Viili VOKK • -1A It S V PREFACE. Published first as a series of articles in " The Architectural Record" of New York, these notes on the Evolution of Ornament are now presented in volume form, and a few words of apology are consequently necessary; for illustrations which were prepared for a magazine have not in every case been capable of arrangement in a book either sequen- quentially or in close proximity to the text to which they refer. For most of them, whether photographs or pencil sketches, the author is himself responsible, but for others he has to thank friends, including Messrs. R. G. Lovell, A.R.I.B.A., W. A. Rigg, A.R.I.B.A., M. F. Surveyor, F. Clemes and F. R. Somerford, A.R.I.B.A., while he is also indebted to Mr. Batsford, the publisher of, and Mr. R. H. Carden, A.R.I.B.A., his collaborator in that volume, for permission to reprodace certain illustrations from "Ornamental Details of the Italian Renaissance." If this book contains, of deliberation, any novel features, these consist mainly in its general arrangement, classifying architectural ornament as to its bases, found .either* in. vegetable or animal forms of life, or in straight or curved; tfoes/Tvancl in.tKe.tiracing of Gothic forms almost wholly to nature, those: c;f the.thirteenth century representing spring, followed in regular succe"Ds1eri 'btf those of summer, autumn and winter, alike in England aml/oii ihaipDhtinent. The appendix chapter on some capitals which'*£h"e' author'sketched in Alexandria in 1911 is also, it is believed, quite new, except that a paper on the subject has been read before the Society of Architects. G. A. T. Middleton. • • • • • CONTENTS Page PREFACE .. .. .. .. ..v. INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. xv. CHAPTER I.—Ornament with a Foilage Basis—The Anthemion .. .. 3 II. —Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The Acanthus .. .. 17 III. —Ornament with a Foliage Basis—Miscel- laneous Foliage of the Classic and Renaissance School .. 29 IV. —Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The English Gothic School .. 41 V. —Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The Gothic School of the European Continent .. 53 VI. —Ornament with a Human and Animal Basis —Classic and Renaissance School .. 65 „ VII.—Ornament with a Human and Animal Basis—The Gothic School .. 77 ,, VIII.—Ornament with a Linear Basis .. 89 IX. —Minor Enrichments .. .. 101 X. —Some Alexandrian Capitals—An Appendix 113 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Frontispiece Fig. I Phoenician Ornament, incised on ivory (British Museum) ... 3 „ 2 Assyrian Wall Slab—Date Palms in low relief (British Museum) ... a „ 3 Assyrian Wall Slab—Fir Trees in low relief (British Museum) ... 2 „ 4 Fragment of Assyrian Sacred Tree (British Museum) ... ... 2 „ 5 Assyrian Sacred Tree (British Museum) ... ... ... 2 „ 6 Anthemion Border to Assyrian Floor Slab (British Museum) ... 3 „ 7 Lotus Incised Carving, from the Tomb of Mes, a Ka priest, Egyptian XIX. Dynasty (British Museum) ... ... ... 3 „ 8 Crude Representation of Lotus bud and flower on incised slab, of the Egyptian Ptolemaic period (British Museum) ... ... 3 „ 9 Gilded Enrichment of Pediment Cymatium, Temple at Aegina (British Museum) ... ... ... ... 3 „ 10 Antefixial Ornament, the Parthenon (British Museum) ... ... 3. „ 11 Either an Akroterion, or a Stele Head (British Museum) ... 6 „ 12 Console. North Portico of the Erechtheion, from a cast (British Museum) ... ... ... ... ... 6 „ 13 Cella Frieze of the Erechtheion, Athens (British Museum) ... 6 „ 14 Enrichment of Cymatium (Cyma Recta) of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (British Museum) ... ... ... 6 „ 15 Enrichment of Cymatium, Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene (British Museum) ... ... ... ... ... 7 „ 16 Square Capital, Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene (British Museum) 7 „ 17 Anthemion Band on Roman Column (Victoria and Albert Museum) ... 7 „ 18 Anthemion on the Base of a Roman Candelabrum (British Museum)... 7 „ 19 Fragment of Enrichment on the Base of a Roman Candelabrum (Louvre, Paris) ... ... ... ... ... 7 „ 20 Capital on West Front, Notre Dame, Poitiers ... ... 8 „ 21 Enrichment of Capital in the Chapel of the Pyx, Westminster Abbey 8 „ 22 Enrichment of Arch, Malmesbury Church, Wilts ... ... 8 „ 23 Capital, Street Colonnade, Maison Historique, Beauvais, A.D. 1314 8 „ 24 Wrought Iron Hinge, West Door, Antwerp Cathedral ... ... .9 „ 25 Burgundian Wood Panels, now in Gatton Church, Surrey ... 9 „ 26 Font, Ufford Church, Suffolk ... ... ... ... 9 „ 27 Chimnies, Chateau de Blois ... ... ... ... 10 „ 28' Enrichment of Pedestal in front of the Strozzi Palace, Florence ... 11 „ 29 Low Belief Ornament, Bologna ... ... ... ... 11 „ 30 A Florentine Fountain (Victoria and Albert Museum) ... ... 11 „ 31 Natural Acanthus Leaf ... ... ... ... 14 „ 32 Capitals from the Choragic Monument (cast), and the Tower of the Winds (original), Athens (British Museum) ... ... 14 „ 33 Capital from the Tower of the Winds, Athens (British Museum) ... 14 „ 34 Portion of the Cymatium (Cyma Recta) of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus (British Museum) ... ... ... ... 14 „ 35 Detail of part of Acanthus Scroll, Temple of Diana at Ephesus (British Museum) ... ... ... ... ... 14 „ 36 Acanthus Leaf on Pilaster Cap from Ephesus (British Museum) ... 15 ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi Page Fig. 78 Plaster in Chapel of the Duomo, Modena (from " Ornamental Details of the Italian Renaissance) ... ... ... ... 38 „ 79 Portion of a Pilaster, South Transept Doorway, Sta. Guistina, Padua (from " Ornamental Details of Italian Renaissance ") ... 38 „ 80 Altar Tomb in North Transept, Dol Cathedral ... ... 39 „ 81 Capital of Nook Shaft, Southwell Cathedral ... ... ... 39 „ 82 Fragment of Norman Carving now in the Chapter House Vestibule, Westminster Abbey ... ... ... ... 39 „ 83 The Oratory Chapel, Dover Castle ... ... ... 40 „ 84 Capitals in Wall Arcade of the Main South Transept, Lincoln Cathedral 39 „ 85 Capital in the Elder Lady Chapel, Bristol Cathedral (sketched by Mr. F. Clemes) ... ... ... ... ... 40 „ 86 Capital in the Chapel of St. John the Divine, Westminster Abbey ... 40 „ 87 Portion of Scroll Enrichment of Door Jamb, Chapter House, West- minster Abbey ... ... ... ... ... 40 „ 88 Triforium Gallery, North Transept, Westminster Abbey (looking west) 41 „ 89 Piscina, Merstham Church, Surrey ... ... ... 41 „ 90 Part of Wall Arcade, Approach to Chapter House, Southwell Minster 41 „ 91 Capital in Arcade, Approach to Chapter House, St uthwell Minster ... 41 „ 92 Capitals in Entrance to Chapter House, Southwell Minster ... 42 „ 93 Capital in Berkeley Chapel, Bristol Cathedral (sketched by Mr. F. Clemes) ... ... ... ... ... 42 „ 94 Fragment of Bishop Dalderby's Shrine, Lincoln Cathedral ... 42 „ 95 Fourteenth Century Tombs, Westminster Abbey ... ... 42 „ 96 Capital from Kingston Seymour, Somerset (sketched by Mr. F. Clemes) ... ... ... ... ... 43 „ 97 Capitals in the North Chantry, Lincoln Cathedral ... ... 43 „ 98 Cornice Enrichment over Entrance to South Aisle, Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster ... ... ... ... 43 „ 99 Carved Wood Spandril in North Porch, Merton Church, Surrey ... 43 „ 100 Screen in Bristol Cathedral, Part of Cresting, &c. (sketched by Mr. F. Clemes) ... ... ... ... ... 46 „ 101 Choir Stalls in Henry VH.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey 46 „ 102 Label Stop, Uppingham School Chapel (sketched by Mr. A. E. Middleton) ... ... ... ... ... 43 „ 103 Capital in Martin Kirche, Brunswick ... ... ... 47 „ 104 Romanesque Cornice St. Sauveur, Dinan ... ... ... 47 „ 105 Holy-Water Stoup, Notre Dame, Chalons sur Marne ... ... 47 „ 106 The Double North Aisle, St. Hilaire, Poitiers ... ... ... 48 „ 107 Angle Capital and Vault Rib of Porch of the Templars' Church, Laon ... ... ... ... ... ... 47 „ 108 Capital in Choir Arcade, Lisieux Cathedral ... ... ... 48 ,, 109 Typical Capital, Soissons Cathedral ... ... ... 48 ,,110 Portion of Leaf Capital, Knight's Hall, Mont St. Michel... ... 48 „ 111 String Round Interior of Apsidal Transept, Soissons Cathedral ... 49 „ 113 North Door, West Front, Rouen Cathedral ... ... 49 „ 113 Wall Carving, interior of West Front, Reims Cathedral ... ... 49 ,, 114 Capital in Apse, St. Alpin, Chalons sur Marne ... ... 50 ,,115 Thistle Carving, North Door, West Front, Tours Cathedral ... 51 „ 116 Canopy Terminal, St. Sauveur, Dinan ... ... ... 54 ,,117 Crocket and Finial to Archway in the Courtyard of the Hotel de Ville, Abbeville ... ... ... ... ... 55 „ 118 Wood Cusp, Maison Francois I., Abbeville ... ... ... 50 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Fig. 119 Crocket over West Door, Antwerp Cathedral... ... ... 50 „ 120 Crocket and Canopy over North Doorway, Beauvais Cathedral ... 54 „ 121 Niche Canopy in Buttress, South Doorway, Beauvais Cathedral ... 54 „ 122 A Doorway at Goslar, North Germany ... ... ... 56 „ 123 Choir Stalls, Ulm Cathedral (from a cast, Victoria and Albert Museum) 56 ,,124 Tree of Jesse, Worms Cathedral ... ... ... ... 56 „ 125 Colossi at Entrance to Temple at Abou Simbel ... ... 57 „ 126 Assyrian Head (British Museum) ... ... ... 57 „ 127 Sculptured Drum of a Column from the Temple of Diana at Ephesus (British Museum) ... ... ... ... 58 ,,128 Frieze of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (British Museum) ... 57 „ 129 Entablature of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (British Museum) ... 59 „ 130 Lycian Tomb (British Museum) ... ... ... ... 59 ,,131 Lion's Head from the Temple of Diana at Ephesus (British Museum)... 59 ,,132 Bull Head Capital from Salamis (British Museum) ... ... 62 >» 133 Roman Urn or Crater (British Museum) ... ... ... 62 „ 134 Etruscan Antefix (Victoria and Albert Museum) ... ... 62 ,, 135 Scroll Enrichment of a Monument in the Church of Sta. Maria del Popolo, Rome (from "Ornamental Details of the Italian Renaissance") ... ... ... ... ... 63 ,,136 Step End, Palazzo Gondi, Florence (Victoria and Albert Museum) ... 63 „ 137 Italian Bracket of the 16th Century (Victoria and Albert Museum) ... 63 „ 138 Bronze Entrance Gates to Loggia of the Campanile, Venice ... 64 ,,139 Door from a Palace at Genoa (Victoria and Albert Museum) ... 63 ,,140 A Niche, Chateau dc Villers, Cotterets ... ... ... 65 „ 141 Low Relief Ornament, Maison Fontaine Henri, near Caen ... 65 ,,142 Corbel to Confessional Box, St. Loup, Namur ... ... 65 ,,143 Priest's Chair, Bayeux Cathedral... ... ... ... 65 „ 144 Capital on the Doorway to Council Chamber, Hotel de Ville, Andenarde 66 ,,145 Floral Tablet outside the Old Cathedral, Hanover ... ... 67 „ 146 Face Corbel on house in the Dom Platz, Halberstadt ... ... 70 „ 147 Bronze Knocker and Plate, House in Rath-haus Strasse, Hilderheim 70 „ 148 Coat of Arms in the Courtyard, Heidelberg, Castle ... ... 70 „ 149 Capital in the Crypt, Canterbury Cathedral 'sketched by Mr. R. G. Lovell, A.R.I.B.A.) ... ... ... ... 70 150 Buttress Terminal, St. Etienne, Beauvais ... ... ... 71 151 South Door, Barfreston Church, Kent ... ... ... 71 152 Grotesque Label Stop, Barfreston Church, Kent ... ... 71 153 Capital of Doorway, Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire (from a cast at the Crystal Palace) ... ... ... ... 72 154 Spandrel in North Transept, Westminster Abbey ... ... 72 155 A Capital in the Chapter House, Lincoln Cathedral (sketched by Mr. R. G. Lovell, A.R.I.B.A.) ... ... ... 73 156 Buttress Terminal, Amiens Cathedral ... ... ... 72 157 Carving in West Doorway, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris ... 72 158 Statuary in West Doorway, Reims Cathedral ... ... 74 159 Part of North Porch, Bourges Cathedral ... ... ... 75 160 Carving on Rood-Screen, Southwell Minster ... ... ... 74 161 Fourteenth Century Label Stop, Merton Church, Surrey ... ... 78 162 A Crusader's Tomb, Southwark Cathedral ... ... ... 78 163 A Sanctuary Door Knocker ... ... ... ... 74 164 Face in Hollow Moulding, Henry VII's. Chapel, Westminster Abbey 74 165 Gable to South Aisle, Andreas Kirche, Brunswick ... ... 78 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii Page Fig. 166 A Capital in the Chapter House, Southwell Minster (sketched by Mr. R. G. Lovell, A.R.I.B.A.) ... ... ... 79 „ 167 Terminal of Staircase Turret, acting as support to flying buttress, St. Etienne, Beauvais ... ... ... ... 80 „ 169 Capital lying on grass in front of Dol Cathedral ... ... 81 „ 169 Corbel for Vaulting Shaft, Norwich Cathedral (sketched by Mr. R. G. Lovell, A.R.I.B.A.) ... ... ... ... 81 „ 170 Cornice to Vestibule of Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey ... 8a ,,171 Enrichment in Hollow Moulding, Beauvais Cathedral ... ... 81 „ 172 Pew in Ufford Church, Suffolk ... ... ... ... 82 ,,173 The Gargoyles, Chateau de Blois ... ... ... ... 82 „ 174 Column at Entrance to the Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae ... 83 „ 175 Doorway, Paddlesworth Church, Kent ... ... ... 83 „ 176 Church Doorway, Salford Prior, Warwickshire ... ... 83 „ 177 Stepped Gable at Ypres ... ... ... ... 83 „ 178 Transept Gable, St. Etienne, Beauvais ... ... ... 86 ,,179 Shaft on 15th Century Tomb, Westminster Abbey ... ... 86 „ 180 Tomb of Eduand Duala at Agra ... ... ... ... 86 „ 181 Moulding found near Athens (British Museum) ... ... 87 „ 182 Continuous Fret Pattern, Langley Park, Kent (C. 1800 A.D.) ... 87 „ 183 Guilloche on Door Jamb, Palazzo di Venezia, Rome ... ... 87 „ 184 Window, Hotel LaUemande, Bourges ... ... ... 87 „ 185 Oak Door, St. Maclou, Rouen ... ... ... ... 88 „ 186 Edward the Confessor's Tomb, Westminster Abbey ... ... 87 „ 187 Base of Shaft, Shobden Church, Herefordshire (from a Cast in the Crystal Palace) ... ... ... ... ... 89 „ 188 Corner of Breiteweg and Schuh Strasse, Halberstadt ... ... 89 ,,189 rilaster on South Front, Hatfield House, Herts ... ... 89 ,,190 Staircase to Rood Loft, St. Etienne dn Mont, Paris ... ... 90 ,,191 Rood-screen, St. Etienne du Mont, Paris ... ... ... 89 ,,192 Portion of Door Panel (Victoria and Albert Museum) ... ... 94 „ 193 A Street Corner at Mainz ... ... ... ... 91 „ 194 Centre of Tarapet, Rood-loft, St. Etienne du Mont, Paris ... 94 ,,195 Fragment of Assyrian Pavement (British Museum) ... ... 94 ,,196 Capital from the Archaic Temple of Diana at Ephesus (British Museum) 95 „ 197 Capital from the Later Temple of Diana at Ephesus (British Museum) 95 „ 198 Corbel to Overhang, Halberstadt ... ... ... 95 „ 199 Enrichment on Pedestal Moulding, Later Temple of Diana at Ephesus 95 „ 200 Grseco-Roman Leaf and Tongue ... ... ... ... 95 „ 201 Enrichment on Roman Urn (British Museum) ... ... 95 ,,202 Leaf Enrichment to Mantelpiece, Langley Park, Kent ... ... 95 „ 203 Lycian Tomb (British Museum) ... ... ... ... 96 „ 204 Entablature of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (British Museum) ... 96 „ 205 Arch Moulding of the Rotunda Windows, Templars' Church, Laon ... 96 ,,206 St. Mary's Church, Dover ... ... ... ... 96 „ 207 Corbel String over Choir Arcade, St. Nicholas, Blois ... ... 97 ,,208 Jamb of South Door, Bourges Cathedral ... ... ... 97 ,,209 Detail on 12th Century House, Dol, Brittany ... ... 97 ,,210 Dog Tooth, Barfreston Church, Kent ... ... ... 99 „ 211 Corbel, Impost and Vault Rib of Rotunda, Templars' Church, Laon ... 97 ,,212 A Romanesque Archway at Lou vain ... ... ... 99 ,,213 Capital in the Chapter House, Lincoln Cathedral ... ... 98 ,,214 13th Century Diaper Ornament (Westminster Abbey) ... ... 99 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Pag, Pig. 215 Portion of Humphrey de Bohun's Monument, Hereford Cathedral (from a Cast in the Crystal Palace) ... ... ... 102 ,,216 Ornament, Yatton Church, Somerset (sketched by Mr. F. Clemes) ... 99 ,,217 Ball-flower (from a Cast in the Architectural Museum) ... ... 102 „ 218 Bark of Reredos, Peterborough Cathedral (photographed by Mr. T. R. Somerford, A.R.I.B.A.) ... ... ... 104 „ 219 Ornament on 15th Century Tomb, Westminster Abbey ... ... 102 „ 220 Enrichments of Panels in Arch Soffit, St. Guistina, Padua (from "Ornamental Details of the Italian Renaissance") ... 103 „ 221 Diaper on Rood Screen, Southwell Minster ... ... ... 104 „ 222 Leaf Enrichment, Vestibule to Henry VH.'s Chapel, Westminster ... 104 ,,223 Lower part of bay window, Henry VH.'s Chapel, Westminster ... 