Analysis of ornament

Ralph Nicholson

Wornum

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ANALYSIS OF OKNAMENT.

THE

CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLES:
AM

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

OF

RALPH

WORNUM,

KXBFKB AKD SECSKIABY, NATIOKAL GAU.EKT.

THIRD EDITION.

LONDON:
CHAPMAN. AND HALL,

193

PICCADILLY.

MUCCdJUZ.
right of Translation

is

reserved.']

inKBON: PHDITVO BT WIIXIAM CLOWES ASD

SOKS,

STAMFORD

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PREFACE.
The

following Sketch

is

prepared chiefly as an intro-

ductory guide to aid in the adoption of some ready

system in the study of Ornament. Though illustrated

ornamental works exist in great profusion, they are

generally on special^monuments and localities, or extending only over very limited periods of time

and

being, further, mostly of a purely illustrative character,

without analytical description of the parts, they fail to

impress on the mind of the Student those elements

which are the essential characteristics of the works,

and distinguish their style.
These characteristics,
therefore, which are the very essence of the Art, are to
be apprehended only by dint of great labour in the
comparison of many costly publications, which, until
lately, have' been generally inaccessible even to the
metropolitan student. But with access to such works,

some systematic general guide

is

absolutely indispen-

sable to enable the Student to acquire a sound appre-

hension of his subject, with moderate labour, and within

a moderate time.

The knowledge of ornamental styles is, doubtless,

most readily imparted in a course of lectures, in which,
by numerous illustrations on a large scale, including
occasionally the objects themselves, the peculiar features

of each style can be at once pointed out, and fixed on

the mind, through the facilities of immediate comparison.
Jjut this

compendious abstract of the course of Lectures

B 2

PBEFAOE.

on Ornamental Art, delivered by me originally at

Somerset House
and subsequently at Marlborough
House, under the direction of the Board of Trade
Department of Science and Art, in the absence of a
more complete report, may serve in some measure as a
substitute for the personal instructions of a lecture, by
pointing out its sources, and enabling the Student to
derive directly from the standard authorities in the
Library of the Department such information for himself;
The Student will find the most important works illustrating the subject enumerated in the text, to which
he must refer for its complete illustration but he will
find the most essential and characteristic elements of
the styles, perhaps adequately ilBistrated by the few
engraved cuts contained in the work, which have been
chiefly executed from casts in the collections of the
Department, by the female students of the Woodengraving Class at Marlborough House.
The accompanying Sketch, however, is not published
;

as a report of the Lectures referred to

concise abstract of their substance,

as

an introductory aid

make

and

is

it is

simply a

intended only

for the Student, to enable

him

works in the Library, in

furtherance of an earnest study of Ornamental Art.*
to

profitable use of the

E. N.

W,

JuiiT, 1855.

* See the Account

of the

Library, &c., with

Works, classified for the use of the Visitors.

London, 1855. The diagrams prepared by

a Catalogue of

tlie

prindpal

By Ralph N. Womuin, Librarian.

me for these lectures now form

part of the property of this Library. The Lectores were originally delivered in
the Government Scliools of Design, both at Somerset House and in the provincial
and Ireland, in the years 1848, 1819, and 1850.

schools in England, SooUand,

Digitized

py C]

INTRODUCTION.
%

ORNAMENT.

CHAPTER
The

liistory of art

shows two gimt

the symbolie and the sedhetie

I.

classes of

that

is,

ornamental styles

those which appeal to our

We may

nnderstandings, and those which appeal to onr feelings.

term those

styles symbolic in

which the ordinary elements have

been chosen for the sake of their significations, as symbols of

something not necessarily implied, and irrespective of their

as

works of

or arrangements o^i'ornis and colours.

art,

are composed of elements devised solely from principles of

of form and

harmony

effect

Those that

symmetry

of colour, and exclusively for their effect on

onr peree;ption of the beautiful, without any further extraneous or

ulterior aim,

may

he termed

Style in ornament

is

As

its literal signification.

in his

mode of

guished in

its

aesthetic.

analogous to hanA in writing, and this

writing, so eyery age or nation has been distin-

ornamental expression by a certain individuality of

taste, either original or

borrowed.

It is the

comprehension of these

individual tastes, characterizing various times

must

constitute the

designer.

is

every indiyidual has some peculiarity

and people, which

most thorough education of the ornamental

These expressions are interesting

student, as they exhibit

an

essential

also to the general

quaUty of the

social character

ORNAMENT.

of these different people, both

and to general

relation to the arts

culture and religion.

In a review of these ornamental

elements of form are constant in
Tins, in fact,

treated.

principles at all

must be

and those

so, if

styles

we

styles

all cases

shall find that the

they are bnt varionsly

a style be founded upon any

which have carried with them

the feehngs of ages could not be otherwise than based upon some
fixed natural laws.

The elements

of styles are of

and conventional and arbitrary

The

two kinds

pure

and

investigation of the principles of ornamental art is

an

how

the

inquiry into the nature and character of these elements

effects

absolute,

or natural and fanciful.

of certain variations of form and colour happen to be so

universally appreciated that the varieties of their arrangements

have occupied

all

people from the remotest times.

Universal efforts show a universal want

and decoration are no more a luxury

and beauty of

than warmth and clothing are a luxury to any state

the body, makes everything necessary that

nently enjoying.
it gratifies
it

Ornament

it is

and, in

the mind, as

capable of perma-

one of the mind's

is

by means of the eye

effect

in a civilised state of society

necessities,

whidi

its strictest aesthetic sense,

has a perfect analogy with music, which similarly gratifies the

mind, bnt by the means of a dijj^nt organ

^the ear.

So ornament has been discovered to be again an

ment in commercial

This was not so at

prosperity.

in a less cultivated state,

we

satisfied.

But

in

an advanced

mind demand

Hence,, ornament is

now

state,

the more

more pressingly

itself,

an

to be

interest in

or, indeed,

any raw

mann&cture whatever.

Such being the

6ase,

endeavour to comprehend
effectual

still

as material

commercial community as even cotton

material of

de^

because,

are quite satisfied with the gratification

of our merely physical wants.

extensive wants of the

essential
first,

appHcation.

study ornament, for

We

is

it

its

highly important that

principles,

should,

own

we should

in order to

therefore, in

the

its

first

most
place,

and

scientifically,

and not in that limited narrow sense which would

restrict it in

its

sake, theoretically

Digitized

OKNAMENT.

one place as applied to

cotton,

another as to iion, and in a

third as to clay, and so on.

There
designer

most certainly but one road

is

for

Their common object

order that they

to efficiency for

may

is

a famihar mastery of ornamental

apply

In early stages of manufactures,

respective pursuits.

art, in

to the utmost advantage to their

it

As

nical fitness that is the object of competition.

it is

tlie

weaver, for the printer, or for the modeller.

tlie

it is

mecha-

society advances,

necessary to combine elegance with fitness; and those

who

cannot see this must be content to send their wares to the rader

markets of the world, and resign the great marts of commerce to

men

of superior taste and sounder judgment,

This

reward.

is

no new

experience of past ages.

The

who

deserve a higher

Let us take a lesson from the

idea.

vari-coloured glass of Egypt, the

figured cups of Sidon, the shawls of Miletus, the terra-cottas of

command

Samos, the bronzes of Corinth, did not

the markets of

the ancient world either for their materials or for their mechanical

not because they were well blown, cleverly chased,

qualities;
finely

woven, ingeniously turned, or perfectly

they had only in

but in the
the

mind

common with

gratification of

cast,

these quaUties

the similar wares of other nations,

one of the most refined necessities of

in an advanced social state, they were pre-eminent

they were objects of an elegant, cultivated

aesthetic character alone, that

substantial

renown which

It is

taste.

by

this

manufacturers will ever estabhsh that

will insure a lasting

market in the

civi-

lised world.

When, however, manufactures have

perfection, or

attained a high mechanical

have completely met the necessities of the body, the

energy that brought them to that perfection mvst either stagnate

or

be continued in a higher province

stage of cultivation
utiHty.

whatever

So
is

it

is

when

the

revolt at

for there is

a mere crude

a natural propensity to decorate or embellish

useful or agreeable to us.

mechanical laws which regulate

there are laws of the
efforts

that of taste

mind must

all

our

But

just as there are

efforts in

pure uses, so

mind which must regulate those

a3sthetical

expressed in the attempt at decoration or ornamental design.

OBNAHEirr.

The
cesses,

production and applicatioii of ornament are distinct pro-

though they cannot be separated in applied design.

proper distinction between a picture or a model and an ornament

is

quite esisential in the

mind of the designer

for the

mere power

of imitation of natural objects, and even their exact imitation,

j)erfectly

The

compatible with the total ignorance of ornamental

great art of the designer

is

and arrangement

in the selection

There

of his materials, not in their execution.

is

:art.

a distinct

is

dudy

of ornament whoUy independent of the merely preliminary exerA designer might even
cises of .drawing, colouring, or modeUing.
produce a perfect arrangement of forms and colours, and yet show
the grossest stupidity in

its application.

There are two provinces of ornament

In the

flat,

we have

the

a contrast of light and shade

first

case, a

play of line

second, a play of masses, and colour

but

it

acts with far greater

dependent upon

is

Much

may

is

common

to both

the main feature, in the

is

be an auxiliary to either

power in the

is

flat,

as

a system of contrasts

the order of contrasts.

to infinity,

relieyed.

in the relieved,

it

is

entirely

light.

Ornament, therefore,
study

and the
;

in both, a variety of effect for the

pure gratification of the sense of vision.

but in the

flat

a contrast of light and dark

though the

The

the object of

individual orders

may

vary

classes are limited, as right-line or curved-

line series, series of simple curves or clustered curves, series of

mere

lines, or

natural objects, as flowers arranged in the orders of

these different series.

For example, the common scroU

of spirals to the right and left alternately

the

is

a series

Roman

scroll is

the Acanthus plant or brank-ursine, treated in this order of curved

series.

CHAPTER

II.

Deoobation or ornamentation, then, we may assume

into two great classes

the fled

to be divided

and the round, or what may be

otherwise described as i}ainting and 'modelling.

Digitized

ORNAMENT.

That of fainting, or the

the far more extensive

flat, is

It comprises, in the first place, all pictorial decoration,

costume, drapery,

printed or woven fabrics, mosaic, inlaying,

all

many

Boule-y^ork, enamelling, and, accordingly,

The reUeved,

niture.

poses, hardware,

the

this is

is

that

reheved

is

inasmuch as

classes

of fur-

limited to building pur-

implements, and to

certain kinds of furniture,

in one sense,

flat,

or modelling,

But everything

jewellery.

class.

general

is

comprised also in

can be imitated in the

it

however not a legitimate use of the

flat,

as

it is

really a

flat

mere

counterfeit of the round.

We may

these two classes, then, the flat and the round.

call

They have two quahties

shape in both

is

light

and shade

There

is

is

round

are

belongs strictly

the contrast in the round

indeed,

mere

it

by light and shade.

efiected

tracery,

when an ornament

for

imitation of the round,

to the

light

all

All

figures, in the

and dark

flat,

whether the

contrast be that of colours or of black

and white, whether of a shadow with

ground or of one form with

and

basis of all

Then,

it

is

must, of course, be the

ornamental
this

if

its

another,

the very elemental principle of vision

contrast,

art.

view be

correct,

we

have but two great principles to study

shape

and contrast
an

aisthetically,

those

efl'ects

tant than

or, in

agreeable

all

cases,

variety

eye.

This

would appear

is

more impor-

at first

for it

shows, that whatever other principle

may

of

which delight the mind by

means of the

and

contrast.

The

the contrast, in the one by

the other, by colour, or

in

shape

no other means of contrast in the

and dark

or light

common

in

given by the outline

we

associate with the ornamental prin-

flat

light

and dark.

but that of colour,

in the

flat is

merely an

ORNAMENT.

10

ciple,

must be kept secondary

making a good

design.

apply our designs

how we

will,

ruling principles of ornament

ism, our design is a

This also

effect,

mere crudity in

illustrates

or

will,

however good the symbol-

art.

symmetry may be

principle of

it is

far

from being essential to

when

this principle is introduced,

really

becomes an ornamental design.

all pictures

of

desirous

are

symbols we

the difference between a picture and an

duced into a picture, but

nearly

we

if

they must be made subject to the

itself, or,

The ornamental

ornament.

to

Introduce what

which

it

This

often
is

it

intro-

and

the picture

is,

the character of

in the earlier epochs of art, and they were

generally parts of ornamental schemes.

Any
on

picture,

principles of

whatever the subject, which

symmetry and

any ornamental design in which these two

made

is

contrast becomes

composed merely

an ornament, and
have been

principles

subservient to imitation or natural arrangement has departed

from the province of ornament into that of the picture or the

model, whichever

it

may

And

be.

in nearly all designs of this

you

kind, applied to useful purposes,

frustrate the very principle

upon which you found your theory, when you

of nature,

re-

present a natural form in a natural manner, and yet apply

to

with which

uses

Therefore, however
matters,

you

it

you

may

conform with

certainly oanunit

it

nature, no affinity whatever.

has, in

Nature

in

little

an outrage upon her in great

matters.

This

is

a dass of ornament which has much increased of

late years in
it

the

England, and, by way of

noiturcilisf school.

nature

is

beautiful,

distinction,

The theory appears

ornamental

details

we may

to

derived

be, that

call

as

immediately

from beautiful natural objects must insure a beautiful design.

This, however,
details

peculiar

chosen

can only be true where the original uses of the

have

not

been

feature of this school

ornametU

iiself for

obviously
is,

that

it

violated

and

one

often substitutes the.

the thing to be ornamented, as illustrated in

the accompanying examples;

in which the natural

so mismanaged as to be j^inci^dU

objects are

flame proceeding

com a

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ORNAMENT.

11

flower, a basket

on an animal's head to hold a Hquid, a bell

made

the elements chosen being so opposed to the

of leaves

proposed uses of the objects ornamented, as to

make

the designs

simply aesthetic monstrosities, ornamental abominations.

Ornament

is

Cup.

essentially

stitute of, the useful

it is

the accessory

to,

and not the sub-

a decoration or adornment

it

can have

OBNAMENT.

12

We

no independent existence piaddcallj.

mete ornament without instantly
that

or

it is fit,

Even

destined, to adorn

is

a statuette

If

we

upon

look

an ornament

instead of Jpeing accessory,

may be

it

it

a candlestick, that

with

purely a

is

then principal,

is

ornament.

all

of practical utility, as, for

article
is

it

to adorn.

fit

portrait, it

because

an absolute condition of

Hence, every implement or

any

something

nvith

as a necUace, or a bracelet.

mere statue or

as a

it

of fine art, not

instance,

it

not an ornament, unless you associate

is

some shelf or other object or support that

work

cannot look npon

associating

composed or built up of natural

imitations exclusiyely or as principals, however poetical the idea

may

be supposed to be,

There

is

with natural
utensil

design

objects,

and

In the

itself.

is

practically

is

bad as a design.

omamevding a

a very great difference between

utterly false

may

latter
;

utensil

svhstitutingi these natural objects for the

case,

however true the

in the former,

details,

the

you are in both respects

instructive.
Of
many natural objects which at once suggest
certain uses
and we can never be wrong if we elaborate these
into such implements or vessels as their own very forms or
natures may have spontaneously presented to the mind.

and

true,

be also highly suggestive and

course there are

;

Every

article of

use has a certain size and chai^ter defined

by the very use it is destined

disregarded by the designer
it is,
for it

skeleton of his design,

But

it

is

upon

for,

in

and

may

this

the

fact,

never be

indispensable

and has nothing to do with ornament.

this skeleton that the designer

ornamental knowledge to bear

and he

is

must bring

can do nothing more than imitate a few sticks and

other natural objects wherewith to decorate
character as well as beauty, and

make

more than a display of sprigs and

it

all

a poor designer

it

if

his

he

leaves, or

he must give

it

suggestive of something

flowers gathered

&om

the

fields,

or this would be mannerism indeed.

Natural

floral

beautifdl kind

ornament

is

but even an

cially in the round, will

of efiect upon tLe mind.

one kind of ornament, and a very

infinite variety of floral detail, espe-

have

For

aesthetically

but very

this purpose

little

variety

we must bring Art

Digitized

13

ORNAMENT.
to the aid of Nature, or

work upon the

by

principles illustrated

natural objects, rather than imitate their individual appearances.

We

should add an illustrative elaboration of

is

may

which they

objects in

be most

the professed object of

The

beatttdfnl

Italian

the abstract

mere representation of those natural

principles of beauty, to the

effectively displayed

all tracery

known

style,

and

this

or mere geometrical design.

as the Trecento, is a fine

example of this obmbination of natural and

artificial

mixture of conventional flowers and foliage with

forms, in its

its tracery

and

various geometrical designs.

It

seems to be a law of nature, that every individual thing

shall be

composed of two similar parts in

and as the

internal arrangement

its

outward appearance

as in

the

animal creation, this simUarity of externals would appear

an

We

evidence of the design of heauty.

more or

less decided

often

is

different,

find this similarity of parts

according to the individuality of the object,

from the simplrat crystal form to that of man.

And we
its

find this

renmrhUe

rimikrity rdaxed only where

relaxation does not interfere with the beauty of the object, as

in a tree, for instance

the two halves of a tree are not exactly

symmetrical in their branches, yet they are generally

is

quite as

much symmetry, in

so.

There

every tree as the eye can appre-

ciate.

It is so also with flowers

and

are symmetrical;
versely as the

members seems
individual
root or

this

number of
to

the calyx and petals of

symmetry
flowers

all flowers

the more decided, in-

on one stem:

do away with the

member and where

is

special

plurality of

symmetry of the

there are several flowers rom one

on one stem, the deviation from individual symmetry

is

always in favour of the symmetry of the collective group or

groups.

Where nature

groups,

ment, not the individual;

observed likewise in art;

and

it

the groujp that

is

this

is

the orna-

as in all clusters, colonnades, or

toons, the individuals of such designs

may be arranged

provided the cluster, cdonnade, or festoon, be

proportions.

is

law which must be

itself

fes-

at random,

of symmetrical

ORNAMENT.

14

In endeavouring,

be symmetrical in our designs,

tlierefore, to

so far from being artificial or formal,

we

are strictly following

one of the grand principles of Nature.

This distinction between the symmetry of the parts and the

symmetry of the group

himself; he

very important.

is

member on

the other side,

speaking

of.

is

The arm

balanced by a similar

is

balanced by a similar

without that symmetry which

is

not

member on

symmetrical, because

the other side

head, which has not this plurality to disturb

we

find a perfect contrast of the

true of all natural groups

and

be so important, that there

whatever, that,

Take man

group of trunk, limbs, and

Whatever part of the group

extremities.

are

or cluster,

a compound form,

is

is

two

parts.

its

we

it

is

but take the

symmetry, and

I beheve this to be

I believe this

law of symmetry to

no form or combination of forms,

when symmetrically

contrasted or repeated, cannot

be made subservient to beauty.

CHAPTEK
The whole grammar

and

series.

two

sides of

III.

of ornament consists in contrast, repetition,

perfect contrast of form

a solid or section of the

may

be defined as the
generated by the

solid,

revolution of an outline around a given axis

as, for instance,

sphere

is

the solid generated by the revolution of a semicircle

around

its

diameter.

Dtgitizco by

OOgfe

15

OBNAMBNT.

and

Itepetition

series are nearly identical.

and defines

repetition,

order.

its

titions, right-lined or curved, as

Series comprises

Mouldings are simple repe-

the case

best illustration of the value of series

is

may

Perhaps the

be.

All

the kaleidoscope.

the beautiful figures represented by that instrument are repetitions

in circular

series

and often the rudest materials will

generate extremely beautiful

And

the

elliptical,

effects.

or any other regular series, symmetrically

arranged, will be found nearly equally valuable with the circular.

In no popular

The

prevailed.

ornament have natural

style of

of

details

all

great

details ever yet

are largely derived

styles

from nature, but for the most part conventionally treated

theory and experience seem to show that this

plant

order of

is

its

is

said to be conventionally treated,

growth or development

exact imitation of the details, and

not an ornament

any

the natural

Where

the

order of development,

natural;

and an object so
a picture or model,

is

an ornament,

to be

when

disregarded.

own

its

and

application, is only

are both observed, the treatment

treated, independent of

is

the true system.

it

must be applied as an

accessory deooraticm to something else.

In Egyptian, Greek, and Boman ornament,

rare to find

any natural treatment of the

The only examples

mere imitation.
reptiles,

art,

The

case

extremely

that

is,

any

in arabesques

and

the same with Byzantine and Saracenic

is

and with the great

I can recall are the birds,

and animals occasionally introduced

scroll-work.

it. is

details

styles of Italy, especially the

and the Cinquecento, in which

all

Trecento

the most perfect schemes are

purely conventional, or upon a strict geometrical basis, whatever

the treatment of the detail

may

be.

Lorenzo Ghiberti has introduced exact natural imitations in

his celebrated gates of the Baptistery of

San Giovanni

at Florence

but they are strictly accessory to a general plan, and symmetrically arranged

They
sizes,

are

being neither negligently nor naturally disposed.

bound

disposed in

gates, of

in

bunches or groups of various shapes and

harmony with the main compartments

which they are ornaments.

And

this

is,

of the

perhaps, the

ORNAMENT.

16

utmost extent to which decorations of this

But

apphed.

can be judiciously

class

in Ghiberti's case, as elsewhere, the group is the

ornament, and not the parts of which

It is requisite that

it is

we should have

composed.

a clear understanding of

the difference between a natural and a conventional or ornamental

treatment of an object.

imitation and arrangement

treatment implies

natural

not necessarily exclude imitation in the parts

may

scroll

arrangement of a

leaf,

but as no plant

spiral direction, the scroll

form constitutes

As

in the following

the ornamental or conventional arrangement.

as, for instance,

be composed of strictly natural parts

would grow in an exact

natural

but an ornamental treatment does

from an old French example.

KES

We may

have, however, conventionalities of details as well as

stance,

may

be

represented

And

natural representation.

that

appearance

and

it

is

or

a silhouette

as

it

leaf

is,

it

as

we know

may

or

appears,

Hght and shade and colour

accidents of

diagram,

of arrangement.

conventionaHties

it

may

it

to be,

this

a flower, for in-

with

all

the local

would be a

strictly

be represented as a mere

without

reference to its

be treated as a mere shadow of

itself,

as

the two latter would be conventional treatments

such representations that we find almost exclusively in

Egyptian and Greek

art

as the Lotus of the

Egyptian tombs and

temples, or the various foliage of the terra-cotta vases of Greece.

There can be no question that the motive of ornament

is

not

the presentation of natural images to the mind, but the rendering

the object ornamented as agreeable as possible to

it,

and therefore

17

OBNAMENT.

the details of decoration should have no independent character of

purely subservient to beauty of

their own, but be kejDt

efiect.

This can hardly be done, or rather cannot be thoroughly done,

but by the adoption of conventional ornament
foliage,

or

other

mere geometrical form can

and yet
effect,

flowers,

really

have no individual

associations,

same time may present an extremely beautiful

at the

the whole of that effect

is

beauty of the object decorated:

Th^

accessory.

whether

forms; because as a conventional or

natural

simply auxiliary to the general

the ornamentation

designer must ever remember that

is

the

purely
effect

never be interfered with by any partial

of the whole should

attraction of the details.

Every

design

com-

is

posed of plan and details

as

in a vase,

the vase

is

the shape of

the plan

ever decorations

it

what-

may have

are the details of the design,

or their enrichments, as medallion pictures or pieces of

sculpture

so with a candle-

stick, casket,

In
rate

and

all cases

others.

where

elabo-

works of Fine Art are

introduced as enrichments of

an

ornamental

scheme

as

sculpture in the pediment of

a

Greek temple, or a picture

wallit

in the panel of a

is

only in the general form and arrangement that they share in the

ornamental

effect

they are no longer ornaments when examined

in detail, but independent works of Fine Art.

The

ordinary details

various kinds

or only portions of
involves,

of course,

or

may

they
it

far

accessory

decorations

may

be

of

cover the entire surface of the plan,

the covering of only portions of a plan

higher ornamental principles than the

c

18

ORNAMENT.

uniform

covering

the

entire

Decorations

surface.

which are

spread uniformly over a surface are commonly called diapers

an expression supposed

to be derived

from Ypres, the name of

the Flemish town where cloths so decorated were

They

manufactured.

first

or largely

are composed of a repetition or series of

the same ornament, in a vertical, horizontal, or a diagonal order.

This

is

the most popular class of design for cotton-prints, and

the unit of repetition

may

is

generally small in these cases

be either extremely simple, as a spot or

star, in

but

it

one colour, or

and as rich as the diapers of the^Alhambra, from

as complicated

which the mass of paper diapers are derived.

Diapers are suited for

flat

or round

manufactures or in mural decoration.

work

of every class in

Units of repetition, or

repeats of irregular shapes, ar-

ranged

ever,

may

diaper,

it

may

the

how-

be an alternation of

two or more simple

as

have

diagonally,

finest effects.

figures, just

be a constant repeti-

tion of one
for as

it

group

that

compound

figure

in this case the

is

is

the

repeated,

group of figures becomes the

pattern or unit of repetition.

