DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6914#0070
38
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
Adrian, in honour of his minion, Antinous, about A.D. 132 ; of which a view
may be seen in Montfaucon's Antiquities; and in a figure of an arch found on a
Roman sepulchral tablet discovered at Skirway, in Scotland; and also in another
from a similar monument of Roman origin, preserved among the Arundelian
marbles, both of which are delineated in Horsley's " Britannia Romana."30 But
on these examples no reliance can be placed, since some of them may have arisen
from alterations made in comparatively modern times; and the engraved repre-
sentations in Horsley's work have no more reference to an architectural arch than
to astronomy. That the mathematical delineation of pointed arches, by the
intersection of circles, occurs in a problem of Euclid,3' and must therefore have
been known to those who were acquainted with the works of that ancient geome-
trician, may be admitted; but it does not thence follow, as Hawkins imagines,
that the practical application of the principle was known also.32 Inventions some-
times spring from the application of general principles by the experimental artist,
and sometimes from the observation of accidental circumstances, and perhaps more
frequently from the combination of both these sources of discovery, as was
probably the case with pointed arches.
Mr, Hawkins refers the rise of the Pointed style in England to the age of
Edward the Confessor, and grounds his opinion on some arches of this form in
a chapel under the painted chamber at Westminster. " It has been ascertained,'"
he says, " by the Earl of Northampton, to be of the time of Edward the
Confessor; which, indeed, without his authority could have been shown ; for the
painted chamber, which is almost over it, is acknowledged to be, and has always
been so understood, of his time; a staircase, leading down from that towards
the powder-plot cellar, has all the appearance of the same age, and the walls
of the cellar itself afford no reason for supposing them of any other period." 33
If this chamber was built in the reign of the Confessor, it does not follow that
the pointed arches alluded to are of equal antiquity. It is more probable that they
were subsequent insertions, in the course of the repeated alterations and repara-
tions which the building has undergone, of which Mr. Hawkins himself gives an
account.
30 Folio 1732, PI. V. fig. 14. descr. p. 199, 200 ; and PI. LXXV. fig. 1, descr. p. 331.
31 Prob. I. See Simson's Euclid. 8vo. Edinb. 1767, p. 7.
3* See " History of the Origin of Gothic Architecture," p. 92, 93, and 243.
33 " Antiquities of Westminster," 1807, 4to. p. 44.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
Adrian, in honour of his minion, Antinous, about A.D. 132 ; of which a view
may be seen in Montfaucon's Antiquities; and in a figure of an arch found on a
Roman sepulchral tablet discovered at Skirway, in Scotland; and also in another
from a similar monument of Roman origin, preserved among the Arundelian
marbles, both of which are delineated in Horsley's " Britannia Romana."30 But
on these examples no reliance can be placed, since some of them may have arisen
from alterations made in comparatively modern times; and the engraved repre-
sentations in Horsley's work have no more reference to an architectural arch than
to astronomy. That the mathematical delineation of pointed arches, by the
intersection of circles, occurs in a problem of Euclid,3' and must therefore have
been known to those who were acquainted with the works of that ancient geome-
trician, may be admitted; but it does not thence follow, as Hawkins imagines,
that the practical application of the principle was known also.32 Inventions some-
times spring from the application of general principles by the experimental artist,
and sometimes from the observation of accidental circumstances, and perhaps more
frequently from the combination of both these sources of discovery, as was
probably the case with pointed arches.
Mr, Hawkins refers the rise of the Pointed style in England to the age of
Edward the Confessor, and grounds his opinion on some arches of this form in
a chapel under the painted chamber at Westminster. " It has been ascertained,'"
he says, " by the Earl of Northampton, to be of the time of Edward the
Confessor; which, indeed, without his authority could have been shown ; for the
painted chamber, which is almost over it, is acknowledged to be, and has always
been so understood, of his time; a staircase, leading down from that towards
the powder-plot cellar, has all the appearance of the same age, and the walls
of the cellar itself afford no reason for supposing them of any other period." 33
If this chamber was built in the reign of the Confessor, it does not follow that
the pointed arches alluded to are of equal antiquity. It is more probable that they
were subsequent insertions, in the course of the repeated alterations and repara-
tions which the building has undergone, of which Mr. Hawkins himself gives an
account.
30 Folio 1732, PI. V. fig. 14. descr. p. 199, 200 ; and PI. LXXV. fig. 1, descr. p. 331.
31 Prob. I. See Simson's Euclid. 8vo. Edinb. 1767, p. 7.
3* See " History of the Origin of Gothic Architecture," p. 92, 93, and 243.
33 " Antiquities of Westminster," 1807, 4to. p. 44.