INTERIOR FEATURES (_continued_).
TREATMENT OF THE HALL, SCREENS, OPEN ROOFS.
[Illustration: 145.--THE HALL, KNOLE, KENT.]
On entering the hall after leaving the courtyard, it was on such
panelling as this that the eye rested. The screen which divided the
hall from the passage was generally even more richly decorated than
the adjacent panelling. Its two doorways were flanked with columns,
which carried a complete entablature from side to side of the hall;
above this came the panelled front of the gallery, which was surmounted
in its turn perhaps by a series of small arches, perhaps by some of
the fantastic strap-work peculiar to the time. The spaces between the
columns were panelled; every panel here and above was decorated with
carving--usually of shields of arms, but where these were not suitable,
as in halls of colleges, then with foliage or allegorical figures.
Knole House, in Kent, has a good example of a screen with heraldic
decoration (Fig. 145). Wadham College, Oxford (Plate XLIV.), has one
of comparatively simple character; while for sumptuous effect those
at Middle Temple Hall, London, and Trinity College, Cambridge (Plate
XLV.), could hardly be surpassed. Woollas Hall, in Worcestershire,
has a good screen of simple character. The illustration on Plate XLVI.
gives a view of it looking from the hall. The archway leads into the
passage called the "screens," in which can be seen the open door of the
principal entrance. The gallery has a balustraded front; it is carried
out over the entrance porch, and is lighted by a small window, visible
in Fig. 69, just below the oriel. The hall, having a room over it, has
a flat ceiling, and not an open timber roof. The windows of the hall
were usually rather high up, and the walls were panelled up to the
sills, but as a rule the sill of the bay window at the daïs end was
brought down low enough to afford an outlook. Above the panelling the
walls were largely occupied by the windows, the spaces between which
were hung with "pikes, guns, and bows, with old swords and bucklers
that had borne many shrewd blows": or they were filled with pictures,
of which a considerable number, chiefly portraits, began to be found
in large houses. From the top of the windows sprang the roof,
the feet of its principals coming down and occupying part of wall
space between them. The principals were still constructed in the old
hammer-beam manner, even at so late a date as 1604 for Trinity College,
Cambridge, and 1612 for Wadham, but all the ornament is of a late
type, and gives a very rich effect, the light glancing upwards against
the many surfaces of the pendants and the strong lines of the moulded
braces. The roof at Middle Temple Hall, built in 1570, is almost as
elaborate and fine as that of the Great Hall at Hampton Court, built
some forty years before, but the detail is later in character. The roof
of the hall at Wollaton is peculiar in that it is of the hammer-beam
type, although supporting the flat floor of a room over it (Fig.
146). Usually, when there was a room over the hall the ceiling was
treated with ornamental rib-work, in the same manner as the other and
less lofty rooms: the hall at Knole presents an example of this kind
of treatment (Fig. 145). At Kirby there is an unusual form of roof,
neither flat nor open timbered, but a kind of barrel-vault formed of
four straight faces (Fig. 147); each face is divided into large panels
by moulded and cut oak ribs of large size, and each panel has a curved
diagonal rib resembling the wind-braces of a Gothic roof. The panels
are filled with boarding at the back of the ribs.
[Illustration: 146.--WOLLATON HALL, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. THE ROOF OF THE
GREAT HALL (1580-88).]
[Illustration: PLATE XLV.
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
SCREEN IN THE HALL (ABOUT 1604-5).]
[Illustration: PLATE XLVI.
WOOLLAS HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE (1611).
SCREEN IN THE HALL.]
[Illustration: 147.--ROOF OF GREAT HALL, KIRBY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
(1575).]
THE SMALLER ROOMS.
Leaving the hall for one of the smaller rooms, we find much the same
kind of treatment, but here the ornamental ceiling plays an important
part in the decoration. The walls were panelled, more or less richly,
from floor to ceiling, and were crowned with a carved frieze and
projecting cornice, above which started the ceiling ribs. The great
chamber at South Wraxall (Plate XLVII.) gives a good idea of the whole
effect, but the coved ceiling is somewhat exceptional, and so also is
the great projection to the left. This is a mass of masonry required
to carry the roofs, but the designer, who found himself obliged to
leave it (for this room was contrived in an old house), resolved to
face the matter boldly and make an ornamental feature of it. It will be
noticed that though the panelling here is quite simple, a good deal of
character is obtained by varying the size of the panels in a systematic
manner.
In the old Town Hall at Leicester there is a good panelled room (Plate
XLVIII.), with a handsome chimney-piece and a special seat for the
mayor. The work, which bears the date 1637, is simple in design, but
is quite as effective and rather more pleasing than many of the more
elaborate effects of the time, in which the impression is conveyed that
the designers over-exerted themselves.
