Of the Expression and Relief of Line and Form by _Colour_--Effect
of same Colour upon different Grounds--Radiation of Colour--White
Outline to clear Colours--Quality of Tints relieved upon other
Tints--Complementaries--Harmony--The Colour Sense--Colour
Proportions--Importance of Pure Tints--Tones and Planes--The Tone
of Time--Pattern and Picture--A Pattern not necessarily a Picture,
but a Picture in principle a Pattern--Chiaroscuro--Examples of
Pattern-work and Picture-work--Picture-patterns and Pattern-pictures.
Perhaps the most striking means of the expression of relief of line and
form, certainly the most attractive, is by colour. By colour we obtain
the most complete and beautiful means of expression in art.
[Relief of Line and Form by Colour]
Our earliest ideas of form are probably derived through the different
colours of objects around us, by which they are thrown into relief upon
the background, or against other objects; and, as I mentioned in the
first chapter, we reach outline by observing the edges of different
masses relieved as dark or light upon light or dark grounds, so now, in
my last, we come again to the consideration of the definition of line
and form by colour, and their relief and expression upon different
planes or fields of colour.
There is first the colour of the object itself--the local colour--and
then the colour of the ground upon which it is relieved, both of which
in their action and reaction upon each other will greatly affect the
value of the local colour and the degree of relief of the form upon it.
One of the best and simplest ways to ascertain the real value of a
colour and its effect upon different grounds or fields is to take a
flower--say a red poppy, and place it against a white paper ground,
blocking in the local colour as relieved upon white, as near as may be
to its full strength, with a brush, and defining the form as we go
along. Then try the same flower upon grounds of different tints--green,
blue, yellow--and it will be at once perceived what a different value
and expression the same form in the same colour has upon different
tinted grounds. A scarlet poppy would appear clearest and darkest upon
white; it would show a tendency upon a blue ground to blend or blur at
its edges, and also on yellow and green to a less extent.
[Illustration (f132): Sketch to Show Effect of the Same Colour and Form
upon Different Coloured Grounds.]
It is this tendency to lose the edges of forms owing to the radiation of
colours, and to mingle with the colour of the background, which makes a
strong outline so constantly a necessity in decorative work. One may use
a black on a white, a brown, or a gold outline (as in cloisonne), the
nature of the outline being generally determined by the nature of the
work. In stained glass the outline must be black, and this black is of
the greatest value in enhancing by opposition the brilliance of the
colours of the glass it incloses, stopping out the light around it as it
does in solid lead when placed in the window.
[Illustration (f133): (1) Principle of the Effect of the Blending or
Blurring of Colours at Their Edges; (2) Use of Black and White Outline
to Clear the Edges of Coloured Forms upon Different Coloured Grounds.]
[Clearing Coloured Forms]
A white outline produced by a resist or a mordant in a printed
textile, where the colours used are full and rich, often has a good
effect, lightening the effect while giving point and definition to
certain leading forms. Instances of the use of white outlines may be
found in Eastern carpets, where the main colours, being dark blue and
yellows on rich red, are relieved in parts by a dull white outline. Also
in Persian carpets of the sixteenth or seventeenth century, the
scrollwork in red is often relieved by an ivory white outline on blue.
It is always a good practice in blocking in flowers, either from nature
or as parts of a design, to leave a white outline at the junctions--that
is to say, where one petal overlaps another, or where there is a joint
in the stem, or a fold in the leaf--and to show the ribbings, markings,
and divisions of flower and leaf.
By judiciously changing the quality of our tints it is possible to make
different colours in a pattern tell clearly. To relieve red upon blue,
for instance, one would use an orange red upon greenish blue, or scarlet
upon a gray blue--the general principle being apparently a kind of
compensating balance between colours, so that in taking from one you
give to another.
A full red and blue used together, as we have seen, would show a
tendency to purple, unless separated by outlines; so that if the blue
was full and rich, the red would have to approach brown or russet; or if
the red was a full one--a crimson red--the blue would have to approach
green.
[Harmony]
This may be because of the necessary complements in colours, which we
see in nature, and which prepossess the eye, and make it demand these
modifications to satisfy the sense of harmony.
When daylight struggles with candle- or lamp-light, one may notice that
upon the white cloth of a dinner-table the light is blue and the shadows
yellow or orange--the orange deepening as with the fading daylight the
blue grows deeper, until the colour of the light and the shadow change
places. The same principle may be noticed in firelight, but the redder
the flame the greener will be the shadows.
