in some cases seek the special diploma which is now open to them to obtain. The examinations for the diploma are two. They are conducted by a commission appointed by the Ministry of Education on the nomination of the department in question. To enter for them a student must be matriculated, and, if he is a German subject, he must possess the full leaving certificate from a German classical, semi-classical, or upper modern school — a condition which is re¬ laxed only in the case of foreigners, who are required, however, to produce evidence of a pre¬ paratory education of a like thoroughness. For the first examination the student must have spent at least two years in a German Technical High School or some foreign school approved for the purpose. He must also submit certain draw¬ ings certified by his teachers to have been executed by him during his course of study ; or, in special cases, otherwise formally attested. These draw¬ ings must include : — (a) Geometrical drawings, together with skiography and perspective as applied to details, and showing the lines of con¬ struction. (/)) Drawings illustrating the laws of statics. (f) Drawings showing elementary construction in stone and wood. (d) Freehand drawings, especially from ornaments and natural objects. (e) Drawings illustrating the theoretical principles of ancient architecture. (/) A survey with levels, taken by the student under the super¬ vision of his teacher, or of a qualified surveyor, certified by one of them, and with the field books appended. (g) The design for a small building of the simplest kind, with special reference to construction. Should these drawings be approved, the student may present himself for the examination, which consists partly of set problems and partly of oral questions in the following subjects : — (1) The leading laws of physical phenomena. (2) The e.emeuts of inorganic chemistry. (3) Descriptive geometry, together with projection, skiography, and perspective in their applications to architecture. (4) Statics: ( a ) The theory of equilibrium as applied to the VOL. XfTI. — O A rch it e dura l Educa tiov . 182 determination of strains in trusses, the determination of bear¬ ing weights and cross-strains for ordinary beams, stability of walls and arches; and (6) the stability of beams in regard to tension, pressure, thrust, bending, and breaking. (5) The elements of construction. The simpler forms of con¬ struction, including the most important details, but excluding iron construction. (6) The principles of ancient architecture. The special forms and successive styles of Greek and Roman architecture. Failure to pass in any of these subjects, or to work out the set problems satisfactorily, involves failure in the whole examination, as the principle of com¬ pensation is not recognised. The candidate is allowed only one further opportunity of making good his deficiencies. The second examination can be taken at the earliest at the end of the fourth year, and at an interval of at least three terms from the first. Here, too, a large number of drawings must be submitted, and these must, as a rule, form part of the work done by the student in the School, and be so certified by his teacher. They must in¬ clude — (a) A drawing of a building in perspective, showing the shad¬ ing, and of a scale large enough to show details. ( b ) Drawings showing elementary construction in stone, wood, and iron. (c) Drawings, on a large scale, of entire buildings or parts of buildings, in ancient mediaeval or Renaissance times. id) Simple and diversified designs, showing a detailed ac¬ quaintance with different styles and various kinds of architecture (1 e ) Drawings and studies in ornament, coloured decoration, and natural objects. (/) Original design for an entire building or for the important parts of one, showing the original - ketches. If these are approved, the .candidate is asked to work out, within three months, a set task intended to exhibit his professional talents and the extent to which he has mastered his technical knowledge. If he does this satisfactorily he is admitted to the examination, which consists, as before, of pro¬ blems and oral questions. The questions now range over the following subjects : — (1) Statics of construction ; analytical and graphical calcula¬ tion of walls, arches, ceilings, and roofs. (2) Theory of construction, including foundations and internal detail. (3) Town and country houses; construction and arrangement of agricultural buildings, dwelling houses, and public offices. (4) Ventilation and heating ; hygienic, physical, and technical principles; general arrangements. (5) Building materials. (6) The principles of ancient and Renaissance, as also of early C iristian and Mediaeval architecture. (7) The history of the foregoing styles, and of the r chief periods; the general plan and construction of the more impor- t nt buildings. (8) General history of Art, with special questions in (a) con¬ struction, including statics, ventilation, heating, materials, etc., or in (b) ancient and Renaissance architecture, including theory, construction, materials, history; or in (c) early Christian an 1 Mediaeval architecture, including similar details. This second examination is governed by the same conditions as the first, and failure in one subject involves failure in all. On passing it, the candidate receives his diploma, and the School is now empowered to grant him the general degree in engineering which is granted to successful students in other departments. He may then call himself, if he chooses, Diplomirter Jngenieur. I ought to add, however, that this arrangement, which in the case of architectural students in the School came into operation only in October last, is, so far as they are concerned, provisional. It does not extend to a further examination, as in the case of students in other departments, whereby the degree of “Doctor of Engineering’' can be obtained. My impression is that if the architec¬ tural student in Berlin wishes to have any diploma at all, he will enter for the examinations conducted by the State, which are indispensable to all who aspire to public appointments, whether in the service of the State or of the municipalities. These examinations are three in number, and the first two correspond generally to those which I have described, although, so far as I am in a position to judge, pure mathematics plays a larger part in them than is now considered necessary in the School. Four or five years ago, the course of instruction there in the first and second years comprised lectures and practical courses four times a week on higher mathematics and mechanics, but these have recently been struck out of the course at Berlin — a change which architectural educationists in this country may find instructive. As for the third of the State exami¬ nations, it can be taken only if and when the candidate has spent at least three years in practi¬ cal work of an official kind. It is held by a mixed commission appointed by the Ministry of Public Works, and follows the same lines as the second, except that the oral questions refer in the main to the construction and arrangement of public buildings, and include legal and administrative problems. The extent to which architectural education is provided in Germany, and the place assigned to it in every attempt there made to bring the highest knowledge to bear upon professional training generally, may be seen in the fact that a complete curriculum, together with examinations for a diploma in this subject, is also provided in the eight other Technical High Schools within the borders of the Empire, namely, in those at Han¬ over, Aix-la-Chapelle, Brunswick, Dresden, Darm¬ stadt, Carlsruhe, Stuttgart, and Munich. A similar advantage is certain to be offered in the Technical High School now building at Breslau. These institutions are not incorrectly described as Technical Universities — Hochschule is, indeed, the old German word for university — and, besides Berlin, those at Hanover, Stuttgart, and Munich are already authorised to grant degrees. The curriculum in architecture which they supply, A rchitectural Education. although doubtless governed by similar aims, is not identical in plan, in regard either to the distribution of the subjects or to the time allotted to them. The difference, may, I feel, be impor¬ tant in the eyes of those who are preparing, or desire to prepare, educational schemes ; but so far as Germany and its Technical High Schools are concerned, the space at my disposal will not allow me to do more than examine these differences very briefly in the case of one of them. For this purpose I select the school at Munich. Although much smaller than its northern rival, both in equipment and in the number of its students, this Bavarian institution, I am told, enjoys the distinction of being regarded by a good many natives and by most foreigners as second only to that at Berlin, in the advantages which it offers for a sound and comprehensive education in architecture. This may, however, be largely due to the position which Munich occupies as one of the acknowledged homes of Art, to the Italian in¬ fluence which forms so striking a feature of the city, and, in particular, to the number of fine buildings which it contains. From the atmo¬ sphere in which the school flourishes it might be expected, perhaps, to attach less importance to the scientific than to the artistic aspects of the subject, but I cannot find that such is the case. On the contrary, as will presently appear, this very atmosphere seems to produce the opposite effect, for greater attention is there given to mathematics than is given at Berlin, and students who come from classical schools are recommended to devote a preliminary year to a course in which mathematics plays a large part. Nor are the conditions of matriculation quite the same, although they are hardly less severe. Candidates from industrial schools* in Bavaria, if sufficiently qualified, are admitted. There are also some indications of academic com¬ pulsion at Munich. A student, for instance, cannot obtain a certificate that he has attended a course of lectures unless he enters for the terminal examination held by the lecturer. The kind of curriculum in architecture provided for those who have had their previous training in semi-classical, upper modern, or industrial schools, may be seen by the following table : — The Architectural Curriculum at Munich. First Year. Higher Mathematics, Part I. Descriptive Geometry Experimental Physics General Experimental Chemistry including the elements of organic chemistry Technical Mechanics, Part I. Winter Summer Term. Term. L. P. . L. PC. 63 - - 4 4 4 4 6 - 4 ~ - - 5 ~ - - 4 - * I.c., schools in which the elements of technical education are taught to boys. 183 Theory of Construction, Part I. . . ..14 Theoretical principles of Ancient Architecture 1 4 Skiography . . . . . . . . . . ..12 Drawing of Ornament . - 4 Algebraical Analysis (for those from semi-clas- sical schools) . . . . . . . . - - Practical Studies in Ancient Architecture (optional) . . . . . . . . . . - - Second Year. Technical Mechanics, Part II. (Graphic Statics) 3 - Statics of Construction . . . . . . — - Theory of Construction, Part II. . . ..36 Building Materials . . . . . . . . 3 - General History of Art . . . . . . 4 - The styles of Ancient Architecture . . . . 2 - Principles and styles of Mediaeval Architecture 2 4 Principles of Renaissance Architecture, Part I. 1 4 Perspective . . . . . . . . . . ..12 Drawing from Ornaments and Figures . . - 4 Studies in ancient styles (optional) . . - 2 Third Year. Surveying . 4 2 Applied Physics (Heating,, Ventilation, etc.) . . 3 - Architecture of Public Buildings . . . . 48 Farm and Agricultural Buildings . . . . 22 Mediaeval Architecture (designs of smaller buildings) . . . . . . . . . . - 4 Principles of Renaissance Architecture, Part II. - 2 Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . - 2 Subterranean Construction . . . . _ - Drawing from Ornaments and Figures . . - 4 Modelling . . . . . . . . . . _ 6 Practical Surveys . . . . . . . . - _ Practical Designs . . . . . . . . - - Farm and Agricultural Buildings, Part II. - - (The last three optional.) Fourth Year. The Renaissance Style . . . . . . - - Studies in Renaissance Architecture .. .. - 14 Studies in Mediaeval Architecture . . - 4 Internal Decoration . . . . . . ..14 ^Esthetics . . . . . . . . . . 1 - Estimates . . . . . . . . . . - - Railway Buildings. . .. .. .. . . - - General Machinery . . . . . . 3 _ Architectural Hygiene . . . . . . - - The laws affecting Architects in Bavaria (obli¬ gatory for aspirants to Government Ser¬ vice) . 3 - Drawing from Ornaments and Figures . . - 4 Modelling . . . . . . . . . . - 6 Laying Out of Towns . . . . . . ..1- Historical Development of the Farmhouse .. 22 (The last two optional.) - 4 1 6 - 4 4 - 1 2 - 3 6 2 - 4 - 3 - 2 4 1 4 1 4 - 4 - I - 4 - 2 3 8 - 4 - 2 4 - - 4 - 6 - 1 - 2 2 2 2 - - 14 - 4 1 4 2 - 1 - 2 - - 4 - 6 1 - The numbers given represent the hours devoted to each subject every week. L = lecture, P.C. — practical class. A friend at Munich tells me that some of the older architects in that city are apt to complain of a lack of practical knowledge in those who tryr to exercise their profession soon after undergoing this curriculum, and that by way of partly, at least, supplying its alleged deficiences in this respect they recommend a year’s apprenticeship in a good firm before beginning the curriculum at all. Others argue that the deficiences, if any, would be entirely overcome if in addition to this previous training the student were to spend his summer vacation in working in an office. To the adoption of so rigorous a measure it may o 2 Architectural Ilduca lion. 184 be objected, however, that even a German student requires some relaxation after several months’ close atcendance at lectures and classes, and that a scheme which calls for supplementary effort of this kind leaves something- to be desired. Another criticism which I have heard made is that while the curriculum seems to afford ' sufficient oppor¬ tunity to the student to develop any artistic capacities which he may possess — for example, in drawing or painting — the amount of scientific knowledge to be mastered allows him only a very short time for these exercises, and that, if the architect is to be anything of an artist, he will do well to spend a year in some special school or academy for them alone. The conclusion to be drawn from these comments is, I imagine, that the public cares little what education a man has received or what examinations he has passed, so long as he proves himself to be a good architect in actual practice. After the full account which I have given of the examinations at Berlin I propose to be very brief about those at Munich. They are arranged on somewhat different lines. There is, first of all, an Absolutorial or leaving examination, open only to matriculated students who have been regular in their attendance at lectures. This can betaken in two parts, and to pass it is fair evidence that the candidate has gone through the curriculum with success. If he gets a first class in all the subjects comprising it, he may be recommended without more ado for the diploma. In other cases, however, the diploma involves a separate examination. But this Absolutorial examination at Munich seems to carry the ordinary student no further than a first examination for the diploma. It also provides for the submitting of drawings and the working out of problems as a necessary preliminary, and the first part deals in the main with mathematical subjects, elementary chemistry and physics, and freehand drawing. The second part is virtually the first examination for the diploma ; but in view of the possibility of a student obtaining the diploma by this and the introduc¬ tory examination alone, it partakes to some extent of the subjects of the final examination. The final examination at Munich resembles final examina¬ tions elsewhere, except that the attention to mathematics and mechanics characteristic of the school is kept up to the end. Since 1901 the school can also bestow the degree of Doctor of Technical Science on architectural students who submit an approved thesis and stand an oral ex¬ amination. Of the two examinations conducted by the State the first is not required of those who have taken the diploma, but the second is obli¬ gatory, and no candidate can be admitted to it who has not already engaged in practice. I now pass to Vienna. The Austrians take some pride in the fact that theirs was the first country in Europe to adopt a regular system of State-aided technical instruction and to promote the specialisation of study, although they readily admit that their efforts in this direction have, partly owing to financial considerations, been thrown into the shade by Germany. The Tech¬ nical High School in the capital is in point of size, equipment, and the number of its students more comparable with the one at Munich than with the one at Berlin, and, like the Bavarian institution, it shows a tendency to prescribe a definite curriculum and make it compulsory'. The Lernfrciheit, which is expressly stated in the statutes to be the principle underlying the in¬ struction given exists, perhaps, only on paper ; as a matter of fact courses are laid down in each department, the students are expected to take them, and examinations are held to decide the extent to which they have learned from them. That is to say, the system to which we are accus¬ tomed in England is making its way, and the specifically German system, which, in the opinion of very competent observers gives better results, is gradually being discarded. In the judgment, indeed, of one most distinguished Austrian man of science whom I consulted, the Technical High Schools in the Dual Monarchy are for this very reason, in their whole aim and character, only magnified secondary schools. There are others, I need hardly say, who dispute this view, and, now that the Technical High School in Vienna has the right to grant a doctor's degree, claim for it that it is, or soon will be, on the same intellec¬ tual level as the University. Students are ad¬ mitted to it only on conditions similar to those which prevail in Germany, and the candidates from classical schools are further required, what¬ ever department they may enter, to show a suffi¬ cient acquaintance with geometrical and freehand drawing. The full architectural course takes four and a half years, and the instruction and the hours of work are distributed as below. This course is laid down with the approval of the Ministry of Edu¬ cation, and as such it apparently embraces only those subjects which are necessary for the State examinations. The Architectural Curriculum at Vienna. First Year. Hours a Week. Winter. Summer Higher Mathematics .. .. ... .. . . 4 4 Descriptive Geometry and Working Drawings ..10 10 Elements of Pure Mechanics in combination with Graphic Statics (including practical work) ..5 5 Technical Chemistry ... .. .. .. .. - 3 Theory of Architectural Forms .. .. 3 Architectural Drawing I. .. .. .. ..6 6 Freehand Drawing I. .. .. .. .. 4 4 A rch itectura l E duca tion , Second Year. Hours a Week. Winter. Summer Technical Mechanics I. 4 - General and Technical Physics 5 5 Geology, Part I. . . 4 - Mechanical Technology 5 - Construction (lectures). . 5 - Architectural Drawing II. 7\ 13 Freehand Drawing II. . . 2 6 History of Architecture I. 2 2 Machinery 3 3 Third Year. Elements of Surveying 4i - Mechanics and Graphic Statics 7§ 2 General Architecture (practical classes) 16 - Ancient Architecture 3 3 Architectural Drawing and Studies in Composi¬ tion I. 7 16 History of Architecture II. 2 2 Drawing of Ornaments I. 6 6 Modelling I. 4 4 Fourth Year. Early Christian and Mediaeval Architecture 2 2 Drawing of Ornaments II. 6 6 Modelling II. 4 4 Architectural Drawing and Studies in Composi¬ tion II. 13 8 Agricultural and Industrial Buildings, Public Offices 3 3 Studies in Composition in ditto 7 10 Engineering 6 - Fifth Year. Renaissance Architecture 4 - Architectural Drawing and Studies in Composi¬ tion III 21 The Laws affecting Architects 2 ~ Beyond this, however, attendance at lectures on political economy is also obligatory, and stu¬ dents can take them in their first, second, or fifth year. But the following courses are recommended as well, and they seem, indeed, to supply some obvious deficiencies in the regular curriculum : — Statics of Construction (third or fourth year), Heating and Ventilation (second or fifth), Con¬ tracting (third or fourth), ^Esthetics (first or second), Building Materials (third or fourth); Pictorial Perspective (third, fourth, or fifth). The system of examinations in the Technical High School at Vienna provides that students who wish for certificates of satisfactory attend¬ ance can obtain them by submitting to terminal examinations in the subjects in which they study. The test imposed consists of oral questions, de¬ signs worked out in the practical courses, and tasks done at home. The main examinations, however, are those ordered by the State, which are obligatory on all who desire to become civil servants, or to obtain official recognition of their capacity for private practice. The first of these examinations, in the case of architectural stu¬ dents, covers such subjects as higher mathe¬ matics, descriptive geometry, physics, geology, mechanics, and graphic statics ; but a student who has passed the terminal tests in them with sufficient distinction is exempt; The second deals ■ 8s with the other subjects given in the obligatory cur¬ riculum, and the student, in addition to solving set problems and answering oral questions, may sub¬ mit work done in the course of his studies at the School, and, under proper guarantees, may also submit evidence of work done outside it. Students who desire it can, after passing the two State examinations, proceed to the degree of Doctor of Technical Science on writing an approved dis¬ sertation and undergoing a further oral examina¬ tion of a severe character ; but this degree is taken, as a rule, only by those who wish to become academic teachers. As to the value of the curriculum and of the diploma to be obtained by the examinations at Vienna, I cannot do better than give the readers of The Architectural Review the benefit of an opinion expressed to me by an eminent archi¬ tect of that city, who is also distinguished by his practical share in the work of education. For obvious reasons he does not wish his name to be mentioned, more especially as he deals not only with the results produced by the Technical High School, but also with the position of architects who are educated in the industrial schools or in the Academy of Art. With regard to these three institutions, “the industrial schools,” he says, “were originally intended in the main to provide foremen and master builders, but the more talented students from these schools have in the last decade often proceeded to the Academy of Art, and, owing to the advantages of the two- years’ course there given them, have found them¬ selves in a position to compete successfully with those who have gone through the regular curri¬ culum at the Technical High School. These students have received a practical training which in many cases makes them more fitted for the exercise of their profession than the others, who come from the Technical High School full of theoretical knowledge, which they seldom find very useful in actual work, and therefore easily forget. The result of this is that those who have received their training in the industrial schools often prove better assistants than men with diplomas, and often succeed in competitions where the others fail. It is generally felt, indeed, that, in view of these circumstances, the curri¬ culum at the Technical High School cannot be regarded as entirely satisfactory, and that other relations than those which now exist ought to be established between the three institutions.” The bearing of these observations on some features of the problem of architectural education in England is obvious. As German methods to some extent prevail also in the Polytechnic at Zurich, this brief descrip¬ tion of them will be incomplete unless I refer to 1 86 4 rchitectural Education. that institution. Its aim, at least, is to provide instruction as good as that given in Germany; and German professors, I am told, sometimes be¬ come professors there, and vice versa. Its im¬ portance may perhaps be measured by the fact that it is a Federal institution administered by a Council appointed by the Swiss Government, which furnishes it with an annual subsidy of /32,ooo — a sum defraying nearly 95 per cent, of its total expenses. It has also the advantage, for the purpose of this paper, of being situated, like the institutions of which I have already treated, in the same city with a university ; so that its efforts are partly directed by an already existing academic influence and partly spurred by hon¬ ourable rivalry. In the opinion of most of the authorities of the Polytechnic, however, it has long surpassed the local university, which is not a Federal but only a cantonal establish¬ ment. Although the architectural department is the first of the eight into which the Polytechnic at Zurich is divided, it is not either in equipment or in the results which it achieves on a level with one or two of the others ; certainly not with the chemical or mechanical departments. This, I understand, is one of the causes, and possibly also one of the effects, of the defective education and comparatively low standard of general culture which the average Swiss architect exhibits. It is true that care seems to be taken here as else¬ where that students shall not be admitted to the classes unless they have had a satisfactory pre¬ vious training. They are not admitted before the age of eighteen unless they have been specially distinguished at school ; nor are they relieved of a somewhat strict entrance examination unless they possess the leaving certificate from some recognised school, or have already engaged in practice with some success. But so far as I can gather from the judgment of a friend of mine in Zurich very well qualified to pronounce an opinion, the curriculum in architecture at the Polytechnic is of a dull character, and entirely 1 icking in the flexibility which is so distinctive a feature of the best teaching in Germany. It is obligatory in the sense that every student is, with few exceptions, bound to attend all the lectures in the course, and also to enter for the corres¬ ponding examinations, although in the last year and a half he is free to determine of what lectures and practical classes his course shall consist. One of the features of the Zurich curriculum, I may mention, is an arrangement by which private classes are held for the repetition of the substance of previous lectures. The course in architecture occupies three and a half years and is arranged as follows : — The Architectural Curriculum at Zurich First Year. Higher Mathematics Repetition Descriptive Geometry Repetition Practical Classes Construction Practical Classes Architectural Drawing Drawing cf Ornaments (Models) ,, ,, (Sketches) Modelling History of Ancient Art ,, Mediaeval Art Theory of Form (practice in Sketching) Mechanics Repetition Practical Classes Geology Repetition Second Year. Theory of Style. . Composition (Practical Classes) Construction Practical Classes Statics of Construction Repetition Theory of Building I. .. Perspective Practical Classes Drawing from Figures (including the nude) . Drawing of Ornaments in Colour Hygiene Decoration Landscape Drawing Machinery Practical Classes . . Technology of Materials Repetition Construction in Iron Third Year. Theory of Style (Renaissance) Composition (Practical Classes) Internal Construction Theory of Building Construction in Iron (Practical Classes) Drawing from Figures (including the nude) Drawing of Ornament (Sketches) Mediaeval Architecture (with Practical Classes) . . - 4 Ornament and Decoration (Practical Classes) . . - 4 Internal Construction (Estimates) .. .. .. - 2 Public Buildings . . . . . . . . . . - 2 Landscape Drawing in Water Colour .. . . 4 Architectural Law . . . . . . . . - 4 Fourth Year. Winter Theory of Style (Renaissance) . . . . . . . . 2 Composition (Practical Classes) . . . . . . . . 12 Drawing of Ornaments . . . . . . . . • • 4 Commercial Law . . . . . . • • • • 4 Repetition . . . . . . . . • • • • 1 The examinations for the diploma are two : one preparatory, taken at the end of the second year and covering the instruction in integral and differential calculus, descriptive geometry, me¬ chanics, machinery, and the history of Art; the other, an oral test in the following subjects : — rough buildings in stone and wood, construction (including iron), hygiene (including heating, ven¬ tilation, water supply, etc.), comparative archi¬ tecture and architectural history, theory of build- Hours Weekly. Winter. Summer • • 4 x 2 1 • • 4 ••3 3 ..6 6 ..6 6 •• 3 • • - 4 • • 4 • • 4 ■ • - 4 _ 2 . . - 6 3 2 3 6 8 3 2 6 6 4 1 - 2 1 2 2 6 4 1 ~ 2 4 4 3 - 2 3 1 3 2 5 6 8 2 2 3 6 4 4 The Arts and Crafts Exhibition. 187 ing, general law. In addition the candidate is required to produce in his last term a design for a large building on set lines. I ought not to conclude this paper without drawing attention to a movement now on foot in Germany which has a special interest in connec¬ tion with architecture. The German workman is beginning to feel that he would occupy a better position in the eyes of employers, and be more likely to succeed against undesirable competitors, if he were able to produce a certificate of efficiency, and if such a certificate were made a condition of employment. This movement, I am told, is par¬ ticularly strong among the higher class of work¬ men engaged in the building trades. The subject recently came up for discussion in the Reichstag, when the Government announced, however, that an inquiry into the conditions prevailing in these trades had not yielded results which could as yet lead to legislative action. But the movement is hardly likely to be suppressed by this declaration, which may well have been dictated by the ex¬ igencies of the political and social situation in Germany at the present time ; for the view that the workman requires to be educated quite as much as the professional man is undeniably sound. In no sphere of employment, indeed, would such training be of greater benefit to the public, and if the good architect could always be sure of finding good workmen, it would be so much the better for his art. T. Bailey Saunders. The Arts and Crafts Exhibition. II. — By D. S. MacCgll. I AM to reply for the critics, but I must pre¬ mise that I do so as a designer who has enjoyed the hospitality of the Society and sympathised with its general aims. Anything I say is by way of pointing out how these aims may be furthered and more efficiently carried out. With that in view, nothing, I think, is gained by Mr. Macartney’s general sally against the critics, unless their attacks are met in detail and refuted. So far as my observation goes, the Society has been till now the spoiled child of criticism ; what it has done has been taken at its own valuation, and the illustrated art reviews have vied with one another in reproducing what has been ex¬ hibited, and saying that if is all first-rate. If then, this year, one or two of the more thoughtful critics have sounded a warning note, there is probably reason for it, and it will not do to treat them as ignorant and spiteful assailants. It is sounder policy to recognise where the arrow has found a joint, and stop that up. The phrase' I have just used recalls the fact that many joints in the Society’s exhibition not only exist, but gape. Mr. Macartney says that “ very few, if any, critics are equipped with the essential know¬ ledge of workmanship as well as design.” Surely a very elementary knowledge of workmanship is sufficient to judge of yawning mitreings ; to recognise when the doors of cabinets will not shut, or their drawers open. And it will not do to pretend that the workmanship all round is any¬ thing to boast of, or even that there is a great deal that is out of the way of the most ordinary skill. There were, here and there, in the exhibi¬ tion, examples of really remarkable craftsmanship, but the skill required in most cases for the execu¬ tion of the work is nothing out of the way, and not to be compared with what is to be seen any day of the week in the shops of the so-called “ commercial ” firms. The pose of “ craftsmanship,” then, is one in which the Society invites criticism, and even ridi¬ cule. We should recognise that skill of hand is not a very rare thing — skill of mind is ; and the attitude of the amateur who is surprised at getting through an elementary piece of mechanical work without a glaring breakdown is not an edifying one. The Japanese who would perform for twopence really difficult feats of metal inlay would have a right to laugh at British gentlemen taking credit for getting a few pieces of wood nearly to meet one another, without warping to the extent of a semi-circle. Mr. Macartney knows good work¬ manship far too well to be deceived. In a pre¬ vious exhibition, some furniture designed by him was really worth examining from that point of view ; it went beyond the A B C of carpentry into some finesse. I suggest, then, as the first piece of sensible reform at the Arts and Crafts that the names of workmen should not be flour¬ ished in the catalogue, unless the workmanship is really exquisite, or requires in the workman himself some power of interpretation. I have mentioned furniture. The extravagance or poverty of a great deal shown this year has been so fully commented on by others that I need not say anything on that head. The root of the mischief evidently was the abdication of the com¬ mittee from the duty of judging one another’s work. When committees come ro this pass the only step that remains in that direction is to form themselves into an academy. But the Arts and Crafts Society will doubtless have the good sense to retrieve a false step. Furniture is evidently a difficulty for the single handed designer, as I have 1 88 The Arts and Crafts Exhibition. before now pointed out. If his designs are not extravagantly “ individual,” he can hardly put a high enough price on the single article to pay him for his time; to make good unassertive design pay he must be a capitalist and produce things on a large scale, i.e., start a shop ; and the capital at least is equally required if he devotes himself to elaborate articles in costly material. Nothing is gained by obscuring this fact and complaining that “ the conditions of modern life and our com¬ mercial civilisation " make it impossible to sell kitchen chairs at five pounds a piece. Much of the talk about “ commercial manufacture ” as opposed to Arts and Crafts manufacture is rubbish, and not very honest rubbish. The strength ofWilliam Morris’s position was that he had capital as well as designing power, and ran a shop successfully. Why do artists live in jerry-built houses ? Merely because artists are lazy, ill-tempered and jealous ; and no two or three of them can find enough business ability and co-operative spirit to combine, build a house, and live in it. Why do they use jerry-designed furniture ? Because for variations on a kitchen chair they expect the world to pay them as if for a piece of sculpture or jewellery. 1 he fact is that at present the Arts and Crafts people have a quite unfair commercial advantage over the so-called “ commercial ” shop. Call a shop not a shop, but a “ guild,” and all the papers will publish admiring articles about its contents which otherwise would have to be paid for in the advertisement columns. Let me beg our designers then, having dropped the piece of cant about the workman, to drop this about commerce, and apply themselves to commerce frankly. In a very short time the use of the word guild for what is not a guild will cure itself. All the doubtful com¬ merces will call themselves guilds, just as all the drabs call one another “ladies.” In the furniture business, then, and any other that requires a number of workmen and production on a large scale to pay workmen and designer, the commercial problem is a serious one, and the big shop with moderate prices is the solution. Let me return for a moment to what I have called the kitchen chair. Mr. Macartney is right enough in saying that in England, when this new movement began, things had to start de novo. It would 'be still more exact to say that we middle-class people, when we began to rub our eyes under Ruskin’s preaching, had to sacrifice our “ parlours ” and to start from the only part of the house that had not succumbed to the art immediately preceding our own, namely, the kitchen. The new movement, very wholesome so far as it went, was to spread the kitchen over the rest of the house ; for the kitchen, just on the point of becoming obsolete through the disappearance of cooks, had been overlooked by Victorian design, and there lingered in it clean walls and floors, plain wooden dressers, unteased copper and brass, and a few bits of good old furniture in disgrace. It was very difficult, however, to get things like these in the shops, and the new designers had to pay themselves for putting them on the market by adding a terrible deal of “ art ” to them. Hence those horrible town and village industries of repousse (and repoussant) copper and brass ; hence those other industries of wood carving which imitated the considerable abundance of bad design to be found on old oak chests and furniture. Hence the necessity, even for a Morris, of covering an honest paper or stuff with space-devouring patterns. If anything simple and satisfactory escaped and got into use it was because someone made a present of it to the world. Here is the history of one of those escapes, which I happen to know. Shortly before the first Arts and Crafts Exhibition, I think, the late James MacLaren, an architect whom many of my readers will remember, had some work to do at Ledbury, and in a walk we took one day we found, in a little Worcestershire village, a real survival of village industry, an old man who made rush-bottomed chairs, with no other apparatus than his cottage oven for bending the wood. MacLaren made him one or two drawings, improving a little upon his designs, but perfectly simple and in the old spirit, and got him to make a few chairs after these designs, which he was quite content to do at eight shillings apiece. When the Art Workers’ Guild was formed, these chairs, known to some of its members, were adopted, and passed from that into many houses. Whether they are still made I do not know, but they were made without disturbing the market price, and without the designer asking anything for such work as he put into them. If a designer is to be paid on a moderately- priced article, it must be made and sold in large quantities. It will not pay the middle-class artist to make things so simple with his own hands, for we cannot pay him at his middle-class designer’s rate for this elementary handicraft. He must either make himself so superlative a craftsman that he can concentrate on single, elaborate and costly pieces, or he must organise a staff of workmen who will turn out his simpler designs in sufficient number to give him a percentage on the quantity. If he puts out, say, £5 worth of time on the initial design, he cannot hope to get it back on one or two repetitions such as he could make himself ; and it would be a waste of his time. This economical difficulty does not apply equally to all the crafts. There are objects which can be made rare and precious by design and work, and can also be made by one or by a few pair of hands and fetch a price that will pay on a small quantity. Current A rchitecture. That is why jewellery has come to the front lately at the Arts and Crafts, and the same thing applies to some other crafts. My view then of the present problem for the arts and crafts movement is that it is mainly a commercial problem. Till that is solved we shall have a superabundance of cranky amateur pro¬ ductions of a purely exhibition kind. If there are to be solid results it is time for the Arts and Crafts Society to start shop-keeping. To take over the exhibition idea of the nineteenth century even when the older exhibitions, like the Academy, were in decay, was perhaps unavoidable, and it may be necessary to continue it for some time to come ; but the sooner this preliminary advertising stage is over, and the honest shopkeeping begins, the better. At present what happens is this. An idea receives its advertisement at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition. But it is not the inventor who usually gets the benefit of his idea. It is the shops, which straightway set their own designers or facile students from Kensington to parody anything in I 89 which there seems to be a chance of money. The really wicked competition is not “ commercial ” competition ; it is artistic competition, the compe¬ tition of the cribber with the original designer, the cribber who is prepared to make a colourable imitation of a design for a quarter of the price, since it costs him nothing in thought or time. Protection can never be perfect against this sort of thing, especially since artists often make part of their income by raising up fresh hordes of these cribbers, but there are two ways in which the evil might be checked. One is for self-respecting firms to extend their practice of going to the original de¬ signer, putting his name on their wares, and giving him a royalty. The other is for the arts and crafts group in each town to go into business and keep open all the year round a shop in which people will be able to find the ordinary useful things for house furnishing at reasonable prices as well as to commission from designers the rarer and more costly. A strong committee for selection would be required, but the thing is not impossible. Current Architecture The Royal School of Art Needle¬ work, South Kensington. — The Royal School of Art Needlework was founded in 1872 by H.R.H. Princess Christian, and with the help of the late Lady Marion Alford, Lady Welby, and other ladies, was started in quite a small way in Sloane Street, with the double objects of reviv¬ ing the almost lost art of decorative embroidery, and of giving remunerative employment to needy ladies of refinement. Since 1876 the school has been housed in some old buildings of the 1862 Exhibition at South Kensington, where, under the presidency of H.R.H. Princess Christian, who has personally worked strenuously and unremit¬ tingly in its interests, it has prospered, and has just taken up its quarters in the new building erected for it at the corner of Exhibition Road and Imperial Institute Road, and almost adjoin¬ ing its old premises. As the workers of the school have frequently to deal with very large pieces of work, such as drop scenes for theatres, it is necessary that both the work-rooms and show¬ rooms should be spacious. The accompanying first and second floor plans give the show-rooms and principal work-rooms. There are more work¬ rooms on the third floor, besides kitchen and dining-rooms. The rooms in the east wing of the third floor have been leased to the School of Scconp Floor? Plan - THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART NEEDLEWORK, SOUTH KENSINGTON. F. B. WADE, ARCHITECT. Cu rren t A rck itectu re 1 90 THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART NEEDLEWORK, SOUTH KENSINGTON. GENERAL VIEW. F. B. WADE, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture. 1 9 1 THE PRINCIPAL STAIRCASE, FIRST-FLOOR LEVEL. THE WEST SHOW-ROOM, LOOKING NORTH. , Photos: E. Dockree. THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART NEEDLEWORK, SOUTH KENSINGTON. F. B. WADE, ARCHITECT. 192 Current A rchitecture Photo : E. Dockrec. FIRE BRIGADE STATION, EUSTON ROAD, W.C. VIEW FROM EUSTON SQUARE. W. E. RILEY, SUPERINTENDING ARCHITECT, LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. Current A rchitecture. '93 Third Floor Plan. Wood-Carving. The mezzanine floor and a large part of the basement have been leased to the Technical College. The admission of plenty of daylight to the work-rooms has been an object of the first importance, the attainment of which without architectural flimsiness has suggested the treatment of the second story. It being unnecessary to make the building lofty, breadth of treatment has been aimed at in order that it might hold its own among its greater neigh¬ bours. To this end each story is emphasised by First Floor Plan. Fourth Floor Plan. FIRE BRIGADE STATION, EUSTON ROAD, W.C. PLANS. W. E. RILF.Y, SUPERINTENDING ARCHITECT, LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. colour contrast. Thus the roofs show green slate throughout unbroken by patches of lead-work. The second story is all Portland stone, and the walling of the show-room story is of red brick¬ work. The interior walls throughout are treated plainly, battens being let in for the purpose of hanging embroidery work, etc., a treatment which applies also tothe principal staircase. The landings are paved with black and white marble squares, the treads and risers of Belgian white marble. The general contractors were Messrs. G. H. and A. Bywaters & Sons. Mr. F. B. Wade is the architect. Fire Brigade Station, Euston Road. — The site has a frontage to Euston Road of about 58 feet, and to Euston Square of about 57 feet. The station is built with Portland stone facings to the height of the ground flocr, and above that in red brickwork, with projecting oriel windows in 194 Current A rchitecture JOINT STATION OF THE FAST INDIAN AND BENGAL & NAGPUR RAILWAYS, HOWRAH, CALCUTTA. HALSEY RICARDO, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture. l9 5 stone, and stone dressings to those windows immediately beneath the oriels. The accommo¬ dation provided on the ground floor is : — Engine room, 39 feet by 33 feet, lined with glazed bricks, and paved with grooved stable bricks, gives standing room for horsed escape, steamer, and hose cart, ready for immediate use. The run out will be across the courtyard in front of the station of the same depth as the adjoining gardens, through a gateway at the junction of Euston Road and Euston Square (Seymour Street). The run in is on the Euston Square front through an archway into a small yard, from which the back engine room doors open. Stables for six horses in the rear of the engine room, top- lighted. Provision is made for a fodder room with loft over adjoining the stalls. The watch room is on the Euston Road front adjoining the engine room doorway, and has a floor area of about 150 feet. The recreation room has a large bay window looking on to Euston Square, and has a total floor area of about 400 feet. Adjoining is lavatory accommodation with spray bath. The third officer’s private entrance is at the angle of the building, and is approached from Euston Square. It communicates directly with a lift and staircase to the third, fourth, and fifth floors, where are situated the third officer’s quarters. One suite of quarters for a married coachman is also on the ground floor, and adjoins the run in. The basement extends under all the ground floor with the exception of the engine room and stables, and consists of : — Laundry fitted with six troughs, three coppers, heating chamber, and six drying horses ; battery room under stairs ; work¬ shop ; separate storage accommodation for coal, coke, wood, and oil ; twelve coal stores for station officer and men ; three cellars for third officer's quarters. The architect is Mr. W. E. Riley, Superintend¬ ing Architect to the London County Council, and the work has been carried out by Messrs. Stimp- son & Co., of 78, Brompton Road, the contract sum being £14, 377- Joint Terminal Station of the East Indian and Bengal & Nagpur Railways at Howrah, Calcutta. — The traffic on the East Indian Railway having outgrown the old station, and the Bengal and Nagpur Railway requiring an entrance into Calcutta, the Directors of the East Indian decided to build a joint terminal station for the two lines. Howrah is across the water to Calcutta, to which it is joined by a bridge, and stands much in the same position as Waterloo does to Westminster, except that the river is wider. The station is being built of thin red bricks with a wide mortar joint, for the most DETAIL. JOINT RAILWAY STATION, HOWkAH, CALCUTTA. HALSEY RICARDO, ARCHITECT. part, stone being used only sparingly. The plan shows the arrangement on the ground floor ; the first floor is used by the District Traffic Superin¬ tendent, Traffic Manager, Telegraphs, and their clerks, and on the top floor there are residential chambers for four officials. Mr. Halsey Ricardo is the architect. i(j6 The Palace at Knossos , Crete. The Palace at Knossos, Crete. Although the first visit to Knossos was made by Dr. Evans as far back as 1894, in which year he was able to purchase a portion of the property, it was not till 1900 that he succeeded in acquiring the whole site. The excavations were commenced in March of the same year, and have been carried on since with so much energy and dispatch as to have brought to light the remains of a palace covering an area of nearly 500 feet square, almost equal in extent to that of the Houses of Parliament. The palace was built on a slight eminence, about two-thirds (including the great central court) crowning the crest of the hill ; the remain¬ ing third occupying a slightly lower site on the slope of the hill (see Fig. 1). The great central court, measuring 200 feet by 86 feet, runs nearly north and south, and the largest portion of the palace is on its west side ; portions of the eastern block are built on a level some 24 feet below the pavement of the central court. The walls of the western side of the palace consist of a basement about eight feet in height, the floor of which is a little below the level of the central court. Those of the eastern side of the palace consist in part of two storeys, which to¬ gether make up the 24 feet above referred to. The superstructure on both sides which contained the principal halls of reception probably rose to about the same height on each side. A series of terraces existed on the east side, and the lower building, which seems to have formed part of the palace, is a bastion, the walls of which are about 50 feet below the level of the central court. In consequence of the great thickness of the walls of the basement of the western block and their close juxtaposition, the large plan which we publish is not at first very easy to read, and as a matter of fact, it probably resembles Supplement to The Architectural Review, May i9°3* SKETCH PLAN OF THE PALACE OF KNOSSOS. 1 97 The Palace at Knossos , Crete. that of the basement of most buildings from which, failing other evidence, it would be difficult to scheme out the plan of a superstructure. In the palace of Knossos, however, two other considera¬ tions have to be taken into account. Firstly, the greatest width which could be floored or even roofed over without intermediate supports was 18 feet, and there is only one hall of that dimen¬ sion in the palace, that in front of the “ hall of the double axes ” ; and, secondly, the superstructure built with rubble masonry in clay mortar, framed together and bonded with timber, required founda¬ tion or basement walls of exceptional thickness. Broadly speaking, it would seem that the west wing of the palace was the public portion, includ¬ ing the entrance portico from the west court, “ the corridor of the procession,” the south terrace with its double portico, the south propylaea leading to the megaron, and the throne-room : the east wing was the private or residential portion. There would seem to have been two principal entrances to the palace, one in the centre of the north front, the other from the south-west corner of the west court, which Dr. Evans considers to have been the agora, where the Minoan King met his subjects. It was a large open square, the western limit of which has not yet been explored, and probably responded to that feature which in French palaces is known as the “ Cour d’honneur.” In support of his theory Dr. Evans calls attention to the stone bench (Fig. 2) built into and forming part of the masonry of the west wall, where, shel¬ tered in the early part of the day from the rays of the sun, the king’s subjects could await his sum¬ mons. A similar stone bench has been found in the palace at Phaestos, excavated by the Italians, in front of a terrace wall also on the west side. The northern entrance, Dr. Evans points out, “repre¬ sents the main point of intercourse between the palace and the city on the one hand, and the port on the other. Two lines of ancient roadways in fact here converge — one leading to a region which we know to have been covered with prehistoric houses, the other pointing north in the direction of the sea, where traces exist of an ancient haven some four miles distant.” This is the only part of the palace in which there is evidence of some kind of fortification, and the road of access is dominated by towers and bastions, whilst other provisions in the plan of the inner or western corridor suggest that its passage was properly protected. The slope of the ground on the east and south side (the floor of the south terrace rose from 10 to 12 feet above the ground) may have been considered a sufficient protection on those sides, and the western court was probably enclosed with a wall. Dr. Evans’ theory as to there having been “ four main entrances roughly answering to the points of the compass ” is not borne out by the FIG. I.— -RUINS OF THE PALACE OF KNOSSOS, CRETE, AND GENERAL VIEW OF THE REMAINS ON THE EAST SLOPE. (By permission. From the “Annual" of the British School at Athens.) VOL. XIII. — P 1 he Palace at Knossos , Crete. 1 98 plan, as the north-west entrance corridor leads first to the south terrace, the propylaeum in front of the great hall can only be reached from that ■terrace, and on the east side the entrance to the “hall of the double axes” is from a terrace to which so far no direct approach has been found (see Fig 1). Although at first sight the plan with its great central court and main entrance at the north end, and the relation of the walls all built at right angles to one another, resembles that of a Roman palace, which suggests its having been set out symmetrically or on a well-considered programme ; a further study shows that it differs widely from the Roman principles of symmetry and central axes. The walls of the west front jut out into the western court at varying distances. In the central court there are projecting blocks at the north-east and south-west corners, and the entrance passage is not quite in the axis of the central court. In this respect, however, it is more in accordance with Greek principles where the work was set out on the spot to suit the site and requirements, and the entrance portico and blocks of building were placed without any regard for that sym¬ metry which seems to have been all important to the Roman builder. The far greater picturesque grouping of the various buildings, as suggested in the plan, recalls that which we find on the acro¬ polis at Athens, and in the sacred enclosures at Olympia, Delphi, and other shrines of Greece, rather than in the palaces of the Caesars, or the Thermae of Rome. It is, however, precisely this which renders a clear description all the more difficult, increased by the fact that the upper floors which contained the great halls have all perished, so that it is only by the most minute examina¬ tion of the upper part of the walls remaining, that Dr. Evans has been able to suggest the probable plan. In this he has been partiallv assisted by the parallel afforded in the palace at Phaestos, also in Crete, which has been explored by the Italians during the last two years. With the exception of its construction to which we shall return later on, and one hall to which the title of throne room has been given, there are no architectural features in the basement storey of the western block which it is necessary here to enter into. They consist of an endless series of storerooms and magazines which in their solid masonry and general construction were far supe¬ rior to that of the ephemeral materials of which the upper floors were built. Curiously, however, it is probably owing to this latter fact that Dr. Evans' discoveries have been made ; a fierce con¬ flagration apparently burnt all the timber of the roofs and columns, and subsequent rain crumbled away all the walls* and virtually buried the palace. The inhabitants returned to plunder the palace and search for the treasures, but the stone sub¬ structures were too heavy to be moved and have consequently remained in situ. Had the upper part been built in stone the palace would not have been buried in the same way, and within a couple of centuries the materials would all have been taken away to use up in the erection of other buildings. The principal state entrance was in the south¬ west corner of the west court through a portico of one column in antis. f This arrangement is found elsewhere here, and at Phaestos. The architect having settled the width of the portico, preferred to use one column as an in¬ termediate support (if the span was not too great) in¬ stead of encumbering the entrance with two columns. At Phaestos the antas or re¬ sponds of the portico to the great megaron project six feet from the side walls so as to retain as it were the one column, although in the rear wall there was a central doorway beyond. In the * These in some cases carried with them portions of the fresco painting with which they were decorated, for as it would appear from Dr. Evans’ description the finest of these have been found in the basement corridors. | The evidence of the columns lies in the stone base still in situ mea¬ suring 3 feet in diameter and 4 in. high : throughout the palace, all the columns were in timber and raised on stone bases. FIG. 2. — WESTERN COURT AND GREAT GYPSUM WALL. (By permission. From the “Annual" of the British School at Athens.) 1 99 The Palace at Knossos , Crete. rear on the right of the portico was the guard room, and on the left a passage 10 feet wide, called by Dr. Evans “ the corridor of the pro¬ cession,” the walls having been decorated with paintings representing a state procession. This corridor led to a terrace 28 feet wide and 165 feet long so far as it has been traced. Dr. Evans thinks there is evidence of its further extension, which would be necessary if only to give access to the central court. This terrace, facing the south, was probably roofed over with a peristyle (Fig. 3), carried by two rows of columns which would form a sufficient protection from the sun when at its zenith. At a distance of 85 feet from the west end of the terrace is the axis of the propyl a: a leading to the great megaton, which seems to have consisted of a portico of one column in antis. The stone base no longer existed, but traces were found of the ants projecting four feet from the side walls, which suggested an arrangement like that at Phaestos.0 In the rear of this portico was a wall pierced with three doorways, the sill of the right hand one only existing. At a distance of 4 feet 6 inches beyond the doorways and on either side of the propylaea walls were found the bases of two other columns. The width between these walls was 30 feet, far too great a span to roof over without intermediate supports. It is probable therefore that there were three other columns * In the palace at Phaestos there were no substanchions to the megaron, so that the bases, sills of doorways, and foundation of walls have all been preserved. FIG. 3. — WESTERN BLOCK. Portions blacked-in taken from Dr. Evans’ restoration. Portions hatched, taken from general plan. Portions outlined, conjectural restoration. and a pier on each side forming a double avenue similar to that which has been found at Phaestos, except that there, owing to the greater width across the central avenue, viz., 24 feet, the aisles only could have been roofed over. This would bring the four columns and pier in a line with the end of the walls as found. Beyond this was an open court, called the Court of the Altar by Dr. Evans, the stone base of an altar having been found in a rectangular recess on the right of the court. The level of the court of the altar is about 5 feet below that of the great megaron, portions of the upper walls of which were found by Dr. Evans. He assumes therefore that, as at Phaestos, there was a flight of stone steps (of which all traces are now gone) leading up to a portico of one column in-antis. Here the antse measured 8 feet on the right hand side and 6 feet 6 inches on the left, and the wall in the rear had two doorways only. These led into a hall 24 feet deep and 36 feet wide, whose roof was carried by three columns down the centre." Two doorways in the rear of the megaron opened into a cross corridor leading from the upper long gallery on the right (which rises above the corridor of the maga¬ zines), and on the left to a door giving access to a flight of eight steps descending into the central court. This flight of steps, in the centre of which was a single column, formed the approach to another long room crossing the palace, in the centre of which was found the lower portion of a wall ; this may only have been a stone bench, but Dr. Evans suggests that it carried a central line of three columns. There was no necessity, struc¬ turally speaking, for them, as the hall was only 16 feet wide, and, as we have pointed out, there is a hall 18 feet in width whose roof was carried without intermediate supports. The question of the admission of light to these halls is too large a question to take up here; but Dr. Evans’ pro¬ position of a well for light on the left scarcely seems probable, in view of the fact that there is a cross wall below in the basement ; the well for light would surely have been carried down to the lowest floor. The only alternative for ob¬ taining light is that which is suggested in the great Roman Thermae, where the halls, rising above the side passages and smaller rooms, have cle¬ restory windows over the same. The only other rooms shown on the plan are apparently state bedrooms, which might be occupied by the king’s guests if our theory as to the residential portion of the palace being in the eastern block is correct. * They are not quite central, perhaps to give more room for a throne in the rear. Dr. Evans points out here that the hearth as found at Tiryns and as described in the Homeric poems has not been found either here or in the palace at Phaestos. 200 The Palace at Knossos , Crete. FIG. 4. — ENTRANCE TO THRONE ROOM ON LEFT. WELI.-HOLI PARAPET AND BENCH, SHOWING SOCKETS FOR WOODEN COLUMNS. (By permission. From tlic “Annual" of the British School at Athens.) The lower portion of the walls of the west front, about 6 feet high, are in two thick¬ nesses of gypsum blocks, each 18 inches thick, with a core of rubble and clay be¬ tween of 3 feet. They still carry in parts the remains of a superstructure in rubble masonry and clay mortar, which shows that an upper storey existed consisting either of lofty halls or of two floors with staircases of wood. The only other hall which it is necessary here to de¬ scribe is that which Dr. Evans calls “ the throne room.” This was one of the first important discoveries made in igoo. Through four doorways facing the central court one descends five steps to an ante-room, and thence through two doorways on the right to a room measuring 20 feet long by 12 feet 6 inches wide, in the centre of which, against the wall on the right hand side, was a stone seat with back to it of very ori¬ ginal design.0 On the same side of the room and returning at the end is a stone bench. The great * A cast of the same was in the Winter Exhibition of the Royal Academy. megaron in the palace at Phaestos is called the throne room, and the much larger size of the megaron here would incline 11s to think that Dr. Evans’ “ throne room ” was more probably used for cabinet councils. A room 20 feet long would not accommodate more than twelve coun¬ cillors seated, with the Prime Minister presiding on his chair of state. In front of the throne (Fig. 5) is an open court or well-hole, the floor of which is sunk about 2 feet below the level of the throne room, and is approached by steps. It is not deep enough for a bath, and as there is no outlet drain for the water must have been filled and emptied by slave labour. It may, as Dr. Evans suggested, have had fish in it. This court for light was divided from the throne room by a low wall (Fig. 4) with three columns in timber, the sockets of which were sunk into a stone bench on which either the secretary or notaries of the council might have sat. Beyond the throne room was a small room in which was found a pedestal lamp showing how it was lighted. The communications between the west and east blocks of the palace have not yet been ascertained either at the south or north end of the central court. P'rom the thickness of the walls we may assume that buildings in one or two storeys were carried across the north entrance. FIG. 5. — THE THRONE. (To be continued.) R. Phene Spiers. The Editorial Committee is indebted to the Council of The British School at Athens for the use of several illustrations. THE ARCHITECTURAL review, June, I903, VOLUME XIII. NO. 79- THE GUILDHALL. FROM A DRAWING BY MUIRHEAD BONE. Orvieto Cathedral In the thirteenth century, in the great age of the communes, Guelph Orvieto, like Ghibelline Siena, broke the lawless tyranny that had checked her commercial expansion, the tyranny of the feudal lords whose castles girdled her contado ; like Siena, too, she became justly proud of the position she had won as a free commune, and sought to give concrete expression to the two strongest im¬ pulses that can possess a people, religion and patriotism. Orvieto was not so large, so rich, nor so pro¬ gressive as Siena ; it was not until the year 1290 that Pope Nicholas IV. laid the first stone of her new Duomo. But although begun nearly half a century later than the great cathedral of her neighbour, and at a time when the influence of northern art was beginning to be felt in every part of the peninsula, the Duomo of Orvieto is even less Gothic than that of “ the Virgin’s city.” The reason is that Orvieto cathedral was built under the influence of the most conservative of all Italian schools of architecture, the Roman. “ The basilicas of Rome,” says Bryce, “ beautiful in them¬ selves, and hallowed as well by antiquity as by religious feeling, enthralled the invention of the Roman architect.” * Tradition relates that the architect of Orvieto cathedral took as his model the favourite church of the papal patron of the nascent Duomo, S. Maria Maggiore. At any rate, like S. Maria Maggiore, the Duomo of Orvieto was a basilica without transepts, with a large apse or tribune at the east end. The arcades of the nave are composed of round arches carried on round piers, which, although built in courses, merely serve the purpose of columns. Above the arcade is a heavy projecting cornice, supporting a gallery. The high clerestory is lit by pointed windows, the only parts of the original building which were at all Gothic in character. A peculiar feature of the church was the seven small semi- * Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, London: Macmillan, i8go, p. 291. circular apses on each of its sides, of which five in each aisle now remain. It is not known who was the first architect of Orvieto cathedral. The Commendatore Luigi Fumi,° the learned historian of the Duomo, holds that the design for the church, as well as one of the two existing designs for the facade, was made by Arnolfo di Cambio, when, in the year 1282, he visited Orvieto to execute the monument of Cardinal de Braye. The Commendatore surmises that the Operai of Orvieto, finding a renowned architect at work in their city, asked him to furnish them with designs for their projected cathedral. Although the onus probandi of a theory of this kind rests upon its propounders, Commendatore Fumi has little to say in its favour. As, however, the weight of his name has given it importance, it may be well to summarise the reasons why it cannot be entertained. First of all, it is impossible to bring any docu¬ mentary evidence in support of it. It is more than doubtful whether Arnolfo Fiorentino, Niccola Pisano’s pupil and the sculptor of the tabernacle of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, the Arnolfo who visited Orvieto in 1282, was identical with Arnolfo di Cambio the great architect. Professor Frey, who first promulgated the theory of the two Arnolfo’s,! has since strengthened it, and has defended it, I think, successfully against the criticisms of De Rossi. t But if we admit for the sake of argu¬ ment that Arnolfo Fiorentino and Arnolfo di Cambio were one and the same person, Signor Fumi’s case is not much strengthened by that admission, for it is certain that in the year 1282 Arnolfo had not yet won fame as an architect. In fact there is no evidence to show that he had yet been employed in any architectural undertaking whatsoever. All the buildings that he is known to have planned belong to a much later date. What ground is there, then, for Signor Fumi’s theory that because Arnolfo was a renowned architect, he was asked by the authorities at Orvieto to furnish a design for their projected cathedral ? Not only cannot the distinguished archivist produce one piece of documentary evi¬ dence to support such a theory : he cannot show that Arnolfo ever visited Orvieto after completing the De Braye monument, or that he was ever * Fumi, II Duomo d' Orvieto e i suoi restauri, Rome, 1891, pp. 5, 6, 8. It is with great reluctance that I differ from the Comm. Fumi, whose monumental work on the cathedral of Orvieto is, perhaps, the best monograph on an Italian cathedral that has yet seen the light. f Frey, La Loggia de' Lanzi, Berlin, 1885, pp. 82 and seq. + Frey, Arnolfo di Cambio architetto £ da identificare collo scultore Arnolfo fiorentino ? In the Miscellanea Storica della Valdelsa, anno i., is.se, 2, pages 86-90. VOL. XIII. — Q 2 Orvieto Cathedra i 201 ORVIETO CATHEDRAL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST Orvieto Cathedral. consulted in any capacity by the Operai of the Duomo. Secondly, it is highly improbable, on the face of it, that the same artist, in the same year, and for the same building, would make two designs so absolutely inharmonious as the design of the Orvieto cathedral and the earlier of the two existing designs for its fagade. The cathedral of Orvieto was, as we have already seen, almost en¬ tirely romanesque in style ; the first of the designs for the fagade with its very acute gables and pin¬ nacles is aggressively Gothic. Thirdly, admitting again for the sake of argu¬ ment that Arnolfo Fiorentino and Arnolfo di Cambio were the same person, there is no work of of this artist that resembles in the slightest degree either the original nave, or the earlier of the two designs for the fagade. The only facade, if any, by Arnolfo di Cambio of which anything is known, is the old fagade of S. Maria del Fiore at Florence, of which there is a representation in one of Poccetti’s frescoes at San Marco. Dr. Nardini* contends that the facade there depicted was built in accord¬ ance with Arnolfo’s original design, which was not altered, he maintains, in any important particular by Giotto or any other architect of the Duomo. This fagade reveals to us Arnolfo as a timid and tentative follower of the new movement in art. It shows us that he was still largely under the influ¬ ence of his early teachers. Is it conceivable that the artist who was ultra-gothic in 1282, after a lapse of twelve or thirteen years, during which he had been surrounded by Gothic influences, showed himself a novice in the style which he had formerly wielded as a master ? Nor if we look at the only existing works of this period designed by Arnolfo, that is to say the De Bray monument and the tabernacle of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, can we find anything that supports Signor Fumi’s theory. Fourthly, as regards the facade, there are no grounds for believing that it was begun until the year 1310, when Lorenzo del Maitano was sum¬ moned from Siena. Richer towns than Orvieto often left the facade of their cathedral unfinished for a long period. We know that the work upon the Duomo of Orvieto was often delayed for want of money. Some authorities have held that the lower portion of the fagade was already begun in 1307, because in that year a prohibition was issued which forbade ball-games and archery practice in the neighbourhood of the church, in consequence of damage that had been done to the external sculpture and to the windows. But the actual wording of the prohibition clearly discourages such an inference, and tends to show * See Nardini, Lorenzo del Maitano e la facciata del Duomo d' Orvieto, estratto dall' Archivio Storico dell’ Arte, anno iv., fasc. v., Rome, 1891, page 11. 205 that it was the lateral doors and windows of the edifice that had suffered injury.0 It cannot be proved, then, that Arnolfo di Cambio designed any portion of the Duomo. Nor have we any documentary evidence to show who was its original architect. But evidence of style leads us to suppose that he was some mediocre master of the conservative Roman school. After all, the question is not of very great import¬ ance. For, apart from its fagade, and those of its internal decorations that belong to a later age, the cathedral of Orvieto is an uninteresting building, and does not occupy any important place in the history of architecture. The fagade, however, although for the most part a mere screen or frontispiece, like the majority of elabo¬ rate Italian fagades, is one of the most beautiful in Europe. Its author, Lorenzo del Maitano, was born in Siena about the year 1275. His father, Vitale, was a sculptor; and it is probable that Lorenzo himself first followed that art. While the future architect of the Orvieto fagade was a youth, Giovanni Pisano was at work in Siena; and that great artist seems to have influenced the young Maitano as he influenced all the other sculptors of the school of Siena, a school which was destined to become the most productive in Italy. It was in September 1310 that Maitano was elected capo-maestro of the Duomo of Orvieto. In his agreement t with the commune it is specially provided that he shall repair the cathedral, which threatened to become a ruin, and shall provide it with a fagade. How it was that the new Duomo was already in so desperate a condition, it is not difficult to conjecture. Italian architects were always deficient in construction. Shortly after the original church had been completed, except for its fagade, the clergy of the cathedral found that they had not sufficient space for the proper performance of the great offices of the Church. It was decided to add a transept to the cathedral. This addition was badly made ; and the ill-con¬ structed church, after being thus tampered with, soon began to show signs of dissolution. It was then that Maitano was summoned from Siena to restore and buttress its cracking walls, and to build its fagade. For a somewhat inferior missal, the Sienese artist designed a glorious illuminated frontispiece. His first designs, the work of a pioneer of the Gothic style, were tentative. He made at least three drawings for the fagade, of which the two * Fumi, op. cit., 91, 92, also p. 439, and seq. f Arch di Stato, Orvieto, Deliberazioni del comune dal 1310-1312, carta 67 tergo. See also Milanesi, Documenti per la Storia dell’ Arte Senese, i., 172, 173. 206 Orvieto Cathedral. W _ I . _ l . II _ _ ONE OF THE ALTERNATIVE DESIGNS FOR THE FAQ AD E OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. BY LORENZO DEL MAITANO. (From a photograph specially taken for and presented to The Architectural Review by the Commune of Orvuto.) ~7~ Orvieto Ca th edra l . 207 % M, » ■ i Mj - • r ? Hi .0 itgip: : I ■ ' i i : , • i sTU ! 1 3$ '0 f 7; i l f' y ONE OF THE ALTERNATIVE DESIGNS FOR THE FACADE OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. BY LORENZO DEL MAITANO. (From a photograph specially taken for and presented to The Architectural Review by the Commune of Orvieto.) 208 Orvieto Cathedral . ultimately rejected remain to us.