Another good example of rather later date is to be seen at the
"Reindeer" Inn, Banbury (Plate XLIX.); the panelling itself is
simple, but the doorways and chimney-piece are more elaborate, and
the columns which occur at the angles of the window-recess impart
considerable vigour to the whole effect. The restraint exhibited and
the concentration of the ornament on one or two places is a welcome
relief from the superfluity of decoration which not infrequently
distinguishes the woodwork of this period. In the broken and curled
pediments of the doorway and chimney-piece we get a decided indication
that the seventeenth century was well advanced when this work was done.
The ceiling here is very richly wrought, and the whole room comes as a
surprise in its out-of-the-way situation.
[Illustration: PLATE XLVII.
THE GREAT CHAMBER, SOUTH WRAXALL MANOR HOUSE, WILTSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE XLVIII.
THE OLD TOWN HALL, LEICESTER.
INTERIOR.]
[Illustration: PLATE XLIX.
SIDE OF A ROOM, "REINDEER" INN, BANBURY, OXFORDSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE L.
DETAILS OF PANELLING FROM SIZERGH HALL.
(NOW IN SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.)]
[Illustration: PLATE LI.
BROUGHTON CASTLE, OXFORDSHIRE.
INTERIOR PORCH (ABOUT 1599).]
[Illustration: 148.--PANELLING FROM SIZERGH HALL, WESTMORLAND (NOW
IN SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM).]
Sizergh Hall, in Westmorland, offered a still more elaborate example,
which has now been erected in South Kensington Museum (Fig. 148 and
Plate L.). The panels here are not carved, but inlaid--a method of
decoration much in vogue in Italy, where some exquisite drawing is
bestowed upon it, but not prevalent in England. There are a number
of instances in different parts of the country, but, compared with
carving, inlay was seldom resorted to. The domed turret in the corner
of the room should be noticed (Fig. 148); it is, in fact, an inside
porch contrived so as to allow access between two other rooms without
having to come through the third. This device in planning is not of
frequent occurrence, but when it was considered necessary much care
was taken to produce an attractive feature. There are several in the
southern counties, notably at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire (Plate
LI.), at the Red Lodge, in Bristol, and at Bradfield, in Devonshire.
This room at Sizergh presents a fresh type of treatment in the
junction of wall and ceiling. In previous examples the wood panelling
was carried quite up to the ceiling; here it stops short by a foot or
more, and the space thus left is occupied by a modelled plaster frieze
which leads up to the ornamental ceiling. This method was adopted as
frequently as the other; the depth of the plaster frieze varied a
good deal, being in one of the rooms at Hardwick Hall as much as six
or seven feet, and filled with figure subjects modelled in relief and
painted, representing hunting and other woodland scenes: the space
below the frieze is covered with tapestry instead of panelling (Plate
LII.).
DOORS.
[Illustration: 149.--DOORWAY, ABBOTT'S HOSPITAL, GUILDFORD, SURREY
(1627).]
Doorways presented another opportunity for the display of design. At
Sizergh the door is merely a portion of the panelling on hinges, the
porch in which it is hung gives it the requisite importance; but as a
rule the doorways were surrounded with a large amount of decoration.
In important houses they were flanked with columns or pilasters, were
surmounted with a frieze and cornice, and often with a pediment;
obelisks stood over the pilasters; the frieze was fluted or carved or
adorned at intervals with heads; some convenient panel was filled with
the owner's arms; nothing was omitted that an extravagant fancy could
suggest (Plate LIII.). At Levens Hall, in Westmorland, there is a fine
panelled room with a richly ornamented doorway (Plate LIV.), in which
fantastic figures support a cornice whereon is set up a panel for the
owner's arms, flanked on either hand by a contorted animal.
In the same district, at Conishead Priory, there is a panelled room
of even greater elaboration than this at Levens. Some of the panels
are ornamented with mouldings mitred into various patterns, but most
of them have niches with pediments or raised panels surrounded with
mouldings curved and straight and breaking back in a bewildering
manner, while here, there, and everywhere are cherubs' heads and
bunches of fruit--the whole effect being rather too bizarre.
[Illustration: PLATE LII.
HARDWICK HALL, DERBYSHIRE.
THE PRESENCE-CHAMBER.]
[Illustration: PLATE LIII.
DOORWAY IN A HOUSE AT BRISTOL.]
[Illustration: PLATE LIV.
LEVENS HALL, WESTMORLAND. A DOORWAY.]
[Illustration: 150.--LATCH FROM ABBOTT'S HOSPITAL, GUILDFORD.]
[Illustration: 151.--LATCH FROM HADDON HALL.]
[Illustration: 152.--LOCK-PLATES, LATCHES, &c.]
[Illustration: 153.--CASEMENT FASTENER FROM HADDON HALL.]
