New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-05

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PROFESSOR WILLIAM IT. GOODYEAR
representative OF the institute. and his appear
ance in Liverpool is the result of correspond
ence between Professor G. Brown Goode, as
sistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,
and Professor Franklin W. Hooper. of the insti'
tute. 1t proposed early In July that Profess
sor Goodyear's exhibition of enlarged photo
graphs should be made at the British Associa-
TONS session. and Professor Hooper communl-
Gated with Professor Goode on the subject the
latter wrote TO the British Association descrlo-
ing the character of the exhibition ana the re-
suit was the invitation to Professor Goodyear.
The annual session at Liverpool will last ten
days Professor Goodyears invitation is to stay
throughout the session and TO present the re-
suits of his discoveries in medieval architecture
on the evening Of September -
AN UNUSUAL HONOR.
ct Is an unusual honor for man TO become
the guest of the British Association during its
entire session" said Professor Hooper yesterday
in speaking 10 Tribune reporter Of Professor
Coodvear's departure The invitation to Pro-
lessor GOODYEAR was accompanied with the ad-
d,tional invitation to the institute 10 send over
the entire set Of Italian photographs obtained
by Professor Goodyear in Italy in 1919. we
have sent the entire collection Of 625 photo
.ranhs in charge OF Professor Goodyear and it
win he on exhibition from September Ii TO Sep
TENDER - at the meeting Of the association
Professor Goodyear will deliver his lecture be-
fore the association iii the hall where the COL
lection is to be exhibited. and his lecture Will be
published in The Architectural Record in Octo-
ber 1t will present the most important dscoV-
cries in mediaeval architecture for quarter OF
Ne "a deal material
that has escaped the observation of most stu
dents and writer's on architecture. John Ruskln
only forcshadowed what Professor Goodyear has
now made thoroughly we'll known 10 the world
The collection will be returned from Liverpool
early in October and will be exhibited in the Art
Association Rooms in Montague-st.. in October
and November The Brooklyn Institute eXhb-
tied 81 of the photographs last spring for
short time in the Art Association Rooms, but the
entire collection of 625 photographs will be
placed exhibition in Liverpool for the first
time. Professor Goodyear is expected TO return
on September 30.
PROFESSOR GOODYEAR'S STUDIES
Professor Goodyear began his study of me-
diaevaI architecture in 1870. when he was only
twenty-four years Of age The essay which he
published embodying the results of these first
observations pronounced by Professor
Charles Eliot Norton 10 be the most important
contribution to the knowledge of the world on
the subject Of medieval architecture since Rus
kin's Seven Lamps of Architecture" His re-
cent expedition 10 Italy in 1SyJ was projected
in order to secure more scientific demonstra-
ton of his discoveries in which he sue
cessful.
His attention was first attracted to the sub
1ect in 1870 by something which excited his
curiosity in Pisa. AS he was looking al the
cathedral he was struck with a slope OF the first
cornice, which he had not seen before. Ruskin
had described the same optical effect In one or
his works but had expressed the opinion that
the cause was the settling Of the facade OF the
cathedral Young Goodyear however. was not
satisfied with that explanation
Not knowing" he says. what the slope IN
the cornlce meant, or how ii got there, went
around the city looking at the walls and build
tngs Finally | came across little church
known as San Sefano outside the Walls, and |
noticed cornice with large arches at one end
and constantly diminishing ones toward the
other. 1t occurred 10 me that should go inside
that building did so, and found tremendous
scheme of dropping srches-all in little village
church that is never visited by foreigners. 1t
gave me the hint that something or the Kind was
going on in Pisa Cathedral
HIS CONCLUSIONS
He saw at once that the phenomena could not
be accounted for any theory Of settling foun-
dations He determined 10 visit the edifces In
other parts of Italy. to ascertain II the Pisan
style OF architecture were peculiar to that town.
The conclusions arrived at by him. after the
closest and most accurate investigat tons and
surveys were:
The medieval builders used curved lines,
leaning facadcs. bulging cornces. the dropped
arch rising pavements ana conveyance Of
walls with somewhat different effects de-
n,anded by the time and the occasion, but all
10 one common purpose. viz. To deceive the eye
by playing on the sense OF perspective OF the
fine lords and ladies' the substantial burghers
and their wives and the laboring folk who
nassed i'm and out OF church doors few II any
knew that things were not what they seemed ;
that the mighty proportions Of the edihce and
the dim vastness Of the interior could be attrlD-
uted 10 the Brobdgnagian tricks OF the archi-
tect and that where reverence was deepest ana
awe most profound their illusion was doing It's
most perfect work Yet such was the case.
Moreover this art Of perspective building was
not the invention Of the Christian centuries.
though Christian builders may have carried II
10 a high degree OF development IL has not
been found markedly in Gothic structures II
reached it's acme in the Romanesque and par
ticularly in that portion Of the Romanesque
which drew inspiration directly from Byzantine
sources Thus II was in some measure the child
OF the Greek style, that style which gives us the
curyllinear refnements OF the ParthenOn and
the subtleties Of the Temple OF Theseus And
to 20 back to the mother Of civilization, IL would
seem that the Greeks themselves owed their