This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
From The London Builder
A great part of the difficulty in reference to decorative expression arises from our contracting too much the field of our resources, from a neglect of many sources from which the fibres of architecture should be nourished. Egyptians, Indians, Greeks, Romans, Venetians, and our own mediaeval architects, drew their inspiration from the highest fountains then open to them; and we see the poet and the orator ransack all nature, existing art, and science, for similies and metaphors wherewith to vivify their works. Now architecture, to be a living art, and reflect to posterity the divine or humanity, must do likewise: it must move with the general march of mind, and grow with the increase of knowledge: it must digest every improvement in science, and draw its vitality and power from every accessible source.'
The entire language of architecture is really a copious one: all nature, animate and inanimate, and all extant art, offer themselves as models to the architect. The botanist, the geologist, the naturalist, the chemist, the archaeologist. - all explorers and expounders of nature, of history, and of art, are, though they may not be aware of it, benefactors to architecture; but their gifts have been but partially applied to the enrichment of the poetry or the strengthening of the expressive faculties of the art.
Modern sculpture, as applied to architecture as well as sculpture generally, has, I am well aware, a different province to that of the ancients, which was to express the natural idea of their deities as promulgated by the poets, and which was conceived after the analogy of humanity. The Greek sculptures are hieroglyphics of Pagan theology: the gods of the Greeks partook of the character of men, and coming within the shade of human passion, and actuated by human motives, they admitted of personal representation. As we conceive of the Deity in a totally different manner, as filling immensity and "inhabiting eternity," no graven image, however warm with the fire of genius, will answer to our ideas. We must, therefore, be careful how we draw from heathen mythology for the embellishment and illustration of Christian churches.
Were the gods and heroes of antiquity. More rational and artistic compositions than many of these could doubtless he formed; hut they might he made the basis of a system worthy of the present advanced state of art and religion. Surely Scripture yields a sufficient field for this, and sculpture could embody the sacred memories and associations of our religion. - the sublime personages of Bible history, as well as the myths and allegories of the ancients. For secular purposes, the case is different; and though faith has ceased to be exercised in the Thunderer of Olympus, and the empyreal conclave of subordinate divinities, yet a great portion of Greek mythology and allegory will apply to our general purposes; and, as far as they are so applicable, they are unimprovable. Their is something so exquisite in the conceptions of these ideal and figurative beings, which so beautifully personify the different qualities, physical or moral, that they represent. - their roots are so deep in nature. - that they must ever have a potent spell upon our feelings and imagination. For emblematic illustration, what could be superior to the attributes and emblems of the mythology? The helmet and lance were the symbols of war, and may be such while war continues.
The lyre and laurel branch are still appropriate symbols of harmony and fame. The myrtle-branch and the dove were to characterise affection, and may still do so, as the palm branch and wreath may announce victory, and the olive, peace. Though symbols of a banished creed, do they not belong to humanity?. No more natural and beautiful emblem of justice than the equal balance could be conceived: the hoodwink of Impartiality, the veil of Modesty, the bridle of Temperance, are unrivalled in their significant beauty. Festoons, wreaths, garlands, to whatsoever they owe their origin, have been universally received among cultivated nations as representative of certain ideas, and may still be so employed while art shall need them. Symbolism and allegory are a source that has been inadequately drawn upon in modern architecture: yet it is surely an artistic one. The Greek architecture spoke by it, and emblems were invented when ancient art had reached a high point of perfection. The trope and metaphor of poetry and Scripture are used on the same principle. - to illustrate and strengthen the intended idea.
What striking morals are conveyed by allegorical persons and things in poetry! The destination of some buildings cannot be distinguished from that of others by an appeal to analogy alone, and therefore a further language is required; and here is one of almost infinite scope, that supplies genius with a boundless field of invention. - a rich and beautiful language, and, withal, a natural one, for we are instinctively prone to allegorise: personification is the natural language of feeling and imagination.
But whatever mode of illustration we adopt, we must not neglect our own national resources. In drawing from British literature and history, and embodying in stone the creations of our poetry, or the great historical personages of our country, we follow the highest ancient examples, and such subjects generally will be more interesting to English hearts than the brightest imaginings of Homer and Hesiod. Thus enriched, we should find no difficulty in characterizing our respective works. The destinations of modern edifices are not too numerous in their variety to be distinguished, when all our resources are drawn upon, and all our unwrought elements organized. The various arts and sciences. - the different virtues, have their respective natural emblems; the Romans deified all the virtues, and gave them their appropriate attributes, or distinguished them by their attire, and such creations we could not improve. The instruments used in the various arts and sciences have been employed on buildings as indications of their devotion to these arts, and they may be still employed with the greatest propriety.
 
Continue to: