DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0070
34
HISTOEY OF ARCHITECTUEE.
Pakt 1.
nature and conventionality which is indispensable. It is not so pure
or perfect as a Grecian order, but as an example of rich decoration
applied to an architectural order it is unsurpassed.
With their disregard of precedent and untrarumelled wildness of
imagination, the Gothic architects tried
every form of vegetable ornament, from
the purest conventionalism, where the
vegetable form can hardly be recognised,
to the most literal imitation of nature.
While confining himself to purely
lithic forms, an architect can never sin
against good taste, though he may miss
many beauties ; with the latter class of
ornament he is always in danger of
ofFence, and few have ever employed it
without falling into mistakes. In the
iirst place, because it is impossible to
imitate perfectly foliage and flowers in
stone ; and secondly, because if the pliant
forms of plants are made to support, or
do the work of, hard stone, the incon-
gruity is immediately apparent, and the
more perfect the imitation the greater
the mistake.
!No. 5.
In theinstance (Woodcut Ho. 5), any
amount of literal imitation that the sculptor thought proper may be
indulged in, because in it the stone construction is so apparent every-
where, that the vegetable form is the merest supplement conceivable;
or in a hollow moulding round a doorway, a vine may be sculptured
with any degree of imitation that can
be employed; for as it has no more
work to do than the objectre presented
would have in the same situation, it is
a mere acljunct, a statue of a plant
placed in a niche, as we might use the
statue of a man : but if in the woodcut
(ISTo. 6) imitations of real leaves were
used to support the upper moulding)
the effect would not be so satisfactory ; incleed it is questionable if in
both these last examples a little more conventionality would not be
desirable.
In too many instances, even in the best Gothic architecture, the
construction is so overlaid by imitative vegetable forms as to be con-
cealed, and the work is apparently done by leaves or twigs, but in the
earliest and purest style this is almost never the case. As a general
No. 6.
HISTOEY OF ARCHITECTUEE.
Pakt 1.
nature and conventionality which is indispensable. It is not so pure
or perfect as a Grecian order, but as an example of rich decoration
applied to an architectural order it is unsurpassed.
With their disregard of precedent and untrarumelled wildness of
imagination, the Gothic architects tried
every form of vegetable ornament, from
the purest conventionalism, where the
vegetable form can hardly be recognised,
to the most literal imitation of nature.
While confining himself to purely
lithic forms, an architect can never sin
against good taste, though he may miss
many beauties ; with the latter class of
ornament he is always in danger of
ofFence, and few have ever employed it
without falling into mistakes. In the
iirst place, because it is impossible to
imitate perfectly foliage and flowers in
stone ; and secondly, because if the pliant
forms of plants are made to support, or
do the work of, hard stone, the incon-
gruity is immediately apparent, and the
more perfect the imitation the greater
the mistake.
!No. 5.
In theinstance (Woodcut Ho. 5), any
amount of literal imitation that the sculptor thought proper may be
indulged in, because in it the stone construction is so apparent every-
where, that the vegetable form is the merest supplement conceivable;
or in a hollow moulding round a doorway, a vine may be sculptured
with any degree of imitation that can
be employed; for as it has no more
work to do than the objectre presented
would have in the same situation, it is
a mere acljunct, a statue of a plant
placed in a niche, as we might use the
statue of a man : but if in the woodcut
(ISTo. 6) imitations of real leaves were
used to support the upper moulding)
the effect would not be so satisfactory ; incleed it is questionable if in
both these last examples a little more conventionality would not be
desirable.
In too many instances, even in the best Gothic architecture, the
construction is so overlaid by imitative vegetable forms as to be con-
cealed, and the work is apparently done by leaves or twigs, but in the
earliest and purest style this is almost never the case. As a general
No. 6.