Scientific American Supplement, No. 799, April 25, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 799, April 25, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Referring again to the Ravenna mosaics, I can only add that at the
present day an extended palette of colored glass is available. The
technical difficulties are not great, and there is no question as to the
fine qualities of design and color that are to be obtained in this
material. The great point in this, as in all other schemes of
decoration, is the art, the mental quality of conception, and the sense
of color and fitness. If we hold the precious heritage of an artist's
mind--that divine and rare something which gives form, color, and
completeness to a story, a dream or a vision--then very little
difficulty follows in making vitreous mosaic a valued servant in the
realization of a fine creation.
It is the function of architects to design suitable spaces for color
decoration, so bound in by dignified mouldings and other details of his
constructive art, in such a manner that the addition of decorative color
shall in no way mar the scheme of his complete work, but shall (under
these well ordered distributions) have set on them the seal and crown of
color which is inseparable from a perfect piece of architecture. In such
spaces he may dream his dreams, tell his stories, and stamp on them for
centuries his subtilest and divinest thoughts. May I not urge that to
such spaces must be given the best that is in you? for once placed so
shall they remain unchanged through generations, time being powerless to
add any mellow garment of tone or softening quality whatever.
I mistook the title of the subject in thinking that it was mosaic only,
and at the last moment found it was marble and mosaic. However, the same
dominant principles shall underlie the treatment of marble. It is a
question of the finer instincts for form and color.
In recent years the demand for choice decorative materials has been the
means of opening out many marble quarries all over the world. Transit
being easy, a large scale of varieties is available. One fine addition
is the Mexican onyx. My feeling is that the most beautiful marbles are
those where the soft and sinuous veins melt and die into the general
body, comparatively sharp markings dying right away at the edges into
innumerable gradations. Marbles having strong and hardly marked veins
present great difficulties in distribution. If they are near, they
offend you with their coarseness; and, placed at a distance, the hard
vein lines have very little decorative value. I should say use these in
narrow slips, with very little moulded profile or as parts of intazzio.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive