Chapter IX: Conclusion

In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to show that in the treatment of rooms we have passed from the golden age of architecture to the gilded age of decoration.

Any argument in support of a special claim necessitates certain apparent injustices, sets up certain provisional limitations, and can therefore be judged with fairness only by those who make due allowance for these conditions. In the discussion of æsthetics such impartiality can seldom be expected. Not unnaturally, people resent any attempt to dogmatize on matters so generally thought to lie within the domain of individual judgment. Many hold that in questions of taste _Gefühl ist alles_; while those who believe that beyond the oscillations of fashion certain fixed laws may be discerned have as yet agreed upon no formula defining their belief. In short, our civilization has not yet developed any artistic creed so generally recognized that it may be invoked on both sides of an argument without risk of misunderstanding.

This is true at least of those forms of art that minister only to the æsthetic sense. With architecture and its allied branches the case is different. Here beauty depends on fitness, and the practical requirements of life are the ultimate test of fitness.

If, therefore, it can be proved that the old practice was based upon a clearer perception of these requirements than is shown by modern decorators, it may be claimed not unreasonably that the old methods are better than the new. It seems, however, that the distinction between the various offices of art is no longer clearly recognized. The merit of house-decoration is now seldom measured by the standard of practical fitness; and those who would set up such a standard are suspected of proclaiming individual preferences under the guise of general principles.

In this book, an endeavor has been made to draw no conclusion unwarranted by the premises; but whatever may be thought of the soundness of some of the deductions, they must be regarded, not as a criticism of individual work, but simply of certain tendencies in modern architecture. It must be remembered, too, that the book is merely a sketch, intended to indicate the lines along which further study may profitably advance.

It may seem inconsequent that an elementary work should include much apparently unimportant detail. To pass in a single chapter from a discussion of abstract architectural laws to the combination of colors in a bedroom carpet seems to show lack of plan; yet the transition is logically justified. In the composition of a whole there is no negligible quantity: if the decoration of a room is planned on certain definite principles, whatever contributes line or color becomes a factor in the composition. The relation of proportion to decoration is like that of anatomy to sculpture: underneath are the everlasting laws. It was the recognition of this principle that kept the work of the old architect-decorators (for the two were one) free from the superfluous, free from the intemperate accumulation that marks so many modern rooms. Where each detail had its determinate part, no superficial accessories were needed to make up a whole: a great draughtsman represents with a few strokes what lesser artists can express only by a multiplicity of lines.

The supreme excellence is simplicity. Moderation, fitness, relevance--these are the qualities that give permanence to the work of the great architects. _Tout ce qui n'est pas nécessaire est nuisible._ There is a sense in which works of art may be said to endure by virtue of that which is left out of them, and it is this "tact of omission" that characterizes the master-hand.

Modern civilization has been called a varnished barbarism: a definition that might well be applied to the superficial graces of much modern decoration. Only a return to architectural principles can raise the decoration of houses to the level of the past. Vasari said of the Farnesina palace that it was not built, but really born--_non murato ma veramente nato_; and this phrase is but the expression of an ever-present sense--the sense of interrelation of parts, of unity of the whole.

There is no absolute perfection, there is no communicable ideal; but much that is empiric, much that is confused and extravagant, will give way before the application of principles based on common sense and regulated by the laws of harmony and proportion.

INDEX

Adam, ceiling ornaments of, 93

Andirons, 84

_Appliques_, in hall and staircase, 119

Araldi's ceiling in the convent of St. Paul, Parma, 97

Architrave of door, see Doorway;
of mantel-piece, 82

Arm-chair, modern, 128

_Armoires_, old French and Italian, 117

Ashby, Castle, Inigo Jones's stairs in, 111

Aviler, d', his description of dining-room fountain, 158

Ball-room, 137;
in Italy, 138;
Louis XIV, 139;
lighting of, 140;
chairs, 140

Barry, Madame du, dining-room of, 156

Bath-room, 172;
in Pitti Palace, 172

Bedroom, development of, 162;
Renaissance, 162;
Louis XIV, 162;
XVIII-century, 163;
cotton hangings in, 164;
suite, plan of, 169;
children's, 182

