St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-03-15
COVNGTON, ST TAMMANY PARISH,



ART ~ ARCHITECTURE.
| 1Ao WoFa4.Wlde Passion for Adaptable,
and Hybridlsatioa.
| Architectural forms, like letters Of th,
alphabet. seem perpetually to have heel
| borrowed from one nation by another
Each borrows what 1t can assimilate AM
throws away the rest, the assimilstet
portion undergoing transforming proc
ess by which, in the course OF time
new and remarkable forms are evolved
Hollas bOrr0ws from Asia Minor
EtruriA from Hellas; Rome, from
Etrutia and Hellas; Mohammedan mos
ques seem the beautiful and incrediabls
offspring Of Roman byzantine colon
nades and basilcas, flushed with dream!
OF Bagdsd; and Gothic cathedrals spread
their mantels Of pOint-lace over apse:
and naves and roofs reminiscent
Of both Greece and Rome. In
architecture, however, the Romans
were moro discriminating bor
rowers than they showed themselves
In sculpture. They stole the jewels Of
the Egyptians, but they transformed
them. OF the three orders of Greek
temple architecture-Doric, Ionic and
Corinthian-so clearly outlined by Mr..
Sturgis In his 'Archmologist in Greece, >
the Romans adopted all. but domesti.
Gated only one. Like some rare orchid,
the COrinthian style alone with its
horisted capital took root at once in
Italian soil. grew and fourished there
wonderfully. and developed originalities
and graces OF its own unknown to the
honeysuckle and acanthus-lovingG Greeks.
The severe Doric, the graceful voluted
Ionic with its whorl-like capitals and
curves recur again and again in Roman
structures, but so coarse, SO material.
lied, 50 unspiritual and barbaric that
they more frequently resemble carica.
ture OF the Greek ideas than transplant
ngsofdelicatee exotic flowers. In translit-
Grating the Ionic and Doric styles into
their own architectural speech. tho Ro-
mans came upon language which they
did not understand. and there survive of
these attempts only such stammering
interpretations IS the temple of For
tuna Virilis Uonic) and the barbarous
theater Of Marcellus (Doric). The Ro-
mans carried their passion for adapta-
tion and hybridization even into the do
main Of the gods, taking the lovely
Corinthian and Ionic capitals of the
Greeks and combining them in MANY
striking and fanciful forms. This was
the origin Of the Composite style-a
style blending Ionic spirals with Corin-
THAN acanthus leaves in the capitals,
with many novel and ingenious arrange.
ments Of the shafts, drums. and fillets.
From the Roman capital, indeed,
sprouted innumerable variations on
the picturesque Greek original; they
sparkled with blazing acanthus
leaves Of gilt and bronze; heads of
animals, human figures, armo-, exotic
foliage, surmounted shafts and columns,
no longer auted in delicate grooves, but
carved or cabled or wrought with leaf
and flower, like An architectural flower.
garden gone wild; and no two Roman
temples would be construed
in the same terms or were sufficiently
alike for generalization. The classic
specimens of this order on Italian soil
were the brilliant temple Of Jupiter
Stator at Rome and the temple at Tivoli.
Amid all the ingenuities and extrava-
gances, however, lavished by the imag-
NATIVE Roman architects on the Cor.
inthian. this style, which became the
national style Of Rome, was always rec
ognizable- often, indeed, developed .
,olumnar beauty, . floral charm,
} wondrous airness and versal-
ty not even shown by the
Creeks in their most exquisite specimen
If the order. the Choragic monument of
Lysicrates at Athens. Athens was ever
he purist in speech, in grammar, in
,oem, in tragedy, in historic compost.
ion, in ideal and almost unearthly forms
II sculptural and architectural beauty,
While Rome was always aggressive,
'ococo. practical. full Of = superabundant
ife that could not be pctrifled, full OF
estless composite elements that must |
ind varied and multifOld utterance in |
literature and art-Pro!. James A. Har
ison, in Chautauquan.