Volume I Part 11 (1/2)

[Illustration: FIG 63--Teypte_, t iii, pl 55)]

[Illustration: FIG 64--Teypte_, t iii, pl 55)]

In a single edifice supports of different kinds but of the same diameter, have no fixed proportions, one to the other A coluher than one with a bell-shaped terain in a single building, we may find these two differently shaped coluht (Fig 65)

[Illustration: FIG 65--From the second court of Medinet-Abou, Thebes (_Description_, t ii, pl 6)]

2 The spaces, or voids, between colu 66), and the entablatures which they support66)

[Illustration: FIG 66--Raypte_, t ii, pl 28)]

The proportional combinations of these elements are such that they cannot be ypt is distinguished from that which we call classic In Greek art there is a _modulus_ which determines the quantitative relation of forms to each other, and fixes a mutual and invariable interdependence This _modulus_ is found in the diameter of the column, and the standard of proportion which is based upon it is called a _canon_ In Egypt, as in other countries, there must have been a certain connection between the diaht, but there was no approach to that rigid and immutable lahich had its effect upon every detail of a Greek teyptian art, was used with such freedoave rise to such varied proportions, that we may say that no _canon_ existed

The eleyptian edifice had so little dependence upon the _modulus_ that we need not take it into consideration, and, in this sense, the art of Egypt was not mathematical, like that of Greece

[Illustration: FIG 67--The Egyptian Gorge or Cornice]

Finally, all Egyptian buildings are crowned by the sa which is called the Egyptian _gorge_ (Fig 67)[96] An architectural ular architrave, is invariably inserted between this termination and the upper extremity of the voids and points of support

[96] We know but one or two exceptions to this rule It will suffice to quote the Royal Pavilion of Medinet-Abou, which is crowned by a row of battlements

[Illustration: THE ARAB CHAIN FROM NEAR KENEH]

[Illustration: THE PYRAMIDS FROM OLD CAIRO]

--3 _General Principles of Construction--Materials_

In studying a natural architecture and in atten reasons for its particular characteristics, many circuenius of the race, the physical and moral conditions of its development, the perfection of its civilization, the spirit of its religion, and the ardour of its faith; none of these otten, but some of them act in such a complex fashi+on that they are extremely difficult to follow In its aspirations towards the infinite and the eternal, the Egyptian religion raised froreatly in form and aspect as they did in date and situation The clied but little since the beginning of the historic period, and every nation has to take the upon its own architectural forms and principles We have here a problem whose data do not vary, and yet its solutions have not always been the sa absolutely incorrect, they attached theave s under one sky and destined for sio so far as to say that their different properties absolutely deter in advance Stone, the chief of all reat variety in principle; and so, too, can brick and wood But although no material can narrowly confine a skilful architect, there are, nevertheless, certain systems and constructions which are only possible with those which possess certain properties

To give but a single exaypt and Persepolis, nor the Greek te upon widely spaced columns, with the coffered roofs of their porticos, and their decorative and expressive sculpture, could have been carried out in brick In stone, or rather in marble, alone, could the typical temple, such as the Parthenon, have been realised; without such a material the Greeks could never have created that incomparable ensemble whose different parts are so intimately allied one with another, in which the richest decoration is in complete unity with the constructive forms which it accentuates and embellishes Brick could never have led to the invention or employment of these forms Those who try to imitate them in any such enious devices The joints between the bricks have to be hidden under stucco, the s and carved ornaments of stone have to be replaced, as in the te 68) The result is soh, especially by the surprise which it causes Santa Maria delle Grazie, at Milan, is a masterpiece of its kind, thanks to the skill and tact displayed by Braement of the burnt clay which was the only material afforded him by the plains of Lombardy; but where Bramante succeeded, less skilful artists have failed They have deive, with a profound discord between form and matter as a result

[Illustration: FIG 68--Capital and entablature of the temple of the Deus Rediculus at Roeri, entitled: _Le Detail des Materiaux dont se servaient les Anciens pour la Construction de leurs Bati folio, 1800, pl v)

Of all the causes which modify the forms of architecture and deterenius, if we may say so, of the in by appreciating and describing the et this in the case of sculpture, still less should we do so in the case of architecture, where the material is still yptians were granite,[98]

sandstone,[99] and limestone[100] A softer stone, na[101]

[98] The only granite quarries that orked in antiquity were those of Syene now assouan, in Upper Egypt, upon the right bank of the Nile

[99] Sandstone was chiefly obtained from two localities, Djebel-Ahypt

[100] The Arab Chain is almost entirely calcareous Near the sites of all the ancient cities it shows nu witness to the activity of the ancient builders The most celebrated of these quarries is that at Mokattam, near Cairo The stone of which the body of the pyramids is composed was drawn from it

[101] The alabaster quarries of to-day are all in the Arab Chain, between the southern slopes of the s of the Wady-Siout, opposite the town of that name