Illustrations
| St. Peter’s Church, Rome | [Frontispiece] | |
| PLATE | PAGE | |
| [I.] | Hexastyle Doric Temple, Pæstum, Southern Italy | Facing [14] |
| [II.] | Parthenon, Athens | “ [15] |
| Parthenon, Athens | “ [15] | |
| [III.] | Theseum (Theseion), Athens | “ [24] |
| Curvature of Stylobate of Parthenon | “ [24] | |
| [IV.] | Restored Model of the Parthenon | “ [25] |
| [V.] | Erechtheum (Erechtheion) Athens | “ [36] |
| Erechtheum, Athens | “ [36] | |
| [VI.] | Erechtheum, Portico of Caryatides | “ [37] |
| [VII.] | Erechtheum | “ [38] |
| Details of Entablature, Acropolis, Athens | “ [38] | |
| Corner Capital, Acropolis, Athens | “ [38] | |
| [VIII.] | Temple of Athene Polias, Priene | “ [39] |
| [IX.] | Restored Model of Pantheon | “ [48] |
| The Pantheon, Rome | “ [48] | |
| [X.] | Ruins of Temple of Castor and Pollux, Rome | “ [49] |
| Ruins of Temple of Mars Ultor, Rome | “ [49] | |
| [XI.] | Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Rome | “ [54] |
| [XII.] | Sculptured Details of Temple of Vespasian, Rome | “ [55] |
| Arch of Trajan, at Benevento, Southern Italy | “ [55] | |
| [XIII.] | Jerash, Syria (Ruins of Gerasa) | “ [60] |
| Ancient City Gates of Gerasa | “ [60] | |
| [XIV.] | Part of the Bounding Wall of the Forum of Nerva, Rome | “ [61] |
| [XV.] | Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome | “ [72] |
| [XVI.] | Interior of the Church of San Miniato, near Florence, Tuscany | “ [73] |
| [XVII.] | Church of Sant’ Ambrogio, Milan | “ [76] |
| [XVIII.] | Interior of Cathedral Tournai, Belgium | “ [77] |
| Church of St. Martin (der Gross S. Martin) at Cologne, Rhenish Prussia | “ [77] | |
| [XIX.] | Church of the Holy Apostles, Cologne, Rhenish Prussia | “ [80] |
| [XX.] | Cathedral of St. Martin, Mainz (Mayence) Hesse, Germany | “ [81] |
| [XXI.] | Tower of Church of St. Radegonde, Poitiers, (Vienne) France | “ [84] |
| [XXII.] | Church of Notre Dame la Grande, at Poitiers | “ [85] |
| [XXIII.] | Interior of Church Hagia Sophia, Constantinople | “ [88] |
| [XXIV.] | Exterior of Church Hagia Sophia, Constantinople | “ [89] |
| Church of S. Theodore, Athens | “ [89] | |
| [XXV.] | Monastery of Gelati near Kutais in the Caucasus | “ [90] |
| [XXVI.] | Chapel of Nancy, France | “ [91] |
| [XXVII.] | Interior of Amiens Cathedral | “ [98] |
| [XXVIII.] | Cathedral at Reims (Marne) France, Choir Aisle | “ [99] |
| Cathedral at Reims (Marne) France, Choir Aisle, Different View | “ [99] | |
| [XXIX.] | Cathedral at Amiens (Somme), France. Exterior | “ [102] |
| [XXX.] | Cathedral at Chartres (Eure et Loir) | “ [103] |
| [XXXI.] | Cathedral at Salisbury, Wilts, England | “ [108] |
| [XXXII.] | Bell Tower of Cathedral, Florence, Tuscany | “ [109] |
| [XXXIII.] | Cathedral at Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England | “ [120] |
| [XXXIV.] | Cathedral at Peterboro’, Northants, England | “ [121] |
| [XXXV.] | Westminster Abbey, London | “ [122] |
| [XXXVI.] | Chapel of Henry VII. (Willis drawing) | “ [123] |
| [XXXVII.] | Church of Brou, at Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain), France | “ [124] |
| [XXXVIII.] | Church of Saint Wulfran, Abbeville (Somme), France | “ [125] |
| [XXXIX.] | Townhall of Audenarde, Belgium | “ [126] |
| [XL.] | Outer Porch, Albi (Tarn), France | “ [127] |
| [XLI.] | South Porch, Albi (Tarn), France | “ [128] |
| [XLII.] | The Loggia dei Lanzi at Florence | “ [129] |
| [XLIII.] | Chapel of the Pazzi, Church of Santa Croce, Florence, Tuscany | “ [134] |
| [XLIV.] | Palazzo Rucellai, Florence | “ [135] |
| [XLV.] | Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Tuscany | “ [138] |
| Palazzo Riccardi, Florence | “ [138] | |
| [XLVI.] | Courtyard of the Palazzo della Cancellaria, Rome | “ [139] |
| [XLVII.] | Cloister, Santa Maria della Pace, Rome | “ [140] |
| [XLVIII.] | Courtyard of Palazzo di Venezia, Rome | “ [141] |
| [XLIX.] | Courtyard of Palazzo Borghese, Rome | “ [142] |
| [L.] | Château at Blois (Loir et Cher), France | “ [148] |
