From the time of antiquity to our own day men have sought to discover or invent the probable origin of the various systems of architecture. Besides the well known hut of Vitruvius, and the no less celebrated grotto of the Ichthyophagi or fish-eating races, (the supposed type of the Egyptian temples), the tent of the Nomad, or wandering races, occupies a very important place in our theories of the origin of styles. In the catenary formed by the fall of the drapery of a Mongol tent, has been recognised the type of Chinese and Tartar architecture.

But no notice has been taken of the much more evident and less doubtful influence, which drapery itself, in its quality of a vertical wall, or partition, has exercised on certain architectural forms. Nevertheless it is the motif which I venture to cite, as the one on which ancient art has been principally founded.

It is well known that the nascent taste for the beautiful among those races which are in a state of social infancy, is first exercised in the manufacture of coarse tissues, which serve either as beds or as partitions.

The art of dress is less ancient than that of the manufacture of stuffs, as several examples of people to whom clothing is unknown, and who nevertheless possess an industry, more or less developed, in tissues and embroidery, may satisfy us.

The earliest woven work would seem to be the fence, that is, branches of trees interlaced, serving the purpose of enclosure and of partition. The most savage tribes are acquainted with this method of construction. Thus the employment of coarse tissue or woven work (which was a mere fence) as a means of securing privacy from the world outside certainly far preceded the constructed wall of stone, or of any other material; this last only became necessary at a much later period, for requirements which in their nature bear no relation whatever to space and its subdivision. The stone wall was made for greater security, longer duration, and to serve as a support for heaps of various materials and stores; in fine, for purposes foreign to the original idea; viz., that of the separation of space, and it is most important to remark, that wherever the secondary motives did not exist, woven fabrics maintained, almost without exception, especially in southern lands, their ancient office, that of the ostensible separation of space; and even in cases where the construction of solid walls became necessary, these last are but the internal and unseen scaffolding of the true and legitimate representatives of division, that is to say, of drapery richly varied with ornamental work, interlacings, and colours.

The difference which exists between the ostensible and principal separation, and the constructed separation, is expressed in ancient and modern languages by terms more or less significative.

In the Latin tongue, a distinction is made between paries and murus.

The Germans, in the word wand (of the same root with gewand, which means texture) recal still more directly the ancient origin and type of a wall.

New inventions soon led to different methods of replacing the primitive drapery, and every art was successively called in to contribute its part to these innovations, which may have been brought about by various reasons; such, for example, as the desire for longer endurance, for the sake of cleanliness, economy, comfort, distinction, coolness, heat, &c.

One of the most ancient and most general methods of replacing the use of drapery or tapestry is the coat of stucco or of plaster, furnished by the masons who built the walls.

Another very ancient method of replacing the original tapestry is, that of wooden panels, with which the wall was covered internally. That which proves the antiquity of this custom is, that in several ancient languages the expression which is only properly applicable to panels of wood, serves indifferently to signify every kind of flat surface (table) in wood, metal, ivory, or any other material.

It is thus we must explain the Greek expression πιναξ, (in Latin tabula) as a painting on wood, or also on marble, baked clay, &c. Plates of burnt clay, thin but of large circumference, were equally called “πινακες.”

The style of mural painting at Pompeii is only to be understood by the same ancient custom of covering and inlaying the walls which they reproduced in appearance by divisions and painted draperies. See Vitruvius, on this point, in the chapter on Plastering. Wiegmann has erred in attributing the same system of ancient painting to purely technic causes.

The Ceramic art was, in its turn, called on as a means of replacing drapery. It is certain that potter’s clay painted, and even glazed, served, at a very remote period, as a covering for walls. It may even be admitted, that the employment of the potter’s art on the surface of walls, preceded the manufacture of burnt bricks, and that the invention of burning bricks was the result of the custom cited above.

The mural incrustations in baked clay were the precursors of brick masonry; in the same manner as the Assyrian slabs may be considered to be the forerunners of constructions in hewn stone. We shall return again to this subject.

