240 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II. 



now and then deviate from its true principles, there is the 

 greater necessity for our knowing why we copy them, and 

 for avoiding the blind imitation of any work out of a mere 

 respect for the name of its author. Who, indeed, would ad- 

 vocate the introduction of Doric triglyphs over Ionic columns ? 

 and yet the Greeks have left instances of this, as well as of a 

 round-headed pediment terminated at each end by a scroll ; 

 and of vases in the form of human heads surmounted by small 

 ficrures, such as we see in the tombs of Cumse and Canosa. 

 Nor are other examples wanting of their occasional oversight 

 in such matters; and it was far from judicious in them to 

 adopt the Caryatides, Telamones, and Hermes figures " from 

 the Barbarian." It is not sufficient to find some ancient 

 example ; it must be one worthy of being imitated. We often 

 hear this excuse for an anomaly — " there is authority for 

 it;" but no authority can justify the imitation of what is bad ; 

 and any one who adopted a copy of the Duilian column as a 

 naval monument would raise a memorial of his own want of 

 taste. 



As the human figure is necessarily the standard, by which 

 we estimate the size of every object we behold, its dimensions 

 should be our guide for those of the statue that represents it ; 

 and the colossus (or the statuette) has the effect of decreasing 

 (or increasing) the apparent size of whatever is near it ; though 

 there are situations even in a building where a statue may be 

 larger than life, when it does not interfere with the effect of 

 surrounding objects, or when a particular position sanctions 

 an increase of size. There are also cases where a colossal 

 figure may be tolerated,, and even produce a good effect; and 

 that of the Saviour, in the mosaics or frescoes of Italian and 

 other churches, surrounded by figures of smaller size, en- 

 joys an importance as the principal object, without injuring 

 the proportion of the building, and makes the whole subject 

 grand and impressive ; a good example of which is in the 



