bild

Italian Renaissance ornamental painting, (1898). Examples of painted building facades: 'Figs 1-7: From the front of a house in Genoa (Via San Matteo. Nr, 10). Fig 8: Front of the court of 'Casa Taverna' at Milan. Figs 9-11: Front of the court of Palazzo Piccolomini at Pienza...here we observe above all the vegetable ornament...We find almost everywhere delicate, beautifully curved branches in a symmetrical or at least regular arrangement, in which the antique acanthus-leaf acts the principal part, although, not without the most various transformations. Also vine, laurel, ivy etc. are frequently employed, partly copying nature directly, partly idealised. But this foliage with its branches and fruit is still enlivened by a rich variation of animals, fantastical beings, human figures as well as symbolical subjects, arms, masks, emblems, vases, candelabras etc. Most cultivated is the combination of human figures and animals with vegetable elements...Finally a not less important part of the decoration are coats of arms and escutcheons...'. Plate 47 from "The Historic Styles of Ornament" translated from the German of H. Dolmetsch. [B.T. Batford, London, 1898] (KEYSTONE/HERITAGE IMAGES/The Print Collector)