These particular manifestations were not merely a passing fashion;
they were too widespread and too lasting for that; yet that they were
in fact the outcome of fashion is proved by Pope’s Epistle to Lord
Burlington (the fourth of the “Moral Essays”) which is in effect a
vindication of common sense as opposed to extravagance in buildings,
gardens, and entertainments. Pope credits Lord Burlington with the
qualities he commends, yet in none of the buildings attributed to that
nobleman is common sense very conspicuous.
Another book on architecture was published by James Gibbs, a
contemporary of Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh, but somewhat younger, and who
was one of the numerous architects encouraged by Lord Burlington. He
deservedly enjoyed a large practice, and designed many churches and
houses. He was skilful and ingenious, and showed more originality than
most of his contemporaries, particularly in his churches; his houses go
very little outside the lines which were universally accepted as being
appropriate for gentlemen’s residences. Like several of his fellows he
commended himself to the public by publishing (in 1728) a large folio
volume of his designs. These are well worth study, for they were all
either actually built or were intended to be built, the erection of
some being prevented by the death of the client or by some other cause.
They have therefore a more vital interest than most of those in Kent’s
“Designs of Inigo Jones.”
His Introduction is interesting. The work was undertaken, he says,
at the instance of several Persons of Quality, who were of opinion
that it “would be of use to such Gentlemen as might be concerned in
Building, especially in remote parts of the Country, where little
or no assistance for Designs can be procured.” He suggests that,
furnished with his book, these remote gentlemen can employ any workman
who understands lines to build them a house, and even make alterations
in his designs if guided by a person of judgment. But he (very
rightly) warns his readers against employing only ignorant workmen in
the management of buildings of great expense, lest they undergo the
mortification of finding the result condemned by persons of taste,
entailing even the drastic remedy of pulling the building down. He also
warns them against extravagant and misapplied ornament, “for it is not
the Bulk of a Fabrick, the Richness and Quantity of the Materials, the
Multiplicity of Lines, nor the Gaudiness of the Finishing, that give
the Grace or Beauty and Grandeur to a Building; but the Proportion of
the Parts to one another and to the Whole, whether entirely plain, or
enriched with a few Ornaments properly disposed.” It is to be feared
that his readers must have felt that what he gave with one hand in
offering them his book, he took away with the other by showing how
hazardous it was to use it without training and experience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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