Geometric diapers are

of colours

may

infinite,

ancient mosaics are diapers

of this character, and they

are a good illustration of the

carrying out
ciple

of the

of fitness

in

prin-

design;

for these

geometric mosaics

are nearly

all floors,

and they

emphatically express Jlatness

an
floor.

essential

and by a judicious variation

be made extremely beautiful.

quahty

for a

The majority

of

19

ORNAMENT.

The

diaper, then, is a uniform decoration of a surface

general decoration analogoiis to

any

or

character,

of

a snocession of

it is

The

colonnades.

&yonrite form of decoration for carpets, papers,

and some other

textile

mannactnres

or foliated serpentine, and

rarely a scroll

curved succession in vertical

the

paper-stainers

unit of repetition

To uniformly

You have but

of a designer's

the rest

is

a measured

mere

it,

to design

it

is,

in fact,

filling,

as

it

your repeat or

mere mechanical expansion.

coyer a sur&ce

kW:

the

generally a decorated

always

very simple

is

expressively term

involves no scheming.

it is

lace, curtains,

series.

All such superficial decoration

as

is

it

another

colonnade consists of

same direction

repetitions of continuous conres in the

stripes, of

is,

however, but the beginning

his great bnsinees is to produce pleasing

variety of sur&ce, not only in the

flat

but in the round ; not only

upon regular but upon irregular sur&ces.

The sur&ce

of a wall

a cylinder, or a cone,

is

of one kind

is

represent the skeleton of a candlestick,

the surface of a sphere,

we suppose a

If

of another.

it

will not

cylinder to

be sufficient to

merely uniformly decorate the surface of this cylinder, and

We

an ornamental candlestick.

must, in the

first place,

cylinder a shape which shall correspond with

we must

so balance the

two ends that

it will

its

call it

give the

destined use;

stand firmly upon

one of them, and then, by varying the sur&ce or form, give

a pleasing individuality of character consistent with
tion

The

and

wherein the designer shows his

this is the process

principles applicable

to

one

article

reverse of those applicable to another,

and

may
it

is

it

its destina-

be

skill.

quite

the

the designer's

duty to suffer no mere ornamental predilections to interfere with

the

mechanical or practical excellence

are

constant

conditions

far

more

pending upon accidents of machinery.

use,

and

it is

these conditions

of

his

important

They

design.

than

These

those

de-

are conditions of

by which a designer must primarily

test his designs.

Taking

it

for granted that the eye requires variety of sur-

face to gratify that faculty of the

mind

called taste, or to excite

0 2

20

ORNAMENT.

those emotions which

be effected

By

making some

we term

all

ornamental

this

is

variety to

we assumed

others,

and thus

at starting to he the

effects.

These compartments are known as panels, borders,

frieze,

body,

basement or dado;

and so on

foot,

capital,

divisions of the general schemes of objects

may

cornice,

neck,

base, pedestal;

shaft,

names designating the ornamental

all

by

compartments, and

more prominent than

portions

produce that contrast which

element of

how

aesthetic^

dividing sjarfeces into

though these things

not be ornamented, the mere division of an object into such

parts

is

done

one

for the sake of variety of effect, in obedience to

of the necessities of the mind.

These various compartments are separated or made prominent

by mouldings: mouldings may be

either

mere

suits of concave

and convex members, as in many Gothic examples, or the concave

series

may

be

filled

it

may

These

in with ornamental details.

plain or enriched mouldings

we

necessary that they should be particularly distinct, and

is

accordingly find that they are, in nearly

all cases,

design which has been most elaborated

call

them

borders, the principle

is

the part of a

them edges

the same throughout

or call

whether the

moulding of a room or piece of cabinet-work, the hem of a

vest,

the border of a shawl or handkerchief, the edge of a salver,

have everywhere the one principle of contrast in

its

own ground.
As no border

is

introduced into a design for

only as a contribution to the general

the best which

than

for

any

is

is

superior

effect,

we

itself,

and with

own

sake, but

its

that

is

sure to be

designed with a view to a principle rather

specialty

that a mere repeat,

ciple,

be

and, as boundaries of oompariments,

to

of

which

detail

of

its

shall contain

own:

thus

we

an elemental

a prominent succession

of elaborate

find

prin-

and

varied imitations, because special attraction to secondary details

is

not a merit, but a capital defect in a design.

or moulding

is

The border

the ornament, and not the details of which

it

is

composed.

The truth

of this principle

is

proved by the practice of aU

ORNAMENT.
ages
it

we have not now

was established

to create

21

Ornamental Art, but

to learn it

As a proof

in all essentials long ago.

of this I

would instance the most popular decorations of the present day

we

find that they are identical with the fevourites of nearly all

from

ages,
late

King

Pope Julius

Pericles to

Ludwig

of Bavaria,

CHAPTER

We

still

II.,

from Julius

II. to the

1.

IV.

use the forms, and, indeed, the very details, adopted by

the Greeks upwards of two thousand years ago.

Why

is

this ?

Certainly not from their specialty of detail, but rather because

it

would

cided

be,

perhaps, impossible

to

select others of

which would so well

individuality,

principles of ornament,

series

and contrast or harmony of

illustrate

a less

the

de-

great

and contrast ; contrast of masses,

lines.

The

details,

however, will

admit of every variation which vnll not disturb the order or

arrangement on which the ornament depends

you may change

the details to infinity, the ornament will remain the same so long
as the

arrangement

perative

if

not disturbed.

is

we wish

to

And

develop a rich

this alteration is

and varied School

imof

Ornamental Art.

The ornaments
echinus,

and the

refer

the astragal,

to

are,

the

zigzag,

the anthemions, the

the

fret,

the

guilloche varieties,

scrolls.

In the zigzag we have the simplest

well conceive;

in the frets

of right-line series;

variety of lines

we have a more

we can

complicated order

in the varieties of the guilloche

we have

a similar simple series of curved lines or interlacings.

In the echinus, or what

tongue,

we have another

is

coiomonly called the egg and

character, a bold alternation of

hght and

22

ORNAMENT.

shade

astragal

and we have a similar

:

result

Echinus and Astrngal.

In the

on a smaller

scale in the

both belong essentially to the solid or round.

scrolls

Erechtheinm.

we have a regular running

series or alternation

of spirals, or any materials treated in that order of curve

among the Romans has

for

established

but any other

the acanthus,

an

use

extraordinary prestige

materials

would answer the

purpose.

In the anthemions we have a compound element, a succession

or alternation of an harmonic group of curves, in a conventional

adaptation of

floral

forms, as the

name anthemion

itself implies.

In Greek examples we have a smaller and larger cluster

alter-

sometimes enclosed in a curve, and

nated, sometimes reversed,

generally connected by a band, by mere contact, or by some simple

scroll.

Anthemion.

Apollo Epicurius.

Every example of an ornament must have an individuality of

detail necessarily,

but

it

is

as an essential part of the

great mistake to adopt this detail

ornament

for example,

no two Greek

23

ORNAMENT.

antheinious are alike, but there are some few which contain a

member a good
is

resembhng the honeysuckle

deal

simple and beautiful,

principle have

comprehended only the

an

and have

imitation,

the ornament

but modern imitators overlooking

called

detail,

its

to be

it

ornament.

honeysuckle

the

it

assumed

Instead, therefore, of grasping the source of a thousand ornaments

equally beautiful, they have

classical buildings of

modem

but one, -and half the

acquired

times are covered with honeysuckles,

monotony

bringing the whole art of Greece into disgrace for

its

and formaHty, while there

England that

might not with equal

is

weed

scarcely a

in

have been substituted

skill

for the

honey-

suckle, with perhaps equal effect, if only treated on the principle

of a succession or alternation of an harmonic group of curves.

This
into

only one of

is

by allowing mere

principles of

dilemmas that the designer must

tiie

specific details to

ornament:

fall

usurp the place of the

mind becomes occupied by a few

his

individual forms, the very idea of principles is incomprehensible to

him ; and he necessarily remains a mere hack or imitator.

Where the mind views something more than the

surface,

or where the eyes are auxiliary only to the mind, every natural

may

object

be

suggestive

of

The

combination of forms.

some

lotus, the

new

essential

and the

lily,

form

or

must

tulip,

be something more than flowers to the designer, or his use of

them

is

limited indeed ; each suggests distinct forms as apphcable

to various useful purposes.

All established styles

same principles
sketch

endeavour

materials,

of

ornament are founded

their differences,

to

point

out,

which I
are

the details of the several

differences
fSftvourite

which each more or

less partially developed,

some

The

for another.

ornament
details

is

owing

to

peculiarity of
their

becoming standards

some

only of

essential
for

the

forms,

one reason,

Egyptian and Byzantine

prevailing symbolism, and certain

the peculiarity of the Saracenic

of exactly the opposite character,

it

is

scrupulously rejected every-

thing approaching an individuahty of detail

principles of

upon the

shall in the following

and accordingly the

ornament are perhaps more clearly developed in this

24

ORNAMENT.

style

than in any other, because the details are

so

entirely

subordinate.

We

do not therefore admire the echinus and the astragal,

because they are derived from the horse-chestnut or the hucklebone, but because they are admirable details for that prominent
contrast of light

and shade which

not one of them

popular ornaments:

any natural

represents

so extremely valuable for

is

same with the whole

It is the

edges or mouldings.

object,

but because

series of

because

beautiful

is

it

has been chosen

it

by the very nature

to illustrate certain symmetries or contrasts,

of vision delightful to the mind, just as harmonies and melodies

delight

it

through another of

its

the other

is

to the ear

I believe the analogy

senses.

between music and ornament to be perfect

and the day

is

one

is

what

to the eye

when

not fer distant

this

will be practically demonstrated.

The

principles of

harmony, time or rhythm, and melody, are

well defined in music, and indisputable

many men

of

many

generations have devoted their entire lives to the development

of these principles, and they are known.

In ornament they are

not known, and perhaps not recognised even as

unknown quantities,

man has ever devoted himself to their eliminamany ancient and middle-age designers have evidently

because as yet no
tion

tliougli

had a true perception of them.

The

first

ornament seems

principle of

simplest character of this

some one

detail, as

is

to be

repetition.

a measured succession, in

a moulding for instance

The

series, of

this stage of orna-

ment corresponds with melody in music, which

is

measu^

succession of diatonic sounds, the system in both arising from

the same source

^rhythm

proportion or symmetry

The second

^in

music called also time, in ornament

proportion, or quantity, in both cases.

stage in music

simultaneous sounds or melodies

art

is
;

harmony, or a combinati(m of

it is

every correct ornamental scheme

also identical in
is

ornamental

a combination of series,

or measured successions of forms, and upon identical principles

in

music and ornament, called in the

first

counterpoint, in the

other symmetrical contrast.

Digitized by

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25

ORNAMENT.

Such a
sists in

close

analogy must convince us that oniament con-

something more than a mere

artistic elaboration of either

natural or conventional details, and that

all

must be kept

theoretical

arrangement.

strictly

subservient

The highest mere

to

mechanical ingenuity

imitative

skill,

principles

employed

of

on

the most beautiful natural materials, out of the strict province

of so-called fine art, will engender but mere
utterly powerless on the eye as ornament,

even

the

crudest

materials

of the

fanciful vagaries,

when compared with

coarsest

execution,

if

arranged in any order or combination of harmonic progression.

Greek Terra Cotta.

only

>

THE

CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLES.

Drgitized

by

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CHAPTER

V.

THE STYLES.
In a

when we speak

review of this kind,

of the styles,

oompiise only the hroad distinctions of ornament

or genera^ not the mere specific varieties.

many

varieties of nearly every great style,

characteristics

shall

There

we can

the kinds

are, of course,

hut so long as the chief

remain unchanged, the style

is

the same.

From

hecome comparatively few.

this point of view, therefore, the styles

We

itself

find that nine will comprise the

whole numher of the

great characteristic developments which have had any influence on

European

civilisation,

Saracenic,

namely, three ancient

Eoman

Greek, and the

three

and the Gothic

and three

the

Egyptian, the

the Byzantine, the

modem the Kenaissance,

medieval

the Cinquecento, and the Louis Quatorze.

Of the

Several of these styles have their recognised varieties.

Greek there
severe
esque,
sance,

the Doric and the Alexandrian ; that

-are

and the

florid.

Of the Byzantine,

Lombard, and l^orman

also,

cento, the

&c.

We

an epoch and as a

style.

as

many

styles or

varieties,

the

the

speak of the Be-

As an

Trecento, the

Kenaissance (as a style, with

is,

Boman-

and of the Benais-

there are several varieties.

naissance hoth

comprises

varieties,

there are the

its

epoch,

it

Cinque-

suh- varieties), the

Ehzahethan, the Louis XIV., the Louis XV., and the Kococo
the

two

last,

however,

are

mere

debased

varieties

of

the

Louis XIV., and they are decidedly the decay, not the revival,
of art.

These various

styles extend over

a period of upwards of three

may

he

considered the ancient period, from the early historic times

to

thousand five hundred years, of which two thousand

the third century of our era.

About one

third to the thirteenth century,

may

thouffiind years,

from the

he considered the Medieval

0HABAGTEBI8TICS OF STYLBS.

30
period;

and the

nineteenth,

the

may

last fiye centimes,

from the thirteenth to the

be considered the period of the Benaissance ; or

modem period.
Style is only another

such, depends, of course,

what

common with

has in

it

we term

are what

name

Every

for character.

upon what

is

pe&idiar to

These peculiarities

other styles.

characteristics

the

as

style,

never on

it,

features

by which

it

is

distinguished.

Sometimes

style

merely a

is

modification,

variety or a derived style ;

and such

or

peculiar

It is then only a

elaboration, of the features of another style.

varieties are

cdmmon, espe-

dally in later times, the natural result of the accumulation of

These

materials.

may

and, indeed,

varieties

the student wiU discovw without aid,

invent at pleasure,

when he

is

once master of

the essential characteristics of the great historic styles.

As a matter

of course, the earHest styles are the most simple,

and, perhaps, necessarily also the most original, as each successive

style has been gradiially developed out of its predecessor,

Koman from
on, with

as,

the

the Greek, the Komanesque from the Eoman, and so

more or

less afl&nity of character.

It does not follow, however, that

certain style because
style is defined not

by

an ornamental-work

is

in a

belongs to the period of that style, for a

it

its

time or period, but by the prevailing

peculiarities or characteristics of that period

and

it is

not at

all

the case that every work of a period possesses these peculiIt

arities.

must be borne in mind,

therefore, that while a

genuine

example of a style will always imply a certain time, a specimen of

a certain time will only as a general rule illustrate the corre-

sponding

style.

This

is

because no style

is

predetermined, but

is,

in its details, in all cases, incidental, notwithstanding a prevailing

sentiment.

We
styles,

will

now, then, proceed to examine the nine great historic

which appear

to sufficiently illustrate the history of ornament.

the ancient; the

The Egyptian, Greek, and Boman

the

Saracenic, the Gothic

Byzantine,

middle age; and the Benaissance,

the modem.

Cinquecento,.and Louis Quatorze

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THE ANCIENT STYLES,

EIGHT LECTURES.*

CHAPTEE

VI.

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.
ILLUSTRATED LITERATURE.
The works mentioned under this head are not cited
opinions given, as many of them were published some

as the authoiities for tbe

years after {he preparation

of the lectures, and the views do not always agree : they are referred to only
as the most comprehensive or useful illustrated works on the subject, and as

thus best adapted to aid the student in his labours.

Egypt.

Description

qui ont

e'te

faites

de I'Egypte, on EecueU des Observations et des Recherclies

en Egypte pendant I'Expe'dition de I'Arraee Frangaise.

Publie

de sa Majeste I'Empereur Napoleon le Grand. (The great work

of the French Expedition, treating of the Antiquities, Arts, Natural History,

par

les ordres

and

Modem

1800,

State of

Egypt)

28

yols. folio^ atlas fdio,

and

elephant.

Fbris,

et seq.

PoRTEB, Sir R. Keb.

Travels
*

in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia,

ANCIENT ART,

1848-49.

Syllabus.

Lecture

I.

On the Decorative Art

of the Ancient Egyptians.

Early Establishment of Egyptian Art about 1800 b.c. Its stationary and purely
ornamental character. Extensive remains still preserved on the btrnks of the
Nile, from Meroe to Alexandria, a distance of nearly 1200 miles.
Ipsambul, the Telamons.
Essaboua, the Sphinx Andro Crio and HieracoSphinx. Philoe. Edfou, tlie Egyptian Temple the Propyla, Obelisks, Mosaics,
&c. Thebes, sumptuous Decoration of the Ep^yptian Temples their Columns
and Capitals. The Tombs. Denderah. Sakkara, the Arch. The Pyramids.
Heliopolia Egyptian style.

Lbotubx:

XLEotft: Obnambntal Details.

Decorations of the Tombs. Painted Ceilings. Colours. Sunk-reliefs. Ornamental

Types the Zigzag, Labyrinth, Wave-scroll, Lotus, Winged-globe, Asp, and
Oartonche. The Funerals. Mannfactnies Furniture, Pottery, &c.. Variegated
Glass, Armour, TJnen and Cotton Fabrics, Prints, Embroidered Stuffs. Ships,
&c. Study of Oruawjent.

EOTPnAN OBNAHENT.

32

dHring the yean 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820.

fto.,

London,

vols. 4to.

1821.

Gau, F. 0.

^Antiquites de la Nubie, ou Monumens inedits des Bords du Nil, sita^

cntre la premiere et la secoiide Cataracte, dessine's (^tmesures en 1819,

faisant suite

au grand ouvrage de

la

Commission d'Egypte.

Large

Ouvrage
Paris,

folio.

1822.

Bam

Baz.^Essay

With 48

on the Architecture of (ho Hindus.

plates.

4to.

London, 1834.
RosELLiNi,

'J.

The

Monuments of Egypt and Nubia, arranged according to

by the Tuscan Expedition to Egypt, under the direction of

their subjects,

Bosellini.

Monument!
litteraria

ed

dell' Egitto e delte Nubia disegnati della spedizione'scientifio^

Toscaua in Egitto distribuiti in ordine di materie^ interpretan
:

illnstrati ilal

(This great work

M. B.

is

in three parts, folio, with separate text in octavo.

contains the Historical

in 169 plates
Civili, in

Tavole

135 plates

Monumenti
text

Dottore Ippolito Rosellini.

M.

Tavole

Monuments of the Kings, Monumenti Storiei,

Monuments, Monumenti
M. D. 0. the Monuments of Religious Worship,

C. contains the Civil

Tavole

del Culto, in 86 plates.)

3 vols, atlas

folio,

plates

vols. 8vo.

Pisa, 1882-44.

The British Museum.^Egyptian Antiquities.

LoKO, G.

2TuIs.l2mo.

London,

1846.

Lecttre

III.

Asia.

Egyptian and Asiatic Art charactcriiicd Egyptian infliicnre in Asia Judsea,

Assyria, India.
Niuiroud Marljles. Pcrsepolis Cainbyses, Darius, Xerxes.
The loiiiiiii Greeks. General Similarity of Standard Oruam^tal Types in
Ancient Monuments, whether Egyptian, Asiatic, or European.

Gbebob: Hbboio Aob of Gbeek Abt.

Lectube rV.

Intercourse betwt en Greece and Egypt.

Greek Ail; Dibutaxles of Corinth.

Greek Traditions.

Legend of Origin

of

Development of Painting Skiagram,

Poiychrom, Monogram, and Monochrom The Processes.
The Heroic Age of Greek Art. from about the 12th to the 8th century B.O., inclusive. Pelasgic Remains Mycenae. Tomb of Agamemnon. The Greek Colonies
in Asia ISlinor and Magna Graicia.
Development of Art as evinced in the Homeric Poems Ornamental Armour,
Toreutic Work, Embroidery, Woollen Fabrics of Miletus, Oorinth, and Carthage.
Shawl or Pallium of Alcisthenes of Sybaris. The Terra Cotta Vases.

Legtdbe

v.Gbebce The Dobio Pebiod Obnaubntal Elements.

:

The Greek Orders.

Doric, or first Historic Age, from the 8th century to the 5th inclusive; &om
Cypselus of Corinth, and Rhoecus of Samoa, to Pericles or Phidias.
The Doric Temples Samos, iEgina, Psestum, Athens. Tlie Doric, the Echinus
Order the Parthenon, 438 B.a, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius. Ornamental
Details, painted and cut ^the Zigzag. Fret or Labyrinth, Wave-scroll, Echinus,

Astragal, Antlumion or Palmette.

The Pulvchnnny.
The Ionic the Voluted Order, prevalence of the Curve the Volute and Guilloche
or Speira
Ghersiphron of Cnossus in Crete, 550 ao. Temjile of Diana at

The

Ephesus.

Image-bearer, Caryatides, CanephorsB.

The Corinthian

the Acanthus Order. Callininchus of Corinth, alxmt 400 b.o.

Greek and Egyptian Temple con)pared--tlio Pediment or Eagle, the Friesse or

Zophoros

Digitized

33

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.
"WiLKnisoir, Sir J. 6.

^The

Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,

including their Private Life, Government, Laws, Arts, Manufactures, Religion,

Agriculture, and Early History, derived from a Comparison of the Paintings,

and Monuments still existing, with the Accounts of Ancient Authors.

vols. 8vo.
London, 1847.
Gamp, M. ^Egypte, Nubie, Palestine, et Syiie.
Dessins photographiques,
recueillis pendant les annees 1849-50-51, et accompagn^ d'un texe ezplicatif.

Sculptures,

3rd edition, 5

Du

125 photographs, small

Batissieb, L.

Histoire

Paris, 1852-8.

folio.

de I'Art Monumental dans

Boivie d'une Trait6 de la Feintnre snr Verre.

Layabd, Db. a.

H. The Monumoats

spot; illustrated in 100 plates.

A
tlie

second Series of the

I'Antiquite', et

Imp. 8vo.

au Moyen Age,

Paris, 1845.

of Nineveh, from drawings

Folio.

Monuments

made on

the

London, 1849,
of Nineveh, including bas-reliefs from

Palace of Sennacherib, and Bronzes from the ruins of Nimroud, from

drawings made on the spot during a Second Expedition

oblong

folio.

to Assyria.

71 plates,

London, 1853.

Leotdbe YI.

Gbeeob

Pekod of Alexander.
The Declike.

Asiatic JbrFLUENCE

Complete Establisliment of Greek Art at the time of Alexander the Great, 33G b,c.
The Three Styles at Athens the Parthenon, 438 B.C. the Erectheium, 409
the Ghoragic Monument of Lysicratcs, 335 b.c.
B.O.
The Mural Decorations ^the Lesche at Delphi, the Poecile at Athens ; Polygnotus,
;

Zeuxis, Apelles.

Statue Painting.

Ghryselephantine Sculpture the Olympian Jupiter, 438 ro.

Phidias.

Elements of Greek' Art conventional, and purely

sesthetic
the Mytlis Sphinx,
Chimsera, Griffin, Satyr, &c. Orientalization of Greek taste Ale xander, his
Influence, his Funeral, 321 b.c. The Potteries of Samos, Athens, and Etruria.

Lkctube VII.

EoME

Florid Development of Greek. Art under

THE BOMAKS.

The Roman Triumphs. Collections. Marcellus, 214

Spoliations of Greece.
The Greek Painted Earthenware and the Murrhine of the East. General
Concentration of Ancient Art Treasures in liome.
Gradual Development of Eoman Taste. Greek and Koman Orders and Details
compared. The Composite or Boman an aggregate of tlje Echinus, Voluted,
and Acanthus Orders of the Greeks. The Acanthus and Scroll, chief chaDistinctions between Greek and Roman Acanthus.
racteristics ol' tliis period.
The Arch. Magniticeuce of the Bomaus. The Forum of Trajan. Apollodorus
of Damascus,

The

B.C.

Lecture VIII.

The Three

Boman Decoration Final Decline.

:

Tastes Egyptian, Greek, and Boman. Discrimination of Style

Accessory and Principal. Bapid Decline of Roman Art under the Emperors
the Triumphal Arelies. General florid and debased eluiracti r of the Ornamental
Details of the Public Buildings of Borne. The Koman House of the time of
Augustus, general Scheme of Decoration. The Golden House of Nero. The
Colossus of Zcnodorns. Extravagauees of the time of Nero condemned by
Pliny as insanities. Censures of Vitruvius on the Taste of his time. Pompeii,
its destruction, 79 a.d., re-discovery in 1748 a.d. ; its decorations, mosaics,
&.C.
Roman Bronzes, Armour, Devices on their Shields, Family Portraits,
Funerals,

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.

34
Fergusson,

J.

Illustrations of the

Rock-cut Temples of India.

Fol,

London

1835.

The Palaces

Nineveh and Persepolis Restored an Essay on Ancient

London, 1851.
8vo.

of

Assyrian and Persian Architecture.

Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Uindostan.

Folio.

London, 1852.

The

Handbook of Architecture being a concise and popular

all ages, and in all
With 850 woodcuts. Folio. London, 1857.
Jones, O. The Grammar of Ornament. Di-awn on Stone by F. Bedford. Folio.
Illustrated

account of the different styles of architecture prevailing in

countries.

London, 1856-8.

(On the

styles generally.)

Ruins at

The

earliest style of

material importance

when

it

is

'I

liebeii.

ornament of which we know anything of

the Egyptian, dating from about 1800 b.c,

was already completely established

hieroglyphic style in

its

sentiments and in

derived from a priestly symbolism.

