DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7186#0016
2
Introduction.
Next, studying the history of terra-cottas under their aspect as ornamental
details, not to speak of other facts which attest their use at a remote period, let
us cite the words of Cicognara,1 where he discourses of the origin of the
sculptural art: ' Who knows how often and amid how many nations may not
have happened that which was related in Corinth of the potter Dibutades of
Sicyon, whose daughter traced on the wall the shadow of the face of her lover
who was about to leave her ; and the outline of whose shadow, filled with
clay by the father, produced the first profile in bas-relief, and was baked in the
furnace along with the tiles ?'
Following the course of time we observe, with the distinguished Thomas
Hope,"' that ' the ancient Greeks seem everywhere in their mother country, and
their different later colonies, to have found stone too plentifully to make great
use of brick, though a few remains of terra-cotta cornices have been found
even in Greece, as well as terra-cotta vases and bas-reliefs.
' The ancient Romans, wherever they found clay more abundant or easier to
work than stone, used it plentifully, both in regular layers throughout the body
of walls, as we do, and in an external reticulated coating, which has proved to
be as durable as stone itself from the fineness of its texture and the firmness of its
joints. Indeed, far from considering brick as a material fit only for the coarsest
and most indispensable groundwork of architecture, they regarded it as equally
adapted for all the elegances of ornamental form—all the details of rich archi-
traves, capitals, friezes, cornices, and other embellishments. Sometimes it owed
to the mould its various forms, and at others, as in the Amphitheatrum Castrense
and the temple of the god Rediculus, to the chisel.
' In modern Rome, too, very great use was made of brick until a very late
period. Of the grand Farnese palace, begun by Bramante and finished by
Michael Angelo, the plain surfaces are of brick, so fine in its texture and so
1 Storia della Scultura dal suo Risorgimento in Italia to his ' Historical Essay on Architecture,' and is also
fino al secolo di Napoleone, ecc, tomo I, p. zi,Venezia, published in the Italian version of his work made by
1813. G. Imperatori, Milan, 1840.
2 This extract is from a MS. note by Hope, appended
Introduction.
Next, studying the history of terra-cottas under their aspect as ornamental
details, not to speak of other facts which attest their use at a remote period, let
us cite the words of Cicognara,1 where he discourses of the origin of the
sculptural art: ' Who knows how often and amid how many nations may not
have happened that which was related in Corinth of the potter Dibutades of
Sicyon, whose daughter traced on the wall the shadow of the face of her lover
who was about to leave her ; and the outline of whose shadow, filled with
clay by the father, produced the first profile in bas-relief, and was baked in the
furnace along with the tiles ?'
Following the course of time we observe, with the distinguished Thomas
Hope,"' that ' the ancient Greeks seem everywhere in their mother country, and
their different later colonies, to have found stone too plentifully to make great
use of brick, though a few remains of terra-cotta cornices have been found
even in Greece, as well as terra-cotta vases and bas-reliefs.
' The ancient Romans, wherever they found clay more abundant or easier to
work than stone, used it plentifully, both in regular layers throughout the body
of walls, as we do, and in an external reticulated coating, which has proved to
be as durable as stone itself from the fineness of its texture and the firmness of its
joints. Indeed, far from considering brick as a material fit only for the coarsest
and most indispensable groundwork of architecture, they regarded it as equally
adapted for all the elegances of ornamental form—all the details of rich archi-
traves, capitals, friezes, cornices, and other embellishments. Sometimes it owed
to the mould its various forms, and at others, as in the Amphitheatrum Castrense
and the temple of the god Rediculus, to the chisel.
' In modern Rome, too, very great use was made of brick until a very late
period. Of the grand Farnese palace, begun by Bramante and finished by
Michael Angelo, the plain surfaces are of brick, so fine in its texture and so
1 Storia della Scultura dal suo Risorgimento in Italia to his ' Historical Essay on Architecture,' and is also
fino al secolo di Napoleone, ecc, tomo I, p. zi,Venezia, published in the Italian version of his work made by
1813. G. Imperatori, Milan, 1840.
2 This extract is from a MS. note by Hope, appended