Decorated Gothic

No. 58. Early pointed Arch Mouldings.

The ornament was extremely conventional, that on capitals, crockets and other free positions consisting ofcrisply curling trefoil or cinquefoil groups of lobes having little resemblance to natural type.

The later windows became more elaborate in the tracery, which was essentially geometric, and further elaborated by cusping. Triforium arches and canopy heads being similar in design.

No. 59. Early pointed Gothic Capital.

No. 60. Pointed Gothic tracery Windows. A. Ely Cathedral. B. Meophan Church, Kent.

The central tower, which was common in theRomanesque, developed into the spire, which was carried to a great height; the lower part occasionally pierced with openings for purpose of interior lighting, forming the lantern.

The principal characteristics of the Decorated period are the form of the Arch, the elimination of detached shafts and the enlarged clerestory with increased lighting area.

The Arch, when used structurally, was still of the simple pointed form, but in small windows, niches and canopies, the shape at the head became ogival and the tracery displays considerable license as compared with that of the preceding phase.

No. 61. Early pointed Gothic Spire, Warmington.

No. 62. Decorated Gothic Windows. A. Merton College, Oxford. B. Cathedral, Oxford.

Mouldings were shallower as contrasted with theundercut hollows of the earlier period; in many instances the arch mouldings were merely a continuation of those of the supporting piers, which took the place of the earlier detached shafts.

The greatest innovation occurs in the foliage, in which natural suggestion is evident, adapted with considerable freedom, and skilful in execution.

No. 63. Decorated Gothic Carving, Chancel screen, Southwell Minster.

In the preceding style the foliage of the capitals invariably sprung from the necking, in simple firm curves, revealing the underlying bell-shape. In the Decorated period the foliage generally wreaths round the structural form, the detail being frequently deeply pierced and cut away at the back till it was almost detached, giving an extremely rich effect.

Diaper detail of pateræ, or foliage arranged in squares, occurs in the spandrils between arches.

No. 64. Decorated Gothic Mouldings.

Nos. 65 & 66. Decorated Gothic Capitals, leaves deeply undercut and wreathed round bell.

A distinct feature of this period and of the succeeding Perpendicular style, is the battlement, which was used in all suitable positions either as a parapet or as a cresting. The Decorated variety differs from the later, in that the moulded edges only appear horizontally, whereas in the Perpendicular period the moulded edge is continuous, being carried round the angles of the battlement.

Externally the spire gave place to the tower with culminating lantern.

During the period of the style known as Decorated Gothic, furniture was framed and panelled, and the details closely resembled those used in architectural decoration in stone.

No. 67. Decorated Gothic Spire, Whittlesea.

The general effect of Decorated is a tendency to horizontal banding, in contrast to the vertical effect of the earlier period, to which eventually the later Perpendicular reverted.

In the succeeding phase the Triforium which had gradually become less important, entirely disappeared and the clerestory windows enlarged, to the extent that this part of the structure became merely a frame for the increased glass areas.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that whereas in the early churches of the Romanesque period the interior effect was mysterious owing to inadequate openings for light, the later and growing tendency was to increase the lighting capacity by enlarging the windows of the clerestory.

Doubtless the development in the size of windows was due to some extent to the growing use of glass, which, though rare, was employed during the later Romanesque through Byzantine tradition.

No. 68. Perpendicular Gothic Bay shewing development of Clerestory.

These early windows were geometric in design, consisting of medallions, oval, circular or quatrefoil in shape, containing figure subjects set in a diapered background, the whole being executed in small pieces of coloured glass united by lead framings.

While the windows were single openings, this form of glazing necessarily restricted the size, though more adequate lighting was achieved by grouping two or more windows together.

With the development of tracery the technical difficulties were to some extent overcome; a window divided into comparatively small compartments could be more easily glazed than single openings of large size; thus glazed windows of greater dimensions were rendered possible.

No. 69. Perpendicular Gothic Windows.A. Aylsham Church, Norfolk.B. King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.

No. 69. Perpendicular Gothic Windows.

A. Aylsham Church, Norfolk.

B. King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.

In the Decorated windows the lower lights were devoted to the subject, which in many instances was carried through the area, regardless of the dividing bars or mullions. In the Perpendicular each light or opening had usually its own subject or figure, surmounted by canopies, the upper spaces formed by intersection of the tracery bars were occupied by various details suitable to the different shapes.