As

and
its

this is literally a
details

both are

a rule, the elements of

Egyptian ornament have a particular meaning; they are not

often, if ever, arbitrarily

The

style

is

simple and limited in

styles,

in

chosen for the sake of beauty of

effect.

accordingly, though abounding in materials, very

its

arrangements, in comparison with later

which mere symbohsm was superseded by the pure

aesthetic principles of art

that

is,

effect,

not meaning, being the

35

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.

Yet we cannot but admire the ingenuity

object of the artist.

wbicli

witli

Egyptian decorator, hy

the

arrangement,

has converted even

the

mere

glyphics into pleasing and tasteful ornaments.

metrical arrangement, however,

symmetrical

incomprehensible

hiero-

simple sym-

the limit of his artistic scheming,

is

and generally in the shape of a simple progression, whether in a

on the

horizontal line or repeated

principle of the diaper, that

The painted

row upon row, horizontally or diagonally.

of

Tombs of the Kings

the

Thebes

at

afford

is,

ceilings

many good

examples.

In one
skilfnl

class of

ornament Egypt

is

eminent, independent of

its

eminent in

its

appHcation of art to manufactures

complete adaptation of

ment of a

own

its

natural productions in the develop-

types,

as,

for instance,

many

the Nile, the element of so

details

the lotus, or water-lily of

varieties

ornament, and the earliest systematic

Many

popular ornaments, handed

When we
artist,

fession

in desigil in

efforts

of the details of the Egyptians are

down by successiye ages

still

to our own time.

consider the hierarchical vassalage of the Egyptian

and that he was by

;

by symmetry

So that we have here one great

into ornamental decorations.

the world's history.

The

of ornament.

mere crude imitations of nature, but

are not

natural objects, selected by symbolism, and fsishioned

class of

treatment of

style peculiar to itself, in its conventional

local natural

Egyptian

it is

as every

birth,

and not by

man, by the law of

caste,

the occupation of his father, in spite of his tastes or

we must admit that he

displays pecuhar ability.

the art was as thoroughly understbod at

thousand yeara ago as

it is

at

Memphis

basin,

pursue

to

capaljilities,

In many respects,

London or Paris

shapes of the Egyptian ewer and

pro-

choice, in his

was forced

or Thebes three

The

this day.

and other

vessels for

domestic purposes, are identical with those of the most favourite

patterns of the present time
still

fret

and many Egyptian ornaments are

popular ornaments, and have been so through

all

times

or labyrinth, wave-scroll, spiral, zigzag, water-lily,

pahn.

They had many

as the

star,

and

others derived from the vegetable pro-

ductions of Egypt.

D 2

36

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.
In the

objects

first place,

all

Egyptian ornament admits of no pictures of

are treated coiiveiitioiially.

themselves, no object

is

Even

fairly painted as it

in the wall-paintings

actually ajipears

best examples are but inteUigible representations

mere

the

elevations

or diagrams.

The arrangements
series or progression,

are almost exclusively a mere symmetrical

and always of a very simple order; but

precious stones and metals, and the richest materials generally,

The

seem to have been yery abimdantly used.

band

the commonest form of these decorations

is

are generally some of the

preserved in

lotus,

inundations, from which

its

This ancient signification of the zigzag

fret

important symbol,

There

others in Egyptian decoration.

all

sometimes called the Scarabasus or beetle,

This

or, rather,

occurs of all sizes and almost in

it

and

or labyrinth, another right-line series

of less frequent occurrence.

is

however, one particular ornament which

is,

common than

still

is

zodiac sign of the Water-carrier, or

present

the

The

Aquarius.

details

derives its fruitfulness, and the zigzag, the type of water or

the Nile itself

globe

and the

more important symbols, as the

or "water-lily of the Nile, the type of

Egypt

frieze or broad;

is
is

more

what

is

the Winged-

all materials,

and

is

species of teJisman or invocation of good luck (Agathodsemon).

The

globe

is

and the two

monarchy

supposed to represent the sun, the wings providence,

asps, one

the

implying order, the

We

on each side of the globe, dominion or

protective,

creative,
Koa-fio^;,

and

distributive

powers,

or world, of the Greeks.

almost invariably find this ornament placed over doors,

windows, and in passages, and sometimes of an enormous

extending thirty feet or more.

on the mummy-cases.

It is also frequent in costume,

and

There are several other winged figures found

in Egyptian friezes, natural

and conventional, as the vulture with the

tau and ostrich feather, the hawk, the vringed asp, and the

winged

size,

human

figure, corresponding apparently to those described in the

works of the Jews.

The

sphinx, a remarkable object in Egyptian art, does

come under the category of the winged

creatures.

In this

not
it is

Digitized by

GoogU

EaYPTIAN OBKAMEMT.
distinguished from the

Gieek

other hand,

always male.

is

and

physical

The Egyptian

It

is

They

power,

or

and attributes of the great Egyptian

the Man-sphinx, the Ram-sphinx, and the

kings,

as

deities, Osiris

that

is,

and

we have

Hawk sphinx,

or the

of the man, the ram, or the hawk, ac-

cording to the deity worshipped.

by the Greeks

the

are also associated with the

Anunon, Neph or Jupiter, and Phreh or HeHos

Hons body with the head

is

sphinx, on the

supposed to represent the com-

intellectual

incarnations of such attributes.

special forms

name, which

creation of that

always winged, and always female.

bination of

87

These sphinxes were thus named

respectiyely the Andro-sphinx, the Crio-sphinx, and

The

the Hieraco-sphinx.

principal position of the sphinx

was on

either side of the dromos, or path, leading to the temple.

The

swelling asp alone (the Cobra de capello)

We

characteristic ornament.

find entire friezes

posed of a mere succession of these asps

to find

them arranged

and

is

also a very

and borders com-

common

very

it is

one on each

also in symmetrical opposition,

name

side of the cartouche or shield, enclosing the hieroglyphic

of

a king, having the same signification of dominion, with a special

reference to the king or dynasty expressed

the cartonche.

The most

by the hieroglyphic in

^
symbolic characteristics of an Egyptian

essential

design, then, are these

the

winged globe,

tlfd

lotus

and the

papyrus, the zigzag, the asp, and the "cartouche containing hiero-

The

glyphics.

lotus

is,

perhaps, the most

These we

common.

find

mixed up with many arbitrary or geometrical fomis, as the

fret,

spiral or wave-scroll, star, ikc,

and with any of the natural

productions of Egypt, conventionally treated, and in simple sym-

every

metrical progression;

meaning beyond

The

fret,

its

detail,

mere ornamental

perhaps,

may be

probably, having a

enumerated,

among

portant symbols, as the type of the labyrinth of

its

the more im-

Lake

Moerii^ with

twelve palaces and three thousand chambers, indicating, in

their turn, the twelve signs of the zodiac,

and the three thousand

years of transmigrations which the wandering soul

to

symbohc

service in the design.

undergo.

The

wave-scroll, also,

may

is

condemned

represent water in motion,

38

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.

or the waves.

nation

is

Its

name was

derived from

its

Minor symbols,

Cymatium.

as

among

the

Our

form.

Cyma

but a translation of the Greek

or the

desig-

Eoman

hieroglyphics, are

found in endless variety in costume and in ordinary decoration.

For

these, the student

may

refer to the

works of Rosellini and of

"Wilkinson.

Gaudy

diapers and general gaiety of colour are Hkewise cha-

racteristic of

to

red,

Egyptian

blue,

yellow,

taste,

but the colours are generally limited

and green, though

acquainted with nearly

all

Egyptians

the

other colours.

were

have mentioned a

simple progression or repetition as characteristic of the Egyptian

style

and

it is

certainly very rarely that

yet, in the cluster of the Lotus, in the

we

find

form of

its

anything more,
leaf,

we have

very beautiful compound example, a symmetrical arrangement of

the flower in a circular, or rather oval series, constituting the unit
of the ordinary horizontal series.*
as anticipating the

the Greeks, so
vases.

And

this

ornament

anthemion or most popular

common

in

architecture and

The Egyptians, however,

thing more than some ordinary

floral

in

is

important,

ornament *of

the terra-cotta

anticipated the Greeks in some-

details.

Their temples display a

great diversity of pillars, from the mere fluted columns of Beni

Hassan

to the gorgeous varieties of Thebes, Philoe,

Temple

* It is found painted

and

is

lilieti.

and Denderah.

at Denderah.

on a palanquin in a picture in the Tombs of the Kings,

God Nilus, with its seven drooping

not unlike a series of the hats of the

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.

But although

pillars

in the

the Egyptians, except in the case of the Isis

shown

as well

capital,

39

at Denderah, systematically

same colonnades, two

varied their

alike with their decorations

complete never being placed together, except as a pair of opposites,

their

varieties

truncated

may

be reduced to three
the

lotus-bud,

lotus-bell,

essential

and the

capital is a variety of one of these essential fonns

papyrus-bell of the middle period

abacus

is,

on

all

is

much

the

Every

but the lotus or

The

the most common.

occasions, the width only of the pillar,

and

invari-

a valuable feature, and

ably narrower than the capital, whicfi

is

very essential to the

The Egyptian

effect of stability.

forms

Isis-head.

pillars

vary

in their altitudes from about four to nearly seven diameters, the

longer proportions being the most common.

The
when

general

transported

massiveness
to

of Egyptian

other climates

it

architecture,

may

though

appear heavy,

particularly appropriate to the climate and landscape of

is

Egypt

itself.

Ruins

The
sions of

at Fbiloe.

various altitudes and horizontal masses of the great divi-

an Egyptian temple, as

still

seen at Philce and elsewhere

40

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.

breaking with their bold shadows the dazzHng undulating mass of

light characterising the general landscape, are calculated in the

highest degree to give deHght and repose to the eye in their general
features, while

constitute

the gay polychromic decorations of their surfaces

ricli

centre of attraction, modifying the excesslYe

brilliancy of the surrounding scene.

The Egyptian

style of decoration

was not without

upon aU people connected with Egypt

and more

especially

on the Persians

by Cambyses, who, Diodorus

its inflnenoe

on the Jews, on the Greeks,

after the plunder of

colony of Egyptian artists back into Persia

and we

Thehes

away a

Siculus informs us, carried

still

see the

remains of their influence in the whole basin of the Euphrates and

on the borders of the Persian Gulf, from Nineveh to Persepolis.

The

so-called

Museum

Nineveh sculptures recently deposited in the British

work

are identical in style with those of Persepolis, the

of this Egyptian colony, according to Diodorus, introduced

Cambyses in the

latter part of the sixth

by

century before our era

but the works were chiefly carried out under the direction of
his successors Darius

and Xerxes.

Independent of this tradition,

there is considerable evidence of Egyptian influence in the works

The winged

themselves.

figure of

appears to be that of the Egyptian

Horus.

may

Cyrus at Mourgab or Pasar-

has a decided Egyptian character,

gadae,

The change

God

and

head-dress

the

Malooli, a son of Isis

and

in the general character of the sculpture

be explained by the

fact,

that the Egyptians

worked in

Persia under the influence of the Persian priesthood instead of

their own.

The

subject bull,

which figures largely in the Perse-

politan sculptures, is explained as signifying the oyerthrow of the

Assyrian power by the

Persian.

The

Persepolitan,

like

the

Assyrian sculptures, are inscribed with the arrow-headed characters.

The name
in 711,

is

of Sennacherib,

the oldest

name

who was murdered by

his

own

yet discovered in the inscriptions

as his achievements in Judsea, in 713, are recorded,

sons
;

and

the oldest

sculptures are since his time, or, at the earliest, in the seventh

century before our era.

Unless

much

later works,

they must, how-

Digitized

Digitized by

Google

ASSYRIAN.

"

Digitized

by

Google

41

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT.

ever,

belong to the seventh century before onr era

are found in three distinct

places

Khorsabad,

but the ruins

Kouyunjik, and

Nimroud, apparently much too remote from each other ever to

have constituted a single
that of Nimrond,

The

city.

so-called north-west palace,

supposed to have been built by Ninus II.

is

and Sardanapalus (Esarhaddon) III.; Kouyunjik, by an

earlier

Sardanapalus.

The

entire city

was destroyed by Nabopolassar, the

fstther

of

Nebuchadnezzar, in 606, and the same king destroyed Jerusalem

in

588

he rebuilt Babylon, which was, in

Cyrus in 538,

its turn,

destroyed

by

h.c.

Darius Hystuspes, who succeeded Canibyses in 521,

B.C.,

had

been with that king in Egypt, as one of his body-guard, and he

was apparently the

Susa.

He

is,

real builder

of Persepolis and of the palace of

perhaps, the most distinguished of the Asiatic sove-

reigns for his architectural undertakings.

.

He

carried

on extensive

works in Egypt, rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem in 514, and made

himseK a summer palace

at Ecbatana.

his love g repairs as fer also as

May

inscriptions are also at Persepolis (it is a

vered in to

much

later times),

Nineveh are found

The
by

also

wise

must

fix their time.

set

of writing perse-

and some of the singular figures at

by

on the inscriptions would be explained

different people, without

for the supposition of a difference of time.

of sculptures

The arrow-headed

mode

on Darius's own tomb at Nakshi Kustam.

difference of dialect

their being written

he not have extended

Nineveh?

The

any necessity

subject of a series

a limit to their antiquity, but cannot other-

However, as the assumed works of Nineveh

perished with the city nearly a century before the execution of

the works of PersepoHs, these last cannot have been copied

those of Nineveh,
of

unknown

or forgotten ruins.

It is hazardous to venture

which, to

&om

in the time of Darius a remote heap, probably,

all

an opinion upon the period of works

appearance, have their history inscribed on them,

because these inscriptions,

when

interpreted,

may

authentic contradiction to the opinion ventured

our tests of characteristics of

prove a very

but according to

style, the sculptures lately

brought

mYPTIAN ORNAMENT.

42

from the neighbourhood of Ancient Nineveh (or Calah) are cer-

same school as those of Persepohs,

tainly of the

if

not of the same

time.

In Egypt, we found grandeur of proportion, simpHcity of parts,

and splendour or

costliness of material,

precions stones, and colour

we

gold, silver,

as the great art

and

ivory,

characteristics.

And

find throughout, that the prevailing characteristic of Asiatic art,

sumptuousness.

also, is

It is equally displayed in the works of

the Tahemacle, in the Temple of Solomon, in the buildings of

Semiramis and of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon, and in the palaces

of the Persian kings.

Jewish ornament, Hke the Egyptian, appears to have been

The only elements mentioned

purely representative.

in Scrip-

ture are the almond, the pomegranate, the palm-tree, the lily or
lotus, oxen, lions,

sess of

and the cherubim.

Jewish ornamental work

of seven branches,

Arch of Titus

we

find the

most

the fantestic

still

The only example we

pos-

the bas-relief of the candlestick

partly preserved

Bome.

at

is

among the

Extending our view

characteristic feature of

sculptures of the
still

farther east,

Hindoo art seems to be

and though possessing the same jewelled richness

as the Egyptian,

it

mnts

its

simplicity

and grandeur.

Its

most

striking peculiarities are its fantastic animal devices, and a profusion of minute foliage.

modem

But

beheve most Indian work to be

compared with Egyptian.*

It is not

tiU

we come

to Greece that

introduction of forms for their

Talne or ei&ct,

own

sake,

puidy as omMnents; aod

we

find the habitual

or for their lesthetic

this is

a yery great

step in art.

On

the Boles tuid Proportions of Hindoo Arohitectore, see

Bam Baz.

Digitized

CHAPTER

VII.

GREEK ORNAMBNT.

ILLUSTRATED LITEBATUBE.
Ionian Antiqutties, published, with permission of the Society of Dillettanti, by
R. Chandler, M.A., N. Revett, architect, and W. Pars, painter. Folio. London,
1769.

Paou, p. a.

Ruins of Pfestum.
Rovine della Citta di Pesto detta ancora Posidonia. Folio. Rome, 1784.
Hamilton, Sir W. Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases, mostly of Pure
Uieek worknianahip.diaooTeredin Sepulchres in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
but diiefly in the neighbourhood of Naples, during the course oi &e years 1789-90,
now in the possession of Sir W. Hamilton with remarks on each Vaae by the
Collector.
3 vols, large 4to. Naples, 1791-95.
Stoabt and Rbvbtt. ^The Antiquities of Athens measured and delineated. 4 vols.
foUo. London, 1762-1816.
Supplement to the above by Cockerell, Kinnard, Donaldson, Jenkins, and
Railton. Folio. London, 1830.
British Museum. ^A Description of the Oollection of Ancient Marbles in the
British Museum, with eiigrayiogs, chiefly from drawings by H. Gorbonld. 10 vols.

4to.

Tjondon, 1812,

et seq.

Dk

Quincy, Q. Le Jupiter Olympien, ou I'Art de la Sculpture Antique conside're'e

sous nn nonveaa point de Tue, &c. (The mode of constracting the Chryselephantine works considered.) Folio. Paris, 1815.
Monuments ot Ouvrages d'Art Antiques, restitu(?s d'nprbs les Descriptions
des Ecrivains Grecs et Latins, et accompagne's de Dissertations Archeologiques.
(Attempted restorations in coloured plates of Chryselephantine and other celebrated works of Ancient Art.) 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1829.
MiLLENGEN, J. Ancient Unedited Monuments. Painted Greek Vases, from collections in various countries, principally in Great Britain, illustrated and explained.
Loudon, 1822.
4to.
VuxLiAMT, L. Examples of Ornamental Sculpture in Architecture. Drawn from
the Original of Bronze, Marble, and Terra Cotta, in Greece, Asia Minor, and
2nd edition, 4to. London, n. d.
Italy, in ti^ years 1818-19-20-21.
BoDiLiiOir Aim St. Viotob. The Ancient Marbles in the Louvre.

Musee des Antiques,

dessine et grave'

Notices expiicatives par J. B. de

NoRMAND,

C.

Nouveau

i)ar

P. Bouillon, Peintre, avec des

St. Victor.

3 vols,

folio.

Paris, 1821-27.

Parallele des Ordrcs d'Architecture des Grecs,

Bomains, et des Auteurs modemes. Folio. Paris, 1828.

MiOALi, G. Monuments illustrating the History of the Ancient People of

Monument! per

servire alia Storia degli

exposti, e pubblicati

Antichi Popoli Italiani

da Giuseppe Micali.

Small

folio.

des

Italy.

raccolti

Florence, 1832.

Text, 4 vols. 8vo. 1832-44.

Pbnbose, F.
An Investigation of tlic Principles of Athenian Architecture, or the
results of a recent survey, conducted cliicfly with reference to the optical refine-

ments exhibited

in the construction of tlie ancient buildings at Athens.

Illus-

44

GREEK ORNAMENT.

by numerous engravings. (Published by the Society of Dillettanti.)

London, 1851.
HiTTORFP, J. J. On Greek Polychromy, or the Painting of Architecture.
Restitution du Temple d'Empe'docle a Selinonte, on I'Architecture Polychrome chez les Grecs. Text, 4to. plates, atlas folio. Paris, 1851.
Weitbkecht, C. Ornamenten Zeichnungs-Schule. (Ornamental Drawing-School
100 plates, 2nd edition. Oblong
for Artists, Manufacturers, and Workmen.)
tratcd
Folio.

folio.

Stuttgart, 1852.

BoTTiCHER,

Karl

von.

The Art of the

Greeks in

its relation to

the Beautiful in

Architecture, and in the Industrial Arts.

Die Tektonik der Hellenen.

Potsdam, 1852-53.
HoLZ, F.

W. Details

Text, 2 vols. 4to.

atlas of plates, 2 vols, folio.

of the principal Greek Mouldings.

Details Greichischer Haupt-Gesimse zusammengestellt fur die mannigfachsten

Anwendungen,
Donaldson, T. L.

in 40 blattem.

4to.

Berlin, 1854.

Architectura Numismatica, or Architectural Medals of Classic

and explained by comparison with the monuments and

the description of ancient authors, and copious text. Imp. 8vo. London, 1859.

Antiquity.

Illustrated

U'.SWAU.SVf.

Anteflbc of the Parthenon.

The
First

next great historic style

we must speak

we have

of the Doric,

to review is

the Greek.

or early Greek, which com-

Drgitized

by

Google

GIIEEK.

GREEK ORNAMENT.

evidently derived

45
and we

prises

the Etruscan

less a

change in the general character than in the

European

first

when compared

style,

Art hecomes now for the

Asia.
It

is,

first

from

it

Egypt or of

the art of

v^^ith

time purely

no

find

details in this

aesthetic.

in act, to the substitution of the aesthetic principle in the

place of the symbolic, rather than to variety of element, that

have a new deyelopment of

taste in the art of the Greeks.

which constitutes

this, also,

its

originahty

its

we

It is

technical processes

were perhaps, in the early stages, identical with the Egyptian.

With the

great commerce and intimate intercourse which were

established between Greece and

and perhaps

earher,

it

sufficiently acquainted

very

that

with

much was

The

cities,

from

however, of less important

localities,

as

by Pausauas, carry the whole evidence

to

the other side of the question.

have been established much

The

arts of the

Greeks appear

more

extensively, in

earlier,

or

the islands, and especially at Samos, than in Greece

The Doric age

the

first historic

itself.

age of Greek art

altogether a period of about four centuries from the

records

comprises

first historic

from Khoecus of Samos and Cypselus of Corinth, until

and

Phidias

Egyptians,

the

the traditionary records or later

'

traditions,

occasionally repeated

to

them

by

generally claim the art as indigenous and

versions of records

original

in the seventh century,

the arts of the Egyptians, and

all

learnt

although, in the great

Egypt

impossible but that the Greeks were

is

Pericles

and

their

immediate

successors.

The

previous period, from the traditions of the Trojan war, belongs

rather to what

may

be termed the heroic age.

The

style of this

period extended tx>m the Western shores of Asia to the extreme

shown in the many interesting Doric ruins

The most important manufacture of the period

limits of Sicily, as

stiU preserved.

of which remains exist, was that of the terra- cotta vases

these

we

Greek

find all the characteristic

style of decoration.

same ornaments, but

We

and on

find

on these vases exactly the

necessarily modified in their treatment, as

those which distinguish the architectural

There are two

ornaments of the distinctively

classes of the painted

monuments
Greek

of the time.

pottery, the black

46

GREEK ORNAMENT.

and the yellow; that

is,

have hiack figures and

those which

ornaments, the ground of the vase being

clay

the colour of the

left

and those which have the ground painted black, and the

Of

figures left the colour of the clay.

the black or former class

there are two varieties, the one painted only with animals, the

other with figures, &c.

600

B.C.

Of the

later.

classes

the second

the

The

may

earHest belong to the date of about

he generally reckoned as a century

yellow vases there are three varieties or sub-

severe, the beautiful,

and the

from the

rich, so called

various characters of their decorations; and these belong respec-

general dates 400, 300, and 200,

tively to the

may

which, in an ornamental view,

of vases

commence and

e.g.,

when the

There are two other kinds

manufecture seems to have ceased.

to terminate the series

be considered to

those that are not painted,

but are merely decorated with zigzags and

frets

in

manner

resembling wicker-work; and those which are painted with the

complete encaustic picture in

and belong

The

all colours.

to the latest date, about

200

b.o.

older than the most ancient black vases,

last are

the

first

very rare,
are even

and may be considered

as belonging to the seventh century before our era.

The
of

all

first

ornaments which attract our notice on these

periods, are those

a.miHar in

Egyptian art

labyrinth, or

Greek

with which

^the

we have

zigzag, the wave-scroll, and the

But perhaps the most

fret.

vases,

already become

characteristic

ornaments of the period are the echinus, or horse-chestnut (egg and

tongue), and the anthemion,

commonly known

in its

form as the honeysuckle or palmetto, both of which

resembles, as represented in the Doric antefixes.
micHi, or flower-oigoament, is

palm-branch, whatever

it

most simple
it

somewhat

But the

anthe-

more than the mere honeysuckle

may

be),

even when so applied

this flower-form alternated with the lily or analogous form.

is

it

(or
is

This

the case with every example, except a very few, upon the vases.

There
mental

is,

however, no actual imitation whatever in Greek orna-

art.

Occasionally, also, in this period emblematic orna-

ments were used

funeral

rites,

which

referred

to

the

mysteries,

and the games ; but instances are not

sacrifices,

freijuent.

At

GKEEK.

Kxample of Fret or Labyrinth.

Atheniion.

Apollo Epxuriiis

Kc hlnus and Astrapil.

British

Erechtheiiini.

P. 46.

Kxample

Museum.

of (iiiilloche.

Digitized by

Google

47

OBEEK OBNA-HENT.
all events,

istics

The

-cliaracter-

architectural features of the

Greek are

still

more

dis-

than the ornamental in comparison with the Egyptian.

tinctive

The

such ornaments do not belong to prominent

of style.

flat,

ponderous, sloping buildings of the Egyptians, are both

Egypt; and

beautiful and useful in the landscape and climate of

just as the rainless heat of

Egypt developed the massive

flat roofs,

so the rainy seasons of Greece rendered the sloping roof necessary, the gable of

which the Greeks eventually developed into

The pediment seems

their beautiful pediment.

member

tated another

to have necessi-

in the entablature^ the frieze;

more than mechanically necessary

aesthetically

to

a feature

diminish the

apparent weight of the pediment, to balance the parts, and to

strengthen, in

efiect,

a temple without a

no

the entablature.

1'he only

Greek example of

pediment the Pandroseium

at Athens

has

frieze in its entablature.

The

distinctive

ornament of the three Greek architectural

they are termed,

orders, as

consists of a

round

flat

is

the capital.

