:«> w*%*w c (&'\ . ■. "■•■ i \ mm iiSf wS& mm m &■& s S> il>]<> of an inexpensive material. Clay, wood iron, stone, are materials which may be fashioned into beautiful forms, but beware of silver, and of gold, and of precious stones. The inosl fragile material often endures for a long period of time, while the almost incorrosible silver and gold rarely escape the ruthless- hand of the destroyer. " Beautiful though gold and silver are, and worthy, even though they were the commonest of things, to be fashioned into the most exquisite devices, their money value makes them a perilous material for works of art. How many of the choicest relics of antiquity are lost to us, because they tempted the thief to steal them, and then to hide his theft by melting them! How many unique designs in gold and silver have the vicissitudes of war reduced in fierce haste into money-changers' nuggets ! Where are Benvenuto Cellini's vases, Lorenzo Ghiberti's cups, or the silver lamps of Ghirlandajo ? Clone almost as com- pletely as Aaron's golden pot of manna, of which, for another reason than that which kept St. Paul silent, ' we cannot now speak particularly.' Nor is it only because this is a world ' where thieves break through and steal' that the fine gold becomes dim and the silver perishes. This, too, is a world where ' love is strong as death;' and what has not love — love of family, love of brother, love of child, love of lover — prompted man and woman to do with the costliest things, when they could be exchanged as mere bullion for the lives of those who were beloved?"* Workmen ! it is fortunate for us that the best vehicles for art are the least costly materials. Having made these general remarks, I may explain to niy readers what I am about to attempt in the little work which I have now commenced. My primary aim will be to bring about refinement of mind in all who may accompany me through my studies, so that they may individually be enabled to judge correctly of the nature of any decorated object, and enjoy its beauties — should it present any — and detect its faults, if such be present. This refinement I shall attempt to bring about by presenting to the mind considerations which it must digest and assimilate, so that its new formations, if I may thus speak, may be of knowledge. We shall carefully consider certain general principles, which are either common to all fine arts or govern the production or arrangement of ornamental forms: then we shall notice the laws which regulate the combination of colours, and the application of colours to objects ; after which we shall review our various art-manufactures, and consider art as associated with the manufacturing industries. We shall thus be led to consider furniture, earthenware, table and window glass, wall decorations, carpets, floor cloths, window-hangings, dress fabrics, works in silver and gold, hardware, and whatever • From a lecture by the late Professor George Wilson, of Edinburgh. 4 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. is a combination of art and manufacture. I shall address myself, then, to the carpenter, the cabinet-maker, potter, glass-blower, paper-stainer, weaver and dyer, silversmith, blacksmith, gas-finisher, designer, and all who are in any way engaged in the production of art-objects. But before we commence our regular work, let me say that without laborious study no satisfactory progress can be made. Labour is the means whereby we raise ourselves above our fellows; labour is the means by which we arrive at affluence. Think not that there is a royal road to success — the road is through toil. Deceive not yourself with the idea that you were born a genius — that you were born an artist. If you are endowed with a love for art, remember that it is by labour alone that you can get such knowledge as will enable you to present your art-ideas in a manner acceptable to refined and educated people. Be content, then, to labour. In the case of an individual, success appears to me to depend upon the time which he devotes to the study of that which he desires to master. One man works six hours a day ; another works eighteen. One has three days in one ; and what is the natural result? Simply this— that the one who works the eighteen hours progresses with three times the rapidity of the one who only works six hours. It is true that indivi- duals differ in mental capacity, but my experience has led me to believe that those who work the hardest almost invariably succeed the best. While I write, I have in my mind's eye one or two on whom Nature appeared f o have lavishly bestowed art-gifts ; yet these have made but little progress in life. I see, as it were, before me others who were less gifted by Nature, but who industriously persevered in their studies, and were content to labour for success; and these have achieved positions which the natural genius has failed even to approach. Workmen ! I am a worker, and a believer in the efficacy of work. We will commence our systematic course by observing that good ornament — good decorations of any character, have qualities which appeal to the educated, but are silent to the ignorant, and that these qualities make utterance of interesting facts ; but before we can rightly understand what I may term the hidden utterance of ornament, we must inquire into the general revelation which the ornament of any particular people, or of any historic age, makes to us, and also the utterances of individual forms. As an illustration of my meaning, let us take the ornament produced by the Egyptians. In order to see this it may be necessary that we visit a museum — say the British Museum — where we search out the mummy-cases; but :is most provincial museums boast one or more mummy-cases, we are almost certain to find in the leading country towns illustrations t hat will serve our present- purpose. On a mummy-case you may find a singular ornament, which is a conventional drawing of EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT. the Egyptian lotus, or blue water-lily* (see Figs. 1, 2, :j), and in all probability you will find this ornamental device repeated over and over again on the one mummy- ease. Notice this peculiarity of the drawing of the lotus — a peculiarity common to Egyptian ornaments — that there is a severity, a rigidity of line, a sort of sternness about it. This rigidity or severity of drawing is a great peculiarity or charac- teristic of Egyptian draw- ing. But mark ! with this severity there is always coupled an amount of dignity, and in some cases this dignity is very ap- parent. Length of line, firmness of drawing, se- verity of form, and sub- tlety of curve are the great characteristics of Egyptian ornamentation. What does all this ex- press It expresses the iiiiiiniiiniimiiiimiimHuiuiiiHHiinHiiiumuiiiiuiiimimuiHinininmrrniuni character of the people who created the ornaments. The ornaments of the ancient Egyptians were all ordered by the priesthood, amongst whom the learn- ing of this people Avas stored. The priests were the dictators to the people not only j >£ religion, but of the forms which their ornaments were to assume. Mark, then, the expression of the severity of character and dignified bearing of the priesthood : in the very drawing of a simple flower we have presented to us the character of the men who brought about its production. But this is only what we are in the constant habit of witnessing. A man of knowledge * This can be seen growing in the water-tanks in the Kew Gardens conservatories, and in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. HUH 1 !! IHil!llllllllllllllll|ilH!llll!ll)lll[|l sy»s^S!^sp|si^^ Fig. 1. Fig. 3. fc PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. writes with power and force; while the man of wavering opinions writes timidly and with feebleness. The force of the one character (which character has been made forcible by knowledge) and the weakness of the other is manifested by his written words. So it is with ornaments : power or feebleness of character is manifest by the forms produced. The Egyptians were a severe people; they were hard task-masters. When a great work had to be performed, a number of slaves were selected for the work, and a portion of food allotted to each, which was to last till the work was completed; and if the work was not finished when the food was consumed, the slaves perished. We do not wonder at the severity of Egyptian drawing. But the Egyptians were a noble people — noble in knowledge of the arts, noble in the erection of vast and massive buildings, noble in the greatness of their power. Hence we have nobility of drawing — power and dignity mingled with severity in every ornamental form which they produced. We have thus noticed the general utterance or expression of Egyptian drawing ; but what specific communication does this particular lotus make? Most of the ornaments of the Egyptians — whether the adornments of sarcophagi, of water- vessels, or mere charms to be worn pendent from the neck — were symbols of some truth or dogma inculcated by the priests. Hence Egyptian ornament is said to be symbolic. The fertility of the Nile valley was chiefly due to the river annually overflowing its banks. In spreading over the land, the water carried with it a quantity of rich alluvial earth, which gave fecundity to the country on which it was deposited. When the water which had overspread the surrounding land had nearly subsided, the corn which was to produce the harvest was set by being cast upon the retiring water, through which it sank into the rich alluvial earth. The water being now well-nigh within the river-banks, the first flower that sprang up was the lotus. This flower was to the Egyptians the harbinger of coming plenty, for it symbolised the springing forth of the wheat. It was the first flower of spring, or their primrose (first rose). The priesthood, perceiving the interest with which this flower was viewed, and the watchfulness manifested for its appearance, taught that in it abode a god, and that it must be worshipped. The acknowledgment of this flower as a fit and primary object of worship caused it to be delineated on the mummy-cases, and sarcophagi, and on all sacred edifices. A\ e shall have frequent occasion, while considering decorative art, to notice symbolic forms; but we must not forget the fact that all good ornaments make utterance. Let us in all cases, when beholding them, give ear to their teachings ! Egyptian ornament is so full of forms which have interesting significance that I cannot forbear giving one other illustration; and of this I am sure, that not only does a knowledge of the intention of each form employed in a decorative scheme EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT. / cause the beholder to receive ;i special amount of pleasure when viewing it, hut also that without such knowledge no one can rightly judge of the nature of any ornamental work. There is a device in Egyptian ornament which the most casual observer cannot have failed to notice; it is what is termed the " winged globe," and consists of a small hall or globe, immediately at the sides of which are two asps, and from which extend two wings, each wing being in length about five to eight times that of the diameter of the ball (Fig. I). The drawing of this device is very grand. The force with which the wings are delineated well represents the powerful character of the protection which the kingdom of Egypt afforded, and which was symbolised by the extended and overshadowing pinions. I know of few instances where forms of an ornamental character have been combined in a manner either more quaint or more interesting than in the example before us. The composition presents a charm that few ornaments do, and is worthy - ' - : - - - <■ i - - - ^ - ^ - - Fig. 4. of careful consideration. But this ornament derives a very special and unusual interest when we consider its purpose, the blow which was once aimed at it, and the shock which its producers must have received, upon finding it powerless to act as they had taught, if not believed, it would. The priesthood instructed the people that this was the symbol of protection, and that it so effectually appealed to the preserving spirits that no evil could enter where it was portrayed. With the view of giving a secure protection to the inmates of Egyptian dwellings, this device, or symbol of protection, was ordered to be placed on the lintel (the post over the door) of every building of the Egyptians, whether residence or temple. It was to nullify this symbol, and to show the vain character of the Egyptian gods, that Moses was commanded to have the blood of the lamb slain at the passover placed upon the lintel, in the very position of this winged globe. It was also enjoined as a further duty that the blood be sprinkled on the door-post ; but this was merely a new duty, tending further to show that even in position, as well as in nature, this winged globe was powerless to secure protection. This device, then, is of special interest, both as a symbolic ornament and as throwing light on Scripture history. Besides the two ornamental forms mentioned—/.?., the lotus and the winged globe— we might notice many others also of great interest, but our space will not PRINCIPLES OF DESIGX. enable ns to do so; further information may, however, be got from the South Kensington Museum library,* where several interesting works on Egyptian ornament maybe seen; — from the "Grammar of Ornament" by Mr. Owen Jones, — the works on Egypt by Sir Gardiner Wilkinson ; and, especially, — by a visit to the Egyptian Court of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, and by a careful perusal of the hand-book to that court. f Much might also be said respecting Egyptian architecture, but on this we can say little here ; yet, as the columns of the temples are of a very ornamental character, we may notice that in most cases they were formed of a bundle of papyrus J stems bound together by thongs or straps — the heads of the plant forming the capital of the column, and the stems the shaft (Fig. o). In some cases the lotus was sub- stituted for the papyrus ; and in other instances the palm-leaf was used in a similar way ; these modifications can be seen in the Egyptian Court at Sydenham with great advantage, and many varieties of form resulting from the use of the one plant, as of the papyrus, may also there be observed. We have here an opportunity of noticing how the mode of building, however simple or primitive in character, first employed by a nation may become embodied in its ultimate architecture ; for, undoubtedly, the rude houses first erected in Egypt were formed largely of bundles of the papyrus, which were gathered from the river-side — for wood was rare in Egypt — and, ultimately, when buildings were formed of stone, an attempt was made at imitating in the new material the form which the old reeds presented. But mark, the imitation was no gross copy of the original work, but a well-considered and perfectly idealised work, substituting for the bundle of reeds a work having the true architectural qualities of a noble-looking and useful column. We must now pass from the ornament of the Egyptians to that of the Greeks, and here we meet with decorative forms Laving a different object and different aim from those already considered. * Any person can have admission to the South Kensington Museum Ait library and its Educational library, for a week, by payment of sixpence. t A hand-book to each of the historic courts erected in the Sydenham Palace was prepared at the time the courts were built. These are still to be got in the Literary department, in the north-east gallery of the building. They are all worthy of careful study. t The papyrus was the plant from which Egyptian paper was made. It was also the bulrush of the Scriptures, in which the infant Moses was found. GREEK ORNAMENT. V Egyptian ornament was symbolical in character. Its individual forms had specific meaning's — the purport of each shape being taught by the priests — but wo find no such thing as symbolism in Greek decoration. The Greeks were a refined people, who sought not to express their power by their art-works so much as their refinement. Before the mental eye they always had a perfect ideal, and their most earnest efforts were made at the realisation of the perfections of the mental conception of absolute refinement. In one respect the Greeks resembled the Egyptians, for they rarely created new forms. When once a form became sacred to the Egyptians, it could not be altered ; but with the Greeks, while bound by no such law, the love of old forms was great ; yet the Greeks did not seek simply to reproduce what they had before created, but laboured hard to improve and refine what they had before done ; and even through succeeding centuries they worked at the refinement of simple forms and ornamental compositions, which have become characteristic of them as a people. The general expression of Greek art is that of refinement, and the manner in which the delicately cultivated taste of some of the Greeks is expressed by their ornaments is astonishing. One decorative device, which we term the Greek Anthemion, may be regarded as their principal ornament — (the original ornamental composition by one of my pupils, Fig 6, consists primarily of three anthemions) — and the variety of refined forms in which it appears is most interesting. But it must not be thought that the Greek ornaments and architectural forms present nothing but refinement made manifest in form, for this is not the case. Great as is the refinement of some of these forms, we yet notice that they speak of more than the perfected taste of their producers, for they reveal to us this fact — that their creators had great knowledge of natural forces and the laws by which natural forces are governed. This becomes apparent in a marked degree when we inquire into the manner in which they arranged the proportion of the various parts of their works to the whole, and especially by a consideration of the subtle nature of the curves which they employed both in architectural members and in decorative forms; but into this we must not now inquire. Yet, by way of throwing some faiut light upon the manner in which knowledge is embodied in Greek forms, I may refer to the Doric column, such as was employed in the Parthenon at Athens* (Fig. 7) . The idea presented by this column is that of energetic upward growth which has corns in contact with some superposed mass, the weight of which presses upon the column from above, while the energy of the upward growth causes the column to appear fully equal to the task of supporting the superincumbent structure. Mark this — that by pressure from above, or weight, the shaft of the column is distended, * A capital, and portion of the shaft, of one of these columns are to be seen in the British Museum Sculpture-room, and a cast of the same at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. This Doric column is employed in the Greek Court of the Crystal Palace. 10 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGX. or Lent out, about one-third of the distance from its base to its apex (just where this distension would occur, were the column formed of a slightly plastic material), Fig. 7. and yet tins distension of the shift is no! such as to give any idea of weakness, for the column appears to rise with the energy of such vigorous life as to be more than able to bear the weight which it lias to sustain. Mark also the singularly delicate curve of the capital of the column, which EASTERN AND CHRISTIAN ORNAMENT. 1 1 appears as a slightly plastic cushion intervening between the shaft and the super- incumbent mass which it has to support. The delicacy and refinement of form presented by this capital is perhaps greater than that of any other with which we are acquainted. The same principle of life and energy coming in contact with resistance or pressure from above is constantly met with in the enrichments of Greek cornices and mouldings; but having called attention to the fact, I must leave the student to observe, and think upon, these interesting subjects for himself. Let me, however, say that there are few classic buildings in England which will aid the learner in his researches; there is but little poetry in our architectural buildings, and but little refinement in the forms of the parts, especially in our classic buildings ; and, added to this, Greek art without Greek colouring is dead, being almost as the marble statue to the living form. For the purposes of my readers, the Greek Court at the Crystal Palace will be the best example for study. I might now review Roman ornament, and show that in the hour of pride the materials of which the Roman works were formed were considered, rather than the shapes which they assumed ; and how we thus get little worthy of praise from the all-conquering Romans — how the sunny climate and religious superstitions of the East called forth the gorgeous and beautiful developments of art which have existed, or still exist, with the Persians, Indians, Turks, Moors, Chinese, and Japanese ; but I have not space to do so ; yet all the forms of ornament which these people have created are worthy of the most careful and exhaustive consideration, as they present art-qualities of the highest kind. I know of no ornament more intricately beautiful and mingled than the Persian — no geometrical strapwork, or systems of interlacing lines, so rich as those of the Moors (the Alhambraic) — no fabrics so gorgeous as those of India — none so quaintly harmonious as those of China; and Japan can supply the world with the most beautiful domestic articles that we can anywhere procure. We must pass on, however, to what we may term Christian art, or that develop- ment of ornament which had its rise with the Christian religion, and has associated itself in a special manner with Christianity. Neither the Egyptians nor early Greeks appear to have used the arch structurally in their buildings; the Romans, however, had the round arch as a primary structural element. This round arch was also used by the Byzantines, and amongst their ornaments we find those combinations of circles, or parts of circles, which so constantly recur in later times in Gothic architecture and Gothic ornament. Norman buildings, again, show us the round arch, and present us with such intersected arcs as would naturally suggest the pointed arch of later times, with which came the full development of Gothic or Christian architecture and ornamentation. There was a very fine ami marvellously clever development of decorative art, enthusiastically worked at by the 12 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. Christian monks of the seventh and eighth centuries, called Celtic, of which we have many beautiful examples in Professor Westwood's great work on early illuminated manuscripts; but what is generally understood by Christian or Gothic art had its finest development about the thirteenth century. Gothic ornament, like the Egyptian, is essentially symbolic. Its forms have in many instances specific significance. Thus the common equilateral triangle is in some cases used to symbolise the Holy Trinity ; so are the two entwined triangles. But there are many other symbols employed in Gothic ornament which set forth the mystery of the Unity of the Trinity. Thus in Fig. 8 we have three interlaced circles, which beautifully express the eternal Unity of the Holy Trinity, for the circle Fig. 8. Fig. 10. alone symbolises eternity, being without beginning and without end, and the three parts point to the Three Persons of the Godhead. A very curious and clever symbol of the Trinity is portrayed in Fig. 9, where three faces are so combined as to form an ornamental figure. Baptism under the immediate sanction of the Divine Trinity was represented by three fishes placed together in the manner of a triangle (Fig. 10) ; but so numerous