° The first of these, the one attributed by Signor Fumi to Arnolfo di Cambio, shows us a single-gabled facade. On one of its pilasters we see sketched the kind of surface ornament that ultimately adorned the building. For the rest the design is aggressively Gothic. The Italian, after the man¬ ner of converts, delights in extremes. His gables and pinnacles, with their elaborate cusps and hnials, are more acute than those of the masters he imitated. Subsequently, as French influences * I am indebted to the Commune of Orvieto, to the Opera del Duomo of that city, and, more especially to the President of the Opera, the Comm. C. Franci, for the photographs of the designs of the facade, which were specially taken for this article. GENERAL VIEW OF CARVINGS ON LEFT-HAND CENTRE PIER, THE FACADE. acquired more and more power over him, he decided to construct, for the first time in Italy, a fa9ade with three gables. But whilst in ap¬ pearance, and in some measure in construction, this fa9ade was, as Dr. Nardini says, terribilmente ogivale, it was in one respect thoroughly Italian, unlike the fa9ades of the great French cathedrals it imitated ; it was for the most part a mere fron¬ tispiece, although more intimately related to the structure of which it forms a part, than is the fa9ade of the Duomo of Siena. Its gables rise high above the roof of the church ; and many of its most pronounced features have little or no organic connection with the building behind it. The reliefs on the pilasters on either side of ORVIETO. GENERAL VIEW OF CARVINGS ON RIGHT-HAND CENTRE PIER, THE FAqADE. Or vie to Cathedral . 209 ORVIETO. GENERAL VIEW OF CARVINGS ON QRVIETO. GENERAL VIEW OF CARVINGS ON LEFT^ HAND PIER, THE FACADE. RIGHT-HAND PIER, THE FACADE. 2 I O Orvieto Cathedral. Orvieto Cathedral. 2 l I each of the doorways form the most beautiful part of the surface ornament with which this facade is covered, and they are the portions of the decoration that have suffered least from the drastic restoration which the facade has expe¬ rienced. These reliefs, I hold, were executed whilst Lorenzo del Maitano was capo-maestro of the Duomo, and for the most part by himself and his assistants. An accomplished critic, M. Reymond,* has re¬ cently sought to prove that Drs. Bode and Burck- hardt have erred in attributing these reliefs to Sienese sculptors. His argument, however, is of little value, as it is based upon an assumption which is now proved to be erroneous. He holds that the existing facade of Siena cathedral was erected under the supervision of Giovanni Pisano in the latter part of the thirteenth century. He goes to that facade for evidence as to the character of the achievement of the Sienese school of sculpture in that age, and maintains that the sculptors of Siena, responding to the demand for statues on the new Gothic fapade of their cathedral, had entirely for¬ saken the art of low-relief, and had devoted themselves to figure sculpture. As it has now been clearly proved that the existing facade of * Reymond, La Sculpture Florentine, Florence, 1897, vol. i, pp. 132-137. Siena cathedral was not built until after the year 1370, all the conclusions that M. Reymond bases upon the supposition that it was erected a cen¬ tury earlier fall to the ground.* It is possible to show, too, by more direct argu¬ ment that the French critic's conclusions are erroneous. Like their master and inspirer, Giovanni Pisano, all the members of the large Sienese school of sculpture that left examples of its handy work in every great town in Italy in the first half of the fourteenth century, practised the art of making bas-reliefs. Witness the reliefs of Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo di Ventura at Arezzo, of Tino di Camaino at Naples and at Florence, of Cellino di Nese at Pisa and Pistoia. Witness Goro di Gregorio’s remarkable reliefs representing the miracles of S. Cerbone in the cathedral of Massa Marittima, works which have entirely escaped the notice of M. Reymond and other writers upon Tuscan sculpture. f It is a fact capable of mathematical demonstration that, excluding the reliefs on the pilasters of Orvieto * I have dealt with M. Reymond’s arguments in my recently published History of Siena (Murray, 1902). But since writing that book I have been able to strengthen in some important particulars the case for the Sienese authorship of these reliefs. f The area of S. Cerbone bears an inscription which states that it was made by Goro di Gregorio, of Siena, in 1324. The inscription is of the same date as the area itself. ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. THE FACADE. DETAIL. ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE. 2 I 2 Orvieto Cathedral. ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. THE FACADE. DETAIL. THE NATIVITY. BY A SIENESE FOLLOWER OF GIOVANNI PISANO. Cathedral, the Sienese sculptors, in the period 13x0 to 1340, carved more bas-reliefs than all the other sculptors of Tuscan)/ put together. M. Reymond argues somewhat naively that delicate work of this kind would not have been executed at so early a period in the history of the facade as that of Lorenzo del Maitano’s overseer- ship. To advance such an argument is to display ignorance of the history of Italian facades. The most beautiful, the most delicately-modelled reliefs that are to be found in such a position, around the doorways of a great church — I refer to the reliefs jacopo della Quercia moulded for the central por¬ tal of San Petronio at Bologna — were finished before any other work upon the fagade was taken in hand. The west front of the great Bolognese church has remained unfinished until this day. The history of the fagade of San Petronio is not an isolated case. It was customary in Italy to complete first the central doorway of the fagade. But it is not enough, it may be urged, for those of us who believe that Maitano and his pupils executed reliefs at Orvieto to prove that the art of sculpturing in low relief was largely practised by the Sienese, and that in constructing a fagade it was customary amongst Italian architects to begin with decoration of the central portal. In order to prove our case we must show that there are definite grounds for connecting these reliefs with the name of Maitano. I will summarise, then, very briefly, my reasons for maintaining that they were executed in part by him, in part under his supervision First of all there are good grounds for believing that the lower part of the fagade was completed during Maitnno’s tenure of the position of archi¬ tect of the Duomo. It is true that the documents relating to the history of the fagade during the first eleven years that he held office, that is to say, from 1310 to 1321, have disappeared. But the existing documents, which belong to the following period, that is to say, to the period which began in the year 1321, and closed with Maitano’s death in 1330, suffice to show that during those years the lower part of the fagade was completed ; whilst the documents relating to the period following Maitano’s death tend to prove that the lower story was then finished, and that the arcade above it was in process of construction. Secondly, we know that it was Maitano’s own idea that the fagade should be decorated with reliefs similar to those which now adorn it ; for such reliefs are clearly indicated in one of his tentative designs for it. Thirdly, it is certain that Lorenzo del Maitano and his assistant Niccola Nuti practised the art of sculpture. If they resembled at all the other Sienese followers of Giovanni Pisano they must have practised largely the art of sculpturing bas- reliefs.* Fourthly, the terms of Maitano’s agreement with the Commune of Orvieto prove that one of * The Comm.Fumi admit! that Lorenzo del Maitano executed some of the reliefs. See Fumi, op. cit., p. 92. ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. THE FACADE. DETAIL. (A) THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI. (B) THE VISITATION. BY A SIENESE FOLLOWER OF GIOVANNI PISANO. Orvieto Cathedral. 213 the objects of the Orvietans in engaging the Sienese master was that he might carve bas-reliefs for the facade of their cathedral ; for in that document it is expressly stipulated that he shall be allowed to maintain what pupils he wished at the expense of the Opera del Duomo ad designan- dum, figuvandum et faciendum lapides for the facade. Now the phrase figurare lapides is the phrase which in documents of the period is always used to signify the making of bas-reliefs. If the writer is speaking of foliations or other similar ornament, he does not use the verb figurare, but the word fogliare. In the Latin of the period the word figura always means a statue. The phrase for “To make statues ” is not, however, figurare lapides, but facere figuras. The phrase figurare lapides is almost invariably used to indicate the carving of bas-reliefs composed of figures of men or beasts.* * Nardini, Lorenzo del Maitano e la facciata del Duomo d’ Orvieto ; estratto dall' Archivio storico dell' Arte, anno iv.,fasc. v. Rome, 1891, pp. 14, 15. I hold therefore that one of the objects of the Commune in engaging Maitano was that he might make, and superintend the making of, reliefs. In his first tentative design for the facade, as we have already seen, he sketched reliefs on one of the pilasters similar in general design to those which adorned the completed work.* The conclusions that we have based upon the evidence of documents and of the original designs are, at least, not contradicted by such scanty evi¬ dence as stilkritik affords as to the authorship of these reliefs. Whilst there are no other existing bas-reliefs by Lorenzo del Maitano and Niccola Nuti with which we can compare these of Orvieto, we are justified in concluding that any works, they executed would show strong traces of the influence * I believe that the reliefs were completed in 1321. There is evidence to show that in that year some of them were put in their places. (Arch di Stato, Orvieto A rch dell' opera del Duomo, Cam. i., 1321, Aprile 28, Maggio 5, c. 93, 96.) And it was in 1321 that Maitano set up the fabbrica of mosaic. ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. THE FACADE. DETAIL. THE RESURRECTION. 2 1 4 Orvieto Cathedral . of that master whose personality dominated Sienese art in the closing decades of the thirteenth cen¬ tury — I mean Giovanni Pisano.'"' We shall expect to find in them, too, evidences of the influence of Giovanni’s great father, Niccola, whose reliefs on the pulpit of Siena were the most important works in sculpture then existing in their native town. And this is just what we discover in the Orvieto reliefs. The scenes on the northernmost pilaster recall the manner of Andrea da Pontedera ; and the reliefs of the central and southern pilasters are evidently, as Crowe and Cavalcaselle held, by other followers of the great Pisan masters. But whilst I agree with M. Reymond and the Commendatore Luigi Fumi that Andrea Pisano executed some of the reliefs on the northernmost pilaster, I cannot accept their conclusion that they were made in the middle of the century during the time when Andrea was capo-maestro of the Duomo. I see no reason for disbelieving that all these re¬ liefs were executed during Lorenzo del Maitano’s long tenure of the position of capo-macstro. First of all, as I have already shown, there are documentary reasons for believing that the lower * Ruskin gives the reliefs on the facade to Giovanni Pisano. He discusses the facade of Orvieto in Lecture VII., “Marble Rampant," in Val d' Arno, and in the appendix to that book. part of the fagade was completed before the year 1321, and there is no evidence of any kind which encourages the view that Andrea da Pontedera or any other sculptor executed reliefs on the pilasters of the fagade after that date. Secondly, the re¬ liefs on this northern pilaster which reveal the hand of Andrea are very much less mature than the reliefs on the bronze doors Andrea made for the Florence Baptistery in the year 1330. In the years 1347 and 1348, when Andrea held office at Orvieto, he was a very old man tottering on the verge of the grave. As capo-maestro he probably contented himself with superintending the work of others, giving the opcrai the benefit of his long artistic experience, but doing little with his own hand. All the evidence we have points to the fact that Andrea twice visited Orvieto, and that these reliefs of the northernmost pilaster were executed before the year 1321 under Lorenzo del Maitano’s supervision, if they were not designed by him, after the decorations of the two central pilasters had been finished. In addition to Niccola Nuti and Lorenzo's son Vitale, another Sienese sculptor, Goro di Gregorio, worked upon the reliefs of the fagade. The study of his area of S, Cerbone at Massa Marittima has led me to conclude that some of the scenes to the ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. THE FAQ AD E. DETAIL. THE INFERNO. Orvieto Ca th edra l . 2 1 5 ORVILTO CATHEDRAL. THE INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST. left of the central portal are from the hand of this unrecognised genius. It may be urged that Lorenzo del Maitano cannot have been as great a sculptor as is claimed, for, if he had been, there would be remains of other important works undertaken by him. To the archivist no argument could be more fallacious than this. He knows well that of several of the great Sienese and Florentine artists of the Trecento, men who in their own day were regarded as equal in power and achievement to the greatest of their contemporaries, not one single work can be iden¬ tified. Where, for instance, are the works of two of the most distinguished masters of the very school of sculpture to which Maitano belonged ? Where are the works in sculpture of Lando di 2 I 0 Orvieto Ca th edra /. Pietro and Ramo di Paganello ? And of Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo di Ventura have we more than a fragment of one authentic sculptured work ? Maitano died in middle life. The twenty best years of his career were passed at Orvieto, where he was actively employed as chief architect. His early works, like those of Andrea da Pontedera, and other great artists of that period, have dis¬ appeared. It Andrea had died when he was fifty- five years old, it would have been impossible to prove that any existing work was by his hand. No argument can be drawn from Vasari’s silence as to Maitano and his achievement. The capo- maestro of Orvieto Cathedral was not the only distinguished artist whom the Aretine biographer ignored. Nay, are there not great Florentines, even, whom he has failed to take note of? What Florentine architect of the middle of the Trecento more deserved mention than Francesco Talenti, to whose genius the campanile called Giotto's and the Florentine cathedral owe so much ? But Talenti finds no place in Vasari’s pages. The reliefs on the pilasters of the fapade of Orvieto Cathedral were, I maintain, executed in the period 1310 to 1321, in part by Lorenzo del Maitano, in part under his supervision. They belong to the golden age of the art of Siena, to the age of Duccio and Simone Martini, to the age of Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, to the age of the architects of the great unfinished cathedral. Maitano was an artistic kinsman of Simone. Like Simone, he owed a great deal to the influ¬ ence of Giovanni Pisano. Like Simone, he was a great designer. He had, too, something of that painter’s marvellous grace of line, something of his devotion to a hieratic sumptuousness, some¬ thing of his love of brilliant colour, as well as something of his extraordinary fineness — we might almost say fastidiousness — of technique. Except¬ ing the works of Jacopo della Quercia, the reliefs of Orvieto were the greatest achievement of the Sienese school of sculpture.0 Maitano was not only an architect and a sculp¬ tor, he also designed mosaics for the fa9ade ; collecting together capable artists he set up a fabbrica of mosaic in Orvieto in the year 1321. And the early mosaic pictures on the lower part of the facade were executed by him or under his supervision. This work was continued by his son Vitale, by Andrea Orcagna, and by other great artists. But of the early mosaics that adorned the facade not a vestige now remains. It was not until the year 1570, two hundred and sixty years after Maitano had begun the work that the fa9ade * “ Here in the facade of Orvieto, you have not only perfect Gothic in the sentiment of Scripture history, but such luxurious ivy ornamentation as you cannot afterwards match for two hundred years." — Ruskin, op. cit., p. 134. was completed. Only one important alteration was made in the original design, and that was the work of another Sienese, Antonio Federighi, in the middle of the fifteenth century. Already in 1417, more than thirty years before Federighi took office, proposals had been made for a change in the design. Finally, in the year 1450, Isaia da Pisa had been commissioned to make a new design for the uppermost story of the fa9ade. The design this artist provided was the cause of great controversy, a controversy not settled until after Federighi became capo-maestro in the year 1451. Federighi finally decided to raise the altitude of the central gable of the fa9ade by inserting a row of niches above the circular window similar to those Maitano had placed on each side of it. He also increased the height of the pinnacles which flanked the central gable. Thus he gave the fa9ade a more imposing appearance than it would have presented had Maitano's final design been carried out. For the rest, the fa9ade to-day differs in no very important particular from that designed in the fourteenth century. The other additions to the original cathedral possess but little architectural interest. The Cappella del Corporale, the chapel built as the shrine of a blood-stained corporal, a relic of the Mass of Bolsena, was erected in the year 1330. In it, as in the festival of the Corpus Domini, the Catholic Church commemorates Heaven’s wit¬ nessing to the truth of her central Mystery. For the sacred relic Ugolino di Maestro Vieri — one of that company of great goldsmiths of Siena who, in the fourteenth century, made crowns for em¬ perors and kings, golden roses and chalices for popes, and beautiful vessels for the great Italian cathedrals — executed a reliquary which is one of the finest existing examples of Italian goldsmith work of the Middle Ages. The large chapel on the south. side of the church opposite the Cappella del Corporale is still known as the Cappella Nuova. It was ordained by the Commune in 1397, but it was not finished until the year 1444. The frescoes which cover its walls and its vaulted roof were begun three years later by Fra Angelico, and were completed by Luca Signorelli in the early years of the sixteenth century. Notwithstanding the artistic importance of the frescoes which adorn this chapel, in its internal decoration as in its structure, the cathedral of Orvieto is inferior to that of Siena; but as long as men love beautiful things they wall make pil¬ grimage to the Umbrian town to see Lorenzo del Maitano’s fa9ade and the diversely-beautiful, strangely-consorted frescoes of the Artist-Saint and Michael Angelo’s precursor. R. Langton Douglas. Architectural Education. II. — Great Britain. THE ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION DAY SCHOOL. By Arthur T. Bolton. The Architectural Association occu¬ pies an unique position in architectural education, being a professional society originated some fifty years ago for the purpose of mutual teaching. It differs therefore in nature from an endowed col¬ lege, both in being self-supporting and also in being directed entirely by architects on an ex¬ tremely popular basis, that is to say there is only one class in the membership, so that the youngest beginner, just joined, has equal rights with grey beards who can recall the time when the Architectural Association was non-existent. Essentially a society of young men, if is managed by a committee constantly recruited from those who have in any way distinguished themselves or attracted the favourable consideration, and consequent votes, of their fellow-members. As, however, the older men make it a point of honour to retain their membership long after they have ceased to derive any personal benefit from their subscription, so there is no society of young men that could be more solicitous to con¬ sult the old heads in every proposed step that is considered to be in any way important. It fol¬ lows, therefore, that the Architectural Association commands in a remarkable degree the confidence of architects as a body, and also that its teaching will be of a broad character representative of all sides of the profession as a whole. This preliminary statement is necessary because the work of the Architectural Association is not to be judged from the basis of a merely ideal cur¬ riculum, and also because both its characteristics and success are derived from this unique position. It does not rest with the writer to describe the multifarious activities of the Architectural Asso¬ ciation, nor to detail the work of the evening school, which will indeed be referred to only in so far as it is related to the work of the day school student, subsequent to the completion of his first year’s course. The Architectural Association Day School, now fully established, meets the long-felt need for a training ground, where the boy straight from a public school can acquire such indispensable pre- VOL. XIII. — R liminary knowledge, of a technical character, as will enable him to profit by the time spent under articles as a pupil in an architect's office. It would be out of place here to dwell on the importance of pupilage — it may be taken as the accepted system — and it is only necessary to state that the Architectural Association Day School is a preparation for it and not a substitute. There is no hard and fast limit of age for join¬ ing the day school, but 16 is the very earliest at which a boy should leave his school, and 17 or 18 is much better, while those who have been at the university will naturally be 21 or 22. The course is annual, from October to July, and is divided into the usual three terms. Students can, and do, join and leave at the beginning of any term, completing their year’s course accordingly ; but to join in October is the most convenient arrangement. On completing the first year's course the student enters on his pupilage with an architect, and should, during this first year of his articles, continue to attend the school for two days in the week, following out the second year course, which affords him systematic teaching supplementary to the practical work of the office in which he is engaged for the other four days of the week. The student can delay his articles for a vear if he desires to spend the whole of his time working out the second year course, but the former arrangement presents many advantages in actual working. The above outline shows the non-academical character of the scheme, also how it works in with every-day architectural practice. Architects send their pupils to the school for this preliminary training, and there is a combination of “ actual ” and what is quaintly designated “theoretical” work. Let us now take the first year’s course and show what the intending architect’s pupil is taught as a basis for his subsequent studies. The work can be roughly divided into a History and Construc¬ tion side, although the cross connections are care¬ fully brought out in every possible way. Similarly the teaching can be separated into lectures and studio work, though here again these are inter¬ dependent. In the studio or drawing work the chief aim is thoroughly to ground the student as a good 2 I 8 A rchitectural Education. geometrical draughtsman, able to deal with the daily work of an architect's office. This naturally involves freehand work as well, and the elementary setting up of perspectives is given as an aid to out-of-door sketching. The method of survey for the measured study of old buildings is taught, by a typical example thoroughly done, and is then encouraged and required as vacation study. The geometrical drawing work follows the course of the lectures, and is, as it were, explana¬ tory of them ; thus the drawing out of the four orders accompanies those on Greek and Roman architecture, and their origin and meaning is thus brought home to the student. A plan to 32nd scale of an extensive Roman building such as the Baths of Caracalla is a valuable ex¬ ercise, and the working out in plan and sec¬ tion of the two types of Roman Basilica, the vaulted and the timber-roofed, leads on to the developments of Romanesque and Gothic. Such, in outline, is the first term’s work. In the second the student’s time is divided between the History and Construction drawing work. A Byzantine and a Romanesque church are drawn in plan section and elevation, parallel with the lectures on the same subjects, and the study of Gothic architecture is entered upon by drawing out two bays of an early French vaulted refectory. Meantime the Construction subject, an eight- roomed cottage, is most completely set out from the original to the scale of eight feet to one inch, as a contract drawing, to be traced, printed, and coloured, the half-inch details drawn out with the full sizes complete, and the specification written precisely in accordance with office requirements. The lectures on Construction throughout follow the course of the building of the subject, starting from its requirements and proceeding to cases, different and more elaborate, but always remaining in touch with the actual case in which the students are engaged. It is possible in this way to interest the pupils in Construction, not as a matter of theory, but as a vital part of the subject in hand. This Construction drawing extends through the third term. The utility of the method to the future pupil is obvious, it means that on entering his office he has a certain grasp of what is going on and of what he is wanted to do. In this second term the instruction in measur¬ ing old work is given, and during the Easter vacation very good independent study is obtained. In the third, or summer term, the History drawing carries on Gothic Architecture by the most advanced students drawing an elaborate tracery and vaulting subject, two bays of an English decorated chancel in plan section and elevation, while the others draw a similar subject of an earlier character. Renaissance is then drawn out, by well-known subjects such as Clare College to Ain. scale for the earlier, and the Banqueting House at Whitehall for the later, two bays of the latter being worked out to jin. scale. The Lectures follow on in all cases. In this way the students do not simply listen to one or more lectures on a period, to be as easily forgotten as heard, but being simultaneously en¬ gaged on drawing out a typical specimen have the said lecture, as it were, constantly repeated to them, in the shape of the necessary instruction they require in making out their drawings. A student may learn nothing from a discourse on vaulting, but if he has to set it up geometrically simultaneously, he must indeed be dull if he has not an intelligent interest in vaulting ever after. The assistant masters, present the whole time, give constant attention to the students, who are strictly enjoined not to draw anything which they do not fully comprehend. Models and pho¬ tographs are kept in use to counteract the ten¬ dency of students simply to imitate the fiat copy, without taking the pains to realize the solid form, of which it is the geometrical representation. The development of intelligence, of powers of observation, and of memory, the inculcation of the best methods, and the insistence on serious and continued work are the objects the staff of the school have in view. There is an essential difference, which cannot be gone into here, between the work of architects and of purely graphic artists, demanding a dif¬ ferent training to that common in Schools of Art. It is also beneficial in the long run to the future architect if the development of his artistic self-consciousness is retarded, rather than quickened, at this early stage of his career — technical mastery which denotes the genuine artist is to be purchased by a training beyond the range of the brilliant amateur. It is not of much service to the student to veil in a cloud of words the sustained effort and real work required, and much harm is done by injudicious treatment of this vital matter. It is impossible here to enter into all the minor details to show how the whole scheme is made to work together in all its parts as a means to the end of giving the student a broad outline of the History of Architecture, and of the principles of Construction, so as to qualify him to profit to the full by his articles ; but it may be pointed out that no definite direction is given to his tastes; that is left to the architect whom he adopts as his master, and to the growth of his own individuality here¬ after. The object is to acquaint him with the main lines, so as to counteract the bias and pre¬ judice that arises from one-sided learning. Architectural Education. On the completion of the first year, the student, now an articled pupil, takes the Second Year Course, which teaches design in the form of an application of the work he has followed out previously. There is a twofold object in this; in the first place the most vital part of an architect’s work, the power, that is, of giving form and character to buildings is commenced early enough to cause the student to develop a real interest and love of his work ; and secondly the attempt to apply what he has thought himself to have learnt brings out at once the weak places in his past work. It is one thing to have drawn out a Greek column and quite another to apply the same in a small design of say a Doric character. The back elevation and internal sections of objects, hitherto mainly conceived as flat outlines, now acquire to the student a painful interest. It is interesting to mark the student grappling with the application of his know ledge, and the advantage to him of making his first essays in design along the main lines of historical development, will, I think, be denied only by the most thorough-going of artistic revo¬ lutionaries. For lectures the Second-year student has at once thrown open to him, gratis, all that are given in Division I. of the Evening School of the Architectural Association, and should any student have so advanced himself, he can attend the lectures in Division II. at half fees. All the students, First and Second years, attend the visits of the Day School to buildings, ancient and in progress, to museums and to workshops, all of which serve to bring them in touch with the realities of their work. They thus have opportuni¬ ties of acquainting themselves with materials and methods of work in a manner calculated to interest them in those subjects. The association together of these beginners, their use of the Architectural Association pre¬ mises, Common Room and Library, together with the facilities for attending the meetings and social gatherings of the Architectural Association, all serve to throw them, as it were, into the full current of the profession, and enable them to realize its characteristics and aims before they have advanced so far that retreat is difficult, if not impossible. It will be seen, then, that the boy from school entering the Architectural Association Day School should become in two years a hard-working archi¬ tectural student, well grounded in the outlines of his profession, and able to avail himself for his future advancement, of all the facilities which for fifty years, with a constantly increasing develop¬ ment, the Architectural Association has offered to architectural aspirants. 2 I 9 THE ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION EVENING SCHOOL. By William G. B. Lewis. The instruction given in the evening school conducted by the Architectural Association is divided into three sections : i. Lectures ; 2. Studio or drawing school ; 3. Classes for Sketching and Measuring, Water-colour, Modelling and Design. 1. The Lectures are given with a view to pre¬ paring the student for the R.I.B.A. Examinations, and are mostly attended with that object, and the ground covered is such as to give the student a sufficient knowledge of a sound character to enable him to pass the examination in the subject taught. Each lecture is of one hour’s duration, followed by an hour’s class work, during which the instruction is of an informal character, and the accuracy of the notes and sketches made by the student is checked by the lecturer. Home work is set in connection with the lectures, and the students are encouraged to study the subject in a thorough manner and to take an interest in it for its own sake apart from any ulterior object to be attained. Prizes are awarded for the home work done, but as a rule the competition for them is very limited, as the standard is so high that but few have the time or energy to keep up to it throughout the whole course. Lectures are given on the following subjects : — Division I . No. of Lectures Greek and Roman Architecture, and Ornament . . . . 13 English Architecture to a.d. 1500 . 16 Mediaeval and Renaissance in Europe . 12 Plane and Solid Geometry ... 8 Elementary Physics as applicable to Building Construction . . 14 Elementary Building Construction . 16 Division II. Materials, their nature and application 15 Construction (Advanced) . . .10 Hygiene, Drainage, Water Supply, Ventilation, Lighting, and Heat¬ ing . . . . . .12 Professional Practice .... 6 The lectures on the art side cover the history of the Classic, Mediaeval, and Renaissance styles in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and England, the growth, development, and decadence of each style. The most important buildings][are described and illustrated by diagrams or lantern r 2 220 A rch i tectu ra l Id due a tion . views : the planning', arrangement, construction, materials, and workmanship explained. The cha¬ racteristic features, mouldings, sculpture, and general details, are also described and illustrated. The lectures on building construction and ma¬ terials describe in detail the sources of supply, the qualities and defects of the materials used by the different trades, and the methods of application, the form and dimensions suitable for different pur¬ poses, and various classes of buildings in which they are used. Isometric projection and sciography are in¬ cluded in the geometry lectures. The latter is very little used by English students, and it is pro¬ bable that the lack of appreciation of the amount of light and shade required to produce a good effect in a building is due to the small amount of attention given to the study of sciography. The legal position of the architect, the London Building Act, valuation, dilapidations, light and air, contracts, agreements, specifications, and approximate estimates, are dealt with in lectures on professional practice, and sanitary legislation in those on hygiene. Under “extra subjects ” are included lectures on — No. of Lectures. Land Surveying and Levelling . . 8 Quantity Surveying and Estimates . 6 Ornament and Colour Decoration . 5 as these subjects are not set in the R.I.B.A. Ex¬ aminations. 2. The Studio. — This is held twice weekly, from 6.30 to 10 p.m., and deals with all the problems a draughtsman may encounter in his daily work. Owing to the students being of two classes — (a) pupils in London offices and ( b ) older men who have served their articles in the country, they differ widely in the amount already learnt and the subjects they wish to take up, so that nearly all the instruction has to be of an individual character, and as a student does not spend sufficient time in the studio to attain more than a most superficial knowledge of architecture, the principle aim of the instruction is to en¬ courage him to cultivate his eye to see accurately and to induce him to develop his reasoning faculties, thus setting him on the road to acquire knowledge after he has left the studio. This is the more important, as in most cases he has copied without understanding and his information is rather that of rote than of memory based upon a comprehension of the principles and a proper appreciation of the reasons. All drawings (including those of the Orders) prepared in the Studio must as far as possible conform to one of the scales in general use in an office, viz. : — Eighth of an inch to a foot for general drawings. Half an inch to a foot for general details. Inch to a foot for small subjects and finer work, such as furniture, decoration, etc. Full size for mouldings, carving, and such parts as are usually drawn full size for the workman. The object is to accustom the eye to the sizes of various parts and details and to enable comparisons to be made, as it is most important that a beginner should understand the relative sizes of different buildings and the parts of which they are composed. This is of assistance in enabling him to judge scale and proportion in his work. The work of the studio consists of — (a) Drawing examples of architecture — Greek, Roman, and Gothic. ( b ) Drawing ornament from the cast. (c) Demonstrations on Descriptive Geometry, Perspective, and ./Esthetics. (d) Construction. (e) Design of buildings and parts of buildings. (/) Time sketches. (a) When the subject drawn is a part of a building a small key elevation and plan are drawn on the same sheet to show its relation to the whole design. In cases where a cast of the orna¬ ment is in the Studio, the student is encouraged to make a full size measured drawing of it, for which he will have greater advantages when the schools have been moved to Westminster, and the casts of the Royal Architectural Museum are available in the same building. In making the drawings attention is directed to the proportions of one part to another and to the disposition of the ornaments and mouldings. ( b ) In drawing ornament the effect produced and how it is obtained is pointed out, and atten¬ tion is drawn to any particular points, either in design or execution, that render it suitable for its position or the material in which it is executed, the way in which unity is secured by the treat¬ ment of detail, and the method of obtaining sym¬ metry without absolute repetition, and freedom and vigour without loss of refinement. On comple¬ tion of the drawing the student is asked to make a small scale sketch of the same subject as a study in “ shorthand.” (c) Seven lectures and demonstrations are given in perspective, the aim being to give the student a sound geometrical knowledge of the subject while teaching him the easiest methods of A rch it e ctura l Ed uca tion . 22 r putting buildings into perspective, and by means of illustrations and photographs he is shown the advantage of a thorough knowledge of the subject in respect to design. The Descriptive Geometry demonstrations were added as a preliminary course, it being found that scarcely any of the students have even an ele¬ mentary knowledge of this subject, a deficiency which seriously handicaps them in a proper understanding of the connection between a draw¬ ing and the work it illustrates, so that practically none are able to realise the grouping of a building from a set of plans and elevations without the aid of a set-up perspective. The lectures on Tvsthetics, which have only recently been started, are intended to help the student to be more self-critical in making a design, and include such subjects as Composition (grouping and proportion), Form (mass and line), Colour, and Workmanship. The aesthetic prin¬ ciples which have governed the forms of capitals to columns and piers, how they were developed and changed with the changing style, and their relation to surrounding work and suitability to their position have been pointed out to show that similar principles should govern the design of details. id) Examples of construction are drawn from copies, but students are in all cases recommended to draw from small scale diagrams in books, adding the jointing from larger details, as this sharpens the intellect which mere copyism tends to blunt. (e) In Design, subjects are set in three sections, viz. : (i) A part of a building, generally a con¬ structive subject of a simple character, which has to be treated architecturally ; (2) a whole building has to be designed for a special purpose, condi¬ tions as to locality, site, materials, and in some cases cost being stated ; (3) smaller objects, in¬ ternal fittings and decorative details which are required to be drawn to a large scale or full size. The first set of subjects would be taken up by students of the first division, and those of the second division can choose from either the second or thiid set. In all cases they are recommended to make a sketch design to a small scale. (/) Time sketches are set with a view to as¬ sisting the student to form an idea quickly. The general subject is announced, and in some cases illustrations are exhibited for a fortnight, and then removed. Definite particulars and condi¬ tions are only given on the evening on which the sketch is to be made. It must be commenced and finished in one evening, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., and may be in pencil, ink, or colour. One of the greatest difficulties to be contended with is the fact that nearly all the students come to prepare their “testimonies of study” for the Institute examinations, and wish to do only the minimum amount of work which they suppose will enable them to “scrape through.” In conse¬ quence, while the examination undoubtedly in¬ duces them to take up many subjects which they would otherwise neglect, the drawings tend to become mere copies instead of testimonies o: study, and the students do not derive the benefit they should from preparing them. As far as possible they are compelled to do the various drawings thoroughly, and every inducement is used to make them real students instead of being such only in name. 3. Classes are held in the early summer to teach the methods to be adopted in sketching and measuring buildings, two members of a committee of visitors attending each meeting, which are held at South Kensington and buildings in and around London. Students may also learn under a professional water-colour painter (formerly an architect) how to put on paper their impressions of colour and study grouping and composition, the meetings being indoor followed by open air ones. To pre¬ pare for this class an elementary water-colour class is previously held indoor, enabling students to acquire facility in handling their brush. The modelling class is under the direction of a well-known sculptor, and is of great assistance in giving a knowledge of the value of projection, and an appreciation of surface and form. Six years ago the Design Class was resumed. This is supervised by voluntary visitors, who are practising architects, and attend each monthly meeting to give the students criticisms upon their designs. The subjects are those of a simple nature for a lower division, and more complex problems in design for advanced students, corresponding in a great measure to the method pursued in the studio, with the exception that the student is not taught during the preparation of the subject, but obtains a criticism when he has finished his design. In most cases a subject is given two meetings, the general design being submitted at the first, and half-inch scale and full- size details at the second. Workshop demonstra¬ tions are occasionally arranged when the practical working of various materials are given to show the student their limitations. The student enjoys the following advantages in common with other Architectural Association members. (1) He may borrow books from the library numbering 3,000 volumes. As any volume may be obtained on loan, the library is probably the finest of its kind in the kingdom. (2) A dis¬ cussion section, which was started a few years ago to afford an opportunity for the study and Architecture at the Royal Academy. discussion of those subjects and difficulties which constantly occur in actual practice. Visitors of experience, in the subject being discussed, are in¬ vited to attend. Incidentally the power of speak¬ ing in public is thus acquired. (3) Fortnightly meetings of the Association are held on Friday evenings, when papers on various subjects of interest to the profession are read and discussed. (4) On alternate Saturday afternoons during the spring months visits are organised to buildings in progress in London, and he is enabled to acquire some practical experience of the manner in which some of our best public and private buildings are carried out. (5) Similar visits are made in the summer to interesting buildings in the home counties. (6) The excursion, which usually takes place in July, is arranged for the study of the work to be seen in a particular district in Eng¬ land. Rooms are taken at a convenient centre by Architecture at the After the very frank interchange of views that took place in these pages between leading architects inside and outside the Academy 0 and the general agreement on certain defects, one looked forward with some curiosity to the exhibi¬ tion of this summer. It will be remembered that in the discussion initiated by Mr. Ricardo the following principles emerged, and were emphasised by two of the Academy architects who took part in the discussion. First of all the picturesque water-colourist with his perspectives was to be severely discouraged, not only because his spank¬ ing hansoms, giddy scenes of fashion, oriental warmth, spacious vistas, and so forth, were a “ mild nuisance and nightmare ” (Ruskin’s de¬ scription of Raphaelistic art) to those who care for pictures ; but still more because all this, nei¬ ther attractive nor tolerable pictorially, is not architecture. Instead of this misdirected effort, it was contended, we ought to have workmanlike geometrical drawings of elevations, of plans and of sections, with a sketch perspective when necessary to give an idea of effect and grouping. Tinting, when employed, was to serve the purpose of distinguishing materials, and no more. Secondly, we were given to understand that the reason of the largely unreal and inadequate character of the exhibition is that enough material of the right sort is not sent in to cover the walls even of this one little room. Architects were told that the fault lay with themselves ; that if they sent * See Architectural Review for October, November, and December, 1902; January and February, 1903. those participating in the visit, and a round of visits paid to everything architecturally interesting within a range of twenty miles or so. 1 he session of each year begins in June, but class -work in October. The course extends over four years, lectures and studio being taken alter¬ nately, and the former are so arranged that no overlapping occurs. The number of students attending the classes and studio is 200, the staff numbering 17 lecturers and instructors. The names of 28 architects are on the list of visitors to the Design Class. I he Royal Institute of British Architects has for the last twelve years made a grant of £100 to cover the deficit in the working of the educational scheme, but with the exception of this sum the whole of the cost is defrayed by the Association, with the assistance of the students’ fees, and no grant or Government subsidy is received. Royal Academy I. in workmanlike drawings, these drawings would be welcomed and hung. My mind, that of a disinterested observer of the exhibition, remains so far innocent that til! events disprove it I take people to mean what they say. I thought therefore that as everybody appeared to approve of changes, and the desire was echoed by some of those in authority, we should find a new departure in the current exhibi¬ tion, or at least a fair proportion of examples of desirable practice. Judge of my surprise when I found myself faced on entering by a blushing wall of water-colours. The centre and keynote is a pictorial view of Mr. Bodley’s church at Clumber. This is Mr. Bodley’s diploma piece, and we may surmise therefore that he does not share the ideas of his colleagues on the exemplary style of archi¬ tectural drawing, and perhaps that, being on the council this year, he had hung a side of the gallery in illustration of his ideas. But this ex¬ planation will not cover the whole ground, for on turning to another wall I find that from Mr. Belcher’s office comes a water-colour perspective with all the features he had so strongly and pro¬ perly condemned. Here are hansoms more than usually spanking ; here is that conflict of semi¬ pictorial painting with semi-architectural drawing that results in a depressing, washy-woolly world. It is true that Mr. Belcher sends a model of part of this building to restore the balance a little. I conjecture that the production of picture-per¬ spectives can only be gradually slowed down and extinguished ; that practice cannot keep pace Architecture at the Royal Academy . 223 with righteous theory; but these discrepancies bring a shock to minds, like my own, that remain incurably innocent. The proper attitude of the critic, then, for a great part of this exhibition would be to treat what is shown, not as architecture, but as water¬ colours, and in the present notice I shall yield to this desire of the architects and treat them as painters. It would be a salutary result of this challenge if architects could be brought to believe that in the judgment of painters, painting, as most architects practise it, is not worth the pains. Mr. Bodley’s church is not a fanciful or meretri¬ cious drawing; it was possibly drawn from the fact, as the very ugly arrangement of the path suggests. But it is a dull and tiresome kind of water-colour. It would be much better in black and white, or in flat tint and conventional shadow. As it stands it is neither agreeable picture nor satisfactory convention of drawing. If Mr. Bod- lev’s idea of a landscape does not recommend his architecture, neither does Mr. Goldie's idea of an interior. This acute-funnelled perspective, with the awkward emphasis on the tesselated pave¬ ment, is not the view a picture-maker would choose, to recommend the architecture. The colour adds nothing pleasant to the architectural fact, and it cannot be called natural ; where, then, is its advantage? Much the best of the semi-pictorial drawings is of a house designed by Mr. George Jack. The drawing is, I gather, from the hand of Mr. Oswald Crawford. It shows no little skill of effect in the sky and garden, and the stonework is laid in with care for its character and freshness of touch. Here is something that almost stands its ground as a picture, and indeed must, for this one view of the house is somewhat puzzling architecturally. It would be in place as the supplement to drawings and plans, just as a photograph would. The drawing, again, by Mr. Joass, of Mr. Belcher’s Cornbury Park interior, is a much better type than the perspective already referred to : the general scheme of tinting is agree¬ able and skilfully carried out. But even here there is a conflict between conventional tinting and the realism of light in the reflections on the floor. Another skilful water-colour, with a free use of gouache, is a view of a pergola by Mr. Mallows. Mr. Flockhart is another clever sketcher, but 1535 is not a first-rate example of his powers. At the other end of the scale are drawings like Mr. Harrison Townsend's, of a pulpit, where the exe¬ cution is no better than the design. Of the re¬ mainder, some are cases of legitimate tinting, either to explain that bricks are red, and so forth ; or sketches of coloured decoration ; but the lead is given by drawings that muddle tinting with landscape effect. A more serious matter than the persistence in parts of the exhibition of a mistaken pictorial tradition is the rarity of examples of the right method. There is hardly a plan or section in the exhibition, except when it has been slipped into the corner of a drawing. There is no important building fully illustrated. If we take projects, it certainly would have been interesting to compare the competition designs for the Liverpool Cathe¬ dral : but only one or at most two designs are illustrated with an approach to completeness. If we take important buildings in course of construc¬ tion, Mr. Aston Webb’s bay of the College of Science and elevation and perspective of the new Museum buildings are satisfactory representations so far as they go ; but no one can guess from these latter what is the height and character of of the galleries behind the street front. That the fault does not lie altogether with exhibitors is proved by the case of Mr. Ricardo. From the exhibition, at first sight, one would suppose that the champion of workmanlike and complete illus¬ tration had sent in no more than an elevation of his Johannesburg building. But this drawing is numbered 4, so it is probably the survivor of a series that included plans and sections. An ex¬ perience like this is not encouraging, and goes to prove Mr. Ricardo’s contentions. And that brings me to the last general considera¬ tion before the quality of the designs is dealt with. The policy of the hangers evidently is not to limit the exhibition to what can properly be seen in this small room, and to show this limited number of buildings adequately. Their policy is to in¬ clude as many fragmentary designs as possible, whether they can be seen or not. The result is a number of little drawings piled up so high that the top rows are beyond examination without stilts, while the bottom rows demand prostration on the floor. The idea, in short, is that drawings are not there for examination, but merely to satisfy the exhibitor by storing his design in the Academy, so that he can claim such honour as invisibility at the Academy confers. I contend that this policy is absurd. If the architects at the Academy are of opinion that the material sent in is good enough to require more space, surely they could obtain a second or a bigger room. If that, by strange Median laws, is impossible, it would surely be better to select a limited number of designs each year, show them comfortably and adequately, and print an honour list of those which have been accepted but crowded out. At present nothing is completely shown, and a great deal is hung but practically not shown at all. Much of it is quite insignificant, but the attempt to make it out is fatiguing and irritating to the visitor. D. S. MacColl. 224 Liverpool Cat/i edral Competition. LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL COMPETITION. DESIGN PLACED FIRST BY THE ASSESSORS. G. GILBERT SCOTT, ARCHITECT. ELEVATION TO ST. JAMES' ROAD. Liverpool Cathedral Competition. The decision of the Cathedral Committee not to accept any of the plans submitted appears to me the most astounding act of folly ever com¬ mitted by any selecting committee. Folly is too mild a word ; it is a foolishness which borders on immorality. No doubt there was the saving clause in the conditions that the Committee did not bind them¬ selves to carry out any of the designs, but in the face of the assessors’ award they cannot shelter behind that. The author of the design placed first, having successfully run the gauntlet of the preliminary competition, has during the past year prepared further designs and drawings, and will hardly be satisfied with the reason given. And the profession will not be satisfied either. The alleged reason for this strange proceeding on the part of the Committee is that the placed design does not allow of a large congregation being within sight of the preacher. This, it is stated, the Committee laid stress upon in the conditions ; the same com¬ mittee who issued the famous restriction, “the style is to be Gothic.” It seems incredible that when they thus declared their predilection for one particular style, they did not know what it meant ; and yet that is the obvious conclusion, for no ad¬ mirers of Gothic architecture, who really under¬ stand it, will claim that one of its advantages is that in Gothic churches the congregation can see and hear better than in churches of other styles. The restriction was withdrawn, true; but that the feeling of the Committee remained unchanged at the time of the first competition was only too evident from the selections which were made then. Have the Committee now changed their minds ? have they begun to realize that a mediaeval plan is unsuitable for a modern cathedral ? If that were really so, one would welcome their conver¬ sion ; whilst regretting that owing to its tardiness a great injustice is likely to result. But until a state¬ ment to this effect is officially made one remains sceptical, and finds it difficult to believe that the reason given is the true one ; * for the advisory architects have spoken with no uncertain voice. They say that in the design they have selected they find “ pre-eminently shown ” — an “original conception — fine and noble proportion — know¬ ledge of detail — and that power combined with beauty, that makes a great and noble building.” And the majority of the Committee apparently find none of these things. Who is more likely to be right, Messrs. Bodley and Shaw or the mem¬ bers of the Committee ? Let the design speak for itself. We publish it * The rejection can hardly be on account of the author’s youth. Such a plea might be put forward in some places, but hardly in a town that owes St. George’s Hall to the genius of Elmes. so that architects who have not seen the plans may have the opportunity of judging whether the chiefs of their profession have blundered. No. i is the selected design, and its author is Mr. George Gilbert Scott. This sounds like an extract from a fifty-year old paper.0 Mr. Scott is the only competitor who has attempted to grapple with the peculiarities of the site. As was pointed out in our review of the preliminary competition, the only spot from which the cathedral can satis¬ factorily be seen is from the other side of the cemetery, where the ground is considerably higher than that on which the church will stand. To avoid the ugly effect of a long roof seen in eleva¬ tion, Mr. Scott breaks his side by carrying three of his bays — two to the nave, and one to the chancel — -higher than the main roof, and by plac¬ ing two large towers over the transepts, which are connected by a high transverse roof. The effect externally is most striking, and the internal height * No official announcement is made as to the authors of the different designs, but the following is believed to be a correct list : — No i, Mr. G. G. Scott. We may welcome the successful advent of one whose grandfather occupied a unique position amongst English architects, and whose father was the architect of some of the finest churches of the last quarter of the last century. No. 2, Messrs. Austin and Paley ; No. 3, Mr. W. J. Tapper; No. 4, Mr. Malcolm Stark ; No. 5, Mr. C. Nicholson. LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL COMPETITION DESIGN BY G. GILBERT SCOTT. PLAN OF THE CRYPT. 226 Liverpool Cathedral Competition. SCALE OF FF£T LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL COMPETITION DESIGN BY G. GILBERT SCOTT. CROSS SECTION, LOOKING EAST. is so great (116 feet by 136 feet), that little danger need be felt that the vault will appear too much broken. There is no window in the south end (it must be remembered that the entrance is to the north) except a small circular rose window, and the assessors suggest that a larger one should be substituted. There is no difficulty in providing this, although one may think that Mr. Scott was perfectly right, considering the aspect, to keep his window as small as possible, and let it appear as a jewel in a wide setting. No competitor has faced the difficulty of providing a satisfactory ap¬ proach to the cathedral, but Mr. Scott’s sugges¬ tion of an atrium seems a possible solution. His entrances to the church, however, lack dignity, and appear too small. Another fault in his design is his vestry accommodation. This is not fully shown on the plan, but it appears to be inadequate. As regards the point raised by the Committee that his plan is bad for seeing, his nave is certainly somewhat narrow. But it is evident that abso¬ lutely no reason exists why it should not be widened 5 or even 10 feet. If this were done, no shadow of a cause would remain for the rejection of his design. To pass it over will be a national calamity. It is in its way almost as great a work of art as St. George’s Hall ; and is stamped by an originality, without a trace of affectation, rarely met with in modern architecture. F. M. Simpson. 'Scalc or rcerT Liverpool Cathedral Competition . 22 7 LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL COMPETITION DESIGN BY G. GILBERT SCOTT. GROUND PLAN. 228 Liverpool Cathedral Competition nwmw mm. i'a assn as.™ iiSMl #7 ■■ ■ ~-^an Lpflf fifc^y***’* . [ jl§| if ii_r- ri'iiii ii!pt8,^r~ jgp=3 JHar&C I’tL ffli :J&&\ - — ;n£i I>1 *-«■« *q ^ fej il 1 s==aC I^C ( fC ||0(6 C 0 |c L' iinr — r 1 ! « ! . s V -A-’ *C< xt« trtufifniur 1 ^riuurmiiHim fe— wm -€% SJffi fnAfufmrrm LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL COMPETITION DESIGN BY G. GILBERT SCOTT. LONGITUDINAL SECTION. The Guildhall, Peterborough 229 THE GUILDHALL, • PETERBOROUGH. THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION. (See next page.) The Guildhall, Peterborough, Threatened with Demolition. The Guildhall at Peterborough was built in the reign of Charles II., whose arms appear on the east front. A little lower down the date 1671 is cut on the keystone of the centre arch. In plan there are two arches on the south and north sides and three on the east. The west side is concealed by an annexe, which does not improve the view of the old building. The first floor is supported on beams, the ground floor, as at Wallingford, Windsor, Uxbridge, and many other places, being open. The arches are built on low columns with wide capitals and square, plain bases. The windows of the upper storey are cross-mullioned in stone and dormers open in the roof, a gable and clock being over the king's arms. Altogether, this is almost the only build¬ ing, outside the cathedral close, except the thoroughly-restored church of St. John adjoining, of which Peterborough can boast which does not belong to the nineteenth century or later. A movement has long been on foot among the citizens to remove it in favour of something larger, and, if we may judge by the specimen next door, something uglier, but it has so far been defeated. W. J. Loftie. Current Architecture. Christ’s Hospital. — The new buildings (at West Horsham) occupy an extensive estate of about 1,200 acres, three miles south-west from the town of Horsham. The buildings, designed by Messrs. Aston Webb, A.R.A., F.S.A., and E. Ingress Bell, and built by Messrs. Longley and Sons, of Crawley, Sussex, are of brick and stone, in an Italianised Late Gothic style, with but little ornamentation. The foundation-stone was laid by His Majesty King Edward VII. (then Prince of Wales), October 23rd, 1897, and the total cost, including land, has amounted to about £500,000. The boarding-houses, facing south, are ar¬ ranged in detached blocks of two houses each, along the convex face of a flattened curve, on either side of the dining hall, which has kit¬ chens and offices in the rear ; to the east of this line, curving northwards, and therefore detached, is the infirmary, and beyond that, other detached buildings forming a sanatorium. In the centre, extending southwards from the dining-hall, is the great quadrangle, enclosed on the east and west by cloisters and open arcades ; adjoining the cloister on the west is the chapel, and similarly placed, on the east, are art schools, the science schools and laboratories, and the library and museum ; at the south end of the quadrangle stands the school hall, running north and south, and on either side of it are large detached blocks of class-rooms, connected with the hall by covered ways from the cloister. A broad roadway, lined with trees, runs out east and west from the north end of the quadrangle, and is continued round the curve northwards on either side to the boundary of the estate ; this road separates the boarding¬ houses from the private residences of the masters, which lie to the south of it, on both sides of the great quadrangle, each having its own gardens, bounded on the south by a secondary road ; beyond the school hall, southwards, is a large open space, with a straight avenue on each side, a measured quarter of a mile in length, for running, etc., and in the centre of its south side will even¬ tually stand the music school. The house blocks are planned generally in the form of the letter H, each bearing the name of some distinguished old “ Blue,” each block consisting of two separate “houses,” called in every case “A” and “B”; the central or connecting block in each is allotted on different floors to house and assistant masters, matron and maids, the boys being lodged in the transverse blocks, which have exits on the east and west ; every “house” has on the ground floor its own day room, prefects’ studies, changing room, and offices ; the upper floors consist of dormitories, 83 by 21 feet, with baths and lava¬ tories at each end, and separate staircases. The dining-hall, which has four entrances from the quadrangle, is 154 by 56 feet, and capable of dining 820 boys and the masters ; the north wall is now almost entirely covered with the great painting by Antonio Verrio, formerly in the old hall, and representing the visit to the school in 1672 of King Charles II., and his foundation of the Mathematical School ; there are also numerous fine portraits, and the old reading pulpit has been restored and set up on the south side ; at the Curve n t A rch i tecture 23 THE QUADRANGLE. THE CHAPEL ON’ THE LEFT, THE DINING HALL ON THE RIGHT. CHRIST’S HOSPI'l'AL, WEST HORSHAM. ASTON WEBB, A.R.A., AND E. INGRESS BELL, ARCHITECTS. 232 Current A rchitecture. west end of the hall are common rooms, and at the east end is the court room, a counterpart of the old court room in Newgate Street ; in rear of the hall, on the north, rises a massive and lofty water tower, the supply for which is derived from a deep well at Stammer- ham. The School Hall, at the opposite end of the quadrangle, is 130 feet in length by 50 wide ; at the south end is an orchestra for about 100 performers, with retiring rooms, and above these is placed the great organ : the area will seat 1,000 persons. The chapel, standing north and south, is 147 ft. long by 41 ft. wide, and the interior will seat 1,000 persons. The central archway of the open ar¬ cade, in the old School courtyard in London, has been again set up in the new buildings so as to form part of a similar arcade on the west side of the quadrangle: the statues of Charles II. and Sir John Moore, and other figures have also been transferred and placed in niches on the exterior walls of the prin¬ cipal buildings : the old pediment with its Hanking pilasters, niche, etc., which formed the main entrance to the old schools, and was the work of Sir C. Wren, have been removed and re-erected at West Horsham, and the stone piers and iron railings enclosing the old play¬ ground next Newgate Street, will be used to fence the road entrances to the new school. The preparatory school is situated at the extreme east of the range of houses, and will accommodate 120 junior boys. The infirmary occupies an isolated site on the north-east. CHRIST’S HOSPITAL, WEST HORSHAM. GENERAL BLOCK PLAN. ASTON WEBB, A.R.A., AND E. INGRESS BELL, ARCHITECTS. Current A rchitecture. H CO < W E H E> O co O Z O o z w z o z < z < Q X < g, Z o* o E § 5 O H co E T Q Z C Z o E Z H O g E > o co Z < H W O Z D- W CO M o u E ^ O z £ Z o z o h-l ^ E CO 5 « < VO!.. XIII. — S WEBB, A.R.A., AND E. INGRESS BELL, ARCHITECTS. 234 Current Architecture CHRIST’S HOSPITAL, WEST HORSHAM. THE DINING HALL. ASTON WEBB, A.R.A., AND E. INGRESS BELL, ARCHITECTS. Current A rckitecture 235 i«sss-!w'' .J fHfea • T* W < a Bj» Pt n© . A Sf" M P/;o/o ; A. H. Fry. CHRIST’S HOSPITAL, WEST HORSHAM. THE CHAPEL, LOOKING EAST. ASTON WEBB, A.R.A., AND E. INGRESS BELL, ARCHITECTS. Correspondence. ANDREA PALLADIO. . To the Editorial Committee of The Architectural Review. Gentlemen, — Mr. Blomfield has done me the honour of con¬ tributing to your columns a lengthy and somewhat splenetic criticism of my little book on Andrea Palladio; but in my judgment, such as it is, he has not added anything to our knowledge of the eminent architect about whom so much ink, both vitriolic and otherwise, has been spilt. Your readers will have gathered that, in Mr. Blomfield’s opinion, both literature and history, so far as Andrea Palladio is concerned, would have benefited if it had occurred to him instead of to myself to write the book about which so much more has been heard than its author thought was possible when he penned it. I have distinctly stated that it is im¬ possible to assert the authenticity of many of the statements made in my book as there are absolutely no proofs forthcoming. Mr. Blomfield with many “ probables ” and “ possibles ” can only reiterate what is believed, and surely my beliefs are as well grounded as his own. With regard to Palladio’s earliest known work, it is more than probable that he was capable of working under the supervision of Trissino at the early age of eighteen, a fact stated by me. It is so easy to quibble, but I have failed to find that Mr. Blomfield has any evidence upon which he can either refute what I have stated as facts in the confident manner he tries to do, or assert as facts some of the bold statements which he has made, both to the disadvantage of the dead Palladio and the living Fletcher. Why doubt Milizia in regard to the name of Almerigo’s house? Has Mr. Blomfield better information at hand ? As to the spelling of different names, I have found much diversity among the various authorities. Vasari is known as Oasari ; but in quibbling one might argue that his name was Aretino. I have referred to Bertotti Scamozzi under his first name in order to avoid confusion with Vincenzio Scamozzi,. Regarding Palladio’s original woodcuts they would give a quite inaccurate idea of most of the buildings as erected. As an example the Chiericati Palace might be mentioned, for to this building were added the unsightly stucco finials and statues not in Palladio’s design. The “alarming” (?) developments called L'Art Nouveau I have failed to find outside a small section of Suburbia, and cannot see how my book, if otherwise written, could influence this movement. Antiquity in the time of which we write was generally understood to be that of the Romans, this, if Mr. Blomfield wishes, can be traced back to early Egyptian and prehistoric ages. Sca¬ mozzi is hardly reliable in regard to the list of his own and Palladio’s finished works. In some writers’ opinions his jealousy of Palladio was great and his conceit immense. The “ rust of barbarity ” is not mentioned as affecting the great architects. Palladio was born, as I have stated, in an age pregnant with ambition, “ To continue the great work of the Renais¬ sance,” and we owe him gratitude for the records which he has left behind, records neglected by most of his pre¬ decessors. Mr. Blomfield is at some pains to prove Palladio’s inferiority to many other architects and de¬ scribes him as “ An old man of the sea,” and seems to grudge him the success he so well deserved. The knowledge of his “antecedents, ‘the labours of his predecessors,’ 1 the intellectual atmosphere of the time that made them possible at all,’ ” would need to embrace at least two centuries of history, and this I have not attempted. Mr. Blomfield informs us that Palladio’s extraordinary reputation is indeed a re¬ markable illustration of the “ luck of history,” that his position as an architect was not easy to determine, and that he lacked sincerity and originality ; he yet finds (as an extenuation I presume) “ that he had a great feeling for proportion, was a most ingenious planner, and so far as resource and knowledge go, a skilful builder.” Is this the faint praise which damns ? It is strange that Mr. Blomfield should also indulge in “literary embellishments.” “That whirlwind of energy sweeping through every cranny of the ages” had evidently not accomplished its mission of regeneration in Palladio’s time, hence the necessity of those writings which were in Mr. Blomfield’s opinion invested with “a fallacious air of scholarship,” and which were eagerly sought for and read. On this page of the “ Review ” we are told that “the heroes banged each other,” that “clanging blows ” were exchanged and that “ heroes” cannot go on behaving like this for ever — I trust not. The Italians, by a gymnastic feat unknown to us, got clear of the straight waistcoat by turning their backs on their pedagogues, and we find them indulging in their freedom by a wild “ orgy of exuberant archi¬ tecture.” The metaphor needs no comment. The fine instinct of the French is a point which I prefer to leave to Mr. Blomfield’s superior decision. One is, however, glad to find near the end of this remarkable “Review” that, despite all his previous accusations against Palladio, he condescends to state that “as architects go” (does he mean archangels), “ he was a learned man, a past master of technique, and an architect who, in (at least) two churches, shewed himself capable of fine and distinguished work.” The “ fallacious air of scholarship ” is considerately toned down to “ modesty ” further on, and the former “ insincerity ” now becomes “a conscious stand against the impudent audacity of ignorance, and desire to recall the art of Architecture to the graver practice of the past.” How pleased Palladio would be for this crumb from the higher criticism of Mr. Blomfield’s table, and in his name we must thank this generous critic and remark that “ All’s well that ends well ” — for Palladio. Banister F. Fletcher. [As Mr. Fletcher complained of “ gross unfairness ” in the review of his book, we agreed to print a letter from him in reply, and accordingly insert it at length, with this explanation to our readers. — Ed. Archi¬ tectural Review.] SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW. SEMI-GRAND PIANO IN LOUIS XVI. STYLE. John Broadwood (Si Sons, Ltd., 33, GREAT PULTENEY STREET. W THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, J I903, VOLUME NO. 80. U L Y, XIV. THE STRAND DEMOLITION. THE LAST OF FRENCH’S FROM A DRAWING BY MUIRHEAD BONE. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW Volume Fourteen July— Dec. 1 9°3 London 6, Great New Street, Fetter Lane, E.C. “ The Architectural Review ” Editorial Committee. R. Norman Shaw, R.A. John Belcher, A.R.A., F.R.I.B.A. Frank T. Baggallay, F.R.I.B.A. Reginald Blomfield, M.A. Gerald C. Horsley. Mervyn Macartney. E. J. May. J. H. Elder-Du Walter Millard. Ernest Newton. Edward S. Prior, M.A. Halsey Ricardo. Professor F. M. Simpson, F.R.I.B.A. Leonard Stokes, F.R.I.B.A. D. S. MacColl, M.A. , Secretary. INDEX TO VOLUME FOURTEEN. Allhallows, Lombard Street Illustration : — Plan of Church, Measured and Drawn by H. Tanner, junr., 203. All Saints’ Convent, Colney Chapel. See Current Architecture. Architects, The Legal Registration of ... ... Frank Baggallay ... Architectural Education : HI. Great Britain The Architectural School of the Royal College of Art. Beresford Bite. IV. Great Britain University College, Liverpool ... ... F. M. Simpson. The Architectural Division, King’s College, London. R. Elsey Smith. The Architectural School, University College, London. The Late T. Roger Smith. V. France L’Enseignement de L’Architecture en France J . Guadet, Professeur a VEcole des Beaux-arts VI. Great Britain University College, London ... ... F. M. Simpson. The School of Applied Art, Royal Institution, Edinburgh. PAGE 202 D. S. MacColl 97 24 87 136 l79 26 James A. Morris Architecture at the Royal Academy. II. ... Architecture, Current. See Current Architecture. Ayr, The Old Bridge of Baggallay, Frank ... Baker and Masey ... Bentley, The Late John Francis Bilson, John Blomfield, Reginald Bone, Muirhead Books : “ Modern School Buildings.” (Felix Clay) “The Georgian Period Portfolio.” XII. Conclusion (American Arch.). XV. J. Loftie “Papers of the British School at Rome.” Vol. I.... Alex. Graham Botterill, Son, and Bilson See Current Architecture. 146, 158, 159, 160, 1 6 1 , 162, 163, 164 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 . 183 97 128, 129, 130, 131 36 188, 189, 190, 1 91 , 192, 193, 194 82, 212 ... 