Bedstead, history of, 163

Belvédère, at Versailles, frescoes in, 42

Bérain, ceiling arabesques of, 98

_Bergère_, origin of, 7;
design of, 128

Bernini, his staircase in the Vatican, 108

Bindings, decorative value of, 146

Blinds, 73

Blois, spiral stairs in court-yard of château, 109;
_cabinet_ of Catherine de' Medici, 123

Blondel, on doors, 58;
on fireplaces, 74

Book-cases, medieval, 145;
in Catherine de' Medici's _cabinet_, 145;
in France in the XVII century, 146;
built into the wall, 147;
in England, 149;
modern, 148

Books in the middle ages, 145;
in the Renaissance, 146

Bosse, Abraham, engravings of Louis XIII interiors, 69;
examples of state bedrooms, 123

Boudoir, 130;
modern decoration of, 170

Bramante, his use of the mezzanin floor, 5

Breakfast-room, 160

Bric-à-brac, definition of, 184;
knowledge of, 187;
superiority of old over new, 190

Burckhardt, on medieval house-planning, 107, note

Byfield, G., his stairs at Hurlingham, 111

_Cabinet_, Italian origin of, 123;
used in French Renaissance houses, 123;
of Catherine de' Medici, book-cases in, 145

Campbell's _Vitruvius Britannicus_, example of Palladian manner, 4;
of English house-planning, 135

Carpets, in general color-scheme, 29;
choice of, 100;
_Savonnerie_, 100;
designs of, 101;
stair-carpets, 102, 118;
hall-carpets, 118

Caserta, staircase in royal palace, 108

Casino del Grotto, near Mantua, frescoes in, 42;
ceilings in, 98

Casts in vestibule, 105;
in hall, 118;
in school-room, 178

Ceilings, 89;
timbered, 90;
in France and England, 91;
Elizabethan, 92;
Louis XIII, 92;
Louis XV, 92;
Louis XVI, 93;
Adam, 93, 96;
objections to wooden, 94;
modern treatment of, 95;
frescoed, 97

Chambord, staircase at, 109

_Chambre de parade_, 123

Chandeliers, 140, 159

Chanteloup, library of, 149

Chantilly, stair-rail at, 113

Chevening, Inigo Jones's stairs at, 111

Cheverny, fireplace at, 74

Chinese art, influence of, on stuff patterns, 166

Chippendale's designs for grates, 81

"Colonial" style, the, 81

Color, use of, in decoration, 28;
predominance of one color in each room, 28;
color-schemes, 29

Cornices, interior, Durand on, 94

Cortile, Italian, modern adaptation of, 117

Coutant d'Ivry's stair-rail in the Palais Royal, 113

Curtains, mediæval and Renaissance, 69;
in XVII and XVIII centuries, 70;
muslin, 72

Dado, the, 37;
sometimes omitted in lobbies and corridors, 38

Decoration and furniture, harmony between, 13;
individuality in decoration, 17;
graduated scheme of, 24

"Den," furniture of, 152;
decoration of, 153

Dining-chairs, mediæval, 156;
XVII century, 159;
XVIII century, 159

Dining-room, origin of, 155;
in France, 154;
in England, 155;
furniture of, 156;
French, XVIII century, 157;
fountains in, 158;
decoration of modern, 160;
lighting of, 160;
state, 160;
heating of, 161

Dining-table, mediæval, 156;
modern, 161

Donowell, J., his stairs at West Wycombe, 111

Doors, 48;
sliding, origin of, 49;
double, 49;
mediæval, 51;
in palace of Urbino, 52;
in Italy, 52-54;
locks and hinges, 55;
in the Hôtels de Rohan, de Soubise, and de Toulouse, 56;
glass doors, 57;
treatment in England, 57;
mahogany, 58;
panelling, principles of, 59;
veneering, 61;
concealed doors, 61;
entrance-door, 103

Doorway, proper dimensions of, 51, 60;
treatment of, in Italy, 52;
in France, 55;
in England, 57

Drawing-room, in modern town houses, 20;
evolution of, in England, 122;
in France, 122;
origin of modern, 124;
treatment of, in England and America, 124;
furniture of, 127

Dressing-room, 171

_Duchesse_, 130

Durand, J. L. N., on originality in architecture, 10;
on interior cornices, 94

Easton Neston, use of panel-pictures at, 46

Entrance, treatment of, 103;
entrance-door, 103

Fenders, 85

Fire-backs, 80

Fire-boards, 86

Fireplaces, 74;
mediæval, construction of, 75;
in Italy, 75;
in France, 76;
lining of, 80;
American, 81;
accessories of, 84

Fire-screens, 86

Floors, 89;
of brick or stone, 99;
marble and mosaic, in Italy, 99;
parquet, 99;
of vestibule, 104;
of ball-room, 140

Fontana, his staircase in the royal palace, Naples, 108

Fountains in dining-rooms, 158

Fresco-painting, in wall-decoration, 41;
examples of, in Italy and France, 42;
in ceiling-decoration, 97;
in Italy, 97;
in France, 98;
in Italian gala rooms, 139

Furniture, in the middle ages, 7;
furniture and decoration, harmony between, 25;
modern English and American, 26;

XVIII century, in France and England, 27;
in vestibule, 105;
in hall, 117;
in _salon de compagnie_, 125;
in drawing-room, 127, 128;
English, XVIII century, 129;
in dining-room, 156;
in bedroom, 171;
in school-room, 180

Gabriel, influence of, on ornamental detail, 56;
on ceilings, 93;
on stair-rails, 114

Gala rooms, 134;
uses of, 135;
in Italy, 136

Gallery, 137

Genoa, royal palace, doors in, 54

Gibbons, Grinling, carvings for panel-pictures, 46

Gilding, deterioration of, 192

Giulio Romano's frescoes in the Palazzo del T, 136

_Grand'salle_, mediæval, 110

Grates, 81

Gwilt, his definition of _staircase_, 106

Hall, 106;
old English, 110;
uses of, 115;
modern treatment of, 115;
decoration of, 117;
furniture, 117;
floor of, 118;
lighting of, 119;
prints and pictures in, 119

Holkham, over-mantels at, 81

Hôtel de Rohan, doors in, 56

de Soubise, doors in, 56

de Toulouse, doors in, 56

Houghton Hall, doors in, 57, note

House, Carlton, stair-rail in, 114

Devonshire, stair-rail in, 114

Norfolk, stair-rail in, 114

Individuality in decoration, 17

Isabella of Este's apartment at Mantua, doorways in, 52

Jones, Inigo, his introduction of Palladian manner in England, 4,
note;
influence on ceiling-decoration, 92;
on plan of English hall, 110;
his stairs at Castle Ashby, 111;
at Chevening, 111

Juvara, his staircase in the Palazzo Madama, Turin, 108

Lambrequin, origin of, 71

Lamour, Jean, his wrought-iron work at Nancy, 112

Lantern in vestibule, 105

Laurano, Luciano da, palace of Urbino built by, 6

Lebrun, door-locks in _Galerie d'Apollon_ designed by, 55

Le Riche, frescoes of, in Belvédère, Versailles, 42

Library, 145;
in the university at Nancy, 149;
of Louis XVI, at Versailles, 149;
of Chanteloup, 149;
modern, decoration of, 150

_Lit de parade_, 122

_Lit de repos_, 130

Longhi, frescoes of, in Palazzo Sina, Venice, 143

Louis XIII, windows, 69;
ceilings, 92

Louis XIV, modern house-furnishing dates from his reign, 8;
style, characteristics of, 14;
window-shutters, 69;
influence on French, 77;
mantels, 78;
ceilings, 98;
stair-rails, 112;
ball-rooms, 140

Louis XV style, characteristics of, 13;
doors, 56;
ceilings, 92;
wrought-iron work, 112;
stair-rails, 113

Louis XVI style, characteristics of, 12;
Gabriel's influence on, 56, 93;
doors, 57;
ceilings, 93;
stair-rails, 114

Luciennes, Madame du Barry's dining-room at, 157

Mantegna's ceiling, palace of Mantua, 97

Mantel-pieces, Italian Renaissance, 77;
French Renaissance, 77;
Louis XIV, 78;
XVIII century, 79;
American, 82;
facing of, 83

Mantua, doorways in palace, 52, 54;
Mantegna's ceiling in, 97;
_cabinet_ of Isabella of Este, 123

Mario dei Fiori, 139

Massimi alle Colonne, palace of, in Rome, 6

Mezzanin, origin of, 5; treatment of, 6

Ministère de la Marine, Paris, door in, 61

Mirrors, use of, in over-mantel, 79;
painted, in Borghese Palace, Rome, 139;
in ball-rooms, 141

Morelli's staircase in Palazzo Braschi, Rome, 108

Morning-room, 132

Mullions, use of, 66

Music-room, 142;
at Remiremont, 143

Music-stand, 144

Music-stool, 144

Nancy, wrought-iron work at, 112;
library in the university, 149

Naples, staircase in royal palace, 108

Niches, in hall and staircase, 117

Nursery, 181

Oberkampf, inventor of color-printing on cotton, 166

Object of art, definition of, 187;
reproductions of, 191

Openings, placing and proportion of, 23;
lines of, carried up to ceiling, 37, 52, 65, 74;
treatment of, in rocaille style, 56

Orders, use of, in wall-decoration, 36;
application to doorways in Italy, 53;
in France, 54;
in England, 57;
in ball-rooms, 139

Originality in art, 9;
J. L. N. Durand on, 10

Over-doors, mediæval treatment of, 52;
in Italy, 53;
in France, 55;
Louis XVI, 57

Over-mantels, Renaissance, 76;
use of mirror in, 79;
XVIII-century treatment, 79;
in England, 81

Palais Royal, stair-rail in, 113

Palazzo Borghese, Rome, painted mirrors in, 139

Braschi, Rome, staircase in, 108

Gondi, Florence, stairs in, 108

Labia, Venice, frescoes in, 136

Madama, Turin, staircase in, 108

Massimi alle Colonne, Rome, date of, 6

Piccolomini, at Pienza, staircase in, 108, note

Pitti, Florence, bath-room in, 172

Reale, Caserta, staircase in, 108

Reale, Naples, staircase in, 108

Riccardi, staircase in, 108, note

Sina, Venice, frescoes in, 143

del T, Mantua, frescoes in, 136

Palladian window, 67

Panelling, in Italy and north of the Alps, 40;
wood, stone and stucco, 40, 42;
subdivisions of, 43

Parma, Araldi's ceiling in convent of St. Paul, 97;
rocaille stoves in museum, 121

Pavia, Certosa of, doorways in, 52

_Perroquets_, 141

Perugia, ceiling in the Sala del Cambio, 97

Perugino's ceiling in the Sala del Cambio, Perugia, 97

Peruzzi, Baldassare, his use of the mezzanin, 5

Piano, design of, 143

Pictures, proper background for, 45;
mode of hanging, 46;
in hall, 119;
in dining-room, 160;
in school-room, 180

Picture-frames, selection of, 45

Plan of house in relation to decoration, 23

Plate-glass in windows, 67

Pompadour, Madame de, dining-room fountain of, 158

Pompeii, wall-frescoes of, 41

Portière, use of, 59

Presses, old English, 117

Prints in hall, 120;
in school-room, 180

Privacy, modern indifference to, 22

Proportion, definition of, 31;
Isaac Ware on, 32

Pyne's _Royal Residences_, examples of pictures set in panels, 46

Rambouillet, Madame de, her influence on house-planning, 8

Raphael, ceilings of, 97

Remiremont, music-room at, 143

Renaissance, characteristics of domestic architecture, 4;
doors, 52;
window-curtains, 69;
mantels, 76, 77;
ceilings, 90-92;
French architects of, 109

