Architectural Decoration
In its application to architectural decoration heraldry put forth
some of its finest work as became one of the family of the “mother
of the arts,” and it was in architecture too that the modern revival
of heraldic art began, much in the same way that the Renaissance had
first made its influence felt in the decoration of the monuments of an
earlier time.
The sculptured heraldry of the Middle Ages was confined to the
monuments and chantries, such as those of Westminster Abbey,
Peterborough, Kings Langley, Canterbury, Beverley and many other places
whose sculptured shields are memorials no less of the personages whose
arms they bear than of the vigorous art of their time. Certain it is
that even in the worst periods the heraldic decoration of architectural
objects continued to show a greater degree of excellence than was
generally evident in other forms of heraldic expression.
With the growth of the Renaissance, domestic architecture and its
attendant decoration, in which armorials were displayed, increased
enormously in extent and beauty, and the colleges which were founded or
rebuilt in the early sixteenth century followed in the decoration of
the chapels and halls the excellent examples of their predecessors, but
in the new and adaptable style that had come into fashion.
Henry VIII patronized art with enthusiasm as a part of his general
rivalry with the magnificent Francis I, and his example was followed
by the new families who were taking the place of the old nobility that
civil war and the scaffold had nearly exterminated, in building stately
mansions, many of which stand as present examples of the skill and
thoroughness with which the work was done.
In France the beautiful châteaux which still remain as store-houses of
heraldic and other artistic wealth were built during the same period
under Charles VIII, Louis XII and Francis I, and it is difficult to
describe in adequate language how perfectly they displayed their
characteristic devices with a dignity that was without one touch of
obtrusiveness.
Fontainebleau, Blois, Chambord and many another stately building
testify to the taste and magnificence of their owners as well as to
the skill that was lavished on their making. Fig. 197, the Gateway of
the Château de Blois, is especially interesting for the employment of
badges and heraldic diapers. The porcupine badge of Louis XII appears
over the doorways as it does within, while the main archway is flanked
by columns ornamented with a diaper which encloses in its reticulations
the fleur-de-lis of France and the ermine spot of Brittany. A range
of similar columns is in one of the interior courts. Fig. 202 is an
example of the badge-adorned fireplaces in the château. The whole is
a restoration, very little indeed of the original work having remained.
[Illustration: FIG. 197.--Gateway of the Château de Blois. (Restored.)
Fifteenth Century.]
In Spain extremely bold and vigorous heraldic sculpture was placed over
doorways and under windows, but it was often executed with magnificent
effect in large rectangular panels at the sides of the principal
entrance. Fine examples are at the doorway of the Hospital at Santiago
and at that of the University Library at Salamanca.
Italian examples are found in the Florentine wall decoration in the
Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo del Podesta, in the composition of which
small shields bearing the symbols of Saints and the arms of cities were
usually associated with the principal device.
Heraldic groups were also employed with excellent effect on angles of
buildings, breaking the straight line in profile in a very satisfactory
way.
In the scheme of heraldry for a house the principal position on the
exterior was over the main entrance, and there the armorials of the
owner were boldly displayed, arms of alliance and genealogical trees
being reserved for the more intimate surroundings of the interior.
Other parts of the exterior were ornamented with less elaborate
insignia such as seemed to fit the spaces that offered themselves,
badges being freely used in this way as well inside as out. Chimney
stacks and other flat spaces were relieved with panels, and ridges
and pinnacles were adorned with figures of heraldic significance in
relation to the family of the house.
In arms in relief, whether in large mural decorations or in the minute
workmanship of a seal, contiguous spaces, which in flat painting would
be considered divisions of the same plane, are distinguished from each
other by sinking the surface in parts or by means of diapering. The
quarterly shield of Henry IV on his great seal (Fig. 2, p. 18) has
the field of the English quarter sunk so that the edge of the French
quarter being higher takes light or throws a shadow which defines the
space. Additional emphasis is given to ordinaries by strongly bevelling
their edges which then reflect light in the same way. And diapering,
which has been already referred to, may have the effect of raising or
lowering the tone of the decorated surface, according to the amount of
light it reflects or of shadow that it includes.
The mantling that occurs in sculpture, especially when done in wood,
does not hesitate to go to the fullest extent in the direction of
free ornamental treatment, and in thus seizing upon the decorative
possibilities of its so lightly fettered character it may form a
connecting decoration between the constituents of an heraldic scheme
which might otherwise have a certain effect of spottiness.
