a concise history of
western architecture
R.
FURNEAUX JORDAN
UOM^
\
A CONCISE HISTORY OF
WESTERN ARCHITECTURE
R.
FURNEAUX JORDAN
A CONCISE HISTORY OF
WESTERN ARCHITECTURE
\m HARCOURT, BRACE JOVANOVICH, INC
To E.M.FJ.
(Q 1969 BY THAMES AND HUDSON LIMITED All
rights reserved.
No part of this publication
may
LONDON
be reproduced,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
*
Reprinted ig84
Library of Congress Catalog
Printed and
and
bound
in
Card Number: jg^ggsSS
Spain by
Artes Graficas Toledo S.P.A.
D.L. TO-291 84
CONTENTS 6
Preface
7
CHAPTER ONE Introductory
23
CHAPTER TWO Classical Greece
45
CHAPTER THREE The Roman Empire
71
CHAPTER FOUR The Byzantine Empire
95
CHAPTER FIVE Western Christendom
125
CHAPTER
SIX
Western Christendom 167
Romanesque
I:
II
:
Gothic
CHAPTER SEVEN Renaissance, Mannerism, and Baroque in Italy
213
CHAPTER EIGHT Renaissance, Mannerism, and Baroque outside Italy
259
CHAPTER NINE The Return to Classicism
283
CHAPTER TEN The Nineteenth Century
307
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Modern Movement
338
A Short Bibliography
340
List of Illustrations
355
Index
"t
PREFACE
This book
main
at the
dawn
an attempt, in a very small compass,
is
Western architecture from the
trends of
of history to the present day. Even more,
show how
attempt to
look
to
it
and forms of
the actual structure
architecture were almost always the product of time
space - of circumstance more than
-
and actions
Man's thoughts
his religion, politics, art,
technology and
the things from
which an
architecture
a civilization, rightly interpreted, tion of the society
man and
little
to the
thing he
is
to
an
art
tied
either in
This
more marked than
the painter, poet,
in
can withdraw
to
some
without
is
artist,
at least also
by
special twist or
own
era.
purposes and executed
limits, this dialectical
any other
sort
He
time or space. In architect
art.
To some
own
law
extent in^
generation -
of ivory tower; the architect
the product of a
would be an
of
an iron law
composer, sculptor - although
never. Architecture It
art
may design it a man; what he can
evitably a child of his time serving his
stances.
is
True, the
some
give
practical
to
The
are
designing, and
always within severe practical is
born.
produce something not of his
cannot be elsewhere ture,
is
may
worse than the next
better or
never do
it.
all his artefacts.
skill
is
and climate
a very precise reflect
is
which produced
reason of his taste or
charm
and
will.
aspirations, as well as landscape, geology
concerning
an
is
hundred circum/-
arid task to study the architecture
glancing
at the
circumstances.
R.F.J.
Chapter One
INTRODUCTORY
All European
culture, not least
beginnings outside Europe. Prehistoric
much
widely over thin
on
its
man had spread He was
of the habitable world.
ground but he was
the
had
architecture,
its
many thousands of years
there.
And
through
yet,
- whether hunter, shepherd
or
fisherman - he had never organized himself into any kind
of community larger than the family or the group of families
we call a tribe. His energy was concentrated upon
survival in a hard world, following his flocks from
pasture to pasture, picking berries as he went.
marvellous uninhibited talent of a child
of a savage
his cave, the resourcefulness his hut.
baskets,
He
many
invented
pots,
things
-
canoes - but, never
He had the
when when
painting
building
spears, fish-hooks, settling,
he never
invented the town.
Only when man could to
'civilization',
and
therefore architecture,
This liberation was the It
came,
deltas,
this
where the
upon
a
first
map we
comes into existence
was black and
reeds. If
from
tion spreads outwards at
the valleys of the Tigris
we
plot the
and
in their
fertile,
first
and
civiliza^
shall find, not that civiliza^ a centre, but rather that
more than one
are several tiny caterpillars
like
revolution in the story of man.
alluvial soil
world
thraldom
come into being.
to start with, in the great river valleys
one could build with tions
himself from
economy could anything
hunter/fisher
the
free
point, that there
of culture upon the globe
and Euphrates
it
in
.
.
.
Mesopotamia,
of the Nile in Egypt, of the Indus in north^'west India
and of the Yangtse
in
China. They
all
had one thing
in
INTRODUCTORY
Common,
Each of these
a mastery of irrigation.
valleys
most of all the Nile - when the annual snows melted the
in
mountains hundreds of miles away, was flooded. The
silt^bearing water crept inch by inch over the level fields
depositmg
When man
precious load.
its
control this flood, with dykes, ditches
then his corn seed was returned to fold.
It
and
was
many were
the
even leave the It is
man
possible for one
upon mind, and
sold.
and
far
that ideas
So
in
Upper Egypt,
mind can sharpen
came
the city there
came
first
in the Delta
and then
mathematicians,
prostitutes
scribes, doctors,
and
and
astronomers and merchants,
actors,
was
architects. It
in
And with
also into history not only priests
and
and
Mesopotamia
into history the city.
kings, but lawyers
potters, artists
itself
and techniques can be exchanged
China),
there
many,
in cities.
in the Nile Valley (as also in
away
for
They might
freed for other tasks.
especially in cities that
to
hundred^
several
grow corn
to
how
and water-wheels,
him
and come together
soil
learnt
the beginning of all
things.
As
sixteenth^'Century
Spain and England accepted the
challenge of the sea and of a
Rome
New
World,
as
ancient
accepted the challenge of a continent and built
an empire, so Egypt accepted the challenge of reeds and
swamps and nation.
hot sand and flood, and built the
Other people came
similar ways, but
first
into existence in not dis^
Egypt was unique.
To
Nile
live in the
Valley was to be enclosed, from birth to death, within a
geography and a routine of extraordinary simplicity.
There were few things Egyptian mind; such
impress themselves
to
psychological impact was Itself
- source of
regularity of sun,
the grave.
It
all
they were,
as
terrific.
moon and
was out of
things that the Egyptians
however,
the
stars; there
was
the fear
made
the
their
There was the Nile
was
there
life;
upon
mysterious fertility
and mystery of
their
and
these
complex hierarchy
of gods, and their strange reHgion. In the service of that 8
religion they
made
their art
and
their architecture.
Egyptian theology, with
its
The
animal/'headed gods, was complicated.
strange
most important thing was the belief that survival death depended
upon
Immortality was only for privileged royal and
might hope
world beyond the
in the
to
after
body.
the preservation o{ the
beings, except that a servant
INTRODUCTORY
pharaohs and
deified
priestly
be a servant
servitude to his
stars, in eternal
At the day of resurrection the spirit or Ka of the dead man would enter once more into his body; the body master.
must be
moment. In
there, intact, ready for that
historic times the fact that the dry desert to preserve the
came
skill,
world's corpse
sand had helped the idea of what
be called 'the good burial'. For three thousand
to
years that idea
high
body may have suggested
pre-'
first
was an obsession. Embalming became
one of the most important sciences in the civilization.
was embalmed
or
followed logically, once the
It
mummified,
that
preserved in an impregnable tomb. difficult.
a
The
impregnability of the
problem, and indeed the
Impregnabihty had
to
basis,
it
must
also be
This was more
tomb became
the
of Egyptian architecture.
be provided in more than one
form, security for the cadaver, and security for the dead
man's possessions his jewels.
his wives, his furniture, his
The accumulated
Egypt, with which the world's
objets
d'art
museums
food and
Ancient
of
are filled,
once in tombs, awaiting a second existence
were
at
the
resurrection. The tomb was not only an impregnable
monument;
it
was
a storehouse, a chapel
and
a
work of
art.
The Egyptian tomb had to
to
be not only durable,
it
had
look durable. Apart from prehistoric graves - which,
1
Reconstruction of the tomh^complex
of Zoser
at
showin£^ the Step
by ritual buildings,
entrails
-
jars for food,
ointment and
tombs were
the mastahas of
the earliest historic
%:\7\:^^
BC),
Pyramid surrounded all
within a stone-'
faced wall: (a) entrance; (b) hall of pillars;
(c)
ceremonial
court;
(d)
storeAiouses ; (e) double^throne and (f) shrines of Upper and Lower Egypt; (g)
and (h) south and north buildings and courts, possibly
stration of
however, already contained
Saqqara (c.2680
symbolizing the admini^
Upper and Lower Egypt;
mortuary temple; (j) south tomb. Pharaoh's tomb
lies
(i)
The
under the pyramid
the I-III Dynasties of the
Archaic Period
(c. 3
B c). They were mainly near Memphis, a
tombs were small with stepped
name coming from
top (their
little
south of
Old Memphite Nome. These
Cairo, capital of the mastaha
200-c. 2700
the
and
sides
Arabic
a
flat
bench
for a
of the type found outside the doors of Arab houses). They
were almost solid but somewhere in the heart of the mass of mud^brick or masonry was a
series
chamber containing
the burial
dead, with
2
Saqqara.
Columns
ridded stem III.
-
in
the shape
tulips shaped flowers
in
of and
this false
offerings could be
of the soul.
mastaha
was faced with limestone blocks brought
from the mountains bordering the Nile Valley. These were
and accurately cut
finely
for their
place in the
the north court (h, in
i); the builders did not yet trust
stone enough to
a
dead, and where the priest could say prayers
for the repose
papyrus - with
was
body. This recess
to the
where
also served as a small chapel
The
there
blocked^up door. Through
door the Ka or soul could return
to the
the sarcophagus of the
impedimenta. Externally
all his
recess simulating a
made
ofrooms, including
make them free-standing.
Symbolic of Lower E^ypt,
the
papyrus
became a common decorative motif
sloping walls. Functionally, therefore, the mastaha was
designed to achieve permanence. Aesthetically designed
it
involved metal tools, mathematics, trans^
and organized labour.
port
was
look permanent in an impressive way.
to
Technically
it
apparent simplicity -
It
was, in
architecture. It
was
a great development.
It
pyramids, while the
little
was
fact
for all
also the
clearly the
recess or
-
its
germ of
embryo of
chapel was
the
be
to
developed eventually, in Upper Egypt, into the great
mortuary temples of Thebes on the west bank of the Nile
Luxor. The
at
fine stone^cutting
of a masonry tradition which was
start
golden thread through
The
first
scale
10
It
Known as the was
the
to
run Hke a
the architecture of Europe.
Memphis and
development of the
in form.
high;
all
'pyramid' was buik as early
Sakkara, between
III
of the mastaha was the
as
the Nile.
f.2680 bc, at It
was
a larger
mastaha^ not truly pyramidical
Step Pyramid,
tomb of
the
it is
some 200
^ttt
Pharaoh Zoser of the
Dynasty, and formed part of a large and very
sophisticated
group of buildings. Most of
these are in
sham - simply
effect
mere
the
on
A
solid rubble cores
of stone
fact that they are
importance. over
facades
of tremendous
is
double throne symbolized Zoser's rule
Upper and Lower Egypt, and in a small sealed
all,
number of features
a
two kingdoms. At
exist in duplicate to represent the
the heart of
- but
chamber next
to the
pyramid, was the grim seated statue of Zoser, once
with malachite eyes
A
and
Pyramid once a
itself
Museum).
in the Cairo
come
maturity.
to
Layout,
setting, as well as painting and sculp"
become
have
ture,
now
is
has here
civilization
plan, vista
(this
part
The
of architecture.
has long since
lost its facing,
giant's
to
clear-cut
staircase
Step
but was
The
Heaven.
whole group was contrived, considered, designed.
know
the
name of
His technical
the architect.
was
skill
imagination that was
but
great,
now
He was was
it
Imhotep.
the creative
recognized for the
time as a divine attribute of man. Imhotep was a
High
honour later
Priest
of
Re
the
in this world,
ages he
Sun God, and was
and of immortality
was revered
as a sage
and
We
first
made
assured of
in the next. In
as the
patron god
j,
4
Giza. Below,
Cheops Chephren
A
little
right.
the
north of Memphis, on the rocky plateau
Mykerinus;
and
Above,
now
the
pyramids of many courtiers, austere
sizes,
mastaba
tombs
basalt,
free-standing
of
and unadorned funerary temples cut
with beautiful precision, underground passages and, almost always, wherever one might be, the sharp apex of a
pyramid against the blue sky
their
or the stars. There, with
golden furniture, jewels and spices around them,
kings and queens, princes and princesses, were buried.
There, during the
IV Dynasty, the three largest pyramidal
tombs were
by three pharaohs, Cheops, Chephren
built
and Mykerinus: each pyramid was life
and of eternal servitude
The
largest (c.2575
a
symbol of eternal
to the king.
Bc) was buik by Cheops.
It
was
in every sense a climax, historically
and
aesthetically.
masonry
IV Dynasty:
rows o{
for the burial
mortuary temple by
Its severe
of the
of Giza, was the royal cemetery - an orderly arrangement of windless courts paved with green
mastaba
Nile where Chephren's body was
teristic
to the
pyramids of foreground),
tombs, for the courtiers, are visible at the
embalmed.
of medicine.
the
BC,
(c.2^'/^
is
charac^
the piers are
INTRODUCTORY
Although Imhotep's work at Sakkara was a brilliant revolution - virtually the creation of architecture as an art
-
was only one of a
it
Dashur, leading
to the apotheosis
Pyramid contained stone. lost.
It
was 480
Each
series
of Giza. This Great
and a quarter million tons of
six
feet
- Sakkara, Medum,
high before the apex stones were
side of the square base
mathematical error of about
003
was 760
per cent.
pyramid of Mykerinus
Giza
conjectural
Four
(a
at
reconstruction).
rubble ramps were built, pro^res-^
sively higher, around the stone casing of the pyramid.
men dragged Nile,
on
Up
in place,
the
removed and the side
-
joints
of an inch - jeweller's
onez-fiftieth
work unexcelled by
the builders of the Parthenon.
impressive were the actual mechanics of
men worked The blocks of
construction. Herodotus says that 100,000 for
twenty years fed on a diet of onions.
stone,
some of them 20
feet
from the quarry by barge
by 6
feet,
would be brought
height of the Nile flood,
at the
three
stone,
sledges;
crews descended.
of these teams of brought from the
The
between them were
Almost more the
with a
Each polished
block weighed about two and a half tons.
5 Building
feet,
by
Once
the fourth
the
the capstone
was
ramps would
and then dragged up hundred
feet
ramp
a
above the
both ends of the journey
at
river.
to the
Wedges,
Pyramid
site,
a
rockers, levers,
be gradually
the stone facing
polished
but they had to be handled
-
visible at
cradles
and
sledges were
was the wheel - no
carts,
all
no
used.
The
pulleys,
missing element
no cranes.
The Great Pyramid mystical is
a valid
symbol of a
The
culture.
meaning of the measurements and proportions
unknown;
it
mathematics not
is
certain,
as a
mystique, an end in
Greek
this
is
mere
itself
attitude to
however, that here
we have
tool of the engineer, but as a
God
is
a mathematician.
mathematics
as art that
It is
would seem
6
Instead of pyramids,
have come into the world with the tomb o{ Cheops.
The pyramids mark the culmination o{ the Old Kingdom - monolithic, immutable, austere, puritanical. There followed an interregnum and a 'dark
VII
to
X
age'
pharaohs
mortuary temples at Thebes Such
was
the
.
(XIX
Ramesseum
oj
'Kameses II
Dynasty), seen here from
the
court looking towards the pillared hall
The
court
was decorated with
colossal statues of the
Osiris (see also
to
later
built
pillars
III.
reliejs
pharaoh as ij).
the
The
anc
god
squat
beyond have both papyrus and
lotus^bud capitals
- the
Then once more, about 2000 bc, history. With the rise of the Middle
Dynasties.
Egypt emerges into
Kingdom
pharaohs a new capital was established
at
Thebes, 300 miles south of Memphis. In 1370 bc,
Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) was to at Amarna (now Tel-'el^Amarna)
build a to
the
Thebes, but the Theban area remained in metropolitan province of Egypt until the
Roman Empire two
enter
upon
thousand
its
city
north effect
of the
absorption in
years later.
the age of the great temples.
new
We
now 13
INTRODUCTORY
This development in the
no corresponding change burial', the preservation
was
for use in the next, is,
of architecture
use
in
life
The 'good
or religion.
of the material things of this
still
pyramid had been
bility, so far
a failure. Their massive impregna-'
and
sacrilege
Nevertheless the dead must
and
must
there
and
sacrificial offerings
now
The fact tomb and
from protecting the tomb, had advertised
existence. Pilfering
possessions,
life
the basis of all belief
however, that functionally both the mastaha
the
signifies
The
be hidden.
in the mastaha wall,
still still
had been rampant. be buried with
all their
be a sacred place for
tomb must
prayers. In short the
mere
offering niche, once a
recess
had already become a considerable,
but nevertheless subordinate, chapel of the pyramid.
now assumed overwhelming
tombs of the hills.
to
deified
Here and
give the
(i.e.
importance.
mortuary temples) related
to the
pharaohs buried deep in the Theban Deir el^Bahari, the temptation
mountain tomb some -
irresistible.
On
great architectural
combine tomb and temple - was
to
still
A number of really
there, as at
frontispiece
the whole, however, the
worked. The temples, on a
new
tombs.
Some may
tomb of amassed
the
boy
are
king,
was
treasures,
There
be there
many
all
deep
known,
the
Tutankh^Amun, with
its
still.
well
is
substantially intact until 1922.
Karnak
originally
compound, with
their
beautiful single temples throughout
the Nile Valley, but at
of temples,
As
system
were built near the
vast scale,
while the dead kings were sealed in
river,
It
Theban Empire were
the great temples of the
funerary chapels
its
there
a
is
whole complex
contained within a sacred
a sacred lake bearing a
The compound was approached from
colony of ibis.
the Nile by
an
avenue of carved couchant rams. These temples were built
There
is
unless
we
to
14
through the centuries by a whole
Rome,
series
of pharaohs.
nothing comparable in the Western world think of each
Roman
emperor adding a forum
or the cathedrals being
four or five centuries.
The main
added
to
through some
core around
which
the
^
1
Jll
e
If
11 If fl II
jl
o a i>anirWiaMic
rest
grew was
the great
^
iiiuiia>-,
Temple of Amun, begun
in the
XII Dynasty (1991-1786 bc). Other pharaohs added
7
Temple of Amun
Precincts of the
^kdmak (XI J Dynasty Approaching from
temples, pylons or temple courts until the end of Egypt's history.
The dead
other gods,
was
but deified pharaoh, absorbed into the
would be worshipped. His
interest, therefore,
of rams
avenue
The
which
that
of
Amun
was
merely a large version, had usually an outer court open to the sky
but with columns round, as in a cloister; then,
that,
a large
columned
hall followed
by the
sanctuary; then beyond that again a rabbit-warren of
rooms where the priests lived and planned
The
central
room of this
the holy of holies
temple rooms lit
-
if at all
all
- by
small hole in the
inner
where the
their
complex was
cult statue
was
ceremony.
Nile
the
one
(a),
by
the
enters
the
Tuthmosis
III
kept.
The
8~ioJ
festival hall of
The
(d).
length
is
(I-VI), added by
successive pharaohs. Further pylons on
VII-X)
lead towards the
Temple of Mut, standing
in a
separate
enclosure like that of Monthu (e). to the
Temple of
Amun
III (g).
The
Next
are the sacred
lake (f) and a temple added by
the shrine,
at
after).
see also Ills. to the
interrupted by pylons
another axis (
beyond
(c,
past the sanctuary
typical temple, of
and
Temple of Amun proper, which stretches from the great courtyard (b) through the hypostyle hall
personal.
f
Rameses
precincts are completely
walled
looked inwards upon courts, and were a small shaft of sunlight penetrating a flat
stone roof
The
enclosing wall (the
15
INTRODUCTORY
had no windows; moreover
temenos) therefore
it
was
double so that the whole temple was surrounded by
All the columns,
totally inaccessible security corridor.
the walls,
all
were completely covered with incised
and hieroglyphs - hymns
pictures
a
to the deities
and
statements of self/glorification by the pharaohs.
The avenue of rams - which began 8-10 Hypostyle Dynasty).
hall,
Below,
and
plan
section
looking alon^ the main axis: the more
massive central columns, with papyrus capitals,
clerestory
support lighting
lower pillars
(compare
at
have
111. 6,
roof with
higher
a
the
sides.
lotus^hud
of the
same
The
capitals
showing
stone grilles.
treatment
the
One
clerestory sees
the
-
were
all
with
As
planned with
Egyptian
of masonry - columns and
symmetry, on a single
so often throughout history
in the
The
grand manner -
central
doorways,
hall axis.
- whenever planning
the real basis ot for instance,
most curiously cut away so
were the pylons. These
prominent
feature of every
they are 140
hieroglyphs, so delicate that they do not
feet
it is
the procession.
have
that banners
is
their lintels
and standards
pairs of pylons are the
most
times
become
At Karnak
pennons, and bearing in very low
accounts of the glory of pharaoh, about
relief epic
eight
Egyptian temple.
high - near/solid masses of masonry,
slotted for masts flying
covered with slightly incised figures and
mass
strict
columned
the
its
walls of tremendous weight and mass
detract from the junctional
and
the entrance, the court,
landings
could pass through unlowered. Flanking each doorway
date).
Opposite, a view across the hall along a-a,
stage
(XIX
Karnak
at the
life
size.
Symmetry and grandeur have
part of architecture.
We are led by this symmetry and grandeur all the way from the avenue of rams into the outer court, and from the court into the hypostyle hall. This hall significance.
columns
It
is
a
are very massive,
single slabs can bridge vistas
columned
and
and
hall.
The
is
of great
cylindrical
are closely spaced so that
from one column
to another.
The
the glimpses from one side of the hall to the
LOt^^
INTRODUCTORY
and dramatic. The
Other are mysterious
by 160
feet.
each 69
Down the centre
feet
is
hall
is
320
feet
an avenue of 12 columns,
high and nearly 12
feet in
diameter. These
On
have bell^shaped capitals based on the lotus blossom. of
either side
are other
columned
high and 9
avenue or 'nave' of columns,
this central
each with 60 columns, 42
areas,
diameter. Since the central avenue has
feet in
columns higher than those of the roof of the central area
of the side
halls.
some 20
is
area
feet
on
either side, the
higher than the roof
This means that there
between the higher and the lower
roof,
is
a vertical wall
and
These admit daylight into the of lighting - where one
than another part -
an
light
effective
grilles.
high up. This method
part of a building rises higher
called 'clerestory lighting'.
is
found again and again nave of a cathedral
hall
can
that this
be pierced by windows - actually by large stone
is
feet
It
is
in history, as for instance in the
when
method.
It
high up, above the
it
above the
rises
aisles.
It
keeps the source and glare of
eye,
and
yet lights brilliantly the
central area of a large building. In the case of the hypostyle hall at
Karnak
shafts
of
forest
it
must have been sunlight
brilliant
particularly dramatic
penetrating
of columns. Here and there the
the richly painted hieroglyphics
added
light,
to the history
shadowy
would
catch
and carvings, while
the
would be
in almost complete
colour and
drama have here been
outer parts of the hall
shadow. Mystery,
light
the
-
of architecture.
The simple geometrical forms of Egyptian architecture, clean and clearz-cut, unadorned except for
reliefs
and
incised hieroglyphs, bore a perfect relationship to the
landscape.
They were
the level desert. in the
in contrast to the peerless sky
and
They were an echo of the rock formations
mountains beyond the Valley. This,
in early days,
may have been chance. By the time of the XVIII Dynasty (1570-13 14 Bc)
there
is
little
doubt but
that
the
Egyptians had become conscious, aesthetically conscious,
of the relationship of architecture 18
lies
to landscape.
The proof
in the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el^Bahari.
MT
mrrai
>^rr:r
12
The
temples of
(XIX
larger
Rameses
II at
Dynasty), before
higher ground.
two
of the
its
Simbel
removal
consisted of four seated statues of the
The
temple,
hollowed out of the rock, was entered between the two pairs of figures
platforms were fronted by colonnades, on the
back wall of which
are incised
and painted
reliefs telling
to
The stupendous facade
pharaoh, each 6^ feet hi^h.
The
rock^cut
Ahu
of the Queen's divine birth, her expeditions and archie tectural achievements.
a
From
the upper platform there
wide view of the Nile, but Deir el^Bahari can
is
also be
approached by a mountain path from the Valley of the
Kings where the Queen
The main deliberate
herself was buried.
point about Deir el/Bahari, however,
simplicity
of
its
architecture,
subordination to the dramatic landscape.
its
reads'
from
pattern of light far off.
and shade
the
complete
A few strong
horizontal lines contrast with the verticality of the
The broad
is
in the
cliff.
colonnades
Richness, ornament and sculpture are
almost wholly omitted since they could never compete
with the surroundings. ture in landscape
20
Egypt passed on
An
understanding of
must be added to
Europe.
architec/-
to those things
which
of the mountain was
If the temple at the foot
INTRODUCTORY
to be part
of the landscape, two courses were open to the builder.
The
first,
as at
Deir
was
el^'Bahari,
would hold
strong lines, such as
to design
with a few
own
against the
their
overwhelming precipice above them, and
The
sculptural ornament.
sculptural architecture
was
other course
on such
avoid
to to
produce a
a grandiose scale that
would hold
its
own. This seemingly impossible
was undertaken
at
Abu
too,
Abu
Simbel were
it,
task
Simbel on the Upper Nile by
carving the actual face of the mountain. at
all
built in the
The two
XIX
temples
Dynasty by
ij Just
Simbel
Rameses
about 1250 BC.
II,
The
certainly stupendous, holding
the
mountain
side,
but also
its
when
larger
own
of the two was
not only against
seen from far off across
the river.
A forecourt led to a great facade,
and 100
feet
beyond
sanctuary -
was
It
out of the living rock.
facade one passed into a vestibule with eight
columns representing Osiris;
wide
was carved with four Rameses, each 65 feet high -
made possible only by cutting them this
feet
high. This facade
colossal seated statues ot
Beyond
119
that
the
was
King a
in the likeness of the
columned
hall
and then
a complete temple underneath a
really the application
god the
mountain.
of the technique of tomb
building to the making of a temple. (The formation of a
modern blocks, level
reservoir has involved cutting out the temple in
and removing
it,
to
be reconstructed
above the water.)
Egyptian building perfectly mirrors
it
was
free
extraneous influences such as an alien culture.
see
it,
however,
it is
misleading.
It
More
creators.
its
than any architecture there has ever been, all
higher
at a
from
As we
appears to us as
if
it
were wholly an architecture of death. The palaces and the houses have all vanished centuries ago.
All we
know
of them must be deduced from the paintings and the contents of the tombs.
The
house, an
affair
of reeds, hanging mats and
wooden columns, must have had a certain airy elegance. The gardens were formal. The jewel boxes, the bracelets
living
inside the large temple at (III.
rock
Osiris, the
12), statues cut represent
Abu
from
Rameses 11
god of the dead
the
as
14 Model of an Egyptian house, from the
tomh ofMeket^re at Thebes (c.2000
BC).
A
deep,
shady
portico
with
painted papyrus columns looks out on a
small walled garden where
round a pool: as
in
all
trees
sur^
hot climates,
water and shade were highly prized
of lapis lazuli, turquoise and gold, the stone vases, the gazelles
and dogs
gaming,
the
these
pink alabaster, the golden discs
carved
flamingoes on beds, chairs
in
and
barges
artificial
for
sailing
among
for
the
lakes, the fragments of lovely
stools, the use
of quartz and faience -
all
things were of an elegance appropriate to the
dappled sunlight of verandahs, shadowy rooms and the tinkle of fountains If in
style,
- the
structure
specific contribution to it
laid the
architecture of an aristocracy.
and ornament Egypt's
direct or
any European style was negligible,
foundation of an attitude
was durable.
22
first
to architecture
which
Chapter Two
CLASSICAL GREECE
The
and influence of Classical Greece became
culture
the basis of a territories
whole Hellenic world.
It is
found
in the
invaded by Alexander the Great, throughout
Magna Graecia and ultimately in the Roman Empire. The great Classical Age, however, consisting virtually of the two generations of Athenian history dominated by Pericles in the fifth century
perihelion of a comet a
thousand archaic
-
b c, has been likened
to the
a long, slow preparation through
years, a short blaze
of achievement,
then the long, slow decline.
The
of modern
story
Greek
enters
first
began centuries
Age was
that
we
upon
earlier,
begins for us
when
but
is
it
not until the Periclean
and the
of law. That age
rule
moment. As Lewis Mumford has
'The mind remains
world and passes
at a
written:
suspended; the eye looks
delicately
discriminates,
the
the stage of history. Civilization
find intellect
a creative
round,
man
beholds
inquires,
the
bound from sprawling
natural
fantasy to
continent, self/defining knowledge.'
For
thirty
centuries
the
Egyptian
carved the same hierarchic figures nose,
same
loincloth,
same
eye,
Archaic
same
a simple exercise
torso:
repeated to the point of technical perfection. already, even in
had
craftsman
- the same
times, the
Then,
Greek sculptor
is
observing and analysing. Even the most Archaic Greek statue
is
because
carved by Pygmalion; it
is
Unlike the Luxor,
it is
realistic
it is
but because
carefully delineated
more than
it
about is
to breathe,
instinct
with
not life.
pharaohs on the walls
a glorified hieroglyph.
at
23
CLASSICALGREECE
So
too With the theatre.
If,
with the passing of tyranny,
custom had become law, then with the
tragedies of
Aeschylus and Sophocles what had once been
myth became drama. To priest
-
first
one and then more were added, giving
the clash of at
mind upon mind, and
war with
sacerdotal,
destiny.
and
rise to
man
the spectacle of
Greek drama remained formal and
with the
priests
always enthroned in the
and was ultimately absorbed
'stalls',
ritual
the single actor - originally the
both the theatre and the church, only
into the history of to
be liberated once
again in the time of Shakespeare.
And as with was Plato who ment -
sculpture and drama, so with thought.
down
laid
It
the ideal condition for govern-'
that a philosopher should be a
king and a king
should be a philosopher. This condition was
fulfilled
under Solon, when law and order replaced custom.
Nature and hubris
became
thyself,
was
began
society
to
be understood. Dislike of
- intellectual pride - and the precept 'know the
the balanced
axioms of Greek thought; the
mind, 'nothing
The Greeks were basic to the
to excess'.
not unaware of the problems of their
Violence was curbed but
culture.
ideal
it
existed. Slavery
economy. Cruelty was disliked but
was dis^
regarded. Homosexuality and infanticide were defended
with cold reason.
mined
The
the integrity of
stunted role of life.
women
under-'
The Greeks were always
conscious of the nearness of the primitive - hence their aloofness. In so far as they were
the
Aegean,
it
was
a
aware of a world beyond
wholly barbaric world. The hosts of
Persia or the ancient dynasties of Egypt were pale.
Greek democracy, when
reduced
itself to
it
came
to
beyond the the point,
the votes of a few thousand Greek^born
adult males.
In the
last analysis,
attitude to the
however, Greek wisdom was an
human mind and
the
human
body.
The
Greeks had rejected the gods of Egypt, without adopting the
24
monotheism of
the Jews.
They conceived
the gods
of Olympus not only as embodying the powers of nature.
but also as beings anatomically perfect while possessed of
human
frailty.
As
such they
made
for those statues they
made
sublimating the the
human body
theology by
hierarchy in poetry, myth,
drama
a peninsula of jagged bays
is
and headlands, of inlets running each inlet
their
superb sculptures, by idealizing
Greece
architecture.
The
shrines, the temples.
and by enshrining the functions
itself,
Olympic
of the whole
and
deities in
of them, and
statues
Greeks overcame the basic crudity o{
classicalgreece
far into the
mainland,
separated from the next by the mountains. The
climate produced rigorous and athletic
was almost an
invitation to carve
men;
them
the marble
as if they
were
gods.
The Greeks were that they traded a
Euxine
a maritime people only in the sense
-
little
to the east
as far as
Spain
to the
west and the
- made poetry out of their wine^dark
sea,
and would
city
than cross the mountains.
rather sail
round the
coast
However
from
city to
they looked
inwards upon Hellas rather than out upon the great world.
They could
never,
the
like
Romans, have
organized an empire. Even more did they look inwards
upon
the city itself- isolated
When
that
its
own arm
of the
sea.
threatened from without, as in the wars with the
Persians, the
was
upon
Greek
cities
the city states such as
could band together, but
Athens, Sparta and Corinth
were the object of patriotism and
effort.
was
the public
works of Athens, not of Greece,
civic rather than national.
Age expended
compounded of the
its
genius.
It
Greek
was upon
architecture
Periclean
it
that the
That genius was
virtue of perfectionism
and
the vice
o( self^absorption.
As with sculpture, drama, law and philosophy, so with architecture: absolute perfection
within clearly defined
limits.
was sought, but only
The
Greeks, for instance,
were never engineers. Architecture great families
divided into two
- the trabeated and the arcuated, beamed
and arched; Greek refinement
is
the
architecture
is
Greek temple,
trabeated.
With
structurally,
all its
was no
25
CLASSICAL GREECE
advance upon Karnak or Stonehenge. The Greeks knew the arch but they never exploited
it.
They never attempted
dome
cover a large space with vaults or a
to
Romans were meticulous
to
They were
do.
fitting together
stone,
their
of stone blocks, but they were
a
means -
crude but strangely poetic religion,
to the status
skill in
hand^
mathematics
with
obsession
mystical thing - an end, not
human body
by the
fascinated
not otherwise interested in structure. Their ling
as the
as
a
their strangely
their adoration
of the
with the consequent elevation of sculpture
of a dominant
art
.
.
.
these
were the elements
from which Greek architecture derived.
A
Greek town,
at
almost any date, must have been
just a collection of white^walled houses tiled roofs
of low pitch,
with
like the temple.
roofs or
flat
Each house
looked inward upon a small court, and presented an almost windowless wall to the
of 1
5
The Palace of Minos
(c.i6oo
EC)
jlights
and
The
columns, with their unusual taper, are a
lecture
Knossos stair^
world with regular
landings.
hot countries where there
Politics at
had an elaborate
case, the first in the
all
supporting
street
were an
and drama an
affair
the temple as a
almost
all
affair
the
is
- the
timeless house
seclusion of
women.
of the market place - the agora -
of the open^-air theatre. This
medium
left
only
an architecture which had of the human anatomy -
for
attributes
downward
hallmark of Cretan archie
proportion, balance, grace, precision and subtlety; but
which was
also
marmoreal and sculptural.
The
origins of
Greek
drawn from more than one
source.
that decorative but irrational affair
volutes as lands.
its
capital - is found
From
CLASSICAL GREECE
and The Ionic column -
architecture are uncertain,
the sea/'girt
in
with curious
spiral
an archaic form in many
kingdom of
Crete, from the
beautifully decorated apartments of the Palace of Minos at
Knossos, there came
cision
and
and
refinement.
Greece the great
The Cretan
spreading
unfortified,
central court
to
gift
of pre/
palaces were vast
out irregularly around a
and including workshops and
There was an ornamental fa9ade
at the
storehouses.
west; the rooms
were usually frescoed, the wooden columns brightly painted. the
About 1450 bc, Knossos was conquered by
Mycenaean war/lords of the Peloponnese: through
them, Cretan influence passed to the mainland.
The whole
basic concept of the
columned temple
probably came from the house of the Mycenaean chief" tain.
Mycenaean
palaces were
more formal
plan
in
than those of Crete, and stood in citadels, on strategic hills.
Within
religious
the walls were a
and domestic. (There
number of is
a
buildings,
parallel
in
the
conglomeration of church, chapel, tombs and palace for the ancient
kings of Ireland, on the Great
Rock
of Cashel.) Outside the citadel were the royal tombs,
oi^
16 The
throne room at Knossos^ huilt
by the Mycenaeans after their conquest c.
14^,0
BC.
original:
the
The hi^h^hacked wall-painting,
hut
griffins
and plants,
fragments
is
its
drawing of wingless
refined
stiff
throne
with
is
a copy based on
1
7
The Treasury ofAtreus
BC),
(ijth century hive tomb some
The
$0 jeet
and
other,
heads
corbelled
:
the
Mycenae
across and high.
stone courses of the vast
smoothly
the
at
a 'tholos' or bee-'
out,
one
have
doors
dome
are
over
the
triangular
the true principle of the arch
wedge-shaped voussoir
- was
-
not yet
understood
i8 Isometric at
Mycenae.
reconstruction of the palace
A staircase
led to the throne
court (c).
round
a
(As
at
Knossos,
downward)
this lay the
hearth,
III.
1
at
is
the so-called Treasury of
A walled passage leads to a beehive/-
Mycenae.
shaped chamber about 50 by 50
megaron
corbelled vault
approached
through a columned portico and vestibule.
taper
Atreus
most famous
the great
room with four columns
central
the
twoflights (a)
room (b) and
Beyond
(d), a single
in
which
5, the
columns
all
made of
overlapping stones. beehive tombs
tiers
feet,
rises to
of carefully cut,
The span of
(tholoi)
which
slightly
the largest o^ these
was only exceeded by
Pantheon, over a thousand years
a
later.
that of the
Among
the
buildings within the Mycenaean citadel was the chieftain's
own
house - the megaron -
much
tion of the house of Odysseus.
It
like
Homer's
descrip^
was a single simple room
with a central hearth, preceded by a vestibule and - most significantly a 'house'
- an outer portico with columns.
had
to
When
be built for the statue of the god or
goddess, the prototype was this chieftain's house, a rectangular
room with
a portico.
The
architect
and
the
sculptor might, in the course of centuries, transmute this
wooden house
into a
marble shrine, but basically
it
remained a house, never a place of assembly, never a church, and almost always upon a high place.
temple was always
set
The
apart from the town, not only by
being put in a sacred enclosure, but usually also upon a headland, a citadel or acropolis.
The
rectangular temple with low-pitched roof
surrounding colonnade basic
upon
of Athens,
the world. Ionic.
the
form of the Greek temple. There were many
variations city
the peristyle
and
- thus became
the theme. the most
is
Those temples
These
are the
On the Acropolis,
above the
famous group of buildmgs
are in
two
names given
styles,
to the
the Doric
in
and
two kinds of
whole unit -
'order' used: this
term
column with
base below and entablature above.
There
are
its
three
main
refers to the
- Doric, Ionic and
'orders'
Cormthian. The Doric Order, plamest of simple moulded capital and no base (the
made it more
slender
and added
has a slimmer column, with, as
the
a base)
;
Romans
the Ionic
we have
has a
all,
later
Order
seen, a capital
two linked volutes; the Corinthian, with
consisting of
1^ Pottery model of a shrinefrom Argos its
richly carved capital bristling with acanthus leaves,
was used details
far
more by
the
Romans
and proportions of
than the Greeks.
The
the 'orders' were minutely
(late 8th century
marks to
prescribed in the
first
Vitruvius, rather as
They became architecture.
century
if they
ad
by the
had been
BC)
:
a single
room
fronted hy a portico of two columns,
it
a stage in the evolution from house
temple
Roman architect
laid
down
by God.
the vocabulary of the language of classical
Durmg
the last four or five
hundred
years
thousands of architects have been obsessed by these 20 The Classical Greek orders: A, Doric; B, Ionic; C, Corinthian, (i)
Stylobate;
shaft;
(^)
(2) attic base; (j) (^a) abacus; (4b)
capital;
echinus; (4c) Ionic volute; ( ^d) Corin^ thian volute with acanthus leaves; (<,)
architrave; (6) triglyph; (j) metope;
(8) frieze; (g)
dentils;
(10) facia;
(11) cyma
29
:
'orders', 21,
22 The Doric Order
Paestum.
at
Below, a corner of the Archaic
'Basilica'
BC). The
columns
(mid^6th century
The
- and
and
The Greeks races.
spreading
Greeks,
discretion
have an exonerated taper - an early use of entasis
sometimes
capitals.
however,
They may have been
Though
compared with the Parthenon it
includes
still
2g),
some of the same refinements
all the horizontals are slij^htly curved.
The
three
temples
at
Paestum
far
-
as the
who had come
lonians
came over
south in a the sea
series
of
from Asia
Minor; they were Oriental, sensuous, effeminate, colour/ ful.
Character was,
as always, reflected in architecture. In
were
originally plastered, to hide flaws in the local travertine stone
The
Dorian,
Steppes - hardy,
rigorous, practical
migrations.
One race was
away
heavy
(III.
right.
two
a tribe of northern
shepherds from as
built a century later.
flexibility,
The Dorians were
the other Ionian.
'Temple of Neptune',
them with
believed themselves to be a blend of
Virtually every thin^^ above the architrave
the
used
of intelligent design.
great artistry.
has been destroyed.
Opposite,
to the exclusion
bringing together on the Acropolis these two
styles
of
temple building - the plain, sturdy Doric and the
ornamented Ionic - the Athenians believed that
elegant,
two poles of
they were giving expression to the nature, luxury It is
in the
their
and abstinence.
Greek colonies
in Sicily
and on
the Italian
below Naples
Reconstruction of the vast Archaic
Temple of Artemis
we find the Doric Order in its sternest form. The Temple of Concord at Agrigento (f. 500-470 Bc) and the three temples at Paestum - the coast
2J
that
were some spaced
and Temples of Ceres and Neptune, mid^sixth to the mid/fifth century b c -
so/called Basilica
dating from the
They
are the best^preserved examples.
are, in
a sense,
archaic - having few of the refinements of the Parthenon
Doric - but they do have a splendid, almost primeval strength.
The columns
are stout, the capitals huge,
the stones ponderous.
all
When we the Ionian the
first
effect
3
Greek colonies
as early as c.540
high.
nearly 400 feet long, the
The workmanship and
technically refined; brilliant
Artemis (the
Roman
bc, and then
56 B c, more or less on the original foundations.
The temple was feet
overwhelming.
we turn to of Asia Minor. At Ephesus
great temple of the goddess
rebuilt in
is
seek the Ionic style in isolation
Diana) was designed
50
The
and
it
with colour.
was
richly
columns over carving were
ornamented, probably
at
Ephesus (begun
C.S40 BC), looking across the portico: a triumph oj engineering - the columns
-
60 feet high and widely
as well as a rich display of the
ornate Ionic
Order
When we turn to
CLASSICAL GREECE is
loss as
Athens
The drama of the primeval
well as gain.
gone but
on
here,
sharpened
its
own
pomt of
to a
in the fifth century b c, there
has
terms, civilization has been
perfection.
On
the Acropolis,
ancient and sacred ground, there were earlier buildings.
They were ruined would have
seen
Then, under
its
them
stupendous
effort
was made.
itself- that high rock outside the city
sides built
kind of podium
Wars, and Socrates blackened by smoke.
as stones
Pericles, the
The Acropolis - had
in the Persian
up and
its
top flattened to form a
for the temples.
This separation of the
temples from the town was deliberate.
As
normally had no place in the
had the
street, as
shrines they
Roman
temple or the Christian church. Equally important,
however, was the
fact that the
temples could be
seen
from
the streets, rising above the wall of the sacred enclosure
- a continual reminder of the gods, like the medieval bell
chiming the hours
the temple
24 Plan showing
the
major buildings
on the Acropolis at Athens (see pp. 33~'5)> ^^^ ^^^
below (h).
Theatre of Dionysus
From
the Propylaea at the
west (a),jlanked by the Pinacotheca (b)
and Temple of Nike Apteros (c), the Sacred Way led toward a colossal statue of
(e)
Athene
stands
goddess's
(d).
partly
old
on
temple
The Erechtheum the (f),
site
replaced by the Parthenon (g)
32
of the
which
was
had
a
This distant view of
profound influence upon
was designed
so that
Forgetting
minutiae,
its
for prayer.
it
its
should be 'read' from
we may
form.
It
far off.
think of the temple -
specially the bold
Parthenon -
and simple Doric
as a series
peristyle
of the
of alternating bands of light and
25 The Acropolis natural
hill,
platform.
dark formed by the columns and the shade between them. Oi^ course there was delicate ornament on the
Parthenon but
it
was not intended
not be seen, except from near scale
was
and could
Here one can
up
see,
to
form
from
a
left to
Propylaea, the Erechtheum and
the Parthenon.
The simple form of the it 'read' well from
Greek temple made far
the intermediate
Athens stands on a
built
of
of richness, neither delicate nor bold - the Gothic
pinnacle or the
have been
Roman
useless
on
the Acropolis.
planners. In that they in the
Corinthian Order - that would
sometimes said that the Greeks were not town^
It is
be
to. It
to be seen,
ri^ht, the
at
much
had no formally
grand manner, such
true.
Such
selfz-conscious
as
Rome
laid out cities
or Paris, this
magnificence
is
may
the attribute
of an imperial capital rather than of a small city
state.
In a higher sense, however, the Greeks were superb designers of
cities.
We
see this in the careful
way -
geometric but not formal - that they arranged the agora
and
The
the temple groups in cities such as Miletus or Priene.
buildings on the Acropolis
sight to be almost
haphazard
would seem
in their placing.
certainly not formally planned, as the
at first
They were
Romans might
33
^. Ui 26 Model
reconstruction of the Athenian
Acropolis, C.400 steep
approach,
BC.
This shows the
with
the
drama of the scene until had reached the summit and
stood with the Parthenon on his the
Erechtheum on
trance the
little
his
left.
their
arrangement and balance and
As
relationship are in fact extremely skilful.
one beheld
Propylaea
screening the full the visitor
have liked; but
ri^^ht
At
and
them from
the Propylaea, there
There was the
the en^
Temple of Nike Apteros
acts as a foil to the larger buildinp
the entrance to the Acropolis, that
the right,
and
position
was
left
the
mass of the Parthenon on
much
smaller but
resolved by the
enormous
and helmet
Finally, the
statue of Athene
visible to sailors out
on
Parthenon, an example of
cleat/'cut sculptural precision, it
more complex
Erechtheum. Between these two the com^
flashing spear
Aegean.
from
was no symmetry. There was balance.
large simple
the
intricate
- her the
on
is
was
itself so
placed that
could never be seen except against the sky ... an
astonishing piece of town planning, never to be repeated.
One pylaea. is
ascended the Acropolis by a ramp
This building, designed by Mnesicles
not a temple.
It is
a glorified
to the
Pro^
437 b c, gateway or porch - a in
covered hall with a Doric portico facing the ramp, and another opening out onto the Acropolis.
It
had an
adjoining wing, the Pinacotheca or painted gallery.
Near
by, perched
Nike Apteros 34
Callicrates in
on
a
podium, was
the
the Wingless Victory
little
Temple of
- designed by
426 B c. This was an exquisite Ionic temple
gem
in miniature, a to the large
from
less
than
feet
1 3
long, forming a
mass of the Parthenon when both
foil
are seen
2^ View and plan of the Erechtheum Athens, begun by Mnesicles in ^21
2"],
in
B C. The far off.
Although
Athene the buildings
seen from a distance,
it
on
the Acropolis could be
was only when one had passed
through the Propylaea onto the plateau that one could
right)
are
the
them
a smgle glance,
all, at
whole drama of the
and could then appreciate
scene.
It
was
brilliant stage
The most venerable temple was always the Erechtheum, built
by Mnesicles in 421
temple.
The new Erechtheum was
the most sacred myths
Nearly
BC on
all
the
and housed
site
still
connected with
the most sacred relics.
Greek temples - although variable
were rectangular and had a surrounding
Erechtheum
is
unique.
number of rooms. never finished,
It is
which
It
is
its
partly explains
of holies.)
It
an upstart
Athene
affair
peristyle.
all
massing;
its
-
The
it
was
unusual form.
have
shrines there. (Athene's second shrine rather
in size
small and yet contains a
irregular in
Erechtheus, Poseidon and
- was
of an older
the
their separate
- the Parthenon
compared with
makes use of the Ionic Order
this
holy
three times.
the east, to
it
and a rostrum with female figures instead of columns.
The
ruins in the foreground, above, are those
of the ancient temple of Athene (f 111.
management.
to
Ionic colonnades of different
('caryatids')
see
room
and other gods. Attached
three
size,
temple contained shrines of
(in the large
24)
in
.^
if^'
^m r
in three different sizes.
most remarkable
Its
feature
the so/'called Caryatid Portico, not truly a portico at
but a rostrum. Sculptured maidens, 7
difficulty
his
IS
The
overcome.
skilfully
maidens in such an easy pose
which
tablature
The Caryatid
burden. force
they carry
on
Portico
inherent
sculptor has carved
marble
that the
en-'
heads seems no
their is
all,
9 inches high,
The obvious
of columns.
place
the
take
feet
is
a very ornate tour de
which, had the Erechtheum ever been
finished,
might have been a jewel in the centre of a long blank wall.
The Parthenon, like the Erechtheum, replaced an older temple, but on a new site a little to the south of the older one. The Parthenon was dedicated to Athene Parthenos - the virgin Athene adult
and
who had
been miraculously born,
armed, from the head of Zeus.
fully
447 bc, by the
begun
in
crates.
Phidias was the master sculptor.
The
stylobate,
Parthenon stands
228
feet
on which
long and loi
was
and Calli^
architects Ictinus
or stepped plattorm, is
It
wide.
feet
the
The jo North porch
peristyle
which ran
56 columns,
columns
at
all
all
round the temple consisted of
of the Doric Order. There are eight
each end (instead of the usual
six), leaving a
the
top
in
columns, widely
columns on each giving a central entrance.
The
side (the south side
column
is
There were 17
now incomplete),
suggestive of 'side'
portico at each end
or
fj^ures
28).
Slender
hi^h,
are
25 feet
spaced,
Above them space opposite the central entrance.
of the Erechtheum (at
III.
an
^ivin^
in the
Ionic
unusually airy
effect.
frieze white marble
were attached
to
a grey
stone
background
no
was two columns
deep, giving greater shelter at the entrance.
The
shrine
2g,
ji
View of the Parthenon from
the
north-west (opposite), and plan. Begun in its
44^
BC by Ictinus and Callicrates,
simplicity
Within divided
by
ambulatory at the
is
deceptive (see p.
40).
the temple the shrine faced east,
columns (III.
west end-
j2). left
into
A
nave
and
columned room
- served as
a treasury
37
^2
Recofistruction of the sanctuary in
the Parthenon, looking towards the ^old
and
ii'ory statue
of Athene by Phidias.
An
ambulatory was screened off by a double tier of Doric columns. The lights in£
arrangements and roofing are un^
known:
here the artist suggests a cof"
fered wooden
ceiling,
and sunlight entering
by the eastern door alone
or naos of the older
Greek
feet
and archaic Parthenon had been 100
long and had, therefore, been called the
Hecatompedon;
this
name was
transferred to the naos
of the new temple. This was about 63 with columned
aisles.
It
feet
contained,
wide, probably
in
roughly the
position where the altar stands in a Christian church, the 40>'foot statue of the goddess
Athene
gold by Phidias. Also enclosed in the to the jtiflfiij^he
44
feet.
in ivory
cella^
and
in addition
temple had another room, about 63 by
This was called iht Parthenon and gave
its
name
The word means virgin, and this room may have been the home of the virgins who cared to the entire building.
for the
temple and tended
hieratic treasury
38
with a bronze
its
lamps.
of the Acropolis,
grille.
its
It
was
also the
doors being closed
The Parthenon
has no
windows.
How was
it lit
?
This
classical Greece
has always been a controversial matter. Since the seven/ teenth century the building has been too ruinous to
allow any theory to be
The
such theories.
There
tested.
however, three
are,
hypethral theory
large rectangular hole in the roof immediately
This seems unlikely. There
shrine.
arrangement in the floor
though
relatively little
the hole
no
above the
signs of
any
might be in Athens. Also
there
would cause an ugly break
The second
perfect.
are
a
draining off rain-water -
for
building which had, above
was
that there
is
in the roof line of a
all
things, to be aesthetically
is
that the roof of the Par/'
theory
thenon, and of other temples, was of timber with thin roofing
of Parian marble or alabaster. These,
slabs
though not transparent, would be lucent to give a diffused
such roofing slabs
glow within and
exist
was no
this
is
sufficiently
trans^
the shrine.
Many
an
attractive theory
below the roof The
assuming that
there
third theory
that the great eastern doors
and
is
that the
Greek sunshine gave
the horizontal
upon
ceiling
beams of the
all
rising
the light
it
was on
dim and holy
the outside of the
Parthenon that the Greek genius discovered
The
Parthenon today
the limitations
clarify
limitations
it
were
and
hall.
just a
It
lies
ideals
detail
was not
large
primitive, in every other
Athens was and
its
power
to
of Hellenism. The
complex. In essence
veranda of columns around a rectangular
and
its
roof,
timber, has long since vanished.
richness
only in
severe, the ideals sublime. In essence
Parthenon was simple, in
was
itself
beauty of a ruin being adventitious, the signi^
ficance of the
the
open needed left
sun shining directly
the golden statue. In spite of these
mysteries of the shrine,
were
way
it
was
a very small place.
size,
probably only of
Structurally
it
was
sophisticated.
The Greeks,
chose perfection -
rejecting
a counterpart of
the polis, the tiny city state, with inchoate empires all
around. "It was upon the simple carcass of the marble hall that they
expended
their skill.
They kept
the basic
39
CLASSICAL GREECE
made of
but
simplicity,
was much more than
elaboration. This
55
View
across
the
west end of the
correction of optical
Parthenon, with the boldly fitted Doric
refinement of form.
columns of the peristyle on the left, and engaged columns in the cella wall on the
as a
thing divine.
and
feeling,
right.
Round
the
top
of
this
wall ~
originally shaded by a coffered ceiling of
which a fragment remains
at the end
-
ran the famous frieze of the Panathenaic
web of
a vast
it
was
It
It
was
the supposed
much more
illusions,
geometric
than the
the expression of mathematics
in this marriage of mathematics
of precision and sensuality, that the Greeks
invented beauty.
The
circle,
the ellipse, the parabola: these are the
elements that comprise this deceptively 'rectangular'
procession
building. the
It is
a rectangle
without right angles. This
approach of the sculptor rather than the
Could
is
architect.
Ictinus have carved his temple out of one block
of marble he would have
an
fulfilled
ideal.
As
it
is
the
blocks were ground one on another, with water and
marble dust between them,
until a hair joint
had been
achieved. Every horizontal line - steps, cornice and so
on - has
a barely perceptible
much
radius of as
as
two
miles.
and sturdy columns not only appearance of
upward
The
bulge by eleven^'Sixteenths
sag, they also entasjs.,
inwards so that
their central axes, if
a mile
where the sky light ally
is
The columns
above the
earth.
.
.
and
blocks are identical, each has the other side of the temple.
extended upwards,
the diffusion of
apart, are fraction^
No
so on. its
two marble
mirror image only on
The whole
subtly towards the pyramidal
very slightly
The corner columns,
might make them seem further .
all tip
them and
seen between
nearer together
simple, unadorned
taper but, to prevent any
of an inch - the
would meet
curve, with a
building tends
- grace tending towards
strength.
Apart from Phidias's integral
the long^vanished
sculptures
-
shrine,
were in three 'movements',
with the architecture.
the pediments
Athene of the
the birth of
First,
were the
Athene
at
statues in
one end of the
temple, and Athene's contest with Poseidon for the
of Attica
at
against the
soil
the other end. These pediment sculptures
are over life-size; they are in the
40
all
shadow which
round and stood out
they cast
on
the wall behind
CLASSICAL GREECE
them. Like the columns themselves they were large
enough
to 'read'
from the
Second, and next in
streets
scale,
of the
city.
were the carvings on the
metopes - the slabs which, alternately with solid blocks,
formed a
above the columns and below the
frieze
The metope
cornice.
showing
struggles such
between the Centaurs and the Lapiths,
as the battle
are slightly less
intended
sculptures,
than
to 'read'
life-'Size
only
and
after
in high relief; they
were
one had climbed the
steps
of the Propylaea, and could view them across,
say, the
width of the Acropolis. Third, the famous Parthenon
frieze.
This, not to be
confused with the metope carvings just referred placed
The
^4
Theatre
Athens (c.jjo great theatre vision
in
Dionysus
of
BC)
was
the
therefore, be seen until
the world, with perject
originally
there
was meant
to
itself
Thus
frieze
has as
it
could be in very low
its
could not,
be seen -
relief
was
at
as
one
the wall
The whole
subject the Panathenaic procession to^
wards the ancient image of the goddess Athene kept
would
have been a narrower stage (at the top), adequate for the small cast of a
it
It
stood under the colonnade and looked up
fast
and acoustics for an audience of
Hellenistic:
the top of the wall of the cella.
in
^0,000. The present stage arrangement is
at
to,
the
Greek
Erechtheum and
famous
the
in
ceremony at the shrine. The most
figures are the lightly
prancing cavalry; the most
play, and a circular orchestra where the
chorus performed,
beautiful are the gods seated in easy conversation over
between actors and
the eastern
audience
doorway.
— W^r-^'.-^'b-A^-^ M^-r
V'f
M
•7/
§4fi:/;' T'
'>*'^.,.
.^
^^
~.
Deep
CLASSICAL GREECE
in the crevices of the carving tiny traces of colour
have been found. All the sculptures were certainly highly coloured, as were
the shrines
all
Mediterranean world temple
may
for a
and sarcophagi of the
thousand
The whole
years.
even have been coloured. Those pale gods
may once have borne the touch of Madame Tussaud. This is inescapable. The mouldering and moonlit ruin - pagan
- was
or medieval
a
product of the Romantic
Movement. What the modern tourist thinks as he mounts what were
the Acropolis,
the thoughts of the generation
of Byron or Chateaubriand, are thmgs that would have
incomprehensible
been
as utterly
with
his precise
mind
he
as
is
to the Periclean
Greek
to us.
At the foot of the Acropolis is the Theatre of Dionysus, dating from is
30 B c.
3
The
perhaps more beautiful and better preserved, but the
Theatre of Dionysus theatres all
Epidauros (350 B c)
theatre at
and indeed
the
is
been beyond
The Greeks
build a covered theatre.
to
means
their structural
all
Greek
way of Rome, of
the ancestor, by
the theatres in the world.
nor attempted
prototype of
neither needed It
would have
to construct a
roof
J5 One of
did they attempt
up an auditorium of steeply raked of arches and vaults,
their
own
did the Romans. Instead, the
as
perfect
Out
and
vision
Dionysus seated
perfect
thirty
Except
for the
the theatre as
Dionysus.
stage,
sufficient
actors. In front oi^ the
where the chorus commented on
The
the action of the play. for
with
Theatre of
was narrow, but was
number of
marble thrones
the
seats,
thousand spectators. The
for the very limited
orkestra^
again, in
perfection within
acoustics,
it,
was the
at
Once
of doors, on marble
with a wall behind
stage
site.
temples, they aimed
limits.
build
on a substructure
seats
Greeks chose a naturally sloping fact, as in the
to
the
front seats
use of the entire priesthood.
absence of scenery,
we know
it
were splendid
all
the essentials of
were present in the Theatre of
honour
in
the
front row of the Theatre of Dionysus.
The
Nor
of such enormous span.
the seats of
vast majority of the audience sat on
the tiers of marble steps, visible in the
background, built on the sloping hillside
Chapter Three
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
We
shall never quite
know what
it
was
that caused a
small Latin tribe to conquer the world and to build that empire
from which we
are all
come - our
the
At
Roman Empire
tine
from somewhere
stretched
It
postal system it
in Scot/-
What were the qualities of such in
for
which
said Seneca,
superb administrators.
'came into the world with a other.'
The
everything that the Greek was not.
The
one hand and a spade in the
Roman was
( i), the
Colos^
the Vestals (4), the Temple of Antonio nus and Faustina f 5 j and the Temple of
Castor and Pollux (6). Off it to the Temple of Augustus (y),
south lay the
the Basilica Julia
built cities.
sword
led past the
Temple of Venus and Roma (2), the Basilica of Maxentius (j), the House of
with roads, law, garrisons and a
- organized and exploited, and
'The Roman',
the
Way
ad,
These were not ephemeral conquests. This was the
Rome -
From
seum
embraced much of Arabia and North Africa.
Empire which
right.
Sacred
Hill on the
and
land, north of Hadrian's Wall, right across to the Persian
Gulf
Rome c.AD
towards the Colosseum, with the Pala^
height, by the third century
its
Detail of a model of
joo, looking from the Capitoline Hill
laws, our
learning, our religion, our roads, our agriculture
our architecture.
j6
Saturn (g).
(8) and
To
the
the
Temple of
north stood the
AEmiliana (10) and the Curia The Imperial forums lay beyond, (11). built by Vespasian (12), Nerva (1^), Basilica
Caesar
(14), Augustus (1^) and Trajan (16). In the foreground is the
Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (ly). The public buildings have colonnades; the private houses are plain
Greek and Greece
failed,
Roman was brilliant.
Roman were at opposite poles. Where Rome was destined to succeed, while the
the
where the Greek had been most
to fail
The Athenian was inward^looking,
temptuous of the non-'Hellene; the
marched
to the
ends of the earth,
Roman
first
con^
legionary
conquering and
then absorbing the subject peoples, until not even the
emperors were necessarily
The Greco'-Roman love/hates of history. as effeminate life,
and
relationship
with Greek thought.
was one of the
The Roman
tricky,
from the nursery
Roman.
and
yet all
despised the Greek
Roman
to the university,
Roman
great
intellectual
was
saturated
architecture adopted the
45
THE ROMAN EiMPIRE
trappings of the Greek nices, etc.
- and
style
yet, so
- columns, pediments, cor^
unimportant
is 'style'
compared
with culture, the two architectures express the extremes of human thought.
The Greek was
a deeply religious
architectural achievement shrine.
The Roman, on
was
artist.
the temple
the other hand,
His
greatest
- the carved
saw
architecture
primarily as structure; he was absorbed by the enclosure
of space, of large floor areas, by means of vaults or domes
-
feats ot
engineering in stone, brick or concrete.
Roman was in his use ing.
of ornament, carving, mosaic, paint and gild/
These things,
dams The Maison Carree at Nimes ( c. 16 BCj is the best^preserued Roman temple. With its portico - of Corinthian
cohmns its
only on the entrance side and
bi£ flight
of steps
response of the
planning:
it
Roman
emphasizes the
all
too often, concealed the splendid
temple of town^
civic architecture in the street
rather than the
Greek
acropolis
or silos, the utilitarian structures
and aqueducts -
are
some of the
monuments, exemplifying
The
Roman
he
also the greatest vulgarian of history, lavish
simplicity of the underlying structure. Like our
^7
1
contrast
its
-
Roman
own
bridges, roads
Empire's
finest
finest qualities.
between the Greek temple and the
temple reveals the whole character of a people.
The Greek
temple, as
ai^d isolated.
we have
The Roman
seen,
was
a shrine, aloof
temple, like some Baroque
church, was a feature in the
street;
it
had
great flight of steps leading to a richly carved
portico.
One was
is
a quality of empire builders.
monumental form, one of the left
to the
The Greeks
world.
Corinthian
was an
a tribute to the deity; the other
monument. Such
expression of imperial pride, an urban pride
It
was, in
its
greatest things that
had
also
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
a facade with a
most
Rome
a wonderful sense
of town planning, but of a different kind - restrained
and exquisite the
we have
as
already seen in our analysis of
buildmgs of the Acropolis. The Greek town of
Miletus has been called *one of the most splendid city plans ever made',
combmmg
On
of a basic grid.
analysis,
great artistry with the use
however,
Greek work of the fourth century modest - an agora and extension of the
a
colonnaded
town on an imperial
we
BC
find that the is
street.
extremely
j8 Looking
A
from
further
scale belongs to the
formal. All the
is
rest
Hellenistic; is
it is
symmetrical and
Roman. The Roman gave
to
history not only engineering as the basis ot architecture,
mental
art.
The Roman
as
a
conscious and
monu^
virtually invented the capital
j6)
the
Temple of Castor and Pollux stand, on the right.
On
the
(6)
still
the
Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
( ^), transformed into a church directly
but also town-planning
Roman jorum
towards the Colosseum; three columns
from
second century and
along the
the Basilica Julia (8, in 111.
Maison
on the Sacred
:
it
stands
and, like the
Carr'ee, has a portico only at the
front
--«^-
-^-"^ife^i.
^x\
Way
left,
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Rome
city.
in
itself
was
the
first
of a long line culminating
And
Vienna, Paris and Washington.
ward expression of imperialism
with that out^
came
there
also into art
the 'grand manner' - the formal axis, the triumphal arch, the culminating palace, the avenue,
and
With there
which
also the
a city
is
made
Rome
and
:
palaces, theatres, temples, court?,
The Seven
with skill
were covered with them. With
many were
their gilding
their large internal spaces,
In
Roman
other qualities.
We
art
and
may
the Classical age
sculpture,
produced
Basilica of Maxentiiis in
forum, finished sometime It
consists
of three
coffered tunnel vaults,
aisle
the
after
vast
of the
Roman
AD jij.
niches
III.
^o).
The
the highest
expect to find
produced
a
all
we
kind.
little
look
for
fine, dignified
daring and
large,
or
refined
efficient
The Greeks of
architecture
of the highest order; Imperial
and
a
Rome
vast quantities of both, mostly second-rate.
areas of ancient
Rome
were slums.
Huge gim^
crack tenement blocks frequently collapsed, burying the inhabitants in the ruins.
Each of
emperors, however,
mark upon
the
more important
with
which buttressed
the hi^h groin vaults of the central hall
(see
Large
all
serene,
architecture
ornament of
structures; lavish
surviving north
demanded
either
and even grandiose planning;
The
many,
of the engineer.
exalted.
jQ
Hills
their carvings
intensely vulgar;
The Roman was seldom
little
city,
innumerable types of building of
tenements, libraries, villas and so on.
of
vanity.
emergence into history of the capital
this
came
fountains
power and
the symmetrical attributes ot
all
tlie
decorative facing has
only partly due
left
his
to the policy
pacification of the
mob
the city. This
was
of 'bread and circuses', the
by doles and entertainments.
No
vanished, exposing the brick and mortar
whichjorm
the core of most great
and Byzantine buildings
Roman
doubt the amphitheatres, baths in
Rome,
theatres,
arenas
and public
like the victories abroad, increased the
40 Reconstruction of the Basilica of Maxentius (see 111. jg), looking to^ wards
western apse.
the
The nave
is
covered hy three massive coffered groin vaults, makings large clerestory
possible
-
thermae
formed
a
scheme similar
(Ills.
hy
45,
piercing
44). the
windows
to that in the
Aisles big
are
lateral
buttresses
prestige
of the imperial power, but the emperors also
liked to
set
city.
own
the seal of their
The triumphal
magnificence upon the
arches, the equestrian statues, the
paved and colonnaded forums, the temples and the courts were for posterity.
Rome,
for all this
grandeur, was a piecemeal
grandeur was mainly due
a
to
series
work of his
little
regard
Rome's wonderful
predecessor.
its
of pretentious
additions planned by each emperor with too for the
city:
site,
the hills north of the Tiber, prevented any great system
of symmetry. Each of the six imperial forums must be
judged as a
in isolation.
whole, and
for later builders
imagination.
is
-
Rome
now that
We can
the larger forums
could never have been seen
so ruinous it
still
became
it
a quarry
can be seen only through the trace,
however, the outline of
and many of the buildings. Some of the
triumphal arches remain,
as
do the columns of Trajan
and Hadrian. The Pantheon, great thermae
-
were
all
have been mutilated structure remains as
the
virtually
and
Colosseum and
the
indestructible.
They
but their
basic
stripped,
Rome's precious
gift to the
world.
A substantial portion survives of the great Basilica Nova of Maxentius, finished by Constantine
was groin^vaulted
after
ad
313.
It
in three vast bays, buttressed by mas-'
sive partitions in the aisles.
One of these
aisles still
stands
complete, with deeply coffered transverse tunnel vaults.
49
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
The Romans needed
They
large buildings.
liked the
massive and the durable, stone, brick and mass concrete.
They were
fortunate in having Pozzolana cement, the
best in the world.
Their architecture had
round arch, and they exploited
way of using
fully.
it
and
a
The
arch
A
-
on
When
it.
in position the arch
is
may
timber centering
be removed.
a
is
tem^
between
is fitted
stones
-
the last voussoir
-
number of wedge-shaped
voussoirs - are placed the keystone
basis the
its
small stones to span a wide area.
porary arch of timber called 'centering' the walls,
as
is
complete and the
Only
the crushing
strength of the material, capable of disintegrating under
own weight, sets Romans frequently its
The
span of the arch.
a limit to the
built arches with spans
of over 80
feet.
A
series
of arches
may
be built side by
This,
side.
obviously, will form a semi^'circular roof - a tunnel
This
vault. if
is
the most elementary form of vault. Equally,
over a circular space a
meeting
at the centre,
section through a
number of arches
the result
dome
at
is
a
any point
is
and domes
arcades, vaults
dome.
was
be,
beam
exerts a direct
the arch.
are all variations
outward
Any
the wall over.
outward
downward
The Arabs have
sleeps'. It exerts
upon
stylistic
the
changes
Not
pressure.
so
a saying that *the arch never thrust,
always trying
arch, vault or
opposed by
thrust
cross-'
the basis of European architecture.
might
A
A
an arch. Arches,
theme of the arch. This theme, whatever there
are built, all
a
to
push
dome must have
counter^force such
this as
another arch, a thick wall or a buttress. In Gothic architecture the buttress feature,
but decorative or not
be there even
somewhere
if,
as in
its
Roman
in the structure.
principle
architecture,
must always it
is
hidden
This system of thrust and
counter^thrust,
while giving wonderful scope
to
planner,
one of the limitations of arcuated
build/-
ing.
50
became an important decorative
is
also
the
A continuous tunnel vault exerts tremendous thrust
along
Its
base and must
rest
on
a suitably thick wall; this
Lintel
^1
exerts thrust
(h)
;
construction
downwards (a) ;
directly
exerts force the
round arch
downwards and outwards
a tunnel vault (c) therefore exerts
continuous pressure
wards
all
along
its
downwards and out^ In a groin
length.
vault (d), on the other hand, four arches intersect, concentrating the thrust at the
corners; the sides can therefore he open,
hut should idealhheequal in width. succession o fmomvaultsy e
)
is
A
possihle,
with high clerestory windows, so long as the corners oj each hay are huttressed
(see
is
cumbersome
windows.
It
in itself
creates
exemplified in the
and an obstruction
to
111.
40)
adequate
an architecture of weight and gloom,
Romanesque
style
of the pilgrimage
roads (see p. 103).
The Romans, however, method known
as the groin vault.
This consists of two
tunnel vaults over a square bay;
intersecting
problems
discovered the more ingenious
:
j , it
concentrated the thrust
of the vaulting bay; total abolition
four corners; 3,
2,
it
made
it
at the four
of the wall except for buttresses it
enabled large
it
corners
possible, in theory, the
windows
to
high up under the arches of the vaults - the 4,
solved five
at the
be inserted clerestory;
enabled the timber centering used for one bay of
51
:
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
vaulting to be dismantled and used again for the next
bay;
5,
it
enabled several square bays to open one from
the other.
The
mam
halls
of the great thermae usually
consisted of three square vaultmg bays, each about 80 feet,
givmg
long, splendidly filling the
^2, 4j
(AD
Thermae of Caracalla, Rome 211-ij): air view from the
west, and plan (opposite).
may
The
semicircular area in the foreground site still
view
air
easily be collated with the plan
:
the
is
the
of the calidarium ( ^). The ruins show the massiveness of Roman
structure.
The
highly symmetrical nature
of the plan, as well as
main
entrance,
between
small baths and shops; halls; ( j ) fri^^idarium
with tepidarium
;
rows of
(2) entrance
(4) central
hall,
south; ( f^) cali^ darium; (6) private baths; (y) suda^ toria;
nasia;
lit,
and with
side aisles
m
addition,
space between the buttresses. All the main
structural elements of the great cathedrals vaults, clerestory - as
we
find
them
a
- nave,
aisles,
thousand years
now inherent in European architecture. The Roman thermae were not mere public baths;
later,
feet
were
were an
essential part
exercise
and culture during
of public
life,
they
centres for business,
the day, centres for pleasure
during the night. Agrippa, Trajan, Caracalla and Dio^
is
(opposite) are
clear. Its chieffeatures
(i)
vastness,
its
wide and 240
a rectangular hall 80 feet
cletian all cities
- no
gave large thermae in the larger provincial less
than eleven in the North African
Timgad. The vaulted
halls,
the
main
city
of
architectural
legacy of the thermae, were only the core of a vast
com/
to the
(8) open peristyles;
(10) park with
( g)
^ym^
(11) (12) lecture halls and lib^ (ij) reservoirs; (14) Marcian trees;
plex of rooms and courts. for instance,
were a
fifth
The Thermae of
Caracalla,
of a mile across. They were laid
out in a small park with a running track, a grandstand
stadium; raries;
aqueduct
"and a wrestling arena. the tepidarium opened,
While
had
the
main
hall, off
which
three bays of vaulting, the hot
bath
(caJ 'iidri'^*^)
^^^^^
Hnr"H
This
envisage as gorgeously painted and
The
dome we must with steam.
filled
heating was achieved by forcing hot
brick flues built under the floor the walls.
The cold bath -
elaborate as the others to the sky.
m
its
and
air
in the thickness of
the frigidarium
decoration, but
The thermae needed
through
- was
was open
a big water supply.
the fourteen aqueducts bringing water across the
pagna
to
as
OT
Cam^
Rome, one was wholly reserved for the Thermae
of Caracalla.
The
subsidiary rooms included
many
private
massagez-rooms and dining^halls.
There
theatres, libraries, lecture halls, as well as
bath/'tooms,
small
53
The
^4
Thermae of
tepidarium of the
Diocletian
(AD
j0 2)
converted by
Michelangelo into a church, Sta Maria degli
Angeli
scale
and
ing,
of such
Basilica the
in
Rome shows
clearly the
structure, as well as the li^ht^
Roman
vaulted halls as the
ofMaxentius
central
hall
Caracalla (4,
of
in III.
(Ills,
the
^g, 40) and
Thermae of
^j)
were two gymnasia
for the training
was highly formal and cost
of youths.
The
plan
rigidly symmetrical at the absurd
of duplicating every item of accommodation on
either side
of the main axis. Symmetry must have been
thought of as synonymous with grandeur.
The Roman scientific
vaulted hall gave Europe
structure.
It
thermae also show the purpose building.
was first
a
its
first
large
semmal building. The
functional plan of a multi^'
A replica of the hall of the Thermae
of Caracalla could be seen until recently in the now^
demolished concourse of Pennsylvania Station,
New
York (1906-10). The Thermae of Agrippa (20 bc) have vanished, so have the Thermae of Trajan. The
Thermae of Diocletian (ad three
302),
thousand bathers, were similar
Caracalla; the vaulted hall
may
still
accommodating
to the
Thermae of
be seen, converted
by Michelangelo in the sixteenth century into the 54
Church of Sta Maria degH Angeli.
In devising the groin vault the
Romans went
solving the problem of a highly archie
way towards
tectural, fireproof roof over a large area.
one Hmitation.
The
fact that the arches
of the vaulting bay had to give a level
bays,
and
module.
was
left
on
the
four sides
all
same height -
on
a system of planning
to the builders
eleventh century to steeply
all to rise to
There remained
roof line - necessitated square vaulting
imposed
this It
a long
make
a square
of St^Denis in the
the breakthrough, to build
pointed arches over short spans,
less
steeply
4S,
46 Plan and
theon
in
pointed arches over wide spans, thus giving complete flexibility
of plan. Meanwhile, however, despite
tyranny of the square bay, the
Romans were
this
able to
building vaults only over
square bays inhibited the plan so building
domes only
over circular spaces also inhibited the plan. In the
Romans
gave
to their
circular
to solve the
dome
Pantheon
ad
left it to
problem of effectively placing
over a square.
(as rebuilt
dome
Byzantine
successors a magnificent inspiration, but they
Byzantium
recesses,
The
The Romans also developed the arcuated system in the dome. The essential problem of dome building, hoW''
of the Pantheon the
cut into at a
but
120-4;
an absolute
an attached portico.
low their
The
Pan^
circle
^^
with
thick walls are
level by
niches and
mass
carried
is
up
around the base of the vast coffered dome.
build on a very large scale.
ever, they never solved. Just as
(AD
Rome
different scales),
section of the
On
its
own
terms, the
120-4) ^^^ o"^ of the
domes of the world, with Hagia Sophia
in
a
five great
Byzantium,
big open 'eye' at the top lights the
room,
while
reducing
the
therefore the thrust, of the
weight,
dome
and
^7
^"
Pantheon, showing panelling.
Note
columned
recesses
colonnettes. lit
view
iSth^century
The
through the
its
original
the
of
marble
alternation
interior is dramatically
'eye',
of the dome,
bolized
the
sun
of
and niches flanked by
^ivin^ a spotlij^ht
effect; surrounded by bronze stars
cojjers
the
at
in the
this
opening sym^
the
centre
of the
universe
Duomo
the
Paul's in
in Florence,
Rome and
St Peter's in
London. Hagia Sophia covered
floor area but
was not impressive
the greatest
externally; the later
domes of Florence, Rome and London - being have
their
tremendous outward thrust countered by
being chained in
domes,
The
at the base.
as well as the simplest,
The Pantheon
is
is
feet
dome
is
It
56
is
would
was dedicated
planets. Jts sphe rical
The_great
impressiv e of
Pantheon
.
exactly the same,
and
semi^circular. In other words, a sphere 142
6 inches in diameter
Pantheon.
the
m ost
a circular temple, 14 2 feet 6 inch es
in diameter. Its internal height
the
sur-'
lanterns - have dramatic skylines, but have
mounted by to
St
'eye' in the
form
is
fit
exactly inside the
to the deities
symT)o lic
dome, 27
of the seven
ot the
cosmos?^
feet across, is the
oriTy"^
source of light, and was symbolic of the sun; the bronze
stars originally set in
dome was once
Exter nally the tiles
each coffer were the
so that seen fro
of heaven.
covered with gjolden
48 The Pantheon,
m
the surrounding hills
the central altar, the
it
again
priest sacrificed a beast
smoke wound upwards
to
'eye',
while the single shaft of sunlight cast
shadows downwards.
If the halls
among
interiors
the most
Pantheon spite
of
was no ing.
Its
is
among
with
less impressive
columns
is
The
unjluted
characteristically
portico
Corinthian
Roman -
must always have been awkward
in
relation to the rotunda
of the ancient world, the
- or because of
it
all
time.
In
- the Pantheon
solution to the essential problem of dome builds
The
content.
rotunda, though large,
and with
The rotunda
the lower part IS it
giant
its
which once
tiles
now
of the thermae were
the most solemn of
simplicity
ever invented,
-
gaudy
all
is
externally than internally.
hut
the
stripped of its marble
sheathing and the gilded
covered the dome,
symbol ized the sun._When the
upon
stars
-
far
is
the simplest form
that simplicity the
has a wall 20
feet
Romans were
thick and only in
below the Hne of the dome's
thrust
The
wall's
cut into by recesses for altars or statues.
57
:^"^
^mmmm
full
thickness
is
taken up above the dome's springing
level so that the thrust
weight
at the
dome's
can be met by piling mass and
base, while the
the simple expedient of omitting
means of the
central 'eye'.
the limits of a
dome
direct
The
is
lightened by
altogether, that
is,
by
The whole problem, within
over a circle,
is
thus met in the most
manner. arch, in
us such
its
development
monuments
a simple arch as bridges
S8
it
apex
it
as the
as vault
and dome, gave
thermae or the Pantheon.
As
gave us such highly functional things
and aqueducts. The
Pont du Card near Nimes
finest
is
probably the
in southern France
(cad
14).
„
JnS^'* -fiaMPt-*-'*^'
"
"^
*t^ It
was 900
feet
across the valley,
long and carried the water channel 1
80
feet
above the
river
Card, on
three
4g The Pont du Gard, 1
4, carried the
Nlmes ranges of arches.
Its strictly utilitarian
by the fact that the projecting stones
character
is
shown
which were used
to
support the centering and scaffolding were never cut
in a
the river.
built about
water supply of the
AD
city
This virtuoso use of arches -
the bridge still stands to its full height the
of
channel some 180 feet above
finest
Roman
display
-
is
of pure
engineering
back. This was engineering rather than 'architecture' the ;
Romans known that
would have been astonished could they have it
works. Thanks
would be regarded to the
as
one of
thermae and the fountains, Rome's
water consumption was about the same torian
their finest
London, but of
the city only fragments
the
now
as that
of Vic^
many aqueducts supplying remain.
A substantial part
59
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
of the Segovian Aqueduct in Spain
however, survive:
does,
another splendid range of arches
it is
The most obvious
use of the arch
is
ment, the triumphal arch. Indeed,
it
Romans had
as there
and
io)
under the Emperor Augustus.
built
the
(ad
was
to
may
be said that
with the arch,
a pathological obsession
dome
be a Byzantine obsession with the
One Roman emperor arch to his own glory.
Gothic one with the tower.
a
another built a triumphal
after
smgle monu/
as a
The Arch of Trajan
at
more elaborate and
often their ornate realism obscures
Ancona (ad 113) stands simply and proudly on the quay; it commands the eye whether from land or sea. The triumphal arches in Rome are the nobility of the basic arcuated form.
mitted that, in the end,
who Arc
in
1807 built the
finest
the
must be
ad/-
Emperor Napoleon
triumphal arch of
the
all,
de Triomphe in Paris.
A
much more
hidden
important use of the arch was in the
While
structure.
now
Palatine are as
was
it
It
was
it
on the
Prior to the invention of the
steel
the arch or vault alone that could carry a
superstructure,
made
villas
only a legend, their foundations exist
vaulted cellars.
girder
and
the palaces
and
possible the
it
was
this
Roman
function of the arch that
theatre.
The Greek
theatre,
such as the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, was a
wonderful auditorium, never excelled. But, seen (pp. 42-3) since the
it
was
in
seating could be supported except
The Romans could theatres
wherever
it
on
necessarily built
Greeks knew of no way
as
a sloping
which
on
we have site
the raked
the solid earth.
build their theatres and amphi^'
suited them, the seating supported
by range upon range of arches.
Both the
theatre
important in
and
Roman
arenas were not - as
given over
to
the amphitheatre or arena were
architecture is
more
culture.
The
popularly supposed - wholly
throwing Christians
secutions were occasional episodes.
60
and
often used for violent
to lions.
The
and dangerous
The
per/
arenas were
sports, tattoos.
:
50
The Arch of Trajan at Ancona iij) was purely decorative and
(AD
ceremonial, standing in isolation on the
end of the quay. While simpler than the arches in
Rome,
it
has the same features
a central opening with flanking features
framed by columns, and an above the cornice.
The
'attic'
stage
tripartite division
of the triumphal arch gave architecture a
new mot f (see,
e.g. Ills,
igg, 201, 204)
naval displays - for which purpose they could be flooded
- and
for gigantic spectacles, often sadistic
and obscene.
Equally the theatres were not devoted entirely
to
bawdy
comedies; serious drama, including the great Greek plays, selves
was performed
to full houses.
were a step forward in the long
The
theatres
them^
story that runs
the simple outdoor arenas of ancient Crete to the
from
modern
opera house.
The Romans
turned the plain skena wall which had
backed the Greek
stage into
columns, niches and
an elaborate
statuary,
although
set it
piece with still
lacked
any naturalistic scenery. They enlarged the stage and greatly increased the backstage
with
elaborate
productions.
promenades were
now
a
accommodation Restaurants,
to
cope
foyers
and
major part of the theatre plan.
Almost all the larger Roman
cities
- Verona, Pompeii,
Nimes, Aries, Pula - had big amphitheatres and
a
61
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
theatre as well; even small towns, such as
(St in
Albans)
in Britain,
Jordan (ad 100)
had
one
theatre. Jerash
good provincial example.
a
is
at least
Verulamium
had stepped stone seating supported on
roof,
but
this
was apparently only over
the stage.
even in a northern climate, the cheaper
of the Elizabethan theatres were not covered.) theatre seated four
many
5i
The
(c.AD
staj^e
at
Sabratha
200) was backed by
in
Libya
three tiers
of coloured stone columns. Actors entered through three passaj^es marked by taller
columns, such as the one visible on the right.
Below
front reliefs
is
-
the stage
curved is
and
- whose
raised
decorated
with
the semi' circular orchestra;
AD
50.
feet
feet
is
seats
The Jerash
hundred, about twice
Opera House. Aspendus
that at
(We
good
in
Asia
preservation, but the
Orange
in
Provence, built
This seated seven thousand. The diameter
of its half^circle
and 45
five
a similar theatre in
most magnificent about
thousand
as the Paris
Minor has
a
with an ornate back wall. There was a timber
recall that,
as
an
from the wings, and
orchestral area, actors' entrance large stage
vaults,
It
is
deep.
340
The
high. There are
feet.
The
stage
was 203
feet
great surrounding wall
still
stone corbels
on
this
wide
was 116 wall to
support the masts from which was slung the velarium or
stage
The
back of the was most elaborate - a kind of Roman Baroque -
awning,
and the
for
shading the
central niche
seats.
still
wall
at the
holds a white marble statue of
stone seats rise on vaulted cor^
around
it
ridors.
Large halls on
stage served as foyers
either side
of the
Augustus. The most complete ornate frons) survives at Sabratha in
stage wall (scaenae
North Africa.
The in
largest
Rome.
It
finished by ruins, but
the
of the amphitheatres was the Colosseum
Domitian twelve
enough
is
whole building.
and
rises
on
ad 70 Much of
was begun by Vespasian
a
flat
years later.
had
53 Colosseum,
82)
:
in
shows
below.
a big ellipse
site
where
there
feet
by
was once
therefore to be built
and some
radial,
The amphitheatre
hills.
up on
5 1 3 feet,
Both plan and a lake,
All the a
most
some concentric
and some containing
seated
but could be cleared in a few minutes.
down upon
the
fifty
thousand,
The
seats
were
divided by horizontal gangways into four classes - the
two lower being
box was at the feet.
at
for those
of patrician rank.
The imperial
one end of the arena, the gladiators' entrance
opposite end.
Beneath
it
was
The a
was 287 feet by 180 maze of rooms - stores, dressing/arena
itself
rooms, animals' dens and so on. With the floor of the arena
position
of the
(1-4)
emperor's
620
It is
in the vaulted corridors, looking
street
the
entrance (a), gladiators' entrances (h),
the exit staircases. In the intervals the audience could stroll
yoThe com^
emperor's box (c) and consul's box (d).
now removed many
of these can be seen.
The
section
show
clearly the
system of radial walls which supported the
seating,
ridors
and provided access
and promenades.
The
cor-^
section
(across the right half of the plan) also
shows ellipse
(AD
Rome
half-^section.
preserved to enable one to envisage
elaborate series of vaulted corridors,
with the
plan and
posite plan of the four storeys
it is
between the Esquiline and the Caelian stone seating
and
in
52,
right
the position of the masts
- which
-
top
supported the velarium
shading the imperial box
5^ Colosseum, Rome. Note
the use
superimposed orders, each with
of
own
its
from masts, was moved round
velarium, slung
hot afternoon wore on;
said that sailors
it is
as the
manipulated
entablature, in the form oj halj^ columns
attached to piers, and pilasters on a plain wall.
Behind
were promenades
the arches
the ropes. In fact this velarium
may have done
than shade the imperial box.
The is
outer wall of the
Colosseum
divided into four storeys.
is
157
The lower
eighty arched openings, separated by
feet
high, and
three each have
Roman
versions
of the orders - Tuscan (plain and unfluted), 35,
Opposite,
<)6
(c.AD
120)
above:
Petra
at
rock^cut
'Treasury' opens
orthodox
way
to frame
m
an
un^
a kind of circular
- playing with way that looks
temple with an ornate top shapes and motifs
forward
to
Baroque
Below: Timgad, typical
Roman
triumphal
arch
bottom, then Ionic, then Composite.
a
in
(111.
built
is
In the southern half
c.AD
100 on
From
colonnaded
lie
is
articulated by pilasters.
at
the
solid wall
The
of
structure
of mass concrete faced with brick, the brick casing
actually forming the shuttering into
was poured. The Colosseum
is
which
the concrete
equally impressive as a
2^1).
grid plan. the
the top stage
a
the
main
structure
Some
the
forum (top
picture) and theatre
vinces,
and
as a piece
of planning for large crowds.
of the most exotic
outlying
street runs eastward, bisecting the town.
left in the
The
upper pediment oj the
the
more
little
cities
Roman
architecture
is
in the
of the Empire, more in the Eastern
where old cultures
pro^-
existed, than in the bleak,
barbaric lands of Western Europe. Jerash and Petra
Lebanon, Timgad
in Jordan, Baalbek in
Africa and, above imposition of the
Roman The
or oriental culture.
many as
Palmyra ...
all,
result
is
these
show an
upon an existmg Greek a
heady mixture, and in
of these towns there are architectural features such
broken pediments and curving walls which were
not seen again until the
century
Rome. The
is
older than
rise
Rome, but
columns
is
the
been
'rose red city, half as old as time'
the actual rock, are late stylized; so too
of Baroque in seventeenth-'
theatre at Jerash has already
mentioned. Petra - the
-
style
all
North
in
its
dramatic tombs, cut from
Roman,
extremely rich and
town gateway, where Corinthian
are used purely as sculptural decoration.
Palmyra was an
ment on one of
oasis city,
the
first
a
Asian caravan
camp, then
a
settle-'
routes, then finally
Roman town. It reached the peak of its great prosperity about ad 270. Rose Macaulay wrote in The
a wealthy
Pleasure of Ruins:
'What we
see today,
ochre^coloured colonnades, the
with
its
the fabulous
Temple o[
the
Sun
pillared court, the great fields of ruins like a
garden of broken daffodils, lying within the long low shattered
line
oi^
Justinian's
wall,
is
Graeco-'Roman
•1
S7
A
lined
(late
main with
street at
Palmyra,
Corinthian
in
Syria,
colonnades
of the more
florid
There was a big marble/
period.'
paved forum. The surrounding
streets
were colonnaded
2nd century). The brackets held
bronze statuettes
end o( each was focused upon
and the
vista
either
triumphal arch or another colonnade.
a
at
the
columns gave shade
Many
to the footwalks.
The
of them
have projecting stone brackets about two^thirds of the
way
up. These bore bronze statues, and
had mats hung from them the shops. This gorgeous to the
may
to give additional
and
lively scene
Emperor Severus whose empress was
also
have
shade
owed much a Syrian.
Baalbek (the Greek Heliopolis or City of the Sun) rich
in
marble and
It
was
built
of Caracalla, and has two of the better preserved
Temple of Bacchus most complete
(late
Roman
portico has a ceiling
incredible richness.
mainly in the time
finest
diameter.
It
temples outside
of the two, the so-called
second century), has one of the
interiors to
have survived. The
made of solid
blocks of marble of
The
less
well preserved temple, that
of Jupiter, has monolithic columns 65 feet in
is
magnificently sited, with the
is
temples on rising ground.
Rome. The
to
was
the
crowning
feet
high and 7
feature of a vast
town-'planning sequence; a huge hexagonal court and a propylaea with bronze gates were only a part of
66
ramp
led
down
to a crypt
beneath the
altar
it.
A
where a
could be kept ready
sacrificial beast
interior
the
in
for slaughter.
of the temple was described by a French nineteenth
own
weight of its
century as
'groaning
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
The
traveller
beneath the
luxuriance'.
In the face of such buildings as the Pantheon, the
Colosseum
must take second
place.
population, in certain port of Ostia six storeys
Roman
or these Asiatic temples, the
-
were
Under cities
the pressure of increasing
- notably
Rome and
large tenements of brick with as built.
Though
house
these
might
easily
many
its
as
become
squalid rabbit-warrens, they were a rational solution to the
problem of housing
large
numbers where buildings
land was expensive. Unlike the typical they
had windows
Roman
villa,
to the street.
>,8 Reconstruction of the 'Temple of Bacchus' at Baalbek (late 2nd century).
The walls have two
Any
simple Mediterranean town o( today, on the
other hand,
Roman
may
give
some
idea of what the middle^class
house looked Hke: white walls,
no windows
porting^ a coffered
At Its
best
it
roof and sometimes an inner court.
was simple, cool and secluded. In Pompeii,
of niches linked
wooden
ceiling.
In the
up a flight of steps at the far end, arrangement was repeated with
shrine, this
to the street, a flat
tiers
by giant Corinthian half^columns sup-'
columns ofgreen marble, and crowned by a broken
pediment
i-i
where many wealthy Romans had
some
their villas,
5p Opposite, above
houses were more elaborate than others, but were
Apart from
the forum, the theatre
and other public buildings, Pompeii was a town of narrow
streets,
the stone paving
the chariot wheels.
group of houses, if the
owner was
otherwise
all
Each house,
filled a
into grooves
ad
shops;
lined
street
with
houses
with
a fuller's
shop on the
and
left
is
advertised by walUpaintin^s
by
was
a door and,
an open shop
to the street;
rooms looked inwards.
sometime before
walks,
or each back-'to-'back
block. There
a shopkeeper,
the
worn
paved
still
raised
basically of this type.
Via delV Ahhon^
:
A
danza, Pompeii.
79, the year
dates
It all
when
from
Vesuvian
the
eruption both buried and preserved the town. Luxurious villas,
such
House of
as the
House of
the Vettii, the
Pansa or the House of the Faun might have
colonnaded and the atrium with a central pool -
internal courtyards
around
cloister
it,
-
the peristyle with a
around which the public rooms,
for services
and
tainment, and the family rooms were grouped. effect as
shaded
several
one entered from the
vista slashed across
street
was
with sunlight.
enters
The
total
that of a long
The decoration
of these rooms - richly coloured panels framing painted fantasies
in the likeness of arbours,
little
temples or
dancing nymphs - was among the more charming of the sophisticated styles of history.
'Pompeian' rooms 60,
61
Opposite,
House of the appears it
Vettii,
below,
and
left:
Pompeii. Its layout
in the plan, left: entered at
(a)
had, in addition to bedrooms, a major
atrium
(b), peristyle
and garden (c),
rooms (d), large triclinium or
reception
dining-room (e)
-
the peristyle; in a
all these
opening off
more private area
to
were the women's quarters (f), kitchen (g) and a small atrium with the right
shrines of the ancestors (h).
Opposite, atrium
below,
with
its
the
pool
view from (b,
in
the
plan)
towards the peristyle (c)
69
found among the
62 Detail of a model of Hadrian's Villa
are
(c.AD
Empire
Many
ijo).
were symbolic 'Poikile'
:
was
(6)
of
its
features
thus the pattern for the
meeting^place in Athens; the 'Canopus'
Canal
do)
Erechtheum
-
lined with copies of the
-
caryatids
to
an
At
the
led
'Egyptian' shrine, the Serapeum.
hub of the scheme was the palace ( i J with its courts, of which the most re" markable
around circular
sophers'
is
the
were
Piazza d'Oro (2);
libraries
(j), the curious
Naval Theatre
( ^), the 'Philo"
it
Hall'
( ^),
a
stadium
baths (8) and storerooms (g)
In
Rome
itself
some
galleries)
Only
outside
the
and
Golden House of Nero (except the other palaces have
Rome, where Hadrian's
all
Villa
for
vanished.
(cad
130)
stretches for over a mile near Tivoli, are there pools,
fountains,
courts,
Greek sculpture and
the
ruins of
colonnades, libraries and music^rooms. Here the great
Emperor, creator of the Pantheon, the
(y),
and of Georgian and Regency
England.
philosophers'
the
France,
in
rich interiors both of the First
Greek
ideal
serene years.
who
almost realized
of the philosopher-'king, passed
his last
J
Chapter Four
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
The
sequel
logical
to
Roman
architecture
Early
is
West
Christian. But the story of architecture in the
forms such a continuous whole that not to disturb
I
it.
it
seems preferable
have therefore chosen
Byzantine architecture (a combination, briefly,
to deal
with
put
very
to
of Roman and Eastern currents) before going on
developments in the West that were
to the
Carolingian and Romanesque
On
it
25 July in
AD
to lead via
Gothic.
to
306, outside the walls of York,
Constantine was acclaimed Emperor of the World, his legionaries raising later,
him
aloft
upon
a shield.
Seven
years
in the Edict of Milan, Constantine gave freedom
and oflBcial standing to the Christian Church. Although Constantine was baptized only on
his
deathbed, he
proclaimed himself the Thirteenth Apostle and believed that after death he
would be absorbed
into the Trinity.
His choice of a saviour and messiah, out of all the multi^ farious deities available to political. It secured for
the people.
upon
Even
so,
him
him, was opportunist and the loyalty o{ the
with the subject
tribes pressing
the frontiers of a dying Empire,
in peril, capital
and
from
Rome
Rome
to the old Hellenic
The new night'
hard
herself was
in 334 Constantine decided to
zantium upon the shores of the Bosphorus.
momentous
army and
move
his
town of By/ It
was
a
most
decision. city
which
'arose like
an exhalation in the
was renamed Constantinople, but
the culture of
which it was the heart will always be known as Byzantine. That
city
was founded upon
a key strategic
site,
the
71
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
meeting^place of all the maritime and caravan routes of the ancient world. Cities as far apart as
were within within
its
knowledge.
its
and Christian
many
of
immediate
while Peking was
orbit,
was intended
It
to
races calling themselves
Greek
be a great Latin
Although governed by emperors
capital.
submerged by the
But Christian
culture.
- Romaioi -
Roman
the Latin elements were in fact soon existing
Venice and Kiev
it
remained from
the fourth century to the fifteenth, from the arrival
Constantine until
seemed
to
some men
Byzantium almost to
all
to
Turks
That
in 1453.
fall
be the end of the world.
Greek world were Greek - and married
inherited the artistry of the
individual
the structural
it
to the
it fell
oi^
artists
and engineering genius of Rome.
It
could escape neither the colour nor the mysticism of the East.
All
this
Byzantium exploited
Church which was architecture,
both in
intent,
upon showing
had been transmuted
of the
to the glory its
liturgy
that the teachings
and
its
of Jesus
an institution which was
into
imperial, powerful, hierarchical, sacerdotal
and
divine.
The result was one of the great architectures of history. The key, the sign manual, of Byzantine architecture the
is
dome. To understand
those basic structural forms of
of which travelled westwards
this
we must
Roman
to
glance
architecture,
one
be ultimately developed
Europe; while the other
into the cathedrals of medieval
eastwards to be developed into the
travelled
at
domed
churches of the Byzantine Empire.
Roman
was
architecture
rich
and complex, but two
main elements may be detached from
Among there are
the various great halls that the
Romans
built
two basic types - the rectangular and the
circular.
Whatever
Roman
architecture
followed upon the the
the total picture.
long^aisled
stylistic
changes might transform
during the thousand years that
fall
of the Empire,
basilica
and
the
it
is
vaulted
obvious that hall
of the
thermae - both rectangular - contained in embryo almost
72
all
the structural elements of the Gothic cathedral.
The
and the vaulted
basilica
architecture,
of the long bays,
all
merged
hall
make medieval
to
an architecture of the long perspective, of the repetitive rhythm of vaulting
vista,
dim and
leading to the
distant mystery of the
sacrament concealed within the chancel.
The Byzantine
story
quite different. Gothic
is
Byzantine architecture are best
them
one another: they
to
point.
by opposing
clarified
are contrasts in structure,
and decoration. Rome, however,
A more impressive achievement than the Roman
handling of the rectangular hall was the circular
The
greatest
dome
history (see pp.
a
lit
the
Romans
one of the
internally at least
circle
plan
the starting--
still
is
and
by a circular eye
truly great buildings
at its
was cosmic.
a complete
It
an imperial and
to
was
built
by Hadrian
but must have been admired by Constantine.
pagan and Roman, and
yet also
of
apex - must have had
tremendous emotional appeal It
the Pantheon,
The Pantheon -
55-7).
hierarchic mind.
was
built
hall.
was
It
was
a perfect expression
of the Byzantine mind.
The Pantheon was which
not the only
the Byzantine architects
more than academic
Roman
must have studied with
Another was
interest.
building
(AD
64 Minerva Medica, Rome 260 and later) plan, and section along
6j,
:
appears
Temple of Minerva Medica,
AD
260, with a
dome
80
feet
a
pagan nymphaeum of
in diameter.
The Minerva
Medica, however, was not a square but a decagon, involving only tiny pendentives
at
each of its ten corners.
Ribs within the thickness of the dome concentrated the thrust
on
massive
to the ten
piers, so that
ten piers there need be virtually
apses could
open out from
The
the entrance axis.
original design
the so^-called Crete
in
dome
black on the plan. rested
on
a
The
decagon,
con^ hut^
tressed by nine small apses; pendentives,
(The apses proved inadequate, and buttresses at the top in the plan - and large however embryonic, were
there.
exedrae were added)
between those
no wall, and ten spacious
the central area, a
Roman
foreshadowing of Byzantine achievement.
Some Roman domed - had been turned
buildings - mausolea, thermae
into Christian churches,
new domed churches had been ing
is
the fourth^century S.
built),
West
which seems
the
dome
to
built: the
Lorenzo
at
and
most
Milan
a few
interest^
(since
re-'
foreshadow S. Vitale. But in the
never became an accepted architectural
73
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Even
feature.
in the East, the precedents before Jus^
and most of them
tinian are few
Church of
The first
dodged
the Resurrection at Jerusalem)
by being roofed with
real issue
Constantme's
(e.g.
wood
the
rather than stone.
story of Byzantine architecture, therefore, involves
the solution of the structural problems mherent
dome
m
building; second, the discovery of a decorative
system suitable for such buildings; third, the integration
of plan and In
fact,
liturgy, or
of course,
solution
is
a
what we would
call 'function'.
any great architecture, the
final
unity wherein structure, decoration
and
as in
function are indissolubly one.
Magnificent clearly to
its
exerts thrust
was
as
own and
concentrated
the
dome
A
limitations.
at
Roman
or
dome
giant igloo with walls 20
outward push of
all
dome. The
its
it is
the leastflexible of all plan forms
it
Unlike the
round
its
designed
thrust
base,
to
and
just a
meet the
Pantheon
circular
not planning. The
is
circle is
- incapable of development
meet the functional requirements
The
arcuated;
The Pantheon was
feet thick,
magnificently simple; but
more elaborate
is
the four corners of each vaulting bay,
needs continuous abutment.
to
pointed only too
Gothic - where the
continuous thrust
exerts
it
therefore needs abutment.
intersecting vault is
the Pantheon,
of, for
example, a
ritual.
structural
and planning problem of the Byzantine
architect was, therefore, quite simply that of building
circular
domes over square
spaces.
Once
that
was done
then, clearly, the sides of the square could be penetrated
by arches and open out into other squares, other areas of the plan. Square could
by
its
own dome.
flexibility.
on -
IS
building.
When 74
into square, each topped
This gave the planner
The arrangement of the
central area, the so
open out
semi^domed
in fact
How
much
greater
various spaces - the
apse, the vaulted aisles
and
one of the great charms of Byzantine
was
it
one draws a
triangular areas are
done?
circle inside a square, four
left
over at the corners.
roughly
When a dome
was
built over a square
somehow concrete.
to
it
was
these four corners that
be bridged - whether
On
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
had
in stone, brick or
a small scale various devices were used
a simple stone slab from wall to wall might serve.
-
On a
big scale something more truly structural was needed.
The
solution
was eventually found
The pendentive
is,
as
it
in the 'pendentive'.
were, a small triangular segment
of dome rising from each corner of the square; these four segments meet
may
to
form a
circle
upon which
the true
dome
then be built: the transformation from square to
^5
A dome, like an arch, exerts pressure
downwards and outwards
The
circumference.
As
therefore circular (a). vault, thrust,
the
all
wall must
The problem of placing
is
continuous
resist
of thrust (see
line
its
with a tunnel
and can only he cut
below the
round
simplest support
a
into
III.
well
^6).
dome over
square, thus liberating the wall
and
a
the
plan, can he solved in two ways. In the first, the corners are bridged
with straight
stone slabs (b) or a series of small arches
-
'squinches'
formed
(see
-
until an octagonal base
Conques,
III.
second, curved triangular segments (c)
'pendentives'
-
are
is
g^). In the
inserted
into
-
the
spaces between the four arches that form the
square.
solution,
Sophia
This
seen for
(III.
is
the
instance
Byzantine at
Hagia
ji)
7S
-
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
key
Byzantine architecture
to
Once
buttress to Gothic.
the
The
been achieved.
circle has
way
open
is
is
as
much
ribbed vault and
as are the
the architect has this key then
dome always
central
attracted the
Byzantine builder, but once this method of setting a
on
had been arrived
a square
own dome
its
producing a
other,
domed bay
cluster
a
whole
could be
of square
alongside each
became almost comparable
then
in scale.
alternatives.
series
set
Three
large
dome
of domes. The Byzantine
Gothic vaulted bay; always, however,
Roman
were
at there
dome,
Instead of one central
bays each with
the
permutations and combinations of
to all
dome building. The dominating
pendentive
domed
it
the
to
remained large
bays are enough to
span the iSo^foot length of St Mark's, Venice, while ten vaulted bays are needed to span the length of the nave
York
The one
Minster.
object of the Gothic builder
of weight and mass,
to get rid
at
was
to let in light, to arrive at
most delicate possible structure - what the modern
the
engineer calls 'point loading'.
He
architect.
preferred
Not
so
the Byzantine
Roman weight. He supported
many
building on a few large masses rather than upon
columns. Compare the plans
of, say,
his
Hagia Sophia
or
St Mark's with those of late Gothic cathedrals; the 'blacks'
the
on the Byzantine plans
Gothic plans they
What
one might
are therefore
:
i
,
it
-
Greek
this
we
cross with
domes -
this
many and
the single central
see
on
and
small.
Byzantine plans
dome with all secondary
apses completely subordinate
a big scale at
more
we see
few and big, while on
call the archetypal
spaces such as aisles to
are
are
Hagia Sophia;
2,
the
or less equal arms, covered by
in St Mark's, Venice.
A structural system produces a decorative system. The structural system of Byzantine architecture gave large
masses below and curved surfaces above - the smooth soffits
The 76
or under^surfaces of
ribs, the richly
tracery of
domes and unribbed
moulded
Gothic do not
piers, the
exist east
vaults.
muUions and
of Venice, hardly
east
66 St Mark's, Venice (hegun io6j) shows how
work
the
mass and
scale of Roman
persisted in the typical
Greek
cross plan.
crossing
Vast domes cover
the
and thejour roughly equal limbs;
at their intersection they rest
piers
Byzantine
(see
111.
88).
A
on massive
low narthex
surrounds the western end
The Byzantine
o{ Milan. material
which could be
and upon
the
soffits
laid
upon
the massive walls
The Byzantine
of the domes.
such a system; they took
architects did not invent
the
system needed a 'covering'
it
from
Romans and transformed it for their own purpose
the walls a sheathing of marble, for the
domes and
:
for
vaults,
mosaic. In details like colonnaded screens, there was
much
fine
Byzantine carving, on the main structure very
little.
The Byzantine Empire was
rich
in
marbles - a
miraculous quarry of whites, greys and greens. Mosaic
may
be of glass or marble.
It
consists of millions of tiny
cubes, each about a centimetre across.
decorated during the day's
each cube
is
the
cement
threefold. First,
almost
is
surface to be
covered with cement;
then pressed into position by the craftsman's
thumb while is
work
The
as if it
it
is still
wet.
The
glory of mosaic
can form a continuous covering,
were molten, running over curved surfaces
and round corners; second, the
irregularities
of the
mosaic surface demand the simplest drawing - any attempt
at
naturalism
is
disastrous,
and
it
was
this
which
gave such a wonderfully hieratic and stylized quality
to
77
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
the figures of Byzandiic art; third, the shghtly different
angles at
which
and
surface to catch the light here
dome gave
the
minimum
that
there, so that there
The
amidst the gloom.
scintillation
whole
the tiny cubes are placed cause the
small
windows
of light needed
is
in
for this
effect.
Thus
does Byzantine architecture emerge with
qualities of a great style
decoration. But
- function?
than
them
for
and
the integration of structure
what of that
What was
functional inside
-
.the
it
other element in architecture
Churches
all for?
laboratories;
things
certain
no
are
less
happen
which they must be designed. The
liturgy
of the Byzantine Church and the Byzantine plan were
-
also
and decoration - an
like the structure
This has been disputed;
unity.
highly centralized plan -
- provided
was thereby
apse.
This
is
Ravenna
to
relegated to a
or
Hagia Sophia
dome, but
minor place
misunderstand the Byzantine
Roman
with the Western or
it
has been said that the
it
a central area beneath the
altar
confuse
as at
integrated
that the
in a small liturgy, to
liturgy
where
the climax, the elevation of the sacrament, takes place at
end of
the
that long vista
of nave and chancel. This
climax, however, was not the supreme
moment
of the
Byzantine ceremony. Visualize the space beneath the
That
in Constantinople.
or columns,
above
it
is
250
feet
dome of Hagia Sophia
space, uninterrupted by steps
long and over 100
the mosaic saints
area
and is
galleries.
The marble
empty. There
is
wide. Far
and the Christ Pantocrator
glow dimly. The people crowd aisles
feet
into the surrounding
floor
of the vast central
a droning of priests.
curtains in the distant apse the sacramental
Behind
-
rites
'Great Mystery' - are being secretly performed. Patriarch, the clergy sional entrance.
Household
By 78
and
Minutes
also take
up
the acolytes later the
make
Imperial and Divine
their position
had been elevated
The
their process
beneath the dome.
the time of Justinian, in the sixth century, the
ritual
the
to the status
of a divine
whole ballet.
The marble
floor,
encrusted robes.
blossomed with
formerly empty,
The supreme moment
is
when
Patriarch
61 Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (j,^y). sees
how
the
semi^domes at each end
and right) and
and Emperor exchange chalice.
This
is
what
and share
the Kiss of Peace
the
dome was
built for.
It
the
was
a
first
great
church of Hagia Sophia was
Constantine in 360, but was burnt riots
of 532.
It
was
in 537 Justinian
Wisdom thee'. (It
(left
the massive buttresses at
the side (foreground) support the central
dome, and
how
the
dome
itself,
braced by
forty miniature buttresses, could have a
quite specific function.
The
One
to the
built
ground
by
ring
of windows round
its
base.
The
Islamic minarets were added later
in the
rebuilt with incredible speed so that
was able
to dedicate
with the words: 'Solomon,
I
it
to the
Holy
have vanquished
should be remembered, however, that the brick
carcass of a Byzantine building could be completed
and
put into use long before the surface decoration of marble or mosaic
was begun.)
Hagia Sophia
is
a vast rectangle, 250
feet
by 220
feet,
with an inner and an outer narthex, or porch, and
79
r-^^
1 68 from in
Section of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, east to west.
which
the thrust
to the ground,
line
Note
and
both the
of the dome
is
manner
The main body of the
formerly an atrium or forecourt.
church has surrounding
aisles,
50
feet
wide, vaulted and
carried
the unifying horizontal
which divides the marble^covered
walls from the mosaic^couered domes and
These
galleried.
separated from the central area
aisles are
by very beautiful colonnaded screens - each column a single
marble shaft. The
reduce the central liturgical
aisles
vaults
250
area to
feet
by 107
diameter, but the space
The dome
feet.
covers
it
107
is
extended to
is
feet in
east
and
west by large semi^domes. These in turn open out into the semi^circular spaces called exedrae. is
seated
and four
upon
a square, supported by four pendentives
great arches.
taken to the
The main dome
These four arches have
and west by
east
the
their thrust
semi-'domes just
described and to the north and south by four huge feet,
which emerge externally
The whole arrangement can
be understood only by
buttresses,
each 60
above the
roofs of the aisles.
feet
reference to the plan
by 25
and diagram.
It
has been likened to
a mass of soap bubbles rising out of each other.
domes
resist
the thrust of the
thrust eventually reaches the
the
first
point o^ impact.
engineering.
not
all
It
the semi-'domes
80
Below
main dome, and then
their
ground over 100
from
It
is
a
feet
miraculous
feat
of
could have ended in aesthetic chaos had
from a single horizontal interior.
The semi^
and main arches been sprung line
running round the whole
this line all the walls
marble, above this line
all
were sheathed in
was mosaic. This gave
unity.
The
dome - i8o
big
ribbed. This
feet
above the
-
floor
actually
is
unusual in Byzantine work, but
is
it
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
does
dome to pass down forty ribs, and windows to be placed between the
enable the thrust of the enables forty small ribs, at the
made
base of the dome. This circle of diffused light
the blue
and gold mosaic
glitter. It
origin of the saying of Procopius that the
was
dome
also the
of Hagia
Sophia was suspended by a chain from heaven.
The
object of the architects,
Isidore of Miletus,
was
to
moving of Hagia Sophia arena,
build an interior both
and functional. The spaces aisles,
Anthemius of Tralles and
exedrae, conches, vaults
and domes -
all
open
6g Plan of Hagia Sophia, great central dome
half^domes, which are
by apses
outwards and upwards, one from the other, giving
changing
vistas,
glimpses; everything
half^'hidden, yet everything
is
is
mysterious and
revealed. Procopius has
it
for us in
its
contradictions
space and mass, mystery and
clarity.
:
light
The
and gloom,
vaults float, the
to the
Istanbul.
The
buttressed by two in turn
supported
north and south. In addi^
tion great buttresses stretch out from the
four central piers
(III.
tural system of curves
square;
described
is
tresses
6^). This struct is
then set into a
vaulted aisles pierce the
and open
into
colonnades (III. jo)
but^
the nave through
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
columns perform a choral dance,
the central
dome hangs
from the sky. Procopius also described the colours: the mosaics, the
shimmer of
greenish, the blue the crisp carving
and
on
grey marble on the walls, the
the yellow^veined marble shafts,
the capitals, the mother/of'pearl, the
dangling golden lamps.
Hagia Sophia was
the
conclusion of the
logical
Byzantine system - structural, decorative, functional. In the other churches of Constantinople at large
and of the Empire
the function could not, of course, be exactly that
of Hagia Sophia, since the Emperor did not appear in them. But
it
became normal
whole of the nave and
for the
into the aisles, the galleries
dome had
for the clergy to
congregation to be crowded
and
the narthex.
ji
JO,
The
ejject
Sophia,
of the interior of
with
dim
the
light
glinting on mosaics and the mystery of
one
opening
space
difficult to
into
another,
is
convey by photographs. The
aisles are separated from the central area
by screens of columns (right) - single shafts of marble said to have the
Temple of Artemis
cushion^ shaped
capitals
mainly with the staccato effect. site)
shows
at
drill,
come from
Ephesus. The are
giving a
carved crisp,
The general view (oppo^ clearly
the
geometry
of
placing a circular dome over a square,
with the big pendentives as fine areas for display of mosaic
The
central
thus retained the same liturgical meaning that
in the imperial cathedral, since
it
was beneath
the climax of the Eucharist took place.
Ha^ia
occupy the
it
it
that
^/
F>^
and plan of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, Istanbul This church J 2,
Interior
75
slightly earlier than
Hagia Sophia -
is
an
octagon surrounded, except on the east side,
by a
domed
roughly square
central area
is
only
f^
aisle.
The
2 feet across,
so that the pendentiues bridging the eight
corners are quite small.
pendentiues,
They
nevertheless.
are true
The
eight
spaces between the piers are closed by triplets
of arches alternately straight and
curved
None of Justinian's Hagia Sophia related to
it
m
other churches attempted to rival
in magnificence, but several
design. SS. Sergius
of them are
and Bacchus,
also in
Constantinople, was begun some years before Hagia
Sophia.
It
made
full
of the surrounding rises
above the
This
aisle
aisle.
The main
aisles, is a
across, leaving the aisle.
use of the lovely Byzantine concept central area,
domed octagon
which
only 52
feet
remaining space for the circumambient
opens out into the central area through
colonnades: the whole charm of the constantly changing vista
is
exploited. Nevertheless, the
dome
is
still
built
only over an octagon, not over a square: the great structural step
had
yet to
be taken.
j^, 75
Interior
and plan of S.
Ravenna (S47)Bacchus, octagonal.
the
-L/^f
central
Here,
rounding aisle
is
openings between
The same IS
is
true
of S. Vitale in Ravenna. This church
an octagon over lOO
Bacchus galleried
it
has
a
feet across.
Like SS. Sergius and
surrounding
- leaving an octagonal
central area just over half
the total diameter. This central area
than the
aisles
- vaulted and
aisle
is
taken up higher
and then domed. Certain
structural issues
were evaded rather than solved. The pendentives corners of an octagon are negligible at the
corners of a square.
at
the
compared with those
The dome
itself
was
built
of
hollow clay pots - the bottom of one pot inside the
mouth of
the next
below
it
- giving
lightness as to almost eliminate the
a
dome of such
problem of
(This device was used thirteen hundred years
thrust.
later
by
area the
also octagonal, it
and
Vitale,
Sergius and
domed
however,
are all curved in plan. still
SS.
is
sur^
and
the
the central area
This produces a
subtler interpenetration of spaces
j6 S.
Vitale,
one
looking
is
marble
Ravenna.
columns
carved with the
across
In this detail
the
whose drill (cp.
choir,
capitals III.
past are
Bank of England, London.) The
in the
glory of S. Vitale
in
lies
its
mosaics.
On
one
side of the
chancel are huge figures of Justinian and his courtiers;
jo), to^
wards the mosaic showing the Emperor Justinian with his court. All the surfaces are either marble or mosaic
John Soane
opposite are the Empress Theodora and her ladies. These
mosaics are supreme works of
art.
Worthy of them
are
the coloured marble shafts with their white capitals.
These
capitals are carved
more with
the drill than with
the chisel, giving a staccato crispness of light
and shade.
St Irene at Constantinople (begun in 532, but restored after
564 and again
general scheme. a
drum
in
The
740) follows Hagia Sophia in
its
eighth^century rebuilding added
beneath the central dome, probably the
first
instance of that feature.
A
fifth
major church built by Justinian has
disappeared and description.
It
is
known
was,
nople.
Its
arm and
only through Procopius'
however,
influential of them all: the
probably
Holy Apostles
at
the
most
Constantly'
plan was a Greek cross with domes over each a fifth over the crossing.
It
was copied almost
immediately in the rebuilt church of St John
which had an 86
entirely
extra
dome
at the
producing a nave with two bays.
at
Ephesus,
end of the west arm,
f
i
J J,
jS St
restored
Irene at Istanbul (he^un 552,
^64 and J40)
is
virtually
smaller version of Hagia Sophia.
major differences are (a) that
it
a
The
has two
domes instead of one, thus giving the interior a more longitudinal movement, and (h) that
the eastern
dome has
a
low
drum, the result of Stlucentury altera^ tions.
Note
at
arrangement of
the
east end
the
tiered stone seats
early
for the
clergy
87
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
These great churches of Justinian had a propaganda purpose as well
devoted a whole book political authority
a
dominant
is
The
mean
lasted,
and beyond
been
as has
set
all
the
before Justinian
and
dome, but
this
other types of design.
had been
prolific
the variety of church
plans continues to be surprising right It is
Blue Mosque
(the
was
said,
the exclusion of
Empire
Eastern
invasion.
for
and they
religious orthodoxy,
architectural invention,
in
They stood
an almost exact copy of Hagia Sophia).
Their hallmark, did not
and
to the Buildings.
pattern for architecture for as long as the
Byzantine Empire of 1609-16
Procopius
as a utilitarian or rituaHstic one.
down
to the
Arab
impossible here to do more than indicate
a few of them, without pausing to trace the relation
between one school and another. Constantine's (before 333)
Church of
had combined
an octagonal
east
the Nativity at
a double^aisled basilica
Mary
end. St
Ephesus
at
century) had a nave and transepts, both with
long chancel with double
basilica.
The
first
is
double^aisled chancel Plan
of the
Siman (4J0):
Martyrium,
a highly unusual design
a central octagon
saint
and a at
church of St John aisled transepts
at
and
centering on the shrine of the
under the crossing.
Egypt
during
the
fifth
produced
century
several
churches in which a basilican nave was combined with a trefoil east
transepts. this
z^r:^^- -^^^.TL^
aisles,
Qalat^
with jour long aisled arms converging
upon
all
(early fifth
likewise a fairly con^
Ephesus was more elaborate, with -jg
with
John o( Studion
St
aisles.
Constantinople (founded 463) ventional
Bethlehem
way
end of three apses serving
The
Nativity
at
as
chancel and
Bethlehem was remodelled in
and Palestine were
in the sixth century. Syria
areas of bold experiment, including very early churches
with quatrefoil plans (again seeming SS.
Sergius
amazing
and Bacchus and
fifth^century
long arms meeting
to
look forward
Vitale)
S.
to
and the
Martyrium of Qalat^Siman, with
at a central
octagon. In Anatolia,
longitudinal and central^'Space churches were combined.
Such by the
regional variations were not entirely obliterated
new
trends
set
by the capital.
One
finds different
elements of Justinian's churches assimilated in different
depending
areas,
on
largely
the religious or political
Mesopotamia and Coptic Egypt
situation at the time. In
of the old
austere versions
was eagerly taken up and developed Zara
at
and Bacchus; while
in the
on Ochrid
in a rather provincial
(early ninth century) has
called 'a cousin several times
centred
dome
Balkans, on the other hand, the
persisted. In the
way. St Donat
without domes,
basilica,
been
removed' of SS. Sergius
kingdom of Greater Bulgaria evolved during the ninth
there
century a type of high barreWaulted hall^'church with a
dome over the crossing. By far the most architecturally
o{ the provinces
fertile
of the Byzantine Empire during the seventh centuries (in fact
independent) intellectuals
it
was
for part
and
artists
of that time politically
Some of
was Armenia.
it
had
to
the
leading
of the Byzantine world were
Armenian; one of them, Trdat, was Sophia when
to eleventh
in charge of Hagia
surmounted by a dome on a drum. They
are usually fairly small in scale.
The
palace church of
Zwartnots, built between 641 and 666, was a brilliant variation
on the idea of SS. Sergius and Bacchus.
a circular exterior
through three
and
circular church of Zwartnots, in
had
dome on
ver^
of the centraUspace plan with cir^ cumamhient aisle (see Ills. J2-^ and
sion
101). In the quatrefoil centre one solids walled lobe held the altar (b) while the other three (a) rose through the arcade (c), gallery (d)
It
a quatrefoil inner arcade rising
leading to a high
storeys,
80 The
Armenia (6^1-66), was another
be repaired in 989.
Armenian churches mostly embodied some form of central planning
15m
dome
and clerestory (e). The
rested on four arches
(f) and a high,
windowed drum (g)
a
drum. The roughly contemporary church of the Holy Apostles
at
Mschet, the ancient capital of Georgia, was
another version of the quatrefoil - four arms meeting central
dome with
at a
four square chapels in the corners.
Trdat himself designed
Am
Cathedral, a longitudinal
church of three bays, but given a central emphasis by a
dome
over the middle bay.
The dome
several other progressive features are
including the pointed arch.
churches are notable excel in sculpture. city
for their
has collapsed, but
still
is
be seen there,
Where most Byzantine mosaics, Armenian ones
That of the churches
of Aght'amar
to
particularly
in the old royal
fine.
Armenian
89
The
«,
Holy of the
Chmh
Lht-omr (rS-^O
Cm!
"f'^^'""
01
'"'
m the
vormtms .(the mmy Armemm entrAvllrhejou,amsm-l2 sqmre m cetLml irm ore comers ZerJopsei m^e. /« the the
use
the
ore
oj
The smoU poly^omt forms. .s choroctercircles o„d Xfs m yids istic
of
Armenia Metropole Cathedral
S2 The Little Athens (C.12S0),
is
7.d'ornament,Lch earlier
90
Greek
on a very small
of
buildings
^t
removed from
was strong
influence
in
neighbouring lands of
the
Anatolia and Georgia, where
Armenia
century.
thirteenth
it
persisted
itself
the
until
ceased
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
exist
to
and has only
politically in the early eleventh century
recently been recognized for the astonishing architectural
centre that
The
it
was.
eleventh century brought
new
types
deriving from earlier models but offering
new
oi^
plan,
scope for
8j The Monastery of Nea church with very
spatial
and decorative
crowned tall octagonal drums by the generally small
In the Balkans domes
effects.
size
(their height
made possible
of the buildings).
Nea Mom,
Mom on
the
Island of Chios ( 1 042-^,6) has a fine
dome over teriors
a
tall
arches carrying the
complex plan.
The ex"
of Byzantine churches are always
subservient to their interiors.
Here
the
mosaics and carved capitals are except
on the island of Chios (1042-56), contains with a
on
dome on an
a simple
with
its
church
octagonal drum, which in turn
a square; the east
It is
a
end opens into
and impressive design, mosaics and
original
tionally rich
rests
three apsidal chapels. especially
when
seen
marble veneer. Most
popular of all was the quincunx or
cross-'in-'Square plan:
a square divided into nine bays with the central 'cross' articulated
by domes. This occurs,
Hosios Lukas and century onwards. scale
all
for
instance,
at
over Greece from the eleventh
Many
of these churches are on the
of parish churches in the West. In Athens the Little
Metropole Cathedral
(c.
1250)
is
the smallest 'cathedral'
91
r T
P
84, 8^
St John
the Baptist,
Gracanica
(ij2i), above, and the Holy Apostles
at
Salonika ( iji2-i^), below, both show the outstanding characteristics of this late
phase of Byzantine work:
very
tall
proportions and small domes on polygonal
drums
in the world,
exterior
with a 9^foot dome; the charm of
its
derived from the old marbles and stones built
is
into the walls.
The much
earlier
Kapnikarea
(c.
1060)
is
rather similar.
In 1204 Constantinople was sacked by the Crusaders.
Although
it
later
recovered
its
autonomy, and although
painting and mosaic recovered their
from tious.
this
vitality, architecture
time onward became conservative and repeti/
A church such as the Holy Apostles at Salonika
(13 12-15)
is
still
based on a variant of the cross^in^
square plan, though
its
spaces are in fact organized in a
novel and complex way.
The church
at
Gracanica, in
Serbia (1321) takes these ideas even further. Both the interior elevations
and the
exterior
drums of the domes
are given unprecedentedly tall proportions.
Finally, a brief note
One
Empire. adopted
at
is
Kiev
on two
Russia.
in 988.
masonry of which
still
areas outside the Byzantine
Christianity
The
tecture spread to
where the
to
on
was
a plan based
accommodate
built
on the
extra aisles.
Christianity and Byzantine archie
Novgorod and
earliest
eventually to
Moscow,
of the Kremlin cathedrals, the Dor^
mition (1475-9), though designed by a Renaissance Italian,
kept the same quincunx plan and
St Basil's, of 1555-60, that
is
West
other postscript
is
five
a last exotic fantasy
began in Byzantium a thousand
The
8j In Russia, the (iojj-46,
Cathedral
style
of Kiev
reconstruction
above) was basically that of Salonika.
substantially survives,
quincunx but expanded
officially
great cathedral of Kiev, the
early in the eleventh century
From Kiev Byzantine
was
86,
on themes
years before.
Venice, the only
in direct contact with
domes.
city
of the
the Eastern Empire.
St
The fantasy of St (is, ^^-60,
below)
architecture in
Basil's in
Moscow
shows Byzantine
its final
exhaustion
88, 8i)
The Byzantine
style in
Europe. Above, St Mark's (begun
io6j);
P'erigueux
below,
(began
Both have Greek
Western Venice
in
St^Front
c.1120,
in
rebuilt).
these
in
is
all
low
purely Byzantine church,
important respects a
in proportion, clad in
at
cross plans covered by
domes, with windows
Mark's (begun 1063)
domes;
marble veneer,
its
five
domes gleaming with mosaic.
From Venice Byzantine inspiration travelled west weakly and
sporadically. In the thirteenth^century S.
Antonio
both have, at the crossing, massive piers pierced with arches. St
Mark's
Byzantine and was no doubt
('II is
the
Santo')
at
fully
model
for the more Romanesque St^Front
struction
nave,
Padua
the Byzantine system of dome con-'
was applied
transepts
Romanesque
to a basically
and
chancel
France,
the
with
churches
Angouleme Cathedral seem
to
by
five
an
example
consistently Byzantine
which follows
as
ambulatory.
of
Anjou and
as a solution to the
aesthetic style. is
St^Front
St Mark's in being a
Greek
at
The
cross covered in the
nineteenth century, the chancel^arm to a completely
qualities
so
that
is
hard
the
original
to assess.
extent
o^
only
Perigueux,
domes; but the whole church was rebuik
design,
In
have absorbed some
Byzantine influence, though more
problem of vaulting than
Gothic plan with
its
new
Byzantine
Neither S. Antonio nor
St-'
Front ever had any mosaic or anything approaching
Byzantine decoration.
It
is
St Mark's that
must be
regarded as the Western outpost of the Byzantine
spirit.
Chapter Five
WESTERN CHRISTENDOM: I
The
medieval Christendom
The
earliest
halls or, It
was
Rome and
between Imperial
link
archit ectural
is
Christians in
ROMANESQUE
known
as 'Early Christian'.
Rome
met in houses, hired
under pressure of persecution, in the catacombs.
there that
pagan
rites
were adapted
to
Christian
needs and that the teachings ofJesus were transmuted into a 'Church'.
fourth
and
The
fifth
first
actual churches
centuries
- were
eased or after the Edict of
Church won peace
built
- mainly
when
in the
persecution
Milan (ad 313) whereby the
at the cost
of subordination
to the
Some of these early churches, much changed, survive in Rome; they were the germ o f secular power.
Western building through over a thousand
The word
'basilica'
is
confusing.
years.
The pagan
basil ica
go Plan of the Basilica of Trajan, Rome (^8-1 12): (a) entrance, (b) altars surrounded by
was
a concourse, a place of assembly, a bourse.
The word
did not imply any specific architectural torm. Basilica of Constantine, for instance,
The
was a big vaulted
libraries,
tribunals
(d) Trajan's
the double apses,
in
apses,
(c)
Column. While
continuous aisles and
lateral entrance do not
appear
in
Early
Christian churches, the basic concept of a
hall like
Trajan,
one of the
much
halls
larger,
of the thermae; the Basilica of
had only
a timber
roof
It
was
in
lar^e assembly hall with nave
was
and
aisles
clearly established
95
gi
Restored
Trajan,
interior
Rome:
of the Basilica of
double
aisles,
a colon"
fact virtually a
and well
lit; it
nave with columned
had good
aisles. It
sight lines. In other
naded gallery, clerestory lighting and an
an excellent prototype
open timber roof
Christian
churches.
essential that
In
these
everyone should
no
but, as yet,
the
for
large eastern
earliest
was cheap
words
was
and simplest
churches
first
it
was
it
see the celebrant at the altar
limb
for choir or ritual
needed, only a simple semi^circular apse for the
was
altar.
Architectural elaborati on was delibe rately eschewed.
The long became S.
was
aisled basilica
the basic
met the case well and thus
form of the Early Christian church.
Clemente, Rome, dates from the twelfth century, but built over the remains
In addition to the nave and
of"
a fourth^'Century basilica.
aisles
retains the
it still
atrium
or forecourt with
ablutionary fountain, and a large
narthex or porch
wh ere
the
"baptized coul d hear the service. Peter
St
(c.
The
and
the
un^
original Basilica of
330) was built by Constantine, but the
present church has S.
penitents
Paolo fuori
le
wiped out
Mura
is
of the
earlier one.
a nineteenth^century
copy of the
all traces
fourth/c entury basilica, b ut probabl y gives an impres/ sive
idea
of the original.
founded by Sixtus in the larger Section of Old St Peter's, Rome (c.jjo). Like the Basilica of Trajan,
^2
above, the church had double aisles and
timber roofs; but in
it,
as in other Early
Christian churches, the elevation was of
two storeys only - arcade and There was
clerestory.
a transept at the far end, with
a single apse opening directly off
96
it
III in
ad
Sta
Maria Maggiore was
432, but
Baroque church.
is
now embedded
:
We
how
have already seen
Roman dome
the inspiration of the
passed eastwards to suffer a sea-'change
into Byzantine architecture.
We now have to see how the
long basilican plan passed westwards ultimately into the tion
to
be transformed
Gothic cathedral. This transforma^
must be traced in terms of plan,
decoration. the nave,
The
two
a basilican
basilican plan consi sted of no
aisles
and
the apse.
church such
immediately the
s tructure
lin e
as,
say,
and
more than
But when we glance S.
Clemente,
we
at
nave
for the use
g4 S. Clemente, Rome
of priests and
( 12th cen^
tury, built over a ^th^century basilica)
plan, and view of the chancel.
An
atrium
(a) leads into a simple rectangular church
with nave and aisles and,
in its original
form, a single eastern apse. of the altar (h) by
'cancelW
is
To
the west
the choir (c), enclosed
(d)
and Jrniked by
the
Gospel amEo (e) and Epistle ambo (f). 1 his encroachment oj the chotr upon the nave
see
of the can celli, the marble balustrade
fencing; off nearly half the
g^,
is
clear in the
photograph above
choir and forming, in
fact, a
some
had overflowed from
early date, ritual
'chancel' Already then, at .
come thenave - however
the nave. In the centuries yet to
elaborately
it
might be vaulted - remained an
normally reserved
expanded planning
the apse into
for the kity.
until in the
It
was
the
aisled hall
apse
little
end we have such miracles of
as the chev et of chapels
around the
east
French cathedrals, or the long cha ncel and Lady
ofEngland. The
story
which
end of
Cha pel
of the church plan, therefore, from
the fourth to the fourteenth century
really the story
is
eastern limb.
its
If the basilica
columned
hall
germ of the medieval nave - as a with clerestory - t was the Roman vault was
the
i
Medie val
architecture
to c over a la rge
space with a
that inspired medieval structure.
developed from the attempt
made
fireproot root
no
ot stones
than cou ld be
larger
carried by a pack-horse. This process will take us g^,
g6 Romanesque
achievement and
Gothic virtuosity: above, Ste^Foy
Conques (he^un c.io^o; 1
see
the
also p.
ij) with high tunnels-vaulted nave, and
i4gg;
St
bold eleventh-century arches
say
of,
from
Ste-Foy
at
at
crossing covered by a lantern on squinches;
below,
Conques,
to the airy fantasies
of such sixteenth-century
Gothic as St Anne at Annaberg, Louviers or Henry VII's
Chapel
at
Westminster.
Anne,
see also p.
of
Annaberg (begun iS4) ~ the functional
This long story
two
usually divided into
is
stone vault transformed into a fantastic
Romanesque and Gothic.
pattern of ribs
style^^in
It is
'styles'
-
R omanesque
true that the
England, 'Norman') used the semi-circula rarch
and was heavy and thick walled, whereas Gothicaising. the pointed arch, achieved flexib ility the same,
the
the
to
Durham, when
styles
wou ld_
choir a nd
when its
All
have b eeii_incoiii2re-
medieval
build eL
they began
work
The in
1
doubtedly building in the Romanesque years later,
lightness.
development was continuous a nd our
subdivisions into
h ensibie
and
builders
at
09 j, were unstyle ;
some
six
they had reached the vaults overlHe
aisl es
they wer e tentativel y ex plo ring the
pointed arch and rib
^
vault -
a
moment
of useful innova-
tion but not, for them, a conscious stylistic development. It
was, in
arches
and
fact, to
be another thirty years before pointed
rib vaults
would be
St-Denis, thereby creating a
consciously exploited at
new
style.
gj~gg
Rome Church
Part of the lifeAi ne betwe en and Romanesque CJBrixwortl in
England
the baptistery at
century, bottom)
The
680, in
anJ
lejtj
France (6th
show some knowledge
of classical forms plunder.
(c.
Venasque
-
partly
Gallarus
due
to
Oratory
in
Ireland (jth century, below)
is
a
conu
pletely unclassical corbelled structure
The 'Dark Ages' may have been
was once supposed. Western Europe,
so barbarous as
nevertheless, has
little
the legions in the
m
Charlemagne
neither so dark nor
between the departure of
to offer
fifth
800.
century and the coronation of In southern
E urope
the great
monastic establishments were an assurance that tion
might survive thr
however, such
fall
of
Rome;
ar chitecture as there
little
mainly within the remote sphere of the
Ihe asceticism of Alexandria found to return eastwards, to
the its
civil iza^
the
in
was
north,
tound'
is
Irish missionaries.
hermits in the desert outside
way
to that
wild Atlantic world,
bringing Christianity
to Britain
Scandinavia. In Ireland there were such things
s^eventh^century Callarus Orator^^ near Dingle
spectacular corbelled
Michael. ai sled
there
The Hall
basi lica,
was
of the Kings
at
at
as the
or the
Skellig
Tara was probably an
with the throne in an apse. In Britain
the fairly
brian churches
domes of the mona stery
,
and
at
advanced masonry of the Northum^
Jarrow and Hexham, both about 680,
and such ambitious buildings
as
Brixworth, with^jWQ.
rows of arches constructed of Roman bricks on principles derived from
Roman
Gaul there are scanty churches - indistinguishable
remains. In
remains of a few basilican
from simple Mithraic temples - and there able sixth/century
domed
baptistery at
is
the remark^
Venasque. Clovis
r
'S>
had accepted as
form of Christianity
a barbarous
as early
Charles Martel, in the eighth century, had
496.
secured France forever against Islam.
But
new
find a
The
chapter in architecture.
Rh meland
pilasters as part
of a vivid
Aachen
(Aix^la^
design. In Charlemagne's palac e at
101 ^lij). (III.
Palatine Chapel,
Bawd j^),
chapels.
while
it
dtl
S.
floor
gallery, for
communicated with
hesitating
betw een Byzan tium and Rome, between The
dome and
t
O do
of Metz,
t
palace has a large octagonal
w ho
Ravenna,
We stern
It
was designed
designer
Its
looked East,
aisled
was
to the
The
for inspiration.
on the other hand,
entirely
Emperor,
the palace
Western Christendom was
marble work.
singularly complete.
at
if
The
he basilica. fine
as
is still
palace,
was public
the
it
Vitale
for palace
set the pattern
The ground
the
Aaclmy(jg2-
would seem
Chapelle)
cnapelwith
V itairat Ravenna
gatehouse of tjje
ab bey of Lorsch ( eighth century) has almost
pure Corinthian columns and
100 Abbey gatehouse, Lorsch (c.Soo)
we can
not until the age of Charlemagne that
It IS
in
792 and
a northerner,
church of S.
great hall of the
like that a? lara,
was an
with Charlemagne's
basilica
hrone in a apse.
"^ What, we may to ignore the
^Did
ask,
compelled the West on the whole
Byzantine
dome
of the basilica?
in favour
liturgy dictate architecture, or vice versa^.
already seen (pp. 78-9)
monastic nature plan.
of the
have
the hierarchical nature of
Church demanded
the Byzantine
different
how
We
a central
dome. The
Western Church called
for a
Apart from Charlemagne's Palatine
Chapel, the West sought inspiration
Roman
in the
basilica. TlTe_basilicajjite^all^_sm^
glamour of the an cient Constantinian Church.
As Roman
rule disintegrated
andfirsTtHemshops and
then the great abbots became the civilizing elements, architecture
changed
new
the big churches a style that
we
call
radically.
With
architecture crystall i zed
Romanesque. This
lHf ee~ttiings ffonrRomeJ*fro in"tne
^^
X
.
building in general
of these things a
it
;
and
it
fro
got
articulated, heavy, logical
and
nto the
building
yet mystical.
.
le ngth;
m Roman
got the semi^circular arch.
new kind of
i
architecture derived
basilica
from the thermae the groin va ult
f
the emergence of
.
.
It
made
strong,
\
Whereas
ROMANESQUE
had been long and low, the
the basilica
Romanesque church was talland
vig orous, piercing the j
skvline with
JS
been
its
towers.
.
and
a single shaft,
unaersurtace, heavily
the
m oulded^
Roman column had Ro man arch had a smooth
Whereas the
the
Romanesque
pier
and arch were
the structural forces within the building. s parse.
Th is was
emphasized
articulated. Str ong lines
no___lgnger a
Ornament was
MedjtgTjiiTeanstY]£jj]^ hjil^ ^-^
rnar ble veneer; it_waj_3^norther n_sjylgjDfmasonry.
The
walls of a
arch, door, or
Romanesque building
window, j)enetrating
are thick.
a thick
wa
have a very broad undersurface. In Byzantine ture this
actual
might be a good background
building
it
created
centering or Talse work'
had
difficulties.
to
for
ll,
An
would
architec/'
mosaic. In
The
^.u^^'^t
timber
be both elaborate and
Maria Laach^iogj-i 'quintessential
u had
scaffolding.
also to be supported_j rom the floor
The
urge
to
lighten this timber centering
on
was
.^1 \
a
:
the
corporating the Western themes of long nave, transept and steep^roofed towers.
The towers strong ;
if,6)
k.oman€sque church, in^
in
the
western choir, not
Romanesque
foreground mark a
uncommon
in
German
mm loj Arches Cathedral
the
in
(c.
i
cylindrical piers,
and hearing no column.
P
I04
The
nave of Gloucester
o8j) spring from
relation to the classical
vaults are Gothic
Diagram}howing
etween
two
big
almost unornamented
arcades,
the
difference
the first
with
square piers and unmoulded arches, the
second moulded,
i.e.
with the mouldings to
with those of the piers.
Wider timber
centering
-
wood under
the
curved framework
the arch
-
is
major factor
development of the
in the
correspond
of the arches articulated
of
needed for the
however, built
as a series
style. If
the arch was,
of rings, then only the lower or
inner ring needed centering. In
then acted as
itself this
centernig for the remaining rings, until the whole arch,
former to the thickness
of the wall, was complete
as a series
of
concentric mouldings.
Here and
there
-
as in the
Benedictine churches c.
(e.g.
nave arcades of English
Tewkesbury and Gloucester,
1087) the moulded arch springs from a cylindrical
The
effect
is
clumsy, the design unresolved.
If,
pier.
however,
each ring has a corresponding moulding in the support/ ing pier, then that pier
is
articulated to accord with the
arch above: one part of a building responds to another part.
Also, t he
lines
of thrust in the arch
carried visually to the p:round
pound Romanesque with profound S. at
Ambrogio at Milan
(altered in
11 81).
This
were,
articulate d or
com^
pier replaced the
effect. It
Conques (begun
.
it
can be seen
at its
are, a s
RflinanjiQlumn simplest in, say,
(late eleventh century), in f.
1050), or
at
This compound
Ste^Foy
Mainz Cathedral pier
was of course
moulded
pier
of the
Roma nesque chur^
- high
destined to be refined into the
Gothic cathedral. J-
The
basic section of a
nave and lean-to
aisles
- had,
in
embryonic form, been
inherent in the basilica. Tnis was two-tiered, with an
arcade below dividing the nave from the clerest ory
areas,
windows
notably
in
in the plain wall above. In
and
many
Germany, Romanesque churches
retained this arrangement.
A
of two^tier
different type
chur ches on the pilgrimage roads
elevatio n appears in the to
aisles,
Santiago de Compostela, and in central France: herT
the clerestory rests direct!)'^
not
want
result in
eliminated and the heavy tumieT vault
is
on the
such churches
forium or 'dark
The
is
as
aisle,
itself,
interior.
opening into the nave
The
Arcade, tritorium, clerestory -
was standard
d ark
it;
The
the
and tri^
could be anything from a proper
storey'
above the
Conques, Santiago
a massive,
arcade on solid wall.
~and
builders obviously ^id
weakening the wall by piercing
to risk
Clermont-Ferrand
gallery
triforium.
three/tier
,
to a blind io<„
arrangement -
106
Two^storey elevations (in
both cases, looking west in the nave). is
toundal l_over Europe
Saxony
Qiiedlinbur^ in
m England.
century, above) the triforium to
a
wall between
blank
The
clerestory.
piers
are
and
alternately 1 1
8), the
unlike those at Gloucester, being
obvious
echoes
Nave and wooden
At
reduced
arcade
square and cylindrical (see p. latter,
is
At
12th
(early
of classical
aisles
are
columns.
covered by jlat
roofs.
Santiago de Compostela (c.iojZf-
11 SO, left) vanished.
it is
The
gallery; above
it
the clerestory
triforium
is
which has an
open
spring the tunnel vaults
of the nave. Transverse arches dividing the vault into bays rest on shafts
run the full height of the wall. are
which
The piers
moulded
yt
I
nit ri (XT
%^
— Everywhere the changes were rung on the basic
j
/arrangement by varying the '
by varying the subdivisions of the triforium; by
storeys;
compound
choosing between columns and arcade; and of course by surface decoration.
r
of the
relative proportions
pier in the
The
usmg
front
piers for the
mouldmgs and
different
mouldmg or roundel
nave arcade might be taken up the
of the building,
to the
full
emphasis, anotlT er~"v isual
height
wooden roof or
cross-beam of a
the springing of the vault. This wall^shaft gave vertical
of the
line^
of
st
force,
to
rong in
a
design where verflcality was everytl """"
^
»<
—
For the smooth undersurface
; vault an
the
01
Roman
groin
even more elaborate centering had been needed
than for a simple arch - virtually a timber mould of the
whole
inside of the building.
must have been I
But (c.
