The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Decoration of Houses, by Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license Title: The Decoration of Houses Author: Edith Wharton Ogden Codman Jr. Release Date: July 29, 2012 [EBook #40367] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DECORATION OF HOUSES *** Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document have been preserved. THE DECORATION OF HOUSES Title Page Charles Scribner's Sons New York 1914 The Decoration of Houses By Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr. Copyright, 1897, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS "Une forme doit être belle en elle-même et on ne doit jamais compter sur le décor appliqué pour en sauver les imperfections." Henri Mayeux: La Composition Décorative. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction xix I The Historical Tradition 1 II Rooms in General 17 III Walls 31 IV Doors 48 V Windows 64 VI Fireplaces 74 VII Ceilings and Floors 89 VIII Entrance and Vestibule 103 IX Hall and Stairs 106 X The Drawing-room, Boudoir, and Morning-room 122 XI Gala Rooms: Ball-room, Saloon, Music-room, Gallery 134 XII The Library, Smoking-room, and "Den" 145 XIII The Dining-room 155 XIV Bedrooms 162 XV The School-room and Nurseries 173 XVI Bric-à-Brac 184 Conclusion 196 Index 199 LIST OF PLATES FACING PAGE I Italian Gothic Chest 1 II French Arm-chairs, XV and XVI Centuries 6 III French Armoire, XVI Century 10 IV French Sofa and Arm-chair, Louis XIV Period 12 V Room in the Grand Trianon, Versailles 14 VI French Arm-chair, Louis XV Period 16 VII French Bergère, Louis XVI Period 20 VIII French Bergère, Louis XVI Period 24 IX French Sofa, Louis XV Period 28 X French Marquetry Table, Louis XVI Period 30 XI Drawing-room, House in Berkeley Square, London 34 XII Room in the Villa Vertemati 38 XIII Drawing-room at Easton Neston Hall 42 XIV Doorway, Ducal Palace, Mantua 48 XV Sala dei Cavalli, Palazzo del T 54 XVI Door in the Sala dello Zodiaco, Ducal Palace, Mantua 58 XVII Examples of Modern French Locksmiths' Work 60 XVIII Carved Door, Palace of Versailles 62 XIX Salon des Malachites, Grand Trianon, Versailles 68 vii viii ix x XX Mantelpiece, Ducal Palace, Urbino 74 XXI Mantelpiece, Villa Giacomelli 78 XXII French Fire-screen, Louis XIV Period 86 XXIII Carved Wooden Ceiling, Villa Vertemati 90 XXIV Ceiling in Palais de Justice, Rennes 92 XXV Ceiling of the Sala degli Sposi, Ducal Palace, Mantua 96 XXVI Ceiling in the Style of Bérain 100 XXVII Ceiling in the Château of Chantilly 102 XXVIII Antechamber, Villa Cambiaso, Genoa 104 XXIX Antechamber, Durazzo Palace, Genoa 106 XXX Staircase, Parodi Palace, Genoa 108 XXXI Staircase, Hôtel de Ville, Nancy 112 XXXII Staircase, Palace of Fontainebleau 116 XXXIII French Armoire, Louis XIV Period 120 XXXIV Sala della Maddalena, Royal Palace, Genoa 122 XXXV Console in Petit Trianon, Versailles 124 XXXVI Salon, Palace of Fontainebleau 126 XXXVII Room in the Palace of Fontainebleau 128 XXXVIII Lit de Repos, Early Louis XV Period 130 XXXIX Lit de Repos, Louis XV Period 130 XL Painted Wall-panel and Door, Chantilly 132 XLI French Boudoir, Louis XVI Period 132 XLII Salon à l'italienne 136 XLIII Ball-room, Royal Palace, Genoa 138 XLIV Saloon, Villa Vertemati 140 XLV Sala dello Zodiaco, Ducal Palace, Mantua 140 XLVI French Table, transition between Louis XIV and Louis XV Periods 142 XLVII Library of Louis XVI, Palace of Versailles 144 XLVIII Small Library, Audley End 146 XLIX French Writing-chair, Louis XV Period 150 L Dining-room, Palace of Compiègne 154 LI Dining-room Fountain, Palace of Fontainebleau 156 LII French Dining-chair, Louis XIV Period 158 LIII French Dining-chair, Louis XVI Period 158 LIV Bedroom, Palace of Fontainebleau 162 LV Bath-room, Pitti Palace, Florence 168 LVI Bronze Andiron, XVI Century 184 BOOKS CONSULTED FRENCH Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques. Les Plus Excellents Bâtiments de France. Paris, 1607. Le Muet, Pierre. Manière de Bien Bâtir pour toutes sortes de Personnes. Oppenord, Gilles Marie. Œuvres. 1750. Mariette, Pierre Jean. xi xii L'Architecture Françoise. 1727. Briseux, Charles Étienne. L'Art de Bâtir les Maisons de Campagne. Paris, 1743. Lalonde, François Richard de. Recueil de ses Œuvres. Aviler, C. A. d'. Cours d'Architecture. 1760. Blondel, Jacques François. Architecture Françoise. Paris, 1752. Cours d'Architecture. Paris, 1771-77. De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance et de la Décoration des Édifices. Paris, 1737. Roubo, A. J., fils. L'Art du Menuisier. Héré de Corny, Emmanuel. Recueil des Plans, Élévations et Coupes des Châteaux, Jardins et Dépendances que le Roi de Pologne occupe en Lorraine. Paris, n. d. Percier et Fontaine. Choix des plus Célèbres Maisons de Plaisance de Rome et de ses Environs. Paris, 1809. Palais, Maisons, et autres Édifices Modernes dessinés à Rome. Paris, 1798. Résidences des Souverains. Paris, 1833. Krafft et Ransonnette. Plans, Coupes, et Élévations des plus belles Maisons et Hôtels construits à Paris et dans les Environs. Paris, 1801. Durand, Jean Nicolas Louis. Recueil et Parallèle des Édifices de tout Genre. Paris, 1800. Précis des Leçons d'Architecture données à l'École Royale Polytechnique. Paris, 1823. Quatremère de Quincy, A. C. Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages des plus Célèbres Architectes du XIe siècle jusqu'à la fin du XVIII siècle. Paris, 1830. Pellassy de l'Ousle. Histoire du Palais de Compiègne. Paris, n. d. Letarouilly, Paul Marie. Édifices de Rome Moderne. Paris, 1825-57. Ramée, Daniel. Histoire Générale de l'Architecture. Paris, 1862. Meubles Religieux et Civils Conservés dans les principaux Monuments et Musées de l'Europe. Viollet le Duc, Eugène Emmanuel. Dictionnaire Raisonné de l'Architecture Française du XIee au XVIe siècle. Paris, 1868. Sauvageot, Claude. Palais, Châteaux, Hôtels et Maisons de France du XVe au XVIIIe siècle. Daly, César. Motifs Historiques d'Architecture et de Sculpture d'Ornement. Rouyer et Darcel. xiii xiv L'Art Architectural en France depuis François Ier jusqu'à Louis XIV. Havard, Henry. Dictionnaire de l'Ameublement et de la Décoration depuis le XIIIe siècle jusqu'à nos Jours. Paris, n. d. Les Arts de l'Ameublement. Guilmard, D. Les Maîtres Ornemanistes. Paris, 1880. Bauchal, Charles. Dictionnaire des Architectes Français. Paris, 1887. Rouaix, Paul. Les Styles. Paris, n. d. Bibliothèque de l'Enseignement des Beaux Arts. Maison Quantin, Paris. ENGLISH Ware, Isaac. A Complete Body of Architecture. London, 1756. Brettingham, Matthew. Plans, Elevations and Sections of Holkham in Norfolk, the Seat of the late Earl of Leicester. London, 1761. Campbell, Colen. Vitruvius Britannicus; or, The British Architect. London, 1771. Adam, Robert and James. The Works in Architecture. London, 1773-1822. Hepplewhite, A. The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide. Sheraton, Thomas. The Cabinet-Maker's Dictionary. London, 1803. Pain, William. The British Palladio; or The Builder's General Assistant. London, 1797. Soane, Sir John. Sketches in Architecture. London, 1793. Hakewill, Arthur William. General Plan and External Details, with Picturesque Illustrations, of Thorpe Hall, Peterborough. Lewis, James. Original Designs in Architecture. Pyne, William Henry. History of the Royal Residences of Windsor Castle, St. James's Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham Palace, and Frogmore. London, 1819. Gwilt, Joseph. Encyclopedia of Architecture. New edition. Longman's, 1895. Fergusson, James. History of Architecture. London, 1874. History of the Modern Styles of Architecture. Third edition, revised by Robert Kerr. London, 1891. xv xvi R Gotch, John Alfred. Architecture of the Renaissance in England. Heaton, John Aldam. Furniture and Decoration in England in the Eighteenth Century. Rosengarten. Handbook of Architectural Styles. New York, 1876. Horne, H. P. The Binding of Books. London, 1894. Loftie, W. J. Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren. London, 1893. Kerr, Robert. The English Gentleman's House. London, 1865. Stevenson, J. J. House Architecture. London, 1880. GERMAN AND ITALIAN Burckhardt, Jacob. Architektur der Renaissance in Italien. Stuttgart, 1891. Reinhardt. Palast Architektur von Ober Italien und Toskana. Gurlitt, Cornelius. Geschichte des Barockstiles in Italien. Stuttgart, 1887. Ebe, Gustav. Die Spät-Renaissance. Berlin, 1886. La Villa Borghese, fuori di Porta Pinciana, con l'ornamenti che si osservano nel di lei Palazzo. Roma, 1700. Intra, G. B. Mantova nei suoi Monumenti. Luzio e Renier. Mantova e Urbino. Torino-Roma, 1893. Molmenti, Pompeo. La Storia di Venezia nella Vita Privata. Torino, 1885. Malamani, Vittorio. Il Settecento a Venezia. Milano, 1895. La Vita Italiana nel Seicento. Conferenze tenute a Firenze nel 1890. INTRODUCTION ooms may be decorated in two ways: by a superficial application of ornament totally independent of structure, or by means of those architectural features which are part of the organism of every house, inside as well as out. In the middle ages, when warfare and brigandage shaped the conditions of life, and men camped in their castles much as xvii xix they did in their tents, it was natural that decorations should be portable, and that the naked walls of the mediæval chamber should be hung with arras, while a ciel, or ceiling, of cloth stretched across the open timbers of its roof. When life became more secure, and when the Italian conquests of the Valois had acquainted men north of the Alps with the spirit of classic tradition, proportion and the relation of voids to masses gradually came to be regarded as the chief decorative values of the interior. Portable hangings were in consequence replaced by architectural ornament: in other words, the architecture of the room became its decoration. This architectural treatment held its own through every change of taste until the second quarter of the present century; but since then various influences have combined to sever the natural connection between the outside of the modern house and its interior. In the average house the architect's task seems virtually confined to the elevations and floor-plan. The designing of what are to-day regarded as insignificant details, such as mouldings, architraves, and cornices, has become a perfunctory work, hurried over and unregarded; and when this work is done, the upholsterer is called in to "decorate" and furnish the rooms. As the result of this division of labor, house-decoration has ceased to be a branch of architecture. The upholsterer cannot be expected to have the preliminary training necessary for architectural work, and it is inevitable that in his hands form should be sacrificed to color and composition to detail. In his ignorance of the legitimate means of producing certain effects, he is driven to all manner of expedients, the result of which is a piling up of heterogeneous ornament, a multiplication of incongruous effects; and lacking, as he