House and Garden 
by Mr. Marquand’s 
son and hung as a 
complete wall cover¬ 
ing of a bedroom, 
furnished in the By¬ 
zantine style, on 
the third door. This 
is said to have been 
made in the thirteenth 
century. The colors 
are soft blue and sil¬ 
ver. The surface has 
been covered with the 
impressions of infini¬ 
tesimal tools, leaving 
no bare spaces in the 
graceful and elegant 
design. A coat-of- 
arms, twice repeated, 
in red, makes the only 
break from the con¬ 
sistent tone of the 
walls, and the leather 
has been arranged so 
that these occur on 
corresponding panels 
each side of the al¬ 
cove into which 
fits the massive bed. 
The house of Fran¬ 
cis T. Maxwell, Esq., 
at Rockville, Ct., contains a room paneled in 
fine old Italian leather, hung by Mr. Yandell. 
A description of the method of making 
these gilded leathers is quoted in Baron 
Davillier’s book from a French 
translation of an Italian account 
of the work published in 1564. 
According to 
this ancient 
author, the 
skins were first 
soaked over 
night in water, 
then beaten 
upon a stone to 
s o f t e n them. 
After which 
they were 
washed and 
stretched upon 
apolishedstone 
to become 
thoroughly dry. 
Glue, made from clip¬ 
pings of parchment, 
was next spread well 
over the skins with 
the hands, and to this 
was attached a cover¬ 
ing of silver leaf. I'he 
skin was then hung 
upon a line, and after¬ 
ward nailed to a 
wooden table to dry 
absolutely. This 
done, the skin was 
burnished on the 
stone with a burnisher 
made of hematite or 
bloodstone until it be¬ 
came brilliant. The 
desired pattern was 
printed on the leather 
from a wooden block; 
again it was allowed to 
dry and afterward 
again nailed to the 
table and varnished 
over the silver, which 
gave the golden color. 
This varnish was 
made from four parts 
linseed oil, two parts 
resin and one part aloes, boiled together 
until it became a golden yellow. It was ap¬ 
plied with the fingers in wavy lines and 
spread to an even coat by skillful beat¬ 
ing with the palms of the hands. 
According as it was desired to pro¬ 
duce a silver or gold surface, the 
varnish was 
scraped off 
with a knife. 
The skins were 
again dried, 
painted if de¬ 
sired, and 
tooled. The 
pieces were 
then made true 
and sewed to¬ 
gether. Ac- 
cordingto Mrs. 
Flartlev Den¬ 
nett, of Boston, 
A PORTION OF A ROMANESQUE BEDROOM 
IN THE MARQUAND HOUSE 
The walls covered with Italian wrought leather 
AN ALTAR PIECE IN GOLD AND GREEN LEATHER 
Executed by Alary IVare Dennett and Clara IVare 
231 
