NEW ST. PAUL'S.
EXTERIOR.
"It would be difficult to find two works of Art designed more
essentially on the same principle than Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and
Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral. The Bible narrative transposed into the
forms of a Greek epic, required the genius of a Milton to make it
tolerable; but the splendour of even his powers does not make us less
regret that he had not poured forth the poetry with which his heart
was swelling in some form that would have freed him from the trammels
which the pedantry of his age imposed upon him. What the Iliad and the
AEneid were to Milton, the Pantheon and the Temple of Peace were to
Wren. It was necessary he should try to conceal his Christian Church
in the guise of a Roman Temple. Still the idea of the Christian
cathedral is always present, and reappears in every form, but so, too,
does that of the Heathen temple--two conflicting elements in
contact--neither subduing the other, but making their discord so
apparent as to destroy to a very considerable extent the beauty either
would possess if separate."[69]
I give this quotation at length, not because I by any means agree with
one half of the fault-finding, but because it helps to explain the
architecture. St. Paul's is often called "Classical," or "Roman," or
"Italian"; it is not one of these three: it is English Renaissance. It
was, too, a distinctly happy thought of Fergusson to suggest that the
Cathedral takes a like place in English architecture to that which the
immortal "Paradise Lost" does in English literature. The ground-plan
suggests the Gothic; the pilasters and entablature the Greek and
Roman; the round arch is found in both Roman and Romanesque, and that
commanding feature, the Dome, is the common property of many styles
and many ages. The general plan resembles the long or Latin Cross,
with transepts of greater breadth than length; and the uniformity is
broken by an apse at the east, and the two chapels at the west end.
The best views are, perhaps, the two oblique ones approaching from
Ludgate Hill and from Cannon Street. The upward view from the
churchyard on the south side by the angle of nave and transept gives
the proportions of the lower stages of the dome effectively; and those
who care to make the weary ascent of one of the Crystal Palace towers,
will be rewarded by the aspect of the dome emerging above the pall of
surrounding smoke, and appearing to preside like a watchful and
protecting deity over the destinies of the city at its feet.
The dimensions are as follows, in feet:--Length, 513, which may thus
be divided: nave and portico, 223; breadth of transept, 122; length of
choir, 168. Length of transepts, 248 feet. Breadth of nave, 123; of
transept and choir a trifle less; of west front with chapels, 179.
Height, to summit of balustrade, 108; to apex of roof, 120; to stone
gallery, 182; to base of sphere, 220; to upper gallery at the summit
of the dome, 281; to the summit of the cross, 363 feet.
The material is from the quarries of Portland, chosen because of its
durability in regard to both weather and smoke, the facilities for
transport, and the size of the blocks. Had Roche Abbey stone from
South Yorkshire been more easily obtainable, these quarries might have
been used as well. The size of the blocks contributes an important
feature to the architecture, where so much depends upon the breadth of
four feet; and even the procuring of this, as time went on, and the
stonecutters had to work at a greater distance from the sea, became a
matter of delay and difficulty, and the masons might have to wait
months for their blocks.
The combination of the stability with such lightness and gracefulness
as were procurable, can in a measure be estimated by the comparative
area taken up by the walls, pillars, and other points of support. This
area amounts to seventeen per cent., and compares favourably with St.
Peter's at Rome, which is more than half as much again, as well as
with St. Sophia and the Duomo at Florence. On the other hand many of
our Gothic cathedrals require only ten per cent.[70] Wren would have
said that they lack stability, and that he had calculated accurately
on the minimum of massiveness requisite for security; and besides
this, they have no heavy dome to be poised. Throughout there are two
stages or stories. The lower has the Corinthian Order, which was
always Wren's favourite, as he held that it was at once more graceful
and bore a greater weight of entablature than the earlier Doric and
Ionic. Wren's first design of a Greek Cross followed St. Peter's in
consisting of one main order plus an attic.[71] While Bramante at St.
Peter's found stones of nine feet in diameter in the quarries of
Tivoli, Wren, after making inquiries all over, could not procure
sufficient stone for his columns and pilasters of a greater diameter
than four feet, and he would not depart, at least to any degree, from
what he held to be the correct Corinthian height of nine diameters.
