YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
ON COLOUE
j*.
10ITDOS'
PRIKTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO,
NEW-STREET SQUARE.
ON C OL 0 U B
AND ON THE NECESSITY EOB
A GENEEAL DIFFUSION OF TASTE
among ALL CLASSES.
WITH REMARKS ON LAYING OUT
DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS.
EXAMPLES OE GOOD AND BAD TASTE
ILLUSTBATED BY WOODCUTS AND COLOURED PLATES
IN CONTRAST.
SIR J. GARDNER WILKINSON
D.CL. P.K.S. P.K.G.S. M.K.S.L. M.K.I.B.A. ETC.
LONDON
JOHN MTJERAT, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1858
PEEEACE.
In writing the accompanying remarks on colour and the
necessity of encouraging taste, I have been actuated by a
desire to see England rival, and if possible excel, other
countries in all the various branches of aesthetic art. I have
ventured to point out what appear to me to be certain errors
and misconceptions, into which we have fallen or are liable.
to fall ; and I have endeavoured to show how important it is
that all classes of the community should appreciate the beau
tiful, and encourage the production of good works. Without
this we may vainly hope that taste will take permanent root
in the country, or that the studies now so laudably encou
raged by some valuable institutions will produce any general
and lasting benefit. If I appear to censure, it is only from a
regret that errors should be repeated without correction ; and
my remarks are not made with a view to find fault but to show
why we have sometimes failed to produce a work deserving
of praise, and to point out what should be avoided ; with the
sincere wish that we may deserve the praise, instead of the
censure, of those who now condemn us for deficiency of taste.
There are some who, like the Italians, are privileged, by
their own superiority in this respect, to condemn us for
A 3
VI PREFACE.
our deficiency ; and the French are far more successful
than ourselves in decorative design ; but we may refuse to
others the same privilege, and though the Germans have
made considerable advances in various branches of art, we
cannot concede to them the superiority they assume ; and in
point of colour their example* would be rather injurious than
beneficial to decorative taste. I do not however intend by
this to detract from the great merit they deserve of having
laboured assiduously to study and advance art in its highest,
as well as in its inferior, branches.; this I acknowledge with
great respect ; and I gladly admit the credit due to them for
having called attention to the works of the early masters of
Italy, which had ceased to be regarded with proper interest
until brought by them into general notice. I have been par
ticular in censuring the common error of introducing great
quantities of green into coloured ornamentation; and have
shown that though green may sometimes be allowable in large
masses, and when of a glaucous hue may be used as a ground
for other colours, its employment in large proportions in
combination with them is incompatible with their harmonious '
arrangement. It abounds when people become artificial.
But in those periods when taste in colour was pure, the
primaries were always preferred ; and in confirmation of these
remarks I may observe that the old custom is also observable!
in heraldry, where the early coats have the primary colours
(with gold and" silver), and where green is a sign of no great
age. The same change from the natural and pure taste of
man at an early period (when it was unbiassed by conven-
* They appear also to differ very much from their early masters in the
appreciation and use of rich colours,
PREFACE. VII
tional or theoretic notions) is shown in the recent coloured
designs of the North American Indians ; who for the old
simple patterns, and the use of primary colours, have substi
tuted an imitation of real flowers and the abundant introduc
tion of green, in order to suit the artificial requirements of
European purchasers.
I could have wished that the coloured specimens I had
made of the various combinations mentioned in Sections XVI.
and XVII. of Part I. could have been introduced, as well as of
those mentioned in Sections XVIII. and XIX., and of the
coloured papers in Section XXI. ; but this has been found
impossible from their number, and the expense of printing so
many colours, hues, and tones. Any one however may easily
make experiments on the particular 'effect produced by them,
from the names of the colours I have indicated.
I have had much pleasure in offering my meed of praise
to our institutions for the instruction of students in deco
rative art; and the efforts now making for the general
diffusion of taste cannot be too highly commended. Ex
cellent opportunities are also given, by the exhibition of the
drawings of competitors in architectural, monumental, and
other designs, of showing the talent of the designers, and of
accustoming the public to the habit of forming some opinion
on the merits of each ; and these exhibitions give a far fairer
estimate of the talents of the candidates than the usual
" competitive examinations " in various branches of learning ;
which, useful as they are, often lead to a questionable con
clusion respecting the real talent and sound knowledge of a
successful competitor.
If I have sometimes repeated the same remarks I offer this
A 4
'VUl PREFACE.
excuse, that it was from a desire of calling attention to par
ticular points which appeared to me of the greatest import
ance ; and as my object is to suggest what I believe to be of
use, I hope to be pardoned whenever I have expressed an
opinion differing from the conclusions, or the practice, of
others. I can respect them while I differ from them ; and as
my wish is to direct inquiry towards certain questions most
worthy of consideration, I shall be happy if others will point
out any erroneous judgment I may have formed on the
subject ; and I therefore conclude with the well-known words
of the poet — " Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperii; si non, his utere mecum."
ERRATA AND ADDENDA.
Page 18, six lines from the bottom of the page, after the word "admis
sible,'' add , " and where copies of natural objects should seldom be
introduced."
Page 80, line 19, on the words " three purples," add this note : —
* " The purple of Tyre was extracted from the Murex and the
Buccinum ; but the Helix Ianthina (still so common on that coast),
is the shell from which tbey probably first obtained it, as it proclaims
the secret of its possessing the purple dye by the colour it throws
out, like the Sepia, on being approached. This accords with the
story of its accidental discovery by the dog of Hercules, which would
not have been made from the Murex or the Buccinum ; arid if these
gave a dye superior to that of the Helix Ianthina, their properties
were found out by subsequent experiment, their colour not being at
first purple. Indeed they only produced a good dye by being used
together, and by a long process ; while that of the Helix Ianthina is
at once a pure and true purple. (See my note, and the woodcut in
Herodotus, book iii. ch. 20, n. 2, Tr. Rawlinson.) The Phoenicians
imported purple fromHermione in Argolis, Cytherea, &c. ; and Ezekiel,
xxvii. 7, says it came to Tyre ' from the Isles of Elishah ' (Hellas, or
Greece) ; it has therefore been thought that this was different from the
ori ginal purple of Phoenicia, which accords with the above statement."
Page 242, line 5, on " Flaxman," add this note : —
* " Like the Greeks, he felt the impropriety of displaying grief in
sculpture ; and though the Greeks in writing used a stronger ex
pression than our ' indulged in grief (as in the ' TeTapir<fy«<r0a y6ou> '
of Homer, II. i|/. 10), they abstained from representing the suffer
ing countenance in sculpture and painting ; as we even see in a fresco
representing the sacrifice of Iphigenia, given in Gell's Pompeii."
Page 266, line 2, for " finished houses,'' read " furnished houses."
Page 302, line 19, on " Homeric age," add this note : —
* "Cf. H. t|/. 743, the Sidonian crater offered as a prize by Achilles,
at the funeral games of Patroclus."
I.S.W. 41
DESIGN SHOWIH&HOW GREEN MAY BE USED TO LIGHT TO OTHER COLOUR
LoTidoiJohniriirGwAlbeimii' StrsstJ&y.l853 /fl»J
Illllll
I.GW. dd
SEVEN COLOURS GIVEN TO BE ARRANGED ISA PATTERN
landon, JolmMTUTdy, Albemarle Street, Hmr.1858.
iniuiuinn
a. 3d c
defgh.iklm.il
EFEECTS OE COLOURS. EIG.5. THE PRINCIPAL COLOURS USED, 6,7, 8,9,10, ARE DISCORDANT
J G"W deL Landcot JolmMnrray,-AIbemarl£ Street Nov; 1558.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS.
PAET I.
Plate I. is intended to show how blue, red (or scarlet), white, black,
green, and gold may be combined in a mosaic pattern. The idea
of its general configuration is taken from one of the borders
which separate the fresco paintings in Giotto's Chapel, at Padua, and
it has been varied to suit the arrangement of the colours. The
quantity and disposition of the green will serve to show how small
a "proportion of that colour is required, and how it brightens up a
design. {See p. 63.) The gold too illustrates what I have said in
pp. 107, 117, of its being employed in greater quantity than orange
or yellow. As an instance of the black lines separating the chief
sections of the design, mentioned in p. 108, see Blue, D 2, p. 135.
Plate II. shows how the seven colours, orange, yellow, blue, purple,
green, red (or scarlet), and black, given promiscuously in fig. 1,
may be arranged in harmonious order, as in fig. 2. It is one of
many different arrangements which may be made of those colours ;
in some of which more or less red, or blue, or others, may be intro
duced, according to the required effect. For though, as a general
rule, the blue should be in greater quantity than red, it is possible
to have perfectly harmonious combinations even where these pro
portions are disregarded. There are cases, for instance, when more
red may be used than blue ; and sometimes the red' may be con
fined to a very minute quantity.
In fig. 2, it will be observed how much better blue and orange
are suited to each other than blue and yellow, which are rather
harsh. Here too the power of a small quantity of green is very
apparent. {See pp. 63, 146, 166.) The design is not very well
suited to the arrangement of colours; but it may serve as an in
stance of colour in a geometrical figure.
Plate III. Fig*. 1 and 12 give different arrangements and quantities
of the same colours, blue, orange, black, white, and green. They
are both harmonious. {See Blue, C 9, p. 134.)
xii DESCRIPTION 0^ PLATES AND WOODCUTS.
Plate III. — (continued.)
Fig. 2 is the Egyptian arrangement of blue, scarlet, and green,
on a yellow ground, or separated by yellow fillets. (See p. 95, and
Blue, B 2, p. 132.)
Fig. 3 is one arrangement of the seven colours, purple, yellow,
blue, scarlet, green, orange, and black, in simple succession. An
other, and perhaps a better, arrangement would be black, blue,
yellow, scarlet, purple, orange, and green ; or purple, orange, green,
scarlet, blue, yellow, and black. (See Blue, E 1 a, p. 135.)
In fig. 4 are the colours, but not the pattern, of the Jewish
ephod. (See p. 17, 131 ; and Blue, B 7, p. 183.)
In fig. 5 are specimens of the hues of the colours mentioned in
this work, as near as they can be obtained in copies made partly by
chromo -lithography, and partly by hand colouring: viz. a. blue,,
b. red, c. scarlet, d. crimson, e. cerise, f. purple, g. yellow, h. orange,!
i. green, h. tea-green, I. brown, m. horsechesnut, n. chesnut, ;
o. black.
Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, illustrate what I have said in pp. 92, 93,;?
and are specimens of discordant combinations: -viz. fig. 6. scarlet,
green, and russet (red would be still worse than scarlet) ; 7. blue,
orange, and olive ; 8. yellow, purple, and citrine ; 9. purple and
citrine ; and 10. green and russet.
In fig. 11 is an instance of the mode of preventing blue and red
(or scarlet) looking purple ; by the intervention of the white and
orange. There are many methods of doing this. Here the com
bination is blue, white, scarlet, orange, and purple, which is har
monious ; though in this design the orange next the scarlet, does not
afford a sufficient contrast. (See Blue, C 2, p. 134.)
Figs. 13, 14, illustrate the difference of little red on a white
ground, and little white on a red ground : showing the great su
periority of the former. (See p. 149 ; description of Plate iv.
fig. 4 ; and Blue, B 6, p. 133.)
Plate IV. fig. 1, is an instance of the union of blue, red (or scarlet),.
and yellow, the latter separating the other two to prevent their
having a purple effect in combination. (See pp. 9, 94, 95 ; and
Blue, A 1, p. 131.)
Tnfig. 2 are the five colours, blue, scarlet, yellow, purple, and
black (see Blue, C 5, p. 134.) The proportion of the purple and
the black, to the yellow and to the other two colours, is by no means
the one generally required; and it might be altered considerably in
?a different design. The arrangement is nevertheless quite har
monious ; and it may serve as an instance of the great range allowed
to the proportions of different colours, mentioned in pp. 147, 148.1
251. (See Blue, C 5,' p. 134.)
PI. IV.
COMBINATIONS OF COLOURS
LonfliffTV-fcfr"'lfr'TTBy Al^mnarlp Street. Nov. U358.
l.G.W. del
EFFECT OF PATTEllMS WUKU EOT QUJTE REGULAR.
(.anion.JoJra "Murray, Aj^cimu-ie Sireai. Nov.]858.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS. xiii
Plate IV. — (continued.)
Fig. 3 shows how little green is required to brighten up a design,
as I have already shown in the description" of Plate I. (See p. 63,
and Blue, B 2, p. 132.)
Fig. 4 is an instance of white on a red ground, generally so
heavy (see p. 149, and description of Plate in. figs. 13, 14), which
is made perfectly agreeable by the addition of blue and yellow in
this design. (See Blue, B 6, p. 133.)
Fig. 5 is another instance of the manner in which red and blue
may be prevented from appearing purple by the intervention of
yellow and white, and how blue should be separated from yellow in
a pattern (as in a carpet) by a black line. (See the combination
in Blue, C 7, p. 134.)
Fig. 6 is given as an instance of the propriety of making the
patterns rather irregular than exactly symmetrical and of equal
size, particularly in a carpet. The advantage of this is more
obvious in a large expanse, and the inaccuracies being there
smaller in proportion than in the figure here given, they do not
appear so evidently to the eye, though they have the desirable effect
of preventing that monotony which fatigues it in an exactly symme
trical design. A better instance of this is given in Plate v. Jig. 2.
The colours are blue, scarlet, orange, black, white, yellow, and
purple." (See Blue, E 8, p. 136.)
Plate ~V.fig. 1 is a carpet border of blue, scarlet, green, yellow, black
and white. (-See Blue, D 1, p. 135.) Though the combination is
harmonious, the arrangement of the red next to the green is not
such as would be generally recommended ; nor should yellow border
the red ; but those defects are here remedied by the distribution
and proportion of the other colours ; and the whole is well balanced
and agreeable.
Fig. 2 is intended to show how much more important is the
effect of the colour in a carpet than that of the pattern, as I have
observed in p. 20 ; and how much more agreeable is that irregularity
in certain parts of the pattern met with in Eastern carpets, than
the formal and symmetrical exactness thought so necessary in our
own. As I have said in the description of Plate iv. Jig. 6, the
irregularities are made more apparent in this small design than they
would be in the large expanse of a carpet, where they would give the
required variety without being actually apparent to the eye ; but
* By mistake the yellows as well as the orange, have all been printed of the
latter colour in the plate, instead of being alternately so.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS.
small as it may be, the effect of the central portion will serve to show
how much better a varied pattern is suited to a carpet than one of
more geometrical and formal construction. The proportion of the
border to the central part is of course disregarded. It is intended
for a centre of greater dimensions, where the same centre might be
extended, or repeated, or subjected to various modifications. (Set
Blue, E 2, p. 135.)
PAET H.
Page
Woodcut 1. Mistaken application of the principle of " flowing
lines " . . . ... .174
„ 2. Vases with badly proportioned foot . . .180
„ 3. Fig. 1. Vase of elongated proportion . . 180
Fig. 2. Idea of the base taken from the stone ring
in which the pointed-based vase originally stood,
as in fig. 3 . . . . . .181
„ 4. Designs of tables, inconsistent and unmeaning . 187
„ 5. Principle regulating the form of a Saracenic dome . 206
„ 6. Faulty mode of placing landscapes, or figures only,
on the front of a vase .... 212
„ 7. Figures placed around a vase . . . .212
„ 7 a. Flowers, as the Greek honeysuckle, conventional . 217
„ 8. Cabinets of bad form ..... 219
„ 9. Maori wood carving, not unlike some of our mediaeval
and later work ..... 220
„ 10. Mixture of glass, or porcelain^ with metal, mistaken . 221
„ 11. Ornaments on a false principle . . . 222
„ 12. Objects of good shape badly imitated . 223
„ 13. Chandelier made up of various objects . . 230
„ 14. A candlestick made of a vase ; a false principle . 230
„ 15. One utensil copied from an object of a different cha-
racter • . . . . .230
„ 16. Other instances of the same . . . .231
„ 17. Canopied tombs, elegant in idea and form . . 242
„ 1 8. Vases, faulty in their proportion . . .243
„ 19. Greek women carrying hydrias, or water-jars, to the
fountain. (From Mr. Birch's Pottery, as well as
woodcuts 21, 22, 23, 37, 38) „ .249
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS. XV
Page
Woodcuts 20 to 24. Greek Olla, and other vases (mostly Greek),
of good form and proportion . . 250 to 254
Figs. 8, 9, of woodcut 24, show how different
they may be, though both are of good form and
proportion ; and how impossible it is to lay down
rules for what must depend on the judgment of
the eye.
„ 25 to 33. Vases of bad taste, though many very costly 255 to 258
„ 34. Some spoilt by changes in the form and proportion . 258
„ 35. A vase appearing as if made up of the form of two
different ones ..... 259
„ 36. Vase with handles suited to its size . . . 260
„ 37. Greek rhyton in the form of an animal's head . 260
„ 38. Greek askos, taken from a water skin . . 260
„ 39. The askos badly imitated at the present day . 260
„ 40. Fig. 1. Mistaken, and (Jig. 2) proper mode of
placing figures on vases . . . .261
„ 41. Mistaken position of figures on a cylix . .261
„ 42. Mixture of geometrical patterns and flowers in a
design, a false principle . . . .261
„ 43. The same form, as in a window divided into two
parts by a vertical line, looks higher than when not
so divided ...... 262
„ 44. Taulty mode of arranging ornaments in a vertical
design ...... 263
„ 45. The volute capital of very early Egyptian date . 263
„ 46. Mixture of scrolls and flowers, a false principle . 264
„ 47. Mode of hanging pictures in a room . 265
„ 48. Egyptian early vases, very like those of Greek time,
in form and details .... 300
„ 49. Some patterns, used in Greek and later times, of a
very early Egyptian age .... 301
„ 50. Roman notched stone voussoirs copied by the Sa
racens ...... 302
„ 51. Anglo-Saxon treatment of drapery, fig. 1 I, fig. 2 b,
and figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, — an imperfect and ill understood
imitation of the antique . . . .311
„ 52. Segmental arch abutting against a wall, as if it did
not belong to it . . . . ¦ 333
„ 53. Arches approaching too near to the summit of the
wall it pretends to support, and even breaking
through and passing above it 334
„ 54. Mistakes in spires and obelisks . . . 339
xvi DESCRIPTION OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS. Page.;
Woodcut 55. Obtuse points of spires . . .340
„ 56. Monstrous forms of some German spires . . 340
„ 57. Want of proportion between upper and lower arches 342
„ 58. Windows of bad form . . . .348
„ 59. Broken pediments ..... 348
„ 60. Bad taste of Stuart time imitated . . . 348
„ 61. Facades with the pediment broken up . . 349
„ 62. House with the ground sloping towards it ; and the
mode of laying out a terrace and garden on the
same ground when lowered and levelled . . 368
Plate VI. Fig. 1 a, b, c, d, e, balustrades of different patterns, most
simple in their construction.
Fig. 2. Patterns of box, with gravel walks between them.
Plate VII. Fig. 1, a geometrical garden with terrace-walk above,
within a stone balustrade, close to which is a border with mixed ,
flowers of various colours. The central part is some feet lower
than the terrace-walk, from which two flights of stone steps lead
to its walks. In its centre is a vase on a pedestal, or a small
fountain. The walks are of gravel, and the beds are edged with
box. The sloping sides, e e, are here laid out in a zigzag pattern ;
but this may be varied by other patterns, more tasteful and elabo
rate than the zigzag, or they may be planted with mixed flowers of
various colours, provided they are low. At each corner is an Irish
yew. Fig. 2 contains various patterns. The gardens need not be con
fined to the space here given ; and this figure is rather intended to
offer a variety of patterns, than the arrangement of a garden, which
should have other patterns at the side, between it and the balustrade
which . surrounds it, as on the left of Plate viji. at e. In the
colour of these Plates, allowance must be made for the false effect
caused by the quantity of yellow in the garden walks, which will
not appear in the garden itself.
Plate VIII. gives an arrangement of beds in a geometrical garden of
moderate size, which may be extended according to the size of the
garden.
GEOMETRICAL GARDENS & FLOWER BEDS
PI. VI.
Tyl.
y
ys~
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yy.y=^' >vu
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roj
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W&tiVVth.™
Puihsfod Iff Jolai,JlkrTmr,Jlbmuaie 0*1858
CEOMETRICAL GARDENS & FLOWER BEDS.
Pi.vn.
^ A Feiwtcu/L.ar cu Vase
oruPedestaZ-mfh. sttps
I B. B JBardanvidwarioiis
Flowers.
.* j't) ZZ State. ba^astradeJc
ifrram naving a vase,
on eaxn,,jpdlar,wi&-a
sunJc fence or fosse hdew.
il, fe'Roand leds with,
Jh$k-3far.
D D AYase Gt> eack/ccrnor
oftk&slejiuuj teals E E.
F. F. Stonest^s leading
el/wn. frvnutke termce
walk to the Ictrer levels
~b ~b Vppy tomue walk.
The centre, jiarb is Icwer
¦diaiv the upper terrace-
waUo\\&\oibtkesteps FF Lead
about WC feet
Jy?.2.
¦H r-
mH ! V€
Fountain- 8
p U \7jm 5W wm-j
j
rtus walk -wkuh maveuherbe, on a> father level &ax tAe Garden as m,F.lororvtk& jam* level arnearbfse
=xp= — ' ep j 1
PiMsIlM «i fcfri /few! OhmiarlvStJSbS.
CEOMETRICAL GARDENS & FLOWER BEDS
n.vni.
A Terrace ~be(wens the house- £ tha garden,. F F 5to/ieSaps.
B FnzntazjL C. Stone balustrade or the tmrai'e watt.
C C Slap&s of turf K H Sunk fence or fosse
D Slope of tarf round tAe fomUai/o orjplarUed K.K Targe ~Yases onltedestals.
wtfhstmjcrppJk other Ion- mqping plants, &c. feJBedswtffc cypress oriish^w.
E ^..tirarel walks LIZ ewer gravel walks.
FuhUsJietl by John, Mimy.JUxmarU ST 7S&
ON COLOUR
THE NECESSITY OE TASTE BEING GENERAL.
PART I.
ON COLOUE.
§ 1. It has been generally remarked by foreigners, and as
generally admitted by ourselves, that the English are very
indifferent to the effect of colour for decorative or ornamental
purposes. We take little pleasure in studying the harmonious
arrangement of colours, either in dress, furniture, or architec
ture; and when the attempt is made to compose coloured
designs we frequently tolerate and even admire discordant
or anomalous combinations. Indeed, we sometimes maintain
that bright colours not only fail to please, but are even dis
agreeable ; and advocate the use of compound hues, neutral
tints, greys, and other so-called "quiet colours," in prefer
ence to any combinations of the primaries, red, blue, and
yellow, and other colours of the prism. These we often jpro-
nounce to be "gaudy." But bright colours are not neces
sarily gaudy. It is when bright colours are put together
without due regard to their suitableness to each other, their
relative quantities, or the arrangement they require, that
they appear gaudy and glaring. Gaudy colours we may, in
^ ON COLOUR. Part I.
fact, define to be the union of bright hues without har
mony ; and no wonder the effect should be disagreeable. But
this is the result of want of skill in their combination ; the
fault is not in the colours, but in the arrangement. Any
face which is deformed, however perfect the individual fea
tures, would fail to please ; while the same features, properly
put together, would make it beautiful ; and certain musical
notes, incorrectly combined, would produce a discord, though
the same properly adjusted would produce harmony. So too
with colours ; and we find that some, even of those who have
always been indifferent to colour, or averse to the use of
bright hues, are ready to acknowledge the beauty of certain
harmonious combinations, and are surprised at the effect,
which they expected to be gaudy and offensive. There are,
however, some who are as completely insensible to the effect
of such harmony as they are to that of musical sounds ; others,
again, have a perverted or false taste ; and others are unable
to distinguish colours, being affected by what, is called
" colour-blindness." To these three it is useless to appeal;
as it would be to expect a person incapable of discovering
discordant notes to have an appreciation of harmony in music,
But for those who are capable of understanding the har
mony of colour, and who only require proper instruction, it
is essential that correct examples should be provided, which
should be constantly set before them, as the perceptive facul
ties may be improved or misled by the frequent contempla
tion of perfect or imperfect models. It is therefore of great
importance that those who give instruction in the harmony
of colours should be thoroughly imbued with the true feeling
for it, and should possess that natural perception which,
though it may be improved, cannot be obtained by mere
study. It is not by forming a theory on some fanciful basis, that a
perception of the harmony of colours is to be acquired. Like
§ 1. HERE THEORY. USELESS. 3
a correct ear for music, it is a natural gift. Theory will not
form it, as theory will not enable any one to detect a false
note. The power depends on the perceptive faculty; and
unless any one possess this, he will vainly attempt to lay
down rules for the guidance of others. Yet we find that
some have based their notions of the proper arrangement of
colour solely on theory ; and others, who might have had a
proper feeling for it through their own perceptive faculty,
or from the study of good models, have occasionally allowed
themselves to be led astray by some plausible assertions,
founded upon a fanciful basis, and supported by false rea
soning. The same hasty attempts have been made to lay down
rules for colour as for form and proportion. These are all
dependent on the perceptive faculties ; and it is certainly not
by beginning with a theory that any of the three can be taught.
The Italians have a remarkable perception of true propor
tion, but they did not learn it from a theory, nor do they teach
it by rules ; and how would it be possible to define every
variety of form and make them all amenable to rules?
When we hear a false note, it is not to a theory that we have
recourse in order to prove it ; and we can no more help see
ing a discord (if we have a true perception of colour) than
we can help being struck by a discord in music. If the ear
is correct, it will detect the latter ; if the eye is so, it will
perceive the former. Neither the eye nor the ear can do
otherwise. Theory will not supply the -place of those organs ;
and it would be as hopeless to attempt to teach the ear to
discriminate between sounds, or the nose to distinguish
scents, by rule, as to substitute theory for the perceptive
faculty in judging of colour. Mr. Euskin, in his "Elements
of Drawing " (p. 248), observes that composition is unreach
able, and " no one can invent by rule, though there are some
simple laws of arrangement," for which he gives some very
B 2
4 ON COLOUR. Paet'I.
useful instructions. So too the agreement and disagreement
of particular colours must depend on the power of perceiving
them; and, as in judging of form and proportion, the eye
can only be assisted by certain facts which are the result of
observation, but which can never be obtained by mere theory.
It is hopeless to begin by teaching this through the ear.
The harmony of colour must first be learnt through the eye;
and those who teach it must possess the faculty of perceiving?
it ; but to begin with a theory is writing the grammar of a
language before the language is understood. Nor is it, at any
time, possible to reduce it to rules, like a language. And yet
instances of this precipitation are constantly occurring; and
instead of guiding the eye, which is to be the judge in such
matters, there is an attempt to substitute the memory for the
perception, and to charge it with rules founded upon some
plausible and imaginary data. Because such and such colours
stand in a certain relationship to others, or are compounded
in a particular manner, it is affirmed that they must there
fore accord or disagree with some other one ; and the ques
tion asked is not whether they do or do not agree, but whether
they ought or ought not to agree.
2. These theories, and the predetermination of what colours
should do, put me in mind of a story told me by a German of
my acquaintance, who, on his first arrival in London, endea
voured to account for all he saw by explanations formed in
his mind before he had time to obtain experience, and who
thought, as his countrymen too often do, that everything must
be subjected to speculation and made amenable to theory. ^
Happening to go into Portman Square, he saw, conspicuous
on the facade of one of the houses, a richly painted hatch;
ment. He made a note of it ; while he wondered what it
meant. But on going into Grosvenor and some other squares,
where he also saw other hatchments, he at once formed his
theory; and when he entered this among his memoranda:
§ 2—4. HASTY CONCLUSIONS. 5
" Each square in London is marked by its arms, set up in a
conspicuous position on one of the houses," he felt sure he
had ascertained the rule that guided us in one of our English
customs. 3. Some of those who have formed theories on colours have
been equally hasty. Whatever might serve to confirm them
has been eagerly laid hold of; and certain analogies between
colour and sound have been brought forward to support some
preconceived notion. Burnet very justly observes, that in
the various theories respecting the harmony and effect of
colours there are many points of -coincidence, and much
that has a foundation in truth and nature, but which when
applied to the examination of the works of those who
have excelled in colouring are inapplicable ; and this remark
applies with still greater force to the combination of colours for
decorative purposes, where nature is not the guide, and where
such positive contrasts are allowable, as would be harsh and
intolerable in a picture.
4. Among the analogies of colour and sound which have
been seized upon to maintain a theory is the discovery made
by Newton while investigating the properties of light, " that
the lengths of the spaces occupied in the spectrum by the
seven primary colours exactly correspond to the lengths of
chords that sound the seven notes in the diatonic scale of
music." But this was merely the determination of an ac
cidental analogy. "Newton on this subject proceeded no
further ;" and Hutton has shown the absurdity of pretensions
such as Father Castel put forth, of constructing a musical in
strument that should present the analogous colours and sounds
to the eye and ear. " And if," he adds, " there be any analogy
between colours and sounds, they differ in so many other
points, that it need excite no wonder that his project should
miscarry."* Such an experiment cannot aid the eye in
f Hutton's " Recreations," vol. ii. part 4, prob. 55.
B 3
6 ON COLOUR. Part I.
judging of colour. The fact is most interesting, but it har
no bearing on the question, it is only to be used as a simile;
and when practice has given us the means of understanding
the whole subject, we may amuse ourselves with this or any
other speculation on the analogy of colours and sound, with
out fear of being drawn thereby into hasty and erroneous
conclusions. 5. Every one willingly admits the great utility of rules ; hut
we must first make ourselves masters of the subject, and he
contented to seek for facts to guide us in their formation.
As I have already observed, it is useless to pretend to write a
grammar before the language is understood ; and languages
were spoken long before grammarians' laid down their rules.
In like manner, poetic genius was never obtained by theory;
the beauty of proportion and of form, and various harmonious
effects, have been appreciated at all times ; and the mark is
hit by an arrow, or a ball, without any acquaintance with the
curve of a parabola. Again, we hear a sharp sound more readily
than a deep one, without having first to understand the nature
of quick and slow vibrations ; and we know whether the per
fume of a flower is sweet without having to wait for a theory
of scent. Experiments, such as looking at a colour through
a particular medium with the right, and through a different
one with the left, eye, or conjectures denying the existence
of more than one primary colour, making yellow a "de
clining red and blue privation of light," are interesting as phi
losophical inquiries, but are quite irrespective of the effect of
colours as they present themselves to the eye under ordinary
circumstances, and have no more bearing upon the harmony
and combination of various hues than they might have on
judging of the beauty and effect of a painting ; and to admit
any conclusions from them respecting the concords, or the
relationship of colours to each other, has only the effect of
substituting theory for fact.
§ 5,6. FACTS AND THEIR RESULTS. 7
We have now to deal with facts and their results, not with
reasons. The elements of ornament may be combined in
various ways, and may be equally beautiful in many different
combinations, without its being necessary to discover the laws
or reasons for that agreement, or to impede our progress at
the commencement by speculations which are quite as likely
to lead into error as to assist our study. So again with
colours : and though the three primaries, blue, red, and yel
low, in certain proportions, constitute white light, all inquiries
respecting the proper quantities required for it, and every
appeal to philosophical experiments, in seeking the proper
method of orna/memti/ng with colour, are quite irrelevant ;
and the Arabs attained to the great perfection we admire in
the Alhambra and elsewhere without theories. It was the
practice which gave them their success ; and we shall do well
to imitate their example by beginning at the beginning ; and
when we have obtained the necessary experience it will be
time to promulgate theories based on actual and sound ob
servation. We want experience and facts, not conclusions
derived from uncertain premises ; and it too often happens,
when speculations are allowed to interfere, that the judgment
is warped, and practice is made to conform to preconceived
notions as erroneous as they are arbitrary. We are too apt
to substitute memory for observation, and to teach by rote
rather than by conviction or the contemplation of good ex
amples ; and many prefer to lay down fanciful rules than to
convince by facts.
6. To begin with theory is contrary to all inductive reason
ing; which proceeds " from facts to laws, and from laws to
causes;" and it is equally inconsistent to seek some difficult
explanation while a simple one is within our reach. Yet
this is of daily occurrence, and the obvious is overlooked in
the search for some recondite reason.*
* Thus the learned are more pleased to derive the names Pa (or Ba)
b 4
8 ON COLOUR. Past I;
It is of more importance for the proper arrangement of
colours to ascertain which harmonise in juxtaposition than t&
occupy ourselves with abstruse questions- respecting, their
properties, or the laws by which they ought to be regulated;
which, though they may display great thought and scientific
knowledge, are here of little practical use ; and which, like the
constitutions of certain wise professors, appear as plausible on
paper as they are impossible in practice.
7. From facts and actual experience we may obtain some
thing positive and useful; from theory nothing can be expected,
so long as the subject itself is not thoroughly understood, ex
cept the most vague and contradictory conclusions. We have
constant proofs of this. One lays down as an axiom, that as
light is composed of the three primaries, those colours, when
used in the proportion necessary to form white light, " neu
tralise" each other, and should therefore be so employed for
decorative purposes. But if when so put together they really
did neutralise each other, they would then be deprived of
their real effect, and we should counteract the very abject
we had in view. To ornament with colour and neutrdlm
the colour is a contradiction. But it is supposed to accord .
with a theory. Fortunately, however, the three primaries"
placed in juxtaposition do accord admirably without under
going this metamorphosis; and it has been found neces
sary to employ artificial means to obtain any approach (and
that too a very imperfect one) to the white light they com-
and Ma from verbs meaning " to nourish " and " to fashion " (neither of
which indeed is very applicable) than from the two natural and untaught
sounds made by infants, to which the signification of father and mother
were afterwards applied. Again, the mode of reckoning by tens (at once
the most obvious and natural, from the ten fingers) is thought to be " one
of the most marvellous achievements of the human mind, based on an
abstract conception of quantity, and regulated by ajspirit of philosophical
class.ficat.on," and the child Harpocrates, with its finger to its mouth,
has been thought to represent « Silence," instead of the idea of « infancy,"
from a very common habit of young children.
§ 7,8. EACH COLOUR TO HAVE ITS EFFECT. 9
pose, by whirling round before the eye the object on which
those three colours have been painted. But besides that the
effect consists only of an approximation to white, it has no
bearing on the question of the effect of colour in ornamenta
tion, which is (fortunately) never whirled round before the
eye ; and so far from desiring to give to the eye the impres
sion of white, or of colourless light, in placing before it those
three colours, our object is directly the reverse ; we want to
ornament with colours, not to deceive with colours, nor to
place them so that they may "disappear" or be confounded.
And as blue and red in juxtaposition borrow from each other,
and assume a purple hue when seen at a short distance, it is
found expedient to introduce with them a certain quantity of
yellow, or sometimes a small yellow or white line of sepa
ration, to keep the two colours distinct. The object is to
present each colour as it is, and to give it its own power, that
red should appear red, and the same with the rest; care
being taken at the same time that the whole combination of
various hues shall be in harmony, by being properly balanced
throughout the composition. It would be a strange recom
mendation for a piece of music so to have the notes put
together that they should "neutralise" each other, and that
" the constituent" sounds should, like the colours, " disap
pear." Such a theory of sound would be novel; the practice
far from entertaining. Some, again, use the terms " neutra
lised and contrasted" as synonymous ; and I would most gladly
adopt these or any other expressions, if I could reconcile
their meaning with the effect produced ; as it is of advantage
that, as far as possible, we should all employ the same terms.
But to neutralise is not to set off a colour ; and this last is
obviously the effect of contrast. {See below, Sect. V.)
8. Another tells us that " death of a colour takes place when
the primitive (or primary) colours come together in equal
proportions ; and when alone, or mixed together in unequal
10 ON COLOUR. PaeiI,
proportions, they are living colours;" that "any primitive
colour may be destroyed by its opposite derivative" (or acci
dental colour, as red by green, blue by orange, in equal propor
tions) ; and that any " derivative colour may be destroyed by
adding the primitive not contained in it." But without stop
ping to discuss this point it is sufficient to observe that the
effects of red on green, and of blue on orange, are totally dif
ferent ; and if the two former diminish each other's intensity
the latter mutually increase theirs, being contrasts, and each
giving to its companion its full power. (See below, pp. 61, 62.)
Others maintain that harmony of colour depends on the pri
maries and their "derivatives" being used in the proportions:
of the rainbow; which, according to Newton, are (supposing1
the whole to be 100), red 11, orange 8, yellow 14, green 17,
blue 17, purple 11, and violet 22; but it is scarcely neces
sary to say that the quantity of the secondary colours (58)
compared with that of the primaries (42) would not answer
for ornamentation, which depends on the contrast rather than
on the blending of colours ; and this shows the fallacy of at
tempting to form a theory respecting the harmony of colour
from scientific and other irrelevant data.
That proportion must be of the highest importance in de
corating with colours is most certain; and this applies to
every case where the object is to please the eye ; but the con
ditions under which they are to be used must be considered;
and it is not by seizing upon these or those scientific data that
rules are to be obtained for our guidance ; nor will any theory
suffice to establish the harmony of colours, or take the place
of the eye, by pronouncing beforehand on their effect. And
now before I proceed further, I beg to assure the reader that
these and whatever other remarks I may offer are not made
in a captious spirit, nor with any intention to censure the
opinions of others. My object is to place before him simple
facts, and notice some of those views which appear to me to
§ 9- POSITIONS OF COLOURS. 1 1
be erroneous and liable to mislead. I hope also to be ex
cused for so often repeating the same remarks ; and though
the " decies repetita" may not " please" it may fulfil my ob
ject of directing attention to those particular points which
appear to be most deserving of it, and induce others to con
firm, or (if they really see good reasons for it) to show any
error in, my conclusions. Nowhere, perhaps, is it more
necessary to detect fallacies than when pointing out- the use
of colour. If, then, I notice any word which seems to be
employed by some one in a questionable sense, it is merely
with the view of preventing a misapprehension of its meaning ;
and I gladly abstain from objecting to any theory provided it
has no tendency to mislead. To discuss all that have been
proposed, or even those relating to the position of different
colours in the interior of a building, would neither be neces
sary nor desirable ; but I cannot omit to mention one which,
from its possessing a certain amount of plausibility, has ob
tained many supporters.
9. According to this, because the grass which grows at our
feet is green, this colour should be placed at the lower part of
a wall ; while the brown earth being below the grass, brown is
required to be in a still lower position ; and by a parity of
reasoning the sky claims for blue the most exalted place in
the interior of a coloured building. As similes, these relative
positions of the earth and sky are unobjectionable ; but the
moment they are put forth as reasons for the arrangement of
their respective colours, they are inadmissible; for though
blue demands a prominent place in a ceiling, this is not
because the sky is blue : cold transparent colours are of use
in that position, as they tend to give suitable lightness to the
upper parts of a room ; and it is well known how a proper
selection and disposition of colours may convey an impression
of additional height, when required, and accord with the gra
dations of distance and other necessary conditions.
12 ON COLOUR. PAfcil,
For though it has been denied that any effect of distance
' is to be obtained by the use of a particular colour, there is no
doubt that a ceiling may to all appearance be raised or
lowered by those means ; and blue in many positions seems
to recede, while red comes nearer to the eye ; which is fre
quently very observable in a coloured glass window.
But the ceiling is- not the only position suited for blue;
nor can the use of any other colour be determined by its place
or quantity in nature.
It is true that our grass (the admiration of foreigners) is
more abundant on the ground ; yet trees, which rise far above
the line of the. eye, have not a less claim to the green hue ;
and in most warm countries green is much more common
in trees than upon the ground. Is green then to be used
in great quantities, or in one position, in England, and in
smaller quantities, or in a different position, in the south?
is blue to be employed more abundantly in countries where
the sky is clear, and are the neutral tints of our cloudy atmo
sphere to be adopted for our ceilings ? and is the whole tone
of ornamentation to depend on and to be varied according to
climate ?
If so coloured combinations would differ widely in many
places from what is really required by harmony : we should
have our autumnal and our spring patterns ; and some coun
tries where colours are employed with the greatest profuseness
would be limited in their use. The Arabs of the Desert
would be condemned to give up the lively carpets they weave,
and confine themselves almost entirely to blue (of the sky)
and an ochry yellow (of the sand) ; and the Eskimos would
be nearly limited to blue and white, as the animals of snowy
regions are to the latter hue throughout the winter. On such
conditions many colours would be excluded altogether ; and
excepting blue (in imitation of water and the sky) the pri
maries would be sparingly used in many countries.
§ 9. USE OF GREEN. 13
Since the harmony of colours is the chief object in their
arrangement, it is not to the purpose to observe that the
brown earth and green grass in nature are in contact ; the
two colours dark brown and green being by no means an
agreeable combination ; nor would any one be pleased with
the same quantity of green in ornamentation that we see in
nature. Indeed, when this is actually copied., we are far
from welcoming that abundance of green which gives us a
pleasure to behold in the fields ; and the dislike felt for
pictures where the greens of our climate predominate is
sufficiently proved by our artists preferring to introduce the
warm brown tints of autumn ; sometimes even to an extent
not quite justified even by that season. Besides, if greens are
to belong to the lower parts of a building, we ought to make
the bases of columns of that colour ; and where, as Mr. Fal-
kener very properly asks, is there " a Greek green, or purple,
plinth ?" * Nor is the sky the only place of blue in nature ;
it may be found in the low position of water, as green is on
the hill side as well as in trees ; and in order to carry out a
theory drawn from the general aspect of nature, we should
be debarred the use of red, which is nowhere to be seen
either in the sky, on the water, or even on the earth except
in a few flowers at our feet, and in so minute a quantity com
pared with the surrounding scenery as to make red lose all
its proportion, and all claim to a place among the colours of
a landscape (for it is on the general aspect of the scene, not on
the details, that the theory is based) ; and black, a very essen
tial colour in ornamentationj would be altogether wanting.
Under these conditions the colours in a fine southerly climate
would be very limited ; while we should have to be satisfied
with those of our grey atmosphere and our neutral tint
clouds. Nor is it a libel so to designate their dominant hues,
* " Class. Mus." i. p. 100.
14 ON COLOUR. Pabti,
since some people in this country have actually recommended
them for imitation, and have expressed a reluctance to see
bright colours ; maintaining that they are ill suited to our
climate and our impressions, and that greys or neutral tints
accord with all around" us better than pure blue, red, and
yellow, which should be confined to southern countries and
clearer atmospheres. But though the blue of the sky is
brighter in the south than in our own climate, green and
others are more brilliant here ; and if, instead of confining
ourselves to the general aspect of nature, we contemplate her
more minute works we shall find that brilliantly coloured
flowers are not denied to the gloomiest climates ; where the
scarlet poppy, the blue cornflower, and the yellow buttercup,
with the broom, and the furze, are as bright as any in the south,
If we are to imitate nature it will be better to copy her in some
of these details than in the general aspect she bears in any
one climate ; and she has not taught us to abstain from using
brilliant colours in those objects which are the nearest to our
sight. But in reality, the question if or where nature uses bright
colours is not pertinent to our inquiry respecting their
employment for ornamentation. Works of art are not amen
able to the same conditions as those of nature, unless they are
copies of them. And when some one tells us that in the
interior of buildings the stone should retain its ''natural"
hue, he seems to forget that a building is not a work of
nature, but of art. For though it would be inconsistent to
colour trees beneath which we might seek shelter or make an
abode, the squared stone and stuccoed walls are under totally
different conditions, and are artificial, like the colour required
for ornamenting them.
10. The rage for making every thing assume a supposed
appearance of nature was almost universal in England till
lately. Artificial gardens were exchanged for others with ser-
§ 10,11. ARRANGEMENT OF GARDENS. lo
pentine walks; avenues were cut down or disregarded; the
formal beds, balustrades, and terraces of our old gardens were
looked upon with horror ; and every part of the ground about
a house was required to assume the varied aspect of nature.
At the same time, gravel-walks, themselves artificial, were
admitted ; and if the rage was not carried quite so far as to
allow weeds to grow instead of cultivated flowers, it was
equally inconsistent to have the (supposed) wildness of nature
about a bouse, which is a work of art,. with its angularity and
formal lines. It was a vain endeavour to make two opposite
conditions coincide. To be in keeping with the aspect of
a house, the garden in its immediate vicinity should agree
with its artificial character ; and nothing can be more in ac
cordance with the style of that work of art than an orna
mental dressed garden, from which the gradation to the wild
country should be maintained by a decreasing formality in
the grounds as they leave the one and approach the other.
"Nothing, indeed," as Sir Walter Scott has well observed, is
" more the child of art than a garden ;" " and flights of steps,
balustrades, vases, and architectural ornaments," says Price,
" are not more unnatural, i.e. not more artificial, than the house
they are intended to accompany." The change from the old
dressed garden was the consequence of the fantastic caprices
of the Dutch (by whom it was caricatured) having been
brought into England. A reaction then took place in favour
of nature, and the opposite extreme of irregularity succeeded.
But it was equally studied and unnatural ; and as it was done
without regard to adaptability, and without a reason, the
result was the anomalous juxtaposition of two incompatible
ideas. The same is now attempted in the colouring of works
of art : and as it is equally inconsistent, it must equally lead
to error.
11. The notion that the quantity or the arrangement of
colours is to be taken from nature is obviously erroneous ; and
16 ON COLOUR. PABiI.
so far from green being employed in the large masses she
spreads before us, its use should rather be confined to lighting
up a coloured composition, for which it is admirably suited.
It may also be introduced in larger proportions, when intended
to be seen by candlelight, which improves green, while it
interferes with the effect of blue ; and this change sufficiently
shows how different are the conditions of colour for orna
mentation and in nature. So far, indeed, from adopting the
quantities and arrangements of colours in nature for that pur
pose, we should generally deviate widely from them; and
who could think of using in decoration the same quantity of
green with which she covers the large expanse of a landscape,
or of introducing in any one part of a building the mass of
green we see in a single tree ? It is reposing to the eye to
look upon the great quantity of green in nature, and there is
no other colour on which the eye can dwell continually with
out fatigue ; but in ornamenting with colours we do not seek
the same repose which is there required ; we seek rather a
contrary effect, as in music we are not satisfied with the
melody of natural sounds, but delight in that harmony which
is as artificial as the combination of positive colours for deco
rative purposes. Nor is it our object to have a repetition oi
the least fatiguing colour, or of the least effective piece of
music ; however soothing green and natural melody may be.
12. The introduction of great quantities of green is one of
the mistakes which always creeps in when society becomes
artificial, and is one of the signs of a want or of a decline of
taste. The very general use of the primaries, frequently with
the addition of black and white, and a little green, marks the
taste of people before they become artificial, and before the true
perception of colour becomes blunted; and experience abun
dantly proves, that at first pure taste showed a preference for
the primaries, and that it was only when it began to be cor
rupted that a superabundance of the secondaries were ad-
§12.13. USE OF GREEN. 17
mitted. And thus, in their later monuments, the Egyp
tians so increased the proportions of green they had pre
viously used with red, blue, yellow, white, and black, that in
the time of the Ptolemies green was the dominant colour,
extending even over the whole capital of a column. The
number of their colours was always limited ; these six, some
times with gold, were almost the only ones employed on their
monuments; brown, purple, and orange-red were rare, ex
cept on papyri, and to these, in later times, pink was added,
with orange-red. The Greeks, in hke manner, used green
very sparingly for ornamentation in their buildings, where red,
blue, yellow and gold, black and purple, with some green and
white, were the most common * ; and the favourite colours of
the Israelites were blue, scarlet, purple, and gold, sometimes
on a blue, sometimes on a white (linen) ground.
13. The same dominant use of the primary colours may be
remarked in the draperies painted by the early masters of
Italy. Nor did they attach importance to landscapes ; their
subjects were human figures; and as early poetry treats of
persons rather than detailed descriptions of scenery, so early
painting preferred the human figure. It is only when people
become artificial, and have long led the conventional life of
towns, that they begin to show an unreasonable preference
for rural scenes in painting ; and it is then that the reaction
in favour of the natural takes place, which has been so well
described by Mr. Buskin. (" Lectures on Painting," iii.)
But I am far from wishing to underrate the beauty of land
scape, or from thinking that admiration of scenery misplaced,
which is so much felt in this country. And if it be true
that the Greeks and Bomans of old, or the Italians and others
of southern climates at the present day, have not enjoyed
* See below, § 55 Sections HI. and IV.; and Part II. § 59, 60.
C
18 ON COLOUR. Past I.
picturesque scenery in the same degree as ourselves*, I should
be sorry to imitate them in this particular.
But that admiration of nature is distinct from a pre
ference for landscape in painting; and its selection as the
favourite subject for art. Indeed the grandest scenes, most
admired in nature, are not always the best suited for a
picture ; the scenery of Switzerland is grand arid commands
enthusiastic admiration, but it is not always suited for a
picture, from the great disproportion of the mountains to
the foreground ; and we must be satisfied to admire in nature
many scenes not to be transferred to canvas.
Connected with this predilection for landscape is that
fondness for green already deprecated; and so habitual has
this predilection become, that we use the expression "copying
from nature," as if it only implied drawing, or painting,
landscape. It is in this too that some seek for every illus
tration of colour, forgetting that what suits a landscape does
not necessarily suit a building, or any other work of art.
14. It may be admitted, as Burnet observes, that the colours
to which the eye is accustomed in nature are those that are
to be sought for in a landscape-painting: "such as blue,
white, or gray in skies ; green, in trees and grass ; brown or
warm grey in earth, road, or stone." But this is a totally
different question from the treatment of pure, flat, positive,
colours used for decorative purposes, where no "toning to
those hues most common in nature " is required, or admissible.
The painting is a copy of nature, not so a building, or a
carpet. Attention to the due " equilibrium " may be neces
sary in one as in the other; but from the use of mixed, or
compound, hues in the former, and of positive or pure colours
in the latter, their treatment, as well as their effect, is very
* I am not however disposed to think that the ancients were indifferent to
the beauties of natural scenery ; and I have no doubt that to Horace the
" domus Albunece resonantis, et prasceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus," were as
pleasing as they would have been to any of us.
§14,15. COLOURS FROM NATURE. 19
distinct; and while in paintings, especially landscapes, the
colouring chiefly consists of various combinations far removed
from the primaries, in ornamentation the due effect is pro
duced by the union of positive colours, most of which should be
primaries. But the quantity of each colour need not, as some
suppose, be made to accord with that in the prism and the
rainbow ; and there is no more reason for this than for always
arranging colours in the same order as they appear in the
prism. The quantity of different colours will also depend on
the place, or the position, where they are to be introduced,
on the character of a building, and on various conditions;
their quality too must depend on circumstances; and the
same colours will have a very different effect when seen by
candle-light and in the light of day.
15. Some there are who maintain that because in nature cer
tain two colours a*re found in juxtaposition, they must neces
sarily be concords ; and cite those in various flowers to support
their argument ; but they forget that besides the petals and
the leaves, their eye sees at the same time the yellow anthers,
the brown stalk, or other coloured objects, even when the
flower is plucked, and many more when it is viewed in the
bed where it grows. The light and shade, and sometimes the
semi-transparency of the petals, also give to the hues in
flowers a somewhat different effect from what they would
have as flat colours. But whatever may be the cause of
the difference, there is no doubt of the fact, and this is all
that is necessary for us to notice in considering the agree
ment or disagreement of the colours. If too, in the great
variety of combinations presented to us by nature, there
must necessarily be perfect harmony; and if nature is
expected always to supply us with concords, we shall have no
choice left but to receive the most opposite combinations
with equal favour. The same acceptation of the colours- of
nature as necessary concords must on these conditions be
c 2
20 ON COLOUR. Paei I.
extended to sounds ; and we must at least allow her the credit
of giving them to the notes of birds, and the voices of other
animals; yet every one will admit that the sounds uttered by
a parrot and a pig, though quite natural, are far from agree
able. So too with flowers ; and as some are most beautiful
and harmonious in their colours, others are discordant : and
few persons will go so far as to maintain that all nature's
works are equally pleasing, or that the figures of all animals
being beautiful, we are to admire the hippopotamus, or other
hideous creatures, as well as the most graceful. It might be
as reasonable to maintain that every odour in nature is
agreeable, as that every combination of colour in nature is so.
But those who appeal to nature as their guide should rather
consult the natural taste of man in colour ; and this they
will most certainly find to be most in accordance with the
coloured ornamentation of the best periods, and of people
most remarkable for taste in this particular. y
16. The coloured works of the Arabs and other orientals will
illustrate the fact of the early combinations of colours being
the most perfect, and at the same time afford an insight into
the proper principle of arranging them in carpets, and similar
ornamental fabrics. Here we see that the colour, not the
pattern, was the (chief object ; and, though they of all people
had the greatest facility in combining regular geometrical pat
terns, they abstained from introducing them into carpets. The
reason was obvious. The effect was to be produced by colours ;
they therefore made these the principal features, and showed
by the indistinctness of the patterns how secondary a place the
latter were to hold in the composition. And here I cannot
abstain from noticing some very- sensible remarks by Mr.
Giles on this very point : that " colour, and not the pattern, is
the primary source of interest in such cases, as in the ordinary
Turkey carpet, in which no one looks for a pattern ; and while
our Axminsters, Wiltons, and Kidderminsters, the designs of
§ 16. EARLY STYLE OF COLOUR. 21
which have been considered rather than the harmony of their
colours, are so distressing in their obtrusive roses and cornu
copias, the incomprehensible and oft-repeated interlaced
design of the old Turkish carpet seems never to weary."
Those coloured oriental fabrics also show how superior
were the earlier to the later productions ; and how in recent
times there has been a tendency to admit a greater admixture
of green* and other compound colours. And though Orientals
have deviated less than most people from the purity of their
early taste, they have introduced a more artificial manner
into some of their modern carpets and other coloured orna
ments. They admit fewer innovations than Europeans in
their customs and tastes, and the change in colour is also less
marked among them ; but a false taste seems to be gradually
influencing some of their modern fancy-works (accelerated
perhaps by the selection of the purchasers), though they still
^exhibit a far greater perception of the harmony of colour
than the western more civilised and more artificial com
munities. To such a degree do the Arabs possess this faculty,
that were any of their children furnished by chance with
a number of colours, and requested to form them into a
pattern, they would be sure to arrange them in some pleas
ing concord ; and many a toy they make is remarkable for
the beauty of its coloured ornaments. Thirty or forty years
ago, even in the streets of Cairo (where early taste has
so long "been corrupted, and where it is so inferior to that
of the Arabs), the most striking combinations of colour
might be seen in the hands of the unsophisticated mem
bers of the community; and the artistic judgment of our
Consul-General, the late Mr. Salt, aided by long acquaintance
with the oriental practice of harmonising colours, often
induced him to buy some of the playthings of children, for
* Not only in grounds, but in mixed patterns. See below, on " Grounds,"
Sect. IX c 3
22 ON COLOUR. Paei I,
the beauty of their fancy designs. Among these I remember
an orange, into the surface of which they had cut a mosaic
pattern, leaving the orange rind as a ground, and filling in
all the triangular and other hollows with various brilliant
colours; than which (comparing small things with great)
nothing could be found more harmonious in the mosaics of
Italy, or of Damascus, or on the walls of the Alhambra.
17. In Europe it is among the Italians that we find the truest
perception of the harmony of colour; and it would be far
better for those in England who attempt coloured decoration
to follow the taste of Italy in this matter, than to adopt the
crude notions of some northern people. A blind predilection
for German examples is specially to be shunned ; for though
some modern Germans (as Hess and others) do possess a
proper appreciation of colour, the general character of their
coloured ornamentation is utterly at variance with harmony;
and a dingy green is often put in juxtaposition with straw-
berry-and-cream colour, with an evident innocence (or per
haps in obedience to some learned theory) which proves
how little they are aware of these two forming a most
disagreeable discord. An impression of some of these German
mistakes may be obtained from the lower part of the great
staircase of the British Museum ; from the windows of the
south aisle of Cologne cathedral, by Cornelius ; and from the
corridor and other parts of that frightful building the Pinako-
thek of Munich. ' The Italians, on the other hand, free from
any grass, or other, theory, and guided by the eye, adopt more
primary colours for ornamentation. They fearlessly use blues,
and reds, and yellows ; greens and other compound hues being
in smaller proportions; and they obtain a balance of tone by
placing near the ground deeper, or fewer transparent, hues,
than in the upper parts of a wall, thereby giving an appear
ance of lightness to the higher portions of the building.*
* Examples of this may be mentioned in the Palazzo Martinengo at Brescia,
§ 17, 18. BRIGHT COLOURS IN NORTHERN CLIMATES. 23
18. If the reason of our preferring dull to brilliant colours is
(as some suppose) attributable to the grey tints of our northern
atmosphere, how is it that other northern people use colours
as vivid as those of the south? The Indians of North
America, the Eskimos, and the peasants of Northern Eussia
and Siberia, ornament their fancy trinkets with the same
bright combinations as the Arabs. The colours they prefer
are the primaries; and brilliant hues hold a conspicuous
place in their simple patterns. Nor are those colours ex
cluded from the ornamental works and porcelain of the
Chinese; though these last are often deficient in form and
elegance of design. It is not our climate which has made us
indifferent to the beauty of colour. England, some centuries
ago (as Mr. Cutts very properly observes), was not externally
so colourless as now. The groups then seen in public on grand
occasions were " clad in bright colours : " knights wore " ar
mour of silver scales, covered by a jupon of azure, embroidered
with armorial bearings," and were mounted on gaily capa
risoned steeds ; and those who were the spectators at a tour
nament, or who attended any festive meeting, were " gay as a
flock of tropical birds ; " while the windows of the castle, or
the houses of the towns, were hung with draperies rich in
brilliant hues. Public monuments were decorated with
painted ornaments, as well as the interiors of houses ; and the
church was rich with colour throughout. The brilliant glass
window did not then offer an incongruous contrast to white
walls, as in our modern churches ; nor did the ceiling, isolated
from the rest of a room by whitewash, proclaim a thorough
disregard for all agreement with the general effect of the
coloured furniture and hangings ; and the painted representa
tions of churches and domestic apartments in those days, as
given in PI. xxix. of Griiner's Fresco in Decorations ; in the Chartreuse at
Pavia, PI. ix. ; and in the Church of St. Maurice at Milan, PI. xi.
c 4
24 ON COLOUR. PAM L
well as the remains of colour on various monuments, show how
universal was the employment of brilliant ornamentation in
this, as in other countries.
19. There is an inconsistency in our estimation of colour:
we admire and use it in* some places, while we affect to be
above its employment in others. Our taste is artificial, and it
is, therefore, undecided and ill-defined. When our cathedrals
were built they were ornamented with colour throughout;
they were not considered finished without it; every tomb
afterwards put into them had its painted devices and mould
ings ; and the glass window was part of the whole coloured
decoration. Colour was with all people in old times a neces
sary accessory to architecture ; and it was equally held to be
so in England. / " The builders of those cathedrals," says Mr.
Euskin*, "laid upon them the brightest colours they could
obtain, and there is not, as far as I can learn, in Europe any
j monument of a truly noble school which has not been either
painted all over, or originally touched with paint, mosaic, and
gilding in its prominent parts. Thus far Egyptians, Greeks,
Goths, Arabs, and mediaeval Christians all agree; none of
them when in their right senses ever think of doing without
paint." Our indifference to colour then is sanctioned neither
by ancient usage nor by good taste. There even lingers
among us an admiration for the obsolete scarlet cloaks of our
peasantry, — one of the few remains of old times ; and it was
long the habit of our painters to introduce the contrast of blue
and red costumes into their landscapes.
The colours too which we used in our early cathedrals were
(as in other countries when good taste prevailed regarding
them) chiefly the primaries; those buildings which had a
superabundance of green 'and other compound and mixed
colours having been subsequently repainted; and the changes
| * " Stones of "Venice," ii. p. 90.
§ 19. NATURAL TASTE FOR COLOUR. 25
at this later period may be at once verified by comparing
them with the dominant colours of the unchangeable glass
windows of the earlier age, executed in the. 1200* and the
following century. From all this it follows that the neutral
tint " quiet colour " of England (which many people of demure
habits seem to associate with propriety, as if the beautiful was
connected with sin), the browns and yellows of a Flemish
painted glass window, or the dull hues of the dingy Dutch
carpet, are not attributable to any malady of vision produced
by a murky northern atmosphere ; they are rather owing to
the loss of the natural and true perception of colour, and to
its not having yet been succeeded by a knowledge of it ob
tained from good precepts. The one has been lost, and the
other has not yet been acquired. It must be admitted that
the painted glass windows of our cathedrals generally find
favour even with the English ; it is, therefore, surprising that
so many should be inconsistent enough to deny any colour to
the rest of the building ; those who have objected to this, both
on the window and the wall, are at least more consistent ; and
a better excuse may be found for their prejudice than for the
caprice of placing a coloured window only at the east end of
a church, where it stands in glaring contrast to all the rest
of the whitewashed building ; and where, from its generally
affecting to imitate a "painting," it has all the appearance of
a transparent blind. Some again object to coloured glass
because the light of the sun, passing through that variegated
medium, injures the effect of the pictures which may be in
the church; biit this objection is not a fair one; for, as I
have elsewhere observed (Part II. § 58), such works of art, on
* I hope I may be excused for using this "mode of expressing dates, in pre
ference to the usual one. It prevents that confusion of 13th and 14th centuries,
and the necessity of recollecting, when we say 13 or 14, that we mean 12
or 13. The only deviation from this will be in the " 1st century," which it will
be necessary to retain.
26 ON COLOUR. PAET I.
panel or canvas, are out of place there ; and if they are inter
fered with by the colour of the glass, as they are by cross-
lights, or by being placed under a window, or within a dark
recess over an altar, or by any other accident of position, to
which they are constantly subject in a church, the fault is not
in the building, but in the unsuitableness of the place. They
should not be there. When the walls of a Gothic church are
decorated with painted designs which form part of the whole
coloured building, those designs must be subservient to the
effect of the general ornamentation ; but this is a condition to
which the "painting" on panel or canvas is never expected to
conform. And if the iridescent hues, sometimes thrown on a
wall by the sun's rays passing through a coloured window, inter
fere with the proper effect of the ornamentation upon that wall,
that is after all only a momentary disadvantage, similar to that
of the sun itself shining directly upon it through an uncoloured
glass window, which would equally interfere, for the moment,
with the effect of its colours. On the other hand I cannot
agree with those who think the iridescent colour thrown on
the opposite wall, or on the pavement, is any reason for .em
ploying painted glass windows. Besides, this is quite tran
sitory, and a " separable accident," and has nothing whatever
to do with the colour of the building ; the beauty and effect
of which must depend on its own fcerits. There are, however,
some churches, the style and decoration of which neither
require nor accord with coloured glass, as those of the Ee-
naissance, painted with large frescoes, where coloured glass
windows would conceal and interfere with their effect ; and in
such buildings the windows are made of plain transparent
glass, in order to admit all the light required for that species
of ornamentation. Nor would painted glass be suited to a
building of Gothic style, decorated with fresco paintings*
such as Giotto's Chapel at Padua.
20. And here I maybe permitted to offer a few remarks on
§ 20. COLOURED GLASS WINDOWS. 27
coloured glass; particularly in reference to its employment
for windows in Gothic churches.
Among the various kinds of coloured ornamentation, which
have justly claimed attention at the present day, are glass
windows ; and great advances have been made in the manu
facture, as well as in the arrangement, of painted glass for our
churches. We have fortunately many excellent examples
remaining of this kind of decoration, especially in the ec
clesiastical buildings of France ; and the specimens of dif
ferent periods are such as to enable us to judge of the effects
and merits of their various styles, and to determine which
are most eligible as our guides. France was long noted for
its superiority in painted glass windows ; and already in
the time of Theophilus, who flourished according to the
most satisfactory evidence "in the XHth century," France
was the country which had then made the greatest advance
ment in this species of ornamentation. For in enumerat
ing in his Preface the various subjects he is about to treat
of in his work, " Bwersarwm Artium Schedula," he assigns
to Greece * the superiority in the kinds and mixtures of
divers colours (as well as in the manufacture of the brightest
transparent coloured glass cups, in glazing pottery with
vitrifiable colours by the action of fire and enamelling, and in
various processes of ornam&ntal glass-work: — ii. 14, 16); to
Tuscany, in various kinds of enamel ; to Arabia, in malleable,
or fusible, and chased, work ; to Italy, in the variety of vases,
the decoration with gold, and the carving of gems and ivory ;
to France, in the precious variety of wi/ndows; and to
Germany, in the delicate workmanship of gold, silver, copper,
iron, wood, and stone.
* Art among the Byzantine Greeks is said to have fallen " in the 8th, 9th,
and 10th centuries," and to have "improved again under the Comneni in the
12th century." (Lord Lindsay, ii. p. 54.) Thus the mosaics of S. Apollinare
at Kavenna, of the middle of the 500, are better than those of S. Mark's of
the 900, and the following century.
28 ON COLOUR. Past I.
It is true that Italy also had painted glass ; and that at a
very early period, some at Siena being of 1230 ; but coloured
glass windows were not generally adopted in Eoman churches;
and if in those of Northern Italy they were used, and some,
as at Perugia and elsewhere, were very beautiful in colour
and design, they were not of the same early period of which
Theophilus speaks ; nor do we now find in Italy the numerous
brilliant specimens of glass windows which abound in France
of the 1200 and the following century. Indeed, the earliest
specimens oi painted glass windows in western Europe are in
France, some of which date before the end of the 1 100 ; as in
the Abbey of St. Denis, where the first crusade is represented
on glass of the year 1194. Painted glass windows were also
made in Flanders and Germany in the 1200; but France
claims the precedence ; and Suger, Abbot of St. Denis, is said
to have patronised the art of painting on glass in France in
1152. It is difficult to ascertain how France arrived at the art of
painting glass, or whence she derived the first elements of
that knowledge. Some have at once pronounced that it was
from the Byzantine Greeks, and there is no doubt that
coloured glass had been used for windows by them, long
before it was employed for that purpose in Western Europe.
But those which remain are of stained, not painted, glass;
and they afford no decisive solution of the question. The
same were adopted by the early Arabs from the Greeks, who •
had used them long before the Arab conquests began; and
about the year 400; Prudentius (as Labarte has shown) speaks
of the employment of glass, in the basilica of San Paolo-fuori-
le-mura at Eome, built by Constantine; where, he says, "in
the rounded windows are displayed panes of glass of various
colours : thus do the windows shine when decorated with the
flowers of spring." " The existence of coloured windows " is
again more distinctly mentioned "in the 6th century"
§ 21- STAINED GLASS. 29
(Labarte, "Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages," p. 66),
and Pope Leo IIL, in 816, adorned those in the apse of
S. Giovanni Laterano, " with glass of various colours." It is
evident then, that stained glass windows were used during
the 300, in the age of Constantine, and they are even ad
mitted to have been known in the previous century.
That it was likely to be adopted for windows in hot climates
as soon as the art of applying it became known, is highly
probable ; as the direct transition of heat is less through
coloured, than through white, glass ; and for this reason the
Arabs in Egypt and elsewhere preferred the former, whenever
they glazed the windows of their mosks or dwellings. De
barred as they always were from the representation of the
human figure *, they only introduced conventional forms ; and
their patterns, which frequently resemble, rather than imitate,
a flower rising from a fanciful root, or a vase, are composed
of various pieces of coloured glass (according to the earliest
method), each surrounded and separated from its neighbour by
a thin partition composed of egg and gypsum, in lieu of lead-
work. The windows are small, both in the mosks and
houses ; and the former are generally made up of geometrical
patterns and other devices.
21. Colourless glass windows (" speculariorum usum, perlu-
cente testa, clarum transmittentium lumen,") were already used
in the age of the first Caesars, as shown by Seneca (Ep. 90,
p. 398), and perhaps also by Philo Judseus (Leg. ad Ca.); and
Seneca says (Ep. 86, p. 373), " rusticitatis damnant Scipionem,
quod non in caldarium suum latis specular ibus diem admise-
rat." And though talc or other translucid substances might pos
sibly be implied, Seneca's speaking of the "multa, luce" would
rather require them to be glass; " specularia " was the name
* The few instances where figures have been introduced by the Arabs in
Spain, and by the Moslems in Persia, are not sufficient to disprove the force of
the injunction. The same remark may apply to the cherubim of the Jews.
30 ON COLOUR. Paei I.
given to glass windows or panes ; and paintings on glass were
long known in Eome. Moreover, the fact of glass panes
having been made before a.d. 79, has been established by the
discovery of one at Pompeii, as well as by the fragments of
others found at Herculaneum. These, it is true, are colourless ;
but glass of various hues was employed for many purposes :
for making beads, false stones, and other objects of ornament
and utility, in the Augustan age at Eome.* Seneca (Ep. 86.)
speaks of Eoman ceilings quite covered with glass (vitro
absconditur camera) ; and glass mosaic is said by Pliny to
have been introduced into Italy by Agrippa. Indeed, glass
ornaments were brought from Egypt long before; as at the
fete given to the Eoman people by Scaurus, and on other oc
casions, when they were worn as personal trinkets, in ac
cordance with a common custom in Egypt ; where coloured
glass was very generally employed for Ornaments of different
kinds, as well as for vases, for false stones, and for many
purposes. f Egypt indeed had for ages been famed for its
manufacture of glass, and it was doubtless from Egypt that
Sidon and afterwards Tyre, and at a much later time the
Eomans, learnt this valuable art. It is scarcely worth while
to refute the story told by Pliny of the supposed discovery' by
some Phoenician sailors returning from Egypt, with a cargo
of natron, which they could only have required for the very
purpose of making glass, the knowledge of which they had
derived from that country ; and the accidental discovery of
glass-making could only be. looked for in the land which pro
duced the natron. But a more decisive proof of its having
* See Part II. § 86. See also Raoul-Rochette, "Peintures Antiques," p. 368
—390, &c.
f Probably, as at Rome, for magnifying objects. Seneca (N. Q. i. 3, p. 834)
says : " Poma per vitrum adspicientibus multo majora sunt ;" and (i. 6, p. 837)
"formossiora quam sint videntur si innatant vitro." A lens has even been
found at Pompeii, and another at Nineveh. Nero having weak eyes used a
green glass (said to be an emerald) when looking at the gladiatorial shows :
" spectabat Smaragdo." (Plin. xxxvii. 51.)
§21. EARLY USE OF GLASS. 31
originated in Egypt is afforded by the oldest records that re
main, of a time too when there is no appearance of its being
recorded as a new discovery : and the simple process of glass-
blowing is represented in the usual way among the Egyptian
sculptures of the time of King Shafre, the founder of the
second Pyramid, about 2400 b.c. The process too of staining
glass of various colours, is shown to have been employed
about the same period; and the method of cutting and en
graving it is proved by a large bead, bearing the name of one
of the Pharaohs, to have been known at least as early as
1460 B.C. Glass was one of the exports of the country; one
kind could only be made there ; and so celebrated was Egypt
for the excellence and abundance of its glass, that it consti
tuted part of the tribute imposed upon the Egyptians by
Augustus. It was of the most varied hues ; and the many-
coloured ornaments superadded to the surface of the vases,
and other objects, and fixed by the blowpipe or the furnace,
are referred to by Martial *, and are seen in those many-hued
cups found in Egypt (and elsewhere), which are doubtless
imitations of the real murrhine t, a stone answering to none
other than fluor spar, which bears an evident resemblance
to those productions of the Egyptian glass-makers.
The immense emeralds mentioned by Pliny and others
were glass ; so too were many cups and ornamental objects,
noted for their richness, in the low ages ; as the supposed
emerald dish called " Sagro cateno," of Genoa, which " came
into possession of the Genoese, as an equivalent for a large
sum of money, at the taking of Csesarea in Syria ; and which,
* See Martial's Epigram, xiv. 115.
" Adspicis ingenium Nili, quibus addere plura
P>um cupit, ah quoties perdidit auctor opus."
t Pliny (xxxvi. 26) says this was imitated in glass : " fit et album et mur-
rhinum." (See xxxvii. 2.)
32 ON COLOUR. Past I.
pawned in 1319, was redeemed for 1200 marks of gold, or
about 3000Z." Pliny, speaking of false stones, says the
emerald was the most easily imitated ; and glass cups, com
bining in their patterns many different hues, were made in
Egypt, and afterwards at Eome, without cracking, — an art
now lost, and vainly attempted of late at Venice.* Coloured
glass was therefore a very old invention ; and if it was not
employed at Eome for windows, the mode of making flat
panes of white glass had long been known ; and it is probable
that the coloured material was used for the same purpose, at
a much earlier time than is generally supposed. Indeed, the
figurative allusion by St. Paul to seeing through a glass
darkly, shows that the habit of looking through stained glass
was sufficiently common to be taken as a metaphor.
Colourless panes of glass having been once adopted, the
use of coloured ones would naturally follow, as soon as the
want was felt ; and the art of colouring glass having long been
known, we can readily account for their being employed
at the comparatively late time of Constantine. Their intro
duction into Western Europe from Byzantium, the repository
of all the arts after his age, is therefore only what might be
expected. 22. The art of making glass had first gone from Egypt to
Eome, and thence, in after times, to Constantinople ; but it
is uncertain whether the Venetians introduced it directly
from Egypt, to which country they traded at the beginning of
the 800 a.d., or from Constantinople. Their first glass-manu
factories were established on the island of the Eialto ; and.
afterwards in different parts of Venice, until the numerous
fires they caused induced the Senate to confine all glass-
blowing operations to the isle of Murano, where they are
* I observed that at Murano they were obliged to form an interior layer or
coating of glass, on which they placed the exterior face when this was of many
colours.
§22,23. ORIGIN OF STAINED GLASS. 33
still carried on ; but the art was long kept a profound secret,
and any one betraying it was condemned to the galleys.
Venice, therefore, had alone the advantage of supplying
other European markets with this valuable commodity, which
found its way into many countries, and even to China ; glass
was employed by her in the manufacture of false stones, as
well as various useful and ornamental objects; and so highly
was it prized, that slaves were ransomed with it from the
coast of Barbary.*
To an early intercourse with Venice might reasonably be
attributed the introduction of the art of staining glass into
France ; and the manufacture of enamelled waref at Limoges
is said by the Abbe Texier to have owed its origin to a colony
of Venetians, who settled there in 979, and who had with
them many Byzantine artists. This settlement was connected
with their trade in spices and oriental stuffs, brought in their
ships from Egypt to Marseilles ; and the fact of the builder of
St. Mark's, the Doge Pietro Orseolo I., soon after he abdicated
the Dogeship, having fixed his residence in France (a.d. 978),
is another proof of the intimate relations which subsisted at
that period between the Venetians and the French. To the
same Doge Orseolo has been ascribed the erection of the
church of St. Front at Perigueux— a building supposed to have
been copied from St. Mark's at Venice, but with the pecu
liarity of pointed arches ; which also occur in several of the
early churches in that neighbourhood of the same Byzantine
style. 23. The manufacture of stained glass evidently came to
France either directly from the Greeks of Constantinople, or
through the Venetians ; and it would not be difficult to account
for Byzantine influence extending to France, when the Greeks
* According to the advice of Marco Polo.
f The Romans were acquainted with real enamelling as well as the inlaying
of the material within raised metal borders (a cloisons, or cloisonne').
D
34 ON COLOUR. PabtI.
abounded in Italy ; and when the marriage of Otho II. with
Theophania, daughter of Nicephorus Phocas, in 967 A.D.,
brought so many Greek artificers into Western Europe. The
leading country in art always has had an influence on other
people; and this of Byzantium was even felt, in a minor
degree in Britain and Ireland at those early periods. ,
Mr. Whinston cites proofs of the early French painted
glass displaying Byzantine features, and traces a resemblance
between the glass paintings of the middle of the 1100, and
the illuminations of contemporary Greek MSS. ; and he thinks
that " the glass-paintings which, on the whole, most closely
resemble the antique, are those executed between 1170 and
1240, or thereabouts." These Byzantine features, however,
are disputed by some French writers of eminence, who,.
maintain that though the use of stained glass for win
dows was adopted by the Byzantine Greeks long before it was
known in France, the art of painting on glass was a French
invention. But here again the Greeks have a prior claim;
as Theophilus (ii. 14) shows that they painted glass and
burnt in the colours at the same period; and no one will
maintain that they derived the secret from the French. And
though he mentions the painted glass windows of France,
" he attributes," as Labarte observes, " to the Greeks alone
the production of vases of ornamental glass," and the French,
even in " the fourteenth century," had recourse to the Greeks
for every "piece of decorated glass."*
24. The distinction between stained and painted glass con
sists in the former being of one uniform hue, while in the latter
the colour is applied to the white surface and then burnt in.
This .last is used in the "Enamel Method," which admits
no stained glass, and requires the whole picture to be painted
on the previously colourless surface. The other is called the
" Simple Mosaic Method," and in it the whole picture is made
* Labarte, « Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages," pp. 336, 337.
§ 21, 25. ORIGIN OF PAINTED GLASS. 35
up of pieces of stained glass, according to the colours re
quired to form it. There is also a third, called the " Mosaic
Enamel Method," in which some portions are of stained,
others of coloured glass, combining the two former methods,
though this last distinction is not always maintained. What
is generally called mosaic glass has really some of its details
and shadows marked out by colour ; and of this kind are the
earliest windows of the 1100 and 1200 in France. For
though composed of coloured pieces of glass, held together
by the leads which form the outlines of the designs, the
shading is made by lines in bistre laid upon the surface, and
afterwards burnt in; and the same colour* is used for some
of the details and folds of draperies.
The art gradually grew out of the original simple mosaic
process. But it has long been a question when and where the
first idea originated of adding the few shades and bistre lines ;
for in that was the germ of the enamel process and the real
origin of painted glass.
25. In arguing this question it has been observed, on the
one hand, that the hard outlines formed by the lead-work and
the line-shading are consistent with the character of Byzan
tine paintings; on the other, that those formal outlines
merely resulted from the mode of fixing the pieces of glass,
and that the Byzantine character of the figures would only
show that they were copied, like many early paintings, from
Greek models ; while some have made this more pertinent
remark, that if the discovery of the new art of painting on
glass had been made in France, it could not have been
unknown to Theophilus, and that he would have noticed
an innovation introduced about his time.
There is, however, no need of conjecture ; and, as I have
already shown (p. 27), he actually states that it was practised
by the Byzantine Greeks. And if we find no specimens of the
* Some bright lights were scratched in a superadded coat of bistre.
d 2
36 ON COLOUR. Paet I.
painted windows in their churches, still the direct evidence of
Theophilus suffices to establish their prior claim to the use of
painted glass, as well as to the manufacture of painted glass
vases, for which they were celebrated at the same period.*
Our not finding painted windows in Byzantine churches may
also be explained by the fact of their walls having been
generally decorated with coloured subjects, whose effect would
have been impaired by the coloured windows ; still, this does
not disprove an acquaintance with coloured glass, or even its
occasional use in these and other buildings ; as the absence of
the arch from the temples of Egypt does not disprove its inven
tion in that country, or its frequent employment in houses and
tombs. The extent of the claim which is to be conceded to the
French is their having generally introduced it into churches;
and though the first idea of burning in the colours was derived
from the same source whence the composition of the simple
stained window was obtained, this honour of priority may be
accorded to the Byzantine Greeks without detracting from
the merit due to the French of having been the first to
bring the art of painted glass to a perfection which the
Greeks could never have attained. The glory of Italy in the
art of painting has not been diminished by the fact of her
having been indebted to Byzantine models ; and France may
well be satisfied in having carried glass-painting to perfection,
and in having been the first to give it that brilliancy which
constitutes the merit of this beautiful art.
26. The main point to which it is my object to direct atten
tion is the choice of style in coloured windows ; and the one
which should be selected for our study and imitation is cer
tainly the mosaic glass of the 1200. It is true that the glass
of the next century (the 1300) was often richer in colour;
but the question now relates to the arrangement of colours
* The Greeks established this manufactory at Damascus also ; and painted
glass vases from Syria may still be seen in some of the mosks in Cairo.
§ 2«. MOSAIC WINDOWS. 37
and the character of the ornamentation, not to the excellence
of the colour imparted to the material. Convinced that the
best arrangement of colours is to be found in the windows of
the 1200, and that the principle was to make the windows
part of the general composition of the whole coloured build
ing, I agree with Labarte that the merit of those windows "is
their perfect harmony with the general effect of the edifices
to which they belong. At whatever distance we examine
them, we are struck by the elegance of their form and the
brilliancy of their colour. The artist has had no intention
of executing an independent work; he has given himself
little trouble about a faithful copy of nature ; his whole aim
has been to contribute, under the direction of the architect,
to the ornamentation of the building; and he has never
failed of success, through the skilful arrangement and harmo
nious distribution of his colours, which, notwithstanding
their brilliancy, shed over the interior of the temple a mys
terious light, adding much to the solemn grandeur of the
architecture. The harmony of effect did not exclude a rich
ness of detail. The mosaics of the grounds, and the borders
which surround them, are always of graceful patterns, of infi
nite variety, and of charming originality. The subjects are
characterised by a touching simplicity, neither devoid of life
nor movement." As the deeper shadows admitted into them
are made by lines, and some lighter ones by smear-shadows,
they are not open to the same objection as the dark con
tinuous shades of the late enamel glass, which interfere too
much with the transmission of light, and have a heavy appear
ance from the light being so unequally intercepted by large
opaque shadows.
The general arrangement in the mosaic windows is a series
of medallions, or lozenges, surrounded by, or imbedded in, a
coloured mosaic ground, which, together with the medallions
and a rich border, form the whole composition of each
D 3
38 ON COLOUR. PaetL
coloured light. They have, by way of distinction, been called
medallion windows : as those with figures of saints under
canopies have received the name of canopied windows.*
27. The medallion window belongs to that period when
single lights, either roundheaded or lancet shape, were used,
though it was also continued, particularly in France, long after
the mullioned window had taken the place of the single lancet.
Subjects selected from the Bible and Testament are repre
sented in the medallions, where the figures are few, and dis
tinct, as in antique compositions. The medallions themselves
are circular or oval, trefoils or quatrefoils, or of other shapes,
each containing its separate picture; while some of larger size
are subdivided into two or more compartments, each having
its own subject ; and the greatest variety of the forms and
arrangements of the medallions may be seen in the beautiful
windows of the cathedrals of Bheims, Chartres, Bourges,
Auxerre, and Sens, Hfee Sainte-CJhapelle, and other French
churches. The intermediate spaces between the medallions,
extending to the border of each Hght, are occupied by the
mosaic ground, consMiiig of one uniform pattern, on which
the medallions are supposed to be placed; and at each side
next to the border is a section of the prevailing medallion, or
some other geometrical device. The ground is formed of
crossing lines, or an imbricated or other design, or a running
pattern of scroll-work or arabesque foliage.
The pattern of crossing lines and the imbricated one being
both very common in architecture, on the flat surfaces of walls,
at this and at an earlier (Norman) period, they may have been
* These last were also contemporary with the later medallion style ; and
some good specimens of canopied glass windows, with single figures, are found
in cathedrals of the same period, as in the apse and choir of Rbeims and
others. (See that useful work, " Monographie de la Cathedrale de Borages,"
PL xvm. xxii. xxin. xxv.) Their effect was not then impaired by the opaque
shadows and the heaviness of the canopies of a subsequent age, as in I*-
steyrie, PI. L. of 1400 a.'d. and others.
§ 23. 27. GROUNDS OF THE WINDOWS. 39
adopted as belonging to the time, rather than for any merit as
glass patterns beyond that of being easily adapted by their
form to the purpose ; but the arabesque pattern (which was
used in windows at the same period) was the result of greater
feeling for graceful ornament. It is certainly preferable as a
ground. This, indeed, is abundantly shown by the windows
in the Sainte-Chapelle at Paris, erected by Louis IX.
(1241-1244), which for form, variety, colour, and the com
bination of the medallions and grounds, are conspicuous
among the most splendid ones in France of that period. And
while mentioning the beauty of that glass, I cannot but do
justice to the talent of M. Luson, who has been employed to
restore it; for the most fastidious and accurate eye is unable
to distinguish between the original and modern parts of those
brilliant windows.
The coloured grounds are frequently composed of red lines
on blue, with a yellow dot at their junction, or in the centre
of the blue field ; or of arabesque scroll-work of red, yellow,
and some little green, on a blue ground. The general rule
respecting the ground is, that its pattern shall appear to be
continuous, and (as I before stated) with the medallions
placed upon it; not, as in some modern glass, with the
ground broken up into separate spaces, each containing its
own pattern, whereby a great quantity of the colour of the
field is left plain around that pattern. This makes the
window heavy, disturbs the distribution and harmony of the
whole design, and is directly opposed to the true principle of
mosaic glass-work. Another important point in the treat
ment of grounds is to prevent their extending over too large
a surface ; for wherever they occupy the greater portion of a
window the proportion and the general effect of the whole
composition are impaired. This too should be borne in
mind, that neither in the grounds (when surrounding me
dallions) nor in the figures, nor in other parts of a window,
» 4
40 ON COLOUR. Past!.
should there be any large space covered with one unbroken
colour. At the same time the caleidoscope minuteness pro
duced by putting together numerous small pieces of coloured
.glass should be avoided, having a paltry and spotted
appearance; and proclaiming poverty of invention, and im
perfect knowledge of design. The want of sufficient space
for the grounds is also a fault; and the juxtaposition of
several medallions, or compartments of similar form, with
little or no ground between them, is fatal to the effect of a
window, being monotonous and tiresome to the eye; and
some variety in the form, as well as in the contents, of several
of the medallions, is more pleasing than the constant re
petition of the same. The borders should be equally varied,
as in the windows of the 1200, where they frequently have
arabesque scrolls and other patterns, with a due quantity of
blue, red, and yellow, and sometimes a little green, according
to the design in the centre of the light, with which the border
should always accord in motive and colour. In the medallions,
while the primaries predominate, brown, purple, and orange,
and some mixed colours are admitted; and round each of
these is an edging of one or more colours, in order to frame
it and separate it from the ground. This edging is often
red, blue, or yellow, according to the colour required, with a
rim of very light neutral colour, supposed to answer to white,
but which is mostly of a greenish hue ; and the best windows
have the least transparent, or translucid, white glass. When
ever this is introduced in quantity, it spoils their appearance,
causes them to look hard, and cuts out the medallions too
harshly from the ground. It is still more objectionable when
in contact with the lead lines, as it makes them too pro
minent, and injures that effect which is produced by their
judicious employment.
