ome of the noblest paintings (on stretched canvas)
which the world possesses: and this is all very well for the ceiling;
but one would rather have the painting in a better place, especially
when the rain soaks through its canvas, as I have seen it doing through
many a noble Tintoret. On the whole, flat ceilings are as much to be
avoided as possible; and, when necessary, perhaps a panelled
ornamentation with rich colored patterns is the most satisfying, and
loses least of valuable labor. But I leave the question to the reader's
thought, being myself exceedingly undecided respecting it: except only
touching one point--that a blank ceiling is not to be redeemed by a
decorated ventilator.

Sec. IV. I have a more confirmed opinion, however, respecting the
decoration of curved surfaces. The majesty of a roof is never, I think,
so great, as when the eye can pass undisturbed over the course of all
its curvatures, and trace the dying of the shadows along its smooth and
sweeping vaults. And I would rather, myself, have a plain ridged Gothic
vault, with all its rough stones visible, to keep the sleet and wind out
of a cathedral aisle, than all the fanning and pendanting and foliation
that ever bewildered Tudor weight. But mosaic or fresco may of course be
used as far as we can afford or obtain them; for these do not break the
curvature. Perhaps the most solemn roofs in the world are the apse
conchas of the Romanesque basilicas, with their golden ground and severe
figures. Exactly opposed to these are the decorations which disturb the
serenity of the curve without giving it interest, like the vulgar
panelling of St. Peter's and the Pantheon; both, I think, in the last
degree detestable.

Sec. V. As roofs internally may be divided into surfaces and ribs,
externally they may be divided into surfaces, and points, or ridges;
these latter often receiving very bold and distinctive ornament. The
outside surface is of small importance in central Europe, being almost
universally low in slope, and tiled throughout Spain, South France, and
North Italy: of still less importance where it is flat, as a terrace; as
often in South Italy and the East, mingled with low domes: but the
larger Eastern and Arabian domes become elaborate in ornamentation: I
cannot speak of them with confidence; to the mind of an inhabitant of
the north, a roof is a guard against wild weather; not a surface which
is forever to bask in serene heat, and gleam across desert