2681. Neither should columns be allowed to penetrate each other, as they do in the court of the Louvre, inasmuch as the same irregularity is induced by it as we have above noticed in the case of pilasters. SECT. XV. CARYATIDES AND PERSIANS. 2682. The origin of caryatides we have in the First Book (165, et seq.) so far as regards our own opinions, explained, and in that respect we shall not trouble the reader. Our object in this section is merely to offer some observations on the use of them in modern practice. The figures denominated Persians, Atlantes, and the like, are in the same category, and we shall not therefore stop to inquire into their respective merits; indeed, that has already been sufficiently done in the book above alluded to. The writer of the article in the Encyclopedie Methodique has, we think, thrown away a vast deal of elegant writing on the subject of caryatides; and using, as we have done, to some extent, that extraordinary work, we think it necessary to say that we cannot recommend anything belonging to that article to the notice of the reader, except what is contained in the latter part of it, and with that we do not altogether agree. 2683. The object, or apparent object, in the use of caryatides is for the purpose of support. There is no case in which this cannot be better accomplished by a solid support, such as a column, the use of the attic order, or some other equivalent means. But the variety in quest of which the eye is always in search, and the picturesque effect which may be induced by the employment of caryatides, leads often to their necessary employment. The plain truth is, that they are admissible only as objects necessary for an extreme degree of decoration, and otherwise employed are not to be tolerated. There can, as we imagine, be no doubt that the most successful application of these figures as supports was by Jean Gougeon in the Louvre; as was the most unfortunate in the use of them in a church in the New Road, which at the time of its erection was much lauded, but which we hope will never be imitated by any British architect. 2684. As to the use of what are called Persians or male figures, originally in Persian dresses, to designate, as Vitruvius tells us, the victory over their country by the Greeks, the observations above made equally apply, and in the present day their application will not bear a moment's suspense in consideration. : 2685. We have been much amused with the gravity wherewith Sir William Chambers, not with his usual sound sense, treats the claims of the personages whose merits we are discussing he says, "Male figures may be introduced with propriety in arsenals or galleries of armour, in guard-rooms and other military places, where they should represent the figures of captives, or else of martial virtues; such as strength, valour, wisdom, prudence, fortitude, and the like." He writes more like himself when he says, "There are few nobler thoughts in the remains of antiquity than Inigo Jones's court" (in the design for the great palace at Whitehall), "the effect of which, if properly executed, would have been surprising and great in the highest degree." (See fig. 207.) 2686. What is called a terminus, which is, in fact, nothing more than a portion of an inverted obelisk, we shall not observe upon further than to say that it is a form, as applied to architecture, held in abhorrence. For the purpose, when detached and isolated, of supporting busts in gardens, it may perhaps be occasionally tolerated: further we have nothing to say in its favour. Those who seek for additional instruction on what are called termini, may find some account of them, as the boundary posts of land among the Romans, in books relating to the antiquities of that people. 2687. We shall now proceed to submit some examples of caryatides for the use of those whose designs require their employment. Fig. 926. is from a model of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, and is extracted from the Treatise on Civil Architecture, by Sir William Chambers, as are the succeeding examples. 2688. Figs. 927. and 928. are also designs by Michael Angelo, which, though not designed for a building, are well adapted for the purpose under certain conditions. 2689. Fig. 929. is the design of Andrea Biffi, a sculptor of Milan, in the cathedral of which city it is one of the figures surrounding the choir. The statue possesses mucn grace, and was admirably suited to the edifice wherein it was employed. 2690. Fig. 930. comes from Holland, having been executed by Artus Quellinus in the judgment-hall of the Stadthouse at Amsterdam. Fig. 930. Fig. 931. Fig. 932 Fig. 93.3 Fig. 934. 2691. Fig. 931. is by Michael Angelo, and is at the Villa Ludovisi at Rome. 2692. Fig. 932. is from the design by the last-named master for the monument of Pope Julius, whereof we have had occasion already to make mention in the First Book of this work. (362.) 2693. Fig. 933. is a representation of one of the celebrated caryatides by Jean Gougeon in the Swiss guard-room of the old Louvre at Paris, and does not deserve less admiration than it has received. The scale on which this and the preceding figures are given does not admit of so good a representation as we could wish. 2694. Fig. 934. is from the arch of the goldsmiths at Rome, being thereon in basso rilievo, but considered by Chambers as well as ourselves a suitable hint for carrying out the purpose of this section. SECT. XVI. BALUSTRADES AND BALUSTERS. 