28. The use of much white glass, whether transparent or
translucid, in a coloured window, is one of those fatal mis-
§ 28. OF WHITE TRANSLUCID GLASS. 41
takes which have found favour in modern times, and, as some
few instances of it occur in old windows, it has been thought
to have the sanction of good authority. But those few
instances ought, on the contrary, to have shown its defor
mity, and whether really original, or (as in some cases)
restorations made at the time when much colourless glass
came into fashion, they serve as beacons to be shunned.
It is quite as necessary to know what to avoid, as what
to imitate. For it should be laid down as a rule, that no
glass should be white in a coloured glass window, except
when absolutely required as part of the composition; and
wherever a simple space, or edging, is to be introduced,
without being of any positive hue, it should be of a neutral
tint, like the subdued greenish hue of partially bleached
glass. This neutral hue should also be rather deeper in
windows on the south, and even on the east and west sides of
a church, than on the north ; and additional depth may in
like manner be given to all the colours of windows on the
south, and also on the east and west, in consequence of the
greater quantity of bright light and sunshine passing through
them than through those on the north.
When more warmth and richness of effect are required, the
lighter borders may have a greater quantity of yellow ; provided
always that too much yellow be not used, so as to exceed its
due proportion to the blue and red ; and it is easy to perceive
the marked difference that subsists between a window where
transparent, or translucid, white glass is used in such
borders, and where yellow is permitted to impart warmth to
them ; the effect of the one abounding in white glass being
poor and cold. Windows too in which figures or any coloured
pattern are introduced upon a white, or even on a good
diaper, ground have an insignificant character; they often
appear as if made up of stray parts of some other composi
tion, and are only excusable where much light is required.
42 ON COLOUR. Part I.
29. Another error, greatly to be condemned, is the confusion
sometimes seen in blues and reds, which are made to appear
purple when seen at a distance. It has been fatal to many of
our modern windows, otherwise not devoid of merit. Among
the causes of this are the want of a sufficient quantity of yellow,
the improper arrangement of the reds and blues, and the
absence of other colours required to combine with them.
A yellow, or a white, fillet between the red and blue, or a spot
of the same placed on the centre, or at the junction of the
two, will obviate it ; though, as before shown, white has a poor
cold effect, and yellow is to be preferred, both for its richness
and for its completing the combination of the three primaries.
But in all instances of coloured decoration the different hues
should be so arranged in the general composition as to
prevent an undue and disproportionate effect of any one
colour. 30. It sometimes happens that the pattern is allowed to run
from one light to another, half being on one and half on its
neighbour ; and this is very allowable, provided the figv/res
in a medallion, or in any other part of the same light, do not
cross from it into the adjoining one, the mullion cutting them
in half. It is often seen in windows of later periods, and
particularly in those of the 1400, and the following century,
when opaque stone mullions are allowed to pass through the
body of a man, or otherwise painfully to divide and interfere.
with the subject. The fault arose out of the attempt to make
a large " paintvng'''' on glass, — an abuse which was suffered to
creep in towards the end of the 1300, and which ended in
producing all the defects of those grandiose windows so much
admired in Belgium and elsewhere, and which have fatally
interfered with the true principles of painted glass.*
Like the splendid monstrosities of Louis XIV. and XV. in
* As in PI. xcix. of Lasteyrie's " History of Glass-Painting," a window of
the seventeenth century in the Chartreuse de Molsheim, and many others.
§ 20-31. CANOPY WINDOWS. 43
furniture and various ornamental works, they have imposed
on innocent minds and warped the judgment of those who are
more influenced by splendour and an ad captandum display
than by good taste : and as the judgment is apt to be misled
by what is specious and seductive, greater care is requisite in
order to guard against its influence.
31. In the 1300 brilliant colours were given to glass, and
its manufacture was excellent. At that period, instead of the
mosaic patterns of the previous century, larger figures of
saints under canopies occupying each a single light (already
introduced in the previous century, particularly in the upper
windows), came into more general use ; and though there is
no objection to these figures, provided the masses of colour are
not too great in some parts, the shadows not too heavy, the
figures not too large, and the canopies not deeply shaded, nor
of a different character from the building itself, they are far
less pleasing than the medallion style. Nor can we forget that
they are always likely to lead to the introduction of "pictures"
on glass,- and the abandonment of the true principle of vitro-
chrome decoration. Great masses of unbroken colour in the
grounds and the draperies give a heaviness to the design ; and
in consequence of the human figure being received as the
standard of size, this, when larger thah life, disturbs propor
tion, and when placed in the upper story deceives the eye by
taking away from the apparent hejght of the building.
It is true that, as in Northern Italy, there are many speci
mens of single figures occupying the whole breadth of one
light, sometimes in compartments one over the ojther in the
same light, which are highly to be commended ; and as long
as the conditions just specified are regarded, single figures
may safely be introduced. But as those conditions are so
often violated in this mode of decorating windows, and as their
effect is generally inferior to that of the' mosaic pattern, the
latter is to be preferred. It is difficult to avoid the tendency
44 ON COLOUR.
Past I.
towards making a "painting" on glass when single figures
are so introduced; and as they did before, so they would
probably again lead to a departure from the true princi
ples of painted glass windows. We observe how in those
days, after the latter part of the 1300, the window assumed
step by step the .aspect and pretensions of a large picture
uDtil at length in the 1500, whole windows consisting of several
lights were covered by one continuous subject ; and massive
yellow canopies, miscoloured baldacchvni,wA monstrous trans
parent columns, with other architectural accessories, defied all
harmony of colour, proportion, and possibility. The predo
minance of yellow, of yellow-brown, and of transparent colour
less glass, together with the substitution of the secondary and
tertiary hues for the primaries, destroyed all harmony of colour ;
and besides a constant repetition of discords, the scrolls and
broken outlines in vogue at that period disfigured the designs,
as the ponderous architectural ornaments of the Eenaissance
period interfered with the character of the building itself.
In the "Athenaeum" of June 16, 1855, in a review of
Mr. Oliphant's useful book on glass-painting, are some just
remarks respecting the windows of different periods ; and in
the glass of the Perpendicular time the colour is described as
" blanched, hectic, sickly, and unwholesome." "The paintings
are too highly finished, and painted without reference to their
position ; " and " in 1450, when the Perpendicular had seen its
best, in spite of Ulm, Munich, Cologne, and Eouen, glass-
painting lost its harmony of purpose and integrity of design.
The cinque^cento brought with it huge colonnades, triumphal
arches, cupids, and all the refurbished lumber of a galvanised
paganism. The present ruin of glass-painting, is that some
artists merely imitate old unapproachable examples, while
others foolishly try to execute oil painting with a material
limited in its nature and requiring conventional treatment.
Mr. Oliphant says, to remedy these evils no customer should
§ 32. PAINTING ON GLASS. 45
purchase windows on which the paintings are not well drawn
and composed, harmonious in colour, with low and well discrimi
nated relief, that should not destroy the flatness of the surface."
32. At the period of the Eenaissance, glass-painting had
brought in a style which was at variancewith the very principles
on which it had been based. It had then assumed the right
of representing "paintings;" and going out of its province it
presumed to take the place of panel, of canvas, and of the
fresco wall. It mistook its powers ; and, after all, the painted
glass window only became a transparent blind. No greater mis
take can be imagined than the attempt to make a large picture
on a translucid material. Our faces, our landscapes, and our
buildings, are not translucid ; and glass cannot give aerial per
spective, which is a necessary condition in such a work. The
province and object of a glass window in a church are not to
present a copy from nature, but to be simply a portion of the
general decoration. However well the imitation of a large
"painting" may be made on glass, it is at best not a picture,
but the imitation of one, as any other conventional substitute
may be. We are sometimes surprised at the ingenuity dis
played in making a picture of pieces of coloured cloth or
paper, or by some other clever deception : we wonder at, and
applaud, the resemblance ; but we are not expected to look on
it as a "painting," and if this were asked of us we should
maintain that, however ingenious, it had failed to fulfil its
conditions, or attain to the high level to which it aspired.
The colours may be most splendid ; they may impart to cos
tumes, jewellery, and fancy ornaments the most brilliant effect;
and the composition of the subject may be faultless ; still the
translucid glass window will only merit admiration as painted
glass ; and I cannot subscribe to the opinion that any painter
of eminence, " on witnessing the effect produced by the richness
and brilliancy " of those " of the 15th century " at Florence or
elsewhere, "when the sun shone through them, would be
46 ON COLOUR.
PaeiI,
tempted to throw away oils in despair." This admiration of
a false principle has unfortunately become too prevalent with
some persons at the present day, and we are therefore fre
quently horrified by some large " painting " on glass in our
London churches, made worse by discords of colour, and by
being contrasted with a whitewashed wall ; the whole window
too cut into squares by monotonous parallel and, cross lines
passing over the figures and their drapery, having the aspect
of a prison or a cage, with a badly coloured landscape in the
background. 33. When in the 1200 the medallion was placed on the co
loured ground, it was not as an independent picture; but as a
portion of the ornamentation of the window, and was conven
tional. It was subservient to, and part of, the general effect, and
was not there for itself, but for the whole subject of which it
was an accessory. It is on this same principle that we tolerate
small figures of cupids, animals, chimeras,„and other conceits
in an arabesque scroll pattern; they are not intended to be
representations of such objects, but are only part of the orna
mental pattern; and we look upon them simply as conventional.
Labarte (in his admirable "Handbook of the Arts of the
Middle Ages"*) makes these very just remarks: "The chief
merit of the windows of the xii. and xiii. centuries, ... is their
perfect harmony with the general effect of the edifices to which
they belong In the middle of the xv. century the revo
lution in the art of painting upon glass was complete. ....
Thenceforth glass was nothing more than the material sub
servient to the painter, as canvas or wood in oil painting.
Glass-painters went so far as to copy upon white glass, as upon
canvas, the master-pieces of Eaffaelle, Michael Angelo, and
the other great painters of the Italian Eenaissance. ... We
also find entire windows painted in mono-chromatic tints
But the era of glass-painting was at an end. From the
* Pages 70, 75, 76.
§33,84. DESIGNS ON GLASS. 47
moment that it was attempted to transform an art of purely
monumental decoration into an art of expression, its intention
was perverted, and this led of necessity to its ruin."
34. The object in a coloured glass window is to obtain an
effect from its appearance as a whole, when seen at some dis
tance, not to derive its merit from the beauty of its figures ;
but still the figures, wherever they are introduced, should be
good, and bear inspection on a near approach. For when, at
-the present day, the practice of introducing them in medallions,
or elsewhere, is adopted in our windows, we are not bound to
imitate the faulty drawing or the inelegance of the figures of
an early period. Had the designers of those days been able
to draw them well, they would have done so ; incapacity, not
choice, compelled them to make them faulty and rude, and we
are not, therefore, bound to copy them in this particular.
But we need not introduce modern or inappropriate costumes;
we should rather maintain the early character of the subjects
and draperies of the figures, while we abstain from making the
temple at Jerusalem, the palace of Pharaoh, or the cities of
Canaan, Greek or Eoman ; and Joshua, or other ancient
military personages, need not be in armour of mediaeval times.
It is not necessary to have any anachronism either in archi
tecture or in costume. But in the conventional colouring
of these ornamental designs we may follow the old glass-
painters. They understood the art, and they very properly
suited the colours to the general effect of their windows,
which at once shows they considered them not "pictures"
or real representations of nature, but simply ornamental.
They used a blue, a red, or any other colour, according
as it was wanted; and the Prodigal Son is seen feeding
yellow, red, green, and blue boars, according to the require
ments of the coloured design. Eespecting the excellence
of the figures, Mr. Whinston says, " if glass-paintings,
whose drawing so much resembles the antique, completely
48 ON COLOUR. Part i.
harmonise with the buildings of the 12th and 13th centuries,
would not other glass paintings equally harmonise with such
buildings, whose drawing should more exactly resemble the
antique in point of excellence ? I say in point of excellence,
for I totally disclaim any intention of recommending the sub
stitution of copies of classical draperies or ornaments for
mediaeval ones, or exchanging the individual character and
strictly human as opposed to God-like expression of the coun
tenance which distinguish Christian art for the more gene
ralised and conventional treatment of the antique. I wish to
see the Christian sentiment elevated, but not obliterated, by a
study of the antique, and the mediaeval drapery drawn as the
mediaeval artist would have drawn it had he possessed the
power of the Greek." We are satisfied in most cases to copy
an old style of architecture, because it is difficult to invent a
new one of equal beauty, and if a new style is to be intro
duced this can only be done by degrees; so too we maybe
guided by the taste of a good period in glass, though it is not
necessary to imitate all its imperfections, as well as its beauties.
35. In a work entitled " Hints on Glass-Painting,"* are some
judicious remarks on "the true principles of glass-painting;"
and though I cannot agree with the author in the preference
he gives to glass of cinque-cento time, with its "picture or
scene represented under a canopy or bower, or beneath an
archway," I subscribe to his opinion When he says, "The
capabilities of some kinds of painting are greater than those
of others; but whichever ah artist has occasion to adopt, it is
evident that his efforts should be confined to a skilful appli
cation of the means it places at his disposal. He should
endeavour to develop its resources to the fullest extent, but
he ought not to seek excellencies which are incompatible with
its inherent properties. Failure must necessarily result from
an attempt to produce, in one mode, effects which are only
* " By an Amateur," ch. ii. sect. 2, p. 238.
§35- PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 49
attainable in another." And for this very reason it is incon
sistent to attempt to make a picture on a material which,
while it is suitable for ornamentation, cannot assume the place
of panel or canvas. Indeed the maxim I here uphold is quite
in accordance with what he afterwards says, that " the artist
who undertakes to practice glass painting should bear in mind
he is dealing with a material essentially different from any
with which he has hitherto been familiar." . . .
" The chief excellency of a glass painting is its translucency.
A glass painting, by possessing the power of transmitting light
in a far greater degree than any other species of painting, is
able to display effects of light and colour with a brilliancy and
vividness quite unapproachable by any other means. On the
other hand, this same diaphanous quality is the source of
certain defects, such as the limited scale of colour and of
transparent shadow observable in a glass painting,. of which
its inherent flatness is a necessary result. These peculiarities
will be found to restrict the successful application of glass
painting to a particular class of subjects."
"Another peculiarity of a glass painting, which has the
same tendency, is its mechanical composition. Lead-work and
saddlebars . . . are essentially necessary for the support of
the glass ; . . . and in whatever manner it may be arranged "
the metal-work "causes the picture to be traversed by a
number of black lines."
"These remarkable features of a glass painting, then,
render it unfit for the representation of certain subjects.
Such as essentially demand a picturesque treatment are better
suited to an oil or water-colour painting than to a glass paint
ing, the pictorial resources of which are more limited. A glass
painting is incapable of those nice gradations of colour, and of
light and shade, which are indispensable for close imitations
of nature, and for producing the full effect of atmosphere and
50 ON COLOUR. Past I.
distance. And even if this defect could be overcome, the
lead," or other metal-work would infallibly ruin the picture.
For these reasons it would be improper to select a landscape,
for instance, as the principal subject of a glass painting. A
subject of this description, though it might form a valu
able auxiliary as a background to a design, would, if ex
ecuted by itself, only betray the defectiveness of the art in its
flatness and want of atmosphere. The same objection equally
applies to long perspective views of interiors, and the like. To
these may be added groups of figures, or even single figures,
requiring a great display of foreshortening : and compositions
which do not simply consist of figures confined to the fore
ground, but comprise distant groups carried far into the back
ground of the picture.
" The subjects which appear best suited to glass paintings
are those which, when executed, are of 'themselves pleasing
objects, and are favourable to a display of the translucent
qualities of the glass. Of this kind are ornamental patterns,
and a variety of other designs capable of being properly repre
sented in a simple, hard, and somewhat flat manner ; by broad
masses of stiff colouring, hard outlines, and vivid contrasts of
light and shade."
I cannot, however, agree with him, that a subject like
" The Eaising of Lazarus, by Sebastiano del Piombo, in the
National Gallery, would form, with a little modification, a
good design for a glass painting ;" but rather coincide with
him in this opinion, that, " in order to render available the
translucent quality of glass to the utmost extent under every
conjuncture, the artist should adopt the mosaic system of glass
painting; because, under this system, the most brilliant and
powerful effects of light and colour can be produced. . . .
Whether it is white or coloured, it is equally transparent; . . .
hence, caeteris paribus, a mosaic glass painting, the whole of
whose basis is equally transparent, must be more diaphanous
§ 35. MOSAIC GLASS. 51
than an enamel, or mosaic enamel glass painting ; the ground
work of which is of different degrees of transparency. . . .
" It may be said that the mosaic system does not possess so
extended a scale of colour as the enamel system ;" . . . but this
inferiority " is more than counterbalanced by its superiority
over the enamel in strength of colour and ... in point of bril
liancy." It may " be urged as an objection against the mosaic
system of glass painting, that the employment of a separate
piece of glass for almost every colour of the design renders
the use of harsh outlines throughout the picture unavoidable,
and, consequently, that it is less favourable than the enamel
system for pictures. But this objection does not appear to be
well founded. It has been stated that no glass painting,
unless it be of very small dimensions, can be constructed
without the aid of metal-work, and that wherever metal-work
is used'there will be the appearance of black lines. To this
law an enamel glass painting affords no exception : if of huge
dimensions it must be composed of many pieces of glass, and
these must be secured in their places either simply by means
of leads, or in a metal framework. The construction of the
work does not indeed require that the leads or metal frame
work should follow the course of the outlines of the picture ;
but this is practically the only difference between an enamel
and a mosaic glass painting. The black lines cannot be got
rid of." . . .
"The construction of a mosaic glass painting appears
indeed to be, on the whole, more favourable to the effect
of the picture than that of an enamel glass painting. For
the lead-work, being generally and pretty equally diffused
over the whole design, is on that account less noticed than if
its course were confined only to a few particular outlines. I
may also add that the colouring and execution of a mosaic
glass painting greatly tend to disguise the lead-work." . . .
" I think I am justified in concluding, that the mosaic system
E 2
52 ON COLOUR. Pakt I.
Of glass painting is, on the whole, the best system to be
adopted."— (pp. 245 and 268.)
By the "mosaic system" I suppose he alludes to that
which was in vogue during the 1200, when the patterns were
combined with medallions, as at the Sainte-Chapelle, at
Auxerre, Chartres, Bourges, Sens, and other cathedrals; as he
says they were " employed in this country from the earliest
period at which painted glass is found ;" and as he notices
" French medallion windows of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries." — (pp. 33, 34.) These, he very properly observes,
were "undoubtedly the most interesting" of the "three
principal classes of coloured windows in this (the early
English) style" — the "medallion, the figure and canopy,
and the Jesse windows ; " and with this preference for the
medallion windows I fully concur. For the medallions, them
selves ' one of the conditions is, that the drawing and "compo
sition of the figures should be good, even though subject in
their colour to conventional rules. But we must not have
large pictures on glass, as they sin against the very principle
of this kind of ornamentation, and assume a place to which
they have no claim.
36. I should extend the subject too far if I were to enter into
the question of the form and proportion of windows and
their arrangement; or attempt to show how some, even in
France and elsewhere, fail to fulfil the proper conditions of
vitrochrome decoration, especially during the 1400 and 1500
(without coming down to more debased times); I cannot,
however, omit to mention the error in several circular
windows, of making its lights, or the patterns on them, concen
tric instead of radiating from the centre ; nor can any excuse
be found for placing a disproportionately large rosette in the
upper part of a window over a series of short upright lights,
such as are seen in the north transept of Sens Cathedral.
Nor is that of the south transept much less faulty in propor-
§ 36. SPECIMENS OF MOSAIC GLASS. 53
tion. They are both of the Flamboyant style. I may also
notice some good and some faulty specimens given in those
two grand works,— -"Monographiede laCathedrale deBourges,"
— and Lasteyrie's "History of Glass." Of the former, I may cite
the medallion windows in PL iv. vi. vn. xn. xrv., as well as
Etude xi. fig. 4, from Sens, giving the History of the Prodigal
Son ; though in this the colours are not all quite accurately
copied.* PI. x. gives another specimen of medallion glass,
but in that plate it has a heavier appearance than in the
original ; I may also mention PI. xii. and xiii. and others ;
and in- the mosaic borders are some good combinations of
form and colour, especially in those marked 8, 4, of Cologne,
Mans, Troyes, Angers, Chalons, St. Denis, and Lyon. In the
mosaic grounds marked " Mosaiques," PI. E, fig. 2 is far too
green, as are 6 and 8, which have a disagreeable effect. In
the PL G they are very faulty, and are of later date, from
Strasburg and Friburg; but in PL K they are of a better
style. In PL n. they are also good ; but in the "Mosaiques,"
PL F, from Soissons, &c, the medallions with mere patterns
and without figures are very objectionable.
In Lasteyrie, PL in. and iv. are the old windows of St. Denis,
which are very interesting from being the earliest known speci
mens of figures in medallions, and present an instance of the
arrangement of the red lines crossing a blue ground with a
yellow dot at their junction. The three upper medallions of
each window, having patterns instead of figures, appear to be
of a different date. In PL xvi. is another medallion window,
from Tours, " of the xinth century," of good design ; and in
PL xxrx. is another early medallion window from the Sainte-
Chapelle, but this has a fault in the want of variety in the
forms of the medallions, and the recurrence of the same
* The scene represents the feeding of the pigs, &c. ; and the Colours in these
plates are generally wanting in richness compared with those on the glass.
e 3
54 ON COLOUR. Paet i;
circles throughout the four lights is tiresome to the eye.
Nor is the distribution of the small pictures in regular squares
or panes, in another window (PL liv. of 1461 A.D.), an agree
able one ; for though the colour is good, and each compart
ment has its own subject, the want of variety in the forms
gives it a monotonous effect. PL lxiv. is an instance of faulty
arrangement as well as of bad colour, the subject being the
Garden of Eden continuing acrossthe six lights; and PL lxx.,
a scene from the Apocalypse, is offensive both in colour
and arrangement. In another work, "Vitreaux de la Cathe-
drale de Tournai," are some glass windows of merit, but
though good in design and colour for that particular style and
period, they have the fault of being pictures upon glass, and of
having the subjects interfered with by the construction of the.
window. This is the usual objection to the best specimens
met with in the Netherlands; and when, as at Brussels
and elsewhere, they add faulty colouring and ponderous
designs, they are still more opposed to the true principles of
the painted glass window.
37. Among the many conditions of coloured glass windows
I may notice the following : that they should be subservient
to the general ornamentation, their object being decorative;
they should assimilate to, and aid, the decoration and style
of the building; they should not be a contrast to a white
wall ; nor pretend to be a painting or large picture ; the small
figures in the medallions, though conventional, should be
good, not imitations of a rude style, and should be part of
the coloured effect of the window when seen at a distance :
broad opaque shadows should not be introduced, nor an
attempt be made to convert the flat into a round style:
figures larger than life should be avoided as injurious to
the proportion of a building : no great expanse of one colour
in one place should catch the eye ; and a picture extending
over two or more lights, cut by an opaque mullion, is incon-
§ 37-39. CONCORD OF COLOURS. 55
sistent and offensive. A quantity of white glass is bad and
poor, and yellow is better than white for preventing red and
blue from appearing purple at a distance. The border should
be in proportion to the size of the light ; too small, and even
too large a quantity of ground between medallions should be
avoided ; the medallions should not be all of the same form,
and the patterns should not be too small, nor have a spotted
appearance as in a caleidoscope ; the primary colours should
predominate over the secondary and tertiary; and the best
windows for imitation are those of the 1200. In rosette
windows, the tracery lights, or openings, should radiate from
the centre, rather than be concentric But coloured glass is
not required in buildings of the Eenaissance style.
38. I have shown that in former times, England was neither
prejudiced against the employment of colour, nor was defi
cient in the due appreciation of it. She was then fully
persuaded of its importance as an ornamental accessory (even
in architecture) ; and now that the same conviction is gain
ing ground, it is most important that the subject should be
properly understood, and that We should seek the same
result from the employment of colour which has been at
tained in those countries where it has been practised with
the greatest success. This is to be done by careful observa
tion, by the education of the eye, and by studying those
examples of good combinations which may serve to form our
taste ; and it is only when experience has thus been acquired
that rules can be laid down for combining colours consist
ently with true harmony. The same facilities may then be
afforded for obtaining harmony of colour, which rules in'music
afford for producing the harmony of sounds.
39. The perception of the concord of colours, as of sounds, is
to some persons a natural gift ; and those who possess it can
no more help perceiving at first sight whether their arrange
ment forms a concord or a discord, than they can help dis-
F i
56 ON COLOUR. Part I.
tinguishing red from green, which those whose perception of
colour is imperfect cannot do. To give an eye for colour is
no more possible, as I have before said, than to give an ear
for sound ; and though both may be improved by study, if
possessed, so both may be impaired by bad habit. No effort
will create a natural gift, as no rules will correct' the defective
vision called "colour-blindness," which confounds a colour with
its accidental one. And so common is this defect in England *,
that one man in every seven hundred and fifty is said to be
colour-blind, *. e. unable to distinguish a certain colour from
another, as red from green. And the fact of these two being
so often confounded, makes the custom of having red and
green lights for opposite signals on board our steamers and
on railway lines reprehensible and dangerous. For by those
who have defective vision no two colours are so generally
confounded as red and green, and to such a degree that a
soldier's red coat and the grass of a field, and strawberries (or
cherries) and their leaves, appear to them to be of the same
colour. Nor is it always the accidental that is mistaken for
its complementary colour : some confound orange with grass-
green, and yellow with light-green ; and others see " indigo
and Prussian blue as black," and pink as pale blue. But
black and white, which are accidental to each other, are not
confounded, f
* Women are supposed to have this defect in a minor degree than men.
I f I" *he Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. viiu p. 172, Mr. Pole refers
| to Dr. "Wilson of Edinburgh, who says there are three kinds of colour-blindness.
" 1. Inability to discern any colour but black and "white. This is very rare.
2. Inability to discriminate between the nice distinctions of colour, so common
as to be apparently rather the rule than the exception. 3. Inability to dis
tinguish between any of the colours most marked to normal eyes, and its most
complete form is what is called dichromic vision, being total blindness to one
of the three primary colours. In this last, according to the symptoms exhibited
in different cases : 1st, blue and yellow are perfectly distinguished : 2nd, almost
all colour-blind persons think they see red, but it is frequently confounded with
green (the most common mistake), black, orange, yellow, brown, blue, and
§4,0. PERCEPTION OF COLOUR. 57
Defects like these cannot be overcome either by study
or by rules. But though study and the contemplation of
good examples will not remedy such defects, nor give at
once a true perception of the harmony of colours even to those
whose vision is not defective, still they are very necessary
for their instruction, as they might otherwise continue to be
unable to distinguish between a concord and a discord, from
the want of that natural gift. Again, those who do possess
that natural perception may not always be able to combine
colours, though they may readily perceive whether colours
are or are not harmoniously united in a composition ; as
any one with an ear for sound may detect false notes without
being able himself to arrange any in an air. But the first
and indispensable condition in furnishing examples, or rules,
is that the subject should be thoroughly understood ; and the
required knowledge can only be derived from a natural per
ception of the harmony of colours improved and matured by
observation. 40. In examining into the effect of colours, we have to in
quire what it is when presented to the eye, not what it ought
to be according to this or that theory ; and nothing will be
understood on the subject unless the eye is first allowed to
be the judge. It is the perceptive faculty which is to be
appealed to, and we must begin by ascertaining certain facts
violet ; crimson and pink appear to have no relation to scarlet : 3rd, green is a
most perplexing colour, it is not only confounded with red, but with black,
white, or grey, orange, yellow, blue, violet, and brown: 4th, violet is con
founded with blue and grey, and orange with yellow : 5th, more difficulty is
manifested with light or dark tones of compound colours than with full ones."
It is certainly remarkable that while blue and yellow are seen perfectly well,
their effect should be so different when combined together as green; and this is
explained by the white of the colour-blind person being green, one of the
three elements (red) being wanting to him, and he having only blue and
yellow to produce his white. Green is therefore no colour to the colour-blind.
He has only two sensations of colour, blue and yellow. Red and green are
then, both, shades of yellow.
58 ON COLOUR. Pam I.
as to the colours that suit each other ; leaving the reason why
they do so to a future occasion, when we have mastered the
facts. It matters little for the harmonious combination of
colours why blue and yellow form green, we want to ascertain
how various tones of green accord with other hues; and
when we have determined the proper combination of these
and other colours we may speculate on their natures, or on
the reasons, at our leisure. It is this endeavour to explain
some irrelevant question, and the desire to build a theory on
certain remarkable properties that have appeared during the
inquiry, which have led to the unfortunate blunders about
accidental colours and their necessary harmony, whereby
many who have no eye for colour have been persuaded to
adopt the most disagreeable discords as harmonious concords.
The argument has simply been that they must agree, because
they ought to do so.
41. But while I express a disapprobation of certain theories,
I must repeat my disclaimer of an intention to offer any of
my own; and if I object to any other opinion, it is not from
a desire to find fault, but from a sincere wish to see our taste
improved, and to second the efforts made to promote it which
reflect so much credit on their authors ; and judging from
their results and the improvement now taking place we may
feel convinced that by proper instruction and encouragement
the English are capable of producing works of merit in ornar
mental design as in every branch of art. I do not pretend to
lay down rules for colour or dogmatise in any matters con
nected with taste ; I merely seek to direct attention to those
subjects, and to urge that nothing should be done without a
purpose and a thorough understanding of the means of ob
taining success. I do not presume to teach or dictate, but
rather recommend inquiry : that every thing may be done
with a reason, and every opinion be the result of thought.
The habit of thinking for ourselves, particularly in matters
§ 41—43. BALANCE OF COLOUR. 59
of taste, is a great desideratum ; and it is refreshing to hear
an original remark from those who, in looking at objects of
art, express their opinion without reference to some hackneyed
one daily repeated without inquiry or conviction. Even if
wrong, it may have its use ; and at all events the original
thinker will occasionally suggest a valuable idea, which is not
to be obtained from one who is satisfied with a borrowed
criticism. Instances of this might be cited in the opinions
of some who, though biassed in their views, and seeing
excellence only in a particular style, yet do, from their origi
nality of thought, offer many most valuable suggestions.
42. In the combination of colours there are some which,
being contrasts, set off each other, and materially heighten their
effect ; while others, again, decrease it. In both cases their
effect depends greatly on their relative proportions ; and such
is the influence of proportion, that colours which suit each
other in one instance will sometimes have a disagreeable
effect in another, where the quantity, or even the tone of
one is too great or too little for that of its neighbour.
And a similarly inharmonious character will be given to a
whole carpet, or other coloured object, when the hues which
compose its design offend against those conditions. This
balance of colour must always be attended to ; for it is on
this, as well as on the suitable juxtaposition of colours that
harmony depends.
43. The first step in studying the harmony of colours, is
certainly to ascertain what two, or more, when placed together
are concords or discords. But this is not all that has to be
determined. The quantity of each must also be regulated, as
well as their proper position ; and the same set of colours put
together in different proportions and positions will have a
different appearance. Colours also borrow from each other,
and thus mutually change their effect ; while others heighten
each other's power by contrast; and others soften, or diminish
60 ON COLOUR. Paet I.
it. Thus blue and red have a very different action on each
other from green and red; as these last have from blue
and -orange ; though in the two last cases the colours green
and red, and blue and orange, are accidental to each other.
Blue and orange, which are accidental colours, are a harmo
nious contrast; but red and green, or yellow and purple, are not
necessarily so because they are also accidental colours. (See
Sect. VI.) We must therefore understand which colours agree
by contrast, which by analogy, and which tend to diminish, or
otherwise alter each other's effect ; for some of these are apt to
be confounded, and a very fallacious doctrine has been pro
pounded — that the union of one of the primaries with its acci
dental colour is analogous in effect to that of the same
primary with its two companions ; as, for instance, that red
with green has the same effect as red with blue and yellow.
It is true that white light consists of all the three, and it
is not till it has been decomposed that they are distinctly and
separately presented to the eye ; but in looking at white light
we do not distinguish the red, blue, and yellow ; otherwise, a
white glass window might pretend to the possession of the
three colours. No one, however, will allow his fancy to go so
far as to imagine that in white he sees the three primary
hues ; and yet it is not more inconsistent than to consider
green, the same as blue and yellow, or to say, as some
have, that when green is put with red we then have the
three primary colours — we have in reality one primary and
one secondary; and to show the difference of the effect of
two colours when used singly and when united as a compound
or secondary, we need merely place red and yelloW with
green, and orange with green ; the former an imperfect, the
latter a very harmonious, combination. (See Sect. XVIH.)
It is to the eye that the' several colours must distinctly
appear. It is not enough to know that theoretically they are
all there ; and green is not only to the eye a new colour,
§ 44. HOW COLOURS AFFECT EACH OTHER. 61
quite distinct from blue and yellow, but has a very different
effect in combination with other colours from that produced
by blue and yellow. Such a theory might obtain for the
mono-chrome taste of churchwardens the credit of using all
the primaries in the whitened walls for which our churches
are so remarkable ; but our sensations tell us the monotonous
truth. 44. The great point in ornamenting with colours is to keep
them distinct; and to seek effect, not confusion, from their
combinations ; and the necessity of enabling the eye to see the
colours separately and distinctly may be illustrated by placing
red, blue, and green" together, when the- red and blue in
juxtaposition have the appearance of purple, which is a
discord with green ; whereas, if a yellow fillet had been inter
posed between those two colours they would have been kept
distinct, and what has become a discord would have been a
harmonious combination. When the red and blue are in
small quantities, as, for instance, in narrow lines, the purple
effect becomes more evident, particularly when viewed from
a distance; and we not unfrequently see instances of it in
our modern stained glass windows. But though red and blue
in juxtaposition have the appearance of purple, and yellow
placed next to red gives it an orange hue, the same" illusion
is not caused by the contact of the other two primary colours,
blue and yellow ; and these do not look green when in juxta
position, except in certain cases. Nor is the change then so
marked, as when blue andred, or yellow and red, are in con
tact. And this is one of many proofs that all the three
primary colours are not under the same conditions in relation
to each other. It is not, therefore, necessary to lay down
the same general and invariable rule respecting the three
primaries : that " in making new patterns or ornaments, red
and blue should not join, nor yellow and red, nor yellow
and blue," as though the three combinations were exactly
62 ON COLOUR. Paet I.
similar, and subject to the same laws. For yellow and blue
do not deceive the eye to the same extent as the others,
when in juxtaposition. Nor has red with green the same
effect as red with blue and yellow ; and still less have red
blue and yellow the same effect as these three colours when
united in one.
A difference will also be caused by the relative quahties
of the two colours, as well as by the presence of others ;
and yellow placed between red and blue (in juxtaposition,
therefore, with both of them) is not only agreeable, but is
necessary, as before stated, for keeping them distinct, and
completes the harmony of the three primaries.
The difference of effect produced by green and blue with
red is well known to those who have fire-coloured hair; and
experience teaches them that green softens the force of red.
Blue, on the contrary, being a constrast to red (particularly
to scarlet and fire-red, as well as to orange) sets it off; and
women with red hair are justified in their habit of diminishing
its intensity by the other more suitable colour. In ornamen
tation this is not our object. We want to show, not to hide,
the colours. We wish to brighten, not to diminish, their
effect. Great quantities of green, therefore, deaden the reds
of a carpet or a wall, by depriving them of their full effect,
and by interfering with the balance of colour on which har
mony so much depends ; since by taking away from the reds
some of their due power, these no longer bear the same pro
portion to the other colours in the design. The same applies
to all colours which have a reciprocal effect on each other.
Whatever diminishes their effect is contrary to the spirit of
ornamentation; it disturbs and even alters altogether the
relative powers of the various colours. ' For , a colour so
affected ceases to be the same it really is. Thus a black next
to a red, or to a green, or between two of these, ceases to
appear really black ; it becomes of a dull, or a russet, hue ; and
§45. CONTRAST AND OTHER EFFECTS. 63
the red and green each lose part of their own colour and
effect. Introduce a white or a yellow next to the black, and
this last regains at once its own hue ; it is once more really
black by the assistance of the reviving contrast ; but if its
legitimate effect be taken away, it has no longer the power of
maintaining the place it ought to have in preserving the
balance of colour with its surrounding companions. The
differences between a neutralising* effect, harmony by con
trast, and other harmonious unions of colours, are suffi
ciently obvious; and nothing shows them better than the
juxtaposition of such colours as black and red, or black and
green, which really do neutralise each other, or lessen each
other's effect; and that of black and white, which contrast
with and set off each other ; and that of blue, red, and yellow,
which harmonise with, and set off, but do not neutralise,
each other. It is precisely this neutralising power of a
colour, when in juxtaposition with some particular one,
which requires it to be used in such a manner as not to inter
fere with its neighbour ; and some, as greens, when they are
to be seen by daylight should be employed sparingly, and
with great judgment. This too may be observed of green, that a
certain quantity of it appears to be greater than the same
quantity of most other colours. The most valuable office of
the brilliancy of green is to give brightness to a design ; and
when only introduced in such a manner as not to diminish the
power of red, it is most effective. But this and other remarks
on the application of colours will be noticed in the sequel.
45. Much has been written on the scientific phenomena of
colours, which present many most interesting facts ; but they
have no direct bearing on the employment of colours for
ornamental purposes, and the attempts to draw conclusions
from them for our guidance in the harmonious adaptation of
* " Neutralising " has, perhaps, been used sometimes instead of " balancing."
64
ON COLOUR. Paet I.
colour only tend to mislead. For the present we only want
the results of actual observation and a knowledge of the
proper combinations of colour derived from the experience of
those who possess the true perception of it ; and, as I cannot
too often assert, it is the eye which is to be consulted as the
proper judge of what it sees.
46. But before entering into the question of the combination
of colours, it will be necessary to classify them, and to deter
mine the application of some at least of the terms used in
distinguishing them.
The primary colours are three : blue, red, and yellow ;
and not all those of the prism, or the rainbow, which some have
denominated "primitive colours," including the intermediate
derivative colours, purple, orange, and green. Colours then
may be classified in this order :
A. Primaries (Simple colours) : blue, red, and yellow.
B. Secondaries (Compound colours) : purple (composed of blue and
red); orange (composed of red and yellow); and green (com
posed of blue and yellow).
C. Tertiaries (Mixed colours): russet (composed of purple and
orange) ; citrine (composed of orange and green) ; and olive (com
posed of green and purple).
D. (Irregular colours): browns, greys, neutral tints, drabs, stone-
colour, &C.
E. (Extreme colours) : black and white.
/
i Mr. Field, in his admirable work on this subject, gives the
i proportions of these colours, according to the scale of his
chromatic equivalents: as "I. 3 yellow, 5 red, and 8 blue
= 16 ; II. 8 orange, 13 purple, 11 green =32 ; III. 19 Citrine,
21 russet, 24 olive = 64;" and consequently "red 5 is equi
valent to green 11, yellow 3 to 13 purple, and blue 8 to 8
orange." Newton, as I have before stated (pp. 5, 10) ,gives the
§ 46. NOMENCLATURE OF COLOURS. _ 65
proportions of the colours of the rainbow — supposing the
whole to form 100 — red 11, orange 8, yellow 14, green 17,
blue 17, indigo (or purple) 11, violet 22. This last division
I shall consider in noticing the secondary colours.
A. The first division of the three primaries is the most
simple and intelligible, though still it is necessary to deter
mine exactly what are blue, red, and yellow, since each colour
is composed of different hues and tones ; and the mere name
of a colour is otherwise indefinite.
By blue should properly be understood (as by the other
two) that colour which appears in the prism, when light is
decomposed by it ; but it is necessary to describe these and
other colours, as the names of most of them are very con
ventional. Blue may be considered equivalent to that of the deepest
coloured sky (or to lapis lazuli, or a French blue) ; not what
we call sky blue, but the colour of the sky in those southern
climates where the atmosphere is clear, and where it appears
to the eye an intense bright blue. What it is in an ex
ceptional case, when the atmosphere is foggy, it is unimportant
to consider ; nor is it necessary to examine the question of
the sky being really white ; nor even to inquire into the reason
of its blueness from the reflection of the blue ray, which takes
place so readily in meeting with a medium of a different
density ; nor why some shadows are blue instead of black.
These have no bearing on arrangement of colours, nor even
on their nomenclature ; and the decomposition of light, and
various optical phenomena, interesting as they are, have no
connexion with the question now before us.
It is not always easy to determine what the exact tone or
even hue is, when we mention some colours ; and it is there
fore necessary to agree as to our meaning when speaking of
any one. a. The blue of the sky, then, is the one to which
the name blue most properly applies. It was evidently that
F
66 ON COLOUR. Paet I,
adopted by all southern people, and in looking through a
broken part of the coloured ceiling of an Egyptian temple you
perceive, where the colour has been well preserved, very httle
difference between it and the sky. With regard to the colours
we use, lapis lazuli, or French blue, may be said most pro
perly to represent blue ; and the former has the advantage,
as Mr. Field has shown, of being more durable than cobalt
blue, which tends to greenness, though it has the power of
resisting the sun for a long time.
b. Bed is not so easily defined. It has been called the
colour of the ruby, of the carbuncle, of blood, of the red-
currant, or of a red-ochre, all which are somewhat dissimilar.
The particular hue may therefore be taken either from that
most generally used in olden times for ornamental purposes,
or from that of the rainbow. It will suffice that it be one
of the known reds, and provided we fix on the exact hue
we mean, whenever it is mentioned no mistake can occur.
Those which are generally called red appear to have too
great an approach to a crimson ; and without pretending
to decide whether the colour of the carbuncle or any of
the above has the best claim to be considered a true red, I
would suggest that the colour of the original Verbena Melm-
dris is one of the purest types.
When the primaries blue, red, and yellow are combined,
they produce a perfect concord; but when the yellow is
wanting, scarlet accords far better than red with blue; and
they do not assume the same false purple hue by their juxta
position, owing to the yellow in the scarlet. When, therefore,
blue and red are the only two colours placed together, the
latter should give place to scarlet, which too is almost always
preferable to pure red for ornamentation. But when blue,
red, and yellow are in juxtaposition, red, or rather crimson
has a very rich and satisfactory effect.
c. Yellow has been represented by "gamboge moistened
fpli
§ 46. PRIMARIES AND SECONDARIES. , 67
with water : " but the particular hue of yellow, blue, red,
crimson, and scarlet, and some other colours, implied whenever
I mention them, may be seen in Plate in. fig.. 5. Yellow,
Mr. Field remarks, " is less diminished than all other colours,
except white, by distance," and has a great power of reflecting
light. It displays itself very evidently in all the varieties of
bright green and orange; and the hues of canary, lemon,
buff, drab, chesnut, and various light browns, tawny, hazel,
and others, are chiefly indebted to it for their composition as
well as for their brightness.
To this first class, some have added black and white ; ex
tending the number of the primaries to five ; but their not
being among those of the prism may exclude them from a
ace both in the first and second class.
Mengs observes, that " colours properly speaking, are but
three," yet " as we cannot do without black and white," he adds
these to the primary colours, and extends the number to five ;
and Leonardo da Vinci says, " the first of all simple colours
is white, though philosophers will not acknowledge white and
black to be colours, because the first is the cause and receiver
of colours, the other totally deprived of them. But as painters.
cannot do without either, we shall place them among the
others : and according to this order of things, white will be the
first, yellow the second, green the third, blue the fourth, red
the fifth, and black the sixth." It is, however, inconsistent to
admit green, and exclude purple and orange ; and Mayer and
others are right in limiting the number of primaries to three :
blue, red, and yellow.
B. The secondaries are compounds of any two of the three
primaries ; of blue and red ; of yellow and red ; or of yellow
and blue : making purple, orange, and green. But it is not
easy to define their exact hues unless we limit them to the
product of equal parts of two primaries ; and for these, I
must again refer to Plate in. fig. 5, and to Sect. XIX. ; which
F 2
68 ON COLOUR. Pam I.
will show the character I ascribe to each. All we require is
that it should be fixed ; and I shall have occasion to notice
the names applied to them, in mentioning "Werner's Nomen
clature of Colours." (See below, p. 91.)
There is, indeed, great uncertainty respecting the exact
complexion of most colours in other languages as well as in
our own. What, for instance, can be more indefinite than
the name of purple, the tones of which vary according as they
contain more red or more blue ? What again do we under
stand by the name " violet colour ? " Some consider it to be
composed of equal parts of one kind of red and blue ; others,
to be that of the violet flower, though the name is as indefinite
as the colour of the flower itself; all which tends to show how
necessary it is to define the nature of each colour, and of the
hue of which we speak ; and how uncertain must be the im
pression conveyed by the name of any one, unless we determine
the sense in which we use it. Again, in other purples, the
porphyry has more red, the lilac more blue ; and we must dis
tinguish the various sub-tones as well as tones, by qualifying
them as red-lilacs or blue-lilacs ; red-violets or blue-violets,
&c, as by other specifications of their different intensities.
Of the imperial purple I shall speak presently. Similar
gradations exist in orange and in green; according to the
greater proportion of red and yellow in the former, and of
blue and yellow in the latter. The claim of these three to be
secondary colours is their being each composed of two only of
the primaries, and to their being in the prism ; and browns
and greys, ranked with them by Hundertpfund and some
others, can -only hold a place in a distinct class.
The prismatic colours dissolve so insensibly into each
other, and form a succession of hues so finely graduated, that
it is not possible to perceive the exact limit of each*; but in
* In the rainbow and the prism red and violet are the two outermost
colours ; and " the red shades off by imperceptible gradations into orange,
§ 46. NUMBER OF THE PRIMARIES. 69
enumerating the secondary ones, there seems to be no reason
for subdividing one of them, as the purple — into two, " purple
and violet ; " one of these being a gradation of the secondary
colour composed of red and blue, instead of the one result of
that union. Though it has been determined by philosophical
experiments that the prism, or the rainbow, contains seven
colours, it is much more simple for practical purposes to con
fine the number to six, viz. the three primaries and their
three intermediate compounds. Indeed, if two be admitted
between fed and blue, two should be admitted between red
and yellow ; and also between blue and yellow ; which would
increase the number to nine. The actual number, however,
is of little importance in the use of colours ; a more essential
point is to define the character of each, that we may under
stand what we mean in mentioning its name ; and that, in
speaking of a red or a yellow, we may not convey the idea of a
pink, or of a canary-colour.
Experiments which prove that the prismatic colours are
" red, green, blue, and violet," or according to Dr. Young,
that "'red) greeny and/ violet are the fundamental colours," and
that *Hine perfect sensations of yellow and blue may be pro
duced, the former by a mixture of red and green, and the
latter by green and violet," can be of "no use in the har
monious combination of colours for ornamental purposes ; nor
can any observations on the relative position and quantity of
colour resulting from philosophical speculation be taken as
guides in polychrome decoration.
orange into yellow," and so on with the rest. Por a body to exhibit truly its
colour it must be placed in white light. " A red wafer," as Brewster observes,
appears red in the white light of day because it reflects red light more copiously
than any of the other colours. If we place a red wafer in yellow light it can
no longer appear red, because there is not a particle of red light in the yellow
light which it could reflect." In like manner any other coloured body reflects
the rays corresponding to its own colour. " The colours therefore of bodies
arise from their property of reflecting or transmitting to the eye certain rays of
white light, while they stifle or stop the remaining rays."
F 3
70 ON COLOUR. Pari I.
C. The tertiaries have also been reckoned as three: russet,
citrine, and olive.
D. But there are others which require to be arranged in
a separate class distinct from the primaries, secondaries, and
tertiaries, as browns, greys, and various neutral tints (into
which black often enters as a principal element), together
with clay and stone colours, drab and others. These neces
sarily form a fourth class, and I have called them, by way of
distinction, "Irregular colours." They have also received
the name of " semi-neutral." Many of them are very varied
in their hues. Browns, for instance, have sometimes a deep
sombre character ; others are brighter in proportion as they
have more red or more yellow in their composition, e. g. ches-
nut, &c. ; and red-browns, yellow-browns, and purple-browns
designate certain varieties, all of which hold a place among
warm colours. For whenever such a quantity of blue is
added as to deprive brown of its warmth, it passes into another
grade of hues, and approaches the greys. Of browns, the
"chief constituent" is said to be "yellow;" and they are
considered to be compounded of yellow and black ; of black,
red, and yellow; of black and orange; of blue, red, and
orange; of the three primaries — red, blue, and yellow; or of
the three secondaries, or of the three tertiaries, the richer
browns having more red and yellow, and the lighter browns
being sometimes diluted with white. But brown is also com
pounded of red and black ; and it is inconsistent to maintain
that red does not enter into the composition of brown, and at
the same time to admit that it is partly compounded of
orange — a colour of which red is a constituent. Again, black
and red form a better brown than most of those above enume
rated; black and yellow giving a very imperfect brown, and
rather partaking of an olive mixture ; and a similar objection
may be made to blue, red, and yellow, and their derivatives.
Greys are composed of black and white. Other combina-
§ 46- GREYS, BLACK, AND WHITE. 71
tions are considered to form them, as blue, red, and yellow, in
various quantities according to the character of the required
hue, with or without the addition of white : or one of the
primaries mixed with its remaining complementary or acci
dental colour, added to white : as red with green and white ;
or violet, orange, and green with white; and others. The
character of the grey will depend on the excess of one of its
component colours ; and a black-grey, or a blue-grey, a green-,
an olive-, or a violet-grey, will take its tone from the greater
quantity of the black, or blue, or of the blue and yellow
(i.e. green), or of the blue and red (i.e. violet), &c. which may
characterise it. Another kind of grey, or neutral tint, is com
posed of purple and black ; and other hues may be made with
black so as to form various dark greys. As grey is a cold
colour, the addition of too large a quantity of the warm red
has an undue effect upon it, by altering its character from a
cold to a warm hue ; as the addition of an undue quantity of
cold blue to a warm brown changes the nature of the latter,
and brings it into another class of colours. The addition of
white has a modifying effect ; and while red and yellow, varied
in quantity, produce the different tones of scarlet and orange,
when diluted with white they give straw, and lemon, and clay
colour ; and drabs, as well as the lighter browns, are produced
by the addition of white to their original basis. Any one of
the primaries mixed with white forms a distinct hue, as does
the union of any two of them with white ; thus, red and blue
and white, in different proportions, form varieties of purple,
violet, and other mixed colours, varying according to the
greater or less quantity of blue and red.
E. Black and White. — While some have classed black and
white with the primaries, others maintain that neither of them
merits the name of colour; black absorbing all light, and
reflecting none ; and white appearing colourless, though in
reality (at least as white light) composed of the three prima-
F 4
72 ON COLOUR. Pari i.
ries. But this is a philosophical view of them which does
not appertain to the question of their employment for orna
mentation. Whatever may be their properties, or their right
to the name of colours, the eye has positive evidence of their
holding a place, and having their own effect, when in com
bination with other colours.
47. The tones and gradations of each primary, as well as of
any other colour, belong, of course, to the same class as its
fundamental hue ; but the moment a simple colour is mixed
with any other, it ceases to belong to the same class ; and if
it is sometimes the custom to classify crimson, scarlet, pink,
and others with the reds, they cannot be reckoned among the
primaries ; scarlet, for instance, having a certain quantity of
yellow mixed with the red, and therefore being a compound
colour. It is, therefore, only for convenience' sake, or in
accordance with a conventional custom, that we are justified
in classing them among the reds.
48. Accidental Colours. — The accidental colour to any one of
the three primaries, as is well known, is the union of the other
remaining two. Thus, green (i.e. blue and yellow) is acci
dental to red, orange to blue, and purple to yellow. Black
and white are also accidental to each other. As the simple
primary is accidental to the compound secondary colour (red
to green, blue to orange, and yellow to purple), so a tertiary,
in like manner, has its accidental colour, in the remaining one
not forming part of its composition.
Though the existence of accidental colours was known
before Newton's time, he was the first to make any careful
experiments respecting them, an account of which he sent to
Locke; but this was not published till 1829, in Lord
King's life of that philosopher. The following are among
Ithe observations made by Sir David Brewster on the subject of
laccidental colours. If we place a red wafer on a sheet of white
| paper, and fix the eye on the red spot, and then turn the eye
§ 47—S9. ACCIDENTAL COLOURS. 73
to the white paper, we shall see on it an image of that spot
of a blueish green colour. And the images of other coloured
wafers will be changed according to the accidental colour of
each, red becoming a blueish green, orange a blue, yellow an
indigo, green a reddish violet, blue an orange-red, indigo an
orange-yellow, violet a yellow-green, black a white, and white
a black. The accidental colour is what the other wants to
make white light, and some style it the " complementary,"
others the " opposite." The reason of the green image of the
red being seen Brewster shows to be, that " the part of the
retina occupied by the red image is strongly excited," or
*' deadened by its continual action." The sensibility to red
light will therefore be diminished; "the deadened part of the
retina will be insensible to the red rays which form part of
the white light from the paper, and will see the paper of that
colour which arises from all the rays in the white light of the
paper but red," i. e. blueish green. Again, " when a black
wafer is on a white ground, the portion of the retina on which
the black image falls, in place of being -deadened, is protected,
as it were, by the absence of light, while all the surrounding
parts of the retina, being excited by the white light of the
paper, will be deadened by its continued action." Hence, the
eye " will see a white circle corresponding to the black image
-on the retina." But it does not therefore follow that any two
colours which are accidental to each other should harmonise
— they may, or they may not ; nor is there any necessity that
the colours which are intended to convey to the eye the
actual impression of several distinct ones harmoniously com
bined should be of the same quantity as when they are
required to make white light.
49. If any effect is to be produced by a polychrome ornament,
it must be totally distinct from that of white light, as I have
already shown (p. 60). Again, two of the three primaries
accord ,with each other in very different ways. Eed and blue,
74 ON COLOUR. Part I.
which are contrasts, have a very different effect in juxtaposi
tion from that produced by the juxtaposition of red and
yellow, or of blue and yellow ; and because blue accords well
with scarlet or with orange, it does not follow that red must
accord with green, or purple with yellow. They affect each
other differently ; for while orange makes blue appear sharper
by contrast, green lowers red by not offering the same con
trast. Green does not stand in the same relation to red, as
orange does to blue. It is therefore a fallacy to suppose that
because orange harmonises with blue, green must harmonise
with red, or yellow with purple. Besides, much depends on
what tone of one is placed in juxtaposition with the parti
cular tone of another; there is one tone of red which
approaches towards a concord with a particular tone of green,
while some other tones of these two colours are disagreeable
and even discordant ; and so far from the blue-green (which is
the accidental colour of red) being the most harmonious com
bination with it, a yellow-green is far more agreeable (see
below, Sect. VI.); and here, as in many other cases, theory is
at variance with fact. (See above, pp. 61, 62.)
50. Harmony of colour has too often been limited to simi
larity of colour; and Hundertpfund, using the words of
Leonardo, says, " harmony requires colours to be of the same
nature, contrast being produced by bringing colours in con
tact with each other of an opposite character." Contrast is
certainly so produced, but there is also harmony by contrast,
as well as harmony by analogy ; and the term contrast cannot
be used in direct contradistinction to harmony. Blue and
yellow are contrasts, as Leonardo observes, but red and green,
which he also considers contrasts, are opposed to each other
under very different conditions. Blue with red is. a contrast,
but of a very different kind from green with red, which are
opposed to each other as accidental colours.
There are contrasts of various kinds. Some are opposed
§ 50. KINDS OF HARMONT. 75
as warm and cold colours ; some from other properties ; they
should therefore be kept distinct, and when the term is used
it is indefinite, and apt to mislead, unless the particular kind
of contrast is specified. (See Sect. V.)
There are then : a. Harmony by contrast, as red (and still
more scarlet) and blue; orange and blue, &c. Some are
contrasts by coldness and warmth, as those just mentioned ;
some by difference of lucidity, as yellow contrasted with black,
or with brown.
b. Harmony by analogy, as crimson and rich brown,
purple and crimson, yellow7 and gold, &c.
c. Harmony of tones, as different blues, or reds, or greens,
or purples, or yellows, or oranges, &c. ; as where the light one
is a ground for its darker companion, in combination with
other colours. These differences of tone are useful to lighten
up a composition, or pattern, of many colours; and light tones
raise, or brighten up, the deeper ones.
d. Harmony of hues, which has much the same property
as the last, as verdigris-green introduced to lighten up blue-
green in a composition, and scarlet or red-lead colour with
dark red, &c.
There are also colours which diminish each other's effect,
and deaden a neighbouring one ; as green lowers the force of
red, especially when alone with it, and in the same quantity
and intensity of tone. (See above, p. 62.)
Others again raise the force of those they are combined
with, as white heightens the rose of the face; and so does
black also ; and nothing is more becoming to an Ethiopian
than a red turban. White of course increases the intensity
of black by contrast, as black adds to the brilliancy and
distinctness of white. And though white makes a red face
look redder, it increases the paleness of a pale complexion.
Black too has a similar effect.
Light colours also brighten those of a deeper kind; as
76 ON COLOUR. Part I.
white, or yellow, put with red and blue, renders these more
lively. If intermixed with them it diminishes their depth :
thus, yellow when interwoven with crimson gives it an
appearance approaching to scarlet ; and white interlaced with
blue gives it a lighter tone. Some suit each other from
being the one warm the other cold, as red and blue, orange
and blue, brown and blue, &c. ; and yet two cold colours
sometimes harmonise with each other, as blue and white.
Harmony may be defined to be the due proportion of
two, or more, colours, which are concords ; and the balance of
colour is equally required for those which accord by contrast
as by analogy. For though the idea of contrast shocks some
innocent minds, a little consideration suffices to show that
contrast not only in colours, but in forms, and other combi
nations, contributes most powerfully to the beauty of a com
position. It is true that the gradations in the different hues of the
rainbow are most agreeable, but in ornamenting with colour
it is not sufficient to have them so blended that they shall
insensibly melt into one another. The effect of each colour
is softened and diminished, which is not the object of orna
menting with colour (though it may sometimes answer in
dresses); and blue, red (or scarlet) and yellow loqk better
when contrasted with each other than with the intermediate
purple, orange and green. They have a still better effect
when black and white are added (see Sect. XVII. Blue, C 7,
and D 1, and E 2, and F 1), and though blue, red, and
yellow form perfect harmony, there are other combinations
with a greater number of colours which are even more agree
able for ornamentation (see Sect. XVII. Blue, A 1, C 7, and
E2).
What Burnet says of the contrast of warm and cold colours
in pictures applies with "equal or greater force to their com
bination for decorative purposes ; and he shows, that besides
§ 50. CONTRAST. 77
the necessity for the equilibrium of colours, the warm and
cold should be "properly balanced" against each other.
" Cool colours (he adds, p. 10) produce a softer influence on
the eye than warm, and excite it less," and the use " of a warm
colour will increase" the general harmony in a picture, as
when red is introduced with " the white, blue, grey, and green
in a landscape ; " while, on the other hand, the union of warm
colours, which "arrest the attention of the spectator in a
greater degree, will be increased by the introduction of a
cold " one ; and " the harmony of a picture composed of white,
yellow, red, and brown, is increased by the introduction of
a blue." The value of such an arrangement is seen in the hot
and cold tints of lights and shades, and in the primary colours
of the draperies in large paintings, where red. and blue "are
often placed upon the same figures to draw the attention of
the spectator to such point ;" and " notwithstanding we are
told by Du Fresnoy and others, 'not to permit two hostile
colours to meet without a medium to unite them,' we see
from the earliest times it has been the practice of all the
great painters ; so that red and blue has in a manner become
the dress in which from custom we always expect to find
certain figures clothed, such as Christ, the Virgin, &c."
(Burnet on "Colour in Painting," p. 10.) Nor was the use of
blue, red, and yellow confined to any one particular school.
This is the effect of the harmony of contrast, and Aristotle
says (Probl. 3), " we are delighted with harmony, because it
is the union of contrary principles having a ratio to each
other;" an idea expressed also by Vasari (vol. i. Introd.
Pitt. c. iv.) — " L'unione della pittura e una discordanza di
colori diversi accordati insieme." It is this very love of con
trast which makes us admire the effect of a long line of water
on the horizon seen through a wood of fir-trees ; and which
taught the builders of all ages the necessity of opposing the
vertical to the horizontal line.
78 ON COLOUR.
Part I.
It is precisely for the purpose of avoiding monotony that
contrast is required. And if variety instead of monotony is to
be desired any where, it must certainly be in coloured orna
ment. The very principle of ornamenting a flat surface is
contrast ; and it is on this that all mosaic and inlaid work,
and every design whose effect is produced by dark and light
colours, depend. The dread, then, of the impropriety of
contrast may be dismissed; and those who have overcome
their scruples about the use of bright colours, may venture a
little farther without apprehension, and may tolerate contrast.
The taste has been pronounced by some to be "very French ;"
but our neighbours are right, and there is no fear of revolution
in adopting it beyond the very desirable one of improving
our coloured designs, and ridding many of a prejudice. For
though the French are not good artistic " colourists," they
are eminently successful in decorative ornament; and here
they excel the Dutch as much as these excel them in imita
ting the colours of nature. And if the combination of bril
liant contrasts in decorative ornament will not always suit a
picture which represents nature, this is only consistent with
the fact that the two subjects should have a different treat
ment. Colours in pictures do not of course admit of the
same contrasts as when applied to ornamental purposes ; the
mode of using them is also different, and the grey tints as
well as shades introduced into a picture prevent the contrast
of the different colours being so strong and decided.
Nor are colours even for ornamental purposes to be used in
the same way on all occasions. Those which would suit fur
niture, or decorate a wall, might not be adapted for dresses ;
and colours which suit a lady's toilet, would not always,
according to our modern taste, be admissible in the simpler
costume of men in the civilised communities of Europe.
Colours too which suit one complexion are not always adapted
to another. I remember a case which may serve to illus
trate this remark. Happening one day to call at the house
§ 51. NAMES OF COLOURS. 79
of a lady who was a brunette, I met there another who was
remarkably fair, when the conversation turned on the new
mode of fitting up the opera house. The colour selected had
been of an orange hue. "How much I admire," said the
former, "the colour they have chosen for it." "Do you,
indeed," said her light haired friend ; " do you not think blue
would have been preferable ? " I felt quite sure before she
spoke what her objection would be; and the reason was
equally evident why the other preferred the orange hue;
and the same difference of opinion would exist about other
colours selected without reference to the taste and require
ments of the wearer.
51.1 have stated that the names of colours are uncertain and
indefinite (p. 68), and in proof of this it is only necessary to
ask what idea is conveyed to the mind by the mere mention
of a red, or a blue, colour ? A scarlet coat is called red ; and
the term red is applied to a rose, a brick, port wine, mul
berries, cherries, and other things of very different hues : the
sky, a violet, a slate, and a steel helmet are called blue ; puce
colour has been transferred to a blue-purple ; and the Arabs,
who apply " green " to a mouse-coloured horse as well as to
a copper-coloured Abyssinian, call jet-black "blue;" and
their " blue horse" may mean one of jet-black, or iron-grey,
colour. In like manner, the Welsh glas " blue," or " green,"
is applied to black (provided it has no brown tinge) ; and grey
is also called "blue" (glas). — Hence glastum, a name of woad.
It would lead to endless confusion if the names were thus
vaguely used in the application of colours ; and yet so un
settled is their nomenclature in most countries, that it is
often impossible, in reading the description of any object, to
form in our mind a true idea of its colour and appearance.
Even when we are more particular, and we attempt to point
out certain tones which are thought to be well defined, we are
not always intelligible ; thus the well-known name of purple
conveys no positive idea of the colour we mean ; and some
80 bN COLOUR. Pari I.
persist in calling blue "purple," and a violet "blue;" while
others adopt this gradation in the prism, "blue, purple,
violet, red;" and another gives "blue, purple, and violet,
or indigo." The same was the case of old; and not only
has there been a question about the ancient " purple," and
the meaning of the Greek nroptpvpsos, or the Latin pur-
pureus, but these two words have had several meanings at
different periods; and in the writings of different authors.
The irop(pvpsos of Greek had a very wide range ; and it was
even used to signify any thing "bright," whatever the real
colour might be. Homer uses it for the colour of the sea ; the
"purpureus (pannus) late qui splendeat" of Horace (A. P. 15)
might be of any bright hue ; and the white swan was called
by him "purpureis ales coloribus" (iv. Od. i. 10). There
is no evidence of its name having been taken originally from
Trvp, " fire ; " another word from that root, irvppos, was used
for red or scarlet (as by Herodotus and others) ; and Pyrrhus,
like Eufus, was applied to men of fiery complexion. Pliny
speaks of three purples — one scarlet, another resembling
violet, and a third like coagulated blood. The dress of our
Saviour is called in St. Matthew xxvii. 28, " scarlet : " in
St. John xix. 2, " purple ; " both perhaps alluding rather to
its richness of colour than to its exact hue. The imperial
purple, as seen in the unchanged mosaics of Eavenna, is the
hue which may be received as true purple, that of the stone
called porphyry being a far redder hue; and the imperial
purple is composed of nearly equal parts of red and blue,
which may also be considered to be a true violet colour.
52. It would be difficult, and very unnecessary, to mention
all the different tints which are said " by Eoman artists in
mosaic to exceed 30,000 ; " but it may be useful to notice the
names of the principal colours in some languages ; and I
therefore introduce them in English, Arabic, French, German,
Greek, Latin, and Italian.
English.
Arabic.
French.
German.
Greek.
Latin.
Italian.
Blue ....
Kohlee (graduated as :
Bleu (fonce et
Blau (dunkel
iaictvBos (Egyp
Caaruleus, cy-
Azzurro, tur-
ghamuk,"dark •," maf-
clair, " dark and
blau, hell blau,
tian, Greek, and
aneus (hysgi-
chino(azzurro
tooh, "light;" Heb.
light").
" dark and
Roman blues
numwaswoad-
or turchino-
rton, "blue" or
light blue ").
were mostly ox
blue, and was
scuro, "dark
"blue-purple.")
ides of copper ;
mixed with
blue;"azzurro
Azrek (/ . Zerka),
the Kvavos was a
madder - root
dolce, "light
"darkest blue; "used
blue carbonate
in purple dyes.
blue").
also for the " darkest
of copper. They
Vitr. vii. 1.
black."
are generally
mixed with car
bonate of lime).
Plin. xxxv.6).
indigo . .
Neeleh (i. e. " indigo ").
Bleu d'inde (in
Indig-blau (in
vbkivBos (uiSikov) .
(Indicum*) .
Indaco.
(sky) . .
Semmawee (i.e. "hea
digo).
digo).
venly".)
Bleu de ciel, or
celeste.
Himmel blau .
Kvavos xvaveos
(from blue car
bonate of copper,
Kvavos or xpooo-
KOAAtt).
Caeruleus, cy-
aneus (csesius,
gray-blue, lo-
mentum, co-
elon).
Celeste.
pale (smalt)
Genzaree, or Zengaree
(from Genzeer, "ver
digris, " bluestone).
Bleu d'email . .
(Schmalte)
(Smalt used by
the Egyptians.)
Azzurro di
' smalto.
Bleu de roi, or
(Kobalt) . .
(Supposed to be
the xaAK<w. of
Azzurro della
magna (Ger
bleu de cobalt.
Theophrastus.
man blue).
The Portland
See Cennini,
vase is col. with
p. 32. Tr.
oxide of cobalt.)
* Indicum was also applied to Indian ink.
English.
Blue, light (Prus
sian).
turquoise .
— — • ultramarine,
or lapis lazuli.
Bluish . . .
Red . . .
Scanderanee (i. e.
" Alexandrian ").
Faroozee (i. e. " tur
quoise ").
Lazwerd (whence
" azure " or " lapis
lazuli").
Lazwerd
Mezurruk or mezruk
Ahmar (/ hamra),
DTK.
Bleu de Prusse
Bleu turquin .
Azur . . .
Bleu d'outremer
Bleuatre, tirant
sur le bleu.
Rouge
German.
Berliner blau
Himmel blau
Blgulieh .
Roth (Sanscrit,
rudhira).
Greek.
y\avKos
(appeviov, and
Kvavov were la
pis lazuli, which
was much used
in Egypt for or
naments.)
viroxapamos ? . .
epvBpos
Glaucus*, cya-
neus. .
(Armenium ;
cyanos, an
artificial lapis
lazuli made in
Egypt. Plin.
xxxvii. 9 ; also
sapphirus? ib.)
Sub-cseruleus
Ruber, rubeus
(rubrica,"red- ochre;"puni-
ceus, " deep-
red").
Italian. t
Azzurro di
Berlino.
Bel turchino.
Azzurro.
Oltramarino (lapis csruleus
of the . Lower
Empire).
Turchiniccio.
Rosso.
to
o aoo fc-lo dsi
» Glaucus applied also to " fiery-red " (as of the owl's eyes), and to " sea-green," to the willow, to blue-grey eyes.
t
English.
Arabic.
French.
German.
Greek.
Latin.
Italian.
Red. Carnation —
Lon e' gessed (i. e.
Incarnat . ¦ .
Incarnat . .
ai/i«ro«8)js . .
Sanguineus .
Color incarnate.
(i.e. flesh-colour).
" colour of the body.")
Blood red . . .
Dumawee or dummee
(i.e. "blood-colour.")
Couleur de sang .
Blut-roth . .
a/fiaToeiSjjs . . .
Sanguineus, cruentus.
Color di san-
gue.
Crimson (krimi is
Kermezee, from ker-
Cramoisi," couleur
Carmosin roth.
(<fav$v% ?) (kokkos
(Sandyx? coc
Chermisi, cre-
"worm "in San
mez, " cochineal ; "
du grenat."
PatpiKT).)
cus ilicis) coc-
misiuo.
scrit, and the
whence cramoisi and
cineus. (For
another san
Arabs took it
crimson. The real
from the Per
cochineal is the coc
s
dyx, and san-
daracha, see
sian).
cus cacti of South
America, but the coc
Plin. xxxv. 6).
cus ilicis was the one
used by the ancient
Phoenicians, Greeks,
-
and others, and called
in Hebrew iffl n$ft>in,
i. e. " coccus." But
b'D"D is properly
crimson. 2 Chron.
ii. 7.
Laalee, or doodeh, from
dood, "the worm"
Carmine . . .
Carmin . . . .
Carminio.
kcrmcz, or coccus
baphica, or cochineal,
from which carmine
is precipitated by
means of alum and
-
distilled water.
1
IBw
00
CO
English.
Vermilion colour
(originally from
the Kermes worm
(whence " ver
meil)," after
wards from Cin
nabar.
(Cinnabar, a na
tive red sulphu-
ret of mercury ;
vermilion being
a factitious col.,
100 mercury to
16 sulphur.)
Scarlet (the scar
let grain of Po
land is the coc
cus polonicus,
found on the
roots of the
" scleranthus pe-
rennis," formerly
much used for
its red dye).
Zoonjoofr, or zoon-
goofr, or zingifr, pro
perly cinnabar; Heb.
"It}>tj>, which is also
"red ochre," jjuKtos
in LXX.
Zingifr or zoongoofr ;
Heb. -0®.
Werdee, not rose-
colour, though de •
rived from werd
" rose ; " Hebr. »3{J>
nj?'?in,ornvl?in»3B'0 .Win is "worm;"
vj£> is the " coccus.'
French.
Vermilion, coral-
lin.
Cinabre.
Ecarlate, ponceau.
German.
Cochenilla
Zinnober
Scharlach
Greek.
piKros (properly
red-lead, used
also for red-
ochre, or red
oxide of iron,
the best being
from Lemnos
and Cappadocia),
(<rai'5u£,<7ai'Sa/)a-
Xl)-
(Kivvafiapi) (kiv-
vafiapl ivSikov,
being; dragon's
blood).
TTVppOS
Flammeus ; —
minium, used
for bright red-
ochre (rubrica)
and for red-
lead, being
called also
"cerussausta," or " red-lead "
(deutoxide of
lead) ; (sandyx,
or cerussa usta ;
sandaracha; y.
ox. of lead, and
red sulphuret
of arsenic).
Cinnabaris (called also
" minium " —
a red sulphuret
of mercury),
Coccineus
Italian.
Vermiglio (from verme,
"worm," i.e.
the cochi
neal).
Cinabro, ama-
tito (Cenn. p.
121).
Scarlatto, pon-
so, color di
fbco.
co
o %aot-1oG a
c
English.
Arabic.
French.
German.
' GRSEK.
Latin.
Italian.
Eire-colour . .
Madder-colour .
Alkariet-colour .
Pomegranate- colour.
Cerise ; but not the
colour of a cherry.
Rose-colour . .
Pink-lake, or lake
(from an Indian
coccus or from
gum-lac).
Pink (light), or,
pink madder-c.
Peach-colour . .
Evening primrose^
Lon en-nar (e'nar) .
Lon el fooah (i. e.
colour of the rubia
tinctorum, sometimes
improperly called
"doodeh," which is
cochineal).
Fooah e' Shaytan
(" devil's madder "
(colour), the "anchu-
sa tinctoria," Viper's
bugloss. )
Lon e' rooman, or roo-
nianec.
Lon el werd ....
(The colouring-matter
of stick-lac, or) liik.
irvppos (also a yel
low brown) <p\o-
yeos, <p\oyivos.
epvBpos (epvBpo-
Savor, rubia, epv-
BoSavov). (San
dyx, Virg. Eel.
iv."45).
l>oSoeiSr)s (?) '. .
/5o5o«5))S . . .
Rufus (yellow-
red), rutilus,
flammeus.
Ruber (rubise
radix).
Puniceus.
Roseus . . .
Color di foco
Rosso di robbia.
Color di rosa,
rosaceo.
Lacca.
Lacca. Color di per-
sica.
Couleur de ga-
rance.
Coulenr de fleur
degre'nade; pon
ceau.
Cerise.Couleur de rose .
(Krapp;farber- rothe)
Rosen-roth, ro-
sen-farbe.
Khokhee (from khokh,
"peach").
Couleur de peche
Color persicus
00
English.
Arabic.
French.
German.
Greek.
Latin.
Italian.
Purple ....
Damson-colour or
blue-purple(called puce).
Brown-purple .
Brown-claret, or
maroon *).
Violet-purple
Bluish-purple
Forfeeree, ergooanee
(the Hebrew ergoon,
|1J1N or JDJ-IK, the
blue purple 117071 is
from the Helix ian
thina).
Pourpre . . .
Couleur de prune.
Purpur . . .
iropfyvpsos, (pOWlKlOS
Purpureus (pur-
ple,from the mu
rex and bucci
num; and purple
glass stained
with oxide of
manganese) (ostrum).
Purpureo, por-
porino, bisso.
Rosso-bruno.
Amatito. Amatito, ama-
tisto (Cenn.
p. 24).
Purpureo.Pavonazzo, pagonazzo,paonazzo,(morello).
Violato, pa
vonazzo, pur
pureo.
Menoweesh ....
Oodee (also " wood
colour ").
Pourpre de car
dinal.
iroptpvpeos , . .
iaKivBos . . .
Purpureus . .
Purpureus . .
Violet, imperial-
purple.
Mulberry-colour.
Benefsigee ....
Violet, couleur
violette.
Couleur de lilas.
Violet . . .
toetSrjs, iroptpvpsos
Violaceus, pur
pureus.
Apricot-colour ,
Mishmishee.
o z
o ot-lo a&
* Maroon, or marrone, properly chesnut (marron), but said by Mr. JField to be composed of black and red, or black and purple, &e.
Yellow (bright
— being chrome
No. 2).
Yellow (ochre) .
Saffron-colour .
Golden . , .
Canary-colour .
Straw-colour . .
Brimstone-colour(Yellow orpiment
colour ; yellow
sulphate of ar
senic).
Orange . . .
Green (bright —
partaking of
moss, emerald,
grass, and ver
digris-green). ¦
Verdigris-green (verditer), most
commonly used
by the ancients.
Arabic.
inV, asfer (/. saffra)
Id. (Ion e' tun) .
Zahfaran. . . .
Lon e' dahab, dtha-
habce.
Lem6onee (lemon-co
lour).
Lon e' tibn, tibnee. .
Kabreetee . . . .
Portokanee (from por-
tokan, " orange,'' i. e.
of Portugal).
f>T», akhder</khadra)
Lon e' genzeer .
French.
Jaune
Id. (ochre)
Couleur de safran
Couleur d'or . .
Couleur de paille
Couleur de soufre
Orange .
Vert.
Verdet (vert de
gris).
German.
Gelb . .
Id. (ocher)
Saflron-gelbGold-gelb .
Canarien.Stroh-farbe
Orange-farbe
Griin
Spangriin
Greek.
£avBos .
(a>Xpa) .
KpOKlVOS .
Xpvo-eios
travSapaien, yellow
oxide of lead,
and apcrfliiKov,
auripigmentum, "orpiment," were
ancient yellows.
XXapos (the an
cient greens were
carbonates " or
acetates of cop
per).
(XP»<roKo\\a, car
bonate of cop
per ; ios x"^110"
diacetateofcop).
Latin.
Flavus (as'
corn), luteiis
(as egg).
(Sile, ochra) .
Croceus . . .
Aurantia, au
reus.
Auri-pigmen- tum; sanda-
racha.
Viridis .
Gramineus (chrysocolla ;
iErugo, and
iBruca).- ¦¦
Italian.
Giallo.
Id. (ocra).
Saffarano, zaf-
ferano.
Color d'oro.
Color di paglia,
Giallo di solfoi
Risalgallo.
Color d'arancio,
rancio.
Verde.
Verderame.
English.
Arabic.
French.
German.
Greek.
Latin.
Italian.
Grass-green . .
Pea-green.
Lon el hasheesh . .
Vert de pre.
Vert de poireau,
vert de montagne.
Vert de mer, vert
celadon.
Vert de montagne
Vert d'olive . .
irpaffivos .
yAavKos .
Prasinus . .
Glaucus . .
Verde porro.
Verdazzurro.Verde porro.
Olivastro.
Verdazzurro. Nero, negro.
Parrot-green.
Apple-green. Tea-green.
Olive-green . .
Zaytoonee (" olive ") .
Oliven-farbe .
Rifle-green.
Black ....
Coal-black . .
DIM, "W, aswed (/
soda).
Fahmee (i. e. " char
coal").
Noir ....
Schwartz . .
p.e\as* (/ie\av, or
atramentum, was
made from the
ink of the sepia ;
and ivory-black,
or elephantinum,
from ivory).
The best char
coal-black (rpv-
yivov, tryginum)
of burnt vine-
twigs, noir de
vignes.
Niger, ater
(atramentum,
" ink," &c.
Piceus (pitch
black).
QO00
ooot-1 od&
* Black in ancient Egypt was of burnt bone, which, like ivory and lamp-black, were used at an early time. The noir de vigne and
burnt refuse of grapes is a superior black, called Prankfort black in Germany. Indicum, or Nigrum Indicum, was India ink.
English.
Arabic.
French.
German.
Greek.
Latin.
Italian.
Jet-black '. . .
Azrek (i. e. " blue- "
black).
"White . . .
\lb, -lin, abiad (/
Blanc . . . ¦
"Weiss . . .
\evKos, tyi/ivBiov (ce-
Albus, candi
Bianco (biacca,
bayda).
russa was white-
lead, but the an
cient whites were
mostly carbo
nates of lime in
Egypt, Greece,
and Rome ; the
best was from
Melos Island,
and called jue-
Kias, melinum).
dus, niveus
(" snow-
white"). Pa-
rsetonium, so
called from
that place, was
a pure white
much used for
grounds.
"white lead").
Gray ....
Singabee or sinjabee .
Grau . . .
yKavKos, xapomos
Glaucus, cse
Bigio.
Couleur d'ardoise
Cendre" ,.'.'.
JJchiefer-blau.
Asch-farbe,
T&ppos, re<pputii]S .
sius.*
Cinereus . .
Cignerognolo,
Colour of ashes .
Roomadee (L e. "of
ashes").
asch-grau.
color dicenere,
berrettino.
"Wood-colour
Brown. . . .
Berrettino.Bruno.
Asmer'(/:'samra) .' .'
Bran, bis . . .
Braun . . .
0cuoj' (applied to
Pullus, fuscus .
brown bread).
Greek and Ro
man browns mix
tures of ochre and
black.
1
4mH
* Catullus speaks of " csesius leo" ; it is also applied to a " blue.'
oo
English.
Russet (applied
also to mixture
of purple and
orange).
Red- brown or
horsechesnut.
Chesnut . . .
Light brown . .
Light honey-co
lour.
Coffee-colour
Dark tawny . .
Tawny (yellow
ish).
Sorrel (horse)
Drab . . .
Spotted Striped .
Arabic.
Koomayt (applied to
a horse).
Kammoonee . . .
Assalee (applied to
what we call hazel
eyes).
Bonnee.Asmaranee . . . .
Asmaranee . .
p*!^, ashker (horse)
Menugrush, menuk-
rush).
Taban (i. e. snake
marked, applied to a
" tabby cat," whence
our name?)
Brun . . .
Marron d'lnde
Chatain . .
Brun clair . . .
Couleur de miel .
Basane, bis
Jaune de coing,
de safran, a -
Saure .
Mouchete
Raye .
German.
Braun-roth (red-
brown or bay),
Braun-roth . .
Kastaneen- braun.
Honig-farbe
Roth-fuchs. Gelb-graue- farbe.
Sprenklich . .
Streifig, gest-
reift.
Greek.
<jsaios (an inde
finite name).
p.e\txpoos . .
rpaios
Xaptmos (applied
to gray eyes, to
the lion, and to
the sea), wppos,
Kippos.
ttoikiXospaSficoTos
Latin.
Ferrugineus, pullus, fuscus.
Ferrugineus. Castaneus .
Color melleus
Fuscus .
Fulvus (tawny
yellow), tor-
vus.
Maculosus . .
Virgatus, stri-
atus.
Rosetto.
Bruno chiaro.
Color di miele.
Morello, fosco,
bruno, bigio-
scuro.
Leonato.
Moschato, pic-
chiettato.
Rigato.
to o
o o ooc! B
§ 53.54. HUES AND TONES. 91
The foregoing list will suffice to show the uncertainty of
the ordinary names of colours, and how often they are applied
to very different kinds. But in order to fix those even in our
own language, it would be necessary to give coloured speci
mens of each, with their most important tones and hues; and as
this would far exceed my limits, I confine myself to the colours
commonly required for decorative purposes, which are given
in Plate in.; and refer the reader to a very useful work on
the subject ("Werner's Nomenclature of Colours " *), where he
will find a great number of them treated in a very practical
manner, with their hues illustrated by references to objects in
the animal, vegetable, and mineral world.
53. Varieties of a colour are hues ; thus, different kinds of
blue, as a cobalt-blue, indigo-blue, sky-blue, &c, are hues of
blue ; and olive and emerald-green are hues of green, &c.
Various intensities of a colour are tones, i. e. different
shades of the same kind of blue, as different tones or shades of
cobalt and others ; and this distinction has very properly been
observed by M. Chevreul in his very ingenious and useful
work on the Harmony of Colours ; where he has given, what
was so much wanted, observations and facts relating to the
juxtaposition of colours and their effects.
It is always desirable, in order to avoid confusion, and to
simplify a subject, that those who write upon it should, as
far as their opinions will allow, adopt the same nomenclature
and definitions; and as I find so much in M. Chevreul in
accordance with my own views, I shall endeavour to deviate
as little as possible from the terms he employs; and though
there are some few points in which I differ from him, I am
glad that so many of his observations accord with my own.
54. I am far from pretending to lay down rules for the
application of colours ; and it will suffice to mention those facts
* By Syme. Edinburgh, 1814.
92 ON COLOUE. Pam i,
of which any one who has a correct eye for colour may judge.
Indeed there are so many exceptions to the rules already sug
gested that nothing can yet be accepted as a reliable guide;
and I have already shown how erroneous a conclusion has been
arrived at on the subject of accidental colours (pp. 60, 74),
and how theory has propagated the error. But if I differ
from the opinions of some who have attempted to lay down
rules before they understood the subject, it is my desire to do
this with perfect respect for them, without any intention to
condemn their praiseworthy endeavours to impart instruction
to others ; but having the same object, I cannot, on public
grounds, see opinions gain favour which are totally at variance
with sound experience, without entering my protest against
their hasty adoption. However plausible a theory may be, if
founded on erroneous notions it can only mislead; and I
appeal to all the practice of the Asiatics, the Egyptians, the
Greeks, the Moors of Spain, the Italians, the French, and
others who have been noted for their success in ornamenting
with colours, and to the convictions of those who have a
natural perception of their concords, to second me in my
assertion, that such combinations as these accidental colours,
viz. green and russet, orange and olive-green, purple and
citrine, are not concords, but offend against true harmony. A
yellow-orange with olive-green would be less objectionable
than a red-orange, and would at least accord with it by
analogy ; and an orange with some other hues of green would
be far preferable to orange with olive-green.
And in order to show the effect of the secondary purple and
its accidental tertiary colour citrine ; and of the secondary
green and the tertiary russet; I introduce these colours as
specimens of discords, though they have been put forth' as
harmonious combinations. (See Plate in. figs. 9, 10.) Again,
it has been said that each primary, with its accidental
secondary, and the tertiary which is accidental to this last,
§ 55. DISCOBDS. 93
form a harmonious combination, as red, green, and russet
(fig. 6), blue, orange, and olive (fig. 7), and yellow, purple,
and citrine (fig. 8); but these again are, in fact, discords,
and are made much more discordant when such relative pro
portions of each are introduced as 5 red, 11 green, and 21
russet; 8 blue, 8 orange, and 24 olive; 3 yellow, 12 purple,
and 19 citrine; though these are actually laid down as the
necessary quantities in which the colours harmonise with
each other. And without noticing any of the others it will
suffice to say, that no one with any real perception of the
harmony of colour would place in juxtaposition 5 red and
more than double the quantity of green.
