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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . History in Ruins . A Series of tetters to a Lady , embodying a popular Sketch of the History of Architecture , and the Characteristics of the various Styles which have prevailed . By George Godwin , F . E . S . Chapman and Hall . The author of this little work is known , somewhat beyond professional limits . as an earnest and diligent pursuer of his subject for pracbical ends . ^ The scope of the book is best described in the sub-title , which we therefore give at length . Several of the monuments illustrated are far from being in ruins—scarcely in decay—and have not " Forgotten Their very records . " Indeed , the last chapter brings us down to the street-architecture of Chambers , Dance , and Soane , whose time immediately preceded that of living architects . We will endeavour to sketch an outline of Mr . Godwin ' s pleasant and elegant UttTe volume , and to suggest , by details here and there touched in , the charm of colour which he has conveyed into his representation of—we fear the words must be spoken —a not generally attractive subject . Having premised that he intends dealing historically with that subject , and not taking an aesthet ic point of view , —a restriction which soon proves a little too much for his self-denial , —he begins by assuming the correctness of Biblical chronology , as sufficient for his purpose , and starts confidently along the road thus opened to him . The origin of types , continued indefinitely by the founders of great cities , is referred to simple accidents of locality , climateand the pursuits of men in primitive existence . As , for instance , we find
, the Egyptian type to have its undoubted origin in the cane hut , which nomadic tribes would have built with a view to lightness as well as strength . Stones of memorial are noticed as the first indication of relig ious structures , and the rude altar is pointed to as « the germ of all religious temples . " " A pavement about the altar , for the sale of cleanliness , and then a slight inclosure of upright stones around that , as a protection "—it is easy to connect the stages which follow . Five chapters , or letters , are given to Scriptural architecture , with collateral instances in Mexico and India , and a dissertation on Druidical remains . The sixth ^ chapter starts afresh with , classic forms , glancing at Pelasgic . and Cyclopean distinctions , and then recurring to the subject of early types . Under this liead , the origin of columnar structures is minutely considered , and exemplified by woodcuts . The progress of Grecian architecture , the development of its orders and styles , the birth
of sculpture , fill two of the most interesting letters in the series ; and here the subject widens . Eome , Pompoii , and Herculaneum close the history of classic architecture , and in the short chapter which tells their tale , preparation is made for a more extended survey . The continuance of the Roman basilicas by Constantine forms the link between the classic and the Christian sera ; and then we see how Byzantine art spread first over Italy , and then over Germany , and then filled every land on this side the Alps . From it spring the Mohammedan and Moorish types ; while Russian architecture is wholly formed on its principles . To no locality is assigned the origin of pointed architecture , but it is carefully disconnected from the Goths , after whom it has been named , at first , most probably , in derision . A step bnckward has to he taken when we come to the history of architecture in Merry England . Roman remains are , of course , too fertile : i topic to escape the writer fired with antiquarian zeal , and Mr . Godwin dwells fondly on this portion of bis
work . Another break occurs in the chain , where the occupancy of Britain by the Romans ceased ; and the story is resumed with the commencement of Saxon dominion . Again Byzantine art obtrudes its influence , through Norman as wett as Anglo-Saxon agency . Gothic art grows into form , and its beauties are exemplified in our fine old cathedral churches . To England , indeed , Mr . Godwin almost entirely confines this passage of his history , and the regretful tone in which ho takes leave of church architecture , rather indisposes us , by the converse force of ideas , towards the " Renaissance , " which we are next called on to observe . It is in a temperate and candid spirit that he speaks of the einque-centists , who certainly had this in their favour , that they revived i n their own country what bad spontaneously grown there . Hut , as we cannot too strongly insist , nothing which lias died deserves to live again ; and we should have forgiven Mr . Godwin a greater display of warmth in asserting that " a real style ; must have its growth out of the country and the purposes for which its structures are required . "
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The Comet * . 75 y . T . It . Hind . - T . W . Parker and Son . Jiohn ' s Clusticul ' ' ¦ JAIiran / Sa / lust , J'Yorut , and Vt'llrirux J ' ttferculns . " *«• Holm . llohnt ) Sltnuhird Library Jlwtory of the . Oriijiu of Representative Government in ' Europe . Ily M . ( Juizot ,. " ' H . ( 1 . Itolui . The Charm . Almanack for 1 . S 5 I ! . A < Mciy itnd Co . The . Prophets and h'h ' im of the Old Testament , liy 1 <\ I ) . Maurice . Mjiumilluii and Co . An Inquiry into Jliiniai , Nature . By . Mm V . Mncvic .-ir , D . I ) . Sutherland ami Kiiojl . The Australian and . Cufi / 7 , rnian Gold lHticove . ricM , and their Probable Consequences . Hy V . . ) . Htirliiitf , I'Mt . M . IC . Oliver and Uoyd . Ciiril Wars and Monarchy in France in the . Sixteenth and He . oentcv . nth Centuries . J ? y Leopold ltanke . ' . i voIh . ' Jtiehiml Bentley . The licavourr . . liuncH WhI . hoh . liistoirc de la li ' estauration . I ' m- A . Do TjiimiirUno . Dulim and ( Jo . Mark Hurdlestone .. Hy Mrs . Mordio . 2 vol . s . Itieliurd Hentley . Eoitr Days in . Connemara . liy Kir I ) . Neavo . Uieliard lient . ley . Tnticulana . ; or , Note * and lie / I tn-tioim written durhit / Vacation . Hy Amlniw I'Mtfiir . W . I ' lekeiiii ^ . The . Prize Tre . athe on the . 1 'Uc Arts Section of the Great . Exhibition of lHfil . By II . WeelceK . Vizel . clly and ( ;<> . Letters left at the Pastn / cooVs . inRrnni , Cooli , mid Co ; The Vale of l . anhcrne , and other l'oemx . Hy II . H . Hlolio . 4 . . Longman , ISrovvii ( Ireen and l , o . Utters from Ireland . Hy llaniel , Miirlin .-i ' m . John Ohimiiiiiii . The Parlour Lihrur *) A ' IV him and its Consequence * . Himnm and M . In tyre . Select llritish Klaalu-ncc . Ity C . A . ( , ' oodridi , D . I ) . Hihiii . hoii Low , Son , and Co , The Water IAI ,, on the lh . nube . . " ><>>"' W . I ' arh . T and Hon . ' /¦ /„• New Quarterh / Review . , Hookhni .. and Ho . ih . ' / ' /„• Dodd K ' amil ,, At . road . ' HvMVT '" \ r Motes and limemtations to the Text , of Shakespeare ' s Plays . VVlult . aker am Co . An f ^^ 'X ^ •'"' ¦ " ¦ " IJ " Hl ) """ " - "'"" ' "" ilrilhuVy luul" £ lZ \ WHtiu jphonaL derrold -JW . Complete Letter-Writer . ^ ,, ^ 2 Tail s . liilinhurtfh M < rt /< iziuc .. rp j ( , ^ |) uv Lawsons Merchants - ^ la . / azine . l '( 1 rl , rid " ' " > nd OaKey ! JIuyrapucalAfuaaztne . Hain . moli Low , Non , and (! o . I'utnamu Monthly Mtiqttzuic . No . I . _„ !; ' , ' ' ,,, Norton ' s Mtrari ' KofLler and Koak-lhn , er ' * Almanack for W « . Hannmou I j " * . Ho . « -o . The Scottish Temperance Leaauc lleqister and Abstainers Almanack . I on h . on urn Co . Th « Sc . otthh Ucmew . No I Ilonln ! oii mil („ . . JIMory . f li ,,,, li * h lAtcvaiur ' c Hy W . H |) iiI . Jin / , ' . a . ,. . . V 1 T 1 l' 7 . Macphaih ldnt ,, < r ,, h Hrrtrshnfi / at Journal . . Hm . plun , Man . .. ill . and !„ . The . Picture l'lca » H ' r , < Hook The Charm Grimm ' s Household Stories . A . lilcy iiml Co . A Plea for our own Cunt ami ,,, < r Cape Colo ,,, / Ode on the Death < f the ' *> f ' 'il " " «*" . ' /' «« . liy 11 . T . Urnithwaiu , . . tA . jht and tihadv ) or , the Young Artitt . Hy A . 11 . ^ " " I ; i ( . 1 (( , I . in , The Universal Library . L ' atia 1 to V Ingroai , Cook , uud ( 3 o .
