DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0082
46
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE.
Part I.
art. Size ancl power were impressecl on both, ancl in this respect they
stand precisely equal to one another. Here ship-huilcling haltecl, ancl
has not progressed beyoncl, while architecture has been investecl with
a higher aim. In all ages men have sought to erect houses more dig-
niiied ancl stately than those clesigned for their personal use. They
attempted the erection of dwelling-places for their Gocls, or temples
worthy of the worship of Supreme Beings; ancl it was only when this
strictly useful art threw asicle all shaclow of utilitarianism, ancl
launched boldly forth in search of the beautiful ancl the sublime, that
it became a truly fine art, ancl took the elevated position which it now
holds above all other useful afts. It woulcl have been easy to supply
the same motive to ship-building. If we coulcl imagine any nation
ever to construct ships of Gocl, or to worship on the bosom of the
ocean, ships might easily be macle such objects of beauty that the
cathedral could harclly compete with tbern.
It is not, however, only in architecture or in ship-building that this
progress is essential, for the progress of every art and every science
that is worthy of the name is owing to the same simple process of the
aggregation of experiences ; whether we look to metallurgy or me-
chanics, cotton-spinning or coining, their perfection is due to the
same cause. So also the sciences—astronomy, chemistry, geology—are
all cultivated by the same means. When the art or science is new,
great men stancl forth ancl make great strides; but when once it
reaches maturity, ancl becomes the property of the nation, the indi-
viclual is lost in the mass, and a thousancl inferior brains follow out
steadily and surely the path which the one great intellect has pointecl
out, but which no single mind, however great, coulcl carry to its
iegitimate conclusion.
So far as any reason or experience yet known can be appliecl to
this subject, it seems clear that no art or science ever has been or can
be now advancecl by going backwards, and copying earlier forms, or
those applicable to other times or other circumstances; ancl that
progress towards perfection can only be obtainecl by the united efiorts
of many steaclily pursuing a well-defined object. Whenever this is
clone, success appears to be inevitable, or at all events every age is
perfectly satisfied with its own procluctions. Where forwarcl progress
is the law, it is certain that the next age will surpass the present;
but the living cannot conceive anything more perfect than what they
are doing, or they would apply it. Everything in any true art is
thoroughly up to the highest stanclard of its periocl, ancl insteacl of the
clissatisfiecl uncertainty in which we are wandering in all matters
concerning architecture, we shoulcl be exulting in our own productions,
ancl proud in leaving to our posterity the progress we have macle,
feeling assurecl that we have paved the way for them to advance to
a still liigher standard of perfection.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE.
Part I.
art. Size ancl power were impressecl on both, ancl in this respect they
stand precisely equal to one another. Here ship-huilcling haltecl, ancl
has not progressed beyoncl, while architecture has been investecl with
a higher aim. In all ages men have sought to erect houses more dig-
niiied ancl stately than those clesigned for their personal use. They
attempted the erection of dwelling-places for their Gocls, or temples
worthy of the worship of Supreme Beings; ancl it was only when this
strictly useful art threw asicle all shaclow of utilitarianism, ancl
launched boldly forth in search of the beautiful ancl the sublime, that
it became a truly fine art, ancl took the elevated position which it now
holds above all other useful afts. It woulcl have been easy to supply
the same motive to ship-building. If we coulcl imagine any nation
ever to construct ships of Gocl, or to worship on the bosom of the
ocean, ships might easily be macle such objects of beauty that the
cathedral could harclly compete with tbern.
It is not, however, only in architecture or in ship-building that this
progress is essential, for the progress of every art and every science
that is worthy of the name is owing to the same simple process of the
aggregation of experiences ; whether we look to metallurgy or me-
chanics, cotton-spinning or coining, their perfection is due to the
same cause. So also the sciences—astronomy, chemistry, geology—are
all cultivated by the same means. When the art or science is new,
great men stancl forth ancl make great strides; but when once it
reaches maturity, ancl becomes the property of the nation, the indi-
viclual is lost in the mass, and a thousancl inferior brains follow out
steadily and surely the path which the one great intellect has pointecl
out, but which no single mind, however great, coulcl carry to its
iegitimate conclusion.
So far as any reason or experience yet known can be appliecl to
this subject, it seems clear that no art or science ever has been or can
be now advancecl by going backwards, and copying earlier forms, or
those applicable to other times or other circumstances; ancl that
progress towards perfection can only be obtainecl by the united efiorts
of many steaclily pursuing a well-defined object. Whenever this is
clone, success appears to be inevitable, or at all events every age is
perfectly satisfied with its own procluctions. Where forwarcl progress
is the law, it is certain that the next age will surpass the present;
but the living cannot conceive anything more perfect than what they
are doing, or they would apply it. Everything in any true art is
thoroughly up to the highest stanclard of its periocl, ancl insteacl of the
clissatisfiecl uncertainty in which we are wandering in all matters
concerning architecture, we shoulcl be exulting in our own productions,
ancl proud in leaving to our posterity the progress we have macle,
feeling assurecl that we have paved the way for them to advance to
a still liigher standard of perfection.