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Contemporary with Michel Angelo was Raphael (1483-1520), who displayed the highest capacity for grace and refinement in painting. His principal mural paintings are in the stanze of the Vatican, where four rooms are painted in fresco, almost entirely by Raphael. The Loggia of the Vatican, by Bramante, was also decorated by Raphael and his pupils. The then-recent discoveries of the Baths of Titus and House of Livia, with their Roman mural painting, influenced in a remarkable degree the decorative painting of the Cinque-Cento period. These arabesques (or, as they were termed, Grotteschi, being found in the supposed caves or grottos of Roman gardens), were utilised by Raphael in the decoration of the pilasters, piers, and walls of this Loggia. The designs were painted with a fine range of colour upon white ground, and enclosed within borders of modelled stucco ornaments. In the panels upon the ceiling, Raphael painted a series of 52 incidents of the Bible. These are spoken of as “Raphael’s Bible.”
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Raphael was assisted in this work of the Loggia by many contemporary artists: Giovanni da Udine (1494-1564), Giulio Romano (1492-1546), Francesco Penni (1488-1528), Perino del Vaga (1500-47), and Primaticcio(1490-1580), who completed much of the work after Raphael’s death. These artists carried his traditions and methods to other parts of Italy. Giulio Romano executed some fine mural decorations at the Villa Madama in Rome; and for Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, he enriched with beautiful decorative paintings and arabesques, the Palazzo Ducale and the Palazzo del Te. These arabesques were upon richly coloured or parti-coloured grounds (see plates 86-9 “Grammar of Ornament,” by Owen Jones).
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These arabesques of Raphael’s, which were excelled by later ones of Giulio Romano, show a great inventiveness and skilful combination of parts, but they are not to be compared with the refined and beautiful modelling and harmonious composition of the contemporary carved work of Andrea Sansovino (1460-1528), Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570), Agostino Busti, Pietro Lombardo (1500), and his sons Tullio and Antonio. These delicate reliefs have the traditional Roman acanthus, but treated with a fine feeling for relief modelling, and beauty of line; vases, masks, shields, and similar accessories are found in profusion in some examples (fig. 3,plate 19). The composition of the Cinque-cento ornament is symmetrical, the details being varied and most interesting in the best work, and whilst lacking the vigour and symbolism of the Lombardic and Byzantine styles, it excelled them in its absolute adaptation to architectural conditions, with perfection of design and craftsmanship.
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Andrea Mantegna (1431-1517) executed nine paintings or cartoons in tempera upon linen, representing the triumphs of Julius Cæsar, which are a portion of the cartoons for a frieze 9 feet high and 80 feet long, painted for Lodovico Gonzaga’s Palace of St. Sebastian at Mantua, they were purchased by Charles I., and are now at Hampton Court. An illustration of this frieze, from an engraving upon copper in the British Museum, is given on page 55; they were also engraved on wood by Andrea Andreani in 1599.
Many beautiful examples of the Cinque-Cento ornament may be found in contemporary printed and illuminated books. The advent of printing in Italy (1465) by the Germans, Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannitz at the Benedictine Monastery of Subiaco, near Rome, gave a great impetus to Literature, and printing rapidly progressed in Italy, more especially at Venice, where in 1499 Aldus Manutius produced the Hypnerotomachia, or dream of Poliphilus
RENASCENCE ORNAMENT.Plate 19.Image unavailable: RENASCENCE ORNAMENT. Plate 19.
with illustrations ascribed to Mantegna. Good reproductions of many of these early illustrated books are given in the “Italian Book Illustrations,” by A. W. Pollard, No. 12 of the Portfolio, December, 1894; and in “The Decorative Illustration of Books,” by Walter Crane.
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The study of classical architecture was stimulated by the publication at Rome in 1486, of the treatise by Vitruvius, an architect of the time of Augustus; an edition was also published at Florence in 1496, and at Venice in 1511. In 1570, Fra Giocondo, at Venice, published “The Five Books of Architecture,” by Andrea Palladio (1518-80). Another treatise upon architecture, by Serlio (1500-52), was also published at Venice in 1537 and 1540.