Among the various methods of replacing the use of drapery, should be also mentioned those furnished by metallurgic processes. Vestiges of metallic coverings on walls have been found on the oldest existing monuments; and the most ancient annals of mankind are filled with recitals of buildings resplendent with gold and silver, bronze and tin respectively.

As an invention of relatively recent date, may be cited lastly, the use of slabs of marble or stone, granite, alabaster, &c., notwithstanding that we find traces of this custom, but as it were already effaced, on the most ancient monuments of the earth. (See farther on).

In all the cases we have named, the character of the substitute followed that of its original type, and the painting and sculpture, or rather the two united, on wood, plaster, burnt clay, metal, stone, or ivory, was—and traditionally continued to be—an imitation, more or less faithful, of the embroideries or variegated interlacings which ornamented the antique wall-coverings.

It may be asserted that the entire system of decoration, with the art of painting and sculpture in relief, up to the period of its highest application, which is that of the tympanums of the pediments in the Greek temples, proceeded from the manufactures of the Assyrian weavers and dyers; or rather from their predecessors in human inventions. In any case, it was the Assyrians—next to the Chinese—who appear to have preserved most faithfully the antique type, even in its application to a different material. We will enter a little more explicitly on this subject.

THE ASSYRIANS.

The ancient writers often mention and praise the Assyrian tissues for the art employed in their manufacture; for the splendour and harmony of their colours, and the richness of the fanciful compositions with which they were embroidered. The mystical figures of bucentaurs, lions, dragons, unicorns, and other monsters, which the authors describe, are absolutely identical with those which we see on the bas-reliefs of Nimroud and Khorsabad. But this identity was not in the subjects alone. There is no doubt that the manner of treatment, the style of these subjects, was identical with that of the objects embroidered on the tissues, which ancient authors have described.

On examining somewhat attentively the Assyrian sculptures, it is easy to satisfy oneself that the art of the Assyrian sculptor moved within limits traceable from its origin, viz., embroidered work, allowance being made for certain alterations of style, caused by the requirements of a new material.

One perceives in these Assyrian sculptures, the desire on the artist’s part of an attention to the truth of Nature, but that he has been hindered in his task, not—as with the Egyptians—by a regular hieroglyphic system and hieratical laws, but rather by the caprices of a method difficult, and indeed foreign to sculpture, the influence of which was still strongly felt. Thus the sculpture of this people kept itself within the bounds of a very low and flat relief, exactly similar to that of some productions of Chinese woven work, seen in the Great Exhibition of 1851, which possessed peculiar interest in the history of Art, inasmuch as they exhibited the transition of the high woof into polychromic bas-relief.

The Assyrian figures, without being embalmed mummies like those of Egypt, show, nevertheless, much stiffness and irregularity; they appear as it were imprisoned and confined within an invisible canvas. Their contours are, so to speak, tacked in with threads. One recognises in them an awkwardness and hardness arising from the contest of the artist with a material foreign to the style: whilst the Egyptian bas-reliefs evince an original, canonical, and voluntary stiffness. I am tempted to believe that all those slabs of alabaster from Assyria, with their religious, warlike, and domestic scenes, are nothing more than exact copies in stone, after originals in tissues, at that time celebrated and executed by good native artists, who worked on that material only, whilst they employed mere workmen to transfer the originals on to stone, as well as the material would allow, which explains the difference between the design and execution which these works betray. This same character is also found on the Assyrian paintings.

It is not to be doubted that the true tapestries were employed with profusion, side by side with the stereotyped copies: and probably these last were often covered with the originals, on the occasion of solemn ceremonies, &c., and that they were only exposed during the intervals between the fêtes, &c. We observe the same thing at this day in the Catholic churches, where this ancient custom, with many others, is strictly preserved. The inscriptions and their application in bands, indicate the same origin. Does it not appear as if the cuneiform characters were invented and designed for execution in needlework? In fine, the simplicity of the system of paving of the rooms, otherwise so richly ornamented, goes to prove that they were originally covered with tapestry. It is only the slabs which form the cills of the doors on which tapestry could not be placed, which indeed form an exception, being ornamented with engraved work, in imitation of tapestry. (See Layard.) It is thus that these last became also the types of parquetry work in mosaic.