104 ,,224 Hathor-headed Capital ... ... ... ... 10; ,,225 Ptolemaic Lotus Capital ... ... ... ... 105 „ 226 Ptolemaic Palm Capital ... ... ... ... 105 ,, 227 Capital at Entrance to Principal Chamber in the Catacombs at Alexandria ... ... ... ... ... 105 ,,228 The Khartoum Monument, Alexandria ... ... ... 112 ,,229 Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria ... ... ... ... 112 ,,230 A Doubly supported Respond Capital (Corinthian) ... ... 113 ,,231 A Crude Roman Capital ... ... ... ... 113 ,,232 A Doric Capital ... ... ... ... ... 113 ,,233 A Greek Ionic Capital ... ... ... ... 113 ,,234 A Romano-Byzantine Ionic Capital ... ... ... 113 ,,235 A Byantine Basket Capital ... ... ... ... 113 INTRODUCTION All architects wno are accustomed to use ornamental detail for the enrichment of their buildings must have been struck with the wonderful persistence of certain types, and have become interested in considering their origin and the gradual changes which they have undergone from time to time. In fact, without this interest being aroused it is almost impossible for them to design their own ornament in accordance with the general character of their buildings, or with any sense of development. They are likely to become mere copyists, or else blunderers in the general scheme of evolution, which is still continuing as it has done from the earliest times. This interest in ornament is, too, not merely confined to architects, but involves all who enter the field of decorative design, whether their work lies in connection with buildings or with jewelry, or even with dress or china and glass. There are several methods of dealing with the subject which might be adopted. It would be possible to treat it historically, period by period or country by country, considering one architectural phase or style at a time, and treating simultaneously with all the various types of ornament employed during the same architectural epoch. If the intention were to produce mere stylists or to encourage the designers of the present day to work as archaeological copyists, at one time as classicists and another time as Goths, this would be the right system to adopt. The present tendency in ornament is, however, not to conform so rigidly as this to the precepts laid down by our remote forefathers, but to develope and if possible to originate. If we are to do this successfully, we must bear in mind how development has proceeded in the past, and it is consequently thought better, under the present circumstances, to adopt a classification by means of which it may be attempted to trace each of the principal types of ornament in sequence. A commencement is therefore made with r xv Ornament with a Foliage Basis— The Anthemion Fio. 5—Assyrian Sacred Treo (British Museum). I Facing page 2. 4 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT forms of ornament. The anthemion occurs again and again, a some- what common form being that shown in Fig. 1, which is a considerably enlarged representation of the original. Here the anthemion is shown as a seven branched leaf rising from a curiously shaped bud, and connected by a semicircular stem with an alternating ornament which consists of a circle crowned by a trefoiled leaf. In this particular case the anthemion does not suggest the lotus, but is much more 'indicative of the palm tree, particularly to those who carefully observe the many wall slabs in alabaster which line the Assyrian galleries of the museum, as at one time they lined the rooms of the great palaces at Korsabad, Kouyunjik and Nineveh. Of these, the British Museum possesses a most remarkable series, such as cannot be found elsewhere, all being originals. Unfortunately there seems to be no means of determining their sequence in point of date, but it is noticeable that 'the palm and the fir tree occur constantly, in some cases irregularly, but often arranged to represent rows along the sides of country roads or river banks, and so having a purely decorative appearance, as for instance, in the range of palm trees of which two are illustrated in Fig. 2. It is impossible to turn's one's eye from these wall slabs to the ivory ornaments in the neighbouring case (depicted in Fig. 1) without seeing that the anthemion may very possibly have been derived from the palm, at any rate so far as one of its common forms, that known as the " palmette," whose leaves branch outwardly, is concerned. Had this ornament originated certainly with the lotus, as many writers have thought, the leaves would have been less curved and more sharply pointed, for the lotus flower is always represented with a sharp point and not with a rounded end. The other principal variation of the anthemion, known as the t "honeysuckle," whose leaves, or, if we prefer to call them so, whose petals curve inwards instead of outwards, has been said to be derived from the lotus bud when not yet quite open, just as the palmette has been traced to the open lotus flower. This is a plausible explan- ation of its origin—probably in neither case will it ever be proved whether it is the true one—but, again turning to the Assyrian sculptured THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 5 wall slabs in the British Museum, ranges of trees are found from which the so-called honeysuckle ornament might very well have been derived. In this case they are fir trees, a most striking example being illustrated in Fig. 3, with trees of large and small size alternating. This particular type of the anthemion is, however, much more difficult to trace, as fewer examples exist of it in its perfected ornamental form previous to the Greek epoch. It does not occur either upon the ivories already mentioned, or elsewhere in Phoenician or Assyrian carvings, otherwise than as a range of somewhat conventionalized trees. The appearance of a distinctly decorative anthemion is perhaps first indicated in the Assyrian " sacred tree," as shown in detail in Fig. 4, and in the general photograph (Fig. 5). Of this there are several examples in the Museum. Though their date is indeterminate within some centuries between 900 and 600 B.C., they have all the appearance, so far as one can judge from the character of the carvings, of being early rather than late. The anthemion occurs here as a flower at the terminals of a stem, which twists and turns in a decorative manner almost as if it were plaited, having, in fact, some resemblance to the guilloche plait to which reference will have to be made subsequently. The flowers are all of them seven-leaved and are more analogous to the palm tree in the manner in which they spread than to the incised ivory carvings shown in Fig. 1. Whatever we trace it back to, however, there is no question at all about the occurrence of the anthemion here in a decorative sense. This is even more apparent in certain floor slabs of terra-cotta, of which the British Museum possesses several fragments. In all cases these appear to represent carpets, for their borders have fringes. These fringes, it may be noted, consist of alternate lotus flowers and buds, and give no sign in themselves of originating the anthemion, though it occurs on severed examples as one of the patterns upon the floor itself, as a continuous unvaried repeat, merely adapted to the angle where an angle occurs. This particular ornament is shown in Fig. 6, but instead of containing seven leaves, each anthemion now contains nine, showing that even during the Assyrian period there I 6 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT was no absolute rule as to the number of petals. The whole character of the ornament is otherwise precisely that of the anthemion upon the sacred tree, while the multiplication of leaves suggests the palm which, as already illustrated in Fig. 2, varied in different examples. If the necessary trouble be taken to count the leaves in Fig. 2, it will be found that one tree carries ten, while the other bears eleven. In the ornament shown in Fig. 6 there is a calix which seems to be devel- oped from the elementary calix from which the leaves spring, in Fig. 1, while the single horizontal band or tie round the stem beneath the calix on the ivory has developed into a triple band. Returning to the possibility of the anthemion having been derived from the lotus, one finds this to a certain extent borne out by crudely incised ornamentations such as that shown in Fig. 7, which belongs to the period of the Egyptian nineteenth dynasty, probably about 1300 B.C. It is thus greatly anterior to any of the Assyrian or Phoenician carvings to which reference has already been made. It shows the lotus flower both singly and in groups, at least suggesting the radial anthemion arrangement and opening up considerable possibilities of conventional design. Something much more like the honeysuckle variation of the anthemion is shown in Fig. 8, which is also a drawing of an exceedingly crudely incised ornamentation, which is Egyptian, but belonging to the Ptolemaic period, and probably executed no further back than 250 B.C., if so far. Its date is consequently subsequent to the whole of the great Greek period; but it is obviously a copy, as much of the work of that date was, of previous Egyptian ornament of a thousand years earlier, and so far may reasonably be considered as a prototype and not a sequence of the anthemion. The next definite step forward seems to be the appearance of alternating honeysuckle and palmette anthemion connected by scrolls in painted or gilded enrichments, such as that illustrated in Fig. 9, sketched from the British Museum cast of the pediment cymatium of the Temple at Aegina. The honeysuckle form seems to indicate a lotus bud origin, and consists of five petals only, while the palmette Fio. 13—Cclla Frieze of the Erechtheion, Athens, (British Museum). [ Facing page 6. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 7 consists of seven petals, and very closely indeed follows the suggestion of the anthemion on the Assyrian sacred tree and seems almost unquestionably to have a palm origin. Be this as it may—for all of these questions of origin are of little practical moment to the modern designer, so long as he recognises a type and understands how that type has developed—the various phases of this ornament already illustrated are sufficiently numerous to give plenty of suggestion to subsequent workers. Clearly the 1 Greeks did not originate the anthemion, but with their extraordinary skill and sense of refined outline they developed it and produced a considerable number of variants of it, the majority of which are of extreme beauty in themselves, while they are invariably well suited to the positions which they occupy. This may in particular be said of the antefixial ornaments which were used along the eaves of buildings of the Doric Order to act as stops to the tiles. The best known example is that illustrated in Fig. 10, being that from the Parthenon at Athens. These antefixaa, being independent ornaments, were naturally unconnected, and much skill is shown in the treatment of the scroll to make it a natural termination and support to the branching foliage which, it may be noted, now consists of no less than thirteen petals of the palmette type. The date of this is probably about 432 B.C., by which time Greek ornamental forms had become thoroughly established. Carved in marble, perhaps the most perfect of all materials for carving, and not incised in lime-stone or granite as was Egyptian work, or modelled in extremely low relief in soft alabaster slabs like the Assyrian, it is no surprise to find that the workmanship was of the highest possible quality and the modelling unexcelled in its combination of simplicity with sharpness, yet without extravagance of emphasis, and with perfect adaptation of any surface curves to the position which the work should occupy in relation to the eye. Fig. 11 perhaps illustrates better the perfection of this work. It shows a further development of the anthemion ornament upon an unusually large scale. At one time the original of this was labelled 8 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT in the British Museum, where it occupied a place among the Elgin marbles, as an antefixial ornament from Eleusis, but its great size suggests that it was more probably an akroterion or pediment terminal, though, in fact, little is known about it. Many similar ornaments are to be found as the terminals of Steles or sepulchral monuments, which invariably, as in this case, show the introduction of the acanthus leaf either in substitution for the scrolls or at their junction with the petals. It may be noted that when the anthemion is used as an isolated ornament, as in this case, it almost invariably takes the palmette form, at any rate in Greek work, except when it is introduced to hide the junction between the circular band of egg and tongue enrichment and the volutes of an Ionic capital. Another example of its use in isolated palmette form occurs in the exceptional console which flanked the door of the north portico of the Erechtheion, illustrated in Fig. 12. Possibly the most perfect examples of the anthemion enrichment anywhere in existence are those which occur in the frieze on the cella wall of this building (Fig. 13), a considerable fragment of which is in the British Museum. The palmettes consist of eleven petals each, and the honeysuckles of five true anthemion petals in addition to two lower similarly curving acanthus leaves. The scrolls are differently connected along the main face and across the face of the anta, where the enrichments are com- paratively crowded in order to properly fill the space which they have to occupy. The subtle nature of the surface curvature will be recognised in the photograph, together with the extreme precision of the carving and generally marvellous workmanship. The work was probably executed within a very short period of that upon the Parthenon, though the exact date is not known. It is clear, however, that by this time the motive had become thoroughly well recognised, and that any further changes partook only of the character of variants and gradual development according to the style and country where they were produced. There are many such variations, but attention need now be only called to some of the more prominent forms, as indicating possibilities for the future. The enrichments of the Fio. 20—Capital on West Front, Notre Dame, Poitk-rs. Fio. 21—Enrichment of Capital in the Chapol of the Pyx, Westminster Abbey. f ' v ~y,y. Fio. 22—Enrichment of Arch, Malmesbury Church Wilts. Fio. 23—Capital, Street Colonnade, Maison Historiiiue. lieauvals, A.D. 1314. [ Facing page 8. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT cymatium which crowned the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, for instance, built about 350 B.C., shows alternately three-petalled honeysuckles and eight-petalled palmettes, these being split into two halves of four petals each, as shown in Fig. 14, and, of course, without a central petal. Each of these forms was to have considerable influence upon the future changes which were to take place in the ornament. The reduction of the petals to three in the one case suggests the fleur-de-lis of a much later time, while the halving of the palmette was a device frequently used in many subsequent periods, and even also by the Greeks, as is indicated in Fig. 15, which shows a small portion of the cymatium enrichment of the Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene, which was one of the later Greek temples. An example of the anthemion, used both as a whole and as a half, occurs upon the excep- tional square capital from the same temple, shown in Fig. 16. This is carved in a softer stone than marble, and is, consequently, coarse in execution, while the whole character of the work is indicative of Assyrian influence, which seems to have dominated the ornamentation of the buildings of the Greek Ionic Order to a very large extent. The Romans adopted the anthemion and all other forms of enrichments common to the Greeks, introducing into it their own characteristics, and adding numerous variants. Possibly the most common of these is that shown in Fig. 17, in which each alternate anthemion in the band round the column is reversed, the first ornament being upright and the next pointing downwards. It is not a particularly elegant form of ornament, for the connecting scroll is exceedingly difficult to design gracefully under these circumstances. The form shown in Fig. 18 is more pleasing, though less true to the original idea. The palmette in this instance is not greatly different from the Greek form, but the honeysuckle suggests one lotus flower rising j out of another, with the leaves curled over at the tip. Between each palmette and honeysuckle there is another arrangement of three leaves, obviously derived from the same source. The workmanship is by no means so perfect as it was in the best Greek period, and the leaves partake of a curious surface crinkle or wave, the effect of which c I 1 -.5-.' -~.F<\C-hg -r■f r r rj-j ••• ~ *r «k -_-- Fw. 27—Chimnies, Chateau dc Ulois. [ Facing page 10 29—Low Heliof Ornament, Bologna. [Facing page 11. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT n them being made by means of drooping leaf buds. The ornament, as it appears here, seems to have been only faintly suggested by the Greek original; a mere tradition of a branching leaf enrichment having apparently travelled across from the continent to England at this time. A good deal of nonsense seems to have been talked about the early Norman enrichments having been invariably carved with rough tools, such as the axe, for it is impossible to look at this example without coming to the conclusion that something in the nature of a chisel must have been employed; and it is the same with a great deal more of the characteristic work of the period where any attempt at detail has been made. A much more nearly correct representation of the original anthemion appears on an arch in Malmesbury Church, illustrated in Fig. 22, the form being that in which it occurred long before on the mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The date of this is probably about 1130 A.D. With the death of the Romanesque styles, the anthemion proper \ disappeared, but it was replaced in Gothic times by a three-leaved flower known as the fleur-de-lis, which had an armorial significance. It consequently appears, as a rule, in isolation, as on the face of the column in front of the Maison Historique, at Beauvais (Fig. 23); but the capital of this same column also shows a series of connected fleurs- de-lis closely resembling the true anthemion enrichment, but treated in a Gothic spirit, and with a Gothic surrounding. The capital is quite exceptional, and as beautiful as it is rare. The occurrence of the fleur-de-lis with any suggestion of five leaves is almost unknown, but examples are to be found. There are, for instance, some on the encaustic tiles which form the pavement of the old undercroft to the monks' dormitory at Westminster, probably belonging to the fourteenth century. Something of the same sort, in fact as nearly alike as the difference of material would permit, is to be seen'on the large wrought-iron hinges of the west door of Antwerp Cathedral, illustrated in Fig. 24, those now existing being replicas of the originals, also probably made about the fourteenth century. It will be noticed that small flowers rise between the central and outer THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT in the best period of the Renaissance in Italy. Figs. 28 and 29 show two examples from Italy, differing considerably from one another, yet both founded upon the Roman. Fig. 28 shows the anthemion as a three-leaved flower of the lotus character, but reversed in the common Roman manner, as already indicated in Fig. 17. The outlining, however, is unserrated, and the surface plane. Fig. 29 shows also an example of reversal, but the anthemion is of a more purely Roman type, with serrated edges, while the scroll consists of foliage, the extreme leaf of which is turned over. There is also surface curvature. These two examples indicate that different hands and minds were at work, not slavishly copying the old, but merely adopting its suggestions in the spirit of the modern times. This, too, is the lesson to be learnt from the Florentine wall fountain illustrated in Fig. 30, much of the carved ornament upon which is of a character with which we shall deal subsequently, although a small anthemion enrichment occurs above the child's face, from the mouth of which the water spouts. The carving projects from a levelled surface as a background, and is itself of varying depth. The anthemion is almost classic in its type. Fm 37—Corinthian Capital from the Site of the Temple of Liana a1 Kphesus (British Museum). [Facing page 15. Ornament with a Foliage Basis— The Acanthus - -- < ~v. :-\_ '» .* '7 n .. .» i - ," : 4 -•• Fio. VI—Iioman Capital (The Louvre, Paris). Fio. 43—ScroUIon'base of a Roman Candelabrum (British Museum), [Facing page 17. CHAPTER II Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The Acanthus. So far as the Classic school of foliage ornament is concerned, the only type which is purely conventional is that which has already been dealt with—the anthemion and its variations—with the exception of a few minor enrichments which must be reserved for later discussion. There is, however, a large amount of naturalesque foliage, based, in Greek times entirely and in Roman and Byzantine times very largely 1 upon the acanthus leaf. This, in its natural form, is represented in Fig. 31. It is a large leaf on a stem somewhat resembling that of the rhubarb, but, as will be noticed, it is divided into a series of lobes by deep indentations, and each lobe is itself serrated along the edge with sharp saw-tooth serrations of a curiously curved outline. It is eminently a leaf which is open to conventionalization. At what time it first came to be used for the purposes of archi- tectural ornament is entirely unknown. It appears in its perfect form on the earliest example which remains, with nothing to lead up to it whatever, this example being the internal (Corinthian) order of the Tholos at Epidauros. It is next found in the frieze on the cella of the Erechtheion, which has already been illustrated in Fig. 13, though it occurs there only as the small covering leaf to the junctions between the scroll and the flowers. The Corinthian capital, however, is very , little else than a bunch of acanthus leaves, attached as ornament to a bell or basket, having tendrils for volutes; but often, in com- bination with the acanthus, there is a row of plain pointed leaves, such^as those of ordinary grass. Such are to be found on the capitals of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates at Athens, illustrated in Fig. 32, and unfortunately in a dilapidated condition. As when this photograph was taken the capital of the Tower of the Winds possessed by the British Museum was exhibited close by, a photograph of that also appears on the same illustration. It is a D 17 18 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT much later example, for the Choragic Monument was built in 335 B.C., and the Tower of the Winds not until about 150 B.C., but it shows both the plain leaf and the acanthus leaf, the plain leaf in this case being above the acanthus. A more distinct illustration of this is given in Fig. 33, in which some of the principal Greek characteristics can be recognised. The outline is sharply cut, and there is no great amount of surface curva- ture, while the lobes have the central vein of each well-defined and carried right down to the base, which is widened out and not contracted on to a stalk; the point of the whole leaf is made to curl over. The plain leaves are in strong contrast to the acanthus, but they, too, are significant of the Greek feeling in their simple and decisive lines, well defined and cleanly cut. While the name of acanthus is given to all the rich leaf foliage of this type, yet there are some writers who speak of the parsley also, and there are certainly examples, particularly in Greek work, which indicate rather the following of the parsley with its clusters, than the acanthus with its large serrated leaves. An example of this, well known to all visitors to the British Museum, is the small fragment from the temple of Diana at Ephesus, illustrated in Fig. 34, representing the enrichment of the cymatium moulding which surmounted the cornice. This photograph is given to indicate its general effect. There is a large tendril scroll continued along the cymatium and standing out from its surface, which is that of an exceedingly refined cyma recta. It is purely applied ornament in considerable relief, throwing a strong shadow in the top-lighted museum, just as it would do under the bright sun of Greece. The photograph also indicates how a gutter is cut out of stone at the back of the cymatium. The parsley char- acter of the ornament is perhaps better seen in the detail pencil sketch, Fig- 35- ^ is so sharply cut that it looks more like wax modelling than marble carving; it is just the sort of thing that could be done with the fingers in a plastic material, and it is probable that the designer started in that way rather than by making a sketch on a flat surface. The date of this example is about 350 B.C. /'f Fio. 45—Half of Capital of the 11th Century, now in Fio. 1!)—Italian Capital, ciroa 1501) A.D. (Victoria courtyard of Hotel Croix u'Or, Hoissons. and Albert Museum). I Facing paue 1S. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 19 The British Museum contains another example of the same type of work, also believed to have come from Ephesus. It is in the form of a somewhat flatly cut pilaster cap, the date of which is unknown; it is illustrated in Fig. 36. In this case the leaves do not so clearly stand out from the background as in the examples hitherto mentioned, but neither is the workmanship of Byzantine character. It is still real carving, and the leaf, which occurs beneath a tendril volute, shows both the well-separated and indented lobes of the acanthus and the crisply curled-over clusters of the parsley, these latter appearing as if they spring from the base of the deeper indentations. It thus almost appears as if this clustering variation of the acanthus foliage belonged to Syria rather than to Greece, and one would, consequently, expect to find that the true acanthus was confined more to Greece. This, however, is not borne out, for there is one Corinthian capital in the British Museum, the largest of the Greek period which is known to exist, which has been brought from the site of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and shows the true acanthus leaves in all their simplicity. This is illustrated in Fig. 37. It is elliptical in plan and considerably "better carved on the face, shown on the illustration, than it is upon the back, while there are clear indications of its having suffered both from fire and water. Nothing more is known of it; nobody has been able to give it a place in the Temple of Diana; nobody has been able to ascribe a date to it; but it does not appear to belong to the best period, for the carving is comparatively crude, and shows indications of degraded later work, as, for instance, where the points of two leaves are allowed to join in order to secure strength, and in the over- emphasizing of the hollows. If trouble be taken to compare the forms of the serrations with those upon the natural leaf illustrated in Fig. 31, it will be seen that the resemblance is considerable. It is just possible that this capital was never completed. The leaves of the lowest tier, for instance, have a bare space between them which ought to be filled with the detail of the tier behind, but is not. The supposition that this is of a late date is borne out by the great similarity between these leaves and those of certain fragments 20 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT such as that illustrated in Fig. 38, which are distinctly of the Byzantine type, having an almost flat surface and a background of unequal depth, instead of an even background and applied carving of varying depth. It is a pity that in this case, again, the date is uncertain. All that can be said is that the type of the acanthus leaf had become well established by the time that this was carved, and was now capable of adaptation to any style which might arise. The Romans used the acanthus much, changing its character, as they did all the other Greek forms of ornamentation, and varying its outline to a considerable extent. As a rule, they were not such good workmen as the Greeks, or, at any rate, they aimed at producing ■ a greater amount of effect with less precision of outline. It is also more possible to recognise in Roman work that each craftsman had a technique of his own. All that can be done, therefore, is to give a few typical examples to show what alterations were made, and to indicate that these were capable of infinite expansion—and received it to a large extent, though generally in the same spirit. Fig. 39 will indicate fairly well what this was. Two types of leaves are shown which occur round the base of a Roman column. Plain leaves and true acanthus leaves are alternately introduced, but even the plain leaves have the edges crinkled and a surface wave imparted to them. This could have been done only at the expenditure of a considerable amount of labour, and it is perhaps doubtful whether the result has justified it, but the effect is that of a growing leaf and not of a conventionalized ornament. It is the same with the acanthus, the outline of which, while still serrated, is treated in a purely natural way and not in regularly arranged curves. The bottom lobe is particularly noticeable, and may well be compared with the lobes on Fig. 31. In the illustration, an attempt has been made to indicate the surface curves, but it will be noticed that there are no veins. The same thing is illustrated even more clearly in Fig. 40, which shows one of the acanthus leaves of the pilaster capital from the internal Order of the Pantheon at Rome. The outlines are far from being conventionalized or decorative, but the result, even when viewed from a comparatively short distance, is THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 21 successful. The leaves have a natural appearance, and yet are not too entirely natural, for the detail is not fully worked out, and they are scarcely suited to the polished white marble—the material in which they are executed. It will be noticed that there is a great difference between this system of carving foliage and that of the Greeks, which was always more or less conventionalized and sharp in outline. The use of the acanthus was not now confined to a few positions only; it is found in Roman work wherever a leaf ornamentation was desired. Fig. 41 shows it as applied to a candelabrum, of which there is a cast in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Some of the upper leaves are designed with the crinkled edge even more prominently displayed than in Fig. 39, but the acanthus is less natural; the leaves are extended considerably, even so greatly as might render them fragile at the points, and the edges are both serrated and crinkled. A little further examination of the candelabrum will show that other foliage is introduced in a perfectly natural manner, but only to a minor extent. Much the same spirit permeates the acanthus foliage which is is used to a lavish extent on the Roman capital, now in the Louvre at Paris, illustrated in Fig. 42. The Ionic volute is crowded with it, and so is the drum of the return, while another long acanthus leaf is used to fill up the somewhat awkward gap above the row of egg and dart enrichments on the circularly planned echinus. The extreme shallow- ness of the capital may also be observed, but it can hardly be considered to be a typical example, but rather as an exceptional one of the later elaborated period. Work such as this has been frequently copied of recent years in softer materials than marble, in which a large amount of decoration is more justifiable. The acanthus has here been over- employed, to the destruction of simplicity of outline. That the acanthus is capable of quite free treatment and of use in many ways is indicated by Fig. 43, which shows a lightly designed scroll which appears at the base of a candelabrum of Roman date, now in the British Museum. In fact, the essence of the design is a scroll formed by a twisting tendril or stalk, which terminates in flowers 22 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT and buds, the acanthus leaf being only used to conventionally suggest some ornamental leaf growing out of a stalk, where needed for decor- ative purposes and for covering the j unctions of the tendrils. Any other leaf could have been similarly employed, but if the flowers had repre- sented those of some definitely recognizable plant the leaves also should have been those of the same plant—of course, in a conventional form. It will thus be seen that the Romans fully understood that the acanthus was a conventional leaf which could be employed in many j different ways and places. They used it in wreaths in high relief, as well as for the enrichment of capitals and in low relief in scrolls; in fact, they seem to have fallen back upon it as their standard method of ornamentation wherever a rich carved effect was desired. Wherever the Romans went they took with them the traditional employment of the acanthus, and although there are few, if any, remains of its use upon Roman buildings throughout the great districts of the Rhine, of France and of England, where the Roman power was 'predominant, yet the acanthus appears again and again upon the subsequent Romanesque work of those vast districts, which was obivously based upon remains such as the Romans must have left behind. Strangely enough, its use is again almost entirely confined to capitals, as it had been in the time of the Greeks, and these capitals partake of a Corinthian character. This is very clearly indicated, for example, in the east door of Mainz Cathedral on the Rhine, shown in Fig. 44, the capitals of which might almost be of Roman execution, with their well-projecting leaves of pronounced acanthus in two tiers, and even with the little primrose-like flower introduced in one case similarly to those which are shown on Fig. 43. The cutting of the edges, however, is not of the purely natural character to which we have previously referred, but is almost always of a somewhat spiky type, such as is indicated in Fig. 45, which illustrates an example that, although it has not come from the Rhine, but from Soissons, in the north of France, is equally indebted to the Roman occupation of the district for its origin. A close examination of this illustration will show that it contains really two types of edge treatment, the two upper [ Facing page 22. Fio. 55—Choir Stull In St. Onier Cathedral. [Facing page 23. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 23 lobes being somewhat of the sharp character which is generally con- sidered representative of the Greek or Byzantine school, while the lower lobe has the rounded serrations of the Roman: more like the form shown in Fig. 46, which belongs to a district, that of Poitou, several hundre miles distant from the Rhine, but equally under Roman influence. The leaf in this case can only by courtesy be called an acanthus leaf at all, as it is one broad leaf, with deep serrations, and not a leaf of several lobes. The Corinthian volutes are replaced by four-petaled flowers, which rest upon the tips of the leaves. This original and very beautiful little capital was probably executed about 550 A. D., and belongs to the small and comparatively little-known Baptistry of St. Jean at Poitiers, a general view of the apse of which is given in Fig. 47. The actual capital illustrated in Fig. 46 is one of the small ones of the wall arcade of the apse; the larger ones, which carry the impost of the apse archway, are of the more ordinary Corinthian type. This building at Poitiers is several hundred years older than those at Soissons and Mainz, already referred to, so that the Poitiers capital cannot be considered to be a development, but rather an eccentricity—a mere exceptional variant of a persistent type, of which another illustration is given in Fig. 48, from the wall arcade of the north transept of Laon Cathedral in north France, not far from Soissons, where it appears in conjunction with the pointed arch and belongs to the latter part of the twelfth of the early part of the thirteenth century. The acanthus leaves are here of the ordinary Roman character, but the great interest of the illustration lies in the fact that two adjacent capitals are shown, one of them being acanthus carved, while the other consists of similarly arranged broad leaves curling over at the points; in other words, the well-known crochet cap of the early Gothic period in northern France. Glancing from one to the other, it is quite obvious that they are of the same origin; the broad chochet leaves, which appear to be those of the hart's tongue fern, are little else than acanthus leaves without serrations, while the closely knotted "crochet " or hook at the point is only a tightened form of the usual termination of the acanthus leaf in Roman Corinthian work. 24 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT Except in a few French examples of an early date, obviously in pure succession to the work of the Romanesque period, there is no attempt at representing the acanthus while the Gothic styles dominated European architecture, but, with the advent of the Renaissance, it was introduced again. It is to be found in Italy, France, Germany and England, always Roman in its character until quite recent times and during the short period when, in England in particular, the inspiration of the modern work was taken direct from Greece. Thus the Italian capital, illustrated in Fig. 49, is highly suggestive of the purely Roman. Though the outline is slightly conventionalized, it is clearly nothing else than a replica of the Roman work of which there still remains a great deal in Italy; yet this was not the true spirit of the Renaissance which, above everything, introduced originality of treat- ment while adopting the old forms. So we find it in Fig. 50, which is quite typical of the larger work of the period—a capital from an Italian chimney-piece, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. A dolphin's head has here replaced the volute, but the acanthus leaves of the normal Corinthian capital are still in evidence and of purely Roman outline. It will be noticed particularly, that the lobes are distinct, and that the veining is arranged with regard to the separate lobes rather than the whole leaf. This is sometimes found in Roman work, but is a much more frequent characteristic of the Italian Renaissance. The relief is high, the carving being true carving, as in the Roman period, but several liberties are taken, as, for instance, in giving fins of acan- thus to the dolphin. The treatment of another Italian capital, Fig. 51, taken from a door of a private chapel in one of the Genoese churches, again illustrates the point that the Renaissance workers adopted the old Classic tradition of the acanthus, but used it in a new spirit, inventing many different forms of capital in which it could be employed, yet all variations of the Corinthian or the Composite. In this case the curves of the serrations along the leaf are similar to those which are found in the little Romano-Gallic Baptistry at Poitiers, illustrated in Fig. 46, only here each triplet of serrations forms a lobe of the leaf. A quite distinct and much more free treatment of the acanthus Facing page L'4. Fio. 57—'Roman Naturalesque Capitals (British Museum). Fia. 56—Roman Column (Victoria and Albert Museum). Fio. 58—Itoman Urn from Syrenaica (British Museum). Facing page 25. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 25 is that upon the well-known Marsuppini tomb at Florence, a portion of which is illustrated in Fig. 52. It is here treated as a natural wild plant, in low relief and ragged in outline, arranged with little formality, but with a great deal of freedom and swing, and rising from the foot of the monument as if it there grew direct from the ground and termin- ated in scrolls which carry flowers. Connecting tendrils are carried across and across from one main stem to the other. This has been called a good example of an indifferent period, and perhaps it is false art to work in so entirely natural a manner, but the execution is marvellously fine, and the effect, at any rate, is pleasing, even if it be a trifle over- crowded. In this case the serrations are more or less spiky in their nature. A suggestion that the acanthus might be used in the form of a freely designed scroll is found in the cornice enrichment of some Greek temples (see Fig. 35), and again in the scroll at the base of the Roman candelabrum illustrated in Fig. 43. This suggestion was adopted largely during the Renaissance period, both in Italy and elsewhere. There is an exceedingly beautiful example, though it is by no means an isolated one, in the scroll which enriches the architrave surrounding the principal door to the well-known Miracoli Church at Venice. The base of this is illustrated in Fig. 53, showing how the scroll rises from a cluster of acanthus leaves, and is itself formed of a winding tendril from which leaves and flowers spring. The same sort of thing was adopted in many other instances, and in all countries where the Renais- sance style was employed. Another very fine and well-known example is the similarly placed scroll in the architrave of the great door to the Church of the Madeleine at Paris. In spirit the principle is exactly that of the Miracoli scroll, but the tendril is less obvious, the acanthus leaves covering the whole surface and being closely intertwined and executed in comparatively high relief, in this case in black marble in contradistinction to the white marble used in most Italian examples. It is not necessary to give "many examples of the use of the acan- thus outside Italy during the period\Of the Renaissance, for it is difficult to find any fresh inspiration, but perhaps it may be of some interest Fio 61.—Oak Panel, Choir Stulls, ^t. Gertrude, Louvain. [ Facing page 26. Ornament with a Foliage Basis—Miscellaneous Foliage of the Classic and Renaissance School Fio. 66—West Door, St. Maclou, Rouen. [ Facing page 30. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 31 The scroll is also sometimes found in Roman work, but it is perhaps more prominent as based on the acanthus than as belonging to the school of miscellaneous foliage. It does appear, however, in this con- nection in Byzantine work, and so does a system of foliage ornament springing from a centre line. These are important types which will be found to be used to a large extent in the Renaissance period, but for the moment attention may be concentrated upon them as they appear on one of the Byzantine shafts standing in the great piazza of St. Mark at Venice (Fig. 59). The scroll upon the shaft itself may be described as double, the two side scrolls being symmetrical about a central panel, whose arrangement is axial. The leaves here are those of the vine, while grapes constitute the fruit. In the capitals, however, it is not so easy to distinguish what the leaves are intended for, but the arrange- ment is again symmetrical. Of course, the carving is of the Byzantine character, the background being incised. This compels a certain amount of conventional treatment, as it is only by true carving that natural leaf, flower and fruit forms can be shown with their proper modelling. Each of the types of ornament thus established in Roman times was resuscitated during the Renaissance period and used in many countries and at different times. As a general rule, it may be conceded that each was indicative of some particular period or of some individual artist's work, the latter being in all probability of more influence than the former. It is well to take each type in the order in which it has been dealt with just now. Purely natural carving, illustrative of leaves and flowers and fruit, is not found to a large extent in Italy, but occasionally an example can be pointed to, it being in every case possessed of extreme beauty. The example taken for illustration (Fig. 60) occurs on a door in the Via S. Stefano, Bologna. The door itself is enriched with panels, the ornamentation of which is in beaten bronze representing natural vine leaves and tendrils and bunches of small grapes in flowing patterns which depart but little from the method of growth of the natural vine. The marble jamb is also enriched with natural foliage, the Fio. 75—Staircase Newel, Hotel de l'Enipereur, Brussels. [Facing pnae 33. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 33 On the other hand at Namur we have true oak carving, but the twisted columns themselves look weak, and are unsatisfying; while at St. Omer, though the carving looks as if it were applied or as if it would be better if executed in beaten metal, the structure lines are preserved and there is plenty of rest for the eye, giving an artistic sense of fitness to the whole. The wreath or swag became a much more prominent enrichment during the Renaissance period than the purely natural foliage. It has been used largely, particularly on great buildings and generally in very high relief, and examples of it are to be found in all countries during their strongest Renaissance period. Fig. 64 illustrates an example from a church in Rome, where it occurs in a frieze round the building, just beneath the lower entablature and on a level with the capitals of the lower order. The swags are supported from knots of ribbon, and have terminal drops which consist of fruit, just as do the wreaths or swags themselves, the segmental space above the latter being filled in with Cupids' heads. The carving is entirely of a bold type, but not yet over-emphasized, having, as is usual in Italy, a perfect sense of relationship of part to whole, and not claiming too much attention to itself. This class of carving does not seem to have been employed to so great an extent in France as it was in England, where it was adopted to a considerable degree, particularly in the work of Wren and his successors. The idea of the wreath had, how- ever, reached England long previously. It is to be found in Elizabethan work, particularly on such tombs as that illustrated in Fig. 65, which at one time stood in the Rolls' Chapel in Chancery Lane, London, but disappeared when that chapel was destroyed some ten years ago. There is a wreath over each of t.ie arched openings, suspended from the centre by a head, and itself consisting almost entirely of fruit, amongst which grapes are prominent; but the wreath is not con- tinuous, as in the greater examples, the fruit being broken up into bunches. This method of treatment is somewhat uncommon in the actual swags, but it is often to be found, in English work, in the drops from their points of suspension, and similar treatment was occasionally F 34 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT adopted in France, an example being shown in the woodwork of the external door of St. Maclou at Rouen (Fig. 66). The grape again appears as well as apples and other fruits of the district; in fact, its occurrence is so universal, even in England, as to show that it must have been very much cultivated here, as it still is over a great part of Europe. It may be noticed in respect of this illustration that the white line represents an ivory two-foot rule, which was placed against the door, to indicate its size, when the photograph was taken. The bunches of foliage here are quite distinct, each bunch being tied round at the stalks, and all having the appearance of attachement to a central stem of rope. This work belongs to the middle of the sixteenth century. Grinling Gibbons, the great carver of Wren's days, used natural foliage largely. His work is not all of the same type, for although the master exercised a general control, it is obvious than many hands were employed and that each gave his own individuality to that which he carried out. Thus, while there is a great deal of powerful stone- carved foliage, mainly wreaths, on the exteriors of the London churches, and particularly upon St. Paul's Cathedral, there is an equally large amount of comparatively delicate wood carving in the interiors. In much of it the foliage is in the form of heavy swags, but occasionally it is naturalesque, though the swag or wreath suggestion generally underlies the design. This is the case with the carving upon the pulpit which now stands in the Church of St. Margaret, Lothbury (Fig. 67), which is, as it were, a combination of the purely natural treatment with the wreath. The carving is slight is character, and the central portion stands right away from the background. As will be seen, there is a suspended wreath with its drops, as usual, but the flowers are lightly strung together and are of all descriptions, the rose and lily being clearly indicated, while the grape occurs in the lower portion of the drop. The scroll has always been largely employed in Renaissance foliage ornament. It is admirably adaptable to either light or heavy treatment, but has been mostly introduced in a comparatively light form. An example of its use in early Italian work is shown in the 36 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT England. The curves are all of a graceful character, and are designed so as to well cover the space without much interlacing or crossing, and use is made both of the cornucopia and dolphin in this particular instance, as well as of foliage branching from a slender stem. The tendency is to develope a liking for free curves and an appreciation for their beauty, which was satisfactory enough here. Later on, in France and in Belgium particularly, the pleasure of revelling in curved forms seems to have drawn the designers somewhat away from basing their work upon any structural centre or line, and the scrolls and wreaths of the Rococo period, as illustrated in the door from the Grande Rue Notre Dame at Abbeville, shown in Fig. 73, indicate how far this tendency could be carried. The moulding of the upper panel is itself designed with an outline of free curvature, so much so round its upper portion as to suggest that the mould- ing is independent of the door, which, of course, it is not; the effect is rich, but not quite satisfying when critically examined. At the same time the leaves lost definite character. This is perhaps more clearly indicated in the Rococo gable at Malines, of which a sketch is given in Fig. 74, where the stems, if they can be called such, have them- selves scroll terminations or form portions of the architrave mouldings of window opening—in once case, at least, of a contorted form. This class of work was almost entirely confined to woodcarving and plaster, in which latter material the gable at Malines has been carried out. It is most fitted for decorative work, a fine example occurring on the foot of the newel of the staircase in the older part of the well-known Hotel de l'Empereur, at Brussels, shown in Fig. 75. Unfortunately, at the time when this sketch was made the proprietor was talking of rebuilding the older part of the hotel, so that possibly the staircase may now have been destroyed; if so, it is to be hoped that this newel has been preserved or introduced into a new staircase. Panel decoration, based upon a centre line, though rare in true Classic work, was the most important of all during the period of the Italian Renaissance. In many instances it illustrates very clearly the well-known fact that the early Renaissance workers were primarily 38 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT A fine example of a richly decorated Italian altar-tomb (Fig. 80) now stands in the north transept of Dol Cathedral, in Brittany. The The pilasters carrying the entabluture to the altar and also those carrying the main entablature are both decorated on the central line system, but the enrichment of the smaller pilasters is not carved but formed by incising the marble and filling the hollows with a black sub- stance level with the marble face, thus giving the effect of an inlay. Occasional examples are to be found of the inlaid material, consisting of coloured marble, but, as a general rule, a black composition is used. Where it is employed externally, lead has sometimes been^found to have replaced the composition. Facing page 39. Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The English Gothic School Fio. 85—Capital In the Elder T.ady Chanel. Bristol Fio. 87—Portion of Scroll Enrichment of Door Jamb, Cathedral (sketched by Mr F. 0lemes) . Chapter House, Westminster Abb**y. [ Facing page 40 CHAPTER IV Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The English Gothic School. The foliage carving of the Gothic period was entirely distinct from that of Classic tendency. It had its own origin and ran its own inde- pendent course, particularly in England, where there are few remains extant of anything so early as the Roman occupation, and even these having been buried, and for all practical purposes not existent, during the Middle Ages. Besides this, the influence of even contemporary work upon the Continent appears to have been little felt. Development there had a different origin, and while, to a certain extent, a similarity of sequence can be traced, yet, upon the whole, it is marvellous how distinctive is the English work, and yet how uniform it is throughout the whole of England; much the same in Somerset as in Yorkshire, and in Cheshire as in Lincolnshire, during any particular generation, with comparatively little to indicate the influence of any one craftsman or to differentiate the work of one man from that of another. The first indication that there was to be a fresh evolution of foliage carving is to be seen in some of the Norman capitals, such as that illustrated in Fig. 81, from the small south door of Southwell Minster. Here the ornamentation upon the capital is mainly of the nature of a scroll, conforming with the outline of the scallops and incised after the manner of Byzantine ornament; but above the scroll occurs a series of elementary leaves, and another trefoil leaf is to be found carved on the face of the stonework just above the door itself and beneath the arch. If these have an origin at all, it is to be found in the anthem- ion, but it is difficult to trace. Examples such as this are not entirely exceptional, and one even finds occasionally that the leaf developes a trifle further, as in the terminals shown to the curiously extended tail of the animal, forming a capital of Norman date, now lying in the G 42 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT vestibule of the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey and illustrated in Fig. 82. The leaf is here of a more natural type, closely conforming to a good deal of the foliage ornament which is to be found upon con- temporary illuminated manuscripts. These, however, only appear to have been tentative efforts. More is perhaps to be said for the broad leaves shown in Fig. 83, which represent those of the hart's-tongue fern before it has completely opened, and while the tips are curled over in a tight knot. Such capitals as these are occasionally found in late Norman work all over the country, but particularly along the eastern coast, from Dover in the south to Newcastle in the north, and wherever Continental in- fluence was strongly asserted. It is much more common in France than in England, and can only be considered, as used here, to have been of foreign introduction. It is Norman and not, correctly speaking, Gothic; but it gives the first clue to the inspiration of Gothic carved foliage, which went straight back to nature, utterly regardless of precedents. Thus, as soon as the early Gothic style became fully established in the early part of the thirteenth century, we find an entirely new spirit at work. The idea of the broad leaf is put aside in England, but the suggestion contained in the half-opened tip of the fern is preserved. Thirteenth-century foliage is essentially that of the early spring. A good illustration of this is to be found in the large amount of such enrichment which occurs in Lincoln Cathedral, an example of which, from the wall arcade of the main south transept, is shown in Fig. 84. Already the principle had become well established; the foliage rises from the necking of the capitals in a number of narrow stalks, and then curls over immediately the obstruction of the overhanging portion is met with, intertwining and at times attempting to grow over and around it, but always acting like the young foliage of early spring, with knotted half-open buds and occasional half-formed trefoil or cinquefoil leaves, whose identity it is as difficult to distinguishjas it is in nature. The carving is always crisp and admirably executed, sometimes bold and sometimes of light design, according to the work- Fio. 96—Capital from Kingston Seymour, Somerset (sketched by Mr. F. Clemes). FIo. 97—Capitals in the North Chantry, Lincoln Cathedral. Fio. 98—Cornice Enrichment over Entrance to South Aisle, Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster. ilk; Fio. 99—Carved Wood Spandrel in North Porch, Merton Church, Surrey. I'm. 102—Label Stop, Uppingham School Chapel (sketched by Mr. A. E. Middleton). [Facing page 43. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 43 man employed and the position where it is used, but always of the same perfect workmanship, whether it be in a great cathedral or a little village church. The example from Bristol Cathedral, given in Fig. 85, shows how the same general idea was occasionally adopted in connection with a less pronounced bell, the leaves in this case growing more out of the capital and having less indication of the stem having sprung originally from the necking. There is obviously a different hand at work, and to a certain extent a different recognition of the same root idea—the treatment of spring foliage—which one could only expect, considering how far Bristol is from Lincoln. It is an example of comparatively formal treatment, just as that at Lincoln indicates the early stiffly rising stalks and the free and graceful leaves of young spring shoots or seedlings. At Westminster Abbey there appears to have been more freedom, though to what this is due is quite in doubt, except, it may be, that the Abbey was wealthy and that the carvers were free to lavish any amount of skill on every tiny piece of work. Fig. 86 is sufficient in itself to show how they must have revelled in what they were doing: taking a bunch of natural leaves, tying them together, turning them in this way and that way, and then conventionalizing in the freest possible manner, undercutting where necessary to obtain strong shadows and even allowing the foliage to grow right over the projecting upper mem- ber below the abacus. The foliage, too, was not confined to the capitals of shafts; it is to be found in many a beautiful spandrel piece, and, in Lincoln Cathedral, even between the main pier shafts, and in Westminster Cloist- ers also, as independent leaves or crockets of spring type. In the Chapter House at Westminster, foliage is found as a constantly repeated double scroll in a vertical hollow moulding, of which a portion is shown in Fig. 87. This, like much of the Westminster work, gives some suggestion of Continental influence, where similar scrolls are more often found (though they are rare everywhere). The constantly recurring trefoil leaf, with its central rib, may be noted—the most 44 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT characteristic leaf of all of this period, though one with five bulbs is also frequently to be observed. The rounded character of the West- minster example is somewhat exceptional, and is another indication of French influence. Similar foliage also occurs in the arch mouldings of the Triforium, as shown in Fig. 88, the variety being extraordinary. In the example given, the leaves radiate from centres, and form, as it were, a series of bosses along the moulding; and they show a tendency to extend beyond their bounds and to cover everything, which suggests that the original idea of spring was giving way to a certain extent to one of summer's luxuriance—a sure sign that the thirteenth century was advancing. Right up to its close, however, the general type was fairly well retained, being displayed almost in its perfection in one of the bunches of leaves acting as a corbel to the piscina in Merstham Church, Surrey (Fig. 89), while the pair corbel to it (the nearer one) has leaves of quite a different type—still with a central stem, but more rectangular in outline, with the convolutions separated, not by mere cuts, but by deep circular hollows. At first sight it would appear as if these two were executed at different times by different workmen, one belonging purely to the thirteenth and the other to the fourteenth century; they are so entirely characteristic of each. But this is not the case; so far as is known, they are contemporary and by the same hand. It only indicates that a new fashion was taking the place of the old one, which had held sway over the whole country and for a considerable period. In fact, summer was overtaking spring, and in this instance they are to be found, not gradually merging into one another, but side by side, just as the fully developed summer leaves on some plants are to be seen in our fields at the same time as the early shoots of others. Very much the same thing occurs—though in one instance only— in the arcade of the approach to the Chapter House at Southwell Minster, where the carving is known to have been executed within a year or two of 1300 A. D. In the instance given in Fig. 90, the fully THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 45 developed thirteenth-century leaf appears in two tiers in the capital, the upper tier well undercut, and, in fact, quite clear of the bell behind, but still of the springlike outline; while the small leaf above, displaying a portion of the bough, is the fully developed summer leaf of the May tree which, as all of us know in England, comes to its full foliage at an early period of summer. In all the rest of the most wonderful series of foliage carving at Southwell, the leaves are of a natural and early summer type, and are perfectly recognisable. In the approach to the Chapter House, the work is not quite so fine as in the Chapter House itself, but Fig. 91 is another example from the approach in which the May flower is to be seen in conjunction with its leaf in the recess of the window opening, while other leaves occur in the boss above which carries the hood moulding. There is still a certain amount of vertical tendency in the carving, and this is retained even in the well- known capitals, shown in Fig. 92, of the doorway of the Chapter House, which constitutes the most wonderful piece of stone carving which England possesses. The leaves stand perfectly clear of the surface behind, undercut in a manner which appears marvellous to the carvers of the present day. Every leaf is perfectly lifelike, and with each is associated its natural flower, berry or nut, indicating that the carvers did not feel themselves absolutely tied at this time to the representation of the foliage of any particular season. Here, in the same group, we have the May flower and the hawthorn leaf, the vine leaf and young grape, and the oak leaf with its acorn, which, as all observers of nature know, does not put in its appearance until the summer is well advanced. The representation is so lifelike that the photograph has almost the appearance of having been taken from clusters of the foliage itself, and this in spite of the fact that six hundred years have elapsed since the carving was executed. The stone shows scarcely any sign of weathering, but here and there the carving has'sufferedjfrom deliberate or accidental destruction, as, for instance, in the hollow moulding in the jamb, from the lower portion of which it has been entirely knocked away, showing how the undercutting may possibly have been done by drilling through before the stone was laid, and nnishingjthe surface 46 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT afterwards. The same process, however, could hardly have been applied to the capitals. One little point to notice is the character of the natural stem from which the leaves grow. This has all the appearance of the younger growth of wood and not of a substantial bough, while it is shown in each instance as lying upon the surface with its cut end displayed, and not as growing out of the necking of the capital, indicating that the carvers did actually take natural leaves and little branches for their models. Of conventionalization, there is absolutely none at all. Unfortunately, there is very little work of this purely natural character anywhere in the world; there is certainly none which is superior to that at Southwell, where, if it was not done by one hand, it must have been all under one influence—an influence so strong as to have changed the whole idea of the carving of its time, from that of conventionalized spring foliage to the representation of the natural foliage of summer, which remains the principal characteristic of the English work from the year 1300, during the period of the great wars with France, until the breaking out of the plague known as the " Black Death " in 1349. A somewhat exceptional example is illustrated in the capital from Berkely Chapel at Bristol Cathedral (Fig. 93), where the leaves are shown as clustering more round the bell, while the stems are somewhat prominent. A further example (Fig. 94) is from the only fragment now remaining of Bishop Danderby's shrine in Lincoln Cathedral, probably carved about the year 1335. The leaves are now larger, but the fact that they are not undercut merely indicates that they are not the work of the great Southwell carver, for scarcely any other work is to be found which is like his in this respect. The greater size of the leaves, however, and their detachment, are sure indications of a somewhat later date; they are the leaves of late, rather than early, summer, and are not always so easily traced to their natural origin. It may also be remarked that there is by no means so much carving in England of this period as of the previous century. The greater churches were already built, while the country was impoverished, being Fio. 100— Screen in Br'stol Cathedral: Part of Cresting, &c. (Sketched hy Mr. F. demes.) Fio. 101—Choir Stalls in Henry VIII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey. [Facing Page Fio. 103—Capital Id Martin Kirchc, Brunswick. Fio. 105—Holy Water Stoup, Notro Dame, Chalons sur Marnc. Fio. 104—Romanesque Cornice, St. Sauveur, Dinan Fio. 107—Angle Capitarand Vault Rib of Porch of the Templar's Church, Laon. Facing pgne 47. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 47 drained of its money in order to prosecute the French wars. Carving, where it occurs, is generally found upon small ornaments, such as this at Lincoln and the three great tombs in Westminster Abbey, of which an illustration is given in Fig. 95. These belong to the period just precedent to the occurrence of the "Black Death." The spandrel carving, in particular, is noticeable, from the natural character of the leaves, which, like those at Lincoln, represent the period of late summer, still well modelled, but not quite so crisp as at an earlier date, and, in fact, c jmparatively flatly treated. The scale of the photograph is, however, somewhat small for all the detail to be well observed; but it may be noticed, on close examination, that the leaves grow upon the capitals in quite a natural manner, and that the crockets also grow leaf above leaf in regular sequence, rounded in outline and connected. At an earlier period they would have been detached from one another, and at a late dater they would have been angular. The " Black Death" proved to be such a terrible scourge as to practically stop all building operations until a generation grew up which was not affected by it. Yet, strangely enough, when, about the year 1400, building recommenced, it did so upon the same tradition and almost in unbroken sequence with what had gone before. It is perhaps impossible to put an exact date to the capital from Kingston Seymour, shown in Fig. 96, but it belongs to about this period. The leaves have opened out and are still modelled in a perfectly natural manner, but the modelling is that of an old and not of a new leaf; the carvers have gone to nature, but have preferred to copy the foliage of summer or autumn. This tendency shows itself more and more as time goes on, combined with a gradual hardening of the outline into more or less rectangular forms, and an occasional crisp serrating of the larger leaves. Both these tendencies are indicated in Fig. 97, which shows two capitals from the northern chantry in Lincoln Cathedral, known to have been executed about the year 1439. The leaves upon the capitals are exaggeratedly large, with huge ribs and serrations, while those in the hollow moulding above show a tendency towards a rectangular outline, with each lobe formed as an approximately rect- 48 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT angular trefoil, the leaves being connected by a continuous knarled stem, which, as will be noticed, has been accidentally broken away in one place. Two things are clear. One of these is that the mason has been copying autumnal foliage, and the other that he has conven- tionalized it and has executed his stone carving from a wax or clay model, and not immediately from nature. The fashion thus established about this date seems to have been retained for something like a hundred years; in fact, during the whole of what is known as the Perpendicular Gothic period. The foliage is everywhere autumnal and flat, and there is a large amount of it, varying comparatively little in general character. The example given in Fig. 98 from Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster, is closely allied to that in Fig. 97, in spite of its much later date. The only change is that between early and late autumn. A good deal of the carving of this time which still remains to us has been carried out in wood and not in stone. A small but typical example is given in Fig. 99, taken from the north porch of Merton Church, Surrey. The treatment is flat, and the cutting such as is eminently suited to the sharp chisel of the wood carver, rather than to the blunt tool of the mason. The leaf has been conventionalized out of recognition, but it is well modelled upon the surface, in addition to being well serrated. A more precisely cut example, so far as the leaves, at any Jate, are concerned, and more recognizable as to what the leaf is intended to represent is that shown in Fig. 100, illustrating a small portion of the cresting of the screen in Bristol Cathedral, with its sharp autumnal twisted bough, its crisp angular leaves, conventionally representing those of the vine, and the knots of grapes and the twisted tendrils. The steadily increasing appearance of the bough or stem, and the disappearance of the leaf, is another indication of the later period in England. This was rarely carried to the extreme of displaying the bare bough of winter, as the Reformation put a sudden stop to the development of English Gothic work; but even this is to be seen in the canopies of the choir stalls in Henry Vn.'s Chapel, Westminster Fio. 108—Capitul in Choir Arcade, Lisieux Cathedral. Fio. 110—Portion of Leaf Capital, Knights' Hall, Mont 8t. Michel. [Facing page 48. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 49 (Fig. 101), which are amongst the latest specimens of Gothic carving in the country. A few leaves are to be observed, here and there, of a greatly decayed type, such as might be left throughout the whole of winter time upon a tree from which the greater number had fallen, but the foliage, if foliage it can be called, consists almost entirely of bare twisted boughs, not easily distinguisahble in a photograph from the tracery of the canopy head itself. How it came about we cannot now determine, but it is clear to any who have observed closely that there is this regular sequence in Gothic foliage carving, following that of nature. That while the thirteenth cen- tury represents the spring, that of the fourteenth century more than indicates the summer, and that of the fifteenth century denotes the autumn merging into winter. Occasionally divergencies from this, such as the appearance of the acorn amongst the early summer foliage of Southwell Chapter House, cannot be taken to disprove the general tendency; they only go to show that the carvers were not working with deliberation. It is, in fact, impossible to believe that the men of the thirteenth century, with their ideas of spring and opening life, could have had any foreknowledge of what their grandsons and their grandsons' grandsons' might do. They could not have known that those who were to follow them would supersede spring by summer and summer by autumn. Even the later men may not have recognised what they were doing. They followed a gradually changing fashion, which for the period was universal throughout the country. Neither of these facts seems to have been fully appreciated during the Gothic revival of fifty years ago. In all the books of that time the thirteenth and the fifteenth century foliage is spoken of as con- ventional; the first as stiff-leaved or stiff-stalked, and the last as rectangular. To a certain extent the writers were correct, but had they recognized the succession of the seasons, probably better work would have been done by the masons who put their theories into practice. With workmanship which fell little short of that of their Gothic fore- fathers, and with an almost equal appreciation of beauty of form, they occasionally committed incongruities, such as the introduction of the H 50 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT autumnal grape amongst a group of spring leaves, as shown in Fig. 102, which illustrates one of the terminals to a hood moulding in the chapel connected with Uppingham School. Fio. 115—Thistle Carving, North Door, West Front, Tours Cathedral. [Facing page 51. Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The Gothic School of the European Continent CHAPTER V Ornament with a Foliage Basis—The Gothic School of the European Continent. The Romanesque and Gothic foliage ornament of the continent of Europe, while it synchronised with that of Great Britain, differed from it materially in inspiration and in local characteristics, though if we except Italy and Spain, where Gothic art was an exotic, we find that there was no marked difference of type or motive once the English Channel was crossed. It may be said at once, however, that the rule already laid down that the 13th century foliage was that of spring, while that of the 14th century represented summer, and that of the 15th century autumn, was observed and was carried even further in some respects than in England. The entirely different spirit in which this sequence was adopted, and the universal acceptance of the same spirit in continental examples of similar date, seem to have been due to the general conditions prevailing. This is as might be expected. England, isolated by the sea, was at peace within itself for several centuries, and free to develope village communities and an agricultural population, living in isolated cottages of small villages clustered round a country church and with no attempt at fortification. The life was free and pastoral. The churches were served mainly by secular priests, while those priests who were attached to the monastic orders also lived quiet and peaceful lives, having their houses either in the great towns, where their abbeys formed the present cathedrals, or else completely isolated in the country. On the continent of Europe the conditions were very different; there was constant warfare, constant raiding; the unprotected village was a practical impossibility; the populace was compelled to live in walled towns. Warfare was the rule rather than peace, and the great cathedrals rose within walled cities, 53 54 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT as the churches belonging to a community and served by secular priests, and were not growths of a monastic system. These remarks apply more particularly to the early periods, but they are sufficient to show that there was good reason why English carvers should find their inspiration more directly in natural foliage than the carvers of France and Germany. During the Romanesque period there were two traditional influences at work in Europe, and, from what has been already said, it will be recognized that these were likely to be strongly felt. Throughout the districts which had been under Roman sway at a much earlier date—that is, along the trade route passing northwards up the Valley of the Rhine into Germany and again along the similar route which passed from Italy westwards across the Riveria and then northwards into France—a great deal of Romanesque carving is to be found, which is closely allied to the Roman and Byzantine. Two examples are given, each from the extremity of one or other of these routes. Fig. 103 shows an almost pure Corinthian capital from the Martin Kirche at Brunswick, which is about as far as the influence of the Rhenish trade route extended. It will be noticed that there are two rows of acanthus leaves, but that the volutes terminate with trefoil leaves and that the rectangular outline of the stone from which the capital has been cut can be clearly traced in the upper portion of it. This may be remarked as being by no means an isolated example, but as typical of a large amount of work, such as is to be found over a territory of considerable length but narrow in width, extending almost to the Baltic in a direct line north from the Alps. It has already been referred to in the second chapter of this volume, one of its most western examples being illustrated in Fig. 48, which showed two capitals in the wall arcade of the north transept of Laon Cathedral—one of which does not differ very greatly from the present example, while the other displays a similar arrangement of the leaves without serrations and with the tips curled over into a tight knot. Fig. 104 is an illustration of the same true Romanesque influence as found at the extremity of the French trade route, in the Church / A 1.' Fio. 117—Crocket and Fintal to Archway in the Courtyard of ti>e Hotel de Ville, Abbeville. [ Facing page 55. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 55 of St. Sauveur, at Dinan in Brittany. The acanthus leaves are here as perfectly of Roman type as they are at Brunswick, but the district was reached by a different route. While this Romanesque type of ornament was in general use along the two trade routes mentioned and in the districts controlled thereby, there was quite a different influence at work along the coast— that of the Scandinavian pirates, who, as Danes and Anglo-Saxons, had made England their principal home, but also occupied a great part of the northwestern coast line of France. The ornament due to this influence was most of it devised upon a lineal basis and will consequently be dealt with later on, but there was a good deal in England and along the coast of France into which foliage was introduced, the influence of the type occasionally crossing that of the Romanesque. It is generally known as Norman, and an example is given in Fig. 105, now forming a holy water stoup in the Church of Notre Dame at Chalons sur-Marne. The stems are intertwined and the foliage is of a branching trefoil character, though intermingled with leaf terminals which show that the anthemion motive was recognized by the workers. There is consequently a combination of types in this example, such as is by no means uncommon; and it will be recognized that all types were now, at the end of the 12th century, tending towards a foliage treat- ment. The next development can be clearly seen in the several capitals of the double north aisle of St. Hilaire, Poitiers, illustrated in Fig. 106. Some of these capitals are almost purely Corinthian, but the nearest and the largest in the photograph shows fewer leaves upon the bell, and these are curled over at the tip, still to a certain extent suggesting the volute of the Corinthian capital. What is being reached is some- thing very like the broad leaf capitals of the Oratory Chapel in Dover Castle already illustrated in Fig. 83, which, as said in connection therewith, was really French rather than English, the development being as now indicated. In France, on the other hand, the Scandin- avian type, as illustrated in Fig. 105, was never developed far, though it is often to be found. 