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    Ruskin - The Lamp of Memory - SM PDF

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    Sobia Ahsan

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    of 14
    THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE JOHN RUSKIN Including illustrations drawn and etched by the author Fagax, Steavs ax Ginoux 166 ‘rie LAMP OF LPB ther ig not one tender toveb, not one warm stroke, om the ‘whole fagade,” ‘The men who did it hated it, and were bake fal when itwas dove, And #0 Jong as they do wo they are ‘merely loading your wall with shapes of clay : the garland tf evclatings in Peo la Cais are more cerfal ornament ‘You eannot get the fcking by paying for it—money will ok ‘buy Mle. Lam not mre oven that you can got it by wa for waiting for it. Tes true that here and there a wer tmey be found wio has ita him, but ho does not rest tented in the inferior work—be strugrles forward into Academician ; and from te mass of srallale andi the power is gone—how recoverable I know not: this only Iinow, that all expense devoted to sealptural ormament, in ‘condition of thst power, comes literally under Tread of Seeriioe for the sacrifices ake, or worse. I be the only manner of rich orament that is open to us is {geometrical color mone, and that much might result from te ing we hae in our power—the dong witout ms STuament tad eutron work All he sainped ell trical one td adatom woods an rome, ve {Sreton of wich we ar dy eration ll the shor ‘Slop aodery wnt ding ht howe lial in SD jut so muny now obelnee fx or nea ccuml ul "They wil not ako oe of ws happier oir ‘extend thor Un pride of odgment nor he pegs Trpyment, Tiny wil only sun on allower in our String colder non htt, nd ebro wit Sat jus “or wo are not tnt ino this word fo do ‘ng nto which wo canal pot one heart We hve ork todo for eur beat a tha ino be doe sen Tier wrk fo for our Slight Unt sto be done Sp: ne oto bo dove bynes or ut but wth wl SUStat snot worth ih eft in aot to be done wf al ‘Perhpeal ta wu ie oo ent for nothing more we teh md of hwnd en al Sa orn eo we ban ay wel bo pared PSE puting ur hand and ur Reng Tt doa THE Laur oF wewoRY, ser sot booome our immorality to take an ease inconsistent with {is authority, nor to wer say instruments with which it ean Aispenso, to come Tetween i andthe things it rules: aud he ‘who would form the creations of his owa sind by anyother instrument than his own and, wold ale, if he might give svinding orguas to Heaven'sangel, to make heir monic easier, ‘Thor is dreaming enough, and earthiness enough, and sense sty enough in human existence without onr farang the few flowing: moments of it into mechani ; and wines ont life Imost atthe best be but a rapor that appears for «ile tine ‘and en vanishes away, et ta Teast appear oe «eld in the Dbeight of Heaven, not as tho thick darknes that broods over ‘the bast of the Furnace, and rolling of the Whoa. CHAPTER VL 1, Among the hours of hie life to which tho writer looks ‘nck with peeliargrafitade, as having been marked by more than onnary fulness of joy or clearness f teaching, is one passed, now some years ago, near lite of mec, among the broken masses of pine forest which skit the oun of the Ain, above the village of Chazpagnole in tho Jur. Tein ‘spot which bas all the solemnity, with none ofthe envageneas ofthe Alps; where there isa seas of a great power. begin: ning to be manifested ia the earth, and of deep and majetis concord in th rise of the Tong low lines of pny bill; the fit utterance of those mighty mountain ermphonies, oon to ‘be more loudly lifted and willy broken along the batements of tho Alps But ther strength isa yet retrained; and the ‘ae-eaching vidges of pastoral mountain sneceed each ofr, like the long and sighing swell which moves over quiet waters from some faroff stormy teu. And there iw deep tenderness pervaling that vast monotony. The destructive forces and fhe ston expreaion ofthe ceniral ranges are alike withdrnn. ‘No frost-ploughed, dustencumbered path of ancient glalet 108 THR LAMP OF MEMORY. trot the soft Sor pastare ; no splinter heaps of rain break the fae ranks of ber frets; no pale, deed, or furious rivers rend their rude and changeful ways among her rocks. Phe ‘Henly, eddy hy ody, the cle green streams wind long Uhie ‘wellEown beds and snder the dar quietness ofthe und ‘urbed pines there spring up, year by yea, such company at jopfl fowers as Tknow not the like of among all the Blew: {gs of the earth. Tt was Springtime, fo ; and all were come ing forh in clusters crowded for