The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-01 00:00:00

FINE ARTS

Photographs from Pugin's Sketches.
Published by Stephen Ayling.
At last a fitting memorial is about to be raised
to the memory of the most rarely-gifted of modern
architects. Augustus Welby Pugin passed away
in the very flower of his age—not, however, until
he had established for himself a splendid and, so far
as human glory can arrogate to itself so unearthly
a title, an imperishable reputation. His repute as
an architect can at any rate only perish from the
face of the earth with the crumbling away of the
very ruins of those numerous and beautiful eccle-
siastical edifices with which this noble artificer
adorned his native land—so adorning it in each in-
stance in direct emulation of those great master-
works, at once of the Piety and of the Genius of our
forefathers, the old Gothic Cathedrals ! The full
span of Pugin's life extended only from 1811 to
1852—embracing within it consequently an interval
of no more than one-and-forty years altogether !
Yet, breathing his last though he did (seemingly
to us so very prematurely) he has left behind him
no merely fragmentary evidences of his consum-
mate aptitude for the mastery of all the
arts and all the sciences essential to the
manifestation of the genius, and to the build-
ing up of the repute, of any really great and his-
torical architect. An architect precisely of that cha-
racter—one in the fullest meaning of the words really
Great and Historical—if ever there was one—was
Augustus Pugin. He was a born geometrician.
He had an instinctive eye for the Beautiful in
form and proportion. His sense of Perspective
was so instant and so subtle that it seemed to be
nothing less than an intuition. It were idle, how-
ever, to loiter here over any attempt at the detailed
definition or delineation of tlis extraordinary powers,
whether as an architect or as an architectural
draughtsman. In the latter capacity it is no ex-
travagance to assert that he stood unrivalled, that
he stood absolutely unapproachable. Pencil in
hand, Pugin with the deft and rapid movement of
his fingers of witchery and fascination, over the
blank surface of his drawing-board, could conjure
up vistas of beauty, wonders of architectural ar-
rangement and combination—marvellous, nearly
miraculous, in the all but microscopic accuracy of
their proportions. The treasures accumulated thus
by this wonder-working hand, in the shape of Original
Sketches, have been hitherto lying hidden away
from public view in the recesses of portfolios, the
strings of which are now being loosened for the
general good by the fi]ial devotion to his father's
memory and his father's art, of Pugin's son and
successor. Five hundra of these Original Sketches
by Augustus Welby Pugin are thus about to be
placed within reach of all the admirers of his genius,
by the issue of them, in fac simile, in the shape of a
costly periodical. Elegantly half-bound, the work,
when completed, will be purchasable for ten guineas.
Its publication meanwhile is here commenced in
instalments—in guinea monthly parts, each part
containing some fifty Photographs. For it has
been wisely decided that by the aid of photo-
graphy, the fac-simile reproduction of these Ori-
ginal Sketches of Pugin's will be best accom-
plished. The Sketches, it should be said, are only
nominally 500 —several of them comprising within
a single photograph so many distinct illustrations
that the gross aggregate of the designs altogether,
it is calculated, must amount to upwards of
Seventeen Hundred ! Cathedrals and churches,
exteriors and interiors, public buildings and
sepulchral monuments, Castles, Bridges, Towers,
Rains, Plans, Sections, Details— marvels of beauty,
now gigantic, now minute—seen by Pugin's eye,
drawn by Pugin's hand—they comprise among them
all that is conspicuously picturesque in the chief
cities of France, Belgium, Italy, England, and
Germany. Here a wayside cross, there a pedestal
surmounted by a Madonna. Now a reliquary, now
a niche. Lecturns and choir-stalls, mitres and
croziers. Yonder the tabernacle on a high altar—
yonder, again, the crucifix on a rood. Screens and
copes, clocks and candelabra—antique doors and
ancient gateways—incense thuribles and holy
water stoups--aisles and cloisters—lamps and
fountains—corbels and gurgoyles—the facade
of a palace and the apse of a cathe-
dral. Steeple and turret, window and staircase,
mosaic and tapestry—everything that came under
his observation was copied with a loving and exqui-
sitely appreciative touch by the cunning hand of this
wonder among architectural draughtsmen. Judging
of the work merely from the one preliminary portion
of it here submitted to our consideration, we believe
that the photographer to whom it has been intrusted
is justified to the full in asserting, as he has done,
that " the publication will be welcome, not only on
account of its artistic excellence and historic asso-
ciation, but as being a new evidence, now for the
first time offered to the public, of the genius of this
great architect." Prefixed to the work is a dedica-
cation so tenderly and touchingly eloquent of its
kind that we are tempted to reproduce it here not
only verbatim, but precisely as it is given upon
the Dedicatory Page, namely, in the manner fol
lowing :

DEDICATION.
To THE MEMORY

a dear and affectionate
FATIIER,
in dutiful remembrance

of his instructive words, kind acts, and encouraging example
in filial gratitude
for the love of art received from him,
and the practical knowledge gathered from his teaching;
that

his artistic mind, tasteful selection, and masterly execution
may be more fully known and appreciated;
that the study of
11EDuEver, ARCHITECTURE
may bo forwarded,
and the love of true principles in art advanced ;
that his
FRIENDS

may be gladdened by the sight of works endeared to them
by past recollections ;
that the hope of his life may be accomplished
in giving to fellow
ARCHITECTS
the benefits of his labours,
and in obedience to the earnest and repeated desire of
many patrons of art,
THESE PHOTOGRAPHS,
from the selected Sketches of the late
'AUGUSTUS WELBY PUGIN,
are respectfully dedicated
by
his affectionate and dutiful Son,
EDWARD WELBY PUGIN.

