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THE
LIFE AND WORKS
Sm CHARLES BARRY, R.A., F.R.S.,
iS'C. <fec.
By rev. ALFRED BARRY, D.D.,
rraNCirAi, of Cheltenham colleoe.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
18G7.
The right of Translation is reserved
627 521
mi
lONPON: PRtNTF.D BV W. CLOWES AKD WKS, STAWFOUI) tTItRFT, AND CIIAItreG CROSP.
PREFACE.
The objects wliicli I have had in view in the following pages, and the spirit in which I have endeavoured to pursue them, are referred to in the opening paragraphs of the first chapter. It remains to say a few words on the nature of the materials at my command, and the authorities on which my statements of fact and opinion are based.
For all narrative purposes, I have found an abund- ance of excellent and trustworthy materials. My father's architectural life is written in outline in his own professional journals, and, in its more important periods, has left its memorials in public and official documents of unquestionable authority. Some of these I have quoted in the Appendix ; in other cases I have given summaries of their contents, and refer- ences to the original documents. In all cases I may venture to profess, that I have taken the greatest pains to ascertain clearly the facts which I have here recorded. When I could not consult official docu- ments, I have depended only on personal recollection and the testimony of eye-witnesses. Of any errors,
a 2
IV PREFACE.
which may stiU liave crept in, 1 shall tliankfully receive correction,
I could indeed liave wished to present to my readers more original letters and extracts from Journals. These form the most valuable part of many biographies ; for, independently of any intrinsic excellence of their owii, they are full of interest, as bearing the marked impress of personal character, and enabling the subject of the biography to speak for himself. But here my materials fail me. My father was no great letter-writer. His pen was indeed constantly busy in valuable professional notes and official reports, clear in style and comprehen- sive in scope, of which sjDecimens are given in the Appendix. But I find few characteristic letters, embodying his personal opinions and feelings ; and he does not appear to have preserved, except in a few cases, the numerous letters from eminent persons, which he must have received. I have had there- fore to rely on personal recollection to supply the deficiency, and to endeavour in the last chapter to describe his private life and character, as it appeared to those who knew him and loved him best. Nor are his Journals altogether fit for reproduction. They are indeed invaluable as authorities. During his foreign tours they were copious and detailed, and almost the whole of Chapter II. is drawn from them.
PREFACE. V
But they were mostly notes for practical use, and, before they could be published, they would need alterations and developments, which he alone had the right to give them. During his professional life they contained simply brief memoranda of every day's work. I could not therefore quote them with advantage, but I have found them of the greatest value in ascertaining facts and fixing dates, which otherwise might have escaped me.
For all professional information and opinion, — for all, in fact, which may give any value to the work, — I have been able to refer to my brothers, in regard to the later part of my father's career, w^ith every fact of which they were intimately acquainted. For the earlier portion I have depended mainly on J. L. Wolfe, Esq., who was to my father the true friend of a lifetime, almost the only person who knew well his opinions and principles, and to whose aid and criticism he was materially indebted. He has given me notes and information, which I have found in- valuable, especially in regard of the story of the New Palace at Westminster, which nnist be the central feature of the biography. For all the letterpress, however, I hold myself responsible. The choice of the illustrations is due to my eldest brother. We have to acknowledge with thanks the permission given us to use in some cases illustrations which
VI PREFACE.
have already appeared. Believing that an archi- tectural record must speak mainly to the eye, we should gladly have given further illustrations ; instead of some which are here found, we should have wished to represent more of the unexecuted designs, had authentic drawings been at hand ; but w^e conceive that those actually given, especially the large illustra- tions of the Westminster Improvements, will be of great interest, both to the profession and to the public.
With these materials at command, and with these authorities to refer to, I have tried to tell my story, without tincturing the record with undue partiality, or introducing into it those merely private details, either of fact or of feeling, which appear to me to be utterly out of place in a published narrative.
I trust also, that, in speaking of controversies, and ill dwelling on some parts of my father's life, on Avhich I cannot but feel strongly, I shall be thought to have observed due moderation of expression, and due respect for the reputation of others. In some cases I have simply stated facts, and left it to others to draw inferences and make comments upon them. It wall not, I hope, be supposed that reticence in such cases implies any want of strong conviction or strong feeling on my owm part. In fact, as the work has proceeded, I have felt more and more that such reticence is forced upon a bon, when he is writing
PREFACE. vii
his father's life, and I do not think that it need necessarily interfere with the impression which the record ought to create.
The story itself may perhaps be mainly one of professional interest. But this is a time in which Art is beginning to be recognised as an important subject to the public ; and tbe record of a career not unimportant in regard of artistic progress, of the erection of one of the largest and most important buildings of modern times, and of designs and opinions bearing upon most public improvements now actually in contemplation, may therefore com- mend itself to general notice.
I have only to say in conclusion, that the inevit- able difficulties in the task of preparation, the duty of wading through long official documents, and the necessity of seeking in many quarters information (which, even now, has occasionally arrived too late for use),* have delayed the publication of this Me- moir to a period far later than that originally con- templated. I am far, however, from regretting this enforced delay. Whatever interest there may be in the record of works and opinions here given, it is not of a temporary character ; and it is clear, from many indications, that even the time, which
* This is the case, for example, in respect of some vakiable information as to the works at Trcntham Hall.
viii I'HEFACE.
lias already elapsed, lias served to bring out publie opinion more clearly, and lias tended to the forma- tion of a true estimate of Sir Charles Barry's archi- tectural genius, and of the position which his works must hold in the progress of English Art.
A. B.
Cheltenhaia, April, 1867.
ADDENDUM.
Since tins work was piiuted, the risk alludetl to in page 195, as likely to arise from the employment of the late Mr. A. W. Pugiu on the New Palace at Westminster, has been unexpectedly realized fifteen years after his death by some extraordinary claims put forward by his son. These claims, referring as they do to a question raised and settled in tlie lile-time of those concerned, have not appeared to me to require any notice in tliese pages. I have therefore left the wliole passage in pp. 194:-198 precisely as it Mas originally written, without the alteration of a single word. It contains the exact account of the connexion whicli existed between 3[r. A. W. Pugin and iny father, and which, 1 repeat, so far as Sir Charles Barry's knowledge and feeling were concerned, was never broken by any dispute or estrange- ment, from the day when Mr. I'ugin (then a young man of 2o) was iirst employed on the drawings of the New Palace, until the day of his death in 1852.
A. B.
Odober '12)ul, ISliT.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
17K5-1S17.
EAKLY LIFE AND EDUCATION,
Object of the work — Birth of Charles Barry — His chiklliood, school- days, and apprenticeship — His early efforts and amusements — His self-education and its effects on his character — His determination to travel — His matrimonial cucaeement Page 1
CHAPTER II.
1817-1820. TRAVELS IN FIIANCE, ITALY, GREECE, EGYPT, AND THE EAST,
I. France and Italy. — General effects of travel — Study of classical architecture — Observation of natural scenery — Universality and accuracy of examination. II. Greece and Constantinople. — Growth of artistic power — Impressions of Athens and Constanti- nople — Contrast of the Turkish and Greek characters. III. Egypt AND THE East. — Great effect of Egyptian architecture upon him — Mehemet All's government — Dendera, Esneh, Edfou, Pliilje, Abou- simbel, Thebes — Eeturn to Cairo — Palestine — Jerash — Baalbec — Damascus — Palmyra. IV. Sicily and Italy. — Syracuse, Messina, Agrigentum, and Palermo — Eeturn to Eome — Meeting with 'Mi. J. L. Wolfe — Systematic architectural study — Effects of Egyptian imj^ressions — Italian palaces at Eome, Florence, Yicenza, and Venice
— Itahan churches — St. Peter's, the Pantheon, the cathedrals at Florence and Milan — The bridge of La Santa Trinita at Florence
— The growth of his architectiu-al principles — Eeturn to Eng- land 15
CUNTEJNTS.
CHAPTER III.
1820-1829. EAULY PROFESSIONAL LIFE.
Early difficulties and failures — Thought of emigration — Non- publication of his sketches — Holland House — Eevival of Gothic
— His Manchester chiu'chcs, and tlieir peculiarities — Marriage — Church at Oldham — Alarm at Prestwich Church — Designs for King's College, Cambridge — Eoyal Institution at Manchester — Gradual relinquishment of Greek arcliitecture — St. Peter's Church, Brighton — Sussex County HosjDital — Petworth Church — Queen's Park, Brighton, his first Italian design — Islington churches — His relations to church architecture generally — Eemoval to Foley Place
— Subsidiary work — Travellers' Club — General character of his life at tliis period Page 64
CHAPTEE IV.
CHIEF ITALIAN WORKS.
Plan of the Chapter. (A.) Original Buildings — Varieties of his Italian style — First manner — Reform Club — IManchester Athe- naeum — New wing at Trentham — Second manner — Bridgewater House — Third manner — Halifax Town Hall. (B.) Conversions AND Alterations — College of Surgeons — Walton House — High- clere House — Board of Trade — Architecttu-al gardening — Trent- ham Hall — Buncombe Park — Harcwood House — Shrubland Park — Chefdcn House — Laying oiit of Trafalgar Square. (C.) Designs CARRIED OUT BY OTHERS — Kcyliam Factory — Ambassador's Pa- lace at Constantinople — General remarks on his Italian architec- tm-e 89
CHAPTER V.
MINOR GOTHIC WORKS.
Progress of the Gothic revival — Birmingham Grammar School — First acquaintance with Mr. Piigin and Mi: Thomas — Alterations at Dul- wich College — Unitarian cha])cl at Manchester — Additions to University College, Oxford — Hurstpicriwint Church — Canford Manor — Gawthorpe Hall — Designs for Dnnrobin Castle . . . . 1'28
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTEE VI.
THE NEW PALACE AT WESTMINSTEK,
Plan of the Chapter. Section I. History of the Competition — Biiruing of the old Houses of Parliament — Opening of the Competi- tion for the New Building — Award of the Commissioners — Ai> proved by the Select Committee of the Houses — Protest of the advocates of Classical Architectm-e — Critical controversy — Per- sonal attacks on ]\Ii-. Barry — Meeting of unsuccessful Competitors
— Presentation of Petition by ]\Ir. Hume — Opposition quashed by Sir Eobert Peel — Protest against it by Professor Donaldson and others. Section II. Progress of the Building — Difficulties as to the Foundation — Commission of Inquiiy as to the Stone to be used
— rii'st Stone laid — Unavoidable delays — Committee of the Peers
— Generous support of Earl of Lincoln — Committee of the Commons
— Appointment of New Palace Commissioners — Appointment of Dr. Eeid — Difficulties arising therefi'om, and arbitration of Mr. Gwilt — The Great Clock — Competition and success of Mr. Dent
— Professor Airy and Mr. E. B. Denison referees — Mr. Denison the chief Director — His tone and method of controversy — The Great Bell and its disasters — The Fine Arts Commission — The Architect's exclusion from it — His scheme for the Decoration of the Building — The scheme of the Commissioners — Its ideal excellence and prac- tical di'awbacks — Connection with ISIr. Pugin — Eeal nature of the aid given by him — Mr. Thomas and the stone carving — ]\Ir. Meeson and the practical engineering — Other assistants in the work — Opening of the House of Peers — OiDcning and alteration of the House of Commons — The Ai'chitect km'ghted in 1852 — The Great Tower hardly completed at his death. Section HI. The Eemunera- tion Question — Its points of public interest — General question of architectural percentage — Its bearing on the particular work — Original attempt at a bargain by Lord Bessborough — Accejited under protest — Ee-opening of the question — First IMinute of the Treasury, and reply — IVIr. White acts for Sir C. Barry — Second IMinute of the Treasury — Counter statement — Third Minute of the Treasury — Submitted to by Sir C. Barry — Protest of the Eoyal Institute of British Architects, and reply — Practice of the Govern- ment after Sir C. Barry's death — General reference to the question of expenditiu'e — Summing up of the chief points of the contro- versy Page 143
All CUNTKNTS,
CHAPTER VII.
THE NEW PALACE AT WEST3IINSTEU.
History of the GitowTH of the Design. — Iiiflueucc of external circumstauces on the design — Lowness and ii-regiilarity of site — Limitation of choice to Elizabethan and Gotliic styles — Choice of rerpendicular style — Original conception of the Plan — Question of restoration of 8t. Stephen's Chapel — Use of "Westminster Hall as the gi-and Entrance to the building — Simplicity of plan — Principle of symmetry and regularity dominant — Enlargement of Plan after its adoption — Conception of St. Stephen's porch — The Central Hall — The Eoyal entrance and Eoyal Gallery — The House of Lords, its construction and decoration — The House of Commons, and its alteration — Great difficulty of the acoustic problem — Enlargement of public re(]uirements — Alterations of design in the River Front — The Land Fronts — The Victoria Tower — The Clock Tower — General inclination to increase the upward tendency of the design, and the amount of decoration. II. Pkief Desckiption of the Actual Building. — Its dimensions — Its main hues of approach; the public approach — The Royal approach — The private approaches of Peers and Commons — General character of the plan — The exter- nal fronts — The towers — Criticisms on the building by independent authorities Page 236
CHAPTEK VIII.
chief designs not executed.
Large numl)er of designs not executed — Views of Metropolitan Improvement — Reasons for notice of such designs — Clumber Park — New Law Coiuis — Kational Gallery — Horse Guards — British Museum — General scheme laid before the late Prince Consort — Design for new Royal Academy — Crystal Palace — Alterations of Piccadilly and the Green Park — Prolongation of Pall Mall into the Green Park — Westminster Bridge — Extension of the New Palace at "Westminster round Nev; Palace Yard — Great Scheme of Metro- roLiTAN Improvements — Plan and de.scrijiticm — General remarks thereon 2G6
(JONTENTR. xr.l
CHAPTER IX.
GENERAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC LIFE.
Public action — His natui'al dislike of publicity — His characteristics as a Commissioner — Eoyal Academy — Scheme for Architectural Edu- cation — Eoyal Institute of British Architects — Scientific Societies — Eoyal Commission of 1851 — Exposition Universelle of 1855 — Professional arbitrations at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Leeds — St, Paul's Cathedral Committee .. Page 302
CHAPTER X.
PRIVATE LIFE AND DEATH.
Leading events of his life — General habits of work — Domesticity and privacy of life — ■ Acquaintances and friendships — Distaste of pub- licity — Leading features of character — Personal appearance — Failure of health — Death — Funeral in Westminster Abbey — Erec- tion of Memorial Statue — Conclusion 323
ATPENDIX.
(A.) List of Architectural Designs 355
( B.) Letter to his Royal Highness the Prince Consort as to the
South Kensington Scheme 358
( C.) Papers on the Remuneration Controversy 369
( D.) List of Subscribers to the Memorial Statue 405
EERATA
Page 109, line 23, for " Bi rksliire " read " Ifampsliire." Page 147, line 12, for "November" rend '•December." Pages 195, 19G, transpose paragraphs beginning "As soon as," itc, and
" The first aid," &e. Page 259, line 32, /or "twenty-five" read "twenty-nine," and for "tliirty"
read " fortv-three."
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PouTRAiT OF Sir Charles Barry Frontispiece.
PAGK
1. Plan of Travellers' Club S2
2. View of Travellers" Club S2
3. Plan of Reform Club 98
4. View of Reform Club 95
5. Plan of Bridgewater House 97
6. View of Bridgewater House 98
7. View of Halifax Town Hall 103
8. College of Surgeons (as altered) 106
9. Plan of Walton House 109
10. Higliclere House before alteration 110
11. Highclere House after alteration 110
12. Board of Trade before alteration Ill
13. Board of Trade after alteration 112
14. Plan of Trentham Hall 113
15. Viewof Trentliam Hall 114
16. 17. Views of Shrubland Park and Gardens 119
18. Plan of Cliefden House 121
19. View of Cliefdcn House 121
20. View of Birmingham Grammar School 130
21. Plan of Birmingliam Grammar School 131
22. Plan of Canford Manor 137
23. View of Canford Manor 137
24. View of Gawthorpe Hall 139
25. Plan of New Palace of Westminster 238
26. General View of River Front 251
27. View of Victoria Tower 254
28. 29, 30. Plans of Clumber House 269
31, 32. Views of Clumber House (as existing, and as proposed) . . . . . . 270
33. View of Crystal Palace (as existing) 284
34. View of Cry st;d Palace (as proposed) 284
35. Plan of Pail Mall Continuation ras proposed) 286
36. Plan of proposed Extension of New Palace at Westminster, to enclose
New Palace Yard 292
37. View of the same from Great George Street 292
38. Lithographed Plan of proposed Westminster Improvements (m pochet)
see 294-299
39. Facsimile of drawing of the same 'm jw/i-e<) sec 294-299
M E M O I R
SIR CHARLES BARRY, R.A,
CHAPTER I.
1795-1817.
EARLY LIFE AXD EDUCATION.
Object of the work — Birth of Charles Barr}' — His childhood, schooldays, and apprenticeship — His early efforts and amusements — His self- education and its effects on his character — His determination to travel — His matrimonial engagement.
In the compilation of this memoir of my late father I have endeavoured to keep two objects in view. It is desired, on the one hand, to preserve for his family and his many personal friends some record of his private life and character. It is thought, on the other, that there will be some public value and interest in a notice of his opinions, designs, and works, and a general record of his professional career.
Even to the public at large it is conceived that his life, though it presents but little variety of incident, may yet be worth telling. He started with no advantages of birth, and with an imperfect education ;
2 OBJECT OF THE WORK. Chap. 1.
he was supported by no influential connection or school of art, and was aided by no patronage except that which his own merit commanded. He won for himself a place among the foremost architects of Europe, not more by his talents than by a life-long devotion to his art, and an extraordinary power of work. Having earned this high position, he paid its usual penalty in the many difficulties and misrepre- sentations, which are inevitable to a professional career, and which, though they may be stouth^ met, tend, far more than any mere work, to wear out the energies and shorten the life. The interest of biography seems to lie, not so much in variety of event, as in its illustration of human character, and the ordinary conditions of human life. It is hoped that this interest may not be altogether wanting in the following pages.
By his professional brethren it will probably be thought, that the history of so many public and private works, and of the questions raised and decided in connection with them, may bear on some points important to the profession at large, and that the grounds and the nature of the architectural prin- ciples, which he maintained, may excite interest, even where they do not secure agreement. It is not unlikely that the record of such a life as his may throw some light on the remarkable progress and diftusion of artistic taste, which appear to mark our own time, transforming the whole aspect of our country, and not indirectly affecting our national character. Since he entered on his career the forms of Art have changed, and its principles have been
Chap. I. OBJECT OF THE WORK. 3
developed or modified. With some of these changes he strongly sympathized ; others he strenuously resisted. But, in either case, the record of a life of ceaseless architectural activity, and of a mind keenly alive to artistic influences — readily impressible, and bound to no special school — must tend to illustrate the movements which have taken place, and are taking place still, in his own special province of Art.
It is for these reasons that the following memoir has been undertaken. In performing such a duty, it would be useless and unbecoming in a son to affect a position of independent criticism, or to claim credit for a strict impartiality. It can only be expected that he should record his father's career as it was seen from his own point of view, and sketch his character as it appeared to those who loved him best. It can only be required that he observe strict truthful- ness and accuracy as to facts, and due consideration for the feelings of others. If these limitations be observed (and I trust that in the following pages they will be observed most sacredly), experience has shown that such a record is likely to contain at least a large and essential portion of the whole truth. There will be subjects indeed on which it can only give the materials for judgment ; for, where criticism is pre- cluded, eulogium is at least equally out of place. But such correction and completion as it requires may be safely left to the impartial judgment of its readers.
In most cases its influence on the reputation of its subject is but a secondary one. The true and lasting- reputation of a man will depend very little on any other memorial than the work which he has done, and
B 2
4 BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. Chap. I.
the influence which he has exerted in his Hfe-time ; and on the results which he has thus left behind for the use and the verdict of posterity.
Charles Barry, the fourth son of Walter Edward and Frances Barry, was born in Bridge Street, Westminster, on the 23rd of May, 1795, in a house which (until last year) lay under the shadow of the Clock Tower of the New Palace at Westminster.
His father was a stationer of great respectability and some wealth,* as is seen by the fact that he supplied, in the course of his business, the materials used at the Government Stationery Office. His mother died in 1798, when he was a little more than three years old ; but her place was supplied (so far as a mother's place can be) by the care and affection of his stepmother, Sarah, to whom his father was married shortly after, and to wliom, at his death in 1805, he left the care of his children, and of the business which was to support them. Most thoroughly did she fulfil the charge, and reap her due reward of respect and gratitude. Of the whole family he alone, even from his childhood, manifested artistic taste and capacity, and chose for himself, in spite of all diffi- culties, a new path in life. The^e difficulties were then far greater than they would be now, in a less stationary condition of society, with greater facilities for change and travel, and greater opportunities of artistic and general education. There was little in his home life to foster any high aspirations, although
* The "fils d'un simple ouvrier" in M. Hittorfs 'Eloge' is therefore erroneous.
