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Ruskin, John, 1819-1900

"Val d'Arno"

,) by reference
to the use of barred colours, with delight, by Giotto and all
subsequent colourists.
140. But it did not then occur to me to ask, much as I always disliked
the English Perpendicular, what would have been the effect on the
spectator's mind, had the buildings been striped vertically instead of
horizontally; nor did I then know, or in the least imagine, how much
_practical_ need there was for reference from the structure of the
edifice to that of the cliff; and how much the permanence, as well as
propriety, of structure depended on the stones being _couchant_ in the
wall, as they had been in the quarry: to which subject I wish to-day to
direct your attention.
141. You will find stated with as much clearness as I am able, in the
first and fifth lectures in "Aratra Pentelici," the principles of
architectural design to which, in all my future teaching, I shall have
constantly to appeal; namely, that architecture consists distinctively
in the adaptation of form to resist force;--that, practically, it may
be always thought of as doing this by the ingenious adjustment of
various pieces of solid material; that the perception of this ingenious
adjustment, or structure, is to be always joined with our admiration of
the superadded ornament; and that all delightful ornament is the
honouring of such useful structures; but that the beauty of the
ornament itself is independent of the structure, and arrived at by
powers of mind of a very different class from those which are necessary
to give skill in architecture proper.


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