Had a sufficient quantity of larger blocks been obtainable, we should
have had the Corinthian order plus the attic, instead of the two
regular orders of Corinthian and Composite.[72] And this, it seems,
was his reason for departing in this respect from the First Design;
as also partially from the Approved Design. The pilasters are grouped
in pairs throughout, not only for stability, but also for sufficient
space for the circular-headed windows ornamented with festoons. Above
the entablature rises the second stage or story, or order. Here the
coupled pilasters have that slight difference in base and more
particularly in capital which constitutes the Composite order. The
capitals have the larger scrolls or volutes of the Ionic above the
acanthus leaves of the Corinthian proper. In reality the difference
is, here, but slight; and the best authorities maintain that there is
less difference between the Corinthian and the Composite than between
different examples of the Corinthian itself. The reason for the
dressed niches, with pediments instead of windows, like those in the
lower stage, will come later on. A main architrave and cornice run
round the entire building like an unbroken string course, and above
this, excepting at the different fronts, a balustrade, to which a
history is attached.
A new commission had been nominated after the death of Queen Anne[73]
(which by the way included Sir Isaac Newton), and this commission
insisted upon a balustrade unless the surveyor "do in writing under
his hand set forth that it is contrary to the principles of
architecture, and give his opinion in a fortnight's time." Wren
answered, "_Persons of little skill did expect, I believe, something
they had been used to in Gothic structures, and ladies think nothing
well without an edging._" He urged that he had already terminated the
building, and that his design of pairs of pedestals in continuation of
the pilasters would better resist the wind. As in other matters, he
had to give way; and the difference in the effect cannot be judged
from mere illustrations.[74] The four angles, where the transepts
join, are filled up with the huge supporting bastion-like piers of the
dome; and internally are left, so to speak, hollow; that at the
south-west being utilised as a staircase, and the others on the ground
floor as vestries.
No roof is visible from below. The actual roof of oak and lead was so
flattened as to be invisible in accordance with the ideas of the
architect. "_No Roofs almost but Spherick raised to be visible._"
"_The Ancients affected Flatness._" "_No Roofs can have Dignity enough
to appear above a Cornice, but the Circular._"[75]
We now come to that peculiarity upon which so much adverse criticism
has been bestowed. The usual observer will wonder why there are niches
instead of windows in the upper stage, as light is so much needed. On
entering the interior he will notice that the height of the aisles
does not correspond with the exterior; and on ascending to the Stone
Gallery will ascertain that this upper stage of the exterior is not
part of the actual wall of the church, which stands back some thirty
feet. It is, in fact, a screen or curtain wall; the lower stage alone
is the wall of the aisles, and the disfiguring square openings with
which the pedestals below the niches are pierced, give light to the
passages and galleries between the aisles and the roof. Externally one
is supposed to see the wall of the cathedral; in reality one sees the
lower story forming the wall, and an upper story in continuation made
to look as though the church were immediately behind, but in reality
quite disengaged from it. The following is an able specimen of the
adverse criticisms that have been directed against this curtain: "It
is a mere empty show with nothing behind it, and when once this is
known it is impossible to forget it, or to have the same feeling
towards the building which a spectator might have, despite its defects
of detail, who believed its external mass to represent its interior
arrangements."[76] Yet an attentive study of the "Parentalia" enables
us to plead a great deal in mitigation. The spectator will notice that
there are no substantial buttresses; and the reason is the simple one
that Wren held them to be disfigurements. "_The Romans always
concealed their Butments._"[77] "_Oblique Positions are Discord to the
Eye unless answered in Pairs, as in the Sides of an equicrural
Triangle.... Gothick Buttresses are all ill-favoured, and were avoided
by the Ancients._"[78] Such were the opinions of Wren; but how was he
to procure stability? The answer is, by the curtain wall. By its dead
weight pressing on the walls of the aisles it renders them stable and
immobile, free from all danger of thrust, while it conceals the
buttresses which render secure the clerestory stage of the building
proper. To paraphrase his own words: "_I do not add buttresses, but I
build up the wall so high as by the addition of this extra weight, I
establish it as firmly as if I had added buttresses._"[79] Thus this
wall performs a double function: it is a substitute for buttresses in
respect to the aisle walls, and a screen for the actual buttresses of
the clerestory stage.
