give greater richness to the architrave I have divided the large service into two parts, one above and one below, in concordance with the rules of this order. The triglyphs which decorate the frieze are distributed at equal intervals and although I have compressed their width by almost one tenth, I am still left with metopes a sixth wider than those of the regular proportion; but the garland with swags bung from two nails with which each metope is decorated corrects this disproportion out and at the same time provides a decoration that is agreeable, abundant and confusion Here, gentlemen, you have what I have thought it proper to introduce into the scheme of decoration of which I have tried to speak. I have limited myself to employ- ing only the riches of architecture. I have followed the rules and forms which are truly regular, only permitting myself licence in cases of necessity and in such cases licence and the rules are not mutually destructive. I have banished all arbitrary forms that often display only the anarchy of genius and little knowledge. In the end, I have care- fully avoided all affected contours that are fit to tire the eyes of the person of taste and discerning connoisseur, classical canon * antiquity * abuses Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) Remarks on the Architecture of the Ancients (1762) Winckelmann was one of the leading figures of the neo-classical movement whose influ- ence extended to all the arts, including architecture. His life story has become almost legendary. The son of a poor cobbler, he early developed a fervent love for classical antiquity and ancient art and devoted his life to these two causes. His first book, entitled On the Imitation of the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks (1755) established his renown. He was the first historian to draw a sharp distinction between Greek art and its Roman copies, and to base upon this distinction a preference for the ‘noble simplicity and calm grandeur’ of the original over the degenerate, secondary, Roman versions. The book was widely translated and contributed much to the rise of Greek revival architec- ture (Wiebenson, 1969) throughout Europe and America. The present book is an appli- cation of his new, rigorist aesthetic principles to architecture. Further reading Greenhalgh, 1978; Honour, 1968; Kaufmann, 1955; Praz, 1972; Rosemblum, 1967 Chapter Il: Concerning Ornamentation in Architecture After the basic essentials of architecture comes its embellishment, that is the theme of, the present chapter. First, I will discuss it in general, then in particular. A building without decoration is like a healthy person who is reduced to poverty, something no one looks upon as a good thing. Sameness or monotony can be read as a defect in architecture just as much as in writing or in other works of art. Decoration is synonymous with variety. Both in writing and building it provides a change for the intellect and for the eye, and when decoration is combined with simplicity in architec- ture, the result is beauty. This is because whatever is good and beautiful is that way because it is the way it should be. This means the ornamentation should be suited to the general as well as particular purpose. As far as the first is concerned, it should look Johann Joachim Winckelmann 1717-1768like an addition. And as regards the second, it should not change the nature of the place nor its function. It should be thought of as clothing that serves to cover up nakedness. ‘The larger the groundwork of the building, the less decoration it needs — a precious stone should only be set in a gold wire in order to enhance its full sparkle, Ornamentation was as rare in antique buildings just as in the antique statues. In the former one sees neither ogee-mouldings (editor's note: an ogee moulding is one having the shape of double curve formed by the union of a convex and concave line, resem- bling an S-shape] nor roundels. The same is true of antique altars. Under the Consulate of Dolabella, shortly before the reign of Augustus, an arch was built in the Claudian aqueduct. And over it there was a projecting travertine comice that ran diagonally, but in the straight line, something it would have been not so easy to carry out in sub- sequent times Later on, however, architectural variety became a goal achieved through curved Johann Joachim elevations or concave and arched lines. The straight members and parts were frag- Venn mented and thus diversified. But this variety that adapted itself to each architectural order in a different way was actually not viewed as decoration, which indeed was sought after so little by the ancients that the word that stood for it was applied only to ornamentation in clothes. It was only in later times that the Roman word for decor- ation was also applied to works of the intellect. For since true good taste went into decline and appearance was put before substance, decoration was no longer looked on as mere addition but entire squares that had been kept empty were suddenly fall of it. ‘The result of this was meaningless architecture: for if each part is small, the whole will be small as well, as Aristotle says. Architecture suffered the same fate as the old lan- guages, that became richer after they lost their beauty; this can be proved by the Greek as well as the Roman language, and as architects could neither equal nor surpass their predecessors in beauty, they tried to look richer. Michelangelo, whose fertile imagination could not be blocked by economy ot imi- tation of the ancients began to spread out in terms of ornamentation and Borromini, who exaggerated these ormaments, created a deterioration in architecture which spread throughout Italy and other countries and will survive, because our times are going even further away from the severity of the ancients, and people are very like the kings of Peru, who had gold plants and flowers in their gardens, and whose greatness was shown by their decadent taste. classical canon * antiquity * abuses (3701