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CHAPTER II . DIRTY PICTURES . fT has been said that the delight of a connoisseur is " a dark , invisible , very fine old picture ; " and there can be no doubt of the existence , among admirers of the old Masters , of considerable reverence for the mysterious stains and discolorations which pictures acquire by neglect in the long lapse of years . Enthusiastic collectors will exult in the " golden " splendour of a Claude , the " glowing warmth' * of a Cuyp , or the " rich transpare nt browns" of Rembrandt , which qualities , in a large . ^ egree , are occasioned by coatings of discoloured varnishes and oils , producing upon the
pictures effects similar to layers of stained glass . A celebrated critic , speaking of Sebastiano del Piombo ' s " Raising of Lazarus , " in the National Gallery , grows eloquent on the dark incrustation by which that famous composition is obscured . He says , " the figure of Lazarus is very fine and bold . The flesh is well baked , dingy , and ready to crumble from the touch , when it is liberated from its dread confinement to have life and motion impressed on it ao-ain . " Thus it is inferred that Sebastiano stooped to the trivial artifice of imparting an appearance of half putrefaction to the exhumed corpse . The " baked" look of the figure is an affair of time and the critics , and not of
the original painter . Did not Hazlitt overlook the too evident fact that the noble picture referred to is embedded beneath a thick covering of half opaque varnish , modern paint , and common dirt , and that the figure of Lazarus is only discoloured in the same degree as the other portions of the work ? The ' same critic dwells rapturously on the decayed cartoons of Raphael at Hampton Court . After describing the spirit and beauties . tof those divine pictures , he proceeds to account for their transcendental qualities , which he thinks " perhaps are not all owing to genius—something may be owing to the decayed and dilapidated state of the pictures themselves" which " arc the more majestic for being in ruins . " He delights to observe " that all the petty , meretricious part of the art is dead in them ;"
that " the carnal is made spiritual ; " that f the corruptible has put on mcorruption ; " and that " amidst the wreck of colour , and the mouldering of material beauty , nothing is left but a universe of thought , or the broad , imminent shadows of calm contemplation or majestic pains . " We dissent with deference from the opinions of one who so often thought justly , and always expressed himself well . But when the mind escapes from the enchanting thraldom of these imposing words , we arc disposed to ask , Did it never occur to critics accepting these views absolutely , that if the painter had intended all these appearances of decay , and included the infirmities of age among the beauties of his design , it was in his power to have produced them before he dismissed the work from his studio V Doubtless , he never
contemplated such effects , and we are bound to study the intention of the master , and to respect it . Is not every eminent picture-buyer jealous of the imposition of modern copies upon him as the incontcstiblc productions of the master ? The artistic impostor—the dread of the connoisseur and the disgrace of art—owes the success of his counterfeit issues to this fashion of preserving the genuine productions in a half invisible state . Artificial discolorations and layers of dirt arc to these creators of the " modern antique , " what night nnd darkness arc ; to the highwayman and the burglar .
If decay is to be trusted as the source of so much beauty , it should lead to practical results , which we never see attempted by any partisan of the theory . Whatever principle is true may become the foundation of practice ; but what would be said if some ingenious theorist , of a scientific turn , should haply discover some process by which the decay of pictures might he facilitated , and the picture-gazer of this age he enabled to possess himself of intellectual delights which in the ordinary course : of things he would never live to enjoy' ( What would be said if , seized with this idea , the trustees of the National ( Jallery should order the most valuable
of the pictures in their charge to undergo an ordeal to get rid of their ^ ross " material" and " carnal" qualities ? We should soon see this theory of beauty by destruction considerably recast . The value in which the learned Doctor Cornelius held the " rust , the precious n-rugo , " which clung so tenaciously to the famous shield , in not extraordinary , when contrasted with the singular affection nianil'cHted by able connoisseurs for the " venerable verdure" which obscures so many diefs-d ' uMivrc of the old painters . The strange appearances of decay which that learned doctor styles " the traces of time , " and " beautiful obscurities , where doubts and curiosities go hand in hand , and eternally exercise the speculations of the learned ; " these awaken quite us much intercut and admiration when discovered on the surfaces of old pictures , Us
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68 THE LEADER . [ Satpbday ,
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" Who , in contemplating one of Raphael ' s finest pictures , fresh from the master ' s hand , ever ' bestoweda thought ou the wretched httfe worm winch works its d ^ " j ; E n D ? (} EWOBTS .
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BY HENRY MEREITT .
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself- — Goethe .
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1853, page 68, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1969/page/20/
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