Such is the purpose of the upper story. An ingenious critic who did
not seem to know this vindicates it on the plea that "uninterrupted
altitude of the bulk in the same plane, is absolutely necessary to the
substructure of the mighty dome."[80] No doubt the size of the dome
requires a proportionate rise in the lower elevations; but the fact
remains that the exterior and interior do not correspond. A greater
authority than this critic has thus defined good architecture: "The
essence of good architecture of any kind is that its constructive
system should be put boldly forward, that its decorative system should
be such as in no way conceals or masks the construction, but makes the
constructive features themselves ornamental."[81] And at his uncle's
cathedral of Ely, Wren might have borrowed and worked out an idea
which would have silenced all accusation of fraud and deceit. There,
in the central part of the choir on the south side, the roof was
removed and placed lower down centuries ago, the better to light up
certain shrines below. This roof was never restored to its original
position; and the upper stage of the wall is pierced with empty
windows through which flying-buttresses can now be seen. The effect,
though altogether unusual, is far from displeasing; and the spectator
who remembers that Wren was perfectly familiar with this building, is
led to wonder why he did not by piercing the niches, imitate Ely at
St. Paul's.
The Windows, round-headed and without tracery, contrast unfavourably
with the Lancet and Decorated. Wren recognised the value of tracery,
as is evident from his remarks on Salisbury Cathedral, although he
objected to the Perpendicular mullions and transoms.[82] Yet it is
difficult to see how he could have devised anything more elaborate or
graceful to harmonise. The carving above and below, in the
conventional festoons of the day, is almost universally voted as
respectable and nothing more. Mr. Ruskin is very severe on these
festoons, on the ground that they are tied heavily into a long bunch
thickest in the middle, and pinned up by both ends against a dead
wall, and contends that the architecture has no business with rich
ornament in any place. Yet he admits that the sculpture is as careful
and rich as may be; and let any one study, for instance, the window
immediately east of the south portico, and particularly below, where
the details can be better observed. In spite of a heavy top-coat of
smoke, the combination of cherubs, birds, grapes, and foliage is as
graceful and artistic as possible; and the work beneath the east end
and north transept windows will also well repay careful study. These
details are apt to be neglected, possibly because they seem dwarfed by
the immense proportions of the building.[83]
The North and South Chapels, as we hear on probably trustworthy
authority, were added at the instance of James, Duke of York, who
looked forward to the day when the Roman Catholic services would be
substituted for the Anglican. Although Stephen is silent as to his
grandfather's intentions, there is evidence given by Mr. Longman and
Miss Lucy Phillimore to show that Wren tried his best to finish the
building without them. Whether seen from the north-east or south-west
they interfere with the perspective, and the independence of the
lowest stage of the West Towers is completely lost; and curiously
enough in this last respect the South-West or Consistory Chapel does
very much what St. Gregory's did to the Lollards' Tower in Old St.
Paul's.
We now turn to the different parts and members.
=North and South Fronts.=--These are similar, each part corresponding
to each, excepting a slight difference in the steps of the porticoes
caused by the ground on the south side sloping towards the Thames; and
this uniformity or symmetry is invariably carried out in the different
parts wherever feasible. Take the three main windows of the choir
aisles on either side, and compare them with the three of the nave
aisles on either side between the transepts and the chapels. The
windows themselves and their pilasters exactly agree, as do their
distances.
Where the uniformity of the fronts is broken by the projecting
transepts and chapels, it is broken after one manner, so that when you
have seen the north side you have seen the south, excepting for the
above-mentioned difference caused by the slope.
The North and South Fronts are approached by flights of steps of black
marble. The steps on the north side are twelve in number, and are
reached from the whole semi-circle; on the south side they are
twenty-five in number, and are reached from the ends, the front having
a low wall. Here, the flanking urns on either side afford another
instance of the disregard of Wren's wishes. The difference in the
number of the steps is caused by the slope towards the Thames, and is
interesting as affording an instance of a difference between the two
fronts. The Corinthian pillars, of the full diameter of four feet,
cleverly support the semi-circular entablature above, which is part of
the general entablature continued all round. These porticoes have
semi-dome shaped roofs, and are flanked on either side by the windows
of the transept aisles. The central windows above the porticoes are
slightly larger than the others, and have niches on either side. Above
these are triangular pediments, and above these again, and in
alignment along the balustrade, are statues of ten of the
Apostles--five to each front. The sculpture on the northern pediment
depicts the royal arms, with angels bearing palm branches for
supporters, and on the southern is a Phoenix with the motto
"Resurgam."
[Illustration: NORTH-EAST VIEW OF ST. PAUL'S.]
By universal consent these facades are admirable in the justness of
their proportions, and the harmonious way in which they blend both
with the west front and the entire building. Caius Gabriel Cibber
received six pounds for modelling and a hundred pounds for carving the
Phoenix.
