Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
MASTERPIECES OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS .
BY J . G . LEGKAND . . THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CHINESE—( CONTINUED ) . COLOURS , varnishes , and enamels , impart a singular splendour and a striking originality to Chinese architecture . Tiles and bricks are even varnished or enamelled with different coloursthose that prevail most being grey , yellowblack and
, , blue , with ornaments in gold ; sometimes these colours are uniform , sometimes they are varied and shade into each other with a gentle gradation of hues . Windows are replaced by silken blinds j many window openings are thin slips of wood coloured and glittering from polish ; lanterns in great number , of different forms and of different sizes , are
frequently employed either for utility or for mere decoration . There are houses all grey , others all red with white borders , and others all black with gold ornaments . Shops are arranged there with considerable care and splendour , and with a perfect attention to every little particular ; flags fly before them at the top of very hi gh poles placed perpendicularly before
the door , while the name and number of the house , and the nature of the articles to be sold , are inscribed on the lantern which is lighted at night . The ordinary cottages of the peasantry are pretty much the same as ours . So are their windmills ; and ifc is also the same with their bridges ; chain
bridges , however , are not used by them , though it has been so stated repeatedly . Artificial rocks aud ruins are very much used in gardens . Rivers are navigated with junks or bamboo boats , which have a very fragile appearance . It seems that except pagodas and the palaces of the mandarins there are few public monuments of eminent mark in the towns of China . In facta great number may be suppressed
, by the form of government and the measures of the police . There are no poor houses , no hospitals , no public emporiums , and no warehouses and factories , for every private merchant or trader himself supplies all that he requires . Other establishmentSjjWhich might ; sbe supposed to be very large , are found cut up into a great number of little 2 > laces , such as , for
example , a multitude of small encampments instead of large barracks for the lodging of [ soldiers . Generally speaking , the character of the architecture of the Chinese indicates lightness rather than very great solidity . The colours and the varnishes with which the most ordinary houses are covered withoutgives it an air of freshnessneatnessancl
, , , cleanness pleasing to the eye . The palaces of the wealth }' and of the mandarins are painted aud gilded ; which , considering their multiplicity , gives to China an air of pomp and riches , which is elsewhere sought in vain .
THE AECIIITECTUHE OF THE GBEEKS . From what has been already written , it will have been seen that gigantic masses , severity of forms , and the employment of mysterious symbols , formed the principal character of the architecture of the Egyptians ; that the architecture of the Hindoos was remarkable for all that time , patience and difficulties overcome could offer of astonishing and
marvellous j that it was nearly the same with that of the Chinese ; and that that of the Persians , which it has been supposed was derived from the two first , is not yet sufficiently well known for its real character to be assigned to it with certainty . The architecture of the Greeks , to which we are now going
to direct our attention , is very distinct from all the others . Whatever the Greeks were able to borrow in their architeciiure they presented with so much elegance iu revived masses , and with so much novelty and harmony of proportion , that they seem to have created everything , to have imagined everything , and they appear rather to have enriched other
nations by their original conceptions , than to have taken " ny ^ iin" * fro m their stores . All is sentiment , intellect , imagination ! subtlety , and yet simplicity and nature , with that inventive people . They embellished everything they touched ;
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
they rendered divine the most simple objects ; they jiresent to our moved and astonished senses images beyond human perfection ; they peopled Olympus ; they created gods worthy of such an abode , or rather they made them divine ; ancl when they undertook to fix the residence of gods on the happy soil of Greece , they arrived at erecting temples in which were found again all the nobility and the majesty of
the heavens . That people of heroes aud artists , mad with glory , misled by the fictions of poetry , imposing to themselves and fascinated by their own handiworks , fancied they recognized the inspiration and the hand of those same gods in the masterpieces which they erected with their own hands . It was
Apollo , Hercules , Minerva or Jupiter himself who presided at the erection of their altars ; and when the immortal deities were placed within their august temples , it was only with the shudders of awe that their pontiffs ventured to mount the steps of the sanctuary . The interdicted vulgar , in their mute admirationno longer recognized in that
im-, posing and divine structure the marbles that their own chisels had just sculptured and polished : ivory ancl gold , assembled together with a divine art hacl changed their nature . Phidias himself astounded and overcome with
admiration , recoiled and threw himself prostrate at the feet of Hercules ; he dared not finish his own work . Such were the masterpieces of Delphos , Ephesus , Elis and Athens ; so shone the Parthenon at the top of the Acropolis , and the Propylaaa and the Temples of Pandrosas and of Erechtheus , and the Odeon ancl the Temple of Theseus , the pure ancl simple forms of whichtogether with their ingenious details
, having come clown to us , have been sufficient for the reproduction of exact models without any supposition of what they were in their first freshness on the day when they came from the hands of the architect , and the magistrates assisted at their dedication and consecrated them to the protecting gods of Attica .
