§ 20-31. CANOPY WINDOWS. 43 



furniture and various ornamental works, they have imposed 

 on innocent minds and warped the judgment of those who are 

 more influenced by splendour and an ad captandum display 

 than by good taste : and as the judgment is apt to be misled 

 by what is specious and seductive, greater care is requisite in 

 order to guard against its influence. 



31. In the 1300 brilliant colours were given to glass, and 

 its manufacture was excellent. At that period, instead of the 

 mosaic patterns of the previous century, larger figures of 

 saints under canopies occupying each a single light (already 

 introduced in the previous century, particularly in the upper 

 windows), came into more general use ; and though there is 

 no objection to these figures, provided the masses of colour are 

 not too great in some parts, the shadows not too heavy, the 

 figures not too large, and the canopies not deeply shaded, nor 

 of a different character from the building itself, they are far 

 less pleasing than the medallion style. Nor can we forget that 

 they are always likely to lead to the introduction of "pictures" 

 on glass, and the abandonment of the true principle of vitro- 

 chrome decoration. Great masses of unbroken colour in the 

 grounds and the draperies give a heaviness to the design ; and 

 in consequence of the human figure being received as the 

 standard of size, this, when larger than life, disturbs propor- 

 tion, and when placed in the upper story deceives the eye by 

 taking away from the apparent height of the building. 



It is true that, as in Northern Italy, there are many speci- 

 mens of single figures occupying the whole breadth of one 

 light, sometimes in compartments one over the other in the 

 same light, which are highly to be commended ; and as long 

 as the conditions just specified are regarded, single figures 

 may safely be introduced. But as those conditions are so 

 often violated in this mode of decorating windows, and as their 

 effect is generally inferior to that of the mosaic pattern, the 

 latter is to be preferred. It is difficult to avoid the tendency 