To these I shall add the following : — red, russet, green, and
lilac (or a purple) ; green, red, and lilac ; and russet and lilac
(or a purple); which, though given as illustrations of the
mode of arranging colours, are disagreeable discords; and like
the former, should be carefully avoided by students in colour,
however plausibly theory may have recommended them as
harmonious concords. And though the combination of 2
blue, and 2 orange, and 4 purple is not a discord, it is a
defective arrangement of colour ; for here the blue and orange
balance each other ; while the purple (which is also excessive
in quantity) has no other colour to balance it, and the effect
of the whole is consequently defective.
I shall now offer some remarks on the arrangement of
colours. 55. Section I. In all cases of polychrome ornament (con
sidered apart from paintings) the three primaries — red, blue,
and yellow — should generally predominate ; and, indeed, they
may be used alone with good effect without any other colour.
But it is not necessary, as some have maintained, that in
ornamentation the three primaries should alone be admitted,
to the exclusion of the secondaries and tertiaries; it will
suffice that these two last be less in proportion, and secondary
94 ON COLOUE. tAS.1 I.
to the primaries in position and effect. A preponderating
quantity of the secondaries, or tertiaries, is far from agree
able, whether it be in drapery, wall-patterns, glass windows,
or any other ornamental work (except in the grounds) ; and
the painted glass windows by Cornelius, in the Cologne
Cathedral, are a notable instance of the too injudicious
employment of many secondary colours. The same may be
said of the windows in the Church of St. Ghidule at Brussels,
which by some unaccountable misappreciation of colour have
been held up to admiration. There are, however, certain
combinations in which it is not necessary that the three
primaries should be present, as where blue and orange are
combined with black and white, or some other colours; and
in grounds secondary or other hues may, of course, pre
dominate over the primaries.
II. When a secondary, or a tertiary, colour is used, a com
bination of at least two others with it has a better effect,
than when one alone is in juxtaposition with it.
III. The presence of yellow in the vicinity of red and
blue, or a small fillet, or other small quantity, of that colour
interposed between them has the good result of preventing
their borrowing from each other and appearing purple (see
above, pp. 9, 61). A white fillet has a similar effect — but it is
colder than yellow ; and red, blue, and white, do not form the
same harmonious combination as red, blue, and yellow ; again,
it is preferable that yellow should predominate in a compo
sition than white, though yellow should always be in less
quantity than blue and red ; and gold, when it can be intro
duced, has a far better and richer appearance than yellow.
But in ceilings, notwithstanding its coldness, white, or rather
cream-white, as a ground for many colours, has been some
times employed with success ; and it is preferable to a large
expanse of yellow, though not to gold.
§ 55 II. III. COMBINATIONS OF COLOURS. 95
A favourite combination of the ancient Egyptians, on their
painted walls and columns, was red, blue, and green, fre
quently with a yellow or a white fillet between each, for the
purpose already alluded to * ; and when yellow was used in
.any quantity black was introduced to harmonise with it and
balance the effect, being a concord with yellow. The ceiling
of a temple was blue, with white or gold stars on that
ground ; and if any one colour was employed in a dispro
portionate quantity, a compensation was made to its com
panions in an adjoining part of the wall, or in some other
position sufficiently near to enable the eye to restore the
balance. It is a mistake to suppose they used colour with some
religious view unconnected with ornamentation, merely be
cause it belonged to a particular god, or to certain rites.
One god, it is true, was always represented blue, another
red ; but when it was necessary to introduce the former, more
red was employed in the hieroglyphics and other accessories ;
which could be varied at pleasure. It is certain that more
green was admitted upon their monuments in later than in
earlier times, and in the Ptolemaic reigns large masses appear
on the capitals of columns f and other parts of the building ;
but this was independent of any religious feeling, and it was
the usual sign of a debased taste, and the consequence, as
I have already stated, of people having become artificial,
and of their having lost the true appreciation of the harmony
of colours.
The Greeks also preferred the brightest red (ultramarine),
* In some dresses they appear occasionally to have omitted the yellow, for
the very purpose of giving a purple effect to the blue and red pattern when
seen at a distance. But this should not be imitated in onr glass windows.
f This may be seen in the Egyptian screen of columns at the Crystal
Palace of Sydenham (see p. 1 7).
96 ON COLOUE. Past I.
blue and yellow for architectural decoration; and gold was
added in highly ornamented mouldings. This did not, how
ever, exclude some other colours, which were occasionally
used on the interior walls, as any one may see at the Par
thenon; and, according to Mr. G. Semper, "all the flat
ground members, as the walls — often decorated with paint
ings and ornaments — the tympana, the lacunaria, and per
haps the metopes, were of a blue-black." "The prevailing
colours of the mouldings and ornaments were red, blue, and
green .... the green very delicate, of a bright moss colour.
The details of the ornaments alternated regularly, and were
united together by many delicate and projecting fillets of
white, black, and gold;" and in the temples of Athens he
believes "them to have been of gold." According to M.
Hittorff, the principle generally followed in the Sicilian
temples was found to be " the colouring of the body of the
wall a pale yellow, or golden colour; the triglyphs and
mutules blue; the metopes and tympanum red, and some
other portions of the building green ; " the same being varied,
or used "of greater or less intensity, as the judgment of the
artist dictated."
In the museum of Palermo too are the remains of a
small Greek building, from Selinus in Sicily, in which the
colours are blue, red, and yellow.
Much is also learnt respecting the colouring of architectural
details from the ash-chests of the Etruscans, where the mould
ings, and even the columns, are coloured, as I have shown
in another place*; where I have also made some remarks
on the use of colours by the Greeks, t And though Dr. Kugler
may be disposed to limit the colour to particular buildings
in Greece, or parts of them, or to those of certain periods,
the investigations of M. Hittorff have enabled him to prove
* Part II. § 64. f Part II. § 59 to 61.
§ 55 IV. COLOUE BY DAT AND NIGHT. 97
that the same colours existed " on the monuments of Athens
as those he had discovered in the Sicilian temples."
IV. Colours by light of candles, or a lamp, and in the
day, appear very different ; and it is therefore necessary in
ornamenting an interior to provide for this change. The
reds, by borrowing some of the yellow light, approach nearer
to scarlet, crimson looking brighter than in the day; dark
blues, by absorbing so much light, appear almost black ; and
there is often a difficulty in distinguishing between light
blues and green. The same carpet, therefore, which looks
well by daylight may lose much of its effect at night ; while
another, which has not so good an effect by day, may even
appear more brilliant by candlelight. This will depend on
the tone and assortment of the colours ; and it is always a
matter for consideration whether an interior is required to
have its best effect by day or night. The fact is, of course;
well known to ladies in the choice of their evening dresses;
but it must also be attended to in furniture and wall decor
rations. Blues to look well by candlelight should be of a
bright tone ; and if a dark blue must be used it should have
another of a lighter tone in its immediate vicinity, or be in
terspersed with white. (See Sects. VI. and XI.) A bright green
in conjunction with blue will also aid in lighting up the
pattern, and green is therefore useful for increasing the effect
of a carpet or other coloured work by candlelight, by pre
venting the blues giving it too dark an appearance. Green
may even be employed for subduing the effect of red ; and a
carpet may have more green, when the furniture of a room
is light coloured. Certain hues of green may also be allowed
to cover the walls of a whole room (especially when pictures
are to be placed on the walls, for which a plain tea-green is
well adapted ; as is a red with a slight tinge of crimson) ; but
then a number of other colours should not be introduced in
the curtains, carpets, and other accessories. Green accords
H
98 ON COLOUR.
PaetI.
admirably with gold, but a combination of numerous colours
with a large mass of green is seldom agreeable: and if a
pattern be introduced on a green wall-paper, it should rather
be of another tone of green, and of subdued force ; and a dark
green should not be placed on a light green ground. Still
less should a dark green ground be spotted over with other
colours. A cerise red may, however, be combined with a
mass of tea or other green of similar hue as a border to it,
or to the draperies in the same room ; and a green may some
times be used with gold on certain grounds, in combination
with other colours which would not harmonise with green
without the gold. (See pp. 105, 106, 125, and above, p. 17.)
V. Colours are opposed to each other in different degrees ;
1st. The strongest opposition is by positive contrast, when the
colours are of different hues and natures : as black and White ;
blue and orange ; scarlet and blue, &c. Of these, Mr. Field
says (p. 26) the only two contrasting colours which are of
equal powers are " black and white," " orange and blue," and
"all other contrasts are perfect only when one of the. anta
gonistic colours predominates." 2nd. Opposition, or contrast,
of warm and cold colours; among the former of which are
reds, yellow, orange, brown, red-purple, &c. ; among the latter,
blue, grey, green, blue-purple, white, blue-black, &c. 3rd.
Opposition, or contrast, of dark and light colours ; or oppo
sition of tones, is when the colours are tones of the same
hue, one stronger than the other, as dark and light yellow.
4th. Opposition, or contrast, of accidental colours, is when a
colour and its accidental companion are opposed to each other
(see p. 72), as red and green; blue and orange; yellow
and purple. And though black and white are accidental to
each other, they cannot be said- properly to belong to this
class ; nor is positive white ever mistaken for its accidental
companion, as other accidental colours are, through a defective
vision or colour-blindness (see p. 56). These two properly
§ 55 V. VI. CONTEASTS, QUANTITY, TONE. 99
come under the first class as positive contrasts; and the
greatest and most violent contrast is between those two
colours. Nor do all other accidental colours contrast with
each other in an equal degree, or under the same conditions ;
and I cannot too often repeat that, because blue and orange
are most harmonious contrasts, it does not. follow that red
and blue-green should be so, and still less green and reddish-
violet, which are a most obvious and disagreeable discord.
(See above, p. 74.)
VI. It is of great importance to understand the effect
which colours have on each other when in juxtaposition ; and
allowance must be made for this in their arrangement. For
as black when next to white appears blacker, and the white
next to black looks brighter, so many colours heighten each
other's effect ; while others diminish it (p. 62). The action of
yellow on some others has been noticed in p. 76. Any colour
may be increased or decreased in intensity, according to the
greater or less contrast it receives from a neighbour. Its
power too may be altered by a disproportionate quantity of
another, and also by juxtaposition with the same quantity of
another of a fuller tone, or more powerful than itself. And
this is the case when colours are of the same as when they
are of different hues. It seldom happens that the union of
two different colours, in very different quantities, has a good
effect. There are, however, some remarkable exceptions to this,
as in the case of red and white, and some others which I shall
have occasion to mention (Sect. XVIII.) ; and there are also
some occasions where colours of a deep and a light tone may
be employed together to advantage ; particularly when many
are combined to form a design. As a general rule for colours
to agree, the essential point is, that they be of the same
intensity of tone ; for two which agree admirably when both
are of the same power, lose their proper effect the moment
the equilibrium ceases to be maintained ; as when a deep tone
H 2
100 i ON COLOUE. Paet I.
is combined with a light one : e. g. crimson with canary, or
with lemon-colour : black with pale straw-colour ; a deep red
with a pale blue, and others ; when the first looks heavy and
the other poor, and the latter is overpowered by the deeper
tone of its companion. Thus too a grey looks paler in com
pany with black. The same attention to the balance of hues
is of course essential in furniture, draperies, and all coloured
combinations ; and even flowers, bright as they are, may have
their effect lessened by an injudicious introduction of brilliant
colours in the vases which contain them, or by the too
gorgeously painted walls of a conservatory. Here, indeed, a
more subdued tone of decoration is required, as the flowers
are to be admired for their own merits, and are not expected
to form part of the general ornamentation.
It does not follow that a pure colour must accord with a
compound one in which the hue most opposed to the pure
one predominates, merely because one of the two forming
that compound is a harmonious contrast to it; and yellow
with blue-green (though yellow and blue are concords), do
not accord as well as yellow and yellow-green : thus the
flower and leaves of the Tropseolum canariense are better
suited to each other than the same flower to the leaves of
the Iris, or Flag. But this is partly owing to the latter
being of a different intensity ; and flowers are not always a
safe guide (see pp. 19, 106). Nor is red with a green containing
much blue so good a combination as with a green which has
more yellow. This too shows that the blue-green, which is
nearer to the complementary or accidental colour of red, does
not suit the red so well as does a yellower green, as I have
already stated. Scarlet too accords better than pure red with
green ; and this even suits a yellow-green rather than one in
which the blue tint predominates. Crimson, again, is dis
agreeable with green.
It is not only when two colours are of a different character
§55 VII. COLOURS IN JUXTAPOSITION. 101
that the deeper one overpowers that of a lighter tone ; the
same occurs when they are of a similar kind ; and the effect
of the weaker one being diminished, it looks paler than it
really is ; while that of the stronger one is increased. Thus
a light orange, close to a scarlet,- is overcome by it; and a
broad line of orange between two yellow ones assumes so
much deeper a tone that it will actually appear red ; and the
same line placed between two red ones will be reduced in
appearance to yellow. Allowance must therefore be made
for these changes, when such colours, or tones of colours, are
combined in a pattern.
VII. This should also be borne in mind, that two colours
sometimes borrow from each other, in another way, when in
juxtaposition ; and a red in the midst of a ground of yellow
(or with yellow interwoven with it) approaches to an orange,
or a scarlet, in appearance. This borrowing from each other
is not only the case in colours of more or less analogous
nature, but also in those which are contrasts ; as blue and
red, which, as I have already shown, borrow from each other
when in contact, and appear purple unless separated by a
third colour. And here I must repeat, that there are cases
where a light and deep tone of the same colour, or of two
analogous colours, may with advantage be placed near
together, in combination with many others ; and in a carpet,
or piece of drapery, a bright with a deep yellow, two tones of
red, or of blue, or a. yellow with an orange, lighten up the
composition ; and are often very effective, both when near
and even when at a distance from each other. The use of
light with a deep blue is also of great service by candlelight,
the latter giving to its companion a more evident appearance
of blue, which it is apt to lose at night, when, from its
absorbing so much light, it assumes a dark hue ; and a dark
blue actually looks black. White combined with. blue has
also the effect of restoring its blue appearance by candlelight,
H 3
102
ON COLOUE. Past I.
as I have had occasion to show in Sect. IV. Sometimes, then,
a colour of the same hue, and of a deeper, or of a lighter, tone,
may be improved, at other times injured, by juxtaposition ;
and it may be employed, or avoided, as the case requires.
Indeed, in the combination of two or many colours, attention
must be paid to the effect they mutually have on each other,
sometimes borrowing, sometimes diminishing, each other's
power; and the arrangement of a polychrome composition
must vary according to the mutual effects of the various
colours. For (as I have just said) colours are not only
influenced by others of a similar nature, but by those of a
totally different character ; a black placed in the midst of red
takes from the latter, and when seen at a certain distance, has
a rusty, while the red has a brick, hue ; and a bright green in
the midst of red looks like a dingy green. The black requires
white or yellow next to it in order to give it a decidedly
black hue ; and the green requires the addition of a yellow
to give it its true character. This I have already noticed
(p. 62) as the reciprocal effect of colours: and it is quite
as essential to consider the effect that a colour has on its
neighbour, in order to maintain the just balance of colours,
as to avoid the undue predominance of one or more in a
composition. This reciprocal effect of colours has been called
simultaneous contrast ; and both have been used to convey
the same meaning ; though in reality the two should be kept
distinct, and applied to different cases. Thus red and black
change their character from reciprocal effect, not from con
trast; while black and white have each their true character
through simultaneous contrast; but as the latter term is well
known, it is not necessary to insist on the minuteness of this
distinction. The same colours have also a different effect when seen at
a distance from what they have when nearer the eye ; it is,
therefore, necessary to consider the point from which they
§55 VII. SIMULTANEOUS CONTEAST. 103
are to be generally viewed. Some colours again are suited to
great heights ; others to positions nearer to the ground ; and
to introduce dark reds, browns, and heavy colours on the
upper parts of a room, and bright yellows, blues, or any very
light tones close to the floor, would have as disagreeable and
inconsistent an effect as to place the lightest ornamental work
on the lower portion of a building and the most massive on
the upper part.
M. Chevreul has very properly insisted on the " simulta
neous contrast of colours," and " of tones of colour," and the
diminution or the increase of intensity of each when in con
tact, according to their relative qualities, in which he is per
fectly justified by experience. Among other examples he cites
the colours of the rainbow, which " are modified by their jux
taposition,, inasmuch as isolated they appear of different hues
than we see them ; " and though the subject of " simultaneous
contrast of colour " was known and studied long ago, he has
added greatly to previous observations by many valuable ex
periments, for which we are the more indebted to him, as they
correct some erroneous conclusions, and substitute practice for
theory ; and his remarks on the effects of colours upon each other
when seen together are just and worthy of attention (p. 34).
What he says of " successive contrast " is also important ; and
though it should be attended to by persons who examine
fabrics of the same hue, or copy a particular colour for a long
time, it has not the same bearing on a pattern of many
colours; and this may also be said of his "mixed contrast;"
in relation to which he gives some curious facts, (pp. 35-38.)
It is true if the eye looks for a long time at a red colour
that the accidental or " complementary " green image of it
does sometimes take its place on the retina ; but this is only
when the eye has become so fatigued by looking at it as
to lose its previous power of seeing the true colour. There
are also certain moments when the retina is more readily
H 4
104
ON COLOUE. Paet I.
affected by the accidental colour than others. These, how
ever, are the exceptions, not the rule ; and in ordinary cases,
unless the eye is closed, after looking intensely at a coloured
object, no such change takes place. Besides, this would he
obviated in looking -at a complicated polychrome design,
where more than one colour is seen at once, and each would
of course appear without being confounded with its acci
dental image. Some colours again are modified more or less
by the juxtaposition of their immediate neighbours ; and this
modification is an additional reason why the accidental image
of a colour would not appear, and would prevent any, one of
the colours being altered by it. What the effect of a colour
may become after the eye has looked at it until fatigued is
unimportant, the object not being to judge of a colour when
the eye is in that condition ; and the retina is little liable to
be so affected in looking at a combination of many colours.
When the eyes have dwelt so long on one colour that this
effect is produced, the remedy is (as Mr. Field very properly
recommends) that "they should be gradually passed to its
opposite colour, and refreshed amid compound or neutral
tints, or washed in the clear light of day." Thus if the eye
is fatigued by looking long at red, and this has lost much of
its real hue, and ceased to appear of a true red colour, the eye
should be relieved by turning to green (its accidental colour) ;
when on looking again at the red it sees it, as at first, in its
full force. But though the eye might be so deceived by long
dwelling on one colour, it would not be so affected by a large
number. VIII. I have already stated that each colour should be of
the same tone, or intensity*; but that there are certain cases
in which a lighter tone may be introduced to brighten up a
design f; and in some again the quantity of one or more must
be regulated by the effect required, as when it is desirable to
* P. 75. t pP- $?, n>li and Sect. XVHI.
§55 VIII. IX. GEOUNDS AND SINGLE COLOUES. 105
give it a particular tone. Thus when a warmer, or a colder,
tone is to be produced, more red, or more blue, may be intro
duced ; but for this and the subject of quantity and propor
tion I must refer to Sect. XVIII. The proper hue of each
is also a point of great importance ; for when a bright red,
blue, or green, is required to agree with another bright colour,
the introduction of any one of these of a duller hue than its
companion would be fatal to their general effect. This is
sometimes the case in the old mosaic pavements at Eome and
elsewhere ; but it may be accounted for by the workmen
making the best of the materials they had at hand, and being
forced to place dull reds and greens in juxtaposition with
brighter hues. And it is probable that the heavy red of por
phyry would not have been combined with serpentine if the
unlimited choice of brighter and more accordant colours had
enabled them to make a better selection.* But it may also
be attributed to a vitiated Eoman taste. (See below, p. 151.)
Of the proper quantity and proportion of colours I shall
also treat in Sects. XVIII. and XIX.
IX. Grounds and Single Colours. — A colour, when used
as a ground, has a very different effect, and is under very
different conditions from the same introduced in combina
tion with others in a pattern. Thus green, so intractable in
large quantities when with other colours, is allowable for
covering the walls of a room ; and light green, greyish-green,
tea-green, and others, when in large masses, look better if
used alone. There is, however, a certain hue of light blue, or
bird's-egg-green t, which may even be used as a ground for
many other combined colours ; and tea-green is very suitable
for a wall hung with pictures, provided it is plain, without
any pattern. (See above, p. 97, Sect. IV.)
* An instance of this may be seen in No. 2 of Mr. Digby Wyatt's interesting
collection of the " Mosaics of the Middle Ages," and particularly in fig. 2 ; and
again in No. 3, where the want of harmony in the mosaic is remarkable.
f Bird's-egg-green is rather a hue of green-blue than of green.
106 ON COLOUE. Past I.
The same hue of green which would have a disagreeable,
or even a discordant, effect, when combined with a particular
colour, may occasionally be introduced upon a gold, black, or
some other ground in contact with that same colour without
appearing any longer discordant ; the ground having altered
the relative conditions of the two; and thus instances of
green with the most discordant tones are sometimes bearable,
as in Indian and Persian patterns, on an orange, black,
salmon, red, or even on a pink, or purple, ground, where
much gold is introduced, which would be intolerable without
the same quantity of gold. I shall have occasion to mention
examples of these in Sect. XIX. pp. 152, 155, 156.
Pink, again, scarcely accords with any other colour, and
looks better alone. It is too frequently overwhelmed by a
neighbour. It is true that, in nature, pink has often an
agreeable effect with green, as in the rose with its leaves, and
the red pink of the wood sorrel suits its leaves also ; but a
piece of drapery, or a dress, of these two colours would be far
from harmonious. And as I have shown (pp. 19, 100) colours
have a very different aspect in a garden, and when used for
ornamentation in building, or in fabrics. Pink too sometimes
looks well with white (which does not overwhelm it), and with
some light hues ; but then the effect is poor, or at most pretty
and insignificant. But though too light to bear the union
with most other colours, it looks well alone in draperies and
dresses. I do not, however, in speaking of " draperies and
dresses," mean that these two are subject to the same condi
tions ; for what suits one is often ill adapted to the other, and
we should be sorry to see all the contrasts allowable in
draperies transferred to costume. But in both of them a
simple pink hue is preferable to one intermixed with other
colours ; and in dresses it is difficult to find any trimmings
suited to pink, unless they be black, or a dark purple. This
fact of some colours giving a different impression, when in a
mass, is consistent with the difficulty of judging of a design,
§55 IX. OP GROUNDS. MOSAICS. 107
and of the effect of colours, from a small specimen, as they
look very different in that and in the piece.
Black, purple-puce, chocolate-brown of a purple hue, grey,
buff, and others, answer as a ground ; though, if half the same
quantity were introduced into a pattern, they would be insuf
ferable, heavy, and gloomy, independent of their offending
against the due proportion of quantity. The same may be
said of gold, which has a beautiful effect as a ground ; but
which, if used in half the same quantity in combination with
other colours, would be gaudy and meretricious. Many
instances of this might be cited ; but it will be sufficient to
notice the beautiful ceiling of the sacristy of St. Mark's, at
Venice, which is also remarkable for the admirable harmony
of its colours. And here again we perceive how different
are the conditions of gold, and still more of a gold ground,
from those of yellow, or even of orange ; and, though an
orange ground is allowable, the same expanse covered by
either of these two colours would be disagreeable. Still
worse would be the employment of overwhelming masses of
yellow, or of orange, interwoven with other colours, in a
design. Nor could white, which, though cold, is tolerable as
a ground, be intermixed in large proportions with other
colours without injuring their effect. Gold is one of the best
of grounds ; but it is better as a mosaic, or slightly figured,
than as a plain gilt surface. For coloured mosaics its effect-
is admirable ; but a profusion of gilding in a building, or on
furniture, is heavy and tawdry, and is one of the faults of
French decoration. Amongst the best for grounds in draperies
are greys, stone-colour, buff, drab, chocolate, and other light
browns, black, white, and purple, which accord well with
other colours. On the other hand, when greys, light greens,
pink, and some others, are used singly to cover large spaces
(as for wall papers), patterns of that same colour of a darker
tone may be introduced with good effect.
A cream colour is almost always a more agreeable ground
108 ON COLOUE.
Past I.
than pure white; and their comparative merits may be judged
of in Parian ware and in plaster casts. Black is an excellent
ground, and sets off other colours when properly assorted,
especially if there is sufficient white (or yellow, or orange) to
give the black its full effect, and prevent its losing its real hue.
How much better, for instance, are red, blue, yellow, and
white, on a black, than on a grey (or light), ground ; and the
loss in the effect of black, without any white (or yellow) near
to it, should never be disregarded. It is not advisable, when
black is used as a ground, that it should always appear in
large masses, with the other colours dotted upon it ; the effect
is often more agreeable when, as in many Persian carpets, the
black ground only appears as a thin fillet, or edging, round the
other hues, showing itself here and there to assert its position
as the ground of the pattern, and giving relief to it, which
it is sure to do when properly set off by the judicious intro
duction of white, yellow, or orange, in contact with it. The
black absorbs light, and heightens, by contrast, the other
colours, especially by candlelight, if properly combined ; but
if blue, and green, and red, or scarlet, are arranged with black
lines between them, the effect is bad, and those lines would
then be better if yellow, or even white. But a black ground
can seldom be introduced into a ceiling; and, unless the room
were of considerable height, it would be fatal to its appear
ance. A low room, with much black in the ceiling, would
appear still lower and most gloomy. And, indeed, for a
coloured ceiling to look well, the room should always be of
sufficient height, and be well lighted. The ceiling of the
library at the Cathedral of Siena affords a remarkable
instance of colours on black, blue, red, and gold grounds ;
but here the arrangement is ' subservient to the effect of
Pinturicchio's beautiful frescoes on the walls, which is assisted
by a wainscoat of dark wood twelve feet in height at the lower
part of the room.
§55X. THE WHOLE WALL NOT TO BE COLOURED. 109
It is not sufficient that a particular ground should be arbi
trarily selected ; it must be adapted to the position it is to
hold, to the general ornamentation, and to the character of
the surrounding objects. And though black may be generally
looked upon as a good ground for colours, it is seldom suited
to walls or ceilings. It may be used for some draperies,
dresses, and other objects, or even occasionally for columns
and furniture; while, in glass, a black ground is rarely
admissible. White is a very useful ground for other colours, as it
heightens a room, and gives more light than any other ; but
it is often cold and harsh when covering a large space; and,
beautiful as it is in the ceiling of the library of the Vatican,
it is there also open to that objection. The same crudity of
^effect may be observed in that of the Eoman Court at the
Crystal Palace of Sydenham ; while the colours of the ceilings
in the Greek court, and in the Alhambra Court of Lions,
are admirable specimens of harmony of colour.
X. A whole wall, ceiling, or other space, should not be
entirely covered over with rich ornament; and so also in a
coloured piece of drapery, or any ornamental work, it is better
to have some portion of it much less rich, and of less com
plicated pattern, than the rest ; and, in some cases, to have
.only a border round a simple ground destitute of any pattern,
as it is apt to fatigue the eye when overloaded with equal rich
ness of detail throughout. This is still more important in a
coloured building, where, if the whole walls, columns, and other
parts, are covered with elaborate and coloured patterns, the
eye feels a want of repose; and the same when a building is
covered entirely .with sculptured ornament without colour.
The richly carved part not only , requires an unsculptured
portion in order that it shall not fatigue the eye, but is im
proved and set off by the contrast ; and contrast is as necessary
for effect in form, quantity of detail, and the position of lines,
110
ON COLOUE. Pabt I.
as it is in colour. On this principle, great effect is sometimes
given to a coloured pattern by having a portion of the com
position, on the wall of a building, without any colour at all ;
and, for the same reason, an expanse of wall in a room often
looks well when painted with a single uniform ground sur
rounded by a rich pattern (see Part II, § 56). And I here agree
with the remark of Hogarth, that " when the eye is glutted
with a succession of variety, it finds relief in a certain degree
of sameness ; and even plain space becomes agreeable, and,
properly introduced and contrasted with variety, adds to it
more variety.*
XL Again, certain colours are better suited for some places
than for others, and the brighter and more transparent for
higher positions , and if the hangings of a room are scarlet,
crimson with gold has a richer and better effect for the chairs
than scarlet and gold. A carpet may be darker than the
general tone of the draperies, and some of its colours may be
carried up by the walls, or the curtains; but if the carpet
is dark, the furniture shows better by being of a lighter hue.
Eed, or a light colour, is better than blue for table covers ;
and though green is not to be recommended for daylight, it
lights up well at night, which blue does not ; and this then
often appears black, or when of a light tone is scarcely to
be distinguished from green. Much, however, may be done
to give blue its proper effect, even by candlelight, either by
placing a light tone of blue close to the darker one, or by
interspersing it with white, which will often lead the eye to
see the darker blue, and prevent its appearing black, as
already shown in pp. 97, 101. This may be seen in some
Persian carpets, where two blues are used. And if some of
these have too much green for daylight, they have a good
effect at night, except when in excess. Bark green, like dark
* "Analysis of Beauty," p. 16.
§55X1.- XHI. PROPER POSITION OF COLOURS. Ill
blue, looks darker by candlelight, and is not an eligible colour
by daylight.
XII. Colours that harmonise well may appear less pleasing,
in consequence of each not being properly placed next to a
neighbouring one that accords well with it. The arrange
ment must therefore be consulted ; and it is not enough that
they should be such as accord, they must be so placed as
to have their full effect on each other. Thus when a blue is
only placed at the edges of a pattern, the centre of which
consists of red, yellow, and other colours, it looks isolated ;
it should be connected by being carried through the inner
part, in order to give the full combination of all the colours,
and the blue would thus be united with the other colours in
the centre of the pattern. When white, or yellow, is intro
duced, a pattern is generally improved by the addition of
black, or by a black ground; and a black fillet separating
each colour in a complicated pattern has a good effect (see
Sect. IX. p. 108). As an instance how much the same colours
may be affected by their arrangement, I may mention that in
a combination of red and blue and black and white and gold,
which is harmonious, if the red is placed between the black
and white, on a gold ground, they all look poor; while black
and white and red and blue, or black and white and blue
and red, are a pleasing arrangement (see also pp. 62, 63, 137).
Again, green and black and red and blue are improved
by the addition of white, which last being a contrast to black
gives it its full power.
XIII. The combination of warm and cold colours, in proper
proportion, is a very great means of obtaining harmony ; and
thus we find that when red or orange predominates, a good
effect is produced by a corresponding quantity of blue. But
it is not sufficient for one colour to be warm to make it
accord with another which is cold ; and though orange har-
112 ON COLOUR.
Pabt I.
monises with blue, it has not necessarily the same effect with
white ; and blue and white (both cold colours) though their
effect is cold, are an agreeable concord without the assistance
of any warm companion.
XIV. The colours that accord with each other may be
divided into different classes, as may those which are not
concords. Sometimes two colours agree by the harmony of
positive contrast (see p. 76) ; sometimes by the harmony of
analogy. Others require a third to make a complete com
bination, without which they are deficient in effect ; which
frequently happens in consequence of having too near an
affinity to each other ; others, again, require more than one
companion to form a proper harmonious union ; and to such
colours in juxtaposition I apply the term " wanting."
Sometimes harmony is obtained by two colours, as orange
and blue; sometimes two colours will not form a concord,
without the addition of a third, to complete it; occasionally
a concord is only to be obtained by a combination of several
colours ; and sometimes a colour, though it may not cause a
discord, fails to make an agreeable combination with any
other one or two colours, and is better by itself, as pink and
others already mentioned (pp. 105, 106). Sometimes it is
better as a ground (pp. 105, 106) than when in combination
with others of nearly the same quantity. Sometimes, on the
other hand, a colour does not look well alone, and requires
to be in combination with another, as scarlet, which wants
the contrast of blue, or some other colour. But even though
colours may be found to possess their full effect when"" alone,
they may also enter well into a large pattern composed of
numerous others, and even browns, buff, and many more
well suited for grounds, may be combined in a general de
sign, provided they are inferior in quantity to the primary
hues. Two colours then agree — 1. By the Harmony of contrast:
§ 55 XIV. -XVI. AGREEMENT OF COLOURS. 1} 3
(pp. 74, 76, 98.) — 2. By the Harmony of analogy: — 3. By
the addition of a third, without which they are wanting to com
plete harmony : — 4. By the addition of several : — 5. Some
times a colour is better by itself: — 6.< Sometimes a colour is
better as a ground for others. -
I have already noticed the contrasts of colours (Sect. V.
p. 98). All do not of course offer the same kind or the same
amount of contrast, as they do not harmonise or disagree
equally, or under the same conditions; and red with blue,
white with black, white with red, and others, have each a
very different effect on their companion when in juxta
position. Dark and light colours, in like manner, vary in
their effect on each other ; and the union of these last is not
well adapted for ornamentation, being frequently harsh.
XV. Some colours disagree from being positive discords ;
some fail to accord with each other from their tones being
of unequal intensity ; some from their proportions in quan
tity being too much disregarded ; and some (as mentioned in
Sects. X. and XIV.) from wanting another colour to complete
the harmonious combination. Of the latter, I may mention
an instance in blue and red, which two, though concords,
require the addition of yellow to make perfect harmony.
XVI. I shall first notice the arrangement of colours by
twos, and show their agreement or disagreement.
This is merely with a view to establish their effect upon
each other in juxtaposition, without reference to the quantity
of each. Among the most pleasing of those which harmonise with
each other, in pairs, are : —
1. Blue and orange (or gold).
2. Blue and scarlet.
3. Blue and white.
4. Blue and black.
5. Blue and horsechesnut.
6. Purple and orange (or gold).
7. Green and gold.
8. Black and orange (or gold).
9. Horsechesnut-brown and
orange (or gold).
10. Brown and gold.
1 1. Crimson and gold.
1 *4 0N COLOUR. Paet I.
Others harmonise in a minor degree ; and others are dis
cords. Others again, though not positive discords, are
disagreeable. Some, which I have called "discordant," are
less obnoxious than those marked " discords ; " and others
want one or more additional colours to complete harmony.
I shall notice them in the following lists. For instances of
harmonious combination of several colours, the reader is
referred to Sects. XVII. XVIII. and XIX. ; and for the tones
of the principal colours, see Plate m. fig. 5.
Blue. (See Buff, Gold, Canary, Crimson, Cerise, Fawn-colour.)
1. Blue and red harmonise, but want yellow, and scarlet is preferable
to red. (Of Blue, see p. 65. In flowers, double delphinium, &c.)
la.Blue and crimson.* (See Crimson.)
2. Blue and scarlet (see Blue in Sect. XVII.) harmonise, and are more
harmonious, from the addition of the yellow contained in the
scarlet, . than blue and red, e. g. in flowers, blue salvia, and
scarlet verbena ; or double delphinium, and scarlet geranium, &c.
3. Blue and salmon-colour harmonise.
4. Blue and orange, the most agreeable harmony, e.g. blue salvia and
marigold ; or blue corn-flower, and Coreopsis Drummondii. (See
Sect. XVII. Blue A, B, C, D, E, F.)
5. Blue and yellow harmonise, though inferior to, and less warm and
rich than, blue with orange (e. g. blue salvia and yellow calceo
laria). But blue should not be placed between two yellows
(nor a yellow between two blues), except in certain cases, as
when a blue is separated from a red on one side, and from a
green (or other colour) on the other, by a yellow line.
6. Blue and white harmonise.
7. Blue and silver harmonise, but cold.
8. Blue and black harmonise. But if red is added they are wanting ;
and require the addition of white, or yellow, or orange. (See
Blue, A 17, in Sect. XVII.)
9. Blue and horsechesnut harmonise, and have a rich effect.
10. Blue and chesnut harmonise.
11. Blue and chocolate harmonise.
12. Blue and brown harmonise.
* By this arrangement I have generally placed the harmonious combinations
in the beginning, and the discords at the end. Those with the number
followed by a letter, as la, show that the same combination is given elsewhere,
if referred to under a name in italics, as here under crimson.
§55 XVI. BLUE. YELLOW. 115
13. Blue and stone-colour harmonise, but the blue is rather too
powerful for it.
14. Blue and drab harmonise, but the blue is rather too powerful.
15. Blue and pink, a poor effect, but not a discord.
16. Blue and peach, a poor effect, the blue also overpowers its com
panion.
17. Blue and green are wanting, and require another colour to com
plete the harmony.
18. Blue and purple harmonise by analogy, but wanting; they require
the addition of scarlet and gold.*
19. Blue and blue-purple wanting by analogy. This blue-purple is
what is generally called puce.
20. Blue and lilac wanting by analogy, and poor.
21. Blue and grey harmonize, but wanting, and seldom useful in
combination with others ; except when grey is employed as a
ground.
Hues of Biue : —
Shy-blue. This is what we call shy-blue, but the name is indefinite. Blue
of the sky is very different ; it is that of a southern climate
(see p. 65) and is the true blue colour.
1. Sky-blue and lilac wanting by analogy, and poor.
2. Sky-blue and pink poor.
3. Sky-blue and white poor and cold. (Other combinations are not
deserving of notice.)
Torquoise-blue and drab (nankin, fawn, and light chesnut) harmonise.
Yellow. (See Blue, Gold, Canary, Drab, Stone-colour.) Yellow must be
used in moderate proportions, as already shown p. 94, Sect. III. ;
and is very inferior in effect to gold, the place of which, indeed,
it can by no means hold (see Gold). It is also very inferior
to orange in many cases ; but it serves to brighten up a com
position, to separate blue and red, and to form a harmonious
combination with them. (By yellow I mean Crome Mo. 2. See
pp. 67, 87. In flowers, yellow calceolaria, broom, and furze.)
1. Yellow and black harmonise ; but are inferior to and colder than
orange and black, and not so well balanced. (See Sect. XVII.
Black with Yellow.)
2. Yellow and green harmonise, but inferior to orange and green.
3. Yellow and horsechesnut-colour harmonise; e.g. the y. petals of
the hollyhock and its purple eye (but y. not so rich as orange).
* When marked as " wanting," the colours required to complete their har
monious effect will be generally found in Sect. XVH. (where several colours are
combined), provided they are of snfBcient importance to be recommended for
combination in designs. I 2
116 ON COLOUR. PamI.
4. Yellow and brown harmonise, but inferior to No. 3. (See Brown.)
5. Yellow and chesnut harmonise *, but wanting by analogy.
6. Yellow and purple harmonise, as in the heartsease.
7a. Yellow and red-purple wanting and disagreeable, and the purple
has a brown appearance.
8. Yellow and pink-purple, or mulberry, wanting and disagreeable,
but not a positive discord.
9. Yellow and blue-purple harmonise, as in one kind of heartsease,
but colder than and inferior to orange.
10. Yellow and white wanting, and poor by daylight ; but they light
up well at night.
10a. Yellow and gold (see Gold) harmonise by analogy, but wanting
by analogy.
11. Yellow and orange harmonise by analogy, but wanting by ana
logy. They would be improved by blue and black.
12. Yellow and red harmonise, but wanting, they require blue. (See
Sect. XVII. Blue, A 1, 2, 3 ; B 1, 2, 6 ; C 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ; and
F 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.)
13. Yellow and scarlet wanting by analogy.
14. Yellow and crimson harmonise, and better than the two preceding,
but inferior in effect to crimson with orange or gold ; and the
yellow is overpowered.
15. Yellow and pink discord, disagreeable, and poor.
16. Yellow and peach discord, disagreeable, and poor.
17. Yellow and salmon-colour poor, and wanting by analogy.
18. Yellow and grey poor and wanting.
19. Yellow and slate-colour wanting.
20. Yellow and lilac wanting. (See Lilac, C 2, Sect. XVLT.)
21. Yellow and drab wanting.
22. Yellow and buff wanting by analogy.
23. Yellow and silver wanting, but light up at night.
Canary is not sufficiently powerful to combine with most colours, and
generally offends, in combinations, against the rule of having
the tones of equal intensity, (p. 99, Sect. VI.)
1. Canary and blue harmonise, but are rather cold ; and the canary
overpowered by the blue.
2. Canary and yellow wanting by analogy.
3. Canary and crimson harmonise, but the canary overpowered by
the crimson ; cerise would be rather better.
4. Canary and green poor. The canary is overpowered, and takes
a greenish hue.
* Chesnut colour is, from custom, considered lighter than that of the Spanish
chesnut fruit, and I therefore apply it according to common acceptation. Use
horsechesnut for the richest colour of this fruit.
§55 XVL BUFF. GOLD. ORANGE. 117
5. Canary and black harmonise, but the black is too powerful for
the canary.
Straw-colour, and Lemon-colour, and Buff are open to the same objection
in combination as canary, being overpowered by most colours; —
as is the pale yellow of yellow hawhweed.
Buff. (See Yellow, Gold, Red, Crimson, Purple, Blue-purple, Lilac,
Green, Blue-green, Black, White, Grey, Brown, Chesnut, Drab,
Stone.)
1. Buff and blue harmonise, but buff overpowered by its companion.
2. Buff and crimson harmonise, but buff overpowered by its com
panion.
3. Buff and scarlet harmonise, but buff overpowered by its com
panion.
4. Buff and purple harmonise, but buff overpowered by its com
panion.
5. Buff and blue-purple harmonise, but buff overpowered by its
companion.
6. Buff and chesnut wanting ; they would be better with blue, or
with blue and black, and scarlet.
Gold. (See Orange, Red, Slate, Brown, Chesnut.) Gold is more
beautiful in combination with other colours than yellow, which
is harsh ; and it would be impossible to use the same quantity
of yellow as gold, either as a ground, or in combination with
other colours. (See p. 107.)
1. Gold and green pleasing harmony.
2. Gold and blue pleasing harmony.
3. Gold and crimson rich harmony.
4. Gold and purple rich harmony.
5. Gold and scarlet rich harmony, but from greater analogy it is
inferior to No. 3.
6. Gold and horsechesnut rich harmony.
7. Gold and lilac harmonise (as do gold and lavender). (See Lilac,
A, B, C, D, Sect. XVII.)
8. Gold and black harmonise.
8a.Gold and white (see White) harmonise, but wanting.
9. Gold and yellow wanting by analogy, but light up well by night.
10. Gold and grey harmonise, but cold and wanting.
11. Gold and buff wanting by analogy.
12. Gold and drab wanting and poor.
Orange. (See Blue, Yellow, Scarlet, Drab, Stone-colour.) Orange is the
colour of the fruit, and of the Coreopsis Drummondii, &c.
1. Orange and black harmonise better than yellow and black.
i 3
118 ON COLOUE. PAETl.
la. Orange and blue. (See Blue No. 4.)
2. Orange and horsechesnut harmonise very agreeably. (See Sect
XVII. Blue, B 6a, F 5.)
3. Orange and brown harmonise very agreeably,
4. Orange and purple (or red-purple) harmonise very agreeably as
centre (stamens) and petals of the Jacobaa, or Senecio.
5. Orange and blue-purple (or puce) harmonise.
6. Orange and green harmonise very agreeably, as the flower and
leaves of Coreopsis Drummondii.
7. Orange and white wanting, but light up well by candlelight.
8. Orange and gold harmonise by analogy, but wanting. Orange will
not take the place of gold, and an orange ground is poor and
dead compared to one of gold.
8a.Orange and yellow wanting by analogy. (See Yellow, No. 11.)
9. Orange and red harmonise by analogy, but wanting.
10. Orange and salmon-colour wanting by analogy.
1 1 . Orange and crimson rich ; but wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue,
A 4 ; E 6 ; F 2, 3.)
12. Orange and slate-colour disagreeable.
13. Orange and lilac disagreeable.
14. Orange and grey disagreeable.
15. Orange and drab wanting.
16. Orange and chesnut wanting.
17. Orange and silver wanting, but lights up at night. Silver is so
seldom required for ornamentation that I do not think it neces
sary to consider its combination with colours.
Salmon-colour. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Green.)
Red- Orange (red-lead orange) differs very much from the yellow orange
above. (In flowers, the pistil of the saffron crocus.)
1. Red-orange and black, wanting, and very inferior to yellow orange
with black.
2. Red-orange and blue harmonise.
3. Red-orange and brown wanting by analogy,
4. Red-orange and purple wanting (and by analogy, if a red-purple).
Bed. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Purpled, Black.) Red is less suited
for ornamentation than scarlet, and crimson. (In flowers it is
the colour of the original Verbena Melindris.)
1 a. Red and green wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, B 2 ; C 1, 8 ; E 1,
2; F 1.) When the red approaches to pink, a discord; when
the red has a scarlet hue and the green is of a bright and rather
yellow hue the combination is less disagreeable than when
the latter is a blue-green ; and though this may be contrary
§55 XVI. EED. SCAELET. 119
to theory, which requires more blue to balance the red and
yellow of the scarlet, the fact is proved by experience ; thus,
the flower and leaf of the scarlet geranium accord better than
the same flower with the blue leaf of the Iris, or Flag. (See
pp. 74, 100.)
2. Red and blue-green disagreeable.
3. Red and olive-green discord.
3a. Red and tea-green. (See Tea-green; and Crimson.)
4. Red and purple wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, C 2, 5;
E3, 4;F1.)
5. Red and blue-purple wanting.
6. Red and pink-purple, or mulberry colour, wanting by analogy.
7. Red and claret-purple wanting by analogy.
8. Red and horsechesnut wanting by analogy.
8a. Red and black. (See Black.)
9. Red and white harmonise, but wanting. (See Sect. XVIII.)
10. Red and scarlet wanting by analogy.
11. Red and pink wanting by analogy.
12. Red and pink wanting by analogy.
13. Red and salmon-colour wanting by analogy.
14. Red and brown wanting by analogy. (See Sect. XVII. Blue,
B 1 ; C 4 ; E 4.)
15. Red and chesnut more wanting than brown.
16. Red and canary wanting, and the red overpowers its companion.
17. Red and buff wanting, and the red overpowers the buff.
18. Red and straw-colour wanting, and the red overpowers its com
panion.
1 9. Red and gold harmonise, but inferior to crimson and gold. (See
Gold.)
20. Red and grey harmonise, but wanting.
21. Red and lilac-colour wanting. Cerise and lilac would be better.
22. Red and slate-colour wanting.
23. Red and drab wanting, and the red overpowers it.
24. Red and stone-colour wanting, and the stone-colour is overpowered.
25. Red and fawn-colour wanting, and the red overpowers it.
Hues op Red : —
Scarlet. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Gold, Red, Crimson, Purple, Lilac,
Green, Black, White, Brown, Chesnut, Drab.) Scarlet is a
colour which is seen at a very great distance (on which account
it has been objected to for soldiers' uniforms); and it is better
adapted from its brightness than red for ornamentatio»;-except
in glass, in which translucid material the ruby colour is more
effective ; and when united with blue and yellow in a glass
i 4
120
ON COLOUE. Paet I.
window, ruby-colour gives a brilliant and pleasing concord.
(In flowers, the Tom Thumb geranium, scarlet lychnis, and corn
poppy.)
1. Scarlet and green; better than red and green, and still better than
crimson and green, but wanting. (See Red and Green; see
Sect. XVII. Blue, A, 8, 9 ; B 2; C 1, 8, 11, 22 ; D 1, 2, 7 ; E 1,
2, 3, 7 ; F 1, 9.)
2. Scarlet and blue-green wanting and disagreeable.
3. Scarlet and olive-green discordant.
4. Scarlet and tea-green disagreeable.
5. Scarlet and purple harmonise, but wanting. (See Blue, A 7;
B 7, 8, 8a, 9 ; C 2, 5, 11 ; D 3, 7, 9 ; E 1, 3, 4,' 5, 8; and'F 1,
5,7,8.) • ,
6. Scarlet and blue-purple harmonise, but wanting.
7. Scarlet and claret-purple harmonise, but wanting.
8. Scarlet and horsechesnut harmonise, but wanting. (See Sect.
XVII. Blue, B 6a; C 21 ; and F 5.)
8a. Scarlet and black. (See Black.)
9. Scarlet and white harmonise, but wanting. (See Sect. XVII.
Blue, All; B 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 ; C 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 13, 22 ; D 1, 2,
3, 5 ; E 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 ; and F 1, 8, 9, and see Sect. XVIII.)
10. Scarlet and crimson harmonise, but wanting by analogy.
11. Scarlet and pink harmonise, but wanting by analogy.
12. Scarlet and brown wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, D 5 ; E 4,
5,7; F 8, 9.)
13. Scarlet and chesnut wanting by analogy.
14. Scarlet and orange harmonise, but wanting by analogy.
14a. Scarlet and yellow. (See Yellow.)
15. Scarlet and canary wanting and poor, and the scarlet over
powers it.
16. Scarlet and buff wanting and poor, and the scarlet overpowers it.
17. Scarlet and straw-colour wanting and poor, and the scarlet over
powers it.
17a. Scarlet and gold. (See Gold.)
18. Scarlet and grey harmonise, but wanting.
1 9. Scarlet and lilac wanting.
20. Scarlet and slate-colour wanting.
20a. Scarlet and drab wanting. (See Drab.)
21. Scarlet and stone-colour wanting.
22. Scarlet and fawn-colour wanting.
Red-lead-colour has nearly the same conditions as scarlet, and as red-
orange.
Crimson. (See Yellow, Canary, Gold, Orange, Buff, Red, Scarlet, Lilac,
§55 XVL CEIMSON. CEEISE. PINK. 121
Green, Black, White, Brown, Chesnut, Drab.) Crimson com
bines less pleasingly than scarlet with most colours ; but is
useful when great richness is required. (In flowers, inside of
cactus speciocissimus.)
1. Crimson and blue harmonise, but wanting ; and they do not com
bine so well as blue and scarlet ; they want yellow.
2. Crimson and purple wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, A 7a;
B 6b ; C 9a; D 4 ; E 8 ; F 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.)
3. Crimson and blue-purple wanting.
4. Crimson and horsechesnut wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue,
B 6a ; C 21 ; D 5 ; F 4, 5.)
5. Crimson and slate-colour harmonise, but the crimson overpowers it.
6. Crimson and pjnk wanting by analogy.
7. Crimson and peach wanting by analogy, and the crimson over
powers it.
8. Crimson and tea-green wanting, and the crimson overpowers it.
Cerise and tea-green are preferable. (See Tea-green.)
9. Crimson and olive-green discordant.
10. Crimson and grey wanting.
Red-crimson. Red-crimson and orange harmonise, and are a rich con
cord, as' the petals and anthers of the crimson (or old damask)
rose.
Brown-crimson, Pinh-crimson, Purple-crimson, Blue-crimson (or Groseille),
are seldom used in combination with other colours for orna
mentation, for which they are less suited than for dresses.
Cerise. (See Red, Crimson, Tea-green, Slate-colour.)
1. Cerise and scarlet wanting by analogy.
2. Cerise and blue wanting.
2a. Cerise and lilac harmonise. (See Lilac.)
Pink is an intractable colour for combination. It looks better alone ;
but, like peach-colour, it may be used sometimes with others in
patterns. Perhaps black combines with it better than any other
colour, as black lace on a lady's pink dress. A dark purple may
also be used instead of black. Pink is suited to young people
without any attempt to combine it with other colours. (See
p. 106.)
1 . Rose-colour ; 2. Deep Rose-colour. The same conditions apply to rose-
colour as to pink. There is, however, a difference in the com
bination with green, which, unbearable with pink, may be
tolerated with rose-colour ; though rarely, except in the case
122 ON COLOUR Paet I.
of rose-coloured flowers (as roses, camelias, &c.) with green
leaves ; but these leaves when of a yellowish tinge (like ferns)
are better than of bluish -green. No. 2 is better suited to com
bine with green than No. 1. But of colours in flowers, see
pp. 19, 100, 106.
Peach-colour — properly that of the peach blossom, but conventionally
applied to another colour, to a lilac-purple. A delicate colour,
not well suited for combination, and better alone, like pink.
There are some cases where it may come in well among a number
of secondary and other colours, as in glass windows, carpets,
&c., but sparingly. (See Blue, Yellow.) It has much the same
conditions as light pink.
Purple. (See Blue, Yellow, Gold, Orange, Red, Crimson, Black, White.)
1. Purple and gold; rich harmony.
la.Purple and yellow harmonise. (See above, Yellow ; and see Blue
in Sect. XVII. A 26 ; B 8, 18 ; C 2, 5, 9a, 16, 18, 19, 21;
D 3, 4, 7, 9 ; E 1, 4, 8 ; F 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8.)
2. Purple and scarlet harmonise, but wanting. (See Blue in Sect.
XVII. A 7 ; B 7, 8, 8a, 9; C 2, 5, 11, 21 ; D 3, 7, 9 ; E 1,
3, 4, 8 ; F 1, 8.)
3. Purple and blue-purple wanting by analogy.
4. Purple and maroon wanting by analogy.
5. Purple and lilac wanting by analogy.
6. Purple and slate-colour wanting by analogy.
7. Purple and pink wanting by analogy, and the pink overpowered
by it.
8. Purple and peach-colour wanting by analogy, and the peach-
colour overpowered by it.
9. Purple and grey poor and wanting.
10. Purple and brown wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, C 16, 18 ;
E 4 ; F 7, 8.)
11. Purple and chesnut wanting and disagreeable.
12. Purple and horsechesnut, wanting and disagreeable.
13. Purple and drab wanting, and the drab overpowered by it.
14. Purple and stone-colour wanting and poor, and the stone-colour
overpowered by it.
15. Purple and green the worst kind of discord.*
16. Purple and citrine discord. (See Plate m. fig. 9.)
Blue-purple, generally called Puce, but more properly Damson-colour.
* This applies to all purples and greens.
§55 XVI. PURPLE. LILAC. 123
(See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, Crimson, Purple-slate, Blue-
green, Black, White, Grey, Brown, Chesnut, Drab, Stone-colour.)
1. Blue-purple and gold harmonise.
2. Blue-purple and scarlet harmonise, but wanting.
3. Blue-purple and lilac wanting by analogy.
4. Blue-purple and buff wanting.
5. Blue-purple and horsechesnut wanting.
6. Blue-purple and chesnut wanting.
7. Blue-purple and canary wanting and cold.
8. Blue-purple and green discord.
Pink-purple, or Red-purple, or Mulberry-colour.
1. Mulberry-colour and blue wanting.
2. Mulberry- colour and orange harmonise (with yellow rather cold).
3. Mulberry-colour and gold rich harmony.
4. Mulberry-colour and green discord.
Claret-purple. 1. Claret-purple and gold rich harmony.
2. Claret-purple and orange harmonise.
3. Claret-purple and yellow wanting, the yellow is too cold.
4. Claret-purple and blue wanting by analogy.
5. Claret-purple and red wanting by analogy.
6. Claret-purple and black wanting.
7. Claret-purple and green discord.
Brown claret -purple, or Maroon (properly chesnut, Marron, but changed
by custom.) — Mr. Field says maron or marrone " is com
posed of black and red, or black and purple, or black and
russet, or with black and any other denomination of pigments
in which red predominates." Maroon has nearly the same
conditions as the two last.
Lilac. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Buff, Gold, Purple, Blue-purple,
Slate, Blue-green, Black, White, Grey, Brown, Chesnut, Drab,
Stone- colour.)
1. Lilac and gold harmonise. (See Gold; and see Lilac in Sect.
XVII.)
2. Lilac and canary poor.
3. Lilac and straw-colour poor.
4. Lilac and scarlet harmonise, but lilac is better with cerise.
5. Lilac and cerise harmonise.
6. Lilac and crimson harmonise, but overpowered by the crimson.
7. Lilac and horsechesnut (or brown) wanting.
8. Lilac and green discord.
124 ON COLOUE.
Paet I.
I,avender follows nearly the same conditions as Lilac.
Slate-colour. (See Yellow, Orange, Buff, Red, Purple, Green, White,
Brown, Chesnut.) It is a heavy colour, inferior to lavender and
lilac.
1. Slate-colour and black harmonise.
2. Slate- colour and cerise harmonise.
3. Slate-colour and scarlet harmonise.
4. Slate-colour and gold harmonise.
5. Slate-colour and crimson harmonise, but overpowered by the
crimson.
6. Slate-colour and blue wanting by analogy.
7. Slate-colour and blue-purple wanting by analogy.
8. Slate-colour and lilac wanting by analogy.
9. Slate-colour and grey- wanting by analogy.
10. Slate-colour and drab poor and wanting.
11. Slate-colour and stone-colour wanting.
12. Slate-colour and green discord.
Evening Primrose (Primula) has conditions very similar to peach-colour.
Green. (Bright green.) By green, it should be understood that I mean a
bright hue, partaking of emerald, moss, verdigris, or a full grass-
green (see pp. 87, 88), and not any of those blue-greens, olive-
greens, and others, too often combined with other colours. (See
pp. 74, 100.)
See Blue, Yellow, Gold, Orange, Red, Crimson, Purple, Blue-purple,
Lilac, White ; see also various combinations of Green in Blue,
Sect. XVII. A, B, C, D, E, F.)
1. Green and blue-green wanting by analogy.
la. Green and gold a rich harmony. (See Gold.)
2. Green and straw-colour wanting.
3. Green and canary-colour wanting.
4. Green and buff wanting.
5. Green and red wanting and disagreeable. (See p. 102.)
6. Green and scarlet wanting ; but not discordant, as green is with
crimson.
7. Green and slate-colour disagreeable and discordant.
8. Green and black do not combine well, each spoiling the effect of
the other.
9. Green and grey disagreeable.
10. Green and brown wanting and discordant.
lOa.Green and horsechesnut wanting and discordant.
11. Green and chesnut wanting and discordant.
§55 XVI. GREEN. TEETIAEIES. 125
12. Green and chocolate-colour discordant.
13. Green and drab disagreeable.
14. Green and stone-colour disagreeable.
15. Green and fawn-colour disagreeable and discordant.
16. Green and plum-colour discord.
17. Green and pink discord.
18. Green and crimson discord.
19. Green and peach discord.
20. Green and purple discord. ,
21. Green and grey wanting and disagreeable.
22. Green and russet discord. (See Plate m. fig. 10.)
Hues or Gbeen : —
Dark Blue-green. (See Canary, Red, White.)
1. Blue-green and orange wanting.
2. Blue-green and yellow wanting and harsh.
3. Blue-green and blue wanting by analogy, and disagreeable.
4. Blue-green and scarlet wanting.
5. Blue-green and pink discord.
6. Blue-green and crimson discord.
7. Blue-green and buff disagreeable.
8. Blue-green and purple discord.
9. Blue-green and lilac discord.
10. Blue-green and slate-colour discord.
Other hues of green, as rifle-green *, pea, parrot, olive, sea, apple;
leek, sap, and others, are little used for ornamentation, except
in particular cases, I shall therefore only notice tea-green.
Tea-green. (See Scarlet, Crimson, Green.) See p. 97.
1 . Tea-green and cerise ; almost the only agreeable combination with
tea-green ; and then the latter should be a ground. Tea-green
is one of those colours which looks better alone.
2. Tea-green and red discordant, and overpowered by the red.
3. Tea-green and scarlet disagreeable.
4. Tea-green and blue wanting.
5. Tea-green and yellow wanting.
Russet, Citrine, Olive (the three tertiaries), are of little importance in
combination with other colours. There are few with which
* Rifle-green may serve as a ground for some draperies, but is too heavy for
general use in ornamentation. It has been properly objected to for the uniform
of riflemen, being seen at a great distance, when it looks black ; grey would
of course be better suited for that purpose.
126 ' ON COLOUR. Paei I.
they could be united for decorative purposes ; and I have al
ready shown (pp. 92, 93) how badly they accord with the primary
and their accidental secondary colours.
Black. (See Blue, Yellow, Canary, Gold, Orange, Pink, Slate-colour,
Green, Grey, Brown, Chesnut; see various combinations with
black, under Blue, Red, Black, in Sect. XVII.)
1. Black and white harmonise by contrast. They give each other
their full power when in juxtaposition — the black looks blacker,
and the white whiter ; but they are rather cold and harsh when
without any other colour.
la. Black and blue. (See Blue.)
lb. Black and yellow harmonise ; they are also a strong contrast, and
set off each other (see Yellow), though not to -the same degree
as black and white.
lc. Black and orange. (See Orange.)
2. Black and buff harmonise, but the black overpowers its companion.
3. Black and straw-colour harmonise, but the black is overpowering.
4. Black and red injure each other's effect, the black assuming a
rusty tinge, and the red being dullened. (See Sect. XVI.
Black; Red; and White; and above, p. 102.)
5. Black and scarlet harmonise, but wanting.
6. Black and crimson harmonise, but wanting and rather heavy;
black looks better with cerise.
7. Black and purple harmonise, but wanting and gloomy.
8. Black and blue-purple harmonise, but wanting and gloomy.
9. Black and lilac, or black and lavender-colour, harmonise.
10. Black and pink-purple or mulberry harmonise, but wanting and
gloomy.
11. Black and horsechesnut harmonise, but wanting and gloomy.
12. Black and drab harmonise, and look well, though the black is
rather overpowering.
13. Black and stone-colour wanting.
14. Black and peach wanting and disagreeable.
A black border to grey, or to drab, or to a blue-grey, is harmonious.
Grey. (See Blue, Yellow, Gold, Orange, Red, Crimson, Purple, White,
Brown, Chesnut.)
1. Grey and scarlet harmonise, but wanting.
2. Grey and blue-purple wanting.
3. Grey and lilac wanting by analogy.
4. Grey and black wanting by analogy.
5. Grey and drab wanting.
6. Grey and stone- colour wanting.
§55 XVI. BLACK. GEEY. WHITE. BEOWN. 127
7. Grey and canary wanting.
8. Grey and buff wanting.
Grey is a very good ground for other colours.
White. (See Blue, Shy-blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, Black; and see
Sect. XVII. Blue, A 10, 11 ; B 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 ; C 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7,
9, 10, 13, 20 ; D 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 ; E 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ;
F 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 ; and Black ; and White.)
1. White and gold harmonise, but wanting by daylight, except when
gold is used to pick out the pattern upon white ; they light up
well together by candlelight.
2. White and red. (See above, Red, 9.)
3. White and scarlet harmonise, but white overpowered by the
scarlet, except when in much smaller quantity.
4. White and crimson harmonise, but white overpowered by the
crimson, except when in much smallar quantity.
5. White and brown harmonise, but white overpowered by the
brown, except when in much smaller quantity.
6. White and chocolate-colour harmonise, but white overpowered by
the chocolate-colour, except when in much smaller quantity.
7. White and purple wanting, and white overpowered by the purple,
except when in much smaller quantity.
8. White and blue-purple wanting, and white overpowered by the
blue-purple, except when in much smaller quantity.
9. White and lilac wanting and poor.
10. White and slate-colour wanting and poor.
1 1. White and green wanting, cold, and poor.
12. White and blue-green wanting and disagreeable.
13. White and olive-green wanting and disagreeable.
14. White and tea-green wanting and disagreeable.
15. White and canary wanting.
16. White and straw wanting.
17. White and buff wanting.
18. White and grey wanting.
19. White and brown wanting.
20. White and chesnut wanting.
21. White and drab wanting and poor.
22. White and stone-colour wanting.
Blown. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Green, White.')
1. Brown and gold harmonise well.
2. Brown and crimson harmonise, but wanting. (See Sect. XVII.
Blue, D 6 ; E 6, 7 ; F 2, 6, 7.)
128 ON COLOUE. pAM L
3. Brown and scarlet wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, B 1 • C 4 •
D 5 ; E 4, 5, 7 ; F 8, 9.)
4. Brown and purple wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, C 16, 18 ¦
E 4, 5 ; F 6, 7, 8.)
5. Brown and lilac wanting and disagreeable.
6. Brown and black wanting. (See Sect. XVII. Blue, D 5 6 -
E 4, 5, 6, 7 ; F 2, 6, 8, 9.)
7. Brown and grey wanting.
8. Brown and chesnut wanting by analogy.
9. Brown and buff wanting and poor.
10. Brown and drab wanting and poor.
11. Brown and silver wanting.
Red-brown. (Chocolate follows much the same rules as Red-brown.)
1 . Red-brown and gold harmonise well.
2. Red-brown and black harmonise.
3. Red-brown and blue harmonise.
4. Red-brown and yellow wanting.
5. Red-brown and orange harmonise, but wanting.
6. Red-brown and lilac wanting.
7. Red-brown and red wanting by analogy.
8. Red-brown and stone-colour wanting.
9. Red-brown and drab wanting by analogy, and drab overcome by
the red-brown.
10. Red-brown and green discord.
Horsechesnut, which is a richer kind of Red-brown, harmonises well with
amber-colour, and many others. (See Blue, Yellow, Gold,
Orange, Red, Scarlet, Crimson, Purple, Lilac, Green, Black.
See Sect. XVII. Blue, B 6a ; C 21 ; E 4, 5 ; F 4, 5.)
Chesnut. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Green, Black, White,
Broivn.)
1. Chesnut and gold harmonise.
2. Chesnut and crimson wanting.
3. Chesnut and scarlet wanting.
4. Chesnut and purple wanting.
5. Chesnut and blue-purple wanting.
6. Chesnut and lilac wanting.
7. Chesnut and grey wanting.
8. Chesnut and stone-colour wanting.
9. Chesnut and drab wanting.
Drab. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Green, Black, White,
Brown.)
1. Drab and scarlet harmonise, but drab overpowered by the scarlet.
§ 55 XVII. UNION OF THBEE COLOURS. 129
2. Drab and crimson harmonise, but drab overpowered by the crimson.
3. Drab and blue-purple harmonise, but drab overpowered by the
purple, and not agreeable.
4. Drab and lilac disagreeable.
5. Drab and orange wanting.
6. Drab and yellow wanting.
7. Drab and buff wanting.
Stone-colour. (See Blue, Red, Purple, Slate, Green, Black, White,
Chesnut.)
1. Stone-colour and yellow wanting.
2. Stone-colour and orange wanting.
3. Stone- colour and buff wanting.
4. Stone-colour and blue-purpJe wanting.
5. Stone-colour and lilac wanting.
6. Stone-colour and brown wanting.
7. Stone-colour and drab wanting.
Fawn-colour. 1. Fawn-colour and blue harmonise, but wanting, and fawn-colour
overpowered by its companion.
2. Fawn-colour and brown wanting, and fawn-colour overpowered
by its companion.
3. Fawn-colour and purple wanting, and fawn-colour overpowered
by its companion.
4. Fawn-colour and pink wanting and poor.
XVII. Combinations of three or more Colours. — As in the
case of two colours in juxtaposition I place together three
or more, without reference to the exact quantity of each;
though this, as well as their arrangement, is a very impor
tant consideration in a coloured design. But as it is not my
object here to enter into these questions, which would require
full illustrations of each combination, I must confine myself
as before to the mention of their general agreement, and refer
to Sects. XVIII. XIX. for a few remarks on their quantity
and arrangement. It is to be borne in mind, that when
colours harmonise, it is not sufficient that they should be
placed together without regard to proper order, nor should
they always be placed in the same relative positions. Thus,
the white, or the yellow, or the black, may sometimes be
K
130 ON COLOUR. Pabi I.
repeated between each as a ground; and others may have
one colour at one time, and a different one at another, next
to them. There are also many cases where two colours, which
do not accord well in juxtaposition when no others are put
with them, may be made to accord by the introduction of
one or two more ; and even positive discords may be recon
ciled by the same means. (See Sect. XX.)
I have mentioned in Sect. XVI. p. 113, some of those
colours which arranged in twos, or with one other, offer the
most pleasing concords ; and I shall now point out some of
those which produce the most harmonious combinations with
two or more companions.
1. Blue and red (or scarlet or crimson) and yellow (or gold). (See
below, Blue, A 1 and 2.)
2. Blue and scarlet and purple and yellow (or orange, or gold) and
black. (C5.)
3. Blue and scarlet and yellow (or orange, or gold) with a small
quantity of (bright) green. (B 2.)
4. Blue and scarlet and gold and white. (B 5.)
5. Blue and scarlet and white and purple and yellow (or rather
gold or orange). (C 2.)
6. Blue and yellow and scarlet and white and black and orange and
green. (E 2.)
7. Orange and blue and green and white and black. (C 9.)
8. Crimson (or scarlet) and yellow and blue and white and black.
(C 10 ; see Black, C 1.)
9. Blue and yellow (or orange) and purple and scarlet (or crimson)
and white arid black. (D 3.)
10. Blue and scarlet and green and yellow (or orange or gold) and
black and white. (See Black, D 3.)
11. Purple and scarlet and gold. (See Purple, A 1 ; C 1 and E.)
The orange here mentioned is a yellow, not a red, orange.
Where scarlet is used instead of crimson, the quantity of
yellow must be lessened ; and where yellow is used instead
of orange, it must also be in smaller quantity. Green too
must always be in much smaller proportion than the other
§55 XVII. BLUE, THREE COLOURS." 131
colours combined with it, and of a bright hue. (See p. 16.)
Dark greens are only to be used in very exceptional cases,
as accessories, or in particular positions. In the following
lists I have only catalogued the colours, statmg their effect
when combined; their arrangement will depend on the
design; and the agreement of each colour with another in
contact with it, will be seen in the lists in Sect. XVI.
Blue. (See Yellow, Orange, Purple, Black, White, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. Blue and red and yellow harmonise, if in proper proportion ; but
there are other more agreeable combinations with a greater
number of colours, as C 5, E 1, and in these three gold is much
richer than yellow for ornamentation.
2. Blue and scarlet and yellow harmonise well. (See PI. iv. fig. 1.)
3. Blue and crimson and yellow harmonise well.
4. Blue and crimson and orange harmonise well.
5. Blue and crimson and gold harmonise well ; very rich in furniture.
6. Blue and crimson and scarlet harmonise, but wanting by analogy
of the last two. (See C 12 ; F 5.)
7. Blue and scarlet and purple harmonise, but wanting by analogy.
(See B 7 and C 5, 11, 21 ; D 3, 7, 9 ; E 1, 3, 4, 5, 8; and F 1,
5, 7, 8.) They were the three colours used by the Israelites.
(Ex. xxv. 4 ; xxxvi. 12.) They were apparently on a white
linen ground, and had gold "tashes," and gold thread worked in.
7a. Blue and crimson and purple harmonise, but wanting. (See B 6 b ;
C 9a; D, 4, 9, 10 ; E 8 ; F 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.)
8. Blue and scarlet and green harmonise, but wanting, and the quan
tity of the green should be very small ; they want yellow or
orange. (See B 2, 10; C 1, 8, 11, 12, (22) ; D 1, 2, 7; El,
2, 3, 7; and F 1, 9. I rarely refer to those which do not accord.)
9. Blue and crimson and green wanting, not agreeable, and still less
so if on a black ground : they would be improved by orange ; or
by black and yellow ; or by scarlet and yellow. (See C 12 ;
D 8 ; E 7 ; F 2, 3.)
10. Blue and red and white harmonise, but cold.
11. Blue and scarlet and white harmonise.
12. Blue and red and black wanting and dull ; they require yellow
or orange.
13. Blue and red (or scarlet) and orange harmonise, but wanting; the
k 2
132 ON COLOUR. , Paet I.
blue overbalanced by the other two ; they would be better with
the addition of black.
14. Blue and white and orange wanting. Red should be added, and
they would be improved by being on a black ground.
15. Blue and white and yellow wanting. They require a red.
16. Blue white and green wanting and cold. They require a red.
(See below, C 1, 3.)
17. Blue and white and black wanting and cold. Improved by adding
red or scarlet, or yellow or orang-e. Blue and black are har
monious, but the addition of white destroys the balance of
colour. (See B 4, 5, 6.)
18. Blue and white and grey wanting, and cold. Want red, or red
and yellow, or red and orange.
19. Blue and black and crimson wanting. They require orange, or
yellow. (See also D 6, 8, 9, 10 ; E 7 ; F 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.)
20. Blue and black and yellow harmonise, but wanting and cold.
2 1 . Blue and black and orange harmonise ; and better than with yellow.
22. Blue and black and lilac wanting and dull. (See Lilac C 2, and D.)
23. Blue and black and purple wanting and dull. (See Purple, C 1 ;
D and E.)
, 24. Blue and black and green wanting and poor.
25. Blue and yellow and green wanting.
26. Blue and yellow and purple wanting and disagreeable. (See Blue,
C 2; D 3,4; E 1,4; F 1,5, 6, 7, 8.)
27. Blue and orange and purple wanting. (See Blue, C 2, 11 ; D 4,
9 ; E 1, 3, 5 ; F 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8.)
28. Blue and orange and olive-green discordant. (See PI. in. fig. 7,
and p. 92.)
29. Blue and orange and green harmonise, if the blue is in full propor
tion for the other two; but they would be better with the
addition of black.
30. Blue and purple and green discord.
31. Blue and pink and green discord.
B (4 colours).
1. Blue and red (or scarlet) and yellow and brown harmonise but
poor.
2. Blue and red, or rather scarlet, and a small proportion of green
and yellow (or orange or gold) harmonise well. The Egyptians
used these with fillets of yellow. (-See PI. in. fig. 2 ; Plate rv.
fig. 3.)
3. Blue and red (or scarlet) and black and yellow, or gold, (or on a
gold ground) harmonise.
§55 XVII. BLUE, FOUR AND FIVE COLOURS. 133
4. Blue and red (or scarlet) and black and white harmonise, but
rather cold from the cold colours predominating.
5. Blue and red (or scarlet) and white and gold harmonise well if
properly arranged, the white being in small quantity.
6. Blue and red (or scarlet) and white and yellow harmonise ; but
not so well as with gold instead of yellow. (See PI. rv. fig. 4.)
6a. Blue and horsechesnut and scarlet (or crimson) and orange (or
yellow) harmonise.
6b. Blue and crimson and purple and orange harmonise. This is
better than with yellow. It would be preferable with scarlet
than with crimson.
7. Blue and scarlet and purple and gold harmonise well. (See
Plate in. fig. 4.) They were used for the Ephod (Ex. xxviii.
15), the robe being blue, with a border of these colours.
8. Blue and scarlet and purple and yellow harmonise, but less well
than gold.
8a. Blue and scarlet and purple and orange harmonise.
9. Blue and scarlet and purple and white harmonise, but less well
than with orange, or gold.
9a. Blue and scarlet and orange (or gold) and maroon (or on a maroon
ground) harmonise.
10. Blue and scarlet and green and white harmonise, but wanting.
11. Blue and crimson and green and white wanting and disagreeable.
No. 2 is preferable.
12. Blue and black and white and yellow (or gold) harmonise, but
wanting and cold.
13. Blue and black and white and purple (or lilac) wanting.
14. Blue and black and white and crimson wanting — want yellow
or gold.
15. Blue and black and yellow and crimson harmonise, but heavy;
better with scarlet.
16. Blue and black and white and grey (or on a black ground) wanting
and cold.
17. Blue and black and white and orange harmonise.
18. Blue and yellow and purple and orange harmonise, but wanting.
19. Blue and yellow and brown and green wanting and discordant.
20. Blue and green and red with black lines between them heavy.
21. Blue and green and red and white harmonise, but wanting.
C (5 colours).
1. Blue and red (or scarlet) and white and green and yellow (or
rather gold* or orange) harmonise.
* It is scarcely necessary to add that gold may generally take the place of
orange or of yellow, and is almost always superior in effect to them.
134 ON COLOUE. Past i.
2. Blue and red (or scarlet) and white and purple and yellow, or
rather gold or orange harmonise well. (See PI. in. fig. 1 1 ; and
A7;B7.)
3. Blue and red (or scarlet) and green and yellow (or gold) on a
white ground harmonise.
4. Blue and red (or scarlet) and yellow (or gold) and brown and
white harmonise.
5. Blue and red (or scarlet) and yellow (or orange or gold-) and purple
and black harmonise well. (See PL iv. fig. 2.)
6. Blue and red (or scarlet) and orange and chesnut and white har
monise.
7. Blue and red (or scarlet) and yellow (or rather gold or orange)
and black and white harmonise, and are better than the three
primaries alone, but they could be improved still farther by a
little green. (See p. Ill, and PI. iv. fig. 5.)
8. Blue and scarlet (or red) and a little green and yellow and black
harmonise, but wanting. This was also an Egyptian combi
nation.
9. Blue and orange and green and black and white (or on a white
ground) harmonise, and have an agreeable effect, as in some
of the tiles at the Alhambra. This also shows that combina
tions may even be made without any positive red or scarlet, and
the small quantity in the orange is sufficient, as in that most
harmonious combination — blue and orange. (See PI. in. figs.
1,12.)
9a. Blue and orange (or yellow) and crimson and black and purple
harmonise, but dull and wanting. (See D 10 ; F 3, 4, 5, 6.)
10. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and white harmonise
well.
11. Blue and orange (or gold) and green and purple and scarlet har
monise.
12. Blue and crimson and green and yellow and scarlet harmonise.
13. Blue and crimson and yellow and white and scarlet harmonise.
14. Blue and orange and black and purple and white (or on a white
ground) wanting. (See D 10 ; E 3, 5, 8 ; F 1, 3, 4, 6, 8.)
15. Blue and orange and brown and yellow and white wanting.
16. Blue and orange and brown and yellow and purple wanting.
17. Blue and crimson and yellow and green and white unsatisfactory.
It would be better without green, with scarlet instead of
crimson, and wants black.
- 18. Blue and yellow and green and purple and brown discord.
19. Blue and yellow and green and purple and white disagreeable.
20. Blue and green and purple and white and orange wanting, and
depending much on the proportions and arrangement of the
§55 XVII. BLUE, SIX AND SEVEN COLOURS. . 135
colours. In these the blue should be in greater quantity than
any one of the others; as in other combinations.
21. Blue and horsechesnut and scarlet (or crimson) and orange (or
yellow) and purple harmonise.
22. Blue and white and scarlet and yellow and green wanting and
poor.
23. Blue and white and black and yellow (or orange) and scarlet
harmonise. D (6 colours).
1. Blue and scarlet and green and yellow and black and white har
monise. (See PI. v. fig. 1.)
2. Blue and scarlet and green and orange (or rather gold) and black
and white harmonise. (See PI. i.)
3. Blue and scarlet and yellow (or orange or gold) and purple and
black and white harmonise well.
4. Blue and crimson and yellow (or orange or gold) and purple and
black and white harmonise.
5. Blue and scarlet and yellow (or orange or gold) and black and
white and brown (or chesnut) harmonise.
6. Blue and crimson and yellow (or orange or gold) and black and
white and brown (or horsechesnut, or chesnut) harmonise, but
better with scarlet.
7. Blue and scarlet and yellow (or orange or gold) and green and
black and purple harmonise, not agreeably, better without
green. (See C 5.)
8. Blue and crimson and yellow (or orange or gold) and green and
black and white harmonise, but better with scarlet.
9. Blue and scarlet (or crimson or red) and orange and purple and
black and a little yellow harmonise.
10. Blue and crimson and orange (or gold) and purple and black and
white harmonise, but wanting. (<See E 8.)
E (7 colours).
1. Blue and scarlet (or red) and orange (or gold) and a little green
and purple and white and yellow harmonise, but want black.
la. Blue and scarlet and orange and green and purple and yellow and
black harmonise. (See PI. m. fig. 3.)
2. Blue and scarlet (or red) and yellow and green and orange and
black and white harmonise. (See PI. v. fig. 2.)
3. Blue and scarlet (or red) and green and orange and black and
purple and white harmonise.
4. Blue and scarlet (or red) and black and white and yellow and
brown (or horsechesnut) and purple harmonise.
k 4
136 ON COLOUR. Paet I,
5. Blue and scarlet (or red) and black and white and orange and
brown (or horsechesnut) and purple harmonise, but better
without the purple.
6. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and white and brown and
orange harmonise, but wanting.
7. Blue and crimson (or scarlet) and yellow and a little green and
black and brown and white harmonise, but not very agreeably.
8. Blue and crimson (or scarlet) and orange (or gold) and black and
white and purple and yellow harmonise. (See PI. iv. fig. 6.)
F (8 colours).
1. Blue and scarlet (or red) and green and orange and black and
yellow and purple and white harmonise (see PI. n.), but they
would have a good effect even without the purple, as E 2 ; and
C 9 shows how well blue, orange, green, black and white look
without red, yellow, or purple. (See p. 76, and PI. m. fig. 1.)
2. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and brown and orange and
green and white harmonise.
3. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and a little green and
orange and white and purple harmonise.
4. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and horsechesnut and
orange and white and purple harmonise.
5. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and horsechesnut and
scarlet and orange and purple harmonise.
6. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and white and purple and
brown and orange harmonise.
7. Blue and crimson and yellow and black and white and purple and
scarlet and brown harmonise, but wanting.
8. Blue and scarlet and yellow and black and white and brown and
orange and purple harmonise.
9. Blue and scarlet and yellow and brown and black and white and
orange and green harmonise.
Yellow. (See Blue, Red, Scarlet, Black, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. Yellow and scarlet and purple harmonise, but want blue. (See
Blue, B 8 ; C 7 ; D 3, 7, 9, 10 ; E 1, 4, 8 ; F 1, 5, 6, 7, 8.)
2. Yellow and crimson and purple harmonise, but wanting. (See
Blue, C 21 ; D 4, 9 ; E 8 ; F 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.)
3. Yellow and scarlet and green wanting and poor. (See Blue, B 2 ;
CI, 8,12; D 1,7; El, 2, 7; F 1, 9.)
4. Yellow and red and green wanting, and poor.
§55 XVII. OEANGE, THEEE AND FOUB COLOURS. 137"
5. Yellow and crimson and green wanting. (See Blue, C 12,17;
D 8 ; E 7 ; F 2, 3.)
6. Yellow and brown and green wanting and disagreeable. (See
Blue, E 7 ; F 2.)
7. Yellow and crimson and brown wanting. (See Blue, D 6 ; E 6,
7;F2,7.)
8. Yellow and white and green wanting, poor and cold. (See Blue,
D 8 ; E 1, 2, 7 ; F 1, 3, 9.)
9. Yellow and white and scarlet wanting. (See Blue, C 1, 2, 3, 7;
D 1, 3, 5; E 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 ; F 1, 8, 9.)
10. Yellow and white and purple (see Lilac) harmonise, but wanting.
(See Blue, C 2 ; D 3, 4 ; E 1, 4, 8 ; F 1, 3, 4, 6, 8.)
11. Yellow and brown and scarlet wanting. (See Blue, D 5 ; E 4, 7 ;
F 8, 9.) *
12. Yellow and brown and purple wanting and disagreeable. (See
Blue, E 4 ; F 8.)
13. Yellow and green and purple discord. (See Blue, D 7 ; E 1 ;
Fl, 3.)
14. Yellow and green and puce discord.
15. Yellow and green and pink discord.
16. Yellow and green and chocolate discord.
17. Yellow and green and black wanting and disagreeable. (See
Blue, C 8 ; D 1, 7, 8 ; E 2, 7, 8 ; F 2, 3, 9.)
18. Yellow and purple and citrine discord. (See PL m. fig. 8, and
p. 93.) B (4 colours).
1. Yellow and scarlet and purple and blue harmonise, and better
with scarlet than with crimson. (See Blue, B 8 ; C 2, 5 ; D 3, 9 ;
E 4, 8 ; F 1, 8.)
Gold, (See Blue, Red, Scarlet, Black, Purple, Lilac, Grey.)
Orange. (See Blue, Red, Scarlet, Black, Purple, White, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. Orange and crimson and blue harmonise. (See Blue, B 6 b; E 6,
8 ; F 2, 3, 4, 5.)
2. Orange and crimson and purple, or lilac, harmonise. (See Blue,
D 9, 10 ; E 8 ; F 3, 4, 5.)
3. Orange and green and blue wanting. (See below, B 2 ; and Blue,
B 2 ; C 1, 9, 11 ; D 2, 8 ; E 1, 2, 3 ; F 1, 2, 3, 9.)
B (4 colours).
1. Orange and drab and blue and scarlet harmonise, l>ut wanting.
(See below, CI.)
138
ON COLOUR. Paet j
2. Orange and green and blue and scarlet harmonise. (See above
Al.) C (5 colours).
1. Orange and drab and blue and scarlet and black harmonise.
2. Orange and blue and scarlet and black and white harmonise *
(See Blue, D 2 ; E 2, 3, 5, 8 ; F 1, 8, 9.)
3. Orange and blue and crimson and white and purple harmonise
(See Blue, D 10 ; F 3, 6.)
For other combinations with orange, see Blue.
The lighter hues, as canary, straw, lemon-colour, buff, &c.
need not be mentioned in combination with other colours, as
they are of inferior power, and can only be used as accessories
in compositions which are too numerous to ffe specified.
Red. (See Blue, Yellow, Grey.) Combinations with scarlet are prefer
able to those with red. (See Scarlet.)
A (3 colours).
1. Red and green and orange (or gold) harmonise, but wanting.
2. Red and green and yellow wanting and poor.
3. Red and black and orange (or gold) wanting.
4. Red and purple and yellow wanting.
5. Red and purple and orange wanting.
6. Red and black and white wanting. The bad effect produced by
black on red, and red on black, is partly removed by the black
and white contrasting and giving to each other their full power.
The same may be said of black and scarlet and white ; and
by substituting black for blue in our union jack, the heavy
effect of these three colours is very evident.
7. Red and black and green wanting. The black looks of a rusty
hue, and disagreeable.
8. Red and black and pink wanting and disagreeable.
9. Red and white and pink wanting and poor and cold. The white
is overpowered;
10. Red and black and yellow (or orange) wanting ; requires blue.
1 1 . Red and black and gold harmonise, but rather heavy, and wanting.
12. Red and brown and green wanting and disagreeable.
13. Red and buff and green wanting and disagreeable.
14. Red and green and russet discord. (See PL in. fig. 6.)
* In all combinations a larger proportion of blue than of any other colour is
of course required, but in these the quantity of blue must be increased still
more, in order to balance the scarlet, or the crimson, and the orange.
§55XVU. RED. CRIMSON. SCARLET. 139
B (4 colours).
1. Red and black and white and gold harmonise, but wanting.
2. Red and black and white and purple (or lilac) harmonise; but
wanting.
3. Red and black and yellow and brown wanting and gloomy.
4. Red and black and yellow (or gold) and purple wanting.
5. Red and green and yellow and purple wanting.
6. Red and green and yellow and white wanting and poor.
7. Red and green and yellow and black wanting.
C (5 colours),
1. Red and black and green and white and yellow wanting and
2. Red and green and white and yellow and buff wanting, poor, and
disagreeable — as in the mosaics of San Bartolomeo nell' Isola
del Tevere, Rome. (See No. 4, Mr.DigbyWyatt's Mosaics.)