very lve There was room. fenough forall, but they erasd their Teves into all manner fof range chopes only to be nearer each other. There waa the wood anemone, sar after star, losing every now and then into nebulae: and there was tho exalis troop by troop like ‘ginal processions of the Mois de Marie, the dark verted ‘eft in the Limestone choked. up with them as with hemry now, and touched with iry on the edges—ivy as light ad lovely ae the vie and ever and anon, a biue gush of vine fod cowalip bells in sunny places; and ia the more open ground, the velch, nd comfrey, and’ mezeron, and the small ‘Epphire buds ofthe Polygala Alpin and the wid strawbery, ast a Blowom or two, ll showered amide the golden sotnem Etdeep, warm, aziber-colored moss. Teamo out presently om the edge of the ravine; the solemn murmur of ia waters roe sniddenly from beneath, mized with te singing ofthe thrush tmnong the pine Bough; and, on the oppoite side of the ‘alles walle all along as it wa by grey cis of limestone, ‘here was a hawk sling slowly of their brow, touching them green river gliding nd. glittering dizaily enesth him, their foam glabes moving with him as bo flew. Tt would be dife tat to conceive a aoan lees dependent upon any other intereat ‘han that of ita own secluded and serious beauty; but the ‘ite well remembers tho sudden blankness and chill which Irero cat upon it when be endeavored, in order more silly {o arrive atthe rources of its mprosiveness, to imagine i, ft moment, a sene in some aboriginal fret of the New THE LAMP OF MEMORY. 169 ‘nent. The flowers in an instant lot Uheir ight, the river it ‘music; the hills became oppressvely desolate ; a hesvines {n the boughs of the darkened fore showed how much of their former power had been dependeat upon life which was ‘not their, how mich of the glory of the imperishable or eo tinually renewed, creation is reflected from things more pre- ‘ows in their memories than i in its renewing. These ever Springing flowers and ever flowing streams lad. been dyed by the deep colors of human endurance, aor, and virtue; and ‘the ereats of tho sable hills that rose aginst. the evening sky received a deeper worship, because their far shadows fell est. ‘ward over the ion wall of Joux aud the four-square Keep of Granson. TT It sas the centralisation and protectres of this sacred inuenee tat Avehitectre isto be regarded by us withthe moet serous thought. We maylve without ber, and worship, tithoot ber, but we cannot remember without her. How eold all history bow lfleas all imagery, compared to that which the living nation writes, and the uncorrupted marble beaea! how many pages of doubtful econ might we not often spare for afew stones left one upon another! The ambition of the ‘ld Babel builders was wll directed for this world; there are but two wrong conqueror of the forgetfulness of men, Posty fend Architecture and the latter in some sort includes the former, and i mightier in ita reality; itis well to have, not only what men bave thought and fe, but what their hands Tne handled, and their strength wrought, and their eyes ‘beheld all the days of ther Ife ‘The age of Homer is sur rounded with darknen, his very personality with doubt. Not fo that of Pericles: and the day i coming when we shall com> {eos that we ave lesaed sore of Greece out of the crumbled fragmenta of her srulpture than even from her meet singers for soldier historian. And if indeed ther be any prot in our Inowledge of the past, oF any jos inthe thought of being re ‘metered hereafter, which enn give strength to present exer. tion, or patience to present endurance, there are two duce reepecting national architecture whoee importance itis impor ible to overrae; Uh frst, to render the architetare of the x10 ‘Tae LAMP OF MEMORY. Any historical; and, tho second, to preserve, a6 the most pw. ‘lous of inheritances, Chat of past agen TIL It isin the fet of these two. directions that Memory say tly be aud to be the Sixth Tap of Architoctare for it isin bocoming memorial or monumental theta true perfee- ‘ion in altaned by civil andl domostic buildings sand this partly ‘a they ae, with such a view, built ia amore lable manner, ss partly as their decorations sre consequently animated by ‘helaphorical or historical meaning. ‘As rogards domestic buildings, there must always bo a cam | {ain mnitation to views ofthis ind inthe power, an well aig NL ‘tho outs, of mon ; fll eannot but think it ax ev sign of, ts people when their houses are bul ola for one genet fonly. There isa amctity in good man's house which cannot bbe renewed in every