DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68796#0267
CHAP. I
Neo-classic Forms
247
behind (Fig. 25). To speak of this scheme as if it were
borrowed from the Greeks as a frontispiece to a piece of
Fig. 25.—Roman combination of arched
with trabeate forms.
of the neo-classic period in more
recent times, adopted these forms of the column, half-
column, pilaster, base, capital, frieze and cornice, and
used them with little constructive significance, as elements
in the architectural composition at which they were
aiming. In Wren’s work in London, and in that of
Adam and Playfair in Edinburgh, these forms are frankly
employed for dividing and uniting purposes, and are in-
dispensable elements in those fine effects of proportion
over which these designers had such perfect mastery.
Much has been said against the use of these forms,
but as a rule the critics have been already prejudiced in
favour of other styles, and have had no eyes for the sober
dignity of classical compositions. It need hardly be said
that those who are specially enamoured of the picturesque
irregularity of mediceval building are not fair judges of a
native construction, is to
ignore the true place of
trabeate construction in
the architecture of all the
Mediterranean peoples.
It is as much native at
Rome as at Athens, and
if used as frontispiece to
a mass of masonry in
Greece, it might equally
naturally be used em-
bedded in a wall broken
with arched openings at
Rome. In a somewhat
more artificial spirit we
find that the architects
of the Renaissance, and
Neo-classic Forms
247
behind (Fig. 25). To speak of this scheme as if it were
borrowed from the Greeks as a frontispiece to a piece of
Fig. 25.—Roman combination of arched
with trabeate forms.
of the neo-classic period in more
recent times, adopted these forms of the column, half-
column, pilaster, base, capital, frieze and cornice, and
used them with little constructive significance, as elements
in the architectural composition at which they were
aiming. In Wren’s work in London, and in that of
Adam and Playfair in Edinburgh, these forms are frankly
employed for dividing and uniting purposes, and are in-
dispensable elements in those fine effects of proportion
over which these designers had such perfect mastery.
Much has been said against the use of these forms,
but as a rule the critics have been already prejudiced in
favour of other styles, and have had no eyes for the sober
dignity of classical compositions. It need hardly be said
that those who are specially enamoured of the picturesque
irregularity of mediceval building are not fair judges of a
native construction, is to
ignore the true place of
trabeate construction in
the architecture of all the
Mediterranean peoples.
It is as much native at
Rome as at Athens, and
if used as frontispiece to
a mass of masonry in
Greece, it might equally
naturally be used em-
bedded in a wall broken
with arched openings at
Rome. In a somewhat
more artificial spirit we
find that the architects
of the Renaissance, and