INTERIOR DECORATION OF VESSELS. 93 



night, but might be pleasant on a warm one ; however, the house is not open during 

 the summer months. 



If a period of decoration is to be adopted we should stick to it not only in line 

 but in colors and material, both woods and woven goods, and not fly off in the mid- 

 dle of it to suit some individual taste. The writer once saw a set of specifications 

 where a certain room was to be panelled in oak in Adams style, as if such a thing 

 were possible. We can use oak for a great many things, but never in Adams period, 

 to be correct. 



Some of the periods of decoration which are most pleasing and well adapted 

 for ship interiors are Louis Quatorze, Regency, Louis Quinze, Louis Seize, French 

 Empire, Elizabethian, The Georgian periods, Adams, American Colonial and some 

 others not so well known by those who are not connoisseurs of art. Some of the 

 Italian styles are beautiful and are especially suited for first class yacht work, as 

 they are fine as to detail, mostly always carved and consequently more costly. 



Of the different periods of decoration a few remarks may be interesting. The 

 classic styles of the Greeks and Romans would, if strictly carried out, be too massive 

 and stiff for ship decoration. With the Renaissance, architecture had a new birth. 

 When the world did not come to an end after one thousand years of the Christian 

 era, as had been predicted, men began to take heart and live again and by the 

 middle of the fifteenth century the Renaissance was well on its way. This condi- 

 tion soon spread throughout Europe, and nearly everything in architecture we see 

 of the present age is based on the Renaissance period. 



Of the French periods, Louis Quatorze, somewhat severe of line, shows a soft- 

 ening with the Regency, followed by the gay and elaborate period of Louis Quinze 

 "The Well-loved," where the flowing rococo suggests music, laughter and frivolity. 

 With Louis Seize comes a period of perhaps the most interesting and beautiful of 

 all the French styles. While the beautiful and frivolous young Queen Marie An- 

 toinette had great influence, yet this period has more meaning and better balance 

 of design than the preceding periods. The French Empire, the style of Napoleon, 

 with its Egyptian and Roman ornaments, has not the magnificent grandeur of the 

 preceding periods, yet it is rich and dignified. 



The styles in England after the Tudor or Elizabethian period closely followed 

 the French as to general line. The three Georgian and Adams periods are very 

 dear to the American heart, for here we see the inspiration of our own so-called 

 American Colonial — the style of our forefathers, stately, yet with that quiet repose 

 the more fanciful French styles lack. 



As smoking rooms are mostly always finished in oak, some of the sixteenth 

 century English or Flemish styles always look well and make an agreeable change 

 from the lighter and gayer styles employed for a music room or lounge. For out- 

 side rooms such as a veranda or enclosed promenade deck, palm room and the like, 

 a garden effect with trelliage panels can hardly be improved upon. Stateroom 

 corridors and alcove passages as plain as possible are better than a lot of small 