wei - e Christian symbols after the ninth century, that to enumerate them merely would occupy much space. Every trefoil symbolised the Holy Trinity, every quatrefoil the four evangelists, every cross the Crucifixion, or the martyrdom of some saint. And into Gothic ornamentation the chalice, the crown of thorns, the dice, the sop, the hammer and nails, the flagellum, and other symbols of our Lord's passion have entered. But, besides these, we have more purely architectural forms making gentle utterance : the church spire points heavenwards, and the long lines of the clustered columns of the cathedral direct the thoughts upwards to heaven and to ( rod. Gothic ornament, having passed from its purity towards undue elaboration, began to lose its hold on the people for whom it was created, and the form of religion RENAISSANCE ORNAMENT. IS with which it had long heen associated had become old, when the great overthrow of old traditions and usages occurred, commonly called the Reformation. ^\'it h the reformation of religion came a revival of classic learning, and a general diffusion of knowledge, and thus the immediate necessity for art-symbols was passing away, it being especially to an unlettered people that an extended system of symbolism appeals. With this revival of classic learning came the investigation of classic remains — the exploration of Greek and Roman ruins ; and while this was going on, a dislike to whatever had been associated with the old form of religion had sprung up, which dislike turned to hate as the struggle advanced, till the feeling against Gothic architecture and ornament became so strong that anything was preferred to it. Now arose Renaissance architecture and ornament (revival work), which was based on the Roman remains, but was yet remoulded, or formed anew ; so that the ornament of the Renaissance is not Roman ornament, but a new decorative scheme, of the same genus as that of the Roman. Here, however, all my sympathies end. I confess that all Renaissance ornament, whether developed under the soft sky of Italy (Italian ornament), in more northerly France (French Renaissance), or on our own soil (Elizabethan, or English Renaissance), fails to awaken any feeling of sympathy in my breast; and that it, on the contrary, chills and repels me. I enjoy the power and vigour of Egyptian ornament, the refinement of the Greek, the gorgeousness of the Alhambraie, the richness of the Persian and Indian, the quaintness of the Chinese and Japanese, the simple honesty and bold- ness of the Gothic; but with the coarse Assyrian, the haughty Roman, and the cold Renaissance, I have no kindred feeling — no sympathy. They strike notes which have no chords in my nature : hence from them I instinctively fly. I must be pardoned for this my feeling by those who differ from me in judgment, but my continued studies of these styles only separate me further from them in feeling. It will be said that in my writings I mingle together ornament and architecture, and that my sphere is ornament, and not building. I cannot separate the two. The material at command, the religion of the people, and the climate have, to a great extent, determined the character of the architecture of all ages and nations; but they have, to the same extent, determined the nature of the ornamentation of the edifices raised. Ornament always has arisen out of architecture, or been a mere reflex of the art-principles of the building decorated. We cannot rightly consider ornament without architecture ; but I will promise to take no further notice of architecture than is absolutely necessary to the proper understanding of our subject. 14 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. Division II. In my previous remarks I have attempted to set forth some of the first principles of ornament, and to call attention to the purport or intention of certain of the leading historic styles, and the manner in which they make utterance to us of the faith or sentiments of their producers. But there are other utterances of ornament, and other general expressions which decorative forms con vey ( , , the mind. Thus sharp, angular, or spiny forms are more or less exciting (Fig. 11); while bold and broad forms are soothing, or tend to give repose. Sharp or angular forms, where combined in ornament, act upon the senses much as racy and pointed say- ings do. Thus " cut " or angular glass, spinose metal-work, as the pointed foliage of some wrought-iron gates, and other works in which there is a prevalence of angles and points, so act upon the mind as to stimulate it, and thus produce an effect opposite to repose ; while " breadth " of form and " largeness " of treatment induce tranquillity and meditation. Nothing can be more important to the ornamentist than the scientific study of art. The metaphysical in- quiry into cause and effect, as relating to decorative ideas, is very important — indeed, all-important — to the true decorator. He must constantly ask himself what effect such and such forms have upon the mind — which effects are soothing, which cheerful, which melancholy, which rich, which ethereal, which gorgeous, which solid, which graceful, which lovable, and so on; and in order to do this he must separate the various elements of ornamental composition, and consider these apart, so as to be sure that he is not mistaken as to what affects the mind in any particular manner, and he must then combine these elements in various proportions, and consider the effects of the various combinations on his own mind and thai of others, and thus he will discover what will enable him to so act on the senses as to induce effects such as he may desire to produce. Are we to decorate a dining-room, let the decoration give the sense of richness; Fig. II. TRUTH, BEAUTY, POWER. ] 5 ii drawing-room, let it give cheerfulness; a library, let it give worth ; a bed-room, repose; but glitter must never occur in large quantities, for that which excites can only be sparingly indulged in — if too freely employed, it gives the sense of vulgarity. In this chapter I have to speak primarily of Truth, Beauty } and Power. Long since I was so fully impressed with the idea that true art-principles are so perfectly manifested by these three words, that I embodied them in an ornamental device which I painted on my study door, so that all who entered might learn the principles which I sought to manifest in my works. There can he morality or immorality in art, the utterance of truth or ol falsehood ; and hy his art the ornamentist may exalt or debase a nation. Truth. — How noble, how beautiful ; how righteous to utter it ; and how debasing is falsehood; yet we see falsehood preferred to truth — that which debases to that which exalts, in art as well as morals; and I fear that there is almost as much that is false, degrading, and untrue in my beautiful art as there is of the noble, righteous, and exalting, although art should only be practised by ennobling hands. It is this grovelling art, this so-called ornamentation, which tends to debase rather than exalt, to degrade rather than make noble, to foster a lie rather than utter truth, which brings about the abasement of our calling, and causes our art to fail in many instances in laying hold of, and clinging to, the affections of the noble and the great. Ornamentation is in the highest sense of the word a Fine Art ; there is no art more noble, none more exalted. It can cheer the sorrowing; it can soothe the troubled ; it can enhance the joys of those who make merry ; it can inculcate the doctrine of truth ; it can refine, elevate, purify, aud point onward and upward to heaven and to God. It is a tine art, for it embodies and expresses the feelings of the soul of man — that inward spirit which was breathed by the Creator into the lifeless clay as the image of his life — however noble, pure, or holy. This being the case, those who ignore decoration cast aside a source of refinement, and deprive themselves of what may induce their elevation in virtue and morals. Such a neglect on the part of those who can afford luxuries would be highly censurable, were it not that the professors of the art are for the most part false pretenders, knowing not what they practise, and men ignorant of the power which they hold in their hands. The true artist is a rare creature ; he is often unknown, frequently misunderstood, or not understood at all, and is not unfrequently lost to a people that prefer shallowness to deep meaning, falsehood to truth, aud glitter to repose. We now see the utter folly of appealing simply to what is called " taste " in matters of art, and the uselessness of yielding to the caprice (falsely called taste) of the uneducated in such matters, especially as this so-called taste is often of the most vulgar and debased order. We also see the absurdity of persons who employ a true artist interfering with his judgment and ideas. The true artist is a noble 16 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. teacher ; shall he be told, then, what morals he shall inculcate, and what lofty truths he shall embody in his works, or omit from them ? Do we tell the preacher what he shall say, and ask him to withhold whatever is refining and elevating ? We do not, and in art we must leave the professors free to teach, and hold them responsible for their teachings. If I thought that I had now convinced my reader that decorative art does not consist merely in the placing together of forms, however beautiful they may be individually or collectively ; nor in rendering objects simply what is called pretty; but that it is a power for good or evil ; that it is what will elevate or debase — that which cannot be neutral in its tendency — I would advance to consider its principles ; but I cannot teach, nor can I be imderstood, unless the reader feels that he who practises art wields a vast power, for the rightful use of which he must be held responsible. All graining of wood is false, inasmuch as it attempts to deceive; the effort being made at causing one material to look like another which it is not. All "marbling "is false also: a floor-cloth made in imitation of carpet or matting is false; a Brussels carpet that imitates a Turkey carpet is false; so is a jug that imitates wicker-work, a printed fabric that imitates one which is woven, a gas-lamp that imitates an oil-lamp. These are all untruths in expression, and are, besides, vulgar absurdities which are the more lamentable, as the imitation is always less beautiful than the thing imitated ; and as each material has the power of expressing beauty truthfully, thus the want of truth brings its own punishment. A deal door is beautiful, but it will not keep clean ; let it then be varnished. It is now preserved, and its own characteristic features are enhanced by the varnish, so that its indivi- duality is emphasised, and no untruth told. A floor-cloth can present a pattern with true and beautiful curves — how absurd, then, to try and imitate the dotty effect of a carpet ; and the Brussels carpet can express truer curves than the Turkey carpet, then why imitate the latter in the finer material ? But perhaps the most senseless of all these absurdities is the making an earthen jug in imitation of wicker-work when if so formed it would be useless as a water-vessel. I can imagine a fool in his simplicity priding himself on such a bright thought as the production of a vessel of this kind, but I cannot imagine any rightly constituted mind producing or com- mending such an idea. Let the expression of our art ever be truthful. Beauty. — I will say little on this head, for decorative forms must be beautiful. Shapes which are not beautiful are rarely decorative. I will not now attempt to express what character forms should have in order that they be considered beautiful, but will content myself by saying that they must be truthful in expression, and graceful, delicate, and refined in contour, manifesting no coarseness, vulgarity, or obtrusiveness. My views of the beautiful must be gathered from the series of chapters which will follow, but this I may here say, that the beautiful manifests UTILITY. 17 no waut, no shortcoming. A composition that is beautiful must have no parts which could be taken from it and yet leave the remainder equally good or better. The perfectly beautiful is that which admits of no improvement. The beautiful is lovable, and, as that which is lovable, takes hold of the affections and clings to them, binding itself firmer and firmer to them as Lime rolls on. If an object is really beautiful we do not tire of it; fashion does not induce us to change it ; the merely new does not displace it. It becomes as an old friend, more loved as its good qualities are better understood. Power. — We now come . to consider an art-element or principle of great importance, for if absent from any composition, feebleness or weakness is the result, the manifestation of which is not pleasant. With what power do the plants burst from the earth in spring ! With what power do the buds develop into branches ! The powerful orator is a man to be admired, the powerful thinker a man we esteem. Even the simple power, or brute force, of animals we involuntarily approve — the powerful tiger and the powerful horse call forth our commendation, for power is antagonistic to weakness. Power also manifests earnestness; power means energy ; power impilies a conqueror. Our compositions, then, must be powerful. But besides all this, we, the professors of decorative art, must manifest power in our works, for we are teachers sent forth to instruct, and ennoble, and elevate our fellow-creatures. We shall not be believed if we do not utter our truths with power ; let truth, then, be uttered with power, and in the form of beauty.* There are other principles governing the production and application of orna- ment which we must now notice, the first of which is utility, for the first aim of the designer of any article must be to render the object which he produces useful. I may go further, and say that an article must be made not only useful, but as perfectly sruted to the purpose for which it is intended as it can be. It matters not how beautiful the object is intended to be, it must first be formed as though it were a mere work of utility, and after it has been carefully created with this end in view it may then be rendered as beautiful as you please. There are special reasons why our works should be useful as well as beautiful, for if an object, however beautiful it may be in shape, however richly covered with beautiful ornaments, or however harmoniously coloured, be unpleasant to use, it will * I have given in this chapter an original sketch (Fig. 12), in which I have sought to embody chiefly the one idea of power, energy, force, or vigour ; and in order to this, I have employed such lines as we see in the bursting buds of spring, when the energy of growth is at its maximum, and especially such as are to be seen in the spring growth of a luxuriant tropical vegetation ; I have also availed myself of those forms to be seen in certain bones of birds which are associated with the organs of flight, and which give us an impression of great strength, as well as those observable in the powerful propelling fins of certain species of fish. 18 PKINX'IPLES OF DESIGN, Fig. 12. UTILITY AND BEAUTY. IV ultimately be set aside, and that which is move convenient for use will replace it, even if the latter be without beauty. As an illustration of this fact, let us suppose the balustrade railings of a staircase very beautiful, and yet furnished with such projections as render it almost impossible that we walk up or down the stairs without tearing the dress, or injuring the person, and how soon will our admiration of the beautiful railing disappear, and even be replaced by hate ! In like manner let the handle of a door, or the head of a poker, be so formed as to hurt the hand, and the simple round knob, or round head, will be preferred to it, however ornamentally or beautifully formed. In relation to this subject, Professor George Wilson has said : " The conviction seems ineradicable from some minds, that a beautiful thing cannot be a useful thing, and that the more you increase the beauty of the necessary furniture or the implements of every-day life the more you lessen their utility. Make the Queen's sceptre as beautiful as you please, but don't try to beautify a poker, especially iu cold weather. My lady's vinaigrette carve and gild as you will, but lea\e untouched my pewter ink-bottle. Put fine furniture, if you choose, into my drawing-room ; but I am a plain man, and like useful things in my parlour, and so on. Good folks of this sort seem to labour under the impression that the secret desire of art is to rob them of all comfort. Its unconfessed but actual aim, they believe, is to realise the faith of their childhood, when it was understood that a monarch always wore his crown, held an orb in one hand and a sceptre in the other, and a literal interpretation was put upon Shakespeare's words, " ' Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.' Were art to prosper, farewell to fire-proof, shapeless slippers, which bask like salamanders unharmed in the hottest blaze. An aesthetic pair, modelled upon Cinderella's foot, and covered with snow-white embroidery, must take their place, and dispense chilblains and frost-bite to miserable toes. Farewell to shoot ing-eoats out a little at the elbows, to patched dressing-gowns, and hair-cloth sofas. Nothing but full-dress, varnished boots, spider-legged chairs, white satin chair-covers, alabaster ink-bottles, velvet door-mats, and scrapers of silver or gold. It is astonishing how many people think that a thing cannot be comfortable if it is beautiful. ... If there be one truth which the Author of all has taught us in his works more clearly than another, it is the perfect compatibility of the highest utility with the greatest beauty. I offer you one example. All are familiar with the beautiful shell of the nautilus. Give the nautilus itself to a mathematician, and he will show you that one secret of its gracefulness lies in its following in its volute or whorl a particular geometrical curve with rigid precision. Pass it from the mathematician to the natural philosopher, and he will show you how the simple superposition of a great number of very thin transparent plates, and the cIosp 20 rniNCiPLES of design. approximation of a multitude of very fine engraved lines, are the cause uf its exquisite pearly lustre. Pass it from the natural philosopher to the engineer, and he will show you that this fairy shell is a most perfect practical machine, at once a sailing vessel and a diving-bell, in which its living possessor had, centuries before Archimedes, applied to utilitarian ends the law of specific gravity, and centuries before Halley had dived in his bell to the bottom of the sea. Pass it from the engineer to the anatomist, and he will show you how, without marring its beauty, it is occupied during its lifetime with a most orderly system of rowing and sailing tackle, chambers for food, pumps to keep blood circulating, ventilating apparatus, and hands to control all, so that it is a model ship with a model mariner on board. Pass it lastly from the anatomist to the chemist, and he will show you that every part of the shell and the creature is compounded of elements, the relative weights of which follow in each individual nautilus the same numerically identical ratio. " Such is the nautilus, a thing so graceful, that when we look at it we are content to say with Keats — " ' A thing of beauty is a joy for ever ; ' and yet a thing so thoroughly utilitarian, and fulfilling with the utmost perfection the purely practical aim of its construction, that our shipbuilders would be only too thankful if, though sacrificing all beauty, they could make their vessels fulfil their business ends half so well." Viewing our subject in another light, and with special reference to architecture, we notice that unless a building is fitted for the purpose intended, or, in other words, answers utilitarian ends, it cannot be esteemed as it otherwise might be, even though it be of great aesthetic beauty. In respect to this subject, Mr. Owen Jones has said : " The nave and aisles of a Gothic church become absurd when filled with pews for Protestant worship, where all are required to see and hear. The columns of the nave which imj>ede sight and sound, the aisles for processions which no longer exist, rood screens, and deep chancels for the concealment of mysteries, now no longer such, are all so many useless reproductions which must be thrown aside." Further, "As architecture, so all works of the decorative arts, should possess fitness, proportion, harmony; the result of all which is repose." Sir M. Digby Wyatt has said: " Infinite variety and unerring fitness govern all forms in Nature." Vitruvius, that " The perfection of all works depends on their fitness to answer the end proposed, and on principles resulting from a consideration of Nature itself." Sir Charles L. East lake, that "In every case in Nature where fitness or utility can be traced, the characteristic quality, or relative beauty, is found to be identical with that of fitness.'" A. W. Pugin (the father): "How many objects of ordinary use are rendered monstrous and ridiculous simply because the artist, instead of seeking the most convenient form, and then decorating it, has embodied some extravagance to ADAPTATION TO I'l'IU'OSE. 21 conceal (he real purpose for which the article has been made." And with the view of pointing out how fitness for, or adaptation to, the end proposed is manifested in the structure and disposition upon the earth of plants, I have written in a little work now out of print : " The trees which grow highest upon the mountains, and the plants which grow upon the unsheltered plain, have usually long, narrow, and rigid leaves, which, owing to their form, are enabled to bear the fury of the tempest, to which they are exposed, without injury. This is seen in the case of the species of fir which grow at great altitudes, where the leaves are more like needles than leaves such as commonly occur ; and also in the species of heath which grow upon exposed moors : in both cases the plants are, owing to the form of the leaf, enabled to defy the blast, while those with broad leaves would be shattered and destroyed. "Not only is the form of leaf such as fits these plants to dwell in such inhospitable regions, but other circumstances also tend to this result. The stems are in both cases woody and flexible, so that while they bend to the wind they resist its destroying influence by their strength and elasticity. In relation to the stem of the papyrus/' which is a plant constantly met with in Egyptian ornaments, " the late Sir W. J. Hooker mentions an interesting fact which manifests adaptation to its position. This plant grows in water, and attaches itself to the margins of rivers and streams, by sending forth roots and evolving long underground stems in the alluvium of the sides of the waters. Owing to its position it is exposed to the influences of the current, which it has to withstand, and this it does, not only by having its stems of a triangular form — a shape well adapted for withstanding pressure — but also by having them so placed in relation to the direction of the stream, that one angle always meets the current, and thus separates the waters as does the bow of a modern steam-ship." I might multiply illustrations of this principle of fitness, or adaptation to purpose, as manifested in plants, to an almost indefinite extent; but when all had been said we should yet have but the simple truth before us, that the chief end which we should have in creating any object, is that of rendering it perfectly fitted to answer the proposed end. If those works which are beautiful were but invariably useful, as they should be ; if