Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/30

 FOURTH PERIOD - 14 ORIGIN OF STYLE French artist in the erection of his chateau, his neighbours would probably content themselves with such modifications of the architecture of their gorgeous protectors and allies as native talent could reproduce and moderate fortunes purchase. Among the latter class of structures we may safely class the grotesque mansion of Tolquhan, and its date, 1586,, shows how early this turreted style had taken deep root in the northern districts of Scotland. Firm and massive as a Scottish fortalice required to be in those troubled days, it grotesquely associates with its rude strength the fantastic ornaments of a more fanciful and civilised people, and stands a type of what the French alliance must have produced among the gentlemen of the age the rugged nature of the Scot decorated with the style and manners of the mercurial Frenchman." This is no doubt a fine, though fanciful, piece of writing, but whether applicable to the Scottish gentleman of the period or not, the comparison between the imaginary grotesque gentleman and his castle is unfor- tunately founded on an entirely erroneous view of the conditions of Scottish Architecture at the end of the sixteenth century. The fact is that this idea is the offspring of the writer's imagination, and is absolutely without any proof whatever. Where, in the first place, is the slightest evidence that the rich barons or high officers of State employed French artists to erect their castles ? If they ever did so, the works of the Frenchmen must have entirely disappeared, as there is scarcely a castle in Scotland which is not completely native, both in the arrange- ments of the plan and the style of ornamentation. We have traced the growth and development of these plans and ornaments from the earliest times to the latest, and have seen how one form has naturally grown out of another, so as to give a complete, unbroken, and natural succession of designs. There has been no abrupt break in the continuity of the ideas, as there would have been had foreign artists been employed. The importation of fresh blood would have shown itself at once in a sudden change of style. But no such sudden change occurs. The passage from one style to another is always gradual, and by easily traced steps. The only exceptions are at Stirling and Falkland, where we believe French workmen were employed. These two buildings however stand alone, both in point of time and design, and are the exceptions which prove the rule. The work of the foreigners is quite apparent, and stands apart from that of the general Scottish design, and, as we have endeavoured to show, it was imported long before the Renaissance style had begun to take a general hold in the country. In the above quotation the writer refers to Tolquhaii, which was built in 1586, as an early example of the turreted style rooting itself in the North. But although early in the north, this would not be at all an early date for such work in the south of Scotland. At Falkland, Lin-