The Doric

cushion, called the echinus,

capital

and a large

square abacus, the lower diameter of the echinus being that of the
pillar, its

upper that of the abacus.

The cushion

is

called the

echinus, from its being invariably decorated (painted) with that

As

ornament.

may
is

this

ornament

is

so

constant, the

be descriptively tenned the echinus order

accordingly the

priiiei})iil

Even

its

Doric order

and the echinus

ornament of the period.

Like the Egyptian, the Greek

flat surfaces.

curves are

is
flat,

distinguished for

its

broad,

of a parabolic character

development, perhaps, due to the practice of polychromic decoration.

Everything was coloured; and high

shadows,

is

relief,

as producing

antagonistic to the display of colour.

In a general

classiflcation

Alexandrian as one

style,

we may combine the Doric and

we wish to distin-

the Greek, unless

guish between early and late Greek; and as they really are
distinct, it is

proper to separate their characteristics here

course the second comprises the

Of the

but of

first.

early period, then, to recapitulate, the characteristic

GREEK ORNAMENT.

48
features are

Vitruvian

the

scroll),

echinus, the wave-scroll (sometimes called the

the fret

or

the zigzag, the anthe-

labyrinth,

mion, and occasionally the astragal;

and the terra-cotta vases

have given such a prestige to black and tawny yellow, that their

not,

however,

green, or white.

Purple

combination has become a characteristic colouring

to the exclusion of red, blue, yellow,

and

saffron

may

be said to be characteristic of this

likewise

period, as the favourite colours for

On

male and female costume.

the whole, foliage performs a very secondary part in the

We

ornamentation of this age.

prominent

have conventional floriage more

and we have comparatively a great variety of geo-

metrical forms and combinations in the diapers and their borders,

found roughly indicated in the dresses on the vases.

The second Greek

period,

which may be

drian, although Alexander does not strictly

called

mark

it

the Alexan-

for

enriched

all

these forms, and

tragal or huckle-bone series

guilloche, or speira

(plat)

made some more

and

it

development, the ordinary

scroll,

spirals reversed alternately.

e.g.

familiar, as the as-

added to them the spiral

the acanthus

may

it

be said to begin with the Erectheium at Athens, 409

the

and, in a very simple

consisting

of a

succession

of

It further established the practice

of carving the ornaments, instead of merely painting them, as was

the prevailing custom in the Doric period.

now supplanted

the Doric

The

and the horns, or

Ionic capital has

volutes, are

added to

the ecSinus, the characteristic ornament of the Doric capital.

49

GIUSEK OBNAMENT.

The

of these two styles was magnificently displayed by

first

438

the Parthenon at Athens,

The second was

b.c.

Minor

bited in the Ionic temples of Asia

completely represented in the Erechtheium

the acanthus,

called

monument

choragic

well illustrated

also very

and in a third

order,

in

order,

of Lysicrates at Athens, 335 b.c.

the

Both are

by the Elgin Eoom in the British Museum, where

Greek monuments.

Ionic, or voluted echinus capital, is attributed to Chersi-

phron of Cnossus, in Crete

late in Greece, as

in Asia

best exlii-

is

it

the Corinthian

historically

are specimens from these and other

The

but

and though occurring comparatively

even the Doric order

was

itself, it

established

Minor as early as the middle of the ^xth century before

our era, as the great Ionic pillars of the Temple of Diana at

Ephesus

one

of the seven woncUrs of the world

The acanthus
discovery

who

were executed

died

546

b.c.

capital is called " Corinthian,"

from

its

at the expense of Croesus, king of Lydia,

by Callimachus of Corinth, who

lived about

400

reputed

b.c.

After the establishment of the Ionic order, in which the

volute is so prominent,

we

find the curved line, as the element of

the guilloches, more common, in some degree supplanting the

fret,

or right-lined plat

the curved-line ornament being palpably

more in harmony with the

that propriety of taste in

the

common juxtaposition

This

volute.

Greek

another example of

is

which

art

is

of the astragal with

illustrated in

also

the echinus.

The

ordinary scroll and acanthus are kept subdued in Greek work in

comparison with the echinus, anthemion, and others

we use the term, they

sense in which

of

Boman than
It is the

of

Greek

are

much more

and, in the

characteristie

art.

same with the three great

classic orders

Greek by origin ; but the acanthus order was very

all

three

Httle used

by

As
regards style, therefore, it is more characteristic of the Eoman
than the Greek. The only Greek scroll worthy of the name is
the very simple one of the roof of the choragic monument of
the Greeks, while with the

Eomans

it

was the

is

of very rare occurrence,

fiavourite.

Lysicrates.

The most simple form

of the scroll

GREEK ORNAMENT.

50

even on the painted terra-cotta vases

but

it

is

not

uncommon

on the ordinary red ware of the Romans, and in these examples

it

has preserved

its

Greek

character.

simplicity both in the details

materials of

Greek ornament

arranged in simple horizontal

it

There

is

always a great

and in the arrangement of the

is

series,

generally the various elements

one row above the other.

Ancient Bronze Lamp, found in the Thames.

Digitized by

Google

CHAPTER

YHI.

BOMAN OBNAMENT.
ILLUSTBATED LITEBATUBB.
PntANESi, O.

AND F.

Gieek and Boman Antiquities, Paintings, &c.

29 vols.

fol.

Paris, 1835-7.

Wood axd Dawkins. The Buina of

Palmyra* otherwise Tedmor

in the Desert.

London, 1753.

Folio.

The Buins of Balbeo, otherwise Heliopolis, in Coelosyria.

Folio.

Lon-

don, 1757.

C Fragmens et Omemens d'Architecture^ dessin^ k Borne d'apr^l'an-

MoREAu,

Paris, 1800.

Folio.

tique.

Tatham, G. H.

Etchings, representing the best Examples of Ancient Ornamental

drawn from the originals in Borne, and other parts of Italy, during
the years 1794, 1795, and 1796. 3rd edition, small folio. London, 1810.
BoME. The most remarkable Buildings of Ancient Borne.
Aiobiteetnre,

Baooolta delle

pit. insigni

Fabbriche di

Boma Antioa

e sue adjaoenze. Misn-

rate NuoTamente e dichiarate dall' Architetto Giuseppe Yaladler, illustrate

con osservazioni antiquarie da Filippo Anrelio Yisoonti, ed incise da Vincenzo Feoli.

Wn.KiNB,

Folio.

Boma,

1810-22.

W.The Civil Arohitecture of Yitruyius, comprising those Books of the

which relate to the Public and Private Edifices of tiie Ancients. Illusby numerous engravings. With an Introduction, containing an Historical
and Progress of Architecture among the Greeks. FoUo.

Antlior
trated

Yiew

of the Bise

Ix>ndoD, 1812.

Mazoib, F. ^Les Buines de Pompd, dessin^ et mesur^es par F. Mazois, pendant

losannees 1809, 1810, 1811.
Ouvrage continue par M. Gau, precede d'une notice sur F. Mazois par M. Le
Chevalier Artaud, et de I'explioation de la grande Mosaique d^uverte
Pomp^i en 1831, par M. Quatrem^re de Quincy. Le texte de la quatri^e
partie a ete redige' par M. Barre.
4 vols, folio. Paris, 1812-38.
Tatxob ajw Cbesy. The Architectural Antiquities of Borne. 2 vols, folio.
London, 1821.

GkUi and Gandy.

Pompeiaua:

the Topography, Edifices, and Ornaments of

4 vols, imperial 8vo. London, 1824-32.
Canika, L. Ancient Architecture, explained by its Monuments Greek, Boman, &c.
L'Aidiitettura antica descritta e demostrata coi MonumentL Text^ 9 vols.

Pompeii.

8vo.

Plates,

Albebtolli, Febb.
various other

vols; folio.

Boma, 1834-46.

Friezes from the Forum of Trajan, with others in Bome, and

cities.

Fregi trovati negli scavi del Foro Trajano, con

diverse altre cittii

Folia

altri esistenti in

Eoma

ed iu

disegnati e misurati sul luogo da Ferdinando AlbertoUi.

Hilan,1838.

E 2

52

BOMAN OBXAMENT.

Zahn, W.

^The most beantifnl Ornaments and most remftrkable Paintings of

Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabite, &c. from oiiginal drawings made'on the spot.
Die schonsten Oniamente iind nierkwiirdigsten Goiniilde ans Pompeii, Her-

kulanum, und Stabise, nebst einigen Grundrissen und Ansichten, nacli den
an Ort und Stelle gemachten Originalzeichnungen, von Wilhelm ^hn.
Folio.

Berlin, 1829-54,

Ornaments of

et seq.

all Classic

Axt Epochs, represented from the

originals in

their proper colours.

Omamente

Kunst Epoohen nach den

aller Klassischen

orl^^inalen ih ihren

eigentbiimlichen farben dargestellt. Oblong folio. Berlin, 1849.

WiESELER, F. Theatres, &c. of tlie Greeks and Romans.
Theatergebaude und Denkmaler des Biihnenwesens bei den Griechen und

Bomem.

We
In

come now
this,

Gottingen, 1851.

4to.

and

to the third

last ancient

Eoman.

the

style,

however, we have simply an enlargement or enrichment

of the florid Greek.

It did not

add a single important element to

the Greek, but elaborated the established elements with every

possible variety of

and with

eflfect,

all

the exuberance and rich-

ness of which they are capable, developing some into comparatively colossal proportions.

It was, therefore, original only in its

treatment of the Greek materials.

Greek

art

and

it is

Eoman

art is accordingly still

more than probable that nearly

all

the great

employed by the Eomans were Greeks, not only in the

artists

provinces, as at Petra, Palmyra, Baalbec, or at

of Jupiter), Pola, and

Spalatro, but at

Eome

Athens (Temple
itself,

where the

most magnificent Forum, that of Trajan, was the work of a

Greek.

However, though not

original,

Eoman ornament

characteristics, as well as every other style.

liar

these is

its

uniform magnificence.

ment becomes, under Boman

least

its

The

pecu-

chief of

The most simple Greek

orna-

treatment, if not a magnificent, at

an elaborate decoration.

example, as the choragic

has

In

fa<;t,

monument

the most florid Greek

of Lysicrates for instance,

becomes a very simple design in comparison with only an ordi-

nary Eoman specimen.

The

architectural

pure Greek form

also,

orders,

though preserved in nearly their

have not escaped this enrichment

composite, the only distinct

Eoman

and the

order, comprises, as its

name

Digitized

nOMAN.

Digitized by

Google

Digitized

b>CoOgIe

ROMAN.

Digitized by

Google

Drgitized

by

Google

Digitized

by

Google

ROMAN.

Digiiized

by

Google

ROMAN ORNAMENT.

63

aU the three Greek orders

literally implies,

at once, the echinus,

the voluted, and the acanthus orders.

It is perhaps incorrect to say that there

Koman
became

ornament.

the

believe

shell,

is

no new element in

which in

after times

so very prominent, is first found in the modillion of the

The

arch of Titus at Eome.

arch, too,

is

Koman

feature

where

the Greeks were in the habit of using the horizontal entablature,

the

Eomans very

its

own.

The Greeks used the

Acanthus spinosus, or narrow prickly acanthus

Acanthus molhs, or

But the Koman

soft acanthus,

conventional clusters of oHve-leaves

Romans

effect in

the

Komans the

the brank-ursine of our

acanthus, for capitals,

the necessity for strong

The Koman

have employed the arch.

often

acanthus likewise has a character of

is

'islands.

commonly composed of

a modification arising out of

the massive lofty temples of the

but this pecuhar con-

ventional leaf

not

does

occur

otherwise than on the capitals.

There

is,

further, this

tinction between the

two

dis-

styles,

that the most rarely used

ele-

ments among the Greeks

are

the most

the

Koman

characteristic

decorations

of

namely,

the scroll and the acanthus

indeed, every form

admit of

it

so peculiarly

work

is

Rosett3 of ScroU.

its

earliest

anything

buildings

it is

are

its

belonging to the

like

will efiectually

The same may be

an elaborate development

seldom without the acanthus

it is

said of the

peculiarly

foliations.

uniformly more massive than Greek, as

bolder in their details

Koman

about a century subsequent to Alexander.

two leaves used, however,

difierence of the

Koman, and

of TniJan.

appearance in an ornamental

prevent misconception on this point.

scroll, in

Forum

in every form except in the capitals,

Koman, that

good presumptive evidence of

period, or at

The

will

habitually enriched with an acanthus clothing" or

is

The acanthus,

fohations.
is

which

their curves are

Koman
w^ell

as

much fuUer, the Komans

54

BOUAN OBNAMENT.

mdng the circular, where the Greeks generally used the

Some Eoman examples of the echinus, from this fulness
are especially bold and magnij&cent in

effect.

They

elliptical.

of curve,
are occa-

sionally also remarkable for their deep under-cutting.

The

free introduction of monsters

characteristic of

the triton, the

and animals

Greek and Koman ornament,

griffin,

and others

more abundantly in the Boman.

as

is*

likewise a

the

sphinx,

much
Boman

they occur, however,

The most

splendid

among
Forum of Trajan, of the early part of the second
century of our era.
They are the work of a Greek, ^ApoUodorus of Damascus, ^who carried out many great works for
ornamental specimens are those which have been dug up

the ruins of the

the Emperor Trajan.

Chimera.

\
Digitized

ROMAN.

Digitized by

Google

ROMAN.

Digitized by

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it

zed by

Google

CHAPTER

IX.

THE DECLINE OP ANCIENT ART.

We haye

hitherto looked at only the bright side of this period

we must

not oyerlook those features which more especially consti-

iiute it

In the

a period of decline.

supplanted quality
in most

first place,

and in the second,

This

cases without taste or propriety.

most of the great works of the period

quantity generally

was applied

this quantity
is

illustrated

by

and by none better than

the triumphal arches, wliich are exclusively ornamental works.

few remarks will

suffice to

abundance of materials, was

use that was

made

still

show how the Koman, with

a period of decline.

of these materials.

It

Style and system

looked upon as synonymous terms in ornamental art.

the ornaments themselves,

And

them.

if

we must have some system

the prominent and

characteristic

certain established styles are promiscuously

its

was the

may be
Besides

of applying

members of

thrown together, the

principal features of one style applied as secondary to subordinate

features of another, the value of all
effect

has but

its

is

diminished, and the general

vagueness to characterise

it.

The same ornamental types may be used

of

new

styles,

distinction of style

types themselves, as on the

But

mode

in the development of

we

ornament,
that style

in the development

depending not so

much on

the

of .using them.

any

particular historic

style

of

are strictly limited to the elements belonging to

and in combining

styles,

the various members belong-

ing to the same style should preserve their relative degree of

importance.

The

general decorations of the

Eoman

period,

ana

especially

THE DEOLIKE OF ANCIENT ART.

56

those of Pompeii, exhibit an utter disregard of these observances

and thus

of style, and consequent peculiarities of

all distinctions

character, are lost.

The

tastes of the three ancient styles,

Koman, are
severe, at the

same time

the Greek

the Eoman, rich and beautiful,

Greek
ander

Egyptian, Greek, and

The Egyptian

very distinct.

at

is

is

symboHc,

least in its

and

rich,

severe and beautiful

and

good examples.

taste steadily progr^ised until about the time of

Alex-

from this period, richness and abundance of ornament

The con-

gradually supplanted the chaster principles of design.

quest of Asia introduced a taste for ornamental display, which,

ending in pure (Mutation, resulted in the utter annihilation of

and of art

taste,

Emperors.
of

itself,

under the luxurious example of the

The Greeks

splendour.

Their

Boman

themselves, however, were always lovers

painted

and chryselephantine (gold and

ivory) sculpture could hardly be surpassed in magnificence

their

personal costume, as Sybaris evinces, was of the richest character

and the

sjplendour of their temples

was only

characteristic of their

mural decoration generally.

This splendour was carried out by the Eomans on a

still

greater scale^ until a boundless luxury established an indiscrimi-

Marcus Ludius, in the

nate extravagance of ornamental detail.

time^rf-Augustus, became very celebrated for his landscape decorations,

in

which were

became universal

with figures actively employed

illustrated

occupations suited

to

after

the scenes;

his

time,

which kind of painting

and in the

century of

first

our era was established that extraordinary style which we have

still

preserved at Pompeii, but which the

selves

times.

Roman

were as far from approving as the best

Vitruvius, at

still

writers them-

critics of

" What the

we attempt to

absurdity of the stucco-work of his day.

he complains,

gaudy

colouring.

accomplished by

Expense

is

art,

now

substituted for

it."

ancients,'
effect

by

Who,
We now

skill.

in former times, used vermilion, except for physic?

cover our walls with

modern

earher time, deplores the folly and

Pliny also complains of ostentation

having completely supplanted good taste in the decorations of his

Digitized

by

Google
|

THE DEOLINE OF ANOEENT ABT,

"A man now ca^

time:

walk well covered with

nothing

for. art,

57

provided he has his

purple, or dragon's blood from India."

Vitmvins enumerates the various kinds of wall-painting in use

among

They

the ancients.

first

imitated coloured marbles

these

they afterwards divided into panels, and enriched with ornamental

frames and cornices;

and

then architectural decorations were added;

were introduced

finally

tragic, comic,

and

satyric scenes,

All eventually degenerated into the existing

landscapes.

and

Pom>

peiian extravagances.

Tet, notwithstanding the general extravagance of this age,

there were doubtless in

Eome many

examples of beautiful deco-

Even Pompeii, an unimportant

ration of a very high character.

provincial town, exhibits occasional traces of a magnificent system

of decoration.

The

painted figures which

we

find in the centres

of walls or panels, strongly reheved by their dark or coloured

grounds, are sometimes extremely beautiful in their conception,

thongh of

inferior execution

and some examples of

scrolls

and

arabesque, (the most characteristic form of these decorations,)

likewise

upon dark grounds,

character of colour,

and

a few instances, of a gorgeous

are, in

and chaste in

their curves.

And

the mosaic

pavements discovered in Pompeii, however

tesselated

in-

appropriate in their application to floors, aro examples of an

exuberance of ornament to which few,

offer

a parallel

as,

for instance,

if

any,

modem

palaces can

the great mosaic, measuring

about twenty feet by ten, representing the battle between Darius

and Alexander

at Issus,

Fauno, in 1831.
art,

discovered in

It is one of the

the so-called House del

most important

relics of ancient

and shows that though the laws of perspective are generally

grossly disregarded in the architectural decorations,

from the ignorance of their existence

careless the mechanical execution
ciated,

may

and the foreshortening of the

skilfully expressed.

it

for in this work,

was not
however

be, perspective is appre-

figure

and the horse

is

even

It is a work, in composition, general attitude

of the figures and horses, and for treatment of costume, in every

way worthy
itself

of a great master

and the picture or composition

evidently belongs to a period long anterior to the execution

THE DECLINE OF ANCIENT ART.

58

of the mosaic, in which

we most probably have an example

of the

higher school of painting of the Greeks, and possibly a coarse

copy of the great battle-piece of the victory of Alexander over

Darius, mentioned by Pliny, by which Philoxenus of Eretria had

rendered his

name

celebrated.

MEDIEVAL STYLES
FOUR LECTURES.*

CHAPTER

X.

BYZANTINE ORNAMENT.

ILLUSTRATED LITERATURE.
CoTMAN AND

TtJENEH.

Architectural Antiquities of

Normandy, by

J. S.

Cotman

accompanied by historical and descriptive notices by Dawson Turner. 2 vols,

London, 1822.
folio.
HmsmEO, F. ^Early Gbiistian Symbolism. SinnbOder und Emistvorstellungen der

alten Christen.

4to.

Altona, 1825.

The Basilicas of Christian Eome, in illustration of the Idea

J.
and History of CSmich Architeottue.
Die Basiliken des Christlichen Boms naob ihrem ssaaunmeiihange mit Idee
und Geschichte der Kirchenbaukunst. 4to. Munich, 1848.
(To serve as Text to the Uluatrated Work of Gutensohn and ELnapp. Folio.
Munich, 182227.)
Collection of Arohitectoral Ornaments of the Middle Ages in the
Heideloit,
Byzantine and Gothic Styles. 4 vols. 4to. Nuremberg.

BuNSEN, C. C.

MEDIEVAL ART,

1849.

Syllabus.

Lecture

The

I.

On Early

Christian and Byzantine Art.

Dark Ages, from the Fourth

Genera.
to the Thirteenth Century.
Constantinople or Byzantium.
Ancient Art. Tiie Destruotions.
Establishment of Christianity.
Prohibition of Images Early
Symbolism.
Symbols the Monogram the Fish Hx^^s) Vesica Piscia. The Lily. The
Catacombs. Images of Christ. The Nimbus or Glory. Trefoil Qnatrefoi],
&c.
Ancient Basilicas. Tribune. Apsis. Mosaics. Modes of Benediction
Distinction between Greek and Latin form. Monasteries of Mount Athos.
The Image Controversy between the Pope and the Emperor of the East. The
Iconoclasts.
Sanction of Images by the Council of Nice, a.d. 787.
Ornamental Types Cross Dome Circle. St. Sophia of Constantinople, a.d. 562.
San Vitale of Ravenna, St. Mark's of Venice. Symbolism pervading all Designs
Examples The Byzantine LeafBunic Tracery Embroidery. Illamination
so-culled
Decay of

of

MSS.

Religious Cycles.

Lectike

The

II.

On Romanesque and

Sakacenic Art.

Rouianesiiue.
Wide-spread Influence of Byzantine Ornament. Damascus.
Oriental Manufactoies. Saracenic Costume. Luxury of the Caliphs of Bi^^lad.
Tributes.

BYZANTINE ORNAMENT.

60

Knight, H. Gally. The Normans

tural Tour in Normandy."
8vo.

in Sicily, being

a Sequel

to

*'

An Aichiteo-

London, 1838.

The Ecclesiastical ATchiteottue of Italy, ftom the Time of Gonstantine to

the fifteenth Gentnry ; with an Introductioa

and Text. 2

vols, folio.

London*

1842-44.
Saracenic and

London,

Folio.

to illustrate "

Norman Remains,

The Normans

in Sicily."

n. d.

Mussina. Eoof of the Cathedral

Charpente de

la

of Messina.

Cathedrale de Messine, dessinee par M. Morey, gravee et

lithographiee par H. Eoux, aine.

Chromo-lithographic plates.

Folio,

Paris, 1841.

QuAST, A. F. Von Old Christian Buildings of Ravenna.

Die Alt-christlichen Bauwerke von Ravenna, vom fiinften bis zum neunten
Jahrhundert, Historisch geordnet und durch Abbildungen erlaiitert von
Al. F. Yon Quast Small fblio. Berlin, 1842.
DiDBOX, M. Iconographie Chretienno. Histoire de Dieu. 4to. Paris, 1843.

Handbook of Christian Iconography.

Manuel d'Iconographie Chretienne, Grecque et Latine, avec une Introduction
et des Notes. Traduit da HS. Byzantin, "Le Guide de la Peinture,"
par

le

Dr. Paul Durand.

Royal

Paris, 1845.

8vo.

Les Monuments de la Lombardie depuis

OsTEN, F.

le YII* Siecle jusqu'au XIV*.

Darmstadt and Paris, 1847, et seq.
Specimens of the Geometrical Mosaic of the Middle Ages ; with a
brief Historical Notice of the Art, founded on Papers read before the Royal
Institute of British Architects, the Royal Society of Arts, and the ArcbsBological
Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
Small folio. London, 1848.
Chalmebs of Auldbab. The ancient sculptured Monuments of the County of
Angus, including those at Meigle in Perthshire, and one at Fordouu in the
Meams, With an additional plate and explanatory text. (Privately printed and
presented to the Bannatyne Olub.) Large folio. Edinburgh, 1848.
PBjeeet, L.
The Catacombs of Rome. Catacombes de Rome; Architecture^
Peiutures Murales, Inscriptions, Figures, et Symbols des Pierres spulci-ales.

Folio.

Wyatt, M. D.

Direct Byzantine Influence The Mosques of Cairo of Amrou, a.d. 641

of Touloun, A.D. 876and El Azar (the Brilliant), a.d. 981. The Pointed Arch.
Saracenic Ornaments nearly identical with Byzantine. Polyohromio Decorationa
Sicily PalermoLa Ziza, the Zigzag, 1050 ^Byzantine Mosaics and Glass

Egypt

Palace of Abdu-r-rham&n IH, near Cordova. The Alhambra (the Red

decorations tracery diapersinscriptions. General Character of
Castle),

Tesselations.

pain

its

Saracenic Ornament.

LECTtEE

III.

Tapestries.

On the Siculo-Norman and the Eakly Pointed

Style.

Cappella Palatina, the Murtorana. Greek, Saracenic, and Latin

Messina, ByMonreale.
Elements. Revival of Symbolism Cefalu, 1182.
zantine Mosaics and Glass Tesselations. The Pointed Arcii introduced into
into England by the Normans in
Sicily by the Saracens in the ninth century
the twelfth.
The Saxon or early Norman Romanesque the Round Norman or Zigzag style
the Pointed Norman, or Transition (Plantagenet). Variety of Norman Ornamentsthe Zigzag, the Billet, the Tooth, &r.
Stained GlassMethods of Glass Painting MosaicMosaic-stain and the Pure
and Mixed EnamelMosaic enamel.

Palermo

^the

BYZANTINB OBNAMENT.

