Renaissance boldly aimed at restoring the antique. But in their time the
rage for painting became so prevalent, that instead of following these
great examples, they covered every ceiling with large fresco
compositions, which, though extremely fine and well painted, were very
much misplaced, and must necessarily, from the attitude in which they
are beheld, tire the patience of every spectator. Great compositions
should be placed so as to be viewed with ease. Grotesque ornaments and
figures in any situation are perceived with the glance of an eye, and
require little examination. Inigo Jones introduced them into England
with as much weight, but with little fancy and embellishment. Vanburgh,
Campbell, and Gibbs, followed too implicitly the authority of this great
name. Kent’s genius for the picturesque, and the vast reputation he
deservedly acquired, made him in some measure withstand this prevalent
abuse; he has much merit in being the first who began to lighten the
compartments and to introduce grotesque paintings with his ornament in
stucco; his works, however, are evidently those of a beginner. Mr.
Stuart, with his usual elegance and taste, has contributed greatly
towards introducing the true style of the antique decoration; and it
seems to have been reserved for the present times to see compartment
ceilings, and those of every kind, carried to a degree of perfection in
Great Britain that far surpasses any of the former attempts of other
modern nations.
“Inigo Jones, who had long studied in Italy, rescued this art
(architecture) in a considerable degree from the Gothicism of former
times, and began to introduce into his country a love of that elegance
and refinement which characterize the productions of Greece and Rome.
“Instructed and encouraged by his example, Sir Christopher Wren became
more chaste; and having the felicity to be employed in executing the
most magnificent work of English architecture, he was enabled to display
greater extent of genius.
“Vanburgh understood better than either the art of living among the
great. A commodious arrangement of apartments was therefore his peculiar
merit. But his lively imagination scorned the restraint of any rule in
composition; and his passion for what was fancifully magnificent,
prevented him from discerning what was truly simple, elegant, and
sublime.
“Campbell, Gibbs, and Kent have each their peculiar share of merit.”
From their own testimony we can, therefore, not agree with them, when
they write elsewhere:
“Inferior to our ancestors in science, we surpass them in taste.”
However, they insist that at the time they write, “greater variety of
form, greater beauty in design, greater gaiety, and elegance of ornament
are introduced into interior decoration.”
They were greatly in demand, as we have seen, and not only altered the
interiors and exteriors of many English mansions, but designed the
decorations. Chimney-pieces, ceilings, walls, niches, the handles of
doors, locks, key-plates, cornices, draperies, furniture, gold and
silver ware, and even damask for the table. Nothing seemed too great,
nor too slight for their hands. The attitude they had towards their work
may be appreciated by the following words:
“If we have any claim to approbation, we found it on this alone. That we
flatter ourselves we have been able to seize, with some degree of
success, the beautiful spirit of antiquity, and to transfuse it, with
novelty and variety, through all our numerous works.”
The pictures on Plates L., LI., and LII. are taken from the book by the
Adams. No. 1, on Plate L., is the curtain cornice of the Earl of Derby’s
Etruscan Room; No. 2 on the same plate is another cornice with drapery,
which, with the mirror below it, were made for Sion House. No. 4 is the
leg of a table and No. 5 is the upper part of the frame of a pier-glass.
The lower drawing is a sideboard table, under which, in the original
drawing, a wine-cooler stands. No. 3 is a table, also from Sion House.
The sofa appearing on Plate LI. is of mahogany, the woodwork fluted and
mounted with brass reliefs. The legs are characteristic of Adam. The
cover is woolen work on canvas.
The table on the same plate is inlaid and has a border of inlaid brass
and wood around the top. The two drawers under the top have borders of
brass and are decorated with brass lions. In the centre of each
crosspiece there is a decoration of leaves surrounding a rosette. The
legs are gilded at intervals, and are ornamented with gilt lion’s heads
and end in claw feet. This dates from about 1780.
The screen on the same plate is supported on a stand of wood fluted and
gilded, out of which rises a brass rod. The oval frame encloses a piece
of silk embroidery said to have been made by Queen Caroline. The little
picture in the centre is painted. No. 1 is a curtain cornice, of which
Adam says: “These curtains were intended as an attempt to banish absurd
French compositions.” No. 2 is a ewer, that also appears in the Adam
book. Plate XLIX. is a library after the Adam style. The full drawing on
Plate LII. is a commode from the Countess of Derby’s dressing-room; it
is richly decorated. No. 2 is a detail. No. 3 on the same plate from it
is a girandole, made for a niche in the Earl of Derby’s Etruscan Room.
