GOTHIC.
The Gothic is founded upon geometrical forms. The strap-work of former styles is elaborated into tracery, the main lines being circular or curved, starting from vertical lines, ending in points, enclosing spaces divided and subdivided in the same manner, further decorated with conventional ornaments derived from local nature. For bookbinding it is sometimes employed, but without much judgment. The judicious finisher will reject it on account of its inapplicability to superficial decoration.
THE RENAISSANCE.
The Renaissance or Revival arose in Italy in the fifteenth century, by the appropriation of classic details in connection with prior styles, the traditionary giving way to selection and freedom; Art gaining but few entirely new forms, rather subjecting all that had gone before to a new treatment, which in the hands of the great artists of the period produced agreeable results, showing the importance of general design, rendering even incongruous materials pleasing from that cause alone. The Cinque-cento has been considered the goal of the Renaissance and its characteristics,—strap, tracery, arabesque, and pierced scroll-work, a mixture of the conventional with natural forms, and every detail of ancient Art,—producing, under different masters, varied results. Thus, in Raphael's Loggie of the Vatican are to be found, as at Pompeii, elements piled one above the other, without any regard to construction. The same with the works of Julio Romano at Mantua,—painted imitation of bas-reliefs suspended above fountains, temples, &c., the parts often finely drawn and treated, but, taken as a whole, little removed from the absurd, quite unlike the works of the Greeks and Etruscans they sought to rival.
ELIZABETHAN.
The Elizabethan was an English version of the Renaissance, being a special elaboration of the strap and bolt-work, and has been highly useful to the stamp-cutter. Many of its forms can be advantageously employed by the finisher.
LOUIS QUATORZE.
This distinct expression of Art is of Italian origin, being the last of the Renaissance, and end of ornamental styles. It consists of scrolls and shells, an alternation of curves and hollows, the concave and convex in contrast, the broken surfaces affording a brilliant play of light and shade. The effect when gilt being extremely magnificent, colour was abandoned, construction hidden, and symmetry often disregarded, especially in its decline. As to superficial treatment, flat surfaces were studiously avoided, and the few that remained were treated pictorially, in a mellifluous, pastoral style, known as that of Watteau. Under Louis XV. the forms degenerated: symmetrical balance and flow of line were disregarded, giving way to the degraded ornamentation called the Rococo—the prevailing style of the last and earlier part of the present century—depriving Europe for more than one hundred years of true superficial decoration, without which no Art can be considered complete. An attempt at this style may be seen upon the sides of some of the gaudily-gilt albums and books of like character. No finisher need cultivate a love for it, for it is the aversion of all refined artists.