those objects which are most beautiful were also the most convenient — and there is no reason why they should not be so — how the beautiful would become loved and sought after ! Cost would be of little moment, the price would not be complained of, if beautiful objects were works of perfect utility. But, alas ! it is far otherwise : that which is useful is often ugly, and that which is beautiful is often inconvenient to use. This very fact has given rise to the highly absurd fashion of having a second poker in a drawing-room set of fire-irons. The one poker is ornamental, possibly, but it is to be looked at ; the other is for use, and as it is not to be looked at, it is hidden away in some corner, or close within the fender. I do not wonder at the second poker being required ; for •£•& PltlNCIPLES OF DESIGN. nineteen out of every twenty pokers of an ornamental (?) character which I have- seen during the last few years would hurt the hand so insufferably if they were used to break a lump of coal with, that it would be almost impossible to employ them constantly for such a purpose. But why not abolish the detestable thing altogether? If the poker is to he retained as an ornament, place it on the table or chimney-piece of your drawing-room, and not down on the hearth, where it is at such a distance from the eye that its beauties cannot be discovered. It is no use saying it would be out of place in such a position. If to poke the tire with, its place is within the fender ; if it is an ornament, it should he placed where it can be best seen — in a glas« case, if worthy of protection. I hope that sufficient has now been said upon this all-important necessity, that if an object is to be beautiful it should also he useful, to cause us to consider it as a primary principle of design that all objects which we create must be useful. To this as a first law we shall constantly have to refer. When we construct a chair we shall ask, is it useful ? is it strong ? is it properly put together ? could it he stronger without using more, or another, material ? and then we should consider whether it is beautiful. When we design a bottle we shall inquire, is it useful ? is it all that a bottle should he ? could it he more useful ? and then, is it beautiful ? When we create a gas-branch we shall ask, does it fulfil all recpiirements, and perfectly answer the end for which it is intended? and then, is it beautiful? And in relation to patterns merely we shall also have to make similar inquiries. Thus, if drawing a carpet design, we shall inquire, is this form of ornament suitable to a woven fabric ? is it suitable to the particular fabric for which it is intended ? is the particular treat- ment of the ornament which we have adopted the best possible when we bear in mind that the carpet has to be walked over, as it is to act in relation to our furniture as a background does to a picture, and is to be viewed at some distance from the eye ? and then, is it beautiful ? Such inquiries we shall put respecting any object the formation of which we may suggest : hence, in all our inquiries, I shall, as I love art, consider utility before beauty, in order that my art may be fostered and not despised. There are many subjects yet not named in these pages which we ought to consider, but I must content myself by merely mentioning them, and you must be willing to think of them, and consider them with such care as their importance may demand. Some of them, however, we shall refer to when considering the various manufactures. A principle of great importance in respect to design is, that the material of which an object is formed should be used in a manner consistent with Us own nature, and in that particular way in ichich it can be most easily "worked." Another principle of equal importance witli that just set forth, is this: that when an object is about to be formed, that material (or those materials) which is (or are) most appropriate to its formation should be sought and employed. These two CURVES, PROl'ORTIOX, ORDKR, REPETITION. 23 propositions are of very great importance, and the principles which they set forth should never he lost sight of by the designer. They involve the lir.st principles of successful designing, for if ignored the work produced cannot be satisfactory. Curves toill be found to he beautiful just as they are subtle in character ; those which are most subtle in character being most beautiful. The arc is the least beautiful of curves (I do not here speak of a circle, but of the line, as a line, which bounds the circle) ; being struck from one centre its origin is instantly detected, while the mind requires that a line, the contemplation of which shall be pleasurable, must be in advance of its knowledge, and call into activity its powers of inquiry. The elliptic curve, or curve bounding the ellipse, is more beautiful than the are, for its origin is not so strikingly apjiarent, being formed from two centres. The curve of the egg' is more beautiful still, being formed from three centres.* As the number of centres necessary to the formation of a curve increases, the difficulty of detecting its origin also becomes greater, and the variety which the curve presents is also proportionally great; the variety being obviously greater as the number of the centres from which it is struck is increased. Proportion, like the curve, must be of a subtle nature. A surface must never be divided for the purpose of decoration into halves. The proportion of 1 to 1 is bad. As proportion increases in subtlety it also increases in beauty. The proportion of 2 to 1 is little better ; the proportion of 3 to 8, or of 5 to 8, or of 5 to 13, is, however, good, the last named being the best of those which I have adduced; for the pleasure derived from the contemplation of proportion increases with the difficulty of detecting it. This principle is true in relation to the division of a mass into primary segments, and of primary segments into secondary forms, as well as in relation to the grouping together of parts of various sizes ; hence it is worthy of special note. A principle of order must prevail in every ornamental composition. Confusion is the result of accident, wdiile order results from thought and care. The operation of mind cannot well be set forth in the absence of this principle; at least, the presence of a principle of order renders the operation of mind at once manifest. The orderly repetition of parts frequently aids in the production of ornamental effects. The kaleidoscope affords a wonderful example of what repetition will do. The mere fragments of glass which we view in this instrument would altogether fail to please were they not repeated with regularity. Of themselves repetition and order can do much. (Figs. 13 and 14.) * The ellipse and egg-shape here spoken of are not those which are struck by compasses in any way, for the curves of such figures are merely combined arcs, but such as are struck with string, or a " tramel." 24 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. Alternation is a principle of primary importance in certain ornamental com- positions. In the case of a flower (as the buttercup, or chiekweed, for example) the coloured leaves do not fall over the green leaves (the petals do not fall over the Fig. 14. Eig. 16. sepals), but between them — (hoy alternate with them. This principle is not only manifested in plants, hut also in many ornaments produced in the best periods of art (Fig. L5). If /tin n Is are employed as ornaments they must nut be treated imitatively, but must be conventionally treated, or rendered into ornaments (Fig. 16). A monkey can imitate, man can Create. EASTERN GROTESQUES. 25 These are the chief principles which we shall have to notice, as involved in the production of ornamental designs. Division III. Some other principles of a less noble character than those which we have already noticed as entering into ornament yet remain to be mentioned. Man will be amused as well as instructed; he must he pleased as well as ennobled by what he sees. I hold it as a first principle that ornamentation, as a true fine art, can administer to man in all his varying moods, and under all phases of feeling. Decoration, if properly understood, would at once be seen to be a high art in the truest sense of the word, as it can teach, elevate, refine, induce lofty aspirations, and allay sorrows ; but we have now to notice it as a fine art, administering to man in his various moods, rather than as the handmaid to religion or morals. Humour seems to be as much an attribute of our nature as love, and, like it, varies in intensity with different individuals. There are few in whom there is not a certain amount of humour, and in some this one quality predominates over all others. It not unfrequently happens that men who are great thinkers are also great humorists — great talent and great humour heing often combined in the one individual. The feeling for humour is ministered to in ornament by the grotesque, and the grotesque occurs in the works of almost all ages and all peoples. The ancient Egyptians employed it, so did the Assyrians, the Greeks, and the Romans ; but none of these nations used it to the extent of the artists of the Celtic, Byzantine, and " Gothic " periods. Hideous " evil spirits " were portrayed on the outside of almost every Christian edifice at one time, and much of the Celtic ornament produced by the early monks consisted of an anastomosis, or network, of grotesque creatures. The old Irish crosses were enriched with this kiud of ornamentation,* and some of the decorative embellishments of these works are of extraordinary interest; but those who have access to the beautiful work of Professor Westwood on Celtic manu- scripts will there see this grotesque form of ornament to perfection. As regards the Eastern nations, while nearly all have employed the grotesque as an element of decorative art, the Chinese and Japanese have employed it most largely, and for it they manifest a most decided partiality. The drawings of dragons, celestial lions (always spotted), mythical birds, beasts, fishes, insects, and other supposed inhabi- tants of the Elysian plains, which these people produce, are most interesting and extraordinary. Without in any way going into a history of the grotesque, let us look at the characteristic forms which it has assumed, and what is necessary to its successful * Casts of one or two of these can be seen in the central transept of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. production. We have said that the grotesque in ornament is the analogue of humour in literature. This is the ease; but the grotesque may represent the truly horrible or repellent, and be simply repulsive. This form is so seldom required in ornamentation that I shall not dwell upon it, and when required it should always "be associated with power ; for if the horrible is feeble it cannot be corrective, but only revolting, like a miserable deformed animal. I think it may be taken as a principle, that the further the grotesque is removed from an imitation of a natural object the better it is, provided that it be energetic and vigorous- -lifelike. Nothing is worse Fig. 17. Fig. 18. than a feeble joke, unless it be a feeble grotesque. The amusing must appear to be earnest. In connection with this subject I give here a series of grotesques, with the view of illustrating my meaning, and I would fain n-ive more, but space will not permit me t<> do so. The initial letter S, formed of a bird, is n characteristic Celtic grotesque (Fig. 17). It is quaint and interesting, and is sufficiently unlike a living creature to avoid giving any sense of pain to the beholder, while it is yet in a most unnatural position. It is, in truth, rather an ornament than a copy of a living creature, yet NATURE OF GROTESQUES. 27 Fig. 19. it is so suggestive as to call forth the thought of a bird. It should be noticed; in connection with this figure, that the interstices between certain portions of the creature are rilled by a knot. This is well — the whole thing being an ornament; and not a- naturalistic repre- sentation. Fig. IS is a Siamese grotesque head, and a fine sample it is of the curious form of ornament which it represents. Mark; it is in no way a copy of a human head, but is a true orna- ment, with its parts so ar- ranged as to call up the idea of a face, and nothing more. Notice the volutes forming the chin ; the grotesque, yet highly ornamental, lines forming the mouth and the upper boundary of the fore- head, and the flambeauant ears ; the whole thing is worthy of the most careful study. Fig. 19 is a Gothic foli- ated face ; but here we have features which are much too naturalistic. We have, in- deed, only a hideous human face with a marginal ex- crescence of leafage. This is a type to be avoided ; it is not droll, nor quaint ; but is simply unpleasant to look upon. Fig. 20 is a fish, with the feeling of the grotesques of the Middle Ages. a good type, being truly ornamental, and yet sufficiently suggestive. In order that I convey to the reader a fuller idea of my views respecting the Fig. 20. It ids PRINCIPLES 01' DESIGN. grotesque than I otherwise could, 1 have sketched one or two original illustrations — Tig-. 21 being 1 suggestive of a face, Fig. 22 of a skeleton (old bogev), and Fig. 28 of an impossible animal. They are inten- tionally far from imitative. If naturalistic some would awaken a sense of pain, as they are contorted into curious positions, whereas that which induces no thought of feeling induces no sense of pain. Of all grotesques with which I am ac- quainted, the dragons of the Chinese and Fig. 21. Japanese arc those which represent a com- bination of power, vigour, energy, and passion most fully. This is to be accounted for by the fact that these peoples are believers in dragons. When the sun or moon is eclipsed they believe that the luminous orb. has been swallowed by some fierce monster, which they give form to in the dragon, and upon the occurrence of such a phenomenon they, with (.-ins and kettles, make rough music, and thus cause the monster to disgorge the luminary, the brilliancy of which it would otherwise have for ever extinguished. I can understand a believer in dragons drawing these monsters with the power and spirit that the Chinese and Japanese do; but I can scarcely imagine that a disbeliever could do so — a man's very nature must be saturated with a belief in their existence and mischievous power, in order that he embody in his delineation such expres- Fi<* 22. urvorit in ornament. 29 sion of the assumed character of tin's imaginary creature as do the Chinese and Japanese. Although 1 am no1 now considering the struc- ture of objects, I may say that the grotesque should frequently he used where •we meet with naturalistic imitations. We not unfre- quentlysee a figure, naturally imitated, placed as a support to a superincumbent weight — a female figure as an architectural pillar bearing the weight of the entab- lature above, men crouched in the most painful positions supporting the bowl of some colossal fountain. Natural- istic figures in such positions are simply revolting, how- ever perfect as works of sculpture. If weight has to be supported by that which has a resemblance to a living creature of any kind, the semblance should only be suggested ; and the more unreal and wooden v (if I may make such a word) the support, if possessing the quaintness and humour of a true grotesque, the better. It is not the business of the ornamentist to pro- duce that which shall induce the feeling of continued pain, unless there is some exceptional reason for his so doing, and such a reason is of rare occurrence. CHAPTER II. COLOUR. Having considered some of the chief principles involved in the production of decorative design so far as " expression " goes, we come to notice that constant adjunct of form which has ever played an important part in all decorative schemes — namely, colour. Form can exist independently of colour, hut it never has had any important development without the chromatic adjunct. From a consideration of history, we should be led to conclude that form alone is incapable of yielding such enrichments as satisfy ; for no national system of decoration has ever existed in the absence of colour. Mere outline-form may be good, but it is not satisfying ; mere light and shade may be pleasing, but it is not all that we require. With form our very nature seems to demand colour ; and it is only when we get well-proportioned forms which are graceful, or noble, or vigorous, in combination with colours harmoniously arranged, that we are satisfied. Possibly this feeling results from our contact with nature. The flowers appear in a thousand hues, and the hills are of ever-varying tints. What a barren world ours would appear, were the ground, the hills, the trees and the flowers, the sky and the waters all of one colour ! Form we should have, and that in its richest variety ; light and shade we should have, with ever-varying intensity and change ; but colour would be gone. There would be no green to cheer, no blue to soothe, no red to excite; and, indeed, there would be a deadness, although the world be full of life, so appalling that we can scarcely conceive of it, and cannot feel it. Colour alone seems to have greater charms than form alone. A sunset is entrancing when the sky glows with radiant hues; the blue is almost lost in red, the yellow is as a sea of transparent gold, and the whole presents a variety and blending of tints which charm, and soothe, and lull to reverie; and yet all form is indistinct and obscure. If so charming when separate from form, what is colour when properly combined with beautiful shapes? It is difficult, indeed, for many of those for whom I write to answer this question, even by a mental conception, save by reference to nature; for I could scarcely point to a single building in England which would be in any way a satisfactory illustration of what may be done by the combination of forms and colours. There is a beauty in Art which we in England d<> nut even know of : it does not exist around us, it is little talked of, rarely thought about, and never seen. A decorator is called in to beautify a house, and OBJECT OP APPLYING COLOUR. 31 yei not one in fifty of the so-called decorators know even the first principles of their art, and would not believe were they told of the power of the art which they employ. They place on the walls a few sickly tints — so pale that their want of harmony is not very apparent. The colours of the wall become the colours of the cornice and of the doors, because they know not how to produce a harmony of hues ; and the result is a house which may be clean, but which is in every other respect an offence against good taste. I do not wonder that persons here in England do not care to have their houses " decorated," nor do I wonder at their not appreciating the " decorations " when they are done. Colour, lovely colour, of itself would make our rooms charming. There are few objects to which colour may not be applied, and many articles which are now colourless might be coloured with advantage. Our reasons for apply- ing colour to objects are twofold, and here, in fact, we see its true use. 1st. Colour lends to objects a new charm — a charm which they would not possess if without it ; and, 2nd, Colour assists in the separation of objects and parts of objects, and thus gives assistance to form. These, then, are the two objects of colour. Mark, first, it is to bestow on objects a charm, such as they could not have in its absence. In the hands of the man of knowledge it will do so — it will make an object lovely or lovable, but the mere application of colour will not do this. Colour may be so applied to objects as to render them infinitely more ugly than they were without it. I have seen many a bowl so coloured at our potteries as to be much less satisfactory when coloured than when white — the colouring having marred, rather than improved, its general effect. Here, again, it is knowledge that we want. Knowledge will enable us to transmute base materials into works of marvellous beauty, worth their weight in gold. Knowledge, then, is the true philosopher's stone ; for, we may almost say, if possessed by the artist it does enable him to transmute the baser metals into gold. But a little knowledge will not do this. In order that we produce true beauty, we require much knowledge, and this can only be got by constant and diligent labour, as I have before said ; but the end to be gained is worth the plodding toil. Believe me, there is a pleasure in seeing your works develop as things of beauty, delighting all who see them — not the illiterate only, but also the educated thinker — such as words fail to express. Although there is no royal road to art-power, and although the road is long, and lies through much tod and many difficulties, yet as you proceed there is pleasure in feeling that one obstacle after another is cleared from your path, and at the end there is inexpressible satisfaction. The second object of colour is that of assisting in the separation of form. If objects are placed near to one another, and these objects are all of the same colour, the beholder will have much more difficulty in seeing the boundaries or terminations of each than he would were they variously coloured ; he would have to come nearer to them in order to see the limits of each, were all 32 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. coloured in the same manner, than he would were they variously coloured : thus colour assists in the separation of form. This quality which colour has of separating forms is often lost sight of, and much confusion thereby results. If it is worth while to produce a decorative form, it is worth while to render it visible ; and yet, how much ornament, and even good ornament, is lost to the eye through not being ren- dered manifest by colour ! Colour is the means by which we render form apparent. Colours, when placed together, can only please and satisfy the educated when combined harmoniously, or according to the laws of harmony. What, then, are the laws which govern the arrangement of colours ? and how are they to be applied ? We shall endeavour to answer these questions by making a series of statements in axiomatic form, and then we shall enlarge upon these propositions. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 1. Regarded from an art point of view, there are but three colours — i.e., blue, red, and yellow. 2. Blue, red, and yellow have been termed primary colours; they cannot be formed by the admixture of any other colours. 3. All colours, other than blue, red, and yellow, result from the admixture of the primary colours. 4. By the admixture of blue and red, purple is formed; by the admixture of red and yellow, orange is formed ; and by the admixture of yellow and blue, green is formed. 5. Colours resulting from the admixture of two primary colours are termed secondary : hence purple, orange, and green are secondary colours. 6. By the admixture of two secondary colours a tertiary colour is formed : thus, purple and orange produce russet (the red tertiary) ; orange and green produce citrine (the yellow tertiaiy) ; and green and purple, olive (the blue tertiary); russet, citrine, and olive are the three tertiary colours. CONTRAST. 7. When a light colour is juxtaposed to a dark colour, the light colour appears lighter than it is, and the dark colour darker.* 8. When colours are juxtaposed, they become influenced as to their hue. Thus, when red and green are placed side by side, the red appears redder than it actually is, and the green greener; and when blue and black are juxtaposed, the blue mani- fests but little alteration, while the black assumes an orange tint or becomes "rusty." 