The pose of the heraldic elements of the design may also be made to
help materially the general unity of effect. Thus the helmets of a
series of armorials may be faced towards a central point, such as the
altar in a church, or the hearth or the daïs of a secular apartment.
Shields may be inclined in a common direction with similar intention
and all the heraldry have definite relation to its surroundings. It
should be remembered, however, that in thus posing the elements of a
series, a shield must be treated as a whole, and the contents must not
be altered in sympathy with the direction of its regard.
[Illustration: FIG. 198.--Frieze in Sgraffito.]
A form of external decoration which has been but little used for
heraldry, though it is one which is readily adapted to the purpose, is
that kind of cement work in layers that is known as Sgraffito. Examples
of this method of work are shown in the friezes, Figs. 198 and 199, in
which the heraldry adds interest to very graceful design, and in the
panel of the Armorials of Pope Paul III (Fig. 200).
[Illustration: FIG. 199.--Frieze in Sgraffito.]
In Sgraffito work the design is drawn through a coat of moist plaster
on to a lower one of another colour, much as etching is drawn through
the ground on to the copper, and like it is, in its simplest form, a
line art.
[Illustration: FIG. 200.--Arms of Pope Paul III (Farnese). Panel in
Sgraffito.]
Heraldry in interior decoration found its first application in the
actual shields, which were hung on the walls of the great Halls of
mediaeval strongholds, was closely followed by the similar use of
the more ornate ceremonial ones and continued in the tapestries and
embroidered hallings which were the wall coverings of the halls and
chambers. Some of these are still extant, and many others are mentioned
in the wills of great personages and in the household accounts of the
time.
[Illustration: FIG. 201.--Armorial carving in the Gallery of the Vyne,
Hampshire.]
At the end of the fifteenth century panelling was superseding the
decorative draperies and sculpture was taking the place in domestic
buildings that it had long held in ecclesiastical ones, the heraldry
which had been displayed in beautiful needlework being executed in
carving that was no less beautiful in another way. Plaster work also
came largely into use for interior decoration.
Many instances of beautifully applied heraldry are given in Mr. Gotch’s
admirable work[1] and notably the doorway and panelling of the Gallery
of the Vyne, Hampshire, Fig. 201, which I am permitted to reproduce
here. The doorway is adorned by arms supported by amorini and the
panelling is full of shields and badges; the appropriateness of the
work is immediately felt, and there is nothing obtrusive, everything
“occurs” with an inevitableness that is delightful.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Early Renaissance Architecture in England._
In the decoration of a room the fireplace is naturally the central
feature, to which in some cases the heraldry is confined; in others,
and the larger number, it covers the panel above, the decoration
varying in amount from a carving in the centre of the frieze of the
chimney-piece, or on comparatively small centres of panelling, to the
whole armorials fully displayed. Fig. 202 is an example of badges
employed in this way, and is another of the many representations of the
devices of Louis XII and his Queen, Anne of Brittany.
These large chimney-piece achievements are produced in a variety of
ways, being sometimes sculptured in stone or wood, but they are also
cast in plaster or modelled _in situ_ in the same material.
[Illustration: FIG. 202.--Fireplace in the Salon Louis XII Château de
Blois. (Restoration in the style of the Fifteenth Century.)]
In the decoration of ceilings complete armorials and even shields of
arms are by no means so much used as are badges and other fanciful
devices, the intersections of ribs and the centres of panels being
naturally selected for the purpose. Two examples of ceiling bosses
consisting of wreaths enclosing a shield of the Royal Arms and a
fleur-de-lis badge respectively are from ceilings at Hampton Court
(Fig. 203), for which also I am indebted to Mr. Gotch’s work.
[Illustration: FIG. 203.--Ceiling Bosses from Hampton Court Palace.
Sixteenth Century.]
The upper divisions of wall panelling are especially suitable for a
series of shields and badges when they are at a sufficient height to
bring the heraldry above the line of the eye. This will probably be in
carved work, the most direct and natural way of decorating wood, but
shields in colour, flat or in relief, may occupy the panels with very
satisfactory effect. A frieze is also an obviously suitable space for
such a purpose, whether the decoration be modelled or painted, or both.
