FOOTNOTES:[1]Charming as the Italian villa is, it can hardly be used in our Northern States without certain modifications, unless it is merely occupied for a few weeks in mid-summer; whereas the average French or English country house built after 1600 is perfectly suited to our climate and habits. The chief features of the Italian villa are the open centralcortileand the large saloon two stories high. An adaptation of these better suited to a cold climate is to be found in the English country houses built in the Palladian manner after its introduction by Inigo Jones. See Campbell'sVitruvius Britannicusfor numerous examples.[2]The plan of the Hôtel Voguë has been greatly modified.[3]Cabinets retained this shape after the transporting of furniture had ceased to be a necessity (seePlate III).[4]It must be remembered that in describing the decoration of any given period, we refer to the private houses, not the royal palaces, of that period. Versailles was more splendid than any previous palace; but private houses at that date were less splendid, though far more luxurious, than during the Renaissance.[5]"Si l'on dispose un édifice d'une manière convenable à l'usage auquel on le destine, ne différera-t-il pas sensiblement d'un autre édifice destiné à un autre usage? N'aura-t-il pas naturellement un caractère, et, qui plus est, son caractère propre?" J. L. N. Durand.Précis des Leçons d'Architecture données à l'École Royale Polytechnique.Paris, 1823.[6]It must not be forgotten that the so-called "styles" of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI were, in fact, only the gradual development of one organic style, and hence differed only in the superficial use of ornament.[7]There is no objection to putting a fireplace between two doors, provided both doors be at least six feet from the chimney.[8]Not rattan, as the models are too bad.[9]A Complete Body of Architecture, Book II, chap. iii.[10]See the saloon at Easton Neston, built by Nicholas Hawkesmoor (Plate XIII), and various examples given in Pyne'sRoyal Residences.[11]See Viollet-le-Duc,Dictionnaire raisonné de l'Architecture française, underPorte.[12]This painting has now been restored to its proper position in the Scuola della Carità, and the door which had beenpainted inunder the stairs has been removed to make way for the actual doorway around which the picture was originally painted.[13]See the doors of the Sala dello Zodiaco in the ducal palace at Mantua (Plate XVI).[14]Some rooms of the rocaille period, however, contain doors as elaborately carved as those seen in France (see the doors in the royal palace at Genoa,Plate XXXIV).[15]See the doors at Vaux-le-Vicomte and in the Palais de Justice at Rennes.[16]Only in the most exaggerated German baroque were the vertical lines of the door-panels sometimes irregular.[17]The inlaid doors of Houghton Hall, the seat of Sir Robert Walpole, were noted for their beauty and costliness. The price of each was £200.[18]See a room in the Ministère de la Marine at Paris, where a subordinate door is cleverly treated in connection with one of more importance.[19]As an example of the extent to which openings have come to be ignored as factors in the decorative composition of a room, it is curious to note that in Eastlake's well-knownHints on Household Tasteno mention is made of doors, windows or fireplaces. Compare this point of view with that of the earlier decorators, from Vignola to Roubo and Ware.[20]In Italy, where the walls were frescoed, the architectural composition over the mantel was also frequently painted. Examples of this are to be seen at the Villa Vertemati, near Chiavenna, and at the Villa Giacomelli, at Maser, near Treviso. This practice accounts for the fact that in many old architectural drawings of Italian interiors a blank wall-space is seen over the mantel.[21]It is to be hoped that the recently published English translation of M. Émile Bourgeois's book on Louis XIV will do much to remove this prejudice.[22]It is curious that those who criticize the ornateness of the Louis XIV style are often the warmest admirers of the French Renaissance, the style of all others most remarkable for its excessive use of ornament, exquisite in itself, but quite unrelated to structure and independent of general design.[23]It is said to have been put at this height in order that the porcelain vases should be out of reach. See Daviler, "Cours d'Architecture."[24]Examples are to be seen in several rooms of the hunting-lodge of the kings of Savoy, at Stupinigi, near Turin.[25]In France, until the sixteenth century, the same word—plancher—was used to designate both floor and ceiling.[26]For a fine example of an English stucco ceiling, seePlate XIII.[27]The flat Venetian ceilings, such as those in the ducal palace, with their richly carved wood-work and glorious paintings, beautiful as they have been made by art, are not so fine architecturally as a domed or coved ceiling.[28]For an example of a wooden ceiling which is too heavy for the wall-decoration below it, seePlate XLIV.[29]Burckhardt, in hisGeschichte der Renaissance in Italien, justly points out that the seeming inconsequence of mediæval house-planning in northern Europe was probably due in part to the fact that the feudal castle, for purposes of defence, was generally built on an irregular site. See also Viollet-le-Duc.[30]"Der gothische Profanbau in Italien ... steht im vollen Gegensatz zum Norden durch die rationelle Anlage." Burckhardt,Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien, p. 28.[31]See the stairs of the Riccardi palace in Florence, of the Piccolomini palace at Pienza and of the ducal palace at Urbino.[32]For a fine example of a hall-niche containing a statue, seePlate XXX.[33]In large halls the talltorchèreof marble or bronze may be used for additional lights (seePlate XXXII).[34]Much of the old furniture which appears to us unnecessarily stiff and monumental was expressly designed to be placed against the walls in rooms used for general entertainments, where smaller and more delicately made pieces would have been easily damaged, and would, moreover, have produced no effect.[35]The ornate boudoir seen in many XVIIIth-century prints is that of thefemme galante.[36]"A little study would probably show that the Ptolemaic era in Egypt was a renaissance of the Theban age, in architecture as in other respects, while the golden period of Augustus in Rome was largely a Greek revival. Perhaps it would even be discovered that all ages of healthy human prosperity are more or less revivals, and have been marked by a retrospective tendency."The Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy, by W. J. Anderson. London, Batsford, 1896.
[1]Charming as the Italian villa is, it can hardly be used in our Northern States without certain modifications, unless it is merely occupied for a few weeks in mid-summer; whereas the average French or English country house built after 1600 is perfectly suited to our climate and habits. The chief features of the Italian villa are the open centralcortileand the large saloon two stories high. An adaptation of these better suited to a cold climate is to be found in the English country houses built in the Palladian manner after its introduction by Inigo Jones. See Campbell'sVitruvius Britannicusfor numerous examples.
[2]The plan of the Hôtel Voguë has been greatly modified.
[3]Cabinets retained this shape after the transporting of furniture had ceased to be a necessity (seePlate III).
[4]It must be remembered that in describing the decoration of any given period, we refer to the private houses, not the royal palaces, of that period. Versailles was more splendid than any previous palace; but private houses at that date were less splendid, though far more luxurious, than during the Renaissance.
[5]"Si l'on dispose un édifice d'une manière convenable à l'usage auquel on le destine, ne différera-t-il pas sensiblement d'un autre édifice destiné à un autre usage? N'aura-t-il pas naturellement un caractère, et, qui plus est, son caractère propre?" J. L. N. Durand.Précis des Leçons d'Architecture données à l'École Royale Polytechnique.Paris, 1823.
[6]It must not be forgotten that the so-called "styles" of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI were, in fact, only the gradual development of one organic style, and hence differed only in the superficial use of ornament.
[7]There is no objection to putting a fireplace between two doors, provided both doors be at least six feet from the chimney.
[8]Not rattan, as the models are too bad.
[9]A Complete Body of Architecture, Book II, chap. iii.
[10]See the saloon at Easton Neston, built by Nicholas Hawkesmoor (Plate XIII), and various examples given in Pyne'sRoyal Residences.
[11]See Viollet-le-Duc,Dictionnaire raisonné de l'Architecture française, underPorte.
[12]This painting has now been restored to its proper position in the Scuola della Carità, and the door which had beenpainted inunder the stairs has been removed to make way for the actual doorway around which the picture was originally painted.
[13]See the doors of the Sala dello Zodiaco in the ducal palace at Mantua (Plate XVI).
[14]Some rooms of the rocaille period, however, contain doors as elaborately carved as those seen in France (see the doors in the royal palace at Genoa,Plate XXXIV).
[15]See the doors at Vaux-le-Vicomte and in the Palais de Justice at Rennes.
[16]Only in the most exaggerated German baroque were the vertical lines of the door-panels sometimes irregular.
[17]The inlaid doors of Houghton Hall, the seat of Sir Robert Walpole, were noted for their beauty and costliness. The price of each was £200.
[18]See a room in the Ministère de la Marine at Paris, where a subordinate door is cleverly treated in connection with one of more importance.
[19]As an example of the extent to which openings have come to be ignored as factors in the decorative composition of a room, it is curious to note that in Eastlake's well-knownHints on Household Tasteno mention is made of doors, windows or fireplaces. Compare this point of view with that of the earlier decorators, from Vignola to Roubo and Ware.
[20]In Italy, where the walls were frescoed, the architectural composition over the mantel was also frequently painted. Examples of this are to be seen at the Villa Vertemati, near Chiavenna, and at the Villa Giacomelli, at Maser, near Treviso. This practice accounts for the fact that in many old architectural drawings of Italian interiors a blank wall-space is seen over the mantel.
[21]It is to be hoped that the recently published English translation of M. Émile Bourgeois's book on Louis XIV will do much to remove this prejudice.
[22]It is curious that those who criticize the ornateness of the Louis XIV style are often the warmest admirers of the French Renaissance, the style of all others most remarkable for its excessive use of ornament, exquisite in itself, but quite unrelated to structure and independent of general design.
[23]It is said to have been put at this height in order that the porcelain vases should be out of reach. See Daviler, "Cours d'Architecture."
[24]Examples are to be seen in several rooms of the hunting-lodge of the kings of Savoy, at Stupinigi, near Turin.
[25]In France, until the sixteenth century, the same word—plancher—was used to designate both floor and ceiling.
[26]For a fine example of an English stucco ceiling, seePlate XIII.
[27]The flat Venetian ceilings, such as those in the ducal palace, with their richly carved wood-work and glorious paintings, beautiful as they have been made by art, are not so fine architecturally as a domed or coved ceiling.
[28]For an example of a wooden ceiling which is too heavy for the wall-decoration below it, seePlate XLIV.
[29]Burckhardt, in hisGeschichte der Renaissance in Italien, justly points out that the seeming inconsequence of mediæval house-planning in northern Europe was probably due in part to the fact that the feudal castle, for purposes of defence, was generally built on an irregular site. See also Viollet-le-Duc.
[30]"Der gothische Profanbau in Italien ... steht im vollen Gegensatz zum Norden durch die rationelle Anlage." Burckhardt,Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien, p. 28.
[31]See the stairs of the Riccardi palace in Florence, of the Piccolomini palace at Pienza and of the ducal palace at Urbino.
[32]For a fine example of a hall-niche containing a statue, seePlate XXX.
[33]In large halls the talltorchèreof marble or bronze may be used for additional lights (seePlate XXXII).
[34]Much of the old furniture which appears to us unnecessarily stiff and monumental was expressly designed to be placed against the walls in rooms used for general entertainments, where smaller and more delicately made pieces would have been easily damaged, and would, moreover, have produced no effect.
[35]The ornate boudoir seen in many XVIIIth-century prints is that of thefemme galante.
[36]"A little study would probably show that the Ptolemaic era in Egypt was a renaissance of the Theban age, in architecture as in other respects, while the golden period of Augustus in Rome was largely a Greek revival. Perhaps it would even be discovered that all ages of healthy human prosperity are more or less revivals, and have been marked by a retrospective tendency."The Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy, by W. J. Anderson. London, Batsford, 1896.