STRUCTURES IN LANDSCAPE 209 



of Jean Lamour of Nancy. The wooden grille-work, naturally more 

 massive than the iron on account of the weakness of its material, is 

 almost always painted, and as it can be painted a light color, it can be 

 cleanly revealed against a background of nearby planting. The iron- 

 work, on the other hand, is dark in color and can seldom with propriety 

 be painted a light hue. Ironwork, therefore, to be well seen, must be 

 revealed against a lighter background, either against distant objects or 

 against the sky, and this fact must be remembered in designing the 

 ironwork. A design which seems to have ample weight when shown 

 on the drafting-board will often appear pitifully weak when seen up- 

 held against the dazzling background of the sky. The designer should 

 note also that wrought ironwork is fitted to give the beauty of curve, 

 of intricate interlacing, but not to give the solidity of mass. It is 

 emphatically in its place, then, where it fills a panel in a fence or an 

 opening in a gate, but if it is to be used in itself as a post or as an arch, 

 it must be heavy in form if it is not to run the risk of appearing flimsy 

 and insufficient. 



The landscape designer finds gateways among the most important Gateways and 

 of the smaller objects with which he deals in his compositions. (See ^^^^^ 

 Drawing XIII, opp. p. 100, and Tailpiece on p. 23.) They mark a point 

 of passage from one unit of the scheme to another : they are objects to 

 which people go, and they are inevitably focal points of attention in a 

 number of diiferent views. In formal design, they are the terminal 

 points for the vistas created by the paths which run towards them and 

 they are points of importance and interest in the walls or fences in 

 which they are set. The size of their openings will first of all be pro- 

 portioned to the amount and size of traffic which they are designed to 

 accommodate ; a gate on a small footpath may be three feet wide, a 

 carriage gate ten feet wide or more. The size of the whole structure 

 will be proportioned to its importance in the design : the main carriage 

 entrance to an estate may be an imposing feature, while the service 

 entrance will probably be inconspicuous. The gate at the end of the 

 main axis of the lower garden at the Villa Lante is a considerable struc- 

 ture although it probably was never frequently used as a means of 

 access. The size of a gateway should bear some relation to the height 

 of the barrier in which it is set. Purely from the point of view of com- 