does, a definite first conception, his work becomes so involved that it seems impossible for him to make an end. The confusion resulting from these unscientific methods has reflected itself in the lay mind, and house-decoration has come to be regarded as a black art by those who have seen their rooms subjected to the manipulations of the modern upholsterer. Now, in the hands of decorators who understand the fundamental principles of their art, the surest effects are produced, not at the expense of simplicity and common sense, but by observing the requirements of both. These requirements are identical with those regulating domestic architecture, the chief end in both cases being the suitable accommodation of the inmates of the house. The fact that this end has in a measure been lost sight of is perhaps sufficient warrant for the publication of this elementary sketch. No study of house-decoration as a branch of architecture has for at least fifty years been published in England or America; and though France is always producing admirable monographs on isolated branches of this subject, there is no modern French work corresponding with such comprehensive manuals as d'Aviler's Cours d'Architecture or Isaac Ware's Complete Body of Architecture. The attempt to remedy this deficiency in some slight degree has made it necessary to dwell at length upon the strictly architectural principles which controlled the work of the old decorators. The effects that they aimed at having been based mainly on the due adjustment of parts, it has been impossible to explain their methods without assuming their standpoint—that of architectural proportion—in contradistinction to the modern view of house-decoration as superficial application of ornament. When house-decoration was a part of architecture all its values were founded on structural modifications; consequently it may seem that ideas to be derived from a study of such methods suggest changes too radical for those who are not building, but are merely decorating. Such changes, in fact, lie rather in the direction of alteration than of adornment; but it must be remembered that the results attained will be of greater decorative value than were an equal expenditure devoted to surface-ornament. Moreover, the great decorators, if scrupulous in the observance of architectural principles, were ever governed, in the use of ornamental detail, by the σωφροσύνη, the "wise moderation," of the Greeks; and the rooms of the past were both simpler in treatment and freer from mere embellishments than those of to-day. Besides, if it be granted for the sake of argument that a reform in house-decoration, if not necessary, is at least desirable, it must be admitted that such reform can originate only with those whose means permit of any experiments which their taste may suggest. When the rich man demands good architecture his neighbors will get it too. The vulgarity of current decoration has its source in the indifference of the wealthy to architectural fitness. Every good moulding, every carefully studied detail, exacted by those who can afford to indulge their taste, will in time find its way to the carpenter-built cottage. Once the right precedent is established, it costs less to follow than to oppose it. In conclusion, it may be well to explain the seeming lack of accord between the arguments used in this book and the illustrations chosen to interpret them. While much is said of simplicity, the illustrations used are chiefly taken from houses of some importance. This has been done in order that only such apartments as are accessible to the traveller might be given as examples. Unprofessional readers will probably be more interested in studying rooms that they have seen, or at least heard of, than those in the ordinary private dwelling; and the arguments advanced are indirectly sustained by the most ornate rooms here shown, since their effect is based on such harmony of line that their superficial ornament might be removed without loss to the composition. Moreover, as some of the illustrations prove, the most magnificent palaces of Europe contain rooms as simple as those in any private house; and to point out that simplicity is at home even in palaces is perhaps not the least service that may be rendered to the modern decorator. xx xxi xxii T Italian Gothic Chest ITALIAN GOTHIC CHEST. MUSEUM OF THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE. PLATE I. I THE HISTORICAL TRADITION he last ten years have been marked by a notable development in architecture and decoration, and while France will long retain her present superiority in these arts, our own advance is perhaps more significant than that of any other country. When we measure the work recently done in the United States by the accepted architectural standards of ten years ago, the change is certainly striking, especially in view of the fact that our local architects and decorators are without the countless advantages in the way of schools, museums and libraries which are at the command of their European colleagues. In Paris, for instance, it is impossible to take even a short walk without finding inspiration in those admirable buildings, public and private, religious and secular, that bear the stamp of the most refined taste the world has known since the decline of the arts in Italy; and probably all American architects will acknowledge that no amount of travel abroad and study at home can compensate for the lack of daily familiarity with such