The
halls
of the thermae
a forest of timber during construction.
in the vaults
of the crypt of Auxerre Cathedral
1030), for instance,
we
how
see
there
dividing one vaulting bay from the next. 1
oj Southwell Minster nave
trijorium has arches as wide as those
of the arcade below;
it
also
has arti^
dilated piers, whereas those of the arcade are cylindrical
108
Auxerre
(c.iojo):
the
Cathedral intersections
crypt
of
the
cross vault are left as groins, but each bay is
separated
arch
104
from
the
arches
The wooden
fc.i ijo),
a variation within the three^tier elevation.
The
are
next by a heavy
centering used in one bay could re/'Crected in the
of timber.
now
be dismantled and
next bay - a great saving in the cutting
When,
however,
we
look
at the
abbey
at
—
^
log Mainz Cathedral and
after
1181).
(nth
century
Giant quadripartite
vaults cover the nave in a douhle^hay
system (seep. 118). Unlike the Auxerre crypt, there are simple diagonal ribs to
mask
the groins
and
to
simplify con-'
struction
Pontigny, a hundred years
Durham, ribs, in
Mainz
or, again, at
there has been a iurther development.
interle c!ing
by
or at
later,
edg es
ot the
The
grom vaults are now strengthened
Centen^
themselves each a distmct arch.
——
is
necessary totuild each of these arches but not, as hitherto,
^
——
—
•^
__^
'
—
>-
.
fortHe~whole vaulting bay. The builder had created a
and had only
lobster^pot ot arches,
to bri dge
from arch
to
arch with small stones This form of v ault with diagonal .
ribs
dividing
the
first
it
form
into four of the
is
the 'quadripartite' vault.
ribbed vault
wtnuhTwi tlT^ll
ultimate diaphanous co mplexity, gave
As
a concept, bold
and simple
The moulding of stone roof, like
was now unity
all else,
,
it
It is
Goj hic
its
its
magic.
was Romanesque.
the vaulting ribs
meant
that the
was now highly articulated There .
bet ween all parts of the building.
And
if
out of this attempt to reduce the centering there had
grown
a structural system , then out of this structural
system there had also
grown
a decorative system^
105
4^r
T
~
£^m^m' "'^:
\
1 1 1
The
Canigou
is
interior
of SuMartitudu^
remarkable for
date in
its
having lono tunnel vaults which
rest
only
on a central arch and on eioht columns r
with
rough
capitals.
There
is
neither
gallery nor clerestory
The earliest buildings to which the term 'Romanesque' is
Romanizing
applied are really crude
Lombardy, Dalmatia Milan
Prato,
(^r.8 3
structures,
in
Catalonia. S. Vincenzo in
or
3j, tor instance,
has vaulting only in
the apses, while S. Pietro, Agliate, near
Milan (^.875)
has tu nnel vault s, not groin vaults. These churches, like
some
early basilicas,
and one in
have only t hree apses - one centra l
end of each
at the
Dalmatia (c.876) actually
way, the^ambulatoryand In Catalonia
at least
but St Donat
aisle
anticipates, in
radiati ng chapel
and romantic
arrangement.
two churches, Sta Maria,
fairly sophisticated vaults.
in~setting,
and
Zara
an archaic
(949) and Sta Cecili a, Montserrat (c.957) are buildings with
at
Amer
humble
Picturesque
carefully restored,
is
the
monastery of St-'Martin''du''Canigou in the Pyrenees (c.
all
1009).
It
has long tunnel vaults over nave ana
suppo rted on columnar
esque, the structure
Roman.
shafts _
;
the plan
is
aisles,
Romans 107
J 1 2 Ideal p lan for Gall (c.SToj.'In the parts aisled
can
church
be
the
monasterv/f St
this
redrawn version the
long^
transept,
apsed
identified:
with
a
ends and round towers at the west; the
monastic quarters around the cloister the south
and
east
of
to
the church; in the
western and far southern area, quests'
workrooms, servants'
lodgings,
stables,
quarters,
a school,
plan for a
spiritual,
mercial centre
etc.
A
regularized
cultural and
com^
here, fully
developed seemingly
Fre nch chevet. vaults, a series
longitudinal
T ournus
is
also
for the
first
time,
remarka ble
for
was its
the
stone
of experimen ts v^ith tunnel va ults (both
and
transverse),
quadrant
vau lts
and
groin vaults , carried out in the early years of the eleventh
and twelfth
centuries.
ROMANESQUE, J
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Opposite: plan of the monastery of
Cluny
in
u^j,
projected
includin^^
buildings (showing Professor Conant's
The general grouping is III. 112). Near the
latest research).
standard
(cp.
entrance are stables and guests' quarters; the centre
around the
cloister
is
reserved
for the abbot, monks and lay^brothers;
beyond
this
600
infirmary
the
isolation. In the
stands
in
plan of the church (some note the double aisles,
feet long)
double transepts with apsed chapels, and the chevet with
ambulatory and radiating
chapels
1 1
(
6 Model of the
third church at
1088-C.1121), from
elements seen
in
Cluny The
east.
the plan, opposite, are
clearly recognizable
low eastern and
the
-
apse with chapels,
larger western transepts
with their chapels. In addition there are great towers over the two crossings and
over the western transept arms
One of the great institutions - instrumental
was
the
of the
Romanesque world
m bringmg the St Gall ideal to fruition -
Cluniac
Or der. The monks came
Cluny,
to
in
southern Burgundy, in 915, and for three hundred
were a great cultural
years
church
at
force.
Clu ny, begun about
churches from Spain
to
Germany.
was complete by 1121, with _^under a pointed barrel vault, septs,
The
and some of the
finest
rebuilding was the
a
The second abbey 955,
threes-storey
double
death in
for sixty years until his
the great
twin tran ^
work of Abbot Hugh of Sem ur,
Order
Among
aisles ,
elevation
of all Romanesque sculpture.
all
approved the plans
other
Th e vast third church
one of the great builders of
ally
inspired
for
time: he governed the 1
109,
and person^
about a thousand churches.
Cluniac
priories
such churches
as
III
1
Paray^le/ Monial the pattern of
(c. 1
Cluny
00 ) and
and no triforium.
ran through
all
,
with
different,
high
groin
Cluniac
architecture.
There were
local
so on.
Many Cluniac churches
Corinthian carving, and each was noble in
rich
vaulting, .
20) followed
A common ideal of magnificence
Lombardic, Spanish and
colour
1
- Burgundian, Provencal, Saxon, Swiss,
variations
had
(c. 1
Vezelay contemporary with
III;
Autun, was completely vaults
Autun
many^towered
its
.
all
.
lighting
silhouette,
prim arily a
setting
for
the
its
and
Cluiirac
ps almody^
Another
which
institution
architecture to maturity
was Europe
a
was
brought
the pilgrimage.
parties
yet
we hear o f Santiago
de Compostela in north/'western Spain s
Not
network of pilgrimage routes with every
cathedral a shrine, but as early as 844
James,
Romanesque
on of Zebedee.
of two hundred
the roads of France.
A
as the shrine
of
g;eneration later pilgrims, in
at a time,
These roads
were streaming
down
started at Aries,
Le
Puy, Vezelay, St^Denis and Chartres where there were 1
ly,
above)
1
18 ParayAe-'Monial and
Vezelay
(c.
were both Cluniac, hut they pletely
m
similar to
glimpsed
design.
Cluny
1 1
oo,
right)
differ
com^
ParayAe-^Monial
III,
between
(c.
1120,
is
with an ambulatory
narrow
piers,
and
pointed transverse arches supporting a tunnel vault. Vezelay, on the other hand,
has high groin vaults and round trans^ verse
arches,
coloured stone
112
strikingly
banded
in
already churches of note. at
On
Roncevaux.
They converged upon Spain
each of the
pilgrimage church H. S t^Martin at Limogesf^Ste/'Foy
at
at
road s was a great
five
T ours,^St/M artial
^
Conques/ St^Sernin
^and^of course?Santiago de Compostela
Those century, at
churches,
five
all
show Romanesque
in
Conques - perhaps th e most
the others^are
all
maturity.
its
beautiful
of the order of 300
As
highly developed plans.
feet
Toulouse
itself.
by the
finished
at
-
is
early twelfth
The church the smallest;
long,
and have
forecast a generation earlier
by the ambulatory and chapels of St^Philibert at Tournus, the ais les have
the
now become p rocessional way s around
whole building, culminating
or beneath the high altar
Each of
- the last
these churches
stereotomy and vaulting. large
in the shrine behind
stage of the pilgrimage.
shows
skill
As we
have seen, the typical
in plan ning, in
pilgrimage church has a two/storey elevation,
with massive tunnel vaults forium^ there lit
"
from the
is
aisle
no
cler estory,
s
pringing abov e the
and
the interior
windows. Each was
is
built high,
tri^
d imly with
1^^ Pilgrimage typical
plan
appears
Compostela (begun runs
aisle
right
c.
The
churches. at
Santiago
loy^, above).
round
the
de
An
building,
merging with the ambulatory; there are
two eastern apses on two towers t erior
the transepts,
west end.
at
end of
Toulouse^egun c.1080,
ambulatory
th^
and
The ex^
reflects the plan. I n the east
,St^ernin lejtj,
at the
and
numerous
chapels are clearly expressed (cp. Cluny, III.
116)
building up to the octagonal
crossing tower, finished in Gothic times.
The church
is
of brick
113
1
ROMANES Q^UE
towers
,
and each had p erfect
acoustics for the
Roman
chant.
The
generation
which saw
the
growth of the Santiago
work of
pilgrimage and the earUer
the Cluniacs also
witnessed a spiritual awakening in the monastic world.
Carthusians, Premonstratens ianwnd Cisterci ans were all
founded
The
between 1080 and 11 20.
in the forty years
Cistercians were never *anti^Cluny', but by the
example of
austere
their
they brought about the
life
By
decline of the Cluniacs.
the year 1200 there were
i
some seven hundred Cistercian monasteries. The monks chose remote and well^-watered sever ely plain
monk
could
and uniform
feel at
home
all
in
sites.
any of them. Towers, paints
Pont[^ny,
a
Cistercian
whose simplicity contrasts with elaborate
Cluniac buildinp.
izth^century tresses
chevet
church the
The
with flying
more late
ends,
t
larger monasteries,
still
he churche s (both destroyed) had square
and two^storey
Pontigny (begun
1
elevations with clerestories.
140), with
its
chevet o f c.
1
185-1210,
hut^
has a continuous outer ring of
chapels; there are no towers
very plain; east
The churche s were
extremely simple. Rebuilding about 11 30 gave
Citeaux and Clairvaux new, 121
we re
over Europe - a Cistercian
ing and sculpture were excluded. at first
Their abbeys
is
probably very like the
at
Clairvaux. F ontenay
(
final 1
form of the great church
39-47)
is
the oldest surviving
f
122 Fontemy (ii^g-^j), tercian ideal.
hut there is
is
The
the
Cis^
piers are articulated,
no sculpture and the east end
The arcade walU shafts carry
austerely square.
pointed, and
is
slightly
the trans^
verse arches of a pointed tunnel vault
Cistercian
complex and must
The
wishes^
site
is
wo oded,
represent St Bernard's
buildings spacioCTS
th e
within their walled enc lo sure, also well proportione d
and of
fine ashlar,
but completely unadorned. There
are transverse barrel vaults
feature found, for
in tEe'aisIe s,
example,
at
a
Cistercian
Fountains (1135-50) in
England. It is
not possible to consider
in terms of instance,
what we now
the loose boundaries of
is
a
architecture
call 'countries'. Clearly, for
Normany and England were
of architecture. Clearly,
fessor
Romanesque
also,
a single school
monastic influence ignored
Romanesque Europe. As Pro^
Kenneth Conant has written 'Tlie^^omanes^e
s tyle
:
of fascinating by-ways and local schools. This
115
i2^
Abbey,
Jerichow
A
(c.i2oo).
almost
church,
brickwork.
ijo) and wooden
a
It
Brandenburg
Premonstratensian abbey
wholly
of
excellent
has a raised choir (cp.
III.
two^ storey elevation below a
ceiling
has been
its
charm
for
many
lovers of the arts, and, in
consequence, the historians have generally analysed a series of quasi^independent regional
the great
movements and chief
it
as
phenomena. Yet
institutions of
Romans
esque times with their architecture were inter^regional.'
Many
of these regional schools must here be taken
granted, and only one or
two considered
in detail.
materials influenced building everywhere.
On
for
Local
one sense
both Romanesque and Gothi c were born of the splendid Jimestones of France In the Netherlands an d northern .
Germany
the clays ultimately gave us a great school of
brick building, while the 12^ Opposite: west front of St^Gilles-^
du^Gard (c.iijo), very Roman with its
composition based upon a triumphal
arch,
its
pilasters
Corinthian
and jambs,
Provence acquired
around the tympana, and
its
style derived from antiquity
moulding sculptural
own
of
Ita ly_and
Mediterranean character
through the decorative and sculptural use of marble.
The fragmented
columns, fluted
classical
its
Rom anesque
variety
geological
while the importation of to
map
of schools - lim estone,
Norman England
of England gave a
sa ndstone, flint, brick
Caen
stone from
-
Normandy
gave a material beautifully textured
for the carver.
Il6
Northern,
Roman, Byzantine and
even
Islamic
elements
are
found
varying
in
Apart from Charlemagne's
specifically
Aachen, Byzantine influence where the rulers - in an attempt at
everywhere.
degrees
is
Byzantine work
evident in Sicily,
to rival the
Emperor
of the East - imported craftsmen from Byzantium. St^ Front
at
a lmost
Perigueux
(c. 1
120) in
Aquitame
structurally
is
wholly Byzantine the plan almost identic al ,
Mark's in Venice.
that of St
Angouleme
(1105-28) and the abbey of Fontevrault other examples in
(c.
to
Cath edral 1119) are
Aquitaineo£Romanesque_churches
with domes over square bays. Islamic influence, while strongest in Spain, also appears in Sicil y
and on
French pilgrimage roads into Spain.
evident, for
It
is
the
example, in the doorways and large^cusped arches a t
Moissac and in the cathedral and St^Michel/d'Aiguille
atj
^ Puy-.
li^
tradition, they
way. The
Card
(c.
Provence on the other hand, true continued
fa cade
to build
handsomely
to their
in a Latin
of the Cluniac priory of St^Gilles^du^
1170), and St^Trophime at Aries, with
twelfth/'century cloister walk, are Provencal
of Roman simplicity.
its late
examples
12^ Above:
central apse oj
Monreale
Cathedral, Sicily (hegun 1174). interlacing^ arches
and
discs,
The
themselves
patterned and forming a rich design on a light
ground, show Islamic influence
ROMANES QJUE
Burgundian
If the
of planning,
synthesis
126
In this detail of the ruins of Notre-'
Dame its
at
fumieges (io^y-66) we
two most
distinctive features:
see
(a)
douhk^hay system of the nave (cp. Ills. 1 0^, 1 og) giving alternate cylin^ the
drical piers
and compound piers with
walUshafts which carried a flat wooden roof,
and (h) one of the two west towers
(cp. III.
1
28).
crossing^arch
At
the top
is
the western
made
regional schools
was uniquely capable of a
intellect
structure
and carving, other
Languedoc
their contributions.
advanced the progress of vaulting - already mentioned -
such great churches
Conques. Apart from
as
domed pseudo^Byzantine
in
the
churches, there was also in
Aquitaine a special Loire group which
with
built
surprising maturity such things as the abbey of St^
Benoit^surxLoire as early as 1060; even before 903 St^
Martin
The
Tours may have had vaulted
at
Romanesque churches
greater
plan
basilican
aisles.
nave and
of
aisles,
followed the
all
though with the
addition of transepts and eastern chapels they were by the twelfth century far
removed from
them
In most of
basilicas.
certain buildings tions
on
and
and
the nave
columns
separated by rows of uniform
or piers, but in
were varia^
form of alternating supports.
These usually consisted of a simple rhythm of
columns aisle
compound
with
thin^thick,
or with
more
correspond thus
Two
with
bays of the
one bay of the nave:
where groin or rounds-arched
bays
all
which was
could, by this means, be kept square, great help
thick/-
alternating
piers
slender piers.
to
were
aisles
in certain areas there
this pattern, in the
pagan
the original
rib vaults
a
were
used - pending the liberating force of the pointed arch.
We
find this system all over Europe, in such otherwise
Modena and
diverse buildings as Jumieges in France,
Michele
S.
A
at
Pavia in
different system
Hildesheim
:
Italy
was introduced
to every
This
triple
pier,
in
England.
St Michael at
in
bay of the nave there were three
corresponding bays of the
columns, one
and Durham
aisle,
making
two columns, one
a
rhythm of two
pier,
and
so on.
rhythm became popular throughout Lower
Saxony, but in the great churches of the Rhineland the double^bay system that
we
such a monumental building
-
Hi
a royal
mausoleum with
length of 435
feet,
the
same
find,
it is
lending variety to
as the cathedral at
Speyer
and with
a total
a fine crypt
as Chartres.
of the great phenomena of the medieval world -
One
second only
- was
to
its
inheritance from the
Normans. By
the impact of the
Roman Empire the beginning of
Vikings
the eleventh century these intelligent, vigorous
had been living
in
France
hundred
for over a
had become not only French and
years.
feudal,
They
but also
patrons of monastic orders and of great master masons.
They
created a civilization as far south as Sicily, as far
north
became
The Romanesque of Normandy
Iceland.
as
in the English cathedrals built
the
m
turn
with such energy
after
a consistent structural system, applied
Conquest.
Norman Romanesque -
like
Norman
rule
- was
heavy, strong, uncompromising, but also highly artic^ ulated.
While
the
mouldings were simple squares and
and even
the
capitals often only plain 'cushions', the architecture
was
roundels, the ornament largely abstract
masonry of a high
nevertheless orchestrated
concentric ring
oi^
every arch
had
order. Every
a square or a half' '!<
column
correspond
to
arches springing
to
it
in the pier
awkwardly from
below (moulded
cylindrical piers as at
and Tewkesbury have been men^
Gloucester, Malvern
tioned on p. 102; they
may
be regarded as an English
Benedictine aberration). Moreover, the sheer richness of
- possible only in a
a multiplicity of concentric arches
thick wall
may
- became
in itself a
kind of ornament,
as
one
innumerable doorways of English village
see in the
churches. Within the nave, however, apart from mass, scale to
and harmony of parts, almost
the only concession
emotion was the strong division between the bays by
the great emphasis put
an unbroken
vertical
upon
the wall^shaft, taken
band from
lay not only the strong articulation
floor to
up
roof In
in
this
of the bays themselves,
but also the germ of that soaring quality, that aspiration, that
was
to
be the essence of Gothic - though
less
in
England, paradoxically, than in France.
The Romanesque of Normandy was worked early as
c.
1040
at the
abbey of Jumieges. There,
out as as
we -'Mm
Dt4rham
12'j
In
much
enriched version of the douhle^hay
system supports hi^h
All
Cathedral nave, a
rib
i
Norman
chevron mouldings; transverse
mouldings,
separate
and with heavier
the
twin
that to
plan there are two bays of the
keep the bays square on
aisle to
one of the nave:
ijo.
the ribs are decorated with typically
arches, slightly pointed
bays
vaults ofc.
we find
have already seen,
the wallz-shaft
is
system appears
used only on alternate
at
Durham, begun
in 1093
Jumieges never was vaulted (the
vaulting
carried
transverse
Durham
there
arches
came
for
a
the historic
piers. ;
The same
but whereas
wall-'shafts
wooden
at
most
ceiling),
moment when,
at
instead
of using round arches and the usual vaults, the masons chose to roof the cathedral with rib vaults: the choir was rib^vaulted by 1104, but this vault infilling
- had
to
- owing
be rebuilt. In the nave
(r.
to faulty
1130) the
vaults are of a highly unusual type consisting of
two
twinned quadripartite vaults per bay, separated by pointed transverse arches. Here were the germs of the
Gothic 120
fully
style,
though below
Romanesque.
these vaults
Durham was
The Norman brought
England
to
storey elevation
We
towers.
style
in
of church/'builcling which was
1066 typically involved a
three-'
and cruciform plan, sometimes with
find this in St-'Etienne at
Caen, William
own foundation of c. 1068. Among Norman works to survive in England is
the Conqueror's the earliest
the north transept of
Winchester
with large/jointed masonry. is
(f.
The
(c.
1079) - very plain,
flowering of the
style
exemplified in the groin^vaulted crypt of Canterbury
1100-1120) and in the great naves of Ely and
Peterborough.
The Ages
story
is,
of Italian architecture during the Middle
on the whole,
Lombardy, from
different.
the ninth
The
early
churches of
century, radiated a
new
building system throughout southern Europe which, well as the at the
ending
the exterior
at the
style as a
top in a
was
in the
form of
vaults. Orna/' pilaster^strips,
row of shallow, blank
whole spread
to the
as
in Carolingian buildings
same time, involved the use of stone
ment on
to
good masonry used
arches.
The
Rhineland, then returned
northern Italy in the eleventh century to be embodied
I
^8
West
front of
SuEtienne) Caen
Nave
(be^un c.iobS).
and
aisles
are
expressed by the division into wide and
narrow bays, separated hy fat buttresses.
arcaded
Above
towers,
the
strikingly
before the addition of the
aisles
development of
Gothic
Norman rise
two even
high spires.
For
this theme, see Ills.
ij6, 142 and 14^
1 2g Ely Cathedral nave (begun c.iiio) shows the three^storey Norman arrange^
ment of arcade, gallery and clerestory with a passage in the thickness of the wall.
The
capitals
walUshafts
On
are plain
vast
rise to a
The
cushions.
wooden
ceiling.
the right the corner of the crossing,
originally square,
is
canted for the
century octagon (III.
1
64)
1
^th^
Abbondio and S. Fedele in Como.
in such churches as S.
At
the time there
p
h^gun
was widespread experimentation with
breadth,
rib vaults: the magnificent
Milan may have had its
church of S. Ambrogio in
rib vaults before
Durham, though
present vaultmg almost certamly dates from
The
chaotic state of Rome after the
fall
after
1 1
17.
of the Empire
ripartite
S.
Miniato,
rib
square bays.
vaults,
in
Note
the
sponse of the piers
to
in
vast
its
nave
the
covered
splendidly
c.g4o,
Roman
C.1060).
like
however
and
MilmJ^hoir
S. Ambrogio,
by
is
quad-'
domed^up
articulated
re^
arches and vaults,
the absence of a clerestory
meant an almost complete cessation of building; while the cathedrals were
Pisa for instance
ing
much on
at
Rome
slept.
Elsewhere,
at
Florence, a style emerged depend^-
surface enrichment for
no innovation little
and
built
in plan,
decorative arcades
no attempt
and
rich
its effect.
There was
At
vaulting.
at
Pisa
marble facing are used
ijo Opposite: S. Minia to lorence
ferent
southern
northern.
throughout, even in the Gothic Baptistery and Santo.
S.
Miniato
Monte
al
in
Florence
beautifully proportioned in a classic way,
is
and
'a
first
Roman
it
synthesis
has a
wooden roof Pevsner
of Tuscan
simplicity
and
believe that S. Miniato
transept at Winchester.
intellect
poise'. It
was
is
built before the
Romanesque
scale
Monte,
is
almost
is
dif^
from
Roman;
the piers are copies of classical columns,
simple,
with some recused antique capitals; the
rich in
called
it
and grace with
difficult
The
al
shows how
Campo
choir aisles
marble inlay;
(cioyj),
indeed to
is
raised over a crypt;
nave and
have open timber roofs; and the
richness
Roman
of the in
marble facing,
inspiration,
is
itself
more evident
than any structural vigour
Norman 123
1^
F I
^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
1
Chapter Six
WESTERN CHRISTENDOM: GOTHIC II
The Middle Ages, from the Reformation, are like
the time of
some
Charlemagne
vast tapestry, rich
to
1J2 Rheims Cathedral nave (designed
and
C.1210). The Gothic style depends on a balance
glowing,
We
may
with
filled
detail
both sublime and squalid.
seven hundred years; as the details
woven through
think of this tapestry as being
work comes
become more complex,
to a close the
more
also
precise
and
forces,
of
Romanesque
against
as
reliance on mass.
What began
as a story
of pious abbots and
fighting chieftains, framed in heavy
Romanesque
arches,
ends with the extreme sophistication of the monastic heraldic
the
orders,
mercantile
cities
through
It
of an aristocracy,
of northern Europe and
and
the splendours
protocol
miseries of the
Italy,
and with
Crusades; while
runs the golden thread o^ Gothic
all
the discipline of
Gothic
it
art,
structure.
Medieval architecture was European but, twelfth century,
the
after
the
emanated mainly from France, and
the
exterior of a Gothic cathedral the system
whereby the thrusts are transmitted
is
frankly exposed. Pointed arches channel the weight of the vault to a
defined.
the
On
At
points.
carry
it
to
few
selected
these points flying buttresses the
ground;
to
counter the
outward thrust of the vault, they are weighted with heavy pinnacles. The new structural theory a
new
aesthetic.
went hand
in
hand with
Flying buttresses were
seen as leapingflights of stone; pinnacles
became displays of sculpture and orna^ ment; windows, now safely as wide as the spaces between the buttresses,
were
filled with patterns of bar-'tracery,
pro^
bably invented here at
Rheims in the Most import
early years of the century.
has
come
to
be called 'Gothic'. This
is
no
less
true
because technically there was, in our sense, no such thing as France. There was Brittany, a
fief
on
tant, all these
features were welded into
a unity
the fringe
of the Celtic world; there was Normandy, expansionist
and
practical, creating the administrative structure with^
out which no great architecture can exist; there was
Burgundy, with
great river system
long chain of abbeys -
and
its
and
for travel.
to or
its
and
its
big
fairs
a land fervent for building
There was Aquitaine, which belonged
was influenced by England during much of the
medieval period.
And
then there was Provence, once
a province of the Empire, represented in the
Senate,
and very
Roman
in
its
life
Roman
and laws, learning
125
GOTHIC
and
art
...
a civilizing link
between Antiquity and
Christendom.
Above
was
there
all
the central
domain of
the
He
de France. This was the ancient realm of the Capetian
monarchy, taking one back almost
to the last days
of
Hugh Capet, in the tenth century, had 'august kmg of France and Aquitaine'. By
Charlemagne. been called
making set
the coronation an eighth sacrament he
above
Brittany
other feudal lords, as 'the eldest son of the
all
Church'.
had been
Only
and
slowly
the rest
did
Normandy, Burgundy,
come under
the royal sceptre, but
the disputations of the University of Paris decided both
ijj Loches, one of
the ^reat castles of
France.
The
centre
the old keep ('donjon') of about
is
rectan^^ular
tower
in
the
1100. In front of it stand the bastions and curtain walls of the later castle. The slope ('batter') of the wall and the
the theology
m
the East
introduced into
military
tecture by advances in the technique
archie
of war
the
law of Christendom.
had succeeded
Paris did in the
Rome
As Byzantium
as a worldz-capital so
West. The He de France became a
was safeguarded. From Paris He de France - St/Denis, Laon,
casket wherein civilization
and
the cathedrals of the
keeled plan of the bastions are sophistic cations
and
Chartres,
Amiens, Beauvais, Le Mans and Bourges -
the structural
and
aesthetic principles of
,-^'
«
*
i^!tu
'-»,-r.^;_i
_-^0^
"4ti*»^
kJ^-a-l,
Gothic went
Europe by the
forth, carried across
The as
monarchy,
centralized nature of the French
as well
sacramental prestige, enabled the kings of France
its
to pursue a consistent policy political
- architectural
as well as
- through many generations.
Every part of medieval Europe
Gothic
this
great master masons.
distinguishable
yet
each
and have each
their
own
history,
are
and
of the great structural
truly only a local variant
is
own stamp upon
German, Spanish, English
architecture.
all
set its
theme evolved by the builders of St^Denis, Sens, Laon
and Chartres. In the esque churches
Amiens and compared.
more than
little
Roman-'
Normandy and England,
say,
of,
almost identical;
early twelfth century the
hundred
a
are
years later,
11
Salisbury must be contrasted rather than
And yet,
in spite of the differences, the former ij_ If
is
a central example, the latter a provincial
same
the
style,
Europe where
sible in winter,
"ift~^
^
T^
the Gothic.
Gothic architecture must be seen in a Gothic Europe, a
flS
example of
travel
was
difficult in
but almost always
were made only
summer, impose
fruitful since
for serious reasons
-
journeys
the pilgrimage, the
i54 The Cloth Hall its
at Bruges,
overwhelming tower raised
in
with
1482,
expresses the secular, mercantile wealth
of one of the most prosperous towns of medieval Europe
crusade, the commission to build a cathedral. Gothic architecture
must
also be seen as a
system, in
which each man had
function.
The Church
manors and
thousand
castles.
castles
The
show
an end,
fine
Church but
to
a
merchants, the burghers and the
The power of
in the
guild,
that long before the
these chartered
Middle Ages came
to
building was not just a function of the also a
town
symbol of worldly that a
man
the wealth of the
Church.
success.
Moreover,
could apprentice himself
and thereby become
independence of the town was
was
ten
guild halls, warehouses and big gabled market
squares
was
aristocracy
was of tremendous importance. Cloth
corporations
it
monastic orders built
- Germany alone once had
guilds built the towns.
halls,
and
his specific place
and parish churches. The
cathedrals, abbeys built
or the
product of a caste
a
craftsman.
The
Gothic
art as
as vital to
127
GOTHIC
While castles
bishops built churches, the aristocracy
the
and the merchants towns,
and barns. The hovels of
mills
cottages,
the peasantry built the twelfth
century, without glass or chimneys, have not survived,
but by the fifteenth century - as villages finest
may
many
be seen in
and farms - Western Europe had one of the
vernaculars in history.
This great wealth of building
reflected
system of customs and institutions.
an elaborate
The Seven
Sacra^
ments and the Seven Deadly Sins covered almost every^ JJ5 In
this
window
at
Suffolk,
i^th^ century stained ^lass
Lon^ Meljord Church
the
knight
kneels
under
in
a
miniature vault complete with capitals
thing from birth to death, and were planned
were a thousand local
cults,
with
their
There
for.
holy
and
trees
wishing^wells, which, like the greater heresies, had to
and buttresses
be stamped out: the this,
too,
was
Church became more
of the pilgrimage, which,
already in
Romanesque
greater
specialization
and
There was the
reflected in architecture.
institution
militant
as
we have
seen,
times seems to have led to a
of church
with
plans,
aisles,
ambulatory and radiating chapels. In Gothic the plan/ ning of these eastern chapels was taken extremes of ingenuity. The Crusades -
two hundred and
momentous Frankish
as
fifty
years
for architecture. castles in the
further
to
six
of them in
- were an
institution
Apart from such things
Holy Land,
there
was
the
undoubted feedback of Saracenic influence upon Gothic
upon mathematics and upon manners. The institution of the siege - a very formal operation -
art,
development of the
dictated the progressive
within the
castle
Romance of
the
wall - as
we may
see
it
castle,
while
portrayed in the
Rose - the troubadours inspired the
'paradise', the enclosed
garden with fountain and
trellis,
forerunner of the Elizabethan parterre. Chivalry, with
mystique of knighthood and
became
its
heraldic
its
emblems,
a basis for decoration, particularly in that last
blaze of Gothic that
The emotional
we
see in
Tudor England.
appeal of Gothic structure was such
that for the carver, broderer or glazier, the representation
of architectural elements in miniature became in
itself a
decorative motif. In the canopies above saints' heads, for
we may
instance,
whole
see
mullioned windows,
all
was
that architecture
Like medieval
the
life,
mches high -
a few
dominant
and
a sure sign
of the age.
art
medieval architecture was highly
systematized. Every part part.
vaults, flying buttresses
Gothic
was dependent upon every other
Function, structure and decoration were, more than
From
in any other style, an absolute trinity.
complex
a
plan one can deduce, almost, the smallest cusp; from the carved boss one can deduce the form of the vault, and so
back
to the
What,
system of abutment and to the plan.
then,
was Gothic
architecture? First:
system whereby a fireproof roof of stone had
by thick walls
thrust resisted, not
building, but by external buttresses.
from the twelfth so
the wall at all,
As
was
a
outward
Romanesque
the style
developed
system was
to the sixteenth century, this
by putting mass and strength into the
exploited
buttresses
as in
its
it
- where
it
was needed - and by paring away
that there
itself,
was
in the
end
virtually
nothing but very big windows between
no wall
buttresses.
many small panels of glass had to be supported, and since such windows had necessarily to be wind^
Since the
resisting,
they were subdivided
tracery. This, in turn,
worker
that his art
Gothic
as
by mullions and by
gave such scope
became
as
much
to the stained^glass
the concomitant of
mosaic had been of Byzantine. This
manifestation of Gothic - the lantern church that
window and
buttress
- was
the goal towards
Although when we look
front of Wells see a
at, say,
as
is
a carved
the west
we
was a Greek temple,
to
receive sculptured figures, this that almost every stone
the
1240)
(begun c 1200) or of Rheims
building designed,
is all
which
Middle Ages moved. Second: Gothic was architecture.
last
is
(c.
secondary to the fact
carved for
its
position in the
building, carved with mouldings. Every element - rib,
mullion, shaft, arch, qualities tion.
jamb -
thus incorporated the three
of architecture: function, structure and decora^
The mouldings of each
stone
added
to
its
efficiency
129
ij6
of Rheims Cathedral (c.12^0) we see how conu In
west front
the
pletely Gothic
Every stone
is
a carved architecture.
moulded
is
to fit
into
the
sculptural scheme, the vertical elements ruthlessly
asserting
themselves against
the horizontal. In this
of the classic
extreme statement
French Gothic facade,
the
twin towers have become open cages of stone;
the
nave
whose tracery and
is
is
lit
by rose window
like the veins
of a flower;
the great portals, filled with statuary
and projecting outward under separate gables
to
get greater depth, stretch
a third of the
way
to the
upward
tower tops
by reducing
its
by expressing
weight, and added to
decorative nature
its
of force - tension, rhythm, thrust -
lines
throughout the building. The larger buttress played a similar structural
where
it
and
was needed,
aesthetic role:
at right
it
placed weight
angles to the line of thrust;
divided bay from bay externally as the
tall
it
Romanesque
vaulting shaft had already done internally.
The key
features
pointed arch;
and
^,
2,
of Gothic architecture were:
the
the flying buttress; j, the vaulting rib;
the moulding.
tentatively
1,
Each of
these
had been only
foreshadowed in Romanesque. The pointed
arch had, for instance, been used in the third church at
130
Cluny about
1
100, but
nobody
ever dreamt that
it
might
revolutionize the plan.
The
flying buttress, to carry the
thrust of the nave vault across the aisle to the outer wall,
was used by Romanesque
builders, but
was hidden under
the lean-to roof of the aisle, never exploited architect-
The
vaulting rib also, of course, existed in
Romanesque
times, but only in so far as the essential
turally.
crossmatches
and diagonal arches of the square vaulting
bay were exposed
heavy
as
ribs
below the smooth
of the vault; a multiplicity of delicate
ribs to
patterned roof was solely a Gothic thing.
esque
articulated
pier,
corresponding
to the
was
moulded;
in a sense
with
&
\
form a richly
/
The Romans and
squares
soffit
roundels
:--J
c^,,.
^
concentric rings of the arch above, real
mouldings,
as
an aesthetic
treatment of the stone, were, however, something that
emerged,
as at
Although
these were key features of
ture the thing
which
technically possible,
how
the
Romans,
truly liberated
was
Gothic architect
Gothic, making
the pointed arch.
it
We have seen
in the halls of the thermae,
buik un^
ribbed quadripartite vaults over square bays, and did so
on
a very big scale.
heavily ribbed
We
have also seen
Romanesque
vaults,
'./U-
^
Chartres and Wells, only around 1200.
how
there
were
but also virtually
ij7 {
Vault
1^1 2-4-/ J,
structure
and superb
art,
fact,
both
in spite of courageous
Roman and Romanesque
by Benedikt Ried. Where-'
as the ribs of most
Early and Hioh Gothic
buildings were functional, Late
masons
only over square bays. In
St Barbara, Kuttenberg
in
Gothic
so mastered the vault that they
could use ribs merely
to
form
delicate or
fantastic patterns
ij8 Beauvais Cathedral in
i22z^ and
century, in
left
shows
two flights -
to the limits
Even
so,
-
of what was the collapse
284 was due not to their bad foundations. The tran^
of the vaults in
sept front
begun
the flying buttress used
possible in stone.
height but to
choir,
unfinished in the 16th
1
shows
the lavish late Flam-'
boy ant style of decoration
131
;
GOTHIC
builders were always subject to the tyranny of the square bay. Ifthe ridge of the vault
on
the arches
was
to
run
level,
four sides of the bay must
all
same height and - since
neither
Roman
nor
then clearly the
all rise to
Romanesque
builder could conceive of an arch other than the semi/ circular
- the vaulting bay must be square. Both
and Romanesque builders occasionally problem by this
stilting or
must be regarded
tried to solve this
depressing the semi^circular arch as a botch.
The pointed arch - since pointed
it
could be steeply or
slightly
will - resolved the situation completely.
at
one of the great breakthroughs of architectural
Once
Roman
It
was
history.
was accepted and understood,
the pointed arch
then a vaulting bay could be rectangular instead of square, with steeply pointed arches
on
short sides,
its
and
shallower arches on the long sides. Indeed, by varying the steepness of the various arches
and
ribs the
bay could
be almost any shape that was necessary to conform with the function of the plan.
Examples
are the
rhomboidal
bays of the ambulatory, the polygonal chapels of the
French chevet and the polygonal chapter-'houses of
England.
The
technical advantages of the pointed arch were,
tremendous.
therefore,
Viollet/'le^'Duc,
according
Nikolaus Pevsner, has overestimated them; difficult to
do
so.
The
and
rectangular
it
to
would be
pointed arch, by making possible
shaped bays, completely
irregularly
emancipated the plan. The pointed arch made possible a multiplicity of vaulting ribs;
all
spring from one shaft,
of different curvature;
all
could
all are
height.
The
ribs
the
same
of any given vaulting bay did not
necessarily all rise to the in western France,
rise to
same height. The
might be
slightly
ridge, specially
curved so
as to give
each bay a domical appearance. But the important thing is
that,
rib
with the pointed arch, the height
would
designer.
132
rise
By
Gothic was
was under
which each
the absolute control of the
the early fourteenth century, fully
to
when
English
developed, no fewer than eleven ribs
From Romanesque
13P
groin vault
to
tierceron vault:
Gothic
A. The
square round arch requires a
vaulting hay
huilt with round arches ts If a vault on arches the then over a rectangular bay, on (raised stilted shorter side must he
B
the
straight sides, as the
at 'a') to rise to
shown
same height
C
The
pointed arch, with
Rexihility, solves this
extreme
its
The
prohlem
arch
(i)ts steeply pointed; over the short side side (2) IS less arch over the longer the
pointed;
steeply
longest span,
the diagonal
ohtusely pointed,
and yet
all
arch
the
across
(3)
the
'^^7
even semucxrcular rise
three can
to
the
-
same
In the level ridgeAine. height, giving a arches are rihs, Gothic vault these
weh forming a stone
to
hold the lighter
cell infilling in each
D
Additional
rihs
(4,
'tiercerons'. added, called
5>-^) ^'^ They smplu
the size oj construction hy reducing aesthetically, they each cell of the vault;
kd
opened the
way for
the
Late
Gothic
ceiling. The highly decorative at diferent rihs awkward junction of use the of the boss hy angles was masked
vault,
a
GOTHIC
rose
from each
Exeter nave. ideal of the
a
dome
By
tiny capital
on the vaulting
a biological analogy
Roman
or
Romanesque
we may
builder
possible, while the ideal of the
was
make
to
say that the
was
or vault like a turtle shell, with as
soffit as
a vault like a
of
shafts
to
make
smooth
a
Gothic builder
mammalian
skeleton, an
organic complex of spine and ribs - structural and tense, yet also unified.
The
pointed arch also
opposed
to the
of the building
of support.
and
It
141
St^Denis Abbey Church:
the
ambulatory; opposite, above,
plan.
The
tiarthex (on the left of the
plan, in black) and the chevet (on the ri^ht)
were
rebuilt
by Abbot Su^^erfrom
C.11J4 onward, and represent the very earliest
examples of the Gothic style. The
chevet (ri^^ht) in particular opportunities for bility
shows what
lightness
and
flexi^
were provided by the pointed arch
and the
rib vault.
Not
only could spans
of different widths easily be brought to the
same
height, but the vaultin^^bay itself
could be of any plan.
The nave and
transepts of
St^Denis were
High Gothic
a century after
134
rebuilt in
Suger
square bay, thus causing the to
be distributed over twice as
made
The
total
into organic
weight
many
possible the large traceried
was brought
vault above.
140,
possible the rectangular as
the slenderer supports of triforium
so that all
ri^ht,
made
points
windows
and nave arcade,
harmony with
the
pointed arch caused a more precise
concentration of thrust
whole
of the
lightening
sequent
the abutment, with a con^
at
apparent miracle of the flymg buttress. qualities of
and
structure
The
the
aesthetic
Gothic were only possible because of the
technical qualities
stated the nature
development in
inherent in the pointed arch.
we now
of Gothic in general specific
Having
turn to
its
examples.
One of the greatest of medieval patrons of buildmg was Abbot Suger of abbey
church
St^Denis. Finding his Carolmgian
inadequate
narthex, then started to rebuild the choir in left
a
book showing
he
pilgrims,
for
1
built
He
140.
a
has
the medieval attitude to architecture
- a mixture of daring innovation and mystical symbolism.
That the chevet was of
a
Crown of Thorns was
The
master
only, perhaps, that
mason
is
ambient
aisle
not
named;
good building was taken
technology rather than an
Denis has not only
a
The
art.
interior, full
pointed arch
but also, in
complex
of intriguing is
effect,
shows
for granted,
chevet
at St^-
a second outer aisle
and
vistas
used throughout;
plan, but already this
giving us marvellous
this
polygonal chancel with a circum^
running through the chapels. The
a
only part
system of symbols running through the whole
building.
as a
the
new
it
an
airy
perspectives.
The
result
had
to
is
be over such
new-found
flexibility
spatial possibilities.
is
135
The new
Throughout great
was consecrated
choir of Stz-Denis the
He de France and beyond,
wave of emulation. In
in 1144.
there
was
a
central France alone Sens,
Noyon and Senlis were built between 1140 and 1220. Then came the great cathedrals of Paris (1163-1235), Laon (i 163-1225), Bourges (i 190-1275), Chartres 194-1260), Rheims
(1
210- 1300), Le Mans (1220-
(c.i
Amiens (1220-88).
64) and
Chartres had actually been
begun simultaneously with St^Denis, but only front
was
ever built (an earlier
and was burnt
it
marvellous
in 1194).
marriage
already belong to the
some of austerity.
instance,
The lower
Gothic
centuries.
centre,
including
famous
the
Portail
work
begun
window of plate with
tracery
is
The Flamboyant
11^4. left
was added
the
Renaissance
circular
contemporary begun
church,
present
the
The
1134.
in
the
to
after
on
spire
the
i^oj, on the eve of
in
143
transept
(c.
Cathedral
Chartres
11^4-1260).
architecture,
generation of Gothic.
About
some Romanesque
is still
the walls;
set
is
it
in
the arches barely pointed
Only by
very large lancet
and
without
still
had reached
the time the builders
the clerestory did they begin to pairs
and crown them with
Earlier
a
group the
wheel of
lancets in
'plate^tracery',
consisting of patterns cut through the thickness of the
wall - hinting
at a different
kind of window. However
with Rheims, barely twenty years architecture
that
is
almost
like
later,
lace,
we have an
with
its
fully
developed bar^tracery where patterns are made by stone 'bars* in the
Opposite:
and
the
part of the
Royal, and the towers belong
tracery.
magnificent portals, a
The famous stained glass at Chartres, for may be likened to a series of glowing banners
windows, the
Its
these churches there
hung upon 1^2 Chartres Cathedral facade, of standard two^tower type, spans
church remained behind
of sculpture first
the west
windows - appearing dark
rather than, as
was
against the light
the case with plate^tracery, light in the
dark wall - and arcading. This
is
also
an architecture
Gothic builders had favoured a four^ storey elevation (see
masons
returned
III.
to
14"/).
the
Here
three^storey
arrangement, retaining the shallow
forium and eliminating buttressing
role
was superseded by
The
lancets were enlarged and
crowned by a
stained glass.
running from floor vertical
emphasis
to
the
clerestory
wheel of plate tracery (visible top
and filled with
tri"
whose
the gallery,
external flying buttress.
the
that in
its
height and lightness had reached the most
thrilling extremes
a
hundred
of which stone was capable. Within
Abbot Suger's achievement at St^ that we have the High Gothic style of
years of
Denis we may say France.
These cathedrals have certain things in common. They
left),
all
have very broad but cruciform plans - that
is,
tran^
Shafts
vault increase the
septs
of slight projection. Notre^Dame in Pans, with
double
aisles
and complete unity throughout
its
its
length,
^^BB^B
**
Glli ilillll
111"
t^^^i
45 English and French Gothic cathedrals differ in their position and in i44>
J
form
their
(be^^un
grassy
c. 1 1
below)
80,
isolated
close,
Wells
142-j).
(see pp.
stands
from
in
A rniens
(begun 1220, opposite) domi"
Hafed'its
town
houses
like a
pressing
Amiens
soars,
massive
towers
width of the
ment
is
great ship, the small
in
round
Wells
aisles.
two
the orna^
integrated with the structure; at
Wells it seems rather to tion.
its
beyond the
At Amiens
like those at
Rheims
are overwhelmingly vast
(III.
ij6)
and cavernous;
are insignificant,
made
unnecessary by a grander entrance
in the
those at
side
Wells
at
all
have cavernous doorways. Not only
Chartres were the doorways a
field for
sculpture; the
portals of
Laon, Rheims and Amiens
great things of architecture.
are
among
the
Most have western towers,
or
substructures intended to take towers. In fact externally
few
of these
cathedrals
were ever
completed.
builders of Chartres intended nine towers -
The
two on
the
west front, two on each transept, two flanking the apse
and one
central tower at the crossing
- with
spires rather
be surface decora-'
Finally, the three western portals of
Amiens,
cathedrals nearly
Where
it.
spreads,
extending
be thought of as the reaHzation of an ideal. These
a
town.
the
may
of the north tower, at the
left
than the mere conical roofs of the twelfth century.
came sheer
nearest to the ideal with five
fleche
completed towers. The
height and fragility of French
excluded the
possibility of a
was enough.
Laon
Gothic usually
heavy central tower - a
146 Ri^ht: Cathedral aisles
the
interior
(iig2~i2js)
which
are
used
in
of Bourses ^^^ a
douhle
uniquely
impressive way. to a
one
The main arcade rises great height and through its arches
sees,
as
it
were,
a second interior
elevation, complete with arcade
through
the second aisle
to
~
-
leading
triforium
and clerestory
147,
148
Opposite:
the
choir
of
Noyon Cathedral (begun c.u^o, above) shows vation.
the
Early Gothic four^storey
The
ele-
choir of Beauvais Cathedral
(below), begun
in
after the collapse
122^ but
altered later
of the original vault
in
1284, attempts a different solution by glazing the triforium; its total height is
almost twice as great as that of Noyon
140
High Gothic
Internally the great threez-storey
arrangement.
First, there
opening through into the
and
cathedrals present a
aisles;
is
second, the triforium;
third, the clerestory flooding the
From
nave with
light.
clerestory level there springs the ribbed vault.
bay from bay,
cross/rib, dividing
is
more heavily moulded than the other
Romanesque - and
much a series
so
the nave arcade
what we
so
The
no longer much ribs
-
as
it
in
vv^as
see here in the vault
is
not
of bays as a pattern of equal ribs growing
organically from the vaulting shafts. It
is
mainly in ringing the changes on the
relative
proportions of arcade, triforium and clerestory that the
made one
builders of mature French Gothic differ
from another. The triforium which,
cathedral
after all,
only
screened the aisle roof, tended to disappear or to be glazed like the clerestory; this
had happened by the late thirteenth
At Le Mans and Bourges
century.
by introducing double
the pattern
is
varied
each with a complete
aisles,
elevation -
three^storeyed at Bourges, two-storeyed at
Mans. The
great increase in height during the thirteenth
shown by
century
is
mere 85
feet
from
than a century
the difference between
floor to vault,
later, its total
in three storeys,
Noyon,
and Beauvais begun :
height
is
where Noyon had
157
feet
Le a
less
- achieved
four.
English Gothic was derived from France, but soon
developed a character of
its
own. Archaeologists of the English Gothic into
early nineteenth century divided
four
main
categories,
knowledge can now style ^.
1
c.
c.
out. First
was Early English, the
1275. Decorated was, as
its
name
implies, the
of ornate carving and more inventive tracery,
spatial
as
fill
greater architectural
of plain lancets or simply traceried windows, from
175 to
style
which our
experiments;
it
flourished
as well
from c.1290
to
1380. Perpendicular originated in the 1330s with the
disappearance of the characteristic curves of Decorated; set
back by the Black Death,
and
persisted
with
little
it
reappeared in the 1360s
variation until the sixteenth
century. In every case the dates given
do not represent the
:
i^g-iz^i Comparative plans,
to scale,
of St Elisabeth, Marburg (i2jj-8j),
absolute beginning and end of a style; as always, old ideas persisted alongside
Amiens Cathedral (begun 1220) and Marburg - only
a parish church
characteristically end,
(begun
Cathedral
Salisbury
German
1220).
-
has a
trefoil
east
with apsed transepts and choir of
equal length.
Amiens
wide and
is
Lady Chapel
chevet; the large axial
tion to its length,
is
narrow
is
in rela"
choir,
and
a
William of Sens, commissioned
disastrous
a
a master
to design the
by a Frenchman
for a
fire
mason of
new
Canterbury.
at
ingenuity,
was
Though
built
choir.
Norman archbishop, the new work
does have certain English
traits:
it is,
for instance,
lower
than contemporary French cathedrals. William of Sens incorporated the Cluniac device of double transepts,
'
a square ambulatory
a cloister
74 there was
and compartmented'
beyond the nave there are double tran^ septs,
1 1
inventions.
unified,
with shallow transepts and an elaborate
exceptional. Salisbury
In
new
around the
square^ended Lady Chapel;
and chapterAiouse
lie
to
which
in turn
Salisbury, partial
became an English
Lincoln,
form -
at
feature, reappearing at
Worcester,
Exeter and York.
Hereford
was
It
and -
a device
in
which
the
lengthened the whole eastern limb, thus providing
for
south
the large choir of monks or canons.
Many
of the English
cathedrals were monastic churches, whereas the French
were built
ecclesiastical point;
ture
not just an
of great importance
for architec/
and town planning. The English cathedral was very
long from Ij\1
it is
This
is
for the secular clergy.
remained
east
to
west,
relatively short,
while the French cathedral especially in relation to
its
great height
(Westminster Abbey,
long and 80
feet
Rheims
is
460
feet
feet
cathedral, in the
high
to the
long but 124
*close',
its
trees;
it
springing of the vault; feet
high).
The French
The English
little
cathedral,
has great groups of towers rising above the
could afford
origin of so
GOTHIC
560
is
middle of the town, dominated the
houses like a hen with her chicks. in
for instance,
many
to
be long and low.
It is
English cathedrals which
the monastic
may
explain
the English neglect of the west front: while the west
doors
of Salisbury or
especially in
or
Amiens,
Wells
are
mere mouseholes,
comparison with the great the
builders
portals of Rheims
lavished their attention
on
porches and doorways used by the congregation, on the opposite side from the monastic buildmgs. If
Canterbury was
monuments of the
still
rather French, the other classic
Early English
style.
Wells, Salisbury
Canterbury
1^2 (hegim
1 1
William retains
y<,),
Cathedral
the
Englishman.
some
features
Romanesque
choir
by William of Sens and
(low
The
design
English
of
proportions,
some
round arches, zigzag ornament) com-^ bined
with
Gothic
others
(crocket
from
early
capitals,
French
sexpartite
vaults in the western bays, and coupled
columns
-
a speciality of Sens). It
was
such combinations which, together with the
use
of Purbeck
marble,
were
to
characterize the development of English
Gothic
143
and Lincoln, is
are very English. Wells,
vigorous and
fresh.
The windows
begun about
1
190,
are single lancets,
^53 Opposite: Wells Cathedral nave ijth
(early
the triforium a series
oi^
continuously^moulded lancet
openings, the arcade richly and deeply moulded; where in Chartres at the at
Wells there
ornamented
same time
there are four attached shafts,
are twenty^four.
screen,
The
low and
tions
is
due more
facade
made even broader by
than
to
to the setting
and
is
was
the device of
to the
Its
main propor^
any excellence of sculpture.
built in
solidity.
triforium,
without capitals, just visible
1^4 Air view of Salisbury Cathedral from the south-east (top right, in the plan on p. 142). Part
added
to part,
the design pulled together only
by the
one generation and - except
for
its
site;
great
14th-century
is
spire.
stands as a
model Early English
cathedral.
The
Note
the 'screen'
facade which projects beyond nave and aisles,
and
the polygonal chapter-house
both English specialities.
it
the
superb foliage capitals and the continuous
mid-'
fourteenth/century spire - has been scarcely altered since, so that
have
Note
a heavily
In 1220 Salisbury was founded afresh on a virgin it
something of Norman
clustered
thick, still
through the arches
placing the west towers beyond the width of the nave.
fame
The
century).
piers, relatively
position
may
be
Amiens
(III.
1
The
-
cathedral's
compared with that of
4^)
;
windows and
are mostly plain lancets, but in the triforium
in the eastern parts there are
which correspond
foiled circles
The
punched
horizontality of the interior
emphasis, such
vaulting shaft, to
as a
together. Instead, the horizontal
- by two other
the triforium
is
Lady Chapel a
style,
and
decoration Salisbury
English ideal:
rib.
IS
there
effect
sculpture.
church, with
its
tends to be
as
is
one vast
more
The
It
ribs
years,
of Wells,
compared with but the internal
its
space can
total
English building, with
to
its
deep
and Lady Chapel,
compartments.
One
over/
be explored. <:.
1230,
we have
the begin/
feature, the enriched vault.
To
the
of the classic quadripartite vault other
ribs, called 'tiercerons', are
same point and
church
buttresses,
like that
often
is
hall because
Lincoln, of
ning of that English
main diagonal
its
seldom noted. The French
a series of
whelms, the other asks at
In
shafts.
on
clearly articulated
The facade,
transepts, articulated choir, chancel
In the nave
linear
height and shallow transepts,
great
be grasped instantly.
tends to be
The
supported
vaults
were originally no flying
of their differences
felt
ii
moment,
somewhat
Purbeck
during the same
built
especially
as austere as a Cistercian
a screen with tiny doors.
Amiens,
-
tiers
Outside, Salisbury also expresses an
there
;
is little
the three
the use of blackish^
low and spreading,
it is
in separate parts
is
vertical
roofed by a simple quadripartite vault
is
it
without a ridge
and
with
monolithic
extremely slender
Wells,
stressed
seen,
decorative shafting.
for
hall^church
tiny
tie
the masterpiece of this
is
no
is
characteristic of the
the multiplication of mouldings,
brown Purbeck marble
plate^tracery.
we have
as
is,
of English Gothic. There
characteristic
like
French
to
and
quatrefoils
rise to
the
added
same
that spring
height.
Here
at
from the
Lincoln
seven ribs spring from each corbel, giving fourteen
compartments
to
the vault.
In addition to these the
Lincoln master added a continuous the ridge,
other ribs
its
potentially
awkward
masked by carved
bosses.
rib
running along
intersections with the
The ridge rib, which
^5^ Opposite:
^55'
interiors
the
Amiens Cathedral (below), in
1220,
both begun
epitomize the contrast between
English and French Gothic:. tall, its heij^ht
Amiens
is
emphasized by walUshafts;
Salisbury's length
is
accentuated by hori^
The
zontal division. is
of
and
(above)
Cathedral
Salisbury
Amiens
chevet of
immediately visible; the square chancel
wall of Salisbury
lies
near the end of a
mysterious perspective
1^-] Lincoln
In the vault structurally
Cathedral nave (c.i2^o).
more
emphasized by the
ribs are
ridge
the use of a ridge rib.
is
With
vault
the
of bosses,
addition
used than are
The
necessary.
is
becoming a decoration as well as a roof
1^8
The Angel Choir
Cathedral (begun 12^6) mentally different nave, but there
everywhere. choir
takes
is
The its
is
not funda^
in structure
now
Lincoln
at
from
the
carved enrichment
angels,
name,
from which appear
in
the the
spandrels of the gallery
147
became standard and minimizes
With
England, again emphasizes length
in
height.
Angel Choir
the
at
Lincoln,
summer of English Gothic. Every foliated, every spandrel
vault itself ribs
\>.i
and
^
i^
bosses.
eight lights,
It IS
in the
capital
and corbel
and arch ornamented, and
as
Both triforium and is
the great east
is
the
clerestory are filled
window:
this,
with
its
more complex - though smaller - than
is
anything in France
'f^
are nearing the
further enriched with additional tierceron
is
with tracery,
lO's
we
at the time.
development of tracery - the introduction of
uneven numbers of lights and eventually the appearance l!^<
of the double curve, with consequent fantasy in the treatment of the (/'
\&
i
r.
1290) -
If,
however,
England,
should look 3 (J Efljf window, Carlisle Cathedral (c. 1 go) : the heginnings oj Decorated J
(note especially Carlisle,
that the Decorated style
apparent. style in
window head
as
at, say,
it
we would
is
most immediately
get at the essence
of the
governed space and structure, we
Begun
the nave of Exeter Cathedral.
in 1280, only sixty years after Salisbury, here indeed
is
There
is
2
architectural consistency of a different kind.
no carved ornament,
virtually
bundles of ribs
down
yet
from the clustered
to the clustered piers there
an inch of plain wall; the vaulting
ribs
multiplied unnl the nave seems a stone
is
hardly
have been
forest.
Strong,
masculine, even severe, fully moulded throughout, this is
indeed the orchestration of stone.
More
radical structural innovation appears in the choir
of Bristol Cathedral, begun in 1298. Clerestory and triforium have vanished; the aisles are the full height of the choir.
Like Exeter nave,
the play of light
ornament. In ribs,
its
it
is
more dependent upon
and shade on mouldings than central vault
we
see
it is
introduced
upon
'lierne'
small ribs laid across the vault from one main rib to
another
to
form such patterns
as stars
-
a motif carried to
extremes of complexity in the Perpendicular vaults oi
England and
the Late Gothic vaults of
aisles at Bristol IS
show
Germany. The
that desire to play with space
so characteristic of the
moment
which
in England: the vaults
come down
in cones
span from side
to curious strainer arches,
to side at the
Nearly forty years built
on
later,
in
springing of the nave vault.
1 3 3
under the central tower
8,
huge
and
strainer arches
were
161
In
Wells
at
is
in
to strengthen the its
nave
the
of Exeter
vault
Cathedral (hegim 1280) the increasing
number of effect
crossing piers; here the device
equally odd,
which
ribs
not
only
achieves
an
of enrichment but almost abolishes
the division into bays
form almost
in fact grossly out of scale with the rest
of the building, but the point of departure desire to provide a startling
-
if
is
the same: the
sometimes dubious -
solution to a structural problem.
160,
162 Opposite, below, and
left:
Bristol Cathedral choir (begun i2g8).
Here
the
Decorated
style
is
seen
not
merely as surface decoration but as a different kind
of structure. The
the full height of the choir, like a
halUchurch;
in
the
central
ditional 'lierne' ribs run rib
to
another.
down on
to
The
bridges,
aisles are
German
vault,
ad^
from one main
aisle
vaults come
creating a
unique
vista
149
t^
V
-^-;
the Decorated style.
round the
It
is
rich in
ornamental arcading
This arcading has complex threes
walls.
dimensional ogee arches complete with
-
shafts, pinnacles,
The
carving, a
ripple of oak leaves, runs over all; the gilding
and colour
crockets
and
vaults
in miniature.
all
can only be imagined. If at
first
English Gothic had been derivative, by the
fourteenth century
decorative motif,
it
had
in the ogee curve a
which was
to
become
the
unique
dominant
motif on the Continent from about 1375 until well into the sixteenth
century.
became an overriding
Whereas
in
England
it
never
architectural device, in France
whole buildings seemed
to
be clothed in
brittle lace, as
Tour de Beurre (148 5-1 500) and other parts oi^ Rouen Cathedral; the structure of Stz-Maclou at Rouen
the
La
16^
Trinit'e,
Vendome (148^-
1^06). The centre oj the
the faqade
Flamboyant, flame Aike,
shows
character
oj French tracery at a date when English tracery linear
was already assumino character
oj
the
the
recti-'
Perpendicular
style
1
66 Tour
de Beurre,
(148^-1^00). Here
Rouen Cathedral the wall surface
is
practically abolished and the whole tower
seems a play oj tracery
-
light,
shade and filigree
a sculptural
rather than
an
architectural conception
wmsiLii^
151
(c.i$oo) and
La
Trinite at
Vendome
is
enveloped in
hence the French name
flickering flames of tracery
for
the style, 'Flamboyant'.
Germany
In
a similar stage
was reached with
the lacy,
but not Flamboyant, openwork spire of Freiburg Minster, finished about 1340.
was
at first
Like the
rest
finished, to the original design, essentially
French, with
emphasis. But
as
German masons form
in the hall
height.
The
its
begun
clerestory
i6j (c.
1
Freibur^^im^Breis^au 340).
Germany
Minster
specialized both in
single west towers (as opposed to the
tower Ja^ade popular
France) and
in lacy
this
168
Franciscan
1
dark
two^
England and
openwork
spires,
of
one was extremely influential
which
(c.
in
Church,
408). The Gothic
Romanesque
choir,
Salzburg added
to a
nave, superbly com-'
bines the tall slender piers of the traditional hall-church
with the star vaults
that
were becoming a favourite feature
with
German
152
architects
1248 (and
extreme height and style
vertical
developed,
evolved a characteristic architectural
church, with nave and
decoration, as in France
years the basic
of equal
and England,
but for nearly three
ornate,
and triforium vanish
The church
aisles
form remained the same. The
consequently the arcade, building.
in
m the nineteenth century)
time passed and the
became more and more hundred
Germany
influenced by the Gothic of the He de France:
the great cathedral at Cologne,
is
of Europe,
has
entirely; the aisles,
rise to
and
the full height of the
become
a
columned
hall,
and
1
6g
The
(he^im
German; insistent
choir
1248) its
of Cologne Cathedral is
more French
than
glazed trijorium and
its
emphasis on high, soaring pro^
portions look hack to the most ambitious
of the Ile^de^France cathedrals, Beauvais, still
under construction at the time. Like
Beauvais,
it
remained unfinished through^
out the Middle
Ages
153
ijo The final phase
in rih^ vaulting: in
the parish church at
Langenstem, near
Kassel, probably after i^oo, the actual vault
is
seen through a separate net of
any
ribs
without
The
angularity of the rib profiles and of
structural function.
their junctions is typical
of the moment
iji Choir of St Lorenz, Nuremberg (begun 14^4) - a hall^church, with tall piers merging into a spiky aisle
vault.
windows have something of
The the
it
is
the
windows sending
tall aisle
between the slender
Again and
again, at St Elisabeth, Marburg,
Gmund
Schwabisch
1387, and the Franciscan church
Germans maintained
the
the superficial changes of the
St Lorenz,
St
Gothic
we
in 1434)
in
all
In the choir of
style.
we can also see in English
Anne, Annaberg, begun
in
Salzburg in 1408,
at
drama of height through
Nuremberg (begun
the q ualities that
begun
1351, Landshut in
in
1233,
Perpendicular tracery
the
of light
piers that illuminate the interior.
mechanical, angular quality of English
at
their shafts
see
some of
Perpendicular.
1499, has ribs
which
snake across the surface of the vault, weaving fantastic patterns.
Nowhere more than
Gothic pushed
in
Germany can one
to extremes, the twisting
of stone into shapes that are macabre
the ribs
is
this late
development of skeleton
phase in
vaults,
where
form a net below, and separate from, the surface
of the vault Italian
grand
the
and tormenting
as well as fantastic.
Perhaps the most curious feature of
Germany
find
itself
Gothic, for
scale,
all
can never,
its
to a
beauties of colour
and
its
northern mind, seem truly
medieval. Internal tie-beams were always preferred to external buttresses,
and
surface decoration
- usually
in
J
the
form of coloured marble panelling - preferred
structural articulation. Siena
the
Cathedral
most poetic town plans in the world.
zebra^'Striped marble,
ning innovation.
same time
as
It
without
bays and yet
little
Abbey
at least
note,
however, that
Gothic nave of only four
nave!
The
Italians
may have
of the He de France, but between the
Roman Empire and
thing
an essay in
about half as long again as the twelve bays
of Westminster
known
It is
built, incredibly, at the
Amiens. One should
is
part of one of
either structural or plan^
was being
the cathedral at Florence has a
the
is
to
fall
the time of Michelangelo
was not forgotten -
size
and
scale.
of
one
We see
it
again in the Florentine church of Sta Maria Novella (c.
e
1278) and in the vast Venetian church of SS. Giovanni
Paolo, begun in 1246.
At
S. Francesco,
Bologna, in a 172
SS. Giovanni 1
sive as
it is,
brinp out
Gothic.
Italian
e
Paolo,
Venice
246). This vast church, impress
(hegun
circular piers
the limitations
Widely spaced
of
arches,
and large areas ofplain wall Romanesque, or even
surface belong to a
Roman,
while the use of
aesthetic,
beams shows
tie^
a complete rejection of the
Gothic system of abutment and of the which that system could achieve
effects
1']}
Siena Cathedral ( 1 24^,-1 j8o).
The west front, Pisano,
is
designed by Giovanni
clearly influenced by the great
west fronts of Northern Gothic, but the
whole conception
is
different; the central
doorway even has
a
round arch.
The
veneer of black and white marble, like the separate Italian
bell" tower,
is
a
legacy
from
Romanesque
155
1
74 The Dole's Palace
14th
century
-
Mark's Cathedral, Piazzetta
Venice (late
in
c.i4<,y) at the
adjoins
St
far end of the
city
where almost everything
too
is
building of which the chief quality
and the same
true of the late
is
to the left It is
an intriguing experience
is
we have
big,
an impressive
Gothic
edifice in
for the student
The
basically
French,
though
having only two storeys clerestory
it
-
ture to stand in the Piazza in Venice, to look style
differs
size,
Milan.
of architect
ij^ Toledo Cathedral (he^un i22j), looking across the transept.
a
up
at
St
is
in
arcade and
Mark's and traceried
at the
Doge's Palace. In the big cusped,
and ogival arches of the Palace we discern an
outpost of Gothic. centre to have
An
outpost - too remote from the
imbibed anything of the
principles of the lie de France, but the same. In St Mark's,
on
great structural
Gothic of a kind,
the other hand,
we
all
see in the
golden mosaics of domes and pendentives a western outpost of Byzantium. There, on the frontier between the
Latin and the Greek churches, the two
styles
may
be seen
butting, quite Hterally, one against the other.
The
other province of the old
tradition of size
was Spain.
1521) has an area half again largest
Empire
to cling to the
Seville Cathedral as big as
(c.
1401-
Milan and was the
building in the medieval world. Already in the
eleventh century Santiago de
Compostela had by
its
size
alone given prestige to Spain as a stronghold of Catholic building. Burgos Cathedral, built between 1220 and 1
is
550,
IS
the
first
example of Spanish High Gothic. There
German workmanship in the later
Flamboyant vaulting and
parts,
notably in the
in the west front with
almost certainly designed by a
its
spires,
German from Cologne.
i-j^
Bmgos
Cathedral
ambulatory
(begun 1221). Spanish Gothic of period
was
still entirely
this
dependent upon
France, but the later sculpture and the
heavy metal grilles change
But the cathedral
is
its
('rejas') completely
originally austere character
largely, needless to say, a derivative
of French Gothic, mainly through the influence of
Coutances. tory aisle,
The
low, strong thirteenth^century
with forbidding iron
hints at that
ambuk/
grilles to the chapels,
grim character which runs through almost
1
is
all is
Spanish Gothic. Toledo Cathedral, begun in 1227,
very close to Bourges in
and lower, with
its
plan; but
it is
both broader
a two^'Storey elevation of arcade
and
7 7 Seville Cathedral (c. 1401-1^21) the largest church in Christendom,
and unlike any
aisles
vast and
glazed clerestory. Characteristically Spanish
is
the ornate
choir enclosure west of the crossing.
other.
south, one sees the
with their
triple flying buttresses,
the ornate transept^front.
tower beyond
an
is
heightened in the
^&
Here, from the
fat^ roofed nave and
1
Islamic
6th century
The belU minaret,
179 ^f Gloucester Cathedra! (c.ijjy-^y, right) the Perpen^
178, choir
dicular style
enormous
is
east
fully established,
window,
m
the
the strong vertical
emphasis, the rectilinear arrangement of
window
lights
and wall panels, and
multiplicity of vaulting ribs.
College Chapel,
iS^S'
Mow),
Cambridge
window
the
the
At Kin(s (finished
tracery
is
recognizably of the same type, but the roof is now fan-vaulted, enabling it to be
evenly panelled as well
1
80,
1
81
Opposite
the ideal of the
:
glass or 'lantern' church was attained in the Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (above), as
early as c.1240.
The
choir of
Minster f below j, added
Chapel of the single,
Aachen Palatine
i 555, shows the development Sainte-Chapelle scheme - a
in
apsed room, completely glazed -
on a very large scale
158
to the
A century and a half
In England, Gothic died slowly.
Perpendicular
styhzed
of increasingly
imperceptibly into Tudor. ness of Decorated
Black Death,
It is
was brought
to
often held that the rich^
This
ornament and
with
more than a decade before
less vertical
name.
it
could also
More
genius.
was introduced
style
the south transept of Gloucester
was
arid,
structural
important, the Perpendicular
true that Perpendicular
not true, in two
is
While Perpendicular could be
blaze
its
an end in 1349 by the
to
be succeeded only by the poverty^
stricken style of Perpendicular.
ways.
almost
died
Cathedral in
1-7,
1 3 3
Black Death.
the
in
It
is
often economical, with end^
stone panelling covering the walls
- hence
On the other hand this grid of panels was often
continued, in the form of mullions and transoms, to form those
huge windows which, both
for their stained glass,
fifteenth^'century
as a source
were one of the great things of
England. All through Gothic we find Beauvais choir,
this desire to substitute glass for wall.
begun
in 1235,
of light and
had been
a
triumph of clerestory lighting,
while the Sainte-'Chapelle, begun a few years a
tall, aisleless
vault;
chapel with
later,
windows almost from
Aachen Minster followed
suit in
was
floor to
1355. But
it
was
not until nearly three centuries after Beauvais that this
consummated
craving for light was
in King's College
Chapel, Cambridge.
The
fifteenth
century was also the golden age of the
English parish church, the big 'lantern church' with big
windows. Buik by mercantile wealth, these churches were rather hard in detail
great spaciousness.
rather than ecclesiastical
all large, all brilliantly lit,
and with very slender
More
elaboration
is
piers giving
found in chancel
screens, private chapels, splendid towers and,
in those carved timber roofs of which (i
394-1402) was merely the
The
above
all,
Westminster Hall
largest.
'poverty' of Perpendicular
is
the further enrichment of the vault.
also repudiated
by
The metamorphosis
of the English vauk from a structural roof to a decorative
182 (
Canterbury
Cathedral
nave
i^jg-i/^o^). Henry Yevele was one
of the great English master masons, and
among follow is
the first in detail.
whose career we can
His work
at
Canterbury
a fluent exercise in Perpendicular.
emphasis
is
vertical,
the
The
mouldings
multiple and thin, the triforium merely panelled.
The
Gloucester
(III.
ij8) -
vault
like is
that
at
an ornate
ceiling
18j Gloucester Cathedral cloister (be^ gun after IJSO- ^^^ f^^wly inventedfan vault
is
on a miniature
scale,
but the
pattern of ribs of equal length and equal
curvature forming halficircles
The
is
vaulting rib has become merely a
moulding
ceiling
was
a headlong process.
The
Perpendicular
first
clear.
was already an un/
vault, in the choir of Gloucester,
disciplined tangle of ribs
The
control.
and
bosses.
typical four^centred
Such design needed
Tudor
arch in time
gave the builders a vault with a flattened apex - virtually a
flat
and ribs
in
stone ceiling, heavily ornamented with lierne ribs
bosses,
and held up on
forming the true vault.
either side
bury
in canopies over
in cloisters such as Worcester (c.1372) (i
397-1412).