Chap. I. SCHOOLDAYS. 5
perhaps its wholesome atmosj^here of honesty and regularity, of steady industry and " habits of business," sujDplied a corrective influence much needed by an enthusiastic and artistic temperament.
lie had little advantage of education. He went with his brothers to various private schools, such as schools then were. The first seems to have been a mere preparatory school ; of the second, the only account preserved is that the " master paid little attention to it, being very dissolute, and absenting himself for weeks together ;" and the last school, though perhaps rather better than the rest, was apparently one of those which attempted only me- chanical teaching and severe discij)line. Education, in the highest sense of the word, seems hardly to have been dreamt of. He carried away from it little except a superficial knowledge of English, a good proficiency in arithmetic, and a remarkably beautiful handwriting.
The account of his early days speaks of him as merely a warm-hearted and sj^irited boy, handsome and engaging in appearance, not very studious, full of fun, and by no means averse to mischief. His only remarkable talent was his taste for drawing ; in this he was taught by a most incompetent man, and his best practice was in caricatures, especially of his drawing-master. The imperfection of his early training he always felt and regretted, in spite of his zealous efibrts to supply its deficiencies. For, not to speak of the external difficulties which it threw in his way, it is obvious enough that his imjDulsive dis- position, quick observation, and susceptible mind,
6 APPRENTICESHIP. Chap. I.
especially needed the bracing and strengthening in- fluence of a good education.
On leaving school, at the age of fifteen, he was articled to Messrs. Middleton and Bailey, architects and surveyors, of Paradise Eow, Lambeth. AVith them he remained six years. Both took a strong and affectionate interest in him, and from them he received all the professional training which he ever enjoyed. Their business was mainly that of surveying; he could have learnt little with them of the artistic element of architecture. But his time was not wasted ; for he studied accurately and industriously the "business" of his profession. Lists of prices, calcu- lations of dimensions, methods of measuring and valuation, crowd his note-book, side by side with studies I'rom Chambers' Architecture, and sketches of such details and ornaments as struck his own fancy. In the later part of his time much responsibility was thrown upon him, and responsibility he never refused. The fruit was seen in after life in his excellent habits of business, and his ability to prepare his own working- drawings, make out his own specifications and esti- mates, and form a sound judgment of materials and work. This knowledge stood him in good stead ; he never failed to impress its importance on young architects ; and, though he would not for a moment have allowed it to take equal rank with artistic power, he regarded the frequent neglect of it, and the increasing tendency to separate it from the higher province of art, as a serious evil, both in theory and in practice.
But he could not be satisfied witli this semi-
Chap. 1. EARLY EFFORTS. 7
ineclianical work. His name appears regularly in 1812, 1813, 1814, and 1815 in the architectural part of the catalogue of the Royal Academy. His first drawing, there exhibited when he was seventeen years old, still remains. It was a drawing of the interior of West- minster Hall, the building which (as has been well said) " was in after-days to give the key-note to his " greatest work." His other designs " For a Church," " A Museum and Library," " A Nobleman's Man- sion," &c., have all perished. They had served their purpose, and were no doubt destroyed by himself, for he was always ruthless both in his criticism and his treatment of his early designs.
At an earlier age (about fifteen or sixteen) his artistic taste had found a much more curious develop- ment. There was much of the boy in him still (as indeed there was in all his after-life), and he did not disdain boyish fancies and amusements. Accordingly he resolved to transform his small attic bedroom into a " hermitage," — " a rocky interior," "with openings looking out on a sunny landscape." The mechanical work and the painting he did entirely himself, work- ing at it in all his spare time with constant delight ; and when it was done, he kept up its character by using it as a painting- room, and drawing constantly figures of all kinds on a large scale on its walls. His family noticed all this with some wonder and amuse- ment ; he himself, though he used to laugh at it in after-life, remembered it with a kind of pleasure. These details may seem trivial, but they were certainly characteristic. The work must have given boldness to his hand (as f-cene-painting has done to some of
8 SELF-EDUCATION. Chap. I.
our great painters) ; it may not improbably have helped to kindle and foster his imagination, and at the same time to satisfy that delight in alteration and contrivance which always was conspicuous in him.
In every respect his home was a simple and a happy one. If it did not stimulate artistic tastes, it certainly allowed them perfect freedom, and gave them the support of admiration and sympathy. His character, in spite of his fondness for change and amusement, was always strongly domestic. In his work, and the society of his mother (for so he always esteemed her) and his brothers, he found all the interest he cared for. Such are the records of his early days. They are scanty enough ; but they are corroborated by the recollections of his later life, for his was a character that changed but little.
It is evident from these that he was in every sense of the word a self-educated man, and the recognition of this fact is most important, for the true apprecia- tion of his character, and a right understanding of his career.
Even in general education this was strikingly the case. He carried away very little from school. His very journals show that he had to acquire for himself not only a knowledge of French and Italian (which he mastered sufficiently for all practical purposes), but even correctness and fluency of English. They show, during his foreign journey, almost as great pro- gress in style as in thouglit — a progress gained, as usual with him, not so much by systematic study as by a certain " readiness of mind " and an unwearied practice. IMathematics and theoretical mechanics he
Chap. I. SELF-EDUCATION, AND ITS EFFECTS. 9
had studied but little, and in fact he had little taste for such study. Their practical conclusions, as bearing on his own profession, he knew familiarly enough ; and his mind was not only quick in its deductions from them, and bold even to the verge of rashness, but singularly fertile in all kinds of mechanical con- trivance. But of systematic study of theory he was impatient. He could often, though at some risk, suj3ersede it for himself by a kind of intuition, and he perhaps never estimated it at its true value.
But much more was this the case in all that regarded his own profession. No powerful mind had by its contact fired and influenced his ; no deep course of study had imbued him with profound and systematic principles. He had gained " business" experience and practical knowledge ; his strong natural tastes and powers had been cordially and kindly recognised, but in all that concerns the higher element of his profession he was left alone to find his way by his own observations and inductions to the first princij^les of Art. His natural character — vigorous, impulsive, and energetic — was allowed to grow by its own power, and to choose for itself both the method and the direction of growth.
The chief consequence was, as usual, an intense and absorbing devotion to the art w^hich he had chosen as his work in life. He found it difficult to take any deep interest in anything else. In the political and social questions of the day he would often adopt the opinions of others. All his originality and his thought were already pre-occupied. In the service of architecture he held everything cheap ; time,
1 0 ABSORPTION IN HIS ART. Chap. I.
labour, and health were sacrificed as a matter of course ; and keenly sensitive as he was to blame, yet he would defy the opinion of the world in search of what he deemed perfection.
His art was scarcely at any time absent from his mind, even in times of social relaxation or of more serious employment. He could hardly enter a room without seeing capabilities in it, and longing to develope them. But when an important design was in progress, it seemed to take entire possession of his mind. It was his custom to work it out almost wholly for himself, in its scientific and financial as well as its artistic bearings. His extraordinary rapidity of execution and untiring industry enabled him to keep up this custom to a great extent, even in his busiest times. In fact, when a design was once conceived — when it had once taken possession of his imagination — hard work at it was a relief. The idea of it would occur to him at his first waking, and he could not but rise, however early the hour, and set to work. Ad- verse criticism at such a time was rejected or dis- regarded, but a few days later it would be found to have sunk into his mind unconsciously ; then it would be rapidly seized upon as if original, and its results, often greatly modified and reconstructed, would be produced in the most perfect good faith as new, perhaps to the very person who had first made the criticism. Diificulties were forgotten or defied in the attempt to perfect the idea conceived ; drawings of the more important parts of the work altered scores of times until his fastidious taste was satisfied. He could not conceive the idea of resting contented with
Chap. I. SELF-RELIANCE. 11
what was acknowledged to be defective, and he held that the word "impossible" was to be erased from his dictionary. In this absorbing devotion to his art lay the cause of infinite labour, many troubles, and much misapprehension, but in it lay, as usual, the secret of success.
Another effect of this early freedom and self- direction was a vigorous growth of self-reliance and originality. It perhaps entailed some want of philo- sophic symmetry and largeness of view, especially at a time when there was comparatively little study of great principles of art as based on substantial reason. Grounds of criticism were then sought by the gene- rality in conventional rules, and by the more active minds in arbitrary conceptions of " taste," till society was divided into the connoisseurs, who were to pro- nounce their arbitrary judgment, and the " ignobile vulgus," who were obediently and ignorantly to accept their conclusions. Yet it gave him the power of progress, and it kept him also free from any tendency to bigotry and copyism. There is indeed the highest kind of originality, which combines philosophic knowledge and study with the power of a true development. But in practice, especially in the domain of art, the most important steps of progress are probably due to men of a ha^Dpy in- tuition and an unscientific audacity, and such men are usually men who have guided and educated themselves.
He himself was avowedly and on principle an eclectic. He could not help recognising the excel- lences of various schools : but he knew too much to
12 ECLECTICISM. Chap. I.
be satisfied with any single one, as if it were all- eoniprehensive, and to conclude accordingly tliat to it alone praise and devotion are due. His principles of design and construction had been worked out for himself, the fruit of many crude concej^tions in theory and many trials in practice. For that very reason they became so deeply rooted in his mind, that, when he attempted to change his course, he found himself insensibly returning to them. His early study of Greek architecture did not prevent his appreciation of Italian and Gothic ; and so he stood apart from the exclusive devotion to 07ie or other style which now seems to divide the architectural pro- fession. Such a position is a difiScult and dangerous one, in art, as well as in politics or theology, but those who occupy it supjDly the chief resisting in- fluence to stagnation, and open some of the chief avenues of progress. In his case it was all but in- evitable ; his natural character, and his early freedom from the trammels of any school of art, forbade his taking any other course. For even in his early days those characteristics were fixed which determined his after career.
AVith these capabilities, and with a fixed and hopeful resolution to cut out a path for himself, he passed through his time of pupilage, and attained his majority in 1816. He now began to act for himself, and he at once conceived, or j^erhajis after long consideration declared openly, a determination on which much of his future success depended. He was naturally formed to make his way in the world. To llie mental qualities already enumerated he added the
Chap. I. DETERMINATION TO TRAVEL. 13
advantages of a handsome person, great fascination of manner, high spirits, and a sanguine temperament, which was well calculated to inspire confidence and win affection. He believed that he had the elements of success in him, and that he only needed freedom of scope and a more extended sphere than he could obtain at home. The result verified his belief. Perhaps the prophecy fulfilled itself.
By his father's will, he and each of his brothers had inherited a certain sum of money, and the remainder of this inheritance, diminished by the expense of his education and his articles, now came into his hands. The sum was not a large one, and it was his all, for he had little expectations of assistance from without in entering on the risks of a professional career. He resolved to devote the whole, or the greater part of it, to an architectural tour.
The Continent was just opened by the peace of 1815. All English society was awaking from the torpor and isolation of the great European war. Architecture was receiving a fresh stimulus by the cessation of external difficulties, and fresh principles and models from abroad were breaking in upon its stereotyped forms. He naturally felt, with all the impressibility of his character, the influence of this uni- versal movement ; and at the same time, from deliberate consideration, he saw that his only chance of develop- ing the power and satisfying the desires of which he was conscious, his only chance of gaining a thorough grasp of his art, and taking a high stand in his pro- fession, lay in foreign travel. His mind wanted objects which the narrow and prosaic character of
14 MATRIMONIAL ENGAGEMENT. Chaf. I.
his home life could not supply. It wanted the in- tercourse of a society from which conventional bar- riers shut it out in England ; it wanted scope for activity, and models by which its activity might be guided. Without foreign travel he might have had the certainty of a respectable position and sufficient emoluments in his profession ; with it he took the risk of delay and difficulty, and the chance of a noble career.
The choice was not likely to cause him much hesitation. He decided at once, and kept to his decision firmly, in spite of the natural remonstrances of his family, who felt the risk, but did not under- stand the necessity. Travel was then comparatively rare, and thought by many to be needless. It seemed madness to risk on it so much of his slender resources. His stepmother alone was led by her own strong good sense, and by her unlimited confidence in him, to give him her decided support. At last his plans were fixed, and his journey, the length of which he did not anticipate, or at any rate did not disclose, was deter- mined upon.
Before he left England he was engaged to Miss Sarah Rowsell. Her father, Mr. Samuel Rowsell, was employed in the same line of business which his own father had followed. After about a year's acquaint- ance, the engagement was made on the eve of his departure ; and with this fresh tie to home, and fresh incentive to exertion, he left England in June, 1817.
( 1'^ )
CHAPTER II.
1817-1820.
TRAVELS IN^ -FRANCE, ITALY, GREECE, EGYPT, AND THE EAST.
L France and Italy.— General effects of travel — Study of classical architecture — Observation of natural scenery — Universality and accuracy of examination. II. Greece and Constantinople. — Growth of artistic power — Impressions of Athens and Constantinople — Contrast of the Turkish and Greek characters. III. Egypt and the East. — Great effect of Egyptian architecture upon him — Mehemet Ali's government — Dendera, Esneh, Edfou, Philfe, Abousimbel, Thebes — Return to Cairo — Palestine — Jerash — Baalbec — Damascus — Palmyra. IV. Sicily and Italy. — Syracuse, Messina, Agrigentum, and Palermo — Return to Rome — Meeting with Mr. J. L. Wolfe — Systematic archi- tectural study — Effects of Egyptian impressions — Italian palaces at Rome, Florence, Vicenza, and Venice — Italian churches — St. Peter's, the Pantheon, the cathedrals at Florence and Milan — The Bridge of La Santa Trinita at Florence — The growth of his architectural principles — Return to England.
Ox June 28th, 1817, Mr. Barry left England, and remained abroad for more than three years. During that time he travelled, first, chiefly alone, in France and Italy ; next with Mr. (afterwards Sir C.) Eastlake, and Messrs. Kinnaird and Johnson, in Glreece and Turkey; thirdly, with Mr. D. Baillie, Mr. Godfrey, and Mr. (afterwards Sir T.) Wyse, in Egypt, Pales- tine, and Syria ; and lastly, chiefly in company with Mr. J. L. Wolfe, in Sicily and Italy, returning alone through France in August, 1820.
IG EFFECTS OF TRAVEL. Chap. 11.
His travels had, at the time, a considerable interest of their own : few had gone so far as the second cataracts of the Nile ; still fewer had added to their Egyptian experiences so great an extent of Eastern and Western travels. Accordingly, on his return to Rome, he was one of the lions of the season, and his portfolio of sketches excited unbounded interest, as much by their novelty as by their intrinsic excellence. All this is, of course, greatly changed ; scenes then little known have become almost hackneyed ; what were then difficult and even hazardous journeys, are now pleasant summer excursions. The intrinsic in- terest of any narrative of his travels (such as might easily be drawn from his copious journals) is therefore to a great extent lost. But the importance of their effect on his own mind can hardly be exaggerated, and it is to this, therefore, that attention must here be drawn.
In the first period of his travels, the point most deserving notice is the exciting and enlarging effect of novelty and beauty on a mind, which had hitherto been cooped up within narrow limits, and had lacked its own congenial food. The change was infinite, after the narrowness of home experience, and the depression of all artistic and scientific energy in England by the long war. It seemed to be the entrance on a new life, one day of which (to use his own constant expression) was " worth a year at home." Tlis frank and buoyant spirit, his love of adventure, and good-humoured determination in all his purposes, answered readily to its call.
There is little at first in his journals of a strictly
Chap. II. STUDY OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE. 17
professional character ; the architect is merged in the artist ; and even the artistic element has by no means an exclusive dominion ; observations of all kinds throng his journals, as impressions of all kinds evi- dently crowded on his mind. The external aspect of the country, both as to its scenery and its life, social peculiarities, and differences from English customs,* political feelings and tendencies, aspects of individual life and character — all claim their place, side by side with the records of sketches taken and buildings criticized.
Such a process, as it was the most natural, was also probably the most beneficial, if travel was really to enlarge his mind and to educate his whole na- ture. The work of life would soon narrow, and so deepen, the stream of thought and observation ; and, indeed, at all times, he possessed the power of sub- ordinating all his various interests and enjoyments to his one important business. He always liked the greater freedom of foreign life and foreign society, as compared with the conventions and formality which, then esj3ecially, clung to the social system of England. But Paris and Rome, with all their various enchantments fully appreciated and enjoyed, never drew hun away from the hard work which was the real object of his travels.
* Thus, for example, lie notes over and over again the curious contrast of dirt, bad drainage, and bad paving in the Paris of that day, with the external brilliancy of the city, so unlike anything he had ever seen in England, It was, it seemed, symbolical of the state of the coimtry, in which apparent peace and gaiety covered much political stagnation and dis- content with the Bourbons, breaking out, as he himself experienced, into personal insult to Englishmen in out-of-the-way places.
C
18 STUDY AT PARIS AND ROME. Chap. II.
At first, of course, all study was devoted to classical architecture alone. It is curiously characteristic of the time, that at Rouen, while he thought it worth while to sketch and criticize a small Corinthian church, all the glories of the cathedral and of St. Ouen are dismissed in one line, as being " examples of " a rich florid Grothic ;" and at Paris, the cathedral of Notre Dame and the Sainte Chapelle are noticed in the same spirit, as having an antiquarian interest, and a certain irregular beauty of their own ; but not as deserving any high admiration or study. Milan Cathedral is noted for its grandeur and rich- ness, but with no criticism as to its architectural details. All this gradually changed as the revival of media3val architecture began. On his return over the same ground the contrast seen in his journals is remarkable; and Gothic, though not studied or understood as it would be now, was regarded by him with keen interest and deep respect.
Art of all kinds, not exclusively architectural, attracted him at once. At Paris the Louvre occupied him for days together ; and it was characteristic of his taste (which always inclined to the real rather than the ideal) that, on the one hand, he passed by at once as "showy and unnatural" the then popular school of David and Grerard, and, on the other, devoted more attention to the grand historical series of Rubens' pictures, the Claudes, and the Dutch pictures (which reminded him of Wilkie), than to those of a higher and more imaginative kind. At Rome (thanks to the kindness of Canova, to whom he had letters of introduction) he spent whole days in
Chap. FI. CHURCH CEREMONIALS. 19
sketching among the antiquities, the sculjDtiires, and the paintings of the Vatican, and of other galleries. In fact, at this time he often seemed to turn aside from architecture to woo the sister arts, although afterwards his own art gradually asserted an almost exclusive dominion, and he was accused, with some truth, of looking at the others as merely her hand- maids.
Travelling as he was in Italy, he could not fail to be impressed by the artistic influences of painting, sculpture, architecture, and, above all, of music, which the Church of Rome presses into the service of her religious ceremonies. He first saw these dis- played (and he could hardly have seen them more gloriously) when he entered Milan Cathedral on the feast of St. Carlo. He had fuller opportunities still, in his long sojourn at Rome, of witnessing all the splendours of Christmas and Easter. They could not but appeal to his artistic tastes, and especially to his great love of music ; but they seem never to have laid hold of his mind. The sense of the artificiality and cumbrousness of ceremony spoilt the effect to his taste; and neither the time nor his own disposition was such as to appreciate any devotion, in which superstition might appear to lurk, whether in the wayside chapels of Switzerland or under the dome of St. Peter's itself. He felt in it occasionally " some- " thing awful and divine;" but his feeling was marred by the prevailing sense of unreality. Even his friend Pugin's enthusiasm in after days, though it commanded respect, could win no real sympathy from him.
c 2
20 PREFERENCE IN SCENERY. Chap. II.
With regard to natural scenery, though his obser- vation of it was always keen, he delighted in what was rich and beautiful, rather than in the highest forms of grandeur. The love of mountain scenery was not then a fashion, which few, even in a Journal, would dare to disregard. His admiration of it was blended with the notion of something strange and almost grotesque in itl He speaks of it as exhibiting "the freaks and outrageous effects of Nature" in its wilder features, and the beauties of an Alpine pass seemed to him to present something " appalling," cal- culated to excite a kind of awe, too oppressive for genuine admiration. He delighted more in the Apennines, rising in mountains of equal height " hke " the waves of the sea," and disclosing in their lateral valleys scenes of quiet beauty and richness, or in the scenery of the Saronic Grulf, with its bright colour and picturesque variety. Colour, indeed, at this time, seems to have impressed him more than form : sunsets, or moonlight effects, and the contrasts of white cities with the verdure surrounding them, are constant themes of notice and admiration. He cared for what was bright and beautiful more than for any sombre and awful grandeur ; and he was always master of his impressions rather than overmastered by them.