2, 74 Ernest Newton 189, 190, 1 9 1 , 192, 193, 143 180 2 T 4 194 Bridlington Grammar School. Brierley, Walter H. Buck, L. L. Cave, Walter Champneys, A. C. ... Champneys, Basil ... Clifford’s Inn, The Fate of Coleherne Court. Sec Current Architecture. Correspondence : Exeter Cathedral ... ... ... ... R. F. Hodges Illustrations: — Plan of Nave Piers, Exeter; Wall Arcading, St. Paul's Tower, Exeter G. J. F. Hookway The Villa Madama and the “Vigna.” ... ... Reginald Blomfield .. News from Anjou ... ... ... ... Cecil Hallett Court House, Helmeslev, Yorks., The. See Current Architecture. 165, 166, 167, 168, 169 3 hi 23 Measured and Drawn by 144 212 212 Current Architecture : — Illustrations : — New Entrance Lodges, Toddington, Gloucestershire: E. J. May, Architect, 28, 29. The Williamsburgh (New East River Bridge), New York City, U.S.A.: L. L. Buck, Chief Engineer, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34. The Scandinavian Sailors' Home, West India Docks : Niven and Wigglesworth, Architects, 35. Westminster Cathedral, The Summit of the Campanile: The late }. F. Bentley, Architect, 36. All Saints’ Convent, Colney Chapel, St. Albans: Leonard Stokes, Architect, no, 122, 123, 123, 125, 126, 127. The Rhodes Building, Cape Town, S.A. : Baker and Masey, Architects, 128, 129, 130, 131. The Eagle Insurance Building, Manchester: Charles Heathcote and Sons, Architects, 131, 132. Welburn Hall, Yorks., Reconstruction and Additions: Walter H. Brierlev, Architect, 146, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164. Coleherne Court, Earls' Court : Walter Cave, Architect, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169. No. 19, New Cavendish Street, W. : E. B. Hoare and M. Wheeler, Architects, 169, 170. St. Nicholai Vicarage and the St. Nicholai Dispensary, Svendborg, Denmark : Magdahl Neilsen, Architect, 170, 171, 172. Bridlington Grammar School: John Bilson, Architect, 188, 189. Hymers College, Hull: Botterill, Son, and Bilson, Architects, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194. The Court House, Helmesley, Yorks.: Temple Moore, Architect, 194. Motor Car House, Gailowhill, Renfrewshire, N.B. : James Salmon, Son, and Gillespie, Architects, 193, 196. A Gable, Parr’s Bank, Manchester: Charles Heathcote and Sons, Architects, 197. Parr’s Bank, Leicester: Everard and Pick, Architects, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202. Index in PAGE Demolition of Old Westminster and the “ Improvement ” Scheme, The. Edward P. Warren ... 105 Illustrations : — Great College Street, showing Demolition at East End, 106. Cowley Street, Looking Westward, 106. North Street and St. John’s Church, 107. An Entrance Hall in Cowley Street, 107. Design of London Shop-Fronts, The ... ... Howard luce ... ... ... 75 Illustrations 21, New Street, St. Martin's Lane, 75. 137 and 138, Long Acre, 76. 139, Long Acre, 77. 34, Hay- market, 78. 181, High Holborn, 79. 40, Strand: George Walton, Architect, 80. 5, Queen Victoria Street, Interior: George Walton, Architect, 81. 25, Cheapside, E.C. : A. Palser, Architect, 82. 21, High Street, Marylebone : Reginald Blomfield, Architect, 82. 108-110, High Holborn: W. Charles Waymouth, Architect, 83. 5, Old Bond Street: A. N. Paterson, Architect, 84. 212, Piccadilly: C. R. G. Hall, Architect, 85. 21, Old Bond Street, 86. Eagle Insurance Building, Manchester. See Current Architecture. Education, Architectural ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 24, 87, 136, 179 English Medieval Figure-Sculpture ... ... Edward S. Prior and Arthur Gardner 57 Chapter VI.: First Gothic Figure-Sculpture, 1175-1280. Carving in Relief ... ... 57 Illustrations : — Westminster Abbey, North Transept, 56. Peterborough Cathedral, West Front ; Ditto, Parapet of Apse, 57. Wells Cathedral, West Front ; Ditto, “ Chnst Among the Doctors,” 58. Ditto, “ St. John ’ ; Ditto, “Coronation of the Virgin”; Ditto, “Resurrection of the Dead,” 59. Ditto, “The Resurrection ” ; Ditto, Tympanum of Principal Doorway, 60. Crowland Abbey, West Doorway, “ Story of St. Guthlac,” 61. Lincoln, South Doorway of “ Angel Choir,” 61. Westminster Abbey, Chapter House Doorway, 60. Chapter VII. : (Section I.) The First Gothic Statues, 1200-1280 ... ... ... 173 Illustrations : — Peterborough Cathedral, West Front, Apostle Figures ; Ditto, St. Peter, 176. Wells Cathedral, Effigy in South Aisle of Choir ; Ditto, West Front, Four Typical Figures, 177. Ditto, Ditto, Types A and B, 178. Chapter VII. : (Section II.) The Statues of Wells Cathedral ... ... ... 204 Illustrations /—Types F and C; Type D, 204. (a) Type C; ( b ) Type G; ( c ) Type D: (d) Type F; (r) Type F; (/) Type H, 205. Type E, 206. Type F; Type G, 208. Type G; Type H, 209. Type H; Type J, 210. Winchester Cathedral, Statue in Feretory, 210 Everard and Pick ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 198, 199, 200, 201, 202 Exe Bridge, Exeter ... ... ... ... W. R. Lethaby ... ... ... 23 Illustration, 22. Exeter Cathedral. See Correspondence. Falkner, Harold ... Figure-Sculpture, English Medieval Gaiety, The New and the Old Gardner, Arthur ... Gardner, J. Starkie Gare d’Orleans, Paris, The New Giulio Romano at Mantua ... Edward S. Prior and Arthur Gardner Drawing by Muirhead Bone Halsey Ricardo 98 57, i73» 2°4 74 57, i73, 204 ... 105 ... 63 I47 Illustrations: — View of Mantua from the East, Across the Lagoon, 147. The Tournament Yard (Cavallerizza) in the Ducal Palace, 149. Palazzo del Te, Garden Front, 149. Ditto, Internal Courtyard ; Ditto, 150. Ditto, Atrium Opening on to the Garden; Ditto, Ditto, Looking on to the Garden, 151. Ditto, Room in the Casino della Grotta, 152. Ditto, The Favourite Horses of Duke Frederich Gonzaga ; Ditto, “ The Story of Cupid and Psyche,” 153. Palazzo della Giustizia, Mantua, 154. Giulio Romano’s Own House, Mantua, 155. Palazzo del Te, “ Polyphemus,” 157. Graham, Alexander ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 214 Guadet, j. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 136 Hall, C. R. G. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 85 Hallett, Cecil ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 212 Heathcote and Sons, Charles ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 131, 132, 197 Hoare and Wheeler ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 169, 170 Hodges, R. F. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 144 Hookway, G. J. F. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 144 Hospital of St. Cross, The. I. ... ... ... Basil Champneys ... ... ... 111 Illustrations : — St. Cross, from the Water-meads, in. View from the North-West, 113. Interior of South Transept, Showing Screen from St. Faith’s, 114. View from the South-East, Showing the Triple Arch, 115. Detail of the Triple Arch, 116. The Choir, from the Nave, 116. The West Doorway, 118. The Renaissance Screen and South Choir Aisle, 118. Details of the South and North Ends of the Renaissance Screen, 119. Detail of the Centre of the Renaissance Screen, 120. General View of the Interior of the Church, 120. Hymers College, Hull. See Current Architecture. Ince, Howard ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 75 Iona: Its Churches and Antiquities ... ... A. C. Champneys ... ... ... 3 Illustrations: — Map of the East Side of Iona, Showing the Position of the Cathedral Buildings, 4. The Cathedral Buildings from the South-West, 5. Iona Cathedral from the South-East, 7. The Cathedral from the West, 10. The Choir, 10. Archways to Chapter House, 13. Door from Sacristy to Choir, 13. Iona Cathedral, Capitals, 14. Ditto, Ditto, 15. Ditto, Details of Capital, Showing the Complete Carving, 16 Ditto, the South Aisle, from the South Transept; Ditto, The Choir, from the East End, 17. Ditto, View from North Transept ; Ditto, the South Aisle, 18. Ditto, View from West, after Restoration, 19. Ditto, from the South-East, after Restoration, 20. St. Martin’s Cross, 20. The Nunnery. Nave, from the South-East, 21. Jones, Ronald P. ... Judge, Mark H. Knossos, The Palace at. II. Legal Registration of Architects, The Lethaby, W. R. Loftie, W. J. R. Phene Spiers Frank Baggallay Lombard Street Signs, Some. With Drawings by Harold Falkner Illustrations: — Plan of Lombard Street in 1799, 99. Plan of Lombard Street in 1899, 99. “The Phoenix,” 100. " The Artichoke ” at No. 24, 100. “ The Artichoke ” at No. 28, 100. “ The Sun ” (“ Queen’s Head and Sun ”), 100. “ The Black Moor's Head,” 101. “ The Vine ”;“ The Cardinal’s Cap or Hatt,” 101. ‘ The Cape Lion ” ; “The Cat-a-fiddling,” 102. “The Black Spread Eagle,” 102. “The Ram,” 103. “The King's Head,” 103. “The Anchor,” 103. “The Grasshopper,” 104. “The Seven Stars,” 104. “The Black Boy,” drawing by J. Starkie Gardner, 105. 43 i33 9i 97 144 180 98 IV Index P..GE London Shop fronts, The Design of ... Howard Ince ... ... ... ... 75 MacColl, D. S. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . . ... 26 May, E. J. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 28, 29 Me-di^val Figure-Sculpture, English ... Edward S. Prior and Arthur Gardner 57, 173, 204 Moore, Temple ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 194 Morris, James A. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 183 Motor Car House, Gallowhill, Renfrewshire. See Current Architecture. Neilsen, Magdahl ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 170, 171, 172 News from Anjou. See Correspondence. New Gare d’Orleans, Paris, The ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 63 Illustrations : — Sketch Plan, 63. General View from North Bank of Seine, 64. Detail of Facade, 65. View of Fa9ade from North-east, 66. View of Hotel, 67. General View of Interior, daring Construction, looking West, 68. Ditto, from South-west, 69. The Booking Hall, looking West, during Construction, 70. Ditto, looking East, 71. General View of Interior, looking West, 72. Newton, Ernest ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 143 Nineteen, New Cavendish Street, W. See Current Architecture. Niven and Wigglesworth ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 35 Notes ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 62 Old Bridge of Ayr, The ... ... ... ... James A. Morris ... ... ... 183 Illustrations : — View from the East, 182. View from the South-west, 183. Detail, showing Fissure in East Cutwater of Northern Pier, 184. Approach from North, 185. View, looking towards High Street, 185. Plan, Section, etc., 186. Palace at Ivnossos, Crete, The. II. — (Conclusion) ... R. Phene Spiers ... ... ... 91 Illustrations : — Halls on East Slope ; plans and restored sections of the Quadruple Staircase, the Hall of the Colon¬ nades, and the Megaron of the double-axes, 92. Sections of the Hall of the Colonnades, restored, 93. The Mycenean order, based by Mr. Fyfe on the representations in the Temple fresco, 95. Restorations (partly conjectural) by Mr. Fyfe, 96. Plaques of Porcelain Mosaic with representations of houses and towers, 96. Palser, A. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 82 Parr’s Bank, Leicester and Manchester. See Current Architecture. Paterson, A. N. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 84 Phi lae ... ... ... ... ... ... Ronald P. Jones ... ... ... 43 Illustrations : — Plan, 42. View from Mainland, looking West, 44. View from one of the Islands, looking East, 45. The Outer Court of the Temple of Isis, looking North, 47. West Colonnade of the Outer Court, Temple of Isis, 48. East Colonnade of the Outer Court, Temple of Isis, 49. West Colonnade of the Fore-court, Temple of Isis, 50. Capitals in the Hypostyle Hall, Temple of Isis, 51. The Kiosque, 53. The Outer Court of the Temple of Isis in Autumn of 1902, 54. The Temple of Isis in the Autumn of 1902, 55. PlTE, BERESFORD 24 Prior, Edward S. 57, 173, 204 Registration of Architects, The Legal Rhodes Building, Capetown, S.A. See Current Architecture. Frank Baggallay 97 Ricardo, Halsey 147 Royal Academy, Architecture at the D. S. MacColl 26 St. Cross, The Hospital of. I. Basil Champneys 1 1 1 Salmon and Son and Gillespie, James Scandinavian Sailors’ Home, West India Docks. See Current Architecture. 195, 196 Shop-fronts. The Design of London Howard Ince 75 Signs, Some Lombard Street Drawings by Harold Falkner 98 Simpson, F. M. 87, 179 Smith, R. Elsey 90 Smith, The late T. Roger 91 Spiers, R. Phene ... 9i Stevens, Alfred 38 Stokes, Leonard 1 10, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 1 27 Strand Demolition, The: The Last of French’s ... Drawing by Muirhead Bone ... 2 Strand Improvements, Further Mark H. Judge i33 Illustrations : — Plan, showing the various proposals for altering the frontage line, 133. View, looking East, from the roof of “ Short’s,” 134. View, looking West, from the third floor of the Law Courts, 135. Svendborg. Vicarage and Dispensary. See Current Architecture. Tanner, H., Junr. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 203 Toddington, Lodges at. See Current Architecture. Villa Madama and the “Vigna,” The. See Correspondence. Walton, George ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 80, 81 Warren, Edward P. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 105 Welburn Hall, Yorks. See Current Architecture. Wellington Monument at St. Paul’s with Alfred Stevens’s Model in Position, The ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 38 Illustrations : — From the South, 38. From the south-west, 39. From the South east, 40. From the North-east, 41. Westminster and the Improvement Scheme, The Demoli¬ tion of Old ... ... ... ... ... Edward P. Warren ... ... 105 William sb urgh Bridge, New York City. See Current Architecture. EYRE AND SPOTT1SWOODE, KI5 MAJESTY’S PRINTERS, DOWNS PARK ROAD, HACKNEY, I ONDON, N.K. Iona: Its Churches and Antiquities. The island whose name is called Iona, and the ruins upon it, do not appeal merely to a love of natural and artificial beauty. Both of these are certainly to be found there in a high degree; but the historical interest of the site surpasses them. As the cradle of Scottish Christianity, and as the nurse of the infant Scottish monarchy, it is without rivals ; for Englishmen it should have an interest hardly inferior to the grassy outline of the vanished creek at Ebb’s Fleet, and the little church with its old Roman work outside the walls of Canterbury. The island was all this because it was chosen as his base of operations by an Irishman — a great missionary, a statesman, a strong and wise and most lovable man, one who, both in religion and in history, left his mark upon the three kingdoms. It seems strange that it should have needed rumours of “ restoration,” and an actual re-roofing of its principal ruins to stir up a somewhat languid attention to the island on the part of Englishmen. The name of it is called Iona, but that is not its real name, which was I, Y, Hii, la, Eo, or Io, with some other variations. In later times the name of the man who had made it famous was often added, and it became I-coluim-cille — “ I (or the island) of Colum of the church,” and it is known by that name in Gaelic to this day. Adamnan speaks of it as Ioua insula — the “ loan island,” or “ the island of Io.” But in later MSS. the u and n are not clearly distinguished ; moreover, Iona or Jona is Hebrew for Colum, Columba — a dove. Through these two causes the island acquired its present fanciful appellation. St. Columba was one of the saints called “the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.” The conversion of that country was still incomplete, and the work received a fresh impulse in the sixth century through the foundation of monasteries in many parts of the country by St. Columba and others, as centres of missionary and pastoral work, and to give object-lessons of what was meant by a civilised and Christian community to the tribe in whose territory they were founded, in a state of society the insecurity and lawlessness and wicked¬ ness of which it is hard for us to realise. All of these monasteries were also schools for those who wished to learn, and many had the reputation and did the work of universities ; they increased the stock of books by copying the Bible and other writings, and sometimes by original composition. They were often on islands near the coast or in lakes. Each monastery was not necessarily in¬ dependent. When small swarms or “ casts ” of monks went out to establish another centre under the direction of the saint who had founded the earlier settlement or settlements, they were still under his rule, exercised through praepositi, or by visitation from the monastery where he lived, and after his death by his “ heirs,” who were usually of his family. Since the abbot was generally a priest, such government seems to leave no room for bishops. But the Irish Christians were, like the rest of Christendom, episcopalians, and con¬ sequently they had bishops among their monks, recognised as being of higher ecclesiastical rank, for the ordination of other bishops and of priests, though they exercised their functions under the direction of the abbot, much as a retired bishop can hold the position of a parish priest, though he is still a bishop and may be commissioned to act as such. It was this successful missionary system that St. Columba, in or about the year 565, brought with him into Scotland, in the west of which “ Scotti,” or Irishmen, already at least nominally Christians, had been settled for about sixty years ; their king, Conall, was a kinsman of the saint. The island now called Iona was admirably suited as a base for the campaign against hea¬ thenism, since it lies not far from the mainland, and in the middle of the inner Hebrides, and is “ fertill and fruitful of corne and store, and guid for fishing.” On the northern part of its east coast the ground, sheltered by low hills on the West, slopes gently towards the sea, looking towards the brilliant red rocks of the Ross of Mull across a strait, not often impassable, of about a mile in width. A small stream, flowing out of some marshy ground (which has been an artificial lake or mill-pond) here runs into the sea, and there are several bays and creeks where the currachs framed of wood and wicker and covered with hides (there is a gold model of one in the British Museum), or the wooden boats could be drawn up. Hereabouts the first monastery un¬ doubtedly was ; its exact site wall be considered later. First of all the site was enclosed with bounds — a vallum of stones, or of earth and stones mixed having a fence at the top. Inside this was the church, doubtless of planks (or perhaps of split tree-trunks, like the one of very ancient type at Greensted in Essex) and roofed with reeds or straw ; it had a sacristy attached to it. There was a court, probably next to the church, and beyond this came the cells — huts of wattles covered with clay or turf. There was also a VOL. xiv.— a 2 4 Iona: Its Churches and Antiquities. refectory, and a kitchen, near whose fire the monks sometimes sat in cold weather. There may probably have been a separate building to contain the books, which were kept in leather cases, separately, or sometimes two or more together, with handles for hanging them on pegs. There was a smithy, and no doubt a carpenter’s shop. The abbot's house, standing on higher ground than the rest, raised on joists (perhaps of two stories) seems to have stood inside the vallum, though it was apart from the other cells. There was also provision for entertaining guests, pro¬ bably some more wattled huts. Outside the vallum were the cow-house and barn, the kiln for drying the corn before grinding it, and now or later a water-mill, though at first querns may have been used. The whole establishment was a self-supporting civilised community of Christian men. How St. Columba and his Irish friends and monks converted Brude, the king of the Piets, whose palace was near Inverness; how he “ordained” Aedhan king of the Scots, and helped to get him made independent of the king of Ireland ; how the saint and his successors spread Christianity in Scotland, founding subordinate monasteries as outposts in suitable places; how the Abbey, less than forty years after its founder’s death, had its “sphere of influence” still further enlarged so as to take in Northumbria and then Mercia as well ; what sort of men these Irish monks were for energy, goodness, and utter disinterestedness — all this is recorded by Adamnan and Bede, in Irish and in Church histories. But in 664 the Synod of Whitby decided against the Irish reckoning of Easter Sunday and the Irish tonsure, and Bishop Colman returned to Iona. Later these burning questions spread to the parent monastery itself, and caused a schism there, till the whole community finally MAP OF TH F, EAST SIDE OF IONA, SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE CATHEDRAL BUILDINGS. Iona : Its Churches and A ntiquities . THE CATHEDRAL BUILDINGS FROM THE SOUTH-WEST. 6 Iona: Its CJuirches and Antiquities. agreed to conform ; meanwhile, in 7 17, Nectan, king of the Piets, converted to the more wide¬ spread customs, “ drove out the family of la (the Columban monks in his dominions) across the backbone of Britain.” In 802 the monastery was burnt by the Danes, and within the next few years that at Kells was built (or re-built), that the headship of the Columban monasteries might be transferred to it. The “ temple ” at Kells was probably of stone ; and it is likelv that when the monastery at Hii was built up again (as it cer¬ tainly was shortly afterwards) its church at least would be a stone building, so as to limit the loss if the Abbey were burnt once more. From its position, it was greatly exposed to pirates, and suffered accordingly from the Danes; in 825, for instance, St. Blaithmac was killed because he refused to show where the shrine of the saint was hidden — for his bones, at first buried, had been enshrined, no doubt before the end of the eighth century. This shrine was on several occasions carried to Ireland. In 850 a part of the relics was transferred to Dunkeld, for the great church which Kenneth MacAlpin was building there. We hear of the arm being at Iona in later times, and Durham also claimed a part. The rest were certainly believed to be at Downpatrick in Ire¬ land ; the dust of his body of course remained in the grave — somewhere on Iona. Space will not allow us to follow in detail the vari¬ ous notices of the monastery, what English, Scotch, Irish and Norse kings either came there for peni¬ tence orwere brought there forburial ; what changes took placein its constitution ; orwhatlinks still often connected it with the Church of Ireland. Shortly before 1093 Queen Margaret re-built and re-en- dow’ed the monastery, then in a ruinous condition. In 1097, it is said, Magnus, king of Norway, “opened the smaller temple of Kolumba, and did not go in, but soon barred the door and forbade that anyone should be so bold as to enter that sacred building ; which command was afterwards obeyed.” In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the O’Brolchans, a family which certainly had at some time a connection with Iona, appear in the Irish annals. One was “ chief mason of Ireland ” ; others were bishops, one of whom, “ heir of Columcille” (head of the Columban monasteries) carried out great buildings at Derry where he was abbot, and was offered the Abbacy of Hii, but had to decline it. In 1202, “ Domhnall Ua Brol- chain, prior et excelsus senior, obiit,” but we are not told of what monastery he was prior. In 1174 “ Maelpatrick O’Banan, bishop of Connor and Dalaradia (Down), died at Hi Coluimcille ” ; — there is (or was) a stone in Reilig Orain which bore an inscription asking a prayer for a man of that name. The alliance with the Irish Church (renewed in the middle of the twelfth century, when the island was freed from the Norwegians) comes out very clearly in the opposition to the founda¬ tion by Reginald, Lord of the Isles, of a Benedic¬ tine Abbey on Iona in 1203 ; in which year “ the monastery built by Cellach in the midst of the island of Hy is thrown down by the clergy of northern Ireland, and Awley O'Freel (he was de¬ scended from St. Columba’s brother) is elected abbot.” But there is a charter of December, 1203, addressed by the Pope to Celestinus, Abbot of St. Columba, of the island of Hy, and his brethren, taking the monastery under Papal protection, and ordaining that the monastic order which has been instituted there according to the rule of St. Bene¬ dict should be preserved inviolate for ever, and confirming to them the place in which the mon¬ astery is situated, with the churches, islands, and lands belonging to it in the Western Isles. How the quarrel was settled, whether, for instance, the two establishments were combined by consent on the old site, must be a matter of conjecture. But certainly the Benedictine rule prevailed, and the specially Celtic character of the community dis¬ appears. Henceforth it is a monastery of the ordinary type, revered for its associations and its relics, renowned for its time-honoured burial- place, well-endowed — when it could get its rents — but not altogether secure from plunder by reckless adventurers of the rough clans that sur¬ rounded it. In 1506 the island was transferred from the Bishopric of Dunkeld, in some sense its daughter- foundation, to the Bishopric of the Isles; and the Abbey Church became the Cathedral of that bishop, “ quhil (until) his principale kirk in the lie of Man be recouerit fra Inglismen.” The last abbot — the John M’Kinnon whose monument is in the Cathe¬ dral, with a blank left after millesimo quingentesimo for the exact year of his death — was apparently appointed bishop. It is to this period that the Bishop’s House is to be attributed, and perhaps the latest pre-Reformation work in the church. In 1561 the Act was passed “for demolishing all the abbeys of monks and friars ” ; but this was at least not full}’ carried out at Iona. “ Ane reuerend father in God,” holding “the Bishopric of Ylis and Ecolmekyll ” is mentioned in various documents during the latter part of this century — the office was preserved after a fashion, but there was no bishop regularly con¬ secrated till 1611. In 1609 Andrew Knox, the bishop, as James I.’s special commissioner, held a court here of the Chiefs of the Isles, at which they agreed to have “ the rwynous kirkis repairit,” and to the reform of religion in general and the ob¬ servance of Christian morals, though their good intentions did not last long. In 1615 the Chapter Iona: Its Churches and Antiquities / IONA CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. 8 Iona : Its Churches and Antiqirities. of the Isles was restored, and later a conge d’elire was addressed to it. In 1635 Charles I. wrote to John Lesley, bishop of Raphoe (the Irish con¬ nection is persistent), stating that “ Andro late bischop of Rapho at his transportation from the bischoprick of Vies did without just caus or any warrant from our late royall father or ws carie with him two of the principal bells that wer in Icolmkill and place them in some of the churches of Rapho,” and requiring him to deliver these to the present bishop of the Isles for the use of the said Cathedral Church, which the king had ordered to be repaired. Charles also ordered that £400 should be paid from the Exchequer by instalments for the great cost of this, which the bishop could not afford : this is not surprising ; one of his lawless flock, Maclean of Duart and Morvern, had lately deprived him of the island itself. But the downfall of the bishops came within two or three years; and it is doubtful whether much was done to the building, which was certainly more or less ruined in 1688. It was repaired in a most conservative manner-— not be¬ fore this was necessary — by Mr. Robert Anderson in 1874 and 1875, for the Duke of Argyle. Turning from this sketch of the Abbey’s history, in which I have tried to include those notices which bear upon its buildings, the first question that meets us is whether the original monastery was on the same site as the present ruins. Of course we need not look for any traces of the wood or wattle buildings, though there might be remains of the vallum which surrounded them. It is urged that the usual presumption that the monastery has been continued on much the same spot does not here apply. St. Columba’s bones had been enshrined before the Danes burnt it in 802, and would make any site holy where they were kept; and when the Abbey was re-built (pro¬ bably in part of stone) a few years afterwards, it might well have been moved under the protection of Cnoc nan Carnan, which has certainly at some time been fortified as a refuge. This of course merely shows that it might have been moved — not that it was not always on the present excellent site. But it is also claimed that certain state¬ ments in Adamnan’s “Life of St. Columba ” (Book I., ch. 45) prove that it was in the saint’s lifetime on another site, by Cladh an Diseart (otherwise called Cladh Iain), about 400 yards north-east of the Cathedral. Adamnan tells us that Ernan, St. Columba’s uncle, being ill, was brought back from the dependent monastery of Hinba, and that the saint went towards the harbour to meet him, while Ernan made his way up from the boat. “ But when there was between the two an interval of about twenty-four paces, stopped by sudden death, before the saint saw his face in life, he fell dying to the ground. . . . Wherefore in the same place a cross was fixed before the door of the kiln, and another cross likewise where the saint stopped when Ernan died, and stands fixed there to this day.” The harbour (the position of which Adamnan does not settle) would probably be one of those to the South and South-east — Port Ronan or Port na Muintir — and we may suppose that the road between it and the monastery crossed the mill- stream at a point near the kiln. Now the ruins of a kiln were found close to where the mill- stream runs near the end of the supposed vallum, a short distance north-west of the cathedral, and those of a barn to the south of the kiln. Thus Ernan was walking up from the south or south¬ east, and, since St. Columba nearly met him close to the kiln, the saint must have been coming from the north. If then he came from his cell, this must have been somewhat to the north — near Clachanach. Now just to the north of the ruined kiln is a spot known as AM Crossan More (“The Great Crosses”), where “ tradition records that two large crosses stood.” The vallum is also held to indicate the old site of the monastery. The remains of the kiln (for drying the corn before grinding it) are of course an illustration rather than a proof, for it is not at all necessary that the same building, or the same site for it, should have been kept when the monastery was re-built. But it is quite probable (though not certain) that the monks had from early days a water-mill, the use of which was known in Ireland long before this time : such a mill must have been at this spot, where it afterwards was ; and it would be convenient to have the kiln near it. How¬ ever, passing over this, there are other considera¬ tions which tend to make the proof less cogent. We do not know for certain which the harbour was. If it was Port na Muintir, St. Columba did not (on this theory) go the straight way, though the road may have led him round. Nor do we know certainly whether he came from his cell — he was not always there. As to the “ Great Crosses,” which seem to clinch the matter, we cannot be certain that they are those erected on this occa¬ sion. There are a good many, whole and in frag¬ ments, still left, and there must have been more, of various dates (like that which gave its name to Port a Chrossain, “ Harbour of the little Cross ”), com¬ memorating various persons and events, and very probably marking boundaries, like those which crop up around Glendalough. We hear of one again in the same Life (Book III., ch. 23), “ fixed in a mill-stone, and standing to this day” on the edge of the road, marking the spot where St. Co¬ lumba sat down weary at the half-way ( media via) on his return from the barn upon the last day of 9 Iona: Its Churches and Antiquities . his life. This can hardly be identical with either of those already mentioned, which, if the kiln and the barn were then near a water-mill, would not have been anything like half-way to the proposed site near Cladh an Diseart. As to other notes of place in Adamnan, they are inconclusive. We are told that the saint on the day just mentioned, of which we not unnaturally have a full and most touching description, “ascended a little hill ( monti - cellum) rising above the monastery,” to bless it. There are small hills or mounds rising above all the possible sites— and we can never tell in Adamnan how far his diminutives are merely ornamental. “The mountain which rises above the monastery at a distance” (eminus ; Book I., ch. 30) obviously cannot fix the site exactly. The barn was “very near” ( proximum ) to the monastery — yet the saint, as we have seen, had to sit down in returning from it. But he was a dying man, and a distance of something like four hundred yards is difficult to reconcile with the description “very near.” In any case, the sup¬ posed vallum gives us little help. It is by no means an easily intelligible or straightforward earthwork. As it stands, it encloses no site, and shows only a slight and doubtful inclination to¬ wards the sea at its north end. There is further a passage, thought to bear on the question, in the preface (contained in a MS. of the eleventh century) affixed to the A Uics Prosator — a hymn attributed to St. Columba — which in giv¬ ing an alternative (and quite unhistorical) story of the way in which the saint came to write it, says : “ He takes upon him his burden from a certain stone that was in the church, i.e. Blathnat its name, and it still exists, and upon it there is made division in the refectory.” Another later MS. gives a similar account. This stone Dr. Skene (' Celtic Scotland, Vol. II. p. 98, etc.) identifies with a huge ice-borne boulder-stone on the sug¬ gested site, which is something like eleven paces long, and five or more across. It stands five to six feet high, and it is most difficult to think that it can ever have been used as a table by a reasonable person like St. Columba. But, if this is the stone which the recorder of the story had in mind, it may point to some recollection of the early monastery having been on this site, though this stone was certainly not near the refectory of the eleventh century. There is, or was, a tradition that St. Columba was buried under this boulder. A little to the south-east of this, between it and the sea, is the Cladh an Diseart — -the “ Cemetery of the Desert or Hermitage.” There is the ground-plan still remaining of a tiny oblong church of rough stone (ten paces by five, outside measurement) such as are not uncommon in Ire¬ land ; south-west of this are two upright stones which had another stone laid across them, form¬ ing an entrance of a very primitive kind to the enclosure, of which other faint traces are visible ; close by the church is a well. Within this enclo¬ sure “ was found the fragment of a cross, on which there was distinctly seen the crucified figure.” Of course there is nothing startling in all this. Every great Irish monastery had its hermitage, but this may have been chosen or continued as its site from old associations. Bishop Pococke, who visited the island in 1760, speaking of the upright stones “ with a stone laid across at top, and some other stones near it set up on end,” adds, “ which they say were the first buildings St. Columb erected here.” His church, as we know, was at first of wood ; but what is said above might be true of the enclosure, and it is right to mention this tradition as a part of the available evidence; though, as regards all these local accounts, it is of course usually impossible now to say whether they come down from early times, or have been made up more recently to ex¬ plain remains — or natural objects — -which seemed to call for explanation. About 150 yards from this spot, and within twenty or thirty yards of the boulder above- mentioned, was found — brought there to close a drain — a heart-shaped stone engraved with a cross, which is believed by some to be the stone pillow used by St. Columba, of which Adamnan, at the end of the seventh century, speaks as “ standing by his grave to this day as a sort of monumental epitaph ” (Book I., ch. 23). It is now preserved in the Cathedral. Its claims are diluted by the discovery, near the site of Cill Chainnich, of a very similar stone, and others somewhat like these exist elsewhere. It may be the monument of some¬ one ; it may possibly have been placed in a grave ; it may conceivably be what is claimed for it. Whatever it is, there is, of course, a certain pro¬ bability that it had not been moved so very far from where it was originally placed. On the other hand the position of Reilig Orain tells decidedly against a change of site. There was a cemetery of reputation for the burial of the great on Iona much before 800 A.D., and this is not likely to have been far distant from the Abbey. The site of it cannot have been lost, and it is not likely that it was changed. Nor is it easy to see why the original monastery should have been placed away from the stream — more especially if a watermill wras used from the first. Lastly, the question of the original site affects and is affected by the remains of a tiny chapel near the Cathedral, to the North-west of the Nave. The east end of this abuts on the Cloisters; but westwards its side walls are prolonged a few inches, as is common in very early Irish churches Iona : Its Churches and Antiquities. i o THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE WEST. — for instance, at St. Caimin’s on Holy Island, Lough Uerg. This is very probably “ the smaller temple of Kolumba ” already mentioned in con¬ nection with Magnus of Norway. It contains two tombs at the east end, built with slabs at the sides (the covering stones are gone), with space for a priest to stand between them at an altar, which would be a small square erection of stone. West of the chapel is a very small enclosure, containing tombstones. In the west wall of the enclosure stands what is left of a Cross, not in the middle, but facing the tomb on the South, which till a late period in the Middle Ages counted as the right side of the altar, the place of honour. Dr. Skene thinks that this was the spot where St. Blaithmac had con¬ cealed the shrine from the Danes, which was afterwards marked by the erection of a chapel, where the shrine was kept. It may be so ; but this hardly accounts for the “ cist ” ; the shrine was hidden “in a grave hollowed in the ground, under thick turf.’’ At all events Martin, writing in 1703, says : — “ Near to the West end of the Church in a little THE CHOIR. Iona : Its Churches and Antiquities. Cell lies Columbus his Tomb,” and that, on his reminding the inhabitants of the lines which said that he was buried in Ireland, “ the Natives of Jona seem’d very much displeas’d, and affirm’d that the Irish who said so were impudent Lyars ; that Columbus was once buried in this Place,” and never removed to Ireland — -which last state¬ ment of theirs was much too comprehensive, whatever may finally have become of his relics. Close by this chapel was the “ Black Stone ” (com¬ monly called the “ Black Stones”) of Iona ; on which oaths were sworn, and about which Wordsworth wrote a sonnet. It was destroyed by a madman early in the last century ; but, from the descrip¬ tions remaining, was a piece of dark grey marble, about five feet high by two broad, having on it in relief the figure of an ecclesiastic investments; this “ tapered from the shoulder to a point at the top,” which suggests a mitre, worn in later times by the abbot of Iona. There can be little doubt that it was an image of St. Columba, and its presence here (and not in the Cathedral) is an additional mark of some special sanctity in this spot. This tangled and difficult question of the original site must now be left to the reader, who will find the arguments in favour of its change stated also in Dr. Skene’s Celtic Scotland, Vol. II., and in the Rev. Archibald Macmillan’s Iona. Among the buildings which may be attributed to the early stone monastery, there are, round the Cathedra], “ sundrie uther chapells,” which, dif¬ fering from it in orientation, while they agree among themselves, seem to date from an earlier period — they would hardly have been thus varied from the principal church if they had been founded after it was built. North of the Choir, and north-east of the Chapter House, is a chapel, measuring 38 ft. by 21ft., whose walls are nearly entire. The tracery and other details are of a later type ; but, unless it represents a very old church largely rebuilt, it seems impossible to account for the difference of orientation which, as compared with the Cathedral close by, is very obvious. North of this again is a larger build¬ ing of like orientation, showing only its ground plan. And some little distance to the South are the side walls of St. Mary’s Chapel, half filled with debris : it would be a good deed to clear out this little ruin. If the present Cathedral were removed, these “ chapells,” with that of St. Oran, would form such a group of little churches as are to be found at Clonmacnoise and elsewhere in Ireland. Before coming to the Cathedral, something should be said of the Rcilig (Drain. The only building now standing there is the chapel just mentioned, which has been connected with the restorations at Iona due to Queen Margaret late I I in the eleventh century. But there is nothing to prove that it is of that date, and the western doorway shows somewhat elaborate Romanesque decoration (though much ruined by the weather) which could hardly have penetrated into these parts till late in the twelfth century ; there is no sign that this doorway is a later insertion. Moreover, one of the two little slits of windows (at the east end of the north and south walls) is pointed. There are some apparently very ancient tomb¬ stones, without inscription, which are now pre¬ served in the chapel ; but the sculptured stones on Iona range mainly from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Some either have a date attached, or can be approximately dated from the persons whose names are attached to them by tradition — supposing this to be correct. But early forms of ornament continued at Iona (doubtless in connection with a local school of sculpture, whose work appears, for instance, at Innishail in Loch Awe, at Kilchrenan, and Dal- mally) contrary to rules prevailing in England and elsewhere ; and new styles of armour and of weapons did not (except in that advanced clan, the M’Leods, and a M’lan) penetrate to this remote island, any more than architectural styles did with any certainty or completeness. The Chapel of St. Oran was in former times not the only building in this cemetery. “ Within this ile of Colmkill,” says Dean Monro, writing in 1549, “ there is ane sanctuary also or kirkzaird callit in Erische Religoran, quhilk is a very fair kirkzaird, and weill biggit about with staine and lyme : into this sanctuary ther is three tombes of stane formit like little chapels, with ane braid gray marble or quhin staine in the gavill of ilk ane of the tombes. In the staine of the ane tombe there is wretten in Latin letters, Tuymdus Regum Scotiae, that is, The tombe or grave of the Scotts Kinges. Within this tombe, according to our Scotts and Erische cronickels, ther layes fortey-eight crouned Scotts kings, throughe the quhilk this ile hesbeine richlie dotat be the Scotts kings, as we have said. The tombe on the south syde forsaid hes this inscription, Tumulus Regum Hyberniae, that is, The tombe of the Irland kinges : for we have in our auld Erische Cronic- kells that there wes foure Irland kings eirdit i the said tombe. Upon the north syde of our Scotts tombe, the inscriptione beares, Tumulus Rcgum N orwegiae," where eight kings of Norway were buried. “ Within this sanctuary also lyes the maist pairt of the Lords of the iles with ther lineage. Twa Clan Lynes with ther lynage, M’Kynnon and M’Guare with ther lynages, with sundrie uthers inhabitants of the hail iles, becaus this sanctuarey was wont to be the sepulture of Iona : Its Churches and Antiquities. i 2 the best men of all the iles, and als of our kings as we have said ; becaus it was the maist honor¬ able and ancient place that was in Scotland in thair dayes, as we reid.” Again, Martin, writing in 1703, says, “ On the South side of the Church mention'd above (St. Oran’s Chapel) is the Burial Place in which the Kings and Chiefs of Tribes are buried, and over them a Shrine ; there was an Inscription, giving an account of each particular Tomb, but Time has worn them off.” And Pen¬ nant, speaking of the year 1772, says, “ of these celebrated tombs we could discover nothing more than certain slight remains, that were built in a ridged form and arched within, but the inscrip¬ tions were lost.” These three chapels, standing side by side, are now represented only by a single corner-stone, not in its original position, if their site was to the south of the chapel still standing, as it is described. To anyone who has seen such small early Irish buildings as “ St. Kevin's Kitchen ” at Glenda- lough, or St. Flannan’s Church at Killaloe, their being “ built in a ridged form and arched within,” suggests a high stone roof with a rough barrel vault below. The close connection of Iona with Ireland would make this copying easy ; but a similar construction is also very common in Scotch churches after 1400. No tombstones certainly connected with the kings mentioned remain (though there is one, without inscription, said to be that of a king of France), and it is likely that there should have been much turning out of earlier monuments in favour of later and less distinguished tenants. But the M’ Leans and M ’Quarries and M’Kin- nons had special claims on the royal cemetery and on Iona, being descended from the royal family of the Irish colony, and therefore con¬ nected with St. Columba — -as King Edward VII. also is, more remotely. We now come to that very confused architec¬ tural problem, the Abbey Church or Cathedral, which consists of a Nave and Transepts without aisles, and a Choir having an aisle on the South, and on the North a sort of aisle in two doors; the eastern part of the Choir stands free. First of all, there is no doubt that at some time after the Reformation (possibly about 1635) the part of the building to be retained in use was reduced ; the Nave was abandoned, and a wall built filling up the western arch of the Tower, very possibly in part with materials taken from the Nave walls. This giving up part of a church where the avail¬ able resources had, from whatever cause, become inadequate for the maintenance of the whole, is familiar to those who know the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk. The western bay of the South Choir- aisle was probably walled off at the same time, and perhaps the same process was carried, or was being carried, further. So far the matter is toler¬ ably simple ; it will be convenient next to see what parts of the complete building can reason¬ ably be assigned to particular periods. First of all there will probably be no conflict of opinion as to the North Transept. Its eastern wall, built thick enough to carry a passage within it above, is supported by an arcade below, the side arches of which (doubtless once holding altars) contain each a round-headed window, while the centre arch, lower than its fellows, forms a niche in which there was a seated figure. There is here plenty of detail (though it has suffered from time and weather), and its character is late Norman, or “ transition.” The arch open¬ ing on to the Tower is pointed ; on looking closely at it one finds that an additional arch has been inserted, and that the piers have been cased, the original arch and piers being more or less visible. The piers outside are in section very similar to the early ones which they enclose, but of a more developed form. On the other hand the Tower (which in a print of 1774 is shown to have had a gabled roof rising from inside the parapet, the masonry of the north side, forming a right-angled triangle, still standing at that date) is, in its present form, certainly late. This is plain on the outside from its square win¬ dows with late tracery — in one case showing the curious but effective whirligig or “ catherine- wheel ” arrangement, of “ flamboyant ” type, which is to be found in the fourteenth century, but is a very prominent feature in the windows of some Scotch fifteenth century churches. And inside one should notice the curious stone pillars or balusters looking like turned wood (such as are found in pre-Norman work in England) support¬ ing a straight arch. Though, of course, it is not necessary to conclude that there could have been no tower there before (so that we are not com¬ pelled to place the strengthening of the piers below at the date of the upper storey, in its present condition), the Tower, as it stands, seems undoubtedly to be of late date, with a reproduc¬ tion or imitation of some early features. This tendency to turn backwards for models, in the absence of true progress, appears to be shown too in the Sacristy or North Choir-aisle. The upper window of this has a triangular head, with dog-tooth ornaments on the inside. Such straight¬ sided arches belong properly to very early work, as in various Irish churches and Round Towers, and in the tower at Bosham in Sussex, of a time long before the thirteenth century to which the ornamentation properly belongs. The combina¬ tion is somewhat similar to that in the Tower, and seems to indicate a late date, when invention had Iona : Its Churches and A ntiquities . 13 ARCHWAYS TO CHAPTER HOUSE. almost ceased, and older forms were imitated more or less promiscuously. A striking instance of this is to be found at Holycross Abbey, in Tipperary, where a round-headed doorway and an ogee arch fitting into it, are decorated with “ billet ” ornament. The walls of this Sacristy are at the east incompletely, at the west not at all bonded into those of the Choir, and this part of the building appears to be, in its present form, an afterthought — instead of a complete aisle, as was originally intended, meeting the North Transept. Between this aisle and the Choir is a pillar sup¬ porting a pointed arch at either side, which, though now built up, were obviously meant to open into the upper storey of the aisle, to which a pas¬ sage led, or was intended to lead (in continuation of that through the wall of the north transept) from the Dormitory. The mouldings of these arches are of thirteenth century type, deco¬ rated with “ dog-tooth ” ornament. The capital of the pillar has pointed leaves, of bay-leaf form, running up it side by side, closely resembling two varieties of “ transition ” capitals at Kelso. It will be convenient here to digress for a moment to the Chapter House, separated from the North Transept by a room with a fire-place, and standing east and west in two compartments divided by a pillar carrying two round arches. DOOR FROM SACRISTY TO CHOIR. [ 4 Iona : Its Churches and Antiquities. IONA CATHEDRAL. CAPITALS. (Photographed from the Originals.) Iona: Its Churches and Antiquities. 15 9 a The mouldings of these and the carving of the capital on the outer or western side are, respec¬ tively, practically identical with those of the arches and pillar on the North of the Choir, though the inner side of the capital has very different carving. The inner compartment has a stone arcade forming seats round its wall, and for a 9' a fine door, with trefoil head and mouldings of distinctly thirteenth century form, opening into the Sacristy on the lower floor (p. 13). The capitals are not similar to those described above, but bear a considerable resemblance in their carving to those of the pillars and responds, in the South Aisle, to the inner or eastern side of the capital in the roof a flattish barrel-vault. The walls of the room which this supports are incompletely bonded into those of the Dormitory (or whatever the room on the upper floor was), which continued the line of the North Transept. This, of course, suggests that the upper storey of the projecting part is a later addition. Returning to the Chancel, we find on the North Chapter House, and to the capitals of the north¬ east and south-east parts of the Crossing, some of which are of “ cushion ” form. All these seem to show direct or indirect Byzantine influence ; they are carved with surface ornament — of foliage, strange animals, and of scenes, some of them from the Bible, the subjects chosen being not unlike those treated on some Irish Crosses, for instance, IONA CATHEDRAL. CAPITALS. ( Photographed from Casts in the School of Applied Art, Edinburgh.) (Photographed from the Cast in the School of Applied Art, Edinburgh.) Iona : Its Churches and A ntiquities 17 VOL. XIV. — B IONA CATHEDRAL 1 8 Iona : Its Churches and Antiquities VIEW FROM NORTH TRANSEPT. THE SOUTH AISLE. IONA CATHEDRAL 1 9 Iona : Its Churches and A ntiquities. at Monasterboice. The sculpture seldom suggests any constructional purpose, and in some cases is arranged in panels. Both it and the form of the pillars should, according to the ordinary canons, be of early date, but there appear to be parallels in late Scotch work, which tends to recur to early models, and it must be said that the carving on some of the later tombstones preserved here is in panels, and that some of the foliage mentioned above resembles that on the stem of Mac! hr, gone's (M’Kinnon’s) Cross, of 1489. Whatever its date, the carving is in some parts beautiful, in others curious, and gains individuality from a distinct Celtic feeling visible in it, which comes out quaintly in the treatment of the animals’ tails. Here it should be mentioned that Dr. Reeves (Adamnan’s “ Life of St. Columba,” 1857 edition, p. 409) says : — “ On the capital of the south-east column, under the tower, near the angle of the south transept and choir of the cathedral in Hy, are the remains of the inscription, donaldvs obrolchan fecit hoc opvs, in Lombardic letters.” This record, confirmed by other wit¬ nesses, seems unquestionable. We have seen that the Abbey had dealings with the O’Brol- chan family, and the inscription suggests Domh- nall Ua Brolchain, of whom we have already heard, who died in 1202. But his connection with Iona is uncertain ; and since an O’Brolchan is found in Islay in 1548 (not to mention various members of the family in Ulster) it may of course refer to some monk or workman of whose exist¬ ence we are not otherwise aware. The South Aisle is crossed by curious segments of arches, like flying buttresses, resting on the ground and propping the arcade. It opens into the Transept by a semicircular arch, and on to the Choir by three pointed arches. All these seem to be of the fourteenth century, or later ; the pillars and their carving have been already mentioned. The Sedilia and Piscina are covered with beauti¬ ful “ Celtic ” carving, much decayed. To the west of these is a large oblong block or base of masonry, which needs explanation, unless per¬ haps it was for the exhibition of relics. The roof was of wood. The walls of the church were plastered inside. The small Clerestory win¬ dows stand directly over the pillars, and there are short buttresses under many of the windows, as well as elsewhere ; these are of thirteenth century form. The tracery remaining is all of a late type. The western doorway of the Nave has no shafts, but the mouldings, of thirteenth century form, are continued round it. The Nave in general is much ruined, but, like some other parts of the church, seems to show signs of re-building. In the Refectory, north of the Cloisters, an obvious change of plan meets us. Apparently it was at first on the ground floor; there are the remains of a fine doorway, probably of the thirteenth century, leading into it from the Cloister. It was then moved upstairs, a low ground-floor room being contrived beneath it, and access given by a stair still in part remain¬ ing. The Cloisters again, the arcade of which had mouldings of two forms and of thirteenth century type, show signs of alteration, since, of the arches thrown across them diagonally at the corners, two interfere with doorways. It is un¬ necessary to describe the remaining buildings, the use of which is not beyond question, except one at the extreme North, which has had a stream of water brought through it from' the mill-burn. The masonry is similar throughout the walls of the buildings ; these are of red granite, which gives them a magnificent rich colour ; the blocks have been brought to some sort of face, but not squared, and the intervals are filled in with smaller stones and slates. The buttresses and corners are regularly coursed. In attempting to estimate the dales at which the Abbey was built, it seems clear that much work was done about 1200 a.d. and in the thirteenth century ; while the Tower and Sacristy in their pre¬ sent form, and the tracery of the windows are late. The first period corresponds (partly at least) to the commencement and early vigour of the Benedictine foundation ; the latter may coincide with Iona’s becoming the Cathedral of the Bishop of the Isles. But it is impossible to say what old capitals and even mouldings may have been used IONA CATHEDRAL. VIEW FROM WEST SHOWING RESTORATION. B 2 20 Iona : Its Churches and A nti equities. IONA CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. AFTER RESTORATION. again in later building, whether capitals set up at one time may not have been carved at another, or to what extent, especially in a spot so isolated, old work may have been imitated — of this latter process there are here some unmistakable in¬ stances ; architectural ideas too might have been introduced by strangers from almost anywhere at any time. In a place so far removed from the general movement of architectural style much must be uncertain and disputable ; which forms an additional argument (if one were needed) against attempts at “ restoration.” The most recent, and, it is devoutly to be hoped, the last scene in the history of the building belongs to the year just past. The work has fortunately been limited to the re-roofing of the Choir, Tower, and South Aisle, the glazing of their windows, and the partial restoration of the part last mentioned ; this could hardly have been avoided if it was to receive a roof. The “raw” look of the timber inside will no doubt wear off some day. But it is a pity that the slates — copies in size of those which once covered the roof — are smoother, so that they cannot readily cover themselves with lichen and moss and become harmonious with the rest of the building. Fortunately the old work of the Choir and Transepts and the arcade of the South Aisle is still untouched, and the roof, whether beautiful or not, will help to preserve this and the monuments from the weather. As regards protection against a greater danger, perhaps the very partial success (in general opinion) of this “ restoration ” may be a blessing in disguise — a warning against more ambitious attempts, which, in the case of a unique and enigmatical building like this, would be simply inexcusable ; there is no local want of church accommodation, and the island can never again be a centre of religious work, as in St. Columba s time. Yet the danger from the terms of the Trust is still there — the Trustees are bound, if they have the money, to make the church available for divine service, which may mean much. It is to be hoped that the Scottish public will defend this most interesting building in the only way open to them — by withholding their contributions. Some of the Scotsman’s correspondents obviously need to be reminded that they cannot have it both ways — that it is impossible to make an old building as good as new without renewing it in parts, which in this unique church is likely to involve some irreparable falsification and loss. Only a few words can be said about some of the remaining antiquities on the island. Among the ST. MARTIN’S CROSS. Iona: Its Churches and Antiquities. Crosses, several of which remain either whole or in part, that of St. Martin, standing west of the nave, is in outline and proportions and in the carving of its eastern face perhaps the most beautiful Celtic Cross in existence. On its western side, which is carved with scenes in panels, nothing but lichen is now visible, a sight more gratifying to a painter than to an anti¬ quarian, though figures are not the strong point of the Celtic Cross. Maclean’s Cross, on the high road, is inferior, but not specially early. Beyond the mill-stream, north-east of the Abbey buildings, is the Bishop’s House. In Sacheverel’s time (1688) it was, though roofless, otherwise entire, “and consisted of a large Hall open to the Roof, a Chamber I suppose he us’d a ladder to get into, and under the Chamber a Buttery .... the whole was certainly very mean.” A paved way “of a hard red stone,” leading from the monastery past Maclean’s Cross to the Nunnery, formed the main street of the Bails Mor, the “ great town” or “ considerable citie ” (for those parts), such as often grew up under the shadow of religious houses, and sometimes decayed with them, the “ports and streets” of which were still visible in 1693 and later. The Nunnery is a beautiful and interesting ruin of “ transition ” architecture, bearing considerable resemblance to the work of that style in the abbey. It was built about 1203, but may have been in part “ restored ” later. The Choir has been vaulted, and the east end of the North Aisle retains its vault. Here too the Clerestory windows stand over the piers, not above the arches. North of the Nunnery Church is an ob¬ long building, of slightly different orientation, which was the “ paroche-kirke,” of the island. Of Cill Chainnich — sister of the greater Kilkenny in Ireland, the church of St. Cainnech, the friend and fellow-worker of St. Columba, which stood close to the present Established Church— the last stones were removed in the past century. A mile west of the cathedral, probably connected with it by the causeway which crossed the Lochan Mor, are some traces of the “ Cell of the Culdees,” who represent a special development of monasti- cism (not a “ Church ” or form of Christianity), which was mainly confined to Scotland and Ireland. Port a Churraich, on the south coast of the island, where St. Columba is said to have first landed, is marked by a mound “three score of foots in length, which was the exact length of the curachan or ship.” Here are also some curious cairns, the origin of which is — like some other points bearing on the antiquities of the Island — uncertain. A. C. Champneys. Note. — We are indebted for the use of the photographs reproduced on pp. 13 and 17 to Mr. A. Ritchie, and for the photo¬ graphs after restoration to Mr. W. K. Bryson. THE NUNNERY NAVE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. 22 The Exe Bridge , Exeter THE EXE BRIDGE, EXETER. TO BE DEMOLISHED. The Exe Bridge, Exeter. Soon it will be difficult to find in this -country any relic of the ages before steam-civili¬ sation. For long time ecclesiastical authorities have been busy scraping and scouring the churches, and smartening them with much glass and brass; lately the county councils have been waking up to the beauty of the old bridges which have served so long — waking to destroy. The now existing, now to be destroyed, Exe Bridge was built from 1770 to 1778. It is a de¬ lightful example of the sensible-Classic mode of building which ran through the two generations following Wren. The curvature of the arches, their gradation of size, the well-designed balus¬ trade, and the fine masonry, make it into a worthy city monument ; and it is in sound condition. It spans the river at the bottom of the steep slope of High Street, and it is said to be incon¬ venient and of difficult gradient. Suggestions for meeting these objections to the present bridge, while retaining it in use, have been made, but nothing, I believe, will content the authorities but clearing away the “ old thing ” and clapping down some steel girders. The Fate of The June number of the Burlington Maga¬ zine contains a vigorous appeal to the London County Council to approach the present owner of Clifford’s Inn with a view to purchasing the build¬ ings and preserving them for the public. This appeal we desire to support most heartily. The facts with regard to the recent sale of the Inn will be in the memory of most people. Clifford’s Inn had for many years ceased to perform the functions for which it originally existed. It was an “ Inn of Chancery,” and was intended to pro¬ vide preliminary education for law students before they were called to the Bar and became members of an “ Inn of Court.” It was governed by “ Mem¬ bers ” who co-opted each other, and roughly speaking corresponded to the “ Benchers ” of the Inns of Court. But this system of legal education for barristers fell into disuse and Clifford's Inn ceased to be an Inn of Chancery in anything but name. No new “ Members” have been co-opted since the year 18 77, and finally the few who sur¬ vived agreed to raise a friendly action in Chancery with a view to obtaining a legal decision as to the true status of the institution. It will be remem¬ bered that, in the somewhat similar case of Ser¬ jeant’s Inn, the Courts decided that the premises were the private property/ of the members and We give a view of this really noble piece of architecture and readers of this note can judge for themselves, by imaginary substitution, of the due level of science or squalor whichever you like to call it, which will assuredly result from the destruction of this work of art. A stone bridge has crossed the Exe at this point or near by for about seven hundred years. The first was built in 1231, just below at the expense of Walter Gervase, Mayor. In its original position it did not point directly to the foot of the High Street, but towards a lane called, from its steepness, Strip-Coat-Hill. Mr. Kerslake built on this the theory that this lane, and not High Street, repre¬ sents the Roman High Street of the City. Free¬ man and later writers have concurred without exception. Examination of the ground, however, makes it clear that a bend at the bottom of High Street was necessitated by the steepness of the ground ; that the Roman approach to the town never could have passed up the steps of Strip- Coat-Hill, and therefore High Street is most probably the Roman Road as was always thought until this too ingenious theory was propounded. W. R. Lethaby. Clifford’s Inn. allowed them to be sold, the proceeds being divided among the surviving “ Sergeants.” But in the case of Clifford's Inn the judge (Cozens- Hardy) came to a different conclusion. He de¬ cided that there was a charitable trust upon the funds of the institution, and that they could not therefore be treated by the members as their pri¬ vate property. On this the surviving “ Members ” went to the Attorney-General as head of the Bar, and agreed upon a scheme by which the buildings should be put up to auction and a portion of the proceeds be handed over to him for purposes of legal education, the remainder going to the “ Mem¬ bers.” Protests against this agreement were made in the Press and elsewhere, and questions were asked on the subject in Parliament, but the “ Members” and the Attorney-General stood firm and the Inn was sold by auction last month for £100,000. But it appears that there is even yet a chance that this interesting seventeenth century group of buildings with its quiet garden in the heart of London may be saved. For the editor of the Burlington has reason to believe that the purchaser at the recent auction would be willing to part with his property at a price very little above that which he gave for it if there should be any movement to preserve the Inn for the public. 24 A rch it e ctur a l Rduca tion . In England, unhappily, we have no Public De¬ partment charged with the preservation of ancient buildings — a peculiarity which we share with Russia alone of European nations. But the Lon¬ don County Council has recently formed a “ His¬ torical Records and Buildings Committee,” and this Committee has already shown an intelligent interest in the fate of Clifford’s Inn. It is much to be hoped that the Council will have the courage to find the necessary money for the purchase be¬ fore it is too late. The rents of the Chambers would give a small but certain return on the capital expended and the difference, if any, be¬ tween this sum and the three per cent, at which the Council can borrow, would be well spent in saving a picturesque corner of Old London from destruction. Architectural Education. III. — Great Britain ( continiiecl\ . THE ARCHITECTURAL SCHOOL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART. By Beresford Pite. The architectural syllabus is the first of the four which comprise the course of instruction in the Royal College of Art. It is primarily intended to be the initial step in a scheme that views train¬ ing in art as a whole, design in the crafts, modelling for sculpture and decorative painting being the remaining stages of the course. The secondary purpose of the Architectural School is to provide a complete course for the study of architecture as a practical building art for all students who wish to specialise in architecture. The study of architecture as the basis of all other design is the object of the introductory course which divides itself roughly into the study by measurement and drawing of old work, and the working out of simple subjects in design. The historical development, workmanship, construc¬ tive purpose, and ornamental forms of subjects selected for measurement, are demonstrated and explained — such as the progressive development of wooden framings, as seen in doors, screens, and panellings from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, of which the Museum furnishes ex¬ amples. The differing points of view and origins of idea in Mediaeval and Renaissance monuments, and their expression in mouldings and sculptured features are also demonstrated, and illustrated by measured drawings to a large scale, made as with the purpose of becoming practical working draw¬ ings for use by workmen. The subjects in architectural design are set upon simple and practical lines, and are based upon demonstrations of the use of the materials of walling which would be necessary for working out the drawing of a cottage plan and the de¬ sign of its elevation in a practical manner, in brick or stone, the material being preferably that of the student’s home district. Technicalities of con¬ struction, which are not necessary to understand¬ ing the relationship of materials and of their workmanship to design, are dispensed with in the introductory course, but the designs produced all have to represent a practicable building in the material selected. Large scale details, and full- size drawings are consequently prepared at very early stages ; and in order to concentrate atten¬ tion on the constructive basis of architectural form, all details have to be founded on or to be direct adaptations from, some known example of which a study note or sketch has been made. The teacher has the great advantage, with elementary students in an introductory course, of dealing with open minds free from the prejudices as tO' style that affect ordinary architectural schools, an advantage which enables him to lay immediately a foundation of the sound doctrine that satisfac¬ tory architecture can only proceed from good construction. As a corollary to this beneficial absence of preconceptions, it is necessary that the student should not be left to pick up or to evolve original ideas without definite guidance to accom¬ plished examples — these are supplied to him aS' types, ranged within definite limits, as of Jacobean and Georgian brickwork, by exhibitions, photo¬ graphs and measured drawings (Messrs. Belcher and Macartney’s “Later Renaissance” being a most useful example book), and by visits to build¬ ings. The liberty of the students in designing is- strictly confined to their comprehension of the items of constructed design which they have seen and studied, imagination applying the material thus acquired to the subject of design. Masonry is dealt with on similar lines, the system of wall construction that prevailed in England from early times throughout the Middle Ages supplying the constructional basis. Com¬ mencing with the rubble core, to which dressed stone is added for angles and piers, arches A rch itectura l Educa tion . 