Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/702

666 AEOHITECTUEE to the best works of Schinkel and Klenze a good measure of admiration. It was only m France, however, in an atmosphere at once thoroughly artistic and highly intellectual, that the Greek revival showed enough vigor to throw aside the methods of the ancients and to create new forms. The pedantic fashions of the first empire, which however hardly ex- tended their influence in architecture beyond the schools, gave place in the reign of Louis Philippe to a new style, which has been called the neo-grecque, or, to distinguish it from the Komanesque, founded upon Koman methods, the romantique, though it has little in com- mon with the contemporary romantic school in literature. The column of July, parts of the Palais de Justice, the Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve, and the Palais des Beaux Arts, by MM. Due, Labrouste, and Duban, are the typ- ical monuments of this style. Their erection marks a new era in architecture. Hardly a building of note has since been erected in France which has not been more or less affect- ed by their example, and it has sensibly modi- fied the related forms in use in Germany. The influence of this style is also extending in the United States, mainly through the agency of the ecole des beaux arts of Paris, whose pupils or pupils' pupils are rapidly multiply- ing here. Meanwhile in England, the Greek movement having failed, surviving only long enough to kill the Roman classical style, the field was left open for the revival of the mediaeval architecture, which, fostered by ec- clesiastical patronage and by archaeological studies, has during the last 50 years gradually engrossed nearly all the talent of the country. Beginning, as the Greek revival began, with a period of pedantry and purism, under the guid- ance of the elder and younger Pugin, and used at first chiefly for ecclesiastical buildings, the ascendancy of the Gothic style was finally established when in 1840 it was decided to adopt it for the new houses of parliament. This great undertaking educated a large body of workmen in all the decorative arts of the mid- dle ages, and gave an immense impulse to the Gothic movement. Subsequent works show not only greater knowledge and skill, but more freedom of mind, both in secular and ecclesiastical work. The works of Scott, "Waterhouse, Street, Burges, and Butterfield exhibit this gradually increasing tendency. It may fairly be said that in the hands of these architects the " Victorian Gothic," as it has been called, differs as much from the various Gothic styles of the middle ages as they differ from each other. A similar movement has meanwhile been going on in France and Ger- many, but less successfully. In Germany, after long and not altogether happy efforts to re- vive round-arched or Lombardic styles, the proper pointed Gothic has been taken up, stim- ulated by the great works for the completion of the Cologne cathedral. The Votive church at Vienna is perhaps the most noteworthy ex- ARCHON ample of this movement. In France a taste for medieval- work has found its chief field in the restoration, often amounting to recon- struction and completion, of cathedrals and other monuments ; a work which, in the hands among others of MM. Lassus and Viollet-Le- duc, has been performed with consummate knowledge and skill. The new buildings in the pointed style seem, however, timid and ineffec- tive, and it is in the Romanesque or round- arched Gothic that the French seein most at home. Its influence is seen not only in works avowedly medieval, but much of the new Greek work so called, especially that in which the arch is used, recalls these models. The adherents of the Gothic revival in this coun- try are as numerous and devoted as those of the Greek revival. But there is less parti- sanship here, perhaps, than abroad, and it is more common for architects to practise in both ways at once. See Fergusson's " History of Architecture," Durand's Parallele, Napoleon's tigypte, Stuart and Revett's "Attica," Leta- rouilly's " Rome," Viollet-le-Duc's Diction- naire, Eastlake's " Gothic Revival," and the works of Piranesi, Gailhabaud, Penrose, Pu- gin, Ruskin, Daly, &c. ; also " The Builder," Revue generale d 1 architecture, &c. ARCHON (Gr. tipx^v, ruler), a chief magistrate of ancient Athens, first chosen instead of a king after the death of Codrus, about 1068 B. 0. Medon, the son of Codrus, was the first archon, and the office was hereditary in his family till 714 B. C., when it was thrown open to all the eupatridaa or patricians. Previous to 752 B. C. the archon held his office during life; at that time his term was limited to ten years, and in 683 to one; and at this latter epoch the office was divided among nine persons. Sev- eral years afterward the archonship was made accessible to the citizens generally, who were subject, however, to some restrictions as to qualification. The power of the archons be- came limited by degrees, and at last they had very little influence in the management of the government. One of the nine was called the archon, as being the chief of the whole body, and his duty was to superintend the greater Dionysiac festivals in honor of Bacchus, and the Thargelia in honor of Apollo and Diana, and to exercise a general care over orphans, and jurisdiction in matters relating to the law of inheritance. He was sometimes styled eponymus (eTr&vv/iof, one from whom something is named), because he gave the designation to the year, as did the consuls at Rome. The second archon was entitled king (/facYAedf), as he occupied the place of the ancient kings with regard to all public religious worship. The third archon was called poleinarch (TroMfiapxo^ commander-in-chief), and originally had su- preme control over the army; at the battle of Marathon we find him in command of the right wing. But it was at length found in- expedient to intrust this important function to a person chosen by lot ; and after the bat-