9. No one colour can be viewed by the eye without another being created. Thus, if red is viewed, the eye creates for itself green, and this green is cast upon • If a dark grey tint be mixed upon a white slab it will appear dark in contrast with the white, but if a small portion of this same grey is applied to black paper it will appear almost white. COLOUR — CONTRAST AND HARMONY. 33 whatever is near. If it views green, red is in like manner created and <;ist upon adjacent objects; thus, if red and green are juxtaposed, each creates the other in the eye, and the red created by the green is cast upon the red, and the green created by the red is cast upon the green ; and the red and the green become improved by being juxtaposed. The eye also demands the presence of the three primary colours, either in their purity or in combination ; and if these are not present, whatever is deficient will be created in the eye, and this induced colour will be cast upon what- ever is near. Thus, when we view blue, orange, which is a mixture of red and yellow, is created in the eye, and this colour is cast upon whatever is near; if black is in juxtaposition with the blue, this orange is cast upon it, and gives to it an orange tint, thus causing it to look " rusty." 10. In like manner, if we look upon red, green is formed in the eye, and is cast upon adjacent colours ; or, if we look upon yellow, purple is formed. HARMONY. 11. Harmony results from an agreeable contrast. 12. Colours which perfectly harmonise improve one another to the utmost. 13. In order to perfect harmony, the three colours are necessary, either in their purity or in combination. 11. Red and green combine to yield a harmony. Red is a primary colour, and green, which is a secondary colour, consists of blue and yellow — the other two primary colours. Blue and orange also produce a harmony, and yellow and purple, for in each case the three primary colours are present. 15. It has been found that the primary colours in perfect purity produce exact harmonies in the proportions of eight parts of blue, 5 of red, and 3 of yellow ; that the secondary colours harmonise in the proportions of 13 of purple, 11 of green, and 8 of orange ; and that the tertiary colours harmonise in the proportions of olive 21-, russet 21, and citrine 19. 16. There are, however, subtleties of harmony which it is difficult to understand. 17. The rarest harmonies frequently lie close on the verge of discord. 18. Harmony of colour is, in many respects, analogous to harmony of musical sounds. QUALITIES OF COLOURS. 19. Blue is a cold colour, and appears to recede from the eye. 20. Red is a warm colour, and is exciting ; it remains stationary as to distance. 21. Yellow is the colour most nearly allied to light; it appears to advance towards the spectator. 22. At twilight blue appears much lighter than it is, red much darker, and yellow slightly darker. By ordinary gaslight blue becomes darker, red brighter, and yellow lighter. By this artificial light a pure yellow appears lighter than white itself, when viewed in contrast with certain other colours. 34 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. 23. Bv certain combinations colour may make glad or depress, convey the idea of purity, richness, or poverty, or may affect the mind in any desired manner, as does music. TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE. 24. When a colour is placed on a gold ground, it should be outlined with a darker shade of its own colour. 25. When a gold ornament falls on a coloured ground, it should be outlined with black. 26. When an ornament falls on a ground which is in direct harmony with it, it must be outlined with a lighter tint of its own colour. Thus, when a red ornament falls on a green ground, the ornament must be outlined with a lighter red. 27. When the ornament and the ground are in two tints of the same colour, if the ornament is darker than the ground, it will require outlining with a still darker tint of the same colour ; but if lighter than the ground no outline will be required. ANALYTICAL TABLES OF COLOUR. W T hen commencing my studies both in science and art, I found gi-eat advantage from reducing all facts to a tabular form so far as possible, and this mode of study I would recommend to others. To me this method appears to have great advantages, for by it we see at a glance what otherwise is difficult to understand ; if carefully done, it becomes an analysis of work ; and by preparing these tabular arrangements of facts the subject becomes impressed on the mind, and the relation of one fact to another, or of one part of a scheme to another, is seen. The following analytical tables will illustrate many of the facts stated in our propositions. The figures which follow the colours represent the proportions in which they harmonise : — Primary Colours. Blue . . 8 Bed . . 5 Yellow . . 3 Secondary Colours. Purple . . 13 Green . . 11 Orange . . 8 Primary Colours. Secondary Colours. Tertiary Colours. Olive . . 24 Russet . . 21 Citrine . . 19 Tertiary Colours. Red . Yellow Blue . Yellow Blue . Red . Red . Yellow Blue . Yellow Blue . Red . o Orange § G rcen 8? 5; Purple 3) Orange 8 Green a Purple 8 ^ > Citrine, or Y 11 .) ellow Tertiary 10 V Russet, or Red Tertiary . 21 8) ■si Olive, or Blue Tertiary 24 COLOUR — PROPORTIONS THAT HARMONISE. 35 This latter table shows at a glance how each of the seeondary and tertiary colours is formed, and the proportions in which they harmonise. It also shows why the three tertiary colours are called respectively the yellow tertiary, the red tertiary, and the blue tertiary, for into each tertiary two equivalents* of one primary enter, and .one equivalent of each of the other primaries. Thus, in citrine we find two equivalents of yellow, and one each of red and blue; hence it is the yellow tertiary. In russet we find two equivalents of red, and one each of blue and of yellow ; and in olive two of blue, and one each of red and yellow. Hence they are respectively the red and blue tertiaries. PURPLE 13 RED 5. BLUE 8. PURPLE 13. OLIVE 24. YELLOW 3. ORANGE 8. Fig. 24. RUSSET 21. GREEN II. ORANGE 8. CITRINE 19. Fig. 25. Figs 2 1- and 25 are diagrams of harmony. I have connected in the centre, by three similar lines, the colours which form a harmony ; thus, blue, red, and yellow harmonise when placed together. Purple, green, and orange also harmonise (I have connected them by dotted lines in the first of the two diagrams). But when two colours are to produce a harmony, the one will be a primary colour, and the other a secondary formed of the other two primary colours (for the presence of the three primary colours is necessary to a harmony), or the one will be a secondary, and the other a tertiary colour formed of the two remaining secondary colours. Such harmonies I have placed opposite to each other ; thus blue, a primary, harmonises with orange, a secondary ; yellow with purple ; and red with green ; and the secondary colour is placed between the two primary colours of which it is formed; thus, orange is formed of red and yellow, between which it stands; green, of blue and yellow; and purple, of blue and red. In the second of the two diagrams we see that purple, green, and orange produce a harmony, so do olive, russet, and citrine. We also see that purple and citrine harmonise, and green and russet, and orange and olive. Continuing this diagrammatic form of illustration, we may set forth the quantities in which the various colours harmonise : thus : — * An equivalent of blue is 8, of red 5, of yellow 3. 36 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. Blue. Bed. Yellow. ooo o o o o o O o o ooo o o Blue. Orange. ooo o harmonises with O ooo ooo o - O ooo Bed. Green. OOO o harmonises with O OOO O O O ooo o o Yellow. Purple. OOO harmonises with O o o o OOO ooo ooo Purp le. Citrine. OOO o harmonises with o OOO ooo o o ooo ooo o o ooo o o o ooo o o Green. Russet. OOO o harmonises with o OOO OOO o o ooo OOO o o o o ooo ooo ooo Orange Olive. OOO o harmonises with o ooo ooo o o o o o o ooooo ooooo ooooo To those who are about to practise ornamentation, it is very important that they have in the mind's eye a tolerably accurate idea of the relative quantities of the various colours necessary to harmony, even where the colours are considered as existing in a state of absolute purity. We have rarely, however, to use the brightest blues, reds, and yellows which pigments furnish, and even these are but poor representatives of the potent colours of light as seen in the rainbow, and with TRUE COLOURS AND PIGMENTS. .'57 the agency of the prism ; nevertheless, a knowledge of the quantities in which these pure colours harmonise is very desirable. The proportions in which we have stated that colours perfectly harmonise, and in which the primary colours combine to form the secondaries, and the secondaries the tertiaries, are given in respect to the colours of light, and not of pigments or paints, which, as we have just said, are more or less base representatives of the pure colours of light. Yet certain pigments may, for our purpose, he regarded as representing pure colours. Thus, the purest real ultramarine we will regard as blue (cobalt is rather green, that is, it has a little yellow in it, and the French and German ultramarines are generally rather purple, or have a little red in them, yet the best of these latter is a tolerably pure colour), the purest French carmine as red (common carmine is frequently rather crimson, that is, has blue in it; vermilion is much too yellow), and lemon-chrome as yellow (the chrome selected must be without any green shade, and without any orange shade, however slight) ; and these pigments will be found to represent the colours of the prism as nearly as any that can be found. I would recommend the learner to get a small quantity of these colours in their powder form, substituting the best pale German ultramarine for real ultramarine, as the latter is of high price,* and to fill the various circles of our diagrams, which represent the primary colours, with these pigments, mixing them with a little dissolved gum arabic and water — just sufficient to prevent the colours from rubbing off the paper. The secondary colours will be fairly represented by pale-green lake, often called drop-green, by orange-chrome — that of about the colour of a ripe, rather deep-coloured, orange-rind — and the purple by the admixture of pale German ultramarine and crimson-lake, in about equal proportions, with a little white to bring it to the same depth as the green. I cannot name any pigments which would well represent the tertiary colours. Citrine is about the colour of candied leu/on-peel ; olive about the colour of candied citron-peel, and russet is often seen on the skin of certain apples called "russet apples," in the form of a slight roughness; but this russet is in many cases not quite sufficiently red to represent the colour bearing the same name. Iron rust is rather too yellow. This colour should bear the same relation to red that the candied lemon-peel does to yellow. If the student will try carefully to realise these colours, and will fill up the circles in our diagrams with them, he will thereby be much assisted in his studies; but it will be still better if he prepare fresh diagrams on a larger scale, and use squares instead of circles. I should recommend, and that I do strongly, that the * Real ultramarine is sold at £8 per ounce. The be3t imitation, or German ultramarine, is procurable at any oil-shop at about 3s. to 4s. per pound. The best carmine should be procurable at 6s. per ounce, but artiste' colourmen often charge £1 Is., owing to the small demand for this pigment. The best chrome yellow (chrome yellow is kept in many shades) is about Is. 6d. per pound. 38 FKINCIPLES OF DESICN. student work out all the diagrams which I have suggested on a tolerably large scale, using the colours where I have used words. I should also advise him to do an ornament, say in red on a gold ground, and outline this red ornament with a deeper red ; to do a gold ornament on a coloured ground, and outline it with black ; and indeed to carefully work out an ornamental illustration of our propositions, Nos. 24, 25, 26, and 27, and to keep these before him till he is so impressed by them as to feel the principle which they set forth. This should be done on a large scale in all our designing-rooms and art -workshops. As we shall have to refer to colours by naming pigments, and as I am constantly asked what pigments I employ, I shall enumerate the paints in my colour-box ; but I shall place a dagger against those which I have in my private box, and which I do not supply in my offices ; but these I seldom use. Of yellows I have fking's yellow (not a permanent colour), tvery pale chrome, lemon-chrome (about the colour of a ripe lemon) , middle-chrome (half-way between the lemon and orange-chrome), orange-chrome (about the colour of the rind of a ripe orange), tyellow-lake, -fTndian yellow. Of reds — vermilion, carmine, crimson-lake. Of blues — fcobalt, German ultramarine, both deep and pale, Antwerp blue, indigo. Of greens — emerald, green-lake, pale and deep. Of browns — raw Turkey umber, Vandyke, Venetian red, purple-brown, brown-lake. Besides these I have what is called celestial blue, which is a very pure and intense turquoise, vegetable black, flake white, and gold bronze.* There are certain facts connected with the mixing of colours which must never be lost sight of; thus, while the colours of light co-mingle without any deterioration, or loss of brilliancy, pigments or paints will not do so, but by admixture tend to destroy one another. This takes place only to a small extent when but two primary colours are combined ; but if any of the third primary enters into the composition of a tint, a decided deterioration, or loss of intensity, occurs. For this reason we employ many pigments, so as to avoid as far as possible the mixing of colours. But there is another reason why the great admixture of colours is undesirable. Colours are chemical agents, and in some cases the various pigments act chemically on one another. Of all colours yellows suffer most by admixture with other colours ; but this is accounted for by their delicacy and purity. For this reason I use a greater variety of yellow pigments than of red or blue.f Were it possible to procure three pigments devoid of chemical affinities, and * Some of these colours are not of a permanent character and could not be used in work intended to he lasting. I use them for patterns for our manufactures, where when the drawing is once copied in a fabric it is destroyed. Some of the brightest colours are unfortunately the most fleeting. f Of all mediums in which colours can be mixed, paraffine is the safest; it is without chemical affinities, and is therefore well calculated to preserve pigments in thoir original condition. COLOUR — SHADES, TINTS, AND HUKS. 39 each of the same physical constitution, as of equal degrees of transparency or opacity, one truly representing the blue of light, another the red, and another the yellow, we should need no others, for of these we could form all other colours; but as no pigments come even near to the fulfilment of these conditions, we have to employ roundabout and clumsy methods of arriving at desired results. There is one statement which I have made that, perhaps, needs a little elucidation, although the careful student may have seen the reason of my asser- tion. I said that purple harmonised with citrine, green with russet, and orange with olive. I might have expressed it (and many would have done so) thus : — The complement of citrine is purple, the complement of russet is green, and the complement of olive is orange. A colour which is complementary to any other is that which, with it, completes the presence of the three primary colours : thus green is the complement of red, and red of green, for each, together with the colour to which it is the complement, completes the presence of the three colours. But in order to a harmony, the complement must be made up in certain proportions. Let us now refer to our second diagrammatic table, and we there see that citrine is formed of two equivalents of yellow and only one equivalent of red and of blue. Now, in order to a harmony, each primary should be present in two equivalents, as one is present in this quantity — i.e., the yellow. One equivalent of blue and one of red (both of which are wanting in the citrine) form purple ; hence purple is the complement of citrine, or the colour that with it produces a harmony. In russet one equivalent of blue and one of yellow are wanting, and these in com- bination are green — green, then, is the complement of russet. And in olive one equivalent of red and one of yellow are wanting — red and yellow form orange, hence orange is the complement of olive. I have spoken of all colours as of full intensity and purity, but we have to deal also with other conditions. All colours may be darkened by black, when shades are produced ; or reduced by white, when tints are produced. Besides these alterations in intensity, a portion of one colour may be added to another. Thus, if a small portion of blue be mingled with red, the red becomes a crimson or blue-red ; or if a small portion of yellow be added to the red, the latter becomes a scarlet or yellow- red. In like manner, when yellow is in excess in a green, we have a yellow-green ; or when blue is in excess, a blue-green; and so with the other colours. Such alterations produce hues of colour. We now come to the subtleties of harmony. Thus, if we have a yellow-red or scarlet — a red with yellow in it — the green that will harmonise with it will be a blue-green ; or if we have a blue-red or crimson — a red with blue in it — the green that will harmonise with it will be a yellow-green. This is obvious, for the following reasons : — Let us suppose a red represented by the equivalent number, five, with one part of blue added to it, thus causing it to be a blue-red or crimson. Were the red 40 PRINCIPLES OP DESIGN. pure, there should be eleven parts of green as a complement to the live of red, of which green eight parts would be blue and three yellow ; but the blue-red occurs in six parts, one of which is blue — there are, then, but seven parts of blue remaining in the equivalent quantity to combine with the three of yellow, one being already used ; hence the green formed is a yellow-green, one of the equivalents of blue necessary to the formation of a true green being already in combination with the red, and thus absent from the green. The same reasoning will apply to the scarlet-red and blue-green, and, indeed, to all similar cases; but to take the case of the crimson-red and yellow-green, as just given, and carry it a stage further, we might add two parts (out of the eight) of blue to the red, and make it more blue, and then form the complementary green of six parts of blue and three of yellow, and thus make it more yellow. Or we may go further still, and add to the red six of the eight parts of blue, when the admixture would appear as a red-purple rather than as a blue-red, in which case the com- plementary green — or, rather, green-yellow — would consist of two parts of blue and three of yellow. These facts are diagrammatically expressed in the following- : — ow Bed. OOOOO) n . , . Yelloiv- ( O O O Yell .- Crimson harmonises with ■; ^, Blue. O ) Green- ^OOOOOOO Blue. Or, B<>,1. OOOOO ) Blue- , . . Very ( O O O Yellow. - harmonises with Yellow -? „. Blue. OO ) Crimson ff?ye/ . i OOOOOO Slue. Or, Bed. OOOOO 7 Ee(1 - . Green- ( O O O Yellow. harmonises with Purple Yelloio. ^ O O Blue. In all these cases it will be seen that we have eight parts of blue, five of red, and three of yellow, only the mode of combination varies. This variation may occur to any extent, provided the totals of each be always the equivalent proportions. These remarks will apply equally to hues of colour, shades, and tints, and to shades and tints of hues. Care, and a little practice, will enable the learner to arrange colours into a number of degrees of depth, or shades, as they are. generally called. (We do not here use the term as signifying pure colours darkened with black.) Ten shades of each colour differing obviously in degree of depth can readily be arranged by the experienced, the ten shades being equidistant from each other as regards depth — that is, shade -'3 will be as much darker than shade 2 as shade 2 is darker than shade 1, and so on throughout the whole. Purple is a colour intermediate between blue and red. Imagine ten hues between the purple and the red, and ten more between the purple and the blue: thus we should have purple, then a slightly red purple, then a rather redder purple, then a purple still redder, and so on f .ill we get purple-reds, and COLOUR DIAGRAMS OF HARMONY. 41 finallv the pure red ; and the same variations of hue at the blue side also. Imagine, further, the green having ten hues extending towards the blue, and ten more stretch- ing towards the yellow ; and the orange having ten hues towards the red, and ten towards the yellow — in all cases I count the colour from which we start as one of the ten, thus : — • Bluo Purple Red 09 8 76543212 3 4507890 ■ — and we shall have 54 colours and hues of colour. Of each of these 54 colours and hues imagine 10 degrees of depth, and we get 540 colours, hues, tints, and shades, all differing from one another to an obvious degree. Mark this fact, that any colour, tint, hue, or shade of such a diagram has its complement in one other of the colours, tints, hues, or shades of the diagram, and that only two of this series of 540 are complementary to each other; thus, if you fix on any one colour of the 540, there is but one colour in the whole that is complementary to it, and it is complementary to but this one other colour. The student will do well to try and make a colour-diagram of this kind, of a simple character, say such as the following, only using pigments for my numbers ; but in doing so he must exercise the utmost care, in order that he secure some degree of accuracy of tint or shade, and if he can call to his aid an experienced colourist it will be of great assistance to him. Red- P'»-pi e *T3 4. CO v 1 1 * £ •b 3 3 A J" * *. v & 5 s * t* eP u ri' Ie TCt <* ** >~. rtion of sixteen of orange to eight of blue, and so on, just as in the case of tints ; and this principle applies to the harmony of all hues of colour also. To go one step further : we scarcely ever deal with pure colours or their shades or tints, or even come as near them as we can. With great intensity of colour we seem to require an. ethereal character, such as we have in those of light; but our pigments are coarse and earthy — they are too real-looking, and are not ethereal — they may be said to be corporeal rather than spiritual in character. For this reason we have to avoid the use of our purest pigments in such quantities as render their poverty of nature manifest, and to use for large surfaces such tints as, through their subtlety of composition, interest and please. A tint the composition of which is not apparent is always preferable to one of more obvious formation. Thus we are led to use tints which are subtly formed, and such as please by their newness and bewilder by the intricacy of formation. To do what I here mean it is not necessary that many pigments be mixed together in order to the formation of a tint. The effect of which I speak can frequently be got by two well-chosen pigments. Thus a fine series of low-toned shades can be produced by mixing together middle-chrome and brown-lake in various proportions, and in all of the shades thus formed the three primary colours will be represented, but in some yellow will predominate, and in others red; while in many it will not be easy to discover to what proportionate extent the three primary colours are present. Let us suppose that we make a tint by adding white to cobalt blue. This blue contains a small amount of yellow, and is a slightly green blue. But to this tint we add a small amount of raw umber with the view of imparting a greyness* or atmospheric character. Raw umber is a neutral colour, leaning slightly to yellow — that is, it consists of red, blue, and yellow, with a slight excess of the latter. In order that an orange harmonise with this grey-blue of a slightly yellow tone, the orange must be slightly inclined to red, so as to form the complement of the little green formed by the yellow in the blue. It may harmonise with the grey-blue as a pure tint if the area of the diluted and neutralised primary is * Cobalt, raw umber, and white make a magnificent grey, both in oil-colours, in tempera (powder-colours mixed with gum-water), and in distemper (powder-colours mixed with size). 