A rchitectureis the enclosureof spaceand
the creationof mass.Architecturaldrawings
reducethis spaceand massto mereschematic
- floorplans,elevations,orsecrepresentations
tions.But we, today,havediscovereda ready
appealin them: our eyes have grown accustomed to the aestheticof the flat, linear,and
almost immaterialqualitiesof Park Avenue
weddingcakes- a stylein whichmanya building seems but a two-dimensionalrendering
explodedto vast size.
drawAnexhibitionof Englisharchitectural
from
the
Museum's
collection
will
be on
ings
in
the
Auditorium
from
display
Lounge
September
Ii
to November
I5.
It coincides with
the publicationof a catalogue,by JohnHarris
of the Royal Institute of British Architects,
of Englisharchitectural
drawingsin American
a
substantial
collections,
percentageof which
are at the MetropolitanMuseum.The more
than fifty exampleson exhibition illustrate
the variedtypes of architecturaldrawingsas
well as the myriadstyles of Englisharchitecturefromthe mid-seventeenthcenturyto the
late nineteenth.
Architectural drawings reflect stylistic
trendsand the extent of the architect'srole
in designingand building.It is only recently
that most architectshave relinquishedwhat
has aptly been called "the classicallanguage
of architecture"- the vocabularyof formsand
motifs originatingin antiquity, and in constant use since the Renaissancefor ordering
exterior and interior walls with a coherent
decorativescheme.Historically,in designing
rooms English architectshave concentrated
on ceilings and chimneypieces.Inigo Jones,
who introducedItalianRenaissancearchitectural theory into English practice about 1616,
made abundantuse of the chimneypieceded'Ausignsin JeanBarbet'sLivred'Architecture
tels et de Cheminees(Paris, 1633), though al-
waysadaptingthem to his own purposes.The
earliestdrawingson exhibition,copiesof two
plates from Barbet, were probablyexecuted
by a memberof the Officeof Works,builders
for the Crown.Barbet,andRenaissance
architecture itself, were as yet unknownoutside
courtcircles.
The eighteenth century saw a complete Note
about-face in this situation, so it is no exag-
gerationto say that at its close almostevery
carpenterandmasonin Englandcouldhandle
classicalmotifs with competence.This extraordinaryproliferationof knowledgeresulted
fromthe architectural-book
boomfosteredby
Lord Burlington,leaderof the English Palladian movement that began in the second
decadeof the century. Burlingtonsought to
returnfrom baroqueexcessesto the true architectureof antiquity as exemplifiedin the
worksof AndreaPalladioand of his English
followerInigo Jones.WilliamKent, Burlington's favored protege, publishedthe sumptuous folio Designsof InigoJonesin 1727. A
majoraim of the Palladians- never realizedwas the erectionof a new WhitehallPalace,
as a symbolof the supremacyof the antique.
Joneshad conceivedsuch a buildinglong before, and one elevation of his design, drawn
i
forKent'spublicationby "BurlingtonHarry"
Flitcroft, is displayed.
The influence of Palladian tenets was to
become universalin English-speakingcountries. John Aheron published A General Treatise of Architecturein Dublin in I754. A manuscript version of I751 will be opened to the
planfora "MagnificentPalace"in the unpublished sixth section. The vast, nearly square
plan, incorporatinga seriesof courtyards,is
not unlike that for Jones'sWhitehallPalace
above. No such palacewas ever erected in
Englandor Ireland,but it was certainlynot
throughlack of designor desire.
The inevitablereactionto ever morebookish and sterile copies after Palladiowas the
contributionof RobertAdam,interiordecoratorpar excellence.
Adamflauntedthe rulesby
which classicalarchitectureis ordered,rear-tte
rangingand redesigningthe standardpartsof
columnsandcornices.In doingso he achieved
great fame, though he never got the royal
patronagethat went to his greatestrival, Sir
William Chambers.Chambersfollowed the
rules,but adoptedmoreof the currentFrench
decorative motifs than those uncoveredin
the excavationsat Pompeiiand Herculaneum
that Adam made fashionable.The Museum
room
chimneypiece,
Eating
2Park, Kent, by
Danson
Da
hliamChambers
r
(I723'-
1796), British. About
1773 Itnkand washdrawing,
ii x 8 inches. The Elisha
Whittel
sey Fund, 49.56.19
35
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no periodsurpassedthe earlynineteenthcentury in plethoraof architecturalstyles. The
GrandEgyptianHall (Figure2), with every
familiarformEgyptianized,wasdrawnby G.
Landi, an architecturalpainterand drawing
Decorations:A
master, for his Architectural
PeriodicalWorkof OriginalDesignsInvented
from the Egyptian,the Greek,the Roman,the
Etruscan,the Attic,the Gothic,&c.... (London, I8Io).
The nineteenthcentury was host to eclectic styles to its very end. Drawingsby Ernest
Geldart,a little-knownbut representativearchitectof the lastdecadesof the century,illustrate the phenomenanot only of the ubiquitous "VictorianGothic" parish church but
also of the half-timberedcottage (Figure 3).
Characterizedby a returnto medievalstyles,
2. The GrandEgyptianHall, by
the useof brightlycoloredmaterials,andbold,
G. Landi, Italian, active in
hitherto unorthodoxproportions,this arif
of
collection
a
chimneypiece
possesses large
England.For Architectural
at its best exhibits a vigor rarely
chitecture
a
Chambers,
good examplebeing
designsby
Decorations (London, 181o).
the exuberantclassicalmisinsince
effected
Danson
at
Room"
for
the
that
Park,
"Eating
Ink and wash drawing, 8% x
found
in the prodigiouscountry
of
Adam
brilliance
The
facile
Kent
terpretations
(FigureI).
13Y inches. Gift of Harry G.
times.Thus it is no surof
Elizabethan
houses
senand
the
overshadowed
too
has
strong
long
Friedman, 62.635.215
sitivedesignsof thismajoreighteenth-century priseto findan Elizabethanrevivalblossomin
architect, who conducted his affairswith a the i84os and againin the i87os. C. J. Richthatis closerto what ardsonwas its chief exponent. Drawingsfor
thoroughness
professional
Remainsof Eliza3. Design for a house, by Ernest one would expect of a twentieth-centuryar- his elaborateArchitectural
Geldart, British. About 1895.
beth and James ist (London, I840), and for his
chitect than an eighteenth-centuryone.
Ink drawingwith watercolor,
In the 75ostherewereessaysin the Gothic unsuccessfulproject to publish the Book of
6 x 84 inches. By exchange,
and "French"- i.e. rococo- styles,andCham- Architecture
of John Thorpe-a sixteenth-cenRoyal Institute of British
bersdesigneda pagodafor Kew Gardens,but turysurveyor'scollectionof designsforhouses
- will be displayedhere for the first time.
Architects,60.724.58
Only now are we openingour eyes to the
vitality and color of the not-so-distantpast.
-A
Justas our Victoriangrandparentsand greatgrandparentsrejoicedin rebellionagainstthe
dullnessof mile after mile of GeorgianLondon, so might we look beyondour glasscanyonsandprofitby the observationandpreservation of the remainsof their age. Victorian
architecturewas modern,vulgar, and ostentatiouswhen new; old-fashionedand despised
after a generation;ignoredor torn down for
two more. Will it now, finally, be respected
bothforits meritsandfor beinga foil to bland
and economicalcontemporarybuilding-or
only when it's too late?
sa,
MORRISON
H. HECKSCHER
ChesterDale Fellow,PrintDepartment