25 for windows and doors follow, the bonding in of dressed stones, moulding, carving, and grouping of shafts, are dealt with in lectures and demon¬ strations as steady developments in the civilisation of building by the constructive art of Gothic England. The vault is demonstrated similarly as growing from a widened round arch of rubble, intersected and strengthened by wrought stone ribs rapidly developing into pointed arch groining with its systematic addition of ribs, and growing ingenuity until Tudor times. Exercises are set in the working out of this constructive system of design, as a village church chancel, or part of a cloister, and visits to West¬ minster Abbey, Rochester, and St. Albans Cathe¬ drals fix the idea of the beauty achieved by this building art on the students’ minds. The Renaissance methods of the application decoratively of the forms of the Greek and Roman orders and their historical evolution are illus¬ trated. The monumental effects of repeated fac¬ tors are demonstrated, as in colonnades and in large schemes of plan, with the symmetrical grouping of masses, and visits are paid to Green¬ wich Hospital and Hampton Court Palace. The introductory course in Architecture thus opens some of the many avenues of study which spring from and concentrate in Architectural art provid¬ ing a foundation and framework for practical study in the other schools. The students of the college may be divided into two groups, training either for employ¬ ment as art teachers, or for the practical exer¬ cise of the Arts of Design, excluding the mere amateur and dilettante artist. To either of these groups the groundwork is necessary apart from the special study of Architecture as an inde¬ pendent art. The course also provides the pre¬ liminary work for students who elect to specialise in the Architectural School, and who are admitted to the college for that purpose, and is thus avail¬ able for those who are about to take up Archi¬ tecture as a profession. The complete Architectural course for the training of specialised students aims at the study of Architecture as a building art in detail, and proceeds upon the basis and lines of study already laid down. The subjects and limits of study are enlarged, and more freedom in design becomes possible. Problems of everyday planning and constructive science are systematically and pro¬ gressively taken up, design proceeding upon con¬ struction. The measurement of some complete buildings comes into the course of each year, and combines historical fact with practical purpose. Building construction is not studied apart from the working out of a subject in design, but every constructional problem of the subject is dealt with, and takes its place as part of the design of the whole. Visits are made to modern buildings and to works in progress for the study of practical work in construction, and students, as they advance in the course, are brought into contact with the execution of Architectural works and with the practical working out of designs. The preparation of working details of flues, staircases, roofs, floors, and other factors proceeds with their related de¬ tails of form, and the descriptions and specifica¬ tions of the materials to be employed with their workmanship are combined. Thus Architectural design is not treated as a subject apart from con¬ struction either in the old buildings studied or in the working drawings of the students’ concep¬ tions. Architectural study is combined with work in the schools of the crafts of figure drawing and of sculpture, unity of sympathy and of idea in all the practical arts being an important element in the scheme. Writing for inscriptions, wood carving, plaster work, stained glass, and furniture are branches of the school of design in Crafts which are obviously cognate with Architectural work. The foundation of a school of trained Architec¬ tural students upon a basis of systematic study and practice in design is of importance to the College scheme of unity in Art Training, for some of its pupils will become teachers of Architecture, and some will practice it or become executants in the arts of building. The influence that the advanced students can by their work exercise upon those in the prelimi¬ nary course is of value, and juniors gain experi¬ ence by assisting advanced students in the prepa¬ ration of their sets of practical working drawings. In this way also the specialised students in Decorative painting and Sculpture combine with Architectural students in designs of higher range, and gain and give a practical experience of the combination of artists in workmanship which it is difficult to acquire later in life, and for which so few facilities can at present be found. It needs scarcely to be pointed out that a course of training in Architecture treated as the basis of practical art, and in conjunction with all the other constructive arts begins from a different basis, and has a larger end in view than those of a crystallised syllabus of Architecture as a subject for examinations. Much that is necessary and ancillary to Architectural qualification and edu¬ cation by literary methods and practical work is linked with and based upon the College syllabus, the essential plan of which is a wide view of the real unity of art in its varied expression in design, of which the art of Architecture is at once the simplest and most practical illustration. Architecture at the English polytheism — if the word may be applied in a country where it is the rule for each man to worship one god, but a different god from his neighbour’s — polytheism of this kind might have resulted, architectually, in some interesting variety of type had the grounds of difference in the worship been sufficiently great or remained stable ; as it is, the numerous deities that command the worship of an English town of a few thousand inhabitants divide the energies of the temple- builders without very clearly influencing their imagination. The Quaker idea of a temple, to take the most distinct, certainly differs from that of a Catholic church : it is a meeting-house, a waiting-room in which an incalculable spirit may or may not descend on this or that worshipper, and improvise a ritual by his lips. The bare pro¬ visional shell required for this visitation differed by negation from the ritual church of the Mass, in which the place and the moment of the Presence were determined, and the person by whose act it should be induced. But the meeting-house idea that prevailed, with differences, among the sects outside of the established church, has faded, alongwith the sense of theological distinctions ; the dissenters have been taking back all of the ritual church, except what gave it a meaning. Hence the many sects, whose separate existence depends now on little more than a mild hereditary and social vendetta, are responsible for adding to the number of “Gothic” buildings, each with its trumpery complement of spire, buttresses and aisles, that pepper our unfortunate country. But this feebly polytheistic tendency, nullified by compromise and therefore deadly to the im¬ agination, is at work of course also in the estab¬ lished church. It is the character of established institutions, in England, not to affirm one view, but to include all forms of dissent in a semi- sterilised condition. Who, for example, could put a name to the imaginative view of the world that the Royal Academy affirms ; yet it includes samples of all views. So the Church of Eng¬ land aims at a comprehension of theological opinions which, if they were in an active, eruptive condition, must wreck the containing institution. The equilibrium is just maintained among the followers of low, high, broad, and other deities, but this equilibrium, whatever may be its political justification, is a very poor condition for art, which requires a distinct imaginative lead. The anomalies of the situation have been brought out by the recent Liverpool Cathedral competition. A city that is predominantly Low Church wanted, practically, an immense meeting¬ house, a church subordinated to the requirements Royal Academy-II. of the pulpit. This was one of the conditions laid down. But the spirit of compromise, which is thought to have made us what we are as a nation, required that the condition should be qualified by a concession to the ritualistic tradition of the church. It was therefore laid down that the style was to be Gothic, by which we may understand pointed arcades, i.e. the very worst style possible for bringing an immense number of people within sight and sound of a preacher. Under these circumstances the assessors have done their best, they have picked out a quite re¬ markable Gothic design. The committee on this wished to draw back, either because the Gothic design did not give the impossible in preaching space, or, as it is suggested, for a reason whose irony is even keener ; in the result the}’ have done their best to neutralise their chosen designer’s powers by making another architect responsible for the final design. I may seem to be digressing widely from the subject of this paper, but I wish to indicate that, behind the unsatisfactory state of our ecclesiastical architecture lies a confused imagination. What is wanted is neither clearly nor strongly wanted. The Academy Exhibition shows us various relics of the Liverpool Cathedral puzzle-competition. They are baited a little fancifully for the committee- mind, as by anglers who do not know what fly that odd fish would rise to. Mr. Bodley is the true refuge in such times of distress for the committees. I look at the Clumber Church and wonder what impulse can have carried such a design into being, for the sense of missing the target would be, to any mind I can fathom, cumula¬ tive, from the stepping of the buttresses to the proportions between church and tower; yet I am certain there is a quality in this design that should carry the votes of a committee. So the design for the tomb of Canon Carter runs counter to my sense of design at every point ; in the scale of the canopy, the misfit and quarrel of the frame and the tomb, yet I am convinced that in the higher- dimensioned space of the committee-mind these perceptions are not valid, and that every¬ thing falls together in a beautifully adjusted har¬ mony. Future times are not very likely to turn to churches as our characteristic buildings : they wdl be much more interested in our inventive dealings with railway stations, embankments, and bridges, and the series of exhibition buildings that began with the Crystal Palace. And those future times will be a good deal struck by the divorce between what was called engineering in our time and what was called architecture, and Architecture at the Royal Academy. by the timid dealings of “architects,” when they got the chance, with those structures that were our characteristic production. It may also be observed that the ephemeral exhibition building is often tackled with more courage and success than the permanent, i.e., the museum. It is a mistake to make a museum look like a temple or any sort of building that has a special imagina¬ tive appeal ; for a museum is the reverse of all that — it is a storehouse of competing imagina¬ tions. It is a mistake, moreover, in the case of a museum of art, to put a great deal of imagery on your building; for either the intense examples of different times housed within will make a fool of work less exquisite and intense on the build¬ ing ; or if conceivably your own imagery runs up into a heaven that shames the relics of others, then your museum is departing from its proper attitude of hospitable impartiality. If a museum could make itself so fine as that it would not need to be a museum. I turn to Mr. Aston Webb’s design for the new South Kensington buildings, and I find there is provision for a vast quantity of sculpture on the meagre spaces between the windows. Of our two alternatives the first is the more likely ; that the saints of art or whoever are to figure on this eikonostasis will be put out of countenance by the contents of the sculpture- courts. I may seem to strike here on a detail, but it is significant of the whole treatment. Like the designer of the Houses of Parliament, Mr. Webb has been at his wits’ end how to deal with the formidable amount of window in a modern build¬ ing, and has fried to make it palatable by similar devices. The ugly rounding of the top corners of the windows and recessing of some of them behind arches are other attempted palliations of these endless rectangles of window. It seems to me that nothing is gained by this teasing and jealous action of the wall once it has been beaten in the fight with windows, and that a simple treatment, all frame and glass, like a conservatory, is the line to take. Still less than the details of the window surface do the larger “features” of the facade help out or effectively disguise the appearance of our storehouse. A great central tower and minor domes and pin¬ nacles give the thing the look of a florid town- hall. The central tower, whose only office, I suppose, will be to throw a shade over the courts behind, looks like the architecture of toy-boxes, and it would be difficult to arrange anything less happy than the domes with towers starting lop- sidedly from their shoulder. In a word, like Mr. Waterhouse on so many occasions, Mr. Webb has here only added to that distressing family of buildings, the poor relations of architecture. Altogether, I find it difficult to discover in this 2 7 design the architect of the United Service Insti¬ tution in Whitehall, a building laudable on the whole and with a carved frieze that is the best bit of design of its kind in modern London. The difficulty of the problem he had to solve here has been too great for his courage, if not his capacity. The difficulty was to provide a much greater amount of gallery space than the site would fur¬ nish in top-lighted courts and to make a satisfac¬ tory architectural group of the whole. Mr. Webb’s solution is ingenious in so far that he makes the stages of his side-lighted galleries a continuous screen on the street front to mask the top-lighted courts, and that from the irregularity of the site he gets fragments of space between the courts and the screen for lighting from behind. But this ingenuity has not resulted in an architectural result worth having; the fronts are showy, but not fit or impressive. And what this screen con¬ ceals is what might have given a bold architect his chance. The plain walls of the courts, free from space-devouring windows, would have been worth showing and capable of broad treatment. But how, it will be asked, would you provide the extra gallery space when the ground level had been covered ? I suggest, with all proper diffidence, that here was an opportunity on a big open site for the sky-scraper. Pile up those side-lighted galleries at one spot, so as to reserve as much top-lit space as possible (it is not exhausted in the present plan), and you would have a “ feature,” a tremendous tower that would have a reason for existing. I have left myself no space to deal in detail with, commercial and domestic architecture, and will only make two remarks. A chief crux of commercial design at present seems to be the determination of banks, insurance offices, and so forth, to follow the lead of gin-palaces and show their front at a corner. The bevelling of the block that results has exercised the ingenuity of our architects, but the solution is seldom satis¬ factory. The slicing away of the corner hurts the natural fronts, and sets up ugly angles in the frames of windows. The corner door is manage¬ able if the angle is restored above it, though even then there is a weakening. With regard to domestic design the best work shows a growing restraint and sobriety. One can imagine the authors of the revolution shivering now as they see what forces they let loose when they played with “ quaintness.” The little bit of play has become so solid and weary a trade of coquettishness. The fibre of Englishmen must have oddly changed if they do not resent living in the art-nookeries and sleeping among the “fitments” that the taste of uphol¬ sterers and shopping women has brought upon them. D. S. MacColl. 28 Current A rchitecture. NEW LODGES AND ENTRANCE GATE, TODDINGTON, GLOS. E. J. MAY, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture. 29 GLEVaHOW TOWARDS DlSIVE NEW LODGES AND ENTRANCE GATE, “ TODDINGTON,” GLOS. E. J. MAY, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture. Toddington Entrance Lodges. — These are designed for the main entrance and are to be built in local stone and covered with stone tiles. Mr. E. J. May is the architect. The Williamsburgh (New East River) Bridge, New York City.- — It was supposed that this bridge could not have a channel span of much less than 1,610 feet, but the Harbour-line Board consented that the piers might project outside the pier-head lines below a plane 32 feet below low water; this permitted a reduction of the span to 1,600 feet from centre to centre of towers at which it was fixed. The clear water way at the old bridge is about 1,400 feet between pier-head lines and at the new bridge 1,550 feet. The type of the New Suspension Bridge is that in which the main span only is suspended from the cables, the cables from the towers to the anchor¬ ages carrying no portion of the load of the bridge, but acting simply as back-stays. This plan shortens the length of the cables and reduces the cost of one of the most expensive features of a suspension bridge. The New Bridge provides space for two separate and independent railroad tracks for the use of elevated railroads, four additional tracks for the use of surface railways with two roadways, each 20 feet wide, and two foot-walks and two bicycle- paths, placed directly over the surface-railway tracks. Thegrade of the elevated railway trackswas fixed not to exceed 2y per cent., and all the rail¬ way tracks and the carriage ways are brought together on the same level at the middle of the main span, the entire width of the bridge being 1 18 feet over all. The outer cables are spaced 120 feet apart at their foot-hold in the bottom of the anchorages, and extend over the towers in nearly vertical planes to the middle of the river span, where each pair of cables is brought close to the correspond¬ ing truss. Each of the eight columns of each tower is 4 feet square and composed of plates aggregating about if inches in thickness. The cables are composed of 7,696 wires of No. 6 gauge, of about yg inches in diameter. The wires will be grouped, in cable making, into 37 strands of 208 wires each ; the wires are per¬ fectly straight and laid parallel to each other, and are wrapped, first into separate strands, and finally, into one solid circular mass about 18 inches in diameter. Each wire is about 3,000 feet long, THE WILLIAMSBURGH (NEW EAST RIVER) BRIDGE, NEW YORK. PLAN SHOWING POSITION OF NEW BRIDGE. Current Architecture, n 3 O 555*383 ~s % “'i >i3£x?AV * S&snm rn n ^ imHsra "*1 "1 ^ H,2££«2$ ItoRWteMls nifsSRaa^Siii^raiwaSlISlA'A'^a T'ni3n.53w^niTiir’«53TC«'»"i " HfaiSHi n a ra MH SSK ' a» '• n* liiir«^ CBEW •’ * Rt&SpvwQK MHwBflKggl ' - ■ . .. jMt . i* > • ,m~ jjgfpr . - mpjtunB 4Sfa- Current A rchitecture. THE WILLIAMSBURGH (NEW EAST RIVER) BRIDGE. L. L. BUCK, CHIEF ENGINEER. Current A rchitecture , 33 VO I.. XIV. — c THE WILLIAMSBURGH (NEW EAST RIVER) BRIDGE, NEW YORK CITY. VIEW FROM BROOKLYN DURING CONSTRUCTION. L. L. BUCK, CHIEF ENGINEER. 34 Current Architecture Photo : Hall. THE WILLI AMS BURGH (NEW EAST RIVER) BRIDGF, NEW YORK CITY. DETAIL SHOWING CABLE WORK. L. L. BUCK, CHIEF ENGINEER. Mr. L. L. Buck, M.Am.Soc.C.E., M.I.C.E., is the Chief Engineer, and Mr. O. F. Nichols, M.Am.Soc.C.E., M.I.C.E., the Engineer in charge; Messrs. K. L. Martin, Asso. M.Am.Soc.C.E. ; H. D. Robinson, Asso. M.Am.Soc.C.E. ; Alexander Johnson, Asso. M.Am.Soc.C.E. ; O. M. Kelly, Jun.Am.Soc.C.E. ; J. D. Wilkens; Robert Haw¬ ley; W. R. Bascome ; George Lewis; E. D. Knap, and John Tilly, are Assistant Engineers in charge of various parts of the work. Current A rchitecture 35 Photo : E. Dockree. ADDITION TO THE SCANDINAVIAN SAILORS’ HOME, WEST INDIA DOCKS. NIVEN AND WIGGLESWORTH, ARCHITECTS. The new building contains twenty-one bed¬ rooms, a commodious hall, sitting and writin room for officers, and a large cafe. The build in is faced with yellow stocks and red brick. The roof is covered with Tilberthwaite green slates. The structure was erected on concrete piers reach¬ ing from the gravel bottom through a stratum of waterlogged dock mud about 12 feet deep. The builders were Messrs. Harris and Wordrof, of Limehouse, and Mr. W. Heathcoat was Clerk of Works. Messrs. Niven and Wigglesworth are the architects. riRJIT FLGDR. FLAN ATTIC TC3DR PLAN to bo C u rren t A rch i tectu re. WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL. THE SUMMIT OF THE CAMPANILE. THE LATE J. F. BENTLEY, ARCHITECT Photo : Henry Irving. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, AUGUST, I903, VOLUME XIV. NO. 8l. Photo : E. Dockrce. THE WELLINGTON MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL’S, WITH STEVENS’S MODEL IN POSITION. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH. (see note, page 62). Photo : E. Dockree. THE WELLINGTON MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL’S, WITH STEVENS’S MODEL IN POSITION. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH-WEST. VOL. XIV.— D 2 Photo : E. Dockree. THE WELLINGTON MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL’S, WITH STEVENS’S MODEL IN POSITION. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. Photo : E. Dochree. THE WELLINGTON MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL’S, WITH STEVENS’S MODEL IN POSITION. VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST. 42 Philae. Philae. The destruction of Philae is to Egypt what the fall of the Campanile was to Venice, and the two architectural losses of 1902 have many points in common. The words “destruction ” and “ loss ” may seem inappropriate in the case of the island, where the temples still stand, and their disintegration, if it comes at all, may be long delayed ; but in its altered surroundings Philae will no more be the Philae of old, the gem of Egypt, the inspiration of the artist, and the despair of the word-printer, just as the restored Campa¬ nile will never possess the character which history and sentiment gave to its predecessor. On the other hand, while the tower struck the ncte of severity necessary as a contrast to the exuberant richness of the central group of Venetian buildings, the island served exactly the opposite purpose among the monuments of the Nile. It was a unique example of Egyptian architecture in a cheerful, graceful, and almost playful mood, and gained added effect from standing half-way between the colossal solemnity of Thebes and the supernatural majesty of Abu-Simbel. The fact that the existing buildings date from Ptolemaic and Roman times does not entirely account for their character, since many of the late temples were designed on the scale of the Pharaonic work, and before the discovery of the key to the hieroglyphics, the temple at Dendera was actually attributed to the earlier period by the Egyptologists. Hardly anything is known of the early history of the island. The name is the Greek and Roman version of the word Paaleq — a “ frontier,” and it was always regarded as the Southern boundary of Upper Egypt, though properly belonging to Nubia, since it lies above the first cataract. An inscription on a rock off the north end of the island records an expedition into Nubia made by Thothmes IX. about B.c. 1466, and this is the only trace still remaining of the entire series of Dynasties up to the Persian conquest. As a seat of the worship of Isis it was held sacred both by the Egyptians and the Nubians, and the cause of its later importance may be found in the increased popularity of that cult under the Ptolemies. The triad of Isis, Osiris, and Horns, though recognised from the earliest times, was partly eclipsed under the New Empire by the triad of Thebes, headed by Amen Ra, who became the national god of the whole country. With the fall of the Theban empire, however, Isis again came to the front ; she obtained a position among the Greeks after Egypt became accessible to foreigners, and finally advanced to Rome, where her cult spread so rapidly among the lower classes that as early as B.c. 58 her threatened invasion of the Capitol itself had to be prevented by a special law. The result was that Philae became the goal of visitors, not only from Nubia and lower Egypt, but from distant parts of the Mediterranean, whether as pilgrims or simply as travellers, since the interest of a tour in Egypt “to inspect the monuments of antiquity” was recognised as soon as it was made possible. Herodotus, who went to Egypt during the Persian occupation in the fifth century, B.c., says nothing of the island, and probably never saw it, since his description of the Nile is given, as he remarks, “on my own obser¬ vations, as far as Elephantine (Assuan), but after that from hearsay only,” as is evident from the length of time he allots to the passage of the first cataract. In any case none of the buildings now standing existed in his time, and only one of them dates from before the Ptolemies, under whom most of the larger temples were begun. During the Roman occupation various works were carried out up to the time of Hadrian, after which the Egyptian tradition was broken, and Diocletian, who visited the island himself, put up a gateway which is frankly Roman in character. Egypt was formally Christianised in a.d. 379, but Isis worship continued on Philae till the reign of Justinian, and only ceased about a century before the Mohammedan conquest in a.d. 638 ; in the interval Coptic Christians settled on the island and built several churches. The most striking point about the temples as a whole is the absence of any trace of Greek feeling in actual form. Whatever may have been the influence of Greek architecture among the Hellenic cities of the Delta, the old traditions were too strong for it in Upper Egypt; at Dendera and Edfu even more than here there is hardly a feature to dis¬ tinguish the work from that of the Theban em¬ pire ; even the one and only cornice moulding is still ubiquitous, and such new developments as do exist might logically have been evolved from the earlier style without the interference of any foreign element. But there is, it must be admitted, a feeling of grace and delicacy about Philae, due partly to the smallness of scale which the limited size of the island seemed to demand, but partly, it may be, to an appreciation of the spirit, without any desire to copy the forms of contemporary Greek work. The usual route from Assuan through the desert passes the famous granite quarries of Syene, with their unfinished obelisk half embedded in the rock. 44 P hi la e PHILAE FROM THE MAINLAND, LOOKING WEST. Philae 45 PHILAE FROM ONE OF THE ISLANDS, LOOKING EAST. P hi l ae. 46 and it was the existence of this band of granite, interrupting the sandstone formation of the Nile valley, and forming the natural boundary between Egvpt and N ubia, which decided the engineers in their choice of the site for the great dam. We reach the river at the village of Shellal, connected with Assuan by a short military railway, and the terminus at present of the direct line from Cairo, which is taken up again at Wadi Haifa about two hundred miles further south. Philae lies near the east bank of the Nile, which is here divided by numerous islands and widens considerably, narrowing again half a mile lower down at the head of the cataract. The island itself is a granite rock, in plan and dimensions not unlike the Acropolis at Athens, less than a quarter of a mile in length by about 130 yards across at the widest point, and during low Nile it used to stand up well from the water level. The beauty of the temples, in their setting of palms and mimosa bushes, was increased bv con¬ trast with the wildness of the surrounding islands, where the red and purple heaps of boulders have been polished like glass by the flooded river, while southwards the Nile disappears round a bend, and the background of the picture is formed by granite cliffs, over which cataracts of golden sand pour down like vast cones of glistening corn — true desert sand, the very existence of which the powdered brown mud of lower Egypt has so far led us to question. At the south end of the island the earliest existing building marks the landing-place of pilgrims from Nubia. This is the vestibule of Nectanebus II. (b.c. 358), an oblong building in which the roof was carried by fourteen columns with screen walls between them ; only six columns are now stand¬ ing, and the capitals, which are of the concave bell-shaped type always used here, have heads of the Goddess Hathor carved on the sides of the abacus. These Hathor capitals, found on an immense scale at Dendera, show the tendency of the Egyptians to increase the height of the abacus ; this feature was necessary in the case of the so-called lotus-bud capitals which tapered upwards, but over the projecting concave type it only served to relieve the delicate outward curve from the weight of the architrave, which in many examples still appeared from below to rest directly on the capital. Here the abacus is con¬ siderably higher than its width and forms a second capital, in which the head carved on each side is surmounted by a kind of miniature temple faqade. The temple to which this building served as a vestibule was destroyed soon after its completion by a high Nile, but the water stairs, by which pilgrims from the south ascended, are still in situ. From the vestibule we enter the outer court of the Temple of Isis — an enclosure measuring about 300 ft. by 120 ft. and very irregular in plan; in¬ deed, the whole group belonging to the great temple is arranged without the least regard for symmetry, and simply follows the natural shape of this side of the island. The temple itself is regular in plan, but it is set at an angle to the forecourt, which again is entered from one corner of the outer court. As far as can be seen, there was nothing to prevent the planning of these buildings on a centre line, and it is evident that the Egyptian archi¬ tects were quite ready to throw over symmetry in a case where a limited scale lent itself to pictu¬ resqueness. The western boundary of the court is formed by a retaining wall carried up from the water level and pierced with square window openings ; reliefs, in some cases coloured, show Augustus, Tiberius, and Nero, in the same dress and attitude as the Pharaohs of centuries before, making offerings to the local deities. In front of the wall runs a colonnade of 31 columns on very clumsy bases, restored in 1896 according to the original design. The Egyptians never succeeded in producing even a tolerable base, and hardly made any advance upon the original wide circular platform on which stand the mis-named “ Protodoric ” columns of Beni- Hasan — a curious contrast to the elaborate richness of the base in Assyrian and Persian work. The shaft, however, has now got rid of the ugly, bulbous form we have met with at Thebes (where the column looks weakest at the very point where strength should be suggested). It tapers slightly, but has no entasis, and below the capital it nearly always takes the form of a bundle of stalks confined by a band wound several times round the shaft. The capitals themselves are all different, and form a series as varied as those of the Doge’s Palace, while the abacus is kept reasonably low. A good deal of colour still remains intact, and the design is altogether one of the lightest and most attractive in the island. The corresponding colonnade on the east side has only 16 columns, and is stopped at the south end by the ruins of a small temple to the Nubian god Ahresnefer, built by Ptolemy Philopator about B.c. 220, and repaired by other kings, including Ergamenes of Nubia, who appears to have as¬ sumed the titles of the ancient Pharaohs, and was treated as an equal by the reigning Ptolemy. The ten columns nearest to this temple are still unfinished, and the capitals were roughly blocked out before being placed in position. This habit of building in all masonry in the rough and finishing it on the spot, often led to temples remaining in¬ complete for centuries, or even, it seems, for P hi l ae 47 PHILAE. THE OUTER COURT OF THE TEMPLE OF ISIS, LOOKING NORTH. 4§ Philae PHILAE. WEST COLONNADE OF THE OUTER COURT TO THE TEMPLE OF ISIS. Philae 49 PHILAE. EAST COLONNADE OF THE OUTER COURT: TEMPLE OF ISIS Philae PHILAE. WEST COLONNADE OF THE FORECOURT, TEMPLE OF ISIS. P hi lae. 5i FHILAE. CAPITALS IN THE HYPOSTYLE HALL. TEMPLE OF ISIS. eternity, but work did not usually cease at such an early stage of progress as this. The first pylon, begun about B.c. 370, and measuring 150 ft. by 25 ft., with a height of 60 ft., occupies most of the north end of the forecourt ; the reliefs on its outer face date from the time of Ptolemy Auletes (b.c. 80), and consist of the usual figures, but none of the accessories have been put in. On each side of the central doorway, another work of N cetane - bus II., the pylon is grooved to receive a flagstaff, and the west tower contains a smaller doorway leading direct to the “ Birth-house ” in the fore¬ court. Facing the east tower, and separated from it by an entrance gateway of Ptolemy II., is a very small temple of lemhotep, an Egyptian god, iden¬ tified by the Greeks with dEsculapius. It was completed by Ptolemy X., about B.c. 200, and he appears over the doorway in conventional form, making offerings to the gods. But the inscription stating the dedication of the temple by himself and his queen Cleopatra is, in defiance of tradi¬ tion, carved on the top member of the cornice in Greek characters, an innovation hardly ever met with, even under the Roman occupation. Entering the forecourt, which measures about 100 ft. by 80 ft., we see on the left the “ Birth- house ” already mentioned, commemorating the birth of Horus, son of Isis, and consisting of a vestibule leading to three small chambers. It is a complete detached temple in itself, and on three sides is surrounded by an external colonnade, a remarkable feature which was never introduced in the work of any earlier period. Regarding the temple merely as the western boundary of the forecourt, it would of course be natural to the Egyptiins to build a colonnade on the inner side of it ; but those on the north and west sides have no such raison d'etre, and seem to suggest that here, if anywhere, some direct Greek influence may be traced. The whole plan, indeed, is abnormal, for not only is it a piece of external architecture, while the Egyptian temples aimed solely at internal effect, but the mere fact of the third hall of the interior being the largest contradicts the Egyptian principle of diminishing the scale from the entrance onwards. Many of the Hathor capitals in the order are well preserved, and there is a barbaric richness about the whole design when compared with that of the outer court. The corresponding building on the east side consists of some small rooms opening out of a colonnade and containing reliefs of the time of Tiberius ; in one of the rooms a staircase leads to an upper story of considerable size. The second pylon, on the north side, is set at an angle to the forecourt, and is only about 100 ft. P hi l ae. in length ; at the base of the east tower an in¬ scribed stele was formed on the face of the granite rock which here crops out, and a small shrine, now very dilapidated, was put up to shelter it from the weather. A flight of steps leads up to the entrance of the temple proper, which in plan is a compressed edition, so to speak, of the smaller Theban type represented by that of Khons at Karnak, which, however, is rather longer. The open vestibule is very short, and only has one column on each side, but as it was divided from the Hypostyle hall merely by low screen walls (now destroyed) the two together practically form one large hall con¬ taining ten columns and partly open to the sky. The capitals here are the finest examples remain¬ ing of the colour system of this period, and, thanks to the sheltered position, their preservation is almost perfect. A light bluish -green, a dull brick red, and a blue of medium tone are the colours mainly used, while we miss the combina¬ tion of turquoise and dark blue which is so charac¬ teristic of earlier decoration in Egypt. The colours are arranged without any attempt to imitate realistically the foliage represented on the capital, and it will be noticed that in the outer range of columns the design is carved in bold relief as well as painted, but at the back of the hall the relief is very slight. No doubt it was felt that in the latter position the colouring was effective enough, but that it needed the emphasis of high relief under the strong light from the opening in the vestibule roof. The reflection thrown up by the sunlit floor, now covered with sand, adds a kind of theatrical brilliance to the colours, and the whole picture is one of the most cheerful and fascinating to be met with in the entire series of ancient temples. When Isis worship was finally put down, Coptic services were held in the Hypostyle hall, and traces of these may still be seen in the crosses carved on the walls; there is also a Latin in¬ scription upon the restored shaft of one of the columns. Beyond the hall lie the sanctuary and other small dark rooms surrounding it ; they con¬ tain the usual reliefs of the time of Ptolemy II., who founded the temple about B.c. 270, and in his reign and that of his son most of the work was carried out. Passing between the second pylon and the Birth-house, where the columns on the north and east sides are still unfinished, we reach the Nilometer — a flight of steps leading down to the river and enclosed by walls, on which the levels are marked in palms and cubits. The cubit is about 20 inches, and the measurement lines ex¬ tend up to the seventeenth, presumably just above the highest flood level of the period. This cor¬ responds fairly closely with the average rise at the present day, and shows that whatever changes may have taken place in the lower Nile valley, the granite bed of the river at this point has hardly been worn down at all in the last twenty cen¬ turies. Close to the Nilometer stands Hadrian’s gate¬ way, modelled on that of Nectanebus in the first pylon, and decorated by Marcus Aurelius (one of the reliefs represents the source of the Nile as a river god at the foot of a mountain, pouring water from two vases), and the square temple of Harne- diotef or Horus, built under Claudius, but now entirely destroyed down to the pavement level owing to the removal of the stones for use in Coptic churches. At the northern end of the island the temple of Augustus, erected in b.c. 12 by the Nubians of the district, is interesting as a piece of Roman work in character as well as date, and it is curious that at the same time building operations in connection with the temple of Isis were being carried out in the traditional and vernacular style, which held its own as late as the reign of Hadrian. Even in details of construction a difference may be seen, for the blocks of stone in the temple of Augustus are numbered or lettered in Greek char¬ acters, while in vernacular work the place of each stone was indicated on it by incised lines showing the position of the joints in the surrounding blocks. In front of the temple, but not quite central with it, Diocletian erected a gateway which formed in its time the entrance to the island from the north. It consists of a large central and two smaller side arches, and over one of the latter there still remains about half of a dome on pen- dentives — a true masonry dome with radiating voussoirs. If the building really dates from about a.d. 300, the authority for which was found in the name of Diocletian inscribed on one of the stones which is now lost, this must be by far the earliest known example of a dome on pendentives covering an opening square in plan. Turning southwards again we pass the ruins of a Coptic church, for which materials were taken from the temple of Harnediotef, and reach the Temple of Hathor; this was founded by Ptolemy Philometor (b.c. 182-146), but the forecourt with columns between screen walls, now mostly de¬ stroyed, dates from Roman times. The facade of the temple itself contains two columns with very beautiful capitals, on which a good deal of colour has survived, and the whole design, owing to its extremely small scale, looks like a miniature model for a larger temple. Near the corner of the first pylon we notice an unfinished and ruinous chapel built to shelter a Philae 53 VOL. XIV. — V. PHILAE. THE KIOSQUE. 54 Philae . PHILAE. OUTER COURT OF THE TEMPLE OF ISIS, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1902. large altar, and finally turn to the celebrated building known as the Kiosque, or “ Pharaoh’s bed,” which is conspicuous in every view of Philae, and is probably the last building of any size erected in the traditional style of Egypt, since it is attributed to Trajan, and may have been founded well on in the second century a.d. Obviously it is not a temple ; apart from the doorway at each end, such a building, open on all sides except for screen walls of no great height, would have been quite unsuited to the Egyptian ritual with its dark and mysterious surroundings. It is more likely to have been used as a hall for the marshalling of religious processions, which had crossed over from the mainland. The design was modelled, M. Perrot suggests, on that of the Vestibule of Nectanebus, the Hathor capitals of which are here copied on a larger scale. Only the lower capitals, however, were executed, and the abacus blocks are still unfinished and project slightly beyond the architrave ; in fact, most of the masonry throughout has been left in the rough as it was originally built, except for one panel on the interior face of the screen walls. The Kiosque can never have been roofed in the ordinary way with single slabs of stone, as there are no internal supports, and the existence of hollows cut on the inner side of the cornice blocks points to the use of wooden beams. The curious form of doorway with a broken lintel, so often met with in work of the Roman period, is said to have been adopted because the long poles which carried standards and other religious emblems could not pass under an ordinary lintel unless the door was of considerable height ; but the innovation came too late in the history of the style to allow of the jamb and its fragment of lintel receiving a more appropriate treatment. Another alteration in detail was involved in this change ; that splen¬ didly decorative symbol, the winged globe, which from very early times was carved over every Egyptian doorway without exception, has now to be placed in the centre of the main cornice, where we find it here and in the Temple of Hathor. Such was Philae in the past. As to the future, it may be recalled that the first scheme for the great dam, put forward in 1893, provided for a head of water which would have entirely covered the temples for several months in the year. In consequence of the indignation aroused in all parts of the world by this prospect, the engineers were obliged to reduce the height of the dam by 27 ft., though this maximum is still far from satisfactory to Philae. The result is, that from December to April the water level of the new lake will reach rather more than half way up the Philae. 55 PHILAE. THE TEMPLE OF ISIS IN THE AUTUMN OF I902. columns in the outer court, and slightly less in the Temple of Isis and the Kiosque, which stand a few feet higher. The stability of the buildings has been as far as possible assured. Major Lyons’ investigations in 1896 showed that, contrary to the usual custom in ancient Egypt, the foundations are of consider¬ able depth, and in most cases reach the solid rock; they were further repaired and strengthened during the last year, but still it is impossible to think that the sandstone blocks, some of them very poor in quality, can permanently resist the action of the water, and in any case deposits of river mud will disfigure their surface. The engineers are cheerfully optimistic ; they point out that the high level water of the dam will contain hardly any of the Nile mud, which is only brought down at a certain time of year ; and they even go so far as to assert that Philae “will rise refreshed every year like Aphrodite from the sea,” apparently regarding the five months’ submersion as a kind of gigantic spring- cleaning. Refreshed or not, however, there will be no one to see it rise, since it is precisely from December to April that Assouan is visited by Europeans, and in the height of the summer when the island will partly emerge, the climate puts any such intention out of the question. e 2 The necessity for the Assouan dam must be fully admitted. No country can be called upon to forego progress, and turn itself into a museum of antiquities, for the benefit of the travelling world. But at the same time, Philae has not been “pre¬ served ; ” it has been destroyed in all but the actual dismemberment of the buildings — an in¬ evitable sacrifice, in spite of the fact that the temples may still stand for centuries, and succes¬ sive generations may still come to gaze on the. ghost of the most beautiful scene in Egypt. Ronald P. Jones. Note. — The best authority on Philae is the “ Report on the Island and Temples of Philae,” by Major Lyons (oblong quarto, Cairo, 1896), which gives plans and particulars of all the buildings- investigated at that time, and a beautiful series of photographs. Unfortunately the temple of Isis- itself is omitted altogether, since it was not found necessary to do any repairs or excavations there so that in this important respect the book is in¬ complete. I cannot find that anything has been published on a large scale with measured draw¬ ings or facsimiles of the colour decoration, except that a few of the Hypostyle capitals are given in Prisse d’Avenne’s “ Histoire de l’Art Egyptien.”' Cn English Mediceval Figure-Sculplure 6 English Mediaeval Figure -Sculpture. CHAPTER VL— FIRST GOTHIC FIGURE- SCULPTURE (1175-1280). CARVING IN RELIEF. By Edward S. Prior and Arthur Gardner. As already said, the reliefs at Westminster must have been earlier than the great angels of Lin¬ coln. They are placed at the ends of the transepts in the spandrels of the window-arches, which range with the triforium. The date of their carving was therefore from 1250-1260 — those at the north end being probably the first worked. Since there are three arches in the transept end, there are- -to use the description adopted for the Lincoln work — two central figures and two flanking in each composition. At the north end the central figures are gone, but we give (Fig. 100 b) a photograph of the cast made from one of the flanking angels, and Fig. 100 A gives the other angel in the north tran¬ sept, taken from the work itself. Contemporary with the first angels at Lincoln, they can be seen to have the same draperies and filleted head-dress, but the sentiment and quality of the work are vastly superior. There is in pose and expression that indefinable suggestion which appears so curi¬ ously in thirteenth-century sculpture — the re¬ assertion of the noble type, as opposed to the merely pretty one, which, for want of a better word, we are compelled to call the “ sculptur¬ esque ideal,” and which is so striking a charac¬ teristic in the Greek art of the filth century B.c. No early Athenian relief could be calmer or nobler in design, and curiously, too, the details of tech¬ nique in hair and draperies have been paralleled. Turning, however, to the central figures (which in the south transept remain) we note a disregard of anatomy— such as no Greek work shows, and which we shall remark often when thirteenth- century sculptors deal with movement. This is very visible in the contorted attitudes adopted as the energetic expression of mediaeval earnestness. In this one matter the Lincoln angel-sculptors show a superior training, and a capacity to emerge, which might have led to still greater achievements, if the course of architecture had permitted it. But Gothic architecture was not to be regulated so as to create a style in frieze-sculpture. The method of large figure-reliefs carved on the sur¬ face of the wall, and dependent for effect on the broad surface of the architectural ground, appears essentially as a thirteenth-century prac¬ tice. In the fourteenth century the scope of figure-relief was restricted to the smaller fields of screen-work and tomb canopies, and, even in the decoration of such furniture, had to yield largely to the competition of the constructional ornaments A.G. FIG. IOI.— PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT. of architectural use. In the big spaces of the building scheme, tracery and panel ousted the figure from its earlier position as spandrel decora¬ tion, or admitted it only as the detached figure, for which an architectural niche had been prepared. But at first, these trefoils and quatrefoils, which grew into tracery and foreshadowed the doom of figure-relief, were designedly, themselves, the seats of figure-work. Thus, in the Winchester Chapels of c. 1204 — one of the earliest of our full Gothic works — the quatrefoils of the wall arcades can be seen to have had affixed to their Purbeck filling figures either of wood or metal. At Boxgrove, near Chichester, the main arcade of the Quire, c. 1220, has in its spandrels deep-cut quatrefoils, in each of which has been a figure, an idea which clearly follows the shallow-set reliefs carved in the triforium of the Chichester Quire, the work of c. 1190. 61 Heads set in foiled panels still remain in the west front of Peterborough (Fig. 101), and there are half-length figures of apostles on the parapet of the apse of the same cathedral, which were added about the same date, 1225 (Fig. 102). So, too, in the west front of Wells, there are at different heights three ranges of geometrical recesses, each exhibiting a series of connected figure-subjects, which, as being probably executed 61 The figures here are now plasterwork, which was modelled on the remains of the old about the year 1815. In the draperies some of the original is le't A.G. FIG. 102. — PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL. PARAPET OF APSE. 5 8 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. with the arcades of the west front, inay be accepted as some of the earliest work in this our great English show of early sculpture. Their ■date would thus be about 1220 to 1230. They are practically detached sculpture leading up to the art of the statues, of which some may be con¬ temporary, but most would be later in date. The first tier is one of thirty-two quatrefoils, not a few of which still contain figures, half-length, as at Peterborough, with an execution that is completely in the round (Fig. 103). The face treatment is that of the corbel heads in the west bays of the interior (see Fig. 66b, Chap. IV7.), with short hair and round full features, while the drapery- starts the peculiar style which appears through¬ out the Wells statues, that of finely divided, rippled folds, a skilful refinement of what in the Malmesbury (Fig. 51, Chap. III.) and Wenlock reliefs (Fig. 52, Chap. III.) was rudimentary and inexpressive. We regard this drapery as a local English evolution, whose steps can be traced up¬ wards from its sources. It can be clearly^ distin¬ guished from the broader, flat, angular cutting of drapery which, begun in the reliefs of the Lincoln West Front (see Figs. 43 and 44, Chap. III.), reached its finest technique in the great works we have shown from Westminster and Lincoln. just above at Wells, another somewhat larger range of fifty quatrefoils, instead of single figures, has subjects in full relief, many of which are in good preservation. Those to the south of the central doorway are from scenes of the Old Testament, those to the north from the New. We show from the latter, “ Christ among the Doctors” (Fig. 104): the “Transfiguration” and “Last Supper” are equally striking as com¬ positions. On the north, the reliefs showing the FIG. 103. WELLS. WEST FRONT. “ Creation ” and “ Fall of Man ” are specially dramatic, the figure of the Almighty being power¬ fully rendered. The figures in these sculptures are about two feet in height, and their dignity and their solemn action distinguish them as some of the most serious of our thirteenth-century sculptures; it is a pity that decay and distance from the ground make them little observed, for their quality shows English art at a high level by the side of the contemporary French, and still more when compared with the first works of the Italian Renaissance. The sculptures of the two quatrefoils immediately on either side of the central doorway do not be¬ long to this series, but must have been carved in connection with the “Coronation of the Virgin,” which with its arcaded niche was plainly an insertion into the scheme of the lower stage of the front. The actions here are seen to be a little freer, and the draperies less minutely folded, a progress in technique which we shall note also in the detached statues as they begin to advance into the later manner. The figure of St. John the Evangelist (Fig. 105) is essentially dramatic, and the “ Coronation of the Virgin ” (Fig. 106), though dignified, has a plastic emphasis of action which is wanting in the earlier reliefs. Such a work we can put in close connec¬ tion with the contemporary ivories. The third tier of figure reliefs at Wells acts as a cornice to the great range of statues. At some hundred feet from the ground is the Resur¬ rection (Fig. 107), the naked dead FIG. I04. — WELLS. WEST FRONT OF CATHEDRAL. “CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS.” (From a photograph taken by Mr. T. W. Phillips, of Wells, during the Restoration.) English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture. 59 A.G. FIG. 105. — WELLS. WEST FRONT. “ST.JOHN.” bursting from their tombs at the trump of doom. The inexpertness of the mediaeval sculptor when he attempts the nude, to which his sight was unaccustomed, is very evident here. The effects of the human anatomy under draperies are deli¬ cately rendered by the Wells statuary, but un¬ draped it is blockwork to him. Still, not a little dramatic action and dignified composition is com¬ bined with this faulty presentation, and, as seen from the ground, these broader qualities are visible. We give, however, a photograph that was taken from the scaffold close at hand at the time of the repair of the front (Fig. 108). What was, without doubt, the earliest of the sculpture of the Wells front, we have left to the last, because it introduces our final class of relief work — that which centres the interest upon a single field, and is found conspicuously in the tympana of the great doorways. Compared with the development of the door-sculpture abroad, that at Wells is clearly puny and insignificant : even for England this portal was felt to be too small, as is proved by the insertion of the Coronation scene peihaps some ten years later. A. G. FIG. !o6. — WELLS. WEST FRONT. “CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.” On the supposition that at Wells the work at the west end was begun by Bishop Jocelyn imme¬ diately on his return to England in 1218, we may look on the tympanum-carving as being c. 1220. At that date at Paris, Rheims, and Amiens, there were being built the great west doorways, thronged with statues, and with door-heads filled with magnificent examples of relief sculpture which are the glory of French Gothic art. The rejection of the French ideal is very evident at Wells : the doors are made small so as to interfere as little as possible with the great screen of sculp¬ ture which covers the whole front. So we must recognise that there was not the least intention to rely on the manner of the foreign sculptor. In¬ stead, we have a diminutive representation of the Madonna and Child (Fig. 109), set in a quatrefoil, and flanked by two angels. The type of these last, with their fluttering garments, we can evidently refer to their Saxon prototypes at Bradford (see Fig. 13, Chap. II.). And the Madonna is but a slight remove from the figures on the twelfth- century seals (see Figs. 40 and 55, Chap. III.): in fact, the whole is grounded on the smaller FIG. 107. — WELLS. WEST FRONT. THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. A.G. 6o English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. FIG. 10S. — WELLS. WEST FRONT. “ THE RESURRECTION.” (From a photograph by Mr. T. W. Phillips, of Wells.) Romanesque examples of English habit, such as those at Elkstone (Fig. 48, Chap. III.) or Bar- freston (Fig. 61, Chap. III.). The only difference is that the Gothic quatrefoil has taken the place of the vesica piscis of Byzantine art, and skill in modelling has advanced beyond the incised repre¬ sentations of drapery. The English type of doorhead sculpture is shown, too, in all its thirteenth-century insignifi¬ cance at Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire (Fig. no), where the quatrefoil contains only small represen¬ tations of the St. Guthlac legend taken directly from manuscript illuminations. It is outside the doorway, on the walls flanking it, that the im¬ portant statues are set upon detached niches. Indeed, in what has come down to us, the only examples in England of thirteenth-century door- head sculpture that approach the scale of the French, are those of the south door at Lincoln (Fig. iii) and of the Chapter-house doors at Westminster. The Lincoln carving is a spirited relief representation of the Doom, distinctly founded on manuscript traditions. The figure to of the Christ in Judgment is set in a quatrefoil and modelled largely and in bold relief. The treatment of the smaller figures has all the finesse and delicacy which we saw in the arch-moulds round the door, that we showed large in the last chapter. A modern head has now been given the figure of Christ, but the origi¬ nal draperies can be seen to be finely rendered in a manner of their own, which differs from that of Wells and Westmin¬ ster. We shall observe on this drapery, which is different from that of the quire- angels, when we come to the Lincoln statues : here the Christ is in effect a detached image modelled in the round. At Westminster the figures on the Chapter-house doorways, though on the inside combined with reliefs in trefoils FIG. I I 2. — WESTMINSTER ABBEY. DOORWAY. A.G CHAPTER HOUSE make up a single composition, are avowedly statues set on pedestals. We shall therefore deal with them as im¬ ages in the next chapter. Of the reliefs, the central figures over the door are gone, but the trefoils on either side contain figures, one of which we illustrate (Fig. 112). They are too much worn to allow us to infer much as to their style, but the way in which the angel is tilted up to fit into the trefoil recalls the similar awkwardness of the spandrels in the choir-chapels and transepts, and may be reckoned as belonging EIG. 109. — WELLS. WEST FRONT. TYMPANUM OF PRINCIPAL DOORWAY. to the same sculpture of c. 1250. English Mediaeval Figure -Sculpture 6 1 A. G FIG. III. — LINCOLN. SOUTH DOORWAY OF “ANGEL CHOIR.” (The heads and arms of the three central figures are new.) Notes. Ill Wellington Monument — The Strand Improvement — -The St. Louis Exhibition — Open Spaces We give, by courtesy of the Committee for the Completion of the Wellington Monument, a series of views showing the effect of Stevens’s model in position. One or two missing parts have been restored from the small competition- model (see March number of The Architectural Review) and the object of the Committee was to judge of the actual effect of the group with those minimum modifications. The monument has been open to public inspection, so that all inter¬ ested should be able to form an opinion on the facts. In a letter to the Times of June 30th, Lord \\ indsor and others (members of the Architectural Vigilance Society) have called attention to the latest action of the London County Council in the matter of the Strand and Holborn Improve¬ ment Scheme. The County Council made a promising beginning some years ago when they arranged a limited competition among distin¬ guished architects for the treatment of the crescent and street, and offered premiums for the best designs. The designs were judged by Mr. Norman Shaw, but the Council took no further steps to secure that the prize-winners’ designs should be carried out. More recently, the Corporate Property Committee of the Council reported in favour of some control over the materials and style of the buildings. The material was to be Portland stone, the designs were to be sub¬ mitted to the Committee for approval, and in case of their not being approved, lessees were to submit new and amended designs, and “ to be at liberty to retain the services of anyone of the four architects ” who were successful in the competition. Other architects, it will be seen, were not be excluded, but a hint was given that the designers already approved by the Council might with advantage be employed. Less than this, it seems to us, the Council could not do without stultifying its previous action, and even if other architects had been employed under this clause, they would have taken care not to propose anything grossly incongruous with the models already approved. In either case, the new thoroughfare would have gained in dignity and continuity of style. But when the report was brought up, the clause relating to the premiated architects was thrown out by a small majority. We greatly regret that this should have happened, and join with Lord in Towns. Windsor and his colleagues in the hope that the point will be reconsidered. There has been no announcement so far of the intentions with respect to architecture of the Fine Art Committee of the British Commission for the exhibition at St. Louis. The committee, at first a purely Academical one, has been enlarged, to its advantage, by including representatives of various Painter Societies. The Royal Institute of Archi¬ tects is also now represented by its President, Mr. Aston Webb, who joins the excellent aca¬ demical representative, Mr. T. G. Jackson. We should like to urge that it is desirable to add one or two leading outsiders to these official members. We do not mention names, but it would be easy to suggest one or two that would make the com¬ mittee more fully representative, and the exhibi¬ tion in consequence more complete. Another point we should like to suggest for the considera¬ tion of the committee, and that is the desirability of allowing the inclusion in the exhibition of photographs of completed work, as well as drawings and models. The Academy has remained con¬ servative on that point, but as this exhibition in intention is a national and not an academical one, it would be well to meet the view of a very large number of architects. Moreover, an exhibition of this kind, not being likely to affect English architecture very directly, might well be seized upon for experimental variation. The precedent of the recent Glasgow Exhibition is in favour of the use of photographs ; the retrospective collec¬ tion there was a most interesting one. There is not too much time now for architects to make their arrangements, and we hope a scheme will soon be published, and that it will be a liberal one. A good deal of indignation has been roused by a project for building on an open space in Grove End Road, St.John’s Wood, the property of Lord H oward de Walden. It is urged that the build¬ ings will go far to spoil a pleasant artists’ quarter. The defence is that besides the general right of the proprietor to do what he will with his own, the buildings are to be artizans’ dwellings. To this it is replied that the houses will not be used by artizans, that the ground could have been profitably laid out in studio building, so as to pre¬ serve the present character of the neighbourhood, and that it is time some consideration were given The Nezv Gare d’ Orleans , Paris. to the preservation of open spaces not only on the outskirts of London, but nearer the centre. A case like this throws into relief the clash of inte¬ rests which are allowed at present to fight things out among themselves. On the one hand there is the pressure of population, and the pecuniary interest of the speculative builder. On the other is the need of air and space by this same population, and the natural desire of those who settle in a quarter, and invest money in their houses, for some security that the amenities of the place shall not be sacrificed and the value of their property re¬ duced by the action of an individual owner regard¬ less of the community. The bousing and space problem has its best hope of solution in the de¬ velopment of quick communication and the trans- 63 mission of electrical power, so that industrial garden cities may be plotted out with forethought and limited in extent. The security of the com¬ munity against the speculative proprietor seems to call for legislation, since at present no clause of building acts or bye-laws gives any protection. It may be added that the community itself in its need of “rateable values” tends to regard open spaces in cities with jealousy. In Paris a heavy tax on unoccupied building sites and even on gardens is actively forcing owners to build upon them ; and even so far out as Neuilly gardens that gave its character to that suburb are fast disap¬ pearing. Soon only a millionaire will be able to afford a garden. In London we ought to look ahead and devise some counter-check to this process. The New Gare d’Orl£ans, Paris. Some day, no doubt, a history will be written of the remarkable series of iron and glass buildings for exhibitions and railway stations that have been the most novel architectural develop¬ ment of our time. We give a number of views of one of the latest and most imposing, the new Gare d’Orleans in Paris. In these structures, with their vast spans and the perspective network of the rails upon their floor, we are reduced to the purest elements of structure, of space-enclosing and division. The decoration expended upon them has seldom been happy, and there has been an active source of displeasure in the smoke and grime of steam-engines. Even so these mighty “naves” have their impressiveness, and the play of geometry and dynamics its appeal to the ima¬ gination, when a train curves round under the span of a station like that of the Great Northern at York. /?ue Ttf/e, S' 7V/ T/o/v flrBR/DC* LEVEL. - h- ■■ PC&f'farTnS faTai p THE NEW GARE D’ORLEANS, PARIS. SKETCH PLAN. The disagreeableness of smoke is likely to be re¬ duced in the near future ; in the Gare d’Orleans it is abolished. The trains are brought into the terminus from the outskirts of Paris by electric traction and by an underground line. This is shown in our illustration of the interior, the level being nearly that of the river. This has one dis¬ advantage, that it cuts up the floor space of the vast hall on the street level. On either side of this “ nave” is an “aisle.” That on the far side is enclosed and occupied by offices ; that on the river front is partly occupied by luggage-lifts and ticket-offices, but part of the great promenade space is taken up by a huge exhibition of photo¬ graphs of places of interest on the line. An attempt has also been made to carry out the old idea of Mr. Watts and Courbet, by commissioning painters to execute panels of landscapes in the lunettes at the ends of this arcade. One of these is seen on page 71. The roof is a mixture of Crystal Palace and Roman Bath models. We give views of the great cradle before the partial filling-in by caissons had been completed. Many will prefer this anatomy of the structure to the finished architecture. Monsieur Laloux was the designer- in-chief. Subordinate to him were Messieurs Lemaresquier and Mayeux. Our reproductions are taken from a fine series of photographs exe¬ cuted by M. Chevojon, under the direction of Messieurs Kulikowski, who carried out the sculp¬ ture-decoration of the building. 64 The New Gave d' Orleans, Pans THE NEW GARE D’ORLEANS, QUAI D’ORSAY, PARIS. GENERAL VIEW OF THE FACADE FROM NORTH BANK OF THE SEINE. mni! The New Gave d' Orleans, Pans , -Si: . THE NEW GARE D’ORLEANS, QUAI D’ORSAY, PARIS DETAIL OF FACADE. Photo: A. Chevojon. 66 The New Gave d' Orleans, Pans. Photo: A. Chevojon. THE NEW GARE D’ORLEANS, QUAI U’ORSAY, PARIS. VIEW OF FACADE FROM NORTH-EAST. The New Gare d' Orleans , Paris 67 THE NEW GARE D’ORLEANS, PARIS. VIEW OF THE HOTEL. a. Chtvojo*. Architect. 7 he New Gave d' 0} 'leans, Paris. o c? a O o o a, W w z X w H O NEW GARE D’ORLEANS, PARIS. RAL VIEW OF INTERIOR, LOOKING WEST, DURING CONSTRUCTION. The New Gare d Orleans, Paris 69 VOL. XIV. — F THE NEW GARE D’ORLEAN S, PARIS. GENERAL VIEW OF INTERIOR FROM THE Photo : A . Chevojon. SOUTH-WEST, DURING CONSTRUCTION. ?o The New Gave d' Orleans , Paris Photo: A. Chevojon THE NEW GARE D’ORLEANS, PARIS. INTERIOR OF BOOKING HALL, DURING CONSTRUCTION. LOOKING WEST I L ] '■’f tliwiitfir" -4 1 . T 5T‘- s ■ if-jj I 1 or The New Gave d' Orleans , Paris 7i Photo: A. Chevojon. THE NEW CARE D'GRLEANS, PARIS. THE BOOKING HALL, LOOKING EAST. 72 The' New Gave d' Orleans, Pa ns. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, SEPTEMBER, I903, VOLUME XIV. NO. 82. THE NEW AND THE OLD GAIETY. FROM A DRAWING BY MUIRHEAD BONE. The Design of London Shopfronts. At the first glance the design of a shopfront may seem to be outside the pale of subjects to be here profitably considered, by reason of the strictly commercial requirements which it must, before all others, satisfy. It may even be said that the word “design” cannot justly be applied to the subject at all, and that the largest possible ex¬ panse of plate glass, set in the most limited of frames, will alone satisfy the shopkeeper and en¬ able him to attain his engrossing purpose — the attraction of the passer-by : for the shopkeeper is less like the real work-a-day spider than he is to the legendary web-spinner ; who, as the poet tells us, invites the fly to enter, by reference to the prettiness she will espy within. If excuse be needed one may reply that the nice and most economical * adjustment of constructive means to the result to be obtained, is a cardinal virtue in * Economist — one who spends money, time, or materials judiciously and without waste. the designer ; that certainly in no other class of design is it more necessary to attain efficiency ; and that our attention will be justified by proof that an intelligent and fearless endeavour to fulfil the governing conditions may produce a shopfront, not only more efficient for its purpose — more at¬ tractive to the customer — but also architecturally interesting. If then we bear in mind this necessary power of attraction as the governing condition in all cases, it will be found to explain, not only the evolution of the shopfront from the robust construction of Tudor and Jacobean times to the attenuated frame¬ work of the Victorian era, but also that more re¬ cent development whose tendency, as we shall see by reference to examples, is to increase at once its decorative importance and its commercial value. We have not yet freed ourselves from that pe¬ dantic little practice — -the labelling and docketting of architectural periods ; and since this endeavour FIG. 1. NO. 21, NEW STREET, ST. MARTIN’S LANE. Photo : E. Dockree. ■ VOL. XIV.— G 2 The Design of London Shopfronts 1 6 FIG. 2. NO. 137, LONG ACRE. IG. 3. NO. 138, LONG ACRE. Photos : E. Dockree. 77 The Design of London Shopfronts . to elaborate the shopfront, until it ceases to be a mere frame and becomes an essential part of the picture itself, coincides so nearly with the accession of the present king ; and is, like the mediaeval or Gothic work, based on a logical disposition of its several parts, we may christen it by the name of Saxe Coburg Gothic. No inquiry into the principles which govern these designs will be of value which fails to emphasize the fact that the modern shopfront is but the last in a sequence of designs, each care¬ fully adapted to the requirements of its time, and for which the available constructive materials were used to the best advantage. They are the direct heirs of the privileges acquired under the easy-going municipal control of the earlier periods : privileges which lapse of time has converted into easements and prescriptive rights, of very great value, jealously guarded and maintained by their owners. A very cursory reference to old prints shows that, in Tudor times, the limited stock in trade and the small size of the premises compelled the shopkeeper to attract attention by means of sign¬ boards ; these swung boldly over the footway and competed, one with another, in the perspective of the street. This custom may still be traced in the sign¬ boards of inns, the parti-coloured spirals of the barber’s pole, and the heroic figure of a High¬ lander taking a pinch of snuff, in all the bravery of tartan ; one of which still, in Tottenham Court Road, survives the coming of the Tobacco Trust. Lombard Street,® too, still blushes in its coro¬ nation masquerade looking as sheepish as a re¬ spectable merchant might well do, who should chance to find himself seated at his office desk decked out in a fancy ball costume. These signs and emblems were attractions to the eye : even more emphatic were the appeals to the ear, by shouts of Buy ! Buy ! Buy ! and praise of the goods to be sold ; a method of attraction characteristic of the booth keeper at the fair and, even now, not unfamiliar to the frequenter of back streets within a mile of Charing Cross. Of the Jacobean shopfront we have probably no remaining example. Structurally it differed but little from its Tudor forerunners. During both periods a fixed frame, glazed in very small panes, allowed the light to pass to the interior of the shop, for it must be remembered that no depend¬ ence could then be placed on artificial lighting. This glazed frame was protected by stout flap shutters, hung in two folds, of which the lower were by day swung down on iron stays to form an outer counter; on these the goods were displayed, but slightly protected from the weather by the * The failure of these Lombard Street signs to satisfy the aesthetic sense, gives an apt illustration of the influence which fitness for the purpose unconsciously exercises upon the mind. In the old days the signs explained the business, now, we have to ascertain the business before we can understand the signs. [But see p. 99. — Ed., A R.] FIG. 4. NO. I39, LONG ACRE. Photo : E Dockree The Design of London Shopfronts . Photo : E. Dockree. FIG. 5. NO. 34, HAYMARKET. upper folds, which were hinged at the top, and projected an equal distance over the footway ; or, at least over the grated opening through which light passed to the basement rooms. Georgian variations of this outer swinging counter may still be seen in lesser streets — take for instance the butcher’s shop in New Street, St. Martin’s Lane (Fig. 1), and an interesting example, 138, Long Acre (Fig. 2), though in this latter case the shutter no longer serves as a counter. The tendency throughout the Georgian period was certainly to trust less to the signboard and to develop the glazed front, of which the panes in¬ creased and the bars diminished in size as time went on (Fig. 3) ; the goods were then displayed under cover, the swinging shutter being replaced by the light-framed shutter set in a groove, still in common use (Fig. 4). Interesting Georgian shopfronts have within this last year been swept away to make room for the new street from Holborn to the Strand. Booksellers’ Row was especially noteworthy — while it remained we still possessed an almost complete example of an old London business street. Several of the premises showed most careful designs, the details of the enriched soffits being especially excellent. Perhaps the finest example now to be seen is the tobacconist’s shop, No. 34, Flaymarket (Fig. 5) ; it probably dates from the early days of George III. A later varia¬ tion, of which there are other good examples, is shown in the curved front of No. 181, High Holborn (Fig. 6). In both these cases it will be noticed that the shopfront projects beyond the wall surface. This right to thrust itself forward into the street was probably limited by and equal to the projection of the hinged shutter counter already noticed. How¬ ever it may have been originally acquired, it pro¬ duced a loss of unity between the upper and lower portions of the building; scarcely to be noticed while the necessity for stout piers of brick or The Design of London Shopfronts. masonry, and the use of many wooden bars and divisions gave a more or less substantial character to the lower part, it became, when these were omitted, seriously detrimental to the street archi¬ tecture. Commercial methods came, in an especial de¬ gree, under the influences which wrought so marked a change in the national habits and cus¬ toms during the Victorian era. Of these we may notice first the extraordinary improvements in the manufacture of glass and the development of iron construction, which reached their apotheosis in the International Exhibition building of 1851. That exhibition and those of 1862 and 1867, aided by the increased facilities for travel and national intercourse which attended the growth of steam power, added the yeast of foreign in¬ fluences to the native composition. The close of the American Civil War in 1865 enabled the domineering and successful northerners to concentrate all their energies on the develop¬ ment of their commerce; no scruple of taste, no vestige of aesthetic consideration, restrained this 79 intensely practical people in the pursuit of suc¬ cess.* A better influence, but of less force, because less easily followed, came from France. Viollet- le-Duc recognised the necessity of adopting the constructive advantages given by wrought iron and steel, and made a persevering effort to use them frankly and in a decorative way. The taste¬ ful French architects adopted gun-metal for the framework of their shopfronts, and carried excel¬ lence of design and construction in this material to a point which has never been attained in England. Here, such a shopfront will invariably have the door of wood : but the French, more con¬ sistent, made that also of gun-metal, fitting it to the frame with the most perfect finish and skill. Stirred by the ferment of these newer methods the Fondon shopkeeper grew restless, he was not satisfied merely to get rid of the small panes and * A conclusive and recent example of American commercial methods may, to-day, be seen in an Oxford Street shop ; where a crowd is constantly attracted to the window by a wax figure balancing a ball. The figure has, of course, no reference to the goods to be sold. FIG. 6. NO. 1 8 1 , HIGH HOLBORN. Photo: E. Dockree. 8o The Design of London Shopfronts. wooden bars, he insisted that the shopfront should be extended to its utmost possible size. The stallboard was lowered, the fascia raised, the side and any intermediate piers of masonry reduced, or cut entirely away; until the glass spread its unsubstantial area from the pavement to near the sills of the first floor windows, at the sacrifice of all apparent stability. More especially is this loss of apparent stability to be noticed in the case of corner premises: where the projection of the shop, beyond both the front and return walls, allows the structural support of the building proper, now reduced to a steel column or stanchion, to be entirely concealed; the glass faces of the shop fronts being connected by a scarcely perceptible metal angle piece. The expedient sometimes adopted of rounding or canting the harsh right angle of the intersection gives no more sub¬ stantial result. It is not easy to see how designers can revert to sound construction and make the real support¬ ing members once more, not merely seen, but elaborated and emphasized by judicious decorative treatment ; unless some such change of plan as we shall presently notice be brought into general use; until, in fact, the shopkeeper is by example persuaded that his interests are thereby advanced : that — to use a modern idiom — there is money in it. In so far as those shops are concerned, in which the wares themselves exercise an irresistible attraction (to the feminine mind), there is not, for some time to come, likely to be any percep¬ tible change of treatment. It is to those more numerous shops in which the goods exposed for sale offer less attraction to the passer-by that we must turn. In them we begin to find a very noticeable tendency to augment this necessary attractive quality by the design of the shopfront itself. To the encouragement of this tendency we must look for the satisfaction of the increasing interest in applied design, fortunately so evident at the present time, and the equally important material profit of the shop owner. For, it is very certain, that no mere aesthetic prompting will in¬ duce him to spend his money on an elaborately planned front ; and also do what is to him of far greater importance, consent to lessen the area of display for his wares. The custom will only be established if it pay. One of the earliest, if not the first example of this most commendable endeavour to enlist the services of design as a power of attraction may be FIG. 7. NO. 40, WEST STRAND. GEORGE WALTON, ARCHITECT. Photo : B. Dockree. The Design of London Shopfronts. 