Harmony in colour may be said to consist--apart from the general
acknowledgment of the law of complementaries, in giving quality to the
raw pigments by gradation, by a certain admixture or infusion of other
colours.
To begin with the negatives--white and black--white may be creamy or
silvery; black may be of a greenish or a bluish or brownish tone; then
the primaries--red, blue, yellow, or red, green, violet--red may range
from crimson to orange and russet; yellow may approach green or gold;
green may be first cousin to blue; blue may be turquoise on the one
hand, and touch purple upon the other; and so on through infinite
variations of half tints and tones.
No doubt it is an easier matter to harmonize half tints than full bright
colours, which may account for the prevalence of the former in
decorative work. Nature's pattern-book, too, is full of half tones and
mixed tints.
[The Colour Sense]
We may not all see colour precisely in the same way, and the same colour
may appear to be of a different tint to different eyes; and it seems
certain that climate and surroundings affect the colour sense: light
and colour will stimulate the delight in colour; while, where grayness
and dullness characterize the surroundings of life, the colour sense
will grow weak, or, if it is manifested at all, it will show a tendency
to grayness and heaviness of tint.
The art of the different peoples of the world illustrates this, and, as
we may see by turning from east to west, or from north to south, or even
from winter to summer, in the main the love of colour follows the sun,
like the rainbow.
We can all do something to cultivate our sense of colour, however, and
there is no better way than studying the harmonies and varieties of
nature. Even the town-dweller is not altogether deprived of the sight of
the sky, which constantly unfolds the most beautiful compositions both
of form and colour.
As to the choice of colours in decorative design, so far as that is not
narrowed by the particular conditions of the work, we must be guided by
much the same considerations as would serve us in designing generally,
and must, of course, think of appropriateness to position and purpose.
Much depends, too, upon proportions of colour, and a beautiful and
harmonious effect may be produced in a room by keeping the colour in a
particular key, or even delicately varying the designs and tints of one
or two colours. The same might be said in arranging a scheme of
colouring for any particular piece of design--say, a painted panel or a
textile pattern; although such things must ultimately be governed by
their relation to other parts in any general scheme--circumstances
necessitate their being often designed apart. Still, if the colour of a
pattern has been carefully thought out, or rather harmoniously felt, as
a real organic thing, it is sure to fit into its place when its time
comes.
In arranging our design of colour we can have no better guide, as to
proportions and quality, than nature, and should do well, as a matter of
practice, to take a flower, or the plumage of a bird, or the colours of
a landscape, and adapt them to some particular pattern or scheme of
decoration, following the relative degrees of tint and their quantities
as nearly as possible. To do this successfully requires some invention
and taste; but successful, or unsuccessful, one could hardly fail to
learn something positive and valuable about colour, if the attempt was
conscientiously made; and fresher motives and sweeter colour would be
more likely to result from such study.
[Importance of Pure Tints]
I think it is a very important thing in all decorative work to keep
one's colours pure in quality, and to avoid muddy or heavy tints. Brown
is an especially difficult colour to use, because of its generally heavy
effect as a pigment, and the difficulty of harmonizing it with other
colours except as an outline; and even here it makes all the difference
whether it is a cool or a hot shade. A hot brown is most destructive of
harmony in colours. It is safe, as a rule, to make it lean to green, or
bronze, or gold.
As a general rule it is well to work either in a range of cool tints--a
cool key of colour, or the reverse--a warm and rich one. Few cool
harmonies can be better than ultramarine and turquoise on greenish
white, of which the Persians and Indians are so fond in tile-work. They
are delightful to the eye, while peculiarly adapted to the work, owing
their quality to the oxide of copper, which the firing brings out so
well.
Blues and greens and grays, relieved with white and yellow and orange:
or, reds and yellows, relieved with white and opposed by blacks,
generally answer: or a range of reds together, or range of blues, or of
yellows, with black and white for contrast and accent. Blue and white,
too, can be modified in quality; black may be greenish in tone, or
brownish, bluish, or purplish according to the harmony aimed at. White
may be pure or ivory-toned, cream-coloured or influenced by other
colours, and should vary in degree according to the strength of the
harmony. This brings us to the question of tone.
[Tones and Planes]
Now the ornamentist, the designer of patterns, relies for his effect
upon the use of certain planes and oppositions of tints to relieve and
express his design, to emphasize its main motive, to bring out or to
subdue its lines and forms. He knows that cool flat tints--blues,
greens, grays--will make forms and surfaces retire, and he makes use of
them for flat and reposeful effects, such as wall and ceiling surfaces,
adopting the natural principle of colour in landscape and sky.