Among the materials suitable for interior decoration gesso is an
excellent means of obtaining relief in work that is to be painted,
and it is more readily handled than modelled plaster, from the ease
with which it can be kept moist. In early work the smaller details
of monuments were frequently modelled in this material, as were the
arms on some of the stone shields in Westminster Abbey; and on the
decorative panelling, on which jewels and enamels were also modelled
and painted.
Gesso is simply the Italian name for Plaster of Paris, burnt gypsum,
but is technically understood to mean a preparation of plaster or other
material which depends for its hardening on the solidifying of some
cohesive medium, usually a form of glue, and not on chemical action in
the material.
Methods of making gesso are described by Cennino Cennini in the MS.,
written in 1437, in which he describes minutely the technical practices
of his time. First the plaster is to be “well washed and kept moist
in a tub for at least a month” and is to be stirred up well every day
until “it almost rots and is completely slaked and it will become soft
as silk.” It was then made into cakes, dried and kept for use. By this
process it became what was called gesso sottile, though the term is
also applied to the similar preparation of whiting, to be mentioned
presently. As to its use, it is directed to “Put some cakes of gesso
sottile into a pipkin of water and let them absorb as much as they
will. Grind it fine, mix it with fine glue in a pipkin, put the pipkin
in water so that it becomes hot but does not boil, for if it did it
would be spoiled.”
A very important point is the thorough slaking and tempering of the
plaster, which continues to improve the longer it is kept. The glue
that was used was made from hides, size being made from the fine kinds
of skin, vellum and parchment, as the finest kind is made now. Fish
glue was also used from very early times.
Very useful gesso is made with whiting (calcined chalk) instead of the
plaster. The latter is said to be tougher, but whiting is certainly
easier in working. The whiting should be soaked in water for at least
twenty-four hours (like the preceding preparation this kind of gesso
is all the better the more thoroughly it is prepared), and mixed in a
vessel, with the fine thin glue, the whole being placed in a saucepan
of water and kept hot. By keeping the pot of gesso in the water while
it is being used it will be kept liquid for some time (though the top
will skin over rather soon) and it may be remelted by again heating it
from time to time. I find ordinary gelatine a good adhesive and melt it
into the consistency of a not too strong size before adding it to the
whiting, together with a few drops of oil or glycerine as a preventive
from cracking. The gesso is best used with a long-haired brush, such
as those called riggers, from which it is allowed to flow in a blobby
way, the lights being first loaded on and afterwards joined down by
subsequent painting. It may at this stage be modelled to some extent,
and for this a stiffish brush moistened with warm water is an efficient
tool. When it is dry the gesso may be carved and shaped with knives and
riffles with the same facility as plaster. It may then have a coat of
gelatine (which should be very thin, as otherwise it will form a skin
that is likely to blur detail), and the work is ready for painting or
other treatment.
In the treatment of wooden shields in this way care should be taken
that they are well seasoned, and unless they are sufficiently thick
they should have transverse pieces at the back to prevent warping;
a coat of gesso on the back is also useful for the same purpose. If
the wood is well stopped by being sized several times and is slightly
roughened the layers of linen or other keying material may be dispensed
with.
Gesso work is well adapted for treatment in colour, and of this the
quality may be much improved by the use of underlying metal, gold under
red, and silver under blue. These metals are applied by the ordinary
gilders’ methods and are then painted over. Very beautiful effects may
also be obtained in monochrome on modelled gesso, when the gradations
of tone may be made to help the relief and vary the colour.
Pyrography, or burnt word etching, is also employed in heraldic
decoration, a notable instance being the series of shields on the
fireplace of Lord Leven and Melville at Glenferness. An example of this
method of work is shown in Fig. 204, a fanciful composition designed
for the door of a cabinet.
In arranging a scheme of heraldic decoration, the field of choice is
a very large and varied one, from the simplest shield or badge on the
frieze of a mantelpiece to the carefully planned series decoration of a
whole building.
[Illustration: FIG. 204.--Burnt Wood Panel, “Love’s Armorials,”
executed by Mrs. Geo. W. Eve after design by Geo. W. Eve.]
[Illustration: FIG. 205.--Arms of the Earl and Countess of Mar and
Kellie. Painted Gesso. Geo. W. Eve.]