Norman
nave
at
On
clusters
of
On a small scale this occurred
church and college porches,
and
by the
a big scale
one
tombs
and Canter^
recalls that the
Winchester was redesigned by William
Wynford, between 1394 and 1460, with
the
heavy
eleventh^century piers transformed or replaced by
flat,
angular Perpendicular mouldings; that Henry Yevele's great nave at
Canterbury
(i
391-1403) was one of the
masterpieces of English Gothic; that the next generation
began the building of St George's Chapel
and
that every
at
Windsor,
one of these had the kind of roof described,
a rich stone ceiling clipped
between the two halves of the
The
greatest
master carpenter
working with the
vault.
There was after
184
to be
one more phase of vaulting. Shortly
1351a master mason
the vault
is
ribs indefinitely the
effect, solid stone.
just a series
oj
the
- Hugh Herland daring we have seen in
and nearly 21 feet
long, project
if
from
you increase the number of vault becomes, in
Gloucester realized that
roof
master masons. Hammer^heams, a yard thick
at
timber
Middle Ages, that of Westminster Hall in London (1^^4-1402), shows a
whole
In Gloucester cloisters
of inverted stone cones with the
the wall to
narrow
the span,
there are arched braces as well.
where one tracery in
sees
wood;
delicate
the
and
Every^
Perpendicular
hammer^beams end in
carved angels
simulacrum of ribs carved upon
come
to
their surface.
be called Tan^'vaulting' and
is
This has
the typical roof of
Tudor Gothic. Architecture not only historical changes.
had
transferred
Even
reflects
before the
patronage from
but also foreshadows fall
of Wolsey in 1530
Church
to
Crown,
English Gothic was blazing forth the piety and power of burghers and princes.
The
last
phase was secular in
161
GOTHIC
spirit,
royal in fact
.
.
.
mainly collegiate chapels which
might, in architectural terms, look back to the Sainte^
Chapelle but
also
looked forward
to
Chambord
or to
Longleat. Although the great colleges of Oxford and
Cambridge were
basically
with an almost monastic
ecclesiastical
life,
foundations,
those of the fifteenth
and
sixteenth centuries form a bridge between the purely
sacerdotal colleges of the
schools
and
Middle Ages and
the secular
colleges of the post^Reformation era.
were founded by kings, statesmen and merchants, as
by churchmen.
students' cells 1
8<)
Trinity College, Cambridge, in the
i-jth century.
entered
Around
through
the
the
Great Court
gatehouse
(jore^
also a rare
and hall (jar
side),
living quarters jor teachers
as
well as
and students
a court,
may have had monastic
dominated by roots,
but was
example of an English contribution
to the
history of planning.
ground), are the chapel (right). Master's lodge
as well
Their planning, with blocks of
grouped around
chapel and hall,
They
In
1
44 1 Henry VI
Chapel, and
in
started
to
build Eton College
1446 King's College Chapel,
Cam^
i^^ Henry minster
VII's
Chapel,
West^
London (i^oj-ig).
Abbey,
This astonishing roof - with
its
stone
pendants apparently hanging from a fan vault
-
Gothic.
is
the
last
go no further, while building
blaze of English
The handling of masonry could is
the spirit of the
royal and secular rather than
ecclesiastical:
it is
the end in
more senses
than one
bridge, finished in
begun
in 148
1,
15 15.
while Henry VII's great mausoleum
end of Westminster Abbey was
the east
1503 and
1
5 19.
These buildings
Perpendicular. In so they
matter/'of/'fact,
qualities are,
With
far as their style
absolute
logicality
the
and those
to
glass,
miracle.
is
is
and
buttresses carry the
case of
when we
The plan of King's
the
of masonic
filled
in fact a
is
turn from the plan to the decora^
we
skill.
of the vault, with
at its
emblems, the
realise that this
This
Henry VII's Chapel
like stone
whole
an and rectangular stone cage
the vault itself that
tour deforce
from
stretch
with no hint that the building
It is
Those
plan and structure.
tion, the shields, the heraldic beasts, the
glass
angular, rigid,
windows
weight and thrust of the vault. College Chapel
between
built
Perpendicular.
are
really
at
are the last flowering of
however, limited
buttress to buttress,
with
Windsor was
St George's,
is
is
a great
even more true in the
Westminster.
The
lace-'
astonishing pendants,
is
end of English Gothic. There was nothing more to do.
163
*
«
.
41
^
4
P
Hf^l
v%
I
Sj Opposite
:
Gothic, but - as at
ornament
is
in
is
still
the jantastic
known as 'Manueline', Manuel oj Portugal
1
88 The
dral
is
basically
Tomar -
style
destable
Batalha
in the cloister at
fc.i<^i^} the concept
all the
encrusted
after
octagonal Capilla del
(1482-^4) crowned
in
with
King
Con^
Burgos Cathe^ a
star
vault
upholding a central lantern oj openwork tracery
I
Window
Si^
of the chaptcr^house at
Tomar (c.1^20). ::ion
cnly
mark
partially
Decorative
Ingcnuit) and imagi^
this strange
be
motifs
work which can
counted as include
shells, tree^roots, ropes
Gothic.
vegetation,
and navigational
instruments
\
We are a the
it is
million miles from the arches of Durham, but
end of the same
we would
If
cross
find any later
Pyrenees.
the
stor)'.
At
Condestable (1482-94)
Gothic than
Burgos,
we have
in
the
this
we must
Capilla del
the Spanish version of
this
marriage between Gothic architecture and heraldry.
At
Segovia, in 1532 -
height of his career in the
when Michelangelo was
- Gothic
Manueline ornament
Tomar
f.
1520,
we
see
pretend that the Middle
still
at
flourished. In Portugal,
Batalha in 15 15 and
only the
Ages
last
still
become
Europe.
the secular
at
frenzied effort to
exist.
was no longer an overriding concept; to
at the
it
Christendom had collapsed,
and sovereign powen of modern
Chapter Seven
RENAISSANCE, MANNERISM, AND
BAROQUE
The word 'Ren aissance* was on ce used European architecture from
to
designate
the rebirth of the classical
in htteenth/century Florence, through
traditioii
lour hundred
years, to the
and Industrialism
at the
emergence
end of the
ot
some
Romanticism
eighieeiuli ceuiuiy.
1^0
IN ITALY
Lagoon facade of the Libreria in Venice, byjacopo Sansovino
Vecchia
(iS3^J
194)- High Renaissance
^^^ P-
was an attempt
architecture
to revive the
of Rome.- The basic classical elements appear over and over again and
glories
are easy to recognize, e.g. the combination
Through
all
that time, trorri
Naples
Dublin, trom
to
Petersburg to Virginia, the architectural vocabulary of
Rome was
Greece and
the basis of design.
movement
has subdivided this whole
criticism
Renaissance
Mannerism,
proper.
Modern into
of large Doric and Ionic columns - Doric below, Ionic above, each with base, capital
Neo^'
-
its
correct
with piers
carrying arches (cp. the Colosseum,
54J.
Baroque,
and entablature
At
the
same time
way
the
III.
these
elements are handled can be extremely
Classicism, Greek Revival and so on. These terms must
individual.
be used, but there can, of course, be no rigid dividing
oval openings in the frieze, the insertion
line It
*the
of smaller columns by the upper windows,
between them.
the precise balance of upper
has been said (by Professor Nikolaus Pevsner) that
Gothic
style
Here, for instance, the use of
was
created for Suger,
Abbot of
St^
storeys all
show
the genius
and lower
of one par^
ticular architect
Denis, counsellor of the kings of France, the Renaissance for the
merchants of Florence, bankers
Europe'. This statement
is
to the
kings of
illuminating even if it leaves
out a good deal. Gothic architecture was born in France
and, however
many
palaces or castles were built,
was
The Renaissance was born in however many churches were built, was
primarily ecclesiastical. Italy
and,
primarily royal
and mercantile -
specially north of the
Alps. Great architectures, however, such
as
Renaissance, are not 'created' overnight. periods of gestation necessity
they
and
and of historical
come
about.
It
are the forces.
Gothic and
They have
product of functional
They
are not invented,
has often been said that the sack of
Constantinople in 1453, and the consequent
flight
of
i6j
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
scholars to Florence,
classical
Renaissance.
The
monument of the Renaissance, 1420-^6: Brunelleschi's igi
first great
dome, raised without centering over the trefoil
Gothic
east
end
Cathedral. Though Gothic it
of Florence
work.
The drum,
dome and
the
of the
the 'cause' of the
had almost nothing
It
to
do with
scholars
who
had no
interest in classical architecture.
may have the
The
it.
migrated west taught their hosts Greek but
At
most they
stimulated an interest in antiquity. Several of
most exquisite Renaissance buildings were in
fact
in structure,
could never have been built without
Brunelleschi's study
was
Roman
bricks
double^ skinned
crowning lantern
set
erected thirty years before the
Milan was
while the cathedral
at
debased Gothic
years later.
fifty
of Constantinople;
fall
still
being built in
a
The Renaissance was
pattern for the future
enlightenment.
known
so
little
a great
was born
It
awakening and
a great
had
in Italy because Italy
of the glories of Gothic towers and vaults,
and remembered
Roman
so vividly the glories of the
Empire.
The Florentine banking house of the Medici family had representatives all over Europe. Several Medicis
had been
mayors of Florence in the thirteenth century. Cosimo de'
Medici and
common
were
were great attractive
grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent,
his
citizens
They made Florence
princes.
city
in
by rank; by right of culture they the
Europe. 'The charm which [they]
exercised over Florence', wrote Burckhardt, 'lay their political capacity
the
first
To them we owe
painting, sculpture, literature, but the that the Renaissance
the
basis
The
first
great
in
merchant
not only palaces,
overwhelming
was accepted by
of culture.
less
than in their leadership in the
They were
culture of the age.'
patrons of history.
most
fact
the Florentines as
achievements of the
Renaissance - until the time of Michelangelo - were virtually a
Roman Revival.
historical air
was
of Tuscany, some kind of Roman Revival
as natural
later,
a
In the climate, landscape and
and
inevitable as, four
hundred
Gothic Revival was in the North.
the so-called
And
years
indeed
'Tuscan proto^Renaissance' of the thirteenth
century provided as persuasive a model for Brunelleschi as the
remains of ancient Rome.
Like many Renaissance 168
(i
artists
Filippo Brunelleschi
377-1446) was a goldsmith by training, and
versatile
.a
"1--
-.:
'^M3«^
«
I
.
'll-ilil'iailiiiil'ltal i;j!IU|tJ»ll»il«i,
-^.-l_i_X_i
J_iJJiJl_
'i>&0 assas
n
^SLiX^rlitittr pTTTi
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
many
in to
crafts.
build the big
He was
chosen by competition in 1420
dome over the existing
cathedral.
He was
chosen because he alone had devised a method of supporting the centermg - erecting
upon
it
a timber
platform which he slung by iron chains from the dome's
drum.
He
then built the most graceful of the world's
domes. Perched on a drum base,
and was weighed by
the consequent the
outward
dome, burying
in
it
lacked
all
abutment
at its
To
resist
a lantern at the top.
chained in
thrust, Brunelleschi
thickness a series of timber
its
baulks fastened together with iron bands. This dubious device was probably the only solution, pending the scientific use later.
of pre^stressed concrete
five
dome
of Brunelleschi's
a sense part of old
is
first.
and then Foimdlin^^
hay
of the arcade
Hospital,
Bnmelleschi (1421-4)
of the
Florence,
to
crown
Christendom
thing to do.
At
it
The
silhouette
slightly pointed, thus ;
in
still
but to create a
skyline for a princely city by raising the
One
years
All Renaissance and Baroque domes were thus
chained in; that of Florence was the
igz
hundred
new
dome on a drum,
with a lantern, was a Renaissance
about the same time Brunelleschi was
by
also building the
Foundling Hospital where he again
achieved astonishing grace. In the
this
famous plaques by Andrea
Corinthian Order used Never, however, do
Renaissance
Roman
della
are
Robbia, and a
in a deliberately scholarly
we
architect
charming arcade
way.
find Brunelleschi or any other
actually
model: that had
to
copying
a
complete
await the Classical Revival
of the eighteenth century.
Grace
allied
with strength would seem
mark of Brunelleschi's work. His
S.
to
be the
hall/'
Lorenzo and Sto
Spirito are both basilican churches with a nave arcade
of semi^circular arches, and semi^circular vaults over the aisles.
In Sto Spirito, each bay of the
semi/circular apse or niche for an
aisles
altar.
each element outlined in grey stone
The
(jpietra
its
own
result,
with
has
serena)
is
a
wonderful symphony o[ semi^circles. The grace of this
symphony
has
the columns.
its
counterpoint in the strong simplicity of
igj Sto by
Spirito, Florence (i
Nave and
Brunelleschi.
covered
by flat
coffered
crossing by a dome.
4^6-82), choir
ceilings,
The purist
are the
treatment
of the arcade - with chunks of entablature above each capital
- was
scarcely seen
again until the 18th century (III.
^jz)
Brunelleschi also designed but never completed two
-
centralized churches
domes,
central
plan.
that
is,
polygonal churches with vaguely Byzantine in
classical in style,
Again and again Renaissance
Brunelleschi to
Wren, were
to
hanker
after
the architect
geometric fascination of this type of plan.
tural or
from
architects,
It
has
been suggested that while the medieval or basilican plan led
man onwards
towards the distant mysteries of God,
the centralized plan
man
glorified
and
reject
But we
and
typically Renaissance in that
him
himself by setting
things; it.
was
that
influential
it
was
this
know from
which made
Church
Renaissance architect, Leone Battista
more divine, since
-
the
of all
the writings of that brilliant
Alberti, that the centralized plan
the time
at the centre
it
- according
the circle
is
to
was
in fact regarded as
neo^Platonic theory
the perfect, divine, form.
at
The
objection of churchmen to the plan was related instead to liturgical function. In the Eastern
partakes of the bread central
and wine
Church,
the priest
directly beneath the
dome. The Western Church, on the other hand,
celebrates the entire Eucharist at
an
altar in a chancel, in
171
full
k
view of a congregation
who
stand behind the priest
Nothing of liturgical
facing the
altar.
therefore
happen beneath
centralized plan
the
dome. In
central
which Renaissance
climax of function did not coincide.
Rome and
both St Peter's in
architect's
architects so
plan was a centralized octagon, but that
first
as glorified basilicas
The famous Todi -
by Cola da Caprarola
in 1508, perhaps
by Bramante - had an
'ideal' plan,
at
from
triumph of Cola
a design
based on a Greek
arms
finds a
Humanism
symbol
even in
and
in the villa
space churches, built up within a pyra^
years
midal outline. Three of the four apses are
round
I - the the Catholic South -
the palace, not least the
da
palaces of Florence.
differentiated by being
all
the secular nature of the Renaissance
Caprarola: one of the few large centraU
polygonal; the sanctuary apse - right -
built
different functions.
Sta Maria della Consolazione, by
-
church of Sta Maria della Consolazione
However,
i^oS),
the
a victory for the clergy over the architects.
have
(he^un
longed
London
cross with four equal arms; these four identical
Todi
the
significant that
It is
St Paul's in
both buildings ultimately emerged
ig^
would
build for their patrons, the climax of plan and the
to
at
significance
of the
The
fifteenth
palaces were built in the middle
century for such
mercantile families as the Medici, the
princely
Pitti,
and
the Strozzi,
is
the Pandolfini.
Unlike the
and
They vary
in detail but
which were
villas
set
conform
among
to type.
the fountains
cypresses of the surrounding hills, these palaces are
fundamentally urban. Each built right
masonry
up
fills
a city
block and each
to the street frontage, presenting a cliff
to the outer
is
of
world. Each has an internal courts
yard of shaded and colonnaded charm. Each relegates to the
ground
f^oor
stables, kitchens
such subordinate things
grilles.
offices,
and guard^rooms. These rooms
have quite small windows
heavy
as
The
grilles
to the street,
often
covered with
themsevles, as in the case of
the Palazzo Pitti, were often fine
works of
art,
their
metallic quality being a foil to the rusticated stonework.
Each palace has great suites of state apartments on the first floor - the piano nohile - with coved and painted ceilings. Externally this gives a splendid area
172
of blank
wall above each range of windows. Each palace has a
ig^,
ig6 Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
(hegun by Benedetto da Maiano continued by
The
Cronaca,
impression of
the
huge
shadow of
All
is
the
the important
inward upon the
1
48g,
power given by
massive overall rustication
cornice.
in
i^gj-ic^oj).
quiet
the
increased by
overhanging
rooms look
and cool courtyard
173
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
crowning cornice the street by
;
that of the Palazzo Strozzi overhangs
more than seven
feet,
shadow. The facades, while having were
austere.
Often the
greatest
casting a mighty
and
scale
enrichment was the
craggy character of the rusticated masonry Alberti's Palazzo Rucellai, very
What
is
to
or, as in the
flat pilasters.
more important than individual fagades
fact that here
was
dignity,
had been created
a
new urban
type,
is
the
which
be found throughout the centuries in the Georgian
square, the Pall Mall clubs, the
wealthy businessman,
now
Wall
neither a
bank. The
Street
churchman nor
a
feudal lord, had found his architectural symbol. More^
modern
over, the
street,
the 'corridor' of stone frontages,
had, for better or worse, been invented.
Leone leschi,
Battista Alberti
primarily
Raphael and Leonardo
Giotto,
sculptors;
were primarily painters. This coloured
was
architecture. Alberti, however,
more
like Brunei/'
Michelangelo and Bernini were
Florentine.
a
(1404-72) was,
their
a dilettante, a writer,
He
interested in theory than in practice.
Leonardo
regarded as second only to
in
horseman and
linguist,
has been
being the
He
complete and universal 'Renaissance Man'. as
view of
excelled
athlete, as conversationalist, playwright,
composer and mathematician.
years a civil servant in
He was for some
Rome, with ample time
the ruins of Antiquity.
The
to
study
ancient Greeks had con^
ceived their temples in mathematical terms; in his Ten
Books on Architecture Alberti tried laws. His theories
rest
upon
a
to
formulate similar
number of fallacies such
man is made in the image of God; 2, that a spread-eagled man fits into a circle; and 5, that the circle as: i, that
is
therefore the basis of a divine
these things are false.
The this
circle does not
harmony
The image of God exist in Nature. Le
in nature.
not
is
known.
Corbusier, in
century and with equal dogmatism, has proclaimed
quite a different system of proportions derived from in quite a different posture.
174
All
function and
size.
Is
Such systems
an Alberti church,
man
also ignore
for instance,
Sta
i^7
Maria Novella, Florence.
Alberti completed the facade the lower part
work
is
is
medieval -in
1
of which
4^6. His
based upon a module, represented
by each of the dark squares below the round window. Volutes link nave and aisles (see Ills. 224, 255, 275/ The marble veneer used throughout was one
of
ancient
Rome's
most
persistent
cultural legacies
equally perfect as architecture if halved in size? Clearly not,
although
fore,
its
proportions remain the same and there^
presumably, equally divine. All
invalidate the fact that Alberti
was
does not
this
a marvellous
example
of the *Renaissance Man', or the fact that the proportions
of his buildings, even
if
they
owe more
to his
unerring
eye than to his theories, are always in themselves superb.
Alberti's
thought us
all
sensitivity
and puritanical
restraint
- he
churches should be pure white inside - gave
some remarkable buildings. He completed
the facade
of Sta Maria Novella in Florence (1456), introducing the motif of large volutes to link the heights of nave aisles
-
a feature with
centuries,
an enormous progeny through the
from Vignola's Gesu onwards - and
modelled the Gothic church of S. Francesco (1450)
as the
and
mausoleum of
at
re^
Rimini
the Malatesta family. S.
Francesco has a west front based
upon
a
Roman 1^8 Tempio Malatestiano fS. Fran^ cesco),
Rimini. Alberti began the
modelling- neverfinishedfacade, with arches,
is
its
in
re^
144J. The
half^columns andflanking
derived from a
Roman
arch at
Rimini. Note the row of deep niches along the side, in the thickness of the encasing
stone wall, intended to hold tombs
175
200 S. Andrea, Mantua
i()<),
yz), by Alherti,
is
raised on a
(
i^jo-
podium,
with an even j^rander 'triumphal arch'
facade than the
The
Tempio Malatestiano.
scale is fully
Roman,
the central
arch emphasized by smaller elements on each
side.
Internally
the
east
end
is
treated like a centraUspace church, with
transepts
and choir oj equal
length.
aisles are replaced by alternately
The larj^e
and small chapels, seemingly hollowed out of the thick wall
- another Roman
device
triumphal arch, austere and with every piece of carving perfectly placed,
and
externally a series of deep arches
down the sides for the sarcophaguses of the Malatesta and their court. Alberti also
Mantua:
designed two
S. Sebastiano (1460), later
fine
much
churches in altered,
had
the centrahzed plan that Alberti advocated, but based
upon
a
square and
not
upon
Sebastiano and Alberti's other
Andrea
(c.
a
'divine'
circle.
S.
Mantuan church,
S.
upon high
1470), are raised
platforms or
podiums - another Albertian theory. The most influential
Andrea were
aspects of S.
facade,
also
based
reduction of the tresses;
the
on
aisles to
internal
the
its
use of the pedimented
triumphal arch,
and
its
chapels within the thick but^
elevation
of a
consists
series
of
overlapping triumphal arches. In Tuscany and
Lombardy - mainly
and Mantua - and
at
Urbino
Renaissance had been born. In international style, giving
in
Rome
Florence, Milan
the it
Marche, the
became
a great
Europe an architecture destined
endure
to
Europe the Gothic
begun
for instance,
a
much
for three centuries,
nephew of
style.
The Palazzo an
in i486 by
Sixtus IV,
Florentine palaces that
its
is
so
Bramante arrived
had given
della Cancelleria,
unknown architect for much larger than the
scale alone
And
of the Renaissance in Rome. the century,
as Paris
marks the
arrival
201 Part of
della Cancelleria,
Palazzo
(he^im i486). with, here,
rhythm ofa triumphal arch - against a background of flat rustication the alternating
derive from Alherti's
Florence
then, at the turn of treatment
Bramante
Rome
The superimposed pilasters -
in
in the great city.
the facade of the
scale
is
is
(III.
Palazzo Rucellai
2og);
North
the
Italian;
window the
vast
Roman
(1444-15 14) was born in Urbino when Piero della Francesca was painting there, and
when Laurana was
building one of the most poetic palace-'towns in
En
route, as
it
were, from
Urbino
to
Rome, Bramante had
worked on two churches
in Milan.
presso S. Satiro (1482-6)
and
delle
Italy.
He
built Sta
Maria
the east end of Sta
Maria
Grazie (1492); these had a
new and
very delicate
ornamentation - delicious arabesque fantasies in stone, set
against plain
Lombardic brickwork. With Raphael,
Sangallo and Michelangelo, Bramante must be regarded as
one of the four leading architects of the High Renais^
sance ... a Renaissance now, in
Rome, come of age.
177
202 Tempietto
Rome by
at S. Pietro in
Montorio,
(1^02), by Bramante. Regarded as 'classical Roman', its
Palladia
gravity marks the beginning of the
Renaissance.
Order
is
The
severe
High
Roman Doric
preferred to the more decorative
Corinthian, and a straight entablature preferred to an arcade.
Note,
vertically symmetrical balusters
too,
the
and the
Bramante dome - now Baroque - to be a
niches scooped out of the walls.
meant
the
pure hemisphere
much from Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo - most 'universal' of men - was never actually Bramante had
an
learnt
but in that
architect,
problems
structural
were
sketches, for instance,
centralized plan -
Moreover,
if
fertile
continually
circles,
Greek
function and liturgy it
made
charming
little
the
polygons.
crosses,
the centralized
was not ruled out
chapel or the family mausoleum.
Brunelleschi's
His
stirrmg.
show many permutations of
plan unpopular with the clergy, the smaller
brain geometric and
for
From
Pazzi Chapel (begun in
1429) in the cloister of Sta Croce, Florence, to Michel^ angelo's
century
great
Medici Mausoleum
later, there
the finest
was
502, soon after
S.
Lorenzo
a
One
of
were many such monuments.
the circular Tempietto of S.
Montorio. This 1
at
Pietro in
monument was built by Bramante in his arrival in Rome, on the supposed site
of the crucifixion of St Peter, and was, therefore, a kind 178
of sacred reliquary.
The
basilica
commissioned Bramante
church of the Western World. cross
Pope, and called a
ism.
It
ITALY
IN
of St Peter's began in 1505. In that year Pope
Julius II
Greek
RENAISSANCE
long, fantastic story of the rebuilding of the old
to rebuild the
A
mother
-
centralized plan
a
with four equal arms - was approved by the this, for
some
inscrutable reason, has been
triumph of Humanism over
was, inevitably, a short-lived
because the Pope died in
1
51 3
.
It
clerical
obscurant^
triumph - not
least
did, however, give us
the 'Bramante plan', a vast affair with a central spherical
dome, four huge sixty
when
apses, four corner towers.
the foundation stone
was
Bramante was
laid.
The church
then took exactly one hundred years to build, almost every notable
Another his
Roman architect of the time being involved.
fifty
years passed before Bernini
colonnaded
Piazza.
Bramante's
could create
was
plan
metrically brilliant, liturgically impossible; in
geo^'
which of
20 J
Upper
Belvedere
level
in the
by Bramante.
The rhythm of the walk,
based on a triumphal arch,
smooth,
Cortile del
of the
Vatican (begun 1S03),
'cut out'
is
marked by
elements set
in
layers
against a background offat rustication.
four equal apses does one put a high altar, it
under the
dome -
and
if
one puts
The
-
wall
never done in a Byzantine church
large niche ('exedra') is itself an
ancient
in
the
end
Koman feature
which way does monstrous
which always haunted
in scale, a quality
The foundations of Bramante's
dome of St
support the
The church was
the celebrant face?
Peter's;
scheme. Raphael wanted
four central piers
also it.
still
remains of his
little else
transform the Greek cross
to
plan into a Latin cross, by adding a nave, but died before
could be done. Peruzzi reverted
this
Greek
to the
cross in
an even more elaborate form than Bramante but - again fortunately - funds ran out. Sangallo cut 204, ^^5 ^^0^^' Bramatite's plan for
St Peter's
m Rome
Michelangelo 's
( i^o^^jSj.
Below:
B ra^
(c.1^46). Where
down
the plan,
but could not refrain from suggesting an enormous
domed porch
or vestibule. Magnificent but useless,
Roman
in the ancient
manner, Michelangelo yielded
to
demands of structure, and laid down enormously thick walls and four single massiue piers. The church is oriented the
as
was Constantine's
west rather than
basilica
-
to
the
and abortive
first
project for St Paul's,
Michelangelo was appointed
and
instance,
What
some of
the silhouette of the feet
London.) In 1546
architect.
St Peter's - the fine scale of
above the
is
good
finished after his death
by
is
mainly
tied in
Then
Porta.
della
in
the detail, for
dome -
floor,
is
Although designed by Michelangelo
chains.
is
Wren's
said to have been the inspiration for Christopher
The dome, 250
to the east
was
never built. (This Sangallo plan, with the big porch,
mante planned a complex web of walls, hollowed out with niches
it
his.
by ten it
at
was the
beginning of the seventeenth century. Carlo Maderna built the present nave, transforming the
a
Greek
Latin cross. Architecturally
a
to
portico, intending to tack
was never
built,
it
was
on
to the
Greek
cross plan.
but the scale of the giant order
necessarily fixed the scale of
new
this
Michelangelo had designed a big western
disastrous.
It
church from
Maderna's nave and of his
What, however, was merely
fagade.
monumental when combined with
the
large
and
main mass of the
building and crowned by the dome, becomes monstrous
when the
206
St
Opposite:
Giant grouped
pilasters in
some
pairs,
-
80
frame
oddly angular windows. plain, leads the eye
Peter's,
up
Rome.
feet
niches
high,
and
An attic, severely to the
great
own
so on,
is
extremely confused.
right. its
Furthermore,
lateral
Worse
extensions
still,
of course,
the fact that the forward projection of the nave simply
cuts off the
The
view of the dome from the Piazza.
final
plan of the church has an internal length of
dome
intended by Michelangelo as a hemi^
sphere
its
whole of Maderna's fagade, with
and is
isolated as a fagade in
over 600
feet,
The dome is
and 1
37
a
width across the transepts of 450
feet in
diameter.
feet.
As a plan it is hopeless.
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
but fortunately so large that
The
scale of most
the
main
letters
6
of the detail
pilasters
Column. The feet
it is
only 7
is
inscription
high
;
is
seldom used grotesque. feet
on the
the entablature
Such things were
had been begun on Julius
had
II
internal frieze has is
the height of a
201 an
1
^^f^^'^^ (j/5f Peter's,
8th^ century painting. Michelangelo's
was
scheme
continued
nave, foreground. the altar
due
Rome, from
to
The
and most of
in
Maderna's
hundred
it
had
to
go on.
and Bramante had sown, Bramante's
feet
What
successors
demonstrates the Renaissance and
architects' ability to
detail quite superbly;
height of
necessary; once the building
that scale
to reap. St Peter's
Baroque
The
whole.
than Trajan's
less
cottage; the baldacchino over the altar a
high.
as a
it
handle stone and sculptural
also demonstrates that the age
was incapable of any sustained co-operative trative effort in order to
or adminis/
achieve unity.
In Bramante's plan for St Peter's the internal spaces,
haldacchino over the decoration are
Bernini (see p. 202)
such
as apses
and chapels, seem
to be as
it
were hollowed
out of the immensely solid mass of the walls and
piers.
20 8, 2og The Palazzo Vidoni^Caf^ farelli in
shows
Rome
the
Bramante
(c.i<,i^), by Raphael,
palace
design
by
invented
'House of Raphael' a heavily rusticated ground storey, below a in the
:
'piano nobile' with
paired
windows
set
between
columnsFThe Hi^h Renaissance
achievement
is
clearly seen if one
com^
pares this richly sculptural facade with
thefrst palace design orders,
Alberti's
Florence (below), of
This highly sculptural concept
is
the
first
of the Baroque. Elsewhere, however,
distant glimpse as
in
his
little
Tempietto and in the two Vatican courts - the Belvedere and the Damaso - Bramante firmly retams his High Renaissance mastery of the harmony of parts. In
this
was followed by Raphael (1483-1520). Raphael,
he
like
Bramante, was born in Urbino, and was buried in the
Pantheon - a signal honour architecture,
problem,
to the greatest
apart from his advice
his contribution
altered,
shows
Rome
It is
(c.
Peter's
between the
Roman High
strong, solemn, deeply
his
1515), although
clearly the difference
Florentine Renaissance and the sance.
on the St
was modest. Nevertheless,
Palazzo Vidoni/CafFarelli in
much
of painters. In
shadowed.
It
Renais^'
may
be
contrasted with Alberti's Palazzo Rucellai in Florence
where the decoration patina. This contrast
had
is little
shows
more than
a careful surface
the road that architecture
travelled in less than a century, the distance
the Early
and High Renaissance.
between
to
make
use of the
Palazzo Rucellai. 1
446-^ 1
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
This increasing
desire
a
for
'Roman' and
architecture led to a greater study
210
Lo^ia of
Rome fresco
(he^^un
work and
ried out
the
iS'6).
Madama,
The
elaborate
stucco arabesques, car^
by Giulio Romano, were based
upon newly discovered Equally
Villa
Roman
is
Roman
much more
the Villa, with a circular courtyard
and
rooms whose curving surfaces seem hoU
.
.
.
and how
of the imperial past existed then than
now! These remains then included much of Golden House of Nero and of
decoration of the
models.
the intended plan of
in
greater under^'
standing of the actual ruins of the Empire very
quality
and
palaces
In
villas.
was upon
it
and pamtings of Nero's palace interior
of
new
doxically this
his
Madama
Villa
characteristics
Although
and
(15 16). Para/
more Trivolous'
or
may have accounted
for
interest in the
decorative aspects of Roman art
many
the arabesques
that he based the rich
lowed out of immensely thick walls
glowing
other
Raphael became Super/
15 15
intendent of Antiquities, and
the
of the next phase, Mannerism.
the sculptural quality of
Baroque may be
already glimpsed in Bramante's plan for St Peter's, or the
Baroque
Brunelleschi's skyline, neither
in
city
Renaissance nor Baroque are adequate terms
to designate
the architecture of Italy through the sixteenth teenth
Between
centuries.
the
Roman
Sangallo's Palazzo Farnese, of the
and
Much had
a century.
the
be
to
word 'Mannerism'
strength
of
there
for that
lies
over
purpose
has proved useful.
The Renaissance and to the
and
fitted in,
and seven/
High Renaissance,
Baroque of Bernini's Piazza,
the full
High
the
High Renaissance - right up
time of Raphael, Sangallo and Michelangelo - had
balance,
harmony and Roman
however, had different
ideals.
It
gravity.
attained
Mannerism, its
effects
by
deliberate discord, by emotional tension, by elegance,
scenic
or
effect
could flout
Mannerist architects
decorative fuss.
the Vitruvian rules
all
and could be more
romantic, more individualistic than their immediate predecessors.
To compare and
contrast, say, the Palazzo
Farnese of 1530 and the Palazzo Massimi, of only a few years later,
may make
The Palazzo
the point.
Farnese (1534-50) was designed by
Antonio da Sangallo (1485-1546), and completed by
184
Michelangelo.
Its
sheer strength
and
185/foot frontage, together with fine scale,
make
it
a
its
major achieve/
ment of
High Renaissance. Each window
the
upon an
beautifully proportioned aedicule laid
is
a
equally
well proportioned expanse of plain wall. Michelangelo's
doorway (1546) is a wonderful demonstration of how monumental scale can be created by the build-up
central
of all the subordinate
details, the
big things
because the small things are small.
The
lookmg
big
balustrade of the
balcony, the cartouches of arms, the larger cartouche
2
1 1
Plan
designed by
of the palaces
in
Peruzzi for An^elo
and Pietro Massimi,
i^JS-
window
crowning
all,
scale to the
enormous rusticated arch
Rome however,
we
the
and
grilles,
so on, all give
in the centre.
turn to the Palazzo Massimi, only
When,
five years
(left)
Opening
off a curving road, each has a vestibule (a), grand cortile (b) and minor court (c)
later,
we
two palaces
palace (actually
arranged
something has happened. This
realise that
two
for
little
brothers, cleverly
have a single frontage) was designed by
to
Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536). Peruzzi was the friend
of Bramante, Raphael and Sangallo, but
Massimi
new and more
initiated a
Italian architecture.
It
original phase o{
was an innovation.
beginning of Mannerism. Apart from its
picturesque courtyard,
qualities
much
of
detail
windows framed
all
thin
is
and
quite unclassical
easel pictures
a
whim,
is
heroic, the
if a delightful
Massimi
is
to
It is
very elegant but
are
more
Its
upper
like prettily
the wall than anything
called a
window. They
Peruzzi.
The
charming. Classicism
is
after
as
above
Farnese
now an real
to the
Palazzo Farnese has
an example of the High Renaissance.
this,
however,
to the top storey that
he
Sangallo's death, one can see that in Michel-'
angelo himself the It
are
Antiquity.
been maintained
strongly.
-
whim, of
Michelangelo's doorway
If one looks
and
and masculine
an aesthetic viewpoint, rather than a
submission
added
marks the
originality
rather affected.
hung upon
which Sangallo would have
attitude,
the strong
of the High Renaissance. its
its
It
has a curious and gently
it
curved facade which ignores
Palazzo
his
was
in architecture,
new Mannerist
current
was running
he, in fact, in painting, in sculpture
who more
than any other
and
man was
responsible for leading art in that direction. Qualities
21^ Palazzo Massimi
alle
Colonne,
Rome hy
( iS3S> ^^ ^^^ ^^i^^ '" ^^^- 2^^)> Peruzzi. Note its individualism,
even
eccentricity
its
framed
like pictures,
detail
and
flat
with
the
masculine
-
e.g.
windows
and the use ofjiat
rustication
- compared
directness
of the
Palazzo Farnese, below natural to his temperament tension,
suffering
generation,
who
- physical
- became the
regarded
strength, violence,
ideals
him with almost
of the next supernatural
reverence.
Michelangelo (1475-1564), born
at
Settignano near
Florence, lived to be ninety. In that long
genius
meals
little rest.
at the
He
slept
life
he gave his
with his boots on and took his
work bench. In
spite
of the wide training of
many Renaissance artists, Michelangelo did in fact move from painting and sculpture to architecture without
so
212,
Palazzo Farnese,
214
(1^^4-40), Sangallo
designed by
and completed -
window over below),
the
doorway
with
rest
the
(opposite,
and the upper storey
windoW'^frames
Rome
Antonio da
where
on twin consoles
-
by Michelangelo. Smaller parts, such as the balcony tell
the
really
and cartouches, build up
eye
how
large
the
to
building
is
187
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
any
specific schooling.
enormous tomb
carve an
to
nothing, and
of Moses.
His commission
To
left
us
little
for
to design
Julius
more than
the
II
and
came
famous
figure
house the tomb, however, meant no
than the rebuilding of St
to
less
While Bramante was
Peter's.
planning and laying the foundations of the new
basilica,
Michelangelo's energies were diverted to the painting of the Sistine Chapel.
He
resented having been, as he
thought, ousted by Bramante, and
was only
it
after the
death of Bramante and Sangallo that he was able to
remodel St httle
the
more than
was
It
Peter's a
- a task that had by then become
scaling^down operation.
in 1520, after his
completion of the Sistine and
abandonment of the papal tomb,
came back (the
to
Florence to
mausoleum of
the
work on
its
ante^room and
2i<,
Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence
by
(1^24-^j), vestibule
Michelangelo.
carried out in dead white
is
sombre grey.
The
which had
to
- give
contrast
and
columns,
coupled
apparently carried on brackets nerist illogicality
The
- Man^
height to a room
with
the
long
perspective of the library itself (visible
beyond)
-
another Mannerist
trait
full
Medici Chapel
Medicean Library) together
staircase.
be described as Mannerism
anything Hke
the
Michelangelo
Medici family) and on the
Biblioteca Laurenziana (the
with
that
The
total
at its finest.
Baroque. There
is
Not
scheme may yet
have
we
no struggle against
^^
"----J
no
the laws of nature,
very
little
classical
plasticity
.
deliberate distortion, .
elements to
spatial quality
.
only a certain arbitrary use of
fulfil
of the library
Michelangelo's
sublime objective.
a is
purely Mannerist.
architectural
first
no anarchy,
The
It is
work without
support of sculpture, an astonishing
feat for
also
the
one uiv
Medici Chapel
216
Florence
ture
may
be.
The
however
vestibule, a
staircase, goes further.
'sculptural' the architec-'
tall
Here he
room containing
the
actually recessed his grey
and
columns they
are correct, even austere, but they
S.
iS2i)>
The
architecture.
tures
- complex
doors,
a frieze
usters above the
Lorenzo,
designed
hy
Their
architectural fea^
niches set above
the
with upside-down bal-
monument, strangeness
right
-
are
creates
a
distinctive, disturbing effect, increased
by
the combination of cold, angular masses
and plain surfaces with unusually cate
marble columns back into the thickness of the wall.
in
Michelangelo as a marriage of sculpture
unique.
trained in architecture,
(be^un
deli-
ornament and mouldings
As
seem
to
support nothing (actually they support the roof trusses
and
their curious position
was
to a certain extent dictated
by the existing buildings) and
upon huge
to stand, inexplicably,
balusters slightly out of alignment with them.
The Medici Chapel, 40
feet
square,
a
is
symphony
in
white marble and black Istrian stone. Unlike the library it
was, of course, designed primarily
sculpture
Lorenzo
-
as a setting for
for those great seated figures
de' Medici,
and
for the
of Giulio and
semi-'recumbent figures
189
1
RENAISSANCE
ITALY
IN
of Day and Night,
Dawn
and Evening. Here,
as in his
Palazzo Farnese doorway, Michelangelo achieves scale
down
by a continual breaking
which runs
large pilaster
the full height of the chapel, to
flankmg the niches. This chapel,
the smaller pilasters like the
of the elements from the
Parthenon or the portals of Chartres,
marriage
between
and
sculpture
is
a perfect
architecture
- the
highest architectural ideal, regardless of style, as long as
which buildings were
stone remained the material of
made.
The
Capitol,
when Michelangelo
work on
started
it
in
1538, was a scene of confusion, a planless collection of 2
Rome, laid by Michelangelo ( i^j8-i6i2). A
7
out
Plan of
monumental into
a
the Capitol,
staircase leads
up the
hill
piazza ingeniously arranged
to
give a sense of enclosure; in a clockwise direction
the
from
Capitoline
the
left,
The
dei
is
del
Conservatory
ancient equestrian statue of
Aurelius
this
above the Forum. From
hill
He
chaos he welded a masterpiece of town^'planning.
seized, as
it
were,
Rome, and on
upon one of
mam
the
axial lines of
that he created the central space
around
the buildings are
Museum, Palazzo
Senatore and Palazzo
old buildings on the historic
Marcus
the focal point, at the centre
of a complex pavement (see
III.
ziS)
which he then
set
the Palazzo dei Conservatori
1563-8),
and the Capitoline
the Palazzo del Senatore (1573- 16 12)
Museum
(
(1544-55). These buildmgs had
to
be finished
by the next generation, but they demonstrate Michel/ angelo's mastery over the use of the 'giant order' - the
taking of the
column
or the pilaster through
with, perhaps, a smaller the
windows on
smaller
one,
column
and thus
to the
the
column flanking
ground
acts as a foil,
to the
giving scale
again, the
to the larger
building as a whole, and, indeed,
whole urban complex. Thus
by a relationship of
the arcade or
Once
floor.
tivo storeys
parts.
One
is
grandeur built up
also notes the skilful
placing of the three buildings - not
at right
angles
and
not concealing each other but, nevertheless, enclosing three sides of the central space. In the
space - a focal point -
is
middle of that
the great equestrian statue of
Marcus Aurelius. The broad approach pattern of the paving, the
and
levels
is,
stairway, the
whole arrangement of
in the highest sense of the
steps
word, sculptural.
Michelangelo here created a new node in the plan of
Rome. As town-'planning 190
it
ranks with the piazzas of
Venice, Florence, Urbino or Siena, but unlike them
its
design was basically the
work of one man.
The work of Michelangelo's younger highly individual as
it
common urge to monumentality of the Roman
often
escape from the sober
contemporaries,
is,
reflects a
Renaissance into something more dynamic, expressive
1544 a pupil of Raphael, Giulio
or fantastic. In
Romano
(1492/9-1546) designed himself a house - almost a palace this
-
at
Mantua.
A typical example of Mannerism,
house combines a rigid basic formality with con^
siderable license in the handling of its detail: a
218 Palazzo del Senatore on the Capitol, Rome, largely designed hy Michelangelo,
and
on
steps,
basement storey
a
i<,yj-i6i2.
built
Standing opposite the
it is
raised
which gives
it
prominence over the buildings on either side.
All
the facades are
giant order of pilasters;
palaces
this
is
governed by a in
enriched
the
by
fanking smaller
columns on the ground Jioor, just
visible
The
ancient
at
the
left.
statuary
is
Roman
pediment
without a horizontal member, a smooth string^'Course slipping, as set
in
flat,
it
were, behind the keystones, and
ornamented frames. Again, one can only
compare the Farnese architecturally, earlier
Giulio
Mantua;
windows
this
is
a
or even the Palazzo different
Romano had is
world.
Some
Pitti;
this,
ten
years
built the Palazzo del
typically Mannerist with
its
Te
at
rhythms of
191
21 g
hi the
Palazzo
a^erated almost
Mantua used ex^
rustication to create an effect
monumental
details are playful.
directly
del Te,
Romano
(^S^S~3S)> Giulio
on
surrounds;
to
strength,
but
of
the
Pediments are placed
the
'rocky'
window^
a seemingly symmetrical
in
composition, the bay between columns at the right turns out to be
narrower than
that at the left
220 The house Giulio
its
designed by
for himself (c.i^^^)
m
appears formal position, but
Mantua
at
Romano
its
parts
general
com-
show Mannerist
freedom - the string-course which becomes a pediment, the squeezed-in windows, and the varied rustication carried out, as at the
Palazzo
del Te, above, not
in stone but in stucco
221
Palazzo
Bevilacqua,
Verona
(<^-^53^J> Sanmicheli's Mannerist variation on the High Renaissance palace
theme (cp.
111.
208). Above, a pattern
of overlapping triumphal arches
is
created,
with alternately large and small windows
- now columns
shuttered;
Roman gateway alternating
spirally fluted
near by.
rhythm
angular rustication
192
the
were inspired by
is
an
ancient
Below, the
emphasized by
unevenly spaced Tuscan columns and rustication, but
Bering
its
it
its
lively use
of
also has a certain strength as if remeni''
High Renaissance
Mannerist space also has
forerunners.
its
own
character. Architects
could deliberately build perspectives. This, of course,
was not an exclusively Mannerist
monotonous
unrevealed
climax.
but the long,
S.
Giorgio
Maggiore,
Venice,
if 6^5. Serene columns and arches, of a purity that is wholly un^Mannerist, create a spacious
nave ; beyond them the eye mysteriously
glimpsed
is
drawn
monks'
to the
choir,
behind the altar
of some Mannerist designs
perspectives
would seem contrived
feature,
222
designed by PaUadio in
to
draw one on towards some
Vasari's
of the Uffizi in
court
Florence (begun in 1560), the interior of Palladio's S.
Giorgio Maggiore in Venice (designed in 1565), or the
which power of 'suction' - the
Biblioteca Laurenziana itself all have this quality,
Nikolaus Pevsner has called the spectator
About built a
which
is
sucked into the heart of the design.
this
time Michele Sanmicheli (1484-1559)
number of palaces are
the
in
Palazzo
Verona, the most notable of
Pompei
(c.1529)
which
is
conservative for its date and in the Bramantesq ue tradition, heavily columniated
and
rusticated;
and the Palazzo
193
i^Awjfei
!
'ijiiiTri !f__
^
Hit
ii~
i-
i^
•s.
22J
In this air view of Venice
we
see
one of the most famous and harmonious
urban
spaces
in
the
world,
throughout
the
Mark's (top
right), the long
Marco
centuries.
From
St
Piazza S. it
the Piazzetta,
is
bordered by the Doge's Palace on the right
and Sansovino's Libreria Vecchia
on the
left.
sovino's the
Beyond
the library
Zecca (Mint).
two squares stands
St Mark's, providing vertical accent
At
the
1530),
(f.
which
Mannerist with
distinctly
its
is
on the other hand
alternation of
wide and
developed
stretches out to the left; linking
with the lagoon, bottom,
Bevilacqua
is
the
San^
hub of
narrow bays, triangular and segmental pediments and spirally fluted fortifications
-
columns. Sanmicheli was famous a sideline for
- and the Porta del Palio in 1524,
tions
shows
such
as
at
many Renaissance
for his
architects
Verona, a town gate begun
a skilful use of plain stone
cartouches and columns,
ornamental
set
against a
background of rustication.
textural
Campanile of
the indispensable
Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570)
Vecchia
in
built
the
Venice (1536). This building
is
Libreria a display
not merely of a style but of architectural ingenuity.
Although
so wildly different in date
and
style
from the
Doge's Palace on the other side of the Piazzetta, matches
it
and
therefore
is
in scale
Piazzetta -
much more
and sculptural a
it
richness or chiaroscuro,
contribution to the unity of the
a contribution in fact to town-planning, so
important than
style.
In the design of
its
facade Sansovino was faced with the old problem of how
194
to place
small openings over larger ones while,
at the
22i\,
22<)
The Gesu
in
Rome
(hegun
iS^S), by Vignola anddella Porta,
set a
pattern jor later facades in Europe (Ills.
~
^33> ^7S) ^"^ ^^^^ Jesuits
-
in
transmitted by the
New
the
centre of the facade
is
World.
The
treated as a kind
ojjwo^ storey ed temple -front, which is linked to the lower sides by volutes. The plan, below, tries
to
get the best of both
worlds by having both a long nave and
same time, avoiding too storey.
He
solved
it
storey actually are
great a
neatly.
mass of wall
m the upper
The windows of the upper
narrower than the openings below,
but they are flanked by colonnettes and
it
is
these
colonnettes that reduce or mitigate the apparent wall
mass between the windows. Sansovino's
Mint (La Zecca) with
may
its
last
work, the
wildly exaggerated rustication,
be seen as yet another variety of Mannerism, com^
parable to the garden facade of the Pitti Palace (1558-
70) by the leading Florentine architect of the time,
Bartolommeo Ammanati.
Among the most influential of all Mannerist buildings (for
reasons other than purely architectural)
Gesu, the chief church in
Rome
influenced by (i
507-73).
combine
for it.
some four hundred
The
The Gesu
architect
the
of the Jesuits and of the
Counter/Reformation. Hundreds of churches
Europe have,
was
all
years,
over
been
was Giacomo Vignola
has been described as an attempt to
the centralized
and the longitudinal plan. In
that the aisles, following the
example of Alberti's
S.
a big central space.
The
as chapels (cp.
200)
III.
aisles are treated
226 Lon^hena's Sta Maria in
Venice (16^2)
is
della Salute
very
rich,
very
Venetian, piling up diverse elements and
culminating
in
hemisphere). place
and
is
the
in
the
dome (a
abutting the
enormous
Primarily,
however,
town-planning:
this
Campanile of St Mark's
two gateposts
at
volutes
typically Venetian
the
entrance
its
church are the to
the
Grand Canal
Andrea
Mantua,
at
side^'chapels,
and
the 'crossing', this
are
reduced
that there
may
to
an explosion of space
is
be true.
The
followed Alberti in using large
to link the
two
at
building was begun
by Vignola in 1568 and continued by latter
merely vestigial
della Porta.
The
scrolls or volutes
of the facade. This device also
storeys
succeeded in hiding the buttresses, features necessary in a vaulted
church but hitherto untranslatable into the
classical vocabulary.
Wren
walls (see pp. 244-5).
^^
concealed his behind
false
was Longhena (1604-75),
Sta Maria della Salute in Venice,
who
at
actually equated
scroll
and
of his
dome, dominating the rich Venetian scene which
buttress so that they
form part of the
silhouette
can absorb so much.
To Vignola must Julius
garden,
(c.
Pope
1550), a typical Italian villa with a formal
summer rooms,
fully related to the
196
also be ascribed the Villa of
grand
grotto
and fountains,
cortile
-
all care/'
a great semi^'Circular
colonnade forming one facade of the
villa.
The
Villa
Farnese at Caprarola (1559-73) building; Vignola
fortress-'like
podium which approach
already existed,
both ramps and
oi^
a strange pentagonal
is
made and
the
IN
ITALY
most of a high
created an impressive
steps.
In Genoa, strong,
heavily designed palaces mainly with courtyards steps exploiting the steep sites,
RENAISSANCE
and
were built by Galeazzo
Alessi (1512-72), a pupil of Michelangelo, or under Alessi's influence.
In spite of the almost universal acceptance of Manner^
ism in northern and central
many ways period
the most original architect of the
stands
Palladio
ture.
largely
(1508-80)
-
'Palladian'
has
man who was
Italy, the
outside
of
The
*Palladian'. Palladio cool, serene
and
had
refined.
word world -
very
English-'Speaking
become almost synonymous with
Almost any house with
classical architect
a portico
a style
whole
This was Andrea
it.
Vicenza.
at least for the
in
may
be dubbed
which was
personal,
His two major churches in
Venice - one has already been mentioned
22J In the Villa Farnese at Caprarola (iS59~73) ^" existing podium with
having a
corner bastions gave Vignola the oppor^
Mannerist preoccupation with perspective - S. Giorgio
tunity to create a luxurious 'fortress' on a
Maggiore (designed in 1 565), and
curious
II
as
Redentore
(i
576-7),
double
are part
of the
tourists' familiar scene. It
was, however, in
houses inland from Venice, in and around Vicenza, that
pentagonal staircase
invented by
is
plan. a
Bramante
levels of the Belvedere
The
version to
great
of that
link the
Court
two
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
Palladio gave his best to the world. Admittedly Palladio's Quattro Libri
dell'
work, but buildings such (c.
gave added fame
Architettura as
1550) or the Villa Rotonda
rank
among
the
most
the Palazzo (f.
15
to his
Chiericati
50-1) will always
civilized houses ever designed
-
without pomposity, symmetrical without
aristocratic
being forced, elegant without effeminacy. In the purity
of their design they purged Mannerism of its affectations. 228-2^0 work,
The
which
serenity
endeared
century Englishmen,
is
of Palladio's
him
to
i8th^
here evident.
The
symmetry of the Villa Rotonda
absolute
(opposite)
shows an
clear on the
is
idyllic,
The Palazzo is
richer; statues decorate the
III.
igo) and pediments. Note,
both buildings,
how
no other reason
of the private house
of importance. Also, in spite of the great
cool
beauty already attained by the Italian garden, these
relationship between house
though
in
level
Palladian villas established a
has
roof (cp.
new
if for
lifted the architecture
Vicenza
(below) it
to a
memorable
elegance,
Chiericati in
same
than that they
are
plan; the view
almost Arcadian, scene.
the
These buildings
colonnades are
terminated at the sides by arches
the Villa
facade; raised
it
on
new and more
and garden.
A house such as
Rotonda does not have merely is
a
symmetrical on
all fronts,
podium approached by
formal
a symmetrical
and being
also
great flights of steps.
it
acquires something of the quaHty of a glorified gazebo
or garden temple. into the garden ture
The main
and park.
adapting an Italian Palladio's
pp. 265-6).
was
m
style to the
popularity
English gentry (see
It
and nature which -
axis
who
with
was extended outwards
this
spite
marriage of architect
of the
difficulties
of
English climate - assured those
eighteenth/century
ventured upon the
Grand Tour
,
''^'^*^A^-
COKSPECTVS
23 in
St Peter's and
1
the
i
yth
O VtT BJ
BA.SUJiLiL
the
century.
.
PORTICVS
AB
Piazza, Rome, Bernini's
oval
A.I^:LkSV
V^i
^^^J^^^^^^^'^IU V(WT 111(^^1 l.tXaB^THQ^ ADJAIIEX TI VM
For the birth of the next architectural
we must return
to
simplicity with the
its fine
complexities
of the enormous
One
sees
here
also,
church.
how
however,
of the grand gesture.
view of the dome from below (see
p.
180).
In
the
background
Vatican Palace with, just Belvedere Court
(III.
20^)
is
visible,
the city
We have seen how Michelangelo's
replanning of the Capitol was part of a
new and
dramatic understandmg of town-planning. Sixtus V,
Maderna's projecting nave would cut ojj the
the Baroque,
Rome. Rome had always been
colonnade forms a magnificent prelude, contrasting in
style,
the
at
end of the sixteenth century, inaugurated an ambitious
the
programme of
the
straight
new
rebuilding,
streets
the Piazza del
and
involving the cutting of
the creation of new focal points
Popolo, the Piazza
course, the Piazza of St Peter's.
came
Navona and, of
None
of these projects
to fruition until after his death, but they
beginning of that proud, confident, rhetorical differentiates
Baroque from the
self/'Conscious
The Piazza
-
mark
the
spirit that
clever sophistication
and
ambiguity of Mannerism. del
Popolo - created over
the centuries
-
is
an enormous urban space, the meeting-'point of several
200
streets
and, in
itself,
a link
between the gardens on the
Pincian Hill and the Vatican City on the other side of the Tiber.
The Piazza Navona
with fountains related to the
down
its
length
-
is
the
an elongated
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
place
whole being subtly
two Baroque churches on
the long side, one
of which, S. Agnese, has a facade by Borromini.
The Piazza of
St Peter's
was
at first
intended
to
be
completely closed - virtually an outdoor extension of the
church
itself,
are the
open
thus acquiring real meaning. side
of the
ellipse
As thmgs
towards the Via della
and completely
destructive
of any feeling of enclosure. Bernini's sketch
for closing
Conciliazione
the
gap
exists
is
distracting
but has never been used. Even
as
it
2j2 Detail of the Piazza of St Peter's, Rome, designed by Bernini in 16^6. The
is,
colossal
Tuscan columns are made of
however, with the magic curving perspective of those
travertine, the coarse
noble and unadorned columns, the marbles and the
the temples at Paestum (Ills. 21, 22)
golden stone used
in
RENAISSANCE
IN
ITALY
The
fountains, the Piazza almost redeems St Peter's.
columns
are
of the Tuscan Order, the plainest and most
adornment
puritanical of all;
not in the application
lies
of any carving, but rather in the actual shape of the great
which
curves, in the architecture itself-
The was
Baroque.
Piazza was Bernini's masterpiece, and Bernini
-
cannot
really
distinct
as
Baroque
of the
archetype
the
architecture
Baroque from Baroque planning -
much
Sta Susanna. This has
Baroque
developed unified idea
smaller church
the qualities of a
all
A
building.
relatively
simple,
expressed as direcdy as possible and with
is
Columns, demi^columns,
the utmost force.
pediments and sculpture
Baroque, however subtle
later
in detail. Bernini
is its
pilasters,
climax. This
rise to a single
quality of directness, of emotional certainty,
mark of all
when
was ultimately
to St Peter's
a failure) designed the facade of a
Rome,
artist.
be said to have begun before 1600,
Carlo Maderna (whose front
in
true
is
it
is
the hall/
may become
most typical exponent because he
united the arts of sculpture and architecture. But his two greatest
Francesco
rivals,
Cortona, were in for
volume and
Borromini and
many ways
da
Pietro
his superiors in their feeling
material.
In 1624 Bernini had begun the erection of the baldac/-
chino over the high
altar
High Renaissance
restraint
affair, a
hundred
feet
of St
is
All
Roman and
has vanished. This huge twisted
columns and
an extravagance
that Michel^
high, with
outrageous silhouette,
angelo would have disliked.
Piazza that
Peter's.
its
It
is
the austerity of the
surprising, not the sensuality of his other
is
work. In the Cornaro Chapel (1645-52), in the church of Sta Maria della Vittoria, he
famous
voluptuous and
glass.
altar,
This
is
superbly done.
202
we
truly
himself
The
of St Teresa and the Angel, dramatic,
figures
above the
is
ecstatic, are beautifully
magically
lit
poised in space
from above through yellow
the art of illusion, of the theatre, but
Only
in
is
Spain perhaps, or Bavaria, can
find such titillation of the passions
by
artifice.
2J5 Sta Susanna, Rome. The scheme
(i^gj-i6o^)
of the facade
as the Gesii, hut the
Maderna
the
is
same
has used all
elements more forcefully
classical
(there are columns as well as pilasters),
pulling
design
the
together
strong central emphasis
-
to
give a
the essence of
Baroque
254 Cornaro Chapel, Sta Maria della Vittoria, Rome (164^-^^; from an iSth^century
painting).
combines architecture
Bernini
and sculpture
single dramatic composition.
here in a
The figures
of St Teresa and the Angel above the altar
are
lighting
superbly
and
in
related
composition
other and to their setting.
members of in
the
-
On
-
both to
in
each
either side
Cornaro family, carved
marble, watch as thoughfrom theatrical
boxes
203
The
Scala Regia (1663-6), that tremendous stairway
between the Piazza of St ments,
is
and the papal
Peter's
another Bernini masterpiece.
It
forms the
entrance to the Vatican Palace, but had to be a
narrow and awkward
and the Palace
came
itself
site
dramatic
itself
relies
very
to
be a
to
stair
seems to add something
upon any
It
is
its
plan.
This increases the
air.
Carlo Maderna
in
had
is
a solid central block with
and
to left
ground
Rome the
winp
right; instead of a rusticated
floor,
there
Most of the facade
is
an open loggia.
by Bernini, but the
is
upper windows, with perspective frames,
their curious
show
the
shanu
hand of
Borromini
in fact been
2J5 in
Opposite: Bernini's Scala Regia
the
Vatican
Pa^'
(i66j-6)
is
made
to
seem longer by reducing the height and width as
Bernini also collaborated with Borromini on the lazzo Barberini. This palace
Barberini,
instead of a building round a court,
:
there
Palazzo
628) Maderna opened out
specifically
the false perspective
processional
plan
1
lined
- at any rate as you go up - and
to
In the
real
is
*trick'
the tapering of the
apparent length of the
little
richer in
is
it
manages somehow
Baroque device. The only due
mto
Necessarily
result.
continuation of the Piazza into the Palace.
with columns but
fitted
between the Galilee Porch
smaller in scale than the Piazza yet
mam
A brilliant piece of planning over^
the difficulty with
ornament and
apart^
2^6
(be^un
up
is
it
ascends.
mysteriously
A lit
landing half-way
from
the side
begun by
1628 and so represents a collaboration
20$
257 (
S. Andrea al Quirmale,
i6<)8-j8)
plan
:
with
which,
flexibility,
Baroque
was
its
to
architects.
placed transversely
:
appeal
Here
is
many
to
the
between three major Baroque the
main
facade, with
its
At
architects.
first
glance
superimposed orders, might
and
plasticity
oval
the high altar
the middle of the long side to the the sculpture
Rome
Bernini's essay in the oval
left.
is
High Renaissance;
be of the
is
second^storey
in
arches,
windows
are
then
set
we
notice that the
heavily chamfered
in
giving very nearly the illusion of a vaulted
All corridor.
Maderna's plan
is
fully
by Bernini
Baroque with an
entrance through a vaulted undercroft leading to a large oval salon carved stair is also
The
as
it
were - out of the
first
which made
project for the
its
tomb of JuUus
Baroque. Bernini's S. Andrea
Giacomo
al
Monte Santo
all
lie
206
It
The main
appearance in Michel^
up by Vignola and became almost
S.
solid.
contained within an oval.
oval plan,
angelo's
-
al
a sign
II,
was taken
manual of the
Quirinale, Maderna's
Corso and Rainaldi's Sta Maria
in
have oval plans. The explanation may
partly in fashion, partly in the flexibility of the oval.
was
eagerly copied in the next century in
Germany.
2j8,
2jg
Fontane,
Carlo
S.
Rome
alle
(begun
1
Quattro
6jj)
:
Bor^
romini's immensely subtle variation on the oval plan.
At
towards
high
the
the
left,
altar
we
are looking
(top,
in
the
plan below). Semi^cirdes, segments and straight lines all to create
Francesco Borromini
mason and was over first
(i
thirty
599-1667), was trained
when,
major work, the church
Fontane. This
is
in 1633, he began his S.
Carlo
a tiny church, so small that
no more than a chapel, but
and with
oi^
it is
alle
Quattro
it is
virtually
packed with ingenuity
architectural innovation.
complex, based on two equilateral
Its
plan
triangles
is
highly
with arcs
and segments drawn from various points of their section, but
resolves itself at the level
it
an oval, and
at
architecture here all
plastic,
the undulating forms there
inters
dome into The whole oi^
of the
the lantern into a circle.
becomes
as a
almost molten. Beneath
is still,
of course, the ghost
of a classical building - the absolute freedom of Ron-'
away - but
champ
is
to this
single link with the classical past,
still
three centuries
subject only
Borromini
treated architecture as abstract sculpture. Internally, in spite
of an exaggerated height in the order, the apses and
merge
into each other
a single sculptural unity
240 S. hio della Sapienza, Rome (1642-60). Bonomini has here based his
plan on ajix^pointed star with three
lobes this is
and
three points, ana
taken upwards
how
see
dome
a fantastic
i
24T The
facade
Fontane
Quattro
to
we
be developed into
Borromini's
last
of S. in
Carlo
Rome
work,
has
qualities as the interior (Ills.
alle
(166'/), the
same
2^8, 2^g).
Classical elements are used with
utmost freedom, concave plane convex.
The
upper storey
little is
the
set against
'temple' placed on the
reminiscent of Petra (III.
55y), while the larger cupola on the roof
resembles
Baalbek
208
the
'Temple of Vesta'
at
.a-
niches
facade
flow one into is
surfaces,
a series
another,
while externally the
and convex
alternating concave
oi^
swaying and swerving. This quality of abstract
modelling - even entablatures, vases,
if
it
is
compiled from such thmgs
pediments - informs
all
Borrommi's
work. The church of S. Ivo della Sapienza uses the pointed its
star
(two interlocking triangles)
as
six^
as the basis
of
plan, while S. Filippo Neri uses one concave front
for a
whole building. Borromini's
S. Ivo (a fantastic spiral motif) Fratte,
develop their
freedom. setting
The same
spatial
spires for S.
and
ideas
plastic qualities,
S.
Carlo,
Andrea
with
even
delle
more
achieved by the
of curve against curve, are found in his
con/-
temporaries and immediate followers. Pietro da Cortona
242 The cupola of Borromini's S. which again
recalls
Baalbek,
Ivo,
develops
out of the six segments of the interior (III.
240).
fantastic
It is then
spiral
surmounted hy a
ending
an
in
equally
fantastic wrought^iron flourish
24J
The facade of Sta Maria
Pace,
Rome
makes
it
della
16^6-yJ, hy Pietro da Cortona, takes the Gesu scheme and (
fully three-dimensional, bring-
ing the upper level
forward
in a
curve
and introducing a semi-circular porch below.
The
tension
interlocking motifs
-
of these
mental pediment inside one
-
recalls
tightly
especially the segthe
Michelangelo
triangular
(III.
216)
209
2^4
Dome
sima
of the chapel of the Santis^
Sindone,
Turin
Cathedral
(i66j-go). Guarini's greatest interest was in vaulting. Here he combines ideas from Gothic and Islamic architecture to produce a unique dome built up by tiers of segmental arches resting on one another.
Each
is
(i
596-1669) gives them an extraordinary
feeling
of
tension in his facade for Sta Maria della Pace, a church
whose
influence
throughout
reverberated
century. Further north, in Piedmont,
(1624-83) took them
to lengths
wilfully extravagant. His
Guarino Guarini
which
Chapel of
next
the
still
the
seem almost
Holy Shroud
pierced, admitting light
(Santissima Sindone), Turin, has a
ascending
series
dome made of an
of segmental arches standing on top of
one another; the dome of S. Lorenzo, in the same consists
of an eight^pointed
flying ribs, the
silhouetting
dome
them with
star
conceived in terms of
itself floating
light
from
city,
its
above them and
windows; while the
Palazzo Carignano, of brick, projects the concave^ convex-'Concave scheme on to the long horizontal front
of a secular palace, Louvre. All these
as
Bernini had wanted to do
qualities,
perfection in Borromini's S.
210
in
at the
however, are shown
to
Agnese in the Piazza Navona
Rome, mainly in the fine modelling of the twin towers.
245
At
S. Agnese,
in
Rome
(begun
16^2), Borromini not only flanked
his
dome with twin towers but devised
a
plan which gives those towers indepen^ dence of the main building
-
were, a sculptural entity.
This church,
on the long side of the
each, as
it
Piazza Navona,
plays a major town-planning role
246 Palazzo Carignano, Turin (begun but especially in the clear of the
main
way
that they are, as
it
were,
swung
building. In the Baroque of southern
Europe Borromini had come
as
a
great
liberating
i6j8). Guarini gives
sections, in a
from influence;
Germany
and elsewhere, (p. 250),
we
as far afield as
England and
can detect his influence.
interest to the long
facade by alternating concave and convex
Bernini.
entirely
of
way which seems to derive The texture and ornament,
brick,
is
character
**'*^^i im^imr^'
almost Arabic
in
Chapter Eight
RENAISSANCE, MANNERISM, AND BAROQUE OUTSIDE ITALY
The
story
of Italian architecture has been taken up
end of the seventeenth century because there
is
to the
properly
Palace of Charles
24'j
(he^un
1^26),
Designed with
speaking no break, and each phase emerges from the one that preceded
it.
trace the spread
now
But we must
go back in time and
of Renaissance ideas outside
Italy.
This
is
ten years after this
V, Granada
Pedro
Machuca.
a circular courtyard only
Raphael's Villa Madama,
has an austere classicism which was
not achieved in northern Europe until
much a
by
later
complicated subject because development within any
one country was neither continuous nor influence
came i n
waves depending
arbitrary
"political circumstances,
logical. Italian
,
largely
on
and the Netherlands, for instance,
could be influenced by Italian Mannerism without ever
going through a
real
in all countries
where the Gothic
rooted the
aTa
new
style
Renaissance phase
was
novel form o( ornanient. architecturf^ui
Ge rmany
th us
evaluate in
is
its
was deeply
1 he,j£a£l irliest i€st
art
pti aj^e
of
Engjand^ and
France,
a hybrid
own
tradition
only applie d sup erficially
at first
Renaissance
Moreover,
at all.
which
is
difficult
to
terms,.
In Spain, although Gothic churches went on being built
with undiminished confidence, the pure Italian
Renaissance
style
appears
at
an extremely early
V
unfinished Palace of Charles
Machuca, was begun
in 1527
at
date.
The
Granada, by Pedro
and has
a circular courts
yard with superimposed Doric and Ionic columns. austere classicism
of Philip
II
is
Its
taken even further in the vast palace
outside Madrid, the Escorial,
begun by
Juan Bautista de Toledo and completed by Juan de Herrera (1563-84). This
is
monastery and cathedral,
its
plain,
its
a
combination of palace,
exterior almost completely
church on a centralized plan, simple and
213
248
Escorial, near
Madrid
(
z^6}-8 4),
1
begun by Juan Bautista de Toledo and finished
by Juan
de
severest classical style,
Herrera.
In
in the choir of
monumental
monastery and school. The big cathedral,
between the
whose dome and towers
prisingly
the range
of monastic
rise
cells,
here above is
the focal
point of a vast complex including some fifteen courts
and
way that recalls Bramante. Diego de Siloe, Granada Cathedral,
created an equally
the
housed palace,
it
impressive in a
with
effect,
piers.
perspective
Early Spanish Renaissance
when compared
restrained
excesses that were to succeed
France gained
cloisters
coffered
its first
the
to
vaults is
sur^
Baroque
within a generation.
it
glimpse of the Renaissance in
1494 when the armies of Charles VIII of France crossed
Alps and marched down into the plains of Lombardy. They got as far as Naples but a year later - with all Italy
the
in
arms against them - had
Seventeen years sance prince,
Those two
later
it
to fight their
was Francois
I,
way home.
the true Renais^
who entered Milan at the head of his troops. expeditions
direction of the
had
changed
the
cultural
Western world.
When the French soldiers invaded Italy, Michelangelo and Bramante were
at
the
hei ght
of
Bnmelleschi and^Alberti ^lready dead.
seemed
214
to those
medieval Frenchmen
some expedition
to
t
heir
It
po3vers,
must have
as if they
were on
another planet. St Peter's was only
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
half built, but the glories of the Early Renaissance were I
costume - was
paintings, furniture,
ITALY
Florence - palaces,
The impact of Medicean
all there.
And
immense.
also
I
for the Italians the
French Court offered a new
outlet, for
although
it
was
nevertheless
glittering
and wealthy. Leonardo da Vinci,
for instance,
was
was among those the
Mom
little
a medieval court
still
who returned with the French
Lisa in his baggage
cliff
That Fran ce should suddenly needless
to
In evitably, to begin with, cera mics,
jewellery
allowed his way.
welcome
-
armies
he died in the end
;
chateau of Amboise on a
palace s^ was,
it
at the
above the Loire. building Italian
start
o ut of the
say,
question.
was in small things -
it
-
silks,
craftsman was
Italian
would not have been
Architects
o f French master masons
to this last generation
designed by
Go thic
world.
T he
Italia n, or the Italian pattern
books, might be allowed to influence ornament, marble^
work
or the like , but, after
masters of their
What we tion
all,
craft.
find going on, therefore, in this
of the French Renaissance,
is
castle in, say, the early fifteenth^century
the Tres Riches Heures du due de Berry y affair,
white
the chateaux of the
to wered
illuminations of see
it
turreted. If we look at
It is
the
highly
as a
we find the same thing.
The romanticism of have to await Victor Hugo;
battle
medieval
first
blood.
it
at the
French courtiers in the
the sixteenth century,
of the Renaissance
and
we
genera^
first
curious
a
between old and new. If we look back
romantic
masons were
the French
part of
in their
Middle Ages did not
here, in the very
first
phase
had begun almost before they were
dead.
And
yet
the Renaissance chateau
is
not a
castle.
Azay^le^Rideau, Chenonceau, Chambord, Blois -
between 1508 and 1520 - were none of them castles
^ The
life
all
fortified
within was civilized, cultivated Irid
luxurious. These palaces of the Loire Valley were not
planned in the high
classic
manner,
as
(c.i^2g),
de Silo'e,
is
another
.
whol e world had
their
Cathedral
Diego
example of early Spanish Renaissance at its grandest. This view shows one of the
Their achievement and indeed
been a
Granada
2^g that the
were the Strozzi
monumental
from choir
the
coffered arches leading
ambulatory
into
the
circular
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
or the Farnese, but they did have big
ITALY
hearths
and
great
and paneHing. They had^moreover - unHke -
castles
rooms of state,
windows looking outwards uponTawnT
large
and upon
parterres,
a secure world.