monuments. It is therefore all the more encouraging to note the steady advance in taste and knowledge to which the most recent architecture in America bears witness. This advance is chiefly due to the fact that American architects are beginning to perceive two things that their French colleagues, among all the modern vagaries of taste, have never quite lost sight of: first that architecture and decoration, having wandered since 1800 in a labyrinth of dubious eclecticism, can be set right only by a close study of the best models; and secondly that, given the requirements of modern life, these models are chiefly to be found in buildings erected in Italy after the beginning of the sixteenth century, and in other European countries after the full assimilation of the Italian influence. As the latter of these propositions may perhaps be questioned by those who, in admiring the earlier styles, sometimes lose sight of their relative unfitness for modern use, it must be understood at the outset that it implies no disregard for the inherent beauties of these styles. It would be difficult, assuredly, to find buildings better suited to their original purpose than some of the great feudal castles, such as Warwick in England, or Langeais in France; and as much might be said of the grim machicolated palaces of republican Florence or Siena; but our whole mode of life has so entirely changed since the days in which these buildings were erected that they no longer answer to our needs. It is only necessary to picture the lives led in those days to see how far removed from them our present social conditions are. Inside and outside the house, all told of the unsettled condition of country or town, the danger of armed attack, the clumsy means of defence, the insecurity of property, the few opportunities of social intercourse as we understand it. A man's house was in very truth his castle in the middle ages, and in France and England especially it remained so until the end of the sixteenth century. Thus it was that many needs arose: the tall keep of masonry where the inmates, pent up against attack, awaited the signal of the watchman who, from his platform or échauguette, gave warning of assault; the ponderous doors, oak- ribbed and metal-studded, with doorways often narrowed to prevent entrance of two abreast, and so low that the incomer had to bend his head; the windows that were mere openings or slits, narrow and high, far out of the assailants' 1 2 3 reach, and piercing the walls without regard to symmetry—not, as Ruskin would have us believe, because irregularity was thought artistic, but because the mediæval architect, trained to the uses of necessity, knew that he must design openings that should afford no passage to the besiegers' arrows, no clue to what was going on inside the keep. But to the reader familiar with Viollet-le-Duc, or with any of the many excellent works on English domestic architecture, further details will seem superfluous. It is necessary, however, to point out that long after the conditions of life in Europe had changed, houses retained many features of the feudal period. The survival of obsolete customs which makes the study of sociology so interesting, has its parallel in the history of architecture. In the feudal countries especially, where the conflict between the great nobles and the king was of such long duration that civilization spread very slowly, architecture was proportionately slow to give up many of its feudal characteristics. In Italy, on the contrary, where one city after another succumbed to some accomplished condottiere who between his campaigns read Virgil and collected antique marbles, the rugged little republics were soon converted into brilliant courts where, life being relatively secure, social intercourse rapidly developed. This change of conditions brought with it the paved street and square, the large- windowed palaces with their great court-yards and stately open staircases, and the market-place with its loggia adorned with statues and marble seats. Italy, in short, returned instinctively to the Roman ideal of civic life: the life of the street, the forum and the baths. These very conditions, though approaching so much nearer than feudalism to our modern civilization, in some respects make the Italian architecture of the Renaissance less serviceable as a model than the French and English styles later developed from it. The very dangers and barbarities of feudalism had fostered and preserved the idea of home as of something private, shut off from intrusion; and while the Roman ideal flowered in the great palace with its galleries, loggias and saloons, itself a kind of roofed-in forum, the French or English feudal keep became, by the same process of growth, the modern private house. The domestic architecture of the Renaissance in Italy offers but two distinctively characteristic styles of building: the palace and the villa or hunting-lodge.