Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1031

 EXTERIOR FINISHING OF VILLAS. 1007 Chap. V. Of the Finishings, Fittincfs-up, Fixtures, and Furniture of Villas, 1991. In studying the Subject of the Finishing of Villas, the reader will take into con- sideration, with the first two sections of this chapter, what is stated in the first two sections of Chap. III. of Book I. p. 258, and also Section VI. of Book II. p. 650. The fixtures, fittings-up, and furniture of villas may in like manner be elucidated by reference to those of cottages and farm-houses ; and the reader should, therefore, turn to the sections in our second Book treating upon these subjects, the references to which he will find in the Table of Contents, or in the General Index. Sect. I. Of the Exterior Finishing of Villas. 1992. The Exterior Finishing of Villas may be considered with reference to archi- tectural style, and to general decorations applicable to all styles : the former includes the projections, mouldings, lines, and forms which belong to each system of Architecture ; and the latter such ornaments as statues, sculptures, &c., which may be introduced into elevations in any style or manner. 1993. The Display of Architectural Style in the Exterior Finishings of Villas may be obviously carried to a greater extent than in cottages, farm houses, or other dwellings of an humbler and less expensive description. In a cottage, for example, the windows are often left without architraves, or exterior facings ; but in a ^illa these should not be omitted, unless in styles where some other mode of finishing is substituted. The entrance doors to villas ought never to be without porches or porticoes, and these should be of a more imposing and arcliitectural character than those employed in cottages. Where the roof is concealed by a blocking course or parapet, the latter may be rendered ornamental by a balustrade, or by other open work, the piers of which maybe terminated by vases, or other sculptural ornaments. Blank windows, that is, openings in the shape of windows, without glass in them, or without some other object that may leave no regret that glass is wanting, we hold to be inadmissible, in either a cottage or a villa ; but, in a villa, blank windows are more especially objectionable. In cottages and farm houses, the walls may be of mud, of rubble-stone, of coarse bricks, or of some comparatively cheap material ; but in villas the material ought always to be of a durable kind, and also, if possible, of an agreeable or ornamental character ; stones ought to be squared, or, if rubble or coarse bricks be used, the wall should be covered with cement, finished in the manner of squared stone. The guiding principle in all this is, that, a villa being a dwelling of a higher class, there ought to be a higher quality of building material used in its constioiction, and a higher degree of architectural style displayed in its elevation. 1994. The Exterior Decorations of Villas which are common to different styles are chiefly, statues, sculptures, vases, urns, and other ornaments of stone. Exterior window blinds may also be included in this division of exterior finishing ; in addition to the various objects common to different styles, mentioned in preceding sections. 1995. Statues and Sculptures, as we have already observed, have at all times, and in all ages and countries, been associated with Architecture; and, indeed, in rude ages, as is still the case in remote districts of country, the occupations of the mason and of the sculptor are generally found united in the same person. There can, therefore, be no more appropriate ornament to the exterior elevation of a house than statuary works ; and this every one must feel who is capable of deriving pleasure from either sculpture or Architecture. A correct feeling or taste, and a sound controlling judgment, however, are necessary to giude the Architect in the disposition of statuary work. This disposition, as in similar cases, ought never to be left to the sculptor, who, from the feeling for his own art inseparable from artists, will be too apt to limit his views to his productions, instead of taking a comprehensive view of the effect of the whole. In the disposition of statues, either on the summits of the walls of a house, or on its pediments, porticoes, and porches, the Architect must chiefly be guided by the general principles of composition, though in some degree, also, by the style of Architecture which he has adopted. For example, in the Grecian style, it is most common to place statues where they will be seen backed by the sky, by some part of the building, or by the scenery surrounding it ; whereas, in the Gothic style, they are chiefly placed in niches. From the nature of the art of sculpture in entire relief, or statuary, which is altogether unsuitable for representing motion, groups of figures can seldom be used with effect in exteriors, except in tho';e sculptures which are called in alto, or in bas relief. Not only single statues are to be pre- ferred: but single statues in attitudes of repose ; never in attitudes implying motion, as in the Discobolus, which, though an antique statue, is essentially in bad taste. We may also notice, in this place, an error pointed out by ]Mr. Hope, which English sculptors.