The Arch of the Perpendicular style is materially different, being composed of elliptic curves struck from four centres.

Mouldings became even more shallow in section, and the tracery less florid than formerly, though extremely rich in appearance when used in the profusion that developed in the fan vaulting of this period.

No. 70. Perpendicular Gothic Fan Vaulting. St. Mary, Aldermary.

The foliation reverted to a more conventional character, and became lifeless and monotonous in comparison with the Decorated work.

It must not be assumed that examples in every instance will be found complete in any of these phases;on the contrary, the various styles are to be found side by side in the same building, the result of later additions or rebuilding.

No. 71. Perpendicular Gothic Tower, All Saints, Derby.

Painted decoration and sculpture were also employed during the various periods; wood-work where necessary was used, and in detail was in harmony with the architectural character of the period.

No. 72. Coronation Chair, Westminster Abbey, 13th century.

The feudal period was not favourable to the development of domestic conditions, though considerable advance had been made by the fourteenth century, chiefly by the Italian states and in the principal cities. The importance of the latter is evidenced particularly in the City of London, with its merchant class and civic authorities, who, byreason of their wealth, attained potential political influence, the prevailing contentious conditions necessitating the continual raising of large sums of money.

Such conditions were favourable to the merchants, who, acting as bankers, supplied the means, and thus a class was established and apparently lived in profusion and some pretention to sumptuous environment.

No. 73. Bedstead and Cradle from M.S. in Bodleian Library, 14th century.

Similar conditions to those in England prevailed on the Continent with certain local variations. A big stride was made with the development of commerce, mainly through the agency of Venetian and Flemish merchants. The effect of increasing opulence as signalised by the appearance in the home of such comfort and refinement as had formerly been possible only for princes and great nobles.

Among the luxuries imported were Oriental silks, carpets and pottery.

No. 74. Fireplace, 13th century.

Whereas, throughout Europe generally, the Gothiccharacter in furniture and woodwork developed on similar lines, in Italy alone its appeal to the national sympathies was not strong enough for it to become thoroughly assimilated, and there the Byzantine style persisted.

The woods most in use were oak and chestnut. In Italy walnut and cypress were used—the latter being considered especially valuable for chests.

Early examples of Italian chests are decorated with closely spaced incised ornament, filled in with colour.

The Venetians derived from Persia and India a form of marquetry or inlay of ivory, metal and various woods, generally geometric in design. The wood used was stained in order to vary the colour.

Through the policy of seeking foreign princesses as brides for the English kings, foreign influences crept in, and had a marked effect on the development of style. Moreover, increasing commercial intercourse with the Continent paved the way for the introduction of the new ideas of the Renaissance then beginning to dawn in Italy.

The Wars of the Roses checked progress in many ways, but this was but the more rapid when peace was restored with the advent of Henry VII.

There was a great change in the character of the dwelling-house, which though still built on defensive lines, was also arranged with a view to domestic comfort and convenience. The commonest form of planwas that in which the buildings were grouped round a central court and surrounded by a moat. These buildings consisted of hall, parlour, kitchen and domestic offices. The hall itself was lofty, had an open-timbered roof, and was usually lighted from both sides. One end of the hall was invariably screened off, and as the screen did not reach to the roof the musicians’ gallery was placed above it. The fireplace was set in one of the side walls. The windows, as a rule, had few lights, and these had pointed and cusped heads. The upper rooms were accessible by staircases.

A not uncommon feature on the upper floor was the long gallery, which generally traversed the whole length of the building immediately under the roof.

The rooms were panelled most often to about two-thirds the height of the wall, while the remaining third was of plaster.

The ceiling also was of plaster, which was moulded into intersecting ribs arranged geometrically, sometimes with stalactite pendants at the intersections.

Fireplaces were made of stone, and chimney-pieces sometimes of wood.

Furniture was beginning to assume some of its modern forms, as shown by the chairs, which were railed, and copied from Italian models.

Buffets or sideboards with closed cupboards were in use. Table legs were carved or turned, and connected by stretchers.

Windows were now glazed with leaded panes, and when made to open were of the casement type, with iron frames which were hinged and furnished with turnbuckle fastenings.