8 1 Photo : E. Dockree. FIG. 8. NO. 5, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. FROM THE INTERIOR. GEORGE WALTON, ARCHITECT. noticed in the Regent Street shop, remodelled for the Kodak Company by Mr. George Walton. How uninspiring was the occasion, and how successful is the result, is easily seen by com¬ parison with the unreformed fronts of its neigh¬ bours. One of our illustrations, the Kodak premises in the Strand (Fig. 7), shows a more ambitious de¬ sign by the same author. Unfortunately, for our purpose, its success depends largely on a colour scheme which the camera fails to reproduce ; but those who have not the opportunity to see this for themselves, may be assured that the grey- yellow of the wax-polished oak frame, the mellow white of the ivory — or is it celluloid ? — the black of the ironwork and the carefully chosen purple blues and greys of the leaded glass, unite in most agreeable harmony. A careful study of the illus¬ tration will, moreover, prove that what may at first sight appear to be merely the sacrifice of ordinary conventions to obtain novelty, is, in reality, to be justified as a completely logical attention to the governing conditions. We must all have noticed that the upper part of these high shopfronts is generally garnished with various goods which can, by no chance, be carefully examined, and are only seen by a wearisome craning of the neck. These little- heeded wares effectually intercept the light which would be so valuable in the shop itself. For this reason, in many important shops, the business is, even in the daytime, conducted by artificial light: and it is no uncommon sight, when some colour has to be carefully matched to see the customer and the shopman adjourn to the outer air for the purpose. Notice then how skilfully this fact has been observed and turned to advantage in this example. The broad oak window head marks the limit of the area for effective display; while it establishes in the composition a nice adjustment of proportion, which must have been wholly lack¬ ing without it. Above this, and recessed to the 82 The Design of London Shopfronts. Ran VALUE, FIG. 9. NO 25, CHEAPS1DE, E.C. A. PAESER (MAPLE AND CO., LTD.) ARCHITECT. Photos : E. Dockree. FIG. 10. NO. 21, HIGH STREET, MARYLEBONE. REGINALD BLOMFIELD, ARCHITECT. The Design of London Shopfronts. back of the show-case, is a broad frieze of delicately designed leaded glass, through which light passes unimpeded to the shop within (Fig. 8). This re¬ cessed space is utilised for a lantern, by which a diffused toplightis thrown over the goods after dark. If one may venture to find, or rather to suggest a fault, it would be that the top of this recess, exposed as it is to the street, is difficult to keep clean ; and also that the name-frieze, or fascia, is not quite successfully attached to the pilasters. One thinks too, that the glass frieze above would have sufficiently blazoned the name, either by day or night. The oaken fascia, more quietly treated by the omission of the staring letters, would have strengthened the composition : but it is probable that, on this point, the designer found commerce too strong to yield to his better judgment. 33 The influence of this design may already be seen in the fronts of No. 5, Queen Victoria Street (Fig. 8), by the same designer, No. 45, Dover Street, and No. 25, Cheapside, by Maple & Co. (Fig. 9) where, as the illustration shows, the light passes through the upper part of the front to the interior: while a sufficient area is still reserved for display. The narrow footways of the older streets, barely sufficient as they are for purposes of traffic, have no space to spare for the curious and casual cus¬ tomer. This last-named example shows a varia¬ tion of plan which will, if followed, have far- reaching effects on our street architecture. By setting the shopfront some four feet within the frontage line a convenient recess is contrived, within which he may quietly inspect the wares FIG. II. NOS. 108 AND IIO, HIGH HOLBORN, W.C. W. CHARLES WAYMOUTH, ARCHITECT. 84 The Design of London Shopfronts . Photo : E. Dockree. FIG. 12. NO. 5, OLD BOND STREET. A. N. PATERSON, ARCHITECT. displayed, while the main stream of the traffic passes unimpeded. The small example of this new treatment No. 21, High Street, Marylebone (Fig. io), shows that the advantage gained by a judicious breaking away from mere routine is already appreciated, in districts which can hardly be expected to find profit in mere aesthetic con¬ sideration. Here also we trace the old Georgian treatment of No. 181, High Holborn, again assert¬ ing itself. No. 20 was not intended for illustra¬ tion, but is left, by the whim of the camera, to compare with the more architectural treatment. It will be noticed that these are all examples of beam construction ; only a slight reference to those other premises, where the shop is set in an arched opening, is necessary to show that success is but little likely to result from that practice. With few exceptions, the span of the arch is out of all proportion to the width of the piers which carry it : and its curve is, for the same reason, reduced to a flat segment ; while the most unsatisfactory depth of reveal can rarely persuade even the un¬ initiated that it is doing the work it pretends to do and which a steel girder is really doing in secret. No ! a beam construction is inevitably right : but it must be unconcealed and made visible by more logical treatment — beneficial alike to the pocket of the shopkeeper and the self respect of the designer. The setting back of the shopfront will still allow the fascia, as in the Cheapside example, to flaunt its obtrusive lettering on the very boundary of the frontage ; while the necessity for blinds and shutters will be, if not quite superseded, at least very much reduced ; the easily tempted customers will find themselves, literally, in the shop before they are aware ; and the anxious shopkeeper need be under no apprehension that they will stray unconsciously upon a rival's premises. By adopt¬ ing this plan, the booksellers of Charing Cross Road may display their tattered volumes, undis¬ turbed by the pertinacious summons of the West¬ minster Borough Council. Very valuable assist¬ ance in the attainment of these aims is likely to follow the use of armoured concrete, a combina¬ tion of materials by which the most surprising results have already been obtained, though in England it is, at present, but little known. Nos. 108 and no, High Holborn (Fig. ii) though not precisely to be classed with the The Design of London Shopfronts. 85 Photo : E. Dockree. FIG. 13. NO. 212, PICCADILLY. C. R G. HALL, ARCHITECT. Cheapside example, certainly emphasize the ad¬ vantage to the general composition when the shop¬ front is recessed : though here the setting back is rather apparent than real. A concealed girder is really doing the work, but the broad stone frieze beneath the bay windows does much to satisfy the demand for stability ; it gives a sense of structural security and the shopfront takes its place securely beneath it. In this example the upper part was fitted to the existing wooden shopfront, and there can be no doubt that the satisfactory result is largely due to the equality of the new stonework and painted woodwork, in colour and tone ; when the stone weathers to its usual grey this advan¬ tage will be lost. The importance of colour, in any scheme to attract the eye, cannot, of course, be over-esti¬ mated. Examples of its use are becoming more frequent; the tendency being to enlist the services of coloured materials, mosaic, glazed brick, etc., rather than to trust to merely applied colour. It was evident, however, when we considered the design of the Kodak premises, that our illustra¬ tions fail to help us to appreciate these effects, and we will therefore, with this slight reference, con¬ fine our attention to the structural qualities. There are other examples of variation in plan which aim only at extended area for display, with¬ out intention to affect the proportions, or indeed, in any way improve the composition. In Bond Street, for instance, a picture-dealer’s shop is pierced by a narrow passage extending some twenty feet from the street fitted with glass show cases on either side. It thus forms a little Bur¬ lington Arcade of its own. Another, a jeweller’s in Oxford Street, has the shopfront curiously curved to increase its length ; these are, however, not examples which one wishes to see followed. Again, in Holborn and Regent Street, there are examples in which the shopfront forms three sides 86 The Design of London Shopfronts . of a rectangle, the fourth side being open to the street; room being found for a detached show-case in the centre of the foot-space so formed. These variations of plan seem to give evidence of a slowl v- growing conviction that the Victorian shopfront is not entirely satisfactory, even from a com¬ mercial point of view, and that the shop-keeper is not immovably prejudiced in favour of estab¬ lished custom — that he is open to conviction : and it may fairly be assumed that he will not resent the addition of good detail and sound construc¬ tion, if they do not curtail the commercial advantages. Another noticeable tendency, due to the widely- extended business of trusts and companies, having many premises scattered over the town, is to give them a common character of design. It is re¬ markable how quickly the eye becomes trained to observe this sequence of ideas. The Piccadilly premises of Slater’s (Fig. 13) are an example of this method; the design selected may, or may not, commend itself; its interest lies, for us, in the endeavour to induce the passer-by to infer a fact, not to force him to read it by obtrusive lettering. Shops which deal in foreign-made wares fre¬ quently advertise the fact by enlisting the services of a foreign designer. No. 21, Bond Street (Fig. 14) is a good example of French work. Especially Mil — ll I I* S M il ; Lrr- I I H fH 1 hi m - T ! Mill 1 FIG. 14. NO. 21, OLD BOND STREET. Photo : E Dockree A rchitectural Education. 87 to be commended is the freshness given by the omission of the stereotyped mouldings, copied from stone originals, and the use, in their place, of mouldings suited to the position and material. Note, too, the pleasing departure from strict symmetry in the position of the doorway. This design also serves to illustrate the increas¬ ingly frequent practice which extends the shop¬ front over the first floor. By this means the weight of the superimposed wall is reduced, and a better, or at any rate, new proportion is es¬ tablished. Here the upper and lower parts of the building are in the same plane, and the projecting balcony with its iron railing and the arcaded heads of the first floor lights, though of wood, establish a sufficiently satisfactory relation between them : greater indeed than is obtained by more appar¬ ently structural examples of narrower frontage, where the first floor opening is treated as an arch. Such an arch is rarely structural, and, springing as it does from narrow pilasters, is too depen¬ dent on the apparent abutment given by the ad¬ jacent buildings; which may be at any time with¬ drawn, or reduced by the larger openings of a new treatment. There is an example in Oxford Street where a wide three-centred arch is interpolated in a restless front with most unsatisfactory results. As a means of display this first floor shopfront is of little service: but as a means of attraction, by reason of its contrast with neighbouring premises, it is undoubtedly very effective. It must, how¬ ever, be remembered that this advantage is lessened as often as the example is followed. The inclusion of the first floor in the shopfront has been carried a step further in a detached block of buildings on the south of New Oxford Street ; there a second terrace of shops, quite in¬ dependent of those on the street level, is approached from a stone stair and open loggia. The limited success of this treatment, either commercially or as a design, does not suggest that it is likely to be extensively followed. Many shop premises, even in our principal streets, still retain in the upper walls the regular window openings, suitable to the time when the shopkeeper lived permanently on the premises ; but this is a forsaken custom. The upper floors are now used as show-rooms, and the topmost as work-rooms. By attention to this fact, and the skilful adaptation of the windows to the altered pur¬ pose which they are to serve, the designer will find frequent opportunity to produce new effects. If then we do right to see the basis of design in these innovations, called for as they are by the altered conditions of modern life, the mere striving for novelty for its own sake, not unknown in this and in other classes of design, should give way to more worthy methods of attaining freshness of treatment. In fact, from a real business-like endeavour to improve the commercial value of the premises, we may hopefully expect those inexorable laws which at first seemed to forbid any advantage to the consideration of the subject, to ensure, as time goes on, the evolution of really admirable shop¬ fronts; and consequently a greatly increased merit and interest in our street architecture. Howard Ince. Architectural Education. IV. — Great Britain ( continued ). UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LIVERPOOL. By F. M. Simpson. There are two day courses for architec¬ tural students at University College, Liverpool. The first is a two years’ course, which was started in 1894 ; the second is a three years’ course, lead¬ ing to the degree of B.A., which was only com¬ menced two years ago. The two years’ course : In the first year lectures are delivered on the construction employed and materials used in the carcase of a building ; on stresses and thrusts, perspective and sciography, and on Greek and Roman buildings, and English mediaeval work. All lectures are illustrated by diagrams, models, and lantern slides. After the lectures exercises are set bearing on the subjects lectured upon, which are worked out in the studio. There is no copying of plates, except in the case of the classic orders. In building construction simple problems are given, which each student works out assisted by drawings and by notes taken in the lectures. By this means a student has from the first to think for himself, and to exercise his imagination. Two afternoons each week are devoted to drawing from casts and the antique, and in the summer term a certain amount of time is given to outdoor sketchingand measuring. In the second year the lectures include early Christian and Byzantine architecture in the East and in Italy, Romanesque and Mediaeval architec¬ ture in France, England, and Germany, and the Renaissance in Italy, France, and England. The building construction lectures deal with the finish- 88 A rchitectural Education. ng of a building; with doors, windows, staircases, etc. — when the subjects set offer more scope for design — plastering, painting, plumbing, drainage, .etc., including, of course, the materials used. Freehand drawing and sketching are continued, and the more advanced students draw from the life, and model from casts. A special set of lec¬ tures is delivered by the Professor of Botany on the structure and diseases of timber, and lectures on graphic statics are given in the engineering department. The greater part of the last term is spent on a design for a small country house (or some such subject), and as complete a set of draw¬ ings as possible is prepared by each student. The three years' course : Students are required before commencing the course to pass the pre¬ liminary examination of the University in English language, history, mathematics, Latin, elementary mechanics, and one of the following : Greek, Ger¬ man, French ; and in their first year to attend lectures on and pass the intermediate examination for the ordinary B.A. degree in (i) a language ; (2) history or English literature; (3) physics, or pure or applied mathematics. In their first year they also attend lectures in the architectural de¬ partment, and work out most of the exercises set there. In their second year the work is much the same as for students taking the two years’ course, with the addition of certain engineering lectures and classes under the Professor of Engineering. The work for the third year has not yet been definitely settled, but will lie in the main tutorial, and will deal with more advanced building con¬ struction problems. A more intimate acquaint¬ ance with the principles and chief examples of two or more periods of ancient and modern archi¬ tecture will be required than can be gained from short series of lectures. The subjects for the final examination, on the result of which the B.A. degree is conferred, are (1) History of Ancient and Mediaeval Architecture; (2) History of Modern Architecture ; (3) Construction and planning of buildings, including Sanitation, Graphic Statics; (4) Architectural drawing, and any two of certain optional subjects of which the most important are Freehand drawing, modelling and applied me¬ chanics. Visits are frequently paid to buildings on College ground in course of erection, the plans of which are hung in the studio, so that students can study the actual working drawings and com¬ pare them with the buildings. Visits are also occasionally paid to workshops, and to old build¬ ings of interest ; but, unfortunately, not many of the latter exist in or near Liverpool. The following is the complete Time Table of the Day Classes for the first two years : — FIRST YEAR. Classes. Day and Hour. Term. Autumn, Lent, Summer. Mon. Tues. j Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. History of Architecture 10. 30-11.30 ! A.L.S. Materials and Construction . . 10. 30-n. 30 1 A.L.S. Studio Work . . . . . . . . | 9.30-10.30 9.30-1.0 9.30-I.0 9.30-IO.30 j A.L.S. II. 30-1.0 2. 0-4.O 2.O-4. 0 1 1. 30-I.0 1 9.30-1.0 A. 2. 0-4.O A.L. f ' 9-3°-IO-3° \ S ” . t .. II. 3O-I.O | J Perspective and Sciography . . 9.30-1.0 L. ^Stresses and Thrusts . . .. 10. 30-11. 30 S. Sketching . . 2. 0-4.0 S. Freehand Drawing 2. 0-4.O 2. 0-4.O A.L.S. * For Certificate Course only. A Course of Lectures (with class) on Graphic Statics , for degree students only, will be given in the Engineering Laboratories, on Tuesdays, 2.0-4.30 Summer Term only. SECOND YEAR. Classes. Day and Hour. 1 Term. Autumn, Lent, Summer. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. History of Architecture IO. 30-11. 30 A.L. , , , , 9.30-IO.30 Materials and Construction . . 10. 30-11. 30 T A.L. . • . , . . 9.30-10.30 s. Studio Work 2. 0-4.O 9.30-1.° 2. 0-4.O 2. 0-4.O A.L.S. 9.30-10.30 9.30-10.30 ] A.L. . 1 11.30- 1.0 II. 30-1.0 10. 30-1.0 10. 30-1.0 S. 2.O-4 0 A.S. 3. 0-4.0 L. Sketching 2. 0-4.O A.L.S. Freehand Drawing or Modelling IO.O-I.O IO.O-I.O . . A.L.S. Structure and Diseases of Timber . . 2. 0-3.0 " L. A Course of Lectures on Engineering, for degree students only, will be given in the Engineering Laboratories, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10.30-11.30, and on Saturdays, 10.0-11.0, Summer Term only. . . Students obtaining a First-class Certificate at the end of the two years’ course are exempted from the Intermediate Examination of the R.I.B.A. A rch itectura l E due a tion . The need for a systematic course of day train¬ ing in architecture is now more generally recog¬ nised than it was when the two years’ course was started in Liverpool nearly nine years ago, and few architects who have given any attention to the matter will deny its advantages. It is a most satisfactory sign that in many of the large towns in England — London, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, as well as in Edinburgh and in Ire¬ land, day schemes of architectural education have been recently or are now under consideration. In courses of the character I have described students get more into touch with actual materials and their working than is generally possible in an office. Their studies are systematically arranged ; none of their time is wasted over drawings or tracings which they do not understand ; they are obliged to show details of construction more fully than is customary on actual working drawings, on which much is generally omitted — being under¬ stood by both architect and builder; and the simple problems they have to tackle assist them to grasp more complex ones when they come across them. Moreover, they have to think for themselves from the first, and yet they secure more personal supervision than can ever be given by a busy architect in practice. An additional advantage of a preliminary training is that it weeds out the unfit. No articles are signed. At the end of the first year it is generally possible to judge if a pupil possesses the necessary qualifications and to advise accordingly. Differences of opinion may exist regarding the details of any course. That is only natural, but I feel strongly that in a preliminary training too much stress cannot be laid on the advantages of lectures on old architecture. There is, amongst some, a tendency to decry their value; but this is, I think, largely due to a misunderstanding of what such lectures mean. If they merely generate a thirst for names, dates, and dimensions, they are useless ; but if, on the other hand, they are so arranged as to give the student an insight into the planning, construction, and general principles of buildings, they are of the utmost value. They cannot be commenced too early. To defer them until a student has begun to deal with practical problems for himself is likely to foster a taste for cribbing. A course of lectures on old architecture should interest a student, enlarge his mind, and stimulate his imagination— not cram his brain. Much of what he hears he may forget, especially as regards detail, but that is immaterial so long as he catches a little of the spirit of the old designs. The great point is that no student’s education should proceed merely on technical lines. It should be on liberal lines. What does it matter if some of the knowledge he acquires has little 89 commercial value ? — a man’s life is not entirely bound by considerations of £ s. d. It was partly for this reason that I welcomed the institution of the degree course. I had for years advised stu¬ dents to continue their general studies after com¬ mencing their architectural, but with little success. They did not realise their value, and there was no visible goal to which they tended. The degree course rendered them compulsory up to a certain point. No doubt the ideal scheme would be for all students to take first their degree in the usual arts or science subjects, and then to commence their architectural studies. I have had four or five students graduates of either Oxford or Cam¬ bridge, and there is no doubt that they learn more quickly than those who have not had equal advantages, partly because they are older, but principally because they have learnt howto learn, which few schoolboys seem to have accomplished. But such a course is impossible with all or even with most students. Only a few can afford a pre¬ liminary three or four years, to be followed by an architectural course and then by pupilage. A compromise is therefore necessary and also pre¬ sents many advantages; by it a student can con¬ tinue his liberal studies and at the same time commence his professional education. Moreover, his excursions into the former are not carried unnecessarily far. He is not called upon to specialize in any. He dips far enough to be given a taste for one or more subjects, which he can afterwards develop at his leisure, and so has an advantage over other men whose training has ended at school. The B.A. after his name is merely the crown of his efforts as a student ; it gives him no professional position. It will be as necessary for him to enter an architect’s office and gain experience as for a student who has only taken a two years’ course, or for one who has taken no course at all. As regards the limits of any preliminary course, there should be no misunderstanding as to what can be accomplished and what can not. No attempt should be made to supersede pupilage, although the articles of pupilage will of necessity be modified, the term of years made shorter, the premium demanded less. The course should not be too long — two years is rather short ; three years is better. At the end of a course a man should not only be capable of reaping to the full the advantages of working on drawings for actual work, but he should also have advanced so far as to be of some assistance in an office. The result should be ot mutual advantage to architect and to student. A student’s studies ought not to cease with the end of the course. Side by side with his practical office work he should take up problems VOL. xiv. — H 90 A rch itectu ra l Ed uca tion . more or less advanced and solve them as best he can. That is where evening work comes in. Two evening design classes are held, one elementary, the other more advanced, and most of the students in these are men who have passed through the regular day classes and are now in offices. The result is good for the students, who keep in touch with one another, and satisfactory for the teacher, who does not entirely lose sight of them when their work is beginning to possess most in¬ terest. At the present moment engineers are discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the “ sand¬ wich ” system, by which students will spend six months of the year in classes and six months in a workshop. Much might be said for this arrange¬ ment as regards architectural students, if architects would agree to allow their pupils to be away from the office half of their first year with them. If this were considered possible, the whole of the first year and the first half of the second and third years would be spent in systematic study; the second half of the second year and the remainder of the term after the second half of the third year being spent in the office. Such a scheme would be impossible to work without the cordial co-opera¬ tion of architects in practice, but it possesses some advantages and might be worthy of conside¬ ration. In conclusion I quote a short extract from a paper read by Professor Ware, of Columbia Col¬ lege, New York, in 1888 : — “ We must be content in many things, if not in all, merely to open the gates of knowledge — to point the road. All we have to do with is, in most cases, the elements of knowledge. ... So long is art, and so short the time at command, it is needful to save the student’s time and labour to the utmost, while compelling him to discover things for him¬ self, so to organise and arrange the objects of study that he may promptly find what he seeks.” THE ARCHITECTURAL DIVISION, KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON. By R. Elsey Smith. The course arranged for Matriculated Students in the Architectural Division of this College is of three years duration, but under certain conditions students who have already obtained external dis¬ tinctions may be entered as second year students, completing the course in two years. To all such students the College certificate in Architecture and the associateship of the College are open, provided they show on the completion of their course that satisfactory progress has been made. The division is also open to other students who do not feel able to devote three years to a col¬ legiate course, or who do not desire to take up the full prescribed course ; such students are admitted either as full time students or may take up individual courses of lectures or the studio. A special course is arranged for students who have already had training or instruction, enabling them to take up most of the courses of lectures in a single session and to devote at the same time con¬ siderable time to drawing. For matriculated students the full course is so arranged as to provide for the continuation of the student’s general instruction, as well as the special subject of architecture during both the first years, but at the same time secures him from the first a considerable proportion of time in the studio. During his first year he attends courses in the following general subjects : Mathematics, me¬ chanics and physics, and geology, and in his special subject lectures in architectural history and building construction and geometrical draw¬ ing, besides working in the carpenter’s shop one afternoon and in the studio at both architectural drawing and construction. During his second year he attends a course in chemistry, and in his special subject lectures on building construction, architectural history, strength of materials, and land surveying includ¬ ing field work, and devotes the remainder of his time to drawing. In the third year he attends lectures on archi¬ tectural history, ornament, specifications, sanitary science, and professional practice, a course of architectural modelling, and devotes the re¬ mainder of his time to drawing. Students taking courses for shorter periods compress such of the lectures, as by arrangement with the Professor it is decided they shall attend, into the one or two years, devoting less time to the studio. The instruction in the studio is made as far as possible individual, and adapted to the capabilities and requirements of each student. It is open to any student in this division to take up single courses of lectures in other faculties ; for instance, some of the courses prescribed for matriculated students or a modern language, etc. The fees for matriculated students are sixteen guineas per term for the first six terms, and eighteen guineas per term for the last three terms. The fees for other students depend upon the courses they take up and the amount of time spent in the studio. The College has been equipped, largely through the generosity of the Carpenters’ Company, with a good collection of architectural casts, photo¬ graphs and diagrams, including the collection 91 The Palace at Knossos , Crete. formed by the late Sir Gilbert Scott for his academy lectures, and a small library of architec¬ tural works, and with a considerable collection of diagrams relating to building construction, and samples of building materials and models. THE ARCHITECTURAL SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. By the late T. Roger Smith. At University College, London, lectures on Architecture as a Fine Art, and on Construc¬ tion, have been given since 1841 every session by professors, each of whom have been operating architects — Professors Donaldson, Hayter Lewis, and Roger Smith. The original direction given by Donaldson has been more or less followed by his successors. The pupils of architects formed the main source of supply to the classes, and they •came there to get some systematic knowledge of the history of Architecture and of the materials used in building, and the mode of utilizing them. The ordinary custom has been to have a senior and a junior class, and a lecture in each class in -each division weekly, so that it took two years for a student to pass through. Professor Lewis continued this with a one year’s course, and in the present regime this method has been adhered to. There has been no drawing school till latterly, when means to open an evening drawing class were furnished by the liberality of the Carpenters’ Company, but it was not a success. The same company has furnished teachers for evening classes in estimating and measuring, and also in drawing building construction. These have been suc¬ cessful. The general result has been a moderate amount of fairly sustained success. Excellent relations between the professors and the students have been the rule, and many old students are now prosper¬ ous architects in full practice, including at least one of the newly appointed professors. A few Japanese students, one Chinese, one Indian, and a few ladies have attended the classes. No attempt has been made to turn this course into what the Architectural Association furnishes — namely, a complete curriculum full of informa¬ tion of all sorts that may come in usefully ; and as a consequence since the Architectural Associa¬ tion courses have been set up the popularity of this College has gone down. The Palace at Knossos, Crete. (. Second and Concluding Article. For First Article see May Number.) Coming now to the eastern block of the palace, the floor of the north or right hand side, including the room of the olive press, is some fifteen feet above that on its south side, and may be still regarded as a basement, there being no halls or residential rooms in it. Over “the room of the olive press ” and “ the corridor of the bays "’was, according to Dr. Evans, probably the King’s Megaron, which, judging from the basement walls, had (A) a portico of one column in-antis facing the central court, (B) a vestibule, and (C) a great hall, 45 ft. by 38 ft., with three columns across the centre. Assuming the room of the olive press to have been about 10 ft. high, the level of the floor of the Megaron would be the same as the megaron or throne room in the western block. The most interesting portion of the whole palace, however, is the south-east block, be¬ cause here we find the actual living rooms of the Minoan King and Queen. Its preservation is probably due to the fact that it was built on ground at a much lower level, and was buried by the falling in of the superstructure, in the same way as the stores and magazines of the rest of the palace. The principal hall faced a terrace about 35 ft. wide, which we may assume was planted with trees and laid out with flower beds ; there would appear also to have been other terraces below (see Fig. 1). The hall to which we refer measured about 27 ft. wide by 18 ft. deep, and was the largest room of the palace without inter¬ mediate supports. It was enclosed on the east and south sides with a peristyle, and had no fewer than eleven doors (see Fig. 6, reproduced from Mr. Theodore Fyfe’s restoration) ; seven of these led out to the Peristyle, the other four to a room which Dr. Evans calls the “ hall of the double axes ” — from the marks on its limestone blocks ; this room being lighted from a court beyond and divided from the same by two columns in-antis. These two rooms, the outer one opening on to a terrace and the other one lighted from the court, would seem to be the withdrawing-rooms, espe¬ cially as, out of the further room on the left, is a door opening to a passage leading direct to a room called the Queen’s Megaron, which seems to have been her boudoir; this room was lighted on the H 2 92 The Palace at Knossos , Crete . •o iro I I I I I I I I I I I METRES LONGITUDINAL section PLAN OF LOWER FLOOR ( From R I. B. A. Journal.) FIG. 6. — HALLS ON EAST SLOPE. PLANS AND RESTORED SECTIONS OF THE QUADRUPLE STAIRCASE, THE HALL OF THE COLONNADES, AND THE MEGARON OF THE DOUBLE-AXES. south side by three windows facing a narrow court and had on its east side an open portico, with two columns and responds, facing another court. There were four openings on this side, one towards the north being the doorway, the other three had a stone bench between, which projected to form a seat on both sides, viz., in the megaron and in the portico. The room in the rear on the west side was a bathroom, and further west a room sup¬ posed, on account of its stone floor, to have been a treasury or jewel room. Beyond this treasury, and reached by a passage from the Queen’s Megaron, is a room in which a stone couch was found and, on its east side, that which Dr. Evans states is the nearest approach to a modern w.c. as yet found on any ancient site, viz., a chamber 7 ft. deep and 4 ft. 6 in. wide, on the side walls of which were grooves in which were fixed the sides of a seat ; beyond the grooves the stone floor ceased leaving an open trench which communicated direct with a horizontal drain, 2 ft. high and 1 ft. 6 in. wide, covered over with stone slabs and taking the drainage and wastes from other parts of the palace. In front of this chamber and out¬ side the same, was a square hole, originally covered over with a stone slab which, when raised, allowed the closet to be flushed. From the Queen’s Megaron a private staircase in stone led to upper chambers probably con¬ taining the sleeping apartments of the queen. On the west side of the court in the rear of the “ Hall-of-the-double-axes ” is another court with a peristyle on two sides, called the “hall of the colonnades” on plan, and a staircase in four flights beyond. The plan and section through staircase and court are shown in Fig. 6, and sections through the court showing each front facing the same in Fig. 7, these being conjectural restorations made by Mr. Theodore Fyfe, and based on the actual remains. In Fig. 7 the north wall shows the solid stone balustrade or parapet of the upper gallery, which was found in-situ, and gave Mr. Fyfe his evidence for the actual thickness of stone balus¬ trade (2 ft. 11 in.), and consequently the size of the square abacus surmounting the column which carried it, and the beams across the peristyle. The height of column, base, and capital was 11ft. 2 in. The stone base was 2 ft. in di¬ ameter, which, allowing a margin of 3^ in., gave 1 ft. 5 in. for the lower diameter of the column ; with these dimensions Mr. Fyfe has restored the column in accordance with the proportions shown in the “ Temple fresco,” to which we shall return again. On the parapet of this stone balustrade were 93 The Palace at Knossos , Crete „ put the bases of an upper order, which Mr. Fyfe has restored, taking his height from that which would be reached by continuing the upper flight of the quadruple staircase (for which there was clear evidence) so as to bring it to the level of the great central court. This stone staircase, in four flights, is the most exceptional find of the whole palace, and, as Dr. Evans remarks, “ is probably unparalleled in the history of excavation ; flights of stairs one above another being unknown even in Pompeii.” The flights are 6 ft. wide with a central wall newel, 3 ft. thick, which allows of three steps on the return, as shown in P'ig. 6. The steps have a rise of 5! in., and a tread of 1 ft. 6 in. They consist of solid slabs of stone built 7 in. into the wall on each side, and the upper step is bedded about 6 in. on the lower one. The west wall (Fig. 7) shows that the staircase was lighted as regards the lower flight by a window overlooking the court and the upper part through an open peristyle of columns resting on a solid stone balustrade, rising in two tiers, and follow¬ ing the rake of the stairs, an arrangement which, as Dr. Evans observes, “ anticipates in some re- ™ CHEWING NORTH WALL - * spects the effect of an Italian renaissance palace,” a happy suggestion which will recall to many travellers similar features throughout Italy. The upper flight of the staircase probably led into the portico of the Megaron, and the four flights show that there existed in this portion of the palace three storeys, viz., ground, first and second floors. The stone staircase still in situ, by the side of the two great halls referred to, led to a first- floor corridor, which was continued up to the staircase of four flights already mentioned. As will be seen from the plan in the first article, there are still further researches to be made, especially in the two parts marked “ earlier build¬ ings,” and already this year at some distance north east of the palace has been found a house of fine construction with the remains of two storeys and three flights of stairs. The most remarkable discovery of this year, however, is that which has been made on the north-west side of the west court, a description of which was com¬ municated to the Times a short time ago. No plan has yet been published, but we gather from the description that, in the examination of the northern boundaries of the west court, a second KNOSSOS SECTIONS OF THE HALL OF THE COLONNADES RESTORED X-au w . . f < r1 _ IJ I* Htras- mu °r C 1 1 .f 1 , <„ 1 1° _ \%‘r ( From R.I.B. A. Journal.) FIG. 7. 94 The Palace at paved court at a lower level was found with a flight of steps or seats on the south and east sides somewhat similar to those we referred to in the • first article as existing at Phsestos, but of much greater extent and importance. On the east side there were eighteen steps occupying a breadth of 35 ft. On the south side the flight was broader (50 ft.) but of less height. According to Dr. Evans, “the principal function for which this stepped area was designed was certainly of a spectacular nature." The plan is not fully systematized, “but,” as Dr. Evans states, “we have here the germ of all future theatres. It seems to grow out of the informal use for sitting purposes of the spacious stepways in vogue in the Minoan palaces.” At the junction of the double flight and at the south-east angle was a bastion with a paved plat¬ form, which may have served as a kind of Royal Box for the Minoan king and queen and their courtiers. Up to the present no certain date has been given to the palace. “ The best chronological data,” Dr. Evans states, “are supplied by the lid of an Egyptian alabastron found near the northern bath. The lid h as a beautifully cut cartouche of King Khyan of the fifteenth dynasty, who is sup¬ posed to have reigned about the eighteenth centu¬ ry B.c.” The perfection of the work of the palace, in its architecture and decoration, points at, as Dr. Evans states, “ long centuries of earlier development.” There are also the remains of an earlier palace of about 2100 b.c., and fragments of vases found which may go back to 2800 B.c. Others of Egyptian vases of diorite and obsidian dating from the 4th millenium B.c., and lastly stone weapons and implements, primitive pottery, and idols, which carry back still further the first occupation of the site. The Mycenaean Order. We have already referred, in speaking of Mr. Fyfe’s conjectural restorations, to columns which, following the traces of their bases and the thick¬ ness of the stone balustrade they supported, he has reversed; in other words, turned them up¬ side down, the diameter being greatest at the top. Prior to Dr. Evans’s discoveries, the only actual evidence of this singular reversal was shown (1) in portions of and traces on the wall of the semi¬ detached shafts which flanked the entrance door¬ way of the tomb of Agamemnon, (2) in a fragment (4 ft. 3 in. high) of a semi-detached shaft on one side of the entrance to a second tomb which has been called after Mr. Schliemann, and (3) in the representation of a column in the bas-relief over the Lion gate, all at Mycenae. In all these ex¬ amples, however, the order employed was purely Knossos, Crete. decorative, in which it might have been permissible to reverse the diameter. Messrs. Perrot and Chipiez, however, in their conjectural restoration of the portico-in-antis of the Megaron, at Tiryns,* accepted and reproduced them as actual detached columns, and the truth of their restoration is borne out by the representations in what is known as the “Temple fresco,” at Knossos, to which we shall return later on. The same fresco shows one of the capitals of the columns without a square abacus, so that the column and superstructure in the bas-relief of the Lion gate may be taken as a conventional representation of the order complete, viz., a shaft with capital supporting a beam on which rest the round logs (shown in a series of four circular disks), which carried the flat mud roof. The earliest example of a temple in which it would seem that columns of wood were at first employed to carry the entablature, afterwards being replaced by others in stone, is the Temple of Hera, at Olympia. When the Germans excavated the Altis, at Olympia, the columns and capitals found on the site of the Temple of Hera (which was of the Doric order) were so varied in their diameter and profiles as to suggest that they were of many periods, dating from the sixth century down even to Roman times. This fact, coupled with an accidental note by Pausanias, in which, describing this temple, he says: “One of the columns of the Opisthodomos is in oak,” has led archaeologists to the conclusion that when first built (according to Dr. Dorpfeld, in the eleventh century B.c.) all the columns employed were in timber, and that where a column showed signs of deterioration it was replaced by one in stone. f It does not follow, however, that when changing the material the Greeks copied the same form in stone — a shaft or single balk of timber would be equally capable of supporting a superincumbent mass with the lesser diameter at the bottom,! but in stone and built in a series of drums, it would no longer have the same resistance to crushing weight which a balk of timber would possess, and, further, the new material (stone) was much heavier and had to carry its own weight. In replacing the timber shaft with a stone column they would seem to have retained the same width of the upper diameter necessary, with the echinus moulding and * “Art in Primitive Greece,” Vol. II., Fig. 298. f Similar transformations are said to have taken place in two other ancient temples attributed to the seventh century b.c., viz., in the archaic. Temple of Hera, at Argos, and in the Temple of Apollo, at Thermon, in vEtolia. In the latter case the peristyle of the temple had five columns on the eastern front, fifteen on the flank, and a row of columns down the centre of the cella. + We are informed by timber experts that the trunk of a tree when stripped of its bark and utilised as a column or support weathers much better if reversed. The Palace at Knossos , Crete. 95 i it in ( From R.I.B.A. Journal.) FIG. 8. — THE MYCENAEAN ORDER, BASED BY MR. FYFE ON THE REPRESENTATIONS IN THE “TEMPLE FRESCO.” abacus, to carry the entablature,* and increased the lower diameter so as to cover an area slightly greater than that of the original raised stone base which was in consequence cut away. If the column seen by Pausanias had lasted a century or two longer the Germans might have found in the opisthodomos the original stone base. This reasoning is purely hypothetical, but it suggests the solution of an important problem, viz., the transition from the reversed Mycenaean column in timber to the earlier stone columns as found in Syracuse. What we have called “ the Mycenaean Order ” is shown in a fresco discovered at Knossos, of which a reproduction in colour was published in the “ R.I.B.A. Journal” of the 20th December, 1902. This fresco which was found in a room to the north of the Palace, represents, in the centre, a portico of two columns in antis raised aloft, Hanked by two other porticos of one column in antis at a lower level. In Fig. 8 is a reproduction from Mr. Fyfe’s drawing of the columns shown in the fresco with their bases and capitals. The brilliant colours of the fresco were purely decorative, and did not represent the materials employed, but the chequer pattern of black and white above the architrave suggests a stone construction as actually found in the court of the quadruple staircase. The capital * In these three temples just mentioned the architrave and other parts of the entablature are assumed to have been in timber, on account of the wide inter-columniation. of the right-hand portico is crowned with a square abacus which is not shown in the left-hand exam¬ ple, and Mr. Fyfe in his restorations utilizes the former for the ground floor order and the latter for that of the upper story. As the base drawn in the central portico of the “ Temple fresco ” is muchhigherthanthosefound in the actual remains, Mr. Fyfe assumes that the capital shown was also exaggerated in size. The relative proportion of the upper diameter to the column including capital and base is about 6J diameters, and the diminu¬ tion of the lower diameter about one 6th of the upper. The intercolumniation of the eastern peristyle works out as 2*22 of the upper diameter, and 2‘6 7 of the lower diameter of the shaft, the base we have stated is always in stone and varies from 3J- in. to in. in height (those at Tiryns are barely ij in.). The mouldings of the capital were, according to Mr. Fyfe, probably in wood finished with stucco. We have already pointed out that the thickness of the wall carried by the columns and capital in the quadruple staircase court necessitated a beam of sufficient width not only to support the wall, but the beams across the peristyle which rested direct on the abacus of the capital ; the lesser diameter of the lower part of the shaft was stone by the bases. The Mycenaean architect had already ascertained that with the lesser diameter at the bottom the shaft was quite equal to the support of the superstructure and by so employing it, he The Palace at Knossos , Crete. \,PROC£SS/Ort CO&U&OR. f/flSv*? footer 0ufer (Vest Coub_T_ /n pamfr* ^}/atC*r ^inji/aCon fnorlft paro/c ^ — - 25 Vestibule. - ^ Reslorafior) C/C.HT WELL. - • THRor/E. &-&QM ~i C°L~~" Ct*ic HAU Of CHE DQU&LE. AK £7 (From R. I. B. A. Journal.) FIG. 9.— RESTORATIONS (PARTLY CONJECTURED) BY MR. FYFE. ( From “ Annual,” British School at Athens.) FIG. 10. — PLAQUES OF PORCELAIN MOSAIC WITH REPRESENTATIONS OF HOUSES AND TOWERS, Proposed Legal Registration of Architects. 97 obtained a wider intercolumniation at the bottom, requisite for free passage between the columns with their stone bases and more light from the courts. In fact he adopted the same principle as that which is found in the legs of chairs, where the greater dimension of the upper portion is necessary for the framing into the seat of the chair, and the smaller diameter at the bottom for less interference with those who are moving about in the room. In Mr. Fyfe’s drawing, Fig. 9, is shown an elevation of the gypsum blocks, which formed the substructure of the walls of the principal floor of the western palace, and above them, a restoration of the lower portion of the walls of the latter. This restoration is based on a representation of the ordinary houses, Fig. 10, of the ancient town of Knossos on a series of plaques, which would seem to have decorated a wooden chest similar to that of Cypselus, in the Temple of Hera at Olympia described by Pausanias. The houses are repre¬ sented as having two or three storeys, viz., a ground floor with entrance doorway, a first floor with windows framed in timber and having each a mullion and transom, and a second floor with square windows only. Some of the houses sug¬ gest a stone construction with regular courses of masonry, others have a range of circular disks at the floor level, and it is these latter that Mr. Fyfe has reproduced in his restoration, the disks representing the ends of the circular logs which carried the floor and were carried through the walls to bind together the outer and inner framing of timber. In order to preserve the timber and the core of the wail (which was in rubble masonry with clay mortar) Mr. Fyfe assumes that the outer and inner surfaces of the walls were covered with stucco ; on the inside of the rooms they painted the fresco decorations of which many remains have been found. On the outside they indicated by a series of painted disks the ends of the round logs. This system of decoration based on a constructive feature was carried farther to the south propylaea, where a frieze of sculp¬ tured rosettes ran round the portico. Although it has long been recognised that beams of timber were, in Mycenean structures, laid horizontally on the top of walls to carry the beams of the roof, and elsewhere to tie the walls together, the com¬ plete framing of timber which Mr. Fyfe has shown goes beyond what has been hitherto surmised in buildings erected in crude brick, or in rubble masonry and clay mortar. When one takes into consideration the immense amount of timber which formed an integral part of the construction in the framing of the walls and floors of the palace at Knossos, and in the ceilings and roofs, the great fire (which is supposed by Mr. Hogarth to have taken place about the year 1000 B.c.) must have wrecked completely the whole palace, and as we have already suggested, accounts for the preser¬ vation to our day of what has proved to be the most remarkable archaeological discovery ever made. K. Phene Spiers. The Proposed Legal Registration of Architects Very few people would be found to deny that the good of architecture is more important than the good of architects, or that in discussing any attempt to regulate what is called the practice of architecture the effect of such regulation on the art itself deserves the chief consideration. Though history shows it to have been sometimes futile, an attempt forcibly to put an art into leading strings would seem to be obviously dangerous if not a direct courting of disaster. To test an artist by standards set up by his seniors and predecessors before allowing him — not to gain prizes or honours — but to practice his art at all, appears to be the surest way to check development or hasten the hour of decadence. In the case of architecture as it is at present situated and produced in this country, there is, it is true, another way of looking at the question which has led to a proposal being made, and persisted in for sixteen years, to do this dangerous thing. Working for a community for the most part devoid of the artistic sense and without knowledge or discrimination in his particular art — which, moreover, values him less for the sake of that art than as a manager of its building affairs — - the English architect is exposed not only to the competition of other experts in building, who are often employed where he thinks he has the better claim, but also to that of a host of charlatans who usurp his title, filch his commissions and bring discredit on his craft. Surely, it is argued, under such conditions the interests of all, architecture, architect and employer alike, demand that no one should be allowed to call himself an architect or gain employment as one until his competence has been tested and approved. In reply to this it may be pointed out in the first place that, notwithstanding the large amount 9 8 Some Lombard Street Signs. of bad work which is still done, and the eccentricity exhibited, English architecture has in the opinion of most competent observers made immense strides in recent years under the existing system ; and, moreover, that it owes its happiest developments entirely to its freedom from dictation or restraint. That most fresh developments, the good with the bad, would be checked and probably crushed, under any system which rigidly required the approval of a man’s art by his seniors must be patent to any observer among architects, for he cannot have failed to notice how each development in turn is objected to, and honestly believed to be wrong or retrograde by most of those who would be called upon to apply the tests. So far as the art of architecture is concerned then, it would seem, to say the least, safer to leave “ protection ” alone, and to trust for further improvement to a more systematic training of professional archi¬ tects in the principles of design. But supporters of the principle of making architecture a close profession in this country are, as I understand them, prepared to meet such views as are here expressed by omitting from among the examination tests any applied to the candidate’s powers of design, that is, to the one thing which distinguishes him from other building experts. This is surely not onlv a grotesque proposal in principle, but one which, if accepted, removes the only ground on which architects could ask for the protection of their title, or claim that registration would safe¬ guard the public against bad architecture. And bad architecture is really the only thing against which the registration of architects could in any case protect them. If any such measure were designed to give the public protection against fire, accident, disease or other risks arising from bad building, it would have to include many others be¬ sides architects, and enact that all building should be superintended by a registered person. Besides, in all places where such protection is wanted it is at present given in a more effective way by building acts, sanitary acts and by-laws regulating in detail all important points of construction, and Par¬ liament is much more likely to extend than to change that system. As regards what is called “ unprofessional conduct,” such conduct is always difficult to deal with, and among architects, as among men of other professions, most of the guilty are of necessity left to find their punishment, if at all, in loss of reputation and employment. But one thing is clear, namely, that a registration law could only deal with cases as gross as those which lead to a solicitor being struck off the rolls, cases which are rare and alreadv, as a rule, ruin the guilty person professionally. There is a subordinate consideration which appears to me absolutely conclusive against the introduction of any system of government regis¬ tration for architects at present. It is that it would mean in effect (since all existing practising architects must be put on the register) registering and stamping with official approval the present standard of knowledge and efficiency in the lowest ranks, a standard which, though rising, is still ridiculously low. Even if registration were de¬ sirable it would have of necessity to wait until the ground had been prepared by education. Frank Baggallay. Some Lombard Street Signs. Drawings by Harold Falkner. iNgivingthe following explanatory notescon- cerning the fifteen signs we illustrate, due acknow¬ ledgment should be made to Mr. F. G. Hilton Price, from whose work on the subject ° numerous ex¬ tracts have, with his permission, been made. The project among the big banking and other firms to celebrate the King’s Coronation by reviving the old signs which had in by-gone days distinguished the houses in Lombard Street was a happy one, and aroused considerable interest and no little criti¬ cism. In 1886 Mr. Price had discovered records of one hundred and nine signs, and since then enquiry has revealed the existence of other fifty-nine, or more than twice as many signs as there are houses * “ The Signs of Old Lombard Street,” by F. G. Hilton Price, F.S.A. New Edition, 1902. Leadenhall Press, Limited. in the street. This may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that the house sometimes had a different sign from the shop, as some of the latter were merely booths or lean-to sheds against the houses or churches. As regards the signs them¬ selves their origin is obscure and in but few cases does it appear that they derived from either the proprietors’ names or callings. The localization of the various signs has been a matter of difficulty owing principally to changes in the buildings them¬ selves. After the Great Fire ninety-seven houses were erected in Lombard Street. In Horwood’s plan, 1799, there were seventy-four houses; there are now only sixty-six, and the tendency has been for many years to erect one large house upon the sites of two or more of the old ones. In some Some Lombard Street Signs . 99 FIG. I. — LOMBARD STREET IN 1 799, FROM HORWOOD’S PLAN. cases signs have moved with their owners; in more numerous instances the houses have been rechris¬ tened to suit a new tenant ; but in general it may be said that the signs came down with the houses, irrespective of the inhabitants and their callings. They are therefore as appropriate to the present banking firms as they were to the original owners. Banking, of course, dates back only to the Com¬ monwealth, but the operations of the old gold and silver smiths, who also carried on an extensive pawnbroking business, are so nearly allied to the banking business of to-day that we can say Lom¬ bard Street has been the home of the bankers since the earliest times. The Phoenix (Fig. 3) was the sign put up by The Phoenix Assurance Co. at No. 19. The Phoenix, as a sign, belongs properly to No. 10, a house not now in existence, and the signs which have descended to this firm whose present pre¬ mises cover the sites of Nos. 18, 19 and 20, Lom¬ bard Street, are “The Hare” (No. 18), “The Two Bells” (No. 19), and “The Star” (No. 20). It will be generally conceded, however, that the sign of “ The Phoenix ” is much more appropriate than any one of the other three named. The sign was one of the most successful of those put up for the Coronation festivities, and by an ingenious arrangement the illumination at night was effected by the playing of real flames on the body of the bird, an illustration of the legend that attracted considerable attention. The A rtichoke, No. 24, Lombard Street (Fig. 4).— This, the first of the Artichoke signs in Lombard Street, was put up by Messrs. Alexanders and Co., Limited, and the name of the house is confirmed by old deeds in their possession. The second sign of the Artichoke belongs to No. 28, only four doors away. In The Post Boy for August 5, 1710, the Old Boys of Bishop’s Stortford School were requested to meet at Mr. Dillingham’s, a woollen FIG. 2 — LOMBARD STREET IN 1899. IOO Some Lombard Street Signs. *3 FIG 3. — ‘‘THE PH GEN IX. ” 1’HE PHOENIX ASSURANCE CO. FIG. 5. — “THE ARTICHOKE.” THE ROYAL INSURANCE CO. MESSRS. ALEXANDERS AND CO., LTD. draper’s at the “ Artichoke ” in Lombard Street, but whether this was No. 24 or No. 28 is not known. In 1769 Messrs. William Fuller and Son, Bankers, started here; the firm changed in style to Whit¬ more, Wells and Co., and failed in 1841. Messrs. Cunliffes were here in 1844. When the premises were rebuilt some years ago a carved panel or sign over the door representing a fox was pre- Some Lombard Street Signs 10 i FIG. 7. — “THE BLACK MOOR’S HEAD.” MESSRS. A. BUFFER AND SONS. served by Messrs. Alexanders and built into a partition in the vestibule of the new building. It is not known what history attaches to this sign. The second sign of The Artichoke (Fig. 5) was that hung out by the Royal Insur¬ ance Co., at No. 28. The house was formerly called “ The Artichoke,” and from 1736 to 1808 was occupied by Wal¬ pole and Co., which firm came to an end in the latter year. The Royal In¬ surance Co. also own No. 27, Lombard Street. The sign for this number was “The Queen’s Head and Sun.” And this was also reproduced in connection with the Coronation decorations. Our illus¬ tration (Fig. 6) shows “The Sun,” “The Queen’s Head ” being on the reverse side of the sign. At No. 27 William Yeat, a bookseller, lived in 1731, Messrs. Walpole and Co., came here from 'Clement’s Lane in 1770. The sign of jthe Black Moor's Head (Fig. 7) formerly belonged to No. 39, Lombard Street, which was the first house on the west side of White Hart Court, and was known before the Fire by the sign of the “ Angel and Golden Cross;” after the Great Fire two houses were built upon the site. The second house is No. 40. There is reason to suppose that these houses let as one house, and after the Great Fire were known by the sign of the “ Black Moor’s Head,” as there is an entry in the books of the Fishmongers’ Company that in 1696 Sir John Sweetaple asked for a renewal of his lease for a term of twenty-two years; in 1718 the Company granted another lease to W. Sherwell until 1749. Messrs. A. Rtiffer and Sons are the present occupants of Nos. 39 and 40. The sign of The Vine (Fig. 8) is connected with No. 77, a house formerly known as “ The Vine ” and now the branch office of Parr’s Bank, Limited. In 1683 Sir Robert Vyner advertised in the London Gazette a meeting of creditors here. The original sign, rendered by a bunch of grapes, is still extant. After Vyner the house is said to have passed through the hands of Charles Shales (1715), Thomas Bowdler (1736), Thomas Minors, and then Minors and Boldero (1754), Boldero, Adey and Co. (1787), Vere, Lucadon and Co. bankers (1787). The title of the firm afterwards changed to Sapte and Co., then to Fuller, Banbury and Co., and FIG. 8. — “THE VINE.” PARR’S BANK, LIMITED. “THE CARDINAL’S CAP Or HATT.” MESSRS. SEARLE AND CO- [02 Some Lombard the last-named are now incorporated with Parr’s Bank. The Cardinal's Cap or Cardinal's Halt Tavern (see Fig. 8), was a famous tavern before the Great Fire of London, and close beside it was an alley leading to Cornhill known as the Cardinal Cap Alley, and so marked in R. Horwood's plan of Lombard Street, 1799. The alley existed under this name until the beginning of the nineteenth century, and is at present in existence in the form of a passage, although the name is lost. Stow records the gift of the tavern, the alley, and another house adjoining to the Brotherhood of Our Lady, in St. Mary Woolnots, by Simon Eyre, a draper and Lord Mayor of London, 1445-6. Pepys records a visit to the house in 1660. In 16S3 the name of the tavern was changed to “ The Cock.” Partly on the site of this house stand Nos. 78 and 79, Lombard Street, in the occupation of Messrs. Searle and Co., jewellers, who erected the above sign for the Coronation. The passage spoken of above runs between these two houses. The Cape Lion (the top sign in Fig. 9) was adopted by the De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited, at No. 62, their chief office being situated at Kimber¬ ley, S.A. Since the Coronation this firm has moved its London offices to St. Swithin’s Lane. The Cat-a-Fiddling (Fig. 9) was the sign adopted by the Commercial Bank of Scotland, BARCLAY AND CO. LTD. Street Signs. FIG. 9.— “THE CAPE LION.” THE DE BEERS CONSOLIDATED MINES LID. “THE CAT-A-FIDDLING.” THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF SCOTLAND LTD. Limited, at No. 62, Lombard Street. The proper sign for No. 62 is “ The Black Horse,” but Lloyds Banking Co., the former occupants, moved this sign to their new premises at No. 73, this being the third time this sign has been moved. The present tenants of No. 62 therefore adopted the sign of the “ Cat-a-Fiddling,” which really be¬ longs to No. 63. The name is unusual, the general term being the “ Cat and Fiddle.” In 1672 it was the sign of Anthony Dansie, a haberdasher, and in the will of his widow, who died in 1717, she refers to this house as the “ Cat-a-Fiddling.” The Black Spread Eagle (Fig. 10) adopted by Messrs. Barclay and Co., Ltd., at No. 54, Lom¬ bard Street, really belonged to No. 56 ; but the premises now numbered 54, covers the sites of houses formerly numbered 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, and 56, and the firm can therefore sport sundry signs. No. 53 is the original site of the “ Black Horse,” 1677, kept by Stokes, a goldsmith and friend of Pepys. No. 5^, in 1728 was called “The Bible,” and was occupied by George Braithwaite, a goldsmith. No. 55 was in all probability called the “Three 103 Some Lombard Street Signs. FIG. II. — “THE RAM.” MESSRS. GILLETT BROS. AND CO. Kings.” The earliest mention of The Black Spread Eagle sign is in 1676, when James Tayler, a gold¬ smith, advertised for a missing apprentice from this house. In 1736 Mr. James Barclay joined Mr. Freame in partnership here, and the firm, with sundry alterations in the style, comes down to the present occupants. fig. 12. — “the king’s head.” THE CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE. The Ram (Fig. n), the sign put up by Messrs. Gillett Bros, and Co., at 58, Lombard Street, was really the sign connected with No. 57. Before the Great Fire the George Inn stood on the site of No. 57 ; afterwards two houses were erected on the west side of George Yard, described as Sir Jeremy Snow’s house, known to be No. 58, and Ward’s house, No. 57. The little “ London Direc¬ tory ” of 1677 shows that Robert Ward and John Towneley kept The Ram. In 1754 Mr. Henton Brown, a banker, occupied No. 57, and during his tenancy Nos. 57 and 58 were knocked into one. The King's Head and Phoenix was the sign of No. 60. The little “ London Directory ” of 1677 gives the title as “ The King’s Head.” The sign of last year (Fig. 12) was put up by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, the present occupants. FIG. 13. — “THE ANCHOR.” MESSRS. GLYN, MILLS, CURRIE AND CO. The Anchor (Fig. 13) was the sign put up by Messrs. Glyn, Mills, Currie, and Co. at No. 67, Lombard Street. Their present premises occupy the sites of what were formerly Nos. 63, 64, 65, 66, and 67. No. 64, once occupied by Messrs. Overend and Co., was before the Great Fire known in 1666 by the sign of “The Bell,” and in 1670 was called “ The Black Bull ” previous to being known as “The Blue Anchor” in 16 77. No. 65, on the site of the Salutation Tavern, erected just after the Great Fire, has no history of a sign, but No. 66 was the King’s Arms, and had, of course, the Royal arms as its sign. No. 67 is supposed to occupy the sign of the “Anchor,” but Mr. Hilton Price also ascribes the sign of “ The White Lion,” occupied by Sir Martin Bowes, 1566, to this house. The present firm has therefore the records of a “ Blew Anchor ” io4 Some Lombard Street Signs. FIG. 14. — “the grasshopper.’1 martin’s bank, ltd. and “The Anchor” for two of the houses whose sites are covered by the present building. The Grasshopper, at No. 68, Lombard Street (Fig. 14), is one of the most historical signs in the street. It is stated that at this house Matthew Shore, a goldsmith, said to have been the husband of the beautiful and notorious Jane Shore, carried on his trade in 1461, but the sign of “The Grasshopper” apparently originated with Sir Thomas Gresham, the famous merchant, who adopted the grasshopper as his crest, and called the house “ The Grasshopper ” during his occupancy of the premises about 1560. There is a gap after Gresham in the history of the house, but in 1677 Duncombe and Kent, goldsmiths, were there. This Duncombe, referred to by Evelyn in his diary as “one, Duncombe, a mean goldsmith,” became a great man, and as Aider- man Sir Charles Duncombe bought an estate at Helmsley in Yorkshire, and was an ancestor of the present Earl of Feversham. In 1688 Richard Smith occupied the premises; in 1700 Andrew Stone was there ; in 1703 Stone and Martin, since which date business at this sign has always been conducted by the Martins, the present style of the firm being Martin’s Bank, Limited. 1 he Seven Stars (big. 15), the sign ot Messrs, Guinness, Mahon, and Co., of 81, Lombard Street, is the original sign of this house, and was occu¬ pied 1660-1698 by Thomas Seymour, a goldsmith. 1 he firm believes the house to have been origin¬ ally erected by an instrument maker of the name of Best, whose house was known as “ The Seven Stars,” and that the name originated from his sign consisting of a shield with seven stars. In 1705 it was known as “ The Halbert and Hart,” and was occupied by Thomas Tax, instrument maker. Before this there is record of it being called “ The Saw.” The Black Boy (Fig. 16) is the sign put up by The Clydesdale Bank, Limited, of No. 30, Lombard Street. The sign really belongs to No. 29; but this house is non-existent, the site apparently FIG. 15. — “the seven stars.” MESSRS. GUINNESS, MAHON AND CO. being incorporated with that of No. 30. In 1677 Peter Percefull and Stephen Evans kept running cashes here. In 1697 Sir Stephen Evance was appointed Jeweller to the King. The firm became in 1702 Evans and Hales, and they stopped pay¬ ment in 1721. Messrs. Cunliffe, Brooks and Co. were here from 1836 to 1843, when they moved next door. The sign of No. 30 was “ The Bellows and Ball.” Of the other signs erected for the Coronation decorations mention may be made of “The Anchor and Crown,” the sign of the London and County Banking Co., Ltd., at No. 21. In 1746 it was occupied by Mrs. Derrell, and in 1766 by John Henry Vere, a goldsmith. Messrs. Smith, Wright, and Gray, Bankers, were the next occu¬ piers ; in 1793 they amalgamated with Messrs. Old W estminster and the “ Improvement ” Scheme. 105 THE CLYDESDALE BANK, LTD. FROM A DRAWING BY J. STARKIE GARDNFR. Esdailes and Co., who stopped payment in January 1837. The London and County Banking Co. have occupied the premises since 1846. The present building covers the sites also of Nos. 20, 21, 22, and 23. No. 22 was in 1693 known by the sign of “ The Blue Perriwig,” and No. 23 was in 1758 a draper’s shop called “ The Fleece.” The sign of No. 20 was originally “The White Swanne,” but in 1663 it was called “ The Star,” a sign that was also erected for the Coronation. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corpora¬ tion erected the sign of “ Adam and Eve ” at No. 31, and the English, Scottish, and Australian Bank Ltd. the sign of “The Unicorn and Ring” at No. 38. Note. — In addition to Mr. Hilton Price our acknowledge¬ ments are also due to Mr. H. D. Anderson, Hon. Sec. to the Decoration Committee, Mr. Starkie Gardner, and the various firms who have kindly assisted in the preparation of this article. The Demolition of Old Westminster and the “ Improvement” Scheme. Improvement, like restoration, has come to be a word of dire significance to all artists, to all who watch with trained eyes or educated sympathies, the swift and steady dwindling of our heritage of beauty. To think of the havoc wrought during the last seventy years under these names, is to justify the abhorrence they arouse, But in common fairness, an Improvement Scheme should be carefully examined before condemna¬ tion, to see what of real improvement it may contain, as well as the destruction it may threaten, to weigh the probable gain against the positive loss. In the scheme under review, two great public bodies are concerned — the London County Council, as direct and responsible pro¬ genitors, invested with Parliamentary powers, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as abettors and as national trustees for a large proportion of the involved area. But the London County Council scheme is not in any way responsible for the demolition, actual and threatened, of the delight¬ ful old quarter lying immediately to the south¬ ward of Westminster Abbey, of which the Eccle¬ siastical Commissioners are the ground landlords. The illustrations of this article are photographs taken in August last, and have been selected to show what is left of this still unique and most interesting neighbourhood. Great College Street follows the course of the old mill stream or creek which formed the southern boundary of the Abbey precincts. The ancient stone wall, probably of the fourteenth century, and known as St. Dunstan’s Wall, still forms one side of the street, dividing it from the Abbey garden, and appears on the left-hand side of our view. Up to the summer of 1902 this was a street of extraordinary charm and interest, possessing throughout its length not more than four or five modern buildings. The bulk of its houses are of the eighteenth century, and full of charming detail internally and externally. Old West¬ minsters will remember with affectionate regret, Sutcliffe’s pretty little old bow-windowed tuck- shop, which stood till a few weeks ago at the western end of the street. Now, unfortunately, fully two-thirds of the old houses have been pulled down, and the delightful winding cobble- paved street terribly shorn of its beauty. Under the auspices of the Commissioners, a most unde¬ sirable block of railway offices is rising on one of the cleared sites, and the Dean and Chapter have actually let one of the canonries in the garden to the railway company. Cowley Street lies behind and nearly parallel to Great College Street, with which it is connected by Barton Street. Both these streets were a few years ago absolutely of the eighteenth century, and still retain the greater part of their early Georgian character. A panel near their corner gives the date of 1722-3, and the whole of the old houses owe their origin to about that period. The view of an entrance hall in Cowley Street shows a typical instance of the panelling and fine joinery of this triad of charming streets, these staid, VOL. xiv. — 1 o6 Old Westminster and the “ Improvement ” Scheme. FIG I. — GREAT COLLEGE STREET, SHOWING DEMOLITION AT THE EAST END. orderly, delightful little rows, akin in charm and character to Cheyne Row at Chelsea, Church Row at Hampstead, and the Pallants at Chiches¬ ter. Surely worth preserving, if possible, are these quiet old streets, intensely appreciated by those who live in them, intensely appropriate in their decent quietude, to their position under the shadow of the great Abbey. They are still en¬ joying a hale old age, may they not die a natural death ? The Ecclesiastical Commissioners’ defence for this ruthless action in destroying one of the most picturesque and interesting quarters in all London, is that the value of the ground has risen to a point at which it is worth more than the buildings upon it, and that they are bound to administer a public trust to the best financial advantage. Such an argument may be good for a commercial company, but ill-beseems a great and trusted national department. If carried to its logical conclusion, Westminster Abbey itself should shortly disappear in favour of residential flats or a new railway station. Are there no other assets than pounds, shillings, and pence, no considerations but those of financial profit ? If there are not, cannot the Commissioners turn their financial attention to other portions of the vast property entrusted to them, some of which is in need of actual improvement, and leave to Westminster and to London this little oasis of old-world beauty. To say that most of the threatened houses are decrepit and ill-cared for is untrue. The condition of the houses is indeed ex¬ tremely creditable to the tenants of an estate that throws the whole burden of repairs of every sort upon its lessees, declining to spend one penny upon any improvements. If, how¬ ever, the stern financial necessities of the case absolutely require de¬ molition, it is not too much to ask that there should be some educated control, some sound architectural selection and super¬ vision of the new buildings that are to supersede the old. But the commonplace vulgarity and un¬ suitability of the new buildings in Little College, Barton, and Cowley Streets will convince the most casual observer that such restric¬ tive influences are discreditably absent. The Commissioners cannot escape the stigma of vulgarising a beautiful neighbourhood. Many of your readers may re¬ member that this area was threatened in 1898 by a private syndicate who sought to push through Parliament a Bill granting them powers of compulsory purchase, with a view to the speculative creation of an “Attractive Residential Quarter.” A most strenu¬ ous fight — begun, and for the chief part con¬ tinued, by a few energetic residents — raged for months in the Press and magazines ; the Dean and Chapter, the Parish vestry, and finally the Photo : H. Irving. Photo . H. Irving FIG. 2. — COWLEY SI REI T, LOOKING WESTWARD. Old Westminster and the “ Improvement" Scheme. 