The Temple of Minerva , or the Parthenon . —This word signifies the Temple of the Yirgin . The Parthenon was also surnamed Hecatompeclon , because it had one hundred Greek feet in front . It was of white marble , and situated on the top of the lofty rock of the Acropolis , or High Citythe Citadel of Athens . It thus overlooked the vast plains
of Attica , which were covered with the richest plantations and vineyards of olives . It served in some sort as a pharos to the vessels that sailed the neighbouring seas , ancl incessant were the voyages made from the Piraus and from Munichia to all the isles of Greece , and thence to the ports
of Athens . Its plan in the exterior , as well as the interior , is a parallelogrammatic rectangle , as may be seen from the description and all the particulars engraved of it in the " Gallery of Antiquities" published by Treuttel and Wurtz . The order employed in its decoration is the ancient Doric , which is remarkable for its bold and harmonious proportions ,
ancl its extreme simjilicity , though it is susceptible , nevertheless , of receiving in the sculpture of its metopes the last degree of richness , as any one may be convinced by a close examination of the details in the groupe of the centaurs and lapithfE fi ghting , which compose each of the bas-reliefs placed between the triglyphsthe frieze of which is ornamented .
, This order is slightly channelled . The Greeks never gave a base to it , which far from , detracting from its beauty , adds to the elegance of its proportions . These bases are skilfully supplied by three elevated fli g hts of steps which form round this temple one continuous base , and detach it agreeably from the soil on ivhich it rests .
This monument , of which a very great part is still remaining , was rebuilt with much magnificence from the designs of Ictinus and Calibrates , the architects , and under the general direction of Phidias , to whom Pericles , his friend , confided the superintendence of the monuments which he ordered to be erected for the embellishment of Athens . The period of ifcs construction may then be placed towards the eighty-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
MASTERPIECES OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS .
BY J . G . LEGKAND . . THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CHINESE—( CONTINUED ) . COLOURS , varnishes , and enamels , impart a singular splendour and a striking originality to Chinese architecture . Tiles and bricks are even varnished or enamelled with different coloursthose that prevail most being grey , yellowblack and
, , blue , with ornaments in gold ; sometimes these colours are uniform , sometimes they are varied and shade into each other with a gentle gradation of hues . Windows are replaced by silken blinds j many window openings are thin slips of wood coloured and glittering from polish ; lanterns in great number , of different forms and of different sizes , are
frequently employed either for utility or for mere decoration . There are houses all grey , others all red with white borders , and others all black with gold ornaments . Shops are arranged there with considerable care and splendour , and with a perfect attention to every little particular ; flags fly before them at the top of very hi gh poles placed perpendicularly before
the door , while the name and number of the house , and the nature of the articles to be sold , are inscribed on the lantern which is lighted at night . The ordinary cottages of the peasantry are pretty much the same as ours . So are their windmills ; and ifc is also the same with their bridges ; chain
bridges , however , are not used by them , though it has been so stated repeatedly . Artificial rocks aud ruins are very much used in gardens . Rivers are navigated with junks or bamboo boats , which have a very fragile appearance . It seems that except pagodas and the palaces of the mandarins there are few public monuments of eminent mark in the towns of China . In facta great number may be suppressed
, by the form of government and the measures of the police . There are no poor houses , no hospitals , no public emporiums , and no warehouses and factories , for every private merchant or trader himself supplies all that he requires . Other establishmentSjjWhich might ; sbe supposed to be very large , are found cut up into a great number of little 2 > laces , such as , for
example , a multitude of small encampments instead of large barracks for the lodging of [ soldiers . Generally speaking , the character of the architecture of the Chinese indicates lightness rather than very great solidity . The colours and the varnishes with which the most ordinary houses are covered withoutgives it an air of freshnessneatnessancl
, , , cleanness pleasing to the eye . The palaces of the wealth }' and of the mandarins are painted aud gilded ; which , considering their multiplicity , gives to China an air of pomp and riches , which is elsewhere sought in vain .
