New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-04-03
q7Ee First VOgunc of NesC History
of Architecture.

A HISTORY OF ARcHITDcTURE. BY Russell
tas9refs A NJ. Phi. D. Illustrated. Vol. l.
ANTIQUITY. 4to pp. XVI, as. The Baker d
Taylor Company.
students OF the art Of building have been much
.,5ebted 10 Mr.. Russell Sturgis for the pic
.,onarv Of Architecture and Building" which he
o5,,ea a few years ago. They are placed still
S,,,4,er under obligation 10 him by the History
- architecture the first volume OF which has
-arentlv been published. Mr.. Sturgis brings un-
,,sual qualifications TO the handling Of his sub
sect he has practised as an architect and he
q also well versed in the scholarship Of his pro-
session. He knows the monuments. and he IS
s,roiliar with the literature that has accumu-
lated around them. The present work is there
fore written with authority. IT is to be COM
,aeted in three volumes. The one before US
seals with antiquity, which Is 20 say. with
rqTpt Western Asia to 300 B. c., Greece, and
Imperial Rome. II is richly illustrated with pho
sogravures. halftones and line drawings. and in
This part OF his work Mr. Sturgis has been at
mains to select good views of familiar subjects
and TO include many that little known save
N the specialist. The Illustrations OF arches
and gafeways in the section dealing with Roman
architecture are particularly noticeable for their
freshness.
Mr. sturgls is much to be commended for the
which easily lures the too ambitious writer
into bypaths Of speculation. He realizes that
while archaeological research lends color 10 many
a conjecture. it does not always make that con-
Seizure a certainty. In other words he gees,
first and last, for accuracy, for the things that
are or the whole. matters OF exact knowledge.
His pages are in the main analyses Of acees-
sible monuments or ruins. In one respect he
might have broadened his scope without detri-
rnent 10 the interest OF his subject. He might
legitinately have done more 10 color his text
with hues borrowed from the social history OF
fhe period traversed. AS II is his rigid adj
herenoe TO a technical conception OF his theme
carries him, sometimes, very near TO dryness.
Sometimes, on the other hand. as though in
spite OF himself he sees the architecture OF the
mast in his minds eye as part of the great
spectacle formed by the whole civilized move
gnent Of a vanished world. and helps us so TO
see II with him. Witness. for example, this in
teresting note on columnar architecture among
the ancient Egyptians:
II is not gigantic size only nor the impressive
effect OF huge masses which the Egyptians soug Ii
lecture the Greeks Of the time OF PeTicles
ma Il IS evident that they enjoyed the columns
themselves and the structures of which they formed
a mart. The extreme degree of divergence in the
deceive ans rs faT e moment The Greek column chan
nslled or futed. and cut with a peculiar rounded
ng Of the shaft itself: but this seems never 20 have
been earEleE lnfe n OF oyeTed with
painted figures from top 10 bottom. and in many
cases wrought with coelantaglyphc sculptures
which are then deliberately treated in color, was
more in itself shaft and capital taken together.
size to which these separate members were carried
very often gave them individual dignity hard for
re larger rounded SHAFTS were more than twice the
fafts VI we're ten feet hiethe rest Of the decora
ton being. on a scale &c Inatch--it appears that
eFy Of painted relief sculpture Of special religious
and traditional Significance. This would hardly
an hung or secured TO fat walls. and each assumed
~ ~ " t,er hand IN FFecf 81 beT;l5aTi S st Dg
ana variety. and constant succession OF contrast
re way OF our modern experience and beyond our
conception. 40 man OF the European world has
any one seen sculpture treated IN fun color. and
vast building.
This passage illustrates welcome disposition
on the part Of the author 20 give plenty OF at
tentiOn to what might be called the decorative
side OF his subject. He has a keen sense OF the
important parts played by sculpture and paint
ing in the development OF ancient architecture
and discusses them with sympathy and sug-
eestively. The Egyptian and the Greek sections
q this volume are perhaps the best, but else
where Mr.. Sturgis is as thorough, IL not equally
Inspiring. His book makes an suspicious start
N this volume and the later instalments win
be swaited with keen interest
Under the title OF Turner'S Liber StudIorium"
Mr. ". G. Rawlinson published IN 1873 de-
sariptiTe catalogue of the famous work OF the
Eaat English landscape painter. It has always
been valued by collectors and students, and
these readers win be glad to know that at last
amer nearly thirty years. the compiler has
brought out through the AGacmiIlans a second
edition, carefully revised. This book is useful
because in the first place. Il gives in q brief
essay an interesting account OF the origin Of
re 'Liber" and the manner OF SIS production
4hen follow. in the long catalogue, notes from
winch The collector may gather all that there is
2 be known about the different states. A good
teaI OF excellent miscellaneous reading may be
iouna among these notes. At the back OF the
oook IN this edition Mr.. Rawlinson prints a
number OF letters from Turner and others
~'fe"lng light on the artists relations with his
eAsfavers. There IS. finally. record OF the re-
promotions OF the ''Liber' that have been pub
Asned This is. in short. a storehouse OF in
SUMMATION. 1t has been printed on this occasion
x most attractive form. with good paper and
NessWork and a simple. artistic binding
Inc Atheneum'' has just recorded the death
~ -'F f. Q. Stephens. who was for some forty