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O u < 3 w s H > ua: S O Q J H HE STORY OF ARCHITECTURE: AN OUTLINE OF THE STYLES IN T ALL COUNTRIES • « « * BY CHARLES THOMPSON MATHEWS, M. A. FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS AUTHOR OF THE RENAISSANCE UNDER THE VALOIS NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1896 Copyright, 1896, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. INTRODUCTORY. Architecture, like philosophy, dates from the morning of the mind's history. Primitive man found Nature beautiful to look at, wet and uncomfortable to live in; a shelter became the first desideratum; and hence arose " the most useful of the fine arts, and the finest of the useful arts." Its history, however, does not begin until the thought of beauty had insinuated itself into the mind of the builder. All the previous unfolding of the craft belongs under the head of archaeology. Roughly defined, architecture is the art of orna- mental construction ; not ornamental in the sense of decorated, but in the harmonious distribution of mass, in the convincing beauty of proportion. The entire subject is based on three simple constructive princi- ples—that of the lintel, in which two uprights support a crosspiece, as seen in the austere temples of Egypt and the beautiful tranquil art of Greece ; that of the arch or vault, especially characteristic of Roman and Romanesque work when large spaces required to be spanned ; and that of the truss, or compound beam, composed of several subordinate pieces of wood or vi THE STORY OF ARCHITECTURE. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Gothic gradually gave place to the Renaissance or revival of Roman forms. A brief period of servile classicism intervened, and then followed the general eclecticism of the present day. Hence it will be seen that the temples of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, the mosques of Byzantium, Cairo, and Granada, the Gothic cathedrals, and the Renaissance palaces—all belong to one huge architectural family, each having its own peculiar charm of line and colour. Four other schools matured in Asia, namely, the Brahman and Buddhist styles of India, and the evo- lutions from tent and hut in China and Japan re- spectively ; while the local phases of lintel construc- tion in the early architecture of Mexico, Central America, and Peru complete the entire syllabus of styles. Thus it only remains to mention what is known as character and its requirements before be- ginning analysis. Character in architecture means the expression of an emotion or feeling, as solemnity, grandeur, gayety, or repose, for "art is the ability to create a mood." In its higher forms, character can only be obtained through beauty of proportion and distribution of mass, for mere embellishment seldom dignifies ; in- deed, it rather dwarfs and degrades. To conceive grandly is the first requisite in every architect, and a requirement in the communication of character; for in art the thought ever outstrips its possible embodi- ment, and the hand can only reproduce the thought in a diminished way. Many a young artist, delicately organized and tremulously sensitive to art, finds himself utterly in- INTROD UCTOR Y. vii capable of thus musing in a monumental way. Such a one should seek the simple and severe, not pursue the picturesque and pretty, which, after all, has little in common with the best architecture. Thus a church should never be pretty, for prettiness is the province of chapels or cottages, while a cathedral should be grand, serious, and solemn as a requiem, and palaces should always be imposing. Overrefinement is often admissible in the sister arts. Sculptors welcome the orfivrerie of Cellini, the figurines of Tanagra ; literati delight in the felicitous phrasing of Gautier, Villon, and Walter Pater paint- ; ers revel in the exquisite gems of Watteau, Boucher, Vanloo, and Petitot; but no one admires the archi- tecture of Fontana, Borromini, and Maderno. Elle^st trop travailUe. From this it will be seen that character, dependent on proportion or constructive beauty, determines the real architectural value of a work. But constructive beauty depends on the principles involved in the va- rious historic styles. Hence the utility of the follow- ing sketch. r^ Q jyj_ New York, September, i8g6. — :: THE STORY OF ARCHITECTURE. mestic architecture. Japan : History — Dwellings — Furni- ture—Palaces—Castles—Temples and pagodas. Bibliography.