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Beautiful types of the Renascence decorative art were the Venetian well-heads, situated as they were in most of the public squares of Venice, and in many of the court-yards of her princely palaces. Designed with details of the most varied and beautiful character by such artists as Andrea Sansovino, Pietro Lombardo, and his sons Tullio and Antonio, the Venetian well-head became a type of beauty, diversified in its treatment, but never losing its characteristics or its usefulness. Venetian well-heads display a great variety of form and decoration. The earlier examples are square or circular, with enrichments of Byzantine character, consisting largely of interlacing, circular, and angular lines, enclosing quaint bird and animal forms. In the later examples the Renascence treatment is used with singular richness and appropriateness, the grace, delicacy and diversity of detail being a tribute to the vivacity and artistic feeling of the Venetian Republic. These well-heads, worked mostly in white marble and evincing good judgment in the quality of relief, now show comparatively little injury after centuries of usefulness. Occasionally they were of bronze, of which two fine examples are still in position in the court-yard of the Doge’s Palace.Many of these well-heads are carefully treasured in our European Museums, teaching us that beauty of form, and perfection and delicacy of ornament are quite compatible with usefulness, when used by an artistic people.
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The Renascence in Italy was remarkable for the many magnificent secular buildings erected during the 15th and 16th centuries in the chief cities in Italy.
InFlorencethe palaces have a severe dignity of treatment, with bold rusticated courses of stone-work, circular-headed windows, and finely-proportioned cornices. The first Renascence palace was the Riccardi (1430) by Michelozzi (1370-1440); and it was followed by the Pitti (1435), by Brunelleschi (1377-1444), the Rucellai (1460), by Leon Battista Alberti (1389-1472), the Strozzi (1489), by Cronaca (1454-1509), the Gondi (1490), by Giuliano Sangallo (1443-1507), the Guadagni and the Nicolini, by Bramante (1444-1514), the Pandolfini (1520), by Raphael (1483-1520), and the Bartolini (1520), by Baccio d’Agnolo (1460-1543).
InRomethe palaces were characterised by largeness of scale and the frequent use of Ionic and Corinthian pilasters or columns, and square-headed windows with triangular or curved pediments. The chief palaces in Rome are the Cancelleria (1495) and the Giraud (1506) by Bramante (1444-1514), the Farnesina (1506), the Massimi (1510), and the Villa Ossoli (1525), by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536), the Palma and the Farnese, by Antonio Sangallo (1476-1546), the Borghese (1590), by Martino Lunghi, the Laterano, by Fontana (1543-1610), and the Barberini, by Carlo Maderno (1556-1629), Borromini (1599-1667), and Bernini (1598-1680).
InVenicethe palaces were rich and varied; with the frequent use of pilasters, semi-columns and circular-headed mullioned windows suggested by the earlier Gothic palaces. The Renascence period commenced here with the re-building of the court-yard of the Doge’s Palace (1486) by Antonio Bregno, and completed in 1550 by Scarpagnino. Then came a beautiful series of buildings, the chief being:—the Vendramini, the Trevisani, and the Gradenigo Palaces, by Sante Lombardo (1504-1560); the Cornaro Palace and the Library of St. Mark’s, by Sansovino (1479-1570), and the Grimani Palace by San Michele (1484-1559).
Towards the close of the 15th century, the vigorous and beautiful Gothic architecture of France, with its rich traceried and mullioned windows, its niches and canopies, its crocketed spires and varied treatment of floral enrichment, lost its vitality; and was succeeded by the Renascence style, which at first was purely Italian, but afterwards, with the intermingling of Gothic traditions and craftsmanship, became a distinct phase of the Renascence.
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French Renascence may be broadly divided into distinctive periods: 1st. The earlier or transitional, 1453-1515, when the influence of the Renascence began to be felt. 2nd. 1515-47,François Premier. This period is remarkable for the number of Italians engaged by Francis I. for the embellishment of the Château Fontainbleau, the principal being Rosso, painter; Serlio and Vignola, architects; Primaticcio and Penni, ornamentists, Benvenuto Cellini, with his beautiful goldsmiths’ art; and Girolamo della Robbia, who produced enamelled Terra Cotta. The work of these renowned craftsmen necessarily had a marked influence upon the traditional French art. Of the architecture of this period, there is the south-west angle of the Louvre, commenced in 1548 by Pierre Lescot (1510-78), and enriched with sculpture by Jean Goujon (1515-72), who also executed the sculptures that embellished the beautiful Château Ecouen, by Jean Bullant (1515-60), and the beautiful fountain of the Innocents at Paris, of which an illustration of one of the panels is here given. The tomb of Louis XII., at St. Denis, by Jean Juste (1518), is remarkable for the purity of its enrichments.
