FINE ARTS.
PROFESSOR DONALDSON'S INAUGURAL LECTURE.
THE recent institution of Professorships of Architecture at King's and University College are welcome signs of the growing disposition to recognize the Fine Arts as a branch of knowledge essential to what is termed a liberal education ; and whether the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge follow the example of the Metropolitan Colleges, or do not, the next generation will not be found so deplorably ignorant as the last
of the scientific principles of the Arts of Design. Architecture being at once the most useful and imposing of the fine arts, and more inti- mately and absolutely connected with science than either of the others,
naturally claims the attention of colleges of learning in the first place ; and since the constructive arts of civil-engineering and architecture have been included in the curriculum of collegiate instruction, it may be not unreasonably inferred that those arts of design employed in the embellishment of buildings, namely sculpture and painting, will in turn be included in the cycle of educational knowledge. A numerous audience assembled in the theatre of University Col- lege on Monday, to hear the inaugural lecture of the newly-ap-
pointed Professor of Architecture, Mr. T. L. DONALDSON ; whose erudite
and eloquent discourse was listened to with lively interest, and elicited frequent applause.. The learned Professor began by allud- ing to the number of treatises on architecture, and the attention be- stowed by the press on the subject, as indications of the intelligent curiosity with which people regarded the new edifices rising up around them ; instancing it as evidence of the necessity for cultivating an acquaintance with this branch of art, and exemplifying its importance to the community, from the influence which the character of public edifices, especially those for religious worship, exercises over the popular feeling. The lecture, being introductory, consisted of a rapid and comprehensive view of the architecture of different ages and countries, glancing at the leading characteristics of each, illus- trated by numerous examples ; and also of a sketch of the various matters to be embraced in the course of lectures ; which seems to be very complete, and includes ventilation and drainage as necessary parts of construction. It would be out of the question to follow the Professor through the various topics touched upon in the coarse of this lecture ; but we must find room for one or two remarks pertinent
to the present state of architecture. He designated this as a period of transition, in which new combinations of styles are constantly appearing, and enforced the urgent necessity for a recurrence to first principles : the different styles he likened to the languages of different countries, each one having certain fundamental principles ; and in searching for these, he recommended an insight into the nature and re- sources of the country, and the habits and wants of the people, as essen- tial to a due appreciation of their architecture. In characterizing the predilections of the moderns for particular styles, he assigned the By- zantine to the Germans and the Gothic to the English, observing that the French did not seem to prefer any style in particular. On this point we venture to suggest, deferentially, that the three grandest structures of recent date in Paris—namely, the Bourse, the Church of La Madeleine, and the Arc de 1'Etoile—being all in the Grecian style, go far to prove that the classic mania of the Revolutionary period has taken a more permanent and rational shape in the adoption of the Greek models for public edifices.
Professor DONALDSON took occasion to condemn the modern practice of interference with the plans of architects by committees of unprofes- sional persons, and was loudly cheered when counselling resistance to this kind of dictation. He also upheld the authority of Irminvius, which has been recently questioned ; and concluded by a neat applica- tion of that learned writer's beau ideal of an architect to the character of Sir CHRISTOPHER WREN.
It was not to be expected, perhaps, that on such an occasion any opinion should have been expressed as to the desirableness or proba- bility of a new style of architecture, adapted to the climate and customs of this country, being formed out of the materials of existing styles ; but we should have been glad to have heard promulgated from the Pro- fessor's chair the doctrine that architecture is progressive both as an art and as a science, and that improved methods of construction or new wants of civilization require new applications of the ornamental features also. We may mention here one important improvement, the application of the suspension-principle to roofs, which has been made by Mr. Hissoit, in his plan for a music-hall. The ex- terior of a building should express not only its purpose but the character of its construction ; and a vast ball covered in by a roof suspended by iron rods from piers at the angles connected by arches, should surely present an appearance very different from a Greek temple, where each block of stone has a column to support it, or a Roman am- phitheatre, whose walls are ranges of arches, and which has no covering. On seeing the model of Mr. HANSON 'S suspension-roof, we ventured to object to his division of the sides of the stupendous cube into rows of arcades, and urged the propriety of making the ingenious principle of its construction apparent to the eye ; thus producing a grand simplicity in the design, that would form as striking an architectural feature as the lofty piers and wide-spanned arches of a viaduct, or the solid masses of masonry forming the points d'appui of the comparatively cobweb chains of a suspension-bridge. Mr. HANSON coincided ; but the innovation seemed to stagger him.
Now this is one remarkable instance of the influence of precedent standing in the way of a bold enunciation in style of a new principle of construction ; and we feel convinced, that a blind adherence to the practice of imitation, the choice being only between the few recognized styles, has tended to fetter talent and restrain invention. We are aware that this is dangerous ground, and that any laxity, or disregard of the principles of a style to be adopted, would open the door to a host of rash innovators, whose only quality would be a reckless disregard of science, taste, and fitness: but, while we go the whole way with the conserva- tors of architectural parity when any one style, or an amalgamation of two or more modifications of a style, is to be adopted, we at the same
time, and for the same reason, contend that new principles of coustrnc- tion require, if not a new style of art, at least new adaptations of other styles, to express them. Since the Greek orders have been so merci- lessly and barbarously misused in endeavours to compress their majestic beauties into the petty forms of our chimney-pot and pudding-mould habitations, and the Gothic has been degraded into an emulation of con- fectionary-work, by the successors of those whose loftier ignorance of
its characteristics led them to despise it as " crinkle-crankle, ' it is high time that those two oppositely beautiful styles should be rescued from further debasement. No more effectual way could be found to accom- plish this, than by discountenancing any employment of these or of any other styles that should be inconsistent with the principles of construc- tion on which they were founded. But to do this, other principles should be ascertained, to form a basis for a different style, calculated to express new discoveries or to provide for fresh requirements.
The impress of every great people is stamped by the hand of genius on its architectural monuments, which proclaim to after ages the glory and splendour that but for them would have passed away without leav- ing any visible traces behind. Notwithstanding the affinity existing between Grecian and Egyptian architecture, between the Hindoo and Mahomedan, the Gothic and the Moorish, the modern Italian and the ancient Roman, each style is strongly marked by features distinguish. ing it from that whence it may have been in part derived, or to which it may be in some points assimilated. The institutions, religion, and habits of a people, no less than the civilization of an age and the climate of a country, combine to give national character to the public edifices and private dwellings of a great metropolis ; and though we moderns have a wide field for selection and matchless models for study, it be- comes us to look beyond mere imitation and adaptation of the struc- tures of antiquity. The increased comforts and refinements of social life, the new discoveries of science, and improved applications of me- chanical powers, all tend to stimulate ingenuity in the contrivance of engines to facilitate intercourse and abridge human labour : but, while engineers are constantly devising plans founded solely on the laws of nature, and which science lays open to practical application, architects seem content with reproducing the structural forms and even ornaments of the edifices of antiquity, which are often most ludicrously misapplied to modern uses. It is not to be expected that a style of architecture adapted to the requisitions of our time will suddenly spring up ; but neither should we wait for the advent of an original genius powerful enough to achieve at once, single-handed, what the ancients accom- plished gradually by the agency of a succession of great minds directed to the attainment of one grand and definite object. A begin- ning must be made. The precise point to be aimed at should first be as- certained. This we conceive to be, the application of inventive art to the planning and designing of structures adapted expressly to our wants and tastes, founded on the present state of constructive science.
The problem to be solved may be stated thus : given the conditions to be observed, and the means at disposal, to find the best way of pro- ducing the desired result : but in the working, these two axioms should be borne in mind, that utility is the basis of plan, and proportion the spirit of design.
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