DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7595#0119
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
107
exclusively over the greater part of Europe, its prin- chap. v.
ciples remained fixed and unchanged, in passing
through a multitude of hands, eager to outdo their
predecessors and their rivals, by the novelty as well
as by the elegance of their compositions. Such a con-
formity cannot be accounted for, but by supposing
that the artists were guided in their work by some
principle known to them all, and handed down from
one generation to another. But that no such principle
has reached our knowledge, is proved by the various
unsuccessful attempts which have been made of late
to explain the forms of Gothic architecture, and to
reconcile them to each other; we must, therefore,
conclude, that if there had been any such principle, it
was known to the artists only, and concealed by them secrecy,
from the rest of the world. In order to determine
this point, it is necessary to enquire by whom the art
was practised. In that view, I shall refer, in the first
place, to Sir Christopher Wren, an authority of great
weight.
" He was of opinion," (says his son, Mr. Wren,
Parentalia, page 306. folio 1750, London,) that what
we now vulgarly call the Gothic, ought properly and
truly to be named Saracenic Architecture, refined by Saracens.
107
exclusively over the greater part of Europe, its prin- chap. v.
ciples remained fixed and unchanged, in passing
through a multitude of hands, eager to outdo their
predecessors and their rivals, by the novelty as well
as by the elegance of their compositions. Such a con-
formity cannot be accounted for, but by supposing
that the artists were guided in their work by some
principle known to them all, and handed down from
one generation to another. But that no such principle
has reached our knowledge, is proved by the various
unsuccessful attempts which have been made of late
to explain the forms of Gothic architecture, and to
reconcile them to each other; we must, therefore,
conclude, that if there had been any such principle, it
was known to the artists only, and concealed by them secrecy,
from the rest of the world. In order to determine
this point, it is necessary to enquire by whom the art
was practised. In that view, I shall refer, in the first
place, to Sir Christopher Wren, an authority of great
weight.
" He was of opinion," (says his son, Mr. Wren,
Parentalia, page 306. folio 1750, London,) that what
we now vulgarly call the Gothic, ought properly and
truly to be named Saracenic Architecture, refined by Saracens.