30 
House & Garden 
ARCHITECTURAL PAINTINGS and ETCHINGS 
As a Decoration for the Wall They Visibly Enlarge the Size of the Room 
and Open Windows on a Wide Range of the World 
PEYTON BOSWELL 
T HE four walls of a room present 
one of the most serious prob¬ 
lems with which we come in daily 
contact. To escape the blight of 
them and the dread of them is worth 
some thought and consideration on 
our part. 
Now, if one of these walls has a 
window that looks out upon the Ro¬ 
man Forum, with all the grandeur 
that epitomizes the glory of the an¬ 
cients; if another has a window 
through which may be seen the hol¬ 
low, vine-clad ruins of a medieval 
castle; if the third wall has two win¬ 
dows, through one of which you see 
the soul-uplifting spires of a Gothic 
cathedral and through the other you 
enter the cathedral itself; and if on 
the fourth wall is a vista of the pure 
beauty of a Hindu temple—well, it 
would seem as though the four dead 
walls had vanished and left in their 
stead a gateway to the whole great 
world. 
The Picture and the Room Size 
Before the magic gesture of archi¬ 
tectural painting and architectural 
etching, solid walls melt and fade 
away; or if not exactly that, they be¬ 
come merely confines which pleasant¬ 
ly hold the human soul, if it chooses, 
while it contemplates all the works 
of man, be they beautiful or sad, in¬ 
spiring or pensive. 
Of course, almost any kind of 
pictures may be used to break up the 
monotony of four dead walls. Subtle 
landscapes that serve to put the be¬ 
holder in the same mood that in¬ 
spired the artist; colorful landscapes 
that give just the right note 
to the decorative scheme; 
old portraits that help to 
carry out the “period” 
motif, or bright figure pieces 
that serve as decorations 
much as a vase or a plaque 
or a rare textile would serve. 
But all of these leave the 
room the same size as when 
they entered it. They make 
it more livable to the person 
who lives in it, or they may 
make it less livable to the 
person who doesn’t have to 
live in it. But as regards 
the person who in these 
modern days does not par¬ 
ticularly like thoughtfulness 
and moods, and who at 
all times has a wholesome 
hankering for the wide, 
wide world—for the great 
stretches—for foreign sights 
—all these things do not 
help much. It takes the 
architectural painting or the 
architectural etching to sat¬ 
isfy such as these. 
The architectural theme in paint¬ 
ing and etching has come surpris¬ 
ingly to the front in the last few 
years. This is manifested in two 
ways—first, the eagerness with which 
old paintings with architectural sub¬ 
jects have been sought by collectors 
and home makers, and, by the same 
token, by the art dealers; and, sec¬ 
ond, the extraordinary interest that 
has been manifested by etchers in 
similar subjects. Plate after plate 
has been turned out by such artists 
as Haig, Brangwyn and Fitton, all 
finding eager buyers, until the mod¬ 
ern school of architectural etching 
has assumed a place of great impor¬ 
tance in the art world and in our 
homes. 
The reasons for this popularity of 
architectural painting and architec¬ 
tural etching probably come under 
three heads which may be set down 
as follows: 
First, the psychological reason be¬ 
fore mentioned. The wholesome out¬ 
door instinct that has come into mod¬ 
ern life appreciates the sense of big¬ 
ness which these works impart to a 
home—the opening up of vistas into 
the outer world. 
Second, the desire of the home 
builder under the cramped condi¬ 
tions of city life to make the 
best of the small space available in 
apartments, and make it seem as 
large as possible. The right use of 
architectural works will sometimes 
make a room seem twice as big as it 
really is. 
Third, the appropriateness of the 
architectural work as a decoration 
in the “period room.” 
It is surprising how 
“large” an effect can be 
obtained with an architec¬ 
tural etching in a city apart¬ 
ment—and by apartment is 
meant the modest living 
quarters of the ordinary 
man. A bright comer, by 
means of a sunshiny print, 
can be made twice as big. 
Even a hallway can be 
stretched out and widened 
in a surprising way by a 
well chosen etching. 
Classifying the Etchings 
These etchings fall under 
three main heads: 
First, there is the etching 
of some historical building. 
It may be Windsor Castle, 
it may be Notre Dame, it 
may be the ruins of the 
Coliseum, or of some old 
feudal castle in England or 
Scotland; and the interest 
in it may be one of beauty 
or one of sentiment. 
In his etching of Milan Cathedral, Albany Howarth uses the 
interior details to make a decorative picture. Schwartz 
As a contrast to the interior cathedral view above we have this exterior of Notre 
Dame by Frank Brangwyn. Courtesy of the Knoedler Galleries 