His examination of buildings was always compre- hensive, and his criticisms, even from the first, audaciously defiant of all fashion and authority.*
* Thus at Rome he writes ot the great staircase at the Vatican : " The columns stepping up one after another, and the cornice and entabla- " tare following the rise of the steps, have to my mind an unnatural, and " therefore a disgusting, appearance."
Chap. II. EXAMINATION OF BUILDINGS. 2i
In entering* a town he always estimates its general effect before proceeding to details ; and his impres- sions seem often divided between an artistic love of the picturesque and a determined architectural pre- ference for regularity. In proceeding to greater particularity, no buildings came amiss to him. Besides the churches and palaces, which have a pre- scriptive right to precedence, he seems to have had a special taste for two most opposite specimens of architectural effect. Cemeteries, on the one hand, always attracted his notice, both as to their arrange- ment and their accompanying buildings, and in their case he had a strong dislike of over-embellishment. The sombre solemnity of a Turkish burial-ground was his ideal. The same taste which attached bright- ness and cheerfulness in buildings that ministered to life, inclined to solemnity and sadness in all that suggested the idea of death. On the other hand, theatres greatly interested him at all times, from the Scala at Milan to the little theatres of Italian country towns. He thought that they gave a grand oppor- tunity for architectural effect, which was generally frittered away. And his note-books abound in plans and criticisms of existing buildings, and ideas as to their best theoretical construction. It was curious enough that a theatre was almost the only kind ol public building which it never fell to his lot to execute.
Perhaps the one point especially to be noticed in all his examinations of buildings is the extreme care for accuracy which distinguishes them ; measure- ments are always given, plans generally accompany
22 OPPORTUNITY OF EASTERN TRAVEL. Chap. II.
tlie descriptions in his journals ; he would take any trouble to obtain measurements and details, even if it risked his neck, or threw him into the hands of the police.* What was vague seemed to him worthless, and difficulties rather excited than daunted him.f
In this way the first nine months of his travels passed over — a good preparation, but only a pre- paration, for professional study. It became a question whether he should return home, or visit Grreece in the congenial company of Mr. (afterwards Sir C.) Eastlake, already distinguished as an artist ; Mr. Kin- naird, an architect, afterwards editor of the last volume of Stuart's ' Athens ;' and Mr. Johnson, after- wards a Professor at Haileybury College. Home ties and considerations of economy drew him back ; he consulted his friends at home, and especially his future father-in-law, Mr. Rowsell, and by his sensible advice he determined to disregard difficulties, and give full scope to his tastes and powers. It was a wise resolution ; he had left England inexperienced and unknown ; he was now recognised as an artist of talent and promise, and was to travel with men of acknowledged ability, generally his superiors in education and knowledge both of books and men. His journals show clearly the effect of his past
* At a small town in Italy, having stopped for sketching purposes without his passport, he found his bedroom invaded by a file of soldiers who insisted on bis leaving instantly. But they retired before a resolute refusal and a drawn pistol, and contented themselves with posting a sentinel at the door.
t Criticisms on special buildings are better deferred till the ^^eriod of his return.
Chap. II. PARNASSUS AND DELPHI. 23
experience in greater maturity of judgment, greater taste for antiquity, and general growth of mind.
Athens and Constantinople were their two main ohjects. The season was rather advanced, so they hurried on, paying but a hasty visit to Naples * and Pompeii, then across Calabria to Bari, while he made the most of his time by sketching incessantly under a great umbrella, and managing to give careful descrip- tions and rough plans of all that he visited. Thence they crossed to Corfu ; f and there first the richness and picturesque beauty of the island seem to have captivated him, and stirred up anew the artistic power within. His pencil was never out of his hand, but it was employed almost entirely on the beauties of nature, and his delight in the scenery itself evidently increased with his power of representing it.
This was even more strikingly the case in a visit to Parnassus and Delphi, where they spent some ten days in the hut of a poor cottager, and were richly compensated for their disappointment at finding no traces of the old temple, and no remains worthy of notice, by the extraordinary beauty of the country, and the opportunity which it gave them for countless sketches. They even offered a reward from the min- aret of the village for one of the great vultures of the mountain, and obtained, for sketching purjDoses, a magnificent bird, measuring nine feet from tip to tip
* The Toledo at Naples is noticed as " the finest street, except the High " Street of Oxford, I ever saw."
t The diiBculty of travelling at that time is curiously illustrated here. They had to search at Bari for a vessel, and at last to cross in a small felucca, bearing and deserving the ominous name of Le Anime di Pur- 2;atorio.
24 ATHENS. Chap. II.
of his wings. " I drank," he says, " deeply of the " CastaHan spring, but did not find my poetic faculty " improved thereby." Yet the genius loci did not fail him entirely. It was here more especially that a change and growth of artistic power in him struck his fellow-travellers.* Before he left Rome, his drawings had been only careful and elaborate ; now there began to show itself in them that indescribable power of insight and imagination, which distinguishes the true artist from the mere draughtsman. Con- ventionalities were shaken off, and nature rej)resented as it w^as ; laboured and ineffective drawing gave place to a bold and masterly grasp of the leading lines, and the general effect of the scene represented ; and his journals show an ever-increasing admiration for natural and artificial beauty, and an absorbing delight in the task of representing it. The progress, once begun, never ceased. Every day witnessed a progress in his power, till his sketches in Egypt showed those powers in full maturity, and astonished those who had known him only in Italy and in Greece.
At Athens they stayed about a month, in despite of some danger of plague which hung over the city. Here unfortunately his journals fail us for a time, and there is no means of supplying the deficiency. It is easy to imagine his intense delight in seeing the buildings which he had so long considered not only as the masterpieces of Greek art, but as the highest forms in which the architectural idea of beauty had clothed itself. We know, what might
* Foi- this rcniaik 1 am indebted tu Sir C Eastlake.
Chap. II. THE TURKS. 25
easily have been conceived, that his admiration did not evaporate in mere enthusiasm, but gave rise to careful study and thoughtful criticism ; and that such study, while it deepened his original admiration, yet led him to feel that changes of circumstances, needs, and conceptions might well limit that imitation of Greek models, which had hitherto exercised a despotic influence over modern architecture. But beyond this, there is no memorial of what he perhaps at that time felt to be the crowning pleasure of his architectural tour, except some sketches, made always entirely on the spot, and remarkable for uniting great accuracy and truthfulness of effect to free and spirited drawing.
He left Athens on June 25th, 1818, with Mr. John- son, and passed by ^gina, and through the Cyclades, touching at Delos, to Smyrna, and thence by land to Constantinople. The voyage was " one continued " delight ;" full of architectural and antiquarian inte- rest, and even fuller of natural beauty, seen under cloudless skies and glorious sunsets.
They were now having their first experience of countries under Turkish rule, just at the beginning of Mahmoud's reign, when lawlessness was at its height, scarcely kept down by his bloody justice, or awed by the suspicions of the coming revolution. It is not uninteresting to gather from the journals the impressions made upon the travellers even then by the Turkish and the Greek characters.
The Turks seemed essentially barbarians, not with- out some excellences (which probably have been deteriorated in late years), such as simplicity and sincerity of religious devotion, dignity, truthfulness.
26 THE GREEKS. Chap. II.
and even generosity of character. They appeared to occupy rather than inhabit the country, allowing its richest regions to fall into desolation, and its com- merce (except where the Greeks or English* sus- tained it) to languish and decay. The relics of its former grandeur were transformed for their own pur- poses, or watched over as antiquities with a jealous and ignorant churlishness ; f their general insolence and violence were unbridled. At Constantinople Mr. Barry, by attempting a panorama of the city from the Galata tower, grievously offended the Turkish women, who, after abusing him with all their powers of vituperative eloquence, called up the guard to dismiss him summarily, and incited a mob of boys to pursue him with stones, and cries of " Giaour " through the city. Such insults were common then, and had to be borne patiently even by those under ambassa- dorial protection.
The Greeks, on the other hand, wherever, as at Iverli, Scio, and Patmos, they managed to secure self-government by payment of tribute, appear to have shown that activity and intellectual capacity which the modern kingdom of Greece, with all its defects, has since exemj)lified. They had schools and universities, in spite of the jealousy and ill-will of the Turks, libraries ancient and modern, and even scien-
* At Smyrna (for example) the houses of English merchants were scattered along the coast, and almost all the trade engrossed by them.
t At Boudroon (Halicaruassus) not even the governor dared to allow them to inspect the castle; and when they rowed under the walls to see the famous marbles embedded in them, and just " whitewashed in expectation of the Capudan I'asha," they were ordered off by the soldiers on pain of death
Chai'. II. ENGAGEMENT WITH MR. BAILLIE, 27
tific instruments from Paris. It was a matter of regret, but, after ages of slavery, hardly a matter of surprise, that their honesty and truthfulness did not keep pace with their intellectual progress. But there seemed then grounds for hope of improvement in them, and none for their Turkish masters.
Constantinople itself surpassed even his high- wrought exjoectations, as seen, first from the Asiatic heights, and afterwards on approaching it from the water. His journals are full of enthusiastic descrip- tion ; and in after life he often spoke of it as " the " most glorious view in the world." In spite of all difficulty he managed to see it thoroughly, both as to its architecture, and as to its Turkish life : but again his ]3encil was too busy to give much time for the use of his pen. Except to testify his impression of the magnificence of St. Soijhia, there is little record or criticism of individual buildings. He spent a month of never-forgotten interest and enjoyment in the city, and then prepared to turn homewards, in August, 1818.
Once more an opportunity j^resented itself which could not be passed by. Mr. David Baillie, whom he had met at Athens, was preparing for a journey to the East ; and, struck by the beauty of Mr. Barry's sketches, he offered to take him, at a salary of 200^. a year, and to pay all his exjoenses, in consideration of retaining all the original sketches he might make. The artist was to be allowed to make copies for himself. The offer was too tempting to be refused,*
* He had received a similar offer at Corfu from Mr. Bonar, but with this important difference, that no copies were to be taken. On this ground it was thanlii'ully but unhesitatingly refused.
28 EGYPT. Chap. II.
for it gave him liis only opportunity of visiting Egypt and Syria, and of doing so with a man of high cultivation and refinement, who treated him at all times with great kindness and liberality. He hesi- tated but little ; and set out on September 12th, full of delight and expectation.
The third period of his travels was more important to him than all which had gone before. "Egypt," he remarked, " is a country which, so far as I know, " has never yet been explored by an English archi- " tect." Besides the members of the French Institute, only Captains Irby and Mangles, and Belzoni, had gone before him. He felt keenly the novelty and magnificence of the scene thus opened to him. The remains of Egyptian architecture made a far deeper impression ujDon him than all Italy and Greece com- bined ; and from this time architectural study seems to have assumed in his mind that predominant and almost exclusive influence which it never lost. His journals are kept with far greater accuracy and copiousness. • Every great temple is described in outline and in detail, with notes of its present con- dition, and of the traces of its former greatness. His observation seemed to be stimulated, without being overwhelmed, by the inexhaustible profusion and magnificence of the Egyptian remains. He must certainly have thought of publishing to the world the information he had so carefully collected on a field hitherto little known, and engrafting on it the criticism and evolution of principles, which in the whirl of ceaseless change and activity he had no time to record in his journals. That intention bore no
Chap. II. GOVERNMENT OF MEHEMET ALL 29
immediate fruit ; bnt the effects of the study sank deep in his own mind. It is hardly too much to say that he entered Egypt merely under the influence of vague artistic interest, and left it with the loading principles of his architectural system fixed for ever.
They passed first through the Troad, and thence by Assos and Pergamus to Smyrna, a brief journey, but one which was remarkable for the varied associa- tions of legendary, classical, Byzantine, and modern times, such as perhaps no other part of the world can offer. Thence they sailed (with Messrs. Godfrey and Wyse) to Alexandria.
The impression then made by Mehemet All's govern- ment of Egypt was very much the same w^hich after experience has confirmed. It was a wonderful con- trast with Turkish lawlessness ; the country was well ordered, and perfectly open to Europeans ; public works of all kinds were progressing ; commerce and agriculture were pushed on under the guidance of European science, and with all the power of a despotic government. But there was another side to the picture : the pasha urged on his work in utter dis- regard of the rights, happiness, or lives of his subjects ; " in fact," he was " the chief merchant in Egypt, and "did not mind sacrificing all other interests to his " own." The natural results among the people were infinite distress, and a deep though impotent hatred of the Government, solaced only by the common belief that the English (whose glory in Egypt was still fresh) would soon seize and emancipate the country.
Cairo itself was a remarkable evidence of the state of Egypt. The busy crowds of all nations which
30 CATACOMBS AT SIOUT. Chap. II.
streamed through its streets, " from the stately Turk " to the half-naked and miserable Arab," gave proof of a vigour and activity very different from the listless and apathetic aspect of most Turkish cities. In the city itself, though it seemed peculiarly Oriental in its general sombreness of aspect, relieved by "bursts of Saracenic magnificence," yet buildings in European style, and silk and cotton manufactures under European guidance, indicated the quarter whence this vivifying influence came. There was no danger of molestation in sketching here, for, though the city was full of rejoicing and illuminations for Ibrahim Pasha's victory over the Wahabbees, the strong hand of the Grovernment, which left its bloody traces here and there visible in the streets, effectually checked the spirit of turbulence. The whole country was full of life and energy and progress, but its progress was maintained by force and purchased by misery.
From this point the journals contained a careful and elaborate description of the journey up the Nile. The first place noticed especially is Siout (Lycopolis ?), where they landed to obtain permission from Ibrahim Pasha to visit Upper Egypt, and to examine the great catacombs ; of these Mr. Barry made a careful ground-plan, as well as a sketch of the frontispiece. To the S.E. of the catacombs they saw " a kind of " amphitheatre formed by the mountains, the whole of " which was perforated for tombs, one range rising "above another." There was a beautiful contrast between the " gloom of this city of the dead" and the view from the height overlooking it, over the " rich
Chap. II. DENDERA. 31
" plain of the Nile, level as water, and in the highest " cultivation, mostly covered with the rising crops, "now of a beautiful green, and laid out" (as of old) " with geometrical exactness."
From this point the ruins of temples began to show themselves, and on November 29th they came in sight of the great temple of Dendera, lying " on a "low ridge of land all in shadow, with a pretty fore- " ground of palm-trees, and the Libyan mountains in " the distance." Full of excitement they hurried on shore to see this first specimen of Egyptian grandeur. " It astonished us," he says, " by its unexpected mag- " nitude, and gave me a high idea of the skill and " knowledge of the principles of architecture displayed " by the Egyptians. There is something so unique " and striking in its grand features, and such endless "labour and ingenuity in its ornaments and hiero- " glyphics, that it opens to me an entirely new field. " No object I have yet seen, not even the Parthenon " itself (the truest model of beauty and symmetry " existing), has made so forcible an impression upon " me. The most striking feature of the building is its " vast portico, six columns in front and four in depth, *• giving a depth of shadow and an air of majestic " gravity such as I have never before seen."
As soon as the first impressions of the grandeur of the great temple had passed away there followed, as usual, a most accurate examination of the whole. The three temples are described with the greatest exactness, every dimension, even of the details, being carefully recorded. All stood before them in com- plete preservation, in spite of the 4000 years which
32 DENDERA— ESNEH. Chap. II.
had passed over the scene. " Even the hieroglyphics " and the most delicate parts of the ornamentation " were as sharp and vigorous as when they were first " executed." All was studied con amove. He seems to have been especially struck with the variety and beauty of the Eg}^tian capitals, all of which he sketched and criticised, evidently seeking to emanci- pate himself from the limits of the five orders, and longing for greater variety and scope for ima- gination.
The impression made on him by the mixture of general grandeur of outline and dimension with profuse richness of detail was never effaced. It seems at this time to have kindled in his mind an intensity of devotion to his art hitherto unknown, and to have stirred him up to extraordinary labour and study. Temple after temple opened upon him till the view of Phil^e crowned the magnificence of the whole. Sketching for Mr. Baillie, copying sketches, where possible, for himself, elaborately describing in his journal what was then an almost unknown treasure-house of ruins, "in comparison " with which even those of Grreece and Rome sink " into insignificance, although the Parthenon and the " Pantheon still keep their places as models of arclii- "tectural excellence" — he drank in deeply the in- fluence of the scene, and seemed in three months to have lived through whole years of study.
Esneh, their next halting-place, appeared then less striking than Dendera ; but his second visit cor- rected the impression, and led him to think the great portico " the finest of all he had seen in Egypt," half
Chap. II. EDFOU— ELEPMANTINA— riilL.E. 33
concealed though it was by riibhish and by modern excrescences. Both at Esneh and at Dendera he gives an elaborate description of the remarkable zodiacs, which appeared to show a knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes, and which were then little known except from the Memoirs of the French Institute, a work of which he remarks elsewhere that he found it " full of glaring and unpardonable " errors."
Edfou was then being excavated by M. Drouetti, sufficiently for examination ; the sculpture ajDpeared to be of a high order, but the general effect of the temple with the grand peristyle of columns (enclosing an area of 146 ft. by 108 in front) unsatisfactory in spite of its size, for want of due proportion and sym- metry in its parts. On the other side of the river they visited the ruins of the temples at Eleithias, some half-excavated in the rock, and the famous tombs, which had then recently been opened, and had given by their hieroglyphics and painting a new glimp&e of the life of the ancient Egyptians.
A few days now brought them to Assouan, whence they visited the islands of Elephantina and Phila?. At the former the ancient Nilometer attracted their attention, and was accurately measured and described. The latter island, now, and at his relurn in Januar}', was felt by him to be the centre of attraction. He felt " it impossible to conceive anything more magnificent " than Phila3 in the zenith of its prosperity ; when all, " Egyptians and Ethiopians alike, venerated it as the " burial-place of Osiris, and lavished on it the treasures " of ages." He speaks of the long ranges of columns
D
34 THE UPPER NILE. Chap. IT.
as the characteristic features of tlie ruins, and as pro- ducing even now an " enchanting effect," and notices the traces of painting in the great portico, as showing great taste in the harmonizing of colours, and giving some idea of the hrilhant effect which must have heen produced in the days of its splendour. Even then, when the island was a mass of ruins, they lingered over it, carefully examining it at every step ; and when at last they left it, it was with deep regret, and a feeling that only in leaving it could they fully appre- ciate its grandeur. The natural heauty of the view of the first cataracts, far superior in his opinion to tliat of the second cataracts, or to any point of the Nile, claimed its due share in their delight, and it was evidently the one spot in Egypt to which he most delighted to recur.
At Phil?e they left their large vessel and proceeded in four small boats up the river. The whole scenery was now changed : mountains hounded the narrow stri]DS of cultivated land on the banks of the river, and occasionally approached close to the water's edge ; villages numerous, but miserable enough, fringed the banks ; and the finer barbarian race of Nubia con- trasted favourably with the abject and miserable Egyptians. The ruins still showed themselves in almost uninterrupted series on either side, interesting in themselves, but still more interesting as memorials of the various civilisations which had passed over the country. Most belonged to the earlier Egyptian days : but, combined with these, or superimposed upon them, were the signs of the Greek and Roman dominion ; and these in their turn were remodelled
CiiAP. ir. RUINS OF ABOUSIMBf:L. 35
or defaced by Christian hands. Grreek, Latin, and Coptic inscriptions were mingled with the hiero- glyphics ; ancient deities were transformed into saints ; and a rough danh of the Madonna was often seen on the very plaster which covered the symbols of old Egyptian idolatry.
They proceeded slowly, both in their ascent and return, and found abundant occupation by the way. Above all others, the ruins of Abousimbel claimed careful examination and accurate description. The temples, as being entirely excavated from the rock, and having the greater portion of their fronts occu- l^ied by colossal figures, were entirely new to them, and produced as great an effect on their minds as those of Dendera or Philje. The entrance to the great temple, opened the year before by Mr. Salt, was now again closed by sand and rubbish, and had to be re-opened with much labour. The scul^Dture of the interior struck them greatly as sj)irited, and free from the conventionality of most of those which they had seen. The painting was in most places fresh and bright, but the intense heat (98^^) and moisture of the interior had made the surface soft, and threat- ened rapid decay. He was even obliged to sketch on a board, because the paper was so soft that the joencil could not be used upon it, and to work with light almost insufficient for accurate examination. He carried away a drawing of the exterior, seen by a bright moonlight, and partly lit up by the fire of their Arab crew, as a memorial of a place which made a permanent impression on his mind.
A few days brought them to the second cataracts,
D 2
36 THEBES— CAIRO. Chap. II.
where they stayed only long enough to admire the picturesque aspect of the scenery, wilder, though less beautiful, than that near Phila3 ; and then they returned leisurely down the stream, stopping gene- rally rather longer than on the ascent.