=The East End.=--The Apse was intended for the reception of the altar.
It has three windows in either stage. Underneath the lower central
window is a crown, with cypher of William and Mary, surrounded by the
garter. This device was intended to show in whose reign the choir was
built. It was probably correct when put up; but poor Mary died before
the completion. The apse is of the breadth of the centre, and on
either side are the windows of the aisles, while the central one in
the basement belongs to the Crypt Chapel. There is nothing very
striking or remarkable in this part, the details being similar to the
rest of the church. Very different is the case with our next feature
of interest.
=The West Front.=--The best view is that from the direct front; but by
looking from the north or south-west the conjunction of the chapels
comes in sight, and the spectator can judge for himself whether or no,
so far as the exterior is concerned, they are any improvement. A few
additional dimensions are necessary. The summits of the towers are 222
feet high; the statue of St. Paul above the apex of the pediment is
135 feet. I have already given prominence to the cause of the defeat
of Wren's original conception of one main order and an attic, namely,
that he could not get blocks of stone of a sufficient size. The
Approved Design, so far as the colonnade is concerned, seems to have
been borrowed from the portico of Inigo Jones. The dimensions of the
blocks had been discovered, yet there was only one order of columns,
with a second story of three windows, and supported by Inigo Jones'
harp-shaped buttresses; the only buttresses that Wren even wished to
have visible. Now, the old portico was not cleared away until 1686;
and the west front was built after Wren's taste and judgment had been
given time to ripen. In consequence we have a complete revolution, so
far as the Approved Design is concerned, and something infinitely more
noble and dignified; and we may congratulate ourselves that his blocks
of stone were no larger, so that he produced two orders of columns. At
St. Peter's, where marble of 9 feet (8-1/4 only according to more
recent accounts) was used, the pillars have a shaft of 74 feet, not
including capital or base, and the highest statue is 175 feet from the
base, as compared with the 135 feet of St. Paul's.[84] Yet Wren, by
resorting to two orders of columns, has so increased his apparent
height, that those who have compared the two, assert that the west
front of St. Paul's _appears_ to be as high as St. Peter's.
In the lower order the columns are twelve in number, fluted and in
pairs. Claude Perrault had recently adopted this method of coupling in
the eastern facade of the Louvre, as is duly acknowledged in the
"Parentalia." According to Stephen Wren, it "_is not according to the
usual Mode of the_ Ancients _in their ordinary Temples, which for the
generality were small; but was followed in their Coloss or greater
Works; for instance, in the Portico of the_ Temple of Peace, _the most
magnificent in old_ Rome, _the Columns were very properly and
necessarily doubled to make wider openings._" Italian buildings are
likewise cited. The columns project slightly in advance of the Front;
and as the central part with the great doorway is recessed some twenty
feet, a depth of shadow is produced in the Pronaos.
As the great doorway for "Solemnities" requires a wider opening in
front than the two side ones in daily use, the two central pairs are
placed _Eustyle_--_i.e._, with a supposed space between of two and a
half diameters--while the rest are placed _Pycnostyle_--one and a half
diameters.[85] In the second story, owing to the towers above, the
outside couples are displaced by pilasters; and the eight remaining
columns support the architrave and cornice, and the great triangular
pediment above of seventy-four feet in breadth and eighteen in height.
On this is represented in bas-relief the Conversion of St. Paul. Saul
of Tarsus still seated on his horse, which is crouching on the ground,
looks up at the rays of light; and the alarmed escort are trying to
control their frightened steeds. In the distance is Damascus. The
sculpture is the work of Francis Bird, and he was paid for it the
handsome sum of L650. The statue on the apex is that of the patronal
saint; the two near him are those of St. Peter and St. James, while
the four more remote are those of the Evangelists, with their emblems
taken from Rev. iv. 7.
The Towers, with their Italian details, complete the Facade. They
consist of five stages besides the domes, of which the two lower
correspond with the rest of the front. The third is pierced with
circular openings, which in the southern are filled up with the faces
of the clock. The fourth is transitional between the square and the
octagon; from each angle of the square below spring two pairs of
Corinthian columns, half-concealing, half-revealing the supports of
the small domes. The fifth is an octagon, with two orders of open
arches in each face, and an exterior arcading, urn-shaped pedestals
being freely adopted as in the stage below. The domes, the pine of
which was modelled by Francis Bird, is designed with curves of
contrary flexure for the purpose of adding to the height. Mr. Longman
likens these towers to Alpine aiguilles, and points out how
picturesquely they form outposts to the great mass of the dome.
