Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in England

by G. W. Eve

Fig. 197.—Gateway of the Château de Blois. (Restored.) Fifteenth Century.

In Spain extremely bold and vigorous heraldic sculpture was placed over doorways and under windows, but it was often executed with magnificent effect in large rectangular panels at the sides of the principal entrance. Fine examples are at the doorway of the Hospital at Santiago and at that of the University Library at Salamanca.

Italian examples are found in the Florentine wall decoration in the Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo del Podesta, in the composition of which small shields bearing the symbols of Saints and the arms of cities were usually associated with the principal device.

Heraldic groups were also employed with excellent effect on angles of buildings, breaking the straight line in profile in a very satisfactory way.

In the scheme of heraldry for a house the principal position on the exterior was over the main entrance, and there the armorials of the owner were boldly displayed, arms of alliance and genealogical trees being reserved for the more intimate surroundings of the interior.

Other parts of the exterior were ornamented with less elaborate insignia such as seemed to fit the spaces that offered themselves, badges being freely used in this way as well inside as out. Chimney stacks and other flat spaces were relieved with panels, and ridges and pinnacles were adorned with figures of heraldic significance in relation to the family of the house.

In arms in relief, whether in large mural decorations or in the minute workmanship of a seal, contiguous spaces, which in flat painting would be considered divisions of the same plane, are distinguished from each other by sinking the surface in parts or by means of diapering. The quarterly shield of Henry IV on his great seal (Fig. 2, p. 18) has the field of the English quarter sunk so that the edge of the French quarter being higher takes light or throws a shadow which defines the space. Additional emphasis is given to ordinaries by strongly bevelling their edges which then reflect light in the same way. And diapering, which has been already referred to, may have the effect of raising or lowering the tone of the decorated surface, according to the amount of light it reflects or of shadow that it includes.

The mantling that occurs in sculpture, especially when done in wood, does not hesitate to go to the fullest extent in the direction of free ornamental treatment, and in thus seizing upon the decorative possibilities of its so lightly fettered character it may form a connecting decoration between the constituents of an heraldic scheme which might otherwise have a certain effect of spottiness.

The pose of the heraldic elements of the design may also be made to help materially the general unity of effect. Thus the helmets of a series of armorials may be faced towards a central point, such as the altar in a church, or the hearth or the daïs of a secular apartment. Shields may be inclined in a common direction with similar intention and all the heraldry have definite relation to its surroundings. It should be remembered, however, that in thus posing the elements of a series, a shield must be treated as a whole, and the contents must not be altered in sympathy with the direction of its regard.