He uses richer and more varied colour in textile hangings and carpets,
furniture, and accessories--reds, yellows, greens, crimson, russets,
orange, gold--which answer to the brighter flowers and parterres of our
gardens, as things to be near the eye and touch, and to occur as lesser
quantities in a scheme of interior colour design.
In the colour design of patterns, harmonious and rich effects can be
produced by the use of pure colour alone, no doubt, if carefully
proportioned, and separated by outline; though harmony is more difficult
to attain in pure colours used in their full strength; and for their due
effect, and to avoid harshness, such a treatment really requires
out-door light or special conditions of lighting, or the strong light of
eastern or southern countries, to soften the effect.
And since we have to adapt our designs to their probable surroundings,
we usually consciously select certain tones or shades of a colour,
rather than use it absolutely pure or in its full strength. The
beautiful tone which time gives to all colour-work is difficult to
rival, but no conscious imitation of it is tolerable.
But so long as our aim is strictly to make a colour scheme of any kind
in relation to itself, or in harmony with its conditions, we are on a
safe and sound path. It is this relativity which is the important thing
in all decorative art, and which, more distinctly than any other
quality, distinguishes it from pictorial art; although pictorial art is
under the necessity of the same law in regard to itself; and in its
highest forms, as in mural work, is certainly subject to relativity in
its widest sense.
[Pattern and Picture]
At first sight it might appear as if there were an essential fundamental
natural difference between a pattern and a picture, but when we come to
consider it, it appears to be rather a distinction than a difference.
A pattern may be an arrangement of lines, forms, and a harmony of planes
and tones of colour.
But these words would describe in general terms a picture also.
Certain recurrences of line and form; certain re-echoing notes of the
same, or allied colour, are necessary to both pattern and picture. The
abstract ingredients appear to be the same in both cases.
A picture indeed may be considered as a pattern of another sort, and the
real difference is that whereas a pattern is not necessarily a picture,
a picture is bound to be a pattern--a pattern having its quantities, its
balance of masses, its connecting lines, its various planes, its key of
colour, its play of contrasts, its harmony of tones.
Technically, a picture may be considered as an _informal_ pattern,
mainly of tone and values; while a pattern may be considered as a
_formal_ pattern, mainly of planes of colour.
The ancient art of the East was all frankly pattern-work, whatever the
subject pictured. Egyptian, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Moorish and
Arabian art, in all their varieties, show the dominating sense of
pattern, and the invention of the instinctive decorators in the use of
colour.
The Japanese, also, are instinctive decorators, though in a less formal
and more impressionistic way, and with much more naturalistic feeling.
Their pictures printed from colour blocks, as well as their "kakimonos,"
painted on silk, are frankly pattern-pictures, the pattern motive being
quite as strong or stronger than the graphic or representative motive.
Mediaeval and early Renaissance painting in Europe was frankly more or
less formal and of the nature of ornament, and even in its freest and
fullest development, in the works of the great masters of the sixteenth
century of Venice and Florence, a certain decorative or architectural
feeling was never forgotten.
Painting was still in close association with architecture, and was the
chief adornment of churches and palaces; thus it preserved a peculiar
distinction and dignity of style. The Dutch school did more perhaps to
break these old decorative and architectural traditions than any other,
with their domestic and purely naturalistic motives, their pursuit of
realism, atmospheric effect, and chiaroscuro--that fascinating goal of
painting.
[Chiaroscuro]
Yet there were some of the seventeenth-century masters, and of the best,
such as De Hooghe and Ver Meer of Delft, who showed themselves very much
alive to decorative effect, which their power of chiaroscuro--the power
of painting things in their proper atmosphere, as lost in transparent
depths of shadow, or found in luminous mystery--only seemed to enhance.
As a wonderful instance of ornamental and dignified design carried into
every detail with most careful draughtsmanship, and yet beautiful in
chiaroscuro and grave colour, there is no finer example than J. Van
Eyck's portrait-picture of "Jan Arnolfini and his Wife" in our National
Gallery. Such pictures as these would tell as rich and precious gems
upon the wall, and would form the centres to which the surrounding
colour patterns and decoration would lead up, as in the picture the
little mirror reflecting the figures shines upon the wall, a picture
within a picture.
[Illustration (f134): J. van Eyck: "Portrait of Jan Arnolfini and His
Wife." (National Gallery.)]
It is instructive from any point of view to study the quantities and
relations of colour, and their tones and values, in such works.
[Ver Meer of Delft]
Take Ver Meer's "Lady at a Spinet" in our National Gallery.
[Illustration (f135): Ver Meer of Delft: "Lady at a Spinet." (National
Gallery.)]
