20 
House & Garden 
OLD FRENCH WALL PAPER DECORATIONS 
The Early Works of Lafitte and Dufour—The Art of Hand Block Printing — 
Fine Papers Now Reprinted From the Original Blocks 
EUGENE CLUTE 
T wofold interest 
attaches to old 
French wall papers, for 
in addition to being 
beautiful examples of 
the decorative art of a 
past century, a number 
of the finest designs have 
been made available for 
use in present-day homes 
in the form of reprints 
from the original blocks. 
The big pictorial deco¬ 
rations which represent 
the highest development 
of the art of wall paper 
making in France consist 
of many breadths of pa¬ 
per upon each of which 
is printed a portion of 
the design, the strips 
matching to form the 
complete picture. Some 
designs are continuous 
around the room while 
others are in panels. 
Classic Subjects 
One of the finest of 
these wall papers is the 
“ Psyche and Cupid ” 
decoration designed by 
Lafitte and executed by 
Dufour of Paris in 1814. 
Several panels of this set 
are preserved in the Met¬ 
ropolitan Museum of 
Art, New York City. 
Twelve panels in all, 
some broad and some 
narrow, compose the set 
which is printed on more 
than a score of strips 
each about 20" wide and 
between 5' and 6' in 
height. It is entirely in 
tones of gray. 
This design is remark¬ 
able for its beauty, classic dignity, and high 
decorative quality. The purity of line, the ex¬ 
cellence of the composition and the luminosity 
of the shadows are especially worthy of note. 
Though classic and mythological subjects 
were much favored, other subjects very differ¬ 
ent and quite as beautiful in their way are 
found among the old French wall papers that 
have been preserved. 
Popular Designs 
Often romantic scenes were represented. A 
fine example of this type is in the possession 
of the Metropolitan Museum. It shows men 
and women whiling away the time in the mag¬ 
nificent formal garden of a chateau. This 
dream of luxurious idleness makes one thank¬ 
ful for something to do, for a chance to get 
honestly tired—but it is a beautiful decora¬ 
tion, for all that. 
Designs derived from the hand-painted wall 
papers imported from China were printed in 
France and they were very popular. A won¬ 
often amusing, were al¬ 
ways interesting. 
“Vues de l’Amerique 
du Nord,” produced in 
1834 by Zuber is one of 
the most important of the 
many decorations of this 
type. It comprises views 
of New York City, West 
Point, Boston, Niagara 
Falls, The Natural 
Bridge in Virginia, and 
a tableau entitled “In¬ 
dian Dances.” For its 
production 1674 wooden 
blocks were required. 
Hand-Block Printing 
All of these papers 
were printed by hand, a 
process calling for care, 
skill and no small degree 
of artistic feeling on the 
part of the printers. 
Though all but the finest 
papers have long been 
printed by machinery, the 
old art of hand-block 
printing has, fortunately, 
been preserved un¬ 
changed down to the 
present day. 
Until the outbreak of 
the war the famous Zu¬ 
ber factory established at 
Rixheim in Alsace at 
the close of the French 
Revolution was in con¬ 
tinuous operation. In 
France and England the 
method is still employed 
in the production of fine 
wall papers and in our 
own country paper hang¬ 
ings of great beauty are 
printed by the old hand- 
block process. 
The printer stands be¬ 
fore a heavily built wooden table or work¬ 
bench and prints with a wooden block about 
20" wide, 2' long and 2" thick. Upon the face 
of this block is carving that represents the parts 
of the design that are to be printed in one color, 
for each color requires a separate block. 
The printer places the block face downward 
in a shallow wooden box that stands on sup¬ 
ports at his right. He presses the block down 
with his hands in order that it may be evenly 
charged with the color that has been spread 
upon the felt in the bottom of the box. He 
lifts the block by a strap handle. 
Applying the Design 
Before him on the table lies the paper. He 
carefully places the printing block upon it and 
presses down with his hands. The high parts 
of the carving coming in contact with the paper 
transfer the color to it. Under the paper is a 
cushion formed of thicknesses of felt laid on 
the table-top. Further pressure is brought to 
bear upon the block by means of a simple lever. 
A dream of luxurious idleness is pictured in this section of old French paper, show¬ 
ing scenes in the park of a chateau. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
derful example of this type is the “Decor Chi- 
nois” produced by Zuber about a century ago. 
It is in clear colors on a white ground. So 
true to the Chinese style is this paper that it 
must have been copied from a fine Chinese 
hand-painted wall paper. The result certainly 
justifies the expenditure of patient and skilful 
effort involved in its production. 
The ends of the earth were brought together 
during the 18th Century, as never before, by 
the development of foreign trade and travel. 
France drew upon the most remote countries 
for articles of use, for luxuries and art works. 
People were keenly curious about the distant 
lands of which they heard so much. What, 
then, was more natural than a demand for pic¬ 
torial representations of strange scenes? This 
demand was met by the makers of wall paper 
who brought out sets of decorations ranging in 
subject matter all the way from Hindustan to 
North America. When the artist’s knowledge 
of the country failed, his imagination seems to 
have served him well. The results, though 