Doors seldom had locks, but usually shut with latches of wrought iron. The hinges also were of wrought iron, and though simple in form were often quite ornamental.

Henry VII and his successor were responsible for various country residences, an example which was followed by the nobility.

During the latter monarch’s reign it became the fashion to arrange the plan of the mansion in the form of the letter H; that is, in two parallel wings connected at a right angle. In the reign of Elizabeth this was modified into a plan resembling the letter E, otherwise a façade, with wings bent at right angles, with a central projection forming the main entrance.

In the domestic Tudor style the Arch was in vogue for window openings, etc., but much flattened in form.

The windows were divided into a number of lights, by vertical mullions, with arch headings, occasionally cusped. If of tall proportions, they were further divided by horizontal bars or transoms, and were glazed with small panes of glass set in lead frames, arranged in some cases to open in iron casements.

No. 75. Tudor Window with leaded lights.

An important factor in the development of this period was the Reformation, with the resultant libertyof thought. Before this, architecture and the associated arts were entirely dominated by the Church, at the sacrifice of the individuality of the artist and craftsman, who after this emancipation were enabled to exploit their work untrammelled by clerical restriction.

In some respects this was not productive of the best results, as it removed the various co-ordinated branches of work from the restraint of architectural dominance, with some loss to the unities. It also opened the way to the professional designer as distinct from the craftsman (who hitherto had been responsible for his share of the work) resulting in occasional loss of character.

The Renaissance, which had its origin it Italy, was the next factor in the evolution of architecture and the arts. As early as 1422 there were indications of the coming change, though the medieval system of construction was still adhered to.

Impetus was given to this revival by the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453A.D., resulting in the dispersion of the Greek scholars, who found refuge in Italy.

Gothic, essentially a Northern style, scarcely affected Italy, where Byzantine tradition persisted until the Revival of Learning in the latter half of the fifteenth century brought a fresh impulse into all branches of Art and Literature.

An awakened interest in classical remains was an integral part of the vitality with which the great changeknown in its culmination as the Renaissance was imbued; and the commercial prosperity of the times was favourable to its encouragement and development.

An active agent in this revival was Brunelleschi, a native of Florence, who in company with Donatello, visited Rome to study the remains of classical antiquity. His principal successor, Leo Battista Alberti, contributed largely to the new style. Ultimately the Roman Orders and their details were appropriated and adapted to local requirements.

The most prominent artists of the day turned their attention to the designing and making of wood-work, and the decoration of rooms.

No. 76. Strozzi Palace, Florence.

The earlier work is severely architectural in character, being closely based on the antique, with all the usual features of columns, pilasters, cornices and pediments.

The greatest achievement of the architects of the Renaissance was perhaps their adaptation of the antique Roman style to the modified needs of secular buildings, of which the Palazzo Pitti at Florence by Brunelleschi is an early and notable example. This creating a form of architecture which perhaps reached its noblest expression in the Palazzo Strozzi, begun in 1489A.D.by Benedetto da Majano.

As previously suggested, climate and local material are essential agents in the formation of style, and from Tuscany stone of large size was easily obtainable.

No. 77. Pandolfini Palace, Florence.

The contentious conditions existing in many of the Italian cities, entailing necessity for defence, must also be taken into account, and in connection with the foregoing were responsible for the massive and fortress-like construction of the principal dwellings of this period.

In the best examples of these, though columns andpilasters were not employed in the façade, the stories are proportioned as if the orders were used. The crowning cornice, however, is proportioned to the whole, varying in height between one fourteenth to one fifteenth.

From Florence the movement spread to Rome and other cities, but Venetian Renaissance indicates undoubted evidence of Lombardic influence.

Until the end of the fifteenth century the period was one of experiment, but from 1500 to about 1560 the style may be said to have attained a phase distinct and local.

At first the various features, structural and decorative, were frank reproductions from the antique, which were studied and measured, and from which systems of proportion were deduced by various exponents, among whom the names of Vignola, Palladio and Serlio are conspicuous.

The Roman version of the Renaissance, as distinct from that of Florence, was less massive, Rome being comparatively free from insurrectionary troubles. Columns and pilasters were used to divide the façade into bays, or in the inner courts, which were frequently arcaded, and the principal entrance became a prominent feature.

The founder of the Roman school was Bramante, born in 1444A.D., originally a painter, who was responsible for the original design of St. Peter’s, at the instigation of Pope Julius II.

