DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42129#0011
PREFACE
rjlHE Work here offered to the Public is in a great measure based upon the labours of those distinguished Architects, Thürmer and Gutensohn ;
labours which, although brought to a close some years ago, have never yet received that notice to which the importance and beauty of their
results entitle them. The Editor having long designed the publication of a Collection similar to that of the above-named Artists, conceived that he
could not lay his foundation better than by adopting their Plates and original Drawings ; but that he has used these only as a foundation, will be
obvious to every one acquainted with this branch of art.
The limited number of Plates included in the first set, beautiful as they are, could not pretend to do more than satisfy the immediate wants of
the time at which they were executed. Selected from a single range of subjects, and restricted to what is indispensably necessary, they are deficient
in that variety and completeness which the taste of our own day requires. Of the severe style of Ecclesiastical Architecture they comprise no
specimens at all. In the following pages, on the contrary, will be found collected instances of architectural decorations, taken from the works of every
school of Italian art, during its most flourishing period ; while, in the preparation of the Plates, neither care nor expense has been spared. And lest
the necessary costliness of the coloured copies should impede the circulation of the work, an endeavour has been made to give the same practical
utility to the uncoloured sets, by adding one plate with colours and letters of -reference, so as to afford the means of ascertaining with ease the
tints with which the engraved outlines should be filled in. Numerous notes are also added, illustrative of the combination and harmony of the
colouring.
How far the Editor may have succeeded in his attempt to rival his predecessors in this department, and, at the same time, to afford satisfaction
to the various tastes to which his work is addressed, the Public will decide ; but he must be pardoned for saying that he looks with some degree of
confidence to the result of this decision. That omissions should occur in the first publication of a work of this nature is not improbable, but
having, for various reasons, made it his particular study to avoid repetition, the Editor thinks himself entitled to require of those who may be inclined
to censure the omission of some favourite design, that they shall first ascertain whether the design in question is not surpassed in merit by that which
has been here substituted for it.
At a moment when the study of art in this country appears to be guided by a new spirit, and the erection of the Houses of Parliament upon
a scale of unusual splendour gives additional interest to every kind of architectural embellishment, it cannot be doubted that the access afforded to
compositions of such skill and beauty, as are comprised in this work, will be gratefully acknowledged even by those Painters whose efforts are directed
to the higher branches of the profession. While striving to justify the confidence felt by the Public that British art, in order to rival that of other
nations, in the very noblest department, requires only to be honourably appealed to, and judiciously encouraged, the Historical Painter will surely be
thankful for being furnished with the inferior but necessary accompaniments which these Plates either suggest or supply, since he will thus be enabled
to give his energies unbroken to the attainment of his principal object. Nor is it from Artists alone that the Editor looks for support. The Public
at large, it is hoped, will view with favour this attempt to rescue from approaching decay and oblivion these matchless monuments of a period
distinguished beyond all others by the magnificence and beauty of its art. And while those, to whom this form of decoration is new, are introduced
to as perfect a representation of it as care and skill can supply ; those to whom the original Paintings are known, are here invited to refresh their
recollection of subjects, the minuteness and variety of which defy the pencil of the Amateur.
Rutland Gate, Feb. 1844.
The inscriptions are given in French and German, which languages were originally used by Thürmer and Gutensohn, and, for the purpose of
uniformity, have been adhered to throughout the Series. The scale of measurement, in the first part of the Plates, is according to the French
foot ; in the subsequent Part, the mètre and the English foot have been employed. Of these a Comparative Table will be found in the last Plate of
the Series.
The Editor takes this opportunity of expressing his acknowledgments to Mr. A. Hittorff, for the valuable Paper, obligingly contributed by that
distinguished Architect, on the Arabesques of the ancients.
rjlHE Work here offered to the Public is in a great measure based upon the labours of those distinguished Architects, Thürmer and Gutensohn ;
labours which, although brought to a close some years ago, have never yet received that notice to which the importance and beauty of their
results entitle them. The Editor having long designed the publication of a Collection similar to that of the above-named Artists, conceived that he
could not lay his foundation better than by adopting their Plates and original Drawings ; but that he has used these only as a foundation, will be
obvious to every one acquainted with this branch of art.
The limited number of Plates included in the first set, beautiful as they are, could not pretend to do more than satisfy the immediate wants of
the time at which they were executed. Selected from a single range of subjects, and restricted to what is indispensably necessary, they are deficient
in that variety and completeness which the taste of our own day requires. Of the severe style of Ecclesiastical Architecture they comprise no
specimens at all. In the following pages, on the contrary, will be found collected instances of architectural decorations, taken from the works of every
school of Italian art, during its most flourishing period ; while, in the preparation of the Plates, neither care nor expense has been spared. And lest
the necessary costliness of the coloured copies should impede the circulation of the work, an endeavour has been made to give the same practical
utility to the uncoloured sets, by adding one plate with colours and letters of -reference, so as to afford the means of ascertaining with ease the
tints with which the engraved outlines should be filled in. Numerous notes are also added, illustrative of the combination and harmony of the
colouring.
How far the Editor may have succeeded in his attempt to rival his predecessors in this department, and, at the same time, to afford satisfaction
to the various tastes to which his work is addressed, the Public will decide ; but he must be pardoned for saying that he looks with some degree of
confidence to the result of this decision. That omissions should occur in the first publication of a work of this nature is not improbable, but
having, for various reasons, made it his particular study to avoid repetition, the Editor thinks himself entitled to require of those who may be inclined
to censure the omission of some favourite design, that they shall first ascertain whether the design in question is not surpassed in merit by that which
has been here substituted for it.
At a moment when the study of art in this country appears to be guided by a new spirit, and the erection of the Houses of Parliament upon
a scale of unusual splendour gives additional interest to every kind of architectural embellishment, it cannot be doubted that the access afforded to
compositions of such skill and beauty, as are comprised in this work, will be gratefully acknowledged even by those Painters whose efforts are directed
to the higher branches of the profession. While striving to justify the confidence felt by the Public that British art, in order to rival that of other
nations, in the very noblest department, requires only to be honourably appealed to, and judiciously encouraged, the Historical Painter will surely be
thankful for being furnished with the inferior but necessary accompaniments which these Plates either suggest or supply, since he will thus be enabled
to give his energies unbroken to the attainment of his principal object. Nor is it from Artists alone that the Editor looks for support. The Public
at large, it is hoped, will view with favour this attempt to rescue from approaching decay and oblivion these matchless monuments of a period
distinguished beyond all others by the magnificence and beauty of its art. And while those, to whom this form of decoration is new, are introduced
to as perfect a representation of it as care and skill can supply ; those to whom the original Paintings are known, are here invited to refresh their
recollection of subjects, the minuteness and variety of which defy the pencil of the Amateur.
Rutland Gate, Feb. 1844.
The inscriptions are given in French and German, which languages were originally used by Thürmer and Gutensohn, and, for the purpose of
uniformity, have been adhered to throughout the Series. The scale of measurement, in the first part of the Plates, is according to the French
foot ; in the subsequent Part, the mètre and the English foot have been employed. Of these a Comparative Table will be found in the last Plate of
the Series.
The Editor takes this opportunity of expressing his acknowledgments to Mr. A. Hittorff, for the valuable Paper, obligingly contributed by that
distinguished Architect, on the Arabesques of the ancients.