At Koum Ombos they now stayed to visit the great temple, with its many traces of crocodile worship, and to examine some of the mummies tliere found in abundance.
Thebes, which they had passed before, now detained them several days. The ruins of Luxor and Karnac, by their overwhelming magnitude and variety, seemed to throw all others into the shade ; and at Medinet Habou, the temples and the recently discovered Tombs of tlie Kings possessed hardly inferior interest. Even Dendera, which had seemed so marvellous at first, now held only a secondary place. In fact, the rich abundance of architectural treasures presented to their eyes seems almost to have outstrij^ped all attempt at description, and to have left neither time nor room for criticism.
Finally they arrived at Cairo on ]\Iarch 1st ; thence duly ascended the great pyramids of Gliizeh, and pene- trated into their interior ; and on March 12th, 1819, Mr. Barry left Egypt. Little more than four months had elapsed since he first entered Cairo ; but the fruits of that short time had been valuable beyond all description.
Their journey across the desert to Gaza, and thence to Jafta and Jerusalem, with excursions to Betlilehem, the Dead Sea, and the convent of St. Saba, lay over a more beaten track, and produced far less effect upon his mind. It could not fail to be full of interest, and
Chap. 11. PALESTINE— JERASH. 37
gave opportunity for numberless sketches ;* they carried on their examination with their usual vigour, visiting all the " Holy Places,"f and, as they arrived at Easter, had abundant evidence of the feuds of the Greeks and Latins, and witnessed the notorious miracle of the " Holy Fire." They carried away from the Latin Patriarch certificates of their presence at the Easter ceremonies (which gave them a certain sacred character as pilgrims), and rosaries, blessed at the Holy Sepulchre, which were highly prized in Italy and France ; but the journal adds, " I wish I " could say that my faith had been strengthened by a " pilgrimage in the Holy Land," and goes on to ex- press the predominant feeling of disgust at the super- stitions and impostures, which swarm on that sacred ground, and mar its holy associations.
A visit to Jerash, in Arab costume and under Arab guidance, had in it more of novelty. They found its remains situated in a well-wooded valley, and em- bosomed in trees. The ruins were then carefully examined, and some sketches made, but disputes between their Arab guards, and strong symj^toms of violence, hastened their departure. " The remains " (all of Roman origin) much resemble those of Anti- " noopolis, and are probably of the same age ; there is " too great a profusion of ornament and feebleness of " general design ; but the effect of the great street, " 740 yards in length, flanked by long colonnades of
* Several of these were afterwards engraved in Finden's ' Illustrations of the Bible.'
t The Chapel of the Nativity at Betlilehem seems (as usual) to have struck them most for simple solemnity, and Naplous (Shechem) for natural beauty, with its fertile plain and the " whole town full of roses."
38 MARONITES— DrvUSES. Ciiai-. II.
" Roman, Ionic, and Corinthian, crossed by triumi)hal "arches, and terminating in a circus surrounded by " a peristyle of Ionic columns, must have been mag- " nificent, in spite of many faults of detail."
Their journey northward, through the Lebanon country, to Beyrout, was highly interesting, not only for the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, but be- cause it brought them in contact with the ^laronites and Druses. Among the Maronites they always fomid industry, esj^ecially silk-weaving and the raising of silkworms, and considerable prosperity, wherever they enjoyed a quasi-independence of Turkish rule. At Deh-el-Kams the Emir (who was secretly a Christian) was full of interest in the West, a man of taste* and energy, who, like other Orientals, worshipped the memory of Sir S. Smith. The great Maronite convent of St. Anthony had a printing- press at work, and was a centre of cultivation and industry. 1'hey heard much of the Druses, and the jealous care with whicli they guarded the secret of their religion, the Acchals, or stricter Druses, living a recluse and ascetic life, the Jechaird Druses mingling with all, and professing themselves in- differently Christian or Mohammedan. Their rela- tions were then peaceful ; but the peace was jealous and precarious, and the Turkish authority (as usual) seemed weak to protect, and powerful only to oppress.
Baalbec, Damascus, and Palmyra, were their chief objects of attraction. The situation of Baalbec, in the midst of its forest of walnut-trees, delighted the eye of
* 111 his house they found a vohunc uf ralliulio, given liim by a Coptic patriiuch, and hi>rhly prized.
Chap. II. BAALBEC— DAMASCUS. 39
the artist, but accurate plans and descriptions of the magnificent ruins (then but little known, and even now described with much discrepancy of authorities), gave evidence of more elaborate architectural study. The great encircling wall of the citadel, within which the ruins stand, formed of huge blocks of stone, some as much as 30 feet long, 13 feet high, and 10 feet thick, the fragments of the Greater Temple (of the Sun?), 270 feet by 165 feet, the extensive remains of the Smaller Temple (of Jupiter?), and a third circular Corinthian temple, with their decorations and masterly bas-reliefs, in which the Roman eagle was conspicuous, gave them the idea of that union of power with richness, which well deserves the title of " magnificence.'"*
It was a curious transition from the silent grandeur of Baalbec to the bustle and life of Damascus. The first view of the city struck them, as it strikes all travellers, as one perfectly unique in its beauty, — " a " boundless plain, with surface and horizon level as the " sea," but covered with masses of dark verdure, out of wdiich the city of Damascus rises, " bright as the " whitest marble." The city itself hardly corresponded
* In after years Mr. Barry published the results of his observations in an article in the ' Architectural Dictionary ' on Baalbec. It describes the ruins with great minuteness, and is an excellent specimen of his accuracy of observation and clearness of description. It speaks of the three Temples as having great magnificence and " exuberance of decoration," notices the " breaking of the entablature over each jirojectiug columnar pier," as pro- ducing, especially in the circular temple, " great movement in the skyline " of the building, and a very picturesque effect," and criticizes the style of decoration as showing much imagination and power. The description was written some thirty-five years after his visit, but it seemed as though drawn up on the spot.
40 PROPOSED VISIT TO PALMYRA. Chap. II.
with tliis glorious appearance. Tlie travellers were probably taken for Turks, and so were able to see, without molestation, all the j^arts of this city, — the very home of Turkish fanaticism ; but with the ex- ception of a few of the larger buildings, which were full of Oriental magnificence, there was little to justify the glowing descriptions of former travellers. They quitted it without regret ; for Palmyra lay before them.
In this exjDedition they encountered their only note- worthy adventure. The country was beset with the Bedouin Arabs, half obedient, half hostile to the Turkish Government. Every city and village was in a " state of siege ; " and when the travellers arrived at the village of Kal, the}^ were taken for Arabs, and received with a dro^Dping fire of musketry, till the presence of the Aga of Baalbec put an end to the mistake. However, they arrived safely at Homs ; and there their dangers began. By the help of the Governor, who treated them most kindly and honour- ably, a negotiation was made with two Bedouin Arabs, professing to be envoys from the chief of the neigh- bouring tribe, for their safe conveyance to and from Palmyra.
They set out accordingly, eight in number, with an escort of twelve Arabs, who soon began to play them false, and led them out of the way to a large encamp- ment of their tribe, where they were kept prisoners, and assailed w^ith all kinds of lies and threats to extort money. The Arabs, of course, could not con- ceive the true object of their visit to Palmyra ; but settled at once that thev must be seekers of hidden
Chap. II. CONFLICT WITH ARABS. 41
treasures, and that Mr. Baillie's eye-glass, wliicli excited their greatest astonishment, was the taUsman, by which the treasures were to be revealed. The whole party had, for some extraordinary reason not mentioned, come out unarmed ; there was not even a pistol among them ; and they were therefore wholly in the power of the Arabs. However, they stood firm with true English coolness, till, after long nego- ciation, they found proceeding hopeless, and resolved to return with their escort to Homs.
This they did at full speed, starting about 4 j^.ni., and galloping over the desert all night by starlight, the Arabs hurrying on in order to leave them under the walls of Homs before daybreak, and so to escape the vengeance of the Governor. About two hours before sunrise, they arrived at Dehr Balbah, near Homs. Here the Arabs by their signal made the dromedaries kneel down, and then tried, first to induce, and then to force, the travellers to dismount. This they refused to do, and, unarmed as they were, resisted for some minutes, wresting the spears and matchlocks from the hands of the Arabs. One or two of the party were slightly wounded, and the thrust of an Arab spear from behind at Mr. Barry would have been serious, and perhaps fatal, had it not been turned aside by the loose burnoose which he wore ; as it was, it passed under his arm, and merely grazed his hand. A short struggle proved that the odds were too great, and so the Arabs gained their point, and galloped ofP to the desert.
Next morning the travellers went on to Homs, having previously sent a despatch to the Governor.
42 PARTING WITH ME. BAILLIE. Chap. II.
On their way tliey met droves of camels and Bedouin drivers, hastening with all speed to the desert, and cavalry of the Turkish Governor in pursuit. Several Arabs were killed, and three heads brought into Horns in triumj)h. The Governor behaved most honourably; he felt the danger of provoking the Arabs (for, in fact, out of this incident arose a petty war), but felt also that his own faith had been pledged to the Englishmen, and that it must not be violated with impunity. Some of the money still in his hands he insisted on returning, and, though full of anxiety as to the consequences of the affair, he dismissed them with all honour and courtesy. So ended the only failure, and almost the only serious danger, of their journey.
At TripoU (June 18th, 1819) Mr. Barry's engage- ment with Mr. Baillie terminated ; and they parted with mutual regret. Nothing could have exceeded the kindness and hberality of Mr. Baillie's conduct. About 500 drawings, by far the best which have been preserved of Mr. Barry's sketches, remained with him, as evidence of the zeal and ability with which the other part of the contract had been per- formed.
Mr. Barry returned alone, touching at Cyprus, and thence coasting along Asia Minor. Khodes naturally attracted his notice by the curious contrast of its former and present aspects. The old church of St. John (then a mosque), the Grand Master's house still bearing traces of its original character, the old escutcheons embedded in the walls, spoke of the days of Christianity and Western civilization. The docks
CiiAi'. 11. ASIA MINOR— SICILY. 43
and trade of the place, engrossed by Greeks and Europeans, and the insolence and ignorance of the Turkish soldiery, gave a melancholy picture of the present. At Boudroon (Halicarnassus) he managed, not without difficulty, to see the famous marbles em- bedded in the walls. Yerunda brought back a remi- niscence of Egypt by a temple with an avenue of seated figures, 600 yards in length, '^ clearly Egyptian " in origin, but only a feebly executed copy of the ori- " ginal." Patmos, at which they next touched, was entirely Greek. The great convent near the " Cave of the Apocalypse" was the first object of interest. A good library neglected, with curious MSS. very carelessly kept, was its reproach ; a flourishing Greek school its best evidence of activity. Thence he made his way to Smyrna, passing the ruins of Ephesus ; and at last (August IGth, 181.9) he bade farewell to the East, and sailed (with Messrs. Godfrey and Wyse) to Malta and Sicily.
A quarantine of twenty days at Malta left him only time for a hasty examination of Yaletta and its buildings, before passing on to Syracuse. In Sicily he spent two months of great activity and enjoyment, studying the superimposed strata of Greek, Roman, Saracenic, and Gothic architecture, which give a visible epitome of the history of the island.
Syracuse attracted notice for the sake of the past rather than the present. The very cathedral was formed out of the old temple of Athene ; the fountain of Arethusa, shorn of its glories, appeared only as " a great pool, full of washerwomen ; " the town itself, shrunk to the little island of Ortygia, was but a
44 . SICILY. Chap. II.
S}mibol of the wretched and degraded state in wliich the island then was.* The two harbours (" the "smaller j)aved with marble, with rings for the "fastening of galleys") and the distinct traces of the other quarters of the old city were the only objects of much interest.
Taormina (Tauromenium) struck them more forcibly by its magnificent position, and its strange juxta- position of the great Greek theatre, Eoman baths, Saracenic tombs, and Franciscan conyent.
Messina, putting aside its beauty of situation, showed them little except the great hospitals (grand in conception, scale, and revenue, but miserable in arrangement, and restricted in usefulness), and the great prison, with its horrible dungeons and torture chambers, full of memories of recent cruelty, and even then unworthy of a civilized Government.
At Girgenti (Agrigentum) the profusion of re- mains, and the magnificent scale of the temples, especially the great temple of the Olympian Zeus, invited very careful study and criticism, in which are clearly seen the effects of his Egyptian travels.
But of all places in Sicily, Palermo was clearly far the richest in interest, and not unworthy " of one of "the finest situations in the world."! The cathedral at Palermo, and the palace and chapel at Monreale, gave him his first introduction to that peculiar archi-
* The Bourbon regime was detested, and its wretchedness aggravated by the recollections of English rule ; why England did not keep the island the Sicilians could not conceive.
f Here they saw a famous telescope of Ramsden's, as to which they were told that, " if it should be injured there was no one in the whole island " who could repair it."
Chap. II. PALERMO— ROME. 45
tecture, full of Saracenic and Byzantine influence, which is so interesting to all students of the early Gothic styles. He was much struck with its pic- turesque character, and especially with the richness of the mosaic decorations, and the use of external colours. It hardly approved itself to his taste ; for it was too irregular, and too merely picturesque. Still it was examined with a care and respect, which showed the growing importance of Gothic in his mind, and the recollection probably bore fruit in after-times. But the choicest records of his Sicilian expedition were unhappily lost. A large portfolio of sketches (pro- bably some of the best he ever made) was stolen from the vessel in which he was to return home ; and, in spite of all inquiry and search, no trace of it was ever recovered.
He crossed over to Italy, passed through Najoles, again visiting Pompeii, and arrived at Rome at the end of January, 1820, under very different auspices from those under which he left it. In fact, he was one of the lions of the day, especially in the English society of Rome; and his letters show that he heartily enjoyed his condition, and entered with great zest into the occupations and amusements which it afforded. It was not his nature to do things by halves ; his spirits were naturally high and sanguine ; and he could not but feel proud in the thought, that his position had been fairly won by his own talent and exertion. But, as usual, he did not allow all this to interfere for a moment with his main object. All dissipation was kept for the evening : the day was sacred to work, and that work was now entered into
46 MEETING WITH MR. WOLFE. Chap. IT.
with matured taste and new powers, both of origination and criticism. In this work he found an unexj^ected coadjutor. In a letter (dated Feb. 24th, 1820) lie says, — " A Mr. Wolfe, an architect and puj^il of Mr. " Gwilt, has just arrived, and I have made his acquaint- " ance with great pleasure. He is an enthusiastic ad- " mirer of art." The acquaintance went on apace. At Easter, 1820, he continues — " In my first interview " with him, I saw immediately that he was a man with " whom I could coalesce and become intimate ; and the " result is that I now reckon him among the few sincere " friends that one can hope to obtain in the world." Never were anticipations more .fully realized. The friendship, there begun, continued till the day of his death, with a rare warmth and j)erfectness of sym- pathy. The very dissimilarities of the two friends (as is usually the case when there is identity of prin- ciple and feeling) only strengthened their union, by giving each power to help the other. Art was the one thought of both ; but it was pursued in very dif- ferent ways. Mr. Wolfe's mind was more educated, was naturally more scientific and philosophical, and pre-eminently distinguished by cool and well-balanced judgment. It was exactly the mind to influence Mr. Barry's at this stage of his professional career, and to induce him to study, systematically and with a view to first principles, the treasures of Italian architecture which were before his eyes, and the rich variety of ideas and objects, with which his travels and his sketches had stored his mind.
He was often oppressed by the idea (apparently a very groundless one) tliat he had wasted mucli of his
Chap. II. INFLUENCE OF EGYPTIAN RECOLLECTIONS. 47
time by the discursiveness of his occupations, and especially by his preference of the artistic to the scientific element of study. The truth probably was, that the materials were gathered, and that the task of arrangement and organization now alone re- mained. In that task the two friends resolved to work in common ; and each altered his arrangements that they might be together in their study of Rome, Florence, Yicenza, Venice, and Yerona.*
The devotion ito Greek architecture with which he left England had been somewhat shaken by his in- tense admiration of the Egyptian. Although he looked upon the latter as a thing essentially of the past, yet recollections of it would haunt his imagina- tion and influence his principles of design.
" I know notf (says his friend) whether tlie taste " for ornament, for which he subsequently became " remarkable, was natural or acquired. But he was " full of admiration for the Egyptians' practice of com- "pletely covering their buildings with sculj^tured " hieroglyphics or painting ; and he exulted in the " (then recent) discovery, that the Parthenon, the " model of Greek jourity, was itself overlaid with orna- " ment. His opinion was that ornament should be so "limited in size as to increase the apparent scale of " the building, and that it should be so kept down " by lowness of relief, or by marginal framing, as not "to interfere with the main outlines. These rules " observed, he seemed to think that enrichment could
*■ From this point, almost to the end of his career, much of this memoir is based on MS. notes supplied by Mr, Wolfe, t MS. notes, W.
48 ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE. Chap. II.
" never be overdone — an opinion which ho continued " to liold to the end of his career."
" This jn-incijDle of subordination of ornament was " paramount with him. Perfection of design and " workmansliip were lost upon him, where ornament " destroyed the essential outlines. To the Corinthian "capital he had a positive dislike: even . its finest " specimens failed to satisfy him. For his idea was " that in large capitals, however enriched by foliage, " the apparent capability of supporting the entabla- " ture should still be preserved. The germ of this " idea was probably found in the Egyptian cajDitals, " many of which he very carefully studied and "sketched. For years a new Corinthian-like order " floated before his mind ; but, as he had no oppor- " tunity of attempting it on a grand scale, his ideas " were never carried out ; for it was the rule with him, '* that without the spur of reality his genius slept."
Italian architecture had hitherto attracted him but little in comparison with Greek ; but he began to perceive how much more capable it was of adaptation to modern requirements, and to study it in that view. " By degrees its beauties grew upon him, although he " long retained the opinion that it should be purified " and refined, in fact treated a la Grecque. He de- " lighted in every examj^le of what he considered "Greek feeling, and, as a notable one, in the grand " fragment of entablature in the Colonna garden, " tlie so-called ' frontispiece of Nero.' It was some " years before the traces of this Greek influence dis- " appeared from his designs."
The building, which fir^t inspired him with admi-
Chap. II. FARNKSE AND STROZZI PALACES. 49
ration for the Italian style, was the Farnese Palace. The principal front he greatly admired ; he con- sidered that the " imposing effect of its vast mass was " greatly enhanced by the unbroken lines of the entab- " latiire and string-courses, the number and relative " smallness of the windows, the complete subordination " of all horizontal divisions to the crowning cornice, " and the consequent full effect of the entire height." The rear front seemed to him to be spoilt by the centre, which did not harmonize with the rest, and (by "a most unwarrantable wickedness") broke the general entablature, and moreover outraged his feel- ings by the superposition of three orders (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian). The interior courtyard he liked less still ; and, among other criticisms, he noticed here what seemed to him at all times offensive, the solidity of the upper story, resting on two arcaded courses below.
The Florentine palaces, especially the Strozzi, con- firmed the general impression made by the Farnese, " and from this time a grand cornice, without an "order, became his beau-ideal of a street front;" but he noticed that few fa9ades had the feature, which he thought all but necessary, an important basement, to serve as a kind of pedestal and "balance" the great cornice. The Strozzi Palace, " vast and imposing" as it was, was, however, rather a study than an example ; its enormous height and masses of solid wall between the tiers of windows were unfit for use in England ; and the characteristic windows, with their central mullions, he thought inconve- nient for use, and perhaps inadmissible in pure Italian architecture.
E
50 BE AM ANTE'S WORKS. Chap. U.
Two of Bramante's palaces at Rome, the Cancel- leria and the Palazzo dei Rei d'Inghilterra, at first pleased him much by their general character of solidity and breadth, and in the former case he noticed with delight the delicacy both of design and execution in the ornaments, and the perfect finish of every detail. There appeared, however, a want of boldness in the low relief of the great fronts, which seemed tame after the Farnese. " But his great " objection was to the use of two orders, even when " they were in low relief, and when the unity of the " height was preserved by the importance of the upper " cornice. The best examples of North Italy could not " reconcile him to this ' piling of house upon house.' " In later days the beauties of the Banqueting-house at " Whitehall so prevailed with him, that he frequently " used order upon order in his own designs : but " hardly ever without breaking the entablatures. By " the continuous vertical lines so produced the two " stories were united, and his love of unity satisfied. "But at Rome this expedient would have shocked " him as barbarous."
Before he left Italy he acquired a taste for greater luxuriance of ornament and greater boldness of out- line, and looked on the style of Bramante as fit only for small works and for interiors. " The Villa Pan- " dolfini at Florence proved to him how much could " be done, even in a front of small extent, by means of " a good frieze and cornice. He noticed as defects the " stunted proportions of the windows and the continua- " tion of the entablatures across the piers between " them ; but above all he disliked the great projection
Chap. II. VENETIAN PALACES. 51
" of the lower story. For this so distinctly broke up the " elevation into two stories that the cornice and frieze, " well-proportioned to the entire height, appeared over- " powering. But notwithstanding these defects, when " he was at work on the street-front of the Travellers' " Club, no building had so much influence in deter- " mining its general style as the Yilla Pandolfini."
The palatial fronts at Yicenza and Yenice did not take the same hold upon him as those at Rome and Florence. " The Library of St. Mark at Yenice, the "greater Porto Palace by Palladio at Yicenza, and " others of the same kind, had not only the cardinal " vice of superimposed orders, but were offensive by the "multiplicity and prominence of their details. ... To " engaged columns — ' colonnades walled up' — he had a " great dislike ; and when, as at the Board of Trade, he " had to employ them, he always relieved them from " the wall by grounds or margins. Even then they " never thoroughly satisfied him. The disposition of " the windows (grouped in the centre) in some of the " smaller Grothic and other palaces at ^"enice was noted " by him with aj^proval, and was not forgotten when " he was designing the garden-front of the Travel- " lers' Club. Of palace fronts, in which an order was "employed, he was most struck with those of the " public prisons at Yenice and Palladio's Thiene " Palace at Yicenza."
The Ducal Palace, magnificent as he felt it to be, did not satisfy him. Of the beauty of the arcaded stories he was fully sensible, nor did he object to arcaded exteriors in general. " But no consideration " could reconcile him to arcades or colonnades supjiort-
E 2
52 CENTRAL HALLS— STAIRCASES. Chap. TL
" ing, as here, a heavy mass of building. Whatever "might be the character of the superstructure, he " required that the lower part of the building should " be comparatively solid and plain ; the reverse ap- "peared unnatural. In the finest portico he was not " satisfied unless the basement (or the steps) was " equal in mass to the pediment above. Even in the " river-front of his new Palace at Westminster he " rejected the idea (once entertained) of introducing a " cloister ; and was so jealous of the solidity and j)lain- " ness of his basement, that he grudged every window " and would hardly enrich a gateway."
In the study of details of arrangement he was somewhat discouraged by considerations of the great differences between Italy and England as to climate and life. " The open cortile, surrounded with arches " or colonnades, was a feature which delighted him, and " which he often longed to introduce. There was one " in his first design for the Reform Club. But in Eng- "land he felt that a central hall had the advantage " both in convenience and in effect. He suggested in " after years the covering in of the area of the Royal " Exchange and of the still more spacious area of the " British Museum. His delight in a great central " hall became a passion."
The great staircases might have served more im- mediately as models ; but he had peculiar ideas on this subject, which interfered with his admiration of those usually deemed most excellent. " Where scenic effect " was given by various flights of steps, arcades, and " columns, he seemed to think that space was sacrificed " and a grand hall spoilt. He did not like to see 'steps
Chap. II. ROOFS— RUSTICATED WORK. 53
" hanging in the air' or supported by cumbrous walls; " and sudden changes in the direction of the flights " annoyed him. His ideal staircase was a grand " straight flight, the whole space, however great, being " occupied by the steps ; but if this were impossible, " he required that all that could be seen at one view " should be straight, and preferred the staircase, so " common in Italy, where each separate flight is *'• enclosed in solid walls."
In Italy he first acquired that liking for visible roofs, which he afterwards showed, both in his Italian and Gothic works. He approved of them, because, being essential features, they ought not to be con- cealed ; because, in fact, their visible appearance was the proof that the building was covered and was not a mere shell.
" To rustic w^ork he had at first a great aversion. " In substruction it might be tolerated, but elsewhere "its employment seemed to him indefensible, and a " rusticated column monstrous." His admiration for Sanmicheli's works, especially that at Lido, first shook his determination ; at home his delight in the work of Inigo Jones carried on the process of conversion ; and he himself afterwards used what at this time he would have proscribed.
His study of the Italian palaces was minute and elaborate, and produced the greatest efiect upon his own future works. The great churches, though not less carefully studied, had less direct influence. The Gothic revival in England had begun to make itself felt, and his thoughts were already turned in that direction, although he had probably at this time less
54 EXTERIOR OF ST. PETER'S. Chap. IT.
knowledge of Grotliic than of any other style. He was not then, nor did he ever become, an admirer of Italian Gothic. None of its forms appeared to him to be free from the characteristics of other recognised styles ; some appeared corrnpt Roman, others impure Gothic ; and not even the eloquence and ability of their modern advocates conld make him approve their revival.
But the great churches, though they could hardly be models for imitation, yet demanded admiration and criticism.
St. Peter's disappointed him greatly in its eleva- tion. He thought it had " a confused appearance "and want of simple grandeur;" that "the openings " in the centre were too crowded," and that " the three- " quarter columns, always objectionable, did not afford "sufficient relief." The details he greatly disliked. He noticed especially the want of apparent size in a building, one of the largest in the world, and accounted for it by the presence of colossal figures on the top of the fa9ade, without anything to give the true scale,* by the want of sufficient projection in the front, and the enormous size of the w^indows, and by the impossibility of seeing any great joart of the dome from the piazza, whence alone the whole substructure was visible. On the whole he much preferred the exterior of St. Paul's, in spite of the " piling of order upon order," which was a departure
* lie adds, "The Egyptians, who made such use of colossal figures, " being fully aware of their tendency to diminish the apparent size of the " building, always placed at their feet other figures of the natural size, to " give the true scale."
Chap. II. ITS INTERIOR. 55
from "Wren's original design ; he preferred its regu- larity of design to " the complicated front and lofty attic of St. Peter's ; " he thought the circular peristyle of columns under the dome far finer than the cor- responding substructure in the other case ; and, if only the churchyard could be enlarged, he thought that its complete insulation, and the fine perspective views which it offers, gave it a decided advantage in position and apparent grandeur.
It was far otherwise with the general effect of the interior of St. Peter's. Its magnificent size, satisfying his love of spaciousness, its beautiful proportions and simplicity of design, its richness and completeness of decoration, producing a sense of harmony and per- fection, seized his imagination at once, and seemed to "leave nothing to be desired." Its details he thought unworthy of special notice ; but not so its decoration. The decoration of the dome delighted him ; but the gem in his eyes was the baptistery. There the arrangement of marbles and mosaics seemed perfect, both in colour and form ; it con- stantly recurred to him in designing, and had much to do with fixing his taste for that gorgeous kind of decoration. He delighted also in the gilding of the vault. Being wholly gilt (either dead or bur- nished gold), it seemed not gilt, but golden. This was to him real magnificence ; " pai'cel-gilding " was gaudy, and he held it in contempt. This vault and the ceiling of Sta. Maria Maggiore were models which he would have gladly followed in his designs, and it was with reluctance that he gave up the idea of makina; the roof of his House of Lords all gold.
56 THE PANTHEON. Chap. 11.
The piazza in front of St. Peter's, with its semi- circular colonnades and magnificent fountains, greatly impressed him. The remembrance of it constantly floated before his memory as the ideal of the proper treatment of such a spot ; and he long cherished a hope of realizing his ideal in London.*
The portico of the Pantheon he thought perfect in plan, and magnificent in effect. He admired its great depth, the increase of this in the centre, and above all the disposition of the inner columns, which gave appa- rent stability and variety of effect, without confusing the eye or obstructing the approach. He never could endure a portico which was shallow, or which had no inner columns, or which had the wall, the back- ground of the columns, broken up by windows. But the junction to the circular building appeared to him unhappy. In fact he objected in toto to the treatment of a portico as a mere porch, thinking that in all cases the portico should be a continuation of the main building.^ The interior he used to quote as the finest example in the world of the grandeur of a dome, Mdien sufficiently large, and sufficiently near the eye to be comprehended in one glance. Domes like that of St. Peter's, which could only be seen by a painful throwing back of the neck, seemed to him wrong in j^rinciple. For at all times he held, that interiors should be so contrived that a spectator on entering should see enough of the design to enable
• It ought to be known that fountains, not unlike these in design, and not much inferior 'n magnificence, would, if means had permitted, have been made in Trafalgar Square.
t In his only design for a grand portico (tlmt for the Town-hall at Birmingham) this principle was fulh- carried out.
Chap. 11. CATHEDRAL AT FLORENCE. 57
him to comprehend the whole, and that, when this was not tlie case, there was a distraction of thought, fatal to any striking effect.
The exterior of the cathedral at Florence seemed to him grand only in size, " unworthy to be compared "with our best Gothic cathedrals;" and the arrange- ment of black and white marbles such as to destroy both massiveness of general effect and beauty of form in its various parts. The dome, as the largest in the world, and the first constructed after St. Sophia, called for attentive study, especially in construction ; but it convinced him that " polygonal domes should be " avoided, especially when ribbed and of few sides. " If, on looking directly at the dome, you do not see " exactly an equal portion of the two remote sides, the " perspective gives an untrue figure ; and when the ribs " are prominent and far removed from each other, this " effect is increased." The general architecture seemed to him a vicious mixture of Eoman and Gothic, though details, es^^ecially the beautiful external cornice run- ning round the building, were worthy of study and admiration.
On entering he acknowledged that the effect was simple and imposing, in apparent size grander than St. Peter's, and even approaching the sublime. But the details appeared to him unworthy of special notice.
The Campanile was one of the few specimens of Italian Gothic which commanded his warm admira- tion. He longed for the spire (which had been rejected as savouring of " la brutta maniera Tedesca ") : but the lofty and graceful proportion of the tower
58 MILAN CATHEDRAL. Chap. H.
charmed liim. What he admired above all was the simplicity and distinctness of outline, which, he com- plained, was wanting- in many of the finest Gothic towers. Nothing compensated him for a ragged or uncertain outline. His constant reference to this great work of Giotto showed that the impression was one neither weak, nor unfruitful of results. A liking for towers grew upon him ; designs for them became the most cherished creations of his imagination, till he seemed to think that no design could be comp)lete without them.
His notices of Milan cathedral are chiefly interesting as showing the growing importance of Gothic archi- tecture in his mind. At his first visit he was merely struck with the elaborate richness of its material and workmanship, and the solemn magnificence of its interior. At his return in 1820, an accurate plan and section of the church are given ; the grandeur of the interior is still more deeply felt ; and some points, such as the introduction of the tabernacle- niches and statues over each cluster of shafts, noticed as interfering with it. But, while justice is still done to the richness and elaboration of the exterior, it is severely criticised. The " pinnacles are noted as " rising too suddenly out of the solid mass to an enor- " mous height ; " the lantern-spire " as far too slender " for the substructure ; " the general design noted as " unhappy ; much of its laboured enrichment is mis- " applied ; there is a want of harmony and continuity " in its i^arts ; and the sensation created is rather that " of wonder at the treasures lavished upon it, than of " genuine admiration."
Chap. II. BRIDGE DELLA TKINITA. 59
At Florence the Bridge della Trinita was an object of especial interest to him. " As it was still a question " what was the exact form of its arches, and particularly " whether they were or were not pointed, he deter- " mined to measure two of them, and, as time and " means were wanting to accomplish this from below, " he ingeniously set out level lines on the outside of " the parapet, and let fall a series of ordinates to the " fillet of the archivolt. After a long and careful in- " vestigation, he came to the conclusion that the arches " were not designed to be pointed ; but the original " curve had been so crippled by irregular settlement, " that its exact nature could not now be ascertained. " He greatly admired the elegance of proportions in " the arch and superstructure. To the curve itself, " however, he had a decided objection. He had, and " always retained, an antipathy to the ellipse and all " which he considered irregular curves. Whether in " single arches or vaulting, no curves pleased him that " were not portions of circles, and whenever in the " course of his practice semicircular vaulting would " have destroyed proportion, he would adopt a coved " ceiling, or any other expedient, rather than re- " sort to the hated ellij^se. In his first design for " the new Westminster Bridge, the arches were seg- "ments of circles, and it was not without difficulty " that he could be induced to substitute the ellipse. " Even in Gothic work he never willingly employed " a Tudor arch ; but, where cramped for height, he '' |u-eferred the arch formed by two flat segments of " circles, making an angle with the jambs (as seen "in certain windows at Winchester). Irregularity in
GO TRUTH IN ARCHITECTURE. Chap. II.
" curves excited in him a feeling that was absolutely " painful."
In this indefatigable study and criticism he passed the last few months of his sojourn abroad. They were months of intense enjoyment : for his spirits were buoyant, his disposition frank and genial. Work he always loved for its own sake, and diffi- culties he rather enjoyed.* But they were also months of serious thought and study. " It was "evident" (says his friend) "that the leading prin- " ciples of composition w^hich influenced him through- " out his career w^ere already rooted in his mind."
First and foremost came a love of truth. " The " false in architecture he abhorred ; and all external " features, which did not at least indicate the internal " design, he condemned ruthlessly. Even a blank " window offended him. The showy but screen-like " facades, so often applied in Italy to comparatively " mean buildings, were to him impostures, w^orthy of " contempt."
Next came a love of unity and regularity. " That " he had an artist's eye for the picturesque w^as certain " from the happy choice he w^as sure to make of the " best points of view for sketching. But actually to "plan irregularity, because it was picturesque, he " thought unworthy of the dignity'of art." Every fea- ture, especially every ornamental feature, he would
* At Yicenza, as many of Palladio's works were scattered about in out- of-the-way places in the neighbourliood, he hired a crazy gig, and without a guide, in spite of bad roads and worse information, he managed to hunt out everyone. At the (so-called) "House of Palladio" there was some foliage which he wished to sketch by artificial light ; lie got ladders and turclics, and proceeded with his work till he was stopped by the police.
Chap. II. UNITY— SPACIOUSNESS. 61
rigidly subordinate to the preservation of the main outKne and the main principle of the design, some- times even at the cost of boldness and variety. Unity rather than multiplicity of effect he thought the object of human art — a lower beauty indeed than that which results from the unstudied harmon}' of Nature, but the only one which seemed to him really attainable. This view he continued to maintain, and, though he saw much beauty in works designed on the opposite principle, yet the observation of their general effect tended to confirm him in his theory.
Connected with this was his great love of the effect of spaciousness. The church " degli Angeli," in the Baths of Diocletian at Rome, made a lasting impres- sion ujDon him. " Its noble proportions and sim- '' plicity of design satisfied this instinctive desire of " space, for the loss of which no variety of plan and no " picturesque effect could compensate. No sooner did " he enter a building than he measured with a glance " its utmost capacity ; and all that stood in his way, — " piers, columns, and sometimes even the vault itself, — " became obstructions which he longed to clear away." In the grand nave above referred to the same feeling led him to dislike the position of the entrance at the side. In all great oblong halls he would have the door at the end, that the whole might be seen at first entrance. Except by necessity, he never gave up this princii^le.
Probably the next point most evident in his criti- cism was the love of perfection and completeness in detail. Nothing disturbed him so much as incon- gruity or want of keeping in the various parts of a
62 PERFECTION OF DETAIL. Chap. II.
design ; the mingling of grandeur with pettiness, and of rich decoration with bare and unadorned features,* seemed an offence against harmony ; and he held that the hand of a master of his art was almost as much shown in the study and adaptation of every detail, as in the conception of a great general design. With this was connected his keen sense of symmetry and proportion. " The least offence against either — " a single feature out of scale, an opening too narrow, " or even a moulding too heavy — ^jarred upon him like " a discord." This sensitiveness was in fact carried to excess ; " a single fault in a comf)osition would blind " him to its beauties ; it needed to be overcome by an " effort on his part or even the promptings of others ; " and it necessarily made him hypercritical, for, no " building being perfect, he was rarely heard to praise " any." It is but fair to add that in this same hyper- criticism he never spared his own designs, whether past or present, and often incurred by it almost end- less labour.
These principles fixed in his mind, he left Italy, well acquainted with Greek, Egyptian, and Italian architecture, and with his interest and attention already attracted to the reviving Gothic. The work of life was now to commence in earnest ; he was resolved to enter it fettered by the traditions of no single school, ready to think and work for himself.
* This was a ix)int which often struck him ia many cases of restoration or new buildings where colour and gilding were only partially employed. He insisted that in this partial and incomplete use lay the real cause of gaudiness or tawdry ctTect. Of all the new buildings at Munich, the one which he admired most was the Royal Chapel, because in it the decoration was thoroughly and perfectly carried out.
Chap. II. EFFECT OF TRAVELS. 63
It will be easily seen that the hopes with which he had gone abroad had been fully realized. The very fact of his travels gave him a position in the eyes of the world, of which he might easily have made much more, had he carried out his intention of publication. He had gained acquaintances in the artistic world and in ordinary society, and his character and talents excited a general expectation that he would achieve fame and success. But the really important advantage was the kindling in himself of artistic energy and a sense of power, and the extraordinary development of his mind in knowledge, criticism, and ideas. Most men are conscious of some period in their life on which such an awakening influence acts, when the boundaries of thought seem to expand, when new ideas and powers make themselves felt, and the idea of some great object in life is definitely grasped. Such a period is one of intense hapj^iness and of jDrice- less value. It came to him during these three years of travel, and he returned to England a changed man.
( fi4 )
CHAPTER III.
EARLY PROFESSIONAL LIFE.
1820-1829.
Early difficulties and failures — Thought of emigration — Xon-publication of his sketches — Holland House — Revival of Gothic — His Manchester churches, and their peculiarities — Marriage — Church at Oldham — Alarm at Prestwich Church — Designs for King's College, Cambridge — Royal Institution at Manchester — Gradual relinquishment of Greek architecture — St. Peter's Church, Brighton — Sussex County Hospital — Petworth Church — Queen's Park, Brighton, his first Italian design — Islington churches — His relations to church architecture generally — Removal to Foley Place — Subsidiary work — Travellers* Club — General character of his life at this period.
Ix August, 1820, Mr. Barry returned to England to commence liis professional life. He took a small house in Ely Place, Holborn, a position of no great pretension, but one recommended by its quietness, centrality, and cheapness. There he began the struffo'le of life in real earnest, with little external advantages of patronage or connection. It was a great, and not a pleasant, change from the brightness of his foreign life, during the latter part of which at least he had earned a high artistic reputation, and enjoyed the society to which such a reputation is the passport. He had warm friends of his own and his future wife's family of the middle class, but they had little power, though much will, to help him. He had attracted at Rome the notice of men of liigh rank
Chap. III. EAT^LY DIFFICULTIES. 65
and influence ; from them lie received much courtesy and even kindness, but tlieir patronage brought as yet little substantial fruit.
"With regard to the leading members of his own profession, of Mr, Nash, the Wyatts, and Sir R. Smirke, he knew little or nothing ; of Sir J. Soane he had some slight knowledge, and from him on one occasion (that of the Islington churches) I believe he received some recommendation ; of his own contem- poraries he knew best Mr. Cockerell and Mr. Tite, and afterwards (partly through Mr. Wolfe) Messrs. Donaldson, Angell, and Poynter — all beginning life, as he was, and struggling, with more or less of ad- vantage, against the same obstacles.
Perhaps a more serious difficulty still was the great change of architectural style in general, and of his own architectural taste in particular, which seemed likely to render valueless much of his pro- fessional study, begun when the ascendancy of the Greek style was still undisputed.
All these obstacles were of course incapable of hindering that ultimate success, which must dej)end essentially on a man's own intellect and character. But they delayed its attainment, long enough to cause him disappointment, and the occasional despondency which belongs to the reaction of a sanguine character. He had begun, as almost all young architects must begin, l:>y the harassing and thankless work of public competition ; in it he had, as usual, his share of failures, embittered perhaps occasionally by the in- evitable suspicions of incompetency or partiality of judgment. At times he even thought of leaving
66 EGYPTIAN SKETCHES. Chap. 111.
London, and settling in a provincial town ; at one time of leaving England, and trying his fortune in the more open field of America. His want of success had also the effect of delaying his marriage, and continu- ing the difiSculties and the discomfort of an already long engagement. For after paying the expenses of his foreign travels, he had little money of his own to fall back upon, while waiting for the first gleam of fortune. All these causes made the first years of his professional career a time of anxiety and struggle, his first real entrance (in fact) on the battle of life. During this critical time he received much encourage- ment and much substantial help from his old masters, Messrs. Middleton and Baily, who still preserved their kindly feeling towards him, and felt proud of the reputation he had already achieved.
A natural way to public notice would have been opened to him by the publication of his Egyptian sketches. They were unique at the time, and had attracted much notice ; his travelling companions, especially Mr. Wyse, urged him to bring them out.* His careful notes would have enabled him to give them something more than an resthetic value. It is clear that he had cherished the idea of bring- ing them before the public. But it happened that in Egypt he had made the acquaintance of Mr. William Bankes of Kingston Hall ; and he appears to have entertained the idea of some publication in conjunction with him. He probably needed a literary coadjutor, and he had been much attracted by Mr.
* I find (for example) that in 1822 he was commissionetl to make a aipy of his drawin^r of the Zodiac at Esneh for n.R.H. the Duke of Sussex.
Chap. III. HOLLAND HOUSE. G7
Bankes's brilliancy and talent. But after much delay and trouble, circumstances prevented the realization of the plan ; and by this time, he probably found that the favourable opportunity had been lost. At any rate he gave up all idea of publication, and to a great extent all care for those sketches which remained in his own possession. For his books are full of blank spaces, and many sketches have been altogether lost to his family.*
For the sake of the world, as well as for his own sake, it must be a subject of regret that he abandoned his project. The Egyptian field has been occupied by men of high talent and extensive knowledge. But probably there are few who would have brought to bear on the subject so much clearness and accuracy of observation, and so entire a freedom from pre- judice. All that he ventured to publish would have been substantial, practical, and trustworthy, and might have been a sure basis for future study and speculation.
At Rome he had made the acquaintance of the Marquis of Lansdowne, who continued to be at all times one of his kindest patrons and friends. Through him he was introduced to Lord and Lady Holland, and became a not unfrequent visitor in the society for which Holland House was then famous. There he first met many noblemen of the Whig party, who showed him great kindness, and many of the distin- guished literary men and nrtists of the day. He
* In November, 1832, he contributed several sketches for the engravings in Finden's Bible Illustrations, but these give little idea of the style of his original sketches.
F 2
68 FIRST ESSAYS IN GOTniC. Chap. III.
;ip]")reciated most highly these intellectual and social intliicnccs; for liis interest was keen and comprehen- sive, though his study was chiefly confined to his own profession. He enjoyed literary and scientific, at least as much as artistic society, and certainly pos- sessed the faculty, peculiar to men of quick observa- tion and clearness of conception, of understanding raj^idly, and of seeing in their most important bear- ings, subjects on which he had no special experience or knowledge. Holland House therefore gave him great enjoyment and encouragement, and produced occasionally some substantial results of work. From his host and hostess he received such kindness as he could never forget.
Still, however, he was working on without much success. The Gothic style, though as yet little under- stood in its real principles, was now asserting its claims, especially for ecclesiastical purposes ; and some stimulus had been given to ecclesiastical architecture (such as it then was) by the erection of the " Commis- sioners' Churches." * To this style he had never paid sufficient attention ; he had now to become a student ; and he threw himself into the new study with charac- teristic diligence and perseverance. His first essays were not very successful, though certainly not below the average of the time ; he used to think and speak of them afterwards with a humorous kind of indigna- tion ; he carefully destroyed every drawing relating
* Church architects seem to have Leon beset then, as now, hy the tendency of their clients to extensive requirements on very limited resources. He speaks of a clergyman, who had some negotiation with him at this time, "as an Evan<:!elical i^reacher, with a great idea of building " cliurches for notliing."
Chap. III. MANCHESTER CHURCHES. G9
to them, and would have still more gladly destroyed the originals. Up to the day of his death he felt that he was continually advancing in knowledge of Grothic, and was unsparing in the criticism of his own earlier work.
The event proved that he had judged rightly. His first works of any consequence were two churches built for the Commissioners, one at Prestwich, and the other at Campfield, Manchester.* His letters show the exultation with which he hailed the first success, and the complacency with which he regarded his first church designs, a complacency justified by the high opinion formed of them by others, but destined to undergo a woful change in after years, when these churches served as a continual subject of laughter to his friend Mr. Pugin and to himself.f
The first stone of the Prestwich Church was laid by Lord Wilton,! on the 3rd of August, 1822, and that of the Manchester Church (Campfield) by the Bishop of Chester, on the 12tli of the same month. The designs seem to have been then well received, and to have given him his introduction to Manchester, where he found warm friends (especially the late Sir J.
* He had previously made designs for the alteration of Stoke Newiugtou church.
t He used to retaliate by reference to Mr, Piigiu's early work at Windsor Castle, which certainly gave him full opportunity for retort.
J An amusing incident occurred on this occasion. The freemasons of the parish claimed the right of laying the stone, which the clergy not un- naturally contested. After the ceremony began, music was heard in the distance, and down came a body of freemasons in full costume, ready to take all by storm. The workmen were prepared to resist ; but a parley ensued, and the freemasons allowed the ceremony to go on without dis- turbance, on condition of performing their own mystic rites afterwards.
70 HIS MARRIAGE. Chap. 111.
Potter), and afterwards did a good deal of work. They, of course, showed little acquaintance with the spirit of Gothic detail. But they were considered to have elegance of proportion, and some originality of design. The fronts of churches appeared to him deficient in extension, and he attempted to obtain this by means of an arcaded porch at Manchester, as after- wards at Brighton by spreading the lower part of the tower. In this, as in other points, he carried out principles fixed in his own mind, without shrinking from ecclesiological heresies. On the other hand, in spite of his admiration for the horizontal lines and regular forms of Egyptian and Greek architecture, he entered so thoroughly into the vertical principle of Gothic, that he felt unsatisfied in carrying out any Gothic building without a spire. In his first church at Prestwich, as afterwards at Brighton, he did his utmost to secure the erection of one, though in both cases economical considerations prevailed against the architect's protest. In his last work at the New Palace at Westminster, as soon as he felt himself " master of the situation," the castellated character of the original design faded away, and a forest of spires sprang up, which he at times longed to comj^lete by some spire-like erection on the Victoria Tower itself.
His success with regard to these churches was the more welcome, inasmuch as it enabled him at last to conclude his marriage, on the 7th of December, 1822, and thus to enter on the domestic life which he so much desired and prized. The small house in Ely Place continued for a time to be his home. Economy was still a necessity, and in that economy he had a
Chap. III. ALARM AT PRESTWICH CHURCH. 71
prudent and affectionate coadjutrix. But, indeed, except for his art, he was never lavish ; and in spite of his enterprising and sanguine temperament, he had a horror of embarrassment and debt.
The work at Manchester seemed to be the first entrance on his long career of professional success. He was appointed, in March, 1823, architect for the erection of another church at Oldham, somewhat on the same scale and style as those already built. A commission was also given him to prejDare drawings and plans for some alterations and enlargement of St. Martin's, Outwich, which were afterwards carried out under his superintendence.
In the midst of it there came an alarm which would have overwhelmed a nervous architect, though it foiled to disturb his equanimity to any serious extent. Soon after the opening of his church at Prestwich there came an express from Manchester, stating that one of the galleries had shown signs of falling dur- ing service, that the congregation had rushed out in panic, and that many were seriously hurt. By the time the then tedious journey to Manchester was over, the report had grown into " Stand Church fallen, 300 "killed and wounded." It turned out that a small hair crack had appeared in the plaster in consequence of too rapid drying. A man under the gallery per- ceived it, and fancied that it widened rapidly, where- upon he shouted out, " The church is falling ! " The consequence of this sapient proceeding was a sudden rush to the doors, at one of which the steps had not yet been fixed. Down went the temporary steps, and tlie congregation over them. Happily but few
72 RELINQUISHMENT OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE. Chap. 111.
were Imrt, and ihose not seriously ; so the architect's reputation escaped.
Meanwliile he was constantly at work. In the year 1823 he entered into tlie competition for the new buildings at King's College, Cambridge, his friend Mr. Wolfe being also a competitor. The building was to be either Grecian or Gotliic. In spite of the (jenius loci, he proposed a Greek building, thinking that a classical style (for which the Fellows' Building afforded a precedent) would be less likely to invite comparison with the overwhelming grandeur of the chapel. Besides, in Gothic he was still weak, and somewhat inclined, after the fashion of the day, to restrict its employment to ecclesiastical purposes. In this com- jjetition he experienced a failure, probably fortunate enough for his reputation ; for he never looked back on his design with any satisfaction, and, in fact, his attachment to Greek was gradually giving way. He felt that, for modern j^urposes, the style was not suffi- ciently plastic. Excejjt on a grand scale, and in a commanding position, with full command of poly- chromy and of sculpture, the Greek portico seemed to him to lose its original efiect, and become flat and insipid.
He did not indeed suddenly relinquish the style which in his early days he had regarded as the per- fection of beauty and truth, nor did he fail to show that he had really grasped the principles on which this truth and beauty depended. In 1824 he built the Royal Institution of Fine Arts at Manchester, an edifice of considerable size and importance. On this building it was remarked, in the ' Builder' of May
Chap. III. ROYAL INSTITUTION AT MANCHESTER. 73
loth, 18C0, shortly after his death,—" The building " was of great importance, historically speaking, and " in the results which it produced. By contrast with " the pseudo-Greek, which was general in public build- " ings, and which in Manchester had even degenerated " from the time of Harrison, it presented what was at " once Greek derivatively, or Greco-Roman in details "and impress, and yet was work new or original — " work of art and mind. The portico, as a feature of " architecture, was used and not spoiled ; that feature "and remainder of the building were grouped to- " gether, whereas in Greek of that day a portico was " often tacked on to a many-windowed fa9ade ; the " staircase hall, grand in proportions within, and cul- " minating to a central feature of the exterior, was the " forerunner of later efforts of the kind by the same " architect and by others." And even after he had given up the erection of buildings in the Greek style, it was remarked, with great truth, that "his feeling " for the subtle beaut}^ of Greek architecture never "left him, and jDrobably contributed in no slight " degree to give that air of finish and refinement to " his works which so greatly distinguished them."
In 1831 he made a Greek design, of great massive- ness and grandeur, for the Birmingham Town Hall — a building which had the needful advantages of scale and position.*
* Tliis design -was uot carried out. But I believe it was tbe only design of the kind among those sent in by the competing architects. As a matter of fact, the whole competition was practically set aside, in favour of a firm, who otfered to unite the functions of architect and builder, and erect a building in Anglesey marble for whatever other firms might ask for its erection in stone. The building carried out by them is a Greek temple.
74 ST. PETER'S CHURCH, BRIGHTON. Chap. III.
But with these exceptions, he did httle in the style to which his early studies had been given. Practical experience confirmed the doubts which had already been suggested by theory; and he saw that Gothic and Italian had the mastery of the field.*
His most imj^ortant work of this period in the former style was St. Peter's Church at Brighton. The o^jportunity was considerable ; the competition exceed- ingly severe, and his victory was a subject of great delight and encouragement to him. A hurried note to his wife announced, August 4th, 1823, the day when the result was proclaimed, as the " proudest day " of his existence," likely to be the " entrance on a " brilliant career." Nor were these expectations alto- gether groundless. The church was much admired at the time, not undeservedly, for it was a decided step in advance, though the greater knowledge of Gothic in the present day will hardly altogether endorse con- temporary criticisms. He himself in after days naturally felt dissatisfied with the faults of detail and the mixture of styles admitted therein ; and his archi- tectural conscience felt a strong and characteristic repugnance to the aisle windows, on the ground that, being in one height, they sinned against " truth " in giving no indication of the galleries within. But his greatest cause of regret always was the absence of the
The feelings of the competing architects may be easily imagined, for these are the things which make competition a thankless and sometimes a hope- less work.
* At a much later period, as will be seen, he made a Greek design for the proposed Law Courts in Lincoln's-inn-Fields. Here also the require- ments for the true application of Greek principles of architecture were fulfilled by the circumstances of the case.
Chap. 111. SUSSEX COUNTY HOSPITAL. 75
spire, with a view to which the tower was expressly designed. He did his best to fight against the econo- mical veto put on its erection, and always considered that the want of it did much injustice to his first important Gothic design.* But he had, on the whole, little reason to be dissatisfied. The design showed a marked advance, as compared with those of the earlier churches, and secured to him a good position in the ranks of church architects.
The erection of this church opened a new field to him at Brighton. Several minor works gave scope to his activity, and supplied welcome aid to his exchequer. He built Brunswick Chapel for Dr. Everard, a gentleman who appreciated his talents, and showed him very great kindness. Some other chapels and dwelling-houses he built or altered ; of the Sussex County Hospital he designed the centre, to be at once erected as a portion of a larger design. The first stone was laid by Lord Egremont in March, 1826. Large additions were, however, made by other hands in the shape of wings, which entirely altered the proportions of the whole mass. He became also known to Lord Egremont in August, 1824, and was a not unfrequent partaker of the generous hospitality of Petworth Castle. For him he almost rebuilt Pet- worth Church in 1827, and added a new spire to the restored building.
At this time he also became acquainted with Mr. Attree, a solicitor of considerable eminence and in-
* After the completion of the church he returned to the charge. As late as 1841 I find a notice of his designing a spire to be added to the existing tower.
7G QUEEN'S PARK, BRIGHTON. Chap. III.
fliience in Brighton, who was, then and afterwards, one of Ids sincerest friends. For him he undertook the laying out of a considerable tract of land as a park, to be called the Queen's Park, and to be por- tioned out in villas — all designed in the Italian style. Of such detached villa residences there was great scarcity, and the scheme had every prospect of success. But the co-operation of the owners of adjacent pro- perty could not be gained, and in consequence no good access from the cliff was possible. Hence the Queen's Park has never been so well known and frequented, as from its beautiful situation might have been expected. Only Mr. Attree's house was built, on the plan of an Italian villa, excellently adapted to modern English requirements. Near it was a circular tower in the same style, intended to cover a hori- zontal wind-wheel for raising water. The work deserves notice as his earliest essay in the style in which he first gained his fame, and which to the last (in spite of the Gothicists) he maintained to be in some respects peculiarly fit for mansions of the present day. Small as it was, it was designed with as much care and finish as any of his larger works. In it for the first time he had an opportunity of carrying out his ideas of " architectural gardening," as the house was set in a terrace-garden, with small fountains and pretty loggie, after the Italian manner. It led indirectly to a Uirger work of the same kind. The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland (to whom he had been introduced at Holland House) saw it, and were struck with the elegance and refinement of the design. From this impression resulted liis subsequent
Chap. III. ISLINGTON CHURCHES. 77
employment to carry out the greater works at Trent- ham.
Meanwhile the clmrch-building' movement con- timied, and in that movement he found much occupa- tion. In 182G he was employed by the Rev. Daniel Wilson, Rector of Islington (afterwards Bishop of Calcutta), to erect three churches in Islington — at Holloway, Ball's Pond, and Cloudesley Square. These were churches of considerable scale, and no small expense ; * but in them, as in so many other churches of the time, little was effected compared with what could now be done for the same sum. In 1829 he built a chapel and schools at Saffron Hill, London.
It was at this time only of his professional career that he was much employed in the building of churches. The consequence is that, although his churches were fully up to the mark of their period, they cannot take their place among his imjDortant works, or be considered to form any important step in architectural progress.
It was not merely that at this time Grothic detail and Grothic principles of design were compara- tively unknown. But church architecture, as such, was only in the infancy of its revival, inasmuch as its symbolism was neglected, and the true proportion and meaning of its various features ill understood. Churches w^ere regarded very much as " auditoria," or preaching-houses — for the sermon still usurped a pre-eminence obscuring the other great elements of public worship. It was not wonderful that in their
* They cost 11,890Z., 10,947?., and 11,535Z. respectively, sums whicli many a church architect would consider liberal now.
78 OPINIONS ON CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. Chap. III.
design a want of power to enter into the true jDrinciples of church architecture was often betrayed, eitlier by slavish adoption of tliat which was now meaningless, or by innovations which outraged the whole harmony of its grand idea. The minds of men have since been awakened to truer conceptions of the church and of its worship, and the progress of thought is seen in that advance of art, which has left behind the works of an earlier period. But architects, unlike other artists, cannot destroy the crude conceptions, which are their steps towards perfec- tion.
Mr. Barry's architectural career soon led him in another direction. This was probably not a mere accident, for it may be doubted whether his mind was such as to enter very deeply into the principles of church architecture, or at any rate into the particular development which such architecture has received. He himself felt strongly that the forms of mediaeval art, beautiful as they are, do not always adapt them- selves thoroughly to the needs of a service which is essentially one of " Common Prayer." Deep chancels, high rood-screens, and (in less degree) pillared aisles, seemed to him to belong to the worship and institu- tions of the past rather than the present. Time- honoured as they were, he would have in some degree put them aside, and, accepting G-othic as the style for church architecture, he would have pre- ferred those forms of it, which secured uninterrupted space, and gave a perfect sense of unity in the con- gregation, even at the cost of sacrificing features beautiful in themselves, and perhaps of interfering
CnAi>. III. OriNIONS ON CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 79
with the " dim rehgious light " of impressiveness and solemnity.*
It still remains to be seen, whether the value of these principles will not yet be felt, and asserted more forcibly in the church architecture of the future, and whether the actual requirements of our service will not prevail over the beauty of special features and the power of old associations. But in the stage, through which ecclesiastical architecture was passing in the days of his active work, " correctness" was everything, and any innovations were ruthlessly hunted down as heretical. The stage was a very useful and necessary one ; but it was rather preparatory than final, and there are already signs that it is passing away, and giving place to greater freedom and originality of treatment.!
All these works gave him constant occupation, and were gradually carrying him on through the first struggle of life to pecuniary independence. The improvement of his circumstances was shown by his removal in 1827 to 27, Foley Place, Cavendish Square — a house more desirable in situation, and better fitted for his increasing family.
Still he found time for much subsidiary work. Then, as afterwards, it was his practice never to neglect or despise anything. In October, 1824, he
* On these points, as maj^ be expected, he differed widely from his friend Mr. Pugin, and warm discussions of principle often arose in consequence.
t I can remember his calling attention to the octagonal form of Sta. Maria della Salute at Venice as capable of supplying a hint for English church-building, and referring to certain forms of Norman and Early English, as well fitted, by their spaciousness and unity of effect, for our congregational requirements.
80 SUBSIDIARY WORK. Ohap. III.
undertook to make or correct a j^lan of Lambeth parish — a work in wliich no doubt his old local know- ledge stood him in good stead ; and in the next year he thought it worth his while to survey an estate in Dulwich. Nor did he shrink from the labour of pre- paring designs for competitions, or on the chance of professional employment. In March, 1824, he was busy upon a design for the "National Scotch Church;" in 1825 he sent in designs for the Leeds Exchange, and for the erection of a church at Ken- sington. The year 1828 seems to have been one of great activity. In it he prepared no less than four different designs in the competition for the Pitt Press at Cambridge ; in the same year we find records of designs for three very different buildings — the Law Institution, a new concert-room at Manchester, and a new church at Streatham ; while at the same time he was working hard at the design for the Travellers' Club, the building which, more than any other of the period, secured him at once a high position in the architectural profession. His life at this time, as at all others, tells the story of work and enterprise, with the drawback of repeated failures, and the encouragement of occasional success. Such practical work was gradually absorbing the time hitherto given to artistic study. But he still found time for occasional archi- tectural tours, in whicli, of coui-se, his sketch-book was seldom out of his hand, for an ehaborate plan and drawings of Jerusalem, in 1823, and for a drawing of a building, which he greatly admired, the cathedral at Palermo, contributed to a Leeds exhil)ition in May, 1825. For his life was at this time full of activity
CiiAP. III. TRAVELLERS' CLUB. 81
and a sanguine hope, which gave zest to its hard work.
But the building which first gained him high reputation, and which even now holds a high place among his works, was the Travellers' Club. He entered into a select competition for its erection in the year 1829. In sending in his designs he had great mis- givings as to success ; for, though he felt confident that the building would be satisfactory if erected, he thought that in the drawing it would be too plain to be attractive. Fortunately he was mistaken ; and no sooner was the building carried out, than its erection was recognised as a real and important step in artistic progress. Italian architecture was already making its way in England ; but it was observed at the time by a favourable critic, that " Barry's Italian differed from " much of that which had preceded it, as the perfection " of language differs from mere patois," The work itself was noticed by those interested in the revival of the Italian style, as a practical protest against the identification of that style in England with what is " little more than one mode of it, namely, the Palla- " dian, which, if not the most vicious and extravagant, " is almost the poorest and the most insipid." The chief points of novelty noticed in it were the large proportion of the solid wall to the windows, and the striking effect of the great cornice.* " There is no "single distinctive mark" (it was said) "which more
* Mr. Ferguson, in his ' History of Architecture,' notes in the same way the prominence of the cornice as the characteristic feature of Mr. Barry's Italian ; but, by a slight chronological error, refers to the alteration of the College of Surgeons, designed in 1833, as the eai'liest instance of it, and to the Travellers' Club as a later design.