41 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. sufficiently extended, or may itself be likewise reduced to a tint of the same depth, when both tints would have the same area. I might go on multiplying cases of this character to almost any extent, but these I leave the student to work out for himself, and pass to notice that while it is desirable to use subtle tints (often called "broken tints'") it is rarely expedient to make up the full harmony by a large area of a tertiary tone and a single positive colour. Thus, we might have a shade or a tint of citrine spreading over a large surface as a ground on which we wished to place a figure. This figure would harmonise in pure purple were it of a certain size, and yet if thus coloured it would give a somewhat common-place effect when finished, for the harmony would be too simple and obvious. It would be much better to have the nineteen parts of citrine reduced, say, to half intensity, when the area would be increased to thirty-eight, with the figure of eight parts of blue and five of red, than of thirteen parts of purple. But it would be better still if there were the thirty-eight parts of reduced citrine, three parts of pure yellow, thirteen of purple, five of red, and eight of blue, together with white, black, or gold, or all three (these may be added without altering the conditions, as all act as neutrals), for here the harmony is of a more subtle character. If we count up the equivalents of the colours employed in this scheme of harmony, we shall see that we have, in the citrine — Ycilow . . . . . .6' (two equivalents). Blue . . . . . .8 (one equivalent). Red . . . . . .5 (one equivalent). In the purple- Blue . . . . . .8 (one equivalent). Bed . . . . . .5 (one equivalent). Of the nure colours — Yellow . . . . . .3 (one equivalent). Bed . . . . . .5 (one equivalent). Blue . . . . . .8 (one equivalent). Thus we have three equivalents of each primary, which give a perfect harmony. I must not say more respecting the laws of harmony, for in the space of a small work it is impossible to do so, but proceed to notice certain effects or properties of colours, which I have as yet only alluded to, or have passed altogether unnoticed. I have said that black, white, and gold are neutral as regards colour. This is the case, although many would suppose that gold was a yellow. Gold will act as a yellow, but it is generally employed as a neutral in decorative work, and COLOUR TEACHINGS OP EXPERIENCE. 45 it is more of a neutral than a yellow, for both red and blue exist largely in it. The pictorial artist frames his picture with gold because it, being a neutral, does not interfere with the tints of his work. It has the further advantage of being rich and costly in appearance, and thus of giving an impression of worth where it exists. Black, white, and gold, being neutral, may be advantageously employed to separate colours where separation is necessary or desirable. Yellow and purple harmonise, but yellow is a light colour and purple is dark. These colours not only harmonise, but also contrast as to depth, the one being light and the other dark. The limit of each colour, wherever these are used in juxtaposition, is therefore obvious. It is not so with red and green, for these harmonise when of the same dep'h. This being the case, and red being a glowing colour, if a red object is placed on a green ground, or a green object on a red ground, the "figure" and ground will appear to "swim" together, and will jjroduce a dazzling effect. Colour must ;issist form, and not confuse it. It will do this in the instance just named if the figure is outlined with black, white, or gold, and there will be no loss of harmony. But experience has shown that this effect can also be averted by outlining the figure with a lighter tint of its own colour. Thus, if the figure is red and the ground green, an outline of lighter red (pink) may be employed. (See Proposition 26, page 34.) A blue figure on a red ground (as ultramarine on carmine), or a red figure on a blue ground, will also produce this swimming and unsatisfactory effect, but this is again obviated by an outline of black, white, or gold. Employing the outline thus must not be regarded as a means of merely ren- dering what was actually unpleasant endurable, for it does much more — it affords one of the richest means of effect. A carmine ground well covered with bold green ornament having a gold outline is, if well managed, truly gorgeous; and were the figure blue on the red ground, the lavish use of gold would render the employ- ment of yellow unnecessary as the yellow formed in the eye and cast upon the gold would satisfy all recpiirements. It is a curious fact that the eye will create any colour of which there is a de- ficiency. This it will do, but the colour so created is of little use to the composition unless white or gold is present; if, however, there be white or gold in the com- position, the colour which is absent, or is insufficiently represented, will be formed in the eye and east upon these neutrals, and the white or the gold, as the case may be, will assume the tint of the deficient or absent colour. (See Propositions 8 and 9, page 32.) While this occurs (and sometimes it occurs to a marked degree, as can be shown by experiment), it must not be supposed that a composition in which any element is 46 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. wanting 1 is as perfect as one which reveals no want. It is far otherwise; only Nature here comes to our assistance, and is content to help herself rather than endure our short-comings ; but in the one case we give Nature the labour of completing the harmony; while in the other, all being prepared, we receive a sense of satisfaction and repose. In Proposition 8 we showed that when blue and black are juxtaposed, the black becomes " rusty," or assumes an orange tint; and in Proposition 9 we gave the cause of this effect. Let a blue spot be placed on a black silk necktie, and however black the silk, it will yet appear rusty. This is a fact; but we sometimes desire to employ blue on black, and wish the black to look black, and not an orange-black. How can we do this ? Obviously by substituting for the black a very dark blue, as indigo. The bright blue spot induces orange (the complement of blue) in the eye. This orange, when cast upon black, causes the latter to look " rusty ; " but if we place in the black an amount of blue sufficient to neutralise the orange cast upon it, the effect will be that of a jet-black. We have now considered those qualities of colour, and those laws of contrast and harmony, which may be said to be of the grosser sort ; but we have scarcely touched on those considerations which pertain to special refinement or tenderness of effect. But let me close the part of my subject of which I have treated, by repeating a statement already made — a statement, let me say, which first led me to perceive really harmony of colour — that those colours, and those particular hues of colour, which improve each other to the utmost, are those which perfectly harmonise. (Consider this statement in connection with Propositions 8, 9, 10, and 11, pages 32 and 33.) We come now to consider delicacies and refinements in colour effects, which, although dependent upon the skilful exercise of the laws enunciated, are yet of a character, the power to produce which only results from the consideration of the works of the masters of great art-nations ; but of these effects I can say little beyond pointing out what should be studied. This principle however I cannot pass without notice — namely, that the finest colour effects are those of a rich, mingled, bloomy character. Imagine a luxuriant garden, the beds in which are filled with a thousand flowers, having all the colours of the rainbow, and imagine these arranged as closely tfi^i'tlu.-r as will permit of their growth. When viewed from a distance the effect is sr.lt and rich, and full and varied, and is all that is pleasant. This is Nature's colouring. It is our work humbly to strive at producing like beauty with her. This leads me to notice that primary colours (and secondary colours, also, when of greal intensity) shoi.M be used chiefly in small masses, together with gold, white, or black. COLOUR REFINEMENTS OF HARMONY. 17 Visit the Indian Museum at Whitehall,* and consider the beautiful Indian shawls and scarves and table-covers ; or, if unable to do so, look in the windows of our large drapers in the chief towns, and see the true Indian fabrics, t and observe the manner in which small portions of intense reds, blues, yellows, greens, and a score of tertiary tints, are combined with white and black and gold to produce a very miracle of bloom. I know of nothing in the way of colour combination so rich, so beautiful, so gorgeous, and yet so soft, as some of these Indian shawls. It is curious that we never find a purely Indian work otherwise than in good taste as regards colour harmony. Indian works, in this respect — whether carpets, or shawls, or dress materials, or lacquered boxes, or enamelled weapons — are almost perfect — perfect in harmony, perfect in richness, perfect in the softness of their general effect. How strangely these works contrast with ours, where an harmonious work in colours is scarcely ever seen. By the co-mingling (not co-mixing) of colours in the manner just described, a rich and bloomy effect can be got, having the general tone of a tertiary colour of any desired hue. Thus, if a wall be covered with little ornamental flowerets, by colouring all alike, and letting each contain two parts of yellow and one part of blue and one of red, as separate and pure colours, the distant hue will be that of citrine : the same effect will result if the flowers are coloured variously, while the same proportions of the primaries are preserved throughout. I can conceive of no decorative effects more subtle, rich, and lovely than those of which I now speak. Imagine three rooms, all connected by open archways, and all decorated with a thousand flower-like ornaments, and these so coloured, in this mingled manner, that in one room blue predominates, in another red, and in another yellow; we should then have a beautiful tertiary bloom in each — a subtle mingling of colour, an ex- quisite delicacy and refinement of treatment, a fulness such as always results from a rich mingling of hues, and an amount of detail which would interest when closely inspected ; besides which, we should have the harmony of the general effect of the three rooms, the one appearing as olive, another as citrine, and the other as russet. This mode of decoration has this advantage, that it not only gives richness and beauty, but it also gives purity. If pigments are mixed together they are thereby reduced in intensity, as we have already seen ; but if placed side by side, when viewed from a distance the eye will mix them, but they will suffer no diminution of brilliancy. With the view of cultivating the eye, Eastern works cannot be too carefully studied. The Indian Museum should be the home of all who can avail themselves of the opportunity of study which it affords ; and the small Indian department of the * This museum is open free to the public. f These will only be seen in very first -class shops. 48 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. South Kensington Museum should not be neglected, small though it is.* Chinese works must also be considered, for they likewise supply most valuable examples of colour harmony ; and although they do not present such a perfect colour bloom as do the works of India, yet they are never inharmonious, and give clearness and sharp- ness, together with great brilliancy, in a manner not attempted by the Indians. The best works of Chinese embroidery are rarely seen in this country; but these are unsurpassed by the productions of any other people. For richness, splendour, and purity of colour, together with a delicious coolness, I know of nothing to equal them. The works of the Japanese are not to be overlooked, for in certain branches of art they are inimitable, and as colourists they are almost perfect. On the commonest of their lacquer trays we generally have a bit of good colouring, and their coloured pictures are sometimes marvels of harmony. As to the styles of colouring adopted by the nations referred to, I should say that the Indians produce rich, mingled, bloomy, warm effects — that is, effects in which red and yellow prevail ; that the Chinese achieve clearness, repose, and coolness — a form of colouring in which blue and white prevail; and that the Japanese effects are warm, simple, and quiet. Besides studying the works of India, China, and Japan, study those also of Turkey and Morocco, and even those of Algeria, for here the colouring is much better than with us, although not so good as in the countries first named. No aid to progress must be neglected, and no help must be despised. f "With the view of refining the judgment further in respect to colour, get a good colour-top, J and study its beautiful effects. See also the "gas tubes" illuminated * It may not be generally known, but nearly all our large manufactnring towns have, in connection with the Chamber of Commerce, a collection of Indian fabrics, filling several large volumes, which were prepared, at the expense of Government, under the superintendence of Dr. Forbes Watson, and which were given to the various towns on the condition that they be accessible to all persons who are trustworthy. Although these collections do not embrace the costly decorated fabrics, yet much can be learned from them, and the combinations of colour are always harmonious. A much larger collection is now in course of formation. t The South Kensington Museum has a very interesting collection of art-works from China and Japan ; but the latter are chiefly lent. It is a strange thing that the perfect works of the East are bo poorly illustrated in this national collection, while costly, yea, very costly works of inferior character, illustrative of Eenaissance art, swarm as thickly as flies in August. This can only be accounted for by the fact that the heads of the institution have a feeling for pictorial rather than decorative art, and the Eenaissance ornament is that which has most of the pictorial element. To me, the style appears to owe its very weakness to this fact, for decorative art should be wholly ideal. Pictorial art is of necessity more or less imitative. % Not the so-called colour or "chameleon" top sold in the toy-shops, but the more scientific toy procurable of opticians, together with the perforated discs of Mr. John Graham, M.K.C.S., of Tunbridge, Kent. COLOURING — EASTERN* METHODS. ]-9 by electricity, as sold by opticians, and let the prism yield you daily instruction. Soap-bubbles may also be blown, and the beautiful colours seen in them carefully noted. These and any other available means of cultivating the eye should constantly be resorted to, as by such means only can we become great colourists. As to works on colour, we have the writings of Field, to whom we are indebted for valuable discoveries; of Hay, the decorator, and friend of the late David Roberts, but some of his ideas are wild and Utopian ; of Chevreul, whose work will be most useful to the student ; and the small catechism of colour by Mr. Redgrave, of the South Kensington Museum, which is excellent. The student will also do well to carefully study the excellent manual of "Colour" by Professor Church, of Cirencester Coll cere. CHAPTER III. FURNITURE. Having considered those principles which are of primary importance to the orna- meutist, we may commence our notice of the various manufactures, and try to discover what particular form of art should be applied to each, and the special manner in which decorative principles should be considered as applicable to various materials and modes of working'. We shall first consider furniture, or cabinet-work, because articles of furniture occupy a place of greater importance in a room than carpets, wall-papers, or, perhaps, any other decorative works ; and, also, because we shall learn from a consideration of furniture those structural principles which will be of value to us in considering the manner in which all art-objects should be formed if they have solid, and not simply superficial, dimensions. In the present chapter, I shall strive to impress the fact that design and ornamentation may be essentially different things, and that in considering the formation of works of furniture these should be regarded as separate and distinct. " Design," says Redgrave, " has reference to the construction of any work both for use and beauty, and therefore includes its ornamentation also. Ornament is merely the decoration of a thing constructed." The construction of furniture will form the chief theme of this chapter, for unless such works are properly constructed they cannot possibly be useful, and if not useful they would fail to answer the end for which they were contrived. But before commencing a consideration of the principles involved in the construction of works of furniture, let me summarise what is required in such works if they are to assume the character of art-objects. 1. The general form, or mass form, of all constructed works must be carefully considered. The aspect of the "sky-blotch" of an architectural edifice is very important, for as the day wanes the detail fades and parts become blended, till the members compose but one whole, which, when seen from the east, appears as a solid mass drawn in darkness on the glowing sky ; this is the sky-blotch. If the edifice en masse is pleasing, a great point is gained. Indeed, the general contour should have primary consideration. In like manner, the general form of all works of furniture should first be cared for, and every effort should be made at securing to the general mass beauty of shape. FURNITURE GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 51 2. After having cared for the general form, the manner in which the work shall he divided into primary and secondary parts must he considered with reference to the laws of proportion, as stated in a former chapter. 3. Detail and enrichment may now be considered ; but while these cannot be too excellent, they must still be subordinate in obtrusiveness to the general mass, or to the aspect of the work as a whole. 4. The material of which the object is formed must always be worked in the most natural and appropriate manner. 5. The most convenient or appropriate form for an object should always be chosen, for unless this has been done, no reasonable hope can be entertained that the work will be satisfactory; for the consideration of utility must in all cases precede the consideration of beauty, as we saw in our first chapter. Having made these few general remarks, we must consider the structure of works of furniture. The material of which we form our furniture is wood. Wood has a " grain," and the strength of any particular piece largely depends upon the direction of its grain. It may be strong if its grain runs parallel with its length, or weak if the grain crosses diagonally, or very weak if the grain crosses transversely. However strong the wood, it becomes comparatively much weaker if the grain crosses the piece; and however weak the wood, it becomes yet weaker if the grain is transverse or diagonal. These considerations lead us to see that the grain of the wood must always be parallel with its length whenever strength is required. For our guidance in the formation of works of furniture, I give the following short table of woods arranged as to their strength : — Iron-wood, from Jamaica — very strong, bearing great lateral pressure. Box of Illawarry, New South Wales — very strong, but not so strong as iron-wood. Mountain ash, New South Wales — about two-thirds the strength of iron-wood. Beech— nearly as strong as mountain ash. Mahogany, from New South Wales — not quite so strong as last. Black dog-wood of Jamaica — three-fourths as strong as the mahogany just named. Box-wood, Jamaica — not half as strong as the box of New South Wales. Cedar of Jamaica — half as strong as the mahogany of New South Wales.* Wood can be got of sufficient length to meet all the requirements of furniture- making, yet we not uufrequently find the arch structurally introduced into furniture, while it is absurd to employ it in wooden construction of any kind. The arch is a most ingenious invention, as it affords a means of spanning a large space with small portions of material, as with small stones, and at the same time gives great * For full particulars on this subject see " Catalogue of the Collection illustrating Construction and Building Material," in the South Kensington Museum, and the manual of " Technical Drawing for Cabinetmakers," by E. A. Davidson. 52 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. strength. It is, therefore, of the utmost utility in constructing stone buildings; but in works of furniture, where we have no large spaces to span, and where wood is of the utmost length required, and is stronger than our requirements demand, the use of the arch becomes structurally foolish and absurd. The folly of this mode of struc- ture becomes more apparent when we notice that a wooden arch is always formed of one or two pieces, and not of very small portions, and when we further consider that, in order to the formation of an arch, the wood must be cut across its grain throughout the greater portion of its length, whereby its strength is materially decreased ; while if the arch were formed of small pieces of stone great strength would be secured. Nothing can be more absurd than the practice of imitating in one material a mode of construction which is only legitimate in the case of another, and of failing to avail ourselves of the particular mode of utilising a material which secures a maximum of desirable results. While I protest against the arch when structurally used in furniture, I see no objection to it if used only as a source of beauty, and when so situated as to be free from strain or pressure. One of the objects which we are frequently called upon to construct is a chair. The chair is, throughout Europe and America, considered as a necessity of every house. So largely used are chairs, that one firm at High Wycombe employs 5,000 hands in making common cane-bottomed chairs alone; and yet we see but few chairs in the market which are well constructed. All chairs having curved frames — whether the curve is in the wood of the back, in the sides of the seat, or in the legs — are constructed on false principles. They are of necessity weak, and being weak are not useful. As they are formed by using wood in a manner which fails to utilise its qualities of strength, these chairs are offensive and absurd. It is true that, through being surrounded by such ill-formed objects from our earliest infancy, the eye often fails to be offended with such works as would offend it were they new to it; but this does not show that they are the less offensive, nor that they are not constructively wrong. Besides, whenever wood is cut across the grain, in order that we get any- thing approaching the requisite strength, it has to be much thicker and more bulky than would be required were the wood cut with the grain ; hence such furniture is unnecessarily heavy and clumsy. Fig. 20 represents a chair which I have taken the liberty of borrowing from Mr. Eastlake's work on household art* This chair Mr. Eastlake gives as an illustration of good taste in the construction of furniture; but I give it as an illustration of that which is essentially bad and wrong. The legs are weak, being cross-grained » The title of the work is ** Hints on Household Taste." It is well worth reading, as much may be learned from it. I think Mr. Eastlake right in many views, yet wrong in others, but I cannot help regarding him somewhat as an apostle of ugliness, as he appears to me to despise finish and refinement. FURNITURE CH Ml:-. 