2695. A baluster is a species of column used as an ornamental railing in front of windows, or in arcades, or on the summit of a building, whose professed object is the protection of its inhabitants from accidents: analogously, too, it consists of a capital, shaft, and base. 2696. The baluster is not found in the works of the ancients, and we believe it owed its introduction in architecture to the restorers of the arts in Italy, in which country a vast variety of examples are to be found. They made their first appearance in the form of stunted columns, not unfrequently surmounted by a clumsily-shaped Ionic capital. The term is said to have had its rise (with what truth we cannot pronounce) from the Latin balaustium, or the Greek BaλavoTiov, the flower of the wild pomegranate, to which in form the architectural baluster is said by some to bear a resemblance. The writer in the Encyclopedie Methodique has taken the opportunity, in the article " Balustre," of launching his anathema against the use of it, but we by no means agree with him; and instead of calling it, as he does, “une invention mesquine," we incline to think that it was almost the only invention of the modern architects that deserves our admiration. It is true that the form has been abused in every possible shape; but we are not, in art more than in morals, to arrive at the conclusion that anything is bad because it has been abused and inisapplied. Such, then, being the case, we shall proceed in a serious vein to consider its proportions, founded on the best examples that have come to our hands. We must first premise with J. F. Blondel, that balusters and balustrades, which last are a series of the first, should in form and arrangement partake of the character of the edifice. They have even been in their species so subdivided as to be arranged under as many classifications as the orders themselves, a distinct sort having been assigned for employment with each order. We are not quite certain that such an arrangement is necessary, but are rather inclined to think it fanciful; though we are quite willing to allow that where the lighter orders are employed, the balustrades to be used over them are susceptible of a more minute and lighter subdivision of their parts. 2697. The general rules to be observed in the use of the balustrade are, that its balusters be of an odd number, and that the distance between them should be equal to half their larger diameter, from which will result an equality between the open and solid spaces. Blondel disapproves of a half baluster on the flanks of a subdivision of a balustrade; in this we dissent from him, and would always recommend its adoption if possible. In respect of the detailed proportions of the balusters themselves, we are to recollect that the subdivisions are of the capital, the shaft or vase of the baluster, and its base. For proportioning these to one another, Chambers (and we think the proportions he uses not inelegant) divides the whole given height into thirteen equal parts, whereof the height of the baluster is eight, that of the base three, and of the cornice or rail two. If the baluster is required to be less, he divides the height into fourteen parts, giving eight to the baluster, four to the base, and two to the rail. He calls one of these parts a module for the measurement of the rest, and that measure we think convenient for adoption in this work. The module he divides into nine parts. 2698. Balusters intended for real use in a building, as those employed on steps or stairs, or before windows, or to enclose terraces, should not be less than three feet in height, nor more than three feet six inches; that is, sufficiently high to give security to the persons using them but when merely used as ornamental appendages, as in crowning a building, they should bear some proportion to the parts of the building. Chambers says that their height never ought to exceed four fifths of the height of the entablature on which they are placed, nor should it ever be less than two thirds, without counting the zoccolo or plinth. the height of which must be sufficient to leave the whole balustrade exposed to view from the best point of sight for viewing the building. We can scarcely admit these rules to pass without noting the examples in Palladio's works, which give a much greater latitude for variety. When balusters fill in between the pedestals, as in the façade of the Palace Chiericato at Vicenza, the balustrade's height is of course regulated by that of the pedestal itself; but in the court of the Porti palace the crowning balustrade is not higher than the cornice of the entablature on which it stands. The same proportion is observed in the atrium of the Carità at Venice. In the Valmarana palace the height of the balustrade is equal to that of the entablature of the small order. It is true that in a few instances this master made the height of the balustrade equal to that of the whole entablature, and Inigo Jones has in some instances followed his example; but this was not the general practice either of the one or the other. 2699. We have already said that the baluster generally varies in form, so as to be appropriate to the order over which it is used. It is moreover to be observed that the baluster is susceptible of a pleasing variety of its form by making it square instead of circular on the plan, whereof examples are given in figs. 938, 939, and 940. ; but when the situation requires an expression of solidity, almost all the circular examples we submit to the reader may be changed from a circular to a square form on the plan, and thus as required we may obtain the character suitable to their respective situations. These changes, from one to another form in details of this description, are in their adoption much more the index to the capacity and genius of the architect than the restless and capricious longing after variety recently exhibited in some of the latest works produced in the city of London, works which reflect no credit on the age in which we live. In fig. 935. is given a baluster Fig. 935. Fig. 936. Fig. 937. suitable to the Tuscan order; and using the module of nine parts above mentioned, the following is a table of its dimensions: |