tenement that rink on ite rons and T Dalits that good men would generally feel thin; and that | Ihaing spent ther ives happily and honorably, they woald grieved at tho clos of them to think that the place of their farthly abode, which had seen, and seemed almost to eye {hise faa their honor, their glade, or their suring, — that this, with al the reeond it bare of therm, and all of mri things that they ind loved and vuled over, and set the samp. ‘of themedives pon-—vea to be seept mre, an soon wo tt ‘was oom mado for thom inthe grave ; that no respect wa to De thows tot, no action fel fori, no good to be Jew ‘hom it by their children; that though there was monument {in the chugeh, there was no warm monoment in the heart td ‘Douce to them ; that all that they ever treamared was dspised, sad the places thet had sheliored and comforted them were ragged down to the dust. Tsay that a good man would fa {his and that fer more, a good con, noble descendant, would + fear doing it to his father's howto. Tray habit men lived like ‘nen indeed, their houses would be templeatemplor whish we should hardy dare fo injure, and in which ft would ake og | Joly to be permitted to lve; aud there must be strange die: solution of aural afction, strange unthankfulnew forall ‘hat omea have given and parenta taught, astrange conscious i : ‘nea that wo have boon uafaithal to our father honor, oF that ‘THe LAMP oF ueuoRr. mm ‘our own lies are not uch a would make oor dwellings ancred {o.our children, when each man word fain build to himsol, snd build forthe Hue revelation of his own lif aly. And T Took upon those pitifal concretions of lime and clay which rmed forwardnes out of the kneuled ele ‘lls of eplinared wood and imitated stone—upen those floomy rows of formalised minutenea, alike without diference fod withoat fellowship as elitary wz rimilar-—not merely with he careless dinguat of an offended eye, uot merely with eon row fora descrated landscape, bat with a painelforeboting that the roots of our national greats sauat be deply ca ‘ered when they are th loosely eruck in thir native ground; that those comforles and wnhonored dwellings ao the sgn ‘ofa great and spreading spirit of popular discontent; that thoy mark the time when every mat'y ats isto be in some more elevated sphere than his natural ono, and every man's pst if is his habitual acorn; when men buildin the hope of Taving the places they have bull, and Hive in the hope of for. getting the years that they havo lived; when the comfort the ‘peace, the religion of home aro cessed tobe felt; and the ‘crowed tenements of a straggling and restles population df. {er enly from the tents of the Arab or the Gipsy ty tit less Inalthy openness tothe arf heaven, and let happy chain of, ‘heir spot of earth; by their mcrifco of liberty without the gain of ret, and of stability without the luxury of change. TV. This is no slight, no eonsequenceless evil: it is omi- ‘ous, infections, and feeund of other fault snd misfortune, ‘When men do not love their hearths, nor roverenoe their ‘rebolds ie anign that they hae dishonored both, ad hak they have never acknowledged the trve tnivermlity of that Christian worship which was indeed to aapersede the idolatry, ‘but not he piety of the pagan, Our God ie a owed God, as wll a5 a heavenly one; Ho has an altar in every man's dwelling ; I men look to it when they rend it Kghtly fod pour out ite gabon Tt ie not a question of mere ocular Aolght, it is no quetion of intellect pride, or of ealtiratod sod steal fancy, how, and with what aspect of durability 1 Tum LAMP OF MEMORY. and of compleencas, the domestic buildings of mation sha be raised It is one of those moral dutios, not with more impunity to be neglected because tho perception of them de- pends on a fnely toned and balanced conscientiousness, to Dulld oar dwelings with care, and pationo, and fondnesy, tnd diligent completion, and with a view to their duration at Teast for such a period a the ardinary couse of national ‘evolutions, mig be supposed likely to extend to the entre fterstion of the direction of local interest. ‘This at the Teast; but it would be better if in every posible instance, ‘men built ter own onees on s sale commensurate rather ‘wth thir condition at the commencement, than their attain Thenta at the termination, of Their worldly career; and bailt them to sland as long ae hrman work ab its strongest ean be hoped to stand; reording to thai children what they have ‘bem and from wha if soit bad been permitted them, they Trad vison” And when howses are thos built, wo may have