3rd.Henri DeuxandHenri Quatreperiod, 1547-1610, when the building of the Tuileries was commenced in 1564 by Philibert de Lorme (1500-78), the building of the Louvre being continued by De Carreau and Duperac; the Luxembourg being subsequently built by De Brosse, 1610. This period was also represented by theexquisite Ceramics of Oiron or Henri Deux Ware, and the fine geometrical interlacings and arabesques of the bookbindings of Grolier.
Image unavailable.Image unavailable.4th period, 1610-43, underLouis Treize, when considerable skill was shown in the carved and painted shell and scroll ornament, and in the bookbindings of Le Gascon.
Image unavailable.5th.Louis Quatorzeperiod, 1643-1715, of which the palace of Versailles and the Château Maison, by François Mansard (1598-1666), are typical examples of architecture. The decorative compositions of le Pautre (see annexed illustrations), and the richly-decorated furniture, with marquetry in tortoise-shell and brass, by André Boule (1642-1732); the magnificent Gobelins tapestry, so liberally encouraged by the Minister Colbert (1667); and the beautiful Rouen pottery; are characteristic of the industrial and decorative arts.
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6th.Louis Quinzeperiod, 1715-74, when the Rococo style was paramount, the vitality of the preceding periods being lost. The pastoral scenes by the painter Watteau (1684-1721), and the inlaid furniture of Jean François Ochen (1754-65), for Madame de Pompadour, are typical of this period.
7th.Louis Seize, 1774-89. The arts of this period are more refined and reserved in line, as evinced in the fine marquetry furniture of Riesener and David Roentgen with the ormolu mountings by Gouthière (1740-1810), for Marie Antoinette.
The last period,Empire Style, 1804-70, when purely classical forms and Greek enrichments prevailed throughout the whole of the decorative arts.
The English Renascence period began during the reign of Henry VIII., and was contemporary with that of France under Francis I. It was Torrigiano, a contemporary of Michel Angelo, who about 1519 brought this new Renascence style into repute by erecting the tomb of Henry VII., and that of the Countess of Richmond, in Westminster Abbey.
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English Renascence was further developed by Hans Holbein (1498-1554), who came into this country in 1526, followed by craftsmen from Flanders, Germany and Italy. This intermingling of Flemish, German and Italian styles with the traditional Gothic of our own country, distinguishes English Renascence from that of France and Italy. The marked prevalence of interlacing strap-work, which is so characteristic of Elizabethan and Jacobean ornament, had its origin in Flemish sources.
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Of English Renascence architecture, Caius College, Cambridge, (1565-74), by Theodore Hare, of Cleves, and Longleat House (1567-79), by John Thorp, are the earliest examples extant. The Wonderful Palace of Nonsuch (of which no trace remains) was erected by Henry VIII. about 1530-40, doubtless in the Renascence style, as we know that it was embellished with beautifully enriched stucco ornaments and figures by Tolo del Nunziato. Robert Smithson built Wollaton House in 1580. Hardwicke Hall and Haddon Hall are of the later Elizabethan age (1592-97). Typical buildings of the Jacobean period are Holland House (1607), Hatfield (1611), Bolsover (1613), Audley End (1616), Crewe Hall and Aston Hall (1620). These are all enriched with many beautiful examplesof modelled plaster work. That at Longleat and Hardwicke being executed by Charles Williams, and at Audley End, by Bernard Jansen (1615).
English stucco-work of this period often consisted of geometrical panelling similar in style to the Tudor fan-tracery and the pendentives of the preceding century. These richly-moulded pendentives were connected together by bands of pierced strap-work decorated with arabesques in low relief. From 1615 to 1650 the panels were composed of purely geometrical forms, such as circles, squares, lozenges and interlacing quatre-foils, enriched with delicate arabesques, the ribs or mouldings frequently having a repeating pattern impressed in the soft plaster.