As an example of one form of genealogical scheme maybe instanced the
series of arms and devices in painted gesso now in the hall of Alloa
House, Alloa, which were done to fill a range of panels in a dado,
and beginning with the simplest shield of Henricus de Erskine in 1224
(Fig. 141), extend round the apartment and end, on the opposite side
of the fireplace, with the quartered and impaled arms of the present
Earl and Countess of Mar and Kellie (Fig. 205). Alternating with the
arms of each generation are repetitions of three devices, designed
for the purpose and consisting of the crest and motto of the Earldom
of Mar, those of Kellie (Fig. 206) and the monogram and motto with
the supporters (Fig. 207) respectively. These devices were of course
capable of any necessary amount of repetition, and when a knighthood of
an order necessitated a group of two or more shields the devices serve
to mark the grouping, and as it were to punctuate the whole scheme. The
gesso was made of whiting and gelatine as already described, and the
surface was varied by the use of different textures. The colour was
applied over metal which was allowed to show through on the ridges of
the diaper that was also introduced to give variety and interest to the
simpler forms. Others of this series are illustrated in Figs. 141 and
142.
[Illustration: FIG. 206.--Device. Crest of the Earldom of Kellie.
Gesso, before painting. Geo. W. Eve.]
[Illustration: FIG. 207.--Device. Monogram and Supporters of the Earl
of Mar and Kellie. Gesso, before painting. Geo. W. Eve.]
Another method of arranging a scheme of decoration is that which traces
the advent of quarterings into the shield of a family, by picking
from the pedigree the matches by which the various coats of arms came
in, and making them the motives of the work, to the exclusion of
intermediate matches, proceeding in regular order from the simple arms
to the final shield of complete quarterings.
Many other schemes will readily suggest themselves. The visits of
guests of distinction may be marked by panels of their arms in the
chambers they occupied, perhaps by an enamel plaque in the centre of a
panel.
The arms of Schools, Colleges and Universities, and of other
corporations and institutions, motives that are allusive rather than
personal, are yet of the keenest interest to those concerned, an
interest that is too often tempered by the unworthiness of the heraldic
treatment. The practice of hanging on the wall shields of arms of the
stationers’ shop type may be necessary for commercial reasons, but is
much to be deplored. It seems impossible to get them improved, the
feeling that they are “good enough” (and perhaps they are!) appears
to be sufficient recommendation. Even when the arms are well treated,
as is rarely the case, and I am not now referring only to the kind
which satisfies the aesthetic perception of the casual schoolboy, the
effect of the hanging shield in an ordinary room suggests at best a
kind of Strawberry Hill Gothic that is out of keeping with any probable
surroundings. When heraldry that can be treated as a movable picture is
needed, and something of this kind is made necessary by the want of
permanence in our dwelling-places, a framed panel of arms is probably
the most suitable form that modern heraldic wall decoration can take.
It may be in wood or metal, in colour or monochrome, of any quality and
interest that may be found most pleasing, and being framed, it will
take its place in the adornment of an ordinary room in the same way
that a picture does.
STAINED GLASS.--Of all methods of heraldic expression stained glass
is perhaps the most appropriate as purely decorative treatment of the
subject, for not only is the splendour of colour peculiarly fitting,
but even the commemorative quality of heraldry assimilates in feeling
with the memorial character which is rarely absent from a stained
window.
The temptation which it naturally offered to partisan fury has left
comparatively little of the early work, but sufficient has remained to
show how perfectly it could be made to serve its purpose.
In a form of design which is carried out with pieces of coloured glass
cut to the necessary shapes and held together by strips of grooved
lead, which is soldered into position, this structural lead-work
presents considerable difficulty. It follows the lines of the
composition wherever possible, but when the shape of the glass makes
another course desirable, it does not hesitate to go across a space,
and in that case, being frankly used for structural reasons, it must
not clash with those lines that help to define form. In short, design
in this, perhaps more than in other arts, must conform to the dictation
of the material. Thus it is important that the pieces of glass should
be designed of cutable shape without too small re-entering angles,
and the limits of bending in the lead must also be recognized. Its
passing across objects is vindicated by structural necessity, and by
that alone, and narrow places are leaded across, not only because of
any difficulty that there may be in the cutting, but because the glass
would probably break there when being fired in a kiln, or when under
the strains that are set up in a window by wind pressure.
