§26,27. NATURAL OBJECTS. 215 



adoption of any style or peculiarity, which may, after all, be an 

 imperfection that none but a genius could overcome. Adapt- 

 ability of materials should never be lost sight of; and even 

 the quantity of labour bestowed upon them should be propor- 

 tionate to their excellence and their durability. Thus, it is 

 inconsistent with reason and good taste to make vases, or 

 other things, to which glass is really well suited, overcharged 

 with a profusion of carving and elaborate ornament. To see 

 a great amount of labour bestowed on so perishable a mate- 

 rial excites a feeling of uneasiness and regret, which would 

 not have been felt if the vase had been of gold or silver ; and 

 the same sum paid for the fragile ornament would have been 

 better and more safely spent on a durable work of higher art. 



26. [Whatever belongs to decorative design must be sub- 

 servient to its conditions ; and if, as is sometimes permitted, 

 a small picture forms part of that design, it must conform to 

 the general effect, as in the Loggie of the Vatican and other 

 Italian buildings, where medallions and vignettes are admitted 

 into the general decorative composition. Even fresco painting 

 is bound to suit its effect to the ornamentation of a building, 

 and whatever is part of a design must accord and harmonise 

 with it ; while this must itself be subordinate to, and depend 

 upon, the general features of the building. But pictures on 

 panel and canvas are not subject to the same condition of orna- 

 mentation as wall-paintings, as I shall have occasion to show. 



27. The imitation of natural objects for mere ornamental 

 purposes usually disagrees both with the materials used, and the 

 place where they are introduced. It is also an indication of 

 poverty of invention and a deficiency of taste for design. In a 

 carpet where roses and other flowers are figured, we find the 

 same impossibility of correct representation already mentioned : 

 the very best rose is always unlike the reality, while the ima- 

 gination is diverted from the general effect by the comparison 

 of this imperfect copy with the natural flower. The same 



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