The many fine friezes of this period were remarkable for their boldness of conception and their skilful craftsmanship; frequently a double frieze was used, the lower part consisting of delicate arabesques and interlacing strap-work, while the upper part was of boldly modelled cartouche and delicate arabesques. During the latter part of the 17th century, owing to French influence, the stucco enrichment usually consisted of acanthus foliage and festoons.
From Charles I., (1625), to Queen Anne, (1702), the purely Italian Renascence prevailed; the Banqueting House at Whitehall, by Inigo Jones, (1572-1652), being a fine example of this period. St. Paul’s Cathedral (1675-1710) by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) and his many beautiful churches in London, mark a distinct epoch of English Renascence; the tradition being carried-on by Vanbrugh (1666-1736) who built Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. Other architects of this period were Hawksmoor (1666-1726), Kent (1684-1754), Gibbs (1674-1754), Chambers (1726-96), who built Somerset House, and Robert Adam (1725-92), who carried on the traditional method of stucco enrichment, but in a more rigid and formal classic manner. His geometrical panelling of hexagons, octagons, and ovals, was enriched with conventional renderings of the acanthus and olive leaf arranged in small units and repeated without variation over the whole of the surface. These enrichments were cast in plaster or compo and were mechanical in treatment, lacking the beautiful decorative quality of the modelled stucco of the early 17th century. The Wellington Monument in St. Paul’s Cathedral, by Alfred Stevens, is distinguished from much of the modern work by its strong vitality and architectonic treatment of the composition, and the beauty and singular grace of its detail.
MAHOMETAN ORNAMENT.Plate 20.Image unavailable: MAHOMETAN ORNAMENT. Plate 20.
Of mediæval history as associated with the decorative arts, the rise and development of the Arabs is the most remarkable. The wide appreciation and liberal patronage of the arts by the Khalifs; the influence of its religion and precepts upon contemporary and later periods of art; the distinct individuality and geometrical arrangement of its ornamentation; all had a most marked effect upon tradition and craftsmanship.
The history commences with Mohammed,A.D.570-632, who founded and consolidated the empire, of which, under Omar,A.D.635, Damascus became the capital; inA.D.638 Kufa and Bassora were founded in Persia. InA.D.641 Egypt was conquered and the Mahometan capital, Fustât, founded. Persia was conquered inA.D.642, Spain invaded inA.D.711, Bagdad in Persia became the capital of the Arabian Khalifs inA.D.762, and inA.D.827 Sicily was conquered; but it was not until the dynasty of Ibu-Tūlūn,A.D.868-914, that the history of Cairene art begins, of which the mosque of Ibu-Tūlūn in Fustât, or old Cairo, is the earliest example. Under the Fatimy dynasty,A.D.867-1171, Cairo was founded, and the arts, receiving further encouragement, were now introduced into Sicily and Europe. InA.D.997 the Mahometan invasion of India took place. InA.D.796-965 the mosque of Cordova was built, and inA.D.1236 the kingdom of Granada was founded and the Alhambra was built by Mohammed ben Alhamar,A.D.1248, and Mahometan art, as exemplified in the architectural decorations, arms and armour, woodwork, ivory, textile fabrics, and illuminated books, reached its culmination under the Mamlūk dynasty,A.D.1250-1516.
Thus the Arabs, from a roving tribe, became, by religious zeal and conquests, the most powerful and wealthiest nation of mediæval times, assimilating and influencing the customs and the arts of the different nations and provinces.
The termMahometan ArtincludesArabian,Moresque,Persian,Indian, andSicilian, all having the same characteristics yet distinguished by the racial influence and custom. The Arabian is marked by its flowing, interlacing, and symmetrical lines, geometrical arrangement (doubtless derived from Byzantine sources), and its prevalence of inscriptions or texts from the Koran. In Spain a more complex geometrical arrangement is found, intermingled with a flowing foliage or arabesque of a purely conventional type. This style is noticeable for its entire absence of any natural forms and its abundant use of inscriptions, and glazed and enamelled tiles, distinctly influenced of Persian tradition though purely geometric and formal. These tiles cover the lower part of the wall, the upper portion, as also the ceiling being decorated with arabesques of modelled plaster in flat relief, of two or more planes, enriched with red, blue, white and gold; this is typical of the Moresque style. The Sicilian work is remarkable for its beautiful fabrics of silk and the prevalence in its ornament of birds, animals, and heraldic forms, showing the continuity of the traditions of Persia.