Q
82 ITS PECULIAR FEATURES. Chap. III.
" forcibly characterizes the difference between the " Palladian school and that whicli preceded it, than " the cornicione employed by the older artists to crown "their fa9ades. It was reserved for Mr. Barry to "introduce the cornicione here, and its value as an " architectural feature may be said to have been since "admitted by acclamation. That the example thus " set has not been lost upon us is already tolerably " evident." * But the great charm of the building was attributed with justice to the beautiful simplicity of its design (according, as it did, so well with the comparatively small size of the building), and the exquisite proportion and finish of all its parts.f In it, as in all Mr. Barry's designs, there was not a line which had not been carefully and even elaborately studied, and the apparent ease and simplicity of the result, while it might lead the ignorant to wonder what there was in it to be called original, showed to competent critics the presence of the " ars celare artem," which is pre-eminently the characteristic of genius.
The woodcut on the opposite page gives the eleva- tion of the garden-front, and the plan of the jDrincipal floor. With regard to the latter, there is little to
* Studies and examples of the Alodern School of English Architecture, by W. H. Leeds. (Weale, 1839.)
t 'The Kevue de I'Arcliitecture,' edited by M. Cdsar Daly, contained in vol. i., 1840, pp. 333, 334, a careful description (with illustrations) of the Travellers' Club. Its criticism concludes as follows: — "Le defjiut qu' " on pent adresser avec raison au plus grand nombre des travaux d'architcc- " ture en Angletcrre, est le pen de soin ajiport^ dans I'e'tude des details; sous " ce rapport M. Charles Rarry forme une exception. II suflit d'examiner la " feuille des details du monument qui nous occii|ie pour yreconnaitre les "qualit^s d'un artiste consciencieux, qui ^tudie toutes les parties en elles- " memes et dans leur rapport avec I'ensemble."
=fc==^;t
SCALE OF lO S O
10 20 JO 40 SO 60 ri
THE TBAVELLEKS' CLUB HOUSE, PALL MALL, LONDON.
PLAN OF THE PRINCIPAL FIOOR.
S a
o o 3;
Chap. III. COMPARISON WITH VILLA PANDOLFINI. 83
notice, except the care for finisli and detail, which has been remarked as eminently characteristic of its author. The position of the door at one extremity of the street front was acknowledged by him to be a blemish, inconsistent with the symmetrical principle of his design, but forced upon him by considerations of convenience, and the very small frontage at his com- mand. The grouping of the central windows on the garden front was also an innovation on the principle of the regular Italian front, but it was one of a totally different kind. It was thoroughly in accordance with the main idea of symmetry, while it gave life to that symmetry by tlie evidence of artistic design, and it should be added, that it is as successful and convenient, in relation to the internal arrangement, as it is grace- ful externally. It was noticed and approved of at once by all critics.
The success of the design being undoubted, it naturally followed that its claims to originality were disputed. The garden front was acknowledged to be original and singularly beautiful, but the street front was asserted to be a mere copy of the Villa Pandolfini. On this point it may be better to quote the words of one in the highest degree competent to give an opinion. " The Pall Mall front has been characterized b}^ super- " ficial observers as a copy, with slight modifica- " tions, from Raflfaelle's Pandolfini Palace at Florence. " One moment's comparison of the two elevations will " suffice to entirely dispel the idea. The Pandolfini " Palace has, in common with the Travellers' Club- " house, only the accidents of being two-storied, "having rusticated angles, and a doorway at the
g'2
84 GENERAL QUESTION Chap. 111.
" extreme riglit-hand of the ground-floor of the prin- " cipal fa9ade. In every other respect the dissimi- " larities are most striking ; the proportions of the " windows are about one-tliird narrower in the Tra- " vellers' than they are in the Pandolfini ; in the " former they are Ionic on the first-floor and Doric " on the ground-floor ; while in the latter they are " Corinthian on the first-floor, and have simply re- '* turned architraves and no order on the ground- " floor. The four windows on the first-floor of the " Florentine fiiQade are surmounted with alternately " angular and segmental pediments, and united by " panels in the interspaces, and by horizontal mem- " bers ; while the five of the Pall Mall building are " precisely uniform, and the wall is entirely free from " panelling, and the running through of any one of " the members forming or decorating the fenestration " above the cill-level. One of the leading features in " the Pandolfini is its deep plain frieze, adorned only " with a simple classic-looking inscription ; while in " the entablature of the Travellers' Chib the frieze is " reduced to so small a proportion, and is so highly " carved, as in fact to do duty rather as an enriched " member of the cornice, than as a distinctive frieze " at all." *
This question of originality, always recurring in the career of every great artist, in fact of every dis- tinguished man, is often most inconsiderately handled. It is clear that the progressiveness of man depends on the power, which each generation has, of using and
* Extracted from a paper read at the Institute of British Architects, May 21st, 1860, by M. Digby Wyatt, Esq., V.P.
Chap. HI. OF ORIGINALITY. 85
modifying the work of its predecessors. Every great epoch in science and in art has had its period of anticipation and preparation. It is the characteristic of genius to create out of materials common and well known to all ; and its creations are universally re- cognised and accepted, as the clear and beautiful expression of that which is vaguely felt by the generality of men. If a man, in order to be original, defies established principles, and despises the trea- sures of the past, he voluntarily places himself on a level below that which has been already attained by humanity. Originality, in the true sense of the word, implies that ideas and suggestions from without shall be truly appreciated, studied, and reproduced with the stamp of native thought and imagination upon them, to individualize what is general, and to harmonize materials in themselves crude or un- congenial. Then, and generally speaking not till then, can we hope for a new creation, which shall be true, and therefore permanent, in harmony with that which has gone before, and therefore capable of striking a new key-note not unaccordant with the old.
In this sense it cannot be denied that Mr. Barry's work was original. Simple details excepted, he copied little or nothing. Every design was con- ceived and moulded into shape, before he referred to a book or drawing. His mind was teeming with the stores of memory ; but, when he borrowed an idea either from the works of the past or the advice and criticism of the present, it was sure to be modified or replaced by some fresh kindred idea
86 GENERAL LIFE AND Chap. IIL
of liis own. External influence was with liim only suggestive ; it set his mind in motion, but did not dictate the direction in which it should proceed. " Where we have an opportunity " (says the memoir already quoted) "of tracing the progress of his "thoughts through a series of studies for any parti- "cular building, we find the work growing, as it "were, evenly under his hand from the slightest "generalization in the first small-scale sketch, to " the plotted-out bay or repeat, and subsequently to " the large-scale detail ; then back again to another " general elevation, to see how far that particular " detail will work well in combination, then altered "according to the result of that test, and roughed " out again on a large scale to make sure of the " effect of the parts when near the eye, and so on, "till his fastidious judgment would be almost be- "wildered under the multiplying and conflicting " impressions produced by tlie various studies. The " man who works perseveringly in this way may at " least make sure of two things — that his work will " be good, and that it will be his own."*
What is here so well said as to his work generally, is true of the Travellers' Club in particular. It was certainly like nothing which had preceded it in Eng-
* On this point, it was remarked by the ' Building News,' immediately alter his death (May 18th, 1860), — " It is the i)erfection of invention to " invest with novelty that which is old, to adapt what has hitherto been "useless, to make artistic that which is commonplace, and to impart life "and beauty to dead forms. Greater inventive powers are required to " accomplisli this transfonnation than perhaps to devise new forms, which " will never move or have their being. . . . Critics who prefer the charge "of copyism against him probably mistake eccentricity tor originality ; in " that sense Sir Charles was never original, for he was never eccentric.''
Chap. III. HABITS AT THIS PERIOD. 87
land ; it was certainly recognised as a model for future imitation or guidance. These two facts alone stamp the design as having a real place in archi- tectural progress, and justify its being regarded as that, which first secured to its author a position among those who have deserved well of the cause of Art.
Meanwhile adverse criticisms did not weigh very heavily on his mind. He felt that by the new build- ing he had become a man of mark, and had produced a decided effect on the growth and improvement of Italian architecture in the country. He was steadily advancing in prosperity, having passed through the period of doubt and difficulty, which besets the open- ing of most artistic lives.
His private life and tastes were simple enough. He appreciated the higher class of society into which he was thrown, and more particularly the peculiar brilliancy which distinguished that of Holland House. But he never was so thoroughly attracted by it as to feel quite at home there ; probably, in England at any rate, few artists can be so. He came back with constant relief and pleasure to the quiet of his own fireside, and the society of his wife and children. In- creasing work shortened his time of amusement and relaxation ; for, as the day was taken up with busi- ness, the morning and evening became the times of composition and study : but at these times he neither needed nor liked solitude ; music, in which he greatly delighted, was always a welcome accompaniment to his drawing, and even conversation failed to disturb him. When the opportunity for amusement came, he
88 GENERAL LIFE AND HABITS. Chap. 111.
could always throw himselt' into it with all the delig-lit of a schoolboy. These days were the palmy days of" the London Theatre, and in theatrical enter- tainments he always took the greatest pleasure, and found in them, as I suppose most hard-worked men do, the most complete relaxation and change of idea. But of all evening occu2:)ations, which his work left him time to enjoy, he cared most for those afforded by scientific and literary institutions. At the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street, while he lived in London, he was a most regular attendant.
This time seems to have been, not indeed the most famous, but perhaps the ha])j)iest and most hopeful period of his life. With good health and spirits he entered with equal zest into hard work and complete relaxation ; he saw his way opening before him, and had not as yet had that experience of disappointment, injustice, and misrepresentation, which every public man must expect, and from which he was not to be exempt hereafter.
( «9 )
CHAPTER IV.
CHIEF ITALIAN "W^ORKS.
Plan of the Chapter. (A.) Original Buildings — Varieties of his Italian style — First manner — Reform Club — Manchester Athenaeum — New wing at Trentham — Second manner — Bridgewater House — Third manner — Halifax Tuwu-hall. (B.) Conversions and Alterations — College of Surgeons — Walton House — Highclere House — Board of Trade — Architectural gardening — Trentham Hall — Buncombe Park — Harewood House — Shrubland Park — Cliefden House — Laying out of Trafalgar Square. (C.) Designs carried out by others — Keyham Factory — Ambassador's Palace at Constantinople — General remarks on his Italian architecture.
The steps by which Mr. Barry won his way to a high professional position have been narrated in chronological order. For the period of his life, from 1821 to 1829, is the one which is in itself most interesting and suggestive to those entering on a professional career.
It shows clearly enough, even by the variety of his designs, the fertility and versatile character of his mind and his unwearied energy of work. It illus- trates the difficulties and disappointments, which pre- sent themselves at the outset of most professional careers. It is not uninteresting to remark the com- paratively fruitless character of its earlier years, and the rapid increase of work towards its close, an increase which continued with progressive rapidity till the great work at Westminster absorbed all his
90 PLAN OF THE CHAPTER. Ciiai-. IV.
time and powers. If the lesson which it reads is not uncommon, yet it is at the same time one which never loses its value and interest.
But after this time his life had few vicissitudes. It became more and more absorbed in actual work, and its progress was marked, not by years or by events, but by the buildings which rose everywhere under his hand.
It seems better therefore to neglect the order of time, so as to follow only the connexion of subject, and endeavour to group together in some intelli- gible arrangement the various works which he was called upon to execute. The New Palace at West- minster will demand a separate treatment of its own.
Tlie present chapter wnll be devoted to a notice of his chief works in the Italian style, both public and private buildings. The success of the Travellers' Club naturally turned his attention principally to this style for some time. In it, perhaps even to the last, he worked with the greatest pleasure ; and pro- bably, if the choice had been left to him, without any influence of external authority or local association, it would have been the style of his New Palace.
His Italian works accordingly are numerous,* and naturally divide themselves into two classes : the first, of buildings erected by him ; the next, of buildings which he was called upon to alter, to an extent often amounting to a complete transformation. Some brief notice may also be necessary of buildings for the designs of which he was consulted, although the execution of the designs was not under his direction.
* A list, which is believed to be completo, is added iu the Appeudix.
Chap. IV. VARIETIES OF ITALIAN STYLE. 91
The first class of designs is not very numerous compared with the second. This might have been partly accidental, but it probably was due in great measure to his own fertility of resource, and the keen eye which he had for the capabilities of existing buildings. As he seldom admired any building un- reservedly, so he seldom despaired of any, even of those which most men would have condemned as hopeless. When he was consulted therefore by pub- lic bodies or by private individuals, who needed additional accommodation, or desired greater archi- tectural effect, he could generally strike out some plan of alteration which satisfied both requirements, while it appeared less costly than the erection of a new building, and preserved something of the charm of old associations. It may be questioned whether more real originality is shown in the design of what is absolutely new, than in the power of impressing a new character on old materials, l^ut he used to re- gret the comparative fewness of his opportunities of erecting new buildings, unconscious that it was in some degree due to his remarkable power of giving fresh life to the old,
(A). It is, however, in his original buildings that his principles of Italian design can be most clearly traced. Those principles remained essentially un- altered. No competent eye can ever fail to recog- nise his hand. But he had certainly different " manners," and these are most distinctly impressed upon the Italian buildings which he erected de novo. The first manner is that of his Travellers' and Ee- form Clubs, and to it belong the new wing which he
92 REFORM CLUB. Chap. IV.
erected at Trentham and the Manchester Athenaeum. The second is marked in Bridgewater House. The third is distinctly seen in one of his last designs, the design for the erection of the Halifax Town- hall, which was carried out after his death. It must, of course, remain uncertain how far it would have been modified in process of execution, had he lived to see the work complete.
Reform Club. — The Travellers' Club was com- pleted in 1831. Since that time the great competition for the New Palace at Westminster had been decided, and his success had secured him a place in the first rank of British architects. In 1837 he was called upon to enter a select competition with Messrs. Basevi, Blore, Burton, Cockerell, and Smirke, for the erection of the Reform Club. His design was almost unanimously chosen. He felt some difficulty in designing a building of such superior magnitude in the same Italian style, side by side wath his favourite Travellers'. He would gladly have varied it as much as possible, but he could not bring himself to depart from the " astylar " style ; for of engaged orders he never thoroughly approved. The Farnese Palace was doubtless in his mind during the concej)tion of this design, and a charge of plagiarism has been grounded upon certain superficial resemblances, in the same way and with the same injustice as in the comparison of the Travellers' Club with the Yilla Pandolfini.*
In this Club-house, as the sides were liable to be seen at the same time, an almost complete uniformity
* See p. 9 of Mr. Digby Wyatt's Mcmuir, already referred to.
llNlll.lll I I I I I I I I H
SCALTOr /O £ O fO 2a JO 40 so 60 70 SO OO FT
HEFOBM CLUB HOUSE, PALL MALL, IX)NDON.
FLAN OF THE GRODND FLOOR.
Chap. IV. CHARACTER OF THE DESIGN. 93
of design was preserved throughout the three visihle fronts. To complete breaks of design under such circumstances he had a rooted objection; he would ratlier risk monotony, than break unity and give the effect (so often seen in Venice) of fagades merely " applied " to a building. Here, as in the Travel- lers' Club, simplicity, solidity, and repose, were the great objects aimed at. The entrance seemed to some to want importance ; he tried (in deference to advice) columns and pilasters ; a porch he would not hear of, for it seemed to him a mere excrescence. But the design so enlarged seemed out of harmony with the windows ; it appeared to break the unity of the design, and the entrance was therefore left in its present simplicity.
In criticizing his own design, he greatly regretted that he could not give to his upper windows an importance commensurate with that of the lower stories, such as is found in the three full stories of the Farnese Palace. He also took blame to himself because, for want of some relief, the columns flanking his windows appeared to be embedded in the wall. He would have gladly given more boldness to the dressings of the lower windows, and possibly more size to the windows throughout. With these ex- ceptions, he continued satisfied with his design, and public opinion has certainly continued to confirm that satisfaction.
In the original plan the central portion of the interior was occupied by an open Italian cortile. A roof thrown over this converted it into the magnifi- cent Central Hall, which is now one of the greatest
94 CENTRAL HATX. Chap. IV.
ornaments of the building. A rival design (Mr. Cockereirs) had a Central Hall. It is possible that this may have first suggested the idea to the success- ful architect. But considerations of convenience and suitability to an English climate would have been sufficient to recommend such a step, and little change after all was made, except the addition of the roof.
It will be easily seen that the grand effect of a Central Hall, which became afterwards a leading feature in his Italian designs, cannot be obtained without considerable sacrifice. It is liable to inter- fere with the due provision of light and air for the basement story, and, in spite of much skill in con- trivance, this defect may be traced in the case of the Reform Club. It is likely also to interfere with the existence of a grand central staircase, as it does in this case and at Bridgewater House. But it was a peculi- arity of Mr. Barry's plans that he seldom gave up much space to a grand staircase. As afterwards at the New Palace at Westminster, he was apt to consider such space as comparatively wasted, and to think a more effective use might be made of it for a great hall or gallery. At the Reform Club certainly he never reo:retted the sacrifice needful to secure his maornificent Central Hall.
With the internal decoration Mr. Barry took great pains, but felt great compunction in the use of imi- tations (scagliola and painting) in the place of real marbles and other precious materials Necessity com- pelled the " imposture," for, even as it was, the expense was great, and (in the opinion of some members of the Club) excessive. But with carte
t= o
Hi «
(4 (^
Chap. TV. INTERNAL TLAN. 95
hlanche as to expenditure, be would liav^e expelled every trace of it, and have rivalled the examples of gorgeous decoration, which had struck him in Italy.
This Club was remarkable for the great attention paid to internal convenience. More particularly the kitchen department, in which the enthusiasm and knowledge of M. Soyer were allowed full scope, was held to be a model of excellence. The whole has been named (by Mr. Digby Wyatt) as an example, that " the most minute attention to comfort, and the " satisfactory working of utilitarian necessities, are " compatible with the exercise of the most delicate " sense of refinement, and the hardihood of genius.*'
The annexed illustration gives a perspective view from the west (taken from Pall Mall), and a plan of the ground floor. The chief point notable in the latter is the careful attention to absolute symmetry of arrangement, — the centres of doors, colonnades, en- trances to staircases and the like, being all made to balance with one another. The espacement of the windows, dictated by the external design, was also made to adapt itself symmetrically to each room, and in no case was recourse had to the device of blank windows — a device to which, though not uncommon in ancient and modern examples of Italian, Mr. Barry had a decided objection. Another point is the careful provision of direct lines of communication by cor- ridors, and the picturesque treatment in many cases of their termination. Generally speaking, it will be found that it unites stateliness and architectural symmetry with great cheerfulness and practical convenience.
96 MANCHESTER ATHENiEUM. Chap. IV.
The building, as a wliole, was a decided success. Grander in scale than the Travellers* Club, it carried out more thoroughly and emphatically the principles of design, wliich had made the former building famous. Its exterior, perhaps, produced less effect on the public, for the earlier design had preoccupied the ground of originality. But it established Mr. Barry in the first rank of Italian architecture, and showed, alike by its points of similarity and its points of difference, that his former success had not been a happy accident. On the interior the difference of scale told for more than on the exterior. In the Travellers' elegance and comfort alone could be aimed at. In the Reform Club there was an oppor- tunity of adding grandeur, without destroying the former characteristics. No one could doubt that the opportunity had been nobly used. At the time of its erection the building stood almost alone, as a model to foreigners of what a great English Club could be. Other buildings have risen since on the same or even on a grander scale, both as to size and magnificence of ornament ; but still it may be doubted whether its high position has been impaired.*
Manchester Athen^um. — The Manchester Athe- n96um, as has been said, belongs to this period of his Italian style. The exterior is plain, for it has no
* It liapi^eued curiously enough that he was near being emploj-ed for the new building of the Carlton Club, adjoining and rivalling the Reform Ciub. He was invited by the committee to enter a select competition for it ; and when lie declined to do so, and the appointment of architect was put to the vote, Messrs. Basevi and Smirke were preferred only by a flight majority (220 votes against 210).
BRIDGEWATER HOUSE, LONDON
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Chap. 1Y. BEIDOKWATEH HOUSE. 07
great advantage of position, and economy was an object ; but in its refinement of detail and perfection it is as characteristic as his greater works. In the interior there was one remarkable feature involvinjx some bold and even hazardous construction. The confined space made it necessary to erect the great Lecture Theatre on the top story ; and this, con- sidering its size and the large number it was to accommodate, was a matter of no slight difficulty, but it was successfully achieved.
The New Wing at Trentham also belongs to about the same period. The annexed woodcut shows its general character — a Palazzino in itself, with an engaged order, not altogether unlike his favourite Banqueting-house at Whitehall. It needs no more special notice.
Bridge WATER House. — The building which most distinctly marks his "second manner" is Bridgew^ater House. The change is chiefly traceable in a tendency to greater freedom of treatment, and to a desire for greater richness of effect. It seems to have been parti}" due to a general change of architectural taste in these directions, partly to his own habituation to Gothic work at the New Palace of Westminster.