56 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT The influence of the Romanesque is still seen, however, in many examples, and appears in divers manners. The broad leaf, for instance, is found in two tiers in the angle capital from the Porch in the Templar's Church, Laon, illustrated in Fig. 107, in which church much other carving is almost identical with that found in the well-known Norman church at Barfreston in Kent; the similarity being so marked that it is even possible that the same mason was employed,—the distance between the two places not being really great, the intervening sea being no serious obstacle if it be remembered that at the time now being discussed England was in close touch politically with the continent. Again in Fig. 108 there is an illustration of a type quite frequently met with, while there are as many rows of leaves as in a normal Corinthian capital. Each leaf curls over at the point and is without serrations. This occurs as far west as Lisieux in Normandy, in a church which has pointed arches and is of a generally 13th century form; it is in fact the typical early 13th century capital of France, the leaf being that of the hart's tongue fern which has not yet opened, belonging to a period when the arches were pointed, when tracery was used, and when, in contradistinction to English work, the columns were generally single cylindrical shafts and the mouldings were of a Romanesque type, consisting of little else than large rolls at the angles of the various rectangular blocks of which the arches were built up. It will be noticed how very different this work is from the English capitals illustrated in the last chapter; and that, even at Lisieux where English influence was considerably felt. When the advance took place and the foliage became more natural, towards the latter part of the 13th century, it was developed out of the broad leaf in the way indicated in Fig. 109, which is an entirely typical capital from Soissons Cathedral. It is as perfectly indicative of French work of its date as the capital from Westminster Abbey, already illustrated in Fig. 86, is of the English. There are no slender stalks with clusters of leaves and these leaves intertwining, but instead there are broad leaves rising from the necking and just opening at the points. It is spring foliage, but with a difference; it repre- Fio. 123—Choir Stalls, I lm Cathedral, (From a cast, Victoria & Albert Jluseum). Fio. 122—A Doorway at Goslar, North Germany. Fio. 124—Tree of Jesse, Worms Cathedral. [ Facing page 58. Fio. 125—Coloss! at Entrance to Temple at Anou Hliubel. Fio. 126—Assyrian Head (liritish Museum). [ Facing page 57. 58 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT there comparative peace, and it is only there where architectural development took place. Examples of foliage carving of this date are consequently so rare that it is difficult to lay down any rule, and it would be impossible to do so if we had not the English work for guid- ance. In the interior of the west front of Reims Cathedral, however, and also in the western-most capitals of the same building, foliage carving is to be found which is of almost the same date as that in the chapter house of Southwell Minster referred to in the last chapter, as can be well seen in Fig. 113. The undercutting is not so deep as in the English work, but the foliage is of precisely the same natural character, though here it is confined within rectangular panels. It will even be noticed that the same leaves are represented as at South- well; it is almost as if one of the English carvers who had been engaged there had subsequently found his way to Reims. Fig. 114 represents a capital from the Church of St. Alpin, at Chalons-sur-Marne, which is of a slightly later date, more like the English work of about the year 1330. The whole bell of the capital is covered with large vine leaves, amongst which the grapes appear though the stem is hidden. It is the foliage of late summer, just such as we should find in England at this time, perfectly natural in form. From this date it is impossble to trace any further development for some thirty or forty years. The period corresponds with that of some of the most destructive warfare ever known upon the European continent, to be followed by the " Black Death" in 1349. We have already seen that the effect of this was very serious in England, but it was even more so in France. On the revival of the country and the recommencement of building work, however, the effect of war is seen in a new way. Recent writers upon the subject trace the rise of the French " flamboyant " phase of Gothic architecture to the fact that a considerable number of Englishmen must have been left behind in France as prisoners of war or invalids. Their influence is seen most markedly upon the tracery and the mouldings, but it is to be recognized also in such foliage as the thistle carving on the west front of Tours Cathedral, a small fragment of which is illustrated in Fig. 115. Here Fio. 127—Sculptured Drum of a Col n from the Temple of Diana at Kphesus (British Museum). l acing page 58. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 59 we have all the freshness of the English 14th century carving, with its crisp outline and deep undercutting, combined with the general inclination to use autumnal foliage which was becoming universal in the 15th century. The stalk is still fairly covered with the leaves, but it can be perfectly well traced, and it is also old and gnarled. Even the thistledown also appears, as a sure indication of late work. There is, in fact, a large amount of carving of this description to be found, not in one district only, but spread over the greater part of France, particularly where it had been overrun by the English a generation previously; that is, from the north of the Seine, right through the whole district of the Loire and into Poitou and Anjou. It was, of course, controlled more or less by the available material. The example shown in Fig. 116, perhaps a trifle later in date than the last, was executed in granite and consequently shows a type of work- manship in which effect was obtained without high finish, and to a large extent by drilling deep holes down from the surface, while another somewhat late example, shown in Fig. 117, but carried out in a hard limestone, again displays crispness of outline with the finish carried to as great perfection as such a material would permit. In this case the leaves are quite detached and of the latest autumnal character, not so much conventionalized as ragged, like the detached fallen leaves of late autumn time. This example occurs in the courtyard of the Hotel de Ville at Abbeville. Another small example from the same town is illustrated in Fig. 118, but this time the material employed is wood. It may be somewhat interesting to compare this illustration with Fig. 99, which was just as typical an example of English wood- work of a simple kind. Another somewhat fine example of practically the same date is the crocket over the west door at Antwerp Cathedral shown in Fig. 119; it is typical of a good deal of the work which was carried out in the low countries at that date, but with a somewhat English outline as compared with what was generally found in France at the same time. As the 15th century drew towards its close, and at the opening of the 16th century, the carved foliage of France went a step further 6o THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT than in England—except in such isolated examples as the choir stalls in Henry Vllth Chapel, Westminster, already described. The late dying leaf of winter rather than of autumn, such as is illustrated in Fig. 120, is often seen, which the absolutely bare bough of winter, as shown in Fig. 121—a sketch of a niche canopy in the south doorway of Beauvais Cathedral—was not entirely uncommon. It was not until the comparatively late period of the 15th and 16th centuries that there was much Gothic carving in Germany; it seems as if there is an almost unbridged gap from the 12th to the 15th century. Of the later work, however, a considerable amount exists; it is based upon the French, but as a rule is more heavy and less crisp and less instinct with artistic spirit. The doorway at Goslar, shown in Fig. 122, is typical. The leaves are detached and are of wintry rather than autumnal type, but unquestionably ugly; in fact, they are overpowering in relation to the door, and not kept in proper subordination as they should be to the general architectural treat- ment, with little sense of proportion between one group of leaves and another, the excessive prominence given to the pinnacles of the terminals being particularly noticeable in comparison with the crockets upon their edges. This heavy type looked perhaps better in woodwork than in stone. The choir stalls at Ulm Cathedral, shown in Fig. 123, are typical of a great deal of wood carving of the late 15th century. The stem in the central panel is heavy, and the leaves artistically intertwined around it; but no less characteristic is the long lower panel, with its central rod perfectly straight, out of which the leaves spring—a form of carved foliage ornament which was commonly employed upon the German timber buildings of the time. When the spirit of autumn was replaced by the spirit of winter —which occurred in the early part of the 16th century in Germany as well as in France—the foliage carving might be said to have " gone to seed." Fig. 124, though an extreme, must not be considered to be an isolated example of the representation of bare boughs with occasional dying leaves upon them, exaggerated until all artistic feeling is lost. It is perfectly clear that the carvers have actually Fio. Vi')—Scroll Knriclonent of a Monument in the Church of Sta. Maria del Popolo, Rome. (From " Ornamental Details of the Italian Renaissance.") Ornament with a Human and Animal Basis- Classic and Renaissance School •v •' 0' Fio. 14."1—Priest's Chair, Bayeux Cathedral. Fio. HI—Low Relief Ornument, Maison Fontaine Henri, near Caen. [ Facing page Fio. 167—Terminal of Staircase Turret, acting as support to Flying Buttress, St. Etienne, Beauvais. [ Facing page SO. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 85 best known and most prominent example is to be found in the row of gargoyles at the Chateau de Blois (Fig. 173). They are waterspouts from the eaves of the building, and are not led to, as in Gothic buildings, by a pipe passing through a parapet; but they are true gargoyles all the same, or, at any rate, they acted as such originally, varying from one another, grotesque and ugly, yet full of vigour and almost sug- gesting living animals. Ornament with a Linear Basis THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 91 It is found in the cut brickwork chimneys of the English Tudor period and in the similar cut brickwork of Belgium of the same date. A some- what late example is given in Fig. 197, which shows a portion of a stepped gable in what was till lately the Hotel de Gand at Ypres. It might naturally be thought that the trellis pattern was a development of the zig-zag, considering that it is but a coupled zig-zag, but it is doubtful if this is the case. It is a form of ornamentation which belongs essentially to the Norman period and has more the appearance of having been derived from needlework than any other enrichment, passing, as the strands often do, over and under one another alternately as if to suggest a coarse canvas. Even when this is not the case the effect is much the same. One of the most pro- nounced examples known is illustrated in Fig. 178, the trellis pattern being carried over the whole face of one of the transept gables of St. Etienne, Beauvais. It was not a particurarly common ornament, but of all those of Scandinavian origin it was the one which survived the longest in Gothic times, recurring now and again throughout the whole period, particularly in smaller work, as exemplified in Fig. 179, which shows the upper part of a shaft on a 15th century tomb in Westminster Abbey. Another example has already been illustrated in Fig. 162. It was even retained throughout the earlier years of the English Renaissance; at any rate it crops up now and again in Eliza- bethan tomb work. Strange to say it is also to be found in the recently discovered Azteck remains in Mexico. One would think that ornamentation of this description was not capable of great development, and possibly Indian work, such as is shown in Fig. 180, (where the openings are hexagonal, or honey comb, and not diamond shaped), had an entirely different origin. It is difficult indeed to discover how rectilinear surface ornament passed first to the Moors of Southern Spain and Northern Africa, and then gradually across to India, where it has survived to the present day. There may possibly have been some connection with what we know as Norman ornament, for the Normans occupied Sicily. Most surface mosaic work is curvilinear or else based on foliage forms, but there is still a THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 93 ently nothing whatever to do with the guilloche, an ornament which has been already alluded to several times. Now, the guilloche is one of the most important Classic enrich- / ments. It is to be found at a very early date indeed; in its incipent form it has been seen in Fig. 5, where it occurs as part of the Assyrian Sacred Tree. This seems to suggest that it had a tendril origin, but possibly it is nothing more than a primitive effort to obtain decoration by means of curved lines. How this could happen is shown in Fig. 174, though what occurs there is more perhaps a forecast of the curvilinear key pattern than of the true guilloche. The tendril or scroll is of a continuous form, such as can easily be made, and in fact often is made, with braid upon a lady's dress. The whole suggestion of the guilloche is greatly that of braiding. Owing to the way in which the moulding which is illustrated in Fig. 181 has become destroyed through exposure to the weather, it is easy to recognize that what was a complicated guilloche may have had its origin in the simple twisting of ribbon. As a general rule in the Greek form it is not pos- sible, however, to trace how the various strands would run into one another, and this characteristic would have been more in evidence if the moulding had been less destroyed. Whenever the ornament was revived at a later period there was more definite arrangement of the plait, as if the subsequent workers thought that there was no doubt of the origin and worked accordingly. A simple but quite typical example is shewn in Fig. 183; it is of Renaissance date and shows a little piece of the door jamb of the Venetian Palace, Rome. The plait or guilloche is a single one, and not complicated as in most of the Greek examples. It recurs in this form in every country where Renaissance architecture penetrated; it can be recognized, for instance, in the window jamb of the Hotel Lallemande at Bourges, shown in Fig. 184, where it appears in combination with many other enrichments which have already been spoken about. It will further be noticed that the corona round the shell ornament above the window is enriched with simple rectilinear flutings which radiate from the same centre as the shell. This window, though it occurs in mid- Fid. 192—Portion of Door Pane! (Victoria and Fio. 195—Fragment of Assyrian Pavement (British Albert Museum). Museum). [ Facing page 84. 