particular whose duty it was to offer to the Students of Architecture instruction in those connecting links which united Architecture with the two sister Arts: He referred to the Royal Academy. : Hitherto, he believed, it had been impossible for the Royal Academy to do it. They had never had above half space enough, and little more than half the year, in which they could offer instruction to their students, and therefore he believed it had been with difficulty they had been able to carry on in any degree satisfactorily the schools even of painting and sculpture. He believed they would be desirous to remedy that defect, if space (as they now hoped would be the case) were given. But his particular reason for adverting to this subject on the present occasion was-not to proclaim the deficiencies of a great Institution to which he had the honor to belong, but to call attention to this remarkable fact that though no inconsistency could be more manifest, than that a Society formed to promote the three sister arts of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and which invites students in all these arts, should refuse all instruction to the students of one of them; though nothing could be more manifest than the absurdity of having schools for two of those arts and none for the third;-yet, in the face of all this, a commission of seven noblemen and gentlemen of the highest position in the country had been sitting for months enquiring into the deficiencies of the Royal Academy; they had received the evidence of witnesses of all classes, many of whom pointed out this manifest defect; and-in the face of all this-so little was their appreciation of our own branch of art, that they had made an elaborate report without giving to this subject one single word of notice or allusion!!! He called attention to this as a proof of the degree of consideration which architecture received in this country, at the hands of those from whom it had a right to expect the very highest appreciation. Mr. DIGBY WYATT cordially seconded the proposition of a vote of thanks to the President for his address, particularly because to the stimulus of his eloquent exhortations, the respected President had added, and was continually adding, the yet more powerful one of his example. When they saw one with so many demands upon his time and energies giving so much thought to the subjects which most affected their professional interests, and watching with almost parental solicitude over the good progress of the art it was their privilege to practice, it gave a lesson, and set a model alike to young and old, worthy of all imitation, and one which he hoped would not be lost upon either. THE PRESIDENT in acknowledging the compliment said his few words had fallen short of what he wished to submit as worthy of the occasion, but he was much obliged to them for the kind way in which they had received his remarks. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND CHARACTER OF By SYDNEY SMIRKE, R.A., Fellow. Read at the Ordinary General Meeting of the Royal Institute of British Architects, November 16, 1863. up those I have been much flattered by an invitation to address to you a Memoir of our departed colleague. I accept that invitation with pleasure, for I could hardly apply myself to a more grateful subject; yet I enter upon it with many misgivings. I greatly doubt my power to do justice to the subject. The mere outlines of the leading facts of his life I have, of course, abundant means of drawing, but to fill outlines adequately and justly needs an abler pencil than mine. Perhaps some future biographer of adequate powers may be induced to fulfil this task. In the mean time, I feel that I should be wanting in my duty to the Institute were I to shrink from the attempt, at least, to sketch the more striking lineaments of his character, to point your attention to his more important works, and generally to convey to you, and to those who may follow us, some idea of the career of this artist, who was so great an ornament and honor to our profession. Biography appears to me to be one of the most agreeable, as well as one of the most profitable exercises of the mind. It is agreeable to trace the progress of talent and character from their earliest germination to their full development; to mark the genial effects of early cultivation, and the refining effects of experience and observation; whilst it is profitable, inasmuch as this study of a man's career furnishes us with an excellent practical guide for our own course, and for the course of those whose future we may wish to influence or direct. To undertake a biographical sketch, therefore, is, I am pleased to think, a really good work, and I enter upon it, although fully conscious, as I have already admitted, of all my inability, yet with a hearty and earnest desire to do my best. Charles Robert was the second son of Samuel Pepys Cockerell, himself an eminent member, also, of our profession, whose practice was general, but whom circumstances chanced to lead especially to engage himself as Surveyor in the management of various important building estates. He was a gentleman of great