[1] There is nothing corresponding in interior arrangements with the French or English town house, or the manoir where the provincial nobles lived all the year round. The villa was a mere perch used for a few weeks of gaiety in spring or autumn; it was never a home as the French or English country- house was. There were, of course, private houses in Renaissance Italy, but these were occupied rather by shopkeepers, craftsmen, and the bourgeoisie than by the class which in France and England lived in country houses or small private hôtels. The elevations of these small Italian houses are often admirable examples of domestic architecture, but their planning is rudimentary, and it may be said that the characteristic tendencies of modern house-planning were developed rather in the mezzanin or low-studded intermediate story of the Italian Renaissance palace than in the small house of the same period. It is a fact recognized by political economists that changes in manners and customs, no matter under what form of government, usually originate with the wealthy or aristocratic minority, and are thence transmitted to the other classes. Thus the bourgeois of one generation lives more like the aristocrat of a previous generation than like his own predecessors. This rule naturally holds good of house-planning, and it is for this reason that the origin of modern house- planning should be sought rather in the prince's mezzanin than in the small middle-class dwelling. The Italian mezzanin probably originated in the habit of building certain very high-studded saloons and of lowering the ceiling of the adjoining rooms. This created an intermediate story, or rather scattered intermediate rooms, which Bramante was among the first to use in the planning of his palaces; but Bramante did not reveal the existence of the mezzanin in his façades, and it was not until the time of Peruzzi and his contemporaries that it became, both in plan and elevation, an accepted part of the Italian palace. It is for this reason that the year 1500 is a convenient point from which to date the beginning of modern house-planning; but it must be borne in mind that this date is purely arbitrary, and represents merely an imaginary line drawn between mediæval and modern ways of living and house-planning, as exemplified respectively, for instance, in the ducal palace of Urbino, built by Luciano da Laurano about 1468, and the palace of the Massimi alle Colonne in Rome, built by Baldassare Peruzzi during the first half of the sixteenth century. The lives of the great Italian nobles were essentially open-air lives: all was organized with a view to public pageants, ceremonies and entertainments. Domestic life was subordinated to this spectacular existence, and instead of building private houses in our sense, they built palaces, of which they set aside a portion for the use of the family. Every Italian palace has its mezzanin or private apartment; but this part of the building is now seldom seen by travellers in Italy. Not only is it usually inhabited by the owners of the palace but, its decorations being simpler than those of the piano nobile, or principal story, it is not thought worthy of inspection. As a matter of fact, the treatment of the mezzanin was generally most beautiful, because most suitable; and while the Italian Renaissance palace can seldom serve as a model for a modern private house, the decoration of the mezzanin rooms is full of appropriate suggestion. In France and England, on the other hand, private life was gradually, though slowly, developing along the lines it still follows in the present day. It is necessary to bear in mind that what we call modern civilization was a later growth in these two countries than in Italy. If this fact is insisted upon, it is only because it explains the relative unsuitability of French Renaissance or Tudor and Elizabethan architecture to modern life. In France, for instance, it was not until the Fronde was subdued and Louis XIV firmly established on the throne, that the elements which compose what we call modern life really began to combine. In fact, it might be said that the feudalism of which the Fronde was the lingering expression had its counterpart in the architecture of the period. While long familiarity with Italy was beginning to tell upon the practical side of house-planning, many obsolete details were still preserved. Even the most enthusiastic admirer of the French Renaissance would hardly maintain that the houses of that period are what we should call in the modern sense "convenient." It would be impossible for a modern family to occupy with any degree of comfort the Hôtel Voguë 4 5 6 7 at Dijon, one of the best examples (as originally planned) of sixteenth-century domestic architecture in France.[2] The same objection applies to the furniture of the period. This arose from the fact that, owing to the unsettled state of the country, the landed proprietor always carried his furniture with him when he travelled from one estate to another. Furniture, in the vocabulary of the middle ages, meant something which may be transported: "Meubles sont apelez qu'on peut transporter";—hence the lack of variety in furniture before the seventeenth century, and also its unsuitableness to modern life. Chairs and cabinets that had to be carried about on mule-back were necessarily somewhat stiff and angular in design. It is perhaps not too much to say that a comfortable chair, in our self-indulgent modern sense, did not exist before the Louis XIV arm-chair (see Plate IV); and the cushioned bergère, the ancestor of our upholstered easy-chair, cannot be traced back further than the Regency. Prior to the time of Louis XIV, the most luxurious people had to content themselves with hard straight-backed seats. The necessities of transportation permitted little variety of design, and every piece of furniture was constructed with the double purpose of being easily carried about and of being used as a trunk (see Plate I). As Havard says, "Tout meuble se traduisait par un coffre." The