The Knowledge Web by James Burke

The Knowledge Web by James Burke

Author:James Burke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 1999-02-26T16:00:00+00:00


Fig. 17: An early British postcard showing the usual “naughty” scene of industrial workers on holiday at the beach.

Eventually May was hired as a cartoonist for the satirical magazine Punch, where his work lampooned the politically great and good. Punch had begun publication in 1841 at a time when Britain was suffering from the worst excesses of overrapid industrial development. The high hopes of the great Reform Bill of the previous decade had come to nought. The towns were packed with factory workers living in appalling conditions. Corruption among government officials was rife. MPs were venal and self-seeking. The disparities between rich and poor were great and widening. Punch entered the fray on behalf of the poor and dispossessed, mercilessly attacking those in power.

In 1843 came an opportunity too good to be missed. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert (not known for his artistic abilities), joined a committee to judge a design competition for frescoes to be painted in the newly built Houses of Parliament. The committee required competition to be inspired by Classical themes or subjects from English history. The works submitted were so bad that Punch decided to run its own competition and present its own winning designs. These included cartoons excoriating everybody from factory owners to aristocrats. Meanwhile the real competition triggered a storm of criticism when the winning designs were painted. By 1895 all but one had peeled off the walls or had been covered up. Today none is visible.

The historical subjects of the frescoes suited the style of the Parliament buildings. Ever since 1733 there had been demands for a new seat of government. At one point Buckingham Palace was offered by William IV By the end of the eighteenth century the Neoclassical style of buildings like Buckingham Palace had been replaced by Neo-Gothic, which appealed more to the nationalist fervor of a country at war with France. Gothic architecture was held to be of English origin and favored by those who looked back to the golden age of Saxon liberty when the rights of free Englishmen had first been proclaimed. In 1801 the British and Irish legislatures were combined, then in the 1830s (after the Reform Bill) the number of MPs grew to over six hundred, and conditions in the old Parliament became impossible. The situation was exacerbated by the Great Fire of 1834, which destroyed the building.

It was decided that the new Houses would be Neo-Gothic. Their decoration was given to the greatest exponent of the English Gothic Revivial, August Pugin. Pugin’s first book stated his position unequivocally. It was titled The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture, and it described the direct link between spirituality and design, citing the religious faith of medieval builders as the prime example. Gothic architecture for Pugin was faith writ large in stone. Pugin designed everything in Parliament, from gargoyles to ceiling moldings, woodwork, carpets, metalwork, furniture, carvings, glass and everything in the great ceremonial chambers such as the House of Lords, perhaps the greatest pseudomedieval interior ever built.



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