The full drawing is “a design of a vase for candles to be fixed to the
wainscoting of a room”; the central vase is a perfume-burner. No. 1 is a
tripod of gilded wood, intended to support a base with candles.
Among the ornaments used by the Adam brothers were mythological
subjects, lozenge-shaped panels, octagons, ovals, hexagons, circles,
wreaths, fans, husks, medallions, draped medallions, medallions with
figures, the sphinx, the faun, goats, drapery, ribbons, eagle-headed
grotesques, griffins, sea-horses, the ram’s head, the patera, the
rosette, caryatides and other Classic motives.
The ornaments of the ceilings and walls were stucco picked out with
different tints, frequently pink and green. In handsome rooms, the
chimney-piece was of statuary marble, the overmantel carved in wood and
gilt, or painted. The drawing-room ceiling was coved and the
compartments painted. Pilasters were often used to divide the rooms and
the ornaments of these, like the arches and panels of the doors, were
painted. The frieze was stucco. Ornaments in the niches were frequently
gilt, as well as the girandoles and stucco ornaments of the ceilings.
The Adams also recommended ornaments printed on _papier maché_ and “so
highly japanned as to appear like glass.” Damask and tapestry were used
for hanging the drawing-room, but not the dining-room.
They assert that within the past few years there has been “a remarkable
improvement in the form, convenience, arrangement and relief of
apartments; a greater movement and variety, in the outside composition
and in the decoration of the inside, an almost total change. The massive
entablature, the ponderous compartment ceiling, the tabernacle frame
almost the only species of ornament, formerly known in this country, are
now universally exploded, and in their place we have adopted a beautiful
variety of light mouldings, gracefully formed, delicately enriched and
arranged with propriety and skill. We have introduced a great diversity
of ceilings, frieze and decorated pilasters, and have added grace and
beauty to the whole, by a mixture of grotesque[23] stucco and painted
ornaments, together with the flowing _rinceau_,[24] with its fanciful
figures and winding foliage.
“A proper arrangement and relief of apartments are branches of
architecture in which the French have excelled all other nations; these
have united magnificence with utility in the hôtels of their nobility,
and have rendered them objects of universal imitation.
[Illustration: PLATE LI]
“To understand thoroughly the art of living, it is necessary, perhaps,
to have passed some time among the French, and to have studied the
customs of that social and conversible people. In one particular,
however, our manners prevent us from imitating them. Their eating-rooms
seldom or never constitute a piece in their great apartments, but lie
out of the suite, and in fitting them up, little attention is paid to
beauty or decoration. The reason of this is obvious; the French meet
there only at meals, when they trust to the display of the table for
show and magnificence, not to the decoration of the apartment; and as
soon as the entertainment is over, they immediately retire to the rooms
of company. Not so with us. Accustomed by habit, or induced by the
nature of our climate, we indulge more largely in the enjoyment of the
bottle. Every person of rank here is either a member of the legislature,
or entitled by his condition to take part in the political arrangements
of his country, and to enter with ardour into those discussions to which
they give rise; these circumstances lead men to live more with one
another, and more detached from the society of the ladies. The
eating-rooms are considered as the apartments of conversation, in which
we are to pass a great part of our time. This renders it desirable to
have them fitted up with elegance and splendour, but in a style
different from that of other apartments. Instead of being hung with
damask, tapestry, etc., they are always finished with stucco, and
adorned with statues and paintings, that they may not retain the smell
of the victuals.”
The Adam brothers now describe what seems to them a correct arrangement
of a suite of apartments. These they themselves planned and decorated
for the Duke of Northumberland’s estate, Sion House, near London. “The
hall, both in our homes and in those of France, is a spacious apartment,
intended as the room of access where servants attend. It is here, a room
of great dimensions, is finished with stucco, as halls always are, and
formed with a recess at each end, one square and the other circular,
which have a noble effect and increase the variety.
“The ante-rooms on each side are for the attendance of the servants out
of livery, and also for that of the tradesmen, etc. These are relieved
by the back stairs in the towers. That on the side of the great
apartment is square, and is decorated with columns of verd antique
marble, which serve to form the room and heighten the scenery. The
ante-room, on the side of the private apartment, is formed into an oval,
a figure seldom or never used by the ancients, but has been sometimes
introduced by the moderns with success, and was here in some respect
necessary from the oblong shape of the room.
