242 



ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. 



1'akt II. 



his tomb would certainly be of a living, not of a dead man ; 

 and there is the same motive for representing his likeness in 

 sculpture as in painting. And while mentioning tombs, I 

 cannot but praise the feeling and refinement exhibited in 

 those of our great sculptor Flaxman ; nor can I omit to 

 mention the elegant form of the Gothic canopied ones (espe- 

 cially those of the 1200) which we so often admire in Italy, 

 and sometimes in this country; where the figure of the 

 deceased lies on the stone coffin or sarcophagus, often with an 

 angel of graceful form at his head and feet ; the whole covered 



(17.) 



Fig. 1. 



Fig 



Fig. 3. 



by a round, pointed, or cusped arch*, within a pediment; 

 having richly coloured designs painted, or in mosaic, within 

 the vaulted recess, and on the wall from which it projects. 



Some of these sarcophagi are placed on brackets, and the 

 columns themselves have the same kind of support. They 

 all look well, — but I am rather disposed to prefer the 

 columns resting on the ground, — a support requiring a 



* I have seen a curious instance of an arch in the Great Oasis, in an early 

 Christian tomb of Roman time, which is the first approach to the trefoil arch. 

 Mummy cases long before were cut into this form ; but here is an arch of that 

 construction. 