The tendency of outline to lose itself in the darker of the colours
that it divides has already been referred to, and is very notable in
this connexion. When therefore the objects are light on dark, the
lead-work will sink into the background, and although it may leave
small space for the glass, it is sometimes surprising how efficiently
that little lights up and expresses the colour. If the charges are
inconveniently small for the leading, resort is had to what is
called flash glass, which consists of two layers, of which one only
is coloured, and is made by dipping a piece of molten white into a
coloured glass, when the mass is about to be blown into the bulb which,
shaped and expanded, ultimately becomes a sheet of glass. The desired
shapes are pierced through the coloured layer of the composite sheet by
means of grinding, or by etching with hydrofluoric acid, and are left
white, or stained yellow with a solution of silver, as the case may be.
In addition to the lead-work, which defines the general forms with
more or less accuracy, details are depicted by means of a brown enamel
colour, which serves also as a general shadow tint, being painted on
the glass, and then fired. The brown enamel is also used for the
diapering which is so especially valuable in glass decoration, and for
this purpose it may express the design in lines drawn with the colour
or, being applied as a broad wash; the diaper pattern may be scratched
out of it with a point. As a general rule over-painting should be used
as sparingly as possible for the purpose of defining or emphasizing
form.
The silver stain can be similarly put on, either in lines or in washes,
these materials, either alone or in combination, serving to express
surface decorations of all degrees of elaboration.
In addition to the accurate and expressive drawing which goes to make
good heraldry, the principal feature of glass design is obviously its
colour effect, the grouping of the colour masses in such a way as will
best express the subject in beautiful coloured light. In view of the
obligatory nature of heraldic tinctures, though not of their exact
quality, the harmony of colour may be helped by suitable treatment of
the background (which is susceptible of variation that is only limited
by the nature of the materials) in combination with the prescribed
colours of the heraldry. And here occurs that temptation to alter the
tinctures of mantlings which has proved too much for the correctness of
some heraldic compositions.
The design is usually made on a small scale, showing the colour scheme
and the general composition, and a full-size drawing in black and white
is then prepared, in which the arrangement of the leading and the
character of other details are carefully indicated. On this the various
coloured glass is laid and cut into the required shapes, which are
then arranged in due order with the lead, and the whole is securely
soldered together. The lead having a double groove is in section like
the letter H, the inside surfaces being milled, to afford a better key
for the glass and for the cement which is added for additional security.
Pugin, whose influence on architecture was so impressive, had no less
strong an effect on the heraldry which accompanies it so appropriately,
and the beautiful armorial decoration of the Houses of Parliament, for
which he is answerable, is a wonderful mass of fine work in glass and
stone and other materials. No less remarkable in that it succeeded
a long period of such extreme weakness, and was itself but the
firstfruits of the revived interest in the subject.
In this work Pugin was fortunate in the efficient assistance that was
at his command, and the drawings by his son-in-law and pupil, John
Powell, by Burgess and others, show how admirably the master mind was
served. The drawings reproduced here were probably designed by Pugin,
but the actual work is that of John Powell.
However imbued with the mediaeval spirit Pugin was, the Renaissance
feeling unmistakably asserts itself in these designs, and in spite of
the Gothic detail of the tracery they seem to associate themselves
naturally with the Tudor heraldry rather than with that of an earlier
time. Indeed, it is possible that Pugin was not unmindful of this, for
there is little doubt that he had studied the Renaissance work that is
to be found, as well as that of the Middle Ages, in the neighbouring
Abbey.
[Illustration: FIG. 208.--Cartoon for Stained Glass. (Upper Part) Royal
Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
Tudor heraldry marked the close of the Middle Ages. In character it was
a combination of the mediaeval style with that of the Renaissance;
that is to say, it was the expression of what remained of mediaeval
regard for its subject, in a form that was strongly influenced by the
new feeling in Art.
Besides the technical knowledge and the power of draughtsmanship
there is ample evidence of individual design working through various
influences, handling and assimilating them, a further proof that no
one possessing real artistic power, in whatever degree, is content
merely to reproduce the dry bones of any period. However that may
be, they are very beautiful drawings, serving admirably as models of
working drawings, in which is set forth all that is necessary to the
carrying out of the work, and I am much indebted to Messrs. Hardman for
permission to reproduce them.
The disposition of the lead is very carefully shown throughout, and the
smaller details are drawn just so far as is necessary for the direction
of the painter. Repetitions of figures being similarly finished only
when they differ in some important respect from the initial shape, as
in the case of the lion in the base of the shield of the Royal Arms
(Fig. 208), when the pose is sufficiently varied from the upper ones,
by the field space, as to warrant its separate treatment. These arms
occupy the upper part of the light in the Royal Gallery, Fig. 209
being the lower part of the same window. Perhaps the most remarkable
for vigour is the little white horse which so admirably occupies its
space, a quatrefoil opening (Fig. 210). All the animals are full of
vitality, but none have quite so much as this. In this respect it may
well be contrasted with the much inferior Dragon of Cadwallader in
Fig. 209. The character of the unicorn (Fig. 211) is altogether unusual
in English heraldry, and follows the foreign type which derives its
form from that of a goat with one horn, instead of that which is the
combination of a horse’s body with the legs of a stag and the tail
of a lion, a form with which other examples have made us familiar. The
wild boar of Richard III (Fig. 212), for all his enormous tusks, seems
not unworthy of the irreverent way in which he is referred to, in a
working note pencilled on the cartoon, as “the pig.”
[Illustration: FIG. 209.--Cartoon for Stained Glass. (Lower Part) Royal
Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
[Illustration: FIG. 210.--Design for Stained Glass in the Houses of
Parliament. Drawn by John Powell.]
[Illustration: FIG. 211.--Unicorn. Cartoon for Stained Glass, Royal
Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
[Illustration: FIG. 212.--The White Boar of Richard III. Cartoon for
Stained Glass. Royal Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
[Illustration: FIG. 213.--The Royal Crest. Cartoon for Stained Glass.
Royal Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
The comparative smallness of the Royal Crest in Fig. 213 is due to the
designer’s intention to bring the head into the central line of the
composition with a view to upstanding effect, and in this respect is of
course a reasonable problem to have solved. Whether, however, it was
worth while so to sacrifice the larger proportion which the lion would
have had to the crown in mediaeval design is another matter.
Nevertheless, the whole series of work is finely designed and
beautifully drawn with clearly thought-out intentions as a whole, and
with much delightful fancy in the variation of the decorated detail,
and to conclude this very interesting series Fig. 214 is from a
coloured drawing of the white swan of the de Bohuns that was one of the
badges of Henry IV.
[Illustration: FIG. 214.--Cartoon for Stained Glass. Coloured. Royal
Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
In domestic stained glass conditions that were different from those
that were involved in church windows had to be considered, and
especially excessive obscuration of the light was to be avoided, this
being effected by the use of plain, or slightly decorated, quarries,
the stronger colour being confined to a centre roundel or medallion, a
very suitable space for heraldic treatment, and to decorated borders.
In addition, from the time of the Middle Ages such stained windows
had been made movable by being enclosed in frames which could be
temporarily fastened into window spaces, as is still done, and for a
similar reason armorial roundels may remain detached from the window
and be suspended by wires (see Fig. 168).
Of such roundels there are many excellent examples, that were
originally in Netley Abbey, in the Hartley Museum at Southampton.
[Illustration: FIG. 215.--Arms of Henry VI, Ockwells Manor, Berks.]
[Illustration: FIG. 216.--Arms of the Earl of Warwick, K.G. Ockwells
Manor.]
From the second half of the fifteenth century onwards armorial stained
glass increased greatly in extent and freedom. The shields became
square and in many instances have the form (derived from the tournament
shield à bouche) which became associated later with the name of the
Tudors. Probably the finest examples of domestic stained glass that
we have are the splendid heraldic windows at Ockwells Manor, Berks.
