The types of architectural progress.

From J. A. Coussin, Du Genie de

1' Architecture, 1822. Quatremere de Quincy

Introduction by Anthony Vidler

146 It is a significant but little commented upon fact that the as the ideal type of its respective architecture; the one 147
1 two most influential, complete, and homogeneous theoreti- embodied a vision of classic order based on typological "im-
cal statements on architecture in the first half of the itation," the other a vision of social and cultural renewal
nineteenth century in France were issued not in the form of based on a structural rationalism and a stylistic unity; the
the philosophical essays or treatises common since the Ren- one was a product of the merging of the forms of classical
aissance, but in dictionary format: the great dictionaries of antiquity and the republican Revolution, the other a product
Quatremere de Quincy and Viollet-le-Duc. The potential for of the new nationalism of the Restoration and July
comprehensiveness, first recognized by Diderot and Monarchy.
d' Alembert in their great Encyclopedia of the 1750's, and
continuously projected by successive encyclopedic projects Both writers, then, are representative of that stage of
throughout the nineteenth century; the rational classifica- modernity when the weight of tradition is invoked to ratify
tion of the material universe, as accomplished in the natural an uncertain present; neither, while appealing to the new
and physical sciences; the need to clarify, define, and draw professionals, had had any professional training in architec-
careful distinctions between meanings of words that had, ture themselves. In their youth, both were the representa-
over time, accrued multiple and ambiguous meanings and tives of radical and critical positions.
connotations-these reasons and others doubtless recom-
mended the dictionary form to architectural theoreticians. Quatremere de Quincy, while generally seen by historians
But perhaps most persuasive was the ability, in the words as a theoretician of advanced, even reactionary, neo-
of Quatremere de Quincy in the introduction to his first Classicism in the first quarter of the nineteenth century,
volume, to "satisfy all classes of readers by embracing the was in every respect an intellectual product of the pre-
universality of knowledge comprised by the subject." That revolutionary period: trained as a sculptor, he spent most of
is, the dictionary, as opposed to the singly argued treatise, the years between 1776 and 1784 travelling in Italy with his
offered a didactic instrument for students, professionals, friends the sculptor, Canova, and the painter, Jacques
and the lay public that had all the semblance of complete- Louis David. In 1785 he wrote his first memoir, on the
ness and all the apparent eclecticism of their needs. His- origin and characteristics of Egyptian architecture, pub-
tory, philosophy, and techniques could all be embraced; the lished in 1803, in which he demonstrated the superiority of
dictionary might be issued in consecutive parts over time Greek architecture, and two years later, after a brief stay in
and easily added to in supplementary volumes: in other London to study. Wren, he received the commission for the
words, in an age of expanding readership and scholarly/ dictionnary from his friend Panckouke, the editor of the
academic professionalism; the dictionary was an easily pro- Encyclopedie Methodique. The first volume, published in
duced and equally readily consumed object. 1788, embraced A to COL and included an extraordinary
forty-page dissertation on character, extended critiques of
Although the dictionaries of Quatremere de Quincy and of contemporary abuses (especially directed toward the bar-
Viollet-le-Duc were written to advance coherent and en- neres of Ledoux) and a long analysis of the genesis and form
tirely opposite theories of architecture: Quatremere's three of the cabane or hut, type of the temple.
volume "Architecture," in the Encyclopedie Methodique,
appearing between 1788 and 1823, and Viollet's Diction- In this latter article he introduced all the themes later found
naire Raisonne, published in 1875, were dedicated to the in the article on type reproduced here. The ideas oftype and
neo-Classic and the Gothic respectively: both were ada- model-"it [the wooden hut] was indisputably the type of
mantly against the eclecticism of the 'styles', and both erected the Greeks, whence art found a model both solid and
a vision of an ideal past in order to serve as a critical and varied" -are already present, as is the concept of type as a
positive instrument in the present. The one, it might be more or less metaphysical entity. "This precious type," he
said, posited the Parthenon, the other the Gothic cathedral wrote of the cabane, "is in some way an enchanted mirror in
 Type 1

