Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/364

 PUG

PUG

also educated several pupils, who have risen to eminence in art. He married an English lady, and long resided in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, where he died December 18, 1832.

PUGIN, Augustus Welby Northmore, architect, only son of the above. Was born in London, March 1, 1812^ and was edu- cated under his father. He was taught to draw with readiness and accuracy the grand forms, as well as the minute details, of Gothic architecture, and became an enthu- siast for mediaeval art. He was by nature restlessly energetic. Before he was 15 years of age he was employed to make designs for furniture and goldsmith's work. He tried scene-painting, and gained a knowledge of the machinery and contriv- ances which are the accessories of scenic effects, and painted the complete scenery for an opera. Then, his genius taking another turn, he purchased a small vessel and cruised about in the stormy Channel, gathering archaeological and natural curi- osities on the French and Belgian coasts, and at last was wrecked penniless on the Scotch coast.

He then commenced an extensive enter- prise, founding and training an establish- ment for the manufacture of carved orna- ments, and Gothic decoration of every class. He had married in the mean time. His undertaking ended in loss, almost ruin. His young wife died, and with such large experience in life he was a father and a widower, and yet not 20 years of age. Sobered by his sorrows and his trials ne turned to architecture, and at once found full employment, and having earned the means, he built himself a large house in his favourite style, married a second time, and set eagerly to work. He visited many of our cathedrals, and his fine taste was dis- gusted by the neglected decay of some, and the patched-up attempts at restoration in others; and with the assumed conviction that the Romish Church is the only one by which the grand and sublime style of eccle- siastical architecture can be revived, he on that ground quitted the Protestant faith, which was possibly never very strong in him, and entered the Romish Church.

Following this idea on his secession, he published, m 1836, his ' Contrasts/ placing in juxtaposition — most powerfully, but most unfairly it must be added— the finest mediaeval examples with the weakest mo- dern attempts in stucco — and both in his illustrations and his letter-press treated the latter with indignant scorn. He was engaged in the erection of several Roman Catholic churches, and the large cathedral in St. George's Fields. He entered enthu- siastically into projects for the reform and perfection of his adopted Church, occupied his restless mind with all the adjuncts of

its architecture — painted dass, metal work, and embroidery of all kinds. But even here he met with mortification and disappoint- ment. He was difficult to restrain, and was alternately checked and flattered by the heads of his Church.

He then set about the erection of a church of his own at Ramsgate, which he found consolation in decorating with a zealous love, and piously joined in the daily services, and at times ran out with his vessel into the Channel to meet the storms and waves. He had, too, the charge of a house full of children again motherless, and was busied in battling for his cherished Gothic, and now to all this was added the charge of all the decorative fittings and designs, under Sir Charles Barry, for the Houses of Parliament — a work for which he was peculiarly fitted. Thus, his busy mind crowded with occupation, his time passed till 1851, when he plunged into the great Papal effort to establish a Hierarchy m England with his * Earnest Address/ which astonished and embarrassed the holders of the newly-assumed dignities. He was denounced as a doubtful believer, and, mortified with grief, careworn with his many labours, the news burst upon his friends that he was in Bethlehem. The circumstances connected with this confine- ment are unknown; but the generous, broken-hearted man was only released by the efforts of his friends, to expire in his own house. He died at Ramsgate, Sep- tember 14, 1852.

His chief publications, omitting those of a controversial character, are: 'Gothic Furniture, Style of 15th Century/ 1835 ; ' Contrasts, a Parallel between the Noble Edifices of the 14th and 15th Centuries and the Present Day/ 1836; 'The True Principles of Christian and Pointed Archi- tecture/ 1841; 'Present State of Eccle- siastical Architecture in England/ 1843; 'Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England, 7 1843; 'Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume/ 1844 ; ' Floriated Ornament,' 1849 ; ' Trea- tise on Chancel Screens and Rood Lofts,' 1851. His 'Life/ published 1861, was written by his friend, Benjamin Ferrey, architect.

PUGIN, Edward Welby, architect. Son of the above, was born March 11, 1834, and succeeded to his father's business when only seventeen years of age. He devoted himself entirely to the practice of Gothic architecture, and completed his father's unfinished buildings, not only in England and Ireland, but in America and Belgium. His best known works are : St. Michael's Priory, Belmont, near Here- ford ; the Augustiman Church in Dublin. Scarisbrick Hall, Lancashire; the Gran- ville Hotel, Ramsgate ; some large parish

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