We have a plain white wall, exquisite in tone, upon which the crisp gold
of the small picture inclosing a brownish landscape with a blue and
white sky, and the broad black frame of the picture of Cupid tell
strongly, yet fall into plane behind the figure in white satin--quite a
different quality of white, and warmer and brighter than the wall. The
bodice is a steely blue silk, which is repeated in the velvet seat of
the chair; while the blue and white landscape upon the open lid of the
spinet repeats the blue and white landscape on the wall, and the blue
and white motive is subtly re-echoed in a subdued key in the little
tiles lining the base of the wall. The floor is a chequer of black and
white (mottled) marble, which gives a fine relief to the dress and
repeats the emphatic black of the picture frame; the stand of the spinet
is also black striated marble. Quiet daylight falls through the greenish
white of the leaded panes. The pink-brown woodwork of the spinet and
chair prevent the colour scheme from being cold. The flesh is very pale
and ivory-like in tone, but the dress is enlivened by little crisp
scarlet and gold touches in the narrow laces which tie the sleeves.
The little picture is a gem of painting and truth of tone, and at the
same time might well suggest a charming scheme of colour to an
ornamentist.
[Van Eyck]
Examine the Van Eyck in the same way, and we shall find a very rich but
quiet scheme of colour in a lower key, highly decorative, yet presented
with extraordinary realistic force, united with extreme refinement and
exquisite chiaroscuro, and truth of tone and value, as a
portrait-picture, and piece of interior lighting.
It is like taking an actual peep into the inner life of a Flemish
burgher of the fifteenth century.
One seems to breathe the still air of the quiet room, the gray daylight
falling through the leaded casements, one of which stands open, and
shows a narrow strip of luminous sky and suggestion of a garden with
scarlet blossoms in green leaves.
The man is clad in a long mantle of claret-brown velvet edged with fur,
over black tunic and hose. He wears a quaint black hat upon his head,
which almost foreshadows the tall hat of the modern citizen. The pale
strange face looks paler and stranger beneath it, but is in character
with the long thin hands. The figure gives one the impression of legal
precision and dryness, and a touch of clerical formality. The wife is of
a buxom and characteristic Flemish type, in a grass-green robe edged
with white fur, over peacock blue; a crisp silvery white head-dress; a
dark red leather belt with silver stitching. Her figure is relieved upon
the subdued red of the bed hangings, continued in the cover of the
settle and the red clogs. The wall of the room, much lost in transparent
shade, is of a greenish gray tone, and in the centre, between the
figures, a circular convex mirror sparkles on the wall reflecting the
backs of the figures. Thin lines delicately repeat the red in the mirror
frame, which has a black and red inner moulding. A string of amber beads
hangs on the wall, and repeats the shimmer of the bright brass
candelabra which hangs aloft, and which is drawn carefully enough for a
craftsman to reproduce.
[Pattern-Pictures]
Both designer and painter may find abundant suggestion in this picture,
which, with Ver Meer's "Lady at the Spinet," I should describe as
_pattern-pictures_--that is to say, while they are thoroughly painter's
pictures, and give all the peculiar qualities of oil-painting in the
rendering of tone and values, they yet show in their colour scheme the
decorative quality, and might be translated into patterns of the same
proportions and keys of colours.
As examples of what might be termed picture-patterns we might recur to
the wall paintings, as I have said, of ancient Egypt and early art
generally, for their simplest forms; but to take a much later instance,
and from the art of Florence in the fifteenth century, look at
Botticelli's charming little picture of "The Nativity," in the National
Gallery. It has all the intentional, or perhaps instinctive, ornamental
aim of Italian art, and its colour scheme shows a most dainty and
delicate invention in the strictest relation to the subject and
sentiment, and is arranged with the utmost subtlety and the nicest art.
[Botticelli]
The ring of angels above, for instance, is partly relieved upon a gilded
ground--to represent the dome of heaven. They bear olive branches, and
the colour of their robes alternates in the following order: rose, olive
(shot with gold), and white.
The _rose-coloured_ angels have _olive and white wings_; the _white
angels, rose and olive wings_; and _the olive angels, white and rose
wings_.
This part of the picture by itself forms a most beautiful pattern
motive, while it expresses the idea of peace and goodwill.
Then on the brown and gold thatch of the stable occur three more angels
in white, rose, and green, respectively. Against a pale sky rise rich
olive-green trees, forming the background.
[Illustration (f136): Botticelli: "The Nativity" (National Gallery).]