61

Verres graves sar ibnd d'or, Lampes, Vases, Anneaiix, Instraments, &c., des
Cimeti^s des premiers Chretiens. 5 vols, folio. Paris, 1852, et seq.
(Published by the French Govemmeat, under the dixeotion of a Commiaedoa
of the Institute of France.)

ABO

Book.
Db.Ardinologioal
Abecldaire, ou Rudiment d'Archfologie. Ouvrage approuv^ par Tlnstitn
des Provinces do Fmnce. (Ornamental styles, civil and military archi-

CAUMOirr,

2 vols. 8vo.

tecture, &c.)

Inkbbsley, T.

An

Paris, 1851-53.

inquiry into the Ohronological Bnccessum of the Styles of

Bomanesqne and Pointed Arobitectare in France ; with Notices of some of the

principal Buildings on

HuSKiN,

J.

The Stones

which

founded-

it is

of Venice.

vols. 8vo.

London, 1850.
London, 1851.

8vo.

Examples of the Architecture of Venice, selected and dmwn to measurement from the edifices. Folio. London, 1851.
Verneilh, F. De. L'Architecture Byzantine en France. (Saint-Front de P&i-

gueux,

RuNGE,

L.

ct les Eglises

k coupoles de I'Aquitaine.) 4to. Paris, 1852.

towards the Knowledge of the Brick Architecture of

Contributions

Italy.

Beitr'age zur Eentnisa

der Backstein Axchitector

Italiens.

vols, folio.

Berlin, 1852-53.

Blavignac, J. D. Histoire de I'Architecture sacree du quatrieme au dixieme

Si^le, dans les anciens dvSch^s de Gn%ve, Lausanne, et Sion. 8vo. text ; atlas,
ob. folio.

Paris, 1853.

QuAST, F. Von. The Komanesque Cathedrals of the IMiddle Shine, at Mayence,

Speier, and Worms, critically and historically examined.
Die Bomanisohen Dome des Mittelrheins zu Mainz, Speier, Worms. Eritisch
untersucht und historisch festgesteUt* duroh F. von Quast. 8vo. plates.
Berlin. 1853.

Mosaic method described by Theophilus, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Design,

hatched and smeared on Pot Metal, in Enamel Brown the Groziug Iron.
Ornaments, chiefly from the Manuscripts of a Byzantine or Norman duiracter
Tan-coloured Flesh Simple and Medallion Windows ^Foliage and Quarry
Patterns, plain and reticulated.
Lecttjre IV.

On Gothic Ornament Decorated

The

Pointed.

verticality of Gothic as contrasted with the horizontal Komanesque. The Five

Arches of English Architecture the Rotmd, the Pointed, the Ogee, the Fourcentred, and the Flat.
Seven Styles of English Ecclesiastical Architecture, from Edward the Confessor
(1066) to Edward VI., about five centuries the Saxon (early Norman Romanesque) Round Norman (Zigzag) Pointed Norman (Transition) Early
English Gothic (introduction of the MuUion and Tracery) Decorated Perpendicular (Lancastrian)
and Tudor. Average duration of eacli style about seventy

Characteristics.
Geometrical character of Gotliic Art. Snow Crystals.
Tracery Soffit and Chamfer Cusping. The Trefoil Leafthe Crocket the
Finial The Gargoyle. The Tudoi- Flower. Manufactures.
Stained Glass Mosaic-stain fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Pot Metal. Stained
and Coated Glass ^Abrasion. Ornaments Simple and Medallion Windows

years.

Canopied Figures White Flesh Yellow Hair.

Quarry, Diaper, Flower,
Damask, and White or Grisailles patterns, in Enamel Brown.
Enamel and Mosaic Enamel, or Pure and Mixed Enamel, from the sixteenth centm-y
Ordinary Enamel Colours on White and Coloured Glass (Pot Metal Canopied
Figures, Historic and Heraldic Designs Floral, Geometric, Renaissance, and
Cinquecento Ornament.

62

BYZANTINB ORNAMENT.

Kbeutz, G. et L.

La

Basilica di

San Matoo, in Venozia, espoata

Mosaici, c nelle sue Sculture, con illustrazione.

saoi

ne'

Venice, 1843.

Folio.

Tiie Secondary Mosaics of the Basilica of St. Mark, Venice.

Mosaici Secondarii non oompreBi negli speccati geometrioi, ma che completano
con essi tutto I'lnterno della Basilica di San Marco. 4to. Venice, 1854.
Salzenberg, W. Old Cliristian Architectural Monuments of Constantinople, from
the Fifth to the Twelfth Century. St. Sophia.

V. bis XII. jahrhundert.

Koniga auf-genoramen und historisch

Alt-Christliche Banddnkmale von Constanti nopel Tom

Auf

befehl seiner majestat des

erlautert

von W. Salzenberg.

Im anhange

des Silentiarius Paulus besch-

reibung der Heiligen Sophia und des Ambon.

Metrisch iibersetzt und

mit anmerkungen yersehen von Dr. 0. W. Kortiim.

Heian^geben
Ton dem Kohigl.
Ministerium fur Handel Gtewerbe tmd dfTentUche
arbeiten.

Folio.

Berlin, 1854.

(Published by the Pmarian Government, Ministry for Commerce, Tmde, and

Public Works.)

W. E. Specimens of Medieval Architecture, from sketches made in

London, 1860.
^Les Tr^sors saor^s de Cologne. Objetsd'ArtduMoyen Age. 8vo. Paris,

Nesfielt),

France and

BocK,F.

ItaJy.

4to.

1860.

Ttmms and Wtatt. The Art

Europe from the

by borders, initial letters, and alphabets, selected
and chromoUthographed by W. B. Tymms. With an Essay and Instmotions by
M. Digby Wyatt Imp. 8vo. London, I860.
of Illuminating, as practised in

Illustrated

earliest times.

We may now turn to the Middle-Age styles, which, in contradistinction to the ancient,

The

the heathen, may be termed

had, before the

establishment of Christianity by the

material influence upon society, though the

many

Christian

art.

peculiar views of the early Christians in matters of art

Pagan

State,

idolatries

no

found

bold and vigorous opponents long before the time of Con-

During the

stantine.

first

and second

centuries, Christian

works

of art were limited to symbols, and were then never applied as decorations,

And

but as exhortations to faith and piety.

decoration rests upon this foundation,

the same

all

spirit of

Christian

symbolism

prevailing throughout, until the return to the heathen principle of

beauty (to the

The

sesthetic) in the period of the Benaissance.

early symbols were the

the cross

representing the acrostic

Greek word
sentence

monogram

the serpent ; the Ae^ ;

of Christ:

the lily;

the aureole, or Vesica pisds,

symbol, the

fish,

from the common

for fish, t%^v9, containing the initials of the following

'It/ctoO?

Xpiaro^ Beoi) T/09

the Son, the Saviour

head, as the Vesica

and the

is

Soirrip,

circle, or

Jesus

Christ, of

God

nimbus, the glory of the

of the entire body.

These are very im-

Digitized by

Google

BYZANTINE ORNAMENT.

63

especially the nimbus,

portant elements in Christian decoration,

which

common

the element of the trefoil and quatrefoil, so

is

Byzantine and Gothic

art,

the

first

having reference

to

in

the

Trinity, the second to the four Evangelists, as the testimony of

Christ,

and

to the cross

at the extremities of

which we often

find

four circles, besides the circle in the centre, which signifies the Lord.

Thus, figures or combinations of three, four, and

are

common

and have
tions.

five

circles,

in medieval art,

all

sacred significa-

Many crosses are com-

posed nearly exclusively of

the five circles as principals,
or are prominently decorated

with them.

character

not uncommon,

is

cross of this

either with the circle or

nim-

hus in the centre, and four

other circles or nimhi at the
extremities, or

ply of

five

in the

form of the

the centre

From a Gold

Fibula.

composed simarranged

circles

circle,

cross,

or nimbus,

having reference to the Lord,

and the other four

Evangelists.

to

the

Occasionally

the symbolic images of the

Evangelists,

the

angel, the

Hon, the ox, and the eagle,

are represented within these
circles.

These

symbohc

of the EvangeHsts

images
Old Leather Case.

are

fre-

quently appHed as the principal decoration of a facade, and are

constantly

met with under the arches

of the vesica, which

is

of doorways, on either side

found circumscribing the image of Christ,

with his right hand raised in the attitude of benediction.

64

BYZANTINE ORNAMENT.

The hand,
teristic

There

in the attitude of benediction,

another charac-

is

element in early Christian and medieval works of

is

art.

a distinction between the Greek and the Latin form,

the Greek symbolising Jesus Christ, expressing his Greek mono-

gram, IC.
third

XC,

(JesouC XristoC,) by placing the thumb on the

and sliglAly curving the second and fourth:

finger,

Latin displaying the thumb and the

only extended, and thus symbolising the Trinity.

name

prelate blesses in the

name

of the Trinity

the

and second fingers

first

The Eoman

the Greek, in the

of Jesus Christ.

Without some knowledge of these

would appear

to have

these peculiar forms

all

exactly the same as that

by

is

The

which Egyptian art was regulated.

lis),

is

for their early designers

avoided rather than sought beauty in

the principle

Byzan-

essential points, the

tine decorations are quite unintelligible

the

emblem

common

as

Lily, too (the fleur-de-

of the Virgin and of purity*

in Christian decoration as the

lotus is in that of

Egypt.

It is the

symbol

which was eventually elaborated into the most

characteristic

manesque

still

well

in

work

centuries,

and

illustrated

and thirteenth

of the twelfth

Ro-

and

of Byzantine

foliage

art,

especially in the old iron-work of that time.

Conspicuous in their
sharp version,

if

may

foliage, also, is

so

call

somewhat resembling the ordinary

"Why the
then, were

it,

a peculiarly formal and

of the Greek acanthus-leaf,

thistle,

or holly-leaf.

beautiful and accomplished styles of the ancients,

discarded

for

such comparatively crude elements of

ornament, needs no other explanation than the simple statement

that they were Pagan.

Paganism, however, consisted solely in forms, not in colours

and

therefore, in respect of colour, there

tion in Byzantine art.

ism

itself

The forms

gradually disappeared, were slowly admitted

elements of Christian decoration;

symbolic

never was any restric-

of the ancients, too, as

modifications,

the

and the

foliations

scroll,

Pagan-

among the

under certain

terminating in

lilies

or

BYZANTINE ORNAMENT.

and

leaves of three, four,

being significant,

in Byzantine decoration

blades, the

five

became

65

number

of the blades

eventually a very prominent

feature

and

under the same modifications

the

and

anthemion,

every

other ancient ornament, was

gradually

adopted,

after

systematic exclusion of about

But

four or five centuries.

the most characteristic of

all

the ordinary Byzantine or-

namental

details, is that

con-

ventional foliage and scroll-

work

just described.

The very

exclusive pre-

Byzan-

judices of the early

tines once

overcome, a most

comprehensive style of decoration

was rapidly developed,

notwithstanding they never

that purity of de-

attained
tail

which characterises the

works of the Greeks.

Still,

Architrave, St Denis.

so great

was

their ingenuity, that

they made, from their crudest symbols even, very beautiful and
attractive designs.

An

important feature always to be observed in the works of

the Byzantines

that all their imitations of natural forms were

is,

invariably conventional

custom throughout.
the

human

portions,

figure

so far they have preserved the ancient

It is the

same even with animals and with

every saint had his prescribed colours, pro-

and symbols.

This Byzantine system of decoration was fully matured, and

is

still

shown

in perfection in the rich mosaics of St. Sophia at

Constantinople, completed

by the Emperor Justinian 562 a.d.*

* Some beautiful specimens have been lately published in the work of Salzenberg,
on Constuntiuople, undertaken under the auspices of the Prussian Government;

BYZANTINE ORNAMENT.

66

The beauty and

effect of

Byzantine designs

owing to

their materials as to the fashion of the

and

is

this

the case with nearly

however, as often

is,

ornaments themselves

early middle-age art

all

was

as it

with the Egyptians, and must perhaps always be in every style which

depends for
for

We
those

individuahty of character chiefly upon

shall find that the

in

disguised

its

symbolism

its

symbols are not chosen for their beauty, but for their meaning.

most beautiful Byzantine designs are

which the symbolism

is

not absent, for that

is

unobtrusive, or even wholly

very rarely,

if

ever, the

case.

design which contained no trace of symbolism could hardly be

a genuine Byzantine example.

cially

in

ecclesiastical

work, wood-carving,

some form or
geometrical

whether

glass-staining,

or

metal-work,

Many

mixed

Byzantine capitals

contradict this;
will be

stone-

symbols,

the

mosaic,

paramount, being

are

other,

forms.

Generally speaking, but espe-

decoration,

in

only with

may

appear

to

but on examination

found that the apparently

it

floral

forms are combinations only of the con-

sym-

ventional types derived from the'

bols

as vesicas, circles,

others.

The very

tracery

composed of serpents
not an

and many

lilies,

sometimes

is

and serpents are

uncommon ornament

for a ca-

pital.

The
ment

serpent figures largely in Byzantine

the instru-

art, as

The

of the Fall, and one type of the Kedemption.

planted on the serpent

is

found sculptured on Mount Athos

the cross, surrounded by the so-called Kunic knot,

Scandinavian version of the original Byzantine image,

its

scrolls at the foot of

modifications,

it,

and

only a

the crushed

snake curhng round the stem of the avenging cross.

with two

is

cross
;

typifying the snake,

The
is

cross,

another of

and a very common Byzantine ornament.

The

ordinary northern crosses, so conspicuous for their interlaced orna-

ments and trrotesque monsters, appear

to be purely modifications of

Some good examples may be seen in Chalmers' Sculi^tured

Monutmnts of Angus.

this idea.

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BYZANTINE.

BTZANTIIIZ OBNAHENT.

The

67

leading forms of Byzantine architecture are Hkewise due

same influence

to the

vade everywhere.

the

Tlie

the

cross,

dome has

its

circle,

own

and the dome, per-

reference to the vault

of heaven, whose h^dng glories were generally represented on the

spherical roof of the apse at the end

This representation

is

known

in the

liturgy, or the glorification of Christ,

and

dome

This

cross

the centre of the cross.

itself in

and the dome are so

Greek

of the

Greek Church

Basilicas.

as the holy

often illustrates the

it

is

the reason that the

characteristic of early Christian

or

Byzantine architecture, and indeed of Bomanesque architecture

generally.

Somo of the

Bomanesque ohm:ches

principal Byzantine or

are deyelopments of the symhol of the five circles or glories:

they are placed in the form of a

domes corresponding in
sented in the

cross,

and are surmounted by

and situation

size

pavement below.

St.

to the circles repre-

Mark's

at

Venice

is

conspicuous example of this symbolic architecture.

This species of architecture, with the dome and round arch,

is

termed Komanesque, as derived immediately from that which

prevailed throughout the

heathen

it

Eoman Empire

became Christian

some of

at that time
its

when from

classical types are

the

Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the palace of Diocletian at Spa-

Though not Boman

latro.

Boman ;

it is

debased

absolutely,

Boman

it

Eomanesque :

is

derived from the

it is

a general term

which distinguishes the round-arch species from the Saracenic

and Gothic, which are pointed-arch

species.

The

preservation of

the dome and arch, however, was probably due rather to the

symbolic value of those figures

to the

mere

The

historic

among the Byzantine Greeks than

example of the Bomans.

chief varieties of the Romancsqiie are

Lombard, and the Norman.*

the Byzantine, the

Both the Lombard and the Norman

may, in a technical point of view, be considered mere modifications or varieties of the Byzantine

Bomanesque out

certainly few examples of the

of Italy were not derived, directly or indirectly,

* See these styles beautifully illustrated in Osten's "Buildings of Lombardy."

P 2

BYZANTmE OENAMENT.

68

from Oonstantinople, or Byzantiiiin, as

The

it

was preTionsly

Heriiam:

it is

called.

York and
the standard type in Enaria; and it is the

style extended to this country as fax

stUl

exclusiye model of the whole system

Mohammedans, from Benares

of

as

nortli

architectmre

of

the

to Cadiz, from Cairo to Damascus.

Indeed the Byzantine was so widely spread, and so thoroughly

with

identified

middle-age

all

that

art,

its

did

influence

not

entirely cease until the establishment of the Eenaissance in the

fifteenth century

both the Saracenic and the Gothic proceeded

from the Byzantine.

The Greek
.north

missionaries carried its influence into the extreme

and while the

artists of Syria

Mohammedan

style to

regions of Europe the mysteries of

mixed up with the

The

were accommodating their

exclnsiYeness in the south, in the colder

Mount Athos were

freely

fables of Scandinavian mythology.

Scandinayiaii soldiers, also, of

made the talismans of

in their native homes

the imperial body-guard,

Christian mythology almost as &miliar

as the gods of their forefathers.

same mixture became as common eventually on the

The

portals of

Lombardy.
There

is

this

between

difierence

the

and the

Byzantine

Lombard and Norman

varieties,

that

matter of

two

and generally, perhaps, though

liabit

in the

many

forms,

mere ornamental

details,

rudely preserved in
that

in

is,

nail-head,

latter,

star,

is

the symbolism

mere

disregarded in their spirit

such as the zigzag, dog's-tooth,

and a host of others: but the symbolic

chain,

and other reUgious decorations mean

figures

is

e^utctly

what they

express.

As
course,

Norman

the peculiarly

this country,

many

was

style,

such as

it is

best

known

in

originally developed in Sicily, it contains, of

Saracenic features, of which the pointed arch and the

zigzag are the most prominent

a simple Eomanesque

style,

for the

Norman, though

century the pointed arch of the Mohammedans.*

* Gaily KiiigLt,

originally

eventually adopted in the twelfth

Saraceuic aud

Normau Kcmains

This style

is

in Sicily,"

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BYZANTINE.

Capital

Moissac France.

Digitized by

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BYZANTINE-ROMANESQUE.

Digitizod

by

Gopgic

BYZANTINE ORNAMENT.

69

well developed in the Cathedral of Cefalu in Sicily, built

by King

Koger in 1132.

The terms Byzantine and Komanesque have been used above

They are so as regards their architec-

as almost synonymous.
tural features

manesque.

same

the Byzantine being only a variety of the Ko-

In the

later centuries

in all respects

ornamental

distincticfti

they

may

be considered the

but in the earlier centuries there

is

an

the more strictly Komanesque, or Latin,

Eoman

being a simple debasement of

the Byzantine, or

art;

Greek, being this art combined with the symboHc elements intro-

duced by the new Christian

bolic

version

also

of the

religion,

old

comprising a peculiar sym-

Eoman

acanthus

wider signification of the Romanesque, however,

is

the

Christian round arch developments, in contradistinction

Gothic, or later pointed arch

style

varieties of

the North.

can be distinguished with the exclusive

Architecture,

it

is

The

foliage.

title

earlier

to

the

If

any

of Christian

the Byzantine, of which St. Sophia, at Con-

stantinople, is a magnificent type.

Byzantine Frieze, from a Church at Bonn.

CHAPTER

XI.

SABAOENIO OBNAMENT.

ILLUSTBATED LXTEBATUBB.
MuBPHT,

J. C.

The Amijian Antiquities of Spain

representing in 100 engravings

the Principal Remains of the Architecture, Sculpture, Paintings, and Mosaics of

the Spaiu^ Arabs, from Drawings made od the spot. Large folio. London,
1816.

^Architecture Arabe, ou Monumens du Eaire, mesur^ et dessin^ de

1817 k 1826. Folio. Paris, 183739.
Sicily ; being a sequel to <' An Architectural
Enioht, H. Gallt.The Normans
Tour in Normandy." 8vo. London, 1838.
Saracenic and Norman Bemains, to illustrate " The Normans la Sicily."
Folio.
London, n. d.
Da Pbakoet, G. ^Essai snr TArohitectare dee Arabes et des Moras en Eqiagne,
en Sicile, et en Barbaric. Royal 8vo. Paris, 1841.
JoNKS AND GorRY. Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra.
From Drawings taken on the spot in 1834 by the late M. Jules Goury, and in
1834 and 1887 1^ Owen Jones. With a complete Translation of the Arabic
Inscriptions, and an Historical Notice of the Kings of Granada from the Conquest
of that city by the Arabs to the Expulsion of the Moors, by M. Pasqual de

Gayangos. Folio. London, 1842.

^
Hebsbhkb. Saracenic and Old Italian Building Decorations.
Arabische und Alt-Italicnische Bau-verzierongen. 120 chromo-Iithographs.
2nd edition, folio. Berlin, 1853.
BissoN, M. Choix d Ornements Arabes de l Alhambra, offrant dans leur ensemble
one sjmth^ de I'omementation Hanresque en Espagne au XIII* Siksle. Beproduits en pbotographe. 4to. Paris, 1858.

CosTE, P.

SARACENIC ORNAMENT.

71

Cairo.

We

will

now

consider the second medieval style

Its principles are soon stated

their

own

the

Saracenic.

the Arabs had not art or artists of

they came from their deserts, with no more taste or

knowledge of such matters than a mere love of finery could give

them
such

they could not but be struck by the gorgeous display of

cities

as

new ambitions
artists

Damascus, which

fell

arose with their

into their

hands in 634

a.d.

new power, and the Byzantine

were pressed into the service of the Arabian caliphs and

generals,

and ordered

to raise rich

Da-

mosques and palaces.

mascus, Cairo, and Cordova, show the admirable ingenuity with

which they accommodated themselves to their new circumstances.

The

conditions of the

new Mohammedan law were

stringent

in

endless designs in mosaic, marquetry, or in stucco, there was to

be no image of a living thing, vegetable or animal.

ditions led to a very individual style of decoration:

forms were

now

seventh century,

excluded for the

first

when

of the

the works

time.

Such convegetable

However, by the

Saracens commenced?

the Byz&ntine Greeks were already sufficiently skilful to

light of such exclusions,

make

and the exertion of ingenuity which they

impelled gave rise to a more beautiful simply ornamental style

than perhaps any that had preceded

it,

for there

was no

division

72

8ABAGENIC ORNAMENT.

of the

now between meaning and

mind

artistic

and

eflfect;

although the religions cycles and other symbolic figures which

had hitherto engrossed so much of the

mere

the

excluded,

ordinary forms borrowed

by the

rating inscriptions Into

or interlacings were

the

now

and

the
geo-

behind, which was

field

peculiarly Saracenic

th^

symbolism,

periods,

classic

an abundant

metrical symmetry, left

further enriched

from

attention were

artist's

ornamental

conTentional

custom of elabo-

Mere curves and angles

designs.

to bear the chief burden of a design,

but distinguished by a yariety of colour ; the curves, however, very

naturally

fell

into the standard forms

and angles were soon developed

lines

of

species

diversified

tracery

and

floral

into*

a very characteristic

strap-work,

or^ interlaced

shapes, and the

very

by the ornamental introduction of the

And although

flowers

mass of the minor

grouped as flowers
of the Alhambra

were not palpably admitted, the great

details of Saracenic designs are

flower forms disguised

agreeably

inscriptions.

composed pf

the very inscriptions are sometimes thus

this is especially the case in the later

still

no actual flower ever

sion of all natural images

is

works

occurs, as the exclu-

the fundamental of the style in

its

purity.

The

omission of the crescent in Saracenic or

work generally

is

worth

of Constantinople, but

and

it

Greek
it

appears to be

notice.
it

itself

is

It

now crowns the

Mohammedan
mosque

great

not to be found in any early work,

simply the trophy of the conquest of the

capital of Constantinople, the ancient

Byzantium, of which

was the symbol, the town on one occasion having, according to

an old

tradition,

been preserved from a night ambuscade by the

timely appearance of the

coins.

new moon

it

occurs on old Byzantine

Constantinople was not captured by the Turks until 1453.

One of the

greatest works produced under these circumstances

was the magnificent mosque of Touloun at

Cairo, a

monument

of

the ninth century (876 a.d.), and the recorded work of 'a Greek.

The ornaments
racteristic

elements.

are in stucco, and altogether offer the most cha-

example of the combination of Byzantine and Saracenic

With the

Saracenic tracery and inscriptions^ and other

'

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73

SARA.CISNIC ORNAUEirr.

we have combined

peculiar forms,

several of the

most popular

uident omamente in their By^ntine garb, bat somewhat more

than ordinarily modified, as the
horns of plenty, and the

The more

disguised conventional

elaborated

in

is,

the original Saracenic

spoken

foliage

to after ages

details of the

In

all

many

mosque of Touloun

hundred

five

at Cairo.

first,

we have the

I beheve, in the great mosque

of Amrou, a work of the seventh century (641 a.d.);

but the

and the scalloped arches, are more charac-

ogee, the crescent,

Saracenic

of

perhaps,

this

respects nearly identical with these

these early Arabian buildings of Cairo

pointed arch, which appears

teristic,

very

is

for the details of

the diaper-tiles of the Alhambra, executed some

years afterwards, are in

of,

some of the accessory works of

They became standards

mosque.

anthemion, the guilloche, the

characteristic detail, that

elements, the
beautifully

fret,

fleur-de-lis.

pointed arch has been

architecture

made &miliar by a

generally,

later style

as

the

but the

simple round Bomanesque arch also occurs in the Moorish works

This style became gradually richer as

of Spain.

westwards from Egypt to

Sicily,

and

the Alhambra, a work of the fourteenth century,

bear witness to

There
of

La

is

its

not

it

advanced

especially in Spain,

where

remains to

still

unparalleled richness of detail.

much pure

Ziza, at Palermo,

is,

Saracenic work in Sicily

perhaps, the only example

the palace
there are,

however, some magnificent Siculo-Norman remains of the twelfth

century at Palermo, Monreale,

Greek or Saracenic
in these places
existing:

are

artists

OeMu, and

Messina, in which

were engaged ; and the glass mosaics

among the

finest

specimens of their class

they exhibit some exquisite examples of tracery or

interlacing.