The
battlements
have become a huge crenellated cornice, the moat a
pond, and the donjon 250 The I
win^
staircase
at
tower
Bio is (begun
extraordinary
stylistic
in the
Francgis
iS^S) mixture.
'^
^"
The
elements of the early French Renaissance
-
classical
balustrades
pilasters,
-
'grottesche'
and
decorate a stair supported
upon Gothic arches and vaults
superficially,
we
fireplaces that
Corinthian
Chenonceau - a gazebo. More
at
around the doors and windows and
is
it
find actual classical detail - Ionic
pilasters
bo oks. They
would be
It
Taney
a
dress' air
are the only
pity
if
nii?~nt" ifq|T^
outward and
and Francois had
sign that CHarles
and
with panels of arabesque ornament.
These mino rfrmper ies must havecnme pattern
lily
stylistic
ever been to Italy.
and
the over^'ornamentation
of these palaces on the Loire were
to
blind us to their real qualities. Blois, the largest, and also a royal house,
is
a collection of buildings, dating from
around
the thirteenth to the seventeenth century,
a large
quadrangle. The Ejily Re na^sancej^ortion - c I5I525 -
richly
is
and deeply carved with ornament and
heraldic d evices.
The most
tamoijs featureis the staircase
tower - half inside and half outside the building - a fantastic
mixture of Gothic and
Corinthian that
we can
pilasters carry first
ribbed vaulting.
and
in
which Blois
It is at
discern the nature of this chateau style -
white limestone, small purple^black roofing
classical,
slates
as inlaid panels, steep roofs
used both for
and conically
roofed turrets with elaborate chimneys and dormers, and
much
carving everywhere.
meadows of
The
central France,
setting
hunting
was
forests,
the green
and
the
river Loire. It
like
47)
men made fantasies Chenonceau and Chambord. Chambord (15 19-
was from such ingredients
is,
at
that
one and the same time, a medieval
castle
out of
Mallory, an Italianate palace, a sophisticated pastiche. first
glance
it is
also a fortress. Its plan
an outer court, and a disused moat.
shows an inner and
At
all its
corners
has enormous circular towers, severely plain. All
however,
*
is
a
At it
this,
mere preparation, a platform upon which
:sfiSL. m/jufff
w».mim, mitm^ '
iiiiik-^>gfes-3«^s^ 'O 'y^^-'^i!*
the architect, Pierre
the roof.
It is
like
Nepveu, could
and minarets
From
far
,g»'j«!EU-3w?wil
Mmm,M3m>L^m -
no roof in the world. Turrets, towers
all
luxuriate
upon
the lead
Catherine de Medicis watched the loger.
!
set his tour de force
and chimneys, pinnacles, belvederes, cupolas, lys
'^t ^*MWBWfeBy,sagw«rrxr:'l!PtsaS>gygfet^;.j»sfeijm^'
'iJ^Mk'':
down
village in the sky.
the
How
avenue
it
fleurs^de-'
flats,
with her
stars
where astro^
seems like some
fairy
significant that the architect
should take that non/Italian, that northern and Gothic thing - a high/pitched roof- and use his
pyrotechnic display of Italianate
Only
a
little less
fantastic
is
it
as a setting for
detail.
Chenonceau (1515-23)
Chateat4
2^2
2<^i,
with scores of conical first,
as a cluster
secondly,
all
turrets carefully
from the avenue of approach and then,
mirrored in
still
water. In
was more picturesquely extended Philibert de
placed to be seen,
1
5
56
Chenonceau
and moat are medieval, hut
I'Orme - by means of a ballroom
Chambord towers,
tiers
keep
the plan of the
keep has a new, Italian, symmetry.
the
the architect being
de
The round
(iz^ig-^j).
The
offlat pilasters are characteristic of
moment, as
the
is
strapwork decora^
tion on the roof; the fantastic skyline
carried
arches over the river, the sunlit water reflected
on
unique
is
in its scale
upwards 255
Chateau
river
Cher. Far
de
Chenonceau, on the
left is the
Its conical roof is echoed
old 'donjon'.
hy the main
block (he^un
iS^S), replete with tur-' chimneys and ornate dormers of the same genre as at Chambord. Beyond this rets,
on the right
is
Philibert de I'Orme's
wing
bridging the river ( iSS^)> ^'^^^ ^" upper
storey added in the late
Bullant
1
6th century by
2^4 ^^^^ screen at SuEtiemie^du^ Mont, Paris {c.1^4^), probably by Philibert de
on
to a
plain ceiling. Azay^le^Rideau (15 16),
marizes on a small scale the
style
sum^ J
of the greater Loire
I'Orme
chateaux.
It is
which
a style
idyllic chapter to the history
model
in
its
day added a
of architecture;
it
slightly
proved a
for nineteenth/century copyists.
255 Detail ojLescot's work in the Cour du Vieux Louvre, Paris (be^un 1^,46).
disastrous
Note
French architecture; the same mixture of the old and the
the
rich
carving,
the
pedimented
and
windows,
the segtnental pediments
the use oj
columns rather than pilasters
It
represented, in fact, only the traditional current of
new may churches
*^y9?f*9'?VH
yi^- A*"-
y^. .*,* A**- .yj*-- "^^..^J'-A '
be noted in some of the sixteenth^century
of Paris.
St-'Eustache
(1532-89)
and
St^
Etienne^du/'Mont where work went on throughout the sixteenth
century,
were both
planned
as
five^aisled
churches, with irregularly grouped towers, flying but^ tresses
and
steep roofs.
That such
pediments, columns, balustrades
drip with
pilasters,
and
makes them,
so on,
structures should also
du^Mont, however,
is
rood screen thought
to
at best, curiosities.
noteworthy
St^Etienne^
for a truly fantastic
be by Philibert de I'Orme.
The more progressive spirit is seen in de I'Orme's other work and in that of his older contemporary Pierre Lescot. Lescot had been employed by Francois replace the old Gothic castle of the
thing of his
own
time.
Work
I
to
Louvre with some^
began
in
1546 and coiv
tinned under various architects for the next century -
1
-nrT^-.'-.
fcii!#
indeed, if one counts
all
the subsequent expansions of
the building, for the next three centuries. Lescot's
(approximately a quarter of the displays
some
reputation
work
Cour du Vieux Louvre)
lovely carving by Jean
De rOrme's
X
rests
on
Goujon.
his
f
2z^6 Galerie Francois
One
at
(of which only the circular chapel, the gateway
Fontainebleau
use
Primaticcio.
of the frSt lon^ galleries ; the first of strapwork;
forms
chateau
1,
(1533-7), hy Rosso and
in stucco
elegant
Mannerist
and paint
Anet
and the
25 7 The circular chapel at Anet ( 5 4^52), by de I'Orme, shows an unusually
Trontispiece' survive)
Premier
Livre
proposed a
de
and on
l' Architecture
new and
book
his influential
(1569)
in
the
which he
ornate order, the 'French Order', to
go alongside the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.
The
influence of Italian visitors continued to be strong
throughout the sixteenth
and seventeenth
Serlio built the chateau of Ancy^le^Franc, to
Fontainebleau are attributed
to
besides devising the Galerie Francois
centuries.
and extensions
him; Primaticcio, I at
Fontainebleau
germ of most subsequent Flemish and English
(the
interior decoration), for the
never begun.
who
designed a remarkable mausoleum
Valois family to be built at St^Denis, unfortunately It
was probably
these Italian professionals
established the 'artist^architect' in France,
the architect
might be
a
whereby
superb performer on the drawing/
board, but lacking in realism (a curious position still
which
haunts the studios of the Ecole des Beaux^Arts).
mature
and subtle
classical forms
handling
of pure
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE ^
TALY
Something
was happening
like this
but ^ith the inevitable time-lag.
in
England
too,
When Henry VIII and
Francois embraced each other on the Field of the Cloth
of Gold in 1520, the glittering chateaux of the Loire Valley were already
In England there was no
built.
architectural sign that the Renaissance existed. Torrigiano
had, between 15 12 and 15 18, introduced the Italian
High Renaissance Westminster
style in his
Abbey
tomb of Henry VII
- a work of the
greatest purity
England Cardinal Wolsey was
in
only just beginning to build himself a house
Court. Moreover, to Italy
and
and
Chambord
brilliance, but hardly architecture. In 15 15
was building, but
at
when
was
the house
at
Hampton
finished
its
debt
Antiquity was no more than a few busts
to
of Roman emperors on the gatehouse, a few putti in the spandrels of the hall roof
and
rangles glorified
its
great
Oxford
Medici nor
or
a Valois
With
hall,
its
would have
own
called
began
was even more of a hybrid.
all
a
a
a palace. In
it
downfall, gave
own
nearly
quad/
Neither
college.
king. Henry's in 1538,
its
Hampton Court was
Cambridge
1525, Wolsey, sensing his
gatehouse,
it
to his
most ambitious palace. Nonsuch, decoration,
Its
by foreign craftsmen, introduced a wealth of
Renaissance motifs.
amalgam of
Its
structure
was an undisciplined
traditional elements.
With
large circular
corner towers, a crenellated cornice and conical roofs.
Nonsuch first
deHberately emulated
Chambord.
Renaissance building in England.
No
It
was
trace
the
of
it
remains.
Between the building of Nonsuch and the great
Elizabethan
houses
lies
first
of the
an and generation in
English architecture. Here and there,
as at
Court
in Suffolk, both
in Somerset
and Hengrave Hall
Barrington
about 1530, a more than usually elaborate house might be built. In the main, however, in those years the English,
having never
learnt Renaissance
manners, were content
with non^Renaissance houses. In a hundred manor/
220
houses or semi/fortified farms medieval
life
went on,
as
unaware of palaces
in
Rome
or Florence as of the
mountains on the moon. In any case those arid been the
filled
by the Reformation with
Dissolution of the
all its
Monasteries,
had repercussions -
the
years
consequent
agrarian and educational revolutions, the Marian persecu-'
2<,8,
25^
(begun
1^1^,
terracotta gate.
Wolsey's Hampton Court has
top)
roundels
on
two
the
Italian
crenellated
Nonsuch (i^j8-^8, ahove) -
hoth grander and later
Chambord, while
its
- had
towers like
traditional
half^
timber structure was covered with Italian
tions, the
wars with France. There had been no time or
stucco decoration
reason for building.
The
only exception to this rule concerns the group of
buildings initiated during the reign of
Edward VI by
221
old Somerset House, London
260
^547~5^)> J^^^ ^ drawing by John Thorpe. Here we see a real attempt to
(
The
create a genuinely 'Italian' building.
centre
is
treated like a triumphal arch,
wings are made
the
into
unified
conu
and
the Protector Somerset
wide
now
own London
Qld Somerset House,
palace,
completely disappeared, marks the beginning - a
premature beginning
as
transpired - of true Renais^
it
positions (topped by open strapwork);
welUspaced in
rusticated
classical
windows
sance architecture in England. are
masonry, and there
balustrade along the roof
These were men of
sympathies and European education.
intellectual
Somerset's
his circle.
had
It
a symmetrical
set is
a
facade using the three orders, a triumphal arch motif for
pedimented windows and a crowning
the entrance,
balustrade. Inside
was
a courtyard of semi^circular arches
on Tuscan columns. The influence of
diminishing strength) in such
reflected (with as
home
Longleat, the Wiltshire
John Thynne. Longleat, begun genius.
It
axes.
court the important rooms
and indeed
park,
in 1553,
Although
bay windows.
It
all
the house
building later
is
houses
of Somerset's friend
abandons the use of the
on both
metrical
this
is
a stroke of is
sym^
around a
large
orders, but
built
look outwards upon the a composition of square
is
has one thing in
common
with the
Loire chateaux - the desire to exploit joy in a secure and sunlit world.
It
avoids, however, the French nostalgia
for a dressedz-up castle.
more
Italian than
roof
It
it
is
a
has leaded
Longleat
French; flats.
as
it
This
is
is
also in another respect
stands,
suppresses the
not only non-'French;
most radical departure from the whole English
tradition.
Longleat, therefore,
is
simply a rich and
elaborate essay in fenestration; as such
222
it
tour deforce.
it
is
a brilliant
The of the
1
men working
at
Longleat
(his share
is
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
One
560s contain several pointers to the future.
ITALY
unknown
but must have been a minor one) was Robert Smythson,
soon
to
emerge
in 1563 the
architecture
as the leader
first
English
of English architecture.
literary
And
introduction to classical
was published, John Shute's
First and
Chief
Grounds of Architecture.
Longleat belongs years of
Mary Tudor and
Ehzabeth.
upon
to a period
Then
of transition, the uneasy
the early part of the reign of
quite suddenly the Elizabethan
England became not only
us.
a
Age
is
European power
but also - with the circumnavigation of the globe, the defeat of
Spain and the founding of Virginia - a world
power of ebullient in
a
new
and
kind, mercantile, secular, cultured,
self/confident.
architecture.
This found
its
expression
Antiquity and Italian fashions were
incidental; the basis of Elizabethan architecture lay in
and splendour. Elizabeth herself built very little England never had its Louvre or its Escorial - but patriotism
the cult of sovereignty, the desire to entertain
the
Queen,
as
and honour
well as the desire to display wealth and
power, were the mainspring of a
new kind of
manifest in clothes, coaches, drama, ships, gardens
art,
and
houses.
261, 262 Longleat (hegun iSS3)> ^^^
Elizabethan ideal of a great mansion.
Some features were inspired by Somerset House, such as the balustraded roof and the
way
unified;
in
which the projecting bays are
but
windows
the
are greatly
enlarged, creating glittering facades in a
Late Gothic church. The house
symmetrical on
both
pletely rectilinear.
now
-
axes,
as is
and com-'
The important rooms
look outward upon a safe world
223
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE ITALY
These huge mansions - the homes not of royalty but of
noblemen and merchants - were and 1620. They have of the
novelty different.
and
the spaciousness, glitter
all
Loire
between 1580
built
But they
chateaux.
quite
are
In their craftsmanship - their leaded lights,
mullions and panelling - they are a
chapter of
last
medievalism; in the columns and entablature around a
door or fireplace they are Italianate; in
their grotesque
strapwork and curved gables they are Flemish; in actual
and
rather vulgar.
It
owed much
really
and
Serlio,
They are very
unique.
fact they are
was only
to Italy
English, very splendid
in detail that these houses
-
to Italian writers
to the fact that 'Italianism'
English
air.
houses'
and
John Summerson has it is
Apart from
was
called
so
such
much
as
in the
them 'prodigy
an apt description.
the scale
and richness of decoration
dis^
played by these houses, significant changes were also taking
place
planning.
in
A
desire
for
symmetry,
impressive rooms and ordered sequences led to the trans^
formation of the
hall,
'high table' and oriel
house where
warmth,
all its
into
which, with
screens passage,
its
window, had been
the centre of the
inhabitants could gather for meals and
something more
This had already happened
at
like a
grand
Hardwick by
vestibule.
the
the sixteenth century. Elsewhere, the needs of
end of
symmetry
were ingeniously combined with the old arrangement in disguise, for instance at
WoUaton. By
century, however, the hall
had become secondary
'presence chamber', the dining^hall
least the
long
at
'long gallery'. This
Hatfield -
history of planning.
for the guests,
and
- over 150
feet
latter
was an English contribution
With one long
furniture, the other for great
to the
and numerous other
chambers, whole wings of 'lodgings' not
the turn of the
to the
wall for pictures and
windows looking on
to the
garden, the long gallery was one of the most charming
rooms
ever designed.
WoUaton 224
(finished in 1588), like Longleat
Loire chateaux,
is
yet
and the
another outward/looking house.
-
26j Long
gallery
(be^im i6oj).
A
at
House
Hatfield
typical arrangement,
windows along
ifgrander
than most, with
one side
(compare Fontainehleau,
2^6). The Jacobean decoration
is
111.
abstract
and on the whole fiat, except jor the big stone fireplaces;
the motifs are panels,
strapwork and the classical orders
taking a positive pleasure in the world outside
windows. The design,
as
we know from
in the nearby parish church,
the
first
his
its
own
tombstone
was by Robert Smythson -
genius in English architecture since the close of
now to realize this revolutionary moment, the moment when, in security, one could forget the arrow^slit window and when -
the
Middle Ages.
thanks
and
to centuries
glaziers
-
it
It
is
difficult
of effort by church builders, masons
was
technically possible to build bi£
muUioned windows and
fill
them with leaded
lights.
The windows of these Renaissance mansions were
the
application to secular use of the methods used in glazing
Perpendicular churches, the adaptation
homes o[
the
windows
of,
say,
to rich
men's
Gloucester choir or
King's College Chapel, symbolic in themselves of the shift
of patronage from
Church
to laity.
264 Wollaton Hall Robert Smythson.
(finished
i^SS), by
Its stylistic features
come from an odd assortment of sources Italian Renaissance, Flemish pattern-' Gothic
books, tourelles
-
The plan
the roof 'great
even
-
in
the
extremely novel (while
is
based on Serlio) the centre,
and
fantastic castle architecture.
lit
and
:
the hall rises through
by a clerestory just above is in
chamber'
turn surmounted by a
.«
266 Hardwick Hall
26^,
ic^go-j),
(
probably by Smythson. The plan, above, is
-If-
1
1 :«
§e
The great
n
n
ffi
leaded
n
!«i
windows of Wollaton look outward,
Where Longleat
indeed, more than those of Longleat.
compact and symmetrical. For thejirst
time the hall
(A)
sive vestibule its
fulfilled
room,
with
is
treated as an impress
- though traditional the
originally role
'screens
as
passage'
flanked by pantry (B), buttery
(D). The
kitchen
chapel
it still
dining^
(E)
(C) is
(opposite,
big
initials
gridAike
Wollaton has
towering up like a turreted
fairy
the house, to be brilliantly
lit
and
at the
rounding roof
level.
There
mock
windows,
note
the
in
huge
central hall,
casde from the middle
oi^
by windows above the sur^ are
square
fantastic
also
Serlio's
books,
have
derived from the Poggio Reale in Naples; in fact
been it
was
'towers',
and
the
of the proud builder, Elizabeth
Shrewsbury, displayed
a
corner towers, almost detached from the main building.
Wollaton may, through above),
corners heightened to form the
court,
(a)
back of the house.
Outside
had an inner
strapwork on
something quite new.
Hardwick Hall (1590-7) is almost certainly attributed to Smythson. The phrase 'Hardwick
be
to
Hall,
the skyline
more
glass than wall' explains the excitement
have caused in a world where
still
peasant - glass was an extravagance.
-
at
least
it
must
for the
The plan, compared
with Longleat and Wollaton, has contracted the whole ;
house
is
more compact. In compensation
windows - rooms
in themselves
roof level so that there
romantic and
is
226
up above .
.
.
an English version of the
idealized casde of a dream^like
sometimes forgotten
are carried
a silhouette of square towers
beautiful,
The glamour of
-
the six big bay
Middle Ages.
Elizabeth's reign
how much
that
is
is
such that
it
is
called 'Eliza^
bethan' - the Bible and some of Shakespeare - actually
belongs to the time of James
I.
This
is
also true
architecture. In the sphere of the great house,
hundred smaller houses, the
to
'prodigy
there
is
a
and of a
whole Jacobean sequel
Renaissance grandeur,
houses'.
oi^
for 26^7
instance,
had already spread
to simpler dwellings
such
as
Montacute in Somerset and Condover Hall in Shrop^ shire,
both finished in the
last years
of the Queen's reign.
In the really big houses, such as Hatfield or Bolsover,
case,
was an increasing
tion. It
but
IS
is
richness, a grotesque
linked with Italian
altogether
ornamental
Mannerism - via Flanders -
more outrageous, with banded columns,
marble inlay, carved tassels, arabesq ues, bulbous balusters,
masks and eroticism. generation
We
houses
in
earlier
can detect the beginnings a like
Kirby
Burghley, both in Northamptonshire - the 'roof/'scape' that
in
almost rivals
Hampshire (1605-12)
oriel are set
is
to
was one of the
first
and
with a
Chambord. At Bramshill
the grotesque entrance
and full
be found in the great staircase
Hatfield (c 1611). This
We
latter
between severely plain wings, but the
Jacobean flavour
as a display
Hall
stair is
grand
notable both because
staircases in
of the ornate Jacobean
England and
at it
also
style.
have spoken about Flemish influence without
describing developments in Flanders, and to this
we
Stair,
Hatjield
House
an Italian invention,
is
stair-'
here tranS"
lated into terms of Jacobean carpentry
-
complete with carved figures, strapwork,
and there
Great
(c.i6i 1). The monumental open
lattice
gates
straying upstairs
to
keep the dogs
from
^
268 Antwerp Town Hall by
Cornells
Floris.
A
(
i^6i-^),
crowded and
rather gauche though
grand exercise
style which, clearly,
was not
stood.
The
Gothic
central feature
is
really
disguised
gahle^jront,
in a
yet under a
with
columns, pilasters, obelisks, huge statues,
and a pedimented aedicule
must belatedly turn. important item
to
It
significant
is
be mentioned
book - Vredeman de
is
the
that
most
not a building but a
Vries' Architectural published in
1563. This contributed an inexhaustible fund of models for
ornamental
details
by Primaticcio used in
Town work
less
Hall
in the
architects,
Fontainebleau) and was extensively
at
many
the northern countries for
all
provided
(including strapwork, invented
years.
It
guidance on architecture proper. Antwerp
(i
561-5) by Cornells
new
such
style, is still
an
Floris, the
awkward
major
first
exercise. Later
i
Lieven de Key and Hendrik de
as
with more
By
Keyser, learned to handle
it
time of the Mauritshuis
The Hague (1633) Holland
was
as
up
at
immune
chief models
to
for
the
France and England, and was
to date as
evolving a national Protestant relatively
finesse.
style that
Baroque and
to
Christopher
Sir
was
keep her
to
provide one of the
Wren
1660.
after
Development in Germany, which had begun promisingly with such buildings
as the
(1556-63) and Augsburg
berg
Italian^trained
Elias
35 J' ^y ](^<^ob
command of the order in stone -from
first
Town
Holl, was to
tragedy of the Thirty Years
The Hague fi6jjvan Campen. This square
26^ Mauritshuis,
Ottheinrichsbau
War
be
at
Heidel^
Hall by the stifled
by the
(1618-48). During the
half of the seventeenth century the centre of architect
tural
interest
north
of the Alps was
Italy's
nearest
palace shows a complete
new
style.
A giant
its
base
storey
through
entablature and pediment
-
pilasters is
to
set against
brick walls to create an original piece of classicism,
well as
in
influential
Holland
in
England
neighbour, France.
The flow of
Italian visitors continued.
Bernini paid prolonged
deBrosse
(i
visits,
but
men
Vignola and
such
as
Salomon
541-1626), Jacques Lemercier(i 585-1654),
as
Frangois Mansart
(i
598-1666) and Louis Le
Vau
—
2^0
Pavilion
de
I'Horloge
the
in
Louvre, Paris (begun 1624). Lemercier by this accent joined Lescot's wing, on the
left
replica
(see
of
it
255J, with
111.
on the
part of the pavilion there note
the
order';
(1612-70) were establishing a true native
The Louvre, begun by
is
own
a
newfreedom
pediment,
:
'caryatid
and domed pavilion roof
classical style.
provides us with a
Lescot,
representative catalogue of the
trebled
his
In the upper
right.
work of most of them.
Lemercier, in 1624, began the enlargement of the inner
Louvre
court of the
adorned
it
to
present
its
400
feet
Vau
completed the court
under the direction of Cardinal Mazarin.
this
consists
pediment.
i
later,
of a magnificent colonnade of coupled
It
flat
must owe
its
provided three designs for
\
Ten years
Colbert, Claude Perrault built the eastern fagade;
columns topped by a
t
He
with the splendid Pavilion de I'Horloge.
Between 1650 and 1664 Le
for
square.
ill — ——
.
.
\
entablature with a central roof^line to Bernini,
who
this front.
\
)
{
.
.,
:
____,
\
)
{
2']2
2^1,
j^
Paris.
tl
mil II
ttltllltH^WtfJiJl >!f J" I itll.*"^
P-W^MJ^^E
left),
East front of
Bernini's
third
monumental but
Louvf?;^
the
design
(166^, Baroque
the least
of his three projects, was actually begun.
Work and
stopped when he
the facade
was
left,
however,
built to the designs
of
Claude Perrault and Le Vau (below).
With coupled
flat
roofine,
columns,
and
its
monumental boldly
organization, this
was
plished
building
classical
north of the
the
simple
most accom^ of
its
date
Alps
229
;
I
Mb
'W. '1^
16
1
Luxembourg,
(/»
P(j/(2/i
27J (begun
built
^J,
by
Paris
Salomon
de
Except
'
"
!
BiBi
'
!
I
1
1
Ii k
I
Louvre work
is
'^I^Bp
for this eastern fagade all the
typically French, typically seventeenth century
-
richly
Brosse for Catherine de Medicis. The
heavy rustication deliberately
recalls the
garden front
Florentine
of the great
palace of the Medici, the Pitti 2J4
Orleans
wing,
Mansart's classicism
is
Blois
tive carving
The
(i6j^).
subtler and more
northern
spirit persists in the high^'pitched
chimneys and, above
pavilions^ a feature in direct descent
all,
the large corner
from the circular
towers of the Loire chateau and, therefore, from the
medieval
castle.
The
separate roofing,
and consequent
especially notable for
is
the quality of the
inspiring.
roofs, elaborate
sophisticated than that of any of his pre^ decessors. Blois
carved with classical motifs, professional rather than
stonework and decora^
emphasis upon these projecting blocks, runs through the
whole French Renaissance. In Italy the roof is suppressed
in
England a continuous
roofz-line
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
runs round the whole
ITALY
building, unifying rather than emphasizing the parts.
De
Brosse had a remarkable feeling for masonry and
he expressed
His chateaux
rustication.
court, this
and
met
at
Coulommiers and Bleran^
at
town palace of the Luxembourg
his
stamp of
architecte
by the lavish, often exaggerated, use of
it
His successor
his personality.
De
as premier
Brosse had been alive to Italian
Mannerism; Lemercier was young enough to
bear
whom we have already
was Jacques Lemercier,
the Louvre.
all
to
respond
Baroque. His church of the Sorbonne (begun 1635)
has a
dome,
is
With reaches
familiar
model of the
(Ills.
Gesu and an chancel
on the
a two-'tier fagade
which
interesting three^part plan in
the
Mansart
Francois
most
interesting
d'Orleans decided
French
the
add a wing
to
Blois; Mansart's design
is,
In
phase.
in
its
Renaissance 1635
to the vast
Gaston
chateau of
rather cold
way, an
accomplished masterpiece, and exposes the naive cism of the
earlier
to those
on
have some/
either side
thing o( the quality of Italian Baroque. Lafitte, a great
classi/-
work. The curved colonnades joining
Mansart's building
At Maisons
country house, the system of linked but
apparently separate pavilions
is
taken
to
extremes with
great skill.
The
Val/de^'Grace (1645-65), begun by Mansart,
continues the line of Lemercier's Sorbonne. typical two-'Storeyed west front
top of another.
The
dodge
The
Venice.
has a
slopes of the lean^'to aisle roofs are is
fully justified, perhaps, only
uninhibited scale
It
- one pediment unit on
screened with large scrolls. This
of,
say,
a familiar
when
Baroque
used on the
Sta Maria della Salute in
seventeenth^century church o^ Stz-Gervais
in Paris (i 616-21)
by Clement Metezeau
is
another
example. After greatest
Blerancourt
of
all
and Maisons^ Lafitte came
the
seventeenth-'century mansions, Vaux/le-'
Vicomte, designed by Louis Le
a
224, 2jj), but with the addition of a very hi oh drum. The lower
dome on
part of the facade has a severely monu^
equal in length to the nave.
its
Church of the VaUde-Grace, (164^-6^). Another member of the family of the Gesu and Sta Susanna 275
Paris
Vau in
1657.
It
achieves
mental portico, showing a development
in
Mansart's style since Blois. The upper parts
were
built
by
Lemercier,
Mansart had been dismissed
after
the difficult feat of incorporating a central oval salon into
ftp'
ht
false
^'"1 *
^ m
- *
«•
f
276^,
I f
1 -
!':
^•ka
r
VauxAe^Vkomte (i6^j), Le Van, is one of the greatest
houses of the century. Both the general
economy of its plan, above, and the use of the oval for the most important room point
to Italian influence.
in its setting as
roofs, is
false
well as
But its
the house,
bi^ pavilion
unmistakably French. Note the
moat'
and
the
moat,
like
On
awkwardness.
an orchestra
pit,
the entrance side a
separates the
approach
avenue from the forecourt, giving additional drama house already raised on
steps.
On
the garden side
to a
Le
Notre laid out vast formal gardens on the axis of the oval
277
by Louis
the plan without
highly
relationship of house to garden
formal
These gardens were famous
salon.
as the setting for the
illuminated 'Nights o^ Vaux-'le^Vicomte', and as the prototype of even grander created
a
law
in
work
at Versailles.
planning of palace grounds -
the
everything on one side
is
road, gates, gravel, horses and
coaches, everything on the other side parterres, fountains
Le Vau was
and canals and
Pans,
now the
on
a
is
grass, avenues,
a far line of forest.
responsible for several other buildings of
interest, in particular the
- a Greek
Le Notre
Institut
College des Quatre Nations, in
de France, with
cross plan with
its
church of 1665
an oval centre and a dome high
drum.
The climax of reached in 1679
these
French domed churches was
when Mansart's nephew, Jules Hardouin
Mansart, designed the church of the Invalides; truly Parisian
it
is
a
achievement - grand, but just on the right
2']%
Church of
Invalides,
the
Paris
{i6yg), by Jules Hardouin Mansart. In
this
very
design, the
assured
and
successful
Baroque dome and facade are
retained; hut by giving
up
the volutes
and
imposing a more sober rhythm on the coupled columns, the architect achieved
an effect
midway between Baroque and
Neo^Classicism
side of pomposity. sions,
is
The
use of the space, in three dimen-'
dramatic and truly Baroque.
through an aperture in a lower painted upper dome, that the
dome effect
lit
dome
to perceive a richly
by concealed windows.
tomb of the Emperor Napoleon
(with a hole cut in the floor is
One looks upwards
is
to reveal
Now
beneath the it)
the total
awe-inspiring in a totally French manner ... a
mixture o^gloire and God.
The
Invalides
may
be the best
work of
the second
Mansart, but his most famous was undoubtedly the
enormous
final version
building that stands architecture (the
of the palace of Versailles - a
at the
end of one phase of French
Baroque) and the beginning of another
(the Neo-classical).
Like the Louvre,
microcosm of French
architectural
it
offers
history.
In
us a
1624
233
279 Garden front, Versailles (see III. 280). The side pavilions of the central block (the seven windows at each end) belong
Le
to
original
-
Van's
encasing
huntingAodge,
of the
The
i66g.
in
which the design of the ends is repeated - and the wings in the back^
centre
in
ground were added by Hardouin
The
16^8 onward.
from
sart
Le Van's work, maintained was not
really
Man^
scale of
throughout,
strong enough for the
eventual size of the building
Salomon de Brosse had
built a
hunting chateau
Louis XIII. In 1669 Le Vau, working turned
this
concealed
chateau into a palace.
for
XIV
Louis
From 1678 on
for
this
wai
and extended north and south by Jules
Hardouin Mansart. That superb Neo/Classical designer Jacques^Ange Gabriel, made
further additions
m
the
1760s: the lovely wings of the courtyard, so reminiscent
of his work in the Place de
la
Concorde. In the end
megalomaniac palace was over one of the
largest
rooms
planned on one long
are
another - the
280
Versailles
building
in
from the
the air.
centre,
Le Vau's
around three
of a courtyard. In an attempt
sides it
is
to
give
emphasis, Hardouin Mansart set back
his
vast lateral ranges.
corners
where
central block,
towards
the
these
From
ranges
the
two
meet
the
Gabriel extended wings town,
beyond.
For
the
complete plan of garden and town, see 111.
283
234
\
a third of a mile long,
houses in Europe. Internally the axis,
state/
one opening into
enfilade.
Versailles reveals the merits architecture.
this
The two
finest
and
defects
things about
it
of French
are, as
it
were,
J
at
opposite ends of the architectural scale.
already noted
how, with
immigrants, the
the
first
opposed
builder dominated the French scene.
At
m the palace itself and in the Trianons,
to the true
Versailles, it is
both
the interiors
These include not only the famous
Galerie des Glaces (1680), with mirrors
have
generation of Italian
'artist^architect' as
that create delight.
We
its
green marble,
its
and painted panels by Lebrun, but also a hundred
other rooms.
Those of
the
Petit
Trianon (1762-8),
created through half a century for the Dubarry, Marie
Antoinette and then for Pauline Bonaparte, are the
more sophisticated confections of
history.
among At the
other end ofthe scale we have something almost exclusively
French - the
vast layout.
The
poetic water gardens of
281
The Galerie
sailles
(1680)
des
takes
Glaces
at
Ver^
up practically the
whole of the main storey of the central block, seen above. To set a wall of mirrors opposite a wall of windows was a hold and typically Baroque coup^de^ theatre
235
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
villas
ITALY
English manor-houses
in
the Italian
Versailles that gives us
the
Roman Empire
again in Paris,
L'Enfant's
at
the dream^like gardens of
hills,
have
all
-
for the
first
Nancy,
an
In
an architectural thing.
art. It
A
Rome
is
of
fall
find
it
was
;
came about
it
France
in
it
not, of course,
was
a
wholly
highly centralized monarchy
France, as opposed to
'city
states'
in
monarchies in Germany and squirearchies is
We
it
Vaux/le^'Vicomte and in
at
gradually, generation by generation
in
time since the
- the grand manner.
Washington.
deliberate creation,
charms, but
their
Italy,
in
petty
England,
a sufficient social explanation for those royal avenues
leading to infinity.
Le
Notre's scheme at Versailles started on the west side
of the palace, with the beautifully planned town of Versailles,
and
the great
approach roads from Paris and
St^Cloud converging upon 282 6g).
Petit Trianon,
Versailles (
The ja^ade shows
ij6^-
fine sensitivity of Jacques^ An^e Gabriel,
Le Vau. Note
the effect
the palace
value
outwards
of
spreading
to form a
On
the other side of
the
wide base
terrace
- the royal bedroom being the centre of every^
thing - the avenue and the grand canal led for two miles
through trimmed woods
of differentiating the storey heights, and the
King.
upon
the absolutely
pure classicism, beautiful proportions, and
a century after
the equestrian statue of the
the palace forecourt,
are
innumerable walks,
to the forest.
parterres,
Among
the trees
water^gardens and
conceits of all kinds, the most important being the
Grand
28j Plan of tury.
In
Versailles in the
Baroque fashion,
1
8th cen^
the
vast
layout stamps itself upon the landscape. It is
courts
On
very logical.
(bottom)
palace
are
and the town,
one side of the the
stables
laid out
and
on a grid
with open squares and crossed by three
broad avenues.
On
the other side, all
formal garden around
the vast canal.
is
The
asymmetrical garden plan, where walks converge on 'ronds^points', played a part in later
Trianon and
The
Petit
Trianon added by Gabriel
sheer size of the layout does,
boredom -
deserts
in 1763-9.
again, lead to
of gravel - but the scheme has
supreme moments. There There
now and
are the
huge
town-planning
flights
of
its
steps.
the austere Orangery, acting as a big retaining
is
wall or platform above which
And
of Mansart's facade.
rises
the rich orchestration
one or two of the
water-'
gardens are idyllic scenes for Watteau's brush. Except,
however, ful little
for Gabriel's
cube of the
courtyard wings and his delight/
Petit
Trianon, those moments are
never purely architectural.
France was on the threshold of Neo^Classicism, and
at
various times and by various processes the other nations
of Europe were
to reach the
of some complexity and
same
much
spot.
The
story
is
one
overlapping. In England,
237
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE ^^^^^
perhaps,
can be followed
It
A
at its simplest.
reaction
against the excesses of the Jacobean prodigy houses, in
favour of purity and restraint, was reaction, in fact,
Inigo
is
Jones
found mainly
in the
was
573-1652)
(i
bound
to
come. That
work of one man.
an
Italian^trained
draughtsman from whose drawings other men
As
buildings.
we know
a youth he paid a visit to Italy, of
nothing.
From 1605
to 161
1
for the palace
masques - those short dramas, fashionable
the court
at
compounded of satire, mythology,
choreography and scenic
at
Court,
3,
visited
he became tutor to a prince and then, in 161
Duke
again in the train of the
returned
year
a
with
later
appointed Surveyor
to the
of Arundel.
sketch-books,
full
King's
music,
For these masques
effects.
Inigo Jones did some 450 designs. In favour
Italy
which
he served James's
queen, designing costumes and scenery
of the Medici,
erected
Works -
to
He be
a post of the
highest architectural responsibility. In this post Jones established his claim to have both
understood and purified the Renaissance. It
He
of a mass of barbarous Jacobean ornament.
restraint
and
fine proportions.
exorcized
He
gave
it
Elizabethan houses were
medieval buildings with Renaissance ornament; Inigo Jones designed Renaissance buildings.
He
believed that
architecture should be disciplined, masculine affected.
He had
fantasies,
nor those excesses of Mannerism which he had
no use
With
seen in Italy.
the
Scamozzi
at
classicism,
making
as
it
IS
IS
less
works of Vitruvius, Palladio and
the very
word
Both
between them
wick and It
was
the in
'Palladian' as English
Let the reader contrast,
than twenty years
the point.
splendours or romantic
elbow, he practised a quiet, serene
his
Italian.
for
Hall with the Queen's House
238
and un/
is
at
say,
Hardwick
Greenwich - and
between them - and he
there
will see
are secular, but otherwise the division
greater than the division
last
between Hard/-
Gothic churches.
1616 that Inigo Jones began building the
Queen's House.
It
may
be slightly provincial while also
2S4 The Queen's House, Greenwich,
hup Jones (1616-jz,). Its ele-^ ments - rusticated ground storey, plain
hy
wall,
colonnade
-
from
derive
all
Palladia; the skill with which they are
handled
is
itself mature Palladian.
Com^
pare the scheme of the Palazzo Chieri^ cati. III.
228
28^ Banqueting House, London (i6ig-22), hy
The facade the centre
is
articulated hy
and pilasters
the division into the single
Whitehall, hiigo
two
in
at the side, thouj^h
tiers
large room
Jones.
columns
hardly
reflects
inside. It is a
more
elaborate and ornate composition than the
Queen's House, but beautifully - and extremely carefully
being too Italian for the climate, but classic jewel. It
was
the nucleus
all
the
same
It is
Queen's House holds
derived from the Medici villa
outside Florence, but the sunlit
it
seems
to
a
the ensuing
century - Wren, Vanbrugh, Hawksmoor. In little
is
proportioned
from which grew the
whole Greenwich Palace complex during
Baroque group the
it
-
at
come
this large its
own.
Poggio a Caiano to us directly
from
meadows of the Veneto.
More famous than the Queen's House - partly because It is
in Whitehall, partly for the fortuitous reason that
was the scene of Charles House.
It
was begun
I's
it
execution - is the Banqueting
in 161 9; years later
it
might have
239
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
been incorporated in Jones's design
ITALY
was planned
Escorial, the vast Palace of Whitehall, that
The Banqueting House
but never built.
a busy street. Internally ceiling panels for
Peter Paul
Rubens was paid
House
harmonious and Palladian design ...
less
modern town,
it
is
a most
is
harmonious
so
not very noticeable.
serene, less elegant than the
stronger
part of
double cube with
is
/^3,ooo. Externally the Banqueting
that, in the
now
is
a large
it
which
English
for that
It is
Queen's House, but
and more masculine.
In 1625, by proclamation, piece of conscious
and
London was
deliberate
given
town-planning -
The
arcaded piazza of Covent Garden.
we
still
Paul's, essentially as
it
was.
It
almost domestic in detail this
is
it
is
based on Vitruvius's
the simplest possible order
and wide timber
meeting/house -
eaves.
would
Extremely simple,
Quaker
pass for a
the least pretentious, most
ing of Jones's works. Attributed to
House, Lincoln's Inn Fields of c. 1 6 3 8 with rusticated ground
repro^'
have Inigo Jones's church, St
Tuscan temple, of brick with for the portico,
the
arcades have
gone, except for fragmentary nineteenth^century ductions, but
its first
;
him it is
a
is
charm/
Lindsey
town house
floor, tall piano nohile
windows
with classically framed windows, and balustrated parapet,
which may be considered
the prototype of a thousand
'Georgian' houses on both sides of the Atlantic. In the Isaac de
286 St
Covent Garden, Lon^
Paul's,
don ( i6jo-i), by Ini^o Jones. portico with
its
The
bi^
wide timber eaves, steep
pediment, and plain columns served more as a town-planning feature than as part
of the church, which other
end.
portico Ills.
240
are
The a
228, 22^)
is
entered from the
arches flanking
Palladian
motif
the
(see
last years
of his
Caux on the
life,
we find
Inigo Jones advising
building of Wilton, for the Earl of
2%'] 'Double^cuhe' room,
(c.i64q),
by
Wilton House
Inigo Jones
Webb. The panelled walls
and
half the height of the room, giving
same
domestic scale;
at
enormous coved
ceiling creates
through sheer height.
the
John
are only about
time,
it
a
the
grandeur
The room was from
the beginning conceived as a setting jor the
Van Dyck
portraits
i^embroke. There, from 1633 onwards, he created the glorious garden front in
all its
Scamozzi^like simplicity
and elegance. Behind the deceptive plainness of
that
facade are two of the most richly decorated rooms in
England; the *double/cube' and 'single^cube' rooms, very French, are decked with heavy swags fruit
and
flowers,
Wilton was
framing the
a fitting
end
greater part of the old City
The
fire
clusters
Van Dyck
of
portraits.
to the architect's career.
In 1666, fourteen years
fire.
and
after
Inigo Jones's death, the
of London was consumed by
raged for nine days; 13,200 houses and
87 parish churches were destroyed,
medieval cathedral of St Paul's.
as
An
panorama of Gothic towers vanished
was
the
old
incomparable forever.
The
merchants, so determined to continue trading that they set
up
tents
among
the
warm
ashes,
were prepared
to
241
obstruct any
planning that might delay rebuilding.
Within two weeks Christopher Wren had submitted the
King
his
plan for a
new
City.
It
was
to
a grand, rather
Michelangelesque scheme of radiating avenues, with closed by church steeples.
street vistas
It
was accepted
by the King and - gradually - sabotaged by the met/
The
chants.
and
pattern of lanes
alleys
with
is still
us.
Wren (1631-1723) had already dabbled architecture. He had been Professor of Astronomy at
Christopher in
Oxford, and was a
geometrician.
fine
Any
Renaissance
'philosopher' was, however - like Leonardo - apt to be
man
considered a St Stephen, Walhrook, 288, 28g London (i6j2-8j), by Sir Chris^ topher
Wren,
the
City churches. carried
over
cumamhient
an aisle
longitudinal
below,
we
The
dome
plaster
octa^^on,
with
a
is
cir^
doubled at the west
plans.
In
view
the
are looking diagonally across
the octagon - from lower right left in the
another.
as
Wren had
1662
In
one
for
fit
already
designed a geometrically brilliant roof for the Sheldonian
most complex of the
end, combining the merits oj centralized
and
profession
of universal knowledge, as
to
top
Theatre
at
Oxford and,
Pembroke College
at
the
at
never
left
a chapel for
Cambridge. In 1665 he
France where he met Bernini,
Wren came home
same time,
at
work on
the Louvre.
loaded with books and sketches and
England again.
By proclamation, rebuilt in brick
and
London was to be All the work was to pass
City of
the
plan
stone.
through the hands of six surveyors of whom one.
The churches were
work of his
is
on
the old
sites,
architect.
important to realize the true nature of Wren's
contribution. that, or
Wren was
never built within the frame/
abortive plan ; they were buik
and Wren was the It
visited
It
was not
the beauty of this church or
even of St Paul's, that mattered most.
creation of a
London that no
It
was
the
longer exists. True, Wren's
plan was never carried out. That plan, however, was a three-dimensional design;
of buildings as well
it
as the
took account of the heights
alignments of streets. In two
dimensions - length and breadth - that plan was In the third dimension
churches, for
all their
plain halls of brick
it
was
fully realized.
lost.
Wren's City
incidental charms, are usually just
and
plaster, fitted
on
to
cramped
sites.
Even
risen
above what was once the roof/line of the houses;
the towers are usually plain until they have
'
Wren
then and then only, clear of the chimney-pots, did they
2 go
blossom into the full^'blooded and elaborate
steeples rising above the brick houses, all
steeples
subordinate
which Wren's name
London
at the
must have seemed not
to the
tide
of
end of the seventeenth century
brown houses
little
white galleons
.
.
and
.
dome. This wonderful scene a
hundred
years,
paid court
to the great
lasted for rather
more than
then the Victorian banks and
began the process of corrosion
now
Although Wren's churches had
offices
almost complete. to
be built cheaply,
he was fortunate in being spared liturgical complications
- he ran
into
them
St Paul's
at
- and
in
having only
to
give ecclesiastical dignity to a congregational hall with the altar set against
on the
ceiling,
its
Some fine plaster work woodwork - possibly by
eastern wall.
some carved
Grinling Gibbons - on
stalls,
teredos
and pulpit
.
.
.
that
sum total of a Wren church. In St Stephen, Walbrook we have a more ingenious plan - a pendentive dome on columns, with a surrounding aisle, makes an is
the
enchanting use of space. are here
combined.
St Mary/le^'Bow faint idea
of that
The
Of the
and St forest
geometrician and the
artist
few towers that survive only
Bride's, Fleet Street, give us
dome of St Paul's
Wren.
The
steeple
is
a
the
the steeples sailed like big
yet all
host of
medieval
spire restated in classical terms; one
Above
than Venice.
less fair
left it: a
2gi St Bride's, London (spire 1J02), by
the tallest in
ocean of
as
will always be associated. Seen
from the bridges or from across the green and busy the river,
with
London
some
of steeples that was once London.
from
London,
it
of
appears second
the left in the view above
Wren's
2(^2
Paul's shows Italians,
he
Great that,
would
centralized plan. It
with
alternately
like
Model for St so many of the
have is
a
preferred
straight
and concave
sides, linked to a lar^e portico (left)
a
domed
vestibule.
The
a
domed octagon
design
by
shows
daring Baroque elements which seldom
appear
in
Wren's executed work
Wren had state
already been consulted about the parlous
of Old St Paul's, even before the Great
after the Fire,
it
was decided
restored.
Wren
models.
The most
When,
Fire.
that the ruins could not be
prepared a whole notable
was
of plans and
series
Model,
Great
the
sometimes called 'Wren's favourite design'. This model (preserved in the cathedral) takes us straight back to the
old
controversy of the centralized plan.
Italian
Great Model was an elaborate large vestibule
- not a nave -
Anglican divines Puritan
less
persecution
The
domed octagon with
to the west. In a
world of
than a generation removed from exercise
this
Continental,
a
in
Catholic idiom never stood a chance. St Paul's, finally
built,
compromise.
was -
like the
was
It
a
a
City
itself
a hopeless
-
compromise between
as
the clergy's
desire for a
medieval plan, with long nave, long chancel,
and
and Wren's yearning
aisles,
dome
for a
dominant
central
in emulation of the Italian Baroque.
In the end the clergy got their plan, the architect got his
dome, but
the scars of battle are everywhere.
vaulted nave with side
Baroque vocabulary buttress.
Wren's
is
no such thing shameful
little
as a flying
things, just
aisle roofs, so that the outer
walls of
- complete with sham windows - have
taken up the
full
a shift only too
gallery or
there
tall
needs flying buttresses. In the
buttresses are
emerging above the the aisles
aisles
A
to
be
height of the nave to screen the buttresses,
obvious
from the
air.
when viewed from
the
dome
Pugin's gibe that 'one half of
St Paul's
was
exaggeration;
it
built to hide the other
was not a gross exaggeration.
one of the
itself is
finest
things in
all
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
half was an
ITALY
The dome
European Baroque.
Inevitably the projecting nave, like that of St Peter's, cuts off the
Wren
view of the dome from the west. Nevertheless,
did design a
dome which,
in
its
day, dominated
London. He did this, first, by building a very high drum - better handled than any in France or Italy - and all
then by surmounting the 1
dome with
a soaring lantern,
80 tons of stone, which he perched ingeniously
upon
cone of brick. This he concealed within the dome, of wood and lead. St Paul's serenity
is
a
Two
a
itself
iron chains were also necessary.
Baroque building;
the pure Palladian
of Inigo Jones's Queen's House
is
now
half a 2g^, 2^4 Plan (opposite) and
air
view
of St Paul's Cathedral, London ( l6Jz,-
lJlo), by Wren. The plan shows the final
compromise
-
a
space
central
beneath the dome, but a long and high
nave and
choir.
consequences
-
The
air
view shows the
sham
the 'pits' behind the
which conceal embryonic flying buttresses. Yet it shows, too, the mag^ walls
ingenuity
nificent lifted his
drum
whose
open
which
Wren
the City,
upon a
with
dome above
colonnade
re^
is
inforced (structurally and visually)
at
intervals by solid bays with niches
245
RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE
ceiitury
^^"^^^
ings,
is
behind
When
splendid permanent scenery.
and devices have been examined, the
that
most Baroque builds
us. St Paul's, like
- not
carving
Tijou's ironwork - make
Wren's palace
this
be granted
still
the
Grinling Gibbons's
least
monument of its
must
proportions,
the
silhouette,
it
the shifts
all
the
detail,
woodwork and
cathedral the greatest
generation.
Hampton Court -
at
and incongruously tacked on
to
designed in 1689
Wolsey's Tudor
pile
-
was never completed and was never what Wren wanted.
The white windows,
stone dressings in red brickwork, the
yews and the fountains make
the dark
when
scintillating scene
tall
the sun shines, but
it
a
was never
the English Versailles
which Wren had hoped
in his declining years.
At Greenwich
to
build
Hospital, Wren's
beautiful
twin domes frame Inigo Jones's Queen's
House,
one
as
was
It
sees
in 1704,
from the
it
river.
on the Danube and near
the village of
Blenheim, that the French armies were broken by the
combined
forces
Marlborough. The wars end. Marlborough
in
Europe were
was rewarded by
Blenheim Palace, one of the
He
could choose
really limited
Duke
of
virtually at
an
of Prince Eugene and the
his
own
largest
the gift of a palace -
houses in England.
architect, but his choice
to the triumvirate in the service
was
of the
Crown - Wren, Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh. Wren was over seventy, Nicholas Hawksmoor little more than a loyal assistant. Sir a
man
John Vanbrugh (1664- 1726) was
about town, on easy terms with the dukes, a
dramatist of genius. Five years earlier he had startling entry into architecture.
For
of Carlisle, he had designed Castle shire.
made
a
his friend, the Earl
Howard
in
York/
Marlborough chose Vanbrugh.
Wren's genius was mathematical, Vanbrugh's was dramatic and romantic, almost impressionistic. Certainly he
needed
Hawksmoor
sketches into reality.
246
style
in
England
to
It
to
turn
his
impressionistic
was he who brought
its
the
Baroque
maturity. His mansions were
2p5 Castle Howard (designed i6gg}, Vanbur^h. Bold in plan^
by Sir John ning
(note
the
vista
of another arch
behind the fireplace ) , grandiose
in scale,
and crowned by a dome, the entrance hall
is
one of England's
Baroque
romantic
castles,
note the
Roman
clothed in robust
Roman
detail
obsession with the round arch
few
successful
interiors
- we
- and
marvellously placed in the English landscape. In Castle created the
Howard, designed
first
made
to
far^'flung
It
is
an immense house,
look more immense by the deploy/-
wings and courtyards. The
court and the kitchen court each cover as as the
house
colonnades.
Vanbrugh
Roman pomp and circumstance oi^
Queen Anne's England. ment of
1699,
of those huge lordly mansions which
symbolize so well the
deliberately
in
itself,
to
which
The main
stable
much ground
they are linked by curved
dome; building -
central block has a
giant pilasters run the full height of the
the like
Michelangelo's on the Capitol - and are emphasized by
2^7
2g6 Blenheim Palace ( ijo^-24), by Vanhru^h and Hawksmoor. The union of Vanhrugh's brilliance with Hawks" moor's technical knowledge and feeling
for dignity produced a unique and
One
repeatable style.
wings
ordinate
showing how out on
its
is
mu
of the two sub^
seen
on
the
the great building
is
right,
spread
IS
arches, obelisks, pyramids,
Mausoleum,
all
serve to
avenues and devised
is
not,
or even a house.
means
is
a
Castle
Howard
Greenwich -
is
to be, a
home,
Howard
theme, but whereas
a landscape
was
It
around
created
is
a
the
of rustication,
Blenheim the stroke of genius
windows
of the house within the landscape.
library's
Howard
monument.
house,
niches
at
and
military
giant coupled columns and alternating
and
hall at Castle
and was never meant It
artificial
interior.
development of the Castle at
by
an
vistas that constitute
Baroque landscape. The entrance
Blenheim
articulation
and Hawksmoor's domed
emphasize the system of radiatmg
England's best Baroque
Camera, Radclijfe Oxford 2gj (ij^^^i)), by James Gibbs. Clear
forecourt
approached through triumphal arches, while other
- with perhaps the dining^hall
plateau
The
the rustication of the wall between them.
emphasizes
monumental rotundity
the
at
of a plateau.
From
the south
it is
lay in the siting
It is set at
the very edge
seen across level sunlit
lawns; from the north, from the lake,
it
is
seen from
below, a dark, dramatic and broken silhouette against the
The huge
sky.
pinnacles of the corner towers,
designed by Grinling Gibbons in the likeness of a fleur/de/lys being
from
far
illusion
crushed by a ducal coronet, are seen
off in the park;
of a
other great
castle
add
to
the romantic
from the days of chivalry. Blenheim's
moment
terraced gardens
they
lies
in the stepping
from the long
down
of the
library front to the shores
of the lake.
Vanbrugh was in the rusticated
to
achieve romantic
drama once more
mass of Seaton Delaval
(c.
1720-8) on
Northumberland moors,
the bleak
a strange
and ghostly
Baroque rum.
Vanbrugh depended much upon Hawksmoor
Hawksmoor
practicahties of building, but right
was
own
Anne, Limehouse (1714-24), George, Bloomsbury (1716-31) and Christ Church,
churches in St
in his
some remarkable Baroque
the designer of
London -
for the
Spitalfields
St
(1714-29) amongthem.JamesGibbs (1682-
1754) Tiight have built more had he not been suspected (rightly)
we owe
of both Catholicism and Jacobitism; even so
to
him
London (1722-
St Martinz-in/the/Fields,
6), the gracious
Fellows' Building
Cambridge (1724-49) and
Camera
at
King's College,
the magnificent rotundity of
Oxford (1739-49). English Baroque, such as it was, had come
the Radcliffe
at
full circle.
The
next generation, as
may
be seen as a parallel to Continental Neo^Classicism,
we
shall see,
adopted a
style that
but which was largely a return to the ideals of Inigo Jones, and, through him, to those o^ Palladio. In other parts last
of Europe, however, the Baroque
fantastic course to run.
Europe
the reaction against
it
style still
had
a
In Spain and in central
did not take place until the
middle of the eighteenth century, and we must therefore include these years in this chapter, even
at the cost
of
disturbing the chronology.
To the
northern
mind
this sort
of Baroque architecture
has often seemed immoral, both because
served a
it
2g8 Christ Church,
sensuality,
luxury and sensation, and also because
every artifice sculpture,
and humility with every kind of
and fake
achieve
to
ends.
its
London
churches, this uses the voct
lary
late
of
Roman
architecture
central motif, for instance,
(the
comes from
Diocletian's Palace at Spalato), building to
what
is in
essence a medieval spire
used
Painting,
music and architecture merged into
a single
riotous glory. If to inflame the
mind
then every trick in the Baroque
game was justified
is
it
Loru
pressive of Hawksmoor's highly original
up
religion of austerity
Spitalfields,
don ( iji^-2g). Perhaps the most im-
to increase faith,
... or
such was the conviction of southern Europe and southern
America
for
two
The Baroque was
at
first
centuries. oi^
the Austrian
comparatively
eighteenth century such
Empire
moderate.
men
as
or of Bavaria
By
the
early
Johann Lukas von
249
joi
(i'j2i-j),
Hildehrandt. I:
Upper
Staircase in the
Vienna
From
this
Belvedere,
Lukas
by
light
von
and airy
entrance landing one flight leads down, into
dark
the
garden^room ;
upwards the
entrance of
in the light, to the
great
heavy
and deliberately
two other flights sweep
hall.
Note
the
exquisite
plasterwork
These Viennese palaces were the
charming buildings
Germany
or the
first
in the capitals of the petty states of
Holy Roman Empire,
mere confections of Ruritanian opera,
homes of fantastic
a cultivated
aristocracy.
the
Z winger
by Matthaus Poppelmann, a galleries
at
at their
worst
at their best the
Perhaps the most
of these summer palaces, with
and ballroom, was
many such
of
its
own
theatre
Dresden (171 1-22)
fairy palace
with
all its glass
looking in upon a courtyard.
jo2 The 22) free
is
Zwinger at Dresden
festival architecture at
and gayest.
The
( lyi 1its
most
'Wallpavillon',
flanked by one^storeyed galleries, closer one end of a large open courtyard;
almost as much as to
to the
it
owes
sculptor Permoser
Matthaus Poppelmann,
the architect
--T^
^1
'^:
251
Fran9ois
Zimmer and region of
he -
a
who
Cuvillies,
built
then (1734-9) the
Munich,
AmaHenburg,
Rococo. The colours become yellow, blue
and pink) and
-
it
was
who was chiefly
German Baroque
transmuting
for
in the
of special importance since
is
French architect trained in Paris
responsible
Reichen
the
first
into
lighter (white, gold, pale
the decoration tends to dis^
solve into endless arabesque curves, the interplay of spaces
taking on an existence independent of the structure
behind them.
Outstanding
also are Balthasar
Neumann's
hall at Briihl (1740), his bishop's palace at
staircase
Wiirzburg
(1734) with a splendid ceiling by Tiepolo, and the
unique joj Amalienhurg, Munich (ij^^-g), by Francois Cuuillies. The stucco decoration - here, a detail from the -
ceiling in the central saloon
is
as
ga)
as
in
its
Neumann
in
its
themes
Bruchsal, where
in 1730, of
experienced by anybody
walk up one of
undamaged by
arabesque curves
staircase
work,
war.'
growing
spatial rapture'.
however,
its
over by
who
The
has had the
Balthasar the
lowest hall
and
written:
the enchanting sensation
two arms, when
lighter
is
work was taken
which Dr Pevsner has
'Words can hardly re^evoke
to
and carefree
stair at
lighter as
Neumann's
great
good fortune
it
is
still
existed
sombre, the
one ascends truly
pilgrimage
*a
immortal
church
of
Vierzehnheiligen (1743-62). While the peasant kneels in adoration before the white
J04
Staircase at Bruchsal (begun lyji),
by Balthasar Neumann.
The
central
arch leads into a dark oval room; those on either side contain the staircase,
open
on
two arms of the sides, which
both
curve round the central oval and emerge
above
it
on
to a brightly lit
landing
-
a
wonderful manipulation of space, light and volume
252
and gold and
coral of
^
jo^j
jo6
Vierzehnheili^en Pilgrimage
Church (1^4^-62). The plan reproduced with west at the top, so be
more
easily related to the
idea
achieves
its
altars the architect
is
lost in
admiration
at
the
complexity of the structure and of the geometry: ovals
and octagons, interweaving ing
arches, balconies
domes perform an incomprehensible
ballet;
is
it
and
float-'
architectural
an arabesque of structure overlaid with
flowers, putti, clouds
From Munich
and
the
the hosts of heaven.
two
Asam
brothers
(Cosmas
Damian, 1686-1739, and Egid Quirin, 1692-1750) also visited
Rome. What
they
transmuted into an astonishing in a circle
brothers
saw and series
learnt there they
of churches, mainly
of towns and villages around Munich. Both
worked on
the abbey church at
Weltenburg
extraordinary ejects into one another. It
huilt
up of intersecting
The
altar
is
placed
island, a highly
ceramic
can
view -gives
of how Neumann's master^'
some piece
of spaces fowing
^3a»r.'->t^S8e*=-
here
it
circles
and
ovals.
in the centre like
unusual stroke
is
an
The
c.iyzi.
altar
the reredos
sheet of blazing
a
is
flanked by pairs of twisted columns;
is
windows. Silhouetted against St
George prances towards
dragon
are
this great
silver
and
at his horse's feet.
the
The
Rohr (1717-25), designed by Egid
at
Quirin Asam,
glow, a
us; the princess
dark gold shadows
abbey church
from hidden
light
even more dramatic.
is
which
soars
vault,
owes much
above the
Cornaro Chapel.
altar into the
to Bernini's St
The
reredos,
shadows of the high Teresa Altar in the
develops Bernini's idea in an un^
It
inhibited manner: life-size figures of the Apostles stand in
exclamatory postures around the empty sarcophagus
from which an
Virgin
ecstatic
is
ascending
Every one of these churches has
vaults
its
to
Heaven.
and domes
painted with tremendous verve - verve in the handling of
anatomy, perspective and movement,
as well as in the
sugary sweetness of the colour.
Among mention ^oj Rohr Abbey Church ( ijij-2z^). The hi^h altar, by E^id Quirin Asam, is a tableau vivant of the Assumption Virgin
the
angels,
the
soaring
amazement round is
aloft
the
Baroque drama
by
empty tomb. This
111.
Neumann's
to Balthasar
Abbey, completed according
designs after his death, and the
pilgrimage church of Die Wies by
mann.
Domenikus Zimmer^
The abbeys of Ottobeuren (1744-67) and
Zwiefalten
(f.
Michael Fischer.
by Johann
1740-65), are both
1758;
Above
all,
there
is
that great essay in
abbey of Einsiedeln
spatial geometry, the
2^4)
Baroque churches one must
such
that of Neresheim
most explicit
at its
Cornaro Chapel,
(cp. the
upheld
Disciples starting back in
other
Caspar Moosbrugger, possibly second only
(r.
to
1720) by
Vierzehn^
heiligen or to the abbey library at St Gallen as the
crowning achievement of central European Baroque. In Spain,
after the
pronounced
austerity
of the early
Renaissance, Baroque was adopted with a passion and
jo8
Einsiedeln
Abbey
Church,
Caspar Moosbru^er (begun After a relatively narrow
by
lyiy).
choir, the
nave
opens out into vast octagon with a single,
complex has at
central pier, far right,
its
base a
interior is covered
shrine.
which
The whole
by a fantastic garment
of decoration, swirling and ecstatic
violence that has caused reason, to the to the
Aztec
art
its
but even in Europe
to
be compared, not without
which was just becoming known
West. Certainly
Baroque reached
it
it
was
in
Mexico
that
Spanish
most bizarre and barbaric extremes, its
effects
Toledo, in 1732, Narciso
were
startling
enough. In
Tome finished the Trasparente
in the cathedral - a fantastic reredos devised so that the
254
Sacrament, surrounded by columns, angels and prophets,
^lA .'s-:^
ki
jog
Toledo
Trasparente,
Cathedral
( ijj2), by Narciso Tome. This side facing the
is
the
ambulatory, carved with
figures oj angels, swirling clouds and (at the top) the
displayed in
Last Supper. The Host the
sculpted rays (cp.
must add
the
centre, III.
yellow
is
surrounded by
2j^J. Ima^^ination
light shining from a
concealed source above the vault
^
.
jio
Sacristy
Granada valo.
In
(
Charterhouse,
of the
i'/2j-64), by Luis de Are^ hysterical smothering
this
of
every surface with sharp zigzag forms,
ornament has defeated parallel with
Aztec
drawn, though direct influence
To return, !
finally, to Italy. It
had been
in
The
architecture.
art has often been
unlikely
is
Piedmont, in
Baroque had been most fully - at least on Italian soil - as it
the hands of Guarini, that
explored and taken as
was
to go. It
far
was in Piedmont,
too, that the next great
Italian architect, Filippo Juvarra
(1678-1736), was
to
that chapter,
and the
beginning of the next. In both his churches
(e.g. the
provide the
last
Superga, outside at
paragraph
Turm) and
to
his palaces (the Villa
Reale
Stupinigi) he used the elements of Baroque with a
coolness
and
clarity that
The pendulum,
look forward
Even
in
architectural projects of the 1730s
facade of St
Neo^Classicism.
was moving
in fact,
direction all over Europe.
to
swiftly in that
Rome
the
two major
and 1740s,
the
new
John Lateran and Sta Maria Maggiore,
formally in the Neo^Classical the rest of the eighteenth
style. It
was
to
are
dominate
and the beginning of the
nineteenth centuries.
31
1
Superga,
fuvarra takes an
Turin
(
eclectic
collection
iji 7-3 1 ) of
elements and makes them into a com^ pletely original composition.
space church
is
set
into
A
convent quadrangle, and rises
almost as big as
itself
central^
one end of a in a
design of walls and dome with St III.
206). The wilfully large
independent
-
portico
convent
wings,
(cp.
24s)
III.
is
dome
(compare
the
-
Peter's,
almost
balanced by the
crowned with
towers
^57
Chapter Nine
THE RETURN TO CLASSICISM
To
explain the
of Neo/Classicism and
rise
in virtually identical
form
all
over Europe
its
adoption
would involve
a consideration of many factors at greater length than can
There was,
be attempted here.
the
firstly,
same
ideas
seemed
Napoleon's
Arc
Neo-classical Paris -a return
greater
and
dreamed.
possible.
But
setting
To
hold
its
swing towards
restraint
was not only
a
swing of the
own
to
Rome,
Rome in
had
the vast
of the 'Etoile' bulk was every-
thing; the central arch
the
is
one of the most emphatic monuments of
but on a scale larger than
fact
Triomphe
de
(begun 1806), designed by Chalgrin,
that
Baroque had reached an impasse, where only greater elaboration of the
^12
is
flanked not by
niches but by massive groups of sculpture
pendulum of taste; it corresponded with similar changes in other areas - the development of rationalism in philosophy and of regularity in music and poetry, with the elevation of the in literature
was
and with
and principles
rules
at
most
Greek and Latin
in all the arts. Classical architecture
once the most rational, the most
century
The
classical
Roman and
archaeology.
The
and
erudite works,
first
serious
of Rome, Athens,
ruins
Palmyra, Baalbek and other
in careful
the
mid-'Cighteenth
significantly also the period of the
is
models
the general tendency towards clear
clearly defined of all styles.
Split,
classics as
sites
were published
and exercised immense
influence. Closely linked with the aesthetic appeal
was
revive the architecture of Rome
was
one of ideology.
To
to revive the idea
Louis
XIV
of the
Roman
Empire. The reign of
ushered in an age of despotism, of which
Classicism became
to a large extent the
outward and
visible expression.
The
influence of Versailles
was widespread. All over
Europe, whether on a large or small this
subordination of nature to
the palace garden.
As
art,
scale, this formality,
was
the inspiration of
far afield as the later
Hampton
259
'Jubtiffitttifflri i'UIJ lill JliElij p^
II. Jill.
iffillntTlUHi J.U !;ni IUUli[Ui!!!irHli!! lllllll
.<
' '
11)
r w^ nijj^%fj t
,
515 Nancy stmction
:
in
iJS4>
designed urban spaces
were -
is
here seen at
square on the
Place de
"^'
^''"''^^
of con^
the formal linking of variously
la
rij^ht,
Carriere
the forecourt
en suite
its best.
as
the lon^ treeAined
of the palace
with
in
England, the Schonbrunn in Vienna, or
Williamsburg
we can
in Virginia,
detect the ghost of
it
The urban
in the centre,
Court
—f!
and
Versailles.
In France
the 'grand
itself
manner'
evident in the city as in the great garden.
is
as
Apart from
Paris there are a
hundred French towns with
mite of grandeur
.
their
own
its
curved colonnades make a single entity
When we
look
.
the avenue, the place^ the hotel de
.
say,
at,
the Italian hill
town
ville.
or the
English market town - utterly charming though they
may
be -
we
appreciate the hallmark which, for better or
worse, France has
set
upon
towns of Europe.
the
Neo-'Classical town-planning subordinates the part to the
whole
in a
way
that
Baroque planning did
not.
Instead of the series of dramatic surprises provided, for instance, by seventeenth/century
progeny make a
its
single,
Rome,
coherent,
expected statement. Outside Paris the
exiled
and
de
off this
new la
lies
street
the
street to
and
satisfying
and
finest
of Nancy.
King of Poland and Duke of
new north-south the
portion
eighteenth/century
the
Versailles
example
is
Stanislas,
Lorraine, drove a
through the old town of Nancy,
little
planning complex which links
the palace: the Place Royale, the Place
Carriere and, at the culmination of the scheme, the
small palace and originally a
its
forecourt.
The
Place Royale was
complete enclosure, the entrances being
ingeniously screened by a triumphal arch and large
260
Rococo
grilles, all
black and gold.
The
Place de
la
Carriere
an elongated rectangle, domestic in
is
down
with pleached limes
scheme
is
the
centre.
scale
and
The whole
highly classical and architectural, yet intimate.
Some of the
buildings themselves, however, must be
given their due. Jacques^Germain Soufflot (1713-80) a superb designer in 1756.
been
It
was renamed
known
something
- designed the church of Ste^ Genevieve Revolution, and has
after the
The dome owes
ever since as the Pantheon.
to
Wren;
it is
less
successful than St Paul's
in the handling of the colonnade
around the drum, the
columns appearmg too detached;
it is
the relationship of the
The dome
rises
body of the building
in after
thanks
St Paul's
lighting of the
dome.
windows, which were
is
better seen
from Ludgate
Pantheon
is
Hill.
beautiful
again to Quatremere de Quincy), as pendentives and the arches; great
to the
1791 by Quatremere de Quincy) and,
to the centralized plan,
dome of
successful in
high above a splendidly plain wall
(originally in fact pierced with filled
more
it is
than
The
is
the
internal
and subdued (due is
the design of the
a fitting
mausoleum
for
J14, 515 Pantheon, Paris c.ijgz). The relationship of
Frenchmen.
The Revolution interrupted but did not fundamentally change the architectural Indeed with the
rise
ideals
of the
Age of Absolutism.
of Napoleon these values were
dome (based upon 2g4)
to the
with
the
extra
panache
given
them
by
Romanticism. Leaving out of account such fashions in
St Paul's,
body of the building
accentuated by
the plain
Neo-classical reasserted
that of
in
(i7S5~ Souffiot's
its
is
wall
III.
superb,
- more
severity
than
Soufflot intended. Inside a series of domes rests
on piers and columns, creating a
most
effective perspective
of arches
lit
only from above.
261
Court decor
Pompeian and
the
as
Egyptian -
the
ephemeral reflections of the Emperor's campaigns -
Napoleonic Pans
was taken
it
strove for highly
granted and was
for
should always be in the
but
finished
Gabriel's Place de
Deputes and
handsome Again,
Part of the highly
classical
com^
position oj central Paris; the Madeleine,
Vi^non's (top),
Roman
stands
Roy ale, its
the
in
end oj the
iSoj
Rue
la
Concorde,
to the
of the
to the slight incline
the dull reality
Roman
imitation of a
Chambre des Rue Royale, is that
it is
a fairly
temple.
rhythms of the
the fact that the long arcaded
backcloth
Gardens,
more important than
far
is
which
London
that
is
to the 'carpet'
of the Tuileries
their actual archi/
We may note in
no more than adequate.
Carlton House Terrace (1827) bears
same relationship -
the
-
to
much
of a town/planning back/
that
Rue
cloth - to St James's Park, as does the
de Rivoli to
closing the north axis ofthepre^
Revolutionary with
at
temple he^un
relationship,
Louis^Philippe)
under
only
are primarily a
tecture
The
Rivoli (begun by Percier and Fontaine in 1802)
Rue de
ji6
de rigueur that these
classical style.
more important than
far
effects;
of the Madeleine (begun by Vignon in
for instance,
1807
Romantic
Place de
la
Concorde
the Tuileries Gardens.
The Arc de Triomphe
colonnaded frontages by Gabriel
the other hand, all
(by Chalgrin, begun 1806) on
a splendid
is
monument -
the greatest of
triumphal arches - betrayed by the inadequacy of its
setting.
True,
Napoleon's
it
is
Paris
part of the in
that
it
Romantic Classicism of
manage
does
really
dominate the long axis of the Champs^Elysees, and it
makes
gloire
however - the
almost credible.
