DOI issue:
No. 195 (June, 1909)
DOI article:Reviews and notices
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20967#0099
Reviews and Notices
too rapidly therefrom. As a critic Ruskin’s failure
seemed in apprehending the essential mystery of the
finest craft, but writing upon art in its relationship
to the development of human genius, it cannot be
denied to him that his work is unapproached for
profundity and illumination. In this belief we
could ill afford to omit our appreciation of the
publication of these letters, or of the task completed
in them, as the last volumes of the monumental
edition of Ruskin’s works began six years ago.
A History of Architectural Development. By
F. M. Simpson. In three vols. Vol. II. Medise-
val. (London : Longman.) 2or. net.—In this
second volume of his important work Prof. Simp-
son pursues the same aim as that which he kept
before him in writing the first, noticed in these
pages about three years ago, that aim being to
trace the development of architecture through the
planning, construction, materials, and principles of
design of the buildings described, note being taken
also of the influences which helped to shape that
development. While the first volume dealt with
the evolution and interrelation of the architecture
of the Archaic nations and of Greece and its subse-
quent Byzantine development, the present volume
treats wholly of ecclesiastical architecture through
the centuries when Romanesque and Gothic art
flourished. The first half of the volume is occu-
pied with such details of churches as arches, arch-
mouldings and labels, columns, piers, capitals, bases,
walls, buttresses, plinths, windows, vaultings, towers
and spires, mural decoration, and other ornamental
adjuncts, all discussed and illustrated seriatim,
much valuable technical information being given ;
and the second part is devoted to a consideration
of the churches as integral structures. Important
chapters are those on “The Development of Church
Planning” and “Gothic Architecture in England
and Scotland,” the author commenting in connec-
tion with the latter on the increasing readiness
shown by leading authorities to acknowledge
the beauty of the art of this country, whereas a
generation ago there was a disposition to belittle
it. An interesting point emphasized by the author
in treating of French Gothic is the change that
took place when the monks ceased to act as archi-
tects—that is, when the profession became secular-
ized. The monk-designer’s training had saturated
him with traditional methods which he found
difficult to discard, and it was to the infusion of
PORTRAIT OF FRAU I. R.
[See Berlin Sttidio Talk)
BY CARL MAX REBEL
77
too rapidly therefrom. As a critic Ruskin’s failure
seemed in apprehending the essential mystery of the
finest craft, but writing upon art in its relationship
to the development of human genius, it cannot be
denied to him that his work is unapproached for
profundity and illumination. In this belief we
could ill afford to omit our appreciation of the
publication of these letters, or of the task completed
in them, as the last volumes of the monumental
edition of Ruskin’s works began six years ago.
A History of Architectural Development. By
F. M. Simpson. In three vols. Vol. II. Medise-
val. (London : Longman.) 2or. net.—In this
second volume of his important work Prof. Simp-
son pursues the same aim as that which he kept
before him in writing the first, noticed in these
pages about three years ago, that aim being to
trace the development of architecture through the
planning, construction, materials, and principles of
design of the buildings described, note being taken
also of the influences which helped to shape that
development. While the first volume dealt with
the evolution and interrelation of the architecture
of the Archaic nations and of Greece and its subse-
quent Byzantine development, the present volume
treats wholly of ecclesiastical architecture through
the centuries when Romanesque and Gothic art
flourished. The first half of the volume is occu-
pied with such details of churches as arches, arch-
mouldings and labels, columns, piers, capitals, bases,
walls, buttresses, plinths, windows, vaultings, towers
and spires, mural decoration, and other ornamental
adjuncts, all discussed and illustrated seriatim,
much valuable technical information being given ;
and the second part is devoted to a consideration
of the churches as integral structures. Important
chapters are those on “The Development of Church
Planning” and “Gothic Architecture in England
and Scotland,” the author commenting in connec-
tion with the latter on the increasing readiness
shown by leading authorities to acknowledge
the beauty of the art of this country, whereas a
generation ago there was a disposition to belittle
it. An interesting point emphasized by the author
in treating of French Gothic is the change that
took place when the monks ceased to act as archi-
tects—that is, when the profession became secular-
ized. The monk-designer’s training had saturated
him with traditional methods which he found
difficult to discard, and it was to the infusion of
PORTRAIT OF FRAU I. R.
[See Berlin Sttidio Talk)
BY CARL MAX REBEL
77