Victorian Literature: Sixty Years of Books and BookmenShorter, Clement King
History
Victorian Literature: Sixty Years of Books and Bookmen
Shorter, Clement King
English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
Another important work, "The Seven Lamps of Architecture" (1849), is a
brilliant attempt at reform in domestic and church architecture. The
"lamps" represent the characteristics which good architecture should
possess. The first is the Lamp of Sacrifice: "What of beauty and what of
riches we may possess, let a portion be dedicated to God. It was in this
spirit that our cathedrals were built." The second, the Lamp of Truth,
is a plea for honesty in architecture, no imitation wood or marble, but
solid wood and solid stone. "Exactly as a woman of feeling," he says,
"would not wear false jewels, so would a builder of honour disdain false
ornaments. The using of them is just as downright and inexcusable a
lie." The third is the Lamp of Power: "Until that street architecture of
ours is bettered, until we give it some size and boldness, until we give
our windows recess and our walls thickness, I know not how we can blame
our architects for their feebleness in more important work." The fourth
is the Lamp of Beauty, and in this chapter he maintains that "all the
most lovely forms and thoughts" are directly taken from natural objects.
The fifth is the Lamp of Life. "To those who love architecture," he
says, "the life and accent of the hand are everything." The sixth is the
Lamp of Memory: "All public edifices should be records of national life,
all ordinary dwelling-houses endeared to their owners by sacred and
sweet associations. There is infinite sanctity in a good man's house!"
The seventh is the Lamp of Obedience, and here he pleads eloquently for
the enforcement of an established type of architecture--the Gothic, in
his judgment, lending itself most readily to all services, vulgar or
noble. The "Stones of Venice" (1851-1853), in three volumes, gives in
further detail Ruskin's views of the laws of architecture. The
pre-Raphaelite movement of Millais, Rossetti, and Holman Hunt early
enlisted his sympathy, and in "Pre-Raphaelitism" (1851) he declared that
they had worthily followed the advice given in "Modern Painters," to "go
to nature in all singleness of heart, and walk with her laboriously and
trustingly, having no other thought but how best to penetrate her
meaning; rejecting nothing, selecting nothing, and scorning nothing."
From that time until his Slade lectures at Oxford in 1883-1884 Ruskin
wrote several books on painting and architecture, all of them in a style
which attracts even those who are least in sympathy with his opinions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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