The partly executed work was found to be too weakto bear the superstructure, and Bramante in the meanwhile dying, Raffaelle, Giocondo and Giuliano di San Gallo, and afterwards Baldazzare Peruzzi and Antonio San Gallo were engaged on the edifice.

No. 78. St. Peter’s, Rome.

Finally Michael Angelo was entrusted with the sole conduct, and St. Peter’s in its present form must be credited to him, with the exception of the nave, which was added by Carlo Maderno.

Of the secular buildings, the Farnese Palace, the work of San Gallo, is typical of the Roman adaptation of the antique architecture to the altered conditions.

To the above list of architects of the RomanRenaissance may be added the names of Sansovino, Vignola and Bernini, the last-named being the author of designs for the Louvre at Paris.

No. 79. Farnese Palace, Rome.

The Venetian States, since the twelfth century, had been growing in power, and the Republic’s rise in importance was favourable to the arts, particularly to architecture.

Local influence is evident in the comparatively restricted ground areas, entailing the maximum accommodation possible.

The Venetian school is distinguished by the profuse use of columns and arcading; also for the employment of circular-headed windows, frequently subdivided by tracery of smaller arched and circular forms, and by general lightness of effect.

The founder of the Venetian school was San Micheli, born in 1484A.D., who spent many years studying the ancient Roman monuments, and who was responsible for the Grimani Palace.

Jacopo Tatti, a Florentine, more usually known asSansovino, though mentioned in the Roman group of architects, was however more associated with Venice, his adopted city.

No. 80. Vendramini Palace, Venice.

Prominent among his works is the Library of St. Mark, which consists of two orders, an upper of the Ionic, supported by an arcade in which the Doric is employed, the whole surmounted by a balustrade with statues on the piers.

In the Venetian school must be included the name of Andrea Palladio, who possibly had a greater influence on the architecture of the time than any of his contemporaries; an influence that may be traced in the work of Inigo Jones, and in that of Sir Christopher Wren and his immediate school.

Vincenzo Scamozzi, who died in 1616A.D., like Palladio and others, was influenced by the antique, and was perhaps the last architect of the Venetian school to attain celebrity.

No. 81. Library of St. Mark by Sansovino, Venice.

A conspicuous feature of the Italian Renaissance was the development of painted decoration, which had in Italy succeeded the Byzantine mosaic.

As in this method of decoration, mouldings in relief were ineffective, and were replaced by decorative bands or borders, so in the succeeding painted work similar framings were adopted.

No. 82. Painted Decoration. Palazzo Publico, Sienna, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.

No. 83. Painted Ceiling in the Castello San Angelo, Rome, by Giulio Romano, from a drawing by Miss Dora Bard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.

No. 84. Painted Decoration in the collonade of the Villa Papa Giulio, Rome, showing Pompeian influence, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.No. 84. Painted Decoration in the collonade of the Villa Papa Giulio, Rome, showing Pompeian influence, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.

No. 84. Painted Decoration in the collonade of the Villa Papa Giulio, Rome, showing Pompeian influence, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.

No. 85. Ceiling-Painting from the Castello San Angelo, Rome, reminiscent of Graeco-Roman work, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.

Mosaics were in vogue in Italy to the twelfth century, when painted decoration came into favour, and notable in the exploitation of this latter phase was the school of Giotto in the early part of the fourteenth century.

Vaultings and spandrils were covered with painted subjects, strongly framed by ornamental borders, which served to strengthen the sense of construction in reinforcing the dividing ribs.

With the advent of the Renaissance, these divisional bands became more architectural in treatment, and large areas, such as ceilings, were subdivided, the sub-divisions being based on a logical sense of construction.

The name of Pinturrichio is associated with the Renaissance, among his works being the decorations of the Appartamenti Borgia in the Vatican, the Choir in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, and in Santa Maria Maggiore at Spello; contemporaneous was Perugino; another celebrated name is that of Gian Antonio Bazzi of Sienna, generally known as Sodoma.

Later exploiters of painted decoration, Raffaelle at the Vatican, Giulio Romano, Pierino del Vaga and Giovanni da Udine, were evidently influenced by the then recent discovery of late Græco-Roman decorations in the remains of the Baths of Titus.

The same influence is found also in minor details—in the decoration of rooms and in the various pieces of furniture.

Walls were panelled, sometimes enriched with carving, with inlaid patterns in intarsia, or with inlay of different woods in imitation of marble mosaic.Hangings of Genoese velvet or stamped and gilded leather were often used.

Chairs were at first simple in form, having straight backs and legs, with broad, elaborately carved rails at the head of the back and between the front legs.

Chests or cassone, called also marriage coffers, because it was customary to give them as wedding presents, generally took the form of the sarcophagus, supported on claw feet. In many instances they were decorated with gilt gesso, or were covered with exuberant carving.

With the development of inlay, which degenerated into picture making, some later examples show attempts at perspectives, in which arches, doors, balustrades and paved floors were depicted. Cabinets were invariably raised on open supports and furnished with doors enclosing compartments and sets of drawers, the fronts of which were frequently decorated.

No. 86. Venetian Table.

Tables were inlaid, carved and gilded. The prevailing form was a rectangular top, sometimes of marble, with wide, richly carved supports consisting of human and animal forms at either end; these were connected by a central stretcher at the base, from which sprang a series of arched forms reaching to the underside of the top.

Walnut was commonly employed for constructive purposes, and ebony and many other woods were usedboth for veneers and inlay, as also were such materials as ivory, tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl.

It is not easy to form an idea of the furniture in ordinary use, as the examples which survive and which can generally be seen in museums are misleading, being typical rather of that belonging to the nobility and wealthy classes.

Probably owing to the rougher usage to which it was subjected, and possibly also to its being but little esteemed by its owners, and consequently no effort being made to preserve it, the domestic furniture of the middle classes seems to have disappeared.

No. 87. Carved Walnut Chair. Italian, 16th century.

France had been brought into contact with the new architecture through the Italian wars under Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I.

The chief characteristic of the early French Renaissance is that the details of the new school were imposed on structures which were Gothic in general form.

Italian architects were employed by Francis I, and although in the many important buildings erected forhim he preferred native workmen, Italians were retained to furnish designs and lead the new style. Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Sarto were both employed in the decoration of Fontainebleau.

No. 88. Wood Panelling. Early French Renaissance.

Fontainebleau, Chateau de Chambord, Chenonceaux sur Loire, Chateau de Madrid and the commencement of the Louvre were all due to Francis I, and the Italian influence was strengthened by the marriage of Henry II with Catharine di Medici.

No. 89. Stone Chimney-piece, Fontainbleau, Henry II Salon.

Under the influence of Vignola and Serlio, the Italian style became more popular, and finally extinguished the lingering Gothic tradition; and eventually the assimilated style became local, the first prominent native exploiter being Philibert Delorme, the architect of the Tuileries, for Queen Catharine of Medicis.

Strapwork was a pronounced feature of this period, carved panels being subdivided by framings of straight and curved forms interlaced with cornucopæ and scroll work. Scrolling straps with I shaped incisions were also used.

No. 90. Wood Panel. Early French Renaissance.

Masks are of frequent occurrence, and sometimes form scroll centres.

Medallions were often employed, and were occupied by profile heads, and surrounded by foliated wreaths.

Pilasters were narrow, and had sunk and moulded panels, lozenge shaped in the centre.

In England great impetus was given to building, consequent on the suppression of the religious houses during the reign of Henry VIII, and mansions were erected in various parts of the country with some pretension to both external effect and domestic comfort, not merely by the nobility, but also by the wealthy merchant class.

From the rise of the Italian Renaissance a century elapsed before the new style began to affect English work.

No. 91. French Chair. Period Henry II.

In Italy classic tradition had never died, and consequently Gothic gained no real hold there, the best examples of Italian Gothic being inferior to those of France and England. In the early daysof the Revival of Learning, when interest in architecture was at its height, Italians set out to emulate the style of building and decoration which prevailed in ancient Rome. Gradually the same spirit spread to other parts of Europe. Students were attracted to the birth-place of the Revival, and workers and designers from Italy were eagerly welcomed by her neighbours.

Naturally enough each country interpreted the new style in a different way, and as it reached England chiefly through France and the Netherlands, the French and Flemish interpretations in turn influenced the development of the English style.

No. 92. Walnut Chair upholstered in Appliqué. Italian, about 1600.

