THE VALUE OF COLOUR AS APPLIED TO ARCHITECTURE
It has been said that Architecture may be compared to a book, and that
Sculpture and Painting are the illustrations which serve to explain the
text and decorate the volume. It might be argued, however, that the text
of the written book may be in itself a work of art, and therefore not
require any explanatory illustrations or decorations. To a certain
extent this may be quite true, but on the other hand a book will be more
valuable, more useful, and more complete, as well as being more
beautiful, by having the additional interest of a well-designed and
appropriate setting of artistic and explanatory illustrations to
embellish the text. And just as the written matter of the book should
not be regarded as a mere background for the illustrations and
decoration, neither should the architecture be so designed as to appear
only as a background for the sculpture and painting, for the building is
the important thing, but sculpture, painting, and ornamental decoration
should be certainly employed to explain the architecture, to symbolise
the use of the building, and to give additional interest and beauty to
the fabric.
Colour in architecture ought to be employed in a structural sense, that
is, it ought to be so used that it may help out, or confirm, the logical
and indispensable features of a building that give to it the essential
qualities of repose and stability, and the tones of colour, if
judiciously selected and applied, will explain at a glance the various
forms, features, divisions and sub-divisions of the architecture more
rapidly and better than could possibly be hoped for in, say, a
colourless or undecorated building. Therefore, in the diffused and
somewhat darkened light of interiors the proper application of colour is
of inestimable value, as an explanatory help in revealing the structural
lines, the profiling of the mouldings, and the proportions of the
architecture.
It is quite possible to decorate interiors in colour schemes of austere
and extreme simplicity, in delicacy, in brilliancy, or in rich and
full-toned splendour, in accordance with the nature and uses of the
building, provided that we do not interfere with the essential quality
of repose. In order that this important attribute of good architecture
may be secured and maintained it is evident that neither sculptural nor
coloured decoration should occur in isolated spots of interiors; they
should not be dotted about, or applied here and there on walls,
ceilings, pillars, mouldings, or other places, but should appear as
essential and integral parts of the natural growth of a broad
decorative scheme. It does not follow from this that certain parts of a
building, such as the ceiling, the frieze, capitals of columns and the
chancel-end or sanctuary of a church should not be more honoured by
having a richer application of colour and ornament than the other parts
of the building, but the inference is, that the latter should also be
intelligently treated in colour and decoration, in a subordinate way, so
that they will assist in the gradual leading up to the richer wealth of
the more honoured and salient parts, and so become indispensable factors
in promoting the unity of the entire scheme of decoration.
Coloured decoration which is only applied here and there in the interior
of a building gives a spotty effect that is more than often futile and
artificial. In the matter of church decoration it appears in our own
country that just now it is more or less the custom to decorate the
chancel-end of a church with a wealth of carving, stained glass, and
richly-coloured ornamentation, and to leave the rest of the interior
plain and colourless. We may be grateful, however, to find that the
universal delight in colour, one of those things which we had “loved
long since and lost awhile,” is now revealing itself in modern days
after centuries of absence, and is expressing itself, timidly, and in
isolated spots, but perhaps as time goes on it will spread again slowly,
and let us hope surely, from one end of the building to the other.
We must admit that a fine eye for colour is a natural gift as much as a
fine perception for form and proportion, or as a fine ear for music, but
a love for all these things may be inspired in us from the work and
teachings of the great masters of former ages, and certainly a love for
colour from the teachings of nature and the great schools of painting
and decorative art. That there was a golden age of decorative painting
in England in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries we know from the
remaining fragments of colour and decoration on the rood-screens and
other parts of our old churches, and though the wall decorations have
almost disappeared, the examples of painting which still remain on some
of this old woodwork clearly testify to the importance of the English
school of painting of the period mentioned.
We are more fortunate in our remaining possession of some of the finest
stained glass in the world, which was designed and set up during the
Middle Ages and early Renaissance times in England, and these rich and
splendid “jewels set in silver setting” are a further proof of the keen
delight of our early English decorators and craftsmen in the production
of refined and beautiful colour.
Many people ridicule the colouring of the Middle Ages as inharmonious
and barbarous. Such absurd ideas in respect to the use of colour by the
old decorators may have been derived from the knowledge that in early
times the artist’s palette was limited to three or four colours, besides
black and white, and
[Illustration:
_To face p. 14._] [_From a Water-colour by W. Davidson._
PLATE 4.--SAINT MICHAEL.
(From a Painting on the Rood Screen, Ranworth Church: English, Early
Sixteenth Century.)]
that these colours, such as red, blue, green and yellow, were applied,
in decoration, in their full strength, as undoubtedly they generally
were. But it ought to be remembered that, however crude the colours may
be, it is their arrangement, quantity, and proportion as to surface area
in the scheme of decoration, that makes, or mars, the harmony, and not
their individual strength, purity or crudeness. The early decorators
hardly ever used broken tones or half-tones in their colour
arrangements, and perhaps this largely accounts for the mistaken views
that some hold in regard to the decorative colouring of the Middle Ages.
There is of course a great beauty in broken-toned colouring, which is in
much favour in modern decoration, but it is not a matter of much
difficulty to harmonise such broken tones and tints. A greater
difficulty is to harmonise an arrangement of colours in their full
strength of hue, a task for a great colourist; but this we know has
often been done successfully in all the best periods of art, and it
certainly was done by the old decorators of the Middle Ages in painting,
mosaic, enamels, and stained glass, in spite of the limitation of their
palette, or, shall we say, because of it?
In all the great periods of art there was certainly the keenest delight
in colour. It is difficult for some of us to believe that the Parthenon
and other Greek temples, and also all of our old cathedrals were at one
time highly coloured, but they certainly were so shortly after they
were built. The modern prejudice against the use of colour in
architecture set in about the same time that sculpture also became, like
painting, an independent art, which was about the beginning of the
decadence of the Renaissance, at the end of the sixteenth century.
The architect, sculptor and painter should confer together, and if
possible work in harmony with each other, so that when a cathedral, a
church, a city hall, or any other public building is about to be
erected, the complete scheme of the finished decoration should be
formulated when the plans are being made. At any rate, the architect
should always determine and keep in mind the style and nature of the
subsequent colour effect and decoration, and so design his building in
accordance with such preconceived ideas. That would be the ideal way to
plan a building, after the uses of the structure were clearly defined,
but unfortunately we are aware that the cases are few and rare in which
the architect is enabled to do this, or that he lives long enough to see
his ideas carried out. We might point out one notable instance of modern
work where the architect’s original ideas of the decoration are now
being carried out, namely, in the new cathedral at Westminster. When
planning this important building the architect thought out, very
carefully, what the methods and nature of the colour finish were to be,
and it is interesting and gratifying to find that the decoration of the
brick shell of the building, including the main walls, the chapel, the
crypt, and the sanctuary, are now being finished with a coloured marble
sheathing, and with splendid mosaics, all of which he had made provision
for in his original design.