occupations of science and philosophy, in order to under- overlook all the degrees of moral imitation, imitation by 149
which a corrupted and perverted art cannot bear its- aspect "Type" comes from the Greek word "typos," a word which
stand the reasons for them, is to discover their origin and analogy, by intellectual relationships, by application of
and which in itself recalls its origin, restoring it to its first expresses by general acceptance (and thus is applicable to
primitive cause. This is what must be called "type" in ar- principles, by appropriation of manners (styles), combina-
virtue." Thus, the idea of type, as in Laugier, is adduced as many nuances or varieties of the same idea) what one means
chitecture, as in every other field of inventions and human tions, reasons, systems, etc. Frbm thence they deny, in
a purifying agent-"an inflexible rule which will redress all by model, matrix, imprint, mold, figure in relief or in bas-
institutions. architecture, everything that is based on metaphorical im-
vicious usages and errors." Architecture finds its certainty, r elief....
itation; they deny it because this imitation is not materially
after baroque, rococo, and "visionary" excesses, in the twin There is more than one route which leads to the original necessary. They confound the idea of type (the original
principles of the "positive imitation of types and the ideal The use of the word type in French is less often technical
principle and to the type of the formation of architecture in reason of the thing), which can neither command nor furnish
imitation of nature," principles which, as we have seen and more often metaphorical. This is not to say that it is not
different countries. The most important are rooted in the the motif or the means of an exact likeness, with the idea of
(Anthony Vidler, "The Idea of Type," this issue) are almost applied to certain mechanical arts as, for example, in the
nature of each region, in historical notions, and in the the model (the complete thing), which is bound to a formal
synonymous for the late eighteenth century architect. word "typography." It is also used synonymously with
monuments of the developed art themselves. Thus, when resemblance. Because the type is not susceptible to that
Perhaps the only slight difference between the idea of type "model," although there is between the two a difference
one goes back to the origins of societies, to the beginning of precision demonstrable by measure, they reject it as a
evinced in 1788 and that formally propounded twenty-seven that is easy enough to understand. The word "type" pre-
civilization, one sees that the art of building is born of c~imerical speculation. Thus, abandoning architecture,
years later resides in the lack of clear distinction made at sents less the image of a thing to copy or imitate completely
causes and by means that are uniform enough everywhere. Without a standard, to the vagueness of all the fantasies by
first between model and type, later to become a pivotal than the idea of an element which ought itself to serve as a
Cut stone never formed a part of any first buildings, and we which forms and lines can be influenced, they reduce it to a
aspect of the theory. rule for the model. Thus, one should not say (or at least one
see everywhere, except in Egypt and India, wood lending game where each is the master of regulating the conditions.
would be wrong to say) that a statue, or the composition of a
itself with much more appropriateness to the inexpensive From this follows the most complete anarchy in both the
The underlying neo-platonism of Quatremere's theory was finished and rendered picture, has served as the type for the
needs of men or offamilies brought together under the same totality and the details of every composition.
reflected in the initial categorization he developed for the copy that one made. But when a fragment, a sketch, the
roof. The least knowledge of the narratives of travelers in
material of the dictionary: words were selected on the thought of a master, a more or less vague description has
countries peopled by savages makes this fact incontestable. There are other opponents whose short sight and narrow
criteria of their historical, metaphysical, theoretical, given birth to a work of art in the imagination of an artist,
Thus, that kind of combination to which the use of wood is mind can only understand, in the realm of imitation, that
