Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/582

 FOURTH PERIOD 566 CONCLUSION special character to Scottish Renaissance work which renders the study of it full of interest. Mr. Billings thinks it remarkable that the panels of the plaster ceilings should contain representations of Roman emperors, Classic heroes, and Scripture characters, and points to these as a proof that the work was executed by foreign workmen. He declares that had the designs been produced by native artists they would, as true and patriotic Scotsmen, have filled their panels with the heads of Bruce and Wallace or other national heroes. But that is a theory which requires much stronger evidence to support it. The figures used are those which invariably accompanied the revival of the Classic taste and ideas, in painting and literature, as well as in architecture. In England, France, and Germany we find the same Classic and Scripture personages repre- sented almost to the exclusion of native worthies.