105.—Cottage at Steventon, Berkshire.
In the more important houses the gables were not infrequently curved, especially in later times, that is to say, the curved gable is more frequent in Jacobean work than in Elizabethan. This idea no doubt came from the Low Countries, where it was very extensively adopted, but the extravagant and fantastic curves which the Dutchman loved were much simplified by his English imitator. Some of the more ambitious efforts, such as Wollaton, went near in their elaborate strap-work to rival the original models. A study of one of the corner pavilions (Fig. [106]) will show how, not only in the gables but in the whole treatment, the foreign influence is predominant. The simplicity of the native type is entirely wanting. There are no plain surfaces of any extent; the columns are broken by a projecting band; the pedestals on which they stand are adorned with panels of double projection; not only are the corner piers of the parapet crowned with an obelisk, but the pediment at the top of each gable carries a small statue on a pedestal: everything is done to add to the picturesqueness and richness of effect. Nevertheless, through all the ornament with which the design is overloaded, its main ideas are plainly visible: the large and simple windows, the emphasizing of the angles, the gables of studiously irregular outline. In some Dutch and German work the designers seemed to lose sight of their purpose in the exuberance of their ornament, but here it is not so. It will be seen that the circular niches on the side faces are filled with busts, although the vertical niches between the pilasters are empty. The busts, so far as they are named or can be identified, are those of classic personages—Plato, Aristoteles, Vergilius—and are said to have been brought over from Italy.
106.—Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire. One of Corner Towers (1588).
The west front of Kirby (Fig. [107]) offers a great contrast to Wollaton. Here everything up as high as the parapet is as simple as it can well be; there are no pilasters, no niches, no strap-work panels. The windows and the cornices which make the circuit of the building are the only architectural features. The gables have the strap-work, but it is of a simpler form than that at Wollaton: the irregularity of their outline, combined with the tapering obelisks, some of which have open stone bows at the bottom, something after the fashion of a jug handle, imparts the necessary picturesqueness, without having recourse to the expensive devices employed at Wollaton. The latter house was built between the years 1580 and 1588, and the gables may therefore be taken as dating from 1588: the date of the west front of Kirby is not recorded, but from the character of the work it may very well have been subsequent to the main building operations in 1570-75, and, as already stated, these gables were not improbably added towards the close of the sixteenth century. One curious point about this front is the care which was taken to make the quoins perfectly regular in size: in some cases where the quoin stone was larger than the regulation size, the overplus was slightly sunk, and then scored with false joint-lines to match those of the adjacent rubble.
107.—Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire. Part of West Front (possibly 1595).
There was a simpler type of curved gable which was freely used, as in the courtyard at Rushton (Fig. [108]), and it was sometimes combined with steps, as at Apethorpe (Fig. [109]), the result being picturesque without being fussy. The date of the example at Apethorpe is 1623-24, and that at Rushton 1627. The curve, instead of being ogee-shaped as in these instances, was sometimes composed of two curves of similar form, with a square shoulder between them, like those at Blickling (Plate [XXXVII].), or the sweep of the ogee was broken by the introduction of a vertical line, such as may be seen in the gables at Lilford (Plate [XXXIV].). Further varieties occur at Montacute (Fig. [48]), Stanway (Plate [XXII].), and Westwood (Plate [XXIII].).
Parapets.