“Next to the ante-rooms are the public and private eating-rooms; the
public one is a room of great extent, finished with stucco and adorned
with niches and statues of marble; it is formed into a great circular
recess at each end and decorated with screens of columns. The private
one has also its recesses and stucco-finishing, and is relieved by a
back-stair for the use of the servants.
“Next to the great eating-room lies a splendid withdrawing room, for the
ladies, or _salle de compagnie_, as it is called by the French; this is
varied from the other rooms by the form of its ceiling, which is coved
and painted in compartments. It gives access into a gallery of great
length, though rather too narrow and too low to be in the just
proportion we could have wished. It is, however, finished in a style to
afford great variety and amusement, and is, for this reason, an
admirable room for the reception of company before dinner, or for the
ladies to retire to after it: For the withdrawing-room lying between
this and the eating-room, prevents the noise of the men from being
troublesome; and for this reason we would always recommend the
intervention of a room in great apartments to prevent such
inconvenience.
“The little closets or cabinets, the circular one for china, and the
other square one for miniatures, at each end of the gallery, serve only
for an additional ornament. The gallery itself, as well as the private
apartments, is relieved by the circular back stairs, and gives access to
the ranges of apartments on both sides.
“The great circular saloon is a noble room entering from the hall, and
leading into the gallery and great stairs, relieves all the other
apartments: this serves also for a room of general rendez-vous, and for
public entertainments, with illuminations, dancing and music. The form
is new and singular; it is a circle within a circle, the smaller opening
into the larger, by eight piercings adorned with columns and terminated
with niches and statues, so that the scenery, like the decorations of a
theatre, apparently increases the extent, and leaves room for the
imagination to play.
“The private apartments are now the only part of the plan remaining
undescribed; on one hand is the Duchess’s bed-chamber, an ante-chamber
for the attendance of her maid; her toilet or dressing-room, her
powdering-room, water-closet and outer ante-room, with a back stair
leading to the intersols for the maids’ bedrooms and wardrobes, etc. On
the other hand is a dressing-room for the Duke, a powdering-room,
writing-room, with closet and stairs to intersols for His Grace’s
valet-de-chambre, and wardrobe, etc.”
The Adams also made changes at Kenwood in 1774, introducing their plans
and decorations into an addition. “The great room with its ante-room was
begun by Lord Mansfield’s orders in 1767, and was intended both for a
library and a room for receiving company. The circular recesses were
therefore fitted up for the former purpose, and the square part or body
of the room was made suitable to the latter. The whole is reckoned
elegant in its proportions and decorations, and the ceiling in
particular, which is a segment of a circle, has been greatly admired.”
This ceiling is in “imitation of a flat arch, which is extremely
beautiful and much more perfect than that which is commonly called the
coved ceiling,” and Adam thus continues to describe it: “The stucco-work
of this ceiling and of the other decorations is finely executed by Mr.
Joseph Rose. The paintings are elegantly performed by Mr. Antonio
Zucchi, a Venetian painter of great eminence; and the grounds of the
panels and friezes are coloured with light tints of pink and green, so
as to take off the glare of white, so common in every ceiling till of
late. This always appeared to me so cold and unfinished, that I ventured
to introduce this variety of grounds, at once to relieve the ornaments,
remove the crudeness of the white, and create a harmony between the
ceiling and the side walls with their hangings, pictures and other
decorations.”