Both towers are used as campaniles. The north contains the "five
minutes" bell, and the new peal, numbering twelve. The southern
contains the three bells on which the clock is struck; and the largest
of these, weighing 5 tons 4 cwt., is the passing bell on great
occasions. On June 3, 1882, the citizens heard for the first time
their new Great Paul. This monster, weighing nearly seventeen tons,
came from the foundry of Messrs. Taylor, at Loughborough, and its
progress by road was duly chronicled like that of some great
personage. It was placed in the south tower, and is reckoned amongst
the largest bells in the world. Part of the magnificent railings, cast
without the use of coal, at Lamberhurst on the Kent and Sussex border,
have been removed, and, after suffering shipwreck, now enclose a
monument at Toronto. We can but regret that some second home was not
found in London for such a specimen of an extinct industry: but the
throwing open of the area, so that justice might be done to the view
of the cathedral, is in strict accordance with Wren's views. So is the
present arrangement of the steps. In the landing the red marble is
from Laconia, in Southern Greece, the dark grey from Porto Venere,
near La Spezia, in Italy, and the granite from Shap, in Westmoreland.
Posterity may be thankful that Wren was allowed a free hand in
departing from the Accepted Design, and in carrying out his more fully
developed conceptions. The well worked out designs of the different
parts and details, and the combination of these into one harmonious
whole with the dome for a background, leave nothing to be desired.[86]
Before leaving, the visitor may stand by Queen Anne's statue and
reflect that near that very spot was erected the scaffold on which
suffered Sir Everard Digby, Robert Wynter, John Grant, and Thomas
Bates, for their share in the Gunpowder Plot. Digby was said to have
been the handsomest man of his day. He died "penitent and sorrowful
for his vile treason," as did all save Grant.
=The Dome.=--To the end, Wren's wish seems to have been to have made
the external height no greater than was required by the formation of
the internal cupola. "_The old Church having had before a very lofty
Spire of Timber and Lead, the World expected that the new Work should
not in this Respect fall short of the old (tho' that was but a Spit
and this a Mountain). He was therefore obliged to comply with the
Humour of the Age, (though not with ancient Example, as neither did
Bramante) and to raise another Structure over the first Cupola._"
Stephen might have said _two_ other structures. Not only did Wren wish
the interior height to be somewhat less, so as to make it more perfect
for the purpose of an auditorium, but he thought any greater exterior
height unnecessary, and would have finished off the exterior elevation
in some other way.
As matters eventuated, he raised the internal sphere so that the
disproportion with the external might be reduced. The whole dome has
three shells. (_a_) The majestic exterior visible to the eye, an
outward roof of wood covered with lead and ribbed for the sake of
ornament. (_b_) The intermediate brick cone which supports the lantern
and its accessories of 700 tons weight. This springs from the level of
the stone gallery, and rises in straight lines which converge at the
circular opening beneath the lantern. This, although seen neither from
the outside or from within, constitutes the most solid and substantial
part. Between this and the outside visible shell is an ingenious
network of beams supporting the latter, and at the base of this
network a strengthening of which the account had better be given in
Stephen's own words: "_Altho' the Dome wants not Butment, yet for
greater Caution, it is hooped with Iron in this Manner; a Chanel is
cut in the Bandage of Portland-Stone, in which is laid a double Chain
of Iron strongly linked together at every ten Feet, and the whole
Chanel filled up with Lead._"[87] (_c_) The interior dome, also of
brick. The height of this third and smallest shell reaches only to the
level of the curved lines of the fluted patterns of the exterior
shell, a difference of from fifty to sixty feet.
[Illustration: SECTION OF THE DOME.]
Since the outside cupola does not bear the heavy weight of the lantern
it has been denounced as a sham, but this is an exaggeration. It is
evident, as we look at it, that it is incapable of bearing any such
weight. Much more practical is the objection of Gwilt that the
elaborate framework of beams supporting this outside cover is certain
to decay in course of time. A third objection is that of
deception--the exterior and interior are presumed to be one and the
same. This is not correct. Neither roof nor steeple is assumed to have
such correspondence, and Wren might surely be allowed a like liberty
with his dome. As Mr. Wightwick very properly says, it will be time
enough to find fault when the roofs of churches are the same outside
as within.
