form and of
its structure as well as its aspect.

CHAPTER IX

Of the Adaptation of Line and Form in Design, in various
materials and methods--Mural Decoration--Fresco-work of the
Italian Painters--Modern Mural Work--Mural Spacing and pattern
Plans--Scale--The Skirting--The Dado--Field of the Wall--The
Frieze--Panelling--Tapestry--Textile Design--Persian Carpets--
Effect of Texture on Colour--Prints--Wall-paper--Stained Glass.

We have been considering hitherto the choice and use of line and form,
and various methods of their representation in drawing, both from the
point of view of the graphic draughtsman and that of the ornamental
designer.

We now come to consider the subject solely from the latter standpoint
(the point of view of ornamental design); and it will be useful to
endeavour to trace the principles governing the selection of form and
use of line as influenced by some of the different methods and
conditions of craftsmanship, and as adapted to various decorative
purposes.

[Mural Decoration]

The most important branch of decorative art may be said to be mural
decoration, allied as it is with the fundamental constructive art of
all--architecture, from which it obtains its determining conditions and
natural limitations.

Its history in the past is one of splendour and dignity, and its record
includes some of the finest art ever produced. The ancient Asiatic
nations were well aware of its value not only as decoration but as a
record.

[Illustration (f119): Giotto: "Chastity" (Lower Church, Assisi).]

The palace and temple and tomb-walls of ancient Egypt, Persia, and
Assyria vividly illustrate the life and ideas of those peoples, while
they conform to mural conditions. The painted council halls and churches
of the Middle Ages fulfil the same purpose in a different spirit; but
mural decoration in its richest, most imaginative and complete form was
developed in Italy, from the time of Giotto, whose famous works at the
Arena Chapel at Padua and Assisi are well known, to the time of Michael
Angelo, who in the sublime ceiling of the Sistine Chapel seemed to touch
the extreme limits of mural work, and in fact might be said to have
almost _defied_ them, painting mouldings in relief and in perspective
to form the framework of pictures where figures on different scales are
used. In the Sistin