International studio (32.1907)

A rchitecture and Decoration

R

ECENT PUBLICATIONS IN ARCHI-
TECTURE AND DECORATION.

The first volume of Dr. Russell Stur-
gis’s “History of Architecture” (The

Baker & Taylor Company), which will be com-
pleted in three, covers the building periods of an-
cient Egypt, Western Asia to 300 B. C., Greece, the
Italian peoples before Roman control and the Ro-
man Empire. Some twenty years’ experience in
earlier manhood as a practising architect gives this
encyclopedic author a solid footing on his subject,
which will make the later volumes, dealing in mat-
ters of less conjecture, even more interesting still.
Special investigations in Greek and Roman methods
of construction are admirably reviewed, and ex-
tended by study of the buildings. Valuable
chapters, also, are those on Greek and Roman
traits in the disposition and grouping of build-
ings. The inference that the Greeks cared
greatly for picturesqueness of group or had
much of the feeling for landscape is put under
considerable doubt.

The building of the Greeks is difficult to compre-
hend in fulness, because in the remains it is chiefly
a matter of porticos. Herculaneum and Pompeii
display here and there the adaptation that the
Roman made of his impressive style for simple, do-
mestic buildings. But the Roman problems are
hindered by rea-
son of the fact
that there is no
one great building
in such a state of
preservation as to
give a general de-
tailed and practi-
cal answer to re-
quirements and
the artistic touch
of the designer.

Accordingly, we
are left in the
necessity of taking
up building by
building, which to
some extent is the
plan followed in
this book. The
volume is hand-
somely printed
and Carries 3 5 5 Copyright, 1906, by The Baker & Taylor

illustrations, six in interior of smaller temple

photogravure. at baalbek, syiIia

Leaning frankly on Bancroft in its historical
passages, George Wharton James’s study of the
Franciscan Missions, “ In and Out of the Old Mis-
sions of California” (Little, Brown and Company),
will probably most interest our readers in its treat-
ment of mission architecture, mural decoration,
furniture and woodwork, silver and brass ware and
statuettes of saints. One of the strongest features
of the architectural style, Mr. James considers, is
the treatment of the sides of the pediment in steps
and curves. The tower and fachada are noted in
detail, as used in various missions, and a similar
examination is made of columns, pilasters, arches,
where a puzzling irregularity occurs in spacing, and
buttresses. In the matter of interior decoration the
padres seem less successful, though the Franciscan
historian, Zephyrin, minimizes their responsibility.
The only examples well preserved are the Missions
of San Miguel Arcangel and Santa Ines. The wall
decorations appear to consist of distemper paintings
on plaster, executed without any noteworthy taste in
color. In spite of the current term, “ Mission furni-
ture,” it would appear that no such distinctive style
was evolved in furniture. Beyond the furniture
brought over from Spain, and a few examples of
oriental origin, the furniture of the missions shows
nothing but the simplest provisions to meet bare
necessities, and in no way constitutes a style. Much
of the silver and brass ware was brought from

Company

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
BY RUSSELL STURGIS

XXVII