D (6 colours).
1. Red and black and white and green and purple on gold ground
wanting and poor.
2. Red and purple (or lilac) and scarlet and yellow and black and
white wanting — not sufficient contrast.
Crimson. (See Blue, Yellow, Orange, Black, White, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. Crimson and purple and orange wanting. (See Blue, B 6 b ;
C 9a ; D 4, 9 ; E 8 ; F 3, 5, 6, 7.)
2. Crimson and yellow and brown wanting. (See Blue, D 6 ; E 6, 7 ;
F2,6.)
3. Crimson and purple and green discord. (See Blue, F 3.)
B (4 colours).
1. Crimson and orange and black and white wanting. (See Blue,
E 8 ; F 2, 3, 4, 6.)
Scarlet. (See Blue, Red, Yellow, Black, White, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. Scarlet and blue and orange harmonise, but wanting, scarlet and
orange being too much for the blue. (See Blue, B 2 ; C 1 2
3,5,6,7,11,21,23; D 2, 3, S, 6, 7, 8, 9; E 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 ; F 1,
5, 8, 9.)
la. Scarlet and blue and yellow. (See Blue.)
I"10 ON COLOUR.. PamI.
2. Scarlet and green and yellow wanting. (See Blue, B 2 • C 1 3
8, 12, 17, 22; D 1, 7, 8 ; E 1, 2, 7; F 1, 9.)
3. Scarlet and orange and black (see below, 9) wanting. (See Blue
C5, 7, 23; D 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; E 2, 3, 5, 8 ; F 1, 5, 8, 9.)
4. Scarlet and orange and purple wanting. (See Blue, B 8 a ; C 5
11, 21 ; D 3, 7, 9 ; E 1 , 3, 5, 8 ; F 1, 3, 8.)
5. Scarlet and yellow and purple wanting. (See Blue, B 8 ; C 2 5
21 ; D 3, 7, 9 ; E 1, 4, 8 ; F 1, 8.)
6. Scarlet and black and white wanting. It is not quite as bad as red
and black and white (See Red, A 6.) (See Blue, B 4 ; C 7,
23; DI, 2,3, 5; E 2, 3, 4, 5,7, 8;Fl, 8, 9.)
7. Scarlet and black and green wanting. (See Red, A 7; Blue, C 8 ;
D 1,2, 7; E 2,3, 7; F 1,9.)
8. Scarlet and blaok**it»a nink vanting and disagreeable.
9. Scarlet and bl' - wanting. (See Blue, B 3 ; C 5, 7,
8;D1, 3, ";P1, 8, 9.)
10. Scarlet and ' . mise, but wanting. (See Blue,
B 3 ; C 5, , 'V'5,
11. Scarlet and bro ;ing and disagreeable- (See
Blue, E7; F 9.) _ yi
12. Scarlet and buff and green, ;pj,. ing and disagreeable.
B (4 colours).
1. Scarlet and black and white and gold wanting. (See Blue, D 2,
3, 5, 6, 8 ; E 1, 8.)
2. Scarlet and black and white and purple wanting. (See Blue,
D 3 ; and E 3, 4, 5, 8 ; F 1, 8.)
3. Scarlet and black and yellow and brown wanting. (See Blue,
D 5, 6 ; E 4, 7 ; F 8, 9.)
4. Scarlet and black and yellow and purple wanting. (See Blue,
C5;D3, 7,9;E4, 8;F1,8.)
5. Scarlet and black arid orange and purple wanting. (See Blue,
C 5 ; D 3, 7, 9 ; E 3, 5, 8 ; F 1, 8.)
6. Scarlet and green and yellow and purple wanting. (See Blue,
D 7 ; E 1 ; F 1.)
7. Scarlet and green and yellow and white wanting and poor.
(See Blue, C 1, 3 ; D 1, 8 ; E 1, 2, 7 ; F 1, 9.)
8. Scarlet and green and yellow and black wanting. (See Blue,
C8; D 1,7,8; E 2,7; F 1,9.)
C (5 colours).
1. Scarlet and black and green and white and yellow wanting and
disagreeable.
2. Scarlet and black and white and purple and yellow wanting
(better with orange for yellow).
§55 XVII. PURPLE, THREE TO SEVEN COLOURS. 141
3. Scarlet and black and white and purple and orange wanting ;
they require blue. D (6 colours).
1. Scarlet and black and white and green and purple and gold (or
on gold ground) wanting, poor.
2. Scarlet and purple (or lilac) and crimson and yellow and black
and white wanting.
Purple. (See Blue, Yellow, Red, Scarlet, Crimson, Black, White, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. Purple and scarlet and gold harmonise, a rich concord. (See
Blue, B 7; C 2, 5, 11 ; D 3, 7, 9-"»
2. Purple and scarlet and orange l*«T!i*ise.'- s^See Blue, B 8a ; C 2,
5, 11 ; D 3, 7, 9 ; E 1, 3. ."'¦•"- "°5 Li •' ^.
3. Purple and scarlet and w) ' ' '¦ <v '^
4. Purple and orange and <* •¦ wa.^' "'"'^j^'^equire blue.
5. Purple and orange and' *antir" '" , Y^cbrdant.
6. Purple and green and y? ' !.:/ ' ' ^'^-if^&iscordant.
7. Purple and green and crmison\tiscui '<j« {See Blue, F 2, 3.)
8. Purple and green and brown ai„„jrd. (See Blue, F 9.)
9. Purple and green and chocolate discord.
B (4 colours).
1. Purple and yellow (or orange) and black and green wanting- and
disagreeable.
2. Purple and yellow (or orange) and black and blue wanting ;
require scarlet. (See Blue, C 9a, 14 ; D 3, 4, 7, 9, 10 ; E 3, 4,
5, 8 ; F 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.)
3. Purple and orange and blue and scarlet harmonise.
C (5 colours).
1. Purple and yellow and black and blue and scarlet harmonise
well.
2. Purple and orange and black and white and blue harmonise,
but wanting. (See Blue, D 3, 4, 9 ; E 3, 8 ; F 1, 3, 6, 8.)
D (6 colours).
Purple and orange and scarlet and blue and black and white
harmonise. E (7 colours).
Purple and orange and a little green and scarlet and blue and
I42 ON COLOUR. Paei I,
black and white harmonise well. Other combinations with
purple will be found under Blue.
Lilac. (See Blue, Red, Scarlet, Black, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. Lilac and scarlet and gold (or orange) harmonise.
2. Lilac and scarlet and black harmonise.
3. Lilac and scarlet and white harmonise.
4. Lilac and crimson and gold (or orange) harmonise.
5. Lilac and white and gold harmonise, but wanting. (See below,
C 1 and D 1.)
6. Lilac and white and blue harmonise, but wanting. (See below,
DI.) B (4 colours).
1. Lilac and scarlet and gold and white harmonise.
2. Lilac and scarlet and black and white harmonise.
C (5 colours).
1. Lilac and scarlet and gold (or orange) and black and white har
monise.
2. Lilac and scarlet and yellow and black and blue harmonise.
D (6 colours).
1. Lilac and scarlet and gold (or orange) and blue and black and
white harmonise.
Green. (See Blue, Yellow, Red, Black, Purple, White, Grey.) Green,
as I have already shown, should be in much smaller proportions
than the other colours with which it is combined ; and when I
have introduced it with them in these lists, it is so to be under
stood. Its great quality is to light up those colours with which
it is combined. (See Blue, B 2 ; C 1, 9, 11, 12 ; D 1, 2, 8 ;
E, 2, 3 ; F (1), 2, 3, 9.)
Black. (See Blue, Red, Scarlet, Lilac.)
Black and white are not only the strongest contrast, but they set
off each other when united with other colours more than any
other two. A (3 colours).
1. Black and white and scarlet harmonise well. (See Red, White,
and Black.)
§55 XVII. LILAC. GREEN. BLACK. 143
2. Black and white and crimson harmonise well.
3. Black and white and yellow wanting.
4. Black and white and orange wanting.
5. Black and white and lilac wanting and poor.
6. Black and white and green wanting and poor.
7. Black and white and pink wanting and poor.
8. Black and scarlet and purple wanting, rather hard and cold.
9. Black and scarlet and yellow wanting.
10. Black and red (or crimson or scarlet) and green wanting and
discordant, and each taking away from the due effect of the
other.
11. Black and crimson and yellow harmonise, but wanting.
12. Black and yellow and purple wanting.
13. Black and yellow and violet wanting.
14. Black and yellow and lilac wanting and poor and cold.
15. Black and yellow and green wanting and disagreeable. Yellow
is here the only contrast to the two others, and another contrast
is required.
16. Black and orange and purple wanting.
17. Black and orange and green wanting and disagreeable, though
black and orange are concords, and green and orange also. The
orange does not suffice for the two, and another colour is re
quired to restore the balance ; nor is the orange alone sufficient
to compensate for the inharmonius combination of black with
green.
18. Black and green and purple discord.
19. Black and green and lilac discord.
B (4 colours).
1. Black and white and grey and scarlet wanting.
2. Black and white and scarlet and yellow (or on a black ground)
wanting.
3. Black and white and scarlet and blue harmonise, but rather cold.
4. Black and white and red and yellow (or even gold) wanting.
The white and yellow are both proper contrasts to black, and
there is no contrast to the red.
5. Black and white and yellow and chocolate wanting.
6. Black and white and red and lilac wanting and poor.
7. Black and white and green and yellow wanting and poor.
8. Black and red and green and yellow (or rather gold) harmonise,
but wanting.
9. Black and yellow and crimson and brown wanting.
10. Black and orange and green and lilac wanting and discordant.
1 1. Black and orange and blue and scarlet harmonise.
144 ON COLOUR. Pari I.
C (5 colours).
1. Black and white and scarlet and blue and yellow (or gold) har
monise.
2. Black and white and orange and blue and crimson harmonise.
3. Black and scarlet and blue and green and yellow (or gold, which
is better) harmonise.
4. Black and orange and blue and white and scarlet harmonise.
D (6 colours).
1. Black and white and blue and scarlet and horsechestnut and
yellow harmonise.
2. Black and white and orange and blue and yellow and crimson
harmonise.
3. Black and white and blue and scarlet and yellow and green
harmonise.
4. Black and white and yellow and blue and orange and green
wanting. E (7 colours).
1. Black and white and orange and crimson and dark bluish-grey
and sage-green and a little blue wanting, dull, and heavy.
They are very much the colours of some Mussulapatam carpets,
where the effect is gloomy, with a harsh contrast of white,
which is in too great a quantity for the other colours.
2. Black and white and yellow and green and scarlet and horse
chesnut and blue harmonise.
3. Black and white and yellow and green and scarlet and blue and
orange harmonise, if with a sufficient quantity of blue.
For other combinations with black see Blue.
White. (See Blue, Red, Yellow, Black, Grey.)
A (3 colours).
1. White and green and yellow wanting.
2. White and green and scarlet wanting. (See Blue, C 1, 3, 7; D 1,
2, 8 ; E 1, 2, 3, 7 ; F 1, 9.)
3. White and green and crimson wanting. (See Blue, D 8 ; E 7 ;
F 2, 3.)
4. White and green and blue wanting.
5. White and green and chocolate-colour discordant.
6. White and green and purple wanting and discordant.
7. White and red and purple wanting.
§55 XVII. GREY. BROWN. 145
8. White and yellow and chocolate wanting.
9. White and yellow and orange wanting by analogy.
10. White and yellow and purple wanting.
11. White and orange and blue wanting.
12. White and orange and purple wanting. Want scarlet and blue.
13. White and orange and black wanting. (See Black)
14. White and orange and crimson wanting.
B (4 colours).
1. White and black and orange and red (or scarlet) wanting — want
blue.
2. White and green and yellow (or even gold) and scarlet wanting
and poor.
3. White and yellow and green and pink and chocolate discord.
Other combinations will be found with white, under Blue.
Grey. (See Black.) A (3 colours).
1. Grey and scarlet and blue harmonise.
2. Grey and red (or scarlet) and white wanting and poor.
3. Grey and crimson and gold wanting, and rather heavy.
4. Grey and scarlet and green wanting and disagreeable.
5. Grey and blue and white wanting and cold.
6. Grey and yellow and white wanting and poor.
7. Grey and green and white wanting and poor.
8. Grey and orange and white wanting and poor.
9. Grey and yellow and green wanting and poor, but not a discord.
10. Grey and pink and green discord.
B (4 colours).
1. Grey and yellow and green and white wanting and poor.
2. Grey and yellow and purple and white wanting.
C (5 colours).
1. Grey and yellow and lilac and white and crimson wanting.
2. Grey and light blue and white and light pink wanting and poor.
Brown. (See Blue, Red, Crimson, Scarlet, Yellow, Black, Purple.)
I have not thought it necessary to mention the combina
tions with drab, stone-, and fawn-colour, or with all the
different hues and tones of the primaries and secondaries.
L
146 ON COLOUR. Paei 1.
Some of the former, as well as grey, are better suited for
grounds than for any marked position in coloured composition,
as I have shown in Sect. IX. p. 107.
The proper proportions of the colours to each other are
indispensable. I have already shown that to be all of the
same quantity would be fatal to them ; and- some are required
to be in larger, others in smaller, proportions. Thus, when a
blue, red, and yellow are put together, their proportions
should be very different ; and the same quantity of yellow as
of blue or red would have a disagreeable effect. But it is cer
tainly difficult to determine the exact quantity of each colour.
XVIII. In the foregoing combinations of colours I have
merely considered how they affect each other in juxtaposi
tion, without noticing the proper quantity of each required
for the harmony of a composition. It must, however, be
borne in mind that, to give due effect to a coloured design,
the proper proportions of the colours to each other are indis
pensable. I have already shown that, to be all of the same
quantity, would be fatal to it ; and some are required to be
in larger, others in smaller proportions. Thus, when a blue,
a red, and a yellow are put together, their proportions should
be very different ; and the same quantity of yellow as of blue
or red would have a disagreeable effect. It is certainly
difficult to determine the exact quantity of each colour with
out knowing the exact number of the primary, secondary,
and other colours to be introduced into a composition, or
without considering the several conditions to which it might
be subject ; but it may be laid down, as a general rule, that
as the greatest quantity required in the three primaries is
blue, then red, and then yellow, so too the proper ratio
should be maintained in the combinations of the secondary*,
as well as mixed, hues. In all cases where green is used, it
* See pp. 10, 22, 61, 76, 77, 94.
§55 XVIII. PROPORTIONS OF COLOURS. 147
must be bright and of smaller proportions than the other
colours. The equal intensity of the different tones is neces
sary in all cases, as already stated (p. 59, § 42) ; except where
a lighter tone is required to brighten up a composition, or to
set off some other colour (p. 101).
To mention all the proportions of colours for different com
positions would require specimens of those various combina
tions, and these would have to be considered under many
heads, — as for ornamental decoration in buildings (externally
and internally), in furniture, &c, for daylight and for candle
light, and under all other conditions. Such minutiae could
only be given in a work of great dimensions, and with the aid
of numerous illustrations ; and even then it would be difficult
to define the exact proportions of each in all the various com
binations in which they might possibly occur. But as the
relative quantity and proper position of colours are of so much
importance, I will not dismiss the subject without offering
some general remarks on those two essential poihis'.
As red and yellow have more analogy with each other
than with blue, it is necessary to have more blue than either
of those two in the same composition; and the propor
tions of 8 blue, 5 red, and 3 yellow, (see above, p. 94, Sect.
III.) laid down by Mr. Field, may answer as a safe guide
in the ordinary combinations of those three colours, the
sum of the two last (5 + 3) being equal to the 8 of the
blue. And following the same ratio in a compound colour,
the 8 of blue will require an orange to have the same quan
tity, 8 being the sum of the two, red and yellow (5 -f 3),
which compose it. But this ratio can only be used as a
guide, not as a rule; and Mr. Field's proportions could
only be admitted in certain cases, for in many ornamental
patterns equal quantities of blue and orange would have a
very unsatisfactory effect. Besides, I must repeat that the
compound colour, orange, is not to be considered equivalent
L 2
I48 ON COLOUE. Pabj I.
to red and yellow, even though the same quantity may some
times be employed with blue ; and red and yellow, as sepa
rate colours, would have a very different effect from orange
when placed in juxtaposition with green. Again, the quan
tity of a colour when employed in combination with many
others, and when employed with one only, to which it is a
contrast, will be very different. Thus, when a blue and an
orange are of the same quantity, the introduction of black will
require the proportion of the orange to be increased ; if a red
is introduced, the blue should be in greater quantity than
before ; and similar changes must be made according to the
number and nature of the colours added to a composition.
Thus, when blue, scarlet, yellow, green, orange, black, white,
and purple are combined, the quantities of the blue, red, and
yellow must be greatly altered ; and a different proportion is
even required according to the 'relative pos-i^ims of the colours.
No one rule can be laid down for all cases : and the propor
tions must necessarily depend on many accidental circum
stances. They will also be influenced by the style of the
object to be ornamented; as well as by its use and position;
the effect it is to produce, whether by daylight or by candle
light, &c. ; as before stated. Thus, red looks well with
a large quantity of white when there are only these two
colours, as I shall presently show ; but this is not to be the
general proportion of white to red in a composition. On the
contrary, when a great number of colours are combined, the
red, like the others, should far exceed the white in quantity,
and a superabundance of white could then only be tolerated as
a ground in particular cases. A pattern on a carpet composed
of numerous colours would not look well if the white (riot
being the ground) exceeded the others in quantity; and I have
already stated (Sect. VI. p. 99) that when some colours are com
bined in very different quantities the effect is seldom good.
But there are exceptions to this rule, as when white is put
§55 XVIII. PROPORTIONS OF COLOURS. 149
only with red ; then it is that the white should predominate,
and not the more powerful hue. For when a large quantity
of red has a small proportion of white combined with it, the
effect is heavy, and the red even loses its proper character ;
while a superabundance of the white with a small quantity of
red is bright and agreeable. We at once perceive this in our
white ensign bearing the red St. George's cross, and in the red
flag bearing a white cross. (See Plate in. figs. 13, 14.) A bor
der too of red to a white field is as agreeable as a white border
to a red field is the contrary; and a red pattern on a white
ground is preferable to a white' pattern on a red one (figs. 13,
14, b, c). The same applies also, in some instances, to blue
and white ; and a blue cross on a white ground is more agree
able than a white cross on a blue field ; as yellow on a white
ground is more pleasing than white on a yellow one. But
the greater quantity of white is .less requisite in blue and
white, as they are a more harmonious combination than red
and white, and may be combined in equal quantities, which
is not desirable in red and white. In like manner, a large
expanse of drab, slate, light chocolate, salmon, grey, and
other uniform hue, when it has a border or pattern round it,
requires this last to be of a darker hue than the light and more
abundant colour in the ground. This is in some degree owing
to certain colours, which are well suited as grounds, requiring
to be in greater quantity than those which are better adapted
to combine with others in a composition. But it is not
always necessary that the lighter colour should be the ground,
with the darker one in a smaller quantity; for blue, and
others, on a black ground, have a good effect, and orange
looks well on a green, purple, crimson, and other ground.
But then, though not darker, it is a more powerful colour ;
and it must be allowed that black on a blue ground, and a
purple (or a crimson) on an orange ground, are preferable to
blue on black, or orange on purple. White too is a better
L 3
150
ON COLOUR. Paei I.
ground than blue, red, or yellow. There is also a difference
in the effect of colours on a ground of a darker or a lighter
tone ; and while light blue and light yellow on a ground of
a deeper tone look better than dark blue or dark yellow
on a light blue and light yellow ground, a dark red pattern
has a rather better effect on a light red ground.
But the darker colours often bear a different relationship to
their respective light grounds than to white.
These are a few of the instances in which the proportions
of colours may vary very greatly. Sometimes, again, when an
effect of warmth is required, a greater quantity of red may
be admitted than is generally considered its due proportion;.
in some cases more blue is required than usual, to produce '"
a cooler effect, to balance other colours, or for some other
reason ; and much will depend on the introduction or exclu
sion of other hues. Thus, when very little yellow is used,
more red may be admitted, and where much yellow, and still
more when much orange is introduced, the proportion of red
to blue must be diminished. A great quantity of yellow com
pared to other colours is always to be avoided. Allowances
are also to be made for the juxtaposition of other colours.
I have just said that when a red ground has a small quantity
of white upon it, the red looks heavy, as in the specimen of
the flag before given ; but when all the red is interlaced with
a white pattern the red looks lighter, and a yellow so inter
laced, gives to the red a scarlet hue. The reason is, that in
the former case the red looks heavy by contrast with the
lighter colour ; in the latter it borrows from its companion,
and to the eye is combined with it. (See Sects. VI. VII.)
The same consideration should be extended to other colours
under similar conditions. I have also shown that colours
should be of the same tone or intensity in a composition, ex
cept in cases where a lighter tone is introduced in addition
to the deeper one, in order to give it increased brilliancy or
§55 XIX. ARRANGEMENT OF COLOURS. 151
lightness (see pp. 97, 99, 110); that allowance must be made
for some colours diminishing each other's effect (pp. 10a, 11,
59, 62, 97, 101) ; that others increase the effect of a neigh
bour by contrast, as black and white, red and orange, and
others ; that some change the hues of those in juxtaposition
with them, as black next to red, or to green (p. 1 02) ; and
that some borrow from each other and form to the eye the
compound colour they would have if mixed together, as red
and blue, which look purple at some distance when no yellow
or white intervenes between them to keep them distinct.
(pp. 9, 61.)
XIX. I now offer illustrations of the mode of putting to
gether certain colours; supposing them to be given in a con
fused mass, and requiring arrangement in harmony and proper
proportion. < We will suppose, then, that the following are
before us : — black, blue, red or rather scarlet, green, orange,
and purple, as single colours in equal quantities, placed to
gether in very inharmonious order, as in PI. n. fig. 1 ; and are
to be made into a pattern. They may be arranged as in fig. 2.
But it must be observed, that the quantity of each colour is
not necessarily confined to that here given ; and I have selected
a design to show the effect of the colours on each other, rather
than one well adapted for so varied a combination. (See Descr.
of Plate n.) Nor would it suit this design to be viewed by
candlelight, as the darkness of the black and blue would be
fatal to it; and a greater quantity of green would then be
required. (See Sect. IV. p. 97.)
Among many harmonious proportions may be mentioned
12 of blue, 4 scarlet, 3£ crimson, 2 orange, 5 yellow, 4 green,
4 white, on a black (or grey) ground ; and some proportions
and arrangements of blue, scarlet, yellow, black, white, and
other colours are given in PI. iv. and v.
Specimens of harmonious combinations may also be re
ferred to in various works, as in "Waring and Macquoid's
L 4
152
ON COLOUR. Pabi I.
Architectural Art in Italy and Spain," PL vi., the two mosaic
patterns, from St. Lorenzo, on the right and left of the plate ;
the lowest centre one from the Ara-coeli, Borne, and most of
those in the plate ; except the uppermost ones in the centre,
from the Baptistry at Venice, which are discordant. There
are also many good illustrations of coloured ornamentations in
(xriiner's admirable work, " The Fresco Decorations of Italian
Churches and Palaces," among which may be particularly
noticed the Villa Madama, PI. vii. vin. ix. x. ; the Villa Santi,
PI. xx. ; the Uffizi at Mantua, PI. xxiv, ; the Palazzo Marti-.
nengo, PI. xxix. (where even the difficulty of pink and green
is so admirably overcome) ; the Chartreuse at Pavia, PL IV. V.
viii. ix. x. ; and the Sta. Maria del Popolo at Eome, PL xiii.
I may also mentionssbme plates in Mr. Digby Wyatt's
interesting selection ofwthe " Mosaics of the Middle Ages," as
No. viii. fig. 1 (though to judge of it properly, it is necessary
to have with it the rest of the design) ; No. ix. fig. 3, from
Palermo ; No. x. fig. 5 (though rather cold) ; No. xi. fig. 2 ;
No. xiii. A, figs. 1, 4 ; No. xvii.— the- two uppermost figs, to
the right and left (even though the red so greatly outbalances
the blue) also the upper part of figs. 9, 11;— No. xviii. figs.
7, 8, 9 ; No. Xix. especially fig. 4 ; and No. xx. figs. 1 to 8.
There are also many in Mr. Owen Jones's grand work of
the Alhambra ; and the ceilings and soffits of the Alhambra
Court at Sydenham, those of the Greek Court, and of the
Gallery of Antiquities at the British Museum, may be cited as
satisfactory examples of coloured ornamentation; while the
greens and reds in the pavements of the Eoman churches (some
of which are given in the first plates of Mr. Digby Wyatt's
work), should be avoided as specimens of discordant colours ;
only to be excused from the nature of the materials employed,
which limited the designers to the discordant union of red
porphyry with green serpentine, giallo antico, and pavonazzo.
(See p. 105.)
§55 XIX. EXAMPLES OF GOOD COLOUR. 153
It is certainly of importance that some examples both of
good and bad coloured ornaments should be pointed out; and
as it is better to call attention to those which are known and
accessible I shall add some of the most striking in that valu
able work the " Grammar of Ornament," by Mr. Owen Jones.
Of the Egyptian, there are few which could be adopted with
much advantage, though the colours are often harmonious, as
in PI. x., and those most generally combined on the Egyptian
monuments are blue, red, green, yellow, and black. The
Assyrian are rarely good in colour, and the fault of their
combinations is too much repetition of square, round, or other
forms, in the same pattern. Tniis, though in PL xiii. figs. 5,
8, and 9, and even 12, are pleasing, they have the fault of
being solely composed of squares ami dots; those from 16 to
24 inclusive are poor in form and coloijr ; and Nos. 22 and 23
consisting of green, black, yellow, and white, have a very
disagreeable effect.
The Greek designs are most graceful in PL xv. to xxn. ;
except figs. 19, 20, 21, in PI. xviii. and some few more,
as in PI. xxi. ; and the colours of those of PL xxn. are
harmonious and elegant, particularly figs. 14, 15, 16, 17,
18*, 22, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and fully maintain the
superiority of Greek taste; while the Pompeian designs in
PI. xxiv. show how it had declined during the Eoman
period, and how a fanciful and meretricious treatment had
taken the place of purer colouring and form, confirming the
objections made by Vitruvius to the masses of red, " the reeds
for columns," and other fashions already gaining ground in
his time. The most pleasing specimens of colour are those
on a black ground in PL xxiv., particularly figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Fig. 12 is discordant; but it affords a curious illustration of
my remark (p. 106) respecting the power of some grounds to
* In 18, 29, 31, 32, 33, the colours have been supplied by Mr. Owen Jones,
and with great taste and judgment.
154 ON COLOUR. .Past I.
lessen defects in harmony; while it confirms another remark
(p. 102) that reds take away from the power of black, as may
be here seen by comparing the appearance of the ground of
fig. 12 with that of 4, 7, 9. In the Byzantine ornaments,
PL xxix. the border of fig. 23 is elegant in pattern and colour,
as are parts of fig. 18 and some others. In PI. xxx. figs. 1, 2,
4, 5, from Monreale, are remarkable as having a very Arab
character, especially figs. 1 and 2. Figs. 7 to 11, and 14, 15,
and 16, and 27 to 32, as well as 42, are also good in colour.
Many of the Arab designs are admirable. In PI. xxxi. are
the oldest and most simple ; in PL xxxn. and xxxni. they are
richer, and of a rather later time. Fig. 13, PI. xxxn., is a
circle, very intricate and beautiful in pattern; and in PL
xxxiv. both the designs and the colour are most harmonious
and agreeable. The Turkish designs, PL xxxvi., show how
Arab patterns were borrowed, misunderstood, and spoilt, being
made large and coarse ; and the beautiful Arab bosses (as in
figs. 14, 15) were corrupted by having their interlaced work
broken up ; and were converted into a heavy, instead of a most
graceful, ornament. The colours too, though well chosen, were
in patches, resulting from the heavy arrangement of the details
in the designs. This is very remarkable in figs. 5, 6, 8, 9. In
PL xxxvn., in addition to the corruption of form, the colours
are objectionable, having the superabundance of green preva
lent at a debased era, and among a people of borrowed taste;
instances of which may be seen in figs. 5 and 6, and even in
1 and 2.
The works of the Moors, as at the Alhambra, possess of
course most beautiful and elaborate designs; and they abound
in good specimens of rich and harmonious colours ; but some
of the designs are not quite so pure as those of an older Sara
cenic period, and the elaborate feather-work, and other signs
of luxury in design, of this which we may call the florid Arab
(the parent of that still existing at Tunis and other parts of
§55 XIX. SARACENIC DESIGNS. 155
the Moorish territories), show that it is to the earlier Saracenic
what the rich fretwork of the Tudor is to our Early English
style. The Arab, however, did not undergo the same great
change, either in form or colour, as our own ; and in both of
these elements the Alhambra designs are admirable.* Ex
amples of this may be cited in PL XLII., figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4,
which are beautiful both in colour and design. In fig. 6, the
pattern is also excellent, though the colour is disagreeable from
the superabundance of a dull chocolate-colour.f It is a very
common design in wood-work at Cairo. In PI. xliii. the pat
tern of fig. 9, is admirable ; but here the quantity of green
disturbs the balance of the other colours, which too, being
only green, light blue, orange, dark blue, and drab-white (or
stone), are deficient in harmony, which requires other colours
to complete it. The effect of the two tones of blue is very
agreeable (see pp. 97, 99, 110). In fig. 11, there is the same
objection to the colour, though the design is pleasing ; and fig.
6 is discordant in colour, being dark and light blue, green,
orange, plum, and stone-colour, though with a good pattern.
The Persian designs are not so happy in colour as might be
expected from the carpets"; though these are also changing.
In PL xliv., fig. 15 is elegant, and a good example of a
design in which blue is the dominant hue; and in fig. 19
the colours are harmonious on the rich red ground; but
there are few in this or the next plate which are not defi
cient in colour and form. In PL xlvi. figs. 7, 16, 19, 23,
24, 25, the colours are most harmonious. In PL xlvii.
the general tone of the patterns is too green; and the
same remarks apply to them as to those mentioned in
pp. 155, 156. In PL xlviii. the design in the upper figure,
* Those who wish for fuller illustrations of Alhambra taste will of course
consult Mr. Owen Jones's well-known work on that building.
f This is an instance of the bad effect produced by a tertiary or a secondary
colour outbalanced by the primaries. (See p. 94.)
156 ON COLOUR. PaexI,
forming the semicircle, is very admirable in colour ; but the
flower-work, in what may be called the spandril above, is not
quite in keeping with the style of the ornamentation of the
semicircular portion. Nor are the borders in the rest of this
plate commendable either for colour or composition. In
Pi. Lin. figs. 1, 3, and 8 are very elegant ; and the quantity
of green which may be introduced on a gold ground is well
exemplified in the two last patterns (see above, p. 106). In
PL liv. fig. 2 is effective in colour. Fig. 7 is also pleasing ;
but the flowers are too isolated, like spots, on the blue ground.
In the Chinese there is little which could be adopted with
advantage; but many "Celtic" designs are good in colour and
pattern, as figs. 1, 5, 6, 7, and 26, 33, in PL lxiv.* In PL
lxvii. figs. 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 are pleasing examples of
media3val patterns ; as also in PL lxviii. particularly fig. 20,
and figs. 10 and 37; and, as specimens of gold and red alone,
figs. 25, 26. Other good examples from illuminated works
are given in some of the next plates ; but those of the Ee-
naissance period, as in PL lxxviii. lxxix. lxxx., are most
objectionable in point of colour, and very inferior to most of
those in PL lxxxv. of Elizabethan time.
The foregoing remarks will suffice to show the general
character of those which in design and colour are most deserv
ing of study and of imitation, and of some which are deficient
in those merits ; and they will serve as a guide in forming an
opinion respecting others given in that useful work.
I may also mention other designs in the "Treasury of
Ornamental Art," published by Messrs. Day, some of which
afford very useful illustrations of the mode of decorating
surfaces with colour, and of the true principles of forming
patterns by means of conventional flowers. Many of these
are from the fabrics of India and Persia; and they show the
* Of Anglo-Saxon and other designs in MSS. see Part II. § 84.
§55 XIX. INDIAN AND PERSIAN PATTERNS. 157
best method of employing green with other colours. This is
done most successfully by placing the design on a ground of a
rich, or at least of a decided colour. In PL xiii., " a Hindoo
prayer-carpet," green is combined with the reds by means of
the dominant gold ground, which also accords both with the
green and the reds. For it is a mistake to suppose that the
green and red are here the principal colours ; and to deprive
the design of the gold ground would at once destroy the
whole composition. The introduction of different lines of
red has a good effect.
In PL xv., " an Indian embroidered satin apron," the green
and two reds, blue, white, yellow, and orange, on a black
ground, have an agreeable effect : and here it is worthy of re
mark that the pattern composed of those colours looks well on
the black ground, when it would have been far from pleasing
without the black, or with a white or other light, ground. It
is far more agreeable than PL xvi., where one of the blues is
of an undecided slate hue in contact with red, and the general
tone is harsh, while the black is not so suitable a ground
for this as for the preceding pattern. In PL xvn. — " from the
pattern-book of a Persian designer" — the designs offend by
having too much green and red, and even purple with green ;
and they are imperfect in colour, whether taken singly, or in
their general aspect when combined.
In PL xviii. the green and red of the flowers on a nankin
ground have not a harmonious effect ; and the same may be
said of those in the upper part of PL xix. which are deficient
in harmony and deviate from the principle of flatness ; and
better studies for the decoration of textile fabrics may be
obtained from the lower part of this PL xix. In PL xxn.
are common brocaded silks, such as are worn in the East, and
though the combination of green, pink-red, and purple is
disagreeable and discordant, they offer curious examples of
the manner in which gold reconciles the eye to these colours,
158 ON COLOUE. Paei I.
which could not very successfully be combined without it,
either in a pattern or a ground. (See pp. 17, 106.)
PL xxiii., " Italian cinque-cento embroidered silks," the
green ground is not disagreeable, though the colours upon it
might be better chosen, and have a more harmonious effect.
In PL xxiv. fig. A, " linen scarf of Morocco or Tunis work,"
is a very good combination of colour, and a pleasing design ;
but the ground is ill suited to it, and poor in colour.
In PL xxrx. " the modern Indian silk carpet " is far from
agreeable ; the red is here too dominant, ill according with an
undecided green, and the whole has a heavy appearance,
destitute of harmony and beauty.
In PI. xxxi., " an Indian gold tissue scarf," the border is
graceful, but rather thin and poor ; in the centre the green
and gold, and the red and gold, are rich ; but from the gor
geous effect of these gold tissues their colours do not come
under the same category as they would if combined without
the gold ground ; and they are therefore no guide for the ordi
nary arrangement of the colours they contain ; nor in any case
would the colours of a ground appear the same in relation to
the others, if interlaced with them in the proportion they
should have in a design.
The colours too in shawls and various tissues used for
dresses are subject to other conditions from those employed for
ornamentation, and admit of less decided contrasts ; and how
ever beautiful the manufacture and splendid the appearance
of Indian shawls, they will not always serve as models for the
arrangement of colour. Nor does the mode of wearing gar
ments in India generally offer that combination of hues, or
arrangement of drapery, which constitute good taste in cos
tume; and the constant occurrence of orange, green, and
other grounds little suited for dress, shows a want of judg
ment in their selection. Many are more creditable to the
manufacturer than the wearer.
§55 XIX. OTHEE COLOUEED DESIGNS. 159
In PL xlvii. xlviii., "Indian quiver and fan, powder-
horn," &c, the tone of the red accords very badly with the
blue ground and gold thread. The effect, therefore, of the
quiver, where the red is less apparent, is far better than
of the others. The addition of green in the pouch of
PL xlviii. gives it a discordant effect.
In PL xlix., " a pattern of Indian lacquered work," the
uppermost design has a pleasing character ; and the second
and third are simple and agreeable, though the light ground of
the border in the second does not accord with its centre part.
In PL lv., " Italian hangings of the sixteenth century," the
colour is disagreeable and discordant, and the design tasteless
and ill conceived.
PL lviii., "painted glass, modern German, copy from an
ancient work," is rich in colour ; but besides the faults inse
parable from a mere painting on glass, the pattern on the
ground is offensive, both from the size of the leaves and
flowers and its general effect. The blue, yellow, and black are
more harmonious than the red of the flowers dotted here and
there on the same ground. Here the difference of black
in contact with yellow, in the upper, and of black with
green, in the lower, part of the dress of St. Catharine, shows
(as I have already stated) how little black and green accord
together. In PL lx., " upholstery-work and wall-papers," fig. 1, the
green, red, and yellow want other colours to enliven the design,
and give it some degree of harmony; fig. 2 is wanting in
arrangement of colour — the blue and white are too salient
for the rest, and do not combine with them ; the ground is
injured by the pink and green placed upon it, which are
themselves a discord ; and fig. 3 has a monotonous sameness
of hue.
The general effect of colour in the "jewelled bottle,"
PI. lxii., is pleasing ; but the " Indian spice-box," PL lxviii.,
160 ON COLOUR. Past I.
though the pattern in the lower part is graceful, is deficient
in colour as it is in form in the upper part, and so much green
and blue together are not desirable.
There are many other interesting illustrations in this work
which are admirably executed, but which I need not mention
as they do not offer illustrations of coloured ornaments suited
to our purpose, and I have only selected those which are most
applicable to the present subject.
XX. The next problem that I shall offer is, when two or
more colours are given, which are discords, to add others to
them, and so combine them as to form concords, and when
united together in a composition to produce a harmonious
effect. The case is parallel to having two notes which are
discordant in music, and by adding others to them to form
harmony. We will therefore suppose that purple and green
are presented to us, which are a discord. These, by the addition
of orange, blue, and red, or rather a scarlet, may be made
into a harmonious combination ; and some patterns are im
proved by a fillet of yellow placed between each, and by a
small quantity of black to balance it. (See also Sect. XVII.
Blue C 8 ; E 1 ; and Black C 3.)
Another disagreeable union of colours is black, red, and
green ; which by adding orange and blue, becomes a pleasing
concord. Black, and green, and white are " wanting," but by
adding blue and orange they harmonise. Black, and orange,
and green, and lilac are wanting and disagreeable, but by
adding blue and scarlet they also become harmonious. Of
the necessary corrections for such discords the reader may
obtain a notion by observing the colours used in the har
monious combinations given in the lists of Sects. XVI. and
XVII. XXI. An interesting series of experiments have been made
by Mr. Babbage on the employment of coloured papers for
printing, by which the effect of black ink on tinted papers
§55 XX. XXI. COLOUEED WEITING PAPER 161
has been tested. He has also extended them to different
coloured inks, each of two tones, dark and light, on papers
of separate tints. The object was chiefly to ascertain the
colours of inks and the tints of papers least fatiguing to
the eye. For this purpose, firstly, twenty-nine or thirty
volumes, each containing paper of a different colour, were
printed in black ink; and, secondly, twenty or twenty-one
volumes, each composed of one hundred and fifty sheets of
paper of different colours, or tones of colour, were printed in
an ink of a particular hue, which showed the effect of black,
blue, and other inks on those several papers. Of the twenty-
one volumes, two were in black ink ; two in dark, and two in
light, blue ; two in purple ; two in dark, and two in light, red ;
two in yellow; two in dark, and two in light, green; two in
olive; and one in metallic ink. The subjects printed were,
in all of them, tables of logarithms. Though it is not always
easy to Limit the transition from one tone to another, the
sheets of paper may be said to be
Purple 14
Blue 13
Green 23
Ked-pinks, &c 18
Yellows, orange, buff, &c 42
Greys and neutral tints . . . .40 150
From an examination of these, it appears that while
black ink on white paper, being the greatest contrast, has
the strongest effect, there are other coloured papers which
fatigue the eye less than white ; and this is still more per
ceptible by candlelight than in the daytime. First, as to
distinctness : — M
162
ON COLOUE. Past I,
The order in which coloured papers with black ink are most
suited for use, on the score of distinctness, appear to be —
1. White paper with a cream-
coloured hue.
2. White paper with a bluish
tinge.
3. Light ochrous yellowish tinge.
4. Light ochrous with warm or
redder tinge.
5. Light ochrous with yellower
tinge.
6. Light greenish tinge.
7. Light pink tinge.
8. Light stone-colour.
9. Light purplish grey.
10. Light bluish grey.
11. Bright yellow.
12. Bright pea-green.
13. Bright yellow-orange.
14. Bright blue.
15. "Vermilion.
16. Purple.
17. Carmine-pink.
White paper with black ink offers, of course, the greatest
contrast, and the black is consequently seen more distinctly
than on any other coloured paper ; but it is more fatiguing to
the sight than some others, especially in a strong light; and
a light tone of ochrous yellow is far more comfortable to the
eye for long-continued use.
Again, it is not always the hue that accords best with black
in the harmonious combination of colours, which is the one
to be chosen for the purposes of distinctness and comfort to
the eye. Black on blue, for instance, and black on orange,
which are very agreeable combinations of colour, are not
sufficiently distinct; and the contrast of black with many
other hues is far more eligible for the type of a printed book,
at the same time that it is more agreeable to the eye.
It is not enough to know on what coloured paper black ink
is most distinct ; the selection of that one which fatigues the
eye least is a most important question, especially by candle
light. It will then be found that with black ink papers such
as Nos. 3 and 4 are better for long use than No. 1, where
the contrast is so much greater and harsher ; and even the
green of No. 12 would be more comfortable to the sight than
Nos. 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17; but the subdued greenish
§55 XXI. COLOUEED PAPEES. 163
hue of No. 6 would be better than No. 12. The most
fatiguing is a red ground, as Nos. 15 and 17 ; and red, which
tries the eye in the day, is far more exhausting by candle
light. A glazed paper should also be avoided.
It is found that (the letters being in black ink) ochrous
yellow paper is the best for the eyes by candlelight ; though
not so perhaps in full daylight. When too yellow it is trying
to the eye. Fawn-colour is good in a strong light, but not
bright enough in a dull light. Orange-yellow is very dis
tinct, but too bright for the eye. Lemon-colour is also dis
tinct from contrast, but fatiguing to the sight. Stone-colour,
of a yellowish tinge, is clear and comfortable to the eye.
Light green stone-colour is the most agreeable of the green
tints. Light grass and pea-green are distinct : other greens
not so distinct. Light lilac and lavender are also comfortable
to the eye, provided they have not too much blue. Light
pink is distinct, but not comfortable, to the eye, and better for
a dull than a bright light. Eed-orange is a contrast which
makes the black distinct, but is not comfortable to the eye.
Salmon-colour is distinct, but trying to the eye. Light ochrous-
colour is better for the eye (as No. 4 of last page). The black
of the ink even changes its appearance on certain coloured
papers ; as on a red and a green ground ; and on a yellow-
green (or on a pistachio-coloured) paper it has a reddish-
brown tinge ; so too a red ink on green paper looks russet.
In all cases where the eye is weak, or when it is much
employed by night, the light of lamps or candles should be
tempered by covering them with a blue glass shade, in order
to obviate the red and yellow rays, and to bring the light as
near as possible to that of day; there should also be a
sufficient quantity of light to see distinctly, and nothing is
more trying to the eye than reading by a dull or insufficient
light. But as, in order to overcome the red or yellow rays of
a lamp, the blue glass must necessarily have a considerable
M 2
164
ON COLOUE. PaetI.
depth of tone, the loss of light is proportiona'bly great, and
such a blue shade takes away one quarter of the light.
Light, therefore, should be sought which has as little as pos
sible of the red or yellow rays ; and the whiter gas, requiring
a blue shade of lighter tone, gives a greater quantity of light,
without the necessity of increasing its strength in order to
overcome the effect of a deeper blue glass.
With regard to other coloured inks on various papers, the
only one of much value is blue ; owing to their being defi
cient in contrast ; except when red is employed together with
black ink, to distinguish words on white paper.
These are a summary of the observations respecting the
use of coloured papers, which I have been enabled to collect
through the kindness of Mr. Babbage, and by means of the
interesting and extensive investigations he has made ; and we
may hope that they will be given to the public in their full
extent, with all the necessary illustrations, by their talented
author. XXII. I have been careful to point out more than once
certain errors to be avoided in judging of colours, and to show
what is necessary for the study of their harmonious combina^
tions ; and as these cannot be too frequently insisted upon, I
shall repeat some of the most important of them under the
following heads : —
1. The eye is the proper judge of colour, and the percep
tion of colour is a natural gift. (pp. 55, 64.)
2. We should abstain from theories till the subject is
understood, (pp. 3, 6, 7, 58, 92.)
3. Flowers, and other ornaments, should be conventional,
not direct copies of natural objects ; nor should you tread on
these in carpets, nor walk on the tracery of architecture.
(pp. 18, 46, and see Part II. §§ 27, 32.)
4. The three primary colours, blue, red, and yellow, which
are a concord, should predominate in ornamentation; yet
scarlet (which is really a compound colour) generally looks
§65 XXII. SOME NECESSAET CONDITIONS. 165
better than red, even with blue and yellow, and always so
when with blue alone, with which it does not assume the
same purple hue as does a red (or a crimson) in juxtaposition
with blue, owing to the yellow in the scarlet, (p. 93.)
5. A fillet of yellow (or some other colour when there are
many) should be placed between or near to red and blue, to
obviate their purple effect, (pp. 9, 42, 61, 94.)
6. The two accidental colours do not necessarily harmonise
with each other, (pp. 73, 92, 99.)
7. Harmony is not limited to similarity of colours ; but
there is harmony by contrast also ; and contrasts are of
different kinds, (pp. 60, 75, 76, 77, 98, 112.)
8. The effect of the simultaneous contrast of colours is to
be considered, (pp. 99, 102.)
9. The intensity of tones of colours should be equal in the
same composition ; but a dark and light hue may be used
together with good effect, (pp. 75, 99, 145.)
10. The quantity of the colours is to be balanced ; and
some may be in a smaller quantity when combined with cer
tain others, (pp. 99, 105, and Sects. XVIII. XIX.)
11. The proper relative position of colours is to be con
sulted, (p.lll.)
12. Some colours by candlelight and by daylight have a
different effect, and allowance is to be made for this. (pp. 97,
101, 104. 111.)
13. Colours that accord well, both in their hues, and in
certain quantities, do not always suit every kind of ornament ;
and some combinations which suit a carpet, or a wall, do not
answer well for a dress, (pp. 78, 106, 110.)
14. In some compositions, and particularly on the painted
walls of a church, or other building, the coloured patterns
should not cover the whole space. The eye requires some
repose, and is fatigued by any object overloaded with orna
ment, (p. 109, Sect. X.) M 3
166 ON COLOUE. Paet I,
15. A great quantity of the same colour in one part, and
little or none of it in another, are fatal to the general effect,
and disturb the balance of colours, (pp. 99, 147.)
16. Large masses of one single colour should not catch the
eye ; it should receive, at the same moment, the combination
of several colours. The patterns should not be too large.
Spots and monotonous lines should also be avoided. It is,
however, allowable to have a mass, or ground, of one colour
in the centre, and a border of several colours round it. (p. 54,
§ 37 p. 40 ; and Sect. XVIII.)
17. Bright green may be well introduced to lighten up a
composition; but not in masses, except as a ground; and
when used in great quantity it is a sign of an artificial and
debased taste. In those compositions, however, which are to
be seen mostly by candlelight a greater proportion of green
may be used. (pp. 16, 17, 105, 106, 125, and in Sect. XIX.)
Green as a ground sometimes suits other colours, which
would not accord with it if interlaced together in a pattern ;
but it must be a glaucous green. (Of the best hue for this
purpose, see p. 105, note.)
18. Greys, and some other neutral (or intermediate) colours,
answer well as a ground and soften the abruptness of contrasts
(as of black and white), when required, (p. 107.)
1 9. Two of the primaries may harmonise better with each
other than another two of them ; and blue and red, or blue
and yellow, or red and yellow, accord in different ratios.
(p. 61.) So too there may be a greater or less degree of rela
tionship between any two of the secondaries; and while
orange and green, or orange and purple, are both agreeable
in juxtaposition, purple and green are discords. The same
difference subsists also between the primaries and their
accidental (secondary) colours ; blue and orange harmonising
most agreeably by contrast, which cannot certainly be said of
red and blue-green. (See above, No. 6, and p. 74.)
167
PART II.
ON THE NECESSITY OF A DIFFUSION OF TASTE
AMONG ALL CLASSES.
§ 1. [The creditable efforts now making in England to disse
minate taste through the country, and to encourage the various
branches of ornamental art, give a more than usual interest to
the subject, and invite every inquiry that may bear upon it.
The practical views of the age have acknowledged the
necessity of affording to all portions of the community the
same means of educating the eye ; and few will now deny
the propriety of uniting the decorative with the useful, in
objects of every-day requirement. For what hope can there
be of general improvement in the "arts of production," if
those who create them are ignorant of the simplest notions of
taste, and cannot even comprehend the beauty of a design if
presented to them ? It is not by the education of the higher
classes alone, nor by the patronage of the great, that taste is
to be spread through a country: they may contribute as far
as lies in their power towards this object, and the efforts now
making by some men of rank and wealth are both creditable
and useful ; but for the community to have a feeling for art of
any kind, the study must be general, and the minds of those
who make, as well as of those who require, works of taste,
must be imbued with a true appreciation of the beautiful.
I do not, however, by this remark, wish to imply that men
of rank and wealth, in England or any country, are distin-
M 4
168 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paei II.
guished above all the rest of the community by correct taste :
the few who possess it are the exception, and the exhibition
of objects of their choice too frequently demonstrates an
admiration for meretricious ornament and faulty design.] *
In no country is the cultivation of taste more necessary
than in England. The advantages of climate, the richness of
colour, and the beauty of nature, as well as the facility of
studying her works, in Greece, Italy, and some other coun
tries of the south, have been far greater than with us. Living
as we do so much more in-doors, and in a gloomy climate, our
ideas of beauty are less expanded by the contemplation of
nature under her best aspect : it is therefore of the greatest
importance that the objects we have before us in our houses,
to which we are so much indebted for our early impressions,
should be beautiful and in good taste ; in order that the eye
may be educated by the habit of seeing what is good. At
present the earliest directions given to taste are quite the
other way ; and whether you enter the cottage, or the mansion
of the rich, you find an abundance of frightful ornaments :
not from any deficiency of the wish to possess what is good,
but from the inability to appreciate or select it.
2. [One great impediment to the cultivation of taste is the
notion that beautiful designs are only to be found in expen
sive objects, and are therefore out of reach of all but the
wealthy; and, indeed, when there are few capable of making
good designs, the conclusion is not drawn without some show
of reason, rendering it all the more necessary to remedy this
impediment by a more extended ar£education. For, as long
as taste is confined to a few individuals, and is not introduced
into the ordinary ornaments and utensils of common life, it
will continue to be almost an exotic plant, and a mere luxury.
"Arts of production " can only be beautiful in proportion
* The portions within brackets were written in 1854, and published in the
" Builder " of that year.
|2. THE BEAUTIFUL NEED NOT BE COSTLY. 169
as they depend upon " arts of design ;" and as beauty of form
and proportion, exquisite detail, and high finish, were sought
for by the Greeks in their vases, lamps, and other common
utensils, so may our ordinary objects, whether intended solely
for ornament or for every-day use, be made beautiful as easily
as they are now generally hideous and misshapen. This
depends on the mind that devises them ; and to despair of
giving to the commonest object an elegant design is to
acknowledge incapacity and want of taste. The same maxims
laid down by Vitruvius for architecture apply to them: —
First, That they should answer the purpose for which they are
intended ; Second, That they should be durable, or of solid
workmanship ; and Third, That they should possess beauty —
and every one without these conditions must be faulty and
imperfect. But beauty is not to be obtained by capricious
ornament, such as overloads so many of our modern produc
tions ; and unless the maker knows why the peculiar form,
and all the ornamental accessories, are given to his work, any
splendour of decoration, which may merely delight the igno
rant, will only be looked upon by men of good judgment with
the greatest dissatisfaction.
Taste, to be of use, must pervade all classes ; and by this
means, graceful and beautiful objects for every-day use will
come into general demand, and be generally made. They
will also be obtained at moderate prices, and thus be placed
within reach of all, instead of being confined to the wealthy
few who happen to be possessed of cultivated taste. For it is
not by making what is elegant dear to the purchaser that
it will be generally appreciated : this is an impediment, not
an encouragement to it ; and until good things are within the
reach of all, and recognised by the majority, it is vain to
hope for excellence in any country.]
It is one of the greatest errors to suppose that wealth alone
can obtain objects of good taste ; it can certainly command
170
ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Past- II.
the costly ; but the selection of the beautiful depends on the
judgment ; and good proportion, form, and other conditions,
may be met with in articles of use or ornament without their
being necessarily expensive. This should be borne in mind
by all who despair of obtaining them because their means are
limited. We have only to look at the bad taste displayed in the
over-furnished rooms of many wealthy individuals to be con
vinced of the fact, that good taste does not necessarily belong
to the richest members of the community, or that the posses
sion of tasteful designs is confined to people of ample means.
[Many a simple and cheap object may be made in good taste
without any additional cost; and the humblest individuals
may display an innate perception of the beautiful in the ordi
nary ornaments of a cottage, or in the coarsest materials.]
The commonest pottery, worth a few pence, may have far more
to recommend it than a splendid Sevres vase which costs some
hundreds of pounds ; and the one may possess real beauty,
while the value of the other may consist only in the difficulty
of manufacturing it. One may be a work of taste, the other of
skill, or caprice, and be, in a fact, a mere curiosity.
It is not necessary that the purchaser or the maker should
have the means of expending large sums to obtain, or to pro
duce, any objects of taste ; but each must possess a feeling for
the beautiful ; and it is of special importance to a manufac
turing country like England that good things should be made,
which will claim, both abroad and at home, the admiration
of those who are capable of appreciating them. Nothing
encourages the sale of manufactures so much as their excel
lence in point of taste (at least when the public are alive to
their merits), and in the words of the far-seeing Necker, " le
gout est le plus adroit de tous les commerces." We are often
surprised at the want of taste shown by the English shop
keepers in the arrangement of objects for sale ; and this is
particularly striking to any one who has just seen the success-
§ 2. ADVANTAGES OF TASTE. 171
ful manner in which the Parisians manage to display their
goods, especially by means of colour. There can be no doubt
that the effect thus produced offers a wonderful allurement to
purchasers, and greatly promotes the sale of articles which
might have passed unnoticed without this judicious species of
recommendation ; for when objects look well together, each
acquires an increase of beauty, and offers an additional attrac
tion ; and as arrangement is so great an element of success, it
is important that a manufacturing country like England should
possess the knowledge on which it depends.
" The ancient prosperity of the Samians," as Mr. Wornum
observes, " is a remarkable instance of the great national be
nefit to be derived from the judicious application of art to
manufactures. . . . The small island of Samos, by its potteries
alone, carried on an important trade with all the cities of the
Greek and Eoman empires, and thus was enabled to compete,
in splendour and luxury, with the greatest states of the
ancient world. . . . The workers in metal and the painters
were equal in renown to the sculptors and architects of Samos.
All this magnificence was but the fruit of its industrial
ingenuity, its skilful ship-building, its enterprising com
merce, its matchless potteries. The skill of its potters made
the very soil they trod upon more precious than gold. This
earthenware of Samos carried its commerce over every sea, to
every port, until its merchants became princes; and this small
island-state was conspicuous among the richest nations of the
world." But those who admired, and those who bought, that
pottery were fully alive to its beauties ; and though it served
for common purposes, it was esteemed for its aesthetic merits.
There is no reason why the humblest household object should
not be beautiful in proportion, form, and colour. Owing, how
ever, to the deficiency of taste among those in England who
make articles of common use, and still more among those who
purchase and select them, it is rare to find any that are not
1^2 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. PaetII.
deficient in one or more of those requisites; [and there is
little to elevate the mind or correct the eye of the general
mass. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary that all should
have the mind and eye directed to the perception of what is
good ; and, unless taste pervades all classes, so that both the
maker and purchaser may possess that knowledge, the pro
duction of beautiful objects will depend on accident or
caprice. The one may manufacture them, but the other will
not desire what he does not appreciate.; and it will be equally
vain for the latter to possess a taste he cannot gratify.
Besides, as Mr. Laing observes, " what employs the industry
and ingenuity of the many is of more civilising influence on
society than what employs the genius of the few ;" and as
" much wealth locked up in gold and silver ornaments is a
sign of a low progressive social condition," so good taste may
be possessed by a few, while the rest of the community con
tinues to be unconscious of its beneficent influence. In that
case it is a mere luxury ; and it generally happens that, in a
condition of society where it is thus limited, the search for
objects of art is rather a caprice than a real feeling. Luxury is
the enemy of refinement, the parent of rococo and of spendid
monstrosities. For taste to last, and become general, its rise
and progress must be simple and gradual ; it must be sown
and reared, and will never flourish by mere transplanting.]
A few may possess it ; but the majority will remain deficient
both in the power of estimating and creating good works ;
and though we may look with admiration on the talent dis
played by a Minton, an Elkington, a Blashfield, a Battam, and
others, in copying good models and inventing good designs,
we shall find that the mass of those who produce ornamental
works fail from ignorance of the true elements required to
ensure success.
3. [Thus it often happens, when an approach to good taste
has been shown in the design of some common object, that it
§ 3. IDEAS OF THE MAKERS. 173
turns out to be the result of pure accident — a copy, perhaps,
of some model selected at random, which, as the maker (on
being questioned) admits, had merely the recommendation of
novelty, being hitherto unknown in his particular trade.
Besides this, the copyist frequently spoils the original by
some capricious change of his own, introduced without any
reason, totally at variance with its general motive, and with
no other plea than a crude notion "of varying" (or if he has
the vanity to suppose it, "of improving") what he should
have left unaltered. Hence, if you praise one of these acci
dental works, or suggest an improvement in another, or
censure a bad alteration already introduced, the unconscious .
maker is at a loss to understand the reason of the praise, the
necessity of any change, or the merits of the censure ; and
then, in order not to appear ignorant in the matter, having
invited your admiration to some other object of the most
unmitigated barbarism, he at once proclaims how pure an
accident it was that led him to copy at all from a good work.
You turn to another, and make a remark about its deficiency
in a certain part, which has probably been one of his own
" improvements ;" when he thinks at once to overwhelm your
objection by, " The original, sir, from which that is copied,
was found at Pompeii," and remains fully persuaded that
you know nothing about the matter. For to be found at
Pompeii is his criterion of excellence ; and his incapacity for
judging prevents its occurring to him that, even if exactly the
counterpart of a Pompeian model, it may still be faulty, even
without the several improvements the. work has been doomed
to undergo during its transmutation from the ancient model
to the English copy. Utterly ignorant why one thing is
good, another bad, or how small an alteration may spoil the
whole effect of the best work, these people still have precon-r
ceived notions ; and it is curious to listen to the crude and
fallacious dogmas they may have laid down, or borrowed from
174
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
some worthless authority, about the principles of beauty and
form. Among the many instances of this I will mention one, which
I scarcely expected in a man engaged for so many years in the
manufacture of works of ornamental art. It was while looking
over his vases that the form of one of them came under dis
cussion, and led him to expound his views on beauty.
A ponderous folio filled with well-executed drawings of every
kind of vase, from the best and worst designs, lay upon, his
table ; showing that neither time nor trouble had been spared
in making the collection ; but when he pointed out the bad
as models of perfection, it was evident that neither the pos
session of accurate copies of so many different works, nor the
habit of selecting from them, had given a proper direction to
his taste. He had no perception of beauty ; but he had his
own view of a theory, and everything was to bow to his crude
ideas about " flowing lines." A Greek cylix was, therefore,
pronounced by this criterion to be the ne plus ultra of bad
form, because " the bowl being so nearly at a right angle with
the foot, the lines could not flow." His test of excellence was
(woodcut 1.)
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
illustrated in the outlines of cups of this form, and the abrupt
contrast of lines in the Medici and similar vases was severely
censured. A visit to another artist in this line led to a different
result. The fault was not in the maker, but in the public.
He had copied, with the judgment of a man of taste, the
most beautiful Greek vases, and had introduced upon them
the graceful and classical designs of our ill-appreciated Flax-
§3. THE PUBLIC IN FAULT. 175
man; and any one might have expected that the growing
desire for objects of good form would have ensured their sale
and encouraged his efforts ; but going one day to give him
an order for another tazza, I found his shop crowded with the
most tawdry, ill-proportioned vases of a different manufac
ture, each looking as if, while still in a plastic state, it had
been pulled up by the neck to increase its length. " What,"
I asked, " has made you give up good things for bad ones ?
Have you abandoned all that was in proper taste for a new
caprice, or did you only make good things by chance ?" " It
is not that," he said ; " these things sell, and I must live ;
I can find plenty of purchasers for them, and few for the
others." 'What could be said? It was the purchaser here
who wanted taste : and as long as the public is deficient in it,
vainly indeed may the manufacturer possess it. " But why
not," I asked, " have them of good proportion, why so elon
gated beyond all reason?" "This," he said, "it is out of
my power to prevent. I buy them ; they are made by others,
and I must take them as they are ; for they are sold by the
height at so much an inch ! and to require the height to be
diminished in accordance with the breadth would only be
considered a ruse to decrease the price." And yet these
profess to be objects of ornament and taste !
" Why," I remarked to an Italian, " do you not make
copies of such and such beautiful objects so justly admired
in Italy ? you would find many to purchase them, and you
would do good by causing them to be generally known." '" I
have already made several of them, but they did not sell, and
now I confine myself to those that do ;" and then showing
me some of the most commonplace ornaments, he said,
" These I can always sell, and I have a family to support."
Among them were dogs, and flowers, Canova's three lanky
Graces, and elongated vases equally deficient in proportion,
form, and decoration.
176
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
And now having mentioned an Italian, I cannot abstain
from acknowledging the debt we owe to the poor "image
men" who wander through our streets; for I have no hesita
tion in saying that they have done more to improve the
general taste, to place copies of known sculpture within the
reach of all, and to familiarise the eye of the English public
with what is good, than any school (which a few only can
attend) ; than any gallery (which the working-classes seldom
visit) ; or any institution in the country ; and when we recol
lect that English art paraded (without shame) through the
streets was confined to cats with moving heads, green parrots,
wooden lambs covered with cotton wool, or (if the figure of
a man was attempted) a coarse boor holding an equally vulgar
pot of beer ; we may feel grateful for the change so unosten
tatiously brought about by these humble foreigners.
4. The taste indeed of many English who pretend to judge
of art, too often leans towards the mere matter-of-fact repre
sentation, both in statuary and in painting; and while the
ancient Greek or the modern Italian would display his first
sign of genius for art by selecting an object of graceful form,
or by giving to the figure he moulded an exalted ideal charac
ter, English talent would manifest itself and obtain applause
by the mere imitation of humble life in the figure of an or
dinary peasant, or in some graceless scene of common life.
It is not surprising that the generality of articles of use
or ornament should be deficient in beauty, when so few of
the makers, or the purchasers, have any real appreciation
of proportion, form, beauty of outline, colour, adaptability
of materials, and of the many conditions essential for excel
lence in design; and are destitute of the means of obtain
ing a knowledge of the subject, of guiding and improving
their judgment, or of discriminating between good and
bad ? It were a miracle if men without the opportunity of
understanding an art should succeed in practising, or in
§4,5. WHAT TO AVOID IN CHOOSING. 177
encouraging it ; and how, unless shown what to avoid and
what to admire, can they form their taste ?
5. And here I feel a pleasure in paying a just tribute to
the good judgment which adopted this mode of proceeding
at Marlborough House. For it is by the negative rather
than by the positive process that instruction is conveyed to
the untutored mind in the most intelligible form ; and when
any one has to choose one out of twenty objects, it is far
easier to make the selection if he begins by rejecting those
he will not have, than by at once attempting to fix on the
one he prefers. Let him rather say, " This I will not have,
nor this, nor this," until he has reduced the number to two ;
and his final choice is even then more easily made by reject
ing one of them, than by trying to de'cide on the best. But
while I fully approve of the mode of instruction by showing
what is bad, and why it is so, I must admit that a " chamber
of horrors" should not be confined to one, but should include
(under different gradations of censure) every room, except
a very small sanctuary, privileged to contain a few really
good specimens; and however gratefully I would acknow-.
ledge the condescension, or the public spirit, of any great
person who sends objects of art to an exhibition, I would only
commend and draw attention to such as are worthy of being
imitated, and exclude those that are deficient in taste from
the recommendation that they are "sent for study;" and
when so little good exists, and where few can be expected
to possess perfect specimens, or even perfect taste, no sensible
person could be offended at such an exclusion of the objects
of art or curiosity he might have sent to that exhibition.]
No better mode of instruction could be devised than that
of reviewing some large collection of works of taste, such as
our Great Exhibition in 1851, and others that have followed
it ; so as to show at once what is bad, to select for approbation
whatever good points are to be found in any object, or to ex-
N
178 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
plain how in its defective parts such improvements might be
substituted as would make it perfect. There are always many
bad designs, and the reason should be stated why they are so ;
there are others that have perhaps one good feature, and it
should be pointed out; there are others which are almost
good, but yet, through some imperfection, are prevented from
being so ; and it should be explained how such and such a
change would make the required improvement. It is this
very power of perceiving the beautiful, however small in
quantity, which (as I shall have occasion to show) enabled
the Greeks to select from, and improve on, the works . of
others less talented than themselves, and we need not be
above the attempt to follow so good an example. May we
only succeed in it ! Such lessons would convey more prac
tical instruction than the mere examination of the most per
fect design. It is easier to teach by showing why something
is not good, and how it might be made so : and this negative
process will afford to beginners the best of lessons, care being
taken at the same time that the most perfect and beautiful
objects be constantly recommended to their attention. For
while instruction may be conveyed by teaching them what to
avoid, the general taste should be guided by the contempla
tion of what is good ; one appealing to the reasoning faculty,
the qt.her educating through the eye.
6. [It is of the highest importance for creating and im
proving the taste of the public that good designs should be
constantly before them. Even those who are gifted naturally
with a certain amount of it are liable to have it vitiated by
frequently seeing bad models ; and a more cultivated taste is
occasionally warped and led insensibly towards the extrava
gant if, debarred from the contemplation of the beautiful, it
has faulty designs constantly before it. Many, again, allow
themselves to be deceived by the fiat of men whose names are
thought to give weight to their opinion ; and it is thus that
§6,7, GOOD DESIGNS NOT APPRECIATED. 179
some who might have arrived at a just appreciation of colour
have had their judgment Warped by reading the plausible
theories of people totally ignorant of the subject, but not the
less positive in their opinions. Nothing, indeed, is more likely
to mislead than a theory propounded before the subject itself
is understood : it is like the attempt to write a grammar
before the language is known-] for practice, as Dr. Whewell
observes, has generally gone before theory, and results have
been arrived at before the laws on which they depend have
been defined or understood.
But together with the frequent contemplation of beautiful
objects those rules and corollaries which have been derived
from observation and study should be made an essential part
of the intsruction given to artisans and all engaged in various
branches of taste ; and it is hopeless to expect them to under
stand or create perfect designs without the necessary training.
When we see how deficient Jbe well-educated classes are with
out appreciation of them, and judging from the selections
these make, as well as from the fact that ornamental works
when copied from good and approved models are rarely sold,
we can only come to the conclusion that, deficient as our
artisans may be in taste, the paucity of good designs is more
the fault of the purchasers than of the makers. I have
known careful copies 6f the Medici, and other Greek vases,
objected to because they were ornamented with figures —
flowers, it was said, would have been preferable ; and, at the
sacrifice of time, labour, and taste, the maker was obliged to
substitute those paltry ornaments to suit the prejudices of the
purchasers, who had not even the same excuse for that prefer
ence as the iconoclastic Moslems.
7. [If those who have some kind of perception of the
beautiful are misled, how hopeless it must be for the great
majority, who are destitute of this advantage, to arrive at any
knowledge of it without proper direction. Indeed, cultivated_
N 2
18° ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
as was the graceful mind of the Greeks, we even find their
taste sometimes failed to be correct ;] and some of their monu
ments are open to objections, from their falling short of that ex
cellence and beauty for which they are generally so remarkable.
It is, however, with great deference that I speak of the works
of the Greeks, as I would be cautious in criticising the produc
tions of any great master of later times; and those who have re
marked (and with truth) that the fighting gladiator could not
stand to fight in that position are hasty in supposing this to
be an oversight of the sculptor, he being in the act of chang
ing his position to strike a blow. There are, however, certain
cases where, as may reasonably be expected, some Greek work
men have been less worthy " of Corinth " than their fellows,
and [have failed in the accessories of their vases, especially in
the handles and the foot. Many too of the later vases ,of
(2.)
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
Apulia are wanting both in form and proportion, while they
have the fault of elongated shape so frequently found in those
of modern Europe.] (Woodcut 3, fig. 1.) Some are also dis
figured by adhering too closely to an original type, as is evident
in the vase derived from the painted end of the old pithos
and amphora, supported by the circular stone into which
they fitted (fig. 3) ; which gives an abruptness to that part
no longer excusable when an ornamental purpose was sought
for in addition to a useful one (fig. 2). [And though the
drawing of the figures on the (so-called) Apulian vases is re
markable for freedom of execution, they are inferior in com
position to those of the age of Alexander, and still more to
§8. WANT OF PROPORTION. 181
those of the best Greek period, from 450 to 350 B.C. ; and the
introduction of numerous figures on the same field, together
(3.)
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
with a greater luxury of ornament, proclaims a deficiency of
real taste and the declining condition of art.
It is this want of proportion which spoils the generality of
the richly-coloured glass vases of Bohemia, showing that the
skill of the makers in the manufacture of the material far
exceeds their taste and correctness of eye. And if really
intentional, and not an accidental caprice, it is probably
owing to some preconceived notion about height giving light
ness and grace. And this often misleads persons incapable
of feeling the beauty of symmetry.] Grace and beauty of
form in vases have not certainly been the forte of the Ger
mans at any time ; and their celebrated stoneware * of the
Eenaissance period has a heaviness and want of grace, though
frequently of great pretensions, which our modern imitators
of mediaeval works would do well to avoid. Nor can I abstain
from calling attention to the glaring want of proportion be
tween the body and stem of a noted vase at Berlin (a copy of
which is exhibited in the nave of the Sydenham Palace, and
marked 169), which I should be sorry to see imitated in this
country. 8. It is true that the larger Italo-Greek vases f of Southern
* See Labarte, pp. 312, 313, and German, Flemish, and Dutch ware in
Marryatt, pp. 124—129, 265.
f Sometimes mis-called Apulian. n 3
*82 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
Italy are often remarkable for grandeur and richness of design,
as well as for great variety in the figures, which are drawn by a
masterly hand ; but they convey an impression of being the
offspring of a taste delighting in the luxury of ornament
rather than of one imbued with a pure feeling for art. There
is a voluptuousness in them, with an approach almost to
meretricious ornament ; and the designs are less pure, as the
forms and proportions of the vases themselves (grand as they
frequently are) are less perfect than the best of Greco-Etrus
can time. This may be partly explained by the former being
of a later period, when taste had begun to be corrupted,
and when the Greeks had fallen into the error (common to
all declining taste) of introducing elongated forms. Thus,
though the beautiful coins of the time of Hicetas and the
second Hieron, about 280 B.C., have obtained so much admira
tion, we may trace in them the evidence of mannerism in the
treatment of the human figure, the horses, and various acces
sories, showing a departure from the purity of the best Greek
works ; and it is interesting to compare the laboured finish of
the hair and folds of drapery with their broader treatment in
the coins of 450 and 420 B.C., or with the semi-Archaic style
retained in those of Demarete, the wife of Gelon, B.C. 478.
I will not pretend to say whether the Greeks of Sicily and
Magna Gr£ecia adopted some degree of mannerism before it
appeared in Greece, through a Sicilian or Italian influence ;
but there appears to be some reason for this conclusion ; and
the most beautiful coins of Sicily are less pure in design than
those of Elis, Clazomene, the Locri-Opuntii, Chalcidice, and
some others of the same date in Greece, about 450-380. B.C.;
nor do the coins of Metapontum, Thurii, Heraclea, beautiful
as they are, display the same grandeur and breadth of draw
ing as those of Greece just mentioned.
The fact of the Greek vases of Southern Italy being re
markable for mannerism and elongated forms is certainly in-
§8. STYLES OF GREEK ART. 183
favour of the supposition that Italian influence had its effect
on the taste of the Greeks settled there ; while the absence
of these defects in the Greek vases of Etruria may be ex
plained by their being mostly of those periods when good
art was rising, or had reached its zenith in Greece ; by Greek
taste not allowing itself to be vitiated by Italian influences ;
and by the vases being imported in great numbers from
Greece. Art, which had originally been borrowed by Etruria
from the Greeks, continued to be indebted to them for its
subsequent progress; and the story of the advent of those
figurative personages, Eu^etp and ILvypa/t/jLos, shows how the
Etruscans were beholden to the handicraftsmen and draughts
men of Corinth for its full establishment among them ; at a
period when it was beginning to develop itself in Greece, and
abounded in that simplicity for which it was then so re
markable. It may also be observed that some even of the beautiful
vases of the best period are not free from the elongated
character which afterwards became so general in Southern
Italy. There is the same tendency in the works of the
Eomans ; and this Italian corruption in olden times is the
more unaccountable, as the Italians of later (Christian)
periods have been noted for their- appreciation of correct
proportion, contrasting most favourably in this respect with
their Eoman predecessors. Are we to conclude that this
feeling had continued to hold its ground in Etruria from
olden times, and that it spread thence into other parts of
Italy ? I leave this to the decision of others more capable
than myself; but it is certain that the vases of Etruria have
not the same elongated form as those of Southern Italy.
This is not the only point connected with the subject
which is deserving of attention ; and it would be curious to
inquire why and to what extent the types of vases vary at the
N 4
184
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
same periods, in different parts of Greece, and how they in
fluenced those of the Greek colonies in other countries.
The period when art reached its zenith in Greece was from
450 to 350 b. c It declined from its great perfection rather
earlier than 300 B. c. ; and a feeling in favour of high finish
and elongated forms had already become perceptible during
the age of Alexander. Of this there is evidence in the coins,
vases, and various objects of art which remain to us; and it is
singularly, though unintentionally, confirmed by the remarks
of Pliny on the style of Lysippus and Apelles. Those two great
men are reputed to have carried sculpture and painting to the
highest point of excellence ; but when we make allowance for
the bias of those who bestowed that praise, resulting, as it
naturally would, from the taste of the age in which they lived,
and when we find in the coins of that period the same value
set upon high finish, a certain tendency to elongated forms,
and the substitution of an elaborate instead of the bold broad
treatment in the draperies and hair of the previous century,
we perceive how exactly the peculiarities ascribed by Pliny to
Lysippus and Apelles accord with the style of works of their
era, and how, though thought to indicate perfection, they were
in reality fatal symptoms. According to Pliny (xxxiv. 8), Ly
sippus improved sculpture, by marking out the hair more
minutely, and by making the heads of statues smaller, and
the body more graceful and attenuated than in older times,
in order to give them the appearance of greater height ; he
was also remarkable for the high finish of his works, regard
ing even the smallest details (in which he was imitated by his
son Euthycrates, though he aimed rather at the precision than
the elegance of his father) ; and the " gracefulness " attri
buted to the figures in the paintings of Apelles (Pliny xxxv.
10), is consistent with the same style of the age of Alexander.
It was then that the change gained ground which was
hastened on by the false taste and luxury introduced from
§ 9. GREEKS EXCELLED IN ART. 185
Asia ; and though we might not be led to that conclusion
without the evidence of works of that period, their testimony
sufficiently shows what was the character of the changes in
troduced by Lysippus and Apelles, and how high finish, with
conventional or artificial grace, tended to the decline rather
than to the perfection of art. The subject is too extensive to
be treated in a limited space ; and I will only observe, that
these remarks only apply to the comparative merits of certain
epochs in Greece, the best being from the age of Phidias
(and Pericles), 450 b.c. to that of Praxiteles, or about 350 B.C.* ;
for even when art had ceased to be as perfect there as of old,
it was still far superior to that of any other nation ; it was a
decline from perfection, not a fall : and the Greeks continued
to be long afterwards the people of taste in ancient, as the
Italians have been in modern, times.
9. But whatever may have been the cause of any exceptions,
whatever changes took place at different periods, the Greeks
were always the people most remarkable for taste, in which
they continued to excel even after the conquest of their
country by the Eomans ; and though some of their works did
not attain to the excellence of those of the best period, and
some may be pronounced unworthy of imitation, they generally
show how fully their authors were impressed with love of the
beautiful, for which they stand unrivalled. In the appreciation
of form and proportion the Greeks excelled all other people ;
[and such was the beauty of their designs, both in small objects
and on a great scale, that no people have ever approached,
much less equalled, them. And even in the early infancy of
their art, we may trace the tendency they already had towards
the perception and the practice of the beautiful. They had
also this great advantage, that men of first-rate talent were
* This is satisfactorily confirmed by the style of the Halicarnassus marbles,
which though full of merit fall short of the excellence of those of the Parthenon.
They are a most interesting link in the history of Greek art.
186 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
ready to aid in the production of objects in common use ; as
was the case in Italy also during her most flourishing periods ;
and it is of the greatest importance that industrial art should
have the benefit of such assistance.]
Whatever the purpose for which an object was intended, it
was never considered unworthy the attention of an artist ; no
false pride suggested to him the idea of degradation from such
an employment : and it was the work which was honoured
and perfected by his talents, not the artist who was lowered
by the work. [Nor were the Greeks above adopting from those
less refined than themselves, whatever hint could be obtained
from their particular style of ornament : beauty was beauty
to them wherever it was found; and it only remained to
adapt it to their own wants in the most suitable way.
10. If the advantages arising from this real feeling for the
beautiful were better understood at the present day, we should
not have decorative art left to the accidental caprices of a mere
decorator, nor depend for so many articles of use which ought
to be ornamental upon the misguided fancy of an uneducated
mechanic ; nor should we have the hideous lamps, the mon
strous tea-urns, or the whole furniture of our tables and of our
rooms, which disgrace our civilisation. It is really surprising
that among the variety of lamps, tea-urns, inkstands, coffee
pots, cruet-stands, and so-called "ornamental clocks," we
can scarcely meet with one which is tolerable in form. But
talent will be rare among designers so long as few are able
to judge of the effects of their own compositions, or have
any notion beyond " copying from the antique," because " it
is antique," without entering into the true feeling of the
original, or understanding in what its beauty consists. One
therefore designs a cup or a tazza, and thinks he has produced
a real "Pompeian article," because he has put together a
certain number of details : totally unconscious that a mere
repetition of ornament is not a design, and that the whole
§10,11. FORMATION OF A DESIGN. 187
when finished, having no motive, is utterly unmeaning. This
putting together a number of parts to form a whole is indeed
the besetting sin of incapable minds, and is too often witnessed
in the productions of architects as well as of those who make
ornamental models ; and instead of the building or other work
being conceived in the mind as a whole, of which the details
are the necessary accessories, each part is added in order to
complete the design ; and as there is no keeping and no neces
sary connection between them, many a one is removed,
altered, or varied without any reference to the general com
position. In the furniture of our houses examples of similar additions
without an object, either for ornament or use, are abundant.
Of such a kind are tables with geese or swans striving to
thrust their necks against its central pillar, with no apparent
reason unless to turn their less graceful tails to the company,
and serving no more purpose than the wooden scrolls of
of another, that seem to have fallen on their backs upon the
plinth. (4.) c=
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
11. It has been said by Pliny, that the Greeks combined
the forms of several beautiful women, in order to constitute a
perfect model ; but the notion of this compound figure is such
as a Eoman might, but no Greek artist of real talent would,
entertain. The latter would form in his mind the conception
of perfect beauty, more perfect than he might find in one in
dividual ; but he would not put together the material parts
of different figures to create it ; and such a construction of a
statue would imply an utter deficiency of genius.
Neither the Venus of Milo, nor any other known statae of
188 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
that goddess, was so formed ; and it would be as unreasonable
as to combine the best parts of several buildings to create a
perfect structure.] Nor does a landscape made up of several
different scenes, look as natural as a real view, even though
this last may be considerably altered by the artist.
12. Some of our makers of ornamental works, instead of
welcoming a good design when offered them, think only of
extorting money from the person who wishes it to be made
for him, and put on it a price double that of one of their own
monstrosities, though this last may have cost them far more
in its manufacture ; showing that they would rather refuse a
design given gratis than lose the opportunity of profiting by
a customer. They think he wants it, and ought to pay hand
somely for his caprice. And so he should, if it is a bad one ;
though the probability is that the manufacturer has not
judgment enough to know whether it is good or bad; and
few would be induced, by any amount of goodness, to relent
through admiration for an elegant design. Thus, then, he
who invents it is mulcted for his talent. But this would really
seem to be the rule in England ; for no sooner does a man
suggest some useful invention, and claim the advantages from
it which he merits, than he is forced to pay for a patent;
which amounts to being taxed for his ingenuity, the country
assuming the right to share, and even to anticipate, his pro
fits. If we heard of such an anomaly in Turkey, or elsewhere,
we should say, " Poor people ! they know no better ;" as we
should if we found a variation in the weights and measures in
different parts of their country, or other of the many incon
sistencies tolerated in (practical) England.
13. [It is not always to ignorance in the artist who executes
it that the blame of a faulty work is to be attributed : this, as
I have shown, is as often chargeable to the public, and to
the private employer; and when the model of a monu
ment, or any work of art, is proposed by a designer who
§12,13. IGNORANCE OF COMMITTEES. 189
has real talent, it is not impossible that the committee assem
bled to pronounce upon it may be incapable of forming an
opinion on the matter. Thus it happened that an architect of
merit, when requested to give a design for a certain building,
was obliged to bow to the decision of an ignorant committee,
because they had a preconceived notion that a particular fea
ture was required for every large edifice. Nothing would
persuade those worthies that a grand front could exist without
a pediment with figures in the tympanum, whether it was
Gothic, Elizabethan, or of any other style. In vain the archi
tect represented that in the particular style he had chosen for
the building a pediment woidd be a monstrosity ; that build
ings with large roofs like the Tuileries, or the town-halls of
Flanders, had no place for a pediment ; and to have both roof
at the top and gable beneath it would be inconsistent. It
was useless : they would not pay their money without onej
and it was to be introduced somehow in the most conspicuous
position. And thus the reputation of an architect had to
suffer for the caprice of ignorant people; whose paradox
amounted to this, that a man ought to appear with one hat
below his chin and another on his head.
And who was the committee ? or who is any committee ?
It has been said of committees, as of other boards, that they
" have no consciences.'7 It may be said with equal justice,
that they have no individuality ; for when a decision is come
to by a committee, who has decided ? no one knows, and no
one is responsible for it. The principle is an unsound one.
There is no objection to a committee of consultation; but
every decision ought to be pronounced by one person of sound
judgment, who should be, and feel that he was, responsible;
and any one who knew that he would have to answer for a
hasty or improper opinion would take care to obtain and
follow the best advice, which too need not necessarily be con
fined to that of his official coadjutors. Make a man respon-
*90 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II,
sible, and he will take means to find out what is best ; and
the simplest mode of selecting him would be by ballot among
the members of the committee itself, who would thus be
relieved from the too common habit of giving way to some
troublesome, overbearing, member of their body, who, being
the most busy and tiresome in the inverse ratio of his talents,
gets his own way, in opposition to less assuming and more
capable men.] As an additional mode of remedying this
abuse, each member of a committee should be obliged to put
down his opinions in writing, and give his reasons for them ;
for when several subscribe to the decision of one, that is not
really their own opinion, founded on any reason of their own,
but a mere echo, and often the result of ignorance or idleness.
[And how are committees too often formed ? Some mem
bers are chosen because their reputation pronounces them to
be well informed, perhaps on this, perhaps on some other,
subject; some because their incapacity is overbalanced by a
sounding title ; and some for various reasons, which may or
may not be valid ; while many of them, when appointed, do
not attend at all, and none are responsible even if they do.
Hence we may pronounce this verdict, when their decision is
bad : — that sums of money have been thrown away, and the
taste of the country degraded, by the doings of "some person
or persons unknown"
What great undertaking could be expected to succeed when
directed by such a council, without a responsible head ? How
ever useful a council of war for consultation, an army would
find it a poor substitute for a general in the field ; and in a
country where the necessity of one chief is acknowledged by its
institutions it does seem rather inconsistent to leave questions
of importance to the chance decision of numerous individuals,
without a responsible president.] Unfortunately, however,
the want of a head, in our various state and other depart
ments, is quite as much felt as in the direction of taste ; and
§14. MODE OF JUDGING. 191
the bugbear of undivided authority not only prevents all
efficiency and responsibility, but keeps up a constant clashing
of views, and effectually checks organisation.
14. [Impediments of various kinds stand in the way of our
general progress towards taste, and these require first to be
removed. Museums are of the highest importance for the
instruction of the public ; that the manufacturer, the artisan,
and the working man may have easy access to objects of art.
For it is not by the accidental appreciation of it among some
individuals, that taste of any kind will flourish, or become
general in a country ; and the fact of the arts of produc
tion being of elegant design is a far surer criterion of its being
spread through the community, than are the most beautiful
objects seen in the mansions of the rich. Ere the public can
appreciate' works of art, they must acquire a true feeling for
the beautiful wherever it is found ; otherwise they may mimic
and echo the approbation of acknowledged critics, while their
judgment will be crude and uncertain. And it is to be
regretted that the habits of waiting for the opinion of some
other person, before they express (not to say form) their own,
is not unusual with the English. The Great Exhibition of
1851 had, therefore, among its many beneficial results, the
good effect of obliging them in some measure to judge for
themselves; since the variety of objects, and the want of a
ready councillor, made it difficult to obtain any other opinion
than their own. Their decision, it is true, was not generally
the best, or the most refined ; and some natural objects, as
the " Boy with the broken drum," the " Dog defending the
child from the serpent," veiled statues, and commonplace,
unelevated subjects, were their favourites. They perceived
in them a resemblance to what was real ; but they did not
understand that such subjects present no idea fit to be com
memorated in a material, and with a skill, that belong pro
perly to high art. Yet the effort of judging had its effect ;
192 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
and a still better opportunity for correcting the ordinary taste
has been since afforded by the varied collection of the Syden
ham Palace.