Bridgewater House (built for the Earl of Ellesmere in 1847) was the last of his great Italian buildings in London. In his first design, fearing apparently too great a similarity to his Club-houses, and in- clining to a more ornate style, he attempted to depart from his usual principles, and produced a design
H
98 VAmOUS DESIGNS MADE. Ciiap. IV.
(exhibited at the Royal Academy) in which on a lofty basement appeared a grand Corinthian order witli engaged columns and entablature unbroken. But, as usual in such cases, he could not rest content with this dereliction from the principles in which both study and experience had confirmed him. He could not make up his mind to a " walled-up colon- nade," and double stories masked by a single order.* The design was rejected as too costly ; and he not unwillingly returned to his usual style, and produced the design now executed.
In it there was, as has been said, another conflict of princij^les in his mind. Profuse Gothic ornament- ation had made his earlier Italian simplicity seem insi2:)id ; for a time his pencil was busy, coveriug every yard of plain surface with panelling and sculpture. But here also his old principles reasserted their dominion, and the design ultimately came out as we at present see it, more ornate than his former works, but yet preserving a general character of simplicity.
The street front remained uniform as in his Club- houses ; in the Park front internal requirements forced upon him the very effective variety of the great three-light windows at each end of the fagade. The porch he was obliged to add for convenience sake, but, as it were, under protest, for it seemed to him, as usual, an excrescence. The chief peculiarity in the design was the treatment of tlie upper
* The only example of an original building in which he afterwards em- ployed it was Cliefden. At the Board of Trade the necessity of the case led him to employ the columns of the old desicjn as nn cno;af:ed order. But thougli he was not entirely consistent in practice, the "astylar" principle of design still continued to be regarded bv him as absolutely the best.
piy,ikiai:iLi«yaiyii
BEIDGIWATEE HOrSE, LONDON.
ELEVATION OF FRONT TOWARDS THE GREEN FARK
Chap. IV. PECULIARITIES OF DESIGN EXECUTED. 99
windows. He was obliged to make them small and place them close under the cornice, and accordingly he united them by panels, and treated them as a kind of frieze. But this also he did not in the abstract approve ; he doubted whether they were not too small for a story, j^et too large for a frieze, and whether the effect was not to diminish the apparent height of the building. Another unusual step was the concealment of the roofs, and the substitution of a balustrade. It is curious that, whereas in his earlier designs {e.g. the Travellers', Walton, and the Reform Club) he had used a visible roof, yet in some later designs {e.g. Bridgewater House and Cliefden) he departed from this lorinciple, and employed a balus- trade. The two are of course not incompatible, and indeed, especially if the roof be high pitched, some protection of balustrade or parapet is needed in London streets to prevent masses of snow, slates, &c., from falling. In his great design for the Grovernment Offices, Sir Charles showed in almost all cases both a visible roof and a balustrade, and accordingly, in the design for the Halifax Town-hall, carried out since his death by his son, a similar arrangement is adopted.
The annexed woodcuts give the elevation of the Park front, and the plan of the principal floor. The latter manifests the same characteristics already noticed in the Reform Club. It is cpioted by Mr. Kerr, in his ' English Gentleman's House,' as a typi- cal specimen of a stately and symmetrical plan, and contrasted with one in which a convenient irregularity and picturesque effect are the main objects proposed.
H 2
iOO HALIFAX TOWN-HALL Chap. IV.
It will be observed that the centre of this building, as of the Reform Club, is occupied by a fine hall, the result here also of an after-thought, for in the original design its place was occupied by a grand staircase, enclosed by walls. For the decoration of this hall he had formed great designs, which were never to be carried out. Delays interposed, and after the death of Lord Ellesmere the hall was placed in other hands. Mr. F. Gotzenberg, a German artist, directed its decoration, and in 1858 the architect was invited to inspect the work, and aid it by his criticism. But, as might be expected, he found the principles adopted by M. Gotzenberg very different from those which he had in his own mind. He could not take the respon- sibility implied in any interference or suggestion, and he retired with deep regret.
The building is certainly one of his most beautiful designs. It shows that the greater taste for richness and variety of effect had not injured that delicacy of proportion, and exquisite finish of detail, which had been so remarkably characteristic of his earlier build- ings. *
Halifax Town-hall. — The Halifax Town-hall, tlie last Italian building which he designed, marks still more strikingly the change which his mind had undero-one since the erection of the Travellers' and
o
Reform Clubs.f
* It ought to be noted, tliat the position of the builciing, which on the Pall Mall side is very unfiivourable, and the exact line of its front were determined in reference to a plan for the extension of Pall Mall into the Green Park, having the Marble Arch as its entrance to the Park. A plan of this proposed alteration is given in Chapter VIII.
f The building was actually carried out by my brother, E. M. Parry,
Chap. IV. NOTICE OF EARLIER STYLES. lOi
" Tliis was the last of Sir Charles Barry's works, " and is in many respects one of the most interesting. " Its interest arises not from the size or importance of " the building, but from the evidence afforded by its "design of the results of a long experience in the " mind of its architect.
" In the design of the Eeform Club, and still more " remarkably in the design of the Travellers' Club, " he had adopted that type of Italian architecture " which aims at producing grandeur of effect by the " sj'mmetry of its parts, the regularity of its arrange- " ment, and the simplicity, verging on severity, of " its details. Ornament is sparely applied in these '" buildings, and is in all cases subordinate to the "strict regularity which governs the design. The " only exception to this regularity, viz., the position " of the entrance door to the Travellers' Club, was " always regarded by the architect as a blemish, only " to be justified by its absolute necessity, and forced " on him by the nature of the site.
" When, many years afterwards, Bridgewater House "was designed. Sir Charles Barry had evidently " changed his views in some degree ; for this building, " although preserving the rhythm and symmetry of a " stately Italian palace, relies more on its ornamenta- " tion than either the Reform Club or the Travellers'.
" In it, as in the alterations to the Treasury Build- " ings in Whitehall, which were proceeding at about "the same time, we see indications that Sir C.
Esq., A.E.A. ; and, under these circumstances, at the risk of some slight rej^ietition, I have thought it better to subjoin verbatim an account of the building written by him.
102 CHARACTERISTICS OF LATER aTYLE. Chap. IV.
" Barry liad begun to give to his Italian architecture " a character differing con8iderably from that which '' marked his earlier productions.
" One important feature however may be remarked, *' as common to the Travellers' and Reform Clubs on " the one hand, and to Bridgewater House on the " other, namely, the unbroken cornice which sur- " mounts each building. The cornice is proportioned " to the whole height of the building, and it is a " curious circumstance that Bridgewater House is the " last of his designs M^iicli contains this feature. In " the case of the Treasury, the original design by Sir " John Soane controlled of course very decidedly " Sir 0. Barry's oj^erations, but the features which he " introduced, namely, the broken entablatures (tend- " ing towards a vertical, as opposed to the original " horizontal effect of Sir J. Soane's work), the carved " panels between the two principal rows of windows, " the covering of the entire surface with rustication " and panels, the elaborate carving in the attics, go " far to show that, whether influenced by the decora- " tive character of the New Palace, Westminster, or "by other considerations, he was rapidly changing '' the character of his Italian designs, and ornament- "ing them with increased decoration. The same " tendency may be observed in his subsequent designs " for the sculpture galleries at Shrubland Park and " for the Grovernment Offices. At Shrubland the en- " tablature is broken over the columns and pilasters, '' and in his design for the Government Offices Sir 0. " Barry showed his opinion of the present Treasury '' buildings by adopting them as an integral part of
A
HALIFAX TOWN IIAT.L.
Chap, IV. IRREGULARITY OF DESIGN. 103
" his design, which was indeed materially influenced " by this circumstance.
" In the design for Halifax Town-hall the freedom of " treatment above referred to may be clearly noticed " to an even greater extent, not only in the more " decorative portions of the work, but also in the " arrangement of the plan and general character of " the entire design. The tower and spire, which are " placed at one corner of the building, form one of its " most remarkable features; and, though it is possible " that Sir C. Barry might have somewhat modified his " design, if he had lived to carry it out, its general " outline, and even its details, w^ere too far advanced " at the time of his death to have admitted of any " radical interference with its essential characteristics.
" The Town-hall is situated in the middle of the " town, on a site which, from its confined character, is " not in itself favourable to architectural efiect. The *' tower is placed at one corner of the building, so as " to face the principal street, and to form the main "entrance to the Town-hall. The Tower is sur- " mounted by a spire of a remarkable design, which, " in common with the whole of the building, displays " a marked Renaissance character, while from its "position it gives an irregularity of outline to the " entire design, greatly at variance with the sym- " metrical arrangement observable in Sir C. Barry's " earlier Italian buildings. It may be noted however " that in the New Palace at Westminster, which has " often been criticized as planned on Italian prin- " ciples, he placed his towers in positions of great " irregularity as regards the plan, which in other
104 DETAILS VAKIED IX EXECUTlUX. (Juap. IV.
'" respects is arranged as far as possible on the prin- '• ciple of strict symmetry. The design at Hahfax " consists of two orders, with broken entablatures and " arched window's in each bay. At the corner oppo- " site to the Tower the Council-room forms a second " projecting mass, thus departing still further from a *' symmetrical arrangement of plan, and there are "also smaller projections at the other angles of the " building. At Sir C. Barry's death the foundations " of the building were just completed, and its erection '• was intrusted by the corporation to me. At this " time the details of the exterior had all been fully " made out and revised and approved b}^ him. The " interior however had not been fully designed, and I '" am therefore responsible for its architectural treat- " ment, as also for the addition of a high roof to the '* building, which latter feature was not to be found "in the original design. I have also succeeded in " restoring to the design several decorative features, " which were at first omitted from the contract from " motives of economy, but which were readily sanc- " tioned, on my recommendation, by the corporation, " whose public spirit and desire to do justice to Sir " C. Barry's last design deserve from me a word of " grateful recognition. — E. M. B."
It does not concern us to discuss the abstract merits of this gradual change of Italian style, visible in Sir C. Barry's works. But it is certainly interest- ing in itself, and if it illustrates, as probably is the case, a tendency in the architecture of the present day to l^roak down the rigidity of conventional divisions, and vary established styles by greater freedom of
Chap. IV. CONVERSION OF EXISTING BUILDINGS. 105
treatment, it will serve to illustrate the remark made in the first chapter, that his mind was one eminently plastic and progressive, and one which therefore would partly guide, and partly follow, the general movement of architectural taste in the country. Holding, as he did, most strongly, the opinion that the styles wdiich divide the architectural profession into two rival camps, had each their characteristic excellences, it is not surprising that he allowed their influences to interpenetrate and modify each other. It still remains to be seen whether his practice does not represent a tendency, which will be more fully exemplified hereafter.
(B). The second class of Sir C. Barry's designs in- cludes those which had for their object the alteration of existing buildings. In this work his skill was proverbial and almost unrivalled. Possibly his san- guine belief in the capabilities of the materials at command may at times have even misled him into attempting alteration, where demolition and recon- struction would have been little less diflScult and much more satisfactory. But as has been said, it is doubtful whether his originality and power of re- source were not manifested at least as much in this kind of work as in the erection of new buildings. In many cases, not only the fronts, but even the openings of the windows, would be preserved, and yet the building would become new under his hand, and wdiat w^as plain and commonplace would start into richness and beauty. Like a masterly transla- tion, the design bore tlie appearance of unfettered originality.
JUG COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. Chap. IV.
College of Surgeoxs. — One of the first instances of such conversion was that of the College of Sur- geons in Lincoln's Inn. Great additions were re- quired, and the site was accordingly extended. As usual, not only was he to retain as much as possible of the old building, but the portico, the principal feature of the original building, was, above all, to be preserved. Mr. Barry himself would gladly have dispensed with the portico altogether ; it was (what he strongly disliked) a mere porch attached to the building, not (as in the old Grreek temples) an essen- tial and dominant portion of it. But he could not venture upon this ; so he changed its position to the centre of the new front by shifting one or two columns from one end to the other, and left it other- wise unchanged. The leading feature in his design was the severe and massive cornice, predominating over the portico and front generally, and uniting the attic with the main stories. The front itself he treated as a background, carrying simplicity almost to baldness in order to subordinate all to the main effect. It will be seen, of course, and it has been already remarked, that in this change he was car- rying out the leading principle of his Italian street fronts, the use of the great cornice to give unity and completeness to the design. Although more of the exterior was preserved than usual, yet the spirit of the whole was changed ; and, plain as it still was, it gained a striking and original effect.
The interior was almost entirely remodelled. The most important change was in the New Museum. The old one had been divided for architectural effect
COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, LINCOLN S INN TIELDS.
VIEW OF PRIMCIPAL FRONT AS ALTERED.
Chap. IV. WALTON HOUSE. 107
by massive piers and transverse arches. All ob- structions were now cleared ont ; ample space and light were secured ; indeed, not a foot of space was wasted, and the light, diffused by transmission through a continuous cove (the ceiling being left as a reflector), was excellent. It became, as the curators declared, a cheerful and most convenient museum. At a later period (1850) he was called upon to carry out some further internal changes. These were intended merely to give additional accommodation, and little archi- tectural effect was aimed at. An additional museum was erected on the same principles of design which had dictated the alteration of the old, but with some- what more of light through the roof. Two new theatres were added, with suitable offices. No alter- ation was made in the front.*
Waltox House. — The next specimen of Mr. Barry's power of reconstruction, under very different circum- stances, is seen at Walton House, belonging to the Earl of Tankerville.
The house stands on the banks of the Thames, in a position very pleasant and beautiful in itself (almost buried in its magnificent trees, and affording a ready access to the river), but having little openness or elevation, and therefore placing some difficulties in the way of architectural effect. The house had been a somewhat commonplace straggling building. The site was such as to require a certain amount of irre-
* At a still later period he made a design, almost entirely new, to meet an intention, afterwards abandoned, of a considerable enlargement of the building.
108 WALTON HOUSE. Chap. IV.
gnlarity in treatment. In 1837 Mr. Barry was consulted for its reconstruction. This was the time between the erection of the Travellers' and Reform Clubs, and belongs architecturally to his earlier Italian style. Some considerable additions were made, especially a fiue entrance corridor, and a belvedere, on which probably the architect relied for giving effect to a building which wanted elevation of site. But the whole house was remodelled both externally and internally — the work as usual growing in conception during its progress. It became exter- nally an elegant and at that time an almost unique specimen of an Italian villa. The size is not consider- able, but every detail is studied so as to produce that effect of harmony and perfection at which Mr. Barry at all times aimed. The style is simjDle, with the characteristic features of a predominating cor- nice, and (as in the Club-houses) a carefully studied proportion of solid wall to windows, and an Italian roof made a visible and ornamental feature.* Seen, as so many Italian villas are seen, on some rising ground, and with opportunity of comparatively dis- tant views, it might have produced a more striking effect. As it is, although the plan and composition are well adapted to the site, some part of its beauty is lost.
The interior arrangement has been quoted by Mr. Kerrf as an example on a smaller scale, and on a somewhat irregular plan, of the same " stateliness "
* The "Italian tiles" were, I believe, first manufactured in England, fo be used in Walton House.
t ' The Enizlish Gentleman's House.'
WALTON SURREY.
Hv Sir C.Banv
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II I Baker's i
Bake Hour,^ I P.cnm ■
Chap. IV. HIGIICLERE HOUSE. 109
of design which he observes in Bridge water House. Yet it was certainly adapted most thoroughly to tlie special requirements of the case, and cannot be ac- cused of sacrificing convenience to effect. The chief feature is the long entrance corridor, spacious and symmetrical, divided by pilasters into equal bays, each square having its pendentive ceiling — somewhat in the style which in an Italian climate w^ould have produced an open loggia. The internal details of the rooms are simple, but with the simplicity which is the result of study and of thorough understanding of principles. The house marks the change of taste (which Mr. Barry had certainly a considerable share in promoting) from the older Greek style of country houses, with their huge porticoes and massive details, to the greater elasticity, elegance, and brightness of the Italian style. It can hardly be doubted that tlie change was an improvement, both in architectural propriety and in domestic comfort and cheerfulness.
HiGHCLERE House. — But in the same year, 1837, he was called upon to exercise his skill in conversion on a grander scale, and in a far more striking manner, for the Earl of Carnarvon, at Highclere in Berkshii'e. At Walton he had to add much, and almost to re- construct. At Highclere the whole constructional framework of the house was retained, and yet the building became in tlie strictest sense new and ori- ginal. In fact, the contrast of its former and present condition, shown by the comparison of the two wood- cuts, almost renders any comment unnecessary. Tlie old building, as will be seen at once, is designed in
no BOARD OF TRADE. Chap. IV.
the comparative flatness and insipidity of bare clas- sicism : under his hand it became a palace, rich and original in design. Yet not only were the main walls preserved, with scarcely any extension of the building or plan, but even the secondary features were kept intact. In no case was the level of any floor or the opening of a window changed.
The style chosen was less simple and richer in effect than the style of pure Italian. He called it " Anglo-Italian," an Elizabethan or Jacobian style, which he thought excellent, when, as must often be the case in domestic architecture, the openings were of necessity too crowded for the purer Italian style, of which he had given examples in his Club-houses.* The centre, contrary to his usual practice, he elevated by an attic, feeling that the style admitted greater freedom and irregularity of treatment, and wishing to give importance to the great entrance ; for he considered that the lofty and beautiful central tower and the elevated angle-turrets would preserve the needful unity of design.
The building thus transformed was one of his favourite works. It certainly is in itself one of the most striking country seats in England, and he could fairly claim it as his own, and rejoice over the beauty created out of unpromising materials and under con- ditions of no slight difficulty.
Board of Trade. — But of all examples perhaps the one best known is the conversion effected on the
* The gjirden-front of Clare College, Cambridge, was an example which lie much admired.
s s
M J
SiSSiaSHv^jT" lilKIB'ttl,*!! , I,. Jili' lill'T
Chap. IV. CHANGES IN ITS DESIGN. HI
Board of Trade at Whitehall. He had to deal with a building, which had long been before the pnblic eye in a prominent position, and which was not with- out many points of architectural excellence. But the altered building seemed to take the public by sur- prise ; it was practically new in design and spirit, and, though exposed to much censure from one class of critics, it commanded general admiration. The comparison of the two woodcuts, which show its pre- sent and its former condition, will easily explain the vividness of effect produced, and will show (what is elsewhere noticed) the growing taste for richness and vigour of effect visible in Mr. Barry's later Italian style,* and in this case remarkably contrasted with the strict classicism of the original.
Yet the conversion was carried out under con- ditions which might have seemed hopeless shackles on his genius. Not only was it necessary to pre- serve all the levels of the floors and the position of the openings, but he was obliged also to keep and work in the Corinthian order of the original build- ing, in spite of his objection to engaged columns. The original design, with many points of excellence, yet seemed to him to want sj^mmetry, force, and grandeur. To remedy these defects, he raised the order on a basement story, did away with the super- structure, which seemed to oppress it, and, removing the colonnades, which by their shadows and projec- tion cut up the wings, he gave the great flanking masses their full effect.
* The work was goinp; on about the same time as the erection of Bridge- water House.
112 BIJEAKINCJ OF 'JIIE EX'lAP.LATrKE. Chai-. IV.
The question next arose, whether the entablature shonld be broken or not. ^Ir. Barry's objection to engaged cohimns has ah'eady been mentioned. Here, however, such an arrangement was forced upon him, and the question was, how the impropriety could be best alleviated. He had begun to tliink of break- ing entablatures (which in days of classical purism would have shocked him), partly from the example of Inigo Jones's Banqueting-house, partly from his Gothic studies, and the tendency to vertical lines which they fostered. He conceived that, when this step was taken, the engaged column changed its character ; it no longer aifected to support the en- tablature, but became avowedly an adjunct. This feeling, joined to the desire of greater variety and richness, carried the day, and, in this case and others, the entablatures were broken. In looking at his own work he felt that, from the necessary position of the columns, the breaks were somewhat overcrowded ; and he rather regretted that he had not carried out an idea, which had occurred to him in studying his design, of crowning the principal windows with pedi- ments to relieve the appearance of squareness. Other- wise he was contented and pleased with his work, which has been acknowledged as having given one more striking building to London. He long hoped that the fa9ade woul^ haye been extended along Downing Street, and have terminated in a mass cor- res|)onding to those which now flank the elevation. His ideas indeed went beyond this : far larger schemes of extension were conceived by him in connection with tlie dcsiirns for tlie Government Offices. But
M ^
a <
1
Chap. IV. AIU'iriTKCTritAL GAHDRNINd. 113
none of these were destined