COLOURED ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE
In France the traditional custom of colouring as applied to the
exteriors of buildings was continued and maintained throughout the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, but it had gradually declined in
the reign of Louis XIII (1610-42), and was practically non-existent in
the time of Louis XIV. In the Gallo-Roman era public buildings and
monuments in France were coloured inside and out. Gregory of Tours
(539-93), and Frodoard (894-966) make mention of churches and palaces
that were decorated with paintings in their time. The Church of
Saint-Savin, near Poitiers, dating from 1023, has the oldest monumental
paintings in France, which were executed a little after the church was
built. The façade of Notre Dame in Paris still bears slight traces of
painting. According to Viollet-le-Duc’s researches the three doors with
their arches and tympana were painted and gilded, also the niches, the
“galerie-des-Rois,” the arcades under the tower, and the great central
rose of the façade were all “radiant with bright colour and gilding.”
This colouring occurred principally on the mouldings, columns,
sculptured ornament and figure work. The outside colouring was much more
vivid than the inside work. There were bright reds, crude greens,
orange, yellow ochre, blacks and pure whites, but rarely blues, outside,
the brilliancy of light allowing a harshness of colouring that would not
be tolerable under the diffused light of the interior. The large gables
of the transept also bear traces of old painting. There is also evidence
that the greater portion of similar edifices of the thirteenth,
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in France, were decorated in colour.
Enamelled tiles, pottery plaques and gilded leadwork were largely used
at the beginning of the Renaissance. Enamelled pottery and terra-cotta
decoration were introduced into France by Girolamo della Robbia, who was
invited in company with Primaticcio, Serlio and many other Italian
artists by François I. Girolamo decorated the Château-de-Boulogne with
glazed earthenware; this building was demolished in 1792, and some of
the earthenware plaques are now in the Cluny Museum at Paris. During the
reigns of François I and Henri II, in the sixteenth century, the
architectural colouring was mostly a development of that of the Middle
Ages, but towards the end of the century the taste for colour decoration
rapidly declined, and from the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV the
marble, and cold white stone style of building, introduced from Italy,
became the fashion in France. This applies more particularly to the
exteriors of French edifices, for during the reign of the Grand Roi the
interiors continued to have a goodly share of coloured decorative
paintings.
In the “Louis-Quinze” period (1715-74) colour was still used, but more
sparingly, on the exterior and interior of buildings. Some ceilings and
doorhead panels were painted in colours, but as a rule white relieved
with gold was the common scheme of decoration, or sometimes pale and
weak tints of colour were used.
In the period of the “Louis-Seize” style (1774-92), the schemes of
decoration were almost as colourless as in the former period, although
some exceptions must be noted, as in the case of some exquisitely
decorated boudoirs painted for Marie Antoinette and her ladies of the
court, examples of which are the Queen’s boudoir at Fontainebleau, and
one which was formerly that of one of her maids-of-honour, a beautiful
specimen of its kind, which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum at
South Kensington. (Plates 22 and 23.) From the days of the Republic to
the end of Napoleon’s reign, 1792-1814, the architecture and decoration
became still more cold and austere, and except in isolated instances
there was not much employment of colour to relieve the conventional
formality of the so-called “Empire” style.
The Romantic School of artists, poets, and
[Illustration:
_To face p. 76._] [_Victoria and Albert Museum._
PLATE 22.--DECORATION OF THE BOUDOIR OF MADAME DE SERILLY: FRENCH,
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
[Illustration:
_To face p. 77._] [_Victoria and Albert Museum._
PLATE 23.--DECORATION OF THE BOUDOIR OF MADAME DE SERILLY: FRENCH,
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
historians was ushered in after the Revolution of 1830, when greater
attention was paid to the interesting works in art and literature of the
Middle Ages and of the Renaissance, and one of the consequences of this
great movement was the revival of colour decoration on buildings. Many
old frescoes which had been covered with whitewash, not only in France,
but in Germany, in the Rhine valley, and in England also, were once more
brought to light, after the whitewash of previous centuries had been
removed. Many French architects, artists, and archæologists, among whom
were Prosper Merimée, Didron, and Viollet-le-Duc, advocated a more
generous use of colour, not only in the interiors, but on the exteriors
of buildings. Many works on ancient art were published about this time,
which also contributed to the education of the public taste, and French
architects and students were becoming enthusiasts for the application of
deep colouring to architecture, being led in this direction by the
discoveries of Hittorf, in 1823, and subsequently by others, who went
out to Greece and Sicily and found traces of strong colouring on the
ancient Greek temples at Segesta and Selinus in Sicily. Hittorf was the
first to discover and make known the ancient polychromy of the Greeks.