Up to the present point, we have only considered what relates to the representations found on the Assyrian slabs. But these, in themselves, give us still more cause for reflection, and singularly justify our assertion of the importance, in an architectural point of view, of the coverings of walls.

The principle of panelling constructed work shows itself here in all its primitive simplicity. We know that almost all the lower portions of walls, within and without, were covered with thin slabs of alabaster or basalt. The same principle under another form, obtained in the upper portions of the walls; here, the walls of unbaked brick were inlaid with glazed bricks; but the plan pursued by the Assyrians in executing this incrustation differs greatly from that which we observe elsewhere, and from what we pursue at the present day.

The Assyrian bricks are only glazed on the external side, and the ornaments and other subjects which were figured on them in the glazing, bear no relation to the construction, so that the ornamental lines cross the joints of the bricks irregularly.

The enamel is very fusible and the bricks but slightly burnt, evidently with the sole intention of fixing the glazing on them, which induces me to conjecture, that the use of glazed pottery preceded and prepared the way for that of baked bricks, and that the art of pottery was already far advanced before the introduction of burnt brick work. Other indications which would take too long to specify here, have proved to me, that the bricks received their coating placed in a horizontal position: First, they were ranged in the order which they would take when in their place, they then traced the design formed on this arrangement of unburnt bricks; next, they covered with these painted bricks—observing still the same order—the interior of the room; and lastly, they placed a fire in the room to fix the varnish which covered the walls.^[8]

It results, from what I have observed, that the decoration of the wall did not depend upon the construction of the same, even when baked and glazed bricks were employed.

The constructive system—after the manner of mosaic—of decoration in enamelled bricks is a later invention, probably a Roman one. The enamelled Assyrian bricks, should be regarded as a mural incrustation, as a covering absolutely independent of the wall itself, and even of the terra-cotta slab or tile, on which it was directly fixed.

THE PERSIANS.

The Assyrian system of panelling the lower portions of their buildings with slabs of alabaster, may be considered as the first step towards construction in hewn stone, and towards the introduction of the “coupe de pierre” into the number of architectural and ornamental elements.

It is only in the terraces, and the sub-basements of buildings, in the primitive ages of art, that hewn stone and its construction appeared to the eye. These parts of the buildings were the mason’s oldest domain.

The Persian monuments of Murgaub and Istakir, afford us the means of observing the second step which decorative art made towards the principle of construction. They were composed, like their models in Assyria, of unbaked bricks, of which nothing remains, whilst however, the direction of the walls is still indicated by marble pillars, which originally served to strengthen the angles of the walls, and by the jambs of doors and windows and by niches, with which the walls were ornamented.

All these parts were ornamented in the Assyrian manner, and testify to the principles of which we have been speaking. But here we have no longer slabs, but hewn masses of stone of enormous dimensions, frequently monoliths. Nevertheless, in spite of their solidity, they betray their type, in a most remarkable manner, inasmuch as they form a kind of framework hollowed out internally to receive the mass of masonry in unbaked brick, which they were designed to cover and to protect, and which, in the interspaces of the pillars and jambs above-named, were covered with slabs of marble, or more probably, with panels of cypress-wood, covered in turn by plates of gold and silver, or it may be also with richly embroidered stuffs.

THE EGYPTIANS.

The theocratic system of the Egyptians, although its origin extends beyond the horizon of history and even of tradition, is not the less based on the ruins of a social state more ancient still, and much more natural. The founders of this system, have altered the primitive style of architectural decoration in petrifying it; that is to say, in making it a style eminently adapted for stone constructions and monuments.

But amidst the hieroglyphical symbols may still be recognised the traces of its origin, obscure it is true, but unmistakeable. It has been observed by travellers in Egypt, that Egyptian art bears quite a different character in the sepulchral tombs, to that which is observed on the great temples and palace temples of the kings. It is that in these sepulchral chambers, art could move somewhat more freely than it was permitted to do in those grand monumental edifices, which were raised under the immediate influence of the priesthood.

