54 ON COLOUR. Taet I. 



circles throughout the four lights is tiresome to the eye. 

 Nor is the distribution of the small pictures in regular squares 

 or panes, in another window (PI. liv. of 1461 A.D.), an agree- 

 able one; for though the colour is good, and each compart- 

 ment has its own subject, the want of variety in the forms 

 gives it a monotonous effect. PI. lxiv. is an instance of faulty 

 arrangement as well as of bad colour, the subject being the 

 Grarden of Eden continuing across the six lights; and PL lxx., 

 a scene from the Apocalypse, is offensive both in colour 

 and arrangement. In another work, "Vitreaux de la Cathe- 

 drale de Tournai," are some glass windows of merit, but 

 though good in design and colour for that particular style and 

 period, they have the fault of being pictures upon glass, and of 

 having the subjects interfered with by the construction of the 

 window. This is the usual objection to the best specimens 

 met with in the Netherlands; and when, as at Brussels 

 and elsewhere, they add faulty colouring and ponderous 

 designs, they are still more opposed to the true principles of 

 the painted glass window. 



37. Among the many conditions of coloured glass windows 

 I may notice the following : that they should be subservient 

 to the general ornamentation, their object being decorative ; 

 they should assimilate to, and aid, the decoration and style 

 of the building; they should not be a contrast to a white 

 wall ; nor pretend to be a painting or large picture ; the small 

 figures in the medallions, though conventional, should be 

 good, not imitations of a rude style, and should be part of 

 the coloured effect of the window when seen at a distance : 

 broad opaque shadows should not be introduced, nor an 

 attempt be made to convert the flat into a round style: 

 figures larger than life should be avoided as injurious to 

 the proportion of a building : no great expanse of one colour 

 in one place should catch the eye ; and a picture extending 

 over two or more lights, cut by an opaque mullion, is incon- 



