DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0537
WALL DECORATION
45 7
tones gives the walls a somewhat cold and formal appearance
when we bring into contrast the warm coloring of the next
period.
The fourth or Intricate Style first appears about the middle
of the first century a.d. It started, as did the third, with the
symmetrical division of the wall developed in the second style;
it differs from the third in that it always retained a sense of
architectural form. The columns are often fluted, as in a speci-
men in the Naples Museum (Fig. 253). The entablatures and
coffered ceilings, light and airy as they often seem, have never-
theless a suggestion of reality; we know that architectural forms
are presented, and not mere stripes of color. Yet the difference
between the fourth and the second style is no less apparent.
In the latter the architectural designs are not inconsistent with
real construction; in the former the imagination of the designer
had free scope, producing patterns so fantastic and intricate
that the fundamental idea at the basis of the Avail divisions
seems entirely lost sight of at times.
The preference for architectural forms was carried so far that
between the large panels of black, red, or yellow, vertical sec-
tions of wall were left which were filled with airy structures .on
a white background; the parts represented as nearest the be-
holder were painted yellow, those further back were adorned
with all the colors of the rainbow, thus forming a kind of color
perspective (Fig. 254). The designs of the main part were ex-
tended into the upper division, and frequently the whole wall
appears as an intricate scaffolding, partially concealed by the
large panels ; these sometimes have the appearance of tapestries
hanging suspended from the scaffolding, and are so treated, as
in the case of the curtains shown in Plate XII. The fundamen-
tal conception of the decorative system is lost when the back-
ground of the upper part and of the airy scaffoldings is no
longer left white, but painted the same color as the rest of the
wall, so that the effect of distance and perspective is .obscured.
Occasionally, also, the architectural framework of the upper por-
tion of the wall has no connection with that of the main part.
The ornaments of the fourth style were taken largely from
the domain of plastic art. Groups of statuary as well as single
45 7
tones gives the walls a somewhat cold and formal appearance
when we bring into contrast the warm coloring of the next
period.
The fourth or Intricate Style first appears about the middle
of the first century a.d. It started, as did the third, with the
symmetrical division of the wall developed in the second style;
it differs from the third in that it always retained a sense of
architectural form. The columns are often fluted, as in a speci-
men in the Naples Museum (Fig. 253). The entablatures and
coffered ceilings, light and airy as they often seem, have never-
theless a suggestion of reality; we know that architectural forms
are presented, and not mere stripes of color. Yet the difference
between the fourth and the second style is no less apparent.
In the latter the architectural designs are not inconsistent with
real construction; in the former the imagination of the designer
had free scope, producing patterns so fantastic and intricate
that the fundamental idea at the basis of the Avail divisions
seems entirely lost sight of at times.
The preference for architectural forms was carried so far that
between the large panels of black, red, or yellow, vertical sec-
tions of wall were left which were filled with airy structures .on
a white background; the parts represented as nearest the be-
holder were painted yellow, those further back were adorned
with all the colors of the rainbow, thus forming a kind of color
perspective (Fig. 254). The designs of the main part were ex-
tended into the upper division, and frequently the whole wall
appears as an intricate scaffolding, partially concealed by the
large panels ; these sometimes have the appearance of tapestries
hanging suspended from the scaffolding, and are so treated, as
in the case of the curtains shown in Plate XII. The fundamen-
tal conception of the decorative system is lost when the back-
ground of the upper part and of the airy scaffoldings is no
longer left white, but painted the same color as the rest of the
wall, so that the effect of distance and perspective is .obscured.
Occasionally, also, the architectural framework of the upper por-
tion of the wall has no connection with that of the main part.
The ornaments of the fourth style were taken largely from
the domain of plastic art. Groups of statuary as well as single