At the end of the fifteenth century panelling was superseding the decorative draperies and sculpture was taking the place in domestic buildings that it had long held in ecclesiastical ones, the heraldry which had been displayed in beautiful needlework being executed in carving that was no less beautiful in another way. Plaster work also came largely into use for interior decoration.
Many instances of beautifully applied heraldry are given in Mr. Gotch’s admirable work[1] and notably the doorway and panelling of the Gallery of the Vyne, Hampshire, Fig. 201, which I am permitted to reproduce here. The doorway is adorned by arms supported by amorini and the panelling is full of shields and badges; the appropriateness of the work is immediately felt, and there is nothing obtrusive, everything “occurs” with an inevitableness that is delightful.
In the decoration of a room the fireplace is naturally the central feature, to which in some cases the heraldry is confined; in others, and the larger number, it covers the panel above, the decoration varying in amount from a carving in the centre of the frieze of the chimney-piece, or on comparatively small centres of panelling, to the whole armorials fully displayed. Fig. 202 is an example of badges employed in this way, and is another of the many representations of the devices of Louis XII and his Queen, Anne of Brittany.
These large chimney-piece achievements are produced in a variety of ways, being sometimes sculptured in stone or wood, but they are also cast in plaster or modelled in situ in the same material.
Fig. 202.—Fireplace in the Salon Louis XII Château de Blois. (Restoration in the style of the Fifteenth Century.)
In the decoration of ceilings complete armorials and even shields of arms are by no means so much used as are badges and other fanciful devices, the intersections of ribs and the centres of panels being naturally selected for the purpose. Two examples of ceiling bosses consisting of wreaths enclosing a shield of the Royal Arms and a fleur-de-lis badge respectively are from ceilings at Hampton Court (Fig. 203), for which also I am indebted to Mr. Gotch’s work.
Fig. 203.—Ceiling Bosses from Hampton Court Palace. Sixteenth Century.
The upper divisions of wall panelling are especially suitable for a series of shields and badges when they are at a sufficient height to bring the heraldry above the line of the eye. This will probably be in carved work, the most direct and natural way of decorating wood, but shields in colour, flat or in relief, may occupy the panels with very satisfactory effect. A frieze is also an obviously suitable space for such a purpose, whether the decoration be modelled or painted, or both.