53 throughout, and the mode of uniting' the upper and lower portions of the legs (the two semicircles) by a circular boss is defective in the highest degree. Were I sitting in such a chair, 1 should be afraid to lean to the right or the left, for fear of the chair giving way. Give me a Yorkshire rocking-chair, in pre- ference to one of these, where I know of my insecurity, much as I hate such. A chair is a stool with a back-rest, and a stool is a board elevated from the ground or floor by supports, the degree of eleva- tion being determined by the length of the legs of the person for whom the seat is made, or by the degree of obliquity which the body and legs are desired to take when the seat is in use. If the seat is to support the body when in an erect sitting posture, about seventeen to eighteen inches will be found a convenient height for the average of persons ; but if the legs of the sitter are to take an oblique forward direction, then the seat may be lower. A stool may consist of a thick piece of wood and of three legs inserted into holes bored in this thick top. If these legs pass to the upper surface of the seat, and are properly wedged in, a useful yet clumsy seat results. In order that the top of the stool be thin and light, it will be necessary that the legs be connected by frames, and it will be well that they be Fig. 27. Fig. 26. 54 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. connected twice, once at the top of each leg, so that the seat may rest upon this frame, and once at least two-thirds of the distance from the top. The frame would now stand alone, and although the seat is formed of thin wood it will not crack, as it is supported all round on the upper frame. A chair, I have said, is a stool with a hack. There is not one chair out of fifty that we find with the hack so attached to the seat as to give a maximum of strength. It is usual to make a hack leg and one side of the chair-hack out of one piece of wood — that is, to continue the hack legs up above the seat, and cause them to become ihe sides of the chair-back. When this is done the wood is almost invariably curved so that the back legs and the chair-back both incline outwards from the seat. There is no objection what- ever to the sides of the back and the legs being formed of the one piece, but there is a great objection to either the supports of the back or the legs being formed of cross-grained wood, as much of their strength is thereby sacrificed. Our illustrations (Figs. 27 to 32) will give several modes of construct- ing chairs such as I think legitimate ; but I will ask the reader to think for himself upon the construction of a chair, and especially upon the proper means of giving due support to the back. I have given, in an axiomatic form, those principles which should guide us in the construction of works of furniture, and endeavoured to impress the necessity of using wood in that manner which is most natural — that is, "working" it with the grain (the manner in which we can most easily work it), and in that way which shall secure the greatest amount of strength with the least expenditure of material. I wish to impress my readers with the importance of these considerations, for they lie at the very root of the successful construction of furniture. If the legs of chairs, or their seat-frames, or the ends or backs of couches, are formed of wood cut across tlic grain, tliey must cither lie thick mid clumsy, or weak; but, besides this, the rightly constituted mind can only receive pleasure from the contemplation of works which arc wisely formed. Daily contact, as we have before said, with ill-shaped Fig. 28. FURNITURE — CHAIRS. 55 objects may have more or less deadened our senses, so that we are not so readily offended by deformity and error as we might be; yet, happily for us, directly we seek to separate truth from error, the beautiful from the deformed, reason assists the judgment, and we learn to feel when we are in the presence of the beautiful or in contact with the degraded. My illustrations will show how I think chairs should be constructed. Fig. 20 is essentially bad, although it has traditional sanction, hence I pass it over without further comment. Fig. 27 is in the manner of an Egyptian chair. It serves to show the careful way in which the Egyptians constructed their works. The curved Wm^MMMM uTu'i utii't »7YYiYn f Fig, 29. Fig. 30. rails against which the back would rest are the only parts which are not thoroughly correct and satisfactory in a wood structure. Were the curved back members metal, the curvature would be desirable and legitimate. The back of this chair, if the side members were connected by a straight rail, would have immense strength (the backs of some of our chairs are of the very weakest), and if well made it is a seat which would endure for centuries. Fig. 28 is a chair of my own designing, in which I have sought to give strength to the back by connecting its upper portion with a, strong cross-rail of the frame. Fig. 29 is a chair slightly altered from one in Mr. Eastlake's work on "Household Taste;" as shown in our illustration, it is a correctly formed work. Fig. 30 is an arm-chair in the Greek style, which I have designed. Fig. 31 is a lady's chair in the Gothic style ; Fig. 32, a lady's chair in early Greek. These I have prepared to show different modes of structure; if the legs are fitted to a frame 58 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. (the seat-frame) , as in the early Greek chair just alluded to, they should he very short, as in this instance, or they must he connected by a frame below the seat, as in Figs. 33 and 34. The best general structure is that in which the front legs pass to the level of the upper surface of the seat. Fig. 33 is a copy of a chair shown by Messrs. Gillow and Co., of Oxford Street, in the last Paris International Exhibition. In many respects it is admirably constructed. The skeleton brackets holding the back to the seat are very desirable Fig. 31. Fig. 32. adjuncts to light chairs; so are the brackets connecting the legs with the seat-frame, as these strengthen the entire chair. The manner in which the upper rail of the back passes through the side uprights and is "pinned" is good. The chief, and only important, fault in this chair is the bending of the back legs, involving their being cut against the grain of the wood. Fig. 84 is a chair from Mr. Talbertfs very excellent work on "Gothic Fur- niture." It shows an admirable method of supporting the hack. Fig. 35 I have designed as a high-backed lounging chair. "Willi the view of giving strength to the back, I have extended (he seat, and arranged a support from this extension to the upper back-rail, and this extension of the seat I have supported by a fifth leg. 1'TliXITrUE COUCHES. 57 There is no reason whatever why a chair should have four legs. If three would he better, or five, or any other number, let us use what would he best.* I have now given several illustrations of modes of forming chairs. I might have given many more, but it is not my duty to try and exhaust a subject. What I have to .do is simply point out principles, and call attention to facts. It is the reader who must think for himself — first, of the principles and facts which I adduce ; secondly, of the illustrations which I give; thirdly, of other works which he may Pig, 34. Fig. 33. meet with , and fourthly, of further means of producing desirable and satisfactory results than those set forth in my illustrations. As it cannot be doubted that a well-constructed work, however plain or simple it may be, gives satisfaction to those who behold it — while a work of the most elaborate character fails to satisfy if badly constructed — we shall give a few further illustrations of structure for other articles of furniture, besides chairs, which have become necessary to our mode of life. Fig. 36 is one of my sketches for Greek furniture, designed for a wealthy client, It was formed of black wood. Here the frame of the seat is first formed, In my drawing, the stuffing of the back has been accidentally shown too much rounded. E •j 8 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. and the legs are inserted beneath it, and let into it, while the wood-work of the end of the couch stands upon it, being inserted into it. This appears to have been the general method with the Greeks of forming their furniture, yet it is not so correct structurally as Fig. 37, another of my sketches, where the end and the leg are formed of one piece of wood. The first formation (that of Fig. 36) would bear any amount of pressure from above, but it is not well calculated for resisting lateral pressure; while the latter would resist this lateral pressure, but would not bear quite the same amount of pressure from above. The latter, however, could bear more weight than would ever be required of it, and would be the more durable piece of furniture. Fig. 38 gives a legitimate formation for a settee; the cutting-out, or hollowing, of the sides of the legs is not carried to an extreme, but leaves a sufficiency of strong wood with an upright grain to resist all the pressure that would be placed on the seat, and the lower and upper thickened portions of the legs act as the brackets — j l~fZH beneath the seat in Fig. 33. The arch here introduced is not used structurally, but for the sake of a curved line, and acts simply as a pair of brackets. This illus- tration is also from Mr. Talbert's work. Fig. 39 is a table such as we occasionally Fig. 35. meet with. I see no objection to the legs leaning inwards at the top; indeed, we have here a picturesque and useful table of legitimate formation. Fig. 40 is the end elevation of a sideboard from Mr. Talbert's work. Mark the simplicity of the structure. The leading ok structural lines are straight and obvious. Although Mr. Talbert is not always right, yet his book is well worthy of the most careful consideration and study ; and this I can truly say, that it compares favourably with all other works on furniture with which I am acquainted. The general want which we perceive in modern furniture is simplicity of structure and truthfulness (if construction. If persons would but think out the easiest mode of constructing a work liel'ore they commence to design it, and would be content with this simplicity of structure, we should have very different furniture From what we have. Think first of what is wanted, then of the material at command. Fl'KNITl'ItE — Til I Til I'll. CONSTRUCT* >\. 59 I fear that I have very feebly enforced and very inefficiently illustrated the true principles on which works of furniture should he constructed ; and yet I feel that the structure of such works is of importance beyond all other considerations. Fig. 36, Space is limited, however, and I must pass on; hence I only hope that. I have induced the reader to think for himself, and if I have done so I shall have fulfilled my desire, for his progress will then be sure. Respecting- structure I have but a few general remarks further to make, and Fig. 37. all these are fairly embraced in the one expression, "Be truthful.'" An obvious and true structure is always pleasant. Let, then, the "tenon" and the "mortise" pass through the various members, and let the parts be "pinned'" together by obvious wooden pins. Thus, if the frame of a chair-seat is tenoned into the legs, let the tenon pass through the leg and be visible on the outer side, and let it be held in its place by glue and wooden pins — the pins being visible. Yet they need not protrude beyond the surface ; but why hide them ? In this way that old furniture 60 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. Fig. 38. was made which lias endured while piece after piece of modern furniture, made with invisible joints and concjaled nails and screws, has perished. This is a true structural treatment, and is honest in expression also. I do not give this as a principle applicable to one class of furniture only, but to all. When we have "pinned" furniture with an open structure (see the back of chair, Fig. 33), the mode of putting together must of necessity be manifest ; but in all other cases the tenons should also go through, and the pins by which they are held in their place be driven from one surface to the other side right through the member. In the commencement of this chapter on furniture, I said that after the most convenient form has been chosen for an object, and after it has been arranged that the material of which it is to be formed shall be worked in the most natural or befitting way, that then the block-form must be looked to, after which comes the divi- sion of the mass into primary parts, and lastly, the considera- tion of detail. As to the block- form, let it be simple, and have the appear- ance of appropriateness and consistency. Its character must be re- gulated, to an extent. by the nature of the house for which the furniture is intended, and by the character of the room in which it is to !>«• placed. All I can say to the student on this part of the subject is this : Carefully consider good works of furniture whenever oppor- tunity occurs, and note their general conformation. A fine work will never have strong architectural qualities — that is, it will not look like pari of a building formed Fig. 39. FURNITU11E PROPORTION AND ENBICHMEHT. ( 1 of wood instead o£ stone. There is but small danger of committing any great error in the block-form, if it be kept- simple, and to look like ;i work in wood, provided that the proportions of height to width and of width and height to thickness are duly eared for (see page ~-"5). After the general form has been considered, the mass may bo broken into primary and secondary parts. Tims, if we have to construct a cabinet, the upper part of which consists of a cupboard, and the lower portion of drawers, we should have to determine the proportion which the one part should bear to the other. This is an in- variable rule — that the work must not consist of equal parts ; thus, if the whole cabinet be sis feet in height, the cupboards could not be three feet while the drawers occupied three feet also. The division would have to be of a subtle character — of a character which could not be readily detected. Thus the cup- board might be three feet five inches, and the drawers collectively two feet seven inches. If the drawers are not all to be of the same depth, then the relation of one drawer, as regards its size, to that of another must be considered, and of each to the cupboard above. In like manner the proportion of the panels of the doors to the styles must be thought out ; and until all this has been done no work should ever be constructed. Next comes the enrichment of parts. Carving should be sparingly used, and is best confined to mouldings, or projecting or terminal ends. If employed in mouldings, those members should be enriched which are more or less completely guarded from dust and injury by some overhanging member. If more carving is used, it should certainly be a mere enrichment of necessary structure — as we see on the legs and other uprights of Mr. Crace's sideboard, by Pugin (Fig. 41). I am not fond of carved panels, but should these be employed the carving should never project beyond the styles surrounding them, and in all cases of carving no pointed members must protrude so as to injure the person or destroy the dress of those who use the piece of furniture. If carving is used sparingly, it gives us the impression PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN Fig n Fl KXtTIRE MODES OF ENRICHING. 63 that it is valuable ; if it is lavishly employed, it appears to be comparatively worth- less. The aim of art is the production of repose. A large work of furniture which is carved all over cannot produce the necessary sense of repose, and is therefore objectionable. There may be an excess of finish in works of carving connected with cabinet- work; for if the finish is too delicate there is a lack of effect in the result. A piece of furniture is not a miniature work, which is to be investigated in every detail. It is an object of utility, which is to appear beautiful in a room, and is not to command undivided attention ; it is a work which is to combine with other works in rendering an apartment beautiful. The South Kensington Museum purchased in the last Paris International Exhibition, at great cost, a cabinet from Fourdonois ; but it is a very unsatisfactory specimen, as it is too delicate, too tender, and too tine for a work of utility — it is an example of what should be avoided rather than of what should be followed. The delicately carved and beautiful panels of the doors, if cut in marble and used as mere pieces of sculpture would have been worthy of the highest commendation ; but works of this kind wrought in a material that has a " grain," however little the grain may show, are absurd. Besides, the subjects are of too pictorial a character for " applied work" — that is, they are treated in too pictorial or naturalistic a manner. A broad, simple, idealised treatment of the figure is that which is alone legitimate in cabinet work. Supports or columns carved into the form of human figures are always objectionable. Besides carving, as a means of enrichment, we have inlaying, painting, and the applying of plaques of stone or earthenware, and of brass or ormolu enrich- ments, and we have the inserting of brass into the material when buhl-work is formed. Inlaying is a very natural and beautiful means of enriching works of furniture, for it leaves the flatness of the surface undisturbed. A great deal may be done in this way by the employment of simple means. A mere row of circular dots of black wood inlaid in oak will often give a remarkably good effect ; and the dots can be " worked " with the utmost ease. Three dots form a trefoil, four dots a quatrefoil, six dots a hexafoil, and so on, and desirable effects can often be produced by such simple inlays. Panels of cabinets may be painted, and enriched with ornament, or flatly- treated figure subjects. This is a beautiful mode of decoration very much neglected. The couch (Fig. 37) I intended for enrichment of this kind. If this form is employed, care should be exercised in order that the painted work be in all cases so situated that it cannot be rubbed. It should fill sunk panels and hollows and never appear on advancing members. I am not fond of the application of plaques of stone or earthenware to works 6-1 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. of furniture. Anything that is Lrittle is not suitable as an enrichment of wood- work, unless it can be so placed as to be out of danger. Ormolu ornaments, when applied to cabinets and other works in wood, are also never satisfactory. They look too separate from the wood of which the work is formed — too obviously applied ; and whatever is obviously applied to the work, aud is not a portion of its general fabric, whether a mass of Mowers even if carved in wood or an ormolu ornament, is not pleasant. Buhl-work is often very clever in character and skilfully wrought, but I do not care for it. It is of too laborious a nature, and thus intrudes upon us the sense of labour as well as that of skill. As a means of enrichment, I approve of carving, sparingly- used, of inlays, and of painted ornament in certain cases ; and by the just employment of these means the utmost beauty in cabinet-work can be achieved. Ebony inlaid with ivory is very beautiful. In order to illustrate my remarks respecting cabinets, side- boards, and similar pieces of furniture, I give an engraving of a sideboard executed by Mr. ('race, from the design of Mr. A. Welby Pugin (the father), to which 1 have before alluded (Fig. 4>1), and a painted cabinet by Mr. Burgess (Fig- '12), the well-known Gothic architect, whose architecture must be admired. Both of these works are worthy of study of a very careful kind. In the sideboard, notice first the general structure or construction ■' frame should appear in every work of furniture, as in the examples we have given. Sofas arc now made as though they were feather beds; they are so soft that you sink into them, and become uncomfortably warm by merely resting upon them, and their gouty forms are relieved only by a few inches of wood, which appeal' as legs. Stuffing should be employed only as a means of rendering a properly constructed seat c fortablj soft. If it goes beyond this it is vulgar A <$T *- h LTHOLSTEIUNG OF Fl'UNITURE. PICTURE- 1'i! AMES. 71 f : ^ r ^Ti rT^^a Fig. 50 72 F1UN0IPLES OF DESIGN. and objectiu liable. Spring stuffing is not to be altogether commended; a good old-fashioned hair-stuffed seat is more desirable, as it will endure when springs have perished. As to the materials with which seats may be covered I can say little, for they are many. Hair cloth, although very durable, is altogether inartistic in its effect. Nothing is better than leather for dining-room chairs; Utrecht velvet, either plain or embossed, looks well on library chairs ; silk and satin damasks, rep, plain cloth, and many other fabrics are appropriate to drawing-room furniture. Chintz I am not fond of as a chair covering, and in a bed-room I would rather have chairs with plain wooden seats than with cushions covered with this glazed material. With a mere remark upon picture-frames I will finish this chapter. Picture- frames are generally elaborately carved mouldings, or are simple mouldings covered with ornaments, which, whether carved or formed of putty, are overlaid with gold leaf; they are, indeed, highly ornamented gilt mouldings. I much prefer a well-formed, yet somewhat simple, black polished moulding, on the interior of which runs a gold bead (Fig. 49). A fanciful yet good picture-frame was figured in the Building News of September 7th, 1SC6, which we now repeat (Fig. 50). CHAPTER IV. DECORATION OP BUILDINGS. Division I. — General Considerations — Ceilings. Having considered furniture, the formation of which requires a knowledge of construction, or of what we may term structural art, we pass on to notice principles involved in the decoration of surfaces, or in " surface decoration," as it is usually called. We commence by considering how rooms should be decorated ; yet, in so doing, we are met at the very outset with a great difficulty, as the nature of the decoration of a room should be determined by the character of its architecture. My difficulty rests here. How am I to tell you what is the just decoration for a room, when the suitability of the decoration is often dependent upon even structural and ornamental details ; and when, in all cases, the character of the decoration should be in harmony with the character of the architecture? Broadly, if a building is in the Gothic style, all that it contains in the way of decoration, and of furniture also, should be Gothic. If the building is Greek, the decorations and furniture should be Greek. If the building is Italian, all its decorations and furniture should be Italian, and so on. But there are further requirements. Each term that I have now employed, as expressive of a style of architecture, is