The Virgin strikes the brightest ray of colour in red under-robe and
sky-blue mantle. There is a gray white ass and a pale brown cow behind
her.
St. Joseph is in steel gray with a golden orange mantle over.
The brightest white occurs in the drapery upon which the infant Christ
lies.
An angel with a group of men appears, kneeling on the left relieved
against white rocks; their colours are--the angel's wings--peacock blue
and green, and a pale rose robe. The next figure is in scarlet; the next
yellow; and the third man wears pale rose over rich grass-green.
Of the shepherds on the right the first one is in russet and white, the
next steely gray, and the angel is in white with rose and pale green
wings.
The ground is generally warm white and brown, with dark olive-coloured
grass and foliage, so that the pattern of the picture is mainly a ground
of olive, gold, and white, relieved by spots of rose, white, blue,
yellow, and rose-red and scarlet--the colour in the groups of angels
embracing men in front being the deepest in tone.
The first angel in this group (on the left) wears green shot with gold,
with shot green and gold wings, the human being in dark olive and rich
crimson red.
Next is a white angel with pale rose wings; the man in gray with a red
mantle over.
Last is an angel in rose, with rose and red wings, the man being in
scarlet with gray mantle over. All the men hold olive branches, and the
group emphatically illustrates the idea of "on earth peace and goodwill
towards men," thus ending on the keynote both of colour and idea given
in the ring of angels above.
Thus it is not only a lovely picture, but an exquisite pattern.
[Holbein]
Another instance of a picture-pattern extremely strong and brilliant in
its realization of the full force and value of bright colour opposed by
the strongest black and white, may be found in Holbein's splendid
"Ambassadors," also in our National Collection.
[Illustration (f137): Holbein: "The Ambassadors" (National Gallery).]
[Botticelli]
The circular picture of the Madonna and Child, with St. John and an
angel, by Botticelli, is also another beautiful instance of pictorial
pattern, and of design well adapted and adequately filling its space,
while full of delicate draughtsmanship, poetic sentiment, and extremely
ornate in its colour.
[Illustration (f138): Botticelli: "Madonna and Child" (National
Gallery).]
[Carlo Crivelli]
Still more strictly ornamental in character and aim is Carlo Crivelli's
"Annunciation." Amazingly rich in invention, and beautifully designed
detail, and magnificently decorative in its colour scheme of brick reds
and whites, and pale pinks and steel grays, and yellows, varied with
scarlet and black, green, blue and gold, in the costumes and draperies,
sparkling with jewels, and brightened with rays and patterns of gold.
[Illustration (f139): Carlo Crivelli: "The Annunciation" (National
Gallery).]
[Perugino]
Hardly less ornamental in its more conscious grace and Renaissance
feeling is Perugino's triptych of the Virgin adoring, with St. Michael
on one wing and St. Raphael and Tobias on the other. It is a splendid
deep-toned harmony of blues, and warm flesh tones and golden hair,
varied by opals, rose red, bronze, green, white, and purple and orange.
[Illustration (f140): Perugino: "The Virgin in Adoration, with St.
Michael and St. Raphael and Tobias" (National Gallery).]
[Titian]
Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne" is, perhaps, more what I have described
as a pattern-picture, and is of a much later type. The full flush of
colour and pagan joy of the Renaissance is here paramount, expressed
with the masterly freedom of drawing and magnificent colour sense of the
great Venetian master. Yet, looking through the life, the movement, the
swing and vitality of the figures, and the power and poetry by which the
story is conveyed, we shall find a fine ornate design, sustaining an
extremely rich and sumptuous pattern of colour. We have a spread of
deep-toned blue sky barred with silvery white and gray clouds, great
masses of brown and green foliage swaying against it, above a band of
deep blue sea, and a field of rich golden brown earth. Warm flesh tones,
deep and pale, break upon this with a gorgeous pattern of flying rose,
blue, scarlet, orange, and white draperies, varied with the spotted
coats of the leopards, the black of the dog, and the copper vessel and
warm white of tumbled drapery.
[Illustration (f141): Titian: "Bacchus and Ariadne" (National Gallery).]
Keats might have had this picture in his mind when he wrote the song in
"Endymion":
"And as I sat, over the light blue hills
There came a noise of revellers: the rills
Into the wide stream came of purple hue.
'Twas Bacchus and his crew!
"The earnest trumpet speaks, and silver thrills
From kissing cymbals made a merry din--
'Twas Bacchus and his kin!
"Like to a moving vintage down they came,
Crowned with green leaves, and faces all on flame;
All madly dancing through the pleasant valley,
To scare thee, Melancholy!"
