DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0419
Bk. IY. Ch. Y.
DOMESTIC AKCHITECTUKE.
383
more variecl and more intellectnal. For the same reason they are
superior to the works of the same class executed by the Moslems in
Egypt and Persia, and they are far superior to the rude attempts of
the Gothic architects in the Middle Ages; stili they are probably as
inferior to what the Greeks did in their best days as the pillars of the
Pompeian peristyles are to the porticoes of the Parthenon. But though
doubtless far inferior to their originals, those at Pompeii are direct
imitations of true Greek decorative forms; and it is through them
249. Wall Decoration at Pompeii. (From Eosengarten.)
alone that we can form even the most remote idea of the exquisite
beauty to which polychromatic architecture once attained, but which
we can scarcely venture to hope it will ever reach again.
One curious point which has hitherto been too much overlooked
is, that in Pompeii there are two perfectly distinct styles of decoration.
One of these is purely Etruscan, both in form and colour, and such as
is only found in the tombs or on the authentic works of the Etruscans.
The other is no less essentially Greek, both in design and colour : it is
far more common than the Etruscan form, and is always easily to be
DOMESTIC AKCHITECTUKE.
383
more variecl and more intellectnal. For the same reason they are
superior to the works of the same class executed by the Moslems in
Egypt and Persia, and they are far superior to the rude attempts of
the Gothic architects in the Middle Ages; stili they are probably as
inferior to what the Greeks did in their best days as the pillars of the
Pompeian peristyles are to the porticoes of the Parthenon. But though
doubtless far inferior to their originals, those at Pompeii are direct
imitations of true Greek decorative forms; and it is through them
249. Wall Decoration at Pompeii. (From Eosengarten.)
alone that we can form even the most remote idea of the exquisite
beauty to which polychromatic architecture once attained, but which
we can scarcely venture to hope it will ever reach again.
One curious point which has hitherto been too much overlooked
is, that in Pompeii there are two perfectly distinct styles of decoration.
One of these is purely Etruscan, both in form and colour, and such as
is only found in the tombs or on the authentic works of the Etruscans.
The other is no less essentially Greek, both in design and colour : it is
far more common than the Etruscan form, and is always easily to be