DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4327#0009
INTRODUCTION.
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE GRECIAN ORDERS OF
ARCHITECTURE.
THERE arc few events in literary history so remarkable as the manner in which in the middle of the fifteenth
century the learned world suddenly awoke to the discovery of the long-neglected beauties of classical literature.
It is true that it was not till after the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, that the scholars of Western Europe had
many opportunities of mastering the language of the Greeks, so as to be able to appreciate the beauties of their
literature as expressed in their own exquisitely harmonious tongue. But the works of the poets and orators of
Rome they always had in their hands, and the language in which they were written was understood and indeed
used by every educated person. Yet their excellences were neither seen nor valued, as we now know they
ought to have been, till the sudden revival of classical learning which preceded, only by a short interval of time,
the great outburst of the Reformation.
If, however, the scholars turned with delight to pore over these long-neglected treasures, the artists of that
age rushed with even greater enthusiasm to the study of the remains of classical art. The architects of Europe
threw aside, at once, the forms and traditions of their OAvn beautiful and appropriate mcdia3val styles, and for more
than three centuries devoted themselves exclusively to the study of the marvellous remains with which the Roman
Emperors had adorned not only the capital, but almost every city of the Empire. During that long period all their
energies were devoted, first to mastering the details of the Roman styles, and then, to a not very successful attempt
to reproduce them, and in so doing to adapt them to the requirements of an age and a state of society different from
that for which they were intended, and to which—except from their own inherent elegance—they can hardly be
said to have been suited. In all these efforts, however, it was Roman taste and magnificence that was admired, and
Roman forms and details that were copied. It was not till the publication of the first volumes of Stuart's Antiquities
of Athens, in 1761 and 1787, that the learned practically became aware that Greece possessed a separate style of
her own, more elegant and refined than anything that Rome had ever produced, and, though probably less flexible
for modern purposes, far more worthy of study than the style that had so long exclusively occupied the attention
of Europe.
Since the commencement of Stuart's publications the progress of the study of Greek architecture, though at
first slow, has gone on steadily increasing, latterly in an almost geometric ratio, culminating in the German
explorations at Olympia now in progress, one of the greatest undertakings, of its class, attempted in the present
age, and which promises to be among the most important in its results. During this long interval every known
temple of the Doric order has been explored, and its plan and details measured and drawn with as much
exactitude as the state of the ruins admitted of being done, and, what is almost equally important, these
have all been published, with an amount of care and elegance of engraving which has not yet been devoted to
any other group of architectural objects in any part of the world. So nearly complete indeed are all the preliminary
steps of the investigation that the time has probably arrived when it may be possible to attempt a monograph
of the Doric order, aud if this were done and illustrated in a maimer worthy of the subject it would form one of
the most valuable contributions that could be offered to the history of architecture, for it can hardly be doubted
that with its sculptured and painted accompaniments it was the most artistic form of expression of the most
intellectual people known to have existed, either in ancient or modern times.
The Ionic order has not been so fortunate in its history or its historians. This arises partly from the
comparative paucity of the examples—they are not by one half so numerous as those of the Doric order—and
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE GRECIAN ORDERS OF
ARCHITECTURE.
THERE arc few events in literary history so remarkable as the manner in which in the middle of the fifteenth
century the learned world suddenly awoke to the discovery of the long-neglected beauties of classical literature.
It is true that it was not till after the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, that the scholars of Western Europe had
many opportunities of mastering the language of the Greeks, so as to be able to appreciate the beauties of their
literature as expressed in their own exquisitely harmonious tongue. But the works of the poets and orators of
Rome they always had in their hands, and the language in which they were written was understood and indeed
used by every educated person. Yet their excellences were neither seen nor valued, as we now know they
ought to have been, till the sudden revival of classical learning which preceded, only by a short interval of time,
the great outburst of the Reformation.
If, however, the scholars turned with delight to pore over these long-neglected treasures, the artists of that
age rushed with even greater enthusiasm to the study of the remains of classical art. The architects of Europe
threw aside, at once, the forms and traditions of their OAvn beautiful and appropriate mcdia3val styles, and for more
than three centuries devoted themselves exclusively to the study of the marvellous remains with which the Roman
Emperors had adorned not only the capital, but almost every city of the Empire. During that long period all their
energies were devoted, first to mastering the details of the Roman styles, and then, to a not very successful attempt
to reproduce them, and in so doing to adapt them to the requirements of an age and a state of society different from
that for which they were intended, and to which—except from their own inherent elegance—they can hardly be
said to have been suited. In all these efforts, however, it was Roman taste and magnificence that was admired, and
Roman forms and details that were copied. It was not till the publication of the first volumes of Stuart's Antiquities
of Athens, in 1761 and 1787, that the learned practically became aware that Greece possessed a separate style of
her own, more elegant and refined than anything that Rome had ever produced, and, though probably less flexible
for modern purposes, far more worthy of study than the style that had so long exclusively occupied the attention
of Europe.
Since the commencement of Stuart's publications the progress of the study of Greek architecture, though at
first slow, has gone on steadily increasing, latterly in an almost geometric ratio, culminating in the German
explorations at Olympia now in progress, one of the greatest undertakings, of its class, attempted in the present
age, and which promises to be among the most important in its results. During this long interval every known
temple of the Doric order has been explored, and its plan and details measured and drawn with as much
exactitude as the state of the ruins admitted of being done, and, what is almost equally important, these
have all been published, with an amount of care and elegance of engraving which has not yet been devoted to
any other group of architectural objects in any part of the world. So nearly complete indeed are all the preliminary
steps of the investigation that the time has probably arrived when it may be possible to attempt a monograph
of the Doric order, aud if this were done and illustrated in a maimer worthy of the subject it would form one of
the most valuable contributions that could be offered to the history of architecture, for it can hardly be doubted
that with its sculptured and painted accompaniments it was the most artistic form of expression of the most
intellectual people known to have existed, either in ancient or modern times.
The Ionic order has not been so fortunate in its history or its historians. This arises partly from the
comparative paucity of the examples—they are not by one half so numerous as those of the Doric order—and