Rennes, Palais de Justice, carved wooden ceilings, 89

Rugs, Oriental, 29, 100;
modern European, 101

_Salon à l'Italienne_, see Saloon

_Salon de compagnie_, origin and use of, 123, 125;
decoration and furniture of, 125;
lighting of, 126

_Salon de famille_, origin and use of, 123

Saloon, adaptation of, in England by Inigo Jones, 111;
introduction in France, 123;
uses in Italy, 136;
at Vaux-le-Vicomte, 137

School-room, 172;
decoration of, 178

Screen in Tudor halls, 110

Shobden Court, stairs in, 111

Shutters, interior decoration of, 69;
at Vaux-le-Vicomte, 69;
in rooms of Mesdames de France, Versailles, 69;
purpose of, 72

Sideboard, mediæval, 156;
in France, 157

Smoking-room, 151

Stairs, 106;
development of, in Italy, 107;
in the Palladian period, 108;
in the XVII and XVIII centuries, 108;
spiral, 109;
in hall, in England, 111;
construction of, in Italy, 112;
in France, 112

Stair-carpets, 118

Staircase, meaning of term, 106;
walls of, 117;
in simple houses, 119;
lighting of, 119

Stair-rails, in Italy and France, 112;
Louis XIV and XV, 113;
Louis XVI and Empire, 113;
Tudor and Elizabethan, 114;
Palladian, in England, 114

Stoves, use of, in hall, 120;
examples of old stoves, 121;
in dining-room, 161

Stucco, use of, in decoration, 40;
panelling, in Italy, 40;
in ceilings, 90;
in Elizabethan ceilings, 92;
combined with painting, 97

Stuff hangings, 44

Stupinigi, frescoes at, 42;
over-mantels at, 80

Styles, essence of, 11;
conformity to, 13

Symmetry, definition of, 33;
advantages of, 34

Tapestry, use of, in northern Europe, 39;
its subordination to architectural lines of room, 39

Tiepolo, frescoes of, in the Villa Valmarana, 42;
in the Palazzo Labia, 136

Titian's "Presentation of the Virgin," doorway in, 53

_Toiles de Jouy_, 166

Trianon-sous-Bois, fountains in banqueting-gallery, 158

Udine, Giovanni da, ceilings of, in collaboration with Raphael, 97

Urbino, ducal palace of, 6;
doors in, 52;
fireplace in, 74;
_cabinet_ of Isabella of Este, 123

Vanvitelli's staircase at Caserta, 108

Vatican, Bernini's staircase in, 108

Vault, the Roman, influence of, on ceilings, 191

Vaux-le-Vicomte, interior shutters at, 69;
saloon at, 137

Versailles, frescoes in Belvédère, 42;
windows in rooms of Mesdames de France, 68;
shutters in same, 69;
library of Louis XVI, 148

Vestibule, 104;
furniture of, 105;
lighting of, 105;
absence of, in English house-planning, 110

Villa, Italian, chief features of, 4, note

Villa Giacomelli, at Maser, over-mantel in, 76
Madama, in Rome, ceiling of loggia, 97
Rotonda, near Vicenza, saloon in, 136
Valmarana, near Vicenza, frescoes in, 42
Vertemati, near Chiavenna, over-mantel in, 76;
carved wooden ceiling in, 89

Viollet-le-Duc, on doorways, 52, note;
on mediæval house-planning, 109

Voguë, Hôtel, at Dijon, 7

Wall-decoration, 38

Wall-papers, 44

Walls, 31

Ware, Isaac, on proportion, 32;
on sliding doors, 49;
his definition of staircase, 106

West Wycombe, Donowell's stairs at, 111

Windows, decorative value of, 64;
dimensions of, 65;
plate-glass in, 67;
French or casement, 68;
sash, 68;
curtains, 69, 70;
shutters, 69, 72;
lambrequin, 71;
muslin curtains, 72;
blinds, 73

Wood-box, 86