PERSIAN ORNAMENT.Plate 21.Image unavailable: PERSIAN ORNAMENT. Plate 21.
The early art of Persia was similar to that of Assyria and Babylon, having the same forms, materials, and traditions. With the accession of the Sassanides (A.D.223) came the introduction of the elliptical dome, so typical of eastern architecture. This dome rested on pendentives which occupied the angles of the square base. These pendentives and the elliptical dome are distinctive features in Mahometan architecture.
The industrial arts of Persia were largely influenced by the traditional arts of Assyria and Chaldea; this tradition was carried on with rare skill and selective power by the Persians, culminating in the splendid period of Shah AbbasA.D.1586 to 1625. The vitality, beauty, and interest of detail, combined with perfect decorative adaptation to material, are characteristic of the textiles, pottery, metal work, and illuminated manuscripts of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.
The Mahometan conquest of Persia,A.D.632 to 637, by Abu Bekr, the successor of Mohammed, largely influenced the development of the arts of the Persians, who adopted the customs and habits of contemporary races, yet preserved all the characteristics of their art; and there is no doubt that the art of the Arabs was founded upon the traditional arts of Persia.
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Persian decoration is characterised by a fine feeling for form and colour, and for the singularly frank renderings of natural plants, such as the pink, hyacinth, tulip, rose, iris, and the pine and date. These are used with perfect sincerity and frankness, and are essentiallydecorative in treatment, combining harmony of composition of mass, beauty of form, and purity of colour. It was doubtless owing to these qualities, together with the perfect adaptation of ornament to material, that the Persian style so largely influenced contemporary work, and especially the European textile fabrics of the 16th and 17th centuries. The illustrations given are of some familiar types of Persian adaptations of natural flowers, doubtless chosen for their significance, beauty of growth and form, and appropriateness of decorative treatment. Purely Arabian forms, as given in plate 21, are frequently associated with the Persian floral treatment, showing the influence of the Artists of Damascus. Many fine examples of lustred wall tiles, dating from the 10th and 11th centuries, are in the South Kensington Museum, of which the blue, brown, and turquoise colouring is of a splendid quality. They often have Arabic inscriptions interspersed with the floral enrichments. Examples of wall tiles of the 8th century have been found in the ruins of Rhages.
These lustred tiles are a remarkable instance of tradition or hereditary proclivity. This art, beginning with the enamelled bricks of Babylon, and the later frieze of Susa, page 16, with its brilliant enamel and fine colour, was continued by the Persians, and, passing to the Arabs, the tradition was carried to Cairo, Spain and Majorca; thence into Italy, where enamelled lustred ware was made, differing from the original Persian by its frequent absence of utility, which was fundamental to the art of the Persians.
Mahometan ornament has four broad divisions, viz.: Arabian, Moresque, Indian, and Persian; and they are characterised by strongly-marked compartments or fields which are filled with finer and more delicate enrichments. These compartments are most pronounced in the Moresque with its complex geometric interlacing and entire absence of natural forms (figs. 4, 6, 7, and 8, page 62). The Arabian style is somewhat similar, but less formal. The Indian has a conventional rendering of plants, and the introduction of the lion, tiger, and the elephant (fig. 2,plate 23); while in the Persian work there is a still less formal constructive arrangement, with floral forms clearly defined in line and mass, and the introduction of the human figure with the horse, the lion, the tiger and birds. Note the illustration in Textiles which is taken from a fine carpet in the South Kensington Museum. In this carpet, animal forms, chosen with rare selective power and judgment, are combined with the typical floral enrichment of Persia, with the wealth of colour, admirable spacing of detail and mass, beauty of incident and vigour, and appropriateness of treatment. These are features that distinguish the industrial designs of Persia, and it is doubtless due to the interest and vitality of their ornament that we owe the remarkable influence of Persian art upon the contemporary and latter craftsmanship of Europe.
PERSIAN ORNAMENT.Plate 22.Image unavailable: PERSIAN ORNAMENT. Plate 22.
INDIAN ORNAMENT.Plate 23.Image unavailable: INDIAN ORNAMENT. Plate 23.
