It seems ridiculous to compare the advantages which an English student in architecture may derive from our academy, with those offered at Paris or Rome, but the spirit and energy of individuals makes up what is wanting in public instruction. A most important part of an architect’s education, is that which he receives abroad, but perhaps a little more assistance at home might enable him to employ his time to greater advantage. It is impossible to give any precise rules, because the best possible line of conduct will vary with the talents, the acquirements, and disposition of the individual; some observations however may be made which will apply to all.
A certain portion of knowledge ought to be attained at home, and therefore my first undertaking will be to point out what ought to be learned, previous to any attempt at improvement by travelling. A task the more necessary, because there is, as far as I know, no instruction now usually given, either public or private, by which it is indicated. The student in architecture has to consider four objects, which have no natural connexion with each other, but which nevertheless must be united in the erection of every edifice, beauty, solidity, convenience, and economy. Our exclusion for many years from the continent, no less perhaps than a somewhat severe, and rigid spirit, which requires in every thing utility, and almost limits that utility to bodily accommodation, has inclined us to neglect the study of the beautiful. Other reasons might be added, and in particular the notion very prevalent among the students themselves, that the conception of beauty, and the capacity of producing it, are gifts of nature, not the fruit of application; “Poeta nascitur, non fit,” they apply to artists as well as to poets, and support their opinion by the very remarkable fact, that the great men in every country have been formed independently of academies, and that after such establishments are formed, great men cease. There is undoubtedly some truth in this, and it would be very desirable that some one capable of the task would undertake to explain the reason of the deficiency; but when it is applied as a reason against study, it is, as far as regards architecture, completely false. Because supposing even that the highest beauties should present themselves unsought to the man of genius, yet, whatever talent he might have, it would require great study to be able to comprehend the relation between the object to be produced, and the drawings and descriptions by which it is to be explained to others. Nor is it at all true that the most celebrated architects have wanted the means of instruction. Palladio, and all the others who have highly distinguished themselves, have enriched their fancy, and purified their taste, by studying the ancient monuments of Rome. Michael Angelo in his old age was found by Cardinal Farnese at the Coliseum, when the ground was covered with snow, and replied to the inquiries of the cardinal, that he was there to study architecture.
According to the usual practice of our architects, a lad, after he has left school, where he has learned to read and write, arithmetic, a little geometry, and perhaps a very little drawing, together with some other things not applicable to architecture, is placed in an architect’s office, where his first employments are probably, to copy particulars of work, without understanding them, and to square dimensions from nine in the morning till seven or eight in the evening. After this, if he is studiously inclined, he may perhaps go to the academy at Somerset House, where in the course of a year, he may hear six lectures on architecture, provided that is, that the professor is neither sick, nor idle, nor too busy to give them; or he will employ himself at home in making designs, without at all knowing what are the requisites for any mode of design whatever. When thus, as it were almost in spite of his master, he has learned to draw a little, he may be employed in copying plans, and afterwards elevations and sections, or in measuring the works erected by his superior, not to make himself master of their beauties, but in order to furnish the materials for estimating their value. Perhaps the difficulty of improving himself under these disadvantages may give a stimulus to his exertions; and he does not come out of the office so ignorant as might be expected. Nor indeed, although his professed instructor will not teach, will he refuse him an opportunity of occasionally frequenting private schools of drawing and perspective, or of attending sometimes at the library of the Academy, or in the model-room. He may also perhaps have exercised himself in measuring and drawing the subjects proposed for annual premiums, but with all this it is impossible that he should be prepared to travel with advantage.
I would not recommend every one to travel. Those who prosecute architecture merely as a means of obtaining money, without any pleasure in any part of it, without any desire of fame, or any generous admiration of excellence, had much better stay at home. They may rest confidently assured that travelling will never pay. It would indeed be better that such should not addict themselves to architecture in the first instance, or to any of the fine arts; the same exertion of talents and industry would assuredly have been more profitably employed in another direction. The pleasure arising from the occupation itself, the respectability attending its honourable exercise, the hope of future reputation and fame, will entice in this direction a greater number of young men than would otherwise fall to its share; and these things are always to be considered as part of payment. Yet this, though true in all countries, is probably less so in England, than anywhere else, because we almost measure a man’s merit by the money he gets, or at least by that which he is able to spend; and therefore without travelling, and without any intimate knowledge of his profession, a young man need not despair of making his way. And especially, if he join agreeable manners to attention to business, he will find employers, who will care even less than he can do, for science and art; and he may perhaps in time be on the Board of Works. Our ministers will rarely take the trouble to appreciate any superior acquirements in architecture; witness the mode in which various public bodies have furnished themselves with architects; witness the report on the postoffice, where it was stated, if I recollect right, that as much ornament was not required, it mattered little whom they employed as architect. As if such an edifice, because it did not pretend to be magnificent, were to be entirely devoid of character; as if good proportions, and a graceful distribution of the different parts, did not form a most essential part of the study of the architect; and were not even more rare, and more important qualifications, than the employment of ornament; and as if convenience, solidity, and economy, were not more securely obtained under the direction of a skilful artist.
Notwithstanding these absurdities, he who has nobler views need not despair. We have many gentlemen in England, who join to a cultivated mind and correct taste, a very extensive knowledge of architecture; and sooner or later, merit will find its true place in the public esteem, which follows where such men lead the way. Leaving therefore the ignorant and grovelling, to be protected by those who resemble them, I shall proceed to consider what ought to be known, and what done by him who travels to improve himself.
In the first place, I require of him that he should be able to read French and Italian with tolerable facility, and that he should speak them both a little. He ought to understand well the orders of architecture, so as to be able to sketch any one correctly without reference to his books, and to be acquainted with their varieties in the principal published examples. He must have been accustomed to draw, from casts or from the stone, the usual architectural ornaments, and particularly the Corinthian capital; making of them plans, elevations, sections, and views: every thing necessary in order completely to understand them himself, and to enable him to explain them to others. I say nothing of his ability to take the general plans, &c. of buildings, because I consider it as a matter of course. He should be capable of representing these ornaments justly, not only on flat, but also on curved surfaces, as for instance, on a vault or a dome; and this not only geometrically, but also in perspective, and he must understand exactly the forms assumed in perspective by the different curves of the Doric capital, and of the Attic base, and the effect of light and shade upon them: a subject perhaps, in spite of its extreme simplicity, more difficult to manage than the Corinthian capital. All these seem to be absolutely necessary to facilitate the correct understanding and delineation of the objects he may meet with on his journey; and their effects, both as single objects, and in combination with other parts and accompaniments. Let me add, that if he had at least attempted to model some of them, it would be a great advantage to him, as this act requires a still more precise acquaintance with form, than even the correct drawing. He should also be able to sketch landscapes and figures; not as a professed painter or sculptor, but enough to explain the effect both of situation, and of the addition of statues and bas-reliefs; and to form at least a scale to his drawings, by the introduction of living objects.
This power of sketching is considered by some architects as a luxury of the art, rather than as essential to the perfection of the artist; but it appears to me of the greatest importance. The geometrical designs, the measures both of the parts, and of the whole, he may obtain from books; what he is particularly to study is the relation between these, and the effect produced on his mind by the use of these measures; his sketches are records of his own feelings, and therefore engravings would not supply their place; even if we had good views, which is notoriously not the case, of most of the admired buildings of Europe; nor is it enough to consider a design merely from one point of view; it should be examined from many points, and compared, mentally at least, with the geometrical drawing. It is exactly that relation of cause and effect which is the proper object of his study. As for figures, if he is making drawings on a large scale, it will be better to apply to an artist, but he cannot always do this, and ought to be able to supply them tolerably well of himself. I do not in either case require that he should be a finished artist, but merely that he should be able to express himself in this language with intelligence and feeling. Some of these acquirements are perhaps better attained in Paris than in London; and in consequence, some of our artists, before travelling into Italy, have put themselves for a year under the direction of a French architect, and frequented the academy. The plan is a good one on many accounts, although perhaps many parents might tremble, at leaving a young man, at an age when the passions are strong, and reason weak, exposed without any shelter, to the temptations of Paris. The propriety of this will depend very much on the character and circumstances of the student, nor can I pretend to give any advice on the subject. In point of architecture, every nation has a manner of its own. Some peculiar defects would probably be avoided by free intercourse with the artists of other countries, and the instructions at the French academy are very good.
So much for the beautiful in architecture: in construction there is less to be learned in travelling, but the student must not be ignorant of it. He should know the elements of geometry and the mathematics, and of their application to mechanics. He must be acquainted with the usual method of forming roofs, and floors, and the principles which determine the magnitudes of the different parts; and will have learned the general rules which regulate the thickness of piers and walls, which have to support the action of vaults and arches. It is not necessary that he should be a profound mathematician, or able on every occasion to calculate the value of active and opposing forces. Calculations have been made by much better mathematicians than he is likely to be, and besides, such results are subject to so many exceptions and modifications, arising from the imperfect nature of the materials, that experience at last is found to be the principal guide.
Convenience is principally studied in plans, but the manners of different countries vary so widely, that what would be perfectly satisfactory in one place, would be considered as very defective in another: nevertheless, it is useful to observe the different distribution of the apartments in different places, and to understand their merits as connected with the manners of the inhabitants.
The study of economy, that is, of the best employment of a given quantity of materials and labour, or what amounts to the same thing, the performance of any given work with the least possible quantity of materials and labour, must accompany that of construction and solidity. The habit of noticing in every case how far it has been observed, and where it has failed, will greatly strengthen the judgment on this subject; but we must always remember, that the formation of a less beautiful or less durable building by smaller means, is not economy, but parsimony.