Sometimes the embellishment surrounding the door was in stone or
even marble, which being less susceptible of minute detail was more
soberly treated. In smaller houses the treatment was naturally less
elaborate, but even in places like St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol,
and Abbott's Hospital at Guildford, the doorways had much attention
bestowed upon them (Fig. 149 and Plate LV.). At Gayton Manor House,
in Northamptonshire, there is a still simpler treatment, the effect
being enhanced by projecting the door some inches into the room (Plate
LV.). The hinges and latches of the doors and the fastenings of the
window casements were of wrought iron, and were always more or less
ornamental. There were invariably skill and ingenuity bestowed upon
even the smallest piece of work. The latch from Abbott's Hospital,
illustrated in Fig. 150, is an example of a spring latch, that is to
say, instead of depending merely upon its weight to keep it in its
place, it is furnished with a spring, and the whole of the simple
mechanism is displayed to view. The plate to which it is fixed is
shaped in suitable places, and the latch and its accessories are also
ornamented to a certain extent. On the other side of the door would be
a handle, something after the fashion of that shown in Fig. 151, which,
however, is at Haddon. It is treated in a similar fashion: the plate
is slightly ornamented, and the handle itself is wrought into a shape
at once convenient to grasp and agreeable to the eye. In the casement
fasteners a little more ornament was sometimes indulged in, advantage
being taken of the fact that the ironwork was outlined against the
light of the window. There are two simple examples shown in Fig. 152,
and a more elaborate one in Fig. 153. The same treatment was applied to
the escutcheons of keyholes, of which examples are shown in Fig. 152
and Fig. 154; the former also exhibits a lock plate and a drop handle
and plate. It will be noticed that the whole of this ornament, although
in some instances it looks rich, is in reality obtained by the simplest
means, which consist in the main of cutting a thin plate of metal into
a variety of shapes; there is hardly any modelling about it. This
method is characteristic of most of the ironwork of the time; it was
only seldom that modelled ornament was indulged in to the extent shown
in the knocker and plate illustrated in Fig. 155.
[Illustration: PLATE LV.
DOORWAY, GAYTON MANOR HOUSE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
DOORWAY, ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL, BRISTOL.]
[Illustration: 154.--KEY-PLATE FROM ABBOTT'S HOSPITAL, GUILDFORD.]
[Illustration: 155.--A KNOCKER (1618).]
CHIMNEY-PIECES.
Much elaboration was bestowed upon the chimney-pieces, of which,
indeed, there are very few simple examples to be met with. They were
made of wood, of stone, and of marble. Wood and stone were the more
usual materials employed, and it is difficult to say upon which the
detail was the more minute. The general idea that controlled the
designs was much the same in all cases, but the treatment of it
varied. The idea was to flank the fireplace opening with columns
carrying an entablature consisting of architrave, frieze, and cornice,
the projection of the latter forming a convenient shelf. On the top
of this composition was another of the same kind, but with smaller
columns and of more delicate proportion. The space enclosed between
the columns, which in the lower half was the fireplace, was occupied
in the upper half by some kind of carved subject. This was very
often the arms of the owner, being either those of the family, or
his own special achievement. At Boughton House, in Northamptonshire,
there is an example of this kind (Plate LVI.). It is fairly simple
in design; the centre-piece is the Montagu arms; on the margin of
the panel is the motto adopted by Sir Edward Montagu, who caused the
work to be done; and in the frieze below is one of the innumerable
Latin aphorisms with which houses of this time abound. The fireplace
opening occupies the full width between the sides of the chimney-piece,
and if the grate were removed, would give a tolerable idea of the
appearance of an Elizabethan fireplace, with its cast-iron fire-back
delicately modelled, and the fire-dogs, or andirons, to hold the logs
in place. This particular fire-back, however, is of a later date.
Almost contemporary with this fireplace at Boughton is one at Lacock
Abbey (Plate LVII.), equally simple in design, but executed with
more refinement, and having a very unusual adjunct in the shape of a
hearthstone ornamented with a pattern inlaid with lead. The two works
are likely to be of much the same date, as Sir William Sharington of
Lacock died in 1553, and Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton in 1556. At
Barlborough, in Derbyshire, there is a fine chimney-piece still fairly
simple, in which the upper part is devoted to the owner's personal
history (Plate LVIII.). His name was Francis Rodes, a lawyer, and
subsequently a justice of the Common Pleas. He married twice. These
facts are all set forth on the chimney-piece. His own arms, and those
of his two wives, are carved at large, and the names of his wives are
printed against their shields. The upper cornice is supported by two
caryatides instead of columns, one of whom represents Justice, in
allusion to the calling of the master. At Hatfield House, in a room
called after King James, there is a handsome marble chimney-piece, with
a large statue of the King in his robes as the centre-piece (Plate
LIX.). Here, too, there is an open hearth, with an iron fire-back and
handsome andirons. In the great chamber at South Wraxall is a very
elaborate stone chimney-piece (Plate LX.), in which the prevailing
idea is highly developed. The lower entablature is supported by pairs
of caryatides growing out of pilasters, and adorned with bands and
swags of flowers. Within the main enclosure is a subordinate margin
of mouldings and egg-and-tongue enrichments. The upper part of the
composition, though founded on the same idea of columns supporting a
crowning cornice, is much elaborated with niches and carved panels.
