The Gothic Revival in the Nineteenth Century

by James M. Thunder, J.D., appearing in Volume 2

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) was the subject of two past exhibitions: the first, in London, at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1994); the second, at New York City’s The Bard Graduate Center for the Studies in the Decorative Arts (1996). These books are catalogues published in conjunction with these exhibitions.

While Phoebe Stanton wrote a biography of Pugin in 1971, and continues her effort to write the definitive Pugin biography, the current interdisciplinary study of Pugin is considered to have begun with the publication in 1985 of Alexandra Wedgwood’s comprehensive listing and detailed description of the works of Pugin held by the Victoria and Albert Museum. This renewed interest in Pugin has spawned the creation of the Pugin Society and the publication of its semiannual periodical, True Principles, and a site on the Internet.

These catalogues document how, virtually singlehandedly, Pugin made Gothic a universally accepted style in Great Britain and around the world. He accomplished this through his precocious artistic abilities, his prodigious output; his teamwork with clients, benefactors and craftsmen; his marketing savvy; and his work in a multitude of media.

Born in London in 1812 as the only child of an English mother (Catherine Welby) and French father (Auguste Charles Pugin) who worked as an illustrator, Pugin was trained at home by his parents and some private tutors, and was self-educated by his frequent and long visits to the British Museum whose doors were 50 yards from his. “From the earliest times in his life, Pugin was meeting, traveling with, working alongside, and living in the same neighborhood as men established in the businesses of art, architecture, theatre, publishing, and literature.” By age 15 he had a royal commission designing a gold cup.

Initially, Pugin used his artistic abilities to earn a living by making furniture and designing theatrical sets. By the time he turned 25, he had taught himself architecture and the foundation for his first building had been laid. Over the next 15 years he designed six cathedrals and over 100 large and small churches, built in England, Ireland, and Australia. Some critics belittled his work by calling him “church-a-week” Pugin.

Pugin’s parents had raised him Protestant, but after their deaths he converted to Catholicism in 1835 at age 23. The Catholic Emancipation Act had been enacted just six years earlier and, although the Oxord Movement had been founded two years earlier, Anglican Father John Henry Newman would not convert for 10 more years. Religious orders were still illegal, no Catholic worship was permitted in public, and public officeholders could not wear their robes or jewels of office at Catholic services. Indeed, 16 years later, in 1851, when Rome announced the restoration of the English hierarchy, there were riots and the pope was burned in effigy. It was a time of polemics not only in religion but in architecture and Pugin entered the fray, writing and publishing over seven books, such as The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (1841) and An Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England (1843). He also wrote a piece urging the restoration of Gregorian chant. For Pugin, Gothic architecture was to Chris-tian architecture as Gregorian chant was to Christian music or as Thomistic philosophy was to Christian philosophy. 

Pugin worked closely with benefactors, especially Lord Talbot, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, and Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps de Lisle. In addition, Pugin developed what we would call today “partnering” relationships with entrepreneurs in various media. These entrepreneurs included the builder George Myers; the wallpaper and furniture maker John Gregory Crace; the ceramics manufacturer Herbert Minton; and the jeweler, metalsmith, and stained glass maker John Hardman, Jr. The London catalogue consists of 21 chapters, most of them focused on different specific media, including also his work in book design and production, monuments and brasses, textiles, as well as secular buildings, most notably the Houses of Parliament rebuilt in 1847, after the fire of 1834.

Nothing escaped Pugin’s attention: wall and floor tile, chandeliers, candlesticks, woodwork, doors, dinner plates, silverware, even spittoons. Nothing was outside his ambit; Pugin designed seminaries, chapels, rectories, convents, hospitals, houses, even barns. For an extra guinea, he drew illustrations for Father Newman’s books. On the range of Pugin’s production, Dr. Clive Wainwright wrote: “One should imagine the Pugin silver and ceramics standing on the Pugin table which in turn stood beneath a Pugin ceiling on a Pugin carpet in a Pugin building. It is this ability to articulate mass, colour, texture, flat pattern and utility and apply these to the architecture of an interior and the furnishings which it contains that demonstrates [his] genius. . .”

Pugin’s work culminated in his contribution to the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first world’s fair. There were 15,000 exhibitors that attracted six million visitors. It was held in London’s “Crystal Palace,” and the area demarcated as Pugin’s was called The Medieval Court which was a grand success. Queen Victoria walked through it twice so that Pugin’s future and the future of Gothic Style was assured. Alas for Pugin. He had overworked himself, and died in 1852 at the age of 40. Yet the Gothic revival that subsequently occurred in Germany, Belgium, Scotland, and the United States can be attributed to this architect’s prodigious but short career.