OPENING OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE 423

art should receive proposals to reproduce the sculpture of Chartres or Rouen.

9. In like manner, the state of the architecture which it is proposed to restore may, at its worst, be fairly represented to the British public by that of the best preserved portions of Melrose Abbey.¹ With what encouragement would those among us who are sincerely interested in history, or in art, receive a proposal to pull down Melrose Abbey, and “reproduce it mathematically”? There can be no doubt of the answer which, in the instances supposed, it would be proper to return. “By all means, if you can, reproduce mathematically, elsewhere, the group of the Fates, and the Abbey of Melrose. But leave unharmed the original fragment, and the existing ruin.”² And an answer of the same tenour ought to be given to every proposal to restore a Gothic sculpture or building. Carve or raise a model of it in some other part of the city; but touch not the actual edifice, except only so far as may be necessary to sustain, to protect it. I said above that repairs were in many instances necessary. These necessary operations consist in substituting new stones for decayed ones, where they are absolutely essential to the stability of the fabric; in propping, with wood or metal, the portions likely to give way; in binding or cementing into their places the sculptures which are ready to detach themselves; and in general care to remove luxuriant weeds and obstructions of the channels for the discharge of the rain. But no modern or imitative sculpture ought ever, under any circumstances, to be mingled with the ancient work.

10. Unfortunately, repairs thus conscientiously executed are always unsightly, and meet with little approbation from the general public; so that a strong temptation is necessarily felt by the superintendents of public works to execute the required repairs in a manner which, though indeed fatal

¹ [Compare above, Lectures on Architecture and Painting, § 24, p. 48.]

² [Compare Ruskin’s letter on the restoration of Ribbesford Church, reprinted in Arrows of the Chace, 1880, vol. i. pp. 235-236, and in a later volume of this edition.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]