In about an hour Eugène handed to Paul the accompanying sketch (Fig. [44]), giving the arrangement of the bay window of the billiard-room, that he might study its construction. It required a good deal of attention from our clerk-of-works, and he could not master it thoroughly without frequently applying to his cousin for information and explanation.
CHAPTER XIX.
THEORETICAL STUDIES—Continued.
The weather becoming more and more severe prevented the works from being resumed. The parts that had been begun were hidden by a thick layer of mould and stubble, which in its turn was covered by a mantle of snow. The days were spent in working out details which were to be given to Branchu and the carpenter when the weather allowed them to resume their labours. During the long evenings, theoretical questions relating to building were discussed, when the family were assembled and the news of the day had been read. To Paul this was a means of gaining instruction, and to the family generally a distraction from the gloomy thoughts that weighed down the spirits of all amid the depressing circumstances of the times. Paul had seen his cousin drawing several mouldings during the day, to their full size; but as he had drawings of his own to attend to, he had not interrupted his work to put questions to his master. But in the evening Paul asked what were the methods to be employed in drawing these mouldings.
“You still persist in asking for recipes, Paul,” replied Eugène. “But there are no more any recipes for drawing mouldings than for any other parts of the building. There are conditions imposed by the purpose, the nature of the materials, the method of employing them, local custom, and the effect to be obtained. To the consideration of these conditions join common sense, observation, and study, and you will be able to draw mouldings.
“We will, if you please, examine these conditions separately.
“The purpose:—A moulding is executed, you must suppose, for some object; if you draw a cornice, it is to crown a wall, to carry a gutter or the eaves of a roof, to divert the rain-water from the wall; that cornice therefore must project sufficiently to fulfil that object.—The nature of the materials:—It is evident that if you have, on the one hand, hard and tenacious stones, supplied in large masses, or, on the other hand, small and friable ones, you will not be able to give the same profile to these different kinds of materials.—The method of employing these stones must likewise influence the form to be given to this profile. If we have to hoist stones by the aid of very simple and primitive means, which do not allow us to raise considerable weights to great elevations, we must avoid profiles requiring large blocks; but if we have the means of doing so, we can adopt them.—Local custom:—It will be necessary for you to take account of the customs of the district in which you are building, because these customs are most frequently the result of a judicious observation of the conditions imposed by the climate, the requirements of the neighbourhood, the method of working, and the nature of the material itself. I mean by custom, not certain imported methods which are a mere affair of fashion, but those which have been suggested, as I have just said, by long and judicious observation.—A skilful architect can give a robust or a delicate aspect to a building by the drawing of a moulding. He should always subordinate the drawing to the scale of the construction and to that of the materials. It is ridiculous to aim at large mouldings if we have only thinly bedded stones, or those of yielding quality, in the same way as it is absurd to give delicate profiles to coarse stones and those difficult to cut.
“You see, then, that in this, as in all that concerns the art of building, reasoning constitutes the first part of the recipe.
“The Athenians, who erected their public buildings of white marble, could allow themselves refinements in the drawing of their profiles which cannot be applied to the coarse limestone of our country. And when the Greeks built edifices with stone of a porous or coarse-grained texture, they took care to cover its dressed surfaces with a very fine stucco, which enabled them to conceal the coarseness of the material. But though they were able to adopt this plan in a mild climate where it never freezes, it would be impracticable in a region like ours, where for two months in the winter the thermometer shows a mean of 7° (Fahr.) below freezing point, and occasionally, as just now, falls as low as 27 below freezing. This stucco would have to be renewed every spring.
“Our mediæval architects, who did not follow what is called the classical tradition professed now at our École des Beaux Arts, and who did not go to Rome or Athens to study the art of building suitable to France, had tried to discover that style of profile which suits our materials and climate—which seems reasonable enough; and they not only discovered, but skilfully applied that style. I am going to give you proof of this.
“First, then, as they did not lay stones in the rough, as I have told you, but ready worked—so that they did not need retouching when once in place—they were obliged to draw each profile within the height of a single course. If these courses were deep, their profiles might be large; if they were shallow, they must be small.