VENETIAN GLASS, OLD AND MODERN
If you have been in Venice then you know the Murano Museum and its
beguiling collection of Venetian glass, that old glass so vastly more
beautiful in line and decoration than the modern type of, say, fifteen
years ago, when colours had become bad mixtures, and decorations
meaningless excrescences.
A bit of inside information given out to some one really interested,
led to a revival of pure line and lovely, simple colouring, with
appropriate decorations or none at all. You may already know that
romantic bit of history. It seems that when the museum was first
started, about four hundred years ago, the glass blowers agreed to
donate specimens of their work, provided their descendants should be
allowed access to the museum for models. This contract made it a
simple matter for a connoisseur to get reproduced exactly what was
wanted, and what was not in the market. Elegance, distinguished
simplicity in shapes, done in glass of a single colour, or in one
colour with a simple edge in a contrasting shade, or in one colour
with a whole nosegay of colours to set it off, appearing literally as
flowers or fruit to surmount the stopper of a bottle, the top of a
jar, or as decorations on candlesticks.
It was in the Museo Civico of Venice that we saw and fell victims to
an enchanting antique table decoration--a formal Italian garden, in
blown glass, once the property of a great Venetian family and redolent
of those golden days when Venice was the playground of princes, and
feasting their especial joy; days when visiting royalty and the
world's greatest folk could have no higher honour bestowed upon them
than a gift of Venetian glass, often real marvels mounted in silver
and gold.
We never tired of looking at that fairy garden with its delicate
copings, balustrades and vases of glass, all abloom with exquisite
posies in every conceivable shade, wrought of glass--a veritable dream
thing! Finally, nothing would do but we must know if it had ever been
copied. The curator said that he believed it had, and an address was
given us. How it all comes back! We arose at dawn, as time was
precious, took our coffee in haste and then came that gliding trip in
the gondola, through countless canals, to a quarter quite unknown to
us, where at work in a small room, we came upon our glass blower and
the coveted copy of that lovely table-garden. This man had made four,
and one was still in his possession. We brought it back to America, a
gleaming jewelled cobweb, and what happened was that the very ethereal
quality of its beauty made the average taste ignore it! However, a few
years have made a vast difference in table, as well as all other
decorations, and to-day the same Venetian gardens have their faithful
devotees, as is proved by the continuous procession of the dainty
wonders, ever moving toward our sturdy shores.
IN CONCLUSION
In bringing our book to an end we would reiterate four fundamental
principles of Interior Decoration (and all decoration):
Good lines.
Correct proportions.
Harmonious colour scheme (which includes the question of background)
and
Appropriateness.
Observe these four laws and any house, all interior decoration, and
any lawn or garden, will be beautiful and satisfying, regardless of
type and choice of colours.
Whether or not you remain content with your achievement depends upon
your mental makeup. Really know what you want as a home, _want it_,
and you can work out any scheme, provided you have intelligence,
patience and perseverance.
To learn what is meant by _good line_, one must educate oneself by
making a point of seeing beautiful furniture and furnishings. Visit
museums, all collections which boast the stamp of approval of experts;
buy at the best modern and antique shops, and compare what you get
with the finest examples in the museums. This is the way that
_connaisseurs_ are made.
INDEX
Acanthus leaf
Accessories
Adam, James and Robert
Alhambra
Amateur
Andirons
Angelo, Michael (See Michelangelo)
Antique
"Antiqued"
Apelles
Applique
Appropriate
Arabesques
Architectural picture
Architrave
Arras
Assyria
Athenian
Attic rooms
Awnings
Background
Bakst
Balance
Barrocco
Bathroom
Beauvais
Behnes
Belgium
Benares
"Bodies"
Bohemian glass
Boucher François
Boudoir
Boule, André Charles
Bric-à-brac
Bristol glass
Brocotello
Byzantine
Cabriole
Cæsar, Augustus
Carlovingian
Carpets (_See_ Floor)
Ceiling
Cellini, Benvenuto
Charlemagne
Charles I
Charles II
Charles V
Chares VIII
Charts
_Chef d'oeuvre_
Chimney-pieces
Chinese
"Chinese Craze"
Chintz
Chippendale
Cipriani, Giovanni Battista
Classic
Clocks
Closets
Cold Colours
Collecting
Colonial
Colour
Commode
Composition
Connoisseur
Console
Correggio, Antonio Allegri
Cretonne (_See_ Chintz)
Cross-stitch
Dado
Dark Ages
Day-bed
Decoration
Decorative
Dining-tables
Directoire
Distinction
Dressing-room
Dressing-table
Du Barry, Madame
Du Barry rose
Dürer, Albrecht
Dutch
Egypt
Elimination
Elizabethan
Empire
England
_Ensemble_
Fads
Feudal
Fire-dogs (_See_ Andirons)
Fireplace
Fixtures
Flaxman, John
Floors (_See_ Carpets)
Flower-pictures
Flowers
Fontainebleau
France
Francis I
Franklin Stoves
French
Frieze
Georgian
Germany
Gibbons, Grinling
Gimp
Glass
Glazed Linen
Gobelin
Gothic
Greek
Gubbio
Hallmark
Hangings
Henry II
Henry III
Henry IV
Henry VIII
Heppelwhite
Holland
Homes
Hungarian
Inappropriateness
Iron Work
Italian
Italian Louis XVI
Ivy
Jacobean
James I
James II
James VI
Japan
Japanese
Kauffman, Angelica
Key
Key Note
Knife-boxes
Lacquer
Lamp Shades
Landscape Paper
Library, a Man's
Light-absorbing colours
Light-producing
Lines
Living-room
Louis XIII
Louis XIV
Louis XV
Louis XVI
Lustre copper
Mahogany Period
Majolica
Man's Room (_See_ Men's Rooms)
Mantel
Marie Antoinette
Marquetry
Mediæval Art
Medici
Medici, Catherine de
Medicine jars
Men's Rooms
Metal Work
Michelangelo
Middle Ages
Mirrors
Mission Furniture
Moors
Morris, William
Mouldings
Mounts
Napoleon I
Narrow halls
New England
Oak Period
_Objets d'art_
Oriental
Ormolu
Outline
Over-doors
Painted Furniture
Painted Tapestry
Palladio, Andrea
Panelling
Panier fleuri
Parchment Paper Shades for Lights
Passepartout
Peasant China
Peasant Lace
Pergolese, Michael Angelo
Pericles
Period Rooms
Pesaro
Pharmacy Jars (_See_ Medicine Jars)
Phidias
Photographs
Picture Frames
Pictures
_Pietra-dura_
Pilasters
Poitiers, Diane de
Poland
Pomegranate Pattern
Porcelain
Porch-room
Portuguese
"Powder-Blue" Vases
Praxiteles
Pre-Raphaelites
Proportion
Pseudo-Classic
Puritan
Queen Anne
Queen Elizabeth
Rail-boxes
Raphael
Refectory Tables
Renaissance
Reproductions
Rocaille (_See_ Shell Design)
Rococo
Rolls, Empire
Rome
Sarto, Andrea del
Sash-curtains
Servants'-rooms
Sèvres porcelain
Shades for Lights
Shell Design (_See_ Rocaille)
Sheraton
Silks
Slipper-chairs
Sofa cushions
Spain
Sports Balconies
Stained Glass
Straw Awnings
Stuart
Sun-producing
Sun-proof
Sun-rooms
Table decoration
Table-garden
Tables
Tableware
Taffeta
Tapestry
Tea-tables
Textiles
Titian
Tone-on-tone
Tudor
Twin beds
Urbino
Valance
Values
Van Eyck
Vanity-room
_"Vargueos"_
"Vase pattern"
Vases
Venetian Glass
Venice
Vernis Martin
Victorian Period
Vinci, Leonardo da
Virginia Homes
Vitrine
Wainscoting
Wall-papers
Walls
Warm colours
Wedgewood
Wicker Furniture
William and Mary Period
Window-boxes
Wren, Sir Christopher
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's The Art of Interior Decoration, by Grace Wood