งานออกแบบสถาปัตยกรรมไทย เจ้าฟ้ากรมพระยานริศรานุวัดติวงศ์

“schoolmate” had passed away. When his royal page returned
the unopened letter to him, he was devastated by it,
pronouncing shortly: “no more”, by which it meant he was
the last son of King Mongkut who was still alive.
Learning Arts and Crafts
Prince Naris once recalled that he had been interested
in building-craft and the practice of drawing from his early
childhood when he spent a lot of time looking at mural
painting along the corridors of Wat Phra Kaew. Any picture
he was fond of he would remember it vividly and kept that in
mind. At home, he would draw what he saw immediately.
He once told Prince Damrong:
“I remembered when I was young, the King ordered
me to offer lunch to monks [at Wat Phra Kaew].
Immediately after lunch, I always went to view mural
painting along the corridors. Whatever figures I liked,
I remembered to draw them at home. Sides of my
wooden cabinet, painted in oil colour, became the big
slate board.”
Indeed, Naris had shown his talent for drawing since
he was a child. In the course of 1874 solar eclipse, when King
Chulalongkorn invited foreign astrologers to come to set
telescopes in Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall in order to
observe the phenomena, a drawing contest was held as part
of the event activities. Pieces of paper were distributed to
royalists and government chief officers, including Naris. Even
though he was not eligible for any award, his sketchy drawing
appealed to one of the foreign astrologers, who came to the
young Prince, praising him for the beauty of his pencil sketch.
The astrologer then asked for it and later used it as an
illustration in his report about the solar eclipse. By his nature,
Prince Naris was quite keen on drawing. He made a habit of
always carrying a sketchbook, which he learned from one of
his seniors. “When I see my senior used a sketchbook for
drawing, I liked that. I always have a sketchbook going at
once to draw this and that”, he recalled. On another occasion,
Prince Naris retold about his art educators,
“when I was ordained as a novice at Wat Bowonniwet,
I liked to follow Phra Kru Pun, the artist. Nevertheless,
after the novicehood, I [had to] work at Office of the
Privy Purse, [so] Mom introduced Nai Sai to me. Nai
Sai was a skilful artist. He was later known as Chao
Krom Sai as he worked as a painter in krom chang sip
mu [the Department of the Ten Crafts] and later he was
made Phraya Chinda of whom I was a follower; Chao
Sai was great.”
However, of all peoples who involved in Naris’
development of art, it was King Chulalongkorn who encouraged
him to learn drawing from a young age. From times to times,
the King tested Prince Naris by giving him drawing
“homework” in order to keep him practising. Prince Naris said:
“I was ordered to draw the King of Burma named Meng
Dong Meng whom King Chulalongkorn had seen his
picture in a foreign newspaper. […] I had to sweat to
draw that. However, do not assume that I drew it well;
it was merely better than what had been done before”.
On another occasion, Prince Naris, again, recalled his
memory:
“At Khao Luk Chang, I remembered that the King asked
me to draw the “Chinese Hat” stone, that is, a group
of two or three pieces of stone in the field; one on top
of the other. When I had done that already, I knew that
the King [will] put it in his diary. Since then, wherever
accompanying the King, I had to draw a map of that
area for him.”
48 The Architectural Works of Prince Narisara Nuvadtiwongs: A Transition of Thai Architecture