Colour Decoration of Architecture

by James Ward

Many architects and artists were very enthusiastic about this time in advocating the extended use of colour on buildings, and numerous old churches and chateaux were restored to their former colouring, but those who undertook such work were not all gifted as colourists, and consequently some mistakes and failures happened; but at the same time a considerable amount of good work was accomplished where refined excellence and harmonious expression of colour were by no means wanting. Alfred Norman and Louis Duc were successful decorators of this period. Among the works of the former was the beautifully decorated house in the Pompeian style, painted for Louis Napoleon, and the latter architect used glazed tiles in combination with painting in some successful schemes of decoration in the oriental method of colouring. The Church of Saint Germain-des-Prés, in Paris, which contains the frescoes of Hippolyte Flandrin, was admirably decorated by Denuelle under the direction of the architect, Victor Baltard. In connection with the colour revival in France, Viollet-le-Duc makes this reflection: “Why do we deprive ourselves of all these resources of art? Why does the classic school pretend that coldness and monotony are the inseparable accompaniments of beauty, when the Greeks, whom they present to us as artists par excellence, always coloured their buildings inside and out, not timidly, but by putting on colours of extreme brilliancy?”

The use of coloured terra-cotta, ceramic tiles and mosaic, rapidly spread in France about this time, for the architects and the public had become acquainted with the coloured tile decoration of Moorish palaces in Spain, the tile facings of mosques in Persia, Cairo, and of the Mohammedan palaces and mosques of India. In conjunction with this kind of decoration, mosaic work also reappeared in France. Charles Garnier, the eminent architect, designed and built the new Opera House in Paris, in the years 1871 and 1872, where he introduced mosaic on a large scale, both inside and outside this important building. He also used mosaics and enamels in the decoration of the Casino at Monte Carlo. The polychromy of the Opera House in Paris is of a refined and dignified character, which, on the exterior of the building, is obtained by marble, bronze, mosaic, enamelled earthenware and gilding, and in the interior by mosaics and the painted decorations of Paul Baudry and other artists. Garnier was an enthusiast in the colouring of architecture, and especially for the use of mosaic in the decoration of buildings. In his dream of the future of Paris, he predicts that “The grounds of the cornices will shine with eternal colours, the piers will be enriched with sparkling panels, gilded friezes will run along the buildings. The monuments will be clothed with marbles and enamels, and mosaics will make all love movement and colour.” Garnier brought over to Paris many Italian mosaic workers, and it was largely due to his influence that the Government established the French École de Mosaïque at Sèvres, which has achieved excellent results under the direction of the late M. Gerspach.

Glazed tiles, enamelled earthenware, coloured wood, bronze and mosaic were from this time forward employed as decorative materials in public and private buildings in Paris and throughout the provinces. The great International Exhibitions were in some degree decorated with these materials, and the exhibits of these coloured building materials from England, France itself, and other countries, gave a great impetus to the production of such, especially to those of the potter’s art. In France the large decorative panels in coloured tile work by M. Deck created an epoch in this kind of work.

Foremost among the many architects and artists in the advocacy of colour in buildings was the late M. Paul Sédille, whose work in the effective use of enamelled terra-cotta and glass mosaic in decoration is well known in Paris. He designed, among other work, the beautiful monumental doorway as the entrance to the Salle des Beaux-Arts in the Exposition-Universelle of 1878 at Paris, which was composed exclusively of coloured terra-cotta and glazed tiles, similar to that of the Italian “Della Robbia” variety. This enamelled doorway was modelled in relief and painted in contrasting colours of green, red, natural colours, black and white, on pale yellow and azure grounds. The wreaths, stars, palms, and other salient portions of the design were in gold. Another work of his is that of the decoration of the ceiling of the vestibule of the Magazin-du-Printemps in Paris, where he has used enamelled glass mosaic with variegated marbles in an ornamental design, enclosed with plain and gilt bronze mouldings. The colouring of this effective design is very simple but rich, the ground being gold, the foliage pale greens, and the flowers white, slightly shaded with rose colour.

The most important mosaic decoration in France is perhaps that of the apse of the Panthéon at Paris, by the artist M. E. Hébert. The subject of the composition is “Christ revealing to the Angel of France the Destinies of her People.” The figure of Christ occupies the centre of the hemispherical vault, and stands before a throne; the right hand is uplifted, and in the left is the rolled volume—the book of the future—sealed with the seven seals. On His right the Virgin presents Joan of Arc with her standard banner, and on the left the Angel of France, whose red wings are heightened with gold, and with sword in hand, presents Sainte Geneviève, of Paris. The ground of the composition is gold. The figure of Christ is clothed in a robe of purple, and has a border of gold, and that of the Virgin is white with a gold fringe. The Angel of France is robed in a rose-coloured garment, and has a bluish-green coloured mantle. St. Geneviève has a blue robe and a grey mantle. All the personages stand on a verdured meadow, which is enamelled with flowers. Elaborate borders of vine leafage and grapes, with fillets of precious stones, surround the composition, which are from the designs of M. Galland, one of the finest decorative artists of France. The composition, character and colouring of this important mosaic, as well as the technique, are based on the best traditions of the Ravenna mosaics of the fifth and sixth centuries.

In the French provinces many examples of colour decoration and mosaic work have been executed in recent years, notably the mosaic decorations of the new cathedrals at Marseilles and Lyons. The municipal buildings of Paris and of the provincial cities of France, together with churches, universities, and other public and private buildings, contain numerous examples of important wall paintings, which though of great interest individually, are rather to be regarded as isolated efforts of decorative or pictorial value than complete schemes of the colour decoration of the buildings which they adorn.

In regard to what we have just said, it will be necessary to make a very important exception in the case of at least one great French master of decorative art, namely, Puvis de Chavannes, for he was perhaps the greatest decorator that France has produced. No one understood so well as he did the laws and principles of architectural decoration and colouring. He was almost alone among the artists of France in his proper treatment of the wall surface as an architectural feature, for on looking at his work one always feels that the wall is in evidence as a solid and flat surface, and that his great pictorial decorations, as far as the design and colouring of them go, and so full of beauty and interest as they are, in no way interfere with the architectural function of the wall. A comparison of his work in the Panthéon at Paris with that of the other artists whose works occupy other wall spaces in that building clearly proves this contention, for, as a rule, the surrounding wall paintings, executed by about ten other artists, though excellent as illustrative works of art, are really out of place as wall decorations in their composition, treatment of design, and more particularly in their violent colouring. They do not harmonise with the dignity of the architecture, they are not legitimate decorations, but rather great pictures fastened to the walls, making a lively and gay picture-gallery in a solemn and dignified building, and lacking that monumental fitness in their design and colouring which is so well expressed in the work of Puvis de Chavannes.

All the painters of these wall pictures in the Panthéon, with the exception of Chavannes, seem to have been influenced by the works of Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian and Rubens, who produced large, and even colossal-sized oil paintings, which were designed to fit wall and ceiling spaces as decorative pictures, and were glorious things in themselves with all their richness of colour, perspective, composition and vigour of brush-work in the execution, but none of them can be considered as suitable decoration of the spaces they occupy on ceilings and walls. The Italian Primitive School, and the great frescanti of Italy, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, understood the requirements of wall decoration much better than the later, though great, Italian and Flemish masters, who painted their pictures chiefly in the oil medium. Chavannes, however, apparently founded his style and methods on the work of the early Italians, and, though he painted in an oil and wax medium on canvas which was “marouflée,” or cemented, on to the wall, and not painted on the wall direct, as in fresco or tempera, his work shows strong decorative influences derived from the study of these early Italian masters.

It would not be difficult to point out some of the many instances where the majority of the Panthéon wall pictures fail as decoration, where violent contrasts of colour and extreme perspective effects are, as it would appear, almost aimed for, as if the object was to destroy the plane of the wall as a flat surface, by making it look as if it had holes or windows, rather than any striving for the preservation of its natural solidity.

The wall picture, “Vers La Gloire,” by the clever artist, Detaille, may be mentioned as an example of work that has reached the limits of misplaced decoration. This work, though no doubt very popular, is really a crowded and complex miniature painting enlarged and transferred to the wall. In this painting there are represented hundreds of soldiers and horses all in the most violent action, with banners flying, and a plethora of swords, spears and trumpets; the horses are madly galloping on and through the clouds, there is plenty of movement, and great cleverness is displayed in the grouping of the horsemen, but at a few yards’ distance the work appears to be a merely glittering and spotty achievement, and when examined closely represents a perfect museum of soldiers’ uniforms. Clever as this work is, it is, however, entirely out of place on the walls of the Panthéon, for, apart from the unsuitability of the subject, it cramps and destroys the amplitude, as well as the flatness and solidity of the wall, which should be the first care of the artist to preserve.