From the time of antiquity to our own day men have sought to discover or
invent the probable origin of the various systems of architecture.
Besides the well known _hut_ of Vitruvius, and the no less celebrated
_grotto_ of the Ichthyophagi or fish-eating races, (the supposed type of
the Egyptian temples), the tent of the Nomad, or wandering races,
occupies a very important place in our theories of the origin of styles.
In the catenary formed by the fall of the drapery of a Mongol tent, has
been recognised the type of Chinese and Tartar architecture.
Footnote 7:
Extracted from an Essay written in 1852, and published in Germany
under the title of “The Four Elements of Architecture.” By PROFESSOR
GOTTFRIED SEMPER.
But no notice has been taken of the much more evident and less doubtful
influence, which drapery itself, in its quality of a vertical wall, or
partition, has exercised on certain architectural forms. Nevertheless it
is the _motif_ which I venture to cite, as the one on which ancient art
has been principally founded.
It is well known that the nascent taste for the beautiful among those
races which are in a state of social infancy, is first exercised in the
manufacture of coarse tissues, which serve either as beds or as
partitions.
The art of dress is less ancient than that of the manufacture of stuffs,
as several examples of people to whom clothing is unknown, and who
nevertheless possess an industry, more or less developed, in tissues and
embroidery, may satisfy us.
The earliest woven work would seem to be the _fence_, that is, branches
of trees interlaced, serving the purpose of enclosure and of partition.
The most savage tribes are acquainted with this method of construction.
Thus the employment of coarse tissue or woven work (which was a mere
fence) as a means of securing privacy from the world outside certainly
far preceded the constructed wall of stone, or of any other material;
this last only became necessary at a much later period, for requirements
which in their nature bear no relation whatever to space and its
subdivision. The stone wall was made for greater security, longer
duration, and to serve as a support for heaps of various materials and
stores; in fine, for purposes foreign to the original idea; viz., that
of the separation of space, and it is most important to remark, that
_wherever the secondary motives did not exist, woven fabrics maintained,
almost without exception, especially in southern lands, their ancient
office, that of the ostensible separation of space_; and even in cases
where the construction of solid walls became necessary, these last are
but the internal and unseen scaffolding of the true and legitimate
representatives of division, that is to say, of drapery richly varied
with ornamental work, interlacings, and colours.
The difference which exists between the ostensible and principal
separation, and the constructed separation, is expressed in ancient and
modern languages by terms more or less significative.
In the Latin tongue, a distinction is made between _paries_ and _murus_.
The Germans, in the word _wand_ (of the same root with _gewand_, which
means texture) recal still more directly the ancient origin and type of
a wall.
New inventions soon led to different methods of replacing the primitive
drapery, and every art was successively called in to contribute its part
to these innovations, which may have been brought about by various
reasons; such, for example, as the desire for longer endurance, for the
sake of cleanliness, economy, comfort, distinction, coolness, heat, &c.
One of the most ancient and most general methods of replacing the use of
drapery or tapestry is the coat of stucco or of plaster, furnished by
the masons who built the walls.
Another very ancient method of replacing the original tapestry is, that
of wooden panels, with which the wall was covered internally. That which
proves the antiquity of this custom is, that in several ancient
languages the expression which is only properly applicable to panels of
wood, serves indifferently to signify every kind of flat surface
(_table_) in wood, metal, ivory, or any other material.
It is thus we must explain the Greek expression πιναξ, (in Latin
_tabula_) as a painting on wood, or also on marble, baked clay, &c.
Plates of burnt clay, thin but of large circumference, were equally
called “πινακες.”
The style of mural painting at Pompeii is only to be understood by the
same ancient custom of covering and inlaying the walls which they
reproduced in appearance by divisions and painted draperies. See
Vitruvius, on this point, in the chapter on Plastering. Wiegmann has
erred in attributing the same system of ancient painting to purely
technic causes.
The Ceramic art was, in its turn, called on as a means of replacing
drapery. It is certain that potter’s clay painted, and even glazed,
served, at a very remote period, as a covering for walls. It may even be
admitted, that the employment of the potter’s art on the surface of
walls, preceded the manufacture of burnt bricks, and that the invention
of burning bricks was the result of the custom cited above.
The mural incrustations in baked clay were the precursors of brick
masonry; in the same manner as the Assyrian slabs may be considered to
be the forerunners of constructions in hewn stone. We shall return again
to this subject.
Among the various methods of replacing the use of drapery, should be
also mentioned those furnished by metallurgic processes. Vestiges of
metallic coverings on walls have been found on the oldest existing
monuments; and the most ancient annals of mankind are filled with
recitals of buildings resplendent with gold and silver, bronze and tin
respectively.
As an invention of relatively recent date, may be cited lastly, the use
of slabs of marble or stone, granite, alabaster, &c., notwithstanding
that we find traces of this custom, but as it were already effaced, on
the most ancient monuments of the earth. (_See farther on_).
In all the cases we have named, _the character of the substitute
followed that of its original type_, and the painting and sculpture, or
rather the two united, on wood, plaster, burnt clay, metal, stone, or
ivory, was—and traditionally continued to be—an imitation, more or less
faithful, of the embroideries or variegated interlacings which
ornamented the antique wall-coverings.
It may be asserted that the entire system of decoration, with the art of
painting and sculpture in relief, up to the period of its highest
application, which is that of the tympanums of the pediments in the
Greek temples, proceeded from the manufactures of the Assyrian weavers
and dyers; or rather from their predecessors in human inventions. In any
case, it was the Assyrians—next to the Chinese—who appear to have
preserved most faithfully the antique type, even in its application to a
different material. We will enter a little more explicitly on this
subject.