The civilization of India dates from the remote past, but the oldest remains of its art and architecture are connected with the Buddhist religion, introduced by the prophet Sakya Muni,B.C.638. This influenced the arts of India tillA.D.250, when the Jaina style was adopted. The examples of Buddhist architecture consist of Topes (which were sacred or monumental temples, either detached or rock-cut), and monasteries. The rock-cut temples usually consist of a nave and aisles, and a semi-circular recess containing a statue of the seated Buddha. The hall has square or octagonal columns, with bracket capitals (fig. 1). The finest examples of these temples are those at Ajanta, which are richly-decorated in colour with incidents of Hindoo mythology. The fine temples at Ellora, which are cut entirely out from the rock, are of the Jaina period,A.D.250. The pagodas at Chedombaram are of the Brahmin period, as is also the great hall of 1,000 pillars, which is 190×340 feet, containing the sacred image of the god Siva.
Alexander the Great conquered IndiaB.C.327, and doubtless left the influence of the Persian tradition in India. This influence was still further developed by the commercial intercourse of Persia and India, and by the Arabian invasion of India inA.D.711, when a Mahometan dynasty was established, 711 to 1152. This largely controlled and influenced the arts under the Mogul dynasty, 1525-1837, when the decorative arts and the manufacture of the beautiful woven brocades and silks were fully developed. The splendid carpets and rugs, printed cottons, metal work, and fine enamels of this dynasty bear a remarkable tribute to the vitality, originality of ideas, and the practical utility of the industrial arts of India.
Indian ornament has the typical Mahometan division of spaces, but is more flowing and graceful than the pure Arabian style. These divisions are filled with fine conventional floral forms, as the lotus, the date or hom, the iris, the rosette and the pine. This pine is treated occasionally as a single flower, but more frequently as a cluster of flowers, which still retains the distinctive form of the pine (figs. 2, 4 and 6).
Typical also of this period is the judicious treatment of the elephant, lion, tiger, peacock, and the human figure, as accessories in the decorative arts of India. They were applied with rare knowledge and skill, combined with an artistic perception of applied art, showing a very strong affinity with contemporary Persian ornament.
Indian ornament has a more conventional rendering of natural forms, than the frank treatment of Persian ornament. Block printing upon silk and cotton fabrics reached a high degree of perfection during the last century. The inventiveness and significance of detail; the charm of composition of line and mass, and the beautiful colour of these printed fabrics are a reflex of the decorative feeling for beauty by the people of India.
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ORNAMENT.Plate 24.Image unavailable: CHINESE AND JAPANESE ORNAMENT. Plate 24.
The early bronzes, enamels, porcelain and textile fabrics of China are indicative of the perfection and luxuriance of the decorative arts of that ancient Empire. This perfection is shown by a Splendid technic and a fine appreciation of colour and ornamentation, differentiated from the western nations by myths, traditions, and the remarkable persistency of a few typical forms through many centuries, doubtless owing to the profound ancestral worship and veneration for the past. The Dragon was represented under many aspects, frequently forming vigorous lines of composition (fig. 3, 4). The beautiful flora of the country largely influenced Chinese art. The peony and chrysanthemum (frequently highly conventionalized), are typical examples, forming the elements of decorative design. Geometric forms, such as the hexagon, octagon, and the circle, enriched with flowers or the fret, are largely used. The many splendid examples of bells, gongs, and incense-burners in bronze and iron:—the carvings in wood, ivory, and jade:—the beautiful woven silks and embroidered fabrics, and the richness and purity of their porcelain, all testify to the versatility and vitality of the Chinese decorative arts in the past. Their architecture was usually of wood, distinguished by complexity and quaintness of form rather than beauty of proportion and detail, but their pagodas or temples were of brick encased with glazed tiles, the most remarkable of these erections being the Nankin Pagoda of the Ming dynasty (A.D.1412-31), with its imperial yellow tiles.
The arts of Japan, though doubtless owing their origin to China, are differentiated by a keener observation of nature and a more literal treatment of landscape, bird and animal life, and the beautiful flora of the country—the “kiki” or chrysanthemum, the “botan” or peony, the “kosai” or iris, the “yuri” or lily, the “kiri” or paulawina imperialis (somewhat resembling our horse chestnut), the “ume” or plum, the “matsi” or fir, and the “taki” or bamboo,—likewise the peacock, the crane, the duck, the pheasant and many smaller beautiful birds, together with reptiles, insects, and fishes; all are elements in the decorative arts, being rendered with remarkable fidelity and delicacy of touch, united with a fine feeling for composition of line. It is this literal treatment of natural types, the marvellous technic and especially the significance of the forms chosen that constitutes the charm of the earlier Japanese art. It is singular that the materials used by the Japanese should be of little intrinsic value. Having no jewellery, they use little of the precious metals; iron, bronze, enamels, wood and lac, being the chief materials utilised in the decorative arts of Japan.
IVORIES.Plate 25.Image unavailable: IVORIES. Plate 25.
doubtless owing to its beautiful texture, colour and adaptability for delicate carving, has been in use from a remote period. Egypt, Assyria, and India have each contributed many beautiful examples of fine craftsmanship, indicative of the artistic culture of the centuries preceding the Christian Era. Of Solomon we read in I Kings, 18, x: “Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold.” This traditional use of ivory was most probably derived from Egypt, the source of so many of the decorative arts.
In the Periclean age of Greece, ivory was used for the figure of Athene Parthenos by Pheidias, placed inside the Parthenon. This statue of the standing goddess, 40 feet high, was of gold and ivory (calledchryselephantine sculpture), the drapery being of beaten gold and the exposed parts of the figure of carefully-fitted pieces of ivory. A seatedchryselephantinefigure of Jupiter, about 58 feet high, in the temple of Olympia, was also by Pheidias. Pausanias the Roman traveller enumerates some tenchryselephantinestatues which he saw in his travels,A.D.140.
The Roman period is noted for the many beautiful Consular diptychs, which may now be seen in our national museums. They consist of two ivory leaves usually 12 by 5 inches, the inside having a slightly sunk plane covered with wax for writing upon, the outside being enriched with delicate carved reliefs (figs. 7, 8, and 9). These diptychs were given by new consuls on their appointment, to their friends and officers of the state. The consul is usually represented seated on the cushioned curule chair, or chair of state, and his name is generally written across the top of one leaf.
The Byzantines enriched the covers of their manuscripts with ivory, of which an illustration is given in fig. 6; the ivory throne of Maximian, Archbishop of Ravenna,A.D.546-556, is also of this period. A beautiful treatment of ivory was used in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Saracens of Egypt; they frequently worked a fine geometric inlay of ivory upon ebony; in other examples ivory panels were pentagonal, hexagonal, or star-shaped, and carved with delicate arabesques, the framing of the panels being of cedar or ebony. In India ivory carving reached a high degree of perfection, especially in the many ivory combs, with pierced and relief work representing the figure of Buddha surrounded with foliage and richly caparisoned elephants.
In the Carlovingian period, 8th to 10th centuries, ivory was largely used for coffers or small chests. During the early Gothic period in Italy and France, ivory crucifixes, pastoral staffs, croziers, statuettes and triptychs were made in large numbers; and the ivory combs and mirror cases of the Renascence period have fine reliefs of legendary or allegorical subjects. Of pictorial ivories the modern Japanese craftsmen show the highest technical skill, combined with a keen perception of nature and movement, yet their ivories lack the beauty and dignity of composition and the decorative treatment of the early and Mediæval ivories.
MOSAICS.Plate 26.Image unavailable: MOSAICS. Plate 26.
The durability, range of colour, and appropriateness of material and treatment to architectural conditions, has placed the art of Mosaic as the chief decorative enrichment of architecture. Its antiquity is unquestionable, for in the Book of Esther, i, 6, we read “of a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black marble.”
Mosaic is the art of forming patterns by means of pieces of variously-coloured materials, fitted together, and is broadly divided into three classes: (1)Opus Tesselatum, or clay mosaic; (2)Opus Lithostratum, or stone mosaic; (3)Opus Miserum, or glass mosaic. These divisions are again sub-divided into: (1)Opus Figlinum, or ceramic mosaic, formed of a vitreous composition and coloured with metallic oxides; (2)Opus Signinum, small pieces of tile; (3)Opus Vermiculatum, sub-divided into (a)Majus, black and white marble, (b)Medium, in which all materials and colours were used, and (c)Minus, of minute tesseræ, principally used for furniture inlay; (4)Opus Sculpturatum, slabs of marble hollowed out and filled in with grey or black marble; (5)Opus Alexandrinum, inlay of porphyry and serpentine; and (6)Opus Sectile, formed of different laminæ or slices of marble of various colours.
