342 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[October, 



After noticing the works in the church of the Madeleine, before 

 referred to, Mr. Wilson quotes some defective Italian examples, and 

 adds : — 



" Paul Veronese, as might he expected, from his nil pictures, is more effec- 

 tive, and perhaps may be said to paint in fresco on truer principles of colour 

 than any other Venetian master ; but his taste in design is open to criticism. 

 In the Villa Mazer lie has everywhere annihilated the architect's intentions, 

 and has so painted the walls and ceilings as to convey the idea that the spec- 

 tator is looking i ut to the country and up to the heavens, while the win- 

 dows in the room contrast the reality with the artist's intentions. Such 

 extravagances, perhaps pardonable in the fanciful decorations of a villa, were 

 carried to excess by the later Italian artists. Vaulted roofs of Churches or 

 rooms were frequently painted with perspectives of gorgeous edifices, while 

 portions of clouds and figures were brought down, by means of express plas- 

 tering, over the real cornices and mouldings. In S Andrea dclla Valle in 

 Rome, even Domenichino has indulged in such perverse and unworthy con- 

 ceits. 



"'We may, on the other hand, gather from the examples of the best mas- 

 ters, that an idea of unity should pervade a series of pictures executed in 

 one place ; but still there ere difficulties in firming a just opinion of the true 

 mode in which painting should be thus applied. By some of the German 

 artists the difficulty has been met. by representing the pictures as tapestries 

 nailed to the walls; 7 in other cases they have painted the figures on gold 

 grounds, in imitation of the mosaics in the ancient Byzantine churches." 



Adverting to the decoration of churches at the revival of art, Mr. 

 Wilson proceeds : — 



•'Blue was substituted at a later period for gold, and this is exemplified 

 with most completeness in the Cappella degli Scrovegni at l'adua. painted by 

 Giotto, which may be deemed a perfect example of Italian Gothic church- 

 painting. 



" In this building, as in other Italian Gothic edifices, the vaulted roof is 

 painted blue, and is divided into compartments with stripes of ornament ; in 

 other buildings where there are ribs in the vaulting, this ornament, which is 

 of a geometrical character, is confined to these, and to a small space on 

 either side of them. In each compartment of the vault there are circles of 

 characteristic ornament, in which are painted heads and even whole-length 

 figures of the Evangelists, or their symbols. At a subsequent period the 

 circles were dismissed, and the figures were painted standing on light thin 

 clouds: at all times the blue background, sometimes very dark, at other 

 times light, was spangled with gold stars, frequently executed in relief. In 

 Sta. Maria del Popolo, in Rome, Pintiuicchio has introduced a beautiful 

 variety in this mode of decoration ; he has seated the figures on thrones, and 

 diapered the blue background with a rich gold pattern. To return to the 

 Cappella degli Scrovegni ; the paintings on the walls are divided from each 

 other by broad ornamented bands vertically, and by narrow ones horizontally ; 

 inUhe vertical bands arc octagonal spaces, with heads of sainis, coats of 

 arms, and Subjects composed of two figures, and all these bands are richly 

 painted with various colours. The figures are all on a ground of plain blue, 

 of the same time as that of the vault overhead. 



'■ In the Farnesina, Raphael has restored the ancient mode of treatment, 

 which bad been departed from even by Giotto himself i n the walU i i 

 and which was never revived by any other artist till Raphael adopted it in 

 the above instance." 



The extreme opinions of the continental artists and critics above 

 quoted, are to be tried by a reference to the masterworks of Italian 

 art, and by an examination of the conditions resulting from the union 

 of painting with architecture. 



Fresco having been decided on for the decoration of portions of 

 the Palace at Westminster, the question of methods need not for the 

 present be further discussed ; but it may be remarked that the argu- 

 ments for or against particular modes appear to depend on the fol- 

 lowing considerations: — the influence of the practice of a given me- 

 thod on the style of the artists; the inclination of the artists; dura- 

 bility; applicability to architecture; the resources of the method; 

 and the convenience of execution. The absence of a shining surface 

 for paintings on walls seems to be generally considered desirable, and 

 in the present case is especially recommended by the architect 8 It 

 is easily attainable in all modes, the enamelled surface above referred 

 to excepted. The employment of other methods than fresco, it has 

 been observed, might admit of the work being executed on strong 

 panel, to be afterwards inserted in walls, thus avoiding the objections 

 to canvas; but panels of the sizes required could not be easily intro- 

 duced into painting rooms of ordinary dimensions. M. Paul de la 

 Roche, who recommends painting in oil on the wall itself admits that, 



7 There are examples of this in the Hall of Constantino and on one of the 

 ceilings of the Stanze in the Vatican. 

 6 See Architect's Report, 



to avoid the black and heavy appearance which old oil-paintings thus 

 executed present, it is necessary to adopt a light style of colour, and 

 to admit a large proportion of illumined masses. 9 This leads to the 

 consideration of the question of style, and of the restraints to literal 

 imitation which are supposed to be necessary. 



The gold ground, recommended by the writers above quoted, might 

 be at once dismissed without comment, as it has never been proposed 

 as a background for figures in the intended decorations ; but it is to 

 be observed that there is no example of it in the celebrated paintings 

 of the great masters, with the exception of Raphael's first work in 

 the Vatican, viz., the ceiling of the Camera della Segnatura. It may 

 have been objectionable to them, even in works whore no background 

 was introduced, because, as is evident from the instance just quoted, 

 it is an unsatisfactory imitation of mosaic: the comparative dulness 

 and heaviness of the colours contrasting ill with the splendour of 

 gold. It is just, however, to state that all who have seen the works 

 of Professor Hess, thus executed on a large scale at Munich, have 

 been no less struck by the general splendour of effect than by the 

 grandeur and beauty of the inventions. 



The opinions respecting the supposed necessity of preserving the 

 flatness of the real wall, whatever means may be adopted for such an 

 object, must be especially objectionable to painters, who feel that the 

 triumph of their art greatly consists in apparently doing way with the. 

 plane surface. Nevertheless, it will be admitted that an art which 

 professes to be the auxiliary of architecture, may require to be more 

 or less modified in particular cases in order to attain the union pro- 

 posed. The qualities which constitute the abstract completeness of 

 imitation are limited, even in ordinary practice, by various causes; 

 by the style of art, by the subject, and by dimensions, without any 

 reference to the particular place for which the work may be destined. 

 The conditions of situation, and of relation to a building, are new to 

 artists in this country, but must be acknowledged to be as obligatory 

 as those which they are in the habit of fulfilling. 



M. De la Roche, though, as before observed, an advocate for oil- 

 painting on walls, thus writes to Mr. Wilson: " Monumental painting 

 is an art by itself, requiring no less experience than invention, and 

 should an opportunity of the kind again present itself for me, I shall 

 endeavour to show that I have profited by the observations which I 

 have made during and since the execution of my work" (the hemi- 

 cycle before mentioned, in the Ecole des Beaux Arts.) 



The arrangements with respect to light being assumed to be satis- 

 factory, the general conditions in question may be reduced to three — 

 the purpose of the building, the magnitude of the halls or rooms to be 

 painted, and the style of the architecture. The purpose of the 

 building must regulate the selection of subjects, and, to a certain ex- 

 tent, their style. It is inexpedient here to enter upon the considera- 

 tion of the selection of subjects, but the dimensions of the rooms are 

 given by the architect, and must always constitute an important con- 

 dition, not without some influence even on the subjects. Figures in 

 paintings which are required to decorate vast halls may require to be 

 larger than nature, and it will generally happen, as a consequence of 

 such enlargement, that little space remains in the picture for back- 

 ground. On the other hand, colossal figures in a small room, even 

 where the idea of a supernatural size is intended to be conveyed, are 

 unsatisfactory, as the spectator is quite near enough to perceive de- 

 tails, and finds none, except those belonging to the execution of the 

 work and which ought not to be visible. This unpleasant effect is 

 produced in the " Sala de' (iiganti," bytiiulio Romano, at Mantua. 



In the suite of apartments or Stanze in the Vatican painted by 

 Raphael, the compartments for pictures are as large as they can be 

 consistently with the size of the rooms. In the first work there exe- 

 cuted by him, even the foreground figures are not larger than life. 

 As the great artist proceeded in his labours, he increased the size, 

 and reduced the number of the figures, till his eye was satisfied. 



The limited distance, compared with their size, at which these 

 works are seen, may in like manner have determined the style of exe- 

 cution, and ultimately in some degree even the subjects. In the 

 Camera della Segnatura, which at first appeared to be the only room 

 which could be allotted to Raphael (the others being then occupied 

 by the works of older artists), the subjects, such as philosophy, 

 poetry, &c. are abstract; but when directed to re-paint the remaining 

 rooms, the experienced artist adopted or approved of a class of sub- 

 jects which required various details, such as it is natural to look for 

 in objects seen near. 



On the same principle differently applied, when Michael Angelo 

 began the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he tilled three compartments 

 with numerous small figures ana a variety of incidents; but finding 

 that such a style produced no effect from below, he suddenly enlarged 



» Letter from M, De la Roche to Mr, Wilson. 



