Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1040

 1010 COTTAGE, FAIlxM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. style of colouring will be found to correspond best with the massive description ot the furniture : gilding, unless in very small quantities, for the sake of relief, should be avoided." 2019. Parlours " ought to be painted in a medium style between that of a drawing- room and that of a dining-room." 2020. For Libraries, " the most appropriate style of colouring is solemn and grave, and no richer colouring should be employed than is necessary to give the effect of gran- deur, which can scarcely be done where one monotonous tint prevails ; but care should be taken not to disturb the quiet and solemn tone which ought to characterise the colour- ing of all apartments of this description." 2021. In Bed-rooms a light and cheerful style of colouring is the most appropriate. A greater degree of contrast may here be admitted between the room and its furniture, than in any other apartment ; as the bed-curtains, &c., form a sufficient mass to balance a tint of equal intensity upon the walls. There may also, for the same reason, be ad- mitted gayer and brighter colours upon the carpet. 2022. Staircases, Lobbies, Vestibules, §-c., " should all be of rather a cool tone; and the style of colour should be simple and free from contrast. The effect to be ])roduced is that of architectural grandeur, which owes its beauty more to light and shade, tlian to any arrangement of colours. Yet they ought not to be so entirely free from colour as the exterior of a mansion, but should be in colouring, what they are in use, a link between exterior simplicity and interior richness. Staircases and lobbies, being cool in tone, and simple in the style of their colouring, will much improve the effect of the apartments which enter from them." {Hay's Harmonious Colouring, p. 28.) We strongly recom- mend Mr. Hay's work to every painter who aims at excellence in his profession, and to every amateur who wishes to judge for liimKelf. To those who are at such a distance from Mr. Hay as not to be able to employ him, we would suggest the idea of sending him descriptions of their rooms, with the kind of furniture, hangings, and carpets which they are intended to contain, the mode of lighting, proportionate surface of pictures, &c., and to procure from him directions for proceeding, togetlicr with specimens of the dif- ferent tints which he would recommend to be employed. Next to this we would recom- mend applying to an eminent scene-painter. This is the practice in Paris. In London, the house-painter of the greatest taste that we know is Mr. Fair, of Mortimer Street, whom we can strongly recommend. 2023. The Arabesque is a description of fanciful ornament, comprising a great variety of objects, brought together apparently without order or reason. Though it chieflj belongs to the Italian style, yet it is applicable to any manner of finishing; because the objects, brought together, may always be chiefly taken from the style of Architecture employed, and from natural objects. At first siglit of an arabesque, the mind of a person imaccustomed to see this description of ornament, is apt to ask, what can be llie meaning of such a composition? The answer, according to Quatremere de Quincy, is to be found in the natural love of mankind for the marvellous. Man is not able to create any particular object, but he can create combinations of objects already existing. He can bring together objects which are never found together in nature ; he can compose plants and animals different from any plants or animals now existing, by joining the parts of one animal or jilant to the parts of another ; or by joining parts of animals to parts of plants. In short, the composition of arabesques is a capricious exercise of the imagin- ation, by an artist whose mind is richly stored with ideas, and whose hand has great facility with his pencil. Nevertheless, in all this, the same author observes, there must reign a certain comparative regard to truth, and to the production of a liarmonious whole. For example, the most delicate foliage must not be represented as supporting an object of great weight ; solid bodies must not be shown as hanging in the air ; in every thing, possibility must be kept in view, and the whole must express a unity of purpose, and a harmony of lines, forms, and colours. No one ought to attempt the arabesque, whose mind is not fertile in resources, and whose pencil is not apt in delineating every description of object. The term arabesque, the author quoted has shown, is erroneously applied to ornaments of this description ; for, so far from their having been invented by the Arabs, they were found on the walls of the ruins of Hcrculaneum and Pompeii ; and, indeed, the Arabs are forbidden by their religion to imitate the figures of men or animals. In short, this mode of varying the forms of natural objects is seen more or less in all architectural sculptures; and, indeed, in all imitations of nature, not intended to be fac similes, or scientific representations, of animals or jjlants. 2024. Eiji/ptian Ornaments. Mr. Hope recommends young artists " never to adopt, except from motives more weighty than a mere aim at novelty, the Egyptian style (jf ornament. The hieroglyphic figures, so universally enijiloycd by the Egyptians, can afford us little pleasure on account of their meaning, since this is seldom intelligible : they can afford us still less gratification on account of their outline, since this is never agree-