The

Saracenic was the period of gorgeous diapers, for their

habit of decorating the entire surfaces of their apartments was

peculiarly favourable to the development of this class of design

the

Alhambra displays almost endless specimens, and

relief

and enriched vdth gold and

Some give the

idea of being

colour, chiefly

all

are in

blue and red.

more endurable imitations of the rich

74

SARACENIC ORNAMENT.

made

woollens of Cashmere, which the Arabs always

The Genoa damasks, Arras

of.

great store

modem

and

tapestries,

paper-

The

hangings, are aU imitations of these Saracenic wall diapers.

very word "

ever,

was famous

It

was

of

Abraham.

called

"

Damask
for

means Damascus work.

such fabrics before

its

Damascus, how-

conquest by the Arabs.

Damesk, and was a place of repute even in the time

Damascus

is

cenic taste, and

it

still

famous

for its textile fabrics in a

pure Sara-

produces a great variety of patterns in silk and

in cotton, the designs of

which are

chiefly stripes

and

inscriptions,

good wishes or pious sentences.*

The Siculo-Norman, from which our round zigzag

(Ziza),

and the pointed Norman, are

derived,

is

as

much

a variety

of the Saracenic as of the

Byzantine

it

is

indeed a

free combination of the

styles

for the reserved

two
mix-

ture of the two hitherto practised

had

its

Christian cha-

racter restored to

it

by the

Normans, through the

in-

troduction of sacred figures,

and a prominence which they

gave to

all

the most palpable

Christian symbols, more especially the Cross,

occurs in genuine Saracenic work.

This style has of late years found

its

which never

This renders the Siculo-Norman

way

into our railway carriages: worsted

which the initials of the company are worked as an ornamental pattern,

right and left, and upside down, as in the Eastern examples, are now common. The
mock inscriptions on the borders of rich robes, in early Italian pictures, are also
derived from oriental models. The richest stuffs were from the East, and were
decorated with Arabic inscriptions the old painters accordingly, when, from a
spirit of veneration, they dressed their saints in rich robes, were very particular in
the elaboration of their border decorations, which necessarily implied a robe of a
Tlicre are seveml examples of such borders in the National
costly oriental fabric.
borders, in

Gallery.

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75

SARACENIC ORNAMENT.
a very complete

style,

and

it is

displayed in great magnificence in

the cathedral of Messina.

The Alhambra
details

which we

does not exhibit that Byzantine character in

find in Sicily or in the

Mosques of Cairo

pecuhar Arabian features are preserved, but the

scroll

all

its

the

and anthe-

mion, which are often in very rich development on the monu-

ments of Cairo, can with

We

discover the scroll in

be traced in the Alhambra.

difficulty

some of the

interlacings,

and there

is

fan-shape which recalls the anthemion.

The

artists of the

The beauty

cenic.

efiect, in its

surfaces

which

all

is

in its

exclusively Sara-

general richness of

endless combinations of columns, arches,

its

Alhambra were probably

of this palace

gold and

silver flowers,

and

its

and gorgeous

intricate tracery,

combine to give the impression of extraordinary splen-

dour as a whole, though no particular part commands any special

admiration.

Huiisu at DamnscuB.

CHAPTER Xn.
GOTHIO OBNAMENT.

IIiLUSTBATED IiITEBATUBB.
De

Le Comte Alexandre.

IjAborde,

Les

Monumcns de

la

France, classes

chronologiquement, et consideres sous le Bapport des Faits historiques et de

I'Etude des Arts. 2 vols, folio. Paris. 181G36.

Oabtek,

J.

^The Ancient Architecture of England, including the Orders during the

Boman, Saxon, and Norman Eras

British,

and under

tlie

reigns of

Henry

III.

new and improved edition,

and Edward III. Illustrated by 109 engravings.
with Notes and copious Indexes, by John Britton. Folio. London, 1837.

Specimens of the Ancient Sculpture and Painting now remaining in

England, from the earliest period to the reign of Henry VIII. Exhibited in
120 plates, drawn and etched by J. Carter. With Critical and Historical Illustrations by Francis Douce, Bichard Gongh, John Fenn, J. S. Hawkins, William
Bray, and the Bev. J. Milner. A new and improved edition, arranged in
topographical order, and illustrated with copious notes by Dawson Turner, Sir
Samuel Bush Meyrick, John Britton, and others. Folio. London, 1838.
BBinroK, J. ^The Gathedral Antiquities of England. 5 toIb. 4to. London, 1836.
PuGiN, A. W. Specimens of Gothic Architecture, selected from various Ancient
Edifices in England, consisting of plans, elevations, sections, and parts at large,

The

by J. E. Willson. 3 vols. 3rd editi(n[i, corrected and

London, 182150.
Popp, J., AND BrxEAr, Tii. The Three Ages of Gothic Architecture.
Les Trois Ages de I'Architectiu-e Gothique, son origine, sa theorie, demontr^
etreprraent^8pardesExempleschoisi8kBatisbonne,&o. FoUo. Paii^
&c.

levised.

literary part

4to.

1841.

Histoire et Description de la Catlicdrale de Cologne. Pour servir

de texte aux Yues, Plans, Coupes, et Details de I'Edifice. Nouvelle Edition
Plates, folio ; text, 4to. Munich, 1842 43.
xefidte et augments.
Eaujembaoh, 6. G. von. A Tabular History of German Medieval Architecture.
Atlas zur Geschiohtc der Deutsch-Mittelalterlichen Baukunst, in 86 tafeln.
Folio. Munich, 1847.
BRUWOSf B. Aum J. A. An Analysis of Gk>thio Architecture, illustrated by a
series of upwards of seven hundred examples of Doorways, Windows, &c., and
accompanied witli Bemarks on the several details of an Ecclesiastical Edifice.
2 vols. 4to. London, 1 847.
BiiACKBUBMX, E. L.-Sketches, Graphic and Descriptire, for a Histoiy of the
Decorative Painting applied to English Aichitectnre during the Middle Ages.
4to.
London, 1847.
CoLLiNQ, J. K. Gothic Ornaments, being a series of examples of enriched Details
and Accessories of the Architecture of Great Britain. Drawn from existing
London, 1850.
anthoritiea. 2 vols. 4to.

BoTSEBEE, S.

Digilized by

GoOgle

GOTHIO OBNAMENT.

77

SmL

^The Middle Ages, and the Benaissanoe^ MannetB and

AND
Cnstoms, Sciences, and Arts, &c., with fac-Biraile illustrations.
Le Moyen Age et la Eenaissance, Histoire et Description des Moeurs et
Usages, du Commerce et de I'lndustrie, des Sciences, des Arts, des Littelatares et des Beaux Arts en Europe.
Direction litt^raire de M. Paul
Lacroix. Direction artistique de M. Ferdinand Serd. Dessins fiuHaimiles
1848
par M. A. Bivaud. 5 vols. 4to. Paris,
51.
Gailhabattd, J. On Azchitectare from the fifth to the sixteenth century, and the
Arts depending on it Sculpture, WaU-Painting, Glass-Painting, Mosaic, Ironwork, &c.

liAOBonc

L'Architecture

du V" au XVI

Siecle,et les Arts qui

en dependent, le Sculp-

ture, la Peintnre murale, la Peinture sur Yerre, la Mx)Baique, la

nerie, &c., publics d'apres les

Fi aii^ais et Etraiigers.

Becker and Hefneb.

Paris, 1851, et seq.

4to.

Works of Art

Ferrontravaux inedits des piinoipaux Architectes

and Utensils of the Middle Ages and

tlie

Benaissance.

Kunstwerke uiid Gerilthschaften des Mittelalters uiid der Eenaissance. By

2 vols. 4to. Frankfurt, 1852.
0. Becker and J. von Hefner,
Stboobant, F. ^Monumens d' Architecture et de Sculpture en Belgique. Texte

par Fdlix Stappaerts. 4to. Bruxelles, 1852.

KiHG, T. H.Jewellery and Metal Work of the Middle Ages.
Orfevrerie et Ouvrages en Metal du Moyen Age.
(Designed from old
examples.)
FoUo. Bruges, 1852, et seq.
Wabuto, J. B. ^Architectural, Sculptural, and Picturesque Studies in Burgos and
its Neighbourhood.
London, 1852.
Folio.
WiCKES, C. Illustrations of the Spires and Towers of the Medieval Churches of

England. Preceded by some Observations on the Architecture of the Middle

Ages, an4 its Spire Growth. 2 vols, folio. London, 1853 ^55.
JoBBiNS. ^An Analysis of Andent Domestic Architecture in Great
Britain. 4to. London, 1860.

The

third

this I can

DoLLMAK AND

and

last great

middle-age style was the Gothic.

remark only as regards

explain all its suhdiyisions of style would occupy

It

grew out of the Byzantine, and

much

space.

flourished chiefly

Bhine, in the north of France, and in England.

Cathedral, a.d.

1221, the

first

is

Norman

beginning.

racteristic

The Gothic was deyeloped

monument, perhaps,

consecrated in the year 1322

and

the sixteenth

it
;

became quite

is

on the

Salisbury

work of the kind in

this

a genuine

it "vras

in the thirteenth

and was perfected in the fourteenth;

century,

declined,

great

a work of the French, but in style

country,

Of

general principles, to fully

its

its

most cha-

Cologne Cathedral, which was

in the fifteenth century

extinct, in this

it

country at

rapidly

least, in

a catastrophe doubtless involved by the Eeformation.

England has had seven

ecclesiastical styles,

extending over a

78

GOTHIC OSNAMESTT.

Edward

space of abont five hundred years only, from the death of

the Confessor, 1066, to the death of
ecclesiastical architecture ceased

by the Renaissance
The seven
1

in the reign of Elizabeth.

or simple round arch,

2.

The round Norman (zigzag

3.

The pointed Norman,

Plantagenet

The

4.

all

and the Tudor was superseded

styles are,

The Saxon,

Queen Mary, 1558, when

early

Eomanesque.

style).

or transition

(Henry

II., or lirst

style).

Enghsh Gothic (Henry

III., or

second Plan-

tagenet style).
5.

The

decorated Gothic (the Edwards, the third Plantagenet

style).

6.

7.

The perpendicular Gothic (Henry. YII., or Lancastrian).

The debased Perpendicular, or flat (Henry VIII., or Tudor).

Thus during the

period of

the

Edwards there were

seven

seven styles, the duration of each of which was, on an average,

about seventy years (1066

1556),

personal influence of an individual

and that

or about the period of the

by

own

his

of his school or followers combined.

direct

The

efforts,

history of

architecture shows a succession of changes in most countries, but

in

England these changes have been singularly rapid and

In

is

this period of the

remarkable

how

little

development of the

regular.

ecclesiastical styles it

the notion of a style existed, and

how

regardless the builders, or masons, of one age were of the senti-

ment or aim
perfect

subjects

show such
In every

case where a great ecclesiastical

newed

Few

as the building of our cathedrals.

of those of a previous age.

want of accord

after intervals, those

work has been suspended, and

who have carried on

re-

the enterprise have

done so invariably utterly regardless of the character of the work

already executed ; the practice of the day exclusively defined the
character of the work, as if the practicaLeducation of the handicrafts,

man, his accidental

skill,

were the paramount source of the whole

scheme and system of ornamental

varieties

each mason working

out only such forms as had occupied his time in the years of his
apprenticeship.

There are not many matters on which the English

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GOTHIC OBNAHENT.

79

people have been more deluded of late yeais than on the subject of

the nationality and the Christianity of Gothic architecture.

is

Gothic

of comparatively very late deyelopment^ and endured at most in

this country for about three centuries

its

and so

origin,

far

it is

by no means

Englisli in

from having any determinate unity in

its

displays, as already shown, a continued succession of

character,

it

changes.

Its religious elements are Byzantine.

tianity of stifle, the most Christian architecture

Mohammedan mosques which owe

As

regards Chris-

is literally

that of the

their forms to the early Christian

symbolism, as developed by the Byzantine Greeks.

Three only of the above

what can be

strictly

styles, the fourth, fifth,

termed Gothic

the two

and belong to the Byzantine or Bbmanesque

first

and

sixth, are

are round arch,

Tarieties ; the third is

the simple transition from the round to the pointed styles ; and the
seventh

arch

is

the transition back again from those styles in which the

is

so prominent a feature, to the Benaissance varieties, in which

the arch becomes again round, and loses

its

importance as a prind-

pal elementary feature of style.

The

general characteristics of the Gothic, as an architectural

style, are these

and in

It is essentially pointed or vertical in its tendency,

its detail is

geometrical

ings, in its clusters of shafts

but

it

is

in

and

only geometrical iu

its

bases,

its

window-tracery, in

and in

its suits

its

open-

of mouldings

construction, or in its form, not

in its spirit or motive.

AU

the symbolic elements of the Byzantine are continued in

the Gothic;

There

is

but the pointed arch

is

substituted for the round.

a close traditional connection in

all

the ordinary

details,

though the yirulence of the image controyersy, and other

ences,

differ-

between the Greek and Latin Churches, doubtless had

some influence in the development of a change of

find that

style

for

we

where the Greek Church has prevailed there has been,

until very recently,

architecture.

no

essential

change whatever in

It is unquestionable, however, that

ecclesiastical

chmate has had

something to do also with the peculiar development of the Gothic

it

has flourished only in cold regions subject to

much

snow, and a Gothic church frequently looks very like a

rain

and

fortifica-

OOTmO OBNAMENT.

80

tion against the weather, with its high-pitched roof, solid but-

explained, the pointed arch, one

Gothic,

is

As I have aheady

and windows.

and naiprow doors

tresses,

not peculiar to it;

it

of the characteristics of the

had already existed

five

hnndred

years in Egypt, and is the conunon form of the Siculo-Norman arch.

The Gothic

cliiefly

is

distinguished from the Byzantine and

the Latiu Eomanesque varieties, by the universal absence of the

The

dome, and the substitution of the pointed for the round arch.

union of the belfry with the church

is

not peculiar to the Gothic,

though in the great Komanesque examples they are

Venice and Pisa

distinct, as at

many

they are also distinct at Florence, and

other Italian towns

nor are the towers in the place of the domes

pecuhar to the Gothic, they are common in the Norman Eomanesqne

in Sicily, in Germany, and in this country, a& at Ely, Peterborough,

The

and elsewhere.

spire is the pointed roof of the tower,

both doubtless originally owed their development as

to ornament

much to

and

use as

in thinly-populated and only half-cleared countries,

such as England was in the middle ages, a tower or spire was a

landmark performing other useful

services besides that of simply

indicating the locahty of the church, or securing the proper elevation of its -bells.

The

transition added the spire to the old tower of the

manesque and Norman, and

it

is

common

Eo-

feature of the Gothic

while the square abacus and the heavy cushion capitals of these
styles,

with their simple incised ornaments, are converted, in the

transition, to the

with raised

round abacus and the

foliage,

bell- shaped capital,

and eventually elaborated into

decorated

infinite variety

in the Gothic styles.

Ornamentally the Gothic

ment

is

the geometrical and pointed ele-

elaborated to its utmost, its only peculiarities are its

binations of details
prevailing,

at first the conventional

com-

and the geometrical

and afterwards these combined with the elaboration of

natural objects in

its decoration.

The Byzantines never

their ornaments were purely conventional;

did this,

while in the finest

Gothic specimens we find not only the traditional conventional

ornaments, but in the decorated period also elaborate imitations

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GOTHIC.

Crockets, Lincoln.

81-

aOTHTC ORNAMENT.

of the plants and flowers growing in the neighbourhood of the

work.

This

is

tracery

a great feature

work

of all Gothic

is

but

still

the most striking feature

the wonderful elaboration of

of geometric

varieties

The

besides.

characteristic that the three

tracery

Enghsh

its

geometric

and an

vesicas, trefoils, quatrefoils, cinquefoils,

so

is

infinity

paramount a

Early English,

varieties, the

the Decorated, and the Perpendicular, are distinguished almost exclusively

by

this feature

it is

the same with the French flamboyant

the flame style, from the waving lines of

its

The

tracery.

tracery,

indeed, estabUshes the fact of a style being Gothic or not, for the

Byzantine contains only the symbolic

style called " Transition "

The

first

is

Gothic in this country

we have the

first

leaf,

capitals generally

as the

round

flying but-

an extensive applica-

commonly

called the Early-

most characteristic ornament.

times as formal as a clover

formed",

several lights

complicated mouldings, the columns

tion of foliage, with the trefoil leaf,

EngHsh

so the pointed

has no tracery.

the Early EngHsh, in which

is

windows of

tresses, crocketed pinnacles,

and the

it

development of geometrical window-tracery

mullions instead of piers

clustered,

foliations

not Gothic, because

leaf,

It is some-

at other times very irregularly

but always with a fulness or roundness of the parts, as

contrasted

with the somewhat similar, but

Byzantine or Norman

foliage, of

which

it is

flat

or even hollow

a variation.

JJJIVVAIXO A'.

From

the 'I'emple Church.

82

GOTHIC ORNAMENT.

The

so-called

tooth, or

dog's-tooth,

the most characteristic

ornamental detail of the preTions pointed

style,

the Transition,

occurs comparatively rarely in the Early Enghsh, and in the early

specimens only, and considerahly varied in

ment was probahly in

being contracted to

Upon
racterised

its

tlie

own

features

the

recesses of the buttresses,

The

of diagonal lines.

cross,

its

hut

ordinary

Decorated, chiefly cha-

by a more magnificent development

ments of the Early English, more

has

This orna-

in early Plantagenet, or Transition work.

Early English succeeded

tlie

detail.

form a simple vesica

hollows was developed into

fill

common

character, so

its original

of the leading ele-

especially the tracery

but

it

ogee arch, and the pinnacled canopied

and other

parts,

producing a prominence

so-called ball-flower,

and the common

ser-

pentine vine-scroll, are the most characteristic details of this period.

There

more nature, or

is also

imitation, in the details

than in any

other of the Gothic varieties.

In the third

variety, the Perpendicular, the

new

features are

the horizontal line, the panellings, and the substitution of per-

And

pendicular for flowing tracery.

mental details
the tracery
the style

is

the mullion

is

also

is

very conventional.

the execution of the orna-

The most prominent bar

of

so that the prevalent panelling of

itself,

prominent in the window tracery, composed of

mullion upon mullion, or mullion and supermullion, being separated

by a horizontal

bar,

termed a transom.

This divides the

lights into vertical panes or pmels,

and the same panelhng

which fan-tracery

is

is

also

an example)

(of

spread over every surface

of the buildings of this period, developing that style which I have

termed Lancastrian, oonmionly known as the Perpendicular

it is

the great style of the fifteenth century in this country.

The

natural freedom of the details occasionally displayed in

the Decorated,
pendicular

is

now

lost in

a formal conventionality in the Per-

which displays an execution of these parts much more

analogous to

German work, and

the original Byzantine elements

from which Gothic forms generally were indirectly derived.

crockets

also

of perpendicular

work

are,

like

The

the foliage, very

formal, exhibiting a square cruciform arrangement in the details

GOTHIC.

P. S2.

PedesUl, Heniy VIl.'s Chapel.

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GOTHIC ORNAMENT.

83

of the leaves, and a imifonn character, more analogous to sea- weed

than ordinary leaves, in the foliage generally.

The Tudor
it

is

scarcely a Gothic

the art in

it

returns to what

was in the Eomanesque, and again becomes horizontal.

Its

and the

rect-

great features are the

flat

arch, the square dripstone,

angular spandril, a necessary development of the square dripstone

over

the

The running ornament known

arch.

as

Tudor

the

and conspicuous, because

flower,

almost alone, in

buildings

Byzantine.

the old

of Tudor-flower

of

remnant of

this character, is a

name

Its

appropriate

is

only in the sense that

al-

it is

most the only medieval orna-

ment preserved

in that style

the original type of this orna-

ment

the old Byzantine alter-

is

nation of the

common

lily

and the

cross,

the decoration

as

of

a crown, and for edges or borAll Saints, Fearing, Essex.

ders of

many

other kinds.

There are

five orders of

arches which distinguish these several

ecclesiastical styles generally,

ogee, the four-centred,

three varieties
first
it,

the

namely

and the

flat

the

round, the pointed, the

the pointed itself comprising

lancet, the pointed,

and the drop arch

in the

the pitch being greater than the span, in the second equal to

and

in the last less.

In ornamental art generally, then, as in architecture,

geometrical
character

Gothic;

it

tracery which will stamp

decorate

it

or

as

the

Early-Enghsh

with natural flowers only,

Tudor
leaf,

flower,

historic

fleur-de-hs,

vine-scroll,

familiar ornaments of the style.

style

design with
it

it

is

Gothic

will still

be

would be necessarily made much more characteristic

by the introduction of some of the

period,

or

ornaments of the
crocket-leaf,

trefoil

any other of the more

As, however, the Gothic

which has flourished exclusively in cold countries,

its

G 2

is

orna-

84

GOTHIC ORNAMENT.

ments of a natural

class to

be characteristic should be from such

plants as are native to Gothic latitudes

tropical plants

north to the more exuberant flowers of the south.

fact,

would be

Throughout we should prefer the wild plants of the

inconsistent.

All exotics, in

that are not symbols, should be unconditionally excluded.

characteristic

Norman ornaments

with the exception of the tooth, and that

is

peculiarly rendered.

Classical ornaments, hkewise, are of course excluded

scroll occurs

only in the Gothic as a serpentine.

and as a general

Such

rule, their execution is

even the

Gothic ornaments

independent of the tracery are nearly exclusively

leaves

fruit, flowers,

or

extremely rude.

a rough outline of the course of ornamental art

is

The

are not admissible in the Gothic,

among

the most prominent people of medieval history, for a period of

more than a thousand

years.

We

have seen that

all

varieties,

however individual in character, are intimately connected with those

which preceded them

to be lost

an advantage once gained was not allowed

and the remarkable transition from the Byzantine to

the Saracenic, so totally difierent in spirit and in detail, yet both

developed by the same

artists,

shows that

it

is

not from a perse-

vering manual routine that variety and beauty are to be derived,

but from the active intelligence of the controlling mind.

Fountains Abbry, Yorkshire.

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THE MODERN OR RENAISSANCE STYLES.

FOUR LECTURES.*

CHAPTER

XIII.

ILLUSTRATED LITEBATUBB.

JVTABBA, Oav. D. F. Collection of Shields, from the origiaals in Rome.

Baooolta di Targhe fatte da' Profeaaoriprimari in Koma, disegnate, ed iutagliate dal

Oav. D. Filippo Juvarra. (Kenaissanoe Sculpture.) 4to. Borne,

1722.

Baltakd.

Monuraens, mesure's, dessines, et grave's, avec des Descriptions historiqiies par le Citoyen Amaury Duval: Louvre, St, Cloud, Funtaine*
bleau, Chateau d'Eoouen, &c. 2 vols, large folio. Paria, 1803-5.
WnxBHiN, N. X. ^Monuments Fran^ais in^dits pour eervir k I'Histoire des Arts,"
depuis le VI^ Siocle jusqu'au conimeucenient du XVII". Clioix de Costumes
civils et miiitaires, d'Arraes, Armures, Instruments do ]Musiqui>, Meubles de toute
esptice, et de Decorations interieurcs et exterieures dva Maisons.
Dessin^s,
graves, et colories d apres les originaux.
Classes chronologiquement et accompagnes d'un texte historique et descriptif, par Andre Pottier. 6 vols, small folio.
Paris, 1806-39.
SoMMEUABD, A. Du. Les Arts au Moyen Age. (Collection of the Hotel de
Clugay.) Text, 5 vols. 8ro. ; plates, 6 vols, folio. Paris, 1888-46.
P.ii is et ses

ON THE ORNAMENT OF THE EENAISSANOB,

1849-50.

SyUahu.
Lecture

I.

Introduction

The

Trecento,

Varieties. The Trecento

(1300) dates from about the Venetian Conquest of Constantinople, 1201 a.d.
Interlacings and delicate Scroll-work of Couventiomd Foliage. Byzantine, in its
original elements ; a mixture of Venetian and Siculo-Norman Ornament.
The ureat Artists, the great Deconitors Maestro Lajin, Arnolfo di Lapo, Giunta
Pisauo, Niccola Pisano, Giotto, Orcagna, Brunelleschi, Alberti. Revival of the
Round Arch and the Classical Orders.

The Renaissance (Renasciineiiti)), or lU vi val.

Deliiiitiou

liEcrrcBE

The Quattrocento

n.Thb

RenaissakobThe Qcattboceitio.

Tradition superseded by Selection. Natural Imitations

in the Details, and the symmetrical Arabesques from Ancient Sculpture, added
to the elements of the previous style, with occasional Cartouches, or scrolled
Shield-work. Luca della Robbia Enamelled Potti iy. Andrea Pisano. Iron
and Bronze-work The Gates of the Baptistery of San Giovanni at Florence.
Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1403-52. Niello work. 'J'ommaso Fiuiguerra. Metal-plate
engraving, 1452. The Renaissance as an Epoch and as a Style.
(1400).

^Tbe Cinqueoento.

LvoTUBV in.