The traces of colouring which he found on the three temples near the
Acropolis of Selinus, and those on the small temple of Empedocles at the
same place, enabled him to restore the colouring of these buildings,
and in 1851 he published his work, entitled _L’Architecture Polychrôme
chez les Grecs_, and also a view of the great Temple of Jupiter. About
the same time the sculptor Thorwaldsen also found numerous traces of
blue, red, and gold on the Temple of Ægina. Hittorf’s discoveries of
Greek colouring were at first received in France with a good deal of
scepticism and violent opposition, as he was told that the colouring of
the Sicilian temples was only the remains of “the vulgar daubing of
Byzantine, Norman, or Arab origin.” It is now, however, clearly proved
by the light of subsequent investigations that Greek polychromy was a
tradition of the colouring of still older temples, and that the latter
was only a development of the archaic polychromy of the primitive
Mycenian decorators, who in their turn derived it from Egyptian sources.
About the middle of the nineteenth century the art of colour decoration
on buildings was greatly advanced, as the public were becoming
familiarised with ancient work by means of copies made of it,
illustrated books, and photographs of Pompeian, Roman, Greek, Byzantine,
Persian, Egyptian, Eastern and Italian Renaissance work. The decoration
of buildings in France in the nineteenth century in respect to the
revival of polychromy may therefore be looked upon as a veritable colour
renaissance, for a reaction had set in against the almost colourless
buildings of the two former centuries. Not only was colour extensively
employed in the interiors of French buildings, but on the exteriors it
was used in a structural sense by the employment of natural coloured
materials, such as marbles, bronze, terra-cotta and enamelled
earthenware, and by the applied decoration of mosaic.
The architects, Duban and Labrouste, were among the first to assist in
the creation of this new taste for colour, they having thoroughly
studied the remains of Greek and Roman architecture, and especially the
colour decoration of Pompeii. Duban set about the work of restoring the
colour decorations of the Sainte Chapelle, in Paris, and those of the
Chateau-de-Blois, where in the latter he used ceramic tiles successfully
in the decoration, taking his models from the tile work of the Middle
Ages. Other works done by Duban, or under his directions, were the
restoration of the Galerie-du-Louvre in the painted “loge” and decorated
ceiling, and at the École des Beaux-Arts, the “Loggie-di-Rafaele,” in
the galleries of the first storey, and the porticoes in the
Cour-du-Murier, which he decorated in the Pompeian style. Duban employed
marble, enamelled pottery, terra-cotta and iron, as well as paint, for
his decorative colour schemes.
Many architects and artists were very enthusiastic about this time in
advocating the extended use of colour on buildings, and numerous old
churches and chateaux were restored to their former colouring, but those
who undertook such work were not all gifted as colourists, and
consequently some mistakes and failures happened; but at the same time
a considerable amount of good work was accomplished where refined
excellence and harmonious expression of colour were by no means wanting.
Alfred Norman and Louis Duc were successful decorators of this period.
Among the works of the former was the beautifully decorated house in the
Pompeian style, painted for Louis Napoleon, and the latter architect
used glazed tiles in combination with painting in some successful
schemes of decoration in the oriental method of colouring. The Church of
Saint Germain-des-Prés, in Paris, which contains the frescoes of
Hippolyte Flandrin, was admirably decorated by Denuelle under the
direction of the architect, Victor Baltard. In connection with the
colour revival in France, Viollet-le-Duc makes this reflection: “Why do
we deprive ourselves of all these resources of art? Why does the classic
school pretend that coldness and monotony are the inseparable
accompaniments of beauty, when the Greeks, whom they present to us as
artists _par excellence_, always coloured their buildings inside and
out, not timidly, but by putting on colours of extreme brilliancy?”