107 FIG. 3. — NORTH STREET AND ST. JOHN’S CHURCH. Ecclesiastical Commissioners joined in opposing the Bill. Sympathetically championed in Parliament by Mr. Burdett Courts and Mr. H. Robertson, and supported by the London County Council, the opposition was brilliantly successful, and the Bill was rejected on the second reading by four votes to one. The residents feel bitterly that, having borne the brunt of that fight to secure to the Ecclesias¬ tical Commissioners their control of the neigh¬ bourhood, having defeated the sinister projects of the syndicate, their interests are now entirely ignored by the former body, whose high-handed evictions and demolitions show that “ New Pres¬ byter is but old Priest writ large.” One of the most decisive arguments used against the syndi¬ cate's Bill was that it sought to appropriate, as a building site, the ground lying along the river be¬ tween the Victoria Tower Garden and Lambeth Bridge, and commanding the beautiful cross-river view of Lambeth. Palace and Church. It was wisely contended that this site must be opened out and the Victoria Tower Garden continued to Lambeth Bridge, without let or hindrance, free and open in perpetuity as a public garden. This point has been gained, and the extension of the Victoria Tower Garden, with the formation of a wide road behind it, is embodied in the Act obtained in igoo by the London County Council. But while re¬ joicing in this fact, it is permissible to criticise the plan of this extension and of the general altera¬ tions accompanying it. I can only regret, for the sake of your readers who may not be familiar with that plan, that it is not possible to reproduce it here. Its most salient feature is the widening of Abingdon and Millbank Streets to form a new street, seventy feet wide, leading from Palace Yard to Lambeth Bridge, and the plan indicates the widening of the southern approach to Palace Yard by splaying off, in a very ungainly fashion, the northern end of the terrace of interesting Georgian houses known as Abingdon Street. This means the demolition of the most characteristic and dignified house in the row — No. 32 — of finely proportioned design, with a stone base, a very cleverly planned double stairway leading to its front door, a handsome round gable-pediment, and retaining its heavy-barred old wooden sashes. This house seems to need only cleaning, painting, photo: h. ining. and ordinary repairs, to stand in quiet dignity for many years. The splaying off of this corner seems to portend the demolition of the whole of Abingdon Street, all, or nearly all, the houses of which, though now mostly grubby and unpainted, and occupied by offices, are full of architectural interest and merit. They contain admirable ceilings, cornices, doors, and chimney-pieces. It seems a great pity that they should go. The plan, however, shows the road line as offering no correspondence with the existing frontage, so that the intention is obvious. This is a magnificent Photo : H. Irving FIG. 4. — AN ENTRANCE HALL IN COWLEY STREET. i o8 Old Westminster and the “ Improvement ” Scheme. site, whose east front is opposite the House of Lords for about two-fifths, and opposite the Victoria Tower Garden, the river, and Lambeth Palace for the other three-fifths, while its back or west side commands the delightful prospect of the Abbey Gardens, the Abbey, and Westminster School. If it is to be cleared, it should be secured for a public building. That the indiffer¬ ence of London, of the nation, will be sufficient to surrender such a site to the unknown projects of speculative purchasers, our experience has taught us to think possible, but there is the hopeful chance that its contiguity to the Houses of Parliament may better direct its fate. The general trend of the new street towards Lambeth Bridge seems to be too abruptly south¬ eastward, i.e. towards the river, with the result of reducing the extended garden to a wedge only about 70 feet wide at its thinner end next the bridge, and of cutting obliquely a large slice off the existing Victoria Tower Garden. A feature of this arrangement is the avoidance of diminution of the block immediately southward of Abingdon Street, and bounded by Great College and Wood Streets to the north and south, and Little College Street to the west. This block is the destined site of the new offices of the Ecclesiastical Corcimis- sioners, a building which the Daily Chronicle informs us is to be “ in the Renaissance Style,” whatever phase of the reborn manner that may portend ; we trust it may be kept in harmony of scale and treatment with its surroundings. For it is obvious that, if the new buildings along the new street are kept too high, the architec¬ tural gain of its increased width will be seriously diminished. The widening, or to speak correctly, the aboli¬ tion of Millbank Street, necessarily involves the destruction of several old houses; notably No. 1, a dignified building of the Adam’s type, and a house with a fine brown brick front opposite the end of Church Street. It is, however, so obvious that Millbank Street is quite inadequate for even its present traffic, and so tortuous, neglected, and squalid, that it would be unwise, in spite of its extreme picturesqueness, to strive for its retention. The plan as it affects Smith’s Square, and that singular and most interesting masterpiece of Archer’s, the church of St. John the Evangelist, needs careful consideration. It is apparently proposed, without any material enlargement of the Square, to acquire, and, presumably, to pull down almost all the buildings that enclose it ; in fact, all the old buildings with the exception of the Rectory of St. John, in the south-west corner. On the north side of the Square are seven houses of the early part of the eighteenth century, most of them in excellent order, and all well propor¬ tioned, having admirable carved door porticos, and fine wrought-iron railings in front. The London County Council scheme signifies the demolition of eight interesting old houses, of several uninteresting and poorish ones, and, it is to be hoped, of three large and excessively ugly modern buildings, a block of flats, “ model ” workmen’s dwellings, and gas meter works. Ex¬ perience prompts one to fear that, if the four sides of the Square are demolished, while its area is not sensibly enlarged, the buildings likely to be erected will, to make the most paying use of their sites, be so high as seriously to damage the church by enclosing it in a well of tall houses. 1 he Square has, at present, two main avenues of approach in Church Street and North Street, running respectively eastward and northward from the centres of the corresponding sides. There are other minor streets and lanes which lead into the Square. It is now proposed to form two other main avenues, a western street running into Tuf- ton Street, and a southern street running into Horseferry Road. This is an obvious and excel¬ lent treatment of cardinal axes. But the plan shows widely, and convexly, rounded corners at the junction of streets with square ; an ugly and inconvenient feature, and one most difficult of architectural treatment. However, what chiefly causes concern, and indeed indignant dismay, is the very obvious intention, by widening it quite unnecessarily, to destroy North Street. This is practically, as our illustration will show, another untouched legacy of the eighteenth cen¬ tury, full of unpretentious, well-proportioned old houses, mostly panelled internally, and nearly all having admirable wrought-iron railings. This street forms a direct and perfectly convenient avenue of approach to the main entrance of the church, and affords a unique and charming vista, terminated by its columned portico and pedi¬ ments. Fully recognising all that is excellent and in the nature of real improvement in the scheme of the London County Council, it is surely not too much to demand that that body, invested with great powers and trusted with great financial resources, should show itself worthy of a magnifi¬ cent opportunity; and, while sparing as far as possible all that is capable of preservation in this ancient quarter, should exercise such careful con¬ trol of new structures that we may not have fresh instances of the unskilled alignments, neglect of perspectives, and medleys of incongruous fa9ades which disgrace the greater portion of this enor¬ mous city. What isneededis asaneanddeliberatecivicideal; the relevance and obedience to a dominant idea that should stamp the control of a great central authority. Edward Prioleau Warren. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVI EVV, OCTOBER, I903, VOLUME XIV. NO. S3. Photo : E. Dochree. ALL SAINTS CONVENT, COLNEY CHAPEL, ST. ALBANS. DETAIL OF THE TOWER. LEONARD STOKES, ARCHITECT. (See page 121.) The Hospital of St. Cross. Winchester, whose history is so closely associated with the earliest annals of England, abounds in monuments of antiquity. Its Cathe¬ dral, which presents an almost continuous record of the development of Mediaeval architecture, both in its fabric and in its many chauntries. the relics of antiquity which abound in the Close, Wolvesey, the Town Hall, the gateways, the college buildings of Wykeham’s foundation, the Market Cross, its ancient churches, and the character of its main street, which, in spite of modern incongruities, retains a characteristic flavour of an earlier and more picturesque era — all afford so much interest to the antiquarian and to the ordinary visitor, that, but for strong attraction elsewhere, he might be content to confine his study to the precincts of the city and its immediate neighbourhood. Neverthe¬ less, there are few who consider a visit to Win¬ chester complete unless it includes an excursion to St. Cross, which lies to the south, a mile or so beyond the walls of the city. The traveller by rail, who has caught a momentary and inadequate glimpse of the Cathedral, gains, a few minutes later, a much more complete view of the cruciform church, itself almost a cathedral in miniature, with its dignified and unpretentious attendant buildings, standing in the water-meadows near the River Itchen. He can scarcely fail to find his curiosity aroused as to its history and purpose ; or, if it is seen from any one of the hills around Winchester, it arrests attention for its dignity and comparative isolation, standing as an outwork of the Cathedral city, projecting an ecclesiastical influence into its remoter suburbs. It is best to approach it by the path which leads across the water-meadows. You pass from the Close to the south gate, above which stands a tiny church still in use : you turn to the left, noting by the way the tablet which marks the house where Jane Austen died ; pass the north side of Wyke¬ ham’s College buildings, which here present a gaunt and rather forbidding aspect (Wykeham rightly preserved the architectural amenities of his college for its alumni), and the Warden's house. You turn to the right and skirt a “carrier” or stream diverted from the main river, in which, with good fortune, you may catch a glimpse of a lusty trout, and a field-path brings you in a ten minutes’ walk to the outer gate of the Hospital, which has for some time been in view. The quiet walk is an appropriate prelude to the tranquillity of the precincts. As Mr. Freeman writes, “ No ST. CROSS FROM THE WATER-MEADS. Photo : E. Dockree. VOL. XIV.— K 2 I I 2 The Hospital of St. Cross. one can pass its threshold without finding himself landed, as it were, in another age. It seems a place where no worldly thought, no pride, or pas¬ sion, or irreverence could enter ; a spot where, as a modern writer has beautifully expressed it, a good man, might he make his choice, might wish to die.” Undoubtedly the atmosphere of the precincts suggests a calm unbroken through the centuries of their existence ; nevertheless, the earlier history of the foundation shows that “pride, passion, and irreverence ” found their billet there, and that it was, even in an unusual degree, the victim of sacrilegious spoliation and wanton neglect. The Hospital of St. Cross was founded by Henry de Blois in 1136. There appears to be no definite authority for the legend recorded by Milner, who quotes Bishop Godwin as stating that a monastery existed on the spot from the earliest ages of Christianity until the Danish invasions, when it was destroyed. This is, at any rate, incompatible with another legend, apparently of much later origin, which for its quaintness, and the interesting conjectures which it starts, may here be recorded. There is apparently no doubt that the niche on the south side of the entrance tower was occupied by a figure of the Blessed Virgin ; that this figure survived the iconoclasm of the reformers, until, somewhat over a century ago, it fell, almost crushing in its fall one of the brethren of the Hospital. The head of the figure is preserved in the north choir aisle. This figure is said to have been saved from the tender mercies of the iconoclasts by an invented story that it represented a milkmaid with a pail on her head. There is, too, a legend that Henry de Blois, wandering about the water-meads, was met by a milkmaid, who pointed out to him the spot on which he should build his hospital. The questions which occur to us in this connec¬ tion are these : — (1) Was the identification of the figure with the milkmaid suggested by an ante¬ cedent legend, or were both story and identifica¬ tion equally due to the ingenious invention of those who wished to save the figure ? It must be conceded that the milkmaid cannot be common to both by mere coincidence ; also that this legend of the foundation savours of an earlier date than the Reformation. (2) Supposing that the milkmaid legend was current before its employment for this purpose, might not its original form have been that the Blessed Virgin had appeared to de Blois in the fashion of a milkmaid? This conjecture, though I can find no authority for it, seems to me to be extremely probable. Such stories were abundantly current in the Middle Ages, especially in the fourteenth century. If any weight be given to my guess, I will further ask (3) whether the legend being extant, and the statue suffering such partial decay as to obscure certain features (the prominencies of the crown would probably be the first to perish), the identification of the Blessed Virgin with the milkmaid may not have been transferred in popular interpretation to the figure? In that case its preservers would have found it necessary merely to suppress before the Commissioners its sacred aspect, and bring the secular into prominence. We may thus save their characters at the expense of their ingenuity, attributing to them a mere suppressio veri in place of a suggestio falsi. If, then, it be permissible to build a considerable structure upon a small foundation, I incline to hold that the fourteenth century gave birth, among countless other legends of Our Lady, to this of the milkmaid, which would be treasured by those interested in the Hospital, as it implied an august and miraculous origin of its foundation ; that her statue, conspicuously placed, served to fortify the tradition of her connection with the Hospital; that in the course of time, and through process of decay, it came to represent the aspect of her disguise, which disguise was ingeniously utilised for its preservation. So much for this story, the comparative irrele¬ vance of which can be justified only by the interest of the problems which it suggests. To return from the region of legend to actual history : the purpose of de Blois’ foundation was to support “thirteen poor men, feeble and so reduced in strength that they can hardly or with difficulty support themselves without another’s aid,” and for them specific provision was made of bed and board ; should any recover from his infir¬ mities, he was “ to be sent abroad with honour and reverence, and another put in his place.” Further, a hundred poor and indigent men were to have their dinner daily, and other acts of kindness were to be done to the poor, according to the ability of the Hospital, which for these purposes was endowed with various tithes and rents. In 1151 the new foundation was handed over to the charge of Raymond, Master of the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem. Henry de Blois was Bishop of Winchester at the date of this foundation. He was succeeded by Richard Toclyve, who extended the benefac¬ tions of the Hospital to the feeding of another hundred poor men, and increased the staff of the Hospital, making provision for four priests, thirteen secular clerks, and several choristers. It is presumably to Toclyve that we must attribute the choir school, said to have stood to the south east of the church, of which no trace is now to be The Hospital of St. Cross. found, as well as the triple arch discussed later, which formed the entrance from the choir resi¬ dence to the church through a cloister, pro¬ jected or built, of which also no remains are discoverable. It was also through Bishop To- clyve’s action that in 1185 the Knights Hospi¬ tallers, after many disputes and appeals to Rome, gave up the management of the Hospital to the present and future bishops of Winchester. In¬ deed, the increase of the benefactions and the transference of the management, appear to have been arranged pari passu, and as part of the same compact. It is doubtful whether the change of manage¬ ment was conducive to the prosperity of the foundation. At any rate by the beginning of the fourteenth century grave abuses were rife. Suc¬ cessive masters appear to have regarded their position as an occasion for enriching themselves by whatever assets remained over after the most perfunctory and parsimonious fulfilment of the terms of the trust, and repeated efforts were made by successive bishops to remedy such misappro¬ priation. It would be impossible to relate fully the history of these abuses and of the efforts made to remedy them. One of the most conspicuous of such malefactors was John Edingdon, nephew to Edingdon, Wykeham’s predecessor in the See of Winchester. John Edingdon had alienated “the whole stock belonging to the hospital” and left dilapidations to the amount of some three or four hundred pounds. He had hurriedly made an i 1 3 exchange with one William Stowell with a view of covering his defalcations. His successors appear to have been if possible more unscrupulous, and it was not until 1382 that William of Wykeham, after years of effort and litigation and repeated appeals to Rome, succeeded in restoring order and prosperity. The appointment of John Cam- peden, a personal friend of Wykeham, to the mastership marks the return to a more health}^ condition of finance as well as a considerable expenditure upon the buildings. Wykeham was succeeded in the bishopric of Winchester by Cardinal Beaufort, who with the consent of the then master, Thomas Forrest, and the brethren, established within the precincts a new foundation, termed “the Hospital or Alms¬ house of Noble Poverty,” which was to consist of a warden, two priests, thirty-five brethren and three sisters. The Cardinal’s deed is dated 1445, and his almshouse is stated to have been on the western side of the church. The gateway tower, which contains, in a niche on the northern side, an effigy of the Cardinal and his arms above the doorway, must unquestionably be attributed to Beaufort. What further buildings were due to him is less clear. It is certain that his inten¬ tions were in some degree frustrated by the Wars of the Roses and the triumph of the Yorkists, and that the completion of his design fell to Waynflete’s lot, who, however, owing to the diminution of value in the endowments bestowed on the hospital by Cardinal Beaufort, was com- VIEW FROM THE NORTH-WEST. Photo: E. Dockree. [ [4 The Hospital of St. Cross. pelled to reduce the number on the foundation to one priest and two brethren. During the episcopate of Bishop Fox, Robert Sherburne, a Wykehamist both at Winchester and Oxford, made considerable contributions to the foundation, and is said to have erected the eastern side of the quadrangle, that running from the Porter’s Lodge to the Church. In 1509 the Church of St. Faith, to the north west of the hospital, which had fallen into disrepair, was pulled down. The site is still marked by the churchyard which remains. The font and bell were transferred to St. Cross, to¬ gether with the screen which now divides the choir from the north aisle, and probably other minor features. Another church, that of St. James, had also, at some date which I cannot fix, perished or been destroyed, though apparently in this case at least a chapel had been retained. Both seem to have passed into the possession of the hospital, which was answerable to the cathedral chapter for any dues received in respect of them. I find in the cathedral account rolls for 1536-7 the fol¬ lowing entry : — “ From Master of St. Cross for the Station of St. Faith and St. James’ Chapel.” The term “station, ”of which the uses in mediaeval times are numerous, seems here to mean a sacred spot at which the faithful stopped and made an offering. The foundation appears to have suffered less than others at the Reformation. The choral ser¬ vices were retained. The ruse by which the figure of the Blessed Virgin was preserved has already been told. Our historical notes may end here, as so much has been recorded as may serve to throw light upon the history of the buildings. I may, how¬ ever, mention one further fact which will serve as an excuse for the imperfect and fragmentary character of the record. “ In 1616 the ancient register of the hospital was burnt by the widow of the then steward.” To be perfectly accurate let us read “ by the widow of the steward lately deceased.” In our endeavour to trace the history of the fabric it will be impossible within the space available to do more than sketch the main out¬ lines of its development, dwelling from time to time upon certain features of peculiar interest, especially on such as come within the scope of the illustrations. To work out adequately the archae¬ ology of St. Cross would require a considerable volume. It should be remarked in the first instance that the church takes precedence in time, as it does in importance, of the secular buildings. Its fabric was unquestionably commenced by the middle of the twelfth and completed before the end of the INTERIOR OF SOUTH TRANSEPT, SHOWING SCREEN FROM ST. FAITH'S. Photo: E. Dockrec . The Hospital of St. Cross. i j Photo : E. Dockree. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH-EAST, SHOWING THE TRIPLE ARCH. fourteenth century. None of the secular buildings can well be dated earlier than the middle of the fourteenth century, while their most characteristic features are of the fifteenth, some additions of the sixteenth, and at least one feature of the later years of the seventeenth century. It is clear that the founder and his earlier successors made the church their first object, and it may be supposed that the earlier buildings for the accommodation of the beneficiaries of the foundation, which have left no trace, were of a merely utilitarian and perishable nature. We may therefore con¬ sider the church first in order. We may remark in the outset that the church gives evidence of gradual and continuous develop¬ ment, in which signs of subtle and slight changes of style are abundant, and that the lines of development are as might be expected from east to west and from the floor line upwards. In fact the story of the church as told by its masonry is one of slow and continuous building, in the course of which new ideas were being constantly incor¬ porated in the masonry ; and it is not easy to understand the method by which the services were maintained during an almost uninterrupted era of building operations. Not very much of the existing fabric can be definitely assigned to de Blois. The earliest extant work is the lower storey ot the choir, (though even here the cramped position of the northernmost window of the south aisle may indicate a subsequent enlargement of the south choir aisle), and the lower portion of the south transept, including the sacristy, of which the floor appears to have been at some time raised as the bases of the growing shafts are buried. Probably this base of the chancel and part of the transept were left by him covered with temporary roofs, and supplemented by some sort of makeshift nave for the accommodation of the worshippers. We have seen that his successor, Richard Toclyve, enlarged the scope of the original foun¬ dation as to both the beneficiaries and the staff. The habitation of the “ four priests, thirteen secular clerks and several choristers ” was no doubt built by him, and must have stood some¬ where to the south-east of the church, connected with it by a cloister which has since also com¬ pletely disappeared. But an indication of its former existence is possibly to be found in the cutting off below of the flat south-eastern buttress of the south choir aisle, which would have narrowed the gangway of the cloister, and in the door of access from the cloister to the church in the angle formed by the junction of the aisle with the transept which forms a unique feature i 16 Cross. DETAIL OF TRIPLE ARCH. THE CHOIR FROM THE NAVE. The Hospital of St. Cross. i i 7 of great interest. The motive of this peculiar arrangement, which has been a puzzle to many, admits, as I think, of a simple and certain explanation. It was considered unwise to touch the flat buttress of the south transept, but the space between it and the aisle was insufficient for an adequate entrance. The doorway was therefore extended into the heart of the aisle wall, and the half-arch built into it to restore the line of the aisle and to carry the super¬ structure. The inner doorway of this same entrance, visible in the interior view, seems to be of somewhat later date. The joggled lintel within the arch, shown in our illustration, is well worthy of notice. If this attribution, which seems more than probable, is correct, we should assign to Toclyve the more decorated portion of the round-arched work. It is, however, possible that before his work was completed the pointed arch was intro¬ duced. The influence of the adjoining city of Winchester, which usually felt the earliest move¬ ment of architectural development, allows us to assign a somewhat early date for this change, and it is therefore possible that the greater part of the choir, including the intersecting arches of the triforium, may be assignable to Toclyve. For the rest of the church it is not easy to associate the several types or features with defi¬ nite names. The whole shows, as I have said, a gradual progressive development. The builders can, except for short intervals, never have been idle, but till we reach the period of its completion no records indicate to whose influence the work is due. We know that the church was not com¬ pleted at the end of the thirteenth century ; the Decorated work shown in the west window and the nave clerestory are usually assigned to Bishop Edingdon ; and for this there is the authority of an extant manuscript. Edingdon’s work, how¬ ever, as seen both at Winchester Cathedral and in the church of the village from which he takes his name, is definitely “ Perpendicular ” in type. These works, however, belong — the one certainly, the other probably — to his episcopate. We may, therefore, presume that his work at St. Cross belongs to his pre-episcopal time, when he was Master of the Hospital. The only features which are of a date subsequent to Edingdon are the windows of the tower near the angles, which, on the authority of the same manuscript, must be assigned to John de Campeden. Here, again, we are somewhat surprised to find that the style is that of transition between Decorated and Per¬ pendicular, whereas William of Wykeham’s work, most of which is of considerably earlier date, shows a full development of the later phase. It is curious that Wykeham’s friend and nominee should show less advancement than he does in architectural style. This brief survey of the history of the mediaeval history of the church may here be concluded. It remains only to call attention to certain special features, records, and conditions ; and, lastly, to the changes which have been introduced in recent times. In the western responds of the crossing, both north and south, may be seen the stumps of the rood-beam, which were sawn off close to the stone¬ work. The north wall of the north transept shows corbels, the purpose of which presumably was to support a gallery or galleries, to which access was obtained from the original eastern wing of the Hospital, which still bears the name of the Infir¬ mary. From this gallery the transept altars would be visible, especially that, if altar it was, in the south wall. The number and dedication of the altars in the original church cannot with certainty be determined. Besides the High altar, the slab of which, with its five incised crosses, is still in existence, there appear to have been two in the north transept, one in each of the choir aisles, and two in the south transept. I can find no record of the dedication of any of these except those in the south transept, which, on the autho¬ rity of a manuscript already quoted, were dedi¬ cated respectively to St. Ursula and St. Sitha and the 11,000 Virgins, and to St. Stephen. Tradition, however, assigns the altar in the east wall of the south transept to St. Thomas a Becket : and some years ago a painting at the back of the altar, no longer decipherable, is said to have shown “a knight in Norman chain armour, a mitre resting on an altar, and remains of a priestly figure.” * The dedication of the south transept altars is, however, fixed by the manu¬ script to the date 1388. Undoubtedly, the manuscript authority is of more weight than mere tradition or than the interpretation of the painted subject, which can no longer be checked. The dilemma might be solved if we suppose that an altar, originally dedicated to St. Thomas, was subsequently re-dedicated to St. Ursula and her Virgins or to St. Stephen, but this seems scarcely probable. The cult of St. Thomas is unlikely to have died out before the end of the fourteenth century, and if the dedication to him were ever made, it would probably have lasted till the Re¬ formation. I can do no more than record the con¬ flicting evidence, and leave the question unsolved. It seems reasonable to suppose that altars would, on the suppression of the churches of * A similar scene is said to be shown in a painting in Preston Church, Brighton. The Hospital of St. Cross >WM THE WEST DOORWAY. THE RENAISSANCE SCREEN AND SOUTH CHOIR AISLE. The Hospital of St. Cross. I IQ DETAIL OF SOUTH END OF THE RENAISSANCE SCREEN. DETAIL OF NORTH END OF THE RENAISSANCE SCREEN. I 20 Cross. ST. CROSS. GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH. Photos: E. Dockrec. Current A rchitecture. i 2 i Sparkford, have been dedicated to St. Faith and St. James, their patron saints ; but this is mere conjecture, and, if it were so, the dedication to St. Faith would not have been of earlier date than 1509. It is further stated that the church contained altars to St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist. The west door of the church, a fine specimen of developed first pointed, is remarkable for its octagonal central shaft and for the floral orna¬ mentation of the bold dog-tooth ornament. The very beautiful Renaissance carving (Renais¬ sance in the more accurate and French use of the term) which crowns the screen to the south chancel aisle and forms a canopy to the choir stalls, is of similar character to the chests on the choir screen at the Cathedral, and may reasonably be attributed to the same workmen. We learn from Mr. Blomfield’s “ History of Renaissance Architecture in England ” (Vol. I., p. 21) that a body of Italian merchants was settled at South¬ ampton at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and that the influence of Italian Art became con¬ spicuous in the locality. It is reasonable, in the absence of records, to suppose that these features were due to this immigration, and to assign them to the first quarter of that century. The church must originally have been specially rich in mural painting. Of this many traces remain — few of them in sufficient preservation to allow their subjects to be deciphered with any certainty. Enough, however, of the fresco on the south wall of the south transept remains to show that it represented the Descent from the Cross. Though the painting of the Middle Ages has so far disappeared, it is not deficiency of colour of which the visitor will now complain. Misdirected zeal, intending to do honour to the church, has resulted in the most unfortunate and inharmonious daubing of the interior of the choir. Had a fraction of the money thus expended some forty years since been devoted to the preservation of the rapidly perishing mediaeval frescoes, we might still be in possession of priceless examples of our earlier national art, and probably of the key to many archaeological problems. As for the modern work, we can scarcely avoid a passing regret for the “ worthy Master who signalised his reign by completing the whitewashing of the whole church ! ” Experience teaches that there are worse things in the world than whitewash. But it is time to end these notes about the church, which, fragmentary and eclectic as they are, have greatly exceeded my intention, and made it necessary to defer consideration of the Secular Buildings to a later number. Basil Champneys. Current Architecture. All Saints Convent, Colney Chapel, St. Albans. — This building has been erected about three miles from St. Albans for the Sister¬ hood now occupying several houses in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square ; an orphanage, not shown on the plan, forms part of the scheme, and will be erected as funds allow. Local “ grey ” bricks are being used for the facings generally, with red bricks as dressings and bands. Weldon stone is used for the stone dressings, and the roofs are to be covered with stone slating. The whole building is heated by hot water and lighted by electricity, which is generated in the out-build¬ ings, and carried in subways to the various parts of the building. Water will be pumped by the same engines into the three smaller towers in which are situated the sanitary arrangements. The buildings stand on the site of an old mansion, which it was thought desirable to pull down. The grounds include many acres of park, with fine old, walled gardens, besides lawns and shrub¬ beries. The contract for the foundations was carried out by Messrs. Miskin & Son, of St. Albans, and the superstructure by Messrs. William King & Son, of London, at a cost of nearly £40,000, exclusive of the chapel, which is not now being erected. Mr. Leonard Stokes, of Westminster, is the architect. Rhodes Building, Cape Town. — This building has been erected of the simplest materials but built perhaps more solidly than any similar structure in Cape Town. The material for the walls is granite from Table Mountain. The woodwork throughout is of teak, some of the principal rooms being panelled. The general treatment of the finish of the walls is a plain white¬ wash, the open corridors being lined to a certain height with plain green Dutch tiles. The floors of the corridors are all paved with large, flat, red Dutch tiles, with the exception of the ground floor and the court which is black and white marble. The only feature of especial interest in the building is the central court which is open to the sky, and which adds considerably to the comfort of the offices in the summer in this warm 12 2 Current Architecture ALL SAINTS CONVENT, COLNEY CHAPEL, ST. ALBANS. GENERAL VIEW OF THE BUILDINGS FROM THE NORTH-EAST. LEONARD STOKES, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture. 23 £ 3r U_J <-T) CtC 2= wo oEr < to £ z m- OOu ii_i xr u !N ^ _cmape:l_ UNBUILT 124 Current A r chit e cture ALL SAINTS CONVENT, COLNEY CHAPEL, ST. ALBANS. THE QUADRANGLE FROM THE NORTH-WEST. LEONARD STOKES, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture i VOL. XIV. — L Photo : E. Dockree. ^ ALL SAINTS CONVENT, COLNEY CHAPEL, ST. ALBANS. THE QUADRANGLE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. LEONARD STOKES, ARCHITECT. Current A rckitecture i 26 Photo ; E. Dockree. ALL SAINTS CONVENT, COLNEY CHAPEL, ST. ALBANS. DETAILS OF MAIN ENTRANCE. LEONARD STOKES, ARCHITECT. SCULPTURE BY H. WILSON. Current Architecture i 2 7 Photo : E. Dockree. ALL SAINTS CONVENT, COLNEY CHAPEL, ST. ALBANS. FROM THE SOUTH-WEST. LEONARD STOKES, ARCHITECT. L 2 12-8 Current Architecture. THE RHODES BUILDING, CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA. ENTRANCE FRONT. BAKER AND MASEY, ARCHITECTS. Current A r chit e cture , 1 29 THE RHODES BUILDING, CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA THE STAIRCASE AND INNER HALL. BAKER AND MASEY, ARCHITECTS. Current Architecture. i o o THE RHODES BUILDING, CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA. THE INNER HALL, LOOKING TOWARDS THE ENTRANCE. BAKER AND MASEY, ARCHITECTS. Curren t A rch itecture , 13 Ground Floor Plan 4+444+- SCALE OF FEET THE RHODES BUILDING, CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA. BAKER AND MASEY, ARCHITECTS. "four yards street OFFICE ENTRANCE C R o 5 S SCALE OF FEET GROUND FLOOR PLAN : THE EAGLE INSURANCE BUILDING, MANCHESTER. CHARLES HEATHCOTE AND SONS, ARCHITECTS. KING STREET Cu rren t A rch it e cture . 3 2 THE EAGLE INSURANCE BUILDING, MANCHESTER. CHARLES HEATHCOTE AND SONS, ARCHITECTS. climate. The fountain in the centre is sur¬ mounted by a copy of one of the Zymbaba birds, the fountain itself being of Verona marble. There is a space left on the outside at the corner for a bronze memorial tablet which will be placed there in memory of the late Mr. Rhodes, to whose initiative the building is mainly due. It should be mentioned that most of the build¬ ings in Cape Town have been hitherto plaster. This is almost the first building of any size erected entirely of granite, and is in that re¬ spect alone perhaps of some interest. The building was erected by the De Beers Company to house the group of enterprises in which the late Mr. Rhodes was chiefly interested, suites being provided for the Be Beers Consolidated Mines, the Administrators of the Rhodes Estates, the British South Africa Company, the Rhodesian Railways, the De Beers Dynamite Works, and others. The architects are Messrs. Herbert Baker and Masey of Cape Town. The New Eagle Insurance Company’s building, of whose exterior and the ground floor plan we give reproductions, has recently been erected on a site at the corner of Cross and Ring Streets, Manchester. The building has been carried out in white Cullingworth stone and green slates. The company occupies the first floor, the remainder of the building is set apart for letting, both as shops and offices. The contractors for the work were Messrs. Southern and Sons, of Salford, and the architects Messrs. Chas. Heath- cote & Sons, of Manchester. Further Strand Improvement. By the Honorary Secretary of the Further Strand Improvement Committee. The Holborn to Strand Improvement Scheme was conceived and has been thus far carried out with a boldness which is highly credit¬ able to the London County Council, and the manner in which the Improvements Committee of the Council has received the criticisms made on the planning of a section of the Strand shows a consideration to public opinion which is not always associated with those in authority. It is some time since the Council’s plan was settled, and though it was the result of consultation with the Royal Institute of British Architects, it was only after the new roadway was opened that the alignment adopted was realised by the public. Several criticisms were forwarded to the Coun¬ cil and were referred to the Im¬ provements Committee, and, before adjourning for the summer recess, the Committee reported to the Council on three proposals for amendment of the Council’s plan, which were the outcome of the public interest in the matter. They also erected poles and boards on the site marking the lines of the suggested modifications, and stated that they would submit to the Council a definite recommendation thereon after the recess. The suggestions for amendment of the plan are as follows : i. Proposed by the Further Strand Improvement Committee and shown in the accompanying plan. It will be seen that this plan sets back the eastern horn of the crescent into alignment with the western horn (on which the New Gaiety stands) giving the roadway its natural course direct to the Law Courts and Fleet Street, bringing the church of St. Mary- le-Strand into alignment with the thoroughfare, and providing an island pavement, one of those open spaces in which London is so sadly defi¬ cient, where trees could flourish with¬ out the hindrance to light and ven¬ tilation which often results from planting trees in the sidewalks where buildings are without forecourts. This island pavement would also afford a good place for seats where the pedes¬ trian might rest without interrupting, or being interrupted by, the stream of traffic. Sir Edward J. Poynter, President of the Royal Academy, writing to me, says : “ I consider that your proposal for an island pavement with trees, as shown on the plan, is a most excellent sugges¬ tion. Besides the provision for a pleasant and shady resting-place for pedestrians, which such a space would afford, place might be found on it for one or more of the memorial statues which are from time to time voted to prominent citizens, and which would look so much better when grouped with trees than when posted in bare open places.” 2. Proposed by the Royal Institute of British Architects and now endorsed by Mr. Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., who first called attention to 1 34 Further Strand Improvement. the need of some amendment of the Council's plan. The amendment proposed by the Institute is shown on the plan by the line A A. This only sets back the frontage east of the intended foot¬ way into Aldwych, and is practically no improve¬ ment when viewed from the west, until this point is reached, while the symmetry of the plan is so far destroyed that I am satisfied the Institute are mistaken in informing the Council that this would be observable only on paper and would not be seen when looking at the buildings themselves. On the contrary, the awkward angles on this line of frontage could not be otherwise than prominent and unsightly. The line, however, would be an improvement when viewed from the Law Courts, as from this point it would bring the church of St. Mary-le-Strand into alignment with the thoroughfare. 3. Suggested by the Council’s Superintending Architect, and shown on the plan by the line B B. This improvement sets back the whole of the straight frontage between the two churches, but the gain to the roadway would be so little that the plan can only be considered as some¬ what less unsatisfactory than the one at present adopted. In their report to the Council the Improve¬ ments Committee gave the estimated cost of the three schemes, in the loss of building land, as follows : — 1, £350,000 ; 2, £70,000 ; and 3, £59,000. It would be interesting to have some details as to how these valuations were arrived at. Without details the figures certainly appear to be excessive. To estimate the value by the superficial area only would not give a correct result, as, in such a position, the first considera¬ tion of value is the frontage. Proposal 1 would reduce the building frontage by about 85 ft., pro¬ posal 2 by about 31 ft., and proposal 3 by about 26 ft. The loss of 85 ft. of frontage in proposal 1, would undoubtedly lead to some increase in value of the frontage to the wider Strand, with the island pavement opposite. A glance at the plan will at once show that if the present line be re¬ tained, to pedestrians walking westwards from the Law Courts the Strand would appear to be but a by-way, and Aldwych the main thoroughfare, while with the Strand widened as in proposal 1, with the roadway each side of St. Mary-le-Strand open to view from the Law Courts, the Strand would be seen to be w'hat it is, viz., the main thoroughfare from the City to Charing Cross, Fitrther Strand Improvement. i VIEW, LOOKING WEST, FROM THE THIRD FLOOR OF THE LAW COURTS. Whitehall, and the Mall now being opened into Trafalgar Square. It is fortunate that the Improvements Com¬ mittee have given publicity to the three proposals before agreeing to any definite recommendation, and it may be hoped that the generous policy which marks every other part of the Holborn to Strand Improvement Scheme, will lead to the adoption of the proposal made by the Further Strand Im¬ provement Committee. Any less thorough amend¬ ment of the scheme would be to follow the penny wise and pound foolish policy of the late Metro¬ politan Board of Works when laying out Shaftes¬ bury Avenue and Charing Cross Road, which are narrow, second-rate streets, instead of the broad and noble thoroughfares they should have been. Surely the London County Council will rather emulate those great landlords who did not limit their open spaces to the necessary roadways, but who, with commendable forethought, minimised their building leases and gave, to London, squares with gardens which are such a boon in a crowded city. There are questions which are outside the haggling of the market, and the making of the Strand into a noble thoroughfare is surely one of them. About £ 75,000 was spent in improving Tottenham Court Road at its junction with Oxford Street, by removing the block of buildings east of what was then Bozier’s Court. To begrudge the cost necessary to give the Strand its natural course to the Law Courts and Fleet Street, in connection with an improvement scheme which involves an expenditure of five millions, would be so discreditable to the intelli¬ gence of the metropolis, that no stone should be left unturned to secure the adoption of the proposal of the Further Strand Improvement Committee, which has already received the sup¬ port of the following Metropolitan Borough Councils : — Bermondsey, Idammersmith, Maryle- bone, Paddington, and Wandsworth. The memorial which the Further Strand Im¬ provement Committee presented to the Council in July, will be followed by another memorial after the recess, and all who take any interest in the improvement of the Metropolis are invited to join the Committee and sign the second memorial. Communications may be addressed to the Com¬ mittee at 7, Pall Mall. Mark H. Judge. Architectural Education. V. — L’ENSEIGNEMENT DE ^ARCHITEC¬ TURE EN FRANCE. By J. Guadet, Professeur a !' Ecole des Beaux-arts. Inspecteur General des Bdtiments Civils. Il serait tres difficile de concevoir ce qu’est en l- ranee l’enseignement de l’Architecture, si Ton ne se rendait pas compte d'une facon plusgenerale de ce qu’est et de ce qu’a ete depuis des siecles 1'enseignement des arts au sens le plus large du mot. Chez nous en effet 1’enseignement de 1’architecture est d’abord et avant tout artistique ; il ne neglige ni la science ni la technique, mais il s'attache en premier lieu a produire des artistes — ceux qui l’auront merite par leurs dons et leurs etudes — et des artistes utiles par une saine prepa¬ ration aux difficultes de la profession. Notre pretention n'est pas que l’architecte entrant dans la vie pratique trouve dans 1’enseignement scolaire des recettes ou des procedes pour elaborer surement une composition determinee; mais nous cherchons a le rendre souple et ingenieux, habile a trouver des compositions, fecond et imaginatif, instruit des lois et des meyens de la construction ; son bagage sera riche et prevoyant, tandis que plus tard son choix ou les circonstances orienteront sa voie dans les applications de ses etudes. L’enseignement est done general et ne specialise pas; nous essayons de former des artistes et des hommes. Or, e’est la la pensee maitresse dans tout l’en¬ seignement des arts. Cela resulte d’une longue suite d’efforts, d’une perseverance seculaire dans une methode qui ne ressemble a aucune autre; 1’enseignement amical et personnel de maitre a disciple plutot que de professeur a eleve : on est eleve d’une ecole, sans doute ; mais avant tout, apres tout, et par dessus tout, on est l’eleve du maitre choisi, de l’ami experiments et paternel, du conseiller affectueux dont l’empreinte sera pro- fonde et durable ; et pendant longtemps il n’y a pas eu d’autre enseignement artistique : le maitre, avant qu’il ne s’eteignit, transmettait le flambeau aux heritiers de sa conscience d’artiste, s’acquittant envers les plus jeunes de la dette que lui-meme avait contractee envers ses aines. Au Moyen-age, cette transmission fut le plus souvent monastique ; plus tard elle fut plus per¬ sonnels, il n’importe. Le maitre livrait tout ce qu’il savait, tout ce que sa vie, ses succes, ses erreurs lui avaient enseigne a lui-meme : il se donnait. Et telle est bien par exemple l’impression qui se degage de la lecture des memoires de Benvenuto Cellini, qu’il ne faut pas croire sur parole dans ses recits, mais qui nous montre avec tant de verite ce qu’etaient de son temps les maitres, ce qu’etaient leurs eleves — devoues jusqu’au poignard ! Moven-age, Renaissance, cesgrandes et fecondes epoques d’art eurent cette meme methode d’en- seignement : si bien des choses de ces temps passes ont disparu, celle-la du moinss’est perpetueeavec les modifications inevitables qu’apportent les siecles : nous sommes encore aujourd’hui, avec un souvenir reconnaissant que la vie n’efface pas, les eleves de l’artiste, disparu ou vivant encore, qui a ete le guide et la conscience aimee de nos etudes. Cela est vrai de l’architecte, cela est vrai aussi du peintre, du statuaire, du musicien : e’est l’admirable unite de l’enseignement artistique, e’est aussi son originalite et sa gloire. Cependant l’etendue toujours grandissante des connaissances necessaires a l’architecte exigeait de 1’enseignement collectif, et par consequent des Ecoles. Mais ces ecoles sont toujours des Ecoles des Beaux-arts, depuis quelques ecoles modestes dans diverses villes jusqu’a la grande Ecole Nationale des Beaux-arts de Paris. Les eleves architectes sont done toujours en contact avec d’autres artistes de l’avenir, et lors meme qu’ils y vont momentanement etudier les sciences, ils vivent dans une atmosphere d’art, qui ne leur permet jamais d’oublier leur vocation. Ainsi done chez nous, l’eleve architecte s’instruit a deux foyers : l’Ecole et l’atelier du maitre. Ces deux enseignements se completent sans contradic¬ tion. Il convient d’exposer le mecanisme assez delicat de cette instruction double et cependant unique. Et comme les ecoles secondaires, tout comme les Ecoles regionales qu’on s’applique a creer en ce moment meme, ne sont ou ne seront que des reproductions plus ou moins completes de l’Ecole Nationale des Beaux-arts, e’est celle-ci qu’il y a lieu d’etudier dans ses rapports avec l’enseigne¬ ment libre qu’elle doit respecter et encourager. L’Ecole enseigne ex-cathedra ce dont l’enseigne¬ ment est certain ou a peu pres certain ; ce qui sera enseigne a peu pres de la meme maniere et avec les memes conclusions quel que soit le pro¬ fesseur : ainsi par exemple la geometrie, la phy¬ sique sont, par comparaison avec l’art, des sciences en quelque sorte impersonnelles. Le professeur de chacune de ces sciences, unique pour tous les eleves, changera aujourd’hui, l’enseignement de demain n’en restera pas moins assure et identique a lui-meme. Outre les sciences en quelque sorte preparatoires, l’Ecole enseigne encore les sciences d’application, comme la stereotomie, la resistance des materiaux, la construction ; l’histoire dans ses diverses branches, le dessin et le modelage. Dans tout cela, sans aller jusqu’a dire, loin de la, que le professeur soit indifferent, il est certain que le meme professeur peut convenir a tous les eleves, qu’aucune nature ne sera violentee pareeque ce professeur sera aujourd'hui celui-ci, demain celui- A rch it e dura l Educa tion . i37 la. Mais, n’etait le danger des formules trop absolues, on pourrait dire pour bien fairecomprendre la fonction de l’Ecole, qu’elle n’enseigne pas l’Architecture, pas plus qu’elle n’enseigne la pein- ture, laissant cette mission a la fois plus haute et plus intime au maitre choisi, a l’artiste quel qu’il soit dont a tort ou a raison, a ses risques et perils et pour son dam ou son profit l’eleve aura voulu et librement reclame la direction artistique, les conseils, la conduite personnelle et l’autorite acceptee. Mais en meme temps, l’Ecole est le gymnase qui groupe et met en presence, en lutte constante, ces tendances diverses et ces efforts rivaux. Elle impartit les programmes de tous les exercices, de tous les concours ; tout est concours en effet, et sur le meme sujet les eleves des maitres les plus divers apportent simultanement le resultat de leurs etudes conseillees, dirigees par leurs maitres personnels. Ces concours, justement denommes Concours d' emulation sont juges par un jury unique, compose aussi liberalement que faire se peut. Ce ne sont pas seulement les eleves qui concourent entre euxet beneficientde cette emulation feconde ; ce sont les enseignements divers eux-memes qui sont ainsi aux prises, qui remportent la victoire ou subissent la defaite, qui d’apres ces compa- raisons constantes prosperent dans le succes ou succombent dans l’impuissance. II y a done, outre les chefs d’ateliers, maitres personnels dont nous avons parle — outre les professeurs des divers cours de l’Ecole — il y a un troisieme rouage dont le role est tres important, e’est le jury, qui ne juge bien qu’a la condition de bien savoir que ses jugements sont aussi, et au premier chef, de l’enseignement. Ce jury se compose de trente architectes : vingt sont permanents ; ce sont les membres de la section d’architecture de l’Aca- demie des Beaux-arts ; les professeurs architectes de 1’Ecole, et des artistes designes par une carriere de devouement aux etudes ; dix sont renouvelables par tirage au sort tous les ans. Ces fonctions de jures sont tres laborieuses, car tout le travail des eleves consiste en concours, et les jugements sont tres frequents et tres laborieux. II n’est pas inutile d’ajouter que ces fonctions sont purement gratuites, et acceptees cependant avec le plus complet desinteressement par une elite d’artistes devoues aux etudes, et heureux de temoigner ainsi leur reconnaissance a 1’Ecole qui jadis les a formes eux-memes. Et ce sont ces concours permanents qui assurent aux eleves les titres et les grades. II n’y a pas de divisions par annees ; l’eleve une fois admis a l’Ecole entre en seconde classe ; il y reste tant qu’il n’a pas acquis les recompenses exigibles dans les divers concours qui lui sont ouverts ; puis, rapide- ment ou lentement, il passe en premiere classe, et la encore trouve des concours permanents ou il donne la mesure de sa valeur par ses succes ; a chaque concours sont attachees des recompenses graduees, medailles ou mentions de valeur inegale assurant aux plus forts l’obtention plus rapide des points exigibles, aux plus faibles leur obtention plus lente — ou l’echec final. C’estdonc 1’emulation, la lutte de tous les jours, qui est lame de ces etudes. Les moyens coer- citifs n’existent pour ainsi dire pas; on s’adresse a des hommes et non a des enfants, a des hommes qui doivent comprendre leur interet, et qui d’ailleurs sont bien vite saisis par l’ardeur de la lutte— ou qui des le debut restent annihiles parmi les trainards et les epaves. A celui qui veut, toutes les ambitions sont permises, tous les moyens sont facilites ; a celui qui ne veut pas, il ne s’offre que l’abandon, le renoncement a la lutte. Toutes les ecoles presentent bien un peu le meme pheno- mene ; aucune ne le presente autant que l’Ecole des Beaux-arts, aucune ne se prete a d’aussi grands ecarts entre les ardeurs heureuses et les impuis- sances desemparees. Tel est dans ses grandes lignes et dans son esprit general 1’enseignement de l’Architecture en France. Il reste a voir son fonctionnement. Vers seize ou dix-huit ans, un peu plus tot, un peu plus tard, le jeunehomme s’est destine a l’archi- tecture. Tout d’abord, il choisit son atelier, e’est a dire son maitre, d’apres les conseils qui inspirent confiance a lui ou a ses parents. Si le maitre l’accepte, cela suffit. Il ne sait rien encore, tant mieux. En meme temps qu'il fait la ses pre¬ mieres etudes d’architecture, et d’abord de des- sin graphique, de lavis, de projections, il etudie les matieres scientifiques preparatoires, et aussi le dessin et le modelage. Enfin il se presente avec ou sans succes aux epreuves d’admission a l’Ecole des Beaux-arts. Car, tandis que pour l’atelier le maitre, seul juge chez lui, re£oit qui il veut, 1’Ecole ne s’ouvre qu’a ceux qui ont deja un mini¬ mum de connaissances requises. C’est 1’objet des epreuves d’admission qui ont lieu deux fois par an, en avril et en octobre. L’ensemble de ces epreuves comporte a la fois une preparation artistique et une preparation scientifique. Elies sont accessibles non seulement aux Francais, ages de 16 a 30 ans, mais aussi aux etrangers qui viennent en grand nombre demander a notre Ecole soit l’instruction complete soit le complement de leurs etudes. Tout d’abord Vaspirant doit faire en douze- heures, et en loge, e’est a dire dans un local isole, une esquisse d’architecture sur un programme donne, commun a tous. Ce programme est com¬ pose de telle sorte qu’il n’exige pas le bonheur d’une solution que l’un pourrait connaitre, par hasard peut-etre, l’autre ignorer ; e’est done un sujet A rch itectura l Ed itca tion . 13-8 d'ordre general et non special, pouvant permettre au candidat de montrer la valeur generale de sa preparation. Void les titres de quelques uns des programmes qui ont ete donnes au cours de ces dernieres a'nnees : — Unepartie d'un vestibule votite. Le motif milieu d'une terrasse. L' entree d'un hopital d'enfants. Le pavilion d' entree principale d'une cour d'honneur. Un angle de cour. Un avant-corps. Un peristyle avec porche et portiques, etc., etc. Les echelles sont fixees par le programme, ainsi que les divers prescriptions a observer. Le trace correct des ombres et de l’appareil est recommande. Ces esquisses, dont le nombre depasse ordinaire- ment 400 a chaque session, sont exposees sans aucunordre de classification pouvant etre prejuge, et soumises, avec l’anonymat le plus rigoureux, a l’examen du jury d’architecture, lequel apres s’etre eclaire par toutes methodes dont il est seul juge, attribue a chaque composition des points de zero a vingt. Les notes six et au des- sous sont eliminatoires. En general, le nombre des conserves se trouve compris entre la moitie et les deux tiers. Ceci d’ailleurs depend absolument de la valeur generale du concours. II faut ajouter que prealablement au classement le jury prononce s'il y a lieu la mise hors de concours des esquisses qui ne repondent pas aux prescrip¬ tions du programme, soit comme etant incom- pletes, on par ce que entre les plan, coupe, fagade, il n’y a pas concordance. Il va sans dire d’ailleurs que pendant le concours la surveillance est aussi active que possible, enfin d’eviter les communi¬ cations, les apports clandestins de documents, etc. Apres le jugement de cette premiere epreuve, jugement suivi selon une regie invariable d’une exposition publique, les aspirants ainsi admis pour l’architecture ont a subir une epreuve de dessin d’apres le platre, tete ou ornement, et une epreuve de modelage d’apres un modele d’ornement en bas-relief. Chacune de ces epreuves se fait en huit heures, par seances de deux heures separees par des repos. La procedure du jugement est la meme, sauf qu'ici le jury est compose par tiers de peintres, de sculpteurs et d’architectes. La classi¬ fication est encore de zero a vingt, avec elimi¬ nation au dessous de la note cinq. Voila done, tres serieusement controlees, les epreuves qui permettent de juger des aptitudes artistiques des candidats. Et alors, en attribuant a chacune des epreuves un coefficient qui est deter¬ mine chaque annee par le Conseil Superieur, mais qui en fait est depuis longtemps de 15 pour l’archi¬ tecture, 10 pour le dessin, 5 pour le modelage, il est etabli un premier classement de tous les candidats non elimines dans l’une quelconque de ces epreuves. Ainsi, celui qui aurait eu dans chacune la note 10 se trouverait avoir : 10 x 15 + 10 x 10 + 10 x 5 — 300. La liste ainsi etablie, on n’admet aux epreuves scientifiques qu’un nombre d’aspirants double du nombre definitif des admis¬ sions, lequel est depuis des annees 60, dont 45 frangais et 15 Grangers, au maximum, et sous la condition que le quinzieme Granger soit par ses points avant le 46 eme frangais. Ainsi done s’etablit une premiere selection ; de 450 environ, nombre moyen des presentations to- tales, on est arrive a 120. Ces izosubiront toutes les epreuves scientifiques, lesquelles comprennent: Mathematiques. — Des exercices de calcul faits en loges ; un examen oral sur l’arithmetique, la geo¬ metric elementaire (plane et dans l’espace), l’alge- bre jusqu’aux equations du second degre inclusive- ment. Geometrie descriptive, premiere partie (le point, la ligne droite et le plan). — Une epure de geometrie descriptive appliquee a une projection d’architecture, faite en loges et en huit heures ; un examen de geometrie descriptive. Histoire Generale. — Une composition ecrite et un examen sur les notions d'histoire generale. Bien que rien ne soit prescrit a l’examinateur quant aux matieres des epreuves, dans les limites du programme general qu’il serait trop long de transcrire ici, en fait les compositions ecrites de calcul se rapportent le plus souvent au systeme decimal, longueurs, surfaces, cubes, poids, etc. Quant a l’epure de geometrie descriptive, e’est en meme temps un exercice scientifique et graphique. Ainsi par exemple un element d’architecture tel qu’une porte encadree de pilastres, couronnee d’un entablement et d’un fronton sera donnee par ses elements necessaires; il s’agira de laprojetersuivant un angle determine avec le plan vertical de projec¬ tion, comme un motif qui se repete sur les diverses faces d’une abside ; on devra dans cette nouvelle position tracer les ombres, etc. A chacune de ces epreuves, il y a des notes eliminatoires, et des notes pouvant s’elever jusqu’a 20. Ces notes sont encore multipliees par des coefficients : mathematiques, 5 ; geometrie de¬ scriptive, 5 ; histoire, 1. Apres quoi, la liste generale est etablie d’apres les points de chaque candidat en architecture — dessin — modelage — mathematiques — geometrie descriptive — histoire ; les totaux calcifies pour chacun, et la reception definitive regie par les totaux les plus eleves, sous la condition de nombre indiquee plus haut. Ces epreuves sont difficiles ; non pas tant par la difficulte des programmes, que par suite de la valeur d’un grand nombre de concurrents. La proportion moyenne des receptions est d’environ un regu sur huit candidats ; etre dans le premier huitieme n’est jamais chose facile, et il faut ajouter que beaucoup de nos aspirants — et parfois des A rch itectu ra l E due a tion . 1 39 meilleurs — n’ont pas retju beaucoup d’instruction prealable, et que beaucoup aussisont, des ces debuts, obliges de partager leur temps entre les etudes et les exigences de la vie materielle. A vrai dire, pendant longtemps les epreuves d’admission n’ont pas ete un concours comme elles le sont devenues ; ce n’etait qu’une serie d’examens, et quiconque s’etait montre suffisant dans chaque matiere etait admis sans consideration de nombre, C'etait. plus juste et plus logique. Dans une ecole qui prepare a une profession libre et ouverte, une fixation de nombre ne peut qu’etre arbitraire, et assurement pour les architectes il devrait en etre de meme que pour les medecins, les avocats, etc. Le nombre fixe a priori a l’entree d’une ecole ne se comprend que la ou cette ecole doit pourvoir a un recrutement dont les necessites sont determinees ; ainsi le Ministre de la guerre fixe chaque annee, d’apres les besoins de 1’armee, le nombre des aspirants officiers qui entreront a 1’Ecole de Saint Cyr; il fixe de concert avec le Ministre des Travaux publics le nombre des aspirants officiers ou ingenieurs que recevra l’Ecole Polytechnique ; les promotions y sont de nombre variable et cette variete est motivee. Chez nous, pour que les architectes exe^ant en France pussent tous avoir fait les etudes indispens- ables, il faudrait au bas mot des promotions annuelles de 300; ou rnieux, il faudrait, que 1’Ecole put etre ouverte a tous ceux qui, suffisamment prepares, voudraient y entrer. Des raisons uniquement materielles d’emplace- ments ont oblige a restreindre ces admissions, a en faire un concours, condammant les moins heureux a se former au hasard d’un apprentissage sans methode et sans direction. Ces raisons materielles sont certaines, mais il est permis d’e- sperer que le creation d’Ecoles regionales d’archi- tecture permettra de retablir la logique et en quelque sorte la verite sociale dans une organisa¬ tion que des insuffisances de moyens ont faussee au detriment du but a poursuivre. Jusqu’ici, l’eleve n’a recu de l’Ecole aucun ensei- gnement, il n’est venu y chercher que la constata- tion des etudes par lui faites dans son atelier, dans les cours qu’il a pu suivre partout. Le role en- seignant de l’Ecole va commencer. L’ aspirant d’hier est devenu eleve de la Seconde classe de la section d’ architecture a l’Ecole des Beaux-arts. La, il aura a faire des etudes scienti- fiques et des etudes artistiques. Pour les sciences, il suivra d’abord les cours de mathematiques et de geometrie descriptive ; ces deux cours, apres une revision tres rapide des matieres de l’admission, comprennent tout ce qui dans ces sciences est indispensable a 1’ architecte ; son instruction scientifique pourra, bien entendu, aller au dela : elle ne doit pas rester en de9a. Le programme du cours de mathematiques com¬ prend en resume : Les notions necessaires d’algebre et d’ analyse au dela des matieres de l’admission ; la trigonometrie et ses applications ; la geometrie des surfaces coniques, cylindriques et de revolu¬ tion, applications aux mesures de surfaces et de volumes ; la geometrie analytique : fonctions, de- rivees, equations des courbes, coordonnees, etc. ; la mecanique : forces, couples, moments, equilibre ; statique graphique ; moments d’ inertie ; machines simples ; poussee des terres et de l’eau. Celui du cours de geometrie descriptive com¬ prend : Une premiere partie qui est la revision des matieres de l’admission, principes et moyens de la science des projections, deplacements, rabatte- ments, rotations, changements de plans de pro¬ jection ; representation de figures planes, intersec¬ tions ; de solides, intersections, developpements, etc. Une seconde partie traitant de la sphere, des surfaces developpables (cones et cylindres) ; des angles triedres, des distances, des tangences ; des surfaces de revolution ; des surfaces regies ; des plans cotes, du trace des ombres, etc. Viennent ensuite le cours de stereotomie et leve de plans, et le cours de perspective. La stereotomie enseigne aux eleves la coupe des bois dans la charpente, et la coupe des pierres : planchers, combles, escaliers, voutes de toutes natures, avec exemples d’applications ; le leve des plans et le nivellement avec operations sur le terrain. La perspective embrasse la theorie et les appli¬ cations usuelles, avec etude d’exemples. A la suite de chacun de ces cours, ou selon les cas pendant leur duree, les eleves ont a faire des exercices ecrits (mathematiques) ou graphiques (geometrie descriptive, stereotomie, perspective) et a subir un examen oral. Il est decerne des medailles et des mentions; la mention au mini¬ mum est obligatoire. Et apres cela, les eleves ont a suivre le cours et a executer le concours de construction. Mais ces etudes exigeant a la fois une preparation scienti¬ fique et une preparation architecturale ; il est plus logique de reserver ce sujet. En effet, les etudes scientifiques dont il vient d’ etre parle n’absorbent pas tout le temps des eleves, et ils trouvent sans discontinuite des programmes d’exercices artistiques. Tout d’abord, ils doivent obtenir soit une medaille soit au moins une mention dans des con¬ cours de dessin d’apres l’ornement en platre. Ces exercices sont faits sous la direction du professeur special de dessin ornemental. Ils doivent ensuite obtenir de meme une recom¬ pense dans les exercices de dessin de figure et de modelage d’ornement ; ces exercices sont egale- ment faits avec les conseils et sous la direction 1 4° A relate dura l Education. des professeurs speciaux de dessin et de mode- lage. Pour l’architecture, il y toute l’annee des con- cours de trois sortes : concours sur elements ana¬ lytiques, et concours sur projets rendus, les uns et lies autres d’une duree de deux mois ; concours sur esquisses, en douze heures, tous les deux mois, pendant la duree des premiers. Les concours sur elements analytiques proposent aux eleves des sujets elementaires, comme leur nom l’indique, assez restreints pour pouvoir etre etudies a grande echelle en penetrant bien dans le sujet. L'eleve en fait d’abord, a l’echelle indiquee par le programme, une esquisse (en douze heures) dont il conserve le caique ; puis dans son atelier, avec les conseils de son maitre, il en fait l’etude et le rendu, qui au jour fixe est apporte a l’Ecole et juge concurremment avec ceux des eleves de tous les ateliers. Quelques titres de programmes indiqueront la nature des sujets qui peuvent etre proposes pour ces concours : Deux travees de portiques voutes ; L’angle d’un edifice public; un peristyle; une loggia ; une travee d’une salle plafonnee ; une revo¬ lution d’escalier ; une etude de voutes spheriques en pendentifs ; la porte cochere d’un grand hotel ; trois travees d’ architecture d'habitation ; une etude d’ ordres superposes; une cour interieure, etc., etc. Simultanement, mais avec interdiction pour les eleves de faire les deux concours a la fois, afin d’e viter des etudes trop hatives et trop incompletes, ont lieu les concours sur projets rendus. Le mecanisme est le meme : esquisse en douze heures, etude et mise au net dans l’atelier avec les conseils du maitre, jugement simultane ; apres tout juge- ment, exposition publique. Ici, les eleves, deja un peu plus avances sont exerces a des sujets plus complexes, soit frag¬ ments d’un edifice important, soit ensemble de petit edifice. Parmi les programmes fragmentaires, on peut citer : Un vestibule; l’escalier principal d’un musee ; une chambre a coucher de parade ; le ser¬ vice des morts dans un grand hopital ; une chambre de tribunal civil ; un salon d’attente dans un Hotel de ville ; une salle des assembles gene- rales du Conseil d’Etat, etc. Et parmi les programmes d’ensemble : Un edifice pour des fetes et reunions ; un hotel de caisse d’epargne ; un poste d’eclusiers ; un restau¬ rant dans les environs de Paris ; un hotel des ventes ; un lavoir ; un beffroi ; un poste d’hivernage des chasseurs Alpins ; une maison d’arret, etc. Il est accorde dans ces concours, sur elements analytiques, des secondes mentions ; sur projets rendus, des premieres et des secondes mentions. Enfin, pour les concours sur esquisses, les sujets proposes ont pour objet de preparer les eleves a la composition qui sera le but principal de leurs etudes en premiere classe. Les pro¬ grammes en sont done, sauf reduction a une petite echelle, des programmes de grande composition. Si l’eleve se fourvoie, cette erreur qui se limite a douze heures ne le retient pas pendant deux mois sur une solution erronee ; s’il reussit, il s'est utilement prepare a ses etudes futures ; disons mieux : il s’y est utilement prepare dans tous les cas. Naturelle- ment, e’est surtout la disposition generale du plan qui fait la valeur de ces esquisses, dont les sujets sont souvent tres importants ; ainsi : Un hotel de ville pour un chef lieu d’arrondissement ; le plan d’un jardin ; un casino ; un chateau ; une eglise paroissiale ; un petit hospice de menages ; un groupe scolaire ; un musee d’antiquites ; un Tatter- sail ; un entrepot des vins, etc., etc. Pour tous ces concours, comme pour ceux de premiere classe, le redacteur des programmes doit chercher a faire etudier aux eleves ce qui parait comporter des lacunes dans l’esprit de la genera¬ lity ; ainsi, suivant la mentality — pourrait-on dire — de l’Ecole en general, il se portera de preference tantot vers les sujets de composition sage et reflechie, tantot vers les sujets d’imagination ou d’aspect, ou vers les choses de la decoration. Il doit chercher aussi a differencier les programmes de ceux qui ont pu etre autrefois donnes sur des sujets analogues afin d’eviter les pastiches ou les repe¬ titions. Reste I’etude de la construction, qui peut etre considereecomme l’obje.t principal destravauxde la seconde classe. Elle ne peut etre abordee qu’apres une double preparation, scientifique et artistique. Scientifique, cela va sans dire, et les cours de sciences y pourvoient ; mais artistique aussi, car la science seule est impuissante a concevoir ce qui doit etre construit. La science controle, elle ne cree point, et tout d’abord il faut que l’architecte ait concu l’oeuvre constructible ; alors la science viendra controler les dimensions necessaires, veri¬ fier la stability. exiger peut-etre des corrections. Aussi ce cours ne peut-il etre fait utilement que par un architecte, a la fois compositeur et savant. Le cours de construction se divise en deux parties : La partie theorique, ou resistance des materiaux, d’abord dans les cas purement theo- riques ; elasticity et deformation, pressions, exten¬ sion, compression, effort tranchant, flexion ; moments d’inertie et de resistance ; efforts et con¬ sequences, etc. ; Systemes articules, poutres a treill is ; puis les applications aux combles, aux arcs, a la stabilite des massifs, aux resistances a Taction du vent, des poussees de la terre ou de l’eau ; la stabilite des voutes dans leurs differents modes de construction, etc. La seconde partie comprend les notions tech¬ niques : Constructions on mai;onnerie, pierres, A rch i tectu ra / Edtica tion . briques, mortiers, etc., fondations dans les divers cas ; mise en oeuvre des materiaux ; voutes, leur execution ; escaiiers divers ; construction en bois, combles, couvertures ; menuiserie ; constructions metalliques, poutres, planchers, combles, etc. ; couvertures et evacuation des eaux ; canalisations de toutes natures, chauffage, cabinets d’aisance, ascenseurs, ventilation, etc., etc. Pendant la duree du cours, les eleves doivent faire des exercices de calcul, en loges ; des exer- cices graphiques dans les ateliers, sur des sujets se rapportant a la construction en maijonnerie, en charpente de bois ou de metal, etc, ; puis ils passent un premier examen sur la partie theorique du cours. Lorsque ils ont satisfait a ces obliga¬ tions, ils prennent part au concours de construc¬ tion generale, etude d’un projet dont le programme est combine pour exiger l’emploi de moyens varies de construction ; enfin, ils subissent devant leur projet un examen qui porte a la fois sur leur travail et sur la partie technique du cours. Ils peuvent obtenir d’apres l’ensemble des notes re¬ sultant de ces diverses epreuves, des premieres secondes ou troisiemes medailles, ou des mentions. La mention au moins est exigible. Apres accomplissement des travaux de la se- conde classe, l’eleve doit done avoir obtenu pour passer en premiere classe : En mathematiques, geo- metrie descriptive, stereotomie, perspective, une medaille ou une mention ; en architecture, sur elements analytiques, deux valours , e’est a dire deux secondes mentions ; sur concours de composition (projets rendus ou esquisses) quatre valeurs, dont deux au moins sur projets rendus, (une premiere mention comptant pour deux valeurs) ; en con¬ struction, une medaille ou une mention ; en dessin ornemental, en dessin de figure, en modelage, une medaille ou une mention ; enfin en histoire de l’architecture une medaille ou une mention dans les exercices graphiques du cours. Tout cela demande plus ou moins de temps; le sejour en seconde classe ne peut guere etre moins de deux ans et demi. En premiere classe, les etudes des eleves sont essentiellement artistiques. Tous les deux mois, il leur est ouvert un concours de composition sur projet rendu, toujours avec le mecanisme que nous avons vu en seconde classe; esquisse en douze heures, etude et mise au net a 1’atelier avec les conseils du maitre, jugement simultane. Tous les deux mois egalement, alternant avec ces concours, il y a un concours sur simple esquisse, en douze heures et en loges. Pour les projets, 1’objectif est surtout la composition generale, par exemple ; une maison de retraite pour des ecclesiastiques ; un hotel de voyageurs ; une Bourse de Commerce ; un Lycee ; une gare de chemin de fer ; un Pantheon ; un theatre ; un cercle militaire ; une bibliotheque 1 4 i publique, etc., ou des sujets partiels, mais impor- tants, tels que ; Les nets d’une eglise voutee ; une suite de salles de reception ; un passage voutd sous- un monument ; le foyer public d’un grand theatre ; une salle des seances publiques de 1’Institut, la salle des Pas-perdus d’un Palais parlementaire, etc. Pour les esquisses, il est propose des sujets assez restreints, pouvant etre lestement trades dans les douze heures concedees, soit partiels comme : le pretoire d’une salle des assises ; la salle a manger principale d’un grand hotel de voyageurs ; l’entr£e d’une Ecole militaire ; une travee de galerie de fetes; un fond de cour ; une antichambre ; une voute en arc de cloitre . . . etc. ; soit de petits ensembles, tels que : un refuge dans la montagne ; un tombeau adosse ; une fontaine isolee ; un cafe dans une ile ; une maison fores- tiere; une cascade; un embarcadere de chemin de fer funiculaire ; un puits public . . . etc. Pour les projets, il est decerne des premieres et secondes medailles ou des mentions ; pour les esquisses, des secondes medailles, des premieres et secondes mentions. En dehors de ces concours fondamentaux, il existe des concours speciaux, dus a des liberalites, et auxquels des prix d’argent sont attaches : le concours Rougevin, concours d’ajustement et de decoration, qui se fait en six jours en loge d’apres une esquisse ; le sujet en est toujours assez re- streint pour permettre l’etude a grande echelle et la manifestation des qualites de dessin. En voici quelques sujets: le dessin d’une verriere; une reliure d’art ; le dessin d’un tapis ; un trumeau dans une galerie de palais . . . etc. Le concours Godebeuf, qui consiste en l’etude ddveloppde comme pour 1’execution, avec details, et profils, d’une oeuvre architecturale de nature spbeiale, telle que serrurerie, plomberie, marbrerie, etc. Les projets sout executes dans les ateliers, en quinze jours, d’apres les esquisses faites en loge en douze heures. En voici quelques sujets : une cloture de chapelle en marbrerie; une etude de treillage autour d’un bosquet; un plafond en me¬ nuiserie de bois apparent, etc. Ces concours sont sanctionnes par les memes recompenses que ceux sur projets rendus. Le concours Labarre, cree pour preparer les eleves au concours du grand prix ; e’est une esquisse faite en trois jours sur un sujet de grande composition. Le concours du prix de reconnaissance des Archiiectes Americains, concours de composition, toujours important. Enfin, les eleves de premiere classe prennent part a des concours sur 1’histoire de l’architecture (medailles et mentions) ainsi qu’a des concours de figure dessinee d’apres nature ou d’apres l’antique, et de modelage d’apres l’ornement (medailles et mentions.) VOL. xiv. — M Architectural Education. 