more or less generic in character, and is therefore too broad for general use. What is usually termed Gothic architecture, is a group of styles having common origin and resemblances, known to the architect as the Semi-Norman or Transition style, which occurred in the twelfth century under Henry II. (it was at this time that the pointed arch was first employed) . The Early English, which was developed in the end of the twelfth and early part of the thirteenth century, under Richard I., John, and Henry III. ; the Decorated, which occurred at the end of the thirteenth, and early portion of the fourteenth century, under Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III. ; the Perpendicular, which occurred at the latter part of the fourteenth, and through the greater portion of the fifteenth century, under Richard II., Henry IV., V., and VI., Edward IV. and V., and Richard III. ; and, lastly, the Tudor, which occurred at the end of the fifteenth, and the beginning of the sixteenth century, under Henry VII. and Henry VIII. All these styles are popularly spoken of as one, and are expressed by the one term — Gothic. It is so also, to an extent, with the Greek, Roman, and Italian styles, for each of these appears in various modifications of character, but into such details we F 74 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. will not enter : it must suffice to notice that the character of the decoration must be not only broadly in the style of the architecture of the building which it is intended to beautify, but it must be similar in nature to the ornament produced at precisely the same date as the architecture which has been employed for the building. It must not be supposed that I am an advocate of reproducing works, or even styles of architecture, such as were created in times gone by, for T am not. The peoples of past ages carefully sought to ascertain their wants — the wants resulting from climate — the wants resulting from the natui-e of their religion — the wants resulting from social arrangements — the wants imposed by the building material at command. We, on the contrary, look at a hundred old buildings, and without considering our wants, as differing from those of our forefathers, take a bit from one and a bit from another, or we reproduce one almost as it stands, and thus we bungle on, instead of seeking to raise such buildings as are in all respects suited to our modern requirements. Things are, however, much better in this respect than they were. Bold men are dealing with the Gothic style in its various forms. Scott, Burgess, Street, and many others are venturing to alter it; and thus, while it is losing old characteristics, and is acquiring new elements, it is already assuming a character which has nobility of expression, truthfulness of structure, and suitability to our special requirements. In time to come, further changes will doubtless be made ; and thus the style which arose as an imitation of the past will have become new, through constantly departing from the original type, and as constantly adopting new elements. I have said that the decoration of a building should be brought about by the em- ployment of such ornament as was, in time past, associated with the particular form of architecture employed in the building to be decorated, if a precisely similar form of architecture previously existed. Let not the ornament, however, be a mere servile imitation of what has gone before, but let the designer study the ornament of bygone ages till he understands and feels its spirit, and then let him strive to produce new forms and new combinations in the spirit of the ornament of the past. This must also be carefully noted — that the ornament of a particular period does not consist merely of the forms employed in the architecture, drawn in colour on the wall, or the ceiling, as the case may be. The particular form of ornameut used in association with some forms of Gothic architecture was very different in character from what we might expect from the nature of the architecture itself, and did not to any extent consist of ilatly-treated crockets, gable ends, trefoils, cinque, foils, etc. The ornament of the past must be studied in its purity, and not from those wretched attempts at the production of Gothic decoration which we often see. In what wc may call the typical English house of the present day there is really no architecture, and if such a building is to be decorated it is almost legitimate to eninlov any style of ornamentation. In such a case I should choose a style DECORATION OF CEILINGS. 75 which has no very marked features — which is not strongly Greek, or strongly Gothic, or strongly Italian ; and if there is the necessary ability, I should say try and produce ornaments having novelty of character, and yet showing your knowledge of the good qualities of all styles that are past. If this is attempted, care must be exercised in order to avoid getting a mere combination of elements from various styles as one ornament. Nothing can be worse than to see a bit of Greek, a fragment of Egyptian, an Alhambraic scroll, a Gothic flower, and an Italian husk associated together as one ornament; unless this were done advisedly and in order to meet a very special want, such an ornamental composition would be detestable. What I recommend is the production of new forms; but the new composition may have the vigour of the best Gothic ornament, the severity of Egyptian, the intri- cacy of the Persian, the gorgeousness of the Alhambra, and so on, only it must not imitate in detail the various styles of the past. Now as to the decoration of a room. If one part only can be decorated, let that one part be the ceiling. Nothing appears to me more strange than that our ceilings, which can be properly seen, are usually white in middle-class houses, while the walls, which are always in part hidden, and even the floor, on which we tread, should have colour and pattern applied to them ; and of this I am certain, that, considered from a decorative point of view, our ordinary treatment is wrong. "VVe glory in a clear blue sky overhead, and we speak of the sky as increasing in beauty as it becomes deeper and deeper in tint. Thus the depth of the tint of the Italian sky is familiar to us all. Why, then, make our ceilings white ? I often ask this question, and am told that the whiteness renders the ceiling almost invisible ; hence it is preferred. This idea is very absurd; first, because blue is the most ethereal and most distant of all colours (see Chap. II., page 33) ; and, second, do we not build a house with the view of procuring shelter? hence why do we seek to realise the feeling that we are without a covering over our heads ? We only like a white ceiling because we have been accustomed to such from infancy, and because we have been taught to regard a clean white ceiling as all that is to be desired. I knew a Yorkshire lady who, upon being asked by her husband whether she would like the drawing-room ceiling decorated, replied that she thought not, as she could not then have it re-whitewashed every year. The idea was clean certainly. Blue, I have said, is ethereal in character; it is so, and may become exceedingly so if of medium depth and of a grey hue ; hence, if a mere atmospheric effect was sought, it would be desirable that this colour be used on the ceiling rather than white. But, as we have just said, invisibility of the ceiling is absurd, as it is our protection from the weather. Further, the ceiling may become an object of great beauty, and it can be seen as a whole. Why then neglect the opportunity of arranging a beautiful object when there is no reason to the contrary ? We like a, beautiful coloured vase, or, if we do not, we can have it whitewashed, or even dispense with it altogether. 7« PKIXCIPLES OP DESIGN. We like beautiful walls, or we would have them whitewashed also ; indeed, we like our surroundings generally beautiful. Why not, then, have beautiful ceilings, Kg. 61. especially as they can be seen complete, while the wall is in part hidden by furniture ;iik1 pictures ? I will suppose thai we have an ordinary room to deal with. First, take away PAPERS FOIt CEILINGS. 77 the wretched plaster ornament in the centre of the ceiling, for it is sun' to be had. There is not one such ornament out of a thousand that can he so treated as to make the ceiling 1 look as well as it would do without it. Now place all over the ceiling ;i Hat painted or stencilled pattern, a pattern which repeats equally in all directions (as Fi^. 51),. and let this pattern be in blue (of any depth) and white, or in blue (of any depth) and cream-colour, and it is sure to look well (the blue being the ground, and the cream-colour or white the ornament). Simple patterns in cream-colour on blue ground, but having a black outline also look well (Fig. 52) ; and these might he prepared in paper, and hung on the ceiling as common paper-hangings, if cheapness is essential. Gold ornaments on a deep blue ground, with black out- line, also look rich and effective. These are all, however, simple treat- ments, for any amount of colour may be used on a ceiling, provided the colours are employed in very small masses, and perfectly min- gled, so that the effect produced is that of a rich coloured bloom (see Chap. II., page 46). A ceiling should be beautiful, and should also be manifest ; but if it must be somewhat indistinct, in order that the caprices of the ignorant be humoured, let the pattern be in middle-tint or pale blue and white only. Fig. 52. I like to see the ceiling of a room covered all over with a suitable pattern, but I do not at all object to a large central ornament only, or to a centre ornament and corners ; especially if the cornice is heavy, so as to give compensating weight to the margin. I have recently designed and seen carried out one or two centre ornaments for drawing-rooms, which ornaments were twenty-one feet in diameter. A centre ornament, if properly treated, may be very large without looking heavy ; it may, indeed, extend at least two-thirds of the way from the centre to the margin of the ceiling. I do not speak of plaster ornaments, but of flat decorations. If the ceiling is flat all ornament placed upon it must not only be flat also, but 7S rnixciPLES or design. must not fictitiously represent relief, for no shaded ornament can be pleasant when placed as the decoration of a flat architectural surface. I have already noticed that the decoration of a room should be in character with its architecture, but that while this should be so, the ornament applied by way of enrichment should not be a servile copy of the decorative forms employed in t'tg 63. ages gone by, but should be such as is new in character, while yet of the spirit of the past. .Many circumstances tend to determine the nature of the decoration which should be applied to a ceiling: thus, if a ceiling is structurally divided into square panels, the character of the ornament is thereby restricted, and should these panels be large it will probably be desirable thai each be fitted with the same ornament; while if they arc small three or four different patterns may be employed, if arranged in some orderly or methodical manner. TREATMENT or JOISTS IN A CEILING. 7 'J A ceiling may also have the joists or beams visible upon it : in this case the decoration would have fco be of a very special character. The bottoms of the joists Fig. 54. might have a string pattern upon them (a running pattern), as the "Greek key," or guilloche ; whilst the sides might have either a running pattern, or a pattern with an upward tendency, as the "Greek honeysuckle;" and the ceiling intervening 80 PRINCIPLES 01' DESIGN. between the joists might have a running pattern, or better, a star, or diaper pattern, or it mio-ht have bands running in the opposite direction to the joists, so as, with thern, to form squares, which squares might be filled with ornament. If, however, the ceiling is flat, and is not divided into sections structurally. Fig. 55. almost any " setting out " of the surface may be employed, as Fig. 53 ; or a large centre ornament, as Figs. 54 and 55 ; or a rosette distributed over the entire surface, as Fig. 50. In any case it is not necessary or even desirable that the ornament be in relief upon the ceiling. Flatly treated ornaments may be employed with advantage, and all fictitious appearance of relief, as we have already said, must be avoided. COLOURING OF FLAT CEILINGS. M There are so many different ways of setting out ceilings, that I cannot attempt even to make any suggestions. I would simply say, however, Avoid an archi- tectural setting out, if there are no structural members; for ornament which is Hat may spread in any manner over a surface without even appearing to need structural supports. As to the colour of a ceiling it' there is to be no ornament upon it, let it be a cream-colour (formed of white with a little middle-chrome) rather than white. Cream-colour always looks well upon a ceiling, and gives the idea of purity. A grey-blue is also a very desirable colour for a ceiling, such as is formed of pale ultramarine, white, and a little raw umber, just suffi- cient to make the bine slightly grey (or atmos- pheric). In depth this blue should be about half-way between the ultramarine and white. Another effect which I like is produced by the full colour of pure (or almost pure) ultramarine. In this case the cornice should l>e carefully coloured, and pale blue and white should prevail in it, but a little pure red must be present. A further and very de- sirable effect is produced by placing pale cream-coloured stars irregularly over the pale blue, or even the deep blue ceiling, or by placing pale blue stars upon the cream-coloured ceiling. The stars should vary for an ordinary room ceiling (say a room sixteen feet square by ten feet high) from about three inches from point to point down to one inch ; the larger stars having six points ; others being smaller and with five points ; and the small ones having, some four points, and some three. If such stars are irregularly (without order) intermixed over the ceiling, and yet are somewhat equally dispersed, a very pleasing and interesting effect will thereby be produced. This effect is in much favour with the Japanese. The stars, however, should be smaller if placed on a deep, than on a pale, blue ground. Another good effect is produced by giving the ceiling the colour of Bath, or Portland, stone, and starring it with a deeper tint of the same colour. This effect 82 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. is improved by each star having 1 a very fine outline of a yet darker tint of the same colour. I should recommend those interested in the decoration of ceilings to study carefully the Egyptian, Alhambra, and Greek Courts at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, especially the two last named ; also to notice the ceiling in St. James's Great Hall, Piccadilly, London, and the ceiling of Ushaw College chapel near Durham. The ceilings in the Oriental Courts, by Mr. Owen Jones, at the South Kensington Museum are worthy of careful notice ; but the Renaissance ceilings in other parts of the Museum are both wrong in principle and are bad examples of their style. The structurally formed glass ceiling of the Crystal Palace Bazaar in Oxford Street, London, and still better, the ceiling of Mr. Osier's glass warehouse in Oxford Street, are well worthy of note. On the Continent we very frequently meet with ceilings on which large pictures have been painted, as in the Louvre and the Luxembourg in Paris ; and the authorities of the South Kensington Museum are making efforts to introduce this style into England, but such pictorial ceilings are in every way wrong. 1st. A ceiling is a flat surface, hence all decoration placed upon it should be flat also. 2nd. A picture can only be correctly seen from one point, whereas the deco- ration of a ceiling should be of such a character that it can be properly seen from any part of the room. 3rd. Pictures have almost invariably a right and wrong way upwards. A picture placed on a ceiling is thus wrong way upwards to almost all the guests in the room. 4th. In order to the proper understanding of a picture, you must see the whole of its surface at one time ; this is very difficult to do without almost breaking your neclc, or being on your back on the floor, if the picture is on the ceiling ; whereas an ornament which consists of repeated parts may render a ceiling beautiful without requiring that the whole ceiling be seen at the one glance. Most of the French pictorial ceilings are so painted that they are properly seen when the spectator stands with his back close to the fire. This is very awkward, as the rules of society do not allow us to stand in this position before company. Pictorial works are altogether out of place on a ceiling ; they ought to be framed and hung right way upwards upon walls where they can be seen. We have a well- known painted ceiling at the Greenwich Hospital. Arabesque ceilings, such as that of the Roman Court at the Crystal Palace, are also very objectionable. What can be worse than festoons of leafage, like so many sausages, painted upon a ceiling, with griffins, small framed pictures, impossible flowers, and feeble ornament,all with fictitious light and shade? But not content with such absurdities WALL DECORATIONS. S3 and incongruities, the festoons often hang upwards on vaulted or domed ceilings, rather than downwards. Such ornaments arose wdien Rome, intoxicated with its conquests, yielded itself up to luxury and vice rather than to a consideration of beauty and truth. Decorations like these were to an extent again revived by the great painter Raphael ; but it must ever be remembered that Raphael, while one of the greatest of painters, was no ornamentist. It requires all the energy of a life to become a great painter ; and it requires all the energy of a life to become a great ornamentist ; hence it is not expected that the one man should be great at the two arts. In all ages when decorative art has flourished, ceilings have been decorated. The Egyptians decorated their ceilings, so did the Greeks, the Byzantines, the Moors, and the people of our Middle Ages, and a light ceiling appears not to have been esteemed as essential, or as in many cases desirable. It is strange that so few of our houses and public buildings contain rooms with decorated ceilings ; but the want is already felt, the fashion has set in, and many are at this present moment being prepared. We must get simple modes of enrichment for general rooms — modes of treatment which shall be effective, and yet not expensive— and then we may hope that they will become general. Division II. — Decorations op Walls. We must now devote ourselves to the consideration of wall decoration, or to the manner in which ornament should be applied to walls with the view of rendering them decorative. It will appear absurd to say that all ornament that is applied to a wall should be such as will render the wall more beautiful than it would be without it ; but this statement is needed, for I have seen many walls ornamented in such a manner, that they would have looked much better if they had been perfectly plain, and simplv washed over with a tint of colour. To ornament is to beautify. To decorate is to ornament. But a surface cannot be beautified unless the forms which are drawn upon it are graceful, or bold, or vigorous, or true, and unless the colours applied to it are harmonious. Yet how many walls do we meet with even in good houses — -walls of corridors, walls of stair- cases, walls of dining-rooms, walls of libraries, and, indeed, walls of every kind of room — which are rendered offensive, rather than pleasing, by the decorations they bear. A wall may look well without decoration strictly so called, and this statement leads me to notice the various ways in which walls may be treated with the view of rendering them beautiful. A wall may be simply tinted either with "distemper" colour, or oil colour " flatted." Distemper colour gives the best effect, and is much the cheapest, but it is not durable, and cannot be washed. Oil colour when flatted makes a nice wall, 84 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. whether "stippled" or plain, and is both durable and washable. An entire wall should never be varnished. I say that a wall can look well even if not decorated. Let me give one or two s.ea.fcSMftF Fig. 58. Fig. 57. instances ; but, perhaps, I had better give treatments for the entire room, including the ceiling, and not for the wall simply. A good effect of a very plain and inexpensive character would be produced by having a black skirting, a cream-colour wall (this colour to be made of the Fig. 59. colour called middle-chrome and white, and to resemble in depth the best pure cream), a cornice coloured with pale blue of greyish tint, with deep blue, white, and a slight line of red, and a ceiling of blue of almost any depth. The ceiling colour to be pure French ultramarine, or this ultramarine mixed with white and a touch of raw umber (the cornice blues to be made in the same way). The red DECORATIVE DESIGN. IUnstrxuting Cornice, Ceiling & JIM Colouring. WAIX DKCOUATIONS. 85 in the cornice to be deep vermilion if very narrow (one-sixteenth of an inch), or carmine if broad.* A room of a slightly more decorative character would be produced by making the lower three feet of the wall of a different colour (by forming a dado) from the upper part of the wall : thus, if the other parts of the room were coloured as in the example just given, the lower three feet might be red (vermilion toned to a rich Indian red with ultramarine blue) or chocolate (purple-brown and white, with a little orange-chrome) ; this lower portion of the wall being separated from the upper cream-coloured portion by a line of black an inch broad, or better by a double line, the upper line being an inch broad, and the lower line three- eighths of an inch, the lines being- separated from each other by five- eighths of the red or chocolate. I like the formation of a dado, for it affords an opportunity of giving apparent stability to the wall by making' its lower portion dark ; and furniture is invariably much improved by being seen against a dark back- ground. The occupants of a room always look better when viewed in conjunction with a dark background, and ladies' dresses certainly do. The dark dado gives the desired back- ground without rendering it necessary that the entire wall be dark. If the furniture be mahogany, it will lie wonderfully improved by being placed against a chocolate wall. The dado of a room need not be plain ; indeed, it may be enriched to any extent. It may be plain with a bordering separating it from the wall, such as Figs. 57, 58, and 51), or the coloured border on Plate I. (frontispiece) ; or it may have a simple Hower regularly dispersed over it ; or it may be covered with a geometrical repeating pattern, in either of which cases it would have a border ; or it may be enriched with a specially designed piece of ornament, as Fig. 60. This particular pattern should not, however, be enlarged to a height of more than twenty I:ti:ri:g3.n.t3:g3.iy.g3.g:i.r3 Km. :.:'. In some parts of the country it is customary to wash the cornice over with quick-lime. If this has been done the lime must be carefully removed, for lime will turn carmine black. 