The use of coloured terra-cotta, ceramic tiles and mosaic, rapidly
spread in France about this time, for the architects and the public had
become acquainted with the coloured tile decoration of Moorish palaces
in Spain, the tile facings of mosques in Persia, Cairo, and of the
Mohammedan palaces and mosques of India. In conjunction with this kind
of decoration, mosaic work also reappeared in France. Charles Garnier,
the eminent architect, designed and built the new Opera House in Paris,
in the years 1871 and 1872, where he introduced mosaic on a large scale,
both inside and outside this important building. He also used mosaics
and enamels in the decoration of the Casino at Monte Carlo. The
polychromy of the Opera House in Paris is of a refined and dignified
character, which, on the exterior of the building, is obtained by
marble, bronze, mosaic, enamelled earthenware and gilding, and in the
interior by mosaics and the painted decorations of Paul Baudry and other
artists. Garnier was an enthusiast in the colouring of architecture, and
especially for the use of mosaic in the decoration of buildings. In his
dream of the future of Paris, he predicts that “The grounds of the
cornices will shine with eternal colours, the piers will be enriched
with sparkling panels, gilded friezes will run along the buildings. The
monuments will be clothed with marbles and enamels, and mosaics will
make all love movement and colour.” Garnier brought over to Paris many
Italian mosaic workers, and it was largely due to his influence that the
Government established the French École de Mosaïque at Sèvres, which has
achieved excellent results under the direction of the late M. Gerspach.
Glazed tiles, enamelled earthenware, coloured wood, bronze and mosaic
were from this time forward employed as decorative materials in public
and private buildings in Paris and throughout the provinces. The great
International Exhibitions were in some degree decorated with these
materials, and the exhibits of these coloured building materials from
England, France itself, and other countries, gave a great impetus to the
production of such, especially to those of the potter’s art. In France
the large decorative panels in coloured tile work by M. Deck created an
epoch in this kind of work.
Foremost among the many architects and artists in the advocacy of colour
in buildings was the late M. Paul Sédille, whose work in the effective
use of enamelled terra-cotta and glass mosaic in decoration is well
known in Paris. He designed, among other work, the beautiful monumental
doorway as the entrance to the Salle des Beaux-Arts in the
Exposition-Universelle of 1878 at Paris, which was composed exclusively
of coloured terra-cotta and glazed tiles, similar to that of the Italian
“Della Robbia” variety. This enamelled doorway was modelled in relief
and painted in contrasting colours of green, red, natural colours, black
and white, on pale yellow and azure grounds. The wreaths, stars, palms,
and other salient portions of the design were in gold. Another work of
his is that of the decoration of the ceiling of the vestibule of the
Magazin-du-Printemps in Paris, where he has used enamelled glass mosaic
with variegated marbles in an ornamental design, enclosed with plain
and gilt bronze mouldings. The colouring of this effective design is
very simple but rich, the ground being gold, the foliage pale greens,
and the flowers white, slightly shaded with rose colour.
The most important mosaic decoration in France is perhaps that of the
apse of the Panthéon at Paris, by the artist M. E. Hébert. The subject
of the composition is “Christ revealing to the Angel of France the
Destinies of her People.” The figure of Christ occupies the centre of
the hemispherical vault, and stands before a throne; the right hand is
uplifted, and in the left is the rolled volume--the book of the
future--sealed with the seven seals. On His right the Virgin presents
Joan of Arc with her standard banner, and on the left the Angel of
France, whose red wings are heightened with gold, and with sword in
hand, presents Sainte Geneviève, of Paris. The ground of the composition
is gold. The figure of Christ is clothed in a robe of purple, and has a
border of gold, and that of the Virgin is white with a gold fringe. The
Angel of France is robed in a rose-coloured garment, and has a
bluish-green coloured mantle. St. Geneviève has a blue robe and a grey
mantle. All the personages stand on a verdured meadow, which is
enamelled with flowers. Elaborate borders of vine leafage and grapes,
with fillets of precious stones, surround the composition, which are
from the designs of M. Galland, one of the finest decorative artists of
France. The composition, character and colouring of this important
mosaic, as well as the technique, are based on the best traditions of
the Ravenna mosaics of the fifth and sixth centuries.
In the French provinces many examples of colour decoration and mosaic
work have been executed in recent years, notably the mosaic decorations
of the new cathedrals at Marseilles and Lyons. The municipal buildings
of Paris and of the provincial cities of France, together with churches,
universities, and other public and private buildings, contain numerous
examples of important wall paintings, which though of great interest
individually, are rather to be regarded as isolated efforts of
decorative or pictorial value than complete schemes of the colour
decoration of the buildings which they adorn.
In regard to what we have just said, it will be necessary to make a very
important exception in the case of at least one great French master of
decorative art, namely, Puvis de Chavannes, for he was perhaps the
greatest decorator that France has produced. No one understood so well
as he did the laws and principles of architectural decoration and
colouring. He was almost alone among the artists of France in his proper
treatment of the wall surface as an architectural feature, for on
looking at his work one always feels that the wall is in evidence as a
solid and flat surface, and that his great pictorial decorations, as far
as the design and colouring of them go, and so full of beauty and
interest as they are, in no way interfere with the architectural
function of the wall. A comparison of his work in the Panthéon at Paris
with that of the other artists whose works occupy other wall spaces in
that building clearly proves this contention, for, as a rule, the
surrounding wall paintings, executed by about ten other artists, though
excellent as illustrative works of art, are really out of place as wall
decorations in their composition, treatment of design, and more
particularly in their violent colouring. They do not harmonise with the
dignity of the architecture, they are not legitimate decorations, but
rather great pictures fastened to the walls, making a lively and gay
picture-gallery in a solemn and dignified building, and lacking that
monumental fitness in their design and colouring which is so well
expressed in the work of Puvis de Chavannes.
All the painters of these wall pictures in the Panthéon, with the
exception of Chavannes, seem to have been influenced by the works of
Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian and Rubens, who produced large, and
even colossal-sized oil paintings, which were designed to fit wall and
ceiling spaces as decorative pictures, and were glorious things in
themselves with all their richness of colour, perspective, composition
and vigour of brush-work in the execution, but none of them can be
considered as suitable decoration of the spaces they occupy on ceilings
and walls. The Italian Primitive School, and the great frescanti of
Italy, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, understood the
requirements of wall decoration much better than the later, though
great, Italian and Flemish masters, who painted their pictures chiefly
in the oil medium. Chavannes, however, apparently founded his style and
methods on the work of the early Italians, and, though he painted in an
oil and wax medium on canvas which was “marouflée,” or cemented, on to
the wall, and not painted on the wall direct, as in fresco or tempera,
his work shows strong decorative influences derived from the study of
these early Italian masters.
It would not be difficult to point out some of the many instances where
the majority of the Panthéon wall pictures fail as decoration, where
violent contrasts of colour and extreme perspective effects are, as it
would appear, almost aimed for, as if the object was to destroy the
plane of the wall as a flat surface, by making it look as if it had
holes or windows, rather than any striving for the preservation of its
natural solidity.
The wall picture, “Vers La Gloire,” by the clever artist, Detaille, may
be mentioned as an example of work that has reached the limits of
misplaced decoration. This work, though no doubt very popular, is really
a crowded and complex miniature painting enlarged and transferred to the
wall. In this painting there are represented hundreds of soldiers and
horses all in the most violent action, with banners flying, and a
plethora of swords, spears and trumpets; the horses are madly galloping
on and through the clouds, there is plenty of movement, and great
cleverness is displayed in the grouping of the horsemen, but at a few
yards’ distance the work appears to be a merely glittering and spotty
achievement, and when examined closely represents a perfect museum of
soldiers’ uniforms. Clever as this work is, it is, however, entirely out
of place on the walls of the Panthéon, for, apart from the unsuitability
of the subject, it cramps and destroys the amplitude, as well as the
flatness and solidity of the wall, which should be the first care of the
artist to preserve.
