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JAMES FERGUSSON (18o8-r886)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 273 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES See also:FERGUSSON (18o8-r886)  , Scottish writer on See also:architecture, was See also:born at See also:Ayr on the 22nd of See also:January 18o8 . His See also:father was an See also: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 See also:indigo factory, as he states in his own See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 See also:early publication, is a most thoughtful metaphysical study .

Some of his essays on See also:

special points in See also: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 See also:acceptance . His real See also: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 See also:analysis, stands quite alone in architectural literature . He received the See also:gold See also:medal of the Royal See also: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 See also:Serpent See also:Worship (1868), See also:Rude See also:Stone Monuments in all Countries (1872), and The Temples of the See also:Jews and the other Buildings in the Haram See also:Area at See also: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 See also: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 See also:scheme of decoration for the See also:Assyrian See also:court at the Crystal See also: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 " See also:Essay on the Ancient See also:Topography of Jerusalem," in which he had contended that the " See also: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 See also:Sepulchre, was the genuine See also:burial-See also: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 See also: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 .

End of Article: JAMES FERGUSSON (18o8-r886)
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