There are no shields of arms, which is rather a curious omission,
but instead there are statues of abstract conceptions--Arithmetica,
Geometria, Prudentia, and Justitia. The whole effect is extremely
handsome, but it is too intricate to be quite satisfactory.
[Illustration: PLATE LVI.
STONE CHIMNEY-PIECE FROM BOUGHTON HOUSE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE (BEFORE
1556).]
[Illustration: PLATE LVII.
STONE CHIMNEY-PIECE FROM LACOCK ABBEY, WILTSHIRE. (BEFORE 1553).]
[Illustration: PLATE LVIII.
BARLBOROUGH HALL, DERBYSHIRE (1584).
A CHIMNEY-PIECE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LIX.
HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE.
CHIMNEY-PIECE IN KING JAMES'S ROOM (ABOUT 1612).]
[Illustration: PLATE LX.
STONE CHIMNEY-PIECE IN THE GREAT CHAMBER, SOUTH WRAXALL MANOR HOUSE,
WILTSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXI.
HARDWICK HALL, DERBYSHIRE.
A CHIMNEY-PIECE.]
In contrast to this is an interesting chimney-piece in a bedroom at
Hardwick Hall, in Derbyshire (Plate LXI.). The material is marble, and
the design is unpretending. Its noticeable feature is the panel that
serves as overmantel, carved with much grace and spirit. The subject
seems to be Apollo and the Nine Muses, though some of the latter
appear to have abandoned for the time being the callings over which
they presided, in order to join in concerted music. The period of the
work is put beyond a doubt by the presence of the royal arms with
Elizabeth's supporters, the lion and the dragon, and of the initials E.
R. Panels with figure subjects were not uncommon, although they were
not often so well executed as this. Scriptural themes were frequently
represented, but they did not necessarily imply any special religious
character in the house, and often in some of the other rooms of the
same house would be other themes of quite mundane inspiration. At
East Quantockshead, in Somerset, a house of the Luttrells, one room
has in the overmantel the Descent from the Cross, the next a mermaid
with scrollwork and flowers, the next the Luttrell arms and the date
1614: others have Christ Blessing the Children; the Lamentation
over Jerusalem, with the city in the distance, and a hen in the
foreground gathering her chickens under her wings; and the Agony in
the Garden. Another house in that district has the Affliction of Job,
with the principal figure represented as being in exceedingly poor
case. Occasionally there were no figure subjects, nor even shields,
the panels being quite plain, as in the wood chimney-piece at Ford
House, Newton Abbot (Plate LXII.), where the considerable amount of
enrichment serves as ornament only, and does not lend lustre to the
family arms. The workmanship is not of the best, and the details of
the design are somewhat poor and wanting in imagination, especially
in the treatment of the arched panels; but it is characteristic of a
good deal of work of the time. The chimney-piece at Benthall
Hall (Fig. 156) is far more beautifully conceived. It departs from the
regular treatment in the disposition of the main panels. There is great
freedom about the play of the strap-work and figures surrounding the
cartouches, and if it be compared with the panelling in the same room
(Plate XLIII.), it will be seen that while preserving the same general
idea, there is a special richness about this part of the work which
is quite appropriate to it as being the chief feature of the room. It
will be seen that here, too, the cartouches in the upper panels bear
coats of arms. At Whiston, in Sussex, there is a stone chimney-piece
which has got excluded from the house, and now adorns an outside wall.
It is of unusual design (Plate LXIII.), but the family arms form the
centre-piece, and are flanked by figures of warriors in recesses
divided by small, elegant columns. In the upper part is a circular
panel containing two subjects, of which it is difficult to decipher
the meaning; the figures, however, are in violent action. Bolsover
Castle contains some of the most striking examples of chimney-pieces
to be found in the country. They are all in stone or marble, and have
a variety and originality of design which are quite remarkable. Two of
them are illustrated on Plate LXIV. There are also a number of small
ones fitted into corners of the rooms (Fig. 157), and it will be seen
that the walls against which the chimney-piece is placed are faced with
stone to receive it, and that this plain stonework is surrounded with a
moulding against which the wood panelling stops.
