DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4692#0006
PREFACE.
RCIIITECTUHE was formerly defined as—"A mathematical science giving rules for
designing and raising all sorts of structures according to Geometry and Proportion." And
such in reality it then was. The finest buildings of all ages—such as the Parthenon,
Westminster Abbey, Cologne Cathedral, St. Paul's, the Valhalla, and the New Palace of
"Westminster—though not all, perhaps, built according to rule, were designed according to
certain laws of proportion, of which every great architect, from Ictinus and Hermogenes
to William of Sens and William of Wykeham, and from Wren to Chambers, Barry, and Cockerell, has had
intuitive perception, and without the observance of which Architecture is nothing more than bad building.
In the present day, that important element in Architectural beauty—Proportion—is, for the most part,
either altogether ignored, or else completely overlooked, in efforts after the picturesque, or in the adaptation
of buildings to suit the utilitarian and economical requirements of the age. Our ecclesiastical buildings are
frequently but imperfect imitations of ordinary town and village churches, or else so-called original compositions
in which stunted columns, top-heavy capitals, and windows absurdly elongated, are introduced by way of
novelty or for the sake of the contrasts produced by disproportion; and our civic and other public edifices often
but shapeless masses of stone or brick, all wall or all window, without that relation between pier and aperture
so necessary to give the appearance of lightness and at the same time of stability. In short, we are groping
in the dark in search of the true principles of design.
Yet, a glimmering of light is beginning to be visible. Those who formerly were to be classed amongst
the most vehement opponents of all art that was not Mediaeval, are now ready to acknowledge that there is
something good even in Greek Architecture, which is pre-eminently based upon rules of proportion and geometry.
At last, the conviction that harmonious composition is inseparable from real beauty, is making itself felt; so
that we may entertain good hopes of the Architecture of the future. We may believe that whether our suc-
cessors adopt one general style for every description of building, or whether (which would seem the more sensible
plan) they use one style, founded on ecclesiological principles, for their churches, and another, in which
magnificence and convenience shall be combined, for their civil and domestic buildings, they will perceive
that any edifice may be designed and erected according to the eternal rules of proportion, and, at the
same time, may preserve the distinctive characteristics of style.
No nation studied and applied to their buildings the laws of proportion to such an extent as did the
Greeks; and to what extent we arc only just beginning to appreciate. Mr. P. C. Penrose, in his careful and
elaborate study of the Parthenon, and Mr. Watkiss Lloyd, in his valuable Appendix to Mr. CockereH's
"iEgina and Bassse," and in his Essay on the Theory of Proportion in Architectural Design and its
exemplification in detail in the Parthenon, may be said to be the first who developed, beyond contradiction,
the actual system of proportion that the Greek architects employed in the design of their temples. Mr.
Watkiss Lloyd has discovered that this system was one of progressive ratios, and that it was applied to the
minor details, as well as for the purpose of determining the dimensions of a plan, and fixing the chief
lines of the elevation.
b
RCIIITECTUHE was formerly defined as—"A mathematical science giving rules for
designing and raising all sorts of structures according to Geometry and Proportion." And
such in reality it then was. The finest buildings of all ages—such as the Parthenon,
Westminster Abbey, Cologne Cathedral, St. Paul's, the Valhalla, and the New Palace of
"Westminster—though not all, perhaps, built according to rule, were designed according to
certain laws of proportion, of which every great architect, from Ictinus and Hermogenes
to William of Sens and William of Wykeham, and from Wren to Chambers, Barry, and Cockerell, has had
intuitive perception, and without the observance of which Architecture is nothing more than bad building.
In the present day, that important element in Architectural beauty—Proportion—is, for the most part,
either altogether ignored, or else completely overlooked, in efforts after the picturesque, or in the adaptation
of buildings to suit the utilitarian and economical requirements of the age. Our ecclesiastical buildings are
frequently but imperfect imitations of ordinary town and village churches, or else so-called original compositions
in which stunted columns, top-heavy capitals, and windows absurdly elongated, are introduced by way of
novelty or for the sake of the contrasts produced by disproportion; and our civic and other public edifices often
but shapeless masses of stone or brick, all wall or all window, without that relation between pier and aperture
so necessary to give the appearance of lightness and at the same time of stability. In short, we are groping
in the dark in search of the true principles of design.
Yet, a glimmering of light is beginning to be visible. Those who formerly were to be classed amongst
the most vehement opponents of all art that was not Mediaeval, are now ready to acknowledge that there is
something good even in Greek Architecture, which is pre-eminently based upon rules of proportion and geometry.
At last, the conviction that harmonious composition is inseparable from real beauty, is making itself felt; so
that we may entertain good hopes of the Architecture of the future. We may believe that whether our suc-
cessors adopt one general style for every description of building, or whether (which would seem the more sensible
plan) they use one style, founded on ecclesiological principles, for their churches, and another, in which
magnificence and convenience shall be combined, for their civil and domestic buildings, they will perceive
that any edifice may be designed and erected according to the eternal rules of proportion, and, at the
same time, may preserve the distinctive characteristics of style.
No nation studied and applied to their buildings the laws of proportion to such an extent as did the
Greeks; and to what extent we arc only just beginning to appreciate. Mr. P. C. Penrose, in his careful and
elaborate study of the Parthenon, and Mr. Watkiss Lloyd, in his valuable Appendix to Mr. CockereH's
"iEgina and Bassse," and in his Essay on the Theory of Proportion in Architectural Design and its
exemplification in detail in the Parthenon, may be said to be the first who developed, beyond contradiction,
the actual system of proportion that the Greek architects employed in the design of their temples. Mr.
Watkiss Lloyd has discovered that this system was one of progressive ratios, and that it was applied to the
minor details, as well as for the purpose of determining the dimensions of a plan, and fixing the chief
lines of the elevation.
b