The "Sacred and Profane Love" of the same painter, in the Borghese
Gallery at Rome, is an even more splendid example of colour and tone,
and is probably the finest of all Titian's works.
[Paul Veronese]
In Paul Veronese we find a cooler key of colour generally, with a
fondness for compositions of figures with classical architecture, the
rich patterned robes and varied heads contrasting pleasantly with the
severe verticals and smooth surfaces of the marble columns--a sumptuous
and dignified kind of picture-pattern, and fully adapted to the
decoration of Venetian churches and palaces of the Renaissance.
[F. Madox Brown]
Madox Brown's "Christ washing St. Peter's Feet," now in the Tate
Gallery, is a modern picture-pattern, and an extremely fine one.
These are but a few instances out of many, and the subject of colour and
pattern, like the expression of line and form, of which it is a part, is
so large and its sides so multitudinous that to deal with the subject
fully and illustrate it adequately would need, not ten chapters, but
ten hundred, and could only be compassed by the history of art itself.
[Illustration (f142): Madox Brown: "Christ Washing St. Peter's Feet"
(Tate Gallery).]
[Conclusion]
If anything I have said on the subject, or have been able to show by way
of illustration, has served in any way to clear away obscurities, or to
lighten the labours of students, or to suggest fresh ideas to the minds
of any of my readers in the theory, history, or practice of art, I shall
feel that my work has not been in vain, and, at all events, I can only
say that I have endeavoured to give here the results of my own thoughts
and experience in art.
Some may look upon art as a means of livelihood only, a handmaid of
commerce, or as a branch of knowledge, to be acquired only so far as to
enable one to impart it to others; others may regard it as a polite
amusement; others, again, as an absorbing pursuit and passion, demanding
the closest devotion: but from whatever point of view we may regard it,
do not let us forget that the pursuit of beauty in art offers the best
of educations for the faculties, that its interest continually
increases, and its pleasures and successes are the most refined and
satisfying.
INDEX
Adaptability in design, 124-126.
Animal forms, use of in design, 106;
governed by inclosing boundaries, 104-106, 110-112.
Architectural mouldings, relief in, 190.
Architecture, spaces for sculpture in, 113-116.
Ardebil, holy carpet of the mosque of, f126.
Athens, the Tower of the Winds, 115-116.
Bari, 10;
the "Hundred Birds" of, f044.
Birds, Japanese drawing of, 68, f044;
decorative treatment of, f115.
Blake's Book of Job, "The Morning Stars," 19, f014, 152.
Border motives, recurrence in, f031, f032, f062.
Book decoration, 58, 59, 62;
example of page treatment, f041.
Botticelli, frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, 226;
rendering of the "Primavera" in tapestry, 240;
his "Nativity," 272-275;
"Madonna and Child," 275-276.
Boundaries, definition of, 2, 3;
use of in designing sprays, 38, f027;
in designing animal forms, f063a;
influence of, 108;
relation of design to, f064;
decorative spacing of figures in geometric, f063b, 152-156.
Brush-work, 65-68.
Canterbury, St. Margaret Street, f086.
Ceiling decoration, 136.
Charcoal drawing, 68, 70.
Chartres, carving on the Cathedral, 197, f108, f109.
Chiaroscuro, 267-269.
Chinese porcelain, 101.
Colour, effect of texture on, 244;
in stained glass, 252;
expression of relief in line and form by, 256, 258;
radiation of, 258;
complements in, 260;
harmony in, 261;
colour sense, 261, 262;
colour proportions, 262;
importance of pure colour, 263.
Composition, formal, 152-156;
informal, 157-164.
Constantine, Arch of, sketch of, f069.
Contrast in design, 101;
use of, in pattern design, 166, _et seq._;
principles of, in black and white, f111a.
Corinthian order, Roman treatment of, 192, f105.
Counterbalance, 43, 44, 95, f057, f058, 130.
Counterchange, in heraldry, 171-174.
Crivelli, "The Annunciation," 276-278.
Cube, the, 73;
use of in architecture, f045b, 77, f048a;
in nature, 76.
Dado, use of the, 234.
De Hooghe, Peter, 267.
Desiderio di Settignano, relief work of, 202;
"Madonna and Child," at South Kensington, by, 202.
Design, linear basis of, 35;
technical influence on, 58, 59, 62;
beauty in, 62, 63;
influence of material on, 64;
quantities in, 96-101;
contrast in, 101;
living tradition in, 126;
adaptability in, 124-126;
extension in, 126-131;
geometric structural plans in, 130;
essentials of, 138-139.
