Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/497

 JunE 14, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 475 heartless way. It would be as unreasonable to pretend that English painting is inferior to that of Raphael and Titian because English painters buy their colours ready made-up from the dealers— (laughter)—whilst the great Italian painters had them ground up in their own studios and under their own eyes. If we fail it is not, I repeat, because we are architects only and not builders, masons, or carpenters, but because our training has not been complete in the study of those fundamental ideas of proportion, harmony, and truth of construction, which underlie all the great buildings of the past—whether of Greece or Rome, of the middle ages or of the Renaissance itself; and because we are not aided by the public as our em- ployers in the exercise of such patience on their part as would ensure greater thought and study in the works they seek at ourhands. (Hear, hear.) There are few present, I feel sure, who have not felt this want; it is not in private practice alone, in works freely and individually given to our care, that there is this want of consideration. In Government and public competitions it seems essential to secure the designs asked for with the least possible expenditure of time, and, as a natural consequence, with the least amount of thought and study, and without regard to the demands which our other professional engage- ments have upon our time. (Hear, hear.) I am not clear that there is much consolation to be derived from sharing disgrace with others; but if there is, then must our suffering be much diluted— (laughter)—for engineers, sculptors, dilettante, and connoisseurs all come in for the general abuse so lavishly spread about by this writer. These gentlemen are, however, well able to take care of themselves, and I can only hope that the observations made for their benefit may have a more practically beneficial effect than those made upon our profession are likely to have. (Hear, hear.) I, for one, have good faith in the future of our profession; even now, I believe that in the calm opinion of the educated and travelled public its status is held in fair and favourable esteem; the works of its leading members are allowed to hold their own in European estimation, and the honour and character of the general body is unquestioned. I think it rests with us to live down this squall of prejudice. (Hear, hear.) I believe that the violent and personal language now so freely indulged in by the literary and professional critic does not carry conviction with it, and though exciting or amusing at the moment, is not to the taste of those whose opinion or influence is of real value— (hear, hear)—but of this there can be no doubt, that the violent personal attacks and criticisms now so often made by architects on the works of their pro- fessional brethren are generallycondemned. (Applause.) Were such abuse thus publicly attempted in any other profession, how would it be tolerated? (Applause.) Proressor Kerr: I am sure we should not like to separate without giving a vote of thanks to you, Sir, for the very excellent and practical address with which you have been pleased to favour us. It has commended itself to the mind of every person present —(hear, hear)—and is muchmore useful to us than if it had been more ambitious. The practical character of your remarks distinguishes them on all occasions, and on such a special occasion as the present they are peculiarly adapted to our requirements. I beg to draw particular attention to the very sensible remark you made towards the end of your address, deprecating that spirit of mutual criticism which prevails to so very great an extent in the profession. (Hear, hear.) For my own part, I am quite sure that our enemies, although they may appear to be numerous—and when occasion offers, I will grant that they are numerous—would altogether fail to prevail against us if we were not so continually publicly twitting each other as to our own real or fancied shortcomings. (Hear, hear.) There is no man in the present day who can prepare a design for any subject, in any style, or under any circumstances, without meeting with the universal ridicule of his peers. (‘‘ No, no,” and laughter.) I am putting it very strongly—(A voice: “ Too strongly ”)—because the meeting is in a particularly good humour, and will rather detract from what I say than add to it. (Hear, hear.) Ido hope that one of the results of this Conference will be to enable us to present a bold and united stand to the public. (Hear, hear.) I have great pleasure in proposing a vote of thanks to our President for his excellent conduct in the chair. Mr. G. E. Srreer, R.A. : [have great pleasure, Sir, in seconding that. I think that the tone of your remarks well shows that the real answer to the attacks to which we as a profession are now subject consists in steady perseverance in the pursuit and practice of our art, and in the conscientious discharge of our duty to our clients. In the degree in which we succeed in this shall we be demonstrating the | groundlessness of the attacks now made upon us. I join most heartily in seconding this vote of thanks, The PrestpENr acknowledged the vote of thanks, and the meeting terminated. SECOND DAY.—TUESDAY, JUNE 11.— VISIT TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM. THE TEMPLE OF DIANA AT EPHESUS. On Tuesday morning between twenty and thirty members of the Institute and other gentlemen attending the Conference paid a visit to the British Museum, to view the uewly-arrived fragments of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. The party was con- ducted by Mr. C. T. Newton, M.A., the keeper of the Greek and Roman antiquities in the Museum. The ground at present excavated was shown by a map. Mr. Newton commenced his remarks by observing that the results at present obtained were from a very partial examination of the site. A series of photographs was exhibited, showing the ruins as they were at the beginning of this year. The most important of these photographs was one showing the base of one of the large columns in position, resting upon a square plinth, but the only base that had yet arrived was not in position. Mr. Wood, by whom these fragments had been dis- covered and sent to England, thought that he had got aline by which he could determine the position of the other columns; this, however, remained to be proved. Nothing was known of the actual plan of the temple, except from Pliny’s description. The plan exhibited was a hypothetical one, taking Pliny’s length of 425ft. by a breadth of 220ft. The whole of the ruins were covered with alluvial soil to the depth of from 20ft. to 22ft., and it was only in one or two places that the site had been excavated to the original ground level. On the north side Mr. Wood had recently discovered the foundations of a column, the fragments now in the Museum having been found on the south side. The visitors then proceeded to examine the fragments one by one. First of all they were shown the upper stone of an Tonic base, as it existed in such examples as the Mausoleum or the Erectheum. Next were shown pieces of torus moulding belonging to the base and capital, and upon the pieces, which it was conjectured belonged to the capitals, were Greek letters, strongly marked. Pliny said that a large number