DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0183
ARCHITECTURE IN LANDSCAPE. 169
painter possess good sense good taste, and genius cultivated by study and observations on other
mens' labours. These advantages, derived from nature and improved by art, seldom fail of pro-
ducing an artist of eminence.
Although it does not come within the plan of this work to give a complete treatise on archi-
tecture; yet as buildings, ruins, columns, &c. often enter into and form a most interesting feature
of landscapes, it becomes necessary to lay before the young artist some observations respecting
what are called the different orders of architecture, their probable origin, and the ornaments of
which these orders are respectively susceptible.
Architecture must have been one of the earliest arts amongst men ; for shelter from the incle-
mencies of the air, and defence against the beasts of the field must have been amongst their first
wants. A very plausible account of the progress of architecture, from its rude beginnings to its
highest refinement, has been given by the celebrated ancient architect Vitruvius, in the follow-
ing; wav :—"Anciently," says he, " men lived in woods, and inhabited caves: but in the course of
time, taking example perhaps from birds which, with great industry build their nests, they made
for themselves huts. Those huts were probably at first of a conical figure ; because this figure is
of the simplest construction ; and like the birds men composed them of branches of trees, spread-
ing them wide at the bottom, and joining them in a point at the top ; covering the whole with
reeds leaves and clay, to screen themselves from the tempest.
" Finding however this conical figure inconvenient, on account of its inclined sides they
changed the form and construction of their huts, giving them that of a cube or parallelepiped,
and building them in this manner :—
" Having marked out the space to be occupied by the hut, they fixed in the ground several
upright trunks of trees to form the sides, filling the intervals between them with branches closely
interwoven, and covered with clay.
" The sides being thus completed, four long beams were placed on the upright trunks, which
being well joined at the angles, kept the sides firm, and likewise served to support the covering
or roof of the building composed of many joists, on which were laid several beds of reeds leaves
and clay.
" This art of building mankind gradually improved, and invented methods to make their huts
lasting and handsome as well as convenient. They took off the bark and other unevennesses
from the trunks of the trees forming the sides ; raised them above the humidity of the ground by
placing them on stones, and covered each trunk with a flat stone to defend it from the rain. The
spaces between the ends of the joists were closed with clay wax or some similar substance; and
the ends of the joists themselves were covered with thin boards, cut in the manner of what are
called triglyphs.
cc The position of the roof was likewise altered ; for being on account of its flatness unfit to
throw off the rain that fell in abundance during the winter, they raised it in the middle, giving
it the form of a triangle or gable-roof, by placing rafters on the joists to support the earth and
other materials composing the covering.
<c From this simple construction the orders of architecture took their rise.
" For when buildings of wood were set aside, and men began to erect solid and stately edifices
of stone, they imitated the parts which necessity had introduced into their primitive dwellings:
in so much that the upright trunks, with the stones at their upper and lower ends, were the origin
of columns capitals and bases: and the beams joists rafters and strata of materials, that formed
2 x the
painter possess good sense good taste, and genius cultivated by study and observations on other
mens' labours. These advantages, derived from nature and improved by art, seldom fail of pro-
ducing an artist of eminence.
Although it does not come within the plan of this work to give a complete treatise on archi-
tecture; yet as buildings, ruins, columns, &c. often enter into and form a most interesting feature
of landscapes, it becomes necessary to lay before the young artist some observations respecting
what are called the different orders of architecture, their probable origin, and the ornaments of
which these orders are respectively susceptible.
Architecture must have been one of the earliest arts amongst men ; for shelter from the incle-
mencies of the air, and defence against the beasts of the field must have been amongst their first
wants. A very plausible account of the progress of architecture, from its rude beginnings to its
highest refinement, has been given by the celebrated ancient architect Vitruvius, in the follow-
ing; wav :—"Anciently," says he, " men lived in woods, and inhabited caves: but in the course of
time, taking example perhaps from birds which, with great industry build their nests, they made
for themselves huts. Those huts were probably at first of a conical figure ; because this figure is
of the simplest construction ; and like the birds men composed them of branches of trees, spread-
ing them wide at the bottom, and joining them in a point at the top ; covering the whole with
reeds leaves and clay, to screen themselves from the tempest.
" Finding however this conical figure inconvenient, on account of its inclined sides they
changed the form and construction of their huts, giving them that of a cube or parallelepiped,
and building them in this manner :—
" Having marked out the space to be occupied by the hut, they fixed in the ground several
upright trunks of trees to form the sides, filling the intervals between them with branches closely
interwoven, and covered with clay.
" The sides being thus completed, four long beams were placed on the upright trunks, which
being well joined at the angles, kept the sides firm, and likewise served to support the covering
or roof of the building composed of many joists, on which were laid several beds of reeds leaves
and clay.
" This art of building mankind gradually improved, and invented methods to make their huts
lasting and handsome as well as convenient. They took off the bark and other unevennesses
from the trunks of the trees forming the sides ; raised them above the humidity of the ground by
placing them on stones, and covered each trunk with a flat stone to defend it from the rain. The
spaces between the ends of the joists were closed with clay wax or some similar substance; and
the ends of the joists themselves were covered with thin boards, cut in the manner of what are
called triglyphs.
cc The position of the roof was likewise altered ; for being on account of its flatness unfit to
throw off the rain that fell in abundance during the winter, they raised it in the middle, giving
it the form of a triangle or gable-roof, by placing rafters on the joists to support the earth and
other materials composing the covering.
<c From this simple construction the orders of architecture took their rise.
" For when buildings of wood were set aside, and men began to erect solid and stately edifices
of stone, they imitated the parts which necessity had introduced into their primitive dwellings:
in so much that the upright trunks, with the stones at their upper and lower ends, were the origin
of columns capitals and bases: and the beams joists rafters and strata of materials, that formed
2 x the