The wall paintings in this building by Puvis de Chavannes, in contrast
to the works above-mentioned, are designed and executed in a truly
decorative sense. Here he has painted a magnificent series of panels
illustrating incidents in the life of St. Geneviève, the patron saint of
Paris. The general colour of these pastoral works is a combination of
grey greens, pale yellows, and pale purples, which produces an
atmosphere that is silvery and tender. The compositions are dignified
and impressive, and there is no crowding or complexity in the almost
even distribution of the figures; the keynote is simplicity, which gives
the monumental clearness of design that decorative painting demands. In
this respect the work of Chavannes has much in common with the charm and
_naïveté_ of the work of the Italian Primitives.
At the Hôtel de Ville he has painted the subjects of “L’Hiver,” “L’Eté,”
and “Victor Hugo offrant son Lyre à la Ville de Paris,” but perhaps his
greatest achievement is his celebrated painting of the “Lettres, Arts et
Muses” which decorates the hemicycle of the vast Amphitheatre of the
Sorbonne at Paris. The subject was one that was entirely in harmony with
the painter’s genius and powers. The composition contains forty-four
life-sized figures, which are arranged in a series of cleverly designed
groups, all connected with each other, and arranged symmetrically, but
not with a dry symmetry, on either side of a central group of three
figures--Mnemosyne, the mother of the Muses, seated, with boys on either
side, who are evidently meant to personify Love and Fame. The other
figures symbolise Literature, Art, and Poetry. The background scene is a
sacred wood, where the graceful tree trunks are kept rather thin and
slender, so as not to interfere with the figures, but these serried rows
of trees give the requisite upright lines that steady and strengthen the
composition, which is also helped immensely by a dark hedge, extending
the whole length of the picture, above which a little sky is shown.
The colour scheme is a beautiful harmony of fairly strong half-tones of
such colours as greens, reds, yellows, blues, orange, grey and purple,
but as a whole the dominant harmony is that of green and purple,
although neither of these colours appears in its full or positive hue.
The general colour scheme of this work is unusually intense in
comparison with the paler and more tender colouring of the other works
of this painter. His figures are types or embodiments of his poetic
ideas, for, like Blake and Botticelli, he used the human form in his
designs, not in any realistic sense, but as a medium for the expression
of his ideas and inward vision; in short, he subordinated form to his
thought.
The staircase walls in the Museum at Lyons have been decorated with
paintings by Puvis de Chavannes; he is also well represented in his
important wall paintings in the museums of Rouen, Marseilles, and
Amiens, and his latest work was the decorative paintings in the Library
at Boston, in America. Some of his earliest works, and other later ones,
are those that form the important wall decorations in the Picardy Museum
at Amiens, and this museum affords an excellent opportunity for the
student who wishes to study the art of Puvis de Chavannes, for it
contains many and typical examples of his design, drawing, composition,
and colour. There are some very large paintings of his which decorate
the main staircase walls, and there is also here a special gallery
devoted to his work, the walls of which are covered by his paintings,
all of which are surrounded by richly coloured Pompeian borders and
panels of ornament. The architectural mouldings and other features are
also richly coloured, and this surrounding colour and ornament does not
in any way interfere with the pictorial composition, but, on the other
hand, unites the paintings with the architecture, the whole effect
providing a fine example of colour finish to the gallery.
Generally speaking, the majority of painters who are called upon to
execute wall paintings in public buildings are afraid to use colour or
coloured ornament close to, or surrounding, their pictorial
compositions; but the best Italian artists, and the Greeks also,
invariably did surround their decorative pictures with coloured
geometric patterns, and coloured the architectural mouldings as well. So
when we find such a great decorator as Chavannes adopting the principle
of using colour to aid the effect of his decorative picture, and thus
following the practice of the old masters, we may be assured that
ornamental bands, lines, and mouldings, if coloured in harmony with the
pictorial compositions, will effectively assist the latter in their
function of providing a true decoration of the building, and prevent
them from having the isolated appearance of pictures fastened on the
walls.