judgment and probity, and his professional course was most successful. Charles Robert was born in London, in 1788. His earliest education was received at a private school, from which, at the age of fourteen, he was removed to Westminster School, where he remained until he was between sixteen and seventeen years of age, when he entered his father's office in order to lay the foundation of professional knowledge. Here he remained for four or five years, during which time his diligence enabled him to become an accomplished draftsman. The elder Mr. Cockerell and my father had been long on friendly terms, and it was natural that young Cockerell should be early introduced to my brother, Sir Robert, at that time rising into eminence in his profession. In A.D. 1809, the task of erecting a new Covent Garden Theatre devolved on him, and young Cockerell, then about twenty-one years of age, feeling great interest in the work, assisted and zealously laboured with him throughout the progress of it. It was certainly an arduous work: in the present age of great contractors and slovenly workmanship, we can hardly appreciate the extreme difficulty that must then have been experienced in getting this enormous and most solid work completed in ten months. It was in May, 1810, that Robert Cockerell commenced a long course of professional study on the Continent a course attended with very brilliant results. His accomplished mind, and lively, agreeable manners, soon brought him many friends, but he had the good sense to seek out especially the friendship D of ardent fellow-labourers of congenial tastes and pursuits, such as Baron Haller, Stackelberg, Linkh, and Chev. Brönstedt, men whose names have since become familiar to all engaged in the cultivation of classic art. I will not here enumerate his archæological labors: to these I shall shortly advert. For about eight years Robert Cockerell was absent from England, during which time he twice thoroughly explored Greece-both on the Continent and among the Islands—so glorious in the History of Philosophy and Art. For the greater part of the year 1812, he was engaged on the remains of ancient Sicilian architecture, and three years he gave to Italy. He returned home, in 1817, to receive the applause and congratulations of many friends; and it was then he entered on the path of real professional life. Such are the brief outlines of Mr. Cockerell's earlier career—a career which has been prolonged, not, indeed, to the length which his sorrowing friends would have desired, yet long enough to enable him to establish for himself a permanent position among the worthies of our profession. I will proceed now to enumerate some of the more material works upon which his talents were bestowed. It may be, probably, that his highest distinction-that which has established for him an European reputation-was due to his Archæological labors, but it behoves us first to regard him simply in the character of an architect. You will have observed that his antiquarian researches occupied a considerable portion of his most valuable earlier life- a more considerable portion, perhaps, than would have been expedient, had it been the sole mission of his professional life to erect buildings. For some years after his return to England, it was a labor of love which occupied his chief attention, to digest and work out the results of his antiquarian researches. Still his fine taste soon procured for him professional employment. Among his earlier works may be named the Literary and Philosophical Institution, in Bristola view of which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821. This work was rendered difficult, both æsthetically and practically, by the extreme declivity of Park Street, in which it was erected. The design is plain, for the available building funds were very moderate, but it is marked by that delicacy and purity of detail which have characterised all his works. Shortly after this he was employed by the late Marquis of Lansdowne, in adding to the mansion at Bowood, and by other patrons of art. The formation of the new street leading from Portland Place to Pall Mall, about this time, afforded a great opportunity for architectural display, which was scarcely so productive of meritorious examples of street architecture as it ought to have been. But it contains one or two good works, one of which was Mr. Cockerell's, namely, Hanover Chapel, in the parish of St. George's. This work attracted much attention at the time, from its originality of design, and Mr. Cockerell paid the utmost attention to all the minutest details. The feeling did not then exist which regards Gothic as the only style suitable to Ecclesiastical architecture, and Hanover Chapel found, at that period, many more admirers than it would find now. Fashion is proverbially changeful, whether in the builder's work or in that of the mantua maker. Although the changes may not, in both cases, follow each other in equally rapid succession, yet the law of change is universal. The most despotic arbiter of taste cannot stay the fluctuations of fashion. When Mr. Cockerell was entering the world of art, there was a perfect