—Lamprey : Chinese Architecture. Gutzlaff History of China. W. Simpson : Architecture of China. Lowell Land of the Morning Calm. Lowell : Occult Japan. Chamberlain : Things Japanese. Morse : Japanese Homes. Ichi Keikichi ; Lec- tures. Tsumaki : Treatise on Japanese Architecture. Dyer Bell Things Chinese. Chamberlain : Handbook. Satow : Handbook. Mitford : Tales of Old Japan. Conder : Japanese Architecture, printed in Transactions of Royal Institute of B. A., i8S6-'87. Mc- Clatchie : Feudal Mansions of Veddo. CHAPTER IV. Mexico, Central America, and Peru . .100 Aztec palaces and temples—Cholula, Palenque, and Uxmal Sculpture in Guatemala — Peruvian houses — Fortificat ens, caravansaries, etc. Bibliography.—Prescott : Conquest of Peru. Acosta : Naturall and Morall Historic of the East and West Indies. R. Dunlop : Travels in Central America. Prescott : Conquest of Mexico. Ban- delier : Mexico. Chamay : Ancient Cities of the New World. CHAPTER V. The Assyrian style and Western Asia . .117 General characteristics — Birs Nimroud — The splendours of Nineveh—Palace of Assurbanipal—Assyrian roofs—Temple of Jerusalem—Babylon— Persepolis—The Sassanian kings. Bibliography.—Layard : Nineveh and Babylon. Benoni : Nin- eveh and its Palaces. Loftus : Travels in Chaldasa and Susiana. Wright : Ancient Cities. Colomb : Habitations et Edifices. Mas- pero : Histoire Ancienne. Perrot et Chipiez : History of Art in Persia. CHAPTER VI. Greece 141 The Pelasgic period—Mycenae—The Periclean period—The Doric order—Temple at Corinth—Aids to evolution—The Parthenon—The Ionic order—The Erectheion—The Corin- thian order—Monument of Lysicrates—Theatre, circus, gym- nasium, and market—Private dwellings, etc.—Fruits of Greek art. Bibliography.—Beule: L'Acropole d'Ath^nes. Dr. Smith: History of Greece. Van Brunt; Greek Lines. Plutarch: Lives. — :: CONTENTS. XI „ PAGE Stuart and Revett : Antiquities of Athens. Tuckerman : Short His- tory of Architecture. Homer : Iliad and Odyssey. Fergiisson History of Architecture. Mahaffy : Old Greek Life. Fyffe : History of Greece. CHAPTER VII. Etruria and Rome 182 The Tuscan order — Roman orders — Roman buildings and furniture — Palace at Spalato — Temples — The Pantheon Arches and columns — Aqueducts, baths, and theatres — Tombs and basilicas. Bibliography.—Tuckerman : Vignola. Vitruvius : Works. Wil- kins : Roman Antiquities. Bullock : History of Architecture. Batis- sier : Histoire de I'Art Monumental. Smith : Synopsis of the Origin and Progress of Architecture. Elmes : Architecture. Lesueur : His- toire 1' de Architecture. Nichols : The Marvels of Rome. De Bus- sidre : Les Sept Basiliques de Rome. Donovan : Rome Ancient and Modern. Vedute di Roma. M. P. : Rome, Histoire de Ses Monu- ments Anciens et Modernes. Descrizione di Roma Antica. CHAPTER VIII. The Byzantine style 219 City of Constantine—Santa Sophia—Splendour of the style Byzantine mosaics—Byzantine churches in France. Bibliography.—Bayet : Precis de I'Histoire de I'Art. Osten : Die Bauwerke in der Lombardei. Lenoir : Architecture Monastique. Theophile Gautier ; Constantinople. Sante-Simone : L'Architettura Bisantina. Salzenberg : Alt-christliche Bau-denkmale von Constan- tinopel. Bayet: L'Art ByEantin. Grosvenor: The Hippodrome of Constantinople. Choisy : L'Art de B&tir Chez les Byzantins. D'An- vers : Elementary History of Art. VioUet-le-Duc : L'Art Russe. Theophile Gautier : Voyage en Russie. CHAPTER IX. Early Christian architecture 241 Seating arrangement — General characteristics — Architecture after Theodosius—Baptisteries and tombs^Lombard archi- tecture. BiBLlOGRAPHY.^Canina : Tempii Cristiani Roma. Schulz Denkmaler der Kunst des Mittelalters in Unteritalien. Bunsen : Die Basiliken des christlichen Roms. Seroux d'Agincourt : Histoire de I'Art par les Monuments. Knapp : Monumenti dell' Antico Culto Cristiano. Robert Stuart : Dictionary of Architecture. Perate : Archeologie Chretienne. Lanciani : Pagan and Christian Rome. — xii THE STORY OF ARCHITECTURE. CHAPTER X. PAGE The Mahometan or Saracenic style .... 256 The Kaabali—Important features in mosques—The house of Al Abbas—Dwellings at Cairo—Indian mosques and gate- ways—The Western style—Mosque of Cordova woodwork The Turkish phase—The Ahmediye. Bibliography. —Coste : Monuments Modernes de la Perse. Owen Jones : Grammar