[Illustration: 156.--WOOD CHIMNEY-PIECE, BENTHALL HALL,
SHROPSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXII.
WOOD CHIMNEY-PIECE, FORD HOUSE, NEWTON ABBOT, DEVONSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXIII.
STONE CHIMNEY-PIECE, WHISTON, SUSSEX.
(NOW OUT OF DOORS.)]
[Illustration: PLATE LXIV.
BOLSOVER CASTLE, DERBYSHIRE.
TWO CHIMNEY-PIECES.]
[Illustration: 157.--STONE CHIMNEY-PIECE, BOLSOVER CASTLE, DERBYSHIRE.]
There was a chimney-piece of unusually good design and workmanship
in the palace of Bromley-by-Bow: it is now in the South Kensington
Museum (Plate LXV.). The composition does not quite follow the usual
lines, inasmuch as the upper part, or overmantel, is not a repetition
in idea of the lower. Nor is it divided into panels of equal width
and height; the large central panel, which contains the royal arms,
is the dominating feature, and is flanked on either side by a niche
of much less width and height. The upper half is wedded to the lower
by the bosses on the boldly carved shelf, which carry down the main
lines of the columns. The arms are those of James I., as the second
and third quarters are Scotland and Ireland respectively, and one of
the supporters is the Scottish unicorn. In another house near London,
at Enfield, there was a well-designed chimney-piece, figured in
Richardson's _Studies from Old English Mansions_, in which the royal
arms and badges were the centre-pieces of the composition. The part
above the fireplace was divided by columns into three panels, of which
the middle one was the largest, and contained the arms of Elizabeth
with her red dragon as one of the supporters. Of the side panels,
one was occupied by the rose crowned and the other by the portcullis
crowned. In the smaller panels below these, and between the pedestals
on which the columns rested, were the royal initials E. R., and a Latin
sentence expressing a pious aphorism. It is not certain whether this
house belonged to the Crown, or whether this display of regal heraldry
was a compliment to the Queen on the part of the grateful owner. In
either case the making of arms and badges the chief objects of interest
in the composition, and the introduction of the Latin aphorism on a
conspicuous panel are quite characteristic of the time. At Castle
Ashby, in Northamptonshire, is a chimney-piece (Plate LXVI.) treated
in much the same way as that from Bromley. It was not designed for
the house, and therefore the heraldry is not so apposite as usual.
The central panel contains the arms of the owner set in an elaborate
framework of fanciful carving. On either side is a niche containing a
figure of one of the virtues. The columns which support the cornice
are richly carved in low relief, as also are the mantel-shelf and
the friezes below it. On the lower of the friezes the family arms are
repeated, and in the centre is the crest. The opening of the fireplace
is flanked on either side by a female figure, which changes in a
provoking way into strap-work and the semblance of a pilaster. The
whole effect is rich, and the principles dominating the composition are
at once recognizable, but the details are too fantastic to be quite
agreeable.
[Illustration: PLATE LXV.
BROMLEY-BY-BOW PALACE.
A CHIMNEY-PIECE (AFTER 1603).
(NOW IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.)]
[Illustration: PLATE LXVI.
CASTLE ASHBY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
A CHIMNEY-PIECE.]
CEILINGS.
Of all the architectural work of the time of Elizabeth and James,
that which was peculiarly English is to be found in the ceilings. It
was a development of native tradition, and although, like all other
work of the time, it was influenced by Italian models, it retained
its individuality with great tenacity, and in no other country can
the same special development of design be found. The root-idea of an
Elizabethan ceiling is to cover the space with a shallow projecting rib
forming a more or less regular pattern. The ribs varied in section, and
the patterns varied in form. The ribs and the panels they enclosed were
sometimes perfectly plain, sometimes highly decorated with modelled
work; and between these two extremes were infinite gradations--plain
ribs and decorated panels, or plain panels and decorated ribs, the
decoration varying from something quite simple to ornament of much
elaboration. The plainest examples are sufficient to give character
to a room, while the richest are bewildering in the intricacy of the
pattern and the minuteness of the detail.
[Illustration: 158.--CEILING OF THE PRESENCE CHAMBER, HAMPTON COURT
(CIR. 1535).]