The want of museums in our manufacturing and other
provincial towns has been a great evil. Hence the English
manufacturer, or the decorative artisan, has long been in the
habit of borrowing designs from France ; the beauty of which
is only comprehended by him because he finds they have been
approved in the country of their birth. It is not his choice
that teaches him to admire or adopt them, and he only appre
ciates their merits in proportion as they "pay." Nor is this
to be imputed to him as a fault, for he cannot acquire taste
when his eye is uneducated ; and his inventive genius, if he
has any, finds nothing to direct or develop it. The English,
indeed, are particularly in need of such instruction : and the
readiness with which artisans and others seek to profit by it
when offered to them, is shown by the published " Eeport of
the Department of Science and Art." It is, therefore, with
great satisfaction that we hail the establishment of schools in.
various parts of the country, for primary instruction in draw
ing, and the means afforded to masters for studying at the
central institution in London, preparatory to their taking the
management of provincial schools. But this is not all that is
required to give general taste. All cannot and need not
draw, though all should be able to accustom their eyes to see
and appreciate what is beautiful ; and this can only be done
by large public collections, and the constant contemplation of
well-selected objects of art.
The schools of drawing, and the liberal manner in which
books and useful models are offered for the study of artisans,
as formerly at Marlborough House, and now at the South
Kensington Museum, as well as the admirable lectures to
which students may listen, cannot fail to operate satisfac
torily; and even in some country towns the energy and exer-
§14. INSTRUCTION FOR THE PEOPLE. 193
tions of individuals in forming annual exhibitions have done
good service ; but these laudable efforts are partial, and small
compared to the mass of the population, who have not the
same means of visiting objects of good taste that are afforded
to the working classes of Italy, France, Germany, and other
parts of Europe. Indeed, it would be a miracle if a people,
not naturally imbued with an appreciation of the beautiful,
should possess that quality, with so few opportunities of
acquiring it.
These classes are by their employments debarred during
six days in the week from visiting our museums of art; and
the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, which would be the best
means ever offered for instructing them, is closed on Sunday.
How then, with the British Museum, Sydenham Palace, Na
tional Gallery, and every other collection closed, is it possible
for our people to obtain any knowledge of things they have
not the means of seeing? Nothing short of inspiration can
make them appreciate works of art so carefully kept from
them; and the eagerness with which they do visit such
objects, when they have the opportunity, is plainly shown by
the crowds that press to the British Museum at the Easter
holidays. But an occasional visit after long intervals will not
instruct the eye, nor accustom it to works of art ; and if men
who toil for their livelihood were to give up a day's wages
every now and then to study art, we should indeed look
upon them as more deeply imbued with the love of it than
any Greek of ancient, or Italian of modern, days. How they
are to arrive at this it would be difficult to explain ; but cer
tain it is that no one can expect it to come to. them by
inspiration, or that they will sacrifice their wages to obtain
it. In reply to this, some may answer, "Sunday is not a
day for sight-seeing ; it is a day of rest : " and so it is of rest
from labour ; and those who have other six days to instruct
themselves and divert their minds, need not then visit anv
0
*94 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
collection of art. They may or they may not ; though many
a rigid talker scruples not to do so when abroad. It is the
working man, who has six day's confinement, for whom an
innocent and useful recreation is wanted ; and we should not
" strain at a gnat and swallow a camel," by leaving the gin-
palace open to him, and closing the mechanics' institutes and
other places of instruction, which would lead him to select,
and indulge in, better pursuits.
Others again imagine that it would interfere with church
service ; but this would be obviated by not allowing a gallery
or museum to be open till after two o'clock ; and if it is not
discovered that the great encourager of crime, the gin-palace,
interferes with the church, it is difficult to understand why
the contemplation of humanising art should do so. Such
improvement to the mind is not like the mere love of amuse
ment or excitement, as at a theatre ; and, indeed, from this
last no one is excluded by business or work during the even
ings of the other six days ; nor should the excuse of want of
refreshment be permitted to sanction the buying and selling
of beer and spirits; and at the Sydenham Palace all goods
that are for sale should be shut up as in a shop. The opposition
to the Sunday opening of museums of art is not surprising ;
for what useful innovations were ever proposed in England
without it, from public coaches, machinery, steamboats, rail
ways, and the rest, down to Minie rifles ? And it requires
years and years to get rid of a Smithfield Market, intramural
interment, (the putrid state of the Thames,) or any other nui
sance. Great hostility was even shown to Sunday-schools, when,
in 1781, they were first established for instructing those in
humble life in the usual routine of education. It is therefore
only consistent that this Sunday-school for another improving
branch of instruction should be opposed ; but the time will
come when a more practical generation will wonder at our
blindness, which might be an innocent one if it did not com
mit an injustice.
§15. SITES OF MUSEUMS. 195
Nowhere is wholesome recreation so much required as in
England, where the frequent occurrence of wet weather so
often prevents the working man from seeking it in the
country, and drives him to idle amusements and to drink.
For it is folly to pretend that men who have been working
six days will not seek, and do not require, some kind of re
creation ; and if a good one is not provided for them they
will too frequently be tempted to what is bad. So far from
tending to irreligion, it will make them less animal and more
intellectual, consequently, more soberminded and religious;
and we shall do better to provide a remedy for ignorance and
drunkenness, than persist in their encouragement.
Let us shut the gin-palaces, and give the people innocent
recreation and instruction ; we shall then confer on them a
benefit, and shall discover that Englishmen are not worse
than French or Italians, nor less Protestant than the Prussians
of Berlin ; while we shall find them less drunkards than they
are now, and capable of understanding what we now expect
them to see without having it presented to their sight.]
15. But besides these impediments thrown in the way of,
artisans, and others by the closing of our public collections on
the very day when they have leisure for visiting them, we
seem to have devised others, in the expense and loss of time
consequent on their removal to an inconvenient distance from
London ; and the experiment of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham
has shown how much more the public and its public-spirited
originators would have benefited had its site been more acces
sible. And though the idea of collecting all objects of art in
one building is very sensible, andvthe facilities afforded to those
who visit the South Kensington Museum reflect great credit
on the organisers of that valuable institution, its position
in the outskirts of London is certainly less convenient than
the more central sites of Marlborough House and the British
Museum ; and those who" object to the transfer of all works of
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196 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
art from the latter collection to that of South Kensington
have a strong argument in favour of their being left in their
present more accessible locality. It is true that the former
site was no longer available, and there may be a difficulty in
finding sufficient space for the increasing size of the collection
in the town itself, but it is also true that the distance entails
loss of time and expense on those most likely to profit by it,
who are seldom able to make such sacrifices.
It is also to be regretted that the exterior of the building
at South Kensington should not present architectural features
more in unison with the objects it contains, and more in ac
cordance with the advancement of modern taste. But though
this might be considered a necessary part of the instruction
to be conveyed by it, we may for the present rest satisfied
with the benefits to be derived from its varied collection,
together with the facilities afforded for study and for reference
to so many useful works ; and we may hope, when the country
is fully convinced of its importance, that the external aspect
of the building will be made worthy of its internal merits.
1 6. [In mentioning " schools of drawing," I may be thought
to have used a strange obsolete expression, as custom has
called them " schools of design ;" but I can find no other
meaning in ecoles de dessin, or scuole di disegno ; and draw
ing has no need of being ashamed of its name. Another and
a better title, " schools of art," has now been applied to them,
and it is satisfactory to know that the talents of those to
whom the management is committed are a guarantee for the
instruction they afford, and are calculated to allay the appre
hensions of any one who might think the original title tended
to encourage the students in a belief that their particular
calling was to invent " designs."
17. Hitherto drawing has in England been ill-fated ; though
of such importance to every artist, that none deserves the name
unless he excels in it; and the neglect it meets with at once
§16,17. IMPORTANCE OF DRAWING. 197
accounts for the faulty execution in this country of the many
common subjects which are so admirably executed in Italy
and France by the same class of draughtsmen. It is an in
difference to the necessity of drawing that leads many a tyro,
who scarcely has learnt to draw a line correctly (much less to
make accurate studies of the human form, or to understand
the art of grouping figures in a composition) to lay aside the
pencil and adopt the brush ; when he wonders, too late, that
he has never been able to display the talent or obtain the
credit of an acknowledged artist ; and some "even excuse their
ignorance of drawing by some fallacy, such as, " there is no
outline in nature," as if a real object could be delineated with
out circumscribing its limits.]
It is true that when the whole surface of an object is repre
sented in colour it should have no apparent outline, but it
would be difficult to draw the form of any object without
one, or to learn to represent it without first defining it by
lines. Wisely, indeed, does Cennini urge how "necessary it
is you should be accustomed to draw correctly," and the pains
taken by the greatest masters of Italy is fully proved by their
original drawings. The importance attached to the " line " in
ancient times hai-toot only been exemplified by the well-known
story of the line drawn within a line by Apelles and Proto-
genes, and by the saying " nulla dies sine linea," but is shown
by the few specimens of Greek drawing that have come down
to us, on walls and vases. And conventional and imperfect
as was the art of painting among the Egyptians, their skill in
drawing was beyond a question; as the figures in the un
finished chamber of Belzoni's tomb at Thebes fully prove,
where in the outline of an arm of colossal size each portion ia
drawn at one stroke; as from the shoulder to the elbow.
However deficient in the perfection of art, they could draw ;
and to copy the long bold lines of those/ figures would be
O 3
198
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
admirable practice for any one in the free use of the pencil
even at this day.
Accuracy of eye and command of hand were also the
merit of that circle, which led to the well-known saying,
"more round than the O of Giotto;" and it is as necessary
first to acquire perfect drawing as it is to copy from nature
for a long time before attempting ideal figures. Those who
advise students to slcetch with the brush are only right when
they recommend it after great and successful practice with
the crayon ; as it then tends to give freedom and boldness of
execution ; and if by the term " sketching " they mean only
copying landscape, they are wrong in so speaking of drawing,
which is applicable to other and to higher purposes. Great
advantages are also to be derived then from drawing at once
in pen and ink; which, not admitting of correction, requires
the eye and hand to be certain of their work before each
stroke is given ; but those who think that " an outline should
be very slight," forget that thin or thick, light or dark, it is
equally a conventional mode of representing form, and that
the less firmly it is marked the less proof it gives of pre
vious thought and of the power of execution. Nor will the
practice of accurate drawing lead any but those of the lowest
capacity into a hard style ; and the outline, whether strong or
light, will be easily abandoned when the coloured is substituted
for the linear form. Indeed, it would be well if, in learning
to draw, our early attention were more directed to the human
figure and the variety of lines than to landscape, where form
soon ceases to be carefully followed, and where the brush is
often employed before the use of the pencil has been mastered.
18. [But while drawing is so essential, it must be recol
lected that the use of the hand, and the direction given it by
an accurate eye, will not suffice to form taste; they only
afford the means- of execution ; and while we admire the skill
of the French in drawing, and admit their inventive talent
§18,19. FRENCH CATHEDRALS. 199
for design, we cannot be blind to their deficiency in that
purity of feeling which marks the taste of Greece, or of Italy.
They have the desire to excel, and the full conviction of their
success ; both useful in "their way, for too great diffidence
impedes exertion ; and if their works often err in overwrought
ornament, they may find an excuse in the injury received by
their taste from the splendid monstrosities of Louis XIV.
(especially those of the latter part of his reign), and the
rococo of his successor, when false refinement and affectation
led to mannerism in figures and to corruption of form.]
1 9. The French, indeed, began at a very early period to
give notable signs of talent in design; and the statues at
Eheims, Chartres, and other cathedrals, show that sculpture
was quite as advanced there in the 1200 as in Italy.
Nor is this to be ascribed to the "body of masons," who
were of every country, and worked wherever they found em
ployment ; and France gave evident proofs of native genius at
that period, which are established by the glass windows of her
cathedrals and other decorative work, as well as by a compa
rison of the style of her sculptures with that of other coun
tries. And though 'France, like Germany and Italy, had been
indebted to Byzantine artists for many centuries, even to
the middle of the 1100, for the best models, the French, in
the following century, already attempted to throw off some of
the formality of the Byzantine school, and form a style of
sculpture independent of it. Some figures, it is true, retained
much of the old stiff drawing, in the early part of the 1200,
while others displayed greater freedom and truth ; and at the
middle of that and the beginning of the next century, they
had not only attained to an independent character, but were re
markable for elegance and correctness of design. Such are the
best statues at Eheims and Chartres : (for some of them differ
in point of excellence ; and probably date a few years later than
the rest) ; and such are many at our Wells Cathedral, where3
o 4
200 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
I think, we may sometimes detect the hand of a French sculp
tor. And so admirable was the peculiar character of those
statues that there is reason to regret that Christian art was not
allowed to continue its own independent course in sculpture, as
it did in painting, and aim at that perfection which the mere
copying of the antique will not ensure. Had Christian paint
ing been always dependent for its ideas and subjects on the
antique, it would never have been what it was in the hands
of a Eaphael and the early masters ; and Christian sculpture
was equally capable of taking its own line. It too could
abound in expression and feelings, to which Pagan art always
was a stranger.* There was this objection to the imitation
of the antique, that the Christian could not really enter
into the feelings which animated the Pagan sculptor ; while,
on the other hand, the Christian had subjects of a higher
order than the Pagan, representing, as they did, far nobler
sentiments. We admire and very properly acknowledge the
wonderful merits of ancient Greek statues; but it may be
doubted whether the attempted revival of classical art in the
cinque-cento, or Renaissance period, was as beneficial to
Christian sculpture as has been generally supposed. Nor did
it then follow the same judicious course in its imitation of the
antique as at an earlier period, when Christian artists benefited
by the study of ancient models without slavishly copying
them; as is sufficiently illustrated in the case of Nicola
Pisano and others ; and we have only to look at the works of
the Italians in sculpture and bronze to be convinced of the high
position taken by Christian art before the era of the cinque-
cento. And the judicious use made of the antique, espe
cially by the Italians, during the three previous centuries,
shows how much more benefit may be derived from the study,
than by the direct imitation, of ancient models. It is this
* See below, p. 284.
§20.
FRENCH DESIGNS. 201
imitation which has justified the remark that Christian sculp
ture " retrograded when it borrowed, in the sixteenth century,
the style of Pagan antiquity."
France, it is true, was left far behind by Italy during the
1300 and following century ; and was henceforward indebted
to her for aid in the highest branches of art ; but still she
continued to show great proficiency in decorative work, as we
learn from the palaces of her kings during the Eenaissance,
in the embellishment of which native, as well as Italian,
artists were employed.
20.. [But while mentioning the skill of the French in
design, it would be unjust not to speak with commendation
of that of Belgium, which is the more remarkable as it is not
confined to decorative art ; and every one will admit the high
position that country has taken in sculpture and the highest
branches of wood carving.
Whatever praise may be justly bestowed on the modern taste
of the French, in certain branches of decorative art, and how
ever much this may have been encouraged by them, still it is
not desirable that we should adopt from them all our models ;
for while many of their ornamental works are creditable, they
are too often deficient in breadth of style, grandeur, and simpli
city. They are also disfigured by elongated proportions, broken
outlines, and superfluity of ornament. Nor can an exaggerated
sentiment be compensated for by invention, fancy, or minute
ness of detail. With great quickness of perception and a fond
ness for effect, the French seem to appeal in their works to the
senses rather than to the feelings ; and to seek to captivate
rather than to command admiration. Their figures too offend
from a voluptuousness, theatrical treatment, a mock fierceness,
or an over-evident stamp of academic study ; and they fail in
ideality and elevated sentiment. They are also apt to appear
conscious of being looked at, and you feel sure, if they could
speak, it would be in French. Indeed, if Gallicism is found
202 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet n,
to have done an injury to the taste of Benvenuto Cellini (as
shown in his Diana of Fontainebleau and various works he
executed in France), as well as to that of some other Italian
artists, we may feel sure that the French, talented as they are,
should not be blindly imitated.] But we shall do right to
follow their example in the study and practice of drawing;
and, while we avoid their mannerisms, we may admire and
emulate their talent for invention and design. We may also
imitate them in the importance they attach to bronze-work,
for useful and ornamental purposes ; and though we must justly
applaud the efforts of an Elkington, we cannot but regret that
France should supply us with so many bronze castings, which
ought to be the productions of our own artisans.
21. [The great point, both in enabling the hand to execute,
and in giving the power of appreciating the beautiful, is the
education of the eye; for, as the ear is the judge of sound, so
the eye perceives the harmony of proportion, form, colour,
and every other condition, on which beauty depends. Pro
portion I place first, because it is the first condition of beauty,
whether in the figure, the flower, the vase, or the building.
It is like time to music ; and the first impression of an air is
pleasing if the time is correct, as rhythm was the first step
towards harmony. So too proportion has the first and most
striking effect, appealing as it does most immediately to the
eye ; and no amount of excellence in form or details will
compensate for a disregard of it. Nor would the most ele
gant Greek vase, or the most classical building, continue to
be beautiful if its proportion were altered. What would so
many Italian monuments that command our admiration be
without it ?] What is it that overcomes and disguises the
deformity of those huge scrolls, or inverted consoles*, which
* It would be well if other merits in the " Marble Arch " at Cumberland
Gate compensated for its inverted consoles.
§ 21. IMPORTANCE OF PROPORTION. 203
perform the office of buttresses to the dome of Santa Maria
della Salute, at Venice, but the beautiful proportion of that
part of the building itself?
It is certainly remarkable (as I have already shown in p. 183),
that the modern Italians should be so superior to their Eoman
predecessors in the perception of true proportion. One of
many instances of this may be seen in the figures, and other
accessories, crowning the Antonine and Trajan columns, given
by Piranesi ; and the beautiful fountains before St. Peter's, at
Eome, by an injudicious alteration of their proportions, [might
easily be made to assume the graceless and unmeaning charac
ter of our dumb-waiters. This too may be observed of foun
tains, that the column of water is almost as much connected
with the maintenance of proportion as the basins into which
it falls ; and arbitrary or incongruous combinations should be
avoided, whatever the character of a fountain may be. Thus
an elephant spouting forth water is unnatural and monstrous ;
and water running down stairs is objectionable ; for though the
caprice was adopted by the Arabs and by the Italians, as well as
at Pompeii, it is the result of bad taste and poverty of invention.
Nor should a fountain obtain any merit for throwing up a
column of water to an immense height, beyond that of being
the largest of squirts ; and its claims for precedence should
be laid among hydraulic machines, instead of works of
taste.] The importance of proportion was fully appreciated by the
ancients, and the first chapter of Vitruvius begins by pointing
out how necessary it is " for the existence of symmetry ;" and
if the Eomans did not really comprehend it to the same ex
tent as the Greeks, or the later Italians, they at least admitted
its value. Symmetry, in one sense, may be called the har
mony of proportion ; but there is really a difference between
proportion and symmetry, and the latter applies to the con
cord of the different parts with each other as well as with the
204
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
whole, as in the human figure; while an object which is of
one simple form, without detachable parts, is regulated by
proportion, as an obelisk, and other simple geometrical figures.
I do not, however, pretend to fix this as the real definition of
the two terms, but only mention the sense in which I view
them ; and that symmetry which implies " uniformity," or the
exact correspondence of parts (as of a building), I should rather
call " symmetricality," or " symmetrical arrangement."
[In no country of the present day is proportion so well
understood as in Italy; and nowhere is its importance so
clearly perceived as in the buildings of that country, where it
oftentimes happens that at first signt you are charmed with
the effect of an edifice, which, on closer examination, is
found to be deficient in form and in many of its details, or
replete with the barbarisms of broken outlines and the excres
cences of a debased style. And when such imperfections of
form as well as of details are concealed by the general effect
produced by the harmony of proportion, it is evident how
essential this last is for captivating the eye and giving the
impression of beauty.] Our own Wren may also be cited for
his thorough appreciation of it.
[As the perception of proportion, like the accuracy of the
ear in judging of sound, is a natural gift to some persons, it
may be improved by study ; and it may be taught, like music,
to all who are not destitute of every feeling for harmony.
Some, indeed, are incapable of comprehending it, as some are
unable to distinguish colours : but the habit of seeing and
having the attention drawn to it may go far towards instruct
ing the generality of those who might otherwise be left in a
wilderness of error.]
Some, indeed, think that general notions of proportion can
be easily obtained by observing certain rules applicable in
all cases, without the aid of the eye, which they hope to
over-rule by these fixed axioms ; but if they were sufficient,
§ 21. EULES FOE PROPORTION. 205
all might equally attain to excellence in the knowledge of
proportion ; whereas, on the contrary, experience shows how
rare it is in architecture, or in any ornamental composition.
It is this subserviency to mere rules, without any aid from
the perceptive faculties, that has led to many errors in build
ings of modern days, where the proportions of some Greek, or
other, edifice, have perhaps been accurately copied without
any reference to its position, and with a total forgetfulness of
the important fact, that it requires a different character if
built upon a level plain or upon a height. Again, how
different are the proportions in different kinds of architecture,
as in the Greek and Gothic styles ; and the same rules that
will serve for a depressed pediment will not apply to a pyra
mid, a gable, or a spire. Yet the eye will equally perceive
correctness or want of proportion in any one of them ; and
the Greek, and the varying lancet, window have both their
proper proportion, though so different in the ratio of the
breadth to the height. So, again, with animals, or other
natural objects ; and the horse and the cat, the snake and the
lizard, are equally beautiful and consistent with proportion,
though very different in their conditions. And is not the eye
a far better judge of this harmony of proportion in all these
animals than any rule by which it could be tested ?
Eules, however, may be laid down for the proportion of all
objects of geometrical form, and even for more complicated
figures ; and they would be of great use in correcting the
deformities we are daily condemned to behold in» our build
ings, vases, and articles of ornament and use. It is true that
no one can expect general rules to be laid down for the pro
portion of all objects ; the instances of the snake, the horse
and others, suffice to show that this is impossible; and it is evi
dent that we must appeal to the perceptive faculties. When
however, the eye has told us that the proportion of an object is
good, it is of importance, if possible, to discover the conditions
206 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
on which it depends. Thus, Mr. Lane has found that the best
proportioned Saracenic domes are those in which the height
and breadth are described upon a circle. Two lines are then let
/k \ fall perpendicular to the two oT-^osite
edges of the circle, to form the upright
sides; and another line drawn horizon
tally, as a tangent to the lower edge, forms
the base of the drum of the cupola, the
height of which reaches about half-way
to the centre of the circle ; and in this are
placed the windows, with an inscrip'tion
above them running round the neck of
the dome. Its point is then formed by
the addition of two ogee curves meeting in a point, sur
mounted by a cresent, and other ornaments.
[It is certainly easier to detect imperfections in form and
detail than in proportion ; and as the perception of proportion
is of the highest importance in judging of effect, and as it has
the greatest influence on the eye of all who appreciate beauty,
so it is the last (when not possessed as a natural gift) which
the uncultivated taste attains. Professor Cockerell observes,
" that we begin by admiring ornaments, details, and forms ;
but it is in a more advanced stage only that we make all
these subordinate to that sense of mythical proportion and
that harmony of quantities which affect the mind like a
mathematical truth ; and like a concord of musical sounds on
the ear, are perceived, and confessed as obvious and unalter
able." . . . "Custom, convention, and often incapacity of
discernment, reconcile us to those proportions we are most
used to, and we are blind to those defects which a fresh and
accomplished eye is at once shocked at$ yet the sense of
vision so studied by the Greeks is to be educated, like a real
moral sense, and every other, by the diligent culture of
science." . . . The informed artist recognises the claim which
§ 22. RULES NECESSARY. 207
this great element of art has above all others on his studious
attention ;" . . . " he seizes with delight any rule that will
conduct his works to the excellence so apparent and so univer
sally admitted in the Greek proportions ; he rejoices in any of
the slightest elements of the grammar and syntax, by which
he can attain to their eloquent language ; and he confesses
that without them all is confusion, hazard, and fashion."
22. Good and well defined rules are, indeed, most neces
sary in this, as in every other, study ; even those few who
possess a natural perception of the beautiful are benefited by
them"; and the generality of men cannot receive proper
impressions without their aid. Nor can instruction be im
parted to a beginner without enabling him to understand
what the eye is taught to admire. Eules, too, are required
for correcting such caprices as tend to mislead the taste ; and
the unfledged beginner must be content to be guided by
them, until he has received the power of independent flight.
But taste, while kept in order and directed by rules, should
not be wholly dependent on them ; they may be the leading-
strings of the tyro, not his crutches, on which, when grown
up, he is to rely ; and. unless he can then afford to act without
them, he will never rise above mediocrity and imitation. Nor
can rules be framed until a subject has been long established
and thoroughly understood.
It was this subserviency to fixed rules that cramped the arts
in ancient Egypt, which never escaped from the trammels of
conventionalism. The conventional is of its own age and
country, and is destined to perish. Not so real taste, which
is of all ages, and of every country which has the talent to
comprehend it. The Greeks, with their genius, could not
submit to have it fettered ; and it is right to bear in mind
that no new successful effort of genius was ever hampered by,
or dependent on, mere rules. But it is necessary to have the
genius, in order to be independent of them.
208 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
Eules embody, and convey to students, what experience has
established, and they guard against error ; but] good taste, as
Sir W. Scott truly says, " cannot be established by canons and
dicta ;" and the works of the old Italian masters owe their
marked superiority, over those of a later and a corrupt age,
to their being the result of genius and feeling, while the latter
were subservient to technicalities and rules. " Nobody," says
Locke, "is made any thing by having of rules, or laying
them up in his memory ; practice must settle the habit of
doing without reflecting on the rules ; and you may as well
hope to make a good painter or musician extempore by a
lecture and instruction in the arts of music and painting, as a
coherent thinker, or strict reasoner, by a set of rules." To
trust to rules in the formation of taste is hopeless. [No art
ever began with rules, as grammars never formed a language ;
and what Horace says of words, — ¦
" Multa renascentur que jam cecidere, cadentque
Quse nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus ;
Quem penes arbitrium est, et jus, et norma loquendi,"
holds equally true with regard to ornamental design. But
the changes or innovations must be such as taste and good
judgment can sanction ; and though genius may be encouraged
to invent, arbitrary ornament should not be tolerated, nor
changes be made from a mere desire of novelty. No ram's
horns, and ammonites, should be substituted for volutes in an
Ionic capital; no copies of natural objects should compose a
work of decorative art ; and no borrowing from a design of a
totally different character should be resorted to in order to
make up a deficient corner. It should have one motive or
intention throughout : — " servetur ad imum
Qalis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet ;
and many an Horatian maxim laid down for poetry may well
be applied as a rule in aesthetic art.
§ 23, 24. NATURAL OBJECTS COPIED. 209
23. The early steps made by the Greeks were gradual and
judicious ; they borrowed much from the styles of older peo
ple with whom they came in contact, and the same adoption
and adaptation of other notions (parce detorta) are seen to the
last in the various details borrowed from " the barbarian ;"
but which, by being made really beautiful, became their own.
They did not borrow in order to compose a new design,
but because what they selected suited it. This remark is
of course only applied to their ornamental art, not to their
sculpture of the human figure ; and though this last had in
early times a rude character, owing to their imperfect skill in
representing it, they gradually improved, and approached
nearer to truth, as they advanced. But neither at first,
nor after their taste had become formed, did they confine
themselves to conventional rules ; and even their architecture
was free from the trammels to which we have subjected it.
The proportions of a temple were not laid down according to
fixed measures, without reference to the position it was to oc
cupy ; they consulted their eye rather than their compasses ;
and a column was not necessarily of the same number of
diameters, because it was of this or that particular order.
Hence it happened, that no two Greek temples, no two sets
of columns of the same order in different buildings, were of
the same proportion ; as no two temples were confined to the
same kind of site. The hill, and vale, temples differed.
24. Among many mistakes made in modern Europe is the
custom of representing pictures on materials ill-suited for the
purpose : another is to make ornaments in decorative art
direct imitations of natural objects. Even certain materials
are suited to particular kinds of art ; and thus panel, canvas,
and the fresco wall are those most proper for paintings. In
all of these, near and distant objects and the various degrees
of distance can be represented with proper effect, by the dis
tinction of colour as well as by the effect of aerial perspective.
p
210 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
But when metal, stone, and similar materials are employed
to represent landscapes, or a number of distant figures in
bas-relief, they attempt what is out of their province : the
absence of aerial perspective in the metal or stone confuses
the foreground with the distance, and they both continue
to appear (as they are) on the same plane. Sculpture,
therefore, should abstain from a mode of treatment beyond
its own sphere. It has its own vocation distinct from that of
painting, and it only injures its own credit by aiming at one
which belongs to the sister art.
The error abounded in the middle ages ; but the Greeks
were satisfied in bas-relief with figures in the foreground ;
and the same maxim recommended by Horace for the stage,
— "Nee quarta loqui persona labor et" — led them to avoid
the introduction of figures four deep upon the stone. They
had no bas-relief in marble or bronze representing the battle
of Marathon, still less that -of Salamis : similar subjects were
reserved for painting; and it was for the tasteless Eomans
to disregard that principle, by representing the confusion of
battles upon such unsuitable materials.] Adaptability is to be
consulted in all cases. What is pleasing in one place is not
always so in another; and experience tells a painter that
even a view which looks well in nature is not always suited
for a picture. A ship is a beautiful object, but it is out of
place in sculpture ; and if its presence were required to il
lustrate some important event in the life of a naval hero,
the sculptor would do well to transfer the treatment of that
subject to the painter, and select some other record of him
more suited to his art. If it must be introduced, it should
be done in the least intrusive manner, and with the least
appearance of detail ; and a Greek in representing the de
parture from. Troy would prefer to introduce a small portion
of a ship, rather than the number of such unsuitable objects
§24. PERSPECTIVE IN METAL AND STONE. 211
which would appear in mediaeval sculpture.* The waves of the
sea, clouds, and trees, are equally ill-adapted to a bas-relief ;
and all attempts at distance and perspective are unsuccessful.
[Nothing but the exquisite skill of a Ghiberti could make us
tolerate background landscape, and distant as well as near
figures in bas-relief, or the different actions of the same
persons, on one field; and, however we may admire the
execution of the beautiful gates of the Florence bapistery
the introduction of background in bronze or marble is an
unjustifiable liberty.] This opinion, I am glad to find, accords
with the remarks of Sir C. Eastlake, who (in his " Literature
of the Fine Arts, p. 98) says, " the Greeks, as a general prin
ciple, considered the ground of figures in relief to be the real
wall, or whatever the solid plane might be, and not to repre
sent air as if it was a picture This was founded on
rational principles The shadows thrown by figures on
the surface on which they are relieved at once betray the
solidity of that surface ;" . . . . and the " absence of perspec
tive in Greek bassi-relievi was not from absolute ignorance
of its principles, but from a conviction that they would be
misapplied in sculpture." He then observes that even Vasari
" admits the absurdity of representing the plane on which the
figures stand ascending towards the horizon, according to the
laws of perspective, in consequence of which 'we often see,'
he says, ' the point of the foot of a figure, standing with its
back to the spectator, touching the middle of the leg,' owing
to the rapid ascent, or foreshortening of the ground. Such
errors, he adds, are to be seen 'even in the doors of San
Giovanni. ' " f
[Stone and metal are suited to statues and bas-reliefs, not
* See the ship in the departure of Chryseis, a painting found at Pompeii.
(PI. xxi. vol. i. Inghirami Gal. Omer.)
f Vasari Vit. Pit. Intr. Scult. ch. iii. where he speaks of the inferiority of
the antique treatment of bas-reliefs and of" mezzi-rilievi."
p 2
212
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
to pictures ; and the same applies to wood and other materials,
where objects are carved upon them; nor should a landscape
be tolerated on a fictile vase, nor even as a coloured painting
on a porcelain cup. This is one of several faults in the sump
tuous vases of Sevres manufacture ; which also not
uncommonly offend in proportion, and in an extra
vagant richness of decoration. There too we often
find a landscape, or a building; and this is not
only disagreeably contrasted with the tawdry gilding,
or the heavy colour, of the surrounding groundwork,
but being placed in a square compartment, at the
front (or back), appears to be cut in half as you walk to
the side, and ceases then to form part of the orna
mentation or general effect. A subject to decorate a vase
should be so placed that some equally interesting portion
of it should always be before the eye, like
those bas-reliefs so admirably introduced on the
best Greek vases. And when, which is some
times the case, the Greeks placed figures as a cen
tral picture, this may either find an excuse from
the vase having been intended to stand where it
could only have been seen in front, or may be
used as one of many arguments to show that
even they were not always right, and must not be blindly
imitated for their name alone. The same inadaptability of
material applies to the representations of pictures on tapestry,
worsted-work, and the like ; which, after all, are only imper
fect copies of copies.; and however well they may be executed,
they only excite our admiration in proportion to the difficulty
or the improbability of success on such unsuitable substances.
They aspire to what is out of their sphere, and they fail to
succeed in what they profess ; for, after all, the picture, be it
ever so good, is always inferior as a picture, and all the labour
has been spent to produce what is imperfect. To attempt
§25. PICTURES ON PORCELAIN. 213
what can only be deficient must necessarily be a wrong prin
ciple; and what can be farther from art than a design in
worsted-work, where every line is broken up into a minute
staircase ?]
25. Besides the difficulty of representing pictures on ma
terials unsuited to them, there is the impropriety of applying
the painted object to a purpose which directly interferes with
its effect ; and what can be more inconsistent than to have
part of a landscape on a plate buried beneath meat and vege
tables, or the juice of sweetmeats ? It is out of character
with the purpose to which the object is applied.. To make a
picture on a plate is a false principle ; and a picture on por
celain is generally out of place. In proportion too as it is
well executed, the error is so much the greater; for at the
same cost a real work of art might be made, which would be
good, not merely wonderful. Some designs of Palissy-ware,.
again, may represent eels and other live or dead creatures
admirably ; and they have their merits ; but if used for do
mestic purposes they would offend against reason and good
taste ; and, indeed, it was not the intention of that persevering
and persecuted man that they should be so employed, but
rather, as Labarte observes, to adorn the " dressoirs," which
were filled with vessels for show in the houses of the rich.
They are the result of ingenuity; and, as objects of caprice,
they find a proper place in a cabinet of curiosities. Even the
designs of the so-called Baphael-ware might have obtained
a better position on more suitable materials ; though much
of the admiration bestowed on them arises from a precon
ceived notion, which blinds many to the fact of the figures
being frequently deficient in grace, and to their colours being
almost always disagreeable. How often is an opinion pro
nounced out of deference to custom! and the name of the
real or supposed artist is apt to decide a spectator's praise.
Hence Majolica- ware has been overrated; and, moreover, the
p 3
214 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
higher pretensions of its designs, after the manufacture was
transplanted to Italy, rendered it less suitable to common
purposes than when in the hands of the Saracens, to whom
Europe was indebted for the useful art of glazing earthen
ware. Materials the most suitable for figures, as stone, terra-cotta,
and others, may be rendered less so by certain circumstances
which alter their conditions ; and not only are granite, por
phyry, and other coloured stones, ill suited to sculpture, but
even marble, when polished, offends by its shining surface.
Again, the gilding of statues is injurious to their effect; and
we are not surprised to find (Pliny xxxiv. 3) that the child, a
work of Lysippus, which Nero covered with gold, was thought
to be spoilt, and was therefore stript of that intrusive coat
ing : and Pliny complains of a statue of Janus being " hidden
by the gold that covered it " (xxxvi. 5). Nor will the value
of any material compensate for its unsuitableness. If statues
of gold were really of that precious metal, they would not be
admirable to any but barbarians ; and the same may be said
of the pretended emerald figures of the gods, even had they
been of real stone, and not, as they were, of glass. Nothing
can be more meretricious than the effect of such materials ;
and glass is sometimes used for purposes where a more durable
substance is required, and where its transparency, or its re
flecting surface, renders it objectionable : as in figures, large
colourless vases, &c. There is the same impropriety in making
figures of china, or glazed earthenware ; and it is only a genius
like that of a Luca, and the other Della Eobbias, which could
compensate for the bad effect of reflection from the glazed
surface of their admirable bas-reliefs. They would be intoler
able in works of inferior merit. And this is one of many
proofs that the mere fact of a talented artist having succeeded
in some particular method is not sufficient to justify an imita
tion of it ; and that judgment is necessary to prevent a blind
§26,27. NATURAL OBJECTS. 215
adoption of any style or peculiarity, which may, after all, be an
imperfection that none but a genius could overcome. Adapt
ability of materials should never be lost sight of; and even
the quantity of labour bestowed upon them should be propor
tionate to their excellence and their durability. Thus, it is
inconsistent with reason and good taste to make vases, or
other things, to which glass is really well suited, overcharged
with a profusion of carving and elaborate ornament. To see
a great amount of labour bestowed on so perishable a mate
rial excites a feeling of uneasiness and regret, which would
not have been felt if the vase had been of gold or silver ; and
the same sum paid for the fragile ornament would have been
better and more safely spent on a durable work of higher art.
26. [Whatever belongs to decorative design must be sub
servient to its conditions ; and if, as is sometimes permitted,
a small picture forms part of that design, it must conform to
the general effect, as in the Loggie of the Vatican and other
Italian buildings, where medallions and vignettes are admitted
into the general decorative composition. Even fresco painting
is bound to suit its effect to the ornamentation of a building,
and whatever is part of a design must accord and harmonise
with it ; while this must itself be subordinate to, and depend
upon, the general features of the building. But pictures on
panel and canvas are not subject to the same condition of orna
mentation as wall-paintings, as I shall have occasion to show.
27. The imitation of natural objects for mere ornamental
purposes usually disagrees both with the materials used, and the
place where they are introduced. It -is also an indication of
poverty of invention and a deficiency of taste for design. In a
carpet where roses and other flowers are figured, we find the
same impossibility of correct representation already mentioned :
the very best rose is always unlike the reality, while the ima
gination is diverted from the general effect by the comparison
of this imperfect copy with the natural flower. The same
P 4
216 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
objection applies to imitations of architecture, or any other
real object on a carpet; and the nearer the resemblance, the
more glaring the inconsistency of making you appear to crush
roses, or trip over the tracery of a Gothic window.
Not so with patterns, which are what they pretend to be,
which aim at proper effect in form and colour, and which
answer their real purpose — ornament — without disturbing the
imagination, or proclaiming their own incompatibility. They
decorate instead of affecting to represent; and thus it is that the
graceful combinations in Saracenic and other patterns delight
the eye, while they perform most completely the object they
have in view. Nor are they limited in their colour, as when
nature is copied ; and they assume whatever hue may suit the
general harmony of the whole design without violence to
truth.] The endless variety in the patterns of the Arabs
shows an extraordinary talent for combination of forms, much
more varied than those of the Greeks ; and the prohibition
against imitating the human figure, or natural objects, was com
pensated for by the stimulus given to the inventive talent.
To obtain ideas for ornamental art, nature should be care
fully studied, and the beauties she presents should be fully
understood; but she should not be directly copied in an
unsuitable material. It is the beauty of effect and the senti
ment of natural objects that are to be there represented,
not the actual resemblance ; and though many extol the imi
tation of real flowers and foliage in the mouldings of some
English and French cathedrals, it is rather the skill shown in
the resemblance, than the effect, which they really admire.
However good the copy, it has the fault already objected to,
of being an imperfect representation of what it vainly attempts
to imitate ; while it should have been satisfied with its proper
and humbler office of merely ornamenting.
28. [The Greeks were fully alive to this. Their mouldings
were not servile copies of flowers or other natural objects:
§28. THE BEAUTIFUL. 217
they took the idea, the motive, of the object, and made it an
ideal imitation, which was much more pleasing to the eye
than the imperfect attempt at representation in an unsuitable
material ; and it is evident that no copy of a real honeysuckle
would have been as beautiful an ornament as the conventional
flower and leaf we see in a Greek building. The same
idea was carried out by them in fancy borders,
on walls, vases, furniture, dresses, and objects of
common use; and, generally speaking, in all
ornamental decoration where figures were not
introduced. It was only in the decadence of art that they
adopted a somewhat closer imitation of real flowers, as on the
vases of Southern Italy. With the Greeks, "the beautiful
and the good " were closely allied ; and if they did not, like
one great German writer, include the good in the beautiful,
or consider the latter the higher of the two, they thought that
nothing in art could be good without being beautiful ; and to
be xa\bs ical aryaObs, " beautiful and good," was the highest
merit even in man.] Indeed, the former word was often
synonymous with "good;" as "valour" was with "virtue;"
which last idea finds a parallel in the use of the word " brave"
in French and Italian, as of old in English.
[The same feeling and ideal conception of the beautiful
enabled them (as I have already observed) to perceive, in the
ornaments of people less cultivated than themselves, whatever
possessed the germ of beauty ; and whatever they did borrow
they improved. Nor was this unworthy of their genius ; and
it would be well for us to recollect that the most accomplished
minds have not been above the adoption of what was beautiful
from other sources. They preferred what was good to what
was merely new ; and it is far better to have one thing good
than any number of new ones on the sole recommendation of
novelty. Nor was novelty the same recommendation to the
Greeks as to us ; and when our vendors of ornamental works
218 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
assure us that they are the "newest" (instead of the "best,")
and when good things go out of fashion to give way to some
fanciful novelty, we may vainly hope for taste either in the
maker or the public. The Greeks, on the contrary, repeated
the same favourite design for years, when once pronounced
good ; and when brought within the reach of all, it was com
mon without being considered " vulgar : " old types were also
reproduced under new forms, and new ones were not devised
by them because new ones were required, but because they
were suggested by their genius. There was not a manufac
ture of novelties, nor did their talents pander to the cravings
of wealthy caprice, and neglect the more important duty
of beautifying objects of daily use and humble life.] Even
the fickle Athenian, with all his rage for new ideas and specu
lations, did not allow his love of " some new thing " to influ
ence his taste, or induce him to discard good works of art for
some fashionable novelty ; and he did not prefer the foreign
to what was Greek.
29. [Among the common errors of people deficient in
judgment, and particularly of the English, are a blind admi
ration for the works of foreigners, (often without the necessary
inquiry into their merits,) and a disregard for greater talent in
their own countrymen. Nowhere is this more striking than
in the little honour paid to the wonderful genius of our Flax-
man ; who, had he been Herr Flackmann, or Herr Flaccus,
might have obtained the praise he merits here, and receives
abroad. We disregard the "prophet in his own country,"
and take the "ignotum pro magnifico" with complacent
innocence ; as we pronounce many manufactured articles im
ported from France to be far superior to our own, without
dreaming of their being the re-imported productions of En
glish artisans ; and a vocalist might have less chance of
admiration under the name of Mrs. Green than under that of
Signora Verde.
§29. MIXTURE OF MATERIALS. 219
The mixture of dissimilar substances and counterfeit imi
tations are to be avoided, equally with the unsuitable mate
rials already mentioned. The union of bronze (and, above
all, of bright brass) and wood is also objectionable; and even
some of the much-prized tables of Florence, in pietre dure,
imitating birds, flowers, and other natural objects, do not
accord with right principles. These are objects of wonderful
skill and costly magnificence, exciting a feeling of surprise at
the execution rather than of admiration for the design.]
It is also a false principle to inlay wooden tables, or other
pieces of furniture, with stone; and large masses of malachite
let into the sides and top of a table are out of keeping there.
We may tolerate and admire tables with the legs and every
other part of stone; though they are better suited to an
Italian than an English climate. A door made entirely of
stone, or of wood inlaid with stone, is inadmissible. Large
malachite doors may suit Eussian caprice, and may impose
on some easily captivated by display, but they are not con
sistent with good taste, and they convey an unpleasant idea
of having to move a heavy mass whenever you wish to go in
or out of the room, with the fear of some accident if care
lessly opened or shut; or you may perhaps know that it only
after all has a veneered surface, and that it is a specious imposi
tion. Those who delight in the employment of showy or costly
materials, in places ill-suited to them, mis- /g\
take the splendid for the beautiful, and bar- *
baric richness for elegance and taste. *
[The same may be said of the rich cabinets ^M. A
inlaid with brilliant stones and costly jewels, s|SI3333-
where the artist seems to have sought to JjfinifjiSi
make splendid what he failed to make beauti- Jgp^^ljpaL.,
ful; and where the tortured outlines, the Jjl^^A yk
twists, scroll-formed mouldings, and dis- (C./£ ^) s\
torted frame-work, which usually constitute «*\2?^^^^
220
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
a conspicuous part of them, proclaim the absence of all feeling
for elegance and purity of design ; and if a higher style of
work is attempted, by the substitution of human
figures for the legs, it falls as far short of nature
and of art as the sculptures of the South Sea
islanders. Such pieces of furniture excited the
general admiration of their time ; though a
clumsy superstructure, on slender deformed legs,
might call to mind the union of a corpulent body
and emaciated limbs.] Nor is the comparison to
works of the South Sea islanders a very exaggerated
one ; and some are so far removed from the beau
tiful and from the true principles of design, that it
is now and then difficult to decide on the score of
ugliness between a mediasval and a Maori-devil
wood carving ; and what is worse, they sometimes
affect to pass off as works of taste.
30. [Again, a statue or temple, made of glass, is
inconsistent and objectionable; and even a vase,
originally executed in stone, and designed for that
material, rarely bears the same character when
copied exactly in metal, pottery, or other sub
stance; and form, treatment and design must often vary
according to these conditions. False imitations are mean : a
cast-iron vase can only find an excuse in its durability for
standing where a fictile one would not be safe ; and a painted
counterfeit has the sad pretensions of a rouged face. Nor
can a pretended bronze statue of painted gypsum find a good
excuse in cheapness ; however we may allow it to the com
mon, unpretending, white cast. Again, the glass body of a
vase, with a metal handle, foot, or border, besides inconsis
tency, conveys a disagreeable feeling of insecurity in its use,
from the greater and less durability of the two materials ;
and you fear lest some accident should leave the handle alone
§30.
INCONSISTENT COMBINATIONS.
221
in your grasp. A want of skill in the maker is also implied
by the completion of his work in a different substance.
Many a glass or porcelain vase might remain without
handles if the maker did not apply in his embarrassment to a
friend in another trade ; and as the good-natured smith has
come to the rescue on one occasion, he is naturally appealed
to on another. A glass, therefore, having accidentally come
out as a long cup (fig. 1), without a foot to stand upon, the
smith is again solicited to supply the deficient member ; and
lest any superior invention should contrast too strongly with
the poverty of the original cup, the metal stand humbly
(10.)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
imitates its companion, and finds its own security in a
mass of nondescript groundwork, or imaginary vegetation
(fig. 2). It will be fortunate too if its deformity is not
increased by the contrast of metals of two different colours
besides that of metal and porcelain in the flower, as so often
seen in fanciful candlesticks, and other objects supposed to be
ornamental (fig. 3).] Nor can we admit the excuse that the
lower part represents the calyx of a flower. There is no reason
that a cup, a work of art, should imitate any natural object.
A flower performing an office not belonging to it is out of
place : and when composed of two different substances, it is
still more objectionable.
222 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
31. [But mixture of materials is not always resorted to
in order to escape from a dilemma : it is frequently thought
to be an improvement, and a sign of taste ; and a brass, gilt,
or silver, snake is coiled round the glass bottle for the double
purpose of ornament and support (fig. 4). Sometimes, how
ever, the dependence on metal being scorned, the fashionable
reptile is of the same material, and a snake of opaque blue
(11.)
Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8.
glass winds round the transparent beaker (fig. 5). This may
remove one objection, but still leaves that of poverty of
design ; as when a glass imitates a pineapple, which, too, is
generally found to borrow the foot of a tumbler to adapt it
for use (fig. 6).
Still more objectionable are the combination of two different
ideas and two incompatible natures to form a design ; and the
union "of the ugly fish and the beautiful woman," "the
dolphin in the wood and the boar in the sea," denounced by
Horace, are not more inconsistent than many of the anomalies
produced daily by our constructors of designs. In one a man
sits on a truncated column, with the branches of a candlestick
growing luxuriantly from his head, while he plays a lyre in
the character of Orpheus (fig. 7) : in another a stork performs
the unbirdly office of holding a light, or a cornucopia, in his
beak for the same purpose, as if to add another inconsistency,
and to show how little one part has any connection with the
rest (fig. 8). These faults are frequently made worse by the
same use of two different substances already noticed ;] and the
§ 81, 32. GOOD DESIGNS BADLY COPIED. 223
impression is given that the whole has been made up of the
remnants of several different kinds of objects fastened together,
without any claim to companionship. It is not however to be
understood, that nothing should be composed of two different
substances; this would condemn mirrors with frames, and
wooden chairs or couches covered with stuffs, and many other
objects where two or more materials are justifiable, and often
necessary. It is the composition of a design, not the setting
made of a different substance, that is to be condemned ; and
there will necessarily be some few exceptions even to this, as
to every other rule. Nor is it inadmissible to represent a
man, or a woman, supporting a candlestick, or other object,
provided it be really held by the hand, not growing from the
head, of the figure ; and every one will agree in admiring that
most graceful one by M. Angelo at the tomb of San Domenico,
in Bologna.
[Even in copying from good designs, and in the selection of
others of uncertain merit, the feelings and proportions of the
former, and the excellence or the defects of the latter, are not
always understood ; and we often see blunders such as these,
where the basin is altered into a size too small for the ewer
Fig. 9. Fig. 10. Fig. 11.
(fig. 9) ; and the spout of the classical prochous is immo
derately thrust up (fig. 10), while another is spoilt by the lip
being abruptly cut off (fig. 11).
32. Arts of design have a totally different office, and are
guided by very different principles from arts of imitation.
The former must be inventive, and independent of any direct
224 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
copy from nature, of which the idea alone should-, be
taken; and this is the more to be urged at the present
moment, as some still maintain that natural objects should be
chiefly selected for decorative art, and that workmen
should be furnished with casts from real leaves, &c. in order
that they may imitate them in architectural mouldings and
ornamental work,- — an error, as I have already shown, not
committed by the Greeks and others most remarkable for
good taste.
This ornamental work is of course distinct from subjects
adapted to the higher branches of sculpture and bas-relief,]
and the remark applies to what is mere ornamentation. It is
even better that the figures of animals, when merely orna
mental accessories of architecture, and not forming part of a
bas-relief, nor intended to represent a reality, should have a
conventional form; and the quaint lions we admire in mediaeval
churches supporting columns, as in other un-leonine occupa
tions, would be intolerable if they exactly represented real life.
But the human figure should not be degraded by convention
alism, except in arabesques. It should be as true to the reality
as high art can make it, even when employed in ornamentation.
Nowhere does the inferiority of mouldings directly imitating
natural objects, compared to conventional ones, appear more
evidently than when they are placed near to sculptures of
human figures ; and what should we think of a metope of the
Parthenon, or any Greek sculpture surrounded by an imitation
of real flowers ? The festoons of fruit and flowers in Eenais-
sance buildings are only an exaggerated application of this
false principle ; and a similar meretricious taste induced
some Dutch, and other, artists, to paint a wreath round land
scapes and portraits. Among the many reasons why natural
objects ought not to be preferred for ornamentation, one impor
tant one is, that a building is a work of art, and is not copied
from nature. The parts of it are also conventional, and one
§32. NATURAL OBJECTS. 225
of those parts is the ornamentation. In a building we do not
look for copies of natural objects ; they are opposed to the
character of so artificial a creation ; and it is as inconsistent to
represent real plants climbing up its walls, as to make columns
in the form of trees. We only excuse these errors in an
Egyptian temple, as we there and there only excuse a capital
composed of one or four human heads. Flowers have no
connection with, or relationship to, a building ; and the atten
tion being arrested by so many representations of real objects
(for, however unintentionally, it is always disposed to inquire
whether the resemblance is successful), becomes diverted
from that more ' important consideration, — the effect of the
building, of which they are merely ornamental accessories.
It is true that statues are introduced in buildings, both
internally and externally, and they are real representations of
natural objects ; but they are not on a par with mere orna
mentation, and though subservient to the general effect, with
which they should never interfere, they are not degraded to
the level of a mere moulding, or a pattern. We have statues,
pictures, and frescoes in our houses and public buildings ; but
they are not mere ornaments, like mouldings, or the decora
tive parts of architecture ; they are admired for their own
merits. But this is not the case with ornamental details,
which depend for the approbation they obtain on the office
they fulfil in the building, and are inseparable from the
purpose for which they are placed there.
Again, if we imitate the exact form, we must copy with
equal fidelity the particular hue of the plant ; and as the
colours we select in decorating a building are conventional,
and depend upon their position, it must happen that the
colour of the plant will not always be the proper one ; while
the conventional rose, or other flower, may assume whatever
hue is required for the harmony of the surrounding objects.
We cannot have here a red, there a blue, or a golden rose,
Q
226 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
if copied from the real flower. This may accord in form,
not in colour, with the position required; and, besides, the
disproportionate quantity of green would be fatal to the
harmony of the design, and would at once introduce that
very fault, — a redundancy of green, which offends so much
in the works of a debased age. For these reasons, copies of
real plants are open to objection. They do not however
apply equally to human figures, as their colours can be varied
by the more arbitrary hues of dress ; though I do not by
this mean to advocate the use of human figures for mere orna
mentation. Again, there is more play of light and shade,
and greater effect to be obtained by the conventional, than by
the natural, flower ; and the tracery of capitals and idealised
foliage of the 1200 are far more pleasing than the most care
ful copies of real flowers, which gained ground in the Deco
rated style, and became rampant amidst the overwrought
productions of the Eenaissance. The most varied ana the
most beautiful specimens of ornament, which are those of the
ancient Greek, the Byzantine, the Saracenic, the Norman,
and the early Pointed, architecture, were conventional, not
direct, copies from nature ; and it is gratifying to find my
opinion accord with that of so competent an authority as
Mr. Wornum, who says, " in nearly all designs of this kind,
applied to useful purposes, you frustrate the very principle of
nature, upon which you found your theory, when you repre
sent a natural form in a natural manner, and yet apply it to
uses with which it has, in nature, no affinity whatever." . .
" The details of all great styles are largely derived from nature,
but, for the most part, conventionally treated; and theory
and experience seem to show that this is the true system."
("Analysis of Ornament," pp. 10, 15.) I am also glad to be
supported in this view by the valuable opinion of Mr. Owen
Jones, who observes, " that, in all the best periods of art, all
ornament was rather based upon an observation of the princi
ples which regulate the arrangements of form in nature than
§33. " SPIEIT OF ORNAMENT. 227
on an attempt to imitate the absolute forms of those works :
and that, whenever this limit was exceeded in any art, it was
one of the strongest symptoms of decline — true art consisting
in idealising, and not copying, the forms of nature."*
33. [But while insisting on the false principles of direct imi
tation for architectural designs, I admit of certain exceptions
to this as to every rule ; deviations from which must depend
on the discrimination of a talented artist. Thus the rope
moulding, so admired on the tower of Belem and other
building*, and a mixture of natural objects in certain kinds
of mural decoration (as on walls and ceilings of Italian and
Pompeian rooms), are allowable, provided they are subser
vient to — and the accessories, not the staple of — the general
ornamentation. J
Indeed, in my objection to the direct imitation of natural
objects, as foliage and flowers, for architecture, I do not in
clude the imitation of their general spirit and character;
and though the exact resemblance should not be attempted,
the general principles of nature may be followed, and con
vention of foliage be based on the study of natural plants. The
rose, and the bell, or the cruciform-shaped, flower, the ivy, the
vine, and many others, may be conveniently treated without
losing their peculiar character ; like the honeysuckle, the acan
thus, and others, in Greek ornament ; and the oak and the
maple, the trefoil, and the strawberry leaf, may be kept dis
tinct without being exact copies of nature. I therefore
readily acknowledge the advantage to be derived from a
study of natural productions for ornamental flowers and
foliage ; and it is certainly important that students should be
imbued with a feeling for their beauties, a thorough know
ledge of their elementary forms, and a comprehension of the
true principle of treating them conventionally. They should
* See other excellent remarks in his paper on the " Principles of Ornament,"
read at the Royal Institution of British Architects, Dec. 15, 1856, p. 28.
Q2
228 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
know how the conventional is to be derived, how varied,
from the natural ; and when this is well understood it will be
easy for them to introduce variations of conventional foliage
without depending solely on oft-repeated designs, or the
commonplace imitation of natural flowers. It was the
hackneyed repetition of old and ill understood types which
was so injurious to architectural ornamentation in the latter
periods of the Eoman Empire, when a continual departure
from the original had debased the acanthus of the Corinthian
capital, and other forms, so as to leave in them little resem
blance either to the original foliage, or the conventional sub
stitute ; and a thorough knowledge of the principles on which
ornament is formed is necessary to prevent the common error
of introducing it without a reason, and in some position to
which it is unsuited.
The choice of an appropriate ornament should always be
matter of primary consideration in architecture, as in every
decorative art ; and we should have no melange of the pin
nacle and the tea-urn, as an ornament on the summit of a
balustrade before the roof of a house ; no huge stone bullets
poised on a gate-post ; no vases for chimney-pots ; and no
mock trophies in stone, or plaster, commemorating no triumph,
but merely hiding a blank wall. Nor should any one sup
pose that the adoption of a caprice is to be sanctioned by
antiquity ; and if the Etruscans placed the heads of horses,
as well as of men, over a gateway, as at Perugia, or if the
beaks of ships sprouting out of a column were thought
worthy of being a Eoman monument, we should avoid such
caprices as carefully as any of modern times.
34. [A glaring inappropriateness of subjects to particular
materials and to particular places is observable in the silver
ornaments of our dinner tables and their plateaus. Here, in
our massive and costly centres, and other pieces of decora
tive plate, instead of figures gracefully grouped to form a
§34 INAPPROPRIATE SUBJECTS. 229
subject worthy of the material,' or some composition showing
a feeling for ideal beauty, are the horses of Mamelukes and
knights, palm-trees, dogs, or other imitations of common
place objects from real life, proclaiming the usual want of
invention, and being thoroughly unmeaning and out of place.
As no effort of genius led to the design, so no idea of taste
is connected with them; they are more or less Hke the reahty,
but suggest no talent beyond the skill of the copyist and of
the workman; and as the " faber incertus" is guided by
chance in his selection from the menagerie, a horse may come
forth, or an elephant, according to his momentary caprice.
Eeason, taste, and ideal beauty have no part in such a selec
tion ; and where a more extended work is required, a number
of parts are generally put together to complete the required
dimensions ; without combination, or a " motive."]
There are, however, cases in which animals may constitute
its chief features ; when, for instance, a cup has reference to
the turf, to field sports, or some other subject connected with
them ; when it will claim the merit of being consistent, and
suited to the occasion. [Again, in those centre-pieces of plate,
when an attempt is made to introduce the figures of men, they
are frequently of various sizes, and characters, in several dis
tinct stages, totally unconnected with any general design; and
when classical drapery is imitated, it is not the figure wearing
it, but the drapery, that is designed, which too is thrown by
a gale of wind into fluttering folds, and has all the mannerism
and extravagance of the worst cinque-cento style. Or if an
effort is made at composition, the fanciful is generally sub
stituted for the ideal ; and its deformity is increased by %
overwrought ornament and crowded details.] This custom of
introducing human, or other figures, of various sizes, in the
same composition, is generally objectionable, whether in silver
or in stone ; and not less so are groups of men in one part,
and birds or animals in another; the men half, the birds
o. 3
230
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
double, life size. Nor are these confined to the sides or the
foot of a stone Maltese vase, but are met with in works of
far higher pretensions.
35. [The putting together of different objects to form a
design is a common fault; and we may see a chandelier,
(13 ^ composed of a concatenation of vases, lyres, and
other things ; the whole attached to, or separated
from the ceiling by a misplaced eagle, a hand, or
other object quite at variance with the rest.] A
chandelier is, after all, only excusable for its utility
in giving light, not easily obtained in the same
quantity with equal convenience; but when, in
addition to the general objection of cutting the
room in half, it is frightful in form, it becomes
intolerable. A vase, mounted on a pedestal, with
branches springing out of its mouth to form a candlestick, is
another instance of inconsistency ; generally made worse by
being of elongated proportion, and made both of
metal and porcelain, combined with a profusion
of gilding. Some too, who undertake to make
designs, show their incapacity by repeating the
same idea in every work they produce ; and there
is a similar want of real genius in those who can
not vary the same subject in painting, — so dif
ferent from the fertility of invention that marks
Eaphael's varied treatment of the Madonna.
[To copy some utensil in order to make one for
a totally different purpose, and in a different ma
terial, is another sign of poverty of invention ; as
when a porcelain bowl imitates the yellow colour
and the construction of a wooden tub, which
is rendered still more objectionable if it affects
(14.)
(15.)
"™w to be bound with blue ribbons in lieu of hoops.
False pretences are always bad, both in a
§35. " ONE OBJECT FOR ANOTHER. 231
moral and artistic point of view. Of a similar kind is a bed-
candlestick, made of two shells, with a branch of coral tor
tured into a handle ; or a golden boot, with bootjack, intended
to decorate a lady's wiiting table, and to perform the duty of
(16.)
Fig. 2.
a box of lucifers ; and as Eomans sinned in designing for a
lamp a human sandalled foot of bronze, the same is adopted
by us for some other equally irrelevant purpose. Thus de-
cipit exemplar vitiis imitabile.] In like manner, an ink
stand in the form of a boat, or a porcelain vase converted
into a clock, are far from commendable; a suitable design
should have been made for each ; and the old fashioned case-
clocks, which were not ashamed of their office, were far
better than our modern whimsically travestied ones disguised
under a false shape. But to represent a subject in bas-relief
on a piece of furniture, or any ornamental object, whether of
metal, stone, or wood, is perfectly consistent with good taste,
even though that subject may not in any way have reference
to its use. It is making one object serve for another of a
totally different character that is objectionable; and the same
applies to a mixture of designs, as when chairs and other
pieces of furniture are half composed of scrolls, or of architec
tural details. Bronze vases, having stags' heads for handles,
with wreaths of flowers festooned at the sides, are another
kind of heterogeneous compound, showing an utter want of
compatibility. It is a union of parts quite at variance with
each other. But such-like anomalies abound.
[Nor are we alone in this inconsistency. The combination
of incongruous objects is not wanting in France, Thus a,
Q 4
232 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
clock is composed of unmeaning elements, often with figm-es
equally at variance with the idea, and with the dimensions of
a dial-plate ; or it takes the form of a chariot wheel, or a
sun-flower, for no other reason than because they suit its
shape.] And yet there are many appropriate- models for
clocks, such as were common in France and Germany after
the Eennaissance, some simple, others more highly orna
mented, having the great merit of appearing to be intended
for the purpose for which they were made. Such is that
made at Augsburg in the middle of the 1500 (given by
Labarte, p. 378, fig. 163), and now in the South Kensington
Museum ; which, though it offends against good taste in the
introduction of the horses on the summit and base, is pleas
ing in its form and general character. [Lamps and other
articles of use, are similarly composed ; and in France the
love of decoration too often overbalances what is necessary
or useful; so that splendid ornaments are frequently con
trasted with a deficiency of the most common requisites in
the] unseen portions of a house.
This was also the case in the houses of ancient Eome;
and in the same apartments where "gold and ivory shone
forth," where the external decoration that caught the eye was
splendid and costly, objects not intended to be seen were
common and unfinished. It must, however, be admitted that
Greek and Etruscan taste had introduced into Eome a pre
valence of good form in ordinary utensils ; and the saucepan
and the strainer, the terra-cotta vase and the lamp, were as
remarkable for their elegance as for their finish ; and it would
be difficult to find among them the uncouth shapes of our
wine-bottles, or of the usual utensils in our houses. But it
was to others more polished than themselves that the Eomans
were indebted for their selection of good works ; and as taste
was acquired, not natural to them, they sought them as a
luxury. Greece, therefore, was plundered in order that
§86,37. EOMAN WANT OF TASTE. 233
Eomans might gratify a pride rather than a pleasure in their
possession. Indeed, they were so far from the real apprecia
tion of them, that they spoilt what they borrowed whenever
they attempted any change of their own, as Eoman architec
ture sadly demonstrates ; and though Horace affects to say
they painted and danced more skilfully than the Greeks, they
were always deficient in art. Their calling was, as they
boasted, conquest ; and Virgil has given their sentiments in
these well-known lines : —
" Tu regere imperio populos, Bomane, memento :
Hse tibi erunt artes ; pacisque imponere morem,
Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos:"
the last of which inculcates the most odious doctrine of a
savage conqueror, that no mercy was to be shown to a peo
ple who dared to defend their liberty.
36. The Etruscans, on the other hand, appreciated the
arts they had derived from Greece ; and whether or no an
early Pelasgic relationship may have contributed towards
their fondness for works of art, which was increased by an
influx of Greek settlers at a later period, they became the
zealous encouragers of Greek talent, and often its successful
imitators. And this, with the pervading Greek element in
several parts of Italy, may well account for the taste in
herited by the Italians. For though a blank period inter
vened, taste was inherited by them ; nor did they imitate the
antique without having a capacity for feeling its intention ;
and while they have surpassed all others in copying from
classical models, they have also given to painting a grace of
design, and a grandeur of conception, to which no others
have attained, and which we may presume was never sur
passed, if equalled, in Greece.
37. But it is a mistake to suppose that Greek legends
alone offer subjects for high art: the history of no country
234 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
is deficient in them ; and many scenes from a Dante, a
Milton, a Shakspeare, a Spenser, or other poets, and, above
all, from the Bible and Testament, are far superior to any
of a classical age. Christian story, as I have already ob
served (p. 200), abounds in feelings of a far more exquisite
and exalted kind; and it is to be regretted that mediaeval
sculpture was interfered with by the imitation of Pagan
ideas. It is the fault of modern days that the antique is too
slavishly copied; and that subjects for which we can have
no real feeling are forced upon us, to the discouragement of
efforts of independent genius. An ideal figure of youthful
beauty must be a nymph ; exquisite form in man or woman
must be confined to a heathen deity ; the emblems of death
must be Pagan; and that most graceful conception, the
angel, must give place to some ancient one, with which we
have no kind of sympathy. Natural talent and invention
are thus cramped ; and the " servile herd of imitators ex
cite our anger and our ridicule," by an exclusive and affected
admiration of some conventional type totally unconnected
with their own feelings, or habits of thought.] We should
be surprised to find a bas-relief in Greece, representing the
legendary history of Osiris, or the victories of an Egyptian
Bemeses ; and still more to discover in Egypt a record of the
triumph of the Israelites at the Eed Sea.
Good forms and good patterns may properly be adopted
from the works of bygone artists, as hints may be taken from
Greek, Moorish, or other styles; but then the imitation
should be made with judgment ; and nothing is more incon
sistent than a copy (generally a caricature) of Arabic sentences,
or Egyptian hieroglyphics ; which, appropriate as ornaments
when used by those to whom they conveyed some idea, are
quite out of place as an English decoration.
[It is well to contemplate " day and night " the merits of
" Greek models," and to comprehend the real sentiments which
§38. GEEEK SUBJECTS. " 235
guided their talented authors; but this differs widely from
mere imitation, which, after all, only produces an inferior
copy, and depends on the eye, without calling forth any efforts
of the mind. What, indeed, can be more ridiculous than
representing our kings and conquerors in the garb of ancient
heroes ? It only finds a parallel in the Greek temples re
presented by old masters in scriptural subjects, with the men
in mediaeval armour ; or in that absurd custom (unheeded at
the time) of dressing our actors, when in the characters of
Caesar, and other personages of a Eoman play, in European
costume ; which we only laugh at now in the " Comic Latin
Grammar." We should study their habits for historical paint
ings ; and the insight we have obtained into Oriental manners,
costumes, and scenery, as well as architecture, is of the highest
importance to modern artists in the representation of scrip
tural subjects, and should by no means be neglected.]
38. If it is ridiculous for us to allow the "imagination to
wander among the mythological fables, or the glories, of Greece
and Eome, in preference to subjects connected with our own
religion, history, and poetry, it is equally so to adopt an old
or a conventional mode of representing real objects; and an
ancient horse copied for a modern equestrian statue is equally
an anomaly with a completely classical costume for the rider.
Again, in imitating the architecture of an early style, it is a
glaring impropriety to adopt what are its imperfections.
There is no reason why our statues should be made unnatural,
or ill proportioned, because those who erected the original
building were incapable of executing good sculpture ; and the
mediaeval character of the copy may be as well maintained
though grace be given to its sculptured figures. Had the old
sculptor been able, he would have done so himself: why then
imitate an imperfection ? for at the same period when he was
showing his incapacity for high art, some buildings in Italy
and in France were receiving sculptures of a higher order ;
236
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
and it was not always the age, but the builders, in many
instances, that caused the faulty character of the details.
At all events, to copy bad figures in buildings or in furniture,
because the limited progress of art prevented their being
correctly represented at any particular period, is a fault.
The human figure should always be of the highest order of
sculpture. A grotesque being, or the union of a man's head
with an animal's body, or a human figure connected with
foliage, is a distinct condition ; it ceases to be a man ; and it
is then subject to the ordinary treatment of ornamental pat
terns. Whether good taste should sanction a human figure
terminating in the leaves and stems of plants, or the heads
and tails of animals sprouting with the convolved foliage of
what has been miscalled arabesque ornament, is a separate
question ; but a certain license may be allowed to fancy
ornament. 39. The choice of subjects too from modern sources may
be equally objectionable ; and when these are selected from
nature, care should be taken that things unworthy of being
copied, and objects ill-suited to art, be avoided ; lest admira
tion for commonplace realities of the day should encourage
the same false taste which once allowed porcelain figures
of clowns, shepherdesses, love-making minstrels, and other
vulgar conceits, to usurp the place of subjects fit for sculp
ture. These may come imder the denomination of works
of caprice; but are as distinct from works of art as is
another class, which may be called works of ingenuity, such
as the ships, carriages, and intricate carvings in ivory and
various materials, by which the Chinese excite our wonder.
They may deserve praise in their own sphere, but should not
affect a place beyond it. The imitation of a modern object,
and the revival, or still more the imaginary reproduction, of
an ancient one, without inquiring whether it is beautiful or
consistent, are senseless whims ; and some of the grotesque
§39,40. INCONSISTENT COPIES. 237
inconvenient things which encumber our rooms are the result
of this want of judgment.
Here a pair of tongs, tortured to adapt itself to a supposed
mediaeval form, is found to be incapable of taking up a coal,
or a log of wood. There a table, a seat, or some other piece
of furniture trips you up by the unexpected projection of an
awkward protuberance at the foot of its distorted leg ; and
many a carved wooden bedstead is so porcupined with spikes
and sharp knobs, that you almost fear to approach it, and
and connect with it an idea of pain rather than of repose.
Admiration for the old should not blind us to the bad it
may have; but still we may make a house unite the advantages
of modern improvements with the picturesqueness of an older
style. Is there any reason why we should exclude large panes
of white glass from mullioned windows, denying ourselves
much light and a clear view, merely because our ancestors
could only obtain diminutive pieces of it ? Would they have
used these had they possessed our larger panes ? and even if
so, is this a reason for our imitating an inconvenience, which
has neither beauty nor architectural necessity to recommend
it ? On the other hand to paint, or whitewash, old paneling,
or other carved wood-work (as if the plague had been in the
house) is as gross a barbarism as substituting sash for mul
lioned windows in a castle. That too which may be tolerated
under certain conditions may be objectionable under others;
and the flat-relief, which is so effective in the conventional
style of Egyptian sculpture, would in a modern work of art
be bald and poor, and give to the figures the appearance of
being cut out in card, and pasted on the surface of the stone.
By flat-relief I do not of course mean ordinary bas-relief (such
as the Panathenaic procession, to which it has been some
times erroneously applied) but with a flat surface parallel to
that of the background.
40. [There is often a tendency in persons, incapable of dis-
238
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
tinguishing between good and bad art, to censure at first sight
what is presented to them, with a view to cover ignorance,
and affect discrimination ; and if anything can be discovered
to excite ridicule, it is eagerly laid hold of to conceal the want
of real criticism. This has been fully exemplified in the
statue of George IIL, where the pigtail has served as a most
useful scapegoat for ignorance ; and the merits of the rider,
placed so admirably in his saddle, the resemblance of a horse
to a horse (both of them rare in equestrian statues) and the
oneness of conception in the whole subject, are unperceived;
and even the secondary recommendation it possesses, of not
being placed too high above the eye, has been found fault
with, merely because custom has sanctioned the mistake of
sacrificing art to honour, or to caprice, by an over-elevated
position. For it is an obvious error to place an equestrian
statue at such a height that the soles of the rider's boots and
the belly of the horse shall be presented to the spectator as
its most conspicuous features ; or (if looked at from a proper
distance) that it shall cease to be distinctly seen. What,
again, is more inconsistent than raising a statue on a column ?
where neither the art of the sculptor, nor the features of the
hero, can be discovered ; and no greater poverty of invention
can be shown, than by extracting one member of a building,
and depriving it of the office for which it was created, (of sup
porting an entablature,) in order that it may render the
individual it exalts almost invisible ; while " stans pede in
uno," it might be the solitary remnant of a ruined temple.
This was a caprice welcomed by Eoman bad taste, which
also introduced the truncated column to support a bust, thus
giving it another head instead of its own.] And though, as
Pliny tells us (xxxiv. 6), the custom of placing statues on
columns originated in Greece ; though the figure of a deity,
a sphinx, or some emblems are represented on a column in
Greek paintings ; and though mention is made of Greek
§40. COLUMNS. OBELISKS. COLOSSI. 239
statues on columns, like the bronze one of Chrysippus noticed
by Plutarch; (Stoic. Eep.) they offer no excuse for the incon
sistency, and are instances of some of the errors occasionally
committed by the Greeks. The Eomans felt the want of a
lofty vertical line as a contrast to the monotonous horizontal
roofs of their houses and temples ; but it was only incapacity
to invent which led them to exaggerate the column to an
unreasonable size for the purpose. The Egyptians felt the
same want, but they invented the obelisk as a contrast to the
long summit of their temple fronts *, and however imperfect
their style of sculpture they did not make the obelisk the
support of a figure, nor raise a statue on a pedestal fifty or
a hundred feet from the ground. They erred in a fondness
for colossal statues ; which are only to be sanctioned on cer
tain conditions. But it is a mistake to suppose that these
were confined to Egypt, India, and some countries where bar
baric taste prevailed. The Greeks had even larger colossi
than those of a Thothmes, or a Eemeses. Nor were they the
offspring, as generally supposed, of " the decline of art," since
it was at its height in Egypt and Greece when they were used
there ; the mythological idea of greatness which they were
intended to convey was common to both countries, and the
colossal statues of Jupiter and Minerva were the works of
Phidias. It was at a time when Greek art was most
flourishing, from the age of Phidias to Alexander, that some
of the most noted' colossal statues were made; and in the
reign of Alexander it was proposed to cut Mount Athos into
the largest figure ever designed in any age or country. The
colossus of Ehodes too was higher than any Egyptian figure.
If the Eomans imitated them they were mere copyists, and
being influenced by bad taste, they chose what was bad.
For however admirable was the taste of Greece, there were
occasions in which it" slumbered;" and as the Greeks did
* See below, § 42, p. 244.
240 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
now and then deviate from its true principles, there is the
greater necessity for our knowing why we copy them, and
for avoiding the blind imitation of any work out of a mere
respect for the name of its author. Who, indeed, would ad
vocate the introduction of Doric triglyphs over Ionic columns ?
and yet the Greeks have left instances of this, as well as of a
round-headed pediment terminated at each end by a scroll ;
and of vases in the form of human heads surmounted by small
figures, such as we see in the tombs of Cumae and Canosa.
Nor are other examples wanting of their occasional oversight
in such matters ; and it was far from judicious in them to
adopt the Caryatides, Telamones, and Hermes figures " from
the Barbarian." It is not sufficient to find some ancient
example ; it must be one worthy of being imitated. We often
hear this excuse for an anomaly — " there is authority for
it;" but no authority can justify the imitation of what is bad ;
and any one who adopted a copy of the Duilian column as a
naval monument would raise a memorial of his own want of
taste. As the human figure is necessarily the standard, by which
we estimate the size of every object we behold, its dimensions
should be our guide for those of the statue that represents it ;
and the colossus (or the statuette) has the effect of decreasing
(or increasing) the apparent size of whatever is near it ; though
there are situations even in a building where a statue may be
larger than Hfe, when it does not interfere with the effect of
surrounding objects, or when a particular position sanctions
an increase of size. There are also cases where a colossal
figure may be tolerated, and even produce a good effect ; and
that of the Saviour, in the mosaics or frescoes of Italian and
other churches, surrounded by figures of smaller size, en
joys an importance as the principal object, without injuring
the proportion of the building, and makes the whole subject
grand and impressive ; a good example of which is in the
§ 41. COLOSSAL FIGURES. 241
dome of the Bapistery of Padua. In those cases when it is
intended to give an impression of its own size, and does not
deceive the eye, the colossal figure is allowable ; and that of
the Saviour on the ceihng of the apse of S. Paolo at Eome,
like that of Monreale near Palermo, is impressive without in
terfering with the proportion of the building. The eye is
aware of its size, and no longer makes it the standard ; and
there are besides other figures and objects which would cor
rect the delusion, even if any were caused by it. But this
is distinct from the notion that size, either in the figures, or
in the dimensions of a picture, is necessary for grandeur ; and
a recourse to this expedient is generally a sign of inability to
produce the effect -without it. Size too may be obtained on
the smallest scale by the relative proportions of surrounding
objects ; as importance may be given to any subject in paint
ings of moderate dimensions, quite as well as by covering
enormous masses of canvas with colossal figures.
41. [Deficiency of taste, and a total misunderstanding of
proper sentiment, are frequently shown in the treatment of
funereal monuments. It is a mistake, and a disagreeable one,
to represent the person thus honoured as a dead corpse:
this can only convey a painful impression ; and it is not his
body which was honoured in life, but his virtues, his mind,
and the various quahties of his soul. The body is now in
its last resting-place — the grave; but should not be dragged
out of it to present an unseemly sight to the spectators,
and to be an improper subject for art; and, above all,
no skeleton, skull, or bones, should disfigure the monument,
by detailing the horrid consequences of death. Whatever
representation is given should have reference to the character
of the deceased when aHve, or commemorate the affection of
his friends, and their regret at his loss ; and those sculptors
were right who alluded to some act of his Hfe ; or with proper
reHgious feeling introduced him in a posture of devotion, as in
mediaeval times.] The portrait of an individual placed over
K
242
ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN.
PAET II.
his tomb would certainly be of a Hving, not of a dead man ;
and there is the same motive for representing his likeness in
sculpture as in painting. And while mentioning tombs, I
cannot but praise the feeling and refinement exhibited in
those of our great sculptor Flaxman ; nor can I omit to
mention the elegant form of the Gothic canopied ones (espe
cially those of the 1200) which we so often admire in Italy,
and sometimes in this country; where the figure of the
deceased lies on the stone coffin or sarcophagus, often with an
angel of graceful form at his head and feet ; the whole covered
(17.)
Fig. I.
Fig 2.
Fig. 3.
by a round, pointed, or cusped arch*, within a pediment;
having richly coloured designs painted, or in mosaic, within
the vaulted recess, and on the wall from which it projects.
Some of these sarcophagi are placed on brackets, and the
columns themselves have the same kind of support. They
all look well, — but I am rather disposed to prefer the
columns resting on the ground, — a support requiri/ng a
* I have seen a curious instance of an arch in the Great Oasis, in an early
Christian tomb of Eoman time, which is the first approach to the trefoil arch.
Mummy cases long before were cut into this form ; but here is an arch of that
construction.
§42. SOME OF OUE MONUMENTS. 243
support being a paradox; and for those of greater preten
sions good models are offered by the grand monuments of
the ScaUgeri, and the Norman kings of Sicily at Palermo, as
by other tombs in some of our own and foreign churches.
How much, better are the canopied tombs, or the simple
figure lying on the Hd of the sarcophagus, than our fanciful
monuments, sometimes with ghastly skeletons ; or with pon
derous clouds in marble, forming part of the composition;
sometimes with a background consisting of a slice of black
marble, half pyramid half obeHsk, adhering to the wall ; and
frequently overloaded with vases, amori/ni, wreaths, and
Pagan emblems. These are unworthy of being called de
signs. Nor are we more fortunate in our adoption of an
obeHsk for a monument ; whether it be a memento of the
dead, or in commemoration of some event. We attach no
idea to it ; we do not even comprehend its real shape, its true
proportions, or its use ; we flatten and spoil its most beautiful
part, the apex ; and the selection of an obelisk for such pur
poses shows great want of taste, and poverty of invention.
It is much on a par with the erection of a pagoda as an
EngHsh monument; it is a borrowed form, badly chosen, and
totally unmeaning.
42. Perhaps while speaking of obelisks I may be permitted
to introduce some remarks I have had occasion to make on
that subject. " It has been recommended that obelisks should
be adopted in this country for ornamental purposes, and the
fact of our possessing granite quarries of sufficient size, to
furnish obelisks larger even (if required) than any erected in
Egypt, has been set forth to show that there is no objection
to their use from the deficiency of proper materials. But it
may be asked what idea we associate with an obeHsk, and
what is our plea for adopting it as a monument. We have no
feeling, no association connected with it; the Egyptians had
a reason for its invention and for its employment ; and cer
tainly, judging from the position and treatment of obelisks,
R 2
244 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
in modern as well as in ancient Eome, in France, and in
England, it is evident that in Europe there has generally been
a misconception of their use and intention. In Italy the point
of its pyramidion, one of its most beautiful features, has been
so overloaded with crosses, rays, and various conceits, as to
be deprived of its proper effect, while the lower part of the
obelisk has been disfigured by being perched upon an in
congruous pedestal. Again, it has been generally put up in
some open space as if it were an overgrown gnomon ; and as
its form has been spoilt by an unsuitable addition to its base
and apex, so the choice of position has aided in its disfigure
ment. It is true we do not encumber the summit with the
same monstrous conceits, yet we generally spoil it by depress
ing the apex, and by substituting for its graceful acute point
a heavy obtuse one ; showing how little we even care to copy
correctly the ready-made model. So far from any Egyptian
obelisk having that heavy feature, its triangular pyramidion
is at least 1^ in height to a base of 1 *, which gives it that
lighfhess for which it is justly admired. Thus in the obelisk
at Heliopolis the height of the pyramidion is to its own base as
1^ to 1, which (though, in. some the proportion of the height
is still more) is the usual proportion of the perpendicular
height to the length of the base of the pyramidion in obeHsks
erected, or represented, by the Egyptians. Our flat-pointed
English obelisk would never have obtained the name of
obeliskos from its resemblance to a 'spit.'
". But, besides a frequent disregard for the proportion and
beauty of the apex, we show the same misappreciation of the
purpose and character of an obelisk as the ItaHans and
the French, by placing it alone in an open space, as if it were
a maypole, or admirable only for its height. The Egyptians
employed it as a contrast to the long level line of the cornice
of their temples ; and two obelisks were placed for this pur-
* This is a very pleasing proportion for many objects. The pyramidion lost
a little in apparent height by the slope of its faces.
§42. USE OF OBELISKS. 245
pose in front Of the towers of their propylaea. They well
understood the value of this vertical Hne to relieve, and con
trast with, the long horizontal Hne of the building ; by which
means, what would have had a monotonous presented a
pleasing effect ; and they managed it more adroitly than the
Eomans, who, as I before observed*, merely took a column
out of a building and, increasing it to an unreasonable size,
placed it by itself for this purpose. We Have not the same
want of the vertical line ; it abounds with us, and under
much better conditions than in an Egyptian, or a Eoman,
city; we have, therefore, no object in adopting either the
obelisk or the column to supply that want. Besides, to copy
the obelisk, (with which we have no association of ideas,) as
a monument, gives the impression of inability to compose a.
monumental design. It is the refuge of the destitute. No
inventive genius, no effort of the mind, is required for its
adoption; and it is precisely what any one devoid of
originality would select: — a mere repetition of a well-known
form, without any regard to its real use. A false principle is
also involved in the transfer of an object to a purpose with
which it has no connexion. It is bad enough when a chimney
mimics an obelisk, instead of being what it really is; but
then it has not the presumption of calling itself a monument,
which requires a greater effort of the mind for its invention,
and claims for itself a more dignified character.
"If men of talent intend to do themselves credit by de
signing monuments, displaying originaHty and some power of
the mind, they must not be satisfied to copy an object adapted
neither to our wants nor our ideas. An obeHsk before an
Egyptian temple is deserving of admiration because, being
graceful in form, it fulfils the purpose for which it was in
tended. Its hieroglyphics also add to its beauty when well
cut. These last, indeed, are an important feature in the
obelisk. It appears heavy without them, and never looks
* See above, § 40.
r 3
246 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Paei II.
well even in its proper place, before an Egyptian building,
when unsculptured.* But I do not suppose that copiers of
obelisks would advocate the addition of hieroglyphics to any
at the present day. If then it is not consistent to preserve
this one of its peculiar and pleasing features, how can it be
consistent to adopt the obelisk itself — which is injured by
the omission ? And as it is inconsistent to adopt the hiero
glyphics with which we have no association of ideas, it is
inconsistent to copy the obelisk for" the same reason. In
short, I see no excuse for its adoption as a monument, except
as an acknowledgment of our inability to .compose a new
design, and the necessity of having recourse to a ready-
made model. And we cannot even copy this correctly."
We may be, and we certainly are, improving ; but we are
not happy in our monumental compositions, though there are
some of undoubted merit ; and strangers find more to censure
than to admire in those of Westminster Abbey and other
places. Nor shall we give proofs of inventive genius by copy
ing an obelisk, or a column ; and the addition of a soldier,
a lion, or an angel, at each corner, will not raise it to the
rank of a' good design.