unvarying design of the cabinets is explained by the fact that they were made to form two trunks,[3] and even the chairs and settles had hollow seats which could be packed with the owners' wardrobe (see Plate II). The king himself, when he went from one château to another, carried all his furniture with him, and it is thus not surprising that lesser people contented themselves with a few substantial chairs and cabinets, and enough arras or cloth of Douai to cover the draughty walls of their country-houses. One of Madame de Sévigné's letters gives an amusing instance of the scarceness of furniture even in the time of Louis XIV. In describing a fire in a house near her own hôtel in Paris, she says that one or two of the persons from the burning house were brought to her for shelter, because it was known in the neighborhood (at that time a rich and fashionable one) that she had an extra bed in the house! French Chairs FRENCH CHAIRS, XV AND XVI CENTURIES. FROM THE GAVET COLLECTION. PLATE II. It was not until the social influences of the reign of Louis XIV were fully established that modern domestic life really began. Tradition ascribes to Madame de Rambouillet a leading share in the advance in practical house-planning; but probably what she did is merely typical of the modifications which the new social conditions were everywhere producing. It is certain that at this time houses and rooms first began to be comfortable. The immense cavernous fireplaces originally meant for the roasting of beeves and the warming of a flock of frozen retainers,—"les grandes antiquailles de cheminées," as Madame de Sévigné called them,—were replaced by the compact chimney-piece of modern times. Cushioned bergères took the place of the throne-like seats of Louis XIII, screens kept off unwelcome draughts, Savonnerie or moquette carpets covered the stone or marble floors, and grandeur gave way to luxury.[4] English architecture having followed a line of development so similar that it need not here be traced, it remains only to examine in detail the opening proposition, namely, that modern architecture and decoration, having in many ways deviated from the paths which the experience of the past had marked out for them, can be reclaimed only by a study of the best models. It might of course be said that to attain this end originality is more necessary than imitativeness. To this it may be replied that no lost art can be re-acquired without at least for a time going back to the methods and manner of those who formerly practised it; or the objection may be met by the question, What is originality in art? Perhaps it is easier to 8 9 define what it is not; and this may be done by saying that it is never a wilful rejection of what have been accepted as the necessary laws of the various forms of art. Thus, in reasoning, originality lies not in discarding the necessary laws of thought, but in using them to express new intellectual conceptions; in poetry, originality consists not in discarding the necessary laws of rhythm, but in finding new rhythms within the limits of those laws. Most of the features of architecture that have persisted through various fluctuations of taste owe their preservation to the fact that they have been proved by experience to be necessary; and it will be found that none of them precludes the exercise of individual taste, any more than the acceptance of the syllogism or of the laws of rhythm prevents new thinkers and new poets from saying what has never been said before. Once this is clearly understood, it will be seen that the supposed conflict between originality and tradition is no conflict at all.[5] In citing logic and poetry, those arts have been purposely chosen of which the laws will perhaps best help to explain and illustrate the character of architectural limitations. A building, for whatever purpose erected, must be built in strict accordance with the requirements of that purpose; in other words, it must have a reason for being as it is and must be as it is for that reason. Its decoration must harmonize with the structural limitations (which is by no means the same thing as saying that all decoration must be structural), and from this harmony of the general scheme of decoration with the building, and of the details of the decoration with each other, springs the rhythm that distinguishes architecture from mere construction. Thus all good architecture and good decoration (which, it must never be forgotten, is only interior architecture) must be based on rhythm and logic. A house, or room, must be planned as it is because it could not, in reason, be otherwise; must be decorated as it is because no other decoration would harmonize as well with the plan. French Armoire FRENCH ARMOIRE, XVI CENTURY. PLATE III. Many of the most popular features in modern house-planning and decoration will not be found to stand this double test. Often (as will be shown further on) they are merely survivals of earlier social conditions, and have been preserved in obedience to that instinct that makes people cling to so many customs the meaning of which is lost. In other cases they have been revived by the archæologizing spirit which is so characteristic of the present time, and which so often leads its possessors to think that a thing must be beautiful because it is old and appropriate because it is beautiful. But since the beauty of all such features depends on their appropriateness, they may in every case be replaced by a more suitable