Notice how the stonework shows little if any shaping or refinement, and yet it is attractively laid, in a horizontal pattern.
Stonework does not need to be laid by artists to be appealing to the eyes. A good selection of stone, laid properly, is visually striking and will last for generations.
Originally posted 2016-01-20 15:52:35.
There are a lot of places that have incredible stone work. I think that it is so incredible because that was a long time ago. Some of the work surpasses the work that we have to this day. They even had different tools to work with back in those days.
Agreed.
I think the two things that have lead to the drop off in quality stone work has been the availability of cement, which has lead to anyone being able to lay stone, with no skill needed, no need to shape stone, and no need to worry about gravity… Just glue ’em in place.
And the second degradation of stonework has been the modern quest to constantly be doing things quicker and cheaper.
And, maybe… there is a third. It used to be that people needed quality stonework… a home, a foundation, or a chimney… but now stone is no longer needed… even masonry chimneys are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
Stone has been moved to a decorative category.
So sad.