The origin of the idea is to be found in the treatment adopted by the
late Gothic joiners. When they had a large flat surface to deal with,
they divided it into panels by moulded wood ribs, and they frequently
covered the intersection of the ribs with a carved boss or with carved
foliage. Their main lines, being formed of wood, were straight; their
panels rectilinear and often rectangular, the whole treatment being
suggested by the moulded constructional timber of earlier roofs. At
Hampton Court, in the portions built by Wolsey and Henry VIII., there
are several ceilings of this kind still left. The ribs are arranged
in simple geometrical patterns with straight lines. In the watching
chamber, at the end of the Great Hall, these ribs are of a fair size,
both in width and depth, and at certain intersections they are bent
downwards to form a pendant after the fashion prevalent in the stone
vaulting of the time (Fig. 158). Some of the panels thus enclosed are
adorned with a kind of independent circular boss formed of a wreath
surrounding one of the royal badges, or even the royal arms. These
bosses are not carved, but modelled in _papier mâché_, or some similar
substance, and they, together with the wood ribs, are secured to the
joists above. Two of these bosses are illustrated in Fig. 159, and it
is in the wreaths of these comparatively unimportant adjuncts that the
only touch of the new fashion is to be found.
[Illustration: 159.--BOSSES FROM CEILINGS AT HAMPTON COURT.]
Other rooms have ceilings of which the ribs are much smaller in depth
and width: the ribs are again arranged in patterns with straight lines,
and at their intersections there are four small leaves of lead nailed
on, the whole junction being covered with a small plain wood boss,
which forms the centre of the flower. At other intersections each
of the four angles of the flat ceiling is occupied with a small
modelled head in foliage, all of _papier mâché_; one of these is also
shown in Fig. 159. The four insertions taken together form a circle,
which is divided into four quadrants by the intersecting ribs (Fig.
160); and the whole arrangement is the first step towards the elaborate
decoration which was afterwards introduced, when the facility with
which plaster can be worked was recognized and acted on.
[Illustration: PLATE LXVII.
HAMPTON COURT PALACE.
CEILING OF CARDINAL WOLSEY'S CLOSET.]
[Illustration: 160.--PATERA TO A CEILING AT HAMPTON COURT.]
Another, though somewhat similar, type of ceiling is to be found in a
little room called Cardinal Wolsey's Closet; but here the decoration
is more general, and is founded more directly on the Italian manner
(Plate LXVII.). The ceiling is divided by wood ribs into rectilinear
panels of small size and simple design; the intersections of the ribs
are covered, in the manner already mentioned, with a plain wood boss
and lead leaves bent down into the angles; each panel is filled with
Italian decoration modelled in _papier mâché_; the whole is screwed
up to the floor-joists above. The effect is very rich and elaborate.
There is also a frieze on the wall which formed part of the design,
although its precise relation to the ceiling can no longer be detected
owing to modern alterations. The relation was probably something
like what we see to-day (Plate LXVII.), but a close scrutiny shows
that the connecting links between the ceiling and the frieze have
disappeared; there must have been some kind of moulded cornice. There
can be little doubt that the spacing of the panels in the frieze was
made to agree with those of the ceiling, and that it had a moulding
of some importance at the top to connect it with the ceiling, and
corresponding to the border which it still retains at the bottom, on
which is painted repeatedly Wolsey's motto "Dominus mihi adjutor." The
panels in the frieze are ornamented in a manner corresponding with the
ceiling panels, which all contain either a rose or a fleur-de-lys, the
devices of Henry VIII. This ceiling is of great interest, because it
is one of the earliest of a highly decorated kind left to us--for the
Tudor joiners placed little, if any, decoration in their panels; it is
more Italian in manner than any other that survives, and it is formed
of wood ribs and modelled filling, which were made elsewhere and then
brought to the room to be fitted and fixed in position.
From the occurrence of Wolsey's motto in the frieze, it is probable
that this work was done by him; it would consequently date prior to
his death in 1530. Richardson, in his _Architectural Remains of the
Reigns of Elizabeth and James I._, gives a large drawing of a ceiling
in the Chapel Royal, St. James's, dated 1540, which is very similar in
character to Wolsey's. It consists of small geometrical panels formed
by wood ribs, enclosing rich designs in the Italian manner, among which
the King's devices are constantly repeated, together with the date, the
initials of Henry and Anne of Cleves, and such mottoes as "Vivat rex,"
"Stet diu felix." If the latter aspiration were fulfilled, it certainly
was not in conjunction with the wife whose initials are on this ceiling
that the wished-for happiness was attained, for she was divorced in
July, 1540; and we therefore incidentally learn that the ceiling must
have been put up in the first half of that year. In addition to the
ornament already mentioned the King's arms frequently occur. The ribs
in this case are broader than those at Hampton Court, and they are
ornamented with a running pattern cast in lead.
[Illustration: 161.--PART OF THE CEILING IN THE LONG GALLERY,
HADDON HALL, DERBYSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXVIII.
DEENE HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
CEILING OF A BEDROOM.]
[Illustration: 162.--PART OF A COVED CEILING AT BECKINGTON ABBEY,
SOMERSET.]
[Illustration: 163.--COVED CEILING, BECKINGTON ABBEY, SOMERSET.]
