DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6915#0179
architecture:—sir Christopher wren.
121
their effect to their intricacy of form and minutious detail of parts and orna-
ments : and on the other hand, in respect to St. Peter's, it is certain that the
exterior of that colossal edifice is, to use the words of a late traveller, " much
less striking than can well be imagined;" and it uniformly deceives the observer,
by appearing of much smaller dimensions than it really is. This effect, which
has been generally quoted as a proof of just proportions, and therefore praised
as a beauty, though, as Mr. Knight remarks, " if it be a merit to make it
appear small, it certainly was extreme folly to incur such immense expence in
building it large," is produced by having all the parts and objects of extraor-
dinary magnitude; and thus the eye, in taking any of these as a scale to measure
the total size of the building, is deceived in the outset. That the parts of a
large building should be large, is a maxim which can only be admitted with
considerable limitations. As to the omission of the architrave of the order
above the arches of the interior, we are informed in the Parentalia, that in
this respect Sir Christopher Wren " always insisted that he had the ancients
on his side; in the Temple of Peace, in the great halls of the baths, and in all
the great structures of three ailes, this is done, and for this reason, that in those
wide intercolumniations the architrave is not supposed to lie from one great
column to another, but from the column to the wall of the aile, so that the end
of it only will appear upon the pillar of the inside of the great navis." This
is a sufficient answer to those rigourists in criticism who would subject the
composition of a cathedral to the same strict rules which limited the Grecian
temples ; and it shows that the architect had studied those autique examples
which, if not of the purest taste in ornament, were yet the most analogous in
general form to the edifice which he had to construct. But though this was
the ostensible excuse, it was not the real reason; for upon referring to the
Section of St. Paul's, it will be seen that Sir Christopher Wren has made the
pilasters of the interior a little higher than the external columns, and they could
not be much more without a certain incongruity ; but wishing to give the
arches opening into the ailes as much elevation, and consequently lightness, as
the design admitted, he chose to encroach on the entablature of the order:
thus, by a slight violation of general rules, improving the total effect of his
building, and satisfied that a few antique authorities afforded him the means of
2 G
121
their effect to their intricacy of form and minutious detail of parts and orna-
ments : and on the other hand, in respect to St. Peter's, it is certain that the
exterior of that colossal edifice is, to use the words of a late traveller, " much
less striking than can well be imagined;" and it uniformly deceives the observer,
by appearing of much smaller dimensions than it really is. This effect, which
has been generally quoted as a proof of just proportions, and therefore praised
as a beauty, though, as Mr. Knight remarks, " if it be a merit to make it
appear small, it certainly was extreme folly to incur such immense expence in
building it large," is produced by having all the parts and objects of extraor-
dinary magnitude; and thus the eye, in taking any of these as a scale to measure
the total size of the building, is deceived in the outset. That the parts of a
large building should be large, is a maxim which can only be admitted with
considerable limitations. As to the omission of the architrave of the order
above the arches of the interior, we are informed in the Parentalia, that in
this respect Sir Christopher Wren " always insisted that he had the ancients
on his side; in the Temple of Peace, in the great halls of the baths, and in all
the great structures of three ailes, this is done, and for this reason, that in those
wide intercolumniations the architrave is not supposed to lie from one great
column to another, but from the column to the wall of the aile, so that the end
of it only will appear upon the pillar of the inside of the great navis." This
is a sufficient answer to those rigourists in criticism who would subject the
composition of a cathedral to the same strict rules which limited the Grecian
temples ; and it shows that the architect had studied those autique examples
which, if not of the purest taste in ornament, were yet the most analogous in
general form to the edifice which he had to construct. But though this was
the ostensible excuse, it was not the real reason; for upon referring to the
Section of St. Paul's, it will be seen that Sir Christopher Wren has made the
pilasters of the interior a little higher than the external columns, and they could
not be much more without a certain incongruity ; but wishing to give the
arches opening into the ailes as much elevation, and consequently lightness, as
the design admitted, he chose to encroach on the entablature of the order:
thus, by a slight violation of general rules, improving the total effect of his
building, and satisfied that a few antique authorities afforded him the means of
2 G