The Cinquecento

(1500), the predominant Italian style of the Sixteenth Century, the

ultimate goal of the Renaissance.
perfect restoration of Classical Ornament of

THE MODBBN OB RENAISSANCE STYLES.

86

toins.

Tlie Middle Ages and the Renaissance^ Manncis and OuBSciences iind Arts, &c. ; with fac-simile illustrations.

Lacuoix and Sere.

Le Mo yen A ge et la Benaissance. Histoire et Description des Moeurs et Usages

Becker

du Coniiiierce et de I'lndustrie, des Sciences, des Arts, des Littc'ratures, et

des Beaux Art.s en Europe. Direction litteraire de M. Paul Lacroix.
Direction urti.>tique de M. Ferdinand Sere. Dessins fao-cdmiles par M.
A. Bivaud. 5 vols. 4to. Paris, 1848-51.
and Hefnek. ^Works of Art and Utensils of the Middle Ages and the

Kenaissunot'.

Kunstwerke and Gerathschaften des Mittelalters uud der Benaissance. By

C. Becker and J. von Hefner. Many colonred plates, 2 vols. 4to. Frankfort. 18.T2.

Russian Empiue. Ecclesiastical, Imperial, and other Antiquities of the Russian

Empire. Published by Supreme Command, (Russian text.) Produced under
the direction of an Imperial Commission. By S. Stroganov, M. Zagoskin,
Division 1. Ecclesiairtical Antiquities; 2.
J. Snegirev, and A. Th. Veltman.
Imperial Insignia, Dresses, &c. 3. Arms and Armour; 4. Costume, Pictures,
and Portraits; 5. Furnitme, Jewellery, &c. 6. Architecture and Decoration.
;

Text, G vols. 4to. plates, G vols. Folio. St. Petersburg, 1852.

Ddbelli, G. and F. The Charter House of Pavia.
La Certosadi Pavia descritta ed illustrata eon tavole incise dai fratelli Gaetano
e Francesco Dui-elli.
62 plates. Folio. Milan, 18.53.
Bebain, Jean. Collection of Oruameubil Designs. Mui*al Oiiimneypieces, and
other Decorations, Cinquecento, Benaissance, and Louis Quatorze. 137 plates,
engraved hy Daigremont, Scotia, and others. Folio. Paris, c. 1G70-1700.
Bekain, Chauveau, and Le INIoine. Decorations of the Apollo Gallery,
Louvre, &c.
Omemens de Peiuture et de Sculpture, qui sont dans la Galerie d'ApoUon, an
Chateau du Louvre, et dans le grand Appartement du Boy an Palais des
Tuilleries.
Dessiuez et gravez jiar les Sieurs Berain, Chaiiveau, et Le
Moine.
Fine Examples of the Renaissance and the Louis Quatorze.)

'

Folio.

Lepaltke.

Paris, 1710.

Collection de plus

belles Compositions

de Lepautre.

Folio.

Paris,

1854.

Souvenir d'une Promenade k Versailles. Yues Interieures. Folio.

Paris. 1843.
Falueb, C. F.The History and Illustrations of a House in the Elizabethan Style
YEitsAii.LES.

of Architecture, the property of Jphn

Dauby Falmor,

Esq.,

and situated in the

the Roman period, to the exclusion of all alien forms, with an especial elaboration
of the Arabesques and Scrolls, and grotesque combinations of Vegetable and
Animal Forms : a purely aesthetic, or sensuous development of Ornament.
The Vatican. Biama ite. Raphael. Julio Romano. Oil and Fresco. Venice.
The Ijombardi. Benveuuto Cellini. Alessandro Vittoria. Majolica-ware.
Bernard Palissy. Illustrated Books. Copyright in Designs. General Education of the Decorator.

Leotubb IV.

^The Loms Quatobzb.

^The Elizabbthan

The Elizabethan, the English version of the Benaissance, a partial elaboration of the
Tracery or Strap-work, and tlio Cartouches or scrolled Shield- work of that style.
Examples from Old English Mansions. Palladio. Inigo Jones. Sir Christopher
Wren. Grinliiig Gibbons.
The Irfjiiis Quatorze (1643-1715) of Italian origin. The Scroll and Shell chief
characteristics. Greneral Debasement of Classical Ornament ; mere play of Light
and Shade Decorations in the Flat superseded by Stucco, and Colour by Gold.
;

Versailles.

The Louis

(iuinze (1715-74). Disregardof Symmetry. The Rococo, the Coquillage

all flat surfaces in ornamental details antagonistic to the Louis Quatorze varieGeneral Debasement of Ornament.
ties.
Total want of Individuidity of

Design.

Munich, a new Bcvival

Ludwig

I.

Gaertner and Eleiizc.

THE M01>EKN

Oil

87

KENAISSANOE STYLES.

borough town of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. The drawings and engravings by

H. Shiiw, F.S.A. Small folio. LoikIou, 183S.
Cliateaux de la Vallee tie la Loire ties XV*, XVI*, et commencement
du XVII' siecles. Folio. Paris, 1857, et 8eq.
Pfnor et Ramee. Chateaux tie la Renaissance. Monographie du chftteau de
Eetit, v.

Heitlolborg.

Foli(.

Bert Y, A. La

Puris, 1857.

Renaist;aii!

Moiinmentale en France.

Specimens de composition

et d'omementation architectoniqaeB emprant^ aux edifices construits depuis le

i^igne de Charles VIII, jusquli celui de Louis XIV.
Paris, 1858.
4to.
RlCHAHUsoN, C J. Architectural Remains of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I.,
Jiom accurate Drawings and Measurements taken from existing Specimens.
Folio. London, 1840.
Studies from Old Eii^jlish IVIansions, Iheir Furniture, Gold and Silver

Plate, &c. 5 void, small folio. Loudon, 1841-48.

J.
^The Mansions of England in the Olden Time. 4 vols, folio. London,
1839-49.
"Waring and Maoqtjotd. ^Examples of Architectural Art in Italy and Spain,
chiefly of the 13th aud IGtli centuries.
Folio.
London, 1850.
"Waking, J. B. Art-Treasures of the United Kingdom; consisting of Examples
selected from the Manchester Art-Treasures Exhibition, 1857.
With descriptive Essays by Owen Jones. M. Digby Wyatt. A. \V. Franks, J. 0. Bobinson,
George Scharf, Jan., and J. B. Wariag. 4to. London, 1857.
The Arts connected with Architecture, illustrated by examples in Central
Italy, from the 13th to the 15th century.
London, 1858.
Folio.
WoRNUM, R. N. Catalogue of Ornamental Casts, in the possessitjn of the Department of Seience and Art. Third Division Renaissance Styles. "With Illustrations on Wood, engraved by the Female Students of the Wood Engraving Class.
Published by Authority. 8vo. London^ 1854.

Nash,

Maible

The

PiUiel,

Santa Maria de' Miracoli, Venice, by Tulliu Loaibardi,*c. 1500.

term Benaissance

is

used in a double sense: in a geneial

sense implying the revival of

peculiar style of ornament, that
style.
is

the

The

original idea of the

literal

art,

is,

and

specially

signifying a

implying both an epoch and a

Binasdmento, or

meaning of the term, was purely

re-bir^li,

which

architectural

the

restoratiou of classical oriiameut did not immediately follow the

THE BENAIS8ANCE OR BBYIVAL.

88

restoration of the classical orders,

This

result.

constantly in

though

this

an important consideration,

is

mind that the

original revival

we

details of the Renaissance will

shall

mAem we

bear

was simply that of the

classical orders of architecture in the place of the

the apparent inconsistencies

was the eventual

for

middle-age styles,

meet with in the ornamental

be liable to confuse us.

The Renais-

sance styles, therefore, are only those styles of ornament which

were associated with the gradual revival of the ancient art of

Greece and Rome, which was not really accompHshed uutU the
sixteenth century, in that finished style the Cinqueoento.

The

course of ancient and

modem

art has

been

much

the same

both commenced in the symbolic, and ended in the sensuous.

The

was symbolism, and the

essence of all middle-^ge art

transi-

tion from the symbolism to the unalloyed principles of beauty is

the great feature of the revival:

art

was wholly separated from

rehgion in the Renaissance, but this transition was only gradually

developed:
It

was in Italy that these new

Two

developed.

twelfth century

Norman

distinct schools

styles

were almost necessarily

were flourishing there in the

the pure Byzantine at Yenice

and the Siculo-

in the south, containing aU the Saracenic elements, not

From

excluding even the inscriptions.

these

and the introduction

of natural forms wholly irrespective of symbolism, arose a

new

style

composed almost exclusively of foliage and traceiy.

This change was due to the gradually growing influence of the
Saracenic, not as

an absolute

of beauty, especially

its

style,

varied

but as affording new elements

and

intricate interlacings,

which

were so very prominent for a while as to constitute the chief characteristic of

age to

new

modem

step of the transition from middle-

style,

the

art

known from

first

ite

mean

time, about the year

1300, as the Trecento.

The new

life

and activity displayed by Italy at

in some degree owing to the Crusades, and

more

this period

was

especially to the

Latin conquest of Constantinople in the year 1204, which displayed

many

treasures of ancient art to the Venetians, whose taste

already sufficiently cultivated to appreciate their value

was

and four

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THB BENAI8SAKCE OB BKVIVAL.

89

ancient bronze horses, a Christian trophy of this Venetian cmsade,

still

adorn the fapade of St. Mark's.

Venice, already rich in Byzantine works, appears to have

taken the lead also in the dawning reTiyal of classical art; and
the Venetians seem likewise to have contributed more than any
others to

its

most finished development, the Oinqnecento.

The

Venetians and the ItaHans generally, controlled by no trammels of

added their own beginnings of natural imitations, to

tradition,

Christian or to

Pagan elements

thousand years was broken

Quattrocento, the

From

blished.
all

first

indiscriminately

the prestige of a

the classical forms prevailed, and the

great style of the Eenaissance, was esta-

this time, the fifteenth century,

we have done with

Christian forms and elements in Italy, in the ordinary details of

ornamental

The

art.

first

Trecento

of these

modem

innovations

is

the transition style, the

which may be considered a negative

style, as its

pecu-

common

orna-

liarity consists in its exclusion of certain hitherto

mental elements.

The
lacings,

great features of this style are its intricate tracery or inter-

and

delicate scroll-work of conventional foliage, the style

being but a sHght remove &om a combination of the Byzantine and

Saracenic, the symbolism of both being
foliage
it

and

floriage,

equally excluded; the

however, are not exclusively conventional, and

comprises a fair rendering of the classical orders, w^th the restora-

tion of the

round arch.

Niccola Pisano, Andrea Tafl&, Giotto, and

their contemporaries, were the great masters of this style,

and the

church of San Francesco at Assisi and the Cathedral of Florence

are fine examples of

it.

In the Quattrocento, the next

revival

style,

we have a &r more

Lorenzo Gbiberid may, perhaps, be instanced as

exponent or representative in ornamental

and Antonio

great

Fihppo Calendario

Biccio, caUed Briosco, contemporary with Ghiberti, are

likewise important

new Ducal

art.

positive
its

names of this period

Palace at Venice, which

is

they were engaged on the

most comprehensive in the

character of its ornamental details.

The bronze

gates of the Baptistery of

San Giovanni, by

90

THE EENAISSAKCE OB EE\TYAL.

Ghiberti

1425-52), exhibit one

feature of this style in perfec-

the prominence of

tion

simple

now

natural imitations, which

nearly entirely

sapersede

the

cQnyentianal representations of
previons
longer
tions,

all

whether

imitation,

flowers, birds, or animals,

disposed simply with a view

the

to

no

sugges-

hut afforded directly exact

models of
I'ruit,

Katnre

times.

supplied mere

picturesque

The

mental.

or

orna-

selection of

details

might

typical

signification,

stiU

the

have some
bat

this

had no influence in the manner

of their execution, which was
as purely imitative as their ar-

rangement was ornamental.

In

this style, also,

we have

the first appearance of cai-touches

or

scrolled

shield work,

which

became so very prominent in

the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.

One

of the oldest

examples I can refer to

shield containing
St.

is

the

the Idon of

Mark, on the Watergate of

the Ducal Palace at Venice, per-

haps the work of Briosco, in the

middle of the fifteenth century
it

suggests the idea of the imita-

tion of a sealed parchment, or a

Gate of Bsplislery, Florence.

MS.

illumination.

This kind of decoration certainly seems in some way connected

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THE BENAISSANCE OB
with heraldry

many of

its

91

KEVIYAIi.

forms are palpably mere armorial shields,

which became very common in architectural decoration of a

period,

and the

fact of

later

such forms being afterwards used as mere

elements of ornament does not in any

way

invalidate such

an origin.

There are none of these forms on the gates of Ghiberti

abounds with medallions containing

but

it

which perform a

portraits,

similar service in the design as the shields in other examples.

Another feature of

this Quattrocento style

or

what

is

more

especially the Itahan Renaissance, as distinct from the Cinquecento

is

the introduction, for the

time, of the grotesque ara-

first

Eome and Pompeii

besque, after the ancient models of

the style of decoration

though not confused,

now

is

we

for

in &ct,

of a yery complicated character,

have the TreeerUo interlacings

still

very largely used as borders, and the

scroll,

from the petty serpen-

tine character of the previous style, appears with all the fulness of

the

Boman

arabesque, but not yet very prominently introduced.

Althougli in the Quattrocento the religious symbolism was

excluded generally (not absolutely) from the ornamental

details,

the religious sentiment was by no means absent from Quattrocento

art itself; on the contrary, the Quattrocento
style,

is

essentially a religious

but the religious sentiment was transferred from a secondary

to a primary object in the design

tion instead of the

we have the

mere symbol.

pair of Ghiberti gates

actual representa-

As, for instance, in the second

the history of Moses

is

the principal subject

the ornaments are but the decorations

of illustration of these gates

to the several panels

so

it is

the Certosa of Pavia offers

tion hut

what

is

in aU other great schemes^ of which

many

examples.

There

is little

merely auxiliary to some reHgious design.

decoraIt

was

not so in the Cinquecento ; the figures and subjects themselves are

and often a secondary oneof the ornamental scheme,

a mere part

and the religious element comparatively disappears.

We

speak of

the Renaissance as an l^pocli and as a Style, but the only true or

literal

revival

is

many original and

revival.

the Cinquecento

the other varieties contain too

extraneous elements to be considered an historical

CHAPTER

XIV.

THE RENAISSANCE AS A STYLE

Bronze.

The

Maclou, Rouen,

of St.

c.

1542.

capricious style, the so-called Renaissance of the sixteenth

which was in such good repute with the

century,

was

From Door

more conspicuous

far

jewellers,

for its cartouches (its scrolled shield-

more natural or the more

work) and tracery than

for the

elements of the style;

the beauties of nature and the standard

ornaments of antiquity could not

variety, especially with the

charm

art

advocates; but in as far

its

and manipulation again attained

symbolism

it

also

was a

of indiscriminate

example of such names as Primaticcio,

Holbein, and Benvenuto Cellini, as

as

the general taste, with

Tie, in

either the attraction of novelty or the

classical

revival,

by

the

ascendency over

reasserting

the

aesthetic

principle.

This third

modem

style or

variety,

which the name of

to

Renaissance by habit more particularly belongs,

style of varieties, especially in jewellery
it

was very general

where

it

also out of Italy,

and

and

in

is

essentially a

works in

relief:

especially in France,

was introduced about the time of Francis

I,

and

it

is

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RENAISSAXCE.

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93

THE RENAISSAKGE.

gieat a &yoiirite with the French, that French and

so

still

This style

^Renaissance are nearly identical terms.

made up

ments foreign
cal taste,

to classi-

and the essence

of the Cinquecento

is its

of these

ele-

rejection

ments

however,

is,

chiefly of ele-

but before pro-

ceeding to the consider-

we

ation of the latter

what

consider

will

spedally

is

by

signified

the Benaissanoe as

style.

It is

the style of

Benyennto

It

Cellini.

remarkably de-

is also

veloped in the remains

of the Chateau d'Anet,

near Dreux, in France

that time, and

it

is

Carved Door Panel from the Ch&teau d'Anet, now at

the Boole des Beaux Arts, Paris.

(about

1548), and other buildings oi

indeed sometimes designated the

Henry

11.

style.

The mixture
this style
tional

of various elements

and natural flowers and

Saracenic chuacter;
cartouches, or pierced

minence

is

one of the essentials of

these elements are, the classical ornaments

foliage

man and
and

is

and developed from the

and jewel forms.

The whole

earliest

was popular in the

examples.

Our own Elizabethan

tries,

It

scrolls of

history of art does

Countries at the same time: the Bourse at Antwerp (1531)

one of its

style,

conven-

animals, natural and grotesque;

not afford a parallel mixture of elements.

Low

of a pure

scrolled shields, as above, in great pro-

tracery, independent

the cartouches

the former often

is

a partial elaboration

of the

probably introduced into this country from the

same

Low Coun-

the only difference being that the Elizabethan, like that of

Henry

11. of

France, exhibits a very striking preponderance of

94

THE RENAISSANCE.

strap^nd-Bbield-work

we now term

but this was a gradual

the Elizabethan was not

when the pierced shields eyen outThe pure Elizabethan is much nearer

James

until the time of

I.,

balanced the strap-work.

time

allied to the continental styles of the

but rude in
tracery

than the pierced and scrolled

classical

ornaments,

and arabesque work, and the

detail, occasional scroll

strap- work, holding

or

and what

result,

thoroughly developed

mucli more prominent place

For the want

shields.

of better

information these two features are sufficient to date a building

the tracery or strap- work, without the shield -work, vnW indicate
the time of EHzabetli

James

as

I.,

at

the predominance of shield- work that of

Wollaton and Yarmouth, Elizabethan

Crewe

Hall and Canonbury House, IsHngton, of the time of James.

In Crewe Hall, an early work, and attributed

shield-work

is

to Inigo Jones, the

not very prominent.

Such are four

A design

containing

this period is properly called Benaissance.

.properly called Trecento;

imitations,

festoons,

scroll-work,

would be more

it

th^,

and

of strap- work and shield- work

styles the evidence

of their

constantly preserved in

the

if
it

it

ticms,

is

these

all

tracery,

in

scroll- work

the
;

and in the

is

and

earlier

close of the Quattrocento are of

'

pur

diapes, as they abound in the mannscripts.

The Benaissance

is,

therefore,

a combination of previous
ticular.

In

Elizabethan.

Byzantine and Saracenic origin

shape of the panels containing rehgious illustra-

which even to the

By^tine

Kenaissance

display a decided prominence

foHage, in the rendering of classical ornaments

varieties, in the

elaborate

and occasional symme-

trical arabesques, it is of the Quattrocento, the Italian

of the fifteenth century

perfect

If a design contain

besides

if it contain,

its

the elements of

all

only the tracery and foliage of the period

natural

from

varieties of the revival, distinct

form, the Cinquecento.

styles

something more approximate to

than a

reviiral

It is the first example of selection that

a style that was developed solely on

we

of

any in par-

find,

and

aesthetic principles,

it is

from a

love of the forms and harmonies themselves, as varieties of efiect

or arrangements of beauty, not because they

had any particular

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ELIZABETHAN.

P. S4'

From

the old Gnard Chamber, Westminster,

1600.

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ELIZABETHAN.

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ELIZABETHAN.

iOl'HKJ.

North Entrance, Wollaton.

I'lace

U<mso, Cornwall.

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95

THE RENAISSANCE.
signification,

ancestral

or from

heirlooms.

any

superstitions

The

decorators

of

attachment to them as
the

Eenaissance were,

in fact, the first artists in ornamental art since the classic periods

they suffered no limits or restrictions hut those of harmony or

beauty, according to their

own

perception of the beautiful.

CHAPTEE XV.
THE OINQUECENTO.
ILLUSIBATED LIIEBATVBE.

The Vatican flescribed and illustratod.

_
Vaticano descritto ed illustrate. 8 vols, folio. Eorae, 1829-38.
The Arabesques of the Vatican. Oblong folio, 32 plates, n, d.
loggie di Rafaele nel Vaticano. Drawn by Camporesi, and engraved by
Volpato and others. 61 plates. Atlas folio. Roma, 1772-76.
SuYS ET Hac DEBOUKT. Palais Massimi a Rome. Plans, coupes, elevations, profils,
vo&tes, plafonds, &c. des deux Palais Massimi, dessin^ et publics par F. T. Suya
et L. P. Hatideboart. Folio. Paris, . d.
Bbttont, N. Tombs and Monuments of Italy.
Le Tombe ed i Monumenti illustri d' Italia. 2 vols. 4to. Milan, 1822-23.
Maoazzari, G. The most select Ornaments of Bologna.
Baccolta de' piu soelti Ornati sparsi per la citt^t di Bologna. Ob. 4to. BoPiSTOLESi, E.
II

Bafhazl.

logna, 1827.
Antoneixi, G.
Collection of the best Venetian Ornaments.
CoUezione de' Miglioii Omamouti antichi, sparsi nella cittli di Venozia. Ob.
Venice, 1831.
4to.
DiEDO E Zanotto. Sepulchral Monntnents of Venice.
Novanta JMoiiumenti cospicui di Venezia illustrati dal Cav. Antonio Diedo e
da Francesco Zanotto. Folio. Milan, 1839.
GiooGNARA, L. ^The most remarkable Buildings and Monuments of Venice.
Le Fabbriclie e i Monnmenti cospicui di Venezia ; illustrati da Leopoldo
Cicognara, da Antonio Diedo, e da Giannantonio Selva. Con notabili
aggiunte o note. 2nd edition, 2 vols, large folio. Venice, 1840.
Lbtabouilly, p. Edifices of Modem Rome, with Details.
Edifices de Borne Modeme, ou Becueil des Palais, Maisons, Eglises, Cou vents,
et autres Monuments publics et particuliers les plus remarquables de la
Villc de Rome.
3 vols, folio, text 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1840, et seq.
Tosi AND Becciiio. ^Altars, Tabernacles, and Sepulchral Monuments of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, existing at Bome. Folio.
Lagny, 1843.
Beegamo, Stefano i)a. AVood Carvings from the Choir of the Monastery of San
Pietro at Perugia, ISy.") ; said to be from designs by Raphael.
Gli Omati del Coro della Chiesa di S. Pietro dei Monaci Cassinese di Perugia,
intagliati in Legno da Stcfano da Bergamo sopra i disegni di Ba&ello
Sann da Urbino, ora per la' prima volta tntti raccolti incisi a oontomo e
pubblicati.
Folio.
Rome, 18 15.
Gruneb. L. Specimens of Ornamental Art, selected from the best Models of the
Classical Epochs.
Illustrated with 80 plates, wi& descriptive text, by Emil
Braun. By Authority. Folio. Loudon, 1850.
Fresco Decorations and Stuccoes of Churches and Palaces in Italy,
during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, with Descriptions by Lewis
Gruner, K.A. New edition, largely augmented by numerous plates,' plain and
^coloured. Folio.
London, 1854.
Lo Scatfale or Presses in the Sacristy of the Church of Sta. Maria delle
Grazie at Milan. Illustrations of the painted decoration, by Bernardino Luini.
Folio.
London, 1859.
LouvBE. Le Napoleonium. Monographie du Louvre et des Tuileries re'unis, avec
nne notice historiqne et arch^logique. Folio. Paris, 1856.
OoNTANT ET FiLippi. Parallele des principaux Th^tres modemes de TEurope.
Paris. 1859, et seq.
Folio.
Pai^llele des Maisons de Paris. Nonvelle p^riode de 1850 k 1860.
Calliat,
Folio. Paris, 1860.J

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CINQUECENTO.

P.

9X

From the Fagade of Santa Maria de*

lliraooll,

BreacUu

c.

1S30.

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THE CINQUECKNTO.

We

may now

which as an

proceed to the consideration of the Cinquecento,

art development is tlie

century

art,

the

modem

sixteenth-

but the most prominent style of the sixteenth century

examining are but

The

varieties

mnlation of materials that

it

It

was

was only

ail

the efforts

we have

just been

wanderings by the way, for want of

its

ciently oonspicnons landmarks.

suffix

a great acca-

affcer

possible to appreciate thoroughly

spirit of the ancient arabesques.

These came at

last

out of the excavations of ancient monu-

ments at Bome and elsewhere at the

all

the real goal of the Eenaissance, to which

is

it

of the fifteenth century tended.

the

most perfect of

The term Cinquecento does not imply simply

styles.

and

97

^the

new

revival

was developed

close of the fifteenth century

chiefly

by the

North, and the painters of Central Italy.

ancient

art

was

only

sculptors of the

The

extraneous elements were successively excluded;

capacities

those of Raphael,

as

into a

known, perhaps, in
However,

it

masters to give

it

but with such

Eomano, the Lombardi,

Julio

Bramante, or Michelangelo, appHed to extricate

entombment, no wonder that

and grew even

true spirit of

now thoroughly comprehended, and aU

it

from

started suddenly into

more splendid development than

its

Roman

most gorgeous

it

its

long

new

Hfe,

had ever

period.

would be unjust towards the great quattrocento

all

the credit of this accomplished style of art to even

such names as Baphael, JuHo Eomano, or Bramante,

The

eforts of these

masters were at

ment upon the works of

first little

or no improve-

their immediate predecessors, the great

qucUtrocentisti, such as Baccio Pintelli, Pietro Perugino, Francia,

Bernardino Luini, and Pinturicchio

to

JuUo Eomano

bardi, Agostino Busti,

north of Italy,

The

may

principal

^the

two

last scarcely inferior

himself, the prince of decorators

and the Lom-

Andrea Sansovino, and other sculptors of the

claim, perhaps, equal rank in their art.

monuments

of the Cinquecento in painting are

the Vatican Loggie, the Villa IMadama at Eome, and the ducal
palaces at

Mantua

the churches of Venice, Verona, and Brescia,

afford the best examples of Sculpture.

