THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[January, 



lip employed in decoration, when used in their proper place, and not 

 discordantly associated. 



Unity is again lost sight of in the design No. 18, but the different 

 objects which compose it, are harmonized upon a totally different 

 principle from any which have been hitherto examined, and the effect 

 is rather dependent upon colour than on form. The panels contrast 

 brilliantly with the white background, and are relieved and rescued 

 from heaviness by the sharp dark lines which surround them ; this is 

 quite antique. The component parts of the upper portion of this 

 pilaster must not be passed over unnoticed : — the Cupid and Psyche, 

 the lions with their cubs, the Satyrs grouped with the lower medallion, 

 and the scroll work, which is entirely free from the trivial and con- 

 fused appendages of which there is reason to complain in some of the 

 former examples. 



The general design of No. 19 is the same as in the last example, 

 but its development is scarcely equal, except in the subjects which 

 till the panels, which are in the highest degree classical and elegant. 

 I ought, perhaps, to have noticed the Tritons, male and female, which 

 occupy the dado of the three last pilasters, but I cannot pass over the 

 bird introduced into this ; we are not only presented with the form of 

 the creature, but the skeleton of the fish in its claw indicates its habits 

 also, with the most scrupulous attention to nature ; equally true are 

 the bull-rushes in the back grounds. 



No. 20 appears to me inferior to any other on this side. The lower 

 part is good, but misapplied, every portion being too minute for its 

 place in the general design. The observation on the drapery need 

 not be repeated. The upper part, besides containing too many trivial 

 and wiry forms, exhibits two or three objectionable matters of detail 

 which it will be proper to point out. The swaddled children are 

 equally unpleasing to the eye and the imagination, and are therefore 

 improper objects for decoration; the heads are also objectionable. 

 To masks there can be no objection — we are familiar with them as a 

 decoration of the ancient theatre; the association does not desert us, 

 though neither the mask nor the manner of its application may have 

 any thing in common with its origin, and though it may be coloured 

 to the life, it is but a mask. But if a bust be introduced, unless it be 

 represented as a sculptured bust, it suggests the idea of mutilation, or 

 what is still more degrading to its character, a coloured wig-block. 

 And even if the heads could be tolerated, nothing can be more un- 

 graceful than holding the festoon in the mouth. Again, in reference 

 to these cornucopia (to say nothing of their being ill proportioned and 

 badly drawn), the blossoms and foliage which issue from them are 

 attached at the other end to the scroll above, so that we are in doubt 

 to which member of the composition it belongs, or rather, we see that 

 it confusedly belongs to both. On the sort of termini which finish this 

 arabesque, enough has already been said. 



The remainder of these composi- 

 tions are of a different character 

 from any that have preceded them, 

 their basis being more architectural, 

 and suited to be the framework of a 

 series of figures which, in the five 

 last examples, reach to a much 

 higher order of art than mere de- 

 coration. The lower part of the 

 design No. 21, is in itself beautiful, 

 independently of the figures com- 

 bined with it, which in composi- 

 tion and drawing, are truly worthy 

 of the Roman school. They do not 

 appear to form any connected sub- 

 JHct, like the rest which follow, but 

 the by-play, if it may be called so, 

 by which they are united, greatly 

 adds to their value. The attitude of these lower figures, so per- 

 fectly adapted to the place they occupy, has its motive in their 

 retreat from the monkies by whom they are threatened, and the mon- 

 kies are held carelessly by the figures above who are occupied in 



imitating with looking glasses the dragons, whose undulating forms so 

 gracefully supply the lighter materials of the composition. The me- 

 dallions which have hitherto accompanied us, are laid aside in this and 

 the remaining pilasters. (Fig. 8.) 



Fig. 9. No. 22 is the first of these con- 



nected designs to which I have 

 adverted. In these groups we have 

 the four seasons embodied in per- 

 sonifications truly Raffaelesque : — 

 Spring distinguished as the pairing 

 season — Summer by a group load- 

 ed with ripe grain, and the fruits 

 of the season spread at their feet 

 — Autumn by the vintage, repre- 

 sented with a grace and fancy 

 which it is difficult to find words 

 to characterize adequately, (Fig. 

 9,) and Winter by a composition 

 well calculated as a base for the 

 pyramid which risps from it. To 

 point out the beauties of this paint- 

 ing as regards decoration, is to take 

 a very narrow view of its merits ; 

 every one of the 14 figures it con- 

 tains might be studied as an ex- 

 ample of all that is great and 

 graceful in the Roman school of 

 art. 



No. 23 also is not more remarkable for the skill with which the 

 parts are combined, than for their separate excellence. The niches 

 and superstructure, supported by caryatic figures, serve as a basis for 

 the three fates drawing the thread of human life. Observe well the 

 pertinency of all the attributes : — the respective ages of the three 

 females, the opening blossoms which surround the first, the ripened 

 fruit which accompanies the second, and the monumental character oi 

 the niche in which the third is placed, with the human emblem ol 

 mortality at her feet; and to descend to the lower compartment, we 

 have again to admire the perfect attention to nature in the bird, and 

 the berry-bearing plant in which it is feasting. 



The next compartment (No. 24), is also full of a moral intention. 

 The principal figures are emblematical of the flight of time. The 

 horary dial supports an admirable group of day and night, with their 

 emblems, dominated by the personifications of the sun and moon ; they 

 are accompanied by the well known emblems of time and eternity, 

 and we may find much meaning, even in the steel yard, classically 

 weighted with heads of Janus regarding the past and the future. 

 None of the series is more elegantly terminated than this, though the 

 group does not appear to have any immediate relation to the main 

 subject. 



Nothing can be in a higher style of art, than the personifications of 

 Faith, Hope, and Charity in No. 25. To enlarge upon their indi- 

 vidual excellence would be foreign to the present purpose. I must 

 only draw your attention to the manner in which they are made sub- 

 servient to the general design of filling the space they are intended 

 to decorate, and the spire-like form in which they are made to rise 

 from the heavy to the light. 



The last compartment is dedicated to the sciences of geography 

 and astronomy. The terrestrial and celestial globes, borne by the 

 gpnius below, each support figures emblematical of that part of the 

 universe which they represent. On the one lies the earth-born An- 

 tEus at the feet of Hercules, who is represented in his appropriate 

 labour of supporting the heavens, while a winged being of celestial 

 aspect crowns the other. 



Having now completed the review of this series of arabesques, it is 

 not my intention to detain you by any lengthened observations upon 

 them, such as occurred having been expressed on the immediate 

 occasions on which they arose. I began by stating the principles 

 which 1 conceived might be illustrated by this review and in con- 