43 [It is not only the genius for composition that is
deficient in this country ; there is also a very general want
of perception and correctness of eye, so necessary for judging
of form and proportion. But though accuracy of eye is so
important, it is only one of many essentials for attaining to
excellence in execution, and for appreciating beauty. The
nice perception of the Chinese enables them to copy with
surprising accuracy ; but still they are deficient in a know
ledge of form ; and much has to be learnt before the merits
of good design can be understood in decorative art. Still
more requisite is it for the appreciation of the highest
branches of painting; and as the ear may detect the least
discord in sound, of an imperfection in time, without attain-
* But it was a mistake to sculpture the faces of the pyramidion.
§ 43, 44. IDEAL BEAUTY. 247
ing to any knowledge of music, so the eye without, instruc
tion may remain for ever ignorant of the merit of true
pictorial art. This can only be the result of study and well-
directed experience ; and no one ever was imbued with a real
feefing for it until long and diHgent attention had cultivated
his natural taste.
44. Indeed, the errors into which men of celebrity in their
day have fallen, while pronouncing an opinion on paintings,
afford a striking illustration of this fact ; and it was not till
lately that in England the general admiration extended far
beyond a Guido, a Carlo Dolce, a Guercino, the Caracci, and
some others of the Eclectic school ; and the staple of our col
lections consisted of Dutch masters, who copied from nature,
and not always those subjects most remarkable for refinement.
Even now, the generaHty of those who visit a gallery are far
more attracted by the compositions of naturalisti than by
those which represent a more elevated sentiment ; and scenes
from common Hfe are general favourites. Such subjects are
easy of comprehension ; they put before us what we see daily,
and know to be truly represented ; and it requires Httle effort
of the mind or cultivation of the taste to feel their merit.
The appreciation of ideal beauty, and of elevated sentiment,
in the composition of a first-rate ItaHan master is a very
different acquirement ; and while we may rejoice to find that
this is at length beginning to be acknowledged, and even to
be considered a necessary accompHshment for all who pretend
to judge of painting, it is only fair to admit that it is as yet
seldom possessed, and the rare exception to the usual cha
racter of EngHsh taste. To the general pubfic it is utterly
unknown ; and this is the less to be wondered at, since in a
country Hke Spain, which has obtained eminence in sacred
and historical composition, her first artists never attained that
same perfection of elevated expression as the ItaHans ; and
the Madonnas even of Murillo, with all their sweetness, are
R 4
248
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
merely women. Nor will it be denied that the Beggar-
boys of that master, and such like subjects, find far more
admirers in this country than his sacred pictures.
It is not surprising that the uninstructed should begin by
admiring what they can understand; and this shows the
necessity of that tuition which may enable them to appreciate
a higher class of art. The most refined nations began with
the rudest designs, before they were capable of producing the
nobler conceptions of a more advanced age. Improvement is
the result of time and study ; and perfection in the knowledge,
as well as in the practice, of art can only be brought. about
by gradual steps.] The same tendency causes the majority of
the people to feel an interest in specimens of natural history
at a museum, in preference to works of art ; and the largest
crowd at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was collected about the
stuffed animals, and the illustrated story of Eenard-the-Fox.
45. [But, for the present, I wish particularly to direct
attention to ornamental design and art-manufactures; and
(18.)
Fig.1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3. Fig. 4.
following out the negative process, I shall introduce some
faulty objects which are to be avoided ; beginning with those
that err chiefly in want of proportion, as in the four given in
§45.
FORMS OF VASES.
249
the preceding woodcut (18), which are too lengthy for their
breadth.] It may also be useful to compare them with some of the
graceful Greek vases, and to see how disagreeable is their de-
=^^ -»
formity, and how harmonious are the contours of the ordinary
Greek Hydria (woodcut 19), the well-known Olla (20), the
Calpis (21 ), the Lecythus (22), the (Enochoe (23), and other
250
ON TASTE. IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Past II.
vases of various kinds; to which may be added those of a
more ornamental character, especially the Medicean, and some
(20.)
others, as well as the elegant cylices, of the best Greek period.
In the accompanying woodcuts (19 to 24) are gome instances
(22.)
(23.)
of Greek vases, which are deserving of commendation from
their general form and proportion ; and though, in fig. 2,
of woodcut 24, the foot is heavy, and the handles are ob-
§45. NOT PERCEIVED BT RULES. 251
jectionable, both from their shape and from their assuming
the form of snakes, its general contour is pleasing; and
the others are specimens of good form. And such was
the variety in Greek vases, even of the same kind, that in
the Olla, or in the Hydria, alone, it would be easy to pro
duce twenty specimens, all differing in some point from each
other, and yet all perfectly correct and beautiful*: — a very
important fact, which suffices to show how useless it is to lay
down, or to expect, rules for those two important questions,
form and proportion. If the eye is not the guide, no rule will
take its place ; no instructions could embrace that great variety ;
and if the makers of those vases had been hampered by the
fetters of a rule they would never have produced them.
As combinations of the same colour may vary in the
quantity of blue, red, or other hues, according to the required
effect of a design, so may the forms of the same kind of vase,
and yet be equally harmonious and beautiful ; and it is the
perception, not some fanciful scale, which is to be consulted
in both cases. A want of this faculty has led to the numerous
deformities daily exhibited and admired both in France and
in this country ; and the prices they command have unfor
tunately given them an importance they ought never to have
obtained. By this means the whimsical, the misshapen, and
the meretricious, have eHcited praise instead of censure ; the
eyes of many have become reconciled to the bad till they
no longer appreciate the good ; and some of the costly speci
mens of Sevres porcelain have done more injury to this
particular branch of taste than the most ordinary productions
of the humblest potter. It will therefore be pertinent to
the present question to compare the graceful forms of the
Greek vases here given with some of those of Sevres and
other modern manufacture; and any one not entirely desti
tute of correct perception will at once acknowledge the
difference of their claims.
* See woodcut 19 ; and also the two forms of Jigs 8 and 9, woodcut 24.
252 ON TASTE IN QENAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
§.45.
VASES OF GOOD FORM.
253
Fig 5.
Fig. 6.
254 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
Fig. 7.
C , , \
Fig. 8.
Fig.9.
^
Fig. 10.
Fig. 11.
§45.
VASES OF BAD FOEM.
255
[Some of the most intolerable in form are great favourites ;
and they receive increased admiration from the richness of
their colour, and the evidence of the labour expended on their
manufacture, though in reaHty these supposed merits only
make their deformity the more
lamentable. Such are examples
given in the following woodcuts
(25 to 34); some of which have
the additional fault of uniting a
metal cover and handles with a
body of porcelain; and many a
vase of Sevres manufacture shows
that richness of material is no
voucher for excellence of taste.]
Their value arises from the diffi- Fi* l- Fi3- 2-
culty of making them, or from the skill exercised in painting
the subjects, most of which are out of place on a vase; and
when an enormous sum is paid for them, which might com
mand works of really good art, they are on a par with Dutch
tuHps, or some strange curiosities, whose price depends on
their rarity and the caprice of fashion. So long as they are
treated merely as curiosities, or hold a place in a cabinet,
(26.)
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.
a collection of these, as of the most whimsical pieces of old
Venetian glass, or of curious china, is innocent and unobjec
tionable ; but when they claim admiration as objects of real
beauty and good design, their pretensions are not to be
256
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
tolerated; and they have the injurious effect of accustoming
the eye to objectionable forms, and tend to the corruption
of taste.
Heavy rotundity in the upper, and ill-suited narrowness in
the lower, part of a vase, are glaring but common faults (27,
fig.2); [but when meretricious ornament is added, and that in
bright metal, as gold or or-molu, the deformity is still more
glaring; and a vase made of a shell bound in metal, with
rampant dragons for handles, is a still worse instance of in-
(27.)
Fig.l.
Fig. 2.
adaptability and bad taste (27, fig. 1 ). Sometimes a headless
hybrid, between a bottle and a cup, reverses the extravagant
breadth from the upper to the lower extremities ; but whether
placed on its head or on its foot, it offends equally against all
(28.)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
beauty of form ; and I have seen one of these which courted
additional censure for having its two ill-placed handles in the
shape of elephants' heads. Nor will a whimsical character, or
§45.
VASES OF BAD FORM.
257
elaborate finish, compensate for an absence of the true prin
ciples of design : nor because one is faulty in one way must
another be perfect because it avoids the same defects; and a vase
may from its form be deficient in grace, and at the same time
depart 'still farther from it in its tasteless adjuncts. Nor will
antique details reclaim what is faulty, still less when they are
badly copied ; and if masks for handles are an unpardonable
(30.)
misapplication, they become doubly offensive when they cari
cature what they pretend to imitate. Arbitrary deformities too
often shift their places with suitable caprice ; and thus some
(31.)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
vases appear to borrow from a companion the cup they stand
upon (fig. 1) ; while others take a neck from one, a body
s
258
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Past II.
from another, and a foot from a third, all of different charac
ters ; perhaps on the plea of variety (fig. 2).
Meretricious ornament, combined with richness of material,
is one of the greatest enemies to good taste, because it may
captivate by its pretensions, and even appear to assert a
right to admiration, from the doubtful merit of being in the
salons of the great. Many, therefore, of the worst forms in
Fig. I.
Figs. 2 and 3.
Sevres china pass for beautiful, when they should be con
demned as deformities, whether composed of porcelain and
(33.)
rich with or-molu, or formed of the same material through
out ; and we often find an idea taken from a jug of good
§ 4fi, 47. FLOWING LINES. 259
shape, utterly perverted by a change in its proportions, by
the outHne of the lip and handle being broken up, or by
other capricious alterations. (Woodcut 34.)
46. Ignorance of proportion frequently spoils the most
graceful vase, even when copied from the antique ; some crude
notion about " flowing Hnes" being invoked as a substitute
for real taste ; and thus the Hght form of a cyHx is often
made clumsy in order to accord with an ill-understood theory "
of excellence. In some instances too the handles are omitted,
lest they should interfere with the favourite curve.
That lines should "flow" is perfectly true ; but this is not
a condition to be adopted everywhere without reason, or
without considering the mode of suiting it to each particular
case; and it must be understood before it can be properly
appfied. In tracery, as in a wall-paper, it is of great im
portance ; as well as in carpets, and other decorative fittings,
where spots and single saHent objects that catch the eye are
specially to be avoided ; and the rule is good in many other
cases, provided it be not abused.
47. When a vase is borrowed from two of different forms,
it seldom combines the quahties of those it springs from,
and is faulty in principle. The appearance of a union of two
(35.)
Fig. 1. Fig- 2- Fig- 3-
is unpleasing, and some cups are even met with in Greek fic
tile ware which have too much the character of a cylim and a
poculum put together (fig. 3). We should prefer the two dis
tinct; and when a new form is required, it is better to give it
a new character of its own than to compound it from different
elements. And thus the Cantharus and -the Carchesion
8 2
260
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
having handles which are suited to them (woodcut 36), and
in proportion to their size, do not give the impression of
being indebted to a smaller cup for Httle useless accessories
(35,.%. 3).]
Capricious forms, when devoid of elegance, are all ob
jectionable; and the Greek Ehyton, or drinking-cup, in the
shape of a man's, or an animal's, head (woodcut 37), may
(36.) (37.)
be looked upon as a curiosity, but is no more worthy of being
imitated than the Greek askos, derived from the wine-skin
(woodcut 38), from one of which in bronze, found at Pompefi,
we have borrowed the form of a modern claret-jug, some
times with the additional fault that the handle represents
(38.)
(39.)
an animal. (Woodcut 39.) A vase should be designed as a
vase, not copied from a natural object; and though some of
the lotus-cups of the Egyptians may be tolerated as pretty
conceits, they deserve no place among works of refined taste.
48. [In the introduction of figures upon vases a not un
common fault is to place them in such a manner that part is
concealed by the upper or lower curve of the surface ; which
§ 48, 49.
FIGURES ON VASES.
261
has a disagreeable effect. The fault is in making the figures too
large, or in not confining them to the most level part. Thus,
the eye, taking in only a portion, sees them without heads, or
in a distorted position (woodcut 40, fig. 1), when, by extend
ing the border lower down the upper part, and diminishing the
(40.)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
(41.)
size of the figures, they would appear entire upon the proper
field (fig. 2). The same appHes to figures on the inner or
outer surface of a cylix, where they
should only occupy the flat part of the
centre, and leave a space between
them and the rim on the outside,
instead of following its curve with
their distorted heads. (Woodcut 41.)
49. The mixture of natural and conventional objects in the
same design is another grievous fault ; as in encaustic tiles,
where a rectangular geometrical pattern is disfigured by being
combined with an imitation of roses or other flowers; and a
still greater abuse has introduced in tiles,
paper, Tunbridge ware, and printed stuffs,
not only flowers, but even the square
stitches of BerHn worsted-work, with their
staircase outlines.] It is not an uncom
mon practice in ornamental compositions,
and even in architectural mouldings and
tracery, to put together designs of a totally different kind,
and quite unsuited to each other, frequently from the very
s 3
262
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
fallacious notion that being found to look well in one place,
they must of necessity look equally well in another. This
results from the common habit of putting together different
parts to form a whole, instead of making the ornaments part
of one general design. They should be introduced for a
purpose, and not appear as if they were there by accident,
without any relation to their neighbours. However varied,
they should be analogous in their general character ; and it
may even be questioned, whether the feathered scroU orna
ments at the Alhambra, so admirably suited to those of its
patterns which are curviHnear, accord well with the purely
geometrical and rectangular ones with which they are some
times combined in that exquisite building.
To unite Greek with Chinese, or Saracenic, ornaments
would be a glaring incongruity ; but we sometimes see com
binations almost as bad, depriving a design of that harmony
of parts which is so necessary an element of the beautiful.
[In designs intended to cover floors, or walls, where a
large surface is to be at once presented to the eye, several
conditions are to be attended to ; and what may look well in
one place may become offensive in another. Thus, the size
of patterns must depend upon the dimensions of the place
where they are to be introduced; and a large pattern in a
small chamber takes off from its size, and makes it appear
still smaller : as do large compartments or panels, either in
(43.) tne ceihngs or the walls. Lines, again, are
/'TN x-— v poor and monotonous, if repeated over an ex
tensive surface ; striped curtains can only find
an excuse when intended to give height to a
low room ;] and the effect of vertical Hnes for
this purpose is readily perceived when one ob
ject so striped is placed near another having a
plain surface, or barred with horizontal lines. Thus, when
one of two adjacent windows is divided into two Hghts by
§ 50. POSITION OF ORNAMENTS. 263
a mulHon, it looks higher than a neighbour without it. For
the same reason a short woman wears a dress with a striped,
rather than a barred, pattern ; the latter suiting a taller
figure. [Cross Hnes and spots are offensive and fatigue the
eye, and the imitation of architecture on a floor offends the
sight as well as common sense.]
50. Patterns placed one above the other, to ornament a
pilaster, or other upright member, are poor, and on a false
principle. The space should be filled up with a design com
mencing at the base, and extending as a whole to the summit;
which should spring from what may be called a root, at the
lower part, especially if it bears any resemblance to foHage ;
and Mr. Buskin is right in prefering capitals and ,.. ..
cornices where the ornaments are "rooted in the
lower part, and spring to the top." " This arrange
ment," he observes, "is essential to the expression
of the supporting power. It is exactly opposed to
the system of running cornices and banded capi
tals, in which the ornament flows along them hori
zontally, or is twisted round them, as the mouldings
are in the Early English capital, and the foHage in
many Decorated ones. Such cornices have arisen
from a mistaken appHance of the running orna
ments, which are proper to archivolts, jambs, &c. to the
features which have definite functions of support." But,
though inadmissible in cornices and capitals, a scroll pattern
may sometimes run horizontally along
a band of stone- or wood-work, of clas
sical or of mediaeval character.
The first idea of the upright position of
these ornaments occurs in the Egyptian
capital, where the flower-stalk of the
shaft terminates in its natural head —
the blossom or the bud ; and the same
8 4
264
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
was adopted in Greece as " the Corinthian type." But the
Greeks did not carry it out to the same extent as the Egyp
tians ; and they even abandoned the principle altogether in
their Ionic volute ; which was originally the upright blos
som of an Egyptian water-plant, terminating on the right and
left in an involved edge. (See also woodcut 49.)
51. One great point to be observed is that [the ornamental
decorations of every space should be so devised as to appear
a complete design made for that very purpose, and not a
fragment forced to fit it, as in our carpets and wall-papers,
where the pattern, being cut through, looks as if the rest
passed under the wall to the next room.] The effect is the
same as if a cornice ran along the front and back wall of
a room, and was absent from the sides; which last would
therefore look as if they had been introduced as partitions
at a later time. [The difficulty in the carpet, or the wall
paper, is easily overcome by having a border so adapted to
it as to correspond with the pattern along the whole outer
edge, and thus complete the design. Moreover a wall-paper
should not affect to represent Gothic tracery, parts of build
ings, or battles ; and a Chasse de Fontainebleau, or similar
scenes, as on the walls of a French caf4,
are equally vulgar and tasteless. The same
may be said of animals, ships, buildings,
or landscapes on drapery and furniture,
or on trays and similar articles of use ;
and mixed designs, such as flowers, with
scroll-work, or with architectural details,
offend against true principles of taste, and
are rendered still more monstrous when the
flowers are above life size.]
Exaggerated fondness for flowers in ornament is a common,
and commonplace, taste ; and this, like the imitation of other
natural objects, frequently arises from the same state of mind
§ 51—53.
DECORATION OF HOUSES.
265
already noticed (p. 17), which in a town deHghts in scenes
derived from the country. It is also the cause of that dis
agreeable confusion of natural and conventional forms so
common at the present day. (See § 27, p. 215.)
52. There are many conditions which, though apparently
of Httle consequence, often aid in making objects agreeable
or disagreeable to the eye, even though it may not be able to
perceive the reason ; and the arrangement of lines in what
may be considered most unimportant cases may interfere
with the harmony of the surrounding objects. Thus, in a
room, where pictures are suspended from one nail by a cord,
(47.)
Fig. 1.
the triangular arrangement of the Hnes has a discordant
effect, which is not produced by two cords attached vertically
to two nails.
53. The arrangement of the interiors of houses is a sub
ject that demands more attention than is generally bestowed
upon it in this country. It is not sufficient to confide the
matter to those who have accidentally made it a trade ; nor
is it a great pubHc building alone that requires artistic skill
for its decoration. The benefit of good taste should be ex
tended to every private dwelling, and the means of judging
of it should be general among all classes. The talent it
requires is rarely met with among house-decorators, who are
generaUy Httle quaHfied by suitable education for their office ;
but unless a greater degree of taste is possessed by them,
266
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II,
or by their employers, there is Httle prospect of improvement
in our mechanically finished houses. If the architect must
be a man of the highest education, the house-decorator should
at least possess, besides all the ordinary requirements of his
trade, such historical knowledge as will acquaint him with
the customs of the times, or countries, to which various styles
of furniture belong ; for we are as much offended by a mix
ture of classical and mediaeval objects in a Tudor room, as
by some of those modern French figures of Charles Martel,
and others who, though they lived before 1000 a.d., appear
in the plate-armour worn four and five centuries later. He
must also have great skill in drawing; a- correct eye for
proportion, form, and colour ; and a quick perception of the
combination of different objects, so as to be able to group
them artistically, and display them with the greatest ad
vantage to themselves, and to the general character of the
room. If decorators seldom possess artistic knowledge, and
the few who do have Httle influence on the general mass of
the inferior members of their trade ; how much less do
upholsterers possess it ! Were they all properly educated for
their calHng, we should not be offended at the usual bad
taste and discord of colour in our dwelHng-houses ; nor see
an unmeaning medley of heterogeneous furniture, Hke odds
and ends accidentally brought together, without the recom
mendation of intentional and judicious variety. Nor should
we find crowds of chairs, sofas, ottomans, and tables, some
with thick, others with thin, legs, round, or square, or of
various shapes and sizes, and for no particular purpose, together
with nic-nacs, and such a wilderness of things, that their own
safety is endangered, as Well as that of the many visitors who
are frequently crowded into the insignificant and over-
furnished apartments of a town-house. Much will of course
depend on the character of a room, as this will on the archi
tecture of the house ; so that it is difficult to decide upon a
§64. FURNITURE. TAPESTRY. 267
style of furniture without considering those conditions. But
it may be said that its effect should be sought in judicious
contrast, as well as by a due attention to uniformity when
the objects are required to match; and that it should be
handsome and good in form as well as colour, with an entire
absence of that meretricious character derived from a pro
fusion of unnecessary ornament. Large pieces of furniture,
like large patterns, should be excluded from small rooms;
and those of very dark colour are objectionable, from their
absorbing too much Hght. In such as are of a higher order,
excellence should consist in the beauty of well-executed
figures, and fine carving, rather than in any profuseness of
detail : and beautiful woods, and inlaid work, are preferable
to an appearance of costHness. Every object should be of
good form ; and chairs, such as we often see, with distorted
legs, and tables rough with whimsical devices in or-molu,
serving only to tear ladies' dresses, should be proscribed as
being at variance with beauty and common sense.
Inkstands, and other articles of general use, made in the
form of Gothic tombstones, with sharp projecting corners,
sometimes even with finials and buttresses, have not only the
fault of imitating an object made for a totally different pur
pose, instead of being expressly designed for their own, but
are positively offensive, as they threaten to wound every hand
that approaches them ; and all furniture with unnecessarily
sharp corners is open to the same objection.
54. With regard to tapestry, it is much on a par with old
armour — a curiosity rather than an ornament. It was
valuable when there was nothing better ; and from its warmth
it was often found a good covering for the bare waUs of old
times. But with the many better modes of decorating our
modern rooms, it is no longer wanted; its subjects are ge
nerally odious in execution and design, sometimes glaring,
sometimes dingy in colour ; and really good compositions are
268 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
so rare as to be generally beyond the reach of those who may
have a fancy to possess them. Tapestry has also the repu
tation of harbouring dust; and this is not an unreasonable
objection, unless a fresh set be occasionally substituted, as
in Cardinal Wolsey's sumptuous mansions. It is from the
caprice of fashion and association, rather than from any real
admiration of it, that tapestry is valued. Nor is the Gobehns
worth its price ; and this would be better spent on a real
work of art. And while admitting the wonderful skill shown
in its manufacture, we cannot but confess that it has gone
out of its own province, and invaded that of painting, without
equalling it by its greatest and most costly efforts.
55. Until those whose business it is to furnish houses pos
sess the necessary education to fit them for it, no one should
give himself up to their caprices ; though it may be ques
tioned whether many of their employers have sufficient taste,
even if they would take the trouble, to correct the errors daily
committed before their eyes. And here we have one of many
proofs of the necessity of taste being general, and cultivated
by all classes.
56.' It is not my intention to give advice respecting the
furniture of rooms, or the decoration of houses, either inter
nally or externally ; I confine myself to a few passing observa
tions, without pretending to offer any new suggestions on this
or any other point; but, in the words of QuintiHan, "I shall
be dehghted if I can say what is right, though it may not be
of my own invention," for my observations are only such
as have doubtlessly occurred to many others who have thought
upon these subjects.
To the decoration of houses the same rule appHes as to that
of pubHc buildings; which is, that coloured or sculptured
ornaments should not extend over the whole surface of the
walls and other parts. Some repose is required for the eye.
This was weU understood by the architects of Greece ; and it
§55-57. DECORATION OF WALLS. 269
is of great importance in churches, and other large as well as
small edifices. The general effect should be that of broad
masses ; which, on near approach, may display the minuteness
of detail not seen at a distance ; and no more ornament should
be used than is required, or can be managed with due regard
to the expression of the whole. (See Part I. Sect. X.) The
details should not be too large for the building, or the part
they occupy ; they should not be crowded ; and small
uncoloured spaces in the midst of coloured patterns, or mould
ings, are agreeable from the relief and variety they afford,
both in architecture, and in ordinary designs.
57. There is no better example of the mode of ornamenting
a large expanse of flat wall than in Giotto's Chapel, at Padua,
and in the Hbrary of Siena Cathedral ; which are remarkable
not only for their beautiful frescoes, but for the harmony of
their general effect, and for the richness of their ornaments,
so well adapted to those buildings, and to their own position.
The Sainte Chapelle, at Paris, built about 1241^44, may
also be noticed as a good specimen of ornamentation ; though
it requires some of that repose obtained from unornamented
portions, already advocated. For its painted glass windows,
which are of the best style and period, it is also highly to be
commended ; and Hke others of that age, they are excellent
examples for study. (See Part I. pages 35, 37, 38, 39.)
As a general rule in the ornamentation of a building,
minute details should not be permitted to interfere with the
effect of the whole, and the extent to which they ought to be
worked up must be determined with judgment. Too great
.minuteness of finish injures the breadth of treatment so neces
sary for whatever is to be looked at from a distance ; so that
it is better in some cases to have a sHght indication of detail
in the minor parts, than ornaments too highly finished through
out, which might create confusion. This applies equally
to external and to internal decoration, and has been very
270 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
properly set forth by Mr. Euskin (" Stones of Venice," vol. i.
p. 244).
58. This should also be borne in mind in selecting a paper,
or in colouring the rooms of a house, that whenever pictures
are to be introduced, the walls should be of one uniform
colour, without patterns, as these interfere with the effect of
the paintings ; and of all grounds for this purpose (as I have
already stated, pp. 97, 105) a red, or a tea-green, may be
mentioned as the best. No one with any feeHng for art
would hang good paintings on a wall covered with flowers,
or a figured paper ; and I have heard of an artist who always
demanded a larger price for one of his works if he knew its
position was to be on a waU so decorated, as if to compensate
for the injury done to his painting, and to punish the pur
chaser for his ignorance. No pictures should be placed on
such walls; they are degraded by them; while they too
interfere with the appearance of a room so decorated.- Nor
should large paintings be admitted into a small room ; still
less if they represent the human figure above life-size ; and
in the decoration of its walls, when without pictures, the
patterns should be small, as they would also have the effect
of decreasing its apparent size. Bright furniture, and hang
ings of various and rich colours, should not be admitted into
the same room with paintings ; nor should porcelain, or
other curiosities — particularly where, from their form or
colour, they are likely to distract the attention — be allowed
to interfere with them. Nor should statues be admitted into
a picture gallery. When looking at paintings, we do not
wish to pass from them to the contemplation of sculpture ;
and it is surprising that a people of taste, like the ItaHans,
should place in one room the gems of their coUection in
painting and statuary, as in the Tribune, at Florence. Nor
should pictures differing in style, depth of colouring, and
other pecuHarities, be contrasted with each other in juxta
position, to their mutual disadvantage.
§ 58. PLACE FOR PICTURES. 271
The best place for paintings on canvas, or on panel, is a
picture gallery. There is, however, no objection to their
being put up in an ordinary room, provided, as I have just
observed, it contains nothing which can interfere with their
effect ; but pictures are out of place in the Christian church,
as they were in the Pagan temple. The Greeks, like our
selves, had their picture galleries. Besides numerous other
pubHc places, used as Fi/nacothecce, or picture gaUeries,
Athens had in the AcropoHs its Stoa, called from its pictures
thePcecilS, Hke that at Sparta; and Delphi, and other places,
had their Lesche, for the same purpose. Every town had some
kind of picture gallery ; and when paintings were put up in
a Greek temple, it was for security, and because beautiful
works were honoured by a place in that sacred edifice. This
was quite consistent with, and will explain, the fact of their
not being mere dedications ; and their subjects were seldom
connected with reHgion, or the Deity of the place. They
were not intended as part of the ornamentation of the temple;
and, unless the walls were of some uniform hue adapted to
their effect, they must have ill accorded with its coloured
interior. The protection afforded them by the temple was
the excuse for their being there ; the place was not chosen
as one suited to works of art ; and if some were dedications,
they proved the piety, rather than the taste, of the donors.
So again, though the finest pictures may have been painted for
churches, they are not suited to them on any plea. We do
not go to church to look at pictures ; and churches seldom
have either a good Hght, or any other recommendation pos
sessed by picture galleries; to which, moreover, the best
paintings have, in process of time, been transferred. And
this has been very fortunate for them, and for the pubHc.
To paint historical or sacred subjects in temples, on the
walls themselves, was not according to the custom of the
Greeks; and the paintings of first-rate masters, as PHny
shows (xxxv. 10), were mostly confined to wooden panels,
272
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II,
or panel-pictures ("¦ tabulae"). Those on walls were generally
the work of inferior artists, who scarcely rose above the rank
of house-decorators ; and neither Ludius, nor any other wall-
painter, was of any great renown. Nor were his subjects of the
most elevated kind ; and Pliny says that Ludius took them
from common life, according to the taste of his customers;
sometimes painting land or sea views (very similar to those
still repeated by the Greeks in Turkish houses) ; sometimes
presenting pic-nic parties approaching villas on asses, or
in carriages; as well as fishing, vintage, and similar, scenes.
Thus, says Pliny, " there were no paintings on Apelles' house,
nor was it then customary to paint whole walls." Panel-pic
tures had also this recommendation, that they could be easily
removed to some other place, or sold if their owners wished to
part with them, and might be rescued from fire. It was from
their being moveable that in after times, when Greece was
conquered by the Eomans, its valuable pictures were carried
away to Italy ; which, as Eaoul-Eochette observes, accounts for
Pausanias saying so little of pictures in Greece ; the walls in
his time being left bare in consequence of that spoliation by
the conquerors. This sufficiently shows how little we can
judge of ancient Greek painters from the few frescoes which
remain, or from the works of late and inferior artists at.
Pompeii ; and as the Greeks thought their painting equal to
their sculpture, we can only conclude that such good judges
of art did not form an erroneous estimate of the works of
their own great masters.
Long before the destruction of Pompeii, painting had fallen
from its high position; and house decoration had been spoilt
by the introduction of extravagant ornament. Akeady in
the Augustan age Vitruvius complained of the reeds for
columns, buildings standing on candelabra, and the masses of
red colour used in painting walls ; and we have seen what
was the style of decoration at the same period adopted by
§ 59. COLOURED GREEK BUILDINGS. 273
Ludius. So degraded had taste long become, that the paint
ings of Piraeicus, representing cobblers' stalls, asses, eatables,
and the Hke, " sold for higher prices than the largest worlds of
many masters" (Pliny, xxxv. 10) ; and the same vulgar affec
tion for commonplace ornaments introduced bronze trees
laden with lamps in Heu of fruit, which Pliny (xxxiv. 3) tells
us were much admired ; and which may be considered on a
par with the iron trees in some modern gardens, that shower
down water on an unsuspecting visitor, through their hollow
branches. 59. Painted sculpture ornamented the temple; and this
was composed of figures in high or low relief in the frieze,
pediment, and metopes ; which, like the architectural details
of the whole edifice, were coloured. The interior was also de
corated with painted patterns, many of which are still visible
in the Parthenon, and other buildings ; and some of the archi
tectural details were merely painted on the surface of the stone,
instead of being (as usual) first sculptured and then coloured ;
which may be seen in many Ionic capitals and fragments of
entablatures at the Athenian AcropoHs, and other places.
That the bas-reliefs and the figures of the tympanum were
coloured is well known ; and indeed if this were not proved
by the vestiges of colour which remain, it would be suffi
ciently obvious that those accessories could not have been
left colourless, as glaring contrasts to the rest of the painted
building ; and if some have been unwilling to believe it, the
authority of ancient authors, and the remains themselves,
have decided a question which ought never to have been
uncertain. The same custom was extended to the plastic works of the
Greeks, on some of which traces of colour may still be seen ;
and the grapes and fishes made in clay by Posis, at Eome,
were chiefly indebted to their colour for being such faithful
T
274 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL 'DESIGN. Paet II.
copies of nature, that PHny (xxv. 12) says, "non sit aspectu
discernere a veris."
There is sometimes a tendency to adhere to antiquated
notions long after facts have been proved ; and it has even
been disputed whether any portion of a Greek building was
coloured, in defiance of undeniable proofs such as are
afforded by the Parthenon, and other monuments in Greece,
Sicily, and elsewhere. But the fact is well established, and it
is very evident that the many porphyry, and other, columns
in Eoman buildings, were intended as more durable substi
tutes for painted shafts. Besides, when we recollect that no
one in an Athenian sunshine could bear to look upon the
glare of white marble, we may readily believe how necessary
colour was for the eyes of the spectator, as well as for the
embellishment of the building.
When marble was first used, it was a substitute for the
stuccoed wall, and the custom of painting -this was continued
on the more durable material. And that a building was
looked upon as unfinished, until so ornamented, is shown by
the whiteness of the Prytaneum and Agora of Siphnos being
a pecuHarity, when the Pythia gave out this oracle : —
" When the Prytaneum in Siphnos shall be white,
And the Agora white fronted, then there is need of a prudent man
To guard against a wooden troop, and a red herald."
For having been, as Herodotus says, "then fitted up with
Parian marble," the Siphnians had not yet had time to colour
them, when the Samians came in their "red" galley to ravage
their lands.
And if Pliny (xxxvi. 5) mentions a chapel of Ephesus, behind
the great Temple of Diana, which strangers were warned not to
look at too long for fear of the glare of the white marble
injuring their eyes ; this was an exception, as the necessity
of the warning itself implies. Pliny too shows that colour
§ 60. COLOUEED BAS-RELIEFS. 275
was usual on buildings when, in speaking of the variegated
marble of Chios, used for building the walls of the city, he
says, " painting (i. e. of walls of buildings) would not have
been held in the same, or even in any, esteem, if coloured
marbles had been in fashion" (xxxvi. 6).
The primary colours were those preferred by the Greeks
for the various parts of the entablature — a combination quite
in accordance with pure taste in architectural ornamentation ;
and fragments discovered in an excavation made at Athens
in 1825, were "painted with the brightest (vermilion) red,
(ultramarine) blue, and yellow." The same colours were em
ployed by their imitators the Etruscans. They were intro
duced into the architectural details; but some others were
also admitted*, and gold was employed in highly ornamented
mouldings. The colour of Greek bas-reliefs varied at dif
ferent periods : the figures in the oldest times were of one
uniform red hue, with a background of blue ; and at first the
natural hue of the flesh was not attempted in the human
figure, either as a statue or a bas-relief. But (as I have
before remarked f) colour was an essential part of architec
tural decoration.
60. This was the case in all countries: as in Egypt,
Assyria, Greece, Etruria, and, in later times, in the churches
of Christian Europe. In Egypt it was employed for the
mouldings and members of every building, whether public .
or private ; and the hieroglyphics formed a rich ornament
to the flat surface of the walls. Statues, obeHsks, and other
monuments made of granite or other hard stone were also
coloured, sometimes even when polished ; but in this latter
case the surface was generally left uncoloured; the hiero
glyphics alone being painted, mostly blue or green. The
natural hue of the stone then served instead of artificial
* See Part I. p. 17. t See Part L P- 24-
T 2
276 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
colour (Hke that of the Purbeck marble columns in our own
churches); and the walls of tombs, and even small monu
ments, as statues, and other objects, in common stone, were
often stained to imitate red granite, Hke the interior of a
tomb at Beni Hassan.
61. PHny says the oldest paintings (long before the
age of Eomulus) were monochrome, or of a single colour ;
which is perfectly true of all archaic paintings representing
the human figure, to which he here evidently alludes ; but this
remark appHes equally to early statues and bas-reliefs, which
were originally of an uniform red hue, as I shall have occasion
to show.
Eaoul-Eochette (" Peintures Antiques," p. 237), considers
portraits to be very rare in Greece ; and doubts their being
called catagrapha, or obliques imagines ; but though these
do not actually signify portraits, they might be appHed to any
painting where the head was "foreshortened;" and PHny even
appears to use the expression " obliqua imago," for " profile."
Eaoul-Eochette also thinks profiles were rare ; which is true
with reference to first-rate pictures of the best periods ; but
there is Httle doubt that the earliest representations of the
human face were all in profile, which continued till a late
time on vases and the walls of tombs. Such too was the mode
of drawing it among all early people, and in the infancy of art;
as we learn from the paintings of Egypt, Etruria, and other
countries. Portraits were of very early date in Egypt, and
they were in profile ; the full face was rare, and always un-
pleasing, and the three-fourth face was quite unknown ; but
in Greece both these last appear to have been preferred to
profile, when art was developed ; and Pliny (xxxv. 10), shows
that ApeUes only made the portrait of Antigonus in profile,
to hide an imperfection. " Pinxit et Antigoni regis imaginem
altero lumine orbam, prius excogitata ratione vitia condendi ;
obliquam namque fecit, ut quod corpori deerat, picturae potius
§ 61,32. COLOURING OF STATUES. 277
deesse videretur, tantumque earn partem e facie ostendit,
quam totam poterat ostendere." Quintilian (ii. 14) mentions
the same reason for his deviating from the custom of repre
senting "the full face, which is the most beautiful in a
picture," and says " imaginem Antigoni latere tantum altero
ostendit;" and this being considered a deficient mode of
representation shows the low estimation in which they held
a mere profile. It appears that Pliny, in speaking of Cimon
being the inventor of " catagrapha, hoc est obliquas ima
gines " (xxxv. 8), also applies this term to faces in perspective,
or foreshortened, as he mentions them looking back, and in
various positions ; and this treatment of the human head was
considered, with good reason, to be far more artistic than the
profile. Full and three-quarter faces were also placed on
shields, glass ornaments, walls, engraved stones, and in the
lacunaria or coffers of temples, (as at Baalbek, in later
Eoman times,) as well as on medalHons, and even on many
coins of the best periods, though on these last the face
was generally in profile. But this question is not important
in reference to the decoration of buildings. There is, how
ever, another which may be noticed, as it is in some degree
connected with it ; and which has lately excited some atten
tion. This is the colouring of statues by the Greeks.
62. We have so long been accustomed to see white marble
statues, that we can scarcely be brought to beheve they were
ever coloured by the Greeks : but it is not the less true ; and it
is not improbable that if they had only left to us the human
figure drawn in outHne, some might have maintained that to
colour it in any picture representing a classical subject would be
meretricious, and that the severity of antique taste required it
to be in plain outHne. It is, however, far from desirable that
the colouring of statues should be attempted at the present
day ; none but the very first artists, among the Greeks suc
ceeded in it, and mediocrity in the most difficult branch of
T 3
278 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
art would be intolerable. But our inabihty to succeed in it
does not prove the custom never to have existed ; as a bad
picture is no argument against the possibility of excellence in
painting ; and because we cannot succeed in giving a good
effect to coloured statues, let us not hastily conclude it was
never done by others. The Greeks appear to have con
sidered the colouring of statues a difficult branch of art ; and
we are justified in this conclusion by what Pliny tells us
(xxxv. 11): — that Praxiteles attached a higher value to
those of his own statues which had been coloured by a first-
rate painter. For being asked which of his statues he con
sidered the best, he answered: "those to which Nicias had
applied his hand ; " showing " the importance he attached to
the colouring (circumlitioni) of that artist."
Some have raised a question respecting the meaning of the
expression circumlitio, which has been thought to be simply
a finish to the marble, or a coating of some kind to impart
softness to the stone ; but it would be strange if a first-rate
sculptor were obliged to apply to another person for such as
sistance, or if a painter of eminence were called upon to give
any other aid than that which his particular art would supply^
A sculptor would be as capable of adding the necessary finish
or coating to the marble as the painter, and circumlitio will
not apply to a coating of coloured wax rubbed into the heated
marble, as some have suggested. Indeed, when Vitruvius
mentions this latter process (vii. 9), — the Kavais of the Greeks,
— he does not apply to it any term similar to circumlitio;
and that circumlitio signified " painting " is proved by the
"pictura in qua, nihil circumHtum est" of QuintiHan (viii.
5, 26) ; by Seneca's saying (Ep. lxxxvi. 5), " ilHs (marmoribus)
undique operosa et in pictura, modum variata circumlitio
prsetexitur;" as well as by the frequent use of derivatives
from the verb Imo, in later times, with reference to painting.
Signor Monti thinks all statues were coloured before the time
§ 03. COLOURED STATUES. 279
of Praxiteles; but if he left a nude Venus uncoloured, as
Signor Monti states, this does not prove an old custom, that of
colouring statues, to have been then abandoned, and a new
one introduced by him. Indeed, we find from Pliny, that
the Eomans began to paint statues (" coepimus et lapidem
pingere ") ages afterwards, which could only be in imitation of
a custom still prevalent among their masters the Greeks, and
must signify that the Eomans then, for the first time, began
to give them the natural flesh-colour ; the custom of painting
them of one uniform red hue having existed at Eome from
the earliest period. It is not probable that the Greeks
coloured statues in old, and then again in later times, after
having abandoned the custom during the intermediate period ;
nor will any one maintain the mere painting in monochrome
red ochre continued to the time of Praxiteles. Phidias, who,
as PHny more than once tells us, was a painter before he
became a sculptor, painted the shield of Minerva's statue, and
his brother Panaeus the inside of the same shield ; Lecythion
also painted a shield of Minerva's statue (PHny, xxxv. 8) ; and
Phidias, as Strabo tells us (viii. 244), was assisted by Pan-
daenus in colouring the statue of Jupiter at Olympia. So
that we have here other notices of coloured statues at the best
period, a Httle before Praxiteles; and Plato (Eep. iv. 420)
says they painted them according to the colour. of each part :
that is, of the natural tints. Ovid too (Am. ii. 5, 39,) al
ludes to the colouring of ivory to represent the face : and it
was so treated in the Chryselephantine statues.
63. Some who have felt the impossibility of denying the
authority of such writers on this point, have endeavoured to
compromise the matter by supposing that a mere tinge was
given to the marble ; while others, who admit that the statues
of early times were painted of one uniform hue, maintain that
the refined taste of a later age discarded that archaic custom,
without making in its stead any attempt to imitate the
280 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
natural colour of the flesh. But neither of these prove that
real colour was not attempted. It is true, that in the oldest
Greek statues (even after the first, or wooden, period), the
flesh was painted with the same tone of red throughout ; such
as we see in Egyptian, Etruscan, and other early sculpture ;
and ^ the Eomans, till a late time, continued the custom of
giving an annual coating of what is called "vermilion"
(usually red ochre), to their statues, as to that of the Capito-
line Jove. This was the primitive practice retained ; and it
was spoken of as one of old, not of recent, time. There were
also other modes of colouring statues, as well as figures in
plastic work; but these do not bear upon the question of
imitating the flesh tints. Moreover, those who express their
exclusive admiration for white marble, forget that Greek
statues were not always of that material ; that wood, terra
cotta, bronze, and other substances were also employed for
the human figure ; and that it was not in order to show the
texture of the material that Parian or other marble was chosen,
but because of its quality for working, its durability, and the
other advantages it possessed over wood and common stone.
It would not certainly be a recommendation of Parian marble,
that its crystals were larger and more marked than any other ;
there could not, therefore, be any scruple about concealing
them with paint.
The fact of statues having been painted is farther confirmed
by the coloured eyes often alluded to (Pausan. i. 14, &c),
and still remaining in some instances, as well as by the jewels
that adorned them; and Virgil, Eel. vii. 31, says :
" levi de marmore tota
Punieeo stabis suras evincta cothurno."
And when we know the dresses were coloured, as well as other
accessories, we can scarcely suppose that the face, hands, and
feet were left white ; or that a white marble figure stood in
§ 03. COLOURED STATUES. 281.
glaring contrast to walls, and other parts of a building, richly
ornamented with colour. And if the Theseus and the other
figures in the tympanum of the Parthenon were coloured, as
we know they were^ few statues would feel themselves de
graded by such a condition. Indeed, these were in reality
statues, and detached figures, like many others; and affixed to:
the ground behind them, when placed in their proper position,
on the temple.
In the old wooden colossal acroliths, even to the time of
Phidias, the face, hands, and feet were of marble, while the
body was of wood, covered with real drapery ; and there can
be little doubt that this was in order to have the advantage
of a smooth surface, well suited for fresh colours ; and as the
eyes were inlaid with coloured stone in many of the most
celebrated statues, and the various accessories were richly
painted, the flesh could scarcely have been left of a cold
white, or even of any simple monochrome hue.
The Greeks even attempted to carry out the same effect in
some bronze statues ; and the account of the figure by Scopas, of
a Bacchante holding a disembowelled fawn, shows how the
contrast of colours usually given by painting was welcomed
in the hue of the metal accidentally afforded by fusion.
Pliny also tells us that they attempted to give to bronze a
variety of hues, by mixing it with iron, "that the blush of
shame might thereby be expressed ; " and they imitated pur
ple draperies in these statues, by. combining the bronze witk
lead (xxxiv. 9, 14, Plut. Op. Mor. 18 C 674 A).
What were the busts of Eoman time, made of different
coloured marbles, but a substitution in stone of the hues com
monly applied to the sculptured surface ? And what can look
worse than those now bleached faces, contrasted with the colours
of the marble drapery ? No one will doubt that the face was
painted ; and the reason of its not being also of a coloured
material like the dress is, that no natural colour of a stone
282 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II,'
could imitate the varied tones of the flesh. These required to
be painted upon the surface of the white marble.
64. Various proofs of the Greek custom of colouring statues
have been well brought forward by Quatremere de Quincey,
Eaoul-Eochette, and other writers, who have carefully studied
the subject; but I may mention one more evidence of the
natural flesh-colour having been used, derived from the bas-
reliefs on the ash-chests of the Etruscans ; in many of which
the colours are perfectly preserved to this day. And this is
the more remarkable, as the Etruscans at the same time con
tinued the custom of giving the uniform red hue of a primitive
age to the recumbent figure on the lid of the very same ash-
chests. They also retained with the monochrome colour, -the
stiff character of that period; which a religious prejudice
prevented their altering, or which at least was sanctioned by
early habit.
But the figures sculptured in relief on the chest itself were
all . painted flesh-colour, with the draperies and other ac
cessories of their natural hue ; it is therefore impossible to
deny that the custom of giving the human figure its natural
flesh-colour was commonly adopted. The art, the subjects
they chose, and the whole taste of the Etruscans was (it is
well known) a mere copy of the Greek ; and the authority of
their sculptures is of the greatest weight in this question.
These ash-chests also give several curious specimens of the
mode of colouring the echinus and other Greek mouldings.
The coloured wooden statues at Seville, and some other
places in Spain, particularly Valladolid, are derived from the
custom handed down from olden times ; and every one who
has seen it admits the admirable effect of Torrigiano's figure
of St. Jerome at Seville. If, however, nothing exists at the
present day sufficiently good to warrant the adoption of the
practice, this may readily be accounted for by the inferiority
§fil. COLOURED STATUES. 283
of modern, compared to ancient Greek, art ; but it is no proof
that it was not done, and not.done successfully, of old.
It is true, that a statue does not stand in heed of colour to
render it perfect as a work of. art. It is not mere imitation
that is aimed at ; it is expression, which is the soul of repre
sentation ; and our delight is to see how it expresses, rather
than how it imitates, the reality. On the other hand, this is
no argument against the use of colour : as it would not alter
those conditions ; otherwise, if colour is bad, because not re
quired, in a statue, it must be bad in a picture, where it is also
not an indispensable adjunct. For the conventional tints of
some masters, or an engraving, or even an outline, may give
truth and expression without the natural colours. Nor would
instances of figures drawn by us in outline, or finished without
colour, suffice to prove at some future period, that we never
coloured the human figure. Yet this kind of argument is
used by those who disbeheve the Greek custom of colouring
statues ; ancient authors are quoted, who mention some un-
coloured statues; and the universal conclusion is drawn (from
such particular premises), that none were ever coloured by the
Greeks. Some, no doubt, were uncoloured, and some merely
stained, others were gilt, and others coated with wax wer&
poHshed by much rubbing. The staining and encaustic pro
cesses were not unusual, and gilding was frequently resorted
to, especially in later times ; and PHny (xxxvi. 4,) mentions
a statue of Janus, either by Scopas or by Praxiteles, which in
his time was quite hidden by the quantity of gold that covered
it. But this was certainly not the intention of the sculptor,
nor the custom of his day; and the fact of certain statues
having been uncoloured would not disprove the employment
of colour in others, even if we had no positive evidences of it ;
and the practice of applying some tone, or coating, to the un
coloured marble, may be attributed to the general prejudice
284 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Pari II.
in those days against a white, and in favour of a coloured,
surface. 65. I confess, however, that I am by no means an advocate
for our adopting the custom : and at all events, until we have
reached the same point of perfection as the Greeks, it will
be far better to abstain from the attempt. The question
of the good taste is one; that of the fact another. With
regard to the latter question, whether the Greeks really
painted their statues, there does not appear to be a doubt ;
and all that can be said to the contrary is, that they some
times substituted for the colouring some other processes. We
may not wish to introduce it, but this does not alter the fact ;
and it is pretty evident that, right or wrong, it was adopted
by the Greeks in the best age of art. Some, again, who admit.
that the Greek statues were coloured, argue that the custom
was one derived from old habit, not from any notion that it
improved, or imparted Hfe to, them ; that it was only a modifi-
tion of the ancient custom of staining them of one uniform
red hue ; and that if they had not previously adopted that early
custom, they would not have introduced the other in after
times. But they were a people of too much judgment to
practice on that account what was at variance with their
notions of good taste ; and they did not certainly allow their
paintings *, to be influenced by that early custom. With the
Egyptians, old habits were binding ; but if any were retained
by the Greeks, they were the exceptions in particular cases ;
and every one will admit that their judgment and taste were
permitted to enjoy as free a scope as our own.
66. The Greeks, it is true, began with stiff figures in profile,
with the eye in front, as in Egyptian paintings; but they
were not long in discovering the want of truthfulness in this
* Pliny (xxxtL 5), in saying that sculpture is older than painting, pretends
that " this and the art of casting statues in bronze commenced with Phidias,
in the 83rd Olympiad;" (about B.C. 446.)
§65—67 NUDE STATUES. 285
conventional treatment ; and, as in modern art, they gave to
each figure its own individual expression and features, the
due effects of light and shade, and all the reaHty of a copy
from nature.
Until they brought about this reform, the imperfect art of
all antiquity was satisfied with one type for every figure,
which was varied only by dress, or some external mark ; and
even in domestic scenes all was equally destitute of natural
expression. Even if a portrait was attempted, as by the
Egyptians, it was a profile of the mere features, without life.
The difference of age was indicated by grey hairs, and by the
general aspect of the figure ; but no passions were expressed
beyond some mechanical gesture, as throwing dust on the
head in token of grief, or the representation of tears flowing
from the conventional eye which was alike in every figure.
There was no expression in the features; they were the same
in joy, grief, or anger; and each individual had the same
inanimate face, whether in the fury of battle, in suffering, in
joy, or in the stillness of death. This the Greeks were the
first to rectify. To them art is indebted for its first real de
velopment ; and men who could work so great a revolution
in their previous habits are not likely to have been biassed
thereby in one particular instance.
67. Another question has also been raised, respecting un-
draped statues of Venus ; and the assertion, " fuit nudas poena
videre Deas " has been brought forward to prove that no nude
figure of a goddess was tolerated by the Greeks. But without
setting any value on the remark of Cicero, " Graeca res est nihil
velare," it may be observed that though the goddesses Juno,
Minerva, and others, were not represented naked, the notion
that no statue of Venus was undraped in the best periods is
opposed by the authority of antiquity ; and if the Venus de
' Medicis may be of too late a time to be cited, we know
from Pliny that. a nude statue of that goddess was made
286 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II,
by Scopas, and another, the famous Cnidian Venus, by
Praxiteles, which he tells us* was considered so " superior to
any other ever executed by him, or by any other sculptor, that
many undertook a voyage to Cnidos for the express purpose
of seeing it." I do not know for what reason Signor Monti,
and others suppose this to be the first time the goddess was so
represented ; but even if it were so it would not be sufficient
to support the assertion that naked figures of Venus were
unknown in sculpture during the most flourishing era of
Greek art. If, however, we consult the same writer, Pliny,
we shall find that he mentions (xxxvi. 5) another naked
Venus of an older sculptor than Praxiteles, which he thinks
worthy of notice, even in the midst of so many works col
lected in the Flaminian Circus, and of a style "which would
ennoble any other collection."
68. I have spoken of the proper place for pictures; and as
they require a suitable and independent position, so do good
statues ; for as a Eaphael should not be part of the mere
ornamentation of a room, so would it be an error to place the
Apollo, or any other first-rate statue, in a subordinate position,
as if it formed part of a building. Such works of art claim
exclusive admiration ; and should not hold the rank of ac
cessories, like Caryatides, or other architectural statues. And
if figures by first-rate sculptors were placed in the tympanum
of a temple, it was owing to their being parts of the subject
that decorated it ; and their excellence as works of art did not
of course exclude them from that position. Being from the
hand of skilful sculptors, they could not fail to be good ; for
the devoted affection of the Greeks for art would not allow
them to spare their best efforts in any work, and they gratified
their own feelings while they did honour to the Deity to whom
it was dedicated. It is true that such a position for figures
was too high to exhibit their full merits, however grand might
* Plin. N. H. xxvi. 5; Paus. ix. 27.
§ 68. POSITIONS OF STATUES. 287
be their general effect; but this did not make the Greek
sculptor less scrupulous in his work; and as a proof how
conscientiously the excellence of sculpture was studied, even
though it might afterwards be hidden from the eye, the un
seen back of the Theseus was as highly finished as any other
part. Here, as in many other instances, they were statues
under the conditions of alto-relievo.
However admirable may be the figures met with in a tym
panum, a frieze, or a metope, these are not the situations
where sculpture Can be seen to the greatest advantage, and
much of the exquisite beauty of the Panathenaic procession
on the cella of the Parthenon was concealed by its position.
But, on the other hand, figures forming alto- or basso-relievo
have not the same rights as statues; being subservient to
the decoration of the building. Again, a position suited to
figures in relief is not always tolerable for a statue ; the
treatment also of the two is frequently different ; for while
the same action may be given to figures in the former as in
a picture, a single statue has generally a more pleasing effect
in repose. The relative conditions of a statue and a bas-
relief, and of a picture on canvas (or panel) and a fresco, or
a mosaic, are in some degree analogous: — the one belonging
to a building, which the other does not.
The position of a statue in a niche is not always disadvan
tageous to it, and it is an ornament to the building within
which it stands; but to do real justice to it as a work of art,
it should be so placed as to be seen on every side ; and it
often happens that in a niche it sacrifices some of its own
advantages to those of the building. Again no position should
require the beauty of a statue to be spoilt by gilding, though
it may find a plea in ancient custom.
The employment of figures above life size requires great
judgment (as I have already shown, § 40, p. 241). The
Greeks felt the difficulty ; and Professor Cockerell thinks that,
288 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
in order to overcome it, they had different gradations of size
for figures in the same building, from the small ones on the
frieze of the cella to those in the metopes, and the semi-
colossal ones in the tympanum.
69. The same judgment is required for determining the
position and character of figures painted in fresco. For when,
in order to enable us to see them properly, they are made
colossal, an injury is often done to the building they orna
ment, by taking from its apparent dimensions and disturbing
its proportions ; and when painted on a ceiling they will fre
quently lower it to the eye, while the neck of the spectator
suffers torture as he contemplates their beauties. It may also
be doubted whether a ceiling is a fit place for figures ; except
under particular circumstances. In rooms, such as are so
common in Italy, which lead to other apartments, figures on
the ceiling are objectionable for this reason also : that while
in approaching from the entrance they appear in their proper
position, when you return they appear standing on their
heads, or at least no longer perform the due conditions of the
picture. Such a place is ill suited to them ; though they may
be more admissible on the ceiling of an alcove, or an apse,
where they are only seen in front. Pictures in small me
dallions are not quite amenable to the same objection,
especially when they are subservient to the general orna
mentation; and from their smaller size the figures there
offend the eye far less, even when they appear reversed, than
in large compositions.
70. Figures used for architectural ornament depend very
much for their effect on the position in which they are placed.
Large and small statues on the Same wall are generally
incongruous, particularly when close together, as part of the
same ornamental sculpture. Many too share most unfairly
the honours or the advantages of position ; for while some
stand very appropriately, at the side of the doorways of our
§69-71. ONE STYLE AROSE FROM ANOTHER. 289
cathedrals the majority of them are shelved in the archivolt
above, in such a manner that the uppermost figures are almost
condemned to stand upon their heads, or when seated on a
throne appear ready to fall out upon the passing congregation.
Nor are instances of unsuitable positions wanting elsewhere ;
and the same disregard for propriety condemned the winged
messenger of Victory, on the Eoman arch of triumph, to be
squeezed into an uncomfortable spandril which had itself the
awkward form of an angle subtended by a segment of a circle.
What, indeed, could be expected from any part of a Eoman
arch of triumph ? — that compound of bad taste, with the
Hghtest part below struggling under a mass of informous
masonry, often made more monstrous by the colossal and
graceless letters of its inscription. Nor do its columns, sup
porting at most a statue, and acting a part totally indepen
dent of the building, diminish its heterogeneous character;
though they are useful in giving us the most convincing proof
of the vertical line having first begun in Eoman buildings, and
not, as too hastily concluded, in what is called Gothic archi
tecture. For there we have the column, with the pedestal it
stands on, running upwards and forcing the entablature to
project in order to follow its direction ; and the statue above
(or the corresponding portion of the attic) carrying the ver
tical line from the ground to the summit of the monument.
And the same tendency may be observed in the lines of
columns, one over the other, in different stages, which extend
the vertical line to the summit of the Coliseum and other
buildings. 71. This is one of many instances of the gradual rise and
progress of every kind of architecture, and shows how erroneous
is the common notion of certain styles having been " vnvented."
Few styles are really " invented." Each grows up gradually
out of an earlier one ; and the Greek, the Eoman, the Sara
cenic, the so-called Gothic, and others, were not of independent
u
290 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
origin ; nor did they start into existence, Minerva-Hke, in full
beauty from the head of any creating genius. The Greek
derived much from Egypt and from Asia ; the Eoman directly
imitated the Greek, and having decomposed the simple out
lines and forms of its predecessor, it prepared the way for the
various styles that grew out of it. It was the debased Eoman
that gave rise also to the Byzantine, the Eomanesque, the
Lombard, the Saxon, and the Norman.
72. The early Arabs in like manner, in their round-headed
windows, their massive unornamented walls, and the semicir
cular arches supported oh columns, imitated the latest Eoman
works ; they then derived more varied features and greater
luxury of ornament from Persian and from Byzantine build
ings, borrowing from these last the cupola and some other
pecuHarities that have ever since formed marked features in
Saracenic architecture. They even derived the pointed arch
from some earlier Eastern people, for it is of a far older period
than is generally supposed ; and some isolated examples of it
occur in monuments erected before the Christian era. It was
perhaps first regularly employed by the Arabs ; and in 879 it
was already commonly used in their mosks. Nor can there
be any doubt that its introduction into Europe was owing to
an intercourse with the East, to which pilgrims resorted before
it was known in Europe, even if, as there is reason to believe,
it was used in France as early as 1047; as in the Church
of St. Front, at Perigueux. In like manner, it was to the
Byzantine Greeks that Italy was so deeply indebted for her
early art in painting, for her mosaics, and for many architec
tural hints. Nor is it surprising that the pointed arch should
have been adopted as soon as it became known to our archi
tects ; even the Normans, prepossessed as they were in favour
of their round arch, introduced it into their Sicilian buildings,
in imitation of the Saracens; and when the height of our
churches increased, its importance was felt from its fulfilling a
§72,73. THE POINTED STYLE. 291
condition so much required. JHow fanciful, then, is the idea,
now so often repeated by those theorists who appear to look
upon architecture as if it were part of reHgion, that the pointed
style is especially Christian. It was neither exclusively, nor
even originally, Christian.
73. Mr. Buskin makes a very just remark respecting "the
system of aspiration, so-called, which the German critics have
so ingeniously and falsely ascribed to a devotional sentiment
pervading the Northern-Gothic." He "entirely and boldly"
denies " the whole theory ;" and adds, " our cathedrals were for
the most part built by worldly people, who loved the world,
and would have gladly stayed in it for ever ; whose best hope
was the escaping hell, which they thought to do by building
cathedrals, but who had very vague conceptions of heaven in
general, and very feeble desires respecting their entrance
therein; and the form of the spired cathedral has no more
intentional reference to heaven, as distinguished from the flat
tened slope of the Greek pediment, than the steep gable of a
Norman house has, as distinguished from the flat roof of a
Syrian one. We may now, with ingenious pleasure, trace
such symbolic characters in the form ; we may now use it with
a definite meaning ; but we only prevent ourselves from all
right understanding of history, by attributing much influence
to these poetical symboHsms in the formation of a national
style. The human race are, for the most part, not to be
moved by such silken cords ; and the chances of damp in the
cellar, or of loose tiles on the roof, have, unhappily, much
more to do with the fashions of a man's house building than
his ideas of celestial happiness or angeHc virtue." (" Stones
of Venice," i. p. 146.)
Analogous to this is the idea of blue being "the colour of
humility ;" but I hope to be pardoned if I ask whether it is in
connexion with blue stockings, blue beard, or any other appH-
v 2
292 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
cation of the colour ; for its predominance both in the sky and
water does not help us to an explanation.
With equal inconsistency, it has been thought that a love
of some particular kind of art must be connected with refigion ;
and the enthusiast in the one often becomes the enthusiast in
the other. It is true the most elevated sentiment in painting
is derived from sacred subjects ; but a man of sense and taste
need not be influenced in his feeHngs for religion, or art, by such
accidental circumstances ; as he may admire Greek statues and
Greek architecture without any Pagan predilections. (See
below, § 87.)
The supposed "eminently Christian" architecture, thepointed
style, was in reality derived from the Moslems : Eome, which
has been considered an important Christian city, before and
after its introduction, never adopted it; and the early Chris
tians were perfectly innocent of its religious importance and
peculiarities. The theories of vertical lines ascending towards
heaven, and being therefore connected with a reHgious senti
ment, may amuse imaginative minds, but are neither consis
tent with common sense, nor in accordance with fact; and are
only liable to end in confusion, without eHciting any truths
connected with architecture.
74. The origin of the pointed arch has been a question
still more obscure than that of various styles of 'architecture ;
but the attempts to derive it from the intersection of two round
arches, groined vaults, the interlacing of trees, or other acci
dental combinations, have now been wisely abandoned. Indeed,
when we find it used throughout the mosk of Ahmed ebn
Tooloon, at Cairo, as early as 879 A.d.*, and constantly em
ployed after that period as the received style of building of
the day, we may feel convinced that some more reasonable, and
* The horse-shoe round arch was also used about the same time; and it is
found in the court attached to the same mosk, though added after the com
pletion of that building.
§ 74. POINTED AND ROUND ARCHES. 293
far older origin, must be ascribed to it. It is true that several
earlier specimens of the pointed arch date about the beginning
of the 600 ; but it was then only employed for covering pas
sages and narrow spaces, while the round arch still formed the
roof of large chambers in the same buildings. It had not yet
become a substitute for the latter ; and it was probably not an
acknowledged architectural principle in Egypt much, before the
middle of the 800. It may also be questioned whether the
imperfect pointed arches, built by the Christians of Egypt in
the 600, were an original idea gradually developed by them,
or an imperfect imitation of some which had been occasionally
met with in older buildings ; for a pointed arch, regularly con
structed with a keystone, covered one of the chapels before a
pyramid at Gebel Berkel, in Ethiopia, which was coeval at
least with the early part of the Eoman empire ; and imita
tions of the pointed, as well as of the round, arch, hewn in roofs
of horizontal blocks at Thebes about 1460 B.C., seem to show
the former to have been also constructed at a most remote age.
Nor was it in the valley of the Nile alone that we have proofs
of the pointed arch being known in those early periods ; and
one still remains over the inner passage of the aqueduct at
Tusculum*, which if not, as some suppose, Pelasgic, dates long
before the Christian era, and is pronounced by the valuable au
thority of Canina to be coeval with the Latin Confederation.
Others are found in Asia ; as at Zendan (see Eich's Koordistan,
p. 254) and in St. Paul's dungeon at Ephesus (Arundell's Asia
Minor, vol. ii. p. 256), and one was discovered by Mr. Layard
over a drain in the S.E. palace atNimroud. There appears to
be some reason for believing that the pointed arch was of Assy
rian origin ; and the imitations of it cut in the rock by the
early Egyptians may possibly have been borrowed by them
* Not the outer one, which is partly cut into the overlapping stones, and
partly pent-roofed. See " Pop. A. Ant. Egyptians," vol. ii. p. 261, woodcut.
v 3
294 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
from Assyria; and this will accord with its introduction by the
Arabs from Asia. To be imitated it must have been seen.
75. The pointed arches of the Christians (abeady mentioned)
were of a construction very similar to the earliest Egyptian
round arches, the bricks being placed lengthways; but the
greater part had the centre formed of a half brick, or of two
fragments of different sizes, to serve as a key; and small
pieces of stone were inserted between the upper edges of each
brick, when not bevelled off into a wedge shape, in order to
fill up the vacant space at that part.* The key was there
fore adopted in the earliest pointed arches. It was often dis
pensed with in later times ; and this is not surprising, as it is
by no means a necessary feature of a pointed or even of a
round arch, the real principle being that each brick or stone
shall radiate to a common centre. The central brick gives to
these pointed arches an oval form, and looks like a transi
tion from the round arch ; of which they preserved the height,
while the span was diminished ; and instances even occur
of similar shaped arches in Eoman buildings, even though the
bricks are placed laterally, as at the Baths of Caracalla, over
a small pent-headed opening in a wall.
There can be little doubt that the round arch owes its origin
to the use of bricks in roofing buildings constructed of that
material ; and nowhere is it more Hkely to have been required
than in a country like Egypt, where timber for rafters was
rare, and bricks were extensively used. We are not, therefore, '
surprised to find round brick arches at the early period of
1490 B.C. at Thebes. Both the round and pointed arch seem
to have begun with rude bricks, placed lengthways. And if
the early Christians only used the latter to cover passages and
other small spaces, the early imitations of it (1460 B.C.) hewn
in the rock are, in like manner, confined to narrow chambers ; y
* See my " Egyptians in the Time of the Pharaohs," pp. 138—141.
§75. INVENTION OF THE ARCH. 295
as if it had always been thought, when first adopted, to be
incapable of the same expansion as the round arch.
I have said that the pointed arch is supposed to have been
employed in France in 1047, and some think before that time;
but it was not the general style of building till long after.
And as its early adoption may be easily explained by an inter
course with the East, so its general introduction may be
ascribed to the Crusades. Nothing could be more natural
than that the Crusaders should copy it from a people more
civilised than themselves, or that they should adopt what was
a prevalent style in Syria ; and no one is surprised to find a
church (now a mosk) built by them at Beiroot with the
pointed arch surrounded by the Norman zigzag, or chevron,
moulding. Its invention cannot certainly be claimed by
Europe, when it had long before been the ordinary style of
building among the Arabs ; and this we know of its history, that
it first came to France, and thence passed to England, where,
though it appears to have been employed with Norman round
arches as early as 1135, it did not come into general use till
about 1200. In France too the tracery of windows was first
developed ; and, again, the Benaissance style found favour in
England through our intercourse with that country, to which
we have always been so much indebted for the arts of luxe
and the advancement of decorative taste.
It is singular that though the Normans in Sicily soon
adopted the pointed arch from the Saracens, it was not intro
duced into the buildings of Normandy itself till long after it
had been used in other parts of France. In Italy and Ger
many too it was of later date than in that country. Of this,
however, we may be certain, that the pointed style did not
grow out of the Norman and the Lombard ; it was engrafted
on them ; it was an exotic plant derived from the East ; and
there is no connecting Hnk between it and its predecessors.
It came as the pointed arch did to the Normans in Sicily,- by
c 4
296 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
adoption ; and neither there, nor elsewhere in Europe, did it
grow out of the previous style. Moreover, Gothic is not
necessarily ornamented with foliage ; the earliest style, the
Transition, had none ; only mouldings, and those mostly bor
rowed from the Norman; and in this it showed its nearer
resemblance to the Saracenic of that period when it took its
rise. Tracery and rich foliage were superadded afterwards ;
and they became, but were not originaHy, a necessary feature
of Gothic, or pointed, architecture. Whence the Arabs first
obtained the pointed arch is a question not yet solved ; though,
as I have said, it was not from Byzantium, as once supposed,
but from Asia, and probably from Assyria.
76, With regard to the invention of the round arch, the
same mystery prevails as about the later pointed one. All
we know is that the Egyptians commonly used it for the roof
ing of tombs at least as early as 1490 B.C., as is proved beyond
doubt by some still remaining at Thebes of that time ; the
paintings of Beni Hassan seem to show it was known to them
five centuries earlier ; and there is reason to believe it existed
two hundred years before in the chambers of the crude brick
pyramids. But it never became a feature of their architec
ture, to the character of which it was by no means suited ; and
the same may be said of it in Greece, where, though known, it
was never introduced into any sacred building. It is men
tioned by Aristotle (de Mundo, c. 6), and is said byPosidonius
to have been invented by Democritus, who was born b.c. 460
(Vitruv. Pr. 7, and Seneca, Ep. 90) ; and from the description
of it, with the stones gradually inclining (or radiating to the
centre,) with a centre or key to bind them together, it was
evidently on the same principle as our own, and not merely
a domed vault, which differs from a real arch. But, as Seneca
says, there must have been arched bridges and doors long
before Democritus ; and there is reason to beheve that many
of those that remain in Greece date before his time. One
§ 76. EARLY ARCHES IN GREECE. 297
of them is in the polygonal masonry of the walls of OSniadae
in Acarnania (Leake, N. Greece, iii. p. 560; Mure, i. p.
109; and Mon. Ined. pi. 57); another at Ephesus, in poly
gonal masonry (Canina, pi. cl.) ; another at Xerokampo, near
Sparta, also with polygonal masonry about it (Mure, ii. p. 248 ;
and Mon. Ined. Ann. Inst. 1838, p. 140); and Mr. Falkener
found an arch in the polygonal walls of CEnoanda, in the
Cibyratis north of Lycia, with Greek inscriptions. The arch
too of most perfect construction was employed by the Etrus
cans at least as early as the age of the kings of Eome, " in
the 7th century B.C." (see Canina, part ii. p. 17); and Diodo-
rus (H. 9) describes a tunnel under the Euphrates at Babylon
which was arched, of brick cased with bitumen, and twelve
feet in span throughout.
Those semicircular roofs formed by the overlapping of
layers of stone, into which the curve of the vault was often
cut, were of a still earlier period, though used also at the same
time with the arch ; but they were false arches, and have no
more pretensions to be classed with the real ones than many
conical constructions of early times, such as the so-called tomb
of Agamemnon (or Treasury of Atreus), the nuraghe of Sardi
nia, and similar monuments. It is remarkable that they are
met with not only in Egypt, in Etruria, in Greece, in Pelasgic
towns of Italy and Greece, but at Palenqui, in Central Ame
rica, affording one of many examples of mans supplying his
wants in the most distant regions in the same way. And,
indeed, instead of wondering whenever we find men aHke, we
should rather feel surprised that they often have so little
resemblance to each other in different parts of the world.
I have stated that in the earHest arches the bricks were
placed lengthways, with the idea of making those large sun
baked bricks extend at once over the greatest possible space ;
and this is a sufficient proof that the ancient Egyptian arch
was not derived from the summit of a primitive round hut.;
298 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
which too would have led them to make their constructed
tombs round, and not rectangular, as they always are in Egypt.
The want of wood, and the desire to employ the same accessible
materials throughout a building, led to its adoption ; and it has
been conjectured by Dr. Eichardson that the boasted superio
rity of the brick pyramids over those wonders of the world,
the stone ones, was owing to the invention of the arch, which
was first employed for roofing their chambers. There seems
to be great reason for admitting this ingenious hypothesis,
which would take back its invention to about 2300 b.c ; and
it is not probable that its origin could date earlier in any other
country. But, as in many cases, the real invention is still a
question, all we can ascertain is, that those to whom it has
been generally ascribed lived long after it was commonly
known ; its originator is unrecorded ; and we may be satisfied
that it is wiser to adopt from others what is capable of being
applied to a useful purpose, than to be perpetually striving to
produce "some new thing" for the sake of novelty, or for the
credit of its invention.
77. The early masters of Italy were not too proud to derive
hints from each other ; the favourite treatment of some one
figure was constantly repeated by them ; and a particular mode
of representing subjects may often be traced to a Byzantine
original. So too Eaphael did not object to borrow from
Masaccio ; and like the Greeks of old, in adopting what was
beautiful in the works of others, in order to improve his own,
he thought excellence of more importance than originality.
The Greeks, however, in copying from those who preceded
them, had not always the honesty to acknowledge it ; and
made up plausible tales to conceal the obligation, as in the
case of the Corinthian capital, and the Telamones, Hermes,
and Caryatide figures, borrowed from the Egyptians; and
numerous arts were claimed by the Greeks which had long
been known, and were derived from other countries. We must
§77. EGYPTIAN AND GREEK INVENTIONS. 299
smile at the idea of the flutes of the Ionic representing the
drapery of the female figure, of which the column itself (more
slender than the " mascuHne Doric") was said to be a symbol ;
and at the many other fanciful tales, ingeniously devised,
to prove originaHty. And while we admire the story of the
tile and basket, with the acanthus leaf, put forth to account
for the invention of the Corinthian capital, we cease to admit its
truth on finding how its oldest forms, which occur on the
columns of the tomb called the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae,
and at the tower of Andronicus at Athens, were simply the
basket capital of Egypt. And the pretended origin of portrai
ture, or modelling in relief, from the lover's face on the wall
copied by the daughter of Dibutades of Sicyon, is only another
pretty story. The capital we know as the Corinthian should
properly be called the Greek Composite, composed as it is of
the origi/nal basket and the Ionic volutes ; and in it we see
how admirably the tasteful Greeks combined the volutes, and
how badly the Eomans applied them in their ponderous and
ill-proportioned Composite order! We no longer beheve, with
Pliny, and some modern Hellenists, that many of the earliest
inventions were of Greek origin ; that men under fabulous
names devised them in Greece ages after they had been com
mon in older countries ; or that various scientific discoveries,
known long before to the Egyptians, and even canal-making,
were taught them by their pupils the Greeks.* Their claims,
duly catalogued by PHny, are amusing to us in these days ;
* It must not, however, be supposed that, though Greece borrowed from
Egypt some notions in matters of early taste, she was indebted for her religion
to that country ; many resemblances in the two religions were owing to their
•having had a common origin; and. they also may be traced in the Vedas with
out our concluding that Ouranos was derived from "Vurana, or that other
mythical personages came from India. And if Greece adopted the characters
and even names of some deities from Egypt, as Themis, from Thmei, and
others, this was only a custom common to Paganism, and one which was adopted
sometimes even by the Egyptians.
300
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
possessing, as we do, the means of tracing the successive
development and comparative antiquity of so many early
people ; and we are not surprised that the Egyptians should
(as Plato tells us) have looked upon the Greeks as " children"
in the world's history, without " any ideas derived from remote
. (48.)
Fig. I.
Fig. 2.
^)f\©\@\@\iwiro
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
tradition, or any discipline existing from an early period." In
deed, from their forms, as well as their details, many of the
gold and silver vases represented in Egyptian paintings, as
early as 1440 B.C., might almost be attributed to Greek work
men* (see woodcut 48); and it would be interesting to trace
the various types and ornaments which were borrowed by the
Greeks from Egypt and other countries ; but the subject is too
* See my "Egyptians in the Time of the Pharaohs," pp. 42— 47; and
pp. 154—161.
$77.
¦Egyptian and geeek designs.
301
-extensive to be fully examined here ; and it will be sufficient
to notice the earliest instances of some of those with which we
are most familiar*, as the so-called Tuscan border (fig. 1),
the zig-zag (the chevron of later days), the scroll (fig. 3 and
woodcut 48), the volute (fig. 3, and woodcut 45), and the
intersecting circle, (fig. 4), which are found, with many
(49.)
N
N
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
others, in the paintings of the Egyptians executed about 1400
years B.C.; and the first four more than twenty centuries
before our era.*
The Tuscan border seems to have been a very general design
at all times and places, being found also in China, in Mexico,
and other countries; but the origin of several patterns on
Greek vases may be traced from those peculiar to Egypt* at
a time when it was the dominant country of antiquity, and
was looked up to as the most advanced in civilisation. Thus
the lotus, the ibex, leopard, ape, Nile-goose, and other animals
unknown in Greece, as well as the Sphinx, the harpy, and
other conventional creatures which derived their origin from
Egypt, were common on the early Greek vases.
* See my " Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii. p. 125, PI. vii. figs. 4, 6, 7, 14, 20i
302 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
In like manner, the chevron, so frequently seen on vases,
ceilings, and elsewhere as an Egyptian ornament, and which
appears even as an architectural moulding throughout Diocle
tian's palace at Spalato, along the whole entablature and on the
plinths of the columns, was adopted by the mediaeval architects,
particularly in the Norman style, together with other devices ;
(50.)
and the notched stones of voussoirs, so frequent in Saracenic
buildings, were of Eoman origin, being found in the same
palace of Spalato, and in other buildings of the Empire.
78. It is thus, throughout the history of art, that one style
borrows from another; and the proof of talent consisted in
a proper adaptation of each particular feature. Those who
maintain that the early Greeks derived nothing in art from
foreign nations, seem to ignore the influence universally exer
cised by the more advanced on those who have made less
progress in it. Yet all history and experience proclaim this,
as well as many of the Greeks themselves. The shield of
Achilles is described from no Greek model ; and, like similar
works of the Homeric age, it was probably derived from some
work of the Sidonians, who, like the Egyptians and others,
had excelled in various branches of art long before they
became known to the Greeks. And it was to their contact
with other people that the Ionians were indebted for an earlier
advance in art, compared to their brethren of Greece.
79. Indeed, it is impossible to look at the ornamental
designs on many of the bronze and other objects found in
Assyria, Etruria, and other countries, without at once per-
§78,79. .IDEAS BOEROWED FROM OTHERS. 303
ceiving how they were influenced by the types prevailing at
those periods; which sometimes bear the stamp of an
Egyptian, and sometimes of an Asiatic, origin.. The
Egyptian type is always sufficiently evident; the other is
probably Phoenician ; and this is only what might be ex
pected from the statements of ancient writers, who represent
the Sidonians as the great manufacturers of bronze and other
ornamental works. They were also the great exporters of
those days ; and as we frequently meet with the same designs
on paterae and various objects both in Etruria, to which they
traded by sea, and in Assyria, with which they traded by
land, we may safely attribute to them the same origin. Nor
is there wanting abundant proof of the intercourse of that
trading people with Nineveh. Again, similar designs are
occasionally found in Egyptian paintings representing vases
and other things, brought home or captured by the Pharaohs
in their Asiatic wars ; and it is therefore reasonable to con
clude that these and other designs used by the Assyrians
were Phoenician ; and that those supposed to have been taken
by the Greeks from the Assyrians were from the same source.
And though the sphinx, the scarabaeus, the lotus, and many
conventional emblems were derived from Egypt in the first.
instance, we at once perceive how they were altered by the
Phoenicians ; and how the sphinx, with recurved wings, which
became so prevalent on early Greek and Etruscan works, was
the Phoenician modification of its Egyptian prototype.
The greater part then of those early designs, common to
Etruria, Assyria, and Greece, which have not a real Egyptian
character, may be attributed to that great manufacturing and
trading people; and the name Phoenician, formerly given to the
oldest Greek vases, may not be altogether without authority ;
though it should rather be applied to the patterns than to the
vases themselves. Similar facts tend to prove the exchange
of ideas in taste and customs, which took place at these re-
304 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
mote periods, as well as their transmission from an older to a
later people.
80. One great merit is to improve on what is borrowed.
We excel the Chinese in the use of the compass and of gun
powder ; though they were acquainted with both of these
long before they came to us * ; and there is no disgrace in
imitating or adopting what is good. The pointed arch is not
less beautiful in a Gothic building because it derived its
origin from an older Saracenic one ; and the spandril over the
Arab arch is arranged with far greater taste than the Eoman
one it copied, as the Moorish bracket excels its Indian proto
type. I am not, however, certain that the spandril of our
church architecture is superior to its Saracenic predecessor.
The same derivative system continued through successive
ages, and in all countries. Thus early Christian architecture,
as might be expected, bore the evidences of its obligation to
Pagan models ; and neither the form, nor the architecture, of
the first churches was the invention of the Christians.
It was thought sufficient that the Church did not imitate
the heathen temple ; and the conversion of a court of law
into a place of worship was not calculated to shock religious
prejudices. In this respect the Italian Christians were more
scrupulous than those of Egypt and some other countries, who
allowed a Pagan temple to be converted at once into a church ;
the saints succeeding, on the stucco, newly spread over
the walls, to the gods in the ancient sculptures concealed
beneath it.
The Gothic architects improved on the basilica. Our large
cruciform churches as buildings are beautiful ; but it may be
questioned whether their plan is as well suited for the object
* Gunpowder was not invented by Schwartz, nor the mariners' compass by
Gioia of Amain. Priar Bacon gives the ingredients of gunpowder long
before Schwartz's time; and the knowledge of it, as of the compass, came no
doubt from the Chinese.
§80-82. OLDER SOURCES OF ART. 305
for which they are intended as some others that might be
adopted ; and the form of a cross is certainly one of the worst
for accommodating a large concourse of people, for enabling
them to hear the voice of the preacher, or for permitting a
large congregation to join in the services of the church.
81. The debasement of architecture was gradual, and was
only the natural consequence of what had already commenced
under the Eoman empire ; the various styles which grew out
of it being merely changes in the earlier ones, in different pro
vinces of the Eoman empire. They were all modifications of
the late Eoman ; one varying it in this, another, in that, part ;
according to the taste and wants of each country; and the archi
tecture in Eome itself underwent less alteration than in many
of the provinces. For it is an error to suppose that the influx
of northern invaders introduced the changes in the Eoman
architecture : they only borrowed and modified what they took ;
but did not originate any of their own. They brought with
them no architecture ; and the grandest palace of Attila was of
wooden planks and beams. But without the necessit~-<*£-this
proof that the alteration in the style was of native growth, ±*
sufficient to examine the changes that took place in Eoman
buildings of various ages, even before the time of Diocletian
and Constantine. The vertical line which (as I have had
occasion to show, p. 28) dates as early as the first century a.d.,
was really Eoman ; and the long-and-short work of our Saxon
churches was the common style of building in villages of
North Africa during (and probably long before) the reigns of
Justin II. and Justinian. The invasions of the Eoman empire
hastened, but they were not the origin, of the decline of art.
82. The same obligation to older sources led to the revival
of sculpture and painting, as to new styles of architecture.
Both these (which in a particular stage of art are more inti
mately connected with each other than at a more advanced
period) show, at one time, the evident traces of their
x
306 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. PART II,
descent; and in the earliest bas-reliefs that remain of a
Christian age, we perceive the same kind of transition from
the old classical to the debased style which appears in con
temporary Pagan works. It has been thought by some that
" the primitive art of the Christians was rude, because the
only schools where they could study were in the hands of the
Pagans, and the only models were images of idolatry;" but
though this may have had an influence on some of their
earliest attempts, and they may have been sometimes obliged
to depend on their own unaided efforts " to copy nature,"
and on their " own primitive notions "of the human figure," so
long as they were a poor oppressed community ; this would
not have continued after Christianity had become the reHgion
of the state. Nor does this really account for it ; and their
faulty attempts at painting and sculpture are rather to be
attributed to a general want of talent, and the sinking con
dition of art.
83. Taste had long held a doubtful existence under the
Eomans ; and the people of Eome itself were always remark
able for their want of it. It was there an exotic plant ; not
one of native growth ; and the Eomans were indebted for all
that was good to Greek artists, or to Greek models. They
were even inferior to many other Italians ; and the Etruscans,
though they too borrowed from the Greeks, had learnt at an
early period to appreciate art ; and continued to the last to
show a degree of talent to which the Eomans never attained.
It is also a remarkable fact that the revival of painting and
sculpture in the middle ages, did not take place in Eome, but
in Florence, Pisa, and other parts of Etruria, which had been
of old distinguished for artistic excellence. It was in that
country too, as Vasari observes (Introd. pp. 26, 29), that archi
tecture first began to improve after the dark ages. We already
see in the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine how rapidly
sculpture was declining (much more, as is usual, than archi-
§ 83. PAGAN TYPES ADOPTED. 307
tecture, which is less dependent .on the feelings, and more
easily kept up by imitation) : and the style of Christian
bas-relief, in those and subsequent periods, shows that they
kept pace with the gradual downfall. This is quite in ac
cordance with an observation of Vasari ; that in the time of
" Julian the Apostate, a church was built on the Ccelian Mount
to the martyrs, SS. Giovanni and Paolo, the style of which is
so much worse than that of Santa Maria Maggiore as to
prove clearly that art was at that time little less than totally
lost." It was from the general decay of taste, and afterwards
from the injury done by the irruptions of Barbarians, rather
than from any reluctance to copy from a Pagan source, that
the sculpture and painting of the early Christians were so de
based ; and this is evident from some of the oldest representa
tions remaining in the catacombs of Eome, and in other
places. It is true that the subjects painted on the roofs
and niches in the Catacombs are taken mostly from the
Old Testament, according to the custom of the first Christians;
and we do not trace in them so much of the Pagan style ;
but the figure of the Saviour as the Good Shepherd is evi
dently derived from an ancient model ; and another repre
sentation of him in the same office, dating at a later period
(a. d. 450), in a mosaic of Galla Placidia's tomb at Eavenna,
has an unmistakeably classical character.) And even the
Anglo-Saxon MSS. in this country bear, in some of their
figures, the evidence of their obligations to Eoman originals.
(See below, § 84, p. 309.)
The same imitation of a Pagan type may be traced in the
earHest Christian sarcophagi; and in the Baptistery at
Eavenna, dating about 400 A.D., and again at Santa Maria in
Cosmedin in the same city, erected in the following century,
is an emblematic figure of the Jordan, represented as an
ancient river god, witnessing the baptism of the Saviour.