form of treatment without loss to the general effect of house or room. It is this which makes it important that each room (or, better still, all the rooms) in a house should receive the same style of decoration. To some people this may seem as meaningless a piece of archaism as the habit of using obsolete fragments of planning or decoration; but 10 11 such is not the case. It must not be forgotten, in discussing the question of reproducing certain styles, that the essence of a style lies not in its use of ornament, but in its handling of proportion. Structure conditions ornament, not ornament structure. That is, a room with unsuitably proportioned openings, wall-spaces and cornice might receive a surface application of Louis XV or Louis XVI ornament and not represent either of those styles of decoration; whereas a room constructed according to the laws of proportion accepted in one or the other of those periods, in spite of a surface application of decorative detail widely different in character,—say Romanesque or Gothic,—would yet maintain its distinctive style, because the detail, in conforming with the laws of proportion governing the structure of the room, must necessarily conform with its style. In other words, decoration is always subservient to proportion; and a room, whatever its decoration may be, must represent the style to which its proportions belong. The less cannot include the greater. Unfortunately it is usually by ornamental details, rather than by proportion, that people distinguish one style from another. To many persons, garlands, bow-knots, quivers, and a great deal of gilding represent the Louis XVI style; if they object to these, they condemn the style. To an architect familiar with the subject the same style means something absolutely different. He knows that a Louis XVI room may exist without any of these or similar characteristics; and he often deprecates their use as representing the cheaper and more trivial effects of the period, and those that have most helped to vulgarize it. In fact, in nine cases out of ten his use of them is a concession to the client who, having asked for a Louis XVI room, would not know he had got it were these details left out.[6] Another thing which has perhaps contributed to make people distrustful of "styles" is the garbled form in which they are presented by some architects. After a period of eclecticism that has lasted long enough to make architects and decorators lose their traditional habits of design, there has arisen a sudden demand for "style." It necessarily follows that only the most competent are ready to respond to this unexpected summons. Much has to be relearned, still more to be unlearned. The essence of the great styles lay in proportion and the science of proportion is not to be acquired in a day. In fact, in such matters the cultivated layman, whether or not he has any special familiarity with the different schools of architecture, is often a better judge than the half-educated architect. It is no wonder that people of taste are disconcerted by the so-called "colonial" houses where stair-rails are used as roof-balustrades and mantel-friezes as exterior entablatures, or by Louis XV rooms where the wavy movement which, in the best rococo, was always an ornamental incident and never broke up the main lines of the design, is suffered to run riot through the whole treatment of the walls, so that the bewildered eye seeks in vain for a straight line amid the whirl of incoherent curves. French Sofa FRENCH SOFA AND ARMCHAIR, LOUIS XIV PERIOD. FROM THE CHÂTEAU DE BERCY. PLATE IV. To conform to a style, then, is to accept those rules of proportion which the artistic experience of centuries has established as the best, while within those limits allowing free scope to the individual requirements which must inevitably modify every house or room adapted to the use and convenience of its occupants. There is one thing more to be said in defence of conformity to style; and that is, the difficulty of getting rid of style. Strive as we may for originality, we are hampered at every turn by an artistic tradition of over two thousand years. Does any but the most inexperienced architect really think that he can ever rid himself of such an inheritance? He may mutilate or misapply the component parts of his design, but he cannot originate a whole new architectural alphabet. The chances are that he will not find it easy to invent one wholly new moulding. The styles especially suited to modern life have already been roughly indicated as those prevailing in Italy since 1500, in 12 13 France from the time of Louis XIV, and in England since the introduction of the Italian manner by Inigo Jones; and as the French and English styles are perhaps more familiar to the general reader, the examples given will usually be drawn from these. Supposing the argument in favor of these styles to have been accepted, at least as a working hypothesis, it must be explained why, in each room, the decoration and furniture should harmonize. Most people will admit the necessity of harmonizing the colors in a room, because a feeling for color is more general than a feeling for form; but in reality the latter is the more important in decoration, and it is the feeling for form, and not any archæological affectation, which makes the best decorators insist upon the necessity of keeping to the same style of furniture and decoration. Thus the massive dimensions and heavy panelling of a seventeenth-century