The Brochure Series Of Architectural Illustration, Vol 1, No. 2. February 1895. | Page 5

oils,--a great advantage in making studies.
"The _chambre éclaire_ is invaluable as an aid to drawing, in blocking
out water-colors. It will enable one to make a drawing in an hour which
otherwise would require all day. It is an instrument little known outside
of Paris, but is much in use there among architects. It consists of a
prism mounted on a telescoping leg which may be fastened to the
drawing-board. The eye looks through the prism and sees the building
reflected on the paper; all that remains to do is to trace this outline. It
does not teach one to draw, but it does save time, and produces better
drawings than can be made without it. The best place to buy them is of
Cevalier, on the Seine, near the Pont Netif, Paris. Only those with the
best prisms are of any use: such a one, with two adjustments only, can
be had for sixty-five francs. The table which is necessary for its use
costs fifteen francs additional; that is, a total cost of sixteen dollars. In
buying a table, be sure and get one with sliding legs which can be taken
off the head and packed flat.
"One of the very best ways to study, and one which has very direct
tangible results, is by the aid of printed plates. Take such a book as
Letarouilly's Edifices de Rome Moderne. Go to the buildings
themselves and compare the drawing with the building; see what
drawings on paper really mean when executed; mark up the plate; note
the proportion of masses, the size of ornament, the relative proportion
of openings, and wall spaces, the effect of color and texture, and the
use of material. Make suggestions for better ornament, proportion, etc.,
and then go home and make a new design with all the improvements
you have noted.
"The reverse of this method is, to sit down in front of the building with
T-square and triangle and translate the perspective building back on to
paper in elevation.
[Illustration: XIV. Detail of the Principal Doorway to the Basilica at
Altamura, Italy.]
"These two methods will aid one to tell from a drawing how the
building will actually look when executed. It will give an idea of the
scale of ornament, if a cornice looks just the right size on a certain
building, the plate will tell you just how high that is. The T-square

sketch is very valuable in cultivating the sense of proportion. Draw to
scale such parts of the sketch as can be easily measured, and put in the
remainder in proportion, and make these sketches at the scale at which
you are used to working in the office. They will be of immense
advantage in giving you a sense of absolute scale.
"There is such a thing as 'absolute scale,' and scale is not simply
proportion. A drawing might be made in good proportion, and the
building look well if executed a thousand feet long, and yet lose all its
effectiveness if executed but one hundred feet in length, the relative
proportions of the parts remaining the same. It is a fact that certain
designs, which look well on paper, will not look well in execution,
except at a large scale. Therefore it is valuable in making a sketch to
put on it some of the measurements; and freehand sketches with
measurements marked on them have a value in giving absolute scale.
"The back of a photograph is a very convenient place on which to make
notes of the building itself, in regard to color, material, suggested
changes, etc., and will be very useful in recalling the building to
memory.
"Measuring buildings and drawing them out to scale is solid
architectural work, and nothing else can take its place. It gives a
realization of the actual size and appearance of things, and brings to
notice the stone-jointing, sections of mouldings, vaulting, roofing, and
construction in general. Measured work must be done very accurately,
or else the results have no more value than approximate measures on
sketches.
"The drawing should be made exactly as the building exists, without
any change or improvement, or else the drawing will lose a great deal
of its value as a basis for study. Many of Letarouilly's are nearly
valueless as data for study because he has improved on the original, and
thus his drawing does not represent the building as it actually exists.
"A good method of measuring buildings is to measure first the general
dimensions and block out the building on paper at a small scale, then
measure up windows, columns, etc., and set off full-size sections of all
the mouldings with a strip of thin lead, such as may be had at any
whole-sale lead store: only the thinnest sheet-lead will work,