142 Pour la comparabilite des points, il est attribue : a une premiere medaille - 3 valeurs a une seconde ,, 2 ,, a une ie mention 1 ,, a une 2e \ En dehors des cours dont il a ete parle plus haut, il est encore fait a l’Ecole des Beaux-arts, divers cours qui ne sont pas affectes specialement a l’une des classes : ie. Le cours de theorie de l’architecture ; il y est parle d’abord des elements de l'architecture, tels que murs, baies, portiques, plafonds, voutes, escaliers, etc., de la raison d’etre des exemples les plus celebres, de la pensee qui a pu guider leurs auteurs ; puis des elements de la composition dans l’habitation, dans les edifices d’enseignement et d’instruction publique, dans les edifices adminis¬ trates, judiciaires, hospitaliers, d’utilite publique; dans l’architecture religieuse, funeraire, etc. Ce cours ne comporte pas de prescriptions, et doit au contraire laisser intacte la liberte de conseil qui appartient a chaque maitre dans son atelier ; c’est 1’ expose devant les eleves de ce qu’est a ce jour le patrimoine de l'architecture en France et a l’etranger ; on pourrait aussi bien l’appeler cours d’architecture comparee. C’est le professeur de theorie qui est charge de la redaction des programmes des concours d’archi- tecture. 2e. Le cours d’histoire de l’architecture. Son titre dispense de toute explication. 3e. Le cours d’architecture frangaise: — Ce cours traite aussi de l’histoire de l’architecture, mais specialement de l’architecture francaise, et prepare plus directement les eleves aux travaux de restaura- tions dont ils pourront etre charges. qe. Le cours de physique et chimie. Pour une partie (chimie des couleurs) ce cours s’adresse aux peintres ; mais il est surtout destine aux archi- tectes, a qui il enseigne : La pesanteur et l’hydrostatique ; pressions, densites, etc. ; la chaleur, dilatations, chauffage, ventilation, hygiene en general ; l’acoustique et l’optique; l’electricite et le magnetisme, courants, lumiere, force, etc. ; la chimie dans ses rapports avec l’architecture; des notions de geologie. 5e. Le cours de legislation du batiment; con- trats et marches, responsabilite, expertises, etc. ; rapports du proprietaire avec 1’architecte et les ouvriers ; lois du voisinage ; servitudes, mitoyen- netes, etc. ; distinction des biens ; police des con¬ structions; voirie urbaine; legislation des travaux. Enfin, les eleves architectes peuvent suivre des cours qui s’adressent aux deux sections (peinture — sculpture — architecture), Ces cours sont : littera- ture — histoire generale — histoire de l’art — archeologie. L’enseignement dispose d’ailleurs d'une galerie de modeles et d’une bibliotheque ouverte aux eleves dans la journee et le soir. Yoyons maintenant la sanction de toutes les etudes. On voit que l’emulation constante en est l ame, et certes la premiere de toutes les consecra¬ tions est le talent acquis. Mais les hommes out besoin de titres positifs. Pour les etudes de seconde classe, c’est le passage en premiere classe, et deja le titre est d’ une reelle valeur ; pour les eleves de premiere, c’est le diplorne d’architecte. Lorsq’un eleve a obtenu en premiere classe dix valeurs sur les concours d’architecture, et au moins une valeur dans les concours d’histoire de l’architecture, de dessin et de modelage, il a le droit de se presenter aux epreuves du diplorne. Pour cela, il propose un sujet de son choix, qui est soumis a l’acceptation d’une commission speciale ; puis, sans delai de temps, il execute le travail resultant de son programme, travail generalement con¬ siderable. Deux fois par an au moins, il s’ouvre une session de diplorne. Le candidat doit produire outre son projet un devis descriptif, et d’autre part une attestation comme quoi il a suivi pendant une annee au moins des travaux pratiques. Son projet, etudie comme pour 1’execution, est soumis a une commission qui interroge l’auteur devant son propre travail ; d’autre part le can¬ didat doit subir un examen de physique et chimie, et un examen de legislation. Cet ensemble d’epreuves est comparable, on le voit, aux soute- nances de theses qui conduisent au doctorat dans les Facultes. Il peut y avoir actuellement en France de sept a huit cents architectes ainsi diplomas. Mais il est impossible de ne pas parler ici du concours du Grand Prix de Rome. Ce concours n’appartient pas a l'Ecole des Beaux-arts, mais a I'lnstitut de France ; en fait, c’est toujours un concours entre les meilleurs bleves de l’Ecole. Legalement toutefois il est accessible a tout frangais, non marie, agb de 16 a 30 ans. Un premier concours, de douze heures, est ouvert a quiconque s’y fait inscrire ; on y fait une btude rapide et a grande echelled’un sujet monumental, tel que la porte d’entree d’un Palais de Justice, etc. Le jury, composb ici de la Section d’Archi- tecture de l’Academie des Beaux-arts et de quatre jures supplementaires, choisit les vingt meilleures esquisses ; leurs auteurs iront com¬ pleter, avec ceux qui de par leurs succes et leurs titres anterieurs sont exemptes de ce premier essai, le nombre de soixante fixb pour les concurrents a l’admission au concours definitif. En vingt quatre heures ininterrompues, ces soixante con¬ currents font une grande esquisse de composition generale, dont le sujet sera toujours considerable, par exemple un Palais de Justice complet. Apres quoi le meme jury en choisit dix qui feront, en quatre mois, sur un nouveau programme de Books . 143 grande composition, le concours definitif. II peut etre ddcerne le grand prix, un premier et un deuxieme seconds prix. Le grand prix assure au titulaire le sejour pendant quatre ans a Rome, a la Villa Medicis, a charge d’accomplissement des obligations reglementaires. Ainsi, tandis que chaque annee avec la double session d’admission, il entre go frangais a l’Ecole des Beaux-arts, chaque annde il en sort un avec le grand-prix, toujours a la suite de longues et brillantes etudes. Cela suffit a indiquer la haute valeur de cette recompense, dont le prix est encore singulierement augmente par la perspective de quatre annees a passer au milieu de camarades dans une maison consacree aux arts a Rome, et aussi dans toute 1’Italie, en Grece, en Orient, sans autre souci que celui des etudes, et loin des con¬ tacts deprimants et des ambiances tyranniques, dans la liberte et dans la dignite. Aussi, le prestige de ces grandes epreuves est- il immense sur tout ce qui parmi nos eleves a de l’ardeur et du feu sacre. Et par la est entretenu chez tous un ideal eleve, une ambition feconde. Pour un heureux, il y a des centaines d’efforts ; les hautes aspirations ont un but nettement visible, et ce concours n’a pas seulement permis au laureat tout ce qu’il en attendait ; il a cree chez tous 1’ardeur et la volonte, il a rendu plus forts, beaucoup plus forts, ceux meme qui n’ont pu parvenir jusqu’au but. Si un tel concours devait disparaitre, la valeur generale de 1’enseignement artistique en France, et de l’architecture en par¬ ticular, subirait une depression incalculable. Voila done une rapide esquisse de l’enseigne- ment de 1’architecture en France. Trois elements en assurent le fonctionnement : dans 1’Ecole des Beaux-arts, etablissement de l’Etat, l’enseigne- ment didactique des sciences et de ce qui dans les arts peut etreenseigne d’une fagon certaine, comme le dessin, le modelage, l’histoire ; dans cette meme Ecole, consideree comme un grand gymnase rap- prochant, comparant et jugeant les produits de chaque enseignement particulier, l’organisation de concours ininterrompus, la redaction des pro¬ grammes, les jugements; ici, e’est done le jury de concours qui a Taction principale — action encore enseignante — enfin, le rouage essentiel, la methode meme de l’enseignement artistique, le maitre dans son atelier, librement choisi par ses eleves, libre de les garder ou de s’en separer, con- seiller quotidien, confident attentif, indulgent au besoin, severe s’il le faut : un ami plus age, et qui s’il n’etait pas un ami de ses eleves serait indigne d’etre leur maitre. L’Ecole pourrait disparaitre au moins dans son enseignement, on y supplierait au besoin; mais si l’enseignement personnel des maitres ou comme on dit des patrons chacun dans son atelier venait a se tarir ; si le rapprochement de ces enseignements dans les concours communs etait supplime, il ne resterait rien, rien que quelques cours sans auditeurs. Telle est cette organisation qui s’est faite lente- ment, que personne sans doute n’aurait congue tout d’une piece, mais qui moyennant une mise au point de 1’enseignement et des programmes suivant la marche des idees contemporaines, repond a toutes les exigences d’etudes. Et ce n’est pas la de la pure abstraction theorique : s’il est vrai que 1’arbre doive etre juge par ses fruits, il semble bien que la valeur generale de ceux qui ont suivi ces etudes dans leurcomplet developpement demontre bien la valeur de la methode qui les a dirigees. Books. jyj ODERN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. “ Modern School Buildings, Elementary and Secondary.” By Felix Clay, B.A., Architect. Price, 25s. net. London: B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn. Considering the importance of the subject the published literature on school planning is very defi¬ cient. Mr. Robson’s work published as long ago as 1874, deals almost exclusively with Board Schools. Mr. Clay, while devoting part of his space to elemen¬ tary schools, treats more especially secondary school building. His book is an eminently practical one, illustrated by actually executed examples, in all of which a serious attempt has been made to meet numerous complicated and novel requirements. It sounds a mere truism to say, as Mr. Clay does in his introduction, that “ as the organization of a school depends principally on the subjects taught in it, and the methods of classification, &c., adopted for the purpose, so it happens that the plan of a school comes ultimately to be governed to a large extent by the curriculum,” but it requires a very slight ac¬ quaintance with school buildings to see how often this self-evident fact has been overlooked. The plan of most of the private boarding schools of thirty or forty years ago was completely innocent of arrange¬ ment. The school buildings generally consisted of a large dwelling-house, not too well planned as an ordinary residence, on to which was tacked at hap¬ hazard one big “schoolroom.” In this room the whole life of the place centred. In school time the masters gathered their classes round them, and the bewildered pupils’ ears were assailed by fragments of four or five lessons at a time, and anything like really serious teaching was almost impossible. Mr. Clay shows how great a change a few years have brought about. New methods of teaching have made scientific planning imperative, and our schools are now equipped with buildings the necessity for which was undreamt of a generation ago. Starting with a general survey of the subject, touching lightly 144 Corre spoil d en ce. on the origin and growth of schools in England, and glancing at the methods and organization in vogue on the Continent and in America, the author contrives to give a clear idea of what is to be aimed at in planning a good school building. The details that go to make up the general plan are then discussed at length, and not until these have been assimilated are we intro¬ duced to the plans as a whole. By adopting this method of leading up to the complete building by successive steps, it is possible to see, almost at a glance, how far the plans illustrated are adequate for their purpose. The American plans given may not perhaps be “sample ” selections. The State Normal School at Salem, U.S.A., for instance, shows far less care than some of the English examples, an examina¬ tion of which should be sufficient to convince us that, if our educational system is less organised than that of other countries, we can, at any rate, more than hold our own in planning our school buildings. Mr. Clay’s book is full of valuable information carefully arranged, and he is to be congratulated on the production of a work which should at once take rank as the standard authority on the subject. Ernest Newton. Correspondence. EXETER CATHEDRAL. To the Editorial Committee of The Architectural Review. Gentlemen, Referring to Professor Lethaby’s interesting articles in your March and May issues on this subject, may I be allowed to draw attention to a point in connection with the nave piers, which tvas suggested to me on seeing Mr. Lethaby’s plan published in the second paper. I would particularly draw attention to the convexity of the four sides suggesting a refine¬ ment of design corresponding to the entasis of a column or spire, also to the triple group of shafts at each angle with the single shaft midway on each face. Whether, in reference to the former of these points any such like peculiarity exists at Winchester, I am unable to say. Yours, etc., Robert F. Hodges. heightened church. (Since writing the above I find that Britton states ‘ That the roof of the new church was raised consider¬ ably higher than that of the old one is evident from the ancient Norman windows and other ornamental work which may be seen on each tower between the present vaulting and the roof.’) ” Mr. G. J. F. Hookway has furnished a measured drawing illustrating the point in question, which is subjoined. JH'DvatiHh Note. — The arcading situate above the transept vaulting shows that the roof was. raised considerably higher than that of the Norman building. Pl£M. f>CCTldH. fl 1 DETAILS PIER. \L _ J] Note. — In Professor Lethaby's second paper on Exeter Cathe¬ dral, the author, in dealing with the former Norman Church, said : — “ Even for the height indications might probably be found on the inner faces of the towers as seen in the roof-spaces of the ‘l , t i i i !i 4 i nu - 1 - tmT EXETER CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF WALL ARCADE, SOUTH WALL, S. PAUL’S TOWER. MEASURED AND DRAWN BY G. J. F. HOOKWAY. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, NOVEMBER, 1903, VOLUME XIV. NO. 84 WELBURN HALL, YORKS. RECONSTRUCTION. THE TERRACE, SOUTH FRONT. WALTER H. BRIERLEY, ARCHITECT. (See page 159.) Giulio Romano at Mantua. ■47 VIEW OF MANTUA FROM THE EAST, ACROSS THE LAGOON. Giulio Romano at Mantua. n. 1492. ob. 1546. At Raphael’s death Giulio Romano, with Giovanni il Fattore, was left charged with the com¬ pletion of the deceased painter’s pictures, frescoes and other engagements, and was by common con¬ sent accepted in the world of art as the foremost of Raphael’s pupils. As such he was invited to the Court at Mantua, and there with undimmed reputation he spent the rest of his not long life (54 years). In the chronicles of his day he bulked largely. Vasari, talking of men on whom were show¬ ered unusually profuse and enviable gifts, says : “ Conspicuously amongst such was dowered by nature Giulio Romano, who could truly be called the heir of that most winning master Raphael, not only as a man by the graciousness of his manners and as a painter by his pictures, but beyond this, as the wonderful structures built by him show, both at Rome and at Mantua, which buildings seem rather houses of the gods made for examples to men than the habitations of men.”0 And further, accounting for his residence away from Rome, “ Giulio being, on account of his supreme qualities, renowned as the best artist in Italy, now that Raphael was dead, Count Bal- dassare Castiglione,” their common friend, in¬ troduced him in 1524 to the Duke.f Cellini, en route for France in 1528, stepped aside to visit him in Mantua. “ After a day or so I went and called upon Messer Julio Romano, the far-famed painter, a great friend of mine. Julio was most delighted to see me, and took it mighty ill that I hadn’t come and quartered myself in his house. He was quite the great man in the place, and was carrying out a work for the Duke just beyond one of the gates of Mantua at a spot called il T. This building was of great size, and as remarkable per¬ haps as has ever been seen.”! Michael Angelo — in the conversations reported by Francisco d’Ol- landa (a Portuguese miniature painter) — asked to * Vasari, “Life of Giulio Romano.” 1st edition. f Ibid. | “ Vita di Benvenuto Cellini.” VOL. xiv. — n 2 *48 Giulio Romano at Mantua. enumerate the serious and important work at that time being done, instances Pippi’s work. “ But of the things outside the city (Rome) the Vigna (Villa Madama) begun by Pope Clement VII., at the foot of Monte Mario, is most worth seeing ; it is ornamented by the fine painting and sculp¬ ture of Raphael and Julius, where the giant lies sleeping whose feet the satyrs are measuring with shepherds' crooks.”* . . . “ So, too, the Palace of the Duke of Mantua, where Andrea (Mantegna) painted the Triumph of Caius Caesar, is noble; but more so still is the work of the Stable (Pal¬ azzo del T) painted by Julius, a pupil of Raphael, who now flourishes in Mantua.”4 As Michael Angelo does not give either a long catalogue of works, nor mention many names, the praise is so much the more valuable. In the matter of art, of engineering, and the civil life at Mantua, Pippi was the autocrat, nay despot even, and Mantua was, and is, called “ the city of Giulio Romano.” He built palaces and houses, repaired the river dykes, restored bridges, determined the new streets, designed the city slaughter-house, made plans (which were carried out in part after his death) for the remodelling of the Cathedral, arranged the pageantry of the street shows, made cartoons for tapestry and sketches for jewellery — and, though besought and tempted to leave Mantua and enrich other towns with specimens of his art, he was too much prized to be spared, and remained in the city of his adoption till his death. Francis I. congratulated himself that he was able to count amongst the best of his imported artists some of Giulio Romano’s pupils. The Duke Federigo, on his arrival at Mantua, gave him his choicest horse and remained his fast friend to the close of his life. His successor (Francesco Gonzaga) continued the friendly intimacy. Years afterwards, when Rubens was Court painter at Mantua (1600-1608), Romano's fame was para¬ mount and his influence still vital. And yet, at the present time of writing, his fame, if it bulks at all, shows as some wind-blown imposture, so little can it now fill out the wide areas of contemporary appreciation. How comes it that his monument, that was to be more lasting than bronze, has been so ravaged by the tooth of the great eater of things that the lay world hardly knows that it exists, or where it is to be found ? What were the achievements on which his repu¬ tation rested ? He would have said his pictures, his frescoes, his sculpture, and his architecture. But there was another ingredient in the series, that gave lustre and attractiveness to his group of talents, namely, his personal charm for his * “ Michael Angelo Buonarroti.” By Chas. Holroyd. Duck¬ worth and Co. 1903. f Ibid. superiors and such of his equals as were not rivals. I imagine that pupils left him readily. Cellini describes an encounter with Giulio at Mantua in very guarded language and declined any invitation to make a permanent stay there. He knew his man — had known him in the days gone by at Rome. Probably Giulio claimed moie originality than he was entitled to; behind him one sees Raphael ; and, a little to the side of Raphael (if I may so put it), Michael Angelo. No art advanced in growth under his hand, except perhaps that of architecture ; but the archi¬ tectural genesis of the Palazzo delTe* is obscure. Its obvious and undoubted progenitor is the Villa Madama at Rome. The authorship of the design (of the Villa) was not Romano’s. Vasari states in his life of Raphael that Raphael was the architect. Fur¬ ther evidence is extant that Antonio da San Gallo was consulted by Cardinal Medici (Clement VII.) and that he executed important parts of it. During the Pontificate of Adrian VI. (1521- 1523) the works stood in abeyance, to be resumed when the cardinal became Pope. Raphael died in 1520. For some time before his death he and Antonio da San Gallo had been joint architects to the church of St. Peter. Clement VII. took up the completion of his suburban villa and gave (Vasari says) the entire charge of the work to Giulio (“ e diede di tutto il carico a Giulio ”). At this time San Gallo was full of commissions — work at the Vatican, at Parma, at Piacenza, etc., and we may suppose that the building as we see it owes its clothing, and rather more, to Giulio Romano. Doubtless he must have heard from Raphael’s own lips the kind of incomparable mansion the master was going to make it, and fertile ideas sank deep in the retentive memory of Pippi. The twisted columns of the Cortile della Cavallerizza in the Ducal Palace hark back to Raphael’s tapestry cartoons. Giulio served his apprenticeship to the antique ; he sketched, and measured, and collected anti¬ quities ; with the other pupils of Raphael he rediscovered the process of stucco working and encrusted his panels with “ grotesques ” in imi¬ tation of the ancient Romans. And he taught his own pupils this dainty form of decoration. Primaticcio came from Bologna to study under Pippi at Mantua, and he learnt so ably that amongst all the young men who then worked at the Palazzo del Te he was considered the best. Most of the painters were paid 22 soldi daily, a few less, but Primaticcio alone got 34. From Mantua he went to the French king’s court, and we come across him, working at Fontainebleau, in Cellini’s pages. Owing to his opportunities, * “Te” is said to be contracted from Tejetto, a sluiceway or ranal. Giulio Romano at Mantua J49 THE TOURNAMENT YARD (CAVALLERIZZA) IN THE DUCAL PALACE. PALAZZO DEL TE. GARDEN FRONT. [ 5° Giulio Romano at Mantua. PALAZZO DEL TE. INTERNAL COURTYARD. PALAZZO DEL TE. Giulio Romano at Mantua l5 PALAZZO DEL TE. ATRIUM OPENING ON TO THE GARDEN. PALAZZO DEL TE. ATRIUM LOOKING ON TO THE GARDEN. Giulio Romano at ManUia. i 5 2 PALAZZO DEL TF.. ROOM IN THE CASINO DELLA GROTTA and due to his method of handling “ gli stucchi,” Giulio Romano was able to popularise this form of decorative art, and the Italian craftsman has been a practitioner in these wares ever since. Robert Adam must have marked and remem¬ bered this “Pompeian” (as we should call it) decoration, and when reproducing the style in England, he sent to Italy for his workmen. Flax- man must have noted the capabilities of this material, and its adaptability to his designs for jasper ware that he was making for Wedgwood. But Giulio's architecture does not depend upon its stucco enrichments. The Palazzo del Te, although painter’s architecture — for there is no constructive sense whatever in it, nor, so far as I can see, in any of his buildings — surprises one by an unlooked-for delicacy of feeling. I had ex¬ pected something much more turgid and bombas¬ tic, and indeed the frescoes within amply fill out and deserve those epithets. The facades of the courtyards are quiet, the loggia sensitively refined ; the outlook on the garden, with the colonnaded semicircle closing the vista, must have been very beautiful ; the whole arrangement looks broad and spacious, and yet the actual sizes are not great. It was built to be a spectacle, a pleasure house, a garden pavilion and dining-room, and a certain riot and extravagance of fancy would not have been surprising. It is dignified and restrained. Its architecture stretches out a hand to the past and a hand to the future ; it recalls the Belvidere of the Vatican, and the Villa Maser of Palladio. Architecturally it exhibits the exhaustion of Bra- mante’s art. That lofty spirit had now been codified, formulated, and indexed up, and could be squeezed out upon a painter’s palette, or thumbed out in the sculptor’s modelling clay. But there was a kick in it still, and the Palazzo del Te had life enough to set the model of ver¬ nacular architecture, to illustrate the kind of building any gentleman could and should have. With the frescoes inside we get no forwarder. The treatment of Gonzaga’s horses, though a good idea, is dreadfully inept. The horses are standing insecurely on most inadequate ledges; the im¬ pression — with respect be it spoken — is like the fisherman’s stuffed trout over the doorcase. The treatment of the Cupid and Psyche myth is far more unpleasing than that in the Farnesina, whose chief function is to keep alive and poignant the regret that the story should have been painted by the hands of his pupils and not by Raphael. It is true that in Mantua the frescoes Ginlio Romano at Mantua. 153 PALAZZO DEL TF„ THE FAVOURITE HORSES OF DUKE FREDERICK GONZAGA. PALAZZO DEL TE. THE STORY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE. Giulio Romano at Mantua. have been defaced by time, neglect, and wanton injury, and then destroyed by repainting ; still, the outlines are, in the gross, retained, and there are engravings extant to show what the originals were like. What was done in the Palazzo del Te had already been better done elsewhere. In the matter of violent foreshortening, in annihilating the wall's surface, and in making the spectator fancy he is gazing into the open and up into the sky, the works still extant of Mantegna in the Camera degli Sposi are superior. Vasari talks of the remark¬ able vraisemblance of Giulio's painting, and partly one must take it on trust, and partly one must recognise that the standard of vraisemblance changes with each different age. In the matter of landscapes and accessories this is more easily noticed. All painting is a representation by conventions, and the value and power of these conventions change with the temper of the age. The clouds on which the angels stand, the land¬ scape, the trees, etc., of, say, Benozzo Gozzoli’s fresco in the Riccardi Chapel at Florence, seemed to his spectators the real things. P'or eyes unaccustomed to closer observation, those elemen¬ tary symbols of the subjects to be represented had the exactness and conviction that photography in colours would have for the modern. Despite, then, their appearance to a modern eye, we may suppose that Giulio’s frescoes looked very real to the contemporary. But this does not lessen their inferiority to the works they were echoes of. The conventions, if they are to carry conviction, must be sincere. Careless or bad drawing cannot construct an illusion. Partly from this quantity of bad drawing, and partly from what seem to me errors in the matter of scale — I will give an instance later on — I take it that Giulio Romano rarely did the actual work you see, that he rarely made full-sized cartoons, but that most of his work was done by his pupils from sketches. There are sufficient examples extant of his work to show that he could draw and colour. But by the time that the Palazzo del Te was roofed in, Giulio’s position in Mantua was assured ; his hands were over full of work, and he was ever ready to oblige with a sketch for any imaginable thing. I imagine him a man of varied pleasures, and somewhat lazy after the first inception of an undertaking. He was willing to make things do. His masters were in a hurry. By rights he ought to have done this himself0 ; after all, the pupil’s * “ The work was afterwards almost wholly retouched by Giulio, whence it is very much as it might have been had it been entirely executed with h's own hand.” — Vasari, G. R. PALAZZO DELLA GIUSTIZ1A, MANTUA. Giulio Romano at Mantua. 1 5 5 MANTUA. GIULIO ROMANO’S OWN HOUSF. performance was wonderful for so young a man, and the pleasure house was a fantasia, not a serious monument. As regards errors of scale, let us take the Hall of the Giants. The idea is good, and a small sketch in illustration of it would look excellently well. The sketch is magnified up to the required size to fill the spaces of the room, but the impressiveness of the sketch is gone. The geology of the sketch might pass muster on so small a scale; in full size it is unconvincing. The giants are to be slain and buried by the ruin of a shattered world, and the fragments of this awful cataclysm have the substance and texture of those harmless loaves and other missiles with which the clown in the pantomime pelts the policeman and the pantaloon. Here, no doubt, the spirit of the age, more learned in rock cleavage than our ancestors, discovers a bathos and short¬ coming undetected by them. Nor does the mere enlargement of brutal faces add to their horror ; an equal number of crocodiles gulphed in mud would be more tragic, because more realisable. Take again the Palazzo della Giustizia, where Giulio Romano figures as sculptor. Greatherminal figures of monsters stand as pilasters on its fagade, and support, as caryatids, the cornice of the roof. It is impossible not to feel there has been an error in scale. The original^ sketch in clay probably looked very well, was enthusiastically approved, and handed over to the sculptor pupil to be realised. But the figures are at least twice too large. At their present greatness they are bestial and bloated ; there is no strike or passion in them. Any street boy could be Jack the Giant- killer of such helpless, imbecile carcases as they. What was suggestive of ability, malice, and cun¬ ning in the small sketch, has disappeared from these overgrown faces in the elaboration, and the invention that was sufficient for the clay was unable to fill out the stucco actuality. The treat¬ ment of the imitation stone-work, probably a mere indication in the sketch, is very careful and refined ; here Giulio was drawing on his past experience and observation, and it accords ill (in scale) with the lumbering monstrosities which it supports. Across the street, almost facing this Palace, is the house that Giulio Romano built for himself. Vasari describes it as “ una facciata fantastica, tutta lavorata di stucchi coloriti ” ; it has been yellow-washed to uniformity now. The fagade has been widened with an additional bay since he left it, and the interior arrangements have been greatly altered. There is a fine tranquillity about the design, and the surface treatment reveals great consideration and feeling. Possibly this is the Gut, lio Romano at Mantua. true Giulio — not obliged by the great people com¬ missioning him, or thinking it necessary for his reputation to “show off”; at any rate, here is a bit of architectural composition that lingers in the memory with a quiet charm, as of something in its modest way perfect. It is quite a small affair, little over thirty feet from pavement to underside of cornice, and yet the element of size does not enter into the recollection, as Dance found it, when composing his front for the prison at New¬ gate. The Cathedral again, with its double aisles and domed chapels, shows ability, not genius; the interior is effective in its way, the design is quiet and steady, the detail refined and rather lifeless, and there is a strong afternoon or after-lunch feel¬ ing throughout. Sir Wm. Chambers must have made an attentive stay at Mantua. As a sculptor Giulio Romano has left little evidence of his handiwork ; it is just conceivable that he recognised there his limitations. The monument to the Count of Castelvetro in the Cathedral at Modena is stark naught, and the one in Sant’ Andrea at Mantua would gain no distinction for itself amongst the mortuary sculp¬ ture in the Euston Road. As SEdile of the city, no one durst wag finger or tongue against him; no building was permitted without his approval of the project, “ and so much pleasure did he find in adorning and embellishing that city, that whereas he had first found it buried in mud, with the streets full of foetid water, and even the houses sometimes scarcely habitable from the same cause, he brought the whole to such a condition that it is now dry, healthy, and agreeable ; all which is attributable to the labours of Giulio Romano.” The houses he built in the neighbourhood of Mantua have not survived the turbulence of the later centuries ; the advance in military science has swallowed up his military en¬ gineering, the ever higher banked Po has diverted or obliterated his sluices and dykes, but the fame that he got as military and civil engineer must have been honestly won and desperately proved, although the Gonzagas of his day managed skilfully to fend off war from their own country. As festival architect and director we have Vasari’s account : “ When the Emperor Charles V. ar¬ rived in Mantua (1530), Giulio made many magni¬ ficent preparations for his reception by order of the Duke; these consisted of arches, perspective scenes for dramatic representations, and various matters of a similar kind, in the invention of which Giulio Romano never had his equal ; for never was there any man who, in the arrangement of mas¬ querades, or the preparation of extraordinary habiliments for jousts, festivals, and tournaments, displayed fancy and variety of resource such as he possessed. This was acknowledged with aston¬ ishment and admiration at the time by the Em¬ peror and by as man}7 other persons as were pre¬ sent.” As to his bric-a-brac, it is but a memory. His designs, for anything, were produced, Vasari says, “ in loads,” and were eagerly reproduced by engravers in Italy, Flanders, and in France. \ou may find him in a plate from Gubbio, a tapestry from the Flemings, on any surface, in fact, where a luxurious display of limbs may be thrown; the riot of limbs, indeed, is the real sub¬ ject of the design, so that it takes a practised eye to detect, by some obscure treacherous symbol, that the story comes from the Old Testament and not from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. We are in the world of facile dexterity, where the hand is asking the head for employment, and is restlessly scoring paper till the head replies, whilst the heart, securely snug in the fat of its own degeneration, has onlyr an amused smile at the earnestness of the two collaborators. In the Giulio Romanesque architecture the head still controls the hand, a pride of heart inflames the designer, and a gaiety of heart (not careless) floats the spectator past the moral shortcomings, the poor materials in masquerade, the faulty construction, the tawdry and vain desire of his patrons (tawdry and vain because there was no longer any sincerity in it, but merely an affectation of culture) to have persons and events represented in terms of the Augustan age re¬ called. Moreover, there was a modicum of real enduring worth, of the imaginative kind, in his work, which has made it serviceable and fruit¬ ful in the after years. Over the schemes of poetic genius with which Raphael was charged, many must have been the discussions between master and pupil, and Giulio arose with a tuck or so of the prophet's mantle. These he enlarged in the course of his practice, and made them almost his own. In fresco work and paint the cloth hung heavy on him — he was a worse Raphael at every point — to our eyes more flag¬ rantly inferior than to those of his contemporaries ; but in architecture he was able to take his scraps of the robe and piece them out into a garment that has sheltered and warmed the artist’s fire in many a practitioner since. Behind Somerset House you may see Giulio Romano, and behind Newgate (as it stood). You may look in many an “ Adam ” House (say in Portland Place), where you will find Primaticcio busy under Pippi’s direction. A century and a half ago Mantua was as much a Mecca as Vicenza, though the colder blood of the precisian Palladio suited better, for the most part, the timid ignorance of an age self- conscious and fearful of committing that inex¬ cusable blunder — a solecism. Protected and for- Giulio Romano at Mantua. 157 tified by the stiff close stays of Palladian rectitude, a man could go about securely, facing the slings and arrows of offensive criticism ; whereas it re¬ quired a knowledge of and actual feeling for the poetry of architecture to meet the questioners of Raphaelesque or Mantovan erections. Moreover, the world now is too full for the detached existences of those days ; the employer is burdened with too many responsibilities, too many duties, and too serious an appreciation of them, to contemplate pavilions of festival architecture, a street front that might be called a pageant, or a country house where Architecture herself should be one of his visitors and become one of his companions. For a man now to avow such an intention would be to advertise his retirement from real and active life, and his subsidence into the back-water class, like the collectors of gems or other such dormice — abdication, for one endowed with ambition and wealth, from what he would hold as his honour¬ able engagements. The equivalent, at the present day, of the Palazzo del Te is the pleasure yacht, and the moral misgivings of its commission are salved by pretexts of original research, necessity from ill-health, and so forth. Modern “ model ” stables are gutted by considerations of hygiene, and restricted by the view that the horse and not its owner is the justification of the buildings. The actual stables at the Palazzo del Te are no more spacious or magnificent than at an ordin¬ ary cavalry barracks or tram-car terminus, though they housed horses valued at their weight in gold. In Mantua there are no Gonzagas now: but for the painters’ and architects’ handicraft there would be no mention of their names except in the historian's pages. They pulled their city about their ears in the terrible sack of Mantua (1630), and were at last ejected from the place, Ferdi¬ nand Carlo being deposed in 1708 by the Emperor for “felony.” The names that the Mincio mur¬ murs as it laps the city walls and the bases of its palaces, as its plashes through the fountains and ripples through the lagoons, are Virgil, Sor- dello, and Giulio Romano. The pilgrim at the shrine of the Theban maid — the witch Manto — may evoke also the names of Dante and Mantegna from out a lurid background of memorable names and scenes; but Mantua is “the city of Giulio Romano” of which “ Duke Virgil” is lord, and where dwelt that Lombard poet whom Dante beheld in Purgatory, and who leaped to the heart of Virgil when he named Mantua : “ O Mantovan, I am Sordello, of thine own land.” Halsey Ricardo. PALAZZO DEI. TE. POLYPHEMUS. Current A rchitecture 8 WELBURN HALL, YORKSHIRE: RECONSTRUCTION AND ADDITIONS, FROM THE NORTHEAST. WALTER H. BRIERLEY, ARCHITECT. Ctirrent A rchitecturc 1 59 WELBURN HALL, YORKS. THE LOGGIA. WALTER H. BRIERLEY, ARCHITECT. Photo : T. Lewis. Current Architecture. Welburn Hall, Yorkshire. — This house is situate between Helmsley and Kirbymoorside, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Until tku Reformation it belonged to the Monks of Rievaulx Abbey. In 1610, what was then called the “ New Wing,” was added. It is the only portion of old work now remaining, and contains the kitchens and offices with gallery, and with-drawing room, etc., over, and the long gallery the full length of the roof. In 1890 the estate was pur¬ chased by Miss Clarke, who at once commissioned Mr. Walter Brierley to repair and enlarge the house for her. By a curious coincidence the architect had measured and drawn it for the pur¬ pose of study several years before. The buildings were in a ruinous condition having been unoccu¬ pied, except as a cattle shed, etc., for over eighty years. The old timber-built portion was in such a ruinous condition that rebuilding was the only course open, and as so little of the original work remained, to have built it up again of timber would only have been a surmise of the original. It was deemed advisable, therefore, that it should be built of stone, like the Elizabethan wing. Miss Clarke has since sold the estate to Mr. J. Shaw of Dorrington Hall, Pontefract, and further additions in the way of stables, servants’ wing, gate-house, etc., have been made. The new buildings are of local hammer-dressed stone with chiselled quoins. The roofs are covered with grey Colley Weston stone slates, which were the nearest approach that could be obtained to the old moor flags with which the old wing is roofed. Current A rchitecture. 160 BLAC K'SHCWS' ADDITIONS • MATCH ET> WORK- SMCV3 ORIGINAL- BVILDING WELBVLLN HALL nea. KIRBYMOOfcSIDE BLACK SMEWS ADDITIONS MATCHED • WORK SHEWS ORIGINAL BVIUDINQ- WALTER H. BRIERLEY, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture. 1 6 n SECTION -THRO -HALL -AND- STAIRCASE -H- rEErr 10 10 30 60 FEET SECTION THRO • HALL AND- LONG' GALLERY- FEET 10. SO IO 20 30 to 50 so FEET WELBURN HALL, YORKS. WALTER H. BRIERLEY, ARCHITECT. VOL. XIV. — O Current A rchitecture 162 WELBURN HALL, YORKS. THE OLD SUMMERHOUSE. Photo : T. Lewis Coleherne Court. — These buildings con¬ sist of double blocks of flats, one facing the street and the other the gardens. The entrance is from the street in all cases, and the blocks are con¬ nected by passages containing the lifts and stair¬ cases, serving four flats on each floor. The blocks are built round three sides of an irregular rectangle, which forms a private garden of nearly two and a half acres, open to the south, for the occupants of the flats. The materials employed are red bricks and stone (both Portland and Bath) ; grey slates. The garden elevation has rough cart frieze, gables, and bay windows. The owner is Mr. Henry Bailey, and the contractor, Mr. T. W. Brown, of Hornsey. The architect is Mr. Walter Cave. Current A rckitecture. 163 O 2 WELBURN HALL, YORKS. RECONSTRUCTION AND ADDITIONS. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH-WEST. WALTER H. BRIERLEY, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture 164 WELBURN HALL, YORKS. RECONSTRUCTION AND ADDITIONS. THE LONG GALLERY. WALTER H. BRIERLEY, ARCHITECT. Current A rchitecture. 165 COLEHERNE COURT, EARL’S COURT. ELEVATION AT JUNCTION OF REDCLIFFE GARDENS AND OLD BROMPTON ROAD. WALTER CAVE ARCHITECT. No. 19, New Cavendish Street, London, W. — This house stands on the south side of the street between Harley Street and Portland Place, and was erected on a site previously occupied by a small house and a stable building. Conse¬ quently it was impossible to carry it above the height attained, owing to difficulties of light and air, etc. It belongs to a class of house which has spi ung up rather frequently on the Howard de Walden Estate, and is somewhat unfairly called a “ Maisonette, for it will be seen by the plans that very considerable accommodation is attained owing to the length of the frontage (45 ft 6 in. over all), a special feature being the planning of a Current Architecture 1 66 COLEHERNE COURT, EARL’S COURT. ELEVATION TO REDCLIFFE GARDENS. WALTER CAVE, ARCHITECT. Photo : E. Dockree Current A rchitecture 167 mmmmm S’? [mm\ n 1 I 1 nnpSli ui'jiy- t. ^eocnuimnet' :• • ••>• .1.: wmmm COLEHERNE COURT, WEST BROMPTON. VIEW FROM THE GARDEN. WALTER CAVE, ARCHITECT. i 68 Ctirrent A rchitecture . billiard room (24 ft. x iS ft.) in the basement, which is entered immediately at the foot of the back staircase and shut off from all the offices. There are three sitting rooms on the ground floor, and the rest of the space is devoted to bedrooms, etc. It is built with red brick facings and Port¬ land stone dressings. The cove cornice is con¬ structed of tiles corbelled out, and finished with Parian cement. The work was carried out by Messrs. Dove Brothers, of Islington. The archi¬ tects are M essrs. E. B. Hoare and M. Wheeler. Saint Nicolai Vicarage and Saint Nicolai Dispensary, Svendborg, Denmark. Magdahl Nielsen, Architect. — -These two houses are situated in a small provincial town, famous, however, for its beautiful surroundings. The Dispensary is built of red hand-made bricks and granite, with dark glazed tiles ior roofing. The building, which, besides the dispensary, con¬ tains the offices of a bank, is otherwise arranged on the flat system, predominant in Danish towns, there being altogether five separate “flats/’ In the basement are various laboratories, etc. A little further down the newly laid-out thoroughfare lies the vicarage, also built of red hand-made bricks, but the tiles used for roofing are red. The end facing the new thoroughfare will appear somewhat bare, owing to there being no roadway when the house was built. In all probability a bay window will be added here. The architect, Mr. Magdahl Nielsen, has been independent enough to give more space than is generally allowed in Danish houses. Sanlens. COLEHERNE COURT. DETAIL OF PLAN AT “A:’ ON FIRST FLOOR, SHOWING FOUR FLATS. SEE BLOCK PLAN. WALTER CAVE, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture. 169 ATTIC BASEMENT SCALE 1..T 1' t * ? r - sTOF FEET. 19, NEW CAVENDISH STREET, W. E. B. HOARE AND M. WHEELER, ARCHITECTS. I/O Current A rchitecture Photo : E. Dockrce 19, NEW CAVENDISH STREET, W. E. B. HOARE AND M. WHEELER, ARCHITECTS. ST. NICOLAI VICARAGE AND THE ST. NICOLAI DISPENSARY, DENMARK, MAGDAHL NEILSEN, ARCHITECT. GROUND PLAN. Current A rchitecture. 1 ST. NICOLAI VICARAGE AND THE ST. NICOLAI DISPENSARY, SVENDBORG, DENMARK. MAGDAHL NEILSEN, ARCHITECT. 172 Current Architecture, THE ST. NICOLAI DISPENSARY, SVENDBORG, DENMARK. MAGDAHL NEILSEN, ARCHITECT. t i £ *• 8|uSl . Q. — -J ^ r/r • i- n -n z:o jfiZ g c U cc aj J? ^OoJOf- gag if: w^y|5 E E- DJ ■? S hfiJ-SEt /• ■TT ® n • o ® o . e s» E£ clc - 2 og?> u g S5 L_ O • ^ r; S5 A E Q r oa Zgc O E BJ "3 H cQ LON DON • SHOWRGD/HS English Mediaeval Figure -Sculpture. CHAPTER VII.— Section I. THE FIRST GOTHIC STATUES (1200-1280). In our early chapters we illustrated the steps by which the incised figure-carvings of Norse sculpture passed into the relief-carvings of English Romanesque art — the tympana of the Norman doorways giving us a continuous record. We have now to trace the further progress of the figure sculptor, as from practice in the relief¬ carving of slabs and panels he passed to the accomplishment of the detached statue. This was in England distinctly the achievement of Gothic art. But for the first fifty years of it we have little to show. It is difficult to produce from our Transitional or early Gothic building any stone figures that seem leading up to the statues that appear about the year 1220 on the fronts of Peterborough and Wells. Although as early as 1130 there had been shaft-figures at Rochester — “ King ” and “ Queen ” on either side of the doorway (see Fig. 60, chapter III.) — and something of the same kind at Colchester, the “ Cluniac ” craftsmanship which the great monas¬ teries introduced for such works (see chap¬ ter III.) seems to have founded in England no school of native statuaries. We had no peopling of our church doorways, as those of Vezelay, Laon, and Chartres were peopled in the twelfth century, with arrays of standing figures. We have not merely lost our examples of such an art : neither the early Gothic of Canterbury, nor the fully-developed style of the Winchester chapels, or the Lincoln quire,* made provision for statues ; their wall arcades have no platforms to give standing room for them. As far as examples are preserved to us, we have, capable of being referred to the years between 1160 and 1210, only the figure of Bishop Gundulf (so-called) at Rochester, which, originally set up on the west front, has now been removed into a chapel in the north transept. And this, less perhaps than the earlier shaft-figures, exhibits the manner of a statue : rather it is an effigy set upright, to be classed with the early bishops’ effigies at Exeter or the abbots’ effigies at Peterborough, which will be presently dis¬ cussed. At Wells, however, as our illustrations in former chapters made clear, the treatment of the figure in corbel-carving and in the label-head had reached * At Ely the external arcades immediately at the side of the Galilee entrance are shallowly recessed. There may have been wooden or metal images set in them. considerable attainment during Bishop Reginald’s building of that cathedral (1 171-1191), and there¬ upon the sculptor’s art developed amazingly.0 When Bishop Jocelyn built the front (c. 1220) the tympanum carving (see Fig. 109, chapter VI.) of the west door had the figure in full projection from the ground; and, in the quatrefoils above, the angels and subject-carvings are pieces of sculpture com¬ pletely detached. And now in the arcades of the front we find actual statues, life size, and stand¬ ing free, wrought by the mason in the Doulting stone. On the Peterborough front also, beside the full reliefs in quatrefoils and trefoils which we have illustrated, there were free-standing figures, which we would also date c. 1220. We have, then, to recognise, both in the East and West of England, a somewhat sudden appearance of a stone statue-carving in the first quarter of the thirteenth century. This appearance, and the character of the statues themselves, have given rise to certain theories. Foreign artists, loosely specified as French, Italian, or even Greek, have been con¬ jectured as coming to England in the trains of the returning bishops on the removal of the papal interdict, when, after the death of John in 1216, ecclesiastical building proceeded with fresh activity. No actual evidence for this im¬ portation of foreign sculptors is, however, forth¬ coming. No hint of it, nor any name of a foreign sculptor, has been recovered from the records : the idea rests on conjecture only. One piece of evidence has, however, been adduced which de¬ serves to be sifted. Arabic numerals are said to occur on the back of some of the sculpture of the Wells front. Now, since such numerals, if not quite unknown in English manuscripts before 1250,! were certainly in commoner use in Italy and the East, it is contended that their appearance at Wells constitutes a significant indication of foreign workmanship in the statues. The fact is, however, that these numerals have only been found in the tier of the Resurrection, which is the topmost tier of sculptures of the main front, and at this height their occurrence is really no evi¬ dence for the whole body of the statues below. * The building at Wells is supposed to have languished after 1200. Worcester may have then taken on the Wells sculptors for work in its eastern chapels, which judging from the stone- dressings would seem built from 1200-1218. A sequence of style in sculpture can be traced in the two cathedrals. f Arabic numerals occur in the MS. 0.2.45, Trinity College, Cambridge, which is of the first part of the thirteenth century. We are indebted to Dr. James of the Fitzwilliam Museum for this reference. 1 74 English M ediceval Figvre-Sculplure. For, in the first place, this Resurrection sculpture might well have been the latest executed on the front — very possibly not put in place till after 1250, when Arabic numerals were coming into use in England. And, secondly, it is to be observed that the towers of the Wells front were raised from 1380-1430; that the scaffolding for this new building would have been at the level of this Resurrection sculpture; so that its pieces were not improbably removed, and might very possibly have been numbered so that they might after¬ wards be correctly replaced. At any rate, it is clear that since there were later re-arrangements and additions of new statues to all the niches above the tier of the Resurrection, indications on this tier are scarcely evidence for what is below. In support, however, of a foreign origin for the Wells statues, the quality and style of them, apart from other considerations, have been taken as im¬ plying foreign authorship. The connoisseurship of the returning Crusader has been evoked to account for the classic or antique simplicity which flavours their art. It is urged that the taking of Constantinople in the fourth crusade intro¬ duced into England the knowledge of the Eastern arts of sculpture, and that in imitation of models brought from the East there grew up suddenly an English art of sculpture. The likeness of our thirteenth-century examples to certain early works of Greek art is so accounted for, and our sculpture is taken as an imitative revival based upon the works of antique art that were still existent in Constantinople when it was sacked by Baldwin and the Venetians. But it is to be replied that the Greek figure-work of the fifth century b.c., to which likeness is seen, has been mostly dug up out of the ground for us. There is no likelihood that the Crusaders in 1215 were able to see its early masterpieces. And equally unsupported is the theory of a school of Byzantine figure-sculpture preserving the quality and sentiment of the fifth century b.c. and pro¬ ducing statues in the thirteenth century at Con¬ stantinople. No work of such a school has been known or conjectured. The date was six hun¬ dred years earlier, when, as our first chapter argued, the Greek artizan could come into England to introduce an art of sculpture among barbarians, carving classic figurines on Anglian crosses. But in the year 1200 what life was there in eastern •sculpture after centuries of iconoclastic repression and centuries of decadent formalism to enable it to throw out branches of art in western Europe ? The potent influence in the East was, at the time of Crusades, the Saracenic culture ; but this would lead to no new start of figure-sculpture, for to the Mahomedan it was idolatrous. The arts of mathematics, of surgery, of metal-work, of fabric- design and floral-pattern, these may have owed much in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to contact with Arabic civilization; but the repre¬ sentation of the human form was necessarily out¬ side this influence. If, therefore, Crusaders returning to England brought back ideas as to figure-work, it would be from quarters much nearer home than the Levant. As already said, the great churches of west Europe at the end of the twelfth century possessed many facades arrayed with standing statues of stone. Such were those of St. Trophime, Arles, of St. Iago de Compostella in the south, of the cathedrals of Laon, Corbeil, and Chartres in the north of France, while shortly after 1200 was begun the great front of Notre Dame, Paris. No doubt our English statues have a general resemblance to the French as to treatment of subject and method of representation. But in the technique of the sculptor’s chisel there are distinctive differences, sufficient to separate the English works, not only from the above earliest works of the French schools, but from the many contemporary examples in other parts of western Europe. There are abundant materials which can be relied on to represent the manners of the Italian, French, and Rhenish sculptors of the thirteenth century. And we can say that if in the Canterbury quire of 1175 the French master can be readily recognised by the style of the foliage ; if the mosaic of Henry III.’s shrine at Westminster allows no mistake as to its Roman origin ; so it would be at Wells if some Frenchmen or Italians had carved the images of the front. We should have been able to point to statues having the same technique upon this or that Italian or French church ; we could rely on finding the same draperies, the same expressions, the same qualities of style. As it is, no one has discovered the foreign statues which have the technique of Wells. The inequali¬ ties of its art, its peculiar excellences in combina¬ tion with awkwardnesses, such as those of the sitting kings (Fig. 1 17), betray a native school striv¬ ing after its own ideal. We must propose, there¬ fore, to dismiss the likelihood of a foreign impor¬ tation of either sculpture or sculptors being the starting point of the English school, and to account for its qualities in another way. First, then, as to the suddenness of the appear¬ ance of the free-standing stone statue in the English art — the significance of this as implying a sudden development of figure-conception in the round by the English artist is surely overrated. The power of this conception had been in prac¬ tice in the English art for over two hundred years, only it had been in the hands of another craft than that of the mason. The goldsmiths were the artisans who had been furnishing the stone- English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture. carved interiors of the mason’s buildings with images of wood, metal, and ivory. Now such materials were unsuited for statues placed in the open air on the outside of buildings. If of metal they would be stolen, if of wood they would de¬ cay. Since Gothic architecture was essentially stone building, was it likely that the craft of the mason was to be denied development in such a matter ? As soon as his skill by practice in label-head, in relief, and, as we shall presently show, in the effigy, advanced far enough, he in due course was set to make a stone imagery, which should permanently furnish the fronts of the churches as the goldsmith’s wood and ivory images had furnished the interiors. We can so derive English figure-sculpture from the free experiment of the masonic craft, and are under no necessity of calling in teachers from abroad or models from the East. The native goldsmith’s art of image¬ making supplied abundant models. The fact was that Gothic art, being that of stone-shaping, sought the summit of its enterprise in the fashioning of the block to the figure of humanity. That it did so late in English art was perhaps because of the absence on English soil of such Roman work as could hand on immediately the traditions of the stone classic statues. We believe that the abundant remains of Roman work in South France and Italy did stir the ambitions of the sculptors in the south of Europe, but in England there was no likelihood of this. Another explanation must therefore be sought for the “ classic ” likenesses, or reminiscences of early Greek style which are apparent in our earliest statues. So far as pose and attitude are con¬ cerned, the whole system of sculptural representa¬ tion in England was necessarily that of eccle¬ siastical prescription, which had long ago fixed the types of head, the attitudes and features of sacred character. Such prescription, in its foun¬ dation Byzantine, and drawn from “ classic ” art, appears in Ghurch art in England as elsewhere, and the direct transmitters of its traditions would be the goldsmiths employed upon church images. Mason imagers could not but follow this lead and carve saints at first in the Byzantine fashion. So far the habit of church representation means little as to any direct connection with the East. But we must seek another explanation for those more subtle affinities with the pagan Greek art which we have noted in the Lincoln arch-mould figures, the reliefs of the Westminster triforium, and now again will find in the sculpture of Wells. We are not seeking to compare our stone sculpture to the marble masterpieces of Phidias or Praxiteles ; but there is a monumental simplicity and direct¬ ness of calm expression in pose and drapery, which make our thirteenth-century sculpture and 1 7 5 that of the fifth century b.c. alike, and in some instances create a quite remarkable resemblance. The fine treatment of the drapery, the purity of its lines, as well as the serenity of the whole expression in face and figure, suggest parallels. Nobility of idea have in both been combined with simplicity of expression. But the quality of this combination does not imply any conscious imitation on the part of Gothic artists of the earlier style. Rather it is direct proof that the Gothic art was a fresh one — founding itself by successes over the difficulties of sculptural expression, with this expression un- tramelled by the conventions of imitation ; for the affectation of copying makes impossible this unconscious charm. We find we cannot now of set purpose reproduce the simplicities of either mediaeval or Greek art, so would it have been impossible for the thirteenth-century sculptor to have got his quality by imitation of Greek models if he could have got access to them. The similarities are therefore no indication of imita¬ tion, but show the Mediaeval art of sculpture growing up under the same kind of influence as those which produced the Greek. The simplicity and directness of both are symptoms of a certain stage in the growth of art. We conclude, therefore, on all grounds, that the art of the Mediaeval statuary was the direct out¬ come of the English masons’ craft of building. The subjects of his representations were at first the same as those of the imagers, who were filling the churches with wooden and metal saints ; but his skill in the figure grew from his own practice in the stone-shapings of architectural science. This being so, we ought to find in the first statue-making of our art an immediate dependence on the manner of the imager — and at Peterborough the ideas of a wooden image are suggested. The broad, smooth surfaces are suited for the painting, from which wooden images got their effect, and the big stone nimbus forming part of the head shows the treatment natural to the shaping of wooden planks. We shall see a return to the same technique at the end of the fourteenth century, when stone and wood were used as similar materials in the hands of the imager. We have, indeed, left to us no images of wood or metal belonging to the twelfth and early thirteenth century ; but, as we have already pointed but, we may sufficiently judge of their appearance by the treatment of the figure shown in the con¬ temporary seals. Referring to the Lincoln seal, Fig. 40 in chapter III., we can see in the Peter¬ borough statues the same head treatment (see Fig. 113), the goggle eyes, the thin nose and long upper lip, the distinct division of the legs, pecu¬ liarities which we have noted also in the Lincoln English Mediaeval Figure- Sculp ture. 176 FIG. U3. — PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT. APOSTLE FIGURES. (From photo kindly lent by S. Gardner, Esq.) Photo : Bolas. FIG. 1 14. — PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT. ST. PETER. reliefs illustrated in the same chapter. The image treatment is most clearly seen in the row of nine apostles just above the great arches. Our illustration (Fig. 113)0 is of two of the central figures, which are somewhat larger than the rest and are most characteristic of the style. Below them in the spandrels of the great arches are twelve smaller figures of Bishops and Ladies, showing an advance of the stone sculptor away from the squat models of the goldsmith ; and above, of the same kind, are six Kings, two in each gable, which also have dispensed with the nimbus. Above again, in the apex of each of the three gables, are three large seated figures, the three remaining apostles. In the north and south gables the wooden character of treatment is very marked in the squat figures with grotesquely long necks, probably intended to have metal ornaments. But in the central gable the St. Peter (Fig. 114) is of a different type, and since an alteration or later finishing of the central bay is indicated, it is pos¬ sible we have in this St. Peter the latest figure of the front, wrought when the stone-imager had developed his style. There is sufficient likeness to the figures on the Lincoln front to suggest that this St. Peter was carved about 1250. The pecu¬ liarity of all these Peterborough figures, which to our mind reveals their close connection with the church image, lies in the short proportions, and this squatness can be traced as a continuing * It was taken from the scaffold put up for the repairs of 1897- character in the later statues of east England, which we will take up again at Lincoln. Here, dealing with the statues of the first half of the thirteenth century, we pass to the west of England and see a quite different style of art. What is significant in the Wells statues is their long proportion, while instead of the smooth, broad surfaces, we find a finely divided drapery, modelled in narrow planes, both evidences to another influence than that of the imager. The goldsmith in his daily craft of shrine-making and seal engraving had to be perpetually adapting the figure to enclosures such as circles, quatre- foils, etc., which often necessitated squatness. The sitting figure was more suited to his purpose than the standing, and when he used the latter one can see his tendency to make it as short as pos¬ sible. But another craft at the end of the twelfth century was at work upon the figure, and its practice favoured long proportions. The maker of stone coffins at the end of the thirteenth century was inscribing the covering slabs of dead notables with likenesses of the deceased, which rapidly developed into effigies modelled in the round. Now, though at Peterborough we have preserved such effigies of the twelfth and early thirteenth century (which we will illustrate in our next chapter), these were not the work of the local sculptor, but were imported articles from the Purbeck workshops of the south of England. The ornaments and methods of the Purbeck draperies, the expression, and the round heads of these English Medieval Figure-Sculpture. '77 Peterborough abbots, are as different as can be from those of the apostles in the Front. The former have had no influence on the latter, whose art is quite unconscious of their proximity. At Wells the story is very different. We have there also effigies of the twelfth and early thir¬ teenth centuries. These are, however, not of Purbeck marble, but wrought in the stone of the cathedral and showing the leaf carvings which are those of Wells capitals. We cannot doubt that they have been carved on the spot by the same masons who at Wells and elsewhere developed the Gothic style of west England. Though the illus¬ tration of effigies belongs to our next chapter, we give an example here in order that the drapery and treatment may be compared with the Bishop statues of the front (Figs. 116, 118). The effigy (Fig. 115) lies in the south aisle — the first on the left as you pass eastwards— and was probably the earliest in date, though the one beside it was produced not long afterwards — probably before the year 1200 — being followed by that in the north aisle, and then by the two at the end of the south aisle, all the five being placed in Bishop Reginald’s quire,* which was just then finished. There are two other effigies at the end of the north aisle that are later, as the type of the leaf-carving in one of them shows. The interesting point for us here is that in this effigy-carving (to which the Doulting masons were set, because no doubt the * It seems to have been customary so to commemorate pre¬ ceding bishops in a new building. There had been with Reginald five bishops of Wells from the Conquest. So at Chichester are found seven Purbeck slabs in the east chapel ; (c. 1200) com¬ memorating the building bishop, Segfrid and his six predeces¬ sors in the see. Bishop. Queen. King. Notable. FIGS. 1 1 6, 1 1 7. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT. FOUR TYPICAL FIGURES. VOL. XIV. — P I 78 English Medueval Figure- Sculpture . land carriage to Wells of Purbeck effigies was ex¬ pensive) we can see a gradual advance towards the statue-technique, so that the folds, which in the first efforts are rendered in parallel rounded ribs very like those of the Norman reliefs (see Figs. 47 and 50 in chapter III.), become varied in the experiments of the mason till they attain (in the north-aisle effigies) the faceted, hollow rendering which is so peculiarly that of the Wells sculptor. We can, in fact, in these effigies, see the mason being trained into a statuary. In the label-head and corbel he had learnt the power of rendering the facial features that he wished, now he practised himself in the presentation of drapery, and so HG. I I?.— WELLS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT. TYPE A. equipped himself for dealing with the figure in the round. But the long proportions which were natural to the coffin-lid remained in his art as the sign of its origin. We show here, in further illus¬ tration (Figs. 116, 1 17, 118, 1 19) of the progress of the art, a selection from the 130 statues that remain on the west front. Next month we pro¬ pose to go more into detail, and, dividing the Wells statues into classes, give examples of each. Taking advantage of the scaffoldings lately put to the front, we have been able to take photographs at close quarters. Edward S. Prior. Arthur Gardner. FIG. I 19. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT. TYPE B. Architectural Education VI.— UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. * By F. M. Simpson. The scheme of architectural education at University College has been entirely remodelled since Professor Roger Smith’s death, and a three years’ course for students before they enter an office has been started. Students not wishing to take the entire course can attend any of the lectures and classes, except that no one can take the construction lectures without joining a studio class. The three years’ course is framed so as to provide students with a systematic training in the practical and aesthetic sides of architecture, and at the same time to encourage them to continue their general education, and so bring them into touch with students in other departments of the College who are pursuing different courses of study. In the first year students attend lectures on any three of the following subjects : Mathema¬ tics, Elementary Mechanics, Graphics, Chemistry, French, German, English, History; go through a courseof building construction dealing with thecar- case of a building ; draw from the antique in the Slade School, and, in the summer term, commence lectures on the history of architectural develop¬ ment. In the second year a special course is arranged by the Professor of Engineering dealing with iron and steel construction and laboratory tests on cements, bricks, stone, timber, metals, etc. The building construction lectures and studio work deal with the fittings of a building and constructive details not previously mentioned, and the lectures on architectural development are continued. The student draws from the antique (if sufficiently advanced, from the life) and attends a practical course on surveying. The third year includes the planning and design¬ ing of buildings, with further exercises on the work of the different trades previously lectured upon. The course of lectures on architectural develop¬ ment is concluded ; a class for modelling is started and students attend lectures on hygiene delivered by the professor of public health. Visits will be paid from time to time to buildings in course of erection, to workshops, to buildings of interest in and near London, old and new, and to the British and South Kensington Museums. Sketching and measuring will be encouraged, and will form part of vacation work. Students who * This article is to be substituted for that appearing in the September issue of “ The Review." receive permission will be allowed to work in the Trades’ Training School, Great Titchfield Street. Students who take the three years’ course are eligible for the College certificate and also for the Donaldson silver medals. VII.