elementary or didactic, and practical reference. Of these one will say that the type has been furnished for him by
~usceptible, once adopted in each country, becomes, accord- which is positive. They admit, if you wish, the idea of type,
five divisions Quatremere himself was principally interested such and such an idea, motif, or intention. The model, as
mg to the need of constructions, a type, which, perpetuated but only understand it under the form and with the obliga-
in the metaphysical-the essence of architecture-and the understood in the practical execution of the art, is an object
by custom, perfected by taste, and accredited by immemo- tory condition of the imperative model. Columns have to
theoretical-the principles of architecture. Didactic rules, that should be repeated as it is; the type, on the contrary. is
rial usage, must inevitably pass into undertakings in stone. continue to look like trees, and capitals like the branches of
practical prescriptions, and the historical developments of an object after which each [artist] can conceive works of This is the antecedent that, in many articles of this Dictio- the tree. The tympanum of the facade has to be suppressed.
architecture were all in some way already embodied in art that may have no resemblance. All is precise and given
nary, we have given as the type of more than one genre of All the parts of the roof have to be servilely copied in detail.
traditional treatises; but essences and principles-the en- in the model; all is more or less vague in the type. At the
architecture,
. as the principle on which is modeled , over No convention can be admitted between wood construction
tire philosophy of the art, based on the highest philosophical same time, we see that the imitation of types is nothing that
time, an art which is perfected in its rules and practices. and its translation into stone.
model, the Greeks themselves-were yet to be established. feeling and intellect cannot recognize, and nothing that can-
In this lay the novelty of the dictionary for Quatremere. not be opposed by prejudice and ignorance.
Nevertheless, this theory, which is based on the nature of They recognize that a system of construction in wood in a
Certainly the large number of concepts discussed, and qual- things, on historical notions, on the most ancient opinions, tradition of constantly modified and ameliorated assimila-
ities defined, made this the first truly systematic work of This is what has occurred, for example, in architecture. In
on the most constant facts, and on the evident testimony of tions, finally has to be transposed to construction in stone.
theory and criticism, one which even Viollet-le-Duc had to every country, the art of regular building is born of a
each architecture has often had two kinds of adversaries But ?ecause this last only conserves the principle motifs-
acknowledge as a superb precedent for his own. pre-existing source. Everything must have an antecedent. pitted against it. that IS to say, those which in causing the mind to return to
Nothing, in any genre, comes from nothing, and this must
the origin of things in order to give it the pleasure of a
apply to all of the inventions of man. Also we see that all
There are those who, because architecture does not know semblance of imitation will have saved the art from the
things, in spite of subsequent changes, have conserved,
how to ?e, nor to provide the image of, any of the creations scope of chance and fantasy-they conclude that no devia-
always visibly, always in a way that is evident to feeling and of physiCal or material nature, conceive only of another kind tion from any of the details of the model is allowed and thus
reason, this elementary principle, which is like a sort of
of imitation than that which is related to sensible objects, they wish to give an inflexible reality to the worid after it
nucleus about which are collected, and to which are coordi-
and p:etend that, in this art, everything is, and ought to be, has been made. According to them columns must continue
nated in time, the developments and variations of forms to
s~bmitted to caprice and chance. Imagining no other imita- to look like trees, and no convention should be admitted
which the object is susceptible. Thus we have achieved a
thousand things in each genre, and one of the principal l tion than that which can exhibit its model to the eyes, they between wood construction and its translation into stone.
 Chronology: The Ecole des Beaux-Arts, 1671-1900