96 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT curves are almost always those of the capital letter C, showing a certain poverty of design, and that these curves are connected by straight lines, with the occasional use of circles. The date of the south front of Hatfield House is 1611, and at about the same date ornament with a similar basis appeared upon the Continent, differing considerably, according to the country in which it occurred. Figs. 190 and 191, respectively a measured drawing made on the spot and a photograph of the Rood Screen and staircase of the Church of St. Etienne du Mont, Paris, displays a great deal of this enrichment, difficult to distinguish as to the detail in the photograph, though perfectly clear in the drawing, while the photograph gives a better idea of the general effect of it. The ribbon is not necessarily endless, and in fact there seems to have been little rule with regard to it except that of obtaining a pleasing design in curved lines, suggestive of a twisted plait. This class of enrichment more than any other goes to distinguish the Renaissance detail of western Europe from that of Italy. It seems to have been based upon nothing which existed pre- viously, but to have been naturally devised; it gives the impression, in conjunction with the fact that a similar ribbon ornament appears in the same district in Norman times, that it is indigenous to the peoples of that part of Europe, and that in fact whenever they have been thrown back upon their own resources for ornamentation they have naturally adopted something of this sort. In the course of a century it developed in France into such forms as are shown in Fig. 192, which indicates how foliage was applied to a strapwork basis. What happened in Germany was quite different; unless, indeed, the English C curve may be taken to have been the basis of the devel- opment. The street corner in Mainz, which is illustrated in Fig. 193, is typical of a great deal that is to be found, though unfortunately it has been vanishing somewhat rapidly during the last thirty years. Where the owners have appreciated its value it has been taken care of, and in many instances is coloured and gilded, but in other cases it is to be found covered with whitewash and scarcely distinguishable from the rest of the white houses in the streets, and under such cir- Fio. 206—St. Mary's Church, Dover. Fro. 205—Arch Moulding of the Rotunda Windows, Templars' Church, Laon. [Facing page 9(i Fio. '210 Dog-tooth, Uarfrestou Church, Kent. Fio. 212—A Romanesque Archway ot Louyain. Fio. 214—Thirteenth Century Diaper Ornament (Westminster Abbey). Fio. 216- Ornament, Yatton Church. Somerset (Sketched by Mr. F. Ciemes). Facing page 99. Minor Enrichments 67087*] 1o6 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT taken from the Templar's Church at Laon; the dogteeth are cut in a hollow between two rolls, here, as in all cases, so placed that they could be easily carved out of a rectangular block of stone, in this instance that from which the vault rib was fashioned; and also, again, as in most other cases, appearing as the enrichment of a hollow and intended to break up the extreme depth of its shadow. It is more rarely employed beneath a hood moulding in the position commonly occupied by the Norman billet or nail head, but it is found there sometimes, as can be seen from the photograph of a Romanesque archway at Louvain in Belgium (Fig. 212). The earlier examples are all fairly shallow, but as time went on the hollows became deeper, and by the middle of the 13th century the dogtooth was often scarcely discernible in their heavy shadow. The effect produced consequently, one would think, scarcely jus- ified the large amount of labour expended. That so much trouble should be taken to produce so slight a result as is indicated in the deep shadow in Fig. 213, may well be wondered at, if it were not known that the great Gothic carvers of that date spared no pains to obtain perfection in their work. The example is taken from the Chapter House of Lincoln Cathedral, but there is a large amount of such work in England. To what extent the diaper work of this same 13th century was derived from the dogtooth it is impossible actually to say, but certainly there is a close resemblance between the one and the other—except, of course, that the diaper is a shallow ornament worked upon a surface. Fig. 214, however, is so closely allied in its detail to Figs. 209 and 210 that it is impossible not to imagine that some connection must have existed, and it is by no means exceptional. It is one of many different forms of diaper ornament to be found in Westminster Abbey. There is a star-shaped four-leafed flower with a ball at the junction of the petals, which appears to have originally itself represented a small flower, while there are other flowers, probably primroses, introduced between the great petals, following the general tendency of the 13th century carvers to represent spring foliage. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 107 Subsequently this star-shaped arrangement of a flower becomes quite common; it is found in the latter part of the 14th and during the 15th century, introduced as an ornament in a shallow hollow and varying in outline according to date. Two different forms appear in the portion of Humphrey de Bohun's Monument in Hereford Cathedral, of which a sketch is given in Fig. 215; the leaves are now of a perfectly natural type, but the centre of one represents a flower bud, while the centre of the other is itself a small four-leafed flower, remarkably like the dogtooth in its general suggestion. Later again it occasionally took some such entirely conventionalised form as is shown in Fig. 216, which is a late example from Yatton Church in Somersetshire. These last examples belong to the 15th century, or possibly even later. During the intervening 14th century an ornament appeared in the West of England to which the name of " ballflower" has been given. It was considered by all the older writers upon Gothic archi- tecture to be the distinctive ornament of the " Decorated " period, but as a matter of fact it is only found in a few counties, where it was used largely, occupying the same position in the hollow mouldings of that period and district which was filled by the dogtooth of the 13th century all over England. But as the hollows were not so deep the effect was a different one. These balls, occurring in constant suc- cession all round the tracery as well as in the true mouldings of a win- dow, give it much the appearance of knotted lacework. A detail of one is shown in Fig. 217. An outer ball, like a seed pod, is slightly opened, displaying another one within it. A range of them occurs at the back of the reredos in Peterborough Cathedral, shown in Fig. 218, in the hollow cornice, though not so close together as in more typical examples, while the form is somewhat altered, probably owing to the fact that the work was executed in one of the eastern counties of England, where it is quite a rarity, and not in the west, where it is common. The outer petals, which are always three, are more pronounced, and there is no sign of the inner ball. Occasional examples are found in the 15th century of a com- 1o8 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT bination of these motives. Fig. 219 shows a four-leafed patera in the cornice of a 15th century tomb in Westminster Abbey. The general idea is that of the leaves in De Bohun's tomb (Fig. 215), but the centre is a ball, as if the ball flower and the four-leafed flower were combined. Other similar examples are by no means uncommon. Paterae like these are not entirely confined to Gothic work. It is very rare indeed that one can trace Gothic influence in Renaissance ornament, but perhaps it is only necessary to introduce here an illus- tration of the paterae in the arch soffit of Sta. Giustina at Padua (Fig. 220) for the similarity of motive to that of much of the late Gothic ornament to become at once apparent, with the advantage of indicating how large an amount of variation is possible of quite a simple original idea. Diaper work is not always arranged on a diagonal or other regular scheme, at any rate so far as the pattern itself is concerned, though it is always in square or diamond-shaped blocks. Occasionally isolated leaves occupy the diapers, as in some of those in the rood screen of Southwell Minster; an example is given in Fig. 221. The relief is not great, and of course the form of the leaf is that which is indicative of the period, which in this case is that of the 14th century. Similarly, when leaves were used as minor enrichments in the 15th century, they also partook of the character of the time. An illustration of this will be found in Fig. 222, the leaf being here as unquestionably autumnal as is that shown in Fig. 221 the open leaf of summer. It is one of a series of leaf enrichments in the hollow cornice moulding of the vestibule to Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster. A photograph of the exterior of a portion of the same building is given in Fig. 223, mainly with the object of illustrating a minor enrichment which became common during the 15th century—that known as the crenelle. It appears invariably upon the top of a ornice as a kind of cresting thereto, and has every appearance of having been derived from the embattlements of castle walls with their alternating embrasures. This is probably the case, and if so it is perhaps the most prominent example which exists of what was originally a wholly essential feature in a Some Alexandrian Capitals—An Appendix - - \ 'i 1 i 1 Fio. 228—The Khartoum Monument, Alexandria. Fio. 229—Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria. I Facing page 112. CHAPTER X Some Alexandrian Capitals—An Appendix. On account of its geographical position and fine natural harbours, easily made more safe by artificial means, Alexandria has necessarily been the most important seaport of Egypt for many centuries, while it was, for a considerable period, one of the very greatest cities of the civilised world. Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B. C, it became the centre of Greek intellectual life during the third and second centuries B. C, precisely at the date when the fourth great building period of Egypt, the Ptolemaic, was at its zenith. Later on it became a most important Roman port, and then the headquarters of one of the great branches of the Christian Church, to be eventually destroyed by the Arabs in 641 A. D., having risen afresh after almost as complete destruction in 116 A. D., in 215 A. D. (when the inhabitants were massacred by Caracalla), and in 616 A. D., when it was taken by the Persians. Throughout this long period of a thousand years, its merchants traded with all parts of the Mediterranean by sea, and simultaneously with Egypt and Nubia by way of the Nile, and with Syria and Assyria by means of caravans. Thus Alexandria has been the natural meeting place of many influences. Yet there is little known of it, and the archaelogist and the enquirer into the evolution of architectural forms have troubled little about what its ruins might have to tell. In truth, investigation has been unusually difficult, owing to the occupation of the site by a modern city, and to the gradual sinking of the land below the ancient water level, while the one scientific attempt at excavating, made by Mr. D. G. Hogarth in 1893, was remarkably barren in its results. Since then a considerable number of fragments of buildings, mainly capitals of columns, have been discovered. Most of these are stored "3 Q n6 THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT half-column, and partly to a pilaster. In has been entitled here as "A Respond Capital" but no more than a guess can be made as to the position it originally occupied or even as to whether the building it belonged to was trabeated or arcuated. It is of white marble. It even does not seem improbable that the Romans obtained their knowledge of the Corinthian capital rather from Alexandria than direct from Greece, though the principal Roman example in Alexandria hardly conforms to the type just described, except in having leaf volutes at the angles instead of tendril volutes. Pom- pey's Pillar (Fig. 229) which the example referred to surmounts, is known to have been erected in 302 A. D., in honour of Diocletian, by the local governor Pompeius. How the leaf volute of Alexandria may have readily developed into the usual volute of the Roman Corinthian order is, however, traceable by means of this capital of Pompey's Pillar (Fig. 229) and a crude Roman capital, now in the Museum, which is illustrated in Fig. 231. The voluted leaf has, as it were, tightened up and become more constructional, less liable to damage and easier to carve, while the acanthus leaves cover more of the bell and are clumsy. Besides this, the Roman egg-and-dart enrichment appears upon an echinus, in an attempt to form a capital of composite character. The evolution of the Corinthian capital is thus more clearly to be traced at Alexandria than elsewhere, and that by means of little known and recently discovered examples. Examples of the other Orders are more rare. In fact, the Museum at Alexandria contains only one Doric capital (Fig. 232), having a shallow abacus and equally shallow echinus, while flat bands of Egyptian character replace the usual annulets. Another, similar to it but much water-worn, lies on the shore near the Bay of Abou Kir, some eighteen miles from Alexandria. Both are of coral limestone. A beautiful Ionic capital, entirely Greek in feeling and execution, is shown in Fig. 233, and may well be contrasted with the obviously much later capital shown in Fig. 234, Roman so far as the truly Ionic portion is concerned, but carrying a Byzantine dosseret, carved out of English Church Architecture. From the Earliest Times to the Reformation. By G. A. T. M1ddleton, A.R.I.B.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. By post, 2s. 9d. "This is a delightful essay upon the growth of ecclesiastical architecture in England. Mr. Middleton has interpreted for the uninitiated laymen the interesting story of our history that is told by our old cathedrals and abbeys. He has written in language sufficiently technical for the expert, but at the same time plain to be understood by the ordinary reader. The numerous illustrations and diagrams add still further to the interest and value of Mr. Middleton's essay. The reader will find his interest in and appreciation of architecture considerably enhanced by a study of this charming and compact book. Our old cathedrals are poems in [stone, which convey no meaning whatever beyond that of mere antiquity to the vast majority even of cultivated readers. We cannot imagine any careful reader of Mr. Middleton's essay being content in future to limit his appreciation of these stupendous creations to the meaningless ' Ohs ' and ' Ahs ' of the mere tripper."—Catholic Herald. The Element of Reinforced Concrete Building By G. A. T. Middleton, A.R.I.B.A. 4s. net. By post, 4s. 4d. "We hold the opinion that the subject of reinforced concrete has been made need- lessly complicated by the manner in which authors in general have treated it. So many of them seem to have proceeded on the assumption that the readers know as much mathematics and graphic statics as they themselves do, and they introduce as many hieroglyphics into their work as they possibly can, with a result that is positively disheartening to the student. While we think that Mr. Middleton could have simplified several passages in his little book, we are yet pleased that he has provided an exception to. the general style of authorship above quoted. He has honestly striven to present a number of simple explanations, which, after a little earnest study, the inquirer will not have great difficulty in mastering."—Building World. Our English Cathedrals By the Rev. James Sebree. Fully illustrated by Photographs and Block Plans. In Two Volumes. Crown 8vo. 5s. net each. By post, 5s. 5d. "The author has, therefore, thought that there was still room for a book on these wonderful creations of our ancestors' skill and genius, on somewhat different lines from those taken by previous works on the subject." To those who have neither time nor inclination for a minutely-detailed examination, the author trusts that his book may be of service; and " he is not without hope that it may also prove to be of interest to those who, in our own country, or in our Colonies, or in the United States, may wish to have, in a brief and compact form, a sketch of English Cathedrals on the whole." The book, however, is neither scrappy nor meagre. The buildings are adequately described, building dates and historical notes are given. There is a chapter upon the significance and growth of Gothic Architecture, upon references to the Cathedrals in English Literature (including many quotations), and also upon the relation of our Cathedrals to the life of to-day. The work is complete and thoroughly readable. The Story of Ford Abbey From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. By Sidney Heath. Crown Quarto, Cloth. Price 10s. 6d. net. By post lis. Profusely illustrated with Plan, Photographs, Drawings, Specially Designed Initials and Headpieces, etc., and dedicated by kind permission to Freeman Roper Esq., J.P., (Of Ford Abbey). London: FRANCIS GRIFFITHS, 34 Maiden Lane, Strand, W.C.