— THE SCHOOL OF APPLIED ART, ROYAL INSTITUTION, EDINBURGH. This school was inaugurated in the autumn of the year 1892 for the purpose of meeting a growing demand for a higher standard of excel¬ lence in all kinds of art work, with an eye to a large number of industries in the city. In formulating a system it was decided to make the study of architecture the basis ; it being recog¬ nised that to instil a mere knowledge of ornament was an incomplete education, and that, to decorate with intelligence, a thorough knowledge of the object to be decorated must be acquired. It has, therefore, been laid down that all students engaged in the study of any of the applied arts shall for the first period of their five years’ curriculum be made thoroughly conversant with the general principles of architecture. With regard to the method of teaching, it has also been held imperative that each subject be taught by masters who are engaged in the daily practice of what they teach, thus ensuring prac¬ tical rather than theoretical teaching. Stringent rules forcing all students through a narrow course of instruction are non-existent. The full curriculum of the school is five years, the course of instruction in the various years being, generally speaking, as follows : — First Year. — During the first year, as already stated, the student is made conversant with the grammatical proportions of architecture by the preparation of scale, detail, and perspective draw¬ ings of the orders, also preparing large free sketches from casts of historic ornament. Second Year. — In the second year of the curri¬ culum the student is further instructed in the general principles of architectural design, scio- graphy, modelling from casts of historic orna¬ ment, the principles of colour, and figure-drawing from the antique. Third Year. — In the third year of the curri¬ culum comes the parting of the ways, when each student diverges more into the study of his own particular branch of art — -architecure, sculpture, furniture, metal work, etc. He is then instructed in the principles of design relating more directly to his special branch of work, and by the careful Books . 1 80 stud}’ of casts and photographs of the best exist¬ ing examples of his art, is encouraged to seek and obtain his inspiration in design from the truth and beauty to be found in those. Modelling in clay, the study of colour from the still life, and figure drawing from the antique, are also carried on by the majority of the students. Fourth and Fifth Years. — Those latter years of the curriculum are taken up with the more advanced study and design in ail the branches of work in¬ dicated in the third year's course. In the more advanced study of colour, the students are taught to treat their studies in a decorative rather than pictorial form. During the summer months Saturday afternoon sketching classes are formed for the purpose of visiting the best historic examples of domestic and ecclesiastical work to be found in the vicinity of Edinburgh, when careful measured drawings and sketches are made of stonework, woodwork, metal work, plaster work, and furniture, or whatever special work the students may be more particu¬ larly interested in. The system of holiday bursaries also bulks largely in the training of students of this school. Those bursaries, ranging from £1 to £=>, are annually awarded to a number of the best students in each subject for the purpose of assisting them to go to any part of the United Kingdom and prepare studies of the most interesting examples and specimens of the art they follow, those works being judged and marks given by the committee in the autumn of each year. Three travelling scholarships of from £40 to £60 are also awarded annually to students who have completed the five years' curriculum of the school with distinction, for the purpose of study¬ ing their art in any part of the United Kingdom for not less than four months. Recognising the great value to the students of making careful analytical studies of old buildings, their decorative feitures and contents, and also with a view to giving a national character to the domestic and ecclesiastical work of the present day, the committee of the school, for some years back, have established bursaries for two students who devote their whole time for one year to the preparation of record drawings of Scottish work. The drawings remain the property of the school, and a valuable library of reference is being formed. These drawings are open to the inspection of all interested in Scottish art and history. Books. GEORGIAN PERIOD. “ The Georgian Period: being Measured Drawings of Colo¬ nial Work.” Part XII. Boston, Mass., U.S.A. : American Architect Co., 211, Tremont S:reat. English Agent: B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn, W.C. In reviewing the early parts of this work, I took occasion to point out that many of the designs of houses and churches of the Georgian period in England were equally well worthy of study by modern and contemporary artists. In the present part a good many English examples have been illustrated from time to time and some articles 011 our insular archi¬ tecture have appeared by Mr. Paul Waterhouse and others, among whom we should name Mr. George Hudman, whose chapter on Dublin we noticed as being in the eighth number. The editor, who in this, the twelfth part of the series, brings his labours to a close, should be con¬ gratulated on the sustained high level of the whole work. In a modest concluding envoi, he says: “It is a ‘ thousand pities ’ that when architects began, twenty years or so ago, to turn their attention again to the possibilities that lie in the Georgian style — when it is used with discretion and refinement — there was not in existence some such work as this.” We on this side can put forward no such plea in arrest of judgment. We have had the five volumes of the Vitru¬ vius Britannicus, to say nothing of the books on Inigo Jones, and those by Ware, Gibbs, Adam, Chambers, and many more. But in the parenthesis quoted above, “ when used with discretion and refinement,” we recognise the most important point, the kernel of the nut which all architects have to crack. Here, even more than in America, the experience mentioned has been common — “ the country has been endowed with a vast quantity of buildings, intended to express the spirit of ‘ Old Colonial ’ work, which because of their ill-considered proportions and vulgar overdressing with applied ornament are too often mere caricatures of the style.” This concluding part contains a full and excellent index to the third volume of the whole work, besides chapters on Savannah and Millford in the Southern States ; on the principal designers of “ Colonial ” buildings ; on the Greek revival which affected our Transatlantic cousins much as it did ourselves, and some account of the Massachusetts State-house, fully illustrated both with views and also with details. There are many other pictures in the number of the kind and degree of value to which this admirable publication has accustomed us. W. J. Loftie. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW, DECEMBER, I903, VOLUME XIV. NO. 85. ft w 2 g ft ft ft ft £ ft VQ £ 00 ~ pT ^ w ft ft ft ft ft H- ft o cn ft. Z ft O ft oo I CO. ft ft _ ft 00 < ~ ft ft ft z x ft g A- ft ft ft H ft. ft „ ft ft CC H' & W 04 O O Z Z o u a z < w “ 3 cj’ g £ £ s > ^ The Old Bridge of Ayr. So far as is presently known, no certain record exists of the building, or date, of this bridge. By a charter of Alexander II. in favour of the Burgh of Ayr f (December 7th, 1236) certain fishings are granted for the purpose of sustaining the bridge {ad sustentationem pontis) , and promoting other affairs of the town. Probably in part, the existing old bridge is the bridge referred to ; cer¬ tain it is that there is no known record of the actual building of any later bridge. In the Burgh Court Book under date 1440, the bridge is again mentioned ; and in each succeeding century re¬ ference is made in Royal Charters and other documents to the bridge, and its frequent repair. Whatever may have been the general extent of these repairs, on one occasion at least they must have been very considerable, sufficient at any rate to render the bridge impassable in 1491 to James IV., who seemingly elected to be ferried across the river lower down, rather than use the old ford immediately above the bridge. Whether then, much or little of the superstructure of the earlier * Burns’s Auld Brig in the “ Twa Brigs.” t Charters of the Royal Burgh of Ayr. bridge remains, it may not unreasonably be assumed that for nearly 700 years the inhabitants of Ayr have time and again repaired the venerable and historic structure, and scrupulously maintained its fabric to our day. In time past, let the repairs have been what they may, or whatsoever the cause or extent of the injury or decay, it is practically certain that in recent years only, and probably for the first time in its history, serious defects have revealed themselves in its foundations. These defects have been caused, not by any apparent failure of the original structure, but by the continual deepening by dredging operations of the harbour a few hundred yards down stream, whereby the river scour has been materially in¬ creased, and the old foundations undermined. The north abutment of the bridge is founded upon rock ; the piers and south abutment upon firm boulder clay. Under each pier and upon this bed of clay, rests an old oak cradle of heavy and roughly hewn oak logs — now black, and hard almost as bog oak — covering rather more than the full area of the piers and cut-waters. These logs, roughly perhaps ten inches square, lie close Photo: A. Monnickendam. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH-WEST, SHOWING DEPRESSION OF SOUTHERN ARCH, SPANDRIL AND PARAPET; ALSO REMAINS OF CONCRETE FENDER OF 1883-1884 ROUND PIER. VOL. XIV. — Q 2 The Old Bridge of Ayr. 1 84 Photo: A. Monnickendam. DETAIL SHOWING FISSURE IN EAST CUTWATER OF NORTHERN PIER AND SHEET PILING OF 1867-68. THERE IS NO CORBEL STRING-COURSE UNDER SPRINGING OF THIS ARCH. together in a direction diagonal to the line of the piers, and are seemingly held together by cross logs of smaller size placed underneath, about four to five feet apart. These oak cradles appear to have been sunk only about two feet below the then river bed, and upon them rest the stone cut¬ waters and piers which carry the bridge. The piers themselves, are each practically 15 ft. in thickness, and the distance between the extremes of the cut-waters varies from 35 to 37 ft. As in all mediaeval structures, there is no mechanical and absolute repetition of sizes in the work. The arches and piers all look the same, but there is that indescribable charm of “humanness” in the work, which arises just from that variation of sizes and detail, and which is lost in the invariable exactitude of much of the work of modern days. The northmost arch for instance, has a rise of about two feet less than the three remaining arches, and, unlike them, does not rise from a corbel course ; while the line of the spring of the four arches is anything but absolutely uniform, although each arch has practically a 54 ft. span. Round each pier and cut-water, at about three feet above the oak cradle, is a broad splayed base course; while the arches, with the exception of that already instanced, spring from a boldly wrought and charac¬ teristically Scotch corbel stringcourse. A curious point also to note, is the upward incline of the splayed base course on the west cut-water of the southmost pier. Between abutments the length of the bridge is about 257 ft., while if the steeply The Old Bridge of Ayr. '85 APPROACH FROM THE NORTH. DETAIL, LOOKING TOWARDS HIGH STREET SHOWING ALSO DEPRESSION OF PARAPET ABOVE SOUTHERN ARCH Photos: A. Monnickendam. SECTIOn THRO' BFUDCE LOhC I TU D I h AL SECTION! TMRO’ DRIDCE The Old Bridge of Ayr. 01 ( n c or THE OLD BRIDGE OF AYR. TRACED MAINLY FROM DRAWINGS PREPARED BY THE BURGH SURVEYOR IN 1883. The Old Bridge of Ayr. 187 inclined approaches at either end be added — on the Ayr side between houses — the overall length is something more than 500 ft. The bridge is now used as a foot-bridge, and the width inside the parapet walls is about 12 ft. Traditionally, the bridge is held to have been founded in the thirteenth century by two beneficent ladies, Isobel Lowe and her sister ; and on the inside wall of the east parapet, southward of its sundial which marks the middle of the bridge, could be seen until quite recently, two roughly hewn effigies, purporting by long held legend to be the heads of the beneficent foundresses; while immediately above and . still decipherable, is the date 1252, but the numerals seem too modern in character, and too clear in cutting, for original work. When the nature of the rapidly-increasing river scour consequent upon harbour dredging is borne in mind, it will readily be realised that the condi¬ tion of the bridge is most precarious. In 1867-68 it was officially reported to be in a very dilapidated and neglected condition, and the piers were, at that time, surrounded with sheet piling. By 1883-84 this sheet piling round the two southmost piers, against which the current is mainly directed, had been partly washed away, and the foundations of the middle pier exposed. At this date these piers were unfortunately encased with heavy con¬ crete fenders, which materially narrowed the waterway; and in the succeeding ten years the river bed underneath the bridge was lowered by at least five feet, while the fenders were themselves undermined in places by 8 ft. inward from the waterway. In 1886 the bridge was again adversely reported upon, and its custodians were urged to undertake its immediate repair, if its preservation was desired. Eight years later the Town Council had again officially reported to it the increasingly precarious condition of the bridge, and this tune one of the destructive fenders, (that round the middle pier) was removed, and for the first time the pier was properly underpinned with heavy brick foundations, encasing securely and holding in position the remaining boulder clay beneath the pier. In 1899, and again in 1902, the Burgh Surveyor reported upon the piers, and upon receipt of the latter report the Council opined they should be instantly repaired; and in the following year Mr. John Eaglesham, C.E., reported exhaustively, and in official language strongly recommended that this work should not be too long delayed. In September last, the Burgh Surveyor reported a subsidence of the hornizing above the crown of the southmost arch, which, upon examination, revealed the seriously decayed state of this part of the fabric ; for between the open joints of the arch stones along nearly the whole length of crown, a footrule could have been dropped through the open joints into the river beneath. This arch is the weakest in the bridge, just as its pier is the most insecure. With the arch crest in this con¬ dition, its haunch on the north side depressed between pier and crown, the spandril and parapet walls following the depression, the whole super¬ structure weakened by age and want of care, it calls convincingly enough, one would think, for instant attention and repair. True, these old- time structures somehow hold together with a tenacity unexpected ; but surely this old bridge is asked to do more than stone and lime, and the skill of a past age, can, all unsuccoured, be f drly called upon to bear ; and the probability is that when Ayr is in flood, “ One lengthen’d, tumbling sea ; ” and “Crashing ice, borne on the roaring speat,” surge and beat themselves against the old bridge, it may without shame be sore worsted in the struggle. Founded traditionally by beneficence, it will be strange indeed if, by the curious irony of fate, the bridge should also be destroyed by beneficence. In 1879 a worthy citizen left a holograph will, bequeathing his fortune, subject to certain life rents, to the Town for behoof of the bridge; but the Council, fearing lest by any means they might invalidate their prospective right to the legacy should they in any way forestall its purpose by repairing the bridge, are yet in this further quan¬ dary that, if they wait till the legacy wholly vests, they may then find that there is no bridge remain¬ ing upon which to expend the bequest. In 1877, just twenty-six years ago, one of the finest and most beautiful bridges the Brothers Adam ever designed, a bridge which with its refined lines and details, its rarely unique leaden figures and sound craftsmanship, ought to have been the care and pride of any community, was destroyed by much the same causes now at work in the foundations of the older bridge. The har¬ bour is still being dredged and deepened, the river scour is still increasing; the Adams bridge has gone. A river weir would minimise the scour, and save not the undermining of the old bridge alone, but of the houses on the river banks, whose day also must come if the scour continues un¬ checked. Indeed, in the early title deeds of some of these old houses, a weir then seemingly exist¬ ing, is referred to ; and it may be that in this our forefathers were wiser than are we. But whether a weir is to be of the future or no, the southmost arch of the bridge should be at once supported and made secure, the piers underpinned, and the Current A rchitccture. i 83 whole fabric treated reverently and with care, stone after stone. Part of the old hewn ashlar has already at some time been replaced by modern rock-face ashlar, a wholly unnecessary innovation, and one as unsuited to the old structure as would be a frock coat upon a 13th century warrior. These things ought not to be possible, nor should the bridge be thus caricatured. Not many of these mediaeval bridges now remain, and they should be treated, in virtue of ancient lineage and useful service, with reverence and care. Their preservation should be a source of pride to the citizens, for the day has long gone by, when cathedrals and churches — great and small — were relegated by indifference and ignorance to spolia¬ tion and decay; and bridges to-day, few as they are, are surely beyond the hand of ignominy. Nay, even because of their rarity, are they not all the more priceless possessions of historic and educa¬ tional value; and a bridge such as ours, with, in addition, a poetic and literary fame, should stir even the most apathetic of citizens to a sense of its value, and a desire to hand it on unimpaired to his children. James A. Morris. Current Architecture. Bridlington Grammar School. — This school, which was opened in 1899, provided ac¬ commodation for a hundred boys, thirty of whom were boarders, with the head-master’s house at the south end of the building. The part then erected ended northward with the central hall. The plans were designed for extension on a modest scale, but the success of the school soon necessitated exten¬ sion northward on a much larger scale than was previously anticipated; consequently the plan is less concentrated than would otherwise have been the case. The hall, which rises through the two storeys of the building, is surrounded by class¬ rooms, over which are dormitories. The additions which have been completed this year include fur¬ ther class-rooms, extension of the boarding accom¬ modation, and a detached building for science and art teaching. The plan shows the central part illustrated by the photograph. The buildings were designed by Mr. John Bilson, of Hull. Photo: E. Dockree. BRIDLINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL. EAS1' FRONT. JOHN BILSON, ARCHITECT. Current Architecture '(sascwip bah • Hi 1 1 1 fi mT- BRIDI.1N.GT0N GRAMMAR SCHOOI-. JOHN BILSON, ARCH ITKCT. * on unr * IO 5 O I o Zo SO Ac 50 fEET | I | | | I | | | 1. | - - - |~ - 1— - 1 - 1 - i TtCT hymers college, HULi.. section. (See next j,age.) BOTTERILL, SON AND BILSON, ARCHITECTS. Current A rchitecture. 1 90 Photo : E. Dockree. HYMEKS COLLEGE, HULL. SOUTH-WEST ANGLE. P.OTTER JLL, SON AND BILSON, ARCHITECTS. Hymers College, Hull.— Hymers Col¬ lege, Hull, is a day-school erected in 1893. The executed design, by Messrs. Botterill, Son and Bilson, Architects, of Hull, was selected in open competition by Mr. E. C. Robins, who acted as assessor. In his competition instructions, Mr. Robins fixed the general, type of plan on some¬ what similar lines to those which he himself followed at the Bedford Grammar School which he was then building. The building consists of sixteen class-rooms (eight on each floor) grouped around a central hall in such a manner that every class-room is entered directly from the hall or from the galleries which surround it on three sides. The administrative offices, consisting of the head-master's room, porter’s room, assistant- Current Architecture 1 9 1 HYMERS COLLEGE, WEST FRONT. BOTTERILL, SON AND BILSON, ARCHITECTS. Current Architecture, 1 92 | ’ll gr ■' f! W jWl ; LirTflBj^ §■£ 1 ESSSi ' ; jg : » jl p|5| W8$: BasKr j. gag}/ lifftg «RS bCafeC' • ’39k Rsy^y "*r*:'***»f ■ | || | «£ mml ti ' l ;!a8 “ - 'w- & ft "I'f y ii mMm Photo : E. Dockvee. HYMERS COLLEGE, HULL. WEST ENTRANCE. EOT i'ERILL, SON AND BILSON, ARCHITECTS. master’s common room, and secretary’s room, are placed in the lower building along the principal (west) front, beneath the large windows of the central hall, the principal entrance being in the centre. The staircase is immediately opposite the principal entrance, and communicates with a wide gallery behind the hall arcade, a narrow gallery at one end, and a wider seated gallery at the other end. Two short corridors lead from the central hall to the side entrances, and were Current A rchitecture. 193 Photo : E Dockree. HYMERS COLLEGE, HULL. NORTH-EAST ANGLE OF CENTRAL HALL. BOTTERILL, SON AND BILSON, ARCHITECTS. planned to communicate with separate blocks for science and art teaching which have not yet been carried out. The class-rooms were, in accordance with the competition instructions, planned for larger numbers than are actually taught in them, following the tendency in secondary schools of the better class to reduce the size cf the classes. The actual accommodation of the school, includ¬ ing some class-rooms which are temporarily used for science and art teaching, is about 350. The building is faced with red brick, with Ancaster stone dressings, and the roofs are covered with red tiles. The photograph of the interior of the central hall was taken during the holidays, as may be seen from the presence of painters’ planks on the tie beams. 194 Cil rren t A rch i techire. > PBr*sinaj_ Crmzanc^. - l « -Xi XZ'ay > KCAI MA3TCJ2 OA55ROOM ctnneflL wall CLP5$2CCtf CLP35QOOH ti-P65ROcn JPtePf- mi '°| , , i f . , 1 1 T _ £ _ ?° ^ f _ fVr HYMERS COLLEGE, HULL. BOTTERILL, SON AND BILSON, ARCHITECTS. THE COURT-HOUSE, HELMESLEY, YORKS. TEMPLE MOORE, ARCHITECT (See page 196.) Current Architecture . r95 MOTOR CAR HOUSE, GALLOWHILL, RENFREWSHIRE, N.B. JAMES SALMON, SON AND GILLESPIE, ARCHITECTS. 196 Current A rchitecture. nranNO nov/z mt naui "*3 women gus/ • oesmdeil iMMTtuiL. FIELI) Dials' ^miR. mou/E Courthouse, Helmesley, Yorks. — This building (see page 194) is constructed of local stone and roofed with red tiles. The ground floor is an open room used as a market hall ; on the first floor is the court, council chamber and a public library. Mr. Temple Moore is the architect. Motor Car House, Gallowhill, Ren¬ frewshire, N.B., for Sir Hugh H. Smiley, Bart. — The stone archway gives entrance to a granolithic paved yard with glass roof, where the cars are washed before being wheeled into the stalls, there being accommodation for three cars. This portion is warmed by hot-water pipes and ventilation panels are inserted above the doors. In the repairing house a concrete pit is formed about 3 ft. 6 in. deep to enable the mechanism of the car to be thoroughly examined. A sliding pulley and tackle is also provided capable of lifting the motor clear of the car to facilitate the work of repairing and cleaning. The petrol store is projected from the corner of the building to ensure all possible ventilation. Four rooms and a kitchen are provided for the chauffeur. The walls generally are built, with a hollow space, of brick rough cast. The roofs are covered with Ruabon tiles red and yellow as they come from the kiln. The timbers wherever exposed are House FOP 1 hree Caro iL a. ^ Covered yard dY Ground Floor f Bedroom Bedroom Barb room I ted room Upper Floor ,fO J Fee1"' Scale. Current A rchitecture , 197 Photo : H. Entwistle. A GABLE, PARR’S BANK, MANCHESTER. CHARLES HEATHCOTE AND SONS, ARCHITECTS. VOL. XIV. — R 198 Cu rren t A rch 1 tecture. Photo : T. Lewis. PARR’S P.ANK, LEICESTER. ELEVATION TO ST. MARTIN’S AND GREY STREET. EVERARD AND PICK, ARCHITECTS. painted with carbolineum before being put together and afterwards coated with Archangel tar. The several works have been executed by Paisley tradesmen at an estimated cost of £1,300. Messrs. James Salmon, Son and Gillespie are the architects. Parr's Bank, Manchester. — We give an illustration, see previous page, of a gable in the new building now approaching completion in Spring Gardens, Manchester, which has been erected for Parr’s Bank, Ltd. The building is erected in Carlisle red stone. The whole of the ground floor and basement is used by the Bank, the ground floor storey being entirely lined with marble. The black and white mono¬ lith columns are an effective feature. Great Current A rchitecture. 1 99 Photo : T. Lewis. PARR’S BANK, LEICESTER. ELEVATION TO HOTEL STREET. EVERARD AND PICK, ARCHITECTS. attention has been given to the strong room arrangements, which have been executed by Messrs. Chubb & Sons. The whole building, including the screens and desks, have been carried out by Messrs. R. Neill & Sons, builders, from the designs of Messrs. Chas. Heathcote and Sons. Parr’s Branch Bank, Leicester. — This building was erected as the head offices of Messrs. Pares’s Leicestershire Banking Company, but the company being now merged in Parr’s Banking Co., the premises now form a branch establish¬ ment for Leicester. The new bank is faced externally with Portland stone, the base being R 2 200 Current Architecture lJhoto : T. Lewis. PARR’S BANK, LEICESTER. INTERIOR OE BANKING HALL. EVERARD AND PICK, ARCHITECTS. of unpolished grey Aberdeen granite. The ex¬ ternal sculpture panels, the work of Mr. Chas. J. Allen, of Liverpool, were illustrated in the Review for January 1901. The banking hall has a domed ceiling of steel construction covered with expanded metal to receive the plaster¬ ing, the modelled decoration of which has been executed by Mr. G. P. Bankart. The lower- portion of the internal walls is lined with un¬ polished mahogany panelling. The whole of the fittings are polished mahogany. The floors are partly teak and partly marble ; the latter work Current A rchitecture . 201 PARR’S BANK, LEICESTER. SECTION. EVERARD AND PICK, ARCHITECTS. 202 All Hallows , Lombard Street. CJROVND PARR’S BANK, LEICESTER. PLANS. EVERARD AND PICK, ARCHITECTS. FIRST TtIjOCHL and other marble decorations have been exe¬ cuted by Messrs. Farmer & Brindley. The lead glazing is by Mr. George Wragge. The elec¬ troliers and some of the ironwork are the work of the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Art. Some of the electric standards, name-plates and other bronze work are by Messrs. Collins & Co., of Leicester. The contractors for the general building work are Messrs. J. C. Kellett & Son, and the architects Messrs. J. B. Everard & S. Perkins Pick. The total expenditure amounted to nearly £40,000. All Hallows’, Lombard Street. It will be remembered that in the Feb¬ ruary number of this Review for the present year we published a protest against the Special Com¬ missioners’ plan, backed by the Bishop of London, for the demolition of All Hallows’ Church, Lom¬ bard Street, with a view to obtaining funds for church building in other districts. At the same time we published a series of photographs giving views and details of the interesting interior of the church. Since then an influentially signed petition was presented to the parishioners who have the right to veto a sale, and on Thursday and Friday, the 12th and 13th November, meetings of the four parishes united in this church were called to vote upon the question. The scheme of sale, we are glad to say, was then defeated by a large majority of votes, and the church may be regarded as saved. We publish now a plan of the church which will be of interest to architects. It may be noted that, by an irony of the situation the^ conditions of the site are such that it is extremely improba¬ ble that the sum obtainable would have been any¬ thing like so large as was estimated. This is not infrequently the case with city sites. Thus, we believe, in a recent instance of the kind, a sanguine estimate originally made of what the site might produce if cleared and sold, was reduced on investigation by about one million pounds. All Hallows’ Church, then, is saved for the time being; but how narrow the security, and how little we can hope from the natural guardians of the city churches for any scruple about the artistic value of their possessions when a profit can be made from their destruction ! Wren’s churches are al¬ ready a sadly diminished treasure. No fewer than nine of them have already disappeared. In France, doubtless, the State would have stepped in and declared them historical and national monuments. Here, where we have no ministry of the Fine Arts, and little care for the arts among All Hallows , Lombard Street. 203 HOUSES- FROfiTLHC.'Oft' GRAf ECHUKC IP STKE I :T- PLAN OF ALL HALLOWS’, LOMBARD STREET. MEASURED AND DRAWN BY H. TANNER, JUNIOR. unite to demand of the Government that the re¬ mainder of his work in the city should be declared sacred, and secured from the attacks of ignorance and cupidity and of narrow ecclesiastical interest ? ministers, the question has to be fought out in each case, singly, on the utilitarian ground. Is it not time that all who cherish the work and me¬ mory of Wren and the beauty of London should English Mediaeval Figure- Sculpture. CHAPTER VII.— Section II. THE STATUES OF WELLS CATHEDRAL. It is not proposed here to attempt any com¬ plete description of the statues of the Wells Front or indeed to enter upon the vexed question of the meanings and possible ascriptions of the several figures. There are some 130 remaining out of the total of something like 200, which were no doubt executed in the first half of the thirteenth century. Their stone is, as has been said, the stone of the cathedral, and the costumes and character of the figures indicate the date of their sculpture as about that of Bishop Jocelyn’s erection of the Front. We must except from this description the highest row of standing figures, the “Apostles,” whose style very plainly declares them to be of the latter part of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century, when the two towers were raised upon the thirteenth-century substructure. Below this the three tiers of the earlier statues are set in the structural arcades which stretch across the Front; their heads are shadowed under archi¬ tectural canopies, and their feet are supported sometimes by low pedestals, but more often are set directly on the platforms of the arcades. The first tier of statues is some fifteen feet from the ground, and most of it has disappeared except FIG. 120. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT STATUES. TYPE *' F.” TYPE “C.” on the north and east sides of the north tower of the Front. The second and third rows of statues, which are respectively some thirty and forty feet from the ground, are generally well preserved. It has been usual in attempting to assign a meaning to the statues to take each separate tier as having a connected subject running through it, as is the case with the relief-carvings in the quatrefoils, and with the Resurrection panels at the top. There can, of course, be little doubt that the lower row of figures on either side of the central door (with its carving of the Virgin) would have had a meaning in connection with that carving. A connected purpose must be recognised also in the statues on the buttresses — bishops on one side, kings and warriors on the other. But such horizontal schemes are evidently not con¬ tinuous throughout the whole Front. The panels between the buttresses (viz., the main walls of the Front) show independent vertical groupings of statues outside the schemes of the buttresses. On the extreme panel to the south of the Front there are four figures which seem to be those of the four “ Doctors of the Church ” (see Fig. 127) and on the north, the corresponding panel has four female figures as a balance to the “ Doctors " and apparently not in subject connection with the A. G. KIG. 121. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT STATUES. TYPE “ D.” English Mediceval Figure-Sculphire . 205 C. TYPE “D.” b. TYPE “G.” e. TYPE “f.:’ FIG. 122.— WELLS CATHEDRAL. TYPES OF THE HEADS. f. TYPE “H.” Photos : A. G. STATUES ON THE WEST FRONT. 206 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture . statues on either side. So too the central panel (that which has the west windows of the nave) presents an independent scheme. Finally the figures on the north panel of the north-west tower, and those on the east side of it abutting on the aisle seem to make separate groups, the but¬ tresses by their side giving distinct presentations. We have not space to do more than suggest these arrangements, but our point here is that we have upon Wells Front a succession of groups of statues, executed from time to time, rather than one consistent design worked out according to the conception of a single artist. The thirteenth-century figures, indeed, group themselves by various treatments of the figure, indicating either different hands or different dates of execution, or probably both. It is hardly likely that all the 200 statues of this Front could have been done by the same hand or that they were completed in the same ten years. We may accordingly mark out some nine types or classes of style, and endeavour to put them in order of date. Type A. — What would be supposed to have been put in hand earliest, viz., the set of statues on either side of the central doorway on the lowest tier, have all disappeared. Failing these lost statues the first type would be represented in the figures of the second tier. Fig. 118 0 is a charac¬ teristic specimen of the “bishops” ranged on the returns of the south-side buttresses, who in cut of drapery and head-type very exactly match the bishop-effigies, one of which we gave last month. So similar to many of the statues are the recum¬ bent figures that the two which lie in the north aisle of quire could, without discrepancy, be set up in the niches of the Front. The points to remark in this type are in the head treatment, and in the foldings of the chasuble, or apronlike vestment, which made the eucharistic garb of priest and bishop. The type A. has generally a large head and broad face with beard and hair treated in stiff locks. The drapery in these first figures is rendered with thick edges, and the chasuble folds generally are more broadly divided than in the later Wells types, as can be seen by looking from Fig. 118 to Fig. 120. Type B. — Along with these bishops were no doubt wrought also, by the same sculptors or by others at their side, some of the standing “ kings” * Figs. 115, 116, 117, 118 and 119 were given last]month. A. G. FIG. I23. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT STATUES. TYPE “E.” A. G. FIG. I24. — WELLS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT STATUES. TYPE “ E.” 207 English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture. and “princes” which are set on the returns of the north-side buttresses of the Front. In their handling these statues are not far removed from the “ bishops,” but they have much more variety in the attitudes and expressions, and we recognise the distinct evolution of the charac¬ teristic rippled drapery that distinguishes the Doulting-stone sculptor. In these statues we seem to see advances as we proceed from the centre to the buttresses of the north-west tower, a progression of style from south to north on the face of the Front. The example we illustrate (Fig. 119) is of the later type. Its head, which is large but finely finished, is well-preserved, show¬ ing its original painted surface almost intact. These “ kings ” are most often carved trampling on prostrate figures and animals, a motive which appears from the earliest times in coffin-slabs that show effigies. Of this class also are a “ king ” and others, on the third tier above. Type C. — Turning the corner of the north-west tower, we take the buttress-niches which look east upon the north porch as likely to have been filled with statues next after those of the Front. There are here a set of some four or five statues on the same second tier, which continue the large-headed type of B., but represent “princes” and “not¬ ables ” standing in resolute attitudes but not trampling. Fig. 117 shows the action of these figures. Allied to these are some four mailed figures at the north end of the Front on both second and third tiers. We show one (Fig. 120) which will be of interest later to compare with the Doulting effigy at Salisbury — that of Longespee, who died 1227. The treatment and costume are so similar that we take both as from the same workman’s hands.* In this class C the ex¬ pression of the head becomes freer than in the types' A and B, and the rendering of the hair is wavy in place of tightly curled (see Fig. 122A, which is from a “ king ” of this class. The b in the same illustration is the head of the outer¬ most statue of the three upon the north-west buttress, and gives the further modification in the direction of somewhat sentimental sideway twist, which we shall note in the later types. Type D. — Opposite to these last-mentioned figures (i.e., upon the west face of the north-east buttress of the tower) are two figures which sug¬ gest a different hand. These with some of the preserved statues of the lowest tier, which are just below them, make a separate group, that we may call the “Orator” type — for the specimen (Fig. 121) from the lowest tier reminds one of some portrait statue of a Cicero or Cato. In the c of Fig. 122 * Shepton Mallet Church, close to the Doulting quarries, from which came the stone for Wells, has two recumbent effigies of this mailed and surcoated type. we show the long head and toga-like treatment of the mantle, which make the character of the type. The widely rippled folds are distinctly different from the thickly set “ fillets,” “ rolls,” and “ ca- vettos ” (those in fact of the Early English arch¬ mould), by the skilful treatment of which the characteristic Wells drapery is rendered. But while this “Orator” type has a suggestion of likeness to certain contemporary statues at Chartres, the handling is really distinct, and, indeed, the figures in the reliefs closely show the same hand. Type E. — Certainly very close to types C and D (see Fig. 117) are the sitting figures, which are on the outside faces of the north buttresses. Not so, however, those on the west buttresses. There the sitting figures which are on the front faces of the buttresses on both second and third tiers seem to match with one another on either side of the mid-line of the Front. They would seem a distinct group by themselves, with a meaning apart from that of the standing figures, for on the south wing of the Front we find a “ king " set among the “ bishops,” and vice versa, bishops introduced upon the north side among the “ kings ” and “ warriors.” All have the pecu¬ liarity of having the upper part of the body con¬ siderably longer than is in proportion to the lower. But this was probably the same attempt in all to give the right perspective from below. We show (Figs. 123, 124) the two finest, but there has been considerable reparation of them. The sitting bishops to the south side on the second tier are but little removed in the style of their heads from the standing bishops of the type A by their side, and in the kings on the north side we find attitudes with arms somewhat distortedly akimbo, and with a forward kink of the neck which seems an evolution from the manner of type C (see Fig. 117), where the drapery is very much that of the “ notable ” at the side. We conclude, therefore, that the sculptors of the standing figures were set also to carve the sitting statues, though a distinct hand may have dealt with the two we show and the others of the central group. The “bishop” of our illustration is on the second tier just to the south of the central window; the “king” is above it in the third tier, and both have a vigorous treatment with rather coarsely rendered draperies and deep- cut features. Type F. — Passing to the standing buttress figures on the third tier, we find them generally presenting fresh types of treatment. The figures • are usually of great height running often to ten times or more the head-height, for the heads are not large. The draperies are more thickly rippled than in the lower statues, the folds becoming a 208 English Mediceval Figure-Sculpture WELLS CATHEDRAL. STATUES ON THE WEST FRONT. English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture, 209 WELLS CATHEDRAL. STATUES ON THE WEST FRONT. 2 10 English Medieval Figure-Sculpture. K1G. 134. — WELLS STATUES. TYPE“j.” FIG. I 33. — WELLS STATUES. TYPE “ H.” FIG. 05- — WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. STATUE IN FERETORY. English Mediceval Figu re- Sett Iptu re . 2 1 1 succession of filleted edges. There are., however, a few exceptions in these matters, for example the warrior in Fig. 120; some of the ecclesiastics too on the south side may be taken as transitional, since they differ but little from those below ; and mixed with them are certain broad-gowned figures with full sleeves, which are of the type of the sitting bishops by their side. But the majority, whether “ bishops,” “ warriors,” or “ ladies,” have their peculiar style ; the most striking being long female figures with rippled draperies curling round the feet. We give one from the east side of north-west tower (Fig. 125) near which are mailed figures of this type. As to date it is possible that many of these tall, thin figures, cut out of coffin-shaped slabs, were worked along with the earlier bishops of the south-side buttresses, for they are quite as decidedly of slab pattern. But they pass on into others of less exaggerated pro¬ portions, and of considerable variety and grace of treatment. There are bishops on the third tier (see Figs. 116, 120) which may rank with the female figures of the lowest tier on the east side of north-west buttress* (Fig. 126). The small heads and rippled hair, and the finely-folded draperies distinguish the type sufficiently from A, B, C, and I), while its general immaturity separates it from the styles which follow. We give in Fig. 122 ( d ) the general head-types of these “ladies” and “queens.” Type G. — Very close on these latest examples of queens came the style which we take as that of the finest sculpture in Wells, which reaches in some respects the highest quality found in the English figure-sculpture. This type occurs gene¬ rally on the wall-spaces between the buttresses, where, as we have remarked, the groupings seem independent of the schemes on the buttresses themselves, showing that the bay-statues may have been worked at a distinct interval after the buttress-statues. In illustration of this class we give a “ doctor ” from the bay of the south-west tower (Fig. 127), a “ notable ” (the figure called “Duns Scotus” which has, unfortunately, lately fallen from its place, and though replaced is much damaged) at the angle between the north-west buttress (Fig. 128), a “Queen” from the north face of north-west tower (Fig. 129), and as of slightly different character “ St. Louis ” (Fig. 130) and “St. Eustace” (Fig. 131), which are on the east panel of the same tower. The head-types of this class can be seen also in b and e (Fig. 122), which are of the latest type F, and have been photographed from the figures on the east side of angle buttress. The deeply-cut, severe features of the earlier types have here given place to mystical, * The outermost of the four ladies is of the later type G absorbed expressions, the brows are highly arched, the foreheads smooth, with the eyeballs scarcely sunk below them. The lower eyelids are taken straight across the eyeballs, and the draperies have an extraordinary suggestion of tenuity. Type H. — Another class from the hand of a different sculptor is to be seen in the six or seven “ deacon ” figures, which are grouped in the first tier of the east buttresses of north-west tower. We give two illustrations (Figs. 132, 133) of this type, which is distinguished by a strong head-treatment (/ in Fig. 122), with a breadth of feature and a treatment of crisp curls, which has a likeness to the heads of the Salisbury Screen. The figures here are broad and powerful, and the typical treatment of the Wells drapery shows its strong individuality. The above classification which we have at¬ tempted is one only of certain marked distinctions and is necessarily very summary, dealing as it does with some 130 statues, whose sculptors may have been twenty or more in number. Its eight categories are not exhaustive of the different manners which can be seen at Wells either side by side or in succession to one another. Indeed, examination of the statues close at hand from the scaffold gives one the impression of their being generally in pairs. We find continually two figures with tricks of style which seem to mark them as coming from one hand, and which separ¬ ate them from the next pair, and then again another three or four slightly different. And on the other hand we find a mingling of characters in some figures which allies them with one or two groups as if pointing to a succession of cross¬ influences. There are gradations between types as distant as the short, large-headed “bishop” in the thick-folded chasuble (Fig. 118), and the long, small-headed “lady,” with trailing mantle (Fig. 125), and in other examples both seem merging into the style of the long-headed “ora¬ tor ” in the toga (Fig. 121), or into that of the round-headed “ deacon ” in the dalmatic (Fig. T33). This is all evidence of a body of sculptors starting on the ground-work of effigy practice, and at first carving statues as they had the coffin-lids of bishops, knights, and ladies, each no doubt with a way of his own ; but as they worked side by side on the Wells statues influencing one another, till they achieved a common style in the latest well-proportioned figures, which are slab effigies no longer, but statues in the round. Looking at them broadly, therefore, on this supposition, we may take the standing “ bishops ” and “kings” of the second tier, and some of the long third-tier figures, which are most slab-like and elementary, as executed close upon the build¬ ing of the Front 1220-1225. And we may take as 2 I 2 Correspondence. the latest the statues which to some extent leave the elementary positions and bow the head and turn it sideways, or advance the foot or hand into the expression of movement. Type J. — The most marked showing of later style is in the short figures on either side of the central window, a “king” and a “queen” (Fig. 134), whose treatment seems a fresh conception, but with a certain triviality of expression compared with the earlier work. These two stand on the flat foot in the manner of an image rather than in that of an effigy, and the “ king's” head is turned sideways, while the “queen” seems slightly to bend the right leg. Their dresses also are shorter and the folds very finely rendered as if of the thinnest lawn. We may suspect, therefore, the Doulting sculptor at the finish of the West Front had become an imager, and would supply free standing statues to order. And at Winchester we have very possibly one of his wares. We give an illustration (Fig. 135) of a figure (now in the Feretory) which was dug up in the Dean’s garden. It appears to be of Doulting stone, and the draperies have the lawny rendering of the later Wells statues. The subject was possibly the representation of the Jewish Church — the emblematic broken staff being of metal like the girdle. I here is, however, a cer¬ tain freedom of attitude and a sweep of drapery which is different from the Wells ideal, and in this respect a likeness to the Chartres statues must be admitted. But the handling of the folds, and a spray of stiff-leaf foliage, that is found at the feet proclaim the work English. Edward S. Prior. Arthur Gardner. Correspondence. THE VILLA MADAM A AND THE “VIGNA.” In his very interesting account of Giulio Romano at Mantua, Mr. Ricardo refers to the Villa Madama as “ the Vigna,” no doubt on the authority of Vasari, who wrote of it “ che allora si chiamo la vigna di Medici, e hoggi di Madama.” The more famous Vigna, however, is the Vigna of Pope Julius IIP, the villa that lies to the right of the Via di Ponte Molle, outside the Porta del Popolo. This was designed by Vignola, and contains the wonderful little sunk foun¬ tain court, which Vasari claimed for himself and Ammanati, and which is, perhaps, one of the most charming caprices in the whole of Italian Renaissance architecture. Sixtus V. also had a “ Palazzo della Vigna” in Rome, at the foot of the hill of Santa Maria Maggiore (Rione di Monti). A plan and eleva¬ tion of this is given in Fontana’s “ Della Trasporta- tione deU’ obelisco Vaticano,” etc., Rome, 1590, and a view of it is given in the “ Roma anticae moderna,” (1660), p. 794. Michael Angelo designed the gate¬ ways for a “ Vigna ” of the Patriarch Antonio Gri- mano in the Strada Pia at Rome, and another for the “ Vigna ” of the Cardinal di Sermoneta in the same street. The term appears to have been common for a half-town, half-country residence; but “the Vigna,” par excellence is, I think, the “ Vigna di Papa Giulio,” and it is somewhat confusing to use the term in con¬ nection with the Villa Madama, especially as the name was no longer applied to that house when Vasari wrote. Reginald Blomi-ield. NEWS FROM ANJOU. The Abbey Church of Fontevrault is under¬ going restoration. This is news which will come home, not only to students of architecture, but to everyone who cares for the connection of particular localities with English history. As the famous monastery has already been described in this Review (June 1902) only one or two points about it need be re-called here. Its church, the whole of which dates from the twelfth century, was a favourite burial place of the Plantagenets, and con¬ tains the recumbent effigies of Henry II. and his Queen, of Richard I., and of the Queen of John. The choir is an imposing specimen of Romanesque ; the nave affords one of the most striking examples of Oriental influence in France, and the whole building, from its relation on the one hand to the pure Byzantine of Perigueux, and on the other to the Byzantine- Gothic of Angers, has a peculiar place in the history of French architecture. The Abbey was dissolved at the Revolution, and in 1804 it was converted into a prison, which purpose it still serves. Both during and after the Revolution the church suffered much damage, but the inauguration of the prison, especially, led to a series of acts of almost incredible vandalism. The nave was walled off from the transept and divided up into three, if not four, storeys, forming a refectory, stores, or workshops below, and cells or dormitories above. Windows were inserted to light the lowest storey. Higher up, original windows were arched across at half 213 Corresponden ce. their height, and had their sills cut down ; higher still, the cupolas of the four domes that formed the internal roof were removed, and the external roof was pierced by numerous chimneys and two tiers of sky¬ lights.* The choir fared better, being retained as the prison chapel, but the high altar was placed at the west end, the transepts and apse were filled with benches, and the royal effigies, which had been twice removed from the church, were placed with their feet toward the west in the chapel of the south transept.! In 1866 the restoration of the effigies to their original position, and of the nave to its original pur¬ pose, was requested by Queen Victoria. But it was only within the last two years, apparently, that the first practical step towards a restoration of the Abbey was taken, by the opening of negotiations between the Administration des Beaux Arts and the Ministry of the Interior (to which department prisons are subordinate). On February 9th in the present year the Societe d' Agriculture, Sciences et Arts d' Angers, which had already twice intervened on behalf of the artistic interests of Fontevrault, had its attention drawn by the Chevalier Joseph Joubert to some remarks on the state of the church and effigies in the Nineteenth Century of August, 1902 ; and, on his proposal, the Societe unanimously recorded its wish that the competent authorities should cause the interior of the nave to be cleared and thrown open to the choir. Copies of this resolution were forwarded to the two public departments above mentioned. On July 13th the local press announced that orders had just been sent to the Director of the prison for the immediate evacuation of the stores, dormitories, etc., installed in the church ; that the opening-out of the interior was to be begun immediately by the Administration des Beaux Arts ; that 12,800 francs (a scanty allowance, surely) had been placed at the Prefect’s disposal to meet the accepted estimate, and that, by an exceptional arrangement, the authorities of the Beaux Arts had assumed entire responsibility for the money. Early in October the local press further announced that the work was already progressing rapidly, and that the nave had actually been cleared of its floorings and partitions. It was also stated that some sort of clearance had been effected in the remarkable octa¬ gonal twelfth-century kitchen, but that funds were * See illustration, Architectural Review, June, 1902, p. 222. f Space forbids to enlarge upon the disappearance of the grille, reredos, stalls, tombs, glass, etc. + This is not the place to speak of all the attention devoted to the condition of the church and its effigies by various writers and public men at various times, or of all the State negotiations to which the effigies have given rise. The strange history of these figures is very fully and interestingly given by M. Joseph Joubert in a brochure entitled "LesRois Angevins a Fontevrault,” reprinted from the Revue de V Anjou (Germain and G. Grassin, Angers. 1903). exhausted ; and the suggestion was added that ex¬ penses might be reduced by using the labour of the prisoners. Those who mistrust the methods of the Depart¬ ment which in France presides over historic monu¬ ments, will not regret that its efforts have thus been checked. It is indeed to be hoped that at Fontevrault it will be more guided by the spirit of restraint and reverence than it usually is. That further work is contemplated both upon the kitchen and upon the church is implied in the Press account just quoted. If the restoration of the nave to something like its original shell is a legitimate aim, the modern windows should be blocked and the old windows restored to their proper shape ; and the vault, instead of displaying four round gaps with the timbers of the external roof showing through, should be completed by the replacement of the cupolas. Fortunately the rich capitals are not much injured ; but some work may, perhaps, be spent upon the beautiful wall-arcad- ing, which has suffered considerably. Of far greater moment is the removal of the wall between nave and choir, a reform which should lead naturally to altera¬ tions in that curious “prison chapel’’ arrangement which filled both choir and transepts with wor¬ shippers, and placed the altar at the crossing, because thence alone could it be properly seen from all points. If the whole congregation were accommodated in the restored nave, the choir could be cleared of benches, the altar could be replaced in the apse, and, lastly, the Plantagenet effigies might perhaps be translated, not indeed to Westminister Abbey — for cultivated opinion in England utterly renounces that oft-mooted proposal — but to a more honourable situation in their own church.* It would be interesting to know exactly how much of this programme has been carried out up> to the present date (November 20), t and how much of it enters into the Government scheme at all. X If it were carried out in its entirety, then, indeed, would Queen Victoria’s wish be realised, and the French nation would have performed a graceful act towards that friendly neighbouring people over whom a descendant of the Plantagenets still presides. Cecil Hallett. * Their exact original position cannot now be determined, but it seems to have been somewhere at the west end of the choir. M. Andre Hallays speaks of a tradition that they lay with their feet toward the west when first placed in the church ( Debate , October 23, 1903). At that time they were probably, as now, very little elevated above the pavement. f Even the wall between nave and choir seems to have been standing as lately as October. + The programme might be extended. Several stray belong¬ ings of the Abbey are said to be still recoverable — some pictures (in the museums and churches of Anjou), a high altar (in the parish church of Fontevrault), and an eighteenth-century choir grille (in the court of the Prefecture at Angers). Then, too, the Abbey precinct contains, besides the church and kitchen, various other interesting buildings which, like them, have been degraded to prison uses, or have otherwise suffered. VOL. XIV.— S Books Papers of the British school at ROME. “ Papers of the British School at Rome,” Vol. I. London: Macmillan & Co., St. Martin’s Street, Leicester Square. The issue of the first volume of Papers by the British School, which was opened in the spring of last year, is a matter of considerable interest to all students of archaeology. It might be thought that the diligent and almost uninterrupted researches in Rome and the suburbs by so many antiquaries of established repute during the last thirty years would have left a too narrow field for the operations of a newly-formed band of workers. But this is far from being the case. The spade of the explorer, and the trained mind of the student, will be needed for many a generation to come, before the remains of an old-world city and the soil of the Campagna have said the last unspoken word about Republican and Imperial Rome. No better testimony to the incompleteness of our knowledge on many points bearing directly upon Roman history can be advanced than the two Papers in the present volume. Although neither of them is strictly of an architectural character, yet they relate to matters with which every student of architecture should be familiar. The Director of the School is fortunate in having so interesting a subject for analysis as the remains of the church of S. Maria Antiqua, brought to light just two years ago. Of this early Christian edifice at the foot of the Palatine hill we have no record till the time of John VII. (705-707), but there is little doubt it was in existence as a church in the previous century. Its title to Antiqua has been the subject of much contro¬ versy, and its claims to priority as a building dedicated to the Virgin Mary are not based on any authentic record. “ None of the 500 volumes on the topography of ancient Rome,” says Signor Lanciani (“ Pagan and Christian Rome ”), “ speak of this church, built side by side with the Temple of Vesta, the two worships dwelling together, as it were, for nearly a century;” nor does any classic author give a clue to the origin of a building, which had undoubtedly been erected and used for secular purposes for many generations. A glance at the plan (p. 18) is our only guide, and here we have all the essential features of a Roman house with its vestibulnm leading to an atrium, and the tallimm beyond, with smaller chambers on either side. As the dimensions of the rooms are large, and beyond the scale of an ordinary Roman house, Mr. Rushforth reasonably assumes that the whole served as a State entrance to the Palatine, brought down to the level of the Forum. The conversion took place in the follow¬ ing manner : The great entrance hall of the secular building was converted into a navtliex ; the tablinum, with the addition of an apse, became the sanctuary ; and an enclosed choir, after the manner of S. Clemente, was constructed in the centre of the atrium. There is nothing to indicate that this space was ever roofed over, although some kind of covering would appear to be necessary as a protection to the painted decorations which covered the walls. Although John VII. may have been the first to decorate the interior of S. Maria Antiqua in a syste¬ matic manner at the beginning of the eighth century, the remains show that the sanctuary at least had not been left bare before his time. Pope John’s excellent work in the embellishment of churches was not re¬ stricted to any one particular edifice, for we find his name also associated with pictorial mosaic in the ancient church of St. Peter. This beautiful example, which forms the subject of an illustration by Ciampini (“Vet. Mon.” Vol. III., tav. 24), was removed to the Basilica of S. Maria in Cosmedin in 1639. An outline drawing is also given by D’Agincourt (“ Histoire de l’Art,” pi. XVII.). At a later period, and down to the time of Leo III. (795-816), the decorative work continued, and came to a close when this favoured little church was crushed and buried by the fall of the Imperial buildings, which overhung it on the north¬ western edge of the Palatine. Whether the collapse was due to an earthquake, which shook the city in the same year, is uncertain ; but such was the condition of the edifice, that the fittings were removed to a new building on the Via Sacra, and S. Maria Antiqua began a new career under its new title of S. Maria Nova, better known by its modern name of S. Fran¬ cesca Romana. But the pictures on the walls were immovable, and now, after a lapse of more than eleven centuries, they have once again been brought to light, damaged and fragmentary in many parts, but un¬ touched and unrestored, sufficient to show how a Christian church in Rome was decorated in the eighth century. The rise and spread of Byzantine art in its western progress is too large a subject to enter upon in a short review, but they are adequately summarised by the author on pp. n and 12. Nor is it possible to follow Mr. Rushforth in his analytical commentary upon the series of pictures which decorate the walls of the church as well as of a subsidiary building designated as the chapel of the Forty martyrs. When the official account of the excavations is published by the Italian authorities, reproductions of the pictures, either by photography or other methods, can be studied in conjunction with the author’s clear and descriptive notes. Nothing contributed in a greater degree to the revival of art in Rome, which had reached the ebb of its misfortunes during the disastrous invasion of the Lombards in the sixth century, nor to the spread of pictorial decoration of Christian edifices, than the independent authority exercised by the Popes towards the middle of the eighth century, and their assumption Books. 215 temporal power. Italy, the favoured land of Greek artists, in the first two centuries of the Empire, was now the home of men trained in the schools of Con¬ stantinople. This is observable from north to south, whether in architecture, painting, or sculpture. Much of their work was of inferior quality, calling forth the lament of a chronicler of the twelfth century that “ for more than 500 years the genius of art had fled from the land ; ” and at the second Council of Nice (787 ) the fathers were bold enough to assert that “ the artists of the time invented nothing. They followed old tra¬ ditions. It was the hand only that executed” (“ L’Art Byzantin dans l’ltalie Meridionale,” C. Diehl, 1894). The mural paintings of S. Maria Antiqua belong to a time when symbolism was fully established as a powerful instrument in the cause of Christianity. Some of the figures are described as having unmistakable affinity with Roman art of classic times, not only in type and treatment, but in method and technique — observable also in the mosaic compo¬ sitions of SS. Cosmo and Damian, where Byzantine influence is scarcely noticeable. But, strange to say, at S. Lorenzo outside the walls, which was restored at the close of the sixth century, the influence of eastern art is apparent. Whether the mural paintings in S. Maria Antiqua were the work of native Romans or of Greeks from Constantinople, who had made a new home in the western metropolis, is not of much account. The art is Byzantine, for that was the art of the age ; but, as Mr. Rushforth observes, it is local, and the work of local artists, whether Roman or Greek.. There is apparently nothing in common, except on points of chronology, between the old church of S. Maria buried under the Palatine hill and the topo¬ graphy of the great tract of country known as the Roman Campagna. But one naturally reverts to this particular period when Christianity, triumphant over Paganism, was imparting new life to pictorial art within the walls of Rome, while without, once the garden of Latium, was nothing but desolation, neglect, or abandonment. The interest attached to the Cam¬ pagna during its long eventful history is heightened by a study of the conscientious labours of Mr. T. Ashby, Junior, as recorded in this volume. So far- reaching a subject as the Classical Topography of the whole range of country known by that name is beyond the scope of a single essay. It is, therefore, gratifying to note that the investigation is being continued, and will result in a series of Papers dealing with other districts. The object of the present Paper is to deter¬ mine the course of three of the main roads (with their branches) which traversed the district under considera¬ tion, and to describe the ancient remains which exist near each road. They are the Viae Collatina, Praenes- tina, and Labicana. The first went to Tibur by way of Collatia ; the second to Praeneste by way of Gabii, a distance of about 23 miles ; and the third to Labici, afterwards extended to Ad Bivium, now known as S. Ilario, distant from Rome about 30 miles. The first two roads, vying in point of age with the Vise Latina and Salaria, date from a very remote period ; and although the latter was at first only a local road to Gabii, and known as the Via Gabina, it assumed an importance when it was extended to so fashionable a quarter as Praeneste. But the last, which was pro¬ bably at one time the highway to Tusculum, became renowned when it was continued to Labici, being more convenient in point of gradients than the Via Latina, which traversed the same district, and in distance about the same. That the Labicana took higher rank in the later days of the Empire than the Latina is indicated in the “ Itinerary ” of Antonine, which speaks of the latter falling into the Labicana. The Via Collatina is not mentioned by any classic author except Frontinus, who states that three miles from the city accessible by this road are the springs of Aqua Virgo. This is corroborated by Pliny (“ H. N.” XXI. 42). The road paving has disappeared, but fragments of marble and carved capitals indicate the existence at one time of sumptuous villas fringing the highway. Perhaps the most important architectural remains are those of a palatial residence unearthed at the Tenuta Benzone in 1883, about nine miles from Rome, and described by Sr. Lanciani (“Not. Scav.” 1883, 169). The principal apartment, measuring about 72 feet by 33 feet, with a spacious apse, was of basilica form, not uncommon in country houses of this character near Rome. According to Vitruvius (vi. 8), they may be found attached to the palaces of Roman nobility who held magisterial offices, and were used for council meetings and as courts of tribunal. Those attached to the Villa Gordianorum, on the Via Praenestina, are another noted example. We know little of Collatia as a city, except that it was well adapted for defence. Livy (i. 38) informs us that it was taken from the Sabines, and Pliny classes it among the lost cities of Latium. Its ancient citadel is now replaced by the neighbouring mediaeval castle of Lunghezza, the walls being constructed with the stones of old Collatia. It is worthy of passing men¬ tion that in this city took place that tragic incident in connection with the ill-fated and virtuous Lucretia, and which ultimately sealed the destiny of the last of the kings of ancient Rome. The Via Praenestina and the Via Labicana both issued from the Porta Esquilina in the Servian Wall, and branched off at the Porta Maggiore, or rather from the double Arch of the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus, which was incorporated into the Wall of Aurelian and converted into a city gate. Among other remains near the Via Praenestina none have attracted more attention than those of the Villa Gordianorum, now known as the Tor de’ Schiavi. These have been too often described to need repetition here. For illustrations, see the drawings of Pirro Ligorio in the Bodleian Library (fol. 30) and Piranesi (“Ant. Rom. II.” tav. 29). Canina also, touched by the romantic incidents associated with the memorable rule of the ill-fated Gordians, has given play to his imagination in his restoration of this lordly dwelling. (“ Edifizi VI.” tav. 106, 107). The wealth of marble in its construction and its architectural magnificence are referred to by Capitolinus (“ Vita Books . 2 I 6 Gordiani III.,” c. 32). A large number of tombs and numerous columbaria in the neighbourhood attest the existence at one time of a large population. On this subject it has been observed by Lanciani (“ Not. Scav.” 1890, 1 18) that some of these columbaria, which belong to the first and second centuries, are partly constructed with materials of Republican times, show¬ ing that the Romans under the Empire had little respect for their ancestors. Further on the road and near the twelfth milestone from Rome we reach the site of the ancient Gabii, memorable in history as the last fortified town in Latium to resist the Roman arms. But it fell at last by an act of treachery. A special chapter is given by Mr. Ashby on this interest¬ ing old-world city, as well as the later one which was built on an adjacent site in the early days of the Empire. Systematic excavations were made by Gavin Hamilton in 1792, and its treasures in marble and stone are described by Visconti. (“Monumenta Gabini della Villa Pinciani,” 1797). As a Roman town and place of resort in the first and second centuries it enjoyed some notoriety from its baths and, as alleged by some, from its spacious lake of spring water. Respecting the antiquity of this lake there is consider¬ able controversy, but there is little doubt that the basin which is now dry, is an extinct crater, one of many in this volcanic region. It is not mentioned by any classic author, and is first alluded to in the Acts of St. Primitivus. Recent investigations tend to show that the lake never existed till the Middle Ages, and that it arose from neglect of the anissarium which became choked, and thus checked the natural flow which had contributed in the early days of the Republic to the splendid vegetation covering the plains below. When Gell visited the spot 70 years ago he noted that “ the waters have been much lowered by canals made for draining purposes.” Still further drainage in recent times has caused the lake to be dried up. Several other ancient towns near the Via Praenestina have not been satisfactorily located, nor identified with later towns, such as Corcolle, Passerano and Zagarolo ; but further investigations may solve the doubt, especially with regard to the old city of Pedum, which enjoyed great prosperity till it was captured by L. Furius Camillus, b.c. 339. The fact of Julius Caesar having a villa there, and Tiberius an estate, are sufficient evidence of a degree of notoriety in the closing days of the Republic. Zagarolo possesses considerable interest on account of the remains of an amphitheatre in its vicinity, which attracted the attention of Palladio on the score of some architectural merit. A drawing by his own hand may be seen in the Library of the R.I.B.A. (“ Burlington- Devonshire Coll.,” portfolio viii. fol. 15). The 26 tiers of seats attest a large residental population in imperial times. The date of the structure is unknown, but, like many other provincial amphitheatres, it may have been erected in the reign of the Gordians, in preparation for the festivities that were to mark the approaching 1,000th anniversary of the foundation of Rome. Maffei (“ A Compleat History of Ancient Amphitheatres,” Verona, 1730,) makes no mention of it, and boldly asserts that the only two amphitheatres outside Rome were at Verona and Capua, those at Pola and Nismes being closed as theatres. But Maffei was a native of Verona and therefore anxious to glorify his own birthplace. Further interest is attached to Zagarolo as the town where the Latin version of the Bible, called the Vulgate, was produced. The Via Labicana, as its name implies, ran origi¬ nally to Labici, and as it traversed the same district on the Via Latina, the two roads were under the charge of one curator. Indeed there are many indica¬ tions, as Mr. Ashby points out, that there were at least three points (besides others of little importance) where these two highways met within a computated length of 40 miles. North of the third milestone is the reputed Mausoleum of St. Plelena, now known as the Torre Pignattara. A drawing by Canina (“Arch, dei Temp. Crist.,” 1846, tav. 96) indicates a circular build¬ ing with eight niches, alternately rectangular and curved, and roofed with a cupola. Within its walls a small church was erected by Clement XI., early in the eighteenth century, dedicated to SS. Peter and Mar- cellinus ; and in the immediate neighbourhood may still be seen the deserted cemetery of that distinguished Imperial band, the equites singular es, whose duties were somewhat equivalent to those now performed by Royal messengers. They were picked cavalry attached to the Emperor’s bodyguard and their barracks were on Mt. Caelius. The following inscription is of interest,. “ D. M. T. Ael. Martiali, Architecto, eq. sing. Aug. Tur. Gracilio (C.I.L. VI. 3182). A mile further on the road may be seen the apse of a church identified with that of the suburban see of Sub Augusta or Augusta Helena, the bishops of which are recorded in the latter half of the fifth century. It has been suggested, and with good reason, that the church was built on the site of a villa belonging to the Empress- Helena. The site of Labici is still doubtful, and its name appears as late as the twelfth century, a bishoprick having been established there. Cicero refers to it together with Gabii and Bovillae, and Strabo speaks of the town as in a ruined condition. The claims of Monte Compatri as the site of Labici, its distance from Rome, and its position in reference to- ancient roads mentioned in “ Itineraries” are thoroughly worked out by Mr. Ashby, but it must be admitted that the modern village bearing that name contains, scant traces of antiquity. It is difficult to follow the exact course of the Via Labicana, but careful investi¬ gations clearly show the importance of this road with its numerous branch roads, competing in many parts with the Via Praenestina as a fashionable highway to the lordly villas of wealthy Romans, referred to by Strabo as “ Villas in quibus more Persarum Regias quasdam struunt.” The eight elaborated maps at the end of the volume are rather confusing, partly due to the comparative smallness of scale, but principally to the necessity of indicating every place of historic interest. Such maps are better engraved, and on each sheet should be a. scale of Roman and English miles. Alexander Graham. THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW. Waring's, Ltd. GEORGIAN HALL AND LOUNGE. Designed by WARING & GILLOW, Ltd., Oxford Street, London, W. And at LIVERPOOL, MANCHESTER, PARIS, AND LANCASTER. . . . 1 . ■ i ■ ■ • y.v. ■; . • *- • - - ) • ■ . \' .. . ■ ' ; * \ ■ . :■ - ' . ' v. .-.■■■ . • , ■ 1 . ■ ■ ’W.- >' •< ■ ' , • ■ . '.-j ' . r , * '