Now it has been proved that in all the tombs, the ancient method of draping the walls, or rather of decorating them in the style of tapestry, was apparent in its greatest simplicity. It is observable, first in the character of the ornaments themselves, which consist of interlacings and gracefully varied knots, whilst these decorations borrowed from the weaver’s art, are almost banished from the temples and are replaced by symbolic figures and ornament. It may be recognised, in the second place, by the fact, that the paintings in the sepulchral tombs are generally enclosed with borders, as if to indicate that they represent suspended tapestry.

Although this primitive type shows itself less positively in the temples, indications are nevertheless not wanting which remind us of it.

The contemporary artists of the French expedition have already observed—and their discovery has been since then verified—that the monuments of Egypt, including even those executed in granite, have been covered with a complete coating of colour and varnish, over the entire surface. That indeed might be expected, for the hewn stonework of the Egyptian constructions, in spite of the neatness of its workmanship, is not laid in regular courses, which tends to prove that this irregularity, which contrasts with the symmetrical system of the decoration on it, was hidden beneath a coating which covered the whole mass.

These monuments exhibit then the third transition step towards regular construction in hewn stone.

The construction, though massive and real, is always hidden, and does not enter yet as an ornamental motive in the compositions of the architect.

It is worthy of observation, that one of the mouldings of Egyptian architecture seems to be explained by the same ancient custom of encrusting brick buildings with stone slabs, which we have remarked on the Assyrian monuments. I allude to the torus moulding which encloses the external walls of edifices. It served to hide the joints of the slabs which covered the internal work.

It is certain that the most ancient monuments in Egypt were constructed in unbaked bricks, which must have been covered with stone slabs in the manner above indicated. The Pyramids afford us very remarkable examples of this system of panelling, which is found still perfect in the sepulchral chambers contained in them, and the traces of which are still visible on the exterior. The same observation applies to the Palace of Osirtesen at Karnak, the walls of which are panelled with slabs of polished red granite, bearing the traces of a transparent coating with which they were covered.

THE CHINESE.

China is a country where architecture has remained stationary from its early birth, and, consequently, the elementary motives of it are most distinctly preserved; they are placed side by side, without being conjoined by a general ruling idea. The external surface of the wall is still quite independent of the wall itself, and indeed is most frequently movable. The wall bears its own burden alone, and has only in view the filling up of the intervals between the wooden columns which support the third elementary want, (i. e.) the roof. The wall is only a screen, more or less solidly executed than others, constructed in slight brick work, covered externally with painted stucco decoration or interlaced cane work, and internally with tapestry, or its substitute, painted paper. The internal divisions are formed by screens of the same description, and by drapery hung from the ceiling. The design of the ornament, painted and carved upon them and throughout the building, is founded on the same principle of interlacings and cane trellis-work, more or less intricate, and hardly to be recognised through the oddities of successive fashions. A polychromy, rich and brilliant, prevails, which has not been considered with that attention which it deserves in its relation with the ancient style of polychromy.

THE INDIANS.

The monuments of Oriental India, bear the impress of a settled civilisation, at least of the tertiary period. They are comparatively modern in principle and in date; but they furnish us, nevertheless, with very important hints on the history of polychromy.

The frequent use of stucco, which is better made in India than anywhere else, recals the system of the ancients, in covering their fine hewn stonework with a very fine and hard incrustation of stucco.

The Indian edifices constitute, as it were, but a scaffolding from which to hang the drapery forming divisions of their spaces, as in China, and as formerly in Assyria, Egypt, and Greece.

THE JEWS AND PHENICIANS.

At present we have only mentioned existing examples; but the ancient writings furnish us with other no less important matter. The description of the celebrated Ark of Moses, and of the Tabernacle, taken with that of the Temple of David, contains a complete history of polychromy. This curious recital of Jewish antiquities presents us with a progressive development of that elementary principle of architecture which I term “the Enclosure.”

The documents and chronicles of other nations furnish us with parallels to what is contained in the holy writings. The Temple of the Slaves at Mechlenburg, according to the description of Baron von Rumohr, on the faith of ancient chroniclers; was constructed in the Oriental fashion, and richly ornamented with tapestry and gilded wood work.

