Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/127

 Fen. 9, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS.” aT ‘ designs, which remain to this day a subject for curious wonder, and which are so cleverly man- aged that, according to Vasari, who showed them to Titian, that great artist could not be persuaded but that they were real. Their ex- traordinary effect we can ourselves bear witness to; nor are we prepared to preach a homily on the sin of deception, so favourite a sub- ject of late years with. that school which mixes up esthetic and moral laws in wonder- ful confusion, and with a cheap assertion of their own special love of truth, put forth principles which, if carried to their logical conclusions, would destroy all imitative art of every kind. After the death of Raphael, Peruzzi was made one of the architects of S. Peter’s, the others, already appointed, being Antonio da San Gallo and Fra Giocondo. We next meet with Peruzzi as an architect at Bologna, where he was invited to send in a design for the facade to the unfinished church of San Petronio, for which purpose so many celebrated architects have at various times been employed. Peruzzi prepared two designs, one in the Roman style, another ‘‘ in that of the Teutonic nations;” neither of which, however, were carried out. For the Count G. L. Bentivoglio he made various ad- ditions to his palace, in which he with much good taste adapted the new to the old parts. It was for this nobleman he also designed a cartoon of the ‘ Adoration of the Magi,” which we believe is now in the possession of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and which we remember to have seen and to have ad- mired in former days in the entrance hall. It is a large, well-studied, and excellent com- position, which was subsequently reproduced in colour for the Count by Girolamo da Trevigi, or Treviso, who entered the service of our Henry VIII. as military engineer, and was killed at the siege of Boulogne, in 1544. Peruzzi also designed at Bologna the fine portal of the church of San Michele in Bosco outside the town; and the cathedral and the church of San Niccolo at Carpi, in the Modenese. At this time, or about the year 1520, Peruzzi was called on, as citizen of Siena, to prepare the designs of the fortifications of that city, and after doing so returned again to Rome, where he built a house opposite to the Farnesina, and was commissioned by Pope Leo X. to prepare fresh designs for the com- pletion of S. Peter’s, as it was now considered that Bramante’s plan was of too ambitious a nature to be carried out. So Peruzzi prepared anew model, which Vasari states was not only of amagnificent character, ‘‘ but afforded proof of so much judgment also, that suc- ceeding architects have frequently availed themselves of many parts thereof.” An idea of it is to be seen in the books on architecture by his pupil Serlio, The monument to Pope Adrian VI., inthe church of S. M. dell’Anima at Rome was also designed by him, and he prepared all the artistic arrangements for the representation of Cardinal di Bibiena’s drama “ Calandra,” in a manner till then unrivalled, as well as all artistic work for the corona- tion of Clement VII. (in 1524); so that nothing appears to haye come amiss to him, and in all, whatever he did, he was marked with signal success. In 1527 he lost all he had in the sacking of Rome by the allied troops under the Constable de Bourbon, and escaped barely with life to Siena, where, however, he soon found further employment, and was appointed ‘Superintendent of all works connected with the fortifications of the city.” Here he resided some time, and designed numerous buildings, &e., such as the Chapel of the Castle of Belearo, about three miles outside the town, where are also some of his best paintings ; the high altar and Chapel of John the Baptist in the Duomo; the eampanile and cloister of the Conventual Church of the Carmine; the Chiesa dei Servi; the fine portal of San Spirito ; and the completion of the Oratory ‘ Della Selva,” for the Guild of Weavers ; the marble chair in the Casino de ‘‘ Nobile,” or the Loggia di San Paolo, and the marble staircase to the pulpit in the Duomo ; and (by tradition) the Palazzo Pollini; at Ferrara, the portal of the Palazzo Sacrati. At the conclusion of the war Peruzzi returned to Rome, recovered his former official appointment, and was employed to design two palaces for the Massimi family, which are excellent examples of his style, two villas for the Orsini family on the road to Viterbo, and other ‘ edifices” in Apuglia. The court of the Ducal family of Altemps is attributed to him, and the palace of the Marquis Silvestri, both at Rome. About this time he was preparing a work on the antiquities of Rome, and an illus- trated commentary on Vitruvius; indeed, it would appear that Serlio was greatly indebted to his master’s notes and drawings in the pro- duction of his own book. The general character of his studies may still be seen in his drawings preserved at the Library, Siena, of very varied character, and showing the hand of a master, amongst them being the original design for his celebrated ‘* Sybil fore- telling the birth of Jesus to the Emperor Augustus,” of which Lanzi expresses his belief that neither Raffaelle, Guido, nor Guercino, who all treated Sybilline subjects, have surpassed the divine expression of the Sybil. His other great work in fresco is, “The Judement of Paris,” on the ceiling of the vestibule at Belcaro, of which Lanzi also speaks in the highest terms as a masterpiece of art. As a designer of grotesque ornaments he was unrivalled, they are characterised by the greatest variety of fanciful ideas and a fine sense of proportion. In forming an estimate of Peruzzi’s manner as an architect, it should be remembered that he was for a long time engaged in the decora- tion of buildings at Rome with figure sub- jects, and was a master of pictorial art— though not, we think, good as a colourist— before he commenced to study and practise architecture, which he did somewhat late in life, his first work being executed when he was about thirty-eight years of age. Now this building, with the Palazzo Massimi, may be taken