It was in Rome that the art of Mosaic was brought to its greatest perfection, during the 1st and 2nd centuries,A.D., and many splendid examples of this period are now in the museums of the Vatican and at Naples. The finest example came from the House of the Faun, Pompeii, and represents the battle of Issus, between Alexander and Darius. This mosaic, of the 3rd centuryB.C., is probably a copy of a Greek painting.
Many fine Roman mosaics have been found in England at Cirencester, London, Lincoln (fig. 6), Leicester, and at Brading in the Isle of Wight.
The tradition was carried on in Italy at Ravenna and Venice, where theOpus Miserumreached its culmination. Of the Ravenna mosaics, those of the Baptistery,A.D.450, and of S. Apollinare are typical examples of the earlier Byzantine mosaics, having dark green and gold back-grounds with tesseræ about ⅜ inch square. The beautiful frieze of male and female saints in S. Apollinare extends along both sides of the nave, and is 10 feet high. The vaulting and domes of St. Mark are entirely covered with the characteristic 11th century Byzantine gold ground mosaic, formed by fusing two pieces of glass together with gold leaf between. At Santa Sophia, Constantinople, other fine mosaics exist of the 6th and 7th centuries. In Italy under the Cosmati (a family of mosaicists of the 13th and 14th centuries), fine geometrical inlaid mosaics were used for the enrichment of marble tombs and altars; some good examples of this style are in Westminster Abbey on the tomb of Edward the Confessor (finished under Henry III,A.D.1270).
GREEK CERAMICS.Plate 27.Image unavailable: GREEK CERAMICS. Plate 27.
It is difficult in the 19th century to realise the importance of vases in ancient life. To the Greeks a vase was a receptacle for food, liquid, or storage, and for the adornment of the home. It was used in the daily life of the living and buried with the dead. Most of the finer Greek vases have been found in Etruscan tombs, but of Greek workmanship, imported from Greece or Grecian Colonies. Some black unglazed Etruscan vases have been found, but painted vases of Etruscan origin are rare.
Early Greek pottery, dating probably from the 10th centuryB.C., has been found in Greece, the Colonies of Rhodes, Cyrene in Africa, and Naucratis in the delta of Egypt—these, showing an historic development, are arranged in groups, each with its distinctive characteristic:—(1st) Primitive vases, simple in shape, handles small or absent, decorations in simple line, punctured or incised, or in raised slip. (2nd)MycenæorColonial(B.C.900-700) vases, often covered with a creamy slip; the designs painted in brown and black, being derived from geometric patterns with marine and animal forms. (3rd)DipylonorGeometric(B.C.700), with fret pattern enrichment, and panels with rude figures of men and animals in black and brown. (4th)Phaleron Ware(B.C.700-550), with continuous bands of animals, probably derived from Phœnicia or Assyria (fig. 4). Among the animals depicted, are placed portions of the fret pattern, a survival of the previous style. The details are incised through the black or brown figure, showing the colour of the clay body. A development of this Phaleron Ware was the introduction of the rosette, taking the place of the fret pattern, between the figures or the animals. (5th)Black Figure Period(B.C.600-480), vases, fine in profile, and with good handles, the body of the vase, in red ware, being painted with subjects of Grecian mythology in black, and the details incised; the faces, arms, and legs of the female figures afterwards painted in white or red slip, and fired at a lower heat. TheAmphora(fig. 5) was the chief form of this black figure period, some fine examples are signed by Exekias and Amasis. (6th) the Transitional period (B.C.500-470), when the black silhouette figures on a red ground gave way to theRed Figure Periodon a black ground. Artists of this style were Epiktetos, Pamphæios, Nicosthenes, and Pythos. Many of the vases by Nicosthenes resemble contemporary metal work in their shape and handles. The 7th group (B.C.470-336), also red figures on the black ground, was the period when Greek fictiles reached their highest perfection, the chief form employed being theKylix. A fine series of theseKylikes, signed by Cachrylion, Euphronios, Duris, Pethenos, and Hieron, are in the British Museum.
A vase produced specially for funeral purposes was theAthenian Lekythos, the body of which was covered with white slip, then painted in polychrome with subjects of singular appropriateness.