-
Etoile
Its
immediate
consists o( so
many
to
that
setting,
radiating
avenues that no continuity of the circumambient facades,
no enclosure of space, Elsewhere
in
is
possible.
Europe,
had
Classicism
been
the
accepted embodiment of the ideals of autocracy. Frederick the Great's palace of Sans^Souci at still
retains
many of the
Potsdam (1745-7)
light-hearted features of Rococo,
but the Neues Palais, built towards the end of his reign,
and
the
Brandenburg Gate
monumentally 262
rather
supreme autocracy,
than
at
Berlin
charm.
classical severity
In
both aim Russia,
at
the
was tempered by
ji/
-R-Wf de Kivoli, Paris,
by Percier
and Fontaine (hegun 1802).
some and uniform
A
the
street,
hand-^
arcaded
shops heing as junctional as they are elegant; all the is
more
effective because
seen across the Tuileries
excellent
example of the one-sided
^18 Carlton House (
it
Gardens - an
Terrace,
street
London
182]-^^). The culmination of Nash's
plan (see p. 26g), these two stuccoed white ranges oj houses
are, like the
Rue
de Kivoli, a magnificent backcloth to a
park.
change
The podium, made in
ground
necessary by a
level,
has
Doric
columns of cast iron
the personal tastes of successive tsars the
and
tsarinas. Peter
Great had founded St Petersburg in 1700
deliberately austere capital, entirely
as
a
planned and built almost
by foreigners from or under the influence of
France. His daughter Elizabeth turned to
Bartolommeo
Rastrelli built for her the
show/pieces of the Rococo
spirit
two
Italy, last
and great
- the Winter Palace and ^ig Brandenburg Gate, Berlin ( i'/8g), by K. G. Langhans. A colonnaded gate^ way rather than a triumphal arch, based on the Athenian Propylaea
(111.
26)
263
Tsarskoe Seloe. Under Catherine Classicism became accepted
the
Italians
style,
Quarenghi), Scots
(e.g.
(Cameron) and Russians (Rossi) uniting an a i
t
i
'international'
unique
in Mil
power and
court to approach
Bourbon kings
The
prosperity.
was
it
built their
It
Theatre
Rossi
Leningrad,
Street,
(i82j-^2).
Flanking
lead
to
the
bination of white characteristic
theatre.
blocks
The conu
and coloured stucco
pre/
where the
that of Naples,
enormous palace of Caserta,
and surpasses
it
1
in
and 1774. monotony.
by
with twin giant columns on an arcaded plinth
rivals Versailles in scale
the
only southern
designed by Luigi Vanvitelli, between 175
520
produce
makes Leningrad
still
Such an achievement was
city.
rogative of
I
blend that
to
It is
something of a
turn from such vast and
relief to
forbidding exercises
to
the
less
ambitious but more
relaxed environments being created in England. English
is
informality
of Leningrad
may
social structure,
be attributed partly to the political and
with
nobility
and middle
English
domestic
its
class,
equal balance of monarchy,
and
tradition
partly to the vitality of the
building.
in
vernacular of village and farm
still
The good
went on almost un/
find a
number of men who were
real, if provincial, architects,
designing in the classical
changed, but
tradition.
we now
Such men were Henry
1683 designed the
Customs House
the Bastard Brothers of Blandford fire,
or,
rebuilt that
above
all,
the
Bell of
little
Lynn who
in
Lynn,
or
in King's
who,
after a disastrous
Dorset town in robust Georgian;
Woods,
father
and
son, of Bath. In the
spa and pleasure city of Bath, between 1727 and 1780, the
Woods
English Air view of the section of Bath planned by the Woods, father and son,
32 i
lyzj-So. The scheme Queen Square (bottom filed); from
it
Gay
with
right,
tree^
Street leads up to turn linked with
the
Royal Circus,
the
Royal Crescent (top
264
began
in
left)
did two things.
'terrace'
First,
they developed the
house, prototype of
streets
and
squares
I
^
in Britain
century.
New
and
England
Queen
Second, in
T?
•
for
,nhni]i|itl3l8ill3illl1fil
more than another
Square,
Circus and the Royal Crescent, the
Gay
the
Street,
j22 Royal
Crescent, Bath
Wood
by John
the
of the hemicycle
Woods
created a
landscape
to the
-
(
ijb^-j^),
Younger. The sweep entirely open to the
south
-
makes
this
one
progression of harmonious but contrasted urban spaces
of the most magnificent pieces of urban
which,
domesticity anywhere.
as a piece
The whole
of town-planning, belong
to history.
order,
relationship of architect^patron^-builder, it
however, was rapidly changing. With the
and
elegance, purity
coming more than artisan builders.
new
correctness, architecture
stress
was
The
use of a giant
running through two storeys, gives
a scale appropriate to the open setting
on be^-
ever a matter for scholars rather than
This
fact lies
behind the next important
development in English architecture, and England's chief contribution to
movement. their
Its
Neo^'Classicism, the Palladian
chief exponents
-
the 'Palladians'
- were William Kent
successors
(i 68 5-1 748),
Lord Burlington (1694-175 3), Colen Campbell William
1729),
Adam
and
(d.
Chambers (1723-96) and Robert
(1728-92), the
last
being a link with the pure
Romanticism, Classic and Gothic, which would take us into the nineteenth century.
Lord Burlington, because he himself wielded
the
T/square, was said by Lord Chesterfield to have betrayed the aristocratic principle. Burlington, however, the only peer thus to
curious
status
demean
himself; the fact
of architecture.
It
was
in
was not
shows the danger of
becoming a polite accomplishment with the Grand Tour as little
more than sight^seeing. Chiswick House (c. 1 725),
Lord Burlington's
villa,
is
now
beautifully restored.
Symmetrically placed on a high platform, with elaborate
J2J
Chiswick
London
House,
(c.ijz^), designed by Lord Burlington for
himself.
Rotonda
at
Based Vicenza
upon (III.
the
zzg),
Villa this
tiny
hut completely symmetrical house
may
be regarded as the manifesto of the
English Palladians. Chimneys, required by the climate, are disguised as obelisks
RETURN TO CLASSICISM
and
steps
portico,
simulates the Villa
Rotonda
north of latitude 51°
it is
praised
but
is
at
in so far as
Vicenza;
as a
it
dweUing
an absurdity. The same man's
design for the Assembly
much
charm
has great
it
Rooms
in
York (173 1-2) is ill/proportioned - the
fact
at
entablature virtually dividing the interior in two. William
Kent's great design
begun
in 1734.
for
Holkham
Hall in Norfolk was
Like Vanbrugh's houses
it
has far-flung
wings, corner towers and pavilions; each section of this
complex house
is
Palladian classical.
a self-contained essay in the purist
Holkham
is
an austere masterpiece.
many
of
somehow manages
to
Kent's Horse Guards Building (1750-8) has the elements of Holkham but also
be the very epitome of the toy barracks - almost a piece of Ruritania in the heart of London.
Burlington employed Colen Campbell Burlington House in London. Campbell for
large
his
book, Vitruvius
account of great
English
Britannicus,
houses,
is
remodel
to
best
known
which
including
is
several
designed by himself His almost cringing regard Palladio
^24
Holkham Hall
fbe^^im
William Kent's noble attempt
ij^4), to
sides, sion in
man^
portico,
the
pavilions
partite 'Palladian'
each
is
The
pure Palladian Classical.
a
with
separate study
Strong horizontal
their
tri^
windows, the win^s -
lines
parate elements together
in
the
style.
hold these dis^
to
be seen
at
Mereworth
in
Kent
(c.
for
1722-5),
a completely symmetrical house with porticoes
design
a wide ^ spreading English country
IS
an
on
all
based - like Chiswick House - on the Villa
Rotonda. If
Burlington and Campbell could sometimes be
much greater figure. He had travelled in the East and among his minor works is the decorative Chinese Pagoda in Kew Gardens. He affected,
William Chambers
is
a
J 25 William Chambers's Somerset House, London (begun ijj6), appears in
this
igth^century
originally rising
-
view as
it
was
the heavily rusticated podium
directly
from
the
given
long facade
is
columns and
pilasters,
Thames. The
variety
by giant
and great arched
openings in the rusticated ground storey
studied in Paris
and
Italy.
He
started to build
House, a large block of government the It
offices in
Somerset
1776; until
embankment ofthe Thames in the nineteenth century,
had one ofthe
a rusticated
great river frontages ofthe world, with
basement storey rising
straight out
of the
water.
Robert both
Adam,
with
his
two
brothers,
London and Edinburgh.
had
offices in
In one sense he was a
forerunner of the nineteenth century in that he had a large
professional
wealthy
He had limits
clients.
studied
organization
Some and
long
list
of
eight thousand drawings remain. travelled far
beyond the normal
ofthe Grand Tour, making careful studies ofthe
Palace of Diocletian as
with a
one can
treated the
at
Spalato.
see at, say,
He was a true
Palladian,
Kedleston or Osterley,
Vitruvian rules with
liberality.
He
yet
he
extracted of Kedleston in Derby (ij6i-^) shows Robert Adam combining Palladianism with a new archaeological approach. The sides are Renaissance, the centre - with its Pantheon^type dome - Roman, and
J26 The facade
-^
shire
more ornate than anything
the
earlier
Palladians would have accepted
267
RETURN TO CLASSICISM
the essence of a classical order or cornice but modified
own
to suit his
From France
purpose.
A
the matter of planning. Versailles,
of rooms
series
was nothing new, but from
learnt to place adjoining
contrasted both in size
rooms
ments are almost wholly derived from ancient
Rome
ceiling
and
columns (cp. delicate
-
III.
stucco
also inspired
in
the
form
the se^^mental
exedra
gi),
in
screened
by
ornament
the
which
had
'grottesche'
Raphael
(III.
210)
-
to
English
from the
later
so that they should be
and shape -
Italian
Adam
the oval ante^room
From France
also,
much
Renaissance, he learnt
about arabesques and iht grottesche of the Vatican loggia. Dalmatia, Syria and Greece were within
Italy,
knowledge, while from others
The
Baalbek.
lie
learnt
his
of Palmyra and
Chinoiserie and the Pompeian influenced
his decoration,
Robert
but
they are handled with a lightness that
gave a new elegance
as
in
en suite, as at
the French
leading to the great library, and so on.
J27 The Library in Kenwood House, London ( ij6j~8) shows Adam in his pre-eminent role as decorator. The ele--
much
he learnt
it
Adam
has a long
list
of great country houses
his credit.
By 1761 he was working
Yorkshire,
Croome Court
life
in Wiltshire, It
a
as
is
Adam
for furniture, carpets, It
As Beau Nash had
marble
all this
Adam
fireplaces
played his part.
inculcated good manners in the
fashionable society of Bath, and as Beau
make
should be
was an age conscious of a newly
discovered refinement. In
to
in
Bowood
in Worcestershire,
superior decorator that
plaster ceilings.
shortly
Harewood
and at Osterley and Kenwood near London.
remembered and
at
to
Brummel was
fashionable,
cleanliness
so
Adam
brought refinement into the furnishing of the house.
Without
his
magic touch the
ordinarily insipid, clientele
who
style'
but he worked
were almost the
about
classical elegance.
'good
taste' in
great
'Adam last
for
can be extra/
an
aristocratic
generation to care
The swan song of this kind of
England was
to
be the Regency, and the
achievement of the Regency was
to lie
in the sphere of individual buildings as in a
not so
much
new concept
of urban existence.
While Napoleon's Paris into a city
architects
were trying
to
transform
worthy of a Caesar, London was being
transformed from a rather provincial and northern another
was
city
-
Copenhagen or Oslo - into a great capital. There
not,
and never could
be,
anything in
London of the
of the French or of the grand scale of
classical expertise
Paris,
but in
middle
way - that of a
its
class
-
made
it
cultured and comfortable
The
contribution.
its
Prince
Regent, as extravagant as he was eccentric, discovered
John Nash (1752-18 3 5), an
architect as ingenious as he
was
plausible. Nash's achievement, in the last analysis,
was
that of a
town^planner rather than of an
Between 18 12 and 1827 he parks,
laid out a great
He
James's Park in the south.
cosmopolitan
into a
complex of
squares and churches across the
streets, terraces,
West End of London, from Regent's Park to St
architect.
shifting
city,
thus its
in the north
made London
centre of gravity
from the old maze of alleys and lanes of the City or Soho, to
more fashionable
the
His
Mayfair. 'terraces'
scheme
districts
consisted
finely
new 'Royal Regent
mainly
- rows of 'genteel' and even
- around Regent's Park,
Adam's
of St James's and ten
aristocratic houses
the incorporation of Robert
proportioned Portland Place, an entirely consisting of
Mile'
Street (rebuilt at the
Piccadilly
of the
Circus,
Upper and Lower
beginning of this century),
Waterloo Place, Carlton House
Terrace and St James's Park, as well as numerous side streets
and subsidiary
areas. In this large area
Nash was
few of the buildings. The
architect for all but a very
of these, not designed by Nash himself,
is
best
probably the
Athenaeum Club,
built
The
of Nash's scheme lay in the planting
greatest merit
by Decimus Burton in
1
827-30.
of the parks. Informal glades, sloping swards and rich foliage patterns, in It
was through
painted
stucco
both parks, embraced a winding lake.
this foliage that
one glimpsed the whiter
Neo^Greek
o( the
houses.
Stucco,
J28 John Nash's plan (1812-2'/)- marked Regent's Park to be laid
although used primarily so as to give the fine,
so
much more Greek
- as can is
flat,
still
an economy, was exploited
elegant detail
than
which
Roman. Nash's
is
somehow
architecture
be seen in the terraces along Regent's Park -
gay, versatile
and
seen in old prints straights
as
careless. oi^
His
Regent
and curves were
street
Street
carefully
therefore
to
-
linking
St James's Park, had
across the existing town. It
more irregular
or Bath. Also, the
turesque
London
for
in black
explains
informality in
the
than, say,
new
cult
a
quite
is
Nancy
of the Pic^ deliberate
design of the parks
themselves and the terraces
design - as can be
- was good;
the
demarcated by such
269
The Quadrant, Recent Street, London ( i8ig-2o), by John Nash. The County Fire Office on the ri^ht closed the vista as one came up Lower
j2p
Re^^ent Street.
Colonnaded jootwalks,
whose columns would appear ing perspective,
Regent Street
in
diminish^
emphasized the curve of
devices as corner turrets, while the original colonnaded
Quadrant linking Regent was
as
good
as
with Piccadilly Circus
Street
anything of
kind in Europe. The
its
whole Nash scheme combined
a real classical elegance
with that highly Romantic quality that
born
when
formal architecture
is
is
so mysteriously
given an informal
itself
setting.
To compare
equivalent sense
streets in
the Regent's Park terraces with the
Bath, of an earlier generation,
come
immediately the change that had
is
to
over
architecture.
At
this
century, a itself felt:
^
point, the second decade of the nineteenth
new
aspect of architecture
America.
dynamism and apparent until
The
later,
but
independent growth and
All colonial architecture, defiance of custom
boldness
we must assess all
about
to
make
impact of American
full
technological
is
its
will
pause here
not
to trace
be its
contribution.
over the world - even in
and climate -
bears the
stamp of the
colonizing power. This was true of Roman architecture in Britain, of British architecture in India
America. Moreover, since the 270
America had
and North
eastern seaboard of North
a climate not too violently different
from
that
of England, and virtually no indigenous culture, for
centuries
its
architecture
was
returntoclassicism
a very precise reflection of
I
'
the
mother country. The main difference was
use of timber, in the
That
well as brick.
United
lively
is
would make
its
a
as
the Colonial architecture of the
firsts'
an
have
real
enterprising
and
early date,
The proud,
not surprising.
mind of
wide
form of clapboard, instead of or
States should, even at
distinction
a
or second^generation colonial
mark, in
his determination not to be a
squatter but, rather, to establish a civilization.
While
New
England was
first
colonized largely from
Puritan East Anglia, with an infusion of
Cambridge
Virginia and the South were colonized
intellectuals,
London merchants, and with an Oxford outlook. The charm of New England lies in the clean, simple integrity of the Puritan outlook, as we see it with the wealth of
in
Concord, Salem, on Lexington Green,
or the older parts of Boston. in the courtly
and
The charm of Virginia
Williamsburg and Richmond ...
a colonial's birthright.
The
capitals
state
background
a
England
transatlantic version of the aristocratic
The
lies
ancestral mansions, in the fine houses
along the James River, in the old
found no
Nantucket
in
that
new
ruthlessness of a
of
to a
was land
direct expression in architecture.
earliest
houses in the United States that can be
called architecture
owe much of their
quality to a rather
naive combination of sincerity and ignorance.
They were
being built in Massachusetts before the middle of the seventeenth century
- a few
surviving from before
at least
1640. These were heavily timbered structures such as
might have been
built in seventeenth-'century English
villages; they established the
planning stack.
all
the
Within
rooms around
a
England
huge
a few years brickfields
and houses were being
A freak survival Virginia,
New
is
to
tradition of
central
chimney/
had been opened
built of brick as well as timber.
be found in
where St Luke's
church, pure and simple.
is
Isle
of Wight County,
an 'English' Gothic 271
;
RETURN TO CLASSICISM
Through
the
eighty years ofthe eighteenth century
first
North American architecture case to the
Tidewater
states
- was
still
colonial; just as
Spain, Portugal and France had had their
America and
Deep South,
the
any
virtually limited in
on Latin
effect
New
and
so Virginia
England remained almost wholly 'Georgian'. Side by
modern
side with
architecture this tradition
still persists.
The use of wood may account for livelier colour schemes, more slender columns
many
and
large
a Colonial house could be transplanted almost
unnoticed
The
in the porticoes, but by
to
any English market town or cathedral
which design and workmanship
extent to
close.
actually
were English must remain debatable. The plans
Harvard church were drawn
Williamsburg, Virginia,
Wren;
he
was
Williamsburg Virginia in 1699.
It
in
popularly attributed to
are
may indeed have made
which was
for the college
England, and the
in
William and Mary College
original buildings of
Christopher
for a
a sketch
a royal foundation.
established
was simply but
a fine piece of town planning by
the
as
capital
of
beautifully laid out,
any standards.
A three/
quarter^mile axis linked the College with the Capitol; the cross^axis
was
a tree^lined
Governor's House to
Mall with the main
but more dubiously, attributed
also,
Wren. The church
Mall terminating in the
steeple
marked
the junction ofthe
The modern
axis.
tourist,
however,
must beware; he must distinguish old from new, and meticulous are the restorations that
this
is
not easy.
so
Much
of Williamsburg was destroyed by the British in 1781.
The College
is
the
most
intact
of all the buildings, and
the others were so carefully restored from
evidence, thirty years ago, that
we
much
deserves
as
it
was
greatest single It
is
named
in
great days.
monument
It
ofthe Colonial
Williamsburg its
fame
as the
era.
not until well into the eighteenth century that architects begin to appear; they
taught amateurs.
272
its
see
documentary
were mainly
One ofthe first was'Richard
self/
Taliaferro
he built the beautiful Byrd house, Westover (c.1730).
jjo The Governor's House, Williams^ burg (lyo^,
rebuilt
ig^2):
a
'brick
box' of tall and narrow proportions, with a high dormered roof crowned by a gallery
and cupola,
it
is
typical
of English time
domestic
architecture
William
and Mary, but marked
appearance of
jji
the
of
this style in
America
Westover (c.ij^o), by Richard
Taliaferro,
American
was
ian
The
one
of
architects,
the
first
known
shows how 'George
the best architecture of Virginia.
brickwork, the sashes, the dormers
and the
big
chimney stacks are
all very
English, and of the highest quality. the
of the
plan
ning
-
Only
with the entrance hall run^
through from front
to
back
-
marked a new departure
a typical classical
lands.
This was only one of
Taliaferro, but
and
mansion of the Virginian tobacco
it is
in the fact that the fine
ironwork and carved
from England, although
fire/
at this
good craftsmen - plasterers, cabinet-makers - must surely have been
many
joiners,
by
unique in the grouping of its masses,
places were imported
date
several splendid houses
reasonably
established locally.
The name of John
Ariss appears
when
he advertises
himself as a designer in the manner of Gibbs.
have built
Mount
He may
Airy, near Richmond, a house with
273
J52 Kin/s Chapel, Boston (iJ4(^ designed by Peter Harrison, under
^8)
:
the
influence
of Gihhs,
important as being
England
to
depart
from
the absolutely plain
this
the first
church in
is
New
the tradition of
and austere meeting-^
house
outlying pavilions linked by curved corridors to the
-
central block
in fact the
Palladianism. Little
The
else
Palladian,
real
known
is
a fine
American
of Ariss.
however, was Peter Harrison
(1716-75) who, in 1749,
Newport, with
piece of true
first
Redwood
built the
Roman
Library,
Doric portico, and
same year began the King's Chapel
in the
in Boston, a
first
departure from the plain and severe Puritan meeting/ house, with the
first
of a whole
from Wren,
Hawksmoor
Chapel and
the
same
series
of steeples, derived
Both the King's
or Gibbs.
Christ Church,
architect's
Cambridge, Mass., have unusually with
fine ceilings.
In spite of the
Colonial work, Harrison real scholar
of
may
his generation.
at
graceful interiors
charm of
so
much
be described as the only
There can be no doubt,
however, about the scholarship of his successor.
Thomas
Jefferson (i 743-1 826)
achieved fame
as
Independence,
Washington, oddly -
as
was
a Virginian.
one of the authors of the Declaration of as
a
Secretary
of State
as a legislator, as a free-thinker
an
He
architect.
He
had
a
to
George
and -
profound
rather
faith in
Roman law and, by deduction, in Roman architecture. He was a Palladian, not in the sense that he admired the English
274
effete,
Palladians
whom,
in
fact,
he
despised
but in the real sense that he shared Palladio's
as
own
inspiration, that of
Rome. In
he built himself the
villa
1769, on a romantic
of Monticello which,
after
hill,
many
changes, emerged as a fine intellectual essay in austere classicism.
When
Williamsburg State Capitol.
home
to
Richmond,
He was
Roman Maison
in
much
sketch
a
of Virginia was
capital
the
Europe
classical
for the
this
designed the
the time
and
sent
by the genumely
Carree in Nimes, although his building in
and more formal
University of Virginia
By
26).
at
influenced
was much more elaborate more
Jefferson
moved from
its
in at
however,
time,
general layout. its
Even
plan was his design
Charlottesville (1817Jefferson
was
deeply
333 334 Thcfn}ts Jefferson's for his own house, Monticello >
immersed ments
in affairs of state,
for the
and was making arrange^
building of a federal capital
renamed Washington.
at
Georgetown,
He
therefore enlisted the aid
of
to be referred to below.
name of Samuel Mclntyre (1757-18 11)
as a designer
is
now
who
demoli^'
Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844),
presided over the growth of Boston.
Between 1793 and 1800 he
built the Massachusetts State
ifei
81
^-26
by Latrobe), mark the
America of a new
The
Chiswick House
(III.
is,
j2^)
derived mainly
like
classicism,
self-conscious.
house
from
the designs
of Palladia. In the larger end block of the university
-
foreground
went beyond secondary to
the architect
1
more formal and
of
good houses and of the ambitious Salem Court House with superimposed orders and a cupola -
out in
arrival in
In the immediate post-'Colonial period we find the
More famous
Vir^
the University of
£inia at Charlottesville (below, carried
Benjamin Henry Latrobe -
shed.
ij6^), and for
designs
(above,
the
Pantheon for
the sides
-
Jefferson
sources, returning
inspiration.
Along
of the 'campus' are teachers'
houses and students' rooms
-vi! tti^isi^'
mimn;aM >^
I
^M
w^
-^
JJ5
dome and due
in
in
the
the ^reat fights of steps.
To
the
centre,
fanked by jlat wings - heavier feature
mainly
lies
Thornton and Buljinch is
Capitol
^^'^ ^^randcur of the
Washington, D.C.,
- and
(
with
i'jg2-i82'/) its
pilastered
the
colonnade
walls.
The
versions of the central
dome
Thomas U. Walter,
are the
after
1
8^ i
House, somewhat inspired by Chambers's Somerset House. The golden dome
is still
Hill. Bulfinch supervised the
Washington -
to other
a
landmark on Beacon
buildmg of the Capitol
men's designs
(see
in
below) - and
then returned to his vast Bostonian practice.
Meanwhile
in
Washington
L'Enfant
Pierre Charles
work of
had, under the spell of Versailles, planned the centre of the splendid, if rather grandiose, city that
L'Enfant, however, was arrogant and
f
we know.
difficult;
he was
dismissed in 1792, and the designs of both the Capitol itself
and of
hands.
The
the
W
White House were
hite
House was
desig ned-by ^n Irish man,
James Hoban. The Capitol, competition,
entrusted to other
after
a rather
was designed by an English amateur,
William Thornton, and completed by Bulfinch
(The
dubious
resulting building
was
itself virtually
by the additions of Thomas U. Walter,
after
in 1827.
submerged 1851.)
Subsequent developments in American architecture
276
take their place in the continuing story of Europe
and
I
indeed of the world. Before proceeding to the age of industrialism, beginning with Victoria
we must
Empire, until
follow the classical tradition
briefly
merges with and
it
and the Second
finally
is
new
engulfed by the
currents.
The most and
interesting architects of the late eighteenth
were those
early nineteenth centuries
who
tried to
evolve beyond the pedantry of archaeological correct^ ness
new kind of
towards a
Classicism, in
harmony and
virtues of proportion,
which
the
would be
restraint
preserved but the old vocabulary of ornament modified or
abandoned. This
'abstract' style goes
architect as Etienne^Louis Boullee
executed works were
buildmgs conceived
(1728-99) whose
with a
Roman
cypresses.
The
mausoleum, ringed by
and
conceit
the
form
are
equally Neo-classical
bolder imagination -
geometrical forms, hemispheres, ideas were taken
unexecuted designs that constitute
but what was built of his 'ideal Paris tollhouses his failure harrieres
such an
up by
the
Claude^Nicolas Ledoux (17 3 6-1 806). Again
brilliant
his
a far
and cubes. His
cylinders
it is
as
to
conventional but whose
fairly
on paper show
projects
back
^^6 BouUee's design for a cenotaph to Newton (c. 1 yS^) combines the ^lobe symbolizing Newton's discoveries -
(i.e.
city* at
his best
Chaux and
the Barriere de la Villette)
was not due
work, his
show that
of practicality. In the
to lack
(1784-9) he used a massive and austere Doric
idiom, but his most original designs are purely metrical,
such
as
his
project for an 'ideal'
geo-'
cemetery
(1806), where the central chapel was to be a huge sphere lit
by a central
331 33^
'eye'.
y
Ledoux was regarded admirers until
may
be
modern
as
an eccentric and had few
times.
drawn between
his
Some Sir
however,
that of the
more
John Soane. Soane
(1753-1837) was suspicious and autocratic, in contrast with the optimistic and extroverted Nash. superb and original designer. visiting
Rome, was appointed
England.
His
Grecian
In
1788
He was
also a
Soane,
after
architect to the
Romanticism
was
Bank in
oi^
fact
extremely individualistic, as well as delicate and austere.
Walls flow smoothly
into vaults
- which
are themselves
Ledoux
s Barriere de
la
reduced to
their
simplest
and most massive. His
ideal
cemetery
elements are
parallels,
work and
successful English architect.
^"
Villette, Paris ( ij8g, above )j classical
(section below), as abstract as Boullee,
remained unbuilt.
;
usually of a
segmental curve - while arches seem
flat
barely to touch the supporting piers. Mouldings, except for the occasional incised line, are
One may
say that whereas Robert
almost nonz-existent.
Adam
had exploited
plasterwork to achieve ornament, Soane exploited achieve the smooth unbroken surface. In his in Lincoln's
Inn Fields (now
to
house
museum), he devised
methods of using mirrors and of letting
several origmal
in daylight at
his
own
it
unexpected places. This, together with the
domes which he used over the various Bank of England - specially the Consols
lightly constructed offices
of the
Office of 1794 - suggest that Soane in the
freedom given
would have
delighted
by modern pre^
to the designer
stressed concrete.
Soane founded no school, but seen in several of the 339> 34^ parlour
Soarie: above, the breakfast
in his
house
in
London (181 2)
below, the Consols Office of the
Bank
England (lyg^). The arches
are se^^'
mental, not round. a
fat Grecian
enters indirectly
mirrors.
piquantly
Above,
and gleams
Below,
the flat
contrasted
modelled caryatids
light
the
cupola
man
appointed
of United States
to the post
Surveyor of Public Buildings. Born in England, Latrobe emigrated Jefferson
to
on
America
in
He worked
1796.
with
the completion of the Virginia State Capitol
convex
surfaces
with
in the
in
of the next
of
The plasterwork has
delicacy.
first
sensitive architects
can be
Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820) was
generation. the
more
his influence
are
fully
and then,
in 1798,
began the Bank of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, a piece of full^'blooded
Romantic
cism. In 1805 he began the cathedral
Maryland. The second design,
at
as built,
at
Classic
Baltimore in
owed much
to
the Paris Pantheon, and, with the segmental arches of the interior, to Soane's
By
the
third
Bank of England.
decade of the century the clear/cut
geometry of a Ledoux or a Soane was gone. Here and there, as in
Munich
or
Edinburgh,
in
an aura of scholar^
ship and philosophy, the flame was never quite extin^
guished. There was in Munich, for instance,
Klenze's
Glyptothek
across the square, there
(1815-34)
begun
were the Athenian
in 1846. essays
and
As
his
Leo von Propylaea
late as the fifties
of Alexander
Thomson
Thomas Hamilton (1785Edinburgh. Thomson gave us his fine Free
(1817-75) in Glasgow and 1858) in
Churches, while Hamilton, in the Edinburgh High
34^ Catholic Cathedral, Baltimore (180^-1 8). Latrohe's ^rand design is a blend of European precedents
and perhaps
the plan,
:
perspective
the
arches, are derived
from
of
the
the Pantheon,
while the segmental arches and the treats
ment
of the
come from
pendentives
Soane
J42 Glyptothek, Munich (181^-^4). Leo von Klenze was, like Schinkel, an exponent of Romantic Classicism. This with central
building,
and
Grecian portico
walls relieved by Renaissance
side
-
aedicules
perhaps too
the three parts
width
nearly equal in
- was
house the
Duke
collection
of antique sculpture
built
to
of Bavaria's magnificent
543 The Royal High School (begun 182^) is Thomas Hamilton's greatest contribution
revival:
a
to
Edinburgh's
fine
Athenian
Hellenic essay
in
massing, with colonnades and porticoes raised on an extensive
Edinburgh from
podium,
its
own
it
surveys
'acropolis',
Calton Hill
j44 Merchants' Exchange, (18^2-4), designed by Revival
architect,
Philadelphia
the city's
Greek
William Strickland.
An elegant Corinthian
Order rounds
the
below a cupola reminiscent of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates at
corner,
Athens
279
RETURN TO CLASSICISM
School, gave us a Doric composition worthy of the
Greek intellectuaHsm of his
city.
What Hamilton was to
Edinburgh, William Strickland
(i
788-1 854) was
to
Philadelphia. There he followed Latrobe's lead, and
made (the
his
name with
a
bank
in the
Branch Bank of the United
and an elegant
essay
the
in
form of a Doric temple
States,
U
Brighton.
of the
Nash's
(iSi^-2i), which stucco
on cast iron,
Royal
Pavilion,
transformations included domes of
turned a convene
tional house into a full-scale folly' fit
for the gaiety of the Regent and for a seaside
town
8
1
8),
major work,
his last
Tennessee State Capitol (1845-9),
the
1
Corinthian order, the
Merchants' Exchange of 1832-4. In
jf^S 345 I Detail
designed in
Grecian
this
Age
purity has been lost in elaboration: the Victorian
was dawning.
The change was fundamental and more
will be described
the features
common
fully in the next chapter. to
and
all-'inclusive,
One
of
both periods, however, was
Romanticism and an account of
- not the
this
least
powerful agent in the formation of nineteenth/'century taste
- may conveniently be included
many
elements that go to
'divine discontent' of the
here.
Among
make up Romanticism artist,
is
the the
the flight from reality to
something distant and strange. Whether amidst the
last
blowsy snobberies of the eighteenth century or the
first
onslaught
black
inevitable.
no
of industrialism,
All Classical architecture
Romantic than
less
that
kind of nostalgia
is
is
to
Gothic, in that
for antiquity, for the
and Rome. But now, with
it
flight
some
was
extent
represents a
world of Greece
Enlightenment, the
the
French Revolution and the Romantic Movement behind them, men's nostalgia,
They had
their
dreams, were heightened.
to express their nostalgia,
the novel, painting or architecture. qualities as proportion, scale,
necessary
- charm,
picturesque and, above
As
early as the
gentle
slopes
all,
Good
design - such
symmetry, harmony - was
no longer enough. Other, more
become
whether in poetry,
romantic qualities
had
novelty, light, escape, the
historical association.
middle of the eighteenth century, on the
of Hagley Park in Worcestershire, an
English nobleman had built two Tollies': one, a sham
Gothic
ruin,
was designed by Sanderson Miller
in 1748
;
1
the other, a Doric temple,
was designed
ten years later,
by James Stuart who, with Nicholas Revett, was
among
J46 house.
the
study the Athenian rums. Neither of these
to
first
had any
Tollies'
intrinsic merit;
both were redolent with
sentiment, straws in the wind. Hermits' grottoes,
broken aqueducts, Gothic
d'Amour',
Trianon with
or Walpole's
Gothic mansion
Hill, or the Regent's
Pagoda
at
valid, but
dairies
o^ the
anglais'
'Jardin
'Hmdu'
Kew - all
Pavilion
at
existed for reasons
were certainly
literary or
Rococo
cells,
- even the
its
at
Strawberry
f begun
Hill,
Twickenham
J 48), Horace Walpole'sfamous Revived for romantic reasons,
1
Gothic was yet scarcely understood. The library, by
John Chute, shows
naive application of detail in style to an otherwise
a kind
a rather the
new
Georgian room -
of Gothic rococo
'Temple
Strawberry
Brighton, or the
which might be
romantic rather than
purely architectural.
In the Tolly' or the jeu
d'esprit,
when
the patron
both rich and eccentric - and eccentricity
was
itself was part
of the Romantic pattern - then Romantic qualities were easy to
come
by. In the
more
serious architecture of great
public or metropolitan buildings there was necessarily
more tradition, more restraint. But Romanticism emerged all
the same,
and
its
greatest
exponent (indeed
exponent of genius) was Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841)
may
its
only
Schinkel.
perhaps be regarded
as
281
j4j, ri^ht,
J48 Karl the
(iSig-21) ; Berlin
Friedrich
Schinkel:
Schauspielhaus,
Berlin
below, the Altes
Museum,
(1824-8)
Soane's 'opposite number' in
Germany -
a master both
of the Grecian phase of Romantic Classicism and of the
more
eclectic
phase which followed
highly architectonic, that
of stylistic
is
to say
it.
His approach was
he was - for
elements - a pure geometrician
all his
like
use
Ledoux.
He constantly subordinated such elements as the classical orders to his overriding conception. His
was
the Berlin
first
large
work
Schauspielhaus (18 19-21) where the
complicated masses of an auditorium building detract
from the unity so
Ledoux
or a Soane.
8) in Berlin that
and
essential to the
his
It
was
work of a Schinkel,
in the Altes
Schinkel was able
Museum
to realize his
a
(1824genius
purism with one splendidly simple Ionic
colonnade running the
full
length of the facade - a
design comparable to Smirke's British
Museum
facade
designed
about the same time,
but
more superbly
detailed.
In
and
sculpture^halls
Schinkel
the
picture^'galleries
anticipated
the
lighting
and
arrangements of good modern museums.
the
display
Chapter Ten
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
When
the
first
England by
factory^made brick was
taken across
old vernacular craft^'building of
train, the
Europe was doomed. For architecture has
first
now
hundred and
a
years
fifty
been in the hands of
either the
speculative builder or of the professional architect
- the
draw upon any of the
styles
latter so
trained that he could
of history, but seeming never to are
where
life is
world saw
so
lived.
many
religious, technical
During
know
that buildings
that century
portentous changes
and
a half the
- political,
social,
- that the actual function and purpose
of architecture also changed beyond recognition. During that time aristocratic patronage vanished;
places like
Chicago, Essen and Manchester became huge
cities
overnight; most people began to live in slums; iron was
shown
to be
more
agonizing about true,
efficient
style,
architect,
During
to
art to the engineer. It
who was on the
first
The
architect,
seldom admitted these things were
and seldom responded
of life and
than stone.
the
them.
was
He
lost the battle
the engineer, not the
band-wagon of his
time.
quarter of the nineteenth century these
changes were working underground. That iron bridges,
macadam
roads, sewage disposal, street lighting, canal
systems, steamboats, cheap Irish labour, limited liability
companies and even universal franchise should
whole nature of
cities,
and
alter the
so also of architecture,
was
unthinkable. In the capitals of Europe, and across the Atlantic,
professional
architects
building in the classical lights,
building well.
style
were,
after
all,
still
and, according to their 283
^49
Pclci^ de Justice, Brussels f 1866-
8j). Poelaert's enormous, even mon^ strous, building
is
at least impressive
-
a
great piling up of the heaviest classical elements.
But
this
very heavy^handedness
a sign of that 'collapse of taste' attri^
is
huted -
often
unjustly
-
to
the
i^th
century
fjo In the Opera House, Paris (begun 'i
862), Charles Gamier showed that a
large auditorium building of great
conu
plexity can, in fact, be given unity, and that
of
it
can, moreover, be
a great
an integral part
town plan. The facade
free, festive
build-up
elements encrusted with sculpture,
minating
in
is
a
of Renaissance
Apollo with
cuh
his lyre atop
the curved roof of the auditorium
.
As
one moves towards the mid/century, into the
Empire and
Second
the
High
Victorian
style
of
England, the phrase 'collapse of taste' acquires meaning.
All over Europe one can flair,
find architecture possessed of
vigour and originality. Architecture of refinement,
elegance or real beauty becomes ever more
point
IS
made by such obvious
The
rare.
mediocrities
as
S.
Francesco di Paola, Naples (1817), the Piazza Vittorio
Veneto
in
Turin (1852),
the
Opera House
in
Hanover
(1845-52), the extensions to the Louvre in Pans (1852
onwards), the Palais de Justice in Brussels (1866-83),
284
the
Opera House
list
could be multiplied
in
Cologne (1870-2), and
many
times.
so on.
The
1
i^i
G rand staircase of the Paris Opera
House: richly
-
an
architecture
if heavily
-
of 'occasion,
decorated,
gleaming
with marble and gilt
Yet the nineteenth century had standards of
demanding
often very
we must
architecture
which
merits
make
to
look
own. The most
its
:
its
sense of
on
the Paris
was designed by Charles Garnier
It
(1825-98) and was begun virtues
its
for those
sumptuous product of the Second Empire was
Opera House.
own,
to appreciate
as far as possible
strove
it
and
standards,
its
m
1862.
urbanism and
diamond^shaped
its
It
has
two
great
sense of occasion. the point
where
three boulevards converge, presented difficulties.
There
Its
plan,
was
no
a
'back':
importance.
The
every
facade
solution
Ecole des Beaux/ Arts
at
site at
was
shows the its
best
of architectural tradition of the
and most
brilliant:
285
every axis
developed
is
part of the plan.
to give the
utmost value
The massing of the
to every
building gives
the
it
utmost value in the landscape of Paris. Internally the great staircase, the rich marbles, the chandeliers, the long
down
vistas
create a setting for
This
is
one
and promenades,
foyers
facet
an occasion,
combme
all
to
moment.
for a particular
of the genius of France.
Side by side with that odd and, to
start
with, almost
wholly English phenomenon, the Gothic Revival,
number of English until the
architects used the classical style
As
end of the century.
Romanticism faded and
made
elsewhere in Europe the
the architecture of antiquity
and of
serve the needs of officialdom
to
provincial magnates. Perhaps the
Romantic Classicism was
at
last
interpretation, in English terms,
Downing
Italian
High Renaissance -
windows well spaced on the (III.
manner of
214)
the
bridge (1807-20) by William Wilkins.
his
finished
but was intended
college'.
Even
classical
a plain wall in
Palazzo Farnese
much such
better
as
it
stands
both more 'Grecian' and
than some of Wilkins' other large buildings
University College,
as
was never
It
be 'the ideal Grecian
to
it is
solid
Cam/
College,
the
of the
was
English essay in
55^ Reform Club, London (iS^j). Charles Barry's design for one of greater Pall Mall clubs shows
a
London
(1827) or the
National Gallery (1834-8). Sir Charles Barry (i
795-1 860), more famous
as the
'Gothic' architect of the Houses of Parliament, designed
two buildings in the thirties which - at least in quality of design - lie somewhere between the pure Romanticism of the Soane epoch and the over^ornamented work of the mid^century. share,
To
this later
work Barry contributed
his
with several large houses for a vulgarized aristocracy.
Decimus
In 1829 and 1837, however, side by side with
Burton's Athenaeum, Barry built two clubs in Pall Mall,
London:
the Travellers'
and
the
palazzo with a glass roof over the
nonsense amidst the
London
Reform. cortile
An
may
Italian
be great
fogs, but Barry's restrained
astylar facades - with the Reform Club reminiscent of the Palazzo Farnese - are very fine pieces of work.
One
of Barry's contemporaries
show something of the 286
was C. R. Cockerell
who
scholarship of the
(i
788-1 863), a
could also
still
Augustan Age
sensitive
and
culti/
vated intellectual, far removed from the crude
The Taylorian
of his time. IS
his
most
England
Institute in
Oxford
work, while
'intellectual'
realities
(i
handling complex
skill in
classical detail.
A building which, in Ionic colonnade,
841-5)
Bank of
his
Liverpool (1845) shows his great
in
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
still
its
enormous emphasis upon
presumably retained some
of the Hellenic ideal, was the British designed by Robert Smirke
(i
the
scintilla
Museum.
It
was
780-1 867) and was under
construction for over twenty years, from 1823 to 1847.
The obvious comparison
Museum
is
in BerHn, but the vast
with
Schinkel's
London museum
big to have the unity of Schinkel's work.
but suffers
from column/'mania -
It is
Altes is
too
impressive,
forty^eight gigantic
Ionic columns serving no purpose except to overawe the
common man and to darken the galleries within. Another much columned building, but a very fine one, is
St George's Hall in Liverpool, designed by
Elmes (1814-47)
in
1840.
Its
merit
lies
H. L.
partly in
its
way
the
impressive simplicity, but mainly perhaps in the
architect provided a big stepped stylobate or platform
J55
which would
4y),
England
is
raise his 'temple' clear
a
small island.
Napoleonic Wars
to the start
of its sloping
From
of the
site.
end of the World War -
the
First
m #
*
k
British
by
Museum, London (182^-
Robert
Smirke.
An
over^
whelmingly single-minded
exterior,
made
tremendously
by
sheer
impressive
scale of the Ionic colonnade
the
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
almost exactly a hundred years - she was the richest and
most powerful country in the world,
complex, most romantic, most
most
the
also
and most
philistine
squalid. Three distinct and, indeed, antagonistic schools
of architectural thought existed side by
the survival of the classical tradition ; second
fervour of the Gothic Revival; third
work of
the engineers
Classicists Styles'
and
little
Each upheld
was
the
the utilitarian
and
The
steel.
the 'Battle of the
anyone except the con/
own
his
was
glass
waged
interest to
which might be
reasons
iron,
the Gothicists
- of very
testants.
in
was
side. First
stylistic
literary,
convictions for
moral or even
aesthetic,
but were seldom architectural in the sense that architects
should use structure
needs of life. These two
to serve the
schools of professional architects agreed only that the
work of the stations
engineers - the great viaducts
- was not architecture
and railway
at all.
This complicated situation was made more so by such
and
stark facts as the rapidity of technical invention
manufacturing processes, the consequent growth of the great black cities, religious revivals
liberalism
and
and
sentimentality,
and philanthropy, bigotry and
the general
domination of bourgeois
laissez-faire,
taste.
A Gothic Revival in nineteenth/'century England was almost
as inevitable as a
Roman
Revival in fourteenth/
century Florence.
The English Renaissance and Baroque
had always been,
if
class taste.
had
The
lived on,
Through
more than
a fashion,
no more than a
vernacular of village and market town
and Gothic
the centuries
-
itself
like a
tapestry or, perhaps,
more
'the brackish stream'
- one
like
had never quite
died.
golden thread in a dark
what Kenneth Clark
calls
finds these instances of Gothic
The Gothic tower of St Mary's, Warwick, was 1698 when Vanbrugh was already designing Howard. Wren, Adam and Soane could all, if
survival. built in
Castle
put
to
It,
turn out a pfiece of 'Gothick' while
virtually organized his office
288
and
Nash
with a Gothic 'department',
built himself a fine 'castle' in the Isle of Wight.
The
poets, even
more than
From
alive.
spirit
the architects,
on
Gothic
when Milton wrote oi^ and 'storied windows richly
Tennyson's
to
the
time
the
'studious cloisters pale' dight',
had kept
Idylls of the
King^
it
was
a
354 St George's Hall, Liverpool (1841-^ 4), by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, one of the finest Early Victorian monuments. Much of its merit lies in the
is
advantage taken of a sloping
site to
build
up a great platform - podium, steps and
constant theme.
Horace Walpole had begun
stylobate
to 'gothicize'
- upon which
the
'temple'
is
Strawberry then placed
1750, with fireplaces and bookcases
Hill as early as
copied meticulously from the tombs of Westminster or
Tewkesbury.
Wyatt
Fonthill in Wiltshire, in 1795, James
built a vast
gimcrack filled
At
and gimcrack sham 'abbey'
eccentric,
for that
William Beckford. Fonthill was
with lovely things and, moreover, was picturesquely
massed - an advance on the idea that 'Gothick' was merely a matter of pointing the arches. century
many
lineage
-
the
nationalism 'castles'
aristocrats felt
the turn of the
such pride in
Gothic Revival that they
By
were
is
all
their ancient
perhaps a facet of building themselves
with moats and battlements. Robert
Adam's
Culzean (1777-90), Porden's Eaton Hall (1804-12), Smirke's Eastnor
(c.
18 10-16), Wyatt's Ashridge (1808-
13), as well as the drastic restoration
of Windsor by
Sir Jeffry Wyatville, are all in this category.
In 1834 the greater part of the Palace of Westminster
- containing
the
old
Houses of Parliament - was
289
J55 i^ouses of (1840-6^) the
London
Parliament,
Gothic skyline of towers and pinnacles, combined with the :
rich
very formal river facade, shows both the
Barry's mind between Gothic
conflict in
and Classical, and the importance of Pugin as a Gothic collaborator
destroyed by that
a
fire.
Gothic was
Houses of Parliament should be
Houses
suite
the
in
reflects the
ing:
it
is
House of Lords,
a four-square
igtlu century
room encrusted with medieval
290
again
dichotomy of the whole builds
detail
classically
the
in
who worked
new
Gothic or
Gothic
style.
as Italianate,
won the competition. His plan was brilliant
of Big Ben in the
in the air
Elizabethan
Barry,
and
government.
symmetrical facade
Gallery
much men
educated, but in Gothic colleges, decreed that the
for bi-cameral
of Parliament, part of the processional
so
Parhamentary Committee of
axial, logical, well^lit
j^6 The Royal
now
to the
efficient It
had
a perfect
a long
Thames.
among them - were
-
in
as well
machine
and completely
A few towers - that
placed
at
odd
corners to
whole
give the
Gothic
a spurious
irregularity.
The
detail
- carving, thrones, pinnacles and vaults - has the quintessence of the dead Middle Ages, while being also
was
Victorian. That detail
He knew Pugin, a
it,
called to his aid the
and
fanatical creative genius.
fiery
away from
young A. W. N.
and
that resulted established it
beyond Barry's powers.
quite
Gothic
the eccentrics
The building
as the national style,
and made
it
wy'mriiijmnM^^jti^ji^
official.
!
Houses of Parliament symbolize
If Barry's
took
the recog-'
nition of the Gothic Revival as the national
style,
the
work of Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-52) symbolizes its recognition as the Christian style. While Pugin's fanaticism
made him
a difficult
among
he did find
problem
for
most
clients,
the old Catholic families a few
wealthy patrons prepared to build Catholic churches. It
was
said that
Pugin
'starved his roof to gild his altar'.
The body of the typical Pugin church, such as Birmingham (1839) like
or St Giles's,
It
reredos
and
in the
House
altar
Westminster.
-
that
forties,
We
841-6),
we
find the
find
and
rood screen,
in the
same magic touch
Lords Hbrary or the
oi^
(i
tends to be hard
chancel -
only in the
is
Cheadle
as
central lobby at
again in the lavish apartments
it
of Scarisbrick House (1837-52) or Alton Castle (1840).
The work the
of William Butterfield (18 14-1900) carries
Gothic Revival
a stage further. Butterfield, a stern,
was
puritanical Anglican,
Church
clergy
medievalist at structural
and all.
He was with
the
darling of the
an odd
yet, in
integrity,
sense,
altars.
was
less
He
intent
High
was hardly
a
concerned primarily with
his
belief that
the spirit o(
medieval craftsmanship should apply equally
and
to drains
accepted Gothic as a matter of course, but
upon
making Gothic
archaeological accuracy than
into
a
'modern'
style,
upon
using sound
construction and washable, durable materials such as
glazed bricks, his ends.
in
All
The
Saints',
35^ Above:
Minton
tiles
and
inlaid marble, to achieve
bizarre but impressive result
Margaret
Street,
is
to be seen
London (1849-59) and
the rich screen of
St
Chad's, Birmingham ( i8^g), by Pugin.
Below: part oj the nave oj All Margaret
most Gothic of the
mean.
St Chad's,
3S7>
Street,
by Butterfield
Saints',
London (iS^g-^g),
Keble College Chapel, Oxford (1873-6).
in
significant that
Butterfield
Sir
is
John Summerson's
entitled
It is
surely
on
excellent essay
'The Glory of Ugliness'.
George Gilbert Scott (181 1-78) shares with
Barry and Alfred Waterhouse the dubious honour of
being
many
among the first to have contracts.
Scott's
large organized offices, with
Albert Memorial, begun in
1863, was the secular obverse of the Butterfield medal. In It
he too was determined
to
make Gothic 'modern'. The
use of mosaic, marble, pink granite, gilded bronze
well as a hidden iron frame - are aspects.
and
literal
make J59 ^^^^rf Memorial, London i86j). Prince Albert
sits in
it
and pathos,
excesses
as well as
representation of virtue
a complete
its
its
'modern'
iconography
and sentiment,
symbol of High Victorianism.
however, Scott's enormous building
for
as
St
also It is,
Pancras
(he^iin
a Gothic
ij^ feet hi^h; below him
shrine
Its
some of
-
are
personifications of agriculture, commerce,
station (containing a hotel
London, of 1865, its
epoch.
It
that
is
combines
and
the booking^'of^ices) in
the culminating masterpiece of
all
the qualities of the sixties
-
manufacture and engineering, and a frieze
ofgreat
artists.
Like Butterfeld, Gilbert
Scott used every decorative material he could find, and every sort of
symbolic
carving.
This
is
literal
and
(
1
Scott's
The
St Pancras Station Hotel
relationship
trainshed behind
far left- was
up a ramp behind
292
nil.
it
of the fill.
Cabs
to the level
its
and
solid philistinism.
dous pinnacled skyline, of ramps and
terraces,
of uninhibited design.
86^ ) was the supreme monument of the
Gothic Revival, pride of
display
Victorian
'association' art taken to its limit
j6o
stylistic
generation.
hotel
^64) -
to
the
visible
carried passengers
of the platforms
its
it is
With
its
emplacement upon in
its
own
tremens a plinth
right a great piece
When
the old
Houses of ParHament were burnt, a
number of miscellaneous
courts of law were also
The
was
ultimate consequence
Justice in the Strand.
won
this
building
George
commission
new Royal Courts o(
the
Edmund
poor acoustics. finest interior
It
of the Victorian Age.
into a series of vignettes, as that
fact
(1824-81)
its
The
gloom and
its
has a huge vaulted hall, perhaps the
lacking the verve of St Pancras -
of the
Street
in a competition in 1866.
disliked by lawyers for
is
lost.
a
it
Its
is
exterior
cleverly
- though
broken up
were, in honest recognition
long fa9ade cannot otherwise be
appreciated in a narrow
Alfred Waterhouse
street.
(i
830-1905) handled millions of
pounds' worth of work with a professional expertise that
makes him
the link between a romantic
Gothic Revival
Town
^61
and
the
commercialism of our
organize a plan and get
it
built.
own
Among
day.
He
his larger
could
com^
missions were Manchester Assize Court (1859), Eaton
Hall
(i 867),
the City
Manchester
Town Hall (i 869), in London
and Guilds College and
the Natural History
Museum, South Kensington (1873-81), while St Paul's School, Hammersmith, and the Prudential Building,
(i86g):
Hall, Manchester
Alfred Waterhouse adapted the current
Gothic style
buildings
massive
Hall day
to
with
^reat
require^
did not prevent
In the
it
civic
The
ingenuity.
Gothic skyline of the
- an extremely
^62
elaborate
the
of new commercial and
ments
being
efficient
-
Town own
in its
building
Royal Courts of Justice,
London (designed 1866), G.E. Street showed his genius for grouping and for breaking up a long facade without loss of unity.
The
streetAeuel arcade
ties
the
composition together
293
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Holborn (begun 1879)
are souvenirs of a fashion for
building in terracotta of a loathsome red
tint.
The mind of Victorian England was divided between its ideals and its materialism. The attempt to reconcile them -
Tennyson
read
to
exposed
age
the
schizophrenia
j6j The in terio r of the (
Oxjo rd Museum
iS^^-g), by Deatie and Woodward,
demonstrates jiict
in
of the a^e.
succinct
The
form
the con^
iron^and^glass roof
upon with
never meet.
to
Carlyle in the evening - has
most marked
pride
as
of hypocrisy.
charge
the
in architecture; the rail^
well
financial
as
satisfaction;
Gothic, was only High Art -
Nothing could
possibly desirable, never practicable.
dichotomy more
two
cases of
the
Oxford
clearly than the
two kinds of architecture
Victorians thought should Its functionalism is mitigated
by wrou^ht^iron folia^^e on capitals and
the
St
Pancras
Museum. medieval
This
new machinery were looked
'architecture'. Classical or
reveal this which most
is
or
ways, docks, viaducts and
on the hrich^and^stone Gothic structure hrin^^s toj^ether
hands during the day, and
to boss one's factory
London and
Hotel in
St Pancras towers
up from
- a
the street
pile screening the railway station.
At
great
the back,
spandrels
••owards the trains, the facade
is
almost as ornate, but the
curve of the magnificent iron and glass roof, designed by
W.H. Barlow
two
years
ruthlessly across the
evidence that a hotel
it
before the hotel,
cuts
Venetian windows. There
ever occurred to
anyone
quite
no
is
that a station
and
might be designed by one man.
Ruskin's Stones of Venice had been published in 1851.
The Oxford Museum Gothic
directly
(Another
was
Palace' for the
Ruskin was
(185 5-9) was an essay in Venetian
inspired P. B.
by
Ruskin's
Wight's
Academy
magic
'Doge's
extraordinary
of Design in
New
York.)
in fact consultant to the architects of the
Oxford Museum, Deane and Woodward. At stage
prose.
a late
he discovered that in order to give good top^
lighting to the galleries a cast-'iron roof
was
to be used.
He instantly withdrew. The roof still serves, all its Gothic cusps
and
foliations
beautifully
cast,
the
lighting
excellent.
The whole controversy about the
use of iron
the prehistory of modern architecture
head
in 1851
-
virtually
- was brought
to a
by the building of the Crystal Palace
house the Great Exhibition in
Hyde
to
Park, London.
j64 The
iron roof by
W.H.
Barlow
which spans the 24^ feet of St Pancras Station in
London (1864)
is
one of the
finest engineering achievements of the igth century.
Note how
girders dwarfs the
the ^reat curve of the
little
Gothic windows
of the hotel building, joined on
^j6
Crystal Palace
London
photograph
was made of
story has
been told
many
times. In essence
Park,
shows how, although iron
retained a touch of
The
Hyde
contemporary
of Paxton's prefabricated
exhibition building it
in
This
(18^1).
end
at the
sections,
still
it
Regency elegance
was
it
who had been for the Duke of
simply that Joseph Paxton (1803-65), building very
large
Devonshire, was
conservatories
now
able to solve the problem o[ an
even larger and equally well^lit exhibition building, a third
of a mile long,
structure in iron factories
and
and
by designing a prefabricated glass;
finished in six
was
to
months.
It
this
remarkable achievement technically. In
be
made
was
its
made
clear
to all
but the most bigoted -
architecture were not incompatible. the
same again.
most
marriage of
garden-party elegance and railway engineering
-
a
in
it
that iron
also
and
Nothing was quite 295
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
It
and
was its
very disturbing. Ruskin's antipathy to iron
all
implications was clear. The Stones of Venice had
opened with from a also
rat
a definition
of what 'separates architecture
hole or a railway station'. Viollet^le^Duc had
spoken of iron^roofed markets and
'only sheds'.
They had
to
stations as being
think again. Viollet^le^'Duc,
in his Entretiens of 1862-72, conceived the idea of a
complete iron^-framed building, and Ruskin thought that 'there
might come a time when
architectural laws'.
Even
there
would be new
before the Crystal Palace, in
1843-50, Henri Labrouste in Paris used slender
cast
columns and vault of the Bibliotheque
Ste/
iron for the
Genevieve;
the
exterior
structure. In 1846, J.B.
is
a
conventional
Bunning designed
the
masonry
London
Coal Exchange (now destroyed) with magnificent and j66 The
interior
of the Coal Exchange,
London (1846), shows f.B. Bunning
s
acceptance of cast iron, not only as a structural convenience - allowing a vast
glass roof the richest
296
-
but as a legitimate field for
ornament
ai
1 iWf '«».''
Ir?;
much ornamented ironwork In 1854 L.^A. Boileau,
shell.
at
again within a masonry
St^Eugene in
Paris, built
7
Paris
Bibliotheque
(184^-^0).
Ste^Genevieve,
in
Henri Labrouste
designed an elegant interior with slender
a large 'Gothic' church in iron,
repeated
his
and
in 1862 Labrouste
triumph with the readings-room of the
Bibliotheque Nationale - a delicate fantasy of thin iron
columns and
airy
columns and vault of iron - the interior to he
first
governed by the aesthetic of
metal construction
domes, once again within masonry
shells. It
who
was Gilbert
said that 'this
triumph
field for architectural
however, had
to
continent. Iron
be
-
.
.
.
development'. That development,
left
to
another generation and another
like the arch
matter of an occasional jeu or the Eiffel
nature of
new
opens up a perfectly
- was one of the few
revolutions in the long story of architecture.
Museum
y
Scott, speaking of the Crystal Palace,
d'esprit
such
Tower. Iron and
buildmg and,
therefore,
was not a
as the
steel
of
It
real
Oxford
changed the
cities.
It
was,
however, not until the Chicago architects of the 1880s
and
1
890s that the breakthrough came to the
framed skyscrapers of urban America ... age.
As
nineties,
Waterhouse's career came
first steel/
to
another
to a close in the
Louis Sullivan was also building large
office
297
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
blocks in Chicago; and yet Waterhouse and Sullivan
belong
to different worlds.
Pans markets and
If the English railway station, the
architects
home
Palace brought
the Crystal
- bogged
down
to the
-
in 'style'
professional
the potentialities of
was only one consequence of
metallic architecture, that
the Great Exhibition. In the exhibits, as opposed to the *Palace' housing them, civilization
misunderstanding
crass
production were the
of the
blatant.
all
was against
It
of mass
processes
young William Morris (1834-96), and
all this
romantic
reaction
Revolution stood in the
against
- technically and
for
the
had been Industrial
socially
-
so
now,
second half of the century, the 'cash nexus' of
capitalism with
all
that
implied aroused once again
it
the divine discontent of the the
that
all
that
his disciples,
reacted so violently. Just as the Gothic Revival a
a nadir
ornament, gross sentimentality and
in design. Excessive
a
had reached
dream-world
of the
caused his
artist,
medieval
flight into
craftsman:
Pre^
Raphaelite paintings, Rossetti's sonnets, the Kelmscott Press,
wonderful
of the English
garden
cities
but with
all
textiles,
oak
village, the
furniture, the 'discovery'
week-end
and country mansions
like
cottage, the
first
medieval farms -
the apparatus of luxurious house^parties.
The
English Arts and Crafts movement, from William
Morris
to
Lutyens, from 1850 to 1914, was a swan^song,
a nostalgic postscript to five
hundred
years of country/
house building.
When
William Morris came
revelled in
its
spires'.
Oxford
in 1853 he
His mind, sparked off
Exhibition, determined to lead
by the horrors of the
1
England back
an idealized Middle Ages,
through
a
to
85
1
seen
golden haze. In the event he succeeded only in
printing beautiful books
and
that very small minority
which had both money and
taste.
in
producing
textiles for
In 1859, however, he commissioned Philip
(1831-1915) 298
'dreaming
to
Heath
to
in Kent.
build
him
This house
the is
Red House
now
at
Webb Bexley
considered to be an
J
The
j68
Coalpitheath
Vicarage,
In
(184^1-^^).
spite
Butterfielcl's
of
elaborate and polychromatic churches, a
house such as this shows that he was far
ahead of
Webb
traditional
Like
house.
in his appreciation
and
medieval
planned from the
buildings,
inside out
:
of the
English
craftsmanlike
it
is
the irregular
exterior expresses the plan, rather than dictating
j6ij
it
Philip
Webb's Red House
Bexley Heath (iS^g-61), William Morris, shows and
romantic
built
at
for
a picturesque
grouping
of roof and chimneys around the focal point of a welU head. There is practically no ornament or stylistic
equally
detail;
what
there
is
comes
from Gothic and from the ijth
century
historical
landmark.
London,
as well as
At
many
a time
when
the
West End of
country houses, were
still
being
m debased Palladian stucco, Phihp Webb followed the path explored m Butterfield's country vicarages, and built
used brick,
tiles
and oak. The house had
isms - French and Gothic touches - but
was
its
a few its
revival of the simple vernacular, the
and long ridge
lines
manner^
justification
tall
chimneys
of the old English farm or manor,
with a corresponding integrity of craftsmanship.
299
:
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Morris and
With
Webb
were on the verge of
a discovery.
emphasis upon basic form, sound material
their
and good craftsmanship they might have spotted shapes and ornament were the
styHstic
Gothic iron
architecture, just as they
was
was
the vernacular
fifty
that
and
beautiful. In the event they did neither,
the
for half a century.
theme of the Red House - not
Tunctionalism' - that was to assume so the
part of
least
might have spotted
modern movement was postponed It
that
its
many
forms in
years that followed. Architects such as
Norman
Shaw (1831-1912), C.F.A.Voysey (1857-1941) and Sir Edwin Lutyens (i 869-1944) handled that theme each in his own manner. These men - together with many others - created a poetic, if not very momentous phase of European architecture. Significantly
with most
fully
dealt
by Paul Sedille in L'Architecture moderne
and by Hermann Muthesius
en Atigleterre (1890),
Hans (1904-5). At
englische
is
it
least
it
received
in
Das
European
recognition.
Norman Shaw was successful and fashionable. He was no modernist. The 570 Piccadilly Hotel, London Norman Shaw's last major which he^aue us a powerful cally
(
igo^)
work,
in
if stylistic
with
Northern
Renaissance
gables and William^ and'- Mary windows. rusticated arches hold their
the street, while the set
for
own
in
bedrooms are wisely
the literal stylism
came
to
it
was when he
and High Victorian pomp
something rather more charming, more
Even
so,
mixed- facade, combining Genoese
Baroque
The
abandoned
nearest he
books.
original.
he ran through the whole gamut of the history
At
Cragside, Northumberland, as early
as
1870,
he built a fantasia of gables and chimneystacks;
Bryanston in Dorset, in 1889, he produced a
maniac mansion
in
the
style
at
megaW
of the age of Wren,
back behind the Ionic colonnade
splendidly sited on a prolific career,
Theatre
wooded
hill.
Towards
with public buildings such
(now demolished) and
the
end of a
as the
Gaiety
the Piccadilly Hotel
(1905), he gave us a kind of Genoese Baroque pastiche.
He was
the complete eclectic. His
work shows
versatility
rather than any very sincere architectural conviction. Sir
Edwin
enterprises as
Lutyens, with such vast and somewhat arid
New
Delhi
become something of an
At
to his
name, was destined
'architect laureate' in
the turn of the century, however, he
to
England.
was building
for
Cra^side
J7^
pastiche.
- ^ahle
element so on
Shaw
-
(
iSjo)
is
a fantastic
here uses every romantic half^timber,
,
to create
what
is
muUion and
virtually the
English equivalent of a Rhine castle on the
Northumberland moors
J 72 Bryanston, Blandford (i88g), a startling shift in Shaw's style from Cragside. a
wooded
mood
is
The site is a dramatic one now mature. The general
hill,
pseudo^Queen Anne, with a
rather dubious clash in style between the centre
and
the
wings.
chimneys are virtually a
the aesthetic rich a few drearri/'Hke country houses
wonderful
Munstead at
gardens.
Among
Wood in Surrey
Sonning
in
the
set
more famous
(1896), the Deanery
brief
dream was
banded
trademark
in are
Garden
Berkshire (1901) and Marshcourt
Hampshire (1901-4). This
The
Shaw
the
m
world
of Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House: 'cultured leisured
Europe before died, in
the
[first]
war'.
It all
died, as
it
should have
August 1914. j 73 Deanery Garden, Sonning ( igoi), one of the most serene of Lutyens's earlier houses.
This
is
the architectural
fruit of Morris's revival of craftsmanship,
with
its
impeccably handled brickwork
and wooden window ^mullions, and also the perfect marriage of house
and garden
301
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
C.
F.
A. Voysey was
Butterfield a generation earlier, integrity
governed
all.
There was
his frank
richness
He
He was
with
austerity
about
his
no prophet of
shared Morris's respect for tradition, but
acceptance of the nor
and
a delightful freshness
designs for textiles and furniture.
modernism.
As
in a different category.
that
fact
Gothic
neither
Gothic craftsmanship were any longer
obtainable gave a curiously functional flavour to his
gabled and mullioned houses such
Windermere (1898) at
Chorley
Wood
woodwork, mullions
all
in
bright
came
or, a
as
as
few years
Broadleys on Lake
later, his
own
house
Buckinghamshire. Plain painted
tiles,
unpolished oak, square^cut
something of a shock
while the Belgian designer Henry Voysey's wallpapers that
*it
was
Van
in the nineties,
de Velde said of
as if Spring
had come
all
of a sudden'.
This curious
phase
of the vernacular revival
England - and Shaw, Lutyens and Voysey few of those involved - had served only the
easily
are only a
rich.
other end of the social scale such architecture
was
least the
of the
first
Broadleys,
Lake
Windermere best houses,
where the low^roojed cosiness oj English domesticity
is
combined with an austerity
oj detail foreshadowing a more junctional style
302
too
until
at
- such
as
systematic municipal attempt to
make architecture serve 'the people' came with
i8g8): one of Voysey's
all
Peabody Trust - under philanthropic
auspices, but the
(
the
Second World War. The Victorian Age had
seen the building of various tenement blocks
jj^
At
debased by the speculative builder into that sham
Tudor which dominated English suburbia
those
in
the found/
ingofthe
London County Council in
municipal housing and, close
good working/'class
flats
to the
and
designed by
However,
Parker.
belong
these
'garden
first
city'
-
Raymond Unwin and Barry examples of how planning
another
to
the nineteenth century
Tate Gallery, some
became more important than
'housing'
houses
when some
- was founded by Ebenezer
in Hertfordshire
Howard and
896,
were built under the guidance
of W.R.Lethaby. In 1903 the
Letchworth
1
and
century
to
great
another
chapter.
This whole
story of
English domestic architecture in
the half^century that lay between first
garden
city
is
compounded, on
Red House and
a curiously interesting interlude.
It
the
was
the one hand, of an almost dream^like
conception of the old manor-house and the belief of a
wealthy
class that that
and refashioned
kind of house could be resurrected
hand
comforts; on the other a
Fabian and even
tecture as
socialist
later
we know
a philanthropic,
it
in the
world today.
America saw
architecture.
the exploration of
upon
a slight influence
nineteenth century in
growth of two trends in
was
was
determination to use archie
had more than
architecture as
there
there
an instrument of social welfare. Neither of
these concepts
The
not only the dream but their
to suit
On
the one
new forms and
the
hand
techniques
of building, led by the Chicago School; and on the other there
was academicism,
McKim, Mead and
led
by such firms
as
White. Behind both there loomed
the giant figure of Henry
Hobson Richardson (183 8-86),
one of the outstanding geniuses of American architecture. Trained
at the
source of
famous
Ecole des Beaux/ Arts in Paris - the main
American academicism - he
for the
'Romanesque
is
perhaps most
Revival' initiated
by
his
enthusiasm for the Romanesque of southern France; but
whereas few of the architects
who
joined
him
in the
'Revival' could dominate the style, Richardson emphatic^ ally
could. In 1872 he
Church, Boston,
won
the competition for Trinity
a fashionable
and prominent building
303
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
made
that his
Like
his reputation.
bold and
work,
it
shows
handling of rugged masonry (he
skillful
and
preferred granite),
all his best
his
powerful sense of composition.
His awareness of contemporary English developments
shown by glass
the fact that Trinity
Church
is
contains stained
by William Morris's firm. Richardson designed a
number of buildings
in
original private houses
Store (see
below
use historical
Chicago, including two highly
and
p. 308).
knowledge
the Marshall Field
His genius in a
It
was
brilliant architects
this
lay in his ability to
'modern' way, by stripping
a building of detail in favour of a tional theme.
Wholesale
dominant composi^
that inspired the
two most
of the Chicago School, Sullivan and
Root: they found in Richardson an aesthetic
for the
modern movement. Both
C.F.McKim
and Stanford White, of McKim,
Mead and White, were
trained in Richardson's office,
but their role might almost be regarded as that of *anti^
Stanford
pioneers'.
White,
who had worked
with
Richardson on Trinity Church, did go further than any English
architect
historicism
in
of the
domestic
time
abandoning
towards
building:
there
can
be
no
precedent for such a design as the low, spreading,
enormous^roofed The Great Hall of Pennsylvania New York (n)o6--io), a major work by the successful firm of
j^75
Station,
McKnn, Mead and White:
an
un^
abashed reproduction of the main hall of the
Thermae of Caracalla
combined
however
railway station plan
304
with
(cp.
an
III.
40 J,
efficient
W. G. Low House
in
Rhode
Island
-
57^
(iSj^-
Trinity Church, Boston
jj), shows H.H. Richardson's ru^ed style of masonry - here pink granite
trimmed with hrownstone - and also ability
to
masses,
control
detached blocks building up
of the tower.
The
the to the
inspiration
is
his
almost
climax clearly
Romanesque
377 In the Boston Public Library ( 1 888~g2) McKim, Mead and White like Barry in the Reform Club - offer us a
most accomplished version of an
Italian facade
:
the range of deep arches
owes something Malatestiano
As Norman Shaw was
(1887).
turned
*Queen
American
and
to
its
to
Alberti's
Tempio
igS)
doing in England,
McKim, Mead and White Anne',
(III.
increasingly
to
equivalent,
'Colonial' architecture of the eighteenth century; gradu^ ally
they
formality
abandoned and
the
picturesque
favour
in
deliberate imitation of the past.
of
Their
commissions included large clubs, the Pierpont Morgan Library (built of solid marble), Pennsylvania Station as
we have seen,
- and
a reincarnation of the Baths of Caracalla
the Boston Public Library.
fashionable practice architecture for,
and
was to
effect
of
their
divert the stream of American
away from what
into the
The
the
Chicago School stood
'Academic Reaction'. In
this attitude
they belong firmly to the nineteenth century.