De Wint, brush-work of, 68.
Diaper, use of in Middle Ages, 171, 174-175.
Donatello, relief work of, 202.
Drapery, treatment of by the old masters, f099-186.
Drawing in line, methods of, 6, 7;
calligraphic method, 8;
tentative method, 9;
Japanese method, 10;
oval and rectangular methods, f008, 12.
Durer, Albert, his "Geometrica," 5;
roofs in his engravings, 148;
"The Prodigal Son," f083;
"St. Anthony," f084;
principle in the treatment of drapery, f099, f100.
Egyptian sculpture, 192, 194-196.
Emotion, linear expression of, 18-21.
Emphasis, 54;
value of, 56;
effects of different emphasis, f038, f039, f040;
in relief of form, 180.
Equivalents in form, value of, 95, f057.
Extension in design, 126-131.
Figure composition, 160;
expression of repose and action in, f090.
Figure design, relief in, 204-207;
graphic and decorative treatment of, f114.
Figure designs, controlled by geometric boundaries, 152-156.
Flaxman's Homer, designs from, f015.
Flowers,
lines of characterization in design of, 12, 13;
forms controlled by inclosing boundaries, 110-112.
Foliage, principles of structure in, 143-146.
Form, its relation to line, 27;
importance of knowledge of, 31;
choice of, 73, 79;
elementary forms and their relation to forms in nature and art, 73-77;
grouping of, 83-87;
analogies of, 89-91;
typical forms of ornament, 92-95;
equivalents in, 95, f057;
variation of allied forms, 103;
governed by shape of inclosing boundary, f063b, 106, f066;
relief of, 165, _et seq._;
expression of, by light and shade, 205, f112.
Frieze, origin of the, 113, 133;
and field, 133-135;
use of the, 236;
treatment of, 240.
Fruit forms, treatment of, f054, 89.
Gems, engraved, 200.
Geometric forms, elementary, 73;
structural plans in surface design, 128-133.
Ghirlandajo, 226.
Giotto, "Chastity," f119.
Gozzoli, Benozzo, 226.
Graphic aim, the, in drawing, 29-31, 205, 208-211.
Grouping of forms, 83-87.
Holbein, "The Ambassadors," f137.
Human figure, use of the,
in design, 104-107;
decorative spacing of
within geometric boundaries, 105-106, 107;
governed by inclosing boundaries, 110, f066;
principles of line in, f081a.
Indian ornament, typical, 212, 216;
printed cotton designs, 246, f130.
Inlay work, choice of forms for, 81-83.
Japanese method of drawing with the brush, 10, 68;
diagonal pattern, f053;
colour prints, 266.
Keene, Charles, 190.
Landscape, expression of storm and calm in, 158, f089.
Lead pencil, 70.
Letters, formation of, 4;
Durer's method, f005a.
Line, methods of drawing in, 6-12;
quality of, 12-14;
the language of, 23;
comparison of style in, 24;
scale of degrees and qualities of, 24, 25;
its relation to form, 27;
question and answer in, 35, f025;
recurring, f031, f032;
radiating principle of, 46-50;
range and use of, 47-49;
choice of, 51;
degree and emphasis of, 54;
influence of technical conditions on, 58-62;
controlling influence of, as a boundary of design, 106, 108-113;
value of recurring, 119-124;
combinations of, 139;
principles of structural and ornamental line, 140-145;
selection of, f117a, f117b.
Linear expression, of movement, 15, 16, 17;
of textures and surfaces, 18, 19;
of emotion, 19, 20, f015;
scale of, 21;
power of, 158, 160;
of fur and feathers, 208, f113.
Linear motives and pattern bases, simple, 109-111.
Lippi, Filippino, study of drapery by, f101.
Lorenzo di Credi, 226.
Lysicrates, monument of, 133.
Madox Brown, Ford, mural painting at Manchester, 226, 227;
"Christ washing Peter's feet," 280, f142.
Mantling, treatment of, 170-173.
Medals, 200, f110.
Memory, importance of, in design, 39.
Michael Angelo, ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 225.
Modelling, principle of relief in, 192.
Montague, mantling from Garter plate of, f094b.
Morris, William, tapestry of, 236, 240.
Movement, linear expression of, 15-17;
lines of, in a procession, f091a;
in a dancing figure, f117a;
in water, f118b.
Mural decoration, 224, 225;
diagram of systems of line governing, f121;
scale in, 230;
choice of line and form in, 236.
Nauplia, Gulf of, coast and mountain lines, f004, f118a.
Nerva, Forum of, 192, f105.