furor for Greek art, and young ladies, intent on needlework, would endeavour to catch inspiration from his sketch books. That taste waned, and inspiration was then to be sought among the picturesque remains of French renaissance: buildings were looked at with admiring favor which had before been regarded as grotesque and barbarous, and old books were sought for, with eager curiosity, which had been previously valued as waste paper. I believe our noble first President contributed largely, by his example to promote this last-mentioned, short-lived, taste: but it was soon to be eclipsed by the rising glory of Gothic art-a glory which will, probably, retain its hold on public favor for some years to come. Mr. Cockerell's pencil took a higher flight when he designed the National Monument in Edinburgha noble Walhalla which will never be completed. The same fate attended the Cambridge University Library, of which one wing only has ever been completed. In 1832 the building so familiar to most of us, in the Strand, was erected by him, for the Westminster Insurance Company. His appointment as surveyor to the Bank of England, opened out to him a wider field than he had yet enjoyed, for practically realising his æsthetic views. The Dividend Office was one of his most pleasing compositions, although in obedience to the law of change, to which I have adverted, the whole has been since utterly obliterated. The Taylor and Randolph building at Oxford must now be named, bearing date about 1841. Although open perhaps to some criticism, this building has high claims to our attention. It is unquestionably a work of great elegance, and of especial beauty in its details. Like others of Mr. Cockerell's designs, it is marked by the peculiarity that the principal order is surmounted by an upper story, not a superimposed order, nor yet an attic, but yet of so considerable a height as to impair, in some degree, the value of the order below. On this upper story is a cornice of large dimensions, Mr. Cockerell, no doubt, feeling that a cornice is the natural crowning feature of any building; thus there are two parallel cornices rivalling each other in importance, and producing an effect on which some difference of opinion may be expected. This building is, nevertheless, an honorable monument of its author's graceful style, and of his extreme carefulness of detail; every portion of it, internally and externally, having evidently been very elaborately studied. If there is a class of critics who seek to depreciate this building, by calling it a "Pagan" one; it may be replied that the same designation applies equally to the Elgin Marbles, as well as to the compositions of Horace, Virgil, and the tragic poets of antiquity. The London and Westminster Fire Office, and the Sun Fire Office, are both familiar to every resident in London: the former is especially original in its treatment, and well deserves study, for it is very certain that careful study was bestowed upon it by its accomplished author. I should, however, observe, that this work was the joint production of Mr. Cockerell and of our late distinguished President. I should have stated earlier that so far back as the year 1819 he was appointed Surveyor to St. Paul's Cathedral. This honorable post he held during the greater part of his professional life, and the intimate knowledge which he thus of course obtained of that wonderful building and the habit he had acquired of studying it both in its conception and construction, had engendered in his miud the profoundest reverence for its great architect. On the death of Mr. Basevi, in 1845, the Fitzwilliam Museum, at Cambridge, was placed in Mr. Cockerell's hands for completion, and much of the interior finishings of that building are from his design. I have already named the University Library in the same town. That work was the cause of great disquiet to him, for it was not without years of tedious and anxious competition, and endless literary litigation, that he obtained this important commission. The death of Mr. Elmes, in 1851, led to Mr. Cockerell's appointment to complete St. George's Hall, in Liverpool. The exterior of this very noble building was mainly completed at that period, but the interior finishings were the work of Mr. Cockerell, and anxiously occupied him during four or five years. Every one who has seen the interior of that fine Hall will have come away charmed with its artistic elegance; and if there is any portion of the exterior accessories with which he is dissatisfied, it is due to the memory of our friend to record that those exterior accessories are a monument of the unmitigated evil of lay interference. I need scarcely remind you, of what is so generally known, that the sculpture in the tympanum of this building, which was ably executed by Mr. Nichol, was designed by Mr. Cockerell, and is one among many evidences of his refined knowledge of design in the sister art.* I have now told you of his earlier career, and have named, as briefly as I could, some of the most * A facsimile of the original sketch for this work is published with this paper, by the kind permission of Mr. F. P. Cockerell. |