APPLICATION OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. HAVING already shewn the difficulty of adapting either the Grecian or Gothic styles to the character of an English palace, this newly discovered style of architecture seems to present a new expedient for the purpose, in the forms made known to this country by the accurate designs of Mr. THOMAS DANIELL, and other artists, which have opened new sources of grace and beauty. To the materials of wood and stone we have lately added that of cast-iron, unknown in former times, either in Grecian or Gothic architecture, and which is peculiarly adapted to some light parts of the Indian style. In Grecian architecture, the artist is confined to five (or, rather, only to three) different orders of columns, so restricted in their relative proportions, that they are seldom used externally, with good effect, in modern houses, and are generally found too bulky for internal use. Indian architecture presents an endless variety of forms and proportions of pillars, from the ponderous supports of the cavern, to the light, airy shafts which enrich their corridors, or support their varandahes. This alone would justify the attempt to adapt a style, untried, for the purpose to which other styles have been found inapplicable or inadequate.
[Thomas Daniell (1749-March 19, 1840) was an English landscape painter who published: Views of Calcutta; Oriental Scenery, Views in Egypt; Excavations at Ellora; Picturesque Voyage to China. TT]