The imperial purple and the Eoman costume given to saints ;
x 2
308 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
the angels copied directly from the winged figures on Greek
and Eoman monuments, and having a still stronger analogy
with those of the Etruscan rites (where they held an im
portant office in a future, world), are also among the many
proofs of the Christians having borrowed in very early times
from Pagan sources. There is also a very remarkable piece
of sculpture on wood, of the time of Diocletian, on a frieze
and cornice over the door of a church at Old Cairo, where the
Deity, seated in the centre, within a circle, supported on either
side by winged angels, with a procession of the apostles, six on
each side, is an evident imitation of the winged globe over
the doorways of Egyptian temples. Again the Egyptian sign
of life, the sacred Tau, was taken as the earliest form of the
cross. It has even been found on Eoman monuments in
Italy and France; and in the Christian tombs at the Great
Oasis it heads the inscriptions in lieu of the usual cross. Nor
can any one look on the figure of Isis and the infant Horus
without recalling that of the Madonna with the Child.
It is true that one of the earliest modes of representing the
Virgin in Italy was without the child, with her hands uplifted
as in an attitude of prayer ; but its first introduction, as Mrs.
Jameson says (p. 63), "may be traced to Alexandria," and
" the time-consecrated Egyptian myth of Isis and Horus may
have suggested the original type, the outward form and the
arrangement, of the maternal group, as the classical Greek
types of the Orpheus (of Mercury), and Apollo, furnished the
early symbols of the Eedeemer as the Good Shepherd." The
nimbus, or glory, was, in like manner, borrowed from Pagan
times. It was originally the disk placed on the head of the
Egyptian god Ee, the Sun, and having been transferred to
Apollo, or Phoebus, who answered to him in Greece, passed
to various gods and men, and thence to Christian saints;
and if in India, Greece, Etruria, and Eome, the circle was
sometimes broken up into rays, the idea was the same. It
§ 84. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. 309
was sometimes placed horizontally on the heads of Greek
statues, to prevent their being defiled by the birds. But it
was not absolutely confined by the early Christians to saints,
though that with the cross within , it was peculiarly set apart
for figures of the Saviour : it was sometimes placed on the
head of the principal personage in a fresco, of a mosaic *, as
of Justinian and Theodora in the mosaics of S. Vitale at
Eavenna. It is even given to Herod at the slaughter of the
Innocents in a very early painting in an Egyptian rock-
church ; and living persons had sometimes a square nimbus.
These and many other facts suffice to prove that Christian
art followed the general custom of borrowing from a pre
decessor ; and though it was at first of a debased style, this
was not because it scorned to copy from Pagan models. It
was inferior, because its models were inferior, to those of old ;
it copied, or followed, its predecessor ; and did not originate,
though it altered and modified what it borrowed, and it was
not till afterwards that it created a new type.
84. Paintings in fresco were more employed by \he first
Christians than sculpture; and the earliest that remain at
Eome are in the Catacombs. The mosaics put up by order
of Constantine were executed by workmen instructed in the
then existing arts of Pagan Eome, and cannot properly be
included in the works of the Christians ; and those of the
so-called Baptistery of Constantine have no cross and no
Christian emblems.
The early sculpture of the Christians, which was of rather
later date, was mostly confined to bas-relief; and here we dis
tinctly trace the influence of Pagan models. But primitive
Christian art, both in painting and sculpture, derived, as I
* In a painting at Pompeii (Gell, PI. xxxrx. p. 135) a round shield placed
behind Achilles has been thought to perform the same office. See also
PI. xxxvm. xli. lxxx. vol. i. Inghirami Galler. Omerica, where the deities have
each the nimbus, and they are not of Pagan time.
x 3
310 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
have said, from their Pagan predecessors, became at one time
extinguished in Italy ; and it was not till it received a new
impulse from Byzantium that it was once more brought into
existence; its revival, therefore, was owing to that external
influence, which may be considered the real parent of Italian
art. Like that of the primitive Christians in Italy, Byzantine
art, though assuming a new type, also owed its origin to the
debased style of its Pagan predecessor ; for a similar obliga
tion to an older source must be acknowledged by the Byzan
tine as by other schools.
The same may be as clearly traced in the MSS. of the
Anglo-Saxons ; who were not deterred by their Christian pre
judices from copying Pagan models ; and we occasionally find
classical figures introduced there, having all the characteristics
of late Eoman art. They had access to Pagan drawings, and
they took advantage of them ; and the fact of some figures
being introduced into the same picture and the same subject, ,
together with others of a rude, ill-proportioned style, at once
show how the former were copies, and the latter the result
of the draughtsman's unaided and imperfect efforts. And
instances of similar combinations of classical and rude figures
are found in Byzantine MSS. of about 1066, 1 120—30, and
other periods. The jagged outline of a sleeve, or other piece
of drapery, in Anglo-Saxon MS. of about the year 1000, prove
that the draughtsman either made a careless copy, or had re
ceived the general impression of the classical mode of repre
senting draperies and costumes, without possessing sufficient
knowledge either of the classical manner, or of the natural
folds, to be able to draw them correctly. The outHnes are
therefore broken up into those disconnected curves which so
strongly mark Anglo-Saxon drawings, and very much resemble
an imperfeet tracing penned from recollection by some
tyro; detached parts being introduced instead of the con
tinuous lines and folds. The same may be seen at the side
§84.
ANGLO-SAXON MANUSCRIPTS.
311
of a draped figure, where the connecting lines are omitted,
and the jagged edge is represented alone (figs. \b,2b); and
this was partly owing to the form of the drapery having been
figs
(51.)
fl<lS
fig*
~\
figs
\JSJ-^
fige
handed down from one to another until its original character
was lost. At first, in the early MSS., the antique type was
frequently well preserved; but in course of time, as each
copied from a copy, the draughtsmen departed farther from
X 4
312 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
the original, till the lengthy formal figure, quite superseded
the classical ; and the Bayeux-tapestry-style of the Normans
put an end to all vestiges of the older style.
In the Anglo-Saxon MSS. the adoption of the colours pre
valent at a late and corrupt Eoman time may also be traced
in the quantity of undecided green* then introduced, often
with much yellow and a brownish redf; and this is made
more obvious by the subsequent change to the blue, red, and
yellow (with a rich gold ground), in the MSS. of the 1100
and the following century ; corresponding, as they do, with
the colouring of the windows of that period, both in England
and France.
85. It has been a question whether the employment of the
Byzantine mosaicists gave the first impulse to the revival of
art in Italy, or whether it was restored by the unaided efforts
of the ItaHans themselves. Some, Hke Cicognaraf, maintain
that the arts were never so debased as to need restoration
from abroad ; and he goes so far as to maintain that the
mosaics of the early churches of Italy were the work of native
artists (Stor. della Sc. i. p. 475,476); though both tradition and
the evidence of their style are conclusive respecting their
Byzantine origin. Vasari, on the other hand, admits that
sculpture and the other arts had fallen to decay in the time of
Constantine, and that art was little less than totaUy lost in
the reign of Julian, and was buried completely during the
invasions of the Goths and Vandals. He also shows, in his life
* Of about 1000 A.d. : the same prevalence of green is often found in Ger
man MSS. also of the 1100.
f See Cott. MS. Tiber. B. 5, and others.
J Cicognara is apt to claim too much for Italy in those days. He even
attributes the Pala d' Oro, at Venice, to Italian, though it is well known to be
the work of Byzantine, artificers, and to have been executed at Constantinople,
by order of the Doge P. Orseolo I. ; " the portrait of Ordelafo Ealiero having
been added.when it was brought over in his dogeship, in 1102. Its Byzantine
origin is also shown by its style and Greek inscriptions.
§85,86. HISTORY OF MOSAICS, 313
of Cimabue, how, before that time, in Italy, painting had
been "piuttosto perduta che smarrita;" and that Cimabue
learnt by watching the Greeks at work in the Cappella dei
Gondi, and studied under them. He also observes that the
Greeks were employed all over Italy to decorate the churches
and pubHc buildings, until Cimabue, followed by his scholar
Giotto, and others, in painting, Hke their contemporaries the
mosaicists, having first learnt of the Greeks, afterwards worked
independently, and established a new and truly Italian style
of art. D'Agincourt too (in his 4th vol.) gives a regular
history of this progress through Byzantine hands, illustrated
by examples in each century. We find the same observa
tion made by Flaxman (Lect. p. 146, 242), that ItaHan art
was received from the Greeks of Constantinople; and the
fact is still more confirmed by this statement of Eosini (vol.
i. Proemio): — "Per edificare, per iscolpire, per dipingere,
non si proponevano che Greci . . . . cio che negar non po-
trebbesi, perche appare da documenti certi, la pittura sul
cominciare del Secolo XIII. mantenevasi Greca. V erano
si, come narrano tutti gH storici, e v' erano stati anche, ante-
cedentemente, Italiani pittori ; ma senza lasciar nome illustre,
senza far degne opere, e molto meno senza procurar degni
allievi." 86. The history of mosaic work is a good illustration of the
manner in which so many arts have been indebted to each
other for their development ; having alternately exceUed and
declined, and been afterwards revived by the country of its
adoption. Pavements of various coloured marbles were used
in Greece as early as the age of Alexander, which were pro
bably the same as those mentioned by Hesiod and Xenophon ;
and the ship of Hiero IL, described by Athenaeus (v. 207), had
floors composed of real mosaics, or, as he says, of small cubes
of all kinds of stone. From Greece the art went to Eome,
whose earHest mosaics were the work of Greeks ; and the in-
314 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
scriptions on the celebrated pavement of Praeneste, placed in
the Temple of Fortune by SyUa, were Greek. At Eome, the
mosaics soon passed upwards, as PHny says quaintly, from the
floors to the ceilings, and took possession of the arches ; and
when glass was used for the purpose, cubes of that material
were faced with gold, to form " the golden vaults," as well as
pavements, of Eoman mansions. Silver mosaics were also
made at Eome. But they were not used by the Greeks,
though they had at an early time another custom, common at
Eome, of encrusting with coloured marbles, which was adopted
from them by the Eomans. The golden ceilings and silver
beams of the King of Colchis (said by Pliny to have defeated
Sesostris) may not have been mosaic work, but it is not un-
Hkely that it originated in the luxurious taste of the East.
The first inlaid pavements are said by Pliny (xxxvi. 25) to
have been " barbaric ;" and the Asiatic nations have the merit
of their earliest application. The Greeks employed mosaics
for pavements ; the Eomans both for pavements and ceilings ;
and these last continued to excel in the art, until the removal
of so many workmen to Byzantium by Constantine raised a
rival school in the new capital. This soon surpassed its
parent ; and the Byzantine mosaicists frequently assisted in
decorating the early churches of Eome, until, in the age of
Justinian, they were regularly employed in Italy. Of this age
are the mosaics of S. Vitale, at Eavenna. The iconoclastic
dissensions in the 700, which drove so many from the East,
increased the number of Greek artists in Italy; and taste
having fallen there altogether, the Greeks, during a consider
able period, as I have already shown, were exclusively noted
for decorative skill. The rich mosaics of Eavenna, of Eome,
of St. Mark's at Venice, and of other churches in Italy,
still claim our admiration, and bear witness to the talent
of the Byzantine workmen, and to their extensive employ
ment; and the piratic conquest of Constantinople by the
§86. RISE OF PAINTING IN ITALY. 315
Venetians and the French, in 1 203, tended to keep up the
intercourse long before established with the Greeks. Nor
was it until the Tuscans, by employing Greeks' settled at
Venice to decorate their churches, had learnt the art, that
mosaic work began to be once more practised with success by
native Italians. At the beginning of the 1300 the Tuscans
founded, for the first time, a mosaic school of their own, which
speedily improved on the too conventional style of their in
structors, and changed it from what was scarcely more than a
manufacture* to the condition of an art. And thus, what
had once passed from Greece to Italy, then back from Italy
to Byzantium, and thence once more to Italy, reached its
highest excellence in this last country, and has now left behind
it nothing in the East but the decoration of walls, such as are
seen in the brilliant vaulted rooms of Damascus and Aleppo.
There is abundant evidence of Byzantine art in Italy. The
mosaics of the triumphal arch of Santa Maria Maggiore at
Eome, of a.d. 432, are Byzantine; as are those at Eavenna of
the same and two following centuries ; and those of the Tri
clinium of Leo at Borne, on gold ground, of 797 ; and of Santa
Pudenziana and Prassede at Eome, about 780 and 820; of
S. Ambrosio at Milan, of 836 ; and of St. Mark's, at Venice,
of the end of the 900 and following century; with some
others, are Byzantine ; and even in those at S. Clemente
(Eome)f, of A.D. 1112, the word agios is written over the
saints in Eoman characters.
The ItaHans, who had hitherto been contented to imitate
the works of the Byzantine mosaicists, began at length to act
* M. Didron found at Mount Athos a work " containing fixed rules for their
paintings, supposed to be of the eleventh century," and used to this day.
(Labarte, p. 18.)
f The figures of St. Peter, " agins Petrus," and of St. Clement have a very
classical appearance, remarkable at this period. (See § 84, p. 310, on occa
sional classical figures.)
316
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
independently of their instructors; and during the 1200,
Andrea Tafi, Fra Giacopo da Turrita, Gaddo Gaddi, and
others, established the reputation of native ItaHan talent, in
the mosaics then executed at Florence, Eome, and Pisa. A
similar advance was made on the Byzantine style by the
painters of Italy ; who speedily surpassed their masters ; and
in contemplating the productions of Giotto "people began
to form a better judgment of art." Well might Dante say,
" Ed ora ha Giotto il grido : " the Byzantine manner was
entirely extinguished by the aid of his great genius; and
there arose a new one, "which Vasari would fain call the
manner of Giotto ;" though it must be allowed that Duccio,
Simone Memmi, and some others, had their share in Hberating
art from Byzantine influences. Fresco now (once more) took
the place of mosaic ; and this was again " destined to perish
by the hands of those who had carried it to perfection,"*
and to give place to its " too powerful rival," painting.
Thus, then, it must be admitted that the obligations of early
Italian to Byzantine art are sufficiently established ; they are
readily traced in the works of the oldest Italian masters, as in
those of Giunta, Guido da Siena, Cimabue, and others ; who,
if they improved upon Greek models, did not wholly abandon
them ; and with the evidence of this impress on the works of
the well-known fathers of painting at Pisa, Siena, and Flo
rence, no one can, with any fairness, doubt the cause of the
revival of art in Italy.
There were two periods of Christian art in that country,
separated from each other by an interval of complete dark
ness. The first was of an inferior character, the result of the
decadence of an older Pagan style ; and it simply followed the
condition in which painting happened to be when the subjects
in the Catacombs of Eome, and in other places, were executed.
* Labarte, p. 94.
§86. IDEAS REMODELLED. 317
The other period was that which has been mentioned above,
when it revived through the works and tuition of the Byzan
tine artists, after the irruptions of the Barbarians had caused
that complete hiatus in art which continued till its restoration
in the 1200. For after 800 a.d. to 900 Italy was altogether
destitute of it; and Muratori, speaking of the utter degradation
of art in the 900, calls it the iron age, full of iniquity and
barbarism. Tiraboschi also considers the same period to be
one of universal ignorance.
Thus it is that art, as well as science and literature, goes
through certain stages of decay, till it arrives by degrees at a
state of regeneration. Men are at first contented to copy,
often imperfectly, and merely traditionally, from one another,
each deviating more or less from the original models in pro
portion as he is more or less capable of appreciating them,
and in proportion as the copies he has received have been well
preserved, or modified and corrupted by passing through
successive hands ; until at length a new impetus is received
through some accidental cause : and then, some great genius
arising, the style hitherto imperfectly and almost mechanically
copied, is remodeUed, and a new one is produced, which is the
beginning of another era. As of old in Greece, so it happened
in Italy ; and as soon as native talent reappeared there, she
worked out for herself the perfect restoration of art.
Early in the 1200, Giunta da Pisa (1202-1258) and Guido
da Siena (1221) began to combine an Italian with the Greek
style; andafter them the independent talents of Duccio (1282),
Simone Memmi (1285-1344), and others of the Siennese
school, produced works free from any Byzantine influence;
and if this was still traceable in most of the works of Cimabue
(1249-1302), and some other Florentine masters of that early
period, the wonderful talents of Giotto (1276-1336), who
excelled in painting, sculpture, and architecture, the happy
appreciation of antique sculpture by Niccolo Pisano (1205-
318 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. PAET II.
1275), and the abandonment of the conventionaHsms of the
Byzantine Greeks at the close of this century, established the
character of Italian art ; and whatever its obligation to that
of Byzantium, it is certain that this last could never have
become what, the other so speedily made itself, — attaining
as it did to the great merit of surpassing the excellence of
ancient Greek painting. Indeed, it is remarkable, that though
painting in Italy advanced to a state of perfection, this was
denied to sculpture, which has always been inferior to that of
ancient Greece; and when classical taste was revived in
cinque-cento time, it allowed itself to be fettered by a too
slavish imitation of Greek models (see p. 200). And in this
last, as in some other cases, we have ample proofs of the
fatal error of merely imitating, instead of studying the senti
ments of, ancient models. Talent is thus hampered at a
time when it ought to be left free to develop itself; and
the beauties of the Norman, the Gothic, the Saracenic, and
other styles of architecture, would never have existed if
they had only copied, without being permitted to remodel,
the ideas they borrowed from a predecessor.
We have seen how this has invariably occurred in the
history of art; and we cannot too often, or too strongly,
recommend the same mode of studying and adapting, in
preference to mere imitation, or to the vanity of attempting
to invent some novelty in taste. There is therefore greater
reason to point out the extent to which early Italian art was
indebted to the Byzantine Greeks; as it shows how little
derogatory is the obligation to a foreign, or an older source,
for the suggestion of ideas in such matters, and affords a
striking illustration of the manner in which one style of art
borrows from, and in re-creating improves upon, a predecessor.
87. It is generally allowed that the religious sentiment has
been intimately associated with the highest art. The remark
is just as far as it applies to the representation of subjects
§ 87. DECAY OF ART. 319
connected with religion ; and paintings attain the most
elevated character through that sentiment. But though
sacred subjects are those that belong most properly to the
highest branch of art, still they are not the only ones in which
great artistic genius may be displayed ; nor in Greek sculp
ture are the finest statues confvned to the representation of
the gods.
What the paintings of the Greeks may have been, which
treated of heroic, and other noble, actions, we are unable to
decide; but it is certain that one of the finest statues
(which too is not of an old Greek period, and is open to the
same objection as all other painful subjects), the Dying
Gladiator, is not connected with religion ; and others of no
ordinary pretensions might be mentioned which are quite
independent of mythological belief. And the same may be
said of the Laocoon, as well as some other groups, and single
statues. Of Italian paintings, the grandest are certainly sacred
subjects, which were constantly -called for by churches and
convents ; and as the Franciscans and Dominicans encouraged
the labours of a Giotto and a Fra Angelico, and the churches
and convents continued at a later period to require paintings
of a religious character, so the theocratic establishments of
Spain employed the skill of a Zurbaran, a Murillo, and
other artists of that country. The number too of those sub
jects painted by the best masters is greatly in favour of their
being superior to others ; but the fact of their possessing this
superiority does not confine perfection to them alone. For
no one will deny the merits of Eaphael's School of Athens,
and other subjects not, strictly speaking, sacred; and those
taken from poetry and history claim a sufficiently important
place in high art to convince us that an artist may attain
excellence, even if he quits the range of religious composi
tions. Other subjects may not be capable of an equally
320 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
elevated treatment with these last, not having the same re
fined sentiment as those connected with religion; but will
any one suppose that the noblest actions of man towards
his fellows, the records of glorious deeds, and the events of
history, or of private life, offer no grand fields for the talents
of a painter? Success depends on the talent of the artist;
and where are any sacred compositions of the present day to
be compared to the works of Paul De la Eoche, though he has
not always the merit of selecting his subjects with good judg
ment ? It was the decay of taste that lowered the condition
of art. It deteriorated, not because the religious sentiment
was exhausted ; but from many other causes which combine
to make it decline, as others have done to make it flourish,
at particular periods. Whether it can be altogether revived
is a question ; but let it not be pretended, as an apology
for inferior works at the present day, that reHgious feeling is
not so strong as of old. It is an excuse, not a reason. A
certain kind of religious fervour may not be as strong as in
ancient Greek, or in mediaeval, times; but unless super
stition be confounded with religion, there can be no denying
that real religion stands now on a far more exalted basis than
of old; and it would be a sad reflection if idolatry, or the
enthusiasm of a less civilised age, were absolutely necessary
for high art.
Some indeed have had the folly to maintain that Protest
antism is incompatible with elevated expression in sacred
subjects ; and the natural conclusion would then be, that the
country most remarkable for it — Italy — -has been superior to
all others in religious feeling. I leave the French, Spaniards,
and others, to reconcile this superiority in one compared to
other Eoman CathoHc countries, while I deny the incom
patibility of Protestantism with high aft. Is Paganism
necessary for good sculpture ? is the flourishing condition of
art dependent on a particular kind of religion? were the
§ 87. DECAY OF ART. 321
Egyptians, Indians, or Eomans less enthusiastic in their re
ligion than the Greeks? and were they more reHgious at
Eome in the Augustan age than during the EepubHc ? It is
not given to every people,- nor to every age, to arrive at
excellence; though they may have the same enthusiasm and
the same reHgious notions. Art and taste will decay in spite
of these ; and the most enthusiastic Christian, or the most
superstitious Pagan, will not then attain to the same elevated
expression, or the same excellence in art.
Protestants may not have the same number of personages
they would wish to represent, and they may not have the
same variety of legends ; but the Bible and Testament sub
jects are equally open to them; and when we see the works
of their sculptors from Denmark, England, and America, we
find that in one very important branch of high art they attain
to an equal excellence with any people of modern times.
Again, the most elevated sentiment is required for sacred
music. Is this too denied to Protestants ? if so, how came it
to be displayed in its most exquisite and powerful form by
those unrivalled composers who were Protestants? Here
again they are not wanting in those feeHngs which are most
required for attaining to excellence. And why is art not as
flourishing now in Italy, and other Eomanist countries, as
formerly? It is not because "the world has become Pro
testant;" but because art, having reached its culminating
point, declined, as it had done before in Pagan times.
The external forms and customs of some rehgions have
encouraged art, by requiring paintings and sculptures for
sacred buildings ; and the best statues have been those made
for Greek temples. EeHgion has thus been a promoter of
art, but not necessarily its sole promoter. It is also true that
enthusiasm and feeling are necessary for the highest ex
cellence in it ; and that religion affords much of both these
elements of success ; but they are not confined to it ; nor
Y
322
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
is religion the necessary cause of the perfection of art. So
too the downfall of art must be attributed to other effects
than a peculiar state of religion, or a particular creed. There
are periods when arts flourish, owing to various causes ; and
there are periods when they decline. The feelings of affection
may be touched by poetry ; the religious and martial enthu
siasm may be roused by music ; and some think that devotion
is aided by a particular kind of architecture ; but real love,
religion, and valour, exist- without such a stimulus; and
sincere enthusiasm has no need of artificial excitement. It is
the true feeling of the heart and earnestness that the artist
requires for his work, and without these he can never hope for
success. One great encourager of art has always been patronage,
and this affects the quality as well as the quantity of its pro
ductions. And as the demand for good works depends so
much on the judgment of its patrons, it is of the highest im
portance that the general taste should be capable of selecting
such as are deserving of encouragement.
88. Great injury was done to painting by the false taste of
covering a large expanse of canvas with many and enormous
figures ; but more still by the rage for portraits, which came
into greater favour in the decline of art ; of which they were
a sign ; as Eoman busts were of a deficiency of taste for sculp
ture. For though, as PHny says (xxxv. 2), every one appre
ciates these records of his ancestors, and is curious about the
appearance of great men, as ' Homer and others ; such por
traits, whether in stone or in painting, have their merits
chiefly as mementoes ; which is the excuse for very indifferent
pictures of "ancestors" holding a place in our modern
houses. It is true that portraits of individuals were intro
duced even into sacred subjects by early and first-rate masters,
but in subordinate positions ; and there were many of a patron
or a friend. They were not, however, the staple of art ; nor
§88. PORTRAITS. -IDEAL BEAUTY. 323
were the artists merely portrait painters, who painted nothing
else, because the occupation paid well, while it gave Httle
trouble to the mind. And if a Titian, a Vandyck, a Eembrandt
a Velasquez, and others have left most exquisite portraits,
they did not make portrait painting their sole aim ; and their
portraits are not mere representations of the individuals;
they are real pictures. The variety of wealthy patrons
increased the evil, while it proved the power of patronage.
Again, when painters ceased to give an ideal face to the
Madonna, and copied it from some real person, they intro
duced a less exalted feeHng into their works. Nor does this
apply only to sacred subjects ; and the same fault would be
committed by allowing the portrait of Mr. Smith to represent
Achilles, instead of the ideal figure which should convey an
impression of the hero.
So with all ideal beauty*; and, as Savonarola says, "it is
in something beyond what we see that the essence of supreme
beauty must be sought for ; the beauty of the body de
pending in a great measure on the beauty of the soul."
Even in representing real persons, it is not enough that the
Hkeness should be a mere copy ; it must give the charac
teristic expression of the individual ; and Lysippus was
right when he prided himself on making statues as the per
sons appeared to be (quales viderentur esse)t, while others
made them as they were. Sophocles too said he described
his personages as they ought to be, Euripides as they were ;
and Aristotle (Poetic, c. 25), who mentions this, adds, that
" a poet should describe them according to general opinion,
* Some deny the possibility of ideal beauty, and say that in a human figure
we can only represent forms we have seen, and the expression we hare wit
nessed ; the Greeks and others, therefore, in order to give an idea of grandeur,
often went beyond the bounds of possibility, and made their figures of gods
colossal. But the objection seems rather to the term than to its meaning.
t Pliny (xxxv. 10) seems, however, to combine with this a certain notion of
conventional treatment. (See above, p. 184.)
v 2
324 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
as in the case of the gods : " i. e. as ideal beings. Nor in
copying from nature is it sufficient to make a " dead Hke-
ness" of any object; and we do not require a fac-simile or a
portrait of it. " Very rarely," says Professor Hart, " in the
chiefest of these (ItaHan) masters do we observe the imitative
capacities of art occupy any prominent or undue share of
attention. Such imitation was by them regarded only in the
nature of a language. By these great artists it was considered
as a means — rarely as an end. In few of their works is our
attention divided by the consideration of the degree to which
special truth has been imitated ; rarely in their works do the
representations of facts divide our attention, or distract it from
the theme. Neither are there to be discerned those egotis
tical displays made to court our admiration for the artist's
own personal abiHty. It is to the introduction of these
lower elements of the painter's craft that are to be assigned
some of the reasons for the decHne of powers that long had
almost the exclusive privilege of instructing and improving
the minds, as well as of increasing the reHgious devotion of
the then most civilised portion of the human race."
89. Another sign of deterioration in the condition of art
was the undue importance attached to landscape, and to
scenes from common Hfe ; for which, though great observa
tion and a considerable poetry of treatment were necessary,
the same imagination and power of mind were not required.
The greatest masters rarely, and never exclusively, occupied
themselves upon landscape ; and though Titian could treat it
so admirably, and others occasionally painted landscapes (not
always very successfully), they never allowed their talents to
be devoted to it in preference to the higher branches of art.
I do not, however, mean to detract from the merit of those
artists who have excelled in landscape, or in any other branch
of painting. We have indeed many most eminent landscape
painters, whose talents have shed a lustre on the English
§ 89-91. NO DISGRACE TO DECORATE. 325
school (which too holds a high position among those of
modern Europe) ; I allude to the general prevalence of the
taste for landscape, which, Hke portrait painting, though
good in itself, should not be patronized by preference, nor be
the loftiest aim of any school. (See Part I. p. 17, § 13.)
90. It is superfluous to say that every student in painting
ought to appreciate the feeHngs of the best masters; and
while studying nature, to observe how they studied her, as
well as to mark their freedom from that affectation which so
often offends us in the compositions of the post-Eaphaefite
artists ; where extravagant attitudes, a profusion of intrusive
arms and legs, an unnecessary crowd of figures, wind-blown
drapery, and false effects, are offered as beauties. But this
appreciation and study of good art are not confined to paint
ing ; they are also required of every one who has any pre
tensions to excel in ornamental design ; and it is vain to
hope for success in this, unless talent extends beyond the
mere copying of patterns, or even of the human figure.
Until proper knowledge and taste have been obtained by
those who profess to make designs, we shall continue to find
in the same piece a mixture of good and bad ; of passable
execution, and composition, in one part, and figures totally
out of all keeping and proportion in another ; as in some of
the carved works exhibited at the Crystal Palace of 1851.
91. Those who think that their acquirements as artists
would be lowered by their condescending to decorative work,
or to ornamental design, would do well to remember that
neither a Giotto, nor a Eaphael, thought himself degraded
by a similar employment of his talents ; and that, by im
proving the general taste, they would promote a greater
appreciation of the beautiful. For the occasional possession
of it by individuals is not sufficient * ; nor is it enough that
* " To love the beautiful in all things," as Sir E. Bulwer Lytton well ob
serves, " to surround ourselves, as far as our means permit, with all its evidences,
V 3
326 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
beauty should be seen in one particular branch of art ; as no
one can be said to possess real taste for architecture who is
rapturously fond of one style alone, and sees no merit in any
other. The Beautiful is of all styles. But to judge of beauty in
art requires other perceptions besides those necessary for
judging of beauty in nature ; and any one may be able to
appreciate the latter without being capable of perceiving the
former. He may admire beauty in a woman, and yet be
unable to appreciate that of a statue, or a picture. Those
too who can judge of form may be, and often are, insensible
to the harmony of colour. Some persons, especially in Italy,
are gifted by nature with a greater perception of the beau
tiful than others, and this gift may be greatly improved by
culture. Others, again, are deficient in, and are totally in
capable of acquiring, it ; and it may be doubted whether any
one entirely devoid of the natural gift can acquire it. To
judge of beauty in painting and sculpture requires a con
siderable amount of study and habit; without which, the
highest style of art is never fully appreciated. The gene
rality of mankind neither enjoy nor care for it; and. it is
certain that the uneducated eye understands and welcomes
the most simple copies of every-day scenes. Drawing too
is more intelligible to it " than a coloured picture. Go one
step farther, and you find that the ignorant peasant of
the Nile, who cannot distinguish, in one of our coloured
paintings, a man from a horse, and is puzzled by our shadows
and foreshortening, comprehends aU the stiff figures of the
ancient tombs ; showing that to be the mode of representation
natural to the untutored draughtsman; while the other
requires study and the cultivation of taste.
92. It has been thought by some that the Greeks paid
not only elevates the thoughts and harmonises the mind, but is a sort of homage
that we owe to the gifts of God, and the labours of man." (The Student, p. 269.)
§ 92, 93. THE BEAUTIFUL. 327
more regard to form than colour ; but it is difficult to decide '
this from our Hmited acquaintance with the subject. From
the Httle that remains of their colour, we see that they
neither disregarded nor misunderstood it; of their paintings
we can form no adequate appreciation from the imperfect and
inferior specimens which have been preserved ; and if they
considered their painting equal to their sculpture, we can
scarcely venture to oppose an opinion, founded upon a want
of evidence, to the judgment of men of unquestionable taste.
93. It has often been asked, "What is the beautiful?"
and various definitions of it have been attempted ; all equally
unsatisfactory. Nor does Winckelmann's remark, that it is
easier to say what it is not, than what it is, assist in the
solution. But it is not only difficult, it is useless, to attempt
a definition. " The beautiful " may be felt and perceived,
not explained by words ; and he who does not understand it
without a definition will never understand it with one. Is it
necessary to define what we perceive by the senses ? As well
might we attempt to define colour to the colour-blind as
beauty to one who cannot perceive it.
It has also been a question whether the beautiful in art
must be a reproduction of the beautiful in nature ; and some
have concluded it to be so, without perceiving how far it is
influenced by the imagination; and how necessary ideal
beauty is for carrying it to perfection. Besides, many beau
tiful creations of the imagination, as conventional forms, ar
chitectural and ornamental designs, combinations of colours,
&c, are not derived from nature. That the beautiful is often
based on nature's works is true ; as in painting and sculpture ;
but even then it is not sufficient merely to copy what is seen ;
the true feeli/ng of the original must be given ; and the
imitative power of the artist is only one of the means he
employs for conveying his impressions of the scene he repre
sents. " He makes use of imitation," as M. Topffer observes ;
Y 4
328 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
and two artists will copy the same subject from nature^ and
both represent it faithfully, and convey that idea to the be
holder; and yet each picture will differ, according to the
feeling, the style, and other peculiarities,, of those painters.
94. Again, a picture which copies the colour of a scene
does not necessarily convey a better idea of it than another
which only represents it in sepia, or by an engraving. It is
not the mere imitation which is required ; nor does art consist
in that alone. The Chinese imitate wonderfully well, but
their imitation is not art ; and a figure copied so as to give
all the most minute anatomical details, does not on that
account alone command admiration : it will perhaps not hold
so high a place as one less minutely imitated. The study of
the anatomy is a means to assist the artist in drawing the
figure ; but it is only when the mind knows how to profit by
this and other studies, that an artist can make a good
picture, or a beautiful statue. Nor is mere minuteness of finish
one of the highest merits ; and choice of subject, mode of
treatment, and other points are essential, as weU as proper
attention to detail. The eye does not see every brick in a
wall, nor does it require the portrait of each to be presented
to it in a painting ; at the same time that it expects every
object to have its true character; — that an oak be dis
tinguished from another tree; and yet without every indi
vidual leaf being portrayed. It is not an attempt to
represent every thing as a fac-simile that will make pre-
Eaphaelitism useful "in its generation." It does not even
accomplish what it professes ; for the reduction of size renders
it impossible to introduce every leaf in the tree, or every hair
on an animal's back ; nor if the space permitted would it be
desirable. It will, however, confer a great benefit on painting
in this country, where greater attention to detail, as well as
careful drawing, is so much wanted ; and we already begin to
perceive some of its good effects, even in many of those who
§94,95. MODE OF COPYING. 329
are not of that school. When what are called " effects " are
no longer the excuse for want of drawing; when shapeless
objects enveloped in the obscurity of unmeaning " washes "
cease to be considered proofs of talent; when the brush
shall not assume too much the place of the pencil ; and each
tyro shall no longer trust to clouds, and storms to escape from
observation (like some of Homer's heroes), we shall feel
reason to remember with gratitude the minuteness of the
pre-Eaphaelite school.
95. There are some cases, in which it is very obvious that
the beautiful in art cannot possibly be a reproduction of the
beautiful in nature ; as in the case of architecture, which
is the offspring of the human mind; and it is the more
surprising that some still persist in requiring the details of
this purely artificial creation to be taken from nature — the
inconsistency of which I have had occasion to notice (p. 216).
The custom of copying in architecture from old and even
highly approved models, is also open to objection, unless it is
done with judgment, and with a proper motive; and some
architects have drawn their ideas too much from a particular
and favourite style, without considering whether it exactly
suited the general character of a building, its position, or the
nature of the climate. Thus, in this country, the Greek por
tico is often appended to a new or a restored house, when it
suits neither its style, nor the position assigned to it, and
when the porch would be better ; (in addition to the latter being
a far more appropriate shelter in our climate) ; and a lofty
tower is copied from some public building (for which it was
very well suited) and attached to a private dwelling (for which
it is ill-suited) ; no account being taken of its accordance with
the character of the house, nor of its effect of making half the
chimneys smoke when carried to an unreasonable height
above them. Nor are towers always weU-proportioned ; nor
always adapted to pubHc buildings. Some are thin, and out
330
ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Pabt II,
of proportion in themselves ; others are of so extravagant a
height as to overwhelm, and spoil, the building they belong
to ; especially when that building is itself deficient in eleva
tion ; and we often hear people eulogise the height, or the
number of steps in a tower or a church-steeple, without any
consideration of its proportion to the size of the building ; as
if excellence was only to be measured by feet.
It is not only necessary that the architect should possess
all the qualifications enumerated by Vitruvius; he should
also be able to adopt, and adapt, hints from the style of
other times and countries; but this must be done with
judgment; so that when beautiful features are added to a
building they may not interfere with the requirements of those
who are to inhabit it, or other necessary conditions.
96. The whim of building, a Greek house in a northern
latitude is much on a par with having one in a dry hot
climate provided against the effects of cold and snow. There
is no universal style for every country, as there is no universal
medicine for every complaint ; though there is one condition
which will apply equally to northern and southern climates —
that the walls be thick, being a protection both against
heat and cold. How far a particular kind of architecture may
be modified so as to suit another country, and other habits,
will depend on the ability of the architect ; nothing, however,
should be adopted from a mere love of imitation, without due
considerations of its adaptability. An inferior work may
sometimes be improved by an able imitator. But he must
have perceptive talent in an eminent degree who shall pretend
to improve ; and we often see the difficulty which some have
in copying any subject, and in giving the exact spirit ; fully
confirming the observation of M. Topffer already quoted
(p. 327). This is sometimes the case in drawing Greek statues,
where the likeness may be given, and yet the real character
may be wanting. And the remark applies even more for-
§96-98. STYLES OF AECHITECTURE. 331
cibly to the imitation of a conventional style; and there are
few draughtsmen, however good, who will for the first time
seize the real character of an Egyptian figure. The same may
be observed, in a minor degree, in copying ornamental works,
and the adoption of the simplest patterns ; which are some
times utterly spoilt by the want of perception of the spirit and
beauty of the original.
97. Variety of ornamentation in a building is pleasing to
the eye ; but the extent to which it is to be carried depends
on many circumstances. Among these the principal one is
the style of the architecture. The Greek and the Gothic
require a totally different treatment. This does not, however,
affect the question as to which is preferable. It is an error,
and a not uncommon one, to compare the two ; when in fact
they both have their merits, each in its own particular way,
and according to the conditions they were intended to meet.
Two objects, an animal and a tree, may be equally beautiful
in their way, or the hand and the foot, or any other two works
of the Creator ; but it would be inconsistent to compare them.
And in like manner two styles of architecture may have their
own peculiar beauties, without the necessity of subjecting
them to a comparison.
98. Though I neither draw a comparison between Greek
and our northern architecture, nor advocate the employment
of one particular style of the latter to the exclusion of all
others in our churches ; still I cannot but express my admira
tion for the grandeur of the Norman, the gracefulness of the
Lancet, and the rich variety of the Decorated period. These
three were certainly far superior in beauty and elegance to the
Perpendicular, or Tudor, style, their successor; and they
maintained the true spirit of the so-called Gothic, until the
overwrought fretwork, the formal repetitions, and the rectan
gular lines of the florid Perpendicular period, led to a disre
gard of the chief characteristics of Pointed architecture. It is
332
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
true that many grand buildings were made in the Tudor style ;
but at length it lost the very features which constituted the
charm and peculiarities of the Gothic : the flowing lines, and
the pleasing variety of the adjacent parts, were exchanged for
numerous harsh rectangular forms and parallel lines, forced
into accordance with curves ; constant repetitions wearied
the eye ; and the walls became at length so covered with bars
and fretwork as to be scarcely seen through this ornamental
cage, which in the ceilings looked like a compromise between
a fan and a net. And yet this over-elaborate treatment is
what is so often admired in Henry VII.'s chapel at West
minster Abbey. I do not, however, extend this censure to the
interlaced work, such as we see in the ceilings of rooms of a
rather later period, with intricate, and at the same time,
tasteful patterns ; which are pleasing in form, and also well
adapted for variety of colour.
In the Perpendicular style, the pointed arch of a window
lost its proper effect, from the incongruity of the unbending
lines which ran straight upwards through the head; and it had
not even the excuse of its florid contemporary, the Flamboyant
of France, of exhibiting an exaggeration of the features and
characteristics of a preceding style. It even departed so far
from the Gothic, that one portion of many a Perpendicular
edifice, cast in metal, might almost serve for constructing the
rest of it. And if the flat-headed four-centred arch is
useful for the space it affords in the interiors of buildings, it
ceases to claim any merit in a window, where its effect is
heavy, and its tracery graceless and out of keeping with its
form. The return to regularity, characteristic of the Perpen
dicular style, served to prepare the way for the introduction
of the Renaissance ; and the revival of the classical in this
country had probably some connection with, or at least was
aided by, the tendencies of this its immediate precursor, which
had akeady the horizontal line as one of its leading features.
§99. - THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 333
It is unfortunate that so many of our cathedrals combine
the Perpendicular with the earlier Gothic styles. This could
not be avoided when finished at different periods ; but of all
offensive anomalies, none are so inexcusable as the introduc
tion of mock Greek, or cinque-cento, additions to a Gothic
church. The insertion of Perpendicular tracery into an older
Decorated, or Early English, window, has also a disagreeable
effect, as has the juxtaposition of windows of those three
periods ; and the facade of Milan Cathedral, grand as it is,
shows how injudicious is the attempt to combine two different
styles. There has also been considerable difficulty in making
the Eoman arch accord with the character of Greek architec
ture ; and much talent has been exercised, (not always satis
factorily,) in combining angle's and right lines with curves.
99. The attempts to unite two different styles should be
carefully avoided, as well as the introduction of any feature of
architecture in a position ill suited to it. This last is an error
Of common occurrence, which is not confined to modern times.
We see in many buildings a segmental arch (which too is
generally disagreeable in its character) introduced among
pointed, or round, arches ; and what is worse, with nothing to
(52.)
correspond to its general lines, or its mouldings, in the jambs,
against which it abruptly abuts ; as if they had been built over
its two ends at a later time. An arch too, whether circular,
pointed, or segmental, which is carried up so near to the
horizontal summit of a waU as only to leave a narrow space
334 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. pAET u,
above it, has an appearance of poverty and weakness (figs. 1,
2); which is still worse if the arch supports nothing, and
passes above, or breaks through, the horizontal line of the
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. - Fig. 3.
entablature (fig. 3). Nor will such a fault find any palliation
from its occurrence in the fac ade of St. Mark's, at Venice ;
where the centre arch is thrust through the horizontal Hne
which crowns the basement story.
100. I am far from finding fault with St. Mark's, which I
unite with the most enthusiastic in admiring; but I admire it
for its effect, and I am no more disposed to subject it to
ordinary rules than any other object beautiful for its pic-
turesqueness. An illuminated MS. (to which it may be
compared) is not to be criticised like a painting. There is a
charm in St. Mark's which is irrespective of architectural
merits. It has a solemn mysterious character within, greatly
increased by its half-darkened recesses, its chapels, and its
columnar screens, and by so much being veiled from the sight,
or imperfectly seen, that we only distinguish part of what we
even look at. Wherever we stand, whatever we admire, we
feel there is so much more unseen, which must be searched
out, so that — as in a catacomb, with its succession of hidden
chambers — our expectation is raised at every moment, and
every object promises to be succeeded by another of equal
interest. . Wherever we look we are struck by a succession of
gorgeous golden mosaics, and by the brilliant colours profusely
displayed over the whole building; from the elaborately
varied mosaics of the pavement to the summit of the cupolas.
Its bizarre and novel character, and its many peculiarities,
§ 100. ST. MASK'S AT VENICE. 335
have much to do with the charm it possesses. The impres
sion on a stranger being invariably one of admiration is quite
consistent with, and confirms, the fact of its not being looked
upon in the same light as any other building, but rather with
reference to its effect ; for those who are most adverse to
coloured architecture never think of withholding their admira
tion from St. Mark's. Its beauty, especially of the exterior,
consists greatly in its picturesqueness ; and when any one
extols its excellence on the score of its architecture, he mis
takes its real charm for its merit as a building. And it is evi
dent that no similar edifice, whether an exact copy, or with the
same peculiar character, of St. Mark's, would be tolerable (even
in a similar position) in any other place. We should not say
this of other buildings of repute. To maintain its claims as
a specimen of good architecture is to deprive it of its real
merits, and to do it an injustice by subjecting it to the ordeal
of rules by which it should not be tested. For there is no
denying that in many instances it sins against the principles of
constructiveness, and the customs of architecture. What, for
instance, can be worse than the horizontal line at the summit
of the basement story of its facade, interrupted by the central
arch (already alluded to); or the succession of semicircles
crowned with ill-applied ogees, forming the upper story of
the facade ; or the ponderous graceless window in the centre,
before which the ill-placed horses are put away almost out of
sight; or the clusters of small columns, perched over the
larger ones between each archway, which, like the horses from
Athens, proclaim the manner in which the plunder from
other monuments, collected by the Venetians, was added to
their favoured church ? This was done without adequate
inquiry whether each suited it, displayed its own beauty, or
contributed all it could to that of the structure ; which ap
pears to be curiously consistent in this respect, that it was
built to receive the body of St. Mark, also furtively obtained,
336
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II.
from Alexandria. But, viewed as St.MarKs, no one will
deny the charm it possesses ; and though a Byzantine, not a
Venetian, creation, it belongs as peculiarly and inseparably to
Venice as the most indigenous style of architecture might to
the spot where it grew up ; and the associations connected with
the romantic history of that " city of the sea," together with
its entourage, give it a character possessed by no other
building. There is another edifice, the Doge's Palace, which, though
equally open to censure in some respects, obtains a degree of
admiration that out of Venice would not be accorded to it.
And here again it may be better not to submit the building
to the ordinary rules of architecture, but rather to view it
through a different medium ; for there is no denying that, if
tested by those rules, the exterior of the Ducal Palace is faulty
in the disproportionate massiveness of the upper part, crush
ing, as it appears to do, the beautiful Gothic archwork of the
two lower stories, on the sea and piazzetta fagades. The most
enthusiastic admirer of Venice will scarcely defend this incon
sistency ; or the paltry pinnacle-battlements which disfigure
the cornice. Whoever admires the two beautiful stories
below, must feel regret at the injury done to them by the
upper part ; nor has it the same charm of peculiarity of style
as St. Mark's. There are many specimens of similar build
ings of the 1300, in France and elsewhere, in which the
upper portion has not the same fault ; being consistent in pre
serving a due proportion of openings or arched windows in
that part, and in carrying up the same character of lightness
throughout. There is indeed sufficient evidence of the upper
part of this, palace being a subsequent alteration ; which is
universally admitted by the Venetians ; and Mr. Street has
shown the lower part to be of 1301, the other rather later,
" when the council chamber being found to be too small, and
larger rooms being required, another architect suggested the
§ 101, 102. FAULTY DESIGNS. 337
advantage of obtaining these by raising an immense story
above the others."
101. Great is the charm of variety, when judiciously in
troduced, both in buildings and in ornamentation. It is one
of the chief beauties of our Gothic churches ; and it is re
markable that the architecture of ancient Egypt, though so
ponderous in most of its forms, should have admitted this
element at so early a period; and to such an extent that
neighbouring columns were dissimilar, and side-doors, statues,
and other accessories were often different on opposite sides
of the same building. Variety in details is particularly
pleasing to the sight, which is fatigued by the constant re
currence of the same form ; and a great fault in an orna
mental design is to repeat some one of the details till the eye
is haunted by it, and retains, on being closed, an unwelcome
image of the obtrusive pattern. The want of this variety is
often observed in wall-papers, carpets, and many common
designs ; and in borders the simple change of a leaf or flower
on different sides of a stalk at once shows the advantage of
this diversity of arrangement, as in the borders of coloured
glass windows, where the change of form and colour is most
important. 102. But a double motive is rarely tolerable, and in most
cases is highly offensive, both in ornamental designs and in
architecture. Yet it is constantly admitted and even ad
mired; and the round-headed window or niche, within a
framework of rectangular mouldings, surmounted by a pedi
ment, is one of these anomalies, borrowed from a corrupt
Eoman model.
It is also of importance that a building should be entirely
planned and designed by one mind before it is erected ; many
are spoilt by some unsuitable addition ; and that architect is
generally to be pitied whose works are altered by a suc
cessor. z
338 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
[Again, nothing can be more inconsistent than a part of
one building mounted on another to make up a new design.
The choragic monument of Lysicrates perched on a small
temple, to form the steeple of a church, is one of many
instances of this compound; giving the impression that the
architect was too idle to invent a design of his own ; and a
spire set round with a small Greek colonnade, looking as if it
represented a gigantic extinguisher slipped down into the
cella of a round peripteral temple, might have been thought
an impossible caprice, if it were not before our eyes on a
London steeple. But the climax of bad taste (which holds us
up to the ridicule of all Europe) is the WeUington statue on
the arch at Hyde Park corner, which it has turned into a
pedestal ; while, by its colossal size, it has outraged the pro
portions of the arch it spoils, as well as of every surrounding
object. The horse too stands across the arch in defiance of
reason, and all received custom of design.] Nor is it
sanctioned by having been found on a coin in that position ;
as this last is a conventional representation.
103. Vases in lieu of pinnacles, in a would-be Gothic
building, are an unpardonable substitution of one object for
another. They show an utter misapprehension of a really
useful feature in architecture, which (according to a true
principle) necessity suggested and taste made ornamental.
Even the pinnacles themselves, if no longer useful, should not
be there ; and it is this introduction of details, in places where
they have no duty to perform, which has been the parent of
the meretricious ornament so often seen in modern buildings ;
instances of which occur in the crockets and finials introduced
into rooms, on doors and furniture, and in the fretwork of
confectionery-Gothic spread over a wall.
I do not, however, comprehend, under the head even of
supposed ornaments, the monstrous tubes which protrude
above the tops of London houses, on the plea of enabling
§ 103, 104,
SPIRES MISUNDERSTOOD.
339
chimneys to perform the office for which they were vainly
built. Chimneys are capable of being the greatest ornaments
to a house ; but in the whole range of civifisation and bar
barism there are no houses so disfigured as ours by these
unsightly appendages. Those who pretend to build houses
ought to learn the principle of making chimneys without
this defect.
104. [Many a graceful object is spoilt by some incongruous
addition ; sometimes, indeed, with the plea of use, but still
not excusing itself for interrupting the harmony of an out
line ; and it may be questioned if the windows at the sides
of a spire need obtrude themselves so far as to interfere
with the line of its slope (fig. 1). The addition of a weather-
(54.)
A
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
cock to the summit, spoiling the beauty of its point, is also
a mistake ; which, however, is far outdone by the rays and
other monstrosities on the apex of every Egyptian obelisk
at Eome, that so effectually disfigure the very part most
essential to the beauty of those monuments. (See above,
z 2
340
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Part II.
p. 244). Many of our spires again, sin, Hke our modern
obelisks (fig. 2, a), in their ill-proportioned obtuse points (56) ;
others are far too thin and painfully sharp ; and others, being
/p;k\ circular, look like extinguishers, and have a some-
f what discordant effect on a square tower ; while some
Abroach spires, elongated beyond all reason, appear
as if they had been drawn upwards when in a
plastic state ; the operation condemning the tri
angular splay at the base to the same attenuated
character, and depriving it of the appearance of soHdity and
use (fig. 3).
Indeed, we are not singular in this misunderstanding of a
spire; and Belgians, Germans, and others, dehght in pro
ducing an effect upon it not unlike that of
an aphis on plants, by afflicting it with a
goitre-like protuberance of hideous shape, at
once at variance with proportion and form. J
These mistakes are sometimes owing to the
inability of small minds to comprehend the
beauty of a line. They dread its extending
beyond a very limited length, and therefore
break it up by projections and indentations,
without perceiving that the decomposition of
an outline gives an impression of meanness,
totally at variance with grandeur and breadth
of treatment so necessary for architectural
beauty. They would he alarmed at the long line of the en
tablature and roof of the great temple of Neptune at Paestum,
and would find the broken entablatures of Eoman time more
suited to their taste. The same dread of a continuous line
makes them break the curve of an arch by a ponderous key
stone descending below the level of the archivolt, often ren
dered more unsightly by a grim face sculptured upon it, and
more out of keeping when of stone inserted into a brick arch.
§ 103- USE OF COLUMNS. 341
105. [To notice all the inconsistencies of architectural
whims would extend my remarks beyond their proposed
limits ; but I- cannot omit to mention some of those still per
petrated in our houses; among which are the story placed
above the cornice, that should properly crown the building;
and the half-columns, or pilasters, fixed against a two-storied
wall, with the idea of ornamenting what in reaHty they deface.
Nor have these the excuse of performing the office of
columns, — which is "to support something;" they seem
merely to adhere to the walls for no purpose ; while the
windows, in two tiers on each side, look like picture-frames
hanging between them.] We have a blind admiration for
columns in this country; which, exceUent in their proper
place, are rarely required for mere ornament. When ap
pended to some insignificant house they are much on a par
with a great display of splendour, in plate and luxe de table,
or any unnecessary sign of wealth, at a very small party.
Still worse is the repetition of heavy half columns ; and many
a building Which would have been commendable is spoilt by
these and other arbitrary appendages, utterly useless and
forming no necessary part of the general design. An excuse
has been made for half, or engaged, columns in their breaking
the monotony of a blank wall, but this cannot be offered
where windows perform the same office ; and when there are
other more suitable modes of ornamenting it. They are
still less excusable when of granite or any coloured marble,
and appended to a white stone, or what is worse a stuccoed,
house. Coloured columns, whether on the exterior or in the
interior, can only be consistent if the other parts of the
building are coloured ; and it was on this condition that
their employment originated. In some the colour was carried
out by incrusted slabs of coloured marble ; and to these, when
judiciously disposed, ther^e was no objection, unless, as was
sometimes the case in Italy, they were very thin slices of
z 3
342
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Part II.
stone, adhering to a coat of mortar on a brick wall; giving the
unpleasant impression of being a mock ornament, liable to
fall off and expose the unseemly groundwork beneath them.
The same may be said of stucco, which affects, by imitating
its joints, to be real stone- work ; and in which we appear to
delight, as if it were a disgrace to use bricks, or as if these
were incapable of being rendered highly ornamental and
effective. (See below, p. 352.)
Unfortunately, we derived our early impressions respecting
the use of the half column from the tasteless Eomans, who
adopted as the rule what "with the Greeks was rather the
exception ; and what was generally confined by them to posi
tions well suited to it. The same objection may be raised to
the indiscriminate use of pilasters ; extending to the height of
two stories. [On the other hand, the propriety of dividing the
stories by string-courses is obvious; and it is consistent with
reason and good taste, instead of being a mere introduction of
ornament without the inquiry whether it is suitable or not.]
For by dividing the house into stories its real disposition is
followed out : composed as it is of several floors, one over the
other; while on the contrary, the office of a column is to
support upon its summit an architrave, or a
roof, without an intervening floor clinging to
its shaft. There are also certain conditions in
the arrangement of the stories, which are some
times overlooked, as the proportion of the
windows in each ; and we see instances of im
mense windows on the first floor with others of
a diminutive size immediately above them,
having the appearance of belonging to two dif
ferent buildings put together by mistake ; which
are equally destructive of all symmetry, whether
in a tower or a house. They are not improved by the upper
story being disproportionably low compared to the one below
(57.)
§106,107. WINDOWS. — FORMS OF HOUSES. 343
it ; and still worse are large windows in the upper, and small
ones in the lower, part of, the building.
106. [The mistake too of making ill-proportioned holes
in the walls, yclept windows, of such immoderate size that
they leave no adequate spaces either between or above them,
strikes every one who contemplates the generally monotonous
character of our town houses, if his perception has not been
deadened by the habit of seeing what is bad ; and the custom
of leaving the windows without any dressing gives them an
appearance of baldness and poverty. Again, it is inconsistent
to cut up the whole wall by these large rectangular apertures,
in order to admit light, and then do all that is possible to ex
clude the same light by monstrous dust-catching hangings.]
And this error of covering half the opening with curtains
is the more obvious, as the space between the windows being
ill suited, by its want of Hght, for pictures, or for anything
intended to be seen by day, points it out as fitted to be then
draped by the curtains ; and these being drawn back again
over the windows at night, the vacant space may (in a small
or moderately sized room) display a large sheet of glass on
its hitherto dark surface, which will contribute to the bril
liancy of the room by candlelight.
Windows, narrow, and of enormous height, or of such an
expanse both in height and breadth that they appear to belong
to a manufactory, are still more objectionable ; [and we may
equally condemn a whole front so grooved with mouldings,
surrounding the thick-set windows, that it looks as if solely
composed of their framework. Above all, we must abhor the
modern florid-confectioner style of building, which displays a
superabundance of meretricious decoration, dotted over every
part to the summits of the chimneys, as in some of our new
streets. 107. The uniformity required in street architecture has
very properly induced us to exchange the picturesque old
z 4
344
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
gable ends for a regular series of buildings ; which, when not
offensive in point of style, and not all painted at different
times (by the perverse propensity of some " free-born Briton "
to do as he likes and differ from his neighbour), are an im
provement on the irregular fronts of olden time. But when
a country house is made in a similar rectangular form, the
case is totally different; for the solitary mansion, depending
solely on itself for all the architectural features of the mass,
requires another treatment : it no longer forms part of a pile
of buildings, where nothing but its front was bound to display
any marked architectural expression; it is now expected,
when alone, to fulfil all the various conditions of a whole, and
must adapt itself to the requirements of its position.] The
country house too depends much on variety for its beauty ; and
the difference in height of the offices attached to it is another
reason for an irregular treatment, not required in a town
mansion ; for these should contribute to the general effect of
the mass of building, and be an ornament to it, instead of
being concealed or planted out by trees and bushes, which
. make the house damp.
108. [In a northern latitude like our own, where the sun is
generally very low, less effect can be obtained by vertical than
by lateral shadows. A house with a plain surface, therefore,
when standing alone, appears bald and poor ; and the richest
cornice (a rarity in England) will not at all seasons give its
due effect of shadow. The projections of the so-called Eliza
bethan style, — where the wings, and the centre of the facade,
the large stacks of chimneys, and other members, stand out
from the dead surface and throw deep lateral shadows, — are
consequently far better suited for country mansions ; and this
is one of many proofs of the propriety of consulting adaptabi
lity in all matters connected with taste. Care must, however,
be taken not to sacrifice utility to a mere desire for ornament:
for such is too often the case even in those very Elizabethan.
§108,109. ELIZABETHAN HOUSES. 345
houses which have so many claims on our admiration ; and a
parapet wall is often added, which has the injurious effect of
confining the snow between it and the roof, requiring men to
be sent up to clear it away, and often making the house damp
and leaky.] Here the notion of adding an ornamental feature
is an erroneous one ; for besides the inconsistency of surround
ing the roof of any house by a parapet, to collect the snow
and leaves, which clog the gutters, the roof loses one of its
most beautiful and characteristic features,- — the overhanging
eaves, which are capable of the most effective treatment, as
in the Palazzo Farnese and other buildings, where the roof is
in its proper place, at the top of the house, and where no
attempt is made to hide what ought to contribute to its
beauty. False pretences and concealment are contrary to
sound principles and common sense; and the difficulty of
getting rid of the flow of water from the roof is merely an
excuse. 109. The character of our EHzabethan houses was certainly
better adapted to our cHmate than that which Dutch taste
afterwards brought in ; when bald neatness was mistaken for
simphcity. It was also preferable to those styles, in which low
or flat roofs are an essential feature ; and which are ill suited
to a country where rain and snow abound. In reaHty, a high-
pitched roof is cooler in summer and warmer in winter than a
flat one ; and it would be more reasonable to adopt the high
roof in a hot climate than the flat roof in the north. I do
not, however, in my praise of 'Elizabethan houses, include that
part of the Elizabethan style which displayed the debased
classical column, and other imperfections of the
Eenaissance. I speak of the general form and
arrangement of our Elizabethan country houses, B
when the rooms are of sufficient height, and the
ends (a, a,) are not so narrow and prominent as to look poor,
and to make their rooms cold in winter.
346
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
110. The old English country house had also that very
sensible arrangement of the garden, whereby it was made
to accord with the formal character of the house ; being laid
out in terraces, and beds of geometrical patterns, as in France
and Italy ; and thus, the transition from the formal character
of the house to the wildness of nature being gradual, the
eye was not offended by the incongruity of two distinct
sentiments. (See Part I. p. 15.) By terraces and a dressed
garden I do not mean those mere slopes of turf, without
plan or symmetry, which sometimes pretend to the name,
but which are only fit for roadside villas. Terraces must be
of masonry, with balustrades, or open work, to give an agree
able play of light and shade, having vases at intervals
along their summit. A house, particularly when in a flat
country, being thus separated from the surrounding level
space, acquires additional importance ; the terraces, too, close
to the house form a grand basement to it, and prevent that
impression, sometimes given by the line of the meadow, or
the level park, of its having fallen from heaven into a field,
or of having been a recent introduction there. Supported by
the terrace, the house appears (as it ought to do) the main
object, to which the surrounding objects are subservient, and
to which all about it centres. The proper ornamental beds of
a dressed garden are not those of whimsical forms cut in turf;
they should be part of a general design, filled with masses of
flowers, each of a different colour, and well combined f and
they will have a pleasing e"ffect, from their patterns, in winter
as well as in summer. Nor is it sufficient to have vases dotted
about lawns or grass slopes, as if they were " neighbour's land
marks," or had been left there by the gardener till he could
find a suitable position for them. Their place is not on the
bare turf; and there is the same abruptness in this mixture
of the artificial and the natural as in the juxtaposition of wild'
nature with the rectangular house. Half a century ago there
§110,111. HOUSES AND GARDENS. 347
was a rage for serpentine walks, and the wildness of nature
up to the very walls of the house — the dressed garden having
been proscribed throughout the country. To be nestled
amidst overhanging trees was thought the highest recom
mendation of a country house ; and it could certainly boast a
degree of damp and seclusion which distinguished it from a
town house. But more sensible notions are now gaining
ground; and winding walks (quite as unlike nature as the
most formal ones), with stagnant pieces of water brought up
close to the house, to aid the trees in making it damp, are
giving way to the dressed garden ; and the utility and beauty
of evergreens are acknowledged as a shelter to the walks,
and as an agreeable substitute for bare branches during the
winter. (See below, on Gardens.)
111. Though the Elizabethan house is so well suited to our
climate in the country, it is by no means desirable for a town;
and all imitations of it, as well as Gothic fronts, in a street, are
unsuitable and out of character. In towns the Italian style is
far preferable ; and provided the roof really covers the house
with projecting eaves and a rich cornice beneath them, having
no snow-catching balustrade, no attic above the cornice formed
out of a string-course, no half columns, and no bare undressed
windows, there is no style better suited to a town mansion.
It is the very one adapted to a club ; and, indeed, unless an
architect is capable of making a handsome building for that
purpose, he cannot be said to understand the true principles
of ItaHan architecture. There are some few buildings in
London which may be cited as good specimens of this style,
especially the last house on the south-east side of Palace,
Gardens, and the Beform and a few other clubs; and the
failures in some of the latter may probably be attributable to
the interference of incapable and irresponsible committees.
An appearance of oneness of design in architecture is a great
recommendation ; for it is a glaring fault in a building to look
348
ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
Paet II.
as if it had been made at different times, and consisted of
several parts put together to compose it. A portico projecting
beyond the centre of a long front may be said to have this
defect if its cornice is not made to correspond with that of the
adjacent walls ; and instances of this are sometimes met with
even in buildings of great pretensions, as in the Glyptothek of
Munich, where the portico has the effect of being thrust out
from the interior court through the once continous line of the
front, whose cornice is forced to abut against its sides. In
like manner, the portico of the Pantheon at Eome shows the
utmost disregard for the correspondence of its entablature
with any lines on the body of the building.
112. [The mean character, and affected simplicity, of the
(58.) (59.)
JiS^
Fig.l.
Fig. 2.
riding-school, and undecorated meeting-house, windows, have
likewise found favour among some architects in all countries ;
as well as broken pediments, often even with round in lieu of
triangular summits : copied from works of a debased era;] and
§ 112, 113. ITALIAN GOTHIC. 349
a conglomerate of corrupt classical forms is sometimes ad
mitted into our houses in imitation of the bad taste- of the
Stuart period, where a hybrid between an Ionic column, and
a Hermes' pillar, supports an arch with the key-stone in full
blossom (60). Some capricious forms may have the merit
of being elegant, as the small twisted columns of old cloisters,
supporting light arches : and as long as they are small, and
bear a slight weight, they are admissible; but the twisted
shaft implies diminished power ; and when they carry a large
arch, or when (though of increased size) they are crowned by a
huge mass like the tasteless baldacchino of St. Peter's, they are
out of place, and lose the very merit which alone excuses them.
[The centre of a pediment thrust up as if by subterraneous
agency, and leaving its two deserted ends far below it, has
also been tolerated, perhaps admired ; but al
though this last may have the sanction of Lorn- ;>v"
bard architecture, and of some of Palladio's r~
churches, it is only the result of a want of ^?
invention, decomposing what was beautiful,
without the excuse of a graceful reproduction
of it, under a new form.]
113. Fortunately, no one has adopted the false gable,
perched on an upright wall, which rises alone far above the
roof at the west end of many fine Italian churches; as in
the facade of-S. Michele at Lucca, of Sta. Maria Novella
at Florence, and others. It forms in reality no part of the
building, above which it only stands like a screen; and
neither can the richness of its ornaments compensate for its
graceless wall-shaped outline, nor the appearance of height
it lends to the church excuse its uselessness and its false pre
tences. Whatever apology may be offered for it, it is a sham.
We may congratulate ourselves on an escape from its
adoption, as well as from any imitation of the interiors of Ita
lian-Gothic churches. Gothic was to most Italians a foreign
350 0N TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
creation, which never accorded entirely with their feelings.
Though they erected many grand churches in that style,
their sympathies continued to be in favour of classical forms,
and they never understood its real beauty. Had Gothic
grown up in Italy independently of any bias towards classical
recollections, the Italians might have succeeded in giving it a
pure character of its own, like the northern architects ; and
they might have embellished it with sculptures, such as we
admire at Eheims and Chartres, which the " revival " of art
would have enabled them to execute with success. But their
ideas recurring constantly to the forms of ancient architecture,
prevented their excelling in the new style, and caused some
inconsistencies, which we see both in the interiors and ex
teriors of their churches. The bald and heavy aspect too, of
the upper part of the Italian nave, with its monotonous
circles in the clerestory, contrasts very disadvantageously with
the light and harmonious effect of our triforium and clerestory;
and judging from the disproportion of the low wide pier-
arches dividing the nave from the shaUow aisles, and the
heaviness of the vaulted roof, the Italians seem not to have
appreciated the most beautiful characteristics of a Gothic.
building. They even failed in the very point for which they
have generally been noted — the harmony of proportion.
That the architects of Eome should not have excelled in
Gothic architecture is not surprising ; they have an aversion
to it ; they neither admire nor comprehend its beauties ; and
there is only one church in that style within the walls of Eome.
Another feature in Italian-Gothic fortunately has been*,
and we may hope always will be, avoided in this country;
which is, the arrangement of alternate courses of black and
white marble, copied from the East. But while we avoid the
faults of its church architecture, we might adopt in our pubHc
* "We have only a few examples of it; but there is one, of alternate red
and grey stone, in a doorway at Paignton Church, even of late Norman time.
§114. COLUMNS. 351
buildings, where the Gothic style is employed, that breadth of
treatment for which it is remarkable, in preference to the
overloaded fretwork of our Tudor style, which invites the soot
to corrode and deface it.
[It may also be hoped that our builders will cease to copy,
one after the other, the unfluted, rusticated, and other un
finished columns, often with projecting square blocks for the
alternate drums *, used in many modern edifices, which offend
against all notions of good architecture, reason, and beauty.
114. These and similar errors, however, are not confined to
England ; they were owing to a debased Eoman style having
been studied, and followed at the period of the Renaissance t,
and are therefore common to all who imitated it ; but now
that the principles and beauty of Greek taste are no longer
unknown, they cease to be excusable.]
The square and round nodules on shafts, sometimes re
sembling " fleeces wrapped about them, as at the entrance of
Burlington House," have been very properly denounced by Mr.
Buskin (" Stones of Venice," i. p. 294), as well as the rusticated
work on the basement stories of some of our houses, in which
he says, "our architects appear to have taken the decayed
teeth of elephants for their type," and " which, for the most
part, resemble nothing so much as worm-casts." He also
very properly condemns the custom of purposely making
the divisions of stones appear stronger, by chiselling their
edges (p. 287); and still more the paltry imitation of squared
stone in stucco, with the pretended divisions marked, or
painted, on it. A house built with squared stones, all of the
same size, so that each set of vertical divisions may correspond
exactly with the alternate one above and below it, looks
very monotonous; unless reHeved by a proper richness of
* These square projections will not find any excuse from being met with in
bnildings by Palladio, as in the Palazzo Tieni at Vicenza, and elsewhere.
f Or Cingue-cento style, distinct from what should be called the Revival in
Italy, which belongs to an earlier period.
352
ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
mouldings and other ornamental features ; and those Gothic
churches, which are made of small stones of various sizes and
shapes, with quoins of ashlar blocks, have certainly a far more
pleasing effect, than when of perfectly regular masonry.
The choice of materials is not always attended to; and bricks,
so much employed in England, are far from being properly
appreciated. We seem to use them, like many other things,
mechanically ; and we have been said, perhaps not unjustly, to
have a mechanical mind. If we want a cornice, or a string
course, or any other ornament to a brick building, it must be
of stone : though the most satisfactory effect may be obtained
in brickwork, or terra-cotta. It is true that a brick is a
rectangular object, which serves for making a wall, and it may
be arranged as a mutule, or quincunx, and a few other simple
ornamental devices ; but why should it be confined to a simple
shape ? It is of clay, and clay can be made into as many
forms as the ingenuity of man can devise ; and the rich terra
cotta designs in mouldings at Bologna, as well as at Pavia,
Brescia, Mantua, and other places in Northern Italy*, are
equal, and in some positions superior, to stone.
115. Among other errors is the distorted imitation of Greek
ornaments ; and nowhere is this more apparent than in the
echinus, or egg-moulding; which was quickly debased by
the Eomans, and still more in Eenaissance time. Indeed,
it is to be regretted that the Eenaissance architects, in
borrowing from the ancients, were satisfied with corrupting
the original they copied, without adopting its real spirit; or
so modifying and reconstructing it, as to make a new creation
of their own. Moreover, instead of following the examples of
earlier and better times, they exaggerated the defects of the
latest Eoman buildings, by cutting up pediments and other
members into the most graceless shapes, and covering the
* See Street's "Brick and Marble of Northern Italy."
§ 115. AECHITEOTUEAL TASTE. 353
flat surfaces with the worst rococo ornaments. Such kind
of architecture gives an impression of being a compound
of mediaeval love of variety, and of an attempted copy of the
antique ; each antagonistic to the other, and striving to make
dominant its own particular features, — a compromise between
two incompatible ideas. It therefore failed to revive the old
as a good copy, or to form a really new style. But still there
is no denying that much was worthy of admiration in Ee
naissance buildings; and every one who appreciates and enjoys
the beautiful can find much to commend in them. If they
have their faults, they have their merits also ; and many, like
the palaces in various cities of Italy, are noble monuments of
architecture. There is doubtless too much of the pilaster
and engaged column, in many of those buildings ; but here,
as on other occasions, it depended on the architect, rather
than on the style, to what extent the custom might be
modified or increased ; and some have all the grand simplicity
that marks the Palazzo Farnese, while others display the
exuberance of ornament of the Biblioteca at Venice.
It is by watching the mode of adopting and modifying
certain features they borrowed from others, that we under
stand the process by which the Greeks (as I have before
shown), improved on the productions of other people less
gifted than themselves, and how their quick perception of the
beautiful taught them to choose what was worthy of adop
tion. In tracing the rise and progress of different styles of
architecture, as weU as of different arts, we are speedily con
vinced that more is the result of adaptation than of invention ;
and we also perceive how each style, from the Greek; Eoman,
Byzantine, and Arab, to the Mediaeval architecture of Europe,
reappeared in a new character. Thus changed they command
admiration, and we willingly acknowledge the talent displayed
in remodelling them. We should, on the contrary, disHke
them were they merely corrupted, or debased imitations; as
A A
354 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
we despise all paltry attempts at invention for the mere sake
of novelty, and the not uncommon misconception of some
original motive.
116. If some instances of these still occur, there is reason
to hope, with the improving taste for architecture, and the
very important study of the rationale of every part and every
feature of a building, that the repetition of certain stereo
typed ideas on the one hand, and the introduction of others
from mere caprice will no longer be tolerated. Numerous,
indeed, are the baneful results of that interference by which
patrons or employers are constantly injuring the designs of
architects *, showing how much depends on the imprpvement
of the general taste ; and there is reason to believe that when
relieved from the blunders of irresponsible committees, our
public buildings in towns will be as creditable to them as
many of the churches they have erected throughout the
country. 117. Indeed it is gratifying to find, that when the English
compete with foreigners in architecture, they now sustain
their own reputation and that of their nation by at least an
equal display of talent; and this has been satisfactorily
proved by the designs they have produced both at home
and abroad. Those exhibited for the Public Offices showed
an amount of talent which till lately did not exist in this
country ; thirty or forty years ago a similar collection could
not have been brought together ; and though some had the
errors of the age, in the story above the cornice, in the adhe
sion of columns to the two-storied walls without the plea of
supporting any part of the building, and in the roofs buried
behind a parapet, their merits as a whole could not have been
surpassed in any country. And when foreigners censure our
* As in the case of the National Gallery ; where, besides other conditions,
and after-thoughts, the architect was required to use columns from another
building, whether they suited his design or not.
§ 116-118. TASTE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL. 355
monumental designs, it would not be difficult to prove that
many of their architects and sculptors, who enjoy great
reputation, are guilty of anomaHes and short-comings quite
as glaring as any to be found in an exhibition of English
competitors. We may be deficient in the fidl appreciation
of proportion, form, and colour ; and the postage-envelope
arrangement, the figure banished to the top of a column, the
ill-understood obelisk (sometimes on four stone balls), the
slab (half pyramid, half obelisk) with a portrait within a
wreath, and a few other commonplace compositions may
still occur among our designs; but many of them appear
also in. those of foreigners, who fail in erecting good monu
ments equally with ourselves.
118. Nor are our improvements confined to architecture;
the interesting and instructive collection of sculpture, in the
Crystal Palace of Sydenham, shows that British sculptors
compete most successfully with those of other countries ; and
the English school of painting, by the position it has taken,
maintains the credit of the country in its own department of
art. Nor can I abstain from noticing the great improve
ments made in pottery and porcelain, in glass, in carpets, and
some other manufactures, where theory has not been allowed
to interfere ; and it would be satisfactory if the demand for
them showed that the taste of the public kept pace with that
of the makers. Unfortunately it is this which retards its
progress; and however great maybe the talent of the pro
ducer, he receives little encouragement from those who ought
to be the first to give it — the educated and wealthy portion
of the community. In fact, no one in this country can make
works of a purely ornamental character with the hope of
being remunerated for his labour and expense; they must
be of general use to command any sale; and unless his
profits from such as are required by every one, for household
and other purposes, are sufficient to counterbalance his loss
A A 2
356 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
on objects of taste, he soon feels himself obliged to renounce
their manufacture. They are the mere luxuries of the few
who happen to apprebiate them ; and when good taste is a
luxury, and not a general requirement, it cannot be said that
great advances have been made in its cultivation. This is not
very flattering to our pride, but we must hope for the coming
improvement in this particular. Indeed, we may be satisfied
if it will only continue to advance as it has begun ; and for the
present it is of most importance that we should combine the
beautiful with the useful in objects of every-day requirement.
This is the best means of making taste general ; and when it
has become common in the household furniture of those who
cannot afford to purchase costly things, it may deter wealthier
persons from preferring the bad merely because they are
sanctioned by fashion.
It cannot be said that the English are naturally deficient
in a love of ornament, though this has sometimes been laid
to their charge. There is not a peasant who does not display
it in the humblest cottage. It goes pari passu with their
fondness for flowers. All that is wanted for the poor man, as
for others, is that good objects may be within his reach ; and
when accustomed to them he will renounce green parrots,
vulgar drinking figures, and such commonplace objects, which
are a disgrace to the maker and the purchaser.
Nor is it owing to an inability to learn, that our artisans
are prevented from obtaining the instructions necessary for
the execution of ornamental designs ; it is the taste and en
couragement on the part of the community which are wanting.
They are capable of improvement if rightly taught ; and they
would soon produce objects of good taste, if these, and not
the bad, were selected by the public. Proper instruction is
what they require to ensure that improvement; and a re
markable proof has lately been given of the facility with
which the English learn under proper tuition. Unimpeded
§ 119. JUDGMENT OF WORKS OF ART. . 357
by the mannerism and peculiarities that fetter or influence
men in some other countries, they are free to receive the
impressions imparted to them by their instructors ; and the
same mechanical habit, which prevented their acquiring
taste by their unaided observation, is useful in enabling
them to perfect whatever depends on skilful manipulation.
And as a nicety of hand makes them excel in cabinet and
joiner's work, they are capable of attaining excellence in
those processes which depend on manual skill. Admirable,
therefore, as is the wood carving of those young men, who,
in less than one year, have been taught at Alnwick Castle by
Signor Boletti, we can account for this success by the aptness
of the pupils, as well as by the talent of their instructor ; and
it is gratifying to Englishmen to know what may be done in
their country by proper tuition, while they gladly acknow
ledge their obligations to the Duke of Northumberland for
having established so admirable a school of woodcarvers.
119. It is certainly highly beneficial to taste, that wealthy
individuals should come forward to promote it, and there are
fortunately some in this country who have the talent and the
judgment to appreciate what is worthy of admiration and
encouragement. But this is not a privilege or a duty con
fined to the rich alone ; a man of limited means may con
tribute towards the same desirable object; and it is equally
incumbent upon him to engage in so good a cause. The
humblest dwelHng may display even greater taste than the
most sumptuous palace. The beautiful does not depend on
costliness or variety. Nor is it necessary for an individual to
have exercised an art, in order to comprehend the excellence
of its productions. Many of the best judges of pictures are
not artists, as many very good judges of architecture are not
architects; and indeed considering the numbers of frightful
buildings in many parts of the world, and the small pro
portion of beautiful compared to the multiplicity of faulty
A A 3
358 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II.
specimens put up within the last hundred years, it is evident
that a claim to exclusive taste is not possessed, ex officio, by
every architect. It is on the very fact of those who are not
artists, architects, or artisans, being able to judge of their
works, that the general taste of a country, as well as the en
couragement of their talents, depends ; and it would not be
difficult to mention the names of many individuals in this
country who are remarkable for taste and judgment in archi
tecture, painting, and ornamental art. Experience, of course,
gives to the professional man superior knowledge of cohstruc-
tiveness, and of the requirements of a building; but good
taste does not invariably accompany professional knowledge.
Study and observation are also very necessary to obtain an
acquaintance with the subject, but these two last are fully
within the reach of non-professional students, who have their
time as well as their judgment free for the examination of the
most important examples -of various styles and periods ; and
perception of beauty is confined neither to a particular class .
of the community, nor to those who exercise any art.
And if some of the latter have pronounced it to be pre
sumption in other persons to offer an opinion on the subject
they look upon as peculiarly their own, they should recollect
that though a doctor may overwhelm the remarks of his un
professional patient by talking of the agnoston muscle, they
cannot appeal to any mystery in matters with which taste
and the appreciation of the beautiful are so intimately con
nected. Nor will wealth enable any one to possess good taste,
though the payment of a large sum may sometimes secure
for him a work of great excellence without the purchaser
having any knowledge of its merits ; as large prices may pro
cure a valuable stud without its possessor having any know
ledge of horses.
If some have imagined that taste is confined to particular
persons, or only within the reach of the rich, some on the
§120. TASTE MUST BE GENERAL. 359
other hand seem to think that taste is beneath the considera
tion of men of rank, and only fit to be studied by those who
gain their livelihood by it. That this should be the notion
of a barbarian may be intelligible ; and we are amused at
the pride of an ignorant Turk, who treats all Europeans as
artisans, designates them as " tradesmen," and requests some
traveller to stop and examine his watch, or some piece of
disordered mechanism, supposing he must necessarily be
instructed in such matters. But when persons of wealth and
station pronounce the Crystal Palace, or any collection of art,
to be interesting only to artists and artisans, and beneath
the consideration of the aristocratic mind, we smile at the
absurdity, and are only surprised that a civilised community
can produce such fitting pendants to the Turks.
Fortunately, these are the exceptions, not the rule; it is
no longer disgraceful to a " man of fashion " to be able to
write legibly; and so far from good taste being confined to
the possessors of art, it is thought a want of refinement to
be quite destitute of it. An amateur may now excel in any
art without being condemned for "doing it too well;" and
he may understand the practical part of mechanics without
disgrace. 120. I have stated that the chief impediments to the
general progress and extension of taste are more often attri
butable to the purchaser than to the makers of ornamental
works ; and this opinion, on farther and fuller inquiry, I find
to be confirmed. It is the universal remark that those things
which are bad in style find a more ready sale than the good ;
and that not from the price being lower, but solely from the
choice of the public. If the bad happens to be attractive it
meets with admirers ; and high finish, minuteness of detail,
and whimsical shape, are greater recommendations than good
form and purity of design.
We cannot then be surprised that the makers should cease
A A 4
360 ON TASTE IN OENAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II.
to produce what is good when, instead of encouragement, they
meet with apathy, or want of judgment ; though we regret
that the correct and beautiful must be abandoned, and
lowered to suit some contracted notions. These are the drags
on taste, and the chief causes of its not becoming generally
diffused. And so long as the educated and the wealthy
choose bad designs in preference to the good it is vain to
hope for any durable results from the laudable efforts now
making to promote the instruction of artisans ; or to expect
that when instructed they will continue to produce excellent
works only to be slighted by those who ought to appreciate
them. It is neither sufficient that the artisan should be well
instructed, nor that some few members of the community
should patronise and encourage him; and unless taste is
general throughout all classes who have the opportunity of
practising or promoting it, there is little chance of its taking
permanent root, and flourishing in the country.
One of the most important points, therefore, is — that taste
be general among all classes ; these too are essential : — that
the beautiful be combined with the useful ; — that proportion,
good form, and (when required) harmonious colour, be com
bined in objects of every-day use; — that rare and costly
materials be not preferred to excellence of design ; — that good
examples be imitated, rather than new designs invented
merely for the sake of novelty ; — that no design be made
up of parts put together to form it, without reference to their
compatibility; — that one object be not employed for another
of a different character; — that authority be not an excuse
for a faulty design ; — that the spirit, not the direct imitation,
of natural objects be adopted for ornamentation; — and that
the education of the eye be preferred to a mechanical ad
hesion to mere rules.
361
PART III.
DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS.
I have said that the ornamental garden near the house should
be laid out in geometrical patterns, in order that it may
accord with the formal character of that work of art ; that it
should have terraces and balustrades of masonry separating it
from the rest of the grounds ; and that to it a less formal
garden with borders and winding walks might succeed, —
leading by a gradual transition from the symmetrical and-
artificial part to that which bears a nearer resemblance to
the wildness of nature.
-The mode of arrangement in the geometrical garden will
vary according to the nature and position of the ground, and
other considerations. The gentle slope of a hill or rising
ground is particularly suitable for a succession of stone ter
races, or hanging-gardens as they are sometimes called, com
municating with each other by flights of stone steps; the
lowest terrace-garden being that most distant from the house.
Even this last may have its central area laid out, like the
others, in geometrical patterns; and avenues of dipt ever
greens at each side, sometimes also at the end, may lead to
the walks of the less formal garden beyond — which I may call
the border-garden. But I need not enter into its arrangement,
as it will depend on the character of the ground, and may
have all the variety of which it is susceptible, both in the
direction and position of the walks, the number and character
of the borders, or of the flowers, shrubs, and trees introduced
362
DEESSED OE GEOMETRICAL GAEDENS. Part III.
into it, according to the taste of the owner and various cir
cumstances. I shall confine myself to the formal geometrical' garden;
and whether laid out on sloping ground or on a level spot its
plan may be of a very similar character, at least in that portion
nearest to the house ; and though on a level space there can
be no succession of terraces one above the other, the gradation
from the geometrical portion to the less formal garden beyond
may be equally maintained ; and the mode of arrangement will
depend on the extent and character of the grounds, the site
of the garden, and the plan and direction of the house. This,
however, should be observed, that where the space is limited
a number of high formal yew or other dipt evergreen hedges
are out of place, as their avenues cannot be of sufficient size
to prevent the walks between them from becoming damp and
overgrown with moss ; and the small garden should not aspire
to the same pretensions as one of greater extent. This too
may be laid down as a rule, that in no case trees be made to
imitate peacocks and other birds, or be cut into grotesque
shapes ; and such caricatures are not excusable even in the
garden of a country village.
Whether the grounds or gardens be large or small it is ad
visable that no trees be near the house, as they tend to make
it damp, and in autumn strew the walks with leaves ; but the
approach to the house may be by an avenue of fine trees,
than which nothing is more beautiful, more grand, or more
in keeping with the building ; and those who prefer a winding
road to the very door of the house, on the plea of its being
natural, forget that the approach, however winding, is quite
as artificial as the far more effective avenue. The road,
before reaching the avenue, may be as circuitous as the
ground and other circumstances require ; and this gradation
from the open country, or from the park, to the dressed parts
about the house is a consistent and agreeable transition. Care
PART III. TREES NEAR THE HOUSE. 363
must, however, be taken that the lines of the road when
curved be graceful, not abrupt, arbitrarily tortuous, or incon
sistent with each other or with the character and form of the
ground. " The line of beauty" should be the guide in laying
down those curves ; and it is essential to bear in mind that
the same curves on a level plain and on undulating ground
have a very different effect, the ground itself in the latter
case altering their appearance, and giving to a straight Hne
another character. It is allowable, and even advisable, that
evergreens, which do not overshadow the house, be planted
up to it, at least on one side of the garden, so that sheltered
walks may be provided, and the means of reaching the house
in winter without exposure to cold winds may be afforded, for
those who walk to and from the grounds. Such shrubs have
also the advantage of looking green both in winter and
summer, and do not strew the walks with leaves ; but large
evergreen trees should not approach the house to make it
damp, and obstruct the light.