305
•^'
l^
Chapter Eleven
THE MODERN MOVEMENT
So
far in this
book we have been
able to keep architecture
Now we
in fairly neat national categories.
have
to give
jy8 (
Marquette
Chicago
Building,
iSg4): Holahird and Roche,
at
an
early date, have here recognized that a
that up,
and describe developments
whole world.
the
national
style'
One may
that relate equally to
repudiate the term 'inter/
and climate may always
since character
prevent such a thing, but one must proclaim architecture
as
Renaissance,
modern
England. Today any
new
planetary
any technical advance,
is
design,
is fully
proclaimed
though
by
law
in the it
gridAike
had
to
be
covered by masonry
two
Florence, took nearly
centuries to establish itself truly in idea,
frame
The
being part of a world culture.
after its birth in
new form of structure - steel - needs a new form of architecture. The steel
knowledge
within a week. It is
generally recognized that, if the prehistory of the
modern movement tours de force as the
- with such unrepeated Crystal Palace - it is to the United
lies
in Britain
one must turn
States that
for the
consistent exploitation of the
the
United
States,
it
was
new
first
and
large-scale
principles.
the architects of the
Within Chicago
School - William Le Baron Jenney, William Hclabird
and Martin Roche, Daniel Burnham and John
Dankmar Adler and Louis
born Root,
Well/-
Sullivan -
who
in the space of some twenty years laid the foundations
modern commercial the ally
first
architecture. In
Chicago we
use of 'skyscraper construction', the
planned foundations
for
aesthetic
high buildings, the
programmes
find
first scientific/'
systematization of a type of high office block,
development of
oi^
first
and
to suit the
the
new
techniques. Several
things
forcing-'ground of
contributed
to
modern urban
make Chicago building.
One was
the its
307
emergence
of the Middle West, the
as the capital
new
the Great Lakes, key to the axis of
New York-San
north-south
Another
cultural
factor
was
Francisco, as opposed to the old
the great
let
in the person
New
of Boston
axis
imagination and power,
was
of
east-west commercial
Orleans.
of 187 1 which
fire
smoking ruins of Chicago wide open was genius,
city
left
the
any architect of
to
alone genius. Finally, there
of Louis Sullivan. Sullivan
a great theoretician of architecture, as well as a great
He
architect.
demo^
believed that architecture must be
cratic; that architects are as
important
democracy
to a
as
politicians are. Buildings should serve emotional as well as physical needs.
William L. Jenney's approach was jjL)
different: a strict
Marshall Field Wholesale Store,
SSs-j), by H. H. Richard^
Chicago
(
son:
lesson
a
1
in
grandeur,
if not
in
technique
functionalist, he
and
efficiently,
was concerned with building cheaply
and providing
in his office blocks.
the most possible daylight
This led him
in 1883 (in the
Home
Insurance Building) to 'skyscraper construction': the external cladding
bolted
'shelves'
carried entirely
is
a
to
by means of metal
metal
central
core.
Burnham, Holabird and Roche were jSo (
1
Auditorium
SSj-g),
by
lesson learned
Building,
Louis
Sullivan
tormm, a hotel and in use
:
the
and expanded. This large
complex building contains
fully
Chicago
today
offices,
one time or another, but
office at
Roche who followed
Tacoma
it
his principles
Sullivan,
in Jenney's
all
was Holabird and most
closely.
Their
Building of 1889 had a rivetted rather than
a vast audi^ all success^
bolted frame (thus speeding construction), and floated
on concrete subsoil
grouting of concrete into unreliable
rafts;
was here done
for the
first
time.
Holabird and
Roche's masterpiece, the Marquette Building of 1893-4, is
sixteen storeys high;
its
frame construction
is
expressed
by a grid^like elevation with large horizontal windows the
'Chicago window' with
sides.
fixed centre
This was a formula which the firm repeatedly
applied, reducing the wall area
Burnham and carefully
Chicago
Root's
worked out
who saw found
and movable
to
and simplifying
Montauk Block of 1882 was
meet the requirements of a
clearly that 'tall buildings will hereafter,
to erect
and sooner
them'.
details.
Soon
or later a
client
pay well in
way
will be
the architects reached sixteen
storeys; the
Monadnock Building (1889-91) marked the
culmination of masonry construction, with load^bearing brick walls six
Though higher had been common^
thick at the base.
feet
buildings were possible -
elevators
place for hoisting goods since 1844 in England,
New
York,
and
in
it
was obvious
to be metal/framed.
Perhaps the
for passengers, since
would have
that they
1871 -
most striking building of the Chicago School made
full
aesthetic use of the metal frame: the Reliance Building,
designed
Root's death, was in fact lower than the
after
Monadnock
Building, but
display of manifestly non^
its
bearing walls looked forward to the curtain wall.
The
Louis Sullivan was not a
aesthetic inspiration of
H.H.Richardson's Mar^
glass^and/'iron building, but shall
Field Wholesale Store of 1885-7.
rusticated
struction
and
which was
paraphrase
free
simplified
and
committed
firmly so
soon
of an
and enlarged,
rose to seven storeys.
masonry con^
to the
Renaissance
covered an entire
What
boldly
is
be superseded by
to
Italian it
It
steel.
A
palace,
city
block
impressed Sullivan was j8i Reliance Buildin£, Chicago ( i8go-
monumental composition,
its
the fact that a commercial g/f),
building could have such dignity and
vitality.
Just
how
deeply Sullivan was impressed appears in the Auditorium
Building (1887-9): here
is
on
augmented
a two^storey plinth,
tower giving further In
the Marshall Field Store at
the
set
back by a
by
D.H.Burnham
astonishingly
modem
pktely recognized
and Co.
design,
An
which com^
the aesthetic implica^
tions
of cage construction: large win-'
dows
stretch between steel piers sheathed
in lioht terracotta
office space.
1890 Adler and Sullivan built the ten^storey
Wainwright Building thirteen^'Storey
in St Louis,
Buffalo (the Chicago School and
spreading
east
bottom than
and
in
1894 ^^^
Guaranty - now Prudential - Building
and
at the
had been used
for
fact 'walls' at all.
west).
The
its
principles were
walls are no thicker
top; in the sense in
in
which
the
at the
word
thousands of years they were not in
On
impressive attempt to
the
make
and masonry look what it is -
whole
the
there
is
a real
a veneer.
After breaking with Adler in 1895, Sullivan buik the
Carson
Pirie Scott Store in
Chicago, extended round
309
^J
lt\
icaaraHn
j82 Carson
Pirie Scott Store, Chica^^o
( i8gg-igo4).
A
few
years
later
than the Reliance Building, this work of Sullivan's, in
its li^^ht,
broad fenestration,
is
regular frame and
more truly modern
than any other building of the Chicago
..i^j
School
the corner in
incredible for
time in the accepts,
1903-4. By and large its
date
The white
structure.
metal frame behind
building -
- could have been designed
and considered
last fifty years
and indeed
this
a success.
It
of
its
exploits, all the implications
emphasizes the
terracotta sheathing it.
any
at
Sullivan designed this building
with Frank Lloyd Wright, an eager draughtsman of
elbow and
thirty, at his
One
thing
he created a j8^, ^84 Opposite: above, 'L'lnnova^ tion' in Brussels (igoi), by Victor
Horta;
below,
'La
Samaritaine'
in
Paris ( igo^), by Frantzfourdain. Iron is
at the
same time structural and
tive,
holding
round
it
the
glass
and
at least links
new
drawing-board.
Sullivan with Europe: while
architecture, he also created a
new kind
of ornament. In realizing the potentialities of ductile metal and convoluted or tense curves, he
and most sensual ornament of
the finest
ground
floor
made some of his time.
The
of the Carson Pirie Scott Store, otherwise
decora^^
swirling
so austere,
There
Matthew 310
at the
glows with that ornament.
lay
the
link with
Digby Wyatt's
Europe. traceried
As iron
Paddington Station in London, of 1852,
far
back
girders
as at
the idea already
existed that iron
might be not only
architectural, but
could also give
decoration.
structural or even
rise to its
own
kind of
We find the idea again in the Eiffel Tower in
1887, and in some of the big iron and glass department
such
stores,
Victor Horta's
as
'A
I'lnnovation'
and Frantz Jourdain's 'La Samaritaine'
Brussels (1901)
was indeed one of the
in Paris (1905). This
movement we call Art Nouveau. that Sullivan existed at
two
aspects of the
We may say, therefore, As
levels.
an architectural
innovator he was of the very greatest significance; decorative
as
modern movement
part of the
rejected
it
as a
he contributed to an ephemeral fashion.
artist
Art Nouveau was insofar
in
historical
models.
favourite
Its
ornamental motif, the swooning, sensuous double curve,
was found flowing
in the natural forms of plants, the sea,
While
hair.
architecture could
all
and
too easily
degenerate into mere interior decoration,
it
was
equally free from historicism.
is
shown by the
work of
Its
diversity
at its best
the four greatest architects of the time: Louis
whom we
Sullivan,
Antoni Gaudi
in
have already seen, in America;
Spain; Victor Horta in Belgium, and
Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Scotland.
Gaudf
Antoni religious
and by
(i
man, inspired
nature.
He
was
852-1926) in his
work by
profoundly
a
the
Middle Ages
gradually abandoned historicism for
a 'biological' style, a
change apparent
the Sagrada Familia
church in Barcelona. Gaudi was
commissioned in
1
88
3
;
his early
in the transept of
work is still recognizably
Gothic, though unorthodox. By the time the tops of the
openwork unique,
its
encrusted with
Batllo (1905-7)
is
fish.
hke the
balconies;
its
coloured ceramic.
faced with strange, bony
scaly roof changes colour
an iridescent ripples
were reached in the 1920s, the forms are
surrealist,
The Casa forms;
spires
from
left
to right like
The facade of the Casa Mila (1905-10) sea,
and has curious
internal plan
irregular. Parabolic arches,
is
spiky, seaweedy
entirely free,
and highly
which appear as the doorways
of the Palau Giiell (1884-9), are
at the basis
of Gaudf 's
3^5
Crypt
Coloma
Santa
of
de
Cervello, the unfinished chapel of the
Coloma Guell
(
i8g8-igi<,). Gaudi
used a variety of materials deliberately
supports is
to
both
quality
rou^h
organic
and
to
create a
and inclined
avoid buttresses.
Surrealist
-
effect,
The
result
medieval
architecture
in
indeed,
though far removed from that envisaged by Frank Lloyd Wright
structural innovations.
The
tiny chapel of the
Giiell has self^buttressing inclined
less
a
strings
and weights. Throughout
modern
walls,
his
life
Gaudi was
engineer^architect than a medieval master^
mason, working with
new
columns and
worked out by means of a complex model
their angles
with
Colonia
solutions
on
Victor Horta
the
(i
his builders
and improvising
ever^
site.
86 1
1947) exploited the aesthetic of
metal and glass construction even more than Sullivan.
Where Sullivan's iron was either functional or decorative, Horta's was both he made an architecture from languid ;
curves, swirling lines
and undisciplined
motifs.
Velde, lecturing in 1894, had said that possible to create an protection': this
ornament
was
store in Brussels has
curves of the metal
the
it
Van
de
should be
'expressive ofjoy, lassitude,
aim of Horta. His 'Innovation'
been mentioned.
stair/rail
and of the
The
snake^-like
surface decoration
House (1892), and the curved surfaces of fa9ade of the Solvay House (1895), both in Brussels,
in the Tassel
the
showed new ways Umited 312
the
their
to use materials,
but their idiosyncrasy
long-term influence. Horta's masterpiece,
Maison du Peuple of 1896-9, was
the culmination of
this
metal and glass aesthetic: the entire facade of iron,
glass
and brick was
in curving motion, the iron
set
exposed and not hidden behind masonry
m
- by law -
Chicago. Inside
the exposed iron yet
as
it
had been
auditorium
in the large
was given decorative curves
;
it
was not
time to be only functional.
Dieu!' were the words which the French
'Si j'etais
International
Modern
Robert Mallet^Stevens,
architect,
'And
placed over his door.
was asked. 'Then', he
you were God?' he
if
said,
should design
'I
like
Mackintosh.' Indeed in his best work Charles Rennie
Mackintosh far
(i
The
behind.
especially
868-1928) houses
Windyhill,
left
any form of Art Nouveau
he
and white, with
slender balusters enclosing the contrast,
are
as
in
and
exteriors,
in the vernacular tradition.
and Germany.
home, but
it
is
in
and
by
It
first
As
Vienna
his influence
Glasgow
1897-9 and 1907-9. The
at the
He went
building stands, the School of Art. stages,
Their
stairs.
Mackintosh was acclaimed
strong in Austria at
gleaming
interiors
stencilled decoration,
Secessionist Exhibition of 1900,
heeded
Hill
plain as any of Voysey's; like him.
Mackintosh was steeped a decorator
Glasgow,
Kilmacolm (1898) and
House, Helensburgh (1902), had pastel colours
outside
built
was
largely un/
that his greatest
was part
built in is
two
a straight/
The
j86
unfinished
Sa^rada Familia
188^)
in
transept
and
less to its original
spiration until, in the
we see the
As
Gaudi's greatest work.
is
church rose through the years less
of the
Barcelona (hegun
it
the
owed
Gothic in^
openwork
the personal expression
spires,
ofperhaps
most extreme individualist
in
all
architecture
5 Sy Mais on du Peuple, Brussels (i8g6Victor Horta: Art Nouveau in 99),
h
league with novation', in iron
it
new
techniques.
Like 'L'ln^
showed what could
and glass
be done
forward piece of work, surprisingly so
windows
big studio
we must remember,
Paris
-
and dominate
are frankly expressed
the facade; the only touches of Art not,
for the time: the
are a fantastic
the
little
Nouveau - and
Art Nouveau of Brussels
finials
removed from
the 'Scottish Baronial' houses.
became famous
library itself
for
its
gallery screen
shows Mackintosh's use of a to
create
spatial
ejjects;
the
highly original character of his ornament
appears
in the
windows
again the
is
it
running through
oriels
Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow (igo^-^). This view down from the
functionalism
several
than the
less
The
its
structure;
that dominate, giant floors,
foreshadowing
German Expressionism
of
the twenties.
At
same time,
the
1908-9, Peter Behrens (1868-
in
1940) was building the Berlin Turbine Factory, the type
metal railings and plaster
of building which until then had been regarded
frieze
utilitarian,
windows
mere shed.
a
Now
are set in splendidly
concrete masonry - almost the j8i)
the
complex handling of
space and the rich, dark angularity of
^88
on
The library wing of 1907-9 is even more striking,
railings.
outside
or
turret over the entrance, the
segmental curve of the door and the iron
far
then
Frank Lloyd Wright
built
the
the
purely
steel^framed
monumental masses of
last
concession to the his^
of the wall. Four years
torical prestige
big
as
earlier, in Buffalo,
open-plan Larkin Building at Buffalo,
N.Y.,
early in his career { ii)04). ^'^^
strong horizontal lines and plain brick"
work, so superbly used
in his later
work,
N.Y., Frank Lloyd Wright had ing,
with a large central
built the
office, top/lit
Larkin Builds
and surrounded by
This building, with sheer walls of unrelieved
galleries.
are already there
brickwork, was externally impressive and even Internally
it
Pevsner even
is
miracle of spatial unity;
a
calls
it
'ethereal'.
and the Larkin Building
ruthless.
Nikolaus
Both the Turbine Factory
clearly exploited the plain solid
wall as something powerful and emblematic of the
machine
age.
It
was done
some break with accept
it.
In
masonry was
modern
and was such
a wholes
the stylistically adorned wall, that
fact,
to
so well,
however,
this
we
Egyptian weight of
be the very thing of which, ultimately,
structure
would
rid itself Lightness, a delicate
web of steel and glass, was already replacing the wall. The structural cage was becoming the sign manual of a new architecture. That was the next stage. A triumphant demonstration of this new architecture
jgo Glasgow School of Art. Mackin^ tosh huilt the first section, on the
left, in
Art
has minor touches of
i8gj-i).
It
Nouveau
decoration,' hut its hig studio
windows
are frankly functional.
of igoj-^, on the
later section
makes
a
library's in
The right,
more dramatic use ofform long iron^framed windows :
plain stone tower up
from
the set
the steep
street
^gi For Factory
his in
purely utilitarian Turbine Berlin
(igo8-g)
Peter
Behrens created a great expression of power. The sides consist only of iron and glass,
while the corners are formed by
massive pylons of poured concrete below a concrete 'pediment'
jp2 Fagus Factory, Alfeld (igii). Where Behrens had emphasized the corner, Gropius and Meyer abolished it, showing that
steel
and glass could achieve
delicacy as well as strength
is
Fagus Factory
the
and Adolf Meyer had
the
at
Alfeld, design by Walter Gropius
in 191
1.
This went a
Chicago engineers:
stage further
than
the floors are cantilevered
out slightly from the supporting columns, and the whole structure glass.
is
therefore set
The wall had
was seen
to
irrelevant.
back behind the plane of the
finally disappeared.
Massive masonry
be not only unnecessary but also aesthetically
At
each corner of the Fagus Factory glass
butts against glass.
Also
before the First
Gropius (188 3-1969) had written,
World War
in the
Werkbund
book of 191 3, of the 'majesty' of American dams and silos - an almost shocking statement at that date.
year
THE MODERN MOVEMENT
It
was
atmosphere of post^
in 1919, in the hot^house
war Germany,
that
Gropius was allowed
Weimar Art School thus founding the architects
combine
to
the
with the School of Arts and Crafts,
Bauhaus.
first
and craftsmen.
It
Its
teachers were
artists,
symbolized in educational
form the technical actuality of modernism. Whereas
William Morris and that
it
implied had been anathema,
machine was simply against
his disciples the
Its
it.
a tool.
One must
potentialities
must
machine and to
all
Gropius the
design for
be
to
not
it,
not
glorified,
minimized. In 1925 the
Bauhaus - accused of 'degeneracy' and
'bolshevism' - was forced to leave established at
Weimar;
it
Dessau, where Gropius built
remarkable complex of buildings.
was for
it
re/
a
The Bauhaus was
never specifically a school of architecture, but architecture
was always
in the air, every craft
Bauhaus influence on
Walter Gropius. There
(
ig2^-6), by
are three
interconnecting blocks: in the
ground
left
main back^
the school of design, in front of
the glass^ walled
workshops win^ and
it
it.
also
doomed, brought
to
an
end by Nazism. In 1937 Walter Gropius accepted the
Chair of Architecture therefore,
indirectly
at
Harvard. The Bauhaus was,
responsible for the emancipation
o( American architectural education from bondage
to
to
the ri^ht, linked by the auditorium, a six"
storey hostel for the students
to
architecture has been incalculable.
The second Bauhaus was ^g^ Bauhaus, Dessau
subordinated
the
methods of the Ecole des Beaux^Arts, which had
stifled the
modernism
S
n
initiated
by Sullivan.
In
3^4
( igjo), tional
steep
the
Midler House,
Adolf Loos married
Prague his June--
and unornamented architecture
site.
The masses
to a
refect the different
parts of the open-plan house
new
In the thirties Gropius brought a
Europe
to
same way,
inspiration from
an architecturally flagging America. In the
Adolf Loos (1870-193 3) from America bringing the gospel of
forty years earlier,
had returned
Sullivan and the Chicago School to a Vienna in the grip of
Art Nouveau. There he found support
functionalist doctrine of
lucid architecture
that
which should above
House
all
Otto Wagner, and preached
unornamented
is
express
purpose. His Steiner
its
entirely plain rectangular forms,
and
was
It
for
built
of reinforced concrete.
plan:
its
like
differentiating
rooms by
by doors.
for
for the fact that
was
its it
remarkable
also
Frank Lloyd Wright, Loos was
by the open plan,
fascinated
than
architecture,
Vienna, o^ 19 10, was remarkable
in
in the
In
by the possibility of
their shapes
work
his
perfection with the Miiller
these
House
at
and
levels rather
themes
reached
Prague (1930).
In America, one architect was the heir of the Chicago
School:
Louis Sullivan's
Wright. In
star
pupil,
Frank Lloyd
his earliest buildings heavy, round^'arched
doorways and ornament
a la
Sullivan appear. Wright
soon abandoned these in favour of the development of open-plan, outward^looking houses with long horizontal
317
395>
39^ Frank Lloyd Wright:
zontal emphasis
Above, in its
the
hori^
1^04 and ig4g. Martin House at Bujjalo in
marriage of building
to landscape,
the essence of Wright's 'organic archie
Research Tower of and Son at Racine; core^ S. C.fohnson
lecture'.
Below,
the
rows of windows and far/projecting
among
these 'Prairie
House
Chicago (1909).
in
enclosed, blocky tendency in Wright's early
work appears Illinois,
Outstanding
Houses' are the Martin House in
Buffalo (1904) and the Robie
The more
eaves.
in
the
Unity Church
of 1906. Wright claimed that
Oak
at
was
it
Park,
the
first
and^ cantilever construction, used here for the first time, allows
window and floor
unbroken bands of
monolithic reinforced concrete structure in the
true
world. This boxy
account of the
were
of
Wright
that enabled
it
in 19 16, did
it
two
great tours de
(The Imperial Hotel
in
have a concrete construction earthquake of 1923;
to survive the great
has not saved
the factory for
material. Thirty years
its
built his
reinforced concrete.
Tokyo, begun
at
building, however, hardly took
possibilities
to pass before
force in
this
little
from the developers.) The
first
was
S.C.Johnson and Son Qohnson Wax)
Racine, Wisconsin (1936-9).
-
designed as a large, high hall
Larkin Building. Externally the glass ceiling of the hall
is
The main a
was
office
development of the
office
is
of brick, but the
supported by very slender
*Minoan' mushroom columns of concrete, of tremendous grace and beauty. date,
The second
was Falling Waters,
the
Run, Pennsylvania. Here
tour de force^
of the same
Kaufmann House
the
rooms
are
as
Bear
at it
.
were
extended, by means of big cantilevered balconies or decks, outwards over a waterfall. lines
strong horizontal
of the balconies are contrasted with the more delicate
verticality
of the surrounding birch
poetic concept possible only in
Ten
The
years
later
cantilever even
Johnson
Wax
modern
This was a construction.
Frank Lloyd Wright exploited
more daringly: at
trees.
in the Research
Racine, each floor
is
the
Tower of
cantilevered out
391 Unity Church, Oak Park (i^o6), has the wide eaves of Wright's 'Prairie Houses',
combined with severe blocky shapes of Egyptian monumentality The .
entire building is
of concrete poured
in
moulds
3g8 This large open office for S.C. Johnson and Son (Racine, igjS-p) was one of Wright's early masterpieces. The
beautifully
columns
-
slender
built in defiance
mushroom
of the general
would never stand support a most curiously contrived ceiling opinion that they
ofglass tubes
3gg
Kaufmann
(1936).
House,
Bear
This probably came
of everything
Wright
'organic architecture'. It
built,
Run
nearest, to
true
makes a full use
of concrete, but the broad cantilevered balconies are there also as a foil to the delicate tracery
of the birch forest
319
400, 401 for
Concrete ^aue new freedom
decoration
novation.
of Poelzi/s Berlin
and for structural
in-'
Below part of the auditorium :
Grosses Schauspielhaus,
(igig). Ri^ht:
the
Solomon
R. Gu^enheim Museum in New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in ig4j
(built
ig^6-g),
a
powerful
single sculptural unit amidst a wilderness
of city blocks
from a central core - a principle
now commonly
used in
skyscraper building.
One of Frank Lloyd Wright's last works, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (designed in 1943,
built
vitality
and
m
1956-9) demonstrates
originality.
It
his
unflaggmg
shows how reinforced concrete
could liberate the designer completely from the building
ramp suite.
is
It
is
no longer rectangular: a continuous
The
spiral
substituted for the orthodox picture galleries en
remains controversial, but externally the broad
masculine simplicity of the Guggenheim the
past.
man who,
fifty
is
a tribute to
had buik the Unity
years before,
Church. Frank Lloyd Wright's that in speaking
the
whole
granted. spite
story
That
of the
of
his later
embraces so long a span
works we have had
to take
of concrete in modern architecture
story
is
of the greatest importance,
fact that the
employ both
life
steel
same
architects could,
and concrete
for
for in
and
did,
either separately or in
combination, the two techniques tended
(if the special
opportunities of each were to be fully exploited) to lead in different directions.
The
simply - that there are
One is the steel and van der Rohe,
result
now
two
is
is
and the 'New Brutalism'.
to
put the position
modern
glass classicism
the other
-
architectures.
of Gropius and Mies
the heton brut of
Le Corbusier
!
The
principle that concrete can be a rigid curved slab
an arch - goes back
in the strict sense neither a lintel nor to
1905
when
Maillart
bridges in Switzerland.
was building
Nouveau faded from
assumed
yet
Poelzig
remodelled
Berlin, in
of
the
full use
as the
these stalactites
;
of the
swooning
the scene, this freedom
Hans
Schauspielhaus
Grosses
The
were possible only in
in
Tower
re^
next year Erich Mendelsohn -
usually an architect of restraint
its
graceful
the audience sat beneath a fantastic roof
inforced concrete.
Observatory
first
another form: Expressionism. In 191 9
which
stalactites
his
Gaudi had made
freedom that concrete could bring, but curves of Art
-
- designed
the Einstein
near Potsdam. This building, with
then fashionable streamlining, rounded corners,
etc.,
402
Observatory
Einstein
Neuhahelsherg
Tower,
(igig-21), by Erich
Mendelsohn propaganda/or new, mainly :
ironically
became
popular symbol of modernism:
a
and economics
ironically, because in fact the technique
of reinforced concrete
Mendelsohn's
freely
at that
streamlined,
forms
in design rather
than
a technical achievement in itself
date could not cope with
sketched forms; the building was of
brick plastered over to look like concrete
During Auguste
the twenties concrete Ferret. In
Raincy, near Paris.
found an evangelist in
1922 he designed a church
He was
lantern churches, by such
at
Le
inspired by the medieval
Gothic
structures as the Sainte
Chapelle where the tracery windows occupy the whole wall so that the worshipper
coloured casket. achieve a similar
form
resting
is,
as
it
were, within a
At Le Raincv Perret used concrete to effect. He built vaults of a flat segmental
on very slender columns -
a possibility only
405 Notre Dame, Le Raincy ( igzz), by Auguste Perret, a 2oth^century Sainte ^Chapelle
in concrete
111
m^m
404, 40^ Le Corhusier's ideal city, on paper and in 'beton brut'. The 'Plan Voisin' for Paris ( i()2^, detail above)
involved building high 'point blocks'
with every wing fully liberate
the
lit
ground for
-
in
-
order to
trees,
grass,
schools and recreation.
At
intended the 'Unite' (
ig4j-^2, below)
be one of eight similar blocks rising
on
'pilotis'
among
trees
concrete grille achieves
its
then built the 'walls' as a continuous
filled
with stained
The the
The
building thus
new
work of Le Corbusier (1887-1965).
Corbusier,
virtually
proscribed
by
his
resorted to his pen. in Vers une Architecture
Adolf Loos,
at that
material.
imaginative use of concrete reaches
Radieuse he produced
E
glass.
'Gothic' objective through what was
date an advanced use of a
Marseilles he
to
He
in concrete.
its
climax in
In 1923
Le
colleagues,
and La
Ville
two powerful pieces of propaganda.
years before,
had
uttered his
famous dictum.
'the engineers are
our Hellenes'.
demonstrate the truth o^ this,
to
Adolf Loos had only dimly
was
It
for
Le Corbusier
to state implicitly
what and
realized, that liners
typewriters were better designed than most architecture.
La
In
and other books he turned
Ville Radieuse
also to
town planning. His 'Plan Voisin' for Paris (1925) was a brilliant fantasy - although it seems rather less fantastic now than it did forty years ago - but it was the art of
who saw
he
might be useful not only
that skyscrapers
New
because, as in
York, they exploited land values,
but because, widely spaced
among
trees
and
lakes, they
could give back the space they had saved, thus enabling ordinary people to live with light, a
tremendous
there are a
air
and
foliage.
It
was
now, although
idea, scarcely realized even
few housing projects in the world - such
as
London's Roehampton Estate of 1952-9 - where Le Corbusier's theory has been the starting-'point of a plan.
Towards might
the realization of his vision of
how men
Le Corbusier contributed
live in cities,
a
number
of 'Unites d'Habitation' - in Marseilles (1947-52),
Nantes (1952-7),
The
etc.
'Unite'
seventeen^storey building, with
roof'top creche
Marseilles
at
own shops,
its
and gymnasium.
It
look out either
to the
self-contained
and
1
restaurant,
storeys,
5^foot/high
Mediterranean or
a
has an ingenious
arrangement of duplex apartments, on two double^height living rooms whose
is
to the
with
windows
mountains: 406
bare concrete
is
private villas in the
relieved
The whole
colour.
air.
Externally the
by a system of squares of primary
building
is
raised
on gargantuan
Roehampton
(ig^2-g),
County Council ment,
is
Estate,
designed
hy
the
London London
Architects' Depart^
a practical
and economic
inters
pretation of the 'Plan Voisin' and 'Ville
pylons or
pilotis; aesthetically
in the contrast between the rich textural fagade o(
lies
balconied pilotis. It
windows and
This indeed
was
is
Corbusier ranked his
an
the primeval scale of these
artist
Radieuse' theory.
Tower blocks, mingled
with lower housing, standfar apart
in the
mature gardens of demolished villas
using concrete.
in the sculptural quality of his concrete, com^-
bined with a great
in
the essence of the design
later
sensitivity for
composition, that
as a master; this
Le
appears most clearly
buildings, such as the Monastery of
La
Tourette (1957-60) and the Carpenter Center for the
323
/foj In the (
Law
Courts
at
ig^2-6) Le Corbusier used concrete
achieve a pattern of rich
forms. The design tional, the
is
Kiinj
l8BvL.L
Chandigarh
! am
III
111' V-r
,
v,
to
textures and
also highly
func^
open grilles letting air into the
court^rooms
408 The pilgrimage church at Ronchamp (ig^o-4) is the humblest and perhaps the most moving of Le Corbusier's buildings. The inters related curves of eaves
and walls combine
sculptural unity. ('brut'),
the
The
to
concrete
create is
a
rough
windows placed with
a
calculated irregularity
Visual Arts
Chandigarh
at
Harvard (1962). Note,
Law
for instance, at the
Courts, the contrast between the large,
smooth and well^shaped columns flankmg
and
the rich grille
which forms
the entrance,
the rest of the facade;
note the subtly contrasted curves of the walls of the litde
pilgrimage church the broad
windows
concrete.
The
is
removed -
324
is
in
as
it
(1950-4) eaves,
as against
and
the tiny
the broad white spaces of the
actual surface of
rough, just
aesthetic
Ronchamp
outward curve of the
irregular
is left
at
emerges
Le Corbusier's
when
concrete
the timber shuttering
a rather affected emphasis
on how an
born of a technique. This mannerism has
become commonplace.
now
That Crete
free
does
and
can be created in con^
fantastic shapes
mean
not
such
that
shapes
always
are
appropriate. Concrete can indeed be used with restraint
of
steel,
contrary
to
the
or stone. In
whole
Giuseppe Terragni
cultural
Casa
built the
one of the simplest,
1932-6,
clearest
same may
be said of the very
Stockholm Crematorium,
architectural
designed by
Gunnar Asplund
The combination of bold Expressionist shapes
made
Rohe
moving but
in
its
m
the
-
of Fascism -
del Fascio
imaginable, worthy of Mies van der
all
for instance
ethos
m
Como,
statements
in steel.
very
The
subdued
splendid landscape, 193
5-
40^
engineering
possible
with
the
by concrete has
produced some of the most exciting buildings of the
modern movement. prefers
to
call
Pier
THE MODERN MOVEMENT
Luigi
Nervi
himself an engineer.
(born
The
Casa
Fascio,
del
Como
( igj2-6), hy Giuseppe Terragni, not
only defies the
Mussolini
pompous
regime;
it
stylism of the
also
defies
the
plastic qualities of concrete in favour of an
1891)
His stadmm
at
absolutely
pure
geometric
equally appropriate in steel
statement,
410,
^
Pier Lui^i Nervi :
J 7
lecture
horn of pure structure.
rij^ht,
the
Florence
Communal
(ig-^o- 2);
archie
Below
Stadium
rij^ht,
the
at 'rib^
vaulted' hangar at Orhetello f ig^Sj
412
In the church of the Miraculous
Virgin,
Mexico City
(
ig^^j, Candela
used concrete shell vaults of hyperbolic paraboloid form, visually Expressionist hut structurally logical: buttressing (cp.
III.
they are self^
^8^J, and need only
straight shutterinj^
Morence O930; has
a scissor^likc structure
and
a roof
cantilevered 50 feet out over the seating. His hangar at
Orbetello (1938^
while the
first
nearly 300 IS
is
300
feet
long with a iio^foot span,
Exhibition Hall
feet.
at
Turin has
Rome. Most
in
or the factory at
across
Brynmawr
and 2 inches thick j
shuttering,
and
in
and domes
arc
network of ribs
are
Olympic
Le Raincy,
Wales roofed by
the
domes each 90
poured on
therefore have smooth,
In Nervi's work,
for the
concrete vaults (e.g.
Architects' Co/Partnership with nine feet
span of
Nervi's culminating achievement to date
probably the circular covered arena
Games
a
to
continuous
unbroken
on the other hand, we
soffits.
find that roofs
extremely complicated - a beautiful effecting both a saving in shuttering
and
:
in the
pounng of concrete.
space of a lifetime Xcr.
\^
stniction through a process oi c\
c^ medieval aichitectuie
THE MODERN MOVEMENT
:hat in the
,.;:.: zr^ r;Dbed con^
:^
:
.1-
e ..i::
as, in
oiuaon not unlike that
the course of
some four
hundred years, it passed from the heavy arches ofRoman^ esq ue to the deHcate tracery
of Flamboyant Gothic.
Expenments with concrete
Only
kinds, have ree:: unlimited.
Among the
a
fev^-
can be noted.
most exdtii^ of the vaults - in some ways
harkmg back half a
centur.
macabre, jagged crean as
and shapes of all
vaults,
we see them in his cr
Mexico City (1953-5
::^
:-?
:
Giuii ^
?c
:ela, especially
..i^ous Virgin in
:
M
are the spiky,
:
;
:
:
,
.:
f" successful,
:
b^ curv^ed canopy vwucx. :c::iis L.:e er.ciince to the railway station in Rome (195 1), linking the street with is
the
die elegant but
Sweden,
at
more
Lulel,
Ri rh
Arctic Shoppii^ Cer:
concourse. In
straightforvi-'ard
:
E:>x
:.;
?3), a
:iesigned the
Sub^
krce complex con^
Cmema n f^
^ij
ping Caittr,
Erskme. shell,
A thm, smeoA^'waUei amcrek
cmema,
cavern with the projectioQ
room suspended within
a j
:
:c
concrete it.
its
dark^pamted
effects
cm
'amhulcSory'.
he produced on
near
Ae
opposite end (right), is
Ae
li^kt^colomei intemr
glimpsed throng curved opermgs in
Ae
spotligkts
taining a most remarkable
Sh^
acmsticaify designei, encloses
adkuce. Here is
Sub^Arctic
LdA (1963), hf Ra^
suspended
fftr
screen. fftr
Li^
wdb At
projection
hy ifcr
room
,
All over the world
are
innumerable
ment buildings; the vast majority -
and
office
apart^
- are
as in all ages
mediocre or routme buildings, but one may mention the Ministry of Education at
1937
Ldcio
by
UNESCO
Rio de Janeiro, designed
and
Costa
Oscar
Niemeyer;
in
the
Building in Pans by Breuer, Zehrfuss and
Nervi; the Arena
at
Raleigh, North Carolina (1950)
by Nowicki and Dietrick; the Reynolds
Aluminum
Building in Detroit (1959) by Minoru Yamasaki; the
New
York
Lincoln Center,
State Theater at
(1962-4)
by Philip Johnson;
Theatre,
Minneapolis (1961-3)
New
York
Tyrone Guthrie
the
by Ralph
Rapson;
Dulles International Airport, Washington (1959-63)
by Eero Saarinen St Catherine's College, Oxford (1963) ;
414 Ministry of Education, Rio Janeiro
(1937-43),
de
Costa
designed by
and Niemeyer with Le Corbusier as consultant.
This
'brise soleil' grid,
can
to
a
its
new
Building
at
office
level
the Cultural Centre at
Builds'
h
Minoru (igS9)> Yamasaki, shows the enrichment and at
Detroit
glamour given
to
buildings in the second
generation of the style called functional'.
The
still
popularly
screen fai^ade
Hans Scharoun;
the
United
Germany (1963)
in
States embassies in
a
here
appropriately, of aluminium
two
last
in
London
Dublin (1963) by
are both built of pre^cast
concrete sections, each section a
window
unit; both
embassies are unusual in that they attempt - from
diplomatic courtesy eighteenthz-century cities
harmonize
to .
.
.
their
scale
with
with only qualified success.
is
Saarinen designed through paper models instead of
trade^mark of Yamasaki;
virtually it is,
Wolfsburg
by Alvar Aalto; the Philharmonic, Berlin (1964) by
John M. Johansen. The ing
Arts
Yale University (1961-3) by Paul Rudolph;
(1955-61) by Eero Saarinen, and
41^ The Reynolds Aluminum
the
rich
shows how refinement
standardized world
the
lift
block
building, with
Arne Jacobsen;
by the Danish architect,
the
^#ta:aiittv.dMw»
drawing-board the :
right angle
and
the facade have
4i6 Tyrone Guthrie neapolis (
Min^
Theatre,
ig6i-j). Ralph
Rap son
here
tackled the old problem of how, extern nally,
^ive
to
unity
to
awkward
the
forms of auditorium and stage, solving it with a symphony of slender concrete planes andfins
41 J Yale University
New
Art and Archie Haven (ig6i-
6j), by Paul Rudolph.
A forceful com^
tecture Building,
position studio
of towers framing
the
in
big
windows (compare Mackintosh's
solution of a similar problem,
The smoothness of rejected
in
111.
the glass
j^o).
wall
is
favour of something more
rugged and idiosyncratic
418 United (
States Embassy, Dublin
ig6j), byfohn M.Johansen. Another
approach
wall
is
to
building
built
sections. It rests, like,
in
concrete:
the
up
of regular pre^cast however, on a fortress^
rusticated basement.
The
plan resolved the problem of an
circular
awkward
site
329
41 g port, is
TWA New
here
Terminal, Kennedy Air^ York (1^^6-62). Concrete
used
movement and made
sculpturally
models
realizing
express
to
spatial freedom. Saarinen
rather
with
that
drawing,
than concrete
no
one
^^:
with walls and arches,
longer designs
but with wings
lost significance. is
TW a Building at Kennedy Airport
remarkable not only
seagull in flight It
His
- but
does not have rooms or halls;
architect
Jorn Utzon
Opera House with shell^like sails
building
now
Opera
Sydney
House
motif of the
TWA
enclose space. It
is
(begun
uses the
wing
Terminal, but not
used for
its
own
to
sake,
as a medieval builder might use towers, for its
tremendous
330
effect
on a particular
site
wing/shaped roof - a
it
its
spatial effect.
has spatial volumes
About the same time the Danish
won
the competition for
Sydney
a roof consisting of half a dozen vast
of concrete faced with white mosaic. This rides
harbour in which
igS9i f^odelj.forn Utzon
its
also internally for
flowing into each other.
420
for
high like a great galleon above the
it is
reflected.
•
:
The corresponding
list
of steel must be rather shorter. aesthetic of steel
The
greatest master
of the
no doubt Mies van der Rohe (born
is
1888). Like Gropius, Mies
As
of the Bauhaus.
^.^
of buildings exploiting the use
early
was an emigre from as
1929, in the
,^^S
the staff
German
we can see the work. The more
Pavilion of the Barcelona Exhibition, restraint, austerity
and quality of
sophisticated but no
less
his
austere use of the geometry of
the steel frame is later evident in a whole series of buildings
House,
the Farnsworth
Illinois
(1950),
Lake Shore
Crown Hall at the
Drive Apartments, Chicago (1952),
of Technology, Chicago (1956), the
Illinois Institute
Seagram Building
in
New York
(1956-8), and the
Bacardi Offices in Mexico City (1963) -
chaste
all
'V,;,
essays
on
theme of the framed
the
rectangle.
In the
,
'
-
•
1
ujq "'^
-
./
superfluity,
der Robe's aphorism, 'Less
The to
buildings is
theme -
in
Mies van
,j
what one might
let
call
the
alone violent originality of the are rather less.
Rohe one must
Second only
place the large
1
-miiiwir n
to
>
• ,
,„.
J";
JiiiitntMU
iiHitiiinniiiiiiH
' '
1
in fii^ifHii |||iliMliint««M| nimiiiiniM nHnmninHi immi<
iimiiini
•
^'
-"W||w,„,„
..,,.";:;;;;;;;:
«„!
'I' ,
,1' I
^
III!
,i.<.,
••:i:^...,r.'"'"
":
'Miesian'
upon
Gaudi
or
Mies van
American
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; with big
"'•HlHlHn'-.
mm
'iiiHWifniii nmimmmiMinniii
'««.«;::'• -''M.^,;:;;
More'.
very great; opportunities for variation
Candela type der
recalls
-
elegant distinction, the Grecian purity, imparted
tradition
the
is
one
<
;
achievement of beauty by the rejection not only of
ornament but of every
1
-:••--
m'g^
firm of
offices in
many
Two
421, 422
of Mies van der Rohe's
essays in the theuse^of use qfjTHe fine steelwork
to
enclose and outline carefully proportioned
and related offices
in
liberates
rectangles. Left, the Bacardi
Mexico City (i^6j): interior
Seagram Building
space. in
Above,
New
signed with Philip Johnson,
York
steel
the
(de^
ig^6-8):
major and minor vertical divisions subtly articulate a vast surface; at
there
is
ground
level
no podium, valuable ground being
instead given over to an open
plaza
331
this
cities
firm
astounded
phenomenon
a
is
Gordon
partners of this firm,
York
in the
Lever Building
high/rise building;
iii'
would have
1952 one of the
In
centuries.
earlier
all
that
its
then most distinguished
has great clarity of design, and
it
among world si*';.
"'•'Si
may
a precedent that
capitals.
The Lever
for five years;
it
was then excelled by Mies van der Rohe's in
brown
glass
I.
we owe
Merrill
I
!!
Academy
Colorado Springs, and
at
even aristocratic, United Airlines Offices (1963). Lffer
and bronze. the
impressive and impressively sited United States Air
.,'.<> !S
Force
42J
level
Building, sheathed in
To Skidmore, Owings and
SSHSsSs i?^:iNiiii ,
new
to a
'"1
Seagram Building, sheathed
It
York
green glass, remained the most distinguished building «s»«'-.
.Jli
New
lift
it
which
incorporates a small but charming garden court set
New
Bunshaft, gave to
BuiUing,
Steel
houses - ever since Mies's
York
Canaan, Conn., both legion.
inspired and much^imitated combination
House
at
rooms
are
A
office
glass
tower with a
low podium (containing forecourt,
The most
in the late forties
evocative
New
- have been
Craig Elwood's Rosen
Santa Monica, California (1965) where the
grouped around
tree in the centre.
a small court
The Town Hall
(1955-6) by Arne Jacobsen 424 General Motors Technical Center, near Detroit (1951-5), by Saarinen.
of the Miesian
One
geometry.
of several formal blocks
is
at
with an old
res^
taurant and shops)
formal landscape
Chicago
at
Farnsworth House and the Philip Johnson house
New
(ig^2), by Gordon Bimshaft of Skid^ more, Owings and Merrill. Mies^ of a curtain^ walled
and
the chaste,
set in
a
The
clarity
largest
and
is
at
Rjodovre,
Denmark
another excellent example
austerity,
building in
an essay in pure this
idiom
is
the
complex of the General Motors Technical Center near
uncompromising
Detroit where, in front of the oi^
severity
the buildings, Saarinen has designed a broad land/
scape of lawns, pools and sculpture. In England a
new
influenced partly by at Marseille.
Peter
attitude appeared in the early
Le Corbusier's theory and
In their school
The plumbing and
on the
guishable.
and
their intention
but without the formalism of engineering are fully exposed,
basis that in great design,
cathedrals, technique
Unite
Hunstanton (1949-53),
and Alison Smithson demonstrated
to use steel architecturally,
Mies.
at
his
fifties,
art
whether of ships or
had always been
indistin^
In fact this school has the beauty of the
U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs (i959)- Skidmore,
42 S
Owinp
and Merrill here
set a
large
group of buildings of the most austere form on a rocky and mountainous site.
One
thinks of the Egyptian temple at
Deir eUBahari
u)
(111.
426 Philip Johnson House, New Canaan (ig4g). This is the Miesian approach
to
the purest use of glass
steel: a glass
by
its
42-/
by
box for
setting in lake
and
living in Justified
and woodland
K0dovre Town Hall (igsS~^)>
Arne Jacob sen.
relationship,
A
pure geometric
unelaborated,
large office building,
between
all glass,
the
and the
smaller council chamber, all wall
428 Hunstanton School
(1949- S3), by Peter and Alison Smithson. This is the
Miesian idiom, but with the charm of
refinement deliberately omitted
to
achieve
an 'honest' architecture
333
THE MODERN MOVEMENT
battleship rather than the liner. This gave rise to the
phrase 'the
Corbusier 's
Brutalism* - both a
heton brut (shuttered concrete)
pun on Le
and a
reference
Smithsons' anti^formalist principles.
to the
A
New
concise survey of architecture must on the whole
limit itself to great buildings designed for great purposes.
Two things,
One
however, become obvious.
is
that this
chapter - the world scene over scarcely more than eighty years
- has given
other
Tokyo
42(^
(ig6o), by
project
the
Kenzo Tange Team.
An
interesting
attempt
Le
Corbusier
to
take
the
spaced,
and
to
and the U.S. Highway system, rationalize
them
cottage, skills
planning concept of 'point blocks' widely
both
into
a
that
is
us a
much more crowded
throughout history the vernacular - house,
farm and village - had been a
and
craft,
with
its
Today
techniques, whether
this
steel
is
no longer
or concrete, are
housing problems
Modern
true.
now
own from
traditions, to be considered separately
'architecture'.
to solve
canvas; the
being used
over the world. Great
all
single architectural unity
architects are designing for the needs of
an expanding
population. not possible to deal fully with this separate theme.
It is
English legislation,
establishing
Towns', was probably the too soon;
it
a
number of 'New
post-war move.
first
must be recorded
It
came
that these twelve towns,
with one or two exceptions such
as
Cumbernauld,
near
Glasgow, merely echo the old pattern of the Garden City of the beginning of the century.
Japan has
the most acute population
problem
in the
world.
The i960
Team
envisages a long-term redevelopment of the city
itself,
as well as
project for
its
Tokyo by
by Noriaki Kurokawa,
all,
Kenzo Tange
imaginative expansion on a network
of bridges and causeways across
helical or
the
is
Tokyo
another
Bay. Helix City,
Tokyo
project with
corkscrew^shaped towers. Most imaginative of
however -
if still
only a hypothesis -
by Kiyonori Kikutake, which circular towers
on
conceived
Ocean City as a series
artificial offz-shore islands
and enchanting and Cities such as
is
is
.
.
.
of
poetic
surely not impractical.
Coventry or Rotterdam
are sincere but
not very inspired attempts - conceived twenty years ago to rebuild
bombed cities with some separation of cars and
4^0 Ocean
City
(igs^)> Kiyonori
Kikutake's tremendous project for towers on
artificial islands.
may
he the
most
The
circular tower
logical ultimate form
the 'point block' (see the
Chicago), as the ocean
of
Marina Towers,
may prove
the logical place for cities
to
be
of the future
335
THE MODERN MOVEMENT
pedestrians.
Cities
actually
planned
automobile are Cumbernauld and
Niemeyer. Brasilia
is still
hundred thousand
live in the
still
built.
vast
far
empty spaces and
However
the
Brasilia,
the
for
new
by Lucio Costa and Oscar
capital of Brazil designed
are
novo
de
from complete. Some two Federal District, but there
planned but not
arid tracts,
and monumental nature of
the formal
the finest of the capitals established byfat (the others being
St Petersburg,
Washington, Canberra,
Chandigarh and,
New
in the ancient world,
The
emerges magnificently.
Byzantium)
Planalto Palace, with
graceful loggia of columns like swans' necks central two^level core,
4P
Detail of the Alvorado
Brasilia, by
Oscar Niemeyer.
Palace, It
has a
the
first
is
Delhi and
its
around the
a fine essay in concrete,
and was
The main
centre of
of the buildings of Brasilia.
the city, forming the great
panorama,
sets
in careful
sculptural concrete lo^ia like that oj the
Plamlto Palace, and like a shell
a
chapel shaped
juxtaposition as well as in geometric contrast the low ministry buildings, the
tall
twin towers of Congress, the
bowl and
the
dome of the
arena and the assembly, and
the cathedral. Brasilia has a long
even look finished, but
for the
way
to
go before
next generation
it
it
can
may
must ask whether or
network of world
igS^- ^^^ they
Surely there
is.
style,
Like
all
A
strictly
is
or at least a
habits,
followed
by
whether in concrete or to a
Congress the
Niemeyer's buildings
'"
^ horizontal
landscape,
use of dramatic contrasts of
in
the
twin
office
towers of
set against the 'bowl'
housing
Chamber of Deputies
world approach.
great architectures such a style
own epoch,
whim or genius of its
an steel,
architectural
designers.
and human
interpretation,
must produce a
total solution
problem. This does not actually necessitate any
regard for tradition or any repudiation of it; one
another the result its
this
be found the
to
analysis of function
scientific
withm
not, even
must emerge primarily from the nature of its only secondarily from the
make
form, as
traditions, there
emergence of a world
Brasilia,
upon Costa's sophisticated plan of
yet
be the justification of our own. Lastly, one
^32 At rise
is
certainly a style.
gaucheries, a tremendous
Rome, but
style,
virile to the last degree.
by which one may stand or
It is
way
in fact, despite
as brutal as that
This
or
is
a
of
judgement
fall.
337
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Briggs, M.S. The
Fletcher,
B.
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A
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History of Architecture, 17th ed.
Pevsner, N. An
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1961
Harmondsworth, i960
The Ancient World
Anderson, W.J. and Spiers, The
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The Architecture of
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Ancient Greece.
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Berve, H., Gruber, G. and Hirmer, M. Greek London, 1963
BowRA, C.M. The
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Architecture of Ancient Greece.
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Cambridge,
1943
Smith,
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Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic
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London, 1948
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Evans,
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1924
i^jo-iS^o, 3rd ed. Harmondsworth, 1969
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1600-1 y^o. Harmondsworth, 1958
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
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New
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Architecture.
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1963
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,
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A
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Pioneers of Modern Design, rev. ed.
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Harmondsworth, 1968
New
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Architecture, rev. ed.
Tradition in Early Industrial Buildings.
Smith, G. E. Kidder The
and London, 1954
Architecture of Europe.
London, 1962
3
39
OF ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST
Sources of photographs are given
1
Saqqara,
in italic
complex of
Egypt:
Pyramid of Zoser;
III
Reconstruction by
J. P.
the
Step
Bc). Courtesy the Griffith Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
4 Giza, Egypt: air view of the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykermus;
IV Dynasty (2680-2565 bc). Museum
Courtesy
wood;
Model showing how at
the
Giza, of the
may have been
Pyramid
IV
built. Courtesy
Museum
of
Egypt: Ramesseum, mortuary temple of Rameses II (1301-1235 bc); Dynasty, Hirmer Fotoarchiv Munich
7 Karnak, Egypt: general plan of the temple complex (excluding the Temple of Mut);
begun in the XII Dynasty (1991-1786 bc), existing buildings mainly XVIII and XIX Dynasty (i 570-1 197 bc). After E. Brunner^Traut and V. Hell, 1962
8,9 Karnak, Egypt: plan and
section of the
hypostyle hall, to different scales;
Dynasty, built by Sethos f.
1312-f. 1235
BC.
I
XIX
and Rameses
After
garden represented the filled with water; XI Dynasty, 2000 bc. Cairo Museum. Peter Clayton
in the east
wing of
mam
staircase
the Palace of
XIX
Dynasty. A.Jdnicke
Deir el^Bahari, Egypt: mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (1511-1480 bc); XVIII
16 Knossos, Crete: throne
room
in the Palace
of Minos, probably rebuilt by the Mycena^ after an earthquake, Hirmer Fotoarchiv Munich
bc
c 1450
17 Mycenae, Greece: interior of the so-called Treasury of Atreus; 13th C. bc. Hirmer
18 Mycenae, tion
Greece:
isometric
of the palace;
Drawn
by Michael
reconstruct
C. bc.
14th- 13th
Langham Rowe
model of a temple, from the at Argos; late 8th C. bc. The
19 Pottery
Heraeum
decoration
is
almost certainly that of pottery
rather than architecture. National
Museum,
Athens
20 The three Classical Greek orders 21 Paestum, Basilica
Italy:
corner of the so^-called
(Temple of Hera
C. B c. Hirmer
Fotoarchiv
I);
mid/6th
Munich
22 Paestum,
Italy
:
so-called temple of
Nep^
B c. S.f. Brandon 23 Ephesus, Turkey: view across the portico of the Temple of Artemis; begun c. 540 BC. Restoration drawing by F. Krischen,
Gruben,
Hirmer,
Dynasty. Hirmer Fotoarchiv Munich
from
Abu
Temples, Theatres and Shrines, 1963
Simbel, Egypt: rock^cut temple of II
north-west;
Marburg
Minos;
1600 BC. Peter Clayton
tune (Temple of Hera II); mid^5th C.
10 Karnak, Egypt: view across the hypostyle
Rameses
are
bowl pool and
Banister
Fletcher
hall;
house
a copper
Fotoarchiv Munich
6 Thebes,
II,
and
15 Knossos, Crete: top of the
c.
as
of
Dynasty,
Science, Boston
XIX
c.
II
tomb of Meket^re
the
eans
of Fine Arts, Boston
Mykerinus
340
carved and painted
Giza, Egypt interior of the Valley Temple of Chephren, built of limestone blocks faced with red marble; IV Dynasty
entrance
Dynasty, Roger Wood
trees
in the
:
pillars in the
:
showmg Rameses
Model house from at Thebes. The
could be
Institute,
12
14
Fotoarchiv Munich
(2680-2565
11
XIX
Osiris;
building; III Dynasty, C.26S0 bc. Hirmer
5
Abu Simbel, Egypt of the temple
Lauer
2 Saqqara, Egypt: Step Pyramid complex, wall^decoration in the court of the north
3
13
Dynasty, c.2680 bc.
(i
301-1235 bc) from the
XIX
Dynasty. Bildarchiv Foto
Berve,
Greek
24 Athens: plan showing pre^Roman build" ings on the Acropolis, and the Theatre of Dionysus. After Banister Fletcher
25 Athens: view of the Acropolis from the west. Edwin Smith
model of the Acropolis
26 Athens:
as
43
Gruben,
Berve,
Hirmer,
Thermae of
nally the great hall of the
29 Athens: Parthenon, from the west; by lainus and Callicrates, 477-432 bc. W.
ad
302: of this the general
shape, giant columns,
and
new
Michelangelo's
plaster)
modelling
(i
in the i8th
C.
survive.
vaults (under
561-5) altered
little;
it
was overlaid by
the structure
45,46 Rome: plan and longitudinal the Pantheon,
theum; begun 421 bc. Alison Frantz
ad
section of
120-4. After Banister
Fletcher
Athens: plan of the Parthenon; 447-432
bc
47 Rome:
of the
interior
Pantheon;
Pannini, 1749. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collect
William Suddaby Athens:
tion
Parthenon,
and
peristyle
view
between the
Fotoarchiv
Munich
ig^g
ad
48 Rome: facade of the Pantheon;
the cella wall at the west;
447-432 BC. Hirmer
:
Hellenistic times.
35 Athens:
seat
of Dionysus
;
detail
Suschitzky
of honour in the Theatre
copy of a Greek
C. AD. Frank
Rome:
W.
by
I.
I
(died
Gismondi. Museo
Romana, Rome. Oscar
della
3
37),
restored. J.
52, 53
Civilta
Savio
Nimes (Gard), France: Maison Carree of Agrippa;
38
c.
Rome: Rome: 70-82.
Ward
frons
ad
113.
of the
the auditorium;
has
since
been
Perkins
plan and half^section of the Colos^
ad
seum; 54
Ij
scaenae
Roman theatre, seen from CAD 200. The theatre
city in
ad
Libya:
51 Sabratha,
Roman
14
50 Ancona, Italy: Arch of Trajan; Martin H'urlimann
original,
of model showing the
cad
aqueduct;
Pen/old
the time of Constantine
120-4.
Josephine Powell
49 Pont du Gard (Gard), France the
34 Athens: Theatre of Dionysus, seen from the Acropolis; c 330 bc, altered in
36
ad
120-4. Detail from a painting by G. P.
32 Athens: interior of the Parthenon; 447432 BC. Reconstruction painting by
3rd
re^
but
marble veneer and stucco, and the conti^ nuous large cornice added. Fototeca Unione
30 Athens: Ionic north porch of the Erech^
33
plan of the Thermae of Caracalla;
211-17. After Banister Fletcher
Diocletian,
Greek
Suschitzky
ad 21 1- 17.
44 Rome: Santa Maria degli Angeli. Origin
Temples, Theatres and Shrines, 1963
31
Rome:
AD
28 Athens: plan of the Erechtheum; 421 bc. After
Thermae of
of the
ManselUAlinari
Canada
27 Athens: Erechtheum, from the south; by Mnesicles, begun 421 bc. Hirmer FotO" archiv Munich
view
air
Caracalla from the south-west;
it
appeared c.400 b c. Royal Ontario Museum, University of Toronto,
42 Rome:
70-82. After Banister Fletcher
exterior
of the Colosseum;
ad
Fotocelere, Turin
16 bc. E.Jacquet, Nimes
Rome: Forum Romanum
seen from the
55 Petra, Jordan: facade of the Treasury; cad 120. Peter Parr
soz-called
Basilica Julia. Georgina Masson
39
Rome:
ruins of the Basilica of Maxentius,
looking north; completed by Constantine after
ad
40 Rome: tins,
313. Fototeca Unione interior
of the Basilica of
looking west;
Maxen^
ad 313. Recon^ William Suddaby
41 Diagram showing the principles of tunnel vaulting and groin vaulting. Drawn by
Jon Broome
west;
CAD
lining a
air
view from the north/
100. Fototeca Unione
57 Palmyra, Syria:
after
struction painting by
56 Timgad, Algeria:
main
Corinthian colonnades street;
late
2nd C. ad.
Miss G. Farnell
Lebanon interior of the so/called Temple of Bacchus; late 2nd C. ad. Reconstruction painting by William Sud^
58 Baalbek,
:
daby
341
59 Pompeii, before
Fuller,
Via dell'Abbondanza; is the House of the
Italy:
ad
79.
and
On the left
further along to the right, the
House of the Marine Venus 60 Pompeii,
peristyle; before
ad
ad
before
the
79.
House of
After the
the
official
guide to Pompeii (Ministero della Educa-' zione Nazionale, Rome), ltd ed.
62 Tivoli,
Italy:
detail
Dr
Dr
of model by
Richter of Hadrian's Villa; Courtesy
cad
Cross; 91 $-21. Josephine Powell
82 Athens: Little Metropole Cathedral;
ad
67 Istanbul: view of Hagia Sophia; 532-7. Hirmer Fotoarchiv Munich
section and plan of Hagia Sophia; 532-7. From N. Pevsner, An
of European Architecture, Jubilee ed., i960, by courtesy of Penguin Books
2 1 Josephine Powell ,
:
1037-46.
87
Moscow:
looking
east;
Sergius
527-36.
and Like
Outline
of European
ed., i960,
Architecture,
74 Ravenna, Italy: interior of 526-47. ManselU Alinari 75 Ravenna,
76 Ravenna,
Jubilee
by courtesy of Penguin Books
Italy: Italy:
S.
Vitale;
detail
of the
interior
of
S. Vitale, looking north across the chan^' eel;
342
526-47. ManselUAlinari
St
Mark's,
begun 1063. ManselU Alinari
90, 91
1120, rebuik in the 19th
C Jean Roubier
Rome:
plan and reconstruction of the
interior
of the Basilica of Trajan;
ad
98-112. After Banister Fletcher
92 Rome: c.
93
Rome: east;
c.
across
section
330, After
Old
St
Peter's;
Ciampini
interior
of S. Clemente, looking
1084-^.1130, chancel enclosure
c.
872. Edwin Smith
94 Rome:
plan of S. Vitale; 526-47
USSR of
interior
Italy:
east;
the
in^ (Dordogne), France: 89 Perigueux tenor of St^Front, looking east; begun
Hagia Sophia, it has been transformed into a mosque. Hirmer Fotoarchiv Munich 73 Istanbul: plan of SS. Sergius and Bac^ chus; 527-36. From N. Pevsner, An
by
painting
St Basil's; 1555-60. Society for
Cultural Relations with
f.
of SS.
Reconstruction
William Suddaby
looking
interior
Hautes Etudes
86 Kiev, Russia Cathedral of Hagia Sophia;
88 Venice,
Institute, Inc.
Pierer
85 Salonika, Greece: church of the Holy Apostles, from the east; 13 12-15. Collect
70 Istanbul: Hagia Sophia, view from the
71 Istanbul: interior of Hagia Sophia, look^ ing east; 532-7. By courtesy of the Byzantine
London
84 Gracanica, Yugoslavia: facade of the monastery church of St John the Baptist;
Outline
Perissinotto
c.
Courtauld
view of the monastery of Nea
83 Chios:
tion de I'Ecole des
68, 69 Istanbul:
72 Istanbul: Bacchus,
sculpture.
Moni; 1042-56. Rosemarie
plan of St Mark's; 1063
532-7. Antonello
earlier
Institute of Art, University of
1 3
aisle;
with
1250,
65 Diagram showing the theory of dome^ construction. Drawn by Jon Broome
south
Armenia: church of the Holy
81 Aght'amar,
E. Richter
Italy:
Josephine Powell
80 Zwartnots, Armenia: reconstruction of the palace chapel; 641-66. Drawn by Gerard Bakker, after Tovamanian
After Banister Fletcher
66 Venice,
\2xtr.
79 Qalat^Siman, Syria: plan of the Martyr^ ium; 4th C.
E.
130.
63,64 Rome: section and plan of the so-called Temple of Minerva Medica; ad 260 and after.
of St Irene, lookmg
interior
532 and
Hirmer
later.
79. Georgim Masson
61 Pompeii, Italy: plan of the Vettii;
Venii,
the
towards
atrium
the
78 Istanbul: east;
House of
Italy:
from
looking
77 Istanbul: St Irene; 532 and Fotoarchiv Munich
f. 1 1
30.
plan of S.
Clemente;
c.
I084-
After Banister Fletcher
95 Conques (Aveyron), France: interior of the pilgrimage church, looking east; begun c.
1045/50. Jean Roubier
7
:
96 Annaberg, Germany; looking
east
interior
of St Anne,
111 St^Martin^du^Canigou (Pyrenees^Orient/
by Conrad Schwarz, Meister
;
France: interior of the abbey church,
ales),
Erasmus and Jacob von Schweinfurt,
looking
1499-1525. Deutsche Fotothek, Dresden
only
97 Brixworth (Northamptonshire), England interior of All Saints' Church, looking west; C.6S0 and
Roman
(with
blocked by
after.
brick
Norman
The Saxon
arches
voussoirs)
were
Kouhier
GO Lorsch, Germany abbey gatehouse :
c.
end. Archives Photographiques
for the
monastery of St Gall,
Redrawn from
c.820.
the
original in the Stiftsbibliothek, St Gallen
113 Tournus (Saone^et/ Loire), France: plan
of the crypt of St^Philibert; f.950.
N. Pevsner, An
From
Outline of European Archie
Jubilee ed., i960, by courtesy of
tecture.
Penguin Books 114 Tournus (Saone^'et^Loire), France: detail of St^Philibert, showing vaulting of nave
and ;
1001-26. There are windows
Switzerland;
masons. Edwin Smith
99 Venasque (Vaucluse), France: interior of one apse of the baptistery; 6th C. Jean
east;
at either
112 Ideal plan
98 Dingle (Co. Kerry) Ireland: Gallarus Oratory; probably 7th C. Edwin Smith
I
:
800. 1
aisle;
vaults
early
nth and
early
2th (Z. Jean Roubier
Helga Schmidt^ Glassner loi
Aachen,
Germany:
Chapel,
Palatine
115
looking west; 792-805. Harald Busch
102 Maria Laach, Germany: view of the abbey church from the north-west; 1093-1156. Bildarchiv Foto
103 Gloucester
looking
(Saone^et^ Loire), France: recon^
C. By
courtesy of Professor
and
Mediaeval Academy of America
the
Kenneth J. Conant
116 Cluny (Saone^et/Loire), France: recon/struction model of the third church, seen
Marburg
England: nave, begun 1087. Sydney Pitcher,
Cathedral,
east;
Cluny
structed plan of the monastery in the 12th
from the south-east; begun c 1088.
Ar-'
chives Photographiques
Gloucester 1 1
104 Diagram showing the need
for centering
unmoulded and moulded Drawn by Jon Broome in
arches.
107 Southwell
Compostela
de
Spain: nave;
c.
England: view c. 1
1
30. National
Cathedral,
1075-1150. Mas
Minster
abbey church of La Madeleine, looking nave c. 1104-30, choir early 13th C.
east;
Archives Photographiques
129. Harald Busch
106 Santiago
of the abbey church, looking east;
c.iioo. Jean Roubier
118 Vezelay (Yonne), France: mterior of the
105 Quedlinburg (Saxe^Anhalt), Germany: nave of the abbey church; consecrated 1
Paray^le^Monial (Saone^et^Loire), France interior
(Nottinghamshire),
south^'east
m
nave;
the
Compostela de 119 Santiago Spain: plan; f. 1075-1150
Cathedral,
120 Toulouse (Haute^Garonne), France: St/
from
Sernin
the
east;
begun
1080.
c.
Giraudon
Monuments Record
111 Pontigny
108 Auxerre Cathedral (Yonne), France: in^ terior
of the crypt, looking
Bildarchiv Foto
east;
c.
1030.
1210. Jean Roubier
Marburg
109 Mainz Cathedral, Germany: interior, looking east; nth C. and after 1181. Martin Hiirlimann
no
(Yonne), France: Cistercian abbey church from the south-east; 1140-
St/Martin^du^Canigou (Pyrenees^Orient^ France: monastery from the south; 1001-26. The buildings have since been
ales),
further restored. Archives Photographiques
111 Fontenay (Yonne), France: interior of the Cistercian abbey church, looking east;
1139-47. Archives Photographiques 123 Jerichow (Brandenburg), terior
of the
church, looking
Germany:
Premonstratensian east;
c.
in/
abbey
1200. Harald Busch
124 Monreale Cathedral, Sicily: central ern apse; begun 11 74. Hans Decker
east/
343
125 St^Gilles-'du^Garcl (Card), France: west
of the church;
portals
finished
c.
1170.
Jean Roubier
126 Jumieges (Seine-'Maritime), France: ruins of the abbey church of Notre^-Dame, lookir^ west across the transept to the nave; 1017-66. Jean Roubier
127
128
Durham
Cathedral,
vaults;
30. Jean Roubier
c. 1 1
England:
nave
140 St^ Denis (near Paris), France: view of the ambulatory and chapels in the abbey church; 11 40- 3. Archives Photographiques 141 Stz-Denis (near Paris), France: plan of the
abbey church; 1 1
34-44, the rest
nanhex and mid" 1 3 th C.
chevet,
c.
142 Chartres Cathedral (Eure^et^Loir), France: west front; nonh tower begun 1 1 34, south tower begun 1142, Portail Royal and lancet windows above it c. 1145-50; rose window and gable built
Caen (Calvados), France: west front of (Abbaye^aux/Hommes); be^ gun c. 1068. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg St^Etienne
after
the
of 11 94; north spire 1507.
fire
Bulloz
129 Ely Cathedral (Cambridgeshire), Eng^ land: nave; begun c, mo. Edwin Smith
130 Florence, Italy: Monte, looking 131 Milan,
c.
east;
f.
interior
Italy:
lookmg
interior
choir
east;
of S. Miniato
of S. Ambrogio,
nave begun
1080. ManselUAlinari
east;
145
133
Jean Roubier
Loches (Indre^et^ Loire), France: castle from the south-east, showing the curtain wall and keep; 1 100 and after. From an old photograph <:.
134 Bruges, Belgium: Cloth Hall; I4th-i5th C. Martin Hurlimann 1 3
5
Long Melford glass figure east
(Suffolk),
of
window
Alfred
England
:
stained
Thomas Peyton from
the
of the church;
C.
15th
Cathedral north
begun
Amiens (Somme), France: view of the town and cathedral from the west, before World War
World War
I;
begun
c.
1229.
ND^Giraudon 137 Kuttenberg
(Kutna
Hora),
Czecho^
vaults in St Barbara apse vault 1489-1506, continued by Benedikt Ried 1512-47. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
Slovakia
double 147
aisles;
138 Beauvais Cathedral (Oise), France:
air
view from the south; officially begun 1225, main work begun 1247, left unfinished in 1568. Aero^Photo, Paris
looking
east;
(Oise),
France:
begun
1150. Martin
c.
in^
Hurlimann 148 Beauvais Cathedral (Oise), France: in/ terior of the choir, looking east from the crossing; I22<,l^j-'j2 (see
1^8), vaults
///.
rebuilt after collapse in 1284. Bulloz to
scale
of St
Marburg; Amiens Cathedral;
and Salisbury Cathedral 152 Canterbury Cathedral (Kent), England: choir; by William of Sens and William
Englishman, 1175-84. Martin Hurli^ mann
the
153 Wells
view
showing
Drawn
the
development of
by Jon Broome
Cathedral north C.I
1
across
(Somerset), the
nave;
90, nave built in the
England: cathedral first
third
of the 13 th C. A.F. Kersting
154 Salisbury (Wiltshire), England: air view of the cathedral and close from the south/ east;
344
old photograph
1191-1266. Jean Roubier
Noyon Cathedral terior,
begun
vaulting.
From an
;
:
139 Diagram
I.
146 Bourges Cathedral (Cher), France: view of the south side of the nave, showing
Elisabeth,
136 Rheims Cathedral (Marne), France: west
north--
194. Martin Hurlimann
1
149-15 1 Comparative plans
Lammer
front, before
(Eure^et^Loir),
looking
transept,
144 Wells Cathedral (Somerset), England: west front; second quaner of the 13th C. Martin Hurlimann
111 Rheims Cathedral (Marne), France: de^ tail of south side of the nave; begun C.I 210.
Chartres
France:
al
1073. Hans Decker
c.940,
143
cathedral
begun 1220, upper
parts
of tower and spire begun 13 34- Aerofilms Ltd
Cathedral looking
155 Salisbury
England:
nave,
quarter of the 13 th
156
(Wiltshire),
looking
157 Lincoln Cathedral, England: nave, look^ ing east; second quarter of the 13th C. Martin Hurlimann
choir
c.
of the
vaults
Hans von
1408.
Burg/-
Landeshildstelle,
Salzburg (photo Puschej)
France: in^
pleted C.I 270. Martin Hurlimann
169 Cologne Cathedral, Germany: interior of the choir, looking east; begun 1248. Bildarchiv Foto
Marburg
170 Langenstein (Kassel), Germany: skeleton vault in the parish church probably after :
158 Lincoln Cathedral, England: detail of arcade and gallery in the Angel Choir;
begun 1256. Martin Hurlimann Cathedral
159 Carlisle
begun
hausen,
upper sections com^
east;
Austria:
Franciscan Church; by
C. Edwin Smith
Amiens Cathedral (Somme), terior,
168 Salzburg,
second
east;
1
171 Nuremberg, Germany: interior of choir of St Lorenz from the south-'west; begun 1434. (In the centre, suspended,
(Cumberland),
Veit
is
Stoss's Annunciation; against a pillar to the
England: east window; c.1190. National Monuments Record 160 Bristol Cathedral, England: choir, look-' ing east; begun 1298, completed by i3 37-
500. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
left,
Sakramentshaus
the
Adam
(tabernacle)
by
Krafft.) Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
172 Venice, Italy: interior of SS. Giovanni Paolo, looking east; begun 1246. Scala
e
A. F. Kersting 161 Exeter Cathedral (Devon), England:
tier^
ceron vault of the nave; mid-' 14th
C,
view from the (facade begun Pisano). ManselU
173 Siena Cathedral, Italy: south-west; 1245-1380
Giovanni
by
1284
continuing the vaulting scheme of the
Anderson
choir of f. 1300. Martin Hurlimann
174 Venice, 162 Bristol Cathedral, England: south the choir;
aisle
begun 1298, completed by
1 3
of
37.
National Monuments Record
Italy:
Doge's Palace;
14th
late
C.-c. 1457. Georgina Masson
iy$ Toledo
Cathedral,
Spain: view across
transept, looking south; foundation stone
163 Ely
(Cambridgeshire),
Cathedral
England
:
laid
north wall of the
Lady Chapel; 1321-49.
begun
Cathedral
England:
interior
(Cambridgeshire), of the octagon from the
restored
Gilbert
and
Carpenter,
partially rebuilt
Scott
in
the
1322-42,
by Sir George
19th
C. Martin
Vendome
ambulatory;
A.F.