The Romans are credited with first applying the Dome to larger
buildings. It travelled eastward to Constantinople, and was in use in
Italy during mediaeval times. The word "Dome" is derived from the
_Duomo_ of Florence, where Brunelleschi covered in the octagon with
his famous cupola in the earlier part of the fifteenth century.[88]
But Wren's particular study was the Pantheon, which we have no
evidence whatever that he saw; and, indeed, he erected his dome
without having ever seen, so far as we know, anything like it.
A few words will suffice for the main features. The first stage of the
superstructure is the Stylobate, of 25 feet in height and some 140 to
145 feet in diameter. The next, the Peristyle or Colonnade which
lights up the interior. It has thirty-two Composite columns of a
height of 38 feet, including the pedestals. Every fourth
intercolumnation is filled up with an ornamental niche (if the term be
allowable for a recess of the size) to hide the supports behind. This
alternation, while it agreeably affects the play of light and shade,
yet allows a partial glimpse of the supports. Why could not Wren have
done as much with his curtain wall? Above the peristyle comes the
Stone Gallery with its balustrade--a great attraction for
visitors--just about half-way up to the summit of the cross. Here the
diameter decreases by the breadth of the gallery to 108 feet, and the
Tholobate[89] rises. It has pilasters, with lights between, in the
upper parts. Above is the outer dome proper--the spherical part--with
a further contraction to 102 feet. Wren had the advantage of St.
Peter's to profit by, and abstained from inserting the "luthern"
lights of the larger edifice. The absence of these and the ribbing of
the lead coating was, in his opinion, "less Gothic." The lights,
again, could not easily have been reached for repairs; and if left
unrepaired would have been the means of causing injury to the
supporting timbers underneath. The effect, no doubt, is better, and
the lighting above and below sufficient for the stairs leading to the
lantern.
[Illustration: _Photo. S.B. Bolas & Co._
THE LANTERN, FROM THE CLOCK TOWER.]
=The Lantern.=--The Golden Gallery is almost exactly a hundred feet
above the Stone Gallery. The Lantern is an elegant and graceful piece
of design and workmanship, and consists of three square stages, each
of them with lights and with recesses (or chamfered, so to speak) at
the angles. The second has Corinthian columns, which must be fifteen
feet in height, and a plain entablature, and some more urn-shaped
pedestals. The third is completed with a miniature dome, and has upper
and lower lights in each face. Standing immediately underneath, or by
Nelson's tomb in the Crypt, these lights produce a striking and almost
unique effect. The present gilt ball and cross, which crown the
edifice, replaced the originals of Francis Bird, being put up by
Cockerell--the then Clerk to the Works--in 1821. The extreme height is
from 363 to 365 feet, and in 1848 the Ordnance Survey placed a "crow's
nest" against the cross for the purpose of observations from the
highest attainable point.
Miss Lucy Phillimore has published a paper of Wren's in which the
Surveyor remarks that for the architect it is necessary "_in a
conspicuous Work to preserve His Undertaking from general censure, and
so for him to accommodate his Designs to the Geist of the Age he lives
in, though it appear to him less rational_." As regards the height of
the dome, we are the gainers because he was compelled to do this. It
is not, indeed, the whole of St. Paul's or its only important feature;
for St. Paul's is not a Byzantine church in which the dome is
practically not a part, but the whole. It is the most magnificent
member of a magnificent building, and with its graceful equipoise and
conscious evidence of stability stands alone and in a class by itself
amongst the cathedral superstructures of the land.
FOOTNOTES:
[69] Fergusson's "History on the Modern Styles of Architecture," p.
243. The Pantheon at Rome as restored A.D. 202 was, or rather is, a
rotunda with a portico. The rotunda, according to Fergusson
("Handbook," p. 311), is about 125 feet in internal diameter, and an
external elevation of about 150 feet. The Basilica of Maxentius, or
Temple of Peace, may have been finished in the reign of Constantine
(Maxentius, A.D. 311-312; Constantine the Great, 325-337). The ruins
show an oblong of 265 feet by 195 feet in internal measurement,
including aisles. The whole length is divided into only three bays
("Handbook," p. 319). Fergusson should have added St. Peter's at Rome,
which exercised such an influence over Wren. This immense building
has, in the exterior, only one Order and an Attic. All three have the
round arch.
[70] Fergusson, "Modern Architecture," p. 390.