It must be acknowledged that the level plain does not
afford the same facilities for laying out a terrace-garden as
the gentle slope of a hill, where the succession of different
levels adds dignity to it, and where the commanding position
of the upper terraces affords an opportunity of enjoying the
full effect of those below ; still it is possible to lay out a
dressed garden in a perfectly level spot ; and if the expense is
not considered too great, a certain variation in the level may
be obtained by carrying earth and raising the whole, or parts,
of the surface of the inner portion. When, however, this is
found to be too costly or too troublesome, and it is thought
sufficient to have only one geometrical garden, the space
selected for it may even be taken from a level field or lawn ;
and nothing more is then necessary, in order to separate it
from the rest of the ground, than to make a sunk fence or
fosse in that part, and to raise terraces of earth, cased with
364 DRESSED OE GEOMETEICAL GAEDENS. Part III.
masonry, above it, which may define its limits. And these
artificial terraces, surmounted by stone balustrades, and stand
ing a few feet above the general level, afford a sufficiently
strong line of demarcation, and, if properly managed, do away
with the impression of the garden having been part of the
level space from which it was derived. There may also be
another garden beyond it (which may be called a " border-
garden"), with irregular walks and borders, planted with trees,
shrubs, and flowers, taken from the same level space, and
separated from the geometrical garden by the balustrade and
low terrace ; in which case the sunk fence may bound the
outer instead of the inner dressed-garden. When, however, in
laying out grounds of moderate size, an impression of greater
extent is desirable, their separation from the open space, or
meadow, beyond should not be visible, and the eye should be
carried on at once beyond the sunk fence without perceiving
its presence. The following arrangement of the gardens may
also be suggested: — 1. An inner geometrical garden nearest
to the house ; 2. Another one, less formal in its character,
beyond it; 3. The undressed "border-garden" beyond this
again ; each separated from the outer one by balustrades and
low terraces, and the outer one separated from the open grass
land, the park, or the lawn, by the sunk fence. The lawn
too, in that part nearest the house and garden, may be planted
with cedars and various handsome trees ; but no large piece
of water should be near the house ; and above all, an arti
ficial lake, with little or no stream passing through it, should
be forbidden in its immediate vicinity. Still less admissible
is it if a river runs through the same grounds, or if any
natural piece of water forms part of the landscape.
The position and even the form of a garden is always required
to conform to that of the house and any other buildings, as well
as to the peculiarities of the site. The architecture of the house
must also be considered ; and though I do not think it necessary
Part III. FOEM AND COLOUE OF TEEES. 365
that all the trees which may group with it in the landscape
should be of any particular kind, there is no doubt that those
of vertical growth and dark colour offer a better contrast to the
horizontal Hnes of a stone house of ItaHan or Grecian style
than those of a rounder form ; and the horizontal lines of
that kind of house have a singularly good effect from con
trast, when seen between the long vertical stems of stone
pines or of a group of old Scotch firs. Such contrasts may
be judiciously introduced here and there, even if not abso
lutely necessary ; and due attention to the different growth of
trees and to the colour of their foliage is a very important con
sideration in their arrangement. And there is no doubt
that the upright poplar, too often despised, has an admirable
effect as a contrast to the long level line of a meadow, and
in other positions where a vertical line is required ; as the
dark hues of certain evergreen trees, the copper beach, and
others of coloured foliage, tend greatly to the beauty of the
grounds when properly introduced.
But I do not enter into the question of laying out grounds :
— for these I refer to Eepton and others ; nor do I treat of
those large terrace gardens such as are seen in Italy and
France attached to spacious villas, as at Frascati, the ViUa
d'Este, and others : I confine my remarks to gardens which
depend for their arrangement on beds in formal geometrical
patterns; and of these I shall give a few examples, with
the general arrangement of their colours, and the names
of flowers best suited to form their various designs.
Numerous indeed are the patterns which might be given
for the geometrical garden; and the arrangement of the
garden itself is also susceptible of very great variety. Nor
will they fail to suggest themselves to any one who. occu
pies himself with the subject; and many maybe found in
works on gardens, as in Loudon's "Encyclopaedia of Gar
dening," in the " Book of the Garden " by Mcintosh, (Part
366 DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS. Part III.
viii.), and others.* We must not however be satisfied to
adopt for any garden the design or the patterns of beds we
may accidentally see and be pleased with elsewhere; the
form of the ground, the character and dimensions of the
house, and many other peculiarities must, as I have already
observed, be considered; and it is for this reason that
universal rules cannot be laid down. But though without
knowing aU its conditions it is impossible to establish before
hand the proper distribution of a garden, some general ideas
of the patterns and their colours may be suggested, and any
one may adopt or modify them according to circumstances.
It sometimes happens that the house stands in a hollow,
with a fall or slope from the garden, which always has a dis
agreeable effect, not only from an idea of the water diaining
towards the house, but from its taking away from the
dignity of the principal object, to which the garden and
every other part should be subservient. In such a case
this remedy may be suggested : that a' certain space, large
enough for the geometrical garden, be lowered to at least the
same level as the house, and that this space be laid out in
beds, with a terrace wall at the farther end, on the
original level of that part. This, it is true, reverses the
order of the terrace and its walk, and you descend by
steps from the terrace towards the house ; but the incon
venience and bad effect of the slope towards the house is
thereby remedied, and the terrace wall with its ornamental
balustrade, at the opposite end of the intermediate garden, is
not an unsightly object from the house, the geometrical
design of the beds' being between them. At the base
of the terrace wall may be a sloping bed or border of
mixed flowers; in which hollyhocks may predominate;
* Since writing the above, I have had an opportunity of seeing Kemp's
" How to lay out a Garden," in which are many useful hints both for grounds
and gardens.
PART III. SLOPING AND LEVEL GROUND. 367
and if the balustrade and the vases placed on each of its
piers are backed by cedars of Lebanon or other evergreen
trees, planted at some Httle distance behind them, the con
trast of their white colour and the dark green of the trees
will be by no means disagreeable. If the entire removal
of the descent is not allowable, a slight inclination may be
left from the terrace wall towards the house ; but whenever
it is practicable a perfect level is better adapted for the
geometrical garden; and, as a general rule, this kind of
garden should never be laid out on sloping or uneven
ground ; and whenever there is a fall of the ground it should .
be laid out in a succession of gardens or terraces, each on a
perfectly level space. On the upper level (separated from the
newly-made lower garden by the terrace wall) may be another
dressed garden, between the terrace and the cedars ; and in
order that the cedars may approach in one part rather nearer
to the balustrade, that corner of the upper garden may be
made to form an acute angle with them ; or some other
arrangement may be devised, according to the nature of the
ground. (See woodcut 62, in next page.)
A dressed garden of less pretensions may be projected in a
level spot, and merely bounded by a slight trench and by a
low wall with pierced work of bricks in patterns, or with
half-circles formed of half main-drain tiles (Plate vi.), or
even by a low dipt evergreen hedge. These are sufficient
to define its limits, and the beds may then be formed of the
same geometrical patterns as in other dressed gardens. But
this does not really merit the name of terrace-garden, and is
only a substitute for it which may be attached to a house of
very moderate pretensions.
Some are satisfied that the patterns of the geometrical
gardens should be laid out in turf, or have grass walks
between each instead of gravel; and it is certainly easier
to cut beds in turf, as in a level lawn, than to lay out
368
DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS.
Paet III.
a garden de novo; but it is not the facility of making
the garden, it is the effect to be produced when made,
(62.)
Fig. I.
m
B
M
A, House. B, Slope.
C, Geometrical garden on the slope, when lowered.
D, Sloping bed against the terrace wall.
E, Terrace walk and balustrade.
F, Upper dressed garden.
its suitableness to the character of the house with which
it groups, and other higher considerations, which are to be
regarded ; and though patterns in turf may answer very
PAET III. CHAEACTEE OF THE BEDS. 369
well for the less formal garden, or for one of humble pre
tensions, they are by no means suited for the dressed geo
metrical one. In this last turf walks are very troublesome
to keep trimmed; the grass, unless constantly attended to,
is deficient in neatness, and when cut is apt to Htter the
beds ; in wet weather they are too damp to be used as walks ;
they require to be made of a breadth quite out of proportion
with the beds ; they are less in keeping with the character of
the house or the terraces and gravel walks about it; and they
fail to give an expression of finish and importance. They
belong to another kind of garden. In the less formal garden
the walks may be of turf, as they may there be much broader
than in the geometrical garden ; but here again it is necessary
that the beds should be of good design, not placed at random,
without any connection with each other, or any regard to
symmetry and general effect ; and two or three beds cut in
turf, and dotted about here and there, have no merit what
ever. They have no general design, which is an indispen
sable condition of every kind of formal garden. They are
a mere imitation of it, without any regard to its true
principles. Still worse are they when the beds, even in turf,
affect to represent real objects, as birds, butterflies, or any
other form in nature ; and stars, crescents, hearts, and leaves,
are for the most part merely the refuge of those who are
incapable of composing good designs.
A house may very properly stand on a broad terrace
(as a basement) which may be without any beds ; and may
either be on the same, or on a higher, level than its geo
metrical garden; and from the latter a broad central and
two side flights of steps may lead down to a second terrace
garden, with geometrical beds, fountains, statues, and vases, as
in the upper garden, besides smaller vases on the balustrades
which bound and separate them. The beds themselves,
B B
370 DEESSED OE GEOMETRICAL GARDENS. Paet III.
whether in a terrace garden or in any other geometrical
one made on a level spot, may be very similar in their
arrangement; and a design for the one may serve equally
for the other when of the same size.
The geometrical garden is capable of great variety. I will
suppose one in a level spot, bounded by the usual stone
balustrade on a terrace wall and by the sunk fence. On the
inner side, close to the balustrade, is either a border for
flowers, or the terrace walk itself, raised, as before described,
by artificial means, and standing above the level of the plain
as well as of the space in which the geometrical beds are de
signed. From the terrace walk a slope descends to the lower
walks round those beds, and each bed is separated from the
adjoining one by a smaller walk, graveHed like all the others;
and in the centre is a fountain, and other ornaments already
noticed. Each bed is edged with box, stone, or terra-cotta. These are
the best edgings ; but painted wood will answer the purpose,
though it is apt to be warped by the wet, and soon decays.
Terra-cotta is far better; it has also the recommendation
of being less expensive than stone. If some object to box
because it harbours insects, this grievance is not beyond all
remedy, and the trouble it gives is compensated for by the
appearance of the box itself. Indeed a portion of the
dressed garden, with patterns laid out entirely in box, is by
no means unworthy of commendation, like that beautiful one
attached to the Kasr (or Al Casr) at Seville ; where (though
in its present condition it is said to be the work of a French
man) I think we may trace some patterns taken from
Arabic sentences, entirely formed of dipt box. They have a
very pleasing effect ; and a valuable hint may be obtained
from this kind of evergreen design for winter beds. Each
main compartment is marked off by a higher and thicker
hedge, or barrier, of the same, or of some other evergreen
Paet III. WALK AND BEDS. 371
plant, and within it are the beds formed of patterns and
small paths of gravel.
Such designs in box might With advantage form one
portion of a large dressed garden, distinct from the other
geometrical beds; and it is not forbidden to unite some
low box patterns with these last, though they generally look
far better by themselves, and the flower beds may be satisfied
with having their edgings of box. Sometimes the box
patterns may be laid out in some other part of the garden ;
or even in the level turf, being surrounded and marked
out by small gravel walks ; or they may form a small inde
pendent parterre by themselves. (See Plate vi. fig. 2.)
Those who object to box* for edgings, may make the
flower beds on a somewhat lower level than the walks
between them, using stone instead of box; and this is not
altogether without reason, as the earth is often washed by
heavy rain into the walks when they are lower than the
beds ; and the sHght decrease of level in the beds compared
to the walks has. not a bad effect. At aU events, whether
edged with stone or box, it is well that the beds should
not be higher than the walks, for the reason just given;
they should rather be about the same height, the centre
of the beds being a Httle higher than the edges. But the
best method is to have the walks and beds in the geometrical
garden of the same level.
The size of the beds is also an important point, and none
of them should be so small as to appear like spots of colour,
nor so large that any part cannot be easily reached by a
rake. In the quantity of colour, care should be taken that
blue, red, and yellow predominate, with orange and blue-
* If thick box is thought to harbour snails and slugs, it is still more neces
sary to have no walls or stone-work with joints and crevices, in which they
can find a lodgment; and plants, such as the Arabis, on walls or in beds, is a
great encourager of them, from the closeness of its stalks and foliage.
b B 2
372
DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS. Paet III.
purple (like the purple verbenas) and a sufficient quantity
of white, which may often be introduced very advanta
geously, as it brightens the general asjpect of the coloured
design. One of the greatest elements of beauty in a garden is form,
and it is of paramount importance that it should be in
accordance with true principles. This too should regulate the
mode of planting trees ; and nothing has a more disagreeable
effect than a number of single trees dotted about here and
there in the grounds without any regard to their relative
position, or their accordance with the surrounding features
of the landscape and the nature of the ground. They should
be planted in masses and groups, not singly; they shpuld
be part of a general design, and not look as if fallen acci
dentally into their isolated position. And this shows how
mistaken is the now obsolete notion that nature is to be
copied, and that everything in grounds and gardens is to
mimic her fortuitous wildness. Whatever may be the
supposed imitation it is always unlike nature ; and it is
better at once to renounce any attempt to combine two
distinct motives. A wood may be wild (as it ought to be),
and it may have a natural appearance ; but the artificial
grounds can never resemble nature ; and while they need not
assume unnecessary formaHty, they should seek to be beau
tiful by proper arrangement rather than affect a character
they cannot maintain.
If design and good form are so necessary there, it is very
obvious that they are the very soul of a dressed garden;
and the study of form is not only of importance in the
garden, because it is less changeable than colour, but be
cause even in winter the beauty of geometrical patterns-
remains when the colours of the flowers are entirely gone,
and nothing is left beyond the sad recollection of their faded
beauties. And this is one of the greatest advantages that
Part HI. GEOMETRICAL AND BOEDEE GARDEN. 373
the geometrical garden has over ordinary beds and borders,
which derive their effect from the colours of their flowers.
Dependent as it is for its beauty on form and colour,
the geometrical garden admits no rock-work, or capricious
and irregular conceits clashing with the general design;
and while vases, nor statues, are consistent and even de
sirable parts of it, they must not be introduced without
reason, nor stand on the turf without a base (as I have before
observed, p. 346). They should form part of the general
design. Above all they should not rise from a mass of rock-
work; and the fountain, a very suitable feature in such a
garden, must never be surrounded by rock-work, or by rough.
stones. These may be tolerated in the less formal one ; where
large flints and other stones often form good edgings for beds,
and may even be covered with ivy ; and where the fountain
may be surrounded by them or by flowers placed out in •
pots. Geometrical beds may be better suited to a large than to a
smaU garden ; and in all cases there should be beyond the
geometrical, a less formal border, garden ; the former being,
if I may so call it, an appurtenance to the house, and a part
of the ornamental plateau on which it stands ; but no
attempt should be made to combine the patterns of the
geometrical, with the beds or borders of the outer informal,
garden ; and such patterns are especially out of place in the
neighbourhood of bushes and winding walks. There should
be a gradation from the geometrical to the border garden,
if possible by one of less formal character. The transition
should not be abrupt. It is however a mistake to suppose
that when a garden is small no portion of it should be
laid out in geometrical patterns ; and I have seen one with a
terrace walk, and the usual beds (very similar to that in
Plate vii. fig. 1) not a hundred feet square, which when
bright with flowers, gave the impression of possessing far
B B 3
374
DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS. Paet III.
more importance than it had any right to claim from its
extent. The same remark applies to all kinds of gardens ;
though they should be of sufficient size not to appear insig
nificant, nor vainly to imitate those of greater dimensions.
Their beauty does not depend solely on their extent.
"It is a prevailing but most erroneous opinion (says
Captain Mangles) that the enjoyments derivable from a garden
are just in proportion to its magnitude; so far from this being
the case, at least in our opinion, we most decidedly believe
that it would be conferring a most essential service on the
science of gardening, either to lessen by one half almost
every ornamental garden in the country, or allow double the
amount of labour to that usually bestowed upon them. In
ninety-nine gardens out of every hundred, it will be found
that their extent is such, compared to the labour allowed
for keeping, that the time and attention required for the
nicer operations of the art is almost, if not wholly, absorbed
in the manual labour required for keeping in repair the beds,
grass walks, &c. This ought not to be : the pleasures and
enjoyments of a garden by no means depend on its extent
but on its higher state of culture and keeping."*
But though actual size is not necessary, it is of importance,
when gardens or grounds are small, that they should not
have the appearance of being confined to a limited space ;
and an effect of greater extent should be given them than
they really possess, by a suitable direction of lines both in the
walks, and in the disposition of the bushes and trees of the
borders. Those lines should lead the eye to the distance ;
and where that is bounded by a continuous belt of trees,
judicious openings should be made to connect the space
beyond them with the grounds ; which ought not to proclaim
that they are confined to then1 own narrow Hmits. Even
" Page 111, of that very useful little work, the "Ploral Calendar," by Capt.
Mangles, E. N.
PART III. CHOICE OF PLANTS. 375
when nothing but sky is to be seen beyond, still openings
should be made, with a similar view of giving an impression
of extent ; and the same rule regarding belts of trees applies
equally to grounds of large, as well as of Hmited, dimensions.
Next to the arrangement of the geometrical beds, another
great element of beauty in a dressed garden, is the deter
mination of the colours for harmonious combinations, and the
proper selection of the flowers according to those colours ;
and due attention must be paid tothe effect they are to make
in the beds as well as to the maintenance of a succession
of them during different seasons. For this purpose, after
having decided on those whose hues accord with the pro
posed design, it is necessary to ascertain what flowers best
suited to it blossom at the same periods ; and a succession of
those of the same colour must be fixed upon to take the
place of each, and continue the same designs at successive
seasons. They should also be, as near as possible, of the same
height as their companions ; so that the blue flowers be not
over tall in one bed, or the red too short in another; for
which purpose some may be pegged down; and when any
plants of good colour blossom during the greater part of the
year, they may be advantageously chosen on this account.
It is by no means necessary or advisable to select rare
flowers for the beds ; and some of the most common are the
most eligible, being more hardy, and therefore less Hkely to
fail, or to cover the bed with a scanty and imperfect display
of colour. Indeed it is a common mistake to seek rare flowers,
when many of the old and most ordinary varieties are far
more beautiful : and there are other and far better positions
for the display of rare plants, when they will grow without
glass, than in the dressed garden.
Of the arrangements of colours in the beds it will suffice
to give a few examples, which will show how they may be
combined for a harmonious and brilliant effect; as in
B B 4
376
DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GAEDENS. Part III.
Plates vii. viii. In the last of these I have given the
half of a geometrical garden having a terrace-walk (studded
with beds along the sides, and end) raised a few feet above
the central part where the principal patterns are laid down,
and separated from the walks in that part by a slope of turf;
which is repeated round the fountain in the centre. Large
vases on pedestals stand in the middle of the lateral beds ;
and Irish yews are planted in small circular beds at each
corner ; the whole laid out on a level spot, from which it is
divided by a sunk fence.
In fig. 1 of Plate vii. (which I have already noticed, p. 373),
the rectangular garden is surrounded by a stone terrace-
wall surmounted by a balustrade, bearing on each of its piers
a vase; a continuous bed, or border for flowers of different
kinds and hues, extends round three sides close to the balus
trade, with a gravelled terrace-walk parallel to it ; and from
this a sloping bed planted with flowers, in a zigzag or other
pattern, descends to the sunk garden, which is laid out in a
geometrical design. This zigzag arrangement, however, is
not given as a very eligible one ; it is merely intended to
show how the colours may be introduced on that sloping
border. And it is even allowable to plant that part with
mixed flowers, provided they are bright and weU combined ;
and masses of blue and scarlet (as salvia and geranium), or
other harmonious hues, may with propriety be mingled
together there, as in the borders near the balustrades, where
they have a very good effect so interspersed ; the geometrical
beds having each its own particular colour. In the centre
is a fountain, or a vase on a pedestal, and Irish yews, or
cypresses, at each corner.
In fig. 2 of Plate vii. are various patterns ; which may be
selected or varied, according to the design of the intended
garden ; as its distribution and plan may depend on its size,
position, and various circumstances. These patterns are only
Part IIL CHOICE OF COLOURS. 377
a portion of a design ; and are not intended to be a garden ;
which would require the introduction of side beds, similar to
those in Plate viii., though of greater extent and variety. For
to accord with the dimensions of this portion of it, the gar
den should be made up of many similar sections, and the
whole be surrounded (as I have just said) by lateral beds
and ample terrace-walks.
And having given the arrangement of the colours I shall
now add a list of flowers most useful for making the proper
combinations in geometrical beds, with the season in which
they blossom.
The principal colours I have introduced are blue, red,
scarlet, pink, purple, Hlac, yellow, orange, and white ; which
are the most effective for the purpose. Green is found in the
leaves of the plants themselves, and may be considered in most
cases as the ground to the other colours.
But though the above mentioned are the most appropriate
for geometrical beds, various tones and hues of purple
and other colours may be used in some parts; and even
variegated and mixed flowers may occasionally be admitted,
as pink and white sweetwilliams, variegated tulips, red
and white carnation-poppies, garden poppies, dwarf larkspur,
Clarkia marginata (pink bordered with white); York and
Lancaster roses (pink and white, pegged down); viscaria
oculata (white with dark red eye) ; Gaillardia grandiflora
hybrida; Obeliscaria pulcherrima; wallflowers; China and
German asters*; amaranthus ; heartsease ; striped carnations ;
ColHnsia bicolor, grandiflora, and multicolor ; Godetia rosea
alba, &c. (see pink) ; lupins ; sweet peas ; and some others ;
though their effect is never so good as those of one brilliant
decided hue ; and they should only be used in a very large
* See Blue, under which I have introduced them into the list, from its being
the prevalent colour ; and like the African marigold, they are too useful not to
be mentioned among flowers suited to beds.
378
DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS. Part III.
geometrical garden where the superabundance of the single
primary colours in the many other beds has the advantage of
keeping them in a secondary position. In a small dressed
garden they are not advisable; though they are allowable
and useful in borders. Nor are subdued tones, such as
lavender and others, admissible, except when the garden is
large and the beds numerous ; and when it displays a pre
ponderating number of more brilHant colours.
Many plants may be put into beds much earlier if pipes
are laid down to convey hot air beneath their roots ; by which
means, if secured from frost, verbenas may blossom there in
the last week of May ; but this can only be done when the
position of the garden, at no very great distance from the
fires, admits of it, when there is a large establishment of gar
deners, and when the expense is not an objection.
Common flowers, the weeds of the country, are often most
beautiful in colour, and are not to be despised because they
are common ; they have also the advantage of being hardy ;
and rare flowers (as I have akeady said) are not always
those best suited for beds. Gardener's varieties may be
advantageously used for the purpose, being put in m succes
sion ; and it is sometimes found convenient to bed them in
pots, in order that they may be removed to the reserve
garden or elsewhere, when they are out of flower, and be
succeeded by others in the beds.
Other observations on the treatment of flowers for the
beds of geometrical gardens will be found in the following
list; where they are catalogued according to their colours,
and the season in which they flower; and illustrations of
the arrangement of the various colours will be found in
Plates vii. viii. ; for the explanation of which I refer the
reader to the description of the plates, and to the remarks I
have introduced in p. 376.
Colour.
Blue.
*Scilla siberica, and verna .
Hepatica triloba, (also pink and white)
Gentianella, Gentiana acaulis .
Gentiana verna
Anemone Apennina, mountain anemone
Hyacinth, wild, H. non-scripta .
Hyacinth, H orientalis
Veronica chamsedrys
Anagallis cserulea ....
Anagallis indica ....
Italian Anagallis, A. Monelli .
Myosotis palustris ....
?Viper's bugloss (Anchusa)
?Milkwort, Polygala vulgaris .
Eutochia viscaria ....
*Spiderwort, Tradescantia virginica .
Linum usitatissimum (common flax)
Convolvolus minor .
Lobelia eriuus .
Agathssa (Cineraria) celestis
Salvia patens . . . .
?Columbine, Aquilegia vulgaris .
When in Flower.
Myosotis azoricum
End of Jan. Peb. and March.
February and March.
Beginning of March to middle of
April.
March, April, and May.
Middle of March and April.
April and May .
April to end of May (about one
month.)
April to October.
Planted out in beginning of May.
Idem
May to September.
Beginning of May to frost .
Not very good for beds, being too
tall, better for borders.
May to October ....
Second week in May, till end of
August.
May to middle of August .
May to frost ....
May to end of August
May to frost (see red lobelia)
Middle of May to frost
Third week in May, to frost
In May, for about two months .
June to October . . .
marked (*) are not very suitable for beds in
Very small ; and therefore fit only for small beds
Perennial, to be reserved and planted again
in November.
More hardy than H. orientalis.
Of different colours, blue, purple, pink, red,
and white.
Raised from cuttings in hotbed.
Idem.If the flower-stalks are constantly cut.
Small for beds, and not of good colour.
Sown last week of March.
Not very good for beds, having too much leaf.
In succession.
If sown in March and forced, blossoms in first
week of May.
Grows better if a few small stones are placed
under the stems.
Of numerous colours and hues.
Pegged down.
Indistinct colour, and not very good for beds.
Also pink, purple, and white.
Dark rich- blue.
patterns.
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Blue.
Gentiana pneumananthe ....
Nemophilla insignis ....
Brachycome Iberidifolia, var. caerulea
*Borago officinalis
"Veronica azurea
?Veronica semethistina ....
Kaulfussia amelloi'des ....
German larkspur, double Delphinium
Scabiosa succisa, Devil's-bit scabious
Canterbury-bells, harvest-bells, Campanula
medium.
Campanula rotundifolia ....
Campanula Carpatica ....
Campaluna speculum.Venus's looking-glass
Cornflower, Centaurea Cyanus .
Cornflower, Cichorium Intybus .
Scabiosa gramuntia
China aster (aster Sinensis)
German aster
When in Flower.
June to October .
Pirst week June to frost.
Summer and autumn
June, for about six weeks .
June to autumn
Idem
Summer . . . .
June till frost
June to October.
June through autumn .
Middle of June and August.
Idem. Idem. June to frost
June to September.
July and August.
July to frost . ,
Idem. ....
Remarks.
Large. In succession, like other annuals f
Not very good for beds, too high and straggling.
Three feet high, too high for beds.
Four feet high. Idem.-
In succession, deep blue.
In succession.
Sometimes blossom again when cut down
after the first blossom.
Pegged down.
German asters being dwarfs, are better than
China asters. Mixed, blue, pink, lilac, white.
In successions. If sown early in February
and kept in frames till the first week in
May, and then planted out in beds, blossom
in the last week in May; others sown in
March to succeed; and again in April and
May (which is the best] month for all
annuals in the open beds), and these last
blossom in August,
t Annuals sown the first week in May are stronger and better when put out than those sown at an earlier season.
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Colour.
Blue.
Light- Blue. Bed.
Plant.
Dwarf lupin, Lupinus nanus
Gilia achillaefolia
Gilia capitata . .
Aggeratum cssruleum
Polyanthus
Ranunculus .....
Garden anemone, Anemone hortensis
Verbena Melindris ....
Fuchsia gracilis, &c . . . .
Amaranthus caudatus, Love-lies-bleeding
Prince's feathers, Amaranthus hypochon-
driacus
Celsia
Bed rose ......
Anagallis arvensis ....
Anagallis grandiflora
Lobelia surinamensis var. rubra
Pink, Dianthus hortensis , ,
Dianthus Dunnetti superbus , »
Sweetwilliam, Dianthus barbatus
Phlox Drummondii
Linum rubrum grandiflorum, or, "1
Linum grandifl. verum kermesinum J
?Valerian .'
When in Flower.
July, September.
SummerSummerMiddle of June to frost.
End of January to May
March to June .
March to May, and October
Frost.
Middle of May tb winter
May till after frost
May to frost
Idem
Beginning of May to frost.
May to winter
Beginning of May to October
Idem.
June to August.
June, July, and August.
Idem
June to October .
June tb frost
June and autumn . .
Middle of June .
to
Poor, and of an imperfect blue colour.
Idem.
Hues of red and purple. If sown in March,
blossom about September, but are not then
required.
Various hues, red, yellow, &c.
Various hues, red, purple, white, blue, pink, in
succession, if sown at intervals.
To be kept in pots in the ground, blossom in
second week of June.
Idem. Bather crimson-red, in succession; those sown
in May last to frost.
Pegged down.
In succession.
Idem.
Blood-red colour, new plant.
Not full of flower after July.
Crimson-red (varieties of).
In succession, of a scarlet hue.
Not good for beds.
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Remarks.
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Bed.
Scarlet.
Pink.
Helianthemum ....
Carnation, Dianthus Caryophyllus
Martynia diandra
Snapdragon, Antirrhinum majus
Zinnia multiflora
Penstemon pulchellus, and P. gentiano'ides
Ranunculus
Anemone hortensis
Anagallis Parksii
Salvia splendens
Verbena .
Geranium .
Celsia incisifolia
Corn-poppy
Cuphea SweetwilliamLobelia cardinalis and splendens
Common Nasturtium .
Nasturtium Tropseolum majus
Nasturtium, Cattel's dwarf scarlet
Lychnis chalcedonica
Zinnia hybrida
Heath, Erica carnea
Hepatica triloba
Saxifraga oppositifolia
Hyacinth .
Daphne Cneorum
June to October .
July to frost.
July and August.
July to frost
July to October .
September to frost
March to June .
March to beginning of May
Planted in the beginning of May
May to winter .
Middle of May to winter
May to winter .
Middle May to frost .
May to frost. ,
June to frost
June to October .
Middle of June and July
June to winter .
Idem
June and autumn.
End of June and July .
July to October.
January to May
February to May
Idem.April to end of May .
April to May
Rather too much leaf.
Of various colours, crimson red, pink, white.
Rather of pink hue.
Tall, but useful if pegged down from its coming
in late.
Of various hues (see Red).
Idem.(See Bine.)
Put out in blossom.
If put out in blossom.
Tom Thumb and Punch varieties are most
brilliant in colour. Put out in blossom.
Put out in blossom.
Not very powerful colour.
(See Red. )
Pegged down.
Idem. Idem.Put out in blossoms.
Dwarf heath.
The best colour. Also blue and white varieties.
Of different colours. (See blue hyacinth.)
Later in good climates.
Colour.
When in Flower.
Pink.
Pdkple.
Clarkia pulchella
Helianthemum .
Petnnia .
?Veronica elegans
Verbena .
Stock (German)
?Mallow, Malva grandiflora
Viscaria oculata
Viscaria coeli rosa .
?Godetia rubicunda .
Pink, Dianthus hortensis, &c. .
Indian Pink ....
Sweetwilliam, Dianthus barbatus
?Schizanthus ....
Rose Campion, Agrostemma coronaria
Phlox Drummondii .
Saponaria calabrica, soap-wort .
?Ragged Robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi
?Mesembrianthemum •Rhodanthe Manglesil
Heath, Erica mediterranea and stricta
Lobel's catchfly, Silene Armeria
Polyanthus
Iris persica
Iris tuberosa
?Auricula .
Crocus
May to winter .
May to frost
May to September
Idem.
Idem.End of May to winter.
End of May to frost
June and autumn
Summer and autumn
Idem.June to frost
June and July.
Summer and autumn
June to October
June and autumn
June to frost.
Middle of June to frost,
June to frost.
June to September
June to October .
Summer and autumn
July to frost
Idem.
End of January to May
March.March to April.
March and May .
February and March.
Pegged down.
Suecession crops.
Not very full of flower.
Put out in blossom.
Rather high, and not very full of colour.
Succession- crops.
Ditto. Blossoms not quite sufficient for the
quantity of leaves. Bich crimson hue.
Bright rose, with a dark red eye.
Succession.Succession; but not very good for beds.
Of mixed colour.
(See Red.)
Blossoms scanty.
Not with sufficient mass of colour.
Not very good for beds.
Idem.To be kept down.
(Also white.)
Hues of purple and red.
(Also Yellow Auricula.) Poor for beds.
Colour.
Purple.
Lilac.
Plant.
Hyacinth .
Leptosiphon densiflorum
Campanula speciosa
mollis .
hybrida .
Heliotrope Stock (German)
Verbena .
Cineraria .
Petunia violacea
Hieracium, hawkweed
Senecio elegans, American groundsel, for
merly Jacoboea
Linum Lewisii
?Heartsease
Geranium sanguineum .
Ethulia corymbosa .
Martynia formosa
?Purple rocket, Hesperis matronalis .
Musk scabious, Scabiosa atro-purpurea
Zinnia elegans .
Heath
Lobelia pyramidalis
Arabis
Feather hyacinth, Muscari monstrosum
Candy-tuft, Iberis umbellata
London, or evening primrose (primula)
Omphalodes verna ....
When in Flower.
March to June.
April or May to frost.
May to July.
May to September.
May to November.
May to winter.
End of May to October.
May to December.
Middle of May to frost
June to early frost.
June to frost
June to October.
June to frost . . . .
All summer .
Idem. Summer ,
June to September.
June and part of July
July to October .
July to September.
End of July to frost .
August and September.
Early spring, February and April
April and May.
Early spring, to Dec. and Jan. .
April and May.
April to frost * .
Remarks.
(See Blue.)
Not a good colour. There are also pink, white,
and red Hieracium, all poor in colour. (See
Yellow Hieracium.)
In succession.
Not very good for beds.
Pale purple.
Far too short a time.
Dark purple, pegged down.
Dwarf,
It harbours slugs and snails.
(See White.)
Succession.
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Plant.
When in Flower..
Lilac.
Yellow.
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Primula sinensis (Chinese primrose)
Heliotrope ....
?Lavender, Lavendula spica
Virginia stock
Leptosiphon lilacinum
Anemone japonica . .
Spring Crocus, C. vermis .
Daffodil, Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus
"Wall-flower, Cheiranthus Cheiri
Alyssum saxatile
Yellow Narcissus
Ranunculus, double .
? Cowslip, Primula verna
Yellow tulip, Tulipa sylvestris
Leptosiphon luteum .
Calceolaria corymbosa
Calceolaria amplexicaule
Helianthemum .
?Potentilla
Musk
Linum flavum .
? Yellow asphodel, Asphodelus luteus
Marygold, Calendula officinalis
Tropseolum cahariense
May to December.
June and summer.
June to November.
June to October
June to frost ....
August to frost.
End of August to frost.
February to April.
End of Feb. March and April.
February and March to June
March to frost ....
March and May ....
End of April to June
April and May to middle of June
April to middle of June.
April or May to frost.
Middle of May to November
Idem
May to September.
Idem
May to frost.
May to October.
May to June
June to frost.
Ma,y and June to October
Not good for beds; but a low hedge made of
it may be used for dividing some parts of a
formal garden.
General effect lilac, bearing pink and blue
flowers.
Of different hues.
Full of flower in March.
Several kinds.
Of various hues, yellow, red, &c. (See Red.)
Not very good for beds.
Put out in,flower.
Clear canary colour. ,
Some yellow, red, pink; and white; not very
good for beds.
Not very good for beds.
Pegged down. If sown in March, put out
in the first week of May in blossom.
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Orange.
Plant.
White.
Mimulus luteus
Hieracium, Yellow hawk-weed
Shortia Californica .
Lastheria Californica
? Mesembrianthemum
CEnothera biennis
Lupinus nanus
Xeranthemum .
Coreopsis Drummondii
Coreopsis tinctoria .
Lilacinum luteum
Chrysanthemum coronarium
Wall-flower, Cheiranthus cheiri
Crocus
Cupliea stilosa ....
?Ecrimocarpus Scaber
Calceolaria ....
Erysimum perowskianum
Marygold, Calendula officinalis
African Marygold, Tagetes erecta
Eschscholtzia Californica .
Nasturtium common .
Nasturtium tropajolum
Alstroemeria ....
Snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis
When in Flower.
June to September.
June to frost
Summer and autumn
Idem. June to October .
July to frost
July to September.
July and August.
July to October .
Idem. August to frost.
October to frost .
Feb. and March to end of May .
February to April
End of May to frost .
June and autumn
June to November.
June and autumn.
June to frost.
J une to September .
June to frost.
Idem.Idem.Middle of June to end of August
End of Jan. and Feb., and March.
Remarks.
Not a rich yellow.
Dwarf.
Not very good for beds. More used on rock-
work.
Pegged down.
Sow in March for July. There are also red
and other species.
Differs from the last in having a deep horse-
chesnut-coloured centre.
Also in other colours.
Of different hues.
But it is better not to move the Crocus oftener
than once in three years.
Orange and scarlet together.
Too tall for beds.
Mixed chesnut-brown and yellow, or orange.
Pegged down. Plant it in pots ; being difficult
to get rid of, when it overruns beds.
For small beds.
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Plant.
When in Flower.
Remarks.
White.
Scilla bifolia alba
Leptosiphon densiflora, var. corolla alba .
White Narcissus
?Star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum fimbri-
catum.
Anemone nemorosa .....
Verbena
Woodruffe, Asperula odorata .
Petunia alba
Campanula rotundifolia, Quaker bells
Campanula medium, Canterbury bells .
Gina nivalis
•
White rocket (double), Hesperis matronalis
Aggeratum album
Feverfew (double camomile) .
Matricaria, or PyrethrumParthenium; var.
flore pleno.
?Spider- wort, Tradescantia virginica
Xerauthemum Orientale ....
February to May
February to March.
April or May to frost.
March and frost.
March to May.
May
April and May ....
Early spring to winter.
May to September.
May to winter . . , .
Middle of May to frost.
May to August.
Middle of May to frost.
June to August.
June and through August.
Middle of June to frost.
Summer and autumn
June and part of July
Middle of June to frost
June to frost.
Idem. June and autumn
July till frost ....
July and August
July till frost ....
Middle of July to October .
Also blue and pink.
Not goodl. for beds j tocfc straggling; and not
suited for moving annually.
Double white variety.
(See Lilac.)
Pegged down.
Succession ; rather poor. A mixed colour,
, white veined with blue, or purple.
Lasts too short a time.
Not very good in colour; but blossoms freely,
and lasts a long time.
Succession.
Has rather too much leaf; but better than the
blue, growing lower.
(See Blue); not very full- of flower.
Dwarf variety.
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388 DRESSED OR GEOMETRICAL GARDENS. PAM III.
In the above list I have noticed some of the flowers best
suited by their colours for the brilliant effect of geometrical
patterns; but I have not thought it necessary to mention
those adapted to borders, as they belong to a different part of '<
the garden, and a different subject ; and though many suited ;
to beds are also grown in borders, many which are well .
adapted for borders are too large, or too deficient in masses
of colour for the dressed beds.
I have not entered into this subject with a view to give
all the necessary instructions respecting the laying out of
gardens ; this would require a more extensive notice than the
few remarks here introduced ; my intention has rather been
to show how advantageously form and colour may be combined
in formal beds, and how necessary is their proper combination
for giving full effect to the geometrical patterns of a dressed '
garden.
INDEX.
Accidental or complementary colours, 10, 56, 58, 60, 72, 73, 92, 104.
colours, Supposed harmony of, 92.
Mistakes about, 56, 58, 92.
seen by the colour-blind, 56.
mistaken, as red for green, and dangerous for signals, 56.
seen when the eye is fatigued, which is to be restored by
looking at the opposite colour itself, or at white light, 104.
Black and white, 72.
not confounded, 56.
Achilles, Shield of, not described from a Greek model, 302.
Adaptability of materials for ornament, &c. (see Pictures), 215.
Alhambra Court at Sydenham, 152.
Good specimens of colour in the, 109.
mosaics, 22.
Colours of some tiles in the, 134.
coloured designs, the florid style, 154.
feathered scroll ornaments and geometrical rectilinear, 262.
Ancient models, Study of, beneficial rather than direct imitation of, 200.
Anglo-Saxon MSS., Figures in, copied from Pagan models, 310.
Colours in, 312.
Draperies in, 310 — 312.
Animals in silver, 229.
Apelles, Age of, 1 84.
Apulian vases, 180, 181.
Arab coloured Works, the colour not the pattern the chief object in some, 20.
patterns. Variety in, 216.
names of colours indefinite, 79.
Arabs did not colour according to theory, 7.
if they coloured carpets according to a theory, would give up lively
colours, 12.
Change in the taste of the, 21. ^ — '
Glass windows of the, 29.
Arabia, fusible and chased work of, Theophilus mentions the, 27.
Arabic sentences and hieroglyphics, Imitation of, inconsistent, 234.
Arch, Invention of, uncertain. 298.
round, invention of the, 294, 298.
Segmental, generally disagreeable, 333.
supporting nothing, or thrust through the entablature, 334.
trefoil, Old instance of, 242 (note).
Arches. Bricks placed lengthways in the oldest, 197, 294.
False, of overlapping stones, 294.
of Greece, 297.
pointed, Earliest, 290, 292, 293, 294, 296.
Architect, Buildings altered by another, 337.
Architecture, The beauty of, may be understood by those who are not archi
tects, 357. _^«— -r —
Colour in, 24.
of details of, 96.
CC 3
S9° INDEX.
Architecture, Errors of, in the present age, 354.
To copy even from good models of, requires judgment, 329.
'Coloured, 74, 275.
Some errors in, 341, 349, 351, 352, 354.
Each style of, borrowed from an older one, 290, 302.
Figures to be good in, 235.
Gradual debasement of, 305.
Improvements in, 354.
Mouldings copied from real flowers or natural objects in, 216,
225, 227, 329.
Pointed, nqt exclusively nor originally Christian, 191, 292,
Styles of our northern, 331.
Few styles of, invented, 289.
Archivolt, Figures in an, 289.
^Aristotle on harmony of colours, 77.
Armour of figures of Charles Martel and others, 226.
Arrangement affects colours, 111.
Arrows and balls hit the mark without, any theory, 6.
Art applied to manufacture, 171.
Works of, not under the same conditionstas those of nature, \i.
A barbarian's idea respecting, 359.
Buildings are works of, not of nature, 14.
The best judges of, not always artists, 357, 358.
Beligious subjects not the only ones for high, 319.
encouraged by patronage, 322.
Artists of Italy borrowed from each other, 3(1 9,
Aspiration, so-called system of, 291.
^Assyrian coloured designs, 153.
Athenaeum, Just remarks on glass in the, 44,
Babbage's experiments on coloured papers for writing, 160, 164.
^Balance of colour (see Colour), 59, 77.
'Bas-reliefs. Errors of, 210.
Perspective in, 211.
Stone and metal suited to, not to pictures, 211, 212..
Beautiful, Apparent prejudice of some against the,, 25.
is of all styles, the, 326.
Attempted definitions of the, 327.
and good, kclXos km ayados, 217.
Beauty does not depend on costliness, or variety, 357.
Bedstead with spikes, 237.
Belgium, painted glass of, 28, 42, 54, 94.
Skill in design in, 201.
Wood-carving of, 201.
Beneficial result on public taste from the Exhibition of 1851, 191.
Benvenuto Cellini injuriously influenced by French taste, 202,
Bible and poetry, subjects from, suited for high art, 234,.
Bird's-egg-blue, 105 (note).
Bistre shades in early painted glass, 33.
Black for combination, 126, 142 — 144.
a ground good, 108, 109.
seldom fit for a ceiling, 108.
not in nature, 13.
Black and blue, 71.
^red, bad effect of, 62, 63, 138.
-"''^green, bad effect of, 62.
*^"^ white said not to be colours, 71.
not confounded, as accidental colours, 56.
INDEX. 391
Black and red to form brown, 70.
white, 63, 67, 71, 75, 88, 89, 126, 142, 144.
by contrast sets off white, 63, 75.
next -to white set off by it, 99.
and yellow qr orange combine well, 74, 94, 95, 108, 115.
•Blue, the supposed colour of humility, 291.
appears to recede from the eye in coloured glass, 12.
in a ceiling, 12.
combination, 113—115, 131 — 136.
and orange in the same quantities, 147.
not only in the sky in nature, 13.
and red together look purple, and require yellow, 9, 94.
and yellow, the three primaries used of old in England, 24.
three primaries, 63.
Proper proportions of, vary, 147.
and green, difference of, with red, 62.
and yellow, 100.
a contrast to red in a different degree from blue to yellow, 74.
and yellow with red very different from green with red, 60.
by candlelight should be of a bright tone, 97, 101, 110.
appears nearly black, 97, loi, 110.
interlaced with white looks lighter, 76.
and orange harmonise well, 74.
lighted up by one of bright tone, or by white, or by green, 97, 101.
sets off red, being a contrast to it, 62.
and yellow compose green, but do not when placed together appear green
to the eye, except in certain cases, 61.
Bohemia, Glass of, rich in colour, faulty in form, 181.
Boot, copied for a box of matches, 231.
"Border" gardens, 364.
Bottles and utensils of bad form, 232.
Bourges, Glass of, 53.
Box paths in a garden, 370.
gardens at Seville, 370.
Bracket, the Moorish, excels its Indian prototype, 304.
Bricks capable of being highly ornamental, 342, 352.
-British Museum, coloured ceiling, 152.
colour of the staircase, 22.
ceilings, 152.
Bronze, Our deficiencies in, work, 202.
and wood, Union of, 219.
Browns, buff, and others, 112.
in combination, 128, 145.
Buff, 112,ni7, 161.
Building, a work of art, not of nature, 14, 18.
Burnet's remarks, 5, 76.
Busts of Boman time of coloured marbles, 281.
•Byzantine coloured ornaments, 154.
features in early glass, 34, 35.
Greeks. Art among the, 27 (note).
in France. Influence of the, 33, 34.
influence in Britain, 34.
cast off early in France, 99.
mosaicists caused the revival of art in Italy, 312 — 318.
Cabinets, rich and misshapen, 219.
Cairo. Coloured patterns of children at, 21.
Candlelight. Colours by (see Blue), 97, 101, 104, 111.
C c 4
392
INDEX.
Candlestick by M. Angelo, 223.
Candlesticks of bad designs, 222, 223, 230, 231.
Canopied windows, 43.
Caprice in form or decoration inconsistent with real feeling for the beautiful, 186.
Carpets, Dutch, 25.
Persian and Turkish, 20, 108, 110.
Flowers on, 215.
Mussulapatam, 144.
Pattern on, of less importance than colour, 20.
Gothic tracery on, 216.
Caryatid and other figures from Egypt, 240, 298.
Caryatides and other figures not well adopted by the Greeks, 240.
Celtic coloured designs, 156.
Censure of other opinions not intended, 10.
Chairs. Crimson a rich colour for, 110.
Chandeliers and candlesticks badly designed, 230.
Chartres Cathedral. Statues of, 199.
Chevron, or zigzag, 301.
"Chevreul on colour, Practical work of, 91.
successive and mixed contrasts, 103.
Chimneys of our houses, 339.
Chimney pots. No vases to be put for, 228.
Chinese carving, a work of ingenuity, not of good art, 236.
. taste deficient in form and design ; their colour is better, 23.
coloured designs, 156.
knew the compass and gunpowder long before we had them, 304.
imitation good, but that is not art, 328.
Christian art at first rude, 306.
early, Style of, 307, 312.
in Italy the oldest (which was lost), and that revived at a later
time, 316.
did not pursue its independent course in sculpture as in paint
ing, 200.
paintings in the catacombs, 307, 309.
sculpture, its high position before the Eenaissance, 200.
Christians adopted the Tau for the cross, 308.
borrowed from Pagan art, 307 — 310.
Frescoes more employed than sculpture by the early, 309.
Churches, The architecture of the oldest, not invented by the Christians, 304.
in England, Good modern, 354.
Churchwarden's white wall, 61.
Cinque cento, faults and merits of the, 353.
Circumlitio, meaning of, 278.
-Classes, All, should be educated in taste, 167, 169.
Climate of England makes indoor recreation for the working classes indis
pensable, 195.
Clocks in France of bad design, 232.
Clubs in London, 347.
Coins, as works of art, 181, 184. .
Colossal figures, 239, 240.
Colossi, Some Greek, larger than any in Egypt, 239.
Column used by the Eomans for a vertical line, 239.
-Columns, Coloured, part of coloured architecture, 341.
and pilastres fixed against walls of a two-storied building, 341.
Eusticated, and with square blocks, 351.
Statues on, 238.
Eoman taste, 238.
Twisted, only tolerable when small and supporting light weight, 349.
INDEX. 393
Columns, Too great an admiration for useless, 341.
intended to support something, 342.
half, Admiration for, 342.
^Colour, accidental, Supposed effect of an, 10.
admired and disregarded by us in different places, 24.
-blindness, 2, 56.
(*ee Balance of ; see Harmony ; see Contrasts of).
of old necessary for architecture, 24.
The eye the best judge of, 4, 10, 57.
little appreciated by the English, 1.
-and music only as a simile (see Newton), 6.
Death of a, 9.
Lighter, used to brighten up a design, 104.
not pattern, the chief object in Arab carpets, 20.
Taste of Orientals in, 21.
Perception of, a natural gift, 23, 65.
Eules laid down hastily for, 35.
¦Theories on, 3, 5, 6, 7, 92.
in gardens, and succession of flowers, 374 — 376, 379.
^ theory of one primary, 6.
Coloured designs on walls of a Gothic church to be subservient to the effect of
the ornamentation, 26.
glass windows, as a contrast to a white wall, have a bad effect, 25.
not suited to Eenaissance churches, nor to all Gothic
buildings when painted, 26.
in France (see French and Glass).
glasses for lamps, 164.
^Colours, Accidental, 10, 56, 58, 72, 73.
Arrangement of, 151 — 160.
in architecture used by the Greeks, 275.
affect each other, as orange next to red looks yellow, and red inter
woven with yellow looks scarlet, 101.
affected by arrangement, 111.
Agreement arid disagreement of, 113.
in some tiles of the Alhambra, 134.
that are alone, or on a ground, or with others, 112, 113.
^balanced, 77.
Blending of, 76.
Bright, in the designs of northern people, as Eskimos, Siberians,
Chinese, See., 23.
Bright, not necessarily gaudy, 1.
Some necessary conditions for, 164 — 166.
of the Eskimos, 12, 23.
Brilliant, in our flowers, 14.
by candlelight, 16, 19, 97, 101, 110.
Ceilings appear to be raised or lowered by the effect of, 12.
Various combinations of, 131, 145.
Simultaneous contrast of, 102, 103.
Dark and light, 113.
to be distinct, 61, 62.
different by day and by candlelight, 16.
diminish or increase each other's effect, 10.
Effect of distance obtained by, 12.
on each other, 59, 61.
-Eeciprocal effect of, 102.
Correct examples of, required, 2.
-Experiments have no bearing on the harmcny of, 6.
of the Egyptians, 17, 132, 134.
394 INDEX.
JBolours, used by the Egyptians, Greeks, and others, 17, 24.
in England formerly used. Brilliant, 23*
of England. Neutral-tint, 13, 23.
Facts rather than rules for, 91.
in flowers different in effect from flat, 19.
of early glass show they were bright in England formerly, 23, 25, 55.
suited for grounds, 107.
in grounds different from the same colours in a pattern, 105, 106.
most harmonious in combination, being more than two, 130.
Quantity of, may be varied, as may the form of Vases, 251.
which harmonise, Pleasing combinations of, in pairs, 1 1 3.
when more than two are placed together, 129, 130.
-Some insensible to the harmony of, 2.
of the Israelites, 17, 131, 133.
landscape and pure flat positive colours for ornamentation under
different conditions, and not to be the same, 18, 19.
Leonardo da Vinci on, 67.
Lists of, and their effects, 113 — 148.
Perception of, a natural gift (see Natural).
Names and character of, 81 — 90.
uncertain, 68, 79.
neutralising each other, 8.
Nomenclature of, 65, 68, 78, 81—91.
Number of, 80.
opposed to each other in different degrees, 98.
We wish to ornament with, not to deceive by, 9.
in a large piece and in a small specimen look different, 107.
Primary, secondary, and others, 64 — 72.
should predominate, 93.
- — -used by the early Italian masters, 17.
Idea of the primary being used, as in the rainbow, 10.
Three primary, forming white light, not connected with the question of
coloured ornamentation, 7, 8, 9.
primary, Use of the, marks the taste of people before the true percep
tion of colour is blunted, 16.
•Experiments respecting the prismatic, 69.
of the prism, or the rainbow, 19.
Proportions of, 10, 147, 149.
in very different quantities and of different powers, seldom look well,
99, 147.
Quiet, 1.
rules for, Attempt to lay down, 3, 57.
and sounds, Analogy of, interesting as a simile, 5.
Theories respecting, 92 (see Colour).
Hasty theories respecting, 5, 10.
of southerly and other climates would be limited according to theory, 13.
Tones of, 72, 99.
by twos, in contact, 113.
of deeper hue on the lower part of a wall, 22.
called "wanting," 115 (note).
Warm and cold, 76, 77, HI.
Werner's nomenclature of, 68, 91.
Committees, irresponsible, 189.
Blunders committed by, 354.
Comparison of dissimilar objects inconsistent, as Greek and Gothic architec
ture, 331.
Complexion. A dark and light, 79.
Concealment and false pretences contrary to sound principle and common
sense, 202.
INDEX. 395
Conditions of the three primaries not the same, 61.
Consistency of motive essential to the beautiful, 186.
Consoles, inverted, 345.
Constantine. Coloured glass windows used before time of, 29.
Constitutions of some wise professors plausible, but impossible, 8.
.-Contrast, 74, 75, 77, 78.
Contrasts of colour, 59, 78.
allowed in ornament which would be harsh in a picture, 5.
Conventional objects in ornaments of different periods, 226.
Copies from the antique not necessarily beautiful, 186.
of good and bad designs, 175.
may give a likeness without the real character, 330.
Corinthian capitals, The earliest, 299.
Cornelius, Windows by, at Cologne, 22, 94.
Costume of ancient figures in modern sculpture, 235.
Country houses, 344, 345, 367.
Crimson, Name of, 83.
Crimson, in combination, 121, 139.
^Crystal Palace of Sydenham. Boman and other courts at the, 109.
Damascus. Mosaics in houses of, 22.
Darker patterns of the same colour as the grounds good, 107.
Day's " Treasury of Ornamental Art," 156.
Dead likenesses, 324.
Decorative work. No degradation for an artist to employ himself in, 325.
Design, Our general improvement in, 354 — 356.
and production, arts of, 168.
imitation, Arts of, different, 223.
Designer often less to blame for-faulty design than purchaser, 188, 189.
Designs, Arrangement of, from a root, 263.
to appear as if formed for the space they occupy, 264.
Copies from good, often mistaken, 223.
Good, not necessarily expensive, 168.
made up of different ideas, 222.
Different ideas combined, 222.
substances combined, 221, 223.
Diocletian, Inscription on wood of the time of, 308.
Discords, 113, 114.
mistaken for concords; 92, 93.
Mode of reconciling, 130, 1 60.
Doge's palace at Venice, The exterior of, 336.
Domes, Proportions of Saracenic, 206.
Doric triglyphs with Ionic columns, 240.
Double motive rarely tolerable, 337.
Drab in combination, 129, 145.
Drawing, Great importance of, 197.
neglected in England, 197.
Dresses, Colours good for ornamentation not always suited for, 78.
and draperies differ in the colours they require, 78, 106,- 110, 165.
Drunkenness, how to be lessened, 195.
Dutch carpets, dull coloured, 25.
^"colouring, 78.
gardens, 15.
Echinus moulding, badly imitated, 352.
Edgings for garden beds, 370.
" Effects " often the excuse for imperfect drawing, 329.
Egyptian colours, red, blue, green, and yellow, 95, 132, 134.
coloured designs, 153.
figures painted the same in all actions of joy, grief, &c, 285.
396-
INDEX.
Egyptian and Greek ornaments, 301.
Egyptians did not use colour with a religious view, 95.
cramped by rules, 207.
Elongated form marks the decay of art, 181, 182, 183.
Enamel glass, 34.
Enameling known to the Persians, 33.
England, Bright colours in, formerly, 23, 55.
Colours of glass in, bright, 25.
..iiiQuiet colour" of, 1, 25.
English architectural designs, Improvement in, 354.
artisans only want good instruction, 192, 356.
not impeded by mannerism in art, 357.
their nicety of hand, 357.
climate not the reason of our choice of dull colours, 23.
fond of ornament, as of flowers, 356.
formerly had bright colours in dresses and bulidings, 23.
not deficient in love for ornament, 356.
^^jvorking classes have not the opportunity of visiting objects of taste
^--— """^ enjoyed on the Continent, 193.
" Entablatures. Broken, 340.
Eskimos, if they coloured by a theory, might be nearly limited to white, 12.
Etruscan ash-chests, Colouring on the, 96, 282.
Etruscans appreciated art, 233.
copied the Greeks, 183, 233, 275, 282, 306.
used heads of horses in stone as ornaments, 228.
Evergreens for sheltering walks, 347.
Exclusive admiration for one style, 59.
Bye, the judge of colour, 4, 10.
Accuracy of, 246.
may be assisted in judging of harmony of colour, 4.
if fatigued by looking at one colour, 103, 104.
Facts, not reasons, 7.
required, not theories, 6, 8, 60.
Field's chromatic equivalents, 64, 147.
Figures to be good in architecture and for ornament, 236.
of different sizes in designs, 229.
Fillet of yellow (or white) required between red and blue, 9, 94.
Flaxman, 218, 242. (And in Addenda.)
... not properly appreciated by us, 218.
Flemish glass windows, 25.
Flowers adapted for the " dressed garden," list of, 379, 389.
Love of, amongst the poor, 356.
Colours of, not to be necessarily the same in ornamentation, 19.
in a garden have a different effect from flat colours, 19, 100, 106.
^^jnjured by being in flower-pots of bright colours, 100.
^"^^ Proper to study, for ornamentation, 227.
if copied, must have their natural colours in architecture, 225.
Bare, not always the most beautiful, 375, 378.
The spirit of. Effect of, for ornamentation, 224, 225, 227.
with scroll work, or with architectural designs. Faulty union of, 264.
Flowing lines, 174.
Fontainebleau. Papers with the Chasse de, 264.
Foreigners, Works of, admired, 218.
not always faultless, 355.
Form, a great element of beauty in a garden, 371, 372.
France, Byzantine churches in, 133.
Doge Orseolo I. settled in, 33.
The earliest specimens of painted glass windows found in, 28.
INDEX. 397
France first arrived at the art of painting on glass. How, 28, 35, 36.
chiefly supplies us with bronzes, 202.
early threw off Byzantine influence in art, 99.
Mosaic glass of, "with Byzantine features, 34, 35.
painted glass windows of, Theophilus mentions, 27.
Stained glass from Venice, or from Greeks, introduced into, 33.
fell behind Italy in art in the 1300 and the 1400, 201.
Sculpture of, in the 1200 as advanced as in Italy, 199.
Franciscans and Dominicans, patrons of Giotto and Fra Angelico, 319.
French cathedrals, Statues of, 199.
churches, Glass windows of, 28, 35, 38, 39, 44, 52, 53.
style and design, Faults of, 201.
Talent in design of the, 199.
Skill of the, in drawing, 199.
Taste of the, in colour, 78, 92? — ' "
Frescoes, to suit ornamentation of a building, 215.
Funereal monuments, Treatment of, 241, 242.
Furniture, Colours of, 110.
of houses, 266, 269, 270.
Gable, False, of Italian churches, 349.
ends of old "houses in streets, 344.
Galleries and museums, &c, closed on Sunday, the only leisure day of the
working classes, 19.4.
Gardens, Artificial, discarded, 14.
Dutch, 15.
Proper form of, about the house, 346, 361.
Adaptation of, to the peculiarities of the ground, 363, 366, 368, 369.
of box at Seville, &c, 370.
should conform to the style of the house, 365.
cannot be " natural," 362, 372.
Geometrical, or " dressed," 3.61, et seq.
Gaudy colours are really bright hues without harmony, 1, 2.
George HX, Equestrian statue of, 238.
German churches, Glass in, 44.
examples of colour not generally good, 22.
Notion about hatchments of a, 4.
spires, 340.
Germany. Works in gold and wood of, Theophilus mentions, 27.
Ghiberti, Gates of, 241.
•Gilding, Much, tawdry, 107. i
Gin-palaces, allowed to be open on Sunday, not so museums, &c, 194, 195.
Giotto, The O of, 198.
Giotto's chapel, at Padua. Ornamentation of, 269.
" Glas," blue in Welsh, 79.
Glass (see Windows ; see Belgian ; see Flemish, &c.)
-blowing in Egypt about 2400 B.C., 31.
Coloured, in France (see French churches and Glass), 27, 28, 35, 38.
a contrast to the white walls of a building, 25.
richly carved, Error of having, 2 15.
colourless, Panes of, 29, 32.
cup and metal stand, 221.
Designing on, 43, 44, 47.
Seeing through a, darkly, 32.
went from Egypt to Eome, to Constantinople, and to Venice afterwards,
32.
Egypt famed for manufacture of, and story of Phoenician sailors, 30.
Lead-lines of windows, and mode of fixing the pieces of, 35.
mosaics and ornaments, 30.
398
INDEX.
Glass for murrhine cups and false stones, 31, 32.
^Painted, used at an early time in France, 27.
shown to have been practised by the Byzantine Greeks, 34.
claimed as a French invention, 34.
Painting on, a false principle, 42—45, 47, 49.
Paintings on, in London churches, 46.
of different periods, 36, 42—48.
Perpendicular time, 44.
the 1300, rich in colour, 36.
Stained, used by the early Arabs, adopted from the Byzantine Greeks, 28.
introduced into France, 33.
Early use of, in Eome, 29.
used previously, 29.
mentioned by Prudentius A. D. 400, in windows, 28.
stained and painted, Difference of, 34.
vase with metal handles, 220.
went to Venice after it had gone to Bome and Constantinople from
Egypt, 32.
-making of Venice, 32.
White, seldom to be used in windows, 40, 41.
Coloured windows of, in France (see French churches, and see Glass), 27,
y 28, 35, 38.
y windows, Some conditions for, 40, 41, 42, 45, 54.
. x Iridescent effect through coloured, 25, 26.
should not imitate paintings, they look like transparent blinds, 25.
works of Greece, Theophilus mentions, 27.
Gold, in combination, 117.
yellow, and orange, Much, in a pattern disagreeable, 107.
a good ground for coloured mosaics, 107.
grounds, Good effect of, 107.
a profusion of, looks heavy, 107.
too much used by the French, 107.
Good and bad in the same designs, 325.
Gothic. Italian, 349.
Grammars written long after the language was understood, 6, 179.
Granite at Beni Hassan. Stone painted to imitate, 276.
Grass. Theory on colour derived from the postion of, 11, 12, 13.
Greece. Art reached its zenith in, 184.
divers colours, and glass cups, glazing pottery, and glass works of,
Theophilus mentions, 27.
Greek composite capital the Corinthian, 299, 300, 301.
^bas-reliefs varied in colour at different periods, 275.
buildings not copied exactly from natural objects, 217.
portico, not always suited to modern hoases, 329.
houses in a northern climate, 330.
statues and architecture may be admired without any. Pagan predilec
tions, 392.
early profiles had the eye in front, 284N
models to be studied, but not blindly imitated, 235, 240.
and Boman fables too much adopted by us, 235.
Greeks used blue, red and yellow, or gold, 96.
gradual formation of their style, 353,
used green sparingly, 17.
red, blue, yellow, or gold, black, and purple, and some green and
white, 17.
borrowed from styles of older people, 209.
were not subject to conventional rules, 209.
improved on what they borrowed, 186, 353.
.INDEX. 399
Greeks used primary colours, 275.
^Paste of the, not always correct, 180.
their coloured designs, 153.
preferred full face to profile for painting, 276.
Supposed inventions of the, 299.
their legends not the only nor the best subjects for high art, 233, 234, 235.
had picture galleries, 27.
combining the forms of several beautiful women to make a perfect
model, a Boman idea, 187.
Taste of, sometimes faulty, 239.
good copies of their vases; objected to by tasteless purchasers because
decorated with figured, 179.
Green, 13, 16, 63, 73, 87, 124, 142.
in combination, 63, 124, 142.
and bird's egg, or blue, 105 (note).
gives brightness to design, 63, 166.
by candlelight, improves (not so blue), 1 6.
candlelight, 17, 105, 106, 111, 125.
dark, looks darker by candlelight, 111.
use of, 131.
glaucous, 166.
and gold, different effect of, with blue and with red, 62, 74.
used sparingly by the Greeks, 17.
in grounds, 15, 156, 157, 166.
Hues of, 87, 124.
Certain hues of, as tea-green, may cover a whole wall, 97.
of nature, gives repose to the eye, 16.
when copied in a landscape, often changed by artists into the
brown of autumn, 13.
A greater quantity of, introduced in later times by the Egyptians, 1 7, 95.
used by people when taste declines, 16, 166.
appears of greater quantity than it is, 63.
introduced in quantity into our churches at a later time, 24.
The quantity of, in nature not bearable in ornamentation, 13, 16.
One kind of, suited for pictures, 97, 105, 226.
Theory of, from its position in nature, 12, 13.
Tea, in combination, 125.
subdues red, 97.
deadens, and pale blue sets off, red, 62, 75.
softens the effect of red hair, 62.
Grey, 71, 89, 126, 144.
in combination, 26, 145.
Ground for coloured mosaics, Gold a good, 107.
A bright colour for a, not always necessary, 149.
A dark colour on a, of light tone, 150.
Eed on a white, 149.
Grounds, Colours in, 101, 106.
suited for, 107.
of painted glass windows, 38, 39.
for colours, 149.
Gudule, St., at Brussels. Windows of, 94.
Hallcarnassus marbles, 185 (note).
Hand, Accurate use of the, not the only requisite, 198.
and foot may be equally beautiful, though unlike each other, 331.
Hangings of a room, 110.
Harmony by analogy, 75, 112, 113.
of colour, 59, 74.
400
INDEX.
Harmony by contrast, 74, 75, 77.
of hues, 75.
all nature's works not necessary, 19, 20.
tones, 75.
by colours, or by three (or more), 112.
Hogarth on variety, 110.
Honeysuckle moulding, 217.
Horace, Many poetical maxims of, apply to art, 208. '
Houses, Arrangement of interiors, 265, 267.
decorations, Study required for, 266, 268.
in the country, 344, 347.
Elizabethan, 345, 347.
Some errors in, 341.
Fronts of, painted at different times, 344.
The roofs of, 345.
in towns, 344, 347.
London, of good style, 347.
Hues, The proper, to be used, 105.
and tones, 75, 91.
Human figure the standard of size, 240.
Ideal beauty, Appreciation of, 247.
figures and ideal beauty, 323.
Incrusted slabs of marble, 341.
Inductive reasoning, 7.
Inkstands in the form of Gothic tombstones, 267.
Instruction, modes of, 177.
. " not enough without practice for the eye, 172.
conveyed by the negative, rather than by the positive, process, 1 77.
in matters of taste required, 192.
Intensity of tone. Colours to be of the same, 99.
Invented, Few styles of architecture, 289.
Invention practically discouraged in England, 188.
Impediments to our improvement in taste, 191, 192.
Improve what is borrowed is a merit. To, 304.
Inch. Objects of taste sold by the, 175.
Iridescent colour through a coloured glass window, 25, 26.
Israelites. Favourite colours of the, 17, 131, 133.
Isis and Horus, the maternal group, 308.
Italy, Appreciation of proportion in, 205.
Painted glass of 1230, in, 28.
Eevival of art in, 312 to 318.
vases and gold decoration, and graving of gems in, Theophilus men
tions, 27.
Italian Gothic, 349.
image-men, 176.
taste inherited, 233.
Italians have perception of harmony of colour, 22.
true proportion, 3.
modern, superior in sense of proportion to the ancient Eomans, as
exemplified in the Antonine and Trajan columns, 203.
Judges of art, The best, not always artists, 357, 358.
Judging, The effort of, beneficial, 191.
Key-stone in full blossom, 348.
landscape-painting. The beauty of, not to be under-rated, 17.
Beauty of, in the opinion of the Greeks andEomans,18.
INDEX. 401
Landscape-painting, Eage for, 325.
Importance not attached to, by the early masters, 17
Language to be understood before the grammar is written, 6.
Jaasteyrie's work on glass, 53.
Laws for arrangement of ornament, when to be established, 7.
Lead-line of glass windows, 40, 51.
Lens of glass, Ancient, 30 (note).
Leonardo da Vinci on colours, 67, 74.
Lilac in combination, 123, 142.
Line in drawing, Importance of the, 197.
gives an apparent increase of height, 262.
Unbroken grandeur of a, 340.
Lines, Flowing, 219.
Limoges enamels, Origin of the, 33.
London buildings of good style, 347.
Luca della Eobbia, 214.
Ludius, Frescoes of, 272.
Lysicrates, Imitation of the choragic monument of, 338.
Lysippus, Age of, 184.
Malachite, for furniture, 219.
Marlborough House, 177, 192.
Maori wood carving, 220.
Marathon and Salamis not represented in sculpture. Battles of, 210.
Marbles of Halicarnassus an interesting link in the history of Greek art
185 (note).
Materials, Adaptability of, 215.
Maroon, 123.
Medallion windows, 38, 46.
Mediaeval objects imitated, 237.
Memory substituted for observation, 7.
Minuteness of finish to be avoided, 269.
or high finish, not the highest merit in art, 328.
Minton and others, 172.
Monreale, S. Paolo, and Padua, Colossal figures on ceilings of, 241.
Monuments, Treatment of funereal, 241, 243.
in Westminster Abbey, 246.
Monumental designs of English and foreigners, 354.
Mosaic pavements, with dull red and green, 105.
Mosaics, perhaps first from Asia, 314.
of Greek time, 313, 314.
Mr. Digby Wyatt's, 152.
of Damascus and Italy, 22.
Gold good ground for coloured, 107.
of S. Apollinare better than those of St. Mark's, 27 (note).
in old time often limited in colour, 105.
floors and ceilings, 30.
Glass, at Eome, 30.
of glass, 30, 35, 36, 37, 51, 52.
Ravenna, 314,315.
at Eome and other places, 30, 314, 315.
Motive, A double, rarely tolerable, 337.
Munich, Glyptothek of, 348.
Museums closed on Sunday, the only day of leisure to the working classes, 194.
The want of, in manufacturing and other towns, a great evil, 192.
Murillo's Madonnas, 247.
National Gallery, Our, an instance of design injured by interference and after
thought, 354 (note).
D D
402
INDEX.
Natural and conventional objects in a design, a fault. Union of, 261.
Objects in imitation of, for ornaments, 215, 216, 224, 228.
not to be copied literally, 208.
Eeaction in favour of the, 17.
colour of stone in buildings, 14.
colours, sounds, forms, and scents, not all equally pleasing, 20.
gift, Perception of colour, a, 2, 3, 25, 55.
taste of man in colour, 20.
Nature, Admiration of, 18.
arrangement of colour from, Erroneous to look for, 1 5.
and art, 14.
Colours of, in landscape -painting and in ornamentation, under different
conditions, 18.
Fondess for imitating, 14.
Nature's works not all equally harmonious, 19, 20.
Neutralising each other, Colours, 8, 63.
Notes, 9, 19.
effect of colours, 63.
New things instead of good things, 218.
Newton, Accidental colours mentioned by, 72. "
Newton's experiments respecting the primary colours and light, 5, 10.
proportions of colour in the rainbow, 10, 65.
Nicola Pisano, 200.
Nimbus given to Herod and others, 309.
Novelty not the proper recommendation, 217, 218.
Obelisk, Use of the, 239, 244.
Obelisks, Depressed points of our, 338, 339.
at Eome, disfigured, 244, 339.
on balls, 355.
Objects copied for a purpose quite different, 230.
Obliquse imagines, 276.
One mind should design a whole building, 337.
Oneness of design. Importance of, 347.
Opportunities of seeing the beautiful necessary to its appreciation, 193.
Orange, The tone of, 130.
requires black, 148.
in combination, 117, 137, 138.
Oriental fabrics, in early times, the best in colour, 20.
Ornament, Luxury of, proclaims degeneracy of art, -181.
English not deficient in love for, 356.
Love of the peasant for, 356.
Superabundance of, 343.
Ornamental work and sculpture have different conditions, 224.
Ornamentation, Variety of, depends on circumstances, 331.
Ornaments not to cover a whole wall, 109.
Faulty union of different, 261, 262.
Proper choice of, 228.
Owen Jones, Mr., on copying ornaments from nature, 216, 227.
his " Grammar of Ornament," 153.
Pa (or Ba) and Ma, origin of father and mother, 7 (note).
Pactum, Temple of Neptune at, 340.
—Pagan emblems too much used, 234, 235, 243.
Painted details of architecture, 273.
bas-reliefs, 274, 275.
sculpture, 273.
-Painting a copy of nature, not so a building, 18..
on glass (see Glass and Windows ; see Translucid).
INDEX 403
Paintings on canvas or panel not to be subject to the general ornamentation of
a building, 26.
Colour of a paper suitable for, 270.
The best place for, is a picture gallery, 271.
not to be mere ornaments, 286.
and statues in the same room, as at Florence, 270.
The most exalted subjects of, generally, but not necessarily, religious
319, 320.
Judgment passed on, and choice of, in England, 247.
Some subjects of ancient, 272, 273.
Palissy ware, 213.
Panes of glass, large and small, 237.
Pantheon at Eome, Want of correspondence of lines on the exterior of, 348.
Paper of rooms for pictures, 270. *
for writing or printing, of different colours, 160, 16<K
of a wall not to have the pattern cut through, 264;
Parabola, The mark hit without any knowledge of the/curve of a, 6.
Parapetrwalls of roofs, to catch snow, 345.
Eoofs hidden behind, 354.
Parrot, Voice of the, natural but disagreeahle, 20.
Parthenon, Figures of the, 287.
Parts put together to form a whole, 230. .
Patents, Our mode of paying for, is a tax on ingenuity^ 188.
Patronage a great encourager of art, 322.
Patterns not to be cut through on a carpet or wall-paper, 264.
on wall-papers not suited for pictures, 105.
carpets (see Carpets), 20.
Peasant, English, his love for ornament, 356.
Peach colour on carpets and glass, 122..
in combination, 122.
Pediment, broken, 348, 352.
thrust up from the sides, Central portion of a, 349.
Pencil, Necessity of the use of the, 187, 198.
Perigueux, St. Front at, 33.
- Perpendicular and other styles, Origin of, 332, 333.
style, 331, 332.
Persian carpets, 110.
designs, 157.
Phidias (and Pericles), Age of, 185.
Phoenician types in different countries, in Egypt, Assyria, Etruria, and Greece, 303.
Pictures, Colours in, and in ornamentation, 76, 77.
Bed and green suited to, 67, 105.
Many good judges of, not artists, 357.
Mode of hanging, 265.
on materials ill suited to them, 209, 211.
Large, and small medallion-, 286, 288.
on walls, 271.
Piece, and small pattern. Different effect of the, 107.
Pilasters, Injudicious use of, 341, 342.
Pinakothek of Munich, Colours of, 22.
Pink, better alone, and trimmings for, 106, 112.
in combination, 121.
Plateaux and other silver ornaments, 228.
Plates, Landscapes and other paintings on, 213.
Pompeian models, 173.
askos, copied for a claret jug, 260.
Porphyry and serpentine in mosaics, 105.
Portrait-painting, Encouragement given to, 322, 323.
D D 2
404
INDEX.
Pottery, Common, may be in better taste than Sevres porcelain, 170.
Practice before theory, 179.
Praxiteles, Age of, 185.
Primary colours of the prism or rainbow, 66, 67, 69 (see Primaiy colours).
Primaries should predominate, but not necessarily in all cases, 93.
Profile not preferred by the Greeks, 276.
Proportion, 180, 203, 204, 206, 341.
symmetry, and symmetricality, 204.
of different things varies, 205.
Bules for, of geometrical figures, 205.
of Greek and Lancet windows, very different, 205.
the pyramidion of an obelisk, 244.
The Italians noted for, 183, 204, 349.
Want of, 180, 181, 246, 248.
Sense of, to be cultivated, 206.
in design like time in music, 202.
form, and colour, to be appreciated properly, 176.
Perception of, a natural gift to be improved by study, 205.
and symmetry, 205.
Proportions of colours (see Field's Chr. Eq.), 10, 146, 147, 149.
Saracenic domes, 206.
vary in different objects, 205.
nature, 205.
Protestant sculptors and musical composers, 321.
Protestantism not an impediment to high art, 320, 351.
Public wanting in taste, 175.
Purchasers to blame rather than the makers for the abundance of works of bad
taste, 359.
Purple, 68, 80, 86, 123, 141. (See also Addenda.)
in combination, 141.
blue, and claret, 123.
Quantity of colours in combination, 105, 146.
Quiet colours, 1, 25.
Rainbow, Colours in the, not necessarily used for ornamentation, 19.
Proportions of the colours in the, 10.
(see Primary colours of the).
Eaphael ware, 213.
Eeasons to be given why a design is good or bad, 177.
Becreation for the working classes required in England, 195.
"Bed, 66, 82, 118, 138.
in combination, 119, 138, 139.
appears to come nearer to the eye in glass than blue, 12.
and blue costumes in landscapes, 24.
with purple, 101.
green, 100, 113, 118.
white, Proportions of, 149.
on green, blue, or orange, effect of, 10.
hair, Green softens the effect of, 62.
not in nature except in small quantities, 13.
Sea, No record of passage of the, in Egypt, 23.4.
Belief, Flat, 237.
Eeligion and art, 318—322.
Eenaissance buildings have faults with some beauties, 353.
churches did not require coloured glass windows, 26.
Doubtful whether Christian sculpture was benefited by the, 200, 20 1 .
glass windows of the, 45, 55.
INDEX. 405
Eenaissance ornaments, 224.
Eevival of painting and sculpture did not take place at Bome, but in Etruria, 306.
Eeynard the Fox, Attractions of, at the Exhibition of 1851, 248.
Bidicule used to conceal want of good criticism, 238.
Bifle-green, 125 (note).
Bheims Cathedral. Statues of, 199.
Bhyton, in form of animal's head and the askos, not in good taste, 260.
Boman doctrine of conquest, 233.
want of taste, 232.
Bome, Taste bad and of doubtful existence at, 306.
Splendid and poor objects in rooms of ancient, 232.
Boofs, High pitched, 345.
of houses, Forms of, 345.
Eoom. Hangings, draperies, and furniture of a, 110.
Booms, over furnished ; and want of taste in our, 170.
Eope ornament, 227.
Rose-colour, 121, 122.
in combination, 121.
and white, 75.
Kule, No one can invent by, 3.
Bulesfor colour, form, and proportion attempted, 3, 4.
colours as yet not to be laid down, 91.
The great utility of, 6.
to art like grammar to speech, 208.'
for proportion not easily laid down, except for objects of geometrical
form, 205.
most useful, but genius is not dependent on them, 207, 208.
to be guides rather than supports, 207.
not sufficient to give a perception of proportion, 204, 205.
useless without practice, 208.
Eusset, citrine, and olive, 125.
S. Apollinare, mosaics in, better than those of St. Mark's, 27 (note).
S. Chapelle at Paris, 38, 39, 52, 53, 269.
Denis, glass windows of, 28, 53.
Front at Perigueux, 33.
Gudule, at Brussels, Windows of, 24.
Maria della Salute, at Venice, 203.
Mark's, Mosaics of, not so good as those of S. Apollinare, 27 (note).
picturesque, 334.
not to be judged by the ordinary rules of architecture, 333 to 335.
Sacristy of, 107.
Paolo-fuori-le-mura, 28, 241.
Samians, Prosperity of the, 171.
Saracenic domes, Proportions of, 206.
patterns not copied from nature, 216, 226.
Saxon long-and-short work, of late Eoman time, 305.
ScaUgeri, Tombs of the, 243.
Scarlet, 119, 120, 121, 139, 141.
better than red with green, 100.
cloaks of our peasantry, 24.
and crimson, Use of, 130.
seen at a great distance, 119.
"Schools of drawing," 196.
Sicily, Painted Greek buildings in, 96.
Scopas, Bacchante and Fawn, by, 281.
Sculptors, English, Good works of, 355.
Sculpture, painted, 275.
406
INDEX
Sculpture not to go out of its province and invade that of painting, 210.
Secondaries, should be less striking in a pattern than the primaries, 94.
Sevres porcelain, often bad in form, proportion, and design, 255, 258.
Ships not to be introduced into sculpture, 210.
Siena cathedral, Library of, 108, 269.
Silence, Harpocrates, god of, 8 (note).
Silver plate, Designs for, 228, 229.
Sky being blue, Theory connected with the, 1 1.
Slate colour in combination, 124.
Snake coiled round a vase, 222.
Sophocles and Euripides, Personages described by, 323.
Sounds heard readily without our having to understand the nature of quick
and slow vibrations, 6.
South Kensington Museum, 192, 195.
Sea islanders, Carving of, 220.
Spanish painters, 248.
Spires, their sides and points, 338, 339, 340.
in Germany, 340.
Statues on columns, 238.
called " Acroliths," with marble face, hands, and feet, coloured, 281.
in architecture, 225, 286, 288.
Colouring of, by the Greeks, 277, 284.
at first one uniform colour, 276, 284.
Gilding of, 214, 283.
naked, of Venus, The earliest, 285.
placed too high to be seen, 238.
of painted gypsum, 220.
Wooden, coloured, of Seville, 282.
Stone and wood. Union of, 219.
Stoneware of the Germans, 181.
String courses. Suitableness of, 342.
Stuart period. Forms of the, 348.
Stucco imitating stone, 342, 351.
" Style" in architecture. Gradual formation of, 353.
Styles arising out of a predecessor, 302, 353.
Subjects from common life, 176.
Suger, of St. Denis, in 1152, 28.
Switzerland, Views in, as a picture, 18.
Sydenham palace, Berlin vase in, 181.
Courts of, 109.
Symmetry and proportion, 203.
Tapestry, Use of, 267.
Taste not to be spread merely by patronage of the great, 167, 356.
vitiated by studying bad models, 178.
should pervade all classes, i69, 172.
be general, 167, 169, 265.
promotes the sale of goods, 171.
Objects of good, not within the reach of the wealthy alone, 169, 170, 358.
should be cultivated in England, 168.
not to be a mere luxury, 172.
The public want, 175.
Hopeless to expect to find, in manufacturers, if purchasers do not possess
it, 179.
not to be established by rules, 208.
may be universal, and of all ages, 207.
Want of, in our houses, 168.
general, 167, 169, 172, 175, 355, 360.
INDEX. 407
Taste, essentials to the dissemination of, 350.
promotion of, not confined to the rich, 357.
Tea-green, 97, 125.
and cerise, 97.
suits pictures, 97; 105.
Tens, counting by, 8 (note).
Terraces of gardens, 346.
Theophilus, Works of, 27.
Theory, To begin with, contrary to inductive reasoning, 7.
will not give a perception of the harmony of colour, nor of sound, 3, 4.
of the grass, 11.
Poetic genius not to be obtained by, 6.
Theories respecting colour, 92.
hasty, 5, 10.
to discuss all, Impossible, 1, 11.
Plausible, but false, 179.
Theseus, and other statues of the Parthenon. High finish of the, 287.
Tombs, Canopied, 242, 243.
Tones and hues, 75, 91.
gradations of colour, 72.
Tower, with two sets of windows of disproportionate dimensions, 343.
Translucid glass, Painting on (see Glass), 45.
Turks believe Europeans are mechanics and tradesmen, 359.
Turkish designs corrupted from those of the Arabs, 154.
Turf walks, 368.
Tuscan border very old, and general, 301.
Tuscany, enamel of, Theophilus mentions, 27.
ITninstructed, The, admire common objects, 248.
Union of different ornaments faulty, 261, 262.
Utensils of common use of had form, 232.
Variety, The beauty of, 337.
Vase, of Berlin, in the Crystal palace, 181.
Vases, Apulian, 180, 181.
of two different styles combined, 259.
bad form admired (especially if costly and splendid), 253, -258.
Mode of placing figures on, 212, 261.
may be varied and yet be good, The form of, 251.
Graco-Etruscan, 181, 182.
Egyptian, like Greek, 300.
dotted about terraces and grass slopes, 346.
of the Greeks of good form and proportion, 249 to 254.
of the best Greek period, 181.
Greek, not made by rule, 251.
of Southern Italy (miscalled Apulian), 180, 181, 182.
cast-iron, 220.
faulty proportions, 248.
called Phoenician, 303.
Landscape not suited to, 212.
with stag's horns for handles, 231..
snake coiled round, 222.
Venice, glass manufactures of, 33.
(see St. Mark's and Doge's palace).
Venus of Milo, 187.
Earliest naked statues of, 285.
Vermilion, Name of, 84.
Vertical line, Origin of the, 239, 245, 305.
408
INDEX.
Vertical line in Eoman arch of triumph, 289.
Vitruvius. Maxims of, 169.
Volute capital of Egypt, 263.
Voussoirs. Notched stones of, 302.
Wall, not to be covered entirely with ornament, 109.
Mode of ornamenting a flat, 269.
"Wanting," a term used in the combination of colours, 112.
Water near a house makes it damp, 347.
Wells Cathedral, statues of, 199.
White, in combination, 127, 144.
heightens the rose of the face, 75.
or rather cream colour, in ceilings, 94.
flag and St. George's red cross, 109.
glass to be seldom used in windows, 40, 41.
ground, 109.
light, 60, 73.
imitated by whirling round an object having three primary colours
on it, 8.
Windows of best form, 348.
Coloured glass admired by us, 25.
enamel glass, 34.
covering a whole wall. Framework of, 343.
German glass, 44.
of great size to admit the light, and covered with curtains to exclude
that light, 343.
Mosaic glass, 35, 36, 37, 51, 52.
painted glass, Grounds of, 38, 39.
medallion, 38.
Eosette, 55.
How to treat the spaces between, 343.
Wood-carving, School of, at Alnwick, 357.
Working classes require harmless recreation after six days' labour, 195.
prevented by their employment from visiting museums, &c,
during six days in the week, 193.
their appreciation of works of art when accessible to them, 193.
Works of ingenuity and works of art, 236.
taste not appreciated, 355.
Wornuni, Mr., on conventional ornaments, 226.
his remarks on the trade of Samos, 171. .
Wren, Appreciation of proportion by, 204.
Wyatt's, Mr. Digby, mosaics, 152.
Yellow in combination, 115, 136, 137.
less in quantity than blue and red, 146, 147.
Colour of, 66, 87, 115, 136.
Expanse of, 94.
THE END.
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