Nuremberg, ceiling in the Castle of, 136, 137.
Olive branch, study of from nature, f020;
decorative treatment of, f021.
Ornament, typical forms of, 92-94.
Ornamental purpose, the, in drawing, 29, 31-33, 210, _et seq._
Ornamental units, 94;
use of intervals in repeating, f065.
Outline, origin and function of, 1.
Parthenon, the frieze of the, 46;
sketch of, f067.
Pattern and picture, difference between, 265;
pattern-pictures, 272.
Pen, the, compared with brush and pencil, 71.
Pencil drawing, 70, 71.
Persian carpets, principle of design in, 242;
treatment of borders in, f127;
white outline in, 260.
Persian ornament, typical, 212, f116.
Persian rugs, value of different quantities in, 98-101.
Perugino, National Gallery triptych, f140.
Photograph, influence of the, 55, 56;
principle of the, 187, 190.
Picture writing, 27, f019.
Pinturicchio, frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, 226;
mural painting at Siena, 226, f120;
frescoes in the Appartimenti Borgia, 238, f125.
Pisano, Vittore, medals of, 198, f110.
Poppy, horned study of, f022;
adaptation of for needlework, f023;
sketch of on different coloured grounds, f132, 258.
Prints, principles of design for, 246-251.
Procession, lines of movement in a, 160, 162-163.
Pyramid, the, 73;
use of in architecture, f045b, f048a.
Radiating principle of line, the, 46-50.
Raphael, study of drapery by, f102.
Ravenna, S. Vitale, sketch of apse, f070.
Recurring line and form, f031, f032;
value of in architecture, 119, 124.
Relief, methods of expressing, 165;
use of contrast, 166;
decorative relief, 171;
on diapered ground, 174-175;
by simple linear contrasts, 174, 176-178;
by linear shading, 176, 178;
by diagonal shading, 176, 178-180;
value of emphasis in, 180;
by light and shade alone, 187-190;
principle of in architectural mouldings, 190;
modelled, 192;
in sculpture, 192-199, f109;
Florentine fifteenth-century work, 202;
natural principle of, 204, f111b;
by colour, 256, 258.
Repeating patterns, 36, f026, f077b, f078;
method of testing, 38, f028.
Rhythm of design, the, 32.
Roofs, German, 146-148.
Rothenburg, roof-lines in, f085.
St. David's Cathedral, carvings in, 122-124;
Gothic tile pattern in, f074, f076.
Scale, importance of in mural decoration, 230, 232.
Sculpture, relief in, 192;
Egyptian, 192, 194;
Grecian, 194, f107, 197;
Gothics, 197;
on mediaeval tombs, 198.
Selection, the test of artistic treatment, 214.
Shields, F. J., mural decoration, 228.
Silhouette, 2, f010a.
Skirting, the, 234.
Spaces, decorative, in design, 113;
apparent depth or width increased by use of vertical or horizontal
lines, 232, f122.
Spacing, mural, 230, f121, f123.
Sphere, the, 73;
use of in architecture, f045b, f048a;
in nature, 76.
Stained glass, principles of design for, 252, 255.
Surfaces, linear expression of, 18.
Tapestry, 237;
Burgundian, 237, f124;
effect of texture on colour in, 244, f128.
Technical influence, the, 58-62.
Textile designing, 62;
examples of, f041b;
value of different qualities in, 97-101;
principles of, 241, 242;
colour in, 244.
Textures, linear expression of, 18.
Thebes, sculptured relief at, f106.
Titian, "Bacchus and Ariadne," 278-280;
"Sacred and Profane Love," 280.
Tivoli, Temple of the Sibyls at, 133.
Trees, effect of wind upon, f011;
general principles of line and form in foliage, etc., 143-145.
Typical treatment, 31;
ornament, 92-95.
Valence, Aymer de, tomb of, f094a.
Van Eyck, "Jan Arnolfini and his Wife," 267, f134, 270, 271.
Variation of allied forms, 103.
Variety in design, 40.
Ver Meer, "Lady at Spinet," f135, 270, 272.
Veronese, Paul, 280.
Visch, Martin de, brass of, f094b, f095.
Walberswick Church, f072.
Walker, Frederick, 190.
Wall, decorative spacing of the, 234, f123.
Wall-paper, principles of design for, 36, f026, 246;
relation between frieze and field in, 133, 134.
Water, lines of movement in, f118b.
Watercourse, lines left by a, f091b.
Wave lines, f011, f012.
Westminster, vaulting of chapter house, f035.
Winchelsea, tomb of Gervaise-Alard, f071.
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