April, 1917 
23 
clients understand the essentials of beauty, 
as based on line and volume. 
America now possesses many of the best 
paintings and objects of art that once be¬ 
longed to the old world, and this is likewise 
true of fireplaces and over-mantels. Fire¬ 
places have been taken bodily out of old 
English houses and placed in American 
homes, along with the paneling from walls 
and furniture of the period. Therefore, 
the development of the over-mantel as seen 
in this country must be traced in England 
itself, from the earliest times, when it took 
the form simply of a special arrangement 
of the oak paneling, with the arms of the 
family carved thereon, to the succeeding 
period of massive stone carvings, again with 
coats of arms chiseled and polychromed, 
down to the later delicacies of Chippendale, 
Hepplewhite, Sheraton and the Brothers 
Adam. Eewer in numbers have been the 
importations of hooded over-mantels from 
Italy, that reach almost to the ceiling, and 
of those from France. 
The revolt from over-ornamentation, 
however, has brought to the front in this 
country the simple scheme of hanging above 
a fireplace, whose lines are those of sim¬ 
plicity and beauty, a specially framed pic¬ 
ture, a tapestry or other textile, such as a 
church banner, or perhaps a plaque or 
shield. This falls in well with the scheme 
to have simple rooms with fine proportions 
—a much harder thing for the architect and 
decorator to attain than the old lavish ef¬ 
fects. Walts, neutral in themselves, are 
treated as backgrounds for objects of art. 
This sort of over-mantel treatment is, in 
a way, a reversion to the simplicity of Eliza¬ 
bethan times, when, if a coat of arms were 
not used, the ornament most preferred was 
a painting, as likely as not a Dutch portrait. 
Flower and Fruit Pictures 
Light and cheerful effects, in the very 
best taste, have come with the use of flower 
and fruit pictures, which give a fine air of 
distinction to a room and have the merit of 
fitting in with almost any scheme of fur¬ 
nishing. So great has been the demand of 
pictures of this class that thousands of them 
have been brought from Europe in the last 
few years. A long list of capable artists 
of the past headed perhaps by Van Huy- 
sam, left these ornamental flower and fruit 
pictures for American home builders, as 
well as hundreds of their nameless followers 
whose pictures are also full of beauty. 
Some of the most ambitious over-mantel 
schemes, transplanted from England, were 
placed in Castle Gould, at Port Washington, 
E. I., by William Baumgarten & Co. In the 
dining-room is a stone hood on which is 
placed an old English coat of arms, poly¬ 
chromed, and in the library is a coat of 
arms and crest carved in oak. Other no¬ 
table effects by these galleries are the elab¬ 
orate Henry II over-mantel in the home of 
Mrs. T. A. Sperry, at Cranford; a stone 
Renaissance effect with the bust of a 
Roman emperor in Mr. Daniel G. Reid’s 
residence at Irvington and the tapestry 
panel effect in Mrs. Guthrie's house at 
Imcust Valley. 
Warwick Idouse inclines to the use of 
paintings, some tasteful examples being the 
over-mantels in the apartment of Mrs. P. 
FI. Stewart, in New York, with an Italian 
effect, with a portrait, in the dining-room 
and the use of a Morland print in the living- 
room. Warwick House is doing a Georgian 
over-panel with a portrait in the Whitelaw 
Reid country house at White Plains. 
Especially dainty is an over-mantel in the 
bedroom of Mrs. George F. Baker, Jr., also 
of New York, comprising a little English 
pastel portrait in a Venetian setting, 
planned by Karl Ereund. To the same dec¬ 
orator is due a beautiful over-mantel effect 
in the reception-room of Mrs. I. J. Herszeg’s 
New York house, consisting of two Old 
English embroidery pictures set with mir¬ 
rors. Typical of the Georgian style is an 
over-mantel done by Angelica Kauffman 
for Rathfarnham Castle, Ireland, now on 
exhibition at Mr. Ereund’s galleries. 
Mrs. Lorraine Windsor, Decorator 
Distinct value is given the fireplace in this draioing-room by the over-mantel painting. It centers interest in the spot. The room, 
ichich is in the residence of Charles Adams, Esq., of Chicago, is carried out in ivory satin hangings and upholstery and walnut and 
ivory antique fjirniture 
