| Vol. I. | JUNE, 1895. | No. 6. |
The carved walnut panels from thechoir stalls of the Church of SanPietro de' Casinense in Perugia,designed by Stefano da Bergamoin 1535, which are given as illustrationsin this number, are excellent examples ofthe ornament of the later period of theItalian Renaissance. This form of ornamentwas first used in flat painted panelsupon pilasters, such as the well-known workof Raphael in the Loggia of the Vatican,suggested by the Roman work discoveredin his time upon the Palatine. It was afterwardsapplied to all sorts of objects whererectangular spaces were to be decorated.Its characteristics can hardly be better describedthan in the following extract fromMr. C. Howard Walker's articles upon theStudy of Decoration in The TechnologyArchitectural Review:—
"The motives on the pilasters were oftwo kinds: the continuous scroll, startingfrom a strong base leaf and rising in equalvolutes, with alternating direction to rightand to left, and filling the panel. Thismotive needed always to be balanced byits opposite, and was consequently seldomused. It had its prototype in the magnificentscroll from the Forum of Trajan.The other motive was that usually used,and capable of infinite variety, that of acentral axis, the ornament diverging fromit symmetrically on either side. Thismotive was borrowed from colored decorationson the Roman walls. It is a mostdifficult class of ornament to handle, asso much depends upon relative distribution,proportion, and relief of modeling.The motive usually starts at the bottomand grows continuously to the top, withthe base, whether a mass of leafage, avase, or other unit of ornament, well definedand the crowning unit strong andrich. The central axis can be actual ormerely evidenced by the symmetry of thesides, preferably actual. To prevent aneffect of absolute perpendicular divisionor of stringiness, this axis, between itsbase and crown, is divided either by knotsof ornament, concentrated masses, or horizontalmotives. In making these divisionsthe rules of cadence need to becarefully observed; the divisions shouldbe made equal in length, or alternate, orin sequence, and the same method shouldbe observed in the units of ornamentmarking the divisions. In most casesthere is more ground than ornament,which always demands that the lines ofthe ornament should be most carefullystudied, and that the units used as terminalsfor these lines should be exactlydisposed, in relation to the axis, to eachother, and to the border of the panel.When one considers the number of factorswhich can enter into the composition ofone of these panels, it can be readily conceivedthat their variety is wellnigh infinite;absolute symmetry on either side ofa central axis on which are threaded unitsof ornament, and which starts from a massof detail and terminates in a mass ofdetail; systems of radial lines divergingfrom the central axis and terminating incentres of ornaments of greater or lesssize, arranged in all sorts of groupings;[85]garlands, pendants, and ribbons, vases,trophies, shields, birds, beasts, and nondescriptcombinations, foliage, conventionaland natural, forms, human and superhuman,all in varying scales, all in surfacesundulating, now rising into sharp reliefwith clear-cut edges, now sinking andmelting into the bac