360 



PANELLED WALLS 



Architrave 



FIG. 285. Head of a Doorway, Seckford Hall, 

 Suffolk. 



the mouldings are 

 enriched with carv- 

 ing, which adds 

 considerable rich- 

 ness, but as a rule 

 the mouldings 

 were plain ; various 

 examples have 

 already been given 

 in Figs. 122, 126, 

 135, 139. There was 

 usually a low dado 

 with long horizon- 

 tal panels, and 

 above the dado 

 rail were lofty ver- 

 tical panels reach- 

 ing up to a massive 

 cornice. The effect is always simple and dignified, whether 

 the material is oak or painted deal. Of course the panels very 

 much restrict the freedom of ^ 



arrangement of pictures, but in 

 those days pictures were not so 

 plentiful as they became later, 

 prints were few, and so were the 

 amateur artists who bestow the 

 fruit of their elegant leisure upon 

 their friends. The panels there- 

 fore hampered nobody, and they 

 were in themselves a sufficient 

 decoration. Family portraits or 

 notable pictures were sometimes 

 framed into them as part of the 

 scheme. 



The backgrounds of engrav- 

 ings published during the first half 

 of the eighteenth century often 

 show these large panels, as well 

 as sash-windows with stout bars. FlG 286 ._ Panelling in the Audit 

 They seem to harmonise with the Roomj Boughton House, North- 

 flowing wigs, the wide coat skirts amptonshire. 