of the columns of the temple were dedicated to different personages of distinction, and Mr. Newton was of opinion that these letters on the torus moulding formed part of the dedications. One of the most curious and interesting fragments shown was the lower part of a sculptured column, supposed by Mr. Newton to be one of the thirty-six columns of which Pliny spoke as being covered with sculpture. Until this had been discovered no one had been able to un- derstand what these colums were like, for it was a most unusual feature in architecture to have columns covered with figure sculpture in this way. There had been discovered the drum of the base of one of these columns, covered with torus moulding. It weighed 11} tons, and was now on its way to England. This drum was probably from a column 6ft. in diameter. There were at present in the Museum por- tions of three of the thirty-six columns described by Pliny, and there was also what Mr. Newton believed to be a pilaster, decorated in the same style. The question was, were these columns decorated with these sculptured reliefs through a portion of their height only, or throughout their whole height? This could not yet be decided. Each column was 60ft. high, as stated by Pliny, but the sculptured drums which had been found had shown that the height of the figures did not exceed 10ft. If the columns were covered with sculpture tLroughout their entire length, the effect must have been exceedingly rich. But how was this done? In all probability by ornamental rings or bands round the shafts sepa- rating one portion of sculpture from another. Professor Donaldson, in his ‘ Architectonica Numismatica,” engraved a coin showing a temple of the Ionic order with eight columns in front, with this peculiarity, that each of the columns, at one- third of its height from the base, was represented with a projecting ring or band round its circumference, something like a torus moulding. ‘This feature did not occur in any other representation of a temple, and its purpose, in all probability, was to serve as a dividing line between different blocks of sculpture on the columns, such as those mentioned by Pliny. This was a most interesting question. The figures on the pilaster corresponded to those on the sculptured drums. The calculations which most architects had made, ¢ priori, were that the columns were 60ft. in height, and 7ft. in diameter, but the columns that had as yet been found did not exceed 6ft. by more than a couple of inches, but, of course, it was very possible that Mr. Wood might not yet haye come upon the outer row of columns, <A portion of a lion’s jaw from the cornice, and other portions of detail, were shown, the colour (red) being still in good preservation, Mr. Newton remarked that there was some doubt or difficulty on his mind as to this jaw, for the head of which it formed a part must have been very small for so large a cornice. Mr. Warernouse asked if traces of aay colour other than red were found. Mr. Newron: No. Mr. Arruur Cares observed that blue was a colour sometimes largely used in the decoration of Greek buildings. Mr. Newron agreed, and said that in some of the details from the Mausoleum the colour was, blue.. Mr. Newton next pointed out several stones which» had been taken from the Temple of Diana and used in other buildings, notably in the aqueduct, a Byzantine building at Ephesus, of the time of Justinian. Mr. Newton then said that Mr. Wishart Lloyd, a gentleman who had been associated with him and Mr. Wood in the study of these remains, would make a few remarks. Mr. Luoyp said that it appeared from letters that had been received from Mr. Wood that he had been able to trace, by the sub-structure, the points and positions of the stones sufficiently to determine the space from centre to centre of the different columns. It might therefore be assumed that he had recovered the line in which the columns extended. Pliny had given the length and breadth of the building, and taking the dimensions given by that writer as a basis, those who had written upon the subject had endeavoured to lay out a plan of the temple, but without success, for, on that basis, the intercolum- niations were of a perfectly impossible width. Some had attempted to arrange the columns in octastyle distribution, but by this plan the intercolumniations obtained were something like 25ft. in span. We knew that the architrave stones could not have been higher than 6ft., which was the diameter of the column. Stones of this height and 2dft. in span could not have been procured, and one hundred of them would have been needed with a double row of columns. The longest stonein the Temple of Jupiter at Athens, or the Temple of Apolloat Miletus (which: latter was a temple one degree larger in the diameter of its columns than the Temple of Diana at Ephesus). - was nothing like so large as this. Probably Pliny’s dimensions ineluded the projection of the steps (of which there were ten), &c.—i.e., perhaps his figures represented the extreme outside dimensions of the building. The only temple at all approaching the Temple of Diana in dimensions was the Temple at Miletus, which was never finished ; we knew that from Strabo and other authorities, and in the remains of the Temple were columns which had never been fluted. These columns were something larger in diameter than those at Ephesus, but verylittle. The first Temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt on the same night that Alexander the Great was born, and as Diana presided over childbirth, amongst other things, this circumstance gave rise to the fulsome compliment that the goddess was so much occupied with the birth of so great a man that she had no time to look after her own temple, and hence its destruction. The second temple was built in the time of Alexander, Mr. Warreruouse: As there were two temples, are you quite sure that some of the fragments you have discovered are not those of the first temple ? Mr. Lioyp said that was a very fair question to- ask, but one that could only be answered with certainty as the excavations progressed. Here he would urge upon those present the importance of the architects as a body giving their support to the work. The Dilettante Society had hitherto been the chief promoters of the work, but he believed that the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Institute of British Architects might also render great help. At present enough had been discovered to verify some of the details of the order and their position, but not enough of the ground had been opened to enable a survey to be made of the actual distribution of the plan. It was well known that the temple was crammed with dedications—works of the first sculptors of the times—and most likely some of these would be found, although probably, in the time of Justinian, the place was used asa kind of quarry, and much of the marble burnt into lime. The remains had been covered up not alto- gether by the action of earthquakes, but by river deposits, Ephesus, formerly a seaport, being now fifteen miles from the sea. The ground was ori- ginally a marsh, and Vitruvius gave an account of the difficulty experienced in obtaining foundations, which were ultimately got by using fleeces of wool and charcoal !—rather an expensive process. Hay- ing pointed out the beauty and finish of the work- manship displayed in the various fragments, Mr.