Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/746

 604 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [Mar., of a fine oil-painting, were fairly treated as a picture, and hung upon the wall, being, as it really is, an artistic cartoon, executed in fine wool, it would be ex- actly in place ; and the mind, once con- tent, the eye would be gratified. So with the elaboration of vines, leaves, blossoms, flowers and fruits, in the car- peting used as wall-hangings. If the exhibition of " thick-pleached" nature were congruous, that is, if bourgeon and leaf, bud and fruit, belonging to different seasons, five or six months apart, were not all displayed together, both mind and eye would be satisfied, as in the other case. Nay ! as cornice festoons, or ceiling tracery, all these gorgeous reliefs might please; but what consistent individual can submit to their resurgent challenge beneath his feet. A sort of compromise with the con- gruous underlying principle, here ad- vanced, appears in many patterns of " office Brussels," wherein panelings are formed by the interlacing and re-inter- lacing of broad parti-colored bands. This supposes the thickness of the car- pet to be raised at all the intersections, which, therefore, if real, would be apt to catch the toes and cause tripping. Now, some may smi'RTat this, as a super-refine- ment for a sub-support ; but there is, actually, a great deal in it. The true law is this : All enrichments of this description should be drawn in outline and tinted flat. The expression of the parts of all objects must also be in simple lines. All shades and shadows are tabooed. Whenever this simple position' is chosen and main- tained, the result must be right. It does not matter what are the subjects presented. All nature, animate or in- animate, and all art are fully admissible, under this simple restriction. The partly-educated designer will ex- claim, " You first bind us and then bid us fly I" Not at all. Any one, pretty conversant with the superb geometrical designs of the Arabians and of the Moors of the Middle Ages, d splayed in the mosaics of their court-yards, and the stuccoes, or carvings, upon the walls and ceilings of their palaces, as set forth in the magnificent works of Murphy and others, will be ready to assure the dis- consolate, that unnumbered generations of genius could not exhaust this pecu- liar vein ; while those who have glanced through Hay's folio upon Design in Car- petings will also be prompt to dissuade the designer from despair, as it is pal- pably evident, from the latter, that modern outline art is as fertile as that of the Dark Ages. If the designer were restrained merely to lines, the scope afforded him would be inexhaustible. But how shall we term his field of action, when he may not only use all the primary, secondary and tertiary colors, pure, in every possible combination of mechanical juxtaposi- tion, but can equally indulge in ail the tints and hues, produced by and from the above, besides the further variet}'' obtainable from the general tone, which maybe either geometrical, or chromatic, or both. Working upon this fundamental prin- ciple, the best carpet manufacturers of Europe have produced some charming specimens, as depicted in the rich and costly plates ef the Reports, Displays, Descriptions, &c, of the various great National Competitive Collections, from the original World's Fair of Great Brit- ain to the late Exposition of France. It is, indeed, a feast for the eyes, to turn over these combinations of sweep- ing lines with unmingled colors. The method is equally applicable to the most intricate, as well as the simplest sub- jects ; and in these days of pseudo-art, mistaken art and art run mad, in the matter of oil-cloths, carpetings and floor- cloths, happy is that family, possessed of true taste, in this direction, which has been able to gratify such taste ; for falsely flourished carpets in relief are many ; but true, flat carpets, with their patterns in outline, and their colors bright, plain, and plane, are few.