tint true domestio architecture, the beginning of all other, ‘which dows not dindain to test with respect and thought ‘es the smal habitation aa well as the large, and which ine ‘esta with the dignity of contend manhood the narrownes ‘of worldly croumstance. ‘VT lok to this prt of honorable, proud, poncefal sl poastsion, this abiding windom of eontented ifs a probably tne ofthe chief soures of great intllctul power in all agen fd beyond dispute a the very primal source of the great ‘rchitectre of old Tay and France. ‘To this day, the interest oftheir faitet cities depend, not on the isolated richness of prlsceg But on the cherished and exquisite decoration of fren the smallest tanements of their proud periods ‘The fost elaborate ites of architecture in Vesioo ism small hous tt the ead of the Grand Canal, consisting of «ground floor ‘vith two storia above, three windows in the fist and two in the eccoud. Many of the most exquisite buildings are on the narrower canis and of no larger dimensions. One of the most interesting pices of fifteenth century architecture in [Novll Tal, is a small hougo in buck street behind the Imavket place of Viens it boars dale 1481, and the moti THs LAMP OF MEMORY. aa Th wt one. Spine; than alo only a grownd oor and two stories, with three windows in each, separated by rch fower-work, and with balconies, supported, the central one by an eagle with open wings the lateral onen by winged gifs standing on cornucopie. ‘Tho idea thats house must be lange in onlor to bo well built, i allogether of modern growl and is parallel with the idea, that uo peture ean be [istorieal, exept of a size admitting ures lager than lie ‘VE T would have, then, ove ordinary dwelling-hoxses bait ‘to last, and built tobe lovely ; asvch and fll of pleamntnens ‘as may be, within and without; with what dogroo of likeness to each other in syle and manner, Twill ay presently, wader ‘nother head ; buy atall rents, withouch diferences aa might fait nd express cach mais characler and oceupation, and partly his history. ‘This right orr tho house, I conceive, be- Tongs to it at builder, and ito be respoted by his eile sud it would be well hat blank etones should ba le ‘nog rasing thus the habitation intoa hind of monument, and Aereioping, into moro systematic instractiveness, that good cenatom which was of old univers, and which stil romaine ttnong some ofthe Swiss and Germans, of acknowledging the tzce of God's perminion to build and posens a quiet reting- “in such sweet words as may well lone our speaking of ‘thooe things. I havo taken them from th front of cottage Iatety bail among the green pastares which deacend from the ‘lage of Grindelwald tothe lower glacier ;— a Shao aa a Mata Ro Dorit Got wall un bomsheen ‘or alem Unglick aad Geshen, ‘Ba dere fre Sa Se ‘uth dom Mesa Ponto ‘Worle Frommen woken, ‘Da ir Got ae belchaen WG der Pitan eulemaves” a uz LAMP OF MEWORY. ‘VIL In public buildings the historical parpose should ba still more defnite. Tt ie one of the advantages of Gothio ‘rcbitacture 1 uso the word Gothic in the most extended, ‘eno an roadly opposed to clasical —thatitadmits of riche ‘Jeon ofvecord altogether walinited, Tis minuto and multe {ndisous sulptore decorations aford means of expressing, ‘Sther spmbolially or itrally all that need be known of mie ional fading or schievement.” ‘Moro decoration wil indeed, te ually required than ean take so elevated a character; and. ‘uch, even in tho moat Uhonghtfal periods, has een left to ‘the froslom of fancy, or wfered to consist of mere repetitions frome national bearing oe symbol Its, bowever, generally ‘Grn, even in mere surface orament, to surrender the power tnd priviego of variety which tho sprit of Gothic architectare ‘Minis; much more fn portant featares—capials of colon ‘or bons and etring-coumes, as of course in all confessed. arsuliefa Better to radest work that tll sory or records fat, tha the richest without meaning. ‘There should not osingle omement put upon great cvie buildings, withoat tome intatlectnal intention. Actual representation of history tas fa modern times heen checked by a dificulty, mean ins fled, but steadlst + that of unmanageable costame ; never- ‘Geless, by sufiiently bold imaginative treatment, and frank fuse of aytabol all such obstacles may be vanquished ; not ‘erduprin the degree necessary to produce sculpeure in ital Titaftoy, bot at all events a0 ato enable it to become fgrand and expremive clement of architectural composition, ‘Take for example, the management of tho capitals of the dural place at Venio. History, ax