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"A Genius for Architecture truly ORIGINAL, will, by the native force and plastic power of Imagination, strike out for itself new and surprising Models in this Art; and, by its combining faculty, will select out of the infinite variety of ideal forms that float in the mind, those of the Grand and Beautiful, which it will unite in one consummate as well as uncommon design."

— Duff, William (1732-1815)

Author

An Essay on Original Genius

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly

Date

1767

Metaphor

"A Genius for Architecture truly ORIGINAL, will, by the native force and plastic power of Imagination, strike out for itself new and surprising Models in this Art; and, by its combining faculty, will select out of the infinite variety of ideal forms that float in the mind, those of the Grand and Beautiful, which it will unite in one consummate as well as uncommon design."

Metaphor in Context

A Genius for Architecture truly ORIGINAL, will, by the native force and plastic power of Imagination, strike out for itself new and surprising Models in this Art; and, by its combining faculty, will select out of the infinite variety of ideal forms that float in the mind, those of the Grand and Beautiful, which it will unite in one consummate as well as uncommon design. We have already observed, that every original Genius, whether in Architecture or in any other of the liberal Arts, is peculiarly distinguished by a powerful bias to INVENTION. It was this bias which we may call the instinctive, insuppressible Impulse of Genius, whose spontaneous efforts designed those stupendous Gothic structures, that appear so magnificent in their ruins. The Architects. Who first planned those edifices, though unacquainted with the polite Arts, or with the Grecian and Roman Architecture, were doubtless great Originals in their profession, since they planned them by the unaided strength of their own Genius. Their untutored imaginations prompted them to aspire to the Solemn, the Vast, and the Wonderful; and allowing an unbounded scope to the exercise of this faculty, they were enabled to give to their buildings that awful, though irregular grandeur, which elevates the mind, and produces the most pleasing astonishment. These Gothic edifices shew the inventive power of the human mind in a striking light, and are sufficient to convince us, that excellence in Architecture was not confined to the Greeks and Romans, but may be sometimes displayed among a people in other respects barbarous.
(pp. 256-9)