as models of his style, and they are both characterised by the very highest artistic merits, being of fine effect, excellent in propor- tion, and with ornamentation duly subordinated to the mass, all details and mouldings being very carefully studied and of perfect contour. Peruzzi had a better eye, we think, for light and shade than Bramante, whose works are inclined, in mass and detail, to flatness, and are deficient in those alternate depressions and projections which Peruzzi managed so well, and of which his river front of the Chigi Palace is a familiar example. There is also a touch of the Florentine style, with their large cornices, rustications, &c., in his works, which adds dignity to his compositions. Although surrounded by eminent architects, his style is essentially characteristic. .We think he de- serves to be ranked among the many eminently artistic architects of his day. Asa painter, although his works are prin- cipally in tempera, and therefore he neither in- dulgesin great effects of colour and chiaro oscuro, yet asa designer or draughtsman, espe- cially for architectural purposes, he is to be placed amongst the most eminent of his class, Peruzzi appears to have been greatly ne- glected by his employers in the latter part of his life at least, and Vasari says that he died in very straitened circumstances at Rome in 1536, recciving too late a very small pittance from the Pope and leaving his family poorly off, owing to what Vasari terms his, ‘‘ sim- plicity and faint-heartedness,” 7.e., lack of the power of pushing himself into notice. His last work was the Massimi palace at Rome, which was incomplete at the time of his death. He had numerous scholars, the most celebrated of whom was Sebastian Serlio, who did not, however, continue the master’s peculiar style. The others were Francesco di Siena, who was his principal assistant, Jacopo Melighino, subsequently appointed by Pope Paull. “the architect of all his buildings,” and from whom Vasari states he received Peruzzi’s portrait and much ifformation re- lating to him; the Roman painter Virgilio, who appears to have practised the decora- tion of buildings in chiaro oscuro, &c; the Sienese engineer and architect Antonio del Rozzo; and the Sienese architect, Giovanni B. Peloro, an ingenious modeller and mecha- nician, but who does not appear to have practised architecture. Indeed, in this, as in most cases, we remark how interchangeable the practice of various arts appears to have been at the time of the Revival; and there may be much truth in Vasari’s remark about Peruzzi, when he says that, ‘diligent and judicious, this master brought his works so successfully to completion, that he may truly be said never to have had his equal in archi- tecture ; and this principally because he combined with his knowledge of that art, so beautiful and admirable a manner in painting and decoration.” He received honourable sepulture in the Pantheon, near the tomb of Raphael. Thus at his death he was more honoured by his countrymen than in his life, and Lanzi’s judgment of him is correct, when he observes, ‘‘ That, living in the brightest period of modern art, he is one of the most interesting personages in its history.” es BRICK-DUST CEMENT. fe may not be generally known, says a corre- spondent of the ‘‘ Journal of the Franklin In- stitute,” that in the Spanish dominions ordinary brick-dust, made from hard-burned, finely pulver- ised bricks, and mixed with common lime and sand, is universally and successfully employed as a sub- stitute for hydraulic cement. The writer, during an engineering experience of six years in Cuba, hadample opportunity for testing its merits, and found it in all respects superior to the best Rosendale hydraulic cement for culverts, drains, tanks or cisterns, and even for roofs; whether for setting flat tiles, or for making the usual tropical concrete flat roof. It is regularly known there as an article of com- merce, sold in barrels by all dealers in such articles at the same price as cement. The proportions used in general practice are one of brick dust and one of lime to two of sand, mixed together dry, and tempered with water in the usual way. A greater or less quantity of the brick dust is sometimes em- ployed when considered desirable. The writer can- not say whether this composition has ever been tried in this country, or whether it would retain its virtues when subjected to the action of frost. It would seem, however, that it could be pro- duced at a lower rate than cement, by the addition of pulverising mills to our brick yards to utilise the waste and broken bricks; and if found successful, its manufacture might be worth considering by those who are interested in such products. Nore.—Under the paragraph headed “‘ Hydraulic Cements,” in Trautwine’s ‘‘ Engineer’s Pocket-book,” mention is made of the same material; from which it appears that it is considerably used in France. The author of the work in question pronounces it, from his own obseryation, to be decidedly hydraulic —a block of the same one-half inch in thick- ness, without sand, after immersion in water for four months, bore, without crumbling, crushing, or splitting, a pressure of 1,500Ib. per square inch. The opinion is further expressed that the addition of eyen as little as one-tenth as much brick-dust as sand to our ordinary mortars, would prevent the disintegration so generally visible in the mortars used in masonry.—Ep. J. F. I. ee Instrrution oF Surveyors.—At the ordinary general meeting, held on Monday, January 29th, the following names were read and passed, to be bal- loted for on February 26th, 1872, viz :—As members, John Drew, 9, Queen-street, and Powderham Castle, near Exeter ; Barrow Emmanuel, 2, Finsbury Circus, E.C. ; Thomas Tayler Smith, 33, Bloomsbury-square, W.C. The foliowing candidates were balloted for and declared duly elected, viz.:—As members, Charles Couchman, Temple Balsall, near Birming- ham; Ralph P. Nisbet, Bedford Office, Thorney, Peterboro’; Lucius Henry Spooner, 11, Park-street, Westminster. The next meeting will be held on Monday evening, February 12th, when the paper, entitled ‘* Land,” read by Mr. E. J. Smith at the last meeting will be discussed.