The Adams were very fond of this combination of colour. Osterley Park,
the seat of the Earl of Jersey and one of the finest specimens of the
Adam style extant, had its dining-room similarly painted by Zucchi. It
is thus described:
[Illustration: PLATE LII]
“The dining-room at Osterley Park, owned by the Earl of Jersey, was
decorated by Zucchi in the Adam style. The walls of this apartment are
in tints of the tenderest green and the very palest pinks, these colours
being panelled by delicate scroll-work and artistic designs in the white
composition which was known only to the Adam brothers. Three large
pictures and several smaller ones, all being scenes and landscapes by
Zucchi, are framed in this white scroll-work, while the same curving
lines, with grapes and vine leaves, outline the pink and green panels of
the ceilings, the design of which corresponds with the design of the
neutral-tinted carpet. The tiny scroll patterns of the window mouldings
are repeated in the ornamentation of the mahogany doors with their
artistic brass locks and are again found in the designs of the _buffets_
and side tables, where the ram’s head is introduced, which occurs more
than once in both furniture and ornaments. Even the tablecloths were
made to correspond in their woven pattern, and some are still in use
bearing the date 1779. This careful and minute arrangement of detail is
found only in an Adam House.”[25]
W. Thomas was another designer in the Adam style; but of far greater
importance was Michael Angelo Pergolesi, who was employed by the Adam
brothers, and whose designs are equal to theirs. Pergolesi also employed
Zucchi, Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman. His books of designs came out in
parts from 1777 onward. One of Pergolesi’s rooms “has a low dado rail,
plain plaster walls, panelled round with a moulding, a fine mantel-piece
and a narrow ornamental compo frieze and plain ceiling.” Angelica
Kauffman painted ceilings, table-tops, and furniture-panels, which, like
Cipriani’s productions, represent cherubs, maidens, gods and goddesses,
and _amorini_.
-----
Footnote 21:
Scagliola, mentioned above, was a kind of plaster made of gypsum and
Flanders glue. It was coloured to imitate marble. The Adam brothers
made great use of it, as well as plaster of Paris pressed in metal
moulds.
Footnote 22:
Cosmo Monkhouse.
Footnote 23:
“By _grotesque_ is meant that beautiful light stile of ornament used
by the ancient Romans in the decoration of the palaces, baths and
villas. It is also to be seen in some of their amphitheatres, temples
and tombs; the greatest part of which being vaulted and covered with
ruins, have been dug up and cleared by the modern Italians, who, for
these reasons, give them the name of _grotte_, which is perhaps a
corruption of the Latin _Criptæ_, a word borrowed from the Greeks, as
the Romans did most of their terms, in architecture; and hence the
word _grotesque_, and the English word signifying a cave.
“In the times of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Julio Romano, Polidoro,
Giov. d’Udine, Vasari, Zuchero and Algardi, there is no doubt but
there was much greater remains of the grotte, than what are now to be
seen, and in imitation of them were decorated the _loggias_ of the
Vatican, the villas Madama, Pamfili, Caprarola, the old palace at
Florence; and indeed whatever else is elegant and admirable in the
finishings of modern Italy. The French, who till of late never adopted
the ornaments of the ancients, and jealous as all mankind are of the
reputation of their national taste, have branded those ornaments with
the vague and fantastical appellation of arabesque, a stile which,
though entirely distinct from the grotesque, has, notwithstanding,
been most absurdly and universally confounded with it by the ignorant.
“This classical stile of ornament, by far the most perfect that has
ever appeared for inside decorations, and which has stood the test of
many ages, like other works of genius, requires not only fancy and
imagination in the composition, but taste and judgment in the
application; and when these are happily combined, this gay and elegant
mode is capable of inimitable beauties.
“Vitruvius with great reason condemns an over-licentiousness in
compositions of this kind, and blames the painters of his time for
introducing monstrous extravagances. We mean not to vindicate anything
that deserves such appellations, but surely in light and gay
compositions, designed merely to amuse, it is not altogether necessary
to exclude the whimsical and bizarre.”
Footnote 24:
“_Rainceau_, apparently derived from rain, an old French word,
signifying the branch of a tree. This French term is also used by the
artists of this country, to express the winding and twisting of the
stalk or stem of the acanthus plant, which flowing round in many
graceful turnings spreads its foliage with great beauty and variety,
and is often intermixed with human figures, animals and birds,
imaginary or real; also with flowers and fruits.
“This gay and fanciful diversity of agreeable objects, well composed
and delicately executed in stucco or painting, attains a wonderful
power of pleasing.”
Footnote 25:
E. Balch, _Glimpses of Old English Homes_.
THE HEPPELWHITE PERIOD
[Illustration: PLATE LIII]
[Illustration]
THE HEPPELWHITE PERIOD
Quite different from the sumptuous book by Robert and James Adam is the
one that was published in 1788 by the firm of “A. Heppelwhite & Co.,
Cabinet-Makers.” This is a collection of three hundred designs by
cabinet-makers for cabinet-makers and gentlemen. The title-page, which
is also a table of contents, reads as follows:
“The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, or Repository of Designs,
for every article of Household Furniture, in the Newest and most
approved Taste, displaying a great variety of patterns for Chairs,
Stools, Sofas, Confidante, Duchesse, Side Boards, Pedestal and Vases,
Cellerets, Knife-Cases, Desk and Book-Cases, Secretary and Book-Cases,
Library-Cases, Library-Tables, Reading-Desks, Chests-of-Drawers,
Urn-Stands, Tea-Caddies, Tea-Trays, Card-Tables, Pier-Tables,
Pembroke-Tables, Tambour-Tables, Dressing-Glasses, Dressing-Tables and
Drawers, Commodes, Rudd’s Table, Bidets, Night-Tables, Bason-Stands,
Wardrobes, Pot-Cupboards, Brackets, Hanging-Shelves, Fire-Screens, Beds,
Field-Beds, Sweep Tops for Ditto, Bed-Pillars, Candle-Stands, Lamps,
Pier-Glasses, Terms for Busts, Cornices for Library-Cases, Wardrobes,
etc., at large, Ornamented Tops for Pier-Tables, Pembroke-Tables,
Commodes, etc., etc., in the Plainest and most Enriched Styles.”
In his preface, Heppelwhite explains his ideas as follows:
“To unite elegance and utility, and blend the useful with the agreeable,
has ever been considered a difficult, but an honourable task.
“It may be allowable to say, we have exerted our utmost endeavours to
produce a work which shall be useful to the mechanic, and serviceable to
the gentleman. With this view, after having fixed upon such articles as
were necessary to a complete suit of furniture, our judgment was called
forth in selecting such patterns as were most likely to be of general
use—in choosing such points of view as would show them most
distinctly—and in exhibiting such fashions as were necessary to answer
the end proposed, and convey a just idea of English taste in furniture
for houses.
“English taste and workmanship have, of late years, been much sought for
by surrounding nations; and the mutability of all things, but more
especially of fashions, has rendered the labours of our predecessors in
this line of little use: nay, at this day, they can only tend to mislead
those Foreigners, who seek a knowledge of the English taste in the
various articles of household furniture.
[Illustration: PLATE LIV]
“The same reason, in favour of this work, will apply also to many of our
own Countrymen and Artisans, whose distance from the metropolis makes
even an imperfect knowledge of its improvements acquired with much
trouble and expense. Our labours will, we hope, tend to remove this
difficulty; and as our idea of the useful was such articles as are
generally serviceable in genteel life, we flatter ourselves the labour
and pains we have bestowed on this work will not be considered as time
uselessly spent.
“To Residents in London, though our drawings are all new, yet, as we
designedly followed the latest or most prevailing fashion only,
purposely omitting such articles whose recommendation was mere novelty,
and perhaps a violation of all established rule, the production of whim
at the instance of caprice, whose appetite must ever suffer
disappointment if any similar thing had been previously thought of; we
say, having regularly avoided those fancies, and steadily adhered to
such articles only as are of general use and service, our principal hope
for favour and encouragement will be, in having combined near three
hundred different patterns for furniture in so small a space, and at so
small a price. In this instance we hope for reward; and though we lay no
claim to extraordinary merit in our designs, we flatter ourselves they
will be found serviceable to young workmen in general and occasionally
to more experienced ones.”
From the above quotation, it will be noticed that the firm of
Heppelwhite and Company eschews extravagant designs, and aims to
represent at the same time what is newest and most fashionable. We see,
too, that previous publications sold, such as Chippendale’s, Ince and
Mayhew’s, Edwards and Darly’s, and others that we have mentioned, are
considered entirely out of date.
As far as Heppelwhite is concerned, neither the Chinese nor Gothic style
ever existed. The straight line is insisted upon, and he prefers to any
other the tapering and slender “term” leg ending in the “spade” foot.
(See full drawings on Plates LIV., LV., LVI., and LVII., and Nos. 2 and
3 on Plate LIV.) The legs are frequently inlaid with the husk, or
bell-flower, in satin-wood. His favourite ornamentations, whether
carved, inlaid, or painted and japanned, are the bell-flower in swags
and chutes, the lotus, the rosette, the acanthus, the shell, the urn
with and without drapery, and the three feathers of the Prince of
Wales’s crest. (See Plate LVI., Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8.) The brass-headed
nail is always used for fastening the material to the frames of his
seats. These are always placed close together, and are sometimes
arranged in the form of festoons, or scallops, around the seat. The
stripe is his favourite design for coverings. The festoon and the
ornamental tassel he greatly admires.