Kersting
178 Gloucester Cathedral, England: choir, looking east; c. 1337-57. National Monu^
(Loir^et-'Cher), France: detail
179 Cambridge, England: King's College Chapel, looking west in the ante^chapel; by John Wastell, 1508-15. Royal Com"
Jean Rouhier
Cathedral
mission on Historical
(Seine^'Maritime),
World War IL 1485-1500.
Jean
Rouhier
167 Freiburgz-im^Breisgau Minster, Germany: west tower and spire; c. 1340. Helga Schmidt^ Glassner
Monuments
180 Paris: interior of the upper church of the
France: 'Tour de Beurre', photographed before
Spain:
ments Record
of the west front of La Trinite; 148 5- 1506.
166 Rouen
Mas
22 1. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
additions.
Hurlimann 165
Cathedral, 1
may have
(construction
177 Seville Cathedral, Spain: exterior from the south-west; c. 1401-1521, with later
north-west; probably by William Hurley, the King's Master
1227
before then).
176 Burgos
Martin Hurlimann
164 Ely
in
begun
of blind arcading on the
detail
181
1240-8. Giraudon
Sainte^Chapelle;
f.
Aachen
Germany:
choir;
Minster,
begun 1355.
interior
Bildarchiv Foto
of the
Marburg
182 Canterbury Cathedral (Kent), England:
looking east; by Henry 379-1403. Martin Hurlimann
nave 1
Yevele,
345
1
83 Gloucester cloister
England:
Cathedral,
walk (on
washing^place) ;
the
after
left
1 3
5 1,
south
monks' chiefly c 1 3 70.
is
the
197 Florence, Italy: fagade of Sta Maria Novella; upper part - above the door by Leone Battista Alberti, 1456. Martin
Edwin Smith
Hurlimann
184 London: roof of Westminster Hall; roof by Hugh Herland, 1 394-1402. Copyright Country Life 185 Cambridge, England: birdVeye view of Trinity College. From David Loggan,
Malatestiano (S.
Francesco); remodelling by Leone
begun
Alberti
tista
Bat^'
unfinished.
1447,
ManselU Alinari 199 Mantua,
Leone
1690
Cantahrigia Illustrate^
Tempio
198 Rimini, Italy:
fagade of S. Andrea; by
Italy:
Alberti;
Battista
1470-2, unfin/
ished. Anderson
186 London: pendant fan vault of Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey; by
Robert and William Vertue, Edwin Smith
200 Mantua,
Leone
1503-19. 201
Rome:
1470-2
part of the facade of the Cancel/
begun i486. Georgina Masson
leria; 1
plan of S. Andrea; by
Italy:
Battista Alberti,
87 Batalha, Portugal Claustro Real, built by :
King Manuel
I;
c.
1515. Helga Schmidt"
Glass ner
188 Burgos Cathedral, Spain: vault of the
Capilla del Condestable; by
Colonia, 1482-94.
Simon de
202 Rome: Tempietto of S. Pietro in Montorio; by Donato Bramante, 1502. Georgina Masson 203
Mas
built
Helga Schmidt" Glassner
190 Venice, lagoon;
Italy: Libreria
by
Jacopo
Vecchia from the 1536.
205 Michelangelo's plan
bay of the loggia of the
Brunelleschi,
roundels by
by
142 1-4,
with
terracotta
ManselU Alinari 193 Florence,
looking
Italy:
interior
by
of Sto Spirito,
Filippo
Brunelleschi,
208
1436-82. Alinari
Peter's,
Nazionale
Rome:
part
of the
fa9ade
of Palazzo
Vidoni/CaffareUi; by Raphael,
194 Todi, Italy: Sta Maria della Consolazione, from the south; by Cola da Caprarola,
begun 1508. Mansell
Collection
and courtyard of the Palazzo Strozzi; begun 1489 by Benedetto da Maiano, continued by Cro^ naca, 1497- 1507, completed 1536. Geor^
195, 196 Florence, Italy: facade
gina
346
Masson
Rome;
207 Rome: interior of St Peter's, looking east from Carlo Maderna's nave of 1606-26. From a painting by G. P. Pannini, 1755. Landesgalerie, Hanover. Gabinetto FotO" grajico
east;
for St Peter's,
1590. ManselU Alinari
Filippo
Andrea della Robbia, 1463-6.
Rome;
(liturgical north-east: the apse
by Filippo Brunelleschi, 1420-36. ManselU
Innocenti;
Peter's,
from the south-west is on the left, a transept on the right); begun 1546 by Michelangelo, the dome buik by Giacomo della Porta and completed in
of the Cathedral;
Alinari
degli
St
546
206 Rome: St
Italy:
for
1505/6
ManselU Alinari
192 Florence, Ospedale
del
addition.
204 Bramante's plan
Sansovino,
dome
Cortile
The upper storey of the exedra is a From J. Carcopino, The Vatican, London, 1964.
later
C.I
191 Florence, Italy:
of the
level
Donato Bramante, begun
1503.
window of the Chapter by King Manuel I; c. 1520.
189 Tomar, Portugal:
House,
Rome: upper Belvedere; by
20, later altered.
209 Florence,
Italy:
c.
1515-
ManselU Anderson part
of the
facade
Palazzo Rucellai; by Leone Battista berti,
1446-51. ManselU Alinari
210 Rome:
interior
Madama;
of the loggia of Villa
designed by Raphael and exe^
cuted by Giulio gina
of
AV
Masson
Romano, 1516-27.
Geor^
;
211
Rome:
plan of Palazzo Angelo Massimi and Palazzo Pietro Massimi (Palazzo Massimi alle Colonne); by Baldassare Peruzzi, begun 1535. After Banister Fletcher
212 Rome: entrance to Palazzo Farnese; door by Antonio da Sangallo, window by Michelangelo, 1534-40. ManselUAlimri 213
Rome;
fagade of Palazzo Massimi alle Colonne; by Baldassare Peruzzi; begun 1535. ManselU Alimri
214 Rome: fa9ade of Palazzo Farnese; by Antonio da Sangallo and Michelangelo, 1534-40, Georgim Mas son 215 Florence, Italy: Laurentian Library, look-' ing from the vestibule towards the reading room; by Michelangelo, 1524-57. Alimri
216 Florence, Italy: Medici Chapel m S. Lorenzo, from the south-east (right, the tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici) by Michel/ angelo, begun 1521. ManselU Anderson
116 Venice, Anderson
227 Caprarola, Italy: Villa Farnese; basement storey and plan begun 1520s by Antonio da Sangallo and Baldassare Peruzzi, upper part by Giacomo Vignola, 1559-73. Georgina Masson 11% Vicenza,
Andrea is
Palladio,
Pevsner, tecture.
:
Italy:
231
c.
1530.
Georgina
c.
Rotonda; by Andrea
15 50-1. Edwin Smith
An
Outline of European Archie
Rome: Basilica and Piazza of St Peter's from the south. Engraving by Lieven Cruyl from Descriptio faciei variorum locorum urbis Romae, 1694 .
.
.
232 Rome:
detail
of colonnade of the Piazza
of St Peter's; by Gianlorenzo Bernini,
233
Rome:
Kersting
fagade of Sta Susanna; by Carlo c.i
596-1603. Anderson
234 Rome: Cornaro Chapel in Sta Maria della Vittoria; by Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1645-52. From an i8th/C. painting.
Palazzo Bevilacqua; by
SanmicheU;
56).
Jubilee ed., i960, by courtesy of
Maderna,
220 Mantua, Italy house of Giulio Romano by Giulio Romano, c. 1544. Alinari
///.
Penguin Books
1525-35. ManselU Alinari
Michele Masson
Italy: Villa
begun 1656. A.F.
of courtyard facade of the Palazzo del Te; by Giulio Romano,
(see
230 Vicenza, Italy: plan of Villa Rotonda; by Andrea Palladio, c. 15 50-1. From N.
Italy: detail
111 Verona,
begun 1550. The design based on Vitruvius' accounts of Roman
229 Vicenza,
A. F. Kersting
219 Mantua,
Palazzo Chiericati; by
Masson
Fletcher
218 Rome: the Capitol, with Palazzo del Senatore in the centre; by Michelangelo and Giacomo della Porta, 1538-1612.
Italy:
Palladio,
forum buildings
;
217 Rome: plan of the Capitol. After Banister
Maria della Salute; by Longhena, 1632. ManselU
Italy: Sta
Baldassare
Staatliches
Museum Schwerin
Georgina
235
111 Venice, Italy: interior of S. Giorgio Maggiore looking east; by Andrea Pab ladio, 1565. ManselU Anderson
Rome:
Scala Regia in the Vatican; by Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1663-6. ManselU
Anderson
111 Venice, Italy: air view of the Piazzetta and surrounding buildings (the Bridge of Sighs is at the far right). Bromostampa, Milan
236 Rome: facade of the central block of Palazzo Barberini; begun 1628 by Carlo Maderna, completed after his death in 1629 by Gianlorenzo Bernini and Fran" cesco Borromini. Georgina Masson
114 Rome: facade of the Gesu; by Giacomo Vignola and Giacomo della Porta, begun
237 Rome: interior of S. Andrea al Quirinale; by Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1658-78. Ander^
1568. Anderson
11$
Rome:
plan of the Gesti; by
Vignola, Insignium
son
Giacomo
begun 1568. From Sandrart, Romae Templorum, 1690
238
Rome: interior of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane; by Francesco Borromini, begun 1633. ManselU Alinari
H7
;
239 Rome: plan of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane; by Borromini, begun 1633, facade 1667
254 Paris rood screen in St^Etienne^du^Mont; probably by PhiHbert de TOrme, f. 1545.
240 Rome:
255 Paris:
of the cupola of S. Ivo by Borromini, 1642-60. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg interior
:
Giraudon detail of Lescot wing in the Cour du Vieux Louvre; by Pierre Lescot, with sculpture by Jean Goujon, begun 1546.
della Sapienza;
241
Rome:
Fontane; by Borromini,
1667.
ManselU
Anderson
242
243
Rome
Jean Roubier
facade of S. Carlo alle Quattro
lantern of S. Ivo della Sapienza by Borromini, 1642-60. Georgina Masson :
Rome:
facade of Sta Maria della Pace; by
Pietro
da
Cortona,
1656-7.
2$6 Fontainebleau (Seine^et^Marne), France: Galerie Francois I in the chateau; by Francesco Primaticcio and Giovanni Bat^ tista Rosso ('Rosso Fiorentino'), 1533-7. Giraudon
2$7 Anet
Georgina
the
Masson
by
Phihben de I'Orme, 1549-52. Giraudon 258
Rome:
259 Nonsuch Palace (Surrey), England: c. 1538-58 (demolished 1687). From a drawing by Joris Hoefnagel. British
Italy
:
interior
chapel of the
of the
Santissima
facade of S. Agnese in Piazza Navona; by Francesco Borromini, 1652-
57. Mansell^ Anderson
246 Turin, Italy: Palazzo Carignano; by Guarino Guarini, begun 1678. ManselU Anderson
2\j Granada, Spain: Palace of Charles
of courtyard of the by Pedro Machuca,
detail
V;
begun 1526. Mas
Hampton Court
(Middlesex), England:
base court and great west gatehouse; begun
1515. National Monuments Record
Museum, London 260 London: Strand front of Old Somerset House; 1547-52 (demolished c. 1777). From a drawing by John Thorpe. Courtauld
Institute
oj Art,
London, by courtesy of the
University
of
Trustees of Sir
John Soane's Museum, London
248 El Escorial, Spain: general view; begun 1563 by Juan Bautista de Toledo, com/ pleted 1567-84 by Juan de Herrera. ManselU Anderson
261 Longleat House (Wiltshire), plan;
1554 and
Robert Smythson
Summerson,
after.
at
Hatfield.
Architecture
England: MS by
After a
in
From
Britain:
J.
is^o-
249 Granada Cathedral, Spain: arch be^ tween ambulatory and choir; by Diego de Siloe, c.i^ig. Arthur Byne
262 Longleat House (Wiltshire), England:
250 Blois (Loir/et^Cher), France: staircase in Francois I wing; 1515-^.1525. Helga
from c. 1568 onwards, internal arrange^ ments altered in the 19th C. Paul Popper
Schmidt^ Glassner
251
(Loir^et^Cher), France: view of the chateau; by Pierre Nepveu, 1519-
2$2 Chambord (Loir/et^Cher), France: plan of the chateau; 1519-47. From Jacques Androuet Ducerceau, Les plus excellents Bastiments de France,
I,
1576
253 Chenonceau (Indre^'et^Loire), France: view of the chateau; by Thomas Bohier,
Phihben de I'Orme and Jean Bullant, 1
5
iS}Oy 1969, by courtesy of Penguin Books
air
view; begun 1554, burnt 1567, rebuilt
263 Hatfield House (Hertfordshire), England:
Chambord
47. Jean Rouhier
348
France: interior of
chapel of the chateau;
dome of the Sindone; by Guarino Guarini, 1667-90. Edwin Smith
244 Turin,
245
(Eure^'Ct-'Loir),
circular
15-8 1. Martin Hiirlimann
interior
of the long gallery from the
east;
begun 1607. National Monuments Record Hall (Nottinghamshire), 26^ Wollaton England: east front; by Robert Smythson, 1580-8. A.F. Kersting
265 Hardwick Hall (Derbyshire), England: plan of ground floor; probably by Robert
Smythson, 1590-7
266 Hardwick Hall (Derbyshire), England: entrance front probably by Robert Smyths son, 1590-7. A.F. Kersting ;
:;
267 Hatfield House (Hertfordshire), England Great Stair; c. 1611. National Monuments Record, hy courtesy of B. T. Batsford Ltd
268 Antwerp, Belgium: facade of the Hall; by Cornelis Floris, 1 561-5.
Town
ACL
269 The Hague, Holland: Mauritshuis; by Jacob van Campen, 1633-5. Rijksdienst v\d Monumentenzorg, The Hague 270 Paris: Cour du Vieux Louvre, showing Jacques Lemercier's extension, including the Pavilion de I'Horloge; begun 1624, Bulloz
271 Third design for the east front of the Louvre, by Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1665. From an engraving by Marot. Courtauld Institute of Art, University of
272 Pans:
east front
erie
Glaces;
des
of the Louvre; by Claude
by
Hardouin
Jules
Mansart with decorations by Lebrun; 1680. ManselU Alinari
2S2 Versailles Trianon;
by
Jacques^ 1763-9. Giraudon
Charles
France: Petit
(Seine-'et^Oise),
A nge
Gabriel;
283 Versailles (Seine^et-'Oise), France: plan
From
of the palace, town and gardens. Blondel,
J.F.
IV,
Architecture fran^oise,
1756
284 Greenwich, London: Queen's House; by Inigo Jones, 1616-35. Ministry of Public Buildings and Works 285 London: Banqueting House, Whitehall; by Inigo Jones, 1619-22. Ministry of Public Buildings and
London
and Louis Le Vau, 1667-70.
Perrault
A.F.
281 Versailles (Seine^et/'Oise), France: Gal^
Works
286 London: St Paul's, Covent Garden; by Inigo Jones, 1630-1. National Monuments Record
Kersting
House
287 Wilton
ijl Paris: garden front of Palais du Luxem^ bourg; by Salomon de Brosse, begun 161 5. Bulloz
(Wiltshire), England: room; by Inigo Jones and John Webb; c. 1649. A.F. Kersting 288 London: plan of St Stephen, Walbrook;
Orleans
by Sir Christopher Wren, 1672-87. From
274 Blois
(Loir-'et/'Cher),
France:
'double-'cube'
An
wing of the chateau; by Fran9ois Mansart,
N.
1635-8. Copyright Country Life
Architecture, Jubilee ed., i960,
begun
1645 by Francois Mansart, continued by Jacques Lemercier after Mansart's dismissal, com^ Val/de^'Grace;
275 Paris:
Pevsner,
of
European
by courtesy
of Penguin Books
289 London:
interior
of St Stephen,
Wal"
brook, from the south-west corner; by Sir
Wren,
Christopher
pleted 1665. Giraudon
Outline
1672-87.
National
Monuments Record i'j6
Vaux^le^Vicomte
(Seine^et'-Marne),
290 London engraved view showing St Paul's Cathedral and Wren's City churches. By :
France: plan of the chateau; by Louis
Vau, 1657. From N. Pevsner, An
Le
Outline
of European Architecture, Jubilee ed., i960,
(Seine/et^Marne), 277 Vaux^e^Vicomte France air view of the chateau by Louis
Le Vau,
Museum
291 London: St Bride's, Fleet Street; by Sir Christopher Wren, 1670-84, spire 1702.
by courtesy of Penguin Books
;
:
courtesy of the Trustees of the British
1657. Aerofilms Ltd
278 Paris facade of the church of the Invalides by Jules Hardouin Mansart, designed :
A. F. Kersting
292 Perspective drawing of Wren's Great Model Cathedral,
Wren
London;
Society Report,
the Trustees of Sir
1679. Archives Photographiques
Sir for
1673
XIV,
Christopher St
Paul's
From
the
by courtesy of
John Soane's Museum,
London 279 Versailles (Seine/et^Oise), France: garden front of the palace; by Louis Le Vau, 1669 et seq., and Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1678 et seq. A.F. Kersting 280 Versailles
(Seine-'et^Oise),
view. Aerofilms Ltd
France:
air
293 London: plan of St Paul's Cathedral, as built; by Sir Christopher Wren, 1675-
1710
294 London: air view of St Paul's Cathedral; by Sir Christopher Wren, 1675-1710. Aerofilms Ltd
349
Howard
295 Castle detail
(Yorkshire),
England:
of the entrance hall; by Sir John
Vanbrugh, 1699-17 12.
309 Toledo Cathedral, Spain: Trasparenie, from the ambulatory; by Narciso Tome,
Mas
1721-32.
Keith Gibson
296 Blenheim Palace (Oxfordshire), England: view from the north-east; by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor,
310 Granada, Spain: sacristy of the Charter^ house; by Luis de Arevalo; 1727-64. Mas 311
1705-24. A.F. Kersting
church of the Superga and Rosario; by Filippo Juvarra, 171 8-31. A.F. Ker sting Turin,
Italy:
convent
297 Oxford, England: Radcliffe Camera; by James Gibbs, 1739-49. Edwin Smith
of San
Arc de Triomphe; by J.F.T. Chalgrin and others; 1806-35. Giraudon
312 Paris:
298 London: Christ Church, Spitalfields, from the west; by Nicholas Hawksmoor, 313
1714-29. A.F. Kersting
Nancy tail
299 Vienna: Schonbrunn Palace; by Johann Michael Fischer von Erlach, begun 1695, altered
Schmidt^ Glassner
301
showing
1744-50. Toni Schneiders
300 Vienna: Karlskirche; by Johann Michael Fischer von Erlach, 1716-25. Helga
Vienna:
staircase in the
Upper
Belvedere;
by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, 1721-
detail
the Spiegelsaal of the
of cornice in
in
1754, out by
Musee
Stanislas.
air
view showing the Place de
la
(by
1807-45). Aerofilms Ltd
Rue de RivoH; by Charles Percier and P.F. L. Fontaine, 1802-55. Giraudon
318 London: Carlton House Terrace, from St James's Park; by
John Nash, 1827-33.
Edwin Smith
Francois Cuvillies, 1734-9. Edwin Smith
Neumann, begun 173 1 (destroyed World War II). Gundermann
for
Nancy
laid
11 J Pans:
Amalienburg; by
304 Schloss Bruchsal, Germany: vestibule of the staircase hall; by Johann Balthasar
Belprey,
Jacques^Ange Gabriel, 1755 et seq.) and the Rue Royale Unking it with the Madeleine (by Pierre Vignon,
22. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
Germany:
de
places
Historique Lorrain,
Concorde
302 Dresden, Germany: Wallpavillon in the Z winger; by Matthaus Poppelmann with
303 Munich,
Plan three
Emmanuel Here
316 Pans:
Glassner
171 1-
the the
314,315 Paris: interior and exterior of the Pantheon; by Jacques^Germain Soufflot, with alterations by Antoine Quatremere de Quincy, 1757-c. 1792. A.F. Kersting
23 (palace built 1714-24). Helga Schmidt^
sculpture by Balthasar Permoser,
(Meurthe^et^Moselle), France: de^
from
Brandenburg Gate; by K.G. Langhans, 1789-93. Martin H'urlimann
319 Berhn:
3
20 Leningrad Theatre :
vich Rossi,
c.
Street
1827-32.
;
by Karl Ivano^
From A. Grabar,
History of Russian Art, ist ed., 1910-15
305 Vierzehnheiligen, Germany: nave of the pilgrimage church, looking west; by
Johann Balthasar Neumann, Bildarchiv Foto
321 Bath (Somerset), England: air view show^ ing the area between the Royal Crescent and Queen's Square; by John Wood the Elder and John Wood the Younger,
1743-62.
Marburg
306 Vierzehnheiligen, Germany: plan of the pilgrimage church; by Johann Balthasar
Neumann, 1743-62 307 Rohr, Germany: detail of reredos in the abbey church; by Egid Quirin Asam, 1717-25. Hirmer Fotoarchiv Munich
1727-80. Aerofilms Ltd
122 Bath (Somerset), England: Royal Cres^ cent; by John Wood the Younger, 176474. Edwin Smith 323
abbey church looking south-east across Caspar Moos-' brugger, 1717-77. O. Baur, Stella^Photo
350
Chiswick
Buildings and
308 Einsiedeln, Switzerland: interior of the the octagonal 'nave'; by
London:
Burlington,
324
c.
A. F.
House;
by
Lord
Ministry
of
Public
Works
Holkham Hall front;
1725.
(Norfolk), England south
by William Kent, Kersting
:
begun 1734.
;
325 London:
river front of Somerset House; William Chambers, 1776-8 (wings by completed 1835 and 1856). Detail from a
3
Sir
3 3
T.A.
i9th^C. engraving by
37 Paris: Barriere de la Villette; by Claude/Nicolas Ledoux, 1789. Giraudon 8
Prior after
T. Allom. County Hall, London. R.B. Council
339 London: breakfast parlour in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields (now Sir John Soane's Museum); by Sir John Soane,
327 London: library of Kenwood House; by Roben Adam, 1767-8. Copyright Country
1
London, plan showing, in John Nash
black, in
Summerson, John Nash,
the
1812-27
(Regent Street and Regent's Park).
From
Architect
Museum,
to
Bank of England
329 London:
Regent Street Quadrant; by John Nash, 1819-20, with the County Robert Abraham (all an engraving by Thomas Dale after a drawing by Thomas Shepherd, 1827 Office
341 Baltimore (Maryland), U.S.A.: interior of the Catholic Cathedral; by Benjamin
Henry Latrobe, 1805-18. J.H.
by
demolished).
House; 1705, Andrews ernor's
rebuilt 1932.
331 Westover (Virginia),
Wayne
342 Munich, Germany: Glyptothek; by Leo von Klenze, 1815-34. Lengauer 343 Edinburgh,
School;
Taliaferro,
1832-4.
land,
U.S.A. the house Thomas Jefferson,
1769. United States Information Service
26 by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Ralph Thompson
D.C.: United States 335 Washington, Capitol. Central section by William Thornton, Charles Bulfinch and others, 1792-1827; wings and dome by Thomas U. Walter, 1851-65. Washington Convene and Visitors Bureau, Infoplan
c.
Newton; by 1784.
old
photograph,
346 Twickenham, near London: library of Strawberry Hill; by John Chute for
334 Charlottesville (Virginia), U.S.A.: air view of the University of Virginia; de^ signed by Thomas Jefferson, built 1817-
BouUee,
an
Edwin Smith
:
of Thomas Jefferson ; by
336 Project for a cenotaph for
From
courtesy the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
345 Brighton (Sussex), England: detail of Royal Pavilion; by John Nash, 18 15-21.
Peter Harrison, 1749-58. Haskell
theque Nationale, Paris
Scotland: Royal High Thomas Hamilton, begun
344 Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), U.S.A.: Merchants' Exchange; by William Strick^
332 Boston (Massachusetts), U.S.A.: King's Chapel, looking towards the altar; by
Etienne-' Louis
by
1825. National Monuments Record of Scotland
U.S.A.: house of
William Byrd II; by Richard c. 1730. Wayne Andrews
333 Monticello (Virginia),
Schaefer
and Son
From
330 Williamsburg (Virginia), U.S.A.: Gov^
tion
by courtesy of
Soane's
340 London: Consols Office in the Bank of England; by Sir John Soane, 1794. National Monuments Record, copyright the
George IV, 1935
Fire
Trustees of Sir John
London
area laid out by
J.
W. Newbery,
Sydney
8 12.
the
Life
328
-
colombarium with four arms radi^ ating from a central sphere; by Claude^ Nicolas Ledoux, from his Architecture consideree .... 1804-6
Fleming, by courtesy of the Greater London
326 Kedleston Hall (Derbyshire), England: south front; by Roben Adam, 1 761-5. Copyright Country Life
Section of projea for an 'ideal' cemetery a vast
Biblio^
Horace
Walpole,
1754
(house
begun
1748). A.F. Kersting
347 Berlin: Schauspielhaus; by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 18 19-21. Dr Franz Stoedtner 348 Berhn: Altes Museum; by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1824-8, restored after World
War
II. Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin
de Justice; Poelaert, 1866-83.
349 Brussels:
Palais
by Joseph
ACL
350 Paris: fagade of the Opera House; by Charles Gamier, 1^62-7$. Julian Wontner 3
5
1
Paris grand staircase in the :
Opera House
by Charles Garnier, 1862-75. Bulloz
351
352 London: Reform Club, Pall Mall; by Sir Charles Barry, 1837. National Monuments
365
London:
facade of the British
<:.
Record
354 Liverpool (Lancashire), England: St George's Hall; designed in 1836 by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, completed by C.R. Cockerell in 1854. Courtauld Instil tute of
355
and Albert Museum, London
Museum;
by Sir Robert Smirke, designed 1823, completed National Monuments 1847.
Art, University of London
London: Houses of Parliament, from
the
366 London: interior of the Coal Exchange; by J.B. Bunning, 1846-9 (demolished 1962). From The Builder, 29 September
1849 367 Paris: reading room in the Bibliotheque Ste^Genevieve; by Henri Labrouste, 1 84350. Archives Photographiques
368 Coalpitheath (Gloucestershire), England: Vicarage of St Saviour's Church; by
William Butterfield, Monuments Record
by Sir Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin, designed 1835/6, completed 1865.
river;
A. F. Kersting 356 London: Houses of Parliament, Royal Gallery in the House of Lords; by Sir Charles Barry and A. W. N. Pugin, com^ pieced by
357 Birming interior east;
>
by
1
3
70
'
Chad's Cathedral, looking
St
\.W.N.
London
:
National
Piccadilly Hotel ; by R.
Shaw, 1905-8. 371
(Warwickshire), England:
1844-5.
369 Bexley Heath (Kent), England: garden side of the Red House; by Philip Webb, 1859-61. National Monuments Record
847. A. F. Kersting
im
the Crystal Palace
Hyde Park; by Joseph Paxton, 1851. From a contemporary calotype. Victoria
Record 353
London: west end of in
Cragside
(Northumberland),
England:
entrance front of the house by R.
Shaw, begun 1870.
Pugin, 1839. National
Norman
National Monuments Record
Norman
National Monuments
Record
Monument Record 358
London detail of north side of the nave of All S^ atls', Margaret Street; by William ButterfieW, 1849-59. National Monuments
Record
372 Blandford (Dorset), England: garden front of Bryanston; by R. Norman Shaw,
begun 1889. National Monuments Record 373 Sonning (Berkshire), England: front of the Deanery Garden;
359 London. Albert Memorial; by S' George Gilben Scott, 1863-4. Penelope h ed 360 London: St Pancras Station ?.nvi former hotel; by Sir George Gilbert Sco:t, 1865, National Monuments Record 361 Manchester (Yorkshire), England:
Town
Hall; by Alfred Waterhouse, begun 1869. Courtauld Institute of Art, University of
London
362 London:
detail
of Strand front of the
Royal Courts of Justice; by G.E.
Street,
designed 1866. A.F. Kersting
Edwin
garden by
Sir
Lutyens, 1901. Copyright Country
Life
374 Broadleys, Lake Windermere, England: garden front of the house; by C. F. A. Voysey, 1898-9. Sanderson and Dixon 375
New
York:
Station; by
1906-10
interior
of
Pennsylvania
McKim, Mead and
(demolished).
Charles
White, Phelps
Cushing
376 Boston (Massachusetts), U.S.A.: Trinity Church; by H. H. Richardson, 1873-7.
From M. G. Van Rensselaer, Henry Hohson Richardson, 1888
363 Oxford, England: detail of the interior of the University
Woodward,
Museum; by Deane and
1855-9. Edwin Smith
364 London: train shed of St Pancras Station, looking towards the hotel; by W.H. Barlow, 1864. From The Building News^ 26 March 1869
352
377 Boston (Massachusetts), U.S.A.: Public Library; by McKim, Mead and White, 1888-92. Wayne Andrews 378 Chicago Building;
(Illinois),
by
U.S.A.: Marquette and Roche,
Holabird
1893-4. Chicago Architectural Photographing
Company
;
379 Chicago (Illinois), U.S.A.: Marshall Field Wholesale Store by H. H. Richard^ ;
son, 1885-7 (demolished). Chicago Archie
Photographing
tectural
390 Glasgow, Scotland: School of Art, from the corner of Renfrew Street and Scott Street; by Charles Rennie Mackintosh,
Company
1
380 Chicago (Illinois), U.S.A.: Auditorium Building; by Adler and Sullivan, 1887-9. Chicago Architectural Photographing
U.S.A.:
(Illinois),
1890-4 382 Chicago Scott
(Illinois),
Store,
in
U.S.A.: Carson
its
original
state
Pirie
before
left
tectural
Photographing
Company
A
I'lnnovation' ; by Victor Hor^ 383 Brussels * ta, 1901 (destroyed). Dr Franz Stoedtner :
3
84 Paris detail of facade of 'La Samaritaine' by Frantz Jourdain, 1905. Only frag/ments of the design now survive. From
from
pi.
X
385 Barcelona, Spain: crypt of Sta
Coloma de
Colonia Giiell; by Antoni Gaudi, 1 898-1 91 5- Only the crypt of the chapel was ever completed. Amigos de Gaudt Cervello,
3
the
in
86 Barcelona, Spain fa9ade of the Nativity transept of the Templo Expiatorio de la :
Sagrada Familia; by Antoni Caudi, commissioned 1883, pinnacles completed 1930.
Mas
interiors,
salvaged,
Dr Franz
Bauhaus
complex
Walter
Gropius,
Stoedtner
Adolf Loos, 1966
(New York), U.S.A.: Martin House; by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1904.
395 Buffalo
fay
W.
Baxtresser
396 Racine (Wisconsin), U.S.A.: Research Tower of S.C. Johnson and Son; by Frank Lloyd Wright, completed 1949. Wayne Andrews
Oak Park (lUinois), U.S.A.: Unity Church; by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1906. Wayne Anderson 398 Racine (Wisconsin), U.S.A.: interior of the Administration Building of S.C. Johnson and Son; by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1936-9. Wayne Andrews
397
Run (Pennsylvania), U.S.A. Kauf" mann House, 'Falling Waters'; by Frank
399 Bear
A
number of
the iron^framed
including the auditorium, were
and
are at
present in storage.
Studio Minders
388 Glasgow, Scotland: view from the gallery
ground floor front room of the Willow Tea Rooms, Sauchiehall Street; by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1903-4.
into the
Annan, Glasgow
389 Buffalo (New York), U.S.A.: interior of the Larkin Building; by Frank Lloyd
Wright, 1904 (demolished 1949). From Testament by Frank Lloyd Wright. Copyright 1957, published by Horizon
A
Press,
by
south;
394 Prague: Miiller House; by Adolf Loos, 1930. From L. Miinz and G. Kiinstler,
387 Brussels: facade of the Maison du Peuple; by Victor Horta, 1896-9 (demolished 1965-6).
the
1925-6.
:
L'Architecture,
Turbine Factory; by Peter Dr Franz Stoedtner
Germany:
393 Dessau,
1899-
1901, remainder 1903-4. Chicago Archi"
AEG
392 Alfeld^a.^d.^Leine, Germany: Fagus Fac^ tory; by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer, 1911-14. Dr Franz Stoedtner
destruction of the eaves gallery; by Louis
Sullivan, lower section at the
Glasgow School
Behrens, 1908-9.
Reliance
Burnham and Co.,
Building; by D. H.
the
of Art
391 Berlin:
381 Chicago
two bays and eleva/ - 1907-9. Bryan
last
and Shear, by courtesy of
Com^
pany
897-9 and - the
tion in the foreground
New
York
400
:
Lloyd Wright, 1936. Hedrich^Blessing York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; by Frank Lloyd Wright, de^
New
signed
1943,
built
State Department of
1956-9.
New
York
Commerce, Infoplan
401 Berlin: auditorium of Max Reinhardt's Grosses Schauspielhaus, a remodelled cir/ cus;
by Hans Poelzig,
191 9. Bildarchiv
Foto Marburg
402 Neubabelsberg,
Germany:
Einstein
Observatory Tower; by Erich Mendel/ sohn, designed 1919, completed 1921. Dr Franz Stoedtner 403 Le Raincy (Seine^et/Oise), France: in/ terior of Notre/Dame, looking east; by
Auguste
Perret,
1922-3. Martin Hurlimann
353
404 'Plan Voisin'
From
1925.
for Paris,
W.
by Le Corbusier,
Boesiger and
H.
Girs/
Le Corbusier igio-6^y 1967
berger,
418 Dublin: United States Embassy; by John M. Johansen, 1963. Norman McGrath
419
Unite d'Habitation; by Le Corbusier, 1947-52. From W. Boesiger and H. Girsberger, Le Corbusier igio-6^, 1967
Associates
of Roehampton Estate;
detail
by the London County Council Archie Department, 1952-9. Greater Lon^
tect's
H.
Law
^22 Mexico
igio-6<„
Offices;
(Haute^Saone),
France:
nil,
409 Como, Giuseppe Terragni, 1932-6. By
Casa
del
Luigi
Italy: aircraft
Nervi,
1938.
By
424 Warren (Michigan), U.S.A.: General
courtesy of
Motors Technical Center; by Eero Saari/ nen, 195 1-5. Ezra Stoller
hangar; by Pier courtesy
of
the
architect
411 Florence,
Italy:
grandstand of the
425 Colorado Springs (Colorado) U.S.A.: academic area of the United States Air Force Academy; by Skidmore, Owings
and
Com^
munal Stadium; by Pier Luigi Nervi, 1930-2. By courtesy of the architect 412 Mexico City: interior of the church of the Miraculous Virgin, looking from one aisle towards the nave; by Felix Candela,
Sweden: cinema in the Sub' Shopping Center; by Ralph
Erskine, 1963. Atelje Sundahl, by courtesy of the architect
414 Rio de Janeiro: Ministry of National Education and Public Health; by Costa, Leao, Moreira, Niemeyer, Leidy, and
Le Corbusier, 1937-43- Marcel
Gautherot
415 Detroit (Michigan), U.S.A.: Reynolds Aluminum Building; by Minoru Yama^ saki, 1959. Balthazar Korab
U.S.A.: (Minnesota) 416 Minneapolis Tyrone Guthrie Theatre; by Ralph Rap^ son, 1 96 1-3. Eric Sutherland
New Haven
U.S.A.: and Architecture by Paul Rudolph, 1961-3. (Connecticut),
University
Building;
An
United States Information Service
Merrill,
completed
1959.
Hedrich^
Blessing
426
New Canaan
(Connecticut),
Philip Johnson House; 1949.
U.S.A.:
From
Philip
Johnson, Architecture ig^g-6^y 1966
Denmark: Town Hall; by Arne Jacobsen, 1955-6. Struwing, by
427 R0dovre,
1953-4 413 Lulea, Arctic
York: Lever Building; by Gordon Owings and Meu 1950-2
by
Fascio;
Sig. Luigi Terragni
410 Orbetello,
New
Bunshaft of Skidmore,
Martin Hurlimann
4,
Italy:
Yale
City: interior of the Bacardi by Mies van der Rohe, 1963.
Balthazar Korab
423
Notre^Dame^du^Haut; by Le Corbusier,
417
S toller
United States Information Office
1967
408 Ronchamp 1950
Ezra
New York: Seagram Building; by Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, 1956-8.
Corbusier
Le
Girsberger,
by
Tourist Commission
421
Courts; by Le
From W.
TWA,
420 Sydney: model of Opefa House; by Jorn Utzon, begun 1959. Australian
Boesiger and
Corbusier, 1952-6.
Terminal Building,
International Airport; by Eero
Saarinen, 1956-62.
don Council
407 Chandigarh, India:
TWA
York:
Kennedy
406 London:
354
New
405 Marseilles (Bouches^du^Rhone), France:
courtesy of the architect
428 Hunstanton (Norfolk), England: school; by Peter and Alison Smithson, 1949-53. Architectural Review
429 Project across
for
the
Tokyo by building Yokohama, detail of
extending
bay
to
model; by Kenzo Tange, i960
430 Detail of model of Ocean City; by Kiyonori Kikutake, 1958. By courtesy of the architect
431 Brasilia: detail of the surrounding 'loggia' of the Alvorado Palace, with a chapel in the background; by Oscar Niemeyer,
completed by i960
432
Brasilia: general
showing
view of Congress Hall,
the 'bowl' housing the
Chamber
of Deputies, and the twin towers contain^ ing offices; by Oscar Niemeyer, i960
1
INDEX
Exhibition
Barcelona,
work
311, ji2,
Gaudf
331;
jij
in italic indicate illustrations
Palatine
ijij;
Abu
Simbel 20, 21 Adam, Robert 265, 26J, 268, 288, 289 Adler, Dankmar 307, 309 Aght'amar 89, go Agliate, S. Pietro 107
Agrigento Alberti, i8j,
Leone
Battista
171,
174-6,
195-6
Barry, Sir Charles 286, 2go-i, 292
Buffalo,
Abbey
Bauhaus ^16, 331 Bear Run, Pa., Falling Waters 318, 3'9 Beauvais Cathedral 126, 1^1, 141, 159 Behrens, Peter 314, ji<,
Henry 264 AEG Turbine Factory
spielhaus (Poelzig) ^20, 321; Phil/
harmonic
(Schinkel) 282
Schauspielhaus
328;
naro
Amer, Sta Maria 107 Amiens i^g; Cathedral
Barberini 20^, 206; S. 126,
127,
Ammanati, Bartolommeo 195
Andrea
al
205; and France 210,
228,
22g, 2^2
Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity 88
88, 91
Bexley Heath,
60, 61
Ancy/le-'Franc, Chateau 219
Anss, John 273-4 61; pilgrimage
St^Trophime 117 in
Art Nouveau ji i~i^
Ashridge 289 Asplund, Gunnar 325 Athens 25, 32, 39; Acropolis 29, 32, jj, j4, 43; Erechtheum ^2, jj, ^4, Little J5, 57; Kapnikarea 92; Metropole Cathedral 90, 91 --2; Par/ thenon 12, j2, 3^, ^4, 35, j6-4y,
Dionysus 32,
Temple of
j2, ^4; Theatre of
42, 4^
264;
205
J
1,
del
Condestable) 16^
Burlington, Lord
266
26^1,
Burnham, Daniel H. 307, 308, jop Burton, Decimus 269 Butterfield, William 2gi, 292, 2gg Byzantium see Istanbul Caen, St/Etienne 121; limestone 116 Callicrates 34, 37
Cambridge
Church 303-4, J05
Boullee, Etienne/Louis 277
Bourges
Downing
162;
Cathedral
249; Pembroke College 242; Trinity College 162
126,
136,
140,
Visual Arts 323-4; Christ
Church 274 Cameron, Charles 264 Campbell, Colen 265, 266 Canberra 336 Candela, Felix ^26, 327 Canterbury Cathedral 121, Capet,
Hugh
126
Caprarola, Cola da ij2
Caprarola, Villa Farnese igy
Castle
Rock of 27 Howard 246, 247, 248
Caux,
Isaac de 240-1
Cashel, Great
Chambers,
Sir
2<,8, 262 William 265, 266,
Chambord, Chateau
215, 216, 2iy,
Bramante, Donato 172, 177, ij8-8o, 182, 186, 188, 214 Bramshill 227
Chandigarh ^24, 336 Charlemagne, Emperor
Brasilia ^^6,
Charlottesville,
j^y Breuer, Marcel 328 Brighton, Royal Pavilion 280, 281 Cathedral 148, 14^ Bnxworth, Saxon church gg Bristol
Brosse,
Va.,
Virginia 27^ Chartres Cathedral
99, 100, 117
University
113,
126,
of
127,
131, 136, 137, 138, 145
Cheadle, St Giles's 291
228, 2^0, 23
Auxerre Cathedral crypt 104 Azay/le/Rideau, Chateau 215, 218
Bruchsal, Schloss 2^2 Bruges, Cloth Hall i2j
Baalbek 65, 66, 6y, 208, 209, 268 Baltimore, Cathedral 278, 279
Brunelleschi, 178, 184
220
Chenonceau, Chateau 215, 216, 217,
Salomon de
Briihl, Schloss
142, 14J,
160
267
141. 157
Autun Cathedral
Chapel
Cambridge, Mass., Carpenter Center
Chalgrin, J.F. T.
Bowood House 268
Broadleys )0 2
College
286; King's College (Chapel) 1^8, 159, 162-3, (Fellows' Building)
Carlisle Cathedral 148
Boston, Mass., King's Chapel 2J4; Massachusetts State House 275-6;
Augsburg Town Hall 228 112
rebuilding
Borromini, Francesco 201,
Trinity
Asam, Cosmas Damian 253-4 Asam, Egid Quirin 253, 2<,4
35;
town
250, 257
8g, 90, 91
J2-4,
Chad's Cathedral
Blenheim Palace 246, 248 Blerancourt, Chateau 231 Blois, Chateau 215, 216, 2^0, 231 Boileau, L./A. 297 Bolsover Castle 227
Arevalo, Luis de 256, 237
Nike Apteros
St
Bryanston joi
Architects' Co-'Partnership 326
architecture
298, 2gg,
291 Blandford,
Annaberg, St Anne ^8, 154 Anthemius of Thralles 81 Antwerp Town Hall 228
Armenia, Byzantine
Bunning, J.B. 2g6 Bunshaft, Gordon 352 Burckhardt, Jacob 168 Burghley House 227 Burgos Cathedral 156, 257; (Capilla
for the
Birmingham,
Am
Roman town
Red House
300
Anet, Chateau 2ig Angouleme Cathedral 94, 117 Cathedral 89
Propylaea
Palazzo
2oy,
Quirinale 206; St Peter's and the 204,
Byzantine architecture in
station 112;
Chapel 202,
Piazza 182, 200, 201; Scala Regia
136, 138, ijp, 142, 143, 146, 155
Ancona, Arch of Trajan
Bulfinch, Charles 275, 2j6
Bernini, Gianlorenzo 174, 254; Cor/
Amboise, Chateau 215
Aries,
314,
515; Altes Museum 282; Branden^ burg Gate 262, 26^; Grosses Schau/
Alfeld, Fagus Factory ^75 Alton Castle 291
Guaranty Building
House ^18
Bath 264, 26^, 268
Bell,
N.Y.,
309; Larkin Building jj./; Martin
164, 16$
Alessi, Galeazzo 197
Anatolia,
ji^; Palais
Bryanston 300, joi Brynmawr, rubber factory 326
Berlin,
3
1,
W. H. 294, 2g^ Barnngton Court 220 Batalha
Minster Aachen, Chapel J 00, 117 Aalto, Alvar 328
Horta work ^1
de Justice 284
Barlow, Pa^e numbers
Brussels,
1,
234
307-8,
Building 308,
313; 309;
Scott Store 309, jio;
252 Filippo
218
Chicago
168,
i6g-ji,
Illinois Institute
Auditorium Carson Pine
Crown
Hall,
of Technology 331;
Lake Shore Drive Apartments 331;
355
j
1
Marquette Building ]o6, 308; Mar^ shall Field Wholesale Store 304, j£>5,
309;
Monadnock Building Montauk Block 308; Reliance 309;
Building jotj; Robie House 318; Tacoma Building 308; United Air^ lines Offices
332
Eastnor Castle 289 Eaton Hall 289, 293 Edinburgh, Royal High School 278, 271^, 280
Greenwich 238, 239, 246, 248
Einsiedeln Abbey Church 254, 255 Elmes, Harvey Lonsdale 287, 28g Elwood, Craig 332
Hadrian, Emperor
Ely Cathedral 121,
Hagley Park follies 280-1 Hampton Court 220, 221, 2^6, 259 Hanover Opera House 284 Hardwick Hall 224, 226, 22J, 238 Harewood House 268
Chicago School 297, jo6-io, 317 Chios, Nea Mom gi Chiswick House 2^5 Chorley Wood, The Orchard 302 Churnguera, Jose de 256 Chute, John 281
Escorial 213, 21^
Cistercian architecture 11^, 11^
Eton College 162
Citeaux 114 Clairvaux 114 Clermont/Ferrand, Notre^Dame^du'
Exeter Cathedral 142, 148, i^g
Port 103
Cluniac architecture 110-12, 142
Cluny no,
111, 112, 114, 130, 142 Coalpitheath, St Saviour's Vicarage
C.R. 286-7 Cologne, Cathedral 152, 15J; Opera House 284 Colorado Springs, U.S. Air Force
Academy 332, 33J Como, Casa del Fascio
J25;
Romans
esque churches 123
Conant, Professor K. G. no, 115 Condover Hall 227 Conques, Ste^Foy (j5, 102, 103, 113,
151
Epidauros, theatre 43 Erskine,
Ralph j2y
70, 73
The Hague, Mauritshuis 228 Hamilton, Thomas 278, 2jg, 280
Harrison, Peter 2J4 Hatfield House 224, 225, 22j Hatshepsut, Queen, 18, ig, 20
Hawksmoor, Nicholas Johann Michael 254 Fischer von Erlach, Johann Bernhard Fischer,
250 Florence
168; Biblioteca
167,
Lau^
renziana 188, 189, I93; Cathedral 56,
Cockerell,
if,o,
Ephesus, Byzantine churches 86, 88; Temple of Artemis 3;
py
Gropius, Walter y6, 317, 320 Guarini, Guarino 210, 211, 257
170;
i6t),
155,
Communal
246, 248, 24g
Heidelberg, Ottheinnchsbau 228
Helensburgh, Hill House 313 Hengrave Hall 220 Hereford Cathedral 142 Herrera, Juan de 21
214
3,
Hexham, Saxon church 99
Stadium 326; Foundling Hospital lyo; Medici Chapel 178, 188, i8g,
Hildebrandt, Johann Lukas von 250,
190; Palazzo
Hildesheim, St Michael 118
Pitti
172, 191, 195;
Palazzo Rucellai 174, i8y, Palazzo Strozzi 172, 773, 174; S. Miniato al
Monte
123;
122,
Sta
Maria
Hoban, James 276 Holabird, William ^06, 307, 308 Holkham Hall 266
Novella J75, 195; Sto Spirito 170,
Holl, Elias 228
ly i; Uffizi 193
Horta, Victor jii, 312, 313 Hosios Lukas 91
Floris,
Cornells 228
Fontaine, P. F. L. 262, 26^
Howard, Ebenezer
Fontainebleau, Chateau 2ig, 228
Hugh
Constantine, Emperor 49, 71, 73, 74 Constantinople see Istanbul
Fontenay
Hunstanton, school 332,
Costa, Lucio ^28, 336, ^37 Coulommiers, Chateau 231
Fonthill 289
118
75
;
Fontevrault
1
Ictinus 37,
Abbey
Coutances Cathedral 157 Coventry 3 34 Cragside 300, 30
Frangois
214, 218
Croome Court 268
Gabriel, Jacques^
William H. 328
Istanbul 71, 72, 92,
88;
100,
126,
336;
Hagia Sophia
55-6, 76, 78, yg, 80, 81, 82, 8y 86, Holy Apostles 86; St Irene
88, 89;
86, 8y; St
John of Studion 88; SS.
Sergius and Bacchus 84, 85, 88, 89
Gaudi, Antoni 3 1 1, jj2, 373, 321 General Motors Technical Center 332
Jacobsen,
Genoa 197
Jarrow, Saxon church 99
Gibbons, Grinling 243, 246, 248 Gibbs, James 248, 249, 273, 274
Jefferson,
Romano
Arne
328, 332,
jj^
Thomas 274, 275 Jenney, William LeBaron 307, 308
de Key, Lieven 228
Giulio
de Keyser, Hendrik 228
Giza 11,12 Glasgow, Mackintosh work 313,374,
Jerichow, Premonstratensian church
jiy, 'Greek' Thomson work 278 Gloucester Cathedral 102, 119, 1^8,
Jerusalem,
della Porta,
Giacomo
180, 181, ig§,
196 della Robbia, Andrea lyo de
A nge 2^4, 2j6, 237,
Gallarus Oratory gg Garnier, Charles 284, 28^, 286
Dashur, pyramid 12 Deane and Woodward 2p^ Deir el^Bahari 18, ig, 20, 21
12
Isidore of Miletus 81
262
Cuvillies, Frangois 252
1 1
^^y 334
40
g, 10, 11,
Blue Mosque
Cumbernauld 336
Deitrick,
Imhotep
115
Freiburg'im^Breisgau Minster 1^2
Culzean 289
303
Abbot of Cluny
17
Fountains I
of Semur,
rOrme,
Philibert 2J7, 218, 21 g
Dessau, Bauhaus ^16 Detroit,
Reynolds
Aluminum
Build'
ing ^28
356
159, 160, 161
2gi, 2g2,
2gy
2g4,
298-9
Goujon, Jean 218, 219 Gracanica, St John the Baptist g2 Granada, Cathedral choir 214, 273; Charterhouse 256, 257; Palace of Charles 2i2, 213
V
Jerash,
Roman town
62,
64
116
Church of
the
Resur^
rection 74
Johansen, John
Gothic Revival 280, 281, 288-9, 2go,
Dresden, Zwinger 25; Dublin, U.S. Embassy 328, ^2g Durham Cathedral 98, 105, 118, 120, 123, 165
191, ig2, 193
M.
328,
Johnson, Philip 328,
pg
jy,
332, ^^^ Jones, Inigo 238, 2^g, 240, 241, 249
Jourdain, Frantz 37 1 Juan Bautista de Toledo 213, 214 Julius
II,
Pope
179,
182,
188,
196,
206 Jumieges, Notre^Dame ti8, ng, 120
j
Emperor
Justinian,
3
8 1
;
78, 84, 86, 88, 89
Juvarra, Filippo 257
House 240; National Gallery 286; Natural History Museum 293 Pad' ;
dington
Karnak, Temple of Amun ly, 18, 26
14, 75, 16,
Hotel 293;
Station
310;
Piccadilly
Building
Prudential
300;
Reform Club 286; Regent
Street 270; Roehampton Estate J2j; Royal Courts of Justice 2gj; St
Kedleston Hall 26 Kent, William 265, 266 Kenwood House 268 Kiev Cathedral 93
Bride's 243; St-'Martin/in^the^Fields 249; St Pancras Station and Hotel 2g2, 294, 2^5; St Paul's Cathedral
Kikutake, Kiyonon 334, jj5
Kilmacolm, Windyhill 313 King's Lynn 264 Kirby Hall 227 Klenze, Leo von 278, 27^ Knossos 26, 2 J
150, 172, 180, 244, 24^, 246,
56,
261; St Paul's, Convent Garden 240; St Paul's School, Hammer-smith 293; St Stephen, Walbrook
John Soane's house, House (Old) 222; Somerset House (Chambers) 26'/; 242, 243; Sir
Kurokawa, Noriaki 334 Kuttenberg (Kutna Hora),
2y8; Somerset
St Bar^
bara 1^1
Travellers'
Club 286; U.S. Em^
bassy 328; University College 286;
Langenstein 1^4
Westminster Hall 159, 161 Longhena, Baldassare ig6 Longleat House 222, 223, 226
Langhans, K. G. 265
Long
Laon Cathedral 126, 127, 136, 138 La Tourette, Dominican convent 323
Loos, Adolf 377, 322-3 Lorsch, abbey gatehouse 100 Louviers 98
Labrouste, Henri 296, 2gy
Landshut 154
Latrobe, Benjamin Henry 275, 278,
2jg Le Corbusier (C.E. Jeanneret) 174,
Lebrun, Charles 235 Ledoux, Claude^Nicolas 2^/ Le Mans Cathedral 126, 136, 141 Lemercier, Jacques 228, 22^, 231 L'Enfant, Pierre Charles 276 Leningrad 263, 264, 336
Le Puy
178,
Lescot, Pierre 218, 219, 22g
Letchworth Garden City 303 Lethaby,
W.R.
-231,
Limoges, St^Martial 1 1 Lincoln Cathedral 142,
232, 255
146,
145,
2%
26
London, planning 241-3, 268, 26^, 270; Alben Memorial 2^2; All Saints',
Margaret Street 2gi;
Bank
of England 86, 277, 27^; Banquet^ ing House 23 g, 240; British Mus'
eum
282,
House 263; Christ Church,
28-/ ;
Terrace 262,
190;
Palazzo
i8j,
190;
Peter's
181,
180,
200,
182,
St
257;
tomb of Julius II 188, 206 Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig 320, 331, 332 Milan, 214; Cathedral 156, 168; Edict of 95; S. S.
Ambrogio
Lorenzo 73;
Sta
102, 123;
Maru
delle
Grazie 177; Sta Maria presso S. Satiro 177; S. Vincenzo Prato
m
Sanderson 280
1 1
Moissac, Stz-Pierre 117
Monreale Cathedral 1 Montacute House 227
7
Monticello 275 Montserrat, Sta Cecilia 107
30s Macaulay, Rose 65 Machuca, Pedro 213 Mackintosh, Charles
111,314,31s Maderna, Carlo 180, 203, 20^, 206
303, 304,
Rennie
311,
Moosbrugger, Caspar 254, 255 Morris, William 298, 299, 300, 304, 316
Moscow, Byzantine churches pj Mschet, Holy Aposdes 89 Mumford, Lewis 23 Munich, Amalienburg 2^2; GlyptO' thek 278, 2jg
182, 200, 202,
Mainz Cathedral 102, 10$ Maisons Lafitte, Chateau 231 Mallet'Stevens, Robert 313
Malvern, priory church
747,148 Liverpool, St George's Hall 287, 1
i8g, 186,
Munstead Wood 301 Mycenae 28
Maillart, Robert 321
303
Le Vau, Louis 228-9,
Loches, casde
298,
23
McKim, Mead and White
LeRaincy, Notre/Dame32J, 322, 326
188,
184,
Mnesicles 34, 35 Modena Cathedral
Mclntire, Samuel 275
214
Chapel Farnese
Minneapolis, Minn., Tyrone Guthrie Theatre 328, j2^
300, 301
112, 117
Michelangelo 165, 174, 187-8, 197 Biblioteca Laurenziana 188, 189 Capitol igo, igi, 200; Medici
Miller,
28
Edwin Landseer
326, 327 Meyer, Adolf 5 75
Miletus, plan 33, 47
32J
Luxor
232, 234, 236, 23 j
Leonardo da Vinci 174,
1
City, Bacardi Offices 331; church of the Miraculous Virgin
107
Lulea, Sub'Arctic Shopping Center
Lutyens, Sir
320, ^22, 323, 324, 332, 334
Le Notre, Andre
Melford, stained glass
Metezeau, Clement 231
Mexico
Carlton
24^; City and Guilds College 293 Coal Exchange 2g6; Crystal Palace 294, 2^3, 297; Gaiety
Spitalfields
;
Theatre 300; Horse Guards 266; Houses of Parliament 289, 2go, 291 Kenwood House 268; Kew Gar^ dens pagoda 266, 281; Lindsey
Manchester
Town
1
19
Hall 2^3
Mansart, Frangois 228, 230, 231 Mansart, Jules Hardouin 232, 233,
236-7 Mantua, Alberd work 176; Giulio 234, 23s,
Romano work
191, ig2, 193
Marburg, St Elisabeth 142, 154 Maria Laach 101 Marlborough, first Duke of 246 Marseilles, Unite d'Habitation 323 Marshcourt 301 Medici family 168, 172, 188, 189, 190
Medum, pyramid
12
Mendelsohn, Erich 321 Mereworth Castle 266
Nancy
260, 261
Naples 214; Reale 226;
264; Poggio Francesco di Paola
Caserta S.
284 Nash, John 263, 26g, 2jo, 288 Nashville, Tenn., State Capitol 280
Nepveu, Pierre 2J7 Neresheim Abbey 254 Nervi, Pier Luigi 325, 326, 327 Neubabelsberg, Einstein Observatory
Tower 321 Neumann, Balthasar
250, 252, 233,
254 New Canaan, Conn., Philip Johnson
House
New New
332, 333 Delhi 300, 336
Haven, Conn., Yale Art and
Architecture Building 328, j2^ Newport, R.I., Redwood Library
274
357
j 2
New York
Academy
of Design R. Guggenheim Museum j2o; Lever Buildmg j22; Lincoln Center 328; Pennsylvania Station 54, ^04, 305; Pierpont Morgan Library 305; Seagram Building ^31; Building, 309;
Solomon
294;
TWA
Kennedy
International Airport
jjo
Niemeyer, Oscar ^28, j^6, 337 Nimes, Maison Carree 46; Roman
town 61 Nonsuch Palace 220, 221 Novgorod 93 Nowicki, Matthew 328
Noyon Cathedral Nuremberg,
Oak
Park,
Odo
of Metz 100
Roman
Orange,
i<,4
J26
Ottobeuren Abbey 254 162; Keble College
Museum
2^4, 297; RadclifTe Cam^ 249; St Catherine's Col^ lege 328; Sheldonian Theatre 242; Taylorian Institute 287 era 248,
793, 197, 1^8, igg,
238, 249 Palladian movement 199, 238, 239,
Roman town
Paray^le^Monial Paris
65, 66,
268
1 1
126, 136 7, 262;
omphe
Arc
de Tri^
60, 2<,8, 262; Barricre de
la
277; Bibliothcque Ste^ Genevieve 296, 297; Bibliothcque Nationale 297; College des Quatre Villette
Nations
232;
Eiffel
Invalides
311;
Petra 65 Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus 132, 167, 193,
work
work 278;
278, 27^, 280
Hans 320,
Tower
297,
church 232,
2jj; 218, 219, 22^, 230,
Temple of
183;
74,
2.
Early Christian and
196; Olympic Stadium 326; Piazza of St Peter's 179, 180, 184, 200, 201,
186,
187,
Agnese
Navona 201, 210, Andrea al Quirinale Andrea delle Fratte 209; S. in Piazza
206; S.
Carlo 208,
Quattro Fontane 207, S. Clemente 96, 97;
alle
209;
S. Filippo
Nen
209; S.
Roman town
61
Old
Quatremcre de Quincy, A.^C. 261 Quedlinburg Abbey Church 103
g6; St Peter's,
257; S. Pietro
in
offices
Son J 18, jig,
of S. C. Johnson
Stazione
Montorio,
Termim
(Cortile del
Concorde 234,
la
Rivoli
de
Sainte^Chapelle
i^g,
262,
26y,
162;
St'
Etienne^du^Mont 218; St^Eugcne 297; Stz-Eustache 218; St^Gervais 231; Sorbonne church 231; 'La Samaritaine' jii;
UNESCO
Building 328; Val'de^Grace
2p
Parker, Barry 303
183,
Rainaldi, Carlo 206
(Scala Regia) 204, 205; Villa
Mad'
Raleigh, N. C, Arena 328 Rameses II jj, 20, 21 Raphael 174, 177, 180, 18^, 184, 18^,
ama
191
184, i8y. Villa of
Pope Julius
196
Ronchamp,
NotrcDame'du'Haut
207, 324
Rapson, Ralph 328, 329 Rastrelli, Bartolommeo 263-4 Ravenna, S. Vitale 73, 78, 8^, 86, 88, 100
Percier,
P.F.L.
Charles, 2.62,
26
and
Richmond, Va.,StateCapitol 275, 278 Rimini, S. Francesco (Tempio Mala'
Root, John Wellborn 304, 307, 308 9 Rossi, Karl Ivanovitch 264 Rosso, Giovanni Rotterdam 334
Battista
2ig
Abbey Church 2^4 1.
ancient:
44;
Basilica
of
Colosseum
49,
63,
64;
Forum
Abbey Church
126, 127, 134,
13^
332 55, 98, 113,
136, 167
St Gall plan 108, iii, 114
St Gallen, abbey library 254
St'Gilles'du'Gard St Lcuis,
Maxentius and Constantine 48, 4g, 95; Basilica of Trajan ^5, g6;
ij;
Saarinen, Eero 328, 330, St'Benoit'Sur' Loire 118
St'Denis
testiano) 175, 176
Rio de Janeiro, Ministry of Education 328 Roche, Martin 306, 307, 308 R^dovre, Town Hall 332, 333
Rom^ Fontaine,
124, 129, ijo, 136,
138, 143
Rolir
Pavia, S. Michele 118 Paxton, Joseph 2^5
Vatican
327;
Belvedere)
Richardson, Henry Hobson 303-4, joy, jo8, 309
Rue
Tem^
i7g,
3-20
House
Place de
172,
56,
Susanna 202, 203;
pietto 178; Sta
Racine, Wis.,
new
179, 180, 181, 182, 184, 188, 200,
Rubens, Sir Peter Paul 240 Rudolph, Paul 328, 32g Ruskin, John 294, 296
262,
Giacomo
Corso 206; S. Ivo della Sapienza 208, 2og; S. John Lateran 257; Sta Maria degli Angeli 5^; Sta Maria Maggiore 96, 257; Sta Maria in Monte Santo 206; Sta Maria della Pace 2og, 210; Sta Maria della Vittoria, Cornaro Chapel 202, 203; S. Paolo fuori le mura 96; St Peter's, al
3 3
Rouen Catheral
261;
191,
211, 250; S.
Revett, Nicholas 281
Pantheon
190,
286; Palazzi Massimi 184, 186, 187; Palazzo Vidoni'Caffarelli 183; S.
Rheims Cathedral
62, 284, 28^, 286;
Baroque
after:
284; Luxembourg, Palais 2^0; Madeleine church Opera 262;
Louvre 210,
55, 54;
planning 200-1, 260; Capitol igo, igi, 200; Gesu church 175, ig^,
Farnese 184,
321
2i<), 228 Procopius 82, 86, 88 Pugin, Augustus Welby Northmore 244-5, 2t)o, 2^1
Pula,
73,
202; Palazzo Barberini 205, 206; Palazzo Cancellaria 177; Palazzo
Poggio a Caiano, Medici villa 239 Pompeii 61, 67, 68, 6^, 70 Pont du Card
&
240, 249, 26^-7, 273, 274, 2JC^
Palmyra,
Peterborough Cathedral 121
252, 314 Phidias 37, 38, 40-2 Philadelphia, Pa., Latrobe
58,
Thermae of Caracalla 52, Thermae of Diocletian 5^
Peruzzi, Baldassare 180, 186, i8y
Qalat'Siman, martyrium 88 Quarenghi, Giacomo 264
Padua, S. Antonio 94 Paestum 30, jj, 201
Pantheon 49, 35, ^6,
Minerva Medica 73; tenements 67;
Primaticcio, Francesco
292;
Golden House of
^7;
70, 184;
57,
Priene
Oxford
Andrea
Claude 22g Auguste j2i, izz
Poppelmann, Matthaus 25; Porden, William 289 Potsdam, Neues Palais 262 Prague, Miiller House jiy
Osterley Park 267, 268
Palladio,
Nero
Perrault,
Poelzig,
theatre 62
Orbetello, hangar
Romanum
117
Pisa, Cathedral precincts 123
Unity Church 318,
111.,
t^^,
Perret,
Strickland
136, 141
Lorenz
St
Perigueux, St/'Front
Permoser, Balthasar 2^1
1 1
7
Mo., Wainwright Building
309
St'Martin'du'Canigou 106, 107 Sabratha, Roman theatre 62 Salem, Mass., Court House 275
.
Salisbury Cathedral
127,
1^2,
143,
14s, 146
Salonika,
Holy Apostles ^2
Salzburg, Franciscan church Sangallo,
Antonio da
154
if,2,
177, 180, 184,
1S6, 187, 188
Sanmicheli, Michele
ii)2,
193-4
Sansovino, Jacopo 166, 1^4, 195 Santa Monica, Cal., Rosen House 3 3 2 Santiago de Compostela Cathedral loj, 112, 1 13, 156 Saqqara, Step Pyramid
Terragni, Giuseppe 525
Vignon,
Tewkesbury Abbey Church 102, 119 Thebes ij, 14 Thomson, Alexander 'Greek' 278 Thornton, William 27<; Thynne, Sir John 222
Viollet/le^Duc,
Tiepolo, Giambattista 252 Tijou, Jean 246
Timgad, Roman town
52,
10, 11, 12
Scamozzi, Vincenzo 239, 241 Scarisbnck House 291
Schwabisch Gmund 154 Scott, Sir George Gilbert 2^2, 297 Seaton Delaval 248-9 Segovia, Roman aqueduct 60;
Tomar Abbey
iSf,
Tome, Narciso
254, 2<,6
Cathedral 156, 757 Shaw, Richard Norman ^00, joi, 305 Shute, John 223
Siena Cathedral 155 Siloe, Diego de 214, 21^
Veneto 284; Superga 257
534 Smythson, Robert 223, 223, 226, 22y Soane, Sir John 86, 277, 27^, 288 Somerset,
Edward Seymour, Lord
Vanbrugh,
Sir
John 246,
2^7, 248,
Van Campen, Jacob 228 Van de Velde, Henry 302, 312 Van Dyck, Sir Anthony 241 Vanvitelli, Luigi
Vasari, Giorgio 193
Spalato, Palace of Diocletian 249, 267
Venice 72, 93,
Duke of Lorraine 260 Stockholm Crematorium 325 Strawberry Hill 281, 289 Street, George Edmund 2g^ Strickland, William 27g, 280 Stuart, James 281
Trinite
i
1^4,
195;
Piazzetta
^4,117, 1^6 Verona, Roman town 61 work ig2, 193-4 Versailles, 232, 233,
Louis H. 298, 304, jo8, 309, J JO, 311, 31-2, 317 Summerson, Sir John 224, 292 Sydney Opera House jjo
307,
Richard 272, 273
Tange, Kenzo ^^4 Tara 99, 100
ic^6,
1^4;
II
Sanmicheli
2^4,
235,
2j6,
198, igg, 266, 275 Sterner
House 317
Abbey Church 2SJ Vignola, Giacomo ig^, 196, igj, 206, 228
William of Sens 142, 143 William the Englishman 143 Williamsburg 260, 272, 2 75
161, 163
Wood, John the Elder 264, 265 Wood, John the Younger 264, 26^ Woodward, Benjamin 2^4
Greenwich Hospital 246; 246; Pembroke College Chapel 242; St Paul's 180, 242, 24j;
Hampton Coun 196,
244,
24^,
261;
Sheldonian
Theatre 242
Wright, Frank Lloyd 310, J14, 317, 3i8,3i<),32o Wyatt, James 289 Wyatt, Sir Matthew Digby 3 10 Wyatville, Sir Jeffry 289
Yamasaki, Minoru 328 Yevele,
259-60 Vezelay, La Madeleine 112, 113 Vicenza 197, ig8, igg; Villa Rotonda
Vierzehnheiligen
Wieskirche 254 Wight, P.B. 294
W'ynford, William 160 ;
2jJ, 250,
Vienna 250, 251; Taliaferro,
152
Doge's Palace 1^4; Libreria Vecchia 166, ii)4;
Salute 1^6, 231; St Mark's 76, 77,
167 Sullivan,
i<,i,
i^g
Redentore 197; S. Giorgio Mag^ giore i()j, 197; SS. Giovanni e Paolo 153, 156; Sta Maria della
Stupinigi 257 Soger, Abbot of St^Denis 135, 136,
298
242; domestic architecture 228, 272; plan for London 242; City churches 211,
264
Venasque, Merovingian baptistery
Stanislas,
25^3,
Worcester Cathedral 142, 160 Wren, Sir Christopher 171,
Sonning, Deanery Garden ^01 Southwell Minster 104 Speyer Cathedral 118
Inter/-
Wolfsburg, Cultural Centre 328 Wollaton Hall 224, 22^, 226 Wolsey, Cardinal 161, 220
249, 266
Vendome, La
Dulles
Philip 298, 2gg, 300
Chapel
303
Vaux'lc/'Vicomte, Chateau 231, 232
Protector 222
27^;
Winchester Cathedral 121, 160 Windsor, Castle 289; St George's
14
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill 331, 332, jj^ Smirke, Sir Robert 282, 2^7, 289 Smithson, Peter and Alison 332, jjj,
Capitol
national Airport 328
White, Stanford 304-5
Utzon, Jorn jjo
Skellig Michael 99
288
145, 146, 149
Ties Riches Heures du due de Berry 215 Turin, Exhibition Hall 326; Guarini work 210, 211; Piazza Vittorio
Unwin, Raymond
St Mary's
Weltenburg Abbey Church 253-4 Westover (Byrd House) 272, 2J3
11 j
Urbino 177
V, Pope 200
276^
Wells Cathedral 129, 138, 143, 144,
Torrigiano, Pietro 220
Tutankh'Amun
117, 119
Thomas U.
Washington, D.C., plans 275, 276,
Webb,
Toulouse, St'Sernin
300,
Warren, Mich., General Motors Tech' meal Center 332
Waterhouse, Alfred 292,
Tours, St^Martin 113, 118 Trdat 89
Seville
Sixtus
(TraS'
157,
Tournus, St'Philiben 108, log, 113
Sens Cathedral 127, 136 Serlio, Sebastiano 219, 224, 226
Norman
1^6,
Annesley
Charles F.
^02
336;
Toledo Cathedral parente) 254, 2^6
Sicily,
projects
jj4
Scharoun, Hans 328 Schinkel, Karl Friedrich 281, 282
Cathedral 165
Voysey,
Warwick, 1J2
Tokyo, Imperial Hotel 328;
Senlis Cathedral 136
Vitruvius 29, 184, 238, 240, 267
Walpole, Horace 281, 28^
Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa 70
for rebuilding
Eugene Emmanuel
132, 296
Walter, 6f,
Todi, Sta Maria della Consolazione 5),
Pierre 262
Henry 160
York, Assembly
Rooms
266; Minster
76, 142
Zara, St Donat 89, 107 Zehrfuss, Bernard 328
Zimmermann, Domenikus 254 Zoser, pyramid of
^, 10, 11
Zwartnots, palace chapel 8g Zwiefalten Abbey Church 254
359
^boUt this
Book
'Architecture
is
the product of a hundred circumstances',
writes Professor Furneaux Jordan at the opening of this stimulating, wide-ranging survey. It is the product of religion
and
politics, art
and technology, geology and
mate, and countless otherfactors.
must always place of practical
cli-
The architect, moreover,
his creative imagination at the service
purpose^; he cannot withdraw into an ivory
tower.
Beginning with ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, the author shows how buildings, both in form and structure, have always expressed the qualities and aspirations of the cultures from which they sprang. The masterpieces of the Middle Ages— Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic— were ecclesiastical, embodying a deeply religious outlook on life. From the Renaissance onwards, architecture began increasingly to serve secular functions, with the building of great palaces and mansions and the advent, in time, of
town-planning schemes. During the nineteenth century (on which the author is a specialist), the rapid spread of industrialism, together with far-reaching social changes, launched the first phase of modern architecture. And it was the great Victorian engineers— working in iron, steel and
glass— who pointed the way to the future. Their railway stations, bridges and warehouses were to lead eventually to the International style which still flourishes in buildings under construction today. Art and technology ultimately united to
make
The author's
architecture part of a world culture.
lucid analysis of architectural styles, as they
have developed down the centuries, is fully illustrated by photographs and by diagrams specially prepared for this book.
Robert Furneaux Jordan (1905-78) was one of the leading authorities on the history of architecture.
History
and
Design
He was Lecturer the
in
Architectural
Association School 1934-63; Principal of the Architectural Association School 1946-51; Lecturer in Planning at the University of London 1952-53; and Architectural Correspondent of The Observer 1951-63. He wrote European Architecture in Colour, Victorian Architecture, The Timber House and The English House, and contributed frequently to architectural periodicals.
Printed in
Spam
at
Architectural