mic, was indeed entrasted to tho painters of is interior, bat every capital of is arenes was {led with meaning. ‘The large on, the corer stone of the ‘whole next the entranes, wan devoted to the symboliation of bsiract Justice; above tf selptare of the Judgment of Solomon, remarkable for 8 bewotifal subjection in its treat- mont to its docorative purpins. The figures i the subject Tied been entirely composed of them, would ave aviswardly terrapled the line ofthe angle, and diminished ite apparent fMrwngih and Usreforo in Ue mist of them, ently without ‘rum Lane oF uEuoRy. as relation to Uhr, and indeed actually etwoen the exceutionet ‘td interoeding mother, there rios the ribbed trunk ofa maasy {toe, which mapports snd continues the shaft of the angle, end ‘how leaves above overshadow and enrich the whola.” ‘The ‘epital below bears among its lefage a throned Sgure of Jus. ‘Gos, Trajan doing justice to tho widow, Aristotle “cho dis legge," and ono oF two other subjocts now tntelligibe from decay, ‘The oxpitala next in order repreent the vituea and. ‘oes in succession, as presurativo or destructive of national pence and power, concluding with Fait, with th ineripion "Pier optima in Deo ext" A figure ia seen on the opposite side of the exptal, worshipping the sun. After thee, one oF ‘oro capita are faneifllydoooratd with birds (Pate ¥.), and ‘hen come series representing, fist tho various frat thon ‘the national costumes and then the animals of the various ‘countries subject to Venetian ral. "VIIL Now, not to epeak of any more important pubic building, lt us imagine our own Tadin House adorned in this ‘way, by historical or symbolic reulptre = naively built in ‘the int place then chased with basrelits of our Indian bat- tle, and feted with earings of Oriental foliage, or inlaid with (Oren stonea; and the mare important member ofits deco. ration composed of groupe of Tnan Ke and landscape, and prominently expressing the phantans of Hindoo worship in Thee subjection to the Grom Would not one such work be Detter than a thovsand historien? I, horover, we have nok the invention neacsary for uch eft or if, which is probe- ‘ly one of the most noble exoases we can or for our def ency in uch matter we have los pleasure in talking about ‘oarslves even in marblo, than the Continental nations at east swe have no exeaoe for any want of care in the points which i= ture the building’ endurance. And ns this question is one of {great interet in ita rlations to the choice of various modes of ‘Secoraton, it wl be neceamary to enter into it at some length. TIX. Tho benevolent regards and purpose of men io masses seldom can be uppored to extend beyond their owa gener ‘on. They may look to posterity as an andienc may hope for ila etention, ad labor for ite praise they may trast 118 ‘rue LAMP OF MEMORY. recognition of unacknowledged wort end demand ts jo Aeeeettcmeray wrong, Duta this iaere ison Le enc te eget ger t,o caidraon a etn ftw y wos somber we wou owe oe ne dares, und by whine wath we rod cian our prey pot caine The Hea of ey we Pler eo ake of pote, of pctaing present ome ere af bore get onborn of ping fra Ter decanting ve under these oof rasng waa te a atone oinbabisnover,Taupom ftealy Se ing publicly seognbed motes of exertion ‘pert not th le our Glen; wor inoue pact Uy Ze pon tha earth, ula the ange of Oo intended Toye uuu ince ot only the companion Tel dlemcmore of ow plrmage God bs lent othe vans Hey iia gre ent Te belongs ech o Te ise to come erm and hove names ae already ‘enn eto of eran a wad ae 2 sie haying lat we do oF ngle,t inva them fa Tere ay pete oF deprive thm of bebe which i Tengo Pero tequeai And this he more, bac it Ted potted emdion ofthe labor of men a we Ct being beeen fhe seeding and the ae wee fain of erat; and that general, therefore Tlictter ot we pce our in, andthe lew we dst Be ae reese llsboe of what eave abore fo, te or Sart en wil bo thn mea of our succes.” Men Tat net thom Unt re with hom sey can bene hoe wear ham: an of alah ppt fom whch oma TEs snt oh here one from whic ee 9 {Bros from the grave s SC" Nor thre deed, any prewnt le, n ch epee tor fot very human action gina it honor, in es {i re ngeicene, by a egr fo hings that ee come US ere the queen confident pte ha above ‘iy sther atten, spat ne om mn, and ewe hi {We Skers andere no aon nora wow mney wo Beco raare by Bie es ‘Therefoe when we ball ‘THB LAMP OF Exon? ww us think that we build forever. Tat it not be for preset de Tight, nor for prewat use lone ; let it be mich work at our

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