Compiled by Annie Jacques and Anthony Vidler

Thus, in confounding the idea of type-the imaginative find, in its fundamental purpose in the uses to which it is 1635 Foundation of the Academie Fran<;aise. 151
150
I 1· given over, a type which is suitable for it; that the architect
model-with the more material idea of the positive model, 1648 Academie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture.
which deprives the type of all its value, both adversants are should try to conform to this as closely as possible if he
agreed, by two opposing routes, in denaturing the whole of wishes to give to each building a particular physiognomy; 1661 Academie Royale de Danse.
architecture; the former, by leaving it absolutely void of and that from the confusion of these types is born an all too
every imitative system and freeing it from every rule and common disorder, which consists in using indistinguishably 1663 Academie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.
all constraints; the latter, by fettering the art and constrain- the same orders, dispositions, and exterior forms in
1666 Academie Royale des Sciences.
ing it in the shackles of an imitative servility, which would monuments applied to the most contrary uses (see Academie Royale de France a Rome.
destroy the feeling and the spirit of imitation. CHARACTER).
1669 Academie Royale de Musique: Fran<;ois Blondel appointed Geometer to Academie des
Note Sciences. ·
We have opened this discussion in order to understand 1. Essay from theEncyclopedie Methodique, Architecture, vol. 3,
better the value of the word "type" as used metaphorically pt. II (Paris, 1825).
1671 Academie Royale d' Architecture.
in a number of works, and the error of those who either Under its first Director, Fran<;ois Blondel (1617-1686), the members met once a week
ignore it because it is not a model or misinterpret it by to debate the principles and practice of architecture, coming together "to publicly
imposing on it the rigor of a model which seeks to be an expound [in the Academy] the rules of this art [of architecture] drawn from the
identical copy. doctrine of the greatest masters and from those examples of the most beautiful
buildings remaining from antiquity. It is in this Academy that the most able
architects of the realm come together to confer, and to communicate their knowledge
One further applies the word "type" in architecture to cer- to one another and where are resolved those difficulties found every day in the
tain general and characteristic forms of the building which const_ruction of buildings. These architects should seriously apply themselves to study,
receives them. This application fits perfectly with the inten- meetmg one day a week to confer and communicate their knowledge to each other.
tions and spirit of the preceding theory. For the rest, one His Majesty believes strongly in this, as the unique means of ridding architecture of
its vicious ornaments, of suppressing the abuses that the ignorance and presumption
can also, if one wishes, authorize many usages proper for of its practitioners have introduced, and of the enrichment of those natural beauties
certain mechanical arts, which can serve as examples. No and of those graces that have been found so commendable among the ancients. He has
one ignores the fact that a great number of pieces of furni- also desired that a register be kept of the proceedings in each of these conferences
ture, utensils, seats, and clothes have their necessary type where the principle difficulties which are found in buildings should be discussed and ·
in the uses one makes of them, and the natural habits for resolved. Within this Academy his Majesty has also wished that the truest and most
correct rules of architecture should be publicly taught two days a week in order to
which one intends them. Each of these things has truly not form a college, so to speak, of young architects. And to give them more courage and
its model, but its type in needs and in nature. In spite of passion for this art he has ordered that from time to time a prize should be proposed
what the bizarrely industrial mind tries to change in these for those who are the most successful, from which he will choose a good number to
objects, contrary to the simplest instinct, who does not ~end af~er_wards at his own expense to Rome; so that nothing is lacking, for his part,
prefer in a vase the circular form to the polygonal? Who m appomtmg them perfectly and rendering them capable of serving in the conduct of
his building works. Nevertheless it is true that knowledge of the precepts of
does not believe that the form of man's back ought to be the architecture does not suffice of itself to make an architect, this quality presupposing
type of a chair back? That the rounded form should not be many other talents. His Majesty has wished that in the second hour of the lessons of
the sole reasonable type of hair style? the Academy the other sciences which are absolutely necessary to architects should be
taught publicly; as those of geometry, arithmetic, mechanics (that is to say, moving
The same is true of a large number of buildings in architec- forces), hydraulics (which treats of the movement of waters) the art ofthe sundial
the military art of fortifications, perspective, the cutting of ~tones and diverse oth~r
ture. One cannot deny that many have owed their con- parts of mathematical science whose principles are already developed by the treatises
stantly characteristic form to the primitive type which gave composed for this purpose."
birth to them. We have superabundantly proved this of In this way, as outlined by Blondel in his Cours d'Architecture (1675-1678) the Ecole
tombs and sepulchers, under the words "PYRAMID" and of t.h~ Academy incorporated theory and scientific courses as well as comp~titions that
"TUMULUS." We also refer the reader to the article anticipate the eventual Prix de Rome.
At its inception the Academy itself comprised only six members· with Blondel as its
"CHARACTER," where we have demonstrated exten- president and a secretary. '
sively enough that each of the principal buildings should