PLASTER-WORK. 



ii 



so &quot; safe &quot; to be able to say, this is &quot; Georgian &quot; or this is &quot; Empire,&quot; and many people 

 are so sensitive to the criticism of friends that they wish to be assured that their rooms are 

 correct.&quot; Hie thoughtful designer is often in a quandary and finds himself accused of the 

 vanity of desiring to produce &quot; original &quot; work. Where is this reproduction of the historical 

 styles to end ? It appears to be running through the gamut, and after the earlier revivals of 

 last century to have reached in turn Georgian, Adam and Empire. Early Virtorian is already a term 

 to be flirted with. Must we complete the cycle and ultimately reach the n -rcvival of Gothic? Surely 

 such a position for any craft and it applies to others besides plaster-work -lias only got to be siiccinrtlv 

 stated to appear as little other than a rcditctio del itbstininin. 



Reverting for a moment to the illustrations, Fig. &amp;lt;j shows a treatment of beams with ornament, 

 which looks as if it had been wrapped round the structural beam almost like wall-pa|&amp;gt;er. The design 

 is a beautiful one in itself, and no canon of art is infringed by modelling the stems and tendrils round the 

 soft angles in plaster ; but something is lost in the suggestion of strength and rigidity, which straight 

 lines on the lower edges would at once restore. The wreath round an oval window shown in Fig. 12 is 

 another example of the correct rendering of a historical style, reproducing as it does the kind of work 

 that was carved in wood and stone by Grinling Gibbons and others in Wren s time. It is unsuitable 

 for domestic work owing to the difficulty of keeping it clean and the danger of damaging the 

 work in the attempt to do so. Fig. n shows an example of plaster-work in the stvle usually 

 termed Georgian, although the wreath and scroll in the corner have a flavour of nineteenth century 

 work about them. F W. Tuorp. 



12. WREATH IN THE WREN MANNER. 



