Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/378

 348 Painting in Geemany. is to some extent atoned for by the nobility of the ex- pression of many of the heads. We may add that in technical dexterity in the use of tempera or water colours they excelled all their cotemporaries and predecessors, their works having as fine an effect as oil-paintings. (c) Decorative Painting. The decorative painting of the middle ages would repay separate study ; but our limits only permit us to point out that, at first purely geometrical, the designs were gradu- ally complicated by the introduction of animals' or birds* heads, finally leading to the profuse use of the grotesque element, which formed so distinctive a feature of Gothic art. The pointed or Gothic style of ornament was a re- production in decorative painting of the peculiarities of Gothic architecture and architectural sculpture. Flowers and foliage, human or animals' heads, the wings of insects or of butterflies, with an endless variety of zigzags, frets, and other ornaments, were grouped together in such a manner as to harmonise alike with the lines of the building and its decorative sculpture.