§ 26. MOSAIC WINDOWS. 37 



and the character of the ornamentation, not to the excellence 

 of the colour imparted to the material. Convinced that the 

 best arrangement of colours is to be found in the windows of 

 the 1200, and that the principle was to make the windows 

 part of the general composition of the whole coloured build- 

 ing, I agree with Labarte that the merit of those windows "is 

 their perfect harmony with the general effect of the edifices 

 to which they belong. At whatever distance we examine 

 them, we are struck by the elegance of their form and the 

 brilliancy of their colour. The artist has had no intention 

 of executing an independent work; he has given himself 

 little trouble about a faithful copy of nature ; his whole aim 

 has been to contribute, under the direction of the architect, 

 to the ornamentation of the building; and he has never 

 failed of success, through the skilful arrangement and harmo- 

 nious distribution of his colours, which, notwithstanding 

 their brilliancy, shed over the interior of the temple a mys- 

 terious light, adding much to the solemn grandeur of the 

 architecture. The harmony of effect did not exclude a rich- 

 ness of detail. The mosaics of the grounds, and the borders 

 which surround them, are always of graceful patterns, of infi- 

 nite variety, and of charming originality. The subjects are 

 characterised by a touching simplicity, neither devoid of life 

 nor movement." As the deeper shadows admitted into them 

 are made by lines, and some lighter ones by smear-shadoivs, 

 they are not open to the same objection as the dark con- 

 tinuous shades of the late enamel glass, which interfere too 

 much with the transmission of light, and have a heavy appear- 

 ance from the light being so unequally intercepted by large 

 opaque shadows. 



The general arrangement in the mosaic windows is a series 

 of medallions, or lozenges, surrounded by, or imbedded in, a 

 coloured mosaic ground, which, together with the medallions 

 and a rich border, form the whole composition of each 



V 3 



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