Studio: international art (14.1898)

Decorations for a Library

is obvious to any visitor and apparent in the
excellent photographs taken by Mr. Andrews
which are here reproduced. It is a splendid piece
of construction, with walls arranged to serve as great
buttresses to the huge arches of the interior and
the roof vaulting, both admirable and imposing.
At present the interior lacks decoration, nor would
it be fair to describe the scheme of gorgeous
colour and gold in low relief which is projected.
The whole building is like nothing else—the
sources of its inspiration have been noted, but the
vigour and fancy of the work can best be judged
from the details here photographed. In place of
over-finished smooth detail there is rough strong
modelling, except when (as in the angels’ heads)
delicacy is essential, while a certain impress of
the craftsman’s hand on every inch separates it
entirely from the average modem building, eccle-
siastical or domestic. The use of Roman bricks
is no doubt responsible for no little of the peculiar
beauty of the plain walls : the unit being so much
smaller than one is accustomed to see in brick-

DF.TAILS OF PORCH DESIGNED BY MRS. G. F. WATTS

24O

CAPITALS DESIGNED BY MRS. G. F. WATTS

work, helps to deceive the eye, and to give the build-
ing an air of greater height than it actually possesses.
But whether this, the fine proportions of the parts,
the unity of colour of the whole, or any other
feature contains the secret of its charm, may be
open to argument. The fact remains that the
charm is there, and that this chapel is the most
original and perfect modern ecclesiastical edifice
one has seen for many years.

SOME DECORATIONS FOR
A LIBRARY BY GERALD
MOIRA AND F. LYNN JEN-
KINS.

The coloured bas-reliefs of Mr. Gerald Moira and
Mr. Lynn Jenkins have been described here so
lately, that in illustrating eight others intended
for the same library as those illustrated recently,
it would be superfluous to repeat the methods
of their production, or to apportion the share
of each artist. To those unfamiliar with the
works, the illustrations would fail to suggest the
quality of the colour, which is rather like that of
stained ivory, and accident of its massing in
shadows, and being thinly spread on parts in relief,
supplies a charm which the best photographer
cannot reproduce.

The colours used are not soft, evasive shades,
but full, rich pigments of almost primary hues, so
excellently well placed that a certain jewel-like
quality is achieved, something far nearer the quality
of painted glass than of a fresco. It is this possi-