Before either French or Flemish influence had been felt, however, there were Italian workers settled in England carrying out designs purely Italian in character. The earliest example is the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey, by Torrigiano. Many tombs and monuments were made entirely by Italians. Holbein, who was employed by Henry VIII, was distinctly a Renaissance painter and designer and encouraged the new movement.

As the style became more widely disseminated it lostmuch of its original purity, and classical details were used in conjunction with Gothic forms and methods of construction, due, doubtless, to the apparent difficulty with which the native workers grasped the essentials of the new style; indeed, there is more intermixing of styles in England than in any other part of Europe with the exception of Flanders.

No. 93. Stone Chimney-piece. Sala Borgia, Rome. 16th Century.

The purely Italian phase was followed by a rendering which was largely borrowed from French work,and this in turn was supplanted by the influence of the Flemish interpretation. The delicately modelled foliage, dolphins, candelabra, vases and cherubs, so characteristic of Italian and French work, were replaced by such typically Flemish details as interlacing strapwork with curved and scrolled ends, frequently cartouche-like in form, festoons of fruit and foliage, and terminal figures used as pilasters.

In the late Jacobean and succeeding phases the classic manner was more thoroughly understood, and a more scholarly handling was the result, until the culmination was reached in the work of Inigo Jones and Wren.

The Elizabethan phase indicates an imperfectly understood, and in many instances meaningless, employment and adaptation of Italian forms to the requirements of the times.

A notable example if this is the central feature of the Public Schools at Oxford, the work of Thomas Holt, a native of York, in which the orders appear ranged one above the other.

The most prominent name associated with the architecture of the period is Thomas Thorpe, who was concerned in many of the principal edifices erected during the reign of Elizabeth and of her successor, James I.

The general arrangement of woodwork consisted of architectural façades, and the orders and pediments were utilised wherever possible.

Doorways and chimney-pieces offered the principal opportunities for display in interior work.

Panelling was retained for the large halls and most of the rooms. The walls were frequently divided into bays by means of pilasters and surmounted by friezes and cornices more or less determined by traditional forms.

The style degenerated in the same reign into a coarser rendering, and was followed by a period of strong Flemish influence. There is, in fact, such a marked similarity between the later Elizabethan and Flemish furniture and wood-work that it is not easy to distinguish the nationality of examples of this period. In cases where figure sculpture is employed, however, it is not difficult to decide, as a considerably higher standard was attained by the Flemish school of figure carvers than is found in English work.

Tapered pilaster-like supports, surmounted by half figures or Ionic caps, were often employed in the framing of doors and chimney-pieces, and sometimes on furniture. Table supports and newels of stairs increased in size. The heavy acorn-shaped baluster is a feature. Inlay came into use for panelling as well as for furniture.

Synchronously with the changes in detail, there was a more classical tendency displayed in moulded features such as strings and cornices.

In the early seventeenth century the scale of the details of Flemish work increased. Diamond-shaped panels were superimposed on square ones; turnedwork was split and the two halves applied; drop ornaments were used below tables and from the centres of panels under arches—all these being additions to the general structure.

English work developed in much the same way as Flemish, probably owing to the commerce in wood-work between England and Flanders at this time.

In the earlier work, where the orders were employed, there was some regard to proportion and detail, probably direct translation of Italian designs, but in the later Jacobean work there was considerable falling-off, presumably due to native exploitation and experiment.

No. 94. Jacobean Wood Carving. Palace of Bromley-by-Bow.

Architectural feeling was prominent in the treatment of interiors, which were invariably panelled as in the earlier period. The characteristic “linen fold”variety of the late Tudor giving place to plain panelling, framed by stiles and rails closely spaced.

Walls were occasionally divided into bays by means of pilasters, often supported on pedestals.

The panels in the later development were invariably plain, but a decorated frieze, carved in relief, was carried round immediately under the cornice. Coats of arms at intervals sometimes supplied the decoration. The carved frieze gave place to a simple form of patterning, which was produced by sinking the ground to practically one level and leaving the ornament which had little or no modelling, flush with the face of the panel. This led to fretting out the pattern and applying it to the surface. The idea of planting ornament evidently spread, and may be seen in such obviously applied details as studs and half-balusters.

A typical room of the period would be treated with plain panelling, perhaps divided into bays by pilasters, and all elaboration was confined to the doorways and chimney-piece.

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