room would dwarf a set of eighteenth-century furniture; and the wavy, capricious movement of Louis XV decoration would make the austere yet delicate lines of Adam furniture look stiff and mean. Many persons object not only to any attempt at uniformity of style, but to the use of any recognized style in the decoration of a room. They characterize it, according to their individual views, as "servile," "formal," or "pretentious." It has already been suggested that to conform within rational limits to a given style is no more servile than to pay one's taxes or to write according to the rules of grammar. As to the accusations of formality and pretentiousness (which are more often made in America than elsewhere), they may probably be explained by the fact that most Americans necessarily form their idea of the great European styles from public buildings and palaces. Certainly, if an architect were to propose to his client to decorate a room in a moderate-sized house in the Louis XIV style, and if the client had formed his idea of that style from the state apartments in the palace at Versailles, he would be justified in rejecting the proposed treatment as absolutely unsuitable to modern private life; whereas the architect who had gone somewhat more deeply into the subject might have singled out the style as eminently suitable, having in mind one of the simple panelled rooms, with tall windows, a dignified fireplace, large tables and comfortable arm-chairs, which were to be found in the private houses of the same period (see Plate V). It is the old story of the two knights fighting about the color of the shield. Both architect and client would be right, but they would be looking at the different sides of the question. As a matter of fact, the bed-rooms, sitting-rooms, libraries and other private apartments in the smaller dwelling-houses built in Europe between 1650 and 1800 were far simpler, less pretentious and more practical in treatment than those in the average modern house. Simple Louis XIV Decoration ROOM IN THE GRAND TRIANON, VERSAILLES. (EXAMPLE OF SIMPLE LOUIS XIV DECORATION.) PLATE V. It is therefore hoped that the antagonists of "style," when they are shown that to follow a certain style is not to sacrifice either convenience or imagination, but to give more latitude to both, will withdraw an opposition which seems to be based on a misapprehension of facts. Hitherto architecture and decoration have been spoken of as one, as in any well-designed house they ought to be. Indeed, it is one of the numerous disadvantages of the present use of styles, that unless the architect who has built the house also decorates it, the most hopeless discord is apt to result. This was otherwise before our present desire for variety had thrown architects, decorators, and workmen out of the regular routine of their business. Before 1800 the decorator called upon to treat the interior of a house invariably found a suitable background prepared for his work, while much in the way of detail was intrusted to the workmen, who were trained in certain traditions instead of being 14 15 B called upon to carry out in each new house the vagaries of a different designer. But it is with the decorator's work alone that these pages are concerned, and the above digression is intended to explain why his task is now so difficult, and why his results are so often unsatisfactory to himself as well as to his clients. The decorator of the present day may be compared to a person who is called upon to write a letter in the English language, but is ordered, in so doing, to conform to the Chinese or Egyptian rules of grammar, or possibly to both together. By the use of a little common sense and a reasonable conformity to those traditions of design which have been tested by generations of architects, it is possible to produce great variety in the decoration of rooms without losing sight of the purpose for which they are intended. Indeed, the more closely this purpose is kept in view, and the more clearly it is expressed in all the details of each room, the more pleasing that room will be, so that it is easy to make a room with tinted walls, deal furniture and dimity curtains more beautiful, because more logical and more harmonious, than a ball- room lined with gold and marbles, in which the laws of rhythm and logic have been ignored. French Armchair FRENCH ARMCHAIR, LOUIS XV PERIOD. PLATE VI. II ROOMS IN GENERAL efore beginning to decorate a room it is essential to consider for what purpose the room is to be used. It is not enough to ticket it with some such general designation as "library," "drawing-room," or "den." The individual tastes and habits of the people who are to occupy it must be taken into account; it must be not "a library," or "a drawing- room," but the library or the drawing-room best suited to the master or mistress of the house which is being decorated. Individuality in house-furnishing has seldom been more harped upon than at the present time. That cheap originality which finds expression in putting things to uses for which they were not intended is often confounded with individuality; whereas the latter consists not in an attempt to be different from other people at the cost of comfort, but in the desire to be comfortable in one's own way, even though it be the way of a monotonously large majority. It seems easier to most people to arrange a room like some one else's than to analyze and express their own needs. Men, in these matters, are 16 17