80 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. to twenty-four inches; but if of this width, and above a skirting of twelve or fifteen inches, it would look well. I have designed two or three narrow dado papers for Messrs. Wylie and Lockhead, of Glasgow, which are about eighteen inches broad, and are printed in the direction of the length of the paper, so as to save unnecessary joins ; and Messrs. Jeffrey and Co., of Essex Road, Islington, are issuing a complete series of my decorations for walls, dados, and ceilings. If the dado is en- riched with ornament, and the cornice is coloured, and a pattern spreads all over the ceiling, the walls can well lie plain, but they may be covered with a simple "powdering" as the patterns in Fig. 01, if these are in soft colours, or with patterns such as those set forth in colours r too small. Jt may also he formed of gracefully curved parts, or of straight lines or circles, or of any combination of these elements; lad, preferably, not wholly of straight lines. Were it not for the fact that much of this central portion of the cloth is to be covered by articles of the dinner-table, it might well he furnished with a central ornament, repeating only in quarters ; hut as such an orna- ment, in order that it he satis- fying, requires to be seen as a whole, it is not desirable that such he here employed. A diaper pattern that repeats many times in the centre is preferable, as the pattern can then he seen in a satisfactory manner. The border of a table-cloth, like all fabrics that are to be seen in folds, requires special treatment, for what looks well when seen as a flat surface may not look well when seen on a waved surface. Tender and graceful curves are lost when viewed upon folds, for they here appear as mere wormy lines. On the contrary, right lines, whether horizontal or diagonal, and circles, all look well when seen upon wavec grounds. These lines become, owing to the folds of the fabric, curves of a subtle character. The manner in which lines become influenced by falling on a curved surface can be readily illustrated by forming semicircles of paper, and folding them into cones, after having drawn upon them a series of circles (Fig. 85) or straight lines (Fig. 8(i). If these cones (Figs. 87 and 88) are now viewed from above, or in such a manner that the eye rests over the apices, it will be seen that the circles have now become richly varied curves, each having somewhat the form of a blunt heart or cardioid (Fig. 89), and that the straight lines become horse-shoe-shaped (Fig. 90). These illustrations will be sufficient to show that what is plain when seen upon a fiat surface may be delicate and satisfying if seen upon a curved surface; and will also lead us to understand that what may be delicate and refined when' seen upon a flat Fig. 91. 112 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. surface may become feeble and unsatisfactory if falling upon a waved ground. I have said that stripes or straight lines, if crossing a folded fabric, are satisfactory. This is so in almost all cases, the only exception being in ladies' dresses.. Here lines crossing the fabric are not satisfactory, as they become rings around the body, which appear to divide it into hoop-like strata. The patterns of dresses may consist of narrow, ver- tical stripes, as these are collected together at the waist of th ■ figure, and fall into graceful curves with any motion of the body, but the very op- posite is the case with window-hangings. All vertical stripes are here highly offensive, while horizontal stripes are thoroughly satis- factory. A consideration of the window-hanging materials made in Spain, Algeria, and on the Morocco coast, will show us the beauty of horizontal stripes; and in some of the little Fig. 92. Algerian warehouses, such as we have in Regent Street, London, and in the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, we see some of these fabrics of a most interesting character. To state in a concise form the laws which should govern the application of ornament to certain fabrics which arc to be seen in folds, I should say — 1st. Great simplicity <>f pattern is necessary. 2nd. Circles, straight lines crossing the fabric, and diagonal lines are all correct in such a case, and are improved by the folds, which form them into subtle and beautiful curves (Fig. 91). OK \\\ MENTATION OK FABRICS SEEN IN lor. lis. L13 3rd. If curves are tender and graceful, they become commonplace od a w. or folded ground. Itli. The size of the pattern should be considered in relation to the size of the folds of the material. Fig. 93. In Germany a kind of ornament is applied to rich stiff fabrics which is almost peculiar to the country. This ornament is rich, bold, hard or stiff in its lines, and in every way adapted for the decoration of a costly fabric which falls in large folds, the folds changing- the hard and stiff lines into graceful curves. This should also he noted respecting these curious yet beautiful patterns, that they are always simple in 114- PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. plan, however rich in detail, and are invariably founded on a geometrical basis. " German Gothic " is a name by which such ornament may he distinguished (flat Gothic ornament has always been quite distinct from the stone and metal ornaments of Gothic building's, which have solid and not merely superficial form), see Figs. 92 and 93. This parti- cular class of ornament forms the background to many old pictures, a most interesting col- lection of which exists in the museum of Cologne, and is cer- tainly worthy of the most careful study. As to flat silk- wall -damasks, which are used in some of the upper-class houses as wall-papers are used in the middle-class houses, all that need be said is that they should be treated as wall decorations, and not as fabrics which are to he seen folded. "Were I asked whether 1 approve of these damasks as wall cover- ings, 1 should say, "Certainly not." A wall is better treated as a wall, and not so covered with drapery as to leave space for vermin between the wall and its enrichment. There is also the further objection that the lines where the fabric is joined are visible, and these arc most certainly objectionable. Besides the illustrations of German ornament just given, we figure also a specimen of Indian embroidery on cotton (Fig. ill). I cannot too strongly recom- mend the designer of patterns for woven goods to study the native fabrics of India, exhibited at the Indian Museum, Whitehall. Besides the collection here brought together, there is also in most of our Fig. 94. INDIAN E.MISIiOIDERY ON' COTTON. HE manufactnring towns a large series of specimens of these cloths deposited with the Chamber of Commerce, and these can he consulted by all respectable members of the Fig. 95. Fig. 96. community. Speaking of these Indian fabrics, Mr. Redgrave says, in his Report on Design prepared for the Commissioners of the International Exhibition of 1S51 : — " These are almost wholly designed on the principles here presumed to be just ones 116 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. — the ornament is always flat, and without shadow ; natural flowers are never used imitatively or perspectively, but are conventionalised by being displayed flat and according to a symmetrical arrangement ; and all other objects, even animals and birds, when used as ornament, are reduced to their simplest flat form. When colour is added, it is usually rendered by the simplest local hue, often bordered with a darker shade of the colour, to give it a clearer expression ; but the shades of the flowers are rarely introduced. The cloth of gold figured in the loom (Fig. 95), and part of an Indian scarf (Fig. 96), illustrate fully these remarks. The ornament is geometrically and symmetrically arranged, flat, in simple tints, and bordered, as above described, with darker shades of the local colour. The principle of colour adopted is a balance of the complementaries red and green, in both cases with white introduced to give points of expression, and to lead the eye to the symmetrical arrangement of the ornament. In Fig. 95 purple is introduced to harmonise with the gold ground, a harmony very frequently used in the rich tissues of India. In Fig. 96 variety has been obtained by introducing two reds, giving an interchange of a lighter tint in every other flower in the border. The borders of these scarves are beautifully illustrative of the simple and graceful flowing lines which characterise Indian ornament; and in Fig. 96 we can observe the difference between the Eastern and the mediaeval patterns — while the same principles are acknowledged in both, the latter are often stiffer and more angular than the graceful sprigs of this border. Both these works show how much beauty may be obtained by simjde means, when regulated by just principles, and how perfectly unnecessary are the multiplied tints by which modern designers think to give value to their works, but which increase the difficulties of production out of all proportion to any effect resulting from them — nay, often even to the absolute disadvantage of the fabric. If we look at the details of the Indian patterns, we shall be surprised at their extreme simplicity, and be led to wonder at their rich and satisfactory effect ; it will soon be evident, however, that their beauty results entirely from adherence to the principles above described. The parts themselves are often poor, ill-drawn, and common-place; yet, from the knowledge of the designer, due attention to the just ornamentation of the fabric, and the refined delicacy evident in the selection of quantity and the choice of tints, both for the ground, where gold is not used as a ground, and for the ornamental forms, the fabrics, individually and as a whole, are a lesson to our designers and manufacturers, given by those from whom we least expected it." Much that Mr. Redgrave here says is worthy of careful consideration, and I can do no more than recommend the student to study these beautiful Indian fabrics, and consider them in conjunction with the remarks which we have made respecting them and fabrics in general. CHAPTER VII. Division I. In this chapter I have to commence our consideration of pottery, and of hollow vessels especially; and this I do with considerable pleasure, as works in pottery enjoy a longer existence, though through the character of the material of which they are made they are more fragile, than those formed of almost any other substance. Many works of Greek pottery are known to us, and not a few such works by the ancient Egyptians, and these are preserved not as fragments merely, but as works in their entirety, and with the same beauty that they possessed when first they left the hands of the workman. Clay is a most desirable material with which to form works of utility and of beauty, and this for many reasons. First, it is so inexpensive as to be almost valueless; secondly, it is easily formed into vessels of almost any required shape ; thirdly, it is capable of being " worked " into shapes of great beauty by a momentary exercise of skill ; fourthly, clay is naturally of many beautiful colours ; fifthly, it is capable of receiving by application to its surface any amount of colour, and of preserving such colours as are applied to it in an unimpaired state for ages ; and sixthly, it is susceptible of the highest art-finish, or the bold sketchy touch of the modeller's hand. I say that clay is a very desirable material for formation into vessels of various kinds, because of its inexpensive character. This quality of cheapness gives to the material an advantage over many other substances of a much more costly character, such as should not be overlooked, for the long existence which so many works of earthenware have had is mainly due to the worthlessness of the material of which they are composed. In my first chapter I gave an extract from the writings of Professor George Wilson, showing that gold and silver, while beautiful in themselves, and worthy to be fashioned into exquisite devices, are yet too tempting to the thief, and to all who are pressed for means, to remain long in the form of art-works. Families who have been reduced in circumstances, and have thereby been constrained to part with their old plate, have melted it, so as to hide their shame. To illustrate this, let me quote from the " Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, as applied to the Decoration of Furniture, Arms, Jewels, etc., translated from the French of M. Jules Labarte, 1S56." After giving the names of many workers in the precious metals, the author says : — " We may form some idea of what artists these Italian goldsmiths were of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, and what admirable works they must have produced. But, 118 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. alas ! these noble works have almost all perished ; their artistic worth proving no safeguard against cupidity or necessity, the fear of pillage, or the love of change. But a very few names even of those skilled artists have descended to us, and in making known those preserved to us in the writings of Vasari, Benvenuto, Cellini, and others, we can rarely point out any of their works as being still in existence. " Cellini tells us that while Pope Clement VII. was besieged in the castle of St. Angelo, he received orders to unset all the precious stones that were upon the tiaras, the sacred vessels, and the jewels of the sovereign pontiff ; and to melt down the gold, of which he obtained 200 pounds. How many artistic treasures must have perished in the crucible of Cellini." We now see clearly that while clay is a much more fragile material than either silver or gold, its very worthlessness, despite its fragility, gives to it length of years. We have said that clay is easily formed into vessels of almost any required shape. This is so within certain limits. Throughout these chapters I have lost no opportunity of insisting upon the importance of working every material in a befitting manner, and in the most simple and easy way in which the material can be wrought. Almost every material can be simply " worked " in some way, or while in some particular condition. Glass has a molten state in which it can be " blown " into the most beautiful of shapes, and this process of blowing is the work of but a few seconds. Glass has also a solid condition, yet as it can be formed into works of great beauty by the exercise of momentary skill, it would be extremely foolish to take a mass of the solid glass, and by laborious grinding form it into a bottle or a bowl. It fortunately happens that if a material is worked in its most simple and befitting manner, the results obtained are more beautiful and satisfying than those which are arrived at by any roundabout method of production. Glass should be formed into hollow vessels only when in its plastic condition, for it cannot be shaped into the form of such vessels as we require when in its solid state without the expenditure of much unnecessary, therefore wasteful, labour. But if a mass of crystal or marble is required to assume the form of a bowl or font, then the laborious process of grinding must be resorted to, for these substances have no plastic state. The potter's wheel has been known from the earliest historic time, and this has at all times been the instrument with which the best earthen vessels have been formed. A mass of clay of suitable size is placed on a horizontal disc of wood, to which a rotary motion is imparted. The operator presses his thumbs into the centre of the clay, and then, by causing his fingers to approach his thumbs, manipulates the clay into a cup, a bowl, a vase, an earthen bottle, or whatever form he may please ; and if skilful, the operator can form objects of marvellous beauty with a rapidity thai astonishes all who see for the first time his mode of working. If potters would but content themselves, in order to the production of such CLAY AS A MATERIAL FOE ART PURPOSES. 119 articles as we require in common life, with the "potter's wheel/' we should be almost sure of a certain amount of beauty in domestic earthenware, but such is not the case. They make fancy moulds of plaster of Paris and of wire gauze, and roll out clay as the pastrycook does dough, and manipulate it as sc much pie-crust, instead of applying to it simple skill. Neither a bowl nor a plate need have a scalloped edge, indeed they are much better without it ; and if unnecessary, and even undesirable, absurdities were avoided, and a simple and natural method of working each material alone employed, a great improvement in art would speedily take place. It is strange but true, that the worker in one material seems rarely to be satisfied with making his works look as well and as consistent as possible ; he desires rather to form poor imitations of something else. We have all seen earthen jugs made in imitation of wicker-work, although to do so is obviously foolish, as no wicker vessel could hold water, and the thing imitated is much less beautiful than a thousand forms which clay is capable of assuming. Men's heads without brains are, or were at least, favourite jugs. "Well, that there are many models for this idea in Nature, I doubt not ; yet why we should copy them by making a jug in the form of a hollow head, I know not. I have in my possession a milk-jug, such as is common in the district of Swansea in South Wales, in the likeness of a cow. The tail is twisted into a handle ; by a hole in the back the milk is admitted, and through the mouth it is ejected. A more wretched and coarse idea it is scarcely possible to conceive of, yet the vulgar admire this jug. Let us work the material in a simple and befitting manner, and satisfactory results are almost sure to accrue. I have said that clay, as such, has many beautiful colours. Naturally clay is black, grey-white, red, brown, and yellow, and it is capable of assuming many desirable tints by the agency of chemical means. We do not use coloured clays as we should do. We want so much white — everything to look so clean. All ornamental ware, at least, should be artistic, and the art-effect should supersede that cold whiteness which the Dutch and the English mistake for cleanliness. A clay of good natural colour is not a thing to be hidden, or ashamed of. Clay is capable, when glazed, of receiving any amount of colour, and of preserving these colours in their beauty for almost any length of time. These qualities are invaluable to the ornamentist. Colour is not always at his disposal. The goldsmith has difficulty in getting it, but to the potter it is very accessible. Colour is capable of giving to objects a charm which they could not possibly have without it. Let us use the power thus placed at our disposal rightly and well, and ' then the enduring character of the colour-harmonies which we produce may gladden posterity in ages yet to come. Clay is susceptible of the highest art-finish, or of a bold sketchy treatment. Finish is very desirable in some cases. The cup which my lady uses in her boudoir 120 PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. should be delicate and fine, for what is worthy to approach the sacred lips of the occupant of a fair apartment but such a work as is tender and refined? As a rule, however, we over-estimate the value of finish, and under-value bold art-effects. Excessive finish often (but by no means always) destroys art-effect. I have before me some specimens of Japanese earthenware, which are formed of a coarse dark brown clay, and are to a great extent without that finish which most Europeans appear so much to value, yet these are artistic and beautiful. In the ease of cheap goods we spend time in getting smoothness of surface, while the Japanese devote it to the production of an art-effect. We get finish without art 5 they prefer art without finish. Fig. 97. Fig. 9S. Fig. 99. Fig. 100. We must now devote ourselves to a special consideration of the shapes of earthen vessels, and to the manner in which ornament should be applied to them. In bis primitive condition man appears to have used the shells of certain fruits as drinking vessels and bottles ; and to this day we find many tribes of uncivilised or half-civilised men using the same class of vessels. "Monkey-pots" (the hard shells of the Lecgthis allaria), the coverings of the Brazil nut [Bertholetia excelsa), and especially the rinds of the calabash and many species of gourd (Figs. 97 and 98),have been used iii this way.* The first efforts made at the production of earthen vessels wen- mere attempts al copying in day the forms of the fruit-shells which were in use as ill-inking vessels. After a power of forming earthen vessels, having a certain ■i nit of perfection of manufacture, was gained, we still find the origin of the potter's art manifested Irv certain works. Thus in China, where the potter's art lias * All who are interested in tins subject are referred to a paper published in the " Transactions of the Edinburgh Botanical Society/' for 1859, by Professor George Wilson, on tho " Fruits of the Cucurbitacese." CHARACTERISTIC SHAPES. 121 so long been understood, we still find vessels made in the form of the bottle-gourd, just as was their custom in the days of their first manufacturing efforts (Pig. 99). Before considering the shapes of vessels from a utilitarian point of view, 1 should tell the student that certain shapes are characteristic of different nations and of different periods of time. The Greek shapes, as we may call them — that is, the forms of those vessels which the Greeks produced — are of a particular class, and the vessels produced by the Egyptians are of a different type; while those of the Chinese, Indians, Japane e, and Mexicans again differ from each other, and from those of both the Greeks and the Egyptians. For grace of form the vessels of the old Greeks stand pre-eminent (Figs. 101 and 102) ; for simple dignified severity, those of the Egyptians (Fig. 100) ; for quaintness, those of the Mexicans (Fig. 103) ; for a combination of grace with dignity, those of the Cliinese (Figs. 104 and 105) ; and for a combination of beauty with quaintness, those of the Japanese (Fig. 100) ; while in many respects the Indian shapes (Figs. 107 and 108) resemble those of the Japanese. Fig. 109 is a water vessel from Ha, and Figs. 110 and 111 are jugs from Morocco. I cannot enter into any details respecting the characteristic forms of vessels produced by these various nations, but must content myself by giving a few illustra- tions of the various shapes, and leaving the matter with the learner for study. The British Museum, the South Kensington Museum, and the Indian Museum will aid him in his researches. It has been said that the character of a people can be told by their water-vessels. As the consideration of this statement will lead us to see how perfectly a domestic utensil may answer the end which it should serve, I will extract from my "Art of Decorative Design " a few remarks on this subject. This statement can well " be illustrated by the Egyptian and Greek water- vessels, the former of which has sides tapering to the top and slanting- inwards, a small orifice, and a rounded base, and the mouth of the vessel bridged by an arched handle, the whole being constructed of bronze (Fig. 112); the latter consists of an egg-shaped body (the broad end being above) resting upon a secure foot, which is surmounted by a large, divergent, funnel-shaped member (Fig. 113). It has no handle over the orifice, but has one at either side. " Not only do these vessels differ in form, but associated circumstances differ also ; and it is this variation in circumstances which brought about the difference in form of the two water- vessels. " The peculiarities of the Egyptian water-vessel are its formation of bronze, the roundness of its base, which renders it unfitted for standing, the narrowness of its mouth, and the handle arching the orifice ; and of the Greek, its being wrought in clay, the secure base, the wide mouth, the contraction in the centre, and the handle at either side. We should judge from these vessels that the Egyptians drew water i 122 Fig. 104. PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN. Fig. 105. Fig. 101. Fig. 110. Fig. 103. Fig. 107. Fig. 108. from a nvcr, or some position which required thai the vessel be attached t