From what we have already seen of the•work now
immediately forthcoming, we have every confidence
that upon its completion it will prove to be not
merely a fitting memorial of Pugin's art, but one,
in truth, so fitting and so worthy of him, that it
will be regarded as a complete library of reference
for the student of--•what Augustus Pugin loved with
his whole heart and soul, ad majorem Dei gloriam—
the wondrous beauties and diversities, the majesty
and the magnificence of Gothic Architecture.

RAIN IN INDIA.—We have to record that at last
the bursat has set in in the valley of the Ganges, to
the unspeakable comfort and content of the ryots. Great
fears were entertained in many districts of the Upper Pro-
vinces that the rain would come too late to be of use. The
heat and drought were most severe. Men and animals
drooped under it, and the fields presented a spectacle that
raised the gaunt spectre of an impending famine to the fear-
ful gaze of the ryots. Rain was not only longed for, it was
prayed for. The Pundits and Moulvies were called into
the service, and muntras and belts were read with intense
but unavailing fervour. Finding the efforts of their priests
fail them, the ryots next had recourse to an ancient and
somewhat singular custom. At night all the women of
many of the villages walked naked to some neighbouring
tank or stream, and there with songs and invocations
sought to propitiate the offended heavens, and to induce
the gods to send them rain. This device was also without
immediate effect, and despair and gloom were fast settling
down upon the hearts of the peasantry, when the sky was
overspread with clouds, and the rain came down in earnest.
Rain in England seems to be one of the parents of ennui,
and to make a dull people yet more miserable, but in India,
on such an occasion as the above, the coming of the rain
was a signal for universal bustle, gladness, and congratula-
tions ; the ryot, while hastening to get out his plough and
harness his bullocks, found time to shako hands with his
neighbour, and to impart his conviction that if it only
lasted there would yet be a good season.—Bengal Hurkaru,
July 15.

SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF GUNPOWDER.—Yester-
day morning the ship Stella, Capt. Cambriero, bound for
Port Natal, via Havre, left the Mersey, but at the mouth of
the river she took fire, was towed back again, scuttled, and
beached some distance up the river. After this the crew of
an Admiralty boat picked up 650 barrels of powder in the
river, which was supposed, though reliable information is
wanting, to have formed part of the cargo of the Stella,
though AO such item appeared is her clearance ilk.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

FRANCE.

DIPLOMATIC RECEPTIONS AT THE TUILERIES,
PARIS, Sept. 1.

The Emperor yesterday received in private
audience Cavaliere di Nigra, who expressed the
desire of Prince Armedeus, who is now travelling to
present his respects to his Majesty. Viscount de
Paiva, the Portuguese Minister, also had an
audience of the Emperor, and remitted to his
Majesty the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ for
the Princo Imperial.
The Emperor, subsequently, received in public
audiences M. Mon, the late Spanish Ambassador,
and his newly appointed successor, the Marquis de
Leina. Replying to the address of the latter on
presenting his credentials, the Emperor said
" I attach great value to seeing Spain and France
march with the same steps towards progress. The
two nations have none but common interests, and
aro separated by no rival ambition. You will
always find my Government ready to strengthen
the bonds which unite the two countries."

Count Walewski has tendered his resignation as
a senator, which has been accepted.
A fête took place at Fontainebleau three days
back, on the occasion of the St. Louis. The band
of the Zouaves played in the parterre of the palace
gardens, and twice the Emperor and Prince Impe-
rial came and mingled with the company assembled.
A display of fireworks took place in the evening,
and was witnessed by his Majesty with the Court
from the Avenue de Maintenon.

The Russian Gazette of St. Petersburg announces
that a malady called the Siberian cattle plague, is at
present ravaging the town of Kortcheva and its
environs (in the government of Iver). In some
places not a horse or cow is to be found. The same
disease is also reported to have appeared in the go-
vernment of Podolia.

BOURSE, Aug. 31.—Two o'clock.—The Bourse
is well attedded to-day, being the reponse des primes
(option). Threes, for the Account, have improved
121-c., being quoted at 68fr. 75c. Italian Fives are
doing at 66fr. 5c., being an improvement of 15c.
Credit Mobiliers have advanced 6fr. 25c., viz., to
820 fr. Spanish Mobilier are 517 fr. 50c. These
prices are all higher than those at which the reponse
has been fixed. Three o'clock.—The market has
kept buoyant to the end. The last quotations are
as follows :

41 per Cents 9B
Do. end month —
3 per Cents
Do. end month 6B 90
Credit Mobilier
Do. end month
Bank Shares 3590

Ditto Threes —
Mexican Loan 49
Do. Bonds —
Russian —
Austrian
Spanish Threes
Home Debt —
Deferred
Roman —

Credit Foneier 1340
Italian Loan 66
Do. end month 66 05
RAIL

Orleans
Northern
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern
Western
Eastern
Sardinian .
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona
Roman