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See also: born at See also: Ayr on the 22nd of See also: January 18o8
.
His See also: father was an army surgeon
.
After being educated first at the See also: Edinburgh high school, and afterwards at a' private school at See also: Hounslow, See also: James went to
See also: Calcutta as partner in a See also: mercantile See also: house
.
Here he was attracted by the remains of the See also: ancient architecture of See also: India, little known or understood at that See also: time
.
The successful conduct of an indigo factory, as he states in his own account, enabled him in about ten years to retire from business and See also: settle in See also: London
.
The observations made on See also: Indian architecture were first embodied in his See also: book on The See also: Rock-cut Temples of India, published in 1845
.
The task of analysing the historic and aesthetic relations of this type of ancient buildings led him further to undertake a See also: historical and critical See also: comparative survey of the whole subject of architecture in The Handbook of Architecture, a See also: work which first appeared in 1855
.
This did not satisfy him, and the work was reissued ten years later in a much more extended See also: form under the title of The See also: History of Architecture
.
The chapters on Indian architecture, which had been considered at rather disproportionate length in the See also: Hand-book, were removed from the general History, and the whole of this subject treated more fully in a See also: separate See also: volume, The History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, which appeared in 1876, and, although See also: complete in itself, formed a kind of appendix to The History of Architecture
.
Previously to this, in 1862, he issued his History of See also: Modern Architecture, in which the subject was continued from the See also: Renaissance to the See also: present See also: day, the See also: period of " modern architecture " being distinguished as that of revivals and imitations of ancient styles, which began with the Renaissance
.
The essential difference between this and the spontaneously evolved architecture of preceding ages Fergusson was the first clearly to point out and characterize
.
His See also: treatise on The True Principles of Beauty in See also: Art, an early publication, is a most thoughtful metaphysical study
.
Some of his essays on See also: special points in archaeology, such as the treatise on The Mode in which See also: Light was introduced into See also: Greek Temples, included theories which have not received general acceptance
.
His real monument is his History of Architecture (later edition revised by R
.
Phene Spiers), which, for grasp of the whole subject, comprehensiveness of See also: plan, and thoughtful critical analysis, stands quite alone in architectural literature
.
He received the gold medal of the Royal Institute of See also: British Architects in 1871
.
Among his See also: works, besides those already mentioned, are: A Proposed New See also: System of Fortification (1849), Palaces of See also: Nineveh and See also: Persepolis restored (1851), See also: Mausoleum at See also: Halicarnassus restored (1862), See also: Tree and Serpent Worship (1868), See also: Rude See also: Stone Monuments in all Countries (1872), and The Temples of the Jews and the other Buildings in the Haram
See also: Area at Jerusalem (1878)
.
The sessional papers of the Institute of British Architects include papers by him on The History of the Pointed See also: Arch, Architecture of See also: Southern India, Architectural Splendour of the City of Beejapore, On the See also: Erechtheum and on the See also: Temple of See also: Diana at See also: Ephesus
.
Although Fergusson never practised architecture he took a keen See also: interest in all the professional work of his time
.
He was adviser with See also: Austen See also: Layard in the scheme of decoration for the See also: Assyrian See also: court at the Crystal Palace, and indeed assumed in 1856 the duties of general manager to the Palace See also: Company, a See also: post which he held for two years
.
In 1847 Fergusson had published an " Essay on the Ancient Topography of Jerusalem," in which he had contended that the " Mosque of See also: Omar " was the identical See also: church built by
See also: Constantine the See also: Great over the See also: tomb of our See also: Lord at Jerusalem, and that it, and not the present church of the See also: Holy Sepulchre, was the genuine See also: burial-place of Jesus
.
The See also: burden of this contention was further explained by the publication in 186o of his Notes on the Site of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem; and The Temples of the Jews and the other Buildings in the Haram Area at Jerusalem, published in 1878, was a still completer elaboration of these theories, which are said to have been the origin of the establishment of the See also: Palestine Exploration fund
.
His manifold activities continued till his See also: death, which took place in London on the 9th of January 1886
.
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