HOUSE AND GARDEN 
348 
May, 1911 
Paneling in the Hall of Magdalena College, Oxford, showing the rich¬ 
ness obtained by the use of the linen-fold and heraldic motives 
panels. The primary 
intention was to cover 
the surface rather 
than to decorate it, and 
what decoration there 
was, was achieved by 
elaborating the sur¬ 
face of these panels. 
Occasionally the 
shape of the panels 
was varied by the use 
of arched forms, and 
the arches were deco¬ 
rated, but even then 
the general effect was 
of a monotonous suc¬ 
cession of rather 
small panels. The 
effect of this treat¬ 
ment was charming 
and the writer knows 
no more interesting 
rooms than some 
where simple paneling is carried up to 
the ceiling, and framed pictures and 
sconces, embroidery, etc., are hung over 
the wainscot without regard to the ar¬ 
rangement of the panels, which are 
thus partly covered up. 
One of the most common forms used 
in this panel decoration was the ‘‘linen¬ 
fold,” which suggests cloth or parch¬ 
ment arranged in vertical folds with 
the edges showing the convolutions of 
the material. There are several varia¬ 
tions of this treatment, as in the charm¬ 
ing, almost modern, interior at Rotham- 
sted. Here the vertical lines in the 
panels are preserved, but in other re¬ 
spects the detail is quite differently 
handled. This room is curiously simi¬ 
lar to some of the modern “Craftsman” 
work, but with a saving sense of the 
value of well designed, well placed 
ornaments. 
The quality of what is called “all- 
over” decoration — the covering of a 
surface with a pattern that repeats mo¬ 
notonously, which is so evident in the wainscoting, was character¬ 
istic of a great deal of the decoration of this period. 
The screens at the end of the banqueting halls were usually 
richly decorated, as was the front of the musicians’ gallery which 
was placed above. These screens formed a sort of vestibule, with 
the entrance door at one end of the space which they cut off from 
the large hall. This vestibule was also used as a sort of serving- 
room and generally communicated directly with the kitchen. 
There is at least one house where the chapel intervened between 
this space and the kitchen, and where the passage connecting 
them was through the end of the chapel opposite the altar— 
a curious commentary on their feeling for the sacredness of 
the place. 
Much of the ornament of this period was derived directly from 
the Flemish. During the persecutions of the Duke of Alva a 
great many capable craftsmen fled to Protestant England, and 
their work fitted well with the late Gothic work of that country. 
Such a screen as the one at Hever Castle shows the Flemish in¬ 
fluence, and the Ital¬ 
ian Renaissance forms 
used here had evident¬ 
ly been translated first 
into Dutch. 
The use of medal- 
lions in the panels 
with Renaissance 
forms was common at 
tins time, and they 
frequently enclosed a 
head in profile. This 
motive was of course 
imported direct from 
Italy, but it suffered 
m any changes into 
forms that were both 
weird and strange as 
Italian ornament; but 
which, nevertheless 
were often very full 
of charm. 
In the lower part of 
this screen at Hever 
the character of the carving is distinctly 
Flemish. I he sense of the shape of the 
individual pieces of wood is strongly 
preserved and one feels the craftsman 
making the very best use that his ca¬ 
pacity allowed of the material at his 
command. 
I lie Jacobean mantel is a very charac¬ 
teristically individual development of 
this period. At Baddesley Clinton the 
dining-room fireplace is a very fine ex¬ 
ample of the decoration in use at this 
time. The stone facing is usually even 
simpler than in this case, but the general 
arrangement is typical. The opening 
was surrounded by a simple stone fac¬ 
ing and at both sides, and above was 
placed an elaborately carved wood man¬ 
tel, without a shelf and with heraldic 
devices in the panels above. 
The supports at the sides with the 
curiously bulging form and covered 
with strap work, the flat arches in the 
panels at the side of the center panel 
which contains the coat of arms, the 
Rothamsted, the Old Hall—a room that in its woodwork is somewhat similar to mod¬ 
ern “craftsman” work, but with a saving sense of the value of good ornament 
The dining-room fireplace at Baddesley Clinton 
—typical in its elaborate carving and the ab¬ 
sence of a mantel shelf 
