THE DECAY OF ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE.
IT is, indeed, a most serious thing, if it should prove true, that the new Houses of Parliament are in a state of rapid, decay, even before they can be said to be out of the builder's hands. There is no doubt as to the decay of large portions of the stone-work, more particularly on the river front, and for some considerable time this has been observed. The subject, indeed, was brought before Parliament, and a competent Committee reported in con- firmation of all that had been asserted. It was afterwards deter- mined to experiment upon certain parts of the stone-work with some of the processes which have been invented for preserving stone, and these are at the present time being tested before they are universally applied to the building. There is, however, a very pretty dispute between the rival preservers —a contingency at which we need not wonder, considering that innumerable pro- cesses have been all equally lauded as possessing the-chemical properties for perfecting stone which either has been used when soft, nature's processes having been interrupted, or which has rotted by the decomposing action of the elements and the acidified air of our great city. As far as we can perceive, there seems to be very little room for confidence in any of these processes, de- signed to imitate those which take whole epochs for their perfec- tion in the quarries. It may be quite possible, with all our appli- ances for obtaining enormous mechanical pressure' to produce an artificial stone, composed also of materials well calculated to resist the air of cities ; but the proposition to restore stone once attacked by rottenness savours rather of the speculations of the alche- mists with their " vital elixir." In the stones known as oolites, indeed, the influence of animal life, whatever it may be, would appear to have some important effect; and . again, in the production of flints, perhaps the inost indestructible of all stones, animal life is known to act an essential part. How- ever this may be, it is difficult to regard, with anything like con- fidence, these attempts to restore decayed stone either by infusing into its structure a solution of flint to supply the action of crystal- lization, or to salve over the ulcerated surfaces with a bituminous "zopissa." The remedy, as usual in all such very cunning expe- dients, is an expensive one, and, like all quackeries pretending to cure incurable ailments, the attending honorarium is a heavy one. The question is, whether it would not be better to submit to the knife at once, cut out the ulcer, and supply its place with new and healthy flesh. It would appear, fortunately, that the decay in the palace at Westminster is greatest upon the plain surfaces and the underparts of cornices and string-courses ; the richly sculptured decorations are not as yet showing any general signs of this early decay. In fact, most of them are as perfect as when they left the sculptor's chisel. From this we must suppose that the carvers have some practical knack which guides them in selecting the good stones; and in this ease, we naturally, ask why, if good stone can be known from bad, all has not been equally well chosen ? When the Howes of Parliament were to be built, Sir Charles 13arry, the architect, was about eginning the Reform Club ; but for this building, Portland stone was used, and it stands as perfect as when it was left bi the masons. The same, indeed, may be said of far older buildings, as Sandsfoot Castle, on the mainland near Portland, where the mouldings are nearly perfect, although exposed to the severest weather from the sea ; Salisbury Cathedral, St. Paul's, Somerset House, and the Bank, with other buildings still in a fair state of preservation. The precise reason why Portland stone of such goad repute was for- saken in favour of a dolomite found in a Yorkshire quarry, where it had only been tested under the pure country air at Coninn.s- burgh Castle and some neighbouring churches, we cannot dis- cover. At any rate, some geological and chemical science was brought to bear upon the question by means of a Parliamentary Commission consisting of Sir IL de la Beebe, Sir Charles Barry, Mr. C. H. Smith, and Dr. William Smith, who called in the aid of Dr. Buckland and Professor Phillips as geologists, and Professors Daniel and Wheatstone as chemists. But with all this precau- tion, there does not appear to have been any system of practical inspection, and the quarry once chosen all stone from it was
accepted and used, the good and bad together. It will he of small importance that the richly-carved escutcheons and statues of the grand Victorian-Gothic pile stand the winds and the weather, if the substantial fabric of the building should decay; indeed, costly as they would be to replace, it would be an easier task than to supply the place of rotten stones crushing together in the walls. But, what- ever the necessity for immediate steps towards preservation, it would be better to supply defects with the best cements known, than to be tinkering at the sculpture with all sorts of doubtful chemical washes. Our splendid National Gothic Palace would be gingerbread indeed, if as happened at Buckingham Palace, the stone carvings should be occasionally dropping on the heads of the Senators, as they did upon the unlucky sentries at the Royal Palace, where stucco and paint now give a new face to the Caen stone used in that modern structure. The error has been in not selecting proper stone ; there is no great mystery in the matter, any more than there is in new made rotten gunboats. Without professing any faith in chemical appliances to the surface of stone, it is as well we should state what is proposed to be done in this way. The ancient sculptors, it is known, used to apply a kind of varnish, if we may so call what is named by Pliny, a " drama- litio," and described as a coating of wax with red colouring matter, which was laid on, rubbed, or polished off again. The statues were commonly dressed for festive occasions by this pro- cess of adornment. One of the processes now applied to the walls i of the Palace at Westminster is said to consist n laying on some bituminous coating, and in some of the passages it may be scraped off with the nail. To this process, the name " silicata sepias(' is given, as if it resembled the ancient process of the Greeks, and besides embraced the use of dissolved flint ; but its nature is u secret. This method has, we believe, been applied to the marble statue of the Queen in the courtyard of the Royal Exchange. Another plan in use at Westminster is known to employ a solu- tion of flint, with the view of supplying to the stone a cohesive substance, as silica in the form of common sand does to lime in making mortar. In our moist and variable climate, no natural stone can be found to last like the pyramids, or the Temple at Restum, which is built of volcanic tufts; but it will be sheer carelessness if all kinds of stone are used indiscriminately. If any protective can be em- ployed against the sulphurous fumes of London air, by all means let it be used but this should never sanction the use of rotten stone.
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