THE AECIIITECTUHE OF THE GBEEKS . From what has been already written , it will have been seen that gigantic masses , severity of forms , and the employment of mysterious symbols , formed the principal character of the architecture of the Egyptians ; that the architecture of the Hindoos was remarkable for all that time , patience and difficulties overcome could offer of astonishing and
marvellous j that it was nearly the same with that of the Chinese ; and that that of the Persians , which it has been supposed was derived from the two first , is not yet sufficiently well known for its real character to be assigned to it with certainty . The architecture of the Greeks , to which we are now going
to direct our attention , is very distinct from all the others . Whatever the Greeks were able to borrow in their architeciiure they presented with so much elegance iu revived masses , and with so much novelty and harmony of proportion , that they seem to have created everything , to have imagined everything , and they appear rather to have enriched other
nations by their original conceptions , than to have taken " ny ^ iin" * fro m their stores . All is sentiment , intellect , imagination ! subtlety , and yet simplicity and nature , with that inventive people . They embellished everything they touched ;
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
they rendered divine the most simple objects ; they jiresent to our moved and astonished senses images beyond human perfection ; they peopled Olympus ; they created gods worthy of such an abode , or rather they made them divine ; ancl when they undertook to fix the residence of gods on the happy soil of Greece , they arrived at erecting temples in which were found again all the nobility and the majesty of
the heavens . That people of heroes aud artists , mad with glory , misled by the fictions of poetry , imposing to themselves and fascinated by their own handiworks , fancied they recognized the inspiration and the hand of those same gods in the masterpieces which they erected with their own hands . It was
Apollo , Hercules , Minerva or Jupiter himself who presided at the erection of their altars ; and when the immortal deities were placed within their august temples , it was only with the shudders of awe that their pontiffs ventured to mount the steps of the sanctuary . The interdicted vulgar , in their mute admirationno longer recognized in that
im-, posing and divine structure the marbles that their own chisels had just sculptured and polished : ivory ancl gold , assembled together with a divine art hacl changed their nature . Phidias himself astounded and overcome with
admiration , recoiled and threw himself prostrate at the feet of Hercules ; he dared not finish his own work . Such were the masterpieces of Delphos , Ephesus , Elis and Athens ; so shone the Parthenon at the top of the Acropolis , and the Propylaaa and the Temples of Pandrosas and of Erechtheus , and the Odeon ancl the Temple of Theseus , the pure ancl simple forms of whichtogether with their ingenious details
, having come clown to us , have been sufficient for the reproduction of exact models without any supposition of what they were in their first freshness on the day when they came from the hands of the architect , and the magistrates assisted at their dedication and consecrated them to the protecting gods of Attica .
The Temple of Minerva , or the Parthenon . —This word signifies the Temple of the Yirgin . The Parthenon was also surnamed Hecatompeclon , because it had one hundred Greek feet in front . It was of white marble , and situated on the top of the lofty rock of the Acropolis , or High Citythe Citadel of Athens . It thus overlooked the vast plains
of Attica , which were covered with the richest plantations and vineyards of olives . It served in some sort as a pharos to the vessels that sailed the neighbouring seas , ancl incessant were the voyages made from the Piraus and from Munichia to all the isles of Greece , and thence to the ports
of Athens . Its plan in the exterior , as well as the interior , is a parallelogrammatic rectangle , as may be seen from the description and all the particulars engraved of it in the " Gallery of Antiquities" published by Treuttel and Wurtz . The order employed in its decoration is the ancient Doric , which is remarkable for its bold and harmonious proportions ,
ancl its extreme simjilicity , though it is susceptible , nevertheless , of receiving in the sculpture of its metopes the last degree of richness , as any one may be convinced by a close examination of the details in the groupe of the centaurs and lapithfE fi ghting , which compose each of the bas-reliefs placed between the triglyphsthe frieze of which is ornamented .
, This order is slightly channelled . The Greeks never gave a base to it , which far from , detracting from its beauty , adds to the elegance of its proportions . These bases are skilfully supplied by three elevated fli g hts of steps which form round this temple one continuous base , and detach it agreeably from the soil on ivhich it rests .
This monument , of which a very great part is still remaining , was rebuilt with much magnificence from the designs of Ictinus and Calibrates , the architects , and under the general direction of Phidias , to whom Pericles , his friend , confided the superintendence of the monuments which he ordered to be erected for the embellishment of Athens . The period of ifcs construction may then be placed towards the eighty-