[71] An _Attic_ is a small story above the cornice, or principal
elevation of a building. [The same would read better by substituting
"story" for "elevation".] An _Attic order_ is an inferior order of
architecture, used over the principal order of a building. It never
has columns, but, sometimes, small pilasters. (Longman, note, p. 164.)
Very common in Roman and Italian, but unknown in Greek.
[72] "At St. Paul's the Surveyor was cautious not to exceed Columns of
four Feet, which had been tried by _Inigo Jones_ in his Portico; the
Quarries of the Isle of _Portland_ would just afford for that
proportion, but not readily for the Artificers were forced sometimes to
stay some Months for one necessary Stone to be raised for their
Purpose, and the farther the Quarry-men pierced into the Rock, the
Quarry produced less Stone than near the Sea. All the most eminent
Masons were of Opinion, that Stones of the largest Scantlings were
there to be found, or nowhere. An Enquiry was made after all the good
Stone that England afforded. Next to _Portland_, _Rock-abbey_ Stone,
and some others in Yorkshire seemed the best and most durable; but
large Stone for the _Paul's_ Works was not easily to be had even there.
For these Reasons the _Surveyor_ concluded upon _Portland-stone_, and
also to use two Orders, and by that Means to keep the just Proportions
of his Cornices; otherwise he must have fallen short of the Height of
the Fabrick.... At the _Vatican Church_ [St. Peter's], Bramante was
ambitious to exceed the ancient _Greek_ and _Roman_ Temples ... and
although by Necessity he failed in the due Proportions of the proper
Members of his Cornice, because the _Tivoli_ stone would not hold out
for the Purpose; yet (as far as we can find) he succeeded in the
Diameter of his Columns, viz., nine Feet."--_Parentalia_, p. 288.
[73] The Royal Commissions expired with the sovereign.
[74] Mr. Longman gives the two together, p. 143.
[75] Tracts in "Parentalia," pp. 352-353. Stephen Wren (p. 269)
explains how his grandfather departed from the conventional
arrangement of architrave, frieze, and cornice in his entablatures,
omitting one or other of these whenever he thought good. Here, above
the pilasters and windows of the lower order he seems to have merged
the three, and in the corresponding part of the upper order to have
omitted anything like a frieze.
[76] _Builder_, January 2, 1892.
[77] "Parentalia," p. 298.
[78] Ibid., p. 352.
[79] Ibid., p. 301, with diagram, showing how a wall does the same as
buttresses.
[80] Mr. Wightwick, quoted in Longman, p. 188.
[81] E.A. Freeman, _Fortnightly Review_, October, 1872, p. 380.
[82] Yet he preferred the Early English windows of Salisbury to any
later.
[83] "Who among the crowds that gaze upon the building ever pause to
admire the flowerwork of St. Paul's?... It is no part of it. It is an
ugly excrescence. We always conceive the building without it, and
should be happier if our conception were not disturbed by its
presence. It makes the rest of the architecture look poverty-stricken,
instead of sublime; and yet it is never enjoyed itself" ("Seven
Lamps," iv. 13). All I can say is I have enjoyed studying it. Mr.
Edward Bell also sends me the following: "We have a familiar instance
in the flower-work of St. Paul's, which is probably, in the abstract,
as perfect flower sculpture as could be produced at the time; and
which is just as rational an ornament of the building as so many
valuable Van Huysums, framed and glazed, and hung up over each window"
("Stones of Venice," I., xxi. 3). In my humble opinion this criticism
is overdrawn; and, after all, Mr. Ruskin commends the sculpture.
[84] Dugdale, p. 191; but some authorities give double that of St.
Paul's.
[85] Fortunately for effect the technical distances are slightly
exceeded. The "Parentalia" says "alternately," but the central is
wider than the remaining four, which are similar.
[86] The objection that the exterior of the West Front does not
correspond with the interior is not accurate. The west end inside
contains (_a_) the lower stage, with the great arch and doorway, and
(_b_) the upper, with the window.
[87] "Parentalia," p. 292.
[88] A curious instance of how words change their meaning, (_a_) A
building--domus; (_b_) the most important building; (_c_) the most
important and striking feature of the building. As everybody now
speaks of the "Dome" of St. Paul's, I have adopted the word instead of
"Cupola."
[89] "Tholobate" means what its derivation implies, "the base of a
cupola." Why should this part be called the attic? How can an attic,
properly speaking, have a gigantic hemisphere above it?