The Loggie

of Eaphael

98

THE CINQUECENTO.
San Damaso

are the arcade of the second story of the Court of

they

were

about

executed

1515,

JuHo

by

Francesco Penni, and Giovanni da Udine

birds

and

Gian

the last painted the

abundance of which

aninaals, the

Komano,

is

a yeij striking

feature in the Vatican arabesques.

These arabesqttes of Bapbael,

or,

as they were originally called

grotesques^ from being chiefly discovered in the ancient grottos,

are said to haye been directly suggested

They appear

in the Baths of Titus.

by some ancient remains

to have giyen a great impetus

to this style of decoration, for they are the first of their kind

an extensiye

on

and, even in their character, they differ very

from the quattrocento arabesques,

widely
chiefly

scale

were derived

wliicli

from ancient sculpture and from the MfeS., and are very

much more

foi-mal in their

arrangements and

detail.

However, though the arabesques themselves are of the cinquecento character, in

tlie

exuberance and beauty of the curves and

foliations, the entire decorations of

the pilasters are

&r from

being

of pure styk.

In establishing a style from examples, made with only a

general regard to
course,

much

of the style

its

most prominent

to reject before
;

th^

is,

of

characteristic illustration

and the Christian symbols, and other arbitrary

we

forms, which

characteristics,

we have a

occasionally find in Baphael's arabesques,

must

be scrupulously excluded, or the Cinquecento becomes merged

mixed Eenaissance, which

into the
style

led to

it,

and the distinction of

is lost.

The Vatican
ricchio,

are

of a

pilasters, like the designs

transition

Eome, and the Ducal Palaces

character.
at

of Luini and Pintu-

The

Villa

Madama

at

Mantua, display designs of equal

variety of effect, with a greater unity of character in the details.

They

are the

same

artists

work of Giovanni da Udine and Julio Eomano, the

who

these later works

executed those of the Vatican Loggie, but in

many

of the licences in the Vatican arabesques

have been in a great measure avoided.

unmixed

Some

classical character

of

They

are of a

the scrolls are particularly

more

fine.

the Vatican compositions, from their mechanical

Digil

THE dNQUEGENTO.
and

absurdities, are ludicrous

offensiye,

99

while the more extravagant

designs in the later works are the most &ncifiil

grotesque

is

and, indeed, the

perhaps the most prominent feature of the cinque-

cento arabesque.

The

designer, like the

poet,

possibilities or probabilities.

natural imitation

fancy

in

has his licence with regard to

mere natural improbability, where

no degree

essential, is the privilege of the

but mechanical disproportions and impossibilities,

viola-

most palpable laws of gravity, cannot be otherwise than

tions of the

Nothing can bring them within the range of good

offensive.

they are essentially obnoxious to aesthetic sensibihty, which

taste, as
is

is

the truest test of propriety in art, the effect being analogous to a

discord in music.

We may

be extremely grotesque or fanciful

without being ridiculous.

There need be no limit to our chimeras,

test

but

upon the

for nature is not their

we combine monsters in our scroUs, or place animals

tendrils of plants, we should at least proportion them in
if

size to the strength of the

stem or tendril upon which they are

many

placed.

This

and

occasionally disregarded, also, in the later works of

it is

is

not observed in

of the Vatican arabesques,

Mantua

yet these are, in other respects, the standard types of the cinque-

cento arabesques, as developed in painting.

was

It

this

same

fault of painful disproportion

which PHny and

Vitruvius found with the arabesques of Pompeii, which display

anomalies not so
of

modern

times.

much

as approached

by even the worst specimens

Natural foliage teaches us that the greater the

burden the thicker the stem ; the gradual diminishing of the stem
as

its

And

burden decreases,
this

law

is

is

one of the essential beauties of

foliage.

admirably observed in nearly aU the best examples

of the Cinquecento, especially in the sculpture; but there are

otherwise good specimens in which

it is

not observed.

sarily a condition peculiar to arabesque scroll-work

tinuous scroll

we do

it is

It is neces-

for in a con-

not require this variation of thickness, as

a mere ornamental repetition, every portion in

and as

itself

it is

being complete

indeterminate, no portion of the curve has more to do

than another.

This

is

an

essential difference;

in the arabesque

THE CINQUECENTO.

100
curves the scroll or

sj^iral is

always completed

figure,

and

it

is

a determinate

elegance or lightness, will

its

depend upon the

relative proportions of

the stem.

This arabesque scroll-work

the most

is

prominent feature of the Cinquecento

and with

this

combines in

it

its

every other feature of classical

elements
art,

with

the unlimited choice of natural and conventional imitations from the entire animal

and vegetable kingdoms, both arbitrarily

disposed and combined.

Another of

features

its

is its

beautiful

variations of ancient standard ornaments,

as

the anthemion especially, of which

there

are

some admirable Cinquecento

examples.

The

guilloche or plat, the

and

fret,

the acanthus scroll are likewise favourand. occur in

ites,

many

The

varieties.

Cinquecento appears^ indeed, to be the

special province of the curve in its infi-

nite play of arabesque

developments

but in

all

in the form of

is

it

its

some

natural object or artificial combination.

The

and strapwork wholly

cartouches

disappear from the best examples.

all

north of Italy,

the

1550, such forms are extremely

rare

and in defining the Cinquecento

exclusion becomes an

essential condition.
art,
Chateau de

France,

c.

1505.

from about 1480

until

as a style, their

Carved Wnoil.

In

the extensive works in sculpture of

Absolute works of

such as vases, and implements and

Gallloii.

instruments of

elements of the cinquecento arabesque

all

kinds, are prominent

but cartouches and strap-

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CINQUECENTO.

p, 100.

From a Marble Fountain

In the Louvre, Paris,

Italian.

1508.

r
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by

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101

THE CINQUECBNTO.

work, as unauthorised by ancient practice, are necessarily excluded

from the style as a presumed ancient

It

is,

reviTal.

we must

however, in sculpture, perhaps, that

look for

the purest examples of this style, as regards the mere elaboration

and among the cinquecento scidptors none paid more

of form;

attention to ornament than the

bardi, of

Lombardi of Venice and Agostino

Venice abounds with the w^orks of the Lom-

Busti of Milan.

whom TuUio

is

prominently distinguished.

His monu-

mental bas-rehefs have, perhaps, never been surpassed for their

exquisite
details

and

spirit

delicacy of execution:

and even

in

their

they are unsurpassed by the best examples of antiquity.

Sometimes they consist of

acanthus

scroll

fine elaborations of

the pure classic

and more commonly, of the standard

at others,

arabesques, with the interspersing of grotesque figures and ani-

rmk, and occadonaUy of simple

combining a

foliations,

nataal

curves, with ordinary

with a masterly freedom of

strict imitation

execution.

Another chief feature of the Cinquecento

of colour in

arabesques and scrolls

its

and

is

the admirable play

it is

worthy of

note,

that the three secondary colours, orange, green, and purple, perfoi-m

the chief parts in

the coloured decorations.

all

form, the acanthus scroll or foliated spiral,

iris,

with

its

is

beautiful variety of tints, as in

some of Juho Komano's

And where we have

decorations at Mantua.

Its great leading

sometimes a comjilete

but two colours, we

have constantly complements.

Indeed the Cinquecento

may

be considered the culminating

style in ornamental art, as presenting the

most perfect forms and

the most pleasmg yarieties, nature and art vying with each oth^r
in their efforts to attract and gratify the eye.

the sense of beauty.

the most attractive

an

AH

its efforts

effects,

styles.

and

it

is

to attain

with the Byzantine and other sym-

The cinquecento forms

of beauty alone

made

without any intent to lead the mind to

ulterior end, as is the case

boHc

It appeals only to

are directly

are supposed to be symbols

a remarkable concession to the ancients,

that the moderns, to attain this result, were compelled to recur to

their

works ; and

it is

only

now

in the contemplation of this

consum-

THE CINQUEOENTO.

102
mate

The

style, that

the term Renaissance becomes quite intelligible.

Eenaissance, or rebirth of ornament,

Cinquecento

still

the term

earlier styles, because the^e

Cinquecento

accomphshed in the

is

not altogether

ill

to the

for the Symbolic.

The

principles, therefore,

were

though from imperfect apprehension, elements strange to

the classical period were generally admitted

principle

appropriated to the

were really the stepping-stones

and, as already explained, in them, also, the aesthetic

was substituted
identical,

is

was a

; it

revival of

though pot of element.

The Cinquecento very

generally pervaded manufacture for a

time in France as well as Italy, though for a

much

shorter period

than its great beauti^ and applicability would seem to

justify.

The

arms and armour, and the pottery or majoHca wares of the time
afford

some of the

finest

examples of the

style.

It was, however, not long successfully pursued:

to be too exact in its details,

and too comprehensive

of elements, for the ordinary grasp of the decorator,

the kingdoms of nature, or the realms of

it

appears

in its range

whether from

art, poetry,

and history

every form being excluded having neither wit nor beauty to

recommend
for, besides

it.

It required too

much from

the designer's powers,

a familiarity with the art of classic antiquity,

weU

a considerable acquaintance with the figure, as

it

exacted

as a mastery

over the animal and vegetable forms generally.

Accordingly, already in the
art fell

back to what

it

sixteenth century, ornamental

was before that time ; and

firom the middle

of the sixteenth century, as illustrated by the works of Alessandro

and Benvenuto

Vittoria, Nicola dei Conti, Alfonso Alberghetti,

Oellini,

we

again find the promiscuous mixture of forms of

all

kinds, with a prominence of the cartouche, as in the ordinary

Eenaissance, which, from

its far less definite

character, gave greater

liberty to the artist, in accordance with his

variety, the attainment of

to

own vague

which seems now, and

notions of

for a long period,

have usurped every other purpose.

The Cinquecento

is essentially

an Italian

style,

few instances good examples are found out of

though in some

Italy, especially in

France; as the monument to Louis XII. in the church of

St.

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CINQUECENTO.

P. 103.

From fhB HomimeDt to Louis XII^ St

Denis, near Paris,

c. IS20.

THE CINQUECENTO.
Denis, near Paris, and

several examples at Rouen,

Chateau de Gaillon, Normandy.

carried out

by ItaHans,

common

spread by the

at

the

of the Renaissance

was

at the

same time

North and West, and was evidently much

in the
little

and

These were, however, either

or directly from some Italian example.

The ordinary ornament

very

103

works

vrith

ornamental marginal woodcuts

published frequently in the sixteenth century, and expressly for

designers for manufactures ; as in the case of the edition of Alciati's

Emblems, published

at

Lyons

in 1551, of

which there

the Library of the Department.

Chlmneypiece, Louvre,

liy

Germain

Pilon.

is

a copy in

*t

CHAPTER

XVI.'

THE LOUIS QUATORZE.

Fob
was

a century after the deyelopment of the Cinquecento, there

little

indiTiduality

tecture itself

pedantry, rule and

Towards the
style

an ornamental
all

the seventeenth

style,

and

that preceded

play of light and shade

century, however, a

differing very materially in principle

it, its
;

chief

times, arose in Italy;

The

new

effect

by a

This

style, like

most others of

and we may, perhaps, look upon

its

principal decorators of this church were

della Porta, Pietro

from

brilliant

colour or mere beauty of form in detail

whatever.

it

aim being

the Chiesa del Gesti, or Jesus Church, at Rome, as

model.

Archi-

to develop itself (the Louis Quatorze), essentially

having no part in

modem

the practice of ornamental art.

measure usurped the place of expression.

close of

commenced

nearly

ill

was completely domineered by a mere dassicid

type or

Giacomo

da Cortona, and Father Pozzi, author of the

well-known Jesuits' perspective.

Of the vague

character of the intermediate style, after the

decline of the Cinquecento, the various nautilus-shells are good

examples, something of the Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Louis

Quatorze combined.

The
gilt

great

medium

of the Louis Quatorze (1643-1715)

was

stucco-work, which, for a while, seems to have almost wholly

superseded decorative painting

and

this absence of colour in the

principal decorations of the period seems to have led to its

striking characteristic,

Such being the aim

was no longer

infinite play of light

of the style, exact

more

and shade.

symmetry

essential, and, accordingly, in the

in the parts

Louis Quatorze

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I

I
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THE LOUIS QUATOBZE.

varieties,

atically

we, for the

it

till

symmetry syst^-

time, occasionally find

first

This feature was gradually more and more

avoided.

elaborated,

105

became

and

essential in the Louis Quinze,

mately led to that debased yet popular

style, the

ulti-

Kococo, in which

symmetry, either in the balance of the whole or in the

details of

the parts, seems to have been quite out of place.

Versailles is the great repertory of the Louis Quatorze

but

the whole was evidently intended to present a gorgeous classical

Foreign elements, however, and foreign

scheme of decoration.
treatment,

both found their place

features that the decorations

owe

and

is

it

to these

foreign

They

their indiyiduaUty.

are

the

the constant and peculiar combination of the scroll and shell

anthemion treated as a

shell,

and a small

and sometimes clothed in acanthus

scroll,

foliations.

sometimes plain

All the other ele-

we

find

them

the Cinquecento, with some sHghtly modified

new

varieties.

ments of the style are

classical,

such as

fiddle-shape combination of scrolls

is,

treated in

The

perhaps, a legacy of the

ordinary Eenaissance.

The Louis Quinze (1715-74)

Louis Quatorze in
of treatment,
styles.

elements

does not

much

differ

from the

but yet, from a certain manner

must be considered as

distinct in a discrimination of

It differs in this, that the merely characteristic elements

of the Louis

aU

its

Quatorze became paramount in the Louis Quinze

its details, instead

of coming direct from the Cinquecento, or

Benaissance, came immediately from the French schemes of the

preceding reign ; the diverging, therefore, from the original types

became ever wider.

In comparing good examples of these two

styles,

we

shall

find that the broad acanthus foliations or featherings of the scroll

in the Louis Quatorze have become very

proaching the flag or

fleur-de-lis leaf,

much

elongated, ap-

and the palm-branch in the

Louis Quinze.

Perhaps the great feature of the

it

of

owes

its

bizarre character, as

symmetry

in its detai'

nent places; a

featui'e

i,

much

later style,

as

any

and that

to

which

other, is its rejection

even in the most central and promi-

which until now would have been con-

THE LOUIS QUATOBZB.

106

sidered a capital defect in a design: snch

But

was

style, it

little

injured

is

the capribe o &shion.

and shade was the chief aim

as a general play of Kglit

the

mnt of symmetry in details, always

hy a

too indefinite for special attention.

The play

of light and shade in sudden

and varied contrasts

is

so essential an element of the Louis Quatorze styles, that they do

not admit

surfaces in

flat

any of

their ornamental detads

concave or convex, perfectly smooth but never

anthemion in these

becomes a hollow

styles

flat

are

all

even

the

They thus

shell.

contrast very strongly with the Elizabethan, iu which flat surfaces

in the details abound, as in

cartouches, or pierced

AU

flat.

and

even in the

This constant yarying of the surae

gives every point of view

its

high lights and

brilliant contrafits;

for this reason stucco superseded decorations in the flat

gold colour in
Still

in the
is

strapwork

infinite

such members in the Louis Quatorze styl^ would be

channelled or moulded.

and

its

scrolled shields, the curved planes are

all

the Louis Quatorze

flat,

but

and

Louis Quatorze designs.

it is

is

not altogether unfit for decorations

limited to designs on a small scale,

in these cases indispensable

this is

and colour

exempHfied in the metal

marquetry of Boule, the forms depending on their contrast with

their

ground

and by the designs of Watteau.

Watteau, in

brought

He

it

fact, reduced,

the Louis Quatorze to colour, and

more generally within the province of manufactures.

used the elements of the style for the frames or boundaries of

small panels,
fantastical

pastoral

fruit,

flowers,

and

foliage,

birds,

and animals.

insects,

The

spirit of these

Louis Quatorze

styles, and, perhaps,

partictdarly the Louis Quinze, pervaded all manufactures,

or

less,

until the Eevolution, not only in

of Europe.
in their

by

or rural scenes, which he surrounded

borders, of scrolls,

way

Meissonier, Claude Ballin, and

internal decoration

Quatorze in

its

more

France but in many parts

Le

Pautre, were each

the most popular designers of their time.

Italy, Bernini used the designs of

more

Le Pautre

for

Even

external

in

and

he was the greatest master of the Louis

adaptation to ornamental sculpture, independent

107

THE LOUIS QUATOKZE.

of architecture;
tending,

his

bravura of Hue was remarkable, and

by the constant

projecting and receding shapes, to the one great

all

and hollow, or

alternation of the round

aim of the

style

a lively play of light and shade.

The

chief distinction between these

two

styles is the

want of

symmetry in the Louis Quiiize it is in many of its examples

a mere and almost random dispersion of the scroll and shell,
:

mixed

only with

coqtiillage.

duced,

Still

that

peculiar

crimping

or

with these elements beantiful

when only a

slight

attention

shell-work,
effects

the

were pro-

was bestowed upon the

arrangement of the masses ; but when this

last

was

neglected, the

designs became a mere mass of vagaries, of indescribable forms,

and ihe Bocooo was displayed in the perfection of the bizarre in

ornament, and in which the thread of the historic styles
completely run out.

is

at last

CONCLUSION.

In

this

review of the ornamental devices

of

cen-

thirty-five

we have certainly had every variety of expr^on that the

hmnan mind is familiar vnth. I have dwelt, of course, upon the
turies,

leading styles only

with an

any other course would have heen impossible

ordinary degree

varieties into styles,

we

of

clearness.

By

mere

converting

should so multiply the number of orna-

mental expressions that the student wotdd probably be so

much

confused as to be unable to eliminate even the generic varieties

of ornamental art.
styles, to

Thus, I do not pretend, in this review of the

have explained more than the great leading develop-

ments of ancient, middle-age, and modern

art.

In the early period, with the Egyptians, we found symbolism,

richness of material, with simplicity of arrangement, and an artistic

In the second, or Greek

crudity, as the prominent characteristics.

period,

of

we have

effect,

exclusively

an

and uniform excellence of

where displaying the highest

period, stiU

for a

aesthetic aim,

detail

artistic skill.

with general beauty

throughout

every-

In the third, or Boman

vnth an esthetic aim, we have equal skiU, with a taste

more gorgeous detaU and more general magnificence.

In the Byzantine,
go back to at

first

^the first style

of the second period,

we

an almost exclusive symbolism, which, how-

ever, in the course of a century or two, is elaborated into a style

of a very gorgeous general

the symbolic,
prejudice
tiful

style

partly

effect,

owing

to

combining
richness

the aesthetic with

of materials

but as

was gradually overcome, a comprehensive and beau-

was ultimately developed in the sixth century, but

109

CONCLUSION.

nearly always displaying, perhaps, more

than in

The
effect,

an

in

skill

Saracenic

the same in principle,

is

without any remarkable merit of detail :

number

infinite

colour,

general effects

its

its details.

something

gorgeous general
it is

of minute contrasts of light

like a formal flower-garden,

pHcity and grandeur of natural scenery

but

wanting the simis

it

made up of

and shade and

capable of very

beautiful general effects on a small scale.

In the Gothic, again,

the

details are

ill

The

with

field

and induces much

art,

must be the

of that crudity of detail which

divided attention.

of the middle-age styles,

last

symbolism more than divides the

inevitable result of a

general effects are often grand

and

expressed,

In the Benaissance,

the

modem

herald of the

like the classical styles, purely

aesthetic,

we have,

natnral vagaries of an imaccustomed freedom;

eventually settled into
style of antiquity,

mere

love

Quatorze,

accomplish

aim than any

style

the

first,

which, however,

Then came the

gold and glitter:

prodigiously

its effects.

styles, and,

at

a genuine revival of the most finished

the Cinquecento.

of display,

still,

but the

inferior.

The Louis Quatorze

whatever

thus

is

the Louis
it

took

more general

details,

its

final decline,

is

means

the

in

clever

such

to

in its

provided they

generated sufficient contrasts of Ught and shade, were of no indi-

Accordingly we

vidual consequence.

all detail is absolutely neglected,

absurd Kococo,

we have

the very natural

designs

made up

find, after a little time, that

and with

to

study

and in the

of details so without meaning and

They

individuality, as to defy description.

come no nearer

it all

result of this general neglect,

them ; and with

are Bococo ;

this Bococo, the first

we can
term of

existence, the last of the nine lives of ornamental art expires.

This vast store of materials, taken in the mass, without selection

or ord^,

is

a mere chaos

md so

far

from creating

unless classified into schools or styles, engender only

variety, will,

a mere

uni-

form repetition of confusion.

This
art,

is

the view, then, with which

to discriminate

we study the

and individuahse the

history of

styles of the various

110

GONOLUSION.

epochs; and by thus developing distinct characters, multiply to

an equal extent our means of viewing nature, and our powers,

The

consequently of representation.

knowledge, therefore,

is

real

result

of

historical

not the mere copying of what has been

done before, but the acquisition of a power which not only supersedes all copying, but which alone will insure the production of

that variety of ornamental design which, the simplest theory

make

manifest,

Had

must

the ostensible effort of every designer.

is

the knowledge of styles been a

in the present day,

we

more disseminated

little

should not have found the Louis XV., and

the Eocooo, as the prevailing English tastes of the Great Ex-

In

hibition of 1851.

fault of historical knowledge,

sequently enlarged views of

art,

merely copying his neighbour

ance in this country of the
the Louis XV.,

even in

The
istics

^in

silver,

great lesson
is,

too general, too

con-

its

hence the

still

paramount importFrance,

last great historic style of

in wood-carving, in carpets, damasks,

and in many other branches.

lace, also,

of styles

and

the designer has been reduced to

we may

learn from a study of the character-

that our designs want individuality

much aUke

we

they are

require something more than

mere sprigs and colonnades, or conventional

We

scrolls.

both systems of detad and systems of arrangement.

want

A picture

is

not an ornament ; but every flower, however simple, and, indeed,

every

leaf,

is

capable of beiag converted into an ornament

by

the mere aid of repetition on a geometrical basis ; and the same

forms

may

by new

be beautifully varied by altering this basis ; and again,

judicious combinations of colour, applied to

the same

geometric scheme.

We
objects,

should work on the principles of construction of natiiral

value of such a system in ornamental design

it

is

is

incalculable

only by a knowledge of the characteristics of styles,

standard types of

all

ages,

that

even system will

variety and individuality of expression,

permanent

The

The

independent of their individualities of .development.

effect

but

the
that

which alone wdl secure a

gratification or success.

great success of the Greeks was not more than

common-

Ill

OONCLUSION.

aiirate

with the

strict

even their slightest

adherence to principles of beauty upon which

efforts

antiquity, as the ordinary

The cheap manufactures

depended.

Greek

of

were cheap by reason

terra-cottas,

of the nature of their material, not from any neglect of care in their

manufacture.

The

ancient prosperity of the Samians

a remarkable instance

is

from the judicious

of the great national benefit to be derived

application of art to manufactures,
of their

by

great

modern British competitors.

of the

cities

is

worthy the emulation

The

small island of Samos,

on an important trade with

potteries alone, carried

its

and

all

the

Greek and Eoman empires, and thus was

enabled to compete in splendour and luxury with the greatest

Herodotus

states of the ancient world.

152) speaks of the

(iv.

unparalleled fortune of a Samian merchant.

Greek

was the

It

state that attainted celebrity in the arts.

first

Its temple of

Juno, the fstmous Heraeumy was perhaps the most celebrated

art-repository of antiquity,

largest temple

marble.

and was

The same Greek

grandeur.

he ever saw, though

The workers
was but the

ship-building,

The

precious than gold.

and

a work of extraordinary
60) speaks of

was constructed

architects of Samos.

made the very

they trod upon more

to every port, until its

It

ite

was

freedom,

com-

its

merchants became

was conspicuous among the

this small island-state

and with

mag-

matchless potteries.

its

soil

this distinction, this poHtical

pre-eminence, which excited the jealousy of

:

as the

All this

This earthenware of. Samos carried

sea,

richest nations of the world.

neighbours

it

entirely of

fruit of its industrial ingenuity, its skilful

potters

merce over every

princes,

it

enterprising commerce,

its

skill of its

(iii.

in metal and the painters were equal in

renown to the sculptors and

nificence

itself

historian

its

its

more powerful

commerce and

its

prosperity

declined together.

The sun
still

still

shines

on the

fruitful valleys of

abounds in the valuable clay of which

were manufactured ; but

scattered

its

Samos, and

it

ancient potteries

population has declined into a mere

and rude peasantry

genial clay without the skilful

its

its

hand

potters

have departed

to fashion

it is

of

the

little avail.

112

CONCLUSION.

Such was Samos when

is it

now

it

directed its energies to the arts ; such

that all cultivation of art has ceased.

jndicions application of art to industry that

made

It

was hut the

this small

Levan-

tine island once the illustrious rival of great empires.

THE END.

TX>XDOX: PRIKTRD

BY W. CtOWKS AND

80N8,

STAMFORD STBEET AND CHARING

CROSS.