THE GREEKS.

We now come to the Greeks. Hellenic art must have partaken of the composite character which is manifested in Hellenism generally, and which is so well expressed in the Grecian mythology.

As the beautiful marble, which forms the cliffs and coasts of Greece, notwithstanding its homogeneous transformation, betrays by veins, by fossils, and other indications, its sedimentary origin, so Hellenism, although it may appear homogeneous, and cast—so to speak—in one single jet, betrays, nevertheless, its secondary origin, and the sediment which constitutes its material groundwork.

It would be important to follow up these vestiges of rudimentary Hellenism, since they might enlighten us on certain phenomena in Hellenic art, which have been up to the present time inexplicable without them.

This applies especially to the polychromy of Greek edifices. Much yet remains to be done in this department of Art History, which has been generally discussed either by learned men but no artists, or artists with little learning. The vestiges of rudimentary Hellenism of which I speak, wherever visible, present the same features that we meet with in Assyria, Egypt, and China, and even among savage races; but it would appear that the Greeks, prior to treating in their peculiar manner those principles of art which they inherited, had partly forgotten their origin and their material or hieratical meaning. Thus, only, could they have had the mind free, and ready to commence them anew with an artistic and poetical feeling.

Exactly the same thing occurred in their mythology, which is only poetic fiction based on traditions and fables, partly native, partly foreign, the primitive meaning of which was no longer understood by the poets, who formed them into the groundwork of their cosmogony.

The system of Greek polychromy is the richest of all those of antiquity; but it is, apparently, based neither on a principle of construction or material as among the Assyrians, nor on a hierarchical principle as among the Egyptians. The most striking oppositions of principle are found united in it and harmonised, a more artistic and elevated, but less positive conception. Nevertheless, this applies only to the edifices of a period when art was in a state of high development among them, since the ancient Doric system appears to have had much in common with Egyptian art before it was penetrated by Ionian influence, which depended rather on Asiatic traditions.

I am convinced that the style of Doric polychromy was essentially different to that of the Ionic, which was, notwithstanding, of equal antiquity and originality.

Doric polychromy was based on the Egyptian system, whilst that of Ionia was based on Asiatic models. The first named was lapidary; the colours were detached on a whitish or yellowish ground; there was no gilding, and the use of blue was common, that being the holy colour of the Egyptians (a turquoise blue), the symbolic colour of the priesthood and aristocracy.

The second was more primitive in its nature and recalled more directly the elementary motive of tapestry and embroidery. The ground was generally of a rather deep colour, blue or red, even in the constructive portions, such as the shafts of columns, architraves, &c., a good deal of gilding and sea-green (prasinum) was used; the favourite colour of the Assyrians, the symbolic colour of absolutism and of democracy. The green is still now the holy colour of the successors of the Assyrians in Asia.

This difference of style, analogically observable in the music of these two races, explains the divergent investigations made on the temples of Sicily, and those of Athens. The monuments of Athens, Doric in their general appearance partook, nevertheless, a good deal of the Ionic character. The Ionic mind had penetrated Doric matter, and colour being the least material was that which the Ionian sentiment most easily mastered.

It would be a difficult but very interesting task to unravel the religious and political signification of certain colours in ancient times. We know that red, blue, turquoise, and sea-green, were the four colours by which the factions of the circus distinguished themselves. These were not capriciously chosen, each faction having adopted that colour, the symbolic and traditional meaning of which agreed with the political principles professed by it.

Traces of the antique system of covering construction with tables of wood, plates of metal, or slabs of stone, representing tapestry-work, may still be perceived in the Grecian monuments, for those parts of them which were destined to be ornamented with historical paintings or painted sculpture, are executed in the Assyrian fashion; as, for example, the tympanums of the pediments, the metopes, the friezes, the parts between the columns, and round the walls of the “cella.” It is thus that Grecian monuments show us the fourth path which architecture made towards stone style.

