Colour Decoration of Architecture

by James Ward

The interior of the town-hall at Aix-la-Chapelle is admirably decorated, and in a similar manner to those of Hildesheim and Frankfort. The Coronation Chamber in this building contains the celebrated historical fresco paintings by Alfred Rethel, four of which were painted by this artist, and the other four were designed by Rethel, but painted by Professor Kehren. The vaulted ceilings and piers are richly decorated in colour, and windows with stained glass.

The principal staircase walls of the New Museum in Berlin are decorated with six great frescoes by Kaulbach, representing certain epochs in the history of mankind. These wall paintings are executed in the water-glass method of fresco. As wall decorations they are too pictorial in design, and the treatment, in the matter of colouring and technique, lacks simplicity. They are over-modelled in their light and shade, and the colouring presents too many violent contrasts, which greatly injures their value as monumental examples of legitimate wall decoration. Wherever white or light yellows occur in the work, these parts of the painting have evidently become disintegrated, and at present show a disagreeable chalkiness or bloom. This, together with the presence of many black and heavy shadows, which appear to have gone darker, if possible, with age, combine to throw the painting out of tone. In composition and drawing they are not without grandeur of style, but if they had been more simple in treatment, and less violent in colour and light and shade effects, they would be more pleasing as wall decorations.

In the Hall of the Gods, and in the two adjoining rooms on either side of the small vestibule in the Glyptothek at Munich there are some important frescoes by Cornelius, painted in 1820-30. The subjects of these paintings are classical, and represent the Abode of the Gods, the Legend of Prometheus, and the Trojan wars, all painted in rich and brilliant schemes of colour, but bordering on harshness. There is a great deal of auxiliary decoration in these rooms consisting of good examples of ornamentation in the Greco-Roman style of Grottesche in painting and in stucco-reliefs. The new Town-hall of Munich is well decorated with wall paintings, ornament, and heraldic work. The Council Chamber has a very large wall painting executed in oil on canvas by Piloty. The subject is an Allegorical History of Munich, and the magistrates’ room has paintings by Lindenschmit and is also adorned with a finely carved and painted ceiling.

One of the finest schemes of modern German decoration is that of the great staircase of the Albertinum Sculpture Gallery at Dresden. The frescoes, by H. Prell, on the ceiling and walls have subjects of Greek mythology and are painted in bright and light schemes of colour, the general effect being very luminous, and the work is vigorous in execution. The dado and lower stonework has panels of bronze with low-relief decoration, and in the corridor of the landing there are some fine panels in mosaic.

Fresco, mosaic, tiles, and coloured marble have frequently been used, as the means of obtaining colour decoration on the exteriors of many public buildings in Germany, in modern times. On the upper part of the façade of the Kunst-Gewerbe Museum at Berlin there are a fine series of square-shaped panels containing mosaics in colour on gold grounds, designed by Professor Ewald, and by Geselchap.

The exterior wall of the Royal Historical Museum at Dresden has an important decoration, consisting of a long and deep frieze, executed in a light yellow stone-colour and black on a gold-coloured ground. The material is a kind of porcelain or tile composition, having a sgraffito-like treatment. The work was made in the Royal Porcelain Manufactory at Meissen. The subject of this frieze is a procession of kings and warriors of Saxony on horseback who ruled from 1170 to 1873, and who are represented in chronological order.

There are many buildings in Germany that have had their exteriors decorated with paintings in fresco, but much of this work is now in a decayed condition. Many modern houses, such as restaurants and shops, have exterior decorations painted in oil. The outside walls of the Old (Alt) Museum at Berlin have an extensive arrangement of panels painted in fresco, having mythological subjects, such as the Labours of Hercules, etc., but they are now in a dirty and faded condition. As an example of exterior colouring we might mention the beautiful Gothic fountain, the Schöne Brunnen, erected about 1360, in the market place of Nuremberg. This fountain is built in the shape of a pyramid, in a rich Gothic style; it has, however, been restored several times. It is decorated with many figures of kings, prophets, apostles, and other worthies, and is always kept painted in its original colouring of blue, red, and gold.

We may conclude this review of German coloured decoration of buildings by a brief notice of some of the painted wood and stone carvings which are found plentifully in old German churches, and more particularly in those of Nuremberg. The Church of St. Lawrence at Nuremberg contains several examples of carved wood altar-pieces in the form of triptychs, the centre panels of which are carved with scriptural subjects, the figures being in high relief and painted in rich colours, in order to harmonise with the colour of the two painted leaves on either side of it. Hanging from the roof in the centre of this church is the celebrated circular wood carving by Veit Stoss, all richly coloured and gilt. It consists of a representation of the Annunciation, and the surrounding circular frame is of a beautiful design of open work ornamented with roses, and with seven medallions with representations of the Seven Joys of the Virgin. In this church there is also a very interesting fourteenth-century altar-piece in Gothic stone-carving which is erected in a bay on the left of the east end of the church. It is a good example of the colouring of the period, and is painted in tints of yellowish-red and warm green, with a soft dull blue in the background parts, and the salient points and narrow mouldings are gilt. On many of the structural parts and mouldings of this Church there are still remains of the fourteenth and fifteenth century colouring. Remains of similar colouring are found in many parts of the Church of St. Sebaldus, at Nuremberg, more particularly on the ribs of the vaults, piers, and ceilings, etc. In this church may be seen the celebrated Crucifixion with the figures of the Saviour, the Virgin, and St. John, in carved wood and richly coloured, which is the work of Veit Stoss (1520). Another example of painted and gilded wood carving in this church is the statue of the Madonna (1450) under a canopy of Gothic design.