These two ceilings are the most Italian in character which have
survived. The type does not seem to have been generally adopted; but
it was rather a simpler one, founded more directly on Tudor methods,
which was developed. The wood ribs were replaced by plaster, and in
the more plastic material they were no longer kept in straight lines,
but were curved into an infinite variety of patterns, more or less
intricate. The intersections were sometimes, but not often, covered
with foliage; as a rule they were left bare, but where the pattern left
a salient angle the lower members of the moulding were carried out to
form the stalk of some foliage, as may be seen in the long gallery at
Haddon (Fig. 161), and also at South Wraxall (Plate XLVII.). The ribs,
which at first were of a section similar to that of their predecessors
in wood, soon assumed other proportions: they increased in width and
lessened in depth; they sometimes ceased to have any mouldings, and
became more like ribbons or straps, as in the example from Beckington
Abbey (Fig. 162), but more often they retained their moulded edges,
and were ornamented on the flat face with a minute running pattern,
such as that at Deene Hall (Plate LXVIII.), and the "Reindeer" Inn,
Banbury (Plate LXIX.). The strap-work ribs did not form such regular
set patterns as the others: they enclosed a panel here and there, but
wandered off into spirals and scrolls, and were emphasized at intervals
by little ornamental knobs, such as may be seen in the ceiling of the
gallery at Charlton House, Wiltshire. It was by no means necessary for
the ceilings to be flat. Indeed, this kind of decoration was exactly
suited for application to coved ceilings such as that already seen
at South Wraxall (Plate XLVII.), and that at Beckington Abbey (Fig.
163), where there is not only the main vault of the ceiling, but also
a subsidiary cove at the side, the curved face of which is ornamented
with a variation of the principal pattern. The end wall of the room
is also decorated in a similar way in the upper part where its shape
is controlled by the curves of the ceiling. The example at Beckington
Abbey is among the more formal of those where the strap-work type was
employed; there are panels of regular shape, and the scrolled ends
balance one another. But in some instances the strap-work conformed in
its course to no regular pattern at all; it twisted and interlaced and
bent itself back upon no system whatever, except that of covering the
surface evenly, and of gathering itself into a knot or of surrounding
a pendant at regular intervals, the result being that the most
prominent features stand out in regular array from a mazy background
that requires concentrated attention to follow. There is a ceiling
of this kind among the many beautiful examples at Audley End. These
erratic designs were used simultaneously with others of much severer
character, where the pattern is of the simplest in structure, and
richness of effect is derived from its frequent repetition, and from
the ornament in the panels. Such an example is to be seen at Sizergh
(Fig. 164), and others, slightly more elaborate, at Aston Hall (Plates
LXX., LXXI.), where the modelling is beautifully delicate and varied.
But in both these examples the proportion is so carefully managed that
the shape of the panels, which is the foundation of the design, is
not obscured by the patterns which occupy them. The effect is equally
rich in both, although the width of the rib and the manner of its
decoration are varied. These ceilings are fairly late in date, as Aston
Hall was being built from 1618 to 1635, and comes quite at the end of
the period under discussion, but they retain all the characteristics
of Elizabethan and Jacobean work. Another example of the formal kind
is at Benthall Hall (Fig. 165), where the main panels are all of
oblong rectangular shape, and are filled with strap-work enrichment
surrounding an elliptical boss. The patterns are varied in every case,
and exhibit considerable ingenuity in obtaining the same general effect
with entirely different disposition of lines. It will also be seen,
by comparing this ceiling with the panelling and chimney-piece in the
same room (Plate XLIII. and Fig. 156), that they are all _en suite_,
and not, as is often the case, designed without relation one to the
other. The ceiling at the "Reindeer" Inn, Banbury (Plate LXIX.),
is also thoroughly Jacobean, although, from the style of the wood
panelling, the room must date from well on in the seventeenth century.
Soon after this time the large unbroken space of the ceilings began
to be cut up into large panels by cross-beams: the spaces thus formed
were still of considerable size, and were decorated in the old manner,
as may be seen in a room in the entrance tower at Haddon (Fig. 166),
and at Carbrook Hall, Sheffield (Plate XLII.). But it was an easy step
to omit this surface decoration, and when that was done, the ceilings
became the large coffered ceilings characteristic of the style which
followed the Jacobean.
[Illustration: 164.--PART OF A CEILING FROM SIZERGH HALL, WESTMORLAND
(NOW IN SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM).]
[Illustration: 165.--CEILING FROM BENTHALL HALL, SHROPSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXIX.
THE REINDEER INN, BANBURY, OXFORDSHIRE.
CEILING.]
[Illustration: 166.--CEILING IN GATEHOUSE, HADDON HALL, DERBYSHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXX.
CEILING OF THE GREAT CHAMBER, ASTON HALL, NEAR BIRMINGHAM (CIR. 1635).]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXI.