In these the shields are much curved, the helmets and mantlings are
very elaborate, and the figures are drawn with great vitality and
beauty. Each light has an achievement, consisting of arms with mantled
helm and crest, in the middle, upon a background of quarries placed
diamondwise and bearing the Norreys Badge, three distaffs, in yellow
stain. In diagonal lines, the motto in text letters, “Feyth = fully
serve,” is several times repeated in all but two of the lights, the
exceptions being the Royal ones, where “Dieu et mon droit” accompanies
the Arms of Henry VI (Fig. 215) and “Humble et Loiall,” the motto of
his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, is with her armorials. In both these
lights the Norreys Badge appears as in the others. Below the King’s
Arms are his two supporters, heraldic antelopes Argent, which are
spotted, as well as armed, crined and unguled (i.e. horned, haired
and hoofed) Or. The series, which included twelve lights that are now
vacant, was erected by Sir John Norreys, the builder of Ockwells
Manor House, and consists of his arms and those, to quote Mr. Everard
Green, “of his sovereign, patrons and kinsfolk. In short a liber
amicorum in glass, a not unpleasant way for light to come to us.” The
arms here illustrated are those of Sir Edmund Beaumont, K.G., and Sir
James Butler, K.G. (Figs. 217 and 218), of Sir Henry Beauchamp, Earl of
Warwick (Fig. 216), and the Royal Arms, to which reference has already
been made. The heraldic particulars of those and others that remain
will be found amply set forth in _Archaeologia_, vol. lvi., 1899. It
will be observed that the arms of such as were K.G. are not encircled
with the Garter, that practice not having as yet come into full general
use. Some attention should be given to the badges on these windows as
being good examples of the practice in domestic glass of decorating
transparent quarries with devices, badges and monograms, floral and
other running patterns, in stain and grisaille, as admirably serving
its purpose without too much sacrifice of light, and therefore as
affording suggestions for modern work which has to comply with similar
conditions. The lights herein illustrated are from the excellent
drawings by Mr. W. T. Cleobury, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
[Illustration: FIG. 217.--Arms of Sir Edmund Beaumont, K.G., Ockwells
Manor.]
[Illustration: FIG. 218.--Arms of Sir James Butler, K.G., Ockwells
Manor.]
The glass that has been hitherto mentioned is that which, like the true
enamels, is coloured in the making with metallic oxides, the painting
on it being confined to the use of the brown shadow colour, and the
yellow silver stain. Windows made wholly in that way can be described
as painted glass because though the silver is a true stain, it is used
as paint and fired, instead of being incorporated with the glass
in the pot. About the middle of the sixteenth century, the practice
came into vogue of using panes of transparent glass as surfaces for
decorative design in painted colours or in grisaille, and large windows
of square panes of white glass with elaborate designs of arabesque
ornament were done in verifiable enamel colours and with a minimum of
leading, such as those in the Laurentian Library, Florence (Fig. 219).
The medallion in the centre contains the arms of the Medici, the family
of Pope Clement VII, whose tiara and keys accompany the arms in another
of the same series of windows that has been reproduced in Mr. Lewis
Day’s admirable book, _Windows_.
A very remarkable school of enamelled glass painting that largely
concerned itself with heraldry existed in Switzerland, encouraged by
the custom which had grown up of persons and guilds presenting painted
windows to each other. These largely consisted of portrait subjects
accompanied by armorial bearings.
Into this work the use of the point entered to a surprising extent, the
washes of colour being frequently covered with the scratched lines with
which details were drawn or textures indicated with the minuteness of
fine engraving. Indeed the process of obtaining effects by drawing with
a needle in lines of light through a dark medium inevitably suggests
the art of etching on metal.
[Illustration: FIG. 219.--Painted Window in the Laurentian Library,
Florence. Sixteenth Century.]
Marvellous as were the effects produced by the needle in the hands of a
master the method was a dangerous one under less capable control, and
in any case the effect is altogether different and less glass-like than
that of the earlier method, being characterized by a sharp glittering
brilliancy in place of the deep effulgence of pot metal.
[Illustration: FIG. 220.--Drawing for Stained Glass, Victoria and
Albert Museum.]
This painted glass of the sixteenth century contains much fine vigorous
heraldic drawing, as may be seen in the working drawings that are
extant, as well as in the windows themselves, Burgmair and many others,
whose power in heraldic art is well-known in other directions, having
also made designs for the glass painters.
Fig. 215 is a characteristic sketch of lions supporting banners and
shields, a favourite method of grouping in compositions of this kind.
The vigour and “go” of these animals is very remarkable, and it is
unfortunate that the artist’s name is not on the drawing.
[Illustration: FIG. 221.--Drawing by Holbein, Victoria and Albert
Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 222.--Drawing for Stained Glass, Victoria and
Albert Museum. A. Renten. Sixteenth Century.]
The drawing by Holbein, Fig. 221, is very characteristic of his work,
and of the style of continental heraldry in the sixteenth century when
the early simplicity was giving way to great elaboration of design.
The helmets in the glass work of this period are useful indications
of how structural facts, reinforcing pieces for example, and surface
ornament may be made available as decorative detail, and Fig. 222, by
A. Renten, is one of many good examples that are found among drawings
of this kind. The mantlings by this artist are particularly well drawn,
as is evident in the illustration.