The constructive parts of the building, that is to say, those parts which constituted the entablature of the roof, and its supports, the columns, were painted with the colour of the Greek vases, viz., a very transparent and vaporous brown-red. The walls, inclusive of the “antæ,” which formed only projecting parts of the walls, were of a blue, which was broken by black and a little yellow, and not very dark. This colour formed also the ground for most of the sculptures, except the metopes, which I believe had red grounds. The red in the ornamented mouldings was a very bright vermilion, differing from the red of the ground by colour and treatment.

The same is the case for the blue, which, in the ornamented mouldings, is deeper than on the large surfaces, and tinted in different shades. The oves, or eggs, for instance, were blue, with a darker blue tint around.

The green is a colour which occurs frequently on the Athenian temples, so on the leaves on the moulding which runs under the frieze of the opisthodome of the temple of Theseus, and between the red and blue leaves of the capitals of the antæ. The same sea-green occurs on the draperies of some sculptured figures.

The enamels of wax were frequently covered with washes of thinner colours. This has not been remarked by our restorers of antique polychromy, but is nevertheless necessary for giving softness to the general effect.

The ornaments, as I have just observed, are placed in pieces and soldered together; the solderings forming fillets slightly elevated from the surface and of another colour. I cannot say whether in gold, black, or even in some parts white. I have, for my own part, adopted the hypothesis that it was gold in the Athenian temples, but not on those of Sicily where a strict Doric character prevailed.

I have not found many traces of colour on the Ionic temple of Minerva Polias, and cannot say if the red, which I found on the columns of the Northern Portico, belonged to the ancient colouring, or was of more recent date. On the plate, in my work, which gives a panel of the temple of Theseus, is seen the design of a row of pearls, with a double range of disks.

I can guarantee the exactitude of my observations, although this extreme richness and smallness of detail in an object destined to be seen from a distance may well astonish us.

I have traced every mark on the stones themselves: and, moreover, subjects of this kind are not capable of being invented; indeed it would be a great compliment to suppose me capable of inventing these designs, which I consider charming.

In the portion which I have found in the wall with the niche (see my work), these details are not to be seen. I have also discovered traces of colour, very much effaced, on the small choragic Monument of Lysicrates, which I have carefully examined. It appears that on the ornament which surmounts the roof, there was a variety of blue and red, and that the acanthus leaves were coloured green. The tripod was not placed upon this ornament, but round it, the feet resting on the three volutes which descend from the roof, analogously to the marble tripods which are often met with in various museums of antiquities.

I will not speak of the colours of the Parthenon, which are not so well preserved as those on the Temple of Theseus, but the traces of ornament which decorated that temple are seen by the incisions still remaining. It would appear that the system of ornament there applied was similar to that on the Temple of Theseus.

Some years after my sojourn at Athens, portions of this building have been excavated, with the colours very well preserved; as well as other fragments of architecture which belong to the old Hecatompedon (destroyed by the Persians) covered with painted stucco.

I have not found very decided traces of the colours employed on the Temple of Minerva Polias; the columns appear to have been red, as at the Temple of Theseus. The ceiling of the Temple of the Caryatides had painted frets and orvolos, which I have traced; but the colour was no longer visible. Traces of painted ornaments are to be found also on the Tower of the Winds. I have not been able to get a close view of them.

As regards the sculptures, I have found some regularly encrusted with colour. I have found green (prasinum) on the tunic of one of the seated goddesses, on the frieze of the Temple of Theseus: another figure was clad in a vestment of a deep rose colour. The Caryatides of the Erectheum had blue tunics. We may see that, even on the one in the British Museum.

Mr. Bracebridge has described statues which were excavated in his presence near the Parthenon with flesh tints and painted eyes. The figures of the pediment of the Temple at Egina still retain traces of the colours with which they were decorated. The same observation applies to the metopes of the temple at Selinuntum, now at Palermo. Curious fragments of painted architecture may also be seen at the museums of Syracuse and Girgenti.

The Romans painted their white marbles, like the Greeks. The three columns of the Jupiter Stator in the Roman Forum are painted red on that portion which has remained a long while buried.

The Trajan Column, which I have examined, retains traces of colour and gilding: the entire column had been once covered with a rather thick coating of colour, in which I recognised green, blue, and yellow; but it is probable that this last was the remains of the gilding.