CEILING OF KING CHARLES' BEDROOM, ASTON HALL, NEAR BIRMINGHAM (CIR.
1635.)]
As in the chimney-pieces, so in the ceilings, a favourite method
of ornamentation was to introduce the owner's arms and badges. Of
the examples given here only two, as it happens, illustrate this
custom--the ceilings at Haddon (Fig. 161) and Sizergh (Fig. 164). The
square panel at Haddon encloses a shield surrounded by a delicate
strap-work border, and bearing the arms of Manners impaling Vernon, the
work having been done by the Sir John Manners who came into possession
of Haddon through his marriage with Dorothy Vernon, one of the
co-heiresses of her father, Sir George, called the King of the Peak. At
Sizergh one of the panels encloses a shield of arms, and others a badge.
[Illustration: 167.--PENDANTS OF PLASTER CEILINGS.]
There is a very splendid ceiling in the gallery at Blickling, in
Norfolk, wherein various badges are introduced, and another at
Apethorpe, in Northamptonshire. Others might be named, but the custom
was not so widespread in the case of ceilings as of chimney-pieces,
perhaps owing to the plasterers having a number of stock designs from
which they worked, and which, of course, would not include the arms
of any special family. There seems no doubt that the plasterers did
have such stock designs, but it is curious how seldom they are found
repeated; hardly anywhere, indeed, can two designs be found which are
exactly alike.
[Illustration: 168.--EXAMPLES OF PLASTER FRIEZES FROM MONTACUTE,
AUDLEY END, AND CHARLTON HOUSE, WILTSHIRE.]
Besides heraldic ornament, there was a certain amount of modelled
figure subjects of the usual kind--allegorical, mythological, and
scriptural; but English plasterers were not very good at modelling
the human figure, and it seems to have been generally recognized that
a ceiling is not the most favourable position for a close study of
detail, and the effect aimed at was one of general richness which did
not demand minute investigation--such as, for instance, is necessary to
appreciate one of Verrio's painted ceilings--and yet which repaid such
scrutiny if subjected to it. Most of the ornament was of a kind which
no one would examine unless specially interested--as a draughtsman,
for instance, might be; but in some cases the beautiful modelling
induces even the casual visitor to put his neck to inconvenience,
as he gladly would do to see the Fish ceiling at Audley End, where
the panels enclose a number of excellently modelled fishes and other
denizens, real and imaginary, of the ocean, and where the pendants are
of unusual beauty. Pendants of more or less projection were another
means of adding variety and interest to the design (Fig. 167), and they
varied in size from a mere excrescence to an elaborate shaft, supported
by figures half human, half foliage, which served to hang the lamp
from. This shaft would only occur in the centre of the design, but the
lesser pendants were introduced at regular intervals and accentuated
its salient points. Another kind of ceiling had no considerable ribs at
all, but was covered with a flowing pattern in low relief, so arranged
as to fall into a more or less symmetrical design. This is by no means
a usual form, but there is an example at Burton Agnes, in Yorkshire,
and another, which stands halfway between the two ideas, in the gallery
at Chastleton, in Oxfordshire.
[Illustration: 169.--PLASTER FRIEZE FROM MONTACUTE HOUSE, SOMERSET.]
At the junction of the ceiling and the wall was a series of mouldings
forming a cornice: these were sometimes in wood and formed the crowning
member of the oak panelling, and sometimes they were in plaster.
Beneath them on the surface of the wall there was frequently a plaster
frieze of more or less depth. Occasionally it was only a few inches
deep, as in the drawing-room at Haddon (Plate XLI.), but more usually
it was from two to three feet, and in one room at Hardwick it was much
deeper, as already mentioned (see Plate LII.). The narrower friezes
were ornamented with some kind of running pattern, the wider ones
were divided into panels in various ways, and often displayed the
family arms. Examples of the narrower kind in plaster may be seen on
Plates LIII. and LXXVI., while others forming part of the panelling
are shown on Plates XLIII., XLVII., and XLIX. Sizergh Hall (Plate L.)
has a frieze on the wood panelling and another in plaster above it.
Examples of different kinds of friezes are given in Fig. 168, and one
of considerable depth, and adorned with shields set in large panels, is
shown from Montacute (Fig. 169). A fairly deep frieze is to be seen at
Carbrook (Plate XLII.), of which a small part of the detail is shown in
Fig. 170. An example of the way in which a pattern was fitted into an
unusually-shaped space is shown in Fig. 171.
[Illustration: 170.--PART OF PLASTER FRIEZE, CARBROOK HALL, NEAR
SHEFFIELD.]
[Illustration: 171.--CEILING OF A TRIANGULAR BAY WINDOW AT LITTLE
CHARLTON, KENT.]