| [LI.] | Royal Château at Blois (Loir et Cher), France | “ [148] |
| [LII.] | Château of Écouen (Seine et Oise), France | “ [149] |
| Wollaton Hall, Notts, England | “ [149] | |
| [LIII.] | Hall of Middle Temple, London | “ [152] |
| [LIV.] | Church of the Theatiner Monks at Munich, Bavaria | “ [153] |
| Ducal Palace, Genoa, Italy | “ [153] | |
| [LV.] | Palazzo Carignano, Turin, Piedmont, Italy | “ [172] |
| Palazzo Madama, Turin, Italy | “ [172] | |
| [LVI.] | Exhibitions Building (Kunstausstellungs-Gebäude,) Munich, Bavaria | “ [173] |
| Gateway Building (Propylæa), Munich | “ [173] | |
| [LVII.] | Interior of St. George’s Church, Doncaster, Yorks, England | “ [190] |
| Exterior of Church of St. George, Doncaster | “ [190] | |
| [LVIII.] | Trinity Church, Boston, Mass | “ [191] |
| [LIX.] | Cathedral at Truro, Cornwall, England | “ [196] |
| [LX.] | Apartment House, “St. Alban’s Mansions,” London | “ [197] |
| [LXI.] | West Ham Institute, Sussex, England | “ [204] |
| [LXII.] | House and Beer-shop (zum Spaten) Berlin, Prussia | “ [205] |
| [LXIII.] | Club-House, Cercle de la Librairie, Paris | “ [208] |
| [LXIV.] | Building of N. Y. Life Insurance Co., St. Paul, Minn. | “ [209] |
How to Judge Architecture
CHAPTER I
EARLY GREEK DESIGN
IN trying to train the mind to judge of works of architecture, one can never be too patient. It is very easy to hinder one’s growth in knowledge by being too ready to decide. The student of art who is much under the influence of one teacher, one writer, or one body of fellow-students, is hampered by that influence just so far as it is exclusive. And most teachers, most writers, most groups or classes of students are exclusive, admiring one set of principles or the practice of one epoch, to the partial exclusion of others.
The reader must feel assured that there are no authorities at all in the matter of architectural appreciation: and that the only opinions, or impressions, or comparative appreciations that are worth anything to him are those which he will form gradually for himself. He will form them slowly, if he be wise: indeed, if he have the gift of artistic appreciation at all, he will soon learn to form them slowly. He will, moreover, hold them lightly even when formed; remembering that in a subject on which opinions differ so very widely at any one time, and have differed so much more widely if one epoch be compared with another, there can be no such thing as a final judgment.
The object of this book is to help the reader to acquire, little by little, such an independent knowledge of the essential characteristics of good buildings, and also such a sense of the possible differences of opinion concerning inessentials, that he will always enjoy the sight, the memory, or the study of a noble structure without undue anxiety as to whether he is right or wrong. Rightness is relative: to have a trained observation, knowledge of principles, and a sound judgment as to proprieties of construction and design is to be able to form your opinions for yourself; and to understand that you come nearer, month by month, to a really complete knowledge of the subject, seeing clearly what is good and the causes of its goodness, and also the not-so-good which is there, inevitably there, as a part of the goodness itself.
It will be well, therefore, to take for our first study some buildings of that class about which there is the smallest difference of opinion among modern lovers of art, namely, the early Greek temples. There is no serious dispute as to the standing of the Greek architecture previous to the year 300 B. C., as the most perfect thing that decorative art[1] has produced. It is extremely simple: a fact which makes it the more fit for our present purpose: but this simplicity is to be taken as not having led to bareness, lack of incident, lack of charm: it has merely served to give the Greek artist such an easy control over the different details and their organization into a complete whole, that the admiration of all subsequent ages has been given to his productions.