Section 4

all good Gothic, depends on the single lines of the gable over the pointed arch endlessly rearranged and repeated." These two, an angu- lar and a curved form, like the every- where recurring column and lintel of classic architecture, are but pre- sentments'of Yo and In (Illustration 18). Every Gothic traceried win- dow, with straight and vertical mul- lions in the rectangle, losing them- selves in the intricate foliations of the arch, celebrates the marriage of this ever diverse pair. The circle and the triangle are the In and Yo of Gothic tracery, its
42 THE BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY
Eve and Adam, as it were, for from their union springs that progeny of trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil, of shapes fiowing like water, and shapes darting like flame, which makes such visible music to the entranced ear.
By seeking to discover In and Yo in their myriad manifes- tations, by learning to discrim- inate between them, and by at- tempting to express their char- acteristic qualities in new forms of beauty — from the disposition of a facade to the shaping of a moulding — the architectural de- signer will charge his work with that esoteric significance, that excess of beauty, by which architecture rises to the dignity of a "fine" art (Illustrations 19, 20). In so doing, however, he should never forget, and the layman also should ever remember, that the supreme architectural excellence is fitness, appropriate- ness, the perfect adaptation of means to ends, and the adequate expression of both means and ends. These two aims, the one ab- stract and universal, the other concrete and individual, can al- ways be combined, just as in every human countenance are com- bined a type, which is universal, and a character, which is in- dividual.
Ill
CHANGELESS CHANGE
TRINITY, CONSONANCE, DIVERSITY IN MONOTONY, BALANCE, RHYTHMIC CHANGE, RADIATION
THE preceding essay was devoted for the most part to that "inevitable duality" which finds concrete expres- sion in countless pairs of opposites, such as day and night, fire and water, man and woman; in the art of music by two chords, one of suspense and the other of fulfilment; in speech by vowel and consonant sounds, epitomized in a and in m; in painting by warm colors and cold, epitomized in red and blue; in achitecture by the vertical column and the horizontal lintel, by void and solid — and so on.
TRINITY
This concept should now be modified by another, namely, that in every duality a third is latent; that two implies three, for each sex so to speak is in process of becoming the other, and this alternation engenders and is accomplished by means of a third term or neuter, which is like neither of the original two but partakes of the nature of them both, just as a child may re- semble both its parents. Twilight comes between day and night; earth is the child of fire and water; in music, besides the chord of longing and striving, and the chord of rest and satis- faction (the dominant seventh and the tonic), there is a third or resolving chord in which the two are reconciled. In the sacred
43
THE. LAW OF TRJNnTT
44 THE BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY
syllable Om (Aum), which epitomizes all speech, the u sound effects a transition between the a sound and the m ; among the so- called primary colors yellow comes between red and blue ; and in architecture the arch, which is both weight and support, which is neither vertical nor horizontal, may be considered the neuter of the group of which the column and the lintel are respectively masculine and feminine. "These are the three," says Mr. Louis
Sullivan, "the only three letters from which has been expanded the arch- itectural art, as a great and superb language wherewith man has ex- pressed, through the generations, the changing drift of his thoughts."
It would be supererogatory to dwell at any length on this "trinity of mani- festation" as the concrete expression of that unmanifest and mystical trin- ity, that three-in-one which under various names occurs in every world- religion, where, defying definition, it was wont to find expression sym- bolically in some combination of vertical, horizontal and curved lines. The anstated cross of the Egyptians is such a symbol, the Buddhist wheel, and the fylfot or swastika inscribed within a circle, also those numerous Christian symbols combining the circle and the cross. Such ideographs have spelled profound meaning to the thinkers of past ages. We of to-day are not given to discovering anything wonderful in three strokes of a pen, but every artist in the weaving of his pattern must needs employ these mystic symbols in one form or another, and if he employs them with a full
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21
CHANGLESS CHANGE 45
sense of their hidden meaning his work will be apt to gain in originality and beauty — for originality is a new and personal perception of beauty, and beauty is the name we give to truth we cannot understand.
In architecture, this trinity of vertical, horizontal and curved lines finds admirable illustration in the application of columns and entablature to an arch and impost construction, so common in Roman and Renaissance work. This is a redundancy, and finds no justification in reason, because the weight is sustained by the arch, and the "order" is an appendage merely; yet the combination, illogical as it is, satisfies the sense of beauty be- cause the arch efifects a transition between the columns and the entablature, and completes the trinity of vertical, horizontal and curved lines (Illustration 21). In the entrances to many of the Gothic cathedrals and churches the same elements are better because more logically disposed. Here the horizontal lintel and its vertical supports are not decorative merely, but really per- form their proper functions, while the arch, too, has a raison d'etre in that it serves to relieve the lintel of the superincumbent weight of masonry. The same arrangement sometimes occurs in classic architecture also, as when an opening spanned by a single arch is subdivided by means of an order (Illustration 22).
Three is pre-eminently the number of architecture, because it is the number of space, which for us is three-dimensional, and of all the arts architecture is most concerned with the ex- pression of spatial relations. The division of a composition into three related parts is so universal that it would seem to be the result of an instinctive action of the human mind. The twin pylons of an Egyptian temple with its entrance between, for a third division, has its correspondence in the two towers of a Gothic cathedral and the intervening screen wall of the
THE LAW Of' TI^INITY
^ '^ ^ g=T
CLASSIC
QOTHIG
46 THE BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY
nave. In the palaces ot the Renaissance a three- fold division — vertically by means of quoins or pi- lasters, and horizontally by means of cornices or string courses — ^was common, as was also the division into a principal and two subordi- nate masses (Illustration
23)-
The architectural "or- ders" are divided threefold into pedestal or stylobate, column and entablature; and each of these is again divided threefold: the first into plinth, die and cornice; the second into base, shaft and capital ; the third into architrave, frieze and cornice. In many cases these again lend themselves to a threefold subdivision. A more detailed analysis of the capitals already shown to be twofold reveals a third member: in the Greek Doric this consists of the annulets immediately below the abacus ; in the other orders, the necking which divides the shaft from the cap.
CONSONANCE
"As is the small, so is the great" is a perpetually recurring phrase in the literature of theosophy, and naturally so, for it is a succinct statement of a fundamental and far-reaching truth. The scientist recognizes it now and then and here and there, but the occultist trusts it always and utterly. To him the microcosm
THE TKENTTY Oi' HORJZONfEAlr^
THE* LAW OF TRINITY: A THI?f.EFOLD DIS- POSITION OF THE PARTS OF A BUIbDlNO-
CHANGLESS CHANGE 47
and the macrocosm are one and the same in essence, and the forth-going impulse which calls a universe into being and the indrawing impulse which extinguishes it again, each lasting millions of years, are echoed and repeated in the inflow and outflow of the breath through the nostrils, in nutrition and excretion, in daily activity and nightly rest, in that longer day which we name a life- time, and that longer rest in Devachan — and so on until time itself is transcended.
In the same way, in nature, a thing is echoed and repeated throughout its parts'. Each leaf on a tree is itself a tree in minia- ture, each blossom a modified leaf; every vertebrate animal is a complicated system of
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28
spines; the ripple is
the wave of a larger
wave, and that larger
wave is a part of the
ebbing and flowing tide. In music this law is illustrated in the
return of the tonic to itself in the octave, and its partial return in
the dominant; also in a more extended sense in the repetition of a
major theme in the minor, or in the treble and again in the bass,
with modifications perhaps of time and key. In the art of
48
THE BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY
THB LAW OF GONSONANCL: REPETITION WITH VARIATION
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24
painting the law is exemplified in the repetition with variation of certain colors and combinations of lines in different parts of the same picture, so disposed as to lead the eye to some focal point. Every painter knows that any important color in his picture must be echoed, as it were, in different places, for har- mony of the whole.
In the drama the repetition of a speech or of an entire scene, but under circumstances which give it a different meaning, is often most effective, as when Gratiano, in the trial scene of The Merchant of Venice taunts Shylock with his own words, "A Daniel come to judgment!" or, as when in one of the later scenes of As You Like It an earlier scene is repeated, but with Rosalind speaking in her proper person and no longer as the boy Ganymede.
49
THEmWOF CONSONANCE
ONE EAYCFTHE "ANQELOORSOP UNCaNQOHDRAL
CHANGLESS CHANGE
These recurrences, these inner consonances, these rep- ititions with variations are common in architecture also. The channeled triglyphs of a Greek Doric frieze echo the fluted columns below (Illustration 24). The bal- ustrade which crowns a col- onnade is a repetition, in some sort, of the colonnade itself. The modillions of a Corinthian cornice are but 25
elaborated and embellished dentils. Each pinnacle of a Gothic cathedral is a little tower with its spire. As Ruskin has pointed out, the great vault of the cathedral nave, together with the
THE iAMfi MOTIF REPEATED WITH \5M6IATlON5' >
THB LAW OF CONSONANCE,: REPETITION Ji/!!: VARIATION
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26
THE LAW OF ODNSONANCE
PATTEEN FaOM Af 0DION]Al,BED$Pfi£AD
50 THE BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY
pointed roof above it, is repeated in the entrance arch with its gable, and the same two elements appear in every statue-enshrin- ing niche of the doorway. In classic architecture, as has been
shown, instead of the arch and gable, the column and entablature everywhere recur under different forms. The minor domes which flank the great dome of the cathe- dral of Florence enhance and reinforce the latter, and prepare the eye for a climax which would otherwise be too abrupt. The central pavilion of the Chateau Maintenon, with its two turrets, echoes the entire fagade with its two towers. Like the overture to an opera, it introduces themes which find a more extended development elsewhere (Illustration 26).
This law of Consonance is operative in architecture more obscurely in the form of recurring numerical ratios, identical geometrical determining figures, parallel diagonals and the like, which will be discussed in a subsequent essay. It has also to do with style and scale, the adherence to substantially one method of construction and manner of ornament, just as in music the key, or chosen series of notes, may not be departed from except through proper modulations, or in a specific manner. Thus it is seen that in a work of art, as in a piece of tapestry, the same thread runs through the web, but goes to make up dififerent figures. The idea is deeply theosophic: one life, many manifestations; hence, inevitably, echoes, resemblances — Consonance.
27
DIVERSITY IN MONOTONY
Another principle of natural beauty, closely allied to the foregoing, its complement as it were, is that of Diversity in
CHANGLESS CHANGE 51
Monotony — not identity, but difference. It shows itself for the most part as a perceptible and piquant variation between indi- vidual units belonging to the same class, type, or species.
No two trees put forth their branches in just the same manner, and no two leaves from the same tree exactly correspond ; no two persons look alike, though they have similiar members and features; even the markings on the skin of the thumb are different in every human hand. Browning says,
"As like as a hand to another handl Whoever said that foolish thing. Could not have studied to understand — "
Now every principle of natural beauty is but the presentment of some occult law, some theosophical truth; and this law of Diversity in Monotony is the presentment of the truth that identity does not exclude difference. The law is binding, yet the will is free: all men are brothers united by the ties of brotherhood, yet each is unique, a free agent, and never so free as when most bound by the Good Law. This truth nature beautifully proclaims, and art also. In architecture it is admir- ably exemplified in the metopes of the Parthenon frieze : seen at a distance these must have presented a scarcely distinguishable texture of sunlit marble and cool shadow, yet in reality each is a separate work of art. So with the capitals of the columns of the wonderful sea-arcade of the Venetian Ducal palace: alike in general contour they differ widely in detail, and unfold a Bible story. In Gothic cathedrals, in Romanesque monastery cloisters, a teeming variety of invention is hidden beneath apparent uniformity. The gargoyles of Notre Dame make similiar silhouettes against the sky, but seen near at hand what a menagerie of monsters I The same spirit of controlled indi-
52
tME BfiAtftlFUL NECESSITY
THE lAW OK DIVERSITY IN MONOTONY
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28
viduality, of liberty subservient to the law of all, is exemplified in the bases of the columns of the temple of Apollo near
CHANGLESS CHANGE
53
THE/ lAW C*. DIVEfcSITY.lN h/CONOIXMJY^WiMWFiM) dj Tia.iowt«.AK»D&cir.THi.mAoKrM««»i.
Inrt line T Ti
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29
Miletus — each one a separate masterpiece of various ornamen- tation adorning an established architectural form (Illustration 28).
The builders of the early Italian churches, instinctively obeying this law of Diversity in Monotony, varied the size of the arches in the same arcade (Illustration 29), and that this vi^as an effect of art and not of accident or carelessness Ruskin long ago discovered, and the Brooklyn Institute surveys have amply confirmed his view. Although by these means the build- ers of that day produced effects of deceptive perspective, of subtle concord and contrast, their sheer hatred of monotony and meaningless repetition may have led them to diversify their arcades in the manner described, for a rigidly equal and regular division lacks interest and vitality.
BALANCE
If one were to establish an axial plane vertically through the center of a tree, in most cases it would be found that the masses of foliage, however irregularly shaped on either side of such an axis, just about balanced each other. Similarly, in all our bodily movements, for every change of equilibrium there occurs an opposition and adjustment of members of such a nature that an axial plane through the center of gravity would divide the
54 THEBEAUTIFULNECESSITY
body into two substantially equal masses, as in the case of the tree. This physical plane law of Balance shows itself for the most part on the human plane as the law of Compensation, whereby, to the vision of the occultist, all accounts are "squared," so to speak. It is in effect the law of Justice, aptly symbolized by the scales.
The law of Balance finds abundant illustration in art: in music by the opposition, the answering, of one phrase by another of the same elements and the same length, but involving a different sequence of intervals; in painting by the disposition of masses in such a way that they about equalize one another, so that there is no sense of "strain" in the composition.
In architecture the common and obvious recognition of the law of (Balance is in the symmetrical disposition of the elements, whether of plan or of elevation, on either side of axial lines. A far more subtle and vital illustration of the law occurs when the opposed elements